Keepers

A cold wind blew through the streets of the new settlement that had just been established. Only a few houses had actually been made so far, and there were numerous tents strewn about across the field. The streets were simply made from gravel and dirt, and trampled grass.

Winter was almost upon the settlers and if they didn’t set up their homes quickly they would be stuck out in the cold winter snow. This left almost no time for stopping as everyone was needed to build the little huts of wood and straw.

Aevum ran across the field towards one of the already built houses. His long, brown-red mane flew in the wind as he came to a screeching halt in front of the clay building. He shivered as his thin, yellow layer of fur proved almost useless against the breeze.

Using his magic, Aevum pulled his red cloak over his shoulder to keep him warm. Winter was coming faster than anyone had anticipated, and Aevum could feel that familiar chill in the air meaning it would snow soon.

The trees around the settlement provided some very faint shelter from the wind, but that was about it. Out towards the west was a very large and dense forest. It was apparently very dangerous though, filled with mysterious magic, and evil creatures. Aevum dared not go in there after the stories he had heard about that place.

Now as the winter weather moved in work was picking up, but before Aevum could start working he needed permission from his father, who was in charge of the building, if he could help. They needed all the builders they could get, and so far most of them were adults, but why not get some of the younger ones involved.

“Father, are you in there?” Aevum called to the house. A moment later his father opened the door. “What are you doing out there? Come in, come in. It’s your home too you know!” His father responded.

Aevum walked into the small hut and immediately felt warmer. In the middle of the hut was a small fire pit with a metal cover over it. Aevum sighed as he let the fire warm his body. He was thankful for the privileges he had as the son of the head builder, but he still felt bad for the others that didn’t have a warm place to stay yet.

“So what’s the matter? You’re not just escaping the cold, I can tell.” His father questioned him. “Well, I was wondering if I could help do some of the actual building instead of just gathering materials.” Aevum offered. “I would much rather assist in getting people places to stay than getting wood from the trees around here. The younger ponies can do that can’t they?” He went on.

His father paused a moment. “Well not all the ponies around your age actually have any knowledge of building...” His father explained. “But I do. I have had some training and experience in building before. I could help. Besides, winter is almost here and you could use all the help you can get.” Aevum reasoned.

His father smiled at this. “You always were the kind to find all the best reasons. Alright, you can get some tools from the supply tent. You already know where the materials are found.” His father pointed out.

Aevum grinned and turned around to leave, calling thank you over his shoulder.

After that, Aevum headed for the supply tent to grab some things. He got a hammer, some nails, and a saw. He put them in a small bag that he clamped around his body, and then left for one of the nearby houses that was still under construction.

Three pegasus were around the roof, which was just some wooden supports at the time. Meanwhile, unicorns held up wooden beams with their magic, while earth ponies would nail them together.

As he approached the working ponies, one of them noticed him. A white male pony, just a couple years older than Aevum walked up to him. “Hey Aevum, are you coming to help out?” He asked. “I figured I might as well since we have more than enough resources. What do you need me to do?” Aevum asked.

The white pony smiled. “Well, we need to get some more wooden planks. We are starting to run out, so you can saw us up some more from those logs over there.” He suggested. “Alright, sounds good to me.” Aevum agreed.

Aevum went over to the wood pile to grab a log, when he noticed a light coming from the forest nearby. Confused, Aevum stared at it for a moment. It seemed to be shining a bright green colour. Aevum let his curiosity get the best of him and began walking towards it.

When he got to the edge of the forest, he stopped, remembering how dangerous the rumors always said it was in there. Staring after the light, Aevum felt compelled to enter the forest and continue following it. The light was almost holding him in a trance. He couldn’t take his eyes off it.

Aevum continued to follow the light into the forest. After some time of walking, he realized it wasn’t as dangerous as everypony had said. He walked through in peace following the light, without getting hurt or finding any troubles.

Finally he caught up to the light. It was behind some thick vines, coming from a flat, smooth stone. Aevum pushed all the vines to the side, and found an indent in the stone, where a bright green emerald was jammed into the stone.

Huh... What’s this all about? Aevum thought to himself. Who would put a random stone and a valuable emerald way out here in a forest? Aevum decided to ignore that thought, and focused his magic on the emerald.

He tried to pull it out using his magic, but it was stuck so tight it wouldn’t come out. So, Aevum put his hooves on it to see if it was just a magic seal, and test to see if it was loose at all.

It wouldn’t move, but suddenly the stone shook and fell backwards on the ground, with the emerald facing up. The stone suddenly swung up on its side like a door, and revealed an opening that wasn’t there before with stairs in it.

Intrigued, Aevum walked down the stairs. It lead to a large cave, filled with carvings on the walls.

The cave was old and wet, and had a dark green tint to it. Aevum could hear the faint sound of dripping water somewhere in the cave. The cave was illuminated by light on the walls, that seemed to be coming from the carvings. The carvings were glowing a bright green colour.

Aevum follow the cave for a while, it seemed to go on forever. Some of the runes however, seemed to be familiar, like a story he had seen or heard before.

After a while, one he noticed seemed to be of the royals, the king and queen of Equestria and their young children. They were living happily together. The rune was glowing bright green.

Only a short time after, there was a rune of the stone Aevum had seen just a moment ago with the emerald in it. Now he was starting to get a little creeped out by this.

Just two more runes down, there was a really strange one. It look almost like a tear, a rip, like a hole that had been forced into something. The next rune showed something coming out of the rip. It looked like a pony, but it was too small to tell.

The next rune, however showed that pony in much more detail. It had a cape, and batlike wings where you would normally expect pegasus wings. However it also had a horn, like a unicorn.

The rune showed this pony with what looked like magic flowing around it. The magic was shooting out like flames in all directions from the pony.

Finally, the next rune he saw showed what looked like buildings burning, and destruction.

These strange runes he had found, were a much dimmer green colour and didn’t shine as brightly.

Aevum’s eyes widen as he put the pieces together and realized what all this meant. The older runes, which were brighter, were events that had already happened. However these dimmer ones were still going to happen. And soon.

Aevum completely forgot about reading the other runes and began to run towards the cave entrance where he had first come in.

Something was terribly wrong. Those runes were far too accurate to what had actually happened to be false. Those dim runes were going to happen, and what ever was going to happen, was bad. He had to tell somepony about this. Somepony who would trust and listen to him. He decided his father was his best bet.

The stairs of the cave came in sight, and Aevum ran up them and came out to the top, only to find himself face to face with cockatrice.