“Felix…” a voice called out to me. “You must prepare swiftly!”
“Wait, who’s there?” I cried out in alarm, looking around, reaching for the Sol Blade at my waist and grabbing it with my hand.
“It’s been thirty long years, and you and I have never actually spoken,” the voice said as a large floating boulder with a single eye and no other features appeared before me. It was the Wise One himself.
“Wait, what must I prepare for?” I asked the near-deity, confused. “I’ll figure out a way to get to Alex and stop him! Maybe we could try the portal again, and I could use the Teleport Lapis to warp into it!”
“It’s too late for that,” the Wise One replied. “Alex will finish draining power from Isaac very soon, and I am no longer strong enough to stop him. His powers now exceed my own, so he could block you from teleporting into the portal.”
“Then what do you expect me to be able to do?” I demanded. “If you can’t beat him, how am I supposed to?”
The Wise One closed his eye and became wrapped in Psynergy, giving off the same feel as Hama and Ivan when they used their powers of precognition, but obviously controlled, unlike theirs.
As suddenly as he began, he stopped, then said, “There are many possible futures that could result from your choices. Your best option is to seek out the other two Adepts the Princess of the Sun mentioned.
“In the futures where you team up with them,” he continued, “You have the greatest chance of defeating Alex. You may even obtain more allies than just those two, as well. The magic flowing in the realm you have been sent to may prove a useful ally, as well. The denizens of that realm, though not capable of Psynergy, have abilities of their own that can prove useful.”
“Wait, how can they prove useful?” I asked, even more confused than before.
“They have powers similar to Psynergy in some ways,” the Wise One explained. “Two of the tribes are much more subtle in their uses of these powers, but I know that you can unlock their inner power.” Suddenly, the Wise One did something unheard of for the guardian of Sol Sanctum: He chuckled, adding, “Besides, though I cannot directly interfere with the actions of mankind, the denizens of that realm don’t exactly count as ‘mankind’, do they?”
My eyes widened as a thought occurred to me. “Wait, you mean that you could…”
“Assist you in unlocking their latent powers, or even make them compatible with Psynergy if absolutely necessary?” the Wise One finished for me, his one eye conveying enough emotion that I could tell he’d be grinning if he had a mouth. “Yes. I cannot directly interfere with the actions of humans, Felix. Your spirit is still human, so I can’t aid you directly. But, since they aren’t human at all, I can assist you through them, if necessary. In fact, I already have. I have placed suggestions in the heads of some of the soldiers searching for the other two Adepts, sending them in the right direction for one of them. You should have another ally very soon.”
“But what about the other?” I inquired.
“The fourth Adept-turned-pony is very far away, well-hidden, and it would be impossible for the soldiers to bring the fourth to you,” the Wise One replied. “You will have to locate them on your own, since I can’t tell you where they are, since both you and they still are human in spirit, and the other doesn’t want to be found at this time, and I must honor their wishes.”
“Is there any more you can tell me?” I asked hopefully.
“There are a few more things I could tell you,” the Wise One said with a nod. “But unfortunately, there is no time for that, as you are about to awaken. Farewell for now, Felix…”
“Wait!” I cried out, stretching a hand out to the Wise One as he faded away.
My eyes snapped open as I immediately woke up. The Wise One himself had appeared to me in a dream, giving me advice. I had to take advantage of this, and quickly.
Galloping out of my room, I stopped only long enough to ask a servant where Karen was staying, then bolted in that direction, pounding on her door once I arrived.
“Karen! Wake up!” I exclaimed. “I have something important to talk to you about!”
“Five more minutes…” the Proxian unicorn’s voice groaned from the other side of the door.
“We don’t have five minutes, Karen!” I snapped, a huge sense of urgency overtaking me. “It’s about how to beat Alex!”
In a matter of seconds, the entire door was engulfed in a red aura and swung open, revealing Karen getting out of bed in a hurry. “Why didn’t you say so?” she demanded. “I’d have gotten right out of bed if I knew it was about that!”
“Sorry,” I apologized before stepping into the room and closing the door behind me. “The Wise One spoke to me in a dream.”
“Wait, the Wise One’s power can go beyond the dimensional barriers?” Karen breathed in amazement.
“Well, Alex was able to speak to us through the portal,” I reminded her, “and before that, he spoke to me across the barrier while I still had amnesia, which was when he declared that throwing me into this world wasn’t enough and that he would personally come here to dispose of me once he finishes draining the Mars Star’s power from Isaac.”
“So, what did the Wise One tell you?” Karen inquired eagerly.
I decided to give her the bad news first to get it over with, especially since the bad news would be pointless if I told her the good news first.
Sighing, I put a hoof on her shoulder and told her, “Alex has grown too powerful for us to return to Weyard in the way we had hoped to,” she gave me a puzzled expression, and I explained further. “I came up with the idea of using the Teleport Lapis to make the short jump into the portal before Alex could close it, but the Wise One informed me that Alex is too strong for that to work. His powers exceeds the Wise One’s now, and he could make us unable to warp into the portal.”
“Well, what can we do, then?” Karen whispered, her voice laced with doubt, her whole body shaking from the building despair.
“The Wise One can’t directly interfere with the actions of mankind,” I reminded her. “But that actually contains a couple loopholes: he can still indirectly interfere with the actions of mankind by affecting things instead of people, for one. That’s how he stopped Alex from becoming a god the first time around; by altering the Mars Star. As for the other loophole, ‘mankind’ strictly means humans and those who are still human in spirit, such as Beastmen, or a transformed human, like us.”
“Wait, the ponies never were human to begin with!” Karen exclaimed. “So, he can affect them directly?”
“Yes, but because the Wise One is a benevolent force, he didn’t resort to actually controlling any of the ponies,” I replied with a nod. “He’s already placed suggestions in the minds of some of the guards looking for the other two Adepts Celestia mentioned, to nudge them in the direction of one of them. Since he placed suggestions, they might not head in that direction, but hopefully, they will. He said we’ll have to locate the other by ourselves because apparently, it would be impossible for the guards to bring the fourth Adept to us, and the fourth Adept wishes to remain hidden right now, so the Wise One can’t simply give me their location like he did when he told us that Alex was climbing Mount Aleph while we were at Mars Lighthouse, since Alex apparently didn’t care if anyone knew where he was.” I chuckled before adding, “Given how arrogant Alex is, that’s no surprise to me.”
“So, he could do anything through them to help us?” Karen summarized, and I nodded in confirmation before she continued. “Does this include unlocking the partially-latent powers of the Earth Ponies and Pegasi? I’ve noticed that for all the ‘affinity’ those two tribes are supposed to have, it doesn’t really show that much. I mean, the unicorns have fully visible and effective powers, and yet those two don’t? Something doesn’t seem right about that, to me.”
I nodded again before adding, “Besides fully unlocking their partially dormant abilities, he could even make them compatible with Psynergy, basically turning ponies into Adepts like us if absolutely necessary.”
“So, how long do you think until the third Adept shows up?” Karen inquired of me next.
“He said, ‘very soon’, so a couple days at the most,” I replied, giving my opinion. “They could even arrive today!”
“Well, in that case,” Karen began before suddenly grabbing my ponytail with her newly-mastered telekinesis and started dragging me along. “We had better start preparing to set out to find the fourth!”
“With what money?” I asked before digging in my hooves and snapping, “By the way, I can move myself just fine, thank you!”
“Don’t you have a wallet, Felix?” Karen asked as she released me and we continued to trot side-by-side through the halls.
“Yeah, but it’s full of Weyard’s currency: Coins,” I sighed. “That’s not legal tender here.”
“Yeah, I know,” Karen replied, levitating her own wallet out of a pocket in her dress. “But you’d be surprised at how many ‘Bits’ you can get for a few hundred Coins. Their money is pure gold, sure, but ours contains traces of incredibly rare materials that were placed in them for the sole purpose of preventing counterfeiting, hence why they sparkle instead of shining like normal gold. The ponies will pay handsomely for a few hundred Coins just to get the trace materials after melting them down. I was able to get five thousand Bits out of a measly five hundred Coins. How many Coins are in your wallet, Felix?” She turned her head to look at me, eyes shining in anticipation.
I opened my wallet and looked through the Coin pouches inside, counting all the full ones before individually counting the Coins in the one partially-filled pocket.
“Thirty thousand, five hundred twenty five,” I announced, and Karen’s jaw dropped in amazement.
“That may be paltry in Weyard,” she spoke slowly, “But here, the pony I pawned mine off to paid me ten Bits per Coin, and I only had five hundred. Ten Bits for each of your Coins would be over three hundred thousand! We could live like kings with that kind of money! Never mind shopping and lodging, we could buy an army if we had to! Or even our own palace! Things here aren’t very expensive, so after we pay my friend in Canterlot a visit, we’re going to buy everything we can think of that’ll help!”
“Like herbs, nuts, ginseng and the like?” I asked, since that was pretty much all that was ever available at item shops on Weyard, with the occasional vial, potion, psy crystal, water of life, as well as antidotes, elixirs and sacred feathers.
“Felix, you’re thinking too small!” Karen said before standing on her hind hooves and gesturing with her front legs like some kind of stage performer. “No, here they sell things that are hard to find on Weyard in regular markets! Cookies! Apples! Mint leaves! Peanuts! Bread! Even pepper!” She dropped down to four hooves again and looked at me again. This time, my jaw had dropped. On Weyard, such things were hard to find, but they did amazing things for an Adept. Eating a whole loaf of bread would raise one’s endurance. Eating a cookie would raise an Adept’s Psynergy reserves. Devouring a mint leaf would make an Adept faster. Peanuts made Adepts more resistant to physical blows. Apples increased an Adept’s physical strength. But one of the rarest things in Weyard was the elusive perfect black pepper, not the crudely made pepper used in cooking, but pepper made from the absolute best peppercorns, ground into pieces as small as grains of salt. If an Adept could manage to consume an entire two ounce shaker of it, they’d grow more resistant to the many ailments that enemies could inflict!
“You’re kidding…” I breathed in disbelief, shaking my head. “Those are plentiful here? They sell them as regular food?”
“Yep!” Karen nodded. “Think of the possibilities, Felix! Each of these things only costs a few Bits at the most! We could stock up on a lot of them and binge eat them and become super-powerful!”
“Okay, let’s skip breakfast and get to it!” I said excitedly. “I’m eating three apples for the morning, instead!”
“That’s the spirit, Felix!” Karen cheered, giving me a hearty slap on the back. “To Canterlot we go! Get the Lapis ready, and I’ll point us right to that shop!”
Nodding enthusiastically, I channeled my Psynergy into the Lapis before touching Karen, letting her point us in the right direction before I gleefully cheered, “Teleport!”
With that, we were no longer in Twilight’s castle, but standing outside a shop in Canterlot. The sign read: “En Passant’s Pawn Shop: We buy and sell almost anything!”
“Here we are!” Karen chirped before entering the building first. I followed behind her, but just as I entered, a male voice squealed with excitement.
“Karen! How good to see you again!” the voice said as I stepped next to Karen to see who was talking: He was a white Earth Pony with a plain black mane and tail with a depiction of a pawn on a chessboard serving as his Cutie Mark. “Your strange coins made me a very rich stallion after somepony who works with metals bought them from me! So, what do you have for me today?”
“Actually En Passant, I’d like you to meet my friend, Felix,” Karen said, nudging me forward. “He’s the one who has business with you today.”
“Felix? That’s an odd name,” En Passant mused, “Just as strange as your name, Karen. But, if he’s willing to pawn off something valuable like you were, it doesn’t matter how strange his name is! So, Mr. Felix,” he said, turning to me. “What have you got for me?”
I stepped up to the counter and pulled out my own wallet before showing him the contents.
“M-more of those strange coins?” En Passant exclaimed. “Why, if I could get that metalworker to come back, I’d become even richer! How many are there?”
I counted out all the Coins in one full pouch for him, then showed him that all but one of the pouches that were full had the same amount. After carefully stacking them on the counter, I individually counted out the remaining Coins to him, then announced, “Thirty thousand, five hundred twenty five.”
The stallion’s jaw dropped before he pulled out a scale to weigh them to make sure none were fake, weighing one stack at a time, then weighing the incomplete stack one Coin at a time. Once he was satisfied that they were all the same weight, he nodded emphatically and pulled out a box from beneath the counter, setting it on top and counting out coins of varying sizes before pushing them towards me.
“There you are! Three hundred five thousand, two hundred fifty Bits, Felix!” En Passant stated excitedly. “That pretty much emptied out my cash box, but as soon as I can get that metalworker to return, it’ll be full to bursting, I’m sure! It’s been a pleasure doing business with you! If you find anypony else with more of those coins, be sure to bring them to me! They’re good for my business!”
I nodded, and Karen helped me get the new coins of varying sizes into my wallet before we both waved farewell to En Passant and left the shop.
“Okay, the largest coins are worth ten-thousand Bits,” Karen told me after we ducked into a side street. “The single coin that’s second largest is worth five thousand, then the two that are second smallest in there are worth one hundred each, and the smallest one he gave you is a fifty.”
“So, they vary in value by size?” I asked in confirmation. Karen nodded, and I whispered, “Why didn’t anyone on Weyard think of that? All of our Coins are just worth one, so it makes counting out large amounts of them tedious.”
“No idea,” Karen replied with a shrug. “But there are other sizes you need to be aware of that he didn’t give you: between the five thousand and the one hundred, there’s also a one thousand and a five hundred. And below the fifty, there’s a ten, a five, and a one. They all have different markings, and each one has their value printed on them somewhere, in case you forget.”
“Got it,” I said with a nod. If the money itself had its value on it, I could always look to it if necessary.
“Okay, let’s do some shopping!” Karen cheered.
Feeling a rush of excitement myself, I channeled Psynergy into the Teleport Lapis, focused on Twilight’s castle, and exclaimed, “Teleport!” whisking us away in an instant, materializing in the exact spot we’d teleported away from.
“Let’s get going,” I exclaimed, as giddy as a young Adept who’d just mastered their first Psynergy spell. “There’s shopping to do!”
Karen nodded in agreement, and we galloped through the halls excitedly until we reached the entrance, to find five of Celestia’s guards waiting for us, all Pegasi.
“You’re Sir Felix, correct?” the guard in the middle asked.
“I’m Felix, but please, no formalities,” I replied with an impatient nod. I really wanted to start chowing down on the kind of food an Adept could usually only dream about, or would have to save for just the right moment, no matter how delicious it looked.
“I can tell that you’re in a hurry, Mr. Felix” the guard acknowledged, “But our orders were to bring any strange ponies straight to you and Miss Karen.”
“I keep telling you, I’m just a normal Pegasus!” a male voice declared from behind them. “I’m not weird!”
“That’s not up to you to decide,” the guard snapped, looking over his shoulder at the pony who spoke. “These two will determine that for themselves.”
The guards parted, revealing a purple Pegasus stallion wearing a white tight robe and purple cape combo clearly designed to accentuate his body and make him more attractive to females. He appeared to have armor of his own under it, though, which already wasn’t normal for the ponies of Equestria. His outfit barely exposed a Cutie Mark of a tornado inside a crystal ball. His eyes were green, and his mane and tail were blonde, as well as a little long for a male. He had a quiver of arrows on his back, as well as a bow that appeared to have been crafted from Orihalcon, though I wasn’t quite sure. Finally, he had a metal chain around his neck with a small green stone set into it that seemed kind of familiar.
“Leave him with us,” I told the guards. “We won’t be long.”
The guards nodded and left, leaving us with the stallion, who we dragged to an empty room and set him down in a chair to talk to him.
“Okay,” I began. “First, why do they see you as ‘weird’?”
“They claim I fly funny. That it doesn’t look right,” the Pegasus replied simply, huffing as if to dismiss the very thought that he was strange. “Also, some ponies have reported strange occurrences when I’m around, such as ponies suddenly floating into the air for no reason, my instincts making it look like I know what’ll happen before it happens, those kinds of things. I swear, none of it’s true!” he finished with a grin that seemed more arrogant than helping his case.
“Okay, prove it’s not true,” Karen said. “Show us how you fly. We’ll be the judges.”
“Okay,” the Pegasus replied before the gem in his necklace started to glow and he rose into the air, clearly flapping his wings, but the flapping looked kind of fake. Besides, Karen and I looked at each other and nodded. We had sensed Psynergy. He was clearly casting Hover.
“Okay, that’s all the proof we need,” I replied. “Stop the spell, you can’t fool us.”
“Huh?” the obvious Jupiter Adept said before he suddenly dropped the spell, dropping to the ground with a thud. “What spell? I don’t have magic!”
“Stop playing dumb,” Karen snapped. “You’re a Jupiter Adept. We know because we’re also from Weyard, and we also happen to be Adepts.”
“Wait, you’re Adepts, too?” the Pegasus gasped. “What do you need me for?”
“First, how did you end up here?” I asked, pretty sure of the answer already.
“I fell through the void below Weyard,” he replied. “I’m from the City of Anemos.”
“How did you fall, and why?” I asked next.
The Anemos nervously put a hoof behind his head and chuckled weakly. “Five years ago, I kind of ticked off some guy called Alex by annoying him too much, and he hit me with some kind of Psynergy and threw me into the void.”
“Wait, you made him angry enough to do it?” Karen gasped. “He only did it to me as some kind of ‘test’, and as for Felix, Felix was actually fighting him to try to save Weyard. You just annoyed him enough to throw you over the edge?”
“I play practical jokes,” the Anemos replied weakly. “I have precognition, the power to read minds and all that, but it got boring for me living up there, so I passed the time pranking other people, and then Alex came along, and I just had to try something on him because he was no Anemos. I went a little overboard, and he threw me over the edge while the city was under Weyard.”
“Okay, well, we’re trying to stop Alex,” I explained. “Alex is very close to obtaining godlike powers, and he said that once he has them, he’s coming here to kill me because he still deems me a threat.”
“Okay,” the stallion said with a nod. “Sorry I haven’t introduced myself, yet. My name is Yegelos the twenty-fifth, but just call me Yegelos.”
“You’re descended from the ancient hero of the Anemos?” I asked in surprise. “From the war between Anemos and Shaman?”
“Yep! The very same!” Yegelos said proudly. “I’ve been told I’m just as handsome as he was, and just as strong. But they constantly tell me he was a lot more humble than me, and that I’ve disgraced the name.”
“Well, if you help us beat Alex, maybe you can restore your honor,” Karen suggested.
“Okay, what do we do first?” Yegelos asked, rubbing his hooves together excitedly.
“We’re going shopping!” Karen and I cheered at the same time.
“Huh? Why?” Yegelos asked, confused.
“They sell the kind of food that helps an Adept grow stronger! As regular food!” I exclaimed excitedly. “They’re common here!”
“I know that,” Yegelos huffed. “But what’s so exciting about it?”
“We’re rich, thanks to pawning off our Coins!” Karen squealed. “We can stuff our faces with the stuff, then buy as many as we can carry before searching for the fourth Adept!”
“Wait, there’s one more?” Yegelos asked in shock. “How do you know this?”
“Celestia told us,” I replied simply. “The guards won’t be able to find the fourth one, and even if they did, the Wise One told me they wouldn’t be able to bring them back, anyway.”
Yegelos raised an eyebrow at my mentioning of the Wise One speaking to me, but promptly got off his chair and said, “Lead the way, Felix!”
Nodding, I led our group, now three strong, outside the castle, then turned to the guards who were waiting for us and told them, “Yep, he’s what we were looking for. You can end your search, now. There’s one more, but we already know that it’ll take abilities like ours to actually locate the other. Please give my message to Princess Celestia for me.”
“Understood,” the guard in charge replied. “Let’s move out!” he ordered to the others, and they all flew away without another word.
“Now, to the market!” I announced, getting another excited cheer from Karen, and Yegelos cracked a wide smile. Obviously, our enthusiasm was proving contagious.