//------------------------------// // The Castle in the Forest of Vastness // Story: Wonder-Colt 3: The Dragon's Trap. // by Will of Haphinea //------------------------------// Some time passed, and Wonder was outside the forest again, and true to his word, Noir had cleared the skies on the way. He passed the Night Guard as he arrived and climbed through the tunnels and fought a few monsters that thought the maze into the forest was a good place to hunt prey. These proved little challenge to the experienced solider, and as such he dealt with them quickly. Hidden in one of the dead ends of the maze, was a shop, but as it turns out, the talking swine owner didn't wish to sell any of his wares to the small bunny. "Hey, why is it that the other shops I have gone to sell me their armor, and yours doesn't? It doesn't make any sense to limit who you sell your items too, does it?" he asked, hoping to reason with the merchant. *Oink snort* "Nah, as much as I do love the idea of taking away your gold and having it all for myself, I do have standards to keep up...you understand I am sure." *snort* The pig merchant answered. "I suppose so, anything I can do to convince you otherwise?" "Nah, maybe if you were, I don't know, not a bunny or somethin', but other than that maybe charm me better. Until then, GET!" *Oink oink* Wonder left the store very confused as to the meaning of this, but regardless of what had transpired, he found himself in the forest as he originally intended, and made his way towards the castle in the distance. The one good thing about being small was the ability to dodge most sorts of attacks, and the faster speeds in which one could dodge or counter an attack. The bad thing? Less strength for each attacks, despite a stronger sword, and getting hit by fireballs and any other attack resulted in more damage taken. After all a bunny body can only take so much before...well, best not think about that. Besides the initial bunch of giant frogs and bats in the forest, Wonder also encountered new equine skeleton soldiers. There were surprisingly weak to his sword, but were very quick despite being nothing but bones. Only about six stood in his way, before he reached a climbable wall and after a quick run as high as he could, he came to the door, and was inside the new castle. The castle, once he was inside was almost built for his size. True, perhaps in another form he could go through it, but it would have been very difficult to maneuver and swing his weapon. Much like outside, there were skeletons here too, but were headless, and as such, very jumpy as a result. Adding to this was the constant threat of fireball-launching statues, how does one time the ability to block, and to successfully attack as well? Thanks to his training, the timing was eventually figure out and each floor he progressed up, the stronger enemies and the various new and frequent fire traps were cleverly dodged or dealt with. New to the third level was ghost of goblins. Wonder had dealt with these vile creatures before in previous towns, and while not tough, they were more destructive than parasprites, and tended to multiply just as fast. The ghost forms, while not much different than the living version were the same; for every one struck down, more would spring around. He decided sprinting through this floor and clearing only what was in his way would be the best idea, and soon enough, he made it up to the top of the tower, but the only way to go...was down. Expecting to fall and hit the ground rather hard, Wonder was however, sliding down the way to the bottom of wherever this path lead him. "Rather fun little trip down, but really what was the point of having me go down, when I am pretty sure I'll have to go back up? I'll never understand these castle designs," Wonder murmured to himself as he finally reached the bottom. He prepped his gear up, and continued on. The trip up the opposite way was actually much more straight-forward on this side of the castle, and with great timing and careful blocking, he finally reached the top of the tower again, and found a door, and readied himself for whatever dragon was waiting for him this time. Upon entering, he noticed what appeared to be something sticking out of the ground, moving back and forth. He observed this a while, and figured to avoid standing on top of it, lest it be a surprise ground attack. Needless to say, his intuition proved correct. After jumping over the objects a second time a hideous, and almost decaying, Zombie Dragon presented itself out of the ground and spewed more slime like the previous dragon did for an attack. He made a quick mental note about the size of this dragon, and calculated, with a well-timed jump, he could hit the face of his new enemy without too much trouble, and hopefully stun him before he could attack again. This calculated pattern proved accurate, and thus Wonder was getting the upperhand, forcing the dragon underground every time he got injured. The task was a long one, as the small bunny only provided enough strength in the sword to strike at about half as much damage as a fireball did as a dragon. This was almost made up by the fact, that being this small gave extra speed, so while there was not a lot of punch behind each individual hit, he could hit about two to three times as much as his previous attack he could do. The dragon was starting to weaken, and it seemed almost destroyed, but a miscalculation in a jump resulted in the dragon being able to spew his attack, causing the bunny to be hurt, and knocked back, almost completely knocking the little hero out of it! Wonder remembered a healing potion he had with him, and used it before the dragon was to attack again, and successfully healed himself, while avoiding any attacks the dragon tried to do it its weakened state. Eventually, now fully healed, and quite mad and ready to end this long fight. The pony-turned-bunny struck down on the dragon's head one last time, and it was destroyed like the others before him. The blue flame returned, tempting him with new bits, and the next Element-bearer within. Rather than try and get more bits, he allowed the flame to embrace him, and soon was feeling the change within him, eventually waking with sight of his hooves at long last! He was very excited that he was free of his curse...until he realized his back legs were missing, and in their place, long back fins, and a tail like a sea creature. Looking closer on his hooves as well, he noticed not fur, but scales lining his body. "Oh you have got to be kidding..." Wonder said, before noticing a pink mare was waking up in front of him, and he went to her aid. One thing he recalled about the Elements from the other Royal Guards were warnings about a pink one that was full of energy and very hard to understand. Of course, it was the Element of Laughter, but he did not remember her name at present. Rather than wait until she was fully awake, he lead the drowsy pony out of the castle, and down the path to the forest floor. He recalled passing a pool of water below the entrance to the castle above, but didn't think his bunny form could swim correctly to explore it further. This was the path back, but how was he to proceed with an Element in tow underwater? He gather some vines and tied her on his back, and resolved himself to swim down as fast as possible to any paths there were down in the watery way. He was only in the water for a brief 15 seconds before spotting a doorway, and diving towards it, and making it in when he realized what he was exactly...a so-called sea-pony. *Flashback* Long ago, on his way to the first town where he started his initial quest from the Princess, Wonder had found himself lost and was found by a set of friendly villagers. These villagers helped him find his way, but before he left, they begged him to ask advice from the Great Kellie. Not wanting to offend the kind ponies who had assisted him, he complied, and was greeted by a magnificent sight, a creature of entire water, who resembled a pony like himself. She introduced herself as a Kelpie, and explained she was the village guardian as well as the last remnant of the water-ponies that had existed. In one such story she told him, was the legends of the sea-ponies. See told of a time when Earth and Pegasus asked upon the help of them from time to time, but as the time went on, less were seen and they were eventually forgotten by the non-water ponies as pure fantasy. In truth, the sea-ponies had disappeared due to some unusual carnivorous creatures in the water ways. Kellie paused, and told that she was one of such creature that devoured the flesh of her pony-related kind, but no longer did after realizing that the population was all but extinct, due to both her actions, and a great Sea Dragon. One favor, she asked of Wonder, was if he made it back to Canterlot, to "thank the Sun Princess for he forgiveness, and if you ever find that Sea Dragon that did that, to...remove him. For the sake of the sea-ponies." He agreed to deliver the message, and continued his journey, not sure if the Princess would even believe what he saw. Wonder snapped out of his memory, realizing he was in a dry room on the other side of the door that had water. "How does the water stay of the other...never mind, I better bring you back Pink one," he talked to the still drowsy, and now wet pony on his back. He found a big treasure chest full of new loot, and more magic to use, and found another mysterious 'Return' door to bring him back to the very familiar village with Smokey and the other Elements. Applejack and Silhouette were sitting outside of the Inn and heard the door opening with an odd green pony with a pink mare attached to his back appear in their view. Noir flew down from his position of the tower in town, and assisted Applejack and the other Night Guard with the still drowsy Earth pony mare, and then turn their attention to Wonder. "What the hay are you supposed to be this time?!? I can't say I have ever seen anything like you before," Silhouette asked, using a hoof to feel the scales of the other pony. "I think I may know...but you don't look the one I.." Applejack started to say, but then caught herself from saying anymore, picked her fellow Element up, and galloped towards the Inn. "Well, I am curious as well. What are you?" Noir pressed, having ignored the actions of the orange mare, and wet back to pursuing the investigation of this new form. Wonder sighed. Sea ponies were on the level of myth and legend as much as young colts and fillies would read, along with more fantastical stories of so called hoo-mans. Regardless, he steeled himself from the potential mockery and just blurted out, "I am a sea-pony...I don't know HOW I am , but I am, ok?" Several minutes of laughter later, the cursed guard left his Night Guard friends, and went to check on how Applejack was fairing and requesting Smokey write down what had happened as well. He found Applejack in the room with the other pink mare, as well as Fluttershy. He felt bad for missing greet her, but resolved himself to keep professional. "How is she doing? Anything I can do to help?" he asked, but receive a shake of the head from the yellow Pegasus, and then Applejack began to speak. "Promise you won't laugh ok? Ah don't think I could have said what I haveta say in front of those other two." she looked towards the cursed guard. He could tell she was trusting him with something personal, and agreed to her request with a nod. Applejack continued, "Long time back, I could've swore I saw a real sea-pony in a lake Ah've visited with my brother before mah sister was born. I told my brother and mah folks, but they thought I was crazy. but I know what I saw, and I know they are real! But, they didn't look....like you, to be honest sugarcube" she motioned toward Wonder, and he acknowledged. "Well, I may or may not be one...that said, I met someone who knows more about them if you want. But, I have to warn you ma'am. The history is not a pretty one, and if she is right, I may have to fight a Sea Dragon soon." he added. At the sound of the words sea dragon, Fluttershy gasped, and hid herself behind the pink one, muttering something very low about being scared of regular dragons. He walked over to her, and patted her back around her wings gently, and reassured her that it would be ok. "I am not a hundred percent sure of anything in this land...but, I shall find out the truth. I'll return shortly and I hope to be back very soon, but I need to go check on something." He finished his statement and rushed out of the Inn, before asking Smokey about what is in the Volcanic area, and left the mares alone. "I sure hope he finds out what he is lookin' for. I miss all the other girls so much 'Shy" she sighed and hugged her Pegasus friend. "Me too Applejack...me too" she hugged back. "Hey! what is going on here?!? and how did we get into a video game world?" the pink one said having woken up just a bit earlier.