Sandbar rubbed his head. He remembered how his friends had been torn away from him in the swirling darkness, but he seemed to be heading somewhere now. The light got brighter, and he suddenly plunged into cold water. He tried to swim, but the currents were too strong. His legs and lungs were quickly burning. He looked around even though the salt in the water stung his eyes. The current was pulling him down toward something darker than the deepest chasms he had ever seen in the ocean, and what looked like hundreds of eyes glowing red.
Sandbar reached for the magic he had felt from the Tree of Harmony. A light flashed around him. The current shifted and pulled him even faster in the opposite direction until he suddenly found himself washing up on dry land.
(Sandbar uses 2 friendship tokens and gains temporary magical protection.)
It was an unusual place. As impossible as it seemed, he was on the shore of an island that was trapped in a bubble in the middle of a larger sphere of water. The water blurred his vision and made it hard to see any further, but he could make out the dark abyss where he had come from.
The salty spray of the waves gently crashing nearby put him in a good mood. Sandbar still remembered when he had gained his cutie mark on the beach long ago, and maybe it could serve him now. He walked to the edge of the sea and tried to see if any friendly sea creatures were nearby.
He spotted some colorful fish a little further out. The school of fish swirled in strange patterns, almost as if it was creating the picture of something. Sandbar squinted and thought it almost looked like a seapony. The fish swam closer and as they did, the waves suddenly surged around Sandbar.
A pillar of water pressed him upward. He kicked his legs in the salty water but seemed to go nowhere. He took a deep breath and tried to calm himself. The warmth of the magic within him grew. The pillar of water slowly collapsed and left him on the beach.
The fish retreated and swirled faster and faster. The colors slowly solidified. A figure splashed out of the water and into the sky before landing in front of Sandbar.
A thin and tall hippogriff spread his wings and tilted his head to the side to stare at Sandbar with his yellow eye. The hippogriff’s fur and plumage were mottled in black and purple with yellow highlights on his mane and wings.
“How interesting!” The hippogriff’s voice was higher than Sandbar expected from such a big figure. “How is a pony like you disturbing my wonderful court of chaos?”
“Oh, uh, I just got here! Have you seen my friends?”
The hippogriff scratched at his beak. “It seems even my inner sanctum brings me unexpected things.”
The hippogriff circled around Sandbar and rubbed his claws together.
“Friends you say? And where did you come from? And why do you have the faintest hints of such wonderful chaos magic?”
“Me and my friends got separated in that magical vortex thingy. We were at Twilight’s School until it got us.”
The hippogriff tilted his head from side to side but always kept his eyes on Sandbar. He laughed, but it was a laugh that made Sandbar’s fur stand on end. He patted Sandbar’s mane and left it messier than before.
“Yes, yes. I can see you’re from Equestria, but I feel Discord’s touch on you. How is that possible? Did he finally break free?”
“Discord?” Sandbar shrugged. “He caused some trouble at the school. And he caused even more trouble in Ponyville when he first got free, but he’s, uh, reformed now. Anyway, what’s your name? I’m Sandbar.”
“Reformed? That can’t be. Or if it is, I have other allies now. I’m Storm Surge. You might say I’m an old disciple of Discord’s. Or perhaps his jester. I was hoping to find a way back to Equestria to free Discord, but it sounds like someone else already did that for me.”
Storm Surge snapped his claws and the sea swirled. A huge wave rose up but it suddenly crashed against an invisible barrier before it could wash over Sandbar.
“Hmm? You seem to have a most unusual magic. As if something much more powerful is protecting you.”
Storm Surge snapped his claws a few more times, but nothing happened. He scowled for a moment before laughing.
“Let’s take another approach. You mentioned friends, right? I haven’t sensed any other unusual visitors, so they must have ended up elsewhere. Maybe if you tell me a bit more about how you ended up here, I could help you. I could always use a good, strong pony to help me with a few things I can’t do.”
“That would be awesome! It’s a bit of a long story, so get comfortable.”
Sandbar began his story about Cozy Glow and Chancellor Neighsay and all the crazy things that had been happening at the school. He kept remembering bits he forgot and added them in as he remembered. He finished and looked at Storm Surge.
The hippogriff reached forward and held Sandbar’s front hooves.
“Oh, you poor little pony. I’d love to help you, but the magic protecting you requires your permission for me to give you real power. That would help you find your friends. A few little changes, and you could find them so easily. Just think! You could get wings like a pegasus or magic like a unicorn. Let me show you!”
Storm Surge snapped and suddenly transformed. He was an earth pony. He snapped again and changed into a unicorn. His horn lit up with magic before he transformed back into himself.
“Discord was always reluctant to change creatures too much, but why limit chaos with such rules? I’ve used the little power Discord gave me and added to it by breaking other boundaries. The queen thought the pearl was amazing, but now I can do so much more than it could ever do. And for just a little favor for me, you could have some of this same power. Think of all you could be!”
“I don’t know. I’m pretty happy as myself. And how do you choose what you want to be? I’ve seen how much trouble Ocellus has deciding, and it would be even worse for me. Could you just give me something that helps me find my friends?”
Storm Surge’s feathers fluffed out and his eyes narrowed.
“Even when offered so much power, you would choose to be yourself? How boring. But even for a pony like you, I have a gift that could help.”
The hippogriff held out a handful of seeds. Sandbar looked closely at them before taking them. A glowing swirl of light danced just under their surface.
“If you need something grown, I’m good with plants.”
Storm Surge patted Sandbar on the head.
“Yes, be a good earth pony and find the right soil for these. They will help you find your friends, but they will only grow in places that don’t have my magic. And as one final gift, take a feather. Others will recognize it as mine. That could serve you well here.”
Storm Surge plucked a feather from his wing and placed it in Sandbar’s mane. It tickled. Sandbar tried to adjust it, but it was stuck in place.
“Thank you so much, but, uh, how do I get out of this place?”
Sandbar looked around for any obvious exit, but the only way out was beyond the swirling sphere of water. Storm Surge snapped his claws and a tunnel opened in the water. The hippogriff led the way. What had been underwater was now perfectly dry sand and stone. As they reached the edge of the water, Sandbar could finally see what lay beyond. The sphere he stepped out of was contained in a giant fountain.
In all directions around it, twisted structures of impossible architecture were scattered around. The water from the fountain looped to other fountains in impossible ways, and those fountains seemed to contain other islands. Creatures of all sorts were playing different games of chance, but none of them seemed to stay the same type of creature for long. They flashed between forms every few moments. In just a few minutes, Sandbar saw every type of pony as well as every other type of intelligent creature he had learned about at school. They glanced at Storm Surge before returning to their games and conversations. A single figure stumbled in front of Sandbar and dropped a piece of paper as it turned from a griffon to an earth pony.
Storm Surge transformed into a unicorn and pushed the figure back with magic. Sandbar quickly picked up the piece of paper and read it.
Don’t forget who you are. Don’t forget what you are. I am a hippogriff. They took my name, but I wrote it down-
Sandbar couldn’t read more because the paper vanished in a puff of smoke. Storm Surge patted Sandbar’s shoulder.
“Sorry. My other friends here sometimes don’t handle chaos magic quite as well as I do. It takes a special mind to be open to so many possibilities. But I am just trying to share the same blessings of chaos that I received with everyone. First from Discord, then from the sleeping ones. But some, like the queen, didn’t take kindly to my mission. But let’s get you closer to your friends. This might be uncomfortable, but it will be much faster.”
Storm Surge snapped his claws and a sphere of water appeared around them both. Sandbar felt the uneasy feeling in his stomach of being teleported. He was dry a moment later and three paths were in front of him.
The path to his right led uphill to a sharp set of mountains. The cliffs cast shadows that seemed darker than they should be. The path was quickly lost in a fog as it climbed higher.
The path to his left continued to a bridge. Beyond the bridge, brilliant green plants quickly blocked his view as the pathway was swallowed up in a thick jungle.
The middle path went to the top of a small hill. Beyond it, Sandbar could see more hills that quickly gave way to the jagged stone cliffs of a desert.
“I’ll leave the choice to you. The Shadow Mountains and Verdant Jungle both contain creatures that might be dangerous to a pony such as you, but the seeds I gave you will grow better in those places. The wastelands in the center are more of a gamble. No great power holds sway there, but many monsters roam the desert. And if you ever want to take my deal for more power, you can always use my feather to call me. Just hold it and speak my name twice.”
Which path should Sandbar take?