//------------------------------//
// Chapter 1 
// Story: Dungeons, Dragons, and a Little Friendship 
// by Lawrence Gander 
//------------------------------//


Dungeons, Dragons, and a Little Friendship
Chapter 1


Andur coughed and groaned at some lingering pain, but suddenly he realized he could feel the cold earth beneath him again. It was too dark to see, but he laughed a little to himself “Made it.”

“Andur? That you?” said a familiar voice.

“Cartanis?” Andur attempted to get up, but quickly fell over once again. His legs didn't wish to make the movements he wanted. Neither did his hands, which both felt petrified into a fist. “You still able to cast anything wizard? I know you've got to have a light spell.”

“One second.” he heard the wizard mumble something to himself against the quietness of the surroundings. A small orb of light appeared in the distance, slowly growing brighter until it revealed the rock walls and ceilings of a cavern. The light was too bright to look into directly, at least right away.

“You think you can find your way to me, I can't seem to move too well.”

“Fine just let me, whoa!” Exclaimed the wizard as he lost his footing. “Umm, Andur... I do believe a theory of mine has just been proven correct.”

“What? What theory?”

“One that I believe you might not like, I’m sure it will become apparent to you soon as well.”

“WHAT THEORY CARTANIS!”

The orb of light slowly moved closer, its light preventing Andur from doing much besides hide his eyes behind his arm. When the orb was but a few feet from his person it stopped, dimmed and floated next to a figure. “This theory.”

Before him stood a blue quadruped, “What, how?” Andur looked down, and in the light saw a partially metal covered horse leg. Which subsequently twitched when Andur recoiled at what he thought was his hand. “But you lead us home; we made it to that thing, that ocean.”

“We did make it to safety, from the void that is no doubt. But I am afraid this isn't where we are from.”

“Well where are we, the plane of madness?”

“Do you not understand what happened out there, where we were? That wasn't the astral sea, we were in the void. We were not between planes, Andur; we were between realms of existence. Dimensions, where rules that we accept as fundamental in our own could very well be poppy-cock over here.”

“Alright..... But why are we horses, at least I think we are. We definitely don't look exactly like the counterparts in our world.” He noticed the bright colors of himself and his friend, as well the oversized eyes.

“The fundamentals, as I said. Here it seems things have a little less intricate detail, far more colorful too. Not as, watered out, in places. Now don't take me for being lazy but I tire of standing with you backed up against a wall.”

“I do as well; I am not used to this yet.” Both moved away from the wall, each rather clumsy in their movement. They waited in silence for a while, perhaps waiting for a shock to jar them awake from this awkward dream, but it seemed no such relief was in sight for them. Andur appeared to be the less patient of the two, and broke the silence with a question.

“What happened to your hat?” He had noticed that very little of the wizard’s attire was missing besides the hat, at least he believed little was missing, it was hard to tell now that it had taken on a new shape due to his friend’s strange form.

The blue pony looked about with brow furrowed in impatient anger, “HAT! HEEL!” 

There was a momentary silence as the shout echoed off the cavern walls, but eventually a familiar shape rolled into view. It promptly set itself on his head, as if nothing had changed. Andur was silent again for a time, but as his friend awkwardly sat and seemed to be doing his best of a wardrobe check he had to speak up again. 

“Is something wrong?”

“Huh? Oh, no nothing.” His friend broke off into unintelligible muttering glaring at pieces of clothing and straightened them as best he could with hooves.

“Cartanis, I know you only mumble when something is wrong.”

The wizard only rolled his now purple eyes and snorted, the noise of which slightly flustered him as he was reminded of his new more animal form by its horse-like sound. He could only brush at his nose, and look at his hooves again to reaffirm what he now was.

“I’m getting too old for this stuff Andur.” He ran a hoof across his head to try and calm himself, but only found resistance as he touched a new object upon his forehead. “W-what is this?” His nervousness seemed to increase as touching the object seemed to only elicit pain from it directly into his skull.

“I do believe you have grown a horn since we last met.”

“This is ridiculous, I’m not some sort of moss smoking druid.” He touched it again, cringing at the pain. “Is there something wrong with it?”

“I don’t think horns are supposed to be broken.”

“Then I suppose that my scars have been carried over to this world as well.”

“What do you mean carried over?”


“Our minds are the same, more or less, but it seems our bodies are rough interpretations of what they once were.”

“What do you mean? You speak like you know what happened, how do you know this is true?”

“It's a long story of why I know the how of this, but just take my short answer for now.” Cartanis took a deep breath and rubbed at his temples for a moment, “In the void our bodies were destroyed, and for the last stretch we were drifting souls, remember?”

“I would care to forget that, but yes.”

“When we made contact with this dimension we seamlessly passed through its barrier and into this world, and I believe it read us like a book. Well, by ‘it’ I mean the forces that determine the fundamentals of this universe. It went along a checklist and sorted us into a category fitting of our soul and memory. So if I had to guess, anything else here with magic and sentience would also be a unicorn. Hold on to that magic bit for a second,” Cartanis quickly snapped out a hoof towards an able rock wall and a bolt of lightning whipped from hoof to wall, leaving a black mark where it struck as well with an echo from its crack. “Andur do me a favor and try to do something related to your god helping you out.”

Andur calmed himself and emptied his mind; he called out for a blessing from his god to show him the way. A floating ethereal beacon of light appeared next to Andur, bathing him and the cave in warm rays before disappearing.

“Well this is troubling, anyway back to where I was.”

“Wait why is your magic not troubling and yet Pelor answering my call so dangerous?”

“My magic also concerns me Andur, but I can't properly tell you without further knowledge of how this world works; why it upsets me. You could somehow be contacting our old world, or there is a horse version of Pelor somewhere out there.”

Andur snorted in frustration at the answer, but let the wizard continue.

“As for our equipment, I guess we were bonded enough to it that it was recreated alongside these bodies. I guess the old stories of some weapons and armor being alive has more credit to it than I initially thought.”

Andur checked for his weapon, Morellia the Dawn Breaker. He found it sheathed along his back, when he awkwardly attempted drawing it using his teeth he heard the weapons familiar voice in his mind. Call to me in your times of battle, and we shall cleave the darkness from the land.

Andur let the sentient force be, it was respectful to let it rest unless absolutely needed.

“Well I think I've had enough questions for one day. Let’s find a way out of this cave.”

Before Cartanis could receive an answer, a third figure entered the range of the light. “Already found it for you, hope you two didn't mind the solitude.”

“Ted?” asked Andur.

“I'd recognize that accent anywhere you old mud mouth.”

From the snide insult, Andur knew immediately it was the elf. “My accent isn't that bad.”

Cartanis snorted a short laugh, before attempting a cough at Andur's gaze.

“I take it we've all realized the situation we are in?” Andur began.

“I heard enough of the wizard’s explanation to know how many kinds of danger we might be in, and no I don't need a look-see from one of you. I'm a zebra, in all my fancy adventuring doodads. Although there is one curiosity,” The zebra lifted a part of his cloak to show a feathered wing tucked under it, “Before you ask, no I don't know how to fly and I may or may not have tried already.”

“A strange world indeed.” Cartanis blurted out, “Well take us to this exit then oh great Te'denithas of house Zavyard.”

The ranger cracked a smile at hearing his full name, “You know calling me Ted like Andur does is easier than that.”

“Yes I know.”

“It's less rude than “elf” as well.”

“Point taken.”

Ted then showed them the way out, leading the trio around a bend and up a rocky formation which took them to the bright entrance to the outside world. As they broke the veil between the darkness of the cave and brightness of the rising sun cresting the morning horizon they drew scope in on the world they were within. Andur was almost taken back by his size compared to the other two, as he finally had a chance to see clearly. Ted and Cartanis were roughly the same, but he himself was a good head or two taller than both of them. Then he noticed what the other two had been staring at.

From their perch upon the rocky slope they could see a forest of trees lay partially scattered in front of them. They could see this phenomena had occurred for a few hundred feet in a semicircle from the cavern entrance that they were in front of. 

Ted broke the stunned silence, “You may not be able to see it but I was able to make out some sort of village a few miles from here.”

“When you tried to fly?”

There was a slight blush from the confidently voiced individual, “N-no, I decided it was less painful to climb up a ways and just figure out the lay of the land that way.”

“What inhabited the village?”

“Don't know Andur, but the wildlife in that forest below makes me believe the village would be a better direction to head than in a random one.”

“You saw wildlife from up there?”

“No, but I could hear it, and it didn’t sound nice.”

They looked out at the wilderness that stretched before them, the only thing that kept them from the rest of the world seemed so simple to ones so experienced. But they knew such things were not as they appeared, for all they knew this forest might be the only thing keeping them safe from a world that would not have them. Time would tell, and for these three standing around would do little.

“Off we go then.” Their leader announced.

As the Cleric and Ranger walked off down the slope, Cartanis took a moment to look at the devastation in the forest and the unnatural cavern entrance which they had just left. I hope we are the only things that make it through the void, if three creatures entering a world do that with the force of their re-entry. He shuddered at the thought of anything more massive making an entrance; Cartanis heard a shout and realized that he was being left behind. Slowly but surely he caught up to his comrades as they headed off in the direction of the village.


[/][/][1][/][/]


A zebra happily trekked his way along a path he did his best to remember. It hadn’t been the first time he had to make this small journey and he wished he had been able to carry more with him than just a mouthful of sticks, but such is the way of things when one cannot fathom how else they are supposed to gather firewood. This individual came upon a scene as he entered the familiar sight of camp, although it was not as it should be. Instead of a nice little alcove with a tent and a fire, he looked upon a dirty patch of ground in a swamp that housed a single unicorn, who seemed to be rather frustrated with a tarp and some rope.

He spat the small collection of sticks upon a pile of others, “Finally decided to work out those jaw muscles?”

Purple eyes just rolled in his general direction, followed by undecipherable gibberish conjured by a mouth clogged with taut rope.

“Heheh, what?”

The unicorn spit out the rope to say, “Help me.” To only regret it a moment later as what might have been over an hour of work tumbled apart in front of his eyes. He sagged in defeat, between the stench of the swamp and the insatiable bugs he was about ready to snap.

Ted took his chance. He got some rocks together, enough to hold back a flame, and sorted some sticks within their formation. 

“Care to do the honors?”

His friend looked up from his melancholy, “How do you expect me to light that?”

Ted just shrugged, “Big fireball, little fireball? What do I care, it’s your call buddy.”

“No magic.” He said flatly.

“Oh come on, just a spark.”

“I already said—”

“Please Cartanis?”

“No.”

“Pleeease!?”

“I said NO! Either find another way to do it, or we’ll be sleeping in bedrolls without a fire.”

Ted just looked at his hooves, still grubby with muck from his trek to find good firewood. They had been rather useless the past day, sure it was… interesting to be a quadruped, but there seemed to be some very definite downsides. They were going to need heat to survive the night in these forms, or at the least some shelter. Then he got an idea.

“Cartanis, what about Heratio?”

“No.” He said back without moving.

“What… but… oh come on, now you’re just being mean.”

“No I’m not, there are two very good reasons why we won’t be doing that.” He grunted as he exerted some effort to get off the cold ground. “Firstly, the temperature inside is almost entirely reliant upon the temperature outside the sanctuary.”

“And I’m guessing the second one is something involving your love of the outdoors right?” There was an audible groan from one who did not wear a grin. “You act like you’ve never met me before.” There was something grumbled in a hushed voice, but he let it slide.

“Secondly,” He said with some impatience, “We have no idea what the wildlife here is like, we’ve barely seen any of it since we arrived. Probably got scared off by our entrance, but I don’t want to be around when it comes back in force.”

“What’s the worst that could happen? A bear made of stone starts sniffing your hat up and down? You know this can all be solved if you just applied some magic.” His friend scowled as he approached, “Or perhaps some magic of a different sort.” He flicked the new appendage on his friend’s head. 

Which elicited a cry of pain as Cartanis fell over in shock, he covered his horn in a vain attempt to stop the pain. He opened his eyes to see the zebra hovering over him, a rather pleading look of forgiveness on his face. So Cartanis gave him a good buck to one of his front legs.

Ted inhaled deeply as the pain hit him, “Okay,” he winced, “I deserved that. But did you really have to hit me without any warning?”

“Well did you have to flick my horn!?”

“Am I interrupting something?”

The two pain filled friends looked over to a third, who seemed a little more than confused at the comment he had just overheard. Ted was quick to intervene.

“Andur! Cartannie is being all mean! He won’t let me live in his hat, and he won’t—”

The unicorn rolled his eyes, “Ted… Please.”

He just sighed, “You don’t let me have any fun.”

Andur looked at the equine wizard, desperate for a sane conversation.

“Like I was telling the elf,” who promptly stuck his tongue out at him for using such language, “we can’t use the hat because of the wildlife.”

“Wildlife? Did something happen?”

“No, no.” He rubbed at his temples trying to dispel the pain. “Just Ted being an inconsiderate oaf as usual.”

He quickly chimed in, “Hey! You’re supposed to tell the jokester of the crew when you’ve got a broken limb or something. This isn’t all on me.”

The wizard just grumbled, and Andur looked at his friend’s wounded cranium.

“Anything my power might be able to do?”

Cartanis looked grateful for the offer, but refused. “If this… thing is magic, I don’t want to mix this world and ours on something that’s rather… connected to me. Besides I’m more concerned over flies devouring my hat at the moment.” 

Andur looked slightly confused, “Did you see this fly before or after Ted scrambled your brain?”

“I’m serious. While tree walker over there was off frolicking trying to gather sticks with his mouth. Which would’ve been easier if he elected to use his bag of holding I provided him with a long time ago by the way!” 

“Already said I’m not using my premium storage space for twigs!”

“Anyway, one of those fly things came by and tried to eat my monocle. Last thing I want is to be inside the sanctuary when they come along. Collapsing dimensions are no small thing to jest about, believe me.” He kept rubbing at his temples, the pounding inside his skull still not ceasing. “This is worse than the time that sorry excuse for a sorcerer cast a flare right in my face.”

“The one in the plate mail?” Andur could swear he saw his friend’s face turn visibly red.

“What kind of idiot tries to cast spells in full plate mail, he’s lucky he didn’t implode!”

“Hey Andur,” he looked toward the zebra who called for his attention, “where did you go?”

“I went to get rid of our meat supplies,” he looked somewhat somber, “since we can’t stomach them anymore.”

“No, I know that. I mean where did you go?”

Andur could tell something was up, the zebra was practically running in place with anxiety. “Is something the matter?”

“I’m just wondering why I saw something move out there.”

“Move?” Andur joined the zebra where he stood, gazing into the dark brush before them. He couldn’t see a thing in the dense swamp, the best thing he could do was just act as a second pair of eyes.

“There!”

This time Andur saw something, but it was more of movement he saw than an actual shape.

“Oh geez, it looked like a snake, some kind of big green snake. Tell me you guys know how to fight.”

“Cartanis!” The unicorn looked up to him from across the camp, “Get the camp together, we’re leaving!”

“Andur, don’t announce-” but it was too late, a moment later there was a sound of groaning bark as a green blur shot out of the darkness and wrapped itself around Ted’s front legs. Upon gazing at the thorn covered vine that had him somewhat hogtied he cried out in terror, “Oh sweet merciful heavens not that!” In a panic he tried to flee, using wings that he had no idea how to control. The sudden resistance seemed to trigger the vine into another course of action, and before the zebra could have another moment to think he found himself being dragged across the boggy bottom of the forest floor.

“Ted!” The large war horse barded in armor barreled after his friend, following the trench his body had dug into the mud.

“Andur!” The unicorn gathered what he could and ran off after them, doing his best to keep the foggy pain at the back of his mind.


[/][/][2][/][/]


“Is that everypony?”

“Pretty sure.”

They were both tired. The whole town had just spent the whole day unearthing ponies trapped by rubble, they had seen some ponies in terrible pain, but the nurses at the aid stations assured them that they had it handled.

“So what now?”

Twilight really wasn’t sure, she looked at the town, a slightly tidier mess than it once was but it still looked as though Ponyville narrowly avoided some form of apocalyptic disaster. “I don’t know Dash.”

“Attention, your attention please!”

She knew that voice, it was the mayor. The mare of grey mane stood upon a makeshift stage, a loudspeaker placed upon a stand so she may be heard.

“I’ve been informed that Canterlot shall be sending aid and supplies for us.” The assembled group of ponies seemed to breathe a sigh of relief, which the mayor seemed slightly worried to see. “Unfortunately we will not be able to get them until tomorrow morning.” That catch seemed to rattle the cage a little, and some grumbling arose from the crowd.

“Now, now,” she began, “I know that you are all hurting, but I ask you to stay calm and reasonable. We’ve survived worse than this, and each time we did so united, as a community that looks out for one another. So please, those that can give shelter to one another do so, just for tonight. In the morning we’ll start to get this town back the way it once was, just as we always have.” The crowd seemed to ease slightly, a few angry faces remained but had resigned themselves to the truth before them.

She then had an assistant on stage with her, who was magically hovering a notebook and pen ready for what would come next. 

“Can anypony offer up shelter for sure right now?”

A few hooves shot up into the air, and the mayor began asking names of families to write down as well as which family or families would be staying with them. She eventually left the effort up to a few volunteers to sort out with the assistant on stage continuing the makeshift roll call. Twilight noticed that there were more than a few who needed shelter for the night, but there was one thing she happened to notice that caught her attention more than that. Near the makeshift stage a mare had gotten a hold on the mayor’s ear, and what she was saying seemed to draw some concern from the old mare. She went over to the loudspeaker, taking it back from the volunteer who was calling out for names of those who needed shelter.

“Excuse me.” The crowd began to quiet down from their rambling about their own situation to once again pay her heed. “Has anypony seen a filly named Nutmeg?” There was a wave of motion through the crowd as many looked toward each other, small conversations of ‘no’, ‘maybe’, and rumors of things much darker abounded. The mayor was taking what clues she could, but each story or description seemed to clash with the last. What had been an attempt to find one missing filly had grown into an untold number of other potentially missing ponies. Eventually the mayor quieted them, and asked the worried mother onto the stage, she was given the floor and allowed to speak.

The mare was soft-spoken, but every word held a tiny escape of worried breath. “S-she was around four, and she was spending the day with her friend, the Cardigans. Has anyone seen them?”

Those on the stage overlooked the crowd, they looked at each other trying to find familiar faces, and it wasn’t until they could see only strangers that they realized... 

The mayor spoke up, “Is anypony else missing friends or family?”

The amount of hooves that shot into the air rattled them all, Twilight especially as she began to realize something important. 

“Dash.” Her friend snapped out of her trance at the scene before her, “We have to check on Rarity and everypony else.”

No more needed to be said as they made their way out of town, leaving the town that was once beleaguered by only disaster to now be throttled by the fear of loss.


[/][/][3][/][/]


Andur ran through the muddy underbrush, what was once on the edge of a marsh had quickly become a boggy haven for all things swampy. Mud became caked upon just about everything he wore as he raced along the trail that his friend’s body had left as whatever had grabbed him dragged a trench through the dirt and mud. He grew worried as the distant sound of his friend’s resistance became faint.

“Ted!?”

No answer, not even a desperate scream of fear.

Wherever his friend had been taken he had to be near where he was. Andur wasn’t sure how long or how far he had gone from the camp’s main site, but he was slightly out of breath and took notice that he seemed to have lost Cartanis in the rush to keep up with Ted’s captor. He couldn’t spare to time to go find the wizard, Ted might not have much time left.

Andur followed the path, the trench carved by the zebra’s body was easy enough to follow, but as the journey concluded a problem arose. He stood before a mass of dirty brown water, smells of all kinds bubbled up from beneath its surface. His gaze looked to the water’s surface, so dirty that he couldn’t even see his own reflection, but he was sure that the path ended here. Going beneath the surface did not sit well within his mind, but nonetheless he had to make the journey at least into the bog’s shallow beginning.

His first step sank much farther than he thought it would, had he been smaller the first step alone might’ve caused him to go in over his head. Thankfully he was a bit taller than his friends and found himself at least able to tread the water somewhat due to just that. His feet took small steps, careful to not fall off an unseen ledge underwater and drop off deeper into the water. He stopped dead in his tracks when he felt his hoof kick something. Bubbles graced the water’s surface and right behind it a skull of some animal. Andur wasn’t sure what to do next, every step deeper into the bog seemed to only cause him to sink deeper, and if he found himself in a need to swim suddenly he was sure his armor would prevent any silly notion that he was capable of it. Chances were that if his luck decided to cash out and whatever had taken Ted came for him, he and the skull would soon have far more in common.

“Ted!?” He called out once more, in some vain hope that somehow it would summon the rather annoying elf to his side once more. All it had seemed to do was call forth a storm of gas to be released from the bog a few feet from him. Then from what was seemingly nothing a head rose out of the water. It coughed and sputtered as it tried to clear the mud from its face.

“Ted?” He said in what was more surprise than elation. The figure in the water managed to clear the muck from its eyes and upon seeing Andur didn’t seem very excited.

“Get out of the water, I think I made it mad.”

“Made what mad?” He watched as the elf turned zebra attempted to swim toward shore, a combination of his armor’s weight and lack of equine grace preventing him from doing so easily. Despite his friend’s warning he moved out deeper into the bog, his friend obviously in need of help.

As he did so another sight came into view, the water a short way behind the mud stained zebra began to bulge as something large soared to its surface. The sight of such a thing made his eyes open wide, as whatever had displaced the water broke through its entrance created a wall of water. Andur could only watch in mild fear as what swept up his friend was now roaring right for him. He tried to turn about and make for shore, but he had allowed himself to go so deep into the bog he might as well have stood still. When it finally made its way to him, he only felt the world spin out of control as his sight was lost to a wall of dirty water that carried him along on its own path.

Eventually the chaos and churning of the wave left him behind as it unceremoniously slammed him against the ground in front of a tree that managed to break the water’s grip on him. He could feel his body ache, its plea for him to stay down overwhelmed his senses as the force of the collision began to rattle his mind. But it seemed that he would not be able to answer his body’s request, as whatever had rose from the bog’s depths roared in pain and anger. Andur opened his eyes to see what he could only describe to himself as a plant, one the size of a building many stories high, just large enough to tower over the trees around him.

Once again it roared, how a plant was capable of doing such a thing Andur was not sure, but from the maw that was its strangely colored head sprang forth a myriad of vine-like limbs, one of which seemed to be cut. Its stem seemed to drop back down into the water, wherever the core of the beast dwelled, but it seemed to have slack to spare as it somehow sensed Andur’s presence on the shore and lurched towards him.  

Without any time to spare Andur got off the ground, the plant beast’s maw slammed into the tree that he was just lain before moments ago. It promptly ripped the tree out by its roots, the bark and lumber snapping and groaning as an untold number of vine’s from its maw crushed and ripped it apart within the plant’s jaws.

Andur was somewhat stunned, he had no clue how it had sensed him, but nonetheless it was quick and powerful. Even if he had the knowledge of how to fight in this form, he doubted that he would attempt to handle such a foe under any circumstance. The debate within his mind did not last long, if Ted was safe then he would run, no questions asked.

Suddenly he felt something wrap around his back leg, his first instinct was to kick and shake it off. All that seemed to do was entice it more, and what was once a loose grasp became a pain inducing vice grip. As whatever it was that had him became taut he dug in his hooves, bracing against whatever tried to lasso him toward the water. His mind had already guessed at what had him, and upon sparing a quick look he was assured that the limbs that dangled from the creature’s maw were not the only ones that it had available to it. A vine that seemed much stronger than those from its mouth had grabbed him, and it did not seem keen to the idea of letting go. 

Things only went from bad to worse as the main stem of the plant once again lunged for Andur. Between the idea of fighting the pull of the vine and getting eaten, or jumping into the bog to a watery grave Andur wasn’t sure what was worse. His mind turned to his weapon, but with three limbs focused on not allowing himself to be moved his options seemed limited. So he opted for the only solution he could foolishly dream up. 

He whipped his head around, and with his mouth grasped his mace in a rather unorthodox way. With one smooth motion he made use of the single spike upon the base of its handle, and barely managed to partially slice the vine that had his leg in an unbreakable bind, barely missing his own leg in the process. 

The beast roared with pain, in its rattled state it panicked and tried to remove the wounded vine from the fight, but Andur held fast and kept the plant’s limb in place. He wasn’t sure of what else to do, and in a rather unseen turn of events he heard a sickening pop as the plant ripped its own limb in two. As the battered half returned beneath the waves, the maw once again reared back, building tension to launch itself his way once again.

Andur spared no time in making his getaway, with weapon firmly grasped in his jaw he took flight, running into the trees away from the bog. The sounds of a frustrated predator quickly faded away as he made his way deeper into the forest and away from the plant. As he broke through the brush he nearly toppled over a familiar face, who in turn seemed to nearly have a heart attack as a beast twice his size barreled forth from a place unseen. Their collision was less then graceful, but thankfully enough neither seemed battered beyond more than a couple bruises.

“Andur? Ugh, why in the nine hells are you running around with a mace in your mouth?”

His unicorn friend groaned as he got up from the forest floor, Andur did his best to talk while he kept weapon’s handle in his jaw. “Ave you een ed?”

“What?”

Before another move could be made both were silenced by a grey blur that shot past them, which was screaming, “Never again! Never again! Never again!”

Both were rendered dumbstruck as they noticed their old companion seemingly driven mad by fear race past them. It wasn’t until they saw exactly what he was running from that they too joined him in his mad dash to escape. For it seemed that the plant they had just narrowly escaped had more than one limb to use in trapping its prey.

“What did you two do?”

“Well, I think Andur attracted it with a nice bacon scented cologne and I forgot to apologize for cutting its tongue off.”

Their conversation was interrupted as more vines erupted from the ground, cutting off their avenue of escape. They quickly redirected, but every attempt to move was stopped by more and more vines until the only way forward was back towards the bog. It seemed however that the bog itself was coming to them, as a familiar roar greeted their ears. 

From the direction of the muddy lake, trees began to give way as a monstrous thing tore its way through them, and the trio was greeted by the beast of the bog once more. This time however it was in full view, the stem obviously extending out from a large bulb that may have once rested at the bottom of the murky lake. They looked for a way out, but all around them was a cage of its massive network of feelers and fingers.  

“Plans?”

“Um, I don’t know good sir master of the elements, maybe ignite it all in a nice fireball?”

“No! No magic!”

“Wha… in case you haven’t noticed, we’re about to be eaten! You know, the thing that happens right before you die because you’re missing a little too much meat from your bones?” The unicorn still looked staunchly against such an idea, “Andur, come on, you’re with me on this right?”

Andur couldn’t really waste the time to speak, he feared putting his weapon away only to need it a moment later, but his look carried enough of his annoyed intention to the stubborn wizard.

“I know I’ve done some small bits of our world’s magic before, but I have no idea what the repercussions are if I try to cast something more powerful. Magic could work differently here, for all I know every time I cast a spell I’m creating a disturbance somewhere else in the world. I’m not even sure all the incantations are the same.”

Their time for bickering began to run out, as the plant slowly pulled itself closer to them and swept the last of the obstacles out of its way.

“Well would you rather die slowly in some stomach acid, or just get ripped asunder by forces beyond your control?”

Cartanis knew Ted was being sarcastic, they both knew that he would prefer neither. The reason he stopped himself from using magic was greater than just his safety. He wished to practice in a controlled space not fire off large spells meant for injury and death with no knowledge of what might happen. It seemed that he was going to be forced to experiment with forces he had no right to control in the first place.

“Stand back.”

He took a few steps away from his companions, toward the maw of the beast, and his companions took a few steps away.

“Ignus.” A rune seemed to sear itself into the ground before him, one so familiar to him he did not need to reference his spell book to know what it meant.

“Furosio.” The word’s themselves seemed to still teem with arcane power as they boomed with its sound, and another rune appeared, lines quickly etching themselves into an intricate ritual he had created an untold number of times in another life.

“Purgita” A final rune appeared, and as the circle of power completed itself he could feel the charge of arcana be released into the air, ready for his will to shape it as he saw fit.

He extended his hoof, ready to collapse the energy to a single point so that he may more easily shape it. As it began to collect before him, the air warping from the heat he was creating, he felt something; almost like a small alien spark ignite within him. He wanted to start over, any slight detail might mean disaster with a spell of this magnitude, but he had no time to rewrite the spellwork. With all his knowledge of past experience railing against his decision, he continued.

The heat began to build, the spark of fire was brought into reality from the force of his will alone. Yet at the same time the spark he felt within himself began to grow as well, the heat of the fire began to kindle within him as well. This was against the design of the spell he had created countless times before, a wizard was not meant to become one with the spell of his design, doing so was fatal to a degree he cared not to think about. The fear for his life was great, but he knew that if he stopped now they would all die. 

As the spell completed, simply waiting for him to click the final spark of power to ignite the thing of death he had created, he could feel the fire burning through him. A strange unnatural feeling he had not known before. There was no time to contemplate what would happen next, he closed the spell loop, unleashed the sealed power out into the area before him. Right before the air ignited, something changed in the spell structure, he could feel it.

He had not known fear like this in a long time, he shouted a warning to his companions, but he doubted that they heard it over the sudden roar of flame that was being given life. Cartanis could swear he saw a spark emanate from the broken horn atop his head, and shortly thereafter the fireball before him enveloped his casting arm. The power of it surged through him, but so did another. As the world went white from a blast of heat and light, his mind was shattered as the pain of boiling flesh racked his mind to its very core. A feeling he was far too familiar with.


[/][/][4][/][/]


Rainbow Dash was soaring through the skies, she was tasked with checking in on the one friend they had yet to know the condition of. Thankfully she could see for miles, almost all the way to Fluttershy’s cabin near the edge of the Everfree. Such was the advantage of flying from the height she was. It wouldn’t be long and she would be able to make out the spec that was her friend’s home. Then, as she watched the horizon she saw something terrifying. A wall of flame erupted in the distance, she had to throw her hooves up in front of her eyes as its ignition grew to such a level that she could not bear to look directly upon it. Once she could see again, she gazed at the strange event. It was far in the distance and one part of her feared that this was the cause of the disaster in the first place and that it was happening again.

Whatever it was the scene it left in its wake was one she had never seen before. Even from where she hovered, many miles from the epicenter, she could see towers of smoke rising in the distance. A swath of green forest had been blown away to leave only charred earth, from experience she knew that what seemed like a speck of discoloration in the distance was something much greater if viewed up close.

She was done gawking, if whatever caused that was a threat she had to get Fluttershy away from it and soon. Luckily, her forte was one of speed, and she wasted no more time in exercising that talent of hers. In no time at all she could make out the cottage, but the closer she got the less she liked it. The roof itself seemed to have caved in, the second floor practically nonexistent except for the exposed framework, even the door was not spared as it lay open off its hinges. Dash wasted no time making her entrance, her hooves not even touching the floor as she flew into the cottage’s entrance with effortless grace.  


[/][/][5][/][/]


Consciousness was not a welcoming experience. The pounding in his head returned alongside something else, yet it was nice to know that he was still alive. He opened his eyes, expecting to see devastation, perhaps the charred remains of his friends around him. Instead he saw green, a hillside that did not belong in a swamp, and tree’s that stretched out in many directions in a calming shade of dusk as the sun finally began to set.

“Finally awake are we?”

Cartanis moved his head to get a better view of his friend, “What happened?”

“Well… maybe you were right about using magic here.”

“Tell that to the elf, at least you listen to me on occasion.” 

He attempted to get up, but one of his limbs protested any form of movement with a howl of pain through his body. After the pain settled, the unicorn settled himself into a more comfortable position. With a hint of worry he looked to the cleric, still dirty with dried mud from the swamp.

“Is there a problem with your skills as well?”

“No,” he inspected the wizard ‘arm’ that he had used for casting, “The type of wound you had… it’ll require a few more sessions of healing. If I did it all in one go you might die.”

Cartanis checked his foreleg, there was definitely something wrong, it was sickly much like a malnourished branch had attempted to grow back from a dying tree. He couldn’t stand to look at it for long, not without his stomach churning. So he opted to investigate something else.

“Did you see what happened?”

“Yes.” 

“Would you mind telling me and not give such simple answers.” His friend snorted, but seemed to retain his patience.

“When you completed the spell, before it blinded us, I thought I saw a spark. Then… I can say that I’ve never seen you do something like that before, not without assistance.”

“What about my wound.” Andur just tightened his lips, “It’s important Andur.”

“I think you need rest.”

“No, I don’t need rest! I need to figure out why my magic backfires so that I don’t kill us all the next time we need it!” 

He huffed, the fire of anger burning through his breath. All he wanted to do was figure out what happened, get some clue as to how the magic in this world worked, why nothing behaved the way it should. He couldn’t even think straight, every passing second just brought on more annoyances that built up, and if he wasn’t sure if this headache he had was from pain or the fact that his head was about to explode. All he could do was hang his head low and use his good foreleg to rub at his temple, the shape and texture of the hoof just annoying him more as he realized once again of how clumsy he was in this silly body he was given.

“I’m already tired of this… and it hasn’t even been a full day yet.” He opened his eyes to see Andur just waiting with that same patience he always seemed to have. “Some adventurer I am.”

The pony just cracked a sly smile, “Well I seem to recall you telling me that you were better at being a professor than a battle mage.”

The wizard seemed to drift away in a nostalgic gaze, “How long ago was that?”

“Years…”

Both of them seemed to fade away from the world, memories of things long lost and battles fought echoing in their minds. 

“All that time I wished for an end… do you think this is it?”

The mud covered warrior just laughed, “I didn’t think you of all people would wish for such a colorful ending.”

There was silence for a time, the anger of annoyance finally swept away to be forgotten, eventually one spoke up.

“What did my wound look like?”

“Do you really need to know?”

“Yes,” he said calmly, “it could help me compensate for this strange second magic I seem to possess. So that it may never happen again.”

The cleric thought for a time, as he tended to bury such things in his mind. “I thought you would be far more badly burned, when you cast the spell it looked as though the fireball had consumed you, but instead--”

“It looked as though a beast had cleanly torn the flesh from my bones?”

Andur slightly froze in his speech, not expecting such an answer from the old man. “Yes…” The wizard just mumbled to himself, and now it was the cleric who was curious. “What does that mean?”

“Basically that my body was becoming part of the fire, and if you do it wrong you wind up an eviscerated mess.” He shifted about uncomfortably, “I would really prefer to not speak of such things, it’s one of the worse ways for a user of the arcane to go. So… where are we going?”

Andur could tell when his friend wished to change the subject, “To the village.”

“Seems an odd way to be going, I thought we were to go through the swamp.”

“Not if we have to deal with more things like that.”

“So what exactly are we doing?”

“Well, if Ted’s guess is right, we’ll be heading south and around through a less ‘ominous’ wilderness as he put it. Might take a few more days, but hopefully we won’t have to do something so desperate again.”

“Speaking of the elf, where is he?”

“Attempting to scout ahead… by flying.”

Even Cartanis seemed surprised by that information. “Really?”

“Yes,” Andur grumbled. “Already had to mend more bones that I’d care to count the last time he came back.”

“Is he any good?”

Their conversation was interrupted as a familiar voice came careening into earshot, which was shortly followed by the sight and sound of a winged grey anvil clearing a pathway for more winged anvils to fall into. 

“No.”

Andur then got up from his resting place and made his way toward the crash site, ready to deal with whatever injury the flying lead weight had sustained. Cartanis just rested, doing his best to cope with their strange new situation, and hopeful that wherever they were headed; that it might have knowledge of a way to get them home.


[/][/][6][/][/]


“It was so scary Rainbow Dash.”

“I know,” she said for about the hundredth time.

“I was in my cellar, getting food for the rabbits, and I thought-”

Rainbow Dash listened as her friend recounted her harrowing experience once again. She didn’t really mind, even if she wore her annoyance rather plainly. All she cared is that Fluttershy seemed unhurt, just very rattled. Now she just had to get her back to Ponyville, find her a place to stay. Then maybe she could get some rest, and start getting Equestria back to normal.




End of Chapter One