Ponies and The Protagonists: A Video Game Story

by TheGamemaster451

Chapter 1: Insert Epic Title Here

Ponies and the Protagonists

Chapter 1

Insert Epic Title Here

In a place far from Equestria, in an isolated forest, moonlight streamed into a clearing where a single figure stood. They turned, walking towards the gunship hovering low in the clearing. The figure leapt onto the ship, crouching on top of the craft with cat-like grace. Moonlight caught the figure, revealing their sleek, red and orange suit of metal. The suit’s right arm, rather than ending with a hand, ended with a green cannon which they held loosely in front of them. The figure removed their helmet and set it beside them. Long, blonde hair tied in a ponytail spilled out from under the helmet, revealing what seemed to be a normal woman.

Of course, she wasn’t exactly what one might call “normal.” She was Samus Aran, one of the most famous bounty hunters to ever travel the galaxy.

Her arm cannon clicked and whirred as she tapped the circular interface built into the weapon, manually calibrating it (unnecessarily, of course, as her suit could automatically calibrate the weapon in seconds). For once in Samus’s crazy life, her surroundings were, to her at least, blissfully quiet. She sighed, scanning the forest for possible threats. Samus was still anticipating some last-second wildlife attack, despite the peaceful atmosphere. Her hunter instincts were hard the quash. She wondered when was the last time she’d spent any part of her life like this: helmet off, relaxing in the peaceful night air, and not shoving her deadly arm cannon down the throats of Space Pirates and watching them go boom.

Whenever it was, it wasn’t recently, Samus thought, and anyways, it won’t be like this for long. I should at least enjoy it while it lasts. Frowning, she looked down, checking her armor for any obvious malfunctions, and then had her suit’s computer run a diagnostics scan. Neither she nor the computer found any problems. Her ship repaired the Power Suit after each mission, and though her last assignment had been several weeks ago, she always made sure to inspect it regularly. It was somewhat of a “nervous” habit of Samus, for lack of a better term, though the Hunter was rarely truly nervous.

And calling the team together usually meant there was a reason to be “nervous.”

A small breeze whipped through the clearing. Samus’s head snapped to the side, but it wasn’t the wind that had caught her attention. Near the edge of the glade, a cartoonishly green pipe emerged from the ground with a blub, blub, blub. From the pipe leapt a blue-and-red figure, who landed on the ground with a soft thud.

“You’re late, Mario.” Samus slid off of the orange ship, peering around the clearing for signs of the others. “I mean, you’re the second one here, but I asked for you to be here half an hour ago.”

“Sorry about that,” he said with just a trace of an Italian accent. The plumber nodded towards the pipe, which was beginning to sink back into the ground. “Peach asked me to help with Conference Day. The line was backed up into the square with Toads yammering about one thing or another. I thought it would never end.”

“You’re lucky you get people who just want to talk. Most everyone I meet just wants to blast me instead,” Samus commented as she placed her helmet back on her head. She tapped a small button located on the side of her helmet, booting up her suit’s Augmented Reality Interface and projecting various blue-tinted windows and screens onto the inside of her suit’s visor. Swiping her index finger in the air (with the aid of SCIENCE, of course), she selected an encrypted message sent by the Galactic Federation Admiral.

“Do you still have that holo-tablet I gave you?” Samus peered at Mario through the translucent communique.

“Yeah, hold on,” Mario dug in the pockets of his overalls and pulled out a strip of metal about a foot long and half a foot wide, with a seam directly in the middle. In a fashion similar to opening a scroll, he pulled the pieces apart. Two blue streaks of energy shot from the lower strip, which then connected the two pieces together. Between the two beams a holograph formed, flashing the words “Hello, Mario.”

“Good. I’ll send you a copy of the message. You can read it while the others arrive.” Samus tapped the holographic “Send” button.

“What message?” Mario questioned. Then the full realization of what she had said hit him. “Wait, others? As in, everyone?”

“Yeah.”

“But, why? We haven’t needed to call everyone together since—”

“I know,” Samus silenced him with a raised finger. “Just read the message.”

Still confused, Mario looked down at his tablet as Samus walked back towards her ship. “The last time everyone was together,” Mario thought, “It was a disaster. It looks like we’re in for a repeat.” After a couple of minutes stumbling through menus (he hadn’t really touched the device since it had been given to him), he found Samus’s communique.

Samus,

The Galactic Federation has recently received several reports of massive Space Pirate activity. As you know, the Pirates have not been as active during the previous months. It seems they have been stockpiling troops and resources at a secret locale, which our scouts have recently discovered. The coordinates are being transmitted along with this message.

Unfortunately, the Space Pirates do not seem to be acting alone. Scouts reported seeing Underworld Army and Dreamland troops, minions of the tyrants Bowser and Ganondorf, and ships belonging to the Venom Fleet.

A large scale attack would be brought to their attention too fast. The combined forces outnumber our own, and the predicted casualties are staggering. So the Federation is hiring you take them down. This will be dangerous, even for a bounty hunter as skilled as you.

We know you are a member of a sort of council of heroes. It may be of value to you to seek their assistance. However, regardless of whether you seek their help or not it is of utmost importance that you destroy that enemy outpost, whatever the cost. The Federation is counting on you.

Admiral Dane

“Why did I have to be right?” Mario wondered.

“Mario! We have company,” Samus yelled from the other side of the clearing, helmet off once again. Turning, he noticed two details: one, an angel in a white tunic flying above the treetops, wings glowing in prismacolors. The figure was focusing on a small, flat object in its hand and was heading rapidly towards him, and two, another tunic-wearing figure, this time green, was riding through the forest towards the clearing on a huge red horse. The horse whinnied and bucked as the figure leaped gracefully from the back of the equine’s back.

The flying figure returned to Earth in a much less elegant manner. The shimmering glow emanating from the angel’s wings began to flicker like a dying light bulb. With a yell (and a lot of arm waving), the angel divebombed into the ground, sliding on his face before coming to a stop at Samus’s feet. Sighing, the bounty hunter yanked him up by the shirt while the young man at the edge of the clearing watched, amused.

“Hey Pit, hey Link,” Mario called to them as he stowed his device.

“Hey, Mario! How’s it going?” Pit smiled, unfazed from his encounter with the ground. Link just waved, most likely realizing he wouldn’t be heard over Pit. Or maybe he just didn’t want to speak. Link’s brain worked at a million miles an hour and he sometimes chose not to talk, especially since he, like Samus, didn’t usually have someone to talk to when he was in action.

Pit also worked at a million miles an hour, but rather than his brain it was his mouth. While it may have seemed annoying, it was actually a blessing from—dare he say— Palutena that the team had someone who wasn’t always so grim and serious, even if he was too talkative at times. Plus, Mario owed him one. If it wasn’t for Pit he would still be stuck as a trophy, forced to watch as… frankly, Mario didn’t want to remember. It was one of the team’s darkest hours.

The Protagonists. That was the name they chose for themselves. A collection of the best heroes the connected universes had to offer. When the villains team up to take over the world, they team up to take them down. Getting all the founding members meant something big was brewing. From what Mario had read, this was going to be huge.

Mario shook his head. He still had a couple hours of peace left. He might as well enjoy them.

“Pretty well. Although it’d be better if an impossible mission weren’t hanging over our heads,” Mario replied, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

“Nah, it’s not impossible. We just need a lot of mushrooms, and Drink of the Gods” Pit said counting off the items on his fingers, “ and fairies, and—”

“I think I get it,” Mario said gently. “But, how have you been lately? I’ve heard some crazy stories about carrots,” Mario raised an eyebrow.

“Ooh, hehe, that,” Pit laughed nervously, yanking at the collar of his tunic and glancing at the sky, “ya see, that wasn’t me. That was, uh, someone else.”

“Really? Who?” asked Mario.

“Well, she told me not to say. If I do, she’ll squeeze my head wreath,” Pit said as he gripped the golden laurels on top of his head.

“Soooo, I’m going to guess Palutena?” Mario smiled.

“Ah! H-How did you know?” Pit asked.

“Really? I don’t know of many other divine goddesses in control of your headpiece,” Mario said as he rolled his eyes. Then he realized he’d seen something at the edge of his vision. Looking back up, he did a double take.

“Samus! Link! Look who’s here,” Mario said as he glanced their way. The other two team members, who had been chatting, now looked up.

“Huh... Wonder how he got so close without us noticing?” Samus wondered aloud.

Above them hovered a sleek, blue-and-gray spacecraft. The ship began to descend, a warbling tone filling the air as it did. The ship extended its landing gear before finally touching down with a hiss of pneumatics. The cockpit popped open, revealing a fox sitting in the pilot’s seat. The Lylat System’s very own Fox, to be exact.

“Am I late, or is the party just getting started?” The commando smirked as he lugged a large backpack from a compartment underneath the chair. Jumping from the craft, he hit the ground with a resounding clink.

“Party? We’re not here for a party,” Pit replied with honest confusion.

“I think that was an expression, Pit,” a heavenly voice filled the minds of the assembled heroes.

“Gah! Lady Palutena, I didn’t realize you were listening! I thought you cut off your telepathy when you cut off the Power of Flight,” a flustered Pit exclaimed.

“Well, it’s either this or listen to Centurions complain about their jobs. And you and I know just how whiny they can get,” Palutena explained.

“Good point,” Pit thoughtfully tapped his chin.

“Now we just need Kirby,” Link said, scanning the skies.

“No need. I picked him up on the way here,” Fox gestured back towards his Arwing. “He was floating along pretty slowly, so I figured I’d give him a ride.”

From the space behind the pilot’s seat emerged what looked to be a large, round, pink marshmallow. It popped into the air and began to float gently down, like a balloon. It smiled and yelled, “Hiiiiii!”

It was oddly adorable.

Kirby toddled towards them, a grin plastered on his face. Until a large rock, jutting from the ground, sent him sprawling onto his face. The grin was quickly replaced by a scowl, and Kirby began to concentrate, puffing up his cheeks as he did. The air tingled with energy, and he was suddenly wearing a headband-like cloth—a hachimaki—and holding a wooden mallet that had popped into existence moments ago. Swinging the hammer like a baseball bat, a frowning Kirby sent the offending rock flying at supersonic speeds into the stratosphere.

The sight was a stark reminder to the others just exactly what Kirby was capable of. Kirby, however, was unfazed by the cautious looks and simply smiled again. The hammer and hachimaki morphed into a shining yellow star, which bounced around the clearing before shattering like glass.

Samus did a quick head count. With all 6 members present, they could finally get down to business.

“You and Kirby are up to speed, correct?” Samus asked Fox.

“Yeah. We read the transmission on the way. Or more accurately, I read the message aloud while he listened. The question is, why would they be all be moving there?”

“It certainly is odd,” Samus sounded concerned. “I put those coordinates into the computer, and the location is strange,”

“How so?” Link asked.

“As in there’s nothing of benefit there. No abundance of resources, no strange energy readings, no tactical advantage. In fact, it’s nowhere near anything. And I don’t know about you guys, but the Space Pirates never do anything without a reason.”

“Could they be retreating for some reason?” Pit wondered aloud.

“Now why would they do that?” Palutena wondered.

“I don’t think they would,” Mario said, brow furrowed with concentration.

“Maybe they’re amassing their forces,” Link suggested. “Your message says Space Pirate activity has fallen into a lull? So has the monster activity in Hyrule. I’m going to go out on a limb here and say in your home worlds,” Link pointed at Mario, Pit, Fox and Kirby, “it’s been much calmer lately. It seems they’re planning something big. But, if so, what?”

Mario frowned. Link was right, as usual. But what bothered him was that Link had no energy. He sounded tired and bored, which was rare for the normally alert hero. And were those bags under his eyes? Something was wrong.

“Are… you okay, Link?” Mario asked.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Why wouldn’t I be fine?” Link responded a little too quickly.

“Well, you do sound a little too tired,” Samus began, “and you keep reaching in your pocket.”

Mario was surprised. Now that Samus mentioned it, Link had been checking his pocket very frequently.

“So what?” Link’s features formed a snarl. “It’s none of your business. Let’s just do the job and go.”

“Then let’s go get ‘em! I’ll show the Underworld troops what’s what!” Pit was, of course, oblivious to the tension. The angel had raised his fists like a boxer and was throwing jabs at the air as if fighting off a battalion of invisible assailants.

“Thank you, Little Mac, but I think you’re going to need something stronger than your fists to destroy evil monsters made of souls,” Fox said, eyeing Link warily.

“Maybe you’re right,” Pit said. “Maybe a metal ring that’ll cut them when I punch? Wait, no rings. Rings are bad,” Pit’s face had suddenly turned pale, and strangely enough, so had Link’s.

“What about rings? Can we just go already? We’ve sat around talking for long enough,” the warrior huffed.

“Alright, already. Don’t get your tunic in a twist,” Samus raised her hands in submission, then keyed in a special calculation in her suit’s GPS. She smiled. “Well, we sure are lucky. It seems that with the weird multiverse crap going on, the base is just a hop, skip and a jump away.”

“Huh. That’s awfully plot convenient,” Pit said.

“What plot, Pit? Really, this isn’t one of your silly stories,” Palutena’s heavenly voice caught the group by surprise. They often forgot the goddess was listening in on the conversation.

“But it—oooooooooooooh, I see. It’s not a story,” Pit said in a knowing voice. Mario turned to Fox, who just shrugged.

It’s just Pit stuff, I guess the pilot mouthed.

“Hey, where did Kirby go?” Samus asked, suddenly realizing the pink puffball was gone.

“Oh great! More delays,” a frustrated Link groaned.

Mario stared at the knight in green. What the heck was wrong with him, he wondered. He’d never known Link to be this touchy, snappy, or cynical. It was totally out of character.

“I guess I’ll go find Kirby,” Mario turned, looking for some sign of the puffball and finding it in a set of footprints leading off into the woods. Following the trail, the plumber pushed his way through the underbrush. Quickly realizing that with the trees blocking the moonlight he could barely see his hand in front of his face, Mario decided to use one of his special talents. Moving his right hand as if holding an invisible ball, he felt the familiar sensation of pins-and-needles in his fingertips. Closing his eyes, he formed an image of a ball in his mind’s eye, then let the tingling in his fingers push out into the air, sparking into a ball of fire which lit up the area with a warm glow.

Now able to see where he was going, Mario began to venture through the trees, looking for signs of Kirby. And after a couple minutes of walking, he did, by tripping over something small on the ground, sprawling face first onto the bed of leaves. Thinking fast, he tossed the fireball into the air and willed it to stay, leaving it hanging in the air like a miniature sun. Looking back, he discovered the mystery object was none other than Kirby himself.

“Hi!” Kirby exclaimed as he waved.

“There you are. We need to get back. Link’s probably hacked down a tree by now, he’s so anxious to leave.”

And then Mario noticed the small box in Kirby’s hands. It was covered in black velvet with a golden clasp on the front. Plucking the box from Kirby’s grasp, who simply stared curiously in response, Mario slowly lifted the clasp and the lid. Inside, sitting on a pillow of silk, was a beautiful ring. The actual band was gold with an inscription in another language written all along the side, and it was topped with brilliant blue sapphire, multifaceted and shaped into a triangle.

“Kirby, where did you find this?” Mario asked, although he had a fairly good idea of exactly who the ring belonged to.

Kirby paused, thinking for a moment, and then began to focus again. This time, the puffball summoned a small sword as well as a very familiar floppy green hat. He took off the hat and pointed to it, as if he wasn’t being obvious enough.

So the ring was in Link’s pocket, Mario thought to himself, and he had been very touchy and tired. He wanted to finish the mission quickly, presumably so he could leave sooner, but why? Mario had a feeling he knew the reason.

“C’mon Kirby, we have a hero to talk to.”

When Mario and Kirby returned to the clearing, they found Link frantically searching every pile of leaves and bush in sight.

“Where is it? Where is it?” the hero muttered as the other three team members watched frustratedly.

“He won’t tell us what he’s looking for, so we can’t help, and apparently we can’t leave until we find it,” an annoyed Fox informed a confused Mario.

“Hey, Link!” Mario called out, hands cupped around his mouth.

“What?”

“Is this what you’re looking for,” the plumber said asked, holding out the box.

Several emotions flitted by on Link’s face: Surprise, anger, fear, before finally settling on calm acceptance. He sighed.

“Guess it’s not much off a secret anymore.”

“What’s not a secret anymore?” Samus asked.

“This. It’s an engagement ring, which I’m guessing is for a certain Princess of Hyrule,” Mario explained.

“Wait, that was a secret?” Pit raised an eyebrow.

“Wow. Am I really that obvious?” Link grinned sheepishly.

“Very. Especially since I’ve gone through exactly what you’re feeling,” Fox smiled.

“I think the reason none of us have told you is because we’ve all been too busy saving the universe,” Samus grinned. “You’ll still be able to get to your lovey-dovey proposal junk after the mission’s over. Zelda isn’t going anywhere.

Link’s smile faded. “I know that, but… I had this terrible feeling when I got that mission call I wasn’t going to be seeing her for a while.”

Grins were wiped from faces. Link’s premonitions had a nasty habit of being true, especially the foreboding ones. Everyone fell silent for a moment.

“Well, what are we waiting for!?” Pit yelled, startling the others out of their stupor, “We’ve got stuff to blow up!”

The angel sprinted towards Samus’s ship, with the bounty hunter following close behind, muttering under her breath.

“I swear if you touch anything…”

Comments

[FrostTheWolf]

“I swear if you touch anything…”

Keep Pit away from the flight controls!!

[BeneathTheShade]

This looks like it might be good, but I'm concerned about the characterization. Celestia and Luna's dialogue in the previous chapter seemed forced and kind of iffy. Kirby's scene was also odd, he doesn't get upset easily and rarely takes his bad feelings out on someone or something else.

Dreamland creatures potentially being involved in the villain team-up is also strange. King DeDeDe is greedy and self-centered, but not actually evil and never works with people who have genuinely bad intentions. Plus, Mario implied that this takes place after Super Smash Bros. Brawl and I don't think the others would invite him back after his reveal as a double agent. And I'll bet that Bowser still wants to get him back for that pimp slap.

Unless it's some other villain leading Dreamland's monsters and DeDeDe is a red herring, I'm not sure I can read this. Characterization is important in fanfiction but it seems like it may be a bit shaky here.

[TheGamemaster451]

6111666
Thanks for the feedback.
This is my first fic, and writing with established characters (especially Celestia and Luna, who I haven't really watched enough of to get a good grasp of their characters) is very difficult.
As for Dedede... I got nothing.
(Or do I???????)

[BeneathTheShade]

6112296 Established character's dialogue generally is one of the harder parts of fanfiction, especially since people naturally think of what they would say instead of what the character would say. One piece of advice I have is to watch what characters avoid doing as much as what they have a tendency to do. In addition to mannerisms and habits, most characters will have words and actions that they try to avoid using, and may prefer approaching subjects/specific people in a certain manner.

I can't tell you how many fics I've lost interest in because someone dignified like Princess Celestia started using slang or talking in a way that was inappropriately personal for someone in their position. Stuff like that is kind of what I'm worried about.

I'm going to keep reading for now. They aren't too OOC so far, and I suspect that if DeDeDe is with the villains, he has some sort of reason for it. He's shockingly clever for such a simple guy.

[Reality-Related]

6112296 SO YOU FIIIIINALLY POSTED A CHAPTER.

[Darklinker1231]

You know I thought at first it was the Chaos kin was controlling Link and the ring was the same one he trapped Pit in.

[Phazon]

I'm still trying to wrap my head around the fact that they invited Kirby. He's not a hero! He's an omnicidial maniac who eats everything and everyone in his path! Hell, they would've been better off inviting King Dedede. I mean, this fic is in the same continuity as Brawl, and considering those amulets Dedede had when Tabuu showed up, he's... technically the hero of that game.

“Maybe you’re right,” Pit said. “Maybe a metal ring that’ll cut them when I punch? Wait, no rings. Rings are bad,”

"That reminds me." Mario said. "Where's Sonic?"
"We didn't call him," Samus said. "He's got his own problems."
"I don't know all the details," Palutena added, "but from the reports I've seen, he... boomed."

[Bebop64]

To be justifyingly fair to Kirby's offesnce, that rock threw off his groove cute. So it had it coming.

[FurryBrony]

6136524 That's a different continuity.