The Wander Through Lands Unknown

by Tomas Lutwig

Chapter 23; Conversations with Varying Outcomes

The walk through the forest was not a long one, but pain due to injured ribs makes time seemingly elongate. Light from the clearing caught my eye making me look up from my pondering of how this injury would heal, if it was going to.

“Ah, Princesses, wel...” Twilight's voice sounded as the diarches entered the clearing only to stop abruptly replaced by a gasp. “What happened?” it rang out again.

I rolled my eyes as the makeshift party went it's different directions, the lone deer heading back to make a report to his king, who had seemingly retreated into his town, and the ponies splitting off. A pang of loneliness hit me before I shook my head and started after the princesses, hoping to make some kind of plan.

“... The darkness of the forest corrupted a number of timberwolves causing their bark to darken and red growths to sprout from them. A number of creatures The Wanderer described as 'what happens when a human's humanity goes berserk due to the abyss' darkness' also attacked” I heard Princess Celestia explain. “One of these creatures used a black magic and managed to surprise me. I was forced to kill them and escape along with one that followed us which attacked The Wanderer.”

Apple Jack, Twilight and Rarity seemed too stunned to talk. The alicorn seemed to recover the fastest “Are you alright?” I heard her ask to which the princess nodded. “They are powerful, but thankfully they seemed to simply be trying to play with us” Celestia replied. “More importantly, did you discover anything in dealing with the damaged earth?”

I moved around the side of the princesses to see Twilight holding up a large clump of earth, smile returning to her face. “I did manage to pull the dark magic from the earth, but I could only put it into something else” she said before a black branch levitated into view making the smile dissipate into a contemplative look. “So I was wondering if it would be possible to put the magic back where it came from?”

The older princess put a hoof up to her chin for a moment, contemplating the idea before turning to look at me. “What are your thoughts?” she asked, her face giving no evidence of her thoughts.

I shook my head, before pulling out the pendant. “Honestly I don't know what to think. You all know more about magic than I do. All I know for sure is that his pendant shouldn't be causing this problem.” I said looking down at it. “What I know is that it belonged to Manus the 'Father of the Abyss'. There was no evidence that it would cause any kind of spread of the Abyss. If you want my suggestion though, I would try” I finished holding the pendant out and looking back up at the princess.

A look of concern swept across Celestia's face as she turned to her sister. “There are numerous negative affects this could have, all of them rather catastrophic. We would be better to simply try to put all of the dark magic into an object and destroy it.” Princess Luna said.

“Negative affects?” I heard Rarity ask as she looked at the princess of the night. “ I don't mean to be rude Princess, but what exactly would those negative affects be?”

The other six of them had the same worried expression on their faces making Luna sigh. “Among other results, if the magic in the amulet failed or only allowed for the output and resisted the input, there would be magical feedback” She said which brought a look of terror to the white unicorn and purple alicorn.

“What does magical feedback cause?” I asked raising an eyebrow and pulling back the amulet. The group looked at me, some with understanding looks others with ones that spoke of what would happen.

“An explosion” Celestia said taking over for her sister, “Due to the opposing forces of magic both going in opposite directions the forces would build until it could not be contained within that small amulet, and the result...” she trailed off with a sigh.

I shrugged, “Fair enough, I suppose it's too bad I can't use magic, then I'd just come back at the bonfire” I said looking down at the crude necklace for a moment before putting it back into the pack on my belt.

“I don't think you understand Wanderer” I heard Twilight say, “If there is enough dark magic in that amulet to be leaking out like it is, the explosion would be enormous, it would no doubt take out half the forest, if not the entirety of it leaving a crater tainted by the same black magic”
I just looked at her for a moment before chuckling. “Well then, guess that shows my knowledge, or lack there of, of magic!” I said. When met with the looks of surprise, I lost the smile that had been painted on my face. “Mhmm, well I'll be over here if you need me” I said waving a hand behind me as I walked over to a tree and slowly sat down trying to keep from agitating my ribs.

Pulling my bag from my back in slow and pained movements I got out my water and sighed at the small amount left before drinking it and putting it next to my spear on the ground. Digging through my things I found the other two apples, the red delicious having a large bruise I can only assume was due to my attempt at fighting. I pulled the four axes from their place in my pack setting them next to my other weapon. Opening the smallest pocket I found that my MP3 player was still intact bringing a tired smile to my face. Clicking the button on top, I waited a few seconds before the screen lit up. I put one of the earphones in and heard the startup sounds before it loaded to the menu.

'Well I probably have a few songs left on this before it runs out of juice' I thought looking at the small battery marker at the top of the screen. Turning the device back off I put it in the pouch on my belt instead, wanting to carry it with me. Looking to the bruised apple I started eating it grimacing at the softness of the bruise, though it still tasted pretty good.

I pulled out the foam spearhead from the bottom of my pack giving it a look of sadness for a moment before looking to my broken spear, with a sigh, I disassembled the weapon before putting the spearhead, returned to it's plastic sheath, and the pointed counterbalance next to the war axes. Looking back into my pack, I was surprised to find it empty. Turning it upside down I shook it a few times before going through the rest of the pockets.

'Where did that mask go?' I thought looking around to see if I had already put it down amongst the other items from my bag. After searching through my things I realized it had vanished. Sitting up I scratched my head before letting out an annoyed sigh. 'Whatever I can make a better one later' I concluded before putting my things away.

After a moment a slight pain in my back caught my attention making me arch my back in an attempt to pop it only making me hiss through clenched teeth from the pain in my ribs. 'You'd think I'd learn...' I thought.

“A-are y-y-ou alright?” I heard a quiet voice sound making me open my eyes and look up to see Fluttershy standing a small distance away with a worried expression on her face.

I let a few breaths out before leaning back “I think I'll be fine, I just need to remember what the attack patterns are for those things” I said trying to give her a reassuring smile.

“I-if you want I-I could try to help?” she offered, still wary of me.

My smile faded along with the pain as a look of confusion overtook my face. “Why?” I asked not trying to hide my confusion at her offer. “I know you're the element of kindness, but helping someone who hurt your friend, isn't that a bit much?” I asked trying to sit up straight against the tree without bothering my ribs.

The butter yellow pegasus seemed to back away “Well I, um, I just don't like seeing others in pain” she mumbled making me raise an eyebrow to her. “I apologize I couldn't hear you” I said putting a hand to my ear, moving my hood aside. Fluttershy's attempts at speaking degenerated into squeaks rapidly. I sighed, rubbing the crease of my nose in frustration, and looked up at her. “Fluttershy, I can't understand you. You need to speak up” I finally said annoyance evident in my voice.

“Are ya'll causing Fluttershy problems?” A voice laced with contempt and a heavy southern accent sounded making me cringe and look away. “Well?” AppleJack asked again more forcefully.

“I guess indirectly” I said before turning to look at her. The purple bruise on her face still hurting me inside more than the angry look.

One of her eyebrows shot up in a look that spoke of disbelief “And what is that supposed to mean?” she asked, anger only seeming to grow. Fluttershy tried to say something to the farmpony, but whatever she said fell on deaf ears. “Look bub, I don't like you. If you start causing problems for my friends then we're going to have a bigger problem than we already do” she said stepping closer to me and prodding me in the chest. “Am I understood?”

I clenched my teeth and air hissed out again as the hoof impacted. I did my best to keep my eyes on her's “Perfectly” I said teeth still clenched.

After a moment, the earth pony backed off and returned to the group of ponies after nodding to the shy pegasus.

I clutched my side trying to control my breathing to keep it from hurting as much. “Damn it” I muttered under my breath. I finished packing up my things before I looked at the cracked pole that was once the shaft of a spear. Standing up with some difficulty, a certain shy pegasus trying to keep me from hurting myself though she stopped after I shot her a look, I grabbed the cracked pole to use as a walking stick and took the axe off my belt.

“Where are you going?” the voice of Princess Celestia sounded behind me making me turn back to see the majority of the ponies looking at me.

“I figured I'd rest up at the bonfire before heading back off to kill some bloatheads” I said, not even trying to keep the anger from my voice, before continuing into the forest.

“I believe that would be an unwise course of action seeing your current state” the white alicorn's voice sounded again though this time closer.

“Yea well, it seems that's been my life. One unwise course of action after the next” I said continuing into the trees. “I believe it an unwise course of action for you to leave the group trying to devise a way to take out the corruption in the forest, when the effects would have a major impact on your country and one of your allies”

“We have already devised a basic plan, Twilight and my Sister are smoothing out the details” she replied calmly.

I rolled my eyes “Of course you have” I muttered under my breath “And why aren't you helping finalize the details?” I asked, making it obvious that I didn't want her following me “From my understanding you're quite the strategist”

“While that may be true, I believe that my sister and Twilight can handle it. I also believe that I am needed somewhere else at the moment” she said making me snort out laughter only to cringe and clutch at my ribs. “You seem to of been hit harder than we thought are you alright?”

“Nothing resting at the bonfire won't help, now why don't you get going to 'where you're needed more' Princess Celestia?” I spat, hoping the bonfire would work it's magic similar to my memories of the game.

A sigh sounded behind me. “I don't understand you.” She said, her tone making me turn around with a raised eyebrow. “You don't seem to be against making friends, you seem to try to make up for it when you mess up, only to step out of the punishment after you've made leaps and bounds. Why?”

I tucked the axe back into my belt and looked up at her, “Let me ask you something first Princess; what would you do in my situation?” The question brought a curious look to her face but I put up a hand when she opened her mouth. “You know a lot about the world, you have certain beliefs, those beliefs make you turn towards a course of action you see as justifiable, only for beings, with powers to throw you around like a ragdoll, decide that since they have no tolerance for your choice, that you must be punished, though you were raised it was a completely justified action”

The look on the white alicorn's face shown her annoyance. “I told you before, Tirek could of changed. You don't seem to understand that there is no absolute evil in this or any world” she said.

I pulled down my hood to look her in the eyes. “You don't seem to understand that I know that. What I'm trying to say is that...” I growled and brought my hand to my face turning away from her. 'How in the hell can I explain...' I started thinking before it occurred to me. “Celestia, what if one of your ponies was born, I mean born not changed in any way, and believed that killing and hurting others was completely normal and in no way bad? Or there was one who believed that pedophilia was completely fine?” I asked turning back to her.

Shock fell across her face before it was replaced with the same annoyance and anger. “That's not-”

“Let me finish.” I said holding out a hand. “What would you do to that individual? Put him in an asylum and try to teach him that killing people is not something good? Doing the same with the pedophile? What would you do if they never changed? Keep them in there all their life?” I said, “That's not something I'm cruel enough to do, not even to Tirek.”

“Regardless, it was not your place to take his life!” She said stomping her hoof down. “There are reasons for a trial, jury, and executioner! They look at what the being has done, and justly decide what fate should befall them.”

I chuckled for a moment which only seemed to make her grow more angry. “Celestia, do you know why where I come from people who know said person cannot be on the jury, be the defense or in any other way involved with the case unless it's completely necessary? Bias, or conflict of interest. I would be surprised if you found any pony that hadn't had their magic stolen and wanted vengeance for said action, I was the closest thing to a unbiased opinion you could've found anywhere short of searching in different countries.”

The Diarch of the Sun let out a sigh holding a hoof her her face. “I sincerely doubt that is your only issue though Wanderer” she said trying to change the subject knowing she couldn't convince me. My face fell and I turned away, continuing my trek back to the bonfire. “Well?” she asked still annoyed.

I let out another sigh, “Princess, it was not my intention to end up here. I was just having fun at Comic Con, hell it was my first time going somewhere like that due to a friend's insistence , after trying to buy this damned ring” I pulled out the Ring of Fog and looked at it with a mix of adoration at the craftsmanship and diastase at it pulling me here. “I thought maybe it wouldn't be so bad, I mean you, your sister, and even Twilight were looking for something to help me get over this whole curse of the undead. Then Tirek accidentally woke me up, well I thought I could help, maybe make things easier on you guys, I mean if he could break out once...” I trailed off slipping the ring on my finger and looking at my semitransparent hand. “Then you threw that back in my face. For a while I could deal with it too, I mean, yea I screwed up, but a thousand years trapped in my own mind... I barely lasted two” I chuckled “Hell that would have been at least nine hundred years longer than I'd be alive naturally”

“That still doesn't excuse what you've been doing” I heard her say, though her tone took more of a motherly.

“That's a matter of perspective, I suppose” I said a sad smile coming to my lips. “From where I stand, everything I've done is justifiable. That's beside the point though. I've no doubt you and your sister have noticed that the creatures who were brought here have a connection to me, if not by the fact that I'm the only one who knows what they are, then the fact that they've never been seen before I came here. In other words, you guys would be better off if I wasn't even here.”

Silence answered me making me chuckle softly. “Yea I know the whole 'it's not my fault spiel' I've heard it before. This time thought it's fact, if I hadn't bought this stupid ring, I wouldn't of ended up here, and you guys would've just gone about your daily lives, as full of chaos and disorder they are” I finished.

I looked back to see the alicorn with a contemplative look on her face. “Fair enough” I said simply as I kept walking.

I sat in front of the bonfire, a feeling of warmth easing away my pains making a calm smile come to my face as I let out a happy sigh.

The remaining few minutes of walking was in silence, at least between myself and the alicorn it was. The forest around us seemed to go about it's normal business.

'Hmm, I wonder if I can level up or increase my stats' I thought looking at the strangely shaped sword sticking out from the top of the bonfire. 'I suppose the better question is how it would work and how I would know I had enough souls' I turned to look at my companion who was resting against a tree at the edge of the clearing.

“Well, are you going to tell me about the plan so that I can at least make myself useful in fixing what I, by association to your world, have caused?” I asked Celestia who had been looking at the bonfire for the whole time we were there.

The Princess shook her head for a second before looking at me with surprise written on her face. “Oh! Of course!” she started “We had not decided where you will be acting though unless they have found a better place, you'll be acting as one of the main combatants and I don't think I need to stress how important it is that you don't get yourself killed” the alicorn's face hardened as she looked at me. “While my sister, myself and you are fighting off the 'bloat heads', as you call them, Twilight and her friends will be making an attempt to purge the corruption with the powers the Tree of Harmon granted them, which is what they should have been testing while we were out here on that corrupted stick of theirs”

I nodded “So if it works then we clear out the forest with little to no problems, or they I should say” I chuckled, before something occurred to me. “Princess, not to try and poke holes in your plans, but what if what happens after is similar to what happened after Princess Luna was separated from Nightmare Moon?”

The solar diarch's eyes widened, before she let out sight. “I understand your concern, the Elements of Harmony, and now the girl's powers are not very well known to us. There have been many theories, but we did not want to use the Elements only to find answers they were too unpredictable. This is the reason we will be using it on the stick that Twilight ended up putting the dark energies into, hopefully the worst that may happen is it will destroy the energies and the vessel, forcing us to relocate some land to fill in the resulting crater”

'Thank God she thinks things through more than I do' I thought nodding. Standing up I brushed myself off and held a gloved hand over the flames for a moment enjoying the warmth for a moment longer before turning to the alicorn. “Well let's head back” I said.

“Wanderer?” Celestia's voice sounded making me raise an eyebrow at the mare only for her look to harden as she approached. “The only reason you have not been punished for hurting one of my ponies is because she asked me not too. I am willing to let this slide due to her wishes, but the next time it happens, there will be no discussion, you will be encased in stone until this world crumbles around you” At this point the alicorn was millimeters away from my face, causing worry to fill me. “Am I understood?”

I nodded backing up and looking away from her. “That's more than I deserve.” I said trying my best to keep from looking at her. I scratched the back of my head for a moment before looking up at where we had come from. “I don't suppose you could give me any advice on how to make things right with her?” I asked.

After a moment of silence I glanced at her to find shock and confusion written on her face before it turned thoughtful. “Well...” She started turning away from me and heading towards the treeline.

'At least I have a better chance of making friends with AppleJack now, or at least getting her to tolerate me' I thought following the diarch. 'Least her breath smells pretty good' I thought before stopping and shaking my head. 'Where in hell did that come from?' I questioned before realizing I was falling behind and running to catch up.

Author's Note:

Ask and thou shalt receive.

Comments

[zooba]

I don't see why he's apologizing for defending himself. AJ made it clear she was going to capture him to be punished for something he doesn't believe he should be punished for.

Why would he feel bad about giving a whack to the head in exchange for his freedom? This guy's character and choices are so wishy-washy it's very frustrating to read. Either accept your punishment and stop whining about it or deny that you should be punished at all and accept what you have to do to avoid it.

[Tomas Lutwig]

6935668
One of his favorite ponies is AJ, would you feel good if you smacked yours upside the head thinking it was that or be turned to stone/jailed for a long time? I'm not trying to be a jerk just giving at least my thought process behind his feelings on that.

On the topic of wishy washy morals/character; I blame it on the fact that I don't a clear character in my head, which is issues I've noticed with other fiction of mine. They tend to react to situations around them and in my attempts to make them feel emotions it tends to send them off into left field in the ways of actually being a character instead of someone who just reacts seemingly randomly to different situations. I tried to make him kind and fun loving, but with a serious side that takes charge when needed, but steps down if someone else believes they can do better. Sometimes though my own thoughts on the matter end up falling into the story instead when I cannot think of a good way for it to go.
If you're referring to the whole bit about him being kinda going all guilty on Celestia about the whole bringing the bloatheads to Equestira, I admit wholeheartedly that was kinda rushed and I had no idea what I was doing.
s2.quickmeme.com/img/74/749e9925192ccf333759ddd6277eed53afac2f001921bee6a2f3a53d3682fc6b.jpg

I haven't done much in the ways of Fanfiction and am simply glad there are people enjoying this one ^^

[Flutters Is Shy]

I'd like a chicken sandwich, please.

[Tomas Lutwig]

6939130
Touche

[flutterboot]

Really hoping this doesn't lead to princess/human romance.