//------------------------------// // How it Started // Story: The Ranger's Quest // by That Writer You Know //------------------------------// Chapter 1 How it started My name is Tug, and this is the story of how I was taken from my incredible life of adventure and danger, and thrown into a world that had slightly less of both. This is the day that my life was greatly changed, I’m still unsure if it was for the better or worse. It was a regular day for the Ranger Will Treaty, he had caught the pirates that preyed on the villagers of Redmont Fief and dealt with them justly, as in picking them of with his bow as they tried to kill him. The pirates were no match for Will’s deadly skill with the longbow, saxe knife, and throwing knife. He had to have these skills or he would not be what he was today, a Ranger, a group of fifty master archers that were to protect the fifty fiefs of Araluen. And Will Treaty was one of the best, as he should be since he had been trained under the grim and foreboding Halt. But enough about Will, lets get to the main attraction, Will’s pony, Tug. Tug was a pony bred purely for a Ranger, he had incredible endurance and unmatched speed. He could keep running far longer then any battle horse, no matter what the terrain. Tug and Will shared a very special bond as horse and rider, Will could almost understand Tug through his body language. Enough of this lets get on to the story. It was a regular day for Will Treaty as he rode home to his cabin on the outskirts of Redmont village. He had just disbanded a large group of pirates that preyed upon the villagers. He had finished reporting to Baron Arald and Crowley, the leader of the Rangers Corps, and was on his way home to rest. As he got to his cabin, he lead Tug to the stables where he feed, watered, and rubbed him down. As Will turned to leave he heard Tug whiny. He turned and looked at the small pony. “Could I have an apple?” was what those large, intelligent eyes said. “Alright just one” Said Will, “but no more, you know what Halt says about eating to much” Tug rolled his eyes, him and Halt were still undecided on the fact of how many apples a pony should have a day. As Will left and went into the cabin, he heard a faint whining sound. “It must be Ebony wanting to be feed.” he told himself. He went inside to see that Ebony, his darkly coloured dog, was asleep under his bed. Suddenly he felt strangely exhausted, which was quite strange as he was used to this amount of activity in his days as a Ranger. He decided to have a quick mid afternoon nap before his dinner with Halt and Lady Pauline, who where quite happily living together. Will woke up an hour later to the sound of a explosion and Tug’s startled whinnies. He grabbed his saxe knife and bow as he ran franticly to the door. He ripped open the door as he rushed outside, prepared to fend off any potential attackers. He searched for the cause of the deafening noise. He found none, but as he looked to the stables to see what had exploded, what he saw confused and worried him. The stable door had been blown off of its hinges and there was a sickly green smoke billowing out of the doorway. He pulled his cowl to his face to filter the smoke as he crept into the stables to inspect the damage. What he found was shocking, even more so then the gigantic storm he and Evanly- sorry, Princess Cassandra had suffered through on Erak Starfollower’s wolfship. What he discovered in the darkness of the unlit stables, was the pile of hay that was ablaze with flames lucid green in colour. This was not the shocking part, Tug was nowhere to be found. Will searched the forest around the cabin looking for any sign of Tug, but to no avail. He searched all over the town, deliberately avoiding the townsfolk that were obviously confused by the loud noise that had come from the his cabin. Will ran strait to Castle Redmont to report to Baron Arald about the events and to ask the guards to be on the look out for Tug. Will entered the Baron’s office in a rush. Baron Arald looked at him with confusion. “Will” The baron said, “I didn’t expect you to return so soon.” “Baron! There was an explosion in Tug’s stable and now he is nowhere to be found!” “Has the stables burned down?” “No, I put them out, but that hardly matters. Tug is nowhere to be found. He was not in town, nor in the forest surrounding my cabin. I came here to see if he had run into town, but that seems to be for naught.” “My deepest apologies Will, but Tug has not been sighted since you left.” Said the baron. “And I can’t allow you leave to search for him, as you are needed here.” Will and the baron argued for a while, but even Will’s threats were no match for the baron’s stubbornness. Will finally gave in and left the baron’s office seething with anger. Will walked back to the cabin with a heavy heart, remembering his adventure in Arridi where Tug had been lost in a sandstorm and his near-death experience traversing the desert in order to find him. He went back to the stables and stared into the sickly green flames that he thought he put out. He began to observe them and wonder if the flames had frighten Tug into fleeing, but quickly dismissed the idea, as Rangers horses where trained to move to a safe area in case of fires or any other type of danger. He wondered where the flames had come from and examined them thoroughly. They were green in colour, that much was obvious, but there did not seem to be any agent that cause the flames to flicker in the sickly colour. This lack was definitely something to note for further investigation. Another thing he noticed was that the fire did not spread to the rafters of the building, but continued to burn. It was almost as if the flames had an alternate source of fuel. Will grabbed some hay that was alight with the green flames and brought it into the house. He placed the hay in his fireplace and was astounded when the thick oak logs instantly caught fire when the flame should of taken a while to catch. This was another thing to note in his report for Crowley, who would surely be hearing about this. The flames emitted a green smoke that smelled rather sweet and surprisingly much like his friend Jenny’s cooking. He sat down and stared into the flames, as if his gaze would cause it to confess it secrets. “Ugh, my head. I must of hit my head trying to get to Will. Wait am I thinking! Am I able of cognitive thought? But this is impossible, I’m a horse, I can’t think.” “How is this possible” thought Tug, his vision was dark and he was clearly confused. “I wonder if I can speak.” “Is this real” was the first thing that came out of his mouth. “You tell me. You just appeared in my house. I think you owe me some kind of explanation.” said a voice that penetrated through the darkness. Tug opened his eyes and found him self in a place that wasn’t Will’s cabin or anything that looked familiar. “Hello? Can you hear me?” said the rather confused voice. “ Strange” thought Tug “That doesn’t sound like Will, and i’m sure I was alone?” Tug got up and got a full view of his surroundings. He appeared to be in a library, but the only library that was in Redmont village was in Redmont Castle. What Tug saw next almost blew his newly enlightened mind. Standing in front of him was another pony, a little shorter than him, but this mare was lavender in colour and had a extra appendage the protruded from her forehead. “Why are you purple?” asked Tug, shocked by this bold colour. “I could ask you why your brown?” said the lavender pony, obviously annoyed by his question. “ I’m sorry, but where am I?” said Tug, still getting used to being able to fully communicate. “Your in my library” said the lavender pony. “Your a librarian? But your a pony, and a purple one at that. Is it because you can speak?” inquired Tug. “Why do you sound so shocked? Everypony is a pony. Also my colour my be a little uncommon, but thats no need for discrimination.” replied the lavender equine. “ Ok I’m sorry, so your telling me that all ponies and horses talk? But I have never been able to speak, let alone form complete thoughts?” “I don’t know why that is, you just appeared in a flash of green fire which nearly set my house on fire. You really need to be more careful.” “ I don’t know what happened, but one minute I’m waiting for my master, Will and the next-” “You have a master? But I thought that all ponies in Equestria were free?” “What in the name of King Duncan is Equestria?” “King Duncan? I never heard of that ruler before. I should know, I’ve read up on all of the rulers of Equestria and of neighboring countries.” “Okay, so i’m not in Araluen anymore, I must be in Celtica or Scotia. I just hope I can get home to Will and Halt and Alyss.” “Are you just going to stop talking to me?” said the lavender pony, interrupting his brand new train of thought. “Oh, huh? Sorry what was your name again?” asked Tug. “My name is Twilight Sparkle” she replied. “That’s a rather strange name.” said Tug. “Oh really, well I rather like it, so there’s no need to be rude. What's your name anyway?” replied Twilight in a annoyed tone. “My name is Tug, mount of Will Treaty, Ranger of Araluen.” said Tug in a matter-of-fact tone. “Tug? And your calling my name strange?” scoffed Twilight. “What? Tug’s a brilliant name. It was given to me by Old Bob, my trainer.” retorted Tug. “Old Bob? Whats with these names? These are the strangest pony names I’ve ever heard.” said Twilight. “They're not pony names, they're human names. They’re also quite respectable people.” said Tug. “A human? Whats that? I’ve never heard of anything like that in all of my studies.” questioned Twilight. “You don’t know what a human is? Are you a wild pony or something?” queried Tug. “Wild? No, I happen to be the protege of Princess Celestia herself.” Twilight said proudly. “Who is Princess Celestia?” asked Tug. “You really aren’t from around here, are you?” said Twilight. “Well I don’t actually know where ‘here’ is.” said Tug. “We’re in Equestria of course, but where are you from?” “I am stationed in Redmont Fief of the great country of Araluen. I work as the mount of Will Treaty, a famous Ranger, where we share many adventures and-” At this point Tug had stopped talking as a cyan blue form came barreling through the window at full speed. Unfortunately for Tug, It was headed straight for him and there was nothing he could do to stop the incoming collision. Let’s just say that Tug was now fully unconscious.