//------------------------------//
// Prologue: Arm-Worm 
// Story: Zecora and the Parasite 
// by Faedelaide 
//------------------------------//

Sammakött could still feel a throbbing pain travelling through his body in thick waves. His arm had stopped bleeding days ago, but it was far from healed. He felt the wound with his remaining hand. Darkness still shrouded his vision, and his eye was still warm with fresh pain. It was only two weeks since his escape from the ice, but he was still blind, missing a limb, and lacking an army of any kind. The soft crunch of soil and frost under his hooves, accompanied by the creaking wind told him that he was still in a forest, but where he was exactly was a mystery. It would help if he could remember where he had originally set his enchantment to take him, but wandering around was out of the question. In a world so densely populated by the enemy, and with no reinforcements to help him, anywhere he went was likely to be dangerous. It was a guarantee that Twilight had already told the other princesses about his release, and they were likely to tell everyone else. Fifteen thousand years of planning, only to end up back at square one. 

Sammakött sat still. Slowly, the throbbing subsided, and he focused on listening to the forest around him. The quiet, aged creaking of the trees around him masked the sound of sleeping animals. Snoring squirrels, snoozing birds, even the slowed heartbeat of hibernating animals. There was a bear sleeping away in a cave not too far away. Its breathing was incredibly slow. It was unlikely to wake up if he entered its cave and ate it. Sam was missing many things at this moment, but he still had food, which was good. If there was one thing he was thankful for, it was the fact that, for the time being at least, he wouldn't have to resort to eating ponies. They always tasted awful.

As he listened to the rhythm of the forest, Sam's breathing began to slow, over time beginning to stay in beat with the swaying of the trees. It was night time, as was evident by the quiet breathing of the animals around him. Perhaps it was best to rest, and let the cold envelop him.

As the wind calmed, and Sam began to fade away into peaceless slumber, a faint whistling disturbed the quiet tranquility of the forest. It was a warbling whistle, like the scream of a dying animal. It shook and vibrated in the air, until it finally reach Sam's ears. His eye reflexively snapped open, then quickly shut as he flinched in pain. Heaving himself up from his bed of snow, he looked up into the black sky. The whistling grew closer, and with it, so did an old accomplice.

Sam could feel the rush of wind on his nape, followed swiftly by the flapping of two great, feathered wings. A familiar hiss nestled in Sam's ears, and he turned to the direction of the noise.

"Well... If it isn't Isidora. I suspected you'd be the first to find me," Sam gurgled, a small smile splitting his face.

"Of course, Alma. My loyalty to you is as undying as your brutality, my lord," the puechen spoke in a sugary sweet voice.  Sam could never really tell if her constant whistling came from her feathers, or if she just spoke that way.

"Well I'm glad to hear from you, Isidora. I might have lost my men, but it's good to see my most loyal follower has found me."

Isidora took a sharp breath through her teeth as Sam stared in her direction. "What in Boiuna happened to you, mi rey? You look like you picked a fight with Lady Madness."

Sam grunted. "I'll ignore the fact that you think Markinockyonazae could do this much to me."

"What, are you going to tell me that the ponies did that much to you? They didn't seem all that dangerous on the way here."

"Their princesses are adept in magic, one of them in Aether magic."

Isidora gasped. "You don't think they're a descendant of Ma Vie, do you?"

"No. I nearly killed the new crystal princess, but that... Twilight... Sparkle... stopped me," Sam spat.

"Wow. Would you like me to drink her blood and steal her heart for you, Alma?"

"No, that won't be necessary. She's much too dangerous anyway, especially now that the whole kingdom knows of our existence."

"and the griffons too. They'd have to be pretty stupid not to." the serpent added.

Sam growled, feeling the ooze in his throat bubble and froth as he did. "Thank you, Isidora, for the reminder."

"S-sorry," He could hear the puechen slither along the branches, her serpentine body flowing through the arms of the forest like water. "So what do we do then? I get the feeling that more than just your eye is dysfunctional."

Sam sighed, mindlessly clawing at the dirt. He reveled in the ease in which his talons carved through the soil. If only it were flesh, and not snow. 

"Well," he spoke up, "currently, we're fugitives in a kingdom rife with the very things that want us dead. We have no reinforcements, no magic and, for me at least, no vision."

"Yeah... How long until that eye heals back up?"

"A week at most, but that's more than enough time for some unsuspecting pony to stumble upon us and report our location to the princesses. Speaking of, Isidora, dearest, where are we?"

"Oh, let me do another check around. Be right back, my lord."

Sam listened as she shot up into the air, trailing that same whistling behind her as she flew. He continued to hear her whistling as she soared in a wide circle around him. After a minute, the whistling stopped, and again, Sammakött felt the rushing of wind and the flapping of wings as Isidora landed.

"Well, I got some good news and bad news."

"Don't give me crumbs, Dora. Just tell me where we are," Sam growled

"Judging by the odd pattern of the nearby trees and the ramshackle building that's about a mile off from here, we appear to be on the edge of some sort of orchard. The building sported an apple symbol, so if I were to guess, it's an apple orchard, and a pretty big one at that."

Sam sat upright, his muscular hide rippling in tense waves. "Were there any ponies?"

"There was one big one doing something, but lights were on in his house, so it's possible there are more. I doubt there are more than four however, the building wasn't that big."

"Any unicorns? Pegasi?"

"The big one didn't have wings or a horn as far as I saw. I did have to keep my distance, however. Thank goodness it's night, otherwise he might've actually seen me. I believe the only thing he caught onto was my whistling." Isidora flapped her wings in annoyance. They whistled as she did so, seemingly out of spite. If he weren't upset, Sam might've chuckled. At least that was one question answered.

He grunted. Ripping his hand from the dirt, he pointed in the direction of Isidora. "Then what's the good news in all this, that we're only on the edge of the pony kingdom?"

Sam heard more slithering as Isidora moved herself in front of him. "No. I don't know if I'm right about this, it has been a while."

"What is it?"

"Well, I remember you telling some of us about the 'last resort' when you concepted the enchantment. You told us that if we were lost, we could find you at your old home."

Sam's eye nearly opened again in surprise. "You mean we're..."

"Yup, we're smack in the middle of Narok... or what was Narok. How insulting, turning it into some boring old fruit field."

Sam was quiet for a moment. Isidora slithered restlessly in the trees above, waiting for her master to say something. After some time, Sam collected his thoughts. "How far do you think you could fly, Isidora?"

"For you, Alma? I'd fly to the moon and back."

"Good. I need you to find Lambton. Comb every shoreline, search every cave. Do not stop until you have found him."

"Lambton?" Isidora questioned, the fear in her voice apparent. "You mean like the sarcomancer Lambton? The 'massacre of the grey temple' Lambton?"

"Yes. We can't afford to loaf around here when my army is running amok all across the kingdom and I'm missing an arm and an eye. It'll take me months until my arm is fully regenerated, and that's an amount of time we can't afford to waste. We need Lambton."

"...Whatever you say, my lord. I can't guarantee he'll listen to me, but I'll try."

"If you find him, and he is belligerent, tell him I have an offer for him that he'd regret rejecting."

"Ah, earning your army back with negotiation. Ever the talented and capable ruler, Alma."

"yes, alright, thank you. Now go! Find Lambton!" Sam shook his hand at the serpent, shooing her into the sky.

"Yes, my lord! I'll be back, I promise! I won't disappoint you."

"You never have," Sam gurgled.

With a flap of her wings, Isidora flew up into the air. Sammakött listened as her telltale whistling faded away into the night. Left in peaceful silence once again, he laid his head down upon the soft pillow of snow, and slowly, he was swept off into the serene cloud of sleep.