Hearts of Harmony: Into the Land of Mists

by Joe Toon

Rating: mature
Tags: Gore, Original Character, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Spike, Horror, Other, Adventure, Violence, Crossover, Dungeons and Dragons, Dark, Death, Alternate Universe, Human, Narcotics, Main 6
Length: 27465

The Mane 6 and Spike enters the Land of Barovia and faces the Curse of the Vampire Strahd.

After the Defeat of the Storm King, The Mane 6 and Spike received a strange call from the Map Room. The Map led them into a land of mist and shadow. Where hope dies, harmony is replaced with paranoia and friendship is corrupted by distrust. For in the Land of Barovia, he is the Ancient, he is the Land. He is not dead. Nor is he alive. He is Strahd von Zarovich.

Inspired from the campaign based on DnD 5e's The Curse of Strahd, Hearts of Harmony brings our heroes into the ultimate test of Friendship in a realm where not even Celestia's Sun could reach.
This story is not for the faint of heart and contains massive spoilers for The Curse of Strahd Campaign. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED You are most welcomed here.

Published 2021-04-04 14:50:00 UTC
Last updated 2023-11-14 06:26:56 UTC

Chapter 2: Into the Mist Part 2

Author's Note

Just a heads up, I have had the worst luck trying to find the appropriate attire for each of the characters, and an even worst luck describing them. So I added an excessive amount of links to the descriptions of each of them and please note that the images are not 100% what I had in mind (take them as just a general idea of how they would look like and take each of them with a grain of salt).
I also didn't add any images into the page itself due to the possibility of copyright infringement so, good luck clicking the links to the images themselves.:pinkiecrazy:

Chapter 2: Into the Mist Part 2

A man in a red shirt and sunglasses stares blankly into the open. He lifts a book with telekinesis from a shelf behind him in his strange room and opens it in front of him.
So, you have returned. I take it you wish to know what happened when they left Ponyville? Or Perhaps you were just curious to know who the two strangers were? Or perhaps both? Or perhaps there is something else you are looking forward to? No matter, their journey has only begun. So let us no longer delay and continue where we left off.

Somewhere within the mists
The next morning

My head, what happened? What is that warm, wet feeling?

Fluttershy opened her eyes to see Harry the Bear licking her face and Angel Bunny shaking her awake. They both stopped and smiled with relief when she straightened herself up. "Angel Bunny. Harry. It's so good to see you okay." She raised her arms to rub the sides of their heads, comforting them.

Roll for Perception
20
She notices where her forehooves should have been are replaced with coat-less, skinny arms with small claw-like indexes.

Roll for Wisdom Saving throw
10
Fluttershy gives out a squeak as she attempted to stand up, only hit her head at a roof of a tree hollow. "Ow, my head!" as she reached for her injury, she felt her ears being pointier than usual. Then she noticed that the shape of her head was all wrong; her muzzle was gone and replaced with a flatter nose and small mouth, the rest of her face was flat and smooth without fur, her eyes were sharper as well as her sight, the ears she previously felt were pointier and longer than before.

Roll for Wisdom Saving throw with disadvantage
7
Full of panic now, Fluttershy scurried backward, hitting the wall of the tree hollow. She can't feel he wings. She reaches her back with her arms; she has no wings. She felt no mane roots on her back. There was nothing but smooth, soft skin on her exposed back. She also noticed she was wearing a peculiar set of clothes; *A leaf-woven fabric held together by leather-like vines around her chest. A short green skirt with a long leaf-woven loincloth hung in front and bonded together by cords of rope. Sitting on her head was a wreath of willows. She was barefooted but swirls of willow vines stretched from her knees to her feet like sandals. And finally a long brown cape from shoulders down to her ankles with patterns of Butterflies all over it. (*Not 100% in likeness but the closest I could compare to how I would imagine)

Fluttershy was about to scream when both Angel and Harry covered her mouth and gestured outside the tree hollow. She saw beyond the hollow was the endless fog she and her companions trekked through, and within a distance a figure was seen through the haze. It shared the same body shape as she is currently in; it stood on two legs and was taller than she was in her pony form. She turned to both Angel and Harry and saw that they were afraid of this being. Fluttershy gazed back to the figure and noticed it looked as though it was searching for something... or perhaps, someone.

For a while, the figure stood there until produced an eerie whistle. A Dark horse, much larger than Princess Celestia appeared and approached the figure, who in turn mounted on the steed and rode away from sight. Fluttershy released a breath which she didn't know she held and heard Angel and Harry did the same.

"Was that what you were hiding me from?"

Both of the animals nodded.

"Okay then, I'll be sure to avoid anything that looks like that." Fluttershy scrambled inside the tree hollow and stuck her head out to look outside.

Roll for Perception
17
She noticed another figure just a distance away from her hiding place. It was lying down on a patch of grass, covered in white fabric. It stirred for a bit before it sat upright.

"This just DREADFUL! How could such a thing have happen?" the figure's feminine voice cried out.

That voice! C-could it be? Fluttershy climbed out of the hollow and leaned on a branch. She steadied herself and slowly stood on her two legs. Well, that was easy. As Fluttershy slowly walked towards the figure she found that her footing was rather light, almost as those the ground beneath her was made of clouds. As she came closer she began to notice a few things about the creature; she was tall and slender with an almost porcelain skin, *a velvet purple hair on her head and long pointed ears like herself. Her head veiled with a white hood that draped down to her ankles; a golden plate covering her torso embroiled with a trio of blue diamonds. Straps of leather coiled around her arms, waist; holding the loose fabric onto her body in a shapely fit. The creature was clad in an emblem colors of white, blue and a touch of gold. "How can one walk on all fours without staining this beautiful fabric?!" (*Just replace the hair and ears and voila.)

Fluttershy knew only one creature in any world who would fit this figure before her, "R-Rarity... Is that you?"

The hooded one's eyes widened as she looked into Fluttershy's eyes, "W-who are you!?" She fell on her back at the sight of her and backed away, "What do you want with me? I have nothing but the clothes on me and I cannot part from them without feeling cold!"

"Rarity, it's me! It's Fluttershy!" She knelt down match their eye level and extended her arm as though she was comforting a scared animal.

"I-is it... I-is it really you?" Rarity's eyes started to well as she leaned forward and took down her hood.

Fluttershy in turn started to sniffle, "Yes... Yes it is."

Rarity leapt to embrace her friend and sobbed, "I WAS SO SCARED! ABSOLUTELY TERRIFIED! I was with this traveling caravan and they just started to change and then I noticed I was changing too and I was so frightened that I panicked and jumped out of the wagon then I blacked out and woke up all alone with no pony around to..."

"There, there," Fluttershy brushed her head with her paws/claws/whatever they are, "It's okay now. Let it all out."

After a few hiccups and sobbing, Rarity wiped her eyes, took a good look at her friend's new form and exclaimed, "Fluttershy I have got to say, you look absolutely beautiful!"

Fluttershy blushed with embarrassment from the compliment, "Oh thank you. You look pretty yourself."

"I KNOW, RIGHT? I LOOK ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS!" Rarity pulled out a mirror from her bag and gaze at her reflection, "I mean, I know I looked pretty as a pony. But this! I feel as though I could rival the Princesses with this look!"

Just then, Angel and Harry walked right behind them, prompting Rarity to squeal a little and for Fluttershy to converse with them. After listening to all the growls and squeaks Fluttershy's face lit up and asked, "Are you sure?" The two animals nodded.

"What is it, darling?"

"They just told me that Twilight and the others are near!"

"A-are you serious?" Rarity's face lit with a wide smile.

Fluttershy hummed a nod.

"Well, let us waste no time!" Rarity stood on all fours only to be held up by Fluttershy as she raised her up standing on two feet.

"These bodies are bipedal."

A nervous laugh came out of Rarity, "Well that makes sense."

In another part of the fog
Meanwhile

"Well, this is different."

"I'll say! Check out these guns!"

"Oooooh. You look cool Spike! Like Super-duper cool!"

"CAN ANYPONY EXPLAIN TO ME WHAT JUST HAPPENED TO OUR BODIES?"

"Yeah, like why are Pinkie and 'Ah standin' no higher than the lower half of a door and you three are twice that size?

The last voice came from the new form of Applejack. She wore an orange bodice underneath a studded leather armor covering her torso; leather arm guards went from her elbows to the palms of her hands. Studded brown pants covered by an orange-brown fur-like fabric with a repeating pattern of a trio of apples was held together by a large belt on the waist. Her skin was a white with a shade of tan; her face held a beautiful, stoic expression with small freckles around her cheeks. She had a golden blond hair; braided into two pigtails to each side of her head. Completing the ensemble was a large hammer strapped behind her back by a buckle across her chest and *a brown Stetson atop her head. *(Just pretend there's a hat there)

"It's not so bad, Applejack," the cheery voice of Pinkie Pie was heard from the smallest creature in the room wearing a wide grin. Her attire was gypsy like; a blouse with puffy shoulders and blue vertical stripes bellow the chest to the waist. Beneath that was a sleeveless, thin laced tunic all the way from her neck to her waist. A white frilly dress skirt; covered by a pinkish-purple cloth with small balloon shaped tassels on the edges, tied over with a bow. She wore blue knee-high boots tied off with pink ribbons at the end. Her ears were pointed, her skin was a light pink and her large, thick curly hair was a darker shade of pink tied with a violet star-patterned bandanna. She also held a tambourine with an icon of three balloons in the middle. "You look pretty cool with that get up! In fact, everyone looks amazing with our awesome new bodies! I mean, I like my setup; yours is tough reliable; Rainbow Dash looks totally awesome; Spike is even more totally awesome; Twilight is..... well Twilight."

Just as Pinkie mentioned, Rainbow Dash had a simple getup but by no means unimpressive;*She was tall, slender and a bit of a light tanned skin. Her hair was extraordinary; It was of the colours of the rainbow that flowed and glittered (a likeness to Princess Celestia's mane) and tied in a ponytail with a hairpiece. She wore a navy-blue shirt underneath a bright blue tunic that went from her shoulders to her knees. She wore brown leather pants and unlaced blue boots with wings attached to them. She also has leather shoulder-guards, golden arm guards and a leather belt by the waist held by a buckle a symbol of a rainbow coloured lightning bolt under a cloud. *(Please ignore the stats, class and weapons/shield)

Spike could not have been anymore different yet similar than how he was in Equestria; For one, he was much larger in his new form (almost as tall as Rainbow Dash) and yet unlike the rest of the ponies Spike retained his dragon-like qualities. For another, instead of his purple scales his new form had majestic golden scales. He was covered in chain-mail and plated armor *with a tunic covering over and it emblazed the emblem of Equestria's Sun, Moon and the two sisters. Also with him, he held a shield with an emblem of a purple six-pointed star with a green flame as background and a flail holstered on his belt. (*Just replace the colours and symbols)

Twilight on the other hand was by far, the most unimpressive and unsurprising in comparison to the rest of the group (considering the other world she was in); While still similar to how she looked in Canterlot High *(long straight purple hair with bangs), she stood taller than Rainbow Dash, her skin was brown and her ears were pointed and long. **She wore a purple robe with white lines on it's edges over her tunic, which covers most of her body. Fastening the robe was a corded belt. She wore deep blue pants and grey boots. She wore a hooded cloak patterned with stars and a large six-pointed purple one on the center. (*Just replace the head with Twilight from EQG and make her skin brown and give her elf ears) (**Just picture it purple)

"Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, calm down." Twilight raises her hands to take control of the situation, "Do you remember when Spike and I went through the mirrored portal?"

"You mean the world Sunset Shimmer lives in?"

"Yes Rainbow," affirmed Twilight, "that one. What happened to us last night is a similar effect to when Spike and I went through the portal. If my theory is correct, this fog acts as some sort of conduit to travelling into another world. And as we entered, our bodies changed to comply to the rules of this reality."

"Ooooh. So it's like putting on a party hat when you enter a "Party Hat party" and then you switch it out with a mustache when you enter a "Wear a Mustache party"?

Twilight was about criticize that comparison before she thought about it, "I suppose it's like that."

"Well that's nice and all, Twilight," Rainbow Dash scowled at her back as she struggled to stand, "but I would much prefer to fly or even walk on all fours rather than this wingless, two-legged body."

"Well, at least you aren't shorter than a barrel of Cider!" Applejack snorted.

"Oh, you'll get used to it," a familiar voice called out to them, "I know I am."

All turned to see two strangers on two legs (accompanied by a Bear and rabbit behind them) approach the party. Everyone was speechless until they began to process the likeness of the strangers to someponies they knew.

Roll for Perception
12(RD), 11(AJ), 8(TS), 15(PP), 18(S)
Spike was the first to recognize them, "Fluttershy? R-Rarity?"

Rarity gasped at the sight of them, "Spikie-wykie, is that you? You look absolutely DASHING!"

At that the Dragon smiled with a blush, "You look good too, Rarity. Beautiful in fact." It was then the rest of the party notices that while Spike kept his usual voice from Equestria in his new form, there was a peculiar vibration in his voice; like a soft, golden echo that was barely audible.

A small blush with a sincere smile came from Rarity, "Why thank Spike." She then turned to the rest of them and began critiquing each of their appearances, "And look at you all! Applejack; reliably rough, but elegant! Rainbow Dash; simple but bold, I love it! Pink Pie; you look positively ADORABLE! Twilight; I suppose as always you prefer function over style but it does fit you to a tee."

Twilight moved in to give the fashionista a hug, "It's good to see you are taking this all too well. But how did you get here?"

All began to recount what has transpired over the past hours leading to where they are now.

"We were called by the map?" Fluttershy looked genuinely surprised, "but I didn't see my Cutie-mark glow."

"Neither did any of us, Sugarcube," said Applejack who was beginning to get used to walking on two legs, "'Ah'm more curious about those Vistani folk Rarity was sayin'."

"I'm more suspicious about the letter Fluttershy got." Rainbow Dash jumped in, "Doesn't it seem like an odd coincidence that the map called us here while Rarity and Flutters came here by different means which somehow brought us here to this fog at the same time?"

"You mean like something wanted us all to be here?" Pinkie Pie asked.

"Maybe the Tree of Harmony wanted us to fix something here?" Spike suggested.

"But that doesn't answer why our Cutie-marks didn't glow," Twilight stared across the fog covered road the just entered from, "Maybe if we go back to Equestria just to be sure, we could come back here more prepared. Maybe even bring the Elements of Harmony with us?"

"Good idea, Twilight!" Pinkie Pie hopped towards the fog, "That way we could also pick a spare wheel for Trixie's Wagon when we crashed to a tree."
Roll for Constitution Saving Throw
12
As the Party pony(/whatever she is) stepped into the fog, she froze for a moment and rushed back up with terror in her eyes. "T-T-Twilight, t-t-there's-s-s s-something very wrong! I can't feel my Pinkie sense!"

"What do you mean?" There was a troubled concern from Twilight's voice when she heard that.

"You know how my Pinkie sense was all over the place just before we came here?" Pinkie was visibly shaking with fright, "Now, I can't feel any of it at all. And I know I should be feeling it because when I touched the fog, I felt something very wrong in the fog."

This alarmed everyone. Twilight was the first to move as she approached the fog. She casts Detect Magic. I can use magic here, good she thought. A strong and powerful aura emanated from the fog. She then tried to brush away the mist; and as she does, claw-like hands appeared, reaching out to touch her. As she stepped back, the arms vanished as the mist reformed itself.

"Everypony," Twilight's voice quivered with fear, "I think whatever brought us here, did so to trap us here."

"Ya mean, we can't go back!?" There was panic in Applejack's voice.

"Y-you mean, we c-can't go home?" Fluttershy squeaked.

Roll for History
16
"Wait a moment," Rarity recalled, "I remembered that the Vistani mentioned about the fog. "Now, we alone have the power to leave his domain." was what Stanimir said before I arrived here."

"Does that mean we need the Vistani to get out of here?" Spike asked.

"Perhaps," said Twilight, "Either way, we can't stay here. According to Fluttershy's letter, there should be a town not far from here. We could request some help there and in exchange if the letter is to be believed, we could do some help there too.

"So we're just going to leave the Wagon here?" Pinkie Pie looked pained at the prospect of breaking a Pinky-promise, even with somepony like Trixie.

"You know Pinkie," Rainbow Dash lifted Pinkie Pie, held her by the waist like a child and gave her a reassuring smile, "The sooner we get into Town, the better the chance that Trixie's Wagon will still be here to fix it."

Pinkie gave the most adorable smile when she heard that, taking everyone aback. By Celestia, She is too precious in this form everyone thought.

Pinkie hopped off of Rainbow, "I'll go grab some cupcakes for the journey there," and made her way to the wagon. As she opened a blood-curdling scream came out of her, prompting everyone to rush to her.

She sobbed in the most adorably comical way as everyone came to see what she was crying about, "My cupcakes... They... They... THEY GOT TURNED INTO HARD, STALE BREAD!"

Deeper into the fog
An hour later

Pinkie Pie was still sobbing as she sat on top of Harry the Bear as the party trekked forward across the misty forest. Fluttershy walked along side Pinkie as she tried to comfort her predicament while Spike took a bite out of the bread to taste it. "You know, it's actually not that bad. (Crunch) Sure it feels like eating quartz but it tastes just fine."

This caused for tiny, pink gypsy to bawl and Rainbow Dash to scowl at the Dragon, "Not helping, Spike."

Fluttershy patted Pinkie Pie's fluffy curls with a "There, there." from her soft voice. Pinkie sniffed and wiped her tears, "It's okay Dashie, (sniff) Spike was trying to make me feel better. At least he (sniff) finds it edible."

Everyone else, Roll for Perception
Natural 20(AJ), 14(R), 14,(TS)
Meanwhile, Applejack noticed something on the horizon, "Girls, Spike. Y'all have a look at this!"

"My word," gasped Rarity, "It's huge!"

Twilight stared with awe at the sight, "Incredible."

The rest stopped to look at the view in before them. Ahead, jutting from the impenetrable woods on both sides of the road, are high stone buttresses looming gray in the fog. Huge iron gates hang on the stonework. Dew clings with cold tenacity to the rusted bars. Two headless statues of armed guardians flank the gate, their heads now lying among the weeds at their feet. They greeted the party only with silence. As they approached, the gates swing open, screeching as the hinges move

"Alright, that is mighty impressive," whistled Applejack.

Everyone, Roll for Perception
13(TS), 19(R), 8(PP), 6(FS), 6(RD), 21(AJ), 2(S)
Aware that they were noticed, two figures popped out of the bushes along the gates. They wore long tunics and a Green and Gold coats over them. They had blue badges embroiled with gold and held a symbol of a crescent moon and its reflection over a lake. It was also noted that they are completely drenched, as though they were fished out of a lake.
One of the figures was a woman with a white hood along with her uniform. She had black hair and red eyes and a pale complexion. She held out two hand crossbows pointed at the party and along her belt were strange contraptions connected to several Crossbow bolts. Her partner was of a smaller stature who was waist high. She looked like an overgrown raven; wearing a green hood along with his uniform and held out two shortswords and has a small rapier holstered on his belt.

"You have at the count of ten to tell me who you are and where are we before we have you restrained!" Ordered the woman.

"Woah, easy there partner!" called Applejack, "We here are just as confused as you are."

"Confused as you are." the bird thing repeated exactly what Applejack said with her perfectly imitated voice.

"What in Equestria?"

"I'll do the questions here!," barked the pair's leader, "Do you expect me to believe that a party comprised of a dwarf, a halfling, an aasimar, three elves and a dragonborn would not know where they are when they are travelling across a fog filled woods?"

Pinkie raised her hand, "Um, you do realize that you just answered your own question?"

"Answered, question." imitated the bird.

"Pest, Shut up!" barked the woman (sounding somewhat flustered).

Twilight took a step forward, "Do you know what our forms are? You see, we weren't exactly the way we are now before we came to this land."

Now completely confused, the strange woman lowered one crossbow but pointed another at Twilight, "What in the Nine Hells are you talking about?"

Roll for Persuasion
12
"We are from another world, and judging from your expression; you and your companion are probably in the same predicament as we are. You see, in our world we are not bipedal creatures."

"Is that a fact?" she tightened her grip on her crossbow, "Where are you from then?"

"We are from Equestria."

Natural 1 Insight
The woman laughed menacingly before she gave an incredulous look at Twilight and scoffed, "EQUESTRIA? Do I look like an idiot to you? Equestria! That's a fairy tale from a thousand years ago! It's not even based off of real legends. A Children's story about Unicorns, Pegasi and other manner of magical creatures living in harmony?! You must be either awfully desperate or incredibly stupid if you are resorting to use a piece of fiction as a cover story!"

"Hold up! Did you just call us fiction?" Rainbow Dash's expression was between being insulted and excited to know the possibility of being a story character like Daring Do.

"Now where do ya go off, callin' us fiction?" Applejack pointed her hammer at the stranger, "Equestria is real and we came from it! That's the honest truth!"

"Truth? I've known too many who claimed to speak the truth. They all usually end up on the rope at the gallows." This statement chilled the party to the core. "If you do speak the truth, then prove it!"

It just occurred to Twilight; whatever proof they could provide would be useless due to the rules of this world. The world she is from recognizes their current forms and would therefore be familiar with the concept of magic. If that be case, whatever spellcraft she could unleash would simply be brushed off as a spell she has seen before. Science would be out of the picture due to the level of sophistication she would be well familiar with (her crossbow holster being an example). Foods would can't be evidence due to being transformed. Animals like Angel and Harry? No, she didn't looked surprised to see them. What else is there? Clothes? But our clothes already look similar to hers.

It was then Twilight noticed the intricate detail on her badge. The emblem of her nation. She pointed to her number one assistant. "He has the proof."

"What?" Everyone (yes, including the bird) reacted the same as Twilight declared their evidence.

"If you're telling me that this Dragonborn is your proof then you're going to have to do better than..."

"I didn't say he is the proof," Twilight interjected, "I said he has the proof. More importantly, he's wearing the proof."

"Um Twilight," Spike gave his superior an unsure look, "are you sure you know what you are doing?"

Twilight smiled at her number one assistant, "Don't worry Spike, I know what I am doing." She then turns to the stranger, "You are some sort of city guard, right?"

"Yes I am," she nodded.

"Then as a city guard, you are provided with only the finest uniforms emblazoned with the symbol of your city or nation by the finest crafters and any poor imitation can easily be identified, correct?"

"Yes, that is correct."

"Then tell me, are you familiar with the emblem of Equestria, even as fiction?"
Roll for Persuasion, with Advantage
24

The woman took a deep look into the emblem of Equestria on Spike's tunic. She recognizes that symbol from the storybook cover. "Pest! Confirm it!" She ordered the Raven creature to which he complied. While studying it, Pest did notice it was a legitimate uniform and emblem. He looked to the woman and nodded.

She couldn't believe it. No army could afford to customize an official guard's emblem, especially in likeness to a symbol from a storybook. She holstered her crossbows to her sides and crossed her arms, "It seems the evidence is on your side, but excuse me if I remained skeptical to your claim. For now, I shall give you the benefit of the doubt."

"I suppose we got ourselves on the wrong foot here," Rarity stepped forward with her familiar smile, "Allow us to introduce ourselves. My name is Rarity; Fashionista of Carousel Boutique. This is Applejack; Farmer and manager of Sweet Apple Acres. That is Rainbow Dash; fastest flyer in Equestria, Captain of the weather team in Ponyville and a member of the Wonderbolts. That is Fluttershy; Ponyville's resident animal expert. That is Pinkie Pie; Ponyville's professional Party Planner. This is Spike; Number one assistant to last but truly not the least; Twilight Sparkle; Personal Student of Princess Celestia and Princess of Friendship."

"Why am I not surprised?" the strange woman said as she and her companion shook hands with each accordingly to their introductions. "I suppose we should introduce ourselves. I am Sergeant Maria Rosa Dela Alejandre Alethra Martinez. Maria for short." She added quickly after seeing their reactions to her full name. "This is my partner, Pest. He is a Kenku."

"Pest! Pest!" the birdman squawked in a high pitch noise.

"We are both members of the City Watch of Waterdeep."

"Waterdeep?" Twilight puzzled, "I've never heard of it."

"And you wouldn't have if what you claim is true," Maria gave a scowl, "We are from the world of Faerun. (Achoo!)"

"Oh dear, you're soaked to the bones," Rarity approached the two, "Let's dry you both up, and perhaps you could tell us how you got here. In turn, we'll tell you ours."

"Well, that's the thing," Maria wiped her nose, "Now that I thought about it, I think we died."

Faerun, Waterdeep Dock Ward, The Skewered Dragon Tavern
Last night

Maria Alethra Martinez was sitting at a bar, looking at the invitation from a mysterious stranger and doesn't bother to read it. She has bigger fish to fry. "Pest, did you get all that conversion on table 5?"

Roll for Sleight of Hand
19
Roll for Performance
Natural 20
The young Kenku appeared out of nowhere right next to Maria. He leaned in and whispered into the human's ear with perfect likeness to the conversation from the table in question, "The Xanathar is getting twitchy about his missing goods. We need to find that Goblin and get her to squeal where it is."

Goblin?

Pest continues with a voice from the other person, "Not exactly easy considering that the Inquisitors got her under lock and key. Plus with the Xanathar's men hustling about the street, there's no way we could nosy about. Especially with some new upstart Noble from Neverwinter to start his own hustling business."
"A Warlock from a long dead family should be no concern of ours! We must focus all our efforts to retrieving the missing goods before the Xanathars get it. If they get it back, any leverage we have against them is gone. Do you understand what that entails or not?"
"Crystal clear. They own the city, we lose our jobs."
"You'll lose more than that if you fail. (Sounds of chairs moving) Meet me by the pier in an hour, and do not be late! We'll be expecting new friends from Baldur's Gate very soon."

The group had already left the tavern by the time Pest finished his imitation of the conversation. "So, we already have the goblin in question then. We better tell the High Inquisitor that she's more important than we thought."

Pest just nods.

"You're more silent than usual, what's wrong with you?!"

"You told Pest to be quiet." came the mixed voices from the Kenku's beak to put together a sentence.

Maria sighed, "Oh right, I forgot about that." Of all the creatures I get assigned to be my partner, it's this infuriating Pest of a bird. Granted he's useful for interrogations and recording spoken conversations just by hearing them, but by Lothander he is such a pain when he goes off on his own devices.

"Why hello there, miss." A strange man set beside her, "could I interest you with a drink?"

"No thank you, we are just on our way out." She stood from her chair and gestured Pest to follow.

"Is that so?" the man turn to look at her as she made her way out the door, "May I offer to escort you home? It is awfully late at night, lots of unscrupulous characters out and about, especially as of late."

"No thank you," Maria had a bad feeling about this and flashed a rapier into view, "We will be fine on our own."

"Oh, but I insist, Sergeant for the City Watch."

Oh no.

Gates of Barovia
Present time

"We were gagged, blindfolded and dumped into the docks to drown. Next thing we knew, we woke up here."

"Oh my, that's awful." Fluttershy was seen sitting down, caressing a content Pest on her lap as though he was a cat. The Kenku in turn started cooing like a pigeon and rubbed himself against her hand that was stroking him.

"Pest, get off of her," Maria gave the Kenku a stern look before she turned to the one petting him, "Ms Fluttershy, I would appreciate it if you don't pamper him. He's soft enough as it is!"

Fluttershy stood up, prompting Pest to leap off her lap and gave a whimper of a sad pup. "Don't worry, maybe next time when we get the chance," she assured him with a pat.

"So, you all came from due to this fog, right?" Maria inquired, pointing at the fog behind them.

"Yes, that is correct," Twilight turned on her full explanation mode, "There is a strong magical aura within the fog that acts as a one-way conduit to a connected world. It's also a barrier to keep anyone out. We can enter, but..."

"...We can't go out," the guard interjected.

"Well, not quite," continued Twilight, "Theoretically, we can go through if we have the right spell to allow us to break through the barrier. But even with that, there is no telling which world we could enter without some proper form of navigating across the fog."

"So we're back to square one. Trapped."

"Not necessarily," Rarity added in, "The Vistani are the only ones who can go through the fog and could properly navigate their way around it. If we can reach them..."

"We can get ourselves home!" Rainbow interjected.

"It looks to me like y'all on the same page," Applejack smirked at Maria, "We meet up with the Vistani folk, we can go home."

Pinkie gasped with excitement, "Does that mean.... you'll..."

Maria sighed, "Well, it seems we have little choice on the matter, and it does look like you have a lot of questions about your new bodies if that were true. So I suppose we'll have the honour of accompanying your party."

There was a shared glee among them. Pest let out a squeaky "Yay" from his beak. Pinkie Pie fired a party popper. Smiles and spirits were now high as they passed through the gates.

As they past, the doors slowly shut with a screeching noise without catching the party's attention. Also unbeknownst to them is as they follow the road, the fog creep closer behind them.

Castle of Friendship, Map room
Meanwhile

The Cutie-Map still glowed the marks of the party over the Everfree Forest. Hidden in near the map was a small dark crystal protruding from the side. It shrank into its roots and disappeared; as it does, the symbols of the Party vanishes from the map.

Ponyville, Fluttershy's cottage
Last night

"Oh Fluttershy, I have our dinner party ready!" came the sing-song tune of Discord as he opened his dimension in Fluttershy's living room. "Fluttershy?" the Draconequus noticed she wasn't home as a few nervous animals approached him with a letter.

"Well, that's just perfect," Discord's face soured, "Another last minute cancellation. You know, I really should start addressing this to her and at least have her tell me a week in advance." He snatched the letter from the animals and opened it.

Dear Discord,
I'm sorry for cancelling our dinner with my animals. I really wish I could have informed you a week before, but this was a last minute emergency. Somepony sent me a letter needing my help across another town. If you want, you can help me out and that way we might finish the job before the night is over. I made a copy of the letter for you to read should you want to accompany me to the next town.
Your friend, Fluttershy

Discord sighed, "Welp, that's the Element of Kindness for you. Let's see which town you went...." All jovial features from his expression left as he read the copy of the Burgomaster's letter. In its place was pure horror and fear.

"Oh no."

The man from the strange room closes his book and looks directly in front of him.
I'm afraid that that is the end of our session.

Bonus Chapter: Classes 101

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Chapter 3: The Barovian Welcome

The man donned in a red shirt and sunglasses looks to his bookshelf. He turns around as he notices someone enters his strange room. He pulls a book off of the shelf and makes his way to his seat.
I wasn't expecting you to return. Usually, many would just give up coming back, especially due to the nature of this tale. Then again, you did chose come. You knew the signs, the story, the endless potential of a better fanfiction. (Wait should I be saying that?) Well then, I suppose we should just get started. Or rather more specifically, let us continue.

Svalich Woods
Not long after

"You know Princess, I've been curious. What is that odd staff you are holding?"

"Oh this?" Twilight held out a wooden staff with a blue crystal on the top, "This is the Storm King's Staff, better known as "The Staff of Sacanas". It was once used to hold the power of all four Alicorn Princesses (including myself) during his invasion of Equestria. Now it only has less than a tenth of its power but I could still use to conjure a small storm should things get out of hoof."

"Four Princesses?" Maria gave a curious look, "I thought there were seven of them."

"Seven?!" This caught everyone's attention.

"The Princess of the Day, the Princess of the Night, the Princess of the Earth, the Princess of the Sea, the Princess of the Air, The Princess of the Heart, and the Princess of Magic." Maria listed them out like a checklist, "Each seven of them maintained Balance and Harmony within Equestria and governed their respective realms."

"But that can't be," confused by the deviation of their history, Twilight continued to question, "Equestria never had more than five Alicorn Princesses! Where did this story come from?"

"Simple, "Hearts of Harmony" is a Fairy-tale anthology of the Princesses of the world known as Equestria. From their achievements and tragedies, each Princesses' tales inspired many children's imagination. The first story was about Grogar the Goat and his conquest, and how the seven united against him. All but the Princess of the Air died to defeat him; and due to his foul magic he corrupted the Earth Princess, using her corpse to create shape-shifting abominations.
The Second story was the unification of the Pony tribes and the stand against the Windigos. By then they chose three mares to be successors to the fallen Princesses of the Heart, Magic and Sea. Unfortunately, the Princess of the Heart fled north to protect her ponies, the Princesses of the Air and Sea were slain by the Windigos, and the Princess of Magic tried what she could to arbitrate the discussions between the tribes. However, it was the wise counsel of three simple ponies that defeated the Windigos; and with the Princess of Magic, they chose two sisters to be successors to the Day and Night.
The final story was after the Princess of Magic chose a Unicorn wizard to be her successor, the Princess of the Heart was betrayed by her successor, was turned to stone by the King of Shadows and was then shattered to pieces. It took the Princesses of the Day and Night to defeat him only to have the entire Empire of the North vanish out of existence."

The Equestrians' jaws dropped. The story was sound and held an uncanny parallels to their world, along with plausible explanations to the many gaps in their history.

"You know, that would make for a crazy history lesson if it is anything like our world's history," Pinkie chimed.

"Maybe it's just just set on a different version of Equestria." suggested Applejack, "Y'know, like in those comic books that Spike reads?"

"Maybe it was written by some pony who ended up in her world and decided to got all fanfiction on Equestria's history just to make a quick check in bits?" added Rainbow Dash.

"You mean just like those Daring Do conventions you attend?" Rarity teased as the Aasimar flushed with embarrassment.

"Out of curiosity," Twilight gave a sheepish smile as she asked Maria, "who wrote this story?"

Maria thought for a moment before the gave her reply, "I don't know his real name but his pen name was D. I. Scord."

Seven reactions and a debate later

Everyone roll for Perception
20(FS), 16(S), 15(MM), 15(TS), 14(AJ), 14(P), 12(PP), 8(RD), Nat1(R)
"Wait, do you all smell that?" asked Fluttershy.
"Yeah, is that metal?" Spike added.
"No, I know that smell," Maria became alert, "Everyone, stay together and follow behind me! It's coming from over there, across the woods."

The party left the road to follow the scent, leading them deeper into the woods. Rarity tripped over Rainbow Dash as they approached, slowing the group for a moment. Fluttershy seemed to be the one who knew where the scent came from with the help of Harry who became agitated. She helped direct the direction of the scent with Maria leading the way. Applejack and Pinkie Pie walked backed to the two who tripped, helping them get up and catch with the rest. Twilight stood close to Spike and Pest, forming a defensive line behind the lead rogue.

About half an hour tracing the scent they saw the source of the smell; a lifeless body of a man in strange clothing. The sight of him left Fluttershy frozen with fear, Rarity, Spike, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie screaming, and the rest of them gasping from horror.

"I-i-i-i-is h-h-h-he, d-d-d-d-d-d-dead?" Rainbow shivered, still in disbelief from the sight.

"Everyone shut up and stay low!" Maria barked in a hushed voice. She slowly creep her way to the body and began to inspect it.
Roll for Investigation
22
She found a dagger, a poach full of 5 gold pieces (5gp), a map and an envelope in his hand. She takes it out and reaches a hand to close his eyes, "May Lothander carry you into his bosom." She also noticed claw and bite marks all over him as well as paw prints surrounding the area around the body.

Maria slowly backs to the rest of the party with the items at hand, much to the dismay of Fluttershy. "D-did you just take those off of him?"

"It's distasteful, I know. But right now, these are the only clues as to why he died."

"What do you mean?" Rarity shot back.

"He is quite a distance from the road, he is covered with bite and claw marks and he was holding this real tight." the rogue produced the letter to the party and read it for all to hear;
Hail thee of might and valor:

I, the Burgomaster of Barovia, send you honor—with despair. My adopted daughter, the fair Ireena Kolyana, has been these past nights bitten by a vampyr. For over four hundred years, this creature has drained the life blood of my people. Now, my dear Ireena languishes and dies from an unholy wound caused by this vile beast. He has become too powerful to conquer.

So I say to you, give us up for dead and encircle this land with the symbols of good. Let holy men call upon their power that the devil may be contained within the walls of weeping Barovia. Leave our sorrows to our graves, and save the world from this evil fate of ours.
There is much wealth entrapped in this community. Return for your reward after we are all departed for a better life.

Kolyan Indirovich
Burgomaster

A deathly silence over came them as a realization dawned. They were in serious danger.

"Wait a minute," Pinkie Pie broke the silence, "Fluttershy, didn't you receive a letter from this Burger-master guy?"

"Y-yes," Fluttershy broke out of her frozen panic, "but it said he needed help for his daughter."

"Can I see this letter?" Maria took out her hand, requesting the item in question.

Fluttershy hands Maria the letter she received yesterday. The human opens it up and compares the hand writing; they are both different. One of them is fake.
Roll for Investigation
Natural 20 (Author's Note: Yes, I rolled it)
Fluttershy's letter had a more refined handwriting while in contrast, the letter from the corpse appeared to be written with force on the page as though there was desperation and urgency within it.

"Okay, nobody panic, but the one you lot received is a fake. Now this," She held out the one from the body, "is the genuine article. Our late friend here was probably meant to intercept us and ward us away from this place. Which could only mean one thing, somebody unsavory wants us here. Probably from this Vampire described in the letter."

"Oh please," Twilight waved the idea off, "There are no such things as Vampires. That's just a filly story."

Maria gave the High Elf Princess an incredulous look, "You're joking right? Of course they exist! My Grand Uncle was killed by a Vampire and raised as a Spawn. It took the whole family to chop his head off and burn the rest of him under the sun."

Roll for Perception
17
While the rest of them were arguing about the existence of Vampires, Pest heard something and it was not far from the party.
Imitating a line he heard from their High Inquisitor, Pest called out, "Everyone, leave now!"

This caught Maria's attention...
Roll for Insight
9
... and she was not amused, "Pest, we have no time for your game of impressions! If you would be so kind as to..."

Pest jumped to cover her mouth and silence her with a "shhh". Everyone then took a moment to listen: Then came a howl, followed by another, and another, then soon the forest came alive with howls.

"I think we just found out what killed him," muttered Pinkie Pie.

"And we are not going to stay here to join him," Twilight said before screaming, "RUN!"

Roll for Initiative (Click here to set the mood)
16(TS), 14(AJ), 12(R), 10(P), 9(PP), 7(MM), 5(S), 2(Wolves), Nat1(RD), Nat1(FS),
Everyone began to run for the road with the exception of Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy.

Fluttershy hesitated for a moment until Rainbow Dash grabbed her arm, "Flutters! Let's go!"

As the howls became increasingly louder, the wolves soon became visible. They were huge, they were close, and there were 25 of them. Finally snapping out, Fluttershy joins the run followed closely by Rainbow Dash.

Both of them were overtaken by the wolves; one of them leaped on top of Rainbow and began attacking her. Three surrounded Rainbow to the right and three more surrounded Fluttershy to the left.

"Fluttershy!" Rainbow screamed, "Tell them to stop!"

"Now now every creature, you mustn't just attack anyone." Fluttershy pleaded politely.

The wolves gave a snarling reply. One of them even attempted to bite.

At that Fluttershy snapped at them, "Now you listen here! You will behave yourselves or I will give you the stare!"

Ignoring the threat, they continued their aggression forcing the Druid to stare right at them with an intimidating glare. Her expression soon changed to absolute horror after gazing into their eyes.

"T-they're empty," she gasped in fear, "There is nothing in them. They're just empty."

Harry mauled one of the wolves in front of the two and put it down. Three bolts of magic missiles hit each of the three wolves surrounding Rainbow Dash; followed by two crossbow bolts that finished two of the wolves.

Rainbow and Fluttershy turned to see where the projectiles came from; Twilight held out her hand and cast a firebolt at the wolf in front of Spike. Applejack stood between three wolves and Rarity and Pinkie Pie. She swung her hammer at the center wolf, only to be finished by Pest who ambushed them from behind. Pinkie drew her shortsword and stabbed the wolf to Applejack's right. Maria quickly reloaded her hand crossbows and finished off the the one Pinkie stabbed and the other flanking Rainbow. Spike finished off the wolf in front of him and then took a moment to see his handiwork with horror.

It was the wolves' turn as the survivors that surrounded the two behind attempted to bite and claw them, only to miss each attempt. More poured in to intercept them, three more advanced towards Spike, two more towards Pest. The one in front of Applejack mauled her by the arm as she screamed in pain. Seeing this, Rarity cast a radiant light that scorched the wolf, forcing it to release the Dwarf.

More wolves joined the fray forcing Rainbow to grab Fluttershy and toss her on top of the Bear. "GO!" she ordered Harry as they made a mad dash for the road. While on the bear, Fluttershy cast entangling roots to snare a group of wolves behind them.

"EVERYONE RUN FOR IT!" Twilight ordered she spent her last magic pool to fire magic missiles at the wolves in front of Spike before making a run for the road. Hearing the order, Applejack crushed the wolf in front of her with the hammer and followed suit. Rarity grabbed Pinkie, carried her on her back and joined the rest of them. Pest grabbed hold of Harry as the bear rushed past him and joined the mount with Fluttershy. Maria shot one bolt putting down another wolf before joining the run. Not needing Twilight to tell him, Spike made a dash to the rest of them as soon as he saw more of the wolves closing in on him.

The wolves continued chasing towards the road, far from where they started. They were just about to gain on them til they reached the path and all of a sudden the wolves stopped and were silent. Twilight took notice of this and stopped running.

"Twilight, what are you doing? Run!" Spike yelled.

"Wait! All of you!" Twilight surveyed the line of wolves that stood still. She took one step off the road onto the turf of fallen tree branches and dead earth; the wolves reacted with a snarl. She put her foot back to the road and the wolves ceased their aggression. Twilight lifted a rock from the ground and with her magic, she flung it at the closest wolf. It didn't even flinch.

"They're not responding," Twilight mused aloud, "It's like they're just puppets. We stay on the road, they won't attack us."

"Ooh, let me try!" Pinkie Pie jumped off of Rarity and took a step off and on the road with the predicted reaction from the wolves.

"They're being controlled," Maria added, "Someone or should I say, Something wants us to stay and follow this road."

"Shouldn't we need to go back then?" Fluttershy nervously asked, "Wouldn't it be dangerous if we keep going?"

"I think we would be in more danger if we head back to the gate. Whoever or whatever wants us here wants us to keep moving. As much as I would hate to say it, but we have no choice on the matter; we must press on."

"I agre- DARLING! APPLEJACK! You're bleeding!" Rarity screeched at the sight of her dwarven friend's arm.

"Oh this here?" Applejack checked her injury, "Is nothin' to fuss about. Ah've had worse."

"Absolutely not, Applejack!" Fluttershy raised her voice, "An injury like that, especially from wolves would most likely leave an infection without proper treatment." At that, the pink haired wood elf began to cast healing magic on the arm.

"Wow, Ah never thought Ah'd see somethin' like this in mah life."

"Girls, I think we should move," Spike suggested nervously, "I don't want to stay here and wait to see if these guys won't budge if we won't keep moving."

"I'm with Spike on this one," Rainbow Dash agreed.

As everyone began to move out (while keeping an eye at the wolves) Maria looked back with concern, "Well, so much for a welcome party."

The man in red closes his book and looks to us.
Well, this has been an interesting welcome. However we will have to cut it short for today. Here is where we will have to end our session.

Author's Note

Will they seen the end of the road? Will the wolves come after them? Or will they see something far worse? Find out next time in Hearts of Harmony: Into the land of Mists.

As always, let me here your thoughts and suggestions for where this journey will take them. What perils will they encounter? What faces shall they see? Til next time.

Chapter 4: The Burgomaster (Ending edited)

Curious. I would have thought that your underwhelming reactions from last session would dissuade you from returning.
The Dark-spectacled man clad in red approached his usual seat, carrying a large book held open.
But it appears you are still invested at the plight of our little ponies. Then again, I suppose they aren't even that anymore. Well, without further ado, let the tale continue.

"How's your, erm... arm, Applejack?"

"It's fine, Sugarcube. You patched it up with that magic of yours something mighty fierce. Though I'll never get used to this; Both these arms and the magic."

" You sure you're okay? I mean, I know you're tough and all but that was some bite you took."

"Nah, ain't nothin' RD. I've faced timber wolves worse than those vermin."

The party continued to march onward, following the road. Tired and injured but still pushed on. The fog filled sky above them obscured any vision of the sun preventing them from knowing the time; giving them a sense of growing dread.

"Where do you think this road leads to?" Twilight asked Maria with concern for the party.

The rogue gave a deep sigh, "I'm not quite sure, it has to lead somewhere. Where there is a road, there is a town or a the very least, a village."

"Well, considering the poor creature that was killed by those beasts, there has to be a town somewhere," added Rarity as she rubbed off the dirt from her clothes.

Spike kept a ghastly expression of disgusted horror as he stares into his blood soaked Flail. I killed a creature! Oh sweet Celestia, I killed a creature! I didn't mean to, but it all happened so quickly. I...

"Spike, Are you alright?"

The young Dragonborn turned to look at Pinkie Pie's concerned frown, "You look like you ate Zecora's Poison Joke antidote."

Spike looked away and swallowed, "I... I killed a wolf, Pinkie. I... killed a living thing. I know we were just defending ourselves, but..." tears trickled from his face, "I didn't mean to kill it! For all we knew, they could have been just hungry or..."

"It wasn't your fault Spike." The drake turned to see Fluttershy walking next to him and gave a comforting hug, "You didn't kill them, they were dead already."

Spike stopped his tears when he heard the druid. Confused by her answer he asked, "I don't understand, what do you mean by that?"

Fluttershy gave him a look of sadness, "I looked into their eyes when I used the Stare at them, and..." She grimaced with horror, "...and... They were empty. There was nothing in them; no thoughts, no emotions, no regard for their own well being. They were just bodies without a soul. Even monsters have some sort of being within them, but those wolves... There's just nothing."

Tears flowed from her eyes without a sob, and a hint of anger was seen in them. "If there was somepony... no. If there is a monster controlling those poor wolves, they. must. be. STOPPED!"

Spike and Pinkie winced at her outrage. They knew little that would enrage the meek pegasus-turned-wood elf, and they know what would happen to those who would dare to do so.

All thoughts stopped when Rainbow Dash called out to the party, "Hey guys! I could see houses up ahead!"

The Village of Barovia

Houses. Silhouettes of houses loomed from the distance, appearing ethereal due to the mist. As the party drew closer, the building became clearer; as did the gloom of the village. This was not like Ponyville at all, or like any town and village in Equestria for that matter. A rock farm held a cheerier atmosphere then the haunting landscape of the village. The air was deathly silent and chilling for barely a soul were seen in the streets. Most of the houses were boarded by the windows, gardens and lawns were withered and grey, and what living they could see held lifeless faces with fear, despair and emptiness in their eyes.

"What in Celestia's mane is this place?" Twilight managed to ask for she could barely breath from the sight, "I've never seen such despair in anyone's faces before."

"Ah'll say," Applejack added with a shiver, "The land here's as lifeless as the folks." She plucked a withered twig from a thorny bush as it crumples to dust. "Ah've never seen nothin' like this since Hollow Shades and even there's got more life than here."

"I can't hear any animals around either," Fluttershy added as she hugged into Angel for comfort, "Not a bird is heard, not a squirrel is seen. Even a mouse or a rat would be a comfort to see."

Rarity gagged at the thought, "As much as I would be revolted at the thought of seeing vermin, even I would agree that they would be a more welcoming sight. This is too dreary! A far cry from the vibrant colours of what I'm used to."

"Pinkie, can't you try and lighten the mood here?" Rainbow looked to the pink haired halfling, "This place gives me the creeps! N-not that I'm scared or anything."

"I don't think that's a good idea," Maria stopped Pinkie before she was about to break into song, "This place doesn't look like it would welcome such entertainment," then she turns to the aasimar, "Anyone who'd deny being unnerved by this place is either a fool or a bad liar."

Rainbow was about to protest until she saw the shivering hand of Maria as the rogue twitches over her crossbow holster. The pegasus-turned-aasimar looked at her own hands and noticed that they too were shaking as she tries to suppress them by gripping her right wrist with her left hand.

"Maybe we could ask somep-somebody for our whereabouts?" asked Twilight.

"Oooh! Let me try!" Pinkie raised a hand to volunteer before hopping to approach a passing villager. "Hi, I'm Pinkie Pie. What's your name?"

Visibly startled, the villager stepped back with fear in his eyes, "Wh-what do you want? I have no money, no food, no valuables; just my wife and children!"

"Oh, I don't want those, silly?" Pinkie gave her signature smile, "I was just asking for your name."

"M-my name? What for? Do you mean to curse me? I've done nothing to the Vistani, I don't even approach any of them!"

"Vistani? Curses?" Pinkie's smile slowly dropped to a faint frown, "I'm not going to curse you and I'm not Vistani. I just want to make friends. With you. And everyone in this village. What is the name of this village?"

The villager's fearful grimace morphed into a puzzled scowl, "Th-this is the Village of Barovia, how could you not know that?"

"This... This is Barovia?" Rarity trembled with disbelief as she and the rest of the party surveyed the dreary landscape.

Everyone, especially Fluttershy shared Rarity's sentiment. If this was where the map called them then this calls for more than a friendship problem. Something beyond wrong is going on within this land.

"Wait a minute, are you from beyond the realm?" the villager's expression shifted back to fear but with a hint of sympathy this time, "You cannot help us! None of you can. The only thing you can do for us is to leave! Not just for our sake but for yours!" And with that, he started his hasty escape into one of the houses which could be assumed to be his home.

"Wait!" Twilight called to stop him, "Can't you at least tell us where the Burgomaster is?"

He stopped just outside his door without looking back, "There is no Burgomaster. But if you want answers, look for Ismark the Lesser. You'll find him in the Tavern at the center of the village." And without another word, he quickly entered the door.

"Well, that's not ominous." Pest snarked with a mimicked voice of Maria, which whom the latter promptly wacked the back of the former's head.

Without a word, the party made their way to the center of the town and found their destination: The Blood of the Vine Tavern, or what it was formerly named. Close inspection of the sign reveals that it originally read “Blood of the Vine.” but an “n” has been scratched over with the “f,” christening the new title "Blood on the Vine." This once finely appointed tavern has grown shoddy over the years.

"Alright everyone," Maria stepped in front to lead the party, "I need all of you to try and remain silent as much as possible. You lot don't look like you've been in a Tavern of this nature so leave much of the talking to me. We go in, order a few drinks, ask the barkeep for this Ismark, get information, then we'll discuss our next course of action over a meal. Agreed?"

"No arguments here." said Twilight.

"Ah've been to tap houses before, but y'all seem to do this more than us, so no complaints here." said Applejack.

"I guess so long as we get something to eat and drink, I'll try to keep my mouth shut." said Rainbow Dash.

"As much as I'd like to introduce myself, you're clearly the professional in these establishments." said Rarity.

"I don't mind, so long as I could bring Angel and Harry with me." said Fluttershy.

Pest merely nodded.

All eyes turned to Pinkie Pie who was about to pull an instrument from her pouch.

"Awww!" Pinkie's hair deflated as she hangs her head low in disappointment.

Without another word, the City Watch rogue opened the doors and lead the party in. While it was well lit, the tavern's atmosphere was certainly not too different from outside. While a blazing fire in the hearth gives scant warmth to the few huddled souls within, those few souls gave not a cheer in their faces (with the exception of three women in vibrant clothing whom were seated on the table at the middle of the tavern). As our heroes entered, all eyes turned to look at them. Some stared with curiosity, most eyed with suspicion, all (with the exception of the three) shared the tired and empty looks on their faces with the rest of the village.

Maria lead the party to the bar as she greeted the barkeep, "A round of drinks for my companions." she dropped a gold piece on the bar table and leaned closer to the barkeep to whisper as she held out another gold piece, "And possibly some information."

The Barkeep's expression was stone cold. His face lacked any hint of care or interest in the party (which reminds the Equestrians of Pinkie's sister Maud) as he stares dead straight at Maria. "Purple Grapemash or Red Dragon Crush?"

It took a moment for the rogue to process the options of beverage before she turns to the party, "What will it be ladies and gents?"

"'Ah take it they don't have apple cider, so 'Ah guess 'Ah'll pick the Grapemash." Applejack requested.

"I'm going with the Red Dragon. Sounds pretty awesome." Rainbow sneered.

"Ooh, I'll have that too!" Pinkie raised her hand as she hopped to expose herself to the barkeep.

"Um, would you happen to have any tea?" asked Fluttershy.

"No tea, sorry." came the non-expressive reply from the barkeep.

"Oh, okay. I'll have the Grapemash then." Fluttershy politely ordered.

"I would have preferred some tea, but the Grapemash doesn't sound too bad," Rarity mused.

"I'd like to try the Dragon Crush," Spike smiled expectantly.

"Spike! You're not old enough to have alcoholic beverages!" Twilight protested.

"With this body? C'mon Twilight, just this once?" the Dragonborn looked at the Wizard with eyes that were practically begging, "Besides, I could use a drink after what we just survived against."

Twilight sighed in surrender after that statement, "Fine, but just this once. When we get back to Equestria, you better promise me you'll never touch an alcoholic beverage again."

Spike gave a smirk and turned to the barkeep for an order, "A Dragon Crush, if you don't mind."

Twilight shook her head and placed her order, "I'll just have water thank you."

All eyes turned to her, almost incredulous.

"What? I refuse to be intoxicated when we meet this Ismark," defended Twilight, "I'd rather ask questions with a clear head."

"Your loss Twi." Rainbow rolled her eyes before turning to the barkeep, "One water for her."

"Red Dragon Crush," Pest ordered with the imitated voice of the barkeep.

"I guess it'll be 4 Dragon Crushes, 4 Grapemashes," Maria summarizes the orders before eyeing Twilight for a brief moment, "and a water."

While the barkeep was pouring tankards of each of their drinks a tall man with a pale complexion and a grayish-blond hair approaches the party from one of the tables further in the tavern. He had a nervous look on his eyes that felt as though he was reluctant to approach them but pressed on due to an unseen worry.

He cleared his throat, catching the attention of the party, "I beg your pardon, but you wouldn't happen to be a party of adventurers, would you?"

Roll for Insight
Natural 20
Twilight eyed him with suspicion but later dropped her guard when she saw desperation in his eyes.
"I suppose you could call us that," she gave a sheepish reply, "considering we aren't from around here."

"Then you are from beyond the mists?" A spark of hope came to his eyes.

"What if we are?" Maria stood between Twilight and the stranger, "What business do you have with us?"

"Only that you all might be the answer to my prayers," the stranger hung his head low with a short bow, "Please, if you will at least hear my request, I would be more than happy to pay for your drinks and meal."

Rarity gave a genuine smile and stepped forward, "If that is the case, who am I to refuse such a generous offer from a gentlecolt such as yourself?"

"I beg your pardon?"

Twilight leaned close to Rarity, "It's gentleman, Rarity."

The unicorn-turned-high elf turned red with embarrassment, "Sorry, I meant gentleman. We're still not used to the local customs here."

"It is alright miss," he gave her a nod and turned to the barkeep, "Arik, put the payment on my tab."

The barkeep's expression didn't change, "Very well, mister Kolyanovich."

Twilight's ears perked at his name, "Wait a minute. Kolyanovich? As in Kolyan?" She looked into the stranger's eyes, "You wouldn't happen to be related to Kolyan Indirovich the Burgomaster, would you?"

The man raised an eyebrow at that before a shadow of sadness was seen in his eyes, "He was my father. He died not too long ago."

A collected gasp was heard from the Equestrians. Fluttershy stepped forward and put a hand on his shoulder, "I am so sorry for your loss. It would be no surprise then if you are seeking help from anyone."

A wry smile appeared from his face, "Thank you for your kindness, miss."

Pinkie then gave a loud gasp that shook the room as she pointed at the stranger, "If you're the burger-master's son then that means; ~~(drum roll please)~~ You must be Ismark!"

The party (with some exceptions) gave Pinkie an incredulous look. "Pinkie, what gave you that connection?" Rainbow crossed her arms at the pink haired halfling.

"Well duh!" Pinkie rolled her eyes, "When we asked the villager, he said "there was no burger-master but look for Ismark," which means the late Burger-master is gone and now Ismark is the new Burger-master."

"Huh, that actually makes sense," Applejack noted.

"Well, if you're the new Burgomaster then I suppose we will hear you out," Maria nodded her head in assurance.

A grumbling from Spike's stomach was heard, "Heh, maybe we can discuss it over a meal?"

"Of course," Ismark nodded in agreement, "grab your drinks and make your way to the largest table in the room," he pointed at where he was seated before turning to the barkeep, "Arik, what's the menu for today?"

"There's a simple Vegetable salad..."

"Oh, we'll have that, thanks," Twilight interjected before everyone (including her) takes a drink from their tankard.

"...And horse-steak." the barkeep continued.

At that, the Equestrians did a spit take.

As they were all seated at the table, the Equestrians could only watch in wide-eyed, slack-jawed horror as Maria and Pest devoured the steak-of-it-shall-not-be-mentioned with vigor and satisfaction. Some of them, like Applejack, Spike, and Pinkie Pie looked as though they were on the verge of emptying their stomachs to the floor as their faces became sickly green. Rarity looked as though she was about to faint while Fluttershy appeared to be holding back the urge to weep. Only Twilight and Rainbow managed to keep a semblance of composure (mostly due to exposure to creatures with certain dietary needs) but they still winced a little at the sound of cracking bones from the meal. Not one of them touched their plates while the two continued to clearly enjoy their dinner.

"Um, is everything alright? All of you seem upset over something."

All of them jerked up to notice Ismark's concerned expression. "Oh, it's just that we were taken aback by the nature of the... um... alternative menu." Twilight spoke out for the group.

"Oh, and why is that?"

"Well, you see. From where we're from..."

"They regard horses and other animals as sacred. The concept of eating meat, let alone horse meat is practically heretical to them."

All eyes turned to Maria as she continued to wolf down on her steak without batting an eye to look up to them. This infuriated the rainbow-haired aasimar, "If you know so much then how could you eat that in front of us like it's a five-star gourmet?

"Because I'm not sentimental enough to care about your feelings over my needs," Maria swallowed before staring at each of the Equestrians, "I don't know how you'll cope with the new situation you and your companions find yourselves in, but in my line of work I need as much energy as possible, and a simple salad bowl will not suffice." She took another bite (causing all of them to wince), chewed and swallowed before continuing, "Further more, I suspect those greens you're eating are probably imported from outside rather than local produce so chances are, you are not going to see much in the ways of vegetation as we stay here. You all are going to have to eventually bite the arrowhead, or for this case; meat, if you want to last long in this Light-forsaken world."

Hearing this, Fluttershy turned to Ismark with a pleading look that scream to have him deny her statement, "I-is that true?"

The young Burgomaster sadly nodded, "I'm afraid so. Not many crops could grow in all of Barovia so most of our food comes from livestock, hunting or fishing. A hand full of farms and orchards do exist but they barely provide enough produce to sustain the rest of the land. In fact, what you all have before you were imported by the Vistani from beyond the realm."

All eyes widened at the sudden predicament they found themselves in. Eventually, they're going to have to ingest... meat. Applejack took a swing on her tankard only to find it unsatisfactory. She grabbed Rainbow's and downed the crimson beverage into her throat.

"Hey!"

The dwarf put down the drink with a pleading look to Rainbow, "Sorry RD, but if Ah'm going to be in this here table and contemplate the idea of eating... that, then Ah'm gonna need something stronger than that there drink," she pointed at her tankard of Grapemash.

Without any subtlety, in an attempt to both change the subject as well as distract the party from further distress, Twilight cleared her throat and addressed Ismark, "I believe we haven't actually introduced ourselves, I am..." she notice Maria gave a subtle glare, "...Twilight Sparkle; personal student of one of the diarchs of our world. This is Rainbow Dash, a member of an elite team of fighters called the Wonderbolts; that is Applejack, her family owns one of our world's largest apple farms; that is Rarity, her town's resident seamstress and has slowly expanded her business across our world; Fluttershy, she owns an animal shelter; Pinkie Pie, her town's resident party planner; and Spike, my personal assistant and bodyguard. We're from the world called Equestria. Our other two companions are..."

"Sergeant Maria Rosa Dela Alejandre Alethra Martinez," the sergeant interjected as she looked up to notice Ismark's bewildered expression, "Maria for short. This is my partner, Pest. We're part of the City Watch of Waterdeep, from the world of Faerun."

"I've never heard of Equestria before, but I am familiar with Faerun. I've heard of many from that world who unfortunately wondered here or brought here by..." Ismark grimaced as he mentioned, "The Devil, Strahd."

All were now silently paying attention to that one line. "The Devil?" Pinkie gulped.

Ismark sighed deeply and answered with gritted teeth and venom in his voice, "Strahd von Zarovich, the Undead ruler of Barovia. An ancient Vampire that haunts these lands. He controls these lands and all its inhabitants, only to toy with our lives. He controls the mists, the shadows, the wild creatures, the monsters that roam in the dark. Many who tried to improve even a little bit of our lives fall into either despair or corruption. Many who tried to resist and stand against him all either died horribly or suffer a fate worse than death. Eventually, all lose hope and wither into despair as empty souls who merely exist, not living."

Noticing that none of them spoke a word, he continued, "Which is why I invited you here to listen to my request. For reasons beyond my understanding, The Devil Strahd has taken an interest on my sister. Every night for the past year, he has sent his wolves to attack us, sent his followers to harass us, and once in a while he appears in person to demand for her. Just last night, he came to our doorstep, drove her out with his wolves and he..." He closed his eyes and grimaced, "...he bit into her neck.

"What I am asking from you is that you may escort her to the Town of Vallaki, where she could be safe for the time being. This village has no defences against Strahd's machinations whilst Vallaki is a walled town with trained defenders and a better sense of order. Not to mention, they have a church that holds a protective ward against the undead."

"If that's the case, why didn't you guys move to Vallaki already?" Rainbow asked with a snark.

"Well for one, the road leading to Vallaki is dangerous. Strahd's minions could attack and overwhelm us at anytime on the road without sufficient numbers to guard her. And on another matter, she refuses to leave until we bury our father."

"We'll do it."

Everyone turned to Fluttershy who had a determined look in her eyes, "If this Strahd is the one responsible for making everyone's lives miserable, forcing creatures to do his bidding, and toying with innocents, then we'll stop him from taking your sister from you."

"Ms Fluttershy, you cannot be serious!" Maria stood up to protest, "Giving a hand to escort a damsel in distress is one thing. Catching the attention of an experienced Vampire is not worth the risk!"

"What, ya scared of a so called tyrant? We've dealt with bigger threats than that." Applejack snorted.

"YOU'RE DAMN RIGHT I'M SCARED!" the whole room was startled by her outburst, "I don't know what kind of foes you think you've come against, BUT A BLOODY VAMPIRE IS OUT OF OUR LEAGUE! I refuse to risk my life or Pest's to be in a Vampire's shit list without a guarantee of success or survival!" And with that she left the table and stormed outside.

Outside the Tavern, Maria looked into the misty streets of the village. She turned around and just took notice of a sight that eluded their attention earlier; a castle that stood atop of a mountain and loomed over the village, shadowing it with it's menacing presence. Maria shuddered at the sight and looked back to the tavern to see Twilight standing outside.

"Have you come out here to convince me to join you in this damn-fool quest?"

Twilight shook her head, "No, I came here to talk. Pinkie told me there was something eating you, so here I am."

"Why should you care?"

"Because I am the Princess of Friendship, and what kind of Princess of that authority cannot help a friend in need?"

Maria facepalmed, "You girls are too naive! Do you any of you realise the situation we've got ourselves in?"

"Yes." came Twilight's flat reply, "We are trapped in a world controlled by a monster who cannot be reasoned with in a conventional sense, who also probably revels in toying with the lives of others. And believe me, it's not an exaggeration when I say that it's not the first we've faced such things in my world."

Maria turned her back to the wizard and sighed, "I'm scared, Twilight. I'm scared for my life, I'm scared for Pest, I'm scared that I have no control of the situation!"

Twilight walked behind the sergeant and placed a hand on her shoulder, "I know how you feel. I too feel helpless at the situation at hoo-erm... hand. But we need to do some good if we are to break free from this monster's control. Our lives are already at risk, what act of kindness is going to hurt in the long run? If he's trapped us here, then let's go do some good while we're here. If not for others, then for yourself."

Maria turned around to look at Twilight with a surrendering expression, "Alright Ms Sparkle, we'll do this your way."

Twilight gave a knowing smile and embraced the sergeant, taking her by surprise. Maria broke the embrace and made her way to the tavern, "I guess I'll tell him I'm in. I'll meet you inside."

As Maria entered the tavern, Twilight's friends stepped outside to meet the alicorn-turned-high elf. "So, how did it go?" Spike asked her.

Twilight smiled at her assistant, "She'll be alright, Spike." She looked to the rest of her friends and turned to see the castle overlooking the village and scowled. Seeing it felt like a mockery of Canterlot, "This land needs our help. In more ways than one."

"Well, first things first, darling," said Rarity, "let's save one life at a time. Starting with Mr Ismark's sister."

"Oh yeah!" Rainbow cheered, "It's hero time!"

As the Equestrians rallied together in agreement, Ismark approached the party, followed by Maria and Pest.

"Once again, I'd like to thank you for your aid," he said, giving them a grateful bow, "Come, let me bring you home to see my sister... and my father."

The man in red shuts his book as he stares blankly in front of him.
And I'm afraid that this is where we will have to end our session.

Author's Note

This is finally happening folks! What monster awaits them? Will they rescue their family? Or perhaps it's all too late for them? Find out next time in Hearts of Harmony: Into the land of Mists.

Sorry this has taken a while to update. Reason was me being burnt out because our Curse of Strahd Campaign got cancelled due to two players dropping out and we were to far into the story to have new players join in. Frustrated, I decided to give the series a break until I thought, "Screw it! I'll write this blind." Hopefully I could get some tips from you readers who are more familiar with this module than I am.

As always, let me hear your thoughts and suggestions for where this journey will take them. What perils will they encounter? What faces shall they see? Til next time.

UPDATE: 20/12/22
Sorry for the changes folks. If this story needs to progress, I needed to remove Death House to a later time (or completely if it no longer fits the story) Worry not, more chapters are on the way.

Chapter 5: Ireena

Ah, you're back! After so long, one would have thought that the party would be broken up by now.

The man in red was in his usual room and held in his arms his familiar tome. This time however, he had company next to him.
Do excuse my friend here. He was just asking for directions as to the whereabouts of his companions.

Without a word, the stranger gave the man a polite bow before lurking his way out the room.
Pay no mind, he was on his way out. But anyway, welcome back. And I presume you have returned to hear of what our heroes will be encountering next? Pieces are now set on the board as our Adventurers meet our character in question.

“This is your home?”

A sentiment was shared from Twilight’s words as they approached the house to the south west of the village. A downcast mood was on everyone’s expressions as they arrived at the gates of the Burgomaster’s estate.

A weary-looking mansion squats behind a rusting iron fence. The iron gates are twisted and torn. The right gate lies cast aside, while the left swings lazily in the wind. The stuttering squeal and clang of the gate repeats with mindless precision. Weeds choke the grounds and press with menace upon the house itself. Yet, against the walls, the growth has been tramped down to create a path all about the domain. Heavy claw markings have stripped the once-beautiful finish of the walls. Great black marks tell of the fires that have assailed the mansion. Not a pane nor a shard of glass stands in any window. All the windows are barred with planks, each one marked with stains of evil omen.

“Woah, what happened here?” Rainbow Dash gawked at the damage to the walls, “It looked like this place got mauled by an ursa minor.”

“Oh my,” Rarity stared, appalled at the sight, “I know this village isn’t exactly well off, but I would have hoped that as a noble your home could at least be structurally sound.” There was a brief pause as everyone glared at her before she waved her hands out defensively, “Begging your pardon, I didn’t mean to be rude. I was just concerned that if this is the state of what is essentially the mayor’s home, then I can’t for the life of me imagine just how much worse off the common folk are.”

“It is alright, Miss Rarity. You are not wrong with your concerns,” Ismark replied reassuringly, “And while my family may be better off than most others, you will find that there is no one within Barovia that isn’t affected by Strahd’s influence. From the richest of nobles to the poorest of beggars, the devil has us in his grip.”

He looked to Rainbow as he led the party through the manor’s pathway, “As for your question, Ms Dash, I mentioned before Strahd attacked our home with wolves.” The human turned away from the party towards the door and grimaced, “My father died during the raid and my sister was bitten by Strahd.”

A cringe of guilt and sympathies were on every Equestrian other than Fluttershy, who was on the verge of tears. Maria and Pest merely lowered their heads in respect. Twilight stepped forward and held out a hand on Ismark’s shoulder for comfort, stopping him in his tracks.

“I know you heard it from us before, but it bears repeating,” she spoke shakily under her breath, holding back the tears in her eyes, “We truly are sorry for your loss Mr Kolyanovich.”

Twilight felt a shudder from Ismark’s shoulder.

Roll for Insight with Advantage
22
For a brief moment, she felt as though Ismark was about to burst into tears. The moment was suppressed quickly however as the Burgomaster turned to the party with a hollowed expression. His ashen aspect had the Equestrians wince with emotional pain and his following words made them die just a little inside.

“There is nothing to apologise for, Ms Sparkle. Good people shouldn’t apologise for the sins of the wicked.”

Without another word he knocked on the door, piercing the deafening silence.

“Ireena, Ireena, it’s me. Please open up.”

A soft yet panicked voice replied behind the door, “Ismark? Brother, is it truly you?”

Ismark breathed out a sigh, “Yes sister, it is I. I’ve brought guests who are willing to help us to Vallaki.”

“Can they be trusted?” came the muffled reply.

“Yes, they are adventurers from beyond the realm. Untouched by Strahd’s influence.”

The door promptly opened and Ismark wordlessly entered, much to the puzzlement of the party.

Rainbow spoke first, “Should we go in or…?”

“Let me ask,” said Maria as she stepped closer to the door. “Lord Burgomaster, may we enter?”

A panicked cry was heard within. “Ismark, brother! They’re asking to be let in! They could be the Devil, or his spawns, or-”

“Ireena please, calm yourself,” Ismark’s voice said in a harsh tone, “They do not our ways or of Strahd’s, so please!”

The panicked voice died down to a soft deep breathing as Ismark stepped out of the door to meet the party.

“I apologise but please understand, we dare not invite you inside for a reason,” he spoke with a tired tone.

“Oh, I understand,“ Fluttershy spoke in her all too apologetic manner, “You were just attacked and your sister is scared of visitors so-”

Ismark held out a hand, stopping her, “No, you misunderstood. We cannot say or gesture to invite you in, less we welcome the Devil.”

“What does that supposed to mean?” asked Applejack.

“A vampire cannot enter another’s home without invitation,” explained Ismark, “If we invite you in, we might accidentally invite Strahd or his ilk into our home.”

“Pfft, seriously?” Rainbow scoffed, “This big bad evil guy could be stopped if nobody gives him an invite? Even Sombra can do better than that.”

“Shut it, featherhead. You’re making them nervous,” Maria rebuked her in a surprisingly calm tone.
Roll for Intimidation
20
Roll a Wisdom Saving throw
17
Maria’s glare reduced Rainbow to silence. A small chill clutched the Aasimar as she flinched away from the human’s glare. After making sure that the prismatic-haired monk remains in her best behaviour, Maria turns her attention back to Ismark.

“My apologies on behalf of our company,” she said apologetically, “We were unaware of what vampires are incapable of doing.”

Ismark looks to his back behind the door and enters without a word. Taking this as a sign, the rest of the party enters into the manor wordlessly.

The Burgomaster’s Mansion

The interior of the mansion is well furnished, yet the fixtures show signs of great wear. Noticeable oddities are the boarded-up windows and the presence of holy symbols in every room. However, the interior of the mansion was not what caught the party’s attention.

Standing in the middle of the room next to Ismark was a striking young woman with auburn hair, a sprinkle of freckles on her cheeks and mismatched coloured eyes; one blue and one green.She wore a breastplate engrave with holy symbols over her tunic and a scarlet scarf around her neck. In her hand was a longsword which looked like a family heirloom, which she firmly clutched onto as she observed cautiously at the party entering the mansion.

“S-Sunset Shimmer?”

All eyes turned to Twilight as she gawked at the armoured woman in front of them, confused about her visage.

The woman blinked, “I beg your pardon?”

Snapping out from her shock, Twilight cleared her throat and offered a smile, “Oh, sorry. It’s just that you look like a friend of mine from another world. You and her have a similar fiery hair and face. Apart from a few details, it’s almost uncanny how you both look alike.”

Lowering her guard, the woman relaxed her grip on her sword and offered a polite bow, “I apologise for my behaviour earlier. I am Ireena Kolyana, daughter of the late Burgomaster, Kolyan Indirovich.”

“Oh, how do you do? I am Pr- Twilight Sparkle.” Twilight almost bit her lip when she almost mentioned her title. “These are my friends,” she looked to Maria who gave a forced cough, “and a few acquaintances.”

“Lady Rarity, owner of Carousel Boutique from our world,” the fashionista stepped forward and offered a curtsy while barely containing an excited grin, “Might I say darling, you look gorgeous! Your mane, your face, your physique! You would make for the perfect model for my business. Once this whole Strahd business is over, would you be interested in coming to our world?”

Caught off guard, Ireena quirked an eyebrow to Ismark who simply returned with a confused shrug. “Thank you for your… compliments, Lady Rarity. While your offer is a tempting one, I doubt I could truly leave Barovia.”

Rarity offered a reassuring smile, “Never say never, darling. I promise you, once we escort you to safety my friends and I shall deal with your vampire problem. We may not look like it, but we’ve dealt our fair share of monsters and tyrants.”

“Oh yeah! Trust us, we’re awesome!” the prismatic haired woman bragged, slamming a fist to her chest, “I’m Rainbow Dash and I’m a Wonderbolt! They’re an elite flying unit back in our world. Kind of a big deal.”

The Kolyana siblings looked at each other, clearly bemused by Rainbow’s boisterous attitude. “I… see,” Ireena spoke out, still baffled as she turned to her, “If you are half as capable as your confidence in your abilities then perhaps we might have a chance against the Devil.”

“You better believe it. This mare's ego is just as big, if not bigger than her skills,” Applejack gave Rainbow a nudge to the hip which almost made the aasimar trip.

“Hey!” Rainbow protested with a scowl.

Ignoring the Wonderbolt, the farmer extended an arm in gesture, “Name’s Applejack, humble farmer of Sweet Apple Acres. Nice ta meetcha.”

Ireena gave a slight smile and bent down to shake her hand, “Honoured to meet an honest yeoman.”

Upon shaking hands with Applejack, she noticed a small white rabbit tapping its leg on the floor, gesturing to the pink haired elf and (much to her surprise) a grizzly bear. Startled for not noticing the bear earlier, Ireena leapt five feet away and reached for her blade before the elf raised her arms out in an attempt to calm the situation.

“Please, wait! Don’t hurt him!” Fluttershy spoke out, standing between Ireena and the bear who was now cowering behind her. “My name is Fluttershy,” she said with a much softer voice before patting the grizzly behind her to calm him down, “this is Harry. Don’t be afraid, he’s a really big softy once you get to know him,” and then gestures to the rabbit on the floor, “and that right there is Angel Bunny.”

The rabbit promptly gave a salute.

Sheathing her blade, Ireena bowed her head in apology, “I’m sorry, I was just taken aback by your pet.”

“Oh, no, it’s alright, really.” Fluttershy returned a bow, “If anything, I’m sorry for entering so abruptly and without informing you about Harry.” Her mood suddenly shifted to something mournful as she held Ireena’s hands with her own, “I am also sorry for your loss. Both of you. It’s a terrible thing, losing family. I know it isn’t much to hear it from a stranger, but you have my most sincere condolences.”

Wisdom Saving throw
14
Ireena almost choked up a sob before taking a deep breath to compose herself. She wiped the forming tears from her eyes before looking back to Fluttershy. “Thank you for our sympathies. There are not enough people left in this world to care for the fallen.”

Fluttershy simply nodded in understanding.

Out of nowhere, Pinkie Pie produced a stool from… somewhere, and dragged it between the two siblings. Before they could process how she slipped past them, the Halfling climbed up the stool, stood atop it, grabbed the two Barovians and squeezed them into a huge hug, despite her small stature.

"Don't cry, you two," declared the pink haired Halfling, "Auntie Pinkie and her friends will beat the big meanie-pants and turn all your frowns upside down and end it off with the biggest party Barovia will ever see!"

The siblings look at each other, confused at the Halfling's antics. "I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name," Ireena finally managed to mutter out from her position.

"Oh, I'm Pinkamena Diane Pie, Ponyville’s professional party planner. I have a Chaotic Good Alignment, my class is a Bard with an Entertainer background. I have three sisters, all but one of them works at a Rock Farm with my parents, and I have a pet alligator named Gummy. I made friends with everyone in our town, I memorised all their names and birthdays, I live with the Cake family in their bakery named Sugarcube Corner, I have an underground Party Cave where I make my plans for parties at least ten years into the future, and my hobbies are throwing parties, making friends and throwing parties for my friends. You’re Ireena right? Could you tell me when’s your birthday? Can I call you Ireena or would you prefer something else? You look like a Tatiana, can I call you that or-”

“PINKIE!”

“Yes girls?” The excited Halfling turns to her friends with a cheeky grin, to which several of them facepalms.

Before any of them could reprimand her, Ireena drew her sword and pointed it at the Halfling. “That name; Tatiana! Where did you hear of it?!” she demanded as she glared at Pinkie.

Alarmed from her reaction, Pinkie raised her arms defensively. “I-I didn’t hear it from anyone,” she squeaked timidly, “It was just at the top of my head, honest.”

Roll for Persuasion
13
Ireena narrowed her eyes as she studied Pinkie Pie. Behind her, Ismark too became somewhat wary of the pink haired bard as he held a hand on his sheathed sword’s hilt. Pinkie looked as though she were on the verge of tears from the sudden show of hostilities; both from the Burgomaster’s children and her friends who too stood defensively. Noticing this, Ireena closed her eyes, let out a sigh and sheathed her blade.

“Excuse me for that outburst,” she apologised as she rubs a hand on her neck, “I know you mean nothing of it, but I would ask that you refrain from mentioning that name again.”

“And why is that?” asked Twilight.

Ireena averted her eyes, “It is the name the Devil calls me whenever he comes for me.”

The party reacted with a mix of gasps, whimpers and silence.

“I-I’m so sorry,” Pinkie teared up, “I didn’t know that that name brought up some really scary memories. I must sound like an insensitive meanie pants, didn’t I?”

After a long moment of silence, Spike cleared his throat, “I think we should finish our introductions here.” He extended a claw hand, “Spike the Dragon, Twilight’s number one assistant.” He pointed behind, "This is-"

"Maria Rosa Dela Alejandre Alethra Martinez,” interjected Maria, ignoring the usual looks of bemusement from her name. “This is Pest,” she continued, pointing to the Kenku beside her, “We are from the city of Waterdeep, inquisitors for the city guard.”

“Inquisitors?” Twilight raised an eyebrow.

"Think of us as glorified investigators," Maria answered with a shrug before turning to the siblings, "Now that we are acquainted, shall we move on to business?"

The Party stared at her, almost appalled at her tone.

"Maria," started Twilight, "couldn't you treat the situation a little more delicately?"

The Rogue shook her head, "I'm afraid not, Lady Sparkle. The way I see it, time is of the essence. There is a vampire after our client and might be the reason why we are brought into this Gods forsaken world. The sooner we escort her to the safety of the next town, the sooner we can form a plan of defeating said vampire."

Applejack gave a cough, "Twi, much as 'Ah hate to say it, Maria’s right. We can’t afford to waste anymore time talkin' shop when there's work that needs doin'. Best to get this done an' dusted 'fore somethin' else drops in on us."

The others nodded in agreement.

Twilight sighed in surrender before turning to the siblings, “I apologise but they are right. Your brother asked us to escort you to the next town and we agreed. If we leave now we might have a chance to reach there by nightfall, provided the five hour trek is accurate.”

“I’m afraid that is not possible,” Ismark shook his head sadly, “The gates of Vallaki closes at sunset and will not open before the following morning at sunrise.”

“Furthermore, I will not leave without giving our Father a proper burial,” added Ireena, “None of the villagers will help us and we’ve not had the chance to ask the local priest due to the Devil’s machinations.” Her shoulders slumped after remembering something. “There’s also the issue if he’s well enough to officiate the funeral,” she sighed, “He was not the same ever since he lost his son.”

“Wait, none of the townsfolk will help you out?! Seriously?” Rainbow exclaimed.

“Everyone here fears reprisal, Ms Dash,” said Ismark, “What little hope of resistance against the Devil died with our Father. Even before his death none would dare lift a finger to help anyone, let alone those who earned the Devil’s attention. And with him gone…” He took a deep breath, barely containing his repressed emotions, “This village is lost.”

“My word, that is horrible,” Rarity muttered under breath.

“Ah’ll say,” added Applejack, “This is just like the first time we saw the Crystal Empire.”

“Except we don’t have a Crystal Heart this time,” added Spike nervously.

Fluttershy cautiously raised a hand as she spoke up, “Excuse me, I don’t mean to sound rude but wouldn’t organising a funeral take days?”

Ireena shook her head, “Not exactly. Taking too long to officiate a funeral here in Barovia is not wise. If not done properly or quickly, the dead tends not to remain that way.”

The Equestrians turned owlishly towards Ireena. “W-what does that supposed to mean?” asked Spike.

“Due to the Devil’s influence and power, the lost bodies of the dead often roam across these lands,” answered Ireena.

The Equestrians gawked at the response, with the exception of Rarity who dramatically fainted on the floor.

“You. Have. Got. To be. Kidding me,” said Rainbow, breaking the silence, “THERE ARE ZOMBIES HERE?!”

Applejack paled, “Ah take it back, this is worse than that time in the Crystal Empire.”

“Zombies are the least to worry about here,” explained Ismark, “They rarely enter the towns and are often manageable to deal with. That’s not to say for the other things that roam within the mists.”

“L-like what for instance?” asked Twilight.

The Burgomaster let out a sigh, “Ghouls, hags, revenants, wolves, direwolves, werewolves, vampire spawns, just to name a few.”

Rarity, who had just quickly recovered from her shock from earlier, fainted again in her usual dramatic fashion.

All eyes turned to the fashionista. “Is she alright?” asked Pest in three different voices.

“Don’t worry too much,” answered Pinkie reassuringly, “it’s her way of processing.”

“And I don’t blame her,” groaned Maria, “Ghouls and wildlife I can take, but werewolves and vampire spawns? I’d rather fight a pack of displacer beasts and owlbears.”

“Owlbears?” piqued Fluttershy curiously.

“They’re more terrifying than they sound,” Maria said dismissively.

“If you have second thoughts on aiding us, I won’t blame you for declining and we won’t force you to-,” Ireena started before she was cut off from Rarity who sat up immediately.

“Oh please darling, perish the thought. We agreed to assist you in your plight and we are committed to deal with this Vampire. You and your brother are in dire need of help and if nopo- er, noone in this drab village will come to your aid, we will do so. Cross our hearts, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in our eyes.”

“Yeah, what Rares said!” added Rainbow with renewed bravado, “We’ll just call the priest and organise the funeral ASAP, chillax for a few days til we bury your dad and then rush over to the next town before this Strahd dude even notices!”

“Ms Dash, as I said before, organising the funeral shouldn’t take long,” Ireena corrected, “If you could convince Father Donavich to officiate the funeral we could bury our father as soon as tomorrow morning at dawn.”

“That’s even better! We can be done and dusted before noon tomorrow!” Rainbow declared as she struck a triumphant pose, gesturing towards the door, “C’mon guys, we’ve got a funeral to put together and not a moment to lose!”

She stopped her bravado when she noticed the glares of disapproval from the rest of the party. “What?”

Roll for Insight
16
Rainbow noticed a particularly baleful glare coming from Applejack who she just noticed had small tears forming in the corner of her eyes. A look she once saw when Flim and Flam insulted Applejack to her face in regards to her parents. Parents who were deceased.

Oh Buck.

“Wait, I didn’t mean it like that!”

The village of Barovia, Townsquare

“AJ I’m sorry, honest! I didn’t mean it, I swear!”

“Ah heard you the first time, Rainbow.”

“Then could you at least forgive me? Pleeeeeease?”

Applejack stopped in her tracks, turned to look up to the aasimar with a hurt glare and spoke softly, “Ah’ll forgive you for that comment, but don’t expect me to forget it.”

Rainbow winced but nodded, “I wouldn’t have it any other way. It won’t happen again.”

“But seriously Rainbow? Talking about a funeral like it’s a party?” Rarity scolded, “How insensitive can you be?”

“I know, I’m sorry. I… I just wasn’t thinking straight, okay?” defended Rainbow.

“Clearly!” Rarity scoffed as she took a step towards her, “It is high time you watched that tongue of your Rainbow Dash, otherwise it’s going to get us all killed! And I mean it in the most literal sense!”

Rainbow Dash scowled at that and instinctively pointed a finger at the fashionista, “Okay, I can take the fact that I can be insensitive at times, but how can what I say possibly get us killed?!”

“Look around you Rainbow!” Rarity points an arm towards the village around them, “We are not in Ponyville anymore, let alone Equestria! We are not in our original bodies, we have no chance of support from the Princesses save Twilight, Pinkie Pie lost her Pinkie Sense, and to top it all off we are surrounded by deadly danger that can come from anywhere!

“If we are to survive we need the support of the locals, who might I remind you are under the oppressive hooves or hands or whatever it is of a literal blood-sucking tyrant! And to do that we need to watch what we say to these people!” She grit her teeth and spoke softer but no less stern, “We don’t know their culture, we don’t know their ideals, we don’t know their currency, we don’t know their societal structure; we simply don’t know them. Anything we say or do in front of them can turn them against us. All it takes is one wrong word and we could lose whatever potential good faith we establish with them. And I don’t need to tell you the ramifications if that happens.”

Persuasion roll unneeded.

Roll for Insight
15
Rainbow Dash stood speechless. It took a moment for her to fully grasp their predicament. While she understood that they were in a new world, a new world didn’t immediately hammer in new culture. Ponies were ponies anywhere they go, or for the context of this world, people. What Rarity said however made her realise that they truly are alone in this world. There may be people in it but they have no connections with them. If they were to remain isolated in this monster infested world that would make the Everfree Forest blush they will not last long.

She let out a frustrated sigh of surrender. “You made a good point,” Rainbow pouted, “I’ll try to put a lid on it.”

“And we’ll do our best to help you keep it in check,” Twilight smiled softly, putting a comforting hand over Rainbow’s shoulder. She turned to the rest of the group, “That goes with all of us. We can’t be too careful here and we cannot afford to be lenient of our actions. Everything we do here has dire consequences that will mean the difference between life and death. Watch each other’s backs, be mindful of what we say and stick together no matter what. When we have some time maybe we could have Rarity, Maria or myself teach you all on basic etiquette.”

The Party nodded in agreement.

“That’s all well and good but you would do well to heed your own advice out here in the open,” Maria commented dryly, “You have made quite a scene here and it is attracting unwanted attention.”

Everyone soon noticed the many eyes staring at them from windows, doors and street corners, watching them with suspicion.

“Oh dear,” squeaked Fluttershy nervously, “Maybe it would be best if we hurry to the Church?”

“I agree darling,” said Rarity.

“Ah'll second that,” added Applejack.

“Me too,” Pinkie nervously nodded, “I’m beginning to think these folks don’t like parties.”

Choosing to ignore town interactions, the Party hastily made their way towards The Church of the Morning Lord.

As they approached the Party took a moment to absorb the view. This church has obviously weathered the assaults of evil for centuries on end, and is worn and weary. A bell tower rises toward the back, and flickering light shines through holes in the shingled roof and the large stained-glass window above the door. The rafters strain feebly against their load. Behind the church was a large graveyard that takes up a substantial portion of the churchyard.

“Even the Church looks dilapidated, “Spike commented sadly.

“Wait, do you hear that?” asked Maria.

A mournful scream was heard from inside.

“I heard it,” said Fluttershy, “It sounds like somepony’s in pain.”

“We’ll go in cautiously,” ordered Twilight, “We don’t know what’s in there.”

The rest nodded. As Twilight slowly opened the door with a soft creak, a loud shriek was heard echoing within.

“FATHER! I’M STARVING!!”

A tome closes as the man in red stares out from his desk.

And that is where we shall end our session.

Author's Note

Is it a cry for help? Is it a shriek of a madman? Will our heroes achieve their quest for an arranged funeral? Find out next time in Hearts of Harmony: Into the Land of Mists.

Happy October folks. Expect a bunch of updates for this fic within this month to make up for lost time. Hopefully I could get to where I wanted for the story this time. As always, let me know what you guys think.

And for those of you who knows what's coming, offer your suggested course of action in spoiler bars. It could influence the story's direction. See you next time and hopefully soon.

Chapter 1: Into the Mist Part 1

Ponyville, Castle of Friendship
Two months after the Storm King's Invasion

"Twilight, I think you should see this."

Spike was holding an assortment of office supplies as he walked past the Cutie Map room when he noticed a strange glow from within. As he entered, he felt unsettled as the map began to glow ominously.

"Spike, this better be important!" called out Twilight, "I still have to plan a meeting with the architects about designing the School of Friendship and I'm in the middle of drafting the school criteria for the EEA to read over."

"Believe me, Twilight. This looks very important."

Twilight made her way into the map room. As she enters, she also sees what is unnerving Spike. The entire map was glowing red. Deep. Crimson. Red.

"Spike," a nervous croak was heard in Twilight's voice, "find the girls and get them here quickly. We might have an emergency."

Canterlot, Blueblood's Manor
Several hours earlier

"Miss Rarity, once again thank you for agreeing to this venture deal."

Prince Blueblood and Rarity were finalizing a business deal over dinner. "I know we've had a rocky start all those years ago, but I hope this deal will finally make amends between us. After all, one must separate business from personal matters."

Roll for Deception
17
"Yes, I suppose one mustn't hold a grudge for such a minor misbehavior all those years ago." Rarity kept a confident, convincing smile, hiding her irritation.

Blueblood sighed with relief, "Oh good. I was afraid you still held my mistreatment of you against me all those years ago at the Gala."

Roll for Insight
11
Blueblood gave a sheepish smile as he apologies. Somehow, Rarity sensed a touch of guilt in the Princes' eyes, giving her the impression that he was indeed sincere. "Oh Prince Blueblood, there was no need to worry about such pasts. It is water under the bridge after all. I'm sure once our agreement finally comes forward with you promoting my shops and me supplying you with our finest line of fashion for the nobles here in Canterlot, we can all look back and laugh about."

Blueblood gave a polite chuckle as Rarity joins in. Suddenly, the manor's butler walked in the room and whispered into Blueblood's ear. The Prince gave a deep sigh and rubbed his forehead with a hoof.

Noticing that there might be some trouble, the white unicorn stood from her seat. "Well I suppose I should be going now and I have a train to catch."

She gave a polite bow and extended a hoof, "Thank you for the dinner, good prince. And thank you once again for our deal."

Blueblood looked up and gave a weary smile as he shook her hoof, "No, the honour is mine, Miss Rarity."

As she made her way out the door, she was stopped for a moment. "Before you go," Blueblood called out, "on your way out of Canterlot, could you perhaps do me a favour?"

Rarity turned to look at Blueblood, "And what would that be?"

"A caravan of traveling ponies have been seen outside the gates of Canterlot. No matter how much we tried to ask them to leave, they refused to do so. Normally the guards would have them cleared, but each time we sent them they come back in some sort of daze. I wouldn't bother Aunties Celestia and Luna to deal with them (after all they are just commoners) but I honestly don't know how to clear them out without causing a commotion. And since while you're here and as the Bearer of the Element of Generosity, perhaps you could..."

"Ah ah! Say no more," Rarity interjected, "I would gladly see what I could do."

Ponyville, Castle of Friendship
Present time

"What's goin' on, Twilight?"

"Yeah, what could possibly be so urgent? If it's another of your egghead ideas for the school, I'm leaving. I have to check the weather factory first thing tomorrow, so I need to sleep in early."

"And I have yet to find my missing confetti cannon from our victory party against the Pony of Shadows, AND I'M STILL LOOKING FOR IT!"

"They are all I could find, Twilight." Spike panted (clearly a sign he ran all across town), "I couldn't find Fluttershy and Rarity is still in Canterlot for a business deal with Blueblood."

"Y'know, 'Ah still can't believe she even agreed to meet with him, especially since she still held that grudge from the Grand Galloping Gala all those years ago," said Applejack.

Rainbow Dash scoffed, "Yeah, no kidding. I would have figured she would've just bucked the hay out of him on sight."

"Um Twilight?" Pinkie started twitching all over, "My Pinkie-sense is giving me a doozy all over. Does it have something to do with the map glowing with an obviously threatening red colour that looks like blood and would later point us to go to a dangerous and life-threatening adventure to solve a sort-of friendship problem in a place where friendship might not exist and we might have to risk our lives to fix it?"

There was an awkward silence that filled the room, only to be broken as Twilight cleared her throat. "Well Pinkie, I'm pretty sure that the map would never lead us to something so dangerous we couldn't handle it. I mean, when has that ever happened? Besides, it has yet to call any of us to anywhere."

"So then why did you call us here?" said Rainbow Dash.

As though on cue, the crimson colour of the map vanished and is replaced by the Cutie-mark symbols of the six of them as well as Spike's head Spines.

A nervous laugh from Twilight as she turns to the map, "In case this happens."

Their Cutie-Marks (and Spike's spines) were floating over the Everfree Forest.

PonyVille, Fluttershy's cottage
Earlier that afternoon

"Okay everyone. Are you all ready for dinner at Discord's place?"

All the animals in the yellow pegasus' cottage nervously nodded, to which some later shook their heads rigorously.

Fluttershy sighed, "Look, I know how many of you feel about Discord but it should be high time you all start getting along with him. This dinner party should be the perfect opportunity to do just that."

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. "Hmm, I wonder who could that be?"

Fluttershy makes her way to the door and carefully unbolts the many locks on her door. As she opens, a strange fog engulfs the area outside and slowly creeps into her cottage. Standing within the fog before her doorstep is a figure of a brightly coloured Earth-pony with an old-stylish hat that hangs askew, hiding his eyes in shadows. All the animals but Angel Bunny and Harry the Bear hid in terror from the... fog? Was it the Fog or the Pony they were afraid of?

Roll for Insight
9
Fluttershy wasn't sure why they were afraid of the Stranger, he wasn't exactly too intimidating (Well at the very least, she found him intimidating) and normally her animals weren't as easily startled as her. All with the exception of Angel Bunny and Harry who began to snarl and take a defensive stance. They stood between the stranger and Fluttershy.

"Now, now, you two. We mustn't be rude to strangers," Fluttershy tries to reassure her loyal defenders, "For all we know, he might need our help."

Roll for Animal Handling
Natural 20
Naturally, she managed to calm Angel and Harry down but then she notices that they seemed to be looking past the stranger. She turned to the Pony in question, "I am so sorry about that. They aren't normally that defensive unless they know that I'm in danger. Can I help you?"

With a strange accent that one would normally hear from Thestrals (bat-ponies for those unfamiliar) he spoke with a gentle but stern voice, "I have been sent to deliver a message. If you be a creature of honour, you would come to my master's aid before the sun sets. It is not advisable to travel to the Svalich Woods at night."

He reached for his chest and patted around his barrel as though he was searching for something, only to stop for a moment like something clicked in his mind and reached under his hat and pulled out a scroll. He passed it to Fluttershy who took it with one of her wings.

"Take the path through the Forest," he pointed towards the Everfree, "and journey west from there."

Fluttershy's eye's widened with fear. "Y-you m-m-m-mean, th-th-through the Everfree Forest?"

He smiled reassuringly, "Fear not, no creature shall come near you so long as you keep to the road. It will be a five hour march from there until you reach the Svalich woods. There, you will find my master in Barovia." And with that, he turned, walked into the mist and disappeared from sight.

Fluttershy stared into the mist as he vanished, still shaking from fear. She took a look at the scroll and noticed a curious seal she's never seen before. Breaking the seal, she opened the letter as it reads;

Hail to thee of might and valor,

I, a lowly servant of Barovia, send honor to thee. We plead for thy so desperately needed assistance. The love of my life, Ireena Kolyana, has been afflicted by an evil so deadly that even the good people of our village cannot protect her. She languishes from her wound, and I would have her saved from this menace. There is much wealth in this community. I offer all that might be had to thee and thy fellows if thou shalt but answer my desperate plea. Come quickly, for her time is at hand! All that I have shall be thine!
Kolyan Indirovich, Burgomaster

Outside the Gates of Canterlot

Rarity walked out the drawbridge to see the caravan encampment. She saw a campfire lit and noticed ponies singing and dancing to tunes strange and exotic to her. Well, they sound like a merry group. she thought to herself. As she approached the merry campers they began to take notice. The music, singing and dancing did not stop however.

"Ah, hello there stranger!" An elderly, grey Earth-pony wearing a brown vest, large earrings and has a long goatee-beard approached Rarity with a huge welcoming smile. "Come! Join us around the fire! We have good wine, and beautiful songs. Perhaps you can join us with a dance or two?"

Rarity hesitated. These seem like decent ponies just having a good time. Dancing, Partying and Singing, they mean no harm to anyone. On the other hoof, they do need to leave because the city needs these fields for up and coming events that Canterlot have planned out for. The thought then came, perhaps I could humour them in joining their customs in hopes to gently inform them that they have to leave. Then again, the last train to Ponyville is about an hour from now and any plan on staying might result in me having to book a hotel room in Canterlot to stay for the night.

She gave another look at these travelers and watch their smiles of genuine welcome. No, these ponies deserve respect and I will give as much time as I can spare to inform politely that they need to leave. Who knows, maybe they'll let me stay with them for the night.

She cleared her throat, made a polite bow and said, "I would be honoured to join you. Mr.... Oh sorry, I didn't catch your name."

The old Stallion smiled, "Stanimir. My name is Stanimir," then he pointed to the rest of the camp, "and we are the Vistani!"

"Stanimir," the Unicorn smiled, "such an unusual and exotic name. It's rather romantic! My name is Rarity; Fashionista of Carousel Boutique." Rarity began to notice the clothes that all the stallions and mares were wearing and her eye glimmered at the sight of them. "My word, your sense of fashion aesthetic is most curious and vibrant! They are so ragged yet elegant! Almost a perfect blend to Vagabond and finesse! A chaotic elegance, as it were."

Hearing this, most of the Vistani laughed whilst other were heard giving a scoff at Rarity. Stanimir gave a wheezing cackle like a dusty squeeze box. "You are not far off to how we are taken by many peo- I mean ponies. We are a Vagabond race, we go where we please however we wish. Eventually though, we must return to our homeland."

"What is your homeland like?" Rarity's voice was drenched with curiosity.

A shadow was cast in Stanimir's eyes as his jovial smile faded into a melancholic frown. "It was once a beautiful land. Majestic mountains and emerald forests surround a wonderful valley. Now, a shadow of mist and despair engulfs it."

"Oh my," the unicorn placed a hoof over her mouth in shock, "I'm sorry to hear that. Pray tell, what happened?"

One of the Vistani called out, "Story! Let's have a story!" At this, the merry tunes being played ended along with the singing and dancing. In it's place a soft melancholic tune as everypony gathered around the campfire.

Stanimir took a deep sigh and exclaimed, "Ah, we might as well tell the tale of Barovia. Everyone gather around!" As soon as all were seated around the campfire, he stood up and began to tell the tale.
Stanimir fills his mouth with wine, then spits into the fire. The flames turn from orange to green. As they dance and sway, a dark shape appears in the bonfire's core. Rarity's eyes widened with wonder excitement but remained silent.

"We come from an ancient land whose name is long forgotten-a land of kings. Our enemies forced us from our homes, and now we wander the lost roads."

The dark shape in the fire takes the form of a biped-creature being knocked from a horse, a spear piercing his side. Rarity puzzled as she never saw such a creature before, only to gasp as the figure was pierced by the spear.

Stanimir continues. "One night, a wounded soldier staggered into our camp and collapsed. We nursed his terrible injury and quenched his thirst with wine. He survived. When we asked him who he was, he wouldn't say. All he wanted was to return home, but we were deep in the land of his enemies. We took him as one of our own and followed him back toward his homeland. His enemies hunted him. They said he was a prince, yet we didn't give him up, even when their assassins fell upon us like wolves."

Deep in the bonfire, she sees the dark figure standing with sword drawn, fighting off a host of shadowy shapes.

"This ma-stallion of royal blood fought to protect us, as we protected him. We bore him safely to his home, and he thanked us. He said, 'I owe you my life. Stay as long as you wish, leave when you choose, and know that you will always be safe here."

The figure in the dancing fire vanquishes its final foe, then disperses in a cloud of smoke and embers.

Stanimir's face becomes a somber mask. "A curse has befallen our noble prince, turning him into a tyrant. Now, we alone have the power to leave his domain.""

"That's just Terrible!" Rarity started sobbing, "That is just THE WORST POSSIBLE THING THAT COULD HAVE HAPPENED!" She stood up with tears dripping away with traces of mascara and turned to all of them, "My mind has made up! I shall come with you! Do not tell me otherwise! I swear to Celestia, I will join you to save your prince from his curse!"

Ponyville
Meanwhile

"Where did all this fog come from?"

Twilight stared all around Ponyville as it was enveloped by the mist. All eyes then turned to the cyan pegasus for an explanation.

Roll for Nature
10
"How should I know?" Rainbow Dash yelled, "It was like this all afternoon and none of the weather teams have any idea what could have caused it! We tried getting rid of them but more just kept creeping in!"

"Y'know Twilight," Applejack turned to the purple alicorn, "Ah'm more surprised you haven't noticed it! Did you lock yourself in that castle 'ov yours again?"

"I was busy organizing for my planned School of Friendship! I didn't have time to look around outside!" Twilight pointed at Spike, "Besides, Spike didn't say anything about the fog, so how should I know?"

Spike crossed his arms, "Twilight, I told you five times around noon about the weird fog and every time you said, and I quote, "Don't worry about it, Spike. Let Rainbow Dash and the weather teams deal with it.""

Roll for History
17
Twilight rubbed her mane and smiled sheepishly in embarrassment, "Whoops, I kind of forgot about it."

"Wait a minute," Rainbow Dash looked around, "Where's Pinkie Pie?"

Everyone, Roll for Perception with disadvantage
18(RD), 14(S), 13(AJ), 9(TS)
"I can't see through this fog!" said Twilight
"I can't find Pinkie Pie," said Spike
"Same here," said Applejack
"Over there!" called out Rainbow Dash

Pinkie Pie was seen running towards them with... Trixie's wagon?

All eyes were fixed at Pinkie Pie with disbelief. "Pinkie," Twilight broke out of her bewilderment, "Why do you have Trixie's wagon? You wouldn't have stolen it from her, would you?"

"Of course not, silly," Pinkie Pie waved off the comment, "I did her a really important favour for her some time ago so I asked if I could borrow her wagon in return."

"You better return it back in one piece! The Great and Powerful Trixie demands so!" A voice could be heard from the fog.

Roll for Insight
Natural 20
"First off, what kinda favour could that possibly be for her to part from that there wagon?" inquired Applejack, "Two, what need would we have for a wagon? An' Finally, what did you do exactly to convince Trixie of all ponies to part for what is essentially her home?"

"First, a Super-important Secret that only she must know. Second, Duh, we emptied the wagon to put in all our saddlebags and supplies in case it's going to be a looooooong friendship quest. And lastly, I pinky-promised that she could be in charge of the castle while we are gone."

Twilight's eye twitched hearing that last statement, "I'm sorry, did I hear that last part correctly? I thought I heard you say that you let her be in charge of my castle."

Pinkie let out a genuine smile, "That's because I did say that she could be in charge of the castle while we're gone."

A "Whoohoo" could be heard inside the castle. "I am Princess Trixie Lulamoon!"

A croaked gasp came out of Twilight before she vanished with a purple light signifying her teleportation.

Outside the Everfree Forest
One "Rules and To do list for Trixie" later

"Everything is going to be fine. She won't cause too much trouble. It's not like she will go out of her way to touch potentially dangerous artifacts and tomes, again. I mean, what's the worst that could happen? Reorganize my books to purposefully mismatch them? I mean she wouldn't do that, would she? And besides, Starlight Glimmer will be there to keep an eye on her if she gets into trouble ~~or causes trouble~~. But then again, she could..."

Twilight began muttering to herself worryingly with a manic expression lodged in her face.

"Um, Twilight." Spike spoke up, trying to reassure her.

"But what if she uses a spell and tampers the map, like what Starlight did?"

"Twilight."

"I mean, she might not mean to do it, be she could do it because of her clumsy tendencies..."

"TWILIGHT!"

Finally snapping from her maniacal panic, Twilight stopped on her tracks and looked to Spike.
"They'll be fine. Besides, we have other things to worry about." Spike points towards the Everfree Forest.

"Hey, is it just me or is the fog getting thicker?" Applejack pointed out.

Roll for Nature or Perception
Nature 11
"Yeah, actually. Now that you mention it," the cyan pegasus, "It is getting thicker around here."

The party stopped on the path next to the forest.

"Hey Twilight," Pinkie Pie was looking inside the wagon, "was it really necessary to pack all these books into the wagon? It's taking up a lot of space, leaving little room for our food supply."

"Yes Pinkie, it is important that we pack all these tomes into the wagon. They contain all the possible spells that could be a problem if Trixie gets her hooves on it! Also, that food supply of yours is just cupcakes! Not all of us share the same sugar-full-diet as you!"

"Is that the same reason why you decided to bring the Storm King's Staff?" Spike pointed out.

This surprised Twilight. "I-I didn't put that there." She looked to Pinkie who only shook her head. Then to Rainbow Dash and Applejack. "Don't look at me." "Ah wouldn't touch that doohickey." they both said respectively.

Roll for History
Natural 20
"Oh right, now I remember! I must have grabbed it by mistake while I was packing the books into the wagon." Twilight puzzled at the staff, "Well, it's too late now to put it back and I don't want Trixie meddling with it anyway." I could have sworn I didn't mean to carry it with me.

"So why are we waiting out here?" Spike asked.

"Yeah Twilight," Rainbow Dash joined in, "what are we waiting for?"

"I know Rarity is still in Canterlot so we can't wait for her. As for Fluttershy, she wasn't at home and she wouldn't stay outside at night (especially with this fog). So wherever she is, she's probably on her way to the castle for being called by the map. I left a letter on the castle door in case she already made it there."

Everyone, Roll for Wisdom Saving throws with disadvantage except Spike
14(S), 3(RD), 5(TS), 10(AJ), 15(PP)
Roll for History
15(S), 21(PP)
"Uh, yeah. Twilight, about your Cutie-marks," the Baby Dragon recalled, "Shouldn't they be glowing when you guys are called to the map room?"

"Oh yeah, I forgot to mention about that!" Pinkie Pie added, "I was wondering why our Cutie-marks didn't glow when they showed up in the map. I mean Spike doesn't have a Cutie-mark because he's a Dragon, but the spikes on his head would usually glow like that one time when Ember and Thorax showed up. Anyway, I wanted to mention that but then everyone was like rushing to move the story along and so I decided to borrow Trixie's wagon off screen and I kind of just forgot to mention it since everypony was in such a hurry. (Gasp)"

Twilight's jaw dropped, "Why didn't you tell us this earlier?! This could be important!"

"Forget that!" Rainbow Dash was practically screaming at this point, "If Fluttershy is not at home then wherever she is, she is out here, out of her wits scared for her life! We need to find her!"

"You need not bother, Rainbow Dash."

All of them turned to see a figure coming out of the Everfree Woods, and what they saw shocked them. The pony-shaped form of a mare limped out of the fog and into view. She was covered with claw marks and bites, her barrel suffering the most with deeper wounds. Leaves were protruding around her and slowly falling off to reveal even worse wounds indicating she used them as bandages. And as she approached the party, she left a trail of blood dripping from her body.

"I was escorting Fluttershy, until she vanished like a flash." spoke the shambling body of a Zebra as she collapsed in front of them.

"Zecora!" They shouted in unison as they rushed to her.

Rainbow Dash was the first to reach her. The cyan pegasus held Zecora up with her hoofs and with gritted teeth she asked the Zebra, "What happened to Fluttershy?"

Outside the Everfree Forest
Earlier that afternoon

"Oh, I hope Discord won't be too disappointed when he shows up. I hope the rest of the animals give him the letter I left for him."

Fluttershy was nuzzled by Harry the bear, reassuring her whilst giving her the look that screams you don't have to do this. Angel Bunny on the other hand, started twitching and acted like a sentinel; keeping watch for what may come out of the mist. The Fog at this point was becoming thicker than when she first met the strange pony which unnerved her further.

Roll for Nature
23
Fluttershy knew for a fact that there was something wrong with the fog. All of her animals felt it, and now that she is closer to the Everfree she too felt it. Ever fiber within her screamed that something about the fog did not feel natural. Fluttershy was always a coward, but being in the presence of this fog while it did make her more terrified than usual somehow kept her composed. As though she was compelled to follow through.

She hugged Harry and picked up Angel and gave them a reassuring smile, "Thank you, both of you for keeping me company. I know you are both scared, just like me. But I need to do this! Somepony from the next town needs my help, and while I've never heard of Barovia, must be a nice village hidden on the other side of the Everfree. As I said before, you don't need to come with me, so here is your last chance to turn back now."

Harry shook his head with a gruff snort and Angel stomped his foot, crossed his front paws and scowled at the idea of leaving her to danger.

"Oh thank you, both of you." Wiping a tear from her eye, Fluttershy steeled herself and entered the Everfree Woods, accompanied by her two most loyal bodyguards.

Everfree Woods

True to the stranger's instructions, Fluttershy's company followed the road deep within the Everfree. Much to their surprise, none of the monsters were seen let alone heard by them, which puzzled her. Not even the birds could be heard here. What is going on?

"Fluttershy!"

The yellow pegaus turned to the voice of Zecora who held a horrified expression on her face and a heavy panting as though she had been running. "What are you doing here, we must fly! Something has stirred within the woods and through the mists I have seen strange things in cloaks and hoods!"

"I can't, Zecora. I received a letter telling me that somepony needs help!" Fluttershy pulled out the letter and showed it to the zebra.

Zecora carefully read the letter, puzzlement and confusion appeared on her face as she returned the note to Fluttershy. "I have never heard of a village or town near the woods with the name Barovia. Are you sure this is not some elaborate prank or trick by this Burgomaster or Ireena?"

"I'm certain of that Zecora," Fluttershy pocketed the letter into her saddlebag, "The Pony who gave me the letter looked very serious and gave a sense of urgency about him. Besides," she turned to her two companions and smiled at them, "I'm in good company."

The zebra stared at the two of them and noticed the nervous looks on their faces. She took a deep sigh and turned back to Fluttershy, "If what the letter speaks is true, then against my better judgement I shall accompany you. These woods hides strange new dangers as of late. The Fog itself feels made by dark forces that wait."

And with that they journeyed deeper into the woods.

Outside the Everfree Forest
Present time

"Hours later, we were separated as the fog thicken. Next thing I knew, I was clawed at and bitten."

Rainbow Dash's pupils dilated to pinpricks. Just knowing that Fluttershy of all Ponies is most likely aimlessly wondering alone in the Everfree Forest was making her panic. She flapped her wings and sped for the woods.

"Rainbow Dash, wait!" Twilight called out, stopping the cyan pagasus from her tracks, "You can't just go in there!"

"Fluttershy is in there, Twilight! She is in there alone, afraid and potentially surrounded by monsters! I have to find her!"

"Oh no you're not, Sugarcube!" Applejack stepped up to her, "Not alone anyway!"

All four of them gathered around Rainbow Dash to reassure her. "We stay together!" Pinkie Pie declared while thumping a hoof on her chest, "Besides, it's bad luck to split the party!"

"We'll find Fluttershy and we will find her together!" Spike followed the same gesture as Pinkie.

"And you can't do this alone!" Twilight leveled with the cyan pegasus and gave her a pat on the back, "We must go together. Besides, I have a feeling that whatever lead Fluttershy into those woods might have something to do with this fog."

The Alicorn then flew to Zecora and picked her up with her hooves. "I'll teleport you into town to have you treated," she said to Zecora and then turned to her assistant, "Spike, send a message to Princess Celestia. Tell her the situation and request security for the town."

"Got it!" the little dragon saluted and began drafting a letter.

Twilight vanished with Zecora as Spike finished the letter and burned it with his breath.

Everfree Forest
Several hours later

"Y'know, Zecora was right about the Everfree. It's too quiet."

"Yeah. I could barely imagine what is going through Fluttershy right now. Oh, I hope she's alright."

"Twitchy, Twitchy tail. Twitchy ears. Twitchy tail."

"Girls, do you hear that?" Spike lifted his claw, signalling all to stop.

"What is it Spike?" asked Twilight.

The Party has spent the full duration of the night trudging through the woods, following the path they suspected Fluttershy took. A faint footsteps could be heard approaching ahead of them. Then they grew louder. Soon many noises followed, footsteps heard sounded like running, then began to thunder like a stampede.

"Everypony, in the wagon! NOW!"

As they all took shelter within the wagon they saw the figures running; Timber wolves.

Roll for Initiative
22(TS), 21(RD), 17(S), 11(AJ), 10(PP), 8(TW)
All of them held action as they braced themselves for the Timber wolves to...... Run past them?

They watched with utter disbelief that the most notorious predators of the Everfree was ignoring them and ran past their wagon. What's even more bewildering was that they weren't alone. Manticores, Hydras, Cockatrices, even Uras Minors and honest to Celestia, Ursa Majors. Accompanying them were other manners of common animals, joining the stampede. It was clear to everyone; They were running away from something.

Spike climbed on the roof of the wagon to get a clearer view of the sight. It was then the wagon was slammed by one of the running creatures. It was a familiar purple, mustached sea serpent. "Oops, sorry! I must flee!"

"Wait!" Twilight knew this creature, "Steve, is that you? What's going on?"

The sea serpent recognized the party, "Oh ladies and dragon, what are you doing here? We have to get out!"

"Why, what's got every critter runnin' for the hills?" Applejack inquired.

"Wolves, darling! Beastly, horrifying wolves!"

This confused everyone. "Wolves?" Spike spoke incredulously, "as in just, common wolves? Like, not even Timber Wolves?"

"Oh these are anything but common wolves, baby dragon. They're relentless! They attacked anything and everything they come across with reckless abandon! Even though they get taken down, more come in their place! They already took down 2 hydras, 10 manticores, a lot of other lesser monsters, even the Timber Wolf Alpha and a family of Ursas!"

"WHAT!?"

"And we'll soon join them if we don't hurry out. Sorry, but I've got to run!" And with that, Steve joins the stampede as they disappear into the mist.

"Okay, now we have to find Fluttershy, STAT!" Rainbow Dash jumped out of the wagon and strapped on the harnesses.

"Wait, there's something else coming from behind us." Spike looked into the fog.

Suddenly out of nowhere, a caravan of wagons rushed past the party and raced into the path ahead of them as it disappears into the mist.

Twilight could hardly believe what just past them, both the stampede of scared monsters and the caravan that rushed towards the direction the creatures were running from. "What in Equestria?"

"AFTER THEM!"

Pinkie Pie screamed, pointing at the caravan as she began to twitch all over. "Twitchy head, shaking flank, SHIVERING HOOFS! THEY ARE GOING TO WHERE FLUTTERSHY IS!"

While everyone was still trying to process what the pink earth-pony was saying, Rainbow Dash wasted no time and rushed the wagon after the caravan.

Everyfree Forest, Vistani caravan
Meanwhile

"Oh darlings, I can't wait to see all the sorts of fashions your homeland has to offer. All the wonderful and vibrant exotic styles they could provide!"

"I would not want to be the one to disappoint you, Rarity, but not all of Barovia shares our taste of vibrant colours."

The White Unicorn was conversing with the Vistani Damia who happens to be Stanimir's daughter. She was a grown mare a little older than Rarity who somehow felt a motherly aura about her.

"I hope it was no trouble to have you join us, seeing as though you appear to have prior engagements." Damia apologetically smiled at Rarity, who was too enamored with looking at the different designs of Vistani clothing.

"Oh think nothing of it, darling. I was asked by the authorities to request your caravan to move someplace else anyway," Rarity waved off the comment and eyed at her own pile of luggage, "I'm more grateful that you allowed me to carry all of my luggage."

"Oh no, it was the least we could do. Considering you are going out of your way to help."

Rarity gave the mare a passionate look as though a thought just occurred, "Oh dear Damia, you just gave me an idea!" The porcelain unicorn grabbed one of her suitcases and flung it open revealing *a layered dress sown together with braided cords embellished diagonally from the shoulder to the hip and around the waist in a colour of lime green and a dark dusty blue. (*Reference courtesy to my sister, go like her deviant art page. It's awesome.)
"Please, put this on."

"A-are you sure? I-I wouldn't..."

"Nonsense! Put it on and let us have a look at you, darling!"

One fitting later, Damia gave the dress a twirl around as instructed by Rarity, revealing the Vistani in all her feminine glory. The Unicorn's eyes glittered as she held her by the hooves, "Darling, you fit perfect with this ensemble!"

Damia gave a nervous blush, "I-I do? This doesn't make me look older, does it?"

"Pish-posh dear! You look absolutely fabulous!"

The other Vistani who shared the wagon all added their agreement with Rarity, with some going so far to say that she looked even younger with the dress. Just then, Stanimir opened the wagon door seat, "Friend Rarity, we are about to arrive in..." The old stallion looked stunned at the sight of his daughter in the dress.

"D-does it look bad?" Damia nervously asked.

Stanimir's eyes watered as he smiled proudly, "Oh look at you, all grown up. Becoming more and more like your mother every day."

"Oh papa." They both shared a hug much to the joy of Rarity and the rest of the onlookers. There was even a collective Awww! from the Vistani.

"I told you it fits you perfectly, darling!"

Stanimir released his embrace from his daughter and turned to the Fashionista, "This dress was yours?"

Rarity smiled, "Not anymore," and she winked at Damia, "Keep it dear. Consider it a gift from yours truly."

Stanimir suddenly gave Rarity a welcoming hug while smiling widely, "You are truly a good friend to us! No, not a friend. Family. Our clan welcomes you as one of us! Whatever you need, we shall assist however way we can!"

Rarity blushed at the invitation. "Why, how generous of you. I would almost decline at such an honour."

The elderly Vistani laughed, "Considering the generosity you showed us, it is only right to offer it in return."

"Well, then. Who am I to refuse?" She politely bowed to Stanimir, "I would be honoured to accept your welcome."

Suddenly the wagon driver called out, "We are entering Barovia now!"

Stanimir's expression shifted to stern and worrying and held a hoof on Rarity's shoulder, "As we are entering Barovia, there was something that we forgot to mention. Firstly, magic works far differently here. Whatever spells you might cast will appear different from how it usually does but will still operate the same function."

Rarity begins to notice a strange glow from the Vistani. "Secondly, while your generosity is highly valued, one mustn't give your wealth and possessions away so freely or you might as well leave yourself poor and homeless."

The glowing began to envelope the Vistani as they began to slowly morph into something. Rarity felt fear as to what was happening, only to feel a twinge of pain all around. "And lastly, as we enter Barovia, we will change form to suite the land."

Wait, change form? She stared at her hooves as they glowed with the same light and slowly morph into claw-like limbs. She stared at Stanimir's hoof on her shoulder as it morphs to a similar form. And looking at his head, his muzzle begins to flatten along with the rest of his face while his mane slowly compresses higher atop of his head.

Filled with horror and overcome with pain, Rarity opened the back of the wagon and instinctively jumped out into the mist, much to the desperate protests and shock from the Vistani.

"Twilight, what the hay is happenin' to us?"

Pain. Pain was all everypony (and dragon) felt. Twilight and Spike shared a gaze. They knew this sensation before. Back when they came to Sunset Shimmer's world. THEY KNEW WHAT THIS MEANS.

"I can't carry the wagon any further!" Rainbow Dash winced from the agony she was experiencing, "It's getting too heavy and-AAGGH!!!"

The wagon swirled from the road as the pegasus cries in pain and crashes onto a tree.

"A-Angel Bunny....... Harry...... What's happening to m....... AAAAGGGH!!!!!"

The rabbit and the bear surround the exhausted yellow pegasus as she glows brightly underneath her cloak.

"D...Discord. I-I'm sorry."

Somewhere else in the mist
Meanwhile

"Pest, where by the Nine Hells are we?"

"Not Waterdeep! Not Waterdeep!"

"Bah, of course I would be stuck with a Kenku in a fog out in the middle of nowhere! (Sigh) Might as well start looking around."

"Look around! Look around!"

(Sigh) Why must this bird live up to his name?"

A man in a strange room closes a book and looks forward. He fixes his sunglasses and straightens his red shirt.
And that is where we will end our session.

Author's Note

What eldritch horrors awaits them? What Classes should they be? Find out Next time in Hearts of Harmony: Into the Land of Mists!

On a serious note, as much as I enjoyed writing this chapter, the many POVs was a total pain to put together, which should tell you all why you should never split the party. Overall, let me hear your thoughts and give me your worst criticism because by Lothander, I need tough advice to motivate me to keep working with these projects. I will assure everyone that from here on out, the chapters will be shorter. This intro needed to be longer because, well, point of entries and character setup needed to be done in order to give everyone a hint as to what they are getting into (for the uninitiated). Part 2 will most definitely complete the intro of the tale.

Chapter 6: What lies Beneath Part 1

A light turns on to reveal a strange room with the red-clad stranger sitting patiently by a desk with his book in hand wide open.

“The screams in the dark are not what they seem. As our desperate heroes seek swift solutions, fate has other plans.” That was what I was informed by a particular gypsy woman. It seems things are progressing faster than expected. But then again, the tale being spun is taking too long to unwind. Nonetheless, it must go on.

“FATHER! I’M STARVING!!”

A young man’s voice echoed from within the chapel, muffled and desperate.

“What. Is. Happening in there?!” shouted Pinkie Pie.

“Sounds like someone’s trapped in there,” Maria deduced, “Let’s move!”

They forced open the doors with a loud creak. The doors open to reveal a ten-foot-wide, twenty-foot-long hall leading to a brightly lit chapel. The hall is unlit and reeks of mildew. Four doors, two on each side of the hall, lead to adjacent chambers. As they moved further in they saw that the chapel was strewn with debris, and could hear a soft voice from within reciting a prayer. Dozens of candles mounted in candlesticks and candelabras light every dusty corner in a fervent attempt to rid the chapel of shadows. At the far end of the church sits a claw-scarred altar, behind which kneels a priest in soiled vestments. Next to him hangs a long, thick rope that stretches up into the bell tower.Suddenly, the prayer is blotted out by the inhuman scream that rises up from beneath the wooden floor.

“FATHER, PLEASE! I’M STARVING!!”

The Party winced from the screaming, all including Fluttershy gripped their weapons firmly as they slowly approached the lone figure by the altar.

“Oh Morning Lord, please offer salvation for my son,” the hunched priest muttered under his breath.

Hesitantly, Twilight spoke up, “Um, excuse me. Are you Father Donavich?”

The priest immediately jerked up, staring bewildered at the Party. They winced as they saw his red and baggy eyes from long dried tears and sleepless nights. “Wh-who are you?” he demanded, clearly startled, “I’ve never seen any of you before and… Is that a dragon and a large crow?”

“Ahem!” Maria coughed out for attention, “Pardon me Padre but can we focus here? Are you Father Donavich?”

“A-ah, yes. I am he,” he stammered, still kneeling from his altar as he looked up towards the party, “W-what brings you here? I’m afraid I cannot be of much help.”

“Oh you could most definitely help us,” Maria spoke almost sweetly before scowling as she pointed towards the floor, “You can start by telling us, what in the Nine Hells is below us?!”

“Father? Are there visitors with you? Please, at least send them down here to feed me!” the voice suddenly shrilled.

The Equestrians looked below them appalled.

“Oh my,” Fluttershy gasped, “You trapped your own son in there?”

“Now that ain’t right!” Applejack snarled as she brandished her warhammer.

“That… is messed up!” added Rainbow Dash, clearly horrified.

“Hold on a second,” Pinkie stopped, her eyes narrowing in scrutiny, “Didn’t Ireena say that his son died?”

The priest looked at them with utter horror. “N-no!! You have it all wrong! Please, don’t touch my son!” he pleaded.

Roll for Insight
Nat 1
To Twilight, the man was clearly delirious from grief and exhaustion. If Ireena said that his son was dead, then that could only conclude…

“He probably has another son. He must have trapped him in there after losing his first out of overprotectiveness,” suggested Twilight.

“Yeah, sounds about right,” Maria agreed, “You girls find the basement and rescue the boy. Pest, Spike and I will keep an eye on the padre and try to calm him down.”

“Wait, why am I staying with you?” asked Spike, voicing his disappointment.

“You look intimidating; you might scare the lad if the padre’s reaction is anything to go by,” Maria flatly answered.

“Y'all play nice, you hear?” said Applejack as the rest of them made their way to the rooms, not hearing the priest’s jumbled protests.

Roll for Investigation
8(AJ), 21(PP), 5(RD), 23(TS), 10(R), 4(FS)
After thirty minutes bickering about the poor state of the rooms (mostly Rarity) and trying to get used to using hands instead of hooves and mouths, the party eventually found a heavy wooden trapdoor within a storage room which was the first room to the right from the entrance.

Pinkie Pie skipped her way towards the trapdoor with her usual cheerful enthusiasm as the rest cautiously followed. “Hurry up you guys!” she announced gleefully, “If we sort this whole overprotective-parent-who-imprisoned-his-son situation, we can finally clear our first milestone in saving Barovia!”

“Hold it there Pinkie,” Applejack pointed to the trapdoor’s padlock, “The door’s got a lock.” She turned to the rest of the girls, “Did any of you find a key?”

Rainbow let out a scoff. “Pff, I’ve been having a hard enough time trying to get used to these… hands,” she paused at the mention of “hands” as she waved and wriggled her fingers before her.

“For once I have to agree with Rainbow,” added Rarity as she eyed the gaping hole in the ceiling, “Not having to use magic, hooves or even… ugh, mouths is one thing. Scouring through this broken down church is another!” She whined in her usual dramatic flair, “This place is just DREADFUL!”

“So, um… Did any of you find the key to the basement?” asked Fluttershy, “Otherwise we might have to ask the Priest to-”

“I’m afraid that that’s not happening Fluttershy,” interrupted Twilight, “Father Donavich is so far gone that we might not even get a straight answer from him. And even if he is sane enough to answer, I doubt he’ll tell us.” She let out a sigh, “I don’t have a spell to unlock it delicately so we’ll just have to break it open. Unless of course any of you have a lockpick.”

“Eeynope,” said Applejack.

“Don’t look at me,” shrugged Rainbow Dash.

“A lady wouldn’t carry such things,” Rarity slightly pouted.

“Sorry, I don’t have anything like that,” said Fluttershy apologetically.

There was a pause and all eyes turned to Pinkie.

“What? What are you all staring at me for?”

“This is usually the part where you pull something out of your mane that could help us,” Rainbow pointed out.

“Don’t look at me,” Pinkie protested, “I didn’t plan on multiclassing into rogue and I left my bag of holding home.”

“Wait, you own a bag of holding?” asked Twilight, surprised by this information.

Pinkie Pie rolled her eyes, “Duh, of course. How do you think I put and pull things in and out of my mane?”

“Never mind,” groaned Twilight, holding a hand covering her eyes and sighed. Without looking up she added, “Applejack, could you break open the lock?”

“Sure thing, Sugarcube. Stand clear.” Applejack brandished her warhammer and swung at the lock.

Attack Roll unneeded

One smashed padlock later, the girls opened the trapdoor, unaware of the sudden silence from the resident beneath.

“Alright then,” Twilight straightened up to declare their marching order, “Applejack, you take point. Rainbow Dash will follow you along with Fluttershy, in case she might need assistance to carry him up the stairs. I’ll follow in with you three in case we might need more help. Pinkie Pie and Rarity, you two stay up here and keep the door open for us.”

“Will do, darling.”

“You can count on us!”

“Alright ladies,” declared Rainbow, “Let’s move out.”

As the four made their way downwards, Fluttershy spoke up. “Um, Twilight. Can I ask a question?”

“What is it, Fluttershy?”

“Since this is a basement and there are no lights around, how are we able to see in the dark?”

“That’s… That’s a really good question.”

“Stop! They must not approach my son!” Father Donavich demanded as he struggled from Maria’s grapple.

“I wouldn’t move if I were you, Padre,” the Sergeant calmly spoke as she maintained her restraint on him, “For your sake and for your son’s.”

“Um, Maria,” Spike spoke out hesitantly, “Should we really be holding him here like this? It doesn’t feel right.”

Maria turned to the Dragonborn, “Trust me kid, nothing is ever that simple or what it seems. Sometimes in life a little girl will walk right in acting sweet and innocent and then stab you in the back. Sometimes you will have a friend you trust will pull off something incredibly stupid with good intentions.” She looks to the restrained priest, “And sometimes you need to restrain innocent people when they pose a physical danger to others.”

Father Donavich turned to her with a pleading look, “B-but that was what I have been doing this whole time! He is a danger to himself and to others!”

Maria rolled her eyes. “Oh please,” she scoffed, “I’ve seen this before: Lost your first son to some monster so you imprison your second son for his “own protection.” Seriously, if I had a gold piece for every time I heard that excuse I’d-”

“I only have one son,” interjected the priest, “and he is dead.”

Maria blinked. “Come again?”

“Seriously, these bodies are awesome! It’s like having your very own Night Vision Goggles!” Rainbow Dash remarked before almost immediately tripping over the last step of the stairs. “Gah! If I could just get used to being on two legs and on the ground.”

Applejack chuckled, “An’ how’s that workin’ out for ya?”

The pegasus-turned-aasimar groaned, “Still a little wobbly, especially when we’re moving up and down it seems.” She eyed the earth pony-turned-dwarf with a sneer, “What about you, with those short, stubby legs? Can’t be good with catching up to me in our next Iron Pony competition.”

Applejack glared daggers at her prismatic haired friend before sighing in defeat. “Unfortunately, no. Bucky McGillycuddy and Kicks McGee can’t do much good while Ah’m in mah twosome,” she said almost mournfully, looking down at her short statured feet. She stared at her right arm, observing the toned muscles as she clenched her hand close. “Honestly, the only thing goin’ for me is how strong and sturdy this body is. That and Ah’m closer to the ground which makes it easier to get used to walkin’ on two legs. Ah’m not even sure if Ah was as strong as Ah used to be in Equestria. Ah mean, look at me; Ah can’t even use mah talent for apples here.”

Roll for Insight
20
Rainbow’s jovial mood dropped at this. As much as she had much to complain in regards to her new body, she still had her speed to a degree and she was told she would regain her flight if she continued to get used to her new form. In fact, all the rest of her friends could still use their special talents to some degree: Twilight could still do her magic, Rarity could still find gems and sew clothing, Pinkie could still make laughter and parties, Fluttershy could still communicate with her animals. All but AJ and her talent for apples.

She held a hand over her disheartened friend’s shoulder. “I-I’m sorry about that. In fact, I’m sorry about being a bit of a jerk since we got here. This place just seems to rub me the wrong way and… I can’t do what I’m used to doing physically like flying. I guess I keep forgetting that everyone is going through the same problem.”

Applejack glanced at the Wonderbolt and smirked. “Well look at you. Rainbow Dash; humblin’ herself when realising her mistake, and in record time too. Usually it’d take a day or two til you figure you did wrong.”

“Hey, I’m not slow!”

Applejack raised an eyebrow with bemusement.

“Okay, maybe I am a bit of a slow learner,” Rainbow Dash admitted, almost gritting her teeth at the mention of the word “slow” describing her, “but don’t let it be said that I don’t fix a mistake the minute I realise there is one.”

The apple farmer smiled at that, along with the other two who were listening in.

Twilight leaned in with a side hug with one arm over her shoulders. “We’re proud of you Rainbow. Since we got here it’s like you’ve managed to pick up things faster than you usually do. Maybe when we get back we could all chip in to another edition of our Friendship Journal with everything we learned here.”

“Well, I was preparing myself to be called Professor Egghead for your school of Friendship,” Rainbow boasted, “Maybe we could fill that new edition with everything I’ve learned here. It’d be great to show it to the new students.”

“Um, pardon me girls,” Fluttershy spoke up hesitantly, “I hate to break the mood, especially with everypony’s high spirits, but where is the colt we were supposed to find?”

All heads craned towards the pegasus-turned-wood elf, then towards the wide empty basement. The church’s undercroft has rough-hewn walls and a floor made of damp clay and earth. Rotting wooden pillars strain under the weight of the wooden ceiling. Candlelight from the chapel above slips through the cracks.

“Y’know, now that ya mentioned it, Ah don’t hear him screamin’ no more.”

Shuffling was suddenly heard further in the empty undercroft.

“Hello?” called out Twilight, “Are you in there?”

No response.

“Don’t be afraid, we’re here to help,” she continued to call out, “We have some food as well.”

Looking towards the direction of the sound, about forty feet from them, a pair of sunken glowing red eyes peered at them.

“... You’re here to feed me?” a voice finally replied, almost slithering in its tone.

“Start talking Padre!” Maria grabbed the collar of Father Donavich’s robes, “What in the Nine Hells do you mean by that?!”

“O-over a year ago, a wizard led an uprising against the Devil,” explained Father Donavich, “My son was with them. They marched all the way to Castle Ravenloft. … None returned. … At least not the same.”

Maria’s eyes widened as a creeping suspicion came to her. “So, when you say that he is dead, you mean to say that he’s…”

The priest nodded mournfully as he choked out, “H-he’s not of the living.”

Maria released her grip, dropping the priest to the floor. “Spike, Pest, to me!” she screamed as she dashed towards the room leading to the basement.

“W-what’s going on?” asked Spike.

“The girls are in danger! We need to move!”

“Yes, we’re here to help,” replied Fluttershy almost hesitantly, “We have food and we’re here to free you.”

There was a pause. “It’s been sooooo long,” he groaned mournfully, extending the “so” with a low hiss.

“Tarnation, Ah’ll have words with the old coot when we’re done here,” said Applejack, “Ain’t no right mind to starve anypony out, let alone family.”

“So hungry,” the glowing eyes drew closer.

“Hey, don’t sweat it pal,” Rainbow shrugged dismissively, “We’ve got more than enough for you and the rest of the gang.”

“So… many of you.”

Rainbow Dash blinked. “Say what?”

“GIRLS, GET OUT OF THERE!”

All eyes turned to the stairs where they heard the shout.

“Maria? What’s wrong?” Twilight called out.

“GET AWAY FROM HIM, NOW! HE’S A VAMPIRE SPAWN!!”

The four of them craned their necks back slowly towards their would-be rescuee. Their blood ran cold at what they saw.

Creeping closer towards them was a sickly thin, pale frame of a man with unkempt hair and garbed in ragged clothes. His eyes flickered from pale blue to blood red and from what little light that could reach below revealed glimmering sharp fangs from his drooling mouth.

“So many of you. So much to feed from. So… HUNGRY!”

Author's Note

A Vampire Spawn? So soon? Will they survive? Will they come out unscathed? Find out net time in Hearts of Harmony: Into the Land of Mists.

Apologies ahead for a shorter chapter but it felt appropriate to end where it did. Meant to post this for the end of Halloween but had other commitments.