The Wander Through Lands Unknown

by Tomas Lutwig

Chapter 21; Recollection?

“If I'm correct this is what was causing the issue with the creatures” I said holding out the small broken pendant for the stag king to see. The guards, or 'warriors' as they seemed to prefer, wouldn't allow me into the town with the pendant as it seemed to give them the same sense of unease it gave me.

King Aspen looked at it for a moment worry working it's way into his eyes. “What in the world...” he said quietly. “Was there anything else around this... pendant?” he asked finally

Looking at the small necklace myself I nodded the affirmative. “The forest around it was twisted and evil looking. The creatures and animals seemed to stay away from it, though it seemed to stop advancing as I left with it” I said looking back at the King.

“I cannot say I am hugely versed in magic in this form, let alone the dark magic it has” King Aspen started, looking over at one of the guards. “I believe we may need another opinion. Send a messenger bird to Princess Celestia, hopefully she will have some idea of what this means” The doe nodded and started through the town similarly to a certain pink pony though using much longer leaps.

I might of laughed at the sight of the deer hopping away had it not been going to warn Princess Celestia, this most likely ending badly for me. “I hope we can count on you to handle that until she arrives? Looking upon my warriors I don't know if they would be capable...” he said looking around to the deer in question who were obviously wary of the feeling of dread radiating from the necklace. “I know I ask a lot of you, but if it is as you say and it twisted the forest, then we may be susceptible to it as well, since we are connected to the forest” he finished giving me an almost pleading look.

My gut told me to refuse, I didn't want to have to see that pompous Princess again so soon. The pleading look in the King's eyes made me reconsider though. Looking at the item again the strange marking and coloration speaking to me in their own way of some lost memory I couldn't seem to grasp. A sigh escaped me before I looked back up at the deer King. “If all you need me to do is hold this until they arrive I can do that” I said trying to give a reassuring smile, but my face didn't seem to want to cooperate.

“Thank you again Wanderer, I hope Princess Celestia, or perhaps her sister can aid us.” King Aspen said returning to his calm demeanor. “If there's anything we can do for you, all you need to do is ask.”

My hand started to raise instinctively to say something along the lines of 'It's alright don't worry about it' but I stopped myself and took my hand to my chin. Thinking for a moment, “I don't suppose you have any knowledge on healing the mind do you?” I asked.

The King opened his mouth to say something only for the sound of a number of ponies approaching to stop him. Looking into the forest we watched as the mane six ran out followed by the two Princesses. My eyes shot open at the sight of them, 'Dang that was qui-' I started only for Celestia's face to change to that of annoyance as her horn lit up and I was lifted into the air.

“King Aspen, I received your letter, though a bit earlier than expected. It seems we were right in coming to you when we did, before The Wanderer could cause you any more problems” she said looking to the King, her face changing back to one of the same ruler that I had remembered.

The rest of the ponies looked up at me with a mix of emotions, most being disdain, mistrust, and anger. A certain apple farmer giving me a look of utter contempt, a large purple bruise still on the side of her face making me wince and look away when I saw it.

King Aspen wore a look of confusion and shock. “Princess, I didn't ask you out here to take this Wanderer, he's been nothing but an aid to us. The reason is the pendant he holds” He said pointing up to the item in question with his antlers.

'This is why I really didn't want to deal with this' I thought as most of the ponies gave the deer King a look not dissimilar to the one he was wearing moments ago, the exception being the two older Princesses who's eyes were on the necklace.

“The Wanderer has been helping you? He's been not...” Twilight started only for her to start picking up on the feeling as well making her stop and look up at me.

I rolled my eyes. “Yes yes, we can get over all of this junk after we figure out what is up with this” I said holding out the stone pendant, it dangling from my fist. “We're all responsible adults here, now lets try to figure out what's going on with the Everfree forest, eh?” I said trying to calm the ponies down.

Celestia gave me a look that made it clear that she didn't trust me, she then proceeded to drop me the six or seven feet to the ground.

“Son of a bitch!” I said, rather loudly, having landed right on my tail bone. Clutching the now pained part of my spine, I realized I had dropped the necklace. Grabbing it, I quickly stood back up glaring at the group of ponies, some of whom were giggling at my expense while the trio of princesses' eyes were stuck on the now blackened and dead earth that had held the necklace for a couple of moments. King Aspen's eyes, along with his group of deer, were also fixated by the damaged earth.

“Tell us everything” Luna said, being the first to recover.

The Royalty was speechless as I finished my tale. Looks of fear plastered on their face, even the King, who had heard it all once before, startled silent from the unintended demonstration of the pendant's corruptive influence.

“The strange part is... I can't place it, but I know this pendant from somewhere” I said looking it over again. The group was now looking at me, having been staring off in space trying to take in the implications. I gave the sisters an annoyed look “I could probably be of more help had a certain incident not happened, but unless someone can fix memories, then we'll have to figure this out on our own”

The pair of alicorns returned the look twofold. “Maybe there's some way to reverse this strange corruption?” I heard Hemlock say.

With that, the Princesses and King returned their gaze to the blackened earth. “Perhaps a magic siphoning spell?” Twilight asked looking at Celestia who regarded her previous student with a look of pride. “An altered version may work, but we would need some kind of magical container to hold the...” She looked back at earth, “dark magic” she finished.

I looked at the two of them for a moment before looking down at the ground. “Alright, I know I don't know much about magic, but if it's the earth that's corrupted, then why not simply take the earth, transport it somewhere safer and then do whatever siphoning in a more controlled environment?” I asked.

Twilight looked at me her eyes widening before looking back down at the ground. Her horn glowed for a second before a small island bathed in her magical aura was lifted from it's place, the black earth in the middle of it. “Good idea...” She said, still leery of me. I nodded in her direction with a smile.

“Unless you wish to take a whole section of our home out with magic we'll need a better solution though” Blackthorn said, keeping an eye on a certain white unicorn who's eyes had very seldom moved from him. Twilight nodded in the deer's direction.

“It may be a good idea to keep a close eye on the corruption in the forest though” Princess Celestia said, “King Aspen, if you could spare someone to guide me there I will be willing to watch over it for any signs of action.

“Well I can do that” I said before the stag had any chance to reply making the light colored alicorn give me an annoyed look.

“Yes, but you need to stay here seeing as how you are the only one we know the necklace won't affect, and after seeing what it does to the earth I do not wish to find out what it would do to a living being” Luna intervened, wearing a similar look to her sister. “That and it would apparently be dubious for us to find a way to get your memory back so you can tell us more about this thing”

“Ah” I started raising a finger for my counter argument before nodding and shrugging. “Fair enough”

“Hemlock, you go with the Princess of the Day to that part of the forest and help her” King Aspen said. The deer in question bowed his head and motioned for the Solar princess to follow him into the forest.

I watched the two of them go with no small amount of questions in the back of my head before Princess Luna cleared her throat making me turn to look at her as I placed the pendant back into the pouch on my belt. “Alright, let's see what we can do about your memory” she said with a hint of malice in her voice. I gave her a look of uncertainty before her horn lit up. I felt a sharp pain in the back of my head before I felt my body thrown backwards.

Scenes flashed across my eyes. Waking up in a room filled with different people, some I recognized, others were faceless black blobs that wore clothes. Looking up to the head of the class, strange numbers were written on a white board. 'Uhg, I hate fractions...' I heard myself think before looking at a rather large black blob wearing goofy clothes.

“A.ri.ht class, .oda. .e'll be lea.n.ng a.o.t...” The blob started in a goofy voice that made a number of the students and blobs chuckle before turning around and facing the board.

“My... It's much worse in here than I expected.” A familiar voice said making me turn around to find a humanized Princess Luna standing at the edge of a swirling black void that ended at the beginning of the classroom. “It seems this may take longer than I expected”

I rubbed my eyes for a moment, “Luna?” I asked as the room started disintegrating leaving her standing watching the memory go before looking at me. Looking down I realized I was sitting on a desk floating in the middle of swirling nothing. Standing up the desk quickly joined the rest of the memory in nonexistence. “What do you m-” I started only for a sharp pain that radiated throughout the swirling blackness to make me stop and stumble to my knees.

The Lunar Princess approached me kneeling down in front of me, a hand went to her chin looking me over. “How sad,” She said standing, “Even the memories of yourself have faded.” A soft dark blue aura encompassed her hands as she held them out, palms facing to either side of her.

Looking up at her, pain still lashing through the blackness and my head, I watched her eyes move under their lids. After a few moments, the pain lightened to only a dull throb before stopping. Our surroundings caught my eye as the entire area was a dark gray, with holes that looked like pieces of a jagged puzzle had been ripped out.

Letting out a long breath Princess Luna opened her eye again as I slowly got to my feet. “This is, but a temporary fix unfortunately, we would need the remaining memories from the failed transfer for your mind to become complete once again” She said before looking around, “Though it seems stable for now”

“Ho-how are you going to get the rest of my memories? I thought you said they were lost since the transfer was incomplete” I asked her eyes returning to me.

A humorless chuckle escaped her, “Well at least you can still remember the short term” she said. “The only reason I was wrong back then, and we can fix you now, is that the remaining memories and other parts of your mind weren't completely lost” The woman put her hands together for a moment and in a short burst of dark blue energy, a small orange orb about the size of a pony's eye fell into her hands.

Looking at it, I watched as what looked to be ripped flecks of paper slowly swirled around inside. “This is the remnants of that transfer.” she said holding it up to eye level. “In all my years I had never seen something like this, I can only assume this is due to you being the first heuman in Eqestria, let alone the first to have something like this done to them.” Princess Luna said a small smile coming to her face before the smile faded into a worried expression. “The only issue with that is that I don't know how to put this back where it belongs.” she said before looking around again.

I stared at the orb before looking up at the woman a mixture of emotions trying to escape causing the Lunar Princess look up at me her expression turning to a mix of sadness and worry. “You had this the whole time?” I asked reaching for the orb, the surface was like warm glass, the feeling sending strange spikes of feeling into my had. “Why didn't you say anything...?” I asked cradling the orb, the emotions starting to fade.

“I know... I had no right to keep this from you.” she started, making me look back up at her. “You must understand though, I'd never seen anything like this before. There was also still issues my sister and I had trusting you after what you'd done, and obviously with good reason” Luna said, anger creeping into the edge of her voice.

A look of anger came to my face as I looked back down at the ball. “It doesn't matter, just put it back.” I said, not trying to hide my feelings. Holding the orb out at her, a look of annoyance was plastered on her face.

“I don't know how to” She said after a moment. “I examined it to the best of my abilities, but that orb is part of your mind, it's not a physical thing. The only reason you can hold it like you can is because of where we are. On the physical plane, outside the mental plane, only those with great ability to feel the magical aura a mind can give off would be able to even sense that, let alone manipulate it”

I watched as anger made the lunar Princess shake. “Great, you have no idea what to do with it, the only thing I can think to do is try and break it” I said, almost ready to throw the orb at my feet if not into the princess' face.

A contemplative look passed over her face as she stopped herself from replying. “That... that may actually work” she said holding a hand to her chin. I simply raised an eyebrow at her, “Well here in the mental plane it seems to actually be a physical object, since we're in your mental plane, it may very well work since even if you broke whatever it is holding them they would have nowhere to go except back where it belonged”

Blinking a few times I looked at her, “That is an extremely simply way to look at something like this.” I said looking down at the orb once again cradled against my stomach. “Are you sure it will work?” I asked unsure.

The lunar Princess shrugged, “Memories are not as complicated as ponies think, but no, I cannot say that it'll work” she said. I rolled my eyes making her cross her arms, “Would you prefer if I tried to shove it into your head with magic?”

I shook my head again letting out a humorless laugh before looking away from her. “We're in my head already, I doubt it would do much” I said before dropping the orb to my feet. Whatever we were standing on was solid as the sphere bounced before I put a boot on top of it. Slowly I shifted my weight onto it and a crack echoed through my mind. As I put more weight on it, I noticed Luna from the corner of my eye biting her lip in anticipation. I raised an eyebrow at this, but just then my foot fell as the orb shattered. Jagged orange shards that once made up the orb flew out from underneath my boot.

Lifting my foot back up, I watched as the flecks of what looked like paper floated around for a few seconds. I started to look up at Luna before motion made me stop. The flecks started flying towards the holes in our surrounding. The dark gray slowly lightening as more pieces fit into place. When all the holes had been filled, our surroundings looked almost white, the only think telling it to be a light gray was the crescent moon on the lunar Princess' dress.

The remnants of the orange orb shown with a bright light for a second before melting into the surrounding gray. Looking up at Princess Luna, I smiled a feeling almost indescribable having washed over me.

A feeling of wholeness.

Princess Luna quickly left after we had fixed my mind, a familiar sensation of being awoken took me as I closed my eyes only to open them at a pain in the back of my head. Letting out a groan, I sat up and looked around. The majority of the deer warriors had disappeared, only two besides Blackthorn and King Aspen remained. Blackthorn with certain fashionista talking to him, confusing him and causing more than a little discomfort.

The remainder of the mane six seemed to be doing other things, Fluttershy speaking with animals and trying to comfort them, Apple Jack doing her best to aid Twilight Sparkle in whatever she was doing with the miniature floating island with the section of corrupted earth in the middle of it. Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash seemed to be the only ones doing nothing of any great importance as they were sitting on their flanks talking about something.

“Well, I suppose that was a success” the voice of Princess Luna sounded making me turn to see the dark alicorn rise to her hooves gaining the attention of the deer King and a few of the elements of harmony. “I wouldn't mind studying your mind a bit more, but that will be discussed later. What do you remember of the pendant?”

Pulling out the pendant again, my eyes widened, the broken pendant hanging from my fist. Silence ruled as I examined it again, dread building in my gut before Princess Luna cleared her throat. “This....” I started my gut sinking further as I tried to swallow the lump in my throat. “This is a pendant belonging to a very powerful... being” I finally finished, unsure myself what the primitive human was, if his humanity went on a rampage or if he had always been the hulking monstrocity.

“And what exactly does that mean?” I heard an annoyed Rainbow Dash say from across the small clearing. Looking up at her, she was surprised at the fear in my eyes.

“It means we need to check on Princess Celestia, now” I said.

Author's Note:

Sorry for the wait, well and for the chapter, it definitely isn't one of my best, but probably better than the one I'm working on. Gotta love writers block but having so many cool ideas without a freaking way to weave them into your story

Comments

[kitsunekit]

It's from artorias, right?

[Tomas Lutwig]

6919931 The stone pendant? No, it's from a certain other annoying boss. Though the boss is significantly easier if you have the silver pendant.
Of course I'm playing the pronoun game here and mean Manus because I'm a little sh*t.

[kitsunekit]

6921141 ok