"Huh?" said I, the ever-so amazing and cool gentleman.
"'Twas a good performance, was I not speaking clear?" She questioned the waded her way through the pillows toward me.
"I-ah shit-Pardon my poor manners ma'am," the guitar melted in my lap then vaporized. I was quickly reminded I was still dreaming.
"All is forgiven... Mister?"
"Tomas." We sat in a very uncomfortable pause after this, "Should I play another song or something?"
"Pardon our manners Mr. Tomas," her face reddened. "I was simply lost in thought. A very serious and sad piece you had just played. But you seem too young to have had a significant lo-"
"I have." I cut her off but I didn't care, she was running full speed through a minefield. "Tread lightly miss, that is a very touchy subject."
Luna wasn't too happy about being spoke over, but she didn't retaliate for some strange reason. "I apologize Mr. Tomas, I just assumed-"
"Never ever assume that someone hasn't seen the ugly face of Death," My voice became deeper and more grim, but I decided it was best to not piss off a god and lightened my tone. "Call me Tom," I held out my hand. "And you are?"
"... Luna," surprised by rapid change in mood.
"A pleasure to meet you Miss Luna. Excuse my rude interruptions and unnecessary... harshness." I summoned a cowboy hat and tipped it, thusly melting after serving its purpose.
"Quite the gentlecolt Mr. Tomas," my thumb pushed at the ever-present silver band on my ring finger. "Truly a gift it has been visiting you, but we must be off as you are about to wake."
Before I could protest there was a Boom! and a rumble. The pearl walls began to melt into blackness, along with the large pillows that dotted the floor...
---
"--y! Wa-- -p!"
"Tom! --g Pro--em!"
"Hold -n, I'v- g-- -- id--."
*SPLASH*
"*Gargle* - Eeuph!" I coughed multiple times before gaining full partial composure. "Wut?"
"Leaving out the huge gaping hole in the leaves above the fire, there are some things that need explaining!" shouted a very unhappy Lightning Dust. "Like the huge fucking boom we woke up to this morning, and why you were able to sleep through it!"
"Huh?" was all I could say.
Euwin walked up to me and squinted. "Magical exhaustion."
"Wut," deadpanned the rest of the group. "Finally somebody shares my confusion!"
"It's magical exhaustion. 'ow he 'as it is beyond me, but we need something to wake 'im up."
I had to add my input, "Muuuuur." I groaned. I had a bag of coffee grounds in my pack somewhere, so I blindly reached for it. "Urrrg, coffee..."
*A few moments later*
"Ahh," I exclaimed after sipping my drink. Good ol' black coffee, no sugar no cream. "So what was that about a boom?"
"About an hour or two after the sun came up," Lightning dust began, "we heard this really loud boom. It shook the ground and the trees swayed a bit."
"I felt a change in the Field," came Euwin from under that Indiana Jones-esque hat.
"The Field?" I asked. "Euwin, you know we're in the middle of the Everfree right?"
" 'Course I know that! Ya nitwit!" He snarled, getting up from his spot and walking up to me. "Magical Field, hence the emphasis!" The old unicorn looked at his compass, then focused on something of in the distance. "Its sumthin' big. Off to the North-East."
I began to wonder if it was wise to go see what it was. Based off my knowledge, things that go bump in the night or rather, boom in the morning, are not good to go investigate. Horror movies don't lie. But it piqued my curiosity, because odd happenings in a land of harmony could be very good or very bad.
"Fuck it," I threw my hands in the air. "I say we go see what it is. Everyone in agreement?"
"Aye," says Euwin.
"Sure," agrees Dust.
"Why not?" asks Tobias.
"Huh?" questions Dom.
"I'm in," cheers Golem.
"Pack your gear folks! We head out at noon." I began doing so when Euwin came up to me.
"I 'ave a feeling you know how you got your fit of drowsiness this mornin'." He prodded me with his hoof. I would have to fess up about my discovery.
"I enchanted a gem."
"My ass!"
I picked the gem off the ground from next where I had passed out and showed it to him. "Don't believe me? Watch this." I pointed towards the pile of smoking charcoals, and placed the gem on my wrist.
"Ignis conmitto," and the fire did start. Euwin's jaw hit the ground.
"I don't..."
"Hey who lit the fi-a?" Asked Dom, whose tail had had also caught heat. He didn't notice however, and it was halfway up his tail before he yelped.
"GETITOFFGETITOFFGETITOFF!" The dog yelled while running around the campsite, stepping on Tobias whom emitted a unique "oof" sound then hopped up to chase him. All the while Euwin tried to turn his magical focus towards the speedy canine. Golem watched from the tree and Lightning Dust was at the returning from bottom of the gorge, where she had done- ... her lady business.
Eventually Euwin locked on target and lifted Dom, letting the angry griffin chasing him run smack into a tree. With his beak embedded into the massive maple, Tobias pushed, pulled, and scratched at the wood. His efforts proved fruitless, the tree however decided to reward him by showering him in bladed seedling that spun like a propellors as they fell. While the tree sprinkled its prop-like offspring on the bird-lion, the unicorn levitating the daft doggie snuffed out the flame which rode up his tail. It went out with a satisfying hiss.
"Ahhh," Dom cooed. He was dropped without warning by Euwin.
"Errmph!" Cried Tobias from the treacherous tree trap. Seeing the lesson learned, I freed my feathered friend.
"Ahhh," Tobias cooed. I threw him to the ground to keep up with the trend.
Lightning Dust returned, donning her full set of armor. A cerulean gem sat in the center of her chestplate, glowing golden. The chainmail which covered everything except her chest, shoulders, and haunches, was cobalt blue. Her helm covered the back of her head and neck, with its edges laced in gold trim. It glinted in the morning sunlight as settled to the ground. "The Archer..."
"What'd I miss?" She asked, mane still wet from her shower. Let's just say I'll have to wipe the drool off my boots.
I snapped my head back to what I was doing, and gathered the gems (aside from the one I had enchanted) and placed them in the shallow pouch. Twenty-one massive emeralds clinked around, with enough luster to make me a millionare back home. However, I hadn't noticed up till now that the gems had not shrunk, and added a significant amount of weight to the load. Thankfully I remebered to ask him this time.
"Hey Euwin?"
"Hmm?"
"Why don't enchanted things interact with this bag like everything else?"
"Because the bag is enchanted."
We sat in silence while I waited for him to explain it.
"Do I 'ave to?" Groaned the senior, whom I responded to with an eager nod. "UUUUHG," he huffed, very closely resembling a teenage girl. Euwin tore a twig off the nearest tree and began to draw in the dirt.
"Now the bag," he pointed to a drawing in the dirt the somewhat resembled a cattywompus sack of potatoes.
Note: Euwin is not a good artist
"It's enchanted with three spells: Decresco, Sublevo, and Expando spacium, the first two tend to be nullified by anythin' that is enchanted higher than a level five; those two 'appen to be level seven enchants."
"... So Expando sapacium is a...?
"Level five."
"... That makes sense, because Zecora said the gem on my staff was a 'High Level Enchantment'. So, that means it must be above a level five."
"What type o' spell is it?" Asked my magic mentor.
"She said it was a Will spell, so... Libido?" I received a nod from the unicorn. Yay! Learning! "What are the limitations on that? I know so far that it accepts 'Push' as a command."
"It 'as more than one enchant then, because it accepts Equish. Trafero ad Equish is probably it," he answered. "As for lim'ations, the size of ya magical reservoir and the level of the spell you're castin'. 'Push' or 'Move' depends on the size of the object, and you can also save mana by saying the magical name of the command."
"So... Latin?"
He looked at me like I'd grown a second head. "What?"
"Eh, nothing. Thanks for the info!" I expertly avoided the backstory. I got up and began walk away, but a telekinetic grasp on my wrist pulled me back to the ground.
"I forgot to add," I mentally 'Phew'd. "When using a Will spell, any commands that are not verbs or are longer than one word will be ignored."
"Thanks again Euwin, I'll put it to good use."
Euwin returned to his activities, packing his belongings and preparing for the walk ahead of us. I had started to do the same but Tobias came over to me, his form blocking out my light. Upon raising my head I found that he was the most heavily armored out of all of us. "The Tank..." His gear was so shiny, it appeared white. The platemail covered him head to toe, and the only organic piece visible was those iconic sky-blue eyes.
"Damn T, there is no way you can fly in all that."
Tobias' gargantuan black speckled wings unfolded, and pumped once. He launched into the air, extinguishing the fire as he did so. This time he blocked my light from a whole new angle, but it didn't last for long. The griffin closed both wings, plummeting into a falcon-like dive and opened them last second, only pumping once to land.
Now I had more drool to clean off my boots.
"I stand corrected," I stated as I blinked a few times to return moisture to my eyeballs. "Now what'd ya have to say?"
"Well I was going to ask your opinion on my gear, but the look on your face says enough." He flicked the visor up just to snicker at me. So I clamped my chestplate and gauntlets on then stood to my full height.
"I say we have a little sparring session to test this armor," I taunted whilst grabbing my staff. He readied his greatsword.
"It's on." His visor fell.
*A few moments later*
We stood in a clearing not far from the used-to-be-camp, the sun still on the morning half of the sky and three spectators and their gear sat on the imaginary sidelines. Golem stood between us, and we stood roughly five feet from him. Tobias and I took our stances. I smiled a competitive smile and I'm sure he did the same under that silver visor of his.
"Are both parties ready?" Golem boomed.
"Yep," I stated. The griffin simply gave a curt nod.
"On One.
"Three,
"Two,
"ONE! GO GO GO!" Golem darted to the side as Tobias charged at me, letting out a war cry as he did so. He closed in on me fast, and I stood racking my mind for the latin word for 'Teleport'.
Soon finding that there wasn't one, I shouted in anger, "FUCK IT! Teleport!"
I soon found that my 'smart move' was not at all that. I was so very dizzy I was on the verge of upchucking. Tobias had spun around, and was this time approaching me slower. But it was still, much too fast for my liking...
"Contor!" I felt my mind grow more tired, but with less of an effect than I had gotten when I teleported. Tobias' approach was slowed to a crawl, so I took it to my advantage and ran up and conked him on the noggin with the butt end of my staff. But what he said as I did this, oh my sides...
"Yoooooouuu sooonuhvaa biiiiiiitch! Iiii'll geet you!" He began at turtle's pace then sped up as the spell wore off.
He swung high and I ducked. Using my legs, I lunged up as fast as I could. I hit him in the unarmored lower-chest with my iron shoulder pad. Tobias emitted an 'oof' sound similar to this morning's and backpedaled a few feet. However he was still in-range and was still showing off a large weak-spot.
Much to my surprise, he flared his wings and lifted his sword for bipedal combat. I mentally accepted and charged him...
And the birdy bastard rolled out of the way, causing my charge to be cut short by- ... a goddamn root. Tobias laughed and walked up to me, rolled me over and bounced his rather heavy weapon off my chest.
"Oof," said I. Mouth partially full of dirt.
"Good fight. You almost had me there, if you had've followed through with that tackle."
I spat the earth out of my mouth, "That was only an attempt to get you to back up," I dusted myself off and stood. "It worked, but I charged you after that taunt. I haven't quite figured out why though."
The rest of the group met us in the center of the clearing, commenting on the fight.
"I saw a lot of mistakes there Tomas," began my drill instructor mentor. "You've got some trainin' to do."
"I was sure you were going to win," came Lightning Dust, whom passed a few bits to Dom when she thought she was no longer being watched.
"I knew yous was gonna lose." Dom quipped, walking by me to fist-bump Tobias. Golem flew in and landed on the griffin's back
"Well I thought it was a very close fight," the griffin said to my defence. "Besides, if he had've lit a fire like he did last night, I'd be runnin' scared." He winked at me, "He's so fuckin' cool."
---
Noon approached slower than we thought, sparring sessions between the group members becoming rather fun. Tobias and I however sat back and watched it all unfold. Golem and Euwin reffed the fights, making sure there was no lethal means used that couldn't be defended against, and that it could be laughed at by the two judgemental souls watching.
The first inevitable crossing of Dust and Dom happened, and ended swiftly due to Dom's big mouth talking himself into more than he can handle. Lightning Dust had socked him in the jaw while he had his eyes closed in the middle of a egotistical speech. I was sure the lesson there was learned, but of course, the dog challenged her again and again.
"There no way she could beat me twice!" He had said, and she beat him thrice.
The dumbass D-Dog, Dom, had even grown ballsy enough to challenge the eldest of the two reffs. Euwin graciously accepted the challenge, and held the teen in a telekinetic grasp, similar to that of Hulk and Loki in the Avengers movie. After adding a few craters in the path, the unicorn 'forced' Dom to submit, ending the last spar of the day.
"G-g-g-good fight," said Dom, still sitting in a doggie-shaped hole.
"Hmph," Euwin returned. "Keep your eyes on the opponent next time kid."
"Noted," he answered from the hole.
Lightning Dust's gear sat unattended and she was nowhere to be seen. I scanned the camp, the waterfall into Ghastly Gorge, and the clearing, I was growing more and more worried by the moment.
"Guys, have any of you seen Dust?"
"Before the fight I think I saw her head towards the camp," Euwin grunted, lifting Dom out from the crater and placing his robe on him correctly. "Check the clouds, pegasi have a tendency to hide in them."
I power walked back to the camp, soon to see a fluffy little cumulus floating overhead. I cupped my hands and called up.
"Dust, are you up there?"
"What do you want?" The sound of her voice let the simmering anxiety fade and cool into nothingness. I physically sighed in relief.
"Something's wrong Dust, I can hear it in your voice." I put my hands on my hips, despite the fact that she couldn't see. "Can you come down here?"
"Are you alone?"
"Yes." Upon my answer, the pegasus spiralled down from the cloud and headed right for me. I braced myself mentally, but was not quite ready when she slammed into me. It almost knocked me off my feet, and when I brought my attention to the girl who rammed into me I realized the quiet sobs.
"Shh," I stroked her mane. Holding her awkwardly, I stumbled over to the tree, sat down and propped myself up against it. Eventually her crying subsided and she looked up at me with red watery eyes.
"With that sound this morning, its quite a possibility that we'll see my dad at whatever that was."
"Why is it all the sudden a problem?"
"Because he's a guard! I'm worried for him."
"I don't think the guard would be out there that quick."
"I guess, but... I-I just..."
"Dust..."
"His daughter is already a big fucking disappointment, it just couldn't be worse for him!"
I gave her a big hug, "Don't say that. I'm sure that's not how he thinks, and if he does, we'll just have to get Euwin to lecture him on how to be a good dad." I prodded her side, eliciting a giggle. "Just stay strong, his opinion is his opinion and all of us," I gestured toward the others back at the clearing. "We think you're awesome, aside from Dom. He's probably scared of you." Another laugh, and the tears were gone.
"She does not deserve the situation she's been given..."
