Of all the rifts to open
"The trees, they're conveying to me. The forest has been violated by the scourge of the hellbourne, I must not let this disease spread." said the lumbering treefolk which kept the forest of Aldoria safe for years.
O~~~~~~~~o~~~~~~~~o
“Oh how the lands seems so violent, so filled with power, power waiting for the right user. Hahaha.” She snickered to herself as she skipped merrily through the dead forests which marked the border line of the Hellbourne occupation.
“1 body, 2 bodies, 3 bodies, more. 1 more body hits the cold floor.” She chanted as she raised her staff well over her head.
“The time has come for the power to be mine, for Newerth’s magic to accept the rift, and for the rift to accept me as its rightful ruler.”
The staff glowed brightly as rays of light emanated from the crystal on its end. The light bathed the forest around her as she continued chanting. As the glow steadily increased, it caught a certain beast’s attention.
O~~~~~~~~o~~~~~~~~o
Armaddon was busy trudging the Forests of Caldavar as the constant fighting had yet to end. He craved for peace, even a glimmer of it. But even when on duty, he would always find solitude among the tree line.
Content with its wonders and its calmness, he would visit and spend time in it. As he lumbered along, he met a chiprel, seemingly running towards him as if rushing to convey something. He picked up the small creature with his open palm and placed the furry little thing on his shoulder.
“How does it go furry little friend, uhurrrr.” The giant armadillo asked.
“Squee, eeter eeter squeak squeak skeeek” the chiprel aqueaked in response.
“Oh that does seem bothersome. Duhhhhhhh. You better get running along now and I’ll try to stop the irritating light for you, okay?” he smiled as he put down the chiprel.
He walked on, his mace dragging along the ground, as he neared the place the chiprel had described. As he drew closer, he could hear faint chanting and merry giggling as a glow just above his field of vision broke the canopy of the trees.
“Uhhhh, that must be the one my little friend had told me.” He said to himself.
Armaddon picked up the pace as he began to sprint towards the light which constantly grew brighter. He knew that if it was hostile, he could take them on seeing as he is a champion of the Legion.
But he wanted to talk to it first, just to make sure it really is hostile. “Maybe it’s friendly, maybe it’s hungry, maybe it’s lost” He thought to himself as he finally broke through the brush concealing the source of the light.
Surprised at what he had seen, Armaddon stopped, just at the edge of what seemed to be a runic circle on the ground. There in the middle of the circle was a human, from what he could tell from the features, it was a female one. She was busy chanting, she held a staff high over her head which seemed to be the source of the bright light.
“Hello there. Urrrrrrr. What do you think you’re doing in this forest? Are you lost or sumfin’?” he asked the human.
“Wait, why are you here, who are----”
The light vanished from the forest. So did the circle on the ground. So did Armaddon and the human.
Moments later, a little furry creature ran up to where the center of the commotion had been. It stood over the mace of the great Armordillo. It scratched its head as it stood on bipedal legs. It sighed as it began to scurry away.
“Oh boy, Queen Ophelia’s not gonna like this”
O~~~~~~~~o~~~~~~~~o
"Hey Twilight, have you ever thought that maybe, just maybe, someone out there is talking about us?" asked Pinkie Pie as she bounced around the library.
"I don't know what you mean Pinkie. I think somepony out there may know us and will probably be talking about us. We are the bearers of the elements of harmony after all, y'know." Twilight replied as she looked around the bookshelves.
"No, not just somepony, but I think SOMEBODY out there, not in Equestria but somewhere out there, through the sky, or or or, beyond that even." Pinkie said as she ducked under a table, pretending as if someone really was watching them.
"That's ridiculous Pinkie Pie. I knew you were random, not paranoid."
"Just a thought." said the pink mare as she returned to her lively bouncing.
"I have a question Pinkie. Why are you here again?" Twilight asked as she went through another one of the shelves.
“Well, no particular reason.”
“I thought so. Aha, I found it.” The lavender mare beamed as she magically levitated a book from the book shelf she was facing.
“Found what Twi?”
“A book about something called ‘Mana’. Last night, I had the weirdest feeling come through me. I was so peaceful and calm even after a stressful da-” she barely got to finish her sentence when a pink blur appeared in front of her.
“OHMYGOSH! You too?! I had the strangest thing happen to me last night while I was about to make a new song. It was like fwoosh, and then AAAAAGGGGGGGHHH and then came the oooooohhhhhhh, and then there was the sudden aaaaahhhhh, not like the first AAAAAAGGHHHH but more of a soft, fluffy aaaaaaahhhhhhh. And then the next thing I knew I was asleep. I never even got to the chorus an-” A lavender hoof stuck itself in Pinkie’s mouth.
“This is odd. So what you’re trying to tell me is that you felt it too? That’s strange. Pinkie, could you do me a favor. Round up the girls and bring them here. I’ll do some reading up on it and hopefully I get answers. If they felt the same thing, then maybe the whole of Equestria felt it too.” Twilight tried to explain to her bubbly pink friend.
“Mhhhmhhhh mhhhhmhhhh mhhnhhh” Pinkie gave with a hoof salute before rushing out the door.
“Spike, oh spike.”
Spike poked his head from the upper floor. “Yes Twilight?”
“I need you to take a letter to the princess spike. We may have discovered something of interest. Whatever this mana thing is, not only did it do something last night, it’s also invading my subconscious.”
“Your what now?” Spike said with a questioning look on his face
“My dreams, Spike. Last night, I dreamt of Equestria, Ponyville to be more exact. But this wasn’t an ordinary Ponyville, it was in chaos. Not like the disharmony Discord caused a few months ago, no, it was more of evil within everyone. There were ponies fighting each other, stealing each other’s belongings and even….” She stifled a gag as she recalled the part which disturbed her the most. “…ponies killing other ponies. Blood was on the streets, the walls, even my hooves. Worst of all, I saw…...” it was too horrible for her to remember as she just sat on her haunches and bowed her head.
“So you think that whatever caused the lightshow last night is the same thing giving you bad dreams? That sounds ridiculous.” He scrunched his face as if he was thinking deeply.
“What light show?”
“There was a flash of light so close it woke me up. You were asleep and missed it. I looked out the window and saw lights from somewhere close to the apple orchard.” Spike said, trying to point his fingers to the directions of where he saw the lights.
“So you didn’t experience having your mind filled with ideas from ages ago? You didn’t feel like your dreams were invaded by something, I don’t know, unexplainable?” Twilight asked as her curiosity reached its peak.
“No not really.”
Twilight Sparkle galloped to the book she had found. The dilemma she, no, everypony may have experienced was now picking away at her mind.
O~~~~~~~~o~~~~~~~~o
“Ooooooooaaahhhhhhh….” She moaned in agony. She rubbed her temples repeatedly as it was bombarded with sharp pain.
“Urrrrrrr. What happened?” Armaddon stood up, shaking his scales and armor as if to make his body shake off what he had just experienced.
She looked at the great beast. It was armored, an armor which bore the crest of the Legion of Man. It was bipedal, it stood on stubby legs covered by scales, well, its entire body was covered by scales. He looked like a giant pangolin. And the most surprising part, it could talk. Her jaw dropped in amazement at this creature. It was…… was……. adorable.
“OH MY. YOU ARE THE CUTEST THING I HAVE EVER LAID MY EYES ON.” The exuberance in her voice couldn’t be hidden as she leapt to her legs and attempted to hug the great beast. Then she recalled she had a very bad migraine. She dropped to her knees as the pain came and went.
“Are you okay? You shouldn’t be going around jumping when you’re hurt little….uhhhhh….girl?” Armaddon spoke as he tried to help the human up on her legs.
“Yes I am quite alright. I was just shocked over how adorable you are. And you communicate in a language similar to mine. That probably means you have a name. I have a name too. I’m Valrea, the Riftwalker. My friends call me Rifty or even Val, but any would work.” She said as she held out her hand.
“Durrrrrr, I’m Armaddon the Armordillo. It’s nice to meet you miss Val.” He replied as he took the human’s hand in his and shook it.
“Wooooooaaaahhh. Your hands have digits, an opposable thumb as well. So intriguing. Such a magnificent beast. Well Armaddon, I’m sorry about where we are right now, I may have something to do with it.” Valrea spoke as she continued ogling at Armaddon’s spiny back.
“I was about to ask that. What were you doing awhile ago with the circle, uhhhh, and the light and the thing……”
“Oh, I was doing my job, as the title states, rift walking. I was about to travel to one plane where mana is very abundant and I was hoping I could escape the fighting in Caldavar for a while. I wanted to relax a bit before going back and claim all the power of Newerth.” She answered casually.
“Durrrr, so let me get this straight. You’re evil, aren’t you, Val?”
“Not completely. I’m just power hungry. Everything I try to do is so that I could have as much power as I can contain and use that power for the sole purpose of gaining even more power.” Riftwalker’s smile growing wide as she twiddled with her fingers.
The Armordillo just stared at the delusional woman in front of him. She seemed like a kind soul deep inside, but he wasn’t the best judge of character, that would be the Empath’s job. But even if she wanted power, didn’t mean she was evil, did it?
“So, uhhhh, are we in the plane of mana you were talking about?”
“It doesn’t seem so. The Phyrexian plane is desolate and looks like a complete wasteland. This plane looks like it was made for a children’s book. Rolling fields, trees with oversized fruits, a pastel colored equine gawking at us, a b---- wait, a pastel pink colored equine?” Riftwalker stopped as she noticed a stubby, pink horse slowly backing away from them, a look of fear plastered on its face.
“Uhhhhh, it’s a pony. A colorful pony. Hello little pony!” Armaddon shouted as he waved his arm in the air, trying to call its attention.
The pony turned itself around and galloped away from them, screaming in an incoherent manner.
“Well, that was odd. Come along Armaddon, we may find a civilization nearby. We have a lot to talk about anyway.” The Riftwalker spoke as she dusted herself off.
“Off we go then.”