//------------------------------// // Ch 1:"This lightning is crazy!" // Story: Asterix and the Equestrian Legions // by Lolsternater //------------------------------// The village edge was finally in view, only a few more hundred meters till they could finally get out of this seemingly unending storm. Asterix pushed hard against the muddying ground as the wind denied any progress, while Obelix had no problems. This resulted in Obelix picking up his friend and perching him on his shoulders. “Growl…” *Translated* “This rain is ridiculous, I better be getting some bones after this.” “Don’t worry Dogmatix, it’s just thunder and lightning, it can’t hurt us.” Dogmatix just gave a snort and hid on the inside of Obelix's flabby armpit to get dry again. The trio of heroes had yet to meet anyone on the road and the ever present sense of being watched only drew out the long walk. They were almost at the first houses with the glow of light on the insides reaching toward them with comfort, when a large crack sounded above them. BOOM! A strike of lightning struck right in front of the path, causing the heroes to jump backwards. “This lightning is crazy!” stated Obelix. More lightning strikes soon followed, pushing the Gauls away from the village and towards a forest. They ran until they were under the cover of the dense bush, which also served as a dry place to sit. Obelix placed down his small friend, his also small dog, and large menhir, before starting to gather sticks for a fire. Asterix quickly helped and before long they had a roaring fire of warmth. Asterix sat silently, pondering what would cause lightning to chase them like that. Obelix was also deep in thought, but deeper in his stomach. “Hey Asterix, do you think they have wild boars here?” “Hmm? Oh,” Asterix snapped back to reality, “I’m sure that this forest would have something similar. It looks a lot like the one we have back home, granted a bit denser. I take it you’ll want to go for a hunt?” Obelix nodded excitingly, before hopping to his feet and disappearing into the forest, Dogmatix following close behind. Asterix chuckled to himself and curled up in front of the fire. Obelix should be fine by himself, and he needed some time to think. He didn’t notice a small black cloud, invisible against the mass of vapor behind it, slowly slink away. Once at a safe distance, it broke apart leaving a rainbow trail in its wake. ^\/^\/^\/^ Sometime later, Unknown ^\/^\/^\/^ “There were three of them, and a big rock; a really small dog, a great big fat ape thingy, and a really smaller ape thingy. They were headed right towards Ponyville! So I chucked a couple of lightning bolts to throw them off.” The brightly coloured equine finished and started breathing again; she would need to learn from her friend how she did that. Her other friend, the one in front of her, held a hoof to her chin in thought. The brightly coloured one didn’t give too much of a description so searching through books for a match wouldn’t give much information. Still, news of new creatures never before seen did strike an interest. “So where did they go after you chased them away?” “They fled into the Everfree forest. The fat one and the dog went deeper in while the small one stayed by a fire.” So they knew how to light a fire, which proved that they were of some higher level of intelligence. Also, with the bigger of them gone off it would be safer to approach the smaller one, yet that might anger the former if it was the mother of father. “Hmm, can you take me on a cloud where I can observe without being seen?” “Ahh,” started the coloured one, pointing to a pair of sky blue wings on her back. “Ahh,” the other responded, pointing to a pointy purple horn sticking out from its forehead. “Oh, right. Fine, let’s go before the storm blows over, and then we won’t be able to get anywhere near.” ^\/^\/^\/^ In the forest at that time, Obelix ^\/^\/^\/^ “Well, it’s no boar.” Obelix scratched his head, unsure what dead creature he held in his hands. It had the body of a snake, which Obelix disliked for their sour taste, and the head of a chicken, which he liked for the juicy taste they had. It had found him while he was searching the ground for tracks, staring into Obelix trying to intimidate him. He just flicked its beak because it’s rude to stare, but broke its neck doing so. “It’s not nice to leave it killed without eating it, so I guess Asterix could make a nice stew out of it.” Dogmatix was busy still sniffing the ground, slowly picking up a strange scent. It wasn’t boar but it was something similar, and frankly he only wanted to eat at that moment and stew didn’t sit well with him. He gave a growl to alert his father figure to his possible find. “Ooh! Find something else Dogmatix? Good boy.” Together they rushed into the bush, following whatever could be waiting and could possibly be food. ^\/^\/^\/^ Back at the camp, Asterix ^\/^\/^\/^ This time Asterix could see the small black cloud. The storm couldn’t seem to hold itself over this forest, so it was thinner and easier to see through. He had been sitting by the fire watching the clouds break apart, when he saw a small one come to a stop. He watched it for a while, but it did nothing unlike the other clouds. After being chased by lightning the first time round he didn’t feel like a rerun, so he got to his feet and hid amongst the bush, slowly edging closer while keeping an eye on it. Eventually he stood beneath it gazing up. It still didn’t move while other clouds drifted by. Asterix gripped his sword in one hand and his gourd in the other. After a staring contest that lasted five minutes, Asterix slowly let his guard drop. He looked around the area he found himself in; trees, vines, rocks, and pebbles littering the ground. He picked up and rock at random and tossed it at the cloud, then turned to head back to camp. A muffled “Ouch” caught his attention though and he snapped back to staring at the cloud. Once standing under it again he heard hushed whispering, too quiet to tell words. Nether the less, there was someone up there. Asterix took the gamble. “Hello, is anyone up there?” The voices stopped dead. Once again a long silence sat around the space between the cloud and the Gaul. “Er, I’m an Armorican Gaul and my friend and I are rather lost.” More silence. “If it’s possible, we would be grateful for any directions back to Gaul, so even knowledge of where we are…?” Still nothing happened. “Look, I know you’re up there. I don’t want any trouble, just some help.” Asterix was starting to lose his patience. Those on the cloud weren’t going to be of any help other than stress relief for throwing stones at. “Fine, be that way.” Having enough of trying, Asterix turned away from the cloud and headed back to his fire. “I’ve had enough of this, by Toutatis!” He turned towards the cloud one more time to kick a stone at it, earning another satisfying “Ouch”. ^\/^\/^\/^ Shortly after, Unknown ^\/^\/^\/^ The bookworm of a friend was buzzing away on a scroll, writing all the features of the creature and he said. The colourful one was nursing a sore head, where she had taken two hits. “Ow, how did he know we were there? We didn’t make a peep!” Her friend either ignored her or didn’t notice, too intrigued with her new knowledge to care. The colourful one snorted. “Hey Twilight,” she said to her friend. “Twilight, Twilight! Twilight! ” The bookworm finally looked up from her notes noticing her friend’s attempts to contact her. “Yes Rainbow?” “Can we go back now? I’ve gotta feed Tank and it’s going to get dark soon, not to mention I’ve just missed my afternoon nap.” Her friend made a disappointed grumbling sound before checking the position of the sun herself, it was getting very close to the edge of the horizon. “Fine, we may as well go back. I’ve got all the notes I can anyway.” “Great! See you around!” And with that she sped away, leaving the cloud without her presence, giving it the chance to break apart. “Hey, Rain- AHH!” She dropped through the cloud, coming up to meet the ground at a quick rate. A moment of quick thinking sent a power through her body, reaching her horn which glow was a lighter shade of purple. In a flash she was safe on the ground, standing the right way up on her four hooves. She sighed at the brashness of her friend before heading off back home, being quick to get out of the forest. ^\/^\/^\/^ Back at fire again, Asterix ^\/^\/^\/^ Well that went wonderfully, he thought to himself, lying against a log he found while waiting. It seems that whoever lives here isn’t too happy with meeting new people, much less give some basic directions. The bushes to his left rustled before Obelix stepped into view, followed by a proud looking Dogmatix. “Oh hello Asterix, sorry we took so long but it was harder finding things to eat than I thought. Also, I want to ask you a few things about something we caught.” He laid his dead catch on his ground, the chicken/snake thing and a few colourful bats. Asterix looked over the dead creatures in awe. These were deffinitely not from around Gaul. Just when he was about to ask where Obelix found these, his friend turned to the sack he had in his other hand. “Dogmatix found these running around, but I’m not sure we can eat them. They looked like those ponies I saw earlier, but smaller.” He opened the sack and emptied its occupants onto the ground, each with vines around their hooves and snouts. They looked like foals, with really big heads and strange colours. Another thing was one of them had a horn, another a pair of wings, and the third had a red bow in its mane. Hmm... they look like they belong to someone, judging by that bow one of them is wearing. Also it’s never been a thing for us to eat horses. The three foals looked up at the Gaul in wide-eyed total fear, shaking uncontrollably. However we are pretty hungry and they must have escaped from their pen if they were out here, but… “If that bow means anything, they must belong to someone. I think I met a few people while you were gone and they were really shy, so I don’t think eating their animals is a good idea. I think I could manage a soup out of… these,” he gestured to the creatures already dead. Dogmatix was visibly deflated by this. Sure he still got bones, but they lacked the flavour of fresh meat. Obelix noticed his pet’s disappointment. “Well, how about just one for poor little Dogmatix?” “Sorry Obelix, but we don’t know how attached these people are to these ponies. Remember Egypt, they worshipped cats there?” Both Dogmatix and Obelix growled at that place. They had to help build a palace and help with a bet against Caesar when he started to cheat. Obelix also knocked the nose off an important statue of a cat lady while trying to get a good view. Obelix nodded and untied the three foals. They still stared at them in fear, slowly backing away. As soon as they were out of sight they split tail and ran. I hope they find their way back… thought Asterix. ^\/^\/^\/^ After some panicked running and getting lost a few times ^\/^\/^\/^ ”TTTWWWWIIIILLLLIIIIGGGHHHHHTTTT!!!” they screamed in union as they stormed the front door of the library. The mare in question snapped to attention at the sudden outburst, disrupting her from the book titled ‘The ape lands, lands and creatures’. “Girls, what’s wrong?” “Theres-scary-monster-in-the-everfree-forest-and-it-had-us-and-was-we-ran-away-when-they-I-really-liked-their-manes!” They continued to shout and gasp out muddled words and sentences which made Twilight cringe. They kept going until they were exhausted, unable to say anything else through their worn out throats and collapsed on the floor. “Ahh, I think you should calm down a bit first. Who’d like some hot chocolate?” The three foals nodded slowly from the floor. “Spike, get down here!”