Chapter 1
How it started
My name is Tug, and this is the story of how I was taken from my incredible life of adventure and danger, and thrown into a world that had slightly less of both. This is the day that my life was greatly changed, I’m still unsure if it was for the better or worse.
It was a regular day for the Ranger Will Treaty, he had caught the pirates that preyed on the villagers of Redmont Fief and dealt with them justly, as in picking them of with his bow as they tried to kill him. The pirates were no match for Will’s deadly skill with the longbow, saxe knife, and throwing knife. He had to have these skills or he would not be what he was today, a Ranger, a group of fifty master archers that were to protect the fifty fiefs of Araluen. And Will Treaty was one of the best, as he should be since he had been trained under the grim and foreboding Halt.
But enough about Will, lets get to the main attraction, Will’s pony, Tug. Tug was a pony bred purely for a Ranger, he had incredible endurance and unmatched speed. He could keep running far longer then any battle horse, no matter what the terrain. Tug and Will shared a very special bond as horse and rider, Will could almost understand Tug through his body language. Enough of this lets get on to the story.
It was a regular day for Will Treaty as he rode home to his cabin on the outskirts of Redmont village. He had just disbanded a large group of pirates that preyed upon the villagers. He had finished reporting to Baron Arald and Crowley, the leader of the Rangers Corps, and was on his way home to rest. As he got to his cabin, he lead Tug to the stables where he feed, watered, and rubbed him down. As Will turned to leave he heard Tug whiny. He turned and looked at the small pony.
“Could I have an apple?” was what those large, intelligent eyes said.
“Alright just one” Said Will, “but no more, you know what Halt says about eating to much”
Tug rolled his eyes, him and Halt were still undecided on the fact of how many apples a pony should have a day.
As Will left and went into the cabin, he heard a faint whining sound.
“It must be Ebony wanting to be feed.” he told himself.
He went inside to see that Ebony, his darkly coloured dog, was asleep under his bed.
Suddenly he felt strangely exhausted, which was quite strange as he was used to this amount of activity in his days as a Ranger.
He decided to have a quick mid afternoon nap before his dinner with Halt and Lady Pauline, who where quite happily living together.
Will woke up an hour later to the sound of a explosion and Tug’s startled whinnies.
He grabbed his saxe knife and bow as he ran franticly to the door.
He ripped open the door as he rushed outside, prepared to fend off any potential attackers.
He searched for the cause of the deafening noise. He found none, but as he looked to the stables to see what had exploded, what he saw confused and worried him.
The stable door had been blown off of its hinges and there was a sickly green smoke billowing out of the doorway.
He pulled his cowl to his face to filter the smoke as he crept into the stables to inspect the damage.
What he found was shocking, even more so then the gigantic storm he and Evanly- sorry, Princess Cassandra had suffered through on Erak Starfollower’s wolfship.
What he discovered in the darkness of the unlit stables, was the pile of hay that was ablaze with flames lucid green in colour. This was not the shocking part, Tug was nowhere to be found.
Will searched the forest around the cabin looking for any sign of Tug, but to no avail.
He searched all over the town, deliberately avoiding the townsfolk that were obviously confused by the loud noise that had come from the his cabin.
Will ran strait to Castle Redmont to report to Baron Arald about the events and to ask the guards to be on the look out for Tug.
Will entered the Baron’s office in a rush. Baron Arald looked at him with confusion.
“Will” The baron said, “I didn’t expect you to return so soon.”
“Baron! There was an explosion in Tug’s stable and now he is nowhere to be found!”
“Has the stables burned down?”
“No, I put them out, but that hardly matters. Tug is nowhere to be found. He was not in town, nor in the forest surrounding my cabin. I came here to see if he had run into town, but that seems to be for naught.”
“My deepest apologies Will, but Tug has not been sighted since you left.” Said the baron. “And I can’t allow you leave to search for him, as you are needed here.”
Will and the baron argued for a while, but even Will’s threats were no match for the baron’s stubbornness. Will finally gave in and left the baron’s office seething with anger.
Will walked back to the cabin with a heavy heart, remembering his adventure in Arridi where Tug had been lost in a sandstorm and his near-death experience traversing the desert in order to find him.
He went back to the stables and stared into the sickly green flames that he thought he put out. He began to observe them and wonder if the flames had frighten Tug into fleeing, but quickly dismissed the idea, as Rangers horses where trained to move to a safe area in case of fires or any other type of danger.
He wondered where the flames had come from and examined them thoroughly. They were green in colour, that much was obvious, but there did not seem to be any agent that cause the flames to flicker in the sickly colour. This lack was definitely something to note for further investigation.
Another thing he noticed was that the fire did not spread to the rafters of the building, but continued to burn. It was almost as if the flames had an alternate source of fuel.
Will grabbed some hay that was alight with the green flames and brought it into the house. He placed the hay in his fireplace and was astounded when the thick oak logs instantly caught fire when the flame should of taken a while to catch.
This was another thing to note in his report for Crowley, who would surely be hearing about this.
The flames emitted a green smoke that smelled rather sweet and surprisingly much like his friend Jenny’s cooking.
He sat down and stared into the flames, as if his gaze would cause it to confess it secrets.
“Ugh, my head. I must of hit my head trying to get to Will. Wait am I thinking! Am I able of cognitive thought? But this is impossible, I’m a horse, I can’t think.”
“How is this possible” thought Tug, his vision was dark and he was clearly confused. “I wonder if I can speak.”
“Is this real” was the first thing that came out of his mouth.
“You tell me. You just appeared in my house. I think you owe me some kind of explanation.” said a voice that penetrated through the darkness.
Tug opened his eyes and found him self in a place that wasn’t Will’s cabin or anything that looked familiar.
“Hello? Can you hear me?” said the rather confused voice.
“ Strange” thought Tug “That doesn’t sound like Will, and i’m sure I was alone?”
Tug got up and got a full view of his surroundings. He appeared to be in a library, but the only library that was in Redmont village was in Redmont Castle.
What Tug saw next almost blew his newly enlightened mind.
Standing in front of him was another pony, a little shorter than him, but this mare was lavender in colour and had a extra appendage the protruded from her forehead.
“Why are you purple?” asked Tug, shocked by this bold colour.
“I could ask you why your brown?” said the lavender pony, obviously annoyed by his question.
“ I’m sorry, but where am I?” said Tug, still getting used to being able to fully communicate.
“Your in my library” said the lavender pony.
“Your a librarian? But your a pony, and a purple one at that. Is it because you can speak?” inquired Tug.
“Why do you sound so shocked? Everypony is a pony. Also my colour my be a little uncommon, but thats no need for discrimination.” replied the lavender equine.
“ Ok I’m sorry, so your telling me that all ponies and horses talk? But I have never been able to speak, let alone form complete thoughts?”
“I don’t know why that is, you just appeared in a flash of green fire which nearly set my house on fire. You really need to be more careful.”
“ I don’t know what happened, but one minute I’m waiting for my master, Will and the next-”
“You have a master? But I thought that all ponies in Equestria were free?”
“What in the name of King Duncan is Equestria?”
“King Duncan? I never heard of that ruler before. I should know, I’ve read up on all of the rulers of Equestria and of neighboring countries.”
“Okay, so i’m not in Araluen anymore, I must be in Celtica or Scotia. I just hope I can get home to Will and Halt and Alyss.”
“Are you just going to stop talking to me?” said the lavender pony, interrupting his brand new train of thought.
“Oh, huh? Sorry what was your name again?” asked Tug.
“My name is Twilight Sparkle” she replied.
“That’s a rather strange name.” said Tug.
“Oh really, well I rather like it, so there’s no need to be rude. What's your name anyway?” replied Twilight in a annoyed tone.
“My name is Tug, mount of Will Treaty, Ranger of Araluen.” said Tug in a matter-of-fact tone.
“Tug? And your calling my name strange?” scoffed Twilight.
“What? Tug’s a brilliant name. It was given to me by Old Bob, my trainer.” retorted Tug.
“Old Bob? Whats with these names? These are the strangest pony names I’ve ever heard.” said Twilight.
“They're not pony names, they're human names. They’re also quite respectable people.” said Tug.
“A human? Whats that? I’ve never heard of anything like that in all of my studies.” questioned Twilight.
“You don’t know what a human is? Are you a wild pony or something?” queried Tug.
“Wild? No, I happen to be the protege of Princess Celestia herself.” Twilight said proudly.
“Who is Princess Celestia?” asked Tug.
“You really aren’t from around here, are you?” said Twilight.
“Well I don’t actually know where ‘here’ is.” said Tug.
“We’re in Equestria of course, but where are you from?”
“I am stationed in Redmont Fief of the great country of Araluen. I work as the mount of Will Treaty, a famous Ranger, where we share many adventures and-”
At this point Tug had stopped talking as a cyan blue form came barreling through the window at full speed. Unfortunately for Tug, It was headed straight for him and there was nothing he could do to stop the incoming collision. Let’s just say that Tug was now fully unconscious.
Author's Note
My first ever story so please help me with constructive criticism. Thanks!
Chapter 2
Will's Quest
Tug woke up from unconsciousness for the second time that day, which was most likely not the best for him. He looked around at his surroundings to find that they were completely different from when he had fallen unconscious. Strange, he wondered what had caused him to pass out, it wasn’t the purple pony, Twilight, yes that was her name. No, he remembered a sudden cyan form colliding with him, what ever it was.
Tug got up from his bed and got a full understanding of where he was. He was in a wooden room, but it was not made of planks, like Will’s cabin was, it seemed to be that the room was a carved out tree. He didn’t think that this was even possible, let alone a tree that was this wide existed.
As he walked to the doorway, he saw his reflection on a shiny rectangle hung on the wall. As he investigated, he realized that this was a mirror, something that only barons and silversmiths could afford. So this meant that he was either in the home of a baron or a skilled artisan. He walked out the doorway to see Twilight scolding another pony, but this one was cyan, the same one that had hit him.
“I would really like to know why the blue one hit me, if you don’t mind” said Tug aloud, startling both of the ponies.
“Tug! I didn’t hear you get up, I was just telling Rainbow Dash who you were and that you weren’t trying to kill me.” Said Twilight with an annoyed glare at the blue pony, he assumed that this was Rainbow Dash. The name fit as he noticed her mane, which was a whole spectrum of colours.
“Hey, don’t blame me! I was just trying to help. Its not my fault that you didn’t tell us about your coltfriend.” said Rainbow Dash in a teasing manner. Tug could only guess that a “coltfriend” was a mate.
“He’s not my coltfriend!” yelled Twilight, then looked at Tug, who had thrown on his best hurt expression. “Oh, it’s not that I don’t like you. It’s just that I...um...I can’t.” stammered Twilight, obviously distressed.
“It’s alright, I was just having a bit of fun.” explained Tug.
“Yeah, I’m glad your feeling better anyway. I hope that Rainbow Dash didn’t hurt you too bad.” said Twilight.
“I’m fine, I don’t think I have any serious injuries. And as long as she’s doesn’t try to kill me again, I think we’ll get on fine.”
“Oh good, I thought you’d be mad that I almost killed you. I’m surprised I didn’t break anything. Huh, I must be loosing my touch.” mussed Rainbow Dash.
“Well, If you don’t mind, I would like to get a look at this ‘Equestria’ place that I’m now in.” With that he walked towards what he believed was the front door.
“Tug? That’s the closet.” said Twilight.
“I knew that.”
“It’s been two days and no sign of Tug” thought Will, as he sat in is cabin, awaiting Halt’s arrival. “Tug wouldn't run of like this, so that means that he must be stolen.” he thought. “Now now, lets not begin jumping to conclusions. Lets just wait to hear what Halt and Old Bob have to say.”
There was a rush of wind as Halt silently swept into the room. In his cloak and with his pale face, he looked like Death himself, if you overlooked the fact that he was barely over five feet tall.
The illusion was also put off by the sound of an younger man stumbling up the front stairs. That would have to be Gilian, Halt’s apprentice before Will, now a fully fledged Ranger. Gilian was a comforting and kind person, while Halt was grim, dark, and sarcastic, but he was Will’s former mentor, so he had gotten used to it. Halt looked back at Gilian with a glare, who in turn gave a apologetic look. In his usual sarcastic manner Halt spoke, “Gilian is there anyway that all the lessons in silent movement could be put to use, or did I completely waste seven years of my life?”
“Sorry Halt, It won’t happen again.” Said Gilian.
“Oh, but it will, it always happens again.” said Halt with a tired sigh.
“Could we on to the task at hand without getting into arguing like an old married couple?” interrupted Will with just the slightest bit of annoyance.
“Yes, lets get down to business. So your report stated that there was an explosion, but nothing was damaged. And it mentioned something about green fire?” said Halt.
“Yes, I had just finished clearing the river of the Redmont Pirates, so I decided to take a nap, knowing that Tug and Ebony would warn me if something came close. I had been asleep for about an hour when there was a large explosion. I had run outside, yet nothing looked out of place, but then I saw green smoke rising from the doorway of the stables. I ran inside using my cloak as a filter when I saw that the cause of the smoke was a fire with flames that were green in colour.”
Will paused to take a breath. He looked at Halt and Gilian, they both had serious looks on their faces and Halt was rubbing his chin, deep in concentration.
“Continue.” said Halt.
“Oh yes, sorry, The flames were green in colour but the unusual thing was that they did not seem to spread and once it caught hold of something it seemed to burn for an indefinite length of time. I was going to take a bit of hay to examine the flames, when I realized that the stables were empty, Tug was no where to be seen.”
Will retold his tale in utmost perfection, without exaggerating the details, but also with out providing too little information. The entire time, Halt and Gilian were listening attentively and in silence.
When he had finished, Gilian looked up and asked, “Did you ever get a sample of the green flames?”
Halt glared at Gilian and stated in a dry, sarcastic tone, “If you had payed any attention on our ride here, you would have noticed the clearing that we passed by that had green flames. I assume that was your’s?”
“Yes, I put the flames there to analyze them in discretion. I couldn’t risk having an open flame in the cabin.” replied Will.
“Good, because if you burn down my cabin, I will have your oak leaf.” threatened Halt.
Will clutched his silver oak leaf that hung around his neck, which symbolized his status as a full fledged Ranger. He couldn’t imagine not having one after he had worn it for all these years.
“So, sarcasm aside, why can’t you just get Ebony to track Tug?” asked Gilian.
“Ebony can’t find her, she tracks the scent to the stables where it just disappears.” said Will.
“Well have you spoken to Old Bob about this?” inquired Gilian.
“No Gilian, it had never crossed my mind to go and find the only person who new my horse better than myself when my horse had gone missing.” Will replied in a sarcastic demeanor.
“And what did Old Bob say?” said Halt, not wanting an argument about nothing to begin.
“He couldn’t make heads or tails of it. He said it was as if Tug had vanished of the face of the planet.” said Will.
“Well, It seems as if your in a proper mess. Make sure you get a replacement horse from Old Bob and I’ll try and figure it out, but there’s not much to go off of here.” Said Halt.
“If you want, I can take you to the clearing where the fire is.” Said Will.
“No, I think we can find it on our own. Besides, the Baron told me that you need to report to his office as soon as we had finished talking with you. Which is now, so you better be off.” Said Halt.
“Did he say what it was about?” questioned Will.
“If he did I would have told you. Maybe if you quit asking questions, you could find out what he wants for yourself.” replied Halt in a sardonic tone.
Realizing his mistake, Will grabbed his gear and began to make his way towards Redmont Village.
“Don’t sneak up on me like that William!” yelled the very flustered and shocked Baron Arald .
“Sorry sir, you wished to see me?” Replied Will, not sorry at all.
“Yes, it seems as if my scribes have discovered some information from the libraries in Castle Araluen about those green flames of your’s.” Said the baron.
This peaked Will’s interest, as the flames were the only link to Tug’s mysterious disappearance.
“What have they learned?” Asked Will, barely able to contain a composed face, despite his extreme excitement that was striving to break free.
“The scripts say that the green flames were a sign from beings from another world. It was said that the beings left the flames as gifts when they would take things that were interesting and unique. I don’t know much other than a brief summary that George gave me, but maybe you should go speak with.” Explained Baron Arald.
At the mention of George, Will knew that he was in store for quality and precise information that would help him to understand the strange event. Unfortunately, George would spend around an hour telling him about the origin of the text and he would have to suffer through it.
“And the flames were in fact a complex means of communication and recompense for taking what ever was stolen by these beings.” finished George, around four hours later.
“So your saying that Tug was taken by other worldly beings?”
“Yes”
“Do you have any idea how utterly ridiculous that sound? Honestly why would I ever believe a story like that?” asked Will.
“I know it’s hard to believe, but it’s what the book says and it is written by the very prestigious author (insert impressive, famous, and extremely fictional writer name here).”
“I know you told me about his entire life.” said Will in an annoyed tone.
“Never the less, he was a very trusted and educated author and all of his works should be taken with absolute respect.” said George.
“It’s not the author I have the problem with, it’s the subject. How can there be beings from other worlds that steal our belongings and replace them with green fire?”
“I know it’s hard to understand, but it’s your only link to Tug, so I suggest you shut up and read it.” replied George with a matter of fact tone.
Will smiled when he thought back to the time in the ward where George couldn’t even put an entire sentence together without stuttering. Now he was one of Araluen’s greatest scribes and diplomats. He used to never argue with anyone until he gained his confidence at Scribe school.
“Alright, I’ll give it a read, but i’m still skeptical.” Said Will.
“Since your a Ranger, I expect nothing less.” Said George in a mocking tone.
“Don’t forget, your talking to the Ranger that has a dog that would enjoy nothing more than to take a gnaw at this book.” Threatened Will.
“You wouldn’t.”
“I would do so without the slightest regret, so don’t test me.”
“Alright, be off. I have much work to do, what with the King’s coronation anniversary arriving soon.” mused George, as he began to ponder about the upcoming ceremony.
Will walked back to his cabin in the woods in silence, thinking over him and George’s conversation, still skeptical, but wanting to know more on the subject.
As he walk in the door, he was greeted by Ebony, who jumped up on him, even though he had tried to train her not to.
He sat in his chair and open the massive text.
“At least the fact that it’s large means that it contains a lot of information.” thought Will.
He sat back and began to read.
“The Green Flames were always topics of much controversy...”
Author's Note
Hey guy's, sorry for not posting for the past few days, but my blog explains it all. Same as last time, constructive criticism is accepted and wanted. I will try to update it more often.
