Chapter 1: "Cant- Carg- Compa-"
Even with finally finding the exit from the ruined castle, he still couldn’t manage to find relief. He still hungered greatly for answers in this strange world he awoke in. The only clue he could find upon entering the ruined city was a building with a sign still somewhat intact after what seemed like a great fire consuming most of it. The sign read:
“Cant-
Carg-
Compa-”
The clue he managed to find wasn’t much, but it still triggered a sensation of familiarity within his mind, like as if he’s been here before. Like the feeling you’d get from being home after being so far away for so long. He found himself to be lost within a labyrinth of destroyed buildings, at one point or the other he felt as though he was going around in circles as the ruins began to look more and more the same as time went by. Just as he was ready to give up hope, he began to hear something off in the distance. As his ears registered the distant noise, the little white unicorn began to recognize it as...music. He couldn’t identify what kind of genre it was. Infact, it was nothing that he’d ever heard before. But none the less, it’s melody was soothing and easy on the ears, least what he could hear echoing in the distance.
He decided to follow the sound of the music with the instinct of possible danger kept from within his mind. As he drew closer to the noise, the music he heard became more clear with each step.. After a while he was even able to recognize the lyrics in the song.
“Baaaaaaybe,
Please stay with me
Don’t leave me aaaall alone.”
When he finally found the source of the music, he saw something he had never expected to see. The music of course coming from a radio but a radio owned by what was probably the strangest dragon he’s ever seen in his life. He saw the old girl setting up a campfire, humming along to the rather strange music, but she had yet to notice the white pony staring at her and her “majesty”. She stood bipedal with a funny looking cane in one of her hands, was only more or less a few inches shorter than him, was green but had no scales, a snout but no tail, and long slender hands. She wore a brown gown that covered her feet, and as she lifted her foot to light a match for her campfire he caught a glimpse of long webbed toes. Truly a bizarre reptile to behold if that’s what she even was at all.
He contemplated whether or not if approaching her was a good idea. For all he knew, this outlandish specimen could only be deceiving in looks and be hostile in some way. Eventually, the creature took a seat near the fire with a bag full of what the unicorn took to be food. Her long spidery fingers reached in when she paused, her head turning in his direction.
“Oh, hey there!” greeted the bizarre dragon as she turned off her radio and pulled out an apple from the bag beside her, “I never thought I’d actually see someone else around here who wasn’t a mangy mutt...What’s the matter?” The unicorn slowly walked up to the creature with the log still in his magical grip. The smoldering bit of cloth snuffed itself out, and the piece of wood only as good as a club for his self defence.
“Pff! Put the stick down kid, you’re not gonna do it!” called out the bizarre dragon, “I can tell just by the look in your eyes and that stance of yours that you’re too scared to even make a decent swing. Not to mention, are you seriously planning on hurting an old lady?...Are you really going to do that?” The unicorn looked away. He didn’t want to hurt her if he didn’t have to. He released the log from his magical grip, signalling that he was no threat to her at all.
“That’s more like it...Now, do you want an apple? I don't have much left but I can still spare some”. The bizarre dragon held out an apple for the white unicorn to take, also signalling that she was no threat to him at all. The unicorn slowly strode over to the campfire. With his magical grip, he took the apple from her hand and sank his teeth into it. The dragon took out another one from her bag along with a coat hanger wire. She stuck the wire through the apple and began roasting it over the fire.
“If you want a baked apple, you’re gonna have to wait. I only have one hanger so you’re gonna have to share,”, laughed the strange creature, “I haven’t really seen anyone else around here since...ever...Least one that’s not a diamond dog scavenging through the rubble like a rat. So what’s your name?” The unicorn finished chewing his bite of the apple and remained silent. His eyes moved from side to side as he tried to remember.
“...What’s wrong? Don’t you have a name? Everyone’s got a name, kid.” she said in response to his silence.
“I...I don’t know…” answered the unicorn, “I just can’t remember anything.”
“Not a thing?” she asked.
“Not a thing…” he answered and pointed over to the castle he had emerged from only a short time earlier, “I don’t even remember how I got here. I just woke up in a room in that castle and then here I am...I can’t remember a thing before either. Just...Nothing”.
“Wow...Well I wish there was something I could say or do to help ya...I’m sure your memory will come back to you soon”. The dragon pulled her apple away from the fire and clamped her jaws around it.. After a few short munches, she plucked a shriveled apple core from her mouth.
“Well...I guess you could at least tell me where I am and what happened here,” responded the unicorn.
The dragon went silent for a moment and then replied “I don’t know either…”
“You don’t know?” asked the unicorn as dumbfounded as he should be, “How could you not know if you live here?”
“I just don’t,” she said, “I only discovered this place like twenty years ago, and even after all this time, I never found out what the town’s name is, okay? In fact, I only moved here just to get away from the rest of the world, and to my knowledge this place is as secluded as they come. Plus, there’s literally almost no way of get off this mountain either, you couldn’t find a more certain death if you tried climbing it up or down. So really, how am I supposed to know?”
The unicorn looked at her and simply responded with “Oh…Well my bad then...”
“I mean look, I know this whole amnesia thing can’t be fun for you, especially with it being so bad that you can’t even remembered your name or how you got here” said the dragon as she prepared another apple on her stick, “But if you’re looking for answers, I think you’d probably have to get off this rock first. I’d doubt the diamond dogs could be much help either since they’re not into the whole ‘polite’ thing.”
“What’s a diamond dog?” he asked her.
“Oh boy...Diamond dogs are these...Well, think of hobos, strays, and rats mixed together into one large dog-like creature that loves poaching shiny things like gems, and rolling around in their own filth and you got yourself a diamond dog.” she answered, “The pack around here calls themselves the ‘Mangy Mutts’ like as if they’re some tough guys with a reputation around here. Stupid name I know, but we usually leave each other alone since I usually pack light. Perhaps you should do the same when they’re around”.
“Okay…” nodded the unicorn, “So how do I get off this mountain if I can’t just climb down?”
“Ya not gonna like it since I brought up the diamond dog thing” answered the bizarre creature, “The only way up or down here is through their little cave that they call home. I know that’s how I got up here twenty years back”.
“Wait really? But how did you get pass all of the-”
The dragon cut him off, “Sneaking...I mean it was just two decades ago, but back then I could carry myself around enough to be as quiet as a mouse...Especially all the way up a mile high spiraling tunnel. But sadly that ain’t me anymore”.
“Wwwwow…” was the only think the unicorn could respond with.
“Yyyyup. Well I guess I’ll quit keeping you from your little quest now if you wanna. You want the last apple for the road?” said the strange dragon, offering him the bag.
“Oh sure, thanks”. The unicorn took the apple and offered her bag back.
“Nah, you can keep it kid. I think you could use it more than I could, honestly” responds the dragon.
“Oh gee thanks…” smiled the unicorn as he got up to begin his journey, “Oh, say...I never got your name.”
“Heh, I’ve had a lot of names throughout my youth...Call me Flambé. Auntie Flambé if you feel like it,” says the strange dragon as she lightly waved him goodbye.
“Alright. Thanks for everything, Flambé”. And so the little white unicorn picked up the log that he had before in his grip and began to venture further into the ruined city, towards the mountain the city sat upon. Along the way he spotted a bit of rope hanging from what might have been a street lamp. Tilting his head, the unicorn undid the frayed knots that held it in place and attached it to his bag, fashioning a crude saddlebag. He looked down at the jurry-rigged bag and felt satisfied to see the handiwork even though it wasn't much or wouldn’t likely last very long, but none the less he was glad to have something to carry stuff around in. Just then he heard the faint sound of trash and debris rustling. The unicorn picked his head up as soon as the noise reached his ears and leaned toward the direction of the sound. After a few seconds he heard growling amongst the rustling. His jaw tightened as he put himself on alert. As instinct began to take control, he pulled the skinny log out of his saddle bag and found the courage to head towards the noise.
The rustling lead him to a nearby house where a wall in front of him was the only thing that stood. He quietly crept up to the wall and peaked around the corner. Behind the wall were three canine-like creatures, scavenging through the rubble of what was once the rest of the house, muttering and growling as they continued to sift through the debris for what the unicorn could assume was food.
“So hungry...” whimpered the smallest of the three hound creatures.
“Ah quit ‘cher whimperin’ and keep looking, there’sh gotta be shomethin’ around this heap that we could shnack on!” complained the second largest of the three who apparently had several teeth missing. Just then the largest of the hounds with a thick gray coat that even covered his eyes began sniffing the air.
“What’s the matter, Dahwin? ‘Cha shmell shomethin?” asked the toothless middle dog.
“IS IT FOOD!? TELL ME IT’S FOOD, DARWIN!” Added the smallest of the three as he jumped with excitement. The largest of the three barked aggressively as he pointed towards the wall that was the unicorn’s hiding place. He jumped from the debris heap and raced towards the wall. With very little time on his hooves, the unicorn prepared his log as the largest hound darted towards him. In no time at all the two other diamond dogs began to tag along with Darwin to find whatever it was that his nose had picked up. As the pattering sounds of the largest hound’s paws drew closer and closer, the unicorn tightened his magical grip on the piece of wood as the noise drew nearer. Before he knew it the hound leaped at the end of the wall where he was standing and without thinking, he swung the piece of firewood directly at the beast as hard as he could. There was a loud “SMACK!” and an even louder “YELP!!” that stopped the other two on their tracks.
“...D-...Dahwin?...” called out the the larger hound as the two stood there petrified to see their friend just lying there lifeless half-way behind the destroyed wall. The unicorn saw what he did, and began to move away from Darwin’s body. Within a few seconds, the two hounds built up the courage to approach the body of their friend to see the scared little unicorn standing on the other end of the wall with the piece of firewood still clutched in his horn’s grip. The unicorn was now the one that was petrified as he saw the two hounds staring at him and the motionless body of their fellow beast lying before them. Not a single one moved for what he swore felt like forever. The smaller dog suddenly whimpered as he backed away and bawled.
“YOU KIHLED DAHWIN!!” cried out the second largest as he charged at the unicorn in rage. Fear overtook the unicorn as the toothless diamond dog sprinted at him, and with instinct in control of his body and thoughts he swung the log as hard as he could at the second largest dog. The log made a sickening crack as it broke in half from the impact of its collision with the dog’s cheek. The impact sent the dog flying into the wall, causing him to fall down just as lifeless as the first dog was. As soon as the smallest of the three saw his other friend fall down from the strike, terror began to force his paws to run as fast as he could away from the unicorn. As he watched the smallest of the dogs fleeing and crying in terror, unicorn took a moment to look down at both of the motionless hound-like creatures. With a sigh he began to collapse against the wall as the merciful blanket of relief fell down upon him. He glanced at his weapon. It was broken in half from how hard he swung, making the piece of wood only good for a toasty fire like how it intended to be from the start.
Just as he finally felt like things would be looking up, thunder began to erupt from the clouds and shortly after little drops of water began to follow. The unicorn used this as an excuse to calm himself down from the whole plight and went off to go find shelter from the storm that was brewing. He knew for a fact that he must not be discouraged by the fact that he now had nothing to defend himself with and only an apple and a little bag to his name. He thought of maybe putting rocks inside of his bag and just use that as a weapon in case if he ran into anymore of those beasts, but then saw how old and worn the bag was and how likely the bag would rip from as much as a single swing, even if he missed. After a short while of looking, the unicorn finally found a ruined house with enough of the roof intact to keep him out of the rain. As he sat there, just watching the drizzle grow into a full sprinkle of a summer rain he was finally able to get a sense of relaxation and decided to rest his head for just a moment. It was absolutely nothing like the bed from before, but it had to do. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and just let his mind drift off into an unconscious state, feeling confident that nothing will be able to find him as he slumbered in the ruined city.
“Remember...Try to remember...” the voice that he felt sentimental towards echoed into his mind once more as he delved into unconsciousness.
“This is not your first life...You had another one before this...The world that you once knew has changed in ways you could never imagine...Evil...Evil has taken hold of this world, and only you can undo this cruel, twisted reality...But fear not...for we are with you...Seek the happiness of others that you meet...and with it, your soul will be restored...It’s the only way...” the voice was the only thing the unicorn could remember from his slumber. When he awoke, he found that the rain had stopped but the sky was still partly cloudy. The sky was still clear enough for him to see the sun beginning to set. This made the unicorn feel foolish for falling asleep so early, but regardless he stood up and began to continue his journey to the mountain side.
In much less time than he thought, he finally managed to reach the mountain side, and luckily he even spotted the cave that Auntie Flambé was talking about. He thought back to earlier about the two diamond dogs that he struck with the log and thought about whether or not if the others knew about it yet. If they did, there’d definitely be no chance of getting through the cave in peace just by asking nicely. If they didn’t, well maybe asking nicely alone wouldn’t be enough to have him welcome in their domain. So to be absolutely safe, he had no other choice but to try his best to sneak through the mile long cave that spiraled downward according to his bizarre dragon friend.
“If Flambé could do it twenty years back, then surely I could be more than capable” he thought. So the unicorn waited for night to completely fall so that maybe he could be able to sneak through the caves as they slumbered. His only source of light would have to be from the magic of his horn. Even though the light couldn’t shine any further than a couple of feet from his head no matter how hard he tried, it was all that he had. He entered the cave, stepping as lightly he could, taking the smallest steps possible in hopes of not walking into any of the sleeping dogs. His eyes kept scanning around whatever the light from his horn touched, stopping dead in his tracks and immediately turning the light from his horn off for every moment that he felt that he might have disturbed one of the dog’s slumber even in the slightest. He kept doing that over and over until there was no telling the difference between the feeling of a minute and the feeling of a second at that point. Eventually he came to a small tunnel at the end of the cavern, something like a doorway that led to the next one.
He reached the empty space that was surrounded by the snores of the canine scavengers and sat right down right in the center of it. He tried to calm himself down from the suspense but also tried to juggle that with being alert as even the slightest noise could cause the whole cave to fire up with ferocious, angry diamond dogs surrounding him at literally every end. A sudden chill passed over him as he stood still, waiting for when he felt ready to carry on through the dark. The caves were full of snoring, so much so he could barely hear himself think.The stallion bit his lip as he finally worked up the courage to continue, and as quietly as a mouse he picked himself up and slowly and softly used his magic as his only light source once again. As he was just about to take his first step over the next snoozing beast, something manages to break his concentration freezing him as still as a statue.
“Look, someone from up above!
See at how he runs with haste!
"Put away your claws, my love.
I can’t but wonder how he’d taste.”
A voice...Small, faint, and hardly there. But it was there all the same. Raspy as wind fluttering through the cracks in a wall.
“May I cut his hooves in two?
Might I tug him by the hair?
Can we chop him up for stew?
Will he be well done or rare?”
The unicorn looked around as hard as he could through the darkness, eyes wide, for the source of the voice. After a short moment of his vision darting from the left to the right, he saw movement. Something, a shadow, light as cobweb, was crawling over the sleeping forms of the dogs as gracefully as a spider. The unicorn felt his muscles tense as the fine hair on the back of his neck stood straight up. Something felt utterly wrong about the way it moved.
The stallion felt his heart skip a beat as the shadow froze and swiveled what might have been a head in his direction. Two enormous green eyes sparkled like emeralds as they reflected from the light of the unicorn’s horn in the dark. They gleamed like cat eyes as they stared directly at him, penetrating into his soul like a knife. A soft cackle sounded out in the darkness. A bead of cold sweat ran down the stallion’s forehead as it rebounded off the cavern walls, right where it could wake the dogs. But none stirred. And before his very eyes he saw the creature become perfectly visible in the dark. An unearthly green glow bursts from a small, twisted horn atop a bulbous head with batlike ears. Something like a grotesquely bent foal’s body stood beneath it, hunchbacked and skeletal with a gnarled tail behind it. But the face...It was sharp and angular, with a mouth far too wide. The thing was entirely green, from its eyes to it’s patchy coat to the tip of its tail.
It looked at him. He looked at it. The thing smiled; it’s double rows of sharp, yellowed teeth stretching from ear to leathery ear. With a gnarled hoof it took off the strange, ruddy brown stocking cap on it’s head and gave the unicorn a bow. It never broke eye contact as its horn sparked and crackled again, long tendrils of sickly green light reaching into the ragged cap and pulling out something long and thin. The unicorn realized that it was a needle from how it shined at certain angles from the unicorn’s horn as the creature moved it around like a maestro conducting an orchestra.
The leathery being kneeled down right next to the closest dog near him, staring at him with his angular and twisted smile with the needle pointed right at the beast’s rear end. The unicorn’s eyes were as wide as they could go as he realized what this little monster was about to do. He signaled the creature not to do it by shaking his head, the creature replies with a quick nod. This went on a few more times, both the nods and shakes of their heads more sincere than the last. The pattern was broken as the creature began to send the needle towards the mutt’s posterior. The stallion had to think fast. To his luck he realized in no time at all that the solution was to simply use his magic to take the needle away from the creature. He did so as the needle was less than an inch away from the diamond dog. The stallion feeling satisfied with himself stuck his tongue out in a childish manner. The creature just looked at him for a few seconds and instantly placed it’s hoof into his mouth. The noise that came next was something like a shrieking teakettle.
This of course caused all the diamond dogs to jump out of their slumber. Immediately they began lighting up the caverns with torches as every last one of the beasts turned their attention to the source of the noise, seeing nothing out of the ordinary except for a white intruder with a completely dumbfounded and stupefied look on his face. Before he could even bother registering what in the world just happened, the unicorn was thrown into the center in the cavern, being surrounded by nothing but the angry faces of many diamond dogs and the noise of growling at every turn. Among the angry groups emerged a small diamond dog, one of the three mongrels he encountered earlier. Another dog emerged from the group along side him, this one as big as a tiger.
“Is that him, Gordy?” asked the giant diamond dog.
Almost immediately the small dog responded with “THAT’S HIM DANE!! THAT’S THE UNICORN THAT KILLED TOOTHLESS AND DARWIN!!” which caused all the other dogs to grow more ferocious at our hero. The giant dog approached the frightened stallion, there faces met close enough for the pony to feel the mutt breathing on him.
“You...Monster...” the giant dog spoke, “Why did you do it? Why did you kill Toothless and Darwin? Those two you just killed were some of the oldest members of the Mangy Mutts. It was me, Gordy, Toothless, and Darwin that found this mile long haven that kept us all safe from the outside world, and even out of the generosity of our hearts we liked to scout outside and search for food and other resources for our brethren. I didn’t go with them this time because I was busy preparing dinner for our young. Every last one of those babies are now asleep, blissfully unaware that they’ll never get see those two ever again! What do you have to say for yourself, pony? Why did you do it?!”
The unicorn’s eyes were locked dead into the giant’s, completely petrified he was unable to make as much as one muscle move or one sound from his mouth.
“ANSWER ME!!” barked the ferocious beast.
Immediately, the unicorn snapped out of it and answered with a quick “I’m sorry! They were going to eat me! They ran at me and I had no choice!!”
“Eat you?? EAT YOU?!?” The giant diamond dog along with all the others could not believe what they just heard. “WE EAT PLANTS AND ROCKS YOU FOOL! If we ate meat, you don’t think we would have eaten that old dragon lady who’s been living in the town above already??” Just then, Gordy approaches the unicorn and began sniffing all around him. Gordy’s nose directed him to the worn out saddle bag that hung from the pony’s side. The giant dog shoved his paw into the bag and pulled out the apple that was in it. He leered at the apple and then puts it right up to the stallion’s face. “This is probably what they went after you for! This one little apple!...But I guess it just doesn’t matter now, does it? You will pay for what you’ve done!”
All the dogs around him barked and hollered at him. All demanding justice, and all demanding for the unicorn’s head.
“Maul him!” One yelled out.
“Stone him!” Shouted another.
“BURN HIM!” Screamed a third.
It looked like the end for the poor little stallion. Even if he did expect failure, he never would have thought he’d achieve it so early. Alone. In the middle of a cave, surrounded completely by ferocious diamond dogs foaming for his death after killing two of their kind. But was it quite the end for our little pony? The jeering slowly faded into silence as they began to hear a familiar voice calling out for anyone that would listen echoing from the direction the unicorn came in. Everyone was as quiet as they were motionless when they heard the sounds of the voice come closer and closer.
“Hello?...Wher ish evry one?” the voice echoed before the sounds of light barking followed right after. It was none other than the two dogs that all the others thought the unicorn killed, Toothless and Darwin. The diamond dogs immediately ran towards the two, as happy as they could be to see two of their founders okay, with only large bumps on their heads as the only injuries on them. When there joy managed to finally settle down, the dogs were reminded of the stallion just sitting there across the spacious area, unsure of what to do now.
“...Get out…” The giant dog called to the stallion. “You almost killed Toothless and Darwin, for that we won’t kill you. But we still don’t want to see you ever again”.
“Surely that’s what you were doing in our cave, just trying to leave this mountain...Now go and never come back” Added the small diamond dog, Gordy. Two of the dogs then escorted the stallion to the bottom end of the cavern. At the bottom exit the unicorn saw a giant rock blocking it, the two diamond dogs pushed the rock out of the way like it was nothing at all. The stallion took a look back at all the other diamond dogs, quietly awaking for his departure. He walked through the exit, and the dogs moved the rock back as soon as he was completely out. He took a look around and saw the sun already rising from the horizon. As the day finally began to come in, he found that the setting was now only a little less depressing. The sky was now much more clearer, but the little white unicorn could still see houses and buildings either torn down or burnt to the ground along with a bunch of other strange and otherworldly looking huts and buildings scattered off in the distance. He thought back to the voice that he heard in his dream and what it said to him.
“Seek the happiness of others that you meet...and with it, your soul will be restored…” And with that the stallion took a deep breath and began to venture into this new and strange land, trusting his gut instinct as his only compass into the unknown.
This was only the first step of a long, perilous journey set before the little white unicorn...
