//------------------------------//
// A New Plan 
// Story: Deltora Quest: Mark 2 
// by Booker Longlegs 
//------------------------------//

	It had not been a good year in the Shadowlands. If you were only looking at the landscape, you wouldn’t know. It was as bleak, dark, and colorless as ever. Grey Guards, lizard monsters, and other things roamed the otherwise lifeless world. However, you could see it in the nervous tilt of the Guards heads, the lack of roaring from the monsters, and the fact that the Ak-Baba no longer patrolled the skies. The master of the land was angry, all of its carefully constructed plans lay in shambles.
The Shadow Lord stood on the mountain overlooking Deltora, just as it had every day for the last year. It fumed over the loss of its land. It raged at the Deltorans in their homes. Most of all, it felt deep, burning hatred for the three who had cost it so much. Lief, Barda, Jasmine, it thought, I will have my revenge. I will cut out your tongues and drag you through burning coals! I will make you rue the day you crossed the Shadow Lord! Deep in its mind, it knew they were futile thoughts. The trio would have long since expired before the day came when the Enemy could once again threaten Deltora.
As it nursed these bitter thoughts, the Shadow Lord decided it was done brooding. This wasn’t the first time its plans had been thwarted, and if it would retake Deltora, it would need a plan. The Shadow Lord turned away to begin plotting new ways to invade the land it both despised and desired. The creatures of the Shadowlands sagged in relief, sensing their master was finished with its anger.
The Shadow Lord swept into its personal library. When it had first conquered Deltora, its spies had sent him any books that had useful information, burning the rest. The Shadow Lord, confident in its vast and many layered plan, hadn’t read them yet, saving them for the occasion when it would most need them. Picking up a book on rare magic, it began to skim. The Shadow Lord was arrogant in assuming that it knew all there was to know on black magic. Still, the Shadow Lord knew that great things came from unexpected places. It was remembering finding the first Ak-Baba, and how its mistake in thinking the Ak-Baba egg was a dragon’s led to the creation of his most potent killing machines. While the Shadow Lord was having this thought, it found a very interesting spell.
The spell, according to the book, would allow the caster to reverse time to any point in the past, while the caster himself would retain full memory of the events. A cruel smile played upon the Shadow Lord’s lips. The book cautioned that the spell was only to be attempted by very advanced wizards, and also warned against interfering with the past. The Shadow Lord cared for none of that, though. All it wanted was to go back to before Lief, Barda, and Jasmine have overthrown it, find them, and make them suffer for what they had done. Or is it will do? the Shadow Lord thought before pushing the irrelevant thought from its mind. It read over the spell three times before casting it, feeling the flow of time slow, stop, and then begin to reverse.



The Shadow Lord felt time going backwards, and marveled at the feeling of total control. The spell, though taxing, still only felt like a slight drain on its magic. It maintained the spell, intending to go back to a time before Lief had ever left Del and take him from then. Suddenly, a power other than its own took control. This other power wrenched time from the Shadow Lord’s hands, settling it on just after Lief had set out on his quest. 
The Shadow Lord felt a wave of anger at this unknown power. It had thwarted the Enemy’s newest plan before it had even begun. With time, though, the Shadow Lord’s rage cooled. The plan could still be implemented, it just needed a slight revision. The Shadow Lord estimated that the trio were now in the Forests of Silence, so it sent all seven Ak-Baba to Mid-Wood. In the glory of triumph, the Enemy never considered that the power stopping his magic had done anything else to make sure this new plan failed.



Lief reclined in Jasmine’s nest. Despite being in the Forests of Silence, the ultimate symbol of fear for him, and the fact that tomorrow he would face a dangerous and deadly opponent, he felt content. Perhaps it was the unexpected arrival of Jasmine, a semi-friendly face living in a place of evil, which gave him hope. As he looked up at the stars, he remembered a pastime his mother had taught him. He picked out constellations, and he drew further comfort from their familiar faces. He sighed, about to close his eyes and drift to sleep, when something gave him pause.
He wasn’t exactly sure what it was, a barely audible keening. He sat up and spotted Jasmine scanning the forest below. “What is that?” Lief asked.
“I don’t know,” Jasmine said, “It isn’t natural to the Forests.” Turning to her black bird, Jasmine asked, “Which way is it coming from, Kree?” Kree cawed. Jasmine blinked. “Inside the nest?” Kree cawed again. “Kree says the noise is coming from in the nest.”
“I’m sure he is,” Barda said sarcastically, “And I’m sure the trees agree.”
Jasmine turned on him angrily. “Well, if you know so much, why don’t you tell us what this is and where it’s coming from?”
“Actually,” Lief said, “I think Kree is right. It does seem to be all around us.”
“Alright,” Barda said, “but what is it?”
“I don’t know,” Lief began carefully scanning the interior of the nest. The noise picked up in volume and pitch, and Lief just barely saw a slight distortion in the air toward the back of the nest. “Look!” Lief pointed out the strange sight, “What is it, do you think?”
“Nothing that happens naturally,” Jasmine said, “I’ll tell you that much.” A slight whimpering could be heard in her collar, and she pulled out a small creature, crooning, “It’s all right, Filli.”
Barda drew his sword. “Whatever it is, ready yourselves.” Lief nodded, drawing his own weapon. Jasmine drew her dagger, and the three of them stood, ready. Lief felt a lump in his throat, and he tried to swallow past it. Noticing this, Barda gave a confident smile. “Whatever comes through, we can handle it.” Lief nodded, though the words did nothing for the lump in his throat.
The noise continued to grow, as did the distortion. Eventually, the noise hit a peak, and the distortion shifted into a bright light. Out of the light flew some sort of creature, with another creature clutching its back. It looked as if it was unceremoniously flung into the nest. It slammed into the other wall, and lay there making small noises. Looking closer, the trio could see that the creature was equine, with four legs ending in hooves and a horse’s head. It also had wings, and a spiraled horn jutting from its head. It was lavender in color, with a dark purple mane and tail. A mark of a large star surrounded by five other stars could be seen on its flank. The creature that came with it was much smaller in size. It had a reptilian look about it, and was purple and green in color.
The three of them carefully approached, and they were shocked that the noises were actually words. “Ow, ow, ow,” said the equine, “That hurt. Are you okay, Spike?”
“Yeah, I’ve had worse,” the reptile named Spike said, “Even so, that was quite a spill.”
Lief decided to try diplomacy before Barda had the chance to attack, or worse, scare the creatures. Who knew how dangerous they were? “Greetings, strange creatures,” The equine jumped up with a yelp, shielding Spike. Lief held his arms out to the sides. “We mean you no harm, unless you mean the same. My name is Lief.”
The equine slowly straitened, looking around warily. “Hello there. My name is Twilight Sparkle. Could you tell me where in Equestria we are?”
Lief looked confused. “Equestria? I’ve never heard of it.”
It was Twilight’s turn to look confused. “Then, where are we?”
“Our land is called Deltora,” Lief said.
“Deltora?” Twilight said, “I’ve never heard of Deltora.”
“Perhaps we should all sit down,” Barda said, lowering his sword, “and figure out what’s going on here.”

Twilight’s story was almost unbelievable. She came from a place called Equestria, which is a land populated by talking ponies who controlled the weather, the sun and moon, and all natural occurrences. If Deltora didn’t have its own fair share of strangeness, Lief doubted he would have believed her.
“So,” Twilight said after sharing her story, “did you call me here?”
“What?” Lief said.
“Did you call me here?” Twilight repeated, “This sort of magic doesn’t just happen, someone had to have sent me here, because I didn’t do it myself.”
“We didn’t call you,” Barda said.
“Well…” Spike said.
“What is it, Spike?” Twilight asked.
“In my comic books, anytime something like this happens, the new player is supposed to help the original crew on their journey,” Spike said, “So maybe we’re here to help these guys.”
“Well, we aren’t exactly in a position to look a gift horse in the mouth,” Lief said, wincing at the unintentional pun, “Any help you can offer would be greatly appreciated.”
“If Spike’s right, then helping you is the only way back home,” Twilight said, “Besides, I don’t think it’s a good idea to wander in a place we don’t know.”
“Especially not here,” Barda said, “The Forests of Silence are very dangerous.”
“So why are you here?” Twilight asked. Lief explained the history of the Belt of Deltora as briefly as possible, its power and its significance, as well as the Shadow Lord’s takeover and their quest to restore the Belt.
“In a nutshell, we need to go to the seven most dangerous places in the land, find the gemstones, and restore peace,” Lief concluded.
“Sounds like a tall order,” Twilight looked up at the moon. “Assuming your moon is at least similar to mine, I’d say it’s late. We should get some sleep if we’re going after the first gem tomorrow.”
“Agreed,” Barda said. They all stretched out in the nest, with the humans quickly falling asleep. Twilight, though, was kept awake for some time. What had she be thrust into? How were her friends doing right now? What dangers would she face in this strange new land? She kept turning these questions over in her mind before finally nodding off.