Chapters Twilight opened her eyes and sat up in her bed. A look of determination burned in her eyes. Today was the day, the day she would finally crack that spell. She quickly ran through her daily preparations and set herself at the table.
Twilight had been in the process of preparing this spell for weeks, memorizing incantations, gathering reagents, constructing the rune circle, and storing her energy. During all of this Twilight had been neglecting her dear friends. Aside from the occasional visit to her friends for some of the reagents, Twilight had been locked in her library for most of this month. She was actually surprised that Pinkie Pie hadn't rammed open her door and forced a party upon her. But, it would all be worth it because she had finally finished the preparations and could finally execute the spell.
When Twilight finished this spell she would be caught up with her magic studies for the next couple of months, which was just as well as she had fallen behind on her friendship studies. This alone motivated Twilight. When she had finished she would have to make it up to her friends.
Twilight looked over the spell book again. This spell had been designed to allow long distance teleportation as efficiently as possible. There was very little information on it in the book, so little it seemed intentionally vague. The only things Twilight could ascertain were the required components, the estimated energy cost, and its difficulty level: Extreme. Twilight was not one to back away from a challenge, especially when the challenge is her special talent. But she could still feel doubt in the back of her mind. Teleportation was a difficult mastery of Magic. As far as she knew, she was the only unicorn in Ponyville that could use it. Even the self-proclaimed "Great and Powerful" Trixie could not use that skill. And the fact that this spell was vague, unnamed, and submitted anonymously did not put her mind at ease either.
Twilight pushed her fears down; After all she was the Princess's prized protégé. What was there to fear? Sure, Magic is extremely volatile, especially so when the pony cannot control it, but she was Twilight Sparkle, the element of Magic! The only other ponies that would be better suited to cast this spell were Starswirl and the Princesses themselves. Twilight realized her thoughts and mentally scolded herself for her pride. Twilight had psyched herself up enough and finally decided to start the spell.
Twilight placed her hoof in the middle of the rune circle and began to channel energy into the incantation. She said the words of power the spell required and she felt the energy she lent the circle envelope her. The energy collapse upon her and pressed her between dimensions. She fell into the stream and was propelled forward through the lines. With the spell complete she waited as she was launched through space. She saw her exit to return from the trip and broke through the line. She should be back where she was standing having traveled around the world through the lines. A bright flash of light greeted her, as well as the color green.
Twilight was in a forest. Her eye twitched, "No, no, no..." Twilight whirled her head around in a panic, taking in her new environment. It was a forest, simply a forest. Twilight tried to push down her fear, "Okay, I only missed. This forest must just be outside Ponyville." Twilight looked through the forest and saw lights through the trees. That must be Ponyville. It's just half of a mile off. "It'll be okay Twilight, just a walk through the woods. When I get there, I can go spend time with my friends."
As Twilight walk through the brush she came to a clearing and looked into the sky. The sun was setting. Twilight began to worry more. The sun was setting and a forest wasn't exactly the safest place to be at night, even in Equestria. Twilight quickened her pace as broke from the forest as the sun was dipping behind the horizon. It opened to a cliff that looked of a valley. There were structures off in the distance.
It wasn't Ponyville.
It wasn't a village per say either. It was more of a fortress made of green bricks. Framed against the setting sun, it was quite picturesque all things considering. The sight made Twilight forget her worries for awhile; however, she remembered her troubles when the sun finally dropped below the horizon leaving her in the dark. That was when she noticed the figure standing on the wall. She jumped back behind a rock as red lights suddenly appeared on the figure. She risked a look over her cover and it was gone. Twilight let out a sigh of relief. Perhaps it hadn't noticed her. She got up and started to walk to the edge. That was when a dark blur jumped up and over the edge and landed in front of the unicorn. Twilight stumbled backwards in fear and fell over. She screwed her eyes shut in fear, reaching for magic to zap the creature.
Two things happened at that moment. The first, Twilight could not project her magic. The second, nothing happened. For several seconds, nothing at all happened. Twilight drew up the courage to open her eyes. She saw a figure towering above her. Some sort of creature that stood on two legs. It had dark skin and a jet black mane that was pulled back into a ponytail. The most prominent feature though, was its glowing red eyes. The creature looked down at the pony with bored curiosity. It extended an arm and held open its hand. Twilight flinched and the hesitantly put her hoof in its hand. The creature pulled her up and offered a friendly smile.
The smile disappeared from its face as he turned towards a growling sound coming from the forest. The creature turned back towards Twilight and motioned the pony to follow it down the path towards the fortress. Twilight had no choice; it was either follow a strange creature towards a castle or face whatever had made that noise in the forest without magic. She took the former choice and followed the dark creature.
The trek from the hill was an easy enough. Twilight only had to trot to keep up with the strange bipedal creature. It continued to glance over its shoulder either to reassure that Twilight was following it or that something wasn’t following them. They were fast approaching the walls of the fortress when a dark shape flew from the sky and smashed into the back of the creature. The creature lost its balance and rolled onto the ground with a grunt. It looked up at the round, dark shape floating in the sky, eyes blazing red, with a growl and held out its hand at the monster. Twilight could sense magical energy being focused into its hand. Crystals formed in front of his hand and flew towards the shape and met it with a wet sound. Its silhouette fell apart and hit the ground with a soft thud.
The dark creature turned back to Twilight, offered a concerned look and motioned for her to follow. Twilight felt indecision in her mind. The creature she was following clearly had some form of magic power and without her magic she would be no match for it if it wished to do her harm. It had also just killed a something without a second thought. Growling came from behind Twilight and motivated her to go move the opposite direction. Twilight trotted up to the creature who was staring at the wall, tapping its foot impatiently, waiting for her. She looked up at it and the creature shook its head. It reached its hand forward and pressed it against the wall. The wall moved back and slid to the side revealing the inside of the fortress.
The creature hurried Twilight though the passage and looked around before it closed the wall and turned to Twilight. It let out a sigh and walked down the hallway to the central building. It stopped and turned back towards Twilight and folded its arms. Twilight gave a start and quickly trotted after it. The creature rolled its eyes and waited until Twilight had caught up and walked alongside her. Twilight looked around the hallway. The hallway itself was constructed from green bricks and was illuminated by green light that shone through the spaces between the bricks. It was wholly unspectacular besides the lighting.
Eventually, they reached a wooden door and the creature walked up to it. It knocked its hand against it twice and opened the door. White light flooded into the comparably darker green light. They stepped through the doorway and walked into a room made of red bricks. The creature held up its hand and signaled Twilight to stay there. Twilight complied and leaned against the wall and fell into a sitting position. She examined her new environment. The interior of the room was much more furbished than the hallway. A table was pushed up against the wall and had a chair pushed in underneath. On top of the tables were books that had strange glyphs inscribed on their covers. There were also many storage chests lined against the wall. In the near middle of the room there was a smaller table that had tools on it, a furnace, and an anvil. Twilight heard a scuffle from above and directed her attention to another door.
The door opened revealing half closed red eyes. The creature walked out the door and turned back towards the door and extended its arm towards Twilight with an aggravated look on its face. From the room came another creature similar to the first. It had the same basic shape but it seemed to be a different gender from the first. It also had a pinkish hue to its skin and orange hair. Covering most of its body was yellow material and on its back was a massive piece of metal that Twilight recognized as a wrench. As she was walking out she was talking to the other creature, “now what were you talking abou- Oh. My. Gosh.” The creature noticed Twilight leaned against the wall, watching with interest. The creature turned to the dark one and started exclaiming loudly, “YOU BOUGHT ME A PONY?!?” She launched herself at the other and pulled him into a hug. “THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!” The other rolled his eyes casting an annoyed glace at Twilight and broke out of the hug shaking his head.
Twilight stood up, “Wait, you can talk?” Her interest redoubled with this revelation.
The dark one stared at the pony with wide eyes while the other one replied without missing a beat, “Well of course we can! What kind of person can’t talk?” The dark one’s eyes flicked from the pony to his companion and shot her a puzzled look. The female human realized what happened and stopped her rambling and stared at the pony. “You shouldn’t be able to talk...” she stuttered in disbelief.
Twilight suddenly realized what these things were.Twilight’s eyes flicked between them, “What do you mean, ‘I shouldn’t be able to talk?’ You’re the ones who shouldn’t be able to talk because humans aren’t real!”
The female reacted by turning around and crossing her arms, “Whatever! Ponies aren’t real either!”
The dark human redressed his annoyed look and glared at the female. He reached up and tapped her on the shoulder to get her attention. “They are real...” he said in a loud whisper. He dodged a punch from the female and raised his hands dismissively and sat down at the table. He stared inventively at Twilight, as if looking through her.
Twilight squirmed under both the human’s stare and the new information she was processing. Humans aren’t real. But here are two of them, alive and well and speaking Equestrian of all things. They’re myths, just old stories made to entertain. Nowhere in Equestria could a human exist. ‘So I must not be in Equestria. I must be somewhere outside, perhaps even another world.’ Twilight thought. Humans were said to be extremely violent and evil creatures. While the dark one looked the part, they certainly didn’t act it.
Movement broke Twilight’s train of thought; the dark one sat up in his chair and leaned on the table. “Well, do you have a name?” he asked. Twilight hesitated causing the two humans to look at each other. He looked back to Twilight, “No then?”
“No, no! My name is Twilight Sparkle.” Twilight replied hastily. A sound came from the dark human, sounding almost like suppressed laughter. Twilight glared daggers at the human, “What? I suppose your name is better?”
“Well,” The human tried to look nonchalant. “I’m afraid my name doesn’t measure up to,” He cleared his throat. “Twilight... Sparkle. But, I think the name ‘Dark Srake’ is just fine.” Srake dropped his false air of superiority. “Oh, and that’s Kayla.” He pointed in the direction of the female.
Kayla scowled in concentration at Twilight, “I’m starting to think that you didn’t get me a pony...” She turned to Srake, “Why do you think she’s here?”
Srake frowned at her, “I don’t know why you’re asking me. We are in the presence of a purple, magical, talking horse.” Srake stopped talking and looked around the room trying to avoid Kayla's glare. Srake relented under her gaze and let out a sound of annoyance, “Fine...” He turned to Twilight and asked her, “Why are you here...”
Twilight was puzzled by his demeanor. He only seemed surprised by her for a few seconds before he became bored. In response to his question, Twilight recounted the events of the day.
The Sun bled light back into the night sky as the moon fell behind the landscape. The distant groans and thudding ceased as the final shadows melted away. Everyone was still in the same place. Srake looked rather irritated as Twilight finished her story.
“That took way longer than it should have.” Srake said as he let his head slip off his hand and smack against the table.
“It probably wouldn’t have taken so long if you hadn’t kept on falling asleep.” Kayla said to Srake. Srake remained motionless as Kayla stood up and walked to him. “Uh, Srake?” She reached out and placed her hand on his shoulder. A light snoring came from under his folded arms. She pressed down on his shoulder causing him to fall out of his chair and land on his face.
“Ow...” Srake mumbled into the floor. He slowly pulled himself back into his chair and looked at Twilight. He had trouble comprehending what he saw. He recoiled out of his seat and slammed himself against the wall, “How did a unicorn get in the house?! I stopped the Hallow from spreading here!”
“Srake, what are you talking about? How could you forget that Twilight was here? You were asleep for five seconds!” Kayla said exasperated.
Srake’s eyes glassed over as he went into deep thought, slowly putting thoughts together to make a coherent memory. His eyes buzzed back to life as he remembered the previous few hours. “Oh, yeah...” Srake slowly spelled out, “Hello Twilight... How did you sleep?” Srake’s words were sprinkled with malice.
Twilight suddenly felt very confused, not only at Srake’s sudden hostility and surprise but at the fact that it was already morning. That last thing wasn’t very important but it was about time Twilight learned a little about the world she was flung into. Twilight heard Srake mention something called the... hollow was it? “Uh Srake, what’s the hollow?”
Srake’s scowl faded, “Uh, what?” Srake looked down at the floor whispering something under his breath trying to think. Realization dawned on his face, “Oh! You mean The Hallow! With an ‘a’.” Twilight’s eyes narrowed in irritation. “What? If you’re going to be staying in this bastion, then you’re going to have to be correct.” Srake said defensively. “Consider it your first lesson of the wonderfully dangerous world of Terraria!” Srake added with a flourish.
Twilight watched with curious eyes, interested with the prospect of learning about an alien world. Srake continued his rambling, “The first lesson was phonetics, and the second lesson begins now, HISTORY!” Srake struck a heroic pose and his eyes glowed fiercely with renewed vigor. Srake leaned in towards Twilight and whispered, “Are you excited? I’m excited!”
Kayla let out a sound of annoyance, “Well, I’m leaving.” She made towards the door and paused, “You have fun with the little pony.” She opened up the door. “I’m going to try to get the Wi-Fi working again.” She added angrily, muttered something under hear breath and left, slamming the door.
Twilight turned back to Srake, “Wait... Did she just say, ‘Freaking Clowns’?”
Srake waved his hand dismissively, “Later...” Srake clasped his hands together excitedly. “Now, time for lesson two and just a disclaimer, Terraria’s history is all about me.” Twilight rolled her eyes and sat down on the floor. Srake looked upon her with disdain, “Are you sitting comfortably? Then let us begin...”
Srake cleared his throat and paused for several seconds before he actually began. “Terraria is a world in danger and in fact is not my native land. I was called here by Terraria itself to aid it. Terraria is very much alive and is dying slowly. I awoke on a beach staring into the blue sky, clouds floating lazily over head. Being ripped from my previous life and with no direction in mind, I wandered inland. Eventually, I came to a cliff overlooking a valley. From the cliff I could see another person who was wandering back and forth in the valley. When I came down to him, he seemed very excited to see me. He introduced himself as the Guide, a guardian of Terraria, there to help the hero start his quest. He did tell me his name, but that was a while later. I have no idea why Colin waited so long to tell me...”
Srake continued to ramble about how all the other guardians never introduced themselves when he first met them. They all used titles and avoided the topic at all times. Srake then said how they all suddenly revealed their names on the same day. Twilight hit the threshold of listening to Srake go on about how mysterious these other characters are. “Srake, what does this have to do with history?”
Srake stopped, flinching as if he’d just been struck. Srake stayed quiet for several seconds before continuing, “Colin was very helpful. He gave me my first tools and helped me construct the beginnings of the building we’re standing in... That night, I fell asleep easily because of the manual labor.” Srake moved towards a window and stared out at the landscape in the midday sun. All emotion drained from his voice, “There used to be a door by this window...” He pressed his hand against the window and lowered his head. “That night, we were awoken by a loud banging at the door. The banging continued as I approached this window to look outside. As I looked through, the noise stopped. I was about to walk back to my bed when a hand smacked against the window, cracking it. I backed away and a face with dead eyes stared at me through the window. Its skin was peeled away and rotting and a lot of its hair had fallen out. Colin walked up beside me and he said to me, ‘This is why we need you.’ He told me to go back to sleep, saying that I should sleep while I still can.”
Srake stood there for what seemed like hours as he remembered his first encounter with the spirit of darkness that loomed over Terraria. However, it was only seconds for Twilight as she watched him stare through space. “Srake, are you all right?” Srake seemed not to notice Twilight. She got up and cautiously moved towards him and prodded his knee with her hoof, “Hey, are you in there?” Twilight asked concernedly.
Srake slowly came back to reality and turned away from the window. He focused on Twilight who was now standing very close to him, “Oh, hello Twilight...” Srake backed away from Twilight slowly and walked to a chair and sat down.
Twilight continued to watch with concern, “You’re going to be alright, right?”
Srake put on a smile. “Yeah, I’ve been through worse than that.” Srake said as he rubbed the back of his head, “I’ll have to tell you those later though.” Srake looked at the table and continued to scratch his head. He suddenly stood up and moved over to one of the chests lining the wall. “Have you tried to use any magic since you’ve come here?” Srake asked Twilight as he opened a chest and turned back to her.
Twilight suddenly remembered her lack of power in this place, “Uh, yeah actually... When you first jumped in front of me, I had tried to ‘lightning bolt’ you...” Twilight gave a nervous laugh. “Sorry about that. But at least it didn’t work.”
Srake turned away from twilight and stared down into the chest again, “That’s fair enough. I had assumed you were one of the other unicorns that wandered from the Hallow.”
Twilight injected with surprise, “Wait, other unicorns? There are other ponies here!?”
Srake said a word under his breath that Twilight didn’t recognize, “Not this one...” Srake stepped over to the next chest and opened it. “Jesus, I still have a lot to teach.”
Twilight looked towards Srake with confusion, “Srake? What’s a jesus?”
Srake continued to rummage through the chest, “Nothing Twilight, forget about it.” Srake said quite fast and a little harsher than it should have been. Twilight’s eyes began to wander as Srake dismissed her last question. Her interest was piqued once again by the books inscribed with strange glyphs when Srake exclaimed, “Found it!” Twilight turned back to Srake into time to see him slam his head on the shelf above the chest, causing books to fall down. Srake held a hand against the top of his head and surveyed the damage he caused, “Oh... dear.” Srake said as he cradled a blue object in his arm.
Twilight walked up closer to Srake to get a better view of the object. From what she could tell it was a blue crystal star that pulsed with energy. “Hey, what’s that?”
Srake held out the crystal towards Twilight, “This? It’s a mana crystal. If you use this it will allow you to retain your magic energy in Terraria. Taking some pseudo scientific liberties, I believe that your world is much more ‘friendly’ towards magic. Terraria however constantly saps magical energy from your body...” Srake noticed the worried look he was receiving from Twilight. “Oh no, no, no,” Srake tried to reassure her, “It’s not dangerous at all! You just have to use mana crystals to store your body’s natural mana.”
Twilight stared at Srake, “Right... So how do I use it?”
Srake shrugged, “I dunno, just hold it up in your... hooves?” and tossed it towards Twilight how somehow managed to catch it. “Impressive...” Srake droned.
Twilight managed to balance it on a single hoof and raised it up. The crystal disappeared in a blue flash. Twilight smiled for the first time since she arrived in Terraria, “Neat.” She felt much better now having her power back now.
Srake rubbed his chin, “I think you’re gonna need more mana crystals...” Twilight was about to say something in return but Srake interrupted her “Doesn’t matter right now.” Srake walked to the door leading back into the hallway and knelt down by a pack leaning against the wall. He reached into the pack, much deeper than seemed physically possible, and pulled out a book. “Here we go Twilight, a spell called Demon Scythe. Not sure if you have any combat magic expertise, but if we get in a tight spot, just back pedal and cast the spell.” Srake tossed the book at Twilight who caught it with her telekinesis. She immediately opened it and began reading.
Srake turned away from Twilight and shouldered the pack. “Alright, so I think it’s time for a little fun, it’s time for a field trip. Man, I regret not finishing college... Hey Twilight, you have college in Ponyville? Uh, Twilight?” Srake turned around to see Twilight’s horn glowing as he held the book in front of her. “Oh, no...” groaned Srake.
Twilight finished casting the spell and unleashed a razor sharp black blade from the book. The blade flew forward and sliced though a table before it faded from existence. Twilight’s eyes twitched as she stared at the destruction she accidentally caused. Srake walked up beside Twilight, “Yeah, it’s called Demon Scythe for a reason...” Srake hit his hand against Twilight’s head lightly to get her attention, “Come on. I have to show you something before nightfall.” Srake ran to the window to check the Sun’s position. “Perfect, noon.” Srake said with a smile. Srake open the door and started shouting, “C’mon! Let’s go! GO! GO! We’re burning daylight, Twilight.”
“Jeez Srake, settle down. I’m coming.” Twilight thought to herself, ‘Dear Celestia, are all humans this unstable?’
Twilight Sparkle had finally found the time to worry about her home. She worried that Spike would wake up only to find an empty library with spell components strewn about. He would probably go to her closest friends and inform them, rather incoherently, about her absence. Celestia, she missed her adoptive brother and her friends for that matter. Twilight wondered if they would be able to figure out what had happened to her. Furthermore, how they could help her from their end.
Srake, however, did not allow Twilight a lot of time to worry. Quickly hurrying her from the sliding wall, "Twilight, we need to hurry so we don't get caught out in the night." Srake stood at the foot of the Bastion's walls. Taking out a compass from his pack, he pointed himself North and then turned left. "Right, so where I wanna take you is off to the West. It's a bit of a hike so were going to need to go quickly and maintain that speed."
Srake began to start off but Twilight interrupted him, "Srake, West is the other way."
Srake stopped cold in his track and slowly turned around to face Twilight. "What" He deadpanned.
Twilight shrank back under his apathetic gaze, "The sun... It rose from that direction." She pointed the way Srake had started to go. "The sun rises in the East. West is the other way."
Srake turned back, "Irrelevant" he said louder than necessary, "Now let's go." Twilight started after the human, only having to maintain a light canter to keep up with him.
A brisk wind blew across the travelers as they reached the crest of the first hill. It felt noticeably cooler here, not because of the elevation increase but because a thick cover of clouds had moved in and blotted out the sun.
Srake commented that it looked like it was going to rain. He remarked how that was rather unusual and then mentioned something about snowmen. Twilight didn't question that though. She had just recently accepted that many things were off about her new companion. Perhaps it was best just to let him ramble his nonsense. After all, he was the one who lived in this world.
After about an hour of jogging, Srake decided it was time for a break. He didn't seem tired in the least and instead was thinking of Twilight. He sat down against a wall of stone and unshouldered his pack. He began to dig around in it, "How you holding up, Twilight?"
Twilight sat down hard and tried to catch her breath. She made a silent resolution that when she got home she would read less books about running and spend more time actually doing it. "I'll be fine..." she said. Twilight heard Srake rummaging around in his bag and looked up to find a large amount of equipment strewn around him. "What's all that stuff and for that matter where'd it come from?"
"Well Twilight," Srake spoke matter-of-fact, "This stuff, as you so eloquently put, would be the items that have kept me alive here for the past couple years." Twilight scowled at his patronizing tone. Srake picked up a pair of boots, "These would be my rocket boots." He turned them to show the mechanism that allowed the limited flight. "They're bloody uncomfortable so I don't wear them much." Srake put them on, "Oh, they let me jump higher I guess." Srake took off his jacket and equipped a white chest plate with gold trim. "And this is armor. You can probably guess what it does." he said as he put his jacket back on over the armor. He reached his arm deep into his pack and pulled out a red metal sword that look more decorative than practical. As he started to walk away he sheathed his sword at his belt looking rather sullen.
Twilight followed him. She thought about the way Srake was acting. He had switched moods again not to mention him suddenly arming himself.. She figured that something was happening that he had not told her about. "Srake, where is it we're going?" she asked concernedly.
Srake put on a sad smile, "I wanted it to be a surprise but we're going to a dangerous place. It would be best if you know what we're getting into." Srake explained his reason for him being here fully. He told Twilight about the Corruption. He explained how it affected the land and how it warped the ex-natives and normally peaceful creatures. "I've done a lot of things, Twilight." Srake spoke solemnly. "The zombies were disturbing enough and the slimes were just nuisances. But then I noticed something else here." He picked over his words carefully try to say it just right. "Not only did the Corruption affect the normal creatures here, it had brought new creatures to Terraria."
As Twilight listened, she slowly noticed a change in the environment. Trees were becoming more sparse and were replaced by some sort of thorned scrub brush. The grass had changed too. From it's previous lush green state it had become dried and dead. Twilight's attention snapped from her companion. 'Dead grass isn't colored purple, is it?' Twilight shivered in the drastically changed air. It felt completely void of energy. Cold and dead.
Srake noticed Twilight start to fall behind and stopped in concern. "What's wrong?"
Twilight stared at the new barren landscape before her. She heard the concern in Srake's voice. "Is this the corruption?" The look in Srake's eyes answered her from him. Even through the red glow she could see the tired sadness. "Why did you want to take me here." She said as she started to feel emotion drain from herself, similar to Discord's magic. She held onto memories of her friends and family back in Equestria. She felt a little better.
Srake silently motioned for the unicorn to follow him. Twilight obliged without having much of a choice. They began a steady climb up a hill. As they reached the top Srake sat down with his back to the crest of the hill so he was looking over the purple hued landscape. He simply stared. Twilight sat down next to him and tried to look him in the eyes.
Srake closed his eyes and sighed lightly, "Because, you're here for a reason."
Confusion spread across Twilight's face as she tried to make sense of that vague statement. "I don't..."
Srake looked Twilight straight in the eyes. "You're like me, I mean. You're here because there is something you can do to help this world. I personally don't know, but there is one thing I know." Srake jumped up suddenly and readied his sword. "When something new comes here. It can't be the only thing."
Twilight recoiled at Srake's sudden burst of movement. She started to tell him to settle down but was interrupted.
Srake held out his free hand with a very worried look on his face. Twilight immediately stopped talking and began to look around. Nothing was coming towards them... She look to the sky. The only thing there was the sun still hanging obscured by dark clouds. "What's going on?" Twilight whispered.
Srake looked around nervously as he concentrated on something. "Nothing." He said hesitantly.
"So what's the problem?"
"That nothing is the problem." Srake scowled as he continued to survey his surroundings. "We've been in the Corruption for nearly an half hour and nothing has tried to attack us yet. Not a single Eater. No Devourers... Not even a slime."
Confusion rose in Twilight again. Surely no monsters would be a good thing. She could hardly imagine being worried or upset about the lack of creatures as she walked through the Everfree Forest. "And why is that a bad thing?"
Twilight could hear distress in Srake's voice. "Twilight, I need you be ready to fight and if it comes to it run back to the fortress. With or without me." Srake punctuated those final words with a sense of urgency that gave Twilight chills. "No monsters could mean that something big is about to go down. But I don't see anything." Srake stopped abruptly and nearly dropped his sword. Twilight saw Srake's skin turn to a light gray as blood drained from his face. He turned on his heels and quickly ran to the crest of the hill. He stood there in shock at what he saw.
Twilight let out an exclamation and chased after Srake. As she crested the hill she also saw it.
Srake fumbled with his words. His mouth not allowing him to say whatever came to mind. He finally settled with, "That's new..."
The valley that laid out below them had strange qualities. The ground was no long the dead purple of the Corruption but a strange dark absence of light. it couldn't even be described as black. I was as if light didn't even exist within the area's confines. Dark sprites flew above the landscape that somehow drew the eye to a large square structure. It looked similar to the pyramids that frequently showed up in the Daring Do books. The whole area seemed to rebel against natural law.
The new environment drove fear and uncertainty into both the heroes. Twilight looked up to Srake with a mix of fear and apprehension, "We're not going in there, are we?"
Srake swallowed his newly found fear. "I once thought the Corruption would hold the way back home for me. Maybe this place has the way." Srake reached into his coat pocket and took out a small golden cross necklace. He stared down at it for a couple seconds before tossing it towards Twilight. Twilight caught it in her magic and inspected it curiously. "It'll keep you safe. I won't lie. This is going to be dangerous Twilight." Srake tuned to face her. "If you don't want to go, I wouldn't blame you. You have nothing invested in this world." Srake paused for a second as if to say more but turned back towards the pyramid. He paused once again then started to walk down the slope.
Twilight watched him walk down the hill. Thoughts and feelings swirled inside of her. She chased after him, "Wait!"
Srake turned back with a surprised look on his face.
Twilight looked at Srake with a kind smile, "I have one investment. And that's a friend." A light glow came from the cross that was now around Twilight's neck.
A small smile played on Srake's lips that broke into a large grin. "Then let's go."
A/N: Finally free of the accursed Writer's Block. I apologize to you all that this chapter took so long to push out. Combined with all kinds of school stuff and the aforementioned writing block I've been kind of busy. I know that you all don't have much invested in this project, but I hope that you at least have one investment. Friendship.
Twilight Sparkle slid down the slope after her traveling companion towards the new, unfamiliar landscape before them. They both can to a stop at the base of the slope. Srake noticed that the Corruption had stopped and had switched back to the fresh green grass he was used to. He rubbed the side of his face in thought trying to theorize how the new biome factored into this. Twilight was occupied by the negative landscape they were going to be heading into, forsaking the pursuit of science for the ideal of survival. She noticed that the edge had a gradual creep that continued to expand albeit slowly. She stepped back from the slowly approaching influence cautiously. Srake had not, however, noticed it. He felt a strange sensation come over him as he stared at the ground. He felt weaker and his vision faded ever so slightly. Through the slight panic, he still noticed that the negative ground had pushed back the nearby corruption.
Srake cradled his head, "Ugh..." He grunted in discomfort as he tried to shake the feeling away. He wearily raised his head to Twilight who was still backpedaling but now looking on concernedly. "It's alright; I wouldn't say it's dangerous..." He tried to tell her. "Also you can't keep backing up forever; you'll fall into a chasm eventually."
This caused Twilight to stop and look behind her in alarm, "What?" She yelped in surprise. When she turned around the negative ground moved enough to cross her hind legs. Twilight also felt a similar sensation. Her mind developed a thin haze that made regular thought processing take just a little bit longer. Her horn also sparked slightly which caused Twilight to raise a hoof to her head. She groaned in slight confusion as she rubbed her temple, "I think this place is affecting my magic abilities"
Srake staggered over to her. "Yeah, I feel pretty trippy too." He regarded her with mild interest and chuckled lightly, "You're not purple anymore..." Twilight looked at herself to find that her coat's color had been washed out and appeared rather grainy. She stared at herself in silence for a while before looking back up at Srake. Her confused expression turned to shock. Srake looked down at his arms to see that they had also had their color washed out. They both now matched their new environment perfectly.
Srake shrugged, "Weird..." and started to walk, awkwardly, towards the temple. Twilight fought back the haze and followed after him shakily.
"Why isn't this bothering you?" Twilight asked him.
Srake continued to walk forward, "You can't make progress if you only worry about the present." He turned his head slightly so his eyes met with the unicorn's. "Besides, I don't know anything about this place. I need to learn more so I know what I should be bothered by."
Twilight closed her eyes and shook her head, "That barely makes half sense. You think that walking into a hostile environment completely blind shouldn't bother you?" There it was again, he was starting to act weird.
Srake slowly turned his head to face Twilight. He stared at her for awhile, his now washed out eyes piercing her. Twilight was unnerved by this, "...What?"
Srake acted like his concentration was broke, "Huh? Oh, it's nothing Twilight. I was just getting kind of hungry." He paused and then quickly added, "I guess you don't have any snacks." He laughed nervously and looked the other way.
Twilight didn't say anything to this. She certainly didn't know how to respond to that. She started to walk slower and fell behind Srake. He didn't seem to notice or he didn't care. Twilight was starting to feel uncomfortable. Srake had been a bit of a jokester from what she knew about him. But that didn't seem like a joke. The cross necklace felt heavy around her neck. 'I think it would be best if I got back to Equestria as soon as possible.' Twilight looked at Srake as he walked in front of her. 'I can't tell if he's dangerous or not but he's my best bet for getting back home.' The cross felt heavy once again. 'Wait, Srake is my friend. RIght? I should have more trust in him than this. This is just like when Nightmare Moon returned.'
Srake looked over his shoulder, "Twilight, you'd better keep up. I don't know what kinds of creatures lurk around here. He raised his arms and waved them while making a 'WoOoOoh' noise. He did, however, take a quick look around and redrew his sword.
For whatever reason, this reassured Twilight that he wasn't crazy. Twilight remarked mentally that made so little sense. She quickened her pace to catch up with the human who was now striding purposefully. As they crested a small hill Srake motioned for Twilight to crouch down and be quiet. From their position Srake pointed out a lone figure that had the same not quite black coloration as the landscape. It appeared to be featureless at this distance and it seemed to have a very bad twitch. "It's not moving... I don't think it's spotted us." Srake said hushed. When he finished speaking the creature moved suddenly. It had disappeared and reappeared in a burst of speed nearly one-hundred feet from where it had been. Srake groaned lightly, "That's no good..."
Twilight spoke quietly, "Do you think it saw us?
Srake shook his head. He got up quietly and told Twilight to follow him silently. Srake planned to try to cross past the monster without attracting it attention. Twilight felt vulnerable as they crept through the valley that was occupied by the creature. She recalled the spell she had just recently learned. It would have to do as the only other spell she could perform was levitation. All in all, it was a good thing. Srake saw the creature go into a twitch fit again but before he could say anything the creature disappeared in a blur and reappeared right in front of Twilight.
Suddenly a dark humanoid creature with a grinning maw and blindfolded eyes stood in front of Twilight. In her shock, Twilight released the Demon Scythe spell; however it was not fully formed. The raw, unshaped magic energy slammed into the creature knocking it back several feet. The creature landed on its back. It did not stir for several seconds giving Srake just enough time to fall into a defensive stance. It began convulsing on the ground, stood and then charged Srake in a blur of movement. Srake used the flat of his sword to block a lightning fast arm that was swung at him. The impact caused him to stumble backwards. He recovered his poise to see the creature had frozen again. He used this time to strike. His swing cut diagonally across the creature’s chest. It twitched backwards in recoil and froze once again.
Twilight noticed that the creature's head was no longer turned towards Srake and that it was now facing her. It began to twitch and moved in a blur. An attack by Srake missed the creature by a mere fraction of a second. Twilight threw herself out of the way of the creature's charge. The creature's arm club missed her barely and she hit the ground hard. Twilight pushed herself up and let out a Scythe. It flew through the air slicing through the creature. It twitched backwards in pain one more and froze. Srake dropped his guard and cast a torrent of crystals from his free hand. The crystals pierced and shattered against the creature. It gave a final twitch and fell to the ground.
Srake lowered his hand and then looked over to Twilight who was staring at the late monster with a rather blank expression. "You're not hurt are you?" Srake said as he walked over to her. Twilight slowly shook her head, not breaking line of sight with the corpse. Srake stood next to Twilight and sheathed his sword, "Good, cause I'm not carrying you back."
Twilight didn't respond to the half jokingly threat directed at her. Srake sighed and walked up to the body of the monster. He knelt beside it and started to examine it. He picked up its hand to examine its claws. Twilight snapped out of her shock induced stupor, "What are you doing?! Don't touch it!" She ran forward attempting to get Srake to back off of the corpse.
Srake fell backwards to avoid being accidentally impaled by Twilight's horn, "Jeez, be careful Twilight." Srake looked around, "You might attract more of them..." he said in a hushed tone. He righted himself and took a vial that had been clenched in the creature's claw. As Srake studied the vial, Twilight asked him how he could be okay with just killing this creature and taking its possessions.
Srake placed the vial within his backpack, "C'mon Twilight, do I really have to respect the rights of this broken shadowy creature?" Twilight gasped slightly at his coldly stated words and she curtly nodded with a disapproving look. Srake shouldered his pack and faced Twilight. "I figure you would've understood, having to save you word like, what... Twice you said? You need to do stuff to do stuff, Twily" Srake turned and started back towards the temple.
"No, Srake" Twilight started after him, "I never had to kill anything to save my world." She said remorsefully.
Srake looked back in surprise, "Really? Well I guess Terraria just isn't as super happy fun time as Equestria. Evidence" Srake said as he pointed towards the base of the temple, revealing more twitching creatures. He sighed lightly, "As I so eloquently put before, You gotta do stuff to do stuff."
Twilight wished to avoid more combat so she tried to think of a plan that could take them past the... 'Twitchers? Sure, that's an appropriate name' she thought. She immediately thought of teleportation, a skill that she never really makes use of. She called upon the energy to cast the spell but instantly felt light headed once again. She broke the spell before she fainted. "Srake, I don't think I'll be able to use too much of my magic here. I think I'm bleeding energy into the background." Srake nodded lightly as he was too deep in thought. Twilight had another idea however, "Srake, what was in the glass you got off the Twitcher?"
Srake reached into his pack and pulled out the vial, "I don't know. It's some sort of liquid. He unstoppered it, "Also, that's cute, Twilight. Twitchers..." He chuckled lightly as he brought the vial up to his nose and smelled it. He looked into it with a mix of confusion and surprise.
"What is it, Srake?" Twilight asked as curiosity replaced animosity.
"Well, it’s an odorless, colorless solution and I think it might be a potion."
Twilight looked worried, "Uh, Srake even if it is a potion, it might not be a good idea to drink it."
Srake dismissed her worries, "Settle down, Twilight. Most potions can be absorbed through your skin. So I'll just pour a drop on my hand and watch its effects." Twilight still didn't look to sure and was about to protest, "Relax, it its some sort of acid, I can just wipe it off. And if it’s a poison, just wait it out and health pot." Srake left Twilight to puzzle out the meaning of that phrase and poured some of the liquid into the palm of his hand. "For science." He quietly whispered. The drop splashed on his skin and was quickly absorbed. Nothing happened for a moment. Srake's hand then spasm-ed and stoppered the vial in a burst of movement. "I guess it doesn't do anything..." Srake said with a shrug.
Twilight smacked her hoof on her face.
"Did you just facepalm?" Srake asked, confused.
"Did you really not notice that you moved your hand super fast?" Twilight deadpanned.
Srake looked down at his hand which twitched ever so slightly. "No..."
Twilight sighed with exasperation, "Well, I think I have a plan."
Srake stood up and looked down on Twilight, "I think I have the same plan and I bet I can explain it better than you." He said with a cocky smile.
Twilight rolled her eyes, "Humor me."
"That was a horrible explanation."
Both Twilight Sparkle and Dark Srake stood at the pinnacle of a hill nearly a kilometer away from a towering pyramid in the middle of a valley of strange negative earth. Srake turned around to face Twilight, "What are you talking about?! I explained it perfectly. I used big words and everything!" Srake said, waving his arms around for emphasis. True disbelief showed on his face that Twilight could not follow his explanation.
Twilight sighed, "Big words do not translate to clear understanding. Especially when the words make no sense in your context." Twilight gave a sound of frustration and turned back to examine the pyramid.
Srake put his hands in the pockets of his jacket. "Okay," He started stoically, "Let me explain my theory with new evidence." Twilight turned back with a blank expression on her face. "Clearly, these creatures or twitchers or whatever do not rely on hearing for tracking prey as they did not respond to my outburst just now." Srake double checked to see that there were no creatures coming. "Yeah, and they obviously don't use sight considering the blindfolds they all seem to have. I don't think they taste to find things." Srake made a show of counting on his fingers. He held up his two remaining fingers, "That leaves two senses. Have you any idea what sense they use to track?"
Twilight raised her hoof to her chin in a clear gesture of thought. "Well, I guess they don't use smell to see, otherwise every single one of them would be on us in an instant." Twilight said with malice, narrowing her eyes towards Srake.
Srake was visibly taken aback by her sudden hostility. "WOW. WOW." Srake walked around in a circle muttering words more words that Twilight was unfamiliar with. After a few seconds, he stopped in front of her with a scowl. "Anyways," He began loud enough to make Twilight flinch. "Yes, that leaves touch. They can feel vibrations in the air. They'll attack anything that doesn't move like it. IE, fast and erratic followed by pause." Srake removed his hand from the jacket pocket, "And that leads to this." He held the potion vial in front of him. "You said that this potion made me move incredibly fast."
"Yes, and it did." Twilight said pointedly. "I don't know why you couldn't tell. It probably retards brain and nerve impulses-"
"Whoa." Srake interrupted. "That's an awful thing to say, Twilight." A look of slight anger and abashment grew on his face. That expression was immediately replaced with realization and shame. He rubbed the back of his head, "Sorry... I'm a product of the twenty-first century.
Twilight rolled her eyes as she turned to look back at the pyramid. "So the potion imitates the movement of the twitchers. You think we should be able to blend in to sneak past them?"
"In theory, yes. In practice?" Srake paused, "Probably." Srake unstopped the vial.
"Wait... If the twitchers can feel vibration shouldn't they be able to feel sound?"
"Not sure if it matters at this point." Srake said as he poured half of the vial into his hands before tossing it to Twilight. She caught it with her magic right as Srake froze up, the potion taking effect. She poured the rest on herself and dropped the vial as her perception of time blurred and froze.
Twilight perceived Srake unfreezing and telling her to move towards the pyramid all in an instant. Suddenly Srake appeared nearly 20 feet away from her in the direction of the pyramid. Twilight tried to run towards the pyramid and received a strange out of body feeling but only before her body instantly caught up with where she perceived she had walked.
They quickly approached the side of the pyramid just as the potions effects wore off. Srake shook his head, before checking his immediate surroundings, "Good news" Srake sighed, "We're both still alive and the twitchers all seem to be maintain a distance from this pyramid." Twilight gave an affirmative nod as she caught her breath.
Srake turned back to the walls, "Bad news is... That they are probably staying away for a reason." Srake heaved his shoulders forward, "And I don't know where the entrance is..."
Twilight gave a start as she jumped to her hooves, "Are you kidding me!?" she exclaimed angrily. Srake did not turn back to face her. "You just marched us out here with no plan of how to get in?" She continued in an uncharacteristically angry, but understandable, manner.
"And so distrust falls into the ranks." Srake said quietly. Srake cleared his throat and straightened up to study the wall.
Twilight gave a heavy, frustrated, and quite frankly over the top, sigh. She slowly walked to Srake's side, "What are doing?" She asked, without looking at him.
Srake also gave a sigh, albeit slightly less melodramatically fashion, "Searching for less than obvious entrances." He put his hands in his jacket. "You can't live life by just East and West..." He murmured. Twilight raised an eyebrow to which he replied with a shrug, "Just a thought..." Srake stared at the symbol that had been burnt or carved in the stone. He turned to Twilight and gestured at the symbols, "You have any idea about this junk."
Twilight studied the glyphs, "Yeah..." she started slowly "Yeah, these look like magic lines in my world."
"Well, what do they do?"
"They're used to amplify magic especially when something needs to be animated." She look over to the wall and pointed out a specific glyph, "See that bulls-eye circle with an alpha symbol in it?" Srake nodded. "That's the initiation 'button'. Applying some magic should start the string."
Srake cracked a smile, "I knew I brought you along for some reason. Way to go." He held out his left hand and cast crystals at the wall. The crystals bounced of the surface harmlessly and shattered mid-air. Srake scowled. "I take back everything i just said." He folded his arms, "...All of it."
Twilight stood in front of Srake. "Your just bad. Watch the element of Magic at work." She distributed her weight and braced herself for a surge of raw magic. Her horn gave off violet sparks as she visible struggled to pull energy from within herself. Finally her horn glowed purple and projected a force wave of purple color at the wall.
The initiation glyph absorbed the wave and it started to glow a dim purple. Color leaked from the glyph and followed lines to other symbols along the wall. The grinding of stone and clanking of gears could be heard from the other side of the wall as a panel receded into the pyramid and slid off to the side revealing the oddly atmospheric inside.
Both Srake and Twilight stared dumbfounded through the new passage way until Twilight piped up, "Is... Is that... Negative darkness?"
Srake set his pack on the ground and pulled a blue short-staff out of it. He pointed it at the passage and a bolt of magic energy flew into the pyramid. "Yeah it is..."
A/N: A short chapter for a long wait. Because you are all worth it. No, but seriously now. I know where I want to take this story. However the map to that place was ripped up, burned, and then dropped of a cliff. So now I'm basically driving around the block until I remember which building it was. What the hell am I talking about? Eh... So school has taken up a bit of my free time. I'm also pretty busy playing GW2 now that it's been out for a while (The Charr shall rule, BTW). So, I guess what I'm try to say is, expect another chapter hopefully before the world ends. It's September right now... That gives me...2 and some months. Yeesh. Oh, and I don't know why but I tried to insert some comedy into this train wreck of a crossover.
~~Warm Regards~~ Love,
Twilight Sparkle stared at Dark Srake as he held a small magic staff, "What was that for?" she asked angrily.
Srake looked down at magical apparatus in his hands then back at Twilight, "I was checking if it was darkness," Srake began. "It's standard practice from where I come."
"Oh yeah, and where is it you come from exactly?" Twilight asked accusingly.
They both halted in the entrance to the pyramid. "Wait, I haven't told you that?" Srake asked. Twilight shook her head. "Oh, well I think that can wait until we get into the pyramid." Srake said slowly, "You know, the one we had been trying to get into... Out of this... field thing."
Twilight stared at Srake with half closed eyes, "Yeah" she relied flatly. They both stood at the entrance, neither moving.
Srake looked expectantly at Twilight and she continued to glare at him. "Do you want me to go first?" Srake asked hesitantly.
"Well you're the one with the sword, the rocket boots, the armor, the bottomless pack... the list goes on you know." Twilight droned.
Srake knelt down and sighed, "Yeah, you right..." Srake crammed his magic missile back into his pack and pulled out a bundle of torches. He took one and lit it. He started into the temple, "Let's go, Twilight." he called back. Twilight obliged and quickly followed.
Both Twilight and Srake could attest that entering the pyramid did wonders for their moods. Upon entering the correctly colored room that served as an antechamber the thin haze that had accumulated in their minds was lifted. Unburdened the duo looked around.
"Looks like everything has color again," Twilight said as she looked at the glyphs on the walls
Srake plonked a torch onto the wall, "Yeah, and light is working properly again." he said as the torch illuminated the room.
Twilight looked around in wonder taking in all the details. "Isn't this place amazing?" She asked awe struck. Srake grunted in affirmation. Twilight trotted over to a wall and closely examined the carvings, "These are definitely magic glyphs. I really do wonder what these do."
Srake stood aside Twilight. He absently minded crossed his arms as he too looked upon the carvings. "Y'know," He began, "We have pyramids similar to this back home." Twilight looked at him in confusion. Srake shrugged, "Hey, you wanted to know about my home world. So, yeah."
Twilight shook her head. "No, I get that. What does that have to do with anything?"
"Some people thought that they were built by aliens..."
Twilight looked at Srake expectantly. "Uh..."
Srake shrugged again. "Well that killed some time." Srake walked to the other side of the room leaving Twilight stumbling with her thoughts.
Twilight quickly regained her poise and rushed after Srake feeling rather annoyed. "You know, that's not really what I wanted to know about your world." She said letting her annoyance show clearly.
Srake turned to face Twilight once again, "Well, I guess that's all y-"
"Uh, I hate to interject" A third Voice interrupted. Both Twilight and Srake dropped their pretenses and quickly looked around, guard up. No one else was in the room with them.
"Where are you! Show yourself!" Twilight called out.
Srake lowered his sword, "I wanted to say that..."
"Apologies... I'm up here."
Both Twilight and Srake looked up to the ceiling to see a small device that was surveying the room slowly left to right. It focused on them, whirling as the lens zoomed in. Srake glared at the now obvious camera. "That's a little out of place... Don't you think?" he asked the camera.
"Yes... Whatever." The Voice responded, "are you here to save me?'
"What? No!" Srake shouted.
Twilight looked up at Srake in surprise, "What do you mean? You're a hero! You have to!"
"Also it would be a particularly evil thing to do..."
Srake crossed his arms, "Yeah, I-
"Not saving me, I mean." The Voice interrupted quietly.
Srake paused for a few seconds, "Yeah, I know that, but we don't even know who this guy is." he continued, ignoring the interruption.
"Listen guys," the Voice started. "I've been here for awhile and I guess that is you're not here to rescue me than you must be here to find out what's going on outside. Luckily for me, I happen to be in the center room of this pyramid and this room holds the answers that you are looking for." The camera moved up and down as in a matter of fact nod. "So, I'll be waiting."
"Aw, come on! Can't you just tell us?" Srake asked pitifully.
He received no answer.
Srake huffed and stormed over to the hallway out of the antechamber. "Come on Twilight, I guess we don't have a choice." Srake pointed at the wall. "I found a conveniently placed map..." He regarded it with suspicion as Twilight moved to get a look at it. It revealed a maze of hallways and chambers leading to the starred center room. "I hope you have a good memory, Twilight. Because this looks like a trial... Okay, so, it’s left, left, right..."
"Srake..."
"right, straight, left..."
"Srake."
"If we hit the railroad tracks, we've gone too far..."
"SRAKE!" Twilight shouted.
"OH MY GOD! WHAT!?" Srake shouted back. He blinked a couple of times staring at the Twilight's surprised face, now only a couple of inches away from his. He sighed and lowered his head, "I forgot the way..."
Twilight responded the only way she knew. She covered her face with her hoof. Twilight pushed past Srake and looked at the map. She reached out with her magic and removed the map from the wall. She rolled the map into a scroll and stared at Srake.
Srake stood up fully and gave a thumbs up, "Convention breaking! I like it." He began walking down the corridor, Twilight sighed and followed. "Let's go save this jerk."
Twilight shook her head in disbelief. "I can't believe you. Really, I can't."
Srake looked back at here, "What? And you honestly want to help him? For no reason?" Confusion showed on his face clearly, as if the notion of helping another was foreign to him.
Twilight studied her dark companion for a moment. "Are you turning evil?" she suddenly asked.
The question caught Srake off-guard. He grew quiet for several seconds. "Twilight," He began quietly. "What if I was the bad guy all along?"
"That would be unfortunate." Twilight said stolidly as she looked at the map. "Take a left..." She added.
An awkward silence hung in the air as Srake stared straight ahead and Twilight buried her face in the map. Srake broke the silence, "I was just messing with ya." Twilight folded the map and looked at him with disinterested eyes, not saying a word. "It's what keeps me sane in this world."
Twilight unfolded her map and studied it once again. "You're making it pretty hard to trust you right now..." Srake's cross grew heavy around Twilight's neck once again.
Srake shrugged. "I'm sorry."
Twilight waited for more, but did not receive any elaboration. It would have to do for now. Twilight noticed the cross grow light again. She absentmindedly wondered what powers it held. If only she had her element... And her friends. She'd have no matter of troubles getting out of this cursed world. But she would have to settle for this crazed gray-skinned, red-eyed monkey known as a human. She looked back down to her map. "Srake, stop."
Srake stopped mid-step. "What is it now, Twilight?" He asked, rather annoyed, expecting another question regarding his alignment.
"There's a trap right there." She said smugly, pointing a hoof at a tripwire laid across the hall.
"Oh... Okay" Srake mumbled, abashed by his reaction. Srake took a step back and removed his backpack. "I probably have something to remedy this situation." He reached in and thrown out some things. A green tube hit the floor and lit up as it rolled into the darkness. Srake scooped out a pile of dirt which he regarded with disgust as he poured it on the floor.
"What the hay are you looking for?" Twilight asked, peeking in the bag. "Whoa..." She whispered as an orb of pure light escaped from the bag. Srake caught it and jammed it back into his bag telling it to stay. He began leaning into the bag fitting his whole arm inside of it.
His face lit up, "I found it!" He pulled out his arm now covered in mud. In his hand he had a wire cutter. Srake grumbled at his arm and flashed fire around it. He shook off the fired clay and looked at the wall. "I haven't used this thing in a long time. That's why it was so far down."
Twilight raised an eyebrow, "How much space do you have in that bag?"
"Not enough..." Srake swung the cutter at the wall. Where it hit a strand of wire fell down to the floor. Both Twilight and Srake stared at it.
Twilight looked at Srake. "Couldn't we have just stepped over it?" She asked with realization.
Srake shrugged, then threw his cutter into his bag and shouldered it. He stepped over the now disarmed trap and waited for Twilight. She cut the tripwire with her magic and walked past. They began walking together once again. The patterns on the walls generally repeated and would occasionally light up as magic pulsed through the lines. The party came to another junction. Srake looked down both ways before groaning. "Twilight, this is taking way too long. How much further do we have to go?"
Twilight's eyes scanned the map. "First, we go right. Then we still quite a ways to go..."
Srake shoved his free hand in his pocket and did his best to pout. "This would go so much faster if we had some music..."
"You two seem to be taking your sweet time..." The Voice crackled in. "I can't believe that my rescue is a unicorn and a would-be hero..." The Voice sighed heavily. "Can't even stop the corruption." He added quietly.
Srake held up his arms in a shrug and shook his head in disbelief. He looked to Twilight for conformation. She simply nodded and said, "Jeez, he is a jerk..." Twilight looked up from the map, "Oh, and go straight."
The party walked past the two corridors that they could have turned down. Srake took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. "Are we seriously going to do this the whole way there?"
Twilight laughed slightly, "No, I'll just lead the way from here."
Srake fell into formation behind Twilight as they navigated the maze of corridors to the center of the pyramid... temple thing.
"And that's how Space buoyancy is different from Terran buoyancy."
Twilight Sparkle walked out of the shadows with her face still buried in the extremely conveniently placed map. Behind her walked Dark Srake who had felt content to lecture her on the finer parts of complete and utter lies. "Yeah Srake, Space buoyancy..." She rolled up the map with her magic and tossed it back to Srake. "Here we are!" She exclaimed quite happily.
Before them stood a door. It looked very heavy and was covered in the same runes that coursed throughout the pyramid. The lines converged at the center of the door creating an intricate design that Twilight guessed served as a lock. Magic visibly pumped through the lines indicating the lock was active.
Srake stepped up to the door and stared intently at it. He sighed, exasperated he said, "A locked door... Of all the tropes it had to be this one..."
Twilight blanched slightly at the thought of going back into the maze they had just left in order to find a key that was not marked on the conveniently placed map. "Do you think there is any other way to get in?" Twilight asked in hope.
Srake went into a deep state of thought. He emerged shortly after with a look of cautious certainly, "I think I have one idea." Srake turned to face the door, setting his feet shoulder width apart. He cracked his knuckles and took a deep breath before staring down the door.
Twilight stared at him with confusion. For several more seconds he stood there, not moving, not even breathing. Twilight had had enough, "Srake-"
Without warning Srake launched himself at the door slamming his fists against it. "LET US IN! AARRGGHH!" He shouted as he continued to beat the door relentlessly.
"Hey-HEY! HEY!" The Voice crackled to life above the door. "St- STOP THAT!" The Voice shouted out over the ruckus.
Srake backed up from the door and looked back at Twilight, who gave him a disapproving glance before focusing on another camera above the door.
The camera moved around very animatedly as if taking consciousness. It swiveled back and forth trying, and succeeding, in conveying its frustration. "Look," It started, sullenly. "I don't know what the hell is wrong with you two, but banging on the door and yelling out is not going to solve anything." Srake opened his mouth to reply. "NO! Just shut up!" The camera 'pointed' at him. "It's a magic lock. One needs to have sufficient ability in order to short out the lock."
Srake shrugged and walked away from the door gesturing for Twilight to follow. After they were convinced they were out of earshot they began to conspire. Srake looked at his friend, "What do you think? You wanna know what I think? I think that guys an as-" Srake faltered as he caught the (semi)innocent eyes of his unicorn companion.
Twilight raised an eyebrow, "A jerk, right." Twilight finished from him. Twilight looked back at the door, "I don't know if I have enough power to break the lock. At least not in this world." She said making her uncertainty apparent.
"I guess I'll have to do it then." Srake shrugged before putting on a cocky smile. "It only makes sense being that this is my story." Srake stood up and started to walk to the door.
Twilight followed him, letting a small smile show. "I guess that makes me a side character then?"
Srake laughed slightly, "I think the title 'Supporting Lead' fits you well."
An electric sigh was heard above the door. "Just get it over with..."
Srake pressed his hand against the lock runes and let magic soak into the door. The lines sparked as the magic within the lines faded and was replaced by unstable energy. The light emitted from the door went dark and the door slid down into the floor.
Behind the door was a dimly lit room. Not much could be discerned from the small amounts of light the magic lines gave off. The lines themselves ran to the middle of the room to what looked like a pedestal. Next to the pedestal stood an nondescript figure.
Srake entered the room, "Hey, what's up?"
The room brightened suddenly as more magic coursed through the lines straight to the pedestal. The light allowed the the room to be viewed. It held a large amount of machinery that looked quite out of place with the stone walls of the pyramid. The figure standing by the pedestal, however, gained no detail as light shown upon him. "How nice of you to arrive. Keh-heh " He laughed creepily.
Realization crept on Srake's face. "Oh, God da-"
A hand of living shadow burst from the figure and flew towards Srake grabbing him. Srake gritted his teeth as the shadow sapped his strength, rendering him powerless.
Twilight's eyes widened in surprise, "Stop!" she shouted, "What are you doing? Let him go!" She began readying a demon scythe in case reason proved ineffective.
The shadow grinned at the little pony, "Merely taking back what is mine, Twilight." He said, smoothly, as he dragged Srake through the air towards him.
"That doesn't make any sense!" Twilight shouted back. Animosity burned brightly in her eyes as she stare the shadow down
The shadow rolled the dark fire that served as it's eyes, "Well, you see-"
"Let me guess," Srake spat out vehemently. "This is the part where you tell us all about your master plan?" Srake nearly lost consciousness as the shadow leeched more life out of him.
"Quiet, darkling." The shadow turned back to Twilight. "The one you call 'Srake' is an agent of treachery. A doppelganger, if you will. As such, he belongs to me, for all things that lie, cheat, and betray belong to me. For I am the spirit of Deceit." Deceit finished his monologue with an insidious chuckle. "And I am no stranger to what you are, either." Deceit stared down Twilight. "A unicorn from Equestria. Quite a long ways from home, eh Twilight?
Twilight rolled her eyes, "So you know who I am. What's that have to do with anything?"
Deceit shrugged, "Nothing really... I have no idea why your here, to be honest. I was just planning on killing you. I only need 'Srake' to power my ride out of here." The shadows eyes burned brightly with dark magic.
Twilight prepared to release her spell.
Unbeknownst to both of them, Srake had managed to retrieve something from his pack. "Twilight, catch!" A mirror flew through the air. Twilight however did not hear Srake and cast her spell. A demon scythe flew through the room. Though it was easily dodged by the shadow, it sliced viciously through some machinery. The mirror reflected the sparks from the machines, blinding Twilight as it crashed onto her horn. The magic from the mirror and her unicorn magic combined violently.
Twilight fell into an eternal darkness.
Deceit stared at the smoldering burn mark that had once been Twilight Sparkle before turning to congratulate his disciple, "Great work, little darkling. Keh-heh-heh" He laughed evilly as he surveyed the damaged equipment. "She did quite a number on the machine. Luckily she didn't damage the gauntlet." Deceit turned to Srake, "I can see why you took such a liking to her."
Srake didn't say anything, guilt weighing heavily on his conscience about the uncertainty of his friend's fate.
"Oh, cheer up." Deceit grinned evilly. "I'm sure you'll see her again soon. After all... All batteries die sooner or later."
Srake cursed silently as the spirit of Deceit started work upon the machine that channeled magic into The Gauntlet.
A/N: HAHA! Can't stop me now! Longest chapter to date and finally hitting a major plot point? What is this, Christmas?! No, actually it's Thanksgiving. Well, nearly anyways. Well, I'm excited for you guys to finally be able to read this. I had a lot of trouble with it, specifically the last part. I hope you all enjoyed it.
~~Warm Regards~~ Love,
Oh, and I'm guessing your reading this because you love Terraria. So, why not check out Pon3s in Terraria , by Spu313, featuring the Mane Six in a much more video-gamey Terraria.
"It's so great that you're back, Twilight!"
An energetic pink pony bounced around Twilight Sparkle, who suddenly found herself in Sugar Cube Corner. "Pinkie!" Twilight cried, running to embrace her friend. Pinkie Pie returned the embrace warmly.
"We were all so worried about you, Twilight!" Pinkie began her rambling. "When you never turned up all day, we went to the library to check on you! Spike said that he hadn't seen you since you had gotten up. We were worried that something terrible had happened to you. But, you're okay now so it's all okay!"
Twilight broke from the embrace and smiled at Pinkie. "It feels so good to be back in Ponyville. I really missed you guys."
Pinkie Pie gasped suddenly, "That reminds me Twilight! The rest of our friends are back in the kitchen! I had nearly forgotten with you just showing up!" Pinkie started towards the kitchen with a spring in her step. "Come on, Twilight. They'll be so relieved that you're safe!"
Twilight followed Pinkie, "That's the best idea I've heard in a while." she said excitedly.
Pinkie Pie bounced through the door ahead of Twilight. The door had just closed completely before Twilight had reached it. Just as she made to push the door open, the light shining out from underneath ceased.
'Strange.' Twilight thought, pausing at the door. 'What could Pinkie be up to?' Knowing Pinkie Pie, Twilight assumed she had somehow managed to scrape together a surprise for her newly returned friend or possibly the friends she was returning to. With a smile, Twilight pushed open the door only to find a continued darkness. No flare of light had greeted her as she suspected. Twilight stood at the threshold peering into the dark. In the darkness floated two solitary red orbs.
"Pinkie Pie," Twilight called out hesitantly. "What's going on?" Twilight called upon her magic to light up the room. The magic light reached out into the darkness revealing a dark figure.
There sat Dark Srake, leaning back in his chair with his feet on the table. A wide grin showing as he stared at Twilight. "Hey friendo." he said happily.
Twilight's eyes widened in the shock of seeing this 'human' back in Equestria. "What happened to Pinkie Pie?" She asked, immediately worrying about the well being of her friend.
Srake waved the question off. "Don't worry about it, Twi." He stood up with a laugh. "It was me the whole time!" Srake's grin began to look crazed as he continued. "I'm quite a marvelous actor, aren't I?" He buffed his nails on his jacket. "Just one of the perks of being a doppelganger. I'm basically a shapeshifter."
Twilight regarded him with uncertainty. "How did you get here?" She asked slowly.
"Why the machine of course!" Srake exclaimed happily. "Once my lord, Deceit, had finished fixing it, he sent me right over here to gain a foot hold back in Equestria." Srake stepped closer to Twilight. "And I couldn't do that with out checking on my dear friend Twilight Sparkle first."
Twilight took a step back. "Wait, wait, wait. Why does Deceit want to come to Equestria."
Srake shook his head. "Cause he wanted to open a freaking ice cream shop! Why do you think he wants to come here, Twilight?" Srake huffed angrily. "Use your head, come on now."
Twilight stared at the doppelganger as he looked expectantly at Twilight. "Did..." Twilight's eyes flicked around the dark room as she stammered, "Did you actually want me to answer that?"
Srake gave a small nod.
"Oh." Twilight thought for a small moment before stating the rather obvious answer. "Does he want to rule Equestria?"
Srake blinked a couple of times before sighing heavily. His hand went to his belt and pulled out his sword, "Welp. Now I have to kill you."
"WAIT!" Twilight yelled out.
Surprisingly, Srake stopped mid-step. He cocked an eyebrow and deadpanned, "Yeah?"
Twilight gave a confident smile, "Didn't the machine need a power source to work?" Srake's crazed smile faded. "Where did you find enough magic to power the machine if you allowed Srake to live?"
Srake faded into shadow, "Well, damn." Srake said as his voice slowly changed into a loud whisper that characterized the shadow known a Deceit. "Looks like you saw through my clever ruse. How irritating. I did not expect you to remember the details. I'll have to remember that for the future."
Twilight stayed brave in the face of what could be her own mortality. "What does it matter. Surely you're just going to kill me now."
Deceit scoffed. "Please, Twilight. I may be a liar but that doesn't not make a gentleman."
Twilight eased up ever so slightly. "So what. That's it? You're just going to leave me be?"
Deceit laughed. "No Twilight, that isn't it. In fact there's so much more." Twilight could feel an evil smile creeping across the shadows incorporeal face. "I think you deserve another chance. And through my grace you shall live a few more hours... At best."
Deceit chuckled slightly as he sunk through the floor. Twilight looked around the room, desperate to see where her enemy had went. She called upon her magic to at least go down fighting. Deceit rose from the floor in front of her wearing a visage of nightmares on his face. It was a thing of horror to Twilight as time dilated to stretch the experience. "Now, WAKE UP."
----////!\\----
That rasping voice echoed through the sudden whiteness that greeted Twilight. A rather pleasant change from the darkness that she remembered falling though, but it was not that much better. The white light around her was so harsh. Twilight began to wonder if she was dead. Deceit had said he would let her live, but... Well, he is an embodiment of lies. Twilight pondered her situation further. She concluded she was dead. What else was she to do at this point. I don't think there are any spells that can bring the caster back to life.
Twilight questioned the strange thought that popped up in here head. It seemed so out of place but at least it distracted her for a bit. Twilight mentally sighed as she tried to get comfortable. At least being dead was warm. And soft... And...
Is this a blanket?
Twilight sat up in bed and looked past the bright light that was aimed at her. She was greeted with green brick walls. That could mean she was back at Srake's... house-thing. Or somewhere else... But, that didn't matter to Twilight right now. Nopony would believe how great it felt to be alive again.
Well, maybe it was a good idea to figure out where she was. She was in a moderately spacious room. The walls were made of green brick as previously observed. On shelves, put up on the walls were many different kinds of books.The titles on their spines were all written in an incomprehensible scribble language. Oh, curse Twilight's luck. Once again thrust into a world filled with information only for it to be indecipherable.
Twilight sighed inwardly at that thought. What, was she turning into Rarity now? A table next to the bed caught her attention. On it rested a brown covered book with a fairly obvious red cross emblazoned on it. Using her excellent deductive reasoning skills, Twilight gathered that she was in a hospital. Around the same time, although slightly after the previous thing, Twilight noticed the many scorch marks on her fur as well as the bandages wrapped around various places. This only cemented the idea that she was in a hospital.
Twilight finally broke out of her own head and the very strange way she was gathering information about her environment. It almost felt like she was stalling.
Twilight rolled her eyes at herself and looked at the rest of the room. She finally noticed what she guessed to be another human at the other side the room. She, Twilight assumed it was a she, wore a rather plain white dress that had red crosses on the sleeves. On top of her long blonde hair she wore a white had that also had a red cross on the front. She was a nurse. And she was asleep on the table she was sitting at.
Against the will to just lie in bed for awhile longer and the muscle fatigue, which she had just noticed, Twilight pulled herself out of bed. She was pleased to find no nerve rending pain when her hooves met the floor. She tested her ambulatory faculties and only suffered mild discomfort from the burns she had received from the impromptu teleport. Twilight slowly made her way to the seated woman. Twilight leaned closer to her to check that she was in fact alive. Yep. She was breathing; Lightly snoring, actually.
"You're awake."
Twilight stumbled back in surprise to the sudden and unexpected dialogue.
The Nurse's piercing blue eyes opened suddenly as she slowly sat up. "It's about time..." She said with disinterest.
Twilight fumbled with her words for a moment, "Um, hello. My name is-"
"Twilight Sparkle," The Nurse finished the sentence for her. "I know. Kayla told me about you." She continued to stare at Twilight. Twilight wilted under her oppressive gaze. "Where's Srake?" She asked passively.
Twilight broke eye contact with the Nurse to look at the floor and think of what to say. "Well," Twilight started hesitantly, "he was captured and he might be dead."
The Nurse maintained her expression and merely shook her head. "No, he'd be back here crying about it by now if he had died."
Twilight smiled, looking up with hope. "Really? Even if he was atomically pulled apart and used as magical fuel?"
Twilight received a blank stare from the Nurse. After a few seconds she grabbed a clipboard from the table and looked at it soberly. "I... don't think his insurance will cover that." She looked up from the clipboard. "You said magic? You should ask a Wizard." The Nurse examined Twilight's injuries. "It might be best if you get fully healed before you do that. Dying usually puts an unfelt strain on the body."
Twilight eyes widened as a sick feeling overcame her. "Wait, I actually died? He was actually telling the truth?" Twilight asked incredulously. Why would Deceit, who has clearly established his character, just outright tell Twilight something like that? Also, Twilight died. That was important too.
The Nurse held up her hands in order to stop Twilight. "Now hold on. Yes, you did die. Luckily you had rested here before traipsing off with that idiot. Admittedly, it was a little shocking when we found you lying on the workshop floor, half-alive. Secondly, I don't who 'he' is and what 'he' told you. Now give me some money so I can heal you and so you can get out of my room." The Nurse finished that last part rather quickly and with no shortage of irritation.
Twilight's face flushed with mixture of a lot of confusion and slight embarrassment. "I, uh, don't have any money..." Twilight grinned sheepishly.
The Nurse's eyes twitched slightly before sighing and pointing at Twilight. "Fine. You're healed now. Get out of my room." She leaned back in her chair huffing slightly, waiting for Twilight to leave.
Twilight's muscles suddenly felt much more flexible, her mind cleared and it no longer hurt for Twilight to breathe. If she was half alive before, then she felt 100% better. Even the scorch marks disappeared! Twilight looked over herself with a smile, "Thank you, Miss Nurse."
The Nurse's head hit the table. "I'm a doctor. My name is Alison. Get out."
Twilight turned for the door, eager to leave before the situation escalated. "Er, sorry Alison." She used her magic to open the door. "Bye." she said, looking back. Twilight left the room, closed the door and managed to walk about two feet before running right into the stomach of another human.
Both parties were knocked to the floor. The human was, from the looks of it, a male wearing a beige button up shirt and blue jeans. He had brown hair that spiked up in odd directions. "Are you okay, Twilight?" The human asked apologetically.
Twilight picked herself off the floor as did the human. "You know my name too, huh? I guess that means Kayla told you about me."
The human blinked a couple of times. "Kayla? No... We aren't on speaking terms currently. I just know everything there is to know about Terraria. They call me the Guide, but I prefer to call myself Colin." Colin examined Twilight as if he was looking past her. "You look like you could use some help." Colin piped up happily. "Tis good news for me as I haven' t helped anyone since Srake needed to fight the Eye of Cthulhu."
Twilight stared at Colin as he described the steps to summoning the Eye of Cthulhu and the ensuing battle. It sounded way more challenging than having to fight a shadow who's special power is lying to people.
"And to this day we still have that shoddy arena that he constructed." Colin finished his story with a huff.
"Right. Well, I need help with something a little easier than fighting the Eye of Ca... Cau," Twilight stumbled momentarily over the gibberish name. "That eye thing."
Colin didn't look any less pleased. "Alright! What do you want? Need to know how to make a Bookcase? Or what happens when you hit a demon altar with a hammer?"
"I need you to help me rescue Srake from the clutches of a lying shadow who's home base is a weird pyramid, that houses a teleportation machine that Srake is going to be used as fuel for,in the middle of an environment where everything is backwards." Twilight took a deep breath after explaining the situation to the Guide.
Colin stared at Twilight dumbfounded by her account of the situation up to now. "Wow. I knew you were going to say that and it still caught me off guard." The Guide turned away from Twilight to think. "This could be significantly harder than shooting arrows at a giant flying eyeball." He muttered.
Twilight was chilled by that statement. The Recount of the Slaying of The Eye of Cthulhu sounded hard enough and now Colin was saying it would be harder than that? "So what are we going to do?" Twilight asked.
Colin turned back to face Twilight, a faint grin on his face. "Well I think I know something that can help. And that something should be-"
"YO!" A voiced echoed through the hallways. Twilight looked around for the source but it sounded distant as if it came from outside the fortress.
Colin's smile grew wider at the interruption. "Right on time." He began to walk to the parapets. "Come on Twilight, you'll want to meet these two."
Twilight followed after Colin who had put a sudden spring in his step.
----////!\\----
"YO! EY', YOU GUYS UP DER?"
Two figures stood outside near the green walls of the fortress. The one who was shouting at the top of the walls wore a full suit of forest green cloth that was reinforced with brown leather. A green hood was pulled over his head to cast a shadow over his face and allow his green eyes to shine through the darkness. On his person were a wide assortment of weapons and ammo. At his waist hung a pair of pistols and on his back he carried a red metal crossbow, an assault rifle, and an old wooden long bow. All over his armor were pouches filled with bullets and quivers filled with arrows and bolts.
"Ain't dat jus like dem. Leavin' us out in da cold wit night commin fast. Ain't dat right?" He looked back to his companion.
The man who stood next the green one could be described as a veritable mass of metal. Every inch of him was covered in thick plates of armor. His armor made him stand out from a crowd enough as it was, it didn't help that he dwarfed the other man by nearly two feet. To match his stature an incredibly large sword was slung across his back. Any other details about him were obscured by his (not literal)bucket helmet. "Dah." He replied affirmatively, his deep booming voice echoing out from his own helmet.
At this time Colin's head poked up from over the walls only to quickly withdraw from view. Green pointed up at the wall angrily. "I SAW YOU, GUIDE! DON'T YOU TRY N'HIDE FROM ME!" Green swore in frustration. "Ain't dat just like dat passive joik. All warm n'cozy inna fort'ress while we're out ere fightin da good fight."
"Dah." The suit of armor agreed.
----////!\\----
Colin pulled back from the parapets suppressing his laughter. "It's so easy to set that guy off."
Twilight looked questioningly at Colin who finished laughing with a sigh.
"Alright... We had better let them in. There's going to be a blood moon tonight. And they won't be any use dead."
Colin yelled over the wall. "ALRIGHT, I'M GOING TO LET YOU IN!"
A very sarcastic 'Thank you' came from down below. Colin went over to a switch that was sticking from the floor and pulled it. The sound of stone grating on stone came from below as the wall slid open.
Colin looked back to Twilight. "Come on, we'd better meet them in the workshop. They might break something."
----////!\\----
"Finally." Green said as the wall sank inward and slide to the side. "C'mon ya scrap heap. Les head inside."
The suit of armor complied and followed Green inside. As they walked the long green torch lit hallway the suit of armor rumbled out a question. "Did you see small purple horse with Guide?" he asked in a thick accent.
"A purple horse?" Green asked. "Nah, can't say I did. You sure you're seein' straight wit dat helmet on?"
"Yes. I saw small purple horse. Had a horn on head." The armor rumbled.
"Hah, a unicorn? I dunno bout dat." Green shrugged. "We'll jus hafta ask Colin when we sees im." Green humored the armor not wishing to antagonize him.
The duo arrived at the at the end of the hallway. All that lie between them and the workshop was a single wooden door. Green strode up to it and pushed it open. "Aw, jeez." He said quietly before closing the door. He turned to his companion. "Looks like you was right, scrap heap. Dere's a purple unicorn in dere."
The armor lumbered up to the door pushing Green out of the way, "Let me handle."
----////!\\----
"What was that about?" Twilight asked Colin after the door opened and promptly shut.
Colin shrugged. "I don't know, Twilight." Colin thought for a second. "Actually, I do know, just not yet."
Twilight glared at Colin. "You-"
*SMASH*
The door erupted into splinters as a hulking figure of metal crashed through it. Its helmet turned to look at Twilight and he cracked his knuckles.
Twilight quickly shrank back and hid behind Colin who hadn't flinched at all during the encounter.
The armor noticed Colin and looked confused. Well, as confused as a suit of armor can look anyway. "Guide, why do you sit by unicorn? Is dangerous." The armor hummed in a heavy accent that sounded familiar to Twilight. It would not have been out of place in Stalliongrad.
A man cloaked in green pushed past the mass of metal. "Wait, wait wait. Colin's in ere wit dat unicorn?" He also spoke in an accent that reminded Twilight of the fast talking ponies from Bucklyn.
Colin shook his head. "This is Twilight Sparkle. She's a unicorn pony from Equestria. She is not a mob." Twilight leaned to the side of Colin before stepping out once she was sure the danger had passed. "You two should introduce yourselves." Colin thought for a bit. "Oh, and apologize too."
Both the newcomers looked at each other, confused. The green one shrugged and went first. "Da name's Archer. I'm da Ranger Guardian. I'm a ranger, not an archer. Archer is my name not my occupation." Archer folded his arms striking a pose for his introduction. "Oh, and I'm sarry." He pressed his hand to his heart in a sincere gesture but his apology was still laden with sarcasm. Archer took a step back allowing the armor the spotlight.
The suit of armor clanked forward, his armor rattling loudly with each step. "I am Knight." He turned around and showed Twilight his great sword. "I have big sword." He walked back to join his companion, Archer. "Call me Hehvee." He said simply. He looked forward for a moment before pointing his helmet down, ashamed, "And I sorry."
Twilight felt bad for the large man. "It's alright."
Archer jumped back in surprise. "Aw jeez! It can talk?"
Colin glared at Archer. "Yes Archer, Twilight can talk. That's why I had you introduce yourselves and apologize to her." Colin shook his head in disappointment. "Look, why don't you just tell us why you're here so Twilight can get on with her quest."
"Wait, she's onna quest?" Archer was met with a glare from Colin. "Alright. We's ere to talk to are old friend, Elric."
Twilight looked to Colin for clarification. "Elric is a wizard that lives here in the fortress."
"Yeah he is." Archer continued, "And he usedta run wit us back in da day. We heard dat he might have some new quests for us."
Colin lit up, happy for conversational progression. "Great!" He pushed Twilight towards them much to her protest. "Why don't you take Twilight up to meet Elric." It was more of a command than a question. "I think she may have some questions for Elric herself."
"Ey, she ain't tryin' to muscle in on are quests, right?"
"Shut up, Archer. I'd rather patch things up with Kayla than validate that question of yours."
Archer looked up and over to Hehvee who simply shrugged in response. "Alright den, C'mon Twilly."
Twilight glared at Archer. "That's not close enough to my name to justify you calling me that."
Archer looked at Twilight in surprise. "Ey, yer pretty smart. Specially for a unicorn."
"I'm not quite sure what you mean by that. I hope you aren't insinuating that the unicorn race in a whole is unintelligent. Because that would not only be racist but also inaccurate."
Archer stared at Twilight. "I, uh.."
"Stop. You make ears ring." Hehvee held his gauntlets to his helmet.
Archer chuckled. "That's yer helmet bouncin' round sound waves."
A groan emanated from deep within Hehvee to convey his annoyance.
----////!\\----
Archer stopped at a wooden door. Well, all the doors are wooden so that part doesn't really matter. "Dis must be Elric's room."
"How can you even tell." Twilight asked flatly.
Archer shook his head, chuckling. "Good thing you aren't a ranger. Yer pretty unobservant. I jus followed da trail."
"What trail!?"
"Pft, quiet down Twilight." Archer waved his arm dismissively. Archer pushed open the door and strolled in. "Ey, Elric! How ya doin'?"
An old man looked up from the text he was pouring over. "Ah, Boften. Just the dwarf I wanted to see. I am running low on black powder and I desperately need it for a new potion I am brewing."
Archer blinked in confusion. "What? No, its me! Don't ya recognize me?"
Elric took off his purple wizard hat and squinted at Archer. His face lit up in recognition. "Oh, my. I'm so sorry. I should have realized who you were." Archer smiled and nodded. "Can you still get me some more black powder, Dante? You have some too, right?"
Archer's face dropped. "What da hell, Elric?! What's da matta wit you?"
Elric stared at Archer for several seconds. "Srake?"
Archer exploded. "WHO DA HELL IS SRAKE!?!"
Hehvee finally managed to squeeze his mass through the doorway, this time only wit slight damage to the frame. "What is happening?" His question resonated.
Elric looked up to the giant of a man and a smile grew on his face. "Ah, Hehvee. My old friend. It is so nice to see you again."
Archer looked bewildered verging on going into a frenzy state. "I- EH- URK" He sighed and admitted defeat to the old man.
"Oh, Archer! There you are. I was wondering when you'd show up." Elric said, noticing the green cloak slumped next to Hehvee. "Oh, how I can feel my magic power growing with all this friendship in the room." Elric laughed at his own joke as Hehvee shifted awkwardly and Archer sulked.
Twilight poked her head into the room at the mention of Friendship equating magic. Twilight squeezed past the two idle guardians.
Elric's attention shifted to the purple unicorn who had just entered the room. "You must be Twilight." Twilight nodded in response. "Kayla told me about you. Tell me how did you enjoy your first death?"
Twilight frowned at the mention of her death. She rather just forget the whole experience. "Unpleasant. Elric, I need some help. Can you tell me how-"
Archer jumped in front of Twilight, "Whoa, whoa whoa. He's are friend. We get firs access."
Both Twilight and Elric frowned at his interruption but didn't stop or reprimand him.
"Alright, Elric." Archer began, hungrily. "We had heard dat you had some work fer us."
Elric looked blankly at Archer. "No... I can't say I do."
Archer stared at Elric, his bright green eyes glossing over. "What. Are you sure? Didn't you need, like, some ancient evil awoken and destroyed? Didn't you need MULTIPLE ancient evils destroyed?"
Elric scratched his beard, deep in thought. He snapped his fingers in realization. "Oh, yes! Now I remember!"
Archer's face lit up with excitement and his grin shined through the dark cast by his hood. It looked quite comical, really.
"You two really are slow, you now that right?" Said Elric, matter of factly. "Srake has already killed all the evils that plagued this land."
Archer's hype shattered like a mirror; Except that he already had the bad luck. Archer gritted his teeth in anger. Twilight could have sworn she had heard a crack. "WHAT!?!" Archer exploded once again. "DATS IT. WHO DA HELL IS DIS SRAKE!?! I SWEAR WHEN I SEE IM IMMA FILL HIM UP WITH ARROWS!!!"
"Well you might not get the chance!" Twilight shouted over Archer. "He's been captured! He might even be dead by now!"
Elric looked quite alarmed. "What do you mean?"
Twilight explained how Srake had been captured by Deceit. And how he planned to use Srake as fuel for a teleportation machine in order to take over the... universe. It couldn't just be Equestria that he was after, could it?
Elric gathered his thought. "Yeah, Srake will not be able to come back after he is used for fuel. So this is troubling in that aspect too."
Twilight looked even more worried now. "So what can we do about it?"
Elric thought for a moment more trying to gather a plan together. "I think I know what to do." He turned to face specifically Archer and Hehvee. "I still might have another quest for you."
Archer's face lit up once again. "You mean it!?"
Elric nodded as he wrote something on a piece of paper. He handed it to Archer. "Make sure no to lose this. Go to the Dungeon and find that book." Twilight tried to get a look at the paper but it was written in more nonsensical characters.
Archer folded the paper and put it into one of his many pouches. "Jus a book?" He looked disappointingly at Elric. He groaned and turned around for the door. "Alright. But you better have more work fer us when we get back."
Elric smiled. "Don't worry there will." Elric looked down at Twilight, who once again was looking worried, and back to the duo. "Say, Archer, you haven'y found a replacement for me since I retired, correct?"
Archer turned back. "No..." He said slowly, curious as to where Elric was going with this.
"Well, I've heard that Twilight is a well versed wizard, Correct Twilight?"
Twilight blushed at the sudden attention. "Well, I'm more of a sorceress than a wizard, but yes."
"Then it's settled, Twilight will accompany you to the Dungeon."
Archer stared at Elric then at Twilight. "...Fiiiine" He relented. "C'mon guys. We gotta lotta ground ta cover."
"Good luck!" Elric said before settling down at his texts again.
All three exited through the door albeit the door didn't really close anymore after the third.
"Wait." Twilight started. "Shouldn't we wait out the night before we leave for the dungeon?"
Archer looked back at Twilight in confusion. "What are ya talkin bout? The sun just came up!"
Twilight looked up a nearby window to notice that, sure enough, the sun had risen. Twilight thought about how short the day night cycles were in Terraria. How convenient that the day never seemed to run out when she was outside and how lucky she was that she always had something to do at night. She hoped her fortune would hold up.
Sleep crossed her mind. Even though everyone had beds she had never seen anyone even use one. Alison had been asleep at a table but that only seemed out of boredom. Well, Twilight didn't feel tired so she guessed it didn't really matter.
Twilight followed her new party members: The volatile green ranger known as Archer and the stoic clanking knight called Hehvee. Twilight didn't really know what the Dungeon was but she figured she'd have lots of time to ask about it on the way there.
"So, other than that, how have you been?"
Dark Srake lifted his head to look at Deceit. He narrowed his eyes, "Are you kidding me?"
Deceit turned away from the Machine which he had been working on to face Srake. "You would think so..." Deceit, absently minded, looked back at the Machine. "I'd just like to thank you, my little darkling." Deceit looked into Srake's glowing red eyes. "You delivered this powerful artifact to me." He took the gauntlet that served as the center piece of the Machine and held it in his ambiguous shadow hands. "After all, I never would have been able to obtain this. As I have been restricted to this dimension by such arbitrary circumstances. But it is of no matter now. This is no more than a game now that you have returned to me."
Srake gave a slight grin at the shadow only a few inches away. "Right. Returned... Of my own free will. Because it was your will. No need to keep me bound in your infinite enigmaty."
"Enigmaty?" Deceit questioned.
"It's a word..."
"Of course it is..." Deceit continued to stare Srake in the eyes. "Such a good little darkling. You take after your master so well." He said as he tousled Srake's hair. Malice clearly showed in Srake's eyes. Deceit smirked, "But you've become too powerful... You could actually be a threat if I let you go. But you can still serve me as a battery to kick start the machine which will, unfortunately, consume you." Deceit chuckled slightly, rolling his eyes. "Besides you're a terrible liar."
"Actions speak louder than words..." Srake grumbled, lowering his head again.
"And you can't preform any actions. So, who's speaking louder right now?" Srake kept quiet, trying not to give Deceit the satisfaction. "Your silence speaks for itself." Deceit chuckled at the parallelism that had been created. He stopped suddenly. "What am I even doing? You're just stalling for time..." Deceit glared, accusingly. He turned around in a huff to continue work on the machine that would at the very least cause an inconvenience to the universe upon it's completion.
----////!\\----
"Is about to break!" Hehvee shouted as he braced a door that was splintering from countless impacts. A thin layer of pulverized bone covered his armor.
Archer looked back at Hehvee, "Jus keep it closed for a few more minutes!" Archer helped to ransack the room which they had barricaded themselves in while Twilight somewhat causally perused the ancient books upon the many shelves.
The journey to the dungeon had been relatively easy. With two highly skilled warriors alongside her, Twilight barely had to lift a hoof to help them. The two relished combat as if it were there only purpose. But surely these two guardians couldn't be as an automaton. There must be something else that drives their character.
Archer let out a cry of joy as he broke through a rogue table. He preceded to tear through a bookcase with wild abandon.
"Perhaps not." Twilight noted silently as she pulled another book off the shelf. Twilight had changed since her death. Now that she knew that not even death could drive her from her goals, danger seemed trivial and she became lax. Granted she still searched for the artifact quite urgently.
A loud crash pulled her from her concentration. Twilight's ears flicked in acknowledgement but she continued searching diligently.
Without missing a single second, Archer seamlessly drew his long bow and fired rapidly into the doorway. Arrows ricocheted off the bones of the skeletons and caused massive collateral damage as if guided by an unseen hand. "Jus keep em at arm's reach and I'll keep takin' em out!" Archer yelled as he slung his bow back over his shoulder and wielded his repeating crossbow and let loose a flurry of bolts.
Hehvee held his sword with both hands to act as a bar to the countless skeletons, miraculously untouched by the onslaught of bolts. Skulls shattered and necks were pierced through before Hehvee gave a shove to sweep the skeletons over. He looked over his pauldren. "I think is time to go soon." He hummed though his helmet. He cleaved the few remaining skeletons in one fell blow of his massive sword. Hehvee lowered his blade to rest on the floor. A hollow panting could be heard emanating from within the metal suit.
Archer pocketed an empty magazine and slotted another into his crossbow. "Have ya found what wer looking for, yet?" He holstered his repeater back onto his pack and walked back over to Twilight. 'Cuz, I only brought so much ammo..." Twilight kept scanning the shelf in front of her. Her eyes finally rested upon a wide green cover that matched the one on the note. Same nonsensical scribbles that all the other books sported. Twilight sighed inwardly that she couldn't even read it. The book was highlighted in a lavender glow as it levitated off the shelf into Twilight's possession.
"Is that it?' Archer questioned as he stalked over to Twilight. "Let me have a look at it." Archer grabbed the book out of Twilight's aura. As his hand clasped around it, a ghastly wailing resounded from the walls.
Twilight shot a glare at Archer. "Why even." She deadpanned.
Archer tossed the book back to Twilight. "Okay, you can hold on to it..."
The wailing intensified as the source flowed for the wall. It floated passively around the room. Archer examined the creature. "What? It's just a big dumb floating skull!" Archer laughed off the encounter. "Should be easy for a master ranger like me." Archer grinned as he reached for his longbow. The floating skull fixated on him as his hand touched the bow. It careened toward him and pierced through his body. Archer recoiled in shock as the ethereal enemy flew through him leaving him noticeably unharmed. Archer recovered his footing and locked eyes with the skull. "Why you little-" The skull cackled wildly as it bounced around jovially.
Fire flickered under Archer's hood, casting visible light onto the dungeon floor. "I can't stand a skeleton that cackles... Body-less or not." Archer's hands slowly fell to his sides as he assumed a duelist stance. He slowly paced around never breaking... eye contact with the skull. "Do you feel lucky, punk?"
The skull cackled.
----////!\\----
Oh Celestia. This is dumb.
All sense of danger had been totally lost to Twilight when the skull cackled.
These people are all crazy. Why am I even bothering to help them? Honestly Twilight. Look at this fool. He is having an old west showdown in the middle of a treacherous dungeon with a floating skull. I miss Equestria. Dumb things may have happened there too, but at least it made sense to me. I don't know what I'm even looking at.
Twilight's thoughts drifted to the book in her telekinetic grasp.
Why is this book so important... It's strange. A locked book. Like a diary or something. I have the time right now, while all of this craziness is happening. But I can't even open it, much less read it. But why this book. A book so nondescript... Does it hold some dark terrible secret? Or maybe something the opposite of that? Ugh. I need to get home. Away from all of... this.
Twilight focused back on her surroundings. Archer was still in a stand off against the skull. Twilight looked to Hehvee for help.
----////!\\----
With a flash of movement, Archer's hands shot to the akimbo pistols that had inconspicuously appeared around his waist. He wielded them with excellent dexterity, spinning the skillfully to accent his performance. It would have been quite impressive had they not immediately flew from his hands bouncing harmlessly across the floor. "Wait. WHAT." Archer exclaimed incredulously as he desperately examined his hands. The skull once again... cackled. "That's it! I can't handle this no more!" Archer swung the repeating crossbow from his backpack and shouldered it taking careful aim at the skull. The crossbow melted through Archer's grip as his hands went numb.
And it cackled.
"Hehvee!" Archer shouted at his armored companion. "Shut his stupid face up!"
Hehvee pushed himself off the wall he had been leaning against and took up his sword. The skull once again locked onto the knight and flew through him before he could swing. His sword clattered to the floor as his fingers refused to cooperate. Hehvee let loose a hollow groan and attempted to pick it back up. "Huh... It is a no go." Hehvee sighed as his gauntlet refused to close around the hilt.
"Well I don't know! Just try punching it!" Archer 'suggested' rather loudly as he frantically tried to rub the feeling back into his hands.
Hehvee swung his massive arms at the skull, but to no avail. The skull simply floated around his blows and hovered out of reach. It cackled even louder at this display of helplessness. All the while, Twilight watched; Her eyes lowered in embarrassment.
Twilight gathered her energy and cast a spinning blade of pure darkness at the skull. Well, it was a demon scythe. As Twilight's vision washed out from the loss of mana, the Cursed Skull was cleaved in twain by the unholy blade. Both guardians looked to Twilight in surprise.
"Wow, uh. Good job I guess." Archer shrugged as he sheepishly picked up his belongings.
"Can we just go before anything else dumb happens? This dungeon is more annoying then threatening." Twilight asked impatiently. "Also, Srake is dying as we speak."
"Eh, whatever. From what I've heard, that guy's supposed to be some big hero. He can probably take care of himself."
"We should go before more skeletons show up." Twilight advised, trying to motivate him.
"Let em' come." Archer stood heroically. "I need to even the score"
"Okay, now you're just trying to be difficult." Twilight reprimanded. "We're leaving now."
A familiar ghastly wailing emanated from the walls. Archer swallowed hard and chuckled nervously. "Heh, yeah. Let's go save the hero guy."
----////!\\----
"I've been meaning to ask you two someting..."
At the foot of a cliff, Twilight sat by a bonfire with the two guardians. Hehvee sat close to the fire letting his armor heat up to stave off the cold of the night. Archer sat at the edge of the fire's light keeping watch out for any corrupted beings. Both of them looked to Twilight in response.
"Yeah?"
Twilight looked over to archer. "What is this place? Who are you guys? Why are you all here?"
Archer cocked an eyebrow at the strange questions. "What do ya mean? This place is Terraria. I'm Archer and he's Hehvee. We've always been here."
Twilight shook her head. "It may seem simple to you but unlike you, I haven't always been here... Whatever that means. So, what is Terraria?"
Archer gave it a moments thought before shrugging.
"Great." Twilight put her head down in silence.
"Is like a big box of sand."
Twilight looked at Hehvee questioningly. "You mean like a sandbox?"
Hehvee nodded. "The Travelers come here to build. We come when we are needed."
"Who are the Travelers?"
"People who come to this land to save it and stuff." Archer chimed in. "We haven't met the current Traveler yet."
Hehvee hummed in agreement. "Dah, is probably that Dark Srake."
"Yeah, and I already don't like im." The ranger said begrudgingly.
"So Srake is a Traveler? Are there more of them? Maybe they could help us rescue him!" Twilight emoted, excited at the prospect of making this journey easier.
"No. Is only one Traveler this go." Clanked the knight.
"This go? That seems to imply a cycle. Were the other Travelers able to help Terraria?" Asked Twilight.
Archer shrugged once again. "Couldn't tell ya. We've been away for a long time. Can't even remember the name of the last Traveler, much less what they'd accomplished." Archer turned back to the dark, scanning the landscape for danger. Twilight turned to Hehvee wanting to ask further questions but saw that his helmet was bent forward, resting on his hauberk. Quiet breathing echoed from within him.
Twilight sighed inwardly and closed her eyes to think. I hope Spike's okay...
"Okay, up an at em, guys. We gotta go."
Twilight opened her eyes to be blinded by the morning sun. Confusion swirled inside of her, but decided that it didn't really matter at this point. Twilight stood up with the mysterious locked green tome in tow and set out after the guardians.
----////!\\----
The group crested a hill of green grass and came to the 'west' wall of the green brick bastion. Archer looked around expectantly. "What, no red carpet?" Archer peered up to parapets of the wall. "HEY, LET US IN!" He shouted, causing his lavender companion to jump. "I hate this place. Why isn't there just a door..." The ranger pouted.
Twilight rolled her eyes. "I've seen Srake open up a passage in the walls before from the ground." Twilight scanned the face of the walls. "There it is." Twilight's horn glowed as her telekinetic aura pressed a against a brick with a power rune on it. "I supposed it was designed to keep the undead out."
Archer crossed his arms and walked through the passage silently.
----////!\\----
"Hey, we're back!" Shouted Archer as he pushed open the door to Elric's room. The bound tome followed behind him along with Twilight and Hehvee.
"Yes, here's the book we need." Twilight said, floating the book over to Elric.
Elric caught the book and produced a key and went about unlocking it.
"So, what is this book?" Twilight asked. "Is is some sort of powerful spell? Will it really help us save Srake?"
"I stashed this book in the Dungeon many a year ago, knowing full well that the contents of this book would prove pivotal to the fate of this world." The last lock clinked open and the book rested unfettered. Elric held the book firmly. "To answer your question. It is a dues ex machina."
Archer cocked an eye at this. "A what now?"
"What indeed." Twilight conferred. "How will this book solve all our problems?"
"Fools!" Elric shouted dramatically. "Tis not the book which shall fix all but what is inside the book." He opened the book and withdrew a relic. An orb split down the middle: One half white, the other black. From each side, a spike fractal-ed off: One smooth, the other jagged.
Twilight sighed inwardly. Another ancient powerful relic hidden within a book.
"This is Balance." The relic glowed with power. "As you can observe, the relic is reacting quite strongly. There is a large imbalance of chaos and order in this world. Quickly, you must go before the imbalance and invoke Balance." Elric walked over to Twilight. Kneeling in front of her, he held out Balance. "I will entrust this with you, Twilight. No doubt you have proven yourself worthy of wielding such artifacts before." Elric said, eyes twinkling.
"Yeah, you could say that..." Twilight smiled awkwardly.
"Go now. Save your friend!"
"Right, friend..." Twilight turned and rushed out the door.
Elric smiled warmly. Memories of his adventures flooding back to him. He turned to walk back to his desk but stumbled into Archer. Archer had a rather blank look on his face. "What are you two still doing here?"
Archer shrugged. "iunno."
"Fine. A new quest! Chase after Twilight. Make sure she saves Srake!"
Archer looked over to Hehvee who also clanked out a shrug.
"FLY YOU FOOLS!"
Both guardians ran after Twilight.
Elric rolled his eyes and settled back to his readings. He cleared his throat and began to read aloud. "Chapter ten..."
Author's Note
Wow. I don't even at this point. I'd like to get this story done at some point but I don't really want to sacrifice its quality anymore than I already have. Eh, Atlas shrugged. But seriously, that took way too long. I never expected another actual update to come out for Terraria before I managed to finish this dang chapter. How bout dat. Nearly, two years... Well, anyways. I've started college now so I'll write in this story to escape from my English essays. I think I've got about one more chapter in me for this story and maybe some sort of epilogue to sort of explain some things that weren't touched upon in this story. Should be fun times for all.
