//------------------------------// // Enter: Clockwork Arc: The Clockwork Palace // Story: Don't Starve! // by Tee Sion //------------------------------// With all of the horrible things that happened in a span of one day, Wilson was exhausted. It was pretty much worse than what he experienced on Disambiguation. Sure, he had friends that could form proper sentences and understand him, but everything that is happening is awful. Everything that used to live on the island is coming here, to Equestria. Maxwell gave them extra powers and abilities to make it worse. Hounds got smarter, bigger, badder. They absorb magic and come up with strategy, rather than just running into battle like madmen. Overall, it was still amazing, it made no sense, but it was different. Wilson added a new breed of hound to his notebook. Equestrian Hounds Height: Approx 4'5" Tall, 5'7" Lengthwise Nature: Very Hostile. Smart, yet reckless at times. Stronger in packs Avoid at all costs Can absorb magic, Hit it in the eye He finished writing, closing his pen and sighing. All he wanted was Earth, but it was so hard to get it. Sometimes he thinks about suicide, yeah. But that's no way to go out. Everyone he's ever known thinks he's dead already though, what's the point of living? Wilson questioned his reason for still being alive. Maybe it was the thrill? Winning a tough fight? No, getting hurt wasn't pleasant, but getting hurt, getting back up and winning was pleasant. This is a weird place for this all to happen, a colorful pony wonderland. How did Maxwell find this place? Wilson would never know, but he wasn't kidding about the change of scenery. "What is Earth like now?" Wilson said to himself, his grip on the blue and white notebook tightened. Last he remembered is the announcement of a DSi or something. His radio never picked things up properly, but that was all he heard. Maybe there are flying cars and self-tying shoes like in Back To The Future. That was Wilson's favorite movie. He thought about all the great things about Earth, it's like he was trying to make himself cry. He couldn't stay on that subject for long, he'd miss his home even more. Instead he pondered on what he'll do while he's here, y'know, besides hunting the key components to his escape. Wilson wanted to meet Princess Celestia again, he's never met royalty before. Besides Twilight. Suddenly a thought struck him, did he ever retrieve the Potato Thing at the castle? A bead of sweat slid down the side of his face. "Crap." He whispered, mindful of the others in the room. Wilson remembered that Wendy had to make a choice between him or the piece, maybe she didn't make the right choice. The Potato could be gone forever! That thing was the only thing Wilson cared about in this world. He thought about that, was it really the only thing he cared about? Finding the pieces? That's really messed up considering he wouldn't be alive without Twilight, or Rainbow Dash. He didn't want to make extremely close friends and have to make leaving a second thought when or 'if' he found the parts. "This is going to be waaaay more complicated than I thought" He made his way off of the soft couch, careful not to wake Chester. Wilson searched for a bathroom, finding the door, he opened it. The conflicted human repeatedly washed his face with large amounts of water from the sink. After a few minutes he twisted the knob, turning off the cold water. Wilson just stood there, examining his arm. Staring at the 'Things', something was up. The Metal Potato 'Thing' began to blink with a red-orange light. Wilson's eyes widened, reaching to touch it with his unoccupied hand. It stung, like, a lot. "Ah, what in god's name in going on?" He said, before spotting a trail of dots, the same color as the Potato 'Thing' leading out of the library. Raising one eyebrow, he followed. Wilson knew exactly where it was headed but for some reason he could not stop himself from going. Completely ignoring the chilling air Wilson allowed himself to be controlled by the trail. It led into the Everfree Forest, and back where he had experienced so much pain just hours ago. It was a stupid plan. He hesitated to keep going, but that was an even worse plan. Right when Wilson had started to turn around, back to safety. A sudden headache pounded at his skull. He clutched his head, gritting his teeth and shaking in pain. "GO!! BACK!!" An echoey voice shouted from nowhere. Wilson screamed back at it. It made the situation worse, the voice shouted again and Wilson watched as his veins in his arms turned completely black. Then he lost control of his body and, once again, he began to follow the glowing trail. The further into the journey he went, the more the headache went away. By this time, it's all Wilson wanted, no pain. A little while later he made it. By now he had full control of himself and was fully aware of where he was. The Clockwork Palace. Was scribbled into a withered sign. Sighing, Wilson slowly walked up to the gate. Two golden rooks stood in front of him, making low growling noises. Wilson just stared at them not saying a word. "State your business here, strange man." The left one said, it's monotone, groggy voice surprising the strange man. "You? Can speak? English!?" Wilson half shouted, mind boggled at the new discovery. The two rooks looked at each other, then back to Wilson. "It's NOT English, it is Clockwork-ish." The rook on the right said. It's voice was a bit higher than the other one's, a younger one? Maybe? "Well, if my language is English but we say the same things it's basically English, but whatever..." "STATE YOUR BUSINESS OR LEAVE HERE, NOW" They said in perfect unison. Wilson covered his ears half way through. After he recovered he cleared his throat. "I am just visiting?" He gave a sheepish smile and shrugged. "We don't let people in if they're "Just Visiting", okay? Now you can leave!" Left rook said, lowering his head so his horn almost met Wilson's face. Wilson backed away. "Okay! Okay! I'm looking for an object called the, 'Metal Potato', heard of it?" The two rooks narrowed their eyes at Wilson. "Why do you, a stranger, want to know where that is? Hmm?" "Well, I need it, for, my way to get back home" Wilson rubbed his arm nervously. "No..." "What?" "You can't have it!" Left rook shouted. "Why not? Just let me in and I'll ju.." "It's the core of the palace, if you take it this whole place falls apart, it's like a generator. It fends off the dangers of the Everfree forest and provides unlimited power for this place" Right rook said, stomping his large foot on the ground. Wilson didn't say anything, he just stood there. Thinking. He can never get that Potato, it's impossible. Plus he'd be destroying an entire palace and endangering many of these mechanical wonders. Not to mention they can speak and think now. It's quite fascinating, yes? "Well, if I promise that I will not steal your precious core, will you let me in so I can at least look around?" Wilson said with an ear to ear smile. The rooks looked at each other then looked at Wilson, then laughed... Wilson was left confused as they hollered . "Trust us, even if you tried to steal the core you'd be dead within seconds! Look at you! You're scrawny and puny!" The right one said, still laughing along with the left one. He didn't know why, but that actually hurt Wilson. He looks down at his arms, pale and skinny, he flexed them. Not even close to a noticeable change. What kept his hopes up was that they didn't say no to him looking around. "Yeah yeah, does that mean I can go in?" "Yes, BUT if you do anything to cause a disturbance you will be immediately escorted out, as well as put on probation from entering the city for three days. Got it?" "Of course, I will do my best to be good" Wilson said with a fake smile. It was fake, but, y'know, reassuring. The rooks side stepped and blew their horns. The two large gates opened. As he walked in he nodded at the rooks. The place was absolutely astounding. Wilson couldn't keep his jaw up it was so great. The place was bustling with activity as every kind of clockwork piece minded their own business and did their thing. It was pretty nice. Wilson awkwardly walked in the middle of the road, catching the eye of every person in there. "What is that?" "Is he an alien?" "Tourists already?" "I don't like him" "He lost or something?" "What a beautiful creature!" "Is he from the Everfree?!" Did they know he could hear them? It was kind of weird being the center of attention like this in a completely foreign place. Especially when your clockwork kill count is higher than it should be. None of them were appearing hostile in any way, so Wilson was somewhat chill right now. It took a while for everyone to realize there was nothing to look at anymore and they all went back to talking, working, blah blah. He admired the simple homes built in a line all way across the city and there were so many of them, organized in rows. He saw a two Bishops nuzzling each other affectionately on a bench. Cute. He wasn't sure if they had genders or not, but it was a possibility. There was an extremely large castle situated in the middle of the entire place. It was taller than it was wide, basically a giant spire extruding from the ground. It reminded him of this place he'd read about in one of the books at the library. The Crystal Empire, was it? Maybe Maxwell needed some inspiration to create this? Meh, Wilson would never know, unless he asked. The potato "tattoo" on his arm began to blink again. "Oh no, not this again, it's going to force me to try to take the potato! I will either die or....... die" Wilson said, looking back and forth frantically in a heated panic. The trail led into the spire, no way in hell he's intruding into royal spaces. He might get something worse than death! He had no choice, if he turned around to leave he would just be forced to go, AND be given a massive headache. Maybe he could like, fight it? He wouldn't want to try it here and make a scene in front of everyone. "Crap, the headache is starting... what to do?" Wilson said to himself, scratching his chin. This can't end well...