//------------------------------// // Chapter 12: Departure // Story: A Tale of Crafters and Ponies // by Dolphy Blue Drake //------------------------------// Chapter 12: Departure We waited for a few minutes until everyone had assembled in the entry hall before I started to speak. “Now that we’re all together,” I began, “I can tell you what we’ve decided.” The ponies already knew what I was about to say, but the children gave looks of slight confusion. I sighed before continuing. “We’ve decided that it’s time for me to track down the monster who kidnapped my wife and Huey’s parents,” I announced, provoking gasps from the children. “Twilight, Applejack and Rainbow Dash have decided that they will accompany me, while Rarity, Pinkie and Fluttershy will take care of you children in my absence. Behave for them as you would for me, okay?” The children stared at me for a while in silence before anyone said anything. Kryanna ran up to me and hugged my leg, tears streaming down her face. “Daddy, please don’t go!” she sobbed. “I know you said you’d get Mommy back, and I believe you, but I’ll miss you so much!” I picked my little angel up and hugged her tight. “I’ll miss you, too, Krya,” I replied as I wiped her tears. “But I’ll bring Mommy back with me. I’ll make a track so we can get back quickly. We’ll be back before you know it.” “You mean it?” she asked as she stopped crying. “Yes,” I replied as I pulled Wyvern’s old locket out of my pocket and showed it to her. I had almost forgotten that I had it on me. “Daddy, that’s…” she said as her eyes grew large. “It’s your mother’s locket,” I told her. “She dropped it when she was being dragged away by that fiend. I’ve held onto it to remind me of her. Now, I’m giving it to you, to remind you of both of us, and that we’ll be a family again.” I opened the locket and showed her the photo inside. I’ve looked at it so often; I can recall the picture almost perfectly. Wyvern and I were standing in front of our old house, with a three-year-old Kryanna smiling up at us while standing in front of us. “That’s us!” she gasped as she took a look at the photo. I smiled as she hugged me tight, with more tears streaming down her face. “I’ll look at it every day, Daddy,” she told me as I put her down. “I haven’t seen Mommy’s face for so long, and with this, it’ll be like you and Mommy are still with me. Thank you, Daddy.” “I love you, my little angel,” I said. “I love you, too, Daddy,” she replied, smiling. Huey came up to me, and gave me a determined look. “I know you’ll get my Mom and Dad back, Dolphy,” the boy said. “If anyone can get them back, it’s you.” I thanked Huey, and then we said our goodbyes and left, with the others following after us until we reached the city gate. After that, they just stood there and waved, wishing us luck. “Well,” Twilight said, turning to me, “where do we go?” “We’ll start at the nearby Testificate village,” I replied. “They should have information. The villages have ways to communicate with each other that even I don’t understand. With the information they’ll have, we can at least set off in the right direction.” ------Ponies (Dolphy’s Group)------ “What are Testificates, anyway?” Dash asked. “They’re similar to human Crafters,” Dolphy replied. “However, they have taller heads, larger noses, and they have no means to defend themselves. Most monsters leave them alone, but zombies are a different story. Testificates are terrified of zombies, and with good reason: zombies actually attack them. What’s even worse is that when a zombie kills one, the dead villager turns into a zombie, as well. At least they can be cured, but it’s not easy.” The group walked in silence for a few minutes before they arrived at a small structure that vaguely resembled a train station. Dolphy walked over to the tracks in front of the structure and pulled what appeared to be a toy of some sort out of his pocket. “What’s that supposed to be?” Applejack asked, breaking the silence. “It’s an Electric Locomotive,” the Crafter said. “It’s the fastest train we’ve got.” “How can a toy train possibly help us?” Twilight asked. “It’s not a toy,” the Crafter said as he set it down on the track. Suddenly, the tiny train expanded until it was taller than Dolphy, and about four blocks long. “How did you do that?” Twilight asked in surprise. “How can something get bigger, just like that?” “You know,” the Crafter replied, “I never gave that any thought. That’s just how things work in this world. Or maybe it’s just how it works for us Crafters. I’m not quite sure.” Dolphy then pulled out what looked like a toy passenger car, then placed it behind the train. Just like the engine, the passenger car expanded until it was the size of a full-fledged car. Next, the dragon-like pulled out a crowbar and swung it at the space between the two objects. “There,” he said as he pocketed the crowbar, “they’re linked now. That should work.” “This train may not be nearly as fast as our flying friend here,” he added, nodding in Dash’s direction, “but it should be fast enough. It can cover a distance of 237,000 blocks in an hour at max speed, so I hope that’s fast enough for you. The village is about four thousand blocks away, so we should be there in about a minute.” The ponies were quite astonished at the tremendous speed he mentioned, but they simply climbed inside the passenger car and waited for Dolphy to start the train. “How can a train go that fast?” Twilight wondered out loud. “Ah don’t know,” Applejack replied, “but not much in this world makes sense. Maybe it’s just another quirk of this world.” Dash opened her mouth to reply, but closed it as the train suddenly lurched forward, pinning her to her seat. The landscape zipped by in a colorful blur, everything passing by too fast to properly see. The train didn’t turn once during the whole trip, just one straight path. The train started to slow down, and the ponies could see the landscape they had arrived in: the grass was a dull, yellowish green color, but it didn’t look like it was dying or dried out. There were trees all over the place, but they were rather short: only three blocks tall, counting the leaves. As the train came to a complete stop, they saw the village Dolphy had mentioned earlier. The houses were considerably smaller than the dwellings in Shimmering Hope, and most of them were made out of what appeared to be oak. The most interesting aspect, however, was the inhabitants: they resembled larger versions of the human boy, Huey, but they had taller heads, large noses, wore robes of varying colors, and they almost always had their arms folded. Soon after the train stopped, Dolphy was standing outside the passenger car, motioning for the three ponies to follow him. They complied, and once they were all out of the car, Dash spoke up. “Are those the Testificates you told us about?” she asked. “Yes they are,” the dragon-like replied. “I’ll be talking to them to glean some information. You can explore the village if you want, but don’t leave its boundaries. We’ll be staying here for the night, which should be in about an hour.” With that, Dolphy left the ponies and struck up a conversation with the nearest Testificate, who was wearing a white robe. “Well, you heard him,” Dash said. “Let’s check this place out!” Twilight and Applejack agreed, and the three set out to explore the village.