Chapter 7
Wyntir sat against the wall next to the large doorway deep in thought, a parchment of paper held in one hand and a quill in the other. He was having a tough time thinking of what kinds of supplies they were going to be needing. He had all the basics and common items listed, but as far as specific items, he was at a lose. With a sigh, he decided to read over what he already had written down.
The list consisted of mostly random items and tools that he had thought off, a few common and a few unique. He hoped they'd have at least half of what he had written down, but all he really wanted was the food and tools. Everything else he could do without. However, the most important items that he had listed, at least to him, was the smithing tools and materials.
He cast a glance at his armor that lay next to him. It'd have to fixed, as that damned pony had somehow severely damaged the chest guard and helmet. Their metal hoof guards must be enchanted or something, as that armor is made to withstand almost anything. Hell! He fought a giant crab once and even it was unable to damage his armor at all. So these ponies magic must play a part in their smithing...
This caused him to raise his head and stare off into space, he hadn't thought of that yet. If they were using some kind of specialized magic to increase the destructive power of their weapons, then no matter what kind of armor he made they'd just smash right through it. Granted, it took a fair amount of hits for her to damage his armor to its current state, but the thought didn't set well with him.
With this in mind, he marked out all of the blacksmithing tools and materials and instead wrote; 'Need an expert blacksmith'. He'd have to explain that one to Bliss when he came back, as he was not taking no for an answer. The idea of his gear being outclassed made his stomach turn. As far as the weapons go, however, they seem to be holding up fairly well. Especially the greatsword, thanks to the specialized smithing of the Farron.
Now that he had that thought put away, he went back to looking over the list. He made sure to include, near the bottom, a simple command; No visitors.
As if to spite him, Loric chose that moment to walk into the building, announcing his entrance as he did so. Behind him followed the last thing he had wanted to see. A random pony, not carrying any food that Bliss had promised. It wore saddlebags, but they seemed to be overflowing with papers and supplies more catered to a scribe. This caused him to growl in both anger and annoyance.
His growl caught Ink Slinger off guard as she stepped confidently into the building, her head snapped to the side and her eyes widened as she took in the large man sitting against the wall. To her, all she saw was a very imposing creature with rough features and a angry look on its face. Wearing nothing but what appeared to be black cloth covering its legs and a scrap of cloth over its upper half. She also took note of the small filly that had been curled up next to him, asleep from what she could see.
"What do you think you're doing?" Wyntir asked angrily as he stood up and stared at Loric, who was looking a bit sheepish at the moment.
"Just thought she could be useful, that's all," he said, trying to cover the fact that he had been bribed to bring her there.
"Ink Slinger, it is a pleasure to meet you," Ink said as calmly and confidently as she could muster, holding a hoof out to the tall biped.
Wyntir looked down at her hoof and narrowed his eyes, and for a moment she thought he was about pounce on her. But instead, he roughly took her by the hoof, and with a very tight grip, shook it. "Wyntir Caslin."
As she retracted her hoof, she cringed as she felt the pain swelling up in her hoof and dreaded the bruise that she just knew would appear there. "It is a pleasure to meet you."
"I take it we have another visitor?" Kara asked cheerfully from across the room.
Ink Slinger looked towards the woman and raised an eyebrow. The woman appeared to be playing with some kind of light that she was holding in front of herself. This confused her, but as she looked closer, she was surprised to see that the woman actually was channeling some kind of spell.
She hadn't known that they could use magic, and she hadn't seen the entire fight that took place back in Maresaw. So this revelation confused her, as it went against all of the myths and notes she had on humans.
"Yeah," Wyntir said in a low voice, addressing Kara. "But they're leaving, Kara, right now."
"Oh no," Ink Slinger declared as she stepped up to Wyntir and stood up as straight as she could, squaring him up. "Your friend Loric and I made an agreement, and you were not apart of said agreement. So as it stands, you cannot make me leave until it is fulfilled."
Wyntir stared down at the much smaller mare, who's head barely reached his chest, and frowned. He looked over to Loric to see him pulling up his bandana to hide his facial expressions. "What kind of agreement."
"Well, that is a funny story," Loric began, putting his hand in his pocket to conceal the candy. "She gave me a SINGLE piece of candy in exchange for having a meet and greet with all of us. Pretty simple stuff."
Obviously not liking this answer, Wyntir looked back down at the mare, who was trying her best to seem intimidating. "And what do you hope to gain from something like this?"
A sly smile appeared on Ink's face at this, "Knowledge, plain and simple. As it stands, the idea of humans is both fact and myth." At the confused look she received, she continued. "I just want to ask some questions and compare them to my current notes, that is all. In return, I will answer any and all questions that you have."
Wyntir didn't exactly like the idea of having to answer this mares questions, but he had to admit, he wanted to know more about the world they were currently in. "Fine, but the moment you start asking personal questions is the moment you're leaving. Got it?"
"Yes," she said with a confirming nod.
He held eye contact with her for a few moments before walking away from her and addressing her and Loric, "Follow me then."
The three of them walked over to where Kara was currently sitting on the ground, no longer using her magic, and sat down in a circle with Ink facing Kara and Wyntir and Loric facing each other.
Loric looked around the little circle and chuckled, "What are we? Children?"
"Shush," Ink replied as she sat her bags down and began to pull out all of her supplies and sat it around herself. As she finished placing everything, she laid down and crossed her front legs over each other and levitated up a notebook and a quill, looking eager to get started.
"So, should I just start or would you like too?" she asked, looking at the three humans.
"We'll start with asking the questions," Wyntir declared, getting a pout from Ink Slinger. But her attempt at being cute to get her way did not faze him. "I think it is only fair, don't you think?"
She narrowed her eyes at him. She was able to easily manipulate and persuade the stupid one, but this one was going to be a challenge. "Fine, you can start."
With a nod, Wyntir asked the question that he had had on his mind since she brought it up. "You said that humans are both a fact and a myth, what do you mean by that exactly?"
"Ah, well the only accepted truth about humans is that they exist, just not in our world. They exist in only a world that the Princess has access too, or so we thought." She picked up a book and flipped through it to check a few notes before speaking again. "It all started soon after Sombra's return, Princess Celestia thought she could take care of him without going into an open conflict. Her first tactic was to confront him herself, but from what I've gathered that didn't go so well for her, and when she returned she immediately began raising her own army. This is where it gets interesting," a smile spread across her face as the three humans leaned slightly towards her. "Before her army was ready, a strange creature that stood on two legs attacked her while she was in her private study. Her attacker was way out of her league and she easily subdued them, and threw them into her dungeon." She picked up another set of notes and read over them. "Apparently when they were questioned on why they attacked her, they just simply stated that they had been hired by another pony to come kill her, and made mentioned several times that it was just part of the job. When asked for a name, they refused to give one. Sadly, that's as much as I know, other than the fact that they were killed in an escape attempt.
"After that, Princess Celestia began her campaign against Sombra, and it has been nothing but open conflict since this all started two years ago," Ink Slinger finished, putting down her notes and looking at the three humans.
"I take it that this Sombra guy was planning to use us to fight against Celestia?" Kara asked, a thoughtful look on her face.
"That's my best guess," Wyntir replied. He then looked back to Ink Slinger, "You didn't fully answer my question though." At her cocked head, he added, "You rambled off course and gave me an explanation on Celestia not being the only one to be able to access the human world. I want to know about past interactions with humans."
Ink Slinger raised an eyebrow at him, taking note on how he spoke. "Well yes, I suppose I did change the subject a bit." She shifted back through her notes and pulled out a few and looked them over. "A long time ago, before the Princesses came to power, the ponies were split into three different tribes; the Pegasi, Unicorns, and the Earth ponies. I could go into the conflict between each side and what each side had to offer, but that's not what you asked. So I'm just going to focus on the Unicorns, as all of our information regarding humans, as little as it is, came from them." She cleared her throat before continuing, "Magic use to be unregulated back then, which lead to many strange and wondrous events. One of those strange events was the creation of a portal, and it was through this portal that the humans were discovered. From all accounts that were recorded, the world of which the humans inhabited was a direct parallel of theirs. For every pony there was a human who both acted and looked very similar to them, and even had the same name. This discovery was kept a secret by the Unicorns, as they felt having exclusive access to this world gave them special privileges, as they were able to both trade and exchange knowledge with the humans. When Princess Celestia and Princess Luna came to power, this was after the three tribes had already come together, they restricted access to the portal and disallowed the use of such magic. After a few generations, the magic was forgotten by the ponies of Equestria, leaving the only ones with access to it being the Princesses. And that's how its remained since.
"So with that said, I want to share my theory on you three." She smiled proudly as she sat down her notes and looked at each human in turn. "I believe you three are from this world and Sombra has somehow gained access to the portal, which is how he brought you here."
"And why do you think we're from this world you speak of?" Wyntir asked, an eyebrow raised.
"Simple," she stated as she looked into his eyes. "We're at war, and you're dressed as warriors, which indicates that you're also at war in your world. Since our two worlds are parallel then that means you each represent a pony from our world."
"Not even close," Wyntir stated, causing her go silent and stare at him with a questioning gaze. "First off, the world Kara and I are from is nothing like this world. In our world, being a warrior is all but required. We don't have a single ruler, and there's no 'bad guy' who we're having to fight."
Ink Slinger looked a bit confused, but wrote down everything he said nonetheless.
"Yeah," Loric chimed in. "And from what I've gathered, my world isn't like either of yours. Wyntir here says he fights dragons and giants. I fight monsters from hell itself."
The two men looked at each, as if acknowledging that they both had stories to share with the other.
"Can I PLEASE ask you some questions now?" Ink asked, her curiosity starting to tear her apart at this new revelation.
"No," Wyntir simply replied as he looked back to her. "I have more questions, as do they I believe."
"Who's this Princess Luna?" Loric asked, rubbing his chin. "I know this Celestia bitch, but I haven't heard anything about this one."
"Ah, that's a touchy subject," Ink said sheepishly, but she still pulled out a few of her notes. "Well, to put it simply, she is the sister of Princess Celestia. She was the ruler of the night while Celestia was the ruler of the day."
"What do you mean by that?" Kara asked. "How can you have two rulers at once? It doesn't matter if one rules while the other is asleep, I don't see how they'd be able to rule and not kill each other at some point."
"It was complicated," Ink Slinger admitted. "And you're not far off actually, as Princess Luna actually did try and take the throne for herself at one point."
"Now this is getting interesting," Loric smirked as he leaned forward.
"A force known as the Nightmare influenced her behind the scenes and eventually took over fully. There was a fight between Celestia and her sister, then known as Nightmare Moon. This time in history is referred to as the Dark Ages, due to the it being mostly dark through out the entire conflict thanks to Nightmare Moon keeping the sun down and the moon high in the sky."
"Wait," Wyntir interrupted, that last phrase catching his attention. "They can move the moon and the sun?"
Ink gave a sharp nod and set out to explain it, "Yes, but not only move them, but also control. I will assume it is not the same in your world, but here Princess Celestia is the one who raises and lowers the moon and sun, and before that it was bother her and her sister who performed the task."
"Oh great, we're enemies with a being that can move the damned sun..." Loric grumbled, leaning back and rubbing his face.
"Anyway, you were saying before I interrupted?" Wyntir said, waving his hand for her to continue.
"Yes," she thought for a moment before she remembered where she had left off. "Eventually, Princess Celestia defeated her sister and banished her to the moon as punishment." This caused the three humans to look at each other in shock, but they didn't interrupt her so she continued. "According to history, the banishment was only meant to last one thousand years. And as the time drew near for her to return, Princess Celestia began to make plans for her return."
"Whoa whoa," Loric halted her, causing her to look at him in annoyance for stopping her in the middle of her favorite part. "A thousand years? How old is this Celestia?"
"We don't exactly know," she admitted, shaking her head. "Everything I've told you took place well over a thousand years ago."
Wyntir began to rub his rough chin, a somewhat worried look on his face. "Is she immortal?"
"Ah, the ever pressing question!" Ink Slinger exclaimed with a wide grin. "She claims to be, but I, and quite a few other, have a theory on that. I do not believe she immortal, per se. Does she age? No, not at all, as far as physically goes that is. But a true immortal, in my opinion, wouldn't need an army to conquer. Especially one as powerful as Princess Celestia. With her powers, she should be able to just take care of Sombra without the need for all of this needless violence." She let out a sigh and shook her head, "I believe she is only immortal to an extent. Time can not kill her, but I believe something else can. From all recorded assassination attempts, physical damage caused by blades or blunt weapons do not effect her, same goes for any kind of poison. Magic, however, can easily effect her. Maybe not kill her, but it has been used before to incapacitated her. Now, to date, no form of magic has ever been able to kill her."
"Sounds like an immortal to me," Wyntir observed, getting nods from the other two.
"But!" Ink exclaimed, holding up a hoof. "There is one account that she had purged long ago and has been lost until recently. This account has always been regarded as a myth, but I believe it to be true. At some point, well after she banished her sister, Princess Celestia was attacked by a being that is thought to have been summoned by Sombra. This being was described as appearing to be a timberwolf made of flesh and stood upright on two legs. It had what appeared to be tattered clothing and a top hat atop its head. When it attacked her, it somehow cut her along her side. This is unheard of, because as I said, nothing has ever been recorded to be able to inflict physical harm upon the Princess. After receiving the wound that the Princess tore the creature to bits and ordered that what happened that day never be spoken of again outside of the Palace." She chuckled a bit at this, "Obviously someone didn't listen, since we know of the story today."
"I have a good idea of what that creature was," Loric said with a smug look. "The top hat all but gives it away. What you described is a creature I am very familiar with. VERY familiar with."
"What are you hinting at?" Wyntir asked with a slight glare.
"Was I hinting at something?" Loric asked, fainting innocence. "I'm just saying it sounds like something from my world is all. Nothing more, nothing less."
"Uh-huh." Wyntir shook his head and looked back to Ink Slinger. "So she's immortal to an extant, got it."
She gave a nod as she thought about if she left anything out, then she remembered what she had been saying before. "As I was saying earlier, Princess Celestia knew when her sister was suppose to return from the moon, and she had set about preparing for her return. Just a note, this all happened very recently." She put down her notes and no longer needed them since she had experienced this part herself. "On the day of her arrival, Princess Celestia had made sure that everyone knew to stay out of the confrontation. She had planned to forcibly remove the nightmare from her younger sister and had hoped that would be enough to return Luna to her. But as fate would have it, when Nightmare Moon returned, she immediately disregarded Celestia attempts at talking and attacked her straight up. Things were looking bad for Princess Celestia, as she couldn't get past Nightmare Moon's impressive shields. But, just as things looked the darkest, a Pegasus came out of nowhere and tackled Nightmare Moon, which broke her concentration and allowed Princess Celestia to perform her spell. She used a set of magic items known as the Elements of Harmony to purify her, but while she was able to remove the corruption known as the Nightmare, she was unable to do so without harm to her younger sister."
Ink Slinger looked a bit saddened at this point, but she pressed onward, "At this current moment Princess Luna is in a magically induced Coma due to the Nightmare taking part of herself with it as it disappeared. And as if that was not enough, the Elements also disappeared after they were used, taking away Equestria's greatest defense."
"All I can say is that Pegasus had some major balls," Loric chuckled. "Sounds like something I would do."
"Oh that Pegasus?" Ink Slinger started, chuckling a bit. "They went on to become one of Equestria's Elite Four. I believe you already had a run in with her, Rainbow Dash is her name.
Loric's mood instantly went sour at this, "Oh that bitch. I retract what I said earlier."
"You're raising more questions than answering them at this point," Wyntir pointed out. "I don't quite understand what these Elements of Harmony are, or most of what you just said for that matter."
"Well, I can explain the Elements, but that'll take some time. So can I do so after I ask a few questions?" she asked hopefully.
Wyntir seemed to consider this before reluctantly nodding. "Fine, you can start asking questions now."
Ink let out a squeal of delight and brought out a blank notebook and scooted closer to them, quill hovering at the ready. "First question! Tell me about where you are from, not your world but where YOU are from." She was looking directly at Wyntir.
Wyntir sighed before he answered, "I am from Carim, one of the better regions in our world." At Kara's groan, he added, "But from an outsiders look we are one of the more sinister lands. Happy?"
"Yes," Kara praised, not liking it when Wyntir put down all of the other regions and religions in their world.
"Ooo, I really want to hear more about Carim, but first," Ink then spun to face Loric. "What about you? Where are you from?"
"I don't exactly have a place of origin," Loric started, shrugging. "For as long as I can remember, I've just been traveling. Well, until recently that is. Before I was brought here, I was in the city of Yharnam working my ass off killing beast and monsters. I could go on and on about this shit, if you'd like."
"Oh yes please!" Ink all but cheered as she looked between them. "Kara and Wyntir, why don't you two start?"
"I'd love to," Kara said with a smile as readjusted her sitting position. "I have much to say about the bright side of Carim!"
Ink Slinger smiled as she prepared to write down everything the woman said, excitement clear on her face.
ooo000<^>000ooo
The sun was just starting to set when Ink Slinger sat back, tired both mentally and physically after their long discussion about each others worlds. She'd learned a great deal about each other their worlds, and in turn they'd learned a lot about hers. All in all, she was extremely pleased with herself. She'd filled out two of her notebooks and most of a third one as well.
At one point, the filly named Honey Pie had woken up and joined them. She asked more questions than any of them, but they were at least reasonable and produced some interesting answers. The little filly seemed to be attached to Wyntir, and to Ink Slinger's surprise, he seemed to like her. From what little she knew of him she would have thought he'd resent her. Kara had warned at one point that Wyntir was a cold and hard person, and did not open up very easily to anyone, even her. With that in mind, the strange way he acted towards the young filly was a bit of a surprise, but it didn't warrant any kind of worrying out of Ink.
Loric let out an exhausted sigh as he stood up and stretched his back, "Now that took a while." He let out a groan as he finished stretching and looked out the large doorway. "I sure do hope that worthless mayor brings us that food he promised."
"He will," Kara reassured him.
"Yeah, he may be a coward, but from what I've gathered, he always follows through on his promises," Ink Slinger added as she began to put away her notes and supplies.
"Hey," Loric started as he stepped up to her. "Let me see some of those notes on me."
"What? Why?" Ink asked, blinking up at him in confusion.
"I want to see what you said about me," he said with a smirk, holding out his hand.
She frowned at this, but reluctantly pulled out one of her notes involving his recount of his world and levitated it up to him.
"Thank you, my dear lady," he said pleasantly before looking at the paper. The moment he tried to read it, a frown appeared on his face. "What is this shit?"
"What's wrong?" she asked, not knowing what he could have read that could have caused that kind of reaction.
"I can't read this! It's just a bunch of nonsense!" he yelled, obviously overreacting to the situation.
"Did you forget to learn to read and write when you were younger?" Kara teased, causing him to look at her angrily.
But before he could retort, Wyntir snatched the parchment out of his hands and looked it over. "Well..." he started, an eyebrow slowly arching upward. "I can't read it either."
To the two men, the writing on the paper appeared to be nothing more than a bunch of squiggly lines.
"Let me see!" Honey Pie yelled, wanting to see what they were seeing. Wyntir held it down for her to read and she cocked her head in confusion. "I don't know about you two, but I can read it. Are you sure you two know how to read?"
"Hm..." Wyntir tapped his chin and brought out his list. "Ink Slinger, can you read this?"
She took the parchment from him and looked it over, raising an eyebrow at it. "What is it? I can't make out anything on this paper.... strange..."
"I see," Wyntir said with a nod as he began to think the situation over. "So, we can easily understand each other, but as far as writing goes, we're at a lose. Honestly, I don't understand it."
"Well, it could have something to do with our cultures. Same spoken language, but different written languages. Its fascinating, something I think I'll want to devote a fair amount of time in studying." Ink smiled up at the two bipeds. "Now that we're on the subject, why not let me stay?"
"Nah we're good," Loric replied, shaking his head.
"No," Wyntir said with a shake of his head.
Ink Slinger deflated a bit, but she held her ground. "If you let me stay, I can be your translator when it comes to writing! Come on, you can't pass up an offer like that!"
"Look we said no, toots. We don't want ya around here, got it?" Loric stated harshly, causing her ears to flatten against her head and a genuinely hurt expression to appear on her face.
"Hold on there," Wyntir interjected, getting their attention. "That's actually a offer I may be interested in."
"Are you serious?" Loric deadpanned, clearly dumbfounded. "You? Seriously?"
Wyntir gave a single nod. "Yes. We'll be at a disadvantage without the ability to read their language." He looked at Ink Slinger and performed a slight bow, "I apologist about him."
This confused both Loric and Ink Slinger, as neither would have expected this from the man.
"Oh wow," Loric laughed. "That's not something I would have expected from the man who I watched kill a caged pony with no remorse. If I were a woman I'd be bedding you right now."
"I believe the fact that you would be the woman speaks volumes about you," Wyntir remarked, a slight smirk on his face.
Loric crossed his arms, an unamused look on his face. "And now you have a sense of humor? What the hell is going on here?"
"Anyways!" Ink Slinger yelled out, eager to speak. "So I take it you want me to stay, right?"
"Indeed," Wyntir said, giving a nod. "But the moment you start causing problems, you're out. Am I clear?"
She frowned at this, but gave a sharp nod, "Yes."
"Good," he sat down next to her and held up his list. "But first, you're going to help me by translating this list so Bliss can read it."
"Of course," she said as she began to pull out her supplies again.
"Hurry up though!" Honey Pie urged, pressing her front hooves against Wyntir's thigh. "You promised to train me tonight!"
"I will, Honey," he replied, ruffling up her mane and causing her to glare daggers at him.
Ink Slinger smiled at this as she levitated up her quill, "Ready when you are."