To Arms Mavericks of War

TTT - TTT

Painting the world in your colors.

Is that the glory you seek?

Can you bear that heavy responsibility?

Ponies can’t even control their own lives… So no one can run from, nor defy the raging waves called fate, seeping them away.

However… If fate ordered you to change the world, to shape the future with your own hooves, you wouldn’t be able to resist it.

But… The world would be put into your care!

TTT – TTT

Today’s the mark of our newest research trip – Yggdrasill hired my team and I to investigate a weird source of mana that appeared in the Badlands. I’m nervous about this of course, but with my team by my side, I have no immediate worries. I’ve known them for years, and we’ve been to much more dangerous places in Equestria.

Doc Hazel’s going on about how this reminds her about those Daring Do books – Sometimes I wish she’d get her horned head out of those fictional tales, she’s started trying to write her own books and it’s getting rather tedious to have her bounce ideas off me. Seriously, the thought of a vehicle traveling through time when it reached a certain speed is ludicrous.

Then there’s our usual muscle Bunsen, I swear, if he wasn’t one of the strongest Earth pony stallions around Canterlot, I’d kick him off of this team for his attitude. Well, that and the fact he’s pulled my flank out of the fire a few times, one time that was literal.

And finally, our eyes in the sky, Silver Bolt. A bit lazy, but he’s a good enough counterpart to Bunsen and is essential in our team for exploration.

Hopefully this isn’t going to be a difficult research task, but its only day one – You can never tell how difficult a journey is before you take the first step.

When you think of the word Badlands, one would immediately think of a dessert or something that didn’t have much life to it at all. However, within the first hour of our arrival at the badlands, my team and I came across a rather odd sight.

Flora was spread out across a good portion of where the source of mana was originally detected – Which was at the base of a plateau. I don’t remember seeing any of these plants during my studies at the Magical Academy, so I’m not sure if they’re safe for any pony to handle. But there’s a more intriguing point here.

Inside the plateau, there appears to be a lush forest with sunlight, the flora practically spilling out into the badlands. What’s odd about this is that it’s like there’s another world inside the plateau with, and I’m a bit hesitant to write this, a ‘portal’ into this world seems to be a zipper that opened into the platea.

What’s even odder, we had Silver Bolt fly over the plateau and learned that it was in fact an actual plateau – Which is odd, since the forest inside seems to have sunlight. Perhaps I rushed a little bit calling this forest a new world, but, I’m starting to believe that…

Due to safety measures, we spent the previous day observing and experimenting with the odd plant life that spilled out into the badlands. I say we, but I really mean Doc and I. Silver and Bunsen have been playing cards, the two are restless.

However, we needed to consider the possibility of disease and such – But I can understand the two of them, I am very anxious about exploring this ‘world’ myself. And from our testing, it appears these plants aren’t visibly dangerous, but we still need to be careful as we explore this ‘forest’, who knows what could be lurking within it.

I’ll carry this journal with me from now on to record any discoveries we have.

It truly is like another world in that plateau! As a unicorn, I was able to feel the amount of mana that surged through that forest – It was almost suffocating me. I had to step out back into the badlands for a few moments to regain my breath, as did Doc. Interestingly enough though, Bunsen and Silver didn’t seem quite as affected by the world – Then again, I guess that’s to be expected with the two of them being an Earth Pony and Pegasus, respectively.

There has to be a source – A source of all this mana. Just like how the myths of the Elements of Harmony are considered to be a powerful source of mana in Equestria, that must be the same for this world. And those were proven to be true, along with Nightmare Moon (I’m still getting shivers from learning that the tales I heard as a colt turned out to be true).

I’ll have to analyze the air in that world, but suffice to say it was quite an experience in there. It was a lush forest in there, and in addition to the same plants that have ground outside the entrance, an odd fruit can be found sprouting from vines growing on the trees.

Like the plants around, I’ve never seen a fruit like this. A small orb with purple skin cover it and several tendrils (considering that the stem is on the opposite side I’m a little confused to what to call these, I’m not much of a botanist), and the stem seems to curl around the vine as well.

As stated, I’m not a botanist, but I can still perform a magical analysis on this plant. When I used my magic to pull a few pieces from the tree, I could sense a powerful source of mana within it.

A few days passed since we began our exploration of this world – I’ve yet to give it a proper name for now. Still examining the odd fruit with my magic, but we’ve barely scraped the surface of this world.

While Doc and I were continuing tests, Silver Bolt alerted us to something in the odd woods. Quietly, my team and I returned to the woods and discovered what could best be described as the ‘wildlife’ of this forest. Back in my days at the Academy, there was a mare who was obsessed with the legend of bipedal creatures with ‘hands’ called humans. I am reminded of her description when I looked at these creatures, but only to the points I mentioned earlier.

If anything, these creatures are more like insects – Silver exoskeleton with long claws on their hands, and what could be best be described as exposed muscle tissue under the large shell on their backs. The ‘faces’ of these creatures are rather odd as well, exhibiting mandibles and hollowed eyes. If I wasn’t looking at these things, I would’ve thought I was having a nightmare.

At the very least, the creatures appear to be herbivores – The two we saw were actually picking the fruit off of the trees and tried to eat it. Curiously though, they weren’t able to fully eat the fruit, one of them just took a bite and threw it to the ground, and then they just left.

Three things to note: 1) Doc says they looked cute. No accounting for her taste.

And 3), Silver Bolt seemed to be focused on the fruit the creatures were eating… Probably thought it was a waste of food.

Not much to report in the ways of exploration – But Doc discovered something just as intriguing about the fruit we had gotten for our experimentation.

During an analysis of the physical makeup of the fruit, Doc told me something was off and proceeded to perform a simple refinement spell on one of them. When she did, the fruit seemed to shed its purple skin and reveal, and I still can’t believe this one myself, but…

But according to Doc, since she performed the refinement spell, the lock itself seemed to exhibit even more mana within it. But for what purpose does it serve?

We’ll have to wait till we get back to Yggdrasill in Canterlot, we’ll have better equipment and more minds to help understand these… Locks.

Hmm, an interesting thought occurred to me as I write this – It’s time I give a proper name to something on this expedition. Well, actually, Doc came up with the name: Lock Seed. Rather simple, but it works.

This morning, when I was entering the tent where I was conducting my research on these weird fruits I noticed that one had a chunk missing from it, and it was obvious due to the markings that something, or somepony had taken a bite out from it.

Originally, I thought that it was a wild animal that had broken in, however I discovered a few silver feathers on the floor with the partially eaten fruit. I don’t know where Silver Bolt is at the moment, but since he digested those fruits, we need to immediately quarantine him and study what effects the fruit may have on his body.

Normally, this wouldn’t instill fear in me, but… There’s an odd feeling that I can’t seem to put my hoof on – Something about this fruit doesn’t add up. There’s mana in every living being, and that includes fruit, but from my tests thus far on the fruit, there’s an inordinate amount of mana seeping from them.

What this means… I can’t say for sure yet. I can only hope that Silver Bolt is okay while we search for him.

… I hesitate to continue writing in this, but I must stride on. In our search for Silver Bolt, Bunsen thought we should search in the mysterious forest. He had discovered one of Silver Bolt’s feathers near the entrance to that forest…

I’d be lying if I wasn’t expecting the worst to occur – But with Doc back in our world (I refuse to lose her), Bunsen and I decided to traverse the forest for our missing comrade. Little did I know at the time that those fears I held would be more real than I had anticipated.

It didn’t take Bunsen and I long to find evidence that Silver was indeed in the woods. However, it wasn’t the only thing we found.

I mentioned earlier in this journal that we discovered the odd insect like creatures (still nameless at this point), however, to think that they were all insect-based was a misconception of mine. Amongst a bunch of Silver Bolt’s feathers was another odd creature, now that I think about it, whether it is related to the insect creatures has yet to be seen.

However, this creature exhibits an odd physiology – Extravagant blue and orange antlers and wings (Bunsen stated that it reminded him of fiery decorations) along with a humanoid body. Like the other creatures we observed earlier, it had an obsession of eating that mysterious fruit. And like the others, it only took a single bite before it threw the fruit to the ground.

I could speculate that this creature could’ve had something to do with our comrade’s disappearance, with the feathers amongst its feet, but from what I can tell, these creatures in this world are herbivores…

The ragged and slightly reddened journal closed shut, the lush green aura around it faded away to have it land on the desk. Within the large white office, the soft lights illuminated the room with two long shadows within the room. “And that’s all Professor Smith wrote about, sir. At least, the only thing that was legible to read. After that, it’s just gibberish.”

“How appropriate, but, this is still very interesting. Especially these creatures he talks about and the ‘Lock Seeds’.”

From behind the desk, one of the shadows trotted out from it and turned towards the large window that showed the festive city that was below. “… Make sure the Professor is comfortable for now – Keep his return a secret from Princess Celestia until tomorrow. No need to tarnish the newest Princess’s big day.”

“First thing in the morning though, before we report to Celestia, be sure to send a team to the badlands to conduct their own search and to gather more of this ‘fruit’.”

“Tonight, have Duke examine this ‘Lock Seed’, and see if he can find another use to channel this mana in them.”

“When development is finished, I’d like you to take the reigns of production – Think of it as a promotion.”

To Arms, Mavericks of War

by MangaKamen

Prologue: Final Words for the Future