The Accursed Journey [Crossover RP] [OPEN]

[NeilWacaster]

Twilight walked to Slade's side. "Well, you're alive, aren't you? I think that means you survived." She laughed. "Slade, is it? Nice to meet you. As for Partheus, we aren't sure whether he will wake up or not. But, in any case, it sounds like you saved his life."

Zecora finished administering the potion, and heard the alchemist stirring. Returning to him, she looked at him with kindness in her eyes. "A burden to me, you are not. You're one of the few true friends I've got."

Both Twilight and Zecora were startled when Partheus suddenly sat upright.

"You must lie still, human child. Your injuries are far from mild." She was glad to see him lie back down, and the zebra began again to tend to the alchemist's burns.

Twilight rushed over to Partheus. "You are in no condition to be sitting up, mister. Just a few hours ago we thought we were going to lose you. I know that your mind won't be at rest until I explain the situation, so just keep still and I'll tell you everything." She relayed the same story she had told to Newsworthy about how she had brought them all here. She also explained that Zecora was a friend and an herbalist, and told how the zebra had done wonders for the burns and bruises of the adventurers.

"Now, I'm dying to hear your story, but first you have to rest some more. I don't know what happened in there, but you're hurt even worse than Newsworthy, and that's saying something. If you need a painkiller or a sedative, I believe that Zecora can fix you up."

[SilverSwirl]

"It's a mareicle that I am alive. I activated one of my mega techniques to aid Partheus, a technique that requires me to cut into my body and soak a scroll with my own blood. It is a ninpo called Mijin, and to unleash it's terrible power, I must jam my blade into the earth. It creates a massive explosion and concussion wave of Chi and Ki that covers a wide radius. Anything caught in the blast is either slain or in this case, they get hurled backward into a wall.", Slade replied to Twilight Sparkle as he pulled up his black ninja shirt to reveal the healing cut. He gave a smile and said to her, "A pleasure to meet you as well. If I wasn't so drained.... I'd give you a demonstration of my skill. I guess Partheus can back up my statements when he tells all.". He faded into unconsciousness as his weakened body began the slow process of replacing lost blood and recovering his physical strength.

[Partheus]

Partheus lay there, recumbant, with Twilight Sparkle at his side tending to his injuries. "Well, where do I start?"

"Me and Newsworthy were walking through the Everfree Forest, when we were approached by a hooded pony, who handed us a letter and ran off before we could ask him anything. We read the letter, and it turns out that there was this group called the Forest Dwellers who wanted me out of Equestria for reasons unknown. We headed back, only to be ambushed by more hooded ponies. They kidnapped me, and separated me from Newsworthy."

Twilight dabbed a cloth onto his bruised knee. "My captor led me to their hideout, a small cave hidden in the Everfree Forest. He escorted me inside, revealing a secret sanctuary dedicated to a human female known as the Mistress. He gave me a tour of the place, before dragging me down to the Mistress' chamber to meet her in person. She revealed her motives for evicting me from Equestria to me, and after I tried to escape, I was beaten up pretty bad." Twilight raised her eyebrow angrily. "Yeah, this isn't the first time I've been beaten within an inch of my life today. And there's me hoping for a nice stroll through the Everfree with a friend..."

Twilight rubbed some healing lotion onto his exposed chest. "Anyway, while I lay there, bruised and broken, I felt this... power within me, like the power I felt in the hospital with you when we first met. It gave me the strength to stand up and take down the Mistress. Of course, before I could finish her off, someone cast a sleeping spell on me, causing me to have a nightmare about..." He stopped suddenly, and started to sweat. Oh no, he thought. Do I tell her about that nightmare I had? What would she think of me if I did? Oh boy, this is going to be fun... "Umm, how do I put this politely..." Twilight raised her eyebrow in curiosity. "I... had a nightmare about you, and..."

"Wait, you... WHAT?!" Twilight raised her hoof to smack Partheus upside the head. "Ahh, let me finish!" Twilight slowly lowered her hoof, sitting beside him with a contorted face of pure rage. "I was under the effects of a spell. Who knows what twisted ideas they could have put into my head?" Twilight put her face up against Partheus'. "What do you mean, 'twisted ideas'?" Partheus gulped; he had to tell her. He shut his eyes and whimpered, "I... dreamtthatyourapedme!" He flinched and shut his eyes harder, preparing himself for a verbal and/or physical lashing from Twilight.

"Oh, those heartless fiends! How could they put such horrible images into your head! And you're so pure-minded! You'd never think of something that dreadful, right?" Partheus sighed. Oh, he thought, that's a relief. That a girl, Twilight. Get angry at the right people, and by right, I mean not me. "I SAID, you'd never think of something that dreadful, RIGHT?" Twilight stared suspiciously at Partheus. "N-no, of course not! I wouldn't have thoughts like that about my best friend!" Twilight lowered her eyebrow, stretching her face back into a calm smile. "Ahem, sorry about that little outburst. Continue!" Twilight then smiled and squeed cheerfully.

"Right, well after I woke up from... that, I found myself in a dimly lit room, like this one, and a hooded unicorn was tending to my wounds. She put some solvent on my leg, and left me there for an hour, which was boring beyond belief. After a while, she came back, and escorted me to another room, where she tied me to a chair and got me angry by going through my satchel. Then, these coils sprung up from the ground, and sapped all of my energy!" Twilight gasped. "You got beat up, AND had all of your energy stolen? My gosh, you've been through a lot today!"

"Yeah, it gets much worse. After she stole all of my energy, she then told me that the Mistress was on the receiving end of the device, and that she had absorbed all of my energy, meaning she now possessed enough power to take over Equestria. The hooded unicorn left me there, and I thought I was finished for good that time. But then, a changeling came to my rescue and untied me..." Twilight gritted her teeth. "You let one of those nasty animals help you out? Those horrible creatures nearly ruined my brother's wedding!"

"Oh no, this one was friendly for some strange reason. He helped me out of the chair, and into the main chamber of the sanctuary, where I saw Newsworthy and these guys surrounded by hooded ponies. I asked the changeling to create a distraction to help them out, but it only worked to a certain degree. Before I could do anything else, the Mistress appeared behind me. I didn't have time to think. I prepared myself for a fight, even though I knew it was hopeless." Twilight gasped again. "Oh, you poor thing! You must have been frightened to death!" Partheus smiled. "I was scared, but I had to do it. I would rather die than see everything you care about get destroyed like that." Twilight smiled, and rubbed his bruised arm.

"Thankfully, the distraction provided by the changeling gave Newsworthy enough time to make his move. He lunged at the Mistress with a sword, but got knocked out of his flightpath by the Mistress. This gave Slade over there time to make his move, too. He went in, grabbed me, and travelled to the other side of the sanctuary with me under his arm. He set me down, gave me a healing pill, and did battle with the Mistress. The fight was intense and brutal, everyone trying their hardest to kill the Mistress, but to no avail. Then, I stood up, rejuvinated by the pill, and unleashed my own power again."

"I don't remember much, it's all a red haze, but from what I can recall, I defeated the Mistress by throwing a ball made from all of my raw energy at her, which sunk into the ground and would explode in five minutes. I tried to warn everyone to get out, but I fell unconscious due to me burning up all of my power, and I woke up inside my head..." Everyone in the room gave Partheus a concerned look. "I told you it was a long story. To put it simply, I was walking around a hallway with my every memory and emotion hung up in picture frames. I found a spherical chamber, where a younger version of myself was standing there, holding the same ball I used to destroy the Mistress. He explained that he was growing weak from me overusing my power, so I tried to think of an alternative source of power for myself."

He turned to Twilight. "Then I thought about something. You and your friends draw strength from your friendship, the bonds you share together powering the Elements of Harmony, and defeating any foe you come across. What if I drew my strength from the bond I have with you? So, I conjured a white ball of energy by focusing on all the good times we spent together in hospital, and placed that ball inside the red ball. Everything went white, and I woke up here." Everyone continued to look at him confusedly. "Well, let's see you get knocked out twice and still make sense!" Partheus leaned back into his stretcher and smiled at Twilight kindly. "You believe me, don't you?"

[NeilWacaster]

"Of course I do." Twilight Sparkle smiled warmly. "And I think that I know who should write the letter to the princess this week. It sounds like you've learned a very important lesson about friendship. Now you just rest. We should be able to take you back to the hospital as soon as you're fully stable, and in a week or two you'll be as good as ..."

A scream came from the corner of the room, where a blue unicorn had apparently just awakened. "What have you done? This insolence will not be tolerated!"

Zecora rushed over to the patient. "Calm down you silly filly, your ..."

The zebra's rhyme was interrupted. "Silly filly!? Do you not know who you are speaking to? The Great and Powerful Trixie will make you eat your words with a slice of humble pie!"

She tried to get up, but immediately cried out in pain. "What have you done to Trixie's legs! Trixie is unable to move them!"

Even Zecora looked annoyed. "A large rock, and the poison joke. Your horn is limp and your legs are broke."

"You have done this! The Great and Powerful Trixie's vengeance shall be swift and cruel!"

Twilight sighed heavily. "Remind me again why we didn't just leave her under that boulder?"

"Zecora cares for all who are sick, whether they are kind or just a ..." The zebra paused. "Enemy."

[MarchingHammers]

The human was happy to be alive, and his wounds tended to by his almost step sister. He was relaxing until he heard a rather angry and familiar voice. He tilted his head seeing Trixie. Oh now he had her where he wanted her. He reached for his pistol holster, and pulled out the gun. He got up lazily from the cot, ash falling off of his destroyed armor and limped over to the pony. "Oh hello mein kleine pony. I think it isht time I put you down like unt dog." He aimed his pistol at her temple and said "Any lasht words?"

[SilverSwirl]

Slade opened one eye at the piercing shriek and saw Tricie on a stretcher with broken legs and at first thought in his mind, "Serves her right...wait...she's suffering too.". He then saw the alchemist moving in for the kill... Time seemed to slow as his heart began to race as he thought, "Don't fail me now arm... I only have one chance...", as he pulled a shuriken out of his sleeve and threw it with the rest of his strength. Before passing out again, he heard and saw the shuriken strike the hand holding the pistol. He smiled and looked peaceful on the stretcher as he began to rest again.

[Partheus]

Dear Princess Celestia,

I know you usually receive these sorts of letters from Twilight, but she recommended that I wrote it, for I have learned something from my experiences in the Everfree Forest that she thought would be of great interest to you.

My brief stay in Equestria so far has been quite eventful, to say the least. I've learned about an entire country's culture, mythology, and history in three days worth of lectures provided by Twilight personally, I've kicked a tree so hard it split at the trunk and then blamed the whole thing on Big Mac, I've received a manicure from Rarity, who made some clothes for me based on rough measurements she made while I was asleep in hospital, and now I've raged so hard, I blew up a sanctuary. And that's ignoring the fact that I'm still not used to the concept of talking horses. For all I know, I could be sat in a tavern in Taiga drowning in mead, and this is some elaborate hallucination brought about by the thick gauze of alcohol surrounding my drunken person.

But, if there's one thing I've learned from all of that, it's that friendship is a powerful thing. Sure, I relied on my unbridled rage to eliminate the Mistress, but it was focused; there was an underlying drive that kept the flames going. This may sound like the ramblings of a punch-drunk man (or actually drunk if this is a hallucination), but I think what I'm trying to say is that friendship is without doubt the most powerful force in the Five Realms. We may have different mindsets and different ethics that compel us to do the right thing and to achieve our desires in life, but the underlying principle, the fundamental cornerstone, the very soul of our understanding of virtue stems from the fact that, whatever we do in our brief stay on this planet, we don't do it alone.

Your Faithful Student's Friend, Partheus.

P.S: Did you know about the Forest Dwellers before you sent me into the Everfree Forest? Twilight has told me about your "troll-like" behaviour (personally, I don't see the connection, as trolls are too dumb to be that creatively playful), and I'm wondering if it was intentional that you sent me into a forest populated by people that want me gone. You better hope for your sake that it wasn't, because trust me, you won't like me when I'm angry...

[Partheus]

(Out of character)

And that concludes the story arc. Please post a closing monologue for your character, explaining what happened to them after the events of this story, sort of like that part in 80's movies where they go "Mary went on to college to get her degree. Mark was arrested for robbery ten years later and committed suicide in prison." You get the idea.

[SilverSwirl]

Slade made a full recovery and received a commendation from the Princess herself for his heroism and bravery in that incident. He had taught Partheus some wilderness survival skills that all Shinobi must know and they parted ways. Slade then went on to prove himself to be the greatest scout and Shinobi in Hominopolis history and in all of Equestria. If you are paying REAL close attention, you may catch a glimpse of the elusive ninja on the prowl, keeping the kingdoms safe, silently.

[Partheus]

Partheus recovered from his injuries in Zecora's hut, and after saying his goodbyes to everyone, went on his way with Newsworthy back to Ponyville. There, in time, he will learn further lessons and morals that will shape him into the great warrior he is destined to be, as well as discovering hidden powers within himself that even Celestia reveres. During the next 30 years of Partheus' life, great and terrible things will happen in the Five Realms, the likes of which have never been seen before, and never will be seen again...

[MarchingHammers]

The Human Alchemist, who lost his hand to the kunai, would go on to live a life of solitude along with Zecora. He had many more excursions throughout Equestria, learning about the different flora that inhabited it. He lived relatively peacefully--- as far as everyone but Zecora knows--- and thus died with his secrets many years later in his shack, alongside his sisterly figure, who buried him with a mixture of rejuvination seeds... which may have an effect in the future.

[NeilWacaster]

Newsworthy made a full recovery from his injuries under the care of the Ponyville doctors. He always seemed to find himself pulled into ever crazier adventures, often with Partheus. However, he did eventually find true love, and he started a newspaper empire greater than any that had been seen before or since.