//------------------------------// // Aidan, Eve, Luna. // Story: My Little Pony: Adventures in Tyria. // by Mehnlo //------------------------------// As Aidan stepped through the portal, the first thing he noticed was that he was in an orchard of some sorts. The second thing being that the portal proceeded to close behind him. ‘Damn, no going back now.’ Aidan walked towards one of the trees, unsure of what to expect. The tree seemed almost picturesque, with an almost perfectly smooth trunk, and the leaves looking like a child's drawing of a cloud. It was only then that Aidan noticed the apples. ‘So, it’s an apple orchard. I should find the owner, try to get some info about this place.’ With that Aidan started walking in a random direction, hoping to find a landmark of some sort. -Thud- Aidan stopped upon hearing the sound, grabbed his bow, and waited, listening. -Thud- there it was again, but where? Aidan notched an arrow onto his bow. -Thud- there! Aidan turned towards the direction of the sound, and cautiously started walking towards it. -Thud- Aidan couldn’t help but wonder what it was, it sounded like something was just hitting the trees over and over. -Thud- what would the point of that be though? -Thud- There! Aidan stopped, and the quickly moved behind one of the apple trees. He had seen one of the tree’s further along the path shake, followed by all of the apples falling out. Aidan snuck his head around, trying to get a good look at the tree, as he saw a red horse walk away from it. Well, horse wasn’t really the right term, considering it stood about only up to Aidan’s chin, it’s hooves were much larger than a normal horse, and it was bright red. However in the end, it was still an animal, and if there was one thing Aidan was good with, it was animals. Feeling more relaxed now, Aidan walked out from behind the tree, and watched the red equine as it moved to another of the apple trees. It then proceeded to turn around and buck the tree, causing all of the apples to fall out, and into pre-arranged buckets. ‘That’s neat, I wonder how whoever owns this farm trained the animal to do that.’ Aidan thought as he slowly approached the animal. Once he was, what he judged to be, around thirty meters from the equine, Aidan made a clicking noise with his mouth, to get its attention. The red equine looked up, confused, and started looking around. Aidan made the same noise, which got the equines attention. It looked straight at him, ‘Success’ thought Aidan. He put out his hand and slowly motioned for the animal to come closer. Aidan made a mental note when he saw the equine furrow it’s brow, surprised that the horses here seemed to be smarter than those in Tyria, as evidenced by it’s apparent confusion. Aidan called out to the equine, to try and get it accustomed to his voice before he moved closer. “C’mere, it’s okay, I just want a closer look.” However, Aidan stopped dead in his tracks when the equine responded back. “Nnnnope. How ‘bout you come here, real slowly. Ah dunno what you are, but ye’ at least look the part o’ a monster. An’ put whatever that is in yer claws away.” “Y-You can talk?” Aidan asked, dumbfounded, before he corrects himself. “I - I mean, okay obviously you can talk. . . Uhm. . . Do you - oh wow, I just have no idea what to say, a talking animal. Okay, well, if I come closer you promise to explain to me what you are and where I am? Oh and to not kick me like you did those trees? I am a friend, I do not want to harm you or anyone else.” Aidan kept thinking, just trying to cover all the possible bases, it wasn’t helping that his brain seemed to shut down for a moment and needed to completely restart. A talking animal, clearly intelligent, maybe even human level, he needed to make sure it didn’t see him as a threat, and the fact that it called him a monster probably wouldn’t help. The animal gave him a weird stare, as if unsure how to respond. “S’long as you don’t do anything aggressive I shouldn’t have reason to hurt ya’. You don’t seem the part of a bloodthirsty monster. Come over here - slowly - an’ I’ll take ye back to the barn where ‘ah expect ye’ to explain everything. On the way I’ll tell ye’ what I can. Oh, an’ mah names Big Mac.” Aidan lowered his bow, put the arrow back into his quiver, and slowly walked towards Big Mac. Once he reached about five meters, Big Mac spoke up again. “That’s far ‘nuff. Follow me, an’ I’ll head back to the barn.” “Alright.” Aidan walked up beside Big Mac, still keeping what he thought was about five meters away from the equine. Still extremely confused about the situation, but at least understanding that the animal did not want to hurt him and was willing to show him around. “So. . . Eer, where am I?” “Sweet Apple Acres, Ponyville.” “Okay, but where, like what world is this? Is this somewhere in Tyria?” “Tyria? Never heard of it. This world is Equestria. Yer probably a long way from home I’de say.” “Yeah. . . A whole new world. Amazing. Tell me, are there humans on this world, or is it all equines like you?” “Humans? Once again, never heard of ‘em. Although there are many creatures living in Equestria. Us ponies being the most populous.” “I see.” “How ‘bout I ask you some questions now.” Big Mac said, not so much a question but more of a command “Alright, shoot.” “So I take it yer a human from, what was it you said, from. . . Tyria? So whats yer name?” “Correct on both accounts, and my name is Aidan. I hail from Ascalon, one of the nations of Tyria.” “Alright, how’re you here?” “Thats. . . Kind of a long story. In short, I went through a portal, the portals have been showing up all around my world, and I went through one to see where it was going. It went here.” “I. . . See. I don’t know much ‘bout magic. You’ll want tae talk to Twilight Sparkle to find out ‘bout all that stuff.” Aidan smirked upon hearing the name, ‘Twilight Sparkle, really? What kind of name is that?’ “Who is Twilight Sparkle?” “She’s the princess’ protege. One o’ the best magic users I know. If anyone nearby can help you, it’d be her.” Big Mac kept on walking before he quickly spoke up again. “Also, theres some sort o’ monster lurking ‘round here. Attacked a few ponies, and generally caused a ruckus. I reckon if what you say is true it’s from your world.” “Could you describe it? I know most every fauna from Tyria.” “Well, I’ve never seen it personally, but it was described to me as walking on both legs, like you, but very hunched over. Much larger than you, with fur all over its body. It’s mouth’s huge, with lots of teeth. Fluttershy said it was incredibly cruel and violent, huge claws too.” Big Mac explained. He then stopped and looked back at Aidan. “Ring any bells?” “Oh no. You. Damn. You just, with very little room for doubt, described a Charr. . .” “A what?” “Charr, a very violent race of feline-like humanoids. They went through a rampage in my world, almost destroying all the human nations, until they were pushed back by false-gods, but thats a different story. They are still a threat against my nation of Ascalon, constantly attacking our lands.” Aidan explained. Big Mac looked grim. “That don’t sound very good. There many creatures like that where you come from?” “Yes.” “You world sounds like a dang dangerous place tae live. Sounds like livin’ in the Everfree Forest, what with things like those charr runnin’ around.” “Yeah well-” Aidan stops talking as he heard running up ahead, and he looked up, noticing that they made it to the border of a town. “Oh. So is this Ponyville?” “Eeeyup. Not usually this deserted, but most ponies here fear things they don’t know, and what with the monster, they’re even more afraid now than before. Le’s just keep headin’ to Twilight Sparkle’s house.” Big Mac looked up, looking for the right path, until he spotted the top of the tree that was the library, and lead Aidan towards it. Aidan kept observing all of his surroundings while following Big Mac. He couldn’t believe his eyes, Everything was so. . . Bright and picturesque. He saw a strange looking building, seemingly made of different forms of candy and sweets. He noticed a very tall building, pointing above the rooftops of those near him, and when he looked up, he saw a huge cloud formation, which completely filled him with awe. It looked as if the clouds formed a house, with pillars, windows, everything. Not only that but it was not moving, and the most fascinating feature was what seemed to be liquid rainbow fountain falling down the side of the cloud house into the base of the cloud. When he finally brought is head back down to the ground, and looked ahead, he noticed a tree standing at the end of the road they were walking on. It wasn’t massive, not compared to most of the trees in Maguuma, but it was still impressive nonetheless, especially considering the fact that there was a door at it’s base, and Aidan thought he could see a balcony coming out of the tree near the top. Aidan sincerely hoped that the tree was where Twilight Sparkle lived, wanting to see the inside of it. Sure, he had been to the Henge of Denravi, a huge city built by the Druids, within the Maguuma Jungle, which used the trees as a base for the town, but it was still all open to the elements. He had never seen a hollowed out tree turned into a house, and was unsure how it was even possible to begin with. Big Mac lead Aidan towards the large tree, confirming Aidan’s thought that it was where they were going. As Big Mac got up to the door of the tree house, Aidan saw a sign with the picture of a book on it and the words Golden Oaks Library. “So, she lives in a tree, that is also a library?” Aidan asked Big Mac. “Eeeyup.” With that, Big Mac knocked on the door, which caused a response of “One moment.” From inside. The voice was somewhat high, but undeniably male, Aidan noted. He figured it was that of a child, however what he saw as the door opened shocked him. Standing before him was a small - barely as tall as an Asuran - scaly creature. It’s belly was green, and it’s scales purple. The tiny creature spoke again. “Oh, hey Big Ma-” It got sight of Aidan and paused. “Eerr, what’s that?” “That is Aidan, he's a human. He’s ‘bout as confused as to why he's here as I am. Figured Twilight would be able to help.” Aidan nodded as Big Mac introduced him. “Oh, well. Hello Aidan. . . I’m Spike.” Spike then turned around and called out. “Twilight! Big Mac is here with uhm. . . Someone named Aidan. He’s not a pony!” ___________________ Eve had been walking down the dirt road for what seemed like hours now, and it was starting to get late. She could see the silhouette of what looked like a town, towards the North, built into a mountain, but kept following the road due to not wanting to get lost. Adam had kept silent since they left the first town, letting Eve ponder on her situation. “So, I went through a portal in the Maguuma Jungle which took me to this world, which seems to be inhabited by, of all things, ponies. How is this not a dream? It’s just all so strange, like some fantasy world of a child's imagination. I wonder if there are even humans in this realm.” Eve kept talking as she walked, until she sensed something powerful coming nearby, causing her to crouch where she was. She looked up to see what looked like a chariot flying overhead, carried by two flying ponies with bat wings. “Well, they look important, maybe they can tell me where I am.” Eve jumped up and down repeatedly, waving her hands as she shouted at the chariot. “Hey! Up there! Come down!” Unfortunately, the chariot kept on flying, possibly too far overhead for the ponies to hear her. Eve took out her small blood knife and slit her wrist, causing a few drops to come out. “Oh, I hope they don’t take this the wrong way. . .” She let loose a bolt of unholy energy, forming into a greenish bolt of goo, aimed in front of the chariot, simply to get their attention, however if she had ever listened to Aidan when he was lecturing her on her atrocious aim then she would have known that when you want to hit something, you need to shoot, or in her case cast a spell, in the direction that your target is going to be, not where they are. In this instance, the location she targeted in front of the chariot, just happened to be where the chariot ended up when her spell reached the area, as her bolt connected with the wood, a greenish tint spread across the chariot, this in turn caused the wood to rot away almost instantaneously, causing the, (rather large, noted Eve) pony who was standing on the chariot to fall off, before quickly taking wing. “Oh. . . Oops. Well, at least I have their attention now.” Eve waved towards the three ponies flying towards her, however when she noticed the two smaller ponies fly off on either side of the large one, who seemed to be flying straight towards Eve with her head down, revealing a long, and rather sharp looking, horn. “Crap.” Eve ran off of the road, looking for some cover so she could prepare another spell. Eve turned around, and focused her mind, she threw out her hands towards the large pony, and within seconds the ponies wings started beating slower, and her breathing looked to become more labored. However, it kept coming, throwing a blue bolt out of it’s horn towards the necromancer. Eve couldn’t get out of the way in time, and took the full brunt of the spell. She felt her limbs start to stiffen up and knew she had to act fast. Eve noticed one of the smaller ponies coming up to her left and moved her head so she was staring at it. She watched as it visibly got weaker, falling to the ground, as if it’s blood was thinning, and she was able to move her limbs again. When she focused back on the large pony however, it was right on top of her. “Please! Stop! Let me explain! I don’t want to harm you any more than I have too!” Eve shouted, causing a quizzical glance from the winged and horned pony, however not stopping her from shooting another paralyzing spell at Eve. Eve dove out of the way of the spell, reaching into her reagent pocket and pulling out a piece of diseased flesh. She infused it with magic and threw it at the large pony, who caught it using her own magic, which was all that was needed, and her flesh started to rot, as if afflicted with necrosis. Eve stood up as she cautiously looked at the large pony. “I’m sorry, I will reverse the effect, just pro-” Eve was interrupted as the large ponies horn glowed a light blue, causing the rotting to reverse and then Eve’s flesh started rotting specifically the hand, and arm, that had cast the spell, catching her completely off guard. Looking back on the situation, Eve realized that the pain was unlike anything she had ever experienced, and the feeling was. . . Strange to say the least, but not entirely bad. As it was, there was far too much on her mind, what with the whole being attacked by a, seemingly homicidal, large, powerful, and magical pony. Her not-rotted hand had hit the ground palm first, and she was able to sense the corpse of a recently dead rabbit nearby, so she did her best to crawl towards the corpse. The pony slowly followed her but for some reason did not strike her down. As Eve reached the rabbit, she put her rotting hand on it, and siphoned off what little was left of it’s life force, causing the body to rot, and then disintegrate, within seconds. There wasn’t much there, but at least enough to stop, and slightly reverse the effects of the necrosis, but until she found proper healing she wouldn’t be using that hand again. She looked up at the large pony, who was now flanked by the two other smaller ponies, one of which seemed to be extremely tired. All three of the ponies gasped at the display, and the large one stepped forward, looking incredibly regal Eve noticed. The necromancer put her hand up, prepping another spell, but holding back, realizing she was completely outmatched and hoping the large pony would show her mercy. “Please. . . Don’t kill me.” The large pony tilted her head, as she finally spoke. Her voice seemed incredibly loud, as if she was shouting, although Eve simply attributed that to the condition she was currently in. “I am Princess Luna, despite your attempt on my life, I have no intention to kill you, whatever you are, so long as you submit yourself to me.” Eve looked up, and got herself in a kneeling position. “I will not submit to you, but I apologize for attacking for attacking your chariot. I did not mean any harm, I simply wanted to get your attention.” “You have a strange way of getting someponies attention.” “Some-never mind. I did not mean to hit your chariot. I meant for the spell to fly past you, so you would see it, and hopefully turn around to discover who cast the spell. I am sorry. I am lost in a strange world, all I want is to go back to my own world. I was told to follow this road to a town called Ponyville, as I was told that there was a pony named Twilight Sparkle there who might be able to help me.” “How do I know I can trust you? There has been a monster rampaging near that very town, from another world, just as you say you are. Not only that but your magic is unlike anything I have ever seen, accept for. . . Well, it is evil. Nopony around here uses, or even knows, magic that is even remotely similar to what you used.” Eve ground her teeth at that, despite being in a whole new world, people, and now ponies, always assumed she was evil just because of her Necromancy. She had started to get tired of constantly having to explain herself. “I am a Necromancer, and yes, the magic I use is considered by many to be evil, but just because I use Necromancy, does not make me evil. It’s who I am, I was born with a talent for raising the dead and other similar spells, I use my abilities to help those around me, usually, and right now all I want is to go back to my world, back to my friends. I am ostracized by society simply for the magic I was born to use, but my friends accept me. Not that I would expect you to understand, your highness. You probably have people, or ponies, or whatever at your beck and call. Some people, me, however do not and we have to get by however we can, with whatever we can. So shun me for my magic if you will, but I will find my way home with or without your help. And for Grenth’s sake, stop screaming.” Throughout her rant, her voice had remained completely monotone, and she glared up at Luna, who simply looked back at her, a look of pity in her eyes. “I understand. Despite your rudeness, I will help you. I know more of what you speak of then you know. I am sorry for judging you partly due to the magic you possess.” Eve’s face softened up at that, as she was about to say thank you Luna spoke up again. “However I demand that you tell me what you did to my guard. He cannot even stand up straight. Despite what I just told you, if he dies you will pay.” Eve slowly got up as she looked at the princess eye to eye. Getting a good look at her, she noticed the jewelry around her neck, and her crown. Her dark blue fur seemed to blend in with the surrounding darkness, and her mane shimmered with the appearance of the cosmos, all the stars in the sky. Eve grimaced, and after a sharp intake of breath, explained. “Yeah, sorry about that. I don’t normally use vampiric magic unless I am fighting to kill, but I was not sure if you were going to kill me or not. I drained a portion of his blood, absorbing it to myself, and using the life force that the blood cells carry to heal my paralyzed limbs. He is suffering from minor blood loss and will feel much more tired, along with a constant dizziness, for a few days until his body can produce a sufficient amount of blood cells to replace those that are lost. I promise that I did no permanent damage.” She let out her breath after she finished explaining what she had done, and tried to read Luna’s face, only to quit seconds after, as it was a pony, and who knew what facial features a pony would make in correlation to their moods. Luna stared back at Eve for several long seconds until she finally spoke again. “Vampiric. Magic. I do not know of this type of magic. You said you were on your way to Ponyville to meet with Twilight Sparkle. I would have you travel with me, I know the way from here, although it will take several hours gallop, and you seem to be weakening. I suggest you rest for the night. Tomorrow morning we can continue on towards Ponyville.” Eve blinked. “What are you talking about, I’m not -” her sentence was interrupted by a large yawn. “Well. . . I guess now that you mention it I am rather tired. But-” Eve yawned again, her eye lids starting to feel heavy. “How do I know I should trust-” Eve’s eyes closed, as her entire body went to sleep from exhaustion, which she thought was strange, she could have sworn she was wide awake just moments ago. Eve’s body fell, but was caught by Luna’s magic, as she slowly lowered Eve onto the ground. Luna kneeled down to whisper into Eve’s ear. “Sleep, it’ll be fine, just sleep and wake up tomorrow.” With that, the regal alicorn got back up and turned towards her guards. “I will teleport you two back to Canterlot. Please inform my sister about what has happened here, and see to it that you both go to the military hospital and get taken care of. I will stay with this. . . Eve, and see to it that she makes it to Ponyville.” One of her guards, the one who had remained unharmed, Vigilant Standard, spoke up. “But Princess. Can you trust her? Look at what she did to Dusk.” He motioned over to his partner, who was leaning against him for support, barely able to stay awake. “No, I do not trust her. Which is why I will remain with her. I will make sure she does not get into any trouble, and find out how best to get her back to her world. I have no doubt that I can beat her if she tries to attack me and I think she knows that too. Someone needs to inform my sister of the current events, and Dusk Shine needs medical aide, there is no doubt about that. So off you go, I will be fine, don’t worry.” With that, Luna lowered her head towards her two bodyguards and with a quick spell, and flash from her horn, she teleported them both back to the Royal Castle in Canterlot.