i slowly started to wake up at the faint sound of a pony moaning. i slowly opened my eyes. i felt the warm fur of shadow tail as he slept by my side with his back against mine. i heard moaning again and i lifted my head to see it was twilight. she was slowly getting up. as i lifted my head to look up at the bed shadow tail woke up and looked back at me to see what was going on before laying his head back down. i looked up at twilight who was now slowly opening her eyes and looking around. she looked around the room in tired confusion before resting her eyes on me.
"c-crimson... were...where are we." she said in a weak voice. she must be very light headed and tired. she did lose a lot of blood after all. it's a good thing i was able to close the wound or she would have probably killed over before we even left the battle site.
"hey twilight..." i said holding her hoof. "we're at a friends house in indigo city."
"i... i feel horrible." she said.
"you lost a lot of blood in the timberwolf attack... you're going to be tired and faint for a while... i should get you some water and something good to eat." i said. "hold in there... you'll be fine."
"we're in indigo city you said." she asked.
"yeah twilight, we made it." i reassured her.
"when... are we... g-going to be leaving." she said.
"once you're back to full health." i said.
"but... rainbow d-dash."
" i know but we can't keep going with you like this and we certainly can't send you back like this either... don't worry... i know shal-grahkan isn't going to hurt dash... it's me he wants." before i said another thing shadow tail lept up to his feet and walked over next to me and leaned over the bed sniffing twilight to get her scent. i just smiled.
"oh i remember y-you..." she said reaching a hoof out to pet him. "your the b-brave wolf that saved us... thank you." she said. shadow tail let out a little yelp of happiness and his tail started wagging. he licked twilight across the cheek and smiled. twilight giggled a bit and patted him on the head. "are you going to keep me company... while i... i get better?" twilight asked in a playful manner. i was surprised when shadow tail seemed to nod at her and understand the question she asked. twilight was of course to ditzy and tired to notice this was strange but i noticed. then again this wolf is a very unique wolf.
"i'll go get you two some food..." i said. "you just rest here and relax. i'll see if maybe i can't find you some books to read as well to keep you occupied." i said making her smile.
"thanks crimson." she said smiling. i got up to my hooves and started walking to the door. shadow tail hopped up onto the bed and laid down at the end of the bed with twilight. i smiled and opened the door to the main room. i walked out and saw nightflame and derek still sleeping over at the other end of the room. i walked out and closed the door slightly to the guest room. i was getting uncomfortable in this body and decided to return to my normal self. i grew a few feet and my colors changed. my hair was flowing and golden blonde and my fur was pure white with black marking on it. my symbols are black when they don't glow... i think it's a nice accent, like a huge body wide tattoo that glows and is awesome. i cracked my neck both ways and stretched out my legs and hooves.
this is the first time i think when there wasn't some part of me that was glowing or radiant with magic. i think i finally got it under control. i looked over myself and never really noticed how ripped i was under my armor. i guess with great power comes great muscles. i smiled and walked over to the table and the cabinet where they keep food. i grabbed some tarts and quickly got some water afterwards. with the food and water i walked back into the guest room and closed the door without waking the house. twilight looked over and me and smiled a little.
"weren't you a few feet shorter when you left a few minutes ago." she said. i just smiled and rolled my eyes. "i also remember you're hair being less... blonde."
"good to see the blood loss hasn't affected you're sense of humor." i said.
"i've always g-got a joke for you." she said making me laugh softly. i placed a bowl of water and a tart on the ground and shadow tail jumped up and started lapping form the bowl of water i got for him instead of a glass. i walked over and pulled the end table at the top of the bed closer to the bed and closer to twilight so she could reach and i placed our food on it. "s-so why the... the sudden change of skin?" she asked reaching over and grabbing the water.
"it gets really disorienting shapeshifting..." i said. "i'm more used to this form than most others... but i haven't really tried too many different forms with this... it just never seems to come to mind."
"why would you need to change yourself?" asked twilight. "your fine this way."
"yeah i know... but it would help a lot for camouflage reasons, and such." i said. "plus it could really help me get away from the paparazzi and the press." twilight just giggled a bit and i took a bite out of the tart i grabbed. one of my bites was enough to take off half of it.
"so what are you going to do here while i'm recovering?" asked twilight.
"probably just going to relax and rest up. maybe see if i can't have some fun or see if anypony needs help. i haven't been to the middle circle of indigo city at all... maybe i'll go there and look around." i said. "maybe when you get better we can stay another day and show you the sights as well."
"that would be nice... but are you sure." she said.
"don't worry..." i said. "it'll be a good moral booster before going back out and cutting through the mountains into oasis... our time there should be fun... whole place is a big city." i said.
"really..." she said. "what else is interesting about it."
"well the forest glows at night and if it's still winter when we get there the leaves fall from the tree's and look like snowing blue lights... the ponies are friendly enough and it's a peaceful place."
"sounds amazing..." twilight said. she ate the last bit of her tart and had already finished her water.
"it is..." i replied. "now you get you're rest... i'll make sure to keep you nice and warm. even if i'm out my friends wife miska is one of the nicest mares in indigo city... she'll make sure you get you're strength back."
"alright..." twilight said smiling as she nuzzled her head back into the pillow. shadow tail had finished his food as well and jumped up onto the foot of the bed and laid down at twilight's hooves. "i'll see you later then." she said smiling as she closed her eyes.
"yeah twilight... i'll see you later." i said. she was silent and i was sure she had fallen asleep. i smiled and walked over to the door and opened it up. i backed out of the room and made sure she was well asleep. i smiled and closed the door. i went to turn and face the other room but as i turned my head i was greeted my a sharp axe flying past me and breezing right by the front of me face as it stuck into the wooden post next to me. my eyes shrunk inside my head and i gulped a bit... that could have been ugly. i slowly turned to see hrothar holding a large axe looking menacingly at me.
"EY... what are you doing in MAH house." he said trying to threaten me and ward me off. i'm pretty sure he doesn't know it's me. "WELL." he said again... how was this not waking up nightflame and derek who slept peacefully on the other side of the room.
"well good morning to you too hrothar..." i said.
"what... huh... crimson?" he said realizing it was me. "what did ya do to ya'self." he said propping the axe up against the table and walking over slowly.
"well nothing really." i said. "this is what i usually look like... now a days."
"well you've a... you've grown... a bit." he said looking over me. "and it seems you've been uh... hitting the gym too i would see."
"i have grown... i didn't hit the gym though... it all comes with the title." i said.
"and uh... what title is that." said hrothar
"the title of omni god crimson..." i said. "like i said... a lot has changed."
"you weren't kidding..." he said. "you almost gave me a heart attack boy... i was scared to death when i saw a large hulking beast crawl out of that room... i was sure you had eaten that poor mare and crimson... but i guess you are crimson... you didn't eat that mare though... right." he said jokingly making me laugh.
"no but i did swipe a few bits of food for me and my friend in there." i said. "hope you don't mind."
"course not boy-o." he said. "after all that money you gave us last time you visited we haven't had a problem with food or taxes... we just laugh at the bill every time we get it." he laughed with a hearty laugh which seemingly was enough to wake up the others as i saw derek get up and rub his head before looking around. he got up and stretched and soon nightflame started waking up. "ah good... the others are up." said hrothar. "i'll go get miska and we can have breakfast." he walked off and went upstairs and derek and nightflame walked over to the table and sat down. i walked over and sat down too.
"morning..." i said smiling. they seemed tired but still tried to smile anyway.
"morning crimson." said nightflame.
"hey..." said derek. he looked over to the guest room door and looked back. "hows twilight doing?" he asked.
"she's fine... but she lost a lot of blood so it she's going to be weak and tired for a while." i said. "i think that while we wait for twilight heal we should see what we can do in the town. or just relax and take in the sights... whatever it is you want to do... but whichever it is, we're going to be here for a few days or so."
Soon enough hrothar came down the stairs with his wife miska and we all sat down to have some breakfast. Needless to say miska was as well... Interested in my change of skin, as it were. But I explained and she seemed to understand as we ate breakfast the sun must have finally came up because a bit of warm light started flooding through the windows and lighting up the dark house. We ate our food and thanked miska for the wonderful meal. Once we were all done we got our stuff together and got ready to head out and explore the town.
" be back before it gets dark." Said miska to all of us. Even hrothar was going to go hunting today. We all smiled and agreed. Before I left the house shadow tail ran out of the guest room and walked over to me. I guess he wanted to come with me, that's fine. I opened the door and we all walked outside. I had my armor and gear on me and it shone brightly all around as well as my halo, wings, and symbols. We all gathered outside and it was lightly snowing and the clouds up above were thin enough to let the sunlight through.
" so where are you boys heading off to?" Asked hrothar.
" me and thunder rush are probably going to just look around town... See what there is to see." Said Nightflame.
" I think I'm going to head up to the middle circle and look around, haven't been there yet." I said smiling.
" well alright..." Said hrothar. " I'll be hunting with Kroger and the others today. I'll let him know you're here and I'll see if I can't drag him over for dinner tonight and we'll catch up." He said smiling. I smiled to and nodded. We all turned and went our own ways. Hrothar went to the entrance to the forest. Nightflame and Derek went down the road to the town and I went up the road heading north to the middle circle.
I walked around and shadow tail followed me faithfully. I walked up the street and saw all the other ponies walking around and enjoying their day. Most of them had heavy gear on to keep them warm, lots of fur and cloth under metal armor sometimes. I walked around smiling but I couldn't help notice that I was getting strange looks from... Well, everypony. I can't really blame them though. Not everyday you see a giant stallion walking around in bright glowing armor and gear with a winged black wolf following him.
I walked around and started to look around. Some of these things were familiar to me but others were new. I looked ahead and up the hill to see the steep hill road I was walking on was leading up to a giant wall. It's the entrance to the inner city. I kept walking up the steep hill all the way to the top where it seemed to just flatten out perfectly before it hit the gate. There were a few guards standing guard at the entrance. Surely enough the guards were surprised to see me. I kept walking forward but they soon stepped in front of me and crossed their spears to keep me out.
" halt... Uh, citizen." Said one of them acting surprisingly composed for somepony with his amount of nervousness. Must be awkward for a guard to give orders to somepony that's bigger than them... By about two feet. " to pass through you must pay a toll of one gold." He said. To me that's not a problem but to others that must be a bitch. I just sighed and reached into my gold pouch and took out a bit. I noticed shadow tail was close to snarling at the guards but I patted him on the head and he calmed down. The guards looked at him with the same surprised face they gave me.
" why is the toll so high?" I asked handing the guard one gold piece.
" it goes to the war effort..." He said. " we've pushed the scarlet empire back to the burgundy plains but it could still easily go south from here." He said acting more calm now.
" alright well... Good luck with that." I said. They stepped aside and cleared the way.
" thank you... Enjoy your visit to the inner city." He said. I just smiled and walked past them into the city and shadow tail followed close behind me. We walked past the large walls and into the inner city. And my god was it beautiful. There were large streets with thin long lines acting as aqueducts were little streams of water flowed from. It looked like blue wires. The water was coming from the two parallel waterfalls flowing from the top of the mountains. And in the center was the large palace which seemed to be miles away, and probably was. But it was still easily visible from here.
The houses were huge and were made of stone with actual shingles for the roofing. The houses were very well decorated and looked almost as if they were made with mostly just stone but gold too. There were some spaces where instead of a large house there would just be a huge mansion which was a whole new sight on its own. And there were tons of them all around the place. All the shops had very shiny and unique items at expensive prices. It was easy to say that this place definitely lived up to its reputation and to the stories as well.
This would definitely be another amazing place to vacation to with my family. That and oasis would be nice too. And I hope that maybe someday after all this is over and I'm sitting at home peacefully with my family we can plan one of these trips. I'm sure dash and the kids would love it. And it would be nice to actually visit one of these places without having to worry about a mission or quest. I cleared myself from my thoughts and decided to start walking through the town now. There were a lot of ponies out, the streets were crowded with them.
All of them looked very important or very high up in society. There were a lot of ponies with armor and weapons on them instead of fancy clothing. I figure that wealthy adventurers must live here too. It would make sense that there would be some In this part of the city. I noticed there were quite a few guards stationed around. I don't need attention so I kept my hood up and put my mask on to hide my face.
Once I got clear of the street I found myself in a huge open market area. There were shops and ponies buying things all over the place. I walked around and smiled as I looked around at the sights and stared in awe. I had to stop to look around in fear of bumping into other ponies. I smiled and looked at all the bizarre and beautiful items being sold in the shop windows. I stopped looking and my attention switched over when I heard something that rung out over the whole market. It was a cryer shouting something out.
" hear ye hear ye." He said in a loud voice. " adventurers wanted... Quest from the king." He said catching my attention immediately. The king huh. I walked over and no doubt there were tons of other ponies in armor and weapons standing there and listening. I joined the large crowd and listened too. " his majesty king sapphire of indigo city is requesting the assistance of skilled adventurers to aid him in a dangerous quest. Rewards include any treasure found while on the journey including a handsome payment by his majesty himself." He said. " all willing and ready report to the castle lobby by noon."
Sounds interesting. I think I might have to see what this is all about. Once the cryer stopped announcing the news a lot of the adventurers around me seemed to get really excited and buddies up almost. I guess they were all in groups. Some of them ignored the announcement and left for their homes, I guess not everypony want to reach glory... Or whatever. The others including myself started marching to the castle. Since I don't know where the path to the castle leads I just followed the group.
And sure enough they lead me right to the large castle. It sat on a huge lake that was filled by the waterfalls and emptied out into the cities aqueducts. there was a large bridge connecting the city to the castle and we started crossing. There were guards covering the bridge completely. We kept walking until we reached the entrance to the castle. This castle was easily three times larger than canterlot palace. We walked into the castle and all just gathered around the hall of thrones. At least that's what the door said. I just guessed it was the main lobby and the large golden double doors at the end of the hall must lead to the throne room.
There were huge paintings of ponies spread across the walls. It was a timeline of the past kings. As far as I could tell they dated almost one hundred thousand years ago. They all seemed to be alicorns as well. Each one looked the same as far as mane and fur color. They all had white fur and a deep blue mane but in different styles every painting. Almost like it was the same pony each time. And they all had burning red eyes too. Before I could keep looking the large double doors to the throne room opened up.
We looked over and slowly started walking in and I looked around. There were sapphire chandeliers and designs all over. There were flags with their insignia on it hanging from the ceiling and a large blue and red mixed carpet leading up to a large golden throne where there sat a large alicorn with white fur, blue mane... And burning red eyes. We all walked up and stopped at the uprising to the throne. The king looked down at us with golden sapphire and diamond encrusted armor and his crown.
" presenting his royal majesty... King sapphire." Said an announcer. The king stood up and everypony bowed, even me. I bowed mainly out of respect but I easily outranked this guy by a long shot. The king stood there and looked down at us. We got back up from bowing and I just noticed now that the other adventurers were in groups and teams... I was alone. Well not entirely alone, I have shadow tail with me.
" adventurers..." The king boomed. He had a deep but oddly caring voice. His voice was strange and didn't seem to suit his figure, like seeing a really big and muscular guy with a high pitched voice, but less dramatic than that. " what I ask of you is not easy... But it comes with a great reward. Only one group of adventurers will be able to assist me and claim glory... And only the strongest can be that one..." The king sat back in his chair and a familiar robed pony stepped over and stood in front of us. I remember him as the court wizard seeing as he was the only other pony with a horn.
" today we will test and decide which group is worthy to take part of this quest. Tomorrow we will venture out... It will not be a long quest, but it will be dangerous." He said looking over the crowd. His gaze caught me and he seemed to ponder for a second and stare at me before continuing. " please spread out into your groups so the his majesty and I may inspect and label the groups.
And so everypony that made up the crowd dispatched and spread out among the throne room. They were all in groups of at least three ponies, there were a few pairs here and there, probably brothers or best friends looking for glory. And then there was me... And shadow tail. But I don't think the king is going to count him as a second member. i hadn't done anything small like this in such a long time that i'm excited and i'm willing to do anything to make sure the king picks me. plus this will be a great boost for my reputation outside of equestria.
i watched as the court wizard and the king went around and analyzed all the groups. i also noticed that the court wizard was having each pony place a medallion around their neck. they would put it on, it would glow brightly and usually in a different color each time and then take it off. they would hand it back to the wizard and then they were asked questions. i couldn't really catch on to what the questions where but i was going to be up soon. i watched as the king and court wizard analyzed the group next to me and asked questions. even though they were so close i couldn't hear anything, like he was lip syncing. he must be using magic to block out the sound. it wasn't long until they were done and they walked over to me.
"your majesty..." i said bowing gracefully and respectfully before the king to make myself look proper. the king and the court wizard just looked at me in confusion. they actually had to look up to me... well the wizard did. the king was roughly my height.
"is it just you?" asked the wizard.
"yes... just me and my companion shadow tail." i said gesturing to shadow tail. he smiled at the king and the wizard he yelped in joy and wagged his tail all the meantime with his wings partially out. the wizard seemed dumbfounded and the king just seemed surprised.
"alright then..." he said slowly looking away from shadow tail. "we're going to ask some questions" he said as his horn started to glow white. he didn't do anything with it though, didn't pick anything up or cast a spell, it just glowed. first question... a simple one... what is you're name and where are you from."
"i am crimson blast, hero king of equestria." i said. his horn glowed green. it must be a lie detector.
"alright... do you have any experience with adventuring and if so what is the greatest quest you've ever been on?" said the wizard... that one was an easy question.
"well the greatest quest i've ever been on was one given to me by princess luna of equestria. i journeyed all the way to blackmarsh to acquire the elemental stones of darkness and light. then i journeyed back and used the shard of darkness to restore power to the moon and princess luna's kingdom." i said. the mages horn glowed green and they both seemed surprised at that.
"oh kay..." he said slowly staring at me. "the next question asks if you have any natural magical abilities but seeing as you're not a unicorn i'll just put down 'no'." he said.
"but i do have magical abilities." i said smiling. his horn glowed green but he didn't notice it.
"sure you do." he said.
"well you're horn seems to think so." i said in a witty attitude. he looked up at his glowing horn and his eyes seemed to shrink.
"that can't be right... you're not a unicorn." he said.
" we'll see during the test... leave it blank, give him the amulet and lets be on with this." said king sapphire quickly taking over of the situation.
"uhm... yes you're majesty." said the wizard rushing along and grabbing the amulet. he handed it to me and i grabbed it. i didn't know what it did but i didn't really care. i held it up and placed it over my head and wore it. it started glowing and shone bright, bright blue. it shone brighter than any other pony i saw wear it. then it stopped shining and turned black and shattered. for a second my heart stopped as the pieces of black gem fell to the ground and the broken lace fell off from around my neck.
"oh crap... uh... sorry." i said acting a bit panicky. the king and the wizard looked at the broken necklace with mixed emotions.
"uh i have spares... that's all thank you." said the wizard. he seemed reluctant to get this over with. he and king sapphire walked away and once they had moved on i let out a deep sigh of relief. that went a lot smoother in my head. i looked down at shadow tail who seemed to whimper a bit and i could tell he was sharing my nervousness. i just looked down at him and smiled. i reached my hoof over and rubbed his head and his ears perked up.
"don't worry boy." i said. "i'm sure we'll get this." I waited patiently like all the other groups while the king and the court wizard finished analyzing the other groups and parties. I couldn't help but sit there and wonder why I'm doing this, I have my own shit to worry about. Then again we are going to be stuck here until twilight gets better. And plus there isn't much that excites me now a days. So I guess this was a good way to pass the time and have some fun. Even though I don't really need a reward I'll take one anyway... Find something to do with it later.
" alright adventurers. The king and I have analyzed each group and only certain groups can proceed." Said the wizard as he and the king stepped back up to the throne. The king sat in his throne and the Mage lit his horn up and it glowed Bright white. Soon large hieroglyphic circles surrounded a handful of the groups including me and shadow tail. I smiled knowing this was a good thing. " all groups within the circles are to proceed with me to the training grounds... The rest are excused from the castle."
Before anything else happened I was blinded by a bright light and a loud ringing sound surrounding me at all angles. I reached my hoof up and rubbed my eyes, when I put my hoof down and opened my eyes we were in a different part of the castle. It was outside and there was training supplies everywhere. All the chosen groups were now circled around a large ring. At the end of the ring was a stand where the king and the Mage stood. Inside the circle was a different pony.
He had large silver armor that was blood stained and sapphire encrusted. He wasn't wearing a helmet but had a long blue cape that was torn and flew in the breeze behind him. He had scars over all the visible parts of his body and even the armor had cuts scrapes and even arrows sticking out of it at a few points. He had a huge sword at his side that looked like it could cut clean through a tree in one swing. It had a similar design to mine. Spiked hilt with a long blinding blade.
" alright the next part of the test is a practical." Said the Mage. " the king and I will watch and observe from up here... Captain nightshade if you would please." Said the Mage gesturing to the pony in the heavy spiked armor. Nightshade huh... This must be an army recruit trainer... I'm all over this.
" alright ladies..." He said in a deep and angry voice. He already sounds like he would make a great captain to any army. " in this part of the test you'll be slaying a dangerous beast... Turn around." He said.
We all turned around to see ten large cages sitting behind us silently with large black tarps hanging down on them. Soon enough the captain walked right by us and over to the cages. He looked at them and smiled. There must have been some kind of spell on the cages because I couldn't sense what was in them but everything inside of the cages had a dark and dangerous aura lingering around it. One cage in particular was radiant with demonic energy but it clouded over all the cages, so I couldn't tell which one it was.
" in these cages are dangerous and monstrous beasts." Said the captain. " each one is different but they are all equally deadly and ferocious... You are to do battle with it and slay it. If you kill it great, but there is no mercy here... This is a life or death battle for all of you... But since our Mage friend up there is a big softy he put in a safety word... Yell out the word sapphire and you'll be teleported to safety." He said glaring at the mage next to the king. " alright... Who's first." He said with a smile.
" we'll go first." Said one large armored pony from a group close by. He stood forward and seemed ready to fight.
" good on you son... Now which cage do you want." He said gesturing to the numbers on each cage. The pony looked at the cages and leaned over to discuss it with his group.
" we'll take the third cage." He said. And so the fight began. So light surrounded them and they were inside of the ring which now was covered by a shield. Soon light flickered and shone from the cage and through the black cover on the cage and more light filled the arena. Soon a large black spider, at least two stories high was teleported inside of the arena and It immediately found its enemies. Soon the battle began.
And not too long after the battle ended... With not a not so satisfactory outcome. It seemed to be going well at first but the once group of four was now down to one and another is dying of poison. One pony got pulled into the spiders fangs by its web and was quickly and painfully eaten... Head first too. The other one was skewered by the spiders sharp legs and lastly one more pony was horribly bitten by the spider and poisoned before the last member screamed the safety word. He's over there crying by the corpses of his dead teammates... How the hell did these guys make it hits far.
" well that was... Unfortunate." Said the captain returning our attention to the cages. " and with that out of the way I'll be nice today and ask if anypony would like to back out." He looked over the groups but everypony remained silent. " no... Good... Then let the testing resume." He said.
The next group went and they had to fight a large five headed snake. It was a bit shaky but they managed to kill it without any casualties. The snake actually did bite and swallow one of the members but he tore it apart from the inside which I admire seeing as I have been in the same situation before. He is being treated by his teammates right now for poison. His wounds are being patched up and I think he'll survive. Up next is the group right next to me. I figure I'll just wait to be last.
The next team fought some kind of river troll. The thing was huge and it's skin was tougher than leather but they did a good job... Mostly. One of the teammates was crushed flat by the trolls large wooden club. But after a few slashes and enough arrows to the head it finally died and fell to the ground causing the earth to shake. The team mourned over the loss of their friend and they left the arena.
Team after team went and fought. They all faired better than the first team that went with only a few casualties here and there... But still the losses were heavy indeed and even started weighing down on my own heart. The other members tried not to cry over the loss of their teammates in front of the king but they still couldn't hold back the tears. I felt sorry for all of them but as the last last of the other teams went I knew it was my turn now. I looked down to shadow tail.
" why don't you sit this out boy..." I said. " I don't want you getting hurt." He just barked and licked my face and sat down. I patted him on the head and smiled.
" alright you... Shiny... Your next." Said the captain looking over to me. " and what luck." He said looking at the last cage. " you get my favorite creature." Before I could say anything I was covered in a white light and soon I was in the circle. Luckily shadow tail left the circle around me and was outside watching and sitting obediently. The last cage... Cage number six, glowed brightly and soon a spark of light ignited in the ring, but instead of a monster coming out came something else. Dark black smoke flooded out of the spark into the ring covering everything. And I heard a strange sort of sound. Completely indescribable. I kept my guard up but didn't show any of my weapons.
I looked around and soon my eye caught a glimpse of something. There was a small opening through the smoke where I could see the wizard and the captain talking. But they were not really talking, but more like the wizard was yelling at the captain. I don't think I like where this is going. I then felt a pressure on my back and something had hit me and flung me forward. I flew forward and collided with the shield in front of the other members. I looked back up to see what it was but there was nothing there. I heard that noise again and it was the only thing I could make out from the silence surrounding the ring.
Soon a volley of fast moving spikes fired past the dark smoke and towards me. I quickly put out a shield and the spiked broke against it. I heard the sound again and looked around... This can't be good. I started seeing dark shadows moving amongst the black smoke. I tentacle covered in spike and black goo slithered past my hooves and I didn't even notice it. I saw eyes and more of that sound filled the air. It was trying to taunt me, but I kept a level head. I think I'll try and act like I'm about to lose it so this creature will show itself, that seems to be my strategy... Waiting until I'm afraid so I'll drop my guard.
" where are you?" I yelled out into the darkness. " show yourself." I said yelling out one more time. And soon enough after a bit more of its taunting it finally showed itself. Two large dark red eyes opened up in front of me in the darkness and soon a deep creepy smiled spread across the smoke... Bingo. Without hesitation I let out a battle cry and fired a large beam of light from my chest that ripped and burned through the darkness. The face faded and the beam created a hole in the smoke. Soon though the smoke closed up and I was surrounded in darkness again.
I concentrated and started giving of a bright bright light that seemed to cut and burn the darkness. The monster seemed to give off a screech of pain and snarl at me with its strange tone. I had managed to give myself a circle of light and clearness. The groups had moved over to watch and they could see me through the barrier as I was right against it. I was about to yell again and fire of more blasts of light in a desperate attempt to kill the beast but before I knew anything something shot out from the darkness and hit me... Right in the middle of the head.
A long and viciously sharp spike shot from the darkness at incredible speeds and pierced my head scrambling my brain for a second. It had enough force to launch me back and slam me against the barrier which was now splattered with my grey matter and blood. I hit the barrier and then fell to the ground in a coma like state. But it didn't last to long. I blinked a bit and feeling returned to my body. I slowly got up and held my hoof around the spike running through my head. I didn't bother to look at the others facial expressions but I'm sure they were priceless.
" ugh... Son of a bitch." I said. I grabbed the spike and gripped it tightly. I ripped it from my head and it scrambled my brain again. I fell to my knees in a sudden fit of disorientation but I regained my composure as the hole in my head closed up and my brain regenerated. " god that hurt." I said. Suddenly a huge evil like hand with sharp claws rose from the darkness up above my circle of light and looked like it was going to smash me. It started falling down but I shot up an arsenal of sharp spikes of light that pierced and stabbed through the black hand. It stiffened up and there was a cry of pain as the claw retracted back into the darkness.
I fired off more blasts of light into the darkness trying to get the smoke to go away but it seemed to keep regenerating. i fired up multiple light tentacles around me to keep up a good guard. i thought this was going to be easy, but this thing is really fucking with me now. i thought i had it with that first blast. i kept my guard up and i started seeing tentacles of darkness slowly seeping through the darkness. they lashed out at me and i lashed back at them. it was a full on fight now, though i wish i knew what i was fighting.
soon there was a rumbling under the ground and suddenly i was covered in a dark blast of shadows. i yelled out in pain as i could feel the shadows burning away and cutting through my flesh and armor. fortunately it didn't last long and the blast stopped but it had taken a lot out of me. i knelt down and started breathing heavily as i was now bleeding profusely too. i had large cuts and tears in my skin and flesh which were quickly beginning to heal. soon enough the darkness around me began to fade and when it did it revealed a monster i thought could only be seen in nightmares.
the creature had a large strangely shaped body, almost like a dragons but a bit different. it had three heads, each with large fangs and multiple eyes. each head had around ten eyes. each head had two forked tongues and it had large eagle wings...almost. they were more like bat wings but they had feathers. it had a long tail and it had as many legs as a centipede all long and pointed at the of its back there where tentacles of pure darkness wriggling around and looking for something to kill, like worms or snakes. but it had real tentacles too, ones grown into it's flesh. they snaked around and the tops of them had jaws... like a leech or something. not only that but this beast had everything. the mouths had pincers like a spider, it had claws and spines that looked like large fish fins coupled with large spikes towards the tail. the tail itself was five pronged with iron like spear tips at the end of each one... what the fuck is this thing.
"oh what the fuck..." i said backing up slowly in fear of what this creature was. the three heads seemed to laugh at me. it made that evil like sound again and then roared at me. the middle head quickly jerked forward and it spit a stream of clear liquid right at me. not knowing what it was i dodged out of the way quickly and the stream of liquid splattered over the ground. i watched as the ground started sizzling and the liquid begin steaming and eating its way into the earth... it was acid...great. and before i thought it could get worse the right head started breathing fire at me and the left head started shooting a stream of freezing cold air. i quickly spread my wings over my figure and covered them with a shield. the fire and cold blew past my wings and behind me. once they stopped i dropped my wings and looked at the beast.
fire and ice breath pretty bad combo huh... wrong. the middle head started glowing and then it shot a bolt of lightning at me... fucking lightning. it wasn't as bad as real lightning but i could feel it surge through my body and shock my nerves. it stopped and i almost fell faint from nervous failure but i stood back up and roared. i shot a large blast of light at the creature and hit it dead on. it burst through its chest and the beast let out a roar. but once my beam stopped the creature just rested back into place and roared at me. that went right through it's chest... this isn't going to be easy.
it lashed out a few of its dark magic tentacles at me. i fought and kept them away but while i was distracted one of its real tentacles snaked in and got me. i bit me right on the side where there was a gap in may armor. i yelled out in pain and in my moment of weakness the beast grabbed me and held me upside down. it looked at me and smiled... aw crap. The huge nightmarish beast roared fire and ice at me as well as bolts of lightning. I covered my wings with a magical shield and blocked again. The attacks bounced off or just blew past me, but I was fine the beast kept up its attack and I pushed back as hard as I could I could feel my shield beginning to fail however and soon it would break.
I couldn't stop now. I kept pushing back and back. I used magic to attack the beast with spikes but it would counter them with its own black tentacles. A bunch of my attacks hit the beast but it didn't give up its attack, it just took the hits like they were nothing. The beast kept up its attack and my shield grew weaker and weaker and the attack became more concentrated and hit my shield directly instead of bouncing off. And soon... My defenses broke.
Fire, ice, and lightning hit me all at once... And god did it hurt. The burn of the fire, the cold sting of the ice, and the jolt of the lightning hit me all at once and I yelled out in pain. As all three elements surrounded me they spiraled up into a tornado of destruction and soon combusted, filling the whole arena in black smoke. I fell to the ground close to death, bleeding out and covered head to toe in agonizing pain. But then I heard something... Disturbing.
" the shield is breaking..." Said the wizard from outside. " everypony get back." He said and following his voice was a large cracking sound followed by the sound of shattering glass. The shield had fallen and now this demonic beast was set free on the world... That can't happen. " god dammit get back... Call the royal guard, quickly it can't reach the city. I tried getting up but I was in too much pain. I couldn't see past the smoke and destruction, but I heard cries and screaming... Then the mighty roar of the beast... And soon I fell into a different kind of darkness.
Presuming I was dead the beast must have left me alone to terrorize the kingdom. Soon enough I was out cold, not dead, but unconscious. I could only see blackness and forced to think of what will become of the town now that that monster is unleashed upon it. But soon, and thankfully, I awoke in the circle. There was still smoke but not around me, in the air. The whole place was destroyed. I heard a barking sound slowly come closer to me. I looked over to see shadow tail running over to me and bark.
" I know boy... Don't worry... I'll fix this." I said. I got up and cracked my neck... No more mr. Nice pony. Time to fuck shit up. I spread my wings and began to glow violently as I flapped them down once and launched a hundred feet into the air. I flew up higher and higher until I saw the town below. The beast had cleaved itsath of destruction right through the castle and into the rich part of the city. The smell of burnt flesh and smoke filled the air. I glared at the beast and flew higher and higher.
I broke past the layer of clouds thousands of feet from the ground and kept flying. I flew up and up and blocked out the sun. My shadow now eclipsed over the whole city and I stood there with my wings out glaring at the beast. I shot downward aimed right for the beast. If there was a first time to use my godly powers for a good reason this would be that time and the reason. I knew that I would not be able to destroy this thing easily... But I will reduce it down to a puddle if I have to. I flapped my wings faster and faster and the barrier of energy formed around me and broke.
I burst out with an explosion of light that covered the sky as I blew past the clouds making myself visible to everything. The beast which had been burning. And freezing a building noticed. I flew fast and another barrier formed... Apparently I can go faster. That one broke and launched me further with another explosion of light. Soon energy began to cling to me and I took the form of that, of a falling comet. I flew closer and closer and as the beast roared at me...I made impact.
A large blast of light filled the whole city and fired up into the sky. A barrier of magical light expanded and covered the city as large spikes of light shot up from the ground but didn't damage anything. All the fires went out, building repaired themselves. Even the fallen guards and dead ponies began to heal and come back to life. The giant beast roared as it began to break down and discounting rate until it simply was no more. The whole city was blinded by a bright light and a high pitched ringing.
Soon all the light faded leaving only small glittering sparkles of light floating around me that fell down from the clear skies up above. I stood there in a giant cracked and shining crater with my wings spread apart. Everything was fixed, everypony was alive and it was almost like nothing had gone wrong in the first place. I noticed now that my whole body was glowing bright white with the exception of my eyes and the marking which remained an opaque black. I let out a deep sigh and began walking out of the crater.
I honestly didn't know I had that in me. I need to get a better grip on my powers and learn how to use them. Maybe then everything will be easier. I could probably do literally almost anything I wanted to. I thought about that as I slowly walked out of the crater and soon the faces of the ponies began emerging over the horizon of the crater. And soon enough I walked out full and the crater rose up and the ground was fixed behind me.
I looked out around over all the ponies still glowing brightly with my wings out and staring at them with my black eyes and markings. There were quite a few that looked at me with strange looks others smiled and the crowd continued to grow and grow as more ponies began making their way over. I looked left and right expecting them to do something it they kept still and just murmured to themselves. Then there was a single clapping coming from the crowd. Then another... And more and more. The crowd then slowly broke out into a roaring cheer.
They began whistling and cheering and calling out to me. They started referring to me as a god, their savior, and the chosen one. I don't know how the chosen one got in there but god and savior where both correct terms. I just looked over at them and smiled even though you couldn't see the smile on my face. Soon the crowd began parting and I watched as the king soon walking through the crowd and people bowed as he passed. Soon he was in front of me and everypony was bowing before him... Except for me. I think at this point I've proven that I have a position of equal respect.
" I don't now who you are... Or even what you are." He said. " but thank you." He said smiling and making me smile too. I finished glowing and began to take on noticeable features again. I stood there in my bright armor and gear smiling at the king and he did too.
" it's just what I do." I said. That was really true... All I do is make problems and fix them... But I wouldn't count this as my fault in the first place.
" I think that you would be the most deserving to aid me on my quest... If you would be willing to waste your time with such a task." He said. As the conversation continued the other ponies around began cheering again and celebrating.
" you say that like I have more important things to do." I said, even though I really do... But those have been paused for now.
" I'm sure you do seeing as you are the famous crimson blast from Equestria." He said.
" I thought you didn't know what or who I was" I said.
" that's only a title and a name." He said. " there's more behind what makes us who and what we are... And it's obvious there's a lot more to you than celestia let's on..." He said. " come with me to the castle and we can talk there in private." He said turning around and walking. I followed him and we moved past the crowd. He spread his wings and took off and I did the same.
As we tore through the air towards the fixed castle I couldn't help but wonder how he knows celestia. I guess she is the princess and much keep in touch with the other countries... It would make sense. We flew up to the castle and in through the large doors and landed in the hall of kings. We walked through the hall and into the throne room. The king walked up to the throne and stood beside it. He invited me up and I stood by the throne as well. Soon there was a barking in the room and shadow tail flew over and landed beside me and rubbed his head against my leg.
" hey boy..." I said patting his head.
" celestia speaks very highly of you..." He said. " but you prove to be more than her words let on."
" didn't know celestia was so social with her neighbors." I said.
" we have a long standing agreement..." He said. " she knows that the azure empire and the scarlet alliance have been waging war for well over twenty years and she has seen the good in our cause. So she funds us for our war champaign."
" twenty years... Longest war I've ever heard of... Are you fighting for independence." I asked.
" more or less... It's a war of policy." Said the king. " if we lose this war the scarlet empire will take over and our proud history will be thrown in the trash and it will end with me." He said. " you know... The way celestia spoke of you makes me wish I had a pony like you on the field... We would win this war in a day."
" that's not what the quest is... Is it." I asked.
" not to fight the war no... But what I ask of you will help us win this war." He said. " I have found the location of a great artifact of the azure empire that has been lost for generations... It will help us turn the tides of the war."
" I thought you were winning this war?" I asked.
" far from it." He said. " anything you might have heard was just to keep the citizens calm and carefree. If they knew how close the enemy was then the place would have been abandoned a year ago." He said. " they might as well be at our front door."
" where is the battle now?" I asked.
" we'll were at a stalemate in the abandoned dwarven ruins that cut through the mountains to oasis." He said. Oh crap.
" really?" I said. " crap..."
" what's the matter... Is this a problem for you as well?" asked the king.
" right now I'm on an important quest to the continent of stallasia. Me and my group are only staying here while an injured member heals and recovers." I said explaining my quest. " the path through the mountains was our safest and quickest route to stallasia... If we can't get through we'll have to cut through the desert and I don't think we'll survive that."
" hmm..." The king hummed pondering and pacing. He looked at me and smiled. I could see the lightbulb go on above his head. " why don't you help me get the missing artifact and then help me push the scarlet armies out of the ruins. If you do this I'll not only reward you but in return you'll be granted safe passage through the mines... With our strengths combined it would be no trouble.
I thought for a second. While I didn't want much of anything to be part of this war It would save us a lot of trouble and make our quest all the more possible. It was an easy choice that I should help the king. But I would most likely become a wanted enemy of the scarlet empire. That's alright I guess, they don't even know me, I don't even know where they are, and I don't think I pass by the scarlet empire at all on the trip. I thought some more on a few of the details and smiled as I came to a conclusion in my head.
" alright you highness... It's a deal."
-Authors Note: oh whats this... a new awesome quest... already getting tons of action 'n stuff in here. i'm hopping to get more into the back story behind indigo city so that maybe it'll be a more solid and sturdy place instead of just a place crimson lived in for a few months that one time. i'm going to do the same thing with oasis where i'll be developing the city a bit more and put some kind of history behind it. but yeah, this quest is going to be pretty epic and it's going to end in war.
and also i have posted my story on (fim fiction .net) so you guys can go check it out there. sorry about how i had to spell that out, if i type the website in regularly it just gets deleted for some reason. but i'm not sure how going to that site makes a difference really, i only have five chapters up right now but i'm going to be posting my story there too. so if there's something more special about that place it'll be there too. honestly i dont care where you read it. i was told by one of you guys to post it on there so i thought i would check it out and decided "why the hell not". it isn't as simple as this site but it's more organized and has a bunch of neat features so if you wanna check it out there feel free. so stay safe, stay sober, and stay shady.-End of Note-