Tale of a Trickster: Harmonius Magic

Tale of a Trickster

Harmonius Magic

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The Ever(free) Glades

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The chariot approaches the long-ruined castle; the occupants inside ready themselves for any sort of attack. The chariot comes in for a landing, and still nothing. Stalemate breathes a sigh of relief as the chariot hits the ground, and they open the doors to get out.

Shining Armor motions for them all to come, and they walk up to an old, rotten, wooden door. One of the pegasi buck it open, and they proceed inside.

No sound is heard but the clip clop of hooves, and the footsteps of the two humanoids as they traverse the maze-like castle. The guards' heads constantly turn direction, checking their surroundings for anything suspicious or threatening. Meanwhile, Stalemate and Janil argue over an interesting point.

"I still don't get why some evil thing would hide so much. If it is so strong and stuff, why is it hiding?" Janil asks Stalemate.

Stalemate sighs. "Because, Janil, just because one is powerful doesn't mean they get to be reckless. Unlike you, this being doesn't charge straight into overwhelming odds. I would say it is smart, but then again, it seems to work out for you."

"I am just so MLG that they can't handle it, and they die!" Janil exclaims to Stalemate.

Stalemate raises an eyebrow. "MLG?"

"Major League Gore-Creator. Or would that be MLGC?" Janil wonders, starting to go off into the deep and horrible pit of chaos that is her mind.

Stalemate, knowing Janil much too well for his own good, just starts thinking to himself, knowing she wont be talking for a good half hour.

Stalemate observes his surroundings, and takes in the atmosphere. Bad idea, as the atmosphere is dark and slightly horrifying. Stalemate ignores his surroundings and instead starts planning the encounter with the demon, or whatever it was.

Stalemate just begins with 'Approach the Enemy' before a tile under his foot is suddenly pushed down, and the whole group is sent into an old slide. The guards and Janil quickly retain their surprise, but Stalemate does not recover until they reach the bottom, which is, oddly enough, the outside.

They are in about 5 inches of water, and all around them grows tall weeds with small thorns on them. Stalemate hears the guards conversing with themselves, and he tries to use body language to understand some of it.

The unicorn of the squad immediately gets up and turns to Shining, whom is looking at his surroundings.

"Captain, we are now in the Everfree Glades, there is a few things we should be aware of," He states.

Shining Armor, whom is still looking around, states, "I'm all ears."

"These glades may look calm and peaceful, but these lands are prime manticore territory, this is where they give birth to and raise their young. If we encounter one, it will be a difficult fight. Timberwolves also tread here, mostly to catch the lost manticore child, but that does not mean they will not attack us, so we must be ready. Finally, be on the look-out for plants that look brightly colored. Most will be poisonous, some to the touch. We must stay away from them," The unicorn scholar explains.

"Noted," Shining replies plainly, before he motions for them all to move out.

They tread through the thick water and tall grass. Luckily it isn't the serrated type, yet. All is silent except for the occasional cricket's chirp, or dragonfly flying. The squad keeps a close lookout, with the three pegasi soldiers getting an aerial view. What seems like an hour passes by before they encounter the serrated grass, which immediately makes life miserable for them all. Stalemate, using his staff, pushes down the grass while Janil cuts it. She suddenly stops, along with the rest of the group when they notice.

Janil quickly turns around and shoots her gun into the grass, having heard something. They hear the sound of wood falling over, and instantaneously four other timber wolves leap out at the group. Janil quickly handles a second wolf with her blades, while the others wrestle down the last three. Despite the fight being easy, Stalemate is quite mad.

"Janil! You realize everything that would ever want to make a late-night snack out of us just heard that shot? They all are probably converging on our position right now!" He yells.

Janil shrugs. "Oops?"

"Captain, that being in the cloak just made a rather loud bang with her device. It is reccomended that we run, as manticores or other predators are probably on the way," The unicorn scholar warns.

Shining doesn't answer, and simply yells at the others to run, and he starts running, with the others running with him.

Sadly for them, they run alright, run right into a manticore. It roars violently at them as it swings it's paws into the ground. Stalemate starts the fight by shooting a bolt of fire at it's large mane around it's neck, in an attempt to burn it.

Sadly, the manticore was most likely laying down, as the hair is too wet to catch fire currently. It does get the manticore's attention, however.

It bellows out another roar and swings at Stalemate. He teleports slightly back as two pegasi swing down to hit the manticore on both sides of the head, to knock it out. It notices this, and swipes down one of them, with the other hitting one side of it's head. This dazes it a little bit, but that is all. Shining armor takes this moment to cast a sleeping spell on the manticore; with it dazed, it is much easier.

Within seconds the manticore loses consciousness and falls to the ground. Two of the soldiers fly to their fallen brethren and help him up.

"Are you okay?" Shining Armor asks the soldier.

He salutes and nods.

"Good, let's move out," Shining Armor orders, and they all move out, with Stalemate and Janil not far behind.

They enter the treeline, and leave the glades. They are now heading towards the most likely place Nightmare Moon may hide in; The cliffside laboratory.