The Prime Evils

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.