//------------------------------// // Chapter 15; Not So Alone // Story: The Wander Through Lands Unknown // by Tomas Lutwig //------------------------------// Walking away from the castle, I let out a sigh. “Well to the bonfire then” I said looking to the forest in the distance. After my 'lecture' if you want to call it that, was over Spike became quite fidgety, uncomfortable in my presence. I excused myself after a failed attempt to ensure that I was harmless, emphasizing on his ability to breath fire and my only weapon being a spear made of mainly wood, but it failed to put him at ease. Walking through the town was met with mixed results, most running in fear, beyond a few that seemed to be shocked stiff unable to move. One of these few included an aqua unicorn mare that any brony with half a mind could recognize. As I passed by the mare I smiled and nodded receiving nothing besides the same shocked look that seemed plastered on her face. Looking up on my walk I squinted at the sky, unhappy with how bright it was I pulled my hood over my head to shield it and keep my pale skin from charring. All around, it seemed to be a normal day bright and cheerful, besides the abnormally empty streets due to my presence. I noticed one stall that didn't seem vacant and raised an eyebrow at the stallion occupying it besides the bushels of apples. Approaching made his attention turn to me with half lidded eyes. “Morning” I said simply causing the bright red stallion to return the greeting with a nod. “How much for three apples?” I asked which seemed to get a response out of him beyond chewing on his wheat sprig. “Three bits fer three apples” he said the southern drawl bringing a slight smile to my face. Leaning my spear against the familiar stall, I pulled off my pack and dug around for the small bag of bits I had been given for pay during hoof camp. Pulling three out I put them on the counter only for them to disappear under a red hoof that pulled them towards the hoof's owner and then into his own bag. A trio of shiny red apples soon replaced them only for me to look at them. “Hmm, don't suppose you have any granny smith do you?” I asked making the stallion's eyebrow raise before the same hoof pulled away one of the trio and replace it with a yellow green one. I nodded my head with a smile before putting the three into my pack. “Thank you” I said keeping the same smile. The stallion nodded, “Thank ya fer the business” he replied before I turned, grabbed my spear, and walked away. 'Huh, wonder if any of those six even told anyone about me.' I thought walking back towards my destination that was the dark forest. My thoughts went back to the apples, wondering if I should eat them now and find out what the "Famous Apple family apples" taste like. A shimmer of light caught my eye making me turn my head and laugh. The large stone from my first or second day still shown with the orange chalk writing though withered so that some of the words were unreadable. Rubbing a gloved hand across the chalk, I pulled it away to see that the orange substance still shown even on my glove. Wiping it off on the grass, I hummed to myself before standing back to my feet. 'Interesting...' I thought wondering what else I would be able to do with the chalk. Remembering back, to my experiment with the white chalk, I found that it shown like it's orange counterpart, but went out after a few moments of writing my name as no other words glowed with the white light. 'Makes sense' I thought, remembering that the game only let the white soapstone write your summon sign to allow others to bring you to their aid. I shook my head, and turned back to the forest and heading into it, readying myself for a fight in case a creature were to decided to attack me. A thought occurred to me as the leaves crunched under my boots and a slight breeze rustled the branches. My shield hand went to the small bag I had tied on my belt and rummaged around for a moment before I retrieved a familiar item. Slipping the Ring of Fog on my finger, I watched as my spear seemed to fade along with the rest of my body. Nodding my head for a second, I looked around, not letting the feeling of safety that the ring gave me get to my head. Arriving at the bonfire seemed to provide little resistance, the only encounter that was had on my wander through the forest being a small group of bats that heard me as I neared the tree they slept in and squeaked angrily at me before flying off to a less populated area of the forest. The foliage that had covered the area above the bonfire like so much of the rest of the forest, seemed to of receded. I eyeballed it for a moment as I approached, but shook it out of my mind as the bright blue sky shown through causing me to squint. After taking a step I tripped and nearly fell right into the fire that burned around the sword. Looking back, I noticed a couple of large stones that sat right before the entrance. Remembering back, I chuckled having completely forgotten about the stupid trap I had set up. The thought of needing to hurt the ponies nearly sent a chuckle through me before I really thought about it. 'Trapped me in stone so they could 'find some way to help me', I end a threat to their land forever and they make it official that it was in fact my prison. After my mind fragments due to being trapped, they proceed to take said fragment out?' I thought sitting down in front of the bonfire, the comforting warmth doing little to ease the growing dread in my gut. 'Then, after all that, Celestia still says I have to serve in her military, just to make good in her eyes for killing Tirek...' I let out a sigh 'Seems like this paradise for fans of the show, isn't so much one for me' I thought as I looked into the flames. Taking off my backpack, I reached inside to get a drink and possibly try out one of those apples, but a small yellow piece of what looked to be wire caught my attention. Placing the bag on the ground next to me, I picked up the small length of plastic coated copper twirling it in between my gloved fingers for a moment before a voice caught my attention making me stumble to my feet in surprise. 'I am one of the victims, but the suit gives me life. The man who took away my life shall not take others. Call upon me if you need help.' A shiver ran through my body making me tense and search for the voice's origin. After looking around the edge of the clearing weapon in hand, I walked back to my bag and the wire I dropped out of shock. Picking it up again, I noticed the strage feeling I got around it, unnoticed before due to the shock that had taken me. Twirling it in my fingers once more, I waited to see if the voice would sound once again. When only the sound of the forest around me gave no indication of the reverberating voice, I turned my gaze again to the wire. "Hello?" I questioned, hoping to elicit a responce, to which I was greeted with the same message and offer of assistance. Looking around once more, I gave the wire a questioning glance. 'Hmm, seems talking to is gets at least that much of a responce, though I don't know who it's referring too' I thought glancing around again before taking my seat at the fire. Questions of what this strange wire was doing in the middle of the forest and what it was supposed to do raced through my head. 'Ponies have the technology for electronics, though I doubt they're cheap enough to simply leave around' I thought before putting a hand to my chin 'Though I suppose that begs to question do they use mainly magic for the power sources and to drive things that would normally be used with electricity?' I countered remembering the lights in the guards barracks were bulbs, but not the same as those that ran using heating elements and gas. After a moment I noticed the wire emmited a soft glow that slowly intensified before flying up into the air and zipping off into the forest before seemingly ceasing to exist. My eyes were wide and I was off my butt clutching my spear and shield protectively. 'What in the name of-' I thought before a sound echoed through the forest. A moment passed before the strange echoing noise sounded again, the origin seemingly the direction the wire had flown. After a third, I recognized what seemed to be a laugh, or something, slown down making it drawn out and almost evil sounding. The sound of quiet machinery made it's way to my ear. The rhythmic thumping of something, almost like that of footsteps followed by a buzzing followed by the same thumping. The strange laugh echoed again making me turn to the source as it came out of the trees. A creature who's skin, if you could call it that, seemed to be made in portions revealing what looked like silver balls that connected the parts together. The creature's face seemed animal-like, but more of one for a toy to amuse children. A small black top hat sat on it's head matching the small black bow tie. The eyes, dear lord the eyes, were two expressionless white orbs with black pupils and a blue irises surrounding them that seemed to be looking right through me. My shield was up in a defencive manner as the thumping of my heart sounded in my ears. The spear was pointed right at it's face, though not an once of surprise was showing. “Anot-t-ther human?” the creature seemed to ask, it's jaw simply moving up and down as a speaker relayed the words, albeit a bit jumbled. My eyes widened in surprise and my spear lowered for a moment before I aimed the tip back at the creature, the expression on my face going back to a steely gaze. “Yes, what do you want?” I asked. "I haven't seen another Displaced in so long..." It said, slowly approaching disregarding the spear completely, though it seemed useless as the tip slid a shallow cut through the felt-like material on the creature's skull. So shocked was I, that I barely reacted when it wrapped it's arms around me. The smell of decay crept it's way into my nostrils making me gag a bit before it stepped away. "Not a too bad looking one either, though your clothes look like you've been to Tartarus and back" Stumbling back my mind raced, though the phrase 'What the hell?' was repeated multiple times before my mouth seemed to restart. "What in the name of God?" I nearly shouted as the creature simply stood there, the mechanical smile still on it's face. “Ohhh!” it said, as it's jaw simply dropped for a moment before returning to motion. “You must be new here. See you're actually in the land of a show called 'My Little Pony!'” It said holding it's arms out wide. I gave it a blank stare for a moment as it started going on about the ponies and the griffins, minotaurs and even going into the story of the show before I held up my hand to stop it. “I know about the show, I've been here for a few years now, I'm more curious of what the hell is going on with you” I said, some of the initial shock starting to wear off. “You've been here for years and never heard out of the rest of the Displaced?” the creature asked as I stood back up. “Hmm, that's strange. Well the story behind the rest of us is fairly easy to give. Like you were, I'm assuming at least, we were all transported here after buying something from this weird looking guy at an anime, comic, or well any kind of convention that people dress up like that for.” it said. I raised an eyebrow, “Kinda hunched over with a bag on his back, wearing a trench coat with a hood?” I asked only for the creature to nod slowly. “And he had his face wrapped with a bandanna so you could only see his eyes?” I finished only for it to nod again. “Yes, the merchant from Resident Evil, we all know him well.” it said a strange grinding nose emanated from it for a moment before it suddenly stopped. I shook my head for a second before looking at it. “Resident Evil? You know what, whatever, can you just skip that part and get to what you are because the weird animal costume is kinda freaking me out” I said only for it to laugh. “That's what it was made to do! I'm Freddy Fazbear!” it said holding it's arms out like it's trying to scare me. I blinked for a second before looking it up and down. “And that is?” I asked earning a face palm from 'Freddy'. “I take it you didn't go on the internet much?” it asked to which I gave a 'so so' hand sign after which it started explaining. “Wait so you're a girl?” I asked making the animatronic nod in her normal slow manner. “Huh weird” I said putting a hand to my chin. “Yea, I had decided to cosplay as Freddy, but didn't have time to get a microphone, so when I got there I noticed that the merchant had one. He was really weird about it and gave it to me for free.” She said before pulling out a small black microphone. “Me and my friends, who were dressed up like the rest of the cast, had been asked to pose for a few pictures and after I tried to sing into the microphone a lot of static came from it and I wake up in the middle of some rundown building” I nodded. “Sounds a lot like me. I found this-” I said taking out the ring of fog from my pouch. “being sold by the merchant. Ended up being seventy five bucks too” I said holding it out for her to look at. “Oh cool! I knew you looked familiar! You're from Dark Souls right?” she asked to which I nodded. “My brother and I used to play that all the time and invade people!” she said before that creepy laugh echoed from her speaker. A shiver ran up my spine and I gave a halfhearted chuckle. “Oh! So how are your relations with the ponies here?” Freddy asked I let out a sigh before leaning back, the both of us having sat down during the explanation. “Well, it could be better” I said “See, when I first got here, a manticore managed to kill me” I started making the anamatronic's eyebrows rise slightly. “You said you've played Dark Souls though so you get the gist.” I said motioning towards the bonfire behind me. “I see...” she said nodding. “What happened after that?” I chuckled at the memory, “Well I wandered out into the forest after killing the manticore and came across Zecora's hut and asked to stay the night. Long story short, don't talk to people when you look like a mummy” I said getting a giggle from the girl. “After that incident...” Marrisah, as her actual name came out, and I talked for a while. Telling our stories of our time here, and what our previous life was like. As it turns out though, ponies were not a fan of the Freddy Fazbear suit, so Marrisah had spent most of her life with ponies running away from them. “It sounds almost as if your 'reflection' was right about you being too trusting in the princesses” Marrisah said one of the black eyebrows raising slightly. “I mean, in my universe they're protective of their ponies to a fault going so far as to try to hunt me down for doing nothing. While being pusnished for killing Tirek sounds reasonable, letting them do this to you doesn't sound healthy” I let out a sigh before nodding. “I suppose you're right. I'm already stuck in the Royal guard though, what should I do now?” I asked holding out my hands in question. The 'bear' suit shrugged. “I can't tell you what to do. I can make suggestions, but as Displaced for the most part we're on our own out here. I can't stay here much longer and neither will any other, we're tied to our universe at least to a point. I've heard from others that some of us were trying to get home, but to my knowledge no ones got there yet” she said. My eyes widened, “Wait you're leaving? But you just got here!” I said making another laugh echo from the speaker. "That may be true, but the original use for that little token system is that we help in a fight or with something else, not just sitting around talking. Seems it knows, or something, and is now telling me I need to go." She said, her eyebrows lowering slightly as she looked downward. "How am I supposed to bring you back if I need you though?" I asked as she got up from the ground, myself following suit. "Well just use my token" she said matter of factly. Seeing the look on my face she motioned with her hands, "A piece of yellow wire, bout this long?" My eyes widened, "That thing? It flew off into the forest before you walked up" I said making her nod. "Alright, alright, here" she said lifting up her left arm which a small yellow wire stuck out from before she grabbed and yanked it out and handed it to me. "Now you have a way to contact me. I don't suppose I can get your phone number too?" she joked, cocking her head slightly. I looked at her confused before she rolled her eyes. "Your summoning token" she reitorated only for me to continue my confused look. "Have you... not set up your summoning token?" Marrisah asked only for me to shake my head. A sigh escaped her as she put her hand up to her head. "Alright, do you have something that you got from your first few days? As far as I can tell those seem to work the best" She said before adding, "Something you probably won't miss giving away" I thought for a moment before turning back to my bag as an idea came to me. Pulling out the mask I had worn the day after scaring Zecora, I looked it over before presenting it to her. The anamatronic looked the mask over for a moment before shrugging. "I guess that'll do" she said looking back up at me. "I don't know all the specifics mind you, but there should be some phrase that comes to mind." "What do you mean?" I asked looking down at the bark mask. "Like what the wire said?" "Exactly" She replied. "When I first pulled this wire out of my suit, the speaker started acting up saying 'I am one of the victims, but the suit gives me life. The man who took away my life shall not take others. Call upon me if you need help.'. It was really creepy” she said before a shiver ran through the suit making parts of it clank together. "From what some of the others I talked to said, it could be some kind of enchantment, but they didn't have much luck in examining it" I glanced at the mask in my hands before returning my gaze to her. "I suppose that makes enough sense, but I don't really know any magic. I mean, since I was trained by Strong Horn and Iron Arm they showed me some of the magic the minotaurs emplor, mainly being runes on armor and weapons, but I don't..." I trailed off as a familiar soft light seemed to eminate from Marrisah. "Well it seems I must be going, don't worry about it too much, you'll get it eventually" She said cocking her head again which I can only assume at this point is her version of a smile. "Just remember to keep that wire on you, and call me back if you need any help. Oh, and don't let the sisters push you ar-" Mid word, the suit imploded in a flash of light and a pop as air rushed in where there was previously something else, and just like that she was gone.