Realm of the Lost

by Orsuros

Chapter 5: Verdant Jungle

Ocellus felt each of her friends vanish in the dark. She didn’t need their love to survive, but it always made her feel stronger and more confident. She spun until she caught herself with her wings. Something was still pulling her down. She tried to fight it, but she wasn’t strong enough, and there wasn’t time to try to transform into anything. She reached the light and crashed into a huge tree a moment later.

(Ocellus loses 1 stamina.)

A few massive leaves fell down as Ocellus flopped onto the ground beneath the tree. It smelled rich and earthy. Once Ocellus could focus her eyes again, she saw a canopy far above her. Bushes, vines, and trees in brilliant shades of green were all around her. Flowers in all the colors of the rainbow glowed in the dim light on the forest floor.

Something shook the nearby bushes. Ocellus let out a quiet squeak of alarm and ran the other way. She had to fly around bushes and bend branches out of her way with her magic. She stopped when she suddenly found what looked like a path.

An earth pony with a blissful expression was walking toward her. His mane was a light gray, and the rest of him was a sandy yellow. Glowing green mushrooms were sprouting from under his mane. His eyes suddenly went wide and he waved wildly at Ocellus.

“Watch out!”

Ocellus tried to spin around to see, but she tripped over her hooves. A moment later, a huge sticky tongue flicked out of the bushes and hit Ocellus in the face. The tongue snapped back. Ocellus got a brief glimpse of a huge frog covered in glowing fungi before darkness surrounded her. She tried to transform, but she suddenly felt her muscles go limp. She couldn’t move or use magic. Something shifted around her, and she suddenly found herself in a transparent green sack of some kind.

(Ocellus loses 1 stamina.)

“Hey! Did you just eat a changeling? Bad frog!”

Ocellus watched as the pony galloped up. She could still hear the pony’s voice, even if it sounded somewhat muffled now.

“I’m so sorry! I didn’t think it would get you, but you are a very unusual changeling. Um, I’m Dusty Tail. Let me help you.”

Ocellus could feel the pony giving up his love to her. He suddenly looked very drained and relaxed.

“Ah, there. You should be able to move around a little with that. The Harvest Frog’s venom shouldn’t be so bad now.”

Ocellus could move again, but her head was still feeling too fuzzy to use magic. She looked around and was disgusted at what she did see. The giant frog was holding her in a transparent green pouch at the front of its belly.

“How do I get out of this thing?” Ocellus hit the rubbery edges of the pouch with her hooves.

“I’m not sure,” Dusty said slowly. “Maybe… just command it? That’s what the other changelings do.”

Ocellus’s view shook as the frog started to hop down the trail.

“Hey frog! Stop!”

Ocellus’s words did nothing to stop the creature. She flailed against it, but her hooves kept slipping when she tried to position herself for a stronger kick.

“Oh, that isn’t working?” Dusty trotted along beside the frog. “I’m sure the queen will sort things out. It works for her.”

The way Dusty said queen made Ocellus shiver. It reminded her of how all the drones would talk about Queen Chrysalis. But now it was a pony with the same unquestioning devotion to whoever this queen was.

“And who is the queen?” Ocellus asked as the frog readied itself for another hop.

“Queen Cordys. She’s amazing. She rules the jungle and takes care of us ponies. Without her, we’d have to fight off all the creatures here.”

Either this queen was good or this pony was very convinced of her goodness. There was no doubt or fear in his emotions.

Trees, bushes, and brilliant flowers went by as the huge frog kept hopping deeper into the jungle.

“I’m surprised a changeling like you doesn’t know who she is,” Dusty finally said. “I thought all the changelings worked directly for her.”

“Are there other changelings here? Are they like me?”

“There are a few changelings. They are all smart and strong, but they aren’t all smooth and blue like you. They’re more of a black color and have holes.”

“Black?”

Dusty Tail nodded and smiled. He wasn’t worried. The forest slowly thinned as the frog approached a spire of wood and green goo. Ocellus could feel the faintest spark of her magic returning. If she used some of the power that the Tree of Harmony gave her, she might be able to gather enough energy to transform and escape. Or she could try one more time with all of her strength to slip out. But it might also be good to meet this queen she had never heard of. She could try to bring the magic of friendship to these changelings.

1. (Costs 2 friendship tokens) - Draw on the magic of Harmony to escape.
2. (Stout Heart roll to escape) - Try to force her way out.
3. Wait until the frog takes her to Queen Cordys.

Author's Note:

Voting closed for this chapter.
Or feel free to leave an alternate suggestion in the comments. If I see any great ones, I might use them instead.

Character sheets and story notes here.

From this point on, voting on older chapters will close once I start writing the next chapter for a character or group of characters.

And here's the behind the curtains rolls/events:

!mythic scene start The Verdant Jungle
(Altered) The Verdant Jungle

Body !1d6, Fly !1d8
Body 1, Fly 4
Difficult 5 check, Ocellus takes 1 damage

!mythic ask 7 Does Ocellus convert an enemy?
Does Ocellus convert an enemy?
No

!mythic ask 6 Does she find a new friend?
Does she find a new friend?
Yes

!mythic ask 6 Is her new friend a changeling?
Is her new friend a changeling?
No

!mythic ask 6 Does a beast attack Ocellus?
Does a beast attack Ocellus?
Yes

Body !1d6 vs Engulf !1d12
Body 1 vs Engulf 6

Body !1d6 vs Paralyzing Venom !1d12
Body 1 vs Paralyzing Venom 2

!mythic ask 3 Does Dusty Tail tell Ocellus anything useful?
Does Dusty Tail tell Ocellus anything useful?
No
Ocellus rolled poorly, and even if the altered scene tag let her meet a new friend, he wasn't very helpful. More failures and bad rolls will usually limit characters' options or make them more costly.

Comments

[omegasnowfall]

... i declare...

being interested.

[Orsuros]

9719109
Thanks for the comments! I'll be trying to do a few updates each week.

[Xp45]

This is great, I'm trying to make decisions as tactically bit also as friendshippy as possible if that makes any sense, Can't wait to see what the 6th chapter is like some of the polls were 50/50 after I voted so here's to it right?

[Orsuros]

9721283
If the vote is even when I get to writing the next parts. I may have to flip a coin to determine which one gets picked. I've been trying to give more interesting choices, especially when the characters roll well.