Origin of a Hero

Chapter 6

Out from the woods stepped out two devil ponies, a pegasus and an earth pegasus was a dark gray color with a deep violet mane and tail, his head was adorned with a set of steer style horns that were pointed strait at Heavy Shield and Lilly. The look in this cobalt blue dragon eyes was like that of a feral animal ready to strike at its intended prey. And though this pony was quite intimidating, he was nothing like his companion.

He was almost as tall as Heavy Shield and looked about as tough. He had a short mane that was a dark burgundy, slicked back to show off his large ram style horns. His tail was the same color as his mane, but the way it was styled made it look like a thick blade that could slice through anything.

He only had one blood red eye, on his right, which gave off an air of being educated and at the same time being threatening. His left eye had been replaced by an obsidian orb. His color was similar to Lilly, if just a bit lighter if one were to compare the two.

Heavy Shield was familiar with these stallions and the reputation that they both have attached to themselves. "Alpha Sinister." he said with a hint of venom as he moved himself between Lilly and the new comers.

"I am honored that a pony, such as the great Captain Heavy Shield of the royal guard, would know my name." spoke the earth devil pony

"It's your reputation that I'm familiar with."

"Ah, yes my reputation does precede me, but as the old saying goes 'we're the sum of our experiences'." Sinister said calmly

"Alpha why are we wasting our time talking to this snob of an Equestrian, let's just kill him and be on our way." said the pegasus

"Come now Scissor Wing, I'm just trying to show him that we devil ponies can be just as civil as any pony from Equestria. A simple conversation won’t do us any harm, now will it?" Sinister stated more than asked his companion

Scissor Wing simply huffed to himself.

"Pardon my friend here, Captain Heavy Shield, he's a second generation devil pony. They're short on manners and formalities."

"What are you doing here Sinister?" Heavy Shield asked cautiously

"I could ask you the same thing of you, Captain. You're a fair distance from Canterlot, in a rural area far from any help. This region can be very dangerous for travelers." Sinister said as he took a couple steps forward

"I can imagine that would be the case for anypony traveling in an unfamiliar land." Heavy Shield countered as he stayed his ground

Heavy Shield was an experienced fighter and knew that holding his ground discouraged any possible surprise attack. He also knew that he was in a dense forest and moving around too much could disorient him and it would lead him into a trap.

Sinister took note of the situation and knew that he was up against a seasoned stallion and not some pony whose reputation was exaggerated.

"I suppose that it's only prudent of me to answer your question first, before you answer mine. It's the civilized thing to do." Sinister took a few more steps forward and continued, "You see a little birdy came by not too long ago and told me that Princess Celestia and Princess Luna were going to be in the region. So I thought to myself that I should come by and pay them my respects as alpha prime of most of the devil pony herds."

"Most of the herds?" squeaked Lilly

"Yes, you see Equestria ponies need to keep an open ear to the world around you. Over the past year the other herds have united under my rule."

"I see." commented Heavy Shield

"So now that I've answered your question as to my reason for being here, perhaps you will answer mine? After all it's only fair." inquired Sinister

"You're right; it's only civilized to tell you why we're out here. You see the princesses wish to take a tour of the kingdom and see all that is within their realm. Since they will become the future leaders of Equestria, they will need to know much about different places here."

"A very sensible thing to do, go out into the world and meet those that you'll be ruling over for the next few thousand years."

The way that Sinister was speaking wasn't sitting right with Heavy Shield, also the air around him and Lilly started to feel more and more dangerous the longer that they stayed where they were.

"Ah, yes I almost forgot why I introduced myself; I was commenting you on your outlook on life before. I wish for you to know that I completely agree with you and your philosophy on one’s destiny. It works well with my statement earlier on being the sum of our experiences."

"How so?' asked Heavy Shield

"You see I believe that we each have a number of different destinies placed before us and it's our experiences and choices that lead us to those destinies."

"Some experiences are better than others." responded Heavy Shield

"I feel that you are using a very broad definition of 'better', aren’t you?"

"Yes, a very broad definition."

Sinister took a few more steps forward till he was a few inches away from Heavy Shield and said, "I get the feeling that you don't like me very much, Captain. Why is that?"

"Your 'experiences' are what define you, am I right? If so then the experiences that you have had tell me that you are anything but a civilized pony."

"Blunt and direct, I admire that Captain."

"Then you can tell your cronies behind you that they can stop hiding and tell me the true reason why you're here."

Smirking Sinister tilted his head and said, "You heard the good captain, come on out."

More than a dozen different creatures came out of hiding, from dogs to griffins exited the woods behind Sinister and Scissor Wing. Heavy Shield knew that there were more out in the forest than those that had showed themselves.

"I didn't lie; I just didn't tell you the whole truth. I was brought here by a little bird and I fully intend to express my respect to Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. Then I will be dethroning them and take over as the next ruler of Equestria."

Lilly gasped at his blunt answer, and said, "Why would you do something like that?"

"To crush the prejudices that has developed against my kind. Both Equestria and the Changeling kingdoms have turned their backs on us, their children. For many years we've been treated as abominations and shunned from society. Almost all of us devil ponies feel betrayed and so I decided to lead a crusade, to exact retribution against both parties."

"You do this and you will only be hardening that hatred you're seeking to get rid of."

"Perhaps, but at least we'll be the ones in charge."

"I sympathize with your plight; however your course of action will not succeed."

"Why not?" inquired Sinister

"Because I'm not going to let you." growled Heavy Shield. Then suddenly he slammed his head into Sinister, knocking him off balance. Then he scooped up Lilly and made a mad dash back to the camp.

"Are you crazy, hitting him like that?" she cried

"To a degree we all are crazy, and at the moment it seemed like a good idea."

"A good idea?" she said in confusion

"Are we being followed?"

Lilly looked back in the direction that they were fleeing and saw that there were no pursuers. "I don't see anything."

"With any luck Sinister underlings will just now be told to go after us, but they won’t catch up to us before we reach the camp."

He continued to run towards the camp in silence with a dozen different thoughts going through his mind, but two kept creeping up to the front of his mind. Sinister words 'a little birdy came by not too long ago' and the fact that falcons are small birds of prey.

End chapter 6