Not much Time passed since the battle between our crew and the red hoof twins. With thunder red hoof slain and his sister captured and tightly held up in the brig, as well as their ships being looted, we sailed forward with our fortune. It had been a week since that, and today would be the day we finally set hoof in stallasia. A strange new world with different customs and different ponies. From that point onward we suffered no more problems. But in the timespan of that one week my sickness which I thought was going away, only proved to worsen. I became sick even more and more and would throw up more frequently, so I always kept towards the side of the ship. Instead of a tense pain in my stomach every time now my vision faded and I became dizzy and numb with every attack. The episodes became more intense too, instead of just throwing up once and getting it over with I would suffer for minutes at a time before it faded.
It was midday... There were few clouds in the sky, the sun was shining, and there was a soft breeze. The sound of seagulls filled the air and the ship was only miles away now from stallasia. The huge continent was now in view as just a small line of land across a seemingly vast ocean. It didn't look like we were getting any closer to it, but we were making good speed since the wind was in our favor. The navigator said that at our speed we would reach the dock within two hours... That was an hour ago. So we were one hour down and growing ever closer to the continent. To be honest... I was nervous. I heard the distinctive sound of familiar hoofsteps from behind me and soon enough twilight walked over and sat down next to me at the bow of the ship.
The wind blew my hair back and cooled us down. It was a very hot day today, I've been thirsty all day. Just looking at the shimmering sea now was making me thirstiest. The blue water rippled and sparkled in the morning light as the ship we rode tore through it and parted the waves. Twilight, who was sitting next to me, didn't say anything. No hello or how are you... She just remained silent, stared straight ahead and smiled. I looked onward with a blank face and kept my eyes fixed on the small strip of the continent. The only thing that gave it away as being stallasia was that the land spread over the whole sea and straight ahead of us we could see a large mountain range with a specifically large mountain prodding out of the world. I took in a deep breath of the salty sea air and let out a deep sigh.
" excited?" Asked twilight glancing over to me.
" among other things, yes." Said smirking slightly.
" a bit nervous too?" She added.
" yeah a bit..." I said. " no matter how much I know about the place it doesn't count for anything if I haven't been there once in my life." I said.
" I'm sure we'll be fine." Said twilight. " the map says that our destination isn't too far from the port. We might be able to get to it by tomorrow." She said.
" I would think so... But that's not the end of it." I added.
" yeah... The other dimensions..." Twilight added as the smile faded off her face. " what do you think their like?" She asked.
" I'm not sure..." I said. " they could be anything... There's no way to know for sure what kinds of dimensions we're going to run across."
" well whatever happens... I know that we can make it through." She said smiling. " if know anything about you crimson blast." She said turning and smiling at me. " It's that you won't quit... You'll tear through those dimensions treading lightning."
" thanks twilight..." I said showing a smirk.
We sat there and more time passed. With every passing minute the large continent grew larger and larger. It was just as the navigator said, only an hour later we were there. We were only a a few feet off shore and were just docking into the port. The crew was celebrating the successful trip and the safe voyage. They anchored the ship and tied it down to the dock. We placed the crosswalks down and our little group were first to leave off the ship. I went first followed by twilight, thunder, and captain dredd. I took my first step on the docks and smiled. I made way for the others and they all joined us at the docks while captain dredds crew started getting ready to unload their cargo.
" well... Here we are... Stallasia." Said captain dredd.
" I don't know how we can thank you." I said.
" you don't need to... You've done enough." Said dredd.
" thank you for seeing us through captain." Said twilight.
" not a problem miss twilight." Replied dredd smiling. " now, your welcome to stay one last night on the ship if you can't find an inn or something... Be we leave port tomorrow, we still have some trading to do here."
" thank you, but I think we can survive." I said.
" alright..." He said smiling. " ah... I almost forgot." He exclaimed lighting up. He shook off the loose bags over his back and held them out to me. " this is your share of our loot from the thunder wave." He said holding put the bag. I grabbed it and held it in my hoof, it was heavy. " it's full of gold as well as some water to see you through these hot summer days."
" thank you..." I said slinging the bags over my back and tying them with my magic. They were just ordinary brown cloth saddlebags.
" HELLO THERE VOYAGERS!" Shouted a very strange voice to the side of us. The voice had a strange accent and when we looked over we saw a pony walking over down the docks looking ecstatic and smiling. He was a regular earth pony with brown fur and black hair. His hair was long but was tied back in one long braid and so was his tail. " please... You must be captain dredd, of the oceans fury." He said. His accent sounded like a strange mix of French and Asian.
" ah... You must be the pony were trading with." Said dredd.
" yes... Yes I am..." He said. He walked over and looked at the three of us. " these three don't look like part of your crew." He said pointing to us.
" they're not." Said dredd. " these three are just weary travelers who I've struck a deal with... They're on a quest and needed transportation."
" ah... Welcome then." He said. His chipper tone of voice was very up lifting. Like how hosts would treat tourists.
" I didn't think anypony here would speak equestrian." Said twilight.
" well some of us do..." He said. " this is an international port. There are other towns and cities that speak primarily stallasian." My eyes glanced past him and locked onto the mountain far away from the port. It was charred and black, suggesting it was more of a volcano than a mountain.
" can I ask you a question?" I asked taking the foreign ponies attention.
" sure traveller, whatever you need." He said.
" that mountain over there..." I said pointing to the large mountain. " what can you tell me about it?" I asked.
" oh that's no mountain traveller..." Said the pony. " that would be a volcano... We call it chargargothora."
" chargar...what?" Recited thunder.
" chargargothora." Repeated the pony. " it's named after the stallasian god of fire and blood. It's named so because over one hundred thousand years ago that very volcano erupted with such fury that it burned down the entire east side of stallasia. It has been dormant ever since."
" that sounds horrible." Said twilight.
" yes, I'm just glad I wasn't around when it erupted." He said. " now... Is there anything else you three need?" He asked.
" no... I think we're good." I said.
" wonderful, there are plenty of shops and inns located all over the port town... Enjoy your stay and good luck with whatever quest your on." He said. I just smiled and turned back to dredd.
" well captain. It was an honor... Thank you." I said sticking my hoof out.
" any time adventurer." He said taking my hoof and shaking it well. I smiled and we let go of each other. We turned away and made our way down the port smiling and waving. Dredd waved too and soon enough we were gone. The port was pretty huge and very similar to port dredd, the only thing that had changed are the ponies. By the time we finally got off the docks it had already been five minutes. We took our first steps on foreign soil and looked around. The houses were stone houses that were designed tone very spacious. Like boxes laid on top of boxes.
We walked through the town and a lot of the signs for shops and stores were written in large strange lettering, probably stallasian. At least the signs had equestrian writing on them too for both factions. The stallasian written language seemed like a weird combination of Japanese and Arabic. What's even more strange is that the more I stare at the signs the more I understand them. It's like I'm quickly figuring out the languages seeing from the equestrian and the stallasian writing. But I am still curious to hear this language first hand... Or hoof.
All the ponies we walked by glanced at us but didn't pay us much attention. They all looked similar in some ways. They had different colors of their coats but their hair was primarily dark colored. Their eyes and coats varied in colors and so did their looks. They all had slightly squinted eyes. This is probably the Asian alteration for this world. The streets of the town were quite spacious but there were stalls and stands with various strange new foods lining the streets. Merchants bantering away while customers lined up and looked at their products. Some stalls sold foods, others sold other merchandise like jewelry, weapons, clothing, supplies, even medicine.
Some merchants tried to grab our attention and hold out shiny jewelry and other items for us to look at, but like most greedy merchants the second we walked away or didn't acknowledge them they lost interest and moved on to the next sap. The town was a bit shady and questionable but I didn't see anything wrong at the moment. I looked up to the sky for a brief second and checked the time by looking at the sun. The sun was halfway between the center of the sky and the horizon. It was getting later now, it must be a good while after mid day.
" so crimson... Where are we heading to now?" Asked thunder.
" to that mountain over there..." I said. " well that volcano I should say."
" why...?" Asked twilight questionably worried that she knew what I was going to say.
" because that's were we need to go." I said.
" I was afraid you would say that." Said twilight.
" don't worry... Chances of that thing blowing again are very minuscule... But then again, when it comes to me, if something can go wrong... It will." I said. That statement has been becoming increasingly true with every passing day. " for right now, there isn't much to do, and not enough time in the day to start something..." I said. " we should find an inn, get some food, and then rest up. Tomorrow we can stock up on supplies and we'll leave the next day."
" alright... That sounds fine I guess." Said twilight.
" hey... You three." Said a strange voice suddenly from next to us." We all paused and looked over to the sound of the voice. It was a young mans voice... And it was familiar too. We looked over to a dark, dark alleyway where the sun didn't shine even the slightest.
" who's there?" I asked very curious as to why I know this ponies voice. I could feel an energy there but his figure was shrouded by darkness. As well as the voice, the energy of this pony was strange but familiar.
" so I overheard you three were going to the volcano... That's an interesting place for three ponies out of Equestria to be visiting." Said the pony as he walked out of the shadows and revealed himself. He was wearing a dark black cloth cloak and had his hood pulled up over his eyes. His hair was golden blonde and his coat was black. He was wearing dark steel armor under his cloak. The steel armor was plated and spiked all along his body. The armor didn't look like it was painted black, more like it was so old that it turned a rotten black with age. The pony lifted his head slightly revealing his blue eyes under the hood. Wires and gears rapidly started shifting and turning in my head until something clicked... And I began to chuckle lightly. The hooded pony started to chuckle and smile too.
" I had forgotten you were coming..." I said smiling.
" I thought so... I bet you can't even remember my name." He said smiling too. He walked out of the shadows and took his hood off and let it hang on the back of his neck. Twilight and thunder stared in awkward confusion at me and my old friend.
" actually... No, I can't." I said smiling and he just laughed lightly. " I think it begins with an M."
" well it's a start..." He said. " it's me... Martukus." He said. The face, the energy, and the name all clicked together and the picture in my head was done forming.
" ah... That's right... So why have you decided to just join us now?" I asked.
" well I..." Martukus said before twilight cleared her throat loudly and interrupted him.
" uhm... Crimson... Who the hell is this?" She asked pointing at martukus.
" well as you've already figured, this is martukus..." I said. " he's a friend that I've met a while ago... We first ran into each other at the temple in blackmarsh." I said.
" is he just as much of a freak as you are?" Asked thunder jokingly.
" in more ways than others... Yes." I said, martukus punched my shoulder and sneered at me then returned to a smile.
" I'm boringly normal compared to you... I'm no freak." He said.
" is... Is he immortal too?" Asked twilight in a hushed tone so that the passing ponies around the street wouldn't hear.
" yes he is... " I said smugly. " so I take it you'll be joining us now..." I said returning to martukus.
" yes, sure... Why not." He said. I smiled and we started making our way back through the streets trying to find an inn or something. " so... What's the plan?" He asked.
" well we thought that since there isn't much left to do for today we would find an inn, get some food and sleep until tomorrow." I said. " tomorrow we'll get supplies ready and stock up then head out the next day."
" sounds good to me." He said. We kept our way through the crowded town making turn after turn looking for some kind of inn. So far there wasn't much luck. There were tons of shops. We took a left and luckily we started to get out of the shopping district of the town and moved into a more suburban area. There were lots of housing complexes now and up ahead I saw a sign for an inn. We started heading over and we finally got to the front door. The inn was much nicer than most of the houses here. It was still made of stone, but it was bigger and had lots of windows. I pushed open the door and we walked in. All of the ponies in the inn looked over at us with strange faces. I hadn't really noticed but I was wearing my armor and it was lighting up the inn. Me and martukus looked like opposites. I was wearing plated and spiked armor with a white hood and cape.
" welcome there you four..." Said the innkeeper behind the bar. " can I get you anything?" He asked as we walked over to the bar. We all took a seat at the bar.
" do you have any food here?" Asked thunder.
" sure tons of food... What can I get ya?" He asked. We looked over the menu above the bar and ordered our food. Luckily the board wasn't written in stallasian so we could all read it easily. We ordered our food and sat there waiting for it to arrive. When it finally did we choked down and ordered a few drinks too. " can I get you four anything else?" Asked the innkeeper.
" yeah... Do you have any rooms for rent?" I asked.
" sure." He said. " and just in luck too, last four rooms we got... Unless uh... You don't mind staring a room." He said glancing between me and twilight making her blush slightly.
" uhh.. No we'll take four rooms." I said. " we just need them for two nights."
" two nights... Not staying long huh?" He said walking over to a wall with keys hanging up.
" no... We've got stuff that needs doing." Added martukus.
" where the four of you heading to?" He asked. He held the keys in his hoof and gripped them like he wasn't going to give them to us until we answered him. His face changed to one of pure interest.
" we're off to the volcano." I said.
" the volcano huh... What business have you there?" He asked.
" well... We heard there would be treasure there..." Added thunder. He said it on the spot making up an excuse. It was a good one... But I would liked to have made it up so that it was bullet proof. At least I can back it up as much as I can.
" treasure eh... You four's adventurers ain't ya." He said smiling.
" yeah..." I said.
" well then consider it my honor to have you four stay these next two nights, free of charge." He said smiling.
" free?" Added twilight.
" of course... Free." He said. " in stallasia we treat adventurers like we
Do kings..." He said. " and we don't have many adventurers around here now a days... Stallasia has become a dangerous place."
" what's happening to this place?" Asked martukus.
" ah... Well see a long time ago there was an order of adventurers... It hey just called themselves the guild." He said. " they would go around and plunder lost temples and fight dangerous beasts."
" sounds like what an adventurer would do." I said.
" yes but there were many of them. Their adventurs kept the dark beasts away and their looting and generous nature fueled our economies. But now the guild has shrunk desperately in size." He said seeming glum. " dark and horrible creatures stalk the woods at night and most towns that used to be rich with ponies and excitement have been run to the ground and left for dead to the darkness of night."
" I don't feel any sense of danger here." I said.
" that's because it isn't nightfall." Said the innkeeper. I looked out the window and it was getting late now. Even though it wasn't completely night there were street lights flickering to life everywhere. " in this country we sleep with our lights on, if we know what's good for us." He said. I looked back over and he placed the room keys on the counter. " remember that." He said.
" we will." I said.
" and if you do end up going on your adventure..." He said taking a short pause to look us in the eye before he walked into the back room. " make sure to bring spare lamps and lots of oil... Trust me." With that he turned and walked into the other room. I caught something on him that was mildly disturbing. On the back of his hind legs, which I haven't seen before, he had huge black scars and tears running around his legs. I felt a sharp pain in my stomach and started to dry heave slightly. I didn't want to act up in public so I forced it back and placed my head on the counter.
" crimson..." Said martukus looking at me with surprise. " are you alright... What's wrong?" He asked.
" he was poisoned." Said twilight placing a hoof on my back making sure I was alright.
" poisoned... By who?" Asked martukus.
" you know who..." I said turning my head to look martukus right in the eyes. He looked at me and he knew the answer.
" that's not good... We need to get you to a spirit healer." He said.
" a what?" Asked thunder.
" crimson how are you feeling now?" He asked.
" it's been getting better." I said.
" well it fluctuates according to all the dark energy around you... This place is peaceful enough so your shouldn't feel too bad." He said. " but we need to get you to a spirit healer... There's a very famous one in a stallasian city... But it is a bit out of the way."
" can we afford that?" Asked thunder looking at me.
" I don't know..." I said picking my head up. " I'll have to think about it overnight."
" this isn't going to go away unless you are healed." Said martukus.
" I figured that... But I have all the time in the world to get better." I added. " like I said let me think on it."
" we should get you to bed..." Said twilight. " you should rest... We all should." I agreed and thunder grabbed the keys to the rooms. We walked upstairs and got to our rooms. Thunder and martukus took their own rooms near the middle of the hallway and me and twilight had rooms far apart from each other. Her number was six, but mine was eleven. I was at the end of the hall. Before she left to go to bed I said goodnight to her and she smiled. I walked down to the end of the hall and opened up room eleven. I walked in and looked around. The lights were already on and the room was very well lit.
I walked over to the bed and looked around some more. There were dressers and a chest for belonging at the foot of the bed. There was a nice rug laying across the ground and a window overlooking the ocean and the town. It was a fairly decent room. I let myself relax and my armor faded until I wasn't wearing anything at all. I stopped glowing for once and my white hair fell down to my sides. It was medium length and ragged, but it seemed to grow when it glows. I let out a deep yawn and crawled into bed. I went to turn the lights off when I thought about what the innkeeper said. I decided not to risk it and looked away from the oil lamp. That one oil lamp was the entire source of light for this whole room. It sat on the small bedside end table with the handle at its side and the light flickering. There was a bottle of oil next to it for when it should ever run out, but it seemed like they would have lanterns that last for a while.
I laid back in the bed not bothering to pull the covers over me since it was nice and warm inside of this bed and it was a warm summers night as well. I looked over at the window and noticed that it could be pushed open. I climbed out of bed for a second and pushed open the window. It let in a cool nights breeze which blew against my face and chest cooling me off. I smiled and left the window open as I crawled back into the bed. I laid down with my hooves over my stomach and my head resting on the pillow. I closed my eyes and started to drift off to sleep... After a while I was still awake.
I reopened my eyes and looked around. I felt like something was watching me, but there was nothing in the room. The little lamp flickered on next to the bed. I started to wonder if that's what was keeping me up, but when I look out the window I see that every window in town is lit up, despite it being almost midnight. The night sky was beautiful, and shone brightly on the world. It was full of stars and comets and the moon was full tonight. The moon seemed visibly bigger here than it does in Equestria. I closed my eyes one more time and tried getting some sleep. I was beginning to feel myself fall asleep when suddenly I heard a very clear hoofsteps inside of my room, like it was right next to me.
This surprise caused my eyes to fire open and my head to shoot up from the pillow and look next to me... There was nopony there. There was no way for them to hide from me. The sound was right next to me so they couldn't get away that fast and there were no hiding spots. The bed is too low to the ground for them to crawl under. I could see past the ends of the dresser and the chest at the foot of the bed and I have a clear view of the room since the bed is up against a wall. I looked around the room some more, but this time I was on alert. The next thing I knew there was a sudden pop in my ears followed by a high pitched ringing, like I had just bean deafened. I started feeling a dark presence around me... It was unimaginably strong. And just like martukus had said, the dark presence was causing me to act up now.
A dreadful pain shot through my stomach and a threw up a massive puddle of blood and black slime over the side of the bed. I grit my teeth and fell back in my bed. I writhed in pain and rolled over the side of the bed. I bumped into the end table which went falling to the ground with me. I hit the ground with a soft thud while the end table hit the ground with a large crash. The sound of shattering glass filled the air and then the room went dark. Seeing this made my stomach hurt even more. I felt the energy I felt before grow stronger and even closer to me now, it was almost right on top of me. Without thought I forced myself to begin glowing to keep whatever this was away. Another wave of pain washed over me and I threw up another puddle of blood and slime. My glowing form started to grow more dim.
Soon my pain was so great I couldn't keep it up and I threw up one last time before my light faded. Just as I burnt out something wrapped itself around my hind leg. It pulled at me and I went flying and hit the wall close to the window. There was a loud crash and I let out a yell of pain. Next it was thrust into the ceiling with my back against the ceiling. I let out another cry of pain as I coughed up some more blood and slime that splattered to the floor. Soon the force holding me up let go and I fell to the ground on my face. I hit the ground and bounced slightly before I felt a sharp pain. I let out a cry and something started digging into my back and tearing away at my flesh. Once the pain subsided I was thrown again but this time against the door. Despit how hard I hit the door I didn't break through.
At this point I'm more concerned as to how nopony has heard this yet. My friends might not be right next door, but those rooms have to be full. Another jolt of pain washed over me and I coughed up more blood and slime. I was thrown again and again, over and over again. I hit every wall and every bit of furniture, whatever was in here didn't want me to die without feeling pain first. And as more pain washed over me continuously I thought for a second... That I heard singing. I listened closely and I wasn't wrong. A female voice was humming a soft a leisurely tune which was psychotically fitting to my torture. I was held up by my hind legs as a sort of dark figure appeared, it looked like a mare.
" rose red petals... And emerald green leaves" she said. I was hazy and on the brink of passing out. " the day shines the color of the rainbow." She punctuated her statement by slashing me across the chest with some kind of black tentacle and letting my blood leak onto the floor. " the night and the moon... Though they shine, they give off light that only sways darkness."
" hurgghh..." I choked out trying to make some noise but it was no use.
" the light in your eyes..." She said holding up two tentacles. " it burns me... We must extinguish it." Without hesitation the two tentacles of darkness lashed out at me and everything went dark as waves of pain washed over me. I fell to the ground with a thud and the pain started to leave my body and I slowly slipped into a deep sleep. Before I fell into my pain induced sleep I thought about my sickness and what martukus was saying. I thought about the spirit healer he was talking about in one of the towns. But as I slipped away the only vision that flooded my head was the shadowy and vague figure of that dark mare.
I think we can afford to go and see this spirit healer...
-Authors Note: Hey guys. sorry it's been a while, but ive been caught up with some stuff, and ive been procrastinating a bit. but here's the new chapter for you... and i want you all to read this because in this one AN i'm going to reveal a few things and answer some very frequently asked questions. so without further delay... lets begin.
the first thing i want to bring to light and even though i said i wouldn't speak of it... im going to. a while back i promised you that somepony important would die... but i can tell you now... its not happening soon. it's not even going to happen in this book. once the journey to go after shal-grahkan ends i will begin a new book of the aftermath which is going to be at a slower pace and will take place over the third and fourth seasons of the show... so its going to be very episode oriented with a bit of filler in between. but i wouldn't kill anypony off and have it be a huge thing when its so obvious who it gets down to. crimson and martukus are both immortal... so that's out. the only important ponies left are twilight and thunder/Derek. and the death is going to occur in the chain of event so your going to see it happen... but it's happening in the next book. I'm still not releasing any info on who is dying, but i have made my mind up about it.
secondly. the story is named Reborn for a reason... which is a reason ive had ingeniously planned despite the actual chain of events. its not just about crimson being reanimated into Scar's body... it goes much deeper than that and it will become very clear at the end of the story. im going to let you guys theorize and guess as much as you want, but i wont confirm or deny anything. and to go along with that question people have been asking about the whole ordeal with twilight. that is going to get a bit ugly in the later chapters. right now she may seem fine but there are clues as to the fact that there is now something wrong with her. if you've noticed how clingy she is to crimson you might be able to guess what is going to happen with that. but i wont spoil anything, and like i said, ill let you guys guess and theorize as much as you want but i wont confirm or deny anything.
ive also still got quite a few unused OC's on my hands at the moment and most of them i have been able to find a place for. but there wont be any introduction of anymore new OC's for the rest of the story... at least so far. i haven't fully decided yet and maybe once the new dimensions start becoming apparent in the story that will open up some opportunity for new and more... interesting, OC's... but that would also mean that they will have to be temporary since they exist in an alternate universe.
and one last thing to tie it all up. the romantic love triangle that has consumed crimsons life. we know that crimson is married to rainbow dash and loves her. we also know that Celestia loves crimson and that twilight is now starting to fall for crimson. and we can all see their stand point and can relate to them. Celestia has been alone without a proper suitor for thousands of years until crimson came along. twilight, after the incident with scar, is now emotionally devastated and is growing closer to crimson because she sees him a strong and protective male. and dash... well crimson and dash are married... so... yeah. then there was the incident with mystee a while back... but that's been settled for now.
well im sorry for wasting your time with this.. but i hope it answered some important questions, and it makes up for not having posted a good authors note in a while. ill try and keep on top of these things and don't be afraid to send me a PM with any questions. i always manage to go through all of them and respond if i can. if you notice any mistakes or holes in the plot let me know so i can fix them to the best of my abilities. hopefully the next chapter will come along quicker than this one did which i apologize for. so i hope you guys have fun and enjoyed the chapter. so stay safe, stay sober, and stay shady my friends.-End of Note-