The first thing I remembered upon getting here was just how beautiful everything was. It was serene, to the point that I couldn't help but wonder if I had stepped into a painting of some kind. The moon filled the sky above me, bathing the world in its deep, ethereal glow, a glow that seemed to eclipse even the sun’s ability to warm me. The next thing I realized was that despite this appearing as a scene out of some sort of piece of art, it was also slightly unreal. For some reason, I could feel my skin crawling at the sight of this place and I forced myself to look away from the moon and the forest that surrounded me, and down to the ground beneath my feet.

Only then did I realize I was no longer what I was supposed to be.

Though I wore a simple tunic and pants, complete with a backpack and shoes, all of which seemed normal enough, everything felt off. The clothing wasn't tight and seemed tailored to me, yet it also felt much like a new shirt did, one that you bought at a big box store and had not quite broken in yet and felt a little off despite the fact it fit as it should. It suddenly struck me that my cloth shirt wasn't as simple as I thought it was, but was instead some kind of armor, albeit a weak variety, one that I instantly knew was supposed to be placed beneath a layer of plate or chain mail.

Looking down at my pants I noticed that they were far more durable than my usual style, and were some sort of leather that I couldn't quite identify. Though odd, it wasn't unnerving, not like my feet which were far different from what I was used to. Even a glance told me there was something wrong with them, as well as my lower legs, as I was supposed to stand straight, but instead, the part below my knee bent back slightly. Lifting my legs told me that they weren't injured in any way, as I felt no pain or discomfort, so I turned my attention to the backpack I had noticed earlier.

Grabbing one of the straps, I was about to take the thing off, only to notice that I was wearing heavy leather gloves that came up to my knuckles, revealing claws I knew I didn't have before. As the mystery deepened, and panic began to surge in my breast, I realized that the rest of my anatomy was different as well. Only to feel that sudden surge of panic get shunted to the back of my mind all of a sudden.

A flash of memory reminded me that I had not been in this forest a minute ago, and was instead at a table with my friends, playing dungeons and dragons. We had begun a campaign my buddy created titled ‘The Slaughter That Came To Esteria’, a game about facing off against the god of the gnolls, Yeenoghu. Having introduced our characters and revealed that I had chosen to make things interesting and picked a gnoll that was not a follower of the god of slaughter but rather love, we had begun to settle in and listen to the opening monologue delivered by the dungeon master, whose name I can no longer recall.

He said, and I quote.

“If you do not answer the call to adventure and chose to forgo helping in the defense of Esteria, do not be startled if you find yourself thrust into the middle of said defense despite your best efforts. If you do not heed the call to adventure, the adventure will find you, as there is no escaping the god of destruction. For you see, he comes for us all, in the end.”

It wasn't a bad introduction and the menacing voice he did was surprisingly intimidating but I could already feel my mind churning as I came up with better ways to say what he just had. Pushing that thought aside I focused on my new anatomy, vaguely aware that it looked familiar.

“Duh, I’m Fareeah,” I muttered, smacking a pawed hand against my face and finding that I did indeed no longer have features that I would consider normal by any stretch of the imagination.

I had more teeth in my mouth, a longer jaw, and a pronounced muzzle that I knew I didn't have a minute ago. My clawed hands roamed across my face and head, searching out any other changes that may have occurred that I didn't notice at first. Sure enough, I had the same floppy gnoll ears that I had seen in the monster manual as well as a long black mane that fell down my back and thankfully stayed out of my face.

My spotted fur was a mixture of grey with black spots, and a passing glance into a pool of rainwater told me that my eyes were the same orange that I had written in my character’s description. “Huh, neat.” I muttered to myself, only to realize that I had also written something else in that description section.

Pulling open my top revealed that was indeed true and I was now no longer male, though thankfully I wasn't quite as endowed as I had first feared, though neither was I flat, unfortunately. “Well, that's going to take some getting used to,” I muttered to myself, only to take a step and realize something felt familiar between my legs.

Opening my pants revealed that I wasn't quite as female as I thought, and I swiftly let my pants snap back into place. I mean it kind of made sense as in my friend’s setting gnolls were hyenas given sentience through the consumption of intelligent creatures and female hyenas had what could only be described as a rather strange set of sexual organs. I chose not to think about that for now, putting all such thoughts of my new gender and the complications therein out of my mind, for now at least.

“Think Fareeah, how did… Oh hey, I’m referring to myself as my character’s name,” I paused, tapping my chin as I thought about it. “Strange.”

I shook my head and forced that thought away, not wanting to consider the possibility that my real name had been lost entirely. “What were my stats again?” I muttered, trying to think back to my character sheet.

I knew I had rolled well and had min-maxed a little when it came to my scores, trading away my ability to speak anything but abyssal for another plus two in strength. I also chose to put my first level into rogue despite the fact that I had made my character nearly eight feet tall. This was partially compensated for by the fact that I had fairly high dexterity as well as a decent hide skill, though I didn't know if any such stats had carried over to this world.

“If I remember correctly I had an eighteen in strength…” I glanced over to a large rock that was about as big as a basketball and reached down, easily managing to pick it up. “Whoa.”

I tossed the rock from one hand to another, feeling my muscles ripple just beneath the fabric of my shirt. “This is crazy,” I remarked before holding the rock like a shot put and launching it at a tree several feet away.

The rock bounced off the tree trunk and skidded away, leaving behind a chunk of missing bark, something I kinda felt bad about. “Note to self, make sure I don't hug someone too hard.”

My dexterity was also fairly high, though not quite as high as my strength, the stat only coming to a sixteen if I remembered correctly. “Which means I should be very light on my feet and able to hit even small moving targets.”

I grabbed another rock, this one much smaller than the first, and took aim at a leaf fairly high up in a tree. Though it took only a second to lock onto the target I was unsure if I could actually hit it, something my instincts told me was quite possible. Choosing to trust that gut feeling I had, I whipped the stone at the leaf and was amazed to see that not only had I hit it but I had thrown the rock with such force that it had gone straight through it.

“Huh,” I muttered, looking down at my hands in wonder. “What else can I do?”

My constitution was also quite high, but that was only due to the fact that gnolls naturally had high constitution considering their diet of rotting flesh and near-constant warfare. A sixteen meant I would be able to stay awake for days on end, was difficult to knock out, and not easily affected by most illnesses. Looking around I wasn't quite sure how to test that without the benefit of time or bashing my head against a rock, something I instantly ruled out for obvious reasons.

Intelligence was my second lowest score at only fourteen, though it was originally much higher but gnolls took a penalty to that stat. Still, it was still above average and meant that I was fairly intelligent, was able to understand new tasks quickly as well as complete logic puzzles, and do complicated mental math. Though int wasn't going to be a stat I used very much I also hated playing dumb characters, so that option had been thrown out early on.

Wisdom was acceptable as well, coming to a fifteen, meaning I was a decent read of people and situations as well as having a strong hunch every now and then. Which was good, as I had been considering doing something dumb like multiclassing into a druid later on. Still, it wasn't entirely useful yet, but again I wasn't about to play a low wis character either, as for one, I could never remember the difference between low int and low wis and that just sounded like an unpleasant experience in general.

Lastly was my charisma score which was my worst roll, one made worse by the gnoll race’s limitations and trading away what little points I had and moving them to other stats. This was perhaps the stat I was most worried about, as it was a whopping three, but I was also a great roleplayer, and talker in real life so the dungeons master ended up allowing me to interpret my low charisma in a different way than most.

Which meant I was ugly. My teeth were yellowed, my eyes a disturbing color of orange that seemed as unnatural as they were unpleasant to look at. That and my entire form was gangly, covered with scars, and though not smelly, had a distinct odor all its own. That wasn't enough to satisfy my friend though and I had to come up with another way to further display just how low my charisma score was.

“Hello, hello, hello,” I spoke clearly and plainly, trying to hear what my voice sounded like.

Despite my attempts, everything sounded like English to me, clear and plain English, though even then I could tell something was slightly off. I remembered that I had gone on to explain my low charisma by my voice being just plain unpleasant to listen to, over a decade of speaking nothing but abyssal having warped my vocal cords. This fit flavor-wise with my character and the world but now I wasn't entirely sure I was even in that world as my friend’s setting had two moons and above me, yet here there was only one.

This meant I might not even speak any language that the locals did and I might never be able to understand them, given my restrictions. I wondered if sign language counted as a language, as it might be the only way I could communicate with others, a thought I shrugged off for now.

Remembering the bag I had been about to check out I unslung it from my shoulder and flipped open the top. Within were all the usual level one items I would come to expect, including a bed roll, some minor healing items like bandages and whatnot as well as rations, a waterskin, a single health potion and lastly a dagger. Remembering that I had a sheathe for said dagger already on my hip, I put the weapon away before counting out my rations.

“Only a week’s worth,” I remarked before throwing that bag back over my shoulders. “Oh well, I should be able to make it last before I find a town of some kind.”

Looking around, I began to notice that I had absolutely no clue where I was.

I was in the middle of a clearing of some kind, the ground being too stony to allow anything more than scrub grass to grow there. With no direction in mind, I closed my eyes and spun around until I stopped, facing north. I then considered it for a moment before shrugging and walking that way. Or at least I thought it was north, as that was the side of the tree that had the most moss on it, though I didn't actually know if that old adage was true for this world as well, or even what hemisphere I was on now that I thought about it.

With little else to do, I focused my senses outwards, trying to figure out how good they were.

My eyes could see perfectly fine in the low light of the full moon, and I got a distinct feeling that even if the moon was not full I would be able to see relatively fine. Something that made sense as gnolls had limited dark vision and great low-light vision.

The next thing I tested was my ears and I slowed down in order to listen closer to my surroundings. Sure enough, I could hear far better than I used to and I could pick out just about everything that moved around me. From the trees that swayed in the breeze, to the crickets singing their annoying song, it was all as clear as day. I could even hear the smaller, less noticeable sounds like birds in their nests and snakes weaving through the undergrowth.

“Perhaps this world isn't quite so different after all.” I whispered as I glanced up to a tree where a pair of slumbering robbins leaned against one another.

Not wanting to wake them up, I slunk quietly through the underbrush, testing to see how good my new nose was. Sure enough, like the rest of my senses, this one was also enhanced, allowing me to smell even further than I could hear. Small aromas I knew I couldn't smell before were now easily detected and I could sense not only the distinct scent that came after a recent rain but also the individual trees. Somehow my nose was able to tell the different species apart by the smell alone.

Putting that thought out of my mind for now I focused on the last thing I had yet to give attention to, my skills. Though the actual numbers were lost to me I knew my athletics was great, while my acrobatics was just decent. Sleight of hand was mediocre but better than average, given my rogue level, but my stealth was one of my core skills and I knew it at least, was relatively high.

Arcana, history, and religion were all garbage as I hadn't bothered to put a single point in any of them. Investigation was good while nature was decent, seeing as I wanted to eventually take a druid level or two, but that had occupied most of my skill points.

Which meant that medicine, deception, performance, persuasion and animal handling were all abysmal. Insight and perception werent bad, while survival was my last decent skill out of the lot of them.

I made a note of trying to raise them somehow, hoping that this world would allow me to get better at them through practice rather than like in dungeons and dragons where only levels could help in that regard.

My thoughts were interrupted by a strange new scent, one that pierced through the rest like a hot knife through butter, and drew me off the straight line I had been walking in until now. It smelled metallic, and reminded me of something, but what exactly that something was lost to me. With a strange hunger slowly building in my chest, I followed the scent through the trees and toward its origin.

The smell brought me next to a small ravine where a four-legged shape lay gasping on the water’s edge. It looked a lot like a deer, though much smaller than any I had ever seen before, coming up to maybe only my crotch including its antlers.

Unsure if the creature was sentient I slowly crept forward, noticing that it was bleeding heavily from a stomach wound that didn't appear to be terribly deep, but which was also turning green and purple. Whatever had hit it had inflicted some manner of poison, and the poor creature had sought out the water in an attempt to cleanse itself, or at least I assumed as much, as the creature hadn't said anything.

Creeping closer I put one hand on my dagger as I closed the distance. “Hello? Do you need help?” I asked.

Though the deer turned to me, and its eyes went wide I didn't see the spark of sentience that I had expected to see in its gaze. They were the same black and brown orbs I remembered from my time as not a gnoll and when it spoke I knew then and there that it was not intelligent as they let loose a whining cry that I instantly recognized from my former life.

Frowning, I stood over the creature, wondering what I should do with it, as I knew the poison pulsing through its body was likely going to kill it. I considered helping it, but with little to no animal handling or medicine, I felt like my abilities would ultimately be unhelpful in this situation. Instead, I ended up taking my hand from the hilt of my dagger and gripping its head in my hands.

It resisted at first, trying to shake off my grip but its movements were so weak that it could do little to actually accomplish such a task.

“Shhh, be still now, it's time to rest,” I whispered.

A quick jerk and the creature’s neck snapped, its body falling limp.

I stood slowly and frowned at its now lifeless form, silently wondering what had delivered such a powerful poison. As I looked down at it I felt my stomach rumble and my mouth begin to salivate, the hunger I had first noticed when I began to follow the scent’s trail suddenly returning with a vengeance and urging me to consume the creature, bones and all.

Though tempted, I wasn't quite ready to test my constitution quite yet, and eating raw meat wasn't exactly an idea I relished.

Turning away, I purposefully began to walk upwind of the dead deer, hoping to put the smell, and thus hunger, from my mind.

This odd hunger was unpleasant, as I could already tell that my stomach was relatively full, and I didn't need to eat. As I thought about it, I came to the conclusion that it was likely a leftover of this body’s more primal instincts to not let a meal go to waste rather than it being actual hunger. Something that made sense as I read that hyenas could eat everything from bones to the very waste of other animals, as their digestive system was that good. I prayed that I never got to the point where I had to test such a theory, as I could tell that my sense of taste remained unaltered.

Putting that from my mind, I continued to walk north after finding another tree and locating which side had more moss on it. With north now in front of me, I strode confidently deeper into the forest, hoping to eventually find some civilization as I did not want to spend my days without a flushing toilet.

My walk took over an hour or two, during which time the moon remained completely dead center in the middle of the sky, tickling a memory I couldn't quite place. As I thought about it, I continued to put one foot in front of the other, at about which point I realized that despite the rough, uneven terrain and how long I was walking, I had not even begun to get tired, which was nice to know.

It took a while but I eventually found a landmark that rose out of the distance, namely a stone tower that pierced the treetops. With some form of civilization in sight, I began to make my way over to it only for something to make me stop suddenly and look down, where a gorge suddenly opened up. Breathing a sigh of relief I made a note of keeping my eye on what was in front of me this time, lest I find out just how many hit points I had.

Glancing to my left and right I noticed that there was a rope bridge far to my left, one that lead to a path that wound its way to the entrance of the dilapidated stone structure before me. There was little cover there however and I turned to the right to find that there was a more overgrown stone bridge hidden past a large bush. Making my way in that direction I contemplated the strange itching sensation at the back of my mind, a small voice telling me that I recognized this place, though I’d never actually been there before.

Shrugging off the weirdness of the situation, I made my way over to the bridge and was about to cross when I noticed that it wasn't very wide, and the rails on either side weren't very high. They barely even came past my knees and I had just barely enough room to cross with ease, two things that made me think that perhaps the people that had made it had been much shorter than I.

Though I was tempted to think of dwarves or gnomes, which were fantasy races, something about the stonework told me that wasn't true.

Putting that out of my mind I looked around, searching for a side entrance of some kind only to be stopped by some maniacal laughter followed by the boom of thunder. I nearly jumped out of my new boots as lightning flashed in the distance despite there being absolutely no clouds in the sky.

Shrugging off that particular bit of strangeness, I looked up to the tower where I had heard the laughter only for that tiny voice to return with a vengeance.

As I looked up through the window I caught a glimpse of something not unlike a horse yet completely different from the horses I knew. In that instance, I felt a flood of recollection as I suddenly remembered that you creatures were called ponies and that the fight I was privy to was from a television show. As I watched you two exchange cliche dialogue, I couldn't help but laugh at the whole situation, as this entire circumstance I found myself in seemed a lot like the beginnings of a terrible fanfiction.

“I guess I’m not in the dungeons and dragons game after all, but rather something even nerdier,” I remarked, leaning on a nearby tree as I watched you two go back and forth.

This continued for longer than I remembered, and I took that time to climb a tree in order to get a better look, something that was incredibly easy with my longer arms and more powerful muscles. Once in my new perch, I continued to watch you girls fight, imagining that by not helping I was preserving the normal sequence of events that I recognized from my world.

A notion that was quickly dashed when I noticed that you seemed intent on killing one another. Blasts of magic blew apart columns, dust erupting through windows, and I watched more than one of you nearly get your head blown off by Nightmare Moon. This brutal knock down drag out fight was so unlike what I was expecting that I could do little but watch in confusion as you continued to slug it out.

Somewhere in the middle of things, you girls discovered the true nature of the elements only for the fight merely to continue with a more level playing field.

The alicorn advantage seemed to be neutralized by the element’s magical effects but they by no means granted instant victory as I remembered. Sure they seemed capable of naturally amping up whatever ability you all innately had but even a power boost didn't allow you to surpass Nightmare Moon.

Even more disturbing were the insults that were thrown back and forth, with Nightmare promising not only to torture you girls but promised dismemberment and the slaughter of friends and family. The blood I saw dripping down Twilight’s and the Nightmare’s coats from various near misses drove home the fact that something was off.

It was then that I realized that I wasn't in the world that I had seen in fiction, and wherever I was it was far darker than the world I knew. I was in the midst of scrambling out of the tree in order to try and help when I noticed movement nearby, drawing my attention to a royal guard I noticed standing and peering into the tower from below. Though short he was standing as tall as possible and biting his lip, his attention fixated on the tower I had been looking at a moment earlier.

“Come on Twilight, you can do it,” he muttered to himself.

If he was standing there it probably meant there were more nearby, and if they were nearby but not inside it likely meant that this was part of whatever Celestia’s plan was. Which also meant I shouldn't interfere with what she had going on and I scrambled back into my tree, this time as quietly as possible.

With little else to do, I continued to watch, drawn in by the brutal fight going on only a few dozen meters away. Over time I noticed that the elements seemed to slowly heal your wounds, and allow you to keep fighting while Nightmare Moon began to tire. Her feats of magic became less grandiose and her attacks more careful, more precise as she seemed to understand that she wasn't going to just stomp the six of you.

That didn't help her though, as you girls continued to learn her strengths and weaknesses and react accordingly. Rarity’s shields grew stronger, Pinkie’s kicks more precise, bypassing the Nightmare’s armor, while Rainbow Dash became faster, and Applejack hit harder. All the while you got better and better at coordinating your friends, attacking and covering one another’s flanks with all the speed and precision of a natural leader.

There came a point when the Nightmare seemed to realize that she wasn't going to win unless she did something drastic, at which point she charged you, Twilight. I obviously don't need to tell you what happened next as you managed to meet her head-on, magic for magic, fueled by your newfound friendship. In the end, the Nightmare was defeated and lay on the ground smoking, her coat singed and her helmet lost somewhere in the ensuing blast.

Yet rather than spout the usual villain nonsense she merely laughed, stopping midway through in order to cough up a wad of blood which she spat at you.

At that point, you walked up and declared it was over and that she should surrender, but the nightmare wasn't having any of that and interrupted your cliche good guy statement.

“Fools! It matters not if I am defeated, for there is no escaping the god of destruction. I had hoped to toughen this world up for his arrival, but it seems like you all shall be lambs to the slaughter!” Then she laughed as you blasted her one last time with the elements.

Initially, I thought you were going to kill her but it seemed like you had figured out that they could do more than just shoot people with magic, and power you up. With the purifying process complete I watched you all step back in shock as princess Luna opened her eyes.

“What's going on? Where am I? Where is my sister?” Luna asked hesitantly, looking around in confusion. “I was just exploring the Canterlot caves with Tia when- why is my coat burnt?”

She gasped and looked up to find Celestia descending from the hole in the ceiling. “Oh Lulu, you have no idea how happy I am to hear you say that.”

“Sister, why are you so tall-oof.” Luna muttered before getting crushed in a hug.

I don't have to tell you what happened next, but for the sake of the recording I’m going to go ahead and say what happened, and if you don't like it, sue me. I’m a completionist. What can I say?

While the alicorns hugged I noticed that despite the elements having powered down and their job being done, Twilight was still glowing. Something that Celestia noticed shortly thereafter, prompting her to break her hug. “What is this?” She muttered.

“Woah your all glowy and stuff!” Rainbow Dash declared.

“Neato, you’re like your very own nightlight!” Pinkie Pie added, poking your side only to spasm as if she had been electrocuted. “Wowee, I think I can taste colors now.”

She then passed out and was quickly tended to while you had what I could only describe as a very polite freakout. A freakout that Celestia joined as well, as she frowned and lit her horn, muttering. “No, it's too soon, the stars said...” Before shutting up when she realized you were growing brighter by the second.

I couldn't exactly tell what was going on at first but judging from Celestia’s reaction she was grooming you to become an alicorn at a later date, like from the fiction I knew but this plan was thrown out as Nightmare Moon’s excess magic sought out a new home. Now, this is just my working theory but I’m pretty sure that since you were a proto-alicorn, Nightmare Moon’s magic latched onto you in order to complete that transformation.

Sure enough, you disappeared in a flash of light, followed by Celestia, leaving me confused as to what to do. On the one hand, I felt like greeting the guard might be the best idea, but I also felt like I had the best chance of being understood by Fluttershy or one of the alicorns but with Luna exhausted and the other two gone I merely sat there.

Until I noticed Fluttershy taking a breather near the window, the pegasus’ body dripping with sweat as she breathed heavily, sucking back fresh night air by the mouthful. With an opening presenting itself I began to wave, knowing already that abyssal would probably sound unpleasant to any who heard it.

This also made the most sense in my mind as it followed the logical plot development that had happened so far. Expecting a quick resolution and perhaps a short but not fatal misunderstanding I was completely blindsided when I heard someone shouting something at me from my right.

“It's a servant of slaughter. On me, mares and stallions!” He yelled before the rest of his words turned into the normal horse drivel you all spout whenever you speak to one another.

I never did figure out why I could understand you until that point, however, but my guess was that whatever magic that had brought me here had lingered for a while, translating your words before dissipating completely. Something that was unfortunate as I would have really liked to know what in the hell Shining whatever had yelled at me.

Which was somepony that I didn't think I’d see for a while yet here he was charging at me while shooting magic at my face. Lucky for me he missed, blowing apart the branch I had been standing on. Using my newfound grace I landed in a crouch, rolling to a stop a few feet away. Shining Bottom was as startled as I was by the surprisingly dexterous move I had just pulled off, gaping at me from about thirty feet away.

Instantly I raised my hands in an attempt to ward off continued aggression but that asshole was uninterested in my surrender and judging from the increased pace of his words my attempts at calming him did the opposite. While I continued to try and find some common ground I began to notice that more guards were coming out of the woodwork, and I knew my dodging abilities, though good, weren't good enough to hold up against a whole host of unicorns all trying to blast my ass at once.

Giving up on the diplomatic approach, for now, I turned and ran, making a break for the ravine and crossing the overgrown bridge in two enormous steps.

The pounding of hooves that had been right behind me lost ground in mere seconds, though that didn't stop them from firing bolts of lightning or simple force at me. This made me stop and dodge occasionally, my instincts telling me which way to leap and how to stay out of the way of the bolts that would have killed or seriously injured me.

This slowed my run significantly, something made worse by the fact that the forest was also far denser than I had first anticipated, meaning I frequently tripped, nearly ran into a tree, or otherwise stumbled randomly through the dense foliage. Thankfully this seemed to slow down my pursuers as well, as they didn't have the night vision I had.

It was also at this moment that I realized that the ponies following me were likely made up entirely of unicorns, as I didn't hear the beat of wings or the twang of crossbows yet. With the knowledge that I could in fact outrun them I put all my energy into merely putting as much ground between me and my attackers as possible.

This wasn't difficult, and though I nearly ended up getting my legs blown off by a stray lightning bolt, I managed to slip away. Now with more than enough tree cover between me and the guards, I slowed down and paid more attention to my footing, ensuring I didn't trip and wind up getting caught because I didn't look where I was going.

This continued for several minutes, and though there was still some yelling in the distance, the random spurts of magic seemed to have petered out. That was until that shining asshole appeared before me in a flash of magic that nearly blinded me.

His face was flush, and the moment he landed he tossed aside a crystal of some kind as he continued to shout horse words at me. Confused, but thankful that he was no longer shooting at me, I gulped and slowly raised my arms above my head while keeping my feet firmly rooted to the ground. This seemed to ease some of his worries as he shouted slightly less, but he also didn't let go of the glow that surrounded his horn.

Unable to tell what he was saying, and with the captain not even trying to mime any actions or make any attempt at communication, his words began to grow louder and the glow of his horn continued to grow brighter. Seeing the clear signs of escalation playing out before me, I shrugged and made the most comically confused face I could imagine, hoping he would get the picture that I could not understand him. This was apparently the wrong answer though and his horn flashed, the magic morphing into a bolt of lightning that flew at my head.

Thankfully my instincts had remained sharp throughout our interaction and I ducked out of the way at the last possible second, before rolling forward. Unable to stop my momentum I decided to try and end this fight as quickly as possible and after I completed the roll I clocked the guard right in the face. Your brother didn't even know what hit him before I punched him right in his hate-filled little face, sending the tiny unicorn flying into a nearby bush.

Shocked by my newfound strength, I considered going over and seeing if he was okay but by then the thunder of hooves had begun to catch up and I trusted his health to his fellows and ran. My long, loping gait meant that in seconds I was out of the immediate area, and had put a decent amount of distance between us. As I ran, I saw that there was a ravine coming up in the distance.

Or at least that's what I had assumed, as unbeknownst to me, Shining homicide had indeed managed to get back up and had loosed a massive fireball at my retreating form.

Not hearing it coming, I continued to sprint towards the ravine, intent on using the slightly more even ground found around the body of water in order to make a quicker getaway. Until something exploded behind me and bathed me in fire, incinerating a lot of my fur, scorching my back, and destroying my pack, shirt, and a majority of my pants, leaving me with only the front half of my clothes, my boots, gloves and my dagger which somehow managed to stay attached to what was left of my pants.

I remember feeling pain the likes of which I had never experienced before and I was thrown forward, my hand instinctively going to my dagger and keeping it safe while I sailed through the air. My trip into the sky didn't last long as I landed in the creek, my entire body disappearing beneath the surprisingly deep and fast-running water.

Confused and in extreme pain, I was surprised to notice that I had instinctively taken a breath before I hit the water, meaning I had plenty of oxygen while I swam further downstream. I silently thanked my constitution, and gnoll heritage as I was easily able to hold my breath while I navigated the murky depths of the ravine.

This continued for several minutes before my lungs began to burn and I was forced to emerge from the water, my head instantly turning around and trying to catch a glimpse of my pursuers. To my surprise, I had put far more ground between me and them than I thought, and in the distance I noticed Shining douche bag looking down at the remnants of my clothes, poking the scattered cloth with a hoof. I smirked when I noticed that one eye was swollen shut and his nose was clearly broken, his horn glowing brightly as he presumably tried to heal his wounds.

Not wanting to stick around long enough for him to figure out that I was indeed alive and not a pile of dust, I breathed deeply and plunged back below water. This process of gulping down air and swimming happened several more times until l was absolutely sure I was as far downwind of the guards as necessary to hide my scent. With little chance of being followed, I slipped out of the reeds and crawled up the bank before making my way toward the woods once more, my dagger gripped tightly in my hand.

A shiver made me realize that the fur on the entire back half of my body was gone, and a pang of pain reminded me that this wasn't the worst of the damage, as my back was one massive second-degree burn. Turning and looking over my shoulder into a pool of water confirmed my fears, and I quickly looked away, not wanting to look at the hideous injury.

For a moment I stood there, trying to feel how bad of an injury it was, and if it was life-threatening. A few moments of concentration later and I was certain that I wasn't in immediate danger as gnolls rarely suffered from infection and the injury itself wasn't as bad as it looked. My high constitution had no doubt saved me, aided by the fact that I immediately iced the burn for several minutes, though the experience certainly hadn't been a pleasant one.

With a sigh, I looked up at the moon, silently wondering what in the hell I had done to deserve this. I decided then and there that I must have been terribly unkind to puppies in my former life, as this was far worse treatment than even a normal bad guy deserved.

As I began to slowly stride into the woods, I did my best to look away from my now naked form, or spend too much time thinking about my wounds, and in the rage, I felt burning at the back of my mind. Instead, I tried to focus on anything I may have missed not from the brief fight, but from the time before I arrived here in Equestria, as something told me I had indeed forgotten something important.

I wracked my brain for several minutes only to think to myself that I had not forgotten anything out of the ordinary. That was until something possessed me to think back to the topic of dungeons and dragons and realize what I had forgotten. Dungeons and dragons was not typically only a one-player game, and though we didn't have the larger groups that some others did, there was still me, the dungeon master, and my friend.

I wondered if he was here too and if we had been dropped apart from one another and if so how far away was it? I wondered where he was, and as I worried more and more information came back to me about him, and his character.

He had chosen to play a changeling, which is a sort of humanoid shapeshifter capable of becoming any other medium sized creature of relative size and mass. He had chosen this race in order to be everything I was not by mastering both magic and charisma in one go by becoming a sorcerer that focused almost solely on ranged attacks. I remembered chatting with him about how we were going to play our characters, and work as a team as this campaign was going to be difficult, and would necessitate planning our race, class, and skills carefully.

I chose to run more of a dex tank, utilizing the benefits of high dexterity in order to dual wield lighter weapons, splitting my levels between ranger and rogue in order to create a character that was surprisingly sneaky, and tanky while still dealing high damage. This also shored up my friend’s defenses as we needed someone to get past locks and traps, while also being able to compliment his high charisma and great disguise ability.

With a changeling as a partner, the plan was simply to sneak around and pick off most of our enemies before my friend summoned a bunch of minions and then started to focus down the boss, while I snuck up on said boss and when it was the right time, deliver the coup d'etat. To this end, he had specialized in summoning and evocation at the cost of abandoning the ability to cast both necromancy and divination spells. Something that was deemed worth it as these kinds of spells was easily replaced by either more raw damage, or a good diversification of skills respectively.

I fell suddenly, my foot having caught a root and leaving me face down in the dirt, a groan on my lips. The wave of memories had been a little too overwhelming and I chose not to think about the past right now, not while I was naked save for my gloves and boots while in the middle of nowhere with nothing more than a dagger at my side.

To that end I began to look around, making a note that civilization would probably not be very kind to a race that was apparently on some sort of kill-on-sight list. Something that struck me as quite racist, though I couldn't say I blamed them, as gnolls in dungeons and dragons frequently raided nearby settlements for slaves, tools, or just fun.

Fortunately for me, I wasn't a brain-dead meathead and could in fact make my own decisions. Though that line of reasoning did lead me to figure out that either gnolls or something that looked like gnolls were enemies of ponies in this reality. Meaning I would likely be unable to convince anyone I wasn't a mindless savage, and could indeed be reasoned with, provided I figured out how to communicate with them.

I glanced down at my naked, bloody, and partially hairless form and sighed, mentally compiling a list of all the things I would need to acquire before I could even attempt to speak to another pony.

Number one was healing my wounds, followed by finding clothes, acquiring a base of operation and then finally locating a pony that wasn't likely to try and kill me after only looking at me. After that I could slowly work out the difference in language, or perhaps construct something to bridge that gap. At which point things kind of opened up for me, leaving me with a little too many options.

My first thought was to meet up with you six, as you are the most important creatures in the fictional world I read about, but then again I am not a big fan of dying. Something that was apparently a very real possibility if I chose to try and help you or others. Death also wasn't something I was keen on experiencing considering the possibility that if I died here I might very well die permanently.

In the end, I shook my head, putting such grandiose thoughts from my mind and instead focusing on the here and now. A thought that started with me trying to figure out why my nose was suddenly filled with the scent of rotting flesh.

Author's Note

This is part of the 12 days of christmas, head over here to keep track of all the cool stuff coming down the pipes. If you want to ensure I can afford to keep doing stuff like this, consider backing me over on Subscribestar or Patreon.