Chapter 2:

The Timing is Off

In a daze, I stumbled backwards, trying to wrap my mind around the fact that I was now a creature that technically wasn’t a type of species, and on a world where it shouldn’t exist. How was this possible? I’m supposed to take on the form of the population, aren’t I? And I’m on EQUESTRIA. I know that for a fact! After all, I’ve been here more than once. What’s going on?

My mind was racing at a mile a minute, bringing up countless reasons as to why this could have happened; a bit of magical disturbance, a poison in the air, a reaction to some sort of rising darkness…none of it seemed to fit though!

The sound of twigs breaking from behind made me whirl around, fangs bared, to face whatever was about to sneak up on me. Instead of another attacker though…

“Peace, Traveler,” a slender woman said. She was wearing a spring green dress that reached down to her ankles, gently touching the soft ground around her bare feet. Long, earth colored hair framed her lightly tanned face, flowing gracefully in the small breeze. Everything about her seemed to scream natural beauty, and letting nature take its course.

Unconsciously, I let my guard drop. Something in my head was telling me that she didn’t want to harm me…that I knew her. Cautiously, I looked up at her, and asked, “Who are you?”

She gave me a knowing smile, and said, “I will just say that I am one of your…’bosses’, as you like to call us.”

A Goddess of Good…One of my creators, an incredibly powerful being, who’s on the side of…well, good. That explains how she knew to call me Traveler.

Normally, I don’t try to trust people instantly, but I could literally feel her power radiating off of her, and she DID know who I was. For now, I better go along with her.

I bowed to her in respect, and said, “Goddess…it is truly an honor to meet you in person.”

With a small laugh, she placed a hand upon my head, letting out a quiet sigh as she did so. “Omnius…I believe that you wish to know why you are in this form, correct? And why you’re on Equestria, of all places?”

I nodded in reply.

“It is a long, and complicated tale…but I have had a vision,” she said, looking out into the direction of the forest. “The land ablaze with chaos and destruction, animals and forests dying by the thousands, innocents lost to the change that is to come…and of heroes, leading their people to victory. I can see outsiders becoming the beloved of their new people, protecting them from harm, and ultimately benefitting them.” She paused, and looked at me somberly. “Do you know what I see?”

Now it was my turn to let out a sad sigh. “War,” I stated, shaking my head. It was incredibly depressing to say the least. “No matter what world I run to, what dimension I end up in, there will always be war of some sort. I’ve been alive for countless years, and I have yet to land on a world that is not on the brink of a total war,” I lamented.

The Goddess placed a comforting hand on my shoulder. “Do not worry, Omnius. This particular war is not to come for quite some time. You have years, at the least,” she said. “Even Nightmare Moon has yet to be released from her prison.”

“Then why am I here? And why am I in this form?” I asked, holding up my arms. “Why am I a Werehog, of all things?”

For a moment, she was silent, as she chose her words to explain it. “Omnius…you are here because I need you to be ready. Soon, outsiders from another world will begin coming here, champions of some God who tricked them into coming here. You are the first…and the only one to take upon that form.”

She waved a hand over the river, causing the reflection to ripple for a moment, and change entirely. I saw diamond dogs, dragons, changelings, griffons, all manner of creature, both fantastic and unusual, flash across the water. Some were noble heroes, never looking for anything more than the next step on their journey. Others were simply people who wanted power, whether for themselves or others, it was hard to tell.

Most of all…I saw change. It was undeniable. And it was coming.

“The reason you are in that form…” she slowly started. “You need to be powerful, and to be able to contend with these…pawns, if you will. They will have powers that could possibly dwarf even your own, if you aren’t careful. Their minds will be as sharp as their swords, and the only one, true advantage you will have over them will be experience.”

“That still doesn’t explain this particular body,” I pointed out, trying to be nice about it.

“You have a form that fits the combination of both your sense of justice and honor…and your sense of rage, and anger,” she said, gently sliding her fingers through my fur. “Not only that, but I felt it fitting that this form’s power should help you…after all, my alternate dimension self is responsible for it.”

My eyes widened in shock, as I turned to look at her…but she had vanished.

“Gaia…” I whispered in awe.

The wind intensified for a moment, sending several pine needles over the edge of the waterfall. I made my way over to it, hoping I could get a better look at what lay below.

“…Sometimes, Gods are subtle. Other times, they just give you a huge flashing neon sign,” I chuckled, shaking off my awe.

Sprawled out in front of me was a collection of log cabins and crude huts, grouped together around the waterfall. All across the makeshift town, ponies went about their daily lives, while I watched from above. From the looks of things, the town had just been started recently. The cabins still had tools all around them, with sawdust covering quite a few of them.

There was something else too…it was oddly silent. Where were the children? No matter what, every time you go to a new settlement, there will always be at least one child out with their family.

Every one of my senses were shouting at me, telling me that there was something wrong. I needed to get down there. Scanning the area, I found a small dirt path that would lead to the front of the village, without making me fall off the side of a mountain.

So, with a heavy sigh, I slowly made my way down the path, the sun sinking below the horizon.

XHXHXHXHXHXHX

“Halt!” a unicorn with makeshift armor called out as he spotted me walking down the path. A crude spear was magically lifted up and pointed towards me. “Stay right where you are!”

I think it was a blessing that I had been on all fours, and in poor lighting. The guy looked like he expected Hell to come knocking any moment now. As it was, a brown werehog that looks like a diamond dog in the wrong lighting wouldn’t do much to help my case.

“Alright,” I called back at him, trying to make myself seem as harmless as possible.

“Step into the light!” his partner commanded, lighting a torch.

Great. Well, it’s better to get this out of the way now, while I still can.

“Okay…” I said in a placating tone. “Just…try not to freak out, or impale me.”

Before they could answer, I walked forward, lifting my hands into the air to show them I was unarmed. They started in surprise at my appearance, looks of wide eyed astonishment on their faces. I smiled at them, trying to hide my teeth from view. I didn’t want to scare them any worse than they already were.

“What exactly are you?” the blue colored one on the right said, lifting the torch higher into the air.

“Just a simple Traveler,” I answered in a neutral tone, trying to keep my voice low. “I got lost in these woods, and found this town. I was wondering if I could search for some work or something.”

“Ha, a likely story,” the spear toting pony spat out, his auburn coat shivering in the torchlight. “We’re not gonna buy something as weak as that!”

“What do you mean?” I asked them, my curiosity aroused. Not like that! Get your filthy minds out of the gutter!

“Like we’re gonna tell you tha-”

“Cool it, Twitch,” the blue unicorn commanded. “Somethin' tells me he ain't workin' for any of those dogs, or those other monsters...”

“And how do you know?” Twitch replied, completely forgetting about me for an instant.

“Because,” I interrupted. I reached behind me, and pushed the bundle I had been dragging along with me forward. “I was hoping you could take these jerks off my hands.”

Twitch zipped it after that.

The blue unicorn smiled at me, a small twinkle in his eyes. “I think you just got yourself an easy sixty bits there,” he commented, nudging one of the dogs with his hoof.

“Hm?” I grunted.

“See these dogs? Look at their equipment and nets; they’re obviously slavers,” he explained, pointing at the broken glass vials still around there waists. “There are quite a few in the forest around here, and they’ve been giving us no end of trouble.”

“Is that so?’ I growled. “In that case, take these guys on the house.”

He grinned at that, and used his magic to tighten the net around them. “Here, help me push them into town. Twitch, keep up guard duty until your shift is up, got it?”

“Yes sir,” Twitch sighed, settling into a more comfortable position.

“You got a name there, Fuzz?”

“Omnius,” I answered. “Yours?”

“Name’s Sky. Sky Blue. I’m in charge of security around the lovely town of Pine Falls,” he replied, leading me into the town. “I’m afraid you’ve come at a bad time, stranger.”

I noticed for the first time how it seemed that each pony was armed with some sort of weapon. Hammers, knives, staves, spears…this town looked like it had been fighting for its life.  Hell, just the way they glared at me was enough to disturb me. What had happened to this town?

“Don’t mind them,” Blue reassured me. “They just don’t take too kindly to strangers.”

“That’s a given,” I muttered.

After a bit of walking, we had made it to a log cabin labeled  “Guard house”. The inside of it was divided into two sections: one for the guards’ sleeping quarters, and another for any criminals they might have caught. The latter was made almost entirely out of metal, with barbed poles barring most of the cells.

“Toss ‘em in there,” he told me. “We can interrogate them later, see if they've got any information worth knowing."

"Such as...?" I prompted.

Sky smirked at me, saying, "That's classified."

Of course it is... I thought to myself. Looks like even though he knows I'm not gonna harm him, he's not gonna trust me. I have to say, I'm glad that's the case. If it were anything else, he'd be a fool.

Now that there wasn't a spear being waved at my face, I was able to get a better look at the Pegasus. Ironically, his fur wasn't a sky blue color, like his name implied. Rather, it was a dark, indigo color, with a silvery gray mane and tail to compliment it. He wore a blood red bandana around his neck, and his cutie-mark was a cyan oak leaf. Wonder what that means his talent is...

The Pegasus cleared his throat to snap me out of my thoughts. With a wry grin, he asked me, "So, stranger...you say you're looking for work then?"

"Just something to help me get some supplies," I growled in reply.

"Oh? And where would you be headed then?"

I shrugged absently. "Don't know. Wherever I'm needed, I guess."

Nodding in acceptance of this, he went over to a large desk hidden in the corner and pulled a bottle of amber colored liquid out. "Some cider from my home town, Ponyville. Want some?" he offered.

"No thanks."

"Suit yourself," he muttered. "Now then, what do you know about these woods around us?'

That was a good question. What DID I know, exactly? "Not much," I admitted. "There are diamond dogs, plenty of pine trees, and cliffs. Other than that, nothing."

"Well, you're honest at least." He reached underneath the desk again, this time coming up with a large scroll. With a small burst from his horn, the scroll unfurled itself, revealing a long list of names. Some of them were scratched out, or had a red check mark by them.

"You see all of those names?" Sky asked me. Tapping his hoof to each one of them, he said, "Those are the names of ponies from this here town that've gone missing, or been killed."

"What? But-"

"These forests hide more than diamond dogs. In the past month, we've seen strange creatures lurking about. Normally, we only see them at night, but it's not unheard of for one of them to attack us in broad daylight," Sky spat in disgust. "They've already torn apart most of the guards, and we've barely been able to fight them off each time they arrive."

That didn't sound good. And those "strange creatures"...I think I might have an idea of what those are. Based on the fact that they prefer to work at night, combined with their apparent mystery and strength...those might be Torrentican's minions.

It's a little too early to jump to conclusions though.

To distract myself, I asked, "When were they last spotted?"

As Sky opened his mouth to answer that, the door burst open, revealing the guard from earlier, Twitch. Ignoring me, he galloped over to the older Pegasus, and gasped out, "Sir! They're back! They're coming again!"

"What's coming?" Sky asked sternly. "Speak up, boy!"

"Those...those shade things!"

A woman's scream pierced the night. My heart started pumping like a jackhammer in my chest, and I shot through the door on all fours.

"Where do you think you're going?" Sky called out after me.

I didn't answer him. There were ponies in trouble.

And I was needed. Next Chapter: 3) Shade of The Past Estimated time remaining: 2 Hours, 57 Minutes