Of Magic and Machinery

Chapter II: Terra

The pink mare stirred as her heavy eyes opened, and instead of a rocky surface, she was seeing stone brick walls and a matching floor. A white blanket covered her body, leaving her head exposed on the soft pillow.

She groaned, her body aching with sensations like none other she had felt prior. The mare lazily turned over and found that part of the floor was concealed with a carpet.

Gentle creaking resonated through wherever she was, but it was faint. So too was the sound of a door slamming shut, and the frantic beating of hooves on the floor. But the hoofsteps got louder for a second before stopping to a dead halt.

Another door opened, and in walked a grey stallion with a platinum blond mane that was greying. His eyes were green, like fields of grass, and resting on his flank was a simple hammer and nail. He rushed towards the mare with a worried look on his face.

The mare tumbled out of the bed, gasping in pain as she rose onto her rather wobbly legs. She took a step towards the stallion before collapsing onto her stomach again. “Where am I….?” She weakly croaked, once more trying to stand.

“Whoa! Easy! I just removed this slave crown a few minutes ago!” The stallion shrieked in surprise as he trotted over to the other side of the room. In the corner of the room was the contraption on her head, broken into a few different pieces. He then turned to the mare, a look of worry still present on his face, “They had total control of you while you wore that thing…”

“My….head….hurts…” The mare croaked as she forced herself into a sitting position. She put one hoof on her head and shook it rapidly.

Something seemed to click in her head on its own. She blinked a few times, still looking rather dazed. “I...can’t remember anything…”

The stallion trotted to her. He put a hoof on her back, and patted her gently. “Don’t worry, it will all come back...in time, anyway.” He said, smiling faintly.

The mare rubbed her eyes as her vision blurred once, maybe twice. She groaned in pain again, removing her hoof from her head as something else clicked in her clouded, empty mind.

She shook her head briefly before looking at the stallion with a rather confused look as she said, “My name….is….Terra…”

The stallion’s eyes went wide for a moment, “Impressive! I’ve yet to hear of anypony recovering this fast…!”

The stallion froze for a second as dogs began barking outside, and he got up as something banged noisily on something else. A voice called out, “Hey! Give us the mare and the Empire’s Horntek Armor!”

He rushed out the door of the room, and down a small room with a burning fireplace. He found a window and peered out of it. Outside in the snow, banging on the outermost door was one of the guards of Narshe, accompanied by a fellow soldier and two dogs. He looked rather annoyed as he shouted, “Open this door and give us the mare! She’s an officer of the Empire!”

The mare wobbled her way in front of the fireplace. “Horntek Armor….? Empire….?” She asked as the banging of the door continued outside.

The stallion galloped past her as if his hooves were ablaze. “There’s no time to explain! I have to get you out of here!” He cried as he entered the room he left moments ago. The confused mare followed him, a limp no longer present in her walk. “Over here!” The stallion cried again, standing next to another door in the room.

Terra walked out the door and winced as cold assaulted her body full-force. She glanced around and found a bridge to her immediate right. She cautiously walked on the wooden planks, finding that they held surprisingly well.

“She’s up there!” Cried a voice. Terra looked down and found four bandaged ponies staring right up at her before they scattered off in different directions. Something else registered in her mind as she galloped down the bridge in a mad hurry, finding herself in another cave barely lit with dying torches.

She felt her hooves touch more wood, and her horn lit up with a soft ember. Another bridge, this one barely intact, greeted her. She rushed down it, and met another that she soon crossed. A passageway came soon after that--

“Got her!” Cried the voice again as two ponies sprang up from the darkness. Terra tried taking another route before two more ponies blocked it off. They closed in on the mare as she backed up in a corner slowly.

Suddenly, the ground beneath the mare gave way, and she fell down the dark depths whilst shrieking in surprise. The guards rushed in moments too late.

Terra met solid ground with her face once more, and she tried getting up, only to fall down out cold again.

This time, however, she had a vision. A vision of a cackling stallion who put the contraption on her head; a vision of stallions clad in brown armor dying by her own hoof; a vision of many more armor-clads cheering on another in elegant robes and three others she could not identify.

The grey stallion sat in front of the fireplace, prodding at the burning logs with a stick. He heard the sound of a door opening, and he turned his head to the right. A pegasus stallion with a dark cyan coat, brown mane, and a strange cloth on his head had entered the room. Sitting on the concealed flank was a brown treasure chest.

“Hey, Locke. How’s the robbing and pillaging trade going?” Asked the grey stallion rather jokingly.

“I PREFER the term ‘treasure hunter’!” Locke shrieked in annoyance, wings spread wide in a bit of shock. He stomped his hoof in a rather pouty manner.

“Ha! Semantic nonsense!” The grey stallion replied, rolling his eyes rudely.

“There’s a HUGE difference!” Locke yelled, wings twitching from how irate he was getting. He then shook his head and sighed. “Anyhow, were you the one who sent for me?”

The grey stallion nodded. “Yeah; there’s a mare I’d like you to meet.”

Locke’s eyes went wide for two seconds before he suddenly sprung up in the grey pony’s face with a glare. “This better NOT have anything to do with that Horntek-riding Imperial witch!”

The grey stallion walked away for a bit. “Imperial troops are hounding her even as we speak,” He replied, “This town is no match for the Empire. Our independence can only be assured if we join with the Returners, an underground resistance movement.” He then turned to Locke before continuing, “That mare wasn’t responsible for her actions--we have to get her to understand our dilemma!”

“I think we’d better help her, then.” Locke sighed as he turned around and began trotting to the door.

“Agreed. Make your way to Figaro first, and talk with the king…” The grey stallion said.

Terra was still out-cold, lying pitifully on the ground. Dark cyan feathers danced around from above before a pegasus matching their color landed on his hooves. He trotted over to the mare and checked her for any injuries--

“Now we gotcha!” Cried a voice as a pony clad in blue bandages arrived at the other end of the massive, maze-like room. With him were more soldiers, some dogs, and miniature mammoths.

Locke stepped in front of the mare and analyzed the situation. “Wonderful, there’s a whole bunch of ‘em….” He cursed under his breath.

“Kupo…” Cooed another voice as Locke turned around. He saw around ten white dragons with purple horns, red underbellies, purple legs and wings, big cat-like ears, and red pom-poms attached to their heads via a slender strand of hair had arrived from another hole in the cavern wall. They had cat-like faces, complete with little pink noses, and all had closed eyes. Four inspected Terra, and the other seven looked up at the pegasus stallion.

“Moogles…?! You’re saying you want to help me…?” Locke inquired, and one of the moogles nodded in response.

All of them jumped in the air whilst shouting “Kupo!” Some then brandished knives and swords, one wielded a mace, and another had a shortsword. One also had a pike in its claws. Another supplied Locke with a saddlebag that was wrapped around his midsection, right behind the wings. He opened it and within was a knife of sterling silver hue. He took it and put it in his mouth.

He and the first three moogles rushed into the maze, seeing dogs and mini-mammoths weaving their way slowly up to Terra’s dirt nap. The pegasus trotted around a rock, and the moogles followed suit. The other eight stayed behind, keeping a close eye on the unicorn.

A dog and mammoth pounced one moogle, only for the mammoth to get kicked in the face with hooves. The dog was hit with a mace, and found itself staggering backwards into a rock. The mammoth was now dead, as a knife had been impaled into its throat.

Locke then led his band of furry friends past another rock, only to dispatch another team of dogs.

The moogles guarding Terra had just wiped out another mammoth, and three of them were busy bashing a bandaged stallion. Another bandaged pony tried helping him, only to wind up having his legs broken with a mace and a pike shoved into his ribcage.

The stallion in blue bandages was getting exceptionally irritated now. He and two dogs rushed at Locke head on. The dogs were dispatched by the moogles, but the pegasus already found himself pinned to a rocky wall and hooves holding him by the chest. Locke struggled to kick him away, and the more he squirmed, the more pressure was applied to his chest.

At last, a moogle hit the bandaged pony with a mace, and he stumbled backwards as the pegasus landed awkwardly on his hooves.

“Cheeky little bastards. Now they want to help the Empire too?” The bandaged pony hissed as he righted himself and drew a sword with a hoof, looking at the moogles for the briefest of seconds.

Locke also righted his stature, wings spread wide. His mouth held the knife tightly.

“So be it.” Said the bandaged stallion as he loaded his weapon into his mouth and rushed at Locke, sword slicing the air as he approached the pegasus.

Then, for mere moments, all was still. The sword was inches away from the tip of Locke’s right ear, and a smile was on his face. The bandaged pony was as stiff as a brick wall. Locke moved his eyes down a little bit and found that jutting up to his neck was the point of a pike that was impaled in his opponent’s chest.

The weapon was removed from the covered stallion, and he fell onto his side unmoving.

Locke put his knife into his saddlebag before rushing back to Terra, who was still unconscious. With the help of some of the moogles, the mare was hoisted onto his back.

“Thank you, moogles. We’re in your debt!” Locke said cheerfully as he rushed into the hole the moogles came from earlier ago, careful to avoid dropping his new cargo. He ran down a small set of stairs and past some more rocks before meeting with a dead end. On the wall opposite of said end was a strange lever.

The pegasus carefully put Terra onto the ground. He murmured something incomprehensible as he rose up onto his hind legs and yanked the lever downwards.

The cavern rumbled a bit before some rocks parted, revealing a white blanket of snow outside. When Locke went to pick Terra up, she began to stir. The mare groaned in pain as she forced herself into a sitting position.

“Eh? You’re with us now?!” Locke said in shock, helping the mare stand.

“You….saved me?” Terra asked, looking at him as if his mere appearance confused her.

“Save your thanks for the moogles.” Locke replied, smiling.

Terra sat down again, looking at the ground blankly. “I…..can’t remember anything...past or present…” She murmured.

Locke’s wings spread, and he almost jumped in surprise. “You have amnesia?!” He cried, eyes wide as dinner plates.

Terra nodded as she stood up and looked at him, confusion still lingering on her face. “A stallion said my memory would come back….” She replied.

“Give it time. You’re safe with me! I give you my word.” Locke said, overcoming his shock. Terra looked at him as though he made absolutely no sense whatsoever. “I won’t leave you until your memory returns!” He added, smiling.