//------------------------------// // A way out? // Story: Autumn // by Domaldo //------------------------------// Robert’s POV, Castle Ruins, Early Morning I woke up very early today, so I used my time to assemble both my ‘Alchemy Engine’ and my new cooking station, the crock pot I think it was called. I just had to place the coal on the ground, and support a stone stove over it with some sticks, nothing too fancy. At least I now had somewhere to cook my food more properly. Then I began to build the second research station. It was kind of hard, considering how complex it was, but in the end I finally got some nice results. The new contraption appeared to be far more refined than the Science Machine. It looked like one of those globes people had as maps, supported by three wooden legs and a wooden ring around it. It had a golden cable connecting it to the ground. It also had some sort of valve, and at the top it had two golden spheres connected by a wooden antenna protruding from the globe itself. This time I wasn’t skeptical, if this is as good, or even better, than my previous machine, it had to be great. And now, how do I turn this thing on?! I tried the valve, turned it clockwise a few times before it came to life, and like the Science Machine, a softer but evident whirring noise came out of it. My mind was flooded with even more ideas now, it was crazy! So many things I could build craft and use to my advantage. It was even more science-y than the last one! Looking through the recipes I found some very interesting things. But most of them made sen- …! Huh? What in the world…? There is yet ANOTHER contraption within the recipes. It looked odd, but so did the rest of the machines. It was called th- … …um… …erm… se-seriously…? Well, that’s a very dumb name, apparently it was called the ‘Prestihatitator’… “Who would name something that?” I asked myself, seriously! Huh, it was also listed under the “Magic” section… “Wait, I CAN USE MAGIC?!” That’s so ridiculous! There is no such thing as magic! … is there…? Well, considering the things I’ve been through so far, I really shouldn’t put it beyond me. Besides, if it did exist, it would probably help me in escaping this awful forest. However the materials for making this thing didn’t make a lick of sense, and I was already regretting even considering building such a thing. For starters I needed four live rabbits, with horns… Oh, and also a Top Hat, because, why not?! At least the boards and gold needed weren’t an issue, but I really don’t want this to become a failed project. Looking through my pile of materials, I really needed something for storage because this was getting ridiculous, I sadly found out I was fresh out of wood. Making myself another axe, I went towards the forest to gather some more logs to; A) make the ridiculous Prestihatitator, and B) have some fire wood for tonight. This was going to be a long day. Ponyville, Early Morning Almost everypony was asleep, some were just about to get up, and others fueled themselves with some good old morning coffee. This was until several guards approached the quaint town, all of them fully clad in golden royal armor. Everypony who was already awake took notice of this, but they all knew the royal guard was there to protect them. The only problem was from what? Then a particular guard stepped up, and knocked on the town’s library door. “It’s a public library! Just come inside!” Was heard from within, the mare who said it was obviously irritated. “And here I thought you would be more excited to see your big brother,” came the masculine voice of the Captain of the guard, while stepping inside the building. “Shining?” Twilight immediately snapped her attention towards her brother. “Twily!” He said, pulling his sister into a warm embrace. “So how was the train ride?” “It was long and boring, but now that I’m here it was worth it,” said the eldest brother. “Well, can you come inside? I’ve been waiting for so long to tell you how great it has being living here at Ponyville, erm, minus the chaos…” “I wish I could, but right now I need to rally my troops to organize them, Captain of the guard and all.” “Oh…” “Don’t worry though, after I’m done I’ll make sure we have some time together,” he said while beaming a smile towards his little sister. With an adorkable squeal, she thanked him whilst hugging him before he left the library. By the time it was dusk, all the guards where already by their post, or patrolling around the town. Most ponies where curious as to why there where so many guards and why they where needed, however whenever they tried to ask, the ponies where turned down, dismissed or simply told that it was royal matters. Even though it put the town on edge, they still kept with their daily activities as if nothing was wrong. Ponyville was the most targeted town for disaster, so they thought the guards where a nice addition considering previous events. Before long, their captain was free of his duty, and decided to check on his sister. After an hour or so of chatting about their lives, their experiences and mostly catching up, he said: “With all of my troops placed, and the town thankfully doesn’t seem to be panicking, I guess this is as good time as any to talk to you about something,” Shining told Twilight. “Well, I already told you how I’ve been, my friends and adventures we had during my stay here in Ponyville, so what else do you want to talk about?” She asked her brother. “Well, last I heard was that you and your friends where tasked to go to the Everfree, but I don’t know what or why yet.” “Oh, I can’t really tell you all of it, and I’m sorry,” she then added, “but what I can tell you is that there is something hiding in the forest, and that me and my friends need to find out what so we can get some answers.” “Answers? Answers to what Twily?” “Wait, you haven’t noticed yet?” She asked confused. “Noticed what? Something is wrong?” He started to get worried. “Well, let’s just say that there is something wrong with the dark while its night, and the princesses fear it may have something to do with what we are trying to find in the forest” “Well then, how about me and some of my soldiers go with you next time you go there?” He asked. Twilight remembered the advice Celestia gave her, so she had no other choice but to agree; “Yes, of course! I would love for you to come.” “Good, now what did you mean by ‘something wrong with the dark while its night’?” “You’ll see pretty soon, don’t worry, as long as you have a light there should be no problem,” she reassured her brother. “Well, until then, let me tell the guards about this, just in case,” he said before leaving the town’s library. Robert’s POV, Everfree Forest, Late Morning When I finished gathering some logs and putting them back at the castle, I sent out to find these weird rabbits. I had made a couple of traps and gathered some berries to use them as bait, just in case these things where real. It wasn’t long until I found a smaller clearing than the one I’m using as a temporary home. It had fewer trees, and there were some holes in the ground, much like the ones rabbits use to live. It was then when one of them popped his tiny little head out of one, its eyes where completely blank, and it had small antlers on top of its furry little head… … why are you a thing… … just… … just why?… Well, I was looking for you anyway, so might as well do what I came to do in the first place. I placed one of the traps down, baiting it with some of my berries, and waited as I hid behind one of the berry bushes, and while I picked it clean I saw the rabbit come closer. Before long it was trapped inside my small trap, trying hard to get out. Good, now to get three more. I grabbed the already trapped rabbit and placed it on my backpack, making sure the little creature could breathe through an opening, but not enough for it to escape. I felt him, at least I thought it was a male, wriggle on my back, but I paid him no mind and searched for three more. Three horned rabbits later, I had enough of them to fill my backpack, and bring back to my camp. They sure where scared, and they should be, because not even I knew what I would end up doing with them. Walking back to the ruins I pondered, where in this forest was I going to get a top hat? I remembered there being a recipe for that, but I didn’t look into it since I wasn’t going to use it back then. Finally inside of the castle, I consulted my Alchemy Engine. And… …oh… Yeah… that’s not happening… There is no way I’m going to take silk from those GIAGANTIC SPIDERS! I barely managed to kill the turkey! How do you expect me to take down a spider nest with a SPEAR!? Huh…? I browsed through the knowledge the engine had to offer, and found out there was some armor I could craft for myself. Hmm, well, wooden armor is better than nothing I suppose… Wait, was I seriously considering this? If it meant I could make a new machine to help me get out from this place, then yes, I guess I was. I crafted myself some lengths of rope with my remaining grass, and used some of my wood to craft this ‘Log Suit’. After I was done it looked like a vest, but made of wood. Uh…huh… I needed more than to protect my chest, those buggers could still bite at my limbs if I’m not careful! Using more of my resources I crafted more wooden protection. When I was done, I wore my armor, and realized how stupid I looked. Apart from the vest, I made myself separate plates of armor that protected my arms and legs. It wasn’t much, but in the very least it would protect me if they tried to bite me. Just then, tiny little squeaks let me know of my other, fuzzy, problem. I made the rabbits a small pen, making sure they wouldn’t easily escape it. It was also made out of wood, and I was almost out of it. After checking that everything was secured, none of the armor plates would slip from my limbs, my amulet secured in my vest, and spear in hand, I walked in the direction of where I knew was one of the spider dens. It didn’t take long to find it, but it was already dusk by the time I arrived. Some of the spiders were walking around, oblivious to my presence. “Ok, breathe, all I need to do is kill them, and then grab as much of their web as possible and make the stupid Prestihatitator,” I silently muttered to myself. “I’m going to stomp you dead!” I charged at them, spear raised and ready to bash some spiders. *HISSSSSSAAAAAHHGGGHH* One of them crawled towards me, but before it could bite me I smacked him across its ugly face, sending it sprawling towards its nest. *HIIIIIIISSSAAAARAAAHHHGGGGGGGG* *RAAAAAAAAASHHHHHGG* *HIISSSSSSSSSSSSS* … this was such a bad idea! One of them lunged at me, but he only caught me by the plated part of my arm, so I shoved him off. However the other two took this as an opportunity to bite at my legs, both chomping on my unprotected knees. “OUCH!” I threw my spear in panic to try and impale one of them, but I missed and it got stuck into the ground. They almost made me trip, but luckily I sustained my balance by supporting myself with a nearby tree. Using my legs I kicked them both off, and ran for my spear, swearing never to let go of it ever again. My body was pumping with adrenaline as I picked my weapon and swung it towards the nearest spider, a purple liquid staining the crude blade after it connected with its skull. It dropped to the ground and stopped moving, while what I assumed was his blood was oozing out of the wound I managed to make. “Ewwww!” Calm down, and breathe. One down, two to go. Now I used my spear to stab at lefty, while kicking righty out of the way. I managed to hit its eye, but it was now angrier than ever. It lunged at my feet again, thankfully though, this time it bit the wooden plate. I had no time to shake lefty from my leg for righty was getting back into the battle. Kicking both spiders against each other, I managed to shake lefty off and dazed him long enough for me to stomp him. Righty, however, was fully aware by the time I finished with his hairy friend. He tried to bite at me, but I blocked his attack with my spear. Before it could do anything I rushed him and used my weapon to do a downwards stab, impaling him to the ground. “Ah” *pant* “gah” *wheeze* “ah” *pant* “ah… dam, that was exhausting!” I managed to say, before the pain in my knees started registering once my heartbeat steadied. I sat on the ground, removed the wooden plates of armor and stared at my abused legs. The fabric of my pants was tattered, and on my knees, plus part of my right leg, where small gaping holes. However, they didn’t hurt half as much as I thought they should, otherwise I wouldn’t be able to walk without limping, and I wasn’t bleeding out either. Then I realized I was still wearing my amulet. If this thing actually worked, then who is to say magic isn’t real? I sat up, wincing ever so slightly, and made sure the den was empty from any more critters. “Good, now how do I bring it back? Wait I got an idea!” I took my spear from the spider’s corpse and used it to entangle it with the web, turning it around so it could gather the web like some sort of Halloween cotton candy. I kept spinning it before it became too heavy to lift, and walked back home. Robert's POV, Castle Ruins, Night By the time I arrived it was almost night, so I made the campfire roar and placed some food on the pot. I was really hungry, if not starving, for some food. I don’t think I’ve ever been this hungry before, it was probably the fight that took out most of my energy. While the food was cooking, I took off my armor and checked my wounds again. By Darwin, Mike wasn’t kidding, this thing was almost done healing my legs! Michael… I have been here for days, he must be worried sick about me, one more reason to get home as fast as possible I’d say. Now, using the silk from my fight with the spiders, I crafted some of it into a nice little Top Hat. It looked very fashionable indeed. Too bad I needed it for something else. Making the parts for the new contraption was easy, so it didn’t take me long to finish it. By the time I was done, I looked at this strange new machine, it had a lever like the first one I build. I tried to push it upwards, but it wouldn’t budge, something was missing… OH right! The rabbits! I picked the little creatures up, and shoved them down the hat. They screamed a little before calming down inside of the machine. Erm, is this going to kill them or something? I really hoped not. I pushed the lever upwards, and it seemed to be working. The hat was bouncing up and down, and when I looked at the inside, it was empty. Huh? Where did all the rab- “WHOA!!!” THAT’S NEW!! WHAT IS GOING ON?! “Bloody hell! That’s some magic alright!” I browsed through the amazing recipes this thing had, and came to a sad conclusion. I didn’t own half the resources needed to make any of these artifacts work… Where was I going to get gems? What in Darwin’s name is a Mandrake?! And why did I get a bad feeling about using something called ‘Nightmare Fuel’?! … this is sad… At least I found my amulet, but I needed this strange fuel and a red gem to make a backup, and that’s not mentioning my precious gold. There were other things too it, even another magical station, but I didn’t know where or how I could get the materials I needed. This was such a waste of ti- Wait! What is this?! I could make something called the “Jury-Rigged Portal”, and if it does what I think it does… “I can craft myself a way out!” With my newfound energy and motivation, I ate my dinner and began getting the things necessary for this portal. This was going to be great! IT IS NOT WHAT YOU THINK FUCKNUT, YOU ARE THE MOST RETARDED DON’T STARVE PLAYER EVER! He never even played the game…