"So where's the nearest volcano?"
"Surprisingly close actually, it's southwest of us, and usually acts as a stop for dragon migrations." She grabbed a roll of parchment from one of the shelves that lined the main hall, unfurling it and then floating it to me.
It was a map, I scanned over the general area, confirming her to be correct. "Alright cool, when are we going?"
Twilight "We could go immediately if you'd like. I just need to inform the guard then we should be able to go." I nodded in response.
----
A small fireteam of guards had assembled in front of us. "Sir, we cannot let you and Princess Sparkle go unsupervised! To do so would sully our name as guards." So instead of being stubborn, I just let them come. Once we were all ready, Twilight teleported us to the volcano.
The immediate blast of heat was extraordinary, coming from the slightly chilly castle. Pools of magma were scattered around the place, the largest of which was in the centre. I was glad i had changed into a bunch of craopy clothes because every so often a spark or two would lash upwards and singe through them, dripping on to me.
"Twi, I think this is as close as you should get. Put up a barrier or something, I don't want to see anyone start melting." Her horn started glowing as a purple dome encapsulated her and the group of guards, and a spout of magma splashed over us, taking my clothes with it and sliding down the sides of Twilight's barrier.
"See you in a bit!" I yelled, before walking down the crater. The heat only intensified, and ash had blackened most of the sky, with only snippets of grey clouds visible through the fog.
In an attempt to see how bad it was, I dipped my hand into the lava, which only felt as hot as a sauna but I could see my skin glowing a fierce red as I pulled my arm from it. I found myself walking inwards towards the central pool, and as I got there, some of the ground beneath me opened up like thick mud, where my legs squelched into the lava, moving in this was a chore, as the viscosity of it was comparable to cauliflower, where moving faster was far tougher. The lava was up to my neck now and I could feel the air around me vibrating from the sheer heat. I had to trust that Lavan had done a good job of heat proofing me and so I dropped my head inside, hoping I wouldn't die.
Of course, how would I be writing this if I was dead?
Once I had dipped under, the heat seemed to fall away, like I had suddenly teleported. I opened my eyes and beheld an unlit bonfire. Oddly enough, their appeared to be a red cloth wrapped around the bottom of a metal cross jutting out of the middle of the twigs and ashes.
I felt compelled to light it, almost as if I was being asked to. I knelt down and placed a hand against the twigs before channeling some embers.
The effect was immediate, once the crackling had begun, the darkness receded, and flames spread through the ground, weaving intricate patterns before converging in a circle at the edge of the darkness.
I felt sparks ignite through my body. A simple idea echoed through my head.
Heat the air.
I facepalmed, sighing at the oversight. I had been heating my body in order to generate fire. The air would've required less energy to heat due to the lower heat capacity. (Value used in temperature change calculations.) In other words, Im wasting the strength of what little magic I have by using it on myself unnecessarily.
Opening my palm, I tried to push the magic into the air around my hand, resulting in a strong flame, roaring and bright. Grinning, I looked to the darkness above me and saw a flood of red gush towards me.
"Shit." I whispered as the flood engulfed me.
Lava enveloped me again. I gasped, pulling myself up for air. It was dark out now, I must of been in there for a while.
Hmm, now where are the guards and Twiggles? I started dragging myself out of the lava pit, brushing small bits off ash off of me as I went.
"TWI!" I yelled out into the darkness, seeing movement at the edge of the crater, before a light shone down from the side of the crater, which I clambered up to, although realising I was naked, I asked that they pass down the replacement clothes Twilight had packed for me, since I forgot to myself.
"Thanks for looking out for me Twilight, what would I do without you?"
"Walk home naked?" She quipped.
"In your dreams, Sparkplug. We done here?" I sniped back at the purple princess She blushed and pouted, looking away from me.
I nudged her and poked her horn and she teleported us back, dropping me to the crystal floor. She giggled before teleporting away again. I looked to the guards, who shrugged at me before trotting out the room at a brisk pace.
Left with nothing else to do, I decided to take a stroll around town, when suddenly another one of those balls of light appeared, dropping an ornate cup on me, which I somehow managed to catch. I looked it over and thought it seemed primitive. But that could of been that it was made of something resembling clay.
I saw another ball appear in the Everfree and went off to investigate. Some nearby ponies saw as well, but just chalked it up as one of Twilight's experiments gone awry.
----
Stumbling into a clearing where the ball had clearly spawned, I glanced around before I heard a rustle in the bushes.
"Byrjaðu!" I saw an axe come within centimetres of my face as a well armoured beast of a man rushed me and bashed me in the face with an old circular shield.
I recoiled, jumping out of his range, but he quickly.closed the distance taking another swing with the axe, which I ducked, avoiding the swing. "Láttu ekki svona! Láttu ekki svona!"
I put my arms up, in an attempt to calm him down but he lunged ferociously slashing where i once was, before following up with a shoulder bash from the metal plating.
I couldn't get a chance to concentrate from how quickly he was hitting me, and he followed me through any evasive action. In an attempt to blind him momentarily, I picked up some dirt and through it towards him. He put his shield up for a split second, avoiding my makeshift attack, "Coward!" He spat, barreling into me. Finally something I understood. He swung again, narrowly missing my left ear as the axe glided past my side.
I didn't have any weapons to speak of, so taking a hit then pushing off wasn't an option.
I need to keep him still, but he's twice my size.
Pushing his shield forward he pushed me backwards against a tree, cleaving a gash in the bark before attempting an overhead strike.
Which was when the mud underfoot rescued me, cauaing him to sink slightly, throwing off his balance and causing his axe to dig deep into the tree, leaving him vulnerable as he attempted to yank it out.
"Enough!" I did my best to shove him against the floor and he buckled, dropping his weapons as he tried to stay on his feet.
"Hvaða galdra er þetta?" He looked at me as I took off his helmet before doing my best to lay him out. He stumbled hitting the floor, as I sent up a light, some novice illusion magic, to alert the guards. It was difficult keeping the big bastard still, but I managed.
Within a minute or two, They had surrounded us and I ordered one of them to cast a sleep spell, knocking him out.
I gasped, letting my grip loosen. "Took your bloody time didn't you?"
"We're sorry, sir. Patrols were changing at the time so soldiers weren't ready as quickly as necessary."
"Make sure to have separate times for guard shifts to change, there should always be at least 50 of you active at any given moment." Sounds like I'm going to have to revise the scheduling when I have time.
Looking back at the absolute unit of a man now passed out on the forest floor, I asked a couple unicorns to levitate him into the castle.
I grabbed the axe and shield, taking a second or two to yank the blade out. From what I could tell he was some kind of Viking, beard and all. That means that its not just modern day things getting pulled through. I had thought that cup had just been a fluke, something from a museum or the like.
I'm not currently sure whether there's a limit to the time period that things could come from, but Twilight and I have theorized something around 250 years before my initial disappearance.
Anyway, back to the story.
We brought the big guy downstairs and had him roped up in the armory, since he seemed to panic a bit while I had him held down with magic. I had a few guards come off patrol to help keep an eye on him and tell me if he wpke up. With the spare time I went to go grab something to eat.
----
Walking down the castle stairs, I munched on a doughnut. "So you finally came around?" I asked the stirring nord.
"Hvað er þessi staður?" He mumbled, struggling slightly in the crystal chair he was bound to.
"Damn, forgot about that. Is there such a thing as a translation spell?" I asked, turning my head to the ponies behind me.
One of the guards spoke up. "Yes Sir. I'll fetch a linguist who may be able to cast it." A minute or so later he reappeared with another nondescript guard, this time a young mare, which I havent seen many of in the guard.
"Wordsmith reporting for duty sir!" She saluted, grinning as she did so.
"Alright, work your magic Wordsmith. I'm interested to see what this guy has to say." Her horn lit, encasing the Viking in a light blue glow. "Hey big guy, can you understand me now?"
"Where am I? This is not midgard. Which realm have I been brought to, why are there foals wrapped in golden armour?" He struggled a bit, shaking the chair slightly.
"Thats not important. What's important is that you tell me what happened before you met me?" I figured that it must be the same phenomenon taking objects away that stole him.
"I was out hunting when light surrounded me. Then I was in the clearing. You came, and I saw you as an outcast, as you were not wearing any clan colours. I see now that the clans have no influence here, and I apologize for fighting you." He bowed his head. "I must ask, what power did you use to restrain me?"
"I'll answer you later. What is your name?" I was debating whether letting him free was a good idea. On one hand he could be easily immobilized with magic, on the other, he could probably take down three guards at once if he could surprise them. Even more if he got his hands on his weapons again.
"I am Gunnar, son of Einar. Answer my questions." He wasn't in any position to make demands, but I indulged him a little.
"This place is what you call Midgard and what I call Earth, its warped to the point where it barely resembles home, but its Earth all the same. I restrained you with magic, as it is real here." He chuckled, shaking his head.
"You are quite the spinner of stories, young man, but you can't expect me to believe in folklore and old wives tales?" I lit my hand, showing him how real it was by lighting a torch sconce that I put out on purpose before waking him, so I could prove it and get on with things quicker.
"There, now listen. Do you want to go home?" He nodded. "It'll probably take us a week or two to get you back, so you'll have to hang around for a while. I trust you aren't going to act up, so I'm letting you loose. If you do any stupid shit, these ones." I threw a hand back motioning at the group of guards around me. "Are under orders to take you down and then you'll spend the next few days down here."
Another nod. "Good. One of you untie him, the rest, stay a few meters back so he can't do any instant commando shit. Also double check the locks on the weapon lockers, I don't want him to get hold of anything bigger than a kitchen knife unless I say so." I grabbed the prototype 'armour' That I had forged.
The majority of the actually cuirass and leggings were enchanted hides of various origin given heat insulation and environmental protection, along with hefty fire protection enchantments.
On the shoulders and gloves, metal padding had been added where flexibility wasn't an issue, allowing for ease of movement with more decent protection. On the actual torso there was an underlay of light chainmail, usually reserved for Pegasi guards, but repurposed for me. Plate metal guarding both my chest and back, along with smaller pieces placed in soft spots, the main purpose for the armour was a fallback if I somehow got hit, but was by no means going to reliably save me from consecutive well aimed strikes.
My arms were equipped with bracers that would make it easier to move into attacks safely... when did I learn all that?
Lavan would know... although whenever you need that blob he's nowhere to be found. I decided that the best way to spend time was in the Everfree, testing out the new extent of my powers. I'd find Lavan later.
----
Found ruins in the forest, looks like an old equestrian cathedral, based on the tattered banners depicting the sun and moon. Might check it out in better depth later, for now I just need to find a timberwolf or two.
Experimentation has told me that the most effective way to deal with timberwolves is to quickly light their chest on fire, as they can sometimes put it out if you light their legs or head. That way its impossible for them to put it out unless there is some source of water nearby.
Parting the brush in front of me, I could see blocky paw prints in the dirt slightly away from the path. The Everfree chittered with insectile life and constant scampering from various small beasts, although most of them would be feral, unlike those surrounding the element of kindness' house, she was the one I was least acquainted with, on account of her being terrified of any non pony that wasn't an animal.
I fail to see how I am scarier than a grizzly bear but sure, let's go with that.
There were a few smaller nasties crawling around, including a cockatrice. I tried to get a pot shot on it with a fireball but it noticed and attacked, luckily I averted my gaze after firing, so I didn't turn into a garden decoration.
It was easy pickings after I had lost the concrete-creating cockrel. After an hour or so of training, I was starving and tired but awake enough to plod back home. Mud staining my lower half, while sap and sweat made my shirt drenched and uncomfortable. It's strange how humid it is here. The humidity cuts off when you can see out of the forest, I checked.
It seems like the experience you have is directly based on what kind of mindset you come in with. That's just another thing I clearly misjudged about this forest, I guess. If you come in looking for a fight, you get one.
Leaping over a small stream, I stumbled upon a hut modelled around a tree with several tribal looking shields and odd trinkets dangled around it. If I wasn't mistaken this hut was owned by a zebra. Twilight gets ingredients and such from her often. I've not really had a lengthy conversation with her before but people tells me she's nice if not a little difficult to understand.
"Ah, these are unknown to me, Princess Twilight, are these ingredients from a human you've brought me tonight?"
"Yes, the hair and blood seem to have magical properties, although I wasn't able to determine what the properties are."
"And so you have come to me, to set that knowledge free. Hmm, It will take but a day, so I suggest you hit the hay." She paused. "Would you care to open the door and take that stranger from the forest floor?"
"Hello?" She yelled. "Who's out there?"
"Just me." I said back, walking onto the porch balcony thingy. Twilight opened the door, letting me inside.
Twilight looked from Zecora back to me,
"So we were just discussing the alchemical properties of human parts. Remember those blood, skin and hair samples I took?" I nodded. 'I haven't had a chance to give them to Zecora until recently so, here I am." She motioned smiling.
"Let me know about that. Also do you know about the basement situation yet?" I asked, wondering if she had seen the viking dude yet.
"What basement situation?"
----
"This is the basement situation?" We had made our way back to the castle and were currently watching Gunnar tear through a meal like a wild animal.
"Yeah. I found him earlier just outside Ponyville. I believe he won't hurt anyone, unless somebody tries to hurt him. Oh, and if you do need to restrain him, use magic, he doesnt have any."
"Wowsers! He's huge." Pinkie materialised into our conversation. I hate it when she does that.
"Pinkie, this is Gunnar. Gunnar, meet Pinkie." He waves in acknowledgement, drinking a pint of cider as he goes. "So anyway, you wanna go home right?" He stops midway through a sandwich bite, looking towards me before scarfing it down. After a belch, he stood up.
"I'm going to be honest with you. This realm is perfect: food and drink are plentiful, they can cure any ills, it is also beautiful. If there were others like us, here, enjoying this merriment I might mistake it for Valhalla. I have no intention of carrying a family line. I wish to stay here. If I must give up my weapons to stay then I shall." He proclaimed.
I smiled. "Welcome to Equestria, Gunnar. Oh, and you'll be needing your weapons. I'd like you to help out in teaching me combat." I stood up and waved him over walking away. He gave a toothy grin, following me.
----
After settling him in, I searched for the princess, finding her and that new assistant poking around at some scrolls. "Mind telling me why there was a Viking just outside the town this morning?"
Twilight turned to me, now that I had a good view of her she was completely frazzled, her eyes were strained and her mane was a mess. "Oh! John, I may have made a tiny error in my spell when we sent you back. You see, um..." she started staring at the scroll again.
"Twi?" I said, startling her out of her stupor.
"Yes! That, I...may have accidentally caused the spell to unfurl on the trip back, which may cause things to start coming forward."
"How much?"
"A lot." She mumbled, "We're crunching the numbers now, and-"
"They aren't consistent at all." Starlight perked up, not as disheveled as Twilight but still a mess. "We could get a couple pebbles coming through, or we could get half a continent over the next few years."
"You're kidding right?" The two of them kicked their hooves sheepishly as I rubbed the bridge of my nose. "Can you stabilize the area they'll come through?"
"Impossible. It'll happen wherever and whenever it happens, so we have no way of stopping or controlling it." Starlight explained.
"We should probably tell Celestia. She should be able to get her and Luna's guards, as well as the police to be on the lookout for humans across Equestria." I added, looking towards Twilight, who had already started drafting a letter. "Nice. You guys go talk to them later, because I don't want to deal with that at the moment." Twilight was about to give me a piece of her mind but I already ran out shutting the thick crystal doors behind me.
----
In an effort to grab a late lunch, I ran into a couple of Twilight's friends in that Sugarcube Corner place that I remember Pinkie worked at.
"You know despite courting Twilight, you haven't spent much time with us, dear." Rarity daintily took a bite of a cupcake.
"Wait, I'm courting her?" I said midway through a muffin.
"Finish your mouthful before you talk, darling, and yes, Twilight is quite enamoured with you. I assumed you were aware."
"Yeah! Like duh, she's totally got the hots for you, even though your a weird ape thing." Rainbow Dash poked me in the chest while scoffing down something Pinkie Pie called Dashie-cakes. "I wonder if she's one of those xezophibiacs or what ever they're called."
"I-I believe you mean xenophiliacs." Fluttershy piped up. "Not that there's anything wrong with that, of course..."
"I'm already in a relationship, though. I don't plan to get romantic with Twilight." All parties present gasped at my response while I finished off my muffin, and dropped some bits on the table, pushing them to the pink baker.
"You can't do that to her! We've been trying to find Twilight a special somepony for months, and the perfect candidate crawls out of a dilapidated building, just to say 'No!', it'll break her heart into a bajillion tiny pieces!" Pinkie Pie shook me in my seat, giving me mild whiplash.
"And I don't plan to. I never have to give her an answer if I act denser than a black hole." I said, channeling the power of all male protagonists in existence. "If this interest obeys all laws of romance physics, she'll beat around the bush forever until I do something."
That tweaked a nerve on Applejack,
So she decided to pipe up. "Forgive me if ah'm wrong but that doesn't sound like an entirely honest way to respond to Twi's feelings." Applejack said disapprovingly. "It might be a better idea to jus' tear out the splinter, so to speak."
"Probably, but I don't want to risk hurting her."
"Ah can respect that, but not telling her the truth could hurt 'er worse over time. She's a princess now, right? Imagine having to take baggage like that into the future, never havin' yer answer to such an important question. That'll be poison to her."
"It'll poison for both of us if she ends up not forgiving me. I dont want to take that risk." I replied, the other people at the table and a surprising amount of the café were silent.
"Fair enough, but ain't nobody tellin' her for ya. This is something ya gotta figure out yerself."
"You're a suprisingly mature person Applejack, I kinda just thought you were a hick, no offence."
She sighed, adjusting her hat. "None taken, a lotta city folk think that we're all like that when they come here anyway. The bill is on you by the way. Twilight is usually alright paying but she ain't here today."
"I've got nothing else on me. Pay for yourselves." I teleported out of my seat, walked out of the bakery and into the sun.
--A torn page--
A page made from a different material than the rest of the journal, clearly taken from another older book.
The Necromancer had left the arid plains of the desert for days, but his magic still scarred the landscape.
From the Hive, Helix tried scanning the barren plains for any possible source of such vile magic, but he could see the trail split off in many ways, as if whatever had caused such an anomaly was swept up in a dust devil and tossed out in pieces. Erratic. Unpredictable. Was this planned, a way to divert attention from the real threat? It was the only possibility that he could come up with.
He teleported back to the throne room of his hive and pondered, before writing a message and using some bottled dragonfire to send it. He could not waste more energy, in case an attack was imminent. In the meantime, all he could do was defend until help arrived.
Although it wasn't visible to Helix, a guard stood on one side of the throne, eyes glowing orange momentarily, before fading back to the faded blue of a recently deceased drone.
A couple kilometres from the Hive, a once collapsed corpse stood up straight again. "This new hive king of yours seems quite intelligent, I might have to preserve his mind once we take the hive."
"As you wish, master. He will be of little use once the throne is usurped and the hive is converted back to its rightful place." The Red and Blue queens droned in unison.
"Good. I need you to cause as much collateral as possible, quality is preferred but quantity is second best. Have fun." The Necromancer warped away.
----
The next place he visited was a cave, one special to him. Hidden deep underground, with only a single locating rune to help him find it in the depths.
"Finally, we are alone again. Tell me of this new piece you've sensed, is it Life again?"
A melodic, enchanting voice answered, "Destruction. Likely the greatest threat we will ever face, if not taken out quickly. One of his characteristics as a concept is to accrue power rapidly and infinitely."
"Should we not destroy him now then? Or is it worth cutting short this long game I proposed?"
"Fighting him now would end badly for us, he is surrounded by some of Life's children. The strongest ones at that." The woman's voice was soft as silk as she slithered around the dark.
"The Elements. Of course." The Necromancer sat, pondering a solution. "Was this the point of resurrecting those fumbling queens?"
The woman chuckled extending out a smoky tendril and caressing the hooded one's cheek. "You are so very clever sometimes. I am truly lucky to have caught such a truly intelligent Avatar."
"You did not catch me, mistress. You saved me. Allowed me to show those who wronged me the error of their ways."
"I believe I don't need to tell you our next step, love?" The tendril moved to his chin.
"Keep a close eye on the bait." A wide smirk. Took his face as the woman. Revealed herself, hooded like the young creature before her, not that anything could outlive her. What looked like beautiful curves could be seen through the cloak, but the occasional glint of chilling white through the gaps and holes in the cloth proved otherwise. From a far, the face of the woman, seemed truly gorgeous. But closer, you could see the bones pushing out through the illusion of skin.
Kissing the Necromancer, she entered him, flooding the corpse he inhabited with energy.
"We shall see what Destruction has brought to the table in this era. He knows how to choose an Avatar well. Many conquerors were chosen by him." The woman spoke in his mind."
"Destruction will be no match for us. From what you have told me, he may join us."
"I believe that this time Destruction will be no ally." She huffed in frustration. Odd for a creature so old. "It seems we will be fighting alone this era. No others have appeared."
"Good. Would be a pain to fight more than one at a time." The necromancer returned to his station at a brewing table, a dark tendril picking up an ingredient for him every so often, accompanied by an occasional rumbling from below and droplets falling from the stalactites above.
Somewhere one could truly be dead in peace.