Groans and shrieks of the condemned mingled amidst the pitiful sobbing that flooded the dank stone corridor. Ignoring the chaos a robed figure walked ever closer to a cell door. The door swung inward ominously leaving the previously locked wing open.
Crumpled in a far corner of a cell lay a pony, though it would be more appropriately called a skeleton with a matted coat stretched over the bleached bones in a cruel mockery of life. The pony lay amidst the filth toying with some plaster from the walls
The door to the cell clanged open shattering the emaciated pony’s thoughts. The robed pony moved into the room and seated themselves in the sole chair occupying the cell.
The robed pony spoke, his voice shattering the pervasive silence. “Seems I’ve finally found you. I was just beginning to think you didn’t want to be found Mariuus.” The skeletal Mariuus looked up to the seated figure and seemed to recognize him. “Ahh…Tyriel…I should have know you’d travel in disguise. T-They’re always watching…”
Mariuus’s face then fell as his mind recognized why an Arch-Angel would be hunting a forgotten wretch like himself, the shriveled pony gazed upward at Tyriel. “Please…Tyriel…I-It wasn’t my fault…”
The disguised Arch-Angel’s voice darkened as he gave a sharp response. “Then tell me Mariuus, tell me how it wasn’t your fault.” The sudden rebuttal made Mariuus flinch but his disturbed mind knew exactly how to respond. “The wanderer…yes…it was always…the wanderer.”
-IN MARIUUS’S MEMORY-
The interior of the tavern was dimly lit: the smell fire in the center of the room did little to push the darkness back. In a particularly dark corner lay Mariuus. His form lay strewn over a chair, wisps of tobacco smoke lingered around his snout and a pipe lay on the table.
Even as the lethargic Mariuus lay semi-conscious another approached. It was a small mule whose gray coat seemed to blend into the gloom. “Would you like something to drink?”
The prostrate pony on the chair simply lay there without responding. The mule knew enough to walk away rather than waste time, that didn’t prevent him from sighing.
Mariuus’s mind was filled with horrendous images; dreams or memories were indistinct from each other. His thoughts were jarred and consciousness returned when the door to the tavern slammed open letting in the icy mountain air.
In the doorway sat a zebra in tattered travelers’ clothes. The zebra was thin but muscular, unkempt, and scarred. A particularly nasty scar adorned the traveler’s forehead looking like a sharp object had been embedded there.
Mariuus’s mouth gaped in fear at the sight of the zebra; his mind reeled at the implications:
Has the evil from before followed in my hoofsteps?
The traveler limped into the tavern with a sword in tow. The steel blade ground against the floor as if its holder could no longer bear its weight.
The zebra took a seat near the fire and with a loud thump the sword’s tip was implanted into the wood of the floor. The traveler then took a second to look around but before long the haunted eyes fell on Mariuus.
The still semi-conscious Mariuus was snapped fully back to reality by the darkness lurking in the zebra’s eyes. He knew the traveler in all his darkness and horror.
The sword swayed and after a moment clattered to the floor as the scarred traveler lost his grip on the worn blade. The clatter of steel against wood once again jarred everponys’ thoughts. The zebra rapidly joined his sword on the floor, a scream of untold agony rending the air like and ax through flesh.
The fire in the center of the tavern flashed into an inferno and from the flames clamored abominations of the deepest hells. Skeletal pomies filled with unholy rage against the living swung their weapons against the tavern’s patrons. Twisted reptilian beasts tore ravenously into anypony lucky enough to draw a weapon. Yet somehow Mariuus lay ignored. His mind reeling in horror past and present at the debauchery before him.
Just as suddenly as they arrived the demons retreated into the inferno and vanished. A tavern full of ponies laid dead, all except Mariuus and the wanderer. The zebra picked himself up off the floor and with a last lingering look to the disbelieving pony still seated in the chair, he walked out.
-BACK IN REALITY-
Mariuus gazed at the chipped floor of the cell and murmured quietly “When the called I had to follow. From then on we traveled together…to the East…always to the East…”
----------------------------------------------------------------Author's Notes--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alright guys, thanks for taking the time to read this and I want to say I hope you enjoyed it. Here's the cool part though: some parts will have you the reader make choices on what the characters will do. Now these won't be world altering choices...or will they be? Anyhow I wanted to inform you of why I'm doing this as opposed to my other stories. The reason is simple my dear readers! I have had a MAJOR case of writer's block that left me stuck as to continue them. They are on hold until my mind works its way back around to them and figures how to continue. Never fear they are not dead.
As for why I picked this sort of story is because rather than working out the entire plot based on my own mind this one follows a prefabricated story which I'm slightly tweaking and using with. I know this seems like a short-cut by I've found that my only way to break writer's block is to publish something to help get the juices flowing again. I owe all you fellow fiction writers here on FIMFiction.net a big thanks for putting up with my oddly tracked mind and once again thanks for reading all this fluff text and notes and I hope you enjoy.
With a groan I heaved myself free of my oh-so-inviting bedroll. My eyes wandered the inside of the tent around me. With a firm shake of my head and several splashes of ice cold water I meandered out to find work…again.
As I stepped out into the less than ideal weather my snout smacked into the side of somepony sending me stumbling backwards and fully awake. My eyes fell on the purple-coated mare in front of me. I saw her rich purple mane divided in half by a stripe of warm pink. What drew my gaze more were the enchanting violet eyes filled with knowledge but hungry for more.
Turning my muzzle away I could feel a faint blush form, I stammered out: “Er…S-S-Sorry.” She smiled and returned, “It’s alright. I was looking for you anyhow Stormhoof.” My eyes must’ve widened in shock because she laughed. “I was told by the local seer to find you. She is the one who told me your name.”
The mare continued after letting that statement sink in for a moment or two. “She seemed worried and said finding you was urgent.” I nodded and stepped back into my tent to retrieve something a paladin always needed: his sword and armor.
After a couple of minutes and a quick introduction from the mare who I now knew to be a sorceress and that her name was Twilight Sparkle we arrived at the tent of the seer. We sat outside waiting in the constant drizzle. My quilted armor chafed as the moisture soaked into the treated fabric leaving it waterlogged.
Twilight fared little better but before the discomfort could become much worse an exotic voice called us inside. We both quickly entered the tent eager to get out of the rain and were greeted by the sight of a zebra. She was wearing a heavy woolen cloak dyed a darker purple than Twilight could ever hope to accomplish.
The seer’s hood was pulled back to uncover a rather disturbing fact: she was completely blind and most likely not from natural causes. Even despite her blindness she turned to address us. “Ah yes…Those who have been called have come. I am Akara high priestess of the Sisterhood of the Sightless Eye and we are in dire need of your help.”
Twilight spoke up first, her thoughts lining up with mine. “Why priestess…? Why did you ask for us?” The zebra simply gave us a warm smile and responded. “I chose you because you’re the ones chosen by the forces above.” I nodded in understanding, my years of training as a paladin had taught me many things and one of them had been that seers were to be listened to. Always.
I turned to face the priestess fully and asked in no uncertain terms: “What is it you ask of me?” The blind zebra’s face lit up as she heard my resolute words. “Noble Paladin, you and the sorceress Twilight Sparkle need to clear the Den of Evil. My fears that the monsters were massing for an attack on our encampment have been proven true as many of Kyasha’s scouts have disappeared near there.”
Twilight seemed to blanch at the idea of entering such a place but I stood firm and spoke. “You wish us to find the fate of this Kyasha’s scouts and clear the dungeon as well. Am I correct?” The zebra nodded and I turned to look at Twilight once again who seemed to be getting cold hooves. She spoke out, “L-Look I’ve never used my abilities on anything other than training dummies!”
I smirked and responded with: “And I’ve never seen true combat myself. We make an even match…Now let us get moving before we have no pony left to return too.” She shivered but nodded and moved to follow.
It was short trip to the main gate of the encampment yet the looming field outside did not help ease our tensions. I gulped slightly and with apprehension I loosened my short sword in its scabbard. Twilight simply stood behind me looking off into the distance with fear…and I could sense a bit of excitement.
The rain had let up some as we left the welcoming gates of the encampment and wandered into the foreboding wilderness. The wind seemed to pick up more as we stepped hoof into the open area but we shrugged it off and continued with one goal in mind.
In the distance lurked odd patches of trees and small shrubs dotted the fields along the road leading further in. We continued following the dirt path in the hopes that the roads would be far safer than wandering blindly in the brush in the vain hope of finding our goal.
I noticed somepony in the distance and with a quick tap on Twilight’s shoulder to alert her we moved closer. I called out, “Hey! Can you help us?” I got no answer from the group of figures standing in the road. I chalked it up to the wind and distance and motioned for the sorceress to follow me. We stepped closer and I tried again but still received no answer. I was getting frustrated and with a final sigh of anger I walked up to the figures.
Almost as soon as I got within ten or so hoofsteps away the smell of rotting meat assaulted my nose and left me retching. This seemed to finally get their attention as they turned. To my horror I realized why that hadn’t responded: they were all rotting corpses! I turned and ran yelling to Twilight, “Run, Zombies! Put some distance between them and us!”
Twilight locked up and stood staring at the advancing undead with horror. I called out again, “Run! Don’t just stand there!” She simply was frozen in place with fear. I wasn’t about to let some zombies just eat her so with a turn and a raw-throated shout I drew my sword and struck the zombie closest to the terrified mare.
My blade cut through the rotted flesh easily but this seemed to anger the undead beast as it swung it arms in an attempt to hit me. The rotted appendages impacted my side winding me but my training held firm and forced me to swing again. This time my blade struck the neck severing the rotted head and ending the cruel mockery of ponykind.
My savage attack seemed to snap the sorceress out of her stupor of fear and forced her hooves into action. A bright glow wrapped her horn as she cast a spell. In a flash a small ball of bright fire was cast at another of the zombies instantly burning it to ash with the faint but sickly sweet smell of burning flesh.
I turned my attention to the remaining beasts and shouted. “Come you undead freaks! My sword never tires!” I struck out at another of the undead, my sword striking its goal and severing yet another undead head. Twilight cast another fire bolt which roasted a zombie that had tried to approach me from the side.
With the undead slain I was about to congratulate her when a loud hiss followed by the sickening sound of a sharp object penetrating flesh ended my thoughts in a flash. The mare collapsed to the ground in pain, a large spine or quill sticking out of her side. I looked to see the origin and saw a beast hiding in the shrubs ready to fire another. I let out a yell and charged.
My sword struck true but only wounded the beast prompting it to slash at me with its claws. They tore into my quilted armor but thankfully didn’t cut through. I struck twice, and a third time before the creature finally succumbed to its wounds.
My attention returned to the wounded Twilight lying on the road. She was in bad shape but I had seen worse. I wrapped a hoof around the spine and spoke into her ear. “This is going to hurt but I need to remove the quill before I can heal the injury.” She nodded and with gritted teeth I savagely yanked the offending object free from her side. Warm blood splashed onto my face but I ignored it and tossed the spine aside and focused on my prayers.
My face turned skyward as I prayed to god to heal her wounds and make her whole again. I turned to look back at her and saw that my chant had worked, the hole in her side mended and with a slight groan she pushed herself back up. Twilight shook herself and looked at me thankfully. Before she could say anything I cut her off. “Thanks can come later, right now we need to find that dungeon and clear it.”
She nodded in understanding and we continued our travels through the wilderness happening upon random bands of creatures most of which were fairly straightforward to kill or avoid. That was until a group of red skinned reptilian beasts charged free of the underbrush and tried to strike us down.
My armor was slashed clean through by the rough edge of an axe. I yelled in agony but stood my ground and brought my sword to bear and tried to strike the creature down. It impacted the creature’s side but failed to do much more than bruise it. I ducked another swing and tried a stab the creature’s throat.
The blade of my short sword punctured the thinner scales of the creature’s neck leaving to coughing up the thick black ichors it called blood. As the creature fell I watched Twilight strike down the others with her flame spells. I swore slightly and muttered another prayer to heal my injury as the sorceress scrambled over to check on my condition. She saw my injury healing via the assistance of holy magic.
My wound healed I turned to my weapon still lodged in the beast’s throat. I tried to pull the equipment free I found it fouled in the sickening flesh. I tried three or four more times to pull it free but had little more success than before. Sighing I picked the creature’s axe and examined it more closely. I could tell it was of a slightly better quality than the cheap short sword I had previously owned but saw little more than that.
My eyes then fell onto the pouch still tucked into the belt encircling the waist of the demon. I moved over and tugged it free finding it to be slightly heavy in my hooves. Opening it I saw a small portion of gold and an even more valuable find: two healing potions and a dagger.
Stashing one of the potions on my own belt I called Twilight over and handed her the other items. She instantly understood the purpose of the potion and also tucked it into her belt but her she seemed confused about the dagger. I intercepted her thought process and responded. “Look, out here I may not always be able to respond when you get in trouble you may want to keep something to defend yourself.”
She nodded in understanding but seemed very hesitant to hold onto the weapon. After running into the reptilian creatures the rest of travel along the road was uneventful with the odd pack of undead or more of the demons trying to waylay us. The packs began to get more frequent and dense as we grew closer to what appeared to a pile of rocks. Looking at it more closely I realized exactly what it was and nearly facehoofed at my own stupidity.
As we neared the rock pile I found my suspicious to be right. It was indeed the entrance to the dungeon that Akara had mentioned. As we neared the entrance I could almost feel the evil creeping from the cave. Twilight seemed to be able to sense it as well; she backed away from the darkened cave entrance and looked to me for support. I took a deep breath to steel my nerves and stepped into the darkness.
Even as soon as I entered the gloom I was assaulted by the almost unholy scent of rotting flesh and death. Twilight stepped in beside me holding a torch in the grip of her levitation. She illuminated the origin of the nauseating smell. We both stepped back at the sight of the bloody corpse of a Pegasus pony with a curved sword driven clean through her chest.
I gulped and stepped closer nudging her over gingerly with my forehoof. As I did a shield slid free of her unfeeling hooves and onto the ground. I picked it up and after seeing it was in decent shape decided to use it. Twilight most likely having seen me taking equipment of the dead called out in shock. “Stormhoof what in the name of Celestia’s good name are you doing!?”
I looked at her and sighed. “Look Twilight, she is dead and we need this equipment. I should also remind you I am a paladin in service of Celestia.” The sorceress shook her head but seemed to understand my argument even if she wasn’t fully in line with it.
We continued through the dungeon butchering anything that dared to dwell in the unholy cavern. Our fight continued even as we encountered some sort of Shaman that accompanied the reptilian demons. It seemed able to resurrect them and cast fireballs but they were easy to defeat if the distance could be closed.
We were down to the last group of monsters which appeared to be a pack of more zombies. What held us back was the undead monstrosity in the middle. It resembled the rest of the zombies in the group except that his flesh had a foreboding bluish tint.
I nodded for Twilight to cast a fireball at the pack of undead freaks. It easily killed the other members of the mob but the blue zombie turned and advanced at us. I charged and hacked at the beast with all my might but it did little more than anger the creature even more.
It struck at me with all its might and as its hooves impacted my sight I felt the unbelievable pain of lightning jolting through my body. Managing to regain control of my muscles I backed away and coughed trying to make sense of what had happened. Twilight having seen my plight had run up to assist pulling myself away from the beast.
Having backed away from the sole remaining creature in the dungeon I turned to the sorceress in confusion. “Have you got any idea how it could do that…it shocked the buck out of me!” She looked me over as if checking for wounds before responding herself. “That zombie must’ve been a magic user before they died so now in death the residual effects are still there.”
I nodded in understand and asked: “So what how do we respond them, your spells can only do so much.” She sighed and shrugged. “I just suggest not getting hit…not much we can do against those effects.” With a grunt I nodded again and gripped my axe firmly in my hooves before charging back in and began hacking at the creature.
My blows smashed against the rotted flesh of the zombie causing damage but I made sure to avoid the blows the beast tried to throw at me. Soon I managed to hack the creature enough to put it on the ground. Panting from the effort I left my axe in the creature and tried to shake the moist and foul smelling ichors off my hooves.
I gagged but knew that we had cleared the “Den of Evil” of anything that could attack the encampment. Twilight placed a hoof on my shoulder and as my snout turned to look at her I saw she was smiling. “Thanks for helping me with this…I don’t think I could have done this without you. We should head back to town now.” I nodded and jerked my stained axe free of the dead body and began walking with her back to the camp to report our success and the fate of the scout.
