Not all who wander...

by TDR

Part 5, In which there is a bug.

Not All Who Wander
By TDR

Part 5, In which there is a bug.

Braeburn, which is what the pony called himself, was perhaps the most talkative creature Ryoga had ever met. Not counting Azusa. However he was friendly, and knew all the places in town, and was willing to offer him a place to stay and a meal for helping out a bit with some work.

It wasn’t much in the way of work in truth and it allowed him a moment or two to think about his situation as he hauled wagons of supplies, Braeburn moving along with him pulling another cart chatting up a storm and thankfully helping him figure out where to go.

He had hoped that leaving Nerima would be the end to his problems, well his biggest ones were solved. No Ranma or any of the madness that followed him. He still had the pig curse, no sense of direction, but now he was a little horse as well.

As long as he didn't focus on moving, his body reacted like it had always been a quadruped, he only stumbled when he thought to much on how he was moving, it wasn't a much a stretch from normal though, he often blindly walked while lost in thought.

The folks here were planting trees. setting up an apple orchard and farms. The town was still in the process of being built as well, though most of the main structures seemed to be set up. A general store, a Sheriff's office, and of course a tavern.

All run by ponies.

And if there were actually guns, with all these accents he would have sworn he was in Texas.... again.

That was not a fun place to be if you looked like a hobo, didn't look American enough, or had any sort of accent other than the one common there.

Better than Florida though, Nerima was more reasonable than that place.

There were other races in this town too though not many and they seemed to mostly work with the railroad. Ryoga had seen a few cows, burros, some weird black carapaced bug pony thing that Braeburn had introduced as Kevin, and lots of Buffalo. All of the races sapient and speaking this weird version of English ponies had. If this was the result of some Cursed Springs, it was weird ones. And one that it seemed the entire population was partaking in, even the children.

Still it was clear by some of the objects in the world that there were humans here. Saddles, tea cups with finger grips, coffee mugs with the same sort of handles, and there were a number of terms that humans came up with. The showers had handles that looked to be manipulated with fingers rather than hooves or teeth. There didn’t seem to be any cars or planes that he had seen and there didn’t seem to be any infrastructure for anything but the trains but evidently the place was pretty big. It reminded him of that Sodor place except without the super creepy faces on everything.

He'd considered getting a job as one of the train pullers, but it turned out that was a very weird job. They pulled the train to the coal mines, filled up, then rode it back, dropped off all the coal and pulled the train back. It was… weird. He was sure there was more to it but they were all union so they didn’t want to hire him with out the proper paperwork filed.

Which was a pity as Ryoga probably could have avoided getting lost if he had a track to follow.

Maybe.

There had been an issue with the Buffalo going on when he showed up, nothing violent but it was growing heated. His only encounter with one was when a massive brave move in front of the cart he was pulling demanding he stop.

Ryoga had simply pushed him out of the way to keep pulling the cart. A few of them had tried to get in his way to stop him after that and he had done the same thing and eventually they all just left looking bewildered.

He wasn't sure why, sure they out massed this pony form by five or so, but they weren't that heavy, he had picked up heavier rocks without issue.

Lately Braeburn had been excited that his cousin was coming to visit, at least that was what Ryoga had gotten from his non stop stream of conciseness ranting as the pair pulled their carts of supplies to the homestead being built.

Granted that had been three days ago.

He thought it was three days, he kinda zoned out.

The building had to be around here some where.

There sure was a lot of dessert, was there this much around the town?

Kuso.

Maybe he could ask directions at that odd twisted black rock tower over there. There seemed to be a bunch of ponies like that Kevin fellow buzzing around it.

---

Queen Chrysalis raised an eyebrow at the pony her drones had brought before her. He was a rather unassuming creature. The stallion had a faded orange coat and glossy black mess of a mane that he kept out of his brown eyes with a orange and black striped bandanna. He had been pulling a cart full of lumber though her drone s had releaved him of that at least. Normally she'd have him thrown in a pod, but she had never had any one trot up to the hive and ask for directions before.

“What are you doing here Pony? Chrysalis demanded.

“I was trying to find out where I am.” Ryoga stated.

“You are at my hive.”

“Sorry that doesn't help me much. Where is Appleloosa from here? I was bringing the lumber to a house on the edge of it when I got lost.”

“Appleloosa...” Chrysalis raised an eyebrow. “The pony settlement? That is leagues away on the other side of the Badlands across the dessert. How did you get here?”

“Well Braeburn had to run to the bathroom and I usually followed him, but I figured I could get the cart to where it was supposed to be without any issue, though some one must have moved the house when I wasn't looking and I wound up here.” Ryoga offered. ”I don't suppose you've heard of a place called Nerima have you? No, oh well. If not could you just point me back towards town and I'll be on my way.”

Chrysalis smirked. “ Pony you will be doing nothing but feeding my hive. You love and happiness will be quite the treat.”

“My love and happiness... ? Ryoga questioned as the tall black bug ponies horn started glowing.

---

Princess Celestia looked out over Canterlot, the spot on her balcony having a view that allowed her to see for leagues over Equestria from the vantage. She smiled, glancing over to her sister as Luna was prepared to raise her moon. Celestia reached up to collect her sun and lower it over the horizon only for a pillar of green flame to erupt into the sky in the distance shooting up into space and blowing clouds away.

Luna and Celestia both stared at it as the beam continued to swirl and spin for a few moments before it began to fade.

“Sister what was that?” Luna questioned.

“I have no idea. But what ever it was it looked like it was from the Palamenio dessert or perhaps the Badlands judging by the distance.” Celestia hummed as she considered. “I cannot say I've ever seen anything like that before. It might be worth investigating.”

A high pitched whistling drew the pairs attention and they both looked up and stepped to the side as a black carapaced creature slammed into the balcony with a horrendous crash.

The creature was smoking with it's green mane and tail looking like it had caught fire. It was also very unconscious.

“Chrysalis?” Luna blinked.

“Who?” Celestia asked.

“An old foe of ours from when thee were busy setting up the kingdom and we defended it.” Luna explained before looking to the sky then to where the green pillar was. ”How is it she has arrived here?”

“No clue... but now I am quite curious.” Celestia offered. ”What should we do with her?”

“She is a parasite at best. A swift ax would be fitting.” Luna snorted.

“Luna!”

“What? Thine prefers a slow ax?“ Luna questioned. “That gets messy.”

Comments

[Kris Overstreet]

"Not all those who wander are lost... but THIS schmuck... oyyyyyy."

[DingoAte]

well, I’m thoroughly enjoying this story.

[Curtis Wildcat]

Love and happiness? Ryoga? Wow, Chrysalis. I think that might've been the worst possible match-up for you.

[D48]

It's good to see this return, and this was a fun little chapter. Hopefully there will be more on the way soon.

[Bookeater_otaku]

Welcome back, it's fun to see this story updating again.

Oh god, if you remove all love and happiness from Ryoga, you trigger his greatest attack, the Shin Shishi Hōkōdan.

Chrysalis could not be expecting that.

And with that, a future season getting Ryoga-ed away.

[A.P.O.N.I.]

Now I'm trying to work through the logistics of a slow axe. Hold it against their neck and start pushing?

[TDR]

11616505
With the fast ax the target is restrained and the ax brought down , chop chop.

With the slow ax the ax is stationary and the prisoner is tied with weights and pulled down onto it.

[Tatsurou]

Wonderful to see a new chapter of this!
And yeah, that should be expected when Chrysalis tried to drain 'love and happiness' from him.

[Asolem2]

There were other races in this town too though not many and they seemed to mostly work with the railroad. Ryoga had seen a few cows, burros, some weird black carapaced bug pony thing that Braeburn had introduced as Kevin, and lots of Buffalo.

Ahhh Kevin, what nice guy he is

Which was a pity as Ryoga probably could have avoided getting lost if he had a track to follow.

Maybe.

Unlikely

[Twilight_Shimmer]

I just KNEW hte moment Chrissy said "drain your love and happiness" to Ryoga she was totally and utterly screwed lol. And that it would end with a boom!

[PonyofEntropy]

Just found this and love it. Added to read list.