//------------------------------// // 3. The First Seal // Story: The Ninth Fantasy - Equestria // by MrAlterad //------------------------------// I'm still ten wolves behind him! Rainbow Dash thought as the group finished up another pack of wolves. She had been keeping count of the number of monsters Steiner has slain, and been trying to catch up, and surpass him. He got a good lead early on since she didn't have a weapon, and now she intended to change that. She noticed the way he grinned at her when he took out that last wolf of the pack. He knows I'm trying to catch up! It! Is! On! Their trek through the forest since getting the weapons from that strange girl had been significantly safer then before, making it like a normal stroll through the Everfree, so relatively safe. Trying to figure out where it was the thickest seemed to have Twilight at a loss, as it didn't seem to get that much thicker as they moved deeper into the forest. With nightfall not being too far away, the group decided to head towards the Castle of the Two Sisters, and check on the Tree of Harmony while there. “I like the idea where we go home,” Fluttershy began, after hearing that plan, “and not sleep over at the abandoned castle in the thick of a forest shrouded in mist. Oh, did I also mention that forest was the Everfree?” She was staying close to the first wolf she 'tamed' after getting her 'weapon'. She even named it 'Fanglesnuffs', which Dash considered completely ridiculous. “We'll be fine Fluttershy.” Rainbow Dash assured, “I mean, you live right next to this forest, right? And why are you keeping that monster? It's made of mist, it's not even a real animal.” “Oh, Rainbow, you'll hurt his feelings.” She said as Fanglesnuffs growled at the blue mare, prompting Dash to roll her eyes. “I have to agree with Ms. Dash,” Steiner began, why is he so formal? “Keeping a monster as a pet will not end well.” “Now now,” Rarity interjected, “She's the animal expert here, let her do what she wants.” Steiner and Dash shared a look, they were not trusting their backs to that wolf. To everyone's surprise, the mist was actually getting thicker now that they were moving towards the castle. Not too long afterwards, an hour before sunset, they reached the canyon and the bridge that led to the castle. Because of the mist, they couldn't see the bottom of the ravine the tree lay within. Carefully climbing down the staircase, they were caught off-guard when a black vine with teal thorns lashed at those in front, Dash and Steiner. “Plunderseeds! Why!?” Twilight screamed as everyone moved to defend themselves from a storm of lashing vines erupting from the bottom of the ravine. “We need to stop trusting Discord!” Dash replied as she attacked the vine that had smashed her into the ground. It was hearty, but still took more hurt than her very first encounters with the vine, another hit would break it apart. Awesome, these greaves can take these down! She thought as she did a somersault, breaking the vine, making the entire line of it turn into mist. “It's mist!?” Dash proclaimed in confusion, and the only reply she got was Steiner cutting down a vine that had wrapped around Fluttershy. She was almost crying from the assault, but a blue glow covered all of them, healing the harm the thorns caused. “Fluttershy, dear! Get in the air!” Rarity cried out as another batch of vines came at them, and Fluttershy did just that. Dash noticed Vivi was standing still, focusing on his staff as one of the vines lashed at him, but it was intercepted by Sunset. Pinkie Pie was looking a little frustrated, her cannon was knocking vines away, but they didn't suffer from confusion like the wolves did. Pinkie's contribute was appallingly limited because of that. “Rainbow Dash!” Twilight shouted, “Try and clear out the mist so we can see the source of these vines!” “I'm on it!” She replied, taking flight, hoping no vine clouds were about to bump into her. She flew fast and with a sharp turn sent a funneled gust down to the ground, clearing out the ravine of mist. In the center of the ravine was a bulbous mass of vines, where they all connected from. With the mist temporarily gone, Dash blitzed the bundle, getting three hard hits in short order. Her brash attack left her exposed, however, and when it lashed at her, it sent her flying against the wall, and as she fell, she hit the ground hard, forcing the air out of her lungs. As darkness started to wash over her vision, she heard a light popping sound next to her, and a warmth washed into her, invigorating her and making her breathing easier. Getting up she saw Twilight looking at her surprised, then happy. “It worked! Zecora is a life saver!” She said as she hugged Dash, and Rarity's healing light washed over her, patching up what remained of the pain and ache. “Thanks you two, but we got a monster to tackle, so keep your eyes on the prize!” Dash declared as she got out her friend's embrace and blitzed the core of the vines again. As her attacks finished, she backed away from its range, and a massive explosion of fire enveloped the mist monster, making a large number of its vines dissipate. “Well done master Vivi! Another blow like that and the fight is ours!” Steiner declared with bravado. In response, all the vines curled up, and exploded out, lashing at everyone. Everyone but Vivi and Sunset were hit, he shield deflecting the ones that had attacked her and the black mage. Fluttershy's wolf howled in anger, and charged at vines that caught the yellow mare, causing the vines to dissipate as Fluttershy was freed from her bonds. She hugged the wolf, and Dash had to admit, that rescue did look kind of awesome, and cute. Twilight teleported free of the vines, Steiner hacked his way out, and Pinkie blew hers off, leaving Rarity and Dash trapped. Before either of them could free themselves from the vines, Vivi let out another blast of fire, and the core shrieked in pain, before melting away into mist. The vines holding Dash and Rarity dissipating, and the monster slain, they all regrouped and Rarity worked her magic, rejuvenating everyone. “That was pretty awesome,” Dash said, rubbing Vivi on the head. “You pack a serious punch.” He thanked her for the compliment, and after everyone was ready to continue, they went into the cave housing the Tree of Harmony, greatly hoping it was just fine. And to their surprise, it was. It looked the same as it always had, the vines seemed to have never even encroached to it. “Is is suppose to look like that?” Steiner asked, unsure if the crystalline tree was normal or not. “It's just perfect!” Twilight exclaimed, and letting out out a sigh of relief, added, “after seeing those roots again, I was terribly worried something had happened to the tree.” “I never had a doubt~!” Pinkie declared, and Dash wasn't sure if she was being serious or not. Pinkie could be hard to read at times. “That hasn't always been there, has it?” Fluttershy asked, pointing to the side of the cave near the tree. There was a large opening where mist was very clearly seeping out of. “Wow,” Sunset said, eyeing the mist, “That was near the tree? But the tree looks just fine.” She admitted, considering Twilight's reaction to seeing the tree. “Maybe the tree has some protection from the mist?” Vivi suggested. “The mist,” Twilight began, looking speculative, “it must have fed some remnants of the plunderseeds. I really hope there's a way to get rid of the mist, we don't need another plunderseed incident,” she admitted. “Well,” Dash said, “what are we standing around out here for? Let's check it out!” Walking towards the cave, they stuck close together, in case something else was waiting to attack them from within. Walking through the cavern for a little bit, Twilight's magic lighting the way, they came upon a room. The mist parted as they entered, seeming to avoid the center of the room, and hugging the walls to allow visibility within. The room had a engraved stone floor, a raised circular platform more than big enough for all of them to stand on. In front of the platform was a circle tablet floating in the air at head's height. Behind the tablet was a large black crystal that was seeping out mist, which flowed to the walls and out the cavern. The crystal was as tall as a pony, and it shimmered with a dark light. “Well, looks like we found our problem.” Dash proclaimed, glaring at the dark crystal. “Let's smash it!” She shouted as she moved to do just that, but unceremoniously slammed into an invisible wall, ow. Her smash sent a pulse of energy through the invisible barrier, momentarily revealing its shape. The stone tablet was set into the wall, and it perfectly surrounded the crystal in an orb. Rubbing her face, Dash returned to her friends, trying to hide her embarrassment, she avoided eye contact with her friends as they appraised the room. When Twilight walked on the platform, a part of it lit up, revealing an eight pointed star. A single line of it was alight, it was purple, matching Twilight's coat. “Neato!~” Pinkie proclaimed as she got on the platform too, and a line of the star turned pink. “Whacha think Twilight? Should we all stand on it and see what happens?” She asked. Twilight was considering it, looking to the tablet. Her eyes appraising it got Dash's attention as well. The circular tablet had a tree emblazoned on it. The tree was similar in appearance to the tree of Harmony, but it had no leaves of any kind. It had eight branches, and on each branch was a small circle with features made out on each of them. The tree's trunk also had a circle on it, but it was clear and smooth, lacking any features within. “Let's try taking down that shield before seeing what happens when we try lighting up the star.” She said, and they all worked to attack the shield. Nothing they did seemed to have any affect on it. The shield pulsated and glowed, it shimmered and sparkled, but it never gave or weakened. “Well, there went that effort.” Sunset said resignedly as she looked to the platform, then to Vivi and Steiner. “Have either of you seen this before?” The Gaians shook there heads, prompting to Sunset and Twilight to share a look, nodding in unison. Just what have those two been through to pull that off? Rainbow Dash thought as she looked between them, her brow furrowed with envy. She stole her crown! And now another short visit later they're buddy buddies? I get she's the princess of friendship, but isn't it risky to trust her so quickly? The element of loyalty wondered as Twilight turned to everyone, speaking up “Alright everyone, let's do this and hope it doesn't make things worse.” She said sheepishly. Pinkie had never gotten off the platform, and had her goofy smile beaming as the others got on, lighting up the star. Sky blue for Dash, white for Rarity, light yellow for Fluttershy, red for Sunset Shimmer, green for Vivi, and orange for Steiner. Those last two had surprised everyone else, the green and orange matched Spike and Applejack. When all of them were on the platform, it glowed brightly, enveloping them all in rainbow light. As the light washed over her, Dash felt a warmth in her heart. Then it all quickly washed away, and the platform lost all its colors. “What!? That's it!” Dash replied, having expected something awesome to happen. A light show wasn't enough to impress the mare, after all, she wasn't a filly. She wasn't the only one that was disappointed. “No, that had to do something, we just don't know what!” Twilight declared as she walked up to where the shield was and poked it. Yep, it's still there. This is looking like a waste of time! “Maybe we should have the others take a look at it?” Rarity suggested. Steiner walked up to it while she said that, scrutinizing the tablet. “We haven't tried breaking this.” He pointed out as he touched it, and it glowed orange, the light making him step back and draw his sword. The tablet glowed brighter and brighter, and Dash felt a tingle crawling up her spine as the crystal also started to glow orange. Everyone took a step back, then ducked down when the crystal let out an orange pulse that flew out in all directions, traveling through the wall and everyone in the room. Getting back up, Dash looked around, and saw everyone was alright. The crystal was now orange, radiating brilliantly, and it was no longer spilling out mist, in fact, the mist that was flowing out of the cavern had vanished as well. The tablet had also changed, and she moved closer to look at it. “Hey guys, check this out!” She said in surprise. The tree was replaced with a pair of swords crossed over each other, forming an 'X', and over the blades was an apple. “I think I now know what that platform did.” Twilight said after seeing the changes, “The tablet didn't do anything when we touched it before activating the platform,” she looked to Steiner, a realization coming to mind. “Steiner, what's your outlook on lying?” “It's reprehensible and dishonorable!” He quickly replied, making Twilight smile. “Applejack, our missing friend, would agree with you. Her cutie mark,” Twilight said, indicating her own cutie-mark to Steiner, “was three apples.” She then indicated the tablet, “and her coat was that color,” she finished, pointing to the crystal. “You're suggesting that her and I are similar? And when I touched the tablet, it and the crystal took on her features?” She nodded in turn, then looked to Vivi, her eyes alight with revelation. “Vivi, when you got on the platform, your color was light green, the same color as my assistant, Spike's, scales.” She pointed out, looking between them. “When you came to our world, they must have ended up in yours, probably in the same place you were at the time it happened.” She said with a smile, then frowned. “But, that means Spike and Applejack are in another world!” Rarity repeated, the surprise being a bit much for her. I have to admit, Applejack being in another world is hard to swallow. And Rarity voiced Dash's question that followed her thought. “How are they suppose to return?” “I honestly don't know. There's a link,” she said as she eyed her sword. “We stopped the mist, but we need to find out how Gaia's magic is entering Equestria, and also how to send you two back. I bet that if we can get you two back home, we'll get Spike and Applejack back in the process.” She finished, then eyed Vivi suddenly, who looked sad at the prospect or returning. “Worry not master Vivi,” Steiner said, quick to comfort the black mage, “I shall look after you and help you make friends in Alexandria, maybe even the princess,” then quickly added, “assuming I don't lose my rank.” His words succeeded at comforting Vivi, and he nodded at the offer. “Ahh~,” Rarity said with a sweet grin, “that's so kind of you.” She was clearly impressed by how the knight was acting. “Um, girls, and guys, we still have a problem.” Fluttershy got in. Everyone's eyes fell to her, almost making her flinch. Fanglesnuffs was still at her side. Wait, the wolf is still here? And it looked like that fact wasn't lost on the others. “So we took care of the mist, but the monsters still remain,” Sunset proclaimed. “If the monsters are still around, it would be best to rest in the castle above, in a defensible room.” Steiner suggest. “Assuming we're done here.” He added as he poked the barrier with his sword, the shield still being wrapped around the orange crystal. “Yes,” Rarity affirmed, “let's get our beauty rest, then we can move on to what comes next.” “What comes next?” Dash asked, “We took care of the mist, so now we have to find the link? Where would we look?” She honestly had no idea, that's why she was happy to be friends with one of the biggest egg-heads in Equestria. “We can ask Discord and the princesses about that, tomorrow.” Twilight said, looking over her friends, she then eyed the crystal and bore a worried expression. “I don't think we're quite done with the mist though,” she admitted. “Why?” Vivi asked. “Because of Mikoto. Mist must be in other parts of Equestria, if removing it was so easy, then she wouldn't be handing out weapons for free to help us ponies fight the mist.” That makes sense, so I guess that means we'll be fighting more monsters. Rainbow Dash wasn't too against the idea, she still had to catch up to Steiner's tally. “Well,” Sunset began, eyeing the exit, “let's worry about that tomorrow, we've been pretty productive today, so let's go get some rest.” Wait, who made her the boss? Rainbow Dash didn't like how it seemed she was the only one bothered by that, but kept it to herself. As they worked their way up to the castle, they were not bothered by anything within the forest, and after finding a good room for everyone to sleep in, they all called it a night. ~~~~~~~~~~~~ Rainbow Dash ~~~~~~~~~~~~ Items Equipped: Iron Greaves: Tumbling Kick(mastered) Lvl Up! Lvl-5 HP 176/176 MP 22/38 AP 18/18 Pegasai's Flight (0) - You have wings that let you fly. Abilities: Blitz: Action Command - Make a random number of attacks between 1-4, but take double damage till your next turn. Aerial Arts: Tumbling Kick 8 MP - Causes damage to single target, and causes slow.