Keep in mind how close you get to the Everfree. Something might just be waiting.
•cover art is not mine•
First name: [REDACTED] Last name: [REDACTED] Place of Birth: [REDACTED] Alias: “October” Occupation: SAS Officer Commander
No one knows his name. Or where he came from, despite any digging for answers by the government. Only being known as ‘October’ by squad mates and the media yet somehow he still holds the title of being “the most efficient and feared soldier alive,” In many parts of the world. He was the only person to pass the SAS training courses without any effort, his strength and sense for the battlefield is beyond human.
He has repeatedly been the only member of his multiple squads to return alive with a mission successful after being sent to many areas of the world that could kill even the most toughened and trained soldiers with nothing but it’s environment.
But his ability to seemingly surpass any and all challenges being sent towards him, and how he always returns with his objectives complete, and with nothing but minimal injuries, is not what makes him scary. Though it’s does an amount to influence the fear. What strikes fear into his enemies, and allies alike, Is his lack of empathy.
He states to reporters, “The only thing I feel when I pull the trigger is recoil.”
Throughout this story, October’s will be told. And You will be learning about his past, and why he is who he is. October will be having to face new challenges, mental and physical, that are going to be nothing he’s ever had to face before.
So let’s get into it. The day is April 12, 2023, 04:00 hours. October and his squad of three mates are deployed to [REDACTED] Russia, to aid in the retrieval of a very important government official being held hostage by a new terrorist force.
**From here on out the story will be told in first person**
Sitting firm and silent, I look down at my rifle. It was given as standard issue, a simple yet reliable C8 Carbine fitted with a Foregrip, laser sight, and an EOtech holo sight.
I pull out the mag and look at the ammunition inside, double checking before slamming it back into its spot in the gun. The helicopter I’m currently sitting in is flying over some spot in Russia. It looks cold outside, with all the snow and such, but secluded. And it looks like we’re flying over a forested area. I look around the bay where my squad sits. In front of me is a nervous looking Newbie. I can see the beads of sweat on his head.
“Nervous rookie?” I say to him, causing him to look up at my headgear, staring into the void-like sockets of my helmet where the eyes would be before looking back down. I smirked, but he couldn’t see it. Next to him sits a calm looking soldier, seemingly not being bothered with the issue we will be soon facing. I respect that, the fearlessness.
Next to me sits another somewhat relaxed soldier, he has headphones in, getting lost in whatever he was listening to. He looks nervous, but not as bad as the rookie. I let my gaze wander around the helicopters interior for a bit longer before the speakers turn on and the pilots voice can be heard.
“Landing zone just ahead. ETA ten minutes, ready up.”
I look over my gun once more, before getting the others to check their ammunition and gear. “Alright ladies. Current objective when we land is to rendezvous with Delta. They will be waiting for our arrival, once we meet up we will be doing a breach and clear on the cabin home the Hostage is in. Your highest priority is making sure this hostage is safely retrieved. Understood?” I look around and receive nods of agreement. I stand up just as the helicopter lands and the exit ramp is lowered, revealing the clearing we landed in. We all exit and take a look around as the helicopter takes off back where it came from.
I look down at the compass on my wrist and start walking North into the woods toward the rendezvous. I walk fast, wanting to get there as quick as I can. I hear my mates following behind.
~A fair trek later~
My squad is keeping pace pretty well. The snow in the forest is a few feet deep and trudging through all of it was taking a toll on some of them but they held strong.
I look ahead and see another squad of four a bit away, Delta. I quicken my pace and make it to them, calling out for their OC. A man dressed in white camo’d gear walks towards me. When he gets close I notice the immense size comparison between him and I, me having to look down at him.
“Alpha.” He acknowledges us and I nod my head once. “The plan is simple. The cabin is just down this slope we’re on. The home itself is two stories tall with more then enough rooms for terro’s to be hiding in. We will be in groups of two, so we can push from every side. We have some ladders here for a group to take to get quick entrance to the second floor.” He motions to the folded ladders.
“Do we know what we’re up against?” I peer over the slope at the cabin.
“It’s assumed that there’s a minimum of twenty guys in there, all equipped with military grade weapons. Luckily for us, they don’t have armour. So as long as you shoot first, you’ll shred.” He replies while looking over his weapon.
“Your with me.” I say, looking at the rookie. He looks at me and gulps a bit but doesn’t argue. I grab a ladder and start sliding down the slope with ease.
When I reach the bottom I’m still behind a line of trees so my person isn’t spotted. I wait for my mate before pushing along the tree line until I see the side of the home. I stare intently at the windows and see no movement, so I move quick and reach the house in a matter of seconds, rookie right behind me. “Everyone is position?” Delta’s OC radios. I hear rookie respond with affirmative as well as the other groups.
With his response I set up the ladder and sling my weapon around my back so I can climb with both hands. Once I reach the window I check and see it’s unlocked. Lucky me. I slowly ease it open and quietly enter while sweeping the room with my sidearm.
I motion out the window for rookie to follow and he proceeds up the ladder. As he’s climbing I hear the door start to open and I look to my left, finding a conveniently placed pair of scissors. Not wanting to throw my knife I pick them up just as one of the hostiles enter the room. I quickly throw the scissors at the man and it gets lodged in his throat, silencing any screams. I make my way to him quickly and slam my palm into the scissors, implanting them deeper into his throat. Once he finally falls limp I drag him and stuff him under the bed.
I turn and see the rookie staring at me with slight fear in his eyes. Good. I turn back and peek around the hallway with my rifle aimed wherever I look. “Clear.” I say, pushing deeper into the cabin. Me and my mate slowly traverse down the hallway until we hear someone yelling, and another frantically speaking in Russian.
“Hostage located. Preparing for breach and retrieval.” I say quietly into the radio. I don’t wait for a response and move to the side of the door where the voices are coming from, the rookie taking the spot opposite of me. I pull out a flash bang and quietly open the door enough to toss it in. Just before I can pull the pin, gunfire erupts and I see rookie get obliterated by penetration fire. I dive backwards and land on my back, aiming my rifle at the door.
I see the door open and a head peek out, only to receive a bullet to his unlucky noggin. I quickly stand and finally toss the flashbang into the room. I wait and hear them start to panic, just before the sound of a loud popping goes off and the smell of phosphorus takes over. I immediately kick open the door and shoot whoever’s unfortunate enough to be holding a gun, making quick work of the terrorists inside the room.
I look around quickly before finding a bloodied tied up man in a suit sitting on the ground. I walk towards him and go to remove his bonds but I see his eyes look over my shoulder and widen. I push the man back and quickly sweep around, knocking the man sneaking up on me over. He drops a somewhat large knife and I move to grab it, but receive a kick in the face, throwing me back a little bit. I regain my stability before dodging a swipe of his large knife. I notice that the hostage has removed his binds and is crawling to the corner of the room, so I use this added space to finally end this encounter.
I wait a couple more swipes and jabs before finally finding an opening in the mans attacks. I take this opportunity to quickly grab is arm and snap it before pulling him toward me and snapping his neck, killing him. I let the body fall and walk back towards the hostage. “This is October. We have multiple terro’s confirmed dead. Hostage secured. But we suffered a casualty.” I look out the door and see Rookies bloodied hand. I receive a response from Alpha’s OC and get a confirmation.
“Roger Oct. the rest of the house has been cleared. Grab the hostage and get ready for exfil.” I sign off, and move towards the hostage. “Can you walk?” I question while looking at his wounds.
“Y-yes. Can I have your name?” He responds. I look at him and stare for a second. “I want to know who I should reward for saving me.” He says again, looking grateful.
“October.” I say. Getting the man to look down quizzically. He eventually nods and shakily stands up. I begin to lead him out of the room and out of the house. I send him off with the rest of my squad and Alpha. Looks like Rookie was the only casualty. How unfortunate.
I return to my fallen squad mate and kneel over his body. I take a moment of silence before grabbing his weapons and ammo, planning on returning them to HQ for more use.
I leave the house and look at my wrist again wanting to find which direction I need to head. But the fucking things gone haywire and is spinning in both directions with immense speed. I tap the thing a couple times hoping to realign it but nothing happens.
I give up and just assume where the LZ is before walking. Before long I had began humming an old tune to myself to try and make the walk seem less lonely. I do a quick spin around while walking to look at my surroundings and get a better depth of the area. I’m not in as dense as woods as I was before coming down the slope, so the trees had a fair bit of space between them in this area.
I hear a sound behind me and quickly turn with my sidearm drawn to see a large eight foot tall creature, who seems to be made up of varying different animals. While confused, I don’t let my gun lower, keeping it pointed directly at its head.
“Hello October. I need your help.” It says. I’m taken aback by its ability to speak but before I can respond it snaps it’s fingers and I see a white flash, before falling over. “All will be explained in due time. When you wake up, follow the northern star.” It says before I fall into a deep sleep.
It was black. It was so dark that it felt artificial, unreal. I tried putting my hands in front of me but I couldn’t see them. What happened to my eyesight? Am I blind?
As if someone was listening to my thoughts, the world around me lit up brightly, allowing me to take in my surroundings. Everything was white, except me. I was such a contrast to the foreign area.
I tried taking a step forward, but soon realized it didn’t matter how fast I moved, my position never changed, like I was on a treadmill. Where am I?
“What are you creature?”
I quickly turn around but see no one, who’s speaking to me?
“I am not one to repeat myself.”
I take a note that the voice sounds feminine, but I think about it’s question for a second before answering. “I am a human.”
“Human? I have never heard of such thing.”
Never heard of... where the fuck am I? I take another look around and found myself still alone. Alone. I know the feeling all to well.
“Where am I.” I question with my eyes closed. I sit and wait patiently for my answer but never receive one.
“Where. Am. I.” I ask again, a bit more tone showing this time. I wait again but start to grow impatient, why won’t it answer me! Suddenly out of nowhere, and right on time, it has a response.
“This is your mind.” It replies to me, it sounded sad. Depressed almost, when they said it.
“My mind huh? How does that happen?” I ask before looking around in the vast emptiness of my supposed mind.
“Well, human, your asleep.”
”What are you, my conscious?” I wisecrack and look at my gloved hand for a second.
“No. You’ll find answers shortly. Now I must cut this conversation here. Farewell creature.”
And with that I’m alone again. I sigh before I sit down, there’s not much I can do. I start to fidget with my hands and close my eyes, thinking of past memories of mine. I notice behind my eyelids that my surroundings change, and I open my eyes quickly to find myself in a memory I wished to erase and jolt onto my feet seeing that I’m in the alley.
Oh god.
I shake my head and try to clear the memory from my thoughts but nothings worked. I start pounding my palms against my helmet desperately trying to cause some sort of change to take me out of this horrible nightmare. I keep pounding and pounding until I hear it. A voice to a little girl asking if I’m okay. I turn around slowly and see her standing at the ending of the alley looking at whatever was standing behind me. Without thinking I take out my pistol and fire a shot into the air, but nothing happens. And the memory continues to play out.
This is torture. I need to get out of here. I close my eyes shut tight and begin focusing on something different, anything different, and then I see it again behind my eyelids. I let out a gasp of relief and let my body relax itself for a moment before reopening my eyes and taking a look around.
I’m back in the SAS boot camp. I can see myself and some other poor bastard sparring in front of the Drill Sergeant. He’s throwing rocks and such at us while we fight and I watch as one of the rocks hit the other person in the head stunning him and the other me taking that opportunity to deliver a quick heavy punch to his face, knocking him out.
I smile a bit at the sound of his jaw breaking from my hit and the Drill Sergeant calls for a stretcher and walks over to me, placing his hand on other me's shoulder. They start talking but I’m too far away to hear, and am too far past this to remember the conversation.
I hear the sound of a door unlocking and I look behind me to see a large oak door placed in the middle of the training grounds. Just a door, nothing more. I walk towards it and push the door open, revealing nothing but darkness again. I take one last look at the field before walking through the door.
~ 21:00 Everfree Forest ~
I can hear the sound of rushing water and the sound of tree branches being moved by the wind. I slowly open my eyes and see the sky, and judging by the mixtures of purple and red, I’m assuming it’s dusk.
I sit up and groan. I guess whatever happened in my head took a toll on me because I have a killer headache. I just sit there for a second with my hands on my helmet before standing up slowly, using a nearby stick as a cane. Once I make it close enough to a tree I discard the stick and lean against the large oak. I notice that it looks like something You’d see in a child’s cartoon.
I shake my head and decide to make way towards the sound of water and think about my issue after I freshen up. I walk to the small river and take a knee. The water is crystal clear. Not a single hint of pollution, It looks heavenly actually.
I take off my combat gloves then carefully take off my helmet, placing it beside me. I cup my hands and grab some water before splashing my scarred face with it. It was ice cold, but I didn’t mind. I grabbed another handful of water and drank it. The icy liquid slid down my throat and I went for another handful, and then another. I wiped my mouth before placing my helmet back on my head and the gloves on my hands.
I look at my wrist compass and decide to head North for a bit. I check and see if I have everything, and start trekking through the thick woods when I’m satisfied with my gear.
~ A fair trek later ~
I feel like I’ve been walking for hours. There was a point where I had actually been walking in circles but found my path again. It’s late now, the forest being much darker then it had been a bit ago.
I sigh with slight relief when the trees start to clear up and I feel even more relief when I see what looks like a medieval village through the clearing of trees. Sure they look like they lack modern technology but so be it. Maybe I can find out where I am.
I walk a bit faster until I reach the confines of the town. I walk between some homes and soon find myself in the center of the Town. I see a fountain with a statue of a pony placed on it, I’m a little confused but mark it off as weird cosmetic choice.
I look around for a house with lights on, or maybe someone walking around but judging by the silence, everyone must be sleeping. I shrug and start walking through the town, taking in more and more of the surroundings and making mental notes along the way.
I stop walking and freeze. It’s too quiet. And now that I think about it, I don’t feel alone out here either. I slowly take out one of my sidearms and rack the slide carefully, making as little noise as possible. I stand there still as a statue and wait.
I don’t hear anything. The air feels cold and off. I turn around and find nobody there. This place is unnerving. I holster my sidearm but keep my hand close just in case.
I find myself in a medium sized park and keep walking until I find a bench. I take a seat and stare into the star filled sky. I’m a little wary of my surroundings because of what I felt walking through the town, but I still seem to get myself lost by absolute beauty of the night sky. I can count hundreds of millions of stars, even being able to see the Milky Way.
The sight of the night made my jaw slack slightly and I start looking for constellations. I’m so caught up in the sky that I didn’t hear or see the figure approach me.
“Beautiful isn’t it.” I jump at the voice and turn to it with my pistol raised in matter of seconds.
“No need to get tripper happy October.” Says the mismatched creature. I furrow my brow and frown at the unpleasant sight.
“I want my answers.” I say harshly, keeping the gun aimed at him. He looks at the barrel of my weapon unimpressed.
“I’ll answer your questions when you lower your weapon.” He responds. I keep it aimed at him for a couple extra seconds before reluctantly lowering my gun. I don’t holster it though but that doesn’t bother him.
“Now. I promised you an explanation when I found you again. So what do you want first.” I think about this for a second and a hundred questions zoom through my head. But I go simple first.
“What are you. And who are you.” He smiles at this and takes a step back.
“My name is Discord, the draconequus,” he says with a quick bow. “The one and only God of Chaos.” He gives me a toothy grin at this, and I scoff.
I don’t really want to know why he’s a mismatch of animals so I’ll leave that question for a later day.
“Now, where am I?” I say waving my hand at the town.
“Your in the town of Ponyville of course. The home of the six Elements.” as if he read my confused thoughts, he began to elaborate on what he meant. “The Elements are six residents of Ponyville that have a special connection with these six gems. The gems are very powerful with magic and only work for whoever is connected with it. The Elements are; Loyalty, Kindness, Magic, Honesty, Laughter and Generosity. The Elements have been used to save this world many times, and is basically Princess Celestia's super weapon against threats.” He states. I shake my head at the information given to me. It all seems so surreal.
“Magic?” I say while looking down. I don’t think I’m on Earth anymore.
“Yes human. Magic. If you didn’t already know, you are no longer on your home planet and unfortunately never will be again.” As soon as he finished his sentence I felt my heart come to a stop, and what was anguish turned rapidly into rage as I lunged at him and choke slammed him into the ground.
“What the fuck did you say?” I ask him through gritted teeth. Never return to earth? Where was my say in this decision! The thoughts began racing and I began squeezing his throat more and more. I wanted nothing but to watch him die to my hands at this moment.
“I said! *cough* that you aren’t on your home planet!” He says through coughs and sputters.
“Why! Why did you tear me from my home! Where was my say!” I yell at him while squeezing a bit harder. I see him go and try and snap his fingers but I slam my knee down on his clawed hand, denying any movement. I see him wince in pain and look up at me with absolute horror in his eyes, he is fearing the worst. I release some of my pressure on his throat so he can respond to the rest of my questions.
“You have to understand that I was forced to do this! I wouldn’t have pulled you here without a way to send you back without a reason!” He replies quickly while gasping for air, trying to intake as much of it as he could.
“Then what was the fucking reason!” I use my free hand to grab my knife and hover it above his eye making him begin to panic, trying to squirm out of my hold. I grip my knife's handle tighter as I grew impatient with him.
“Because I’m too weak to fend off a threat larger than this country! I’m dying October! And my powers aren’t what they used to be! I took you from Earth because you are the the seventh lost element of Disharmony! Your power here is unmatched!”
The lost element? This all makes no damn sense.
“I know of your past October. I know everything abo-“ I let out an irritated yell and forcefully stab the ground beside is head.
“Finish that sentence and I’ll tear the horns off of your fucking head.” I glare at him through my helmet and he stares back at me trying to search for any hint of a soul within my helms soulless eyes. He searches the tinted lenses to the best of his ability to try and find my gaze but is unsuccessful and this clearly disturbs him.
“I.. I’m sorry. Look we don’t have much time. The Ponies will start coming out of their homes soon and if they see you they’ll panic. You need to head to Canterlot, the city on the mountain. Find the Princesses! I’ll be there when you get there so nothing escalates. Despite what I’ve done, I am on your side October.” I stare into him for a while longer before getting off of him, allowing him to teleport a few feet away from me. He rubs his throat a bit before looking at me.
“I will answer anymore questions you have later. For now? Hide from the residents.” He says before teleporting to what I can only assume to be the Mountain city.
Just as he predicted I could see the residents start to leave their homes. When he called them ponies he meant actual fucking Equines. Perfect. I scoff and rip my knife from the ground before turning and running to the nearest tree line.
I guess this is a start to a new story. Wonderful. I frown before continuing my run.
I found a spot in a small clearing to set up camp after my encounter with Discord. I can’t help but think about last night. What did he mean by he knew of my past? Surely he doesn’t..
I shake my head and sigh. Deciding to leave questions until our next talk, and instead let my thoughts drift to the look of absolute fear Discord had plastered on his face. I chuckle slightly.
Why wouldn’t he be scared? He almost had a mouthful of stainless steel. This brings me to my next thought. What did he mean by, “The Lost Element?”
There’s no way in hell I have any relevance in this place. How would I? I sigh again and decide to dig through my backpack for one of my many MRE packages.
“Meals! Ready-to-Eat!” I quote to myself quietly with a small smile as I remember how one of my past mates had always said those words before opening a pack to eat.
No point in dwelling in the past. If I’m here forever like Discord said, might as well live in the present. I let my smile drop and I start eating my meal. It tastes like shit.
After my bite to eat I discarded the trash and thought about my plan for the day. I know I have to make it to the Mountain City, where Discord and the ‘Princesses’ are. But how am I gonna get there? I don’t think I have the strength to scale a mountain. I’ll deal with that issue when I get there I suppose.
And what about this Magic? I think back when I had walked through some third world town back on Earth, and how an adult was entertaining kids with illusions and card tricks. I feel like this is going to be a different case this time around though.
I stand up and take a sip from an icy water filled canteen before throwing my backpack over myself and walking back to the village. I’m gonna have to take a different route around the place this time if I want to avoid being spotted from residents though.
~ a fair trek later ~
Here I stand once again, at the tree line on the outskirts of town. I take a breath in as I try and calculate the quicker route. Right, and I’ll be having to go through open land because of the park. Left, I’ll be having to cross through what looks to be an Apple orchard. While left has more cover I’ll be getting quite close to the home that sits at the top of the small hill.
I do the math and decide to take left. I’ll just have to be extra careful.
I make the choice to run to the Orchard, wanting to be as time efficient as possible, and when I finally make it, decide to walk to the closest tree and snag some of the large red apples that hang from its branches.
I look one over and take in all the details I can. It’s the size of my fist, and is a deep red with tiny pinpoint specks of yellow or green on its surface. I would have taken a bite but I would have to remove my helmet to do so, and that’s not only a waste of my time, I’m also not hungry yet.
I throw the Apple into a pocket big enough to hold it and continue walking. I walk through the Orchard until I hit a dirt path, the path leading up to the home. From where I stand I’m hidden from view by anyone looking my direction from the home, so I take this time to see if there’s any movement. What I didn’t see though. Or hear. Was a cart being pulled up the path behind me.
“H-hey! What are yah doin’ here!” I jump at the sound and quickly turn to see an orange coated pony wearing a Stetson hat staring at me with frightful but confident eyes. Fuck me and my lack of hearing! I don’t respond and take the Apple from my pocket and throw it at her face. I didn’t stick around to see if the Apple hit or not, but judging by the sound of Apple hitting flesh and a nasally ‘ow’ come from behind me, I’ll assume it hit its mark.
God, ten hours into being told not to be spotted and here I fucking am. I shake my head at my lack of senses recently but push the thoughts of self lecturing to after I’m in the clear.
Even with all my gear and the bag on my back, I’m moving at tremendous speeds, putting a fair bit of distance between me and the pony. I wasn’t paying attention to where I was actually running and when I had thought that I had escaped her a rope flew over me and snagged me, knocking me over.
I fell hard, and caught some air because of the speed I was running. Thank god I have my helmet because I slammed my head into the side of what looks like an anvil placed beside the barn.
“Now ah gotcha!-“ I hear the pony say with a mouthful of rope before being tugging me back. I grip tightly onto the anvil beside me and fumble around my chest for my holstered knife, struggling a bit before finally getting ahold of it, I go to try and cut the rope tied around my ankles but was stopped this hulking mass of red muscle stepping on my hand. Fuck.
I look up and peer at the new figure. He looks back but I see his eyes widen slightly when he pulls back my hood and see’s my metallic skeletal helmet. I struggle and try to pry my arm from under his hood but can’t seem too. This is a fucking joke. I can’t be captured, but it’s hard to escape when I can’t kill my targets. I think for a moment then smile when I think of my plan.
I stop struggling and pretend to have passed out, staying as still as I possibly can. I hear the large ponies deep voice call out for the one that spotted me to come over, and that I passed out. I watch behind my blacked out lenses as he picks up my knife with his hoof and looks at it for a moment. I hear the other pony tell him she was going to get someone named Twilight, and heard her gallop away. I took this time to jolt onto my feet and headbutt the large pony.
His eyes cross for a second and he drops the knife before falling over, making a loud thud, and causing vibrations within the ground. I walk over and pick up the knife before holstering it and continued my run through the orchard until I hit the dense forest again. I looked back at the farm and frowned.
“This is gonna bring some flak in the future.” I say to myself and continue running through the woods.
~ a fair trek later ~
During my solemn walk I found a chunk of wood and decided to make a little sculpture out of it. So I picked it up and started carving into it to alleviate some boredom on my path to the castle.
Now, here I am slicing away at the chunk until I feel it’s devoid of enough bark to finally start carving a shape, But I pause.
I don’t know what to make. I press the knife lightly against the chin of my helmet while I think of something to carve and I finally think of the stars. Except, I can’t carve the constellations into a chunk of wood. I think a bit more before a metaphorical lightbulb lights up above my head, and I start carving away at the chunk.
Soon enough I’m not even paying attention to the chunk, I’m just slicing away with precision and ease as I walk. I started whistling some old song I would hear on the radio a bit from home, and in due time I slowly began putting a bit more pep in my step.
I smiled lightly as I looked down at my progress and was pleased with the outcome. I had carved a sphere into the chunk, the sphere being held up by a thick bit of wood connected to the base of the carving, and with a bit more carving, I soon had a wonderful moon sculpture in my hands.
I was quite proud of the outcome, and decided to keep it, due to it being a complete clone of the moon, details and all.
I placed it in my backpack and continued my trek before a stick snapped and I froze.
I didn’t move a single muscle in my body. I just stood there and listened. I don’t know why I’m still relying on my hearing, since It’s failed me twice, but here I am.
I listen as clearly as I can to my surroundings and become filled with sounds. I can hear the bit of cloak not being held down by my bag flapping in the breeze on the path, I can hear the leaves rustling and the branches swinging.
I can also hear breathing.
All of the sudden three large wolves made of wood leaped at me from every side and I ducked. Making the three predators smack into eachother, though they quickly recovered and started circling me.
“Man I just can’t catch a fucking break can I.” I say, my voice sounding more raspy then usual. I don’t have the time to pull out a weapon. As soon as I move, so will they, so this will have to be done with my hands.
Nothing I haven’t done before. I wait and watch them circle me and decide which one I should go for first. None of them have the same body build. The largest one is about twice the size as a regular wolf, the smallest being the regular size. I think about wolves back on earth and how they all had an alpha. Usually the largest, strongest one.
So in theory, if I kill their alpha, they should retreat. I ponder over this and decide that it’s my best bet. I wait until the largest is right in front of me before Iunge forward and knee the mutt in the mouth, causing it to fall back a bit before shaking it’s head and jumping at me. I side step and it shoots past me, only to for it to quickly reposition and launch itself at me again. I quickly duck and roll forward, getting some breathing time.
I take my backpack off and let it fall onto the ground before standing tall. Without the excess weight, I can end this fight. I take a couple steps forward and wait for the wolf to try and lunge at me again. When it eventually does I wait until it’s close enough before, with lightning speed, grab its throat with one hand and place another on its stomach and lift the creature above my head.
Just before it could squirm out of my grip I slam it’s head into the ground beside me, smashing its head into nothing but slivers of wood. The wolves body stays limp and leaks an orange sap like fluid from its neck.
I look at the other two wolves and, just like I thought, they retreated into the darkness of the forest. I pick up my back and dust myself off before continuing my walk.
~ Meanwhile. POV: Discord ~
I rub lightly at my throat where the human had grabbed, a light bruise forming. Frowning lightly, I think to myself. He caused me pain. This is a scary thought. If he could cause pain to me, then he could surely kill me. So far only the princesses and the elements could do so.
This only means two things. He’s either just as powerful, or more powerful, then both the Princesses and the elements.
I take a sip of my water but wince as the water irritates my throat, causing more pain. At the same time this is good. This means he possibly could save this world.
I close my eyes and take a deep breath before opening them with half lidded eyes and take a look over Canterlot and the land below. Celestia’s quarters really does have the best view.
Just as this thought passes, I can hear the door behind me open.
“Discord? What do you think your doing here?” I hear Celestia question me.
“Nothing malicious, I promise. I just heard rumours that your perch held the best view.” I respond without turning around. I hear her make an ‘ah’ sound before entering her bathroom and starting the sink.
“Well of course. If there’s nothing you really need I’ll ask you to leave now. Luna raises the moon soon, and my day has been quite long.” She says with an annoyed tone through the bathroom door.
I was going to answer but shut my mouth before I could reply. Should I tell her about October? I’m sure she will ask questions when she sees the bruise.. THE BRUISE!
My eyes widen in panic as I try and search the room for something, anything, to hide the bruise with. I quietly but quickly make my way to her dresser in search of something to cover up the mark, but was unsuccessful. I ran to and from, looking under, over, and inside parts of her room. I hear the sink turn off, and I start to sweat. But then I see it!
“Discord? Did you hear me? Disc-“ She opens the bathroom door to reveal me standing there with a large pink sock wrapped around my neck. I just sat there and smiled at her like there was nothing wrong with this situation.
“Discord. Why do you have one of my.. socks.. wrapped around your neck?” She asks me with a frown and a blush on her face.
“Uh.. I. Fashion?” I say with an awkward smile. Just before any more questions could be asked, a letter pops into existence and Celestia’s attention was pulled from me and towards the scroll. I sigh with relief and watch as she opens and reads it. At first she looked unbothered, but it soon turned to worry.
“What is it?” I ask trying to take a peek at the letter. She rolls it up and gets her own piece of parchment, writing a lengthy response, but before I could see the contents, the letter disappeared in a flash.
“So?” I ask again.
“There has been a monster sighted in Ponyville. And Big Mac, Applejacks brother, has a severe concussion because of a capture attempt gone wrong.” She says with a frown and furrowed brows.
Oh for Celestia’s sake. I facepalm and sigh into my hand.
“Is something the matter Discord?” She ask me quizzically. I look at her with a sheepish smile and shake my head.
“Nono, I just remembered I forgot something unimportant.” I turn quickly and take the sock off my neck, throwing it to the ground and teleporting away.
~ POV: October ~
It’s dark out now. Good, I like the night sky. It’s calming.
I set up camp and started a small fire shortly after the wolf encounter. I can still see the Mountain city in the distance so I know I’m heading in the right direction.
I think back to the wolf, and how it was made of wood. I wonder why? Must just be this place. I stare blankly into the fire until I hear the sound of a certain Draconequus appearing behind me.
“What was the one thing I told you to NOT do?” I hear him questioning me with a disappointed tone. I clench my jaw but don’t respond.
“Hm? I think it something like, ‘Don’t get spotted’?” He says again.
“I was a simple mishap. It was out of my control.” I say quietly. I didn’t have the patience for this at the moment.
“A simple mishap? You have the whole town frightened, and you gave a severe concussion to one of the ponies you encountered. It’s one thing if your seen. But now that you’ve done physical damage? They’re going to hunt you for this. The Elements.” He states with a tone of anger.
“Then so be it. If they hunt me, then let them.” I stand and turn to face him. We just stand there staring each other down before Discord’s face softens and he sighs, looking down.
“Don’t further complicate this. Just make it to the castle to we can sort this out. These ponies aren’t your enemies. Believe me your going to want the Princesses good side. But you won’t be able to get them to help us if you keep mucking about with these ponies.” He says before walking closer to me. I stand my ground and watch as he approaches. He takes a knee and stares into my mask.
“One last piece of advice. The Everfree is a dangerous place. Judging by the sap on your cloak, you already encountered a Timber Wolf. There’s much more bigger threats then them.” He says pointing to the sap on my clothing. I look back at him and nod once, before turning back to my fire, and hearing him disappear back to the City.
After discord’s little lecture, I had found myself thinking more, and more. I stared into the fire I had made, and let the heat tickle my exposed face, allowing me to feel at ease. Strange with everything’s that happened.
I sigh and lay back, looking at the beautiful night sky. It’s so different from earth. Here you can actually see everything because of the lack of light pollution. The stars here are leaving me starstruck, pun intended.
I chuckle to myself but let my smile drop when I turn my head and look at my bag.
I zip the bag open and reach inside, taking out the wooden Moon carving I had made. I had thought that now would be a better time then ever to compare my creation to the real thing, so I reach my arms out and hold the sculpture beside the real moon, and am pleasantly surprised when I realize there isn’t many differences. I rotate the carving around and see that I’ve basically gotten every detail correct. I smile warmly at this and think of what could make my creation more personal.
I sit up and reach for my knife, scratching out a phrase at the bottom of the carvings base. Just a little something to remember.
I exhale and place the moon carefully back into my bag. It’s at this moment that I realize I haven’t slept since I got here. I think about this and theorize maybe this was the cause of my lack of hearing, or more specifically, my lack of reaction. It makes some sense and I smother out the fire, causing me to be left in nothing but the moons light, but I was more than happy with this.
I notice that I’m not that tired, not yet. I stand up and fix my helmet back onto my head. I make sure I have both rifles and one of my sidearms holstered before I take off towards the Mountain city once more, thinking that if I couldn’t sleep, I might as well get closer. I think about the sky back on earth, and how much I was forcefully needing to leave behind. I clench one of my fists before loosening my grip and moving my hand to the back of my head, massaging the base of my neck.
“Live in the present October,” I state to myself. “It’s easier that way.”
~ Meanwhile. POV: Discord ~
After tossing and turning around on this bed for what felt like hours, I finally got up. I don’t actually have somewhere to live, so Celestia oh so graciously allowed me to live inside the Castle walls. Under some conditions of course.
I stand up and walk the halls of the Castle, nodding to any Night Guard I see in their posts. I know Princess Luna is in her Night court, but no one shows up anyways, so I’m sure she could chat for a little while.
I stop in front of the court room doors before pushing them open and entering. And there’s Luna, looking bored out of her mind. Her eyes are closed but I know better then to assume she’s sleeping.
I clear my throat, which causes her to jolt and look around in a panic before landing her eyes upon me. “Oh.. Discord. Hello,” she gestures a small wave and I smile in return.
“Greetings, Princess. I was wishing to speak to you.” I say with my arms behind my back.
“Talk.. Of course, what will be the issue?” She says quizzically looking at me, waiting patiently. I took a look around and see a couple guards watching over.
“I wish for this to be private.” I say, looking at the guards. Luna follows my gaze before slowly nodding.
“Uhm.. yes, okay. Guards, please make your exit. I will be fine here.” She says in a stern voice. The guards in the room all nod once and take their leave. “Now, what was it?” She questions me again.
I exhale and start pacing. “Luna. What I’m going to tell you is quite serious, but you need to trust me.” I stop moving and look at her eyes. She blinks twice before trying to think of a response. “Can I?” I ask once more.
“I.. uhm..” she stammers a bit before looking into my eyes. She clearly noticed the seriousness in my look because she stopped. “Why me? Why not Celestia?” She looked at the throne beside her.
“Because I trust you more, and I believe Celestia would escalate things more then she should,” I say clearly. I close my eyes and wait for her response.
“How can you be so sure, Discord?” She looks at me concerned.
“Because I’ve seen it. I’ve seen what Celestia does when she thinks there’s a threat. If I told her I’m sure she’d send the Elements to remove it from Equestria.” I look down with a frown.
Luna closes her eyes, deep in thought. “What was it you wanted to talk about?” She asks, eyes still closed.
“There’s a threat making its way to Equestria, much stronger than anything you’ve faced,” I respond, turning around. I move to the doors but stop for a second, turning my head. “The Elements are strong. But they aren’t strong enough. But, lucky for us, I found someone who could help,” I drop my hands from my behind me before attempting to leave, but was stopped by one last question,
“Who?”
~ POV: October ~
I keep my eyes trained on the Mountain in front of me, with every passing second It grows closer and closer, yet I’m still so far. It’s time for me to stop walking now I think, I can finally feel the fatigue of no sleep catching up to me.
I find a real ‘comfy’ spot beside a tree and sit my backpack down on the ground before leaning against the tree, and sliding down.
I take one last look at the moon above me before letting it be the last thing to fill my mind.
Now all that matters is sleep.
• • •
Dreamless. Just like every other night. Alone in the confines of my own mind. This is quite the journey so far, yet it’s only been a few days.
I can already feel the sleep affecting my body in the real world. I feel more relaxed while floating around in here. That or I’m just disconnected with the outside world while In here. Free of any problems.
I float around with my eyes closed, listening to the sound of blood flowing. I open my eyes and try to make a fire appear on my palm, and after some flicks of my wrist, a little black fire appears. It would be cool if this was a real thing.
I sigh and extinguish the flames enveloped on my hand. I have the power to create, and to see whatever I wish. But sometimes it’s better to stay blank. Just for the sake of sanity.
I think of my sculpture I had made, and sure enough, it forms into existence in front of me. When the shape has been fully made I reach for it, holding it close to my chest.
I begin thinking of Discord, and how fucked up this all is. An anger starts to bubble inside of me at the thought. I welcome the feeling, causing me to squeeze the sculpture until it cracks and splinters, leaving nothing but chunks of wood flying through my mind before evaporating into wisps of light.
I look at my hands and start shaking. Discord. Your the root of this, but what’s the point in killing you? There isn’t one. I would just complicate my issue further.
Just like a switch I’m immediately emotionless again. No longer shaking. No longer wishing death upon anyone. Simply just floating once more. I should be waking soon.
...what is it... ...Kill it... ...Information from it...
I’m still trapped in my mind, my real body still in a deep sleep. I sit in my mind in wait as I hear tid bits of the conversation outside. I look around in slight worry, wondering how I was found, and what they’ll do to me while I’m vulnerable.
Judging from what I can gather they seem confused, but it sounds as if they want to take me somewhere. I can’t let this happen, so I try to force consciousness and free myself from the confines of my mind. I try yelling to wake myself up, or think of something from my past to scare myself up, but nothings worked. I must have been really fucking tired.
I try and think but sigh in defeat. Usually I would think of a certain memory to wake myself up, but It doesn’t seem to be working this time around. I might as well just sit and wait and deal with the issue when I fully awake.
...Bring it here...
Im waking up! Finally! The bright white of my barren mind slowly starts to dim into a grey as my body in the real world slowly starts to gain its consciousness back.
I feel the tightness in my chest as I’m pulled out of my head, and thrust into the world of the living.
• • •
I jolt into a sitting position, and pull my sidearm out, aiming it at the three ponies who found me. They don’t look like they’re that friendly, all three adorning scars on their bodies. There’s a regular pony, like the one at the farm, but the next two seem like they belong in a myth.
Is that a unicorn? I think about this and realize that it possibly could use magic. I don’t know how dangerous magic can be so I’ll have to be cautious about that. The next pony has wings, but I can’t seem to remember the specific name given to that hybrid. Pegasor? No, it’s Pegasus I think.
I shake my head and decide to deal with it later. They all look frightened at my sudden awakening but they soon calm down and give me evil smiles.
“And here I thought you were dead. Glad your not, now I get to kill you.” The Unicorn says to me. They all wear black cloaks, strange. He approaches me and I see his horn start glowing with an aqua aura, then a somewhat large dagger is taken out of its hiding spot in the cloak, covered in the same aqua aura.
I don’t even have time to stand up before the dagger is lunged at my chest, I roll out of the way and aim my sidearm only to get my hand slashed, leaving a large gash at the top of my hand. I grunt in pain as I drop my sidearm, but I disregard it for now. I don’t have the time to try and retrieve it.
The unicorn goes for another slash but I roll back before it could connect.
“Quick little bucker aren’t you.” Did he say bucker? Is that their variant of a swear. I cut the thought short as another slash of the dagger comes my way. Instead of trying to dodge it this time I throw my arm up, causing the blade to bounce off some armour plating I have on my forearms, resonating a loud ting. He looks slightly aggravated at this and looks at his dagger to see that a decent portion of it chipped off.
I chuckle and move from my knee to a full standing position, allowing them to see my full person, my cloak being caught in the wind. I look down at the unicorn and quickly grab his horn, causing him to flail and scream in pain.
The energy coming off his horn was weird. When I grabbed it my hand started to feel numb. I notice that me touching his horn was causing him a great deal of pain, so I forced his head to the ground and kneeled in front of him. He looks up at my helmet with pupils as small as a pin, and his breathing erratic.
“P-please don’t eat me! We’ll leave you alone I promise! We’re just trying to make a living!” He pleads with me. I pull him up to look me in my eyes, or in his case, where my eyes would be.
I let go of his horn and he looks at me with slight relief, but as he attempted to scoot away I put one hand on his snout and another behind his head and jerked it to the left, filling the air with a loud CRACK as I snap his neck.
His lifeless body falls to the ground and I stand back up. Staring at the remaining two assailants. They look extremely fearful, and I see one shed a tear, but they’re sadness soon turns to anger as they both glare daggers into me, and get into fighting stances.
I just stand and wait for one to make a move. The Pegasi makes the first attack and throws herself at me, using her wings to make her attack quicker. I move my body to the left and she zooms past me.
I shake my head at the move and look back at the regular pony, he bares his teeth at me and charges me, but instead of trying to ram into me, he pulls a knife last second and throws it at me. I wasn’t expecting this and the knife lodged itself into my thigh.
I drop to my knee as I lose control in the leg but look back up at him just to receive a kick to the face. I fly back a few yards and try to get up, but the Pegasi is now on top of me, pinning me down.
For something so small it has a fair bit of strength. Before I could try and escape the other pony walks over to us.
“Keep it pinned Feather Weight. I’m gonna make it suffer for what it did to Razor.” I hear him say. I furrow my brow and try to shake the Pegasi off, testing its strength, but it stomps on my arms to get them to quit moving. “Now.. are you ready to suffer, creature?” I stay quiet as he shrugs and moves to the leg the knife is in. It’s bleeding but not as bad as it will be in a second. I see the pony take the knife and twist it in my leg, causing me to recoil in pain, though I don’t give him the satisfaction of screaming as the muscle and nerves are twisted around. All I need to do is wait.
“Doesn’t feel good does it?” He says with a malicious grin. The Pegasi on top of me looks at my mask and shivers a bit before putting more force into keeping me down. The regular pony rips the knife out of my leg, allowing the wound to bleed profusely.
I feel myself getting dizzy as the blood loss starts to take its toll, but I shake away the feeling. I just wanted a damn nap.
I watch as the bloodied knife is lifted into the air, readying for another a strike on my other leg. With renewed vigor I grunt as I push the Pegasi off of me, launching her a bit aways from me. The regular pony watches in fear as I rip the blade from his hoof and stab it into his eye. Killing him immediately.
The last assailant watches as she’s now the last one alive, and tries to fly away, but I hurried to my dropped sidearm and take aim before shooting a single round.
I watch with deep satisfaction as it connects with the back of her head and her body drops from the sky, a cloud of red blood soon following her.
With all of them dead I suddenly fall to my knee as the blood loss takes its effect. I get up and start slowly limping to my bag.
Once there I sit against the tree and let out a quiet chuckle as the wound in my leg starts throbbing with sharp pain. With steady hands I dig into my backpack, searching for the little amount of medical supplies I packed. After some tedious searching I pull out a roll of gauze, some disinfectant, and some pain killers.
Annoyed at the lack of medical supplies I packed, I bite the inside of my cheek but get to work. I pour the disinfectant on my leg wound, then some on my hand, then I take the gauze and wrap it very tightly around my leg, stopping some of the blood from flowing. I then cut off a small piece and wrap it around my hand.
Fucking ponies. Couldn’t just let me sleep. What are they doing out here anyway. I take off my helmet and down a couple painkillers just to calm the burning feeling in my leg.
I wait a few seconds before sliding the helmet back on my head.
I place the supplies back in my bag and just sit there, taking a look at the three ponies I just massacred. Whatever, it was self defence, it’s not like I killed innocents.
I close my eyes and lean my head against the tree. I hear a popping sound and a person gasp in disgust. I open my eyes and look to see Discord eyeing the bodies. He doesn’t even seem to notice me until I clear my throat. He turns to me quickly and looks at the bandages turned red on my leg and hand, then rushes over.
“What happened here!” He yells at me. I cough once before looking up at him.
“Self defence. Little assholes found me while I was sleeping.” I say flatly. He turns around and makes an audible huff before turning back to me.
“We need to leave this area. I know of a certain Zebra here in the Everfree, but we’ll need to backtrack back to the other side of Ponyville. I know you got some distance but these wounds will surely hinder your capabilities. She will heal you and I’ll see what I can do to bring one of the Princesses to you.” He stares at my wounds. I think about this for a second. I wanna keep going, but let’s be realistic, that knife most likely hit an artery. And with that pony twisting the blade I won’t be able to walk very quickly, I’m surprised I’m able to at all.
“One of those ponies twisted a knife in my leg, damaging some of the nerves and muscle in there. We could try and walk back, but if we get spotted while trying to get around the town I’m fucked.” I state. He takes a second to think and looks back at me.
“I can teleport us, but you’ll have to close your eyes when I do it, otherwise you’ll go blind for a while,” Teleporting? Oh boy. “Are you ready?” He asks tentatively. I look at him and nod once after making sure I have everything. He then placed his hand on my shoulder and I close my eyes.
“Fuck me!” The magic of being teleported shot through my body, irritating my wounds, and I cried out as the unknown magic courses through me. It felt as if my insides were being held against a blowtorch. I fell to a knee as my good leg gave out.
“Sorry for the sudden intrusion Zecora, but I require your service.” I hear Discord say to her in a rushed tone, before helping me into a standing position. My wounds were throbbing with a renewed burning, much worse then what I had felt moments before the teleport. I grip tightly at his shoulder as the pain dims, turning into nothing but a light throb.
I hear the Zebra start stammering and messing up her words before actually managing to ask Discord what had happened, and what I’m doing here. Discord starts explaining the story of my self defence, and the zebra looks greatly disturbed knowing that the unknown creature lying on her floor bleeding, was also the murderer of three ponies.
“Zecora please. His health is crucial.” Discord states, helping me into a seat on a chair. “Don’t worry October, your in good hands now.” He tries to comfort me but his voice seemed distant. All I could hear was the throbbing.
I nod slowly and look over at the zebra, watching as she throws different liquids into a cauldron over a fire, Discord inspecting the bright mismatch of colours.
I grit my teeth as the throbbing starts to die down. “I don’t think I should teleport much.” I say, gripping my leg with my uninjured hand. Discord nods his head.
“Agreed, that looked like it put a lot of stress on you. We will leave teleportation as a last solution then.” He walks over to me and kneels so he could take a closer look at the wounds. “I know a couple spells to remove any pain, but Zecora will have to do all of the work for the nerves and muscle.” I huff at him and give him the go to start his spell. He closes his eyes and I see the tip of his clawed fingers start glowing orange. He places his fingers on my wounds and I immediately felt a warm fuzzy feeling in my leg.
I sigh loudly and lay my head back, the pain seemingly non existent. I lift my head back up and see Discord sweating a small bit. I think about this, but decide to leave it for another day.
“Drink this creature, and your wounds will heal over the course of a couple weeks,” the Zebra says as she pours a rainbow drink into a flask and hands it to me cautiously. I take a look down at the flask but don’t do anything. Visibly confused she faces Discord, who in turn looks to me with a brow raised. I stare at him and he lets out a small ‘ah’ before turning to Zecora.
“He wants to keep his identity hidden.” He says looking at her with a small frown. She looks to my skeletal helmet before shivering at the sight and turns around, fearing what could be on the other side.
Once shes completely turned I look at the Draconequus, expecting him to turn to. He rolls his eyes and does so. I quickly take off my helmet and take a sniff of the beverage, noticing it smells like roses. I reluctantly chug down the perfume smelling liquid and start gagging and sputtering once it’s all down. Definitely doesn’t taste like fucking roses. I put my helmet back on and use my good leg to tap Discord, letting him know I’m finished.
They both turn and face me, Zecora still looking uncomfortable. I signal for Discord to come close.
“She’s scared of me.” I whisper to him, getting a nod in response.
“Yes, but what do you expect? I mean look at your get up. Your the definition of intimidation.” He replies back with a toothy grin. I smile and chuckle lightly.
“I must take my leave now. I need to set up a time with the Princess to let your presence known and find a meeting date.” Discord says standing up and stretching. My eyes go wide and I grip his arm tightly, my touch making him recoil a bit.
“No, don’t. I don’t think it would be wise to meet any royalty yet. Hell I didn’t even want to make my presence known to civvies.” I motion to Zecora, and remember my encounter with the farmers. He thinks about this before sighing.
“Very well. We will wait a bit longer then.” Discord says, returning to his seat. I look over to the Zebra and see that she now has a hooded cloak on with a saddle bag hanging from her side. “Where are you going Zecora?” Discord questions.
“I’m leaving to find herbs for your friend, he had used most of my stock.” She says, her rhymes are gone now, I wonder why. “I will be back in due time,” she says before leaving her hut.
“Follow her.” I say to Discord, he gives me a confused look.
“Pardon?” He asks with a frown.
“Follow her. We don’t know if what she’s saying is the truth, for all we know she could be going to the town to alert someone.” I look at the door to the hut. “I’d rather be safe than sorry.” I advert my gaze from the door and back to the Draconequus.
“Hm, very well. If I see her head into town I’ll return and hide you.” He says with a troubled look before turning himself into a bird and flying out to follow the Zebra. Once again alone, I try and find something to do.
I remember about my bag and take it off my back to take and feel around for Rookies old sidearm. It’s an old .1911 Model, interesting. I inspect the weapon and see the engraving on the side,
‘To the Grave.’
I frown and realize that this pistol wasn’t given as standard issue. I suddenly feel a weight being pressed on my shoulders when I finally understand that this weapon was gifted to him. And I took it. I close my eyes and sigh.
I was gonna take this weapon apart for spare parts but now I think it’s not the best idea. I solemnly place the sidearm back into my bag. Usually I wouldn’t really care, but now? I don’t know.. I feel. Wrong.
Now that I’ve ruined my enthusiasm to do something interesting I close my eyes and try and catch up on interrupted sleep.
It’s so quiet, nothing but the sound of birdsong filling my ears. I take a deep breath and let my body relax.
Just before I could take a nap I hear a flash in front of me and look to see a panicked Discord.
“We need to hide you, now! You were right, she went to go fetch the elements!” He says and starts running around the room trying to find a place to hide me. I curse under my breath and grab my bag, placing it on my back and slowly standing up, using the chair as support. “Agh! There’s no good spot in here.” He says swivelling his head.
I start walking to the door but gets stopped when Discord places a claw on my shoulder. “Where are you going?” He looks at me.
“I’m hiding. Stay here, make it seem like I was never here.” I shrug his hand off and limp out the door, and into the forest.
~ POV: Discord ~
October limps out of the hut, and I can’t help but hope he knows what he’s doing. I shake my head and turn back snapping my fingers to clear the floor and chair of blood. I then snuff the fire and place the cauldron back where Zecora had it previously.
I notice that not much was changed anyways and double check to make sure I got all the blood. I nod in approval and wait for the eventual crusade of seven to show.
After some waiting I finally hear several sets of galloping coming to the hut, my nerves get the best of me and I begin to lightly sweat, and my heartbeat quickens. The first to barge into the hut was Applejack, of course it was.
“Zecora! Where is tha darn vermin!” Applejack yells at the Zebra when she comes in. Zecora looks around the room and see that everything that has happened was reverted back to normal. I gulp lightly.
“I.. I..” Zecora stammers as Applejack glares at me.
“What are ya’ doin here?” She questions me with a distrustful look, by now the rest of the elements are entering the hut.
“I was just paying a quick visit to Zecora. Why are you here?” I try and look as innocent as possible.
“She told me that darn creature who put Big Mac on his flank was here!” She yells with anger. “If ah see that vermin again I’ll be sure ta’ knock him into the next era!” She stomps a hoof and huffs some air, some of the elements giving me questionable looks.
My facade is holding up. I look at Zecora and glare at her, causing her to cower away from my gaze.
Applejack soon turns to storm out of the hut before freezing in spot, sniffing the air.
“Do y’all smell blood?” Damnit! I didn’t think of the smell. The rest of the girls start sniffing the air, some of them flinching at the stench of blood.
“I don’t know what your talking about? I only smell wood.” I reply trying to trick them into believing it was just them smelling things. Applejack clearly was too flustered to use her Honesty seeking power, because this shouldn’t be working.
After an eternity the girls all reluctantly left, not without staring at me with judging eyes, but that was to be expected. Zecora shuts the door and cowers away.
“We need to have a little chat.”
~ POV: October ~
Thank god for Discord’s pain numbing spell. This would have been torture if I had to limp away without the numbing effect.
There had been countless times where a jutted root, or a weirdly placed rock had knocked me over, irritating the wounds. Luckily for me, Zecora’s potion seems to be working, because the bleeding stopped.
I knew we couldn’t trust her though. I wouldn’t be surprised if I died of poison soon. Realistically though, that possibility is obsolete, since Discord was helping with the potion, he wouldn’t have let anything slip.
Right?
I frown but keep pushing forward. After what seems like an hour of ‘running’ I come across a chasm. I slow down and stop at the edge, taking a peek.
There’s a thick layer of fog obstructing my sight of the bottom, but I’m gonna make a strong assumption that it’s probably not something I wanna fall into.
I move my gaze to my left and right, trying to find a way across. The only thing I could find for passage across was an old broken bridge, planks missing in multiple areas. I think about my situation and decide to take the risk, hobbling my way to the bridge. With my limp it’s going to be a bit harder.
I grip at the rope and exhale, before taking small careful steps from plank to plank. One third of a way there. Halfway there.
I sighed in relief thinking that it was gonna hold strong for me, but my luck has a different outcome for me. Just before I could reach the end, the bridge snapped in half from the middle, and I started my descent into the chasm. I held on tightly to the rope, sliding down it with tremendous speed. I can hear and see my glove starting to burn as I fall.
I closed my eyes and hoped for the best as I fell, and suddenly I stopped after reaching a sudden stop. I opened one eye and looked around. I was hanging from the bottom of the bridge, my hand on the rope being stopped by a knot. I let out a nervous chuckle as I look down, a pebble from the rock wall falling down into the fog.
One.. Two.. Three.. Fo- CRACK
Three and a half seconds of falling. Fuck that noise. I look up and place my injured hand on one of the planks, testing it’s durability before placing more weight on it. So far it’s holding strong, but I know fate has it out for me.
With a shaky breath I push myself up, and use the hand I had on the rope to grip at the next plank. So far so good. I used my upper strength to get me high enough before placing my foot on the plank below me.
Please don’t break, please don’t break.
I climbed the fallen bridge like a ladder until I reached the top, where I greedily scratched at the ground until I was off the ladder and on solid land.
I smiled and laughed as the impact of what just occurred hit me, it was a crazy thought. When the laughing subsided I sat up. Deciding to continue my search for a hiding spot. At least nothing without wings can follow. Or horns. I’m doomed.
The fog seemed to thicken since the other side of the bridge, but I keep walking anyways, then fog will hide me a bit better.
I can’t see anything a few feet in front of me, this fog is so damn thick. I start cursing about my luck when I walk face first into a large stone wall, making a loud clang as my helmet bounces off of it. I shake my head and look at the wall, and just at the moment the fog cleared slightly, allowing me to see an abandoned castle in front of me. I smile and find a hole in the wall, pushing my hobble to a light jog as I approach the large oak doors. Or what’s left of them.
One of the massive doors had been launched off its hinges and sat a few metres into the castle. I peek my head in and take in the sight before me. Pieces of stone lie everywhere, armour and weaponry scattered across the castle floors.
This place looked as if it was attacked. Whatever, now all I care about is that I have a roof over my head, or what remains of one.
This castle.. there’s something about it that really calms me, I don’t really know how to explain the feeling. It’s like this place is surrounded by an aura of peace. Ironic since this place has definitely seen death before.
I continue my limping crusade until I come across another set of large oak doors, these ones still intact. I find my curiosity getting the better of me and I push the doors open, revealing two thrones.
The throne on the right has a stone carving of a sun, planted right at the tip of the seat. The throne on the left, is the same exact seating design, except instead of a sun, it’s a crescent moon.
I think about these thrones for a second and approach them. The arms of the thrones have an assortment of gems engraved into them. Rubies, emeralds, amethysts . It’s quite stunning actually.
I decide to focus on setting up camp before exploring a bit more and I pick a spot behind the thrones that have little to no debris, and still has the roof above it.
I set down my gear and move back to the front of the thrones to go tear down one of the many tattered and aged banners placed along the walls. I decided to tear down one of the dark blue moon themed banners to use as a blanket.
I wonder how Discord’s fairing. I hope he managed to make Zecora look more crazy then she already was. Having the amount of ponies that know about my existence is bad enough as is.
I bundle up the banner and place it beside my bag and turn back around to fetch some more banners as a placemat. After some tearing and positioning I had a nice little comfy spot to lay down. I place my hands on my hips and look at my makeshift bed.
“Good enough.” I say out loud. Not really caring what heard me.
I go back into the main throne room and spot a set of blue armour with that crescent moon on the chest plate. The armour looks like it’s fitted for a pony, figures.
While I’m inspecting I see a shadow in my peripheral moving quickly out of the room. I turn to face where I saw it but see no disturbances in the environment. I move to the oak doors and close them. Once the doors are fully shut I turn back to the armour to see if I can find any more pieces to it.
Maybe I can put it together? I start slowly searching the room for any scattered pieces of armour. In the end of my search I have; the chest piece, two pieces of leg armour, a helmet and a spear.
Their armour doesn’t look all that strong to be honest. If I were to put a heavy enough punch into the armour it would break, or heavily dent.
I look up through one of the many holes in the ceiling and see that the sun is about to go down, and at the same time, I yawn.
I look back down and limp over to my bed and lay down on top of it. I take off my helmet and place it beside my head on the stone, and pull the banner I’m using as a blanket over myself. I then shut my eyes and try to catch some sleep. Hopefully this one won’t be interrupted.
• • •
Floating. Always floating. I can’t help but feel annoyed with the constant floating. I don’t feel anything while in here but it’s still nice to at least simulate the feeling of walking on solid ground.
Oh wait, I can. I roll my eyes at my forgetfulness and close my eyes, thinking of a random memory. I wait for the shift on the other side of my eyelids and when I see it, I open them.
I’m standing on top of a hill. The grass is the greenest green there can be, little patches of flowers fill random spots on the hill. The sky is a light blue, with clouds partially filling it, and the sun beams down onto my figure.
I take a step forward, then another. This is my happy place. My own secluded spot of greenery.
I take a seat, not having the burden of injuries when in here, and breathe in the simulated air. I feel happy. Knowing this I let a smile appear on my face, and the muscles in my body start to relax.
I feel something try and pry into my head, and my smile drops. I wait for a second and that feeling of unease washes over me. Suddenly the sky turns into a black and the flowers and grass around me start to wilt and die.
I swivel my head in every direction, only to be met with the same sight. Death. What is this? I didn’t cause this!
I hear something in the wind. It sounds like.. screaming? I close my eyes and try to end the stimulation but I can’t, and I begin feel a tightness in my chest.
I open my eyes to see that everything’s returned to normal. I look around in a panic, and everything had gone back to how it was previously. What the fuck..
I worriedly sit back down, deciding to worry about this when I wake up. For now I need to let my body get as much rest as it can. I feel I’m gonna need it soon.
~ POV: ? ~
Watching the creature sleep in my castle aggravates me. Who does he think he is to walk into my castle and claim it as his own?
My attempt to enter his mind was a failure. Whatever this thing is it has a very strong mental barrier. Interesting.
~ POV: October ~
I ended the simulation and decided to just float around in the white. Allowing me to think about the first time I was here. I’ve always been prone to lucid dreaming, but the night I arrived was the first time I’ve been in my own mind so to say. Or at least that’s what that voice told me. I don’t mind it though. Having a blank slate like this can be nice. I do have the freedom to make whatever I want. It’s like an empty canvas, and I’m the artist.
I didn’t realize I was doing it but while I was thinking I had begun to rub a specific part on the side of my body. A portion of my body I wish I could remove. I clench my fist and move it away from my side, trying to change my thoughts before I have to sit through the memory.
I do manage to change my thoughts and I let out a puff of non existent air. I’m gonna have to learn to control everything here. One wrong thought to cross my mind and I’m living through it again.
I feel my body in the real world begin to shift and turn. It’s wake up time.
• • •
I wake up and just lie there on my bed for a minute before slowly sitting up. My back is a little sore, but other then that I think the sleep was refreshing.
I look down at my thigh and remove the gauze, wanting to take a look at the progress of the healing. I unwrap the wound and find myself completely shocked to find that the wound has been entirely healed. I thought the Zebra said a week? I look at my hand and unwrap the gauze there too, revealing the same results.
I’m overcome with enthusiasm now that my wounds have been healed, and I stand up, wanting to exercise my leg. I stretch my arms and leg before going for a light jog around the rundown castle.
While jogging I start whistling a random tune I had thought of and turned down every turn I could find that wasn’t basically destroyed, liking the feeling of being able to run again. I guess I realized how much I really depend on my legs because I feel like I gained a piece back to my soul.
I make my way back into the throne room and stand in the center, taking some breaths.
FLASH
“There you are! Do you know how hard it was to track your aura with you out here?” I hear Discord’s voice and I turn to face him.
“I have an aura?” I ask with genuine curiosity. “What is it like?” I say looking at him.
“It’s the kind of aura Death would have if you can imagine it.” He says with a look of intrigue as he stares at me. I was about to ask what he was staring at when I realized my helmet was still beside my makeshift bed. I turn and run back to the helmet, quickly putting it on my head and stomping back to Discord.
“You know I might kill you right now, right?” I say in a threatening tone. He takes a step back and puts his hands out in front of him.
“Don’t escalate this. I’ve already seen your face before, you forget I’ve been watching you for awhile when you were back on earth.” He tries to defend himself. Knowing this information I raise my fist ready to strike him but I calm down and lower it.
“Are you the only one who knows.” I point at him, he nods quickly. “Keep it that way. Or I’ll turn your head into a trophy.” I turn away quickly and I can hear him let out a noise of relief.
“Don’t worry October. Your secret is safe with me.” He says with a hand over his heart. This gets me thinking again.
“If you know everything about me, why don’t you call me by my real name?” I look over my shoulder at him.
“For two reasons. I don’t wish to be turned into mince meat, and I do it as a form of respect.” He replies with a bow of his head.
“Smart answer.” I walk over to my bed and grab all of my gear before walking back to Discord. “Teleport me somewhere.” I look at him.
“I thought you didn’t want to?” He has a worried expression.
“I don’t. But I want to test something.” I say back to him, standing closer and forcing his hand onto my shoulder, before closing my eyes.
FLASH
When I open my eyes the only noticeable reaction to the teleport is slight nausea. I look at Discord and see that he’s looking me over in interest.
“Your not writhing in pain. The magic must have done something with your previous wounds. Speaking of which, how are they gone already?” He says poking my thigh with a finger.
“I honestly don’t know. But I’m not complaining.” I take a look around and see cells, are we in a prison? “Discord where are we?” I take a step away and crouch down looking at a damp unlit torch lying on the ground.
“We are currently in Canterlot Dungeons.” I stop my inspection and look at him quickly at this. We’re in the mountain city?
“What are we doing here. I thought I said to wait before speaking to the Princesses.” I frown at him, though he can’t see it, I’m sure he can sense it.
“We won’t be talking, we will be observing. You see I want to have the upper hand when we do get you to meet them face to face. Unfortunately they already know of your existence, they just don’t know your sentient, or my companion.” He smirks.
“Companion?” I question, starting my walk down the dungeons hall.
“Well what else would you be?” I ponder over this before shrugging. “How will we be ‘observing’ the royalties?” I ask Discord when he catches up and walks with me.
“Well, we will have to stay away from the main hallways, and I have an idea to do so. Walking through the castle would be idiotic to say the least, so we will have to travel above it all.” He grins and looks at me. This can’t end well.
