World of PonyCraft

  A hooded mare walked along the path, her hoofsteps nearly silent as she trudged on. The road eventually came upon a town, the sign read "Auberdine", the mare glanced at the sign, then proceeded. "Evening stranger, what brings you to Auberdine?" a sentinel approached the mare.

  "I'm simply a traveler, on my way to the inn." she replied, meeting the sentinel's gaze fearlessly.

  "Alright then, have a nice stay." the sentinel backed away, allowing her passage.

  "Hello and welcome to the Fish Eye Tavern." the barmaid curtsied, "What can I get you ma'am?" she asked as the mare took of her hood.

  "A room, one night's stay." the fierce-eyed purple unicorn replied. The barmaid nodded and scurried off, leaving the mare at the door, though it wasn't much of a door. The inn was open to the outside, no walls, except for the bedrooms. "Darnassian architecture bores me..." the mare mumbled as she took a seat at a table.

"Would you like a drink miss.....?" the barmaid approached her again, handing her a key.

  "Twilight Sparkle, and no thank you." Twilight replied, and with a twist of her hoof a glass of sparkling water appeared, "Why buy a drink when I can conjure one?" Twilight smiled, surprisingly warmly.

  "Quite right Miss Sparkle, enjoy your stay." the barmaid curtsied again and went to serve others.

Screams pierced the air, battle cries and blood as far as the eye could see. The little filly held her mother in her arms and sobbed hysterically.

  Twilight gasped as she awoke, soaked in a cold sweat. Panting, she gazed around the room, "Still at the inn." she sighed, leaning back against the pillow. Yet Twilight did not fall back asleep, she simply stared up at the ceiling, aching on the inside. Her quiet contemplation seemed to speed the night away, and she was shocked out of her trance when sunbeams suddenly hit her face. She began packing her bag out of habit, she never stayed in one place for more than a night, yet something told her to stay, "Just for breakfast..." She mumbled, slipping a dark blue cloak on and trotting down the ornate staircase.

  "Morning Miss." The bartender nodded his head to her, "Breakfast will be ready in a moment." Twilight smiled, albeit breifly, and trotted outside for a walk, deciding on the bridge that stretched far out into the waters. Her hooves clip-clopping against the dark wood, which she noticed had a slightly purple hue. As Twilight neared the end of the bridge, she peeked precariously over the edge, staring down into the deep blue waters, which appeared to shimmer and distort itself, Twilight held completely still, as her mentor had taught her, visions required complete concentration. The image in the waters showed herself, walking with a white unicorn, and a creature leapt from the bushes, attacking them, causing Twilight to gasp and lose concentration, the image faded, much to her dismay.

  "Damn!" She slammed a hoof on the bridge, then huffed as she turned to walk away,

  "Lose something darling?" Twilight yelped as she came face to face with the white unicorn in her vision, she put a hoof to her chest,

  "You startled me!" She panted,

  "My apologies, I couldn't help but notice how you were bent over in such an unladylike way, did you drop something?" The white unicorn pranced over to the edge, elegantly bowing to look at the water,

"No..." Twilight replied blankly, staring at the prissy pony.

  "It's impolite to stare." The unicorn had noticed Twilight's glare,

  "Pardon me." Twilight looked away sheepishly,

  "Come, come, now, it's nothing. My name is Rarity," she curtsied, "..and you are?"

  "Twilight Sparkle." Twilight nodded her head instead of a curtsy.

  "Lovely name, I can tell we are going to be the best of friends!" Rarity trotted giddily away, leaving the shocked Twilight gaping after her.

  "So what brings you to Auberdine?" Rarity asked, she had sit down at Twilight's table even though she protested.

  "I'm a traveler, just doing what travelers do." Twilight responded blandly.

  "Oh wonderful! I'm a traveler too!" Rarity clapped her hands daintily, then became serious, "I'm looking for some pony to accompany me on my travels." She had leaned in close, peeking over both shoulders as if some pony was watching them.

  "I'm honored you asked me but.."

  "Hold on!" Rarity interrupted, "I wasn't finished, as you can see, I'm a priest, and we aren't very good at handling ourselves in the wilds. I need an experienced companion on my journey to Stonetalon Mountains."

  "Why would you want to go there?" Twilight asked, "It's infested with abominations and elementals!"

  "Oh I know dear, if I was a fool I would have gone on my own." She replied, seeming insulted. "Anyway, my reasons are my own, and I am willing to pay, what say you?" Rarity held out a hoof for Twilight to shake.

  Twilight's mind raced, but she knew that she couldn't refuse, this "Rarity" was in her future, "Deal." Twilight shook the white hoof, a pang of satisfaction and regret following, "I was headed that way anyways. Might as well." She shrugged

  "Ugh! This place is so dark, and filthy!" Rarity complained, Twilight had long ago shut her out, seeing as that was all she did for the entire journey to Ashenvale. "What was that? Twilight stop!" Rarity tapped her on the shoulder, jolting her out of her zombie-like state.

  "What now?" Twilight mumbled, but silenced herself when she heard growling, "Don't move....most likely a saber." Twilight cautioned Rarity, whose horn glowed yellow for an instant, and she was encircled in a ring of dim light. Twilight mirrored her shield spell, except hers was made of arcane magic, shimmering the colors of the rainbow. A twig snapped, and they both turned to face the sound, ears highly alert as they scanned the dark bushes.

  "I saw something there!" Rarity pointed to a bush with blossoms, Twilight charged up an arcane missile, firing it at the bush, a loud yelp followed. Twilight trotted fearlessly over, another missile ready incase the creature attacked, there she found a yellow Pegasus, cowering on the ground.

  "Who the hell are you?" Twilight demanded, the shaking pony glanced up at her, and Twilight saw the mark of Luna on her forehead, "Oh a Druid...I should have known." Twilight's missile vanished into thin air, and she lent a hoof to help the pony up.

  "What's your name dearest?" Rarity cast a healing spell on the Pony's chaffed flank, the burnt skin knitting back together with not so much as a scar to remember it by.

  "Oh I-I could have done that..." She replied shyly, "My name is Fluttershy." She nervously stroked her foreleg, hiding under her thick pink mane.

  "Wonderful to meet you Fluttershy, I am Rarity, and this is Twilight Sparkle. What are you doing this far from Astranaar? I thought most Druids lived there?"

  "There are plenty of Druids here in Darkshore Rarity." Twilight rolled her eyes, she was hoping for some excitement, just another pony.

  "Yeah I don't live here, I kind of...got lost." Fluttershy blushed with embarrassment.

  "How does a Druid get lost?" Twilight scoffed in disbelief, "I thought you guys are 'One with Nature'."

  "Oh we are, I just found the road, just now, sometimes the forest gets sad, and doesn't talk to us. So we lose our way. More often recently, my teacher says..." Then she stopped, glancing around nervously, "Nevermind..."

  "Your teacher says what?" Rarity leaned closer curiously.

  "I'm not supposed to talk about it but.." She glanced around again, beckoning them closer, "..he says that the Twilight Cult has finally awoken an Old God, C'thun!" She whispered, putting her hooves over her mouth after saying it.

  "C'thun?" Twilight wracked her memory for the name.

  "Twilight!!" They both hissed.

  "What?" She shrugged.

  "We never say his name louder than a whisper, or else he can see you. And if you see him, gulp!, you go insane!" Fluttershy whimpered.

  "No no, you don't go insane dear, that was a different Old God, not C'thun." Rarity whispered the last word.

  "This is strange, how did I never learn about these creatures? I studied everything in the library! And trust me when I say this library was huge. Big enough to need a castle in order to fit." Twilight paced.

  "Maybe your mentor kept it from you, some say the knowledge of the Old Gods alone is enough to drive a soul mad." Fluttershy whispered.

  "Hmm, but...oh, maybe your right.." Twilight blushed, "My mentor did, k-kinda go mad, he knew everything about this world, and a few others." She sighed, as if she was mourning.

  "Say! I just came up with a marvelous idea! Let us escort you to Astranaar! It's one of our stops along the way, anyways." Rarity hugged herself with pleasure at the idea.

  "O-ok..." Fluttershy said as Rarity hugged her tightly.

  "We are going to be the best of friends, I'm sure!"

Great! Just what I need, another companion... Twilight huffed, following the two ponies align the road.