Conceptual Chronicles: Equestrian apostles

[? POV;Shores of Time]

I walked along the black, shining death sand beach, enjoying the ebb and flow of the sea of departed memories. I had sensed a presence in my realm and decided to see who had intruded into my home, only to find my brother Raphael  whistling a tune I could not place as he twirled his cane, observing a clock that floated by.  I walked to a freshly stopped clock and gingerly picked up the machine, death sand flowing from every crack and crevasse of it as I opened it, releasing a soul into the skies above before taking it into my cloak to give to Gabriel later as I turned to Raphael, smiling as best I could for my second favorite sibling, my first being Gabriel, whom I often play checkers with “Greetings brother, what brings you to my realm?”

Raphael stopped twirling his cane and smiled “Hello, brother of mine! Just here to remind you that you need to give your blessing to someone out of our current motley mortal crew. It’s been a few weeks, you know.”

I deadpanned, completely unamused by my brothers obvious ploy to alarm me.“You do know I am outside of times reach here, yes? I will simply go to a few days from when the four current champions met.”

Raphael nodded, the smile never leaving his lips “You do that, I’m going to go get a pint.”

As he faded from my realm, I could not help but laugh at the antics of my brother, knowing as well as anyone that we cannot get drunk. I flitted from clock to clock as I searched for a suitable candidate out of the ones sent to the land of Equestria by the Lords meddling “Hmmmm…. Who shall I send?”  I spent under a millisecond looking, as I already knew exactly who I would choose, and where her clock was. A Dracovo hunter, skilled in the art of the hunt and a master of stealth, I decided that now would be a good time to  tap into her thoughts and view her from the shadows, my mechanical form hidden perfectly.

A lithe form crept silently through the underbrush of the forest she mysteriously found herself waking in not two hours prior.  Her crimson eyes missed nothing as they took in the nearly silent oak and birch trees.  A light rain had started ten minutes ago, but the Huntress paid it no mind, save to unstring her bow lest it become useless.

She did not know how she had come to be in this place, though she suspected the work of the Lords of Decay, or simply one of their servants, the ebony scaled Dragoness was not particularly picky, nor as devout as some others of her kind to the Council.  Her life was not easy, nor was it particularly carefree, but it was her life and she planned to continue it.

  To do that though, she needed to eat, and the striped horse she had been following for the past hour looked to fit the bill.  True, it was a strange looking horse, the way it was decorated with golden bands and even what looked like earrings, but the Dragoness was not really focused on that at the moment, she was focusing on what she needed to do to fill her empty belly.

The Huntress briefly checked the winds to ensure her quarry would not be scenting her any time soon before stepping forward again, her well oiled leather armour protecting her from the discomfort of the odd poking branch while also keeping the rain off of her.  Ahead of her, she spotted her quarry, seemingly settling down for a rest in a sheltered clearing.  The Huntress nodded silently to herself before drawing a long dagger from her belt, the metal of the blade darkened by smoke so as not to give away her position.

  Closer she crept until she was almost within striking range.  She felt the familiar surge as she prepared herself for the kill, her mind briefly flashing back to the accident in her youth that took her wings from her, forever tying her to the ground, but she suppressed the memory as she had so many times before.  However, just before she made to leap, something burst on her feet, releasing a cloud of green smoke that she could not avoid breathing for a few critical seconds before she attempted to hold her breath.  She was ready to advance again and track down the prey that had surly fled as a result of such strange happenings, when she found that she could not move.  Her panic lasted only a moment, and she quickly regained control of her senses as the odd smoke cleared.  To the Huntress’s surprise, the sight before her was not of the empty clearing she expected, but the odd horse standing calmly before her and looking curiously over her form.  Yet even this odd sight paled in comparison to what happened next…

“It seems you have fallen for my little brew, but I must ask: what do I call you?”  The Huntress was sure she would remain in stunned silence at this turn of events, yet she found herself answering all the same.

“My name is…Serana…”  The striped horse nodded and seated itself, its various ornaments jingling a little and shining in the wetness of the light rain

“I am Zecora, a Shaman by trade, a healer who has many potions made.  To heal the sick and infirm folk, I do not need to pry or poke.”  The horse, Zecora, looked into the Huntress’ eyes for several long moments before speaking again.  “These eyes you have Child, I have seen them before, though always on those returning from war.  For a Dragon so young to look so old.  May I ask what happened, or would that be too bold?”

Serana had mixed feelings about this situation, here she was, trapped by some kind of spell by the very prey she had intended to eat, and it was asking to hear of her troubled life?  She didn’t enjoy talking about it at the best of times, and she considered this to be far from the best of times.  What would a strange horse know about her troubles anyway?  The rhyming speech was more than a little jarring as well, not to mention irritating to her ears.  Even though she intended to tell this Zecora to back off when her stomach loudly reminded her just how empty it was.

“Look, just remove your stupid spell and I’ll leave you alone…I still have to hunt something up to eat before tonight…”  While the Huntress attempted to keep her tone slightly more pleasant than she usually did, her normal levels of snark and the general feeling of just wanting to be left alone still, in some ways, bled through.  “I don’t have the time or need for making friends…”

The horse frowned a little, but tapped her body in a few places.  Suddenly she was able to move freely and thus promptly fell flat on her face.

“It is unwise to walk the Everfree alone, I am more able because I well know my home.  You may possess an indomitable will, but I think it best if I sent you toward Ponyville…”  Serana picked herself up quickly, but not before she heard Zecora speaking her directions to this ‘Ponyville’, in rhyme of course.  It was annoying, but sadly, the Dragoness didn’t see a lot of alternative.  Night was coming on and…while she might have been used to sleeping out in all manner of weather, she greatly preferred doing so with a full belly.  As a result, she found herself swiftly taking the trail pointed out by her former prey and headed toward the village.

As said village finally came into sight through the thinning trees, she began looking for anything that could possibly be an inn or tavern, someplace she could hopefully get something to eat.  She had just settled on the gingerbread house building as the most likely candidate and reached the outer edge of the village, when her vision filled with…pink…

“Hi!  I’m Pinkie Pie!”

…

‘That seems to be enough data, now, let’s see if she reacts well to me. If she hates me on sight, I may have to convince her to join the others with bribery…guh… I feel like my brother Seiver… this is why I find meddling with mortals lives distasteful…’’

I stopped time and walked through a clock face, entering the world of Equestria. I materialized right behind her and tapped her shoulder, making her capable of moving through the effects of my stop-time spell. She turned around and saw me, instantly becoming livid at the sight of me, as I expected. “You…” her voice dripped with venom as she spoke “How DARE you speak to me after what you have taken from me! ”

 She tried to slap me, but her hand stopped upon making contact with my metallic cheek, her hand making a loud crunch as her bones broke, to which I sighed and waved a hand, taking her wound and bringing it upon myself, my metallic hand clanging as gears and oil fell from it, before my black sand surged and repaired the damage and retreated within me “I know you are mad at me for your loss, but mutilating yourself in the attempt to harm me will change nothing.”

Serana snarled as she looked to me, her mouth filling with flame “I would not recommend that, as my black sand will react to any offensive magic cast at me, and breathing fire counts as a spell, last time I checked the Dracovo’s magic useage.”

She growled still “And why should I listen to you? My mother thought of you as a dear friend, and look at what that brought her!

I sighed “I cannot give you back your mother, as that would disrupt the weave. But I can give you a memento of her.”

 She took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, smoke leaving her nose as she looked at me “You have three seconds, then I am leaving.”

I nodded solemnly “I loved your mother, more than I loved any living being… It broke my heart when she died. I had to let her die though. My accursed brother made it so that if I did not let her die, many more would die in her stead.”

Serana grunted and just stood there a moment before she looked into my eyes, I swear it felt as if her mother was gazing back at me “You loved her?”

I nodded solemnly “With all of my being. She was the only one who did not fear me for my work, and saw that I was just doing what I existed for. If I did not do my job, then my brother would be killing mortals left and right. A mass murder campaign aimed at all things mortal. I have seen the timelines where I stopped my work, and I can NOT let that happen.”

Serana sighed, shaking her head slowly “ I don’t know why, but I believe you… Can… can you tell her I miss her?”

I sighed “I cannot go where the spirits of the departed go, but… I can give you something that was closer to her than even you.”

Serana raised an eyebrow “Oh? What exactly is that?”

I summoned her mother's clock, an intricately carved piece of work, swirls of silver, bronze and gold lining its surface, I then reached into it and felt for the piece I was looking for… that one piece that no other clock had… that made this clock unique among all others… “There…” I grabbed it, the gear that symbolized all of her mother's thoughts, beliefs, and passions…the gear that defined her as a person.

 “To think, such a small piece, making such a difference…” I smiled sadly, gently removing it from the broken remains of this dead, stopped clock. I took a thread from my robe, making the gear into a single charm on her new necklace,I then removed one of my teeth, to pair this gear with a charm from me, a tooth from my beak that would gift her the ability to commune with the restless dead. “There. Take this, my friend.”

Serana eyed the necklace before looking to me before taking the necklace and eying it. “What is the catch?”

I then pressed her hands in my own in a gentle hold “ I need you to protect a certain Luperian that was sent here as well, his name is Zinu Nightrend, adopted son of Griswell Gloomhallow.”

Serana nodded slowly before looking to me with a raised eyebrow “And why would I do that?”

I chuckled lightly before sighing “Because his fate and yours are intertwined. You are Faeterran, as is he, and all Faeterrans sent here will meet eventually. I just want you to have as many people watching your back as possible.”

Serana sighed and put on the necklace as I began to fade, returning to my home in the consulate as things around me began to move again.  “I will see you soon, my friend. May your dagger be sharp,”

Serana smiled “And my foes dull, I know,  old hunters proverb...”

I smiled and nodded, deciding then to take the two clocks in my possession to Gabriel for reincarnation, I sighed, happy that I could give Serana this one gift at least

She then noticed me fading, and time beginning to resume its course. “Wait, where am I supposed to go to meet this guy?!”

I smiled and laughed, disappearing completely as I spoke my last directions and set time to flowing again “Just follow the pink one!”

*****************************************************************************

[POV switch, Serana]

I looked around as time started up again, seeing the pink equine fall onto her face, then look around for what I assumed was me. When she saw me, she smiled and, well, I could only really say she bounced over to me. “Hi! I’m Pinkie Pie, who are you? I am super duper excited to meet you, and I can’t wait to bring you to my friends and-”

I gently placed my clawed hand over her mouth and spoke in a calm, clear manner “I am Serana. That is all you need to know, now please take me to see the Luperian Zinu Nightrend.”

Pinkie Pie  promptly paused her prancing to look at me “ How do you know him? Is he your boyfriend~?”

I chuckled in an attempt to mask my annoyance, the nerve of this one! “No, I have only heard of him. May you take me to see him?”

Pinkie Pie shrugged and bounced towards a large crystal castle “Okie Dokie Lokie! Follow me!”

I followed her through the town as various other equines stared at me while I walked through their village, now thankful that I was stopped from hunting the Zebra, who was most likely a friend to some of these .

As I walked with her, I noticed that there was a large silhouette and two much smaller ones to either side of it in front of said castle. As we drew closer, I saw that it was a Stone Ogre Priest, a Gremlin Engineer, and a Luperian Rogue. They seemed to be talking to each other, the majority of the discussion escaping my hearing mostly due to my lack of interest in what they were saying, that is, until I noticed them mention a Fog Giants name “-seriously! How do we misplace a FOG GIANT?! She is literally 15 feet tall! Tarel! Where are you!”

I then felt the earth shake as a fog Giant, whom I assumed was Tarel, came bounding toward them, a smile adorning her face “Tarel gather food! Tarel bring meat and veggies!”

I grabbed my stomach as it rumbled hungrily, reminding me that I haven’t eaten in awhile. I walked up to them with Pinkie Pie, my mouth began watering as I smelled the meat and the veggies. Pinkie Pie bounced over to them and began talking at high speed again, much to my annoyance. “Hi everybody! This is Serana, she says she knows you! I think she might be hungry, could you share some food?”

The Gremlin nodded and walked over to me, holding out what looked like a loaf of bread stuffed with meat and cheese, literally stuffed full of it, I eagerly snatched in and ate it all as quickly as possible, not even bothering to wait for breath to return to my lungs. After I finished, I looked to him and nodded “Thank you for the food. What was it?”

The Gremlin shrugged “I got it off of a Griffon, he called it a ‘hot pocket’ whatever that is.”

I nodded slowly “Well, it tasted good, so I don’t really care.” I turned to Zinu and smiled awkwardly, as I was unused to even trying to be friendly “Hello, as you heard from the pink one, my name is Serana and-”

BOOOOOOOOOM!!!!

I turned quickly to see a massive explosion coming from the direction of the forest I had just left. “By Raphaels immortal liver! What was that?!”

Pinkie smiled and patted my back with her hand “Well, duh, that was an explosion, you silly… erm… dragoness.”

I winced before I looked to her angrily and spoke in an unnaturally even tone “Don’t, EVER, touch my back.”

Pinkie nodded uncertainly, unsure of what she did wrong “O-okay, serry, I won’t.”

Griswell looked to Tarel and smiled “Tarel, I need you to stay here and guard the town and the castle. If someone is using explosives, we want them as far from the civilians as possible.”

Tarel nodded and sat down with the large raw meat as she summoned some fire in her hands “tarel eat meat, so big and strong to help ponies.”

With that said, everyone started running for the Everfree Forest, not knowing what we were getting ourselves into…

POV switch, Griswell

As we entered the area that the explosion emanated from, I noticed that the woman who we had just met had come with us, but was refusing to fly, as if she didn’t even have wings. Very interesting… especially considering her not liking to be touched on the back… I must ask her about this later.

We then reached the site of the explosion to find a strange mound of red visceral ooze, I looked to it with my Krel visten, or second vision, to see that there was a luperian inside the visceral ooze. “Boys, if you would be so kind, would you please remove the person inside that… disturbing... pile of remains.”

Marcus nodded and leapt over to the gore mound and reached inside “Bluegh, smells like an outhouse in the summer… after a few weeks…”

Inside the pile, the luperian began to stir, rising from it like he was waking up from a nap. “Ugh, must of passed out,” it said, looking around at us. “You all weren't here a minute ago, am I still on Faeterra? Things got a little fuzzy for a second,” he said, as he stood up showing his fur to be charred and blackened, along with most of his clothing.

Zinus eyes widened and he leapt to Marcus, grabbing him and carrying him back to our group “Fire, dangerous!”

As soon as he heard those words, the charred luperian laughed. “Well of course fire is dangerous, but then again so many things are,” he smiled and started to walk toward our group. “Now, if you said I was dangerous. I’d be forced to agree with you.”

Pinkie hopped up and smiled “Hiya kenny! Would you like to make some s'mores with me! We could have a camp party right here!”

He smiled at her, “I love parties, we could burn some trees, make a nice big ole forest fire, and cook some,” he looked back to the pile he climbed out of, “of… uh... Whatever that is. It’ll be a grand time, and do you know the best part?”

Pinkie Pie raised her hand “OOH! We can have quesadillas without Twilight screaming?”

“NO! The main course is already here!” he laughed, as he began to gather flames in his hands, that began to spread to the rest of his body, only for Pinkie Pie to pull out a fire extinguisher.

“I’ve got you, Kenny! Don’t worry!” She screamed as she began to put out the fires, and he began to try to escape her, only for her to give chase.

Serana looked blankly to me as I looked to her in an awkward glance “Well… I guess we should tell her about this ‘Kenny’ before she gets herself hurt?”

I nodded slowly “Erm… yes, I do think we should. But… I am rather scared to get between them..."

Marcus gestures to the comedic scene behind him, still being held by Zinu “What’s so bad about him? Also,” He smacked Zinu upside the back of the head “PUT ME DOWN, DAMN IT!”

Just as Zinu put down Marcus, I stepped between him and this… this psychopath. “That is an ancient Luperian gifted with power over fire, his true name long lost to history, now known only as the Forsaken.” I sighed sadly “His history is a mystery to all but the gods… but from what I could gather from his eyes, it still eats at his very soul.”

Marcus laughed in a humorous manner. “Hey, you just rhymed!”

I glared at my son, annoyed with him to a great extent. “Did you listen to what we were saying at all?”

Marcus shook his head “Nope! Was thinking about Golem designs!”

“I was listening, I love storytime,” said the Forsaken standing right behind us.

“Me, too! Can we hear another?” Pinkie Pie said “Maybe about how you met your kids? I’d like to hear that one!”

“But first, introductions are in order, you obviously know me, yet I have no idea who any of you, delicious looking morsels, are,” he said with a vicious look in his eye.

I looked to him and readied my pick-hammer “If you try to eat either of my beloved sons, I will not hesitate to strike you, powers or no.”

He laughed as soon as the words left my mouth, “I wouldn’t dream of it, they both look rather scrawny. Are you sure you're feeding them well?” He turned his head to Serana, “I would prefer to start with her,” he said licking his lips.

Serana readied her knives and growled threateningly “Don’t even try it, fluffy.”

“Wait! I just realized, I lost my staff.” He started digging in his pockets as if expecting it to be there, even though it was on his back, before running through us, before I could even blink, and began to dig through the pile he emerged from. “I knew it was here somewhere.”

Pinkie Pie walks over to us and sprays what looks like whipped cream from the fire extinguisher and eats it “Mmmm! So what did I miss?” She looked to the forsaken and smiled “Hi kenny! What are you doing in that slimy icky sticky stuff?”

“I know it has to be here somewhere,” he said standing while still looking to the pile, when he went to scratch the back of his head, only to feel it there behind him. “Why is it that whenever I lose you, you’re always the last place I check?” he asked his staff as if expecting an answer.

Pinkie pie giggled “How else would the comic relief work?”

Marcus thought a moment “With slapstick comedy?”

Pinkie shook her head “No, it’s no fun if somepony gets hurt.”

This caused the Forsaken to start laughing, “I think it’s only funny after someone gets hurt. Here I’ll show you!” He suddenly began conjure a barrage of fireballs, before launching them at us.

Marcus was the first to be attacked, he responded by taking out his pistol and firing at the fireball, slowing it down until it came to a complete stop and began to shrink until it was about the size of an apple, and it then crystallized, before he quickly grabbed it and tossed it in a box at his belt. “You don’t have a chance against Gremlin tech!”

“Well this just calls for more fire!” He yelled before engulfing himself in flames, that spread to the grass and trees around him.

Zinu was the next to act, lifting the murky swamp water over the forsaken and dropping it on him with his telekinesis “No wildfires.”

Serana, too busy dodging the barrage of fireballs to attack, huffed angrily “I really wish I didn’t breathe fire right now!”

I, meanwhile, was trying to block the fireballs, thankful for the protective enchantments on my suit as I grabbed a Fireball and threw it back at the Forsaken “May The councils light purify thee!” I then raised my pick hammer aloft and pointed it above him, raining the council’s purifying light shower down onto him as he was busy with my son Zinu.

As soon as the light hit him, his fur began to smoke, causing the water that was dropped on him to turn to steam. Then lunged forward grabbing Marcus by his head, holding him aloft.

“I’m beginning to grow tired of this, and I don’t even know who you are. Oh well,” he said in a low voice before throwing Marcus into Pinkie Pie, causing him to land on her, his lips connecting with hers in an accidental kiss… oh my, I do believe that was his first kiss… I must say I feel bad for him, he has never even gone on a date with her!

“Now, for the fun part, you ask for your gods to help, I may as well do the same.” He struck his staff upon the ground, creating a massive summoning circle. Out of which rose the largest krugog, I’ve ever seen. “Let’s see how you handle this!” the Forsaken yelled before he began to walking away into the forest.

Zinu’s eyes widened in shock before he grabbed the crystallized fire from Marcus’s belt, Marcus himself in a daze and blushing while babbling incoherently, he then threw the crystal at the krugog, which bit into the crystal and caused an explosion that seemed to have absolutely NO effect aside from making the already fuming beast further enraged.

I looked to everyone and sighed taking out a scroll I had hoped not to have to use at this moment “Kingmakers bridge! I call upon thee, take us to the safe haven of Ponyville, away from this foul creature!” I then threw the scroll and it formed a blue divium archway that I gestured to frantically “RUN! NOW!” As everyone walked through the archway, me the last to cross, I looked to my sons and smiled as Zinu carried a blushing Pinkie Pie into the other side of the gate alongside a babbling Marcus, I sighed and looked to the gate “Here goes the one chance of us going home…” I walked through and followed them, the bridge disappearing behind me as I walked. “Council damn thee, Forsaken of Parhael.”