CCC-To Find Her Place

by Fresnor

Forest of Death

Dear Twilight Sparkle, Selene, and the other princesses,

It’s sad to say that it is once again time for me to move on with my search once again. While my time back has been rather pleasant I still have things that I must do before I can truly settle down somewhere. Still being able to talk to you all has really helped me organize my thoughts better in relation to recent events. While I may not be completely over what happened the advice I got from you, especially from Luna and Celestia, really helped me get past the worst of my feelings. Of course if what I was also told is true then I’ll probably never be completely over it all so I’ll be doing my best to learn from it all so I never have to repeat that mistake again.

While I had originally planned to travel quickly out of Equestria, the recent events that have happened have made me realize that it is in my, as well as your, best interest to stop by a few diamond dog packs before I leave the country. While I haven’t heard of anything major brewing in any of those that have regular dealings with ponies I still think it’s a good idea to check on them just to be safe. If nothing else my mere presence should at least reassure them that their legends are true and hopefully the examples I’ve left behind will become a trend.

Since I will be traveling through some of the less traveled areas of the country I’ll also be sure to check on a few rumors that Luna had related to me that she never had a chance to check on. While her guard could handle any of the usual things they are sent to deal with there are some that are better taken care of before they have a chance to gain a foothold and go out of control. Even more worrying though, is how some of the rumors were of creatures of darker origins such as undead. Those are the worst kinds of things to leave on their own for any length of time as once they start to spread they can be almost impossible to stop without destroying a large amount of territory.

Oh and before I forget I’ve also set up a way with Spike to get letters back to me though it isn’t as reliable as from me to him. As long as anything you want to send to me is sent within minutes of him receiving anything I send then it should be able to follow the path back to me. Since I am unsure of how long it’ll take for the messages to travel back and forth I will be sure to wait for about ten minutes before assuming that you had nothing ready for me at the time.

Your Friend,
Flarenza

I sent off this letter as I watched over the diamond dogs of the recent pack I was visiting go about their day. This was the third pack that I had visited since leaving the princesses company and things were going rather well. It was strange that word of my presence hadn’t spread through the packs yet but it seems as if they don’t communicate with each other often. Getting them to talk with each other more was one thing I was working on fixing now so that the teachings I leave at one would travel to another. More specifically I had them send off a request to the Bloodstone Pack for assistance in the form of a teacher. I felt a bit bad loading things onto Ruby’s plate to deal with but it fit well with her goals except that not only her pack would benefit from the improvements.

I was preparing to head off from this pack having dealt with some of the problems there already and was planning to investigate some of the rumors that were in the area. This part of Equestria was a bit wilder than the other sections, but still nothing like the Everfree could be, so there were a good number of wild monsters roaming around. Strangely enough something had been causing the numbers of wild creatures to diminish lately with no visible reason as to why. It would have been understandable if something else had moved in to take over the area but there was no sign of anything at all. Most being would have taken this as a good sign but I had found that coincidences such as this were often a sign of problems.

This was one of the most minor of the rumors that I had heard from Luna but seeing as it was in my path anyways I thought I’d check it out. Of course since the rumor boiled down to ‘something suspicious is going on’ there wasn’t much reason for it to be a priority. Now that I had more information though I found that it was a good thing that I was in the area since if the disturbance could scare away the more dangerous monsters like hydras and manticores then it meant that something tough was probably there.

I set off from the den towards the forest that these rumors had originated from with a small wave to this den’s alpha and lorekeeper as I go. I had actually been enjoying my time with the diamond dogs I meet even if I have to practically order them to stop bowing and scraping to me every time I pass. Even so they always do seem awfully happy to be of service when I ask for something showing how loyal they really are to my kind. I start to wonder how long it has been since any of my kind had been seen by them and yet they still revered us.

I eventually make it out to the forest and immediately could tell that something was wrong. “It’s not only the large monsters that are gone but even the smaller animals and birds are missing as well. There is definitely something wrong here that needs to be investigated.” I cautiously advance into the forest and keep all my senses on full alert for anything at all. There is something else about the area that worries me as well and it takes me a moment to realize what it is. “The place feels so empty, as if it was drained of all life or something. I’ve never felt anything like this before, even Tirek draining the magic from all those ponies didn’t feel like this.”

As I advance through the forest I can see the plant-life is starting to look less and less healthier than when I started into it. This worried me even more and I started to wonder why Luna’s sources were so inaccurate as to what was wrong here. Whatever was wrong here should have been reported as a major incident and not the minor one it was made to look like. Weaving around another tree I find myself confronted by one of the forests denizens and I froze in reaction to what it was.

I takes me a moment to try and break eye contact with the cockatrice in front of me which should have been too late but examining myself I find myself perfectly fine. The sound of hissing from the cockatrice draws my gaze back to it, the time not looking anywhere on it but it’s eyes, and notice that it looks like it should be dead with all how the flesh is hanging off of various wounds. “Oh great, and undead chicken-snake, can this day get any worse?” I immediately find out how when I try to remove the abomination with my usual undead slaying magic, just to find my spell stop a short distance in front of the creature.

“Oh great, I just had to open my big mouth didn’t I? It’s not just an undead abomination but a magic-eating undead abomination.” I back away a few steps as the creature lets out a shrill cry and starts to shamble towards me as it lets off a faint glow. “Well at least I know why I wasn’t turned to stone by it now that I know what I’m facing. There no longer is any magic in its body to power it as it’s all going to keeping it animated. It must be some variation of a wight but instead of draining the life from its victim at drains the magic instead. This makes it even worse than the normal variety in that it can even drain the plants and rocks around it as well.” My eyes widen as I realize something and dart a look at the plants nearby before sighing in relief. “But thankfully it doesn’t reanimate them through just the draining effect; I don’t even want to think of the possibility of undead plants.”

Looking back to the cockatrice I bound back a few paces as it is starting to get a bit closer than I’d like while I decide how to deal with it. Seeing as I can’t directly attack it safely, reminding me of my need to learn how to fight without magic, which means I have to use less direct means. Luckily I’ve had some experience with this kind of situation making it an easy to solve problem. Breaking of a dried branch from the tree next to me I turn it into a crude torch and send it spearing towards the cockatrice. I watched in satisfaction as the creature begins to go up in flames as it shambles towards me before it collapses from the damage.

“Well at least fire works on the well enough still. Though now I know why all the monsters and animals vanished though the question is how widespread the problem is.” My ears twitch as the sound of snapping branches and bushes floats towards my ears. “Of course with me being the only thing with magic in this area it would also light me up like a bonfire to these things as well. I’d better send a message off while I can since I might have to do something drastic to see that these things are contained. Just being near them is enough to be weakened which means there aren’t many beings that can deal with these safely.”

Pulling out a spare sheet of parchment I quickly jot out a message.

To Princess Luna,

The rumors of this area have been vastly understated and recommend that the source is fired or retrained. Dangerous undead creatures similar to wights, that drain magic instead of life, inhabit the forest now and have been infecting the monsters that they reach creating more. As direct magic is ineffective indirect means are required which means the forest may be a lost cause. I am sending this as a warning in case I am forced to raze the entire thing to contain the outbreak.

From,
Flarenza

I send this off just in time as the first wave of wights arrives in my vicinity along with a beacon spell for the exact location of where I am. Most of them seemed to be smaller creatures like the cockatrice but I was sure that things should change relatively quickly judging from the sounds I was hearing. Burning off this group was a matter of just repeating what I had done with the cockatrice though I was starting to notice something odd. Some of the creatures were giving off a stronger glow and appeared to be in a much better shape than they should have been. They were even moving at a faster pace relative to their size which caused me to come to a startling conclusion.

“These things actually get stronger and move faster the more magic they’ve drained? I really hope that that nothing too dangerous was able to draw in enough to be nearly at a strength that they’d have while alive. I’d rather not find out if it’s possible for them to eat enough to be able to use their natural magic again.” I didn’t have enough time to come up with any other plans as the next wave was coming into view now behind the flames of the previous one. “This is just going to be one of those days isn’t it, I’m just glad I’m not as bad as I used to be when facing these things.”

The second wave was dealt with as easily as the first, yet it was followed by a third, and soon after a fourth. By the time the sixth wave came into view I was starting to worry as they looked to be nearly whole and from what I could hear something big was approaching. “Did I somehow manage to attract everything in this place just by casting a couple spells? This is completely ridiculous.”

I was starting to be a bit tired by the tenth wave of creatures coming after me as I had been out here for hours. “When are these things going to stop coming after me? I can’t believe that this many creatures had been infected without anyone noticing them yet. With my luck dragons are going to start being part of these swarms.” I quickly close my mouth but am too late to stop myself from tempting fate once again. Luckily there were no dragons in the next group but it was nearly as bad as three giant hydras crashed through the trees towards me.

I just stare at them a moment before I come to a simple decision. “Nope, this is just not going to happen anymore. I am so out of here.” I take off running into the stands of dead trees not containing the hydras and try to think of an idea as I race away. Unfortunately nothing comes to mind which means I have to fall back onto my worst case scenario option. “Right, everything burns now, somebody else can deal with the fallout of this as I am not facing down three large magic-eating monsters that can easily swallow me whole.”

With this decision in mind I start sending small bursts of fire off into the trees as I pass them, trying to conserve as much power as I can. This is relatively easy to do as just the smallest bit of fire up in the dried leaves of the trees is enough to make the entire thing burst into flame rapidly. I had underestimated the effectiveness though as the fires spread very rapidly from one tree to the next and was soon starting to overtake me. The fires also did little to slow the hydras either as they crashed through the forest in their efforts to catch me though their efforts managed to spread the flames even more.

“I knew things had been going too well for me recently, the day started out so nice as I left the diamond dogs and now I’m yet again being chased by undead abominations as well as a raging inferno. Once I finish traveling I am going to take a long vacation somewhere nice and quiet.” The chase lasted long into the night and I was started to falter when the first of the hydras finally succumbed to the flames. The other two weren’t looking much better either but I wasn’t going to last much longer with them chasing us as well as the smoke and heat from the forest fire. I was sure that the inferno could be seen for a good distance in every direction now that there was no other light to interfere with it.

Just about when I thought I would collapse from exhaustion I finally got a break that would get me away from here. By this time there was only one hydra left even though two of its four heads were now aflame. I dredged up any remaining energy I had left and charged towards the sight of water that was reflecting the light of the fire. As soon as I came upon the source to find that it was a river I was seeing I plunged in and let the swift currents carry me away. I relaxed myself once I entered the water and just floated along while watching the final hydra finally collapse.

By the time I could drag myself out of the river to shore I was completely wiped out, and the fire was far behind me, and could do little more than crawl under a nearby bush and fall asleep.

Author's Note:

Another small chapter though some of it wasn't as I had planned really, ideas mostly just came to me. Would like to see some more comments though even if it's only about typos. Seeing two downvotes with no real explanation for them which makes the system pointless if I don't know what needs to be improved on.

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[Crescent Glaive]

Magic eating beings are a magic casters worst nightmare in combat