Even True Warriors like myself can suffer;
We feel honor and are praised,
We feel sorrow and are comforted,
We succumb to Wrath and we ruin,
We realize and then we regret."
- Scythe, The Changeling Battle-Master

It had felt like an eternity for Xheda to be trapped inside of his mind and being left unable to see anything but the darkness of the void around him; Xheda had sat in the silence of his subconscious, unaware of the world outside of his unconscious body and left to wonder about the words that echoed in his head over and over again.

"I pray you will forgive me one day"

The longer he thought about it, the more questions arose in his mind such as, "Who was asking for forgiveness?" or "What exactly did they do to him that called for an apology?" It was a confusing situation on the young changeling, though it would be confusing and burdensome on any child, to be in the darkness of your mind, left to wonder on a statement that you don't understand why it was stated.

And then, there was a sudden light bursting into view and a voice calling out to Xheda, drawing him out from the darkness of his unconscious state and into the reality he was thrown from; Xheda's vision began to fix itself, now able to dawn awareness of his surroundings and a familiar tan and blonde pony who had been calling to him. Upon seeing Xheda come to consciousness, Applejack sighed with relief and and sat down at the side of the bed Xheda was laid upon.

"Thank goodness! Ah' thought the worst had happened, Sugar cube! We saw the fire from our farm and we got there as quick as we could!" Applejack told Xheda as she fixed her hat and tried to explain to Xheda of the current situation. The young changeling was still in a partial daze however, his grasp on staying conscious was still weakened and his body needed more time to recover. Applejack then looked upon Xheda and frowned, "Melon Drop is okay, Sugar Cube, she's fine and dandy but...well, something happened to you."

Xheda was able to comprehend the last few words that Applejack spoke of and he turned his gaze over to Applejack with a frown, "Something happened to me? What happened to me?" And Applejack could only shift her gaze between him and his left foreleg; taking the subtle hint, Xheda strained to lift his head and slowly look towards his left foreleg which had been covered by the blanket covering him. "Please...let me see, I want to know what happened"

Applejack hesitated for a brief moment but nodded her head as she placed a hoof on the blanket and gently pulled it aside from Xheda's body. Xheda's weakened gaze had immediately changed to that of terror and confusion as he gazed upon his left foreleg; from his digits to where his left foreleg connects to his torso, his foreleg had turned ashen and cracked with soft glows of red and orange, dimming and glowing from those very cracks. The traits of his foreleg bore similarities to those very beasts that attacked and burned the melon farm! Xheda looked at Applejack quickly and frowned, "Ms. Applejack, what happened?"

--

Xheda had fallen to the ground as his assailant ran its ashen hoof across his left foreleg, standing tall over its unconscious prey but at the same time showing hesitation, even restraint, to be upon him. Melon Drop had managed to outrun the flaming beasts and immediately turned her attention towards her child, who she could now see being towered over by the alicorn-like monster. Melon Drop gasped and immediately turned, making a quick run through the flames towards Xheda, tears of terror fell from her eyes as she prayed for her child's life to remain intact; The pseudo-Alicorn looked towards Melon Drop and backed away from Xheda, quietly observing the two before retreating into the spreading flames.

"Don't you worry, Xheda! Mama's here..." Melon Drop spoke softly through her tears as she threw herself around Xheda protectively, guarding him against the spreading wildfire that had now engulfed the entirety of the melon farm. The loud snaps and pops of the barn wood and house collapsing echoed over Melon Drop, the flames grazing across her back and hind legs; the motherly mare grit her teeth and whimpered with pain but refused to let go of her child.

Departing towards the applefarm, the apple family cart had already made it half way from New Ponyville before stopping to view the flames in the distance. Applejack stepped out beside the cart and tilt her head in confusion along with the rest of her helpers.

"Now what in tarnation is happening over there?" Applejack took a few steps forward away from the cart before she soon began to realize what had been happening. "That's the Melon Farm! Melon Drop's in trouble!" Applejack quickly looked back at her family and ordered them to quickly hurry and retrieve the rest of the apple family currently residing at the farm, she herself would hurry to the Melon farm.

Applejack ran as fast as she could through the darkness, approaching the smoke and fire of the Melon Farm, it had crossed her mind that she should have contacted her friends, the mane six, but she was too worried that it would be too late to try and save Melon Drop and Xheda. Through a wall of flame, Applejack leaped into the melon farm territory and found herself surrounded by fields of fire, frantically searching for Melon Drop and Xheda. She began to cough as the thicket of smoke began to overwhelm her lungs, forcing her into a crawl, but nevertheless, the apple pony continued to call out for Melon Drop and Xheda; after trying so many times, she was finally answered by the faint voice of Melon Drop, who had now suffered severe burns to her hind legs and body, but still remained vigilant in guarding her child.

"Don't ya'll worry, Melon Drop! We'll get this fire contained, just hold on!" Applejack called out to Melon Drop, coughing from the heavy smoke and making her way to Melon Drop's side. Quickly stomping out the flames near Melon Drop but suffering some burns herself, Applejack cleared away the flames the plagued Melon Drop and nudged her slowly but roughly, pushing her as much as she could until they could safely regain their strength; the flames lashed at Applejack constantly, their intense heat almost crippling her as they nipped at her hind legs.

Suddenly, acting as a Miracle to Applejack, the unburned bushes began to reveal various apple family members as they came through onto the melon farm, hauling large barrels of water and quickly tipping them over into the flames, doing all they could to try and contain the wildfire. Alas, no matter how much they had brought, the flames refused to perish and continued to spread. It was though that the fire itself was unnatural, a living thing.

"This, this don't make a lick o' sense! Why won't the flames die down?!" Applejack looked upon the flames with fear, her entire family forced back to the bushes as their attempts to calm the flames led to no avail.

Shaking beneath Melon Drop, Xheda squirmed and writhed as he slowly regained consciousness, his left foreleg pulsing and growling, cracking softly from the digits up to his torso; the flames slowly began to calm and converge towards them, twisting into a point as it descended into his foreleg. Xheda gasped upon feeling the surge of the flames bathe his foreleg, and let out a shriek of pain as it settled like poison beneath his chitinous skin, the cracks had begun to glow red and orange, slowly settling. Once more, Xheda was forced into unconsciousness.

--

"An' then we carried ya'll and Melon Drop here as fast we could. Though we...couldn't save the Melon Farm. Ah'm afraid the Melon Farm has burned to the ground." Applejack finished her explanation on the events that took place the other night. Xheda was quiet with worry, being a child certainly has that effect when you're young.

"And Ma' is okay, right? You said she's okay?" Xheda asked Applejack, now itching at his left foreleg slightly, soft specks of chitin chipped off as he scratched. Applejack nodded reassuringly and whistled towards the door; it was a few minutes of time before Melon Drop emerged from beyond the doorway with bandages on her hind legs and part of her torso. Xheda sniffled to see his mother in such damage and cried out for her; Melon Drop, as quick as her weakened body could, moved into the room and held her beloved child close to her. "Ma! I'm so sorry!"

Melon Drop gently shushed Xheda and stroke his back, "Now don't ya'll apologize fer nothin, Xheda...you didn't start that fire, there was nothin' we could do. But now the farm is gone...I don't know what we're goin' to do." Melon Drop sighed and cradled Xheda close to her warm body, ignoring Xheda's left foreleg entirely. "But it don't matter, as long as you're safe, Xheda."

And like a sudden moment, Xheda's eyes widen and he clutched his head, whispers ran amok inside his head but the one voice that he heard before was clear:

Wrath-Born are upon us, the spell is breaking.
Run, you are the chosen, save us

"Xheda! What's wrong!" Melon Drop cried out, frightened to see Xheda in such pain, but Xheda could not speak, he could not hear any voices outside other than the whisper, the voice in the dark:

This is your story now, you are its author
its character, its hero

Xheda continued to grip his head and grit his teeth, the more the voice spoke, the more the changeling became confused:

You have their power, faint and weak
devour them, feed your power

And finally, Xheda let out a gasp and collapsed against Melon Drop, who frantically cried out his name as the final whisper echoed softly in his head:

Forgive me Xheda
You must succeed
where I had failed

--

It had been another hour before Xheda awoke, his foreleg had softly burned for a moment or two and felt warm shortly after, his head was in incredible pain but it had begun to slowly calm down; he could hear the voices of Applejack, his mother Melon Drop, and a third voice outside the door, he decided to listen in on them before making it aware to others that he had regained consciousness.

"Ah' don't know Twi, He was fine and then he just grabbed hold of his head, like somethin' was shoutin' in his ears!" Applejack explained to the alicorn princess, Melon Drop at her side looking very worried. "especially that left leg of his...it don't look natural, it looks...evil."

"My boy ain't evil! He's a sweet child! He's playful, he laughs, he cries, he's just a normal lil' colt like any other foal! Don't ya'll call him nothin else!" Melon Drop yelled, obviously offended to have anyone related her child to the term 'evil'. Applejack reassured Melon Drop that she didn't mean anything by Xheda himself being evil, but just the looks of his left foreleg; even Melon Drop could not deny now that, after acknowledging its presence, that it was no ordinary leg anymore, nor did it show any signs of ever recovering to its previous state.

"You said there were monsters made of fire and looked like a multitude of creatures...did you see where they went?" Twilight asked the two of them but neither Applejack or Melon Drop could tell Twilight of them, Melon Drop had been too busy protecting Xheda to know where they had gone and Applejack had arrived too late to witness any of them. Twilight sighed and shook her head, "It's alright for now, I'm sure Celestia will have information on such a creature. But back to the matter at hoof, may I see the foal?"

Melon Drop eyed the ground with a grimace before nodding her head, allowing Twilight to enter the room; Xheda frowned as he looked at Twilight approaching him, this was the first time he had seen a princess and took in the peaceful air that came off of Twilight into the room. Twilight moved around the bed over to Xheda's left side and looked down at his left foreleg, observing its cracks and fiery patterns from his digits to his joint; when summoning up magical energy near it, the patterns reacted almost in a defensive manner as it warded away her magic, the cracks opening up and spreading its fiery contents outward into a coating towards wherever Twilight's magic was closest. A magical entity that wards off magic? It truly baffled Twilight as she switched between a multitude of spells, ranging from targeting around Xheda to targeting Xheda directly; each attempt ending with the arm reacting in a defensive manner, coating and blocking wherever the magic attempted to touch. Twilight stepped back.

"It's immune to magic? How can this be? Only Alicorns can access anti-magic field spells of such caliber, and it blocks on the spot! What is this..." Twilight observed, the limb slowly shutting its cracks and its fiery contents receding back inside. Xheda lied there quietly, watching Twilight perform "tests" on his changed limb. Twilight nodded her head and returned outside the room to Melon Drop and Applejack, leaving Xheda alone once more.

"This is something I've never encountered or ever read about. Every factual book I've seen should have some form of information about this ailment." Twilight explained to Applejack and Melon Drop; Xheda blinked as he began to remember back from his storybook, the three divine alicorn that brought about creation and spread the teachings of Harmony. Their great battle with the unbeatable swarm, their name had eluded his mind but he continued to try and remember what they were called. Beasts of fire and char, destroyers of mountains and lands, defilers of oceans and skies, born of wrath and-

"Wrath-Born!" Xheda yelled out, exclaiming his memory as he cupped his cheeks in shock; he slightly flinched at the heat of his left foreleg and put his hooves down. Twilight was instantly made aware of his statement.

"Wrath-Born? Wait a minute, you mean those creatures from that storybook?" Twilight asked before chuckling slightly, "C'mon. That was a story, a work of fiction! There is obviously a logical explanation to this dilemma." Twilight was silent for a few seconds before clearing her voice, "As soon as I uncover it of course."

"Not all truths are labeled, princess.
Just as not all secrets are plain to see.

Instantly, everyone was startled to hear the omnipotent voice that Xheda heard. They raised their heads and looked around, but saw none who bore a face to the voice. To Applejack and Melon Drop, it was frightening but to Twilight and Xheda, it had felt almost normal.

"There are simply those who denied this truth
for they could not experience this disaster.
I tell you now, Twilight Sparkle
This disaster was not born
of some fable.
I had experienced it full force"

Twilight slowly narrowed her gaze before she spoke, "Who are you...?"

"You and the boy know me,
you who have read this so called
Storybook.
I am its protagonist;
I am Arcanius."

"The Storm King and God of Magic, Arcanius?" Xheda spoke up in question; both Twilight Sparkle and Melon Drop were completely astonished that Xheda could remember such a detail from a storybook but after realizing that it was a storybook, it wasn't all that amazing. Despite the current dilemma, Xheda could only feel excited to hear from his favorite hero from his favorite book, the same excitement most children feel at such a young age when they believe their fictitious heroes could exist.

"I am the very same,
chosen by the spirits,
gardener of the tree,
disciple of Harmony.
But my presence here
is not a bringer
of good tidings."

"What do you mean?" Xheda, being the only one who thinks it wise to communicate to such a voice, began to question the omnipotent Arcanius while the three mares sat in silence, taking in the event.

"Magnus grows weaker, the spell
I had cast is drawing towards
its end.
When it fully resolves,
the world will be engulfed
once more by those
I had tried to imprison."

"But you can do it again, right? You did it once, you can do it again!" Xheda stated, his young voice full of vigor and belief.

"Alas, I cannot.
By imprisoning the Wrath-Born
I had imprisoned myself with them.
Doing so, they had leeched off
of my body, of my magic.
Being an entity of infinite magic
and yet limited now that my
form has fallen to their
standards, all I can muster
is this guiding voice to you."

Xheda's eyes then widened as he began to regain memory from the incident at the farm, "then that was you who attacked me!"

"Yes,
I became desperate...
I had to choose someone."

To choose someone? To choose them for what? To succeed where he had failed? What did he fail at? To imprison the Wrath-Born? As these questions began to recede, a conclusion began to dawn on Xheda as he frowned and lifted his head, "You failed to defeat them...do you mean I have to defeat them?" Finally, Twilight had heard enough of such madness:and stamped her hoof down.

"Enough! This voice can't be proven to be the voice of a god! And plus, really? A child of all living things? If anything, this is just some trick!" And then the room shook with a thunderous roar, a furious crack of lightning snapped outside and shook the apple farm house.

"Who made magic for Unicorn kind!
Who made it possible for harmony
to spread throughout the world!
Who made it possible for
life to continue!
It was I, but if this truth you deny,
Then Go!"

And Twilight shied back away from the voice, almost looking disappointed in herself to allow her inner childish wonder to escape her. Slowly the room calmed down and the lightning faded away from sight; the voice of Arcanius sighed softly.

"Please, I am incredibly weak
my power is nearly depleted.
Despite having to choose this child
I had no other choice.
My senses would have faded
and my chance to bring up
a slayer of this terrible foe
would have been wasted."

Twilight lifted her head and frowned, "Then what can we do to fight back against these beasts, these...'wrath-born' that you once fought?" Xheda nodded his head as he stared around the room; there was a sudden spark of light in the middle of the room, signifying Arcanius's presence.

"Listen well, my time is nearly gone
In four weeks time,
my spell will resolve and
all Wrath-born will be released.
There are those who still roam
the land, and there are those
who have learned from their secrets.
Xheda, this journey is yours,
to seek out these bearers
and unite an army to combat
these fiends."

"Bearers? Army? What do you mean?" Xheda frowned, he was a child after all, he could not fully comprehend the task presented to him. The spark appeared once again for a brief moment.

"Diamond Dog, Minotaur,
Changeling, and Gryphon.
These four who divide themselves
from ponykind must unite;
Seek out The Scholar, The Tower,
Battle-Master, and Cripple.
Only with their knowledge
will you stand a chance at
combating these creatures.
This is all I can say,
farewell."

And with his final words, Arcanius's presence vanished from the room, leaving the four in silence.

-Four weeks before the end of the world-

Author's Note

Finished my 1st semester of my senior year. Hopefully I'll get back to working on this at some point.
Just making a few edits from "Years" to "Weeks"