World of PonyCraft

  Rarity and Fluttershy chatted endlessly about creatures and fashion, Twilight simply followed with her ears flat, trying to drown out the noise. This is why I don't travel with ponies., she thought to herself.

  "Oh we're here!" Rarity gasped in awe, as they stepped from Darkshore into Ashenvale, the dull green trees seemed to vanish, all the colors of the rainbow shone from the trees. Each as tall as the mesas in Thousand Needles, even Twilight gazed around, astonished by the immense beauty of the forest around them.

  "I do love Ashenvale so much, all the colors, and the animals..." Fluttershy was busy petting a wild stag that had wandered onto the road.

  "Yes it is quite wonderful." Rarity was fanning herself, "All the inspiration I could get from this place."

  "Inspiration later, we need to get to Astranaar before sundown. Twilight trotted past, her hooves clip-clopping on the cobblestone road, Rarity and Fluttershy glanced at eachother, then set off after Twilight. Sooner we get there the better, I need to get rid of these crazy ponies!

  The walk to Astranaar wasn't very long, only a quarter of an hour. Twilight and her companions crossed the bridge that connected the small isle Astranaar sat on to the forest around. Surrounding the town was a lake, glistening blue in the moonlight, with carved wooden boats shaped like swans floating about it's surface. Twilight glanced to her left and she walked, there was a light pink pony who wore blue feathers, laying near some fascinating creatures known as hippogryphs, the torso of this creature is like that of a large parrot, and the hindquarters like that of a horse. One of the hippogryphs screeched loudly at the visitors, though it hurt their ears, it was the hippogryph's way of saying Hello.

  "Good grief! One could kill an army with that voice." Rarity rubbed her ear.

  "He was only saying hi." Fluttershy defended, though she rubbed her ear as well.

  "Come on guys! Let's go to the inn." Twilight did a slow canter towards a building identical to the inn in Auberdine, unalike only in the manner that it's colors were brighter.

  "Hello travelers, what can I do for you?" A gray stallion, obviously the bartender, came over to them and shook their hooves. "Oh Fluttershy! Welcome back sweetheart." He winked at Fluttershy, who blushed intensely.

  "H-hello...." Fluttershy whispered shyly, then with a smirk, she added, "..Bubblebutt." in reference to his cutie mark, beer bubbles.

  "Hey!" the bartender faked a scowl, then turned to Twilight and Rarity, who had giggles noticeably stifled, "You can call me Sudsy, only Fluttershy gets the advantage of my nickname."

  "Nice to meet you, can we get a room for the night? Just me and Rarity. Fluttershy has a house, surely?" Twilight glanced at Fluttershy, who nodded, yet had a sad expression on her face, which Twilight ignored.

  'Coming right up! You need anything else? Leftovers are still hot." Sudsy stirred a large pot, from which steam emerged.

  "I would love for some dinner." Rarity trotted over to the nearest table and sat daintily, Sudsy promptly placed a bowl of mushroom soup in front of her.

  "Me too." Fluttershy went to sit with Rarity.

  "Alright, some for me as well." Twilight gave in, she would have conjured her own food, but her mother used to make Forest Mushroom stew, which she hadn't had for a decade. So the temptation of it was too great for her to resist. She sauntered over to the table and sat with her companions, licking her lips when the steaming bowl was placed in front of her.

  Twilight writhed in her sleep, mumbling and sweating. Walking downstairs again... Twilight clenched her jaw, knowing what was coming, ...turning the corner, "Mom?" the frightened filly gasped at the sight of blood. "No.." she saw her mother, the jagged knife stuck in her chest... "No!!" Twilight screamed, sitting up in her bed.

  "What is it? What's wrong?" Rarity awoke, lighting the candle swiftly, Twilight was still half asleep, staring at nothing and shaking, beads of sweat running down her forehead. "Sweetheart..." Rarity sat on Twilight's bed, gathering her into her hooves and rocking her back to sleep, she began to whisper a prayer against nightmares, Twilight's glazed eyes drooped, and she relaxed in her hold. Rarity grasped a brush with her magic, gently stroking Twilight's matted hair until it was smooth, then when she was sure Twilight was asleep, she lay her back on the bed. Returning to her own bed, she got under the covers and smiled at the peaceful purple unicorn, she shut her eyes and fell asleep quickly.

  Twilight was quite perky at breakfast, her sour attitude mostly diminished. "Did you sleep well Twilight?" Rarity asked coyly.

  "Yes I did, best night of sleep I've had in years." Twilight leaned back against her chair, placing her hooves on the table.

  "Might I ask what you dream about?" Rarity pried.

  "No you may not, my business is my own, not yours. Kindly do not speak of it in future." Twilight scowled at Rarity, who flattened her ears and nodded, "Thank you. Now, we had better get going before noon, I hear tell the path to Stonetalon can be treacherous at dark." Twilight stood and counted coins for the bartender.

  Rarity sighed, leaning back in her chair, Twilight was a mystery, for sure. "How long do you think the walk will be?" Rarity asked, tightening her belt and adjusting her small dagger.

  "About half a day, Sudsy was telling me that orcs tend to hide in these parts. We should be on our guard." Twilight was tightening her own belt, sliding a long sword into the sheath.

  "Orcs? But I thought they lived in Durotar." Rarity bit her lip, as if digging into her memory.

  "Tensions between the Elven Ponies and Orcs have risen greatly in the past few years. Where have you been all this time? Teldrassil?" Twilight joked, then seeing Rarity's blank face, she cleared her throat. "Eh-hem! Well, long journey, let's go." She dropped a pouch of coins on the bar, waving a hoof at Sudsy as she and Rarity trotted outside.

  "Goodbye Rarity, goodbye Twilight." Fluttershy was waiting for them at the bridge on the other side of Astranaar.

  "Goodbye dear, take care not to get lost now." Rarity stopped walking and began to cast a spell, the air around Fluttershy swirled with soft light, and an ankh appeared above her head. "It's a blessing." Rarity bowed.

   Fluttershy smiled at her, closed her eyes, a purple mist surrounded Rarity and Twilight, condensing into a paw above their heads. "It protects you from wild animals. A gift from Luna." She bowed back, then turned away and trotted to her house.

  Traveling along the road nearly silently, Twilight and Rarity jumped at every foreign sound. "It's a shame we have to be scared in our own territory." Rarity huffed, blowing a few unruly hairs out of her face.

  "Indeed, nothing we can do about it though, unless Luna decides to send Tyrande's sentinels to combat the orcs." Twilight pulled a map out of her pack with her magic, scanning it carefully, "We'll be coming to a crossing in a few moments. We need to take the road to Star's Rest, from there you can see the entrance to Stonetalon." Twilight said as she folded her map and placed it back into her bags.

  "Star's Rest? Isn't that haunted?" Rarity shuddered.

  "Don't be ridiculous! It simply has a few bog beasts around it, nothing far from trivial. It is blessed by Luna after all, so it couldn't be haunted." Twilight scoffed at Rarity's superstitions.

  "Ok, if you say so." Rarity gulped, glancing back and forth at the woods around them, deadly, though beautiful.

  "Stop!" Twilight whispered, Rarity halted abruptly, listening carefully for any sound. Snap!, they both jumped at the sound of twigs breaking, "Shields.." Twilight whispered again, and they both were surrounded in spheres of magic. Then a creature leapt from the bushes, "Orcs!" Twilight yelled, charging up her horn, she blasted the orc with a missile of arcane magic, it stumbled, then, growling, it rose again. The orc's muscles rippled under it's horrid green flesh, with a roar, he charged the two ponies.

  "Take that!" Rarity yelled, calling down fire from the heavens, the orc screamed in pain as her fires burned him. Another orc leapt from the bushes, wielding an double-bladed axe, she snarled as her companion fell, writhing, to the ground. Leaping at Rarity, she swung her axe, Rarity backed up, the blade barely short of her pristine white face, the orc was fast though, and brought her blade around for another swipe, this time Rarity was not so lucky and screamed in pain as her chest was sliced by the axe.

  The orc tried to swipe at her again, but was blasted off the road by Twilight, who wasn't finished, her horn glowing intensely with rage, she fired missile after missile, blasting the orc apart ruthlessly, not caring about the blood that splattered on her face. When she was sure the orc was dead, she attended Rarity. "That was close.." Twilight helped Rarity stand.

  "I'm ok, the wound isn't deep." Rarity gasped as she stood, her legs nearly buckled from the loss of blood. Large droplets of deep red blood dripping from the ghastly wound in her chest.

  "I can help stop the bleeding, but it's going to hurt, bad." Twilight examined the wound, and her horn glowed with fire.

  "Ok..." Rarity leaned up against a tree, bracing herself, Twilight brought the fire onto her wound, Rarity screamed as the fire cauterized the blood. It was over in an instant, Rarity sighed and collapsed as the fire vanished, closing her eyes. "Thanks.." she mumbled, slightly sarcastically.

  "Well you definitely can't perform a healing spell yet. I don't need you dying of an infection before we get to Stonetalon." Twilight helped her up again, Rarity's coat was stained with blood, and so was Twilight's face. "Looks like we both need a bath." Twilight giggled.

  "Nasty orcs!" Rarity spat on the corpse of the orc nearest to her, huffing as she trotted down the road, rather clumsily, she wasn't losing anymore blood, but she had already lost some. Twilight followed behind, cautiously eyeing the forest around.

  "I'm just glad there were only two, one of us could have lost a limb, or died." Twilight said, bumping into Rarity, who had stopped.

  "Here's the crossing..." Rarity said as she glanced up at the sign, "..this way to Star's Rest." she pointed to her right, at the small dirt road, barely visible.

  "Obviously hardly anypony has traveled this road.." Twilight mumbled, stepping gingerly off the path, it was two times more dangerous being off-road. Seeing as there were no lamps lining the path, Twilight let her horn glow, trotting along the nearly invisible path. "Come, come, Rarity, the sooner we get there the better." she called to her friend, who lit up her own horn and followed.

  "I'm coming." Rarity cantered up to Twilight, so that they were walking side by side. "How long is this path?" she asked, glancing back at the mostly safe haven they were leaving behind.

  "About three miles, it will take us about an hour, but we'll get there before nightfall." Twilight had pulled out her map again.

  "Alright then." Rarity sighed, then she jumped as a stag ran across the path ahead of them, "Good grief!" she gasped, "I thought it was another orc." she laughed. Twilight giggled along with her.

  "We're at the entrance to Stonetalon." Twilight put her map away, "Looks like this is the last stretch of our journey together." she turned to Rarity, who was smiling nervously, "What?"

  "Well, it wasn't Stonetalon Mountains I was really trying to get to..." Rarity used her hoof to play with a rock.

  "What are you talking about?" Twilight asked, her suspicions rising.

  "I was trying to go with you, I'd heard about your quest, you are headed to Maraudon, at request of Tyrande Whisperwind. I'm her niece, and she wanted me to accompany you." Rarity cringed in await of Twilight's rage.

  But Twilight simply blinked, "I thought I had told her to keep that a secret." she whispered.

  "Well she did, but I was so restless, and she wanted me to go on an adventure to ease my wandering spirit." Rarity smiled.

  Twilight sighed, "Fine, you can come with me, but do, not, get in my way! My quest, my rules. Understand?" Twilight threatened.

  "I understand. I won't get in your way. I promise." Rarity swore, placing a hoof on her heart.

  "Then let's go." Twilight turned towards the dark cave, it tunneled through the mountain into Stonetalon, with a sigh, she trotted into the cave, Rarity following close behind.