//------------------------------// // Mutual Confusions // Story: Ponies and Grey Wardens: The Equestrian Age // by Icecane //------------------------------// Light groans were the first action of the commander. As though waking from a sleep that was ended far too early, his eyes lazily opened while he tilted his head from side to side. A few minutes ticked by as his mind preformed the slow task of turning itself back on. Then, the pain hit him like a charging ogre. The commander grunted sharply as he felt the splitting headache he had. The pain seemed to originate from several different spots in his head, feeling as though someone had tried to crack his skull open like an egg. On reflex, he moved his hands upward to rub the very spots that were causing him such misery. To his surprise, he realized that he his hands were tied up, both arms being pulled behind his back while his wrists were bound together. As the knowledge that he was bound made it through his senses, his eyes fully adjusted to his surroundings. Though the room he was in was dark, he could make out the wooden wall he was lying against, as well as what looked like a bed, the commander didn't recognize any of it. Of course, it never being a good sign to wake up in a place you've never seen before, especially to wake up with your hands tied together, the commander's mind was put on full alert as he slowly brought himself to his feet. The action must have caught the attention of someone as the moment he was fully upright, a bright light flashed on out of nowhere, blinding him and causing him to stagger back against the wall. “Oghren, is that you?” the commander shouted, his mind immediately being drawn toward the dwarf. “I swear, if this is one of your sick jokes, I'm going to-” The commander was stopped as he heard movement within the darkness beyond the light that was aimed at him, following it was a feminine voice that he didn't recognize. “So you can talk,” the voice said, sounding like she was making an observation. “I wasn't sure if it had just been a parlor trick you had learned, much like parrots I've seen.” “Who's out there?” the commander snapped, trying look beyond the light and peer through the darkness. “Where am I and why am I bound?” “It was just in case you were to become hostile upon waking up,” the voice replied. “Now, I need you to calm down before we can go any further.” The commander would probably laugh if he wasn't so furious. To think, that whoever had him was attempting to reason while he was vulnerable. His eyes darting across the area he could see, he noticed a familiar looking blade jutting out of the wall just beside him. It looked as though it was stabbed into the wood, he didn't have the faintest idea as to why. Not wasting a moment to think on the reasons for it, the commander jumped toward the sword turned his back to it. Raising his arms up, he brought his wrists to the blade and pressed the space between them against it. After dragging his bound hands across the sharp surface, the ropes were cut and he felt the joy of freedom. Immediately grabbing his sword and prying it from the wall, he held it up in defense as he prepared for whatever kind of fight his captor was going to put up. Much to the commander's perplexity, no action was taken against his freedom. “I want answers, now!” he yelled, his body tensed as the lack of any real information was getting to him. But there was nothing, no creature or guard to attack him, no sounds from anyone that was within the veil of darkness, not even the previous woman he had heard said anything, there was just silence. The commander was preparing to simply charge forward and see what came of it, seeing as he could see that whoever captured him failed to remove his armor, or hide his weapon for that matter. Suddenly, the commander's eyes widened as the sword in his hands was enveloped in a magenta glow. Having never seen anything like it before, he was far too shocked to keep a firm grip on the handle, making it all the easier as the weapon was plucked from his grasp, being yanked away into the darkness. Barely enough time was given to even think on the subject as the commander felt his feet leaving the ground. With a painful thud, he was pushed against the wall behind him, realizing he was unable to move as his body was engulfed in a similar aura. “W-what... what is this?” the commander asked angrily, never seeing any kind of magic like this. “Who are you? An apostate? A demon? Show yourself!” A few moments passed before he heard a response, noticing it was the same woman as before. “I need you to calm down,” she said, coming off as reluctantly stern. “Trust me, I mean you no harm.” “How does one gain trust?” he retorted. “All I have is a captor's word while I remain bound and vulnerable.” There was a long pause, leaving the commander to stay suspended in silence. Then, the sensation of falling struck him as he collapsed onto the floor, whatever magical force that had kept him pinned having left. Following it, to more of his surprise, his sword came sliding across the floor toward him. Retrieving it, he stood up and looked back into the darkness. “Please, put away your weapon now,” the feminine voice said in a calm and patient tone . Seeing as how he doubted anyone would be foolish enough to arm him if they meant to cause a conflict, the commander figured he could show a little trust to whoever he was conversing with. With a hint of hesitation, he complied with the request, putting his sword into its sheath on his back. Not prepared to be taken as a fool however, he made sure to keep one hand locked firmly around the hilt. “Now, show yourself,” the commander ordered, keeping his own tone as level as possible. In response, the light the continuously shined at him disappeared, submerging the room in darkness. As he stood in the black abyss around him, listening for any sound to be wary of, he was suddenly blinded once again as the entire room became lit. Seeing his surroundings clearly for the first time, he was taken aback by how much it contrasted from what he was expecting. Seeing as the few times he had managed to be knocked unconscious and captured, he always awoke in a dungeon of some sort, to now wake up in what looked like a library was certainly a change. Only a few moments were spent on gazing at where he was. The commander's eyes soon fell upon who was with him in the room, seeing a short creature that stood on four legs, having a vibrantly colored purple coat and looking at him with a widened gaze. To him, it looked like some kind of mutant horse. All the commander assumed upon seeing the creature was that it was some kind of a pet, his eyes looked beyond the animal to see where the owner would be, but he saw nothing. A sound of movement coming toward him forced his sights back onto the strange creature, who was now taking a step closer to him. “I suppose I should ask if you are alright,” the creature said, her voice matching that of the woman he had heard within the darkness. The commander had little time to piece two and two together however, as the shock of seeing the horse-like creature talking to him, caused him to jump back and collapse onto his rear. His eyes widened in startled surprise as he withdrew his sword and held the tip out at the animal. “Stay back!” he warned, his commanding voice causing the creature to halt in her advancing step. Somewhat relived by it follow his command, he decided to try his luck and search for an answer. “What are you? What kind of magic allows you speech?” The horse-like creature stared at him in an elongated pause, tilting her head slightly in a quizzical stance. To the commander, it looked as the she was gauging him, as though she hadn't expected his reaction. “Do you not know?” she asked, sounding slightly confused. Lowering his sword slightly, the commander matched the stare of confusion that was directed at him. “Know what?” “What ponies are, of course.” Though the word wasn't one he had never heard before, he was certain that it didn't imply to such a strange creature that was now talking to him. Horses were a rare sight in Ferelden, being a native creature in Orlais. His own was gift from the Orlesian Warden-Commander. It was of course before the incident that involved the commander's head being separated from his shoulders, adding in to an apparent dragon and maleficarum related plot against the Chantry. He also knew of what ponies were, though he was only aware that they were different from horses based on size alone, supposedly being much smaller versions of the beasts. The commander had made it a joke toward Oghren that they were basically the dwarves of hooved creatures, being a perfect mount for him. The creature that was now before him however, though sharing a small likeness with the animals, looked like nothing he had ever seen. Just looking at her made his mind question its own sanity. She obviously wasn't any kind of darkspawn, there wasn't a demon he had ever encountered that looked remotely like her. He could only think of the “pony” as some kind of spirit, though he wasn't sure if they could take such strange shapes. “Such large eyes,” the commander thought to himself, noticing the abnormal orbs that were staring at him, feeling as though they could peer straight into his soul. With much of his surprise slowly ebbing away from him, curiosity soon became dominate as he leaned forward toward the creature. Beginning to wonder if the “pony” was even real or not, he reached out with his finger extended as he neared the creature. The “pony” took notice to the action, her eyes following the finger as it came closer, her vision crossing as it got near her face. With only a few hairs away from her, the commander threw caution to the wind and poked her nose. He immediately retracted his hand as he felt the soft fur of a coat and warm touch of flesh, having expected for his hand to simply go through her. “So... you are real,” he said, unable to stop staring at her. Twilight frowned as witnessed the creature's reaction to her. The young unicorn had expected for many different outcomes for when he would wake up, but this wasn't one of them. Not even knowing what ponies were, he seemed out of sorts with what was around him. She was beginning to think that there was more to the creature than she had originally thought. With nothing better to think of, the scholar figured she could start off with the basics. “How about we introduce ourselves?” she suggested, earning a questioning look from the creature. “My name is Twilight Sparkle, I'm the student of Princess Celestia.” Twilight noticed the creature continue with a puzzled expression, clearly not recognizing either names. There was a small pause that was formed after she had introduced herself, but after a few moments, the creature developed a more relaxed posture as he sat on the floor and cleared his throat. “Uh... well... I'm Commander Cousland,” he replied, “Warden-Commander of the Ferelden Grey Wardens.” It was then Twilight's turn to look at the commander strangely. Besides his name that sounded rather strange to her, barely a word of what he said made any sense to her. Commander was something she did recognize at least, it being a title used in pegasi leadership during the separation of the three tribes, but such a title lost its relevance centuries ago. There was also grey, but she had her doubts he was implying the color. Him being a commander of some kind at least explained his armor and weapon. Twilight gave her head a slight shake, clearing her mind of the confusing thoughts until she was finished conversing with the commander. “If you don't mind me asking, what exactly are you?” “I'm... a human,” Commander Cousland answered, appearing somewhat hesitant as he found it strange to be conversing with the four legged animal. Again Twilight was faced with a word she didn't know. The well read scholar couldn't ever remember a time she had ever found the word human in her studies. Then again, she figured an unknown name would fit for an equally unknown creature. “And what are you... exactly?” the commander asked. “Well... as I said, I'm a pony,” Twilight replied. “A unicorn to be more specific, we are the magically gifted of the ponies.” “Magically... gifted...” the commander repeated, his head bending down to stare at the floor as he began mumbling to himself. “That magic... can't be from the Circle... no no... This isn't right... where can I... I don't think I'm in Thedas anymore... No! This could all be a trick of demons... they could be trying to fool me to... No... this isn't the Fade, feels too real, not at all like before...” Twilight stepped closer to the human, seeing obvious signs of distress written on his face. “Are you alright?” The scholar jumped back as his head shot upward, looking at her with a need to speak. “Please, can you tell me... where I am?” Twilight paused as she thought on the question. Again, his confusion to what was around him, despite having somehow appeared within her home, pointed to there being more to what was going on than what was clear. “You're in my home, a library within the town of Ponyville, that's in the nation of Equestria.” Commander Cousland collapsed backward as the information was presented to him, pressing himself against the wall as he stared blankly downward. “Equestria...” he said, continuing to show his confusion. “No... this place... it can't be real. Where am I...? How could I have gotten here?” He stayed silent for a moment, his gaze turning into a look of deep thought. “I remember... the cave, we went after Avernus and he caught us... There was so much pain... that dark blood, the Eluvian, something went wrong and then the bright light where we – ah!” His face scrunched in pain as his hand reached up to clutch at his head. “My head, feels like it's going to split open.” Seeing that the human was in need of help, Twilight approached him, not a single motion of hesitation in her step. “Follow me,” she said warmly, grabbing his hand with her magic and giving him a slight tug, “I might have something to help calm your nerves.” With no other option he could see, Commander Cousland slowly stood up, allowing himself to be led by the unicorn.