[LPW] The Sunflower Fields (Adventure)

[SilverSwirl]

Somewhere, deep in the darkest depths of the Forest of Madness, is a field of sunflowers. The field seems to stretch on forever, the only change in the landscape, a colossal sunflower that grew in the middle of the field at the sound of SilverSwirl's bass guitar melody complete with a log house on top of it.

Seated on his throne of yarn, Silver Swirl observes his domain, the breeze blowing through the aquamarine unicorn stallion's burnished gold mane. He smiles as he nibbles a cupcake, waiting for anypony or anything to wander into the fields, with a book levitated in front of him. This book was his journal, a record of his magical accomplishments and his only clue to his true origins. While he waited, he remembered how he had discovered the field of sunflowers...

TWO WEEKS EARLIER

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Silver Swirl had left the cruel wastes of the Outlands behind, unable to remember where he had come from. Spotting the Forest of Madness, its mysteriousness drew him in, he entered and wandered for hours, staring at all the strange and wondrous things it revealed to his mind filled with cloudy memories.

Coming to a split in the path, he was unsure of where to go until he felt himself pulled down the right side of the fork. He trotted for a day and a half, pausing to eat fruits and drink water along the way, until the forest opened up to a massive field of golden sunflowers. Silver could only stare in awe for a few minutes as his mind cleared and he remembered his name, "I'm...Silver...Swirl? Yes, that's my name! I remember now!", he exclaimed as he stepped into the field........

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His reverie was broken by shouts emanating from just outside the borders of the field. Looking up, he spots a group of ponies enter the field, wielding futuristic weaponry and he shouted through a megaphone, "HALT! WHAT IS YOUR BUSINESS COMING INTO MY HOME ARMED FOR COMBAT!!" He frowned as they responded by taking aim and firing a volley of bullets and the unicorns blasting at him with magic. Ducking down, he felt the bullets and magic impact his throne of yarn and he decided that if they wished to make an attempt on his life, they were going to pay as he charged up his spell that he affectionately called, "Mother Gaia".

Chuckling, he replied to their attack, "You shouldn't have done that...". He was prepped for an easy victory but he could hear more marching hooves and victory seemed much less certain. "I could use some help...", he said as he sent out a telepathic message to all who could hear, "I AM BEING ATTACKED! I COULD USE SOME HELP! COME TO THE SUNFLOWER FIELDS IN THE FOREST OF MADNESS IF YOU ARE WILLING TO HELP ME DRIVE THESE INVADERS FROM MY HOME!!".

[tyler008bon]

The Pegasus Spirit had been hearing the threats from afar, wondering whether he should help the Unicorn or not. Finally, the remnants of his creator Tyler's conscious won out, and Vengeance rushed to hold off these futuristic soldier ponies.

Vengeance flew over the small army, shooting bolts from his spiritual crossblade (Crossbow + sword) as he passed them. After three passes, several Pegasus ponies flew to intercept him, but the had been prepared, and the blade part of his crossblade turned most of his opponents into bloody sacks of skin and organs.

As many of the soldiers turned their attention to him, he yelled to the Unicorn. "Can you please help me now? I don't feel like losing my body just yet!"

[SilverSwirl]

Silver looked up at the strange spirit pony who had answered the call, his horn still glowing and replied, "Yeah! I'll help you out! MOTHER GAIA!". He let the spell fly from his horn and the ground beneath the group that were firing upon both him and Vengeance opened up and spewed a stream of rocks, their screams echoing as they fell into the hole and were tossed back out by the rocks. The ground returned to normal and the sunflowers grew back almost immediately. The entire squad was decimated, many of the ponies trapped under the boulders spewed from the earth and many more were just crushed to death, the injured, who had managed to evade the larger rocks just dropped their weapons and ran away.

Still, many more ponies entered the field, guns blazing. "I picked one Tartarus of a day to discover this place and set up my home! The name is Silver Swirl! What is your name, so I can thank you for your aid when we are victorious!", he shouted up to the ghostly Pegasus. He started to charge up a new spell, sweat forming under his brow.

[tyler008bon]

"I... Am... Vengeance!" he shouted his name to the Unicorn over the gunfire echoing in the air. His crossblade took six more lives before ammunition decided to run out. Switching to the blade feature, Vengeance landed and cut his way through a dozen soldiers to get to the Unicorn called Silver Swirl.

"It is too bad that I can't run out of breath." He said jokingly as a mare screamed, her life bleeding away, "Or else this might actually be challenging." At least two hundred soldiers remained, but Mother Gaia managed to save Vengeance from wasting time on the previous wave.

"Tell me, Silver Swirl." He said as two more stallions were cut open, seeing no more opportune time to ask then during the battle. "Have you heard of the Madmen, or perhaps Applestia?"

[SilverSwirl]

Silver Swirl nodded as the Pegasus Spirit introduced himself. He smiled as he heard the screams of the soldiers cut down by Vengeance's Crossblade. That is, until Silver peeked his body out of cover and took a bullet to the leg, excruciating pain forcing him to grimace. Limping forward slowly, his horn still glowing and his grimace shifted to an expression of regret as he responded to Vengeance's question, "I may have met them, but my memories have been lost, either by technological or magical means. I still remember my magic though and waking up in the Outlands as a colt. I am trying to find out my origins, all this power had to come from somewhere, (argh!)."

Turning towards the remaining soldiers, as he took a blast of magic from one of the unicorns which made him wince and said, "YOU ARE ALL GOING TO PERISH!!!". He closed his eyes, ignoring the pain and the warmth of his blood running down his leg as he finished preparing his magic. Acknowledging Vengeance's presence next to him with a nod and a grim smile, he cranked his magic up to eleven, putting everything he could muster into the spell and said, "You may not need to catch your breath, but I do and I am wounded. I need to finish this! It's do or die for me, and I will not die!".

Bullets and magic flying past his injured form, he advanced towards the enemy. "NOW DIE!!!!", Silver Swirl screamed at the top of his lungs as he unleashed a single ray into the sky, creating a massive thundercloud that hammered the remaining forces with lightning bolts for 30 seconds. Silver Swirl laughed maniacally at the frightened screams of the enemy as they were struck by lightning, the stench of burning pony flesh reaching his nostrils. Only 50 of them remained and they immediately laid down their arms and surrendered.

Panting with exhaustion and barely standing up, Silver Swirl said, "Looks like the battle has been won...", before passing out from his wounds and magic drain.

[tyler008bon]

Vengeance watched and guarded the unconscious Pegasus from the survivors, already killing four that believed they could attack while Silver was asleep.

The fields were something of beauty, but Vengeance didn't care. He only remained to find out if he could help Silver get his memories back. Perhaps he would find a memory or two about the Madmen, or better, his Goddess.

Silver slept soundly, and Vengeance was thrown into a shard of what had to be his creator's life.

He was small and weak, like his maker was, and he was standing in front of... something.

"So Fawkes," The Creator started in a curious tone. "Why did you want me to see the tome of history, again?"

And just like that, Vengeance was back in the real world, staring at a wide-eyed Silver Swirl.

"So that was Fawkes..." He muttered to himself.

[SilverSwirl]

Silver slept a deep sleep, his wound healing ever so slowly. If Vengeance was paying attention, he'd have noticed the blood running in reverse and up into the wound as Silver recovered his strength.

Silver began to dream, a badge with a lightning bolt appearing to him and a voice saying, "See this? This was once yours."

"Who...are you?", he asked in his dream. He was confused, he didnt remember ever having a badge like that. The voice responded, "I am your memories. The ones you supposedly "lost" when you had your mind wiped before your exile from your birthplace.". Silver's mouth dropped open in his dream, he was stunned at this revelation as he asked, "How am I remembering all this?". "Memories are never truly lost, only the synapses don't work. By making cross connections, you can remember what you have forgotten. But you must recover your Franklin badge, it has strong protective properties that you sorely need!", his memories replied to him as he studied the mental image of it before the dream started to fragment and Silver reawakened with wide eyes.

"I had a dream and through the fog of amnesia, a vision of my past. It was of a badge or pin, made of gold with a lightning bolt engraved on it. It seems that my memories aren't truly gone, just buried deep in my subconscious. A voice that claimed to be my memories said it once belonged to me and that I must recover it.", he said to Vengeance as he saw 4 more dead bodies. "Oh and thanks for watching my back while I was down and out. I really appreciate it.", he said with gratitude as he checked his leg. Noticing the damage had healed, he smiled.