Trapped in another world.

by mild hotsauce

Ch4: in the swamps

Ch4: in the swamps

Rogvir led the ponies out into the swamps, being careful to lead them through the more safe areas, though safe, is a relative term here. The swamp had almost no pieces of land above the water, and even when there was, it was covered in a moss that he knew all too well to stay away from. Twists and turns, everything looked the same, damp and smelly trees, putrid water, and a green moss, everywhere. Finally, somepony asked a question that not even he wanted the answer to.

“Why are we avoiding the green moss, it doesn’t look that dangerous.” Pinkie piped up.

“Watch.” Rogvir said. Just when he did, a bog deer foal, part of a breed completely adapted to these swamps, but an inexperienced one, which was perfect for this presentation, jumped onto the moss.

As soon as its hoof hit the green substance, its fate was sealed. The green substance latched onto its hooves and kept it in place, while the deer frantically tried to escape. The moss climbed up its legs, and snapped its bones. The deer fell, and the moss grew over it, crushing the bones of the creature and disintegrating its flesh with some form of stomach acid. When the entire deer was covered in green, the moss let up, bones rose from underneath it, some shattered, some not. Rogvir saw Fluttershy and Rarity faint, Pinkie immediately lost her cheerful attitude and her mane straightened, and Rainbow and Applejack just stared at the scene, mortified.

“And that’s just the moss, that’s about as painful a death as you can get, through the whole process you are alive to feel the moss eat you in front of your eyes, and your friends’ eyes. When I say to stay away from something, do it, don’t question.” The ponies nodded, and Fluttershy and Rarity recovered from their fainted state. “Good, a little further and we’ll be in a town, my sisters run it, so we’ll be safe there for the time being.”

“Why are we going there and not searching for our friend? She could be lost in this place, or worse.” Rainbow said frantically.

Rogvir just stood there, in deep thought. “She’s not here.”

“How can ya tell?” Applejack asked.

“Just instinct.” A dragon’s roar rang out through the swamps. “That’s not good.”

“What’s going on?” Pinkie asked

A deep growl emanated through the trees, startling the ponies, and waking Fluttershy and Rarity from their fainted state. They looked around, the swamp was quiet, and places like this were never quiet. A reptilian head, roughly the same size as the ponies, peaked around some trees. It looked like a dragons, except for the bone helmet it wore, it covered the whole head, leaving room for the mouth to open and for the eyes to see through, and it made the beast look more sinister than it was supposed to be. Two other heads poked out from the same direction, wearing similar bone helmets. It they each simultaneously took a deep breath, and snorted at the group. The middle head reared back, and gave a guttural roar, the other two following suit, it lunged from its position, three long necks protruding from a large body. Four limbs with wicked claw extensions gripped and tore at the ground, plates of bone clung to its body like armor, and a crude axe was attached to its tail, the scales that they could see were a dirty yellow in color, and it had crude red markings covering it from head to tail.

“Damned hydra.” Rogvir murmured. “Run!”

The ponies did not need to be told twice, they dashed away from the hydra, dodging trees and carnivorous flora while the hydra just barreled through everything. They saw a city through the trees in the distance, but before they could get within eyesight of the guards, the hydra somehow got in front of them, baring its teeth. Dash thought it would be a good idea to try to hit it, but got swatted away by a claw; she hit a tree and had a bleeding wound on her chest.

“Fucking hell, where is he?” Rogvir mumbled.

“Who?” Applejack asked.

A loud roar soon answered her and a bout of flame slammed into the hydra. The beast reared back as the leather holding the bones in place burned, causing its armor to fall off. A sapphire blue dragon landed on its middle head, and cleaved it off with a strong bite. Two more heads started forming, but were stopped when the stump was incased in ice, courtesy of Rogvir. The neck slumped down, one down, two to go. The hydra grabbed the dragon and threw it into Rogvir. The ponies watched in shock as the two heads got closer to their two friends.

The hydra stopped in its tracks, the two remaining heads sniffed the air, and turned to the right, and a large ball or fire emerged from the trees and incinerated the left head. The hydra screeched in pain, and then a wolf-like creature tackled its remaining head, and ripped into its skull, gouging out its brain. Again, Fluttershy and Rarity fainted, Rainbow passed out from blood loss, Pinkie was hiding behind her mane the entire time, and Applejack lost whatever was in her stomach. The dragon removed itself from on top of Rogvir, and then he too got up, covered in swamp water. The wolf-like creature removed itself from the hydra’s cranium, and lumbered over to Rainbow on its two hind legs, as it reached for the Pegasus; Applejack gave it a hard buck, sending it flying across the newly made clearing. The wolf howled and charged, only to be held in place by a blood red aura.

“Damn it Celia, I thought I told you to think before you jump into battle.” A female voice rang out. A figure in red robes entered the clearing, holding out a gloved hand with the same red aura around the wolf, which stopped thrashing, and changed its form. Bones cracked and fur receded as a female human took its place.

“Good to see you too Narine.” Rogvir said.

“Dear brother, we have to stop meeting like this.” She said as she dropped Celia into the swamp water face first. “Now, who are your friends here?”

“Help the rainbow one and I’ll explain later.”

“You better, colorful horses, where did you get them from?” she asked as she approached Rainbow dash, Applejack still looming between her friend and the robed figure. “Please move aside so I can heal your friend.” Narine commanded. Applejack did so, and watched as the figure cut her wrist, and formed a dried blood bandage over Rainbows wounds. She then enveloped her in a red aura and the dried blood was then replaced by cyan fur.

“How the hay did you do that?” Applejack asked.

“Oh, this? Its simple blood magic, even my swamp brain of a sister could learn it if she could focus for more than a second.” Applejack recoiled at the statement. “Speaking of which, where is- Celia, what are you doing?”

The girl in question took to her more canine side and was getting a belly rub by Pinkie pie, whose mane sprung back up while she was petting the dog-like human.

“Never mind.” Narine grumbled.

Fluttershy and Rarity recovered from their fainted state to the sight of a hooded figure, and a half-naked human.

“What just happened?” Rarity groaned.

“Would you believe me if I told you we were just saved by my older and younger sister.” Rogvir replied. “By the way, how’s the vampirism treating you Narine?”

“Pain in my ass, but the gods above know how useful it can be.” She replied. “Anyway, let’s get out of the swamp; the water is starting to eat through the cloth of my robes.”

Everyone nodded in agreement, except for Celia, who whined when Pinkie stopped petting her.

“Get up Celia; you’re making a fool of yourself again.” Narine commanded. Celia stood up straight and quickly regained composure. She slung Dash over her shoulder like a sack of potatoes and followed the rest of the group back to the town that they saw.
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Twilight was having the worst possible day so far, and it all started out really well too. First, her friends saved her from the shade, and then she was taken back to Ponyville via portal created by Celestia. Now, all her friends are suddenly acting very cruel to her. She just lay on the bench in the park crying her eyes out, not even noticing the black colored earth pony stallion with red eyes approaching her from the western pathway.

“Excuse me lass, but would you happen to know why I’m in here, not that ah don’t enjoy the dreams of you mortals, but ah have a very pressing schedule to keep.” He asked. Twilight just looked up at him with teary eyes and a confused expression. “What? You didn’t know that this is a dream?”

“How could it be a dream if it hurts so much?” she sobbed.

“Hmm, yes, that is quite the predicament. Anyway, let me be the first to welcome ya to the dream realm.” He said with a happy expression, standing on his back legs and extending his arms wide. Twilight just sniffled and gave an un-amused expression. “Dang, not even the demons back home are as bad as you, hmm, let’s see here…” he then reached into Twilights head, much to her surprise, and pulled out a scroll.

“How did you do that?” she asked, sadness shortly lost as he started reading it.

“Ah, I see what’s goin on, that bugger you saw in the tower placed a nightmare spell on ya, and is controlling it so you have the worst possible experience in here so you can give in to him.”

“I still don’t get it, why is he doing this?” she wiped the tears from her eyes.

Because he’s evil ya dunderhead, and because his boss wants you either on his side, or out of the way.” He said as he bopped her on the head. “He knows you have the potential to magically surpass him, and he doesn’t want competition when he takes over the world. To him, the less and/or weaker resistance there is, the better.”

“Then, how do we stop this?” she asked.

“Ah was hoping you knew… wait, I have a genius idea.” He said as a light bulb literally light up over his head, which he swatted away.

“What is it?”

“We completely screw with the dream world he created.”

“Again, how?” she deadpanned, “and if he created this world, then why hasn’t he tried to get rid of you yet?”

“Because I’m a god you simpleton, well, I was given the task to keep the underworld in check, hell of a job by the way, but that is not important. Do you remember the friends you were talking to in this world?” she nodded. “good, here is what we do, you have to do, reveal to each apparition that they are not real, it will cause them to slightly fade, but you have to really convince them, and then, hit them with this…” he pulled out a gold club with ruby and sapphire gems decorating it. “It will remove them from this world, and steal power away from the Dark Paladin that holds your mind hostage. When he confronts you, call my name, and I will take care of the rest.”

“What’s your name then?”

“Whoops, never even thought about it, hmm. How about Melborn, he was always an interesting wizard.”

“Okay then, I’ll get to- wait, did you say you worked in the underworld?”

“Yes.”

“Doesn’t that mean that you’re evil?”

“No.”

“But then how did you get the job?”

“Easy, all the other positions were filled, but just because I hold a bad title doesn’t mean I’m a bad person… pony… err… whatever the hell ah am right now. Good luck.” He said before disappearing in a cloud of black smoke.

“Well Twilight, even though this goes against your instinct, you have to trust him to get you out of here if he is right.” She said to herself, and then saw a Cyan blur in the sky. “And I know just who to start with.”