[Windy Moorland – south of the Crystal Mountains]

Nathaniel had been sneaking and hiding as he traveled by using whatever small rise in the land he could find, making full use of any shrub, rock, or stunted tree available and generally using every trick he had learned during his time as the cybernetic security chief, Adam Jensen. Unfortunately, despite Adam having had the benefit of a surprising amount of waist-high cover to utilize, Nathaniel was finding the moorland a real pain to navigate while remaining unseen. Already in the past hour, he’d run into two more Prairie Rats and been forced to dispatch them; one he managed to even successfully sneak up behind and finish off with a stealthy blow, demonstrating that there was some kind of damage bonus or skill modifier for sneak attacks. Since the man actually preferred stealth to front-line fighting, he was quite happy with this new information.

The real cause for his agitation however, was the appearance of a frightening new monster that Nathan spotted from a distance and had no intention of tangling with at this time; namely something his HUD labeled as a Wolf-Spider. As expected, these were full grown wolves with bulbous abdomens where their tails would be and four additional limbs of the arachnid variety: two jutting eerily from the front-shoulder area and two from behind the hind wolf legs. The most unnerving thing about the creatures to the hero was the multitude of wolf eyes peering over a fang-filled snout that was turned sideways, like a spider’s mandible. Just looking at the things from a distance turned his stomach and he felt the violation of such a creation. He watched as they moved with a liquid scuttle across the grasslands, pouncing on anything too slow to escape and wrapping them up in silk cocoons for later eating. Nathaniel was keen to notice Daisy Chain hovering as close as possible in abject terror of being spotted.

After another hour of slow but methodical prowling, Nathaniel came across the main roadway leading north/south and he assumed from his guiding arrow, the road that would get him closer to the Moot. He didn’t dare relax completely, but his observations showed that the roads seemed less populated by flesh-hungry critters than the plain he had just vacated. As he traveled along the road, keeping his head on a swivel and scanning the grasslands for threats, he noticed something large enough on the horizon to be seen at distance that appeared to be sitting in the middle of the roadway further along his path. Within the hour he came upon what used to be a traveler’s wagon, its contents now strewn about along with the telltale signs of bloodstains on the surrounding ground.

“Poor bastards never had a chance. Although…” the boy paused as he walked the scene. “It looks like these tracks show another group coming from the north and heading back that way. Rescuers perhaps? I don't see any bodies, or remains so... At the least, I should search the wagon for any valuables that might be left behind.” He looked at Daisy in mock innocence. “You know, in case they might want any of it back?”

“Mmmhmm,” was the only response he received from the tiny creature, her mellow bass showing her disbelief at his supposed altruism.

Nathaniel grinned. “I knew you’d agree,” he responded, and walked up to the wagon with his weapon at the ready. Part of the vehicle was still covered by some kind of tarp and the shapes underneath seemed to be boxes or crates judging from their outlines. Looking around the wreckage, he spotted a small chest on the road that had been turned on its side, the recent scuffmarks not enough to hide the obvious value of the chest and its probable contents. Picking the small container up, he noted the weight and the sound of jingling inside. His excitement growing, Nathaniel pried the chest open to reveal a small fortune in small gemstones and coins, ‘bits’ according to the survival guide he skimmed earlier. Mixed in among the treasure were some unadorned pieces of simple jewelry in various precious metals.

“Jackpot,” he said quietly and stuffed the box into his kitten-motif backpack. He then smiled smugly at Daisy Chain and moved around to the wagon bed to finish his search.

As he reached the back of the wagon, he lifted the corner of the tarp with his free hand and held his stick at the ready, thoughts of Barry Bonds batting swings foremost in his mind. As he pulled the tarp off the boxes, he could have sworn that one of the smaller crates moved under its own power. This kind of freaked the man out more than a little. With his heart hammering in his chest, he whipped the tarp the rest of the way off in one motion and gripped his stick with both hands taking up a batter’s stance and waiting for something to happen. Daisy Chain seemed to vanish into thin air, defining discretion as the better part of valor. The box remained still. After a moment, an idea occurred to him.

“Hello? Is there anyone there?” he said in his conversational volume, hoping to trigger something. What he didn’t expect was the muffled gasp followed by silence that emanated from the box in question. He was now curious and also worried that what he had was an abandoned survivor on his hands. “It’s alright. I won’t hurt you. If you need help, I promise I’ll do what I can. Just…come out of the box and talk to me, okay?”

The edge of the box lifted slightly and he saw a pair of eyes peeking out at him from underneath. “W-what are you?” the small girlish voice asked. “A-are you a m-minotaur?”

Figuring that he was dealing with a child, Nathaniel lowered his stick and tried a reassuring smile. “Not exactly, although I think we may be related," he postulated with an exaggerated scratch of his chin. "I’m a human, and my name is Nate. What’s your name?”

The small creature didn’t answer right away, but after a few moments the voice replied, “L-Lemon, Lemon Square. Where…where is everypony? Why am I all a-alone?” The tears in her voice were obvious.

Nathaniel gave a sad smile. “Do you remember anything before...you hid away sweetie? I think some monsters showed up and did some scary things.” The sniffling from under the box was all the confirmation he needed. “The ones you traveled with, I think they were hurt but someone came and took them away to get better. You did such a good job of hiding, they didn’t notice you hun and that’s why you’re here, but I’ll take you to them if you want, okay?”

The box lifted to reveal a small, lemon-yellow filly. Her white mane and tail were looking rather worse for wear and her general appearance seemed dirty and sweaty.

‘Oh my god, these ponies are adorable… No wonder Discord is pissed,’ he thought.

It pained his heart to imagine this poor child alone for a least a couple of days, hiding under a tarp and judging from the apple cores, eating what little food survived the attack. “Are you hungry or thirsty?” Her nod was almost enough to stop the slow leak of tears from her eyes in anticipation of sustenance. Nathaniel had found a few rations and a water skin filled with fresh clean water at the bottom of his bag when he skinned his more recent kills. “It’s okay; I promise I’m your friend. Come closer and I’ll give you a drink. Don’t drink too fast or you’ll make yourself sick, understand?” She nodded but her dried and cracked lips demonstrated that Nathan would have to watch her carefully.

Slowly, she crawled closer and Nathaniel, just as slowly, lifted the skin and poured a trickle of water into her eager mouth. “There you go, slow down. That’s it.” Nathan continued to coo and speak in soothing tones hoping to calm the filly and gain her trust. “Do you like pears Lemon?” She nodded again. “Good, I have some nice juicy pear cubes in syrup. Not the healthiest meal, but the sugar and the liquid should help.” He peeled open a tin of canned pears and slid it across the wagon bed towards the little pony and she seemed to enjoy them with gusto. Daisy Chain came out of hiding to look at the little filly and Nathaniel decided to introduce the two of them. “Lemon Square, this is my companion, Daisy Chain. Daisy, this is our new friend Lemon Square.”

Lemon looked up from her feast and her eyes became huge. “That’s a breezie! I’ve never seen one before but, wow!” Nathaniel loved how resilient kids could be at times. The genuine smile on her face did all of them some good he thought. “Are…are you really my friend?” the filly asked, a pout forming on her face. Nathaniel and Daisy Chain smiled at the little one.

“Cross my heart Lemon. We will take you with us to meet up with your fellow wagon riders. Were your parents or close family with you on this trip?” Nathaniel asked gently.

Lemon shook her head. “I was with my aunt and uncle. Momma said that this was a chance to see the world.” Her face fell. “I didn’t k-know it was so d-dangerous…” When she started to cry, Nathaniel gently pulled her close for a hug and began stroking her mane.

Nathaniel spoke in a soft voice and continued petting the pony. “It’s okay. Normally, this road is probably really safe but some big old mean thing is trying to do bad things all over the world, and your friend Nate is going to beat him up. Just you wait.”

After a few moments of crying, the filly got herself under control. “You’re so soft,” she mumbled, the exhaustion in her voice evident. Nathaniel quietly tucked her inside his robe and after some creative work with the pack straps and the robe tie, he had fashioned a little hammock inside his luxurious bathrobe, her little head peeking out of the top, eyes closed and breathing even.

With the familiar sound of Skyrim-style snare drums, text popped up in his vision.

Quest: Taking Fruit to the Moot

Reading the quest description revealed only: Reunite Lemon Square with her family and Nathaniel noticed two more arrows pointing in the same direction as the Plain’s Moot on his HUD compass. “Sounds like a plan,” he said. “But we need to move, the last thing I want is to spend the night out here. The Moot shouldn’t be too much father, maybe two miles or so if I’m reading this right. Let’s move Colonel Sanders.” Nathan’s grin was cheeky.

Daisy Chain huffed and her smooth radio voice commented, “That’s funny comin’ from Sir Sneaks-a-lot.”

Nathaniel just shrugged. “Camping is a valid strategy too pal, but someone is always butt-hurt.” With that, he headed off down the road, trying not to jostle the filly too much but using his height to produce some distance-eating strides as smoothly as possible.

Within the hour, the group of various tents and wagons was visible on the horizon as the sun began to get a little too low in the sky for Nathan’s taste. Taking a quick look around for hostiles, he upped his speed in hopes of reaching the camp faster. Daisy Chain was flying a bit higher as lookout and suddenly was soaring down quickly to report her findings.

“Better book it quick baby; I spotted a murder of Murder Crows headed this way about five miles from here. If they catch up, all folks 'll find left of us is some bits of cloth and whatever shiny bits they don’t carry off! Move it!” With that the ‘breezie’ zoomed off ahead towards the camp and Nathan wrapped his arms around Lemon Square for support and began to run in earnest. The bouncing woke the filly and she looked around in undisguised terror.

“Why are we running? What’s wrong?” she cried.

“It’s okay *huff* honey, we’re almost there but *gasp* we don’t want to play with *wheeze* any monsters right now so we’re gonna *puff* just run on past them and *huff* find your family, okay?” Nathaniel said, his breath beginning the strain at the continued pace. Despite being small, the filly wasn’t what Nathan would call ‘light’ and the added weight of his gear was not helping his cause.

Nathan was sorely tempted to look behind him at his supposed incoming doom, but it never seemed to work out for the protagonists of books or movies and he was rather attached to his face; and his arms. Also his legs and pretty much the rest of his body parts would be greatly missed if they became birdfeed. So, overcoming his morbid curiosity Nathaniel continued to sprint the last leg of his run, until he spotted what seemed to be an actual minotaur guard accompanied by a…lion-eagle guarding the closest entrance, the rest of the visible Moot blocked off by hastily constructed wooden fencing to limit access, probably from hungry monsters unless Nathaniel missed his guess.

‘A…griffon! That’s it, it’s a griffon!’ he thought in triumph as he stopped right in front of them, several feet away and struggling to catch his breath. He eyed their defensive stances and weapons carefully, trying to formulate his words. Since he was stopped for the moment, he decided to turn and look at the thing he was running away from and immediately wished he hadn’t.

Growing closer with each moment was a flying, black cloud of death only a couple miles away. Their numbers must have been in the hundreds with the size of the flock moving towards them, and Nathaniel seriously contemplated forcing his way past the guards to find refuge when the flock suddenly wheeled off to the east for reasons that weren’t quite clear; that is, until a rather large-looking dragon took flight from behind a copse of trees and tried to escape the swarm of Murder Crows that had noticed it. It beat its wings frantically, heading east away from the birds, but they were faster and apparently rather determined to bring the great beast down.

The dragon roared some form of draconic curse and roasted dozens of the bloodthirsty monsters with a quick neck turn and a gale of fire breath, but the survivors simply folded their wings and tore through the dragon’s membranes with razor-sharp beaks, like a blast of feathered nails. Screeching in agony the dragon attempted to correct its failing altitude but the Murder Crows continued to harass the drake despite their heavy losses to bouts of flame until it plummeted from the sky, its wings too damaged to keep it aloft any further. With a resounding crash, the large dragon hit the ground rolling and the black cloud circled overhead momentarily before converging on the fallen one to shred the meat from the struggling beast via claw and beak. While Nathaniel was both fascinated and nauseated, the two guards looked like they couldn’t even begin to understand what they had just witnessed. Lemon Square was hiding inside his bathrobe, terrified beyond rational thought and Daisy Chain flew over to land on her shivering form.

“Gentlemen, I hate to rush you but I’ve got a little filly here whose family was brought here wounded from an ambush on the road and as a bonus I’d like to get inside the Moot before those crows decide to look for dessert,” Nathaniel said, trying to sound reasonable. He was looking calm on the surface but the nervous energy he had was causing him to bounce slightly from foot to foot in anticipation.

The minotaur recovered first and blinked slowly before frowning. “Yes, Stone Fist remembers this. Two ponies were seriously hurt, monsters on the road. How did you get here unhurt stranger?” His tone wasn’t threatening just yet, but anyone could tell it was a near thing.

Nathaniel just smiled. “I hid when I could and ran when I couldn’t,” he shrugged. "When I found this little one I brought her with me to reunite her with her family. If there’s one thing I’m proud of it’s my hiding and sneaking away from monsters skill.” Nathaniel tried to appear nonthreatening and sound as if he was just damn lucky to have made it. The minotaur glanced at the filly he was petting and then at the ‘breezie’ and let out a breath he had been holding.

“Very well stranger, Stone Fist welcomes you to the Plain’s Moot as long as you don’t start trouble.” Nathan could tell the minotaur’s heart wasn’t in the threat though, as if the weight of all the recent activity was taking its toll on him and he wasn’t sure what to think. “The pony’s family should be by the medical tent in the center. Once the sun is down, Stone Fist suggests you find shelter in one of the tent houses rented to traveling visitors.” His griffon companion only spared Nathaniel a quick once over before returning his attention to the sounds that still carried over the grassland of the struggling dragon and its horde of tormentors.

“My thanks Stone Fist,” Nathaniel commented and walked past the guards into the town-sized grouping of wagons and colorful tents and headed for the center of the gathering. His HUD informed him that the quest Make it to the Moot was complete and he was awarded the experience, along with a message that he was now level two.

His vision was quickly filled with some messages about his promotion:

Nathaniel became a bit stronger.

Nathaniel became a bit smarter.

Nathaniel became a little faster.

Nathaniel learned the spell Blast.

Following the last message, he noticed a new bar added to his HUD that simply read ‘Mana’ and the knowledge on how to use his new spell was suddenly part of his memory; the idea gave him a slight shiver when he thought about his memories being written against his will. Nonetheless, he was officially stronger and that was never a bad thing. Looking through his skills, he also noticed that his newly visible Prowl skill had increased to sixty-five, his Skinning to thirteen and his previously undiscovered Speechcraft had increased to forty-two.

“Ah, yeah!” Nathaniel quietly celebrated.

‘Things just might be looking up for me after all,’ he thought.

“How about we go find your aunt and uncle little one?” Nathaniel asked. The filly looked up at him, still slightly shell-shocked but slowly managed a timid smile and a nod. “Okay, like I said; I’m your friend and friends help each other out.” With one last rub of her mane, the man set off to finish his next quest and then figure out the next step.

Author's Note

Level 2 Student

Updates
Loot: Cured Prairie Rat Leather, Small Chest of Treasure
Escorting: Lemon Square
Locations: Plain's Moot
Spells: Blast

One doesn’t discover new lands without consenting to lose sight of the shore for a very long time.
– Andre Gide

I believe that if life gives you lemons, you should make lemonade... And try to find somebody whose life has given them vodka, and have a party.
- Ron White