Witness.
As all stories start, it was a dark and rainy night. The rain had turned the dirt roads of the back country into muck which only one carriage would dare to trudge itself through. It was of basic construction, simple oak which rumbled as it drove along. Its only distinguishing feature was the ones leading the carriage. Instead of the typical work pony, there were two hulking beasts attached to harnesses, one was a entire wolf constructed of lumber with acid glowing eyes, while the other was an enormous crocodile, successfully named the cragodile from it being entirely made of rock.
These two were powerful enough for the wooden wheeled carriage to power through the sucking mud. Their only stop was a poorly lit inn that smelled of tobacco smoke and alcoholic cider. As they ground to a stop, a lone figure stepped out of the carriage onto the back of the cragodile who had removed his harness and had made a bridge to keep the figures hooves from the mud.
"Thank you Arum. You two can come inside with me if you want to, but please bring my box if you will."
"The cragodile shook his head slightly and began shrinking along with the timber wolf until two figures stood where they were.
"Thank you Master." Arum said. The timberwolf figure pounced onto the top of the carriage without a word and opened a secret hatch in the top. He disappeared, then came back out with a handle in his mouth which was attached to an even larger box. He hopped down and followed Arum and his Master into the inn. There were several lanterns hung up to provide shabby light to the nearly broken down inn. The inn keeper was stationed behind the bar and the three figures approached him.
"I would like to purchase a room, or several for me and my associates. How much will that cost me?"
"Bou't a hundred and twenty five bits mister." the keeper said as he washed a filthy glass.
"Will this work?" he asked, as he opened the box and tossed a bag onto the counter. Various crystals of various size and colors spilled out onto the counter.
"Are these?" the keeper started
"Rubies, sapphires, emeralds, and other various precious jewels? Yes, yes they are."
"Your rooms will be numbers 21, 22, and 23 on the second floor. Enjoy your stay." As the Master was about to close the box, a single hoof was laid on his shoulder, and a voice growled in his ear.
"Maybe you could spare some of those gems for a poor old floater who can barely scrape up a bit sir." The Master felt a short blade being pushed up against his throat, barely grazing a cord laced around his neck. Arum and his partner stood still, but the Master could see that they were preparing for a fight. Their muscles tensed up and their breathing was long and steady.
"I think that I cannot," he said, "but I think I could compensate you is some other way.
"Oh really?" the thief said. "Show me." The Master sighed as he dug around his box and emerged with a small figurine, which somehow bore a striking resemblance to his attacker. "What is this, a joke?! I wanted jewels zebra!"
At this the Master was taken aback. "How did you know I was of zebra kind?"
"Easy. I could hear your leg rings jingle against your knees from a mile away. Yet you never answered my question. What is this?"
"This here my over observant friend, is a voodoo doll."
"Like the stories tell?" the thief said, his knife shivering for a second.
"Exactly, except that this is no story, this is reality." he said, an unseen grin spreading under his hood. He lashed out with one hoof and struck the knife across the room.
"What the!?" the thief said as the Master's hoof wrapped around his neck. he shut up though when a viper slithered out of the sleeve and slithered toward his face. He flinched as it struck, yet was surprised as it returned with only a small cut of his mane in its smile. The thief swore that the snake smirked slightly as it deposited the hair into the zebra's other hoof and disappeared. The zebra released him by pushing him into the hooves of the ones that had walked in with him. As the robber struggled, the zebra wrapped the hair around the neck of the doll. The thief stopped as his throat closed suddenly. the zebra trotted up to him slowly and started to speak.
"I have killed before thief. Yet you can choose if I do so tonight. You can choose to serve alongside me and live or go against me and die. Choose quickly."
Only a few seconds passed before the thief nodded his head quickly.
"Excellent." the master said and loosed the hair around the doll. The thief took in a gasp of air as he was released. "What now sir?" he gasped.
"Don't call me sir." the Master said as he took a bottle of light violet liquid in a short squat vase with a the head of some creature at the top, "Call me Master."
The Master poured the vase's contents over the doll. It melted into a small puddle on the floor. The thief seized up again, and the Master released him so he lay squirming on the floor. His skin undulated, pushing out as if there was something wrestling under the thin layer of flesh, waiting to release itself.
"Your first assignment here sir," the Master began, "Will be to join my little party of... "fellow adventurers.,""
The thief cried out and curled up yet again, yet this time from his mouth came a small jewel. It was tear shaped and was unlike any of them in the Master's payment bag. He picked it up and placed his eye to it. "Fascinating..." he whispered and motioned his hoof towards his box. The pony who was the timberwolf opened the crate and pulled out a smaller leather bag.
The Master loosed the straps and placed the gem inside. At this time, the thief had stopped trembling and laid like a corpse. His flesh still moved. He then exploded in a flash of bright light. A gaping hole was left in the oaken floors of the inn. The only pony blinded was the barkeeper, and the Master took his jewels off of the counter and ran out of the inn with Arum and the timberwolf close behind. Arum attached his harnesses to himself and changed. "Flint!" the master yelled at the timberwolf.
"Yeah Boss!"
"You know what to do. Find us again on the road when you are done. We follow the thief. He will lead us to her! Hiyah Arum!"
The cart bolted after a small travelling mound of dirt. Flint looked up at the inn with the crate. He opened it yet again and pulled a small glass bottle with a small amount of a red viscous liquid inside. He threw it against the front door of the inn. When it impacted a red slime spurted out and covered the door like jelly. Flint then morphed and leaped onto the low roof where he tore back the covering until he could see the room underneath. There was a bed where a small filly and mare. He crawled through the roof and landed, releasing his form of wood to reduce noise. As he clinked back together, he crawled slowly towards the sleeping forms.
As he reared against the bed, he opened his mouth and breathed out a dark flowing smoke onto the mother. As it went into her nostrils, she seized up in a spasm and her breath stopped. He stopped though as he reached the filly. She was bright yellow with a brown mane and tail. He stalled for a moment, before breathing onto her too. She died silently alongside her mother. This quick death would be a blessing. Flint continued around the room, now breathing a yellow gas, stopping for only one instance to glance at the family's portrait.
They looked happy... almost content. They almost reminded him of... "No! don't think of her!" he growled to himself."You still have your brother, that's all that matters! Now move!" he continued until he knew that the gas had seeped through the floorboards and into the rest of the inn. He heard shouting at the door, then a loud thud of impact. Flint crouched, then pounced through his hole, then made his way to the jelly encrusted door. He took out a claw and began to shape a circle into the gel.
As he finished, he felt heat flow through the gel and sparks fly out into the inn. Then it erupted in a hellfire. He knew that his breath was combustible, a severe strength and weakness to timberwolves everywhere. He picked up the crate and placed it into his wooden chest where he knew that it would be safe. He heard the screams and the hissing of rain smacking against fire. Nothing would stop it, he knew that. He ran. He ran quickly, hoping that the screams would not follow him. They did. The crate clinked against something in his ribcage. A small picture frame with the faces of a happy family, never to see the light of day again, stared into the rainy night as the mud pushed against his claws.
Seven miles away, in a darkened forest in the shortest tree one had ever seen, a form sleeping in a bed sat up quickly, covers falling off of her. She gasped then began sobbing quietly, tears running down her fur. She cried still as she laid back down, until sleep finally extinguished all emotion.
