Prologue: A Trip To Rogueport
“...But I have enough bits!...Oh, whatever.” Twilight rolled her eyes as she trotted out of the shop. “Not enough money due to conversion rate...what a load.” She sighed in annoyance.
“We’re overseas, Twilight. What did you expect to happen, that the entire world would have the same rate?”
“...Spike, don’t point out holes in my logic. Next thing I know you’ll be shouting 'Objection!' and pointing at people.” Twilight retorted.
Spike crossed his arms and rolled his eyes. “Uh, sure, Twilight. Whatever you say.” Spike reached into his pocket to take out his wallet to see if they could turn around and pay with some of his bits, but he realized that his wallet was missing. “Twilight, I think I left my wallet on the dock. If it’s alright with you, I’m gonna go look for it.”
“Fine by me.” Twilight said absentmindedly, thinking about the shopkeeper. “I think I’ll go haggle with the shopkeeper, try to haggle.” Spike thought about saying something against that, but he knew Twilight wouldn’t listen. He headed down to the dock alone.
Spike went through the arch connecting the town to the dock. It was a rather friendly place---sailors were packing up cargo, some were arriving with it, some were exporting it. Many seagulls perched on the outermost portion of the dock. The sun shined brilliantly on the town, making it a little hot but nonetheless a pleasant sight.
“Oh, there’s my wallet.” Spike looked over behind one of the big cargo boxes, seeing a leather wallet. “Lemme just walk over there and reach it…” He bent down to grab his wallet. He picked it up and inspected it. “Yep...this is mine. Or is it? Lemme check…” He opened it to inspect it some more.
“Hey, you!” came a voice from behind Spike. “What’s that you’re carrying?” Spike already didn’t like the sound of the voice he was hearing. “Oh, this…It’s nothing. I’ll just, uh, put it away now.” He put it in his pockets and turned around.
The ponies didn’t look too friendly. They were a darkish brown, and they even had goatees. They basically screamed “EVIL!”
“I’ll make my leave now.” Spike tried to sidestep them and uncorner himself. The presumed leader of the ponies, a black unicorn with red eyes, stepped in front of him.
“Oh, no, you don’t. You’re not from around here… Tell me, why’d you come here?” The unicorn said smugly.
“Uh...well...why’d you come here?” Spike asked almost immediately, as if he couldn’t think of an answer under the sudden pressure.
“We live around here. There’s only a few dragons… So you must have come here for a reason.” The unicorn chuckled. “The name’s Lord Arachnos! And these are… just henchponies, really. Call them Grunt, call them Bob, I don’t care!”
Spike put on a cheesy, nervous grin. “Great...I’ll go with ‘Bob’. Anyway, Arachnos, Bob, also Bob, it was nice meeting you, but um…”
“Grab him!” Lord Arachnos ordered.
The two henchponies leaped forward and subdued Spike by the arms. “As you command, Lord Arachnos!”
“Heeeey, guys!” Spike struggled under the weight of the two of them. “I-I don’t have anything, really! Hey, someone help!”
“Spike?” A familiar voice rang out.
Oh, thank goodness! “TWILIGHT! OVER HERE!” Spike yelled.
Twilight quickly trotted over to Arachnos and the two henchponies. “Hey!” Her voice suddenly turned a lot more angry. “What exactly is going on here?!”
“You must be new around here, miss!” Lord Arachnos chuckled. “Keep him subdued. I’ve got this! Since I suppose you’re going to try to release your… dragon… I suppose I’ll have to show you the might of Lord Arachnos! Get ready!”
Twilight charged up a bolt before firing it at “Also Bob”, who was sent flying into the crates behind him. She glared at Bob, charging up another bolt.
Bob glanced at Lord Arachnos, who muttered, “Fine, retreat. Not my problem. It’s HER problem.” Bob ran away, while Lord Arachnos turned to Twilight. “They’re just incompetent henchponies! I, on the other hand…” He charged at Twilight in a predictable line.
Twilight easily sidestepped before blasting him. “We could’ve just talked this out! Who are you, anyway?” She shouted.
Lord Arachnos stepped back from the blast, but recovered. “I am the almighty Lord Arachnos! Servant to the Cha - “ He froze. “... An army! And… wait, you look familiar.” He sized her up. “Yeah, my leader described you in perfect detail! Cutie Mark and all!”
Twilight tilted her head, confused. “Leader? Who is your ‘leader’?” She asked, putting particular emphasis on leader.
“Like I’d tell you! But I can tell you that she’d wipe you out in an instant!” Lord Arachnos didn’t attack. “By the way, don’t think this is over! I’m just saving my energy for my real objective! I'll get revenge in some really creative way!” He ran past Twilight, slowing down and starting into the city. She turned around and shot him in the back before running over to Spike. Lord Arachnos yelped and started running into town until he was out of sight.
“Thanks, Twilight.” Spike said, glad he was safe. He felt his pockets. “Aw, man, he still got my wallet. What do you think they were after, Twilight?”
Twilight thought for a few seconds before shaking her head. “I have no idea. Let’s go check on Princess Cadance, I remember her saying something about meeting her at 3:30.” Spike nodded and got back up, He and Twilight trotted off towards the town square.
“Twilight, we’ve been here for 10 minutes. Why do you think she’s late?” Spike tapped his foot impatiently.
Twilight was starting to work up a sweat. What if something happened to Princess Cadance? She thought. Oh no, this is bad! This is bad. Bad, bad, bad… After a few seconds, she calmed down, exhaling. “I’m sure she’s fine, Spike.” She tried to steady herself and stop her trembling.
One of Cadance’s crystal guards rushed into the town square. He spotted Twilight and ran to her. “Princess Cadance has gone missing!”
“Gee, that was sudden.” Spike said to himself.
Twilight had a much more dramatic response. “WHHHAATT?! What happened? When was she last seen? WHY ARE YOU SO INCOMPETENT?!” Twilight kept asking questions, getting angrier and angrier, but also more worried with each passing second.
Surprisingly, the guard didn’t even flinch. “She bought a map from a merchant, and then said she had to relieve herself. We agreed on a place to meet, but she has not returned!”
Twilight growled. “Well, where did she buy the map from?!”
“Just a merchant! In a cloak! I was with her, so she was not kidnapped by said merchant at the time!” The guard was actually getting nervous, stepping back.
“Grr...Where WAS this merchant?! It’s our only lead!” She seemed to be trying as hard as she could to put up her angry mask, but really she was even more worried---Princess Cadance had chosen her to accompany her to Rogueport, and losing her was A.) not going to look good on her track record and B.) depriving Equestria of one princess. There was also the fact that she had no idea what kind of trouble Cadance was in and she could be hurt or killed, but she was so panicked that she could barely think.
The guard’s expression hardened. “We will search the city for her. I will guide you to where the merchant was.”
Twilight exhaled deeply. “Alright. Let’s go.”
The guard led her through the town square, stopping at an empty stand. He seemed surprised. “The merchant is gone…” He cursed. “Perhaps the merchant was the culprit after all.”
Spike gulped. “Well, this is bad...Twilight, what do you think?”
Twilight was on the verge of hyperventilating, eyes darting back and forth. She suddenly thought of another possibility. “...Sir, do you know what the map is for?”
The guard thought. “Not exactly… The merchant and Cadance both mentioned ‘The Crystal Stars’, but that was all I understood of their discussion. I have not even heard of such artifacts.”
Twilight stopped sweating and hyperventilating. “Alright, good...Spike, come with me. We have to head to the nearest library.”
“Twilight, this is not the time for reading…” Spike said, a little exasperated.
Twilight shook her head. “No, I’ve heard of the Crystal Stars! I just...need to find out a little more about them, is all.” She ran to the other side of town, with Spike close behind her. “Twilight, next time tell me before you’re about to run!”
The guard followed quietly. Before Twilight could get very far, though, she ended up slipping on something. Spike ran over to it and picked up.
“...Hey, it’s a map! How utterly convenient.” He muttered under his breath. He handed the map to the guard while Twilight recovered, getting back on her hooves. “Does this look familiar?”
The guard nodded. “This is the map Princess Cadance bought. Take a close look. Perhaps she headed to a certain destination there.”
Spike squinted at the map, trying to find where they were, finding the town in the middle of everything. “Well, there we are...and the closest place to there is some sort of flower place. Maybe Cadance went there, she seems to like flowers and stuff. Do you know how we would get there?” He asked the guard.
The guard shook his head. “I am not familiar with the area. Unfortunately, I cannot provide assistance. I will stay in the town and look for clues.”
Spike nodded. “Got it. Twilight, let’s try and ask around.” Twilight had completely recovered. “Wait, I hadn’t been listening. Tell me about it when we get over to the inn.” They both, in a change of pace, carefully walked over to the inn.
“...And that’s what we’re trying to do.” Spike briefly explained. Twilight nodded. “Right. Well, let’s go ask about it.” She walked out the door to the inn, going to the nearest shop that wasn’t the one she got kicked out of, due to the fact the streets were surprisingly empty. She opened it and looked around.
The shop didn’t seem to have a set inventory. On the walls and on some racks were some coats--overcoats, winter coats, etc. At the front of the shop was a jewelry case, with some rather high prices, although considering almost all of it was gone, it seemed to be selling rather well. There were also badges in the same case. Some were shaped differently, colored differently, lit up…
“Oh, Twilight! This one is shaped like a comet! Can we get it?” Twilight thought for a few seconds before sighing. “I see no harm.” She rang the silver bell, which looked like it belonged in a restaurant, and waited for service.
A few minutes later, Fluttershy peeked her head up from the counter, then emerging when she saw who it was. “Oh, hi, Twilight! I didn’t know you were in Rogueport too.”
Twilight nodded. “Yeah. I was accompanying Princess Cadance.” She was about to have another panic attack, but curbed it by lightly stomping the floor. “Anyway, there are two things. First, I want...that badge.” She said, as Spike pointed to the fiery red one shaped like a comet. “Second, do you know how I can get here?” She pointed her hoof to the flowery looking field on the map Spike had given to her.
“First, that’ll be 50 Rogueport bits, which, if you’re wondering, is 461 Ponyville bits.”
Twilight sighed, taking out her wallet and paying the bits. She looked in it afterwards and found it was empty. “Spike, when we find your wallet, I’m taking that much out.” She took the badge Fluttershy provided and gave it to Spike, who pinned it on his chest.
Fluttershy thought. “As for that… That’s Petalburg. You want to go northeast from Rogueport. It’s pretty far, though…”
“ Do you think you could lead us there?” Twilight asked. “I’m not very familiar with the landscape…”
Fluttershy shook her head. “Sorry, Twilight, but I have a job now. I don’t want to get fired.”
Twilight sighed. “I understand. Come on, Spike, let’s go.” After adjusting the badge, Twilight headed out the door, with Spike following.
“Northwest of Rogueport...huh.” Twilight muttered to herself. “This is gonna be a long walk...she might not even be there. But it’s our best shot.” Twilight trotted out of the main square with Spike, towards the northeast exit…
End of chapter!
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A single tear shed in memory of that amazing game. It will live forever in my heart.
5186141 I know that feel. :3
5187817 Its actually kind of sad, because I was able to get an under leveled Mario to the Shadow Queen, and Its literally impossible for me to beat her. And I can't rake EXP, because I'm stuck in the dungeon. I'm actually considering retrying the game... What do you think?
5187817 Just plugged it back in. Time for some nostalgic smiles.
5187817 Just plugged it back in. Time for some nostalgic smiles.
Favorite game on the Cube. Heck, I remember going through the 100 trials pit and finally beating bonetail.