Author's Note

Yeah, that last chapter was kinda rushed huh? Meeting two ponies already? But Fluttershy is pretty brief. I've redone that chapter too many times and that's the only intro to the story that truly works. So we just jumped into the story didnt we?

A quick note for later, Twilight's life is referred to in decades because she is an Night Elven pony and they can live up to 1,000 years. Twilight is relatively young, 51 years old, but she has been through a lot, the details of which are explained later on. Rarity is barely out of her teenage years, as she is 35 years old, considered a very young mare.
Fluttershy is only 27.
All three are Elven ponies, but Fluttershy is still a Pegasus and Rarity & Twilight are both unicorns, Elven pegasi are rarer but not impossible, and most are Druids.
Please inform me about spelling mistakes, I'll correct them.

Ashenvale

Chapter 2: Ashenvale

Rarity and Fluttershy chatted endlessly about creatures and fashion. Apparently Rarity worked in a tailoring shop in Darnassus, and was on the way to Stonetalon to meet a master tailor. Fluttershy was an apprentice under a well-respected Druid that Twilight had either never heard of or simply didn't care enough to remember. And 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. Honestly! Who cares if she's in my future? I don't need this...why did I even agree to it in the first place?

"Oh, we're here!" Rarity gasped in awe. As they stepped from Darkshore into Ashenvale, the dull green trees seemed to vanish, replaced by all the colors of the rainbow, shining from the trees above. Each one as tall as the mesas in the Thousand Needles. Tiny, blue wisps flit about gracefully, hovering around the newcomers for mere seconds before zooming away. Even Twilight gazed around, astonished by the immense beauty of the forest around them, she had been to Ashenvale before, but it still managed to amaze her.

"I do love Ashenvale so much, all the colors and the animals..." Fluttershy cooed, she 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 snapped, trotting past them with a huff. Rarity and Fluttershy glanced at each-other, then set off after Twilight. The sooner we get there the better, I need to get rid of these crazy ponies! Twilight looked back with a sigh.

The walk to Astranaar wasn't very long, only about a quarter of an hour. As Ashenvale was not a very large place, and one could travel the entire forest in under a day's journey. Twilight and her companions crossed a bridge that connected the small isle Astranaar sat upon to the forest around. Surrounding the town was a large lake, glistening blue in the evening sun. Along with a few boats carved into the shape of swans floating about it's surface, each with a luminescent blue lamp hanging from the "beak".

Twilight glanced to her left as she walked, there was a light pink pony who wore blue feathers brushing a fascinating creature called a hippogryph. The torso of this creature was like that of a giant parrot, and the hindquarters like that of a horse. Each one was at least three times the size of a pony, and some ponies even arrived by air atop their backs every so often. One of the hippogryphs screeched loudly at the visitors, and though it hurt their ears, it was the hippogryph's way of saying Hello.

"By Luna's moon! One could kill an army with that voice." Rarity swore, rubbing her ear.

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

Twilight trotted past them, "Come on you two, no dawdling!" she called as she headed 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 grey stallion, obviously the bartender, came over to them and shook their hooves. "Oh Fluttershy! Welcome back sweetheart." He winked at Fluttershy, who grinned in response.

"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 little 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 moved to a magnificent fireplace to stir 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 when she realized it was Forest Mushroom stew she gave in. Her mother used to make Forest Mushroom stew - which she hadn't had for decades - and even though she hated remembering anything of her past, she couldn't 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 nearest candle swiftly, Twilight was still half asleep, staring at nothing and shaking, beads of sweat running down her forehead. "Oh, darling..." Rarity sat on Twilight's bed, examining her carefully before gathering her into her hooves and rocking her back to sleep. "Ande’thoras-ethil..." she began to whisper a prayer against evil, and Twilight's glazed eyes drooped as she relaxed in her hold. Rarity grasped a brush with her telekinesis, 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 before shutting her eyes and falling asleep.

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

"Yes I did, best night of sleep I've had in years." Twilight smiled, leaning back against her chair and placing her hind hooves on the table. She had swiftly finished her breakfast, which consisted of thick moon-tubers and moonberry juice.

"Might I ask what you dream about?" Rarity pried, glancing up whilst daintily cutting into a juicy moon-tuber.

Twilight's sour mood was immediately back, "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 as she got the message and nodded. It was obviously a very sensitive matter and she struck a nerve by asking. "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 began counting coins for the bartender.

Rarity sighed, leaning back in her chair, this unicorn 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 this morning that orcs tend to hide in these parts. We should be on our guard." Twilight was tightening her own belt, sliding her spellcaster's sword into the sheath.

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

"Tensions between the Night Elven Ponies and The Horde have risen greatly in the past few years. The Orcs have recently taken Azshara and are encroaching on Ashenvale. Most of the battle is in Warsong Gulch, but there are a few that prowl the roads." Twilight explained. "Where have you been all this time? Teldrassil?" she 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 a glowing, blue ankh briefly appeared above her head. "It's a holy blessing." Rarity bowed.

Fluttershy smiled at her, closed her eyes, a purple mist surrounded Rarity and Twilight, condensing into a paw above their heads. "Likewise, it will protect you from wild animals. One less threat to worry about. A gift from Luna." Fluttershy bowed back, then turned away and trotted to her house.

"Why don't I get a 'holy blessing'?" Twilight asked, smirking as Rarity nudged her shoulder with a huff and trotted past.

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 Tyrande decides to send more 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 more than 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, noting that they were beautiful but deadly.

Twilight glanced warily at the forests that surrounded them, scanning the bushes carefully, something moved. "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, promptly afterwards, a creature leapt from the bushes. An uglier pony, you've probably never seen. Green skin, sparse, oily mane, and sharp teeth. "Orcs!" Twilight yelled, charging up her horn, she blasted the attacking orc with a missile of arcane magic, he stumbled, then - growling - 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 - this one female - wielding an double-bladed axe. Granted she was not pretty, but she was certainly easier on the eyes than the orc stallion. She had less pronounced teeth, and her body was thinner, but still highly toned with muscle. Her purple hair was also thicker and pulled back into a ponytail. She snarled as her companion fell writhing to the ground. Leaping at Rarity, she swung her axe, Rarity backed up, time seemingly slowing as the blade passed just 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 mare tried to swipe at her again, but was blasted off the road by Twilight, who stomped towards the orc. Her eyes narrowed in rage as she conjured an icicle, her horn flared a second time and ice grabbed at the mare's hooves, freezing them in place. The orc screamed in irritation at her, using her axe to smash the ice on her hooves, but Twilight wasn't finished. Her horn glowed intensely as she conjured balls of fire and combined them with the ice. It surprisingly did not melt, but rather combined into what looked like a comet. With a determined yell, she shot the frostfire bolt at her enemy, grinning as the orc cried out when it made contact. Twilight fired missile after missile of the spell, blasting the orc apart ruthlessly, not caring about the green blood that splattered across her face. When she was sure the mangled orc was dead, she attended Rarity. "That was close.." Twilight helped Rarity stand.

Rarity was clutching her chest, wincing as Twilight's hooves pulled her up, "I'm ok, the wound isn't too deep." Rarity gasped as she stood, her legs nearly buckling from the loss of blood. Large droplets of deep red blood oozed from the ghastly wound in her chest.

Twilight examined the wound and grimaced, "Maybe so, but it's still bleeding too much." she opened her pack and pulled out a linen gauze, along with a silvery-blue paste. "I'm going to cauterize it to help stop the bleeding, but it's going to hurt, badly." Twilight looked at Rarity to gauge her response.

Rarity gulped, glancing nervously at Twilight, then she closed her eyes, "Ok..." she leaned up against a nearby tree, bracing herself. Twilight nodded and conjured a small flame, gently touching the fire to her wound. Rarity opened her eyes in surprise at the pain and grit her teeth in an attempt to stay quiet, but cried out anyways as the fire cauterized the blood. It was over in an instant, Rarity sighed and collapsed onto her haunches as the fire vanished, closing her eyes. "Thanks.." she mumbled, slightly sarcastically.

Twilight rolled her eyes, "Well you definitely cannot perform a healing spell yet. I don't need you dying of an infection before we get to Stonetalon." Twilight helped her up again, and with a smile joked; "Who's going to give me my money?"

"I don't think you would've had a problem taking it from my cold, dead body." Rarity smirked as she shakily got to her hooves, taking a deep breath as the dulled, yet still stinging pain returned.

"Well that would make me a lousy guide woudn't it?" Twilight chuckled, she took some of the silvery past she had pulled out and smeared it across the wound. Rarity grunted but stayed on her hooves, and Twilight gently wrapped the linen around her chest, tying it around her neck and legs to keep it secure. Twilight stepped back and looked at her work with a nod, then noticed Rarity's coat, which was stained with dry - but thick - blood. When she thought about it, so was her own face. "Looks like we both need a bath." she giggled.

Rarity scowled, kicking dirt on the corpse of the orc nearest to her and huffing as she trotted down the road. Yet she walked rather clumsily, she wasn't losing anymore blood, but she had already been weakened enough. Twilight followed closely behind, cautiously eyeing the forest around.

"I'm just glad there were only two, one of us could have lost a limb, or died. Orcs are notorious for decapitating victims..." Twilight explained as she walked, looking over her shoulder and bumping into Rarity, who had stopped abruptly.

"Here's the crossing..." Rarity said, glancing 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 than it would be to travel along the orc-infested main road, but they didn't have much of a choice. Seeing as there were no lamps lining the path, Twilight let her horn glow, trotting carefully 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 briefly cantered to catch up to Twilight, and though she stumbled, they were soon 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 a half an hour, but we should get there before nightfall." Twilight had pulled out her map again.

"Alright then." Rarity sighed, promptly jumping in fear as a stag ran across the path ahead of them, "Sweet Celestia!" she gasped, "I thought it was another orc." she laughed, blushing in embarrassment, Twilight smiled and 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 said, the walk along the path had been uneventful. And now she turned to bid her goodbye to Rarity, who was smiling nervously. Twilight narrowed her eyes, her previous suspicions of the white unicorn suddenly returning. "What?"

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

"What are you talking about?" Twilight asked, her suspicions rising further. "Were you sent to capture me? Or were you trying to lure me into a trap? Who hired you?"

"I wasn't hired by anypony! I was trying to go with you!" Rarity yelled, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, "I'd heard about your quest, you are headed to Maraudon, at request of Tyrande Whisperwind. I-I'm her niece, and she wanted me to accompany you." Rarity cringed in await of Twilight's rage.

But Twilight simply blinked with intimidating coolness, "I thought I had told Tyrande to keep it 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 nervously, but Twilight could see that was a lie.

"No...she didn't tell you to come did she? You overheard her and snuck away, didn't you? You weren't really going to pay me to bring you here, it was just part of the act, wasn't it?" Twilight had approached her companion and leaned closer, inches away from Rarity's anxious face.

Rarity gulped, "...well..."

"Obviously I'm correct...what do you think this is? Playtime? I'm probably going to die on this quest anyways, what chance did you think you had? You barely outwitted that orc back there!" Twilight scolded, turning on her hind leg and glancing over her shoulder at the humbled unicorn.

Rarity's head dropped in shame, after a deep sigh she nodded, "I'll go home then..." she whispered as she turned to walk away.

Twilight opened her mouth to speak, but paused, No, she can't go back! Those orcs would take her in an instant without your help... Twilight thought to herself. The unicorn was surely too young to be doing anything of the sort on her own. And she couldn't afford to make another trip to Astraanar. With a deep groan she pulled Rarity back with her magic. "Fine, you can come with me, but do not, get in my way! My quest, my rules. Understand?" Twilight threatened.

Rarity's eyes widened in surprise and her annoying smile returned as she nodded rapidly, "I understand. I won't get in your way. I promise." Rarity swore, placing a hoof on her heart.

"Yeah, yeah, no need for the emotional mumbo-jumbo. 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 followed close behind, skipping happily. What the hell am I getting myself into? Twilight glanced at Rarity out of the corner of her eye, She's so young....almost a child... Twilight was right, the poor young unicorn was no doubt heading into something she had never thought through. Because of which she would probably see and experience things no young mare should. I just hope she can cope. Twilight thought to herself.