//------------------------------// // Chapter 4: So Much for A Way Out // Story: A Tale of Something New // by skyshadow235 //------------------------------// Walking through Master's dreary dark castle, I could only wonder why he even hired interior decorators. The walls were a rather dark shade of blue, the carpet was purple with red lines, and the only real decorations were the statues of various magical creatures that lined the halls. While I've gotten used to being in it, for some reason it always felt like the castle of some villain in a story, and I could never understand why he liked it. I could admit that both Master and myself did blend in well enough though. Myself being a small gray colt with a black mane whose Cutie Mark was a black star surrounded by seven white stars. Master was a rather tall stallion whose mane and coat were both very black and his Cutie Mark was that of a blue and red magic circle that be described as an Enochian Circle modified to add markings that formed to look like a red dragon on the inside of it. "Comet Blaze," Master called as I entered his study through the large, dark red, double doors that had the same symbols on them as his Cutie Mark, "I have been expecting you. How goes your study of Chaos Magic?" "Very slowly, Master," I state calmly, "as far as I understand, Chaos Magic, or the theory behind it, is simply the forceful manifestation of one's will on the reality around it." I stop and note a particularly pleased look on Master's face before continuing. "While the effect it has is obvious, the disadvantage is that it cannot be used in an effective manner without affecting one's personality. How there can be a 'Spirit of Chaos' still baffles me-" "In other words..." Master quickly interrupts me as he sits down on a rather plain looking wooden chair while letting his words trail off. A chair that looks like a copy of the many others surrounding a rather old table that also has Master's Cutie Mark engraved unto it. "In other words, Master," I continue where he left off, "it cannot be harnessed by ponies in a raw state without the pony in question going mad with power, or simply going mad, and the fact that this 'Discord' exists is proof that Chaos Magic should not be feasible to process." "I see," Master comments, "that is a rather unfortunate finding, but as my student I expected nothing less than a fully detailed study." At this point Master stops and thinks. "Tell me of our two guests and their experiments." "No progress," I begin by stating, "of all the experiments they have attempted at replicate their 'failure', none have had any success. On top of that, they are becoming rather fatigued." Master sat silently. "Well we cannot have them expire on us before they complete what will be our greatest gift to Equestria. I shall arrange for them to rest and relax before continuing their research." With that Master stood up and walked to one of the two windows that surrounded his study on the flanks. "On the topic of their research," he began, "I do believe it is time to throw out some rather old trash from that time." He turned to me with an ice-cold glare. "I want you to go out to find the failure, and when you do," Master's eyes glowed white and his horn suddenly fired a blast to one of the nearby statues, destroying it in the process, "ensure it never attempts to get in my way." Master notices my hesitance and fear as I stare at the shattered statue. "There is no need to worry my faithful student," he states as he walks over to me, "that thing is no more real than the statue you see destroyed before you. Do note that it is easy to spot as it is the only unicorn from that village." I steel my resolve at his words as I bow and take my leave through teleporting. I arrive at the entrance to the mountains where the village I was heading to is. High atop I can overlook a small village. A rather odd village I may add as the whole of it only encompasses a street with a row of buildings on each side, and a tree at the very edge of it. I make a note later to visit it, if only to pick up Master some of the local sweets. As I enter the cave I see a narrow path with what could only be described as a bottomless pit to its side. The cave itself is a rather odd shade of grey with lighter shades in stripes that follow through. Just upon entering and viewing the initial room I could tell that it was naturally made with several if not hundreds of tunnels leading to who knows how many dead ends, or worse. In the middle of the path I spot a small filly. She has a pink coat with a red mane and a tiny odd creature atop her head that could be mistaken for a blue cat with dark blue stripes. They both looked exhausted as if traveling through the cave for hours if not days. I immediately noted that this was the 'failure' Master was talking about. As I charged up a blast, I could hear them talking, but I paid it no mind. I fired my blast and both were struck. The light in the filly's eyes clearly fading as she did the same falling into the abyss. "I... might want to buy something for myself too..." I say solemnly as I slowly walked out contemplating whether she was just 'some rather old trash' as Master had described her. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Azurinne and I walked from tunnel to tunnel as we continuously hit a dead end or some form of rodent through each. While I admit that I felt like we were getting better at fighting, it also felt tiring. We stopped to rest every so often when I found a cave lily I could snack on. Azurinne finally admitted that familiars don't actually eat anything, and only required sleep to regain energy. With that I offered to allow her to sleep atop my head in her tiny form, if just so that when I had to sleep she would be well rested. She gladly took my offer, and we continued through the cave in that manner. Sometime later, I began to notice that any dead ends with pits below them began to get higher and higher. I mentioned it to Azurinne, and she said that the other side of the cave probably opened to somewhere really high and most likely very cold. I got excited at that as I had never really seen snow up close before. The village didn't really need it since we were so close to a rather large river. Eventually we both began to show our fatigue a lot more as we progressed, and sleep became harder as the bats and rats began to attack a bit more as we continued further. "How long is this stupid cave anyway!?" I shouted as I began to lose my temper. Though, if I were honest, I'd say I lost my temper back at the last tunnel with the harsh 'victory' I had over the last set of rats that attacked us. "Would you mind being careful?" Azurinne asked rather weakly, "we are barely clinging to the edge of this passage, and I would rather not see how far down this large pit goes." "Says the Cheshire cat with the ability to float," I respond rather weakly myself. Suddenly I see a small light further ahead, and what looks like a small unicorn colt no older than myself. "Azurinne, do you see that too?" "See what-," she was interrupted as we were both struck by something. The last thing I remember is the feeling of falling before everything went black.