Chapters Garrett awoke to a burning pain in his head he reached up to rub his head, and found his fingers were extremely hard, and he couldn't move them. Broken? Most likely, though he had suffered worse, he'd just get Katie to fix them when he got back ho- wait where the hell was he? He looked at his surroundings, and saw a crowd full of... horses?
"The hell?" He asked himself. He blinked hard and looked around again. Yep they were horses, but some of them had horns, wings...
"You alright there partner?" one asked, he looked to see who had spoken. She was orange, with blond hair done up in a ponytail. she had light green eyes and a stetson on. she had no horn or wings so he had to assume she was one of the normal ones. she spoke with a strong southern accent.
"Where am I?" Garrett asked looking at his surroundings. He couldn't help but notice what seemed like every single pony in the town he was in was looking right at him, and it was making him uneasy... Like start grabbing sharp pointy things uneasy. It must have shown because the orange pony yelled,
"Alright, notin' to see here y'all!" All but four ponies left the square.
"As for where you are, you are in Ponyville dear," Another one said. This one was white, she had a purple mane with large curls.
"Ponyville?" Garrett asked, confused. He looked down at himself. he looked normal, dirty and bloody of course, but perfectly normal. He had brown hair, slightly tan skin brown eyes, a gray undershirt, and tan shirt and slacks with brown sneakers, he was relatively fit, what with all the fighting, and was about average height.
His pack had ripped and there were only a few items left inside it, though he couldn't tell what they are.
"Um, excuse me," A quiet voice said. "But what are you?" She asked.
"Well, I'm a human, duh," Garrett said looking at the winged pony. She was yellow with a long light pink mane
"A what?" The southern one asked.
"Human, H-U-M-A-N," Garrett said, spelling the word with shrinking patience. "Hey, who are you guys?" he asked
"Well my name is Applejack," The southern one said, tipping her hat.
"Dear, I am Rarity," The white one said, holding her head high.
"I'm Fluttershy," The yellow one muttered, barely audible.
"Hi!" A pony that was all pink with a puffy mane shouted. "I'm Pinkie Pie!"
"Sup?" A pony with a mane and tail with the colors of the rainbow and cyan body said, nodding toward him, "I'm Rainbow Dash,"
"Yeeaaahhh," Garrett said. Considering he had seen talking horses, he could get over the weird names. "Well my name is Garrett,"
"So whats with the torn bag Garrett?" Rainbow Dash asked pointing a hoof toward his bag. He looked at his bag. There were maybe three, four things in it apposed to the full inventory he had when he had blacked out.
"No, no, no, NO!" Garrett yelled. All of the things he had in that bag were essential. "DAMN IT!" He swore. He sifted through the torn remains. He found a potion of health, some Gel, and an Aqua Scepter. Well at least he had some form of defense.
"Oh, oh, oh, whats all that stuff?" Pinkie Pie asked as Garrett tried to stuff some of the materials in his pockets.
"Well this is-" Garrett started however he was interrupted by a lavender pony with wings and a horn calling to them.
:"Hey Twilight!" Applejack shouted, waving.
"Girls we have a problem," The pony known as Twilight started. "Princess Celestia is talking about some kind of infection spreading across Equestria, its really weird, its purple! " Garrett snapped out of his train of thought.
"Wait, did you say purple?" he asked. Twilight looked at Garrett and gave him a look, first shocked, then skeptical, then totally deadpan.
"Yes, you wouldn't happen to know anything about this right?" She asked, giving him an unimpressed look.
"Actually I would," Garrett said to the shock of everypony. "As you may have guessed, I'm not from here, I'm from a place from Terraria and what you're describing sounds like the Corruption, a biome made of pure shadow and darkness, as a hero in Terraria its my job to help cleanse the world," He said, not being able to keep a note of smug pride in his voice. That small bit of smugness was obliterated when Rainbow Dash said
"Yeah and you managed to bring it to a whole different world instead," She said.
"Yeah cause I wanted to fucking end up in talking horse land," Garrett muttered, but he couldn't help but feel she was right, his job was to cleanse the world, and he had only managed to possibly doom this one.
"Whatever, but if this is true, you need to see Princess Celestia," Twilight said.
"Princess who-what-now?" Garrett said. In Terraria there was no royalty. Well, unless you counted the King Slime (Garrett sure as hell didn't)
"I'll explain on the way," Twilight said. With that Garrett walked with his new found... friends? No. Not even close. They went to the train station, six talking ponies and a bloodied human. No doubt they gathered many looks along the way.
Well, to her credit, Twilight did explain... God did she explain. Garrett now knew almost the entire history of Celestia, her sister and the adventures of Twilight and her friends. (Garrett personally thought his adventures were cooler.) Now they were brainstorming on how Garrett got here. Well rather Twilight was brainstorming, Garrett was playing with his Aqua Scepter and telling her what the magic mirror does, or did. Garrett honestly couldn't care less about how magic worked in Terraria, as long as it cuts through baddies, Garrett was happy. "It most likely was a magic overload, The altar overloading, and therefore boosting, the mirror's power," Twilight said.
"Yeah, but across dimensions? I don't buy it" Garrett said, sending up spouts of glowing liquid.
Twilight gave him a look.
"Well do you have any better ideas?" She asked
"Fair enough," Garrett said. As they walked up to the enormous castle (That Garrett denied being impressed by.) Twilight ensured that Garrett was no threat (Blatant lie, but Garrett kept his mouth shut.) and they entered the main hall. Garrett couldn't help it when he saw the huge glass paintings depicting Twilight and her friend's triumphs over evil. His jaw fell to the floor.
"I assume you are impressed?" A regal voice asked. He turned to see a large white mare, with a mane that flowed and shimmered
"Princess Celestia," Twilight said, and bowed along with her friends. Garrett could sense Celestia's power. She had almost infinite power and could be a fierce beast, she just kept it bottled inside her regal and calm figure, she not the mare you wanted to mess with. Garrett resisted the urge to bow along with everypony else. This bitch was scary, but Garrett refused to show it.
"May I ask who you are?" Celestia asked.
"My name is Garrett, and I know that if this infection spreads, this place with be fucked three ways to Sunday," Garrett strongly resisted the urge to punch himself in the nuts for that remark. The guards put themselves in a more offensive position. Celestia raised an eyebrow. "I'm from where this infection is common and I know how to quarantine areas, and how to fight it," Garrett said. Celestia sat and looked at Garrett, and he had the creeping feeling she was deciding whether to listen to him or to set his sorry ass on fire.
"Continue," She said. Garrett talked about all kinds of ways to protect and fight against the Corruption, how he got here and how it may be a while until he was able to go back home. "You certainly have experience fighting this infection," Celestia said, glancing at the growing stack of papers beside her, all chock full of information.
"Its how I spend my day," Garrett said, but there was no pride in his voice, if anything there was resentment. "And if you'll allow me, I would like to help find out a way to stop this Corruption," Garrett said.
"Your help would be very helpful, thank you," The Princess said, still eyeing the stack of paper. "As for living arrangements, I'll find you a vacant house in Ponyville,"
"Thank you" Garrett said
"We will all have to do our part to stop this from destroying Equestria, the battle will be even harder now that the Elements of Harmony are gone," The sun mare lamented. Garrett was worried, but ready. He knew what was ahead of him and was ready. He was also aware that he and the six ponies could get very up close and personal. (fighting a war against pure shadow could do that to a person, or pony in this case.) He wanted to stay in good relations with the crew, and if that meant hiding everything that had to do with him then damn it, that's what he would do.
Garrett was exited, and nervous, something Pinkie Pie liked to call "nervcited," It had been a week since the meeting with Celestia and a lot had happened in that time. Many recon groups had gone into Corrupt areas to gather Deathweed and the like to analyze and study. Most had been lost and now Garrett, along with Twilight and Fluttershy, were one of the few recon groups left. They were short one recruit so Garrett had to recruit Fluttershy for the mission just to fill the slot. As soon as Garrett mentioned saving animals from being corrupted or killed, she signed on. Garrett felt bad that she had to see these kind of things... For about a second. Garrett could see that she was uneasy so he tried to comfort her. "Don't worry Fluttershy, you wont even have to fight, you just need to make sure that we don't get ambushed and heal someone up if they get hurt, the chances of dying are, like super low," Garrett said, though he knew he was bullshitting her.
"How low?" She asked.
"Well I'm still alive, I may have lost a few limbs-"
"Maybe a few brain cells too," Twilight added.
"Yeah, but I'm still oka- HEY!" Garrett shouted. They both laughed and Fluttershy seemed to relax a bit. They all got off the train and Garrett went silent, along with everyone else. A whole village, destroyed. Corrupted vines had begun to flourish atop buildings and Deathweed had begun to grow as well. once pristine gardens were now dead and empty. Certainly not a good sight, but on the bright side it was bursting with materials to test.
They were split into two different groups one group would harvest materials, and the other group would protect the harvesters when they had their back turned. Garrett was, of course, a protector. Twilight was about to say something, most likely about the state of the village, but Garrett put a finger up to stop her. "Do you hear that?" Garrett said, cupping a hand around his ear.
"Hear what?" Twilight replied, "I can't hear anything,"
"No, I hear it too, like a chugging..." Fluttershy said. Cocking her head.
"Fluttershy, your sure it sounds like a chugging?" Garrett said, deadly serious.
"Yes, its getting louder too," The yellow mare said, a scared look dawning on her face. "Why?"
"Fuck, SCATTER!" Garrett yelled. No one dared to question him. A huge worm, the size of a train burst out of the ground and arced in the air, landing on one unfortunate mare, pulling her underground with it. "EVERYONE KEEP MOVING, DON'T STOP!" Garrett yelled, running in circles. The worm burst out behind him and he was able to identify it, a World Feeder. The worm was huge, about as long as fifteen cars back to back. It was brown, and seemed to be linked as if some kind of chain. Each "link" had a big, green bloodshot eye on it. The head had two large, fangs that tore apart any pony it hit.
Garrett pulled out his Aqua Scepter and unleashed a powerful beam of glowing water that slammed the monster throwing it off course, sending it crashing into the ground. Meanwhile, Twilight had climbed onto a building and was charging a blast of magic. The creature surfaced again, killing another harvester. Twilight let loose her blast as Garrett let loose another stream of water. The water arced and missed.
Twilight's blast didn't.
The blast hit the beast spot on and left a burning, lavender crater where the 5th "link" was. The World Feeder roared and burrowed again. Garrett had a feeling where it would strike next.
"TWILIGHT, LOOK OUT!" Garrett screamed.
Too late.
The beast tore open the building and tried to grab Twilight with it's razor fangs, it tore open her left flank, effectively ripping off her cutie mark. She went flying and hit the ground next to Garrett. He stepped in front of her as the beast, still in the air, changed it's trajectory and went right for him. He held out the scepter in his hand. He willed the water to blast out, enough force to go through steel as of it was wet tissue paper.
Nothing.
He had run out of Mana, the power within a hero that allows him to use magical items.
Garrett waited to die. Instead he was treated to a burning World Feeder corpse. He looked behind him. Twilight's horn was glowing and smoking. Garrett took a flask of pink liquid out of his new bag, and handed it to Twilight. "Drink," Garrett said, as he took out his own bottle. Instantly Twilight's wounds began to heal, muscle mended itself, skin melded itself together, even Twilight's cutie mark had reappeared.
"Thanks," Twilight said, getting up slowly.
"Can we leave now?" A small broken voice called out. Fluttershy had hidden the rest of the harvesters and treated their wounds. Garrett had to resist the urge to tell her to pony up (no pun intended) but he didn't need anymore enemies and he was tired enough already, he didn't need another fight. He just nodded and followed Twilight into the train. The entire ride back to Ponyville was silent. Garrett remembered his first serious battle wound. It was from a Zombie. He walked into the base, covered in claw marks and bites, crying and waiting for Katie the nurse to patch him up. And him warning Garrett about the dangers of wandering, much to his annoyance.
Garrett blinked back tears. Things were so much better back then. They were a family, a family that was horribly broken, but a family. Fluttershy must have noticed that he was blinking back tears. "Are you ok?" She asked. Garrett put on his brave face and forced a smile. "Yeah, I'm fine, how about you?" Garrett said, wanting to get the attention off him. "I guess I'm ok," She replied. "Is everyday like that?" She asked. "Sometimes..." Garrett said. "We have our slow days," He said, a slight grin on his face. "How about you, is everything all sunshine and rainbows, or is that just a facade?" Garrett asked.
"Well there are monsters here too," Fluttershy said. "But that's why we have the Princesses, so nopony gets hurt,"
"Hmm," Garrett replied. Would it really be so bad? Getting a solid job? Having friends that weren't in critical danger all the time? Having someone else protect your home? "No, its my responsibility as a hero of Terraria to protect my home " Garrett thought. "And I fucked up this world too, so its my responsibility to fix this one as well," he said under his breath
No one heard.
Garrett spent yet another hour laying in his bed thinking. Recently Twilight had shown him a map of Equestria, with about a quarter of it crudely shaded in with purple marker, representing the Corruption. Garrett had no problem agreeing it was spreading, but how fast it was spreading.The Corruption was a very aggressive infection, threatening to completely engulf anything in its path if not stopped. Even so the rate of which it was spreading was much faster. There was no way it could spread that far so fast, unless... Someone was helping it along. But that was stupid, laughable, who in their right mind would help spread this? A nagging thought popped into his head, "Maybe it wasn't someone in their right mind," Garrett quickly swatted the idea out of his head, there was no way he was followed here. Right? Garrett decided to just drop it and try to go to sleep.
His dreams were easily one of the worst he'd had.
He was being chased through a labyrinth of tunnels by some unknown entity. He was trying to tell himself to grow a pair, turn around and kill this thing, but he couldn't bring himself to do it, whatever was behind him radiated pure fear. He hit a dead end. He forced himself to turn around to find himself face to face with a flamethrower, a feared weapon in Terraria. The humanoid shape, about to fry him, slowly melted in to something more... Equine. A large pony materialized in front of him. She had a very dark blue coat, with a flowing purple mane, that seemed to have actual stars in them. She had a crescent moon necklace, with a purple crown and horseshoes. "Hello," She said, her voice regal and cold.
"Um, hi?" Garrett offered, not quite knowing how to respond.
"My name is Luna, I assume you've met my sister?" She asked, though it hardly sounded like a question.
"Yeah, I've met her..." Garrett said trailing off. "No offense, but why are you here?" He asked, he assumed being met by a royal princess wasn't a regular thing that happened.
"There was someone with a flamethrower standing next to you while you slept," The lunar mare answered. Garrett almost wanted to laugh, but she seemed so dead serious that it was just unnerving. "He looked a lot like you in shape, is he perhaps an ally of yours?" Luna inquired.
Before Garrett could answer the tunnels around him started to dissolve.
"Whats happening?" Garrett asked, looking around frantically.
"You are waking up, the dream is starting to disappear," She answered starting to lift herself off the cracked floor with her powerful wings.
"Wait, this guy did he have-" Garrett couldn't finish, his vision was getting foggy and his hearing was muffled as if he was underwater. Suddenly his eyes popped open to see sunlight streaming in through his open windows, and his ears picked up the sound of birds chirping. Despite the glorious morning, Garrett couldn't be in a worse mood. If what the princess had seen was true, then he most likely had the reason why the Corruption was spreading so quickly. Someone was helping the Corruption along.
Garrett knew him quite well.
After all, it's hard to forget someone when they try to murder you on a daily basis.
"I am a genius," Garrett proudly pronounced. He looked at his newest creation.
"Remember dear, you did have help," Rarity reminded,
"Yeah, okay..." Garrett said, looking up in mock thought. "Okay, we're both geniuses!" He exclaimed.
Rainbow Dash simply snickered. On Rainbow's right hoof was a leather strap, with a small metal turntable on it.
Garrett gingerly picked up a newly forged silver sword. "Okay, don't move unless you wanna lose a leg," Garrett warned.
He snapped the blade onto the turntable. The turntable was to move the blade into two different positions. One was where the blade was facing so that the tip pointed upwards towards the sky. It could be easily switched so the point was facing the ground. This was its active mode. Garrett attached another blade to an identical bracelet on Rainbow's left hoof. "Alright, try it out!" Garrett said, unable to hide his child-like glee. Rainbow Dash got her balance. With the two blades in active mode, her front was slightly elevated, so it was a bit difficult to move. She got her balance, and balanced herself on her back legs. so she was standing as a human might stand, she swung.the blades back and forth until she couldn't keep balance anymore and went back on all fours.
"YES!" Garrett exclaimed "THAT WAS FANTASTIC!" He yelled.
"Heh, yeah I guess I was pretty amazing," Rainbow said with a grin. Garrett went to go sit on one of the luxury furniture in the Carousel Boutique. He watched Rainbow Dash train with her new weapons. Rarity soon sat beside him.
"Well at least we have that sorted out," she said with a chuckle.
"Yeah, now we just need the supplies to make some for the rest of the team," Garrett said.
Garrett begun to stare into space. He wondered how Terraria was doing, if the everyone was doing okay. He also begun to think on what Luna said during his dream. There was no one else that would be that determined to follow and kill him here, and it would be an easy explanation to why the Corruption was spreading so quickly. He hoped he was wrong.
"Garrett?" Rarity asked.
"Huh?" Garrett muttered, snapping out if his daze.
"Oh, you just seemed to be falling asleep, are you tired?" Rarity asked.
"Nah, I'm fine, Just wondering about..." Garrett trailed off, "Stuff,"
"Whats it like in your world, Garrett?" Rarity asked.
"Eh, its nothing pretty, not like this anyways," Garrett motioned to the glamorous dresses around the room.
"What do you mean?"
"Well for one thing, our world is much more suited to combat, what with everything trying to kill you, gets messy," Garrett chuckled.
"How messy?" Rarity asked, eyes scanning his torn clothing.
"Walking home bloodstained is a regular occurrence, you wouldn't survive two minutes," Garrett gave her a look.
"Ugh, I couldn't possibly live there," Rarity agreed.
"But," Garrett continued, "Like Equestria, we have magic, awesome monsters, special relics..." Garrett laughed. "We have Unicorns, but they aren't nearly as nice as you guys, they would rather use their horns to impale me!" He burst out laughing. Rarity laughed a bit too, but gave him a worried look, as if questioning his mental health.
"Jeez Garrett, I'm surprised you stayed alive long enough to get here!" Rainbow, said chuckling, but giving him a look. "You are alive... right?" She asked.
"I've had some close calls, but it's like, if there's a time I'm most likely dead meat, my vision gets all fuzzy and dark, then, I'm back in my room," Garrett said, getting a thoughtful face. "I don't know, I guess Colin dragged me ba-" Garrett stopped. He had said too much.
He glanced out the window to see a humanoid shape ducking out of the window. "Shit," Garrett said, "Come on, follow me!" He said, running out the door with his pack.
"Dear is everything alright?" Rarity asked, trotting behind him.
"What the bucks his problem?" Rainbow said, clicking the blades back into their dormant position, and flying after them.
Garrett had his aqua staff in hand and followed him into a deep, dark forest that was,he assumed the Everfree Forest, about a few miles from Rarity's house. Once inside, he couldn't see very well and soon enough tripped on something heavy and fell on his face.
"Ow," He mumbled from within the ground. He got up and turned to see Rarity and Rainbow catching up.
"Are you crazy?" Rarity asked, a bit dirty, hair messy with a twig sticking out, which Rainbow was trying (and failing) not to laugh at. He looked to see what tripped him, and found a gleaming sword. His Excalibur. It was a fairly large sword, the blade silver with a golden material outlining the blade. It glowed a bright white color. Garrett hugged it like a child may hug a teddy bear. Rainbow stared.
"You're weird, you're a weird pony," She said firmly. Garrett paid no attention and swung the glittering blade with the necessary grace that came with years upon years of practice and battling. Garrett had a very...odd fascination with weaponry, swords especially. He treated them extremely (sometimes neurotically.) carefully. Whilst one might throw an old battered blade away with the forging of a shiny new one, Garrett kept them carefully tucked inside a chest. Katie the nurse had often told him that the way he treated his weapons was a mental condition, but Garrett never listened. It wasn't crippling, was it?
"Ah, it's good to have this back!" He said. A scream of pain broke the silence that enveloped the forest. Garrett turned to see Rarity, an arrow in her shoulder, wound seeping blood
Garrett turned to see Rarity on the ground, wailing at the arrow stuck into her shoulder. Out of the shadows, a human stepped into the small clearing the trio were in. He was about the same height as Garrett, with the same physical build. He had on a purple shirt with black slacks, with deep violet eyes and smooth short lavender hair. He had a wicked grin on his face as he eyed the mare in front of him.
"Oops," He said in mock concern, fixed upon Rarity's wound.
"You," Garrett snarled. His voice was pure hate, seeping with venom.
"Ah, good to see you again too Garrett, how are things?" He asked. His voice was extremely casual, as if they were long time freinds.
"Fuck you," Garrett simply replied, waves of rage flowing off of him. Meanwhile Rainbow Dash has carefully set Rarity behind Garrett, and was now giving her a potion of healing.
"I see you have some new friends, not very smart considering what happened to Colin, you know," He replied, giving a cold smile to the equines. "I see that Garrett hasn't introduced me, I am Raze,"
"Don't bring Colin into this, he has nothing to do with this," Garrett said, trying to keep his temper under control. Garrett wasn't completely stupid, he knew Raze was trying to bait him into a fight. Patience, forethought, and planning were never part of Garrett's skill set, he simply jumped into situations. He still knew that Raze probably planned all of this. Garrett knew that Raze was better equipped for a fight, while Garrett was basically in shambles. He shot a glance to Rainbow Dash, then very slightly jerked his head up. Thankfully, Rainbow Dash got the message and nodded back. Garrett focused, and an idea came to his head. His eyes widened to the size of dinner plates and focused on a spot behind Raze, and slowly backed away. Raze laughed.
"Seriously Garrett, no one falls for that trick!" Garrett still kept his appearance and started to raise his sword to an offensive position. Raze began to look uncertain of himself. and slowly grabbed his weapon from his pack. It was a Night's Edge. The blade was slightly curved, wide and lightly glowing. the hilt was a light purple and shaped like bat wings.
It was all Garrett needed. He sprinted toward Raze and swung straight at Raze's neck. To Raze's credit he was a fast little fucker, quickly twisting so his shoulder was in the path of the blade, and leaped back so the sword cut his arm rather than completely separating it.
While all of this was happening, Rainbow Dash sped off, going to get help from the others. Raze twisted back around and heaved the blade at Garrett's head. Garrett ducked below the blade's path and stabbed at Raze's thigh. Garrett rolled out of the path of Raze and pulled his Aqua Scepter and sent a burst of water at Raze, sending the enemy flying. Before Garrett could feel too good about that, a searing pain shot through his leg as he took an arrow to the knee. A small burst of light and sound sent him flying.He fell to the ground on his back, the Aqua Scepter flying out of his hand as he gripped his stump of a knee. from his knee down his leg had been blown to bits, strands of muscle and bits of bone were exposed.
"Hellfire arrows, pack quite a punch, don't you say?" Raze asked, laughing. Garrett could only stare at the horrible, fractured man in terror. Garrett had faced a giant evil eye, a humongous worm that could split into different sections, a huge cursed skeleton, and a wall of flesh, yet Raze still scared him more than any of these abominations. The man was twisted, he took pleasure in other's pain and suffering and had a horrible obsession with the Corruption. Garrett tried to scoot away, and only succeeded in getting dirt into his wounds. "Think of the bright side Garrett, now you'll be with Colin, though you did kill him so who knows how happy he'll be to see you," Raze grinned, he was determined to draw this out.
"You lie!" Garrett screamed, tears in his eyes. "He never told me what would happen!" He relied on his old and crappy excuse.
"Oh please, you knew exactly what would happen, and don't deny it!" Raze snarled. "Oh well, at least you got a good thrill out of it,"
Raze notched an arrow in his bow and pointed at Garrett's head. However, he was determined to have one last stab at him. "Tell me Garrett, how does it feel to be so useless, that you fucked up on trying to save, not one, but two worlds?" He gave a sick grin of pleasure. He glanced at Rarity, who was motionless, but looked at Raze with horror. "Because I'm nice, I'll kill you first, Garrett, so you won't have to see her die," Suddenly a flash of lavender light lit up the forest. Raze's bow flew from his hands, and landed in a smoking heap on the ground.
Rainbow Dash had alerted the rest of the crew and they had all appeared and stared Raze down with a force that would make the most manly hero cringe. Raze was a sick fuck, but he wasn't stupid, he knew he was outnumbered. "Fine, you don't die today, but what happens when we're back in Terraria, and you wont have 5 friends behind you," He sneered. "What then?" He then ran into the thick forest and vanished. Twilight lifted up Garrett up magically, and Rainbow and Applejack lifted Rarity and carried her back to Ponyville. The entire way back Rarity's eyes only conveyed one message to Garrett.
"What just happened?"
Garrett wandered around Ponyville, continually getting closer to the boundaries of the town. Finally he stood at where the Everfree Forest began. He was about to walk into the forest when a loud voice called to him,
"Hey, Garrett!" The voice yelled. Garrett turned to see Pinkie Pie hopping towards him. Garrett couldn't pin it down, but Pinkie Pie reminded Garrett of someone he knew. Her personality, her appearance, her love of parties...
"Hey Pinkie, whats up?" Garrett asked, still analyzing the forest.
"Oh, nothing much, I was a bit bored, then I saw you walking towards the forest, so I followed you here!" She said, now bouncing in place. "So what are you up too?" She asked.
"I don't know. When I need to think, I just wander," Garrett said. "It's so peaceful here..."
"Yeah. So are you gonna go into the forest or what?" She asked.
They wandered through the forest, Pinkie Pie leading a conversation, and Garrett mostly listening.
"I had a lot more stuff before I got here," Garrett said, when he got a chance to speak. "My things must have scattered..."
"Hey, did you have some kind of hose looking thing?" She asked. Garrett thought.
"I think so, why?" He asked.
"Because it's over there," Pinkie replied, pointing at a small bush. Garrett ran to the bush and pulled the item out. Garrett looked it over. It was very odd looking. It had a handle with a trigger on it. the base was tan colored, with a small chrome barrel on the bottom, and a long, large chrome nozzle. Garrett screamed with joy.
"What is it?!" Pinkie Pie asked, matching his excitement perfectly.
"This is amazing!" Garrett yelled, holding the machine above his head. "This could fix Equestria!" Garrett rooted around the area and came across hundreds of small bottles filled with green liquid. "Pinkie, help me get these bottles into my bag!" He yelled, scooping up the bottles and dumping them into his bag. "This is huge..." Garrett laughed. "This will change everything
****
"This, is the Clentaminator," Garrett announced proudly, holding out the strange device.
"The what?" Applejack asked, clearing her ears.
"Um, if you don't mind me asking, why are we here?" Fluttershy asked, looking frantically around at her surroundings. They were at a site where the Corruption had taken over. The landscape was ugly and dead. The grass was a light shade of purple, tall grass and flowers wilting and shriveled. The tree wood was slightly purple and rotting, the leaves wilted and dead. the sky was a dark haze, like smog had covered the area, the sun was a sickly color, like the sky itself was suffering. Fluttershy shivered. "I hate this place, so, so much..." she said.
"Well, I can fix that," Garrett patted her on the head, grinning. "Check this out," With that he pointed the Clentaminator forward and pulled the trigger. A long beam of glowing green mist leaped out of the device. As soon as it hit the ground, the dead looking grass, quickly reverted back to a healthy green color, flowers stood up and seemed to be bursting with life. Tree bark begun to regrow and leaves became healthy again. The sky cleared, and the sun shone bright once more. Garrett carried the beam around and sprayed everything, until the area they were in looked as if nothing had touched it. The six ponies gasped and laughed in amazement. Soon the entire area glowed with light, the Corruption only a small purple speck in the distance. Soon the six mares were gathered around him, slapping him high-hoofs and asking him how that amazing machine had fixed everything.
"That was mighty impressive!" Applejack said, surveying the area to make sure the infection was gone.
"I didn't just purify the surface, either," Garrett said smugly, patting the device. "That beam traveled hundreds of feet underground," Garrett said. "Corruption can only travel so far, a couple feet, and it can only corrupt stone and grass, if there isn't any of that nearby, it just sits there!" he exclaimed, laughing.
"All the wildlife will come back too?" Fluttershy asked hopefully.
"Check it," Garrett said, pointing to the sky. Butterflies and birds were flying around. Squirrels and rabbits were also returning. Fluttershy smiled up at Garrett. Suddenly a sick squelch sounded, and a rabbit's decapitated head rolled towards the group. All of them screamed. Except for Fluttershy. She simply stared at the head, shaking subtly. A cold laugh rang through the forest they were in. Raze stepped out of the shadows and held up his blade, now bloody, and sneered.
"So, found your little windup toy?" he asked looking at Garrett's Clentaminator.
"My little 'windup toy' just destroyed your shitty little biome, fuck face," Garrett retorted, holding up his Excalibur.
"The corruption is not shitty!" Raze snarled. spitting at Garrett.
"Oh yeah?" Garrett asked, malice dripping from his voice. "Give me one shitty reason why your shitty biome isn't as shitty as it looks?" Garrett took a step forward.
"The corruption is a marvel of nature!" he continued "It spreads, on it's own!" Raze screamed. "I CONTROL IT, I CAN CONTROL WHERE IT GOES!" His voice was reaching a fever pitch. "IT IS MINE! ALL MINE!" He ran toward Garrett and swung the sword horizontally at his neck. Garrett blocked the blade with his own, and smacked Raze in the face with the flat side of his sword, breaking his nose, and sending him stumbling backwards.
"I've been practicing shit head!" Garrett roared. Fluttershy was shaking more violently now, and all of the girls were looking at her.
"Um, Fluttershy, you alright sugarcube?" Applejack put a hoof on her shoulder. Raze was looking at her too.
"What, are you crying?" Raze started laughing. Fluttershy looked at him. There were tears in her eyes... But they were tears of rage
"You. Killed and innocent, defenseless animal..." She said, dangerously calm.
"Yeah, I did, boo- fucking- hoo!" he yelled, sneering at her. Garrett looked into her eyes, and saw only rage.
"Um, Fluttershy?" Garrett asked. Fluttershy held a hoof up to silence him.
"I never thought somepony could be so sick, so cruel, so..." Fluttershy was looking for a word to describe him. Garrett leaned down and whispered a few choice words into her ear.
"Such a wimpy, stupid, ugly, shitty, fucked up, pitiful excuse for an even slightly functioning life form!" she screamed. Her five friends were taken aback, but Garrett just smiled. " I mean honestly, were you dropped on your head?!" She yelled "Did you lick a dirty window as a child, is that it?" she took a few steps toward him. "I'll tell you something mister, you had no right to come here, so you know what you should do?" She took a deep breath. "FUCK OFF!" She yelled. Garrett was impressed, and maybe even a little scared, of her righteous anger.
Raze simply doubled over laughing.
Bad mistake.
Fluttershy ran towards him, turned around and thrust her back legs at him with all of her might, sending him stumbling backwards. Garrett busted out laughing
"Dude, you just got your ass beat, by a fucking pony!" He laughed, clutching his stomach. Fluttershy gave him a look. "Woah... sorry..." He said. Raze tried again and again to get up, but to no avail. "Let me kill him, girls, Please?" Garrett begged, hefting his sword.
"No, we need to take him to the Princess for questioning," Twilight said.
"Aw man, your no fun!" Garrett complained. Garrett walked over to Raze, who was still trying to get up.
"Hold him up for me, i know a sleep charm that will work perfectly," Twilight said. Garrett hauled Raze to his knees and held his head still.
"Time for a nap, dick head," he said coldly. Twilight released a beam of lavender light that struck Raze in the head. He slumped and Garrett hefted his limp body over his shoulder. "You guys know this guy is the reason why the Corruption was spreading so quickly, right?" He asked. "Now that Raze is out of the picture, Corruption will be easier to deal with," He smiled at the ponies, and they smiled back.
"You know what this calls for right?" Pinkie Pie asked, all except Garrett knew the answer.
"What?" Garrett asked, confused at the grins on the mare's faces.
"A PARTY!"
Garrett sat firmly on his bed, refusing to move.
"I told you, I don't do parties!" He exclaimed.
"Pinkie Pie gave you an invitation and you didn't give her no excuse, you gotta go," Applejack said, tugging on Garrett's arm.
"I'm a hardened killer, I've ventured to hell itself, I don't have time for parties"
"Hell hath no wrath like an angry Pinkie Pie, now lets go!" The farm pony exclaimed giving him a look.
"I don't like crowded situations!" Garrett said, and crossed his arms, now leaning on the wall.
"Come on Garrett we're your friends!" Applejack gave him a smile. Garrett did not return it.
"I don't have any friends, not you, not anyone," He said coldly. "Now please leave," Applejack looked at him, hurt.
"After all we've been through, after all the times we saved your bacon, and you cant even call us friends?" she asked softly.
Garrett looked at his shoes, his bed, anything but Applejack's eyes.
"I don't know, alright?" Garrett said, exasperated.
"Well when you find out, come join us," Applejack said, though it sounded cold. She left and slammed her door on the way out.
Garrett sighed. He leaped onto his bed and rubbed his temples. Were they really his friends? True, they had saved his life a few times, but he didn't know if it meant they were friends. Then again, they did go through the trouble of inviting him, and they didn't have to do that, Garrett could have cared less. He didn't know what to think. Colin had taught him many things about Terraria, but nothing more important than this; If you made friends, you took chances. Colin was firsthand proof. But... This wasn't Terraria. Fact was, Applejack and the others were safe... He sighed again and got up from his bed. He had just put on his pack when he heard thunder and the patter of rain.
"Shit,"
****
About 20 minutes later, Garrett was at Applejack's barn and could see light streaming through the cracks of the doors. He took a deep breath, did he really wanna do this? He thought and figured, yes, he was a sorry sucker and he did wanna do it. He knocked three times on the barn doors. suddenly the chatter inside died down. Garrett seriously had to swallow his pride and not simply run. Slowly, the door opened and Applejack poked her head out.
"Well look what the cat dragged in," she grinned and opened the door wider so the mares inside could see Garrett, in his soaking, shivering, glory. Rainbow Dash grinned.
"Ah, what perfect timing for a rainstorm!" she said, to the laughter of everyone inside. Garrett had a mental 'fuck this' moment and turned to leave when Applejack grabbed him and pulled him back inside. Pinkie Pie tossed a towel towards him, and Rarity handed him a mug of cider. He pulled the towel around him and nervously looked at each of the mares, each giving him a grin in return. He took a sip of the cider and sat on a bale of hay, next to Applejack, who gave him a pat on the back.
"Nice to have you here partner," She said, and held up a mug for a toast. All of them toasted to the Corruption meeting it's match.
****
"No way, No way you guys defeated a mare of darkness with the power of friendship, I'm calling bullshit," Garrett laughed, taking another sip of his mug.
"No, we totally did it, no swords or anything!" Twilight said for the 5th time. All of them were getting a bit tipsy from all the cider. Garrett had been a bit cold, but the cider took care of that right away, now he was all smiles.
"Yeah, ok!" Garrett said sarcastically.
"What about you, partner, whats the bravest thing you've ever done?"
"That's a tough one," Garrett said. "Sucking up and coming here?" he offered, to the joking boo's and groans. Applejack gave him a punch to the arm. Soon Garrett excused himself from the barn and sat on a bale of hay outside.
He stared up at the stars and wondered about how Terraria was doing. He sighed. He was conflicted. On the one hand, (or hoof, considering his current area of residence.) He wanted to stay here. It was relatively safe, he had friends, and it was over all a better living condition. Terraria was fine, but nothing compared to this. However... He needed to go back to Terraria. It was his duty to protect the people who lived in his town, he couldn't run away from that. He let out another deep sigh.
Suddenly heard a creak and out instinctively tried to reach for his sword, only to realize it wasn't there. He had left it inside the barn. He got into a shoddy fighting stance, only to see Fluttershy creeping out of the barn. He relaxed and invited her to sit next to him. "Whats up?" he asked.
"Just needed some space," The shy mare replied, sitting next to Garrett.
"You too huh?" He chuckled, Fluttershy nodded.
"What are you thinking about?" She asked.
"Home," Garrett replied. "Thinking about when I go home,"
"You want to go home?" Fluttershy asked.
"Its not that I really want to go home, I have to," He said, not being able to hide the defensive tone in his voice. "I cant just leave my town defenseless..." He trailed off.
Suddenly Pinkie Pie popped her head out of the barn. "Come on, its time to play games!" she shouted before running back inside.
Garrett and Fluttershy walked back into the barn.
Raze sat in the small cell in the Canterlot dungeons, wolfing down his meal. It was simply a bowl of dry oats and a glass of water. Despite the situation he was in he was grinning like a mad man. He had been searched but not well enough. He looked down his shirt to see the small machine. It was a mechanical eyeball. It was made out of iron, the pupils glowing red, with red wires trailing out the back. He spotted a patrolling guard and called him over. The guard was obviously new, looking over his shoulder often and fidgeting.
"Hey guard, I cut my arm, can I get a bandage?" He asked, clutching his arm that was actually fine. Raze discreetly grabbed the wooden bowl with the arm he was clutching.
"Let me see it," the guard said, unlocking Raze's cell. and stepping over to examine his arm. With lightning fast speed, Raze leaped up and smashed the bottom of the wooden bowl into the guard's temple. The guard crumpled to the ground. Raze chuckled.
"Moron," he muttered, walking out of the cell. He took the fallen guards weapon, a small knife, "Time for some payback," he said to himself, before leaving the dungeons.
Garrett awoke to the sound of a loud burp and rushing flames. He turned to see a purple... Lizard? No, dragon. He remembered that Twilight had mentioned a baby dragon by the name of Spike. The dragon held a scroll in his claws and quickly read it before trying to shake Twilight awake. They had all slept over at the barn, and his friends were sprawled across the floor of the barn, some holding blankets and some sleeping on hay bales. Garrett walked over to Spike and quickly snatched the note out of the baby dragon's claws.
"Hey!" Spike protested, trying to reach the letter.
"Shit..." Garrett muttered, tossing the note back to Spike, and grabbing his bag before rushing out. Spike saw a gleam from the corner of his eye and saw Garrett's sword, looking from the blade to the human.
"Uh oh,"
Garrett rushed through the train station, knocking over ponies on his way to the platform. He was stopped by security before he could reach the train to Canterlot
"Sir, you need to buy a ticket to ride the train!" the guard said, blocking Garrett. Suddenly a whistle sounded and the train started to pull away from the station.
"Bite me!" Garrett yelled, before pushing the security guard aside and vaulting over the fence. He ran across the station platform and leaped onto one of the passenger cars before the conductor could close the door.
"Sir... I need a ticket."
"Good for you," Garrett replied, patting the conductor on the head before walking to a seat.
Twilight was shaken awake by Spike, yawning and stretching.
"What is it Spike?" she groaned.
"Read this!" He replied shoving the letter into her face.
Twilight, Raze has escaped from the dungeons and is hiding in the castle, we need you all here NOW. I fear Raze is after Luna and I. Please hurry.
The writing was slightly messy, but it was still Celestia's writing. No signature was proof at how dire the situation was.
"Garrett already left, but he left his sword here!" Spike exclaimed. By now the others were waking up and had listened in long enough to realize the situation.
"Without his sword, Garrett is defenseless!" Rarity shouted dramatically.
"Don't worry, I got this!" Rainbow Dash boasted. "I'll get this thing to him in 10 seconds flat!" with that, she sped off, with the sword in her clutches.
"The rest of us better get the next train to Canterlot, and fast!" Twilight said, though everypony was already galloping out of the barn to the station at top speed.
Garrett had lept off the train and was running to the castle. He soon got to the gates. No guards. He climbed over the gates and ran to the entrance. He reached for his sword... and realized it wasn't there.
"Damn it!" he swore, before reaching into his bag and pulled out a small vial of yellow liquid. "Ironskin potions, always a plus." he said to himself, downing the vial. The drink had a strong metallic taste to it, being very thick as well. He ran through the castle before he found the throne room doors.
He burst through the doors to the main throne room, seeing Raze facing the two princesses.
"You will never get away with this," Celestia warned.
"The seeds have already been planted, soon, monsters will overrun this dump, and soon the lands beyond it," he gloated.
By now the princesses had seen Garrett and were just stalling for time. "How are they gonna stop me, anyways?" Raze asked, laughing. "Friendship?" He took a step towards the princesses. Garrett grabbed his Aqua Scepter and held it like a club behind Raze. "Friendship can't hurt me!" He yelled, laughing,
"No, But that can," Celestia said, as she pointed behind Raze to Garrett. Raze quickly spun around, and Garrett swung with all his might at Raze, striking him in the head near the cheek. Raze was thrown backwards by the blow and fell down, but quickly crawled back to his feet. Raze drew his Night's Edge and quickly hacked and slashed at Garrett, who in turn dodged the attacks,
"Garrett!" Luna called out. She fired up her horn and quickly materialized a sword with magic.
The sword was slightly transparent, and was a dark blue, similar to Luna's coat. The blade looked almost identical to Night's Edge, though the blade wasn't curved.
"Thanks!" Garrett called back, as he grabbed the blade and engaged Raze. '
They exchanged blows and seemed equally matched until Raze quickly switched from his sword to his bow, and shot an arrow at Garrett's feet. The arrow exploded and shattered Garrett's sword and send him flying backwards through the throne room doors.
Garrett saw quickly got to his feet and ran through the castle, with Raze close behind, firing more arrows. Garrett soon reached the main doors, when they burst open, Rainbow Dash, holding Excalibur hovering in the main door way.
"Hey, Garrett!" Rainbow called out.
"Get down!" Garrett screamed, leaping and tackling Rainbow Dash as an explosive arrow flew above them, arcing and detonating behind them. Garrett pulled Rainbow Dash up.'
"Thanks, I think this is yours," She said, presenting Excalibur.
"Wanna trade?" He replied, grabbing the blades created for Rainbow from his bag. She slid the straps on her fore legs and balanced herself on her hind legs and flicked her hooves so the blades rotated into their active positions. Garrett readied his blade. "Ready to get your ass kicked?" Garrett threatened.
He charged head on to Raze while Rainbow tried to flank him. Raze blocked Garrett's strike and pushed back, sending Garrett stumbling. Raze tried to swat Rainbow out of the air like a fly, but she either dodged or blocked his attacks. Garrett made a low swipe at Raze's feet, the blade catching his ankle and flipped him over. Raze clutched his bleeding ankle and looked at Garrett and Rainbow Dash with a burning hatred. Garrett put the tip of Excalibur to Raze's throat. "Time for you to die," Garrett said coldly.
"Garrett, maybe..." Rainbow started.
"No Rainbow, he dies now!" Garrett yelled.
"Garrett!" A voice called. Garrett turned and saw Twilight and her friends galloping towards him. Raze quickly kicked the back of Garrett's knee and sent him sprawling. Raze quickly ran off into the castle, once again slipping away.
"What the fuck was that?!" Garrett screamed, getting to his feet. "I had him!"
"Sorry, we couldn't see what y'all were doing!" Applejack exclaimed.
"Where are the princesses?" Twilight asked frantically.
"In the castle, I'm fine by the way, thanks for asking," Garrett grumbled, "Wait..."
"Raze just went into the castle, hes after the princesses!" Spike yelled.
"Shit!" Garrett swore. "We can't all go after Raze, he planted Corrupt seeds, we need to find them and purify the area.
"Alright, Pinkie, Rarity, Fluttershy, grab the Clentaminator, and snuff out that Corruption," Twilight ordered, Garrett grabbed the Clentaminator and handed it to Pinkie Pie, though apprehensively.
"Please don't break it..." He muttered.
"The rest of you are with me, we gotta get Raze!" Twilight exclaimed.
"Yeah, get his head on a silver platter," Garrett said darkly.
"No Garrett, we want him alive," Twilight protested.
"Take these," Garrett said, tossing them some Health Potions.
"Please be careful..." Fluttershy said.
"Y'all take care too, ya hear?" Applejack replied.
"Remember, we can overcome anything, if we work together," Twilight said, her voice strong. "Lets do this!"
Garrett ran through the corrupt tunnels, only slowing to jump the wide gaps that stretched down to pitch black. He glanced behind him to see an Eater of Souls gain on him. He pulled out his bow and arrow and took the monster down with one shot, sending it's carcass down to the depths of the crevasses.
"Shit!" He swore as he found a solid wall in front of him. He glanced back again to see more Eaters flying to his position. The Eaters of Souls had large oval-shaped, purple bodies. On the top of its body it had one large, bloodshot, green eye, with smaller eyes positioned around its upper body. Many wavy green tentacles trailed behind it positioned on the sides of it's body. On the front of it's face it had two large, jagged fangs that snapped at Garrett.
He took down two more coming at him, but more took their place. He looked frantically around him and saw a large crevice. He looked over his options. "Fuck it," He said and leaped down the crevice. He fell deep down into the darkness until he was quickly jerked up by his backpack. He heard the sound of fabric tearing and saw his magic mirror fall into the abyss. A glowstick was also dislodged and lit up the deep tunnel. The rest of his backpack tore and he fell again. He hit the ground hard, but nothing seemed broken.
The glowstick that fell illuminated the area. In the middle of the room he was in was a Demonic Altar. The altar was a circular pedestal. It was made out of a hard. dark, jagged material with what seemed like curved sharp teeth placed around the pedestal, differing in size. On one of the teeth, was his magic mirror.
It was impaled through the middle, with cracks all around the area where a spike stabbed the relic. Each crack had a purple smoke seeping through it. "Aw fu-" Garrett never finished his thought as the entire tunnel was lit with a stunning purple light. The light subsided and Garrett, the Demonic Altar, and his backpack were gone, vanished.
Garrett fell for a long time. He had been knocked out when the flash had illuminated the cave and once again his backpack caught on something, this time a tree branch. He fell to the ground in the middle of a town square. Unbeknownst to him, his weapons, items, potions, and tools had been scattered around Equestria. Including the corrupt seeds, that had just burrowed and started infecting the surrounding terrain, effectively starting Equestria's countdown to destruction.