Warped Paths

by Morikain

Second Impressions?

A/N I will just say that this chapter was a PAIN to write and I actually cut it a bit short because it was taking too long to write completely. So cut into two chapters and probably a fail of epic proportions on Luna's Old English, I hope it's better than what I think it is to everyone who reads this.

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Morning caught me lying in the middle of a clearing ringed with blue flowers and blessed darkness instead of light. Standing and stretching out the stiffness in my limbs, I then scan my surroundings. I had noticed the day before that the blue flowers seemed to deter anything from passing by them, so with a quick return to human form and climbing over the ring, I had found a safe place to sleep. Unfortunately, that didn't keep creatures from walking the edge of the clearing in an attempt to scare me out so I was awoken several times by the growls and roars of various creatures.

Taking a running leap, I clear the flowers and stop next to a tree. Normally I would take the long way and walk, but I wasn't sure of the time so I turned to a tree and gathered mana for a spell than was rarely put to use anymore. As I walk up to the closest tree, a faint green glow surrounds me and I step into the trunk of the tree. Continuing the motion, my next step lands me at the edge of the forest an facing Ponyville and I smile. "It has been a long time since I traveled that way... Good to know I can still use trees to travel short distances." Padding silently towards Ponyville, I was just starting to think that the day was going to be boring when a chorus of howls stops my train of thought.

I was going to ignore it, seeing as I was already near town so it was unlikely the wolves would cause problems, but screams from what sounded like three little girls had me sprinting in the direction and reaching into a pouch at my side. Grabbing the firework Lutano had given me, I arc electricity between fingers to light the fuse and launch it as I run in the hopes that Lutano was awake and close enough to see or hear the explosion. Breaking into a field at the edge of the town, I spot three fillies running from what looked like six wolves made of wood.

Cursing as I watch the wolves close in, I lift a hand and immediately large arcs of electricity begin racing from fingertip to elbow before a bolt of electricity shoots out and slams into the lead wolf, shattering it before arcing to the next though it lacked the power to do more than slow it down. Drawing my sword as I pass the fillies, I behead the wolf that was slowed down by the electricity and slide my shield onto my arm as another lunges at me. Despite having been in hundreds of battles as support for Lutano, four wolves were too many for me to take on even as brittle as they were but I refused to let them by me to get to the fillies.

As they neared me, two branched off to either side to surround me and I smirk. 'Maybe this will work out after all.' Focusing for a second, a small ring of fire appeared around my feet barely an inch tall. At first, the wolves paused, thinking the fire was about to be set upon them but when all it did was flicker along the ground, they let out what sounded like a laughing growl and circled closer. As soon as they were within six feet, I smirked and a second later the flames at my feet explode outwards in every direction, catching three of the wolves who were too slow to jump away. 'Thank Karana for my good luck' The fourth wolf though, leapt away and when the flames faded it lunged straight for me to keep me from having time to cast another possibly fatal spell at it.

Raising my shield, I was just barely able to get it up in time to keep it from getting to me but I was slammed into the ground in the process. I knew with m current position it would be impossible for me to recover and fight back, but yet again luck was on my side and an ethereal green clawed hand slammed into the side of the wolf, immediately rotting it's wooden body to the point it practically exploded into dust when it hit the ground beside me.

Letting my head fall back to rest in the grass, I let my arms relax on either side of me and sigh in relief. "I've seen some amazing timing in my life but you couldn't possibly have chosen a better time to show up, Lutano."

Lutano's voice came from behind me after a laugh. "Wasn't one of your quotes you used to use that the hero usually shows up at the last second?"

I chuckle slightly as I sit up and set my shield and sword beside me. "Yea, but I would have appreciated an earlier intervention. Luckily these wolves weren't very intelligent so I was able to get five of the six with surprise tactics. Though I am surprised there was only si-" Several howls cut me off and I face palm. "Stupid, you know not to make comments about luck in a battle." Quickly rising to my feet, I strap my shield back to my arm and grab my sword. "Looks like you get the fight you've been wanting after all, up close and personal too."

Lutano rolls his eyes as he slips his shield onto his arm and his right hand glows a sickly green. "You make it sound like I am always craving a fight." As the first wolf broke from the forest, Lutano hits it with a ball of green mist that explodes on contact with it and leaves a small but growing spot of rot along the side of its head.

I arch an eyebrow at him as he draws his sword and moves to stand between me and the trees just as ten more wolves charge out of the trees. "And how often do you get side tracked on quests by killing something?"

Smirking, Lutano glances over his shoulder. "Just about as often as you do with 'shinies' and random pieces of paper lying around." Turning back around before I can reply, Lutano dashes into the middle of the wolves and a wave of black smoke pours from his armor, further poisoning the wolves as he begins slashing away at the closest ones.

I chuckle slightly and shake my head. "Always with the disease abilities." Charging electricity to my arm, I wait for any openings before blasting the occasional bolt of lightning at the wolves that were trying to keep their distance to catch Lutano by surprise. Watching the fight, I frown slightly. Normally wolves or wildlife in general would avoid places like towns, so chasing down the fillies into the town was surprising.

Thankfully, they were rather brittle and within just a few minutes there were Timberwolf remains scattered around the field with a slightly panting Sarnak at its center. Turning to me as the last of the electricity fades from my hand, Lutano chuckles. "If this is the best that this land has to offer, I am going to be very disappointed. Norrath was far worse, even on the common trash we would run into just traveling."

Sheathing my sword and hanging the shield on my back, I chuckle slightly. "I have to agree, they are fairly easy to kill if just a single solid blow can destroy them. Though it annoys me that they are still strong enough to take me down with just six of them." Shaking my head, I turn in the direction the fillies had run only to find empty space. Sighing, I turn back to Lutano. "Anyways, we need to get going now that the fillies they were after are safe. The last thing we need is an angry alicorn after us."

Lutano chuckles and leads the way into and through the town. "What happened to the threat you gave Celestia in the castle?"

I glance at Lutano and snort. "I had less than a quarter of my mana left and we were both off balance from the sudden shift in the destination of the portal, that threat was purely a bluff. I was lucky enough just to get a decent enough Thunderbolt off when Nightmare Moon took a stand against me." Spotting the growing smirk on Lutano's face, I knew a taunt was coming and cut him off with the crackling of electricity charging.

Walking through the town, I was just about to ask Lutano if he knew where we were going when something told me to duck. A second later a pink blur shot past me and slammed Lutano face first into the ground and a second later there was a cheerful voice rattling off something faster than I could understand. Before either of us could figure out what was going on, the pink shape was gone again. Shaking my head, I help Lutano to his feet. "That trumps everything I have seen... Any idea what that was?"

Rubbing his nose, Lutano shakes his head. "Not a clue but that hurt, lets just hope we don't run into that thing again."

Turning to get back to walking, we were stopped again though this time it was by the familiar face of Applejack. "Hey, glad ah caught y'all before ya left. Ah was wantin to know if ya were gonna be comin back to Ponyville."

Shaking my head, I give a half-hearted smile. "If things go well, we probably will be leaving Canterlot by portal so we can get back home. Though knowing my luck, things won't be so simple... If we are unable to find a return portal, we will come back here." Throwing an amused glance at Lutano, I chuckle. "I'm sure Lutano would enjoy the relaxing work you have."

Applejack laughed. "Ya can make fun of him, but he does some amazin work. Besides, if ya are stayin around here ya will need some bits to buy what ya need."

I shake my head slightly. "We are far more self sufficient than you might think. We usually gather our own food from nature." Looking to the sky, I notice the sun's position and frown. "We need to hurry, what's the fastest way to get to Canterlot?"

Applejack frowns slightly in thought. "Well, the fastest way ah can think of for a non-Pegasus would be the train."

I nod slightly. "Can you show us where it is? I already don't think we will make it to the castle by noon so I don't want to go wandering around."

Applejack nods with a smile and trots quickly down the street. "Ah got to thinkin yesterday and wanted to know, what's yer world like?"

Glancing at Lutano for a second, I shake my head before answering. "It's not really all the different other than the fact that the races that seem to be intelligent here, aren't nearly as intelligent in Norrath. We also tend to have a lot more fighting and such than it appears you do."

Blinking in surprise, Applejack's head turns to look at us. "Ya fight a lot? Why would ya need to do that?"

I sigh and pinch the bridge of my nose. "There is too much that goes into it, but the short version is that if people like Lutano and I didn't go out and fight out some of the creatures near our homes than our cities would quickly be burnt to the ground and our familes killed. You ponies appear to have a fairly peaceful world so I wouldn't expect you to understand what is going on in ours."

Lutano chuckles slightly before adding his own comment. "Peaceful is an understatement for this place, even the animals can be reasoned with if the stories of her friend Fluttershy are anything to go by."

I stare at Lutano for a second with a deadpan expression. "Are you forgetting that you are traveling with a Druid? I can just about talk with any animal out there and most of the time they will listen." At Lutano's expression I can't help but smirk. "You did forget. How do you forget that about the person that has brought you back from the dead half a dozen times?"

Lutano shrugs slightly but doesn't say anything, instead turning his attention to the large platform next to a set of rails that just came into view. "Is that the place?"

Applejack nods. "Yep, that's the train station which should have the train arriving soon if the Princesses want you there by noon."

Glancing at the position of the sun, I shake my head. "We only have an hour to get there, I can't see how we could..." Face palming, I turn to Lutano. "We can use our gliders. Save us waiting and we won't have to follow these tracks." Reaching into a pocket hidden in my sleeve, I pull out a small whistle and Lutano does the same. "You may want to step back by the way, our mounts aren't very small."

Giving us a confused look, Applejack still took a few steps back to watch us. Lifting the whistle to my lips, I sound off a single long note before letting it fade and slipping the whistle back into the concealed pocket. A second later blue sparks start floating up from the ground and forming into a large slightly hunched over form. With a flash of light, there was now a large squirrel that stood nearly a foot taller than me with long fangs and the tip of it's tail flattened into a disc like shape. Smiling to myself, I walk to its side and scratch behind one of it's ears. After a second, I swing up into the saddle on it's back and use the straps on the side to tie myself onto it.

Hearing Lutano use his own whistle, I turn just in time to see a green lizard with three horns on it's head and tail appear and I chuckle. "No variety with you, is there?"

Cut off by a clearing throat, we both look at Applejack who is staring at us with narrowed eyes. "And just what in tarnation are you doing using those critters like that?"

I blink slightly before looking at my Tree Glider. "We are going to travel, Keth-ae has been with me for years and I don't think there has been a time I have traveled without him." A slight huff from the over sized squirrel makes me laugh. "Ok, there have been a few times but only in dungeons where he wouldn't be able to move freely." Rubbing the squirrels head, I continue. "I know to you this seems like we are abusing them but I can assure you that this is far from it." I glance at Lutano who is now strapped into his own saddle and waiting. "Though sometimes I wonder about Lutano. His komodo likes to drop out of the sky with him a lot."

Shaking my head to get back on track, I look to Applejack. "Which way is Canterlot from here?"

Taking a second to look at the distant mountain, Applejack points toward the peak. "Canterlot sits near the peak of that mountain there. It's fairly easy to reach and ya should see it well before ya reach it."

I nod slightly, and with a mental command Keth'ae leaps forward, putting us nearly eighty feet in the air before stretching his limbs out so the skin between his hind and forelegs catches the air allowing him to glide. Looking over my shoulder, I spot Lutano following closely, three flaps of skin acting in a similar way as Keth-ae's. Satisfied that we wouldn't have problems sticking together, I turn my attention back to the mountains and begin scanning the peak for a castle.

Just as Applejack had said, I soon spotted the castle and angled our flight path for the mountain just off to the side of the castle. It took us a lot of jumping to get there but in the end we made it to the city in just under forty five minutes. After landing outside the city, we jump off our mounts and dismiss them in a swirl of blue sparks and I scan the buildings. "Well... this is going to be fun..."

Lutano glances at me for a second then looks at the city before chuckling. "Oh yea, you don't like cities do you?'

I shake my head but start walking towards the castle. "Most cities feel like an empty void to me and it interferes with my magic. I can still cast spells but it requires a lot more magic as well as concentration."

Lutano chuckles slightly. "I can't imagine just having my surroundings effect my magic. Glad I'm not a druid now."

I smirk at the comment. "So am I, the thought of you being the one behind me and keeping me alive is a little scary."

Lutano snorts in amusement. "You're too soft to go charging into a fight anyway. You'd probably drop no matter who it was behind you."

I shrug slightly, not really able to argue since I wasn't very skilled at melee fighting and most of my skills were in healing." As we walk, I glance around and notice that the streets were clearing quickly, with most of the ponies that spotted us screaming something about monsters. Shaking my head slightly, I glance at Lutano. "Kind of strange that we are the ones being called monsters after all the time we have spent killing actual monsters. It's an interesting twist."

Lutano nods a couple of times, watching the ponies with narrowed eyes. "Yea, but these things don't even know what we are and they are calling us monsters. Either they have little to no interaction with other species or they are just scared of everything they see that is unfamiliar."

Turning onto another street, the castle gates loom over us just a short ways ahead of us. "Maybe, but we are in a world that appears to have nothing remotely humanoid."

Stopping at the gates, a pair of white ponies in golden armor stopped us with spears crossed between them. After staring at us for a second, the one on the right spoke. "I don't know what you two are but you can turn around and leave right now."

I roll my eyes and gesture to the castle. "Princess Celestia sent us a letter summoning us to meet her today, so I cam afraid we can't leave. Now why don't you let us through so we can get this whole thing over with sooner because I really don't like being in cities."

The guards eyes narrowed and the spears were brought around to face us. Sighing, I lift a hand and roots shoot from the ground and lift the guardsponies a couple feet of the ground while binding their legs together. "Lets get to Celestia before I have to do more of this, I don't want to have to wrap up the entire palace guard."

Lutano chuckles and leads the way into the castle with me directing him towards where I sensed the most powerful source of magic. Several times I had to wrap a squad of guards in roots with Lutano knocking out the ones I couldn't get fast enough and after a few minutes we stepped into a large throne room.

Sitting on a golden throne was the white alicorn we had seen at the castle and after a second I bow my head slightly. "I'll apologize before you say anything about your guards. The two at the gate made a move to attack if we didn't leave and we stirred up a bit of trouble with them on the way here."

Celestia smiles slightly, though there is a look of annoyance in her eyes. "Why could you not just tell them I summoned you? It would have avoided the need to harm my guards."

I arch an eyebrow at her. "That was the first thing I did, have you forgotten what I said about my dislike for fighting at the ruins? Your guards were under the impression we were here with the intent to harm you and took our reason for being here as a way to get to you."

Celestia frowns slightly, and glances to the door. "I can't imagine my ponies doing that to a stranger, though my guards can get a little too serious with their duties. On to what I called you here for, I want to know what you are doing in Equestria and what your intentions are. I know you said that you just wanted to get a portal opened back to your home but I have to be sure."

I nod slightly before answering. "Lutano and I were on our way to look into rumors about a dungeon in Norrath but a blast of magic warped our transport midway through so that we landed in the castle with Nightmare Moon. We were initially just going to look into what happened as best we can and see about finding a way to open another portal but we were pulled into the fight between the Elements and Nightmare. We were actually just going to leave once it was over until you put up the barrier."

Celestia smiles slightly at us and looks to Lutano. "And what about you? I noticed you working on Applejack's farm."

Lutano shrugs slightly in response. "It was something to do and it got me a room for the night."

I chuckle slightly at the short response. "Lutano isn't one for long term planning, he just kind of goes along with whatever is happening." Glancing at the door as I catch the sound of running, I wave a hand and a wall of roots block the entire entrance. Turning my attention back to Celestia I frown slightly. "So now that you know our plans, what are you going to do? I'd rather the first interaction we have, not be a fight."

Celestia laughs and nods. "I agree whole heartedly, violence has been gone for far too long in Equestria for me to welcome it back. From what you have shown so far, I don't believe you would be a threat unless provoked so I have no problems letting you be. Though my student and her friends may bother you."

I shrug slightly. "We've traveled over several continents, Planes, and several other places that I can't think of the name of at the moment and dealt with every type of person you can think of as well as some you can't... I don't think a few ponies are going to be a problem."

A knock at the blocked door stops our conversation and I glance at it as a female voice calls through it. "Celestia? Is everything well?"

Celestia smiles slightly and looks to me. "Lower the roots please, that is my sister."

I nod and with a quick gesture the roots sink back into the floor, the last to disappear also flicking the door open to reveal a dark blue alicorn with a mane that looks like the night sky. As soon as the alicorn caught site of us though, her eyes narrowed. "What are these two doing here, sister?"

I raise an eyebrow at the hostility before chuckling. "Not exactly the reaction I was expecting, but not entirely unexpected." I bow slightly before continuing. "I don't know if you heard anything from when we were at the castle ruins but I am Sarikasin, and my friend is Lutano."

For a second the alicorn looks between us before nodding. "We are Princess Luna." Walking past us and to her sisters side, she frowns slightly at us. "What exactly are thou?"

I blink a couple of times before I sigh. "I'm going to hate having to repeatedly explain what we are and what we do... I am a Wood Elf and Lutano is a Sarnak. I have a fairly decent idea what you are going to ask so I will just cover everything. I am a druid and he is a shadow knight, we are from Norrath which is a different world and we are adventurers. My name is also Sarikasin." I shook my head at the fact that giving my name was a last minute thought before turning my attention back to the princesses. "Anyways, is there anything you need from us?"

Celestia shakes her head but Luna nods. "We would like to ask thou to explain a few things. What is a... Druid? And shadow knight."

I sigh slightly. "A druid is someone who has devoted themselves to nature and it's protection. I'm actually a rarity among druids since I have chosen not only to leave the forests but I have also joined a guild and travel with a race that would normally be killed or run off if it set foot in a true forest."

Lutano blinks and looks at me in surprise. "Really? I didn't know that..."

I shrug slightly and smirk. "Never saw fit to mention it and it's really not that important. Back to the question though, a shadow knight is basically a warrior with poison and disease magic with a minor control of the undead depending on the god followed. If you know what a Paladin is, just reverse the roles."

Luna nods slightly with a look of half horror and half awe. "Thou hast control over undead?"

Lutano shakes his head. "No, I just have several toxic based spells that I can use. My deity doesn't use the undead."

Luna seems to sigh in relief before nodding. "Good."

The uneasiness that I have been feeling from being in city starts to grow past my ability to ignore so I turn my attention to Celestia. "I am going to head back towards the Everfree. It has the strongest connection to nature I can feel so it will be the most likely place of being able to get back home."

Celestia nods once with a smile. "I am thankful you came to meet with me, our first meeting wasn't under the best of circumstances."

I smirk slightly. "I think that's a bit of an understatement but I agree, I was a little worried we would have to fight off an alicorn while trying to figure out how to leave, and at the time I was almost completely out of mana so I would have lost a battle of magic had you tried to stop us." Turning to the door, I start to walk with Lutano close behind. "If you need anything from one of us before we leave, just send a letter to Twilight. I will be letting her know where we will be in case you do."

Celestia nods but before she can say anything a cloud of green mist bursts up around me and my body falls limp to the ground with Lutano snickering above me. Letting out a growl, I look out of the corner of my eye at him and start to charge magic in my entire body. As the magic built, electricity began to race across my body with short cracks. After a few seconds I let it discharge and bolts of electricity filled the room around me, since without control of my limbs I also couldn't point the energy in a specific direction.

Luckily with Lutano being so close and taller, the electricity arced to him several times before the spell faded and a couple seconds later I was able to regain mobility. Looking up at the sudden silence, my eyes widen when I realize that the discharge had filled the room with static and the princesses manes were standing straight up almost looking like afros. "Oh... crap." Seeing Lutano still stunned on the floor, I decided this is one time I would leave him since he also had nothing to do with the current problem. Looking up, I lunge for the door in the hopes that it would just be made out of a special wood and not stone... unfortunately I never made it that far as a dark blue aura surrounded me and I froze mid air.

Cursing mentally, I look to the princesses to see Luna with her horn glowing and narrowed eyes. At first I think she is going to take a sort of revenge for making her look the way she did but I was lifted to the ceiling before I could fully process the thought. Set on a rafter, I look down at the smug smile Luna had with confusion. "This is it? Setting me on a rafter about sixty feet up? I didn't mean for you to get caught in the discharge but still... I wasn't expecting this."

Luna shrugs slightly. "We realize it wasn't intentional but we also believe that thou needs to learn. So we will leave thou up there until we believe payment has been served."

Chuckling, I move to the center of the beam and grin at Luna. "There is one thing you should know about druids than and that is the fact that we can travel through trees and wood." With that I sank into the beam and step out into a garden at the side of the castle. Smiling to myself, I move further into the garden and look over the plants. For being in the middle of a large city, the gardens were well taken care of and it gave me a bit of hope that the residents of the world would be easier to deal with than Norrath's. Once again cutting my thoughts short, there is a dark blue flash of light an Luna appears in front of me with narrowed eyes.

Staring at her for a second, I finally sigh when she doesn't say anything. "Let me guess, you don't appreciate the exit I made?" Again silence and I frown slightly. "Are you just going to stare at me or speak what you want to say?"

Luna finally sighs and an almost sad look takes the place of the glare. "We don't understand, the ponies we are here to protect fear us but thou dost not and we have nothing compelling us to keep from harming thou."

I shrug slightly. "I have faced off against dragons, machines as tall as the castle walls and various other creatures of varying sizes and strengths. I know nothing about your magic and you may be stronger than me but I also know that I could at least hold my own. Besides that, I have faced death hundreds of times and actually have died at least a few dozen times so why would I fear you?"

Blinking a couple of times, Luna's eyes narrow slightly in confusion. "How can thou have died if thou are standing before us?"

I grin and gesture back towards the castle. "Lutano has been my saving grace. I can summon a crystal feather that can be used to bring someone back from the dead but only if you use it on them within ten minutes. As long as I keep him supplied with a feather than I don't really have to worry."

Luna shakes her head. "Thou uses such dark magic as to meddle with the dead?"

I snort in amusement and shake my head. "Trust me, we are all still alive. The ten minutes is a sort of limbo period where the soul is caught between life and death. If you can bring it back in that time frame than the body never truly dies. If that time is passed though, there is no way of reviving the person and they are left as is."

Luna shakes her head and sighs. "The magic thou dost claim to have is strange to us... We think that it will take some thought but until then let us return to the throne room."

Nodding, I fall in step beside her as we walk back towards the castle.

Comments

[Mike the Red]

I really like where this is heading. Looking forward to more!