//------------------------------// // Chapter 2 // Story: A Paladin's Penance // by thecookiewookie //------------------------------// Mord opened his eyes and blinked, staring up at a pure blue sky. ‘Okay, so at least I’m not in the Nine Hells or anything like that…’ Sitting up from his spread-eagled sprawl, he found himself in a rolling, grassy field. There were a few low clouds in the sky, and the field ran into an orchard further along. As he stood, he looked down to see a circle around himself of scorched earth, with the runes from Eldren’s portal circle sunken into the ground around him, glowing dim violet. “Okay, so the spell messed up. But how bad?” he muttered to himself. Digging out the Linked Pouch, he opened the flap… and was met with a curious result. It was as if there was no interior to the bag, just a space he could not focus on or reach into. “The pouch isn’t working. I guess that means I’m on a different plane.” He closed the pouch and stowed it in his pack. “But what plane is this?” His train of thought was hijacked by a passing object. He looked up to see an equine form with wings gliding through the air above him. ‘Well, at least there are pegasi here. But why is it such a strange color? And why is it looking at me like that? Has it been… talking?’ “Hello! Equestria to weird dragon thing! Can you even hear me? If you’re just gonna stare like that, I’m outta here.” Mord’s jaw dropped. “You can talk! You’ve been speaking Common, even!” “Well, duh I can talk! Why wouldn’t I be able to? And what’s Common? Is that an insult? I can use big words if I want, jerk!” Mord had been too stunned to answer the blue-ish pegasus before she had moved on to her own conclusions. “No, I meant no disrespect. I meant the Common tongue, that spoken by the civilized races. I’ve never heard a pegasus speak before.” The blue pegasus gave him a strange look. “Where are you from, dude? ‘Cause pegasi are pretty common here. And we all talk.” Mord grimaced a little. “Ah… I’m not from around here. In fact… where’s here, anyway?” “This is Equestria. And since you’re new here, I should introduce myself. I’m Rainbow Dash, the awesomest pony you’ll ever meet!” The rainbow-maned pegasus performed a little loop before landing in a pose. Mord raised an eyebrow. “Awesomest ‘pony’? What do you mean by ‘pony’?” he said questioningly. Rainbow dropped to all four legs with an ‘are you serious’ look. “Okay, you’re really not from around here. I think it’d be better if Twilight explained this stuff to you. The egghead gets a kick out of telling ponies stuff. C’mon.” The blue pegasus took to the air and began flying toward the orchard at the end of the field. Mord spread his expansive wings and began following as best he could, although Rainbow was far faster and more maneuverable. “I just don’t get it. That was supposed to be a simple mana-sink spell, what happened? It wasn’t supposed to just vanish!” Twilight continued to trot around the room agitatedly, while Spike sighed. She had been pacing for nearly half an hour, and chattering about the mishap nonstop. “Geez, Twi, it was just a botched spell. It happens to everyone now and then, so why are you so worried?” he asked, growing tired of the purple alicorn’s tirade. “No, Spike, that wasn’t a screwup. It felt like… like the magic took a 90 degree turn out of nowhere, and ended up somewhere else, doing something else! I might have just caused an avalanche in a mountain town, or started a forest fire, or worse! Rogue magic can be dangerous, and what if I just hurt somepony?!” Her mane was beginning to stick out in all directions, and her pupils had shrunk to an alarming size. Spike’s attempts to calm her down had ranged from ineffective to counterproductive, and he was beginning to worry that she might freak out as badly as the ‘Want it, Need it’ incident. As if on cue, there was a knocking at the door. The sound distracted Twilight from her downward mental spiral, and she went to answer it. “Oh, hello, Rainbow Dash, what- WHAT is THAT?!” A large, bipedal, dragon-like creature was standing behind Rainbow, reaching under its plate armor to massage its sore left wing joint. “Hey, Twi. I know this thing is weird, but he seems nice enough. I found him just outside AJ’s orchard. It seems like he’s not even from Equestria, so I thought you could explain things to him better than I could,” said Rainbow, able to explain the whole situation while Twilight struggled to close her jaw. At this point, satisfied that he hadn’t pulled a muscle, Mord stepped forward, a smile on his face and curiosity in his eyes. “Good morrow. My name is Mord Trevak. I would usually continue with pleasantries, but I simply must know: are you a unicorn, pegasus, or something new entirely? I’ve never seen such a being as you.” Twilight was slightly taken aback. This thing spoke in a smooth, deep voice, not at all the slithering growl she had expected from his appearance. It also seemed to really not know anything about Equestria. “Uh, I’m an alicorn. Sort of like both at once.” Mord seemed intrigued. “Alicorn… I’ve never heard that word before. Are there more like you here?” “Um, not really. So far as I know, only the princesses are alicorns.” Twilight was beginning to lose control of the conversation, and she wasn’t sure where this strange being was going with his inquiry. She didn’t have a chance to find out, though. “Only the…” Mord’s eyes went wide. He dropped to one knee, and bowed his head low. “Forgive me. I did not know I stood before royalty.”