the chapter were the story begins and stuff happens
Above a small town in Equestria, a fierce storm raged overhead, lighting light up the sky as thunder shook the ground. The townsfolk hid in their homes as they waited out this unnatural storm, the storm was summoned by a pair of demons who wanted vengeance against the town that had them sealed away for so long ago.
They did not know how the seals were broken but they knew they stood little chance of defeating the demons by themselves and pinned their hopes on a stallion who was visiting the town.
Said stallion sighed as he rubbed his temples to ward off the headache that was forming, it was supposed to be a simple visit to the town. He came to pick up the ores he needed for his current projects and talk with a few friends he had made in town.
That was on hold until he dealt with the demons who were currently threatening the town and its populace.
“Why is it never easy? I just wanted to grab what materials I needed and hang out with friends instead I must deal with a pair of demons with a centuries-old grudge. Why can’t it be easy?” the stallion said aloud.
The stallion was a well-built earth pony: his fur tone was midnight blue while his mane and tail were black with electric blue highlights. He was taller than most ponies but not as tall as the princesses. On the right side of his body was a strange marking that went over both his front and back hooves, they were silver in color and seemed to glow.
(AN: the marking is the same as a Sirens from the Borderlands game series)
The stallion also had features matching those of the thestral tribe, slitted pupils, fangs poking from his lips, and the unique ears the tribe is known for. His tail was also different, it looked more like a wolf's tail rather than a pony.
The stallion was also wearing clothes which were unusual for most ponies since they preferred to walk around naked while most ponies who lived in Canterlot wore clothing.
He wore a white sleeveless Shaolin button-down shirt with red edging, the shirt had black flames along the bottom on the back was a picture of his cutie mark, a wolf's head with a sword, paintbrush, and a hammer behind it in left, middle and right spots. He also wore black pants with white wolf paw prints going along both legs.
“How do you find yourself in these situations Raziel?” Raziel asked himself.
Raziel sighed once more than readied himself to deal with the Storm brothers, he pulled out ōdachi which was made from a new metal that he was trying out and a twisted wooden staff with a large crystal embedded in the head of the staff.
The staff was unique because it was a catalyst, which allowed him to use magic. Raziel’s hoofs glowed and claw-like appendages appeared around his hoofs he grabbed the staff and blade and got ready for the battle to start.
The Storm brothers soon descended from the sky to deal with the foolish pony who was attempting to challenge them.
(AN: the storm brothers are the same ones from the movie Hellboy and the Sword of Storms)
The white-skinned demon was named Lighting, he wielded a golden spear while his brother the larger and purple demon was Thunder, he wielded a large golden mallet.
Lighting stepped forward and pointed his spear at Raziel, “Who are you to stand in our way?”
“I am just a regular stallion protecting innocents from harm,” Raziel replied.
Thunder stepped forward, “Then you will die for getting in our way.”
Thunder roared and charged at Raziel with Lighting hot on his heels, Thunder smashed the ground with his mallet while Raziel jumped into the air and fired a charged magic blast from his staff at Thunder.
The Spell sent Thunder flying back while Lighting swung his spear at Raziel, Raziel met the spear with his own blade. Sparks flew as the two weapons repeatedly clashed with one other neither side giving an inch until Lighting unleased a rapid piercing attack that forced Raziel back to avoid being pierced by the spear.
Raziel fired back with a spell, the crystals glowed as a large orb formed at the top of the staff it then spilt apart into smaller orbs that homed in on Lighting. Lighting cried out in pain as the orbs slammed into him and knocked him to the ground.
Raziel dashed forward hoping to capitalize on the situation only to be side-checked by Thunder who had gotten back up after Raziel’s previous attack. Raziel rolled to his hooves and shot several small homing blasts at Thunder before channeling magic into his blade and sent a crescent arc of magic flying at Lighting.
Thunder swung his hammer destroying the homing spells while Lighting attempted to block the other attack only to be pushed back, his feet dug into the ground leaving small trenches due to the force of the attack. Raziel readied himself for their next attack while planning out how to put an end to this fight.
Raziel knew that the Storm brothers were weakened from centuries of imprisonment, but they could regain their strength by feeding on the townsfolk. It was time to put an end to the fight before any pony was killed.
Raziel placed his staff on his back holding its in place with magic, he then channeled his magic into the blade and readied himself to strike down his target. Raziel charged forward, the magic swirling around the blade and him, it took the form of a roaring dragon. In a flash Raziel covered the distance between himself and Thunder in an instant, severing 'sThunders's head from his body in a single motion.
Thunder’s head rolled along the ground as his body slowly turned into ash and faded away leaving behind his golden hammer.
Lighting cried out in anger over the death of his brother before charging at Raziel his spear ready to pierce through him and avenge his brother. Raziel dodged the attack by sliding underneath Lighting and then struck back with his own attack. The attack cut deeply into Lighting’s exposed back sending him stumbling.
Raziel positioned himself to launch at Lighting and in a single motion dashed forward at Lighting, there was a flash of light as Raziel landed directly across from Lighting who was seemingly unharmed by Raziel’s attack, Lighting stepped forward to continue the battle.
After a few steps Lightings head fell backward off his body before it fell to the ground and began to turn to ash and dissolve away, like with Thunder only Lightings spear remained behind.
Raziel sighed aloud before sheathing his blade and putting it away, he was glad he needed to come here today for materials, he does not want to think about what would have happened if somepony was not here to fight the demons.
“I better go meet up with Mayor Brass and let him know the demons are gone,” Raziel said aloud as he headed back into town after picking up the Storm brother's weapons, Raziel did not want to leave them lying around for some pony else to find.
He had met the stallion when he first came to the town looking to purchase the ores he needed for his work, he is a kind stallion who always did what was best for the town and its residents. As he neared the town Raziel saw not only the mayor but other residents of the town.
Mayor Brass was an earth pony, he had brass-colored fur and a dark yellow mane and tail. His cutie mark was a pair of brass scales in perfect balance.
Mayor Brass stepped forward, “Since you are here, I take it that means the demons have been taken care of?”
“The Storm brothers are dead, you and the rest of the villagers can sleep easy tonight,” Raziel said.
The villagers let loose a massive cheer knowing that they were safe from the demons, it was all thanks to the brave hero standing before him.
Mayor Brass stepped forward, “Raziel we cannot thank you enough for coming to our aid, I do not want to imagine what would have happened if you were not here.”
“You’re welcome, I was just in town to pick up ores I needed for my projects and visiting friends I made in town,” Raziel said.
“We will make sure you have everything you need before you go,” Mayor Brass said.
Raziel brought his hoof to his chin in thought, “Did anypony see who released the brothers in the first place?”
Mayor Brass shook his head, “No, whoever released them made sure that they would not be seen by anypony.”
Raziel sighed out loud, “this isn’t good, there have been a lot of strange events happing through out the country.”
Mayor Brass was surprised, “I heard the rumors, but I did not think much of them. I mean with how crazy some of the rumors sounded who would believe them or find them to be real.”
Raziel nodded his head in agreement, “I understand and agree with you.”
Raziel thought about how strange thefts of ancient artifacts were occurring across the world and the strange situation of how various ponies seemed to gain unique abilities after either consuming or injecting themselves with an unknown agent.
There have also been rumors of deaths caused by the same unknown agent, once such rumor was a pony drank a strange liquid and developed super speed only to die minutes later when its body melted.
The two would continue their small talk until they were pulled into the thank-you party that the town threw together for him. Raziel enjoyed the party, nearly everypony came up to him to thank him for protecting them from the demons while several young single mares came up to him with things they made and batted their eyelashes at him.
The mares would compete to have Raziel’s attention focused on themselves, thankfully they did not go over the top in trying to do so. Raziel would act polite to the mares but turned down any attempts for dates that the mares offered.
It would be a few hours before Raziel would leave the town, his saddlebags overflowing with various ores given to him by the town. The moon was already high in the sky as he neared his home on the outskirts of Ponyville.
The light of the moon lit up the path home as stars shinning in the night sky, Raziel enjoyed the peacefulness of the night.
Raziel soon saw his home shining in the moonlight, it was a modest two-story home that he had bought, he ended up getting it for cheap because of it being abandoned for so long and in need of repairs.
The reason why it was abandoned was due to strange noises coming from underneath the ground along with other things that made no pony want to stay in the home. Rumors started flying wild about the property until it was left abandoned and left to rot until Raziel bought it and repaired the damage to it.
Raziel headed inside and took the stairs down into the basement, the stairs led to a large door that blocked the entrance to the caverns beneath his home.
They were a series of caverns beneath his homemade by a breed of dragon known as tunneling dragon, the breed lived underground tunneling under the earth and eating any gems it comes across.
Apparently, a pair of tunneling dragons tried to make their home in the same spot, they fought each other for the right to claim the territory as their home but ended up taking each other out in the process.
Raziel would stumble across their remains when he explored his property, the remains of the dragons were nothing more than piles of bone at this point. He would also find their respective hordes in smaller caverns not too far from their bodies.
Raziel checked out the laws to make sure he would not get in any trouble for claiming the treasure, nothing was saying he could not but just in case, he moved the hordes to a well-hidden area on his property.
After that, he started the much-needed repairs on the home making it livable once again, once they were done Raziel started taking steps to rebuild his life since he was unable to go back to where he came from.
Raziel shook his head to clear away the dark thoughts, he should not focus on what has happened but should focus on what can happen. He cannot change the past, but he will not let it control him.
Raziel moved on towards a small room that had multiple bins and barrels that held various ores, he had them sorted out so when he needed certain ores, he can grab them right away. He quickly sorted the ores into their respective bins and closed the door.
Raziel headed back upstairs and prepped himself for bed, tomorrow he would have to go into town to pick up various things he needed. He has not been in town for a while not since he bought his property, he started to avoid going into town after he got fed up with the treatment, he was receiving from the townsfolk.
Raziel thought back to how this all started, he and his former friend Stephan somehow found themselves in this world. Both awoke to find themselves transformed into different bodies; he had become an Earth pony while Stephan had become an Alicorn.
He would learn that an Alicorn was considered royalty since the only three alicorns were all considered to be Princesses, Stephan was also believed to be the first known male alicorn. News of his existence spread far and wide attracting all sorts of attention.
Both choose to settle down in Ponyville, the residents of the were happy that Stephan would be staying in their town. Unfortunately, for Raziel many ponies saw him as an easy ticket to getting close to Stephan, numerous times ponies had tried to use him or befriend him.
Ponies would constantly approach him with questions about Stephan, they would always ask one question after another. They did not care for his opinion at all and when he got tired of their games, they would always say he was just jealous of Stephan.
This would go on for so long that a rift would develop between himself and the townsfolk, it became hard for him just to get out of bed on certain days. He would just lay there not wanting to do anything since everypony did not care what he wanted only what they wanted.
Stephan did not help in any way, he cared only about himself and flaunting everything he had in front of him. Raziel doubted Stephan cared what he thought, after all this did not affect him in any way so why should he care.
It was during this time that Raziel felt like he was drowning in his own darkness, with no hope of escaping Stephan’s shadow. He would end up living on the streets after being thrown out of the apartment he was renting; the owner was losing business by having him stay there and kicked him out to make money.
Things would change for Raziel when he met a group of ponies that would pull him from the darkness and give light to his world.
Raziel’s eyes snapped open as he realized that he had not contacted his friends since the night before the crazy day that caused everything to change for him. Raziel was angry at himself for forgetting his friends for so long, he did not mean to avoid them, but he finally had the chance to take back his life.
“I will meet with them tomorrow; I can only hope they will allow me to explain my actions. I do not want to lose what few friends I have made,” Raziel said.
Raziel got into bed and looked out the window, he could only imagine what tomorrow would bring but he had a firm goal in mind in apologizing to his friends and trying to reconnect with them. Raziel soon drifted off to sleep, his dreams were memories of times spent with his friends.
Morning came quickly to Ponyville, light shinned through a window waking Raziel from dreams of the past. He headed to the bathroom first to take a shower and get ready for the day, he dressed in a long-sleeved top colored black with his cutie mark on the front and a picture of a hammer striking an anvil on the back. Flames shot from the anvil going down both sides of the top while he wore a pair of pants like the ones, he wore yesterday.
Raziel made a list of what he needed to buy at the marketplace and what he needed at Backyard Bargains with that done he grabbed his saddlebags and headed out.
The sun was shining brightly as many ponies were out and about doing one thing or another, Raziel soon entered the marketplace to start shopping. Unbeknownst to Raziel, many mares were whispering about him, they were wondering who the new stallion was and how attractive he was. Most of them were complaining to him to Stephan, wondering who the more attractive stallion was.
The clothes he wore showed off his toned body to the mares and they liked what they saw, Raziel looked to see several mares staring at him, and he caught a few licking their lips at him.
Raziel paid no mind to the mares watching him instead he focused on getting what he needed, moving from stall to stall while dealing with mares battering their eyelashes at him. Raziel politely turned down the 'mare's advances, this seemed to make the mares more interested in him due to his polite and gentle stallion nature.
Raziel stopped and checked the list he made for the marketplace, most of what he had written was crossed off leaving apples as the last thing he needed. He headed towards the apple stand; he saw that Applejack was running the stand.
“Howdy, can I interest you in purchasing some fresh apples today?” Applejack asked.
“Yes, I would like to purchase to a bag of your apples please,” Raziel said.
As she put together his order Applejack looked over the stallion, he was a unique one that was for sure. She could not put her hoof on it, but she feels that she has met this stallion before, something about him seemed familiar to her.
“Here is your order, please come again,” Applejack said.
“Thank you very much and have a good day,” Raziel replied.
As Raziel continued down the path Applejack looked on still trying to figure out why the stallion seems so familiar to her, she does not remember meeting him before.
“Hmmm, maybe I should talk with the girls and Stephan to see if they recognize him,” Applejack thought to herself.
“That is one down, now on to the second one,” Raziel thought to himself.
Raziel made a beeline for Backwards Bargains, upon entering the store he grabbed a cart and started moving through the store one aisle at a time. In the store, he heard several ponies talking about Stephan and his latest victories against those foolish enough to challenge him.
When Stephan being an alicorn was revealed to the public not only did it bring great joy to most ponies it also brought attention to himself, in the form of criminals and other types of ponies hoping to take him down and make a name for themselves.
So far, no pony has come close to doing so, thankfully the ones that challenge Stephan were either low-ranked criminals or arrogant stallions hoping to show off their stallionliness.
Something Raziel was glad for was none of the criminals tried targeting the town, they only focused on Stefan. This meant that no innocents were put in danger because of the fighting, but Raziel was worried it may only be a matter of time before a dangerous foe decides to make a move.
It did not take Raziel long to finish his shopping and checkout, next he would head home to put things away and then head to his friend's bar/club and explain his actions.
On the way home Raziel would accidentally bump into a familiar mare, the mare in question being Lyra Heartstrings. Lyra was a unicorn pony and one of Stephan’s biggest fans, she would constantly find him to ask countless questions about Stephan and humans.
Raziel had nothing against the mare, she had a natural curiosity towards humans especially Stephan for unknown reasons. She was an exceptionally talented musician; he had been to several of her performances in the past.
“I’m sorry for bumping into like that, my mind is elsewhere at the moment,” Lyra said.
Raziel held out his hoof to help her up, “It’s no problem, I have done the same thing in the past.”
Lyra grabbed Raziel’s hoof and got back up, as she looked at the stallion, she bumped into she found it hard not to blush at the handsome stallion before her. He was taller than most ponies and possessed a feral quality that most ponies do not have.
Raziel was wondering if Lyra was ok, she had been staring at him for the past few seconds.
“Lyra, are you ok?” Raziel asked as he shook her.
Lyra blinked a few times then blushed when she realized that she was staring at him for a little while, she was incredibly embarrassed at the situation.
“I’m sorry for staring at you,” Lyra replied while looking away from Raziel as she blushed in embarrassment.
Raziel waved off her worries, “no worries, I have gotten used to it from the way I look.”
Lyra relaxed upon hearing what Raziel said, then she remembered something that Raziel said.
“Um, excuse me, but how did you know my name?” Lyra asked.
Raziel raised an eyebrow at the question, “I know who you are from the various performances you have down with Octavia Melody. If that is all your questions, I am going to head home.”
Lyra shook her head, “No, that’s all. Have a good day.”
Raziel said goodbye to Lyra and headed back home, on the way home he would see a large group of ponies looking up at the sky. A glance skywards confirmed why they had gathered; Stephan was fighting against another challenger.
From what he could see of his opponent it was just another foolish pony hoping to make it big by defeating Stephan, Raziel resisted the urge to roll his eyes at Stephan showing off his skills for the fans, and just continued onward.
Stephan was a strange type of alicorn, unlike Princess Celestia and Princess Luna Stephan held little talent in magic. He had difficulty using even some of the lower-tier spells, his other abilities that came from his earth pony and pegasus traits were also average at best.
Raziel did not understand why the situation was like this for Stephan, but these were facts he kept to himself. After all, he did not look like your average earth pony, and he had secrets of his home.
Stephan was the size of your average stallion; his mane and tail were colored light oak while his fur was beach sand-colored. If it were not for the combination of the wings and horn, anypony would see him as a regular stallion.
His opponent was a pegasus with a grey fur tone and black mane and tail, He did not recognize the stallion from any wanted posters nor was he a past challenger. Raziel walked away from the fight, he had seen Twilight and her friends watching the action.
He could hear them talking in an excited tone as they watched Stephan demonstrate his mad skills as Stepan brags to anypony in earshot. Pinkie was already planning a victory party for his latest win while the others simply enjoyed the show.
He knew that if anything went wrong, they could handle it, thankfully that never happened because the fighter was quick to leave after they had lost the fight.
Raziel soon reached his home and headed inside and into the kitchen, once everything was put away, he got ready to head out once again. Raziel was nervous but he continued to push forwards, he would do whatever he could to make it up to the friends he had forgotten.
He had met them when he was living on the streets for a week, the manager had found him bundled up in a cardboard box next to the dumpster outside of the club. He took Raziel in and introduced him to the other workers sparking their friendship.
They would let him stay in the loft above the club, he would work for them helping with anything he could to pay them back for their kindness, but they would always refuse his attempts. He hoped that his carelessness did not cost him the friendship of the ponies who showed him such kindness when he was at his lowest.
Raziel kept moving forward despite fears clawing at his thoughts, he shook his head to clear away the thoughts of self-doubt going through his mind. Raziel looked up and noticed that he had arrived at the club, he took a deep breathe and headed inside ready to face whatever awaited inside.
The inside of the building had the appearance of your average club, he could see the large dance floor in the center of the building. On the left side was a set of stairs leading up to the second-floor area with a smaller dance floor. On the right side was the bar and dining area where ponies get to eat or drink when they were not dancing.
In front of the dance floor was the stages where the musicians performed and a DJ’s booth where the club DJ unleashed their musical talents on the crowd. Raziel saw his friends getting ready for another night each prepping for their respective duties.
As Raziel looked around he noticed that he had attracted the attention of a few of the ponies but before they could approach him somepony beat them to the punch.
“I see you have finally come back to us; I told the others you would be coming in today, but they still want you to explain yourself. Regardless, it is good to see you Raziel,” a unicorn stallion said.
The stallion had jet black fur and silver mane and tail, on his face was pair of rose-colored shades with a black frame. His cutie mark was several piano keys with musical notes coming from the keys.
His name was Silent Keys, he is a master of the piano for the club. Raziel was not surprised that Silent knew that he was coming today, Silent was born blind but at the same time, he had the unusual ability to see things that normal ponies could not.
He refused to admit but it was suspected that he had visions of events and possibly saw the future, but he avoided answering the question regardless of how many times it was asked.
Raziel sighed aloud, “I will answer whatever questions they want to know; I have a lot to apologize for.”
Silent reassured him that everything would be okay, the pair walked over to where the other workers of the club were waiting for them. Raziel was more than a little nervous about the meeting, but he refused to run away from his friends.
“Silent are you going to introduce us to your friend?” a unicorn mare asked.
The mare had a black fur tone and a silver with blue highlights her mane and tail, her name is Silk Voice. She was one of the club's top performers, singing various songs including ones she learned from Raziel.
Silent just smirked at the question, “you already know this pony, he is a friend of ours that has just recently come back to us after being gone for a while.”
The group immediately turned to Raziel, they look at him with a mixture of surprise and confusion. Raziel was just standing at attention as his friends examined him no doubt trying to see if he was their friend or not.
“Raziel is that you, what happened to you? The last time we saw you are when you headed out to pick up materials for a project you were working on,” another stallion said.
The earth pony stallion had a dark yellow coat and white mane and tail, his cutie mark was a pair of beer mugs clinking together. His name is Frosted Mug, he was the bartender for the club and husband to Silk voice.
Raziel sighed aloud, “It’s a complicated story, but I will tell you everything.”
The group sat down at a table while Frosted placed drinks in front of everypony, they eagerly waited for Raziel to begin his tale.
“Like Frosted said I had gone out to pick up some materials I needed from the cavern I had found in Evertree forest, but then trouble found me on the way back home,” Raziel said.
“What do you mean?” Silk asked.
Raziel took a sip of his drink before answering, “on the way back home I had a run-in with the Thunder brothers, they had followed me into the forest wanting to see what I was doing and give me a hard time like usual. I was able to get away from them by temporarily blinding them with a flash bomb, but they were soon after me wanting to get revenge for blinding them.”
Everypony was listening to Raziel’s story, they were angry with the Thunder Brothers for once again causing their friend trouble. They had dealt with the Thunder brothers in the past, they liked to cause problems for ponies in the past and were particularly good at getting away with their mischief.
“So how did you manage to escape them then,” Sound Wave asked.
Sound wave was the club's DJ, he had a dark purple fur tone and a black mane and tail. His cutie mark was a box of records with a record player leaning against the box.
“I ran as fast as I could through the woods trying everything to shake them, but they remained on my tail, eventually I would spot a cave entrance and ducked inside to hide from the brothers. If I had known what the cave led to, I would have taken my chances and kept running through the woods.”
Frosted and the others gave Raziel a confused look, “What do you mean, was the cave occupied by something?”
Raziel shook his head, “No it wasn’t that, as I walked deeper into the cave, I found a strange set of pillars towards the back of the cave. Before I could examine them more closely, I heard the Thunder brothers entering the cave, I headed further into the cavern going past the pillars and deeper into the cavern.”
“Please don’t stop on our account, what happened next?” Silk asked.
“The further I went into the cave the odder it seemed to become; the cave seemed to get larger the deeper I traveled. I noticed several clusters of crystals growing in different spots of the cavern, I would foolishly let my curiosity get the better of me when I choose to try and take a sample of the crystal.”
“When I touched the crystal is when everything went wrong, there was a flash of light, and the next thing I knew I had been teleported into an unknown area of the cavern. This would only be the beginning of my problems because when I started exploring to find my way out, I would learn that I was not the only living thing in this place,” Raziel said.
Raziel paused to take a sip of his drink, his mind wandered to the events that happened in that cavern.
“The cavern turns out is home to countless monsters, various kinds of them some possessing unique abilities,” Raziel said.
“Wait a second you said you saw pillars with a strange markings on them and this was before you first encountered the monsters?”
The question came from a unicorn mare with a light grey fur tone and light purple mane and tail. Her cutie mark was several music sheets. She was Elegant Melody; she used her magic to play multiple instruments at once thus providing a full band or orchestra for Silk when she sang.
Elegant was also a major history buff who enjoyed learning about the previous eras, the era she found the most interesting was the time before the three tribes known as the Lost Age. It was called that because of how little is known about age.
What is known was during that age not only did the three tribes of ponies live together but other species as well, it was a time of peace and prosperity for all. Numerous advances in all fields magic, science, medicine, and other fields.
Everything ended when an event known as the great cataclysm brought an end to the era of peace and caused all the species to break apart from one other. Little is known about what caused the cataclysm, what little information that has been gathered talks about a dangerous entity that spawned countless monsters and demons was responsible for the event.
Raziel turned to Melody, “I found the pillars before the monsters, I am guessing you know where I ended up?”
Melody nodded her head, “the pillars were created by Starswirl to protect Equestria from the monsters that live and spawn in that area, it is known as the Labyrinth. The Labyrinth was believed to have been made in the Lost Era, but no pony knows why, and no pony has ever made it to the bottom of the Labyrinth.”
“What happened after you encountered the monsters?” Sound wave asked.
“Shortly after my first encounter with the monsters I would come across a large bridge over a deep chasm. I would be blitzed by more monsters on the bridge, I was able to fend them off until a large bull-like monster appeared. Despite my best attempts to fend off the monster, it was able to score a glancing blow against me that knocked me over the side of the bridge and deeper into the Labyrinth as I now know it is called,” Raziel replied.
“After I recovered from my fall, I looked around to see if there was any way of getting back up but there was no such luck. My only option was to head deeper into the Labyrinth to find a different way out,” Raziel said.
The others were not surprised at Raziel’s unwillingness to give up, they also Raziel was very resourceful due to his past as a soldier in the military. He was fully capable of defending himself in nearly any situation that he would find himself in.
“it was shortly after my fall that I would find a strange staff embedded in a stone floor in a hidden cavern when I touched the staff, I would feel a strange sensation on the left half of my body, that is when I noticed I gained the marks on my body.”
Raziel showed the group the strange pattern on his front left hooves, the group was curious about the marks and wondered if there was some form of significance about them.
“I soon learned I could cast magic spells like a unicorn can, I used the staff to help get me through the Labyrinth.”
“I decided to make some basic weapons to defend myself against whatever was lurking in the Labyrinth, the second thing was I would have to live off whatever I could find to survive. To do just that I chose to feed on the monsters that I fought against causing the changes to my appearance.”
Everypony at the table was a mixture of surprised and a little grossed out, they knew that their friend did what was necessary to survive in the Labyrinth. They knew, unlike most ponies Raziel was an omnivore, which meant he needed both plants and animals to survive. Before his disappearance, Raziel mostly ate fish and meat substitutes.
“So, what did the monsters taste like?” Frost asked.
Silk shot her husband a dirty look, “you really asked him the question?”
Frost shrugged his shoulders, “What, you cannot blame me for being curious.”
Everypony else just rolled their eyes at the couple's conversation, they had long gotten used to the couple's spats now and again.
“To answer your question Frost, the meat is an acquired taste, and I would not recommend trying to eat. As I headed deeper into the Labyrinth I would continue feeding on monsters and getting stronger with each new monster that I ate.”
“So that is why you look like you are part thestral then?” Melody asked.
Raziel nodded his head, “that is partially correct, the changes happened over time, I did not notice them at first because I was more focused on staying alive than my appearance. There is another factor that resulted in my strange transformation.”
Frost put his hoof to his chin in thought, “So I am guessing you fought your way down to the bottom of the Labyrinth then and found a way out since you are here now.”
“Yes, I did, but it was far from an easy task. As I went further down the monsters became stronger and I had to adapt to the changes. I started creating different tablets that had a picture and information on each of the monsters I encountered, this would allow me to know how to best fight them. I also created different weapons to help with the growing strength of the monsters.”
Raziel took a long sip of his drink and let the others do the same, the group stared at their friend amazed at what he had gone through during his time in the Labyrinth, but they also remembered that Raziel was not finished with his story.
“It would the same for a while, I constantly pressed forward to the bottom and hopefully a way out. I would rest when needed as well as updating my files with any new information that I had. I would eventually find my way to the final room in the Labyrinth and the final challenge blocking me from leaving.”
“Before I could leave the Labyrinth, I would have to defeat the strongest monster yet, which was a Hydra. Each of its heads came in a different color and each had its own ability; Red breathed fire, blue shot condensed spheres of water, green shot arcs of air, yellow breathed lighting, brown pit out chunks of earth, white fired light energy, black fired dark energy, a silver head healed any damage it took while a golden head formed a shield to block my attacks.”
The group looked horrified at what Raziel had to fight against, a normal hydra was bad news but the one Raziel fought against was a nightmare of a monster.
“Dude how did you survive against such a dangerous monster?” Frost asked being the first to find his voice.
“It was far from an easy fight; the silver head was always healing any damage it took while the golden head blocked my attacks. I had to focus on taking out the silver head while keeping the other ones distracted from intercepting my attacks, once the silver one was gone it was just a matter of time as I took out each head one by one until the monster died. Once it was gone, I opened the doors and headed through hoping to find an exit to this place but instead found something I was not even close to expecting to be down in such a place.”
“What did you find that was so surprising? Do not leave us in suspense!” Sound wave exclaimed.
The others felt the same as Sound wave, their curiosity was peaked from the story, and wanted to find out what happened next.
“The door opened up to a large mansion sitting in a large grassy area, I was extremely confused at first trying to understand what a mansion doing at the end of this Labyrinth.”
“Wait, after taking down the hydra, you found a mansion in a field behind the door? That is incredibly odd,” Frost said.
Raziel nodded his head in agreement, “I thought the same thing, I would find out why it was there shortly.”
“I decided to head inside hoping to find answers to my questions, I would first find that almost all doors were locked at first except for one. The only door that I would fond open would lead to a large room with the unknown remains of a unicorn sitting in a chair directly across from me.”
“As I approached the body, I stepped on the rug in front of it triggering a spell that had been placed there. A hologram of the stallion appeared and explained what was going on, his name was Silver Elixir, he gave me the knowledge of a new form of magic and told me any questions I may have would be answered in his library.”
“Wait, you said his name Silver Elixir?” Melody asked.
Raziel nodded his head, “Yes, that is what he called himself. I am guessing you are familiar with that name?”
Melody looked like she was going to start bouncing around, “He was a legendary alchemist from the lost era, his skill in the field of alchemy was said to be unrivaled by any pony. Supposedly he and several others were branded as traitors to the kingdom for unknown reasons.”
“There is more to it than that, Silver kept journals about his life during what he calls the golden age before the great calamity changed the world, he and the others that were branded as traitors because they discovered certain things they shouldn’t have and were branded as traitors to prevent them from leaking the information.”
The group was surprised at what they heard; they had heard of the six traitors from Melody countless times. At the same time, they wondered what the group had discovered that would cause them to suffer such extreme punishment.
The group turned to Raziel once again, waiting for him to finish his story.
“I ended up staying in the mansion until I fully recovered from my travels in the Labyrinth, during that time I read everything that I could while training in the new magic Silver had given me. The magic allowed me to change and reshape materials into stronger versions of themselves. As I learned more about magic, I learned how to create new materials either by combining materials or reshaping the material at the base level.”
“The mansion had a gateway set up that would lead me back to the surface, once I fulfilled recovered from my journey and copied all of the books from the library I headed back to the surface. After that I was wrapped up in a whirlwind of buying my house with money, I got from selling the material I picked up from the labyrinth and fixing it up.”
The group was amazed at what their friend went through, they know how difficult life was for him due to constantly being in Stephan’s shadow. It seemed like no pony cared about him but only saw him as a tool to be used to get closer to Stephan.
They remembered just how tired and beaten down he was, when they encountered him for the first time, Frosted would find him sleeping in an alleyway. They would learn he had been thrown out of the apartment and could not find anywhere else to say due to the negative rumors about him.
Frosted would bring him inside and let him stay in the loft above the club, he and the others would help him back on his feet and get his life in order. They would support him and would form a deep bond of friendship with him.
Raziel sighed, “I know I should have let you know that I was okay, but I got too wrapped up in getting my life back on track. You all know how many ponies tried to use me for personal gain in the past and later how pretty much everypony turned their back to me after I had enough of their attempts to falsely befriend me.”
Silk was the first to move and hug Raziel, they had already guessed the rest of the story from what he had told them already. Raziel used the skills he had learned in the Labyrinth to take back his life and start anew.
“Raziel while we are happy you can live your life how you want it, but please do not forget that we are your friends and we care about you,” Silk said.
The others nodding and agreeing with what Silk said, they followed Silks Example and joined in on the hug. Raziel was glad he did drive away his friends due to his own foolish mistake; he would make sure that he would not make the same mistake again.
The group broke up and everypony sat back down, “So where are you living now? I know we had been staying in the spare room above the club since you were thrown out of the apartment you were renting?” Frost asked.
“I bought a home that is on the outskirts of Ponyville, it allows me to have privacy and do my work without bothering any ponies nearby,” Raziel said.
A gasp from Melody drew their attention, “You don’t mean the run-down home that has been abandoned for so long, that place has been on the market forever.”
Raziel nodded his head, “Yes that is the one, it wasn’t that hard to fix the place up. I also solved the mystery of what was causing all the noises underneath the house, it turns out a pair of tunneling dragons had tried to make their home underneath the property at the same time.”
Everypony was shocked at the news, tunneling dragons were dangerous to deal with, due to their soft bodies absorbing most attacks that were thrown at them. They were not known for attacking ponies rather they preferred feeding on underground deposits of gems.
“Are the dragon still there or did they move on?” Silk asked.
Raziel shook his head, “they took each other out in a fight for the territory, I found their skeletal remains in one of the larger caverns. I had to investigate the laws regarding finding abandoned dragon treasure to make sure I could not get arrested for having the treasure in the first place. Nothing is saying I could not claim it since the dragons were dead and I owned the property.”
“So, when can we come over for a visit, I want to see you new a place for myself,” Sound wave asked.
“Yeah, I am sure the rest of us want to do the same as well,” Frost said.
Raziel smiled at the group, “No problem, I want you all to come over anyways, I know Melody will want to read the books I copied from the mansion.”
Melody was overjoyed to hear that she could see the books, but she wondered how he was able to read the langue in the first place.
“Raziel, how were you able to read the writing, very few ponies can only read snippets of the ancient writing?” Melody asked.
“When I was gifted the knowledge of the magic I also learned how to read and write in the ancient language. I made a guide on how to translate the ancient writing into modern langue as well for others to use,” Raziel replied.
Melody was bouncing in her seat; she could not wait to get her hooves on the translated books and read what secrets were hidden in their words. The other members of the group smiled at Melody’s excitement knowing full well how much she loved to learn about the lost age.
“We are glad to see you are doing well Raziel,” Silent said.
The group was happy that their friend was okay when he disappeared, they tried to look for him but were unable to find any sign of him. If Stephan noticed his disappearance, he did seem to show it, it would not surprise them if he cared at all. No pony really tried to find him either, most ponies seemed happy that Raziel was gone and no longer causing problems for their town in their eyes.
“So, what’s on your agenda for the rest of the day?” Frost asked.
Raziel shrugged, “I already ran my errands for today, tomorrow I am headed to Canterlot speak with Princess Celestia and give her the books from the mansion. I have copies of all of them, I believe she will want to look at them for herself.”
Melody nodded her head in agreement, “She will defiantly want to read the books herself especially Silver’s journals since they talk about what happened before the Great Calamity took place. There is little information on that time period.”
“So, is there anything new going with everypony, or is it more or less the same since my last visit?” Raziel asked.
“Not much has changed, there were a few strange events that happened in town, Applejack tried to buck all the apple trees in Sweet Apple Acres by herself which affected everypony in town in different ways. Then everypony got a little crazy when they learned Twilight had a spare ticket to the Grand Galloping Gala. Rainbow Dash had a griffon friend visit and caused all sorts of trouble,” Frost said.
“Oof sounds ruff. I hope none of you guys got caught up in that craziness,” Raziel replied.
“Nah we avoided the craziness, and a few days ago a dragon decided to try and make its home in one of the mountains near the town, while it slept it breathed out smoke which nearly covered the town. The girls alongside Stephan were sent to drive him away, Fluttershy was the one who drove him out if you believe it,” Sound said.
Raziel chuckled, “I believe it, she has a kind heart but can be forceful when she is needed to be.”
The group would continue to talk some more until they had to stop and get things ready for the club tonight. Raziel promised to come in and enjoy the music and enjoy the company of his friends.
Raziel headed back home with a smile on his face, he was overjoyed to know he had not lost his friends but that does not mean he was out of the woods with them. He had to make sure he would not make that mistake again.
Raziel got home and headed towards his study, he sat down and pulled out a large folder containing various project ideas. He worked on different ideas at different times depending on which one he was in the right mood to work on.
He had created a few things based on items from various games, he made a fully functioning Pip-Boy from the Fallout Franchise. Much like its in-game counterpart it had a functioning radio, a map, and a storage device.
The project he was currently working on now was a suit of power armor, the suit was designed to function in multiple areas where ponies could not always normally access such as areas with extreme heat and cold, as well as underwater exploration. He was basing the designs of the armor from the Fallout franchise; he had several project ideas based on items and tools from various games.
The project has been an ongoing one for a while, he would constantly add and remove things from the project if they were needed or hindered the functionality of the suit. The base design was already set, it was just a matter of having the right materials and building the suit.
Raziel would continue to look over various projects making notes about different things, some were to add in new items or remove ones that do not fit the project after reviewing the item.
Raziel would continue reviewing his projects until it was time to head out to the club, he locked up his home and headed out to meet up with his friends. By the time he got there, the club was already rocking to the beat of Sound waves music.
He looked around and could see familiar faces enjoying the club scene, he saw Bon-Bon and Lyra together, on the dance floor he saw ponies showing off their dancing skills to the beat of the music.
Raziel headed inside and sat down at an empty table, he was enjoying the beat of the music when Silk and Melody joined him at the table.
“I am glad you came, we almost thought you were not coming at first,” Silk said.
Raziel waved off Silk’s worries, “I got caught up in working on projects, I am sorry for not keeping track of the time.”
Silk patted Raziel’s hoof, “Do not worry about it, everypony is just glad to see you are doing well.”
The trio would continue to make small talk while enjoying the atmosphere, the duo would eventually drag him onto the dance floor. Raziel would enjoy the time spent with his friends with the rest of their group joining in the fun when they could.
As he danced with Silk and Melody Raziel could feel many eyes on him, but he did not care he was happy to be with his friends again.
By the time he left the club Raziel was in a happy mood, he had reformed the bond he had with his friends, and he would make sure not to mess up this time.
At the same time as Raziel was hanging out with his friends at the club, Stephan and the girls were having their own victory party at Sugercube Corner. They were celebrating Stephan’s latest victory and another defending the town once again.
The main six and Stephan were grouped when Applejack brought up the subject of the strange stallion she saw earlier.
“Hey what’s on your mind Applejack, you have been in deep thought most of the party?” Twilight asked.
Applejack sighed, “I’m sorry, I have been thinking about the strange stallion I that was at my stand earlier. There was something about him that seems familiar, but I cannot put my hoof on it.”
“Really darling, are you sure you are not interested in him for different reasons,” Rarity asked in a teasing tone.
Applejack shook her head, “It isn’t like that, I just have a feeling that we had met before, but I do not remember seeing him before.”
“ooh, ooh, maybe he is a new pony that means I get to through him a welcome to Ponyville party and introduce him to everypony,” Pinkie said in an excited tone while bouncing in place.
“Uhh, Pinkie if Applejack already meets the pony before wouldn’t that mean that you already threw him a party,” Fluttershy said in a shy tone of voice.
“Wait, wait, wait, how do we know that this pony isn’t some kind of criminal hiding in Ponyville before launching his evil plan?” Rainbow Dash asked in a gruff tone.
Applejack shook her head, “I don’t think he was a criminal Dash; he was nice to everypony he met and did not try to cause any trouble in any way.”
Twilight brought her hoof to her chin in thought, she heard Dash mumbling about the pony being dangerous but ignored her. Whoever it was the pony was they must have a home in town if they were buying food from the market?
“Tomorrow we can try and find the stallion and introduce ourselves to him, that should clear up any mysteries about the stranger,” Twilight said.
The rest of the group nodded their head in agreement, for now, they would enjoy the rest of the party and find out the identity tomorrow.