I slowly woke up to the faint sound of other ponies hooves trotting against the ground outside and the shifting of gear and armor. I slowly rose from my bed and walked out into the cold morning air. It had only been minutes after the sun had come up over the horizon and Derek was outside just pacing around. There was no pony else out and he didn't have his full gear on. Just the leg plating. And some of the under armor.
" what are you doing?" I asked him. He looked over to me surprised at first but then he smiled.
" oh, hey crimson... I didn't think anypony else would get up this early." He said. " I woke up awhile ago and I couldn't fall back to sleep so I'm just going to trot around out here until the others get up."
" you bored or something?" I asked.
" uh yeah... Really freaking bored." He said. He seemed a bit finicky and energized like he had to go to the bathroom or something.
" do you need to go for a run or something?" I asked him.
" yeah I think a run would be good." He said. Without hesitation he bolted off and started running down the road. He disappeared over the small hill but soon lurched back over and ran around the camp. He repeated this track for a while while I found an interest in watching him. It wasn't long before he stopped back at the camp and out of breath, but still finicky. I don't think it's possible to be tired and energized like he is... But I guess it's not.
" did that help?" I asked him.
" I'm really tired now... But still itching to go and do something." He said.
" are you sure you're alright?" I asked. " what did you do last night?" I asked.
" nothing..." He said. " I sat down at the fire, ate a sandwich, we told stories, then I went to bed... Woke up awhile ago feeling really bored and I couldn't go back to sleep... Now I feel like I just drank three coffee's."
" I think you just need to sit down and take a few deep breaths." I said.
" alright." He said sitting down. He closed his eyes and started taking a few quick breaths but they soon grew deeper and longer. He almost seemed calm now. " hey it works... Thanks." He said smiling.
" I put up with shit all the time... How do you think I deal with it." I said smiling at him. " c'mon lets get some breakfast." I said " and lets skip the coffee this morning." He smiled at the joke and we walked over to the cart and got some breakfast. I walked over and pulled up the blue tarp. And we were both greater with an unexpected sight. I couldn't help but feel like I was a fool for not sensing this ahead of time.
Laying under the blue tarp were two ponies. A purple unicorn and an orange cowgirl... Twilight and applejack. They were sleeping up against the boxes of preserved food huddled together with a blanket over them. They seemed peaceful and it surprises me that they slept through the harsh winter cold. Twilight probably used some kind of magic to help... Dammit twilight.
" uhhhhh..." Sputtered Derek.
" ssshhhh." I said keeping him quiet. I threw the tarp off of them and gave them a disappointed look. But it didn't do ,ugh good with them being asleep. I looked at them and the blanket over them is probably what's keeping them warm. I grabbed the blanket and ripped it off from on top of them. It wasn't long before the chilling winter air reached the, and they began to shiver. and slowly and quietly twilight opened her eyes and looked around lazily resting her head on applejack. "hey there sleepy head... have a good rest?" i asked jokingly.
"mmhmm..." she just said without thinking. soon her eyes shot open as she had realised her situation. "oh shit..." she said.
"oh shit is right." i said getting more angry now that twilight would stow away like this.
"huh... what's going on." asked applejack as she too slowly woke up from her sleep and looked around. she looked at twilight's nervous face and started to wake up a bit more. "what's the matter twi?" she asked. she turned around and followed twilight's eyes just to face me and my red hot gaze of disappointment. "ah shit." she said as she became startled and pressed backwards against twi. i glared at them and derek soon shared the same look of disappointment with me.
"there better be a really good reason why you're in there after i told you to stay in ponyville." i said looking at them.
"crimson we can explain." said twilight. i let out a deep sigh.
"then explain." i said looking at them.
"we didn't want ya'll ta get hurt." said applejack.
"thats a poor explanation." i said.
"we didn't want you to go..." said twilight. "i told applejack and the others what you told me and i couldn't handle not seeing you ever again if this demon kills you." said twi. derek looked at me with a strange face. "i couldn't live knowing that would be the last time i might see you."
"ah tried to stop her." said applejack. "when she refused i came with her." i stopped glaring at them and stood up straight. i still bore down at them with a look of disappointment that i could tell was cutting into their hearts.
"how did you get here?" i asked.
"last night when you sent the letter... i traced it and teleported me and applejack here... then we hid under the wagon tarp." said twilight. it was meagerly impressive of her to go through the effort to find me. i looked down at them and they looked down like children who had been punished for doing something bad. derek looked at me with anticipation on what i'll say. i let out a deep sigh which seemed to carry exponential weight as it foreshadowed my response.
"you two better get some food... it's a long trip." i said. the response seemed to perk them up excitedly and they got off of the wagon and hugged me.
"thank you crimson." said twilight smiling and hugging my leg.
"don't thank me yet." i said. "you're in this till the end now... no matter how badly it goes, understand." i said.
"it can't go that bad." said applejack.
"you might find comfort now that we're still in equestria... but the outside world is not an easy place to tread. you have until we reach the border to decide if you want to continue or not... after that there's no going back." i said.
"how long until we get to the border?" asked twilight as she get us all some food. i saw that mystee ezekiel and nightflame were now emerging from their tents to see us. they were also quite surprised at the sight of our new groupies. i also noticed black hoof making his way outside too with a mugish look that changed to suspicion at the sight of twilight and applejack.
"we're going to travel by train when we get to the next town." i said. "i would teleport us but the poison of that demon left me shaken and it might be a bit longer until i recover."
"uhhh..." said mystee walking over and seeing twilight and applejack. twilight just smiled and waved and applejack tipped her hat.
"they caught up to us last night and stowed away in the cart... their coming with us." i said.
"how did they do that?" asked black hoof quietly.
"magic or something." i said. i looked around and everypony was now here. "alright i think we should pack up and head out... it'll be good to head out early so we can stop at the town and have time to catch a train." i said.
"sounds good." said ezekiel.
"well lets get to it." said derek perking up. his attitude seemed to perk everypony up with him. we went around and started packing up and getting ready. once everything was packed and the tents put away and everypony had their gear ready we sat down at the firepit and had some quick breakfast. when the food was done we set up and started carrying on. i pulled the wagon and i did it with ease. we left the campfire behind for the future use of anypony else.
we trotted down the road for a little and it was rather silent. once again the snowy and dead forest was depressing sight. and the clear blue skies combined with the shining sun only seemed to contradict each other. the wet and melting snow glistened in the sunlight and it was almost blinding. the air was crisp and there would occasionally be a cold breeze. the cool breeze would hit against us and cut like a knife. i stood unimpressed by the cold while the others seemed the same too. except for twilight and applejack who i could see were freezing in their own fur. they didn't have anything on except for applejack who had her hat... but that won't help.
"you girls cold." i asked walking up to them with the cart. i looked at them and they stared back at me. twilight wanted to tell me that it's fine but she knew i could tell they were freezing.
"yeah... i didn't think this out too much." she said.
"here..." i said using my magic to heat the air around them and keep a barrier of warmth around their bodies like i did with dash the other day. "that will keep you warm." i said. it did, they soon stopped shivering and seemed to relax in the comforting warmth.
"whew... that's much better... thanks sugarcube." said applejack smiling at me.
"we better get you two some gear... the mountains past the border of equestria or cold and unfeeling. not even i could keep you from the cold." i said. We continued to walk down the path and kept heading to the small town. It wasn't in sight yet but it was close. It would take us at least another hour to reach. So we still had a bit of walking to do. I hope we get there soon because the silence around us is becoming very unbearable.
No pony was talking, everyone was silent. There weren't any birds or animals to rustle the bushes or sing from the trees. It was the silent, cold, and lonely dead of winter. The cold breeze was silent and passed us without notice. The sky was clear and the sun shone down from up above. I just looked up and seemed to stare into the sun. It didn't hurt my eyes and I wasn't going blind. I just looked up at it and it seemed to stare back at me.
I felt as if celestia was looking at me now through the sun and wishing me luck. If she was looking down at me now I'm sure it would be with worrying eyes but still with a smile on her face. A smile of encouragement and determination. I'm not sure if she is but I pictured that smile of hers in my head anyway and it made me smile. I also couldn't help but remember our kiss... It was the most suddenly romantic thing I've ever witnessed. It was scary at first... But then it felt like everything was alright... Like it was meant to happen. Who knows, maybe it was meant to happen.
" ugh..." Said mystee. " I hope we get there soon... This forest is depressing." It's about time some pony broke the silence. It felt good to hear another voice. It caused me to stop daydreaming and I looked away from the sun to look in on the conversation.
" I don't know..." Said black hoof. " I kind of like it... It's sort of interesting... How these trees and plants die every winter but come back to life in the spring." He said looking over to me and winking.
" trees don't die in the winter." I said. " they hide... They keep low and don't show their beautiful leaves, flowers and fruit until spring when everything is nicer and all the ponies are out to see them." I said.
" that's pretty deep..." Said Derek.
" it's not as deep as most things... But yes I suppose it is." I said. I looked back I front of the road and there was a small hill coming up. We reached the hill and wasn't long until we reached the top. I looked down over the hilltop and saw the town. It was hiding over the hill and rested down below surrounded by the dead forest. It almost looked like ponyville. I could even see the train station from here
"Finally..." Said Nightflame. " about time we got here."
" alright... So we need to pack up the food and get tickets." Said twilight as we started walking down the hill. She had already began using her planning skills and other abilities to think up an organized plan of approach and attack. " everypony has money right?" Asked twilight. Everypony nodded and spoke in agreement, except for me.
" uhh..." I said.
" don't worry crimson." Said Derek. " we went back to your fixed up house and saw you even fixed up your chest of gold... We took your coin pouch and just ran it through." He said... Oh god I could have hundreds of thousands of bits in here. Especially with my coin pouches infinite storage. " the pouch is in your bags."
I opened up my bag and checked until I found my coin pouch. It was pure white with a golden cross on it for my cutie mark. I grabbed it and held it open to see how much money I had... And there was much money. I had to guess with my incredible sense of... Well, everything, that there was well over 200,000 bits in here... And that was just an estimate. This might last me a long time in Equestria but in other countries where the currency is broken into copper, silver and gold, I might be the single richest pony out there.
" you have enough in there." Said Nightflame laughing at my surprised face.
" I might have enough here to buy a small island... Or a huge castle." I said.
" it can't be that much." Said applejack.
" I'd believe that." Said twilight. " after all your bag does expand infinitely own the inside."
" hey look we're here." Said mystee pointing out the town in front of us that if the conversation had continued, we would have walked right through with no idea. We walked into the small town and started looking around. There were ponies all around walking around and smiling. They looked at us with awe and surprise... And a little bit of confusion. I could feel most of the eyes were fixed on me and Derek since we stood out the most. He was wearing dragon bone armor with a dragons skull as the helmet. And I... Well I was being myself.
I looked up around the houses and spotted a clock tower off in the distance. It wasn't even close to noon yet. It was only quarter of ten and we were already here. We have time and a half to get train tickets. So now might be a good time to go around and see if we can't get anything else we need. I walked forward with the cart and took lead. The others followed me and I stopped us inside of a park near a tree. I pulled the carts harness off of me and stretched out my shoulders and legs. We all gathered around.
" alright so we have plenty of time before the day ends." I said to them all. " I think we should go to the station and buy tickets for a later train then go around and see if we can't find any supplies for the trip."
" sound alike a plan." Said applejack.
" sure, why not." Said mystee.
" alright let's go." I said. Me and Ezekiel switched positions and he pulled the cart now. We walked over to the train station and we walked inside. Ezekiel left the cart outside and we all walked in. We walked to the middle of the room and I spotted the train schedule. I went over it and looked down the list. I smiled when I say a train leaving from here and going straight to manehattan. It leaves at four which gives us plenty of time.
" there we'll get the four o'clock train to manehattan." I said the others just smiled in agreement and we went to the front seat to buy our tickets. I got mine first and waited outside while the others quickly joined me after.
" alright then." Said mystee. " now what?"
" I guess we can just leave the cart here and split up." Said Derek.
" what if some pony steals our stuff?" Asked Nightflame.
" I'll take care of that." Said twilight. She looked over towards the cart and her horn started glowing a violet light. The cart shone the same bright purple and there was a bright flash. The cart seemed to radiate with energy but then faded. I could feel the magic surrounding it however. She had put a shield up so it would be safe. " there... Now no pony can touch it unless I break the shield."
" alright then..." I said. " let's split up... We'll all meet back here at 3:30 and catch the train." I said smiling. The others smiled and spoke in a agreement. And so we all split up. Mystee, Ezekiel, and Derek all went together on one direction and twilight and applejack went another way. Black hoof trotted away in his own direction and Nightflame just launched himself into the air and flew off. I stood there and watched them all go. I soon did like Nightflame and fired myself right into the air.
The force of my lift off caused the train platform to crack under me and glow with light shining through the cracks. They quickly faded but I was already past the few clouds straggling in the sky. I reached the sky and floated there for a bit. I took a deep breath and let my large glowing wings flap slowly beside me. It has been a while since I've flown... I have no idea why I don't use my wings as much as I should. I guess I just like to be well grounded and down to earth... That could be a reason, I think.
I looked down over the small town and tried to spot out anything that interested me. To be honest there really isn't anything i need. I have my own weapons and armor. I don't have to eat and drink as often as others. I can cure all diseases and heal any injury. I'm pretty much built to survive. Don't get cold or hot... My body stays at a perfect temperature and keeps me comfortable, but I can still feel the slight changes in the temperature. Honestly there isn't much to do when your at my level.
Bit suddenly I hear a faint scream and a cry for help. Without looking I followed my ears down to a lower height and followed the sound. I floated above the rooftops now and looked down in an alleyway beneath me. There was a mare who was getting mugged. The thief was holding her purse and a knife to her. I looked around to see if anypony else would help but this wasn't a very good neighborhood. I let out a deep sigh and decided to take care of this myself.
I flew over and floated above the mugger. I clutched my wings together and dropped to the ground. I landed right on top of the mugger and he let out a grunt of surprise and then started moaning in pain. As I fell on him he let go of the mares purse and it spun in the air for a second. I caught it before it fell to the ground and smiled. I stepped off the mugger and kicked him over to the side. He grunted in pain and I looked at the mare.
" here you go ma'am." I said smiling. She looked at me with a strange look. It was shock, surprise, and utter joy. She was blushing and she smiled back. I handed the bag over to her and she grabbed it.
" oh thank you so much mr. Crimson." She said. I guess she knows me. " I wasn't aware we had a famous hero in town today." She said.
" I'm just passing through." I said smiling.
" we'll you have my gratitude... If you hadn't stopped that robber, who knows what he would have done with me." She said. She was acting a bit clingy and seemed drowned in love as she was blushing more and batting her eyelashes at me. She was acting like any other kind of fan would.
" it was no problem... Stay safe now." I said before rocketing back into the air. As I flew up she smiled and waved from below until I was out of sight. Once I was comfortably back in the air I stopped and just hovered for a bit. I flew over to a cloud and sat down on it. I let out a deep sigh and took a few large breaths. That was fun, but that mare was all over me... I need to watch out for that. Although I can't help worry that being as big as I am, I probably just broke that muggers spine when I landed on him... Oh well.
I sat over by the edge of the cloud in a perch like position like most ponies sit. I had my flank resting on the ground but stood up tall holding my upper half up with my front hooves. I looked down over the small town and the more I looked the more It reminded me of ponyville. I used my hearing to focus in on the town and see if there was any trouble I could help with. As I listened I couldn't help but overhear that the town was buzzing about my arrival. I keep forgetting about how famous I am, it's almost scary. Then again if you think about it there's no reason I shouldn't be as renown as I am... I'm not bragging but I think I deserve the title I have.
I did single out a hoof full of crimson followers walking around town looking like they were searching for trouble, but I think that they were looking for me. I sat on the cloud and looked around. My eyes rested on the clock tower. It had only been half an hour since I last looked at it. It wasn't even 11 yet. i let out a sigh of boredom and laid down on the cloud with my head close to the edge. i started looking off into the distance and just started thinking.
i started thinking about why i always get into these kinds of situations. then i thought that it was because of who i am. then i thought that it was just the universe trying to keep me entertained. after all i do somewhat enjoy my adventures, and they're the only things i have to keep me occupied and busy. and come to think about it, i'm going to be in for a real challenge with this boredom thing while also being immortal... i'm going to be bored for a long time. i think i'm starting to understand how celestia feels. though i'm not nearly at her point... i've got a family and friends that are always with me. she has friends and family, but they live away from her and her friends don't really live close by either.
she just stays up there in that castle every day and sits on her throne doing work. i think when the time comes i'll have to see her about how she controls her boredom. and after i got over the future boredom issue i soon came to realization of a much greater issue... my new immortal life is going to be so depressing. in like 60 years or so when my friends and dash are all old and feeble i'm still going to be young and agile. i'm literally going to watch everyone i love die before my eyes. even my kids are going to die before me... then their kids, and theirs. that's going to be depressing. i'm certain that after so much death i'm going to snap and become an emotionless husk of a pony.
i bet it would be cool for my future generation. bring you're father to work day... nah fuck that, i'm going to bring my immortal great great grandfather over to tell everypony about how much ass i kick every day. i started to chuckle lightly at the joke. i'm going to have to find some way to travel across the plains of nirvana just to see my friends and family. i'm sure i'll find a way, and if i don't... i'll make a way. in light of that thought i started to perk up and smile a bit knowing that there was a real chance i could keep on visiting my friends and family in heaven forever.
seeing as i was starting to get tired and i was close to drifting off to sleep i lifted myself up and laid down with my head up like a dog would lay down. head up and hooves under me. i let out a big yawn and cracked my neck back and forth. i looked over at the clock tower off in the distance and it was close to twelve. it had been a while since i laid down. i have to admit it was a pretty good nap, and it did bring some things to light in my mind. i reached my back hoof up and scratched myself behind the ear like a dog and it felt pretty good. when i put my hoof back down my stomach growled at me... i guess i'm hungry.
i don't really feel hungry, but if my stomach tells me i'm hungry then who am i to question my own stomach. i stretched my wings out and got ready to fly. before i took off i looked down at the town searching for a good place to eat. i singled out a small pub that looked pretty good. it wasn't some kind of huge fancy restaurant with exotic cuisine. just a small local pub and bar. i don't mind that, after all small local stores usually have the best food. and by that i mean the greasiest and most unhealthy food you could find in the town. though with the pony diet i don't think there's going to be much grease... but still... i bet the food there is good.
also before i took off i started to think about my interactions i would have while i'm down there. no doubt i'll attract a crowd and probably the crimson order. i'm sure the mare there will try and offer me free food or something. there will most likely be a lot of kissing up and boot licking. i think the best of my qualities is that i don't let the fame really get to my head. it sometimes goes there, but not for long. i let out a small sigh and shrugged. i took off and slowly flew over to the pub.
i flapped my wings which seemed to leave behind small sparkling white lights that fell a few feet like snow and disappeared. i flew over and some of the ponies on the ground had noticed me already and looked up smiling. i get close to the ground and dodged a few houses before i came close to the pub on the corner. i slowed down and gently touched down on the ground. i folded my wings up by my side and walked over to the pub. i walked into the pub and looked around. it looked like an old generic pub they used to show on really old TV shows.
back on earth technology might have skyrocketed and new things were being created, but TV, music media, and games didn't change much. there were reality shows, sitcoms, cartoons, and all that. movies were made like they always are. and music never changes, rock and roll, pop, metal, jazz, blues, all still the same. walking into this pub was like a blast from the past. i slowly walked over to one of the tables and unfortunately there was no way i would fit in one of the booths. i walked over to the bar counter which still didn't do much good. i managed to sit on a chair but it was an awkward and tight fit. i looked over to see the waitress in her uniform walk over with a pencil and paper and she smiled at me.
"hello sir..." she said in a perky and upright voice. "what can i get you today." she seemed to be the only pony who was level headed about meeting me. the other ponies in the pub looked over at me with shock and surprise. they all smiled at me. they tried not to look and acted like they were just eating and talking with friends but i noticed how they would often glance over at me. before i could answer the waitress there was a bright flash. thinking it was some kind of magic i looked over but it was just somepony with a camera... great, now i've got a paparazzi on my tail.
"uhm... i'll just get a daffodil sandwich and a root beer." i said.
"will that be all?" she asked. again there was another flash as the pony with the camera took another picture. it didn't bother me too much since my eyes didn't need to adjust to the light but it was still oddly noticeable. the waitress just blinked a few times after the flash and lost her smile, but once her eyes adjusted she was good and smiled again.
"yeah... thank you." i said with a smile.
"no problem..." she said. "your food will be done and out in a few minutes mister crimson." she said. i guess she does know who i am. i watched her walk away and there was another flash, followed by another. i looked over to see even more ponies with camera's, at least six of them. and outside of the pub door there was , just as i thought, a crowd of ponies. i think i know how fluttershy felt when photo finish made her a famous model. i remember that adventure. she hid at my house for almost a week ,i didn't mind her staying, she was a very humble guest. then again that is something i would expect from a pony like fluttershy.
i sat there and waited for my food and the paparazzi kept snapping photo's. what is wrong with them, i have my back turned and i haven't moved. i guess they feel like they need at least 7 photos of me sitting like this before they can sleep tonight. at least nopony was directly bothering me, but i wouldn't hold my breath. so i sat there and thought about some of the crazy adventures i used to have before all of this. or the time rarity got kidnapped by diamond dogs... that was a crazy adventure. it took me an hour to finally scrub all the dirt out of my coat and mane.
it wasn't long until the waitress came back over and placed a plate with a large sandwich on it and a glass of root beer. she still had the same smile on her face like before. i snapped out of my trance and pulled myself back to consciousness. the paparazzi had grown larger since then and there were camera's at every angle now. it was a bit awkward sitting here like this and watching these ponies just drool over me. the only pony who wasn't was the waitress who seemed to keep me from freaking out over the others.
"here's you're order mr. crimson." she said. "enjoy." with that she walked away to go check on the other ponies and take their orders. again my stomach growled at me but it wasn't very audible over the loud chattering of the crowd outside of the pub. even though they weren't cheering, yelling my name, or bombarding me with question they talked amongst themselves and that was still pretty loud on it's own. i grabbed the glass of ice cold root beer and brought it to my lips. i downed the whole thing, ice and all. i grabbed the sandwich and took a huge bite from it. with the size comparison between me and a regular pony this sandwich was much smaller and one bit was enough to take out at least half of it.
i didn't want to turn over to face the crowd but somehow i could see everything through my peripheral vision. i could somehow sense, and see everything behind me. i saw a few armored ponies tunnel through the crowd and walk into the pub. they all had badges from the crimson order. they didn't really need to look around to find me. i'm not just some other pony anymore. i'm the huge shiny giant with the flowing mane and brightly glowing armor... i kind of stick out. they wasted no time in walking over and kneeling behind me. i finished chewing the first half of my sandwich and swallowed it. i turned over and stood up before them.
"forgive us king crimson." the leader looking one of the group said. they had their weapons drawn and took a knee like knights before their king. i guess that would be how they see it. " we've come seeking you." he said.
"why do i need to forgive you." i said. i could feel them tense up. "you've done nothing wrong." i said making them relax in relief, they must have thought i was angry with them or something. "you haven't bothered or annoyed me, unlike the fifty or so ponies out there taking about 20 pictures of the back of my head... not even, the back of my hood." i said as i pointed out the hood i was wearing. i also still had my glowing metal mask on that hid my face, they couldn't even get my face.
"we have come seeking you for aid." said the knight. " you're presence here is a blessing to this town, and you have arrived just in time to help us, if you would." he said acting like he isn't asking to much.
"alright first cut the sir shit." i said. "my name is crimson... not sir... and get off the floor, stand up like the stallions you are." i said not sparing any pleasantries and being upright with them. they all seemed confused and stood up on all fours. "now what is it you need help with?" i asked.
"there is a camp of bandits just outside of the town..." he said. "we had gone to drive them out before but they are stronger than we thought... and we don't have enough warriors." he said. "we would ask that you help us be rid of the bandits."
"have they bothered anypony?" i asked making sure that it isn't just some random encampment.
"they have been here for three months and have raided and harassed the town many times..." he said.
"how far is the camp?" i asked. "i have a train to catch at four." they seemed to be confused by my casual behavior and it seemed awkward to them that i'm being to up front about this. to think of it, these people look at me as some kind of god, king or something. even though i am a god now, they don't know this. it would be like if god talked to moses and was all like, "yo moses... wassup dude... can you do me a solid and go free the jews from pharaoh... cool thanks."... that shouldn't happen. so you can probably understand how they must feel now.
"uhm... it's only a few minutes into the forest just south of here." he said. i looked at him and the other followers of the crimson order. they seemed to keep their heads down almost like punished children but did it out of a false sense of respect towards me. i just stared at them for a second and let some tension build up.
"alright..." i said. "i'll help."
"thank you si... i mean, crimson." said the leader. "thank you crimson blast... please follow us we'll take you to the camp." they turned and started walking out of the pub. i quickly ate up the rest of my sandwich and dropped ten or so bits on the counter and followed them. we left the pub and walked out onto the streets. we pushed through the crowd. or i should say they pushed through the crowd. i just phased right through all the ponies like a ghost which i thought was pretty cool, that could really come in handy.
once we were clear of the crowd we walked calmly down the street and past the other buildings, shops, and ponies. wo sort of traveled in a cluster with no real formation. i stayed behind them but they spread out everywhere and we silently walked down the street. i looked around at the smiling ponies who could tell that we were off to go do something heroic and brave. and before i knew it we were at the south edge of the town and on the road out of town and into the dead winter forest. i followed them down the trail.
i kept behind them quietly looking around trying to see if i could spot the camp from here without any special aid but it was no use. there wasn't any noise and we all quietly and awkwardly marched down the dirt road. eventually i got a bit distracted but i got pulled back when i could see a few large tents and ponies in armor just through the dead tree's. it wasn't easy and i had to adjust my eyesight to zoom in on them. and just up ahead the road was a small path carved into the winter snow that cut through the tree's there wasn't anypony guarding the front so i guess we could just walk right in. we walked over to it and they gathered around the path and i soon stopped at it too.
"this is it crimson blast." said the leader gesturing to the path. "i'm sure you'll make quick work out of the bandits. i didn't intend on just blowing the whole place up in one fell swoop but i was hoping to just scare them away enough to never come back.
"alright i can handle this." i said. i turned to the side and started walking down the snowy path. i passed by a few trees and i could start to see the bandit camp more easily. soon i got in a straight away and the crimson followers were gone and out of sight and it was just me in front of the camp. the camp was just a series of large tents. they were placed all around with a huge fancy looking one in the middle towards the back. there was a large clearing in the middle were bandits were gathered around and they had a huge roaring fire going to keep the camp warm. i walked over and made my way to the camp.
i slowly and quietly walked to the front of the camp. they had large log posts up as a sort of fence and they were spiked at the top. not sure what good that does but it does look intimidating... to regular ponies. i walked past the wooden fence and into the camp. the camp was admirably large, i can see how the followers would have had trouble with this. as i kept walking into the center the bandits caught wind of me and just looked at me in confusion. but it didn't take them too long to figure out who i was and they drew their weapons and held them tight. archers pulled their arrows back in their bow and aimed for me. i just walked a bit forward and stood close by the campfire and stopped.
i looked around at all the bandit faces and armored ponies who glared at me with resentment, anger, and fear. there was much more fear then they would have liked to admit. they tried to hide it but i could smell it... they wreaked of fear and cowardice. soon enough the fire in front of me died down to just a pile of hot cinders. but it fired back up as a torrent of blue fire which caught my attention. the pillar of blue fire died down to reveal a large armored unicorn. he had white fur and his hair looked like the blue fire. the armor he wore took on the design of his alleged element and looked like it was metalized fire. he looked at me with his dark blue eyes.
"the mighty hero king, crimson blast." he said. " i was waiting for the day you would come find my camp on you're own." he had a dark and sadistic voice. like he would laugh at you're misery and find joy in the suffering of others.
" i demand that you and you're bandits leave this place and never come back." i said. "go and there will be no trouble... return... and perish." he looked at me and started laughing. i just looked back at him. his laughter was evil and sickening. it seemed to bring up the morale of the other bandits knowing that their leader is so confident in killing me.
"don't think for a second that i haven't prepared for this." he said. " i've had all of my bandits weapons enhanced so that you're magic cannot affect us... there is nothing you have now... and we have you surrounded." he said. that seems like a very unlikely plan... but he wasn't lying when he said their weapons were enhanced, i could sense the energy radiating off of all their weapons.
"so you think you have it all figured out huh?" i said looking at him and staying calm.
"i've got all the angles covered." he said. "with you dead i will be the greatest power in equestria... and all of the world." he started chuckling to himself again. i just sat there and remained un amused. "soon all will bow to the firehawk..." he said. firehawk huh... interesting nickname.
"since you've obviously prepared for this fight better than i have i'll let you make the first shot." i said. "go ahead..."
"i intended to anyway." he said smiling. he glared and me and i glared back. "archers... fire." he shouted out. soon a volley of arrows flew at me from every angle and hit me on every inch of my body. since my armor is made from my magic the arrows just passed right through, he wasn't lying. it hurt like a son of a bitch, i wanted to yell out but i couldn't. i looked like an arrow porcupine. soon the pain faded away and my body fell to the ground bleeding. except i was still standing and looking at my fallen body. i guess this was my soul out of my body. i looked around and nopony noticed i was standing, well because i was a soul... so this is what it's like to be dead.
i looked over at the firehawk and he was laughing his ass off. his bandits were cheering loudly and they began to celebrate. before i could watch them celebrate a black fog surrounded me and i couldn't see past it. soon the sound of the bandit camp quickly faded away and all was silent. i stood there and looked around and after a few more seconds of silence the fog started to quickly drift away. i looked around at my new surroundings and i was in purgatory now. this means i was definitely dead... but it's alright i can come back.
i looked around at the planes of purgatory and it was just like the combination of heaven and hell. there was no sky, only infinite blackness and disappointment. the ground was a weird sandy, but solid texture that was wavy and very hilly. the sand was a lightish grey that contrasted from the black sky. there were strange looking dead tree's every now and then and a few mountains and large hills here and there. i could see the occasional souls walking through. some human, and some were ponies. that seemed to be the only existing species except for a few other indescribable creatures that will remain anonymous.
this place is dead and desolate and is the perfect combination of heaven and hell. the souls here don't have to face the devastating fires of hell but they're torment is the knowledge that they have been denied salvation. forced to walk the planes of purgatory for numerous lifetimes before the gates of heaven save them... or the claws of hell claim them. there was a faint glow behind me and i looked over. i saw a small oval shaped mirror glowing behind me. i looked at it and instead of my reflection i saw the image of the bandit camp. i could see my dead and bleeding body.
the bandits were dancing, cheering, celebrating, and drinking booze. there were some that danced on my corpse. i couldn't hear anything but i could see what they were doing. they stopped dancing on me and they started pulling the arrows out of me. i was confused at first but then again i guess they want my body to be neat for when they present it to the world. i just watched and saw another faint light glowing below me. i looked down and instead of something being below me the light was coming from my chest.
there was a large golden yellow cross now glowing on my chest. i looked at it and seemed confused. i watched and the carving crack more into my skin and lines and paterns started slowly showing themselves from the golden cross on my chest. i didn't know what this was and it was frankly very confusing and strange. i just looked at it and stared at it for a while. but suddenly there was a strangely familiar voice next to me.
"first time dying huh?" said the voice. surprised i looked over to see the soul of a familiar figure. the soul was a human male with black hair and fair skin. he had black armor and an obsidian sword... it was martukus. i honestly never thought i would ever see this guy again. it was strangely relieving to see him. he had the same cross on his chest but his symbols were spread much more over his body. mostly on the right side of him. his didn't seem to inch forward as much but you could see mine slowly crawling around my body.
"holy shit... martukus." i said smiling.
"hey there crimson..." he said. "been a while."
"yeah i guess so... last time we met we didn't really get off so well." i said.
"i guess not..." he said. "oh, and congratulations on immortality... welcome to the club." he said. "you get used to it after a while."
"yeah thanks..." i said.
"and congratulations on becoming the new reigning god of balance... that's a pretty big title." he said.
"thanks again..." i said. "so uh... what's this." i asked pointing to the glowing cross on my chest.
"those are you're vitality marks..." he said. "when the glowing marks cover all of you're body that means you're ready to revive into you're new body... they spread at different speeds depending on how badly you died." he said. i looked down at my marks which were now slowly creeping past the my chest and up my neck and to the sides. "it also helps if you're body is good at rejuvenating... mines not too bad but i lost the entire left half of my body to some crushers... that's why my right side is glowing like this... it's all done healing but there's still my left side."
"wow that must have sucked." i said. "it must have hurt like a bitch too."
"not as much as you think." he said. "after a while you get used to it and the pain just seems to not be so bothering... it still hurt... but it wasn't agonizing... so yeah. how did you die?" he asked.
"oh.. i tried to take out a bandit camp... but they're arrows were enhanced or something and just passed through my armor like paper... pretty much i got hit with a solid 50 or so arrows all over my body." i said.
"ooh..." he said cringing. " well i can say that i've had my fair share of bad deaths." he said.
"yeah i'm sure i will too." i said looking at my marks. they were halfway across my side. "so what's with this mirror thing... and wheres yours?" i asked pointing to my mirror.
"it's a nice convenience so you can keep track of you're body..." he said. "mines here, it's just that we can only see our own, nobody elses... mines here, you just can't see it, and i can't see yours." he said.
"oh alright..." i said looking back at my mirror. saw the bandits were done pulling the arrows from my body and went back to dancing on it.
"not much to see on my end... just the right half of my body laying in a dark and desolate cave." he said.
"the bandits that killed me are dancing on my body." i said monotonically. he looked at me and gave me a strange look while i just stared into the mirror.
"these bandits sound like real assholes." he said.
"they are..." i said back. i looked at my carving again anxiously and saw they had only moved an inch from last time. "i hope this goes quickly..." i said. "i have a train to catch at four and my friends will kill me if they found out i died." i said.
"where you heading to?" asked martukus.
"i need to get to stallasia so i can use the transdimensional portal there or whatever, i need to get to the lair of shal- grahkar and get my wife back." i said. i expected a response but when there was none i looked over. i saw that martukus was giving me a strange look.
"you said a transdimensional vortex?" he said. "and shal-grahkar... as in the immortal devourer?"
"yeah... quite the story huh." i said.
"i didn't know there was a dimensional portal in stallasia... never bothered to look past this country..." he said.
"if you need the portal for something you're welcome to tag along with me and my friends." i said. "i know i might have screwed you over last time, so let me make it up."
"hmm..." he said looking at me. i looked back at him and almost on queue we both smiled. "alright... sounds good." he said. "but it might be awhile until i'm rejuvenated so it may be awhile until i join you... but i think it would be a good opportunity." he said.
"awesome... but uh... the only problem is that you're... well uh... you're kinda human." i said.
"i've been stuck in this dimension for a quarter of a million years... you don't think i've figured something out." he said. "don't worry... when i revive i'll come find you in private and we can talk." he said. "but right now you need to get going." he said pointing at me. i looked at my marks and saw the cross on my chest glow brightly. it shone right on the mirror and the mirror shattered and swirled into a glowing vortex which was visible to martukus too. i looked at it and smiled.
"so i just climb on in." i said.
"yep... but always remember to watch out for when you revive..." he said. "coming back to life isn't a very casual thing... there will be fireworks." he said smiling and gesturing to my glowing body. "but don't worry..." he said. "after a while you'll learn to control how you revive and make you're own awesome entrance... now get going." he said smiling. i smiled too and looked into the portal. i walked forward and it sort of sucked me in and pulled me through a vortex of light. and soon enough i was back to life, but that wasn't the end.
it seemed like my soul was falling from the sky and was high above the clouds. but soon i broke through the cloud layer and could see the camp and my body. i fell and fell and felt a great amount of energy welling up inside of me. i grew closer and closer to the ground until... impact. i hit the ground and re-entered my body. the ground shattered and broke underneath me. my body lunged down into a pit and spiked of earth shot up from the ground all over the camp and then some.
but that wasn't the end. soo my body burst with energy and i fired a huge beam of light into the air being swirled by a cyclone of black fire. i felt myself rising up from the pit and into the air. i was completely conscious now and rose up and floated like i was standing now. the beams of light cooled down and just grew into a small ring of light on the ground below me and it fired up spikes of light into the air. the fire cooled down too and did the same, it created a ring of black fire around the light that burned indefinitely. needless to say the camp was obliterated. every one of the bandits was dead except to the firehawk who shielded himself with his own magic. i used my magic to quickly fix the ground and level it out until it was back to normal.
he looked at me with fear and i looked at him showing new colors. my armor and aura were still the same bright glowing white. but the symbols and carvings on my body and my armor, including my eyes as well, was all black. soon the rings of black fire and light faded and i started taking steps towards him. he started backing up and looked at me with constant fear. he had an air of disbelief and uncertainty about him, as well as confusion and denial. to make a long story short... he didn't see that coming.
"no... we killed you... i saw you die... we danced on you're fucking corpse." he said growing angry now and surrounding himself with blue fire.
"and you're going to pay for that." i said glaring at him. "you obviously didn't have all the angles planned out."
"it doesn't matter." he said growling at me. he made a large spear rise up from the fire beside him and held it close with his magic. "i'll kill you myself." he said before charging at me. the poor fool is blinded my his denial... he'll get his. i stood there as he roared out as he charged at me with the spear by his side. i just stood there calmly and watched him as he grew closer and closer. soon enough he had grown close enough and was right in front of me.
before he could take another step i shot up a bed of light spikes from the ground and skewered him. he stopped dead in his tracks and the spiked rose him up off the ground a little bit. the spikes tore through his legs and arms and his chest. one of the spikes tor through his skull from the bottom of his chin. he was bleeding everywhere and the spikes were covered with blood and organs. except the spike running through his skull, that one was covered with blood and grey matter. i looked forward and the tip of his spear was less than an inch from my face. it was a rather interesting spear with a hollowed center tip so that it just looked like the flat outline of the spear. below that was a shimmering sapphire embedded in the stock then the rigid and bumpy shaft of the spear.
i grabbed the spear and pulled it from his cold dead hooves.. i held it and i could feel that this was the source of his blue fire. i could feel the energy in it as it coursed through the weapon and covered me in its power. i dropped the spikes and his body fell to the ground in a puddle of blood. as i looked about the spear i could see that as it connected to my magical energy it could also be used as a staff. i think i'll keep this for an occasion i already have planned out. i turned away from the bodies and the camp and walked away and out of the camp. i started walking down the snowy path to the road and i held the staff with my right wing and used it as a sort of walking stick... or walking staff.
soon after a few turns the road came into view and with it the crimson followers. by now i had stopped glowing glack and was just my regular glowing white self. my symbols faded and glowed white while my eyes stopped glowing all together. i reached up and pulled off my mask to have a better feel for the moment. as i approached the road on of the followers saw me and soon the others looked over too and smiled. i walked out onto the street and looked down at them. they smiled and did a little bow to me by just tilting their heads down.
"we knew you would take care of the bandits." said the leader. "but you took much longer than we expected you would."
"thats because i died..." i said plainly as if i expected them to not be surprised. unfortunately they were very surprised to hear that.
"you... you died... but you're right here." he said.
"yeah i know... i got better." i said. "now lets go..." i said reading my internal clock as it was about two now. "i still have a train to catch at four." i said turning around and walking back to town. they followed me into town and we walked down the road in silence. like the way in everything was quiet. but i soon stopped as we got to the small town and the noise of walking ponies and conversations filled the air.
I continued down the road as the crimson followers continued to follow me closely in a wide cluster taking up most of the street. I got the same reaction from all of the ponies we pass, like they didn't know what just happened. There was no doubt, however, that they definitely saw that huge blast I caused when I revived, and they probably associated it with me automatically. It wasn't much longer before we all stopped in the street and they gathered around me.
" thank you crimson..." Said the leader of the followers. " with the fire hawk now slain this town can breath easily."
" anytime..." I said smiling. They smiled too and did a little bow before turning and walking off down the street. I let out a sigh of relief. I know that they're on my side now but those guys can get really annoying. I just turned and started walking again down the road down to the train station. I walked by the townsfolk and the various shops and houses. Like usual I got excited and cheerful faces from everypony. It was a bit awkward being a bright shining symbol but at least no pony was really crowding around me. And it didn't take long for the paparazzi to find me again.
I just waved down the road and held the firehawks staff with my wing and used it as a kind of walking stick. It was too small for me even though I could easily resize it and use it. I'm not going to do that though, I have a better use for it. I kept walking down the street with a smug smile on my face which was clearly visible since I no longer was wearing my mask to hide the upper half of my face. The ponies seemed to like that so that now they could see my face... Despite the ugly black scar tearing across the side of my face and the deeply black fur shaped like a burn.
I looked over to the clock tower and it was half past two. Time really flies when you're dead I guess. When I got to the camp it must have been no more than a little after twelve. And I don't think I really spent much time in purgatory, felt just like a few minutes, half an hour at the most. Oh well, I didn't let the thought of it bother me so much as I kept walking. As long as I'm good to go and I can make the train I'll be fine. But I should probably steer clear of trouble to the best of my abilities.
I kept walking around and around scouting my way out back to the train station. Suddenly however I started to get a bit dizzy and my head began to throb. I rubbed my head and the dizziness faded into darkness, but I didn't faint. I just seemed to be in a plane of blackness. But it was more than that. Everything around me looked more... Static like. It was like TV static but it seemed to fill in and define the ponies and houses all around. My body kept walking forward and forward making new turns and taking different routes. It was like I was mindlessly making these turns. I felt like I needed to go forward and turn but I didn't want to at the same time.
It was only a few minutes before everything went completely black and I could still feel myself moving around. And only seconds after that did the blackness go away and I could see perfectly now. I was confused at first of where I was but it only took a second for a map to draw itself out in my head and I started heading back to the train station. I kept walking and as I looked around my eyes passed over the clock tower... 3: 48... how the fuck did that happen.
With time of the essence now I quickly spread my wings and launched into the air. I glided through the air for a little bit and spotted the train station. It flew over and saw my friends waiting at the station. Thank god the train didn't come yet. I flew over and landed next to them. My flight was so short it was like I had just leapt over to the station platform. I looked at my friends and smiled but they seemed a bit angry or so
" what took so long?" Asked Derek.
" was that huge blast in the distance an hour ago you?" Asked twilight.
" uhm... Well, yeah." I said.
" what happened sugarcube... You look a bit tired." Said applejack.
"You didn't do anything awesome without us did you." Said Nightflame. " did you?"
" uh well... Yeah... I did." I said.
" what the hell did you do now." Said mystee acting like twilight in a motherly concern sort of manner.
" wella group of crimson followers asked me to help them with a bandit camp outside of town. So I said yes and we got to the camp. I walked in and met their leader the firehawk. We traded some banter, and well... He killed me." I said. " but it's alright... I got better."
" so you died..." Said twilight. In an egotistical manner.
" we'll yeah... Not really a big deal... Only took me like half an hour to revive. Which is pretty good considering I was shot with something like 100 arrows." I said. " then I got better and wiped out the camp...oh here twilight." I said holding out the firehawk's staff to her. She looked at it surprisingly. " this was that firehawk's staff... I think you could use it."
" uhm... Well... Thanks." She said. She reached out and grabbed the staff and held it up with the pointed blade sticking high into the air. " but be more careful next time."
" yeah... You just died yesterday after all... Two in two days... Not good odds." Said black hoof.
" what... I let my enemies take the first shot..." I said. " and I didn't actually die yesterday... My brain just got scrambled a bit."
" you died yesterday too!" Said twilight surprisingly.
" oh yeah... You don't know about that." I said. " we'll I didn't die... Like I said, I just got my brain scrambled for a bit."
" seemed to me like you were pretty dead." Remarked Nightflame.
" if I had died you would have seen a huge explosion like the one from before... That huge blast you saw... Yeah. That was me coming back to life." I said.
We all stood there and talked. Well it was more like I was being shamed for dying so often. I don't think they see it my way... I'm immortal. Death is just a nuisance to me... Not a problem. But they scolded me anyway. I'm sure that in time they'll all lighten up and my recurring deaths will just become a passing thing. In fact the more I think about it I'm sure that me dying will soon become a frequent event. Though I will try not to die in any really horrible fashions as to avoid an extended stay in purgatory.
As we all talked out conversation was soon interrupted by a loud horn. It was the horn of the train as it was pulling into the station and slowing down to let on passengers. And right on time too... It was 4 o'clock on the dot. The train finally slowed down to a full stop and the doors opened. A few ponies got off then the train conductors got off and started requesting tickets. We lined up with me at the back and the others gave the conductor our tickets while the crew of the train started loading our newly marked crates of food and supplies into the cargo car.
It wasn't long until I presented my ticket to the conductor. He looked up at me with confusion and awe. I just looked at him and smiled as he punched my ticket and I moved to the train. As I walked to the train I stopped and froze at the sudden realization of something very important... There's no way in hell I can fit through these doors. Oh well, not really a problem, I'm just shocked I didn't think of this obvious fact earlier. I used my powers to quickly shrink down to a small height but still keeping a tall figure to assert power and dominance. I walked through the train doors with ease and followed my friends to a new cart.
We all walked down a few carts into a bedroll cart. There were bunk beds lining the walls and we could all easily fit in these carts and beds. We started unpacking out personal items and claimed our beds. I took the top bed right above Derek with twilight right across the car from me on the top and applejack down on the bottom bed across from Derek. Before we did anything the trains horn sounded out again and the train jerked forward signaling its departure.
Time to get this thing going...
-Authors Note: woo... crimsons first experience with death... woohoo... well, as an immortal that is. and i think we all know that familiar guy with the black armor and wings who was with crimson in purgatory... yeah its martukus. he will be joining us in this quest once he's done being dead n' stuff. but yeah... this chapter came out pretty well, and it's the biggest one of the story so far. not the biggest chapter ive written... just the biggest one of the story. over 11,000 words long. i was going to go and buy my new computer with my victory money today and then beat the crap out of my laptop with a baseball bat... but i woke up this morning feeling like shit and i'm just not up to it... but i will do that by the end of vacation. so yeah guys, stay safe, stay sober, and stay shady.-End of Note-