The ponies working within the cavern were tired. They had been at this for weeks now, and they had uncovered nothing beyond the outer facade of the ancient structure.
"Remind me again why we're still here professor," a tan unicorn complained. "It's been weeks and we haven't found anything else at this site. We should be moving on to the next one."
The older earth pony standing beside him just shook his head, smiling.
"Changing sites won't change the amount of work we have to do before we find anything. Archeology is like that: some of the time we find something truly marvelous. But for every other second of our time, we are digging and researching. Don't worry so much. This structure appears to be massive if the outside is anything to go by. Sooner or later we'll find something."
The unicorn stallion sighed heavily.
"I suppose you're right professor. I guess we should just . . ."
Before he could finish, one of the pegasi on the dig team flew over with a large grin plastered on his face.
"Professor Steady, come quickly! We found something!"
Steady and his unicorn companion looked at each other for a brief moment, before leaping to their hooves and rushing after the pegasus. When they reached the dig site in question, they were greeted by a large group of their colleagues milling around whatever discovery the team had made. When they realized who was approaching, they were quick to make a path for him. When Steady approached, he beheld what exactly the team had found. It was a massive tome, almost a foot in length and thicker than any book the professor had ever seen. Having one of the unicorns levitate it to him, Steady began to carefully leaf through the book's pages. From the first cursory glance, it seemed that each page had little more than unintelligible gibberish. It was when he approached the midpoint of the book that he finally found something he could understand. After getting his colleagues to reluctantly return to their posts, he found a sturdy table to place the book on. Once that was done, he began to read and record what he had found.
So much has happened in the years since I came to Equestria. I have seen the world, found and fought creatures that defied everything I knew of nature, and learned to control the very powers that brought me here. I know full well that it is these very powers that place me in inordinate risk. While I will do everything I can to prevent it, I am writing these memoirs to ensure that my legacy will be left in this land. Let history judge me for what is contained in these pages, as I will attempt to record my experiences in as unbiased a manner as I can. This is the story of my life: Of how I was Gabriel Alteveer of Earth, and how I became Malcador the Sigillite, High Lord of Terra.
(1,005 Years Ago)
I sat in my apartment, tired and sore from a day that had lasted far too long. It was only recently that I had graduated from college, and getting a job had been much harder than I would have liked. Admittedly, the fact that I even had a job was great, but it didn’t stop the hours from being long or the work any less tiring. I had been able to land a job in a lobbying firm, but only as an assistant to the more high-profile employees. This inevitably resulted in my running around doing copious amounts of legwork and research for my boss for hours on end. Just like today in fact.
With a sigh, I took a swig of soda from the can beside me and let my eyes wander around the apartment. It was small, but all I could afford in a place as expensive as Washington D.C. There was the TV, the entrance to the bedroom, the entrance to the kitchen across from it, the six or seven foot tall package laying against the wall, the bathroom . . .
Right, that package. It was something I had found tucked away in the corner of the bedroom not long after moving in. At first I thought it was something left by the previous tenant, but a quick chat with the landlord disabused me of that notion. With no ideas of what it was I decided not to open it. I had briefly toyed with the idea of getting rid of it, but I eventually decided not to. Not quite sure why, but it just felt wrong to get rid of it somehow. So I propped it up against the wall in the main room where it remains to this day.
Turning on some music, I tried to relax and unwind but just couldn’t. It was like there was something I was forgetting, and while I knew it was there I could never quite grasp it. As I tried to puzzle out what it was, I found my eyes being drawn again and again to the package in the corner. I had always been curious about what it contained, but had mostly ignored it since putting it there. But now . . . now all I wanted was to rip apart the box and see what was inside. After another minute or two of internal debate, I got up from the chair and moved to the kitchen.
Grabbing a knife, I began to work on opening the package. When I did, what I saw stunned me for a brief moment. It was the staff. At this point of the story I think it prudent to acknowledge that I am a huge Warhammer 40k nerd. While I never got into the tabletop game, I loved both the lore and the universe. So it took only a second to know that what lay in front of me was the staff of none other than Malcador the Sigillite, High Lord of Terra.
And it didn’t seem like any sub-par replica either. Rather than the polished wood I had seen on most of them, the body of the staff was dark metal with black chains wrapped around it. Worn pennants were tied to the chains, their images and colors faded with extreme age, only leaving behind the ragged, white cloth.
Finally there was the part of the staff that truly stood out: the eagle. Attached to the top of the staff was a golden eagle, its wings stretched out as if taking flight. But it was the detail that truly got to me. The metal was shining as if freshly polished, and the eagle forged with such skill as to make it seem as if it were about to begin flying around my living room. My earlier apprehensions forgotten in my surprise, I reached out and lifted the staff from the box almost reverently. The staff was heavy, but I managed to lift it just fine after a minute or so. And of course, that’s when it happened.
Bright, orange-gold flames erupted from the staff and encompassed much of the golden eagle. Shouting in surprise, I tried to drop the staff only to find that it would not leave my hand.
“What the hell . . .?!” I shouted, the flames only growing stronger with each passing second. Then, when it seemed they could grow no brighter, the flames exploded outwards and engulfed me completely. Utter and complete agony overtook me as my vision splintered into a thousand shards of color, and the flames burned and warped my body. Time seemed to lose all meaning for a time as I was carried by the flames, but when they cleared I found myself in a land entirely different from what I had left behind.
I was flying through a sea of ever-changing light and color. Shapes, places, creatures, and thoughts flying past me, even as my own body was warped and twisted by their passage. The pain was unbearable. I could barely form a thought, as the pain had become my existence. My screams echoed throughout this space and, while I would not know this for quite some time, attracted the amused attention of its denizens. They followed in my wake, as my mind screamed out for an exit, any exit, from this accursed place. I was to get my wish far more quickly than I would have imagined. I could see the sun and hear the sounds of people coming from a tear opening directly in my path. As I flew through it, I had no idea of the consequences of my desperate actions.
Equestria (100 years after Hearth’s Warming, 10 years before Discord’s Arrival)
The ponies milled about the main square of Canterlot, the mountain city bustling with activity as the noonday sun hung in the sky. Admittedly the bulk of these ponies were unicorns, but over the years pegasi and earth pony enclaves had begun to take root in the city as well. But all activity ground to a halt as a most peculiar sound was heard. It was like the tearing of a cloth, and it was getting louder by the second. The ponies were to find out quite soon just what the sources of this was.
Forming in the center of the square was a great tear that was growing rapidly. Beyond it was a realm of ever-shifting colors, and faint screaming could be heard coming from it.
The ponies watched in awe and fear as a tall being, twice their height floated right center of the chaotic energies. Its eyes glowing with energy, its dark cloak flapping violently in the howling wind coming from the vortex behind him.
I stood, no floated, there in the sunlight, blinded by pain both physical and mental. Like a wave the new powers I had been blessed, or cursed with, surged again. As the warp energies surged through my body, I gave out a howl of sheer agony. They were not far behind.
Without warning, the strange creature let out a deep, strangled screech. Throwing its arms to the side, lightning and energy coiled around him before being released in a wave of eldritch power that devastated all in its path. From the impossible space monstrous creatures began to emerge, their mere appearance wrong to those ponies that had survived the blast. Some were scrawny things, blade-like bones jutting from unnatural angles, while others were little more than pink, fire-breathing horrors. Others were more subtle, streams of energy possessing and twisting the corpses of the dead or injured ponies lying on the ground to form their new vessels.
I felt the surge of energy pulsing through me, and felt what little concentration I had fade away. And with it, went my only exit. Hurled back into the chaotic realm of the Warp, all I could was try to find some other way to escape. All I had was this strange realm and, with the pain and my own lack of understanding or control guiding me, I would attempt to reach this realm again.
Twice more I would attempt to force open the warp, and find some way to enter the bastion of stability I had glimpsed so briefly. Blinded once more by the agony of the attempt, I failed to open a stable portal on the second try. During these attempts I could see golden streams of fire dart away from me as I strained my newfound might attempting to open the warp. While I did not know exactly when or where they emerged, I could feel that they had appeared in a number of distant locations. What would become of those fiery messages would not be known to me for some time after I had gained control over the powers now raging within me.
However it was on the third try that I succeeded, and threw myself into the world with a reckless abandon. When I finally escaped that chaotic realm, I could feel the pain that had only moments ago consumed me finally begin to fade. I was standing in the center of some village or town. The buildings were smaller than I expected, and quite a few were painted in a variety of colors. Where once I would have called them gaudy or bright, now I only saw them as tame compared to the sights I had glimpsed but briefly within the Warp. But it was then that I saw them. Daemons. The things were horrific, all gnashing teeth, venom-dripping claws, and thick, blood-drenched hides.
“They’re attacking the town,” I thought. The buildings were ablaze as the daemons reveled in the destruction they were spreading. It was at that moment that two extremely important realizations struck me. The first was that the inhabitants of the town seemed to be. . . colorful, talking ponies. Huh. That first revelation was almost enough to completely derail my train of thought, but after a brief moment of confusion the second realization hit: The daemons had either not noticed or were ignoring me. With that thought firmly in my mind, I came up with the only plan that made sense to me under the circumstances.
Screaming at the top of my lungs, I ran like hell.
Author's Note
Hey guys. For fans of my other stories, I have begun to work on them again, but this idea has been on my mind for a while now and I needed to get it out. Thank you for taking the time to read this story, and I hope that you all enjoy it. As per usual, comments are appreciated.
