Brothers till the End Episode 1: The Dark Crusade

Chapter 2: Royal/Chaotic Meetings Part 1

As my friends came down from the mountain, the remaining soldiers lead us through a maze of jagged crystal spires towards their nearby camp. I informed them that my brother needed medical attention, on account of... “Supernatural” reasons. Throughout the trek to the camp I kept going over the fight in my head. If my powers could obliterate a creature that size, there was no telling what else my friends and I could do.

The deep thinking must have made time pass by quicker, because in that moment, the camp was in our sights. Well, it was more like a small community with its size, position, and the fact that hundreds of anthro ponies were either preparing for battle or mingling with comrades.

When the entrance to the camp came closer, I distinctly heard the snapping of fingers coming from my right. I looked in that direction to find the silhouette of a tall mix-matched creature, with yellow and red eyes looking directly at me. He motioned for me to follow, as he disappeared into the snowy wind. My curiosity eventually won out, and I decided to find out what the creature wanted.

He lead me to a secluded ice cavern that made the wind in the air whistle a strangely majestic tune. That didn't matter to me, as all my attention was directed to the grinning mix-matched creature, staring down at me from his cloud of cotton candy with a glass of chocolate milk in his left claw.

“Color me impressed young man,” he said with a recognizable voice. “I saw your little tussle with the Crystal Golem, and all I have to say is, you have a good head on your shoulders.”

I was puzzled for the longest time, until I found my voice, “What are you?”

“Oh! Pardon me for my rudeness,” he replied. “My name is Discord, Lord of Chaos and Disharmony. And you my good sir are...”

“My friends call me David,” I said to the being known as Discord. “But you can call me Dracula.”

I did not anticipate for him to spit out the melted chocolate he already swallowed after mentioning my name. It seemed like he knew me, but I've never seen him in all my life. After cleaning his muzzle off with a purple towel, he looked at me with a new found wonder... I think. The only emotion he seemed to portray at the moment was relief and delight.

“I had not realized you were the great and powerful Dracula,” Discord said while clearing his throat. “Are there any more of you around here, or are you alone?”

His last comment threw me off guard. Why would he be concerned of Jack and Adam's well being? Better still, why was he asking of them? I decided to think on this matter later. For now, I concluded that Discord seemed trustworthy enough.

“Jack is at the Ponies’ camp with Adam,” I finally said to the chimera. “Why do you ask?”

He seemed to catch on to the doubt in my voice as he replied in a quick fashion, “No reason. But now I know that there are not one, but three humans here that have nothing stopping them from making sweet, delicious Chaos... Well except for me of course.”

He then stood from the cotton candy cloud, and put his mismatched hands on both of my shoulders. “Listen to me very carefully, young man,” he said with an air of authority. “We will meet again, and I will explain to you all my intentions. But for now, as much as I hate to admit it, you must follow the flow of the sands of time... For now.”

With a snap of his paw, the whole cave disappeared like it never existed. Dazed and confused, I found myself back with the group about to enter the military camp.

Suffice to say, it was much bigger than what we previously thought. Everywhere I looked, soldiers of all ages worked tirelessly on either repairing/making new weapons or armor in the various forges, or were sharpening their skills at the makeshift training grounds. However when our merry band of battle-scarred heroes came along, everyone, “Or, I guess everypony,” stopped what they were doing and gazed upon our arriving forms.

Their looks told us vast stories to our souls, with eyes that bled curiosity, fear, sadness, and hopefulness. For what felt like an eternity no one said anything, then a nearby soldier started to slowly clap. Pretty soon all the ponies started to applaud to our little group. It seemed that this war they were in had taken its toll on the poor souls. But after knowing that there was a beacon of hope, their hearts were lit aflame with a new found power that was rarely seen.

The soldiers that were with us during the crystal encounter, which only three remained, led us to a massive tent near the center of the camp. It looked just as bland as the other tents, but it was distinctly decorated with symmetrical patterns of both the moon and sun. The inside lead to what I could only describe as a pre-World War war room, complete with a giant table with a map of the surrounding countryside.

Two beings, that were studying the map carefully, looked upon us entering. I noticed that they were equine-like beings similar to the troopers outside, but these two had very subtle differences. Firstly, they were half a head taller in comparison to us and the survivors. Secondly, They had both wings on their backs and a single horn on their heads. Finally, they contrasted each other in the strangest way by having the one on the right have a bright white coat with a flowing pastel colored mane. And the one on the left had a dark navy blue coat with a mane that depicted the night sky complete with tiny stars.

When they took their eyes off the map to see us come in, they had varying degrees of shock on their faces. Righty’s look in her eyes had a cold chill of fear in them, as if she had known this would happen.

Making herself presentable, Righty said, “Who are you, and why did you save my little ponies?”

“I think I know where we are now,” I thought nervously to myself. “We’re in Equestria.”

To Be Continued...