Chapters A Magic Gift
Drake
I hate Mondays.
Probably because it was on a Monday that I got the letter that would force me and my friends into killing Ponies while looking for some ancient relic (that nobody could actually be sure existed) which would supposedly teleport us to some other world that we knew nothing about. But hey, it could be worse.
I was so happy that day and was sure nothing could go wrong. Boy was I in for a surprise.
It was my birthday, November 25th, and I was happy as can be. I and my roommate (in Equestria you move out and finish school at the age of twelve) had just gotten home from my thirteenth birthday party, my arms full of gifts and a smile on my face. When we got home i went in the house and to my bedroom, dumping the gifts on the bed then went outside to check the mail.
I had gotten a letter! I usually don’t get mail so this was a pleasant surprise. What I didn't know was that the letter would change my life...forever.
When I went in the house and to my room, I got my letter opener and opened the letter.
It read: “Dear Drake and Ben,” I stopped reading.
That’s strange. I thought. I never got a letter addressed for me and my roommate.
I shrugged it off and continued reading. “This is Mifeo and I’m in dire need of you at my house. I have just gotten horrible news and needed to tell you face-to-face.
"Sincerely,
"Mifeo.”
I found the letter very weird and unnerving and decided to show it to Ben.
“Hey, Ben, could you come here!” I called out into the hall, re-reading the letter.
“Yeah I’ll be there in just a second!”
I sat on my bed and read the letter again while waiting for Ben. What could he mean by terrible news? And also, it was from Mifeo?! Mifeo is a very powerful magician who always puts himself above others, why would he need me and Ben?
As I pondered what this could mean Ben walked into the room.
I might as well explain Ben now. To say he’s big would be an understatement. The guy was huge , not fat or anything, just big. He kind of reminded me of a living rock or something like that. So he’s tall, well muscled, with dark brown hair and eyes, the color of dirt. He can almost always keep his cool during any situation so he’s a good guy to keep around.
“You needed me?” He asked.
“Yeah,” I said handing him the letter. “I want you to read this,”
He looked at me with a weird look on his face then took the letter and began to read, his face first looking surprised then utterly confused.
He handed the letter back to me. “What do you think it means?”
“I don’t know that’s why I wanted you to look at it,” I replied.
“Well we might as well see what he wants,”
We then got up and headed out of my room to the front door, going out into the streets.
We stood in front of Mifeo’s house, looking at the front door.
The house itself was nothing special since all the houses in our quaint little town look exactly the same.
I worked up my courage and knocked on the door. The door opened immediately and Mifeo stood in the frame looking down on us.
“Well hello there boys, welcome to my humble abode,”
Whoa, I thought. He must be really shook up. He’s being waytoo nice.
“Um, thanks.” I said as we stepped past him and into the house.
Unlike the outside of his house, the inside was pretty...different .
Sure, he had the usual chair or two but then things got weird. His walls were painted to look like a night sky (along with his floor and ceiling, complete with stars) so it looked like the room was much bigger than it was. The chairs were painted red and green which looked so bad against the walls that I cringed. He had a couple of desks that were painted bright yellow, which probably didn't help him get visitors.
“Um, sir,” I said. “Not to be rude or anything…but is there something wrong with your brain?”
“No,” He said, obviously confused. “Why would I?”
“Uh…never mind,”
I walked up to one of the chairs and plopped down into it.
“So why do you want us here?” asked Ben, sitting into a chair as well.
“I needed you and your friends help with something,” Mifeo replied.
That got my attention.
“Our friends?!”
I and my friends were nothing special. I mean, I knew that people called us "the representatives " because all six of us together represented the threetypes of humans. Ben and I are regular Humans, Sophia and Luke are Angels and Toby and Demy, (who we all called Dems), are magicians. But other than that we were just a regular group of friends.
“Why do you need us?” I asked.
Mifeo seemed to hear the surprise in my voice. “To help me with that horrible news that I mentioned in the letter,”
The letter! Of course!
“Did the rest of our friends get letters like ours?” I inquired.
“Yes, they should be on their way right now,”
As if on cue there was a knock on the door. Ben, being closest to the door, answered it.
“Oh, hello there guys,” He said.
He stepped aside and I saw the rest of the group: Sophia, Luke, Toby and Demy.
Sophia is a white-blonde haired girl, but don’t let that trick you, she’s as smart as they come. She's got blue eyes, a body built like a runner and a boatload of curiosity.
Luke is a guy with blonde hair who's got golden eyes and a body built like Sophia’s. But that’s just because they're siblings. I hadn’t really known him all that long but we are still pretty good friends.
Toby and Demy are exact opposites of each other, with Toby having bright red hair, green eyes and a personality that really just feels neutral. Demy, on the other hand, has hair so black that it almost looks purple and grey eyes, but they're inseparable friends, so a lot of people think they are a couple.
We were all thirteen, with me being the oldest and Dems being the youngest.
“Hey guys,” I said, standing up and walking over.
I noticed that Sophia was holding a letter, so was Toby.
“Hey there, Drake,” Toby said. “And how're ya doin', Ben?”
Mifeo turned towards us and spread his arms wide. “So now comes the part where I must tell you the bad news,”
“Yeah,” said Luke. “What is the bad news?”
“I was using a spell to look at the countryside surrounding the town the town this morning when I discovered a small band of Ponies dressed for war is headed for this town,” He said with dread in his voice.
“What! ” screamed Sophia, sounding quite scared.
“Yes,” said Mifeo. “I’m afraid I can’t stop them, the town is doomed, unless…”
“Unless what?” Demy asked with fear in her eyes.
“Unless someone can go and fight them of,” Mifeo said looking directly at us.
“Oh no,” I said. “I’m not going out there to get mauled by a bunch of Ponies!”
I was and had a lot of things, two of them being pride and prideful so I was not going out there so a bunch of Ponies can tear me limb from limb.
“I can help you some,” He said. “But you six are at just the right age to fight. You must defend it.”
"Help us how?” asked Toby.
"I found a spell that will give you all great power, but there’s a catch,”
“And what might that be?” I asked.
It’ll probably turn us into Ponies or something like that. I thought.
“You will have to learn to use the power yourselves, so it might take months before you can use it,”
I thought about what to say next. I wanted to say something like “How about you take your spell and use it on yourself so you can be even moreof an upstart.” But I looked at the grim faces of my friends and we all came to a silent agreement. This was our town. And we weregoing to defend it .
I sighed. “Okay, do the spell,”
~
We all stood in Mifeo’s living room arranged in a line while Mifeo raised his arms and started to concentrate. Immediately a blue aura of magic appeared around his hands and we all started to rise into the air. (Excluding Mifeo)
“Umm-” I started to ask Mifeo.
Just then a burst of blue light burst from his hands and enveloped us all. I could feel it entering my mouth but strangely I was neither frightened nor surprised, I felt completely content.
As suddenly as it started the light stopped and we all dropped to the ground. Literally. We landed in a heap at Mifeo’s feet. (Who, by the way, was panting and his face was beaded with sweat)
I didn’t feel any different, no super strength or sudden knowledge on fighting.
“Hey, what’s the big deal? Nothing’s different!” I complained.
“Like I said,” Mifeo replied. “You have to learn to use the power on your own,”
“Than what do we do now?” asked Luke.
I looked around the room. I didn’t see anything that could help us any other way.
“Well, I do have something I could give you to help,” Mifeo said uncertainly.
“Okay, what is it?” asked Sophia.
Mifeo help up a finger. “Correction, ‘What are they?’”
“Could you get to the point before we all die?” I asked out of annoyance.
The mischievous look in his eyes vanished, replaced by desperation and fear. I almost felt sorry for the jerk. Almost .
“I have some weapons I could give you,” He said with a smile like we would automatically know to use them.
Mifeo left the room for a couple minutes and returned with some sharp death toys in his hands.
“Here you go,” He said starting to hand them out: I got a sword and scabbard, Ben got a bow and a quiver of arrows, (Mifeo said he had enchanted it so it would never run out) Sophia got a spear, which she didn’t look happy about, Luke got a bow and enchanted quiver of his own, (he had always like archery) Toby got a spear and Demy got a sword and scabbard of her own.
I strapped the scabbard to my clothes and saw the rest of my friends do the same.
“I think I might also have some armor somewhere but I’m not sure,” Mifeo said, his voice dripping with concern.
I looked around at the other five very scared looking kids. I thought about how gruesome it would be when we died on the battlefield.
“Well aren’t you a ray of sunshine?” I said sarcastically to myself out loud.
Everybody looked at me weird.
“Sorry, I was prepping myself to die,” I said.
“Well you’re definitely going to die if you keep talking like that ,”
Mifeo was very happy today. He probably set us up to die.
“Oh my, I’m sosorry that I set those poor kids up to die, well looks like I’ve got a big day ahead of me. See you!”
Rage momentarily blinded my vision, but I managed to keep my cool and not cut his head off or anything.
I looked a Mifeo’s face and didn’t see any emotions like that, for a second I saw the most unexpected emotion I ever thought I would see on his face, vulnerability, like he was afraid our parents would kill him if we even got scratched on the battlefield. And I finally felt sorry for him.
“So,” He said, his face returning to his normal happy/prideful look. “I can teleport you right up to them and you could catch them by surprise,”
“Why don’t you teleport us nowhere,” I said. “Why do you need to teleport us at all?”
“Because they are still fifteen miles from the town,” He replied matter-of-factly.
Why he didn’t tell us that in the first place I don’t know.
“What!” We all screamed at him.
“You could have waited at least four or five hours until you got us all into this mess!” yelled Sophia.
I was strangling him on the inside.Fifteen miles! I couldn’t believe he would have the nerve to even think about teleporting us that far from the town without food or water. Good old Mifeo was back again.
“Why don’t you take the time to get accustomed to your weapons?” He suggested.
I had forgotten I was even wearing the scabbard and sword. They weighed practically nothing!
I unsheathed my sword and inspected it. It was and iron blade on a leather wrapped stone hilt. It wasn’t very long, only about three and a half feet.
Demy’s weapon was about the same as mine but a bit longer, but Demy had shorter arms than me. It was like Mifeo knew we would need the weapons and made them perfectly for us.
The spears were each about six or seven feet long with a wooden shaft and a iron tip, along with a weird thing you put on your back so you could strap the spear to it. I noticed that nobody seemed to be staining to hold up their weapon, they all weighed nothing.
“Enchanted,” Mifeo replied as if reading our minds. “That’s why they don’t weigh anything,”
“Oh,” I said with a voice of gratitude. “Thanks, Mifeo, thanks a lot,”
Mifeo rubbed his hands together. “All right! Is everyone ready?”
“For what?” asked Ben.
“For me to teleport you, of course, the Ponies are only five miles away now, you know,”
Okay, it looks like we are all doomed.
“There isn't enough time,” I confessed. “Even if we knew how to use our weapons, there isn't enough time,”
Everyone looked at me with mixed expressions, some looks on their faces, like they knew I was right but didn't believe it, except for one infuriating magician.
“Nonsense, there’s always enough time for anything,” Mifeo said cheerfully.
“Alright I said teleport us to the front lines so we can kill some Ponies,” I said with a large smile on my face.
Mifeo closed his eyes and concentrated, his blue aura returning around his hands. A second later we were standing one hundred yards away from a small army.
I raised my sword, and charged.
The First Battle
Drake
The first thing that crossed my mind while charging into battle was the class on fighting every one of us had taken a year ago. Yeah, a fighting class. What? You thought the town wouldn't prepare in case something like this happened.
I remembered that when the instructors picked out weapons for us, we all got the same ones we had now. “Dodge and attack,” the teacher said. “Whole battles can be won by doing only that.
I could see Toby and Demy running alongside me while Luke and Sophia launched themselves into the air. Ben stayed put and nocked an arrow.
We reached the army and all heck broke loose.
The first glimpse I had of the army was their commander. A tall, well armored Earth Pony with a yellow coat and brown mane. He didn't look like anyone I’d want to mess with.
Then I saw the rest, about thirty more Ponies all with weapons, armor and real training.
A Pony looked surprised, like he wasn't expecting a bunch of kids to come up and attack them. Then again, who would expect that?
I slashed at a Pony and luckily hit…his armor. They taught us where to find chinks in armor in the combat class, but I wasn't so sure I would be able to do it.
The Pony knocked me down and stood over me, spear ready to pierce my chest. I closed my eyes, gritted my teeth and waited for the strike. A second after I braced myself I heard a loud thunk! I looked up and saw an arrow sprouting from the Pony’s helmet. I told you Luke was a good archer.
I grabbed my sword and got up and ran to the nearest Pony.
The Pony slashed at me with his sword and I ducked, slashing at his legs. The Pony fell to the ground and I slashed at his neck, looking away.
I looked around and saw that we weren’t winning. We were out-numbered five-to-one. The rest of my friends were doing their best but I only saw around ten corpses. We were going to lose.
I couldn’t allow that.
Wading into the army I slashed and dodged trying to turn the tide, but with no luck. One Pony managed to get my right arm with a sword, leaving a good sized cut. My face was battered and bruised from Ponies slamming me with their bodies and weapons.
The army’s size was now cut in half but it wasn’t enough. I didn’t want to lose, failure was not an option.
Then, something strange happened. I could feel power coursing through me, lifting me into the air and flowing outward into a ball around me. I yelled at the top of my lungs and then my vision turned white.
When I came to, I was still in the field. Nothing looked different and the sun was still in about the same position so I hadn’t been out long. Then I looked around.
The damage was severe: holes in the ground were all around the field, Pony corpses lay everywhere, my friends were laying on the ground and then whole landscape seemed, darker, somehow.
I got up and ran to my friends. Luckily, they were alive just unconscious.
I went to Ben and shook his arm to try and wake him up. But Ben is a really heavy sleeper so it was no use. The only one of my friends I could wake up was Sophia, and she was jumpy and looking around like something was about to get her.
“Hey, Sophia, what’re you so jumpy for?” I asked.
“I-I don’t want to talk about it right now,”
“Aww, come on, Sophia, why not?”
“P-please, don’t ask,” She looked pretty shaken up.
I inspected the others. Some minor cuts and bruises, nothing we couldn’t fix.
That’s when I looked at myself and noticed something, I was completely fine. No cuts, no bruises, scratches or bumps. Not that I’m not happy about that or anything.
I decided to give Sophia some slack though. What had happened had scared her and I didn’t want that to get worse.
“Okay, Sophia. Let’s work on the others,”
After we had tended to their wounds and woken the others up we all stood or sat around with an awkward silence hanging over us.
Whenever we woke one of the others up I asked them the same question. ‘What had happened during the battle?’ They all responded with. ‘I’ll tell you later,’ or. ‘I don’t want to talk about it,’ I eventually gave up and we all just stood around for a while, thinking.
I eventually got to thinking about what o do next, and my brain finally decided to work.
“Well, we should be heading back to town shouldn’t we?”
The others looked at me with mixed expressions.
“Go back to town?!” exclaimed Demy.
“After what just happened out here?!” added Ben.
“Okay guys, I don’t know what happened and you won’t tell me so why don’t we all just stand here and do nothing!” I yelled.
“Drake…we don’t want you to be like that.” Sophia fidgeted with her spear tip.
“Yeah, we just don’t want to worry you,” stated Luke.
“How about I tell you what I saw happen?” I asked.
They all agreed that would be fine, and I began. I told them about the surge of power, the need to win, the blinding light, and the way it all looked when I woke up.
“Annnd , I still haven’t gotten to open those presents.” I said beginning to smile.
All the others cracked up, saying they were sorry that I hadn’t gotten to pen them yet. I felt like it was all okay again.
“So what did you guys see?” I asked.
Everybody else fidgeted with their weapons and wouldn’t look me in the eyes.
Finally Sophia spoke up. “I saw you…start to get darker, then I realized that…there was a entire shield of pure energy around you. You rose in the air and the whole ground started to shake and the air was humming with energy. Then there was a very bright flash…and I blacked out.”
All the others agreed that they saw the same things and I started to get worried. What was happening to me?! Then I realized something.
“Guys, you don’t think this is because…Mifeo’s spell, do you?”
“That’s exactly what we thought,” replied Luke.
I thought about that. So...Mifeo’s spell might have given me this power that just saved all of our lives and the whole town. Also...I would probably be considered a freak back in town if anyone found out. Then again...all of us got that spell casted on us. So wouldn’t all of us have this amazing power?
“Well...I think we need to get back to town,” - I looked into the distance in the direction towards town - “And then have a serious talk with Mifeo.”
“...And that’s what happened in the battle,” I finished.
We were in Mifeo’s house sitting in the ugly living room discussing whether or not what happened during the battle was his spell or not. I had just finished describing the whole battle from my point-of-view.
Mifeo stood up. “I going to tell you this because one of you used your powers. It’s what the spell does.”
Mifeo walked across the room and pulled a book out from a book shelf. He turned around and showed up the cover. The title read, Advanced Spells For Master Magicians.
“This is the book that I found the spell in.” He shook the book while he said this.
He walked over to Demy and opened it to a page towards the middle. “If you would, Demy.”
Demy looked confused at first, then realized he wanted her to read it.
“It says, The Spell of The Elements, ” read Demy. “It doesn’t really explain what it does very well...”
“Allow me to do the explaining.” Mifeo said, taking the book and returning it to the shelves.
“The spell itself seems pretty self explanatory,” stated Ben.
“That’s exactly it!” Mifeo exclaimed.
“What do you guys mean by all this?” I asked, pretty confused.
Mifeo looked around as he talked. “What I mean by all this that the spell has to do with the title, The Spell of The Elements, It gives the one who the spell is cast on control over a specific element of nature. From what I heard about the battle you had, Drake, I’d say you have control over darkness.”
We all looked at him, dumbfounded.
Finally I gathered up enough of what I knew to answer. “So what you’re saying is that...I can just control darkness?!”
Mifeo looked at me in the eyes. “Of course that’s what I’m saying, but remember you must learn to control it willfully.”
I got sense in what he was saying. I can control darkness/shadow but I have to learn to do it. All the others can control an element too though. So we are basically killing machines is what I got from it.
“So what do we do now?” asked Sophia.
Mifeo looked at us with a twinkle of mischief in his eyes. “You go to another world, of course.”
The Quest
Drake
We all looked at Mifeo like he had gone mad.
“Am I going crazy, or did you just say that we're going to another world ?” I asked, drawing a circle in the air with my finger for emphasis.
Mifeo looked around the room. “Yes, that’s exactly what I said. You need to go on a journey...no, a quest . You will go out to find the way to another world, fighting enemies, overcoming traps, puzzles, and the world itself.”
That’s a bit dramatic. I thought.
“What do you mean by, ‘another world’?” inquired Toby.
“I mean that you need to go to a world where there are no Ponies .”
I didn’t believe him. It was too good to be true. No Ponies?! There was no way we could get away from the horrible creatures. All they did was kill and destroy. Even if there was a way, we’ll all be dead by the time we can go.
“But wait...why can’t we just stay here?” I asked.
“Because the Ponies will send a bigger army when the first one doesn’t return. And you won’t have enough time to learn to use your powers,” explained Mifeo.
“And?” asked Demy.
“And we’ll all be killed!” Mifeo exclaimed. “But, if you go out on your own and only have to face small groups...”
Then I understood. “Then we will have time to develop our powers and get to this other world!”
“Exactly,” said Mifeo.
“So what I’m hearing is...we are all going to pack up some personal belongings and other things that are essential for traveling long distances, not get killed by Ponies, learn to use this weird power that we all have now and find a way to get to some other world that we know nothing about?” I said.
“No, Drake, you don’t have to find a way to get to the other world. I know how you get to the other world. there’s a way in the Pony’s base of operations.” Mifeo smiled like this was a great thing.
I got up and walked to the door. “Okay, guys, let’s go pack,” I said with a smile on my face. “And remember, pack nice clothes. Don’t want to die looking like you just crawled away from a battle.”
Everyone cracked a smile, even though my joke was so dark.
I shoved more clothes into my bag, thinking about what we had to do.
Why did Mifeo have to pull us into this? We were just kids we couldn’t do this .
I heard the front door open then shut, so I guessed that Ben was home.
“Hey, Drake, are you there?” Ben called out.
“Yeah, I’m in my room.”
I finished shoving things into my bag and walked out into the hall, running into Ben...literally .
“Oh, Ben, I’m sorry. I didn’t see you there.”
“That’s alright but you should have stayed and listened. I mean, I can explain what Mifeo said after you left but I wouldn’t do a very good job.” He rubbed the back of his neck.
“Why? What did he say?” I asked.
“Where do I begin? Well first off he told us where the Pony's base is and what the actual “portal” looked like, then he told us that there was another thing we needed to find to activate the “portal” and he doesn’t know where it is. Then he said we should all get going and I came back here, then I ran into you.”
“Well...that was...very precise.” I said, walking past him.
Mifeo strikes again huh? He’s always doing things in a over-the-top way and describing things like that too. He probably made it sound worse than it actually was. Probably.
Ben walked towards his room. “Well, I’m gonna go pack.”
“Okay! I’ll see you later,” I walked out the door. “I’m gonna go to the usual spot.”
“K, I’ll meet you there,” called Ben.
I sat down on a stump in the clearing of the forest, waiting for the others. The clearing is, of course, the “usual spot” where we would gather to have a fun time or discuss something on our minds so I knew the others would all come here eventually...now I just had to wait.
I remembered the day we found the clearing in the woods, that was also the day we became friends.
Three years ago...
I ran through the woods, my attackers right behind me.
Bullies suck. I thought, tripping over another root.
“Hey, Drake, come back! We won’t hurt you as much as you think!” A voice called out from behind me.
Thanks, but no thanks.
I tripped again and failed to keep my balance, tumbling down a hill into a circular clearing.
I look around for an exit and, seeing none, ran to the center and made what I thought was a fighting pose.
One of them ran into the clearing, spotted me, and ran in my direction.
“Hey, Drake, don’t move!”
Yeah right. I thought, ducking to avoid his fist.
Suddenly he was slammed into from the side, falling to the ground.
The other two ran into the clearing and ran in my direction.
One was picked up and slammed into the ground by what seemed like...magic ?! I didn’t think there were any teachers in the school who were magicians...unless it was a...student?!
The other bully saw the damage and ran off. Most likely back to his parents.
It was then that I saw my saviors.
The one who had knocked down the first bully was a big kid. Not big as in fat . Just...big , like a rock.
Three more kids came out of the the woods into the clearing, including the one who had used magic. I knew this because his hands still had their magic aura.
One was a girl with blonde hair and blue eyes that took my breath away.
The other two were a boy and girl, the boy having a magical aura around his hands that quickly faded. I noticed he had red hair and...green eyes?! The girl had blue eyes and her hair ...it looked like it was...purple .
“Hey there...sorry to get into all this, but you looked like you could use some help,” that was the big kid.
“We saw them bullying you and wanted to help but the bell rang and you ran outside...we followed them.” the girl with the blond hair said.
“I don’t mind at all...and that was some nice magic back there.” I told the kid who had done the magic.
“Thanks.” He replied.
“You want to be friends...maybe?” asked the girl with the purple-no-black hair.
“Um...sure.” I said.
“Alright then...let’s go back to the town...my parents are probably worried sick.” the girl with the blonde hair said, walking to a path leading out of the clearing I hadn't noticed before.
The present day...
"I met Luke a few months later" I said out loud without realizing it.
I was interrupted from my memories by Ben walking into the clearing.
"Hey there, come take a seat." I said, patting the stump next to mine.
Ben sat down and started to talk to me till I asked him something.
"Could you to tell me exactly what Mifeo said after I left?" I asked him.
I saw Sophia and Luke arrive out of the corner of my eye while Ben told me what Mifeo had said.
“Hey guys.” said Luke, putting his bag on the ground.
“How are you doing?” I asked, getting up.
Toby and Demy sprinted in, their bags banging against their backs. “Hey guys, I hope I’m not late.” they said in unison.
I stood up. “Nah, you guys made it just in time. So let’s get to business.”
“I think that we should just go and leave right now,” said Toby, looking around.
Demy stood up. “I think that we should stay for a day or two preparing more though.”
Sophia stood up. “I think that we should just think this through till we make a decision.”
“Well I think that we should stay the night and head out in the morning.” I said,waving my arms for attention.
“Let’s just go back to Mifeo and ask him what we should do.” Ben suggested.
Luke pointed at Toby. “I agree with Toby on this one.”
“Oookay...so we all have our opinions on what we should do. Why don’t we have a vote?” asked Sophia.
“I object!” I yelled pointing at Sophia.
“No! I object!” piped Toby, his hand shooting into the air.
“I object!” I yelled again.
“No! I’m going to object!” Toby exclaimed,waving his hand around.
I started to crack up.
Everyone started to laugh until Sophia got in the zone again, standing up and putting her arm in the air so we would pay attention. “Okay...so I agree with Ben on this one now that I think of it. We should go back to Mifeo and ask him what to do. That would be the safe decision.”
“Hmm...I agree with Sophia when I think about the other decisions.” Demy said, sitting down.
“Alright then, I guess we should go with that then.” I said, walking to the path leading back to town.
I stood at the edge of town, looking at the sunrise while waiting for my friends.
The night before Mifeo had told us to wait till next morning then meet at the edge of the town and leave shortly after. I was now waiting for the others.
We had all discussed what we should pack and decided to even it our among us so that no one had to carry two times as much as someone else. So I had ended up packing a bunch of food for the trip along with anything I thought I would need. Everyone else had to carry stuff like cooking utensils and and Ben got to carry the small stove we had.
"Hey there, Drake!" someone called out from behind me.
I Turned around and saw Ben walking toward me with all the others behind him, each with there own bag.
"You're late." I said, walking toward them.
Toby walked up to me. "Nope, you're just early ."
"Whatever...so you guys ready or what?"
I received a lot of, 'yes' and 'of course', so I decided we were ready. Then I realized that I wasn't really much of a leader. I took care of the problem, though.
"Alright, let's go! Sophia, you will be the leader." I said pointing at her.
She looked surprised at hearing this, then a determined look took over her face. "Oh...okay then. Let's go!"
We all walked in the direction that Mifeo had told us to go. It got boring...quickly .
"So what do you think Mifeo meant by,'and the world itself' when he told us about this, 'quest '?"
I walked toward the front of the pack so I could talk to Toby. "Duh! He meant monsters and stuff like that."
Luke piped up. "It's moments like this that I'm glad we have a form of defense." he fingered with his bow.
We walked in silence after that, looking at the landscape and listening to the wildlife.
The town was surrounded by a forest except for the part we fought in, thanks to me. There was now a clearing as big as the town there.
Pretty soon we would break out of the forest and then we would have to make a decision. Keep walking or make camp for the night.
Mifeo's voice echoed in my mind. 'and the world itself!' I hoped the world was nice to us. Boy was I wrong.
The peaceful night was pierced by a scream.
I sat up in my tent, trying to figure out if the scream was real or if it was from my dream. Then I heard another.
Grabbing my scabbard, I ran out of the tent and into the camp we had made seeing the others doing the same... except for Sophia. She was cowering in front of a monster that had it's back to us.
At first I thought that it wasn't a monster but a Human. Then I saw it's claws. It was bi-pedal like a Human but defiantly not one. It kind of reminded me of a dog with it's somewhat pointed ears and claws. I saw a collar on it's neck. I had an idea for what it was. A...Diamond Dog! That's what it was.
I unsheathed my sword, running towards the others. "Guys! It's a Diamond Dog! What do we do!"
Sophia saw the movement and heard my voice. "Help !" She screamed, holding a hand out in front of her for defense.
Where was her spear? I thought, looking around. I saw the spear lying a dozen or so yards away from her. She'd been taken by surprise.
The Diamond Dog turned around, looking at us. Then it began to slowly move towards us seeing as we were armed. When it was about a dozen yards away from us an arrow sprouted from it's shoulder and it yelped, gripping the shaft and ripping the arrow out.
I turned around and saw Ben nocking another arrow, aiming for it's chest.
"Ben!" I exclaimed pushing his bow downwards. "What're you doing!"
"It's him or us, Drake," he replied, pushing me aside, and letting the arrow fly.
The arrow missed it's mark, hitting the Diamond Dog just below it's chest. The Diamond Dog fell to the ground, blood seeping out of it's shoulder. It gripped the shaft of the arrow and started to pull it out but then stopped and gave out another sound of pain.
"Why're you here?" I somewhat yelled at it.
It looked up at me. "To take care of you."
I looked at Sophia, who had gotten up and was slowly making her way towards her spear. "Take care of me how?"
It's breathing came slower and it started to get up. "I thought that you would now."
"You're here to kill us aren't you?" I said, my eyes still on Sophia.
"Exactly."
In the corner of my eye, I saw Sophia pick up her spear and turn towards me, waiting for a signal.
"Well if you're here to kill us," I pointed at him with my sword. "Then I guess you're too late."
What happened next was a blur.
Sophia rushed at him from behind while I get kept him busy at the front, slashing and jabbing. Ben began to fire more arrows but not much since he couldn't get a clear shot. I dove to the left and he got a hit on me. I could fell his claws digging into my side, pain exploding in that area. Sophia stabbed him in the back from behind and he howled in pain and spun around, knocking us all down. Then he jumped into a hole I hadn't noticed before and dirt shot up out of it, filling the hole quickly.
"I guess the Ponies sent him?" Toby said.
I looked at the rest and they all looked like they had been surprised. I guess they were too shocked to fight.
I got to my feet and staggered back to my tent, looking for first aid supplies. I could feel my blood against my fingers and clothes. The injury was worse than I thought.
"Well at least we ran him off." I said, turning around.
I dropped the roll of gauze I was holding, looking at the others with a cold feeling in the pit of my stomach.
Something was wrong.
Sophia wasn't here.
Alone
Sophia
I sat in the cell- my cell -and thought back to the day before. That day started out so normal...but then Luke and I had gotten that letter from Mifeo. Then the spell, the battle and Drake's freakish explosion. The next thing you know we're heading out on an adventure.
The recent battle...Drake had seemed so calm standing in front of the enemy. His sword in his hands, the wind blowing his black hair so that you got brief glimpses of his electric-blue eyes. I wonder if he ever thinks of me like this? I thought, pulling my knees towards my chest.
I felt utterly useless right about now. Sure I got the Diamond Dog in the back and stuff. But if I hadn't, he wouldn't have knocked everyone down and captured me so easily. The others were probably worried sick about me and it was all my fault.
"Why must I be the first one to need rescuing?" I asked out loud to no one in particular.
When the Diamond Dog got me I remembered him slinging me over his back, knocking the wind out of me and sending my weapon flying. Then he dived down the hole and filled it back up as he traveled through it. My sense of time was lost while we were in that tunnel. We could have traveled for two hours or five minutes. But next thing I knew, we were emerging in a hallway with stone walls and small clusters of gems that made a natural light, giving the hallway an eerie glow. Then I was shoved through the unlocked door of a cell and the door was locked behind me. I sat in the cell, looking at the somewhat moss covered walls and rusted bits of metal. There was a squeak that sounded like a mouse and a steady drip-drip-drip of water in one corner. I thought for a while, trying to figure out if there was a way to escape but my heart wasn't into it.
Now we're back where we started, in this cell with me thinking about the others.
Were the others looking for me? Or...had they just moved on without me? I didn't know what to think, that is, until I remembered something. They were my friends ! They would never just leave me to rot in the cell. I just hope they get here, where ever 'here' was, soon.
Maybe I could get out and find them though! But how? If I had my spear I could probably think of something, and I don't know how to use my powers...maybe...I could ambush a guard! These Diamond Dogs had to feed me at some point. Now I just had to wait for the right moment when someone came to feed me.
I ate the food, which wasn't half bad, thinking about my failure. I didn't even have the guts to run towards him. Much less beat him up! It's hopeless.
Maybe there was a way I could escape without violence. I just had to think...think.
"I got it!" I exclaimed jumping to my feet, the food falling on the floor. "Aw man !"
All I have to do is hide in a dark corner and slip out when a guard unlocks the door to make sure I'm still in here! I though, my mind working out what to do.
I would have to wait until a guard passed by and looked into my cell. And who knows how long it will take for that to happen?!
So I waited...and waited...and waited...and waited some more. "Where is he?!" I half screamed half asked nobody.
Just then I heard the door to the hall open. From what I knew, I was about five cages from the entrance to the hall so I had a small amount of time to hide.
I slowly backed in to the darkest corner of the cell and crouched down, hoping he couldn't see me. They did seem to need about the same amount of light to see fine as Humans.
I heard the sounds of his feet (paws?) on the stone floor, heading down the hallway. I could also hear the metallic sounds of him hitting the bars of the cages to make sure the occupants were in them. The sound got closer and louder pretty fast, so I had to brace myself so I wouldn't jump when- clang! - I jumped a few inches but I didn't think he saw me.
"Hey, you in there!" another clang, "Don't make me come in there...okay, if that's what you want."
I heard the door to the cell opening and pushed my self as close to the ground as I could, not caring about the horrible stench that reached my nostrils.
"I'm hoping this isn't some kind of joke, cause I don't fancy having to teach the you a lesson." He walked a bit further into the cave.
That's it...just a little more... I thought, the anticipation making me start to shake, one more thing that might break my cover.
He walked a few steps more into my cell, now he was about halfway in.
I started to crawl forwards, making as little noises as I could. I made it past him without making contact in what might have been about half a minute. But to me it felt like hours. Once I was about two or three feet past where he was, I stood up and prepared to make a mad dash for the hallway. Right when I was about to start I felt something on my left shoulder.
"Now where do you think you're going, miss?" The guard whispered in my ear.
I froze up for a couple seconds. Then I did the one thing that came to me naturally. I swung my right arm back as hard as I could, feeling my elbow striking something solid and feeling his grip weaken. It took about three more quick strikes to the face before he was out cold on the floor with a bloody nose. I guess I did have the guts to beat up a guard.
I ran out of my cell, after grabbing the ring of keys from his belt and shoving them into my pocket, and turned left to run through the door he had come through. Instead of seeing the door, I got an eyeful of guard.
Foreword
T-Labs
Okay guys, here is the foreword for my first story.
So about the story, it is a HiE story. (Human in Equestria) But I know that you guys will love it! It’s not one of those stories where everything is super fine and everything is perfect. And it’s not your regular HiE story.
I just wanted you guys to know that and that every 3 chapters, the narrator will change. So as you can see, the chapter name and the narrator are in bold print at the top. So every time the narrator changes the entire way the story is looked at changes, giving this story a different feel.
So I hope you enjoy the story and my writing skills! (which get better as I go)
~ T-Labs
Prologue
You know, when I look back on it the war wasn’t such a bad thing. We made friends because of it, we learned a lot about sacrifice and things like that because of it, and most importantly, we learned that you should never eat food out of a trash can because of it.
But I’m getting ahead of myself, first I should explain what the war itself was and how it started.
So, the war, where to begin? I guess I should start before the war and explain a bit about our world.
So in our world know as Equestria there were two races, Humans, and Ponies. There are three kinds of ponies there and three kinds of humans. The three kinds of Ponies were, as follows: Earthponies which didn't have anything special about them, then there were Pegasi which were Ponies with wings, and last (but certainly not least) were the Unicorns which could do magic and had horns.
Then there were the Humans, which were pretty much the same things as Ponies in terms of types of them. So the three types of Humans were: Regulars Humans (usually just called Humans) which, like earth Ponies, had nothing special about them, and there were winged Humans which everybody referred to as Angels, then there were Magicians which could do magic except they didn't have horns.
So, Ponies and Humans lived in peace until the former thought they were better than the latter and should rule them. A war between the Ponies and Humans started. Much blood was shed and the Ponies were victorious in almost every battle, destroying every part of Human civilization except for the small little town where I and my friends lived.
The Ponies then sent a small army to destroy the town, and that is where our story starts.