On The Trails of Flame
Chapter 1
Part 1 of 5
Darkness abounded, surrounding the white hooded fox Alex as he traveled through the strange dark corridor like passage. He turned his head suddenly eyeing a demon that was working up the nerve to ambush him but the second the god’s eyes where laid upon it, it ran off to stalk an easier meal. The fox let out a sigh as he then continued down the pathway only to see his pixie companion rejoining him. The small humanoid dragon let out a sigh of relief when she sat down on his shoulder letting her wings rest a little as the fox then asked as he looked over to her,
“Well, did you find her?”
The pixie shook her head no but then responded,
“No, the Boundary Halls are to big, its like finding a needle in a haystack, I did however find a clue.”
The fox cocked an eyebrow then asked,
“What kind of clue??”
The pixie then giggled a little before responding, rubbing the back of her head, knowing she was about to get into trouble,
“A . . . giant hole in the wall leading into an unconnected world. . . .”
The fox face palmed stopping in place as he then asked,
“And you just left it there, unattended, do you know what kind of damage that can do.”
The pixie nodded then asked,
“What would you have had me do stand guard and wait for you to find me, and then starving after several days of waiting for you to find that one hole in the wall in this giant freaking maze?? I needed to come find you so you can fix the damn thing.”
The fox nodded then said shooing her off his shoulder,
“That’s still a problem though, if any of the demons or other monsters from the boundary halls gets into that world, the death toll could be catastrophic, more so if they’re a world unprepared for such a battle.”
The pixie nods then looking on as the fox pointed at the path ahead of him,
“Well go on get moving, I have to seal the tear before anything tries to go hunting.”
The pixie nods then dashes off leading the fox to the tear. The journey itself seemed to take no time at all, but the fox knew better, the boundary halls where a strange place, and time didn’t flow correctly within it, even his presence wasn’t enough to fix such a problem, he had to hurry before anything bad went through the tear. When he finally made it to the tear he had seen several shadow demons and other such monsters sniffing around several already going through the hole, the fox worked quickly to drive them off and back into the depths of the halls. The pixie then said as she returned to her maters side,
“This is it.”
The fox looked to the little pixie with a “no shit” kind of look the small girl then sticking out her tongue as she rubbed the back of her head. The Fox then said reaching for the top most button on his cloak,
“Lets fix this hole up, then go do damage control.”
The pixie nodded then got into position the fox unbuttoning the top most button on his cloak and then letting out a deep breath as a pair of golden wings of energy sprouted from his back, the fox then saying as he held his hands out, followed by the pixie,
“Lets close it before my power seeps into the world, that would be bad as well,”
The pixie nodded then aided the fox as he then projected a field of energy onto the tear, beginning to close it much like a doctor would suture a wound; the pixie applying more pressure where needed to make sure it didn’t try to run away from him. Within a few minuets the tear was sealed and the fox affixed his button once more, the energy field and wings both vanishing as he did, then saying once he was once again sealed away behind his cloak,
“Well this is both a good thing and a horrible thing?”
The small dragon girl asked as she sat on his shoulder once more, letting out a tired sigh,
“Whys that master?”
The fox then said turning away from where the hole once was,
“Well the hole might have let demons and other such monsters into whatever world that opened up to, so now we’ll have to do damage control and destroy and foreign creatures, However it takes a lot to tear a hole that big from the boundary halls, which means she might be in that world.”
The pixie grins before giving a yawn,
“Two birds, one stone. Well I’m tired master, may I?”
The fox nods pulling at his collar giving the dragon girl enough room to get into the cloak to sleep wherever it was she got comfy. With the tear taken care of, the fox then made the short trek to the world gate, the ethereal pathway into the world the hole had led into. Holding out a hand for a moment he then took something from the air, what quickly formed into a blue nearly invisible key. Taking the key in hand the fox then approached the gate, a lock quickly forming to block his progress and a solid energy barrier behind it. Inserting the key into the lock it unlocked with a loud clang of metal, the barrier then becoming more transparent till the fox then crossed it the barrier the lock redoing themselves once he passed through and then the large metal gates slowly started to open, to allow him into the world beyond it. Alex quickly walked through the gate and where the darkness of the halls ended a bright world then began. He looked around for a few moments till he remembered, a smirk forming on his face as he then stated to himself,
“Oh, its been some time since I was in this world, Looks like those two did a good job of things.”
The fox looked back as the large metal gates became ethereal once more then faded behind him, leaving him in this world. He looked around for a few moments taking in a bit of the surroundings, and indeed it was as he feared, he could sense them, demons lurking in the shadows of the world, he’d have to hunt them all down before he left, however there was something else on the wind, something far more ominous then a few dozen demons, a presence that made something within him stir, the fox then mumbling as he got ready to begin his task,
“Yup, she must be here.”
He began walking and quickly made his way into a slightly wooded area, it wasn’t a forest however, the fox looked up at the trees, and bright red apples hung from the branches, he smiled as one of the fruits pulled itself free from its branch, the fox stretching out his hand and grabbing it before taking a bite, Alex then saying before taking another,
“Hum, that’s pretty good, this is no wild forest, these apples have been carefully raised and tended to, must be an orchard, and where there is an orchard there is a farm, I’ll start there.”
He walked along eating the apple till he sensed something, demons, and a whole pack of them at that, he looked around the very shadows cast by the trees seemingly shifting around, the demons where hunting. He took to his heels trying to track them down quickly, however it only got worse. Once he finally found the pack he found what they where hunting, he felt them, three young mortal creatures where there, playing in a tree house nestled in a large tree, completely unaware of what was about to happen to them. The fox then said as he got ready for a fight,
“Just great, they had to be little ones, won’t be able to use any of my power around them.”
The fox approached the tree house feeling the angry eyes of the demons watching him, pissed that he was getting in their way. The fox then knocked on the door, surprising the three young creatures on the inside one of them asking from within a young female voice,
“Who’s there? What do you want?”
The fox shook his head then said,
“It’ll take to long to answer and time is a factor, I need the three of you to get out here now.”
There is a pause before another young female voice responded,
“You don’t sound familiar, go away we’re trying to plan on how to get our cutie marks.”
The fox face palmed then said making the door open,
“Now is not the time for that, you’re lives are in danger, foolish little mortals.”
The door almost flung open the Fox then having to react rather quickly as a shadowy hand at that moment reached out for the three mortals inside, Alex quickly grabbing what turned out to be three young ponies, one with a white coat, and a mane and tail of purple and pink a horn growing from her forehead, a orange colored Pegasus who’s tail and mane where purple in color. The last one was a yellow colored pony her tail and mane a shade of red and a pink bow on the back of her head. They where snatched up in the blink of an eye then could only scream when they found themselves jumping through the air two under the foxes arms and the other on his shoulder. They looked back to their little club house as an angry shriek rang out, the small tree house quickly reduced to splinters when a large demon felt it necessary to destroy the tree having been denied its meal. The fox set the three girls down then said drawing his sword from his cloak,
“If you know what’s good for you, you’ll stay behind me.”
He called out for his pixie, the small dragon girl asking in a panic,
“Master??”
The fox quickly replied gripping tight his weapon,
“Level three barrier now!! Protect the mortals!!”
The pixie nodded with a “yes master” before she flew over to then resting on one of the girls heads, then projecting a barrier field around the three frightened girls. Alex watched as a large demon took form, commanding many smaller demons to do so as well, then commanding them to attack with another shriek like yell. Instantly the fox was beset by shadow demons, the little creatures trying to swarm him as was their normal tactics, the fox beginning to battle with them, easily slaying the first few before more showed up, heeding the larger demons command. They threw themselves on the fox, the mindless demons knowing nothing else but to swarm, Alex looking back for a moment when he heard the three ponies scream again, the demons trying to get through the barrier and at their prize, the barrier however repelled them, the fox however said as he turned to them saying as he conjured several dart like fire bolts,
“Get away from them you little monsters!”
He lobbed the volley of fire bolts at the shadows around the barrier, destroying those that did not duck back into the shadows before they hit; the slain demons turning to naught at his strikes. Alex backed himself closes to the barrier to more properly keep the demons off of it, his first concern was protecting the three young fillies contained inside. It however went from bad to worse Alex turned as he heard some one shout out,
“Apple Bloom, what in tarnation is going on over here! What are . . . You . . . . . All . . . Yelling . . . . . . About?”
Bursting from the tree line like a bat outta hell was another pony, her fur a light shade of orange with a mane and tail of blond hair, and a cowboy hat on her head. What was an angry pony quickly backed off a little when she saw the swarm of demons and the fact that quickly all eyes where on her currently being the easier target, the large demon then shrieking a command to the demons, a large amount of them turning on the new arrival. To her credit the pony did her best to fend for herself as the swam of little demons fell upon her, however the moment she realized she couldn’t kick them her determination started to falter. She looked up as Alex protected her from a near fatal blow but another gashing open her right flank, the fox then scooped her up then saying as he went back to staring down the demons,
“Very bad timing little mortal.”
The pony looked up at the fox unable to make out any noticeable features due to his hood and due to the fact that she was now under his left arm. Carrying her he fought his way back to the barrier that had been attacked the moment he left its side, and once back in front of it, the fox in a hurry to get his back away from the demons, rather abruptly dropped her into it, saying after she landed with a thud,
“Sorry but in a hurry.”
He turned just in time to see the large demon try to take advantage of his distraction, just barely able to parry the demons blow, then forcing it back. The stalemated battle lasted for about half an hour more, the fox destroying more of the little shadow demons that threw themselves at him as the large demon tried to find an opening for a cheep shot, however suddenly they stopped, a strange feeling whipping around in the wind as the large demon then let out another yell before beginning to fade away the little ones doing the same. The fox kept his guard up for a few moments more till he was sure they where gone, worried about what called them away, but that would be a problem for later, Alex turned back to the foursome of ponies when one of the little ones cried out when the older female collapsed,
“Apple Jack!!”
Alex put his sword down and turned back to them saying as he looked to the small pixie,
“Alright that’s enough its safe.”
The pixie nodded then responding with,
“Can I go back to sleep then master?? I’m still tired from before.”
The fox nodded then same as before letting the pixie into his cloak then saying as he turned to the four female ponies, the older of the lot of them trying her best to stand, not sure if the fox was a threat or not,
“Relax, I mean you no harm don’t strain yourself.”
The older pony looked at him for a few moments more trying to size him up before she let herself slid back down to the ground, her right hind lag giving out on her. Alex approached the lot of them the older pony, the one called Apple Jack asking,
“Guess I owe you a thanks partner, mind if I ask your name?”
The fox nodded then kneeling down to look at the pony’s wounds,
“My name is Alex, I take it you’re Apple Jack?”
The girl nods, looking on as the fox looked at her wounds, letting out a pained gasp when he touched it, the fox then saying,
“Crap, its tainted, I’ll have to treat this wound carefully.”
One of the little ponies, the normal looking one then asked as she looked at the older ponies hind leg,
“Is my sister going to be ok?? What does it’s tainted mean?”
The fox pats the girls head then says,
“Relax she’ll be fine, I just need a fair amount of clean water and some time, do you have somewhere I can take you?? This is going to take some time, I have to treat it carefully.”
The older pony nodded then said,
“Yeah, we can go back to the house, we have plenty of water there.”
The fox nodded then motioning if it was alright to pick her up, the pony nodding, Alex then lifting her into his arms and saying to the little ones,
“Alright lead the way.”
The nodded rushing ahead as they took the fox to the farm, Apple Jacks sister then shouting once they reached said area a short while later,
“BIG MAC, Apple Jack is hurt, Come Quick!!”
Alex carefully set the wounded pony down and watched as another pony rushed out to them, a large male, with a red coat, his tail and mane orange in color with a yoke around his neck. Alex said as the pony got close,
“She’ll be fine, just don’t touch her.”
They nodded having to take what he was saying at face value only having just met him, the fox then saying turning to the male pony,
“I need clean water and a good deal of it do you mind fetching some??”
The red pony nods with a “eeyup” then rushes off to get the water, Alex then looking back to the wounded pony, who let out a pained hiss when one of the little fillies poked her leg, AJ then snapping at her saying,
“Darn it Apple Bloom, he just said nopony was to touch it, besides that fact, that really hurt darn it!”
The little pony backed away the fox then turning to look at the young pony who looked back at him with a guilty smile waving ‘hi’ at him, Alex then saying as he took her hand looking it over carefully,
“You’re gonna want to lay down, like right now.”
The girl asked,
“Why’s tha. . . . .”
The little filly then collapsed, the fox catching her before she hit the ground, Alex then saying,
“Because that is going to happen. The thing about tainted wounds is, they love to spread”
The older pony sighed as the fox laid her sister next to her, Alex then saying as Big Mac returned with water,
“Well then, now that we know what happens no one else touch her leg please. Hey . . Uh Big Mac was it?? We’re going to need more water.”
Pointing to the young pony the male nods and leaves to get more, Alex then saying as he knelt down to Apple Bloom looking to AJ as he did,
“Sorry but I’ll have to treat her first, being so young her body is much weaker to the taint.”
AJ nods then says in response,
“No worries, it don’t hurt thaat much, so long as nopony touches it.”
With that Alex picked up the bucket and tipped it upside down, the ponies looking on in disbelief when the spilt water just floated there Alex then holding his hands out on both sides of the floating bucket of water, said water quickly taking on a light glow. After a few more moments of preparing it, he then made the water then float to the young pony at which point the fox put her tainted hand in the water, The girl let out a pained whine for a moment till the water was absorbed into her skin, her leg then returning to its usual color, having started to blacken when the taint set in. Alex looked her over a little as the girl once more came too, Alex then saying before turning to AJ,
“Alright little one, next time I say don’t touch something I mean it.”
The filly nods still trying to shake off what just happened, then turning to AJ, Big Mac returned with another bucket of water, Alex saying as he accepted it,
“You have great timing friend, thanks.”
The pony nodded with a “eeyup” before watching the fox go to work on AJ’s leg said limb started to blacken with the three red gash marks still bleeding down her flank, Alex then saying as once more he dumped the water out, and Big Mac surprised when the water floated in front of him, the two remaining fillies giggling at him,
“I know it looks bad, but trust me when I say that this could have been a lot worse, those little demons easily could have torn your leg clean off.”
The pony nodded, wincing when he pressed the water onto her wound. It took a few moments more then it did with Apple Bloom but once Alex finished cleaning her leg the healing process was much easier very small amount of his divine energy the pony was back on her feet and good as new in no time at all. Once finished and Alex took a seat next to the ponies, the small mortal creatures making him feel like a giant, AJ then asked after offering him some water,
“So mind telling me what those critters where? I’ve never seen them before.”
The fox nods accepting the glass while the back half of him mind wondered how the hell she held it with her hooves in the first place,
“As is the norm, they’re not creatures of your world, they’re shadow demons of the boundary halls, those of which are the pathways in-between worlds.”
The pony double took for a moment then respond with,
“The what now?”
The fox chucked a little then said,
“Long story short, they’re not a creature found in this world, they’re not suppose to be here.”
The pony nodded then asked,
“Is that why they tried to kill us?”
The fox nods then taking a drink of his water,
“So do you need help getting them?”
The fox shakes his head no then responds,
“No I can handle then, but they’re only a side affect of why I’m really here, I’m looking for someone, I think she was the reason they got in to your world in the first place.”
The pony nods then says,
“Well you’re the first, whatever it is you are, that we’ve seen.”
The fox nods then says,
“Its for the best, if you had seen her in her current condition, you’d be dead.”
The pony nods then watches as the fox gets up then says,
“Well I’ve got to get a move on, I’ll put a ward on your farm before I leave, it would be best interest for you not go into your orchards in the meantime, those demons hide in the shadows and can attack without warning, I‘ll also rebuild the little ones club house was my fault it was destroyed in the first place.”
The pony nods then watches as the fox walks back into the tree line again, leaving them to the rest of their days, such as it was now that they could not tend to their trees. The fox wandered for a few hours, doing as he promised first by putting a ward around their homestead, to make sure the demons could not get to them without amassing a huge force and breaking the ward, then returning to the three fillies club house, the fox working his magic and rebuilding the small building and the tree in minutes. With it rebuilt the fox decided that, as small as it was for someone his size he would stay there for the time being, the recent events having drained most of the day away, with the sun far in the sky getting ready to set for the night. Sitting inside of the cramped tree house, Alex closed his eyes seemingly to get some sleep, however that was not the case, the moment his eyes closed he was pulled into the void of his inner world, it was darkened mostly Alex looking around till he saw what he was looking for, a shadowy creature with slit blood red eyes, it was wrapped in what looked like heavy steel chains but a big grin was on its face, and it jolted toward him once it felt his presence. Alex asked the shadowy apparition once he had its attention,
“Well death? How do you feel?”
The shadowy creature cocked its head around to an unnatural angle till it finally said something, its words almost dripping with excitement and anticipation,
“The flames, I feel them, they are in this world, and they are burning out of control, they will burn everything to ashes.”
The creature then forces itself to its feet despite its binds then says as it tries to get closer to Alex,
“The death toll will be extraordinary, so many mortals will burn, that is,
The shadow then rushes toward Alex till the cling of its steel bindings ring out as they are pulled taught,
“Unless you let me stop them, let me out, I will find the Flames of Destruction, and I will snuff them out, all you have to do, is undo my bindings.”
Alex waves his hand, throwing the shadow away which it lands with a sickening thud and the sound of snapping limbs,
“Yeah, like I’d unleash the shadow of death on this world, I’ll find the flames on my own thank you very much, I just needed to know that they where here or not, now be gone I need to center myself!”
With his command the shadowy entity is banished from the void, said space returning to its usual white color, Alex then taking a seat and letting himself float as he entered a meditative state to center himself before he resumed his task in the morning.
~End of Chapter 1~
* Just a quick note*
As these characters exist already I’m no longer going to describe them, we all know what they look like and I feel that going through the motions of describing them all is going to take to much time out of the story, so after this point I’ll no longer spend time describing the ponies, if you want to know what they look like if you don’t know then feel free to look them up on goggle or where ever else you feel like it. xP
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