From the ashes

It was early weekend morning for the small town of Ponyville, shops and food stalls were being set up for the day and ponies were making their way out of their homes. Everypony was enjoying their morning except 3, very bored, fillies who were all inside of a small tree house.

“UGH, I’m sooo bored!” A little orange coated, purple maned pegasus groaned.

“We did everything on our list of potential crusading ideas. Hey Applebloom, do you have any idea?” A white coated, light purple manned unicorn asked.

“Nah I ain’t got a single idea Sweetie bell” The yellow coated, red mane earth pony said with a sigh.

Silence filled the tree house as the 3 young fillies laid about on the floor. Suddenly the One named Sweetie bell shot up with an excited expression. The other two noticed this and looked towards the unicorn filly.

“Hey, what if we go help Zecora make potions and stuff?” Sweetie Bell suggested. The pegasus filly only snickered at this, which got her a confused look from the other 2 fillies.

“Are you sure we should do that after the whole Applebloom cutie marks fiasco last time?” The pegasus asked with a sly smirk.

“Scootaloo! That was one time, besides Zecora forgave me after words, so ah don't think she would mind us helping.” Applebloom said with a huff.

“Whatever you say, anything sounds entertaining right now.” The other fillies nodded in agreement as they rushed to the door of their treehouse. As they trotted down the stairs and ran off, they didn’t see a set of bloodshot eyes watching them from in the tree line.

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No one-3rd person

“So this the place…huh? Swe- Sw-ee-t app- ap…ah screw it.” Cold stone said to himself while looking at a large white gate with a sign on it saying ‘Sweet apple acres’. Passing through the gate, Cold stone walked down a path practically surrounded by apple trees that seemed to stretch for miles.

It took a while to find the farm, considering he had never stepped a hoof in this backwater town and any pony he tried to approach, they would make some excuse and quickly ran off. Cold stone figured rumors about him were spreading like wildfire and having every guard giving him the stink eye made it obvious who was starting them.

‘I can’t believe I actually agreed to be around these annoying pests, even if being here gets me closer to Sombra. Those looks are starting to annoy me.’ Cold stone though as he tightly clenched his teeth.

Cold stone soon reached a tall, red and white barn house at least two or three stories tall and ,after some light admiring, Cold walked up the patio stairs and reached the door. Knocking on it, Cold waited for a moment before a familiar orange mare opened the door.

“Oh, howdy Mr.Stone, what brought ya here this morning?” Applejack asked with a friendly smile. She opened the door the rest of the way and motioned for Cold stone to come in. After some hesitation, Cold obliged and entered through the door, the smell of freshly cooked breakfast filling his nose.

“I thought about that offer you gave me on the train yesterday, and I decided to accept it.” Cold stones said in an almost bored sounding tone.

“Well ain’t that mighty kind of ya Mr.Stone” Despite Cold stones dreary aura, the news of him wanting to work on the farm made Applejack excited. “Well before ah start putin’ ya to work, why don’t you come and sit for breakfast?” Applejack offered, nudging her head towards the kitchen.

“No thanks, I’m not hungry. I came here for work, not to leech off of others. Besides, I’ll ruin your meal.” Cold stone declined, sounding somber at the last part. Cold stone was never one to take something without working for it, any pony who would, he considered them as disgusting lowlifes.

“Nonsense, what kind of mare would ah be if ah let my newest farm hoof starve all day. You're going to need to be extra full if this is your first time on a farm.” Applejack patted cold on the shoulder and guided him to the kitchen, which he reluctantly did.

Once at their destination, Cold stone found that the table was covered in different apple related treats, all of them smelling like heaven itself. Also at the table were two other ponies, one of them was a big stallion with a red coat, orange mane, and a yoke around his neck with a tired expression on his face. The other was an old looking mare with a lime green coat and white mane, around her neck was a polka dot neck bandana with a white frill. Both of them noticed Applejack and cold entered, and the old mare gave Applejack a confused look.

“Applejack, who in the hay did ya bring in?” Granny Smith questioned, pointing a hoof at Cold stone.

“Well Granny, I like to introduce you to our newest farm hoof.” Applejack said.

“Well isn’t that nice. I’d like to welcome ya, ma name is Granny Smith and this big colt over here is ma grandson Big McIntosh, Big Mac for short” Granny Smith introduced, a hoof pointed at Big mac, who started to sway a little.

“What’s wrong with him?” Cold stone said with a raised eyebrow.

“Oh, Big Mac gone and overworked himself again so he ain’t feelin’ the best right now.” Granny said with a worried expression. Big Mac's response was to simply say ‘Eeyup’ and start eating an apple fritter. “Good thing you're here, I mighty appreciate it.” Granny Smith said with an appreciative smile.

“There is no need to thank me miss. I’m just trying to repay for my actions.” Cold stone bowed and turned to leave when Granny Smith spoke up.

“Where do ya think your goin’ sonny? Sit down and eat with us.” Granny said while pointing a hoof at an empty seat at the table.

Cold stone was about to object to the offer again, but a look from the old mare made him realize that it was no use trying to decide for himself. With an audible sigh, Cold walked to the empty seat and sat in it, Applejack doing the same. So the Apple Family and Cold started to eat and the food was really good, it kinda reminded Cold of his mothers cooking. At the sudden memory, Cold stone's eyes slightly widened under his blindfold and he stopped eating, this getting the attention of Applejack.

“Is something wrong Mr. Stone?” Applejack asked with mild worry on her face.

“No, nothing’s wrong, I was just remembering something.” Cold stone explained. Applejack got a knowing look and was about to pry further when Granny Smith interrupted her.

“Say Applejack, have you seen Applebloom anywhere?” Granny smith asked with a confused look.

“I'm sorry, ah forgot to tell you, She and her crusadin’ friends went out to their tree house earlier than usual.” Applejack said.

“If I may ask, who are you talking about?” Cold stone politely asked.

“Applebloom is ma little sister, she and her friends go out and do random things in order to find their cutie marks.” Applejack shook her head and chuckled at the memories of the fillies escapades.

Cold stone nodded and he continued to eat until he finished. Once done, he placed his plate into the sink and went to the front door and walked out. After a while Applejack appeared from the front to find Cold stone waiting for her.

“Well let’s get started.” Applejack said as she started to walk towards an empty patch of land surrounded by a fence. Cold Stone followed her and they soon reached their destination and entered through the front gate. Applejack led Cold to a piece of farm equipment that he had never seen before. It was a sort of a 3d iron triangle, with two curved wooden appendages with metal loops at the end, and rope tied to the loops with a worn out yoke at the other end.

“You look like a strong stallion, so I’ll give ya some moderate work to do today. All ya gotta do is plow this field, plant seeds in the grooves, and cover them up. I’ll help you get set up.” Apple Jack then proceeded to show Cold stone the basics of plowing and helped him get set up.

Cold stone was soon plowing the field with little issue, even Applejack seemed impressed at how Cold caught on so fast. Though in the stallions head, he was comparing his and Applejack's family and how he missed his. Cold stone would be lying if he said that he didn’t feel a little jealous of the farm mare's family, all it reminded him about was how it could have been.

These thoughts started to cloud Cold's mind with pent up frustration as he lost track of time and he began to plow faster, even almost missing some turns when making a new row.

Cold stone only stopped when Applejack stepped in front of him, making Cold stop in his tracks as he panted heavily. Applejack was panting with some sweat going down the side of her face as she gave Cold a slightly irritated expression.

“Ah said, you’re… done now… Mr.Stone.” Applejack panted out. Cold stone was confused, but finally knew where he was when he looked around.

Instead of being in the fields like he expected, He found himself in the middle two rows of apple trees. Looking back, there was practically a mini trench of dirt leading back to a broken fence. Cold Stone looked back to the irritated mare with a slight blush.

“Sorry…I got distracted. I’ll pay for it and leave my position.” Cold stone apologized with some embarrassment behind his tone. Applejack only sighed and fixed her hat as she walked past Cold, making him look back at her.

“There ain’t no need for that. You made a simple mistake and that's that, now let's go back and fix the fence and get back to work.” Applejack said while waving her hoof at herself, indicating for Cold to follow her.

Cold Stone was shocked by the mare's response and how she wasn’t furious about him breaking her property. If he did something like that to Sombra stuff, he would beat Cold to an inch of his life for it. So the blindfold stallion dragged the plow back with him as he and the farm mare walked back in silence.

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Fluttershy-1st person

I wasn’t sure about going through with what Pinkie asked of me. Of course being her friend, I couldn’t just say no, but with how quickly everypony around town was talking about him, I wasn't sure anypony would show up.

Rarity had gone and unintentionally gossiped about Cold stone, the news spread like a horrible plague and got ponies weary about my newest house guest. Sure, he’s not very outgoing and friendly looking, even scary looking at some points in my opinion. But under the cold and callus exterior, was a stallion who hasn’t had any real pony contact, and was being manipulated by an evil stallion for a long time.

I Finally reached Sweet apple acres and walked down its long dirt path. Cold stone said he was going there because applejack was giving him a position and that he wanted to repay her kindness. I soon arrived at Applejack's home and saw her and Cold stone walk past with wood planks and tools.

“Oh Cold, there you are.” I said excitedly, I made the pair stop and look at me as I approached them. “I need you for something real quick, If…you’re not too busy.” I said meekly, looking away a little.

“Sorry, but I need to help Applejack repair the fence I broke. I’ll come with you once I am finished.” Cold stone denied. My ears splayed back as I got a disappointed look on my face. I thought for a moment that Cold stone recoiled from my reaction and before he could speak Applejack took the tools he had on him and chuckled.

“You go along now, I’ll take care of the rest for today so you don’t have to worry. ”Applejack said with a smile as she gave me a knowing look. Cold stone looked like he was going to argue, but a look from Applejack made him quiet as he nodded. I gave a small smile and started to walk with Cold stone behind me back to Sugar Cube corner.

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The three fillies that made up the Cutie mark crusaders walked through the trees of the Everfree forest, the environment looking darker than usual. Applebloom was leading the trio, Sweetie and Scootaloo, the latter having an annoyed look on her face at her friend's lack of direction.

“You know, since you visit Zecora the most, I would think you would know the way!” She angrily shouted. Applebloom stopped walking and looked back at the angry pegasus filly with a hurtful look.

“Hey it’s not ma fault, It’s like the forest changed or something. The usual trail I take doesn't look the same.” Applebloom argued.

“I think Applebloom is right, the forest looks a bit scarier than it usually does” Sweetie Bell fearfully said, looking around in the dark foliage. Scootaloo Rolled her eyes as she started to walk past the others.

“Don’t be a scaredy cat Sweetie bell, look, I’ll get us back on a trail and we’ll walk-”Scootaloo was interrupted by a low growl from the trees. The fillies looked in the direction of the noise with dreadful looks, and were frozen in fear at what they saw.

It was a Manticore, but it looked like a living corpse that tripped in a tar pit. Its rotted muscle and bone were exposed to the open air, Its eyes were missing, and its body was covered in splotches and tentacles of a black substance that stunk of death. The beast and fillies stood in silence for a moment that felt like hours to the fillies. The silence only stopped when the manticore roared and black tendrils appeared from its back. The fillies screamed as they dashed off in the direction they came from, the undead manticore hot on their heels.

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No one- 3rd person

Sugar Cube corner came into view for Flutershy and her stoic companion, the shy mare looked nervous as they got closer.

The looks that went towards the pair made Fluttershy flustered, even if they were mostly directed at Cold, the rare ones she got brought up bad memories of flight school and made her start to shake in fear.

Fluttershy was surprised when she felt Cold stone got close to her and put a hoof around her in a protective manner.

“Don’t let their repulsive faces affect you, look ahead and ignore them.” Cold stone instructed with a hint of anger in his voice, but not directed at her. Fluttershy blushed a little as she did what Cold said to do, and in no time, they both reached the candy looking establishment.

“Um…you can go first…If you want yo” Fluttershy said. Cold hesitated for a moment, but walked to the front door and opened it to find total darkness.

He was confused when his special vision saw multiple pony silhouette’s hiding in the dark for some reason unknown to him. He cautiously moved forward into the darkness, and jumped back in surprise when the lights came of and the hiding ponies sprung out and yelled-

“SURPRISE!!!”

Cold stone quickly saved face and returned to his stoic state as he scanned the room filled with a good amount of ponies. They all had smiles and happy looks on their faces instead of the typical distance and disgust. Pinkie pie suddenly appeared beside Cold Stone with an excited expression while bouncing in place.

“I’m sooo glad you could make it coldy! Did I surprise you?! DID I, DID I, DID I?!” Pinkie pie frantically asked.

“...yes…”Cold stone half lied. Pinkie pie gave a wide grin and bounced off as everypony started to talk, play games, or eat treats. Fluttershy walked past Cold and disappeared into the crowd, leaving a bewildered and confused Cold stone behind.

With heavy hesitation, Cold stone walked through the crowd in search of any feastivities to partake in. The first one he saw was of a pony with their own blind fold on, being spun around, and then trying to pin a fake tail on a picture of a gray pony.

When he approached the group, he asked to play and they agreed, they called this game ‘Pin the tail on the donkey’ and he internally scoffed at the name.

‘So unoriginal, why do I even have to pin the tail on this ass, why the hell did they lose it?” Cold stone internally ranted to himself. The other ponies were confused if they should let Cold stone wear his blindfold, but made the excuse that it was probably see through, saving Cold stone an explanation. The second blindfold was tied around his head and Cold was spun around until he was moderately dizzy.

Cold stone easily walked to the flank of the donkey picture and pinned the tail perfectly on it, and lifting his second blind fold, the other ponies faces were ones of shock. Cold stone felt some pride from their expression, but got out of there quickly and walked over to the snack table.

The treats on the table awed Cold, cakes and cupcakes, a strange red liquid in a bowl, and small tubs of differently colored treats. The last one interested Cold stone the most, when he got close, he saw that most of them were already eaten out of. Even if he couldn’t read well, Cold stone found that they had labels with flavor names like cho-co-late, van-illa, strew-berry, cot-ten-c-andy, and one that wasn’t touched labeled-

‘HOLY SHIT, I LOVE THIS TOWN!’ Cold stone happily shouted to himself as he gave off a childlike excitement. Though Cold stone was basically illiterate, the word was one he took to heart and knew too well. The tub was labeled ‘mint ice cream’ ,better yet it was untouched, and Cold didn’t even look for a utensil and started to scarf down the ice cream like a starved beast.

Ponies nearby gave the mint crazy stallion a weird look and tried to look away from him.

Ever since Cold stone was a small colt, he loved the cold of the equestrian north considering he grew up in it. When his father came back from an expedition he was on, he gave the young colt a small bag of red and white candies that exploded with a cool flavor that slightly burned his tongue. Ever since then, Cold stone became obsessed with mint and anything mint flavored, even to the point it worried his family. When he was brought in by Sombra, he was unfortunately separated from his beloved flavor for decades. Today was the first time he had anything mint related in, technically, over a thousand years.

Cold stone removed his head from the now empty tub of ice cream with a frown, a sudden giggle made him jump in surprise and turn around to find Fluttershy behind him. Cold stone heavily blushed in embarrassment and threw the empty tub into the crowd, hitting somepony in the process, and wiping his mint ice cream covered muzzle with a napkin.

“I-I hope you are enjoying the festivities.” Cold stone said in wavering version of his stoic tone. Fluttershy stopped herself from giggling further and gave Cold a kind smile, which gave Cold stone a weirdly warm feeling.

“I should be asking you that, but I can see you obviously are.” Fluttershy said with another small giggle.

Cold stone was about to damage control for his actions, before distant screams caught his and everypony else's ears. The blindfolded stallion trotted out the front door and his eyes widened under his blindfold at the sight of the marketplace burning and a horrible beast attacking terrorfied ponies.

The un-dead looking beast was clawing at any unlucky ponies, adding to the blood and mauled corpses coated the dirt path. Cold stone quickly ran back inside and grabbed a cake covered knife from the snack table and jumped through the window. Off to the left, he saw the rest of the elements appear and they went head first at the monster, ready to battle with it.

Cold stone Stood on his hind legs and tightened the muscles in them, got into a stance, and shot off at speeds that would impress Rainbow Dash. The rest of the elements were about to jump the undead manticore when a navy blue projectile rocketed past them, making the group jump back and yelp in surprise. The manticore spun around in the direction of the noise when Cold Stone slammed into it, plunging the knife into its forehead, warranting a roar of pain from the beast.

The manticore dug its back legs into the ground and tried to push back Cold stone, who was doing the exact same thing. The elements, plus Fluttershy and pinkie, and other ponies watched in amazement as the two stood their ground, making mini pills of dirt behind their legs. Their expressions became ones of horror when the manticore suddenly swatted Cold stone into a market stall, destroying it in the process. Cold stone recovered quickly and got back onto his hind legs, grunting in pain when he noticed the claw marks on his left side, blood running down his body.

Cold stone was about to charge again when a Rainbow blur slammed the manticore away, closely followed by Twilight, Pinkie Pie, and Applejack. Rarity and Fluttershy came to the standing stallion with worried expressions as Fluttershy started to look at his wound.

“Darling, are you alright? What is with this…thing you’re doing” Rarity frantically questioned. Cold stone pushed past the two mares, much to the dismay of Fluttershy.

“I’m fine…just get out of my way” He coldly stated as he ran off to fight again. Cold stone saw Applejack had a rope tied around the beast's mouth as Rainbow dash and Twilight tried to wear it down with physical and magical blows.

The manticore had enough as it broke the rope and roared, making the three mares jump back and make a perfect opening for Cold stone. As he ran, Cold spotted a piece of broken lumber from a destroyed stall, and grabbed it with his hoof. The manticore was a couple of feet in front of cold, it went to swipe at Cold, but he threw his upper body back and went into a ground slide, slashing the manticore leg in the process. The undead beast fell to the ground as Cold got back up and jumped onto the manticore's back, tightly wrapping his forelegs around its neck.

The beast thrashed around, slamming its back and the stallion on it into stalls and the back of homes. During this, Cold stone was stabbed in the side by a piece of wood that almost made him lose his grip but he endured the pain. Cold stone was pissed at this point, first he made a fool of himself at apple jacks farm and destroyed her fence. Then he was interrupted talking to Fluttershy and thrown and stabbed instead of being around her.

He was unfortunately thrown off by the beast and he slammed into the ground, pushing the piece of wood in his side, deeper in. The beast was about to tear Cold stone apart when it was interrupted by a voice behind it.

“How dare you! You come here and hurt innocent ponies, then hurt my friend as well! You should be ashamed,” Fluttershy gave the beast the fabled stare, but with the lack of actual eyes, the beast roared in the face of the now dreading pegasus. The manticore pounced at Fluttershy, and time seemed to slow to a crawl for Cold stone at the site. His anger flared to its absolute limit and Cold's usual black vision started to turn red as he pounced at the beast with a yell.

“AHHHHH!!” Cold stone bit down onto the rotten flesh of the manticore and dug his hooves into the dirt, making the beast fall to the ground before he reached the frightened mare. The manticore was about to turn around to kill his attacker when it was suddenly lifted into the air, and slammed into the ground behind cold stone, making a dust cloud. Then Cold stone wiped his head to the left and threw the manticore into the rubble of the marketplace.

The injured manticore was about to get back up when the navy blue stallion appeared over him with, what it sensed, a wide eyed death glare. Cold stone then got down and started to beat the beast relentlessly, sending splotches of black goo and blood onto himself and the area around him. The manticore got a few hits in, one hit grazing Colds face, making the blindfold fly off, but no matter how much the manticore tried to fight back, cold ignored the attacks and continued to cave in the beast face.

The manticore soon went limp, but Cold stone continued to punch as hard as he could in his blind rage, cracking his hooves in the process. With one final roar of anger, Cold slammed both hooves into what remained of the manticore's head and the market place went dead silent. Everypony, including Fluttershy, watched the whole scene in horror with a few throwing up at the brutality of it all.

Their horror filled expressions were only fueled more when Cold Stone got back up on his hind legs and looked at the crowd. His body was littered with gashes and cuts oozing with blood, especially the wound on his lower left side where the wood had pierced his skin. But the most eye-catching part was his scarred face, the skin was a light blue with no fur and dark areas of callus skin, and his eyes were milky white and hazy.

Cold stone's mind was foggy as he looked at the horrified crowd in confusion, hadn’t he just saved them, why did they give them that look? He decided to ignore them and check on Fluttershy, who had a mixture of horror and pity at the sight of the injured stallion. Cold stone frowned deeply as he calmly stepped off the manticore and approached Fluttershy.

She slightly flinched when the towering Cold stone stopped in front of her. He suddenly gave a warm smile at the mare, who started to cry for a reason unknown to him. Cold stone reached a hoof out to the crying pegasus and his smile wavered a bit as he started to sway side to side.

“Why don’t we… go back to the party…we…didn’t…”Cold stone slurred as his milky white eyes somehow went even hazer and he fell on his side into the dirt. The last thing he saw before he blacked out was Fluttershy over his body, crying heavily with tears dropping on his scarred face.

‘Why is she crying?’ He thought to himself as his world went black.

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???-3rd person

Deep in the forest, there was a tall and infected looking tree that sat in the middle of a wide opening. Inside, all manner of Everfree creatures scurried around, even some ponies mixed in, all of them had the same undead look with the strange black substance.

Deeper inside, the dark zebra mage had a scowl on their face as they looked at the ceiling of their room. Then they smiled evilly and looked down at a giant iron cauldron with mysterious substances being mixed into the same black goo that its servants had.

“Even if that useless colt destroyed one of my failed experiments, it won’t matter in the end.” The tall black goo-covered zebra got up and walked over to a big, circular hole in the tree that had a far off view of the city of Manehatten.
“They will all cower at my hooves and worship me as their rightful king, for I. AM. ZOMCA !”