A Horse By Any Other Name (Part 7)

One Month after the Summer Solstice (Seventh Moon, 1000 ALB)

After Raven snaps at him, Grotto fires back, "I say this because it is the flesh I worry about. I want my dwarf flesh back and not this horseflesh! If we are to blindly trust an unstable mind then so be it! When it all goes to $#£+ because we are following him, then we will all be sorry! Under that foil could lurk a fiend or the dimwitted accomplice to a fiend!" He turns towards Foil Hat and barks, "So be it Foil Hat, lead us to the lions!" Grotto's tone turns sarcastic, "Come pretty ponies, let us trot to our doom!Doom! I hear there is a nice white, windowless carriage with 'FREE CANDY' written on the side we can investigate along the way!" His voice drops to a near growl, "Loki sent us here. We are trusting a stranger too easily for this to be realm the trickster god banished us to! This is surely some sort of Loki’s machinations"

Kysek and Ra’ziir both look over the symbols in the floor. The sigils are protective in nature, meant to confine extraplanar entities. While the symbols are mostly universal in regards to good and evil or law and chaos, the ones here skew more towards those both elves grew up learning in their youth. Kysek next turns his eyes to the blackboard. He immediately notices that this Abacus fellow has very neat handwriting. The second thing are the words "Spell components needed or no? Establish symbolic link for caster. Possible to forego? Test!"

The unicorn looks up as the group begins to pile into the room, confusion written plainly across his face.  “Foil Hat, what the hay is meaning of this?”

The party’s unusual guide smiles and replies, “Abacus, I have brought some guests who need our help….”  At this point, Shadow moves to the fore and introduce ls himself. "I am Shadow. My company are seeking a way to travel back to our home, magically of course. The foil-hatted one was certain that you were the one to help us. Or point us in the right direction."

"Foil Hat is right. I believe I can help you." The wizard takes a breath, "So, this is the land of Equestria. It is inhabited by three tribes of ponies, Earth, Unicorn, and Pegasus. It is one of an infinite number of realms, some good, some evil, some where the only sentient living creatures are talking crayfish. There are things called 'portals', some naturally occurring, some manufactured, that link these worlds together. We just need to find one that will take you where you need to go."

Abacus walks over to one of the bookshelves.  His horn begins to glow, as does a thick tome on one of the upper shelves.  The book floats over to the table in the corner and the unicorn speaks the words “Flickum Bickum” and the candles in the chandelier burst into light.

Cedron listens to the conversation, his mind turning back to his experiment. "Flying didn't work," he thinks to himself, "I wonder about the contents of the Cloak or the other items." He concentrates, willing the seed pouch he received from Malazzarr to appear in his teeth. To his disappointment, nothing happens.

Abacus eyes the party, “There is an old mare’s tale, some say it is only that, but I believe that there is something more to it.  This is the history of Equestria.  These pages contain, among other things, a story about a portal our princess once used to travel between worlds.  I have been meaning to search for this portal for a long time and it looks like we’re going to do it together.  Foil Hat, fetch Compass Rose and Honey Bucket.  We may need their help on this too.  I’m going to gather my things.”

Foil Hat tilts his head quizzically to one side, “Why?  Where are we going?”

The wizard looks at him and replies, “Isn’t it obvious?  We’re going to the Castle of the Two Sisters, at the heart of the Everfree Forest.”

Foil Hat stares back at his friend and gulps.

Niklas quietly listens while subtly casing the room for items of interest. Most of the geegaws, test tubes, beakers, and burners must serve some sort of mysterious purposes but based solely on its appearance, he can't determine what those might be.

Raven lurks near the stairs, watching the group and Grotto. He wonders if perhaps he was too harsh in yelling at dwarf.

Grotto slinks to the back of the herd. He is sure that there is no way a powerful wizard would freely offer aid. Surely this trickster realm has conflict of some sort! There must be more to this place than pretty ponies and rainbows! The dwarf-turned-pony remains tensed and ready to strike with a powerful kick from his hindlegs should the situation turn sour.