A Place Called Here.

by Arc Angel

The Fool, or the Fool who Follows?

Starlight was nervous.

Well, maybe nervous wasn't the right word. But instead of describing her emotions with a number of descriptive dictionary words, let me just tell you what was happening.

Currently they had been traveling away from the village for nearly hath a day on a rather uninteresting path, though they had encountered a rather vicious six legged cat of sorts. They'd left it unconscious on the road. Rainbow was bored, but composed herself surprisingly well. She was currently examining her shield. Twilight however, was the problem. She had been studying the map Nick had given them for over an hour. This wasn't a problem in the strongest sense of the word, but every instinct Starlight had told her that this could be a disaster.

Deciding it would be best if she addressed this problem now rather than later, Starlight asked her Teacher directly.

"Twilight, I know that memorizing the map is important, but don't you think that you've been at it long enough?"

This got the Princess's attention. It even drew the attention of the ever distracted Rainbow Dash.

"Oh I memorized the map about an hour ago. But I was thinking. And it seems that Nick didn't highlight the fastest possible route to our destination. So I was figuring out a much more efficient way to this temple we're headed for."

Starlight's face wasn't disapproving exactly, but a raised eyebrow showed that she was somewhat skeptical.

"OK. But don't you think that Nick gave us the map as it was because it was the safest route in question?"

Twilight simply smiled and shook her head just a bit.

"But then he would have told us about the danger Starlight. Thus when the opportunity arises we simply have to enter the labyrinth to get to where we need to go."

The made Starlight show some surprise.

"Labyrinth? You want us to go through a LABYRINTH!?"

"Yessss . . . why? Do you think there will be a problem?"

"Labyrinth! Twilight, how could a labyrinth be the fasted way through to our destination?"

Twilight Smiled again, not at all deterred.

"Oh Starlight don't you worry. I've got this all figured out. One of my favorite myths involves the Hero navigating a labyrinth and using twine to leave a trail that will lead him out after dealing with a monster. So all we have to do is mark the walls with our magic to find the route out of the labyrinth! So as long as we don't get lost, which we won't, we should be able to reach Home in only a third of the time."

Starlight was partially convinced. She could see the logic of the idea, but she still had this nagging thought in the back of her mind that told her that this would not go well. But for the life of her she couldn't think of a viable reason not to do it, so she tried to ignore this intuition as she spoke aloud her consent.

"Alright, but let's be careful ok? I've got a bad feel about this."

With this the cyan colored Pegasus spoke up.

"Hey! Whats to worry about? We've faced things way more dangerous than this, you included Starlight!"

Having reached a point where her shame was mostly buried under a fair amount of embarrassment Starlight merely blushed. In response Twilight gave Rainbow a slightly dark look before moving her eyes to her student.

"What I think Rainbow Dash is trying to say is that theres nothing to worry about. We've got this!"

Starlight gave a smile, I'll be it a small one, and let her worries exit her mind. Her Friends were right, they had dealt with worse, and together they could handle anything this world threw at them.

MLP:FIM

Applejack and her companions were currently experiencing something truly bizarre, and between Aj's life on the farm, and everything she had seen and done since meeting Twilight, that was certainly saying something. From what the farm Pony could tell, they had been trapped for at least a few hours, maybe even a day, and yet she hadn't even felt a lick of exhaustion. Hell, she didn't even feel cold, despite being trapped in her own personal iceberg.

Looking (her eyes being the one thing she could move) to her companions, she found that Trixie had a permanent look of distress and panic upon her face. Changing the direction of her peepers, she found Spike was seemingly calm, if a bit put upon. His face spoke of the fact that he was used to being inconvenienced on occasion by stuff like this, most likely because of Twilight.

Applejack herself had been worried at the start. She'd been in a panic and assumed that they would either suffocate or freeze to death. It had quickly become apparent however that this wouldn't be the case, as again, the ice wasn't even cold and for whatever reason she, and clearly her companions, could breath just fine. At this point however she was mostly confused and annoyed. Not as annoyed as Spike mind you, but annoyed.

The confusion came in the form of the ice they were incased in, as it was melting. While this didn't sound particularly bizarre, the oddity could be found in that it seemed the ice was melting from the bottom up. This was strange enough, but the ice had already melted to the point that the bottom of Aj's hooves were exposed, and she seemed to be floating in midair, her exposed hooves only now becoming cold. Finally, there was the fact that as the ice melted her vision started to become blurry. While Spike and Trixie were still visible, they were no longer as clear. But the real effect was to be found in their environment, the cave tunnel shifting and twisting into something that Applejack simply couldn't place.

Before Applejack could analyze the situation any further the ice began to crack, quite rapidly.

With this Aj's vision shifted further, and just as the change was becoming clear in Applejack's mind, the ice completely shattered. With this it became obvious to Applejack just what their eviorment had transitioned to, just as she lost contiousness.

As it turned out, the three had somehow gone from an unground tunnel to being under water. Aj had been knocked out due to the immediate change in pressure and not being able to hold her breath. Lucky for her Spike being a Dragon was a bit tougher and immediately snatched up her and Trixie. Then with great haste he began to swim for the surface.

Being a Dragon his lungs had a greater capacity for air than most species, an evolutionary design to fuel their fire breathing and to be able to breathe at greater altitudes.

This helped with the fact that he was was being hindered with having to pull the two Mares to the surface with everything he had.

Because they had just suddenly appeared underwater Spike wasn't sure how far from the surface they had been. It was however becoming abundantly clear that it was quite far as his lungs began to burn. His vision also began to blur quite rapidly. It was because of this that Spike, focussed wholly on getting to the surface, just barely noticed something out of corner of his eye though and thus payed it no further mind.

Finally, Spike broke the surface of the water, making sure to pull his Friend's heads up so that they weren't taking in anymore water.

Unfortunately for Spike he'd seemed to have jumped right out of the smoke and into the fire, metaphorically of course seeing as he was a Dragon.

Currently the purple fire-breather found himself on the surface of a rather turbulent ice-cold sea, with snow falling overhead and lightning striking from above.

Immediately Spike panicked. Without realizing it his slitted pupils dilated, his breathing grew rushed, and he pulled his two unconscious companions close. Any number of horrific thoughts passed through his young mind. His head began to spin rapidly, he could not focus. Everywhere was nothing but water and waves. He had nowhere to go. His resolve was weakening.

Just as he was ready to let it all end, a single thought passed though his mind. That if he wished it was all over it would be, but that while he may have been ready to let go, he couldn't do that to Applejack & Trixie. And as he was responsible for them he couldn't throw in the proverbial towel just yet. Just as he had resolved himself to swim to safety, wherever that was, he felt a bump against his spines. As a result of this truly unexpected occurrence, he screamed.

This scream let out in a literal ocean of noise, where no-one but its originator could hear was the sound spoken of when philosophers questioned if being heard qualified one for existence.

Spike, calmer but still high strung, slowly turned around to see . . .

A boat.

A boat he hadn't noticed until it made contact with him. In a lesser situation he might have blushed.

Not wasting any more time he used all his strength to toss Trixie onboard. Then using his now free arm he pulled himself and Aj onto the deck.

Letting go of his farm-pony companion he allowed most of the tension to leave his body. He then observed his surroundings fully and was frankly amazed as it seemed despite the high waves the vessel was doing a remarkable job of staying afloat. It was truly something as there was about an inch of water sloshing below his feet.

Looking at the vessel itself it seemed to be about 20 feet long. It had a single solitary mast at its center, the sail furled. It was around 12 feet wide and shaped almost like a canoe.

With a sudden spark of panicked recognition Spike knew that had to check on his Friends.

Looking first to Trixie, he saw that she appeared to be breathing just fine, somehow, sleeping peacefully. Going over what he knew about her he chocked it up to some permanent spell she had cast on herself. Looking next to Aj who was far closer he saw a reason to begin panicking again.

She wasn't breathing.

Wasting no more time he didn't even bother to check for a pulse or heart beat and began chest compressions. He continued this for the designated amount of time before switching to mouth to mouth. All his thoughts were on Applejack and what life would be like if she simply wasn't there. As a result he doubled his efforts.

He continued at this pace for what felt like an eternity but was in reality closer to two minutes.

Closer to the tail end of this he moved to enact some more mouth to mouth, when he suddenly found his face covered in salt water, jumping back as a result.

Ignoring the pain of getting salt in his eyes he focussed and found that the source of the water was Applejack, who looked like she had seen better days.

Seeing that his Friend was now sucking down air he let out a sigh of relief. She was coughing quite hard, but more importantly she was awake.

Spike thinking fast went about supporting her head and back as she emptied her lungs of all excess fluid.

Noticing after that she wasn't alone Aj spoke.

"Hey Spike. Boy howdy does my head feel like a chew-toy after old Winona had her way with it."

"Hey Applejack. Yeah, we seemed to have gotten lucky. You probably need your rest after almost drowning. Take a nap. I'll watch over you and Trixie."

"Kay. You're a good Dragon Spike."

Going to sleep pretty quick after that, Spike left her to her rest. He meanwhile would examine the rest of the ship.

He wasn't immediately accustomed to the rocking of the vessel and thus slowly slid along towards what appeared to be the bow. Holding onto the side of the boat he noticed that the whole thing seemed to be pretty darn new. He had gotten pretty handy living with Twilight, so he could tell this was some quality work he was currently standing on.

Moving towards the bow, very slowly, he found that the wood was clearly carved with great care and attention to detail.

Arriving at his destination he discovered that there was a cannon mounted at the head of the water-craft. Examing it he found that it swiveled slightly to the right or left if so prompted, but otherwise stayed in place. Spike highly approved the choose in weapon.

Placed in an odd pyramid behind the weapon, strangely not at affected apparently by the shifting waves, was a pile of ammunition. Slightly more than a dozen and all rough black iron.

Noticing something else at his feet, he saw that there appeared to be a few sticks, each with a rather sharp pointy end attached. They weren't immediately visible do to the sloshing water.

He had seen them somewhere before. What were they called again? Oh yeah, Harpoons.

Passing through the young Dragon's mind was a memory of a passage of a Equestrian maritime history book he was made to read by Twilight. There had been a hooful of pages on Whaling. It had spoke of harpoons and their use. It was explicitly stated that after only 112 Years the practice banned and made illegal in Equestrian waters. This had all occurred post Celestia's banishment of her sister so a few had speculated that she hadn't quite been focussed or paying attention at that time when it came to Ruling.

The only reason Spike recalled all of that was because he liked whale meat, and had to ask Twilight how they still had access to it even though it was illegal to procure. She had then explained that while it couldn't be procured within the Kingdom's borders, it was legal elsewhere and as long as the specialized Equestrian citizen had the license to sell the product it was legal to purchase from outside the Kingdom. This was why the tasty treat was available to him and a small minority of the Kingdom's Equine citizen's.

He had then promptly asked the then Unicorn if they could get such a license at which point she had replied with a prompt, No!

Seeing what he need to here he moved to examine the rest of the ship.

Getting past the mast to the other end of the water craft he found that there was a solitary anchor currently, well, anchored. Beside it was a rudder and the poll like means to control it.

Seeing as there appeared to be nothing of great interest to him at this end, he moved back towards his companions. He paused however as there appeared to be a somewhat damp piece of paper somehow attached to the mast.

Moving towards it instead he examined it to find that it was a note. Looking closely at the paper itself he found that it was fancy, outside of not being quite dry. There was stylized red lines and swirls at the top and bottom. As for the writing, it was also somewhat fancy, close to Rarity's Horn-writing except for being slightly more masculine.

Finally getting to what it said, it read as follows . . .

^{_(~^~)_}^

To Applejack, Spike, & Trixie.

I have left this ship and the few supplies you will need to survive until you reach your means back to Equestria. I have already aided your Friends Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, and Starlight Glimmer. I have left something for thy remaining companions. Have no fear, they are all alright for the moment, but time is of the essence. I can say little except that danger grows nearer all the while. Please be cautious and protect the others as best you can.

Singed Brony enthusiast, and more importantly your Friend,

Nick C.

~~~^\/^~~~

Well that was certainly, interesting.

Spike took a sigh of semi relief as while he wasn't so quick to trust this, Nick . . . .

He would take slight solace in at least the idea that the rest of his Friends were ok.

Thinking about the note further he, well, noted that this, "Nick" had left what he felt they would need. Considering that no food or fresh water was on board he figured that meant it shouldn't take particularly long to reach land. Of course, by that logic it meant that the weapons on board were for defense. At least, thats what made the most sense to Spike.

Not giving the note much further thought, he moved towards his Friends at last.

Taking a single admiring glance at them, he then settled against the mast for a well deserved rest.

MLP:FIM

Things were going surprisingly well with Twilight's group.

They managed to find the labyrinth and we're currently traversing it with little trouble. They were marking the walls with a simple bit of Alicorn Lazers.

Said walls were covered in many an odd pictographs. Some ancient battles, others seeming to tell stories of the lives of those who once resided nearby. The most eye catching thing however, were a set that seemed to depict a set of beings unrecognizable as Humans or Ponies, or any other know sapient creatures for that matter. Twilight would have stopped to examine them further if the situation wasn't urgent. The only other notable thing was that the walls were lined with a series of glowing Crystals in multiple colors. This was a remarkably strong source of light for the small group.

All in all, Twilight was convinced that they would be out in record time.

Starlight was still nervous. Despite all indications to the contrary, she couldn't shake the feeling that something was somehow going to go wrong. It was for this reason that she was lagging behind.

Meanwhile her fellow traveler's were in the throws of conversation.

"I'm telling you, this is the least thrilling! Least Dangerous! Adventure we've ever been on!" This was the multi-man colored Pegesus talking.

Twilight quickly made her thats known.

"Thats really a matter of opinion Rainbow. After all we don't know what the others are currently dealing with. And our "Adventure" isn't even over yet! Anything could happen!"

The Pegesus rolled her eyes.

"Sure. But compared to dealing with someone like Tirek, this is Nothing!"

Here the Princess gave her a "are you kidding me" look with raised eyebrow to boot.

"Seriously!? You think Tirek is the toughest foe we've ever faced!?"

"What!? Come on! If not Tirek then who?"

"Nightmare Moon, obviously."

"Are you kidding!? Even Starlight was worse than Nightmare Moon!"

At this the still concerned Starlight gave the Pegasus's back a dirty look.

"Actually I consider Starlight a close second." The Alicorn said this while smiling.

In-turn the aforementioned Unicorn shrugged in agreement with a potent looking smirk on her face.

Rainbow just face hoofed.

The 2 Corns present giggled as a result.

Before the debate could continue however a great gust of wind seemed to blow in from behind the 3 Ponies who screamed as a result.

With the wind the three's ears popped and from all around them a mist and smoke that was black and green in color collected in front of them.

As the Girl's hearing cleared and they focused all around them they saw the strange clouds take the form of a pillar, slowly rising towards the sealing. They also took note of the Crystals on the walls beginning to crack.

And then it was pitch black. Not dark, just pitch black.

Once again as a result the three screamed . Then the sound of a shattering occurred, and there was light once more.

In this new light they could see that the tops of the Crystals were gone despite the fact that no broken pieces could be found on the ground. From the jagged remains of the once whole Crystals came the new source of light, flames. Flames that matched the color of each individual Crystal. This caused a multitude of bizarre shadows to be cast in all directions.

As everything was coming back into focus for our intrepid Adventurers, they saw that before them stood a being that hadn't been there before.

In seeing their, guest, the 3 Mares each took a step back. Their emotions high and each carrying a different expression.

Twilight a curious, yet cautious expression. Rainbow looked on with suspicion and just a hint of anger. Starlight however had the most out of place expression, as her pupils had shrunk so much they were invisible and a small line of sweat trailed down her cheek, her mouth a thin tight line.

As for the being itself, it was tall. Taller than Celestia, but shorter than Discord. It was wearing a dark green open cloak with plain black trousers, and a dirty stained and torn white t-shirt. It's hands and eyes might be familiar to you. The Ice Blue feline slit along with a fiery molten star. The hands were more like claws, each finger an inky glossy black. Long and thin like daggers mixed with a Spider's legs with 2 thumbs a piece. The feet were like a chickens talons, only two toes in the front. The claws on those were sickle shaped. It had wispy hair that seemed to be made of darkness itself, an odd set of HAMMER-Blood red cornrows interspersed with it. Rising from the forehead was a set of mighty stag antlers. The likes of which that looked as though they could be used to bring down a tree. Any visible skin was a chalky dirty white, almost grey color with green veins showing through the skin. Finally, upon the face was a wide unsettling happy grin. Sharp triangular teeth could be seen interlocking perfectly.

It's appearance only added to the terror it seemed to create with just it's presence alone.

Suddenly it began to laugh. This disturbed the three even more.

More than the laugh itself, was that it sounded a lot like Pinkie Pie. Not in voice mind you, but in tone and inflection. In the sheer energetic joy that was clearly being expressed.

"Hahahahhaha! I'm sorry, sorry. B ut your faces are priceless! So scared. Its too easy sometimes. Hahahaha!"

Suddenly any tension was gone and even Starlight look confused and looked to Rainbow who seemed just as befuddled. Twilight on the other Hoof looked on with a more inquisitive face. To her the voice, even the sentence sounded familiar. Like a sort of mostly harmless if annoying, chaos, was being channeled. It was like a gong had been rung in her mind as she came to a possible conclusion.

"Discord?" This was said by the Alicorn Princess with a accusatory if not wholly confident tone.

Suddenly it stopped laughing entirely. He'd gone from joy and laughter to a cold irritated look directed at the Princess. While there wasn't nearly as much tension as there had been with his arrival, he was certainly back to being intimidating.

"You would actually mistake me for that Unimaginative Insensitive Slime!? I'm insulted Twilight. I'm genuinely offended."

Twilight was momentarily stunned from both the reaction, and the rather chilling tone the unnatural voice had temporarily taken. Still confused she offered a apology.

"Um, I'm sorry. Its just that for a second you reminded of, well, Discord."

The strange disturbing being sighed and rolled It's eyes.

"Very well, I suppose avoiding any and all resemblance is impossible. Regardless allow me to introduce myself to destroy any further confusion on your parts." He bowed at the waste here as he continued "I am Image De Circus. But please, call me Mage."

Standing up straight, the being smiled again.

"Oh! And I was once King of this land we now occupy."

He said this with such nonchalance that it took a second to register in the Ponies brains. When it finally did they collectively screamed.

"WHAT!?"

"Oh yes."

It was Rainbow who was next to voice her thoughts.

"So you were the tyrant who left this place in shambles and that had to be imprisoned!" It was certainly not a question as far as the Pegasus was concerned. The Pegasus who was now grimacing with a menacing glare and flaring nostrils.

"Yes, and No."

"What do you mean no?" This was Starlight who hadn't spoken since they had crossed the threshold of this strange labyrinth.

"While I am certainly the King you were informed of, I am not responsible for the current state of the realm. And while I may have been harsh now and again, as any good ruler needs to be, I was hardly a tyrant. In fact, it was 19 members of my own court who unjustly imprisoned and betrayed ME!"

It was with the final word that he expressed a unnerving degree of malice.

Rainbow Dash didn't look like she believed him.

"I don't believe you!"

See, I told you.

Starlight and Twilight looked on with suspicion yet, less skepticism. Being the Princess that she was, Twilight stepped forward and in front of her Friends.

"If what you say is remotely true, then why were we lied to?" She said this with a firm, royal tone of voice.

He just continued to smirk.

"Well, as it turns out I've been following you. And the old man who did in deed lie to you did so because, as I observed, he was a follower of mine who believed that my return was marked by your arrival. He was right of course, but that is besides the point. As for the things he said about my apparent 'Cruelty' well, I'd say he actually believed what he said to a point. After all, it has been more than a Millenia. I'd say He was simply alive too long."

At this point all three Mares looked less hostile. Rainbow was still glaring while Starlight looked on with far more mild suspicion. Only Twilight kept something resembling a poker face.

"Ok, then why follow us? Why meet us here?"

"Why, to thank you for freeing me of course."

Here Twilight looked to her Friends with a raised Eyebrow before turning back.

"What do you mean? We didn't free you."

"Oh but you did Twilight. Not intentionally. But yes, you did indeed free me. When your new found teleportation spell malfunctioned it tore a hole in the fabric of space-time and shook this reality, thus freeing me."

Here Twilight and her Friends looked shocked. Then melancholy appeared on the Princess's face and she put her head down in defeat.

"So I was responsible for bringing us here. I did put us all in danger. I miscalculated somehow."

Before her Friends could offer comfort, Mage once again spoke up.

"Actually, no." This got everypony's attention and Twilight looked surprised and almost hopeful "Let us move forward a bit. I will explain as I lead you out of the labyrinth." He the began to move forward. The Ponies, seeing no reason not to at this point, did as he suggested. Once they were moving at a relaxed and steady pace he began to talk again. "You see, when your Friend Rarity placed the chaos orb onto the Cutie-map it created a conduit of Balance. Now the thing about Balance Magic is that it is both orderly, and unpredictable. As such it could create almost any result under the right circumstances. Like for instance channeling an unprecedented amount of raw magical energy from a powerful totem. One like say . . . ."

Here something clicked in Twilights head.

"Like the tree of Harmony!"

"Exactly! And this would mean that . . . ."

He prompted this while barely looking behind him as the three Mares followed. Despite him being slight rudely Twilight followed up on the prompt like she was back in class.

"And that means that I didn't miscalculate! I just didn't account for a great burst of raw Magic that enhanced my spell well past its intended range!"

The Princess looked especially happy here. To best express this, lets say that she made a rather adorable face, in which case Mage went . . . . . "Daaawwwww."

Now Starlight looked quite contemplative, as though everything said raised a lot of questions that she wanted answered. The next to deliver a question however was Rainbow Dash.

"Wait just a minute! Even if everything you said is true, how could you possibly know all that stuff? In fact hod you know Twilight's name!?"

This got the other two's attention. It was clear this simply hadn't occurred to either of them.

"Well done. I do indeed know the Princess's given name Ms. Dash. And Starlight Glimmer as well. As to how, well that is partially due to how I was imprisoned. You see, my betrayers created a rather cruel yet creative means to keep me trapped. I was placed in a small pocket dimension. One for which its design ensured I could not escape via my own means. A small space where I could see the world around me, hear it, and yet never interact with it. And so my only recourse was to watch as the world changed around me and I wasn't able to do anything about it. Finding that depressing I used my power and my prison to view other worlds. Eventually I came across a familiar one, yours."

It was here that he noticed how quiet it had become. Turning to look He saw that his newfound companions had stopped a ways behind him. The look on the Pony's faces spoke to the horror they were experiencing at the though of his experience. Suddenly Starlight Glimmer spoke up.

"How could anypony just do that!?"

Now in the air, Rainbow looked angry again. Though this time, it didn't seem to be directed at Mage.

"Those sick jerks! Tell me where they are and I'll teach them a lesson!" Once again she was flaring her nostrils.

Mage looked mildly surprised. But he didn't let that last Long and soon regained his composure.

"Ah yes, empathy. I forgot it was something that existed in the Omniverse. As for my betrayers, they're all dead now. Those here have been known to live for millennia, but sometimes fate, and karma, have been known to be cruel." He seemed to say this with a shade of dark amusement in his voice.

Rainbow deflated just a bit, before crossing her front hooves and putting a tough determined face before saying "Yeah? Well lucky them! If they were still around I'd have to take care of them!"

"Hahah. I'm sure you would have given them Hell. Now come on. We're not far from the exit at this point. Don't want to waste any more time."

And so the odd yet powerful being quickly turned and headed for the exit. His new Pony companions moved forward to try and catch up. Mage on the other hoof payed them little further mind. This is how he found himself caught by surprise when he felt something soft enter his claw's grasp.

Looking down he saw that Twilight had placed her right hoof in his claw. She was smiling at him. At that moment he felt a slight flicker of regret, but he pushed it aside and focussed on the task at claw. He did however allow a small smile to cross his now slightly less scary face.

Now the Ponies seemed content and were chatting once gain. Even Starlight was at ease. Their new traveling buddy quiet all the while.

There seemed to be nothing in the world that could tear down this great new wall of joy.

Soon they came upon the exit. Seeing this the Ponies rushed forward jumping and hollering in joy.

Mage stayed back basking in the moment with a content smile on his face, just soaking it all in.

This soon slipped away however, and he let out a sombre sigh.

"Girls. I'm afraid I have some unfortunate news."

This got their attention quickly. And while they looked concerned, they weren't really worried.

Sighing once again because of this, Mage moved forward.

"I am most grateful that you have freed me, even unintentionally. As such I will tell you to take a right turn to continue going south. It would be best if you reached the means of your escape in 3 days if you wish for things to go smoothly."

Starlight was the one to ask what she felt was an obvious question.

"And what happens in 3 days?"

With one last sigh Mage answered the question.

"Simply put, in 72 Hours and 12 Minutes I'm going to come and find you. I am then going to kill you. All 9 of you."

Immediately there was a great loud emotional response of "WHAT!?" and on the Mare's faces was a look of absolute shock.

"Yes, I know. Surprising isn't it. As I am grateful to you for freeing me I will allow you a 72 hour window to reach Freedom. But after that point you will be at my mercy. So please, get out of my world."

Even with these additional words they were still in shock.

All except Rainbow.

"What are you saying!? We're Friends! Why would you want to kill us!?'"

"Oh Rainbow. Don't be dense. I couldn't possibly be your Friend. I will however take on the reluctant roll of teacher."

The simple disregard for all she believed in and the threat to those she cared for seemed to make Rainbow far more than simply Angry. Oh no, she was Pissed!

Flying forward the Pegasus pulled back her right hoof and in the 12 seconds it took her to reach her target thrust it forward with the force of a Sonic-Rainboom.

It seemed however that all she got for her effort was the quiet grunt of her target as she has struck him in the stomach.

Said target then let out a quick boisterous chuckle.

"Now Rainbow Dash, that wasn't supposed be a punch was it. In that case I know what your first lesson will be. Lesson #1, How to properly throw a punch."

He then threw his balled up left claw forward at ludicrous speed, right into the Cyan Mare's face.

Rainbow flew back from the force of the blow. Hitting the floor, she bounced to the sealing with the accompanying sound of a pinball hitting obstacles. This process was repeated a few times as she bounced back towards the other two Ponies present.

This was also how Twilight and Starlight finally broke from their Shock induced trance and yelled to together "RAINBOW!" and rushed to her side.

Mage merely looked on, his face the least expressive it had been since he had arrived.

Suddenly, without warning, Rainbow rose up onto her four hooves. She was bruised and breathing heavily. But more than that she was looking at Mage, a look of animalistic rage on her face.

Seeing this and recognizing what it meant Twilight attempted to dissuade her.

"Rainbow, Don't! Its not worth it. He's given us time to get away, lets just go back Home to Equestria! To Ponyville!"

Unfortunately, Rainbow Dash wasn't listening.

Moving forward again, Dash went about attempting another punch. And then another, and another, and so on and so forth. None of them landed. This partially seemed to be do to a combination of Mage's ability to dodge and Rainbow's lack of focus.

Mage himself was still completely stone faced, his arms behind his back as he moved around the manic-moving pony. He moved deliberately with little visible effort.

This only enraged Rainbow even further as she increased her efforts to land, a, single, solid, blow.

As the Cyan Pegasus moved closer still to her opponent, Mage suddenly jumped over the mid-air Pegasus, twisting as he passed over her. In a single blinding second the strange monstrous being struck with his claw and brought the Pegasus down to ground level.

There were no sound effects this time. Just the harsh sound of a body hitting stone.

Once again her Friends moved to Rainbow's side. It was here they saw the new wound that had been inflicted. A series of 6 ugly red gashes that ran down her throat, the central 3 clearly deep enough that they would scar. It was also clear that Rainbow wouldn't be getting up at the moment. She however was still conscious and looking at Mage with a primal anger.

He on the other hoof was looking on with his completely unmoving expression. Perhaps this is why the Ponies were a bit surprised when he finally talked once more.

"Your 12 Minutes are up. Your 72 Hours begin, now."

He then, before their very eyes, deformed into smoke & ash and was blown away in the cool silent wind.

Not dwelling on this at all the 2 Corns focussed on their hurt Friend.

For the moment they gave little further thought to the one called Mage.

MLP:FIM

Spike had been falling asleep for awhile now. How long exactly he definitely couldn't say. Being with Twilight so long really didn't instill one a competent ability to measure their time well.

Regardless, a sudden shiver up & down his Spine woke him to complete alertness.

The first thing he noticed was that his Friends hadn't seemed to to have moved so that definitely wasn't what had made him alert.

Looking at their mode of transportation a bit he saw that nothing had changed here either.

Looking to the deck itself, he saw that the formerly sloshing waters had stopped. This got his heart beating a bit more and had him moving to the wall separating him from the sea. Looking to this unknowable body of water, he saw something that sparked every nerve along his scales.

Where as before the sea had been undulating with almost unnerving consistency and volume, the waters now seemed calm and completely still.

Spike couldn't say why this distressed him so. He thought as he rose from his kneeling position trying to come to some conclusion.

In his attempt to understand what was stumping him he looked looked up. He was suddenly struck dumb.

The reason was that he noticed the furled sail seem to be completely still. With this a rather horrifying thought had struck him.

Wasting no time testing his hypothesis he stuck his pointer claw in his mouth.

Plucking the now moist digit from his maw he stuck his arm up towards the heavens. What he felt made his blood run cold, which for a Dragon was rather uncomfortable.

Or rather, what he didn't feel.

There was no breeze, no wind. Just a wet claw pointed towards the sky.

Pulling his arm to his side he looked at his surroundings.

He was now breathing quite heavy to the point that bursts of smoke were exiting his mouth every few seconds. He couldn't seem to focus as thoughts like "Has the boat always been this small?" and "How are they still sleeping? Don't they know somethings wrong?" passed through his suddenly stressed mind. He also briefly considered if this was something like how Twilight felt when she had a Freak out.

He was now spinning, stopping only momentarily every so often to observe a supposed movement that he might have seen from the corner of his eye. In Spike's mind the themes of some his favorite Horror films were playing at full volume.

It was like the whole world was closing in on his small isolated location and had absolutely no care for how it affected him.

He was due to stop spinning in paranoia again. Doing so, he was now facing the Bow.

Here he screamed a shrill scream of total, absolute, terror, though he couldn't hear it over the sound of his own Heart beating in his ear-holes.

Facing the Dragon now was the face of someone Spike would have described as a great design for a Comic book Supervillian.

The many triangle shaped teeth made Spike break out in goose-pimples. The "Horns" triggered a sense of primal fear. Meanwhile worst of all the horribly bright, mismatched Eyes made him feel as though his soul was ready to leave his body just to get away from the thing.

Suddenly its triangular teeth separated.

Spike as a result closed his eyes in fear of what he assumed would be a violent end as some creature's dinner.

Instead he heard a voice unlike any he had ever heard in his life greet him.

"Hello, Spike."

Author's Note:

And here we have the latest chapter of a story that in my opinion took way to long to write. In my defense though I am a slow writer, and life kind got in the way.

Please note that there is a accent of sorts when it come to the name Image De Circus. I just didn't know how to write it out.

Please tell me what you think and politely inform me of any improvements I might need.