Warped Paths

After several hours of walking, Lutano and I finally reached the edge of the forest and stopped to scan our surroundings. The majority of the land around us was flat with trees dotting the landscape and in the distance the top half of houses could be seen. Looking up at Lutano, I shrug. "No idea where this would be so I am going to say we have discovered a new Plane. Though what this one would represent I have no idea... at least with the Plane of Sky it was obvious what it was centered on."

Lutano stares at the distant town for a second before shaking his head. "We'll just have to wait until we talk to the alicorns to get our answers. For now, let's just figure out where we are going to be staying because unlike you I would rather not sleep in or against a tree."

I chuckle slightly at the thought and nod. "It would be pretty funny to see a Sarnak in a tree though." Setting off towards the towards the town, I call on my magic and a white aura surrounds me before a wall of leaves spirals up, blocking me from view. Clearing a second later, a snow white wolf with an icy mist flowing from it's fur is in my place. "Hopefully they won't worry too much about this form. This is probably the one time I wish I had something that wasn't combat oriented."

Lutano chuckles at me and moves to mockingly pat my head but a quick snap of my teeth an inch from his fingers stops him. "You could always use Tree Form."

I snort and shake my head. "A walking, talking and magical tree... I can already see the looks of horror on their faces." Watching the town grow closer, I realize that it wasn't as far as it had initially appeared and in another couple of minutes we would be standing at its edge. "Well, looks like we will find out how welcomed we will be in a second." Picking my pace up to a trot, I force Lutano to match it or be left behind.

As we reach the edge of the town, I slow to a walk and begin scanning the crowds and buildings for any signs of a place we could rent a room at. While we walked, I was waiting for the first sounds that would signal we had been spotted... which surprisingly took much longer than I was expecting. Nearly five minutes into walking through the town, one of the ponies finally spotted us and screamed.

Chuckling slightly at the sound, I turn my attention to the ponies around us while keeping an eye out for any that seemed aggressive. I start to open my mouth to calm them, but a second scream of monster sent everyone in view scattering into their houses to hide. Blinking a couple of times, I look at Lutano. "I think they are scared of you."

Shooting me an indignant look, Lutano frowns. "And why do you think it's just me? They could have been running from you as well. Maybe they don't have wolves here and it was you."

I start to respond but the realization that he may be right stops me and I frown. "I hate when you're right." Turning my attention back to the ponies who had now for the most part disappeared, I notice a single one remained standing in place and was watching the two of us. After a second I recognize her as the unicorn from the castle ruins and I sigh. "What do you want?"

The unicorn shakes her head. "I think the real question is what do you want? What are you doing in Ponyville?"

Lutano and I chuckle slightly at the name and Lutano replies before I can. "We are looking for somewhere to rent a room. I don't feel like sleeping in a forest when there is a town only a short distance away."

The unicorn blinks at him before shaking her head. "We don't have anywhere like that in Ponyville. If you need a place to stay though, I am sure somepony will give you a room if you do some work for them."

Lutano shrugs slightly. "I'm no stranger to taking a request to get something I want, just point me in the direction I need to go."

She nods and thinks for a second. "Well... my friend Applejack may be able to use some help. It's just her and her brother on their farm so it has to be difficult to keep up with the demand on their own." A sudden realization strikes the mare and her eyes widen. "Oh! I completely forgot to introduce myself, I am Twilight Sparkle."

Lutano and I glance at each other before bowing our heads slightly to Twilight and Lutano speaks up. "I'm Lutano, and the wolf is Sarikasin, though he isn't actually a wolf."

I growl slightly and shake my head. "Don't go around just casually mentioning I'm not really a wolf. It destroys the whole reason I am in this form."

Twilight frowns slightly. "Why would you need to hide what you are? And how did you change what you look like?"

I smirk slightly and revert back to my original form in a swirl of leaves. "Because unlike you ponies, I don't have any animalistic traits which would leave me as an oddity. Never having seen my kind before would likely lead to a panic, so I hoped that by shape shifting I could avoid that. As for how I do it, I have such a strong connection to nature as a Druid that I can turn into most animals with the use of a little magic." Blinking, I look at Lutano. "Now that I think about it, don't you have a couple of illusion forms yourself? I know it's not like mine but I think I remember a couple."

Lutano nods and pulls a small gem with an image of a doll etched into it's surface. "Mystic Moppet and Turkey, just a couple of enchantments for fun."

I notice the look of curiosity Twilight is giving the gem and chuckle. "Don't bother even asking, he wouldn't give that thing up for the world."

Lutano noticed the look she was giving the gem after the statement and quickly pocketed it while keeping a hand close to the pouch. "Anyway, can you show us the way to where I can stay? I would like to get used to the place before I have to sleep."

Twilight nods slightly and turns down a road that leads to the edge of the town. "We should be able to get there in just a couple of minutes."

As we start walking, I shape shift back into the wolf and follow silently beside Lutano as he falls in step beside the mare. After a couple minutes of silence though, I get tired of it and speak to Twilight. "You were in the ruins when Nightmare Moon was defeated, but you didn't have the strength to fight her. So why were you there?"

Twilight smiles slightly, thinking back on it. "Because I knew my friends were there to help me and that with the Elements of Harmony we would be able to win against her. You actually played a large part in helping us though when you teleported into the middle of the room and fought with her."

I chuckle slightly. "We had no intention at all of being in the area so don't thank us. If a wave of magic hadn't interfered with the destination of my portal as we were stepping through than we never would have wound up there." Glancing ahead of us, I spot a fence with a line of apple trees on the other side. "Is that Sweet Apple Acres?"

Twilight nods. "Yea, Applejack and her brother Big Macintosh run it by themselves and have a large number of products they sell."

Lutano frowns slightly as we pass through the gate. "Do you have any idea what I will be doing here? I can't see how my skills can be put to use on an apple farm." When Twilight gives him a confused look, Lutano sighs. "I'm a mercenary in a way. Me and Sarik's guild do the odd jobs like taking out a group of creatures that are invading into someone's territory when we aren't going out and doing dungeons."

I chuckle slightly as Twilight's confusion only grows. "We don't really do jobs like helping around a farm. The majority of what the Merciful Ones do is killing off invading animals and such. Though we do take the occasional gathering and delivery mission."

Twilight stares at us in shock and stops dead in her tracks. "You kill other living beings?! What did they do that could possibly make you think they deserved that?!"

My eyes narrow slightly but I brush off her shock. "Too many things to name, and over half of them would give you nightmares for the rest of your life. You act like it was such a bad thing, but I guarantee that Lutano and I alone have saved thousands of lives on our travels." Shaking my head, I let out a sigh. "Anyways, lets just get this situation dealt with and you can ask questions later."

With a hesitant nod, Twilight leads the way through the orchard though she throws the occasional worried glance back at Lutano and I. When we reach the house, Twilight knocks on the door and a minute later an orange mare with a blonde mane opens it.

Smiling at Twilight, she steps aside to let her through the door. "Hey Twi, ah wasn't expectin to see ya so soon."

Twilight smiles slightly in return but gestures with her head back at us. "Well, I wasn't originally planning on stopping by just yet but I found these two in town and they were looking for a place to stay. Since we don't have any places with rooms to rent I told them they may be able to find a place if they did some work and suggested they see if you need any help."

Applejack nods and looks at Lutano and I. "Ah might be able to place 'em. Though if they can stay depends on how they work."

I chuckle slightly. "I'm not in on this, Lutano is the only one needing a place to stay because I will be staying in the forest just outside of the town. I try to avoid staying in any kind of town or city for any length of time. Can't stand the lack of nature that most have, and while this one is better, it's only slightly."

Applejack nods and looks to Lutano. "So what can ya do? Workin on mah farm is hard work."

Lutano smirks and glances around, spotting a small wagon a beside a barn. "How about I give a demonstration instead of telling you." Walking over to the wagon, he crawls underneath it and after a few moments of shuffling, the wagon slowly begin lifting into the air.

Staring in shock at the display of strength, Applejack sits down heavily. "Well ah'll be, fer such a slender creature you sure do have some muscle."

Lowering the wagon back to the ground, Lutano gets out from underneath it with a smug smile. "Few years of warfare and adventuring will do that. Though enchanted armor helps when it increases your strength."

I chuckle slightly and can't help but make a jab at his pride. "And yet despite your impressive strength you still lost our duel."

Growling, Lutano points a clawed finger at me. "You only won because you have so many freaking heals. If you couldn't heal as fast and as often as you did I would have wiped the floor with you."

I smirk slightly and nod. "That's true, but you didn't."

Stepping between us with a laugh, Applejack cuts off our argument. "Alright you two, Lutano has a spot in the farm if he can keep up with our pace, though after that little display ah don't think that'll be a problem." Turning to me, she arches an eyebrow. "But are you sure about sleepin in the Everfree? There's some pretty nasty critters in there."

I chuckle slightly and nod. "I think if I can fight wurms and the like, than I can survive in the forest. I haven't heard or sensed anything out there yet that would be a threat to me."

Applejack and Twilight blink before the latter speaks. "Worm? How would one of those be a threat, they're only a couple inches long."

Snorting in amusement, I have to hold back my laughter. "Not worm, wurm. Think of a dragon without it's wings and you have a decent idea of what a wurm is. Lutano and I have killed a few dozen of them while out doing quests so I unless you have dragons hiding out there I don't think I will be in any danger."

Not waiting for a response, I turn to Lutano. "If you need me, just shoot off one of your fireworks. I should be able to hear it since I won't be going too deep into the forest. I need to meditate before I go to sleep anyways to get back the mana I used today."

Lutano nods and reaches into a pouch before tossing me a small cylinder with a fuse at one end and paper covering the opening on the other end. "If you need any help, do the same. I don't want to have to go searching for your body to revive you if you die, especially since right now you are the only one with any possible way of getting us back home."

I chuckle slightly and nod, again finding the horrified looks at the mention of death funny. "I'd be more concerned about you to be honest, I'm fairly good at lying low... you on the other hand like to draw attention to yourself. Anyway, I'll let you get settled."

Before I could leave though, I was stopped by Applejack. "Wait, why don't ya just stay in the orchard? It's not quite the same as a forest but it's a safer. Ah know you say there's nothin that would be a threat but ah would feel better knowing you were sleeping surrounded by manticores and the type."

My head tilts slightly to the side as I think before shrugging as best I can as a wolf. "It should work, but I don't have much I can offer as payment like Lutano. I'm not that strong physically and the majority of my skills lay in magic."

Twilights eyes widen in realization. "Oh yea! I have so many questions I want to ask you about your type of magic, I've never heard of a type of magic that allows the caster to turn into another creature permanently."

Applejack and I stare at her in surprise before Applejack laughs. "Ah think helpin Twi with her research will be plenty. Ah just hope you can take her questions."

I shrug slightly. "Sure, why not? I'll talk to you about your questions tomorrow though, right now I would like to find a good place to settle in for the night." Trotting into the trees, I vanish quickly despite my white fur, though I keep an ear on the others as they lead Lutano to the barn to get him set up with a spot for the night. After a few minutes of wandering, I finally get tired of looking and sit against the closest tree with my eyes closed. Within seconds of sitting down, I force my mind to clear and my body to relax as I let my consciousness sink into the trees around me.