Ash fell from the sky.
It was dusk. The newly-forming mists swirled as a figure walked through the plantation of Lord Tresting. It was a pony wearing a cloak of tassels, a cloth mask covering his muzzle and neck, and a prosthetic horn that he wore somewhat like a party hat. He avoided stepping on the pathetic brown plants on the plantation; they were barely surviving as is, even with all the blood, sweat, and tears the plantation skaa put into them, no need to make it worse.
The pony walked up to one of the hovels where the skaa of the plantation lived. He knew they'd be there; they were too afraid of the mists to go out at night. He felt bad for them. They were nothing short of slaves to the nobles, and he intended to change that. He opened the door, entered, and closed the door behind him. Every head inside turned toward him. There were about thirty ponies inside and a lit fire pit under a cauldron full of water with some vegetables in it. Soup. Edible, but not tasty by any means.
"Evening, everypony," he said to the assembled skaa. "How was your day?"
Mares who had been preparing dinner before he had barged in went back to doing so, but a group of stallions were glaring at the newcomer. "We work all day, every day," one of them deadpanned, "and are beaten when our master decides we aren't doing so hard enough. How do you think it was?"
"Yikes. It was just a question." The visible half of his face indicated that he was offended.
"Why are you here?" another one asked.
"I'm here to help."
"What makes you think we need help?" the first stallion inquired.
"The very things you mentioned earlier, my friend."
"Who are you to think you can help us?"
Even though his mouth was covered, it was clear that he was smiling. "You can call me Entropy," he said with a bow.
Half the ponies in the room gasped. The name Entropy was known to many, although few believed he actually existed.
"Get out," the stallion commanded sternly.
Entropy was surprised. "What?"
"You aren't welcome here. We've heard about what follows you wherever you go."
"Alrighty then. If you don't want my help, I'll just be going." He opened the door wide. Mist poured in, drifting past Entropy, but seeming to pull away from him. It creeped across the floor like a hesitant animal. Some of the skaa gasped, but most were too scared to make a sound. They all went to the opposite end of the hovel.
"Close the door." The stallion sounded scared. "Please."
Entropy complied. "You fear the mist like death itself. But there is nothing to be afraid of."
"Ponies who go out in the mists lose their souls," a grayish-pink mare with flat hair said in a half-whisper.
Entropy chuckled a bit. "You all believe that, but what have you seen to support it, hmm?" There was no response. "Well, if I can't open the door with the mist outside, I guess I'm stuck here until morning." He went over to the cauldron of soup.
"We barely have enough food as is. If you think we are going to give any to you-"
"That won't be necessary. I brought my own." He put his pack on the ground and opened it. It was filled with fine bread and fruit.
"That's noblepony's food!" the stallion exclaimed.
"Barely. Tresting has poor taste for a stallion of his prestige and rank. His pantry was an embarrassment to all the nobility."
"You stole food from Lord Tresting?"
"Yes." Entropy grabbed a loaf of bread, pulled his mask down, and took a bite. "And might I say, as bad as his taste in food is, his soldiers more than make up for it. It was surprisingly hard to get all this during the day, even if it was fairly late."
"If the taskmasters find this here..."
"Well, I'd suggest y'all make it disappear, then." He pulled his mask back up. "Even if it is an embarrassment to noble food, it's probably still immensely better than this." He gestured to the cauldron.
The ponies in the room looked at the bag with hungry eyes. If the stallion had any arguments to make, he didn't make them quickly enough, and his silence was taken as agreement. Within minutes, the bag's contents were distributed among the skaa, and the cauldron was forgotten.
The grayish-pink mare, now more pink than gray, walked over to Entropy. "Sir," she said with her mouth stuffed with bread. "I think you just earned your stay."
"Thank you, miss. What's your name?"
"Pinkie."
"Pinkie," he repeated. "Sounds nice. Accurate too."
"Thanks." She swallowed. "You know, ever since I heard about you, I've dreamed about leaving the plantation and traveling the Empire with you."
"Really?"
"Yeah. Most of us did. Then again, most of us grow out of it when reality hits us. I never did though."
"Hmm..." He thought for a few seconds. "How would you like to come with me?"
"What? Really?"
"I've never met anypony who actually wanted to come with me. Even when I meet somepony who doesn't try to send me on my way immediately, they usually think it would be safer to stay where they are. If you want to come with me, I don't want to deny you that."
"I'd love to."
"Well then, I have to go do something real fast, but I'll be right back to get you."
"Okay."
Entropy left the hovel, not leaving the door open longer than he had to.
"He's not coming back," Pinkie heard a monotone voice say.
Pinkie turned to the grey mare who had spoken. "Maud, if he says he'll come back, he'll come back."
"Why would he? He has no reason to come back for some random mare."
"He'll come back. I just know it."
He didn't come back for a while. Eventually, Pinkie gave up hope and just tried to get to sleep. After everypony else was asleep, she heard a knock at the door. She went to the door and cracked it open. There was a stallion standing there in a cloak of tassels and a mask. "Entropy?" she asked, opening the door further and letting the mist flow in.
"I said I'd come back, didn't I?"
"You were gone for a while, and I got scared you wouldn't."
"I'm a stallion of my word. Now come quick. We have to get to Luthadel before sunrise." He walked off.
She didn't see how that would be possible, but she followed him. She saw an orange glow through the mist. "Entropy? What's that?"
"Tresting manor, probably."
"What!?"
"We have to get to Luthadel." He took out a pair of horseshoes. "Grab around my neck and hold on as tight as you can."
She stared in the direction of the manor, but complied. He threw one of the horseshoes behind him. Suddenly, they lurched up and forward. She screamed. They arched into the air, and when they started to fall, he threw another horseshoe forward. They lurched again as the first horseshoe hurled into the air over them. It landed in front of them before they lurched a third time and the other horseshoe did the same as the first one. A few minutes in, Entropy grabbed her hooves to help her keep hold.
Much later, they lurched directly upward and they stopped moving forward. Pinkie slowly opened her eyes, but closed them again when she realized that she couldn't see the ground.
"You okay there, Pinkie?"
"So high."
"It's okay. Everything's under control."
"Where's the ground?"
"It might be better if I don't answer that. I'll get us down." They started to descend slowly. Eventually, Entropy's hooves touched the ground. "Alright. We're down."
Pinkie opened her eyes and looked around. Thankfully, the ground was there. She let go of Entropy and put her hooves back on the ground. She fell over.
He helped her up. "You okay? It is a bit jarring the first time."
"I... think I'm gonna be sick."
"Yeah, that's how I felt the first time, too. You get used to it."
"Where are we?"
"We're just outside Luthadel."
"How'd we get here so fast?"
"Do you want the short version or the long version?"
Pinkie didn't think she could get through the long version without getting sick. "Short."
"I'm an Allomancer."
"A what?"
"It means I can ingest certain metals and gain power from them."
"Oh. Sounds cool." She said this halfheartedly.
Entropy looked over her shoulder. "Wow."
"What?" She looked where Entropy was looking, but she couldn't see anything but mist.
"There's a mistwraith over there."
Pinkie's eyes widened. "A m-m-m-mistwraith?" she asked nervously.
"They're not as scary as you think. Really, they're just scavengers. Even if they do look... bizarre."
"Can we just get into the city?"
"That'll require a few more jumps."
"Okay." Pinkie grabbed around Entropy's neck again. Both horseshoes flew into his hooves and he set them in front of them.
"I probably should have said this earlier, but brace yourself. Ready?"
She gulped and shut her eyes. "Ready." They lurched into the air and landed on Luthadel's wall. Entropy caught the horseshoes as they flew up after them. He led her to the inside edge of the wall. He put one of the horseshoes behind him and threw the other into the city. They lurched several times as they flew over the city, but they stopped within a few minutes. Pinkie opened her eyes, but it was too dark for her to see anything.
"We've landed," Entropy whispered. "You can let go now." Pinkie kept her hooves where they were. He shrugged. "Or not. Just follow me."
"Okay." Entropy led her to what she guessed was a door, opened it, and brought her through. He lit a lamp, allowing Pinkie to see. They seemed to be in a walk-in closet. There were and several near-identical sets of shirts and pants, a few suits, and a bed. For some reason, there was a large sword hanging on the wall across from the bed. Pinkie looked around in awe.
"You can sleep there tonight," Entropy motioned toward the bed. "And I have a spare set of nightclothes you can change into if you want. Please don't touch the sword; it's heavy and I don't want you to get hurt." He took off his mask and cloak, hung them on a set of hooks, and grabbed a set of pajamas. "Good night, Pinkie."
"Good night, Entropy."
He closed the door.
When Maud woke up the next day, something felt... off. The night before had been strange, to say the absolute least, and it seemed that this day would maintain that. She checked the bed next to her, if you could call it a bed, to see if Pinkie was sleeping there as she usually does. She was not. 'Did that maniac actually come back for her?' she wondered. 'No. He couldn't have. She probably just got up early. It's not like she hasn't before.'
She and the other skaa in the hovel got out of their 'beds' and headed outside almost one by one. She was one of the last ones out. She looked at one of the others, an elderly stallion named Mennis, on her way out. He got up later and later each day, but this was still a bit beyond the norm for him. 'Have we finally seen the day? Has he given up? Will he just stay until the taskmasters come?' She didn't want it to happen, but she wouldn't be surprised. They all knew it would happen one day, but it would seem that day was not this day. He did get up. She walked over to him and let him lean on her for support.
"Thank you, Maud," he said to her.
"You're welcome." She had the faintest of smiles on her face.
As they left the hovel, a strange expression crossed Mennis' face. "What's that?" he asked. "Maud, do you smell smoke?"
"The Ashmounts have been extremely active this year. It's smelled like smoke for-" She caught it. "That can't be right..." The two of them noticed that the others were gathering a bit to the north, at the edge of the short hilltop plateau They went to see what had their attention. The group made way for them, and what they saw shocked them. Where Tresting manor had stood the night before, there was only a smouldering, blackened scar.
"By the Lord Ruler!" Mennis whispered. "What happened here?"
"This must be what he did last night..." Maud whispered back, all monotone gone from her voice and replaced with sheer terror. If Mennis had been looking he would have seen an expression matching the voice. "Entropy left in the middle of the night to do something, and with what the stories say, this would be foal's play for him."
"What sort of beast was that stallion?"
"We need to leave." She was raising her voice so that the whole group could hear. "We can't stay here."
"Where do you suppose we go?" one of the stallions asked harshly.
"Some of the recent travelers have said there are rebel skaa hiding in the caves to the east." She pointed in that direction. "With any luck, they'll take us in."
"But we'll have to travel for multiple days and spend nights out in the mists. The mists."
Maud remembered what the stallion called Entropy said the night before. 'You fear the mist like death itself. But there is nothing to be afraid of.' "I don't think that the mists will be a problem. If that stallion can go out in them, we probably can too. Either way, if we go we might die, but if we don't, we will die. I'm going, and anypony who wants to join can feel free to."
"I know I'm going," Mennis declared. Several of the others made noises of agreement.
"Then let's not waste time. We're going now." She looked around the crowd to see who all was coming. Her parents, Limestone, Marble, others... No Pinkie... 'I hope he did come for her. It's better than the alternative.'
Author's Note
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ALERT: SUBJECT "DBolders Fimfics" LEAVING STASIS
I'm back~~, and better than ever~~. I wasn't gone that long, was I? *sees I haven't updated a story since May* Buck... I am so sorry about that.
I'll be working on the next chapter of SWTEV, but I was closer to done on this, so I'm giving y'all something new. As the description says, this story takes place on Scadrial, which is the planet that Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn books take place on, but the events of the books haven't happened. This will be quite distinct from the story the books tell, but it will hit certain major plot points that I will not list here. This story will, likely soon, be gaining the "gore" and "dark" tags, as it is a Mistborn-based story, which is fairly dark, containing a lot of death, not to mention [spoilers for the Mistborn Original Trilogy; you have been warned]:Hemalurgy, which is basically blood magic.
On a less dark note, Scadrian ponies wear clothes. That is all.
