The Wander Through Lands Unknown

by Tomas Lutwig

Chapter 25; Owning Up to Your Mistakes

Shock was written on the Diarchies faces, similar to seeing a skeleton you had long since thought you evicted from your closet.

“Where did you get that?” The older asked regaining her voice first.

I looked down at the amulet in question, “In your old castle” I said looking back up at them. “When you and your guards were searching for me in the forest, I managed to get past all of you. One way or another” I continued looking at AppleJack with a sorrowful look, who returned an angry one. “I am sorry about that by the way. It was an act of desperation, one I regret wholeheartedly”

The pony in question raised an eyebrow at me, but stayed silent. “Wanderer, you may ask forgiveness later, we need to know why you have that amulet” Luna said.

I let out a sigh, turning back to the sisters. “Of course, apologies. After I slipped past you all, I made my way to your old castle thinking that your guards would search it for some foolish reason and wanting to get out of the forest. As you can guess I was wrong in m assumption, and quickly became lost. I will never understand why royalty must have such large houses.” I said putting a hand to my chin.

“Wanderer...” Celestia warned.

“Regardless, guards had entered your old castle and started searching, it wasn't long before one neared my position either making me hide in what I could only assume was a servant's room. The guard started searching nearby rooms forcing me to hide, a nearby wardrobe being the only option. In a stroke of luck for me, I discovered a hidden passageway and managed to evade the guard, only to become more lost as I fell into the depths of your old castle” I said, noticing as shock came to the pony's faces.

“When I hit the floor, I found I was in a dungeon or something of the like. Trying one way I found the door locked, the other many rooms filled with different things, some being the skeletal forms of prisoners others being a random assortment of objects. Among those was this” I motioned to the amulet. “It seemed to draw me towards it for some reason, so I broke the lock and took it, curious of what it was”

Looks of shock and disapproval were shot my way from the different ponies, the diarchies having varying degrees of annoyance. “You stole from the Princesses?” The voice of Rainbow Dash shot out, making roll my eyes as a few of the others chimed in. “Not the best course of action, I admit, but I'd played too many games where the old ruined castle was full of magical long forgotten goodies” I said brushing her off.

“Returning to what I guessed as my only way out something prompted me to put on the amulet, which allowed me to rip the door open and leave. Making my way out of the castle, I found a couple of these” I said holding up the war axe, “and stuffed them into my pack, thinking I could use them later. Your war armor looks rather strange by the way” I said offhandedly “Either way I ended up running into a few of your guards and hiding out in the library as they searched. When able I left”

The diarchies seemed torn about something if the looks on their faces were any indication. “I must admit though, this thing is pretty useful!” I said looking down at it. “I mean it absorbed multiple of the shots from those bloatheaded sorcerers making me feel much better after every shot they threw at me even after the hits I took from the others”

A sigh echoed from Celestia making me look up at the ponies. 'They're going to want it back aren't they?' I mentally questioned, fairly sure I knew the answer.

“That amulet... it was a gift from King Vorak after an incident many years ago with one of his elders who kidnapped one of our citizens. It was made after taking the centuar's magic from him and binding it to that amulet, it was delivered along with the assurance that the elder would be punished and that it would never happen again” she said concentration written on her face. “The centuar's magic was altered though, as to only absorb magic intended for harming the user while replenishing them with said magic”

I looked down at the silver pendant, 'A centuar huh? Well I suppose that would explain it's powers, though not why it was glowing like it was' I thought.

“I cannot see a reason for you to not have it, as it was doing no good in the dungeon...” Celestia said “As well as aiding us in restoring the forest, we thank you as it would have proven difficult to do alone”

“There is still the matter of your punishment though, for desertion as well as for murder” Princess Luna said.

I let out a sigh, purposefully attempting to calm myself, 'There's no way you'd be able to get away from this that easily' I told myself, though the concept of serving in the Royal guard didn't seem as distasteful. “Alright I understand” I said putting my hands up palms forward, forgetting the broken pendant still closed in my fist which fell to the forest floor causing the ponies to gasp. 'Whoops' I thought, reaching down to grab it only to stop as nothing happened. “Huh, I guess the Elements did more than just cleanse the forest” I said picking it up before tossing it to the ponies.

Celestia's magical aura caught it bringing it closer to examine. “It seems so” She said showing it to her sister. “The dark magic has been purged from it” she continued before her horn flared and it was heated to the point where the vine serving as it's neck loop was reduced to ash and the stone itself turned into lava. I approached the group watching, surprised along with the ponies around her, as she shaped it what looked to be a small unicorn before cooling it rapidly. The miniature unicorn had a glass-like sheen making me stare at the alicorn with a mix of surprise, admiration, and jealousy.

“Twilight, please give this to Spike, I believe that he collects things like this?” She said offering the figurine to the smaller alicorn in front of her who looked shocked for a second before taking it.

“I will, no doubt he'll be thrilled” Twilight said with a smile accepting the gift before it disappeared in a flash of violet magic.

“Ah never knew you could do somethin' like that Princess. That was mighty pretty” AppleJack said making Celestia smile at her. “I experimented with a few different forms of art when I was younger, though I'm nothing compared to my teacher” she replied before turning back to me.

“As we were saying before though Wanderer.” The white alicorn started again, face growing serious. “By Equestrian law, you disobeyed your orders, your oath to the Royal Guard of the Pony Sisters to protect it's innocence.”

I let out a sigh knowing what was coming up next. 'You are hereby discharged for dishonest conduct befitting a member of the Royal guard' I said mentally, only to be surprised.

“But you also aided in the protection of a citizen of Thistle, and aided in protecting not only the Elements of Harmony, but also the Everfree Forest as a whole.” She said her tone softening just a tad before turning to her sister.

“Private Wanderer, you are hereby sentenced to two years in the dungeon for disobeying orders and desertion of the Royal Guard. While serving your sentence your pay will be forfeit until the time of your release” Princess Luna said, her tone mimicking her sister in it's seriousness. “Upon your release you will be reinstated into the guard and stationed in Ponyville where you will served until your enlistment expires”

I blinked at the two sisters for a moment 'Ah... well better than just being jailed a thousand years' I thought before moving to attention and saluting. “Yes my Princesses!” I belted out.

Dirty looks were shot at me by the guards who came to escort the princesses back to Canterlot. I was quickly relieved of my weapons and placed in an iron cage that was attached to the back of a chariot. I questioned mentally why the princesses let him keep the medallion around his neck and the pack on my back after taking the weapons out of it, but didn't press it. 'Well... the next two years are going to be boring' I thought as the princesses said their farewells to the elements as well as a large number of the townsfolk that had come out of their houses to do the same.

I watched as a number of the elements talked with the princesses, no doubt discussing my punishment, 'No doubt wondering why I was let off so easily' I thought, 'Though I suppose I'll be back in two years to act as this town's guard, not as though it needs one seeing as how Princess Twilight Sparkle herself along with the Elements of Harmony resided here' I chuckled quietly resting my head on my arm which the elbow of which rested on my folded legs.

“-And you must write more Twilight, it's been getting rather boring around the castle without any of your letters” I heard the Solar diarch say getting a giggle from the purple alicorn.

“Of course Princess Celestia!” She said with a beaming smile. “Have a safe trip back!”

The older alicorn nodded walking to her chariot before looking back at her sister who was piratically covered in foals. A giggle escaped her as she watched her sister play with the foals before clearing her voice.

Luna looked up over at her sister who motioned with her head to the dark purple and blue chariot. The younger alicorn got the message as she stood up. “I'm afraid that it is time for my departure my tiny subjects” She said receiving a collective disappointed 'Awww' from the foals as the princess lifted them from her back and onto the ground. “Fear not! I shall see you all again later” She said with a smile that brought the foal's back with a fervor.

The darker alicorn started walking to her chariot with a large number of foals wishing her well. “I'm glad to see that you managed to completely banish the fear from Nightmare Night those years ago” I said as she passed making her look at me as I smiled.

“Aye, it is rather nice to be loved once again” she said a smile gracing her features before she continued to her ride.

A simple request to return to the castle from the diarchies started the guards moving, and away I went, clouds rolling underneath me in my iron prison.

'So what am I going to do in the dungeon for two years?' I wondered still resting my chin on my hands. 'Too bad I never learned how to play solitaire' I thought remembering the pack of cards that I had played blackjack with. 'Wonder if I could convince the princesses to teach me a few single player card games'

A gurgle in my stomach made me look down before digging through what was left of my possessions for the last of the trio of apples I bought days prior. Fishing it out I found that it had seen better days, but that it still looked good. Taking a bite the tartness surprised me, but I was glad to find that it didn't make my teeth ache like the ones back home had.

Turning to look behind me Canterlot City was quickly approaching and I silently wondered if I was going to have to get up from my position as I munched on the apple. The trio of chariots flew right over the city allowing me to look down and see all of the ponies walking around. A temptation hit me to spit as I was looking down, but I stopped as I didn't want to hit one of the ponies, rude uncouth for the most part they might be, but knowing my luck I'd hit one in the eye and cause some kind of accident.

I watched as the ground got closer realizing that we were going to land I pulled my head back into the cage and awaited landing preparing for a jolt as the cage touched down only to be surprised as the cage just slowed down to a halt.

“Guards, please escort the prisoner to his cell” Princess Luna's voice sounded followed by the cage door opening making a ramp to the ground, guards showed up yanking me from the cage onto the grass before closing the door and the pair hooked up to said cage took it somewhere else, presumably to be stored away.

Getting up from the ground one of the guards hooked loose irons around my arms that were obviously made for a larger creature, but no doubt the closest size they had for something like me. After which I was pushed in line behind one of the guards who led me to into the castle, servants that had seen me before shooting me curious glances which I ignored as well as guards I recognized who shot me angry looks.

'Starting to question my decision here' I thought as the guards took me to a familiar round dungeon. After stopping in front of what looked to be the dirtiest cell they had, one of the guards undid the irons around my arms and the other bucked me into the cell the pain of landing face first on on the cold stone dwarfed by the feeling of two imprinted horseshoes in my back.

The guards held their silent demeanor as they slammed the iron cell door shut, and I felt something wet splat against the back of my head. “Traitor” I heard one of them say as hooves clopped against the stone, disgust lacing the guard's voice before clopping hooves signaled his departure.

'Eeyup... have a feeling I should of just gone somewhere else. Left the country beat up the guards and bounty hunters they sent...' I thought before sitting up and taking off my hood to wipe the spit off of it. 'Doesn't matter now I guess though' I thought before looking around at what would be my new home for two years.

The floor was covered in a thin layer of grime, a layer of hay sat in the far corner opposite of the iron grate that led down to a small tunnel allowing for excrement. I noticed that the pile of hay was not only larger than the average pony, but seemed to be infested with small insects that immediately scurried deeper onto the hay. 'Seems they prepared me a personal cell' I though looking back through the iron door to see the other cells were spotless.

A thought entered my mind to break out, but I shook it from my head. 'If I want any chance of them leaving me alone about that damn “murdering Tirek” and letting the other things slide, then I'll need to stay here.' I thought before chuckling and putting my hood back on. 'Maybe I can teach myself magic' I joked.

As my eyes returned to the room around me I grimaced. 'Though before I teach myself magic I think I may have to clean this place somehow' I thought the best thing I had for this being an old bandanna I used as a handkerchief. Searching through the small pouch on my belt I pulled out my cell phone the battery having been very low before I thought to turn it off in 'hoofcamp' a while ago, a yellow and orange chunk of soapstone, a small wad of now useless bills, and the ring of fog I had hidden and put in there after the guards had searched me. I sighed as the realization that I had forgotten that bandanna at home the day I went to the con.

Looking over the couple hundred dollars that had been separated into twenties, tens and fives counting it out to be roughly four hundred twenty five, coming out to be ten Andrew Jacksons, twenty Alexander Hamilton, and five Abraham Lincolns. Staring at the stacks I smiled at my ability to remember the names of the presidents, though the fact didn't surprise me as history was my favorite subject, the quote 'those who don't study history are doomed to repeat it' always bringing a bitter smile to my face.

I questioned if I should use the bills to scrub the crap off the walls. 'I could always keep a few and use them for tinder, or of course just keep them for memory's sake' I thought before folding a few of each bill up and putting them back into the pouch on my belt. I looked at the slightly smaller piles of bills and shrugged. Grabbing a twenty I removed my gloves, tucking them into the back of my belt, and started trying to scrub away at the stone only to be met with the issue of not having any kind of cleaning liquid to use. A few thoughts ran through my head I stopped the train of thought when the idea of using urine crossed it.

'It might contain ammonia, but eeugh' I thought shaking my head, unable to think of anything else I spit on the stone and scrubbed at it again meeting better results. Though I only managed spitting on the ground constantly to clean it for about five minutes before my mouth dried out.

Smacking dried lips together I had given up tucking the remaining bills back into my pouch leaving the remaining grime and spit covered twenty next to the now shiny circle on the floor. 'Either I could do that for days and clean this entire place, or...' I thought remembering what a certain white haired general did once he was imprisoned.

Laying down in the middle of my cell I wedged my sabaton covered boots in between the iron bars of my cell door and started doing sit-ups.

“What are you doing?” The voice of Princess Celestia sounded making me turn around. In front of my cell stood the diarch of the sun, flanked by two of her guards, staring at me like had grown another head chopped it off then decided to wear it as a hat.

'You'd think I'd of paid attention' I thought standing back up on tired and rather shaky legs. “Well I was doing squats” I said raising an eyebrow before reaching down to grab my shirt and throw it back on. An uncomfortable shiver running through me as the cold cloth touched my now sweat covered skin.

“I can see that, but I meant more on the reason of why” She said, the look not fading from her face.

I shrugged my shoulders, “Not much better to do” I said unsure of what else to say. 'Not as though I was planning on breaking out of here I mean what's the point' I thought.

The look of confusion remained on me for a moment before the diarch put a hoof to her face and sighed, looking back at me her composure returning. “I simply wished to see how you were doing, the day is over and I was getting ready to retire after lowering the sun” she said

I blinked at her. 'I'd ask if I was the special prisoner, but I'm pretty sure I'm the only prisoner' I thought. “I'm fine your majesty” I said scratching the back of my head. “There's not really anything I need if that's what your asking. Unless you'd be willing to get me a bucket of water and a washcloth. I mean I prefer living in at least a clean room” I motioned towards the room around me.

Princess Celestia blinked for a moment before turning to one of her guards, “Please get the Wanderer what he needs” she said. The guard saluted shooting a glare at me before trotting off and the princess turned back to me. “I was also hoping to ask you more about that place you told us about, Lordran, and the... I believe you called them 'bloatheads'?” she said.

'Ahhh, there it is' I thought nodding with my eyes closed. “Well I already explained the majority of it when I first arrived here, do you want me to retell that or..” I asked with a hand making gesture like I was offering her the option.

The alicorn shook her head the negative. “No I recall that to a fair enough degree, I was hoping you could tell me who that 'Manus' being was and what exactly the Abyss did” she said.

I nodded again, “Fair enough” I said tugging at my beard and turning away from her, walking over to the wall to sit down. “Alright, you remember the story I was telling you about how the humans and 'gods'” I asked to which she nodded. “Well there are some theories that Manus was the 'furtive pygmy' the first human, and original owner of the Dark soul. One of the embers of the fire that burned allowing the others to find the Lord souls. Manus, as I know of him, was a large almost demonic being with large growths coming from his head that looked almost like horns that had eyes similar to the bloatheads dotting it towards where his face was. His body was similar to a human's though much larger, he had a tail, and a large grotesque arm that had many eyes and a large mouth in it's palm” I explained making a look of disgust cross the diarch's face. “This arm of his was able to stretch to extreme lengths able to hit someone from across a large room. I don't know the exact details behind it, but he basically ruled the abyss and was actively trying to expand it along with retrieve the pendant you destroyed.”

I hugged my arms around myself and looked down at the ground, feeling uncomfortably cold. “The Abyss was the darkness where the light of the fire no longer reached. It was much more than just darkness though. If you didn't have something to protect you, it would corrupt you, or if you're lucky just kill you.” I said looking back up the princess. “Humans who were corrupted were turned into what I call bloatheads, or the bloathead sorcerers. I don't know the details behind that either, but to put it bluntly the abyss would corrupt them changing their bodies and minds”

I let out a breath before taking a long one. “It was quite strange and rather disturbing thinking of the end to that...” I said remembering the whole concept behind the game's ending.

The princess nodded. “Sometimes the futility of things can be baffling” She agreed remembering my previous thoughts on the matter.

“Your bucket” The guard said as he reappeared after a moment of silent contemplation between the two of us.

Looking up at the guard I stayed where I was as the princess unlocked the door and levitated the bucket of water into the cell, the cloth draped over the side partially sitting in the water. After setting it down, she looked at the now extremely dirty bit of paper on the floor next to the cleaner part of the cell. Picking it up in her magic she took it out and examined it.

“Oh that's just part of an old currency from my world” I said noticing how she was looking at it. “Thank you by the way” I said to the guard who promptly ignored me.

“Who is this?” she asked making me making my eyebrows rise before shooting back down as I tried to remember.

'Was it Andrew Jackson on the twenty?' I asked myself mentally before looking back up “I believe his name was Andrew Jackson, he was one of the presidents from where I came from” I said.

A strange look came to her face as she brushed off the picture and looked at it. “He has a very strange manecut” she said enticing a chuckle from me as I nodded.

“Yea they cut their hair weird back in the day. Makes me wish I had a one dollar bill so I could show you George Washington. He probably had the weirdest haircut of them all” I said a smile coming to my face as I remembered him.

After another moment of silence the princess looked at me “Wanderer, do you mind if I take this?” she asked making my eyes go wide.

I jumped up from my spot on the cell floor. “Ah no Princess, that one's covered in crap I'll get you a newer one” I said quickly approaching the still open cell door only for the guards to step in front of the princess spears at the ready.

I stepped back cautiously before the princess pushed aside the guards spears. “There's no need for that” she chided them motioning for me to approach. “Thank you” she said as I fished out another bill and gave it to her. Noticing her eyeing the fives and tens I handed her one of those as well.

'Never thought I'd be giving the princess money' I thought, mentally laughing as she gave me back the dirty bill examining the other two she had given me.

“These... males look strange...” She said, “What is the purpose of these 'bills' as you call them?” she looked up, curiosity filling her eyes.

“Oh!” I scratched the back of my head putting the dirty bill next to the bucket of water. “Well where I come from, they use that as currency like you use bits.” I started pulling out another twenty to use as example. “You see how it says up at the top here 'Federal reserve note'?” I asked to which she looked at the bills levitating in her magic and nodded. “Well the federal reserve is where my country houses all of the stuff they view as really important. The world sees Gold, and Silver as precious metals and since there isn't a whole lot of it, valuable. I think Copper and Platinum are up there too, but don't quote me on that” I said chuckling.

“Hmm, how strange” She said quietly, “There's an abundance of all of those materials in Equestria. It's strange how your world doesn't have a lot of it”

I put the bills away and scratched my head. “Well there are theories, which I happen to believe at least to a certain level, that the governments are basically keeping all of the precious metals away from others, only releasing them in certain amounts to keep the value of it up. I heard something very similar about Diamonds; that they are actually quite abundant, but greedy rich people and politicians hoard them all and only release certain amounts to keep the value up” I said, letting out a sigh, internally kind of glad to be away from the copious amounts of greed.

Looking back to the princess there was a look of annoyance on her face before she let out a sigh of her own. “I take it you're not a fan of when peo- er- ponies in this case, do that?” I asked.

“No I cannot say I am” she said before letting out a breath, calming herself. “Thank you for speaking with me Wanderer, I wish you a good night” she finished before walking away, tucking the bills into her large necklace. One of the guards shot me a dirty look before slamming the cell door shut, locking it, and following the princess.

Rolling my eyes at the guard, I looked to the bucket of water, quickly washing off the bill before handing it over one of the iron bars that went horizontally across the others, strengthening them. Turning back towards the bucket, I took the cloth and started wiping down the cell again, wringing it out back into the bucket when it got too dirty, trying to the water Celestia had granted me.

'Wow I feel like a good little servant boy' I thought before looking at the cell door. 'Maybe a good little prisoner'

Comments

[giz]

6941895 I can understand that the protagonist is in a difficult situation, but is acting too much submissive and friendly with the princesses.
It is acting as a doormat
he hoped the deer King had a different opinion and posed a more balanced debate

[Shadow of doubt]

I think it be cool to see the look on there faces when he figures out magic, I mean who said you need a horn for that stuff

But seriously he needs a power boost and magic would be awesome who knows maybe it could be blood magic or some forgotten light magic or even abyss