Winds of change

This. Sucks. One thousand and five hundred years being trapped in my sword I mean. I know it's what I get for being careless and over-confident but that is what happens when you turn your back on treacherous ponies. It's all black and white with them, never an in between, but I seem to be getting ahead of myself. My name is, as of now at least, Aries.

Now you may be wondering how exactly I got sealed in my own weapon and sealed in Tartarus. That is right, they couldn't just stop at making me a piece of silverware. They also made sure I was in the darkest and hardest to escape prison in the world. Hard for most anyway. They believe if I were to break out of my little cage, they would at least have enough time to prepare and hopefully seal me back before I got past that pup of a watch dog. Little do they know that big guy is little more than an annoyance for me. Nothing more. The only reason he is even that is because he has proved effective in fending off my followers.

There are some upsides to this rather than being sealed in stone however, it's like being sealed in my own mind in a way, here I have been able to train up my abilities. I feel the worst about the others. With me the tailed beasts were able to roam free to an extent, yes they helped me when I asked, and I had been researching a way to separate them from me semi permanently, so that they didn’t need to rely on shadow clones as vessels. That all changed when the elements of harmony attacked, the majority of them was ripped away from me and sealed into nine stone orbs, they have been able to communicate with me, as just enough of them was left behind so that I did not die.

Now, the Elements of Harmony are rather powerful, even I am not strong enough to fight their full power off... Yet. The seal on me by those accursed gems is so intricate and extensive. working on undoing these seals has proven very challenging. It's not just a signal seal either, I found out the hard way, it's a layered seal. Seals within seals, each one just as intricate and extensive as the last. I have undone thousands of them and cannot see and end to them, but I am getting close, I know I am. Over the years the magic that sustained it has dwindled, the seals are no different, but I am having an easier time breaking them. Their weakening and soon maybe even after the one I'm currently working on I will be free, I can feel it. just a few more touches here... break this sub seal here... annnnd that's it! now the nex-

*CRACK!!*

Wait... Was that the last one?

*CRACK!!* THAT'S IT! IM FINALLY FREE!!

Third Person POV

The sword began to glow a vibrant gold, the energy emitting from it began to become more and more solid as it shaped into a bipedal figure, the seals that once held the warrior within it now broken. Failsafe seals set by the prisoner’s wardens began to activate, chains of all sizes from the size of threads to as thick as a minotaur arm made of the strongest magic reinforced steel possible began to wrap around the statue like snakes attempting to strangle its prey. Covering every inch in an attempt to restrain the entity within, magic shields began to activate and enclose it and finally a magic signal was sent out to warn the last ones who know of him.

*SLICE!!*

Suddenly the chains were cut to pieces, revealing the entity within. A bipedal creature standing roughly 5’8 feet tall. It’s skin had a subtle glow to it, though it was not gold like its hair or some of its clothing. Black spheres hovered behind it in a circle. sprouting from its back were two large wings that made the void look bright and from either side of its head a curved horn as white as fresh snow. The creature began to walk forward as if the magic shields were not there, and they may as well have not been there as they shattered on contact with him.

"So, this is it. I'm finally free! It's hard to believe that it was so long ago that this started, that I trusted them, I protected them, and they hid the truth from me. They expected the world to just forget their sins and allow them to go unchecked, that they could keep hold of a home that they had slaughtered countless innocents for." He said, as he continued to walk down the path that led to the entrance to Tartarus as various sentinels attempted to contain him only to be obliterated by the black spheres that he wielded. As he came face to face with the big puppy himself, he couldn't help but think back to a simpler time, one when he lived in peace with them…

“SIT!!!”

Flashback 1st pov aries

Ahh anime conventions... The sites, the cosplayers, the things you can find in the shops! It's all just amazing! And my costume is my pride and joy. I spent months working on it. I didn't want to just buy a premade costume that would be slightly too big, slightly too small or made of some cheap material. No. I would not have that, I wanted a costume that showed quality, unlike last year when I went in a cheap costume only to run into people whose costumes made mine look like some cheap dollar store Halloween costume. I spent all year after that embarrassing event making this work of art. I had to learn how to sew! but now I'm dressed as Naruto just after he met the sage of six paths and instead of cheap cotton, it's made mostly out of silk.

There are other materials but I like the way silk shines, and the truth seeking balls were by far the hardest part. Making them out of something easy enough to suspend on thin wires and light enough that they wouldn't bend them plus not looking like shite? Again, I love silk. The sewing was difficult but once I got the invisible stitch down it wasn't too hard, really it was getting the wires into spherical skeletons to put the silk over was the tough part. Now then, I know I was supposed to meet Travis and Tyler at the food court, but I still have another hour before their supposed to get here.

As I walked by the shops I saw many other cosplayers in the area, I even managed to spot someone dressed as sasuke and edo Madara. As I walked I couldn't help but be drawn to this stall whose owner was cosplaying as the merchant from resident evil, his costume was extremely accurate to, even looked the part to... Kinda creepy. He had lots of different things in his stall. a book detailing jutsu from Naruto, sharingan contacts, old man yamas zanpakuto, a... Why is that even out in the open?

A death note, although I love learning new things and the sharingan has always been one of my favorite powers in naruto, what really drew my attention was the little plushies of the Tailed Beasts! I know plushies aren't as cool as the rest of that stuff, but I'm a sucker for cute stuff! Plus Naruto has a link to all of them at this point so it fits!

"Something catch your eye?" The merchant asks... Wow, he even has the voice down packed!

"Ehm... Yeah, how much for the Tailed Beast plushies?" I ask.

"Ahh, a good choice, these will go well with your attire. For you? Ten dollars." He responds.

"Deal!!" I can't believe I got them for so cheap, they're really good quality. I pulled out my wallet retrieved the money and was just about to hand him the money when there was a bright flash of light and then darkness…

3rd pov

The merchant blinked owlishly as what was supposed to be his latest victim vanished. He looked down at the items he was about to sell to him and found nothing but piles of ash. He sniffed the air and smelled the scent of powerful harmonic magic. He snarled before roaring in anger and vanishing in black fire terrifying the people around him.

“It’s the terrorists I tell you!!”

“Shut up Bill you're not helping!!”

2 hours later

The void

The merchant paced back and forth in his true form, how dare that bitch steal from him!!! She wasn’t even the prime version! He couldn’t go near the cluster. Faust was definitely not a fan of his, so going anywhere near there would be a bad idea. But that didn’t mean he couldn’t get revenge in other ways...

TREE OF HARMONY CAVE DURING DISCORD'S REIGN 3rd pov.

She paced back and forth in her gilded cage. She was powerless. Without a being strong enough with the proper chakra’s open, she could not channel her power through them, but even if there were such a being, nopony knew of her damned location to retrieve her elements. The tree that her prison had grown into had undone most of the restrictions on her power, but still left her stuck within it. The only way for her to be free was from outside help, and only a being with power equal to or greater than her own could do so.

Magnus might be able to help, if he ever pulled that thousand yard stick out his butt and left his castle. Kratos was most certainly useless to her, as he was more likely to just slaughter all her little ponies and her before taking all of her power. Hermaeus Mora would tell her how to get out without outside help, but only after she told him ALL of her secrets, and she could not let that monster know how to ascend mortals into demigods and eventually true gods. It was bad enough that two of her ponies had found out a way to accomplish this in part. They were only about a 3rd as strong as if they had ascended by her power or had ascended properly.

She was trapped and could only watch as the world was in chaos, all because of her children.. Her ponies, while they had brought it on themselves, they suffered the worst. None were shown forgiveness, all were sent to the nether regardless of what they had done to deserve it, or even if they didn't at all.… the other gods did not even bother allowing them judgment, and to make matters worse they had created an abomination out of the negative energies her little ponies had generated to torment them in life, poetic justice if there ever was any, at least to them.

She doubted they would let her make any changes at this point even if she were to break free, not after what her ponies had done, the pantheon had officially branded them a damned race doomed for eternal torment after death. If she wanted to make changes she would have to take all the living ponies in the world and create a new universe for them, which she never had the power to do on her own, and even if she did it would mean leaving those within the nether behind to suffer for eternity.

Her only other option was revelution. She would have to kill some members of the pantheon like Kratos, Magnus, odin and Zeus as they would not compromise with her at all, especially after the genocide of the centaurs and gargoyles. She knew that a couple would join her, as Shenron was wise enough to know that her ponies simply lacked guidance. So long as no one touched his realm, Hermaeus Mora would be indifferent about her actions. This left only Gaia and Pele. As it stood she was out numbered if they abstained from participating in what was to come, and severely outnumbered should they join zeus.

She had already secured Shenrons support, but Gaia and Pele refused to speak with her. She knew it would only prove counter intuitive to contact anyone on atlantis.Her options were limited, she couldn’t travel very far in her spriggan form, at most she could skim the edges of the forest without it crumbling into nothing. There was one option she could exploit, but she didn’t know if she had the heart to do it even if the opportunity presented itself. One of the benefits she had being stuck in her gilded cage was her ability to scry. Nothing escaped her sight within this world, and she even had the ability to look through the multiverse.

She even discovered another, much stronger version, however despite her pleading it would not help her so she looked elsewhere. In her search for a champion of sorts to aid her, she came across may beings with immense power, but none among them had the will to do what she needed, it wasn’t a matter of willpower, no some of them had willpower of unfathomable levels. No, she just could not find one with the power she needed that would help her.

And the beings that would help lacked the kind of power that she needed. If she was to achieve her goals she was going to have to build up a new champion, she would have to create a new god. However, there has never once been a pony born into this world worthy of becoming one, and in her current state, she couldn’t create one. At best she could create a demigod, but nothing more.

There was one option that she could utilize, she could bring a lesser being here and give him power from elsewhere. It would be less taxing on her power to do so, however she would need a conduit to channel her power through, which was the part she did not think she had the heart to do, as whomever she used would die in the process.

As she looked through the multiverse she found one individual that might very well have the qualities she needed, but he had no power what so ever. And he was in danger too. The creature he was speaking to was hiding it’s true motives from him, if he took the deal it was offering, it he would only give more power to it. As she was looking at the individual a group of ponies approached her cave.

“Sister, are you sure this is the place?” The alabaster mare asked her sister.

“Yes, the maps and old text all point to this area to being the location of the seed of faust. If we find it, we may be able to free her, and she could defeat discord!” She responded.

“But what if it isn’t here?” Asked a dark yellow pegasus flying not to far away from them keeping watch.

“Then at least we have a safe place to hide from him flitterbee.” Said the light purple mare leading the group.

“Safe? How is living in this dreadful place safe?” asked her sister.

“Would you rather be in here where we might run into something dangerous? Or would you rather take your chances out there where discord can find you?” Asked a light brown earth pony keeping watch at the back of the group.

“I think Applesauce is right, if we head outside of equestria just about every other race will kill us on sight, at least here we only have to worry about stray predators.” Said a hot pink mare with a straight droopy mane.

“Girls in here!!” Said another pegasus as she was looking into a cave.

Faust watched as the six mares walked into the cave, this was going to be the best chance she was ever going to get, these six had all the right qualities to wield her elements, but some of them were buried under the misery that discord had caused, and they were not strong enough even if this wasn’t the case. As they entered the cave she made the mouth of the cave shut with thick foliage trapping them in.

“What the hey!!” the pegasus shouted as a vine shot after her and wrapped around her. The other mares were not as luck as many more vines, they let out blood curtailing screams as the vines pierced their flesh and surrounded their magic cores. Their bodies started to go numb, and just before they passed out they heard a very comforting voice, it was barely above a whisper, but carried the weight of a thousand worlds. .

“I’m sorry.”