Entropy

by PseudoBob Delightus

Lost Chapters - #5 "Encompassed"

Chapter 5
Encompassed

I stood up and shambled towards the forest. The forsaken Everfree was my only option left, but I would make the best of it. As I headed through, just barely making out paths in the moonlight, I began to feel some sort of push. It was strange at first, like someone was directly behind me, shoving my back if I slowed, but soon it was a reassuring sign that wherever I was headed, it was probably the right direction.

After picking myself up, I realized that the object I ran into was a dead tree. Backing up, I noticed it was the same tree I had woken up in, less than a week ago. ‘Did this place draw me back?’ I reached up to grab the knife that I had wisely thrown away before I was taken, sliding it into the sheath. They may not have known what the sheath was for, but the knife was fairly obvious and would have been taken away. Luckily, it remained in the same place as before, buried inches deep in the rotting bark. It was another stroke of luck that the moon was out, as the blade’s lunar reflection was the only sign it was there. Of course, I heard something about the moon only coming out at night earlier that day, but I was only just coming to grips on magic existing and I didn’t want to mess my mind up further by thinking about it.

After looking for any ponies nearby, I stepped inside the tree again, hoping that the mysterious feeling would direct me to where I should be going. Nothing happened. I decided that I should go to my cave to find the few things I would need, like my glasses and sharpening block, and then continue in the direction I had been traveling in.

I started thinking about my feet hurting, which only increased the anguish, but drew me to another thought: my left leg, which had healed overnight on the second day. It was ‘Almost like magic!’ I laughed at the thought. I wondered if the same thing would happen to me again, but the thoughts soon degraded into similarly horrible jokes and puns until I managed to track down my cave. Nothing was out of place, at first, but as I entered the mouth two objects stood out at me.

There was a shiny red apple, and a folded note. The note had odd glyphs on it and was probably placed there by Fluttershy after I spoke to her. It was strange that she thought I would get out, but I didn’t pursue the thought. I was hungry, and the apple was probably the best one I had had yet.

Still eating, I went into the cave to retrieve the objects I didn’t take with me the first time and began to start a fire. I looked out of the cave for some dead wood, but something else caught my eye.

Several of the trees around me were apple trees, carrying large fruit not unlike the one I was still holding. The unsettling sight, however, was lying below; there were apples on the ground. Apples just like mine had fallen to the forest floor recently. After a few seconds of staring at one of them, I finally understood why this scared me.

Every single one of them was rotten to the core, while my apple was healthy and clean. Someone, again, probably Fluttershy, picked it recently, within the last few hours. I wasn’t going to take the chance that this was a ‘coincidence’; one or more ponies knew of my escape, knew where I was, where I lived and could track my movement well enough to outrun me to my cave. That was not good.

I put my knife in its sheath, collected my few belongings in my pack, picked a few apples, and searched the horizon for a place to go. I wanted to get further away from the castle, the center of the search, so my options were to continue along the mountainside to the right or go into the forest on the left. I saw ruins of a building within the forest, nearly opposite the castle, and made that my goal. Less than a minute after throwing the apple, I was sprinting through the forest, with virtually no sound in my wake thanks to my powers. I sprinted for several minutes, leading into jogging for an hour and walking the rest.

In the brief time of an hour or so, I covered most of the distance, and supposed that slowing down was a good trade-off for my legs not falling off. I sat by a river on some dewed grass, eating my apples. I was surprised at how many I was finding out here, and how many I had eaten in only five or six days. Or was it four or five? I lost track of time somewhere between being kicked in the head and constricted by magic, so it could just as well have been a month. Either way, the apples tasted better here, and they seemed to be healthier as well. I couldn’t complain about that, but there were plenty of bones I had to pick. Now was a good time. I began to dwell on all of it; the ponies, the forest, the physics, the powers, and that blasted rotten tree. I wanted to think about it, I wanted to make sense of it. I had a chance to ask…

I once again dwelled on failing to get any useful information out of Fluttershy on the second morning. Maybe it was the shock of arriving here so quickly, or maybe it was my general inability to communicate. I seemed to remember saying all the things I meant to, but I kept thinking of her eyes. Those huge, cyan-rimmed eyes that seemed to fall inside forever… Something was up with those things, and the more I thought about what it was, the further I was from the answer. And the closer I was to something else.

My vision was snapped back to the river as I heard some twigs snap, some leaves crunch. I looked up, and fewer than ten feet away was a dark figure similar to the ponies I had just left behind. I reached for my knife, but held it within the sheath as I the silhouette slowly approached me, showing no signs of aggression. It soon was circling around, examining me from all angles before mumbling something to itself in an odd language. It might have been the one to leave the glyphic note on my doorstep, but I couldn't know.

Getting a better look at it, I saw that it was a zebra, very similar to the ponies. It also had several brass-coloured rings around its neck, one on its ear and a few around the left-front leg. I had no idea what this zebra was doing out here, but it looked like an African tribe-woman, except for the whole thing about it being a zebra. It began to mumble things again, and poked me around my waist. That hurt a lot for some reason.

“Why are you doing that?” I asked, making sure to keep an even tone. Unfortunately, the zebra jumped back, startled, and started looking around. It took me a while to figure out what it was doing.

“I’m right here, in front of you.” It looked back to me, a frightened grimace turning into a warm smile.

“I did not expect you to talk to me. You should probably follow if you wish to be free.”

“Well, I guess I… wait, what? You know I’m a convict?” I rushed after her as she trotted away, almost tripping over my confusion.

“I know a great deal about what happened to you. So I suppose I could say, yes, I do.”

“How much do you know, and why are you rhyming?” The zebra looked at me with light anger in reply to my question for a few seconds before looking ahead. We were approaching a small hut in a clearing. It didn’t look like any of the pony houses I’d seen, but I couldn’t let my guard down.

“Are you leading me into capture?” I started to slow and looked all around, searching for anyone nearby. It was hard to see in the darkness, but I scanned the forest with extended hearing and found no other hoof-steps.

“I assure you that you will be safe within here. Most ponies abandoned this route, out of fear.” It turned back with a saddened look, and I hurried ahead after being reassured that I was not being captured again. Still, I thought, this zebra was probably lonely out here-

I stopped myself from thinking about how it felt. It was no concern of mine, at least not right now. I was getting away from those that it missed, so all the better if it was in a secluded part of the forest.

During my inner monologue, the zebra had approached the hut, which appeared to be made of combinations of thatched grass and straw, and something like leather. From the top came a plume of grey smoke, and I noticed it bore some streaks of colour. My little forest guide opened the door and motioned that I go inside, and I crouched as I passed through the low door. It gasped as I stood to my full height, but nonetheless continued to a cooking cauldron in the center of the room and sat down. I crossed my legs to drop beside it.

I looked around at the strange room. All covered with odd lighting that didn’t match up with the fire, bottles, pouches and various wooden masks littered the brown walls. The roof was held up with wooden beams, and there was some sort of device in the corner with similar design…

“So, what leads you to my part of the forest, my-” I held up a hand in pause and it stopped. I didn’t want it to rhyme anymore, based on my inexplicable knowledge of things dying whenever she finished a verse.

“Do you think you could, you know, not rhyme for a while? I find it really unnerving.” The zebra nodded and seemed to think of a non-rhyme before speaking again.

“As you wish.” It gave me a sheepish smile before turning around and muttering something. I heard it perfectly.

“I heard that.”

“Heard what?”

“You said ‘smelly fish.’ You completed a rhyme”

“I don’t think I did, maybe you’re hearing things.”

“Oh, you bet I hear things. I hear your heart beat; I hear your joints creak. I even hear a mechanical alarm clock going off for the fifth time tonight. Sounds like someone’s late for work today.” It seemed unimpressed at my explanation, but looked up to me again.

“What are you?”

I thought for a while before answering, “Name’s Ethan.”

It raised it’s hoof, “Zecora.” It took me a few seconds of looking awkwardly at its hoof before realising what it was attempting. I took it in my hand and shook.

“Pleased to meet you, Ethan, and I do have need of you. Please, sit over there so I can examine your leg.” I got up and walked to the structure Zecora was pointing at, the one that distracted me earlier. It was a latticed contraption of wood beams, twine and several gears, and I couldn’t figure out what I was supposed to do with it.

“Just put your flank in… oh, that’s not right. Your anatomy is different than…” Zecora trailed off and started adjusting the machine. As I watched, I noticed it sounded female, and looked similar in build to Fluttershy and the other ponies I met earlier. It even had some sort of abstract tattoo on its back legs. I was about to decide on its gender before it noticed me looking at its flank. I quickly turned away after meeting its gaze, but it was a hopeless gesture.

“I saw that.”

“Ok, I have a question to ask, but it’s only partially related to that… I hope.”

“Go on.” It was torturing me with that intentionally seductive smile. I hoped it wasn’t trying anything.

“Are you female?” I asked, trying to give as flat a tone as possible. It didn’t work, my face burned up.

“I am. And as for you…?” As she asked I thought up a pretty good joke.

“What’s your preference?” I leaned down with a huge smile, inches from her face. She blushed, so it probably worked.

“None of your concern, but based on that I’d say your female as well.” Well, that didn’t work out- wait. What?

“Wait… what?” I thought aloud. She began to answer, but I shook my head (as a ‘no’ gesture and to get rid of my confusion) and explained further. “I’m a man. My name is Ethan. I have this voice. How’d you mess that up?” I stood back up as she approached the cauldron, abandoning the strange wooden machine behind me.

“You seem to be more forward when discussing things like these; I haven’t heard the name Ethan before; and, you checked me out.” She smiled and waved her backside at me, at which point I almost burst several blood vessels and fell on the floor. Almost.

That… that was just wrong in so many ways. My discomfort was compounded by two things that Zecora had the pleasure of reminding me; these horse-like beings bore faces that looked very human, which made me think of them as such, and they were all naked. Naked girls walking around in public, talking about sex and always bending over on all fours.

‘Aaaagghhh’ was the noise my brain made as many of my happiest childhood memories suddenly meant nothing to me.

“Are you alright?” She saw me kneeling down on the floor, still having a bad reaction to the thoughts.

“Yeah, yeah, sure… I… I just had a very disturbing revelation.” She began to ask, but I cut her off again, “one that I would rather not share.” She shrugged, which only added to my cranial pressure, and grabbed a ladle in her mouth. She scooped out some sort of green liquid and poured it into a bowl, which was then slid under me.

“What is that?” I wrinkled my nose at the strange, odourless substance.

“I need to follow up on healing your leg.” I still didn’t look back at her for fear that she would be turned around again, but I still had a few questions inside me.

“Before I do whatever with this bowl of whatever, would you mind telling me why you know my leg is… I mean, was, injured?”

“For the record, you’re supposed to drink it, but I suppose I should enlighten you. I heard your cries of pain from this very house, and when I ventured to their source, I found a strange creature half-asleep in a cave. I was unsure of its disposition, so I just blew a little sleep powder at it and checked out the broken leg.”

“We’re getting somewhere. I won’t even ask what this creature was, since it was probably me, but I will ask; what did you do?”

“I gave it- I mean, you, a concoction similar to this brew. It was a topical version, enough to last a few days, but the pain would soon return. I was actually trotting back to find you when I heard a noise coming from the castle. It was unmistakably your sound, and when you came running in the opposite direction of the hold, I put the pieces together.”

“Clever… But, I must ask, why would you go into a cave to heal what could have been a manticore?”

“I have lived long enough in this forest to know that manticores only wander in the deep forest, near the marshes. None of them have even come close to the region where your shouts came from.”

“Well, times they are a’ changin’” I said under my breath, and as she looked at me I covered it, “Anyway, I guess I can take from this that you’re a healer, a potion maker, and you know a good amount about this forest. Now, for the task at hand.” I was sitting cross-legged at that point, still not looking in the zebra’s direction, and I pointed at the bowl, “You say I’m supposed to drink this?”

“That is correct, my un-hoofed friend. You are supposed to down it, for healing ends.” She audibly sighed as she finished her rhyme, but I looked at her with the same dread filling my mind as before.

“Are you serious? Wait, let me guess, rhyming comes naturally to you, is that it?”

“Most pony folk do not believe me, when I say I rhymed since the age of three.”

“Well, I can’t figure it out, but death itself screams at me when I hear you complete a rhyme. Any idea why that would happen?” I gestured to all the masks in the room, several of which looked suspiciously like skulls. She didn’t seem to get what I meant, so I crossed voodoo off.

“No idea, though I will spare your discomfort for a little of mine.”

“And I will spare my discomfort for whatever awaits me in death as I drink this poison.” I said flatly as I downed the green liquid, which coalesced in my stomach before somehow spreading to my leg, waist and feet. I fell over from the feeling, but quickly got up. I was completely healed and fully awake. That felt better. Much better.

“Wow. That’s the best poison I’ve ever had. Thanks.” I stood up quickly and was about to try jumping, until I realized the ceiling was stroking my short hair.

“I hope that we can meet here again, but I think you must be going, my friend.” She said with a smirk as I straightened my pack and walked to the door. I just then realized that I said I was short on time, and would have to save face somehow. I seemed to remember Zecora being on the other side of the room, but I let it slide as I did the same, out the door.

“Yes, it’s been swell. I’ll see about meeting with you again and paying you back, but I don’t have much in the way of a life expectancy, so well see wont we?” I finished from the crack of the door as Zecora started to run after me, probably from the life expectancy comment. It was true that I probably wouldn’t last long, but it wasn’t exactly hopeless. It didn’t matter, however, as I was deep in the brush by the time she re-opened the door.

After jogging silently for over a minute, trying to forget about the zebra that I probably wouldn’t see again, I was noticing a change in the forest. I slowed down and took a look around me, and was surprised at the convenience. With my luck, I might have run right into that manticore I encountered on the first day, but instead I was right in front of the castle structure that I set out to find in the first place.

The ruins in front of me were very similar in design to the castle in the distance, now silhouetted against a rising sun. It seemed the sun would always rise in that direction. Forgetting the anomaly, I looked over the ruins again. Yep, basically a smaller, run-down castle, in the deep forest. I remembered Zecora saying something about other ponies fearing the forest, so being in the deepest part of it would be good cover for a while. I started moving forward again.

I slowly stepped across the rope bridge, trying not to look down at the sharp rocks. When that experience was over, I looked around at my new home. It sure would be inconvenient if the ponies actually used this castle, as an outpost or something, but I got the feeling that was stupid. Still, I was cautious.

I looked at my watch, which I almost forgot I had, and it said 8:34. I wasn’t tired just yet, so I- wait, what? It was 8:34 AM. And it was morning. I wondered why I hadn’t noticed any of these things, or how I managed to fall asleep without knowing. I played back the recent events, and settled on the one stand-out: that green fluid. It knocked me out, or paralysed me, or something worse. I was about to storm back to the hut and raise hell on that zebra, but I caught myself.

I was still here, still free, still unharmed. Though the first of those facts was saddening, I calmed down and silently thanked Zecora for not harming me or handing me back to Celestia. I would have to thank her in person later on, but it would have to wait. I was still a bit shocked that she drugged me.

I climbed up the stairs of the castle to the upper floors, as I had already searched the incredibly boring ground floor. I got up to the partially destroyed balcony on the top, and looked out towards the forest behind me. In the distance I could see the small village, further on I could see Celestia’s castle, but surrounding me, all encompassing, was the forest. Ironically, again, I was safe here. I saw two landmarks, one of which would require investigation.

Near the bridge, but only relatively as it was probably a kilometre off, was a thin trail of smoke with familiar flecks coming off of it signifying Zecora’s hut. Further in, off to the right, in the mountains, was a large combination of a cave and volcano. Coming from within was some sort of orange light, and it beckoned to be explored. Of course, thanks to Zecora I was well rested, well fed and in no immediate danger, which left me with little else to do. If only she could cure stupidity.

After deciding on the plan for today, I checked my pack to make sure everything was there. Pleased at the untouched contents, I pulled out my boots, gloves, hat and sweater, and folded them to tuck them into a crevice in the wall. Next, I lightly stepped across the rickety bridge to find some firewood. After gathering semi-dry bark and dead branches for a good half hour, I set back to the castle to prepare the fire that I would need for the night to come.

After securing the rest of my things behind a large stone, I ate a few apples and imagined what lied in that cave. It could be lava waiting to escape on an unsuspecting victim, but I expected it, so that probably wouldn’t happen. I tried to escape my paranoia, but it soon caught up to me; I was imagining that inside the cave was an elite army of the white soldiers I had fought on the second day. Or… was it the third? What day was I passing at the time? And what day did I wake up to? I would have to actually wake up if I was to think straight.

100 push-ups and 50 sit-ups later, I was munching on some more apples, fully awake. I sure couldn’t survive on them alone, but I filled up on them nonetheless and began preparing. I took my mountain shoes off and replaced them with the steel-toed boots, I put on my sweater, and I collected my gloves and hat to put them in my pockets. They probably wouldn’t be useful, but they didn’t weigh much and it might get cold later on.

Looking deeper in my bag, I found some long strips of white fabric. They looked like some of the material I saw in the strange contraption in the corner of Zecora’s house, but I couldn’t be sure. Of course, I couldn’t get angry at the zebra for putting stuff in my bag, If it was her, so I just hid them in a corner.

I still wore my pack as I left, in case there was anything I needed to bring back, but I could drop to gain speed. I made my way across the forest in the direction I assumed was south, based on the sun’s position when I woke up. I was heading towards the glowing cave, and a closer proximity revealed a low snoring coming from inside.

‘That cant be good…’ I thought to myself as I approached the entrance. It was easily three times my height, and I sidled along the wall to peer inside without being seen. The orange glow was still pulsing, but the curvature of the cave made it impossible to see the source. Drawing my knife, which I was again thankful for still having, I smoothly traced the entrance path and approached the main chamber. When I saw what sat in there, I almost expelled every bodily fluid and waste product at once.

Almost; Not enough to make a mess. But, I digress.

A dragon. There was a dragon in that cave, and it was just sleeping there, on top of what I could only assume was the meagre amount of billions of dollars in gold and jewels. Obviously the dragon was protecting its stash, but I couldn’t help but imagine what I could do with a few handfuls of the loot in there. I almost fell right onto the tail when I caught myself idly walking up to the treasure.

‘What do I do now?’ I asked myself, careful not to wake up the dragon with thunder blasts. I had three options before me. The first and most obvious solution was to backtrack out of there and try not to disturb the behemoth within. The second option was to steal some of the dragons wealth without its knowledge, an act that I realised could get me killed when I remembered that they sleep with one eye closed. The last and craziest option was to attempt to disable or kill the dragon with my powers, then have all the loot to myself. I was reminded even more of that game I played once, despite having no idea of what it was about.

As I thought about my choices, I came upon the fact that I was essentially on the run, and on my own. There was nothing better to do, literally. If I killed or, at least, defeated the dragon, I would be very sure that no ponies would try to mess with me again. And, if I died, I would probably return to the real world. It was an easy decision after that.

I decided on the second option out of preservation instincts as well as proximity to a fortune, and started to pick up some of the gems and gold. I was almost disappointed at how light and small they were, but underneath the first layer were behemoths of gems. At least a dozen fist- to head-size diamonds, amethysts, emeralds, rubies and sapphires lay in front of me, and I wasted no time snatching them up. I almost got too giddy to hold onto them, but a quick hand stopped an azure stone from hitting the ground. I had to remain alert if I was to get out of there alive.

I was done stuffing my bag within a few minutes, still with no sign of the dragon waking up. I had to go a long way to avoid the flames caused by it’s snoring, but eventually I made it back to the mouth of the cave instead of the dragon. I turned back to listen for any noise, and another object caught my eye. There were thick dragon scales near the arms, flaked off onto the floor.

Sneaking closer, without making any noise, I examined the large scales. They looked thick and heavy, but weighed very little and were surprisingly tough. Seeing an opportunity here, I grabbed five moderate sized pieces and slid out of the cave without a second thought. I quickly made my way back to my castle ruin, and almost got to the bridge before remembering a tiny detail about my time here.

I scanned through the forest, amplifying every small crunch of leaves and extracting every branch movement. Hearing that no ponies were out looking for me, I crossed the bridge, almost skipping, as my ideas begged to be let free.

After securing the loot in a hole on the upper floor, I placed the scales on a stone table, put on my still-intact glasses, and took out some of the white mystery fabric.

I was tired from all the running around, so I just ate a few more apples as I placed the materials in the form I was planning. What I had in mind for those scales was probably the best idea ever; I was going to make armour out of them. I kept remembering the game from years ago, but I didn’t actually know why dragon armour had any connection. I would prefer this world to that game, however, as my current plane was… no, it felt real, and I could remember it.

I started out by grabbing the dense strips and wrapped them around the scales. I didn’t make a knot, however, as I took the largest scale and completed a double-loop around my torso. I also stuck the second largest scale in the back of the double loop. Next, I repeated the action with smaller scales for the shoulders, and after that was done I wondered where to put the smallest scale.

I smacked my head for forgetting the obvious answer, and strapped the last scale to the front of my waist, starting at my stomach and stopping between my legs.

I turned towards the dragon’s cave and headed out again, eager to collect more gems, gold and scales. With an empty bag I made great time, and the trip was as uneventful as the last. Approaching the dragon through his cave, I slid by bag off my shoulders and let the noiseless fabric hit the ground. There was a loud ‘Ping’ noise as a gold ornament I forgot to take out hit reverberated against the stone floor.

“Oh, crap.” I exclaimed, and it was almost made a statement when I heard the dragon stir awake. I tried to put my bag back on and slip away, but an arm smashed against the ground and blocked my path. Manticores had nothing on dragons, so I knew I couldn’t just burp in its direction and expect to walk away unscathed. I turned around to meet it’s eyes, barely remaining resolute in the face of death.

“Why are you taking my treasure?” It rumbled in a voice that was felt more than heard.

“Wow, you can talk? Uhh I mean, uhhh… I was actually returning stolen goods.” I struggled to form sentences in the heat of the dragon’s breath, and I pulled out the stray jug, ‘I will have my revenge, inanimate object…’, and let it roll towards the dragon. With it’s free, non-almost-crushing-me arm it plucked the jug off the ground and deposited it deeper within the stash. Then it turned back to me.

“You still have some things that belong to me, talking mammal.” It eyed my chest and arms, and I cursed under my breath at choosing to put this armor on- no, to coming back- no. I cursed setting foot in this cave. The dragon noticed my hesitation and pulled me closer, leaning in. The heat was almost unbearable.

“You don’t have to return my scales, don’t worry.” It sounded sincere, and it moved its closer arm away from me, but when I found its red eyes within the curvature of bone that was its skull, I noticed sarcasm. And anger.

I tried to run, but it caught me in a scalding hot claw and reeled back, aiming at a previously unnoticed hole in the ceiling. It only took a moment for me to realise what it was doing, but by then it had already let go. All that was left behind was the gradually quieter noise of a word that was entirely appropriate for the situation.

“ OH SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii…”

Author's Note:

Oh shit, but that never gets old.