Lost in a Forgotten Realm

Lost in a Forgotten Realm
Chapter 1: A rough re-entry

Blackness surrounds a small group of ponies, a blackness that is swirling and confusing color. It seems that shooting stars are rocketing towards them, but also away, a rushing tunnel of incomprehensible magic. Particles seem to touch them, yet flow through their bodies as they barrel towards a growing speck of normal. Sounds of all ranges and pitches, known and unknown, assault their ears, deafening in their cacophony. Each only feels terror, wanting to get away from the sudden magic of light and darkness, sound and smell. Some scream, some are too terrified to scream.

With little warning, the magic ends, thrusting them all into an unfamiliar landscape filled with trees and other forest vegetation. Nopony is paying attention; their fear is suppressing everything else for the moment. Two pegasi, an earth pony, and a changeling crash into the forest; they smash through and into trees before hitting the ground. A unicorn is thrown over a lake, landing in the water. Both of the pegasi mares hit hard, sustaining severe injuries as they hurtle through the canopy, into tree trunks, and slam into the ground.

¤ ¤ ¤

One of the mares, gray with a black and red mane and tail, bleeds from scrapes and cuts, the worst of which are on her barrel. She tries to catch her breath, but horribly sharp pains alert her to multiple broken ribs. As she attempts to rise, the broken bones grind together, making her scream again, collapse, and vomit from the pain. She rolls to her side, away from the puddle of sickness, and hugs her chest with both front legs and wings. The pain fades after a few moments, but only slightly. She finds herself unable to get enough air, her chest heaving. Her movements and attempts to breathe only cause her more pain. Combined with fear and blood loss, she quickly slips into shock and unconsciousness

¤ ¤ ¤

The unicorn screams as she is flung over the water, landing with a splash and panicking at the feeling of frigid water. She flails to the surface and gasps for breath, coughing and choking for a few moments as she expels the water from her nose and throat. She looks around, finding herself rather far from shore. Cursing quietly under her breath and still mentally reeling from the abrupt transport, she heads for the closest bit of land, beginning to shiver.

Finally making it to solid ground, she lays on a pile of dead but strangely shimmery leaves for a few minutes to catch her breath and warm up. As she rolls to her hooves, she takes in the strange environment so totally different from her home forest. The small muddy beach she is standing on is devoid of vegetation taller than her knees, with the tree-line about 50 feet away from her. All of the plants have an odd shimmer over the normal green. As a light breeze blows across the tiny beach, the trees seem to dance with an unusual rainbow effect, throwing off glimmers of emerald, sapphire, and amethyst light. The unicorn stares at the trees in wonder, her fear forgotten and replaced for a moment with awe.

She suddenly shakes her head, clearing her mind from the momentary hypnosis. Knowing that she is exposed in an unfamiliar place, she immediately looks for a suitable place to take shelter for the night. As she looks, she spots a rise in the somewhat near distance, and after shaking herself to get rid of the remaining water in her coat, mane and tail, she sets off. The intertwined branches of the canopy above her head block the majority of the sun, making the temperature noticeably cooler. Still slightly damp, she feels the occasional chill run through her body, but the slight exertion from walking through the forest keeps them from getting any worse. Her ears flick around as she listens, her eyes taking in the sight of the plants and trees. After some time, she notices that the land begins to rise and become rockier.

The trees are thinner, letting her see a clearing with the hill in the center. As she steps between two trees, she finds herself in the remains of an old landslide. Lichen and moss-covered boulders protrude from the brush and sparse grass, and rotting uprooted trees lay scattered, similarly covered in plant and fungal growth. She looks up at the hill and sees an exposed cave entrance and immediately heads for it. With the sun going down and no time for anything else, it will be a nice shelter for the night. She envelops some of the branches on a fallen tree in her watery blue-colored magic and breaks them off, carrying them with her to the cave.

After dropping the branches just inside the entrance, she trots a bit deeper into the cave. She goes a small distance deeper and sees no signs of habitation. The cave seems to be a natural formation, no marks of mining in any form show on the walls, ceiling and floor. The stone only shows small flecks of mica that gleam in the feeble light coming through the mouth of the cave. As she heads deeper, the floor slants down, fairly steep at times but more or less smooth. Soon, the cave becomes too dark for her to see her own creamy hoof in front of her muzzle and she heads back to the cave entrance, following the dim light. Once there, she breaks the branches into more manageable pieces, arranges them, and sets them ablaze with a quick spell, the flames burning a shade of blue slightly darker than her magical aura. Satisfied with the fire, she heads back down the hill to try and search for a little food and to gather a bit more wood in the remaining but dwindling light.

¤ ¤ ¤

The other pegasi lays where she landed, her dark gray coat spotted with blood from scratches on her back and a rather deep cut on her hind leg. She keeps her eyes closed, not daring to get up or move, waiting for the dizziness to subside. She rubs some of the dirt off of her cyan muzzle with a similarly colored cloven hoof, and with a deep breath she struggles to her hooves, her entire body sore. Her back left leg began to bleed a bit more and threatened to give out on her, but she refuses to fall. Looking around, she is unable to see through the tree trunks, glimmering canopy and moderately dense vegetation. In the back of her mind she notices the strange leaves, but she doesn’t think about it. Her mind was preoccupied with her condition and the need for safety. She chooses a random direction and limps away, hoping she can find somepony or at least someplace to sleep. As she slowly walks, her head begins to droop and she feels cold as shock sets in.

¤ ¤ ¤

The earth pony, purple with a bright green mane and tail, tumbles through the trees, bouncing several times down a small hill before landing headfirst in a hollowed out, partially rotten stump covered in large mushrooms. After several minutes of rocking back and forth, she finally manages to pull herself out of the stump, landing on her rear with a grunt as pieces of disintegrating wood fly through the air. There is a scowl on her face as she glares around.

“Ha ha, very funny Silver, Psych…” She pauses, finding herself alone in a strange location. “…Where the feather am I?” Her eyes narrow as she scans the area. She places her hoof against a nearby tree as she stands and trots away, only to be yanked back, her hoof stuck to the trunk. She pulls on her hoof, but it’s stuck fast.

“Damnit! Stupid tree!” She pulls even harder, her hoof still not noticeably budging. “Come ON!” She feels her hoof and leg strain and sprain as it finally comes off of the tree, a chunk of bark still attached. She growls down at it and walks away, the barky hoof clumping against the ground. Each clump is punctuated with an “Ow”. She comes upon a lake and grimaces at the water, keeping her distance. As she turns back to the trees, she spots a blue glimmer in the distance and decides to head for whatever it is.

A particularly pointy stick catches her eye and she grabs it in her teeth, using it to try and chip the piece of tree off of her hoof, only getting some chunks off the edge. As she goes to break some more off, she misses and stabs herself in the hoof.

“Feeeeaaaaatherrrrrrrrrrrrrs!” She cries out, in both pain and annoyance.

¤ ¤ ¤

The changeling crashes into the side of a tree, ricocheting into another tree, both impacts cracking his gray chitinous carapace and landing in a pile of dirt and leaves. The cracks in his body are now dripping yellow blood that sizzles slightly on the decaying leaf matter. He lifts his head up and glances at himself, grimacing as he notes his bent and tattered wings. Dragging himself to his hooves with a small hiss of pain, he limps, with the occasional yelp, away from his crash site. He looks around, determined to find a safe place to hide and heal.

As he tries to peer through the strange canopy, distracted and curious about its coloration, he trips on a root, falling to the ground with a muffled cry as his barrel lands on another root. He tries to stand back up, but his hoof slips. He unconsciously spreads his wings to catch him, but, because of their state, they do nothing to help. His other leg doesn’t support him and he lands on his side, right on a wing. He lets out a breathless scream as he injures it even further. He rolls off of it but keeps it spread out, knowing that bending it will only make it hurt worse. He stands and shuffles through a patch of mud, only using three legs, keeping the fourth tucked against his barrel. He continues through the trees, heading for higher ground to avoid more mud.

Still bleeding, he stumbles past a pile of large rocks into a clearing. He looks around and sees the hill, with the cave farther up, and the now-purple fire. Normally, he wouldn’t approach others, but in his injured state, he doesn’t particularly care if they help or harm him. Walking weakly up the slope, he blinks as his vision slowly fades. He almost slips several times on his own blood, but manages to make it into the cave, flopping down between the fire and entrance and falling unconscious.

¤ ¤ ¤

The unicorn walks back into the cave, carrying some thin but supple reeds, some firewood, and a small amount of berries, which she promptly drops with a gasp, upon seeing the strange, insect-like pony. The berries bounce and roll away while the reeds stay put and the wood clatters and thumps to the stone and dirt floor. She keeps back, but takes a step forward when the changeling doesn’t move, her eyes inspecting its unfamiliar appearance. The firelight reveals that it is covered in mud and its wings are tattered and bent. Her practiced eyes note the bleeding cracks in its chitin and she hears its ragged breathing. She also intuits that it is male. Despite his strange and frightful appearance, she decides to help him, not wanting the creature to die.

She rushes back into the trees, looking at the various plants in the underbrush. She runs a hoof over many of the leaves, smells them, and sometimes tastes them, grimacing at the occasional bitter tasting ones, and even spitting out a few of the more unpleasant ones. Grabbing some large, softly bristled leaves, a few roughly straight branches, some vines, and an entire branch covered in sweet smelling leaves, she heads back to the cave. Using the reeds and magic, she quickly weaves a small, fairly watertight bowl and fills it with water from a clear puddle just outside the cave. The fire reflects off of the water as she sets it down, casting orange flickers across her and the cave walls.

Gathering everything around her, she gets to work. Using her hooves and magic, she gently wipes off the majority of the mud from the changelings body. Switching to the large leaves, she gets the remainder of the mud and blood off. She grabs a small rock and a larger, flat one and pulls them towards her, putting a bunch of the sweet leaves and a bit of the water onto the flat rock. Using the small rock, she quickly grinds the leaves and water into a thick paste. She smears the mixture onto and into the deepest cracks in his body first, covering the smaller ones after and only if they were bleeding.

With his bleeding halted, she takes a look at his wings, frowning as she gently touches and moves them with her hooves, seeing how they lay against his back and how they move. Thankful that he’s out cold, she sets the bent wing and splits it using two of the sticks and several lengths of vine. She can’t think of what to do about the other wing, which is tattered but otherwise unharmed, so she flattens several more lengths of vine and ties them around his body and wings to secure them. The familiar motions help to calm her and as she works, she studies the unconscious pony- creature in front of her, confirming that her initial thoughts about his gender were correct.

Satisfied with her work, she weaves two more reed bowls, both smaller than the water bowl. She puts the now dusty berries into the middle sized one and the rest of the leaf paste into the smallest. Placing all three bowls over by the cave wall, she sits at the entrance, watching the sun set over the shimmering trees, which shine with a golden and emerald gleam. The setting sun begins to dip behind what appears to be mountains. The air to what she thinks of as west is slightly hazy, and coupled with the great distance, she can’t quite tell. She looks over her shoulder at the changeling, noticing that his breathing is already a bit better. As she turns back to the sky, she sees the sun fully disappear behind the mountains, its light fading quickly. The trees take on an average color for a few moments, the normal green of normal trees.

As she looks to her east, the sky begins to brighten with the rising of the moon. The silvery light hits the trees, and they begin to gleam a lovely dark amethyst and onyx. The unicorn once again marvels at the strange forest, having never even heard of such a thing before. As the moon rises higher into the sky, the colors only intensify. The leaves twirl and dance at the slightest provocation, every breeze and gust of wind. The display helps to clear her mind and temporarily dispels her thoughts of what happened to her earlier. She continues to sit within the cave entrance and stare out at the forest, preferring it to her thoughts. She sighs, relaxed for the time being, and waits for the being behind her to wake.