//------------------------------// // Chapter 42: Cry in the Wilderness // Story: Princess Essenta // by Pone_Heap //------------------------------// Desolate Places Arc “I’ve never seen anything like this…” Dechaa let a wisp of magic from her horn, watching it lazily bounce off the surface of what Zyra had found. Zyra had called over Dechaa and her group, “Yeah…” Ama tentatively put a hoof through what Zyra had described to be a “magical barrier”, “That is most strange… I cannot feel anything.” Loress took a walk through the barrier; she felt her fur stand on end and a most unpleasant sensation shoot through her body, “That’s no detriment to your being, Ama… as a Mazan you wouldn’t likely be able to perceive it, even with your Terran blood. For me it… sends a chill down my spine… and not much more.” “That sounds about right,” Zyra said absent-mindedly as she probed the barrier. “Dechaa… stay here.” Zyra, to the mild shock of the rest, trotted through the barrier; she cringed, but it caused no real harm. “What are you doing?” Wilka cocked her head. “Testing things out,” Zyra replied. They watched the mage send a few trickles of magic at the barrier and saw them glance off, staying inside. The mage looked puzzled, “Uh… Delia… toss me your stone.” Delia hoofed the item and lobbed it to Zyra. Zyra held up Delia’s communicating stone—one of the three Dechaa had enchanted—and said, “I know you can hear me, but can you hear me through the stone?” Dechaa held up her own, “Try it.” Zyra turned her back as to bend her voice in a different direction, speaking into the stone, “Is it working?” The girls heard nothing from the stone; this was alarming. Zyra waved to Dechaa, “Dechaa, come inside. It tickles some, but it won’t hurt.” Dechaa crossed through with the willingness of a three-legged giraffe being forced onto a tightrope; she felt an unpleasant jolt from her nose all the way to her lady-parts, “Neeeeigh…” The girls almost laughed at that; Zyra cringed, “Sucks, don’t it?” “You said it wasn’t that bad,” Dechaa whined. “C’mon, it’s just like tickling your ‘giney,” Zyra grinned nastily. The girls did laugh at that. “You’re a real cunt sometimes…” Dechaa glowered. Zyra laughed, “Relax, buddy… I didn’t pull you over here to give your shame-cave attention.” Ama snorked. “Stand about 10 paces away from me, Dechaa,” Zyra motioned. Dechaa did so, “Now what?” “Do the stones work over on this side?” Zyra held up hers. “Oh…” Dechaa did the same and spoke into her own. “Anything?” Zyra did hear Dechaa; she nodded, “Oh, yeah…” The mage crossed the barrier again, as did the healer; they felt the sensation again. Zyra began speaking, relating her thoughts, “It’s quite a barrier… Magic can’t come in… or go out, it seems. I could try to really give it a blast, but I don’t want to risk it; I don’t know what might happen. The stones can’t communicate across it, but magic seems totally unaffected inside. It’s just a barrier; it doesn’t appear to neutralize.” Wilka looked up, unable to perceive the barrier at all; she was a normal Pegasus, barring her regeneration magic, “So is it, like, a wall?” Zyra knew Wilka wouldn’t be able to test what she was hypothesizing, “Doubtful… I don’t know what the range of the stones is but if there was an interruption in the barrier we’d likely be able to commune. Let’s see.” The girls knew Zyra could levitate; her magic was rather powerful. Zyra took off and several feet off the ground, passed through the barrier; she cringed but had no trouble doing so. “It interrupts magic but doesn’t break up the aura as long as you maintain it throughout your body,” Dechaa opined. Zyra looked down, “Seems so. I’m going further up.” “Don’t…!” Dechaa worried. “Don’t sweat it,” Zyra advised. “We have cover.” One must be reminded they were in a rainforest; they had cover, alright—sometimes it was 100 yards high. It wasn’t so thick that close to the savanna but it was still impressive. Zyra followed the barrier; it went straight up for a time and she bounded through the high branches. Up and up it went… until it finally began to bend further into the sky; it was just noticeable, but it was there. The barrier appeared to be convex. Not eager to see how high it went, she made her way back down. But eager faces greeted her; Dechaa gulped, “So…? Zyra didn’t like this one bit, “It’s enormous… like a giant bubble; it might go up for a mile or so… Doesn’t keep out air… sunshine… or rain, probably… just magic.” The mares exchanged glances; this was some scary shit… Zyra decided, “We travel east a little… Let’s see how far it goes.” “You found what?!” Essenta’s jaw dropped. The girls were discussing what Zyra had discovered, eating lunch. “We found a magical barrier deeper in,” Zyra stated simply, poking at her porridge; she’d had more time to process the idea. “A magical barrier?” Essenta had a problem wrapping her mind around the concept. “That’s what I said, Cap,” Zyra wasn’t frustrated with Essenta’s disbelief; the little mage had never seen anything like it. “And it’s huge… Even the impenetrable barrier Aodh Radulf had constructed around her hometown wasn’t the size of an entire country… Dread overtook the girls a moment; they’d done and seen some crazy things, but this beggared the imagination. Loress spoke; she couldn’t keep the wavering from her voice, addressing their splendid leader, “So… Princess? What’s this mean?” Essenta’s voice came a little hollow, “We process the starchy foods we have… We do one more forage in the woods and we split.” The mares had already begun to envision what horrors lay beyond the barrier. Hagano had been the only pony—as far as they knew—to make it out of the jungle. Something was wrong as Hell down south and they eagerly pounced on Essenta’s idea. Delia nodded, “We go in together… in a group of five. Three of us stay with the wagon… I’m… concerned now.” So were the rest; not a one of them disagreed. Essenta, a little shaky now, turned to the group, “Ama and Orni… I want you to stay with me and the wagon…” The princess hated not leaving a unicorn in camp, given the situation, but felt even more afraid not having both out there; they were going past the barrier, after all. Dechaa voiced the concern, “Wouldn’t leaving Zyra here and taking you make more sense?” “I don’t like it either way…” Essenta shook her head. “But I want the both of you out there. And me? I’m not all that useful… much less skilled than Ama or Orni.” They nodded; the princess had spoken. Essenta moved towards the wagon, “Everypony with Delia, grab a sack and water; let’s make this quick. Ama, Orni, and me… will try to process some flour while you’re gone.” Delia noted Essenta’s grave manner, “You aren’t thinking of leaving tonight, are you?” Essenta shook her head, “No… I think we’ll try for tomorrow night. That gives us a day to rest up… and prepare more fixings for flour and bake more. We’re going back into the desert after all; we can dry starch on the wagon…” Delia took the lead in the jungle; Loress was in the middle with Dechaa in front of her while Zyra and Wilka held up the rear. Delia and Zyra both held a “talk-rock”, while Essenta had the third back in camp. “It’s coming up right here,” Dechaa regarded the point at which she knew the barrier began. Delia saw Dechaa shudder, “Is it that bad?” Dechaa turned, her eyes unhappy, “I really don’t like it.” Zyra chuckled as she passed through, with a lascivious look about her, “I dunno; I kinda like it.” Wilka and Loress giggled; Dechaa glowered. Delia was amused by Zyra but not their situation, “Well, we’re in. Let’s find a few bags’ worth of yams or cassava… maybe some fresh fruit that would keep for a while.” They’d dried enough fruit to travel a thousand miles and then some; fresh would be welcome. They stuck close, carefully paddling along. They found plenty of yams, some cassava, and even a little taro. Wilka was browsing and found a clearing, “Hey, girls! Save some room! Look what I found.” Delia arrived and was pleased to see the now-familiar melons littering the ground; she picked one, “And just the perfect ripeness.” The girls eagerly picked the fruits; with their heavy rinds, they’d do better in the desert than many of the exotic fruits they’d found. A little further along, Wilka found another welcome sight, “Oh, no way!” They all beamed. Oranges. And late in the autumn was a damn good time to find a nice orange. Laden with goodies, the girls made their way back to camp in good spirits; they'd almost forgotten about whatever the fuck might be going on behind the barrier. Considering their luck, they chose to set off again immediately to bag a few more yams; there were plenty where they’d been. By this time, it was the middle of the afternoon… and they were a lot less enthusiastic to be out there than they had been a mere hour earlier. It was hot but a very different kind of hot; dry heat seemed a blessing compared to this humidity shit… Delia grumbled, her sweaty tunic soaked through, “Everypony take another drink of water, even if you don’t think you need it. By the time you feel thirsty… you’re already dehydrated.” The mares did as was recommended; Delia had said the same thing to them multiple times a day, but they had more than enough water and it saved them a lot of sickness and headaches. Zyra grinned, panting a little, “Well, the jungle’s been interesting, but I’ll be really glad to see the desolation of the desert again.” Loress tottered along, “Never again… I’m never going into another… jungle as long as I live… once we leave…” It was odd to hear Loress winded; Delia asked, “You feel okay, Loress?” Loress sighed, “Yeah… It’s just we Terrans weren’t built for this kind of crap…” This wasn’t untrue. While Loress didn’t look all that bulky, her body was dense with muscle, giving her excellent insulation. It made paddling through the desert at night more tolerable than it might and paddling through the jungle a real suck-fest. But they moved on, approaching the spot so abundant in its yam-ness. Dechaa felt an entirely new sensation rush through her body; she cried out, her legs buckling. “Dechaa!” Delia cried out. “What’s going on?” To the dismay of the girls, Dechaa tucked up her back legs and began to sob; it wasn’t “normal” sobbing either… She was broken, shaking. “Dechaa!” Delia tried to get a look at her face. “Let me see!” Zyra put a hoof to Delia’s, “No…” Delia was shocked by Zyra’s complexion; the mage looked like death. “Zyra…” Delia stammered. “What’s wrong?!” The mage didn’t answer; she began to slowly back up, her breathing quickening as she glanced around. Delia, eyes darting about, shuffled nearby; she bumped into Loress. The Terran stood transfixed; she didn’t look sick but very disturbed, “Something's… very wrong. Somepony’s… hurting… a lot…” Delia had never seen Loress look this frightened—she’d not been around for the dragon-punch, but Loress’s manner wasn’t far off from that. Delia looked around; she felt nothing—saw nothing. Wilka’s eyes were terrified; she whimpered, her voice frantic, “What’s wrong with them?!” Delia had already connected the dots: she and Wilka were “normal” ponies but the other three had—at the very, very least—extra-sensory perception. “It’s a filly…” Dechaa’s choked voice caused Delia to jump out of her skin. “What…?” Delia hadn’t quite registered; she looked to Zyra, now in tears, leaning against a tree. “What’s happening?!” Loress’s eyes cleared, “It’s a unicorn filly…” Wilka backed up towards Loress; next to the Terran was probably still the safest place to be, “How can you tell…?” Loress shook her head slowly; her complexion lost the very small amount of color it had, “I just… can…” Delia was now reasonably scared; their unicorns and the strongest mare among them had turned to jelly on her, “Girls… try to calm down… We can’t fall apart now…” The former maid could hear the alarm in her own voice; she couldn’t help it, though. Wilka was about to panic, she could tell. Not sure what else to do, Delia pulled out her communication stone. “This would be so much easier with magic…” Essenta complained as she pounded a small rock against a bigger rock; in between the rocks were the tuberous roots of the cassava plant. Ama chuckled, having more luck with a large mortar and pestle, “Do not complain. I would rather be here, doing this, than in the forest. Even my own country does not see this level of temperature…” Orni was further breaking up some dried yam; it took some doing to reduce it to a powder, “This isn’t so bad… At least we won’t be hungry on the way back to the big city.” Ama smiled, “The first thing I will do—other than have a nice bath—is visit that little pub. I look forward to seeing Rokka and Beli again.” “Who?” Essenta wondered. Orni giggled, “The brothers that run the pub, Essenta… You should remember; Ama only mentions them every other day.” Essenta guessed she might’ve heard… When Ama started monologuing her love of tasty, tasty booze, Essenta had turned her mind off. “I miss ale…” the princess lamented. Ama knew of the princess’s struggles and didn’t wish to rub it in but she had a lamentation of her own, “Besides our food, that pirate took a bottle of apple pie… They had put it into our food bag as a gift…” The girls had been delighted to see the couple extra bottles of liquor the brothers had been kind enough to contribute to their journey. It was a small blessing they had stowed the whiskey in a different place. Their milling was interrupted by Essenta’s communication stone; Essenta hoofed it out, “You girls already heading back?” “Essenta!” Wilka cried. “Something’s wrong!” Essenta hadn’t expected to hear the little Pegasus on the other end; she wasn’t nervous yet, “What is it?” “Something’s wrong with Dechaa… really wrong… and Zyra and Loress aren’t much better!” Essenta sat bolt-upright, “What’s happening…? Where are you?” By now Ama and Orni had gathered around. Wilka sounded close to tears, “I’m just outside the barrier, up a tree; Delia sent me to contact you. I guess… the unicorns felt somepony in distress in the jungle; Loress noticed it too! They’re freaking out!” Essenta exchanged alarmed glances with the other two; she said to Wilka, “Do you think you and Delia can get them back?” “…We can try,” Wilka sounded. “Delia figures she can clock out Dechaa and Zyra if she has to… Loress is upset but she’s not losing it or anything. Delia says to stay out there. We can’t afford anypony alone…” Essenta knew this to be true; she wasn’t about to leave a mare alone with the wagon or send one into the forest alone… and they wouldn’t leave the wagon unguarded. Reluctantly, Essenta said, “Tell Delia to do what she sees fit; she and Loress can easily carry them back if it comes to it… Get out of the jungle…” Wilka was ready to agree, “Okay.” The connection was broken; Essenta fell to her rump, holding her head between her legs, “Oh… What’s going on out there…?” Orni was terribly worried but Ama put a reassuring hoof to Essenta’s shoulder, “Delia and Wilka will be fine, Essenta. They are both clever. Do not fret and let us get back to work.” Essenta hated it, but there wasn’t a thing she could do, “You’re right, Ama… We still have a lot to do.” Wilka was greatly relieved to see the unicorns had calmed down by the time she got back. Loress had relaxed too. Delia asked, “You get ahold of them?” “Yeah…” Wilka lowered her voice. “What’s going on?” Delia whispered back, though Loress came to them as well, “Whatever caused them to lose it stopped. Dechaa’s barely responding and I think Zyra’s sick…” Wilka pulled the other two in, “Delia… Do you know the ‘magic suppressor’?” Delia blinked, “The pressure point? Yes.” “It'd be the best way to knock them out for a little while… just to be safe... if it comes to that. We get them across the barrier and whatever this is, it won’t bother them again.” Delia wasn’t sure; clocking out the two unicorns would definitely get them to calm down… for a while. They’d be useless the whole way back to camp… but that sounded preferable to one of them having a fit. Delia sighed, “Okay… We get them to drink a little water and we start to lead them back. If they freak out again… I’ll put them down and we’ll have to carry them back. Are you okay, Loress?” Loress nodded tiredly, “I’ll be fine. I felt it, sure, but not like they did. You can count on me.” With a little encouragement they got the unicorns to drink a little water and managed to get them standing. They’d not gathered a thing in the woods that trip but getting out was priority. If they couldn’t go back into the woods… they still had enough supplies to make it past the oasis, if not the whole desert. Things were alright until they came near the barrier. Loress—not the first to feel it—was the first to acknowledge it to the two “less in touch”, “Oh, no…” Dechaa, just about catatonic to that point, fell over and began sobbing anew; she writhed and kicked. Seeing this, Wilka finally lost her composure; she scampered away and hid behind a tree. Zyra better had her wits about her this time, though she kept a hoof to her temple, “It’s happening again…” While Zyra managed to sit down, Dechaa got worse; the healer began sparking from the horn. Matters grew graver when she started teleporting a few feet at a time. Delia dove for Dechaa, reaching out her hoof, “No!” Dechaa vanished, only to appear about three yards away. Loress and Zyra both cried, “Stop her!” Delia dove, making contact with Dechaa; before she could pinch the proper nerve, both she and Dechaa went poof. Dechaa had teleported the both of them to another place.