Time, Monsters, and Steam

A week passed with the group caring for the mentally scarred Eric. He had been moved to one of the many rooms Will had found the previous week, but had not moved from the bed to do much else save to use the bathroom. He talked little, and ate little.

Noah and Mez’s children had been allowed, after ensuring the safety, to explore the grove that filled the alcove on the side of the mountain they lived on. They were not allowed to go any further, lest they be discovered by ponies or other races. Yet, most of them preferred to stay in the house to comfort their Uncle, whom they had grown close to, despite it having been only a week. The same could be said for their other Uncle, Will, whom Ditrus and Tacitus had grown particularly close to. Grel was more concerned with Eric, however. When asked, she told them she preferred to help others through their struggles, and saw that Eric was going through a bigger struggle than the rest of the family.

Then, there was the reality of being in Equestria, of which Will had told them about.

Ponies were a somewhat new concept to the group. Sure, most of them knew of Ponies from MLP, but none of them had lived in that world, much less expected to be dropped into it. Well, at least, some of them. Noah had told them all that he made a deal with The Father, a being who had existed since time immemorial, to place them in an Equestria to test them for ascension.

That had taken a bit of getting used to.

Right now, though, Noah was heading to Eric’s room to check on him, as it was time for lunch. Noah approached the door, knocking on it.

“Bro? I’m coming in,” he said through the door. He heard no response, which was typical of Eric now that he didn’t speak much. Noah sighed, opening the door with one hand whilst the other carried a tray of pancakes and eggs, with just some simple water. The eggs were from a chicken that Will had found in the lab, apparently it was next in line to be a test subject, but he quickly changed that.

Nonetheless, Noah walked in to find Eric on the bed, just staring at the ceiling. Noah placed the tray on the end table near the bed.

“Here’s lunch, little bro,” Noah told him. Eric was startled, as if he just heard Noah. He jumped a little before slowly calming and sitting up, nodding a little to his big bro and pulling the food over to nibble at it. Noah watched him do this for a little bit, before sighing and moving to leave. “I’ll be just across the hall if you need me, bro. Remember that.” He then started to walk back out the door.

“O-okay,” Eric said lowly as his big brother left. Noah sighed as he closed the door behind him, finding his wife just outside it.

“How is he?” she asked. Noah just shook his head. Mez sighed.

“It’s been a week, babe. He just needs more time,” Noah told her.

Eric, in his room, could hear the conversation from his bed. He only squirmed a little uncomfortably before going back to eating the food on his plate. As he ate, he felt a… pulsing, in him.

He could tell it was the SOULs he’d absorbed, and they seemed to be egging him in some direction. Setting his half eaten food to the side, he numbly got up and headed the way the SOULs pointed, using his ghost SOUL to go invisible and intangible as he did so.

Surprisingly everyone had gone about their business, but due to his paranoia Eric kept his invisibility up as he silently hovered through the halls. Eventually, he got back down to the Vault room.

As he stood in the middle of the floor-vault, something strange happened. The six SOULs in him orbited him, shooting white magic at six points in the cog shaped vault. As this happened, the vault started to shift. It started to creak and groan, and then, it began to slowly descend. Eric stood on the lift patiently as it lowered him into the depths of the mountain, and, in time, he arrived in a large, open room, the only thing barring his entrance to it being a gate.

It quickly opened, and he walked inside the room to find a massive display stand with what looked to be a dragon skeleton set up on it. It was positively massive, and Eric gawked at it for a good while until she shook his head and looked around. He floated above the note and research papers littering the ground, as well as some broken beakers and other lab equipment, and managed to reach a tube not unlike the ones that held the other SOULs he’d received. It was white and upside down like the others, but it had a faint blue glow to it.

Eric could tell that this SOUL was stronger than the others, 70% percent of a human's to his six collective 30. Reaching out to the capsuled SOUL, it flew out to him eagerly. It floated in front of him for a moment before flying around him a few times and then floating in front of Eric again.

Reaching out, Eric cupped the seventh monster SOUL as the other six re-joined him, bringing it to his chest. The SOUL entered his body and a pulse went throughout his form. After a few minutes of… nothing happening, Eric sighed and turned to see Will standing there with a cup of coffee in his hand. The two stared at each other before Will took a sip and showed him the other cup.

“It’s tea,” he said. Eric squirmed a little, making himself smaller. “What? Not into Tea?”

Eric reached out and took the tea, not having realised the other male was offering it to him at first and timidly sipping from it. The two stood there in silence for a bit, not saying a word until a few minutes passed and Will spoke, “So… that’s new.”

The younger of the two tilted his head a little in confusion. Will nodded to what just happened.

“Seven souls, that’s uhh, something,” he said as he took some more of his coffee. The two went silent for a bit after that. “You want me to keep this as a secret?”

Eric shrugged a little. It wouldn’t matter, really. “E-everyone would… find out eventually,” Eric mumbled into his cup. Will simply nodded.

“Let’s not say anything unless someone asks about it,” he said with a shrug. “It’ll be funny.”

Eric had no objections to this and squirmed a little. He decided he should probably go back and finish his food, so he started heading that way. Will simply stood there with his coffee, alone, in the lab.

“Good talk, good talk,” he said before heading back upstairs to do something.

Eric was walking along the tunnels, until he came back upon the main room to see Miel sitting by the hearth with a content smile on her face. He tried to get by silently and head to his room. But she noticed him, and gasped before rushing over.

“Uncle Eric! Are you okay? Mommy and Daddy were worried sick when they saw you weren’t in your room! Where were you?” Miel rambled worriedly.

“I-i’m fine,” He said after a couple seconds. “Just… went for a walk, to get something, I’m going to my room now… i-is my breakfast still there?” Miel nodded.

“Yes. I’ll come with you!” Miel proclaimed, a cute determined look on her face. Eric decided to not bother fighting it and nodded, resuming his walk back to his room. Miel followed him, holding onto his pant leg as they walked up the stairs and down the hall to his room. When they got there, they saw Grel standing at the door looking worried.

Eric silently walked up and lightly tapped her shoulder. She jumped a little, before looking behind herself and seeing him.

“Uncle Eric! Where were you? We were worried! I didn’t even get to tell you my awesome story today!” Grel cried.

“Sorry, h-how about that s-story now, while I finish eating?” Eric suggested as he gestured to his room. Grel poked him in the leg.

“Alright, but listen here, buster, no more running away!” she told him, making an adorable little frown.

He gave a little smile, the first in the week. “A-alright, I w-won’t try to,” He assured her as he pat her head a little.

“I’ll hold you to that,” she said as they all walked into his room, Miel jumping up onto the bed with him while Grel sat on a small chair as Eric got on the bed and continued eating his food.

As Grel told her Uncle her story, he found himself slowly feeling more at ease. It was a slow afternoon, but one that Eric found he wouldn’t trade for the world.

“Bro, I don’t think we’re supposed to be out this far,” Kraek said to his brother, Feiray, as they walked through heavy foliage down a very old and overgrown path leading down the mountain.

“Yeah, but think of the journey we’re having, dude! And imagine the stories we can tell everyone after this!” Feiray shot back, excitement in his voice.

“We were supposed to just be sparring out in the grove, how did it get to this?” Kraek muttered to himself.

“Oh quit your whining and just enjoy it, man!” Feiray told him. Kraek sighed and went silent as they walked through the brush, passing through bushes and shrubs with ease.

The only thing that really impeded their progress was thistles, but Kraek made short work of them with his short sword, which was made for his size. He had found out years ago he could summon any weapon he wanted, and his parents saw no need to keep him from doing it as long as he learned how to use them safely.

The two continued on until they heard voices. They looked at each other before getting a bit closer to see ahead of them. They saw two caravans there with what looked like merchant ponies behind two guards, one wielding a sword and shield and the other a great sword. Around them was a group of creatures, some were small amphibian-like creatures, others were green and brown skinned with large heads, red beady eyes and sharp claw-like hands and feet.

They held short swords or daggers and wore what the two boys recognized as leather armor. What was scarier were the two large hairy creatures with them. They wore little leather and metal armor and carried large spiked mauls in their hands. Yellow eyes looked down at the ponies.

“Looky looky! Yummy ponies to pick and eat!” one of the green creatures said in a high pitched voice.

“Yes yes! Wings are tasty!” another said, looking at a pegasus and licking it’s sharp, needle like teeth.

“St-Stay back! We need to deliver these supplies to H-Hollow Shades, and we’re n-n-not letting some thugs stop us!” one of the ponies stuttered, trying to be brave. One of the bigger beasts growled at the ponies.

“Supplies!” one of the yelled. “We take supplies, and eat you! Aahahahaha!” The pony merchants tried to make themselves seem smaller as their escort tensed for battle. The amphibian-like creatures moved around and started to poke the ponies with some spears… or really sharp wooden sticks, making the ponies back up into the caravan. “We will eat like kings tonight!”

“Or queens,” one of the other creatures said. The first one looked at the second one.

“What?!” the green thing yelled.

“There’s king, and queens you slurg,” the brown second one answered.

“Since when?!”

“Uhhhh, yesterday!” the brown one answered.

“No one told me!” the green one retorted.

“Grrr, what about Hobs?” one of the big ones asked, it’s voice was low and growling.

“Oh, yeah, leave one or two of the ponies as slaves and a bit of supplies, we will eat the rest!” the green one yelled. The others cheered as they slowly advanced closer to the ponies.

“Bro…” Kraek began. Feiray nodded.

“Yeah. Let’s go help them,” he said, knowing what his brother was getting at. The two young boys jumped out of the bushes, Kraek summoning a pair of caesti to his hands while Feiray tensed for a long battle. “Hey! Uglies!” the hooded boy cried.

“AHHHH! What you!” one of them yelled.

“Gnomies! They’re Gnomies!” Another yelled.

“Here!? Why are Gnomies here!?”

“Who cares! More eat!” the green one yelled. The two bigger ones growled down at the kids, towering over them. The two boys grinned, and went to town.

Kraek jumped up, launching his leather wrapped and iron studded fist into the chin of one creature, which fit the description of a goblin, then grabbed hold of it’s neck, swung around it to land on it’s back, then punched it straight in the back of the head, knocking it out.

Feiray launched himself towards the other goblin, kicking it hard in the chest with both feet, knocking it to the ground, before walking over to it’s head and stomping on it, knocking it out as well. The pony guards saw this before looking at each other. They nodded and joined into the fray, one bashing an amphibian-like creature with his shield while the other brought his sword down on another.

Kraek looked around to see one of the bigger creatures about to bring down it’s maul on him. He rolled out of the way, making the creature hit it’s allie, killing it. The creature growled and went after Kraek. As it made to slam it’s maul into him, he parried the blow, then jumped a little and punched the creature straight in the groin. The creatures yelled in pain from the blow, falling over. Kraek turned to see the one pony with the great sword come over and chop the creature's head off. The body slumped over as the other creatures looked around.

“Ahh! They got one of the Bugbears! Run away!” one of them yelled as the rest started to run into the forest. The other Bugbear growled at Kraek before running into the forest as well. Kraek looked down at the few corpses the ponies had left behind, then to the ones he and his brother had knocked.

He couldn’t help but feel pride in his actions, and, to the surprise of the ponies, he didn’t get queasy at the sight of the copious amounts of blood. Feiray… Well, he fared less well than his brother, spewing chunks into the side of the pass they were in.

“Oh jeez…” he said before throwing up again. One of the guards walked over and patted his back.

“You okay kid?” he asked. He shook his head, shaking a bit.

“First real fight… Only four years old… Not fun,” Feiray said through heavy breaths.

“You’re only four years old?” the guard asked, eyes widening in surprise.

“Me and him both,” Kraek told him. The other guard shared a look with his comrade, before turning back to Kraek.

“How did you do all that, then?” the other guard asked.

“Because he’s my kid,” came a familiar voice. Kraek and Feiray perked up and turned to the direction the voice came from to find their family coming through the brush, Mez holding the other bugbear's head before tossing it away as Noah wiped some blood off his face.

“Oh, uh, hi Dad, Mom,” Kraek said nervously.

“Son, what have we told you all about leaving the grove?” Noah said in an even tone.

“N-Not to do it?” Kraek stuttered.

“And what did you do?” Mez continued.

“L-Left the grove…” Kraek replied.

“Go easy on him, Pops, it wasn’t his idea,” Feiray spoke up, drawing their attention.

“Doesn’t matter. You’re both grounded,” Noah said curtly. The two boys slumped over, but nodded.

“Yes, Dad…” they said sadly.

“Umm, excuse me?” began one of the ponies. They turned to see an Earth pony mare walking towards them. “If it wasn’t for them, we would be dead.”

“Saved by some four year olds,” another pony said. “Gnomes I understand but kids?”

“Anyway, we want to thank them for saving our lives,” the mare continued.

“Oh, well, you’re more than welcome, Miss!” Kraek said with a grin. Noah looked to the mare.

“So my two boys saved your lives, then?” he asked. At her nod, he looked to his sons. He gazed at them for a short moment before turning back to her. “Well, I suppose the trip wasn’t all bad, then. But, we must leave now. Take care.” Noah turned to leave, the others doing the same.

“Hold on,” one of the guards called out. “You all… live around here?” Noah stopped and mentally thought, ‘Shit.’ He sighed, turning back to them.

“Yes. We live nearby. Just… Be more careful, coming this way. Two guards obviously isn’t enough anymore if there are that many bandits around here,” Noah told them.

“Yeah. I’d rather not have to clean up bodies on me and my husband’s foraging expeditions,” Mez added. Both guards frowned at the two of them before the merchant mare spoke up.

“We’ll keep that in mind, thank you,” she said with a smile. Noah simply nodded and the rest turned to leave, save for Will. He looked down at the dead bodies on the ground.

“Hmmm,” he hummed before continuing on. Soon the group got back to the cabin in the grove, to which Will sat down on the couch. The others went off while Noah kept Kraek and Feiray in the living room. “You know, you could’ve been a bit nicer to them,” he said to Noah.

Noah sighed. “Yeah, I know. But seriously, who goes through the MLP equivalent of the old Mongolian mountains with just a measly two guards? At least arm yourselves if you can only afford two.”

“I don’t know man, maybe they had more guards but they got lost or died,” Will countered, crossing his arms. He paused for a few moments in thought before shaking his head. “Look, we’re not from here, and it’s best we didn’t go off and be rude to the first beings we find.”

Noah sighed again. “I guess you’re right,” he conceded. He looked to his sons. “Anyways, now comes the matter of you two sneaking off.”

The two of them looked at their father before looking at Will with pleading eyes. Will simply stared back, “Don’t look at me, I’m not going to bail you two out, hell it’s better if it’s your father doing this, not I.”

“I’m disappointed in you two. You should know better. We’ve told you before that this world could hold dangers we don’t even know about, and you ignored them all. You could’ve been killed!” Noah said firmly. The two boys hung their heads. Noah sighed, getting down on one knee to meet them eye to eye. He lifted their heads up. “I’ll tell you two a good life lesson I learned early on. It’s better to own up to your mistakes with your heads held high than it is to let them bring your heads down. Be ashamed, yes, but move on. Learn from them.” He placed his hands on each of their heads. “Got it?” The two boys nodded slowly.

“Yes, Dad,” they said, sounding a little less sad now.

“Good. Now, head upstairs and get your siblings. It’s time for dinner,” Noah told them, standing up. The boys nodded again, rushing up the stairs. Noah turned to Will. “Mind helping with dinner? There’s still some finishing touches we need to make.”

“Sure,” Will said before looking at Mez. “And please don’t poke me with your tail again, creeps me out.”

Mez giggled a little, but nodded, retracting her tail. Noah wrapped an arm around her, kissing her cheek. “Mind setting up the table, hun?” He asked. She nodded.

“Sure thing, Nono,” she replied, nuzzling him a little before going to the kitchen with them. Once there, the three went about setting up dinner. It took some time but soon everyone was down at the table eating dinner.

Little did they know that with their actions that day, they had sent small ripples through the metaphorical waters that was Equestria.

Reports had been coming in for weeks now of happenings in the mountain pass to Hollow Shades. The first was from a merchant caravan that had encountered a group of bandits, only to be saved by a group of unusual beings that nopony had ever heard of. The two of them whom had actually saved the carriage were reported to be three years old, which made quite a few ponies skeptical. Many said that the saviours must have actually been gnomes, but it was still up for debate with how the two saviours acted.

Then, there were a dozen reports from local fisherman from Hollow Shades hearing yells and seeing lights from the mountains they usually went to to find good fishing spots.

And then there was the fact that local bandit attacks had gone down exponentially, as if somepony were getting rid of them.

There had been investigations from the local guard, of course, but they had strangely found nothing. So, Princess Celestia had one of her trusted agents, Daring Do, go to find out what was happening. The mare had even insisted on going, as she had heard old, old tales of a secret underground facility made by Amber Nights and her apprentices in the years before the Princesses.

She was a little wary of going to the location after hearing the reports. Certainly, she wanted to investigate one of the last vestiges of structures made by the famed teacher of Starswirl the Bearded, but she also knew of the tales of the Wars of Dominance, which Amber Nights had been apart of while Starswirl was busy mentoring the Princesses.

The tales told that long ago, the many, many races fought for dominance over the land of Equestria. And one of the most powerful and mysterious was a diverse race called simply, Monsters, for their immense magical powers. There were, of course, many other races who could deal with them, but a few of the Monsters were just beyond compare.

Daring had heard that Amber Nights was a researcher of Monsters, and worried that she might have trapped some of them in the very facility she was going to investigate. She did not fancy her chances of living if she did happen upon one.

Still, it was her mission, and because of this she was currently marching through the high slopes of the forested mountain that she was sure would house the facility. She walked on for hours, working up a good sweat from the rugged terrain as well as having to chop a few branches to get through some parts.

And then something wrapped around her leg, and the next thing she knew, she was upside down, hanging from a branch by a rope. She yelped as this happened, and when the trap had her, she tried to get out, but the sound of the bushes rustling stopped her.

Out of the brush came a large group of individuals, all of a race Daring had not seen before. They were similar to elves, but without the pointy ears. They were both children, but one had a very strange metal bow with many joints, a comical arrow with a boxing glove at the end pulled back and ready to fire. The other child had a book, which was tucked under his arm. Daring blinked.

“Umm… Hi?”