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                 Time, Monsters, and Steam                 
                 -by Timeless Lord Slayer-                 
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               Chapter 1: A Harsh Beginning                
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Chapter 1: A Harsh Beginning
Fifteen beings awoke to the sounds of nature all around them. Spruce trees surrounded them, and beyond them lie uneven stone walls, like that of a cave, and yet, sunlight poured in from above, as if they were still within it’s reach. It was like an alcove and grove mixed into one, although it was certainly quite large for an alcove, and at the same time, small for a grove.
Birds chirped and flittered to and fro, insects chittered and chattered, and all seemed peaceful. Up until the four beings were awake, that is. The first two woke with a start, the man looking around in shock, whilst the woman did much the same. The man was wearing a gray coat with a picture of Great Gray Wolf Sif on it’s back, along with a light tan shirt that said, ‘She says I don’t listen or something like that.’ He wore dark blue denim jeans and black and blue hiking boots. He was quite pale, and he had mid-length chestnut brown hair and a pair of black Puma brand glasses.
The woman wore a black shirt with white pictures of crossed arrows, words above and below them sayin, ‘Anor Londo Archery Club’. She wore black denim jeans and purple tennis shoes. Her hair was raven black, and reach down to her derriere. She had crimson eyes and snow white skin.
Their eyes locked on one another.
“Bouncy?” the man asked, seeming a little surprised.
“Nono!” cried the woman, tackling him in a hug.
“Good to see you too. But what are you doing here, Mezzy? I thought you were off doing something,” ‘Nono’ said. As he said that, one of the other men groaned as he sat up, holding his head.
“Ugh… what hit me?” he groaned as he rubbed said head. He looked around until he saw the two talking. Well, more like the woman rambling off on him.
“I’msorryfornotcomingtoseeyoubeforeit’sreallyhardtodothatatthetimeanditwashardtofindtheplaceImissedsomuchofyourlifelikethehalloweenandChristmasesandEasterpleasedon’tbemadatme-” she got stopped when ‘Nono’ covered her mouth. The other man noticed that she had a demonic tail and small wings as well. ‘Nono’ smiled and gave her a kiss on the lips.
“It’s fine, babe. It was only one year,” he said. He looked around. “As a side note, the kids are with us, so that’s good.” He then noticed the other two men. “Holy shit… Eric? Will?”
“I’ll tell you after this headache,” One of the men replied, holding his head and groaning a little. The other man shook his and looked at the other two. He had black hair and almost ghost-white pale skin, hazel orbs for eyes. He was wearing some black cargo pants, nike shoes, a hoodie that was mainly yellow and had patterns of black spiders and webbing, with scattered bits of white and pink. Under the jacket was a grey shirt.
“Oh… hey Noah, nice to see you- Oh my gods you’re real!” Will said, pointing at the demon woman, who took offence to that.
“Of course I’m real, you thought I wasn't?” she asked, frowning.
“Do I have to answer that?” Will asked. Will stood up to his full six foot four size as he wore a grey shirt with the image of bears on it and some black pants. He had tanned white skin with cuts and burns all over his hands, presumably from stoves or chemicals. He had short brown hair with a reddish brown trimmed beard. He also had a pair of greenish gray glasses over his gray-blue eyes. He looked over and helped the other man, likely Eric, up.
“Yeah, thanks,” Eric said as he stood, stretching a bit. The two looked over at the other two and then around them.
“Well… this is something,” Will said as he sees all the children. Noah chuckled, wrapping an arm around Mezzy.
“Yeah. You guys do remember the time you came to our house, right? About three years ago?” Noah queried. At their nods, he gestured to the kids around them. “These beautiful little ones are the kids who were in my wife’s belly.”
“Dang…” was all Will could say.
“How’d they fit?” Eric questioned. Will looked at him as the two stared at Mezzy, tilting their heads.
“Don’t ask, even I don’t know,” Mezzy said with a shrug.
“I figured it was just magic or something,” Noah added. Then, all the kids started to stir.
“Mmmh… Daddy?” came the small voice of a girl with pink hair. She looked like she was no older than three, and had pink, sparkling hair and sky blue eyes.
“Ditty!” Mezzy cried, rushing over and squeezing her child to her chest. “Oh, I missed you, lovebug!” Ditrus flailed a little, before managing to free her head from her mother’s suffocating breasts.
“Mommy? I thought Daddy said you’d be gone for a while… It’s been a whole year,” Dittty said. More of the children started to stir and wake up, and they all saw their mother and rushed over, tackling her in a hug. Mezzy laughed as she hugged all her children, smiling broadly.
“Where were you, Ma? We thought you were gone forever!” a tanned girl with auburn hair and emerald green eyes asked.
“Sorry, Grel, Mommy was out doing important work,” Mezzy said apologetically.
“Father said much the same, but we never expected it to take a whole year,” a young boy with silver hair, gold eyes with glasses and pale skin said.
“I know, Tacitus, I know. Mommy’s sorry,” Mez replied.
“I couldn’t even reach you in your dreams!” cried another boy with short light blue hair and sea green eyes.
“Well, I’m here now, Odra, my little dreamer,” Mezzy said warmly, ruffling his hair.
“Were you on a journey? Can you tell us how it went?” a boy with black hair and blue eyes asked, a farmer’s tan on his arms.
“Of course, Feiray,” Mez said as she nuzzled him lightly.
“I’m just glad you’re back, Ma,” said a boy with curly red hair and blue eyes, hugging his mother tightly. “Now I can show you all my new inventions!” he cheered with a grin. Mez laughed.
“I can wait to see them, Boriole,” she told him with a smile.
“I really missed, you Mama,” a girl with windswept white with blue streaks said, tears falling down her face from her sky blue eyes. She had tanned skin. Mez smiled lovingly at her, kissing her forehead.
“I missed you too, Vitre,” she softly.
“Did you get in any fights? Can you tell me what they were like?” another boy asked excitedly, his pure red hair and eyes making him stand out even among the other children. Mez laughed, ruffling his hair.
“Sure, Kraek,” she said warmly.
“Mommy! Mommy mommy mommy!” cried a girl with deep brown hair that covered one of her chocolate brown eyes as she buried her face into her mother. She was crying hard. Mez smiled sadly at her and hugged her to herself.
“It’s okay, Miel. It’s okay. Mommy’s here now,” Mez soothed.
“So where did you go, Mommy?” a girl with tanned skin queried, blue hair tied into pigtails with light green streaks.
“I’ll tell you later, okay?” Mez promised. The young girl nodded, knowing to leave it at that.
“Did you get any old coins or cool statuettes?” a boy with golden hair and emerald eyes asked, looking up at his mother expectantly.
“No, sorry Zounic. Maybe next time we can go looking for some together,” Mez told him. He grinned.
“Awesome!” he cheered. Noah walked over to the group and hugged them as well, wrapping his arms around them all.
“I’m glad that we’re a family again,” he said, looking into Mez’s eyes lovingly. Mez nodded with a smile.
“Me too, hon. Me too,” she replied back with equal love.
Eric looked at all this and tilted his head. “Not to break up the moment, but… we’re in the middle of the woods. We should probably get some sort of shelter,” Eric said. Noah looked around.
“Yeah, that sounds like a good idea,” he agreed, releasing his family.
“Agreed. I don’t want to be out in the wilderness at night,” Mez concurred.
“Well, what about that house over there?” Feiray said, pointing to a small, homey cabin built into the side of the alcove/grove mix they were in.
“How convenient,” Will said as he looked at said cabin.
“Well, let’s check it out, then,” Noah said, helping Mez up. He looked to Eric and Will. “Come out, we’re wasting light.” He told them, walking toward the cabin with his family. Will and Eric followed behind the family.
“Where are we, by the way?” Eric asked with his hands in his hoodie's pockets.
“I have no idea,” Will answered with a shrug. Eric shrugged back as the group arrived at the house, going inside of it. The place looked like it hadn’t been used for years. There was a hearth and couch that had an inch of dust on it and some bookcases that had gotten the same treatment. Will coughed as he entered the place. “Well, this is lovely, if you’re a dust bunny.”
“I got it!” Vitre cried, clapping her hands and causing all the dust to blow away, and therefore making everyone cough up a storm. “Oh… oops, sorry!” she said with a light blush.
“Good idea… bad execution…” Will coughed. Sure it cleared all the dust off the bookshelves and couch, but now there was dust floating about all over the room. Will noted that, oddly enough, there was a large TV sitting in the corner. Noah walked over to a window and opened it, letting all the dust filter out, even if only slowly. He looked around, and saw some stairs leading upwards, and a spruce door with an old styled knob of straight up iron on the opposite end of the front door.
“Why don’t we split up and look around? We might be able to find some useful stuff,” Noah suggested.
“Sounds good to me. I’ll come with you to find some rooms,” Mez said.
“Alright. Kids, why don’t you go with your Uncles, get to know them?” Noah told his kids.
“Kay!” they responded happily. Will looked around and decided to head upstairs.
“Well, who’s coming with me?” he asked everyone.
“I’ll go!” said Grel, raising a hand.
“Ooh, ooh! Me too! Me too!” Ditty said eagerly.
“I’ll come too,” Boriole said.
“Alright,” Will said as the three kids followed him upstairs… only to stop as Will banged his head on a low part of the ceiling. “Gods dang it!”
“You okay, Uncle Willy?” Ditty asked, coming up behind him. He didn’t answer at first as he rubbed his head.
“Yeah… not the first time I did that,” he muttered as he climbed the stairs.
“Welp, guess everyone else is with me,” Eric said, going to the door across from the front door and opening it. “C’mon,” He called back as he went through the door. Noah, Mez, and the rest of their children did so, following Eric down a well lit tunnel lined with cobblestone braces while spruce logs were used as support beams, torch sconces on them, which was strange, since there were lamps and lights above them to light their way.
“Why are there torch sconces if there’s lamps already?” Feiray wondered.
“Likely for whenever there is a blackout. The sconces and torches within them can be used to light up the tunnels should the electricity fail,” Tacitus surmised.
“Huh. Cool,” Feiray replied.
“Maybe we can have a blackout party and just play games all night. How does that sound, kids?” Noah suggested.
“Oooh, I like it! Can we play Super Smash Bros?” Nyze asked.
“That sounds like a good idea,” Mez agreed as they walked.
“If we turned the power off, how would we play a console game?” Eric called back, looking around as they walked.
“Oh… Right,” Nyze said, rubbing the back of her neck with an embarrassed blush.
“I meant board games, silly gooses, not video games. We don’t even know if this place has those, along with what Eric said,” Noah said with a chuckle.
“I-I knew that!” Mez said with a light blush. Noah laughed a bit, pecking her on the cheek.
“Sure babe, sure,” he said with a smile.
“I think I saw some kinda weird monopoly back there somewhere,” Eric commented back to the others.
“Really?” Noah said, interested.
“Ugh, please no. I hate Monopoly,” Mez groaned.
“But I’ve never tried it!” Noah argued.
“Eh, I’m not sure monopoly’s even meant for this many people anyway, best we keep it to like four plus a banker or something just in case… I don’t want to be playing it for the next century, thanks,” Eric said as the way they went started slanting down a little.
“Fine. Killjoys,” Noah muttered as they came out to a large room, also lined with cobblestone braces and spruce log support beams. On the left was a set of stairs with a plaque next to it saying, ‘Forge, Armory, Generator Room and Mine’. On the right was a door which they all assumed led to another tunnel, which also had a plaque reading, ‘Second Wing’. Across the room from them was yet another door with yet another plaque that said, ‘Gardens and Farm’.
“Whoa… they have an armory here?!” Kraek said, stars in his eyes.
“As well as a mine,” Tacitus noted. He looked to his parents. “Can I see it? Please?”
“Maybe after we make sure it’s safe and not falling apart,” Noah told him. Tacitus frowned, but nodded.
“I want to see the garden!” Nyze cried.
“Me too, me too!” Vitre cheered, bouncing up and down.
“I wouldn’t mind looking at the Second Wing. It sounds interesting,” Zounic said.
“I’d like to see the garden, too…” Miel said timidly, shifting on her feet.
“I wonder what kind of memories are left here…” Odra wondered.
“Dunno. But it’s a pretty cool and rustic place, yeah?” Feiray said, hands in his jean pockets. “Shall we go to the Second Wing?” Odra nodded.
“There’s a lot more memories and old dreams there,” he said.
“I’ll go with the Second Wing group,” Eric said, already heading that way.
“Alright. We’ll head to the garden, and then the mine and armory,” Noah announced.
“Sounds good to me, hun,” Mez agreed. With that, they all parted ways, Eric, Odra and Feiray going to the second wing, whilst Noah, Mez, and the rest of the children went to the gardens.
Back with Will, Ditty, Boriole, and Grel, they headed upstairs to find a number of rooms and a small library.
“So Uncle Willy, how big are you?” Ditty asked out of nowhere. Grel slapped her sister upside the head. “Ow! What was that for!?”
“You’re being inappropriate again, sis,” Grel told her.
“Oh come on! It’s a legitimate question!” Ditrus argued. Will sighed at this.
“Ditty, I know that you are curious but, you’re three,” he said.
“So? Age is just a number! If I want to be like Mommy, I have to learn this stuff early on!” Ditrus retorted.
“No. You really, really don’t,” Boriole told her as they explored the library.
“Wait until you’re older, besides what will your grandparents think if you ask the same question?” Will said. He didn’t get an answer from her. He turned and saw her go pale.
“Exactly,” Boriole said. Will raised an eyebrow before looking through the library. As they all were looking around, Will simply started pulling out books and skimming through them.
“Hey, so, Uncle Will, what did you do for a living?” Boriole asked.
“Well, for a few years I was a cook in some places before I went to school for Welding,” he answered.
“Welding? That sounds cool. How was it?” Boriole asked, getting interested now. Will shrugged.
“It was alright, allowed me to travel a bit, took some other classes before I found a good paying job as a welder,” he said as he put a book back and pulled another.
“So you struggled a bit, then?” Grel surmised.
“Not really, did some odd jobs,” he answered before tilting his head. “Well, you can say I did somewhat.”
“I can understand that,” Grel said with a nod. She looked around, hands behind her head. “What are we looking for, by the way? Something to light up the fireplace downstairs?”
“Not really, just seeing what the last person that was here was-” Will stopped as he saw a certain book. “Hello~ what do we have here?”
“What is it?” Ditty queried, trying to see what he was looking at, but unable to see it well since she was much shorter than him. Will pulled out a old brown book that had seen better days. On the spine was words that were hard to read but the only word that was readable was Myths.
“It’s a book on Myths, maybe if I-” Will then brushed the dust away to read the title. “Oh… well that solves one question.”
The other two came over to read the title as well as Ditrus. The book was labeled ‘Equestrian Myths’.
“Wait, Equestria? Like the show that Daddy showed us?” Ditrus wondered.
“I think so. I never liked it that much, though. Too girly,” Grel commented.
“Says the girl who secretly sang the theme song whenever she was in the tub alone or when she thought no one could hear her,” Boriole said with a grin.
“Sh-Shut up! I do not!” Grel said, punching her brother in the arm. He simply laughed, the pain not bothering him. Will chuckled as he opened the book.
“Now, let’s see what we are in store…” he said as he read the book, which was luckily in the same language that he knew. As the other three read with him he turned a page that made all of their heads tilt. “Well, seems they take pointers to the Romans and Greeks.”
“Romans? Greeks? Who are they?” Grel asked, curious.
“Well, back home for me they are people that lived hundreds of years before me,” he explained as he tried to scrap anything about them. “All I remember was that the Romans built an empire that lasted a really long time and the Greeks… Spartans.”
“What was their armor like?” Boriole asked.
“Here we go…” Grel said with a roll of her eyes.
“Old,” Will answered as he turned the page to see a statue. He blushed a bit before turning the page quickly.
“You don’t know anything else? Like if they used full-plate or not?” Boriole pressed. His curiosity was very apparent.
“This is something you should ask your dad,” Will explained as he turned the pages until he remembered something about the page with the statue. “Wait, that was an Anthro statue… so, this world has Anthro ponies?” he was answered as there was a picture of another stature only it was the full female body and didn’t have much on. Will quickly closed the book. “Yep! It is!”
“Oooh, was it a kinky picture?” Ditty cooed.
“Sis,” Grel warned. Ditty sighed.
“Fine, fine, I’ll stop,” she said, grumbling to herself. Will shook his head before standing up, still holding the book.
“The others are still somewhere in the house, this will help explain where we are, though when is another question,” Will leaned a bit to looked down down the hallway at the other rooms. “We should go find them… but there’s other rooms…”
“Well, we need to find out what rooms will go to who, so let’s look at them,” Boriole said. Will nodded at him, keeping the book under his arm.
“Well, what’s behind door number one?” he asked out loud.
With Eric, he and his group were wandering through the second wing. They walked down a long tunnel, not unlike the one from before, until they came upon a large, spacious room made with concrete floors and, like all the other rooms, braced with cobblestone and supported with spruce beams. There were three doorways, one on the right, one on the left, and one across the room.
The one on the right had a plaque that said, ‘Lab and Vaults’, the one on the left had a plaque that said, ‘Storage Room, Kitchens, and Private Bar’, and the last one across from where they stood said Entrance to Tower’.
“They really went all out here,” Zounic said with an appreciative whistle.
“How is a bar private? Isn’t it just some kind of stick?” Odra asked, confused. Feiray shrugged.
“Well, I wanna check out the Lab and Vaults. I got a good feeling about’em,” Eric said as he turned to the right door.
“Well, Mom and Dad don’t like us wandering on our own, so we’ll go with you,” Zounic said following his uncle.
“Yeah, got in trouble too many times for wandering into places I’m not supposed to,” Feiray concurred.
“You’d still do it, though,” Odra said with a grin.
“Dang right I would,” Feiray answered with a matching grin.
“Well, we can do that later,” Zounic told them as they all followed Eric. Eric chuckled a little at their commentary as he walked, keeping an ear out just in case one of them decided to go wander off anyway.
After a good long while, they arrived in a very, very large room with multiple stereotypical vault doors lining the walls, and a final one on the floor, in the shape of a gear. Eric surmised that it likely doubled as a lift, since it was on the floor. Each vault had different colored hearts on them, with riddles of sorts below them. Three of them had only one phrase though, along with a number. The one in the floor had a golden plaque, unlike the ones around the room that had silver and gold plaques, denoting them as being even more special.
Then there was a doorway leading to a large lab with all kinds of equipment and notes and such scattered everywhere, but in the back of the room, even from where he stood, Eric could see six tubes filled with liquid that held six, floating, upside down glowing hearts that were pure white.
“Woah… What is this place?” Zounic wondered.
“I don’t know, but there are twelve things behind each of these vaults, just… sleeping, dreaming away,” Odra informed.
Eric looked into the doorway with the six upside down hearts. “Couldn’t be…” He mumbled, going inside of the room. Once he approached the tubes, one of them seemed to glow a little brighter as the SOUL inside it did. That SOUL phased through the tube like a ghost, sinking into his chest.
The male gasped, clutching his chest. Looking down at himself, he was slowly disappearing, becoming mone opaque with every second until he vanished.
“Uncle Eric!” the three boys cried, rushing over to where their uncle once was. When they realised he was gone, they rushed out of the room. “Dad! Mom! Uncle Will!” They all yelled, running down the tunnels and halls to find their family.
Eric awoke in a deep, black void. No sound could be heard. No smell, no feeling. Nothing. Just a deep, black emptiness. “H-hello?” He called nervously, looking around.
“Hello,” a voice echoed throughout the void, sounding as if it were a mixture of voices. Eric turned to see a figure that was a shifting see of color, a white aura around them ,outlining them in the deep black. It had no real features, just the shape of a woman. There were no clothes on her, but there were no sexual organs or nipples on her to really be embarrassed about.
Eric blinked a little. “I’m reminded of an anime right now…” He commented after a couple seconds. The woman tittered, somehow.
“I am more than some show, child,” the woman told him, walking up to him. He noted her hips were quite large, along with her breasts, but, again, there were no real features.
“I know that, but this is just kinda like in this anime. This kid tries to bring his mother back with alchemy, and a male child looking version of you punishes him in one way while rewarding him in another,” Eric explained to the female.
“I am well aware of the show you speak of, child. I am aware of all shows you know of, and those you do not,” the woman told him, stopping just a few feet from him.
“Cool… that must get boring if you already know everything,” Eric said with a bit of sympathy in his voice. The woman laughed. It sounded... soothing, yet at the same time harsh. Either way, Eric was uncomfortable.
“You are an interesting one, I must say. It’s a shame what I must do to you,” the woman said ominously.
“Who are you? And why must you do something to me?” Eric asked, squirming a tiny bit in nervousness though he kept it to a minimum.
“I go by many names, child. There are songs that try to speak of me, to shed some glimmer on what I truly am. Many are new, and many are old. But the name I prefer, the name I most commonly choose, is simply, Mother,” she lifted a hand to Eric’s face, stopping inches from it.
“It’s nice to meet you, Mother… at least right now,” Eric said with a tilt of his head. “You didn’t answer the second question,” He added as a comment.
“That, my child is simple. I am going to split you from your more malicious half,” Mother explained, her hand glowing with white aura, nearly blinding Eric. “I am sorry. This will not be pleasant.”
“Wait wh-” he began, only to be cut off when he was blasted back into a white, stone door. Walls of the same substance formed around him, and he fell from the door to see himself trapped. “Well this is a thing now.” He let out a grunt as the door swung open, knocking him into the opposite wall, and he got up to see something that sent a chill through his spine. Mouths. Hundreds, thousands, millions, uncountable numbers of mouths, all snapping their jaws and drawing closer by the second.
“That’s all kinds of fuck no!” Eric said, trying to back away. His back reached the tall, thick, white stone wall behind him. “Well, shit.” The mouths reached him, and tore into his body, rending, ripping, tearing, and gnawing on his flesh, dragging him into the door as they ate him alive.
He screamed in pain for as long as he could, before his mind was overwhelmed and he passed out. But the pain continued, even in unconsciousness. He woke again, feeling his flesh return painfully and then be rent, ripped, torn, and eaten all over again. This happened for so long and for so many times he lost count, reduced to naught but a pile of tears and blood soaked flesh.
Eventually, he simply grew numb to the pain. The exact same thing happening only works for so long, after all.
Then, he blacked out, the pain fading, but his psyche damaged.
Eric awoke screaming and flailing around, only for five of the SOULs to break out of their tubes and float over to him, sending soothing energy as they entered him like the first did before them, making him stop thrashing and instead start sobbing. At this point the others came, Noah and Mez with their kids coming to find Eric sobbing. Questions were asked but mostly it was them trying to calm Eric down.
“Where the hell is Will?” Noah wondered. He looked to the children that were with him until he came running in, rubbing his head.
“Damn low ceilings- oh hell, Eric!” he said, running to him. The other kids were with him, and rushed to their Uncle, trying to figure out what was wrong along with the others.
“Eric, what’s wrong? Calm down and talk to us!” Noah told the sobbing man. Eric didn’t seem too capable of that really, anything he managed to say too choked up by sobs to be understandable.
“Noah, come on let’s get him to the couch,” Will said before looking at everyone else. “Find some blankets that are useable.” The others nodded while Noah helped Will take Eric to the couch in the living room. It took a long while, but in time, they arrived in the first room and placed the man on the couch. Noah looked to the hearth.
“I’m going to go find something to light this hearth up,” Noah said, leaving the room. Will nodded as some of the kids brought him a blanket. Will put it on Eric as he seemed to be calming down a bit but was still sobbing. Noah came back with a bag of lint and wax, along with an old style Zippo lighter that had a special design on it, one of cowboy at in the light of the moon. Noah walked over to the hearth, carefully set some of the fire starting material under and around the logs, then took his lighter and lit it all ablaze. A few minutes later, the logs were burning, and the room was heating up a bit.
Eric had calmed a little more after a while, curled into a ball and the blanket wrapped tight around himself. Will frowned at this before looking at Noah.
“I’m going to go take a look around where Eric was last,” he said before started to walk that way. He looked over at Mez. “Mind coming with me? If something happens I prefer if someone starts yelling and screaming that I’m gone.” Mez nodded.
“Yeah, I’ll follow you,” Mez said, sending a worried glance to Eric, then her lover, before following Will back down the tunnel.
This was a new world. And that meant new dangers. It was only now that the group started to fully realise that. And they would only further that knowledge in the coming days.
Much was in store for them.

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             Chapter 2: Curious Little Ponies              
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Chapter 2: Curious Little Ponies
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?”