Captain felt the rhythm of the steed galloping underneath him, his vision was dark, but he knew what was going to happen, for he had already gone through this countless times before. But something was different this time, although the familiarity of the sounds was there, it was louder. There were more than one steed in close proximity.
"Well then, this is new. I hope only that they are ready." Thought Captain, while noticing something else that was wrong, his armor, he was in his old armor. This built a little more panic in him as he processed this, but what stopped in his train of thought was the feeling of being weaker, not as a result of an illness or disability, he felt normal, as he did when he first felt that rhythm of hooves slamming into the ground.
Then the magic hit, he was flung into the air, no control as he braced himself quickly for the inevitable impact. He didn't have to wait long, the earth met his body, tumbling to a stop leaving him prone. He got up, and instinctively walked over to the dead body that he knew that would be there, pulled out the knife that had embedded itself in the chest, and cut his bindings. Taking off the blindfolded bag that was on his head, he turned around to see who the other gaoler was escorting. What he saw left him baffled. He was expecting maybe one more person, but there were three, three, three other criminals who had been riding to Pardoner's Vale with him.
Their gaolers have died in similar way to his, but he was still stunned by the other criminals who have chosen to become inquisitors, there was a sage that has doubled over lying on their side, a ranger who is prone on their back, and a duelist who seems to have recovered quickly and was sitting up.
With the sage seemingly in the most pain, Captain helped them up first, undoing their bindings and pulling off their blindfold. The first thing he noticed was that the person underneath seems too young to even be an inquisitor, the boy must have committed his crime close to his coming of age. The next thing Captain noticed was his eerie silence and slight calm, neutral look, as though he was putting on a mask while collecting his thoughts and trying to keep calm. When he instructed the boy to help the ranger, the boy simply nodded and got right to it.
Captain then moved to the duelist, while undoing their bindings, he noticed a gold ring on one of their fingers, indicating the crime of sumptuousness. Typical, in his life, he saw only a few duelists that had some modesty, but that didn't matter now. When he took the blindfold off, the thing that grabbed Captain's eyes was her unconventional hairstyle, purple hair with the main portion of it flowing down the right side of her head, along with a gold circlet with the additional decorations of feathers. He knew that purple hair was not uncommon, but purple that vibrant with a visible sheen, was not normal for Altarstone Kingdom.
"What's going on? Where are we? Who are you? Why am I?" The fencer immediately started asking.
"You don't remember why you are there?"
"No, I was just sleeping at Sunny's house and… and… oh, oh those are dead bodies."
"Now what the hay is going on here?!" A new voice said. Captain turned around to see that the ranger had gotten up, clutching her arm. She had blonde hair with a long braid, another style of hair people of Altarstone Kingdom don't usually have, and instead of the standard ranger hood, she had a hat that seemed like a farmer's straw hat.
"I'll start explaining things when we get to Pardoner's Vale, since it seems like things are getting even more strange than I first thought."
"Oh no, don't try to stall on me, all I know is that I am far from home, I turned into some sort of creature, and you seem like you know what is going on here."
"Maybe he's right," the sage said, speaking his first words in a hushed tone, but loud enough to be acknowledged,
"This doesn't seem like a safe place to have a little camp to talk." The ranger looked around, noticing the scorch marks and the dead bodies, her expression seemed to soften, before becoming serious again.
"Alright, but I will be expecting some answers."
Pipp’s Perspective
Pipp Petals was sure she was having a nightmare, before this she was just going to a sleepover at Sunny's house with the rest of her friends, just a night of fun and games. Now, she woke up blindfolded, in an unfamiliar body, and now she was walking to some sort of camp with three complete strangers.
She took a look at three creatures, which she guessed she was one too, hoping to gauge exactly who were the characters she was traveling with. The one who helped her up was wearing a set of gray heavy armor that had some cloth that had a large red stripe, with a helmet which covered his face, he seemed like some sort of guard, valorous and stern. The one next to the guard was wearing black robes with purple accents around the edge of the hood and sleeves, they seemed shorter of all of them, from the few words she heard him speak, he must have been similar to the guard, only less experienced. The one walking next to her felt the most familiar to her, she was wearing a set of simple brown leather armor, along with a hat which reminded her of a fashion choice detailed in one of the stories Sunny always told. She seemed to be the most dependable mare, mare? What do they call mares here? That didn't matter now, she just made sure she stuck close.
That is when she noticed the thing on her back, it was a short spear with a short bar near the tip, with a green cloth connecting the two sides of the bar. Looking back at the two in front of them, she saw they had weapons too. The guard had a simple sword and shield, which had some sort of crest in the middle along with a red column, with the boy having a sword with what seemed like a fancy walking stick which branched out into three columns curling into a point upward. Looking at herself, she wondered what she had also. What she was wearing was a tan shirt with purple stripes going down both shoulders with a cape over the right shoulder, along with simple but comfortable boots and gloves. On her hip was a long, thin scabbard, with a hilt that was of decent make and strong material.
Then a thought struck her, why did all of them have weapons, did they know how to use them, what requires them to be carrying weapons? She was never trained with anything, and she guessed that her beginner self defense lessons would not help her if actual combat was going to happen.
The guard suddenly held up his hand, indicating to stop, and then gestured forward. Ahead were two other creatures, short and with gray skin that held tightly to their bones. The guard whispered to the boy next to him, they both drew their weapons, the boy shaking slightly, and without a word, they charged at the two creatures. They quickly closed the gap and struck the things, taking advantage with the creatures reeling, the struck again where then the creatures crumbled to a blackened dust. But when the small skirmish was seemingly over, the boy took his staff, suddenly glowing white, where then three missiles made of light were sent to another of the same creature, this one wearing a hood and carrying a bow, whereupon contact, was killed in the same fashion.
Pipp was horrified, sure there were minor bouts of violence where she came from, but they were usually childish misunderstandings, guard training, or defense classes. Outright arranged murder was nigh unheard of, only in the stories that were passed around before magic was returned. There was that incident when she met all of her friends for the first time, but that was out of panic, and only a few ponies were hurt. Taking a quick glance at the mare beside her, a similar look was on her face, but one of shock and confusion, with a hint of anger.
The guard turned around and signaled for them to follow, continuing forward, they went through a short cavern, coming to a large open area. Suddenly a monster as large as a house came crashing down in front of them, it had large antlers, with red energy coming down its arms ending in large claws, wearing red rags over its shoulders and legs that resembled misshapen pony legs. The same red energy that wrapped itself around its arms came together in front of its skeletal face and suddenly spewed out toward Pipp, making everything fade away into darkness.
Author's Note
This was the first story I actually decided to actually write down. So any constructive criticism would be very much appreciated.
Chapter 2: Pardoner's Vale
Applejack was waking up feeling absolutely horrible, a deep dread with fatigue and slight nausea. What did she do yesterday that warranted this feeling, it was just a normal day of bucking apple trees and general chores around the farm. And not even any of her friends need help with anything, the most she saw of them was Rainbow Dash lazily floating overhead on a cloud. She did have a weird dream though, flying through the air, suddenly hitting the ground, someone removing a hat from…
Applejack's eyes shot open, revealing the area she was currently in, she was on her back in a tent, laying on a mat covered with a blanket.
Propping herself on her elbows, wincing at the pain in her arm, she saw the trio that was with her at the start of this nightmare, their skin now pale, with what seemed like black eyes with blue tears. Looking down at herself, she too had pale skin, along with the other changes that had happened to her, two legs and two arms that ended in blunt claws with no scales.
She also noticed another creature in the tent with them, they wore clothes that were a simple gray along with a hat that had a full circle brim. They noticed Applejack awake and turned to her.
“Ah, thank the gods you're stirring ,” she said,
"Spellmarked, but alive, so the Magebane Rite succeeded. Balaehl herself must have been watching over you when you encountered that beast in the woods, it was pure luck that Stablehand Ben was nearby. You were on death's doorstep when he brought you back to Pardoners Vale. Fortunately, I was able to nurse you back to health." She then knelt down,
"You may call me Herbalist Shenna. I am the Inquisition's healer here." She then handed Applejack a red bottle,
"Here, take this Hearthen Flask, quaff it the next time you are injured." Getting up, Applejack did notice she was feeling better than when she first got here, and then after drinking from the flask, she noticed the pain in her arm had subsided. Before she could say anything, Shenna spoke.
"Perhaps you have questions?" Aj did have some questions, but she held back because she wanted to ask the one in the gray armor some specific ones. She had a feeling that he knew more about what was happening than the rest of them.
"Magebane Rite?" She first asked simply
"Yes the Magebane Rite," the Herbalist started,
"You committed the crime of drunkness, didn't you?" Aj was confused, her, commit a crime? She had not broken any law in her life, let alone… being drunk? Sure, she was able to make the Apple family cider, but she had never gotten drunk off of it. But given, she wasn't in Ponyville anymore, she guessed that whatever magic brought her here, also labeled her as a drunk.
"Perhaps your memory is foggy," the herbalist continued,
"When you became a Marked Inquisitor, you would have undergone a Magebane Rite. You would have drunk an elixir known as Magebane, and spoke cursed words from a forgotten tongue," Applejack was sure she was hearing gibberish, curse? She was never capable with magic.
"Many Inquisitors Initiates make missteps in the ritual, and it doesn't take hold," She was suddenly hopeful about this, but then she remembered that the Herbalist did say the ritual did work on her.
"Unfortunately, the only way to know if the Magebane Rite is successful is for one who has undertaken it, is to die in the presence of magic. Many Inquisitors have fallen in Ossenliegh Valley, never to rise again. You're fortunate in that respect." Applejack took a moment to process all of this, so this has been happening for a long while in this place, how many others were dragged into this. How many failed in this ritual, had any other ponies been through this, was this ritual responsible for her transformation into the body she had now. She then asked her next question.
"Who is this Bala, Bela… who did you say was watching over me?"
"Balaehl, the names of the gods have fallen from our tongues, so it's no surprise to hear a trained mage hunter ask about her." Aj was getting more concerned by the second, she was relieved that she didn't appear suspicious for asking about this, but the words struck her wrong somehow, gods? Mage hunter?
"Balaehl is the god of healing wind." The next question Applejack was going to ask was one that she had been dreading.
"What is the Spellmark?"
"Yes, Spellmarked. You would have died in those woods if not for the Magebane Rite you undertook. This region is polluted with warped magic," warped magic, was this what they called dark magic here?
"But there is a benefit to it: those who have successfully undergone the Magebane Rite can stave off death, becoming Spellmarked instead: not living, not dead, but animated by the mystical warp that infects this region." Aj was feeling the dread she woke with growing even more, bit what the Herbalist said next lifted it a little,
"There is a way to atone yourself of the Spellmarked and return to life, but it requires a rare item know as a Guiltless Shard," So there was a way to rid herself of this dark magic after all,
"The corruption of Mages and their minions has a crystallizing effect on whatever purity remains; these solidified masses are shards of pure innocence," Aj felt the dread grow again, corruption?
"Hunt and devour Mages and their minions if you wish to be atoned and become living again." The words Hunt and Devour made Aj think of what was going to happen. Do the Inquisitors she mentioned hunt these mages, they go through this ritual, does that mean she was one now? If she hunts mages, would she eventually get back home, would her friends forgive her for doing these things?
"Th-, th-, thank you, I think I'll be heading out now."
"Stay in good health, Inquisitor."
Aj started walking out of the tent, too many things were running through her head right now, the weight of all she heard was bearing down on her, she needed somewhere quiet to think. She came to a statue, but she didn’t care about that right now, what she did care about was the stillness and the wide view of the starry sky with the full moon on the horizon.
Aj took this time to just think, to clear her head, and to mentally prepare herself for what was to come.
Avery’s Perspective
Avery woke up groggily, he remembers what happened, but he was definitely not awake enough for this. Getting up, Herbalist Shenna turned to him.
"Oh you're awake now as well," Shenna said,
"Given that the first one who woke up had a few questions, I assume you have a few too."
"Yes, but I should probably talk to the first one that woke up first," Avery replied,
"I have a feeling that we all need to talk things out." With that, Avery started out of the tent after the Herbalist gave him his Hearthen Flask and the parting saying of good health.
Taking his first step outside the tent, he took in the sight of Pardoner's Vale, a settlement that had the necessities of a scouting outpost, at the bottom of the hill that the Herbalist's tent was on there was a forge, right next to it, there was a table with vials and a star shaped sigil engraved on it. Beyond that was another tent with training dummies in front of it, there was also a table with maps on it, with someone in blue armor looking over it.
Heading down the hill, he greeted the blacksmith at the forge.
"Hey there Inquisitor! Glad to see Shenna was able to bring another one back to health," he greeted, reaching out to shake hands,
"I'm Warpsmith Zakiel, but you can call me Zak. I'll be making equipment out of the materials that you get from Mages." Avery made a mental note to ask about that later,
"Alright, nice to meet you." Avery said, shaking Zak's hand
"I was wondering if you saw the person who came out of her earlier?"
"Yes, she walked right past me, past Champion Hera too. You should probably talk to Hera first." Avery simply nodded, and headed forward.
Coming to the person in the blue armor, she raised her hand to greet him,
"Greetings Inquisitor, you're Avery right?" She said,
"That's right."
"I'm Champion Hera, I run things here to the best of my abilities. If you are not going to wait for the rest of the Inquisitors you came here with, I suggest you travel to Ashborne Village. When you do, go down the steps to the west, turn around at the cat, and speak to Runereader Dialidea." She instructed simply,
"Actually I wanted to talk to the Inquisitor who came through here earlier, where did they go?"
"Oh yes, Applejack the ranger, she went up to the Trifaul Idol."
"Got it, thanks."
"Hunt Mages Inquisitor, devour their festering hearts." And with that dismissal, the mental note that he took about the equipment was answered, replacing it with the question of what exactly Hera ment by "devour".
Walking up the steps, he went forward instead of taking the steps that would lead to the statue, leading him to the stables where Stablehand Bren was taking care of what could be best described as a big reindeer.
"Hey Inquisitor, glad to see you alive and breathing."
"Hi, who are you?"
"Call me Stablehand Bren, I take care of the reindeer here, I'm also the one who managed to get all of you here after your encounter with that huge monster." So they were called reindeer,
"Oh, thanks for that."
"Oh no problem, I also found something out there, put it in that chest right over there for safekeeping. Go ahead and take it, have a feeling that you'll get more use out of it than I will." Giving him a nod, Avery moved to open the chest. Inside were two black crystals, with a yellow glow.
Heading back, he took the steps up his time, coming to a large statue, with Applejack sitting next to it, staring up in the sky.
"Hey, you ok?" Avery asked, causing Applejack to jump,
"Oh! Oh, hey, yeah I'm not doing exactly great. How about you?"
"I'm not doing that well either.” there was an awkward silence, sitting down, Avery showed the black crystals to Aj,
"So I found these things, I know it's a bit of a long shot to ask but, do you have any idea what these might be?" Taking a glance at the crystals, Aj picked up one of them and closely inspected it. With an inquisitive look, Aj suddenly felt a resonance in her chest that seemed to connect with the crystal. Taking a chance, she tried crushing it against where the resonance felt the most strong, and it gave way, lifting her nausea, fatigue, and restoring her skin back to normal.
This was a small fix to his whole situation, but it still brought Aj some hope. She looked back at Avery, a look of mild surprise on his face.
"I'm guessing this was a guiltless shard, and what it does is temporarily take away, well, all of this." Avery looked too the remaining guiltless shard,
"Is something on your mind there?"
"It's just, should I give this to another person, or should I use it for myself. On one hand, they are going to need it, but they would probably understand why I used it.
"Makes sense, seeing firsthand what this does, but I would want to help my friends first." Avery debated with himself, the temptation was strong, but he knew he would feel terrible if he did. But he wanted it, so he did, crushing it in the same way that Aj did.
And immediately started thinking over and slightly regretting his decision. Aj simply looked at him, she put her hand on his shoulder, with no words to comfort him, she simply tried distracting him.
"So how was your life before this?" Avery replied surprisingly quick,
"I was just a few months out of highschool, working as a cashier for walmart. Waiting for an acceptance letter to this trade school I wanted to go to."
"What kind of trade school?"
"Baking, I wanted my own little bakery where I could make desserts"
"Own your own business huh? Hmm, reminds me of my work."
"Really, what did you do?"
"I have the family farm, not really related to your dream job, but I can't really imagine doing anything else. There's just something about it that I can find relaxing."
"Family farm, I can only imagine how long ago that farm was first built. Must have a lot of history."
"Eyup, my Granny Smith was there, at the start, even before Ponyville was established."
"Wait Granny Smith? Isn't that a type of apple?"
"Well yes, well know that I think about it, a whole lot of the Apple family is named after apple types."
"Hmm, and Ponyville? I never heard of a place like that."
"Haven't heard of Ponyville, well that's a first, where do you come from?"
"I'm from the US, there were names of town similar to that, but none like that."
"US? I never heard of that either, now where in the world could that be in relation to Equestria?"
"I'm starting to think that we could be from two very different places, with all of these names you make it sound like there are a bunch of small horses all over the place." There was a silence as the two stared at each other.
"Wait, how common are ponies where you came from?"
"Common? Ponies made up a good chunk of the population, I was a pony before I turned into… whatever this is."
"How common are humans there?"
"I have never heard of a human, and from the way you said that, I'm guessing that's what we are right now." There was a stiff silence, each one mulling over this information.
“So how are we going to get through this?”
“I don’t know.”
“Well I guess one way is forward, because just giving up doesn’t look like it will get us home any faster.” Aj didn’t respond, only a look of confliction was on her face.
He knew that moving forward would lead them into more danger, and force them to “devour” whatever these mages were. Why did these mages have to be hunted, how much of a danger is just one of these mages? Would they even be able to take them down?
“I just don’t know how my friends would react,” Aj said,
“What would they think of me if I went through all of this? I just don’t want to disappoint them, not to have them think of me as some monster.” Avery didn’t want to say what he thought, he knew that it couldn’t be as simple as that. But he couldn’t come up with anything else to say.
“Well, it's better to ask for forgiveness than permission right?”
