Dark Age of Time

Chapter 3.

As Whiskey walked along the dirt road inside of Moccasin Hill, his mind ignored the buildings around him, on his way back towards the bar he and Ruby had originally started from. Whiskey wondered why he so quickly accepted the box, but quickly passed it off as him needing the bits as soon as possible, and a having a job never hurt any pony.

Ruby however, was skipping along next to Whiskey and humming quietly to herself. She had yet to deliver the sword to Stone Gazer, due to the pony being out of town on business. Ruby was not concerned with the pony being gone because she would have the Drunken Mare's bartender hold the sword behind the counter until Stone Gazer came back.

Ruby would glance up at Whiskey every so often and smile. Whiskey would glance down and tilt his head when she stopped and giggled. Ruby twirled around in circles, spreading her arms out as she finished humming. Whiskey ignored the display, choosing instead to walk over and open the door to Phantom's shop.

The pegasus had his back to the group and was adjusting the position of a few vials on a shelf. Phantom wore only a pair of pants and a shirt, showing his less than impressive wings. They were half the size of normal wings and prevented him from doing anything more than slow his falls. Whiskey glanced down at Ruby and noticed she was slowly sneaking her way over to the unsuspecting purple pegasus, so Whiskey quickly knocked on the door and called out, "hello?"

Phantom spun around and adjusted his glasses after they shifted on his face. "Yes?! Ah, Whiskey, right?" He nodded as Ruby looked back and pouted, having lost the element of surprise. "What can I do for you?"

Whiskey tried to ignore Ruby's pouting by focusing his gaze on a cabinet stocked full of various colored jars. "I'm going to be traveling and need some help."

"Help?" Phantom placed his palms together and looked at them as he opened, closed, and turned his hands around while thinking over Whiskey's request. It didn't take him long, only a few seconds, before he nodded. "Yes. I can help. Let me pack my things."

His response received a minor chuckle from Whiskey, causing Phantom to tilt his head in confusion. He opened his mouth to ask why, but Whiskey said, "I meant medical supplies. I need to buy some in case I get injured."

Phantom facepalmed. His cheeks darkened as a faint blush of embarrassment formed on his face. "I'm an idiot," he muttered as he pulled his hand down and managed to cause the blush to vanish. "I thought you wanted me to travel with you!"

"Sorry." Whiskey walked over to the cabinet and began browsing all of the labels. "I travel fast and light. Another pony is only going to slow me down." He grabbed a purple vial labeled 'healing potion' with a red cross painted on it and held it out. "This made from herbs?"

Phantom stood up straight, firmly nodding and looked annoyed at the question. "Every potion in here is made from hand picked herbs!" He said with a wave of his hand. "How else can you make one?"

Whiskey, not amused by the reply, pulled the cork top and sniffed it, smelling roses, grass, and a few other flowers mixed in. He corked it and grabbed a few rolls of cloth, then went over to Phantom and showed him everything before setting his bag down. "Sorry. I had to be sure because I once heard a rumor of ponies grinding unicorn horns up for their potions."

Ruby, who had been dancing around and humming to herself, stopped and stared at Whiskey with her jaw agape as all the color drained from her face. Phantom looked down at the potion, up at Whiskey and then over to Ruby. "They're just old world rumors to scare young foals. No such recipe exists." He quickly looked at Whiskey again and a small glimmer of a glare crossed his face. "As for you. I'd appreciate it if you respected my line of work more. I save lives, I don't harm any ponies and that'll be sixty bits for everything. Now pay up."

Whiskey tossed the gold bits on the table and scooped up the items. He quickly placed them in his bag and headed for the door before he would say something he might regret. The zebra opened the door as Ruby asked, "are ya tellin' the truth, Mister?"

Whiskey looked over his shoulder at the small earth pony filly, frowning some. "Even a lie has a bit of truth to it somewhere." He stood there flexing his striped fingers for a second before walking out of the shop towards the front gate.

Ruby looked at Phantom like she was about to be sick. The pegasus slowly shook his head and brought a hand up to rest on his forehead. "Ruby, they're just stories."

"But you heard 'em! They've got to come from somewhere!"

"No," Phantom sighed. "It's like the story of Discord and Harmony, a fake tale to tell to ponies."

Whiskey was busy grumbling to himself while he walked. He didn't like making foals cry, but he had no choice in his eyes. It was either lie to her and let her be naive to the real world, or tell the truth and make her cry. Luckily for Whiskey he had found a middle ground, since he wasn't even sure the rumors were true.

*** ***

Whiskey stopped next to the tavern's door and slammed his fist against the wall, receiving a hollow thump and a dull pain for his effort. He shut his eyes, let out a deep breath, and shook his head. "Why are you acting so stupid?" he asked himself.

The batwing doors to the tavern were flung open as a screaming pony flew out of the bar and landed on the ground, sliding to a stop in the middle of the road. Whiskey's eyes snapped open, his gaze quickly darted left and right as he tried to figure out what had just happened. He spotted one of the plate armored ponies in the road and tilted his head a bit. The whole right side of the armor's breast plate had been sliced open like somepony had pried it apart.

The armored pony scrambled to his hooves and ran off towards the gate without his sword. Whiskey audibly gulped and wondered what had caused the armor to rip in such a manner. He also wondered if he should look inside the tavern. And if it was a safe place for Ruby to come back to. Whiskey stood there contemplating his choices until his choice was made for him.

The batwing doors swung open and a pony in sky blue robes with gold trim stepped out. Chains all over the robes clinked together and Whiskey could see the leather bound tome on the pony's side. The zebra's eyes widened when he saw the now bloodied bone broadsword.

Whiskey took a half step back. The pony looked down at the road and sighed. "Did he get away?" the pony asked no one in particular in their strange voice. "And we were having so much fu-" The robed pony sensed a frightened gaze and looked over at Whiskey, which caused him to take a full step back. "Oh, hello there." the pony's voice had suddenly changed tone to a more friendly one. "Hunter or non-hunter?"

"What?" Whiskey blinked at the sudden question.

The robed pony conjured the bounty paper and held it up for Whiskey to see. He could see that it was a one thousand bit bounty on living unicorns or one hundred and fifty bits for each full grown horn.

"Do you hunt unicorns?" the pony asked as they crumpled the bounty up and burned it in a green fireball that didn't burn their hand.

Whiskey gulped again and quickly shook his head. "No! Never! I'm just a land bound privateer from the past."

"Ah." the pony nodded as the fireball ceased. "Ships are fun. So you're travelling then?" Whiskey nodded and said nothing. "Mind if I tag along?" the unicorn asked with a tone that indicated it was in Whiskey's best interest he accepted. It didn't help that the unicorn lifted their sword and began cleaning the blood off with some cloth.

"No...?" Whiskey cringed and braced himself for the inevitable attack.

It never came. Instead, the unicorn placed the sword on their back and sighed. "Perhaps we got off on the wrong hoof. I'm Crystal Shard," they held their hand out. "And you might be...?"

"Whiskey," he said and looked down at the offered hand. The pony's gloves appeared to be over extremely slim fingers and they even had polished metal extensions on them that looked like they could tear Whiskey's skin with ease. Regardless, he gently took hold of the unicorn's hand and shook it. "This is going to sound weird, but are you a mare or stallion?"

Crystal let go after a moment and laughed. "It is my robes, isn't it?" Whiskey nodded. "I'm a mare. So where are you heading?"

"Far, far, away," Whiskey said as he looked at the mare's face and tried to see through her hood's shadow. He failed miserably at it.

"Good! I could use a nice walk."

"No." Whiskey shook his head. "You're not coming with me."

"Yes, I am." Crystal held up her hand, her fingers ready to snap at a moment's notice. "You see. I can turn you to ash with but a snap of my fingers. Say no one more time."

"You can come." Whiskey grinned sheepishly.

Crystal gasped in 'surprise' and clapped her hands together, a flicker of magic exploded like fireworks from her palms. "Oh thank you! You don't know how much it means to me."

Whiskey's fake grin stayed on his face. "No problem, Crystal," he said through his teeth with almost no enthusiasm. "I have to see the barkeep about something."

"Nope!" Crystal quickly yanked Whiskey close and half-hugged him, he tried to pull away, but the robed unicorn began walking towards the gate. "You don't want to go in there. It's..." She brought up her other hand and waved it about. "Quite a mess. Some unicorn hunters came by and they tried to slice the innkeeper's head off."

"Why? He's not a unicorn." Whiskey didn't want to walk, but he had no choice in the matter due to Crystal Shard being taller than himself. That and she had her thin fingers digging into his shoulder preventing him from running even if he wanted to.

"Dunno, don't care. I walk from town to town hunting the hunters as it were. One got away and now we must find him!"

"But..." Whiskey sighed and looked over his shoulder at the Drunken Mare. Ruby skipped around the corner, waving at him and his new companion. Whiskey waved back. "Did you kill those other Hunters?" he asked the tall pony leading him away.

"They're naught but ash piles now." she replied.

Whiskey frowned. He wasn't quite sure what it was, maybe stupidity, that drove him to attempt to knock Crystal Shard's hand away from his shoulder and step to the side. However, Crystal's bony fingers dug deeper into the worn cloth protecting his shoulder and he felt five spikes nearly dig into his arm. He shut his eyes and his face scrunched up, letting out a quiet whimper. "Please let go."

"Please?" Crystal stopped, but kept her death grip on Whiskey's shoulder. "We're off on an adventure that cannot wait and you want to go back?"

Whiskey nodded. "Yes." He looked back at the bar. "I need to..." Ruby was no longer outside. She seemed to have vanished in thin air and it took Whiskey a moment to realize that the doors were swinging in and out. Yet he heard no scream of terror or any indication that something was amiss. "What?"

"I said they were ash piles, and were cleaned up. Now let's keep moving." Crystal started pulling Whiskey along whether he wanted to go or not, she didn’t care. She had a pony to chase down and could use a source of food on the trip.

As the two of them approached the gate, they could hear the guards shouting at a pony down below. “No gold, no entry!” the guard shouted and kept his crossbow aimed down at the two ponies below. “Now get out of here!”

“Look, I told ya,” an older orange mare in dirty green fatigues shouted up at the guard. “I ain’t got any bits on me. Do ya carry ‘em into a fight? I sure as hell don’t! I got an injured pony here an’ she needs healin’ or she’s gonna die.’” Her greying blonde mane was tied back and kept under her slightly tattered cowpony hat. A long musket was resting in her left hand while her right hand kept a passed out pale pink pony on her shoulder. The pale pink pony was dressed in a blood stained white white and gold uniform.

Crystal stared up at the guards while scratching her chin in thought. Luckily for Whiskey, she had let go of his shoulder. The zebra stepped back. Noticing her gesture and remembering her earlier remark about being able to turn ponies to ash, he quickly looked at the guard and shouted, “open the gates! I need to head out.”

One of the guards looked down at Whiskey and shook his head. “No can do, there’s a strange pony outside with no gold. Can’t open the gates until she’s...” he noticed the tall hooded pony was pointing a glowing hand at the gate.

Crystal’s magic flowed out from her hand to surround the gate completely. She felt its old, rusty and poorly maintained hinges, and the timeworn wood. The unicorn clenched her hand into a fist and pulled it close, tearing the thick wood off its hinges with some effort. She made a tossing motion and the gate followed suit as she opened her hand again, the gate crashing against a nearby building. “You really should rebuild that gate,” Crystal said as she began walking, snapping her fingers to get Whiskey’s attention.  “Seems to be unlocked.”

He jumped at the noise, but ran over to the orange mare instead. Her wide eyed gaze was on the tall pony in the blue robes. “What happened?” Whiskey asked the orange mare.

She finally blinked and looked at him. “I dunno. She fell from the sky like this. I done patched her up as best I could, but I gotta get her to a doc.”

“There’s an apothecarium up the hill that way,” Whiskey pointed towards Phantom’s shop. “Lay her on the ground and I’ll see what I can do.”

The orange mare set the pale pink earth pony down and ran off to get help. The guards were busy shouting at Crystal for her destroying the gate, while she stood there ignoring them. She sighed deeply and went over to Whiskey. “Alright, minion, what is your plan?”

Whiskey looked the pale mare over. Her dress shirt under the trench coat had been turned into a makeshift bandage and her whole right leg of her pants was covered in the blood that had leaked out of a shot to her gut. The mare was breathing, if a bit faintly. Whiskey could not identify the markings on her shoulder as belonging to any group he recognized. He shook his head and concentrated on the bandage, slowly unwrapping it to expose the wound. “We have to get the ball out, or the-”

“I could fix her for you,” Crystal said as she pulled her broadsword out and held it near the pink mare’s neck. “Just a cut here and she’ll sleep without pain.”

“No!” Whiskey shook his head, Crystal removed the blade and sighed again. The zebra’s pink eyes stared at the wound. He did not really want to even touch it, but he took a deep breath and started moving his hand towards it.

"Wait," Crystal grabbed his hand and pulled it away, her metal claws digging into his wrist. "Sterilize your hand first."

"What?" Whiskey blinked at the shadowy face. "How?"

"With strong whiskey or something."

Whiskey tried to pull his hand away with a frown, but Crystal's claws only dug deeper. "I don't have any on me."

"Then don't touch it or you'll infect it and that'll be worse."

"I don't get you." Whiskey, again, tried to pull his arm away from the mare, and succeeded. He backed away, gently rubbing the marks the metal had made. "You have no qualms about killing this mare, yet are concerned with her wound getting an infection."

"There is a difference between a clean kill and one that drags the death out, making the pony suffer a fate that is far, far, worse."

Whiskey opened his mouth but closed it. He saw no fault with Crystal's logic and even agreed with it, to a point. It was one thing to stab a pony, but a whole other thing to drag their death out on purpose. Only a sadistic pony would torture their victims. So, the zebra did the only thing he could do. He placed a hand on the pale pink mare's clamy forehead to check her temperature and firmly pressed a clean part of the cloth over her wound. Her pulse was very weak, almost imperceptible and her temperature was almost ambient, yet her chest rose and fell in erratic intervals.

"I'm surprised she hasn't kicked the bucket yet," Crystal commented. "A wound like that should have killed her long ago from the internal damage."

The orange mare had left her musket on the ground near the pale pink pony. Crystal put her broadsword away and scooped the firearm up, holding it close to her nose while pulling the hammer back. She sniffed the pan a few times and smelled nothing, so she started inspecting the craftwork that went into making it. "Well, I can tell you that old mare didn't shoot the pink one."

Whiskey looked over towards the gate that was now partially wedged inside a building. He gulped, wondering just how much magic the unicorn knew. Then, he looked at the leather bound book on her hip. Its brass skull was quite visible and looked recently polished, as were the skulls of once living ponies that dangled on chains. It was then that Whiskey noted the skulls she carried bore no horns. "Wh-who are y-you?" he asked hesitantly.

"Just a pony who was cursed. Nothing you need to worry yourself about."

"Why were-"

On one hand, Crystal's fingers came together as if she were about to snap them. "Do you want to die? If you do keep asking. If not, I suggest you move away so that pegasus can help." she nodded towards Phantom.

Whiskey looked at the purple pegasus and moved to the side. Phantom sat on his knees and began to wordlessly tend to the mare's wound. The other three ponies gathered around watched him work. He pulled a lead ball out of the wound, then used some metal tweezers to remove a piece of the pink pony's shirt that the ball had taken. He set them in Crystal's hand and dumped a vial of yellow liquid on the wound. It began bubbling as the pegasus pulled another vial out of his bags, this one a pink color.

Whiskey yanked the musket away from Crystal and gave it to the orange mare. She took it and began inspecting it to make sure it hadn't been messed with. On her left side was a small ammo pouch and powder horn made from a hollowed out bull's horn. Whiskey slowly looked her up and down, and wanted to ask an obvious question, but chose to not say anything.

She, however, felt his staring and looked over. The sun's position in the sky caused her hat to cast a shadow across her face and hide most of the faint wrinkles. "Don't'cha know it ain't nice ta stare?" she asked, tilting her head some as she slung her musket on her back next to her travelling pack.

Whiskey blinked and shook his head. "Sorry." he placed a hand to his forehead with a deep sigh. "I'm lost is all."

"Ya don't say?" she asked sarcastically. "It done looked like ya suddenly found my shirt interestin'."

"It's just-"

Crystal set her hand on Whiskey's shoulder and squeezed it, digging through his cloth jumpsuit. "What my friend here is trying to say, is that his brain is scrambled from being flung through the Chaos Realm." Whisky sighed in defeat and nodded.

The orange mare tipped her hat up and let out a low whistle. "That ain't fun to jump through. How'd ya do it, portal or unicorn?"

"Unicorn," he mumbled. "Claimed he could get me to the right place. He missed the mark by a long shot, and the time frame. Sent me into the future."

"That's why I like portals. Ya just hop through and there ain't no worries. Thanks fer yer help, miss," she stuck her hand out for Crystal. "Can't say I'm too fond of her attire though. It's kinda creepy."

"That's the point, to confuse and frighten," Crystal said as she bowed slightly while waving at herself. "I am known as Crystal Shard to those I travel with."

"She'll be okay, I think." Phantom stood up and looked at the orange mare. "Miss Applejack, count yourself lucky. Had you arrived a minute or two later, she would have died."

She looked at him and took her backpack off, slowly digging through it for anything. "What do I owe ya, doc?"

"Well," Phantom took a deep breath, glared a bit at Whiskey, then looked at the orange mare. "Do you happen to have any Applejack Whiskey?"

"I got half a bottle." She pulled one out, flipping it around to show the purple pegasus. The label had the words 'Applejack's Distillery' above three neatly arranged apples and 'Best Brew in Equestria' underneath them along with a date. "Brewed with love from only the finest of apples."

Phantom's eyes widened at the sight of the pristine bottle. He quickly snatched it from her hands and held it close. "This bottle, is it real?"

"Yep. A hundred percent real home brewed whiskey." Applejack nodded, causing Whiskey to tilt his head and wonder if he should have brought a case on his trip, but the notion died down when he remembered he couldn't carry a whole case on his back. "I guarantee it."

Phantom uncorked the top and took a swig, the strong alcohol burning his mouth on the way down. He withdrew the bottle and began coughing violently with watery eyes, nodding his approval of the liquor.

"Thanks, doc." Applejack pat Phantom on the back and smiled at Whiskey's head tilt. "What? I always carry a bottle with me."

"Not that. Your name is Applejack?" He asked. She nodded as Phantom walked over to a pair of guards and converse for a few moments. The guards dashed off towards Phantom's shop with him following behind, bottle in hand.

"Who would name their foal after an alcoholic drink?" Crystal asked, poking the passed out pink mare with a stick she had found. "That is just asking for them to drink."

Whiskey rolled his eyes in response. Applejack folded her forearms across her chest and frowned at Crystal. "Ya don't gotta make fun of a pony's name. I don't know why my ma and pa named me Applejack, but they did, so there."

"Why does your name sound familiar?" Whiskey asked. He scratched the back of his head while the gears inside the space between his ears slowly turned. "I heard it named in other things too, but I just... can't. Remember."

"I'm famous I guess." Applejack shrugged. She looked down at the passed out mare and frowned when Crystal poked her again. "Stop that. How'd you like it if somepony did that."

Crystal stepped back. The stick burst into flames, quickly turning to ash as she dropped the item to the ground. "You said she fell from the sky?" she asked.

"Yep. I found 'er like she is. One of them there airships was way off in the distance. I figure she came from them."

The three of them looked over at the two guards carrying a stretcher. They ran over to the group and gently placed the pink mare on the cloth, then stood up. Applejack looked at Whiskey and Crystal, the guards, then the duo again. "I'd show you the crash site, but ya can't miss it. It's about a half hour walk thataway," she pointed her finger off towards the forest.

Whiskey followed her gesture and looked for a few moments as if memorizing it. He then looked at Applejack, but Crystal's hand grabbed his shoulder and leaned close to his ear, her claws digging in again as she whispered quietly, "if you try to bring her along, I'm burning the both of you right here." Her voice spell had dropped and Whiskey heard a nearly ice cold tone from a faintly echoing female voice. "I don't want her around me."

Whiskey gulped and nodded, not taking his eyes off the orange mare not far away. His heart rate picked up as a cold sweat formed on the sides of his forehead from the threat. Applejack watched the guards carry the pink mare off, but felt the zebra's staring. She looked over her shoulder and gave a small wave, barely lifting her hand off her still folded arm.

"M-Miss Applejack," Whiskey managed to say. He pat one of his pockets, opened it, and brought out a handful of bits. Slowly, he held them out. His hand trembled as Crystal's finger talons nearly ripped the cloth on his shoulder as she gripped even tighter.

Applejack turned around and pointed at herself. "For me?"

Whiskey nodded. "Please, t-take it. Get a r-room, meal, and b-bath at the Drunken Mare."

"Ya don't gotta buy an old mare a room, but thanks." She smiled and held her hands out.  He dropped the bits into her outstretched hands and looked at her, pleading with his eyes for her to get help. Applejack counted nearly fifty bits. "Shucks. I'll have ta figure a way to pay ya back."

"Don't worry about it," Crystal replied. "My friend and I are happy to help."

Applejack placed her newly acquired bits into her pockets and pulled the brim of her hat down a little. "I thank the both of ya and hope yer travel in this crazy land goes well. I've gotta figure out how to get back to my troops."

"What?" Whiskey blinked as Crystal started pulling him away. He resisted and tried to stand his ground, but the tall robed mare was stronger than he was and he was dragged along. "What troops?!" he shouted to Applejack.

"The Royal Guard," replied Applejack. Then, something clicked in her mind, the pale pink mare with the strangely marked royal navy uniform. She spun around to face the town, quickly pulling a map out of her pocket. Applejack looked at it, looked at the landmarks around her, then back to the map and gulped when she saw everything was the same except for the town name. "Oh, fuck me."