The Last Chronicle

The camera juddered with each step Matt took, bobbing the image up and down in a steady rhythm. Matt had long ago switched to a head cam, even after Andrew's death he still filmed everything he did. To him it was a way to remember his cousin. Matt's breathing grew more ragged with each step, both a combination of physical exertion and mental anticipation. This day had proven to be anything but normal.

During his travels Matt had stumbled across what he now knew to be a second artefact hiding high up in the Alpine mountain range. The ringing in his ears was slowly growing more potent as he drew closer to its source. Every shred of his common sense telling him to turn back, but curiosity won out this time. He was so close to the possibility of finding some answers that all logic was simply being drown out. His assent began to slow as the ringing became a constant assault on his ears. This did not last long as he soon neared the peek of his climb.

Matt had tried to fly up to the artefact, only to be shot down by a blast of mental static whenever he got even remotely close. From that point on he resolved himself to not using his powers near it. The ringing was now like a foghorn in his ear as he reached his target. Reaching out a hand he carefully wiped away a top layer of snow to revel a perfectly smooth sheet of ice. Inside the frozen water, only about 3 foot deep, was a small rock with crocked black vines weaving there way out into the ice. The whole thing emanated a sickly green aura, almost like a warning for anyone who would be stupid enough to venture too close. Matt raised his fist high before bringing it down on the ice.

“AGH! dam it” He cursed. Even with gloves the subzero temperatures had left his hands in no state to do anything remotely useful. Matt looked down at the light, anger beginning to boil up in his mind. He was not going to let this whole journey up here be for nothing.

Just one quick burst

The thoughts were barely audibly over the deafening ringing cutting into his skull. It seemed as if the artefact itself was trying to ward him off.

“NOW!” He yelled as he lashed out with a burst of telekinesis smashing the ice in front of him. Time seemed to slow. Matt was surprised, expecting to be assaulted by a near lethal blast of mental static again, only to be greeted by silence. Perfect silence, not even the sound of the wind on his back could reach his ears. A small vine of blood trickled out of his nose. Slowly darkness began to creep in on his vision. He felt the cold touch of snow and ice on his chest as his body gave out under its own weight. Before he could even draw another breath darkness took over and everything went black.

The world slowly rebuilt itself around Matt's eyes as he worked his way back to consciousness. He was first greeted by a cold, moaning wind. Carefully he raised himself to his feet, only to be brought back down with a somewhat embarrassing thud. Several anointed groans and failed attempts later, he finally decided to reach out and use a nearby tree for support. What he saw literally rendered him speechless.

Hooves? HOOVES! What the hell is going on?

Matt quickly examined the rest of his body confirming his theory.

Yep. I've officially lost it

He made a second attempt at standing, this time taking his new quadruped form into account. Standing proved easier than he had first expected, Matt put that down to quadrupeds be more stable than bipeds. He quickly surveyed his environment, taking in the full extent of his situation. The forest was thick and dark. Everything about it emanated a feeling of unease from the overgrown canopy extinguishing any and all light trying to shine down on it, to the cold fog creeping around his hooves. But worst of all was the ever an present feeling bearing down on Matt's new body. The simple feeling of unnaturalness was cutting into him like a knife. Matt knew his top priority right now was finding a way out of here. He looked off into the distance as he began to think.

Ok last thing I remember was being on a mountain trying to reach the other artefact I found then, this. So either I got knocked out and I'm slowly freezing to death on a mountainside somewhere. Or I have been transformed into an equine and I'm now lost in a forest somewhere. At the very least I can say this day hasn't been boring.

He looked himself over, if he was going to be a horse, or pony by the looks of it, he wanted to at least have a good grasp on hi situation.

Right so I still have my clothes

The though seemed moot as his clothes were no nowhere near the right size, or shape , for his new form. He also noticed his head cam was still on his head and filming. Matt's thoughts were interrupted by a low growl emanating from behind him. Slowly, being mindful of his now four feet (or hooves), he turned 180 to face the source of the predatory sound. His eyes shrank to pinpricks and he fell to his haunches. This was the second time today he had been rendered speechless, or perhaps still the first since he still had not spoken since the first time. There standing in front of him was what looked to be a fully grown manticore.

It's official I have lost it. I must be unconscious up on the mountainside. *Sigh* nothing for it but to wait it out. I wonder if I can-

His thought was cut short when the manticore quickly closed the gap between them striking him to the side with a devastating swipe of its claw. Matt was sent tumbling end over end before finally coming to a sudden stop thanks to a very solid tree trunk. The whole world was spinning as he laid out in a sprawling mess of hooves. Blood began to trickle down from the side of his head into his left eye, matting down any fur that got in its way. Pain bored its way through his skull and fear gripped tight onto his mind. Everything began to flood into focus as the adrenalin hit him.

Delusion or not that hurt!

Suddenly the manticore began to charge Matt again, now moving in for the killing blow. Matt did the only thing he could think of. Quicker than it could blink the manticore was sent bowling back by a massive telekinetic shunt. Within seconds the creature was thrown back behind the tree line. The proceeding crack of bone on wood confirmed that the fight was over.

It was well into the night by the time Matt emerged from the forest. While standing on four legs had been easy walking was a different story entirely. It did not much help that he was still in his now lose fitting snow gear, couple that with his battered semi-conscious state and it was a miracle he made it out of there as fast as he did. While the amount of blood loss was still only minor, Matt had a very bad concussion and because of that thinking straight was a near impossible task.

What looked like building began to form as silhouettes in the distance, not enough to be a city or town, more like a village. Each step he took was light and graceful. This was thanks to Matt levitating himself along the path. While he still did not have the energy to fly he did managed to muster up the strength to carry most of his weight, leaving his legs little to do. The silhouettes grew more distinct as he made his way into the village. Slowly he came up on what looked like a huge house carved into a tree. Without a further thought, and his telekinesis faltering, he stumbled his way over to the door and banged against it as hard as he could.

Twilight was awoken by a loud banging echoing through the library. She lazily rolled over mumbling something about opening hours before trying to get back to sleep only to be roused further by more frantic knocking on her door.

“Hold your horses I'm coming, I'm coming” She slowly descended from the bed room into the main hall of the library. “I can appreciate wanting a book really badly but its 3am” Twilight walked over to the door and swung it open with a burst of her own telekinesis. What greeted her was far from what she expected. A brown coated earth pony with a short cropped light blond mane stood shakily in her doorway. The entire left side of his face was covered in matted blood from a large gash in his head. His body was garbed in odd loosely fitted clothes and his entire form told the story of a pony who had just crawled his way to hell and back. The new visitor gave a week smile before collapsing in the doorway. Needless to say Twilight yelped.