Magic Mishaps

Trondason was afraid when he heard the growls.

The slight, erratic growling that came from such a small creature was unnerving. The deepness of it’s voice seemed to come from a much larger predator, and that put him on edge. Trondason was prepared to run like hell, from the Quarry Eel that he was certain the growls came from.

Then he remembered that quarry eels hiss, not growl.

As he waited for the creature to come out, he realised that he had no way to protect both himself, and Black-light from the danger that might be within. The only thing left to do was…

To run like hell.

As he was about to utter the command, right then and there, from the entrance of the cave, a small dog came out. It was a small dog, smaller than Trondason. The dog had mid-level brown fur, a half cut ear, a red bandanna, and shaggy hair. Normal stray dogs don’t have belongings. This dog either had an owner that was looking for it somewhere, or it was abandoned.

The dog looked suspiciously like Winona, Applejack’s dog.

But if it was, what would it-she- be doing out here? The first thing to do would to check the bandanna, to make sure that was, in fact, Wilona. “Stay, girl.” Trondason commanded. The dog stayed where she was, but eyed Black-light and Trondason as warily as she would if they were predators. Trondason slowly walked over and stopped a few paces from the dog.

He stopped right in front of the dog, looking into it's eyes in a display of dominance. The dog cowered for a bit, but stopped when Trondason lessened his glare. It was then allowed to sniff Trondason’s hoof. Once the dog was familiarized with his scent, Trondason reached for it’s collar under it’s bandanna, and read the identification.

Winona

Age: 4

Sweet Apple Acres, Ponyville

Female

Address:

Trondason stopped reading when the address came up. Winona’s tag pretty much proved that the world was more or less similar to what he thought. This also means that Winona could probably find her home. If he followed her, he would make it to her home.

“Winona, are you lost?” Trondason wasn’t sure if she understood him to the extent he wanted, but it was worth a thought. When she nodded, he figured that meant yes. “Can you lead us home, girl?” She nodded again. “Alright, lead the way.”

Black-light walked up behind Winona, and peered into the cave once again. After a while, he nodded to himself in a satisfied manner, and walked back to the cliff. “Hey, T, I bet she-”

“Winona.” Trondason corrected.

“Winona? As in Applejack’s dog?” Black-light asked.

“Apparently. Same location, town, and I didn’t really know her age.” Trondason shrugged. “Anyway, you were saying?”

Black-light paused for a moment, apparently lost in Trondason’s words. “Oh, yeah. I was wondering how she got up here. We climbed up a pretty steep cliff, and a dog’s paws won't be able to do that like we did. Then again, we do have hooves, so I’m not so sure. Maybe she came up from behind the cliff or something. I don’t really know, but it explains how she got up here. Ask her.”

“I’m not sure how smart she really is. She might have just been nodding. But it’s worth a try.” Trondason turned to Winona, whose tail was wagging. “So, Winona, how did you get up here?” Winona tilted her head in confusion, then stopped and walked over behind where the cave was. As she disappeared behind a corner, Black-light looked around. “I think she wants us to follow.” He said as he trotted over to where she was.

Trondason sighed, and followed. As he walked around the corner, he saw a slope when he looked around. Winona’s head popped up from behind it, barked a little, and disappeared once more. Quickening his pace, Trondason didn’t hear the low growl that came from back around the where the cave was.

Trondason caught up to Black-light, who was using the slope to practice in gliding. He would get up in the air, glide a bit, then pull back on his wings to slow himself so he lands by the time Trondason caught up. Winona made it into a small game, and chased him every time he went into the air, barking the entire time. Seeing Black-light, even as a pony, playing with Winona was cute for him. A chuckle escaped his lips as he thought about the situation one more time.

A pink, swirling vortex appeared in his house. He went to the couch, but it followed and eventually grabbed him. The vortex also grabbed Black-light. There are plenty of HiEs out there, so why was he changed into a pony? Did he die across the barrier? It’s a possibility, but then would introduce the idea of a life after death, and that they are more than just reproducing patterns of matter. There is another possibility, that the portal did it itself, but that would imply that the portal either was sentient, or guided by some other being, who brought them over for one reason or another, and decided it was better that they were ponies. Then, of course, there is the chance that it’s all just random crap, they are unfortunate enough to experience. One in a billion chances happen every day. At this point, he didn’t really have enough information to do anything more than random speculation, but it’s always to be aware of the possibilities.

Thud

Trondason was shaken from his thoughts by the sound. He looked at the ground way in front of him to reveal Black-light, laying on the ground with Winona sitting nearby, panting like… Well, a dog. “ You alright, dude?” He called out. Black-light got up, shook himself off, and called back, “Yeah, I just flapped my wings a bit and went higher than I wanted.” He responded.

“Heh, gotta be careful about that. If you hit your head too hard, you are in danger.” Trondason caught up with the two. They were now at the bottom of the slope, right on the edge of the wood. He wasn’t paying much attention earlier, but he now heard tons of life coming from the wayward forest. The croaks of frogs, small animals, creatures in the shrubbery, and other animalistic sounds came from the forest. There were plenty of plants that he had never seen before, probably indigenous only to this world, all over the place.

Of all the plants he saw, only one of them looked familiar. Not the type of familiar that meant ‘Oh hey, I see these at home all the time!’, there were plenty of those, but by familiar, Trondason was thinking more on a scale of ‘Holy crap, we should avoid those.’ The plants he saw weren't particularly life threatening, but they have varying effects on an individual. What he saw was, the blue menace, poison joke!

From what he personally witnessed , they could cause any variety of annoying effects, but usually not lethal. But they are an inconvenience, that could lead to something deadly happening. Rainbow Dashs wings were turned upside down, effectively grounding her if she wasn’t so stubborn that she kept trying to fly (and crashing into everything). It turned Applejack into a itty bitty pony, which by itself isn’t deadly, but she could easily be crushed underhoof or something.

He saw Black-light eyeing the poison joke like a mouse would a cat. He knew what poison joke was capable, despite never actually seeing what it could do, but the internet has vast knowledge, even if it can be useful. “Is this poison joke?” he asked, circling around the patch of blue poison, cautiously. “Yep, and you should steer clear of it. While none of it’s observed effects are deadly, they’re inconveniencing enough to turn deadly in a place like the Everfree. While it would be interesting to see what it does to us, and worthwhile incase it’s ever used on us, that’s a experiment for another time.”

Winona barked in agreement, and led the trio around the poison joke, onto a path that she could  only detect with her nose. The trio continued for hours, only stopping to find some safe plants, but only after one of the group spots some non-mythical creatures eating from the same plants. They all knew that even the plants that look familiar could be just a lookalike. They found various watering holes and such to drink from, plenty of places to hide from potential predators, and a few things they will probably need later.

Winona constantly stopped to sniff around and make sure this was the trail. A dog’s nose is easily trusted under circumstances, so the two ponies just let her do whatever. As long as she did what she needed to, there was no reason to interrupt.

Upon walking onto what looked to be a dirt road, Winona halted the group. She looked up, then began to pace in a circle. After doing it for a few minutes, she stood perfectly still. Black-light was about to speak to her, but was halted when she looked behind them and began barking. Black-light and Trondason both knew what it meant when a dog was barking, for they both had experience with their own companions from back home. Something dangerous was back there.

Winona wouldn’t stop barking once it became clear that both ponies knew what was going on. Trondason tries to shush her several times, but she only continued to bark. Large rustles could be heard from inside the bushes, indicating their pursuer to be large and ill-fitted to be in shrubbery. Trondason grabbed Winona, and hid behind some trees, hoping the predator would assume he kept going.

Black-light, however remained still. He clutched his head in pain can looked around in a confused manner, like a cornered animal. Trondason was about to call out to him, but then he felt something. He had no idea why, but he felt compelled to close his eyes and visualize his surroundings, like he did when learning how to properly levitate.

As he did so, the world was once again replaced with a blue color. He could see everything, from the plants, to Black-light and Winona, who were blue, to whatever was stalking him. It was undefined, but it’s presence was visible as a big blob of red. He could see himself, as if he were outside of his body. He was a white color.

He was unable to explore this sensation, as Black-light broke out of his stupor, the red creature pounced from the shrubbery and trees. Trondason lost his concentration, and had to peek from out of the tree to see what was happening. A manticore, a freaking manticore, had jumped out from the trees, and was staring daggers at Black-light. Having learned the most about how to use his unique talents, Black-light was able to get away from the manticore, and out of his sight assuming he doesn't lose balance or mess up. Unfortunately for him, the manticore is probably not new to it’s body, like he is, and has had to hunt its food, which probably didn’t want to be eaten, every day of it’s life. This lowers Black-lights odds greatly, because he has only been in his body for a day, and while he isn’t tripping over his own hooves, or falling on his face, he hasn’t had to react this quickly to any situation before, and can easily trip up.

The manticore pounced at Black-light, and he was barely able to get out of the way. The creature took a small bit of hair out of his mane, but there were more tragic places able to get hit. The thing appeared to be half blind, because while performing it’s next few swipes, they were too high, and Black-light was able to duck under them.

Winona ran down the dirt road, leaving the two to fend off against the creature. Trondason only hoped that she could get somebody, before the manticore eats Black-light. The manticore saw Winona, and was about to chase after her. As it prepared to take flight, Black-light flapped his wings, and jumped a little over it’s vision. It completely lost interest in the dog, and tried to get the pegasus out of the tree that he just fell into.

While he was distracted, Trondason closed his eyes and visualized his magic being gathered onto the creature’s, or where he assumed the creature’s, jugular vein would be. He could feel the magic gathering inside the manticore, and he could hear it’s frustration. Black-light saw the manticore step off, and he jumped onto it’s tail and stomped on it as hard as it could.

The yellow tinted blood of insects sprayed from the crushed scorpion tail, and the manticore roared in outrage. The manticore tried to jump away from Black-light, but he was stuck on the creature’s back. Trondason was struggling to keep concentrate, and the constant movement wasn’t helping.

The manticore reached back, grabbed black-light in one of it’s massive paws, and threw him against a nearby tree. As Trondason heard the crack of the bark, the manticore puunced over to Black-light, and ripped open his side. Blood sprayed around for a bit as Black-light screamed in pain.

Trondson was beyond pissed.

The magic gathering within the creature’s jugular suddenly increased. Trondason opened his eyes, and saw the manticore thrashing and coughing up blood. It was about to rip Black-light’s throat out, before it could take no more of the pain. Instead of simply leaving, it thrashed the limp body of Black-light a few more times, threw him on the ground, and tried to stomp on him.

Trondason would have none of that, and he pulled Black-light out of the way before he could be crushed. The manticore was royally pissed now. Trondason didn’t notice the blood-red colored eyes it had. That’s why it wasn’t dead, it went into a blood rage!

The thing was still pretty beat, and it wanted to kill Trondason, or at least Black-light. It limped over to Trondason, trying to use the last moments of it’s life to end his. Trondason could barely move, and his breathing was hard. It was almost as if somebody had thrown gravel down it’s throat.

Besides his own heavy breathing, Trondason could barely hear the strangled roars the massive hybrid monster was making. He vaguely noticed the thing getting slower, and the deep scratches in the ground getting shorter. The only time he registered was when the creature slumped over, and exhaled it’s last breath.

To say he was relieved would be an understatement.

His eyes got heavy, and he could see spots all over his visual area. He could barely concentrate, let alone sit in the same position. He knew that he was either going to die, or pass out. The last thing he saw before he met the comforting darkness was Winona rushing back with a familiar blonde pony. “Good girl…” he mumbled weakly.