Respawn?

As we walked through the forest, looking for the deer that had taken off running, I looked around and frowned before calling out for the umpteenth time, happy that left the pets with fluttershy, else we’d be stopping for them to mark shit. “Hey! Aedan! We wanted to talk things out with ya! No hard feelings for the misunderstanding… Come on, man, we gotta talk this out if you want Flutters to calm down!”

What appeared to be an army of deer appeared out of the forest around us, and a buxom doe with a figure that put Rarity and Fluttershy to shame stepped to the front of the group, wearing a full set of what looked like leather armor with metal plating. “You speak to Mother Birch, Mother to all the deerfolk, and tender to the Everfree! For what reason do you seek our son, foul demons?”

I frowned, “I am not a demon, I am a human. And no, Dark magic has ZERO influence on me or my friend here. We came to talk out things with your apparent son, and hopefully patch things up with him and his ladyfriend. As well as offer to make him a decent sword that’s not absolute crap. Who makes a sword out of silver, anyway?! Shit is weak as hell!”

William nodded once, “Seriously though, your son stabbed me in the neck for no goddamn reason, so I’d like to have a word with him about getting the full story before stabbing people. That shit hurts. Also, it’s a bit pointless, at least with us.”

I nodded and snapped Williams neck for example as the guards all tensed, the Deer mothers eyes widening as she saw William appear next to me, and absorb his magic after the blood flew into my weapons pommel. “We can’t stay dead. Or be corrupted by dark magic.”

She looked to me for a moment, then to William, before frowning. “If you are deceiving me, thy lives shall be a misery. If you truly mean us well, then take on this task for us, cure Father Ash. He was corrupted by Nightmare Moon in an attempt to bring the forest to her side in her coup d'etat. If you cure him of his corruption, or somehow manage to slay him, then you shall have the Deer people’s gratitude, and we shall ally ourselves and our Druidic arts to your cause.”

I frowned, “Wait, who is Father Ash, is he your husband or something? Why the hell would we kill your husband? That’s fucked up.”

She frowned, “That monster is no longer my husband, killing him shall release the both of us into our next bodies, free from corruption, and able to lead.”

I looked to William and smiled, “Seems like we are committing regicide.”

“I think everyone here would prefer we cure the corruption, though that seems to be a viable solution.” William responded glibly.

I nodded and looked to the sexy deer lady in question “So, lead the way.”

She nods and raises her hands before we are overwhelmed by the feeling of vertigo. When it stopped, we were in what appeared to be an underground room, with the only two exits being a staircase leading up, and a stone door that was covered in thick roots, with only one small gap visible. I looked through the gap, and saw a large buck with his arms immobilized by the roots of the tree. The roots seemed to enter into his flesh, and a light pulsed every time his heart beat, similar in color to William’s magical aura.

His legs also had the roots growing through them, and throughout his body, plants that seemed twisted and unnatural grew out of his flesh. The leaves of these plants pulsed a dark purple, and there were quite a few of them growing on him. There was a hole in his chest, and in it, all of the roots coalesced around a glowing purple crystal, which seemed to be his heart. The roots pulsed in time with its flashes, and it seemed to be picking up pace as I observed it.

As I opened the door and walked in, I heard a dark, twisted voice that reverberated in my head. “Greetings, brothers in darkness… Have you come to free me so that I may bring about the awakening of my people? The light is fleeting, darkness is the true power!”

William grimaced slightly at Father Ash’s speech, turning to Mother Birch and I. “See, this is why Dark magic has a bad rap. Fuckers like these give us all a bad name.”

Mother Birch blushes indignantly, “It is not my beloved’s fault! The darkness was pumped into him directly! No one in record has gone unscathed from such an experience!”

William grinned. “Is that a challenge I hear? You know what, I’m going to take all this guy’s Dark magic, and then you can put me down as the first to have absorbed a metric fuck ton of Dark magic and escaped unscathed.” At this, he poked the end of his staff through the opening, and a glowing purple mist began leaking from the crystal in his chest. As the mist was sinking into the staff, dark green swirls began appearing on the crystal in the buck’s chest, and by the time he finished drawing it out, it was a solid forest green. It pulsed once, and a burst of white light flowed through the roots, and they became considerably more natural looking.

As we watched, the roots that had been suspending Father Ash retracted, first from his legs, then from his heart and arms. The hole in his chest rapidly closed, with no more dark energy preventing the forest from healing him, and finally, the roots that held the door closed for a millennia withdrew. The stone door sank into a recess in the floor, leaving what had used to be a cell open.

Mother Birch leaped to her husband, crying in relief “My love, it is so wonderful to see you cured!”

Father Ash groaned before opening his eyes and looking to her in confusion “My love? But… I was stabbed by that demonic monster… How did I-” he then grunted in pain as he clutched his head “By the glades! Wh-what have I done?! The things I did to our beloved forests… to our people…”

I cleared my throat, “If it helps, you were kinda nose deep in a pool of dark magic crazy sauce, sooo… kinda not in your normal state of mind. You were a bit loopy for a millennia.”

William cleared his throat. “I managed to absorb all of the Dark magic corrupting you, but you’re going to have to be careful with strong emotions from now on. Since you’ve already been influenced by it, it could return if your emotions are strong enough.”

Aedan entered, huffing as he caught his breath from running down a flight of stairs. “What *cough* happened? I felt a massive influx of pure magic from father’s cell, which could only happen if.... FATHER!” Aedan jumped into the cell, hugging him tightly.

Father Ash looked to Aedan with curiosity, but then winced as if he was remembering something painful. “My son… I have been so cruel to you… I am so ashamed…” he looked to us and smiled, “I shall invite you two to a banquet in thy honor. Name anything you wish of us, and it shall be done!”

I grinned, “Well, we would like your wife to pay up on her word, but no worries there for now, but at the moment… How about you give us a tour? I’d love to see what your civilization is like.”

Mother Birch smiled, “It shall be so!” As we again felt the vertigo, we found ourselves in what looked like a town square, with a massive tree behind us that seemed to be patrolled heavily by guards. Yet again, we felt the vertigo, but this time we appeared on a balcony near the top of the tree she had first teleported us outside of. Looking out on the city, we saw that it was made entirely out of trees, many of which were far larger than normal. They formed a solid canopy, and we could see deer moving around along bridges between the trees. There were also many deer walking on the ground, and there were luminescent mushrooms growing atop small trees. There was a crowd rapidly growing larger beneath the balcony, and Mother Birch seemed to be preparing for an announcement.

“Subjects! Today is a joyous day! Our king, Father Ash, has returned from the throes of madness wrought by the demon that possessed Luna! These two dark heroes, champions who can not only resist the temptations of the dark powers, but command them as well! They have saved your king, and they are to be known as heroes, our isolation has come to an end, as these heroes have proven, there is hope for the other people of Equus!”

The crowd below cheered at this announcement, chanting, “Champions! Champions! Champions!” Mother Birch led us back inside, and we looked around the room. All of the furniture seemed to be growing out of the tree, and anything that would normally have a cushion was coated in soft moss. Father Ash laid down on a bed of moss, tired as he was from recovering from his blight.

“Now, it is time for you to ask for your rewards for your assistance in healing our Father Ash of his corruption. So, what is it that you desire?” She asked, pointing at me.

I thought a moment, tempted to say that I’d love a good lay, but I had a feeling that would not go over well, so…”I’d like a portable workshop. Capable of sagecrafting, and various different cultures smithing techniques.”

She then pointed at William. He shrugged, “If I’m keeping with my current theme, I’ll take spellbooks. Not just any though, the ones that teach how to make a place like this. I’ll understand if you can’t let the spellbooks leave this place, so I’d be fine reading them here.”

“Your requests shall be granted, though William, you may have another request, as you were the one to heal my husband of his blight.”

William shrugged again. “I’ll hold that favor in reserve then, as I honestly can’t think of anything that I need at the moment that you would have.” he said. Mother Birch nodded, and she led us out of the room.

On the way to wherever she was taking us, she pulled a servant aside and instructed him to retrieve something called a wildergilden. Upon reaching our destination, she flung open the doors theatrically. The doors opened into a library with many books lining shelves that were arranged like the rings of the tree it was built into. She pointed out the section William wanted, and he happily went over to start reading.

I smiled to Aeden, who was just coming back from his talk with Father Ash, and gestured him to follow me, “Show me what you have for a workshop here, I happen to know a TON about weapons, I might not be able to MAKE a holy weapon, dark alignment and all, but I can still make a damn good vessel for the magic. Hell, I can even put in the rune work, just can’t do the final enchanting if it’s holy.” I then rubbed the back of my head “Hey, you mind if I make something to replace that sword I busted? Something actually impressive though, not that glorified stick you were waving about. ” I scoffed, “Seriously though, silver? A stick might actually have been better, made out of the right type of wood at least.”

Aedan nodded, “I guess that’s fair, since you broke it with one hand.” He led me farther down the tree, and we ended up in the forges at the base of the trees. I looked around as I saw a massive quantity of a pale creamy green, glowing metal. “The hell?! You guys had something this potent, and you are stuck using SILVER?! What happened to respect for royalty?!”

Aedan flinched slightly, “W-we haven’t had a smith in here for millennia… I had to train with Griffons, to learn how to fight, and I bought this sword from a Diamond Dog.”

I facepalmed as I walked over to the metal, “Ok, well you have one now, a master at that, now you or your people will hafta supply the holy magic, but I can add one other element on top of the life element natural to this sword, with enough room for the holy, you interested?”

“Either fire or lightning, whichever one would be easier for you to make into the blade,” Aedan requested.

I grinned, “You are getting lightning, easier for you to control and wield, never understood why people want fire swords, too much collateral damage.” I then went to work, letting the inspiration fill me as I decided to let metals will shape it as I worked, forming it into a potent chain blade, each section of blade enhanced with both lightning magic and life magic. “I dub thee, Ceangail, may ye serve your master well!”

Aedan bowed his head as I placed the weapon in his outstretched hands, raising his head up as the weight settled. “I shall treat you well, Ceangail, so that you may not fail me in my time of need.” He gave it a few test swings, then disengage the lock that kept it in its blade form. He gave the sword whip portion a few swings, getting a feel for the balance of the blade, and walked over to one of the walls, antlers glowing softly. As I watched, the wall morphed into a different type of wood, a dark green shoot spreading out. He held the sword perpendicular to the wall, and it grew out along the blade, forming a sheath. As soon as the blade was fully covered, he pulled it back from the wall, carefully oiling both the wood of the sheath and the blade of the sword.

After he finished this, he placed the sheath on his leather belt. I turned to him in awe, “How in the name of god did you do that, kiddo?”

“I reached into the tree, and requested that it shape me a sheath for my blade. It’s simple, as long as you have a decent grasp of the druidic arts.” he said, placing a hand on the wall, and the stump from the separation of the sheath from the wall receded. “Also, we should probably head up to dinner, Mother will be waiting for us.” I nodded and followed him out of the room, and he took us to a dining hall, filled with deer. We ate, and Mother Birch informed us that we were welcome for as long as we felt that we needed to stay, and were welcome to come back whenever after we left.

After nearly three days of doing nothing and waiting on William to finish his studies on druidic magecraft, Aedan approached me. “Would you like to spar with me? I need to figure out how to use Ceangail properly, and if I mess up to badly you can’t die.” he said, looking at me relaxing in my armor on a moss bed. I hopped to my feet and followed him out into a coliseum, pulling out my dragon jawbone club. We fought for about ten minutes, and he got progressively better with Ceangail.

I headed back to my room, and Aedan went off to do some other stuff, and when I got back to my room I was surprised to find William relaxing on one of the chairs, seemingly waiting for me.

“Okay, what’s with the ninja shit? I thought we agreed yesterday you’d knock that off, and I’d ease up on the memes.” I then smiled “Or did you miss my victory rees?”

“I may or may not have forgotten where my room was, cause, you know, awake for three days reading. On the bright side, I didn’t walk in on anything, so small victories.” William pointed at a wall, and a sprout grew out of it. Unlike the rest of the wall, the sprout was dark and twisted, unnatural looking even. There was what looked like a small face screaming in pain on the base of the sprout. William’s eyes narrowed, and the face turned into a psychotic grin. He shrugged, “I mean, I was going for a smile, but that’s close enough.”

“...Well fuck. That’s going to cause some misunderstandings back in Ponyville.” I then sat next to him and smiled “So, should we head back with Aedan to ponyville? The letters I had sent have been making it, but Fluttershy seems worried in her replies, and she misses Aedan.”

“Yeah, we probably should, I wanna get started on a tree house. Maybe figure out how to mitigate some of the faces from showing up. When is Aedan leaving now?” William replied.

I shrugged, “Sometime today, I think. Guy really misses Shy. I think I see some love blooming, maybe some pony deer hybrids in the future?”

Aedan’s head peeked around the door, a bright red blush on his face. William nodded at him, “Sup man, when we leaving for Ponyville?”

Aedan shook his head to clear it, saying, “I’m heading back tonight, so if you’re coming back with me, you’ll need to get your stuff together in the next hour or so.”

I nodded, having most of my stuff with me already before I walked over to my nightstand, picking up an orichalcum statuette carved to look like a sapling of some unknown tree. “Got the wildergilden, you sure I can plant this to grow a workshop?”

Aedan nodded,”Yes, that statuette was made as a gift to Celestia before the unfortunate event with her sister. This statuette will grow into a master smiths workshop, outfitted to fit the skills of whomever planted it. However, the materials will have to be provided by the smith.” He smiled “Knowing you, it’ll be pretty twisted looking.”

I shrugged “Probably going to get some pretty dark weapons then, too. Blood magic imbued, made with dark magic, all that shit.”

At this, Aedan shuddered, “Still glad you let me choose my elements, would hate to use blood magic…”

William spoke up, “I’m gonna head back to the library, maybe take a look at some more spells. Come find me when you’re ready to go.” He sank into the shadow, and was gone.

I then looked to Aedan and smiled, “So, about Fluttershy, you want me to see if she is into bucks?”

“Really? We’re dating, and you think she’s not into me? That’s just stupid.” Aedan scoffed in reply.

“I meant if she was asexual or some shit. She does seem the type to just be romantic.”

“We haven’t taken the relationship to that level yet, but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t want to. She’s probably just shy or something.” Aedan rebuked, a flash of annoyance on his face.

I nodded, rubbing the back of my head, “Okay, just trying to be a good friend for ya, Never really been friends with someone so… animated, before. Also, I was wondering, if Celly and Luna say yes, I was thinking of making a sort of squad for William and my missions, would you be interested?It would work very well as a diplomatic tie between the Deer and Ponies.”

He thought on it for a moment, before responding, “You two are Agents of the Equestrian Crown, right?” I nodded, and he continued, “Mother would have to approve it as well, so when we return to Ponyville, you will have to ask them. Mother also wanted me to inform you that the Deer are open for diplomatic ties with Equestria, and we will soon be ready to trade with the Ponies.”

I smiled and nodded, “Okay, mind walking with me to see your mom? I figure it would work out better with you present.”

He nodded, and I followed him out of the room and down the hallway. He led me down a few flights of stairs, before we reached a large hallway, which seemed to be the main hall of the tree castle that we were currently in. At the end of the hallway, two guards were standing in front of a large, ornate door, which I assumed led to the throne room. Upon opening the doors, I was surprised to see that, unlike the rest of the castle, the throne room looked like it was part of a natural forest glade, complete with a small stream. Upon the back wall, two trees were grown into the shape of thrones, and sitting upon them were Father Ash and Mother Birch.

Mother Birch looked to us and gestured for us to approach, after doing so I knelt to her, “Mother Birch, we are here for a request on my part, I was hoping to make a task force designed to take down threats to Equestria from the shadows, and I was hoping your son could join this task force.”

Mother Birch frowned, “Why do you wish for my son? We have many more experienced warriors. I do not see the wisdom in this decision, please elaborate.”

I nodded, “Aedan has not only proven his regret at harming William, but grown to earn my trust, and my respect. I would like to continue teaching him the ways of battle, as well as have him fight by my side, I assure you no harm will come to him, and any who try will have me to deal with. He… he is my first friend in this world, and I would like to have him as a brother in arms.”

“Also, Mother, I would like to do this as well. James raised a point that I believe would be beneficial, and that is that this could serve to strengthen our ties with Equestria. You and I both know that our diplomatic ties will need to be strong to weather our return to global politics.” Aedan piped up, putting in his two cents.

Father Ash smiled, “Tis a glorious thing you are proposing, one that I myself would be glad to endorse, but it is both of us that must agree on, lest we risk angering our beloved.”

Mother Birch pouted “I’m not that short tempered, dear, I see the merit as well, I just wanted to know their reasoning, and I have found it quite satisfactory.” She smiled to me “Very well, you may take on my child as a member of thy taskforce, if Celestia does agree to it.”

I smiled and nodded “I thank you, Mother Birch, Father Ash. I shall send a message to Celestia with all due haste.”

Mother Birch made an arcane gesture, and a brazier grew in front of me before igniting with green fire. “Just speak into the flame, good sir James, it will send it as a note to Celestia.”

I nodded and cleared my throat, “Hey sunbuns, it’s James, I have been in contact with the Deer people, and they have not only opened their borders, but they have agreed to open diplomatic and trade ties to Equestria. I have decided that, with your permission, making a task force to work covertly in the shadows would be opportune. Please come see me in Ponyville tomorrow, so that we may iron things out.”

Mother Birch looked somewhat scandalized at me calling Celestia ‘sunbuns’ and Aedan and I left to go get William from the library, and Aedan turned to me, “So, have you been on any missions yet?” he asked curiously.

“Not a one!” I replied merrily, opening the door to the library as I found a William corpse on the ground. “Only been an agent for about four days now… wait, why’d William die?”

I heard William’s voice from above me, and saw him floating around the room, “I may or may not have fucked up a flight spell, causing me to snap my neck on the ceiling. The body over there,” he pointed to a body that was slumped over a desk, “was caused by my brain overloading when I used a sensory processing spell for too long. Shit’s cash, but you can only use it safely for a couple of hours, then you have to wait for twenty four hours for it to be safe to use again.”

I chuckled at my friends antics as I absorbed the blood from the corpses again, letting him take their magical energy. “Hey, time to go, Ponyville here we come.” We left the city, and William raised his staff in the air, and we teleported with William to Fluttershy’s place. Jack and Lupis bounded out the door, and we started walking to Ponyville. After a few minutes of walking, we were in Ponyville proper, and I looked around, noticing that there it seemed extremely colorful.

After making our way through the overly colorful town, I noticed something that made me believe that I was currently tripping balls. There was a BAKERY shaped like a goddamned GINGERBREAD HOUSE. SERIOUSLY, why the FUCK is a bakery what it makes? Anyway, when we reached the town square, we noticed Fluttershy walking along, minding her own business with some ducks. She bumped into an eagle headed person, which I assumed to be a griffon, and the griffon started yelling at her.

I promptly tackled the ho and began smacking the shit out of her. Aedan went over and began comforting Fluttershy, who at this point was bawling her eyes out, and escorted her out of town, I assume to her home. At this point, Rainbow Dash flew in to see me slapping the shit out of this ho. She tackled me off of the griffon, and we tumbled a few feet away. When Rainbow reached back with her fist, I assume to knock my teeth in, a sickly purple flaming aura wrapped around her arm and wings, pulling her off of me into the air. The same aura surrounded the griffon, who looked like she was about to make a break for it.

I then stood up and promptly shouted at the polychromatic bitch, “What the FUCK Rainbow?! I was stopping that bird bitch from traumatizing Shy!”

“GILDA WOULDN’T DO ANYTHING LIKE THAT!” she yelled, struggling to get out of William’s magical grip, “LET ME GO!” she screamed.

“Bitch please, we watched it happen, here, have a look!” William tapped his staff against the floor, and all of the shadows in the area rose up and took on forms looking like all of the ponies present in the last five minutes, and they went along doing their thing. The only difference was that their colors were muted, and Gilda was clearly seen stealing an apple from a cart and eating it. She used her tail to trick an ancient green mare with silver hair into thinking that there was a snake, and then Gilda bumped into Fluttershy. Gilda began yelling at Fluttershy, and she began crying, which is when we arrived. At this point, the shadows sank back into the ground, dissipating.

Rainbow Dash looked horrified, as if she was defending a monster, “G-Gilda… you did that to Fluttershy? We were all friends at flight camp though…”

Gilda huffed, “Yeah right! You mean you had her replace me as your friend! How many years has it been since you even tried to see me, Dash?! Huh?! Well I know, it’s been FIVE YEARS!” She was crying at this point, at which I started feeling kinda bad for smacking her. Ah well, bitches gonna bitch.

I raised the back of my hand again, “Rainbow, mind if I smack some sense into this featherbrain?”

Rainbow didn’t respond, which I took as my que to backhand the griffon as I then grabbed her, “You could have gone and visited her, but you didn’t. The fault is just as much yours. Now get outta here, and don’t come back, unless you wanna become a spitroast.”

At Gilda blushing I then blushed as well, before throwing her surprisingly far into the horizon, “I meant like the meat, not the sex thing!”

Gilda flew off as we looked into the price of some land, grateful for the gold and jewels that the Deer supplied us with as thanks. We found a lot on the outskirts of Ponville, further down the road to the Everfree that led by Fluttershy’s cottage. We purchased it for a diamond the size of my head, and I headed with William over to the lot. He tapped his staff against the ground, and I heard a distant rumbling. The ground in the center of the lot exploded outward, and I looked up at a towering black tree, with a creepy looking face. The entrance seemed to be below the mouth of the face, and I saw William concentrate on the face. “WHO ARE YOU?” the tree rumbled out, and I saw William grin. A cloud nearby rapidly darkened, and started spewing lightning and rain.

He blasted the cloud, and it dissipated. We went inside and checked it out, finding a large living room, with an entrance to a basement on the opposite side. Upstairs was a hallway with a few rooms, two of which were clearly master bedroom suites. There were three other doors, two leading to offices, and the last being an extra bathroom. The third floor had guest rooms all around the place, along with a pull-down ladder to the fourth floor.

“Hey, give me one of those large rubies.” William said to me as we entered the large empty room of floor four. I pulled one out of the bag of holding, and tossed it to him. He caught it, and a twisted stand rose out of the dark wood of the floor. He placed it on top, and tendrils sprang from the wood and wrapped around the large ruby. A red flame ignited in the depths of the ruby, and William placed his hand on the surface of the gem. A projection above the stand, and Canterlot was visible. He zoomed it in on the castle, then on the throne room, where the ponies inside around Celestia started panicking. In one of the walls, a clear reflection of what was causing the ponies to panic was visible. It was a large, fiery purple eye with a slitted pupil, floating in the air. Celestia was laughing her ass off, seemingly having recognized William’s magic.

William shut off the feed, and turned to me, “Palantir?”

I nodded once. “Palantir,” I confirmed.