The long way around (Revised)

by RisuUmbra

Chapter 2

???’s POV

The sky was bright and sun’s rays cascaded over a small farm that covered the area full of growing green healthy crops and a big red barn near the center and a medium sized house next to it, down near the main house of the farm, were three figures spoke softly and happily like talking to a family member, which they were.

“Do you have enough to eat, Are you sure you’ll be alright out there?” A older female sounding voice said worriedly

“Yeah, you can wait till your ready before leaving there’s no rush” A older male voice spoke in a soft baritone.

“Yes!, i’ll be just fine you don’t have to worry i’m an adult now so I can take care of myself” A younger sounding male voice responded to their concern with confidence.

“Okay we’ll stop smothering you but still are you sure you’ll be okay out there, the only threat isn’t just hunger and weather son.” The revealed father and mother said to their grown child with a tone of underlying danger to which the son smirked and said

“I’m far from defenceless myself, but I will be careful thanks” the son smiled and adjusted his bag off his wings then continued

“I should start heading to the next town before it gets dark so I guess this is goodbye for now huh?” he faced his mother who was tearing up and embraced her lovingly and held her for a moment then had to reach around and pry her talons off because she wouldn’t let go. Then turned and started walking down the path leading off the property and to his future, as he exited the farm the sign post next to it caught his attention and he smiled warmly at it

“Won’t see this again for a while hehe” he shook off the fond memories and continued past and opened his wings then kicking off the ground with a paw showing the sign no longer blocked by his body “WELCOME TO BLACK FEATHER FIELDS”.

ORIGINAL POV:

Have you ever been forced to wake up and you get that disoriented but alert feeling and you feel on edge which either results in you punching someone in the face or run away from something, well imagine that feeling along with having a minor concussion which in itself is like having someone play a bass drum in your head along with having the mother of all migraines. That’s how it felt when I woke up earlier and after some events i’m still trying to understand I am now standing at the edge of what looks to be a cliffside that had the actual cliff part cut off from it, and when I say cut off I mean freaking cleanly chopped off and now the side of the cliff is smooth as marble. I’m covered in small burn marks and bruises while holding a very odd sword in a sheath in my right hand but I’ll explain that in a moment, first I need to recall everything that happened in like the last half hour or so.

30 Minutes earlier…

Referring back to the waking up feeling I woke up feeling like I fell asleep on a rock then low and behold to my confusion I found that I did in fact awake on a large stone or to be more specific an altar of the sacrificial kind if the bones i’m feeling next to me are any indication but they are really thick bones so they’re no humans and i’m still too disoriented to react to it, my hearing started to kick in and stop being just a high pitch whining I heard what seemed to be chanting around me in a very throaty tongue which sounded like they were trying to hack up a lung while talking… wait one of the voices sound like they are getting closer …Hold on one second! Do the math Alter plus bones multiplied by creepy chanting and divided by nausea equals … I have to get out of here, now that my body is catching up to my mind I tried to say something or yell but somehow my mouth was sealed by what looks to be a type of paste or sap so when I tried to sit up but I could feel the leather straps holding me down around my chest and legs so I immediately set to work on the first strap to release me with both hands then stopped and looked down at my arms to see the stupidest thing ever
.
.
.
They tied down the arms of my jacket instead of my arms so my hands were free. If I could speak I would either call them idiots or just yell profanities at them but for now I just had an epic facepalm.
The voice from earlier is getting closer and I could hear … is that clopping?
Are they gonna sacrifice a horse too?

Not even moments after I had that thought a figure leaned over my side so I kept my arms limp on my chest to make it seem i’m defenceless just in case I need to smack a bitch. When the figure leaned into the light I nearly choked on my own spit to see a old grey haired or “maned” earth PONY with a grey coat and covered in a cultist robe grinning gloatingly down at me
“Ah it seems our guest is finally awake hmm”
He spoke with an old italian accent that a villain from a james bond movie would have then started to pace around the altar I was strapped to and started what sounded like an evil monologue to his nemesis so I just follow him with my eyes around me.
“Comfortable? Good, wouldn’t want our special guest to miss his appointment. It would be quite rude to back out now but if you say something now I’ll let you leave alright?”
I didn’t even grace him with a sound and just gave him a deadpan stare.
“Why do I get the feeling he practiced this beforehand though?” I thought to myself
“You're probably wondering what's going on and how you got here well… I might as well tell you what in store for your miserable existence”
He took a step closer to my right side and pointed to my left side with a hoof and when I turned my head to look I saw a open stone door that led down a dark stone hallway
“Down that hallway is an artifact of great power that was bestowed to us by our benefactor that lets us complete the will of our leader and also brought you here”
“Hello escape route I so missed you” I kept my grin to myself as I planned my escape.
The earth pony pulled their hoof back and reached behind them to somewhere I couldn’t see while he kept spelling out their plans to me
“To Destroy all the Heretic filth worlds that claim they can live in the same space as us superior races! We will obliterate all of the worlds that try to exist in a reality where they think they are the end all be all for power but we will show them how wrong they are starting with your life!”
The pony nazi finished his rant with a manic smile and yanked a dagger from a sheath behind him somewhere and started to bring it down on where my heart is or would be
“Alright that's enough of this”
I reached up with my left hand and easily caught the the wrist or whatever you call that part of a pony much to his surprise then wrenched the knife out of his weak grip with my right hand and slammed the handle of the dagger into the space between his eyes knocking him out cold before he even slammed into the ground. That was too easy when it comes to knocking someone out so he might wake up soon, I immediately got to work on my restraints with the knife which easily cut through it because instead of leather the bonds were what looks to be just thick cloth sewed together so it wasn’t long before I was free except I couldn’t get my mouth open from whatever they did to it but I suspect magic.
“Now that I think about it shouldn’t I be freaking out about everything that’s happened?” I stopped and thought stunned by the implication that they messed with my brain.
“I suspect more magic bullshit”
I turned towards the only hallway leading from this room and remembered that Professor evil over there had mention a powerful magic item down there that brought me here so maybe it can do the opposite.
I started down the hallway at a slow jog cautious about being snuck up on, I passed a few doors on my way down but they were closed and heavy looking. The hallway was dark with no decorations adorning the walls except for the doors that were passed and the occasional unlit torch hanging off the wall. I just kept going the same pace until I heard talking coming from a door I just passed and it's getting louder.
“Crap where can I hide ugh”
I jumped behind the stone door as it started to open so the door perfectly obscured me and my height from view
“I heard that the high priest is doing the sacrifice this time” A younger male voice echoed from around the door
“Yeah, I heard that he said that this one was special for some reason so he wanted to finish it himself” A more feminine but raspy voice
The voices continued to speak as they walked down the hallway I just came from and I felt I was in the clear until
“Oh wait for me I forgot to close the door” the male voice spoke up and I heard him trot? Back over, I didn’t have time to get ready so when the earth pony stallion closed the door and we were face to stomach and froze for a few seconds and slowly looked up at my face which was slowly trying to inch away from him
“SOUND THE ALARM!” *Crack*
He was able to get that warning off before I grabbed his mane and slammed his face into the door next to me cracking it somehow. The mare turned and sprinted down the hall a bit then slammed her hoof into the wall where a red diamond shaped rune glowed to life
Then all Hell broke loose…
Multiple door were flung open and a bunch of acolytes ran out and looked in our direction, by that time I was sprinting for my life in the opposite direction and hoping that the supposed artifact could save me.
It was like running from giant ants while in their ant hill, they were popping out of nowhere which made me either jump over them or have to kick them out of the way, but after a few agonizing minutes of me running for my life from a army of cultists I entered a large antechamber that had a pedestal in that center with a statue of human behind it and on the pedestal was my saving grace

A floating sword that had a plaque under it that said “Watcher blade”. It was all probably an awesome sight but I was preoccupied with the literal tidal wave of pony behind me so I ran with everything I could and reached for the sword but fell short when a pegasus collided with my back just a few inches from the sword’s handle and other ponies started to pile on so I crawled they were stomping and poking me with their various horns and hooves and when I couldn’t move anymore I stuck my hand out and reached with everything I had and when I got a few fingers around the handle it felt as if I was struck by lightning in every part of my body then connected to a wall outlet, the pain was so bad that my mouth burst open from my screams then everything went white from the light and heat the sword and I were giving off and from the mind shattering pain I blacked out.