“It started as nothing out of the ordinary,” Braveheart began. “Just a simple walk through the Everfree.” Sunset gave her husband a stern look as he said so.
“The Everfree, Braveheart?” she scolded. “Don't you remember what almost happened to Blazing when she ran off? You and her both came back limping, cut and bruised.”
“Mom,” Blazing Fire pleaded. “Don't get my mood down now. Daddy's telling one of his stories.” Sunset sighed and rolled her eyes.
“All right,” she agreed. “Continue.” Braveheart, an Alicorn of Equestria, was telling his Pegasus daughter, Blazing Fire, a story that occurred to him just recently, a week ago to be precise.
The night had just risen, and Luna had raised the moon just minutes ago. Braveheart's tan coat was alight with the warm glow of the fire. His mechanical wings were resting at his sides, making an occasional twitch of movement, eliciting a quiet whir from the motors. Braveheart's dirty yellow mane was in a mess over his head, and his tail stayed still in the warmth of the flame. Sunset Shimmer's lighter tan coat was groomed, smoothly flowing with her movements. Her mane and tail matched the fierceness and color of the small inferno in the fireplace. It was curled, hanging down over her shoulders. She tapped her hoof on her chest to a beat in her head. She was calm, yet tired, ready for some rest. But Blazing Fire was much too excited to sleep. As soon as her father came home, bandaged and recovering, she wanted to know everything. Her mane and tail matched her mother's; fiery red and yellow, yet unkempt. Sunset was working to fix that, brushing away at her daughter's mane, trying to get it to look neat.
“Come on, daddy,” Blazing urged. “Tell the story. You can't just stop at the beginning. What happened?” Bravehart chuckled a little.
“Calm down, sweetie,” he said, raising his hoof. “I'm working on it.” Blazing pushed away a strand of her mane with her hoof, then got comfortable for her father's story. Braveheart booped his daughter on the nose with his right mechanical hoof. Blazing laughed, then Braveheart started his story.
“I had just finished an errand for your mother,” he said. “I had just gotten home, when I decided to go for a bit of a walk. Through the Everfree. And let me tell you, that place is not friendly towards little fillies and colts. Nor adult ponies for that matter. I didn't care. As you know, I love a thrill every once in a while.” Blazing nodded her head. Braveheart continued. “Little did I know what was waiting for me out there,” he said in a mysterious voice. “Deep in that enchanted wood...”
~~~
Braveheart pulled a small plunderseed vine from the dirt. He threw it to the ground and crushed it into bits.
“Nice try, Discord,” he muttered. “You aren't getting me today.” He wiped the plant matter from his hoof and kept walking. He hoped that was the last one. He'd been encountering stray plunderseed vines all over Equestria. Even Princess Twilight had reported some near her castle. Braveheart eventually confronted Discord about it, but Discord denied planting more. Typical Discord. Braveheart didn't think he'd ever understand the God of Chaos nor his antics. He shrugged off the thought and kept walking. It didn't matter where he was going. He could just fly straight up and find his way back at any time.
“Imagine how good this'd feel at night,” Braveheart thought to himself. “A midnight trot through the woods sounds relaxing.” A moaning growl suddenly erupted from Braveheart's left. He turned toward the noise, lighting his horn up with a magic blast. He cautiously approached the bushes from where the sound came from. He could see yellow eyes, and the smell of rotting leaves. Braveheart took one sniff and plugged his muzzle. He knew that scent all too well.
“Timberwolf,” Braveheart muttered. He dismissed the spell and kept walking. Sure enough, a Timberwolf puppy hopped from the bushes, nearly collapsing upon landing. Braveheart noticed, and turned around. He carefully approached the injured Timberwolf puppy. The poor thing was covered with scratches, some of its wooden limbs close to falling apart. Braveheart felt some sympathy for the normally vicious creature, and knelt down. The puppy backed away slowly, growling a high pitched growl that came off as cute. Braveheart let off a light laugh.
“You aren't intimidating anypony,” he murmured to the puppy. He focused a small spell, and his golden magic aura engulfed the Timberwolf puppy. The little dog barked as it rose slightly into the air, but stopped upon realizing its wounds were healing. As the final scratch on its wooden body closed, Braveheart lowered the puppy and released his magic hold. The Timberwolf puppy gave Braveheart a cock of the head, then ran off back the way it was going, healthy as if nothing had happened.
“You're welcome,” Braveheart called into the woods. He shook his head and continued walking. After a while, he heard a rustle behind him.
“I hope that's not the mother,” he groaned in worry.
“Relax, it isn't,” a young male voice said behind him said. Braveheart turned around to see a Unicorn stallion standing behind him. His coat was an ivory white, contrasted with green eyes. His mane and tail were a dark grey, with specks of white, like ash. His cutie mark was a green eye over a knife, all surrounded by a purple aura. He wore a harness around his waist and back legs, holding all kinds of knives. Large, small, curved, straight, solid and folding. Braveheart had never seen so many knives on one pony. He let out a low whistle.
“That's a lot of knives you got there,” he said. “Mister...”
“Spectre,” the stallion said. “Ashen Spectre.” He stepped up to Braveheart, and extended a hoof. Braveheart shook it with his dominant hoof, which happened to be his right mechanical one.
“A pleasure to meet you Ashen,” he said. “I'm Braveheart.”
“Nice you meet you,” Ashen nodded. As the two ponies broke the hoofshake, Ashen promptly grabbed a balisong knife and started twirling it.
“You really like knives, don't you?” Braveheart guessed.
“Like you wouldn't believe,” Ashen confirmed. “Guns make for too quick of a kill. Swords have too much range. A good kill with a knife is so much more satisfying.” Ashen ended his comment by swiftly yanking out a throwing knife and hurling it very close to Braveheart's head. Braveheart didn't even flinch as the knife flew by his left. The knife lodged itself in a tree behind him. Braveheart grabbed the knife in his magic without turning away and tossed it back to Ashen, who caught it and slid it away in one swift movement.
“Accurate too,” Braveheart admired. A trickle of blood leaked from below his left eye. Braveheart wiped it away, slightly wincing as he touched his wound. He promptly healed the cut with magic.
“And uncalled for,” he deadpanned.
“I was hoping you would take a hint and get out of the way,” Ashen said, his tone changing. “I have somewhere to be.”
“We'll see,” Braveheart muttered aloud, getting into a fighting stance. Ashen smirked, and pulled out four throwing knives.
“A challenge?” he asked.
“I don't let ponies that provoke me off easy,” Braveheart hissed. “And I'm fairly easily provoked.”
“Well then,” Ashen grinned. “Let's have at it, shall we?” Braveheart's eyes narrowed, and he rushed at Ashen. He jumped high, extending the retractable blade in his mechanical hoof mid-jump. Ashen pulled a switchblade from his harness and sidestepped Braveheart's attack. He swung fast, catching Braveheart on the nose. Braveheart ignored the pain and attacked Ashen, who avoided his swings with ease. The two combatants fought viciously, parrying and avoiding strikes, landing the occasional swing. Braveheart did admit, Ashen was very skilled with his blades. But something about his fighting style seemed off. Braveheart couldn't pinpoint exactly what, but Ashen's style seemed familiar. As Braveheart came in for another strike, Ashen jumped up and stabbed Braveheart in the back. Braveheart tumbled to the dirt, a switchblade lodged in his spine. As he struggled to get up, Ashen yanked the knife from the flesh, inflicting a pained groan from Braveheart. Ashen slid the knife away, overconfident in his abilities. He was bleeding from the side of the neck, his forehead, and three different places in his legs.
“Is that the best you've got?” Ashen gloated. “I thought you were an Alicorn. Not a little filly.” That statement lit something up inside Braveheart. His pupils shrunk in anger. He stood up and shot a powerful blast of magic at Ashen. If Ashen had not been a Unicorn, that shot would have torn through his heart. But the blast exploded in front of Ashen. When the smoke cleared, Braveheart saw that Ashen's eyes were glowing green, and his horn was crackling with a purple aura.
“Dark magic is forbidden in Equestrian Law,” Braveheart gasped. “Where did you learn the forbidden arts?”
“While I was alone in Baltimare, after my parents were killed, I found a copy of Quod Sacra Tenebrae in the sewers. I practiced these dark spells to avenge my parents. I haven't mastered all of them, but I do know them all. Except for three. A page went missing years ago. I've been searching for it ever since.” Braveheart put two and two together, and whipped out his black spell page from his saddlebag.
“You mean this page?” he asked. Ashen's eyes widened, and a smile crept onto his face.
“Yeah, that one,” he said. “Where'd you find it?”
“That's not important,” Braveheart said.
“Give it to me,” Ashen demanded. Braveheart shook his head, rolling the page back up and putting it away.
“Too much knowledge of the dark arts is dangerous,” he scolded. “I understand your want for vengeance. More than you know, I wish for vengeance on those who have wronged me. But would that be something the Princesses would allow?”
“I don't care about the law,” Ashen growled. “The ponies who murdered my parents deserve to rot in the deepest pits of Tartarus! I won't let a self-proclaimed brat like you stand in the way of that!” Ashen tossed four knives into Braveheart's chest. Braveheart stumbled back, falling onto his flank. He gripped his bleeding wound as Ashen stepped over him. Bravehaert gritted his teeth at Ashen.
“You can't do this, Ashen,” he warned. “Knowing too much dark magic can corrupt you.”
“As if you would know,” Ashen scoffed. He opened up Braveheart's saddlebag and took the final black page. As he slid it away into his harness, he pulled the knives from Braveheart's chest.
“It'll come back to haunt you,” Braveheart muttered. “You won't be the same.”
“We'll see,” Ashen said. “I won't kill you, because I'm sure you have family. I'm not one who would tear somepony from their family. But you should probably start crawling to the nearest hospital.” Ashen lit up his horn, and he disappeared from sight with a pop. Braveheart growled, then thought he should probably take Ashen's advice. He started crawling, despite the pains all over his body. He crawled on for a time before hearing hoofsteps. He looked toward the noise to see Fluttershy walking away with a basket of ferrets on her back. Braveheart struggled to speak.
“Fluttershy!...” he moaned. “Wait...” Fluttershy stopped and looked behind her. She flipped out upon seeing her friend bleeding out.
“Oh goodness!” she gasped. “Braveheart, what happened?”
“Knife fight,” Braveheart said. “I need help.”
“No kidding you need help,” Fluttershy said. “Don't move.” She put down the basket of ferrets and opened her saddlebag. She pulled out a roll of bandages and a bottle of ointment, and started dressing Braveheart's wounds. She encouraged the ferrets to help. Within minutes, Braveheart was able to walk. He was forced to limp, but he could stand.
“Thank you, Fluttershy,” he said.
“Please be more careful,” Fluttershy requested. Braveheart sheepishly smiled and nodded. The two parted ways, and Braveheart limped home to Sunset and Blazing.
~~~
“Haven't seen Ashen Spectre since,” Braveheart finished. “But I worry what will happen to him.”
“I hope this won't turn into a problem for Equestria,” Sunset sighed. “Too much dark magic can be a powerful weapon, and a pony's undoing.”
“I guess we'll just have to wait and see,” Blazing murmured. The family of three went quiet for the rest of the night, listening to the crackle of the fire. But Braveheart could feel that somewhere in Equestria, Ashen would slowly lose control of the dark magic he sought to control, possibly bringing danger to Equestria.
Author's Note
Ashen Spectre OC belongs to The Iced Lance
If anyone seems that there's a bit of a continuity error with the conditions Braveheart lives under, with the Princesses alive and his marriage with Sunset, I believe in the Multiverse Theory. So this is just one of those alternate worlds a version of Braveheart's story is told in. Thought I'd mention that so no one is confused.
By the way, did anyone catch the Hellsing Abridged reference?
