Wilson save the Queen!
Chapter 9: Chapter 9. To Canterlot!
Previous ChapterSo far, the flames that are reducing the forest to mounds of ashes showed no signs of being extinguished whatsoever, regardless of the amount of water I'm dousing it on. I am literally using enough water to flood a small town.
Did I mention how large the inferno is? Holy hell, it looks like a pyromaniac's dreamland. The flames would go for for miles, victimizing unfortunate local wildlife, and even more trees in the process. The stench of scorched trees lingers in the air, billows of smoke surround the entire area, and the skies above it.
Addendum, I made it rain, no, literally, I created a heavy-storm. It was showering heavily, thanks to my magic, obviously. Unfortunately, magical fire is much, MUCH more difficult to put out in comparison with normal fire. Isn't that nice? You literally have to make it storm to even douse the smallest of flames.
As expected, I've managed to get myself drenched in water, now I'm going to be stuck with wet clothes for a while since I didn't exactly pack any extra clothing.
Note to self, learn an instant drying spell as soon as possible.
"God dammit, I probably shouldn't have condensed that much power in those dragon things," I cursed as I shot a stream of water at the flames, extinguishing most of the flames within the vicinity.
It just occurred to me, I'm putting out magical fire with magical water. Ironic, isn't it?
The violent, magically-created squall gave no quarter to the equally-violent fires, the raindrops pounded the ground with force, it also pelted me as well. Most of the flames that once engulfed the forest are now extinguished, albeit, most of the trees around me are now puddles of water mixed with ash.
As I desperately shot barrage after barrage of water, I failed to notice something in the distance, a certain blue alicorn preparing to land.
Now this, is the epitome of bad timing.
"Oh bloody hell..." I muttered as the blue alicorn landed on the damp, black ground near me. The storm dousing her with unrelenting water. As she landed, she made a small splash of dark mud by accident, causing her to slightly flinch in surprise.
She glares at me with eyes that depict rage, her teeth clenched. The particular look she's directing at me is actually very unnerving... and quite intimidating.
'Alright, what do I say? Gah, what does it matter? I'm half-expecting her to decapitate me right here, or something. I guess the 'don't be an idiot' option is the best one I have right now.' I thought.
With my mind somewhat blotted in nervousness, I shot a sheepish smile, "Uh, Luna, it looks like you found me!"
Yep, definitely losing my head tonight.
"I THOUGHT YOU SAID YOU WOULDN'T LET THIS GET OUT OF HAND!" she bellowed with the archaic Royal Canterlot voice, almost deafening me in the process.
"Well, it still is." I retorted, proceeding to douse another flame-engulfed tree in water.
"How? How did this happen?" She asked.
"Magic gone wrong, terribly wrong." I answered.
She scowls at me with eyes that shew no mercy, "Where's the injured Royal guard you were talking about?" she asked.
"Woah, you're not just leaving me here, are you?"
"Perhaps." she simply responded.
Well, there would be no repercussions, or downside, to letting her take him, he is in fact, in an amnesiac state. But then again, I do want to go to Canterlot.
You know, perhaps learn a few spells or so in the Canterlot archives, and in general, to earn their trust, so I can stab them in the back later.
"Oh come on! You're not leaving me in the middle of some accursed forest now, would you?"
"Fine, just... get this problem fixed."
"I'm doing that right now, the guard you're looking for is in that cave, by the way." I pointed at the general direction where the guard was knocked out.
She simply nods and proceeds to approach the cave. Out of pure misfortune, I forgot to deactivate the barrier, causing Luna to bump into the invisible wall snout first. She made a resounding screech of slight pain as she smacked into aforementioned barrier.
I heard her wince of pain as she made contact with the barrier with an audible thud, causing me to curse myself as I recalled that I placed a barrier there.
"Wha- what is this? A barrier?" she yelped.
"Yes?" I answered.
"Why is there a barrier here?" she questioned.
"Well, to prevent any wild life looking for an easy meal, of course."
She glares at me skeptically, prompting me to remove the barrier blocking her path. She disappeared from my sight as she entered the cave.
Well, at least now I can focus on extinguishing the flames. Ugh, intensive usage of magic is making me extremely weary.
Several minutes of magic-intensive water spells later, I've successfully managed to put out the last of the flames, albeit, this entire sector of the forest was reduced to nothing, but puddles of watery-ash now, although, I'm on the verge of passing into unconsciousness.
I was panting on the ground out of pure exhaustion. Suddenly, I heard footsteps, er, hoofsteps, given the current situation.
"Well, it seems you've used too much magic..." I heard Luna say from behind me.
Without even bothering to look at her, I muttered, "Ugh, remind me to never do this again..." I said before my mind went dark.
Somewhere in the Everfree...
Shifting into Viktor's perspective...
My orders were to bring this mixture to Wilson, in hopes to control his mind. However, that was somewhat postponed when I saw something... interesting.
A large, large portion of the forest was reduced to ash. Well, muddy-ash to be exact. The sight was peculiar, at best. As I looked around, I saw what appears to be a cave.
"What the hell happened here? Could've it been a dragon? No, that wouldn't explain why the ashes are damp."
Making my way into the cave with caution, I could've sworn something felt off. This wasn't the first time I felt something like this. Call it a sixth-sense or whatever.
Readying my blade with magic, I delved into the cave.
Nothing, there was surprisingly nothing within the cave.
Disappointed, I sheathed my prized saber and departed, this place was rather dull anyways.
Having exiting from the ashy portion of the forest, I resumed my search for the human once more. Unsurprisingly, the abundant green foliage bored me as well. I traversed these depths of the forest countless of times, nothing particularly new here.
I've traveled all the way to the outskirts of the forest, Ponyville being visible already. He was here somewhere, I know of it. He was leading an assault on the small establishment, but, he would not reveal himself now, he said he'd wait somewhere just outside of it.
It didn't take long for me to spot him, he was perched on a tree, eying on the town with bored eyes.
"Perfect." I muttered to myself with a grim smirk.
Now shifting into Wilson number two's perspective...
So far, my changelings managed to capture and successfully replace at least twenty unsuspecting ponies. How I knew this without actually being there? The Hivemind, of course. If you must ask, it's basically telepathy between changelings.
The process of obtaining it is quite agonizing, actually. They shoot some sort of green beam right at your forehead, and if you're lucky, you won't pass out from the sheer pain.
Fortunately, I placed some sort of pain-dulling spell on myself, so the pain wasn't that excruciating, although, the pain wasn't completely numbed; the process still hurt like hell .
The primary objective of this plan was to prevent Princess Celestia from being notified of my presence here, thus, we had to hunt down the messenger, which was, to my luck, Derpy.
The changelings managed to capture her in about, ten minutes, without harming her, of course, otherwise, I'd reduce them to ashes if they somehow managed to get her harmed, or worse, killed. I've massacred those guards back there without remorse, but, I'd hate to see a mare like her die.
The optional objective was to capture the Elements of Harmony, all six of them. And if anything was compromised, I was to be sent there and confront them, and hopefully, prevent things from getting any worse. Oh, and to capture as many ponies as possible, without anypony alerting other ponies, of course.
"Hey, Wil, I've managed to found the Element of Loyalty, she's sleeping on a tree. What do you think? Should we go for it?
Before I could reply, I heard something from behind me, "Boo." a ghastly voice whispered behind me, which startled me, causing me to stumble, which, inevitably made me fall down to the cold, cold ground with a resounding thump.
Out of reflex, I began to charge magical energy in my palm and fired away at the tree blindly. The upper-half of the tree was completely decimated, the tree was now replaced with a stump with a burnt marking on the upper part of it. And yet, there was no singed corpse of my 'assailant.'
I stood up with caution while looking around. Suddenly, green flames appeared in front of me, startling me, I was about to prepare yet, another blast, until I recalled that green flames appearing out of nowhere was usually a sign of a changeling teleporting.
The changeling fully rematerialized in front of me, "That was a close one, you know." the male changeling stated.
This particular changeling had a faded, crimson scarlet mane, and possessed aqua eyes. Those weren't his most defining features, however, he had dark bags under his eyes.
"Gah, what the hell was that about? You nearly gave me a heart-attack." I growled.
"Relax, relax. I'm here to give you the detergent for the amulet." He stated as he levitated a mysterious bottle to me.
"No need for that scare still," I replied before taking the bottle from his telekinetic grip.
Stop! Don't drink that, you fool! I heard a voice within my head bellow.
The sudden voice startled me, almost causing me to drop the bottle. All the while making the changeling eye me curiously. The voice sounded female, but, it was extremely garbled, so I was unsure who it exactly belonged to.
"Did... did you hear that?" I questioned him about the phantom voice.
"Hear what, exactly?" He responded.
How odd, the voice was way too loud to not hear it. It couldn't have been my imagination, was it? I dunno, hunger and sleep deprivation will torment a man with illusions.
"Don't drink that, trust me, you really don't want to." The voice was clear this time, and now, I could recognize it properly this time. It was the voice of Nightmare Moon, I was sure of it.
What the-? Nightmare Moon? How- How did you... get inside my mind?
None of that matters, just whatever you do, don't drink whatever that changeling is offering.
But... why not?
I know much of the changelings, they are quite the deceptive race. They'll back-stab their allies as soon as the opportunity appears. Addendum, I've recalled a brew that changelings made in order to control the minds of whoever drank it.
I backed away from the changeling slowly. What? They wouldn't stab me in the back, would they?
"Where are you going?" The changeling asked.
I'm not sure if I should trust you.
Fine, but if you turn into a mindless slave for the Changelings, don't blame me.
"Can I refuse your offer? I'm sure I can cope with the madness..." I suggested.
"Not an option, we wouldn't want you to go insane, now, do we?" He responded.
The amulet's effects can't be simply deterred by a simply mixture, you know.
She has a point, a simple brew wouldn't be able to deter the side-effects of an ancient, magical relic. Unless it's magical brew, which does not appear to be the case here, it seems that I can detect magic being emitted from anything now, and it appears that the brew was indeed not emitting magic.
Suddenly, a simple idea struck me.
"This doesn't exactly look tasty, why don't you drink a sip of it?" I asked. However, the changeling's face didn't even look worried.
Good thinking...
"I'd rather not." He replied as he slowly shook his head.
"Hm, I think I won't drink it then." I stated.
"You're willing to go insane just because you think it's bad...?" He questioned.
"Um, yes?" I deadpanned.
"I believe you didn't hear me, I said that you'll go insane if you don't drink it."
"I said I'd rather not." I stated defiantly as I threw the bottle, shattering it as it struck the ground.
"Dammit... it looks like I'll have to force you to drink it." The changeling said with spite.
Dammit, it looks like I'll have to fight this guy. This is your fault, you do know that, right?
You'll thank me later.
I glanced towards the changeling, he was unsheathing his blade with his magical grip, while eying me with angered eyes.
What... what happened? Ah right, I passed out. Right... oh crap!
I regained consciousness, I immediately bolted up, I glanced around my surroundings. It was a dark... cell? A dungeon cell of some sort. The dark corridors were lit by a handful of torches, there seemed to be a number of cells that are unoccupied across from mine, although, none of them were occupied.
The apparently ancient dungeon was prominent of the smell of mildew, these dungeon cells are certainly not maintained frequently, not that I was expecting them to be.
Glancing around my gloomy environment, I suddenly realize that my bloodstained scarf was missing, no, I'm actually wearing a whole new set of clothes that consists what appears to be a simple dark T-shirt, navy-blue cloak, complete with strange symbols sewn on it, a fine, dark cloth jacket, how they managed to make one especially for me is beyond my comprehension, and finally, greyish pants known as jeans.
It's impressive that they somehow managed to take my measurements and somehow made clothes for a human being like me without any idea what they're doing. The cloak is indeed pretty nice as well... makes me feel like an assassin. Although leather is probably not used in this cloak, they probably made this cloak with polyester or something.
"Oh crap..." I muttered to myself as the realization hit me.
First, they switched my clothes while I was unconscious, which is, in fact, wrong in so many levels. Second, there's no doubt that they saw the Alicorn amulet.
I tried to teleport out of here, but to no avail, something appears to be negating my magic. Confused and panicking, I attempted to cast spells randomly while muttering every possible curse known to humanity.
Then I saw it, some sort of marking on my right arm. The inky mark depicted a horn that appears to be crumbling apart, that was more than enough to signify that it was some sort of magic nullification symbol, or what-not.
Suddenly, I heard foot- hoof steps. A unicorn guard with a torch in his magical grip approached my cell. He had an amber coat, brownish mane, and ruby-red eyes.
He halted in front of my cell, and proceeds to eye me curiously before levitating a key and unlocking the cell door.
"About time you woke up, beast. Follow me, the princesses wishes to speak to you." He stated
"Hey, hey. I'm a human, not some sort of animal." I said defensively.
He responded by simply rolling his eyes. Oh, this bastard is definitely dying once I get my powers back.
We began the walk to wherever the princesses wish to speak to me at. The cells were completely empty. I suppose the ratio of crimes in Equestria is ridiculously low, as expected.
More, and more walking later, I find myself walking through the large corridors of the castle, and unfortunately, I managed to find that guy, oh yes, Prince Blue Blood. Surely he isn't that bad as he is depicted in the show, right? Of course not! He kept saying things along the lines of, "What is that hideous thing?" or, "Such a thing shouldn't be alive!"
"Can I murder that bastard?" I asked my escort.
"If you do, we'd be more than happy to see that . But, you'd be most likely executed."
That actually made me chuckle a bit.
The meeting room was impressive, to say the least. A wide, glossy brown table was placed in the middle of the room. There were cabinets present at the right side of the room. On the left wall was a painting, with a masterfully crafted frame. The painting depicted the two royal sisters; Celestia and Luna. There were guards stationed beside the princesses.
On the other side of the table, was Celestia who was drinking some sort of tea, and beside her, was Luna, who was drinking tea as well.
Celestia sipped her tea before dismissing the guard, "Thank you for escorting... him, you may leave now, guard." her tone was stoic; void of any emotions. Frightening, if you ask me.
Luna was the first to speak, "Tell me, how did you find that relic you have?"
Think of something cunning fast, if I screw this up, I'm done for. I thought to myself.
"I've no idea, I was already wearing it when I got here." I lied. Probably not the best lie I could go for, but hey, what's done is done.
"How did you exactly get here?" Celestia asked.
Before I could answer her, Luna interrupted, "He claims that he does not know, sister."
"Indeed, I was on the way to a friend of mine's wedding, and the next thing I know, I end up waking up in the Everfree."
"Hm, Is it true that you're immune to the amulet's side-effect?" Celestia asked.
Me? Immune to the side-effect? Of course not- wait, if I was not immune to it, then that means that I would've gone crazy from it by now, considering I overused it last night... So, possibly, I might actually be immune.
"Apparently so, I've used this thing for a few days now." I said. Somewhat of a half-truth, really. I didn't really have that thing for days, but, I think I might have overused the amulet itself last night that would've probably corrupted me by now.
"So, I've heard you saved one of my Royal guards from a pack of timber wolves?" Celestia asked.
"Indeed, I was wandering around the forest, hoping to find shelter, then I saw a pony being cornered by timber wolves. And you know, being a good guy and all, I saved him."
I really hope they believe all that nonsense. I thought to myself.
"See? I told you he was harmless." I heard Luna whisper to her older sister.
Celestia sighs, "Well, it seems that you mean no harm, Mr Will? Was it?"
"Wilson. His name is Wilson, Tia." Luna corrected.
"Wilson, you may stay at our finest guest room in Canterlot, it's the least we could do for saving one of our dear subjects."
"Thanks. Er, I suppose."
She turned to one of the guards, "Escort him to his room, attend to him if he needs anything." She ordered.
The guard nodded to the command, he proceeds open the door leading out of the throne room, and gestured me to follow him, and of course, I did.
Me and my escort departed from the throne room.
The walk to the guestroom I was offered was somewhat irritating, ponies everywhere eying on me with disgust, curiosity, or, contempt. But I ignored the stares.
We arrived at the door to my room, about time, the stares they were giving me was pestering me.
I faced him, "Thanks, I suppose. I guess that will be all." I stated.
"I will be right behind this door, tell me if you require anything." He responded, to which I nod my head in acknowledgement.
With that little conversation over, I opened the door to my room. The room was large, a few cabinets were placed on the corner, a moderately large drawer in the middle corner of the room, complete with a large mirror with an intricate frame. A large, reddish carpet was laid on the floor.
Finally, a normal sized bed with a nightstand, with a fine lamp, beside it. Well, in a pony's perspective, this bed might've been considered large.
I eye the bed tiredly, "Well... I haven't gotten a good rest since I got here." I muttered to myself before deciding to collapse on the bed.