Prologue-The Tangled Tale
"Ghosts aren't real, right Pa?" The little filly skittered behind the huge cloaked and protective bulk of her father, who huffed and rolled his eyes, which were dim with centuries of age and experience. Despite the cloak, the muscled earth-pony limbs of the stallion showed, along with the crow's feet clawed into the corners of his eyes, showing the signs of a happier lifestyle, before the grey and stressed wrinkles were etched into his face.
"No, Dinky, ghosts aren't real." The brown stallion replied, scanning the illegible stone sign, carved with bold and cursive lettering that was probably a millennia old, kept from crumbling by ancient magic that could be felt pulsing from the freezing granite surface. His blue eyes brightened, blinking, from hidden knowledge.
Soft hoofsteps followed behind, tapping on the cracked bricks, careful to avoid the resilient weeds that stubbornly poked their green shoots through the gaps between the stone, braving the weather and age. Eyes that were a similar shade to a forest of aquas and greens darted at the trailing figure behind her, gold ringed ears flattening against her striped head in slight foreboding and anticipation. Her breath was whistling in her throat nervously, pacing after the father and child, following apprehensively.
"What about spirits? Are they real?" The filly questioned, pinning herself to the warm brown fur of her father, shivering. Her golden eyes gleamed, rushing up in an attempt to look her father in the eye. The stallion stopped his scrutiny of the ancient sign. Feeling his daughter's trembling body, his expression softened, letting a small smile settle on his face. He ruffled her soft yellow mane, brushing it against her horn.
He looked her dead in the eye.
"I can't lie to you, sweetheart." He stated, his expression serious. Seeing the filly stiffen, he continued. "There once was a spirit of harmony. There also was a spirit of love. Of time. There was a spirit for everything." The filly relaxed slightly at this, but continued to stare at her father, oblivious to the two ponies who followed them. "Ponies say that our Queen, Queen Celestia, is descended from the spirit of the sun."
"Is that why she has a sun for a cutie mark?" Dinky asked curiously, eyes lit in wonder.
"Maybe, maybe." The stallion chuckled, glancing to the two observers, clearing his throat. "You want to go in, yes?"
The zebra, a female with large saddlebags hanging on her sides allowed her eyes to flit to her companion, a grey unicorn with a heavy blue cloak draped over his shoulders, sagging to trail the dusty ground, gathering debris picked up along the way. Seeing his nod in her direction, she averted her gaze from his large silvery eyes, mirroring the action at the father and daughter. The stallion bowed, turning to fumble at the relic hammered to the crumbling wall. It was a small gold triangle fit in a small crook of the sign which had been the cause of his staring earlier, with symbols of a lost civilisation etched in stained red, something the stallion suspected was blood. Upon this realisation, he faltered.
"Please, good sir, let us make haste, for we have not a minute to waste." The zebra intoned in her motherly voice, her exotic accent making the little unicorn filly staring at her shiver in excitement. Feeling calmer toward the zebra, the filly trotted over to her, smiling.
"You sure talk weird, lady Zecora."
The stallion choked at her statement, whipping his head to glare at his daughter. "Don't talk to the lady like that, Dinky. Be polite."
The zebra snorted at the filly's antics, waving off the father's apologetic nod. The unicorn behind said nothing, but his eyes turned a slight shade of platinum in amusement. The zebra tilted her head slightly. Sensing her partner's approval, the zebra bent to whisper in the filly's ear.
"Would you like if I continued your father's story, little one? It is quite a tale, and reciting it will be its justice done."
The filly nodded hurriedly, scooting closer to the mare without a glance at her father, eyes widening to listen to the tale. Seeing her audience was properly settled down, the zebra grinned and recited in a low and mysterious tone, similar to a chant.
"Long ago, the first was that of the sun.
Of the celestial bodies, loved by everyone.
Aunt to the spirit of emotions, love and light.
Her sister, Selena, herald of the night.
Then Gaia, the motherly nature daughter.
Also Lynch, the spirit of war and slaughter.
The list of spirits grew as time passed.
Until the world was at its limit at last..."
At these words, a thrill bolted down Dinky's spine, her enraptured eyes becoming unfocused. A sudden rumbling of ancient mechanisms through the walls and vibrating the floor caused some alarm to the ponies, except for the brown earth stallion and the old unicorn, who were unfazed.
The zebra furrowed her brow at the increasingly large opening in the wall next to the sign, raising an eyebrow at the butchered remains of the intricate golden chain, braided to form the triangle that she has seen before. She did not agree with the stallion's crude methods, but it did work. She swallowed in sight of the gaping doorway, nearly cantering forward in her eagerness.
A grey hoof thrust out and caught her by her shoulders, steering her away from the door, the unicorn stallion rolling his eyes and shaking his head. "I'll go in first, Zecora." He muttered in a gruff voice only audible to the frustrated zebra he had prevented entry. Shifting her weight from hoof to hoof, Zecora stamped against the ground impatiently, ignoring the similar sound echoed behind her by Dinky's smaller hooves.
Without another word, the unicorn stallion galloped forward through the door, and was instantly consumed by the pitch blackness, the dark making quick work of swallowing the stallion.
Several moments passed, agonisingly slow.
Dinky started fiddling with her father's cloak, toying with the edge. Her father swatted her hoof idly.
Zecora started to chew her lip.
A book, bound in a hard gold material flew out from the blackness, the thick tome's cover fading as it clattered to a stop next to a pillar that arched up, supporting the ceiling and vast grey canopy of spider webs. The projectile was soon followed by another one, a unicorn stallion with a tattered cloak, who flew a few feet and impacted the ground with a resounding crack, dust drifting into the air.
The ground began to tremble, the tremors shaking debris and pebbles loose, as if the floor was quaking in fear.
"Go, flee! Do not wait for me!" Zecora shouted at Dinky and her Father, who complied quickly, leaving the zebra to bolt across the room in an attempt to help her friend. The old stallion met her eyes, glancing at the father and daughter's retreating backs briefly, before showing any reaction to the intense agony paralysing his lower body. He gave a low and pitiful groan, wincing in pain, but uttered to his friend calmly, as serious as ever.
"Get the book."
The zebra had no time to register his words, before a strong gold aura surround her and the faded book and gently levitated her a few feet, before flickering out, like the dying gold magic that flamed from the unicorn's horn.
"He's here." The words were whispered to the vibrating floor and little green buds of new leaves, but the zebra heard it fine, the meaning slamming into her like a sledgehammer to the skull. Scrambling away, she ducked behind a pillar, eyes wide and hooves shaking to grip the book. Then claps caused jolts of fear to freeze her where she was.
Applause. Clapping the performance. The twitching movements of the stallion, expressing his helplessness in every feeble action. And someone applauded it.
The generous observer soon revealed himself, wrapping his long serpentine tail around the unicorn, not noticing the hastily hidden zebra, who flattened herself closer to the wall and tried not to breathe too loudly. Her fear was positively reeking into the air, but the mismatched chimera was solely focused on his prey, who glared at the red and yellow eyes boring straight through him. A chuckle emerged from the creature, who gave the unicorn a cheery smile that did not reach his eyes, and the stallion found himself staring at his own terrified reflection in the colourful pools of crimson, the same shade as pony blood. The coils that were surprisingly cold constricted tightly. A light breath tickled the stallion's face, who soon morosely gave up struggling at all.
"Why, hello, StarSwirl!"
StarSwirl hissed air sharply through his teeth in pain, turning his face away from the draconequus's scrutiny.
"It's been a while, but I'm sure you still remember moi, so there's no need for introductions! Hurrah!" Confetti littered to the floor and smothered the little green bits of life that peeped through. The creature continued.
"Well, I'm sure you're a busy stallion, so I'm sure we both...want this over as quickly as possible." StarSwirl shut his eyes tightly against the tightening tail, feeling a tuft of hair brush against him. A malevolent twist sent a fiery sense of agony throughout the old stallion's limbs. Gasping in pain and trying to force much needed oxygen past his abused windpipe, StarSwirl started to feel dizzy and lightheaded. Dots swam before his eyes.
Ignoring the stallion's wheezes, a sharp jerk brought StarSwirl face to with the draconequus.
“Where is it?”
The stallion felt a tear well up, and shook his head before he could change his mind.
“You don’t have it? Really?”
StarSwirl managed another shake, before his face twitched and his expression shifted to a twisted terror.
His eyes glazed over and stared, unseeing, at his captor, the horror in them fading, but his fear was permanently stuck to his face, his mouth still opened, as if surprised. The neat but vital slash across his windpipe spoke words he could not, a trickle of red leaking from the hairline scratch that had done so much.
The monster released his victim, who crumbled to the dusty ground, never to move again. He scrutinised his talons, stained red, barely noticeable, but it was the life blood of another being. Another one. More had fallen before him. More than could be counted on a claw.
But the game was about to begin. It was time. And the book was gone.
It was a shame to kill StarSwirl, but it was essential.
He just needed to wait.
He snapped the claw he had been observing, and vanished in a white flash that made no sound. He was simply there, and then gone.
The zebra emerged from her hiding spot, her shoulders wracked and shivering uncontrollably, even though the thick cloak she wore around her would have stopped the cold. Her disgust was evident, and she kept her tearful eyes away from the dead body, whose face was still contorted in stubbornness and a hint of fear.
Another one. A red slash, much like the one on the stallion’s neck, engraved into the zebra’s mind, much like the many others already there, each marking a victim that had fallen to the cruel game.
Tears poured down the zebra’s face as she ran, making her escape, her shoulders sagging with both the burden of so many lost, and a heavy package that weighed her down, carefully hidden in her saddlebags.
She hoped little Dinky and her father were gone, where they never would be harmed.
She hoped this game would end soon.
She hoped she could stop running one day.
But she could only hope.
Lifting her eyes to gaze the pitch black that was decorated with an array of diamonds, she felt her vision tremble. She put one hoof in front of another, running from something that she would never escape.
Like her friend had been several minutes ago, the darkness of the night soon consumed Zecora.
But unlike the musty, stale dark that had merely hidden StarSwirl against the light, the night that enveloped Zecora was cold and full of fear and hostility.
Author's Note
"Pilot" Chapter next.
I hope you enjoyed this, and if you didn't
, tell me why.....
Anyway, if you're wondering about the 'romance' tag, lets just say.....OTP.
If you know what mine is, kudos.
I did not add a Zecora tag because there wasn't enough room and she is only appearing in a few chapters.
Bye!
