The only way we can go; Volume 1
The only way we can go
“Oh for all Selmor’s sake,” Celestia remarked, referencing the only deity with more power than herself. “Please clean up that mess, Twilight.”
Twilight then rushed over and quickly fixed the obelisk that had crumbled, due to her recklessness with magic. She would soon be returning to Ponyville, but she had some unfinished lessons she had with the most powerful being to walk the material plane. Twilight Sparkle is a natural magic-user, unlike most of the unicorn’s in the country. Her gift came with an unforeseen boost of power in the Ethereal plane. Once Twilight got back to her now native town, she was to carry out a special assignment from the queen that would be given to her in a few minutes time.
“Twilight, I have a special assignment for you,” the Monarch bellowed with a deep, resonating voice.
“Yes, mad ‘am?” the Wizard spoke, in a comparatively frail tone.
“Once you get back to Ponyville, you are to immediately to go to your library. Shut the door, and blot out the shades. Once you get there, you are to study this spell.” She handed the spell-weaver a musty, heavy, ancient tome. Celestia continued, “Once you think you have tomes in the book memorized, cast the spell. This might take a little over a couple days, but the effects should be consequential, and maybe even beautiful. Do you accept this task?”
“Of course, my all-knowing queen,” Twilight said in a nonchalant tone.
“Very well. I shall have transportation made available to you.”
Twilight silently exited the hollow, empty chamber. She was used to the green lanterns hanging from the walls, but their ubiquitous presence always made Twilight feel uneasy. Finally she made her way up the stairs, and back into the throne room. It was a much more cheerful place, for the stained-glass windows let much more light in. She then continued out of the hall, and trotted into her chariot, where she finally flew away.
؞؞؞؞؞
The only obstacle in Ponyville was Pinkie Pie entertaining the townsfolk with many nasty limericks she found to make up. The scrupulous bard tried to stop Twilight with a song, but she soon vanished into her library to study her new-found spell.
Running down the stairs into her lower chambers, Twilight went, using a light spell on a rock to find her way. Soon she found herself in the study, where she quickly lit the orange lanterns in the room.
I’m glad I got orange. Green just feels so….. unnatural. Twilight thought, out of pure randomness.
The next few days were filled with the memorization of draconic runes. The stupor clogged out all outside life, even including her dragon servant, Spike. Glowing lanterns and ancient words filled the arcane library. From generations past were all the books, filled with all kinds of incantations. Evocation to divination could be found here, even more than in Celestia’s arcane collections. Celestia, after all, mainly collected divine spell-work. That type of magic doesn’t require a horn or a staff, and is easier to cast. Finally, Twilight rose out of her trance-like state.
Draconic runes blazed in the magician’s mind. It was now or never to cast the hard-earned spell she spent days studying.
Barad-um facil teir ella…
Twilight spent the rest of the meaningless day casting the spell. Once she arose out of her stupor, she hardly noticed anything that happened to her.
“Umm, Twilight?” the hatchling servant trembled on his breath. “You…. have something on your chest.”
FWOOMP. Twilight quickly unraveled her newfound appendage. The purple, feathery wings almost doubled her body mass, and her horn was much more prominent as well.
I had no idea arcane magic could be so powerful…The Spell-Weaver thought quietly to herself for a few minutes time. What am I going to do now?
Her answer came much more quickly than expected. Spike quickly came up with a new scroll addressed from the sovereign, Celestia. Twilight quickly unraveled the scroll.
Dear Twilight-
I have been informed (by myself) that you have finally cast that spell. The effects are as though to be true, so you don’t have to worry about any miscellaneous curse or such. Each pony gets affected differently from this spell, but it appears that it has affected you as to give you the power of a divinity. You are therefore released from my command, for I can no longer hold you under my power alone. You are to live in my old castle and to rule the Everfree Forest. You are the only deity who has the arcane power to maintain hold over the ancient woods. Pick three other ponies to help you, and be on your way.
~Princess Celestia
Twilight quickly retrieved her two bags of holding and teleported all her books in to one sack, and her rations into the other. She worked hastily, eager to hold this position of cruel power.
“Okay, the first three people we want under our hoof,” Twilight spoke hastily to Spike. “Who should it be? They should probably be experience with combat and/or magic. They should also be willing to follow me into the forest.”
“What do you think about Pinkie Pie?” Spike blubbered.
“I wouldn’t think bards who told dirty limericks and cried out in tune with a lute would have much adventuring experience,” the Magician spoke out of ignorance. “We’ll just have to Pinkie Pie to see what she knows.”
And so Twilight and Spike left the house swiftly, for they haven’t seen the sun in a week. Once the door creaked open, the sun dazed them. As soon as their eyes adjusted, they headed to the market. Pinkie’s voice resonated throughout the place-
Gracious! How this bizarre sequence grew!
When from love nest our murderess withdrew,
For with passport in hand
(In her luggage, his gland)
On a jet down to Rio she flew.
Twilight didn’t even know what a passport was. She assumed Pinkie got the poetry from the Chaotic Plane of Humans, for that’s where most weird things came from. The Wizard did know that Pinkie had a disturbing sense of humor; she really liked gore too much; but the audience didn’t seem to mind. They went into hysterics anyway.
After a round on the lute, the song-scriber approached Twilight. After a brief exchange of thoughts, they got right down to business.
“So what brings you here? I haven’t seen you for several days,” exclaimed the Bard.
“Do you any combat experience?” Twilight quickly exclaimed. Pinkie weirdly seemed not to notice the new addition to Twilight’s physical appearance. In fact, no-pony in the hamlet has said anything.
“Well, all bards are required to have martial training before they’re accepted into the Bard College.”
“Excellent! I need mercenaries for a trip I have planned, and it requires experienced adventurers. I’ll pay 50 bits every day for you to assist me, and I’ll require your servitude at the destination.”
“Sounds like an exceptional pay; I’m in!” Twilight knew Pinkie would undergo the expedition with that amount of pay. The most the song-scriber scraped up in a day was a few bits.
The two headed off for Fluttershy’s cottage, where they expected to apprehend the Druid. Such a person was necessary for the expedition; hostile and dangerous animals often lurked about the Everfree Forest. Someone would be needed to calm the beasts, maybe even for them to help the ponies.
“FLUTTERSHY,” Twilight pounded on the door as her voice resonated throughout the greater portion of Ponyville.
The sordid, plain, wooden door creaked open. “Yes?” questioned the name questioned.
“How do 35 bits a day sound to you?” Twilight knew that a druid would go for less money; it is worth less to their folk.
“If it’s anything purposefully dangerous I’m out, if it’s anything that could be dangerous, you’ll need to pay me more,” Fluttershy stuttered, obviously rejecting the Wizard’s assumptions. Very often the pony would do this, for fear of danger but love of money. “I’ll take 50, like you offered to Pinkie Pie.”
“How did you know that?”
“My animals tell me everything they think I should know. I’ll come on your expedition for 50 bits; and yes, my animals told me about that as well.”
The party headed off for the Everfree forest, but Twilight soon forgot an important detail to the group.
“I forgot to get Applejack! She’s the only one who knows the Forest well enough to take us through it,” the Mage exclaimed. Applejack was the Ranger of the Everfree Forest.
؞؞؞؞؞
After some rash negotiations and some bribing later, the group heads off for the Everfree Forest. To the least of expectancy, somehow the forest appeared more nasty and cynical than it ever had in the past. This appearance made the ponies loathe it even more than they’ve had before, but their conscience was completely oblivious to this at the time. With silent hoof-steps, the adventurers and soon-to-be sovereign crept into the forest.
“I’ve been in the forest many times, guiding people an’ all between harvests, and th’ forest has never seem this dank,” Applejack spoke of curiously.
As they were walking, Twilight pondered over her new position; not just that, but why no-pony was reacting to her new racial feature. As a matter of fact, only Applejack addressed this to her, no one else even uttered a word. This was in fact a strange occurrence. On top of that, Pinkie and Fluttershy didn’t seem themselves. The Druid was observed as braver than usual. Ever since the Bard stepped out to relieve herself on the road, she was much quieter than her usual self. They walked.
؞؞؞؞؞
The day wore on, and much stranger occurrences have happened. Applejack kept her bow upon her shoulder in case an encounter should be found, and appeared to be perfectly normal. Twilight’s other acquaintances, however, appeared to be more artificial than originally perceived. Much twitching of the eyes, for example, was noticed by the Mage. Once the sun hid under the horizon, camp was made.
“Ain’t those two actin’ kinda strange?” the Ranger whispered to Twilight.
“Yes, I did notice that, and I’m worried. What happened to them?
“Brother, I’m HUNGRY,” Fluttershy whispered to Pinkie Pie.
“I agree, it’s time to feed”
A staggering and disgusting transformation answered much of Twilight’s questions. Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy slowly melted away, and changelings quickly took their place. The black, bitten vermin filled the friends’ hearts with despair and agony. Quickly, the changelings lunged at the two. This problem was quickly solved with an ingeniously nocked arrow and a magic missile.
“What happened to those two?!” Twilight answered to the quiet, in panic. “Did the changelings drain their life-force?”
“I never known the changelings to outright kill someone. It is most probable that they're still alive, but weak.”
“Great! I may have lost two of some of my closest friends, and are party is down to us two. If there are changelings about, I don’t know how we’re going to survive.” Twilight said in a worried panic. Then she spread her wings. “I must warn Queen Celestia!”
“Don’t leave me! There’s no way we’re goin’ to survive on our own."
It was too late. Out of her anguished grief, Twilight went up into the air. It was about five seconds until she came crashing to the cold, hard ground.
“Now what are we going to do?!” she screamed of loathing.
“You ever think th’ Queen’s probably havin’ the same trouble? It’s definitely best for us to continue heading in our direction. It’s a good idea, your castle is closer to the Changelin’ empire anyway. It’s th’ only way we can go. I really would like to help our friends, but th' changelings that are feeding from them are dead. They won't die. We have to stop what-ever is happenin'."
؞؞؞؞؞
The final two members of the party headed out into the night, hoping that the fate ever-so-predicted wasn’t true. Soon the days vanished, and Applejack and Twilight made it to the castle. What they found was not expected. The castle was nearly refurbished, and ponies were already toiling over the work!
“It looks like we have company,” the Wizard stated finely.
THE END
