"Ugh, where are these things?" Twilight exclaimed, now running on hooves due to the forest canopy overhead.
Twilight and Oleander were still on the run towards Oleander's...she didn't actually say what it was, but it was almost certainly going to be nothing but helpful. They had been going for a couple of hours now, and it was almost sunset in this crossover world.
Suddenly, Twilight realized that she wasn't controlling the sun's cycle. How did it move without magic? She wasn't complaining, as that would be pretty distracting while working with Oleander, but how did it move? She turned to ask Oleander about it, when she suddenly realized Oleander was no longer with her.
"Oleander? Where are you?"
Out of some underbrush, the dark unicorn popped out. Panting, she angrily suggested, "Could you mind slowing down, if only a bit?"
Wow, Twilight didn't even realize her companion was lagging behind. "Sorry. We were running neck and neck at the start, so I thought you could keep up."
"The only reason we were running neck and neck, was because you were PULLING me by my bloody neck and neck." She stretched her hind legs out a little while catching her breath. "Ugh... I should really start jogging more often... To keep up with you, at the very least... Do you do this often?"
"Uh... Kinda?" Twilight responded. "Only when doing, uh, tactical retreats."
"I never knew that saving the world would involve so much running..."
Twilight stopped. "Er, if you want a little break, would you mind explaining something about yourself to me?"
Oleander sat down ungracefully. "Sure. *gasp* What's your question?"
Twilight smiled courteously. "Yes, okay! Just one. Ahem..." Unexpectedly raising her voice almost accusingly, she roared loudly enough to echo, "WHY AND HOW ARE YOU WORKING WITH A DEMON-?!" Oleander gasped at seeing the normally calm Alicorn snap. Twilight quickly shut her mouth and apologized.
“I’m sorry for yelling, truly, I am. I’ve just had some bad experiences with dark magics and the sort.”
"Apology accepted. Oh, alright, I'll tell you. I've already told you part of it, but it seems that you require more clarification for my actions." Oleander cleared her throat while Twilight quickly calmed down from her outburst.
"Well, it's sort of a long story, so I'll try to keep it as focused as possible. So, as a unicorn, where I'm from, all Unicorns are trained under the Order of the Horn. This order prevents unicorns from 'abusing' their magic for evil. This includes the usage of dark magic. Something in me didn't like the prospect of being barred from any magic, especially dark magic.
"Well, what do you know, that's where Fred comes in. He was... amazing. He changed my life. And I think I changed his. He gave me boundless power; magic I could only once dream of ever wielding. But, of course, the other unicorns were not going to be happy about this; I did all my practicing in secret. When I tried to rejoin my fellow unicorns for a yearly ritual, they noticed that I was using it. Because apparently, dark magic stains fur black. Should have definitely read the fine print there.
“What is important here is that they shunned me and gave me the cruelest punishment their law was allowed to give. But, I still learned more. I used it for good. I have to show them that my magic can be used for good as well as it can be used for evil. The only reason they even tolerated me in the first place is because of who my great-grandmother is. I've been training for thirteen seasons for this." She finished; her expression never having changed from when she started her rant.
"Do you understand, Twilight Sparkle?"
"Huh?" That caught her off guard. "Uh... yeah, sure! All magic has its goods and bads about it. I can't deny that, considering I experienced that first-hoof with time travel spells."
Oleander looked relieved. Huh. Though, Twilight supposed that if she had spent the past three-odd years being shunned by trying to show the good in something, and one of her own finally understood, she'd probably feel that way as well. Both of the unicorns, well, unicorn and former unicorn, sat for a couple more minutes in the relative silence of the night. After their moment passed, Twilight spoke first.
"Ah. That was a nice rest. So where is this...thing you mentioned?"
"Oh, not far. About fifteen minutes of WALKING from here."
"Sure thing," Twilight responded with a cheerful chuckle.
Finally! Someone understood what her motivation! As admittedly unconventional as learning the darkest magics were, it was so relieving to finally have someone who understood what she went through. Oleander had been thinking about Twilight since that moment. She spoke so... well. Even if she didn't exactly agree, judging by the tone of her voice, she still knew how to make her feel she convinced at least one ungulate. Perhaps Twilight could be a Princess of Friendship...
“Hmmm...ah! Here it is!” Oleander excitedly called. She had found the rock wall. Twilight followed behind, looking over Oleander's shoulder. In front of her, was a rock with a strange, blue inscription on it that glowed. Putting her horn down on it revealed a door that opened up in the rock face in front of them.
Inside the cliff face was a rather large bunker Oleander had created herself; it was about as large as the atrium of the Ruins. Just in case anything went wrong; her house was taken over for example. She kept her important things here. Like her crayons.
It was quite homely, in fact. There were less cobwebs in here than in her own home, so that was something. On the opposite side of the door was a large bookshelf, containing mostly combat related spells and notes on Predators. To the right was a small kitchen area, and to the left a place where supplies and rations could be easily kept and, of course, a bookshelf from all eras of unicorn history.
In the center of it all, a large wooden table sat; large enough to seat twenty or so entities.
Twilight sat down on one of the chairs while Oleander checked around in her records, hoping to find more to explain to Twilight.
Absentmindedly, Oleander asked from her place at the bookshelf, “So, could you tell me some more about yourself, Twilight?”
She suddenly realized her mistake as she covered her mouth with one of her hooves.
Too late anyways; Twilight’s eyes are dilating again.
The purple alicorn avidly explained, with great detail, all of the adventures she and her friends had gone as Oleander stopped her searching to brew some coffee for them. From reforming a 1000 year old deity to trapping a Lord of chaos, to defending against invasions to defeating a magic stealer, it seemed that her and her friends had done it all. All with this magic of friendship...
Hmmm... how to use this knowledge to her benefit... more power was always good, right?
The dark sorceress was ultimately confused and perhaps skeptical about this entire thing, but considering all the things her and her own dimension went through, she didn’t rule anything out of truth.
“So, because of all of this, you were sworn in as ruler of Equestria due to an ‘early’ retirement?”
“Yes! That’s it! My friends and I visit every week or so to discuss things as friends.” She stopped a moment to sip some of her coffee. “Before we got sucked into this mess, I was at the Castle to visit Starlight because of, ah, professional reasons- turned casual reasons- turned... uh... dimensional reasons.”
Okay, that didn’t sound like a lie. Oleander quickly went back to work as Twilight continued with other events she partook in.
After rummaging around in both her supplies and bookshelves and picking what she saw fit for travel, Oleander seemed satisfied. “Twilight, do you mind carrying some supplies?”
“Huh?” Twilight asked as she removed her hoof from her nose.
Oleander repeated herself. “I asked if you could carry our supplies.”
Twilight seemed up to the job. “Sure! What do you want me to carry?”
Olly held up a small backpack filled with books and scrolls. “Just this.”
GAINED THE BOOKBAG!+1 Comfort +4 Storage Space Self-explanatory backpack. Feel the weight of your books crawling on your back.
“So, are we ready to go, Twilight Sparkle?”
“Almost.” She picked up a single tiara from the storage area with her magic. “Uh... do you mind if I bring this?”
“Well, it would be better to travel light, but I suppose so. Why?”
“It’s just kinda important to me.” Leaving it at that, Twilight picked up the crown and placed it on her head.
GAINED TIARA!+4 Season +5 Regality Twilight‘s original tiara, now with 40% more Sparkle!
“So, now that I’ve explained my history, could you explain a BIT more about the Predators?”
Oleander obliged. “Why certainly. For starters, take a look at this drawing I made. Nowifyouseehere- ⏩FF
"Ugh, this is so boring. Skip all of this. We've heard this all before."
Only if they read the book of lore or completed story mode. Wait, Discord, are you sure you should do this?
"What? It's fine! The author should thank me for this. I'm removing the padding. Besides, my gut says that they talk like this for at least ten minutes. I want to see those 'objects,' or whatever they are again."
Okay, you do you. Just don’t cross a line, or you could get banned or something.
“Oh, pish-posh. He wouldn’t remove ME for even a chapter.”
“And so, Fred seems to know the most about the predators, so that’s another reason I’m working with him.” She looked behind Twilight to check the time. “Hm...it appears to be nighttime now. The moon says it is not quite midnight yet...”
Twilight turned around as well. “Yep. We should really start heading back to the castle now.” The unicorns stepped out of the bunker, Oleander closing the magical stone door behind her.
An eerie howl echoed in the dark breezy night. A few shivers ran down Twi’s spine as it rang out.
Oleander was immediately on guard, striking a pose, eyes darting too and fro to check for any danger. Suddenly realizing what the howl likely meant, Twilight also took up a defensive stance.
From inside the bushes nearby, a few leaves rustled. Suddenly, two red, ghostly wolves jumped out!
With little to no time to prepare, Oleander and Twilight were in for their first battle...
Ready?
Fight!
The first wolf quickly lunged at Twilight. With little to no time to prepare anything else, she did the only thing her brain could think of at the time. She pulled the bag of books off her back and hit him hard with it.
The second wolf instead headed for Oleander, who quickly remembered she didn’t have Fred with her. “Oh, I knew I should have brought him with me...” With options limited, she stayed on guard, holding a different book in front of her, protecting her from the wolf’s claws.
If you’re wondering, it’s Twilight.
Twilight zapped her wolf with lightning magic, throwing him back hard. Fortunately for her, she gained a bit of ground as she did so.
Oleander didn’t fare as well with hers. For all her knowledge of dark magic, she NEEDED Fred with her! The wolf finally got past her book with a low sweep, then knocked her away with a hind leg kick. Quickly regaining her footing, Oleander retaliated with a shadow spark and a small burst of magic, which lay on the ground.
The first wolf charged at Twilight again, the latter of which simply put up a magical barrier, then attacked with her bag again and again, not letting up.
Oleander’s wolf dodged the projectile with a well timed jump, only to land right in the trap. Angrily recovering, it mad a mad dash towards Oleander. She guarded again, but to no avail, as the wolf grabbed her with its gaping maw.
Twilight had finally taken care of the first wolf. It disappeared into a puff of smoke as she whacked its body to its breaking point. Turning to see how Oleander was faring, she saw the dark sorceress in the wolf’s clutches! Gasping angrily, Twilight shot a single, strong beam forwards from her horn.
It hit true. Wolf No. 2 was now laying on the ground, stunned. Getting up, Oleander finished him off with a double stomp on his exposed gut. It too, disappeared in a cloud of smoke.
“Is that it?” the cloven unicorn asked.
Almost on cue, certain red wisps of magic flew around some twigs, rocks, and leaves. In a mere matter of milliseconds, a perfect wooden replica of a wolf with a red aura was standing in front of them, twice as tall as Oleander. It snarled and unsheathed it’s stony claws, before crouching down in front.
“What’s that?” Oleander quickly shouted to her teammate.
“A Timberwolf! A wooden hull of a wolf that almost killed some of my friends before!” Twilight’s horn flared up with magic. “Let’s take this guy out!”
The Timberwolf headed for Twilight first, raking its claws on her side. She screamed out loud, causing Oleander to act faster.
Oleander ran up to the larger wolf and retaliated with a stab of her own horns to a spot that seemed weaker then the rest, then a short magic blast to his face, causing him to shift his attention from Twilight.
Turning to face her, he roughly grabbed Oleander’s body in his mouth and threw her a large distance against an oak tree, knocking the wind from her. The large wolf lumbered over to his prey, mouth salivating with gusto as the unicorn lay there unmoving.
Twilight was quite suddenly back on her feet. She flew upwards and shot a single shot from her horn at the leafy lupine’s head. That gave her just the distraction she needed. She quickly swooped down and swept out the wolf’s legs from underneath him, knocking it to the ground.
Oleander stood up, slowly. She dashed towards the Timberwolf before it could react, and shot a large fireball out of her horn to finish it off.
The cedar canine’s jaw quickly turned into ash; writhing in pain as sparks and small chunks of wood flew from its smoky mouth. Then, silence and stillness.
It attempted to snarl again, but only let out a noise of pain as its mouth completely disintegrated. Thinking quickly, Twilight took a page out of Spike’s book, using the same tactic he used before.
Choking.
Twilight kicked a rock upwards, then caught it with her magic. Then, she fired a straight shot straight down his exposed throat.
This time, the Timberwolf had finally seemed to have run its course. If it could gag, it likely would have, if not for the rock blocking his windpipe. He attempted to attack someone, ANYONE in range, but was quite easily pinned down by Oleander’s magic as he slowly suffocated.
It’s Over!
Both of the unicorns were winded after the battle, but not badly hurt. Twilight turned to Oleander, exclaiming, “We did it! They’re gone!”
Oleander shook her head. “They’ll be back. That was only the start. More reason to get to the castle, get Fred, and find your friends. Are the supplies alright?”
Twilight checked their supplies. The bag was slightly damaged, but everything inside was intact. “All good!”
Oleander sat down to catch her breath. “Alright. Just give me a little bit, then we can head back to the castle.”
Twilight sat down in front of her. “Right behind you. Heh. In a place like this, you really have to watch your back, don’t you?”
The two sat for a few minutes before silently slipping off into the night, each both silently hoping they wouldn’t have to see any more predators that night.
Pen: You alright?!
Blocky: Yep. Just said that for dramatic effect.
Eraser: Well, now we're somewhere else, with no sense of direction. What do we do now?
Pen: Hmmm... How about we stay at that house over there? We can regroup and try to figure out where we are!
Blocky: Yeah! Sounds like a good plan. Let's go.
*Walking*
Pen: Yep. Looks abandoned enough.
Eraser: Ugh, the door is locked! Grr! And this fake key isn't helping either!
|Throw away which item?|
|------------->Fake Key<---------------|
|__________Yoyleberry___________|
|__________Arm Cutter__________|
|_________Maroon Ball__________|
|____Half a Pair of Scissors_____|
|_________Win Token x2________|
Eraser threw away the Fake Key.
Blocky: Now what?
Pen: Huh. Hmm... If only we had something sturdy and cylindrical to bash the door open with, like a battering ram.
Eraser: Yeah, if only.
*SMASH*
Pen: Ow... Remind me never to suggest anything ever again, guys.