The Blood of a Heretic

Chapters

His Departure
His Explanation
His Explanation Cont.
Her Interrogation
Their Journey- Part 1
Their Journey- Part 2
The Start of Something More

His Departure

"Aston? Aston!"

"Hmm?" I looked up from my daydream, across the mahogany desk, to my superior, known to me only by his rank; Supreme Counselor.

"This is your final assignment before your advancement to Inquisitor General, you do not have the luxury of sodding off. Explain to me what I have just ordered you to do."

"You've ordered me to travel to travel to Chester, and eliminate the Heretic known as Frey." I said, quickly, to avoid a potential chastising.

"Why? What is his heresy?"

"He and the Orphites have deemed themselves righteous enough to open a gate to the Black Realm, and summon the Astarothians to purge the Humans from our Earth."

"And how do you know what he looks like?"

"In addition to having his appearance magically burned into my memory, sire, he has been known to wear a set of blood red robes whenever he is around his little cult."
The Supreme Counselor grunted from under his hood, which obstructed my view of his face, and leaned back in his chair.

"Very well then, Aston. Take supplies for an elimination and disposal assignment, and be on your way. Hurry now, he can't be allowed to have more than two days to himself."

I bowed from where I was standing and turned to the door, leaving without saying another word. They would've been pointless anyway, the Supreme Counselor was clearly no longer paying attention. I quickly made my way through the castle to our supply depot, on the ground floor, and gathered my personal supplies as well as the several vials of solutions and powders that would allow me to properly dispose of such a heretical being.

The fact that he most likely has Astarothian magic coursing through his veins was also a large factor; once he was dead, his body would become unstable, and too much jostling would carry the risk of an incineration of both his body and mine.

My supplies consisted of a thick, padded, black leather jerkin and trousers, gloves to match, and insulated climbing boots, standard for an Inquisitor of my rank. To cover it all was a midnight blue cloak, mottled with grey, that marked me as an official under employment of the King and hid my armour and weapons from the commoner's eye. They were quick to suspect murderers in this kingdom, and since the Inquisitors were a secret service, I could very easily be tried and executed as a criminal, and my masters wouldn't say a word, save damning my stupidity at being caught.

Lastly, tucked into various sheathes on my belt, were a set of rarely used throwing knives, a short sword of steel, and a long stiletto knife, intended for more personal back-stabs.

I made my way to Chester on a commoner's road, riding Mary the Horse, a gift from a noble that I had accidentally saved some years prior. Now she served me faithfully and expertly, and was more of a companion than I had ever had.

I am an Inquisitor, an agent of the King. I work alone.

My target was a man named Frey, from what our subterfuge division could uncover. He led the Orphites, a group of heretics that had recently gained power, and discovered the tempting sins of the Black Realm's magical temptations. From what I knew, they had been bribed and coerced by the inhabitants of the Black Realm, the Astarothians, into opening a gate connecting our worlds, so that they could exterminate us for pleasure and entertainment. Naturally, this was not to be allowed, so it had been deemed my job to silence the lies he spread and close the portal we knew he would soon be opening.

Specifically for scenarios like this, I had even received a small amount of Mage's training, enough to be able to close a portal to another realm, which was not something that was particularly difficult, contrary to most commoner's assumptions.

My trip to Chester was quick, only a day's travel, and I settled into an inn just outside of the bustling town of Chester, on the opposite side of the town, mentally preparing myself for the danger I would face later on that night. It was roughly noon that day, so I took a small nap, resting myself for the fighting that might also take place that night, were I to be discovered as I was closing the portal. Closing a portal might've been easy, but it was loud.

I am an Inquisitor, an agent of the King. I work efficiently and knowledgeably.

_________

While it may have been a bustling town, it was astonishing how quickly Chester shut down after eleven at night. There was silence, and I was able to move through with absolutely no disruptions. If someone was out, I doubt they would have been able to see me anyway.

It was some time before I completed my trek to a cave in the mountains just North of Chester, making sure I had made absolutely no noise in arriving. I hiked, since Mary wouldn't have been a viable option for stealth across the shale that covered the majority of the mountain range.

Upon viewing the entrance, I could tell immediately that there were inhabitants inside- while it was unobservable to the untrained eye, there were faint hand prints, footprints, and smudges in the dust around the cave, and the mouth radiated an uncomfortable warmth that left me sweating in my cloak after just a few moments of observation. Sighing quietly to myself, I made my way inside.

The cave turned into a tunnel that twisted and turned through the mountain, heading deeper toward the core of the Earth. After roughly twenty minutes of painstakingly tiptoeing around stalagmites, I came to a cave mouth on the other side of the mountain, at ground level, that opened to a clearing and a sight that immediately determined my target's guilt.

There in a circle stood a group of robed figures, chanting around an ash outline of a pentagram in the dirt. Before my eyes, a struggling child was forced to lay in the center, and hastily gutted, his innards strewn to the five corners of the star, leading back to his twitching corpse. I shifted uncomfortable; despite my occupation of assassination and subterfuge, a child's murder was still a harrowing sight. The one who had committed this atrocity was my target, identifiable by his robes unique from the others; his were blood red while the others' were black.

I watched for several hours, off to the side of the cave, as the cult continuously chanted. My target was standing in the middle, over the body, scribbling symbols into the dirt. Unfortunately, I saw several weapons on the belts of his followers, so simply jumping out and attacking him would surely be detrimental to my health.

From the corner of my eye, I noticed a small shimmer, similar to a heat wave, form at each of the corners. Noticing this, I cautiously put my hand to my sword. I would have to end this very soon, I realized, or I may be fighting Astarothians in addition to heretic scum. That's a fight I probably wouldn't win.

In seemingly no time at all, there was a flash of bright white light, and a rainbow colored plane of light replaced the ground inside of the star, set about three feet into the ground.

But the portal was the wrong color. It was supposed to be black, or purple or red, wasn't it? It was a portal to the plane of undead, home to Astarothians, Minotaurs, hordes of undead, and God knows how many other breeds of evil.

Luckily, the Orphites seemed just as confused, muttering amongst themselves as Frey ran around the outside, checking his symbols before screaming in a fit of frustration.

"Idiot." I muttered to myself. "He must have created the wrong portal. Now it's just a matter of... getting Frey."

I cautiously snuck around the edge of the clearing, keeping well back from the treeline, trying to decide on the angle of which I could approach an unsettled heretic. Alas, luck was clearly not on my side, because my foot came down on a dead twig, snapping it, and in my unprofessional scramble to move away from the sound, I slipped on a patch of wet moss and came tumbling down past the treeline, in clear view of the startled Orphites.

Before I could react, I was charged and dragged to the edge of the portal, my hood pulled back and a knife held to my throat.

"Ah.. who might this one be? A curious traveler, a commoner seeking to join us, or..." Frey spoke as he waltzed toward me. "An agent of the king?" He let out a maniacal giggle, fit for someone who could murder a child to bring about the end of his species. "Remove the dagger from his throat. I know a better way to dispose of him."

Frey danced around me, his earlier frustration completely gone. "These portals to the Black Realm are one way, as you know. Only Astarothians can travel through them. We pitiful humans can't enter them, the gate's essence tear's our flesh from our bones and incinerates our very soul. This one may be a bit different, but I'm sure the experience will be QUITE similar."

I spit at his feet at he traipsed through my field of vision, disgusted with the turn of events.

"Now now, no need to be quite so uncivil. You're only about to experience the flames of hell!" Frey let our a joyous laugh before somberly muttering "Throw him in." and standing to the side.

As I was tipped forward, I desperately threw out my arms to grab hold of Frey, who was idiotically standing close by to watch my violent death. Latching one hand onto his robes, and another onto the Ophite who had pushed me. Glancing up, I saw that it was a woman.

I gave each of my handholds a firm pull as I fell, and smiled to myself as I saw each of them fall with me, carelessly pulling even more of their comrades down with them. My head and torso impacted the essence of the portal, and I closed my eyes, hoping that another, better prepared and less foolish Inquisitor than myself would be able to close the portal and finish my mission for me.

________

I opened my eyes a few seconds later, and looked around. I seemed to be in a forest unlike the one from before. This one was bright (even thought it was the middle of the night), colorful, and calm. And, it didn't have a rainbow colored portal anywhere that I could see. The Orphites were nowhere to be found, either.

I rose to my feet and checked myself- no burns, no missing limbs, even my weapons were still on my belt, which the Orphites had idiotically forgotten to take away from me. From there, I decided to explore around, to try and find my way to a town or some other form of civilization.

It didn't take long to find a path, and after following it, I came upon the outskirts of a town that was currently in the middle of a festival. There were paper streamers everywhere, carved pumpkins, and a lot of movement. To my left, there was a sign that read "Welcome to Ponyville! Population- 3650".

"What a strange name for a Mercian city..." I muttered. Figuring that such a large town (at least, compared to the other towns I've visited) should have government officials somewhere, I decided to make my way toward it and seek out the Inquisitor's station. In towns of a larger population, the code dictated that it should have been disguised as an... apple stand, if I remembered correctly. So, I wandered into town, examining the strange decorations closely. These would nearly all have to be reported, the decorations sporting strange designs and odd creatures was highly reminiscent of the Pagan smut that plagued our nation only a few years ago.

Stopping in surprise, I did a double take at a small... horse, standing on the path in front of me, staring at me. It had the strangest appearance. Yellow, with a red mane and a bright pink bow tied on its head. It's height barely reached up to my mid thigh.

"Uh... What in..." I began, before the small horse interrupted me.

"Wow! Cool costume, mister! Are ya one of them minotaurs that sometimes comes through Ponyville?

I flustered at the sight and sound of this horse talking to me. "You... can speak?"

"Uh course ah can! Granny Smith and Applejack taught me jus' fine." She gave a childish laugh at my expression before giving me a look of confusion. "What are ya doin' in Equestria if yer surprised that a pony can speak?

'So they're ponies...' I thought, while trying to form a reply to what I assumed was a foal. "It.. doesn't matter. This place is called Ponyville, right? Can you take me to an apple stall?"

"Mah sister is running an apple stall in th' town square! Candy apples for Nightmare Night!" The foal beamed after saying this, and began to trot into town, expectantly looking back at me and motioning for me to follow her. "Ah'm Applebloom, by th' way."

A few minutes later, I was sitting on the ground in shock from the sheer amount of multi-colored ponies that carelessly clip-clopped around me, wearing pagan costumes of various creatures of the wild.

'Ponies... colors... English?...' I thought, trying to comprehend what was happening. 'The Orphites must have drugged me. They must have knocked me out and drugged me, and this town and my fall through the portal was just a dream.'

"Uh.. Are ya okay, mister?"

A voice sounding very similar to the foal's drifted toward me from my right. Walking toward me was an orange pony with a blonde mane, and, as if this place wasn't already so strange, an apple on her flank. Her height reached up to roughly my chest.

I struggled to my feet as she approached me. "I'm... I'm alright. Um.. Where am I? Who are you?"
Before she had a chance to answer, I felt a movement at my belt, where my coinpurse hung by a small hook and string. Suspecting a pickpocket, I yanked my stiletto off of my belt and spun around, grabbing the offender by the wrist. It was the smaller pony from before -Applebloom, I remembered-, with her... hoof... suspiciously close to where my coinpurse was just moments before.

"You filthy pickpocket!" I shouted, and backhanded the foal away from me. She gave a small squeal of pain, and I was about to leap forward and kick her when the orange pony shoved me.

"What in the hay is wrong with ye', hittin' my sister like that? She ain't done nothing to you!"

I was ready to hit this pony as well, but she saw the knife in my hand, and took a step back. Grunting, I took a step toward her, to grab her and force her to witness me take my coinpurse back from the thief. I was out of line, as I would soon learn, and the orange pony, Applejack, quickly taught me so by spinning around and bucking my square in the chest. Winded, I was going to attempt to tackle the pony, but just as fast as before, she bucked my again, this time hitting me on the head, and I was instantly out cold.

His Explanation

"Oh, for the love of Christ." I moaned, floating to consciousness. My head throbbed, my joints ached, and it seemed that I had not only my hands tied behind me back, but had my legs bound, my feet bound, and an extra rope tied around my chest, which didn't do a damn thing as far as I could tell. It was a nice touch, though.

"T-Twilight!" A young, male voice cried out, panicked, and I could hear footsteps padding quickly past me. A door opened, and I heard the voice speak again.

"I think he's waking up! He just said something, but his eyes are still closed."

I still couldn't force my eyes open, my head was aching way too much. Pressure told me that I also probably had a sizable lump over my temple, too. There was a rush of clopping as several ponies walked into the room I was in and stood around me. I could feel their anticipation, their nervousness, wondering what I would say. So, I gave them what they wanted.

"Care to tell me why tying me up was the best thing you could think of?" I said, forcing my eyes open and scanning the room. There were six ponies, a purple... unicorn, a pink one, a yellow pegasus, another unicorn, white this time, a light blue pegasus, Applejack, the one who knocked me out, and a small green and purple lizard looking creature.

"Care ta' tell me why attackin' mah sister was the best thing you could think of?" The one named Applejack retorted.

"She was a thief, a filthy pickpocket. And where I was raised, thievery was very harshly punished. Your sister got off lightly." I turned my head and stared her in the eye, her anger very clear to me.

"Look you two, let's just try and sort everything calmly and quickly. I've sent a letter to the Princess to inform her of what was going on." The purple pony said. She looked at me pointedly and said "I'm Twilight Sparkle, by the way. This is Fluttershy, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Spike." She gestured to each pony as she spoke their name, each one giving me some form of glare, whereas the yellow pegasus -Fluttershy- simply tried to hide behind the Rainbow Dash. Spike, the lizard, started at me in wonder, and the Pink one looked like she wanted to say hi.

"It's a strange occurrence when your captors introduce themselves to you. Though, I suppose I should return the courtesy. I am Aston, son of Fisk. Spike, would you do me the favor of untying these ropes so I can stand and speak proper?" I spoke with little enthusiasm; it was clear I had made a mistake in smarting Applejack's sister, which added up to two mistakes this night. The other was slipping on that patch of moss and exposing myself to the mercy of my enemies. Unprofessional, amateur. Should I return to the Inquisitors, my promotion was long gone, and it was doubtful I would receive another worthwhile assignment for quite a while.

"Sorry Mr. Fisk I don't think that would be a good idea until we know more about you. Answer some questions for us, and we'll decide what to do." The one named Twilight gave me a small smile in contrast to the scowls I was still primarily receiving.

'Fine then, I'll get these off myself, since you refuse to oblige me.' I thought to myself, as I worked my hand under my bunched up cloak. It would seem that these ponies only took the knife that I had in my hand; my throwing knives and my sword were still with me, and quite uncomfortable. I withdrew one of my throwing knifes from my belt, and, to my surprise, my coinpurse was still there. Giving a smile, I said "Ask away then, I'm sure an explanation would help."

"Twilight, why are we even tryin' to git anythin' outta this creature? He's jus' messin with us, and he's clearly up to no good." Applejack spoke, backed up by the blue pegasus Rainbow Dash.

"Yeah, Twilight. I don't get why we can't just kick his flank and drop him off in the Everfree Forest somewhere."

"Girls, he's... the first of his kind here in Equestria, as far as I know. We don't even know why he hit Applebloom anyway, instead of just calling a guard for what he thought was pickpocketing. Don't you think it would be worth a shot to find out?" Twilight argued, with, surprisingly, the Fluttershy pony admitting that I "may have just had a bad day". Bit of an understatement.

I had cut through the first rope that bound my arms, and had shifted to sit on my legs so that I could better reach the rope around my feet.

I sighed and looked at the two who had not yet spoken, and asked "Well, what are your opinions? Since we all see fit to dillydally around, I find it quite appealing to know what you two would like to do with me."

The Pinkie Pie dove forward and gave me a suffocating hug. "I do wanna know why you were so mean to little Applebloom, but the second you're finished explaining, we can throw a really big surprise welcome-to-Equestria party!"

"I'd rather not." I muttered, glancing toward the remaining white pony named Rarity, and shrugging so that Pinkie Pie would let me go.

"Well, if you ask me, I think he ought to explain himself, and regardless of what we decide to do with him, I simply must get some cloth in the same pattern as his cloak." Said Rarity, as she took a step forward and examined my cloak.

Cutting through the rope with a nearly inaudible snap, I unsteadily stood up, dropping the rope fragments and sliding my knife back into its sheath. After undoing the rope around my legs, and removing the useless rope around my chest, I took my first real look around the room we were standing in, ignoring the shocked looks I received.

It was the inside of a tree, or it so appeared, and had a large amount of bookshelves and writing utensils and paper and so on, so I figured it was quite obviously a library. I like libraries.

"You had a knife with you this entire time? Applejack, I thought you took his knife from him!" Said Twilight, who took a half step backwards as I took a step forward.

"Peace, Twilight. I only want to explain myself, and being tied up is something I can't deal with. Much less than other people, that is." I said, as I walked past her and began to examine the library.

"I...uh... well... okay..." Twilight stammered, looking around at her friends, none of which offered any condolence. "I guess I'll begin the questions, starting with what ARE you? No offense intended, of course." As she spoke, a small notepad and quill flew over and floated in front of her.

"Stop, wait. How did you do that?" I asked, staring at items floating in front of her.

"It's magic." Answered Twilight, at what must have seemed like an idiotic question to her.

"Don't you have magic where you come from, dear?" Spoke Rarity, the white pony standing next to Twilight.

"We have a force known as Fae, and the men who make it their expertise are known as Faerens. It has two forms, cognitive, meaning it is used by one's body subconsciously, and somatic, which means it is controllable, in certain amounts." I answered, alternating between looking at Rarity, who asked the question, and Twilight, who was clearly the more interested one, although I doubt they could see my eyes after I put the hood back on.

"Ah, interesting!" Said Twilight. "Can you perform any... Fae?"

"I am well versed in many different Fae spells, but can only use the cognitive branch. I was not deemed worthy to be taught somatic Fae, which would have been unnecessary in my occupation." I answered. "But, I do not mind."

"Okay.." Muttered Twilight as she -telepathically, apparently- scribbled noted into the notebook. "Now, back to the original question. What species are you, where do you come from? What can you do, what is your culture like-"

Twilight's line of questioning was interrupted by Applejack, who said "Now don't go off on a tangent there, missy. Let 'im answer." She glumly nodded to me, giving me the go ahead to speak.

"Well, Twilight, I'm a Human. I live on the planet Earth, and was born in the Mercian town of Stafford. I serve the Mercian King Offa, out of the our capitol, Tamworth." As I spoke, I went over my circumstances of arrival, and what could have happened to Frey and his five or so followers that had also come through the portal.

"So why do you wear that strange looking cloak?" Asked Rainbow Dash, cutting into the question I knew Twilight was about to ask.

"I wear it because it helps to hide at night and in the dark, and marks me as an agent of the Crown. It's part of the Inquisitor uniform." At this point, I had decided that it couldn't hurt to explain what I did, since this country probably had its own division of agents like me.

"So ya' called yourself an Inquisitor, huh? Well, whaddaya do?"

"I hunt Heretics, dangerous criminals, threats to the crown, and the occasional Faeran anomaly." I answered. "Most of you are being very quiet, is there a problem with me?" I looked around and noticed that Pinkie Pie had disappeared.

"Well, we're not very sure if we can trust you, yet, Mr. Fisk. We're not sure why you're here, and you did attack Applejack's little sister." Twilight explained, as the quieter ponies just looked around and shuffled their hooves.

"Well I must apologize then, for doing so. I overreacted, and treated her far harsher than I should have; she was innocent. However, you should try and understand my reaction, thieves are commonly executed where I come from, and if not, then they spend a very long time in a dungeon cell. In a case like mine, it would be better for me and the criminal if I simply beat them and took my money back."

My apology and explanation shocked the ponies into silence.

"They execute them? No no no, that's wrong. That shouldn't happen!" Exclaimed Twilight, who was beginning to look distressed. Rainbow Dash and Applejack both simply looked uneasy, maybe a bit green; I guessed they were of sturdier constitution than the rest. Fluttershy had emitted a small yelp and was in the process of holding back tears and Rarity was trying to calm Fluttershy, barely managing to maintain her composure.

"I don't understand the issue. Are executions uncommon in this region?" I asked, opening my arms and closing a book I had idly been leafing through.

"A criminal execution hasn't happened in nearly one hundred years, and there haven't been any altercations with guards resulting in a death for even longer than that. It just doesn't happen." Twilight said, after several seconds of each remaining pony trying to recover.

"Interesting, a peaceful nation. I've never heard of a nation that manages civility like that. Would you care to give me the name of this country?"

"Equestria, we live in Equestria dear. Equine, because the majority of our citizens are ponies, you see." This time, it was Rarity who had spoken who was still in the process of calming Fluttershy.

"Am I to assume that other countries are home to one primary species of creature?" I asked, curious.

"Yes, there are the Griffon Tribes, the Dragon Lands, the Crystal Kingdom, Saddle Arabia, and the Minotaur tribes." Twilight answered uneasily, referring to a different page in her notebook. "I have just a couple of more questions, Mr. Fisk."

"I think you may as well simply call me Aston by now, Twilight. I have a feeling I may be staying in this area for quite a while, regardless of whether I get a prison sentence or not."

"Uh.. Why's that?" Asked Applejack.

"Because I believe that I'm not the only person that came through the portal to this plane of existence. Before I came through, I was hunting a group of Heretics led by a man named Frey. He intended to open a portal to a completely different world, one inhabited by demons, and use them to destroy, or enslave the human race. Millions of people across our world would die, and that's only if we managed to stop them somehow. Well, instead, he accidentally opened the portal to this world, I was discovered, and they threw me in. I managed to pull Frey and several other heretics in with me. But, I don't know where they could be, and for all I know, they could be trying to open that same Black Realm portal here." I spoke quickly, wanting to get my point across and finish this questioning session, so that I could resume my hunt. Before I knew where they would be, but now they could be anywhere inside that forest I woke up in, and maybe even beyond.

Twilight and the others turned very pale at this, and Twilight immediately said "Spike, take a letter. Tell Princess Celestia that the creature that we apprehended is forgiven and that we have a very big problem on our hands, and that she needs to come to Ponyville and speak to the Human."

"Speak....to....the....human.... okay, got it Twilight." Spike said, and then lifted the letter to his mouth, expelled a small plume of flame, and the letter disappeared.

"Oh, he's a dragon. We used to have dragons, in the ancient days, with similar abilities." I said, amused.

"What happened to all of them?" Asked Rainbow Dash.

"We exterminated them." I answered, and continued to flick through the book in my hands.

Author's Note

I hope you guys are enjoying what I have so far, because I enjoy coming up with this story. But, I've got a request.

While I like generally what I'm thinking about writing, it would be nice to have a beta reader to send these off to so that I'll have an early opinion on the chapter before I publish it. I feel uneasy about the way I describe everything.

That being said, if anyone sees this who is interested in being a beta reader, send me a message. Any comments and criticism are always helpful.

His Explanation Cont.

"Y-y-you did what?" Spike asked, wide-eyed.
"We exterminated them, killed them all. They no longer exist in my world, and probably for the better." I said, as I continued to examine my book. A strange written language indeed. "I believe the last known living dragon was the Dragon of Gibraltar, he earned a name because he was quite a foe. It took nearly three hundred men to kill him, with nearly half of them being killed themselves."
"But why?!" Twilight exclaimed, moving to stand in front of Spike.
"Dragons were dangerous. They would regularly raid towns, castles, villages, and I cannot tell you how many bloodlines were erased from the world." I said, peeking at them from under my hood. "Twilight, I'm not doing to hurt Spike, he isn't big enough to earn me the title of Dragonslayer anyway."
The group just stared at me, all of them had horror clearly plastered on their faces. It was too much, I couldn't contain myself, and burst out laughing.
"Oh, your expressions. Nay, I wouldn't hurt Spike for any reason in the world, unless he attacked me. I am a guest in your land, and regardless of my species' interaction with the Drakes, I have no grudge against yours. Now, I believe that we should continue our discussion. We were on the topic of Frey and his cultists?"
"Ah... Yes. We uh... need to decide what to do about them." Twilight muttered, looking to her friends for support. Once again, they were far too flabbergasted to give any.
"Aston dear, if you don't mind, would you please explain to us where your portal left you?" Rarity said, preferring an initiative over shocked silence.
"I believe I was deposited in the forest, just a few minutes walk from where I confronted Applejack. However, I didn't see Frey and his company, so it's reasonable to assume that the portal opened up elsewhere and they moved me, believing me to be dead." I said, putting my borrowed book away. "It's crucial that we find where they are located. Depending on how long they have been active before I awoke, they could have opened a portal back to my world, or may be working on one to the Black Realm."
As I spoke, there was a flash of light in the room, and a tall white Pony appeared,flanked by a smaller blue pony and several obvious guardsponies. Reacting on instinct, believing them to be a threat, I dove behind the bookshelf and drew my sword, pressing myself against the bookshelf.
"Hey! Where'd you go?" Exclaimed Rainbow Dash, as she followed me around the shelf. "Twilight, he just dissapeared!" She said, as she stared right at me, unable to see me. In the background, I would hear Twilight speaking very quickly to a "Princess".
"I apologize, I mistook your acquaintance for an assailant. That, Mrs. Rainbow Dash, was an example of my cognitive ability with Fae, in combination with my enchanted cloak. I am supposed to be able to quickly disappear, and as such, I was given the ability to." I said as I walked back to stand in front of the group; the guardsponies watching me very carefully.
"That's a very interesting ability, Mr. Fisk. I'd like to introduce myself, I am Princess Celestia, the ruler of Equestria in cooperation with my sister here, Princess Luna." Said the white, regal pony, giving me a warm smile. "I believe we have an emergency to handle, correct?"
I gave a short bow to the royalty, and explained the situation to her again, from my arrival to my job to the danger of Frey, as I had heard Twilight do earlier. "And, your majesty, should the cultists somehow find a way to open a portal to the Black Realm or bring in more of their heretic allies... I think we may need form me to travel back to my world and bring another Inquisitor or two." I ended.
Celestia nodded, thinking about what I had just told her.
"Have a company of Pegasi patrol the Whitetail woods and the borders of the Everfree, those are the areas most likely to hide the people our guest is looking for." Spoke Celestia, to her guardspony, who in turn nodded and flashed away.
'Another teleportation spell. They seem to be quite common here.' I thought as I observed.
"So Princess' jus' what are we gonna do 'bout Aston here? He needs a place 'tuh stay 'till he can go home." Applejack asked, her anger at me having melted down to only a mild irritation and distrust.
"Well, I noticed that Mr. Fisk here-"
"Just Aston, your majesty." I said.
"-Aston, seemed to be quite interested in the library. Twilight, would you mind allowing him to stay here for the time being?"
"Oh, of course Princess! Then I could continue to question him about his world and his history." Twilight said happily.
"I can't argue, your majesty. I have only the clothes and tools on my back, so I shan't be much trouble at all."
And with that, the meeting dissolved and the ponies went back to their respective homes. I received a respectful nod from Rainbow Dash, who was apparently impressed with my ability to disappear. From the rest of the ponies, I received simple smiles and goodbyes, while Applejack left without saying a word.

________

Roughly a half hour later, I was sitting in Twilight's basement, having removed my robe and weapons, explaining to her why I wore the leather armor underneath, and why it was designed the way it was.
"Interesting... Well, Aston, I have one last request." Said Twilight, as she scribbled some more into her notebook, which must have been halfway filled already.
"And what is that?" I answered.
"Could you tell me what the Inquisitors are, and tell me how you became one,in addition to explaining what your role and position is within that group?"
"Quite specific, aren't we?" I asked, giving a short laugh. "Well, I suppose. First of all, you do not join the Inquisitors. Children are taken shortly after birth and raised in monasteries , and at age seven, they begin to train.They are taught by a variety of instructors, who teach them to sneak, to interrogate, to fight, and to kill. At age ten, they are infused with whatever Fae enchantments they may need for their branch of service- which is chosen for us based on our educational reception so far. I was given a... chameleon type spell, which, in conjunction with an enchanted robe, can render me nearly completely invisible if my body is in the right conditions."
"Uh huh.." Muttered Twilight, scribbling madly. "Go on."
"Now, the enchanting is a long, painful process, because the human body does not take kindly to Fae being infused within us. We have a natural resistance to it. Should they survive the process, and most do, they are moved on to an apprenticeship at age twelve. Once an apprentice has proven they are able to act accordingly to the situations they are ordered to face, they are promoted to the rank of Inquisitor and sent on their way. There are three ranks of Inquisitors- Inquisitor, Master Inquisitor, and Inquisitor General. The Generals do not serve in the field, unless there is an active war. They coordinate and assign the lower two ranks."
"So what rank are you?" Twilight asked, interrupting me.
"I am a Master Inquisitor, and was close to being promoted to General until this happened and I was sent here. Now I would imagine that I will not make General for many more years. Anyway-" I said, wishing to stray from the unpleasant thought. "Is there anything else you would like to know?"
"Just some personal things to add to my notebook as a finishing touch. Would you mind telling me about your apprenticeship and promotion?" Twilight asked, leaning forward, awaiting my explanation.
" I was apprenticed to a man named Ark, alongside two other recruits who became my close friends for the duration of our apprenticeship." I began. "Those two were named Garrett, my bunkmate, and Alyss, my best friend. We all served uneventfully for four years until war broke out between Mercia and the Kingdom of the Essex. There, Alyss, Garrett and I managed to sneak into an enemy camp, poison their food, assassinate their general, and scatter their horses. Two days later, the Mercian army decimated them and we three were immediately promoted to Master Inquisitors for bravery. I was sixteen when it happened, and have served as a Master Inquisitor for seven years now."
"Wow, your world seems so.. violent. It it always like that?" Twilight asked, eyes cast down in thought.
"Unfortunately, yes. There are quite a few wars and conflicts as is, and that's without Heretics trying to bring about their own apocalypse every few years or so. Now,as much as I've enjoyed speaking with you tonight, it had been nearly eight hours since I arrived in your world, at night, and your clock reads three in the morning. I would like to retire, if I may." I said, as I stood up and began to retreat to my temporary quarters. "I will see you tomorrow, and let us pray that we will swiftly find and eradicate the heretic scum that plagues your land and mine."
"Uh... Night to you too." Muttered a bewildered Twilight.

Author's Note

Sorry if it's going slow for you guys, I just feel like I need to explain the world Aston comes from a bit more. It will pick up a bit more in the next couple of chapters, I promise.

Comments and questions are always welcome, and make me feel all fuzzy inside.

Her Interrogation

The next two days passed fairly similar to the first one- I continued to explain my plans for capturing Frey, and assisted in idle chores around the library while I awaited word from the Princesses or pegasi that were patrolling the woods. I learned that I had arrived during a festival known as "Nightmare Night", a festival of tribute to a folk legend under the name of Nightmare Moon, who apparently was cured from a selfish evil and returned to being the Princess Luna I had briefly met two nights ago.

"Good morning, Applejack." I said, as I walked through the wooden gates that marked the entrance to the Apple family farms, Sweet Apple Acres. I had decided that, although I had put it off for the last two days under the excuse of planning.

"Mornin' Aston. Didja come to apologize ta Applebloom?" She said, still not too thrilled to be around me.

"Aye, I did. I brought cupcakes?" I mentioned, hoping to at least ease a bit of the misgivings this family had of me. Luckily, my gold coins were similar enough to bits that Celestia had permitted me to use them as currency for my time here, and I had used a few at Pinkie Pie's bakery to purchase these half dozen cupcakes.

"Well that's awful nice of ya, I'm sure Applebloom will appreciate them with your apology." Applejack stressed, before pointing me in the direction of a wooden clubhouse that was distantly visible in a tree. "Go on now, her and her pals have been real down the last couple of days since you showed up."

"I would have thought that you would insist on coming with me." I said, turning in the direction of the clubhouse.

"Knowing mah sister, me bein there might make her think that ah put you up to it." Applejack stated, before turning and trotting into a red barn, leaving me to do what I intended.

After a short walk, I came to the clubhouse that had been pointed out to me. Emanating from inside were the voices of girls, children. Foals, I suppose, since the ponies here used so much equine terminology. Striding up to the door, I knocked, and prepared for an unwelcome greeting.

To my surprise, the door was answered by an orange filly, darker than Applejack, who was roughly the same size as Applebloom, with a purple mane. Behind her, I could see Applebloom and another filly that I didn't recognize.

"Uh.. Who're you?" Asked the orange filly, looking me up and down. From her height, I would assume I looked colossal, and coupled with the robe and a face hidden in shadow, probably quite menacing.

Or not, because this filly actually looked rather bored.

"Girls, that's the monster that attacked me on Nightmare Night!" I heard Applebloom shout, and before I had a chance to explain, the girls had vanished.

"But I brought cupcakes.." I said, downtrodden, to an empty clubhouse. "Don't fillies like cupcakes?"

"Maaaaaaaaaybe." I heard a muffled voice say, somewhere above me.
I began to grin, thinking about how I could use these cupcakes to my advantage and repair my situation.

"Well, I don't really like Pinkie Pie's cupcakes, so I don't really want them. But, I can't leave them here in an empty clubhouse, or anywhere near three fillies that refuse to speak to me."
In a heartbeat, those same three fillies were in front of me again, albeit Applebloom was a bit behind the others, looking at me uneasily. Before handing over the box of cupcakes, I got down on one knee to try and said "Applebloom, listen. I'm sorry about attacking you the other night, It was wrong, and I was mistaken, and I needed to apologize. Peace?"

"Well... if ya really mean it, then ah guess ah can forgive ya." Said Applebloom, with a smile.

"Excellent." I said, and drew back my hood to give Applebloom a smile."

"Woah, you look really young to be so big!" Exclaimed Scootaloo, standing in the corner behind me.

"I daresay you're right, from your point of view. I'm actually average size for my age where I come from, and I'm just twenty three." I said, standing up and putting my gloved hands on my hip.

"You're jus' two years older than Applejack!" Applebloom exclaimed, apparently astounded that I was so big yet roughly the same age as her sister.

"Oh? What about the rest of her group of friends? Twilight and Rainbow Dash and the rest." I asked, curious.

"Ah think they're all about the same age, twenty two an stuff." She answered, no longer interested.

"Interesting. Well, girls, here are those cupcakes I mentioned, they might be a bit squished though. I had the box underneath my cloak for the majority of the walk here." I said as I withdrew a small purple box and set it on a nearby table. "Now girls, I have to get going, so have fun and enjoy your cupcakes."

As I left, I thought I heard them shout "Cutie Mark Crusaders cupcake eaters!" But I really couldn't be sure.
It took me a couple extra minutes, but I stopped by the house on the property and told Applejack that I had apologized and that everything was -hopefully- right between me and her family now. Luckily for me, a bit more of her distrust seemed to ebb away as I spoke. And, once I was done with that, I began to walk back in the direction of the Library that I was staying in.

________

As I began to get near the Library where I was staying, I noticed a flurry of activity ahead. Over the last couple of days, the pegasi patrols that Princess Celestia had ordered had become quite noticeable as they flew over ponyville, and now it seemed a large number of them were all hurriedly flying in one direction.

"Aston!"

I turned and saw Rainbow Dash flying toward me.

"They found more creatures like you! They're trying to capture them right now, but he's fighting them!" She yelled from up in the air.

"Lead me to them!" I shouted back, and began to run in the same direction as the pegasi, following Rainbow Dash's course. It took a few minutes, but finally, we came across an area where the pegasi guards were congregating in the air, by the same forest I emerged from. Below them, there were two human figures in familiar black robes, back to back, fighting off the cautious divebombs of the pegasi.

As I approached, Rainbow Dash landed and ran beside me, as well as a pegasi guard meeting me before the group.

"Sir, the two are resisting detainment- we can't capture the two of them without bringing harm to ourselves."

"That won't be a problem, I only need one alive." I answered, pulling my hood back up and walking toward the two. "Block off their escape!" I shouted, just before the two noticed me.

I could see it in their posture, the way their legs bent and their shoulders flexed, that they were horrified to see me, because they knew what I could do. Simultaneously, they both turned to run, but were cut off by the pegasi.

They turned to me, one pointed his sword at me, while the other -the woman I had pulled in with me- swing her sword in the air to keep the pegasi at bay. Without any hesitation, I withdrew two throwing knives from by belt with one hand, and my sword with another. Acting as if I was about to charge, I began to ran, and suddenly sidestepped and spun, releasing one of the knives at the male assailant.

It struck his neck, just as I intended, and there was a moments pause as he tried to process what had just happened, before his neck let loose a cascade of arterial blood, drenching his robes and spelling his end. He dropped just a few seconds after the knife's impact, and without waiting for the woman to notice, I threw the second knife, this time aiming for her calf, and giving a satisfied smirk as she screamed at the impact and fell.

The poor woman tried to crawl away, shrieking as she noticed her comrade's bloodied body. The pegasi guards remained where they were, grimly watching on as I casually approached her struggling figure.

Forcing her head down into the dirt with the sole of my boot, I reached into my robes and withdrew a thick cord, and tied her arms behind her back. With a second cord that I kept in the same inside pocket, I gagged her and threw her hood over her head, before throwing her struggling body over my shoulder and turning around.

As Rainbow Dash stared at me, in shock, I spoke.

"Dash, I knew you were still curious about what I did in the Inquisitors when you left yesterday, it was written across your face. Well, this is my job. Sate your curiosity?" I grinned, the Fae-infused adrenaline just now kicking in, and giving me the desire to be just that much more intimidating.

Turning away, I began to walk back to the Library, thinking about how this interrogation was going to go. Hopefully, it wouldn't be too strenuous on this heretic, who appeared to be more of a girl than a woman, and with any luck, I wouldn't have to inflict and lasting damage.

"Search his body, he may have something on him that will shed light on their activities here."

________

"What do you plan to do with her?" Twilight asked, after I had finished tying up my prisoner in her basement. Now, the girl was gagged, hooded, and tied to a comically undersized chair, the entire time struggling fiercely, despite the pain I knew she felt in her leg. An Inquisitor's throwing knives were intentionally jagged and serrated in some parts, for the specific reason of tearing flesh, causing pain, and incapacitating. I still haven't removed the knife from her leg, now almost a half hour after her capture.

"Well, I'm going to interrogate her, find out what she knows. And if she's helpful, I might let her live." I stated, only being partially truthful. We, as Inquisitors, may seem brutal, but that's only to intimidate our enemies. The simple truth was, this girl was more than likely to survive this interrogation as long as she gave me any information that helped. She would go on to lead a happy life- after our Faeren's erased her memory of any of this heretical business, of course.

"Aston! She's a prisoner, and you can't execute a prisoner on whatever whim you desire. I'm going to send a letter to Celestia and ask her to come down here and simply search her mind."

"No need to bother the good Princess, now." I muttered, and walked forward, to stand in front of the heretic girl. "Besides, she is a human, and is not under your jurisdiction, as I am the one that brought her here. So, I think it's my job to do the dirty work. Pay attention, you might find insight on how these heretics' minds work."

"I dunno, Aston, if you're gonna interrogate her similar to the way you captured her, this might be something we should leave to the Princess." Said Rainbow Dash, who had followed me here.

I bent over and removed the gag and hood from my prisoner, where she immediately began to scream and struggle, shouting curses and threats to us as if she genuinely had the ability to follow through.

"So, Heretic, what's your name?" I asked, giving her an easy question once she had shut up.

"Nothing that matters to you, Inquisitor. You won't be able to stop us, now that we know how to open the portal to the Black Realm."

"Oh? I said, feigning disinterest. "And you think that will help you? The beings here are fairly powerful; the majority of them have some form of Fae coursing through their veins."

"No matter. We simply need a human sacrifice." She said, a spark of insane pride lighting up her face.

"Clearly not anymore, if you're sitting here. If anything, you'll get a swift execution at the King's castle, so he can watch your head roll." I said, inspecting my gloved hands so that she could see. "Or, maybe I'll send you back to your friends, so that your flesh CAN feed the demons. Either way, your life is worth nothing." I turned to Twilight, who was watching in the corner with Rainbow Dash. "You see? We don't even bother giving them a trial; there's absolutely no case for reason with them."

"I've been chosen to pay with my life!" She screamed at me. "That's an honor that you'll never be able to comprehend, and I'll be watching you die from the Black Realm!"

"You won't be going to the Black Realm. The flames of hell burn brightly, just for you. Actually, maybe I should take you back, let them sacrifice you. I heard it's supposed to be incredibly painful, as they gut you and string your innards across the pentagram."

Now that visibly bothered her. She felt proud to be able to spite me, but the second she thought about genuinely dying...

"Are you truly proud of it? Your death with bring about the massacre of millions, and the enslavement of so many more. Your friends, your family, your heretical comrades, and even Fray will be slaughtered under the might of the Astarothians." I said, reciting the basic lesson that was taught on the subject of the Black Realm.

She faltered at hearing that. "No, no, that's not what will happen at all!" She said, nervously straining against her bonds. "The Astarothians will be grateful, and will in turn reward us with riches!"

"Not at all." I disagreed. "In fact, your group will be among the first to die, since you're standing right in front of the fucking gate." I said, spitting out that curse for emphasis.

"No!" She shouted, her faith beginning to waiver. "Frey will not let that happen. He loves us all, he loves me!"

"Ah.. So that's why you're so loyal. You think he loves you. Fool, if he did, why would he be sacrificing you? He should be defending you, all of you, and instead, he marches you blindly to your doom. And you're just going to let it happen."

"No.. he... n-n-no.." She said, breaking down, unable to find any words to counter me. Before long, she was bent over in her chair, sobbing, still trying to argue in Frey's favor.

"You can prevent it all. You can save yourself and countless others. So answer me, talk to me." I said in a singsong voice. "Answer me, where's your empathy?"

She continued to sob, completely ignoring me.

"Obsession." I sang, beginning to pace in circles around her, tracing a hand on her head as she sobbed. "Rejection."

She jerked away from me, despising my touch. So, instead, I grabbed her by the hair from behind, and pulled her back into an upright position, before whispering into her ear.

"Your final breath... is my possession."

That caused her sobbing to falter for a moment, giving me reason to continue.

"Obsession." I kept singing. "Rejection. You're final breath. Your final breath! I've done this before. Your tears don't fall." I said, crouching down and wiping some of the tears from her face, taking full advantage of the confusion my mind game was causing her. "I've told you before, you can save everyone. Just tell me where you're camped."

And, finally, she broke, emotionally fractured, and began to speak. Helpfully, this time.

"We-we're camped three miles south of the town of Ponyville, inside of the forest known by the locals as the Everfree." She said, holding back even more sobs.

"And how far are you in your attempts to open a gate to either home or the Black Realm?" I asked, relieved that I had been able to crack her so quickly. It had only been ten minutes.

"They were supposed to open a portal to Earth while Aesc and I were gone. Time also passes by much quicker in our world than it does here. I believe in our world, roughly a week has passed in these two days. We were then going to wait until we have more supplies and manpower from Earth to open a gate here, so that we could destroy this realm first."

I turned to Twilight, who was madly scribbling a letter, and waited for her to notice me looking at her. When she did, I mouthed "Told you." and turned back to my prisoner.

"Good, you're telling me everything I need to know. Lastly, for now, what were you and... Aesc, doing at the edge of the forest?"

"We were coming to find you, if you were still alive, and kill you." She said, shaking her head at how futile she realized the effort was. I had taken down both of them in less than seven seconds.

________

"So, Princess Celestia, I think that, considering the circumstances, I should sneak through the portal and return with more Inquisitors, so that we can then adequately judge the situation and deal with it. I am skilled, but I cannot eliminate so many Heretics without aid." I said, pleading my case to the Princess of the Sun, as I was told.

"Why do you need more of your people? While I mean no offense to you, our guards should be more than able to assist in the fight with the people you deem Heretics." She said, frowning as she pondered my request.

"I request permission to bring more Inquisitors because there's the chance that they may open the gate to the Black Realm finally, and with the gate comes Astarothians, beings that your world has never seen before, with powers that even I would be hard pressed to defeat one on one. Two more Inquisitors at most, and we would be able to decimate the Heretics and eliminate the Astarothians, as long as there aren't too many." I realized that my case sounded weak, even overly cautious, but Astarothians were... unpredictable. There was no telling how they may have changed in the several hundred years since they were last seen on Earth.

"In addition, your Highness, if I were to travel back home, I would be able to speak with my superiors, and possibly open up a diplomatic relationship between your country and my own. It carries the potential to be the first inter-world alliance... ever. An opportunity that could give both our nations an enormous advantage in each of our dimensions."

While Celestia thought that over, I glanced around the room we were in- the throne room of the Princesses Celestia and Luna.

"Sister, we think that Aston here hast made an excellent point. Thou wouldst do well to seriously consider this offer, for it could mean a new age of friendship among our people, and an end to disharmony from another world." Luna piped in. Inwardly, I thanked her for her comment, because it was clear that Princess Celestia held her sister's opinion in very high regard.

"I see... In which case... I think I will give you permission to bring more Inquisitors. But two, at the most. And in exchange, I must ask that you take Twilight with you in order to prove our existence. She will serve as a representative of the interests of Equestria. Will you be able to sneak through the portal with her in tow?" Celestia asked, now pleased with the deal she had offered.

"I would not, your Highness. I fear that I may move to quickly for Twilight to adequately follow without raising suspicions, and attacking their portal as a diversion is out of the question. There awaits only more Heretics on the other side, in addition to the possibility of Heretics escaping the attack and creating yet another portal somewhere else. At least for now, they are unsure if we know their whereabouts or not."

In the background, Twilight was furiously thanking the Princess for the "honor of representing the entirety of Equestria" as Twilight put it.

Celestia mulled my answer over, glancing at the Heretic girl standing in the corner, now unbound. She had sworn, up and down, side to side and on her life, that she wanted to help me stop Frey. I doubted it.

"Well, Aston, could this girl possibly help us create a portal of our own, then? We could, once this Heretic situation has been dealt with, use that new portal as the main hub of interaction between our races." Celestia said, eying the girl closely. "It would also serve as... an oath, of sorts, that she now wants to help us in our pursuit of Harmony."

The girl shifted as the eyes of everypony in the room shifted to look at her- all five of Twilight's friends, including Twilight and Spike, both princesses, several guardsponies, and myself.

"Well? What're ya waitin for, sugarcube?" Applejack said to the girl.

"I... do know how to do it, from watching Frey attempt several times... It doesn't require a sacrifice anymore, just a mix of bonemeal and saltpeter in its place." Said the girl, fidgeting. In the last several hours since her "stressful" interrogation, I had learned that she was only sixteen, even younger than I had originally thought. A kid. No wonder Frey was going to use her as a sacrifice, he seemed to have an affinity for child murder.

"Perfect." Said Celestia. "In the morning, my sister and I will return and oversee the opening of a new, permanent portal. And Twilight, you will accompany Aston to his world and speak with his King, and work out any deal that you see fit. Now, good night my little ponies, it's time for me to rest."

Author's Note

Alright, hope you guys enjoy how the story's going so far. I plan on adding some images of the characters at some point in the future, so you guys can see how I picture them.

As always, I love getting notifications for comments and whatnot, so keep on sending 'em!

Also, the words spoken by Aston Fisk during the interrogation draw heavily from both Avenged Sevenfold's 'Heretic' and Bullet For my Valentine's 'Tears Don't Fall Part 2'

Their Journey- Part 1

The next morning, I was awoken from my sleep by the girl, whom I had not yet bothered to ask for her name. When she saw me open my eyes, she hastily withdrew her hand from my shoulder and limped back several paces.

"Uh.. Inquisitor, The Princess had called for you. Her and your six... uh... friends are waiting in the garden so that we can start." She said, as she shuffled her feet.

I sat up and stretched, stifling a yawn before saying "Just call me Aston, girl, it has had no consequence so far, so I doubt it will start now." As I spoke, I stood up and began to don my robe, not bothering to question why she was the one to come wake me up. "How is your leg feeling?"

She glanced up at me from where she had been fiddling with her hands. "Oh, it... still hurts a lot, but I can put a little bit more weight on it than I could yesterday."

"That's good, I suppose. Now let's go, you've got some portal making to do." I said, and strode through the door into the hallway, following the mental map I had made the day before.

It took a couple of minutes, but I made my way to the gardens, and stopped at a stone slab set into the ground, in between two statues. One appeared to be a dragon, and the other, an ordinary looking pony.

"Ah, hello Princess, girls." I greeted the party standing before me. "Do we have everything we need to begin?"

"I already gave them a list of what I think I need. We should be able to start as soon as Ms. Celestia allows." Said the girl from several paces behind me, where she had lagged behind.

"Her title is Princess, girl, and you would do well to remember that." I said sharply, giving the girl a look which she avoided looking at.

"S-sorry, Princess. Forgive me."

"It's fine, little one. You are not a subject of mine, and new to this world, I can understand a mishap or two. " Said Celestia, walking past me and giving the girl a nudge.

Frowning at the Princess' leniency, I strode over to the girls and began to speak with Twilight.

"Do you know what you're taking with you? I plan on having the girl place the opening portal in our capital, and afterward we'll be heading directly to the Inquisitor's headquarters. I would imagine they'll scan you for any hostile Fae and then take you to meet with His Majesty himself." I said, looking at the saddlebags that Twilight had strapped to her back.

"Oh, I'm just taking a map of Equestria, quills, scrolls, some books for entertainment, drawings of the inhabitants of our world, extra quills, extra scrolls, plenty of inkwells..." Twilight said, continuing on to the point where I couldn't bear to listen any more. She planned on taking a great many things for a simply diplomatic/reinforcement trip lasting roughly two or three Earth days. I saw zero use for a retractable telescope, yet she... had one anyway.

"Um.. Aston?" I heard Fluttershy say very quietly, from where she was standing behind Rainbow Dash.

"Yes, Fluttershy?" I answered, poking my head around Twilight's to see.

"Why don't you call her by her name? Didn't you bother to ask?"

"Call who by her name?" I asked, momentarily confused. "Oh, the girl. Well, as far as I'm concerned, she's a prisoner until she can prove once and for all that she really wants to help us. Until that moment comes, for all I know she's plotting to stab me in the back. Attempt, to stab me in the back."

"Oh.. Well I don't think you should be so mean to her... if... you don't mind. She may not have completely known what she was doing. It couldn't hurt..." Fluttershy trailed off, looking away and pawing the ground.

I sighed. Fluttershy here did have a point, the girl hadn't really done that much wrong, as far as I knew. Even now, as I looked at her discreetly from beneath my hood, she simply stood there looking at the ground, waiting for someone to give her an order and only speaking when Princess Celestia asked her a question.

"Maybe. You do have a point, Fluttershy. I suppose I can treat her a bit more fairly until I speak with the High Inquisitor. He'll be the one who decides whether she'll be hung or imprisoned." I said bluntly. "I know what your species thinks of executions, and since she's just a girl I'll try and argue in her favor. Twilight will be there, after all." I saw Fluttershy cringe out of the corner of my eye, but paid no mind to it.

"Twilight! Make sure to bring me lots of cupcakes and cakes and pies and cookies and sweetbreads and candy and mfhfhgf." Pinkie Pie began, until Twilight stuck her hoof in Pinkie's mouth, who only resumed a few seconds later. "I want to see if the the deserts are just as good in Aston's world as they are here in Equestria!"

"I'll try, Pinkie. Just remember that this IS a diplomatic trip for me, and an even more important trip for Aston. I might not have time."

"Twilight, if it's such an important trip fer ya, why'd ya take one o' yer chemistry sets?" Applejack said what was going through my mind as I watched the three of them interact, with Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Fluttershy simply watching.

"Because I'd like to test the acidity of the soil, water, and anything else I may encounter. It's pretty important for me to get a scientific view of Aston's world including a diplomatic, magical, and social view as well. It would help with my studies of Friendship and who knows? Maybe I'll meet some interesting ponies there as well."

"People." I said, idly.

"Huh?" Twilight said, her and her friends turning toward me.

"We don't collectively refer to each other as ponies in my world. We're people. Some may take offense to that, if they can get over your very strange appearance." I stated, before abruptly turning away and walking toward Princess Celestia and the Girl. "We have to get going, so pack up and be ready." I said back to them, impatiently. This idle chit-chat was beginning to make me antsy.

"...Strange appearance? Is there something wrong with my mane?" I heard Twilight ask behind me, quietly, to which her five friends repeatedly assured her there wasn't.

"Girl, let's go. Are you ready to construct the portal?" I asked, towering over her petit frame.

"Y-yeah, all the supplies are right there." She said, and slowly pointed to a pile of alchemical supplies stacked beside the stone slab.

"Go to it, then." I said, and watched for the next twenty minutes or so as she painstakingly constructed the summoning signs for the portal, frequently smudging parts out and redoing them, which worried me. Eventually, she stood and claimed she was finished. "So how do we start it?" I asked, walking around the circle of glyphs and powder.

"Do you have fire?" The girl asked, giving a short nod when I withdrew a small flint and a throwing knife from my robes, to serve as a steel.

The Girl crouched down on her uninjured knee and began to strike the flint above a small pile of powdered chemicals in the center of the circle. When it eventually ignited, instead of exploding like I expected it to, a brown and green wave emanated from the center, stopping by the boundaries and fluctuating between earthen colors of brown, green, and greys.

"Excellent." I muttered to myself before turning to the Girl and the group of ponies. "Well then girls, Princess, say your goodbyes to Twilight, because I would truly like to get on our way."

I turned my back to the group, and began to pat my many sheathes and robe pockets, checking for any supplies that weren't where they were supposed to be, barring any I had used.

'Right, I have my sword, all but one knife, my stiletto, my disposal supplies, my flint is with the girl...I didn't bring anything else, did I?' I thought, cursing my momentary forgetfulness. 'No, that's everything.'

I turned back to the group to see the six girls all in a tight embrace, with little spike standing behind them off to the left, looking downcast. Figuring that it was something worth bringing up, I strode over to him and kneeled down, offering a condolence.

"Spike, why do you look so? Twilight will only be gone for a couple of days, and then we'll be back with help. Everything is going to be okay, you know." I said, shrugging my hood off my head and giving him my best smile. I doubt it was very good.

"It's really not that, Aston, it's that Twilight hardly ever takes me on any of her adventures anymore. I get left out all the time during picnics, I wasn't invited to Twilight's birthday party, and they even left me behind to go to the Equestria Games! Now, she's going to another universe for the first time in history and I have to sit here and wait for her to come back and tell me all about it." Spike said, flopping down onto the ground with a humph. "My job as her number one assistant also means that I should be around to help her with everything!"

I thought about his statement for a minute, thinking about what I should say. "Well Spike, I'm completely sure that you're a perfect assistant, but in my world, Dragons were looked down upon, hunted, and sometimes even eaten. I'm sure that, even though you're completely capable of handling yourself, Twilight wouldn't want to put you in any danger, at least until our races can work out an agreement. Do you understand? Besides, none of the other girls are going."

At precisely that moment, Twilight asked from several feet away "Aston, would you mind if Rainbow Dash came along? All the other girls have to return to Ponyville, but Rainbow Dash could be useful in carrying supplies or even showing off what us ponies can do!"

"NO." I shouted, seeing the frustrated glance that Spike was giving Twilight.

"See, she even asked for Rainbow to go before she asked if I could." Spike said, crossing his arms.

"Well Rainbow Dash isn't coming, so you don't need to worry about that. Now, I apologize, but we have been dillydallying for far too long this morning, with idle conversation, and we need to go."

With that, I stood up and motioned for the girl to stand by the portal, which she thankfully understood and obliged, limping over to stand beside it.

Walking over to Twilight, who was nervously saying goodbye after my angry denial, I grabbed her by her mane and dragged her over to the portal. Seeing the girl standing in front of it, peering through the misty veil, I swiftly kicked her rear, pushing her into the portal. I heard Rarity gasp, and Rainbow Dash and Spike give a small giggle, and then I threw Twilight into the portal after the girl. Now that raised gasps from everybody there. Or, everypony, as my Equine acquaintances would have said.

Turning around, I bowed to Celestia, and caught a glimpse of Rainbow Dash and Spike quickly whispering and gesturing to each other, before I took a step backwards and fell through the portal myself.

Author's Note

A bit of a slow lead up for the events occurring in the next several chapters, I hope you guys enjoy it!

I apologize for taking forever to update this time, but I've been preoccupied by school, the holiday, and such, but I plan on continuing the updates as before.

Their Journey- Part 2

My exit from the portal was a rather unexpected one.

Instead of stepping backwards out of it, like I assumed I would, I found myself falling out of the top of the portal, propelled just far enough for me to clear a few rocks directly in front of the portal, and landing on top of a crumpled Twilight, who was apparently in the middle of rubbing where her mane connected to her head. So undignified, especially for an agent of His Majesty.

Standing up and looking around, I was relieved to find that this was not another muck-up on part of Frey and company, namely the Girl. We were not standing in the midst of a hellish nightmare or a pastel forest characteristic of the only other two worlds that Humanity knew, we appeared to be in His Majesty's private hunting grounds, if I had properly recognized the bright blue ribbon that adorned every other tree.

I turned around and inspected the portal- where it was set into the ground in Equestria, it had appeared to be set upright against a cliff face here, which would explain why I was dropped nearly ten feet face-first. In addition to the position of the portal, I could see a very, very unfocused group of familiar equines, appearing as if I was looking at them from my peripheral vision laying down on my back, like the position of the portal.

Nodding, I turned around to see Twilight -now erect- standing over the body of the girl; her head resting against the rock and a small puddle of drool collecting on the ground.

'Poor girl.' I thought, as I observed Twilight examining and poking her. 'She seems to be on the butt end of bad luck recently, encountering me and all. Meh, no matter, she'll be fine.'

Opting to let her rest, I decided to simply scooch Twilight aside and pick the girl up, throwing her limp body over my shoulder and walking in the direction I thought the Castle was.

"Uh... Aston, is she going to be okay?" Asked Twilight, following along behind me while simultaneously trying to examine and feel just about everything.

"I'm sure she'll be fine, she's only unconscious. I would advise against that, Twilight. Taking anything from the King's land is an offense punishable by death, especially for foreigners." I said, as I glanced over and saw Twilight attempting to fit a brightly colored rock into a strange glass case.

"Oh. Hehe... sorry..." Said Twilight, clearly only regretful that she was caught.

Continuing on our way, we walked in silence; I figured that Twilight would be wanting to take in as much as she possibly could, until she began to speak.

"Aston, your world is so.... strange looking. It's as if there are colors that are so much darker and detailed than there are in Equestria. Even individual leaves are so many different shades, whereas ours are simply... green!"

"Aye.." I muttered.

"But all of this belongs to the King, and we haven't even visited his Castle yet! Why does he own so much land? Princess Celestia and Princess Luna only own the castle, and most of it has public access!"

"That would be partly because God himself made sure that King Offa won the war and became King; as such, he and his family deserve all the property they desire." I answered, citing the obvious reason for our King's rule. "And, there are many who would like to see his Majesty assassinated, because they sympathize with the way things used to be. So, we make sure that he is as secure as possible. I am proud to say that the King's Guard is trained by the Inquisitors."

I heard Twilight once more scribbling into her notebook. She seemed to do that a lot, at least when I was around her. However, I heard a whimper and turned to look- she was giving the paper angry glances as she tried to write, walk, and observe the forest around her. I suppose pony magic requires quite a bit of concentration.

"Since we're now here in your world, could you tell me about your nation's history? You mentioned that your King won a war... what was that about?" Twilight asked, trotting alongside me, apparently satisfied with seeing the same kind of trees over and over and over.

"Before Mercia became Mercia, we were a tribal land. There was Eire, Cymru, Breizh, Alba, Kernow, and the Mannin Ellan Vannin, an Island off of the main land. Various wars occurred fairly commonly, and the people cried out for peace. So, peace came, after all of the tribe leaders met and conceded. From what I remember, foreigners then came and invaded, and the entire land was once again plunged into war. Some tribes wanted the foreigner's rule, most didn't, and each had their own idea of what should happen. So, it became each tribe against another, with the foreigners against all. Then, along came Offa, a simple Breizhan, who periodically conquered each tribe while they were distracted. Once united, they slowly fought off the invaders after nearly ten years of fighting. The castle that we are about to come upon was erected in the exact spot that Offa himself beheaded the foreign general." I answered, reciting the well known history. "That was... roughly seven years before I was born, so about thirty years ago. King Offa is in his seventies now, but is still living strong."

"Wow... a tribal nation huh? That's fairly similar to the way Equestria was founded, aside from the years of warfare and death." Said Twilight. "And... who are these people that hate the King so much?"

"They're tribals, mostly remnants of Picts and Alba, who want society to continue in its tribal nature. However, our people have moved on. The majority have adopted Christianity, and live in bustling towns. They attend Church, listen to choir, and are conscripted just like the rest of the known world. The Tribals... well, they live in the forests, they play tribal music, and worship the old gods. Epona, Bodua, Cernunnos and the like. Some tribals get along fine with society and simply prefer their old way of life, while others are almost fanatical. Many heretical groups come from tribes that decided that they quite like modern weapons and clothing, but want to keep only their favorite things from their old way of life. Nitpickers. Frey is just insane, he thinks that the entirety of the Mercian Kingdom is evil in nature and that it should be wiped from the face of the Earth."

"That's nerve wracking, knowing that there's somepony loose that wants to do nothing but hurt everypony. I suppose you Inquisitors do what you do for good reason, then." Twilight said, coming to a stop and examining a particular bunch of leaves that were an alarming shade of red-orange.

"Twilight, don't touch that with your snout. That's poison oak, you'll get sores and blisters on your face. We can;t present you to the King like that, can we?" I said, watching as Twilight pawed at the plant.

"You have poison joke in this world? But this plant is a totally different shape, color, and size!" Twilight responded, taking a step back and looking at me with a confused face.

"I said poison OAK, it's an irritant plant that will infect your skin." I said, shifting the Girl from my right shoulder to my left.

"You there! What is your reason for trespassing in the King's private grounds? Get down on your knees, and place your hands above your.... what in the Lord's name is that creature? A unicorn?"

I turned my head right and saw a member of the King's Guard; a man in his late twenties, wearing a brown tunic and trouser combination with bright red epaulettes, a black and gold cuirass, and carrying a halberd.

"Ah, the King's Guard. I am Aston Fisk, a member of the Inquisition. Bíonn ciúin ciontach." I said, giving the motto of the Inquisition, which meant 'The Quiet are Guilty.' "This here is Twilight Sparkle, an ambassador from a separate dimension, like the Astarothian dimension. However, this world is peaceful and friendly. Please, lead us to His Majesty, or the Inquisition headquarters."

The guard, clearly confused, nodded his head and shouldered his halberd, before turning and leading us away. It took another ten minutes of walking, but eventually we arrived outside of the front gates, where another Inquisitor was waiting; a Faeran.

"Hello there, Fisk. We had assumed the worst when you didn't return for nearly a week. What might that be?" Asked the Inquisitor, whom I recognized by the necklace around his neck.

"Hello Sigurd. This is a young teenage girl, who was affiliated with the Orphites. She is in my custody now, and I will only hand her over to an Inquisitor General or the Supreme Counselor." I answered, playing off what he was really asking.

"And the horse?"

"My new steed. I plan on riding her into battle, when I return to deal with Frey and the rest of the Orphites."

Sigurd frowned, clearly irritated by my response. "Very funny, Fisk. We sent your good friend Garrett to investigate when you didn't return, and he found an opened gate with heretics freely moving through. Could it be a new dimension has been discovered, and the heretics are using it as a base?"

"Precisely." I answered. "This is Twilight Sparkle, a native of the new dimension. She is a resident of a nation called Equestria, for intelligent equines like her, and she is a representative of Her Majesty in that dimension, a being by the name of Celestia. They seek to begin diplomatic relations."

Sigurd stayed quiet for a moment, staring off into space. "This is... quite an interesting find, Fisk. You could be immediately taken into His Majesty's personal cabinet for this. Please come with me, Ms. Sparkle. We will scan you for anything hostile, our superiors will question Fisk and his new friend, and then the two of you will be reunited to speak with His Majesty Offa in counsil."

Twilight looked at me nervously, to which I nodded and gestured for her to follow Sigurd.

"Alright then, Mr. Sigurd! Would you like to know anything about Equestria along the way?" Twilight asked, clopping over to where Sigurd stood.

"No."

"So, Aston, you're telling me that this girl, the one currently on your shoulder, is an Orphite?"

"Yes, Supreme Counselor."

"And she admitted to joining Frey out of free will, and attempted to assassinate you while you were in this... Equestria."

"Yes, Supreme Counselor."

"So then, why, of all places, did you BRING HER ALONG INTO THE KING'S PALACE?"

"I... don't have an exact answer for that, Supreme-"

"Put the damn girl down, Aston. She's been unconscious now for nearly half an hour, how hard did you hit her?" Asked the Supreme Counselor.

"She hit her head on a rock." I answered, before sliding the girl off of my shoulder and letting her drop to the floor.

"Gyah! What? Huh? Where are we? Inquisitor? Why am I on the floor..." The Girl asked, initially panicking but quickly sinking back into her quiet demeanor.

"We are in the office of the Supreme Counselor, in His Majesty's castle. Stand and be silent for now, girl." I said, and without a word, the girl obeyed. I could get used to this...

"Continue Aston, you were explaining to me why this heretic is currently standing in my office." The Supreme Counselor said, looking the Girl up and down from beneath his hood. I couldn't see his eyes, but I knew it was happening.

"Well, she appeared to be more innocent that initially suspected. After interrogation, she accepted that Frey was in the wrong and single handedly created the portal that brought me back. In addition, she clearly has a quiet demeanor and is apparently skilled enough in clandestine activities to sneak into the town where I was staying, until an overhead watch noticed her and her accomplice." I continued, ignoring the confused look that the Girl was giving me. I told Fluttershy that I would attempt to argue on her behalf, so here I was.

"I see... Well, I think I understand the point you are getting at. And, quite honestly, you've been a lone agent for far too long now, it can't hurt to have a bit of company. I will be trusting you to watch her, and ensure that she is truly on our side. But, in addition to that, she is still young enough to convert, and execution is something I'd like to avoid so... congratulations to the two of you."

"Pardon?" I asked, unsure of what the Supreme Counselor was getting at.

"This girl is your apprentice now, Aston. Take her with you when you return, and have her assist you in your future assignments. In several years she will graduate, albeit a bit later than normal, and will be completely reformed. You argued in her favor Aston, that makes her your responsibility now."

"Oh..." I heard the Girl say, clearly just as shocked as I was. She had just been conscripted into the Inquisitors, and I had just been been conscripted into being her Master.

"Now, Girl, what is your name? I will need to officially add you into the ranks, assign you to Aston, and get you a set of robes. It's too late for you to be Fae infused, so you'll have to work around that."

The Supreme Counselor's demeanor had changed completely in the last thirty seconds; he HAD been angry with me, but now seemed optimistic at having a new recruit.

"My... my name is Kyna..." Answered the girl, sheepishly.

"Excellent! Now, Aston, take your new apprentice and head on over to the Inoculation chamber, they're inspecting your acquaintance now for any hostile diseases. Once they're done with her, you may meet with his majesty in the throne room." The Supreme Counselor leaned back in his chair, lacing his fingers together over his chest, and smiling menacingly as I turned abruptly and left, leaving Kyna to scamper behind me.

The Start of Something More

''That's not at all what I meant by arguing in her favor...'' I thought to myself as I escorted Kyna through the halls of His Majesty's castle.

"I'm sorry Inquisitor, I... didn't intend to give the perception that I was qualified to become an Inquisitor. I'll make sure to pay attention so you won't have to deal with me for long..." Said the Girl, who's name I had just learned- Kyna, a rather traditional name, tribal. It made a bit more sense as to why she had joined Frey's little Heresy Club.

It took a bit of time, but we eventually reached the Inoculation chamber, where we met a very traumatized looking Twilight Sparkle, standing with her back against the wall and pointing her horn at any of the female Faerens who dared come close to her.

"Twilight! Twilight! What are you doing? These women are merely here to make sure you pose no threat to His Majesty. Don't threaten them, you risk a political incident." I shouted, appalled that the Princess' personal envoy would behave in such a manner.

"Political incident? Those buckers frisked me! EVERYWHERE! They checked my teeth like a Griffon's farm animal and combed through my mane as if they were looking for ticks! Who do they think they are?" Retorted Twilight, who had just attempted to run one of the Faerens through.

"Oh Christ." I muttered to myself, before taking several large steps forward and tearing the hood off of one of the offenders. "Faeren! What is the meaning behind treating a royal envoy as if she were a prize mule? Simply because she has a bit of a bray-"

"Hey!" I heard Twilight say, as Kyna snorted.

"- does not mean that she actually is an ass. I expect the both of you to beg her envoy's forgiveness immediately, lest I drag you to the Supreme Counselor's office and hang you by your belts." I snarled, giving both women cause to back away. Immediately they apologized, and quickly shuffled out of the room.

Twilight huffed and turned away from me, using her magic to fix her mane, which had been ruffled up in the previous encounter. "Thank you Aston." She said, though she was clearly still offended.

"There is no point in thanking me, that was in all actuality genuine protocol. I just simply can't allow you to turn a sour eye to our species as a whole, and potentially botch and diplomatic possibilities that our King may desire. Let's go, Twilight and Kyna, we should not keep His Majesty waiting."

"Kyna..?" Twilight began, before making the connection and smiling. "Ah. So your name is Kyna. Well then, it's nice to officially meet you Kyna, my name is Twilight Sparkle."

"Um... Hello?" Kyna muttered, confused as to why Twilight was introducing herself. "Why are you..."

"Because now we actually know your name, and we can become friends now! I could teach you all about the Elements of Harmony, the power of friendship, and everything that me and the girls have done in the past couple of years..."

I tuned out the rest of Twilight's introduction and began to leave, walking toward the throne room where we would meet my ruler. It only took a few minutes, thankfully, as Twilight was blabbering on the entire time about how 'friendship' had made her life so much nicer.

Once we reached the throne room, a young squire quickly left to inform His Highness that we had arrived- it only made sense that we should wait on him.

Before long, the same squire came bounding out of a side chamber, and stood at rigid attention, facing us, before calling out in a formal tone "His Majesty, the savior of Mercia, has chosen to honor you with his council, and-"

"Oh, shut up you. There's no need to announce the fact that I'm walking through the damn door."

The speaker came into view, an elderly man wearing a forest green tunic and holding a cane. Not the royal scepter, but... a cane. He sat on his throne, ignoring his attendants attempts to place a pillow beneath him, and stroked his beard, allowing his simple golden crown to slant ever so slightly. My liege, my ruler, His Majesty Offa.

I immediately kneeled and bowed my head, ushering for Kyna and Twilight to do the same.

"No, no, no, please, stand and be recognized. I wish to speak to you on equal terms, Mr. Fisk, and to your guests, whom I have been told include a newly apprenticed Inquisitor and a diplomat from... Equestria, was it?" As I slowly rose to my feet, Twilight quickly answered Offa, assuring him that Equestria was correct.

"Excellent, good. Mr. Fisk, may I simply call you Aston? It's much simpler that way."

"Certainly, my Lord. I hope that I may be able to answer any questions that you have quickly and accurately." I responded, bowing my head.

"Thank you, Aston. And please, look me in the eye when you speak, I am an old man, not some self righteous gundygut. Now, could you please relate to me the story of how you stumbled upon our new friend's... ah... world, and what you did from there? I was informed of what Mr. Garret had found, and was worried that you had perished. It's narry a happy day when one of my Inquisitors is killed."

"Well, your Majesty..."I begun, and once again related my entire story starting from my short stay at the inn outside of Chester.

Celestia looked around at the rest of the Mane 6, and Spike, watching their expressions change from a happy farewell to worried. They had been idly waiting for nearly an hour.

"Ah don't know about this, Princess. Do ya' think it was really right to send Twilight off on 'er own like that, to that Human world? Jus' because Aston is helping us with the mess HE started, doesn't mean that his feller men are on our side too." Applejack said, turning her head to speak to Princess Celestia.

"Yeah... I gotta agree with AJ on that one. Aston is cool and all but... if his friends are anything like him, then they might be a bit of a hoof full to deal with." Rainbow Dash said, nodding her head in Applejack's direction.

""I understand, my little ponies. But at the current moment, it would appear to be the best way to formally recognize each other's worlds. And if this problem is anything like what Mr. Fisk mentioned, then our own Celestial and Lunar guards might not be able to handle it. Don't worry too much, I'm sure Aston will take excellent care of Twilight, and they'll be back soon. Time moves faster in their world, remember?" Celestia said, and began to turn away. "I would suggest coming and waiting in the throne room with me. I'll be sure to post a guard to tell us when Aston returns."

"Um... Everybody... There's something happening with the portal..." Fluttershy said, and pointed to the portal, which had begun to shimmer and wake, as if a rock had been dropped into a pond.

"Oh, is somepony coming through the portal? How quaint, we've only been waiting for an hour! Maybe Twilight has finished her business already." Rarity said, taking a few steps toward the portal, which was steadily shimmering at a faster rate.

After only a few seconds of the entire party watching, a figure appeared in the portal, blurry, but sharpening, until a blue hooded head surfaced from the portal, quickly followed by two more. As the three figures exited, the company of ponies noticed that none of these three were Aston, nor Twilight or the Girl.

They wore the same blue and mottled gray cloaks that Aston did, but these men had dark brown leather spaulders strapped on outside of their robes, and dark leather half-masks, hiding their identities.

"Who are you?" Celestia asked, stepping forward suspiciously.

"Queen Celestia?" The lead Inquisitor asked, observing the half circle of ponies around him.

"Princess." She corrected. "Has Aston sent you-" Celestia began, until the lead Inquisitor stepped forward and jabbed her in the neck- a three fingered strike that temporarily halted her air flow and caused her to pass out. She had only enough time to watch as the other two Inquisitors systematically bound and gagged the last five of the Mane Six, and watch one that had hit her picked up spike and tied his hand and feet together, muzzling him so he could not use his fire breath.

When Celestia awoke, she immediately looked around, noticing that she was in the throne room, laying down alongside Spike and the rest of the Mane Six. They had all been unbound, and were slowly and steadily coming to. Lifting her head, she saw Princess Luna standing protectively over her, watching the center of the room closely.

She staggered to her feet, coughing every so slightly, before asking "Lulu... what happened? Where.... where are those humans?"

"We discovered thou and the rest unconscious in the throne room. After checking to assure that thou were alright, we gathered the guards to find who assailed thou. It was not long after that these humans returned, admitting to their assault and dragging behind them a bound and gagged figure. It would seem that this is the very same human that our acquaintance Aston reassured us he would find."

Upon hearing that, Celestia jumped to life, shaking her head and rushing around to aid her subjects in standing. Once she was finished, she turned to glare at the four men in her throne room- three were standing in line, facing her, while the fourth was kneeling, a burlap sack covering his head. He had severely torn clothing, and various bloodstains covered the remaining areas of his clothes.

"Who are you? Why did you assault me and my subjects? Who is that human at your feet?" Celestia demanded, pointing her horn at the three Inquisitors and preparing a spell.

"This is the man that Fisk described to you. We were ordered to travel through the portal preemptively, find Frey using instructions from apprentice Kyna, and execute him. Fisk and our lord will be coming through the portal shortly, and we are expected to have his head on a pike before then." The lead Inquisitor answered, kicking Frey at his feet.

"That doesn't explain why you attacked us! What the buck?" Rainbow Dash shouted, hovering nearby and readying herself to attack.

"Twilight Sparkle took the liberty of describing the pacifist nature of your nation. As we could not take the risk of your preferred way of dealing with this scum interfering with our preferred method, we made sure that you could not order us to change our methods in your territory. Now that we have him, we will wait for you to acknowledge being a witness, and will summarily execute him."

"Now wait! No, that isn't the proper way to deal with treason!" Celestia shouted, Luna watching attentively behind her.

"He is in our possession now, it is of our concern. We simply need a witness of this world to acknowledge his death."

"No! We can not allow you to commit such a heinous act, especially in the presence of innocents!" Luna asserted, charging up a spell on her own horn as well.

"Your reluctance to accept will be treated as acknowledgement, your highness." The Inquisitor said, before yanking the sack off of Frey's head.

The Inquisitor's hands began to glow a dangerous red, and he placed his hands over Frey's ears. Within seconds, Frey began to scream and writhe, before he collapsed to the floor, blood leaking out of his mouth, eyes, ears and nostrils.

Author's Note

Now, just to kind of aid in the way I imagine the characters and settings of the human world (which is based off of the real-life Anglo-Saxon nation), I thought I would find a whole bunch of relevant images and give you the links, if you're interested. I just think it would help with the visualization of the characters.

First off, I did some digging into what my preferences for a wise, old king would look like and figured that King Offa would look visually similar to Sir Henry Taylor, depicted with a crown here-
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Study_of_King_David,_by_Julia_Margaret_Cameron.jpg

Secondly, the Faeren Inquisitors are intended to be sort of mysterious and secluded from the rest of the characters, but still powerful in their own right, though they're hardly mentioned so far. As such, I think the Shapers from the Geneforge game series accurately depicts their physical appearance.
http://www.benresnick.com/images/geneforge_shaper.jpg

And then there were the guards of the castle. I took the design of their uniform from the Portrait d'un carabinier à cheval, by Géricault. The guards are intended to look almost identical to that man in the painting, barring facial hair and such, of course.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:G%C3%A9ricault_-_Portrait_de_carabinier_-_Louvre.jpg

Lastly was the castle itself.I hardly described the structure or location, but it's in Tamworth, the capital of Mercia. And, what better castle to serve as the Mercian King's residence than an actual Mercian castle? I figured the real-life Tamworth Castle made a-plenty of sense for the scenario, even though RL Offa died quite a while before the castle was even concieved.
http://applebyparkhotel.com/_asset/1055/Tamworth_Castle.jpg

As always, please comment your opinions and keep sending those notifications!