Farmwood
Chapter 2
Meanwhile, much deeper into the dark woods beyond the farm, lay a deep cave that burrowed into a large hill. The hill was covered in dead trees, rotting wood, and other dead foliage, as if the hill itself were toxic to life.
In the far reaches of the cave lived an old hermit; a warlock named Kruger Deathbranch. He was a twisted old man who had studied dark magic his entire life, ever since his mother cast him out from his farmland home as a young man for abusing the magical gift she had bestowed upon him.
His cave spiraled down into a series of twisted corridors, each one having been converted to various rooms, storage, and other uses. The final room was Kruger’s laboratory. It was littered with books and supplies surrounding a large wooden desk where a bubbling cauldron oozed and fumed a foul stench into the air. Kruger stirred the pot carefully while enchanting it with his magic words.
“Stir, stir, oh darkened brew.
Turn the green to the darkest hue.
I shall drink down to my dying breath.
For you to save me from certain death!”
The cauldron glowed with an eerie green light as the brew inside darkened and swirled as if it were alive. The potion was finally completed after months of painstaking preparation.
“At last!” Kruger said with an evil grin, his crooked teeth glowing in the dark as they reflected the light of the cauldron. “Immense power and immortal life are mine!”
His assistant, a filthy male green unicorn fluffy named Scruff, snickered behind him as he looked up at his master’s project. “Excellent work master!” He cheered. “But are you sure it will work?”
“Of course it will!” The warlock yelled back in Scruff’s face. “I followed the steps precisely.” He stroked his wiry black beard as he pondered. “But perhaps a test is in order.” He said with a wicked smile as he grabbed his reluctant assistant by his scruff. He scooped some of the potion into a wooden cup and held it to the fluffy’s mouth.
“Ugh, it smells like rotten… everything.” Scruff said with a crinkled nose.
“Yes, well rotten everything was one of the main ingredients.” Kruger replied as he forced the liquid down the pony’s throat. He then set the pony down and watched.
“Oof, it tastes worse than it smells.” Scruffy said as he wobbled on weak legs. “I don’t feel so good.”
Suddenly the fluffy stopped talking as its eyes rolled back into his head. He convulsed on the dirt floor of the cave, twisting and bending his body in every direction before finally falling still. His tongue flopped out of his mouth as he breathed his last breath.
“Damn.” Kruger said, clenching his fist. “Perhaps I added too much deathroot. But a swear I measured the exact amount!”
He then heard Scruff’s corpse groan back to life. His fur had turned dark green, and his eyes went pitch black. He stood up and smacked his lips. “Not a great aftertaste either.”
“Eureka!” Kruger exclaimed. “The potion is a success!” He crouched down to examine his assistant, peering into his ears, mouth, and eyes. “Congratulations, my furry friend. You are now immortal. Every plant you touch will wither away and come under your control as an undead version of itself!”
“Neato!” Scruffy said excitedly. “I can finally show the other fluffies whose boss around here!”
“Don’t get too full of yourself, you measly little worm.” Kruger growled. “Soon all of the others will drink of my new concoction, thus giving me an army of undead power that I can use to take back the farm and defeat that miserable brother of mine!”
Scruffy watched as his master drank deep from the cauldron. Soon he too was convulsing on the floor before rising again. His skin turned a sickly green color and his eyes turned back. He raised his wrinkled, boney hands upward as he felt the evil power flow through him. It cost him his soul, but the trade for undead immortality was worth it.
“AT LAST!” He hollered victoriously. “I am the new God of the dark forest! Soon to be the God of this entire world!”
Scruffy laughed alongside the warlock.
Meanwhile, around the corner of the warlock’s chamber, a brave little brown fluffy alicorn named Toad peeked inside the chamber and reeled in horror to what he had seen. It was like a nightmare come to life! He felt that he must warn the others before it was too late. Hopefully they would listen to him despite him being a low ranking “dirt fluffy”. Brown colored fluffies were often ridiculed for their dirt-like appearance and were considered second class.
However, despite being rejected by his comrades, Toad still cared about them. He knew that even with all of their faults, no one deserved the fate that Kruger had in mind. Their very souls were at stake!
He burst into the colored fluffy feeding hall, a nice banquet room for the pretty colored fluffies. His sudden entrance caused all of the fluffies to look at him.
“We need to get out of here!” He pleaded. “Kruger plans to make us drink his evil potion! It will turn us all into undead monsters!”
The room full of fluffies responded by laughing at him. Sunglow, a massive yellow earthy with orange mane, stepped forward and glared down at toad, who was only half his size.
“You stupid dirt clod.” Sunglow said menacingly. “Even if you were telling the truth, who says we’d turn on our master?”
“But he wants to turn you all into an army of monsters!” Toad explained. “You would give up your very soul for that evil tyrant?”
Sunglow stomped his hoof to silence Toad before he could say more. “Sounds to me like our master wishes to make us stronger, and you’re just a scared little weakling who’s too pathetic to handle it.” He stepped closer to Toad with a cold look in his eyes. The other fluffies began to circle behind him, ready to pounce on his command.
Toad knew it was hopeless to stay. They would surely kill him. Instead he bolted backwards, spraying dirt in Sunglow’s face.
“Argh!” Sunglow hollered as he shook the dirt from his eyes. “You’ll pay for that you little runt!”
Toad quickly shut the large wooden door and knocked down the wooden bar into the door’s metal holders, locking the door from the outside. The door began to crack and splinter as the fluffies inside did their best to break it down.
“I’ve got to hurry!” Toad said as he quickly ran to the “dirt den” where all of the brown fluffies were segregated. He burst inside and pleaded his case yet again, this time gaining a more appropriate response.
“Thank you for warning us, my son.” Said Loam, the brown elder. He was a dark brown unicorn with long grey mane and a long grey beard to match. He wore a tan burlap shall over his shoulders and back for warmth. He climbed up onto the table and stomped his hoof to quiet the nervous murmuring. Two dozen fluffies, all various shades of brown, looked up at him with worried eyes.
“Toad has informed us of something grave indeed.” Loam said in his old raspy voice. “The time has come for us dirt fluffs to leave this wretched cave once and for all!”
“But where will we go?” Cried one of the brown mothers as she held her foals tight.
“What will we eat?” Borgus the black asked, he was a chubby fluffy with food constantly on his mind.
“What if they catch us?”
“I’m too scared to run!”
“It’s too risky!”
“SILENCE!” Loam shouted as he stomped his hoof on the wooden table again. “Your elder has spoken. We’ve known for some time now that the master was up to no good, plotting some evil scheme that he used us as slaves to gather supplies for. Not to mention the discrimination we’ve endured against us by the colorful fluffs.”
The room murmured in agreement.
“We all knew that this day would come.” Loam continued. “We need to be brave and make our escape now, before its too late.” The elder then turned to Toad’s best friend, Bark, and nodded. “It’s time to open the secret escape tunnel that we’ve been working on each night.”
Bark, a light brown earthy with dark brown mane, ran over to the far end of the den, pulling a large clump of twisted roots away from the wall to reveal a small dug escape tunnel, just big enough to fit a fluffy one by one.
“I’ll go first to make sure the coast is clear.” Bark said with a nod. Then he was off, scuffling through the tunnel like a mole.
“Don’t be afraid, my fluffy children!” Loam said encouragingly as he followed Bark. “Follow me to freedom!”