Erinnby ArtaelianChaptersMany Meetings in a strange worldThe First Day In ErinnA name written in the snowMany Meetings in a strange world‘Can you hear me?’ Princess Celestia shifted slightly in her sleep as a result of the sudden voice. ‘Ah... so you can hear me...’ She was now both awake and asleep. Princess Celestia looked around at the ruins in a black void, ahead of her, standing in a single beam of light was a creature not of Equestria, but clearly it was female based on the soft sounding voice. Its hands were held close together above the chest, the eyes closed, and the black hair hung down behind its head, between two black wings. ‘This is a difficult request... Come to this world. Tir Na Nog... Is in great danger...’ Princess Celestia was now fully awake, and she slowly sat up in bed. Her sister’s moon hung low on the western horizon, signalling that the dawn would soon arrive. She yawned, her sleep having been disturbed, and thought of the message that had arrived in her dream. The being seemed desperate for assistance. Slowly, she begun to think of who she could send to fulfill the request of this being, and reasons why they should or shouldn’t be sent. Eventually, her mind settled on the perfect choice, or rather choices. Six ponies that had done the impossible before, and could just as easily do it again. -- A slight breeze rustled through the purple mane of the purple unicorn, slowly rousing her from the deep sleep she had been in. Her ears twisted around in all directions, trying to pick up any sound before she opened her eyes, but the only sound she heard were the light snores of five other ponies. Wait, that couldn’t possibly be right, she thought to herself, slowly opening her purple eyes. Sure enough, laying in various positions around her were five other ponies. The blue pegasus mare with a rainbow mane lay directly before her, two front hooves acting as a makeshift pillow under her head. To the left of her lay a pink earth pony, with a pink cotton candy looking mane, alongside an orange earth pony with a straight blonde mane and cowpony hat. Finally, to her right lay a yellow pegasus mare, with pink mane and a white unicorn with a deep purple mane. The purple unicorn wasted no time in identifying her friends, the bearers of the Elements of Harmony. But the situation didn’t make sense. Why were they in the same place, all in a deep sleep? Twilight sat up and examined the area. The sky was a soft pink, and around this were white structures that formed the support of the area they were on. Now and then, snowy white owls, and grey owls would fly around these support structures, and disappear into the distance almost as soon as they had appeared. Underneath the six ponies was a large pattern of twisting loops and straight lines, this was where they currently were, though the rest of the floor was transparent and glasslike. In one direction was a staircase, it seemed to head downward, but quickly disappeared out of sight. As Twilight examined the area around her, the five other ponies slowly roused themselves awake. Like her, they were similarly confused to their current whereabouts. “Twilight, where the hay are we?” Rainbow Dash asked first, beating the rest to the question. “How should I know? I woke up just a minute before you. But it doesn’t look like any place I’ve ever seen before.” Twilight replied, studying the pattern on the ground. “Alright, looks like we’re stuck here for some reason,” Applejack finally spoke up, having watched events so far, “rather than waste energy, let’s try to remember how we got to be here.” All six ponies looked in various directions, as they begun to try and recall their memories prior to waking up. “Well, I remember Twilight mentioning that we all had to go to Canterlot, minus Spike, for some reason.” Rarity recalled. “Oh yeah, now I remember! Princess Celestia said it was important and we had to get there fast,” Twilight added, “guess that explains why Spike isn’t here.” “But then what?” Fluttershy questioned, starting to panic. “I-I remember we met the Princess in the throne room, she said the task ahead of us was important and vital, and,” Twilight froze, a look of fear appearing on her face, “then everything went black.” she said, barely above a whisper. “So the princess did this to us? But why?” Applejack questioned. “I-I don’t know, it doesn’t make sense! It did at the time, but now I can’t remember a word of it! We didn’t do anything wrong, but why are we imprisoned here?” Twilight was now panicking herself, eyes darting about. All six froze when a bright light filled the area. Once it dissipated, above the pattern on the floor floated a strange creature. It landed and stood on its hind legs, crossing its conspicuously shorter fore legs in front of it. It had a long white mane, no coat, pale skin and blue eyes. The biped creature stood there, looking at all six ponies with a smile upon its face, and a kind, gentle look in its eyes. “Welcome, Milletians, to the world of Erinn!” it said. Twilight, Pinkie, Fluttershy, Applejack and Rarity stared at the creature, very confused both by what it was and what it had just called them. Rainbow Dash however, had gotten up and flown into the creature’s face. “What did you just call us?” she snapped. The creature seemed shocked and hurt by the sudden display of aggression, almost as if it were on the verge of tears. “Milletians. It means ‘from the stars’.” the creature replied. “Okay, and where exactly are we?” Twilight asked, carefully approaching the creature. “You are in the world of Erinn, summoned here by the Goddess. My name is Nao, and I am here to assist you in getting to know this world before you begin your journey.” Nao answered, smiling at Twilight. “Ok, so, next question. What exactly are you?” Rarity questioned, sitting down. “Ah,” Nao laughed slightly, holding a hand in front of her mouth, “I suppose the world you came from doesn’t have humans. You’ll be seeing a lot of humans in Erinn, but keep in mind, you will retain your current looks right now.” The six mares looked at each other for a moment, each hoping one of the others would think of a question to ask. Soon, Twilight cleared her throat, making it clear she was about to speak. “Alright, so why exactly have we been brought here?” she asked. “The situation in Erinn is grim,” Nao sighed, tilting her head down which caused some of her hair to slip out of place, “the humans, named the Tuatha De Dann, struggle daily in a conflict with the Formors. The Formors believe the world belong to them, and that all Tuatha De Dann must be killed. By the request of the goddess, you have been brought here to help end the conflict and bring peace to the world.” None of the six mares spoke, as they took in the information that had been given to them. They had been taken from Equestria, a relatively peaceful world, to this Erinn place, simply to take part in a conflict. And without the Elements of Harmony? As they attempted to take in the facts of their situation, Nao had produced six letters, which she handed to the six mares, along with loaves of bread for each mare. Twilight was confused as to where Nao had produced these items, considering the clothing Nao wore had no pockets, and there wasn’t a box or bag in sight. “Okay,” Nao beamed a smile of hope at the six mares, “you are all set! When you arrive, hand the letters to the village chief, it will explain to him that you are not formors, and he will pass word around that you six are safe to approach. I shall now send you on your way, good luck and we shall meet again!” Nao finished. Much like she had appeared, Nao lifted into the air slightly, defying gravity, and pushing Twilight’s mind to breaking point. With a flash of light, everything went white. -- A man watched as six shapes fell soundlessly towards Erinn. His black robe, with gold trim and celtic patterns obscured his face from sight. On his back were two white wings, which remained still as he floated, observing the fall of the six equines that had appeared in the Soul Stream. “This is your game? Use them for your purposes, when the humans failed you? You are a fool, your plan stops here.” he said to himself, raising an arm. Around him black shadows built up. In seconds, they were speeding as fast as they could from the man to the six falling mares. Rainbow Dash was the only one to see the incoming attack. Moments before the shadows impacted, she managed to grab a hold of Applejack and Rarity. There was a the sudden confusion. With Rarity screaming in Rainbow’s ear, blocking out the words Applejack tried to yell above the combined sound of the scream and roar of wind, the blue pegasus looked around for Twilight, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy. They were nowhere to be found, having apparently been blasted far away by the attack. Rainbow gritted her teeth. She hoped they would land fine. She looked down at the rapidly approaching ground. She watched and spread her wings. Features of the land begun to appear: a river passing by a windmill, a house on the opposite side. A bit further away was a large tree. It seemed to have been made the central focus of the small town they were landing towards, as other, hay covered roofed buildings circled it. Rainbow closed her eyes, just as the three mares impacted the ground. -- Rainbow groaned slightly, as something dull repeatedly pushed her in her side. Slowly, she opened her eyes. The sight that met her was that of a grassy embankment, with a crystal clear river flowing past, the water frothing on rocks and signboards that protruded from the surface, and shifting the water grass within the water. At a split in the river, a fence made of wood which was held in place on metal rails blocked the flow of the river down one side. A short distance away and behind were bridges which crossed the river, and sitting on the middle island was a windmill, similarly made of brick with a straw roof, and past this was another building, fairly large, but identically made from brick, wood and straw. In the sky, the sun shone down on a cloudless day. It was perfect, save for the fact she was on the ground, not a cloud, and whatever was pushing into her side. Choosing to ignore whatever was pushing her, she moved her head and saw Rarity and Applejack, both of whom had clearly survived the impact, as they too were waking up. Rainbow smiled, happy that at least two of her friends were safe. Turning her head the other way, Rainbow saw a brick and wood built house, the bricks exposed to the weather, the roof of the house was in half, part made from wood, the other half being covered with straw. A part of this house was open wide both on the side she was on, and to the area behind, and it contained many tools, anvils and a furnace. Beside the part of the house that was wide open on both sides stood a splitting wooden frame, which held cloth, clearly indicating how the area was closed off at night. Just past this was a wooden decking, and a pair of double doors indicated the way into the living space of the house. Glancing to her side, she froze. The pushing on her side was the result of a foot, covered in tatty leather shoes, kept on by string. This was attached to a leg, and looking further up, Rainbow was met by the sight of a short, blue haired human with a beard, a pair of tanish coloured shorts and a blue vest hung on the man’s body, his red eyes looking at her with slight disinterest. “Now aren’t you the strangest three horses to just appear. One of you would be normal, if not for the orange coat, but one with wings and the other a horn? Oh well, maybe I can take you to a stable and your owner will come along eventually.” he said. “OWNER? What do you think I am chump? Somepony’s pet?” Rainbow yelled. -- It had become very clear why Nao had given them letters and expected the ponies to have a safe trip. No sooner had she shouted at the man Rainbow later learned was named Ferghus, than he had grabbed weaponry he kept nearby and gave chase to her, Rarity and Applejack, all the while yelling “Blasted formors! Get out of our town!”. The chase had come to a quick end thankfully, before Ferghus could use the weapons on them. At a nearby bridge, Ferghus tripped on his own tied together shoes and fallen into the water, a note falling from his clothing had simply said ‘This is for breaking my expensive sword, hope your nose gets just as broken!’. All Ferghus could do from then was watch the three ponies run off to the town square from where he sat in the river, trying to untie the knotted laces. Rainbow, Rarity and Applejack panted, trying to catch their breath in the middle of the town, Rarity and Applejack glaring at Rainbow, who grinned sheepishly. “Sorry, but he implied we were pets.” Rainbow stated. “Rainbow, didn’t ya stop and think this here is a different world? Maybe they ain’t used to talking ponies, and the only ones are pets?” Applejack questioned. “Now you put it that way,” Rainbow answered, earning an exasperated groan from Rarity and Applejack, “anyway, we better find the chief Nao mentioned and give him these letters.” Nearby, a random human that had been walking by stopped, turning to look at the three ponies. “Excuse me, did I hear you say you were looking for the chief?” he asked. “Uh yeah?” Rainbow replied. “He’s just up there, past the town’s flag and the tree on the hill, did you have trouble trying to find him before?” the human asked again. “No, we just had a little misunderstanding with that crazy guy by the river, before he tripped up.” Rainbow answered. The human laughed slightly, muttering something under his breath that sounded like ‘and he wonders why no one will take anything to him to be fixed.’, before he simply waved his hand and continued on his way. “Well now, shall we go and meet this chief?” Rarity asked, standing up. Saying nothing, the three ponies walked up the small hill and past the tree that stood half way. -- The chief was an elderly looking human, his hair turning white, his brown eyes showing the years lived behind them. At first, he had been unwillingly to look at the three ponies, but changed his attitude when the letters from Nao had been shown. He was currently in the process of reading one over and over, stopping to look at the ponies, before he resumed reading once more. Finally, he finished reading, and folded up the letter, tucking it away into his clothing. He smiled at them in turn. “If Nao met you, and indeed, letters from her can not be faked, then I trust her word that you are not formors. I shall pass word around of your names and descriptions, so you will meet no further trouble.” he stated, in a soft welcoming tone of voice. “In that case, introductions are in order. My name is Rarity, this is Applejack,” she paused to point at the cowmare to her left, “and this is Rainbow Dash.” she finished, pointing to the blue pegasi, currently attempting and for some reason failing to take flight. “A pleasure, I am Chief Duncan. The man you met earlier was Ferghus. I shall be having a word with him about greeting newcomers to our town, but I hope you can forgive him, he is usually pleasant enough.” Duncan smiled. “So what do we do now?” Applejack questioned. “Well its simple. From Nao’s letter, there was supposed to be six of you little ponies standing before me, but only three do. If you had trouble when arriving, then it is safe to assume the other three are alive somewhere,” Duncan paused, folding his arms across his chest, “the solution is simple. What you three do next is learn to fight the Formors who could get in your way of finding the others.” The three ponies watched as Duncan closed his eyes, apparently going into deep thought. He remained still, the only thing moving being his hair in the slight breeze, before he opened his eyes once more. “To start with, I suggest you head up there,” he pointed to a path that led north, “and find Trefor. He shall teach you the basics of combat. Good luck.” -- Further up the path that Duncan had shown them, Rainbow Dash, Applejack and Rarity came across another human, surrounded by brown foxes. The human, another man, was covered head to toe in black armor, and all that was visible of his face was his mouth, the rest covered by a helmet. As they approached him, the man they assumed was Trefor spun on the spot suddenly, striking at all the brown foxes, some clearly just cubs, ending their lives with the sword in his hand as he spun. They froze and stared in horror at the sight for a moment, which changed to confusion when the bodies of the foxes simply imploded into black vapour a moment after their deaths. Rainbow Dash was the first to brave getting close to him, it becoming clear he had been looking at them as his head tilted down when Rainbow progressed towards him. “Um, excuse me, are you by any chance, Trefor?” she questioned. “Indeed I am little pony, and I have a question for you,” Trefor stooped down, apparently to look Rainbow in the eye, “are you ready to die?” The First Day In ErinnRainbow Dash backed away from Trefor as fast as she could as the words he had spoken sunk in. Along with Rarity and Applejack, she stared at the human as he stared at her, his mouth showing no sign of any emotion the rest of his face held hidden behind his helmet. They had become frozen to the spot, only waiting for Trefor to make a movement to bring them harm before they would run, but to the contrary, Trefor remained where he had been when he had spoken to Rainbow Dash. “E-excuse me?” Rainbow asked, doing her best to not let any of the fear she felt slip into her voice. “Well I recon you heard me well. And you saw them didn’t you?” Trefor both replied and questioned with a sigh. The three ponies before him said nothing. “It’s simple. That fox I attacked? It was once just a simple fox, but no longer, just like the rest of them. They’ve all been taken by the powers of the Formors. If you want to die the fast way, just try and be friendly to any of them,” Trefor stood up, folding his arms across his chest as he did so, “its my job to teach adventurers to defend themselves against the Formors. I haven’t lost anyone as a result of my training. Not willingly anyway.” Rainbow Dash looked to her companions, all three having loosened up at Trefor’s explanation. They approached him once more, and waited for him to say more. “Now, I say teaching all of you how to fight the same way would be pretty bad. So instead, I’m going to refer you,” he pointed to Rarity, “to Lassar down at the magic school. I assume that horn on your head is for more than show, it’ll help to know the magic of this world. As for the other two, I’ll teach you both how to use a specific weapon, which you do is down to you.” -- An hour had passed, the warmth of the mid afternoon sun shone down, warming the coat of Rainbow Dash and Applejack. While Rarity had gone to look for the magic school, the two had debated which of the two weapons Trefor had presented they would take. Applejack had insisted she take the sword, while Rainbow took the bow, and Rainbow insisted she take the sword instead. After some arguing, during which Trefor had taken the time to gather any nearby foxes for practise, the pair had agreed. Rainbow would take the sword, since she could close the gap to any threat far faster than Applejack, while Applejack could better defend herself should anything get too close while using the bow. Trefor had first taught Rainbow how to execute a smash attack, and let Applejack practise simply using the bow while he did so. As Rainbow practised the smash attack, she watched as Applejack learnt slowly how to hold the bow with a hoof, and draw back the string and arrow with her mouth. It quickly became apparent this wouldn’t always succeed, as very often the result was the bow closing the space between where it had been and Applejack’s face with a loud smack. Trefor had left a few minutes prior to where the two were now, with simple instructions for the pair to practise counterattacking with the other. Rainbow was currently as close to the ground as possible, sword in mouth, as Applejack slowly walked near. As Applejack went to kick Rainbow in the face, Rainbow moved backwards slightly, and hit back with the hilt of the sword, throwing Applejack backwards. “Ah think we got that down now, don’t you RD?” Applejack asked. “Yeah, for you that one will come in handy should anything get past me and come for you.” Rainbow answered, smiling. “Ah, all done I see,” Trefor interrupted, as he approached, the bow for Applejack now had an attachment where she could place her hoof in and not lose grip, “I would have been back sooner, but Ferghus struggles to make things. I swear he’d break buildings if you asked him to hammer in a nail.” Applejack held the bow, and gave it a test against the nearby lamppost. With each arrow she strung and fired, the bow remained with the fitted attachment, and no longer made any attempts to become a part of her face. “Now, time to teach you both something else, a skill that will save you when surrounded on all sides. The windmill!” Trefor said, rubbing his hands together while grinning. -- Lassar was a woman, her red hair falling across the sides of her face, hiding her ears from view. For the last hour, she had watched the white, talking unicorn with mild interest showing in her brown eyes. When the unicorn, that had called itself Rarity, had first arrived, she had hoped it would have been a fast learner at magic. Sadly, this didn’t seem to be the case, as when Rarity had first attempted to use the firebolt spell, the ball of flame had shot up in the air and landed on her flank instead of the wood placed barely five feet before her. At this particular moment however, after fifty minutes of practising the firebolt spell, Rarity was now on to thunderbolt. Lassar was just thankful that Rarity had been too into the book to notice that metal rods had been placed either side of her flank. “Alright,” Rarity closed the book and stood up, “I’m not one for such educational books like Twilight, but I’m ready to give this a try.” Lassar watched as the spell begun to take form at the tip of Rarity’s horn. Slowly it built, gaining more power as Rarity used more mana. Finally, Rarity cast the spell at the wooden pole Ranald, the man who assisted with teaching once Trefor was finished, had placed. As the spell was fired, all Lassar heard was a yell of pain as she closed her eyes in reflex. Upon opening them, she saw that Rarity looked fine. The same could not be said of the nearby trees or the five people that had been sitting under one at that moment. “On the plus side, there won’t be a need to set up another wooden pole for your next attempt.” Lassar sighed. -- The sun was much lower on the horizon now. Rainbow Dash and Applejack sat near to where Trefor had been training them most of the day. He had left moments before to fetch Rarity for an important task for the three ponies. “AJ,” Rainbow broke the silence, “do... do you think the others are fine?” she asked. “Ah don’t know. Ah sure hope so, maybe in the morning, we can set out and try ta find them. They may have had the same luck as us, and are about ta spend the night preparing to come find us.” Applejack answered honestly. “I don’t like it here, Applejack. This world is strange, nothing controls the animals or clouds. It’s like a pleasant version of the Everfree forest.” Rainbow said, a slight hint of worry in her voice. “We won’t be here long. We just gotta do what the princess sent us here for, then we can go home. How about you go flying? That’ll calm ya.” Applejack suggested, a smile on her face. “Flying’s a no go, I’ve been trying now and then since we arrived. This world may have magic, but it sure won’t allow flying...” Rainbow said, looking very depressed suddenly. Applejack didn’t know how to respond. Flying was Rainbow’s life, and now, here she was in a world that didn’t permit it. It was bad enough all six of them were trapped in a world they shouldn’t be in at all, but it had also ripped the very thing that made Rainbow Dash who she was from her soul. And worse, it taunted her by leaving her wings upon her back. Silence fell among the two once more, but this time it didn’t last as long, as thirty seconds later, Trefor returned with a slightly singed Rarity following behind him. He grinned, and held out a brown card with a red marking on it. “This’ll be your final test. If you can clear this, you’re all good to go into the world.” Trefor stated, handing the card to Applejack. “What is this?” Rainbow asked, looking at the card. “That is a dungeon pass. Most of the formors are stuck in dungeons, held there by Goddess Statues. Keep those statues in mind, if you are knocked out, through some sort of spell, you can return with most of your health to them, so be sure to touch them as you see them.” Trefor informed the trio. “Okay, and what do we gotta do in this here dungeon?” Applejack questioned. “Oh its simple, get to the boss, kill it, and leave. Oh and be sure to help the guy still stuck in there,” Trefor paused, noticing the horrified looks on the ponies faces, “his own fault, I sent him in a week ago and he got lost. That dungeon has six rooms, including the exit, I still don’t get how it was possible to get lost. Now, good luck, don’t get lost or killed and have fun!” he grinned, waving a hand at them as he walked back to standing guard. -- The entrance to the dungeon Trefor guarded, named Alby Dungeon, was bright. The room almost seemed to shine from the amount of white rock and marble in it. In the middle of the room stood a statue of a winged human woman holding a sword, her eyes closed as she had her head tilted down towards the altar, which was simply a slab of white stone before the statue. Rarity, Applejack and Rainbow Dash stared at the statue, unsure how to proceed. Trefor had been a little too eager to get away from them after mentioning a resident of the world had gotten lost somehow in a six room dungeon, and had neglected to inform them how to actually enter the same one. Rainbow walked around the statue to a set of large stone doors that had been left slightly ajar, but was surprised to find that some sort of spell pushed her backwards as she tried to walk through. “Maybe the card has something to do with it?” Rainbow questioned, returning to the altar. “I say we should place it in front of us,” Rarity took the card with her magic, “like so.” The second the card touched the altar, the three ponies felt as though they were under pressure and moving very fast. As soon as the sensation had begun, it stopped. The three looked around, amazed. The room looked similar to before, except darker. The only bright light was centered on the statue and altar, the rest of the room looked as though it were bathed in moonlight. Looking around the statue, where the stone double doors of before had been, a large doorless arch with stairs now could be seen, and they led downstairs. They all looked at each other silently, before Rainbow spoke. “Do you think this counts as one of the six rooms?” -- The room at the bottom of the stairs had another statue like the room at the top, but without an altar. The ponies didn’t need to debate what it was for, as Trefor had clearly stated they should touch it, which they promptly did. Looking around, the only way to progress was the gated doorway to the right. In this room sat a chest. Entering the room, Applejack and Rainbow stopped and looked around, as Rarity approached the chest. “I havta wonder, how is this darn place so bright? It’s a dungeon ain’t it? Ain’t dungeons underground? There’s no lights anywhere in this room!” Applejack mumbled. “Don’t question it AJ, this world works differently.” Rainbow laughed. Both jumped in surprise as the gate behind them slammed shut, as the one ahead did the same. Rarity’s scream echoed around the room, and six very large white spiders appeared from nowhere. Staring confused, Applejack and Rainbow could only see one change in the room aside from the gates. The chest was now open, but it was far too small to contain six large white spiders. “Don’t question it huh?” Applejack asked. “Yeah, your brain will hurt less...” Rainbow answered. As Rarity stood still, screaming from being surrounded by the white spiders, Applejack readied her bow, as Rainbow took her sword in her mouth and charged at one. She slammed the sword down in front of one spider, then jumped into the air, sending it across the room. As it landed on its back, Rainbow lept forward and slammed the sword down into it. She closed her eyes, refusing to watch as life left it, and turned around. Meanwhile Applejack fired arrow after arrow at another spider, slowly bringing it to the inevitable end. Rarity had also ceased screaming when two had begun to ram into her torso and bite at her body. This had angered her enough to begin casting icebolt, and keeping the pair of spiders pinned a safe distance from her. With Rainbow attacking another, and Applejack finishing off the last, the spiders disappeared in black smoke, one leaving an orange key behind. The gates now also opened back up, allowing them to travel forward. “That was the most horrible thing ever!” Rarity declared, sitting down. “Ah know, how did six large spiders fit into a chest? What’s next? Bears?” Applejack grumbled. “I think Rarity meant more that we got caught unprepared by the spiders, AJ. I think they were those formor things, Trefor did say they lived inside dungeons after all.” Rainbow stated. “But we had to KILL them! They may have been horrible insects but I’ve never killed anything before!” Rarity shouted, staring at Rainbow. “We didn’t have a choice, besides, they disappeared into smoke, they probably aren’t even alive in the first place. Now come on, the sooner we get this done, the sooner we can go and look for the others and get back home.” Rainbow trotted off into the next room, picking up the orange key as she went. -- The next few rooms went smoothly now the three knew what to expect. The one right after the first chest contained a closed gate with an orange padlock (along with the statement from Applejack on how weak the home security of the formors was), another chest which provided a smaller amount of white spiders in two waves, one of which dropped a large red key, and the final room had another gate with a large padlock across it. This was where they were currently, staring at it with unamused looks. “Are ya bucking kidding me? Why even have the stupid doors in the first place? Like we’ll never think ‘Oh dear, a door with a big padlock! It won’t EVER open with the STUPID BUCKING LARGE RED KEY WE JUST FOUND!’ Stupid halfwits!” Applejack yelled, now clearly annoyed by the fact that the ways to prevent progression were easily outdone by keys dropped just before the doors. “Well, let’s get this over with.” Rainbow said flatly, placing the red key in the padlock. As the door opened, a young human male slid past them, breathing heavily. Slowly advancing towards him was a spider far larger than the white ones, but coloured red instead. Rainbow acted on impulse. Trefor had said the guy was lost, and here he was in danger. She wasn’t about to let that happen. She attacked the red spider, which was more resilient to the smash attack than the white ones had been, but it still landed on its back, allowing her time to stab it after a jump. However, this had not been enough to defeat it. It simply stood up and faced Rainbow. If it had eyelids or could show emotion, the look on its eight eyed face would have been a mix of annoyance and debate of how to eat the strange winged horse before it. As it slowly advanced towards her, Rainbow prepared to counter attack it, which she managed. The spider stumbled slightly, before falling down and stopped moving. From somewhere behind her, she heard an annoyed groan. “What’d you go do that for? I had that thing on the ropes!” moaned the human. -- Piaras rubbed the blue hair on his head in confusion. Before him stood three ponies, all smiling at him. Sure he had been told that there were three talking ponies in town, specifically by Ferghus, but he had simply assumed Ferghus was drunk and didn’t take what he had been told seriously. Now he was questioning if he was feeling well. The cheese he had eaten earlier did taste slightly strange now he thought back. He rubbed his eyes and looked again. The three ponies were still there, though no longer smiling. They had strangely coloured coats on them too, which also ignored the fact that the white one had a horn, and the blue one had a pair of wings. “Ah, I’m sure you must have not heard me clearly. Could we have a place to stay the night?” Rarity asked. Piaras felt his forehead. It felt a little hotter than normal. Maybe he really had come down with some illness that produced talking pony mirages. He cleared his throat. “Sure, take the stairs, plenty of rooms, take your pick.” he answered. “Oh my, I forgot, how will we pay for this?” Rarity questioned, frantically looking at the other two as she refused to spend the night under the stars. “Don’t worry, you can spend the night for free.” Piaras answered. “Why, thank you! What a gentlecolt you are!” Rarity said cheerfully, trotting to the stairs. The others followed her as she begun to climb them. Piaras watched them disappear upstairs, then sat down and begun to think. Maybe it was a good time to retire and take up fishing. -- The three ponies quickly settled on sleeping in different rooms. They had been tired after leaving the dungeon, and so found sleeping easy. Halfway through the night however, Rainbow Dash begun to get restless as she slept. She tossed and turned, never staying still for more than a minute. Within her dream, she stood on a stone path, facing stone ruins in an endless black void. Try as she might, she could not move from the spot she stood. “Can you hear me?” A name written in the snowThe sun shone through the window of the room where Rainbow Dash, Applejack and Rarity had spent the night. As the beam slowly travelled across the room with the moving sun, illuminating the dust motes that floated in the air, it stirred in turn Applejack, then Rarity, who both set off after leaving a note for Rainbow to get breakfast. Somewhere around ten in the morning, the sunbeam landed on Rainbow’s closed eyes. She shifted slight, swatting at the sunbeam in the hopes of hitting it away. “Go ‘way.” she groaned, opening her left eye and glaring angrily at the window. With a sigh, Rainbow sat up in the bed, glancing at the note left for her. She stared at the floor, the dream from last night still present in her mind. The black winged woman, who had asked her to find this ‘Tir Na Nog’ place. She stood up, stretched, and headed out to find Applejack and Rarity. -- Tir Chonaill was more active that day, with many of the humans running around. In itself, this would have concerned Rainbow, but she paid it no mind, as none of them seemed to even notice. At one point as well, a human set up some firewood, and when Rainbow drew near, offered her some berries for nothing in return but some idle chatter. Rainbow kept the dream to herself, but did use the talk to find where Applejack and Rarity had gone. With a few other humans passing by and adding to the conversation, she found Applejack had been seen not too long ago in the Erskin Bank, while Rarity had been browsing the stores. This got a laugh from Rainbow Dash, as it was clear Rarity had already gone back to normal routines. Deciding she wanted nothing to do with Rarity trying to spend money they didn’t have, Rainbow said goodbye to the humans and headed to the bank. -- The interior of the Erskin bank was made from pine wood planks, with windows at the front either side of the door. Much to Rainbow’s relief, Applejack was already headed towards the door when she had arrived. “Well it’s about time ya were awake, didcha get anything to eat?” Applejack questioned. “Someone gave me some berries, so I’m fine. What were you doing in here AJ?” Rainbow asked back, narrowing her eyes. “Simple ain’t it? I wanted to know what they did here. They just store any money and items you bring them.” Applejack replied, apparently now regretting she had wanted to find out how banks in Erinn worked, and learning they were identical to all banks elsewhere. “Anyway,” Rainbow turned to follow Applejack as she left the bank, “can you go get Rarity? She’s in one of the stores, and I want to talk to that Duncan guy about something. Meet me by him in ten minutes ok?” Applejack simply nodded and headed towards the general store, as Rainbow walked past the town square to Chief Duncan. -- Chief Duncan seemed concerned about something, as Rainbow Dash drew closer. When she stopped before him and went to speak, he held out his hand and lowered his face towards her. “I need to ask a favour, if its not too much trouble. A friend of mine lost an item up at Sidhe Sneachta, could you please retrieve it? Be careful of the coyotes if you do go.” he smiled. “Uh, what kind of item are we talking about here?” Rainbow questioned. “An earring.” Chief Duncan replied in a matter-of-fact tone. “An... earring...” Rainbow deadpanned. “Yes, that is what I said, an earring.” “An earring, you want me to find an earring, in an area filled with these apparently dangerous coyotes things.” Rainbow pressed. “Indeed. Is it too much trouble?” Chief Duncan asked. “If it was someone’s grandma, no, but... an earring... can’t they just, you know, go buy another?” Rainbow questioned, wondering why she hadn’t walked away yet. “It was part of a set.” Rainbow let out an audible yell, which echoed around the town. “Fine, I’ll get the stupid earring, but say NOTHING to Rarity!” Rainbow snapped. She took a few steps forward, then paused. Looking around the town, she noticed for the first time that there seemed to be no signposts, not visible from where she stood anyway. With a loud, exaggerated sigh, she looked backwards to Chief Duncan. With a chuckle, he pointed to the north of the town, and Rainbow followed his directions. -- Sidhe Sneachta was cold. That was the first thing Rainbow noticed as the snow came up past her fetlocks. The second thing she noticed as she walked closer made her stand still, and stare at how creepy and weird the sight was. Thirty snowmen. All looked identical, except for the arms. And all stood with their black stone eyes staring right at her. It felt as though they were all staring into her soul and judging her for everything she had done. As she stood still, staring at the sight of the snowmen, a glint of gold caught her eye from a snowman in the middle. She approached this one, and found for some reason, the earring had been put on the snowman as if it had an ear to wear it. Smiling to herself, she took the earring off the snowman and tucked it under a wing. Shivering at the creepy sight of the snowmen still before her, Rainbow turned around to leave. And came nose to nose with a coyote pack. She backed away as they growled at her, and slowly approached, hungry to feast on her. Rainbow did the only thing she thought of at that moment. She turned back around and ran. The pack of coyotes kept up with her, one or two tried to tackle her at some points as she ran further in the area. She kept her focus on any way to get away from the coyotes and back to the town, but the more she ran, the more closed in by trees the area became. And then she saw something that only made things worse. Ahead of her was an area marked by stone pillars, carved straight and with one or two, had an overhang piece. This wasn’t what made her feel like all hope was gone however, it was what stood among the stone pillars. And what stood there was a very large brown bear. Rainbow came to a halt just in front of the bear, stopping just in time so her nose tapped the nose of the bear. Her eyes and the eyes of the bear locked for a moment, before it turned its attention to the coyotes running after her. Before Rainbow could register it, the bear walked past her, and begun to fight the coyotes, each defeated one choosing wisely to run away from the bear. Rainbow could have used this distraction to get away from both threats, but to do so would mean to go past the fighting coyotes and bear. She simply decided to wait, and hope that the bear moved slowly as she ran past. In a matter of minutes, the bear had beaten off all coyotes, and turned to face Rainbow. Lowering herself in preparation to run, Rainbow watched as the bear drew near. When it got closer, the look in its eyes threw Rainbow’s plan. It didn’t stare at her as though it intended to now maul and eat her, but it did look concerned. Slowly, it walked around her, as if to check that she had come to no harm. When it was satisfied, it drew closer, and stood almost beside her. What it did next confused Rainbow. The bear reached a front paw to the snow before them both, and wrote in the snow. “Tar-lach? What’s that supposed to mean?” she asked the bear aloud. Looking to her side, Rainbow was surprised to see it had gone. The bear was now returning to where it had been before. Looking at it, she watched as the bear picked up a blue herb and ate it, no longer paying attention to the blue pegasus mare. Thankful to discover the bear was a herbivore unlike those of Equestria, Rainbow looked at the word written in the snow once more, and left. -- When she returned to the town, Rarity and Applejack were already waiting near Chief Duncan, both of them seemed slightly concerned when they saw her, and approached as she drew near. “What took you so long? He only asked you to get an earring.” Rarity inquired. Rainbow opened her wing and let the earring fall, its fall to the ground only being stopped by Rarity’s magic, as she handed it over to Duncan. Rainbow herself meanwhile sat down and sighed. “Something happened while I was out there.” she stated. “What happened? You were too ‘cool’ to pick up the earring?” Rarity replied snidely. “No, after I got the earring, I turned around and came nose to nose with a pack of coyotes. I got chased, and got saved by a bear.” Rainbow snapped back, glaring daggers at Rarity. “A bear you say? They’ve not been peaceful since the arrival of the formors.” Duncan said, having been paying attention to the arguement between Rainbow and Rarity. “Yeah, after it beat the coyotes back, it wrote a word in the snow, ‘Tarlach’. Do you know what that means?” Rainbow questioned. Duncan thought for a moment, closing his eyes as he thought through everything he had heard. After the second minute, it became clear he would be thinking a while, and so Rainbow turned her attention to Applejack and Rarity. “I also had a weird dream last night,” she said, waiting to see if either would say anything, which they didn’t, “in it I saw a human, with black wings on her back. She told me to come to some place named Tir Na Nog and rescue her. What do you think that means?” Duncan cleared his throat, catching the attention of the ponies. They turned to face him and waited for him to speak. “It would seem your dream is no coincidence. There is a tale of three warriors who went missing, one of them was called Tarlach, and they went in search of Tir Na Nog. But prehaps, it would be best for you to seek out Stewart of the Dunbarton school of magic. He knows more of the tale than I.” Duncan said, smiling at Rainbow. “Okay, and how do we get to Dunbarton? We don’t exactly know this world yet.” Rainbow stated, rubbing the back of her head with a hoof. “Simply head down there,” Duncan pointed down past the church, “past the wheat and barley plots, and continue down the path. Tir Chonaill is connected to Dunbarton by Dugald Isle, just keep going straight on, and you’ll soon find the town. I wish you three the best of luck.” Duncan finished, standing up and turning his attention to passing birds. Rainbow, Rarity and Applejack smiled at each other, the thought going through their heads that they may soon find one of their lost friends, and be a little closer to finding out why they had been sent to Erinn by Princess Celestia. -- The black robed figure watched the three pastel ponies as they begun to head to Dugald Isle. Beside him, a figure covered from head to foot in plate armor watched with him. This figure turned his head as the black robed figure spoke. “She sent the blue one a message last night, and they are on the path to fulfilling her call for help. See to it that they do not make it to their next destination.” it said, disappearing in a black cloud. “It shall be done.” the other figure replied, as it begun to follow after the three ponies.
Many Meetings in a strange world‘Can you hear me?’ Princess Celestia shifted slightly in her sleep as a result of the sudden voice. ‘Ah... so you can hear me...’ She was now both awake and asleep. Princess Celestia looked around at the ruins in a black void, ahead of her, standing in a single beam of light was a creature not of Equestria, but clearly it was female based on the soft sounding voice. Its hands were held close together above the chest, the eyes closed, and the black hair hung down behind its head, between two black wings. ‘This is a difficult request... Come to this world. Tir Na Nog... Is in great danger...’ Princess Celestia was now fully awake, and she slowly sat up in bed. Her sister’s moon hung low on the western horizon, signalling that the dawn would soon arrive. She yawned, her sleep having been disturbed, and thought of the message that had arrived in her dream. The being seemed desperate for assistance. Slowly, she begun to think of who she could send to fulfill the request of this being, and reasons why they should or shouldn’t be sent. Eventually, her mind settled on the perfect choice, or rather choices. Six ponies that had done the impossible before, and could just as easily do it again. -- A slight breeze rustled through the purple mane of the purple unicorn, slowly rousing her from the deep sleep she had been in. Her ears twisted around in all directions, trying to pick up any sound before she opened her eyes, but the only sound she heard were the light snores of five other ponies. Wait, that couldn’t possibly be right, she thought to herself, slowly opening her purple eyes. Sure enough, laying in various positions around her were five other ponies. The blue pegasus mare with a rainbow mane lay directly before her, two front hooves acting as a makeshift pillow under her head. To the left of her lay a pink earth pony, with a pink cotton candy looking mane, alongside an orange earth pony with a straight blonde mane and cowpony hat. Finally, to her right lay a yellow pegasus mare, with pink mane and a white unicorn with a deep purple mane. The purple unicorn wasted no time in identifying her friends, the bearers of the Elements of Harmony. But the situation didn’t make sense. Why were they in the same place, all in a deep sleep? Twilight sat up and examined the area. The sky was a soft pink, and around this were white structures that formed the support of the area they were on. Now and then, snowy white owls, and grey owls would fly around these support structures, and disappear into the distance almost as soon as they had appeared. Underneath the six ponies was a large pattern of twisting loops and straight lines, this was where they currently were, though the rest of the floor was transparent and glasslike. In one direction was a staircase, it seemed to head downward, but quickly disappeared out of sight. As Twilight examined the area around her, the five other ponies slowly roused themselves awake. Like her, they were similarly confused to their current whereabouts. “Twilight, where the hay are we?” Rainbow Dash asked first, beating the rest to the question. “How should I know? I woke up just a minute before you. But it doesn’t look like any place I’ve ever seen before.” Twilight replied, studying the pattern on the ground. “Alright, looks like we’re stuck here for some reason,” Applejack finally spoke up, having watched events so far, “rather than waste energy, let’s try to remember how we got to be here.” All six ponies looked in various directions, as they begun to try and recall their memories prior to waking up. “Well, I remember Twilight mentioning that we all had to go to Canterlot, minus Spike, for some reason.” Rarity recalled. “Oh yeah, now I remember! Princess Celestia said it was important and we had to get there fast,” Twilight added, “guess that explains why Spike isn’t here.” “But then what?” Fluttershy questioned, starting to panic. “I-I remember we met the Princess in the throne room, she said the task ahead of us was important and vital, and,” Twilight froze, a look of fear appearing on her face, “then everything went black.” she said, barely above a whisper. “So the princess did this to us? But why?” Applejack questioned. “I-I don’t know, it doesn’t make sense! It did at the time, but now I can’t remember a word of it! We didn’t do anything wrong, but why are we imprisoned here?” Twilight was now panicking herself, eyes darting about. All six froze when a bright light filled the area. Once it dissipated, above the pattern on the floor floated a strange creature. It landed and stood on its hind legs, crossing its conspicuously shorter fore legs in front of it. It had a long white mane, no coat, pale skin and blue eyes. The biped creature stood there, looking at all six ponies with a smile upon its face, and a kind, gentle look in its eyes. “Welcome, Milletians, to the world of Erinn!” it said. Twilight, Pinkie, Fluttershy, Applejack and Rarity stared at the creature, very confused both by what it was and what it had just called them. Rainbow Dash however, had gotten up and flown into the creature’s face. “What did you just call us?” she snapped. The creature seemed shocked and hurt by the sudden display of aggression, almost as if it were on the verge of tears. “Milletians. It means ‘from the stars’.” the creature replied. “Okay, and where exactly are we?” Twilight asked, carefully approaching the creature. “You are in the world of Erinn, summoned here by the Goddess. My name is Nao, and I am here to assist you in getting to know this world before you begin your journey.” Nao answered, smiling at Twilight. “Ok, so, next question. What exactly are you?” Rarity questioned, sitting down. “Ah,” Nao laughed slightly, holding a hand in front of her mouth, “I suppose the world you came from doesn’t have humans. You’ll be seeing a lot of humans in Erinn, but keep in mind, you will retain your current looks right now.” The six mares looked at each other for a moment, each hoping one of the others would think of a question to ask. Soon, Twilight cleared her throat, making it clear she was about to speak. “Alright, so why exactly have we been brought here?” she asked. “The situation in Erinn is grim,” Nao sighed, tilting her head down which caused some of her hair to slip out of place, “the humans, named the Tuatha De Dann, struggle daily in a conflict with the Formors. The Formors believe the world belong to them, and that all Tuatha De Dann must be killed. By the request of the goddess, you have been brought here to help end the conflict and bring peace to the world.” None of the six mares spoke, as they took in the information that had been given to them. They had been taken from Equestria, a relatively peaceful world, to this Erinn place, simply to take part in a conflict. And without the Elements of Harmony? As they attempted to take in the facts of their situation, Nao had produced six letters, which she handed to the six mares, along with loaves of bread for each mare. Twilight was confused as to where Nao had produced these items, considering the clothing Nao wore had no pockets, and there wasn’t a box or bag in sight. “Okay,” Nao beamed a smile of hope at the six mares, “you are all set! When you arrive, hand the letters to the village chief, it will explain to him that you are not formors, and he will pass word around that you six are safe to approach. I shall now send you on your way, good luck and we shall meet again!” Nao finished. Much like she had appeared, Nao lifted into the air slightly, defying gravity, and pushing Twilight’s mind to breaking point. With a flash of light, everything went white. -- A man watched as six shapes fell soundlessly towards Erinn. His black robe, with gold trim and celtic patterns obscured his face from sight. On his back were two white wings, which remained still as he floated, observing the fall of the six equines that had appeared in the Soul Stream. “This is your game? Use them for your purposes, when the humans failed you? You are a fool, your plan stops here.” he said to himself, raising an arm. Around him black shadows built up. In seconds, they were speeding as fast as they could from the man to the six falling mares. Rainbow Dash was the only one to see the incoming attack. Moments before the shadows impacted, she managed to grab a hold of Applejack and Rarity. There was a the sudden confusion. With Rarity screaming in Rainbow’s ear, blocking out the words Applejack tried to yell above the combined sound of the scream and roar of wind, the blue pegasus looked around for Twilight, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy. They were nowhere to be found, having apparently been blasted far away by the attack. Rainbow gritted her teeth. She hoped they would land fine. She looked down at the rapidly approaching ground. She watched and spread her wings. Features of the land begun to appear: a river passing by a windmill, a house on the opposite side. A bit further away was a large tree. It seemed to have been made the central focus of the small town they were landing towards, as other, hay covered roofed buildings circled it. Rainbow closed her eyes, just as the three mares impacted the ground. -- Rainbow groaned slightly, as something dull repeatedly pushed her in her side. Slowly, she opened her eyes. The sight that met her was that of a grassy embankment, with a crystal clear river flowing past, the water frothing on rocks and signboards that protruded from the surface, and shifting the water grass within the water. At a split in the river, a fence made of wood which was held in place on metal rails blocked the flow of the river down one side. A short distance away and behind were bridges which crossed the river, and sitting on the middle island was a windmill, similarly made of brick with a straw roof, and past this was another building, fairly large, but identically made from brick, wood and straw. In the sky, the sun shone down on a cloudless day. It was perfect, save for the fact she was on the ground, not a cloud, and whatever was pushing into her side. Choosing to ignore whatever was pushing her, she moved her head and saw Rarity and Applejack, both of whom had clearly survived the impact, as they too were waking up. Rainbow smiled, happy that at least two of her friends were safe. Turning her head the other way, Rainbow saw a brick and wood built house, the bricks exposed to the weather, the roof of the house was in half, part made from wood, the other half being covered with straw. A part of this house was open wide both on the side she was on, and to the area behind, and it contained many tools, anvils and a furnace. Beside the part of the house that was wide open on both sides stood a splitting wooden frame, which held cloth, clearly indicating how the area was closed off at night. Just past this was a wooden decking, and a pair of double doors indicated the way into the living space of the house. Glancing to her side, she froze. The pushing on her side was the result of a foot, covered in tatty leather shoes, kept on by string. This was attached to a leg, and looking further up, Rainbow was met by the sight of a short, blue haired human with a beard, a pair of tanish coloured shorts and a blue vest hung on the man’s body, his red eyes looking at her with slight disinterest. “Now aren’t you the strangest three horses to just appear. One of you would be normal, if not for the orange coat, but one with wings and the other a horn? Oh well, maybe I can take you to a stable and your owner will come along eventually.” he said. “OWNER? What do you think I am chump? Somepony’s pet?” Rainbow yelled. -- It had become very clear why Nao had given them letters and expected the ponies to have a safe trip. No sooner had she shouted at the man Rainbow later learned was named Ferghus, than he had grabbed weaponry he kept nearby and gave chase to her, Rarity and Applejack, all the while yelling “Blasted formors! Get out of our town!”. The chase had come to a quick end thankfully, before Ferghus could use the weapons on them. At a nearby bridge, Ferghus tripped on his own tied together shoes and fallen into the water, a note falling from his clothing had simply said ‘This is for breaking my expensive sword, hope your nose gets just as broken!’. All Ferghus could do from then was watch the three ponies run off to the town square from where he sat in the river, trying to untie the knotted laces. Rainbow, Rarity and Applejack panted, trying to catch their breath in the middle of the town, Rarity and Applejack glaring at Rainbow, who grinned sheepishly. “Sorry, but he implied we were pets.” Rainbow stated. “Rainbow, didn’t ya stop and think this here is a different world? Maybe they ain’t used to talking ponies, and the only ones are pets?” Applejack questioned. “Now you put it that way,” Rainbow answered, earning an exasperated groan from Rarity and Applejack, “anyway, we better find the chief Nao mentioned and give him these letters.” Nearby, a random human that had been walking by stopped, turning to look at the three ponies. “Excuse me, did I hear you say you were looking for the chief?” he asked. “Uh yeah?” Rainbow replied. “He’s just up there, past the town’s flag and the tree on the hill, did you have trouble trying to find him before?” the human asked again. “No, we just had a little misunderstanding with that crazy guy by the river, before he tripped up.” Rainbow answered. The human laughed slightly, muttering something under his breath that sounded like ‘and he wonders why no one will take anything to him to be fixed.’, before he simply waved his hand and continued on his way. “Well now, shall we go and meet this chief?” Rarity asked, standing up. Saying nothing, the three ponies walked up the small hill and past the tree that stood half way. -- The chief was an elderly looking human, his hair turning white, his brown eyes showing the years lived behind them. At first, he had been unwillingly to look at the three ponies, but changed his attitude when the letters from Nao had been shown. He was currently in the process of reading one over and over, stopping to look at the ponies, before he resumed reading once more. Finally, he finished reading, and folded up the letter, tucking it away into his clothing. He smiled at them in turn. “If Nao met you, and indeed, letters from her can not be faked, then I trust her word that you are not formors. I shall pass word around of your names and descriptions, so you will meet no further trouble.” he stated, in a soft welcoming tone of voice. “In that case, introductions are in order. My name is Rarity, this is Applejack,” she paused to point at the cowmare to her left, “and this is Rainbow Dash.” she finished, pointing to the blue pegasi, currently attempting and for some reason failing to take flight. “A pleasure, I am Chief Duncan. The man you met earlier was Ferghus. I shall be having a word with him about greeting newcomers to our town, but I hope you can forgive him, he is usually pleasant enough.” Duncan smiled. “So what do we do now?” Applejack questioned. “Well its simple. From Nao’s letter, there was supposed to be six of you little ponies standing before me, but only three do. If you had trouble when arriving, then it is safe to assume the other three are alive somewhere,” Duncan paused, folding his arms across his chest, “the solution is simple. What you three do next is learn to fight the Formors who could get in your way of finding the others.” The three ponies watched as Duncan closed his eyes, apparently going into deep thought. He remained still, the only thing moving being his hair in the slight breeze, before he opened his eyes once more. “To start with, I suggest you head up there,” he pointed to a path that led north, “and find Trefor. He shall teach you the basics of combat. Good luck.” -- Further up the path that Duncan had shown them, Rainbow Dash, Applejack and Rarity came across another human, surrounded by brown foxes. The human, another man, was covered head to toe in black armor, and all that was visible of his face was his mouth, the rest covered by a helmet. As they approached him, the man they assumed was Trefor spun on the spot suddenly, striking at all the brown foxes, some clearly just cubs, ending their lives with the sword in his hand as he spun. They froze and stared in horror at the sight for a moment, which changed to confusion when the bodies of the foxes simply imploded into black vapour a moment after their deaths. Rainbow Dash was the first to brave getting close to him, it becoming clear he had been looking at them as his head tilted down when Rainbow progressed towards him. “Um, excuse me, are you by any chance, Trefor?” she questioned. “Indeed I am little pony, and I have a question for you,” Trefor stooped down, apparently to look Rainbow in the eye, “are you ready to die?”
The First Day In ErinnRainbow Dash backed away from Trefor as fast as she could as the words he had spoken sunk in. Along with Rarity and Applejack, she stared at the human as he stared at her, his mouth showing no sign of any emotion the rest of his face held hidden behind his helmet. They had become frozen to the spot, only waiting for Trefor to make a movement to bring them harm before they would run, but to the contrary, Trefor remained where he had been when he had spoken to Rainbow Dash. “E-excuse me?” Rainbow asked, doing her best to not let any of the fear she felt slip into her voice. “Well I recon you heard me well. And you saw them didn’t you?” Trefor both replied and questioned with a sigh. The three ponies before him said nothing. “It’s simple. That fox I attacked? It was once just a simple fox, but no longer, just like the rest of them. They’ve all been taken by the powers of the Formors. If you want to die the fast way, just try and be friendly to any of them,” Trefor stood up, folding his arms across his chest as he did so, “its my job to teach adventurers to defend themselves against the Formors. I haven’t lost anyone as a result of my training. Not willingly anyway.” Rainbow Dash looked to her companions, all three having loosened up at Trefor’s explanation. They approached him once more, and waited for him to say more. “Now, I say teaching all of you how to fight the same way would be pretty bad. So instead, I’m going to refer you,” he pointed to Rarity, “to Lassar down at the magic school. I assume that horn on your head is for more than show, it’ll help to know the magic of this world. As for the other two, I’ll teach you both how to use a specific weapon, which you do is down to you.” -- An hour had passed, the warmth of the mid afternoon sun shone down, warming the coat of Rainbow Dash and Applejack. While Rarity had gone to look for the magic school, the two had debated which of the two weapons Trefor had presented they would take. Applejack had insisted she take the sword, while Rainbow took the bow, and Rainbow insisted she take the sword instead. After some arguing, during which Trefor had taken the time to gather any nearby foxes for practise, the pair had agreed. Rainbow would take the sword, since she could close the gap to any threat far faster than Applejack, while Applejack could better defend herself should anything get too close while using the bow. Trefor had first taught Rainbow how to execute a smash attack, and let Applejack practise simply using the bow while he did so. As Rainbow practised the smash attack, she watched as Applejack learnt slowly how to hold the bow with a hoof, and draw back the string and arrow with her mouth. It quickly became apparent this wouldn’t always succeed, as very often the result was the bow closing the space between where it had been and Applejack’s face with a loud smack. Trefor had left a few minutes prior to where the two were now, with simple instructions for the pair to practise counterattacking with the other. Rainbow was currently as close to the ground as possible, sword in mouth, as Applejack slowly walked near. As Applejack went to kick Rainbow in the face, Rainbow moved backwards slightly, and hit back with the hilt of the sword, throwing Applejack backwards. “Ah think we got that down now, don’t you RD?” Applejack asked. “Yeah, for you that one will come in handy should anything get past me and come for you.” Rainbow answered, smiling. “Ah, all done I see,” Trefor interrupted, as he approached, the bow for Applejack now had an attachment where she could place her hoof in and not lose grip, “I would have been back sooner, but Ferghus struggles to make things. I swear he’d break buildings if you asked him to hammer in a nail.” Applejack held the bow, and gave it a test against the nearby lamppost. With each arrow she strung and fired, the bow remained with the fitted attachment, and no longer made any attempts to become a part of her face. “Now, time to teach you both something else, a skill that will save you when surrounded on all sides. The windmill!” Trefor said, rubbing his hands together while grinning. -- Lassar was a woman, her red hair falling across the sides of her face, hiding her ears from view. For the last hour, she had watched the white, talking unicorn with mild interest showing in her brown eyes. When the unicorn, that had called itself Rarity, had first arrived, she had hoped it would have been a fast learner at magic. Sadly, this didn’t seem to be the case, as when Rarity had first attempted to use the firebolt spell, the ball of flame had shot up in the air and landed on her flank instead of the wood placed barely five feet before her. At this particular moment however, after fifty minutes of practising the firebolt spell, Rarity was now on to thunderbolt. Lassar was just thankful that Rarity had been too into the book to notice that metal rods had been placed either side of her flank. “Alright,” Rarity closed the book and stood up, “I’m not one for such educational books like Twilight, but I’m ready to give this a try.” Lassar watched as the spell begun to take form at the tip of Rarity’s horn. Slowly it built, gaining more power as Rarity used more mana. Finally, Rarity cast the spell at the wooden pole Ranald, the man who assisted with teaching once Trefor was finished, had placed. As the spell was fired, all Lassar heard was a yell of pain as she closed her eyes in reflex. Upon opening them, she saw that Rarity looked fine. The same could not be said of the nearby trees or the five people that had been sitting under one at that moment. “On the plus side, there won’t be a need to set up another wooden pole for your next attempt.” Lassar sighed. -- The sun was much lower on the horizon now. Rainbow Dash and Applejack sat near to where Trefor had been training them most of the day. He had left moments before to fetch Rarity for an important task for the three ponies. “AJ,” Rainbow broke the silence, “do... do you think the others are fine?” she asked. “Ah don’t know. Ah sure hope so, maybe in the morning, we can set out and try ta find them. They may have had the same luck as us, and are about ta spend the night preparing to come find us.” Applejack answered honestly. “I don’t like it here, Applejack. This world is strange, nothing controls the animals or clouds. It’s like a pleasant version of the Everfree forest.” Rainbow said, a slight hint of worry in her voice. “We won’t be here long. We just gotta do what the princess sent us here for, then we can go home. How about you go flying? That’ll calm ya.” Applejack suggested, a smile on her face. “Flying’s a no go, I’ve been trying now and then since we arrived. This world may have magic, but it sure won’t allow flying...” Rainbow said, looking very depressed suddenly. Applejack didn’t know how to respond. Flying was Rainbow’s life, and now, here she was in a world that didn’t permit it. It was bad enough all six of them were trapped in a world they shouldn’t be in at all, but it had also ripped the very thing that made Rainbow Dash who she was from her soul. And worse, it taunted her by leaving her wings upon her back. Silence fell among the two once more, but this time it didn’t last as long, as thirty seconds later, Trefor returned with a slightly singed Rarity following behind him. He grinned, and held out a brown card with a red marking on it. “This’ll be your final test. If you can clear this, you’re all good to go into the world.” Trefor stated, handing the card to Applejack. “What is this?” Rainbow asked, looking at the card. “That is a dungeon pass. Most of the formors are stuck in dungeons, held there by Goddess Statues. Keep those statues in mind, if you are knocked out, through some sort of spell, you can return with most of your health to them, so be sure to touch them as you see them.” Trefor informed the trio. “Okay, and what do we gotta do in this here dungeon?” Applejack questioned. “Oh its simple, get to the boss, kill it, and leave. Oh and be sure to help the guy still stuck in there,” Trefor paused, noticing the horrified looks on the ponies faces, “his own fault, I sent him in a week ago and he got lost. That dungeon has six rooms, including the exit, I still don’t get how it was possible to get lost. Now, good luck, don’t get lost or killed and have fun!” he grinned, waving a hand at them as he walked back to standing guard. -- The entrance to the dungeon Trefor guarded, named Alby Dungeon, was bright. The room almost seemed to shine from the amount of white rock and marble in it. In the middle of the room stood a statue of a winged human woman holding a sword, her eyes closed as she had her head tilted down towards the altar, which was simply a slab of white stone before the statue. Rarity, Applejack and Rainbow Dash stared at the statue, unsure how to proceed. Trefor had been a little too eager to get away from them after mentioning a resident of the world had gotten lost somehow in a six room dungeon, and had neglected to inform them how to actually enter the same one. Rainbow walked around the statue to a set of large stone doors that had been left slightly ajar, but was surprised to find that some sort of spell pushed her backwards as she tried to walk through. “Maybe the card has something to do with it?” Rainbow questioned, returning to the altar. “I say we should place it in front of us,” Rarity took the card with her magic, “like so.” The second the card touched the altar, the three ponies felt as though they were under pressure and moving very fast. As soon as the sensation had begun, it stopped. The three looked around, amazed. The room looked similar to before, except darker. The only bright light was centered on the statue and altar, the rest of the room looked as though it were bathed in moonlight. Looking around the statue, where the stone double doors of before had been, a large doorless arch with stairs now could be seen, and they led downstairs. They all looked at each other silently, before Rainbow spoke. “Do you think this counts as one of the six rooms?” -- The room at the bottom of the stairs had another statue like the room at the top, but without an altar. The ponies didn’t need to debate what it was for, as Trefor had clearly stated they should touch it, which they promptly did. Looking around, the only way to progress was the gated doorway to the right. In this room sat a chest. Entering the room, Applejack and Rainbow stopped and looked around, as Rarity approached the chest. “I havta wonder, how is this darn place so bright? It’s a dungeon ain’t it? Ain’t dungeons underground? There’s no lights anywhere in this room!” Applejack mumbled. “Don’t question it AJ, this world works differently.” Rainbow laughed. Both jumped in surprise as the gate behind them slammed shut, as the one ahead did the same. Rarity’s scream echoed around the room, and six very large white spiders appeared from nowhere. Staring confused, Applejack and Rainbow could only see one change in the room aside from the gates. The chest was now open, but it was far too small to contain six large white spiders. “Don’t question it huh?” Applejack asked. “Yeah, your brain will hurt less...” Rainbow answered. As Rarity stood still, screaming from being surrounded by the white spiders, Applejack readied her bow, as Rainbow took her sword in her mouth and charged at one. She slammed the sword down in front of one spider, then jumped into the air, sending it across the room. As it landed on its back, Rainbow lept forward and slammed the sword down into it. She closed her eyes, refusing to watch as life left it, and turned around. Meanwhile Applejack fired arrow after arrow at another spider, slowly bringing it to the inevitable end. Rarity had also ceased screaming when two had begun to ram into her torso and bite at her body. This had angered her enough to begin casting icebolt, and keeping the pair of spiders pinned a safe distance from her. With Rainbow attacking another, and Applejack finishing off the last, the spiders disappeared in black smoke, one leaving an orange key behind. The gates now also opened back up, allowing them to travel forward. “That was the most horrible thing ever!” Rarity declared, sitting down. “Ah know, how did six large spiders fit into a chest? What’s next? Bears?” Applejack grumbled. “I think Rarity meant more that we got caught unprepared by the spiders, AJ. I think they were those formor things, Trefor did say they lived inside dungeons after all.” Rainbow stated. “But we had to KILL them! They may have been horrible insects but I’ve never killed anything before!” Rarity shouted, staring at Rainbow. “We didn’t have a choice, besides, they disappeared into smoke, they probably aren’t even alive in the first place. Now come on, the sooner we get this done, the sooner we can go and look for the others and get back home.” Rainbow trotted off into the next room, picking up the orange key as she went. -- The next few rooms went smoothly now the three knew what to expect. The one right after the first chest contained a closed gate with an orange padlock (along with the statement from Applejack on how weak the home security of the formors was), another chest which provided a smaller amount of white spiders in two waves, one of which dropped a large red key, and the final room had another gate with a large padlock across it. This was where they were currently, staring at it with unamused looks. “Are ya bucking kidding me? Why even have the stupid doors in the first place? Like we’ll never think ‘Oh dear, a door with a big padlock! It won’t EVER open with the STUPID BUCKING LARGE RED KEY WE JUST FOUND!’ Stupid halfwits!” Applejack yelled, now clearly annoyed by the fact that the ways to prevent progression were easily outdone by keys dropped just before the doors. “Well, let’s get this over with.” Rainbow said flatly, placing the red key in the padlock. As the door opened, a young human male slid past them, breathing heavily. Slowly advancing towards him was a spider far larger than the white ones, but coloured red instead. Rainbow acted on impulse. Trefor had said the guy was lost, and here he was in danger. She wasn’t about to let that happen. She attacked the red spider, which was more resilient to the smash attack than the white ones had been, but it still landed on its back, allowing her time to stab it after a jump. However, this had not been enough to defeat it. It simply stood up and faced Rainbow. If it had eyelids or could show emotion, the look on its eight eyed face would have been a mix of annoyance and debate of how to eat the strange winged horse before it. As it slowly advanced towards her, Rainbow prepared to counter attack it, which she managed. The spider stumbled slightly, before falling down and stopped moving. From somewhere behind her, she heard an annoyed groan. “What’d you go do that for? I had that thing on the ropes!” moaned the human. -- Piaras rubbed the blue hair on his head in confusion. Before him stood three ponies, all smiling at him. Sure he had been told that there were three talking ponies in town, specifically by Ferghus, but he had simply assumed Ferghus was drunk and didn’t take what he had been told seriously. Now he was questioning if he was feeling well. The cheese he had eaten earlier did taste slightly strange now he thought back. He rubbed his eyes and looked again. The three ponies were still there, though no longer smiling. They had strangely coloured coats on them too, which also ignored the fact that the white one had a horn, and the blue one had a pair of wings. “Ah, I’m sure you must have not heard me clearly. Could we have a place to stay the night?” Rarity asked. Piaras felt his forehead. It felt a little hotter than normal. Maybe he really had come down with some illness that produced talking pony mirages. He cleared his throat. “Sure, take the stairs, plenty of rooms, take your pick.” he answered. “Oh my, I forgot, how will we pay for this?” Rarity questioned, frantically looking at the other two as she refused to spend the night under the stars. “Don’t worry, you can spend the night for free.” Piaras answered. “Why, thank you! What a gentlecolt you are!” Rarity said cheerfully, trotting to the stairs. The others followed her as she begun to climb them. Piaras watched them disappear upstairs, then sat down and begun to think. Maybe it was a good time to retire and take up fishing. -- The three ponies quickly settled on sleeping in different rooms. They had been tired after leaving the dungeon, and so found sleeping easy. Halfway through the night however, Rainbow Dash begun to get restless as she slept. She tossed and turned, never staying still for more than a minute. Within her dream, she stood on a stone path, facing stone ruins in an endless black void. Try as she might, she could not move from the spot she stood. “Can you hear me?”
A name written in the snowThe sun shone through the window of the room where Rainbow Dash, Applejack and Rarity had spent the night. As the beam slowly travelled across the room with the moving sun, illuminating the dust motes that floated in the air, it stirred in turn Applejack, then Rarity, who both set off after leaving a note for Rainbow to get breakfast. Somewhere around ten in the morning, the sunbeam landed on Rainbow’s closed eyes. She shifted slight, swatting at the sunbeam in the hopes of hitting it away. “Go ‘way.” she groaned, opening her left eye and glaring angrily at the window. With a sigh, Rainbow sat up in the bed, glancing at the note left for her. She stared at the floor, the dream from last night still present in her mind. The black winged woman, who had asked her to find this ‘Tir Na Nog’ place. She stood up, stretched, and headed out to find Applejack and Rarity. -- Tir Chonaill was more active that day, with many of the humans running around. In itself, this would have concerned Rainbow, but she paid it no mind, as none of them seemed to even notice. At one point as well, a human set up some firewood, and when Rainbow drew near, offered her some berries for nothing in return but some idle chatter. Rainbow kept the dream to herself, but did use the talk to find where Applejack and Rarity had gone. With a few other humans passing by and adding to the conversation, she found Applejack had been seen not too long ago in the Erskin Bank, while Rarity had been browsing the stores. This got a laugh from Rainbow Dash, as it was clear Rarity had already gone back to normal routines. Deciding she wanted nothing to do with Rarity trying to spend money they didn’t have, Rainbow said goodbye to the humans and headed to the bank. -- The interior of the Erskin bank was made from pine wood planks, with windows at the front either side of the door. Much to Rainbow’s relief, Applejack was already headed towards the door when she had arrived. “Well it’s about time ya were awake, didcha get anything to eat?” Applejack questioned. “Someone gave me some berries, so I’m fine. What were you doing in here AJ?” Rainbow asked back, narrowing her eyes. “Simple ain’t it? I wanted to know what they did here. They just store any money and items you bring them.” Applejack replied, apparently now regretting she had wanted to find out how banks in Erinn worked, and learning they were identical to all banks elsewhere. “Anyway,” Rainbow turned to follow Applejack as she left the bank, “can you go get Rarity? She’s in one of the stores, and I want to talk to that Duncan guy about something. Meet me by him in ten minutes ok?” Applejack simply nodded and headed towards the general store, as Rainbow walked past the town square to Chief Duncan. -- Chief Duncan seemed concerned about something, as Rainbow Dash drew closer. When she stopped before him and went to speak, he held out his hand and lowered his face towards her. “I need to ask a favour, if its not too much trouble. A friend of mine lost an item up at Sidhe Sneachta, could you please retrieve it? Be careful of the coyotes if you do go.” he smiled. “Uh, what kind of item are we talking about here?” Rainbow questioned. “An earring.” Chief Duncan replied in a matter-of-fact tone. “An... earring...” Rainbow deadpanned. “Yes, that is what I said, an earring.” “An earring, you want me to find an earring, in an area filled with these apparently dangerous coyotes things.” Rainbow pressed. “Indeed. Is it too much trouble?” Chief Duncan asked. “If it was someone’s grandma, no, but... an earring... can’t they just, you know, go buy another?” Rainbow questioned, wondering why she hadn’t walked away yet. “It was part of a set.” Rainbow let out an audible yell, which echoed around the town. “Fine, I’ll get the stupid earring, but say NOTHING to Rarity!” Rainbow snapped. She took a few steps forward, then paused. Looking around the town, she noticed for the first time that there seemed to be no signposts, not visible from where she stood anyway. With a loud, exaggerated sigh, she looked backwards to Chief Duncan. With a chuckle, he pointed to the north of the town, and Rainbow followed his directions. -- Sidhe Sneachta was cold. That was the first thing Rainbow noticed as the snow came up past her fetlocks. The second thing she noticed as she walked closer made her stand still, and stare at how creepy and weird the sight was. Thirty snowmen. All looked identical, except for the arms. And all stood with their black stone eyes staring right at her. It felt as though they were all staring into her soul and judging her for everything she had done. As she stood still, staring at the sight of the snowmen, a glint of gold caught her eye from a snowman in the middle. She approached this one, and found for some reason, the earring had been put on the snowman as if it had an ear to wear it. Smiling to herself, she took the earring off the snowman and tucked it under a wing. Shivering at the creepy sight of the snowmen still before her, Rainbow turned around to leave. And came nose to nose with a coyote pack. She backed away as they growled at her, and slowly approached, hungry to feast on her. Rainbow did the only thing she thought of at that moment. She turned back around and ran. The pack of coyotes kept up with her, one or two tried to tackle her at some points as she ran further in the area. She kept her focus on any way to get away from the coyotes and back to the town, but the more she ran, the more closed in by trees the area became. And then she saw something that only made things worse. Ahead of her was an area marked by stone pillars, carved straight and with one or two, had an overhang piece. This wasn’t what made her feel like all hope was gone however, it was what stood among the stone pillars. And what stood there was a very large brown bear. Rainbow came to a halt just in front of the bear, stopping just in time so her nose tapped the nose of the bear. Her eyes and the eyes of the bear locked for a moment, before it turned its attention to the coyotes running after her. Before Rainbow could register it, the bear walked past her, and begun to fight the coyotes, each defeated one choosing wisely to run away from the bear. Rainbow could have used this distraction to get away from both threats, but to do so would mean to go past the fighting coyotes and bear. She simply decided to wait, and hope that the bear moved slowly as she ran past. In a matter of minutes, the bear had beaten off all coyotes, and turned to face Rainbow. Lowering herself in preparation to run, Rainbow watched as the bear drew near. When it got closer, the look in its eyes threw Rainbow’s plan. It didn’t stare at her as though it intended to now maul and eat her, but it did look concerned. Slowly, it walked around her, as if to check that she had come to no harm. When it was satisfied, it drew closer, and stood almost beside her. What it did next confused Rainbow. The bear reached a front paw to the snow before them both, and wrote in the snow. “Tar-lach? What’s that supposed to mean?” she asked the bear aloud. Looking to her side, Rainbow was surprised to see it had gone. The bear was now returning to where it had been before. Looking at it, she watched as the bear picked up a blue herb and ate it, no longer paying attention to the blue pegasus mare. Thankful to discover the bear was a herbivore unlike those of Equestria, Rainbow looked at the word written in the snow once more, and left. -- When she returned to the town, Rarity and Applejack were already waiting near Chief Duncan, both of them seemed slightly concerned when they saw her, and approached as she drew near. “What took you so long? He only asked you to get an earring.” Rarity inquired. Rainbow opened her wing and let the earring fall, its fall to the ground only being stopped by Rarity’s magic, as she handed it over to Duncan. Rainbow herself meanwhile sat down and sighed. “Something happened while I was out there.” she stated. “What happened? You were too ‘cool’ to pick up the earring?” Rarity replied snidely. “No, after I got the earring, I turned around and came nose to nose with a pack of coyotes. I got chased, and got saved by a bear.” Rainbow snapped back, glaring daggers at Rarity. “A bear you say? They’ve not been peaceful since the arrival of the formors.” Duncan said, having been paying attention to the arguement between Rainbow and Rarity. “Yeah, after it beat the coyotes back, it wrote a word in the snow, ‘Tarlach’. Do you know what that means?” Rainbow questioned. Duncan thought for a moment, closing his eyes as he thought through everything he had heard. After the second minute, it became clear he would be thinking a while, and so Rainbow turned her attention to Applejack and Rarity. “I also had a weird dream last night,” she said, waiting to see if either would say anything, which they didn’t, “in it I saw a human, with black wings on her back. She told me to come to some place named Tir Na Nog and rescue her. What do you think that means?” Duncan cleared his throat, catching the attention of the ponies. They turned to face him and waited for him to speak. “It would seem your dream is no coincidence. There is a tale of three warriors who went missing, one of them was called Tarlach, and they went in search of Tir Na Nog. But prehaps, it would be best for you to seek out Stewart of the Dunbarton school of magic. He knows more of the tale than I.” Duncan said, smiling at Rainbow. “Okay, and how do we get to Dunbarton? We don’t exactly know this world yet.” Rainbow stated, rubbing the back of her head with a hoof. “Simply head down there,” Duncan pointed down past the church, “past the wheat and barley plots, and continue down the path. Tir Chonaill is connected to Dunbarton by Dugald Isle, just keep going straight on, and you’ll soon find the town. I wish you three the best of luck.” Duncan finished, standing up and turning his attention to passing birds. Rainbow, Rarity and Applejack smiled at each other, the thought going through their heads that they may soon find one of their lost friends, and be a little closer to finding out why they had been sent to Erinn by Princess Celestia. -- The black robed figure watched the three pastel ponies as they begun to head to Dugald Isle. Beside him, a figure covered from head to foot in plate armor watched with him. This figure turned his head as the black robed figure spoke. “She sent the blue one a message last night, and they are on the path to fulfilling her call for help. See to it that they do not make it to their next destination.” it said, disappearing in a black cloud. “It shall be done.” the other figure replied, as it begun to follow after the three ponies.
