Chapters He awoke.
Immediately, he realized that something was amiss. In fact, the entire situation before him was all wrong.
For one thing, he was alive. That much was impossible; he clearly remembered dying... as well as a few things that happened afterwards.
“Did someone... bring me back?” he wondered, but he quickly brushed off that idea. There wasn't anyone left that would want him back. “Not even my family.” he lamented, and the very thought hurt him more than the pain of death.
The second thing that was wrong was noticed by him when he first opened his eyes. He was surrounded by a dark, shaded forest. And by dark, he meant REALLY dark. Not by only the lack of sunlight, but also... the seeming wrongness of this place. As if this forest and whatever might be in it, didn't belong here.
He looked down to his chest and to his grief and sadness he discovered he was a shade still. He was killed, though! Or was this hell where he would spend the rest of eternity in?
As he tried to figure out how he would walk on four legs (which was surprisingly difficult), he noticed a small pond nearby. Deciding that he would take a good look at himself, he carefully, and fearfully, walked towards it.
The face that returned his gaze from the surface of the pond sent dread all through him confirming he wasn't insane. Looking back at him was a dark armored figure with dark black armor covering his entire body. Putting his hand through where his face should be seen, his hand simply sank into the shadows that were his body. Moving his hand out of his helmet, he peered sadly into his red glowing eyes that glowed through the shadows.
Three loud shrieks pierced his thoughts from somewhere nearby, as though to answer his pondering questions.
Instantly, he stood up. Some people were in trouble, and that was the only thing that was clear to him, so far; he could sort out his problems later. Even though he was a shade he still have his honor as a paladin, Knight even if his own people despise him.
In front of him was a clearing in the forest, where three little horses were screaming for help. They were surrounded by wild creatures, which appeared to be something out of some lumberjack's twisted nightmare; a pack of wolves...that appeared as though they were made out of wood.
This image before him was so unbelievable, that he nearly stopped. But, he somehow managed to get a hold of his uncontrolled chain of thoughts, and quickly charged towards the unusual wolves.
When he slammed his body against the closest wolf, he noticed that they didn't just look as if though they were made of wood, they felt like they were made of wood. Nonetheless, he struck the wolf with enough force to hurl its body right into the wolf next to it.
With two of the pack out of the way (at least for the moment), he stood protectively in front of the little ones and called out towards them:
“Stay close to me!”, after which he returned his attention to the wolves.
There were five of them, including the two that were already getting back up off the ground. They appeared to have been staggered by his sudden attack but were quickly recovering their original intent. Already, they began to encircle around their prey, attempting to surround them again. Ihsan glanced all around as they slowly approached him. Glancing back behind him he could see the three shaking in fear. 'I have to use 'that magic'. Ihsan thought with a growl. But he couldn't let them die.
The timberwolves approached the four intending on making them into their next meal. They stopped though when they saw the dark thing raised his hand up and pointed towards them. This caused the timberwolves to cock their heads to the side in confusion even as his hand glowed a dark purple. One of the timberwolves shook off its confusion and jumped towards him with its jaw open intending to rip out the thing throat! Ihsan simple watched the wolf as it drew closer. "Dark banishing." As the words left his mouth the ground beneath the wolf glowed dark purple and two hands made of the same color grabbed the wolf and dragged it into the ground.
The timberwolves backed away in fear as they saw one of their own just die by something. Ihsan continued to hold his hand out towards them and spoke only one word. "Go." Not wasting any time the wolves turned and sprinted off while Ihsan continued to watch them making sure they stayed gone. Once he was sure he lowered his hand as well stopping his magic.
“That. Was. Awesome!!!” erupted three voices behind him, which was followed by two similar cheers.
He smiled, briefly. How long had it been since he had heard someone proclaim such things about him? He turned around to stare at them.
Now he was able to get a good look at the three fillies (not knowing how the hell he could know they were girl-horses), he noticed that the orange one with purple mane had wings, and the gray one with pink-purple mane had a horn. The only 'normal' one out of the three was the light yellow one with red mane with a pink bow.
“...This is going to be a long day.” he mused wearily, feeling quite dizzy.
“I'm glad that you think so.” he said aloud to the three fillies. “Are any of you hurt?”
“No, mister, and its all thanks t'ya!” said the yellow one.
“You're, like, the greatest hero ever!” added the gray one with the horn.
'Hero huh?' Ishan thought in sadness. 'How well did that turn out last time he tried?'
“Hey!” snapped the orange one with wings “The greatest hero ever is Rainbow Dash, remember?”
“Well sure, Rainbow Dash is awesome. But, take a look at his scars! Don't they make him look just like a hero?”
“Okay fine. But, Rainbow Dash...”
“Putting aside the heroism of this 'Rainbow Dash',” he started, interjecting before they had a chance to start arguing. While at the same time, wondering:
“What kind of name is ‘Rainbow Dash’, anyways?”
“Do the three of you mind explaining to me; just what are you all doing in a place like this?” he finished, with a stern voice.
The three fillies looked at each other, with a guilty look in their eyes.
“We were gonna visit Zecora...”
“... to see if she could teach us her native language...”
“... and then we... kinda got lost.”
“Why am I not surprised by the last one...?”
“Ah, well...” he said, dropping the stern voice, “I suppose I'll leave the scolding to your families. And I can't really hold against you the fact that you're lost since I am as well.”
"What are you, mister?"
“Long story. Maybe I'll tell you about it some other time. But for now, we should get out of this forest. Let’s try that way.” he added while pointing with a hand in the opposite direction the timberwolves ran.
“How do you know Ponyville is that way?” asked the filly with wings.
He was about to snort a laugh on that name, until he remembered that his own hometown's name really wasn't any more original, either. “I don't,” he answered, truthfully. “But the wolves went in the opposite direction.”
It seemed to sound like a good enough reason for the fillies, since all at once, they started walking in the direction he had suggested.
“Why did you want this 'Zecora' to teach you her language?” he asked out of curiosity after few moments, trying to distract himself (and them) from this whole situation. “Seems unnecessary for kids your age to try and learn a second language.”
“We thought that maybe our special talent would turn out to be language learning, or something.” explained the one with a horn, as her head was hanging down
“Yea, we could get a 'language learning' cutie mark!” proclaimed the one pony with a pink bowtie on her head, as she agreed with her friend that had a horn.
“What’s a 'cutie mark'?”
He already knew that he had said something weird the moment he finished that sentence. All three fillies had turned their heads towards him simultaneously, and were looking at him with wide-eyes and gaping jaws, and a shared expression of disbelief.
“Err, sir, are you jokin'...?”
“No, why?”
“HOW CAN ANYPONY NOT KNOW WHAT A CUTIE MARK IS!?!?” the three fillies all shouted in painfully loud unison.
Ihsan just gave them a deadpanned look. "Not a pony remember?" The three just realizing that rubbed the back of their heads with their hooves.
"Hey, is that a road?”
“We're saved!”
“Good,” he replied wearily, feeling even dizzier from all of their shouting earlier. “Do the three of you think you could...”
“Apple Bloom!!!” some voice from ahead exclaimed, both relieved, overjoyed, and upset.
“Uh oh...” the one with the bow quietly whimpered.
“Seems like someone is in a bit of trouble,” he guessed, amused. While the filly was probably uncomfortable that somebody had found them, he for one, was relieved; for some time now, he was keeping himself conscious and standing with only sheer willpower. Now, he could finally let go, and collapse…
*Thump*
'Guess my magic wasn't completely back yet.' Was Ihsan last thought as he passed out.
Darkness was all Ihsan saw in his vision. An endless abyss that seemed to go on and never end. Soon an image began to take form from the darkness. A place that Ihsan knew all too well. It was his home, a small village in Aysen. The village was small and nothing impressive, but it was home to hi. The people cared for its neighbour. Nothing has evil had ever descended on this town. Ihsan knew better know which was why the next thing he saw was he vision changing to him standing on top of a hill in his dark armor staring down at the village. "No. Not again!"
The dream Ihsan stared down at the town as he raised his hand conjuring a dark shadowy sword that glowed an eerily red. Behind him, snarls and growls could be heard behind him as monster began to gather behind him. Things that had rotting flesh coming off them or giant humanoid figures with horns carrying giant scimitars. Ihsan gripped his sword firmly in his right hand and slowly raised it to where it pointed down at the village and uttered one word. "Slaughter."
The monsters let out roars of all kinds that echoed all throughout the whole area as they charged down towards the village. Ihsan watched his forces charge for a minute before he soon began to walk down towards the village to take part in the slaughter as well. Soon all through the village the screams could be heard as the monster began to slaughter everything they saw. The village was burning with the smell of fire and burnt corpses and the screams of people as they were killed. The paladin knights that were stationed there rushed to defend the innocent. The paladins were soon beginning to be overrun. Then all of a sudden the monsters stopped and backed away.
The paladins watched confused as they stopped, but soon their question was answered. Ihsan walked forward with his sword gripped in his hand. Every step Ihsan took it seemed to become darker as he approached the five paladins, one of whom he saw was his father. None of them recognized him though he didn't care as he was sent here to do his master's bidding. "Why? Why are you killing the people here?!"
Ihsan stared at them as his father asked him the question. The paladins wore their signature armor that was silver and covered their entire body. They carried a shield that had the symbol of a sword that was pointing downwards with what appeared to be light coming from it. They also had a blue cloth that covered their chest armor that was blue. Painted on it was the same symbol the shield they carried bore. In their hands were maces that were silver with a slight glow white glow to them.
Glancing over to the last paladin who wore the same type of armor without the helmet only his armor, shield and mace were gold. The paladin was a middle-aged man in his early fifties with a blonde hair and beard. His eyes were green.
Ihsan didn't speak but instead walked towards them prompting one paladin t charge him swinging his mace. Ihsan raised his left-hand glowing. The paladin stopped as he felt his body began to spasm in pain. The other three knights charged intending to help their comrade only for them to fall in pain as well. Ihsan father watched with wide eyes as one of the paladins turned in to face him with pain on his face and suddenly it started to fall off as it decayed and soon his body was dust and bones while a purple glow surrounde them that was absorbed into Ihsan.
"You....took their souls! Your monster!"
Ihsan turned towards the last paladin and spoke. "Your next......father."
Ihsan awoke panting from his nightmare.......no memory.
“I think I'm starting to get used to this.” he thought, half annoyed, opening eyes.
Hovering above him was a pink head.
“Well, clearly I was wrong.”
“Oh my gosh, you're awake! The doctor said you'd be fine, but you slept whole day, so I was, like 'What if he doesn't wake up?', but...” the pink pony, that was for some reason standing atop of him, kept spouting words quickly, until she was interrupted.
“Pinkie Pie, get off it!” shouted some voice, after which strange aura enveloped the pink pony and dragged her off.
Ihsan went to get up only to stop as he felt himself not being able to move. Glancing down he saw he saw strapped down with ropes upon ropes. Had to admit, he never thought of a mummy made of ropes since that was what he resembled right now. Glancing over he saw a pony with a purple coat, dark purple tail and mane with pink highlights, and what appeared to be the image of a starburst on its flank staring at him with a.....glare?
Glancing he saw other ponies as well. One had an orange coat, blonde tail and mane, the braids making me lean towards female and what looked like a tattoo of three apples on her flank. The other one, who seemed on a chronic sugar rush, had a violently pink coat, a darker pink tail and mane that bounced with every movement, and a flank tattoo of… balloons?
He glanced towards another that had a flowing, almost stylish violet mane and tail, a pure white coat and a flank tattoo of some form of three gems or diamonds. It stood with a real sense of grace as if it felt a need to look good doing everything, even something as simple as standing.
Finally glancing at the last two, he saw One had a cyan blue coat, and a blazing rainbow-patterned mane and tail. Its flank mark was a bit more… abstract than the previous three; a cloud with a rainbow-colored lightning bolt arcing from it. It was looking at me almost like it was eager for me to act out of line, giving me shifty, suspicious looks. The other pegasus, yellow with a flowing pink mane and a flank mark of butterflies, seemed to be the rainbow pony opposite; it actually seemed very quiet, keeping its head down as though hoping not to be noticed.
"Um....hi." Was all Ihsan could say. He honestly wasn's sure what to do in a situation like this. They were probably going to torture information out of him. The next action made him think he was going to be as the purple one horn glowed. He didn't feel any pain but instead saw the ropes disappear. "Huh?"
"Sorry about that. We weren't sure how you would react when you woke up." Was the purple one response.
Ihsan chuckled causing everypony to stare at him in confusion. "You didn't think that someone would be madder at being restrained?" Ihsan asked in humor and laughed more as the purple pony rubbed the back of her head sheepishly with her hoof.
"Somepony." Twilight commented.
"What?"
"Its somepony."
Ihsan just stared at her making all the ponies anxious. "Nope."
Ihsan saw something that looked like a small purple basilisk standing on his hind legs.
'This will be interesting.'
“I hope I don't sound rude, but do you mind telling me why am I surrounded by six ladies and some small lizard-thing? Or, for that matter, where am I?”
They all exchanged glances, before the lavender one answered: “Well, you are in Ponyville Hospital, we are here because you saved three fillies that we know and love, and...”
“And I'm not a lizard, I'm a dragon!” snapped the lizard, apparently offended by his comment.
“This thing can talk?” thought Arthas, now not sure if he should expect everything, including plants, to talk in this weird world.....he stopped when he remembered Multani.
“I'm sorry, I didn't mean any offense.”
“That’s okay, we're cool. I'm Spike, by the way.”
“I'm Twilight Sparkle,” said the lavender one, nodding her head. “And those are...”
“I'm Pinkie, but you already know, because Twilight told you!” shouted the ridiculously pink pony.
“Name's Rainbow Dash, best flier in Equestria.” said the cyan one with a rainbow colored mane and tail, which was flying above the floor.
“I could guess.” thought Ihsan, noticing her mane's colors and remembering fillies talking about her.
“Applejack,” said the orange one with blond mane and tail, both tied who was wearing a hat and sounded familiar. “Thank ya for savin mah sister, Apple Bloom.”
“You saved my sister, Sweetie Belle, too,” added a white one with a horn and purple mane and tail which were combed in wavy curls. “You can call me Rarity, or Miss Rarity if you like.”
“Is she a noble or something?” Arthas thought, noticing a slight difference in Rarity's way of speaking in comparison to the other mares.
“And, um.... I'm Fluttershy.” said the one with a light yellow body and a pink mane and tail so silently that Arthas barely heard her.
“So, what’s your name?” asked Twilight Sparkle, when everybody introduced herself. “Girls said you never got to introduce yourself.”
Ihsan sat there not sure if he wanted to tell them his real name. He doubted they heard of him. Finally after some thought he spoke. "I'm Ihsan."
"Ishan?" asked Twilight, puzzled. "That's a weird name."
"Well, I'm not from around here." said Ihsan, not really caring. "It's rather common where I came from and what kind of name is Twilight Sparkle?" Ihsan asked with humor in his voice.
"Which brings us to our next question: where exactly are you from?" Twilight asked ignoring the jab at her name.
"Why would you want to know that?" he asked.
"Well you're definitely not from Ponyville, and that’s the only town in Equestria that close to the Everfree Forest. And I hope I'm not offending you, but... well..."
"No pony has ever seen something like you before!" Rainbow shouted.
Ihsan facepalmed himself and let out an exasperated noise. "I'm from very far away........very far, so things that are normal here are considered rare there," he said. "I'm willing to bet that there are also few things known to me and not to you or... anybody here."
"Anypony." Pinkie interjected causing Ihsan to glance at her while she simply smiled and waved at him.
"Right."
'Well, at least that's true.'
"I do have a question, though. What are those tattoos on you.?" Ihsan asked as he pointed at their cutie marks.
"A cutie mark is a symbol that appears on a pony after he or she discovers his or her's special talent." as to emphasize her words, she moved her body so that Ihsan could see her flank and the star-like symbol on it.
Ihsan stared for next few seconds with an undoubtedly stupid expression at Twilight cutie mark, until he realized that he was also looking at her ass, which made him uncomfortable enough to snap out of this. Guess being a shade helps otherwise his face would have been blushing bright red.
"You're serious?" he asked. Which all of them nodded. Ihsan glanced back over to Twilight. "And what, pray tell, is your special talent, Miss Sparkle? Stargazing?"
"No, my cutie mark represents expertise in magic."
"So it's more a metaphorical thing..." Ihsan wondered in his mind while looking at the other mares: Applejack's cutie mark were three apples, Fluttershy's three butterflies, Rarity's three diamonds, Pinkie Pie's three balloons and Rainbow Dash's was a cloud with thunder in rainbow's colors. 'Why more than half of them has three things on their cutie marks?'
"What about yours?"
Ihsan turned towards Applejack who had her eyes narrowed at him. "My kind doesn't get cutie marks."
"What is your race anyway?"
The question caused Ihsan to freeze. What was he supposed to say. Hey, I was a human but I tried to become a creature of eternity so I can save my people only to be killed and turned into a shade who tormented people even his own family. "I'm....unique and that's all."
The ponies frowned at his answer while Applejack continued to stare at him.
"Where the heck are you from?" asked Rainbow Dash.
"I doubt any of you will know."
The ponies just stared at him with a look that said 'try us.' Ihsan sighed.
"Ever heard of Aysen?" Ihsan answered, figuring he could say at least the name of his land.
The ponies were silent for a minute but eventually turned towards Twilight who a thoughtful expression on her face.
"I haven't heard of that place!" she practically yelled, surprise in her voice. "Where is this Aysen of yours? I've read tons of books, but none of them mentioned of such place, with just earth ponies without cutie marks!"
'Her 'special talent' thing is magic, and she 'read tons of books'?' Ihsan thought with humor since that was what his sister did when he was a paladin. His humor suddenly turned dark as did his thoughts. 'Was a paladin.'
Ihsan slowly stood causing all the ponies to look up at him as he stood at his full height. "Well it has been fun ladies and I thank you for your help but I will be leaving now." Ihsan bowed then turned and walked out the library door while everybody stared where he went and no pony said anything to stop him mostly cause they lied when they said they weren't scared of his apperance when in reality they were slightly put off by it.
"So, what did you think of him?" Twilight asked the other girls as they left the hospital.
"Ah'don know, Twi." said Applejack, her expression puzzled. "Ah mean, am thankful he saved mah sister and all, but... he seems strange."
"Yeah, no kidding!" added Rainbow Dash. "He's hiding something, Twilight."
"I can't believe I'm saying this, but I actually agree with her." Rarity spoke.
"I'll write a letter to the princess about this 'Aysen', as well as about Ihsan. In the meantime, I think it would be best if he stayed at my place..." Twilight spoke only to be interrupted by both Rainbow Dash and Applejack.
"Are ya crazy?!"
"He beat five timberwolves in a matter of seconds!"
"I know, and that is why he should stay with me; if he tries something, I can easily stop him with magic. And besides, I want to hear more about the place he's from, anyway."
"Are you sure, sugahcube? Ah don't know if this is a good idea."
"I'll be there," added Spike with a cocky attitude. "Even if he would try to do something bad, he can't beat a dragon."
Everypony rolled their eyes.
"Hey Fluttershy, what do you think of Ihsan?" asked Twilight, noticing that their timid friend haven't said a word.
"I, well..." said the shy pony, looking at the ground. "I think he's scary."
"You think everything is scary, Fluttershy." replied Rainbow Dash.
"I know he had looked scary, Fluttershy," said Twilight; she herself was afraid to think what kind of magic he could be using to hide his body in complete shadows even unconsciousness.
"Um, its not that." answered Fluttershy, shaking her head. "I was scared of... his eyes." she added in a whisper.
"They were kind of spooky especially since they were glowing red." Spike commented.
"Its not that."
"Why then?" asked Twilight.
"They held pain....and they held no happiness in them but only an emptiness like he lost his life."
Ihsan walked through the town not really sure where he was going. "Ihsan!"
He stopped as he heard his name being called and turned to see Twilight with Spike on her back. "Twilight?"
Twilight picking up the question in her name answered. ""Well... I just thought, that since you don't have anywhere to sleep, you could come to my place."
"Really?" asked Ihsan, surprised. "That’s... nice, thanks."
"You're welcome. So, shall we go?"
"Lead the way."
Twilight smiled and started trotting away with Ishan walking after her.
"So," said Twilight to Ihsan, not reacting to Spike "Could you tell me more about Aysen?"
'Ah, there it is.' thought Ihsan, looking around. It was already past nightfall, but only one of the moons was rising. "Or maybe they have only one moon here? Better not ask.' The town was preparing for the night, it seemed; he could see ponies leaving places that reminded him of his land taverns and inns and hurrying to their homes. More than few of them shoot him a curious glance and were more than disturbed by his appearance. What struck him as odd was the fact that he couldn't see any fortification around town, no walls or anything. 'Is it really that peaceful around here?' Ihsan thought. At the same time, however, he noticed a town at the mountainside in a distance.
"Maybe," he said, answering pony's question. "but perhaps you could tell me few things about this place, first?"
"Oh!" said Twilight, as if the thought of him wanting to know where he is didn't occurred to her. "Sure. What do you want to know?"
"How about you give me some basics?"
"Okay. This is the town of Ponyville, and this land is called Equestria, ruled by sisters Princess Celestia and Princess Luna from the capital, Canterlot, which you can see over there."
Ihsan nodded.
"Princess Celestia also raises the sun, while princess Luna..."
"Wait, wait." interrupted a confused Ihsan. "What do you mean by 'raises the sun'?"
"Eee... what I said? She raises the sun every morning, and Princess Luna raises the moon."
Ihsan shot her a look of disbelief but didn't say anything. Either all of these ponies were being fooled by their rulers, or this world was even stranger than he thought. Not even the most powerfullest mage in his homeland could accomplish such a feat.
"They're good rulers, I take?"
"Of course!" Twilight snapped at once.
"Sorry, didn't mean anything rude." said Ihsan, flinching a bit.
"So, can you tell me now about your homeland? And how come nopony ever heard of it?"
"It's... complicated. You see, our land is hidden."
"What?"
"I don't fully understand it either, but it is hidden by.......a goddess."
"Godess?"
"She is the goddess that helps us when we need her the most. She is also the one that created my land Aysen."
'She wasn't there when I fell that day.' Ihsan thought sadly as he remembered the baron killing him.
"How come you are here, then?"
"I'm... not sure." he said, for it was the truth. "All I now is that I woke up in a middle of that forest and almost immediately heard three fillies screaming for help."
"So that’s why you were there." said Twilight, nodding.
'Wait, she actually believes me? What a strange world.' Ihsan thought as he stared at Twilight.
"I'm assuming you would like to find a way for you to return to Aysen?"
"No, not really."
Again, she looked at him stunned.
"You don't want to return to you home? Why?!"
"Well, mostly because I'm pretty certain that it's impossible. And besides," he added in much sadder tone "I don't really have anything to return to."
Twilight looked at the strange being next to her. She must admit when she and her friends discovered him they were afraid besides Pinkie, but she doesn't count. His appearance screamed evil yet the three fillies told them how he rescued them while also doing some strange magic. Now talking to him she could he was nice indeed. What was boggling her mind was why he never took his armor off or the spell that hid his face. Why was it her hoof also passed through like he didn't have a physical body?
