Soren stared at his reflection. “No, no I’ve gotta be dreaming,” he cried. “This can’t be real. I’m a person, not a- a- a horse.”
River frowned at him.“Pony…” she corrected. “Listen, I don’t know what you’re talking about, or what a person is, but it probably has something to do with Discord. From what I’ve heard, he’s the type to play tricks with ponies’ minds.”
Soren ignored her and instead stared back at his reflection. His large eyes were an amethyst purple, slightly hidden away by his medium-length hair. He bared his teeth, noticing that his canines were gone, instead, replaced by flatter teeth meant for grinding. Soren’s shoulders sank as he continued to prod and stare at himself.
“Uh maybe we should put the mirror away for now, River,” Sea Breeze said, worried about the dazed stallion.
“No!” he immediately shot back. “It’s fine. You don’t have to do that, just- just let me figure things out for a minute.” Soren turned his body a bit, exposing the wings on his back. “I have… wings,” he mumbled.
“Duh, you’re a pegasus.” River started “Of course yo- wait. You said you’re not a pony, and you don’t even recognize your own wings. You freak out every time you look down at your hooves… You’re really not a pony, aren’t you?”
“No! I told you that already! Oh god,” he moaned, trying to move his wings unsuccessfully. River took a frightened step back, joining her sister who had all but frozen in place.
“Then w-what are you?” she shuddered.
“I’m a person! You know, a human being? A homo sapien?” Soren shouted as he moved his hooves to his face and touched his own cheek. “No… It can’t be. But it feels so real.”
“I’m sorry, I’ve never heard of those things before.” She said, “Where did you say you’re from?”
A sharp pain erupted in Soren’s head. He winced and put a hoof to his forehead, but the pain subsided quickly. “I’m from… Maine.” he groaned.
“You mean Manehattan? I’ve met ponies from there before.”
“No, not Manhattan, Maine,” he repeated. “I live in a little town there called Camden.” Both Sea and River Breeze tilted their heads and furrowed their brows.
“I don’t think I’ve ever heard of that country before,” Sea Breeze admitted, echoing River’s thoughts. “Is it far away?”
“Huh? Country? No, Maine is a state. America is the country.” Soren looked between them, realizing that they had no idea what he was talking about. “How do you not know about America? You’re speaking English with me right now!”
River shook her head. Sea Breeze looked paler than usual and opted to see herself out the door while the other two figured this out.“Uh, I’m going back to the shop… I need a break from this…” she mumbled, but nopony else seemed to hear.
“No, no! We, as in including YOU, are speaking Common Equestrian,” River Breeze explained, growing increasingly frustrated.
Soren’s eyes grew wide.“Where am I right now?”
“Huh? Well, you’re in our house. You were hurt, so we just-”
“No, no,” Sorren interrupted her. “Like, where am I right now? What city? What country?” He demanded. River slowly stepped forward, intrigued by the question.
“You’re in Oak Ridge? Equestria?”
Soren looked down for a moment, then shook his head. “Never heard of it.”
“Oak Ridge?”
“Both. Never heard of Oak Ridge and never heard of Equestria.”
River froze. “Never heard of Equestria!? How is that possible?” She sat on her haunches and just stared at him. “You’re serious, aren’t you?”
“Dead serious. Where on Earth am I?” he asked, rhetorically.
“Earth? As in, earth pony?” she inquired. Soren made an annoyed look back at her.
“Uh yeah, Planet Earth?” He gestured around them. “You know, the planet we live on?”
River’s eyes shrunk to the size of pinpricks and her ears flattened against her head. ‘What did this mean? What was he saying right now? He’s crazy!’ she thought to herself. “I’m not really sure what to tell you, Soren. This isn’t Planet Earth. It’s Planet Equus.”
The Golden Oak Library bustled with activity. It hadn’t taken too long to gather Twilight’s friends since, after all the situations they’d been in over the last two years, they were used to it. Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash didn’t have a way to help at the moment, so they simply lounged on the couch or wrestled while Rarity, Twilight and Spike put together Twilight's latest idea: Portable Magic Meters. It was a relatively simple concept, but after spending nearly three hours making the first prototype that ended up exploding in Spike’s claws, they found that the execution was slightly more complicated. After another two unsuccessful attempts, the group finally managed to put together a working device.
The new design was primitive, but reliable. It was a small wooden plank with two square holes cut out near the top. The cavities would hold negatively and positively charged magical gemstones, provided by Rarity, opposite each other. Under the two holes were seven small light bulbs. The outer two were red, the three in the center were green and the other two in between were yellow. The last feature of the device was a knob on the side which could alter the sensing frequency of the magic. After another two hours of work, six completed Magic Meters sat neatly on the coffee table.
“Alright, girls,” Twilight announced, “like I explained before, these things are very simple, but delicate. Don’t be too rough with them. I’m looking at you, Rainbow Dash…” Rainbow Dash looked away and whistled nervously. “Anyway, they’re easy to use. Just hold them in front of you and the little lights should tell you if you’re going in the right direction. If it’s red it’s the complete opposite direction. If it’s yellow, you’re going on a tangent to the target. And if it- Yes Rainbow Dash?”
“Uh, what’s a tan-gent?” she asked, her hoof raised in the air.
“It’s when you’re moving across from something, not getting any closer or farther away. It doesn’t really matter, all you need to do is try to get a green reading and head that way. Alright?” The group nodded and mumbled in understanding. “Great! Okay, we’ll start with Ponyville and the surrounding area. Fluttershy, you take Whitetail Woods. Rainbow Dash, fly high above the Everfree and see if you can get anything from there.”
Rainbow saluted back. “Roger!”
“Applejack, you know Sweet Apple Acres better than anypony else. It’s a lot of ground to cover, so I trust that to you.”
“Consider it done.”
“Spike and Rarity can take the south end of town.” Spike took a second to pump his fist, unnoticed by Rarity. “Pinkie Pie, take the town center. Finally, I’ll check out the west end of town. Once you’ve done a full sweep, do a second one, just in case. Then head back to the Library to report whatever you find.”
Twilight distributed the Magic Meters once she was finished. “Alright, let’s get to work.”
The past hour had been spent calming Soren down. He had, for a short while, lost his ability to communicate in full sentences, opting instead to speak in strings of gibberish and unfamiliar curse words. Eventually, through breathing exercises, River managed to calm him down. “Alright, let’s try and get you onto your own hooves now. It doesn’t do anypony any good to lounge around.”
“I guess a walk wouldn’t hurt,” he said as he shuffled himself over to the edge of the bed.
River offered a hoof for assistance as he swung his hind legs over the side. “Okay, good. Just take it easy, okay?” she said, unaware that a smile was creeping across her face. ‘Just two weeks ago he was barely alive, and now he’s about to stand up,’ she thought.
Soren lowered his left rear hoof first, and a distinct tap was heard as it hit the wooden floor. He shivered and breathed out before lowering his other hind leg. Then he pushed his body up off of the bed, but his legs buckled below him. Before he could fall onto his back, River caught him and pushed back so he could rest his weight against the bed again.
“What are you doing?” she laughed. “I said to take it easy, no tricks right now.”
Soren just had an odd look on his face. “What do you mean? I’m just trying to stand up.”
“Uh, then why are you trying to balance on your hind legs like that? Nevermind. Come on, four hooves on the ground.” She lightly stomped her front two hooves on the ground for emphasis. Soren breathed sharply through his nose, but slowly put his left forehoof and then his right onto the ground. River bounced up and down in place.“Yay! You did it! You’re standing on your own!”
Soren smiled sheepishly as he wobbled dangerously. His weight shifted from one leg to the next, making him look like he was in the middle of an earthquake that only he could feel. River wasn’t quick enough to catch him the next time he fell, and he face-planted into the floor with a thud and an “oof”. She rushed over and helped pick him up again, but this time held onto him to help keep him steady.
“It isn’t natural to walk on four limbs,” he grumbled.
“Shush. And look, you’re standing again, with a little help. Just try and get used to standing in one place for now. I’ll be here as long as you need.” She patted him on the shoulder. “You’re doing pretty good. Just take it slowly.” Soren looked down at his hooves, which still wobbled, but were holding steady with River’s help.
“Thanks,” he said. “But hey, why are you helping me, anyway? You could’ve just dropped me into any old hospital.”
River scratched at her neck as he asked. “Well, for one, the hospitals around here are usually packed. It’s a trade town so ponies and other creatures from all around travel here and bring viruses and things like that, so I thought it’d be better to just treat you at home. Besides, I used a potion on you that helped stabilize your condition, so you really weren’t in any danger of dying after that.” She looked away. “And admittedly, I was kinda intrigued by you. You don’t have a cutie mark, you fall out of the sky in a crash that should’ve definitely killed you, and nopony around here knows you. Now you tell me that you’re not even a pony and you’ve never heard of Equestria, so, I don’t know, you must be some sort of alien or something.” River turned her face back towards Soren. “You’re the most interesting thing that has ever happened to me, so I wasn’t about to let this pass me by.”
Soren cocked his head. “Well… I guess that makes sense, but what’s a cutie mark and why am I supposed to have one?”
“Hmm, well I guess it makes sense you wouldn’t know what a cutie mark is, if you’re not a pony. I suppose you don’t HAVE to have one, but it’s definitely odd that you don’t. Griffons and hippogriffs don’t have cutie marks so they likely won’t care, but ponies will definitely notice.” River discreetly let go of Soren, letting him stand on his own power. She trotted up in front of him so that he wouldn't have to move too much to see. She turned so her side faced him and lifted up her wing so he could have a better look, revealing a golden feather emblazoned upon her flank. Soren raised an eyebrow. “This one is mine. I got it when a Wonderbolt came into our shop one day, and my dad let me do a preening service on her. She was so satisfied with my work that she gave me a free ticket to their show. At that moment, I felt like I ruled the world, and, well, that’s when I got it.”
“Wait, so it’s not like paint? Or a tattoo or something?” He asked, wobbling again, but managing to keep his balance. River shook her head.
“Nope, it appears through magic. It represents your special talent. And hey! You’re standing all by yourself! See, I knew you could do it.”
Soren looked down at himself again and smiled.“Hey yeah, I guess I am!” He wobbled dangerously, but stabilized himself. “Maybe I’ll get my cutie mark in standing?” he joked.
“Hah, I think we can aim a little higher than that. Go ahead, try taking a step forward. Actually, wait. Watch me first.” River walked slowly in a small circle, with each movement as emphasized as possible. “See, this is how you walk. Left forehoof, right hind hoof, right forehoof and then left hind hoof. As long as you follow that pattern, you’ll be golden! Alright, give it a shot.” Soren observed her walk very carefully. It was almost like how he used to walk, where balance was kept by opposite limbs, except now they all touched the ground. Soren lifted his right forehoof, shifting all his weight into his other three legs. He successfully stayed upright, but his left foreleg shook as he shifted his weight onto it. “Great! Now move that hoof forward…”
After a few minutes and more than a few hard falls, Soren had managed to walk across the entire room all by himself at a snail’s pace. “You know, you’ve got the patience of an angel.” Soren commented, smiling at River.
She laughed. “It’s called having older siblings.”
Just then, River looked up at a clock on the wall, noticing it was well past noon. “Whoops! Time just flew by, you must be pretty hungry. Heck, you haven’t had any solid food in… weeks. I’ll go ahead and make us some lunch in the kitchen. Since you can walk on your own now, I’ll let you make your own way down there at your own pace.” River pulled open the door. “It’s an easy walk. Just go down this hallway and the kitchen is right there.” With a look of determination, Soren nodded, even though he was leaning against the wall. River shot him a dirty look and he took the hint by pushing off the wall and balancing once more.
As River made some cucumber sandwiches in the kitchen, Soren made his way down the hall. The first half took some time, but in the second half of the hallway, he managed to pick up the pace a little. As he finally pulled into the kitchen, River set down a plate onto the quaint wooden dinner table, beside a small vase of glacier lilies.
“I made it!” Soren announced. River looked over and grinned.
“Yeah, you did! And it only took about ten minutes. Faster than I thought,” she teased. Soren rolled his eyes and made his way toward the table. It was very low, with no chairs; instead there were four flat, fluffy upholstered pillows set up around it. River patiently watched Soren move up to the table and take a seat across from her. As he sat down, he addressed her.
“Hey, River Breeze,”
“River. You can just call me River.” She smiled.
“River, I just want to thank you for helping me out. I know that I might’ve been a bit rude or off-putting, but I’ve just been a bit frustrated and scared. I’m sorry about that,” he replied with his eyes downcast. River reached over the table and put her hoof under his face. He recoiled a bit, pulling backwards. A brief sign of hurt passed over her face, but it was gone as soon as it had appeared. She set her hoof back on the table.
“It’s okay. I get it. You’re out of your element. I guess I’d be the same if I were you. Don’t apologize.” Soren looked back up, his eyes slightly softer than before. She continued, “Say, now that we’re here, why don’t you tell me about what’s going on as we eat?” Soren nodded.
As he tried to figure out how to pick up his sandwich with hooves, he explained all he could remember of the events leading up to his arrival, which admittedly wasn’t much. His memory seemed littered with holes. All River was able to infer was that he was in some sort of deep trouble. Bad enough that he made a deal with Discord in order to fix it.
“Well, what deal did you make with Discord, exactly?” she asked, sipping on a glass of water. Soren swallowed his food before replying.
“That’s just the thing! I don’t remember what exactly I’m supposed to do! I can’t even really remember why I even made a deal with him.” He slouched in his seat. “I guess all I can do is hope that something or another jogs my memory.”
“Well, you must’ve been in a really bad place to have needed his help. Don’t you remember anything at all from before that?” River asked.
“Well, I remember I lost my job. Then not too long after that I got evicted from my apartment, so I was basically homeless.” He rubbed his temples and closed his eyes while he tried to think about what else happened, but nothing came. “There’s… more but I just can’t…” River reached out a hoof and pulled Soren's hoof from his face.
“Listen, you don’t need to think about it right now. You’re still healing up and getting used to things. Let’s just focus on walking and eating right now, alright?” she smiled. “Gosh, I know it’s not really the right time to say this, but I’m like the first pony to ever meet an alien!”
Soren stared at her and just laughed. “I guess I am an alien, aren’t I?”
Another three days had gone by since Soren had awoken. River and Sea Breeze still had to work, so while they were gone, Soren practiced walking on his own, and even tried jogging or rather ‘trotting’, as ponies called it. The first day saw plenty of crashes and accidents, but, as the hours passed, he became better at keeping upright, and soon rarely fell at all. Even the two sisters began to notice that he was doing a lot better now that he could walk and even run. Late in the afternoon on the third day, Soren attempted to take a shower, but struggled with cleaning his wings. Any time he tried to scrub them down, he would wince in pain. ‘Whatever, it’s not like I’ll be learning to fly any time soon. I’ll just rinse them down and call it a day,’ he thought as he turned off the water.
At the same time, River pushed open the front door and dumped her saddlebags onto the ground next to the scarf rack. “I’m home!” she called as she shut the door behind her. “Soren?” she called out down the hallway.
“Yeah, I’ll be right there! Just toweling off!” he called back. As soon as he finished drying off his mane, he trotted down the hall into the living room with the towel around his neck. “Hey there, River. How was your day?”
“Eh, slow. Helped a griffon with her wings, had a half dozen ponies come in for random stuff, and then- OH SWEET CELESTIA,” She exploded, looking at Soren’s side. “WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOUR WINGS?” His feathers were matted, twisted, and bent in odd angles. It was an image straight out of her nightmares.
“Oh, yeah I didn’t know how to clean them, so I just left them that way. I guess it doesn’t matter since I can’t f-”
“Zip it! No! No, no no! Not in my house. That is unacceptable.” She leered and pointed at the loveseat against the wall. “Go sit down, I’ll fix this.” Taken aback by the sudden explosion from River, he immediately did as he was told. He sat eyes wide, watching her grumble about ‘wing care’ and ‘respecting yourself’ as she stalked over to Soren and sat down next to him. “Alright, turn around with your back facing me.”
“Uh, okay but what are you OW!” He yelped as she pulled on one of his feathers.
“Hold still!”
“Ow!”
After a few painful minutes, Soren’s feathers looked significantly better, though still lacked the shine that River’s well maintained wings had. “See, it’s easy. Take care of your wings from now on, alright? I can’t stand seeing anypony’s wings like that.” River scolded. “There’s one last thing you need to do before we’re done.” She turned to Soren and lifted up a wing. Pointing with her nose, she said “Look, do you see that little bump at the base of each of your wings? That’s an oil gland. All you need to do now is use your nose to rub the gland and then evenly spread the oil through your wings.” Soren watched intently, intrigued. He reached into the crook of his wing and rubbed his nose against the gland and felt the tip of it get slightly damp. “Good! Now rub it through your feathers, nice and easy.” Slow and inexperienced, he took several minutes to oil his wings, and at the end they also shined a little bit.
“Wow, you were right. This DOES feel a lot better.” He grinned, looking at his newly preened wings. “It’s like living your whole life with a kink in your neck, and when you finally get it out, you wonder how you lived so long like that.”
“Uh huh, and you won’t be living much longer if I ever see your wings in that condition again,” River warned. Soren laughed nervously, unsure whether that was a joke or not. “Anyway, come on. I haven’t been able to hike since I brought you back here. You could probably use some fresh air too, you’ve been locked up in here for a while.” She stood up and extended a hoof to him. Soren accepted her support, and hoisted himself off of the couch.
“Yeah, I guess I could do with a change of scenery, and the walking practice.” River trotted back over to where she had dropped her saddlebags and picked them up again.
“Just give me a second, I need to pack up some stuff before we go.” She grabbed a few bandages, and filled up two large round canteens with water. She tossed them into her bags and then pulled out the tin mug from the cupboard and threw it in there as well. “Alright, we should be good to go, I think.” She paused before running down the hall and back with a gray woolen cloak in her mouth. She draped it over him and fastened the loop with her teeth. “Here, you can wear this so that ponies don’t stare at your blank flank. Come on, let’s go.”
It was the first time that Soren had really seen any of Oak Ridge since he arrived. Most of the windows of River’s house looked into empty streets or forest clearings, though not too far down the road a lot of activity could be heard at most times of the day. It appeared to be late summer in Equestria, as opposed to early spring back on Earth, as Soren recalled. A gentle breeze mosied through the alleys and streets offering a cool sensation against the residual heat radiating off of the ground. The air was crisp and was full of many scents wafting from the center of town. Some were alluring, while others were not. Soren found that he was able to decipher all of the different smells as if his sense of smell in this new body was hundreds of times more sensitive than before.
River walked slowly to allow Soren to keep pace with her as they walked through town. “Hey Soren,” River asked.
“Hm?”
“Why don’t we head back to where I found you? We might be able to figure something out about your situation.”
“Yeah, I think that’s a great idea, but hey, can we stop for something to eat first? Maybe a pastry?”
“Uh, maybe on the way back. We don’t want to be out on the trail too late.”
“Aw…”
The pair strolled through the trees and up the winding path leading to the peak of Mount Wicker. At first, Soren struggled with the uphill climb, but he started to get the hang of it after half an hour or so. His determination not to feel like a burden helped him soldier on through the uneven terrain and slope of the mountain.
Thankfully, the thick foliage blocked out a majority of the warm sunlight, making it cooler on the trail. Birds chirped away all around them, and every once in a while they would see a squirrel dart across a low-hanging branch. Soren noticed that River’s body language seemed so starkly different as she walked around the woods. She had an energy that was oddly both calming and intoxicating. He couldn’t help but smile as she rattled off random facts about the different trees, mushrooms, and animals that they passed by. ‘This mare really loves the outdoors,’ he thought to himself.
“And see that tree right there? That’s a birch. There’s like 60 different types of birch tree. The ones native to here are all paper birches. Their bark is thin and falls off like giant sheets of paper! Oh! And you can drink the sap from a birch tree. Have you ever had it? It’s sooo sweet.” She carried on like this, not caring whether Soren was listening or not. They continued along the trail for another thirty minutes before reaching a clearing of charred and burnt trees. As they finally stepped onto the burnt circle of grass, Soren collapsed onto the ground, belly down and his four legs flayed out in all directions.
“Ah jeez, that really took a lot out of me” he panted. “I’m getting better, but I’m still not completely used to this body. Sorry, just give me a second,” he apologized.
River waved a hoof. “It’s okay, just hang out for a bit. I’ll go ahead and start looking around,” she said, setting her saddlebags on a charred tree stump. She began her search where she had first seen Soren, the perfectly spherical subtraction of earth. She stepped into the crater once again and noticed that the ground there was noticeably cooler than its surroundings. ‘Two weeks later and still cold? Weird,’ she thought to herself. Without the obscuring mist, she noticed that the crater looked almost like a giant target, with the center being burnt the darkest, and concentric rings of lighter and darker earth radiating out to the edge.
Soren’s body protested, but he forced himself to get up and trudge over to River. He wasn’t doing any favors for her by just sitting around. As he approached the edge of the crater, his eyes grew wide. “Woah,” he managed, his jaw falling open. “What the hell happened here?”
“You. You happened here,” River quipped. “I was sitting right over there by that tree when you just fell out of the sky and blew me and this beautiful place up.” Soren’s ears drooped. “I’m sorry.” she blurted out, noticing his demeanor change. “I didn’t mean it like that.”
“No, you’re right, this was your place to come and relax and I just had to ruin it.” He dropped onto his haunches and slumped over. “Even in this new place, I can’t help but screw things up.”
“Aw come on, you know that’s not true.” River hopped up out of the crater and sat down next to Soren, gesturing at the destruction. “This wasn’t even really your fault, I don’t think. You just got caught up in it.” She playfully punched his shoulder. “Look, you and I aren’t so different. I work a dead end job in a town nopony cares about, but sitting around and moping about our situations won’t do us any good, right?” This got Soren to look up at her, a hint of something behind his eyes. “There’s always a way out of the hole, but you’ll never see the ladder until you look up! My dad always told me that sometimes a wrong turn can lead you down the right path and that if you stop moving, you’ll never get anywhere.” Soren smiled at her.
“Yeah, I guess you’re right.” he chuckled to himself. “You know, you remind me of someone I know, but I just can’t place who it is.”
“Do I? Well whoever it is, they must be pretty smart.” River smirked.
Soren kicked a wad of dirt at her. “Pfft, don’t make me take it back.”
“Hey!” River remarked, seeing Soren double over into laughter. She tried to be angry, but was unable to hold it back. They laughed together until their breaths ran short and their stomachs hurt. Once they finally got their bearings, they helped each other up, and River made Soren brush all the dirt off of her.
“Hey River, I just want to thank you again for being so kind to me. I don’t think I’ve laughed like that in a long time. It… It felt nice.”
She felt her heart hurt hearing those words. In Equestria, laughter was a way of life. It was a literal element of harmony. Not having that just sounded wrong, sounded sad. In that moment, River silently vowed to bring a little more joy, and a little more positivity, into Soren’s life. It was the least she could do. “Don’t mention it,” she beamed.
Soren looked back over to the crater, but something was different. There was an object in the center. A large roll of papyrus, bound by a thick red ribbon, stood up as if balanced on one end. “Uh, hey River? Was this thing here before?” he asked, pointing at the scroll.
She looked over, an unknown feeling building up somewhere deep in her chest. “No. It most definitely wasn’t.” She slowly approached the scroll, eyeing it curiously. Reaching out a hoof, she pushed it over, but it simply bounced back upright. “What the?” She stepped even closer and pinned it flat to the ground with a hoof. Right before their eyes, the ribbon started to unravel as if somepony was pulling it apart. When the knot was released, River was thrown stumbling backwards as the scroll whipped itself open. Soren trotted over and helped River up before they stepped closer to the scroll. Unmistakably, the first line read his name.
SOREN
Their eyes naturally scanned downwards, but the scroll had nothing else written on it. Soren reached forward to touch it, and the moment his hoof touched the paper, more writing began to appear on the sheet of papyrus. Then, from nowhere, a voice spoke. A voice that Soren remembered clearly.
“SOREN!
“I hope you’re enjoying your fresh new start in Equestria. I’m sure it must be a real handful to get used to your new body, but hey! I’m proud of my handiwork. You are one handsome stallion if I say so myself. Seems like you made a new friend, too. How nice.
“Anyway, let’s get down to business. I did something for you, and in exchange, you have to do something for me. There’s a little something that I want, but I can’t get myself. I want you to get me the three different pieces of this item and bring them to me. Once you do that, you’ll be free to live as you wish. My word is law, and I will never bother you again as long as you live.”
Soren heard the familiar laughter echo around him. His ears flattened against his head, while River spun in place trying to find who and where the voice had come from.
“Buuuut, I won’t lie. I do love to play games and I get OH SO BORED around here with those four ‘stick in the mud’ princesses always breathing down my neck. So… I’ve decided that I’ll have a little fun at your expense. I’m not going to tell you anything about what you’re looking for, but since I’m generous I will tell you where each item is located. You’ll be able to tell when you’re getting closer. It’ll be more fun that way.“
Soren tried to open his mouth, but found that he was unable to speak. His mouth was fused shut as if there was never an opening to begin with. With panicked eyes he looked over to River, who was cowering with her head in her hooves.
“The first item is located deep in the forbidden jungle. The second item is in the city of Shanghay. And last, but definitely not least, the third and final item can be found beyond the Great Blizzard Barrier, farther north than any pony has ever been in over two thousand years.” River looked up, hearing the outrageous quest being presented to her new friend, but as she looked over at him she saw a look in his eye that she had never seen on anypony before. A mix of fear and anger, staring at the scroll.
“I’ve got a lot of faith in you, ’Soren’. I have a feeling you’ll do things that all the others couldn’t, and I just can’t WAIT to watch. Good luck, and bye bye!”
Boisterous laughter echoed through the wood as the scroll snapped shut and shot into the air, exploding in a burst of colorful lights. Then there was silence.