The Tale of Angelfire

Tale of Angelfire vol III

Angelfire ran for three days, stopping only for several minutes to rest. By the end of the three days, the memory of what happened to her parents still burning in her mind, she fell at the edge of a dirt road from exhaustion & starvation. She was certain she would die there & lay waiting to join her parents in the after-life but, fate had different plans. A traveling apple farmer passed by on his was home found the dying filly & rushed back to his farm. After hours of caring for the weak unicorn the apple farmer & his wife were relieved to see the filly wake

"Where am I?" a frightened Angelfire asked, "Where's Momma?"

"There there little one," an unfamiliar earth pony cooed, "You're safe."

"But, where are my mom & da..." She trailed off as the memories of her parent's murder flooded her mind. She began to cry uncontrollably as she revisualized every detail of her mother exploding into a shower of crimson blood & the deep cracking of her father's every bone.

"Don't worry dear," The farmer's wife reassured with a voice as silken as her mother's, "We'll take care of you." & they did, Angelfire was taken in by the family of apple farmers for the years to come would work on their farm & grow into a beautiful young unicorn. She worked with her adopted brothers in the vast orchard the family owned harvesting apples every season. Though she was very happy with her new life the memory of her past still haunted her dreams.

Blood splashed across her face as she sliced the last of the foul beasts in halves. Angelfire had stumbled upon a band of daemons at the base of a large mountain. On the other side of it lay the remains of her birth-place, the memories of her parents grew in strength as she drew nearer. Angelfire cleaned herself off and began her ascent, it took her all day to reach the peak & in the gloom of coming twilight she could make out the remains of the village in which she lived near.

Upon reaching the base of the mountain the next morning Angelfire was beginning to question her choice to come, psychic wounds were reopening & armor-clad unicorn was finding it hard to bear such memories in full. Muscling through the mental pain, she reached the charred & aged remains of the town seemingly frozen in time just as she was. She then proceeded to the sight of her former home. The exterior of the stone building was virtually unscathed despite being over one million years old, the stone remained unweathered, the hay roofing intact & unrotted, & despite the dead plants everything was as she remembered. Upon entering the house she saw how right she was, the door's remains lay as they were, the knife where it fell, & dried blood coating the room. At her feet she saw the broken skeleton of her father & all around the room were fragments of her mother's. Holding back tears Angelfire used one of the spells she was taught in Canterlot to find any hoof-prints. All around the room were the marks of the horde responsible for the attack leading away from the house & into the nearby forest.

As Angelfire began to depart she heard a faint whisper, she turned to locate it's source but saw nothing. The whisper repeated growing in volume until it was at an ear splitting level, she recognized the sound as her mother's scream of horror as her husband was torn limb from limb. The mental anguish of the event was to much for Angelfire and she fell to the ground with the crack of metal plates.

It had been years since the apple farmers had taken her in & Angelfire was beginning to have dreams of her parents death & quickly remembered her vow of revenge. She then decided to take up her former quest & would not stop until it was completed. After a tearful goodbye to her family she set off into the world to enact her vengeance. Her first stop took her to a small village near a large lake, she asked the residents if they could give her any aid in her mission but all declined. She then set off to the next town over, a large settlement built over a wide river, she began to question the population there but was greeted with the same response. She kept this pattern for many settlements to come until she came upon a small settlement at the edge of a large forest, she approached a simple-looking pegasus in the town's marketplace.

"Excuse me sir," Angelfire said getting his attention, "I'm looking for a grey earth pony with a white mane, have you seen him?"

"Hmmm, you know what, I have he came by town just a few days ago. Real quiet fellow, he left not a few hours later, headed into the Everfree Forest. But a pretty unicorn like yourself should avoid that place," the pegasus leaned in closer to Angelfire, "Some things in that there forest just ain't natural."

"Thank you so much," Angelfire replied, "I'll take that into consideration."

"Y'all be careful now, ya hear!" the pony called after her. but she was already headed into the forest, finally, she could get her revenge.

When Angelfire woke the sun was setting & she was in lying, instead of her old home, a smouldering wreck. "What happened?" she thought she decided to leave the ruins & followed the tracks she had located into the forest. She quickly discovered her old batch of berry bushes, fond memories began to resurface & she ate several of the sweet fruit. the traveled deeper into the forest keeping er guard the whole time. As the sun set completely she noticed a light glow ahead, she cautiously approached & the light grew to encompass her. She located the source as a small campfire, next to the fire was a simple tent & some crude tools. A hooded figure emerged from the tent & walked towards the fire, it sat at its edge & began to warn its hooves.

"Who are you?" Angelfire demanded emerging from the brush.

The figure jumped in surprise & replied in a male voice, "I could ask you the same question, & whay are you here"

"I am the Paladin of Celestia & you will die unless you give me a reason not to kill you," Angelfire retorted forcefully. Her eyes scanning the pony for any sign of a weapon.

"A paladin!" the pony replied with fear in his voice, "now I didn't do anything wrong, I'm just a simple earth pony." He replied removing his hood. Now seeing his face Angelfire could take in all of his details, he was an earth pony with jet black hair & a snow white mane. There was some familiarity in his eyes, they were a pale while with a snake-like retina, memories of her parent's murderer flooded her thoughts & she realized where she had last seen eyes like that.

"You!" she almost spit the word, "You killed my parents!" she said again almost ready slit his throat.

"Woah now I didn't kill your parents, I have never seen you before in my life!" the now worried pony said trying to defuse the situation.

"I would know those eyes anywhere!" Angelfire was now drawing her blade, "You will pay for your crimes."

"My eyes?" the pony said dumbfounded, then suddenly realized what she meant, "Oh! If your parent's killer had eyes like mine it's because we all have them." he retorted.

"What do you mean 'we'?" Angelfire was now puzzled with what the strange pony was saying.

"We necromancers you crazy paladin!" he said. Angelfire was astonished, she had never heard the phrase before & couldn't make sense of what he meant.

"Necromancers!?!" She said still in shock.

Fin

Tale of Angelfire vol. III by Quintyn Hollis