//------------------------------// // #1, Pegascrubs // Story: Equestrians in Termina // by MagicMissingno //------------------------------// AN: Welcome one and all to my first fanfic! If you see any mistakes or have some constructive criticism for me, then please feel free to post a comment. I’m pretty sure I will make a lot of comma errors. --- In a dark and gloomy forest, a lone figure traveled. A young swordsman in a green tunic rode on his trusted horse through the wood. He was searching for a lost friend, someone that accompanied him on a quest long ago. As he passed on, two balls of light appeared in front of his horse, startling it so much that it reared up onto its hind legs. The swordsman was thrown off and landed on a jagged rock behind him. Crimson liquid escaped him and pooled on the forest’s floor. From the shadows came an echoing chuckle. It sounded childlike, but any listener would feel the malice within it. A small creature came from where the hideous sound originated. The creature was shorter than the swordsman and looked much like a walking scarecrow. On its face was a mask. The mask was shaped like a Valentine’s Day heart. Adorning the mask were ten spikes; two of them were on the top to look like horns while four adorned each side at the bottom of the mask. The eyes of the mask were large with yellow were normal eyes would be white, small green irises, and tiny pupils. The two lights that startled the horse came to the creature. If one looked closer, they could see wings adorning the purple and white lights. “Hee hee, you two fairies did great!” the creature said. “I wonder if he has anything good on him…” The creature walked up to the swordsman, eager to see what he could take. He kicked the body to turn it over and started to look for anything of value. He pulled out what looked like a blue potato with holes. The creature blew in the long part of it and it played a note. It laughed once more and continued to blow in it to make sound. The purple fairy spoke up. “Ooh, ooh!” it said in a boyish voice, “What a pretty ocarina… Hey, Skull Kid, lemme touch it! I wanna see!” The white fairy bumped into the purple fairy. “You can’t Tael!” it said with a girlish voice, “What would we do if you dropped it and broke it? No way! You can’t touch it!” “Aw, but sis… Why can’t I try it out too?” --- Fluttershy stood at the edge of the Everfree Forest. She didn’t want to go in, but she knew she had too. Zecora had to stay in Ponyvile due to an outbreak of manticores so some of the ponies had to help with relocating the beasts. Fluttershy was one of them because she was an animal expert. She was tense, but then she felt something on her back and smiled. “Thanks for coming, Rainbow Dash.” She turned to the cyan pegasus whom had placed her wing on Fluttershy’s back. “No problem, Fluttershy. I know how much you hate this place so you might as well have your crush help calm you down.” Fluttershy blushed at this. She indeed had a crush on Rainbow Dash and everypony knew about it. Rainbow Dash didn’t have any strong feelings for her but didn’t mind being the crush of a mare. “Anyways, we’re not gonna get anything done by just standing ‘round here.” “Um, right. Let’s-” Fluttershy stopped mid-sentence when she heard something similar to a foal’s laughter. She turned to the sound’s direction. “Rainbow Dash, did you hear something?” The rainbow maned pegasus nodded. “It sounded a lot like a foal to me, although it sounded pretty creepy.” “Do you think a foal could have wandered into the forest?” “Not really, but we should still go check it out just in case. They might be in danger.” The two pegasi ran into the forest to investigate the sound. --- As Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash traveled into the forest, they could hear more of the laughter. If they had been paying attention to the surrounding area, they would have noticed a transition in the trees. They became darker as the two pegasi galloped out of their world and into another. Soon they saw the Skull Kid, the fairies, the horse, and the dead swordsman. “Hey!” Rainbow Dash yelled to get the Skull Kid’s attention, “What do you think you’re doing?!” It turned to look at the two pegasi, causing Fluttershy to quickly hide behind her friend, and then jumped on the large earth pony and made its escape with the fairies close behind. “Get back here!” yelled Rainbow Dash as she prepared to chase the creature. “Wait,” Fluttershy protested, “I think it would be best if we stuck together. Please don’t fly or run too fast.” Rainbow Dash turned to her friend and nodded. “You’re right there. I’ll pace myself so you can keep up.” Fluttershy ran as fast as she could while Rainbow Dash paced herself to match her speed. It looked like the Skull Kid had ran into a cave but when the two reached it they found no floor. On instinct they opened their wings and started to descend. Landing softly on a large flower, the two mares faced the Skull Kid. The room they were in was large and cavernous with two torches lit at the other side of the room. The Skull Kid floated in the center of the room. “What’s with you stupid horses? Why can’t you let me just have my fun?” it said in its childlike yet malicious voice. “You think hurting others is fun?! You’re sick!” Rainbow Dash yelled with spite. She unfurled her wings. “I’m gonna kick you so hard, you won’t be able to-” The Skull Kid laughed, interrupting the cyan pegasus. “Oh, come now… Do you really think you can beat me as I am now? Fools!” Before either pegasus could react, the mask glowed and rattled. They felt a sharp pain all over their bodies and passed out for a second. They came to and looked in the water to see their reflections. Fluttershy was speechless and Rainbow Dash gave a scream to what they had become. The two former pegasi were now much different. Instead of standing on four legs, they now stood on two. Their eyes glowed yellow without pupils and they had large snout-like mouths. The biggest change of all however, was their bodies were made from wood. They looked almost exactly the same except Fluttershy still had her long pink mane that curled at the end and Rainbow Dash had her messy, yet stylish, rainbow mane. Once again the Skull Kid let out his eerie laughter. “Hee, hee! Now, that’s a good look for you two! You’ll stay here looking like that forever!” For some reason everyone could hear a girlish voice say “FOREEEEEEVER!” but then they passed it off. Skull Kid and his fairies backed away. Rainbow Dash tried to pursue them but the white fairy rammed into her and knocked her back. The purple fairy turned around and cried “S-sis!” before the wall closed up. The white fairy turned and flied to the closed wall. “Whoa! Hey, Skull Kid, wait for me! I’m still here! Tael, you can’t leave without me!” She rammed the wall and then sighed. She then turned to Rainbow Dash. “YOU! If I wasn’t dealing with you, I wouldn’t have gotten separated from my brother!” Rainbow would have crossed her eyebrows but in her new form she didn’t have any. “Well don’t just sit there, Deku girl! Do something!” Rainbow Dash was about to smack the fairy but Fluttershy tapped her back. “Um, Rainbow Dash, maybe we should help her.” “What?! Fluttershy, in case you haven’t noticed we are in a rather bad situation. We’re trapped, lost, and we’re currently made of wood! Right now, we need help more!” “I know, and that’s why I think we should help her. If we help her, maybe she’ll help us.” “Will you two stop chatting and open the door for me?!” The white fairy then looked at the door which looked more like part of the wall. “Oh, Tael… I wonder if that child will be okay on his own…” Sighing, Rainbow Dash walked up to the door. She tried to lift it up but it was a little too heavy for her. “Hey Fluttershy, can ya help me lift this thing?” Fluttershy might not have been strong, but she had enough strength to help her friend get the door open. The two went further into the cave when suddenly the fairy flew in front of them. “Hey, wait for me! Don’t leave me behind!” Rainbow Dash gave her a weird look, at least as weird a look as she could make, to the fairy. “So, um… that stuff back there… I, um apologize so take me with you! You two wanna know about that Skull Kid right?” “Is that what the little bucker is called?” “I don’t know what that means but I do have an idea of where he might be going. Take me with you and I’ll help you out. Do we have a deal?” Fluttershy smiled. “We sure do.” “Good! So then it’s settled. I’ll be your helper, or at least until we catch up to that Skull Kid. My name is Tatl. So, uh, nice to meet you or whatever…” “Pleased to meet you Tatl, my name is Fluttershy.” Fluttershy said. If she had a better mouth she would have been smiling. “My name is Rainbow Dash, and I’m the fastest flier in all of Equestria!” Rainbow Dash said with her usual bravado. “At least I was…” “Well now that we know each other, can we stop messing around and get moving? Let me know if you need help.” The two nodded and proceeded down the path until they stopped where there was a large chasm. “How the hay are we gonna cross this?” Rainbow dash asked, “Ugh, if we weren’t…wood things then we could cross this with ease!” Tatl came up and observed the floor. “I can tell you two aren’t used to being Deku Scrubs. See the large flowers beneath you?” The two pegascrubs looked down to see flowers wider than them. “If you dive into them and launch yourselves, then you can fly over to the other side.” Fluttershy shuffled uncomfortably. Rainbow Dash picked up on her anxiety and decided to try it first. She dove in the flower and launched herself in the air with two flowers in hoof that acted like propellers. Hmm, if I got this right then if I shift my weight… Rainbow Dash leaned forward and moved to the other side of the room. After she reached it the flowers ran out of energy and fell apart making her land. “It’s okay Fluttershy!” Rainbow Dash called out after she landed, “All you have to do is shift your weight to move in the air! The petals don’t last long, but that shouldn’t be an issue!” Fluttershy inhaled and exhaled to calm herself and then dived into the flower. She repeated what Rainbow Dash did, except she landed on her face. Rainbow Dash helped her up and Fluttershy’s cheeks turned a dark purple. “Hey, what’s with the blushing? Falling after your first flight is nothing to be embarrassed about." Then the fairy remembered how the two were interacting like they were very close. "You know, if you two weren’t the same gender I’d think you two were into each other.” “I’m not into Fluttershy, but she does have a crush on me.” Fluttershy’s whole face turned purple at that. “Wha? Um, okay. I guess I can deal with that.” The two pegascrubs and fairy continued down the path. One room had a few ledges but with the launchlillies as Fluttershy named them they managed to proceed. After a while they managed to reach a room with machinery. There was running water too. Tatl spoke up. “Be careful with water. Deku Scrubs can’t swim.” As the three walked around the room and got close to the door a low voice was heard behind them. “You’ve met with a terrible fate, haven’t you?” The three turned to see a thin but tall creature. It had a pale pink coat similar to the swordsman but the middle part of its coat was purple. It had two sets of eyebrows but no eyes. On its face was a rather large grin and something that stuck out above the mouth. It had a red mane that only covered the top of his head but no tail. It walked on two legs and its front hooves seemed to have five claws on each hoof. There was a large bag on the creature’s back. Fluttershy hid behind Rainbow Dash for safety while she made an aggressive pose, although considering her form she didn't really make a threatening stance . “How do you know that?! Are you a spy? How the buck did you fallow us anyhow?!” The creature approached slowly and held out one of its hooves. “I own the Happy Mask Shop. I travel far and wide in search of masks. During my travels, a very important mask was stolen from me by an imp from the woods. So here I am at a loss, and now I found you… Now don’t think me rude but I have been fallowing you.” “Again, how the buck have you been fallowing us?” Suddenly the creature changed positions faster than anypony could see. “I know of a way to return you to your former selves.” Instantly the two pegascrubs perked up. “If you can get the ocarina the imp stole from the swordsman, I can return you to normal.” He changed his position again. “All I ask is that you also get back my precious mask that the imp stole from me.” “Hey, no problem. Even in this form I can still kick that bucker’s flank.” “Um, Rainbow Dash, are you sure-” “WONDERFUL!” the creature cried, “However, there is one small catch. I’m a busy fellow, and I must leave in three days. Please get back my mask before my time is up.” “You got it!” Rainbow Dash opened up the door and went outside. “Man, that guy was creepy. Did you see the way he looked?” “Um, Rainbow Dash.” “I mean, he had no eyes, and did you see his hooves? Freaky!” “Rainbow…” “But if he can turn us back to our normal selves then I guess he’s not all bad. I still want to know how he fallowed us.” “WOULD YOU LOOK AT THE SCENERY?!” Fluttershy yelled uncharacteristically. “Oh, sorry…” “Don’t worry about it.” Then Rainbow Dash saw her surroundings and gasped. “Oh crap…there’s more of that creature.” ---- I think that’s a good stopping point. How will the two pegasi deal with their new forms? How will they fare in this new world? Will that creature really change them back to their new forms? You’ll just have to keep reading.