Chapter 1 - A mysterious tale
DATE – 1,535 B.C.E. (Before Celestial era)
“Darkness. It’s all that I could see in the blackness of the cold night. All alone. Forced to run. Nowhere to hide. I reached up and grabbed the edge of a rocky ledge, forcing my aching muscles to pull me up to my feet. I grunted in pain as the blade wound stung me like several stingers from several scorpions. Looking around, I discovered my vision was obscured by a red liquid. I rubbed my eyes seeing that I’m in a dense forest. No sign of my crew, no sign of any life except my own. And possibly him, who’s on my trail. Reaching into my cloak, I pulled out some cloth for some makeshift bandages, for now, cleaning myself up a bit; I wrapped the cloth around my eye and head. I’ve been a traveler, a warrior, a scavenger for countless years, going from land to land, I’ve seen a lot in my time. But when I joined him and found myself disagreeing with him and getting on his bad side, all I have seen in my time that faced against me paled in comparison with his wrath. Bodies went flying, flames of fire started as the panicked villagers tried to strike him down. I attacked myself but I was utterly defeated. I managed to escape but I couldn’t let him still be out there. So, when I recovered, I ushered some help to bring the beast down, and I thought I’d found a way to bring him down, but I made a huge mistake and he ended up becoming worse. With no other options, we had to attack him one way or another. Being a legend for 2,000 years or so, terrorizing Oogundaa’s residents, countless falling victim to him, why did I ever decide to serve him when something could’ve happened to me? Traversing the savannas with fire burning in the distance, prides of lions scouring the land for their own benefits and desires to be the most powerful, bodies of civilians laid all around us, some of us didn’t make it to our destination, but I pushed us on, saying that this beast needs to be destroyed once and for all. We don’t know how long we traveled; the sun began to set, painting the sky an eerie orange glow as smoke billowed into the atmosphere. Suddenly we were ambushed by him. He attacked us from out of nowhere, blending into the shadows as we tried to attack him back. Then he leaped out and began biting into the neck of one of my crew members.
“Get out! Run!” I heard him yell, I heard someone attack him with an ax but it didn’t make a dent in the beast. Claws slashed into the other member as the first member screamed in agony. I tripped and saw a huge tannish brown hand coming down toward me, but I managed to recover and kick it away, attacking him once again. I pinned him down for a second, and then a sharp pain pierced the side of my torso. I screamed as I was thrown into a pile of rocks, hurting my head. I had to run; I was more unprepared than I ever thought. I ran as fast as I could on all fours, the savanna now a blur all around me as I ran. I don’t know how long I ran for, but I could’ve sworn I heard him getting closer and closer as I ran, laughter echoed all throughout the savanna as the night settled, a full moon making the savanna all the more eerie. I managed to reach the end of a dense forest and practically flew in there with nothing but pure adrenaline racing through my body; the pain in my torso forgotten. Then all of a sudden, I blacked out.
Now, here I am, wounded, lost, vulnerable, and far from any help. Patching the wound in my torso I walked out into a small clearing. It was still night, or a full day had passed by while I was out. I don’t know. Everything happened so fast. I began to go into a trot, looking over my shoulder every second of the way. Never in my life have I felt so vulnerable and shook up. I heard the growling of animals around me, never heard anything like that before in my life or since then. Some rays of the moon pierced through the trees as I tried to get my bearings. Wait, did I hear laughter again? I jumped as an antelope ran through the woods, I saw some owls flying off, and then everything went silent. Dead. Silent. My heart raced through my chest as I picked up the pace, not seeing a log, I tripped over it and tumbled down a hill, falling flat on my face. I growled in annoyance and picked myself up.
A chill went up my spine.
“Are you lost little puppy?” an ominous voice said, right behind me. I grabbed a rock and threw it in the direction the voice came from and ran off again, the figure laughing as I did so. As I ran, I could hear him getting closer.
“The darkness is all around you, you will die tonight, but if not, all darkness in your life will not make you see the light again,” the deep ominous voice echoed throughout the forest as it let out a laugh twice as loud. I managed to run into a cave, as I write this now, I may not make it out, but if I do, who knows what’ll happen next? I made a huge mistake too many times over, with one even bigger one to go along with it. I may die tonight if I haven’t already. I’m basically going to be a walking corpse if I do make it out.”
PRESENT DAY
Orange hooves caressed the old tattered and worn out scroll as she finished reading. She sighed as the rain pattered against her home, then using her magic to put the scroll aside on top of other scrolls in a similar matter.
“All these scrolls found and I still don’t know who or what wrote them,” she said with a tinge of frustration. Standing up, she put a machete on a shelf where various traps sit close by, she looks around her home; a couple of hoof-made chairs, a table in between them and a bowl and spoon sat on the table. Various knives, potions, belts with pouches on them, some books and more scrolls sat on the shelves next to the door, which was just a big rock in front of it keeping intruders and critters out. Sighing once again, she pulled off her rain cloak, revealing herself to have a sharp orange colored coat, charcoal black hair that went down two-thirds of her neck, and she had bluish eyes. Her horn glowed in a bluish color and she hung her cloak on a clothing line, revealing her tail is about half the length of a normal tail.
What stood out the most is that her flank is blank.
Walking over to the older scrolls she had, she began thinking back on them; she’s been fascinated with unusual creatures and creatures said to be myths, but she’s more open-minded to such things existing. All ponies can think if they exist or not, she doesn’t care, they all seem real and fascinating to her. She’s a traveler that loves collecting old relics and scrolls. She’s relied on her own for quite a while in her life, and if anyone dared to cross her path in the wrong way, they wouldn’t know what hit them. She’s read scrolls of Sirens, Ahools, Arimaspi, and many others, but what’s been most interesting to her lately are the scrolls she’s recently come across.
Turning her attention to the scroll she just put down on top of the other scrolls, only a few are under the ones she just read and found. Recalling she found them on her trip to Oogundaa, hearing many legends and lore surrounding the place, she would possibly gather more info and intel if Oogundaa weren’t so difficult to get around. Fierce predators and civilians now looking out for themselves make Oogundaa a very hostile place to outsiders and these scrolls are so scarce.
Sighing once again, she walked over to her pot, cooking her dinner over the fire; she grabbed a bowl with her magic and a large spoon to scoop her casserole out of the pot and set the pot on another hanger away from the fire. She sat on her couch and began thinking.
“Well Mystic, you’re hardly getting anywhere with as much work and effort you’re trying to get into,” she mumbled to herself. Yes, her name’s Mystic, she’s always decided to call herself that. She blew on her casserole, cooling it down a bit as she used her magic to grab two maps. The first is a map of Equestria; having heard of it but never bothered to go there herself; she never really wanted anypony for herself but only herself for herself. Tossing the first map aside, she looked at the second map; an old map of Oogundaa, it had beautiful landscapes and landmarks at one point in time, but this map is dated before the date she read the scroll on, about 3,200 B.C.E.
“What happened to Oogundaa to become so hostile from this paradise?” she asked herself as she ate her supper, “Who wrote the scrolls? And who is this ‘him’ they keep speaking about? Is he the one who did that to Oogundaa?”
She has no answers for sure but has some ideas and theories. She long desires to find some she has heard he comes out at night and has haunted other lands outside and around Oogundaa. But not much more than that.
Hearing a large snap outside, she perked up, and a second later hears it again. Tossing the map aside and grabbing her machete, she climbed a step ladder and raced to the roof. Now on the roof, as she got pelted by rain, she looked out into the dark forest for a possible intruder or predator. Then she saw a figure trot off into the woods. Eyes widening slightly, she stealthily moved to where the figure went. Clutching her machete in her magic, no fear in her eyes, she went on to find the figure. No one should be around here at night like this in the rain, and she’s lived here long enough to know that. Stopping for a minute, she listened for more movement in the rain, her coat and mane soaked but it didn’t even fudge her. Hearing more movement close by, looking to her right she saw the figure once again. Sneaking closer and determined to bring him/her down, she has a clear view of a somewhat large figure. Then she lunged forward and stabbed the figure in the back with her machete. The figure roared and tried swiping his claws at her but she dodged like a pro, striking him once again some material fell out of a satchel he’s carrying. He threw a punch and a kick at Mystic, she barely dodged them both but then she struck him once again with her machete, throwing a punch to his face and then bucking him into a tree!
The figure quickly got back up, ready for a fight, he lunged at her with great speed, and she tackled him with her strength punching him three times in the muzzle. Then he threw Mystic off of himself and ran off into the woods roaring in pain.
“Come back here!” Mystic shouted as she got back up. She ran after him but he moved so fast she lost sight of him. Groaning in anger she cleaned the remaining blood off her machete and went back to where she fought him. Looking down at the stuff he dropped, she picked it up in a scoop of magic, thinking it might tell her something about what was going on.
Arriving back at her home, she dried herself off, put her machete away and looked at the objects the figure dropped. She saw some was meat, she lightly cringed and tossed it into the fire, and then she saw a medallion. It’s made out of pure gold encrusted in it is a lion painted a deep orange-red. A symbol of a figure?
“What is this?” she asked herself as she looked at it, never seeing anything like it before. Taking her focus off of it, she looked at a parchment of paper she found as well, unfolding it, revealing a map of a familiar land.
A map of Equestria drawn down by pencil or some other writing source. There’s one more piece of paper; unfolding it she recognized it was a map for someone to meet them somewhere in the land of Equestria. Lion medallion, map of Equestria, a meeting place; she pieced it together and realized the figure she fought must’ve been a lion. A rookie maybe?
“I’ve heard of lions,” she muttered, “And if they’re going to Equestria, they must support whoever’s on this medallion.” She looked up at her machete, next to some black pants, a vest, a belt with pouches and a small bag.
Thinking to herself, it’s been a long while since she’s had any real adventures or excitement, but Equestria is a way off and she’d be gone for a long time. She isn’t a savior, she’s a rogue and always will be. She sighed and looked back at her living room again, thinking to just leave things be. But then, she looked back at her stuff. She sighed again.
“I guess I’m going to go out to get to the bottom of this.”
With that in mind, she decides to go out and investigate. She will wait until first light and when the rain calms down, which she thinks will be the next morning. If it didn’t, she’ll leave anyway.
Author's Note
Hello all! And welcome to my first MLP fanfiction! I may be new to MLP writing, but I have written stories in the past and have read quite a bit of fanfic here on the website. I'm an avid fan of MLP and been wanting to do a big story of the series for a long time, I just needed to figure out how to do it. So, to be clear, a LOT of this story was planned out before Season 9 aired, including much later down the line. I'll publish at my own pace and my own timing. I hope you all enjoy it!
And I would greatly appreciate you reading this blog I posted to keep the environment-friendly and a fun atmosphere.
https://www.fimfiction.net/story/437633/nightfall-over-equestria
