> Stampede > by cornholio4 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Chapter 1 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The world of Foenum and deep within the Woodlands in her home was the unicorn Oleander studying her book of Dark Magic known as the Unicornomicon, her desk table was filled with the congratulation cards and the medal she had received from the other unicorns of the Order of the Horn. It had been a month since she had defeated all the other Key Seekers to become the Key Keeper, she had managed to use the Dark Magic powers to fight back and seal the Devourer and the other Predators. It was hard fought and at times it seemed like the influence of the Dark Magic would be too much and could overcome her; but in the end she had won and saved all of Foenum. She was ecstatic especially since after all this time she had proved that Dark Magic could be safely used to protect the world. She was congratulated by the other Key Seekers the denizens of Foenum; even the other unicorns at the Woodlands begrudgingly congratulated her. They still held most of their believe in Light Magic and didn’t want to select a Key Seeker in the first place but gave her credit for managing to save their world. The Priestess of the Order in a ceremony had gave her a medal and would allow her to explore the magic in her book, allow her to continue to be in the Order as well as cutting down her punishment for dabbling in Dark Magic to just a week’s grounding. How nice of her.... Still it was nice to be vindicated and now be accepted and not just tolerated only because of who her great grandmother was. The other Key Seekers had congratulated her and offered to meet up again later. She appreciated the offer but wasn’t really looking to meet most of them again; she would hardly call any of them friends. Except for maybe Pom as she was alright; and she had those cute puppies!!!! Anyway after a month or so she decided that she wanted to do some exploring, she had found an incantation that could take her to another world, a world filled with life just like Foenum but with different species and different magic. That got her excited as she could study some more magic and share what she knew; she had spent some time getting everything ready to create a portal right through the mirror in her home. “You sure you want to go through with it Olly? You might not be ready for what you see at the other side of this looking glass; it might be a world where the air is toxic for you unicorns, might be an entire world of Predators or it might be a world where everyone has a horrendous fashion. I care little what happens to you but I thought I would be a fair spot and give you a warning.” FHTNG (Fred as she prefers to call him) the entity that resides in the Unicornomicon stated and Oleander just glared at him. She never truly did fully trust the entity especially as she was not entirely clear what his motivations for helping her was but she tolerated him thanks to the powers of the book and the helped that he gave. They were quite uneasy allies at best. “Well it was more of a warning than the one you gave about the Book turning my coat black but thanks anyway.” Oleander replied with a hint of sarcasm, “As to your ‘concern’ over my saftey and where I end up, I will be fine. I have the book and the powers it gave and remember I beat the other Key Seekers, the Predators and of course the Devourer. I can handle whatever this portal takes me.” Oleander stated confidently as FHTNG gave a shrug. After some time she managed to complete the spell and the mirror began glowing making her excited; holding her glee in check she levitated the Unicornomicon and stepped right through the portal. She ended up in what she presumed to be some sort of castle and looked around, she looked behind her and saw the mirror that she just walked through was hooked to a machine of some sort. Okay weird........ “King Sombra....... Wait, you’re not King Sombra.....” shouted a voice and Oleander turned around and saw a purple furred pony with a crown, wings and a unicorn’s horn. Was she some sort of unicorn and Pegasus hybrid? “Did you come through the mirror?” the pony asked and Oleander gave a nod. She then got too close for comfort as if to try and reassure her and told her “now please don’t freak out as I realise you must be confused that you are now a unicorn while you were a human before but can I ask if you know Sunset Shimmer.....” “No I never heard of this Sunset Shimmer, I have no clue what a ‘human’ is and I am not confused as to why I am a unicorn as I have been one my entire life!!!!! I found a spell in my book that turned my mirror into a portal to another world!!!!” Oleander snapped using her magic to push the pony back. The pony blinked and then gasped excitedly saying “you come from another new world? How exciting and you have your own book of magic? You must let me see it.....” The pony then went for the Unicornomicon but Oleander getting more annoyed by the second kept it out of her reach. “I don’t let just anyone look at the Unicornomicon, the magic inside needs to be carefully studied before using!” Oleander snapped and the pony blinked before looking disappointed. “Well I guess we can start with introductions; I am Oleander the Key keeper and I come from the Order of the Horn of the Woodlands of Foenum.” Oleander introduced herself. “Well nice to meet you Oleander; I am Princess Twilight Sparkle and I am Equestria’s Princess of Friendship.” The pony introduced herself and Oleander was not too surprised to see that she was a princess due to her crown. Wait, did she really just say that she was the Princess of Friendship? Oleander held back a laugh and Twilight glared asking if she thought it was funny, “No offence Twilight but I don’t see much point in friendships as I like to focus on knowledge and magic....” Oleander explained and stopped when she saw Twilight froze and her eye was twitching. Just now Oleander wondered if she had just made a very critical mistake that she would instantly end up regretting.... > Chapter 2 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Oleander was screaming as Twilight was telekinetically pulling her out of the castle by her tail, Oleander could hear FHNG’s laughter coming from the Unicornomicon. “Trust me Oleander, I was just like you before I came to Ponyville. Just like I learned how magical and wonderful friendship could be; I will help you learn it as well.” Twilight told her with a smile and Oleander was moaning about this being kidnapping. Who was she kidding; she was royalty and could probably do what she wanted with no repercussions. Then came in an excited looking pink pony that suddenly was up in Oleander’s face. At a mile a minute she then began saying “Hi I’m Pinkie Pie and my Pinkie Sense told me to come to Twilight’s Castle and I see a new pony has arrived here in Ponyville! Don’t worry I will make you the best ‘welcome to Ponyville’ party ever and then we will be very best friends like all my other very best friends!” Twilight was smiling at Oleander’s frozen face and told her “this is Pinkie Pie one of my friends, Pinkie this is Oleander a guest from the magic mirror. I am sure she will love your party.....” “No I certainly won’t as I refuse to attend a stupid party made by some out of control lunatic who just shows up and spouts a thousand words into my face!” Oleander thundered right at Pinkie with a snarl that told her to get out of her sight. Pinkie looked surprised and disappointed as she walked off with her head down. “That wasn’t very nice Oleander.” Twilight told Oleander with a glare and a disappointed tone to her voice but Oleander just shook her head. “What? Did you really expect me to want to play nice with a lunatic that just shows up right into my face like that? She reminds me too much of an annoyance back home in Foenum, an Alpaca called Paprika. I think Pinkie actually trumps her annoyance as she can actually talk.....” Oleander replied and Twilight sighed knowing that dealing with Pinkie is a lot to take in. Just like Oleander reminded her of herself before Ponyville; she renembered that she herself wasn’t too keen on Pinkie at first. “Oh, I don’t know Olly.... I thought Pinkie was a laugh riot....” said a voice and then FTHNG then appeared from the Unicornomicon making Twilight jump. “Twilight this is THNG from my dark magic book Unicornomicon but feel free to call him Fred.” Oleander introduced him to her making the dark entity glare at the use of the name. Twilight nervously waved at him. “Wait, your book is of Dark Magic?” Twilight asked raising an eyebrow and Oleander noticed she was asking and not being very judgmental. “I got the book and studied it in secret as I wanted to prove that by using it the right way, Dark Magic could be used for good and not just Light Magic. You see I come from an order of simple minded unicorns that put too much faith into Light Magic as if eventually they will just solve all problems.” Oleander explained and Twilight nodded in understanding. “A noble pursuit I suppose; especially since Princess Celestia believed Discord’s chaos magic could be used for good.” Twilight replied leaving Oleander to just pretend to understand what she just said. She then waved again to FHTNG saying “Nice to meet you Fight........ Tng... Fred, I am Princess Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Friendship of Equestria.” FTHNG looked annoyed at the name use but brightened up when she mentioned Equestria. “So this is Equestria, has been a long time since I been here.” FTHNG said shocking Oleander and Twilight. “Oh yeah the Unicornomicon has been through various worlds. About a thousand years ago it was in Equestria but this stupid fool with a beard called Starswirl thought it was too dangerous and threw it into his magic mirror and that’s how it ended up in Foenum in the first place.” FHTNG explained folding his arms and shaking his head to their shock. “Wait, you met Starswirl the Bearded?” Twilight asked in excitement as Oleander just watched. “I did but he is a bit just like those fools in the Order of the Horn, don’t worry I left Equestria a gift.” FHTNG said with a chuckle making them nervous. “You see I took essence of a pony and combined it with magic in a ritual that would take a thousand years to take effect. Once it would it would give birth to a pony that would grow in normal years and would act all sweet and innocent but was in actually pure and irredeemably evil. I think the pony should be a filly by now, I still remember the cosy glow in my hands as I started it.” FHTNG explained with delight to their dread. “Should you tell us more, I mean if this pony could do damage....” Twilight asked with concern by Oleander put a reassuring hoof on her shoulder. “Don’t be in too much of a hurry, I mean what damage could a filly actually do?” Oleander asked and Twilight smiled realising she was right. Twilight then said they were going to visit another of her close best friends. They made it to the Apple Family farm, “Wait till I introduce you to Applejack, please be a bit nicer this time.” Twilight said as Oleander just muttered that she will try. She looked and saw a purple furred and yellow maned pony without a horn and a hat rounding up cows. She raised an eyebrow as she couldn’t help but think of Arizona, so that was the 2nd time that she met someone here that reminded her of a fellow Key Seeker. Probably a strange coincidence. However her thoughts came to the smiling dog Winona and she went wide eyed. Twilight brought Applejack over but then they noticed Winona on her back as Oleander was excitedly giving her a tummy rub with her hooves. Twilight had given a smile at this thinking that helping Oleander make friends might be easier than it had appeared to be. > Chapter 3 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Applejack was alright company Oleander supposed; she could definitely tolerate her presence far longer than she would be willing to tolerate Pinkie Pie that was for sure. Still Twilight said it was time for the next stop in her forced tour of Ponyville; it was a shame because Oleander would definitely have wanted more time to play with Winona. “Don’t worry Oleander; next destination is Fluttershy’s house. She looks after a lot of animals so I am sure that you would be able to play with the cute animals there.” Twilight told her and Oleander gave a big smile in return. They came across Fluttershy’s cottage where she was outside tending to a wolf with a broken paw. Oleander jumped in fright and got into a battle stance startling them; “Something the matter Oleander?” Twilight asked concerned trying to get Oleander to calm down. “That is a wolf! A Predator! Why are you not concerned about them? Back in Foenum we had all the Predators banished so they don’t eat us all!” Oleander shouted with Twilight sighing and managing to calm Oleander down assuring her that things were different here in this world. Oleander coughed and went to the terrified startled and nervous Fluttershy. “Sorry for giving a bad first impression; I’m Oleander and I come from a world through a magic portal and where I come from; we don’t deal with the Predators there so sorry about how I reacted.” Oleander greeted Fluttershy trying to be as polite as she could; she jumped the gun and felt that she could at least do this. Fluttershy nervously whispered her name before repeating it a second time; Oleander raised an eyebrow realising that Fluttershy quickly reminded her of Pom. “This is so weird; this is the 3rd time a Pony here has reminded me a Key Seeker back home......” Oleander said out loud looking like she was pondering things. “Key Seekers?” Twilight questioned and Oleander decided that she could have this explained to her. “The Predators were banished to another dimension but the time came from where they would be set free; Foenum needed someone to go forth and find the key the lock them away again. Each place in Foenum set forth a Champion representative to be a Key Seeker. All of your friends so far have reminded me of a fellow Key Seeker.” Oleander explained and Twilight gave a smile. “So you all teamed up and found the Key; locking the Predators away with the power of friendship.” Twilight asked with a beaming smile with Oleander raising an eyebrow again questioning on how friendship could be a power like that. Oleander shook her head making Twilight looked confused and asked “well then; what did you Key Seekers do when you were all gathered together?” “We beat eachother up.” Oleander replied simply and took a big laugh out of the faces that Twilight, Fluttershy and all the animals at her cottage made at once. “Only one Key Seeker would be able to become the Key Keeper and be the one to defeat the Predators and lock them away; we all fought in a tournament competition to decide who would be the Key Keeper. I won and locked the Predators away myself.” Oleander stated looking quite smug as Twilight and Fluttershy looked baffled. “But why compete with eachother? Why not work together as you would have had an easier time against the Predators if you all worked together!” Twilight exclaimed looking like she was about to magically rip out her mane. Oleander said goodbye to Fluttershy as Twilight said that they were going to visit her friend Rarity’s next. > Chapter 4 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Oleander and Twilight reached a fancy looking house as Twilight knocked on the door, “Wait, so far the friends that Twilight has introduced to me seem like the fellow Key Seekers. Only two left and judging from the look of this house, I bet this one will be like that haughty stuck up Velvet....” Oleander thought in her head and Twilight opened the door with them going in. They looked and saw Spike helping Rarity sew some gems into a new dress. “Just as I had predicted.......” Oleander thought in her head as she was reminded of Velvet and the Sprites she had with them. Twilight introduced Oleander to them and explained that Spike is Twilight’s assistant but likes to help Rarity. Oleander looking at Spike thought that she didn’t have much experience with dragons unless you counted Tianhuo. “I must say Miss Oleander; the shape of your horn looks divine! How did you get it like that, I must know!” Rarity asked looking in awe at Oleander’s horn and she sighed. “It was always like this, it is how unicorns’ horns are like in Foenum.” Oleander replied as Rarity looked puzzled along with Spike, “I came here via a magic portal, Foenum is the name of the world that I came from.” Oleander explained as Rarity then decided that she would make Oleander a dress. Oleander’s protests were ignored as Rarity insisted; Oleander never really did wear clothes with the exception of her Order of the Horn robe. Oleander left with Twilight saying that there was one more friend that she wanted her to meet; Oleander was thinking that by process of elimination that this friend must be like Tianhuo........ Oleander found herself tackled by a blue blur and saw it was an angry blue Pegasus blur with a rainbow mane. Oleander glared as she got the Unicornomicon and used it to magically attack the Pegasus sending her back. The Pegasus glared as she then charged at Oleander but was caught in a magical bubble by a furious looking Twilight. “Rainbow Dash, what are you doing?” asked Twilight harshly as Dash was trying to get out, especially enraged by the victorious gloating smirk that Oleander was giving her. “Pinkie Pie was telling me that this unicorn was rude to her and look at her, I bet she is an agent of King Sombra!” Dash ranted as Oleander thought that this must be one like Tianhuo but instead of being an honorable fighter, this Pegasus seemed like an angry hothead. “Oleander is my guest and I found her coming through a portal, I was showing her around and it was just that she didn’t take to Pinkie being Pinkie. Now I suggest that you apologize right this instant.” Twilight told her and let go of the bubble as Dash mumbled an apology to Oleander and Oleander was thinking that Dash was fortunate. She would have suffered a more embarrassing defeat since after all; she was the one who defeated all the other Key Seekers and the Predators as well. Twilight suggested that they head back to her castle; clearly not pleased that her effort to introduce her friends to her didn’t plan out as she had hoped.