A group of pastel pegasi decked out in armor coming at you at full speed turns out to be far more intimidating than it sounds if Im being completely honest.
"For the Princess!" One of them shouted, taking a dive at me. I managed to dodge by side stepping and falling into the river, momentarily shocked by not hitting the ground and sinking under water before flailing and managing to grab the side bank and pulling myself back up. The pegasi took another dive at me, their hooves nearly colliding with my face if I hadn't shoved off the bank of the river and across to the otherside quickly. I scrambled up the bank and ran into the trees, keeping an eye on the pegasi as they circled above me. With their wings as wide as they were, they couldn't keep an arial advantage over me so long as I stayed in the trees.
Having some breathing room I decided I was done running from these pastel toy knockoffs, if they wanted a fight they had one. Imaginging the effect I wanted worked earlier so I decided to try and mimic what I did with their princess earlier that day. With a wave of my hand, I wiled the pegasi to be knocked out of the sky. My vision dimmed slightly, but each pegasus was knocked aside, loosing their balance and tumbling down. Most fell in the river but one fell with a sickening crack on the bank, their wing having been caught beneath them. I stayed in the tree line and watched the other four crawl out of the river and glare at me, pounding the ground with a hoof as they watched me warily. None of them went to their comrade as it got to its hooves, its broken wing dragging on the ground as it limped towards me.
Two of the still ok armored pegasi charged me and I willed a blast of air to go forward from my out stretched hand. The two went flying back, the wind sending the other three to the side as collateral. I summoned electricity to my hand and waited, watching the pegasi regroup. The one with the broken wing hobbled to the group and hey began whispering to each other, keeping one eye on me. Suddenly three bolted towards me, one following them and the one with the broken wing hobbling slightly to the right in a mock attempt to flank me. It did sicken me to think about how much damage it could do, but I pushed the thought aside and let loose a bolt of lightning. It coursed through all five pegasi, even making my legs tingle from where it jolted the ground near me. Each pegasi stumbled, the one with the broken wing collapsing on the ground. I summoned another burst of air and sent the other four flying into the air. Using my gust of wind to balance themselves, the four managed to right themselves and stay aloft before turning around and flying away.
I sighed in relief until I looked close to the river and realized they had left the fifth one there, likely judging them as not worth the risk of retrieval. Later on I would attribute it to pity, or maybe my humanity, but at the time I couldn't explain why I cautiously approached the fallen pegasi. Their coat was a dark, midnight blue like the night sky, and their mane and tail were a stark and startling white. Both mane and tail were cut short and proper for their military attire, their helmet having come off during the sort of fight we had. I took a deep breath and got a few steps closer, getting on my knees to get a closer look. With the fading light it was a bit hard to make out.
Their armor was cracked in places, but I was able to find the straps and undo them with relative ease to get the armor off. The pegasus was still breathing, but it was labored and quick. If it didn't get medical help soon it likely wouldn't last. I swallowed and got to work, finding suitable branches, leather strips ripped from the armor, and tearing off some of the skirt from my dress to make make-shift bandaged for the pegasus's cuts and to make a makeshift splint for their wing and the broken front leg I had discovered when I inspected it. I had no idea what sort of dangers could be out in this forest this late at night, and as I was tying the last of the leather strips to the makeshift splint I wished there was a way for me to find viable shelter for the night.
The amulet glowed faintly, then sent a beam of light into the woods. After a few seconds it sent another beam, and then another at regular intervals. It took me a second to realize it wanted me to follow the light and was likely responding to my wish for a safe shelter, but this brought me to another problem. The pegasus.
I couldn't just leave it there, but the thing was far to big for me to carry on my own. I spent a few minutes trying to figure out how I could get the pegaus to whatever shelter the amulet was leading me to, till I slapped myself in the forehead as I realized I had a magical amulet that responded to my desires wrapped around my neck and simply willed for it to levitate the pegasus so I could float it at my side to wherever I was going.
To my immense relief and slight humor, that is exactly what happened as the Pegasus floated beside me as I followed the beam of light. It led me first alongside the river, then made a sudden sharp turn into the trees. It was a bit of a trick to maneuver the pegasus around the trees, the thing sometimes moaning from pain. Silently I wished there was a way to ease its pain, maybe heal some of its internal injuries, as I continued on. As night fully descended I was greatfull the Pegasus was quiet as I summoned a small ball of light to lead the way. Another half hour of walking and the light disappeared into a cave.
I stared, looking into the gaping mouth of the dark cave and wondered if the amulet was on crack. A sudden loud roar behind me in the trees decided for me as I ventured carefully inside the cave, willing an invisible barrier to guard the mouth of the cave and a larger ball of light to light the way inside. The cave was not as big as I expected, a small tunnel that led into a large cleared circular room. I was shocked to see evidence that something may have once lived there: A table and book cases in one corner, some blankets and books in another. There were trinkets and molded food in different areas, and for all I could tell it looked like whoever had lived here hadn't been here in a very long time but had also left in a hurry.
I switched the one large ball of light for many smaller balls of light, using them to illuminate the entire room. I set the pegasus down gently on the bed and inspected them. For the most part, even with wings and being unnaturally coloured, it had a similar physiology to a regular horse. Its breathing had evened out, but it was still clearly in pain with a broken wing and a broken front leg. Now that it wasn't trying to kill me, it was easier to actually see what it looked like. It clearly wasn't as feminine as the minty unicorn from before, and a quick and humiliating look confirmed for me this pegasus was a stallion. On his flank was one of those marks I vaguely remembered to be a 'cutie mark'. It was a silver shield and stood out against his dark coat. I got up and inspected more of this cave, picking up books and dusting off the table and bookcases as best I could. I couldn't read the writing inside the books, but most of them looked fairly detailed with diagrams and images showing unicorns doing magic. Some had pictures of various places I didn't recognize, creatures I'd never seen, and maps of various areas. It was all to foreign and I put the books back, sitting up against the wall as far away from the pegasus as I could. I could feel the exhaustion creeping up on me, but falling asleep without in some way securing the pegasus would be idiotic.
I willed a barrier around it, making sure that it couldn't escape the barrier but air could still get in. From the back of my mind, I still felt the barrier at the mouth of the cave and gave a sigh of relief. As I drifted off, I hoped they would stay up even with me out.
I had a nightmare of fire and winged unicorns, of burning and lightning. I was actually pretty happy when I was awoken to the sound of someone yelling. It was a rather deep male voice I didn't recognize, and as I jolted awake I groggily was aware of how stiff my body was. I felt bones pop as I slowly leaned away from the wall and stretched my arms and spine with a groan. The yelling got a pitch louder and finally my eyes cleared a bit to see the source.
The male pegasus was awake, his golden eyes glaring at me as he yelled obscenities at me that I knew would never be included in a kid's show. Honestly I was impressed with some of their creativity. Finally realizing he had my attention, the pegasus used one of his good hind legs to kick the barrier I made around him. A futile effort, as aside form a translucent light that showed the barrier around him, it did absolutely nothing. I didn't feel as nervous as I did a the river and got up, slowly walking towards him as I reached into my bag and pulled out some berries. I sat down on the otherside of the barrier, just across from him and ignored the yelling and insults he threw my way. I ate a few of the berries, glad to have some weight in my stomach and then tossed the rest into the barrier in front of him.
"Going to fatten me up so you can eat me, Freak?" He asked, his voice cold and hoarse from yelling. Hopefully that was a good sign that we could actually carry a conversation.
"To me, you're the freak. You should eat those, y'know. It'll help your wing and leg heal faster and then you can leave me alone."
"Why in the name of the Princesses would I believe you'd just let me walk out of here alive? I bet these berries are poisoned anyway!" He seethed at me. I blinked.
"Quite the charmer, aren't you? This is a bit cliche sounding, but do you honestly think I would waste valuable time and resources bandaging and splinting your wing and leg, cart your ass over a mile away to a cave in bumbfuck-nowhere, and then give you some of my limited food just to kill you?" I asked, one eyebrow raised. The stallion stared at me for a long moment, before he looked down at the berries. I tossed a few more in for good measure and at a few more of my own. I wasn't sure how many I had picked, and hoped there were more bushes nearby or perhaps a river I could fish in. I could always hunt, but if I caught a rabbit or bird and it talked I would probably lose my mind. After a few minutes the stallion leaned his head down and began eating the berries, slowly taking a few bites and waiting, keeping an eye on me the whole time, before he ate the rest.
"My name is Katherine, by the way. Friends tend to call me Kath or Kathy though. I'm assuming you have a name?" I asked. The stallion was silent, his ears twitching from time to time.
"Cobalt Shield." He said slowly. I nodded, not saying the name sounded childish to me. Then again, I distinctly remember the main character's name was Twilight Sparkle, so by comparison my name was the stupid one.
"Ok, nice to meet you Cobalt Shield. Now that introductions are out of the way, can we have a civil conversation?" I asked. Cobalt narrowed his eyes at me.
"Doesn't seem like I have much of a choice, you are holding me hostage. If you think you can get a ransom from me I'll let you know now that the Princesses won't give you anything. I am considered dead to the world the moment you captured me."
"That's uhh... Morbid. And Sad. But no, I don't want a ransom. Last thing I remember before waking up in that castle with that minty unicorn screaming in my face was being burned to death in an auditorium with my family screaming my name. I have no idea where I am, why I'm here, or why every single creature I've met so far wants me dead. To be honest, I just want to go home and see my nieces." And burn every piece of my little pony merch I could get my hands on, but I didn't voice that. One of Colbalt's ears flattened, an eyebrow raised.
"You honestly expect me to believe you are some innocent bystander when you are wearing the Alicorn Amulet?" He asked, his eyes on the amulet around my neck. I looked down at it, fiddling with it in one hand.
"I got this for free at our local mart, landed on my head while I was looking for streamers for the party. It's not like I went into some deep cave looking for mystical power. If it'll get me sent home I'd gladly hand it over to you. Granted, that sounds like an amazingly stupid idea right now since it's kind of the only thing keeping you guys from killing me..." I trailed off. Cobalt scoffed, using his good front hoof to paw at the ground.
"It's your fault. If you hadn't attacked the Princess-"
"I was being screamed at, thrown around, and suffering from smoke inhalation. If minty bitchcorn had taken a minute to let me clear my head so we could actually talk none of that would have happened. All I knew was I could barely hear a damn thing, my head felt like it was ripping in two, and everything was trying to hurt me. Can you really justify trying to kill me when from my side I was just confused, disoriented, and fighting for me life?" I asked. Cobalt didn't respond, staring at his hooves. I sighed and looked around the cave. We were away from the entry point so I couldn't see what time of day it was, but I hoped it was at least morning. I slowly got to my feet, feeling my back pop.
"I doubt you can move much with a broken wing and leg, but I need to find more food and some actual drinking water and it feels a bit inhumane to leave you trapped in a bubble only a little bigger than you are. If you promise not to attack me when I get back, I'll undo that barrier so you can move around. I'll be keeping the barrier around the entry of the cave though. Mostly to keep anything that might kill you... or me... out. Ok?" I asked. Cobalt still didn't look at me or speak but slowly he nodded his head so I undid the bubble around him. I kept the lights up and left more berries from him before leaving the cave, thankful to be out in clean air and, more importantly, the morning light.
Walking around I did manage to find a lot more berry bushes, picking them clean and stuffing them into my back. I found some herbs I actually recognized: basil, thyme, rosemary, mint, and lavender. I added them to my bag as well, and by then I figured it was getting close to noon. Berries and some herbs did me well, but they wouldn't be good for my long term health if I didn't find something a bit more substantial. I willed the amulet to help me, to find actual vegetables or maybe some kind of meat source. Several thin strands of light went out from the amulet and I followed them, finding wild vegetables such as carrots, spring onions, and leeks. To my surprise I even found chickweed, chicory, asparagus, alfalfa, fireweed, and elderberries. The final light let me to a small pond brimming with some fish that were easy to levitate out and use the amulet's power to clean and store in the bag.
All in all, provided Cobalt didn't need to eat as much as an actual horse, I likely had enough food now to last us for a few days at least. I kept my eyes peeled as I continued back to the cave, but wasn't able to find anything more edible.
What I did run into was an entire colony of very large bats peering down at me from the trees.
They weren't really like any kind of bats I knew, their coats all different shades of faded blue with thick manes of white fur and LARGE fangs. They made a chittering noise as they stared down at me, a few climbing a bit closer on their branches. I counted maybe twenty in total, the largest one being the closest to me. It was a bit of a dead lock as the bats stared at me and I stared back at them, neither group entirely sure what to do.
The bats moved first climbing furthur into the tree and chattering at me, a clear warning sign for me to stay away. Above them I could see apples growing in the tree, and a few young bats biting into them and draining them to husks. So... vampire fruit bats? Wasn't the weirdest thing I had seen yet. I skirted around the tree and just as I was about to be in the clear the largest one flew off the tree and landed on a branch near me, chittering at me and flaring its wings.
"Hey, Big Guy, no need to be mad. I just want to get back to my cave, ok?" I said as softly and non-threateningly as I could. I just wanted the thing to be friendly, wished something wouldn't attack me for once, and edged around the bat. For a moment it seemed confused, swaying to the side, before righting itself and looking at me with a confused gesture. I took a step back holding both hands in front of me as it chattered differently than before. The bats above started chattering and chittering strangely as well, all now staring at me.
"Easy now, easy now!" I whispered. The large bat glided down to the ground in front of me, and slowly walked towards me until it nuzzled my leg. I was frozen in place as the other nineteen bats joined in, nuzzling against my legs and chittering happily.
Well. Still not the weirdest thing to happen to me yet.
"They are Vampire Fruit Bats. How in Equestria did you tame them?" Cobalt asked as I tried to make some hanging areas above us for the twenty new residents. Big Boy was chittering happily on the table, draining an apple. After I had returned I wondered allowed if I could train them to find food for us, and an hour later the bats flew into the cave carrying fruit. At least that helped?
"Seriously? That's what they are called?"
"What else would we call them? I heard they are largely aggressive by nature, how did you tame them?"
"My guess is something to do with the amulet? I'm not complaining though." I said. Cobalt shook his head. He hadn't moved from the bed of blankets since I had left, but at least he was talking again. I didn't care much for silence.
"Perhaps..." He trailed off again. Satisfied with the roosts I made for the bats, I got to work finishing the cleaning of the cave. This was no means a permement residence for me but I'd prefer not to sleep on a layer of dust, or eat off of it. Thankfully, I had a handy-dandy magical amulet of dubious origins to make cleaning a snap. Afterwords, I got set on making another meal for us. I had found Cobalt's broken armor and used the amulet to make makeshift plates for us to eat off of, and then went about actually portioning out a meal. Figuring he was a herbavore, I didn't include any of the roasted fish I had made in Cobalt's plate.
"So, mind answering a few questions?" I asked between bites. Cobalt flicked an ear at me.
"I won't sell out my country."
"Not asking you to. Where are we?" I asked. Cobalt looked at me like I was an idiot, so I flicked a blueberry at him. He snorted.
"We are north of Canterlot, the capitol city of Equestria and fairly close to Neighagara Falls. Not entirely sure where you took me and I can't go outside, so I can't give you an exact location."
"'Aight, that is a start. I kind of have the basics of this Equestria place, but..." I started asking general questions about the land, the cities, and the creatures that inhabited it. Cobalt didn't answer most of my questions to be honest. I learned of a few places, Ponyville, Winnyapolis, the Crystal Empire, Fillydelphia. They used Bits as currency and were ruled over by four princesses, Celestia, Luna, Cadence, and Twilight Sparkle. Cobalt looked like he was ready to kick himself when I mentioned I wasn't aware Twilight was a Princess now, and I wondered if perhaps that was some sort of national secret or something. Then I realized he told me matter of factly and that meant it was likely common knowledge among the populace.
I did learn that what I had brought into was an attempt at summoning something to fight some great evil.
"He calls himself Deathlord Crimson. He had the amulet before you and after Princess Twilight Sparkle got it off of him we thought he would be easier to defeat but..."
"He had an army backing him that didn't go away with the amulet and you guys are still fighting him." I finished. Cobalt nodded his head.
"I don't know the specifics, only that they were trying to summon someone with the qualities needed that could finally end him." He said. I nodded my head. Deathlord Crimoson didn't sound like a name that would come out of a show like My Little Pony. To be honest it felt more at home as someone's edgelord mary sue-persona on Deviantart back when I was a young teen.
"If he doesn't have the amulet anymore, that means he can't use magic. If it's as powerful now as it was then, then why does his army still follow him without it?" I asked. Cobalt looked at his hooves for a moment then looked back at me.
"Why do you think the Royal Guard serves Princess Celestia, despite the mistakes she sometimes makes? She has lost battles, required saving by the Elements of Harmony. Yet we still fight for her. Why do you think we do that?" He asked. I nodded.
"Point made." I said, but it still nagged on me somewhat. Cobalt laid down completely, careful in how he shifted his broken leg and wing.
I pulled out a book at random from the shelf and flipped through it, more lost in my own thoughts than any attempt to understand the text.
In a world like Equestria, what could drive an army to be more loyal to a warlord than the princesses?