Ponies of Deltora: Monsters and Magic

Day one, Time, 5:00 PM

Applejack and Farley held their breath as the fiery eyed stranger continued to advance towards the rocks they hid behind. The Meresman ran several strategies through his mind while Applejack readied herself for a fight. Her muscles tensed with anticipation as the figure placed its hand on the rock’s surface. Farley gave her an eye signal, and shifted himself slightly. Just as the two were ready to make their move, a small chuckling entered their ears.

“I know where your hiding and I don’t want to fight.” From the voice Applejack assumed the stranger was female. “I’ve traveled long and hard, and a little companionship would be nice.” As a show of good faith, she lifted her hands to her head and moved away from the rock.

Farley shot Applejack a look of caution and slowly revealed himself from behind the rock. “What business do you offer me, peddler?”

The women looked at the rope ties around his waist. “Got yourself a little tied up now did we?” She giggled. “What a tale that must be.”

“That it is, but I’m sure you’d understand if I don’t wish to indulge in it with a traveling merchant.”

She flashed Farley a quick smile. “Would you care to do business with me Meresman? I’m sure you could use some more gold in your pocket to lose at Rithmere.”

“And what makes you assume I’m going there?” He inquired.

Applejack peeped out from behind the rock and saw the women toss her hood back, revealing a friendly yet deceptive face. Her brown hair was tattered and came slightly over her eyes. “Every Meresman makes his way to Rithmere eventually.” Her right eye then flicked over to the rock, so subtly that only someone who was looking for it would notice. “You have a lovely little horse with you, good sir.”

Farley looked over to the rock and noticed the very tip of Applejack’s nose sticking out. “Yes she is, sadly for you she is not for sale.”

The women shrugged her shoulders and went to the back of her wagon. Applejack trotted over to Farley’s side as she opened the doors. The orange mare’s mouth dropped as she looked inside. The wagon was filled with exotic clothing and glittering jewelry Rarity would kill to have. There were also piles of weapons and stacks of food piled with barrels of water. “Anything here peak your fancy?”

“Don’t speak or do anything to show intelligence. I’ll handle this.” Farley whispered in the pony’s ear. She subtly nodded and he went off to browse amongst the peddlers wares. He made sure to inspect everything carefully and thoroughly. He particularly examined the jewelry items; Applejack stared at him oddly for that. Finally he picked up a small silver pendant with a star carved from a topaz. “How much for this and two flasks of water?”

“You have very good taste sir.” She said with her eyes even more alive. “The star is six gold coins, and the water is one silver coin each.”

“Do you accept the barter system by chance?”

“Indeed I do good sir. What do you wish to trade?”

Farley considered for a moment before responding. “In my pony’s saddlebag, you’ll find four daggers. They’re all yours in exchange for the items I’ve asked for.”

The peddler moved over to Applejack, who stared at her inquiringly. The peddler dug into the bag and pulled out the knives. She inspected each of them, testing the grip and the metal. Finally she nodded and turned back to Farley. “These are good blades; together I can give you about ten gold coins for all of them.”

The two of them finished their transaction, leaving Applejack and Farley with a nice handful of coins left over. The peddler remounted her wagon and headed off, waving the two goodbyes as she did. About an hour later, the two of them made it to the reed infested banks of the Broad River. “This seems like a good place to make camp.” Farley said. Quickly they cleared a patch in the reeds and settled down.

“So why did yah purchase that there pendant?” Applejack asked.

“Actually, it’s for you, if you’d like.” He said sincerely.

The farm pony was shocked by this. “Me, but why?”

“Let’s just say it’s a token of good faith, and a way to bury the past so we can move on to the future.” He then shifted over to her and tied it around her neck. “May it bring you good fortune.”

Applejack’s cheeks slightly turned red as she moved over to untie the rope around his waist. The two smiled at each other for a moment, before starring off at the banks of the river, turned gold by the setting sun.

*****

Time, 5:10 PM

Rarity stared at the glittering mass in the center of the burning field for almost twenty minutes, completely dumfounded by what she was witnessing. Despite its body being butchered, she could still make out the distanced details. The broad, powerful wings now reduced to bloody ribbons, the mighty talons stained red, the ferocious head that now lay lifeless, and its diamond like body now crisscrossed with crimson. Rarity was looking at a dead dragon.

She examined the deep wounds on the dragon’s neck and underbelly, her curiosity growing. Everywhere there were deep gashes, as if somepony had jabbed swords into its belly and torn downwards. The ones on its neck were much larger and uglier. They almost resembled the injuries Opalescence sometimes got when she picked a fight with nests of birds, just on a grander scale. “Birds can’t kill dragons.” She said to no one.

Her suspicions were confirmed when she looked at the dragons front talons. Clutched in its claws was a single large feather. Rarity picked it up in her magic and examined it. The feather was greyish brown and very sickly looking. A foul odour hung around it, causing Rarity to drop the feather in repulsion. With that she decided to remove herself from the area, giving one last look at the diamond like dragon before departing.

She walked along the road for some time, her brain still baffled by what she has seen. Desperately she looked to her surroundings for anything to take her mind of that image. Sadly the road had no comfort but barren fields and the never ending road. So with nothing else to occupy her thoughts, the white mare pondered about the possible locations of her friends. Were they in this Jaladin, or were they somewhere she couldn’t even get access to? “It doesn’t matter, I’ll find them wherever they are.” She said reassuringly to herself.

Finally Rarity’s spirit was brightened when she noticed something green on the path. Some form of large green broad leafed weed was growing in the center of the road. It wasn’t exactly Canterlot worthy, but it was something new. With a new spring in her step Rarity almost skipped like Pinkie would into the leaves.

Instantly she let out a gasp of pain. She looked towards the ground and let out a terrified scream. The green leaves had parted as her hoof came down, revealing a large flabby lipped mouth that sank deep into the earth. It sucked and pulled at her leg despite the unicorns attempts at freeing herself. She pulled her leg out with all her might, but a stinging pain soon shot through her. Looking down she was sickened to see the plants throat was full of downward pointing teeth, and that she had impaled herself on one. Her perfectly white coat was now pink with fresh blood.

Rarity tried to use her magic to free herself, grabbing hold of the plants leaves and ripping them off. It recoiled a little at this counterattack, but held firmly onto its catch. Fire engulfed her eyes as she tore and kicked up more of the plants leaves. She was so caught up in this that her back legs ended up slipping down the throat of another plant. Again she felt the stinging pain and the sucking feeling as the plants tried to swallow her whole. Desperately she screamed for help and continued to tear apart the leaves. In her mind however, she knew it was hopeless. After several minutes of fighting, she began to feel the effects of blood loss and finally passed out.