Marabian Knights

by silvershad0

First published 12th of April, 2013

After months on end of boredom and a general lack of responsibilities, Luna decides to finally do something about it. She rounds up five ponies with an appreciation for fun to match her own and begins a campaign of one of her very favorite classic ga

After months on end of boredom and a general lack of responsibilities, Luna decides to finally do something about it. She rounds up five ponies with an appreciation for fun to match her own and begins a campaign of one of her very favorite classic games, Dungeons & Dragons. What the five friends don't realize is that this game won't be played in the traditional sense.

Currently being rewritten in between chapter updates, so bear with me

Special thanks to MrAskAPirate for editing.

You Must Gather Your Party Before Venturing Forth

The royal palace of Canterlot, resident to two of Equestria’s ruling princesses ever since the return of the younger of the sisters, Luna. During Luna’s thousand year banishment on the moon for the crimes committed by the twisted form that would eventually consume her, Nightmare Moon, her older sister,Celestia, was left to run Equestria by herself. Now that she had returned and the evil had been purged from her body, Luna was eager to resume her responsibilities and ease the burden from her sister’s back. The nobles of Canterlot, however, were having none of it. Not that they doubted her abilities or royal status, but things had changed to better favor them over the last millenium and they feared she would threaten their comfortable way of life.

So there she sat, alone in her bed chambers, sighing deeply at just how bored she had been the last few months. Sure, she had resumed her reign over the moon and stars, but that took up all of an hour at best. What she really craved was more attention from her subjects, like she had received on Nightmare Night that year. She had so much fun and felt she grew closer to her beloved ponies. She sighed again as she mentally calculated how long it would be until the next Nightmare Night. ‘It’s like we’re back on the moon all over again. My sister is busy taking care of the kingdom, Twilight and her friends all sleep through most of the night, and the servants all give us ‘the look’ when we try to involve them in anything fun.’ She lowered her head and sighed even deeper. “We need more friends who are awake when we are.” Her head perked up at the idea as she began recalling some of her conversations with Twilight’s friends. They had mentioned that some ponies these days were referred to as night owls, meaning that they slept through the day and awoke at night like she did. Some did so as a personal preference while others did so because their jobs demanded it. It was the former that now piqued her curiosity.

‘If there are ponies who actually prefer staying up at night, perhaps we could join them and end this accursed boredom,’ she thought to herself. ‘Then again, our presence still intimidates even the most friendly of ponies, especially whilst in public.’ Her brow furrowed as she contemplated a remedy to the problem. “That’s it,” she exclaimed as she clapped her hooves together. “We shall simply go in disguise and bring the ponies back here. Once they get to know us, they will see how much fun we can be. Now we merely need some means of entertainment that can be enjoyed in this confined area.” She glanced around her room as she pondered what sort of games they would play once she gathered the players.

The room itself was circular in shape and large enough to hold at least a dozen ponies comfortably, but she decided that less would be more in the case of meeting new ponies and befriending them. The floor was covered in fine carpet, a dark shade of blue that matched her coat. The walls and ceiling were almost black in color, with little white specks blanketing them to resemble her starry night. Her fit-for-a-princess bed took up nearly a quarter of the room, adorned with soft, velvet sheets and cloud-filled pillows. A lone chest of drawers sat on the opposite side of the room, filled with old memories of her past and a few new books her sister had given to her to help catch up on all that she had missed during her absence.

She slowly made her way toward it as she continued mulling over ideas and began searching through the different compartments. She picked up several pictures and old letters and set them aside as a box came into view near the bottom of a drawer. A box she hadn’t seen since long before her banishment. There, alongside several large tomes pertaining to it, was her very own copy of Dungeons and Dragons, a gift she received when she was very young from the Griffon Empire on one of their many diplomatic visits. Back then she didn’t have many ponies to play with her just as it was now, but that didn’t stop her from inviting every staff member in the castle as well as her sister every chance she got.

With the entertainment decided and her resolve to make this night a success empowered, she quickly channeled her magic and began morphing her form to resemble an average-looking pony’s shape and size. She then changed the color of her coat to almost midnight black and donned some of the clothes she still had from when she had just been freed by the bearers of the elements, since they would be a better fit for her smaller stature while still hiding her wings. She glanced in the mirror to make sure any signs of who she really was were neatly hidden and smiled.

She channeled some magic into her horn once more and found herself off to the side of a mostly empty Canterlot street beneath the palace. That would take care of trying to explain her plan to the guards for now, but they would notice her missing if she was gone too long, so she knew her time was limited. The city was nowhere near as busy as it was during the day, but still by no means quiet. There were a few vendors here and there peddling food and trinkets to passersby. Many shops were still open for business as well, the light from their windows adding to the already well-lit streets and alleyways.

She neared one in particular that put all the others to shame with its brilliant, neon lighting and shaking walls. A line had formed all the way around the building with many eager ponies impatiently waiting for their turn to enter. A flashing sign read ‘Contrast’ in bright, bold letters near the top with ‘hottest nightclub in Canterlot’ in italics directly beneath. ‘A nightclub!’ she thought to herself gleefully as she began trotting to the entrance. ‘What better place to find night ponies looking for some fun.’

As she neared the entrance a large stallion held out his hoof to bar her entry, his eyes never leaving a clipboard he held in his hooves. “Name?” he asked coldly without ever looking up from his list.

“Princess Luna.” She replied automatically, causing the bouncer’s head to reach mach speeds to verify just who he was speaking to. She realized her mistake and thought quickly to herself how she would avoid ruining her disguise. She laughed nervously and tried to speak, but couldn’t think of anything to say, causing the guard to grimace and shake his head.

“Back of the line, your highness,” he said with as much sarcasm as he could muster before moving on to the next pony in line. A light blush covered her cheeks as she made her way around the building, receiving many angry stares from those who had actually been waiting their turn to gain entry.

~

“Come oooon, Tavi,” a white mare whined as she tugged on the grey mare standing beside her. “We’re gonna be late to the party if you don’t move your rump!” She mocked panting as she gave up trying to move her friend along any faster, her spiky, two-toned, electric blue mane fluttering a bit as a cool breeze blew through the streets.

“Vinyl Scratch, how many times have I told you not to call me that? My name is Octavia. Not Tavi, not Octy, and most certainly not Octobutt!” she said as she delivered a hoof to the back of the other mare’s head. Her own dark grey mane swaying as it caught another bout of the cool breeze. “Celestia’s grace, why did you let me leave without a scarf or a sweater tonight? I can’t stand the cold.” She shivered a bit to shake off the late autumn chill.

“You’re, like, the only earth pony I know who can’t handle the cold,” Vinyl said with a snicker. “I’m a unicorn and I can handle it twice as good as you can.”

“I spent most of my life inside my room, practicing my cello in a well-heated house. The cold and I are mortal enemies as far as I’m concerned.” She rubbed her hooves up and down her forelegs to try and warm them, eliciting more fits of giggling from the unicorn.

Vinyl readjusted the oval, purple-tinted shades on her head and started pushing the frigid mare from behind using her head. “If I don’t get there before the previous deejay gets off, both he and the crowd will probably start rioting in the streets again,” she said, recalling a previous incident where she had decided to just not show up that day. The owner had mailed her the bill and, needless to say, it had not been a pretty number.

Octavia wore a scowl as Vinyl hurried her along forcibly, muttering disapproval all the way to their destination. “Alright, we’re here now. Can you please stop pushing me, Vinyl? We’re in public for goodness sake!” She let out an exasperated sigh, signalling she had had just about enough.

Vinyl relented as they approached the large nightclub ,and upon seeing all her fans eagerly waiting in line to see her show, changed her happy-go-lucky demeanor to match her serious party animal alter-ego, DJPON3. “Good evening, fillies and colts,” she announced to the ponies waiting in line as she walked up to the bouncer. “Sure would hate for you guys to miss the epic show I’m about to put on cause you’re stuck out here in the cold.” She stated nonchalantly. With a nod of her head and a hoof on the bouncer’s shoulder, he knew what she was hinting at and also knew just how much trouble he was going to be in whether he agreed or disagreed with the crazy mare.

The buff stallion stepped away from the door as the line became a stampede of hooves rushing into the already packed building. After walking past two large double doors and crossing into the club proper, the two were nearly pushed back by the sheer volume the current deejay was blaring from the speakers. Octavia immediately covered her ears with her hooves and mentally prepared herself for another night of pounding headaches. Vinyl had already moved further into the club, heading straight for the bar.

“Two hits of the usual, Berry, and don’t skimp on the Red Pony. Gonna need the extra boost for tonight’s crowd, I can tell.” The bartender began mixing two concoctions that would likely be illegal in some parts of Equestria and passed them over to her. Vinyl downed them quickly, her face contorting several times as the liquid stung her throat and started invigorating her almost instantly.

“Hey there, miss Pon3,” a mint colored mare with a two-toned mint and white mane stepped up beside her and flashed a toothy grin. “Don't you think you’ve kept us all waiting long enough now?”

“Lyra!” Vinyl exclaimed, before her raw throat reminded her that it was, in fact, still in pain. After a bit of a coughing fit and a small glass of water, she continued. “I’m glad you could make it tonight. This party is gonna be epic, just you wait.” She looked around a little bit with a confused look on her face. “Where’s Bon Bon? Don’t tell me she couldn’t make it.”

“Nah, we ran into Octavia on our way in and she stopped to catch up with her.” Lyra checked around them for any signs of anypony else listening to their conversation before leaning in to whisper, “So, are you guys still fighting or what?”

Vinyl’s grinned dropped just the slightest bit as she contemplated how to answer. “Nah, we patched things up for the most part, and have come to understand each other a little better in the process. I agreed to be slightly less impulsive with everything I do and she agreed to be a bit more impulsive from time to time.” Vinyl’s attitude perked back up and a genuine smile replaced her grin. “How about you guys?”

“It’s been so great this last year. I’ve even almost got her to try researching humans with me a couple of times.” She laughed as memories flooded her mind. She looked around again, this time much more carefully until she spotted who she was looking for. “I can’t imagine spending my life without her anymore, which is why I plan on proposing in the near future.”

Vinyl nearly shouted but a mint hoof covered her mouth before any noise escaped. The white mare nodded that she was okay and Lyra removed the hoof. “That’s so great! You guys are totally gonna be an awesome pair.” The music suddenly stopped and the colt manning the deejay’s booth waved to Vinyl before disappearing into a sea of ponies surrounding him. “Guess that’s my cue,” she said as she made her way to the empty booth.

“So how are things with you and Lyra?” Octavia asked the cream colored mare standing next to her off in one of the quieter corners of the room.

Bon Bon ran a hoof through her dark blue and bubblegum pink, curly mane as a light blush appeared on her face. “Very well, actually. She may be a little eccentric and I don’t know if I will ever understand her fascination with humans, but she is just the sweetest and most romantic pony underneath all that crazy.” Both girls laughed a bit before sighing romantically.

“I hope someday I can look past all of Vinyl’s strange habits the way you do for Lyra.” Octavia stated as she watched Vinyl position herself up in the booth towering over the dance floor.

“Don’t be silly, Octavia. It’s not about looking past their flaws, but rather embracing them. It’s a part of who they are and you can’t just love part of them. Trust me, I’ve tried.” She laughed to herself as Octavia absorbed her words and their meaning.

Her deep concentration was quickly shattered, however, as pounding bass filled the room created by none other than the significant other she was reflecting upon. Ponies cheered and flooded the dance floor all at once, the already overcrowded building shaking violently as hooves stomped the ground beneath. The two mares covered their poor ears, neither accustomed to such volumes yet, despite knowing Vinyl for several years.

This went on for several tracks before Vinyl stopped the music and spoke to her subjects from on high. “This next one is dedicated to all you lucky ponies out there with another special somepony in your life. That’s right, just this once, I’m gonna turn it down a notch and give all you romantic types out there a chance to impress your date tonight.” With that said, a slow love song started playing and several couples began forming out on the floor.

A tap on Bon Bon’s back revealed Lyra grinning at her with an outstretched hoof. “May I have this dance, m’lady?” Lyra asked, eliciting a giggle followed by a nod from her marefriend. The two of them merged with the other ponies as smile slowly crept across Octavia’s face. She looked up to see Vinyl, who in turn lifted her shades momentarily and winked. The DJ then pressed a few buttons on her console, letting the machine autoplay songs for awhile as she stepped out of the booth to meet up with her friends.

Little did they know that their every word and action was being monitored by another pony who had come looking for fun-loving, night-dwellers such as themselves. She approached the group when they stepped off to the side so they could converse over the music and have any hope of being heard.

“Greeting to thee, fellow night owls. How are you on this most wonderful of nights?” She asked with a grin so large it was beginning to look creepy. “We are currently in search of ponies such as yourselves to partake in a glorious night of entertaining games and general fun,” she said as tiny sparkles formed in her eyes.

The group just stared at the intruder for a moment in confusion before Vinyl finally spoke up. “What’s with the crazy accent? Seems kinda outta place for a nightclub. And that’s usually the kind of line a crazy psychopath uses to lure ponies to an old shed in the middle of nowhere.”

Octavia gasped and quickly delivered her hoof to Vinyl’s skull once more. “Vinyl Scratch!” she shouted, “There is no reason to be so rude to a pony you’ve barely just met. I’m terribly sorry, miss…?”

“That is not important now,” Luna quickly blurted, remembering her near fiasco earlier. “What is important now is your answer. We can personally guarantee it will be an experience none of you shall ever forget!” she exclaimed a bit louder than she intended.

Now Octavia and the others were starting to feel a bit uncomfortable and slowly started backing away from the crazy, black mare. Luna quickly realized what was happening, having had similar experiences the past Nightmare Night and quickly wracked her brain for a solution. Her misery must have become evident as the four other ponies nervous expressions changed to looks of concern for her.

“We apologize for being so direct and forward with this proposition. This is not our strong suit and we are pressed for time.” She channeled her magic and four small cards appeared in front of her. “Take these, and if you decide you wish to partake in the festivities we have planned, simply follow the instructions on the back.” After floating the cards over to them she hung her head dejectedly and vanishing in a flash of light, leaving the others a bit stunned as they gripped the cards.

The four looked the cards given to them over carefully, quickly noticing the Equestrian Royal Seal in the center of the card along with instructions on where to go once they entered the castle on the back.

“The castle?” Bon Bon asked the question on everypony’s mind. “What kind of festivities are going on at the castle this time of the night? And who was she that would have permission to invite someone to such an occasion?”

“Maybe it’s some kind of awesome party,” Vinyl said as she began imagining what kind of sick equipment it would take to shake the walls of the palace. “Besides, she said she had some way to make this night even better, and that’s all I need to hear,” Vinyl said enthusiastically. “I say we go check it out. Ten bits says she can't top anything I've ever put us through anyway!"

“I would normally disagree wholeheartedly with that statement, had the offer not come from somepony of apparently high station in the castle,” Octavia said. “I must say, I am curious to find out what this mysterious pony wants from us myself.”

“I’m game for it,” Lyra added.

“Well then, I guess it’s settled,” Bon Bon concluded. With that said the four exited the club, heading toward the castle for whatever awaited them there.

~

Exiting the club, Luna started walking down an almost deserted street, her head down in defeat. She just knew that the ponies from the nightclub would never accept her invitation after her botched attempt of convincing them. She was still relatively new to interacting with her subjects after her return and still couldn’t fully control the 'royal voice' she had been so accustomed to using in the past.

As she continued walking, she noticed another store still open at this hour on the side of the street and her curiosity got the better of her. Peering through the window she noticed all manner of antique toys and figurines lining its many shelves. Thinking back to the game she intended to play that night, she recalled its age. It had been given to her long, long ago and was sure to have some condition issues.

She entered the store and headed straight for the role-playing section of games, but was disheartened that what she was looking for was not on the shelf. In her haste, she hadn’t even noticed another pony across the aisle she stood in, distantly staring at a game she held in her hooves. A sigh from said pony caused her to glance over at the snow white mare. Her mane was a light pink and made up in a neat bun in the back. She then looked down to what the mare was staring at and saw the very game she had been searching for. Or was it? It bore the same name across the front in golden letters, Dungeons & Dragons, but it looked quite different from her own.

The other pony finally noticed she wasn’t the only one looking at the game and turned to see she was lost in thought. “Do you play?” she asked with a warm smile.

“We believe so, though it’s not quite as we remember it,” Luna said with a small frown. ‘Could this really be the same game I enjoyed so much as a filly?’ she thought to herself as she looked to the box again.

“Well, this is one of the newer versions of it, perhaps you played a previous version?” the pink haired mare responded. “By the way, I’m Redheart, a nurse visiting from Ponyville. Always a pleasure to meet a fellow D&D enthusiast.”

“Perhaps you are right,” Luna replied, her smile returning. It’s been so long since we played, we didn’t even consider that it might have seen change. Which version is this one?”

“This one is Dungeons and Dragons three point five,” Redheart said with glee. “I played it with all my foalhood friends every day after classes. Seeing it here takes me back to those days,” her eyes glazed over as she began thinking about her past again.

“We see,” Luna said, snapping Redheart out of her daze once more. “The one we own is just called Dungeons and Dragons, so we suppose it’s the original.”

“Wh-What!” Redheart exclaimed loudly, shock apparent in both her tone and expression. “That game is older than the founding of Equestria for Luna’s sake!” Luna’s eyes shifted back and forth upon hearing her name mentioned. “It must have cost a fortune,” she finished, her heart rate and voice returning to normal levels.

“Well, it’s not in the greatest condition because of it’s great age and how much it was previously used, which is the reason we are here now. We were hoping to find another copy for an adventure we are preparing for the near future, assuming we can find suitable ponies to participate in it, of course,” Luna said, grief evident in her tone.

“So then, I’m guessing you don’t know about all the rule changes they’ve made since the first version then,” Redheart commented.

“No, we don’t suppose we do,” Luna was now nearly on the verge of tears thinking about all the new information she would have to learn before she could plan out her adventure. She had already spent so much of her night trying to get everything together and now she was even further from her goal than when she had started.

Years of dealing with her many patients had given Redheart great insight to the minds of different ponies and it was screaming at her that this pony was very lonely and now on the verge of a mental breakdown. Sure, her accent was off and she kept referring to herself as multiple ponies, but it was nothing she hadn’t dealt with before.

Seeing the dark-toned mare about to crumble into a pile a sorrow, Redheart decided to act on her instincts. “Don’t let it get you down,” she said in a caring voice. “I know the rules inside and out and would be more than happy to go over them with you if you’d like.”

Luna looked up at her with a shocked expression. “You would take time out of your busy night just to help a stranger learn the rules of a silly game?” she asked nervously with a hint of hope returning to her eyes.

“Of course,” Redheart said as tilted her head a gave a large smile. “Just so long as you take back your remark about it being just a silly game,” her face changing to a playfully stern look as she said it. “Besides, I love almost everything about this game and would love to have somepony to reminisce over it with. And who knows, maybe I could become your first official party member!”

Luna’s whole face lit up at that remark she and lifted Redheart into the air, spinning her around and around as she began her joyful rant. “Oh, this shall once again become a most wondrous night!” she shouted with near deafening volume. “We shall head back and begin preparing immediately! If that is alright with you?” she asked cautiously.

“Sounds great,” Redheart said. “And I can fill you in on some of the basics on the way there.”

~

“Wow, the castle looks even more beautiful at night,” Bon Bon said as they stood before the grand gates that served as the massive structure’s entrance.

“Yeah, it kinda is, isn’t it,” Vinyl added. “But do you think these cards are gonna get us in?”

“Only one way to find out,” Lyra said with an adventurous grin on her face. With that, she walked up to the guard and pressed the card up to his expressionless face. “We were told to come by the castle for some kind of adventure or something?” Lyra asked, waiting for a response.

The guard only moved his eyes downward slightly to look at the card before giving her a set of directions to reach her destination. The group thanked him as they each flashed their own card before passing through the gates and into the castle. They climbed several sets of stairs before finally standing before a massive set of double doors, Luna’s cutie mark embedded into the center where they met. The four of them looked at each other, the confusion and anticipation each felt now skyrocketing.

“I just knew this night was going to be interesting,” Lyra said softly as she slowly raised a hoof and knocked on the door.

Hoofsteps could be heard on the other side of the wooden entrance, and when it finally opened, Princess Luna herself appeared at it’s threshold. She simply stared for a moment before her face became pure and unfiltered glee.

“You came!” she shouted as she stepped aside and motioned for them to enter. “We are so pleased you decided to accept my invitation. This night is turning out even better than we could have hoped for.”

“Hold up,” Vinyl said, the cogs in her head catching up to what was transpiring. “That was you at the nightclub who invited us here?”

“That was just a simple transformation spell I cast on myself to keep from being hounded by the ponirazzi and the royal guards,” Luna said as she toned her grin back a notch.

“That’s so awesome! Luna herself came to see yours truly perform at a nightclub of all places,” Vinyl said with beaming pride. “My fanbase is gonna double, no triple, and I’ll become the biggest deejaying star in all of Equestria!” She imagined all the millions of ponies gathered around her for autographs while cheering her name.

“Aaand we’ve lost her,” Octavia said with a sigh as she turned her attention back to Luna. “So, it was you who wanted us to play some sort of game with you then?” she asked with a bit of skepticism.

“That’s correct. You four looked like perfect candidates to form a party and go adventuring in my latest campaign I’ve come up with, thanks in part to Redheart here,” she motioned to the mare sitting to the side of the room writing something on a piece of paper.

Redheart finished what she was writing and trotted over to the group to introduce herself. “Hello, I’m Redheart, a nurse from Ponyville and longtime fan of D&D.”

“D&D?” Bon Bon asked.

“Dungeons and Dragons,” Vinyl answered, finally snapping out of her daydream. “It’s a fantasy role-playing game where groups of friends can go on adventures and complete quests and other neat stuff,” she clarified for the group. “I played it on weekends for a little while at Uni.”

The group of four friends then took turns introducing themselves to Luna and Redheart as well as telling them a small bit about themselves.

“So then, you want us to play this role-playing game with you because...?” Octavia was still unsure as to why one of the rulers of a kingdom needed their help in matters of entertainment.

“To put it quite simply, it’s because we’ve been dreadfully bored since our return from the moon and there are only so many things one can do by themselves to keep entertained.” She gestured around her mostly barren room. “Even when you’re a princess,” she added. “Besides, fun experienced with others is so much more rewarding than when you’re alone.

“Makes sense to me,” Lyra chimed in with a cheery smile. “So where do we start?”

“First, you’ll need to make a character to role-play as,” said Redheart. “Here are a list of races and classes you can choose from,” she passed a book with information and pictures listed on a page, “though you can be pretty much whatever you want to be, so long as the Dungeon Master, or DM, approves it.”

Lyra lit up light a firecracker upon hearing that and instantly teleported over to Luna’s side, looking up at her with pleading eyes with her front hooves pressed tightly together. “Oh please, please, please can I play a human?” she begged a startled looking Luna.

“What is this ‘human’ you speak of?” Luna asked her.

“Oh Celestia, not this again,” Bon Bon said, facehooving in frustration.

Lyra then started trying to explain the foreign creature to the princess at speeds that would make an auctioneer envious. Instead of trying to take in all of this information at the moment, Luna simply agreed to let her have her way. She could care less what they were, so long as she had ponies to play in her masterly-crafted adventure.

They spent another good portion of the quickly fading night making their characters while the basic rules were explained to them about gameplay. When they were each finally satisfied with the character they had created, they turned their information into Luna. She looked each one over as though she were a teacher grading homework to make sure they were both balanced and didn’t contain any mistakes. Excited to finally begin, she set them down and glanced up at the five members sitting in front of her. ‘Now to ensure this campaign is one to be remembered for all time!’ she thought to herself as an almost creepy smile formed on her lips.

She started gathering an incredible amount of magic into her horn as the others just sat and watched in awe. “Allow me to show you how I came to be called the Princess of Dreams!” she exclaimed as she released the collected magic. The world around the five other mares grew dark and cloudy as they each slowly fell to the floor in silence.

Author's Notes:

So I rewrote the first few chapters to see what I could do with this story. Still working on some of the other rewrites and even making some progress on future chapters to come out. Just couldn't bring myself to abandon this story until it's finished, rather anyone is still reading it or not. Any inspirational words or useful feedback is still greatly appreciated since this is my first story.

Is This the Real Life

The group awoke to darkness completely enveloping everything around them, only their fellow comrades in sight. They each frantically scanned every direction for anything familiar as they tried to remember how they ended up here.

“So, anypony want to tell me what happened or, perhaps, where we currently are?” Octavia said as she began subconsciously straightening her mane.

“I have no idea, but we must have drank some really good stuff last night,” Vinyl answered as she tried to remember the name of every alcoholic beverage she tried the previous night. 'It was probably that glowing, green drink. Mental note: Never again trust a drink that glows.'

Lyra and Bon Bon also thought back to the previous night before Lyra spoke up, “That can’t be it. Neither of us had any sort of alcohol last night, right Bonnie?"

“She’s right,” Bon Bon replied, “We didn’t get the chance before we all headed for....The castle!” she suddenly exclaimed. "We were invited to the castle by that strange mare who turned out to be Princess Luna!"

“Oh yeah, that’s right!” Vinyl said, the past night’s events suddenly playing in her mind. “We were about to start some kind game with her. Then she said something about being the Princess of Dreams, and then....blackness.” Vinyl’s trademark grin faltered as she tried to put two and two together.

“So, do you suppose this is a dream we’re all sharing then?” Octavia looked to her friends for confirmation. She had heard of shared dreams before, but mostly in trashy romance novels.

“That is correct,” Luna’s voice echoed through the darkness, seeming to originate from everywhere at once.

The darkness encasing the party suddenly lifted to reveal a small populace of ponies surrounded by an endless expanse of desert. The sun beat down on them in a dry heat the likes of which none of them had ever experienced in Equestria.

Each of them also noticed they were now covered in different types of armor, clothing, and weaponry. Octavia was wearing heavy, metallic armor and her favorite cello strung across her back. Vinyl had no visible armor to speak of, instead wearing a long, silken robe the color of rubies. Bon Bon and Redheart were wearing some kind of lighter armor, though they couldn't place their hooves on the exact material.

“Eeeeeeheeheeheee” Lyra suddenly shrieked with uncontrollable shock and excitement. Everypony turned to face her to find she had undergone a slightly different type of change than themselves. She was standing on two long, skinny legs and her nose had shrunken in size considerably. The only hair remaining on her body was that of her mane, which had remained pretty much the same, though the same could not be said for her hooves. Where they once rested, she now had five skinny digits she was constantly folding in and out.

“I-I’m a...a human!” she finally shouted as she jumped into the air with a small cheer. “Look Bonnie, I have hands,” she waved them in front of Bon Bon’s muzzle repeatedly.

“That’s...that’s wonderful dear,” Bon Bon said with a defeated sigh, closing her eyes and trying to find her happy place.

“Ahem,” Luna cleared her throat audibly to get their attention. “I’ve used my power to bring you here to my realm, the dreamworld, where I have total control over all that happens.” To demonstrate, she turned the sand under their feet into snow, which quickly melted in the sweltering heat.

“This is amazing! I can’t believe that instead of having to imagine what’s taking place around us, we’re going to be living it!” Redheart clapped her front hooves together in excitement. "This is going to be the best D&D session ever!"

“I’ll admit, this does sound like fun,” said Lyra. “It’ll be like taking a vacation without having to pack or travel.”

“Yes, I’ve often dreamed of visiting the middle of a scorching desert,” Octavia sarcastically remarked.

“Aw, lighten up Octy,” Vinyl said while admiring her new robes. "You of all ponies could use a vacation."

Twack! Octavia’s hoof connected with Vinyl’s head with more force than she had intended.

“Owww. Owwie, oww, ouch!” Vinyl said, rubbing the small lump on her noggin.

“What’s the big idea, Tav?” You trying to take my head off?” Vinyl was yelling, though she was more surprised than angry.

“I-I’m sorry, dear. I guess I don’t know my own strength,” Octavia apologized as she stared at her own hoof in disbelief. 'I know I didn't mean hit her that hard. What's going on here.'

As if she had been reading her mind, Luna answered. “That’s because all of your stats and characteristics have been modified to reflect what your character sheets you created show. All of the feats and skills you chose will also be modified while you remain in this realm."

“But I actually felt that blow,” Vinyl said, realization kicking in. “What’s the big idea, Luna. I thought you said this is just a dream!” she shouted into the air.

“It is a dream, but it is your mind that makes the pain real,” Luna said with a soft laugh.

“So then, whatever happens here our minds translate it as being real?” Octavia said with a gasp. “So what would happen if we were to....die here?” she asked, not really sure if she wanted to play this anymore.

“Fear not, my subjects,” Luna answered, “As I said, I have total control over this realm and will not let anything terrible befall you. I can bring you back to the waking world with but a thought should you ever find yourself in mortal peril. Now, if there are no more questions, you should probably introduce yourselves to the rest of the party before we begin with the storyline.”

“Welp, guess I’ll start us off,” Vinyl said, stepping forward. “I’m DJ Tastybeats the Awesome, a mighty unicorn sorcerer on a quest to spread wubs to the far corners of the world,” she stated, striking a heroic pose.

“Really, Vinyl?” Octavia facehooved at her lover’s creative name and title. “Do you think that, perhaps, we could just stick with our own names,” she pleaded. “This is all confusing enough without having to memorize new names too.”

Vinyl tried pouting, but once she realized it was futile, an idea struck her. “Fine, but only if I can call you Tavi while we’re here,” she said, making sure she got something for giving up her amazing name.

Octavia sighed and nodded in agreement to her stipulations. ‘I’ve a feeling I’m going to need a real vacation before this is all over,’ she silently mused.

“I had trouble deciding on which class to play, so I picked a bard as my class,” Lyra said, pulling out a golden lyre and playing a small verse to the party. She seemed to be just as proficient with her new hands as she had been with her hooves or magic, perhaps even a bit more.

“I picked a pegasus rogue, so I can deal with any pesky traps we might run across and sneak around and rob ponies blind,” Bon Bon gave an innocent chuckle that came across as super creepy given the context. “I’ve always wondered what flying would be like as well,” she said, flapping her wings a few times to get a feel for them.

“Who are you and what have you done to my marefriend?” Lyra bursted into laughter at how ridiculous the idea of sweet, innocent Bon Bon skulking around in the darkness, taking whatever she pleased before flying away at breakneck speeds.

“I just thought it would be fun to try role-playing something a little different, is all,” Bon Bon replied. “Plus I get to use these neat little knives known as daggers,” she said as she expertly twirled the daggers in her hooves and wearing a wide smile.

“That does sound like... fun,” Octavia said with a nervous laugh . “I chose paladin so that I could smite any ruffians we might encounter and because of their many defensive abilities.” She then pulled her cello that was strapped to her back out and swung it around a few times. “Luna said I could use this as a greatclub for all intents and purposes and I think you’ll agree it suits me.” Lyra gave her a thumbs up, which the group just stared at blanky, causing her to fold her arms and pout.

“I guess that just leaves me,” Redheart said. “I’m running a cleric, since it’s my favorite class and I like helping ponies in need.”

“But you pretty much do that every day in the real world,” Vinyl looked at her curiously. “You can be anything you want to in this world, so why a cleric?”

“You have no idea how amazing healing powers are in this world, do you?” Redheart retorted. “With a single spell, I can mend broken limbs and close wounds instantly here that would take me weeks to treat back home!” she yelled, raising her voice further with each spoken word.

“Wow, that’s sure come in handy on a long journey,” Bon Bon swiftly added, trying to calm the nurse down before she really became angry.

“Sweet, so it sounds like we’ve got all of our bases covered and can get this show on the road!” Vinyl said, pumping her fist and flashing the group a smug grin.

“Excellent!” Luna’s voice once again shouted from nowhere. “Then we shall begin at once.”

Sounds of combat followed by a piercing scream could be heard nearby, causing each member to glance in the direction of the racket. It clearly originated from a lone building on the edge of the city, several cloaked figures fleeing from the back exit and into the desert.

“Don’t let them get away!” Lyra shouted and began running towards them, the others soon following close behind.

“Can’t you stop them with your magic, Vinyl?” Octavia huffed as she was quickly becoming fatigued running in the heavy, plated armor she had chosen.

“Not from this distance,” Vinyl said in much the same state due to the low constitution she had rolled during her character’s creation. “I need to get within a hundred yards... before I can blast them...but I,” she left off as she stopped to catch her breath.

The others gave up not much later, none wanting to charge headfirst into the desert and risk getting lost. The group regathered in front of the house the creatures had fled, staring at it’s door with a mix of panic and dread.

Redheart suddenly stepped forward with a determined look on her face and threw the door open, revealing the destroyed remains of what used to be a living room. The couch had several holes and was split almost all the way down it’s center. Several cushions lie scattered about, either shredded to pieces or with crossbow bolts sticking in them. An overturned curio cabinet left glass dispersed across the wooden floor, so she had to move slowly to avoid being hurt herself.

As she entered the kitchen, she immediately covered her mouth with her hoof as she laid eyes on what she just knew she would find. There on the kitchen floor in a pool of his own crimson life force, an elderly stallion lie motionless. Redheart dropped to his side and begin checking for any signs of life before lowering her head, quiet sobs escaping her lips.

The rest of the group entered the kitchen to find their new friend now completely bawling over the stallion’s corpse before turning to look them in the eyes.

“I-I know what you’re gonna s-say,” the sobbing nurse said as she tried to dry the tears streaking down her face, “b-but it never gets any easier to watch another life extinguished and being powerless to help them,” she finished.

“I think I understand how you feel, Redheart, but remember, he’s not real.” Octavia softly said, the sight of the nurse almost enough to bring tears to her own eyes.

“Maybe not, but he's really dead now, isn't he?” Redheart asked. “He may have had hopes and dreams just like all of us, but now he has nothing. Real or not, I can see his lifeless body, feel his cold skin under my hooves, hear the silence that he will emit from now until oblivion.” Redheart sighed in frustration, the tears now freely flowing down her face.

“Wow, when you put it that way, dying really does sound awful,” Vinyl said, wearing an almost depressed look on her face. “But the only thing we can do for him now is make sure that those who were responsible are never allowed to kill again,” she said with her normal vigor returning.

“She’s right, we must bring whoever did this to justice!” Octavia suddenly shouted, her eyes filled with a burning fire she herself didn’t quite understand. “We should begin by looking around for any kind of clues as to who did this or where they ran off to.”

“I have a pretty high search check,” Bon Bon said, “I’ll see what I can find around here.”

“And I’ll use my gather information and bardic knowledge skills to see if any of the local townsponies know anything about similar occurrences,” Lyra said as she turned to exit the building.

“Cool, I’ll go with Lyra and help with information gathering, you two stay here and make sure Bon Bon doesn’t miss anything,” Vinyl motioned toward Octavia and Redheart. “We’re only level one, so it can be easy to botch a check and totally miss out on useful stuff. We’ll meet you back here as soon as we find anything.” With that, Vinyl quickly left to catch up to Lyra.

‘Hmm, they’re really getting into this,’ Luna thought to herself as she watched each event unfold before her. ‘Oh, this is going to be so much fun. I just knew these were the right ponies for my campaign.’ She let out a joyful squee as she began imagining what would come next for the intrepid heroes-to-be.

A Little Detective Work

The oppressive sun was just starting it’s long journey across the sky as Vinyl searched the town square for her transformed friend. It didn’t take too long to find her, however, as there was almost nopony out in the streets and the hamlet itself wasn’t even half the size of Ponyville.

The sorceress found Lyra at the entrance to one of the larger buildings trying to pry information from a pale looking stallion in a white robe. It became quickly apparent from watching the scene unfold that he was much more terrified of the creature that stood before him now than he was to learn of the recent murder.

“Look, pal, we’re just trying to figure out what those creatures were and where they went so we can go after them,” Lyra said as gently as she could. “If there’s anything you can tell us, it would be greatly appreciated.”

The stallion gulped, gathering his courage as he began to speak. “They’re known as kobolds; small, scaly, distant relatives of dragons. They live in underground dens directly east of our village,” he pointed to the direction he had mentioned.

“Speaking of your village,” Vinyl said appearing next to Lyra, “Where exactly are we?”

“You don’t know where you are?” the stallion looked at her suspiciously, now noting just how strangely dressed they were to be traveling in the desert.

“It’s a long story that would likely cause your head to explode. Buck, I’m part of it and my head still hurts just thinking about it.” Vinyl put a hoof to her head for emphasis.

“Right...” the stallion replied, shaking his head slightly. “Well this was the quiet, little town of Puyayna, located in central Saddle Marabia. But for the last two weeks it’s been...well, like this,” he motioned to all the different housings with ponies peeking out of the doors and windows with expressions of terror adorning their faces.

“That’s terrible! Why hasn’t anypony done anything to stop this?” Lyra turned back to him now wearing a frown.

“Most of our warriors tracked them down after their first attack on us, but only one ended up returning, badly wounded and too terrified to even speak about what went on down there. Ever since then, we’ve all been too scared to even leave our homes unless it’s absolutely necessary,” he said with his head hung low.

“That changes now,” Vinyl seriously stated, her eyes becoming focused as her blood began to boil in her veins. If there was one thing she couldn’t stand, it was the abuse and terrorizing of defenseless ponies. She had seen too much of that herself growing up on the streets and wouldn’t stand for it.

“Come on, Lyra, let’s go see if the others have found anything. Then we can go roast some reptilians.” Vinyl gave a sinister looking grin as as her eyes actually started glowing from behind her shades with a fiery passion, adding to her growing aura of anger.

“But shouldn’t we go question that survivor who made it back?” Lyra asked her nervously, not wanting any of her friend’s current wrath directed at her.

“No point,” Vinyl said with an even tone. “It doesn’t matter what’s down there waiting for us; we have to stop it and that’s that.”

Having extensively searched the living room and kitchen already, Bon Bon now foraged through one of the two bedrooms while the other two looked over the other. It was a mess much like the previous two had been, though far less had actually been destroyed.

‘How curious,’ Bon Bon thought. ‘Whoever did this obviously came in this room, but there are no signs of battle here, nor a chase.’ She glanced around the room once more, noticing all of the drawers had been pulled out of each dresser and the closet had been thrown open with little care, it’s contents scattered on the floor in front of it.

Then it dawned on her. ‘They were searching for something! And it must be important for them to have gone to such lengths looking for it here.’

She spent another few minutes searching for any more signs of just who ‘they’ were when she heard a shriek from inside the house. She dashed from room to room toward the offending noise and walked through the doorway just in time to see a massive stringed instrument crash down into the closet onto a small framed, lizard-looking creature. Sickening sounds of bones giving way to the massive impact vibrated throughout the room, the creature falling silent and motionless. Bon Bon froze, standing stock still as her brain tried to catch up to the events playing out before glancing to her longtime friend and noticing she had two bolts sticking in her chest, a small trail of blood trickling from each.

Her righteous rage now leaving her, Octavia immediately started panicking regarding the intrusive shafts of wood now protruding from her. She quickly moved to remove them before having her hoof swatted away by an angry looking Redheart.

“Don’t touch that,” she strictly scolded the mare, “You’ll only cause further damage. Just give me a second here,” she said as light began gathering energy into her hooves. She muttered a small prayer to Celestia before pressing both hooves up to Octavia’s wounds and releasing the energy into the grey mare’s body, the bright light washing over the bolts and into the wounds themselves.

Octavia immediately felt the curative effects taking hold, feeling the tissue mend beneath her flesh and fur, slowly inching the bolts out into they plopped to the floor beneath her. Instantly the pain was gone, only her memory serving as confirmation that the wounds had ever existed at all.

“That..That’s amazing Redheart,” Octavia managed to stammer out, still rubbing a hoof over her newly repaired skin. “I can certainly see what all that fuss was about before pertaining to how amazing healing magic is in this world,” she softly chuckled a bit.

“I’m glad you’re ok now, Octavia,” Bon Bon interjected, releasing a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding, “but there’s still the matter of what that creature is...or...was,” she said, grimacing at the broken figure still in the closet.

Inspecting it closer, the three noticed it was similar in shape to Lyra’s new form, albeit much smaller in size. It had hands similar to hers as well, though each digit was equipped with a sharp, curved claw at the end and it had a long, reptilian head with jutted horn stubs on either side.

Bon Bon searched the creature’s corpse and pulled out a strange medallion from one of the pockets in its patchwork armor/shirt. It was circular in shape, though not perfectly so, and made of a cheap looking wood. A single white horn was crudely drawn in the center, curved at almost a ninety degree angle at its base and slightly less so in the opposite direction at the top.

“What kind of creature has a horn like that?” Redheart asked, unable to take her eyes off of the strange trinket.

“It looks almost like a bull’s horn, though I’ve never seen one curved quite like that before,” Octavia said. As the three quietly pondered to themselves, the sound of the front door opening could be heard. Bon Bon deposited the medallion into her saddlebag before turning with the others, preparing for whatever had entered the house.

“We’re back! And we’ve got good news,” Vinyl said merrily as Lyra and she made their way into the room. Both noticed the dead creature at once and cringed slightly at its condition. “Looks like you guys found something too, huh?” she said with a fake laugh, lowering her shades a bit to get a better look.

“That must be one of them,” Lyra suddenly said, remembering the old stallion’s description. “A ‘kobold’, I think he called them. They’re the reason for all of this,” she pointed an accusing finger to the closet.

“I see,” Bon Bon stated before remembering what she had learned. “From the look of the room I was searching in, and this one as well, it seems, they were here looking for something. Just look at how everything is either opened or turned over.”

“Hmm, so they’re looking for something are they,” Vinyl spoke up with a small grin playing at her face once more. “Well I’ll say they found something alright... trouble! And we’re gonna be the ones to deliver it to them!”

“That’s very noble of you, Vinyl,” Octavia said, leaning over to give her love a peck on the cheeks for her bravery. “She’s right, for once. I feel we have a duty to protect these ponies now that we’ve become involved, be they real or not.”

The other three silently nodded in agreement as each started to put a hoof, and one hand, into a pile on top of the previous.

“Wooooaah, hold up just a minute!” Vinyl yelled as she removed her hoof from the pile.

Octavia mentally sighed to herself as she closed her eyes and began straightening her mane, waiting for her crazy marefriend to ruin yet another promising occasion with her shenanigans..

“I just think, you know, if we’re going to be a proper, world-saving group...Well, we should have a team name.” Vinyl looked to the group to gauge whether they felt the same.

Octavia instantly facehoofed, not being able to control the action since the very first time she had met Vinyl. ‘Always with the dramatics, even when an entire town is depending on us,’ she thought to herself.

“Hey, that’s a great idea!” Lyra said, matching Vinyl’s grin. “That way, when we’re famous, I can write an epic ballad about us.” She began humming a lively tune as she pictured the group standing victoriously over a colossal dragon.

“That does sound pretty cool,” Redheart added with a slight blush. “After all, team spirit is important to the group as a whole.”

“Not you too, Redheart,” Octavia whined before giving in with another sigh. “Fine, but only if we all agree on the name. I won’t be associated with many of the crazy things that will surely escape my love’s mouth,” she said, raising her nose up just a notch.

“Yesss!” Vinyl hoofpumped, her grin growing three times in size. “And I already have the perfect name.”

“Oh, here we go.” Octavia braced herself for the oncoming assault to her precious braincells.

“The Knights of Wub,” Vinyl said, ignoring her marefriend’s rude comment. “Huh, what do you guys think? You see, wub sounds kind of like love, so it works on multiple levels,” she stated as though there was solid science backing up her theory.

“That’s a nice prospect, but why don’t we put that on the backburner for just a moment in case something better pops up?” Lyra pat Vinyl on the shoulder in a gesture to show that she meant no offense.

The room was quiet for a full minute as each quietly considered their own ideas.

“I do like the knight part,” Bon Bon spoke up, finally breaking the silence. “It too works on multiple levels, since the whole reason we’re here is because of the Princess of the Night,” she let a chuckle slip through her lips at her own pun.

“Ohh, I got it!” Lyra said, pounding one of her fists into her other open palm. “That guy we talked to earlier said we were in Saddle Marabia, so how about the Marabian Knights?” She gave everypony a chance to mull it over for a second.

“That’s brilliant, Lyra! And one of my absolute favorite books,” Octavia said in a rare moment of giddiness in the presence of others.

“Good going there, Lyra,” Vinyl congratulated the mare and put her hoof in to start the process once more. Each of them followed suit and raised them at the same time, the whole group cheering “Marabian Knights!” at the end. They burst into laughter afterwards before the gravity of the situation sunk back in, all becoming serious at the same time.

“I guess we should get going then,” Lyra said as she filled the group in on where it was they would be going to confront the remaining kobolds.

“If we’re going to be trekking across the desert, we should really ensure we’re prepared for such a journey,” Octavia chimed in as the ever-present voice of reason and logic.

“Good thinking,” Redheart added. “We’ll need plenty of water and nonperishable foods, as well as blankets and tents for the night. I’ve got plenty of leftover coin myself from character creation, so I’ll take care of those and meet you back here in half an hour.”

“Alright, I’ll see about some more appropriate desert clothing for us, then,” Octavia said.

“Cool, I guess we’ll just...wait here?” Vinyl said as she shrugged to the other two. They returned the gesture and sat down in the shade of one of the buildings.

While they were just sitting around, Bon Bon told the other two about what had transpired with the kobold that had been hiding in the closet. When she reached the part about Octavia getting shot, Vinyl nearly lost it.

“Those no good, bucking little vermin!” Vinyl spat in disgust. “They were gonna get it before, but now, it’s personal!” she said, her words laced with venom.

It wasn’t long before the others returned with the needed supplies, giving Vinyl plenty of time to cool off. Each distributed what they had bought among the group, helping one another fit into the bulky, although strangely cool, robes.

“They didn’t have anything quite...your size, Lyra, but I managed to find something that should suffice.” Octavia handed her a long, slender cape that Lyra wrapped around herself as a makeshift robe.

“If there’s nothing else, let’s get going,” Vinyl said impatiently with a hint of excitement in her voice. “We need to repay those bucking kobolds for not only terrorizing the town now, but also hurting my marefriend!” she ended through gritted teeth.

Author's Notes:

Sorry for the lack of action so far in the story. Been spending so much time with the setting so it feels more realistic.
Action on the way in the following chapters.

Desert Encounter

‘Snow. Winter. Ice. Boiling magma.’

“Uhhhhg, it’s no use,” Vinyl cried out. “No matter what I try, I can’t stop thinking about this unbearable heat!”

For once, Octavia was too hot and too tired to scold or otherwise reprimand her marefriend’s non-stop complaining. They had been trotting for a solid two to three hours through the hot sands and it was quickly taking its toll on the unaccustomed ponies.

“I don’t think ponies... are designed for this kind of environment,” Bon Bon huffed, stopping momentarily to take a drink from her canteen.

“This human body doesn’t appear to be faring any better. I can’t stop sweating and I think I’m even starting to burn,” Lyra said, staring at her quickly reddening skin.

The group stopped and rested, each drinking more of their precious water reserves and each regretting taking on this task just a little bit more. Redheart carefully took notice of how much each of them was consuming in her head, trying to calculate how long it would last if they continued drinking at this pace. And it didn’t look good right now. They had bought and carried as much as they could hold without weighing them down considerably, but would still run out in less than a day’s time at this rate. They had no way of knowing how far they still had to go, not to mention the return journey; If they returned at all, that is.

“I hate to be the bearer of bad news at a time and place like this, but we need to cut back on the water or we’re going to run out before we make it to the dens,” Redheart said, wearing a worried frown. “In fact, if we don’t find some water at some point soon, we may not even have enough to make it back to the village.”

The entire group stared at her in horror, each imagining slowly dehydrating in this hot wasteland before perishing. They each checked the water they had been given to hold onto to ensure the nurse was indeed correct about their current predicament.

“So then, should we head back to the village and restock?” Lyra asked with a tiny bit of fear still in her tone. “I mean, we can always try again when we’re better rested and supplied.”

“No.” Vinyl’s tone was deadpan. “That will take up way too much time and those villagers have waited long enough. Besides, Luna said she wouldn’t let anything happen to us, right?” she said in the best uplifting voice she could manage at the moment.

“Oh, that’s right,” said Bon Bon. “I keep forgetting that we’re in her dream...world.. whatever you wanna call this place.”

“Even so, this heat feels real enough to me... as well as the constant dryness in my throat.” Lyra puffed her bottom lip out as she lie down on her back and covered her eyes with one arm.

“Indeed, even though this is all a dream, everything here seems to follow all of the natural laws of our world,” Octavia thought aloud. “That should indicate that all of the creatures here must follow those same laws!” she suddenly cried out with excitement.

“And that means...what for us exactly?” Vinyl asked, trying to follow the grey mare’s thought process.

“It means, my dear Vinyl, that the kobolds who live out here must need to consume large amounts of water too,” she said with a confident grin of her own.

“I get it!” Bon Bon shared in her revelation. “The kobolds must have a large water supply somewhere near their den for them to live out here in the middle of the desert.”

“So what are we waiting for? Let’s get going!” Vinyl shouted with renewed vigor. ‘Just you wait, kobold scum. We’re coming for your water, then we’re coming for you!’ she said, her focus returning.

Another hour of traversing the cruel landscape was all it took for that focus to once again waver in favor of exhaustion. A few scattered clouds had gathered overhead, granting them small pockets of relief every so often, though none seemed to carry any signs of the precious hydration they each secretly prayed for. A small breeze had also picked up, although it carried only the warm, dry air and occasional bits of sand that beat into their bodies, causing them to itch like crazy as it mixed with sweat and fur.

“Arrgh, I can’t take this anymore!” Vinyl stopped and shouted into the air. “Is it too much to ask for a bit of rain or a nice, cool breeze! It’s hotter than Tartarus out her, for Luna’s sake!” She silently cursed the maze master for choosing a desert campaign.

Just as she finished her angry rant, the clouds overhead darkened and the breeze kicked into a violent fury. Thunder could be heard booming overhead as the clouds opened up, releasing their newly acquired cargo down upon the ponies quickly and without mercy. The group cheered at first as they were washed over by tiny droplets of something, but soon discovered this ‘rain’ was not as it appeared.

“Sand!” It’s raining bucking SAND!” Vinyl screamed out as her rage reached its peak. “Of all the no-good....” she started before a grey hoof quickly filled her mouth.

“Vinyl, this is all your fault, and if you say anything to make it worse, as Celestia as my witness, I will show you what it feels like to be critically hit by my cello!” Octavia yelled, matching her marefriend’s angry tone. Taking Vinyl’s lost expression as a sign she didn’t fully understood what she meant, she then clarified with even greater levels of umbrage, “I WILL SHOVE THE LARGER END OF MY CELLO SO FAR UP YOUR FLANK, YOU’LL BE BELCHING BEETHOOVEN!

Vinyl’s skin instantly evolved into a white so pale, it would need its own name and place in the color spectrum. Her tail moved between her legs like a terrified dog’s and her mouth hung agape as she imagined her fuming love’s threatening words in her mind.

“Now, now, I think we all just need to calm down a bit,” Bon Bon stepped in-between the two to ease the tension. “It’s been a rough day, and...”

“Look!” Lyra interrupted, each of them taking notice that the storm had disappeared as quickly as it had come.

“Well, thank all that is holy and good for that, but we’re still...” Octavia started into another rant only to be interrupted herself by the lone human of the group.

“No, not the storm, that!” she said, pointing to what appeared to be a desert oasis off in the distance. The group turned to where she was pointing and saw the small specks of green and blue clearly against the dirty brown of everything else in the area.

“So that must be their water source, then,” Bon Bon cheerily stated. “I could use a drink myself about right now, actually,” she said, licking her dry, parched lips. She still had a fair amount of water herself, but it had swiftly warmed since their journey began and the notion of cool, fresh water was now more alluring than ever.

“‘Water’ we waiting for!” Vinyl joked merrily, her natural color returning to her as well as her spirit. “To the waterhole!” She started galloping full speed to the oasis as the rest of the group facehoofed in unison at her terrible pun.

As the party neared the oasis, movement around the small pool caught their attention. They stopped and took cover behind a sandy hill to better survey what was going on, spotting a small group of kobolds around the water’s edge.

“Well that’s just great!” Vinyl scoffed as she kicked a hoof across the sand. “They would be here at this exact moment.”

“No, I don’t think they’re here just getting a drink. Look at the way they’re just pacing around it back and forth,” Lyra said. She squinted even harder as she tried to make out what they were carrying. They looked similar to the spears the royal guards of Equestria were known to carry, but shorter and made with much less care. “Only four of them, but they’re each wielding small javelins, so they can probably attack at close quarters or range.”

“One of them’s not getting the chance for either.” Vinyl’s horn glowed a bright blue and started to hum slightly. She focused the energy into the form she wanted and released it, sending a small cacophonic blast screaming at the closest kobold. The noisy missile struck its mark with pinpoint accuracy, exploding with a low, thunderous boom.

The kobold screamed out in pain, covering its ears with its hands as it writhed on the ground in agony for a few seconds before ceasing all movement. The other three stood looking dumbfounded at their fallen brethren before turning toward the missile’s source.

From their previous hiding place, the party looked at Vinyl in a similar fashion before Redheart asked what everypony else was thinking. “What was that?! I know pretty much all of the low level mage spells and I’ve never seen one quite like that.”

Vinyl just grinned as she stared at her recent handiwork for a moment longer. “It’s a variation of the basic magic missile spell I came up with. It trades a bit of its damage for a deafening bass explosion. I’m calling them bass missiles.”

“Well they certainly are effective, I’ll give you that. But now the other three are heading straight for us and they look none too happy,” Bon Bon said, pointing a hoof at the now-charging kobolds.

“Shoot’em again before they get here, Vinyl!” Lyra cried out with a bit of panic as their foes drew nearer and nearer.

“I need some time to recharge before I can do that again. Remember, we’re only lvl one so we’re pretty limited right now,” Vinyl informed the group, who were now beginning to share in Lyra’s panic. All except Redheart.

“Listen up!” Red shouted with a commanding tone. “Octavia, you take the front line and use your cello as a shield for the first wave of attacks. Lyra, you play a mana regeneration tune to get Vinyl back in the fight and then switch to a defensive booster to help Octavia. Let them have it as soon as you have your mana back, Vinyl. Bon Bon, immediately flank any of them that make it past Octavia and take them out before they can cause any damage to our squishies. So long as their focus is elsewhere, you’ll get your bonus sneak attack damage. I’ll use some of my light-based spells to lower their accuracy, while staying in range to heal should the need arise. Any questions?”

It took the rest of the group a second to process the information as well as picking their jaws up off of the ground. The sight of the approaching reptilians snapped them out of their stupor, each nodding, taking their position, and mentally readying themselves for their first real battle.

Two of the three kobolds leapt straight at Octavia with spears fully extended as soon as they were close enough, the third staying back and readying a ranged attack. A tingling sensation washed over her as the foes drew near and she found that she could now actually feel the evil aura radiating from the little monsters. Their presence invaded her mind instantly, a small voice in the back of her head screaming out in fury at their impurity. The voice grew louder and louder the closer they got until it melded with her own thoughts perfectly, its righteous fury becoming her own. Octavia easily moved her enormous instrument-turned-shield in between herself and the pointed stones with enough force to fully deflect the attacks off to either side of her, snapping their heads off to leave only splintered sticks in the kobold’s hands.

The third kobold launched its javelin at the grey mare once her defenses had been lowered, but she sensed the projectile just as it was leaving its hands and managed to sidestep just in time, the attack only managing a glancing blow to her side . She grunted at the pain, but quickly suppressed the feeling to ready for her counter-attack.

Vinyl was basking in the regenerative energies of the song Lyra had been playing since their preparation, and now had the energy stores she needed for another round. As she began charging another blast, one of the closer kobolds took notice and ran straight for her with its claws fully extended. Vinyl tried to gather the energy faster, but knew she would never beat the kobold to an attack. Just as the foul monster was about to impale her with its natural knives, a shadowy blur came zipping down from the skies and slammed into it with twin daggers of her own. Bon Bon looked up and smiled cheerfully at Vinyl before exiting back up into the air as quickly as she had come down. Vinyl almost lost the energy she had been gathering into her horn from shock, but managed to reel it back in and continue her chant, muttering a small “thank you” to the airborne rogue.

Redheart was busy gathering energy of her own as she surveyed the situation to pick which target she would release it upon. Deciding that Vinyl would handle the one at range, she fired a blinding beam of light at the other currently in combat with Octavia. It struck the creature in the eyes, instantly blinding it and causing it to thrash about from the luminous sensory overload.

Octavia didn’t need a better invitation. Seeing the kobold’s defense dropped, she called upon all of her built up fury into her cello, causing a faint silvery glow to outline it, and swung it full force at the unaware creature. The hit landed effortlessly, the silver energy exploding on impact and sending the kobold flying a good fifteen hooves before landing headfirst into the hot sands.

The last remaining kobold assessed the situation for only a solitary second before turning tail and running, screaming in some language the group couldn’t make out. Vinyl finished charging her spell as the group started to give chase, stopping them before they wasted any of their energy.

“I got this, guys,” she said as yet another screaming bolt of bass left her horn, travelling to its target like it was magnetized. The kobold tried to evade the missile by diving off to the side, but the magical missile could not be fooled, following its every movement until exploding upon touching the creature.

“Awww yeaah!” Vinyl shouted, hoofpumping as the creature fell. “We totally rocked that! And it was only our first battle!”

“I’ll admit, I found the combat most exhilarating myself,” Octavia confided with a small blush. “It felt good for some reason, punishing those kobolds. I got to relieve some stress and help out other ponies. Though I don’t think i’ll get used to the wounds I keep obtaining.” She grimaced as she ran a hoof over her fresh cut.

Redheart chanted a bit, and the wound was gone just as it had been before, much to Octavia’s delight. “All in all, we did well to only have that small injury in our first real battle,” the nurse stated with confidence. “Half of the times I’ve played with others, we end up losing a member or two in the first couple of fights.”

“It was really thanks to your amazing strategy that we fared as well as we did, Red,” Bon Bon said, bowing gratefully before her.

“Yeah, where did you learn to plan like that on the spot? That was so super cool.” Lyra added.

“Years of having to act quickly to save other’s lives keeps the mind sharp, I guess,” she sheepishly said, not used to all the compliments she was receiving.

“Well it sure saved out flanks today,” Vinyl said, raising her glasses and winking one of her fiery orbs at the pink-haired mare. “And speaking of flank saving, I guess I owe our resident rogue some thanks as well. While looking totally bad-flank as she did so, might I add.” Vinyl brought Bon Bon into a big bear hug and ruffled her mane a bit.

“Oh, it was nothing really. Just doing what Red told me to is all,” she said a blush of her own. “Flying really is as fun as it looks, though,” she added.

The group shared in a laughing fit for several moments, before remembering the water that was now free of guards. They turned to look at each other before racing to and diving into the cool, refreshing waters. After several more minutes of drinking and drying off at the water’s edge, Bon Bon flew back up into the air to look around for their destination and landed back on the ground.

“Good news and bad news guys,” Bon Bon said in her almost ever cheerful tone. “The good news is that the dens are just right over the next hill past this oasis.” She paused a moment for dramatic effect. “The bad news is that there are dozens of them spread out all over the place.”

The group ventured over the hill to see for themselves and, sure enough, their friend had been right. Dozens, if not hundreds, of tiny entrances were spread all across the small expanse of desert in front of them, all equal in size and shape. They stared for a few more minutes, each shaking their heads in silent frustration.

Vinyl was the one to finally break the silence to voice everypony’s thoughts on their latest predicament.

“Buck”

Into the Earth

“So, does anypony else think we’re in way over our heads here?” Octavia asked, never looking away from the multitudes of holes in front of her. “I mean, to dig that many tunnels...”

“There must be dozens, if not hundreds of them,” Lyra grimly finished her sentence for her. “But with so many tunnels, it’s very likely that they’ll be split up pretty bad in there!” she said, her normal enthusiasm returning.

“Yeah! We can pick them off one by one until none are left,” Vinyl said, striking a pose.

Redheart shook her head and held up a hoof to cut her off. “But what if one of them manages to alert the rest of them to us. We’d likely be overrun before we could escape.” Vinyl dropped from her pose and shot a sour glance at Red, a little upset with her negative comments.

“Well, we can’t just do nothing after coming all this way. Not to mention, we still have ponies counting on us,” Vinyl responded as calmly as she could manage. She was trying not to get angry at her friends for all the delays when she knew they were just trying to be careful, but with no kobolds in sight to vent her frustrations on she could feel it slipping.

Octavia caught the irritation in her marefriend’s tone and decided to speak up before she said something she regretted. “Vinyl’s right. We’ve come all this way and the least we can do is look around.” ‘Besides, if they could have felt what I did when our auras clashed in that last battle...’ she shuddered a bit as she remembered all of the vile feelings radiating from the red devils.

“So should we split up into groups to search the place faster or stay together for safety?” Bon Bon inquired, not exactly happy about going underground so soon after discovering the wonders of flying like a pegasus.

“Splitting up is a very bad idea at low levels,” Redheart said with absolution. “Right now we’re relying on teamwork to cover our weak points, such as low quality gear and only a handful of hitpoints.”

“Stick together it is. Now I say we pick one of these and get started before nightfall.” Lyra held her hands over her brow as she searched for the current position of the sun. “Which, from the look of things, will be in less than four hours,” she added.

The group nodded and they slowly descended into the nearest den with great caution. It was easily wide enough for two ponies to walk side-by-side comfortably and nearly the same height. The slope was angled just right so that they could walk without fear of slipping while still going as deep as possible. Octavia and Bon Bon took the front, Vinyl the middle, and Redheart and Lyra brought up the rear, as suggested by their healer. The first thing they noticed as they entered were the glowing green specks covering the majority of the top of the tunnels. They gave off just enough light to make out the passage, but not enough to notice any details.

“The kobolds must have millions of these green crystals to use as a light source,” Lyra said, amazed by just how many of them there were.

“It’s quite beautiful, and just a tad eerie at the same time,” said Octavia. She focused her aura and tried to stretch it outward as much as possible. She couldn’t sense any evil nearby, but she was still a little lax to trust in her new powers so quickly.

“Let me help ya out there, Tav,” Vinyl said as she began charging her horn once again. Everypony looked to her and immediately ducked to the ground. Vinyl finished the spell and a small ball of bright, white light hovered over herself, following her as she moved back and forth. “You guys need to have a little more faith,” she giggled as they picked themselves back up from the cool ground beneath them..

They continued at a slow, steady pace for a few moments before the path split three ways ahead of them. Two smaller paths veered off to their right and the one they were currently on continued straight.

“Great, so now which way do we go?” Vinyl huffed angrily.

“Well it’s not like we have a map, so I guess we just pick one and go with it? Lyra looked between the three possible directions, noticing there were no signs of which way they should go.

“Speaking of that, where exactly are we trying to get to anyway?” Bon Bon asked. “And what are we even looking for, other than kobolds?”

Redheart cleared her voice and spoke up. “There’s usually a leader of some sort that’s holding the minions’ focus. If we can find and dispatch him, the others will likely fall apart. At least until a new leader is chosen,” she laughed a bit nervously.

“So we just keep looking until we find this guy then,” Vinyl said adamantly and started nudging Octavia towards the larger path.

They pressed on for another few minutes until Octavia suddenly stopped and closed her eyes. She could feel a dark presence up ahead, but she couldn’t tell what it was or just how far ahead it was yet.

What’s up, Tav?” Lyra asked looking around curiously.

Octavia’s eye twitched a bit at hearing her hated nickname, but she decided that it could wait until the danger had passed. “There’s something up ahead,” she calmly stated as the group squinted to make out any details in the distance. “I can’t actually see anything, per se, but I feel it all the same,” she corrected.

“Oh, I get it. Paladins can sense the auras from nearby evil creatures,” Redheart informed the group. “So there must be more enemies up ahead then.”

The group again readied themselves for combat, recalling the previous instructions Red had given them, and slowly pressed forward in formation. It wasn’t long before they could make out another two kobolds a good ways down the tunnel facing the other direction.

“K, I guess I’ll take out one with my magic from here like last time then we can deal with the other when it gets closer?” Vinyl suggested, knowing better than to just blast away again without consulting the group.

“That’ll make too much noise in these narrow tunnels, I’m afraid,” Redheart said much to Vinyl’s chagrin. “Stealth is the better option in a situation like this. Bon Bon, you take the one on the left. Octavia, sneak as close as you can without alerting them and charge the right one after Bon Bon makes her move.

Both mares nodded and slowly crept forward as quietly as they could manage. It was quite the task for Octavia in her heavier gear, but it seemed to be working as she made it into a position where she could lunge when the time came. Sweat was dripping from Bon Bon’s muzzle as she crept closer and closer until she was almost within striking distance. One of the creatures reached up to scratch its head as it turned to the other and started conversing in their still indiscernible language, sending her nerves on end as she tensed up like a clam. She turned to look at Octavia, who reassured her with a nod.

Bon Bon returned the nod, refocused herself, and took the final step needed to strike out at the red-scaled menace in front of her, only to find her hooves sinking into the collapsing ground beneath her. She screamed as she quickly began falling until a grey hoof took hold of her own, keeping her from the darkness of the pit below. Bon Bon looked up to see Octavia holding her with all she had until the ground beneath the grey mare herself started cracking under the strain. It finally gave way and both mares were sent screaming down into the darkness.

Lyra and Vinyl both looked on in horror as they each saw the love of their life swallowed by the earth itself. Vinyl started to run for the opening, screaming Octavia’s name over and over again, but was quickly stopped by Redheart who was yelling something at her, though she couldn’t make out any words from the loud ringing pounding in her head. Lyra collapsed to her knees and began sobbing as she heard Redheart yelling at Vinyl that they had to get out of there right now before more guards showed up.

Red smacked them both in the face with a hoof in an attempt to shake them out of their current state. “We can’t do anything from here,” she yelled. “We’ll come back, I promise, but we can’t help them if we get caught here.” The two nodded and quickly followed Red back out the way they had come as the sounds of many footsteps could be heard coming their way from behind.

As Octavia and Bon Bon were swiftly falling to what would surely be their doom, realization struck Bon Bon. She grabbed onto Octavia and spread her wings out, flapping them furiously with all her might. The overbearing weight was straining every muscle in her body, but she had managed to slow their descent considerably until they finally crashed into a dirt floor.

Octavia had taken most of the forced landing upon herself, with Bon Bon merely bouncing off of her after their collision and rolling a few feet to her side. Octavia huffed quietly as she lie on her side, running a hoof over her body to check for any serious injuries. After finding that she was mostly alright, she tried lifting herself from the ground, but found standing to be painful. She slowly inched her way over to Bon Bon to make sure she wasn’t seriously injured, running her hoof over the pegasus in the same manner she had checked herself. When she touched one of her wings, Bon Bon immediately cried out in pain, causing Octavia to wince herself as she withdrew her hoof.

Bon Bon stood up herself and carefully folded her wings onto her back, cringing in agony. “I don’t think I’ll be flying again anytime soon,” she said with a half smile, a small trail of tears running down her cheeks from the intense pain.

“Don’t worry too much about it right now, okay?” Octavia said gently, trying to stay strong herself. “Once we regroup with the others, Redheart will take care of these nasty injuries.”

“The others!” Bon Bon’s eyes immediately shot open. “They’re still up there with those kobolds! We need to get back up there and help them!” she tried unfurling her wings at once, only to be met with sharp pain coursing through her entire being. She fell to the ground as her wings returned back to her sides, her body visibly shaking from the intense pain.

“Don’t overdo it!” Octavia snapped at her. “They’re smart ponies. And they have Redheart with them. I’m sure they all got out just fine and are working out a plan to come back for us even as we speak.

She reached down to put her hoof on the cream mare’s shoulder when the ground beneath them began to rumble slightly. They both looked up to see a large metal gate to one side of the room slowly raising up and something large behind it patiently waiting for the barrier to disappear. They immediately scanned the large, circular room for an exit to find the only way out was through whatever was about to confront them.

When Push Comes to Shove

“Hurry, we have to... get back... to the entrance!” Redheart yelled as she gasped for air. She turned her head for just a moment to make sure the other two were still following and noticed that they were indeed being chased by several of the creatures.

Lyra fought back the pain of her burning legs and the ache in her heart, her will to survive forcing her forward. “So what’s the plan when we make it out? We can’t just leave them down there,” she managed to spit out.

Red began running ideas through her head when she spotted the light of the entrance coming into view. “Once we pass the entrance, we’ll each turn and bottlenose them with everything we’ve got. I know it’s not the best plan, but we don’t have a lot to work with at the moment.” She huffed and began charging a spell as they broke into the setting sunlight of the desert.

Lyra focused all of her energy into Vinyl’s currently charging spell, pouring all of her grief and sorrow into the white mare. It was almost too much for the sorceress to handle, feeling all of Lyra’s heartache added to her own, but she pushed past the pain as she felt the enormous surge of power pulsating from her horn.

As the first kobold stepped foot into the light, both mares fired what they had collected. Redheart shot a blast of light energy that combined with Vinyl’s supercharged bass missile, the resulting wave of energy knocking the first three creatures back into their allies. The intense sound wave seeped into the walls of the tunnel, causing several chunks of the walls to cave in on the kobolds unfortunate enough to be near the back.

Vinyl sat staring dumbfounded as the entrance crumbled in on itself, sealing away their current threat as well as the only known path back to Octavia. She continued gazing, her thoughts racing violently at the prospect of never seeing her marefriend again, before everything started to blur around her. Fatigue set in quickly as everything around her went dark.

“Vinyl!” Lyra rushed to her friend’s side and began panicking. “Vinyl, are you alright? What happened? Oh no, you pushed yourself too hard, didn’t you?” Lyra began shaking her vigorously until Redheart pushed her aside to give the unconscious mare a proper inspection.

“Relax,” she finally said, breathing a sigh of relief to herself as well. “She’s fine, but her body needs time to recover from that last surge of energy.”

“But can’t you just heal her?” Lyra asked, panic still present in her tone. “We don’t have time to sit around waiting for her, our friends need our help!” She pounded a fist into the cooling sands as tears streamed from her eyes once more.

“I’m sorry,” Redheart replied, “But I can’t cure exhaustion like that at this level. She needs rest and we need her if we’re going to have any hope of rescuing them,” Red firmly stated. ‘Luna was right. This is far more intense than any adventure I’ve been a part of.’

Inside the tunnels, Octavia utilized her cello once more as a shield as she prepared for whatever monster was loudly chittering behind the near fully raised gate in front of them. Behind her, Bon Bon was shivering from a mixture of pain and fear, barely able to stand.

“Stay behind me,” Octavia commanded as the gate finally finished its ascension into the ceiling, revealing an eight-legged, brown monstrosity easily four or five times the size of an average pony. A wicked pair of driveling fangs clanked loudly from the giant spider’s mouth, all five of its eyes focused intently on its next meal.

Octavia’s blood froze in her veins just at the sight of the menacing arachnid, spiders not being one of her favorite creatures to begin with. She wanted nothing more than to scream as loudly as her lungs would allow, but her baser instincts told her that would be a bad idea at the time.

‘Oh, of all the creatures these damned kobolds could be keeping as a pet’ she thought to herself before a slight twitch from the spider returned her full attention. The spider finally lunged, aiming for the pony’s exposed neck with its venomous fangs, only to receive a mouthful of wood and splinters. It jumped back an impressive distance for its size and reared itself back for another attack.

‘Why can’t I sense its aura?’ Octavia wondered to herself as she rolled out of the way of its next charge. ‘There’s no malice or hatred coming from it at all. It’s just hungry, I suppose.’ Raising her cello up high by the neck, Octavia shot a daring glare back at the spider. “I have not endured hours in the scorching desert and a fall that should have been the end of me just to end up as spider food! Now,” she narrowed her eyes and slung the cello over her shoulder, “Bring. It. On!”

The spider leapt again, but was met with the backside of the cello to its face this time around. It hissed a bit at the impact, but with hunger outweighing the pain it attacked again before the mare could recover her stance. It shoved her forcefully with its superior weight and bulk straight back into the wall, pinning her in place speedily with its front two legs. Before she had time to react, a pair of fangs found their way digging into her neck.

At this point, Bon Bon was petrified to her core from watching Octavia’s losing battle with the beast and knowing that she could do little to help in her current condition. She clenched her eyes shut as Octavia let out a blood-curdling scream. Her thoughts drifted back to first meeting the cellist; how they’d become friends in just days after she had introduced her to Lyra. She remembered how Vinyl and Octavia had been there for the couple during their first rough patch. “What are friends for,” the grey mare had told her when they finally made up and she couldn’t thank the pair enough.

‘What are friends for.’ Bon Bon repeated the words in her head. She picked up her twin blades, all signs of fear and pain now replaced by determination and focus. A few deep breaths and she began her advance, leaping onto the spider’s abdomen and plunging the daggers in with as much force as she could muster.

The spider released its hold on its victim, hissing in pain. It reared up quickly, sending Bon Bon tumbling off of its back and into a harsh roll onto the floor. The arachnid flailed and shook vigorously, desperately trying to rid itself of the spiky weapons protruding from its back.

Octavia fell to the floor and immediately clenched her hoof over her fresh wound. She could feel the poison coursing through her veins, rapidly weakening her muscles and blurring her vision. Shaking away the feeling, she stood once more and grabbed her weapon of choice.

“And this time,” she raised her cello high over her head with the last of her remaining strength, “Stay down!” She brought the instrument down upon the spider’s head, all eight of its legs immediately spasming before going still. The grey mare collapsed on the ground herself, a smile playing at her face for the first time since entering the kobolds abode.

“We did it Bon Bon. We really did it!” Octavia raised her head a bit to find her friend, though all she could see was the occasional twitching of the spider’s legs. She pulled herself to her hooves again and stumbled around the massive corpse to find Bon Bon in much the same shape as their foe. The faint rising and falling of her chest was the only sign the cream mare was still among the living at all.

No. Not after all of that. “Bon Bon!” She rushed over to her side and turned the wounded mare over onto her back. Bon Bon’s eyes were gently shut and she showed no visible signs of any pain. She’s unconscious. Octavia pulled off her saddlebag and began rummaging through it for her first aid kit. Redheart has insisted each of them carry one for the bonus it applied when attempting any kind of non-magical healing. She cleaned the wounds and wrapped them promptly, but small trickles of blood continued to seep from the already soaked bandages.

Bon Bon’s color started to pale and her skin was quickly losing its warmth as each minuted passed. “No! Please don’t die!” Octavia continued doing everything in her power to stop the bleeding and save her friend, but she was no doctor and only knew what little she had observed from visits to medics herself. She broke down crying into Bon Bon’s stained fur as the rogue’s breathing grew ever more shallow.

“I failed. I took on the role of the protector, but it was you who ended up saving me in the end,” Octavia whispered as she dried the tears from her eyes. “Some protector I turned out to be!” She stomped her hoof in anger as more tears blurred her vision. “I let my friends down, I don’t want to play this anymore,” she choked out.

“Wait! That’s right!” she perked up as realization hit her. “Luna, you said you wouldn’t let any of us die in here since it could really result in death!” she shouted loudly. “I think you’ve let Bon Bon get close enough here, so please wake us up now!”

Silence.

“Luna, did you hear me? Bon Bon is going to die if you don’t do something!”

Still more silence.

‘Ok, this is really bad. Why isn’t Luna answering me. Is this a test? Or did something go wrong.’ “Luna, please!” Octavia cried out again in vain. Her previous fear quickly sank back in during the silence that followed. ‘What am I suppose to do?’ She was startled from her thoughts when the spider let out one final hiss of air as its legs curled deep into its body.

A warm light bathed over her, coursing through her entire being. She instantly felt renewed and energized as the power filled her veins. She sat staring at her own hooves for several seconds as she tried to decipher just what in Equestria was going on here.

“Instant power, renewed stamina...This must be what they referred to as ‘leveling up’,” she concluded. “I guess that means I’m level two now? Wait! Level two. I get a healing ability at level two!” Octavia placed both hooves onto Bon Bon and began a prayer she didn’t realize she knew.

“By the grace of the moon and her Guardian Princess, let your healing power flow through me and unto the deserving. Lay on Hooves!” As she finished uttering her words, a silvery energy flowed from her center and through each hoof into the swiftly fading rogue. The effect was almost instant, Bon Bon sat up and gasped for air as her wounds quickly sealed and her wing joints mended. Octavia noticed the same strange light from her level up now surrounding Bon Bon, mixing in with the silvery light of her healing power. She was about to inquire about it but was cut off by Bon Bon’s voice before she could get a word in.

“What happened? Did we win? Are you okay?” Bon Bon fired off questions as she ran her hooves over where Octavia had been bitten by the spider. After determining for herself that her friend was indeed fine, Bon Bon sat back on her haunches as the realization of what had transpired washed over her. “I was about to ‘kick the bucket’, as they say, wasn’t I?” Bon Bon gently asked, not sure if she even wanted to know the answer.

“It doesn’t matter anymore,” was all Octavia could manage before breaking into tears once more. She moved forward and brought Bon Bon into a big bear hug as she let out all of the raw emotions she had pushed aside.

“Oc..tavia... I can’t... breathe again.”

Octavia released her hold of the mare and blushed a bit at how she was behaving. “Terribly sorry about all of that. Still don’t know my own strength, it seems.” The two shared a laugh as their minds began wandering off to the state of the others.

Author's Notes:

feel free to leave a comment or two, I don't bite... not like a spider, anyway :P

Equestria's Got Talent

“Ughhh, did I party too hard again?” A drowsy Vinyl sat up, cringing at the pain emanating from her head.

Redheart moved to her side and promptly pushed her back down with a frown. “You need a little more time to recover after the way you pushed yourself back there. Not that I don’t appreciate you saving our lives, but you also sealed off our entrance back to our friends.”

“No sweat,” Lyra appeared in Vinyl’s field of vision, “There are several more tunnels out there and one of them has to lead back to where we last saw them.”

“How long was I out?” Vinyl asked, now noticing that the sun was completely gone and had been replaced by an enormous, blue-tinted moon. She raised up again and shook her head of the drowsiness and pain.

“Vinyl, you’ve only been out just over an hour or so now and there’s no way you can cast any spells in your current condition,” a stern Redheart shoved her back into the cool sands. “And no offense, but you won’t be much use without them.”

“She’s right, Vi.” Lyra held her head low and placed a hand on Vinyl’s side. “I want to go help Bonnie just as bad as you want to go help Tavi, and you know it’s true, but we need you at full power to do that successfully.

“I get it, okay,” she said as tears streamed from her eyes. “I’ll rest for one more hour, but that’s it! After that, we go save them together or I go alone.” The other two looked to each other then back to her and nodded.

“So what now?” Bon Bon sat up straight and cast a worried glance to Octavia.

“Well, normally I would suggest that we stay put so that we’re easier to locate by the others or future rescue parties.” A small, sarcastic chuckle escaped her lips. “But under the circumstances, I think we should make our way to the surface before we run into any more of those nasty creatures.” She shuddered slightly at the thought. “The others will surely do the same eventually.”

“Right. With Redheart with them, they should be fine in the logical thinking department. Celestia knows what trouble Lyra or Vinyl would get themselves into looking for us.”

“Yeah,” Octavia let out a small, dreamy sigh. “But you can’t fault them their dedication." Both mares drifted off for a moment, each picturing their significant other battling the odds themselves to come to their rescue. “But I believe we've shown here today that we are no simple damsels in distress, so why don't we switch it up a bit and go save their sorry flanks."

Bon Bon smiled cheerily and nodded her head. "Right, let's kick some flank and save our marefriends!"

With that, the two exited the spider’s den and began walking up a narrow slope to what they hoped would be freedom.

“So, Lyra,” Redheart sat up straight and looked her companion up and down, taking in all of her different features. “Care to tell me more about this ‘human’ thing that you chose to be and why you picked it over being a unicorn?”

Lyra lit up a bit and took a deep breath. “Humans are a really versatile race that use ingenuity and technology to make up for their lack of wings or magic. They’re sort of like earth ponies, but instead of physical strength and endurance, they learn things really quickly and can create all kinds of neat tools to make their life easier. Plus they can walk using only two of their legs while using their hands to do pretty much anything else.”

“I see,” Redheart nodded to her while mulling over what she had said. “So you think you could make some of these tools to help out with our current predicament?”

“Well, I probably could if I had some materials to work with, but I don’t think I could do much with just sand.” She laughed a bit despite herself. “I tried building all sorts of things I believed humans may have used back at my place in Ponyville, but I could never quite get them working properly.”

“Well, perhaps your new form will aid you... if you get the chance to try again that is,” Red said with a hint of despair.

“Trying to rest here,” a very disgruntled and drowsy Vinyl said upon being woken up for the last time.

“Sorry about that,” Redheart said, blushing a little at the irony of the situation. “Lyra and I will try to keep our voices down while you rest.”

“Don’t sweat it, Red. I can’t sleep right now anyway, so we’re just wasting precious time by sitting around. We’re going to go rescue them now and I won’t take no for an anwser!” Vinyl stomped her hoof into the sand and dared the other two to say otherwise.

“Fine, you win,” Redheart let out an exasperated sigh and closed her eyes. “But we should at least take it slowly this time so we don’t end up walking into another trap ourselves.”

The other two nodded and they made for the entrance nearest to the collapsed tunnel. The eerie stones were slightly more sporadic throughout this tunnel, making visibility much more difficult.

“No worries, guys, I got this covered,” Vinyl announced as she saw the concerned looks her comrades were giving. She cast a basic light spell on one of the bracers around her forehoof and used it as a makeshift flashlight.

The group proceeded slowly, as planned, downward through the tunnel for what seemed like miles until it finally opened up into a fairly large cavern. The walls and ceiling were lined with precious-looking gemstones of every color and several carts were strewn about with varying amounts of the different gems inside. Several kobolds with pickaxes were spread along the walls, furiously swinging at and around the embedded gems. A larger, armor-clad kobold stood behind them barking what must have been insults as he swung a whip through the air, nearly catching them several times.

“Great, how are we supposed to get by all of them,” Vinyl quietly said as she counted eight of them total, including the leader.

“Well, the smaller ones look as though they’re about ready to collapse as it is, so they shouldn’t be a big threat even if they join the fight, but the larger one could be a problem.” Red took a moment to study him. “He looks to be warrior-class and I don’t envy anypony on the other side of that whip.”

Lyra pulled out her harp and whispered, “I may be able to fascinate him with a song long enough for us to slip by him, but I can’t be sure what the others will do. We could always go back out and try another tunnel, I guess.”

“No way,” Vinyl shot her a glare, “we’ve come too far and wasted too much time already. You do your thing with the big guy and let me deal with the small fries.” Red sighed again and said a short prayer before motioning Lyra to go ahead.

Lyra took a deep breath and begun to play a few chords of an upbeat song she remembered from her early foalhood. She walked through the entrance of the cavern and began dancing in time with music as all the kobolds turned to look at the commotion. The smaller ones immediately ran from the room, but the larger made the mistake of looking the lyrist directly in the eyes. As he did, he found that as she moved her left arm up, his own was doing the same. In fact, he was now mimicking every motion she did, and he couldn’t seem to stop for some reason.

Vinyl and Red stepped in and, upon seeing the grand scene unfolding, both burst out laughing. The kobold’s entire face turned a bright shade of red, partially due to anger, but more-so out of sheer embarrassment.

The three continued laughing at his expense until a large, bulky figure suddenly stood behind him, glaring with unbridled rage. Lyra immediately stopped playing and stood looking dumbfounded at at the easily-twelve-foot-tall minotaur raising his arm in the air, and then quickly raining down on the unsuspecting dance star. The three of them grimaced and turned away at the gruesome sight before locking eyes again with their newest obstacle.

For a full minute he just stood there staring at them, daring any of them to challenge him with his glare. Vinyl and Lyra were too scared to think at the moment as Redheart ran several scenarios through her head at breakneck speeds, though they all ended the same way. Badly.

Sighing for what she believed to be the last time, Red threw her hooves in the air to surrender and advised the others to do the same. A small smirk played on the minotaur’s face as he signalled for the kobolds that had been waiting behind him to come take his new prisoners away.

The Stakes

“So I’ve been thinking,” Bon Bon turned to Octavia as they continued along the narrow slope. “We’ve been playing this, or more accurately, living this for the better part of a day now, but we haven’t heard from Luna in quite some time. Do you suppose there’s something wrong?” She gulped as she finished the sentence, thoughts of being stuck in this alternate world forever dancing in her mind.

“To be honest, I’ve been worrying about that very thing,” Octavia stopped for a moment and sat on her haunches. “What are we doing here and why hasn’t Luna responded to us yet? We never should have agreed to play this silly game in the first place and now we’re separated from our friends in some dark, stinking cave with absolutely no clue as to what’s going on!” She wanted to cry. She wanted to scream. But most of all, she wanted a hot bath, far away from this place.

The sound of footsteps coming from further ahead snapped both mares out of their miserable state as they quickly ducked behind some loose rocks they had passed. Chancing a peek, they each saw several kobolds leading, who else, but the very ponies, plus human, they were searching for. They were bound and blindfolded, but didn’t look injured at a glance. They continued marching their captives down the path towards the spider pit at an even pace, occasionally prodding them with spears when they slowed.

“Well that’s just super,” Octavia spat as soon as they were out of hearing range.

“I know it looks bad,” Bon Bon placed a hoof on her shoulder, “but at least we’ve already taken care of the spider. Not to mention, we now know where they are and that they’re okay.” She gave her best encouraging smile until the grey mare finally returned it.

“You’re right. All we have to do now is free them from that small party of guards and we can all get the buck out of here. I mean, we took on that giant spider, right? What could possibly be worse than that?

She noticed that the tunnel had suddenly become darker somehow and, turning around, she came face to knee with a minotaur that timberwolves would certainly give wide berth to. Then she felt it. The immense aura surrounding the creature screamed of terrible deeds and ill intentions. A darkness that would have left Sombra envious. The paladin tried to reach for her weapon, but found that her hooves wouldn’t obey her.

The monster just stood and stared at each of them, his glare having the paralyzing effect he desired in his prey. He reached for a large club he carried at his side and drew it high into the air. “Spider already has fresh meat,” he said in a deep, rustic voice. “You are not needed.”

Octavia begged her limbs to move. The size of the club itself would easily have been enough to crush her to dust, but the size of the monster wielding it would ensure that there was absolutely nothing left of the poor mare. As the club descended on her like lightning to a tree, her only thoughts were of Vinyl being dragged away to meet her end as well. That’s right. End. If I fail here, it’s all over. And just like that, a fire coursed through her veins. She was the defender against injustices. She was the protector of the weak. She was a paladin. And her friends and loved ones needed her right now!

She dove between the minotaurs legs just as the club struck bare earth, sending a deafening shockwave throughout the cavern. The raging bull-man wasted no time in swinging at her again, only to be met with her cello blocking his blow. As the two pieces of wood met, Octavia winced harshly at the vibrations that traveled through her instrument and up her forehooves. But the time for complaining was over. Now, she had to face this monstrous hulk in front of her or lose all that she cared for.

The minotaur paused his attack and gave a slight chuckle at the sight before him. This pony wasn’t even a quarter of his size, but still chose to face him head on rather than escape with her life. “You are brave, little one,” he said with a snarl, “brave but foolish.”

Further down the passageway, the group of captives froze as a tremendous boom could not only be heard, but actually felt. A second resounding boom soon followed and the group immediately knew that it could only mean one thing.

“Time to go!” Vinyl exclaimed as a surge of energy flowed from her horn throughout her body, focusing on the bindings and setting them ablaze. As soon as the ropes were sufficiently weakened, she broke free and pulled the blindfold from her eyes. It didn’t take long for the guards to realize she was free and draw their shoddy spears. She concentrated with all she had and fired two more small flames toward her friend’s bindings, nailing Lyra’s and setting her free. Redheart was not so fortunate, however, as she quickly realized that her tail was now on fire.

The poor healer of the group was blind, tied up, surrounded by angry, spear-wielding kobolds, and now she was on fire. Surely this is some cruel joke Luna is playing at my expense. “And if we live through this, I swear I’m going to kill you Vinyl!” she screamed as she flailed about, desperately trying to put out her blazing rear. Several of the kobolds were unfortunate enough to get caught up in her panicky tantrum and received a faceful of flaming flank themselves.

Lyra took advantage of the chaos and started playing a few notes on her lyre, and the kobolds were soon helplessly dancing to their disco inferno-y doom. “I got these guys,” she said as she continued dancing in time with the music. “Go help them!”

Vinyl splashed the last of her remaining water on Red’s flank to douse the flames and freed her. Immediately a hoof connected with the back of her skull. “Ow! What was that for? I put the fire out didn’t I?”

Redheart glanced back at her short, blackened tail and considered hitting her again. “This can wait, but believe me it is not over!”

“Geez, you keep that up and Tavi’s gonna get jealous.” Vinyl shot her a suggestive grin and wiggled her eyebrows.

“Oh just shut up and go,” Red fumed, more than a little flustered. I don’t honestly know how Octavia puts up with this one, but I’ve gained new respect for her if she hasn’t tried to do her in yet.

The two galloped down the hallway, readying themselves to face the titan of a monster locked in battle with their friends. As they rounded a bend in the cavern, they found Octavia matching the creature blow for blow as each unleashed a flurry of attacks. But what really caught their attention was a shadowy figure encroaching behind the beast. As he took a step back to parry another blow, Bon Bon leapt from hiding and delivered a blade across the back of each leg. The minotaur let out a cry of pain and surprise as he lost his balance and fell to his knees. Octavia didn’t let the chance escape her as she connected her cello to his face, sending him reeling on his back. A soft, golden light wrapped itself around Redheart and Vinyl, both rejuvenating and empowering them.

"Sweet, did we just level?" Vinyl asked, already knowing the answer, but right now there were more important things on her mind. She ran to her marefriend’s side and enveloped her in a giant hug, each mare softly crying out their relief and frustrations. “I’m so glad you’re alright, Tavi. When I heard you fighting that thing, I nearly lost it. But, wow, when did you get to be so badflank?”

Octavia just let out a quiet chuckle as Red drew closer and started healing her remaining wounds. “It hasn’t been easy, let me tell you, but Bon Bon’s had my back. Vinyl ran over and shared another hug with the blushing rogue.

"I guess that means it's over," Bon Bon said, taking a deep breath to calm herself.

Lyra returned shortly wearing a smile. "Kobolds have been taken care of. Looks like you guys cleaned house here too." For a moment all was quiet, save for the heavy panting from combat.

The sounds of movement halted what would have been a merry moment as the minotaur picked himself up and shook off a bit off dizziness. “You didn’t honestly believe it would be that easy, did you?” He let out a billowing laugh as he cracked his knuckles and then his neck. “You pitiful ponies don’t even realize just how much trouble you and your world are in right now. Aimlessly wandering the desert while my mistress is quickly on her way to becoming the new ruler of the dreamworld.”

“Woah, how do you know this is the dreamworld?” Vinyl cocked an eyebrow and shot him an inquiring glance. “And what do you mean ‘new’ ruler of the dreamworld?”

The minotaur gave another cocky laugh. “This little ‘game’ of yours has made poor little Luna slip in her defenses, granting my mistress the perfect opportunity to step in and take control. What’s more, once she has reverted the princess back to Nightmare Moon, she will have enough power to take over both this world and the waking world as well!”

“That’s not possible! The elements of harmony destroyed Nightmare Moon,” Bon Bon challenged him with a glare.

“Do you really think even the elements can destroy a part of who somepony is on the inside? No. The elements merely sealed away the darkness in Luna’s heart, but now my mistress works tirelessly to reawaken it. And when she does, not Celestia nor the elements will be able to stop their combined power!”

Vinyl slowly clapped her hooves together in a dramatic fashion. “Well, you certainly played the evil villain spilling all the juicy details in an over-dramatic monologue to a tee. Bravo. But now that we know what’s going on, you expect us to just stand back and let it happen?”

“No,” the giant finished popping his arms, “I expect you to die!” With that he charged straight for the unprepared caster, ready to rain down on her with all his might. And he would have succeeded if not for the ever-vigilant, pesky paladin now standing between them. He grinned and pulled his punch just as Octavia swung to parry, her attack smashing into the ground rather than his bare knuckles. “Too predictable.” With the interloper wide open, he swung with his other arm. The blow hit her with such force that she lost her grip on her weapon and was sent her flying back through the air, rolling several times before crashing against a wall.

Before Vinyl could even cry out to her, she received a swift kick to her midsection. She barreled through the air and landed flat on her back, screaming in pain as she held her hooves over her ribcage.

“Did you really believe you little ponies had a chance against the might of a minotaur?” He stared each of them down as he slowly walked towards them. “The only question... is who dies first?”

The Interrogation

The minotaur now stood blocking the passageway back to the surface. Octavia and Vinyl lie unconscious against a wall, battered and bruised. Things were looking worse for them with every passing moment, and infinitely worse for Equestria now that the monster had laid his master’s scheme bare for them.

Redheart watched her foe like a hawk, taking careful notice that he was not putting full pressure on his legs, meaning Bon Bon’s attack had caused some real tendon damage. His pupils kept refocusing in the dimly lit tunnel; Octavia’s blow to the head had hurt his accuracy as well. ‘He’s way out of our league at his best, but in his current condition, and with a bit of strategy, just maybe....’

“Listen up,” the nurse commanded. “Bon Bon, I need you hold his attention while I get the other two back up. His mobility and accuracy have been crippled and your dexterous fighting style should allow you to evade him for awhile. Lyra, boost her mobility with your song to ensure this.”

Bon Bon looked to her with uncertainty for a moment before nodding and drawing her daggers. Lyra started strumming as her marefriend nervously stepped toward battle with the beast. ‘I hope Red knows what she’s doing,’ Lyra thought as she lost herself in the music.

The minotaur wasted no time in swinging his massive fists at the timid rogue, who ducked and dodged each blow with expert finesse. After a few close calls, she found that he was attacking in a pattern, most likely to preserve his balance. A swing from one hand was followed by the other, matched by slow hoofwork. She continued her back-and-forth dance with him, occasionally taking a swing of her own to keep from being backed into a wall, though her limited range meant she had to go all-in to actually make contact.

Redheart quickly began healing Octavia to give Bon Bon the flanking element she needed to start dishing out the damage, glancing up every now and then to make sure the rogue could handle her task. ‘Amazing,’ she thought. ‘She’s taken to it with such confidence and fervor. These ponies are definitely tougher than they first appear.’

With her song complete and its effects lingering, Lyra made her way over to Vinyl and started a healing spell of her own. Redheart glanced up and smiled, glad to see her team taking charge of the situation rather than just following her every order like cadets in training.

It didn’t take long before Octavia regained consciousness under Red’s care. She stood and shook off a bit of the haziness clouding her vision. In a moment's time she took everything in and, upon seeing Bon Bon in battle, she quickly grabbed her cello. She was stopped before she could charge in by a white hoof on her shoulder and a glare from Red. “She’s doing fine, but your wounds are nowhere close to being healed,” the nurse scolded her like a schoolfilly too eager to get to recess. Octavia lowered her weapon with a frown and let the healer continue her work.

The fact that she was now up did not escape their adversary, and he quickly put two and two together, now setting his sights on the nurse. After a light swing at Bon Bon, he turned and charged with all the speed he had left.

Octavia reached for her cello as she saw the beast now heading straight for her. Time itself seemed to slow down as he quickly closed the gap and she knew she would never be able to defend herself in time. She instinctively thought about rolling out of the way, but that would mean putting Red in danger. So she braced herself for impact and closed her eyes tightly, awaiting the now familiar feelings of gravity and pain.

A thunderous boom was followed by a scream of pain, but neither of them belonged to the grey mare. She looked up to see the minotaur on his knees, clasping his groin with a look of untold horror in his eyes. “That’s what you get when you mess with my Tavi!” Vinyl’s voice could be heard just behind her. Turning, she saw some residual magic smoking from her horn.

The minotaur rose once more, this time his eyes blood red and his body visibly shaking with rage. He took one step forward before noting that Vinyl’s horn was charging a familiar spell and immediately shielded himself. With his hands occupied, Bon Bon leapt up on his back and crossed each blade across his throat. His mind worked as quick as it could for options, but it seemed as though he had been bested this time.

He sighed and dropped to his knees, raising his hands up slowly. “You win this round, ponies,” he said with a guttural growl. “So, what are you going to do now, kill me?” He smirked a bit, knowing that most ponies would never even consider the idea unless their very lives depended on it.

The two healers finished their work and Red motioned Octavia over away from their prisoner. “So, what do we do with him?” she asked the paladin, not really sure herself what to do here. While they discussed, the other three used some of the very ropes that had been previously binding them to tie up the minotaur.

Octavia thought for a moment before voicing her concerns. “Well, if we let him live, there’s no doubt he’ll be back later to try and stop us again. But, even though he’s evil and tried to kill us in several different ways, I can’t bring myself to condemn him to death. Being a paladin should make it easy to kill an evil creature such as this, but the pony in me tells me it’s wrong.” She hung her head, tears threatening her eyes. ‘We came here to stop them from hurting anypony else, but I don’t suppose I ever considered what exactly that meant. But, if I let him go here and he came back and killed one of us, I’d regret it forever.’

Red put a hoof on her shoulder. “I know what you mean. If this was just a game, it would be easy to just do it and move on, but now this world feels just as real as our own. It’s no secret that I don’t like death, probably more-so than normal ponies, but now Equestria is depending on us. If we fail here, many more may end up dying because of it.”

Vinyl trotted up, having heard most of the conversation from where she stood. “I realize how much is at stake here, but not like this guys. He surrendered. If we kill him like this, we’re no better than he is.”

“Vinyl,” Octavia started, but couldn’t finish her thought. She wanted to convince her that it had to be done, but she herself was still unsure.

The trio walked back to where Bon Bon still held the creature at her mercy. The rogue looked to her friends, secretly hoping they weren’t about to ask her to do the unthinkable. She knew that she couldn’t do it, but stayed steady and confident to avoid showing her adversary any weakness.

“Alright, we want some answers before we decide what to do with you, so you better start talking if you know what’s good for you!” Vinyl stared directly into the monster’s bloodshot eyes as she began shouting her interrogation. “First off, who is this mistress you keep speaking of who’s supposedly behind this grand scheme?” Sarcasm oozed off her every word.

“You think you can intimidate me, little pony? Don’t make me laugh. I am General Ironhoof and I’ll tell you what you want to know, because even if you could do something about it, it is far too late. Your Luna may control the dreamworld for now, but she is not the only being who can enter at will. There exists an ancient order in the Zebra lands dedicated wholly to this place, and it is now one of their oldest members who has put your precious princess in her current state.”

“A zebra, really?” Bon Bon was the first to speak up. “I know a zebra by the name of Zecora that lives in the Everfree forest. She’s a bit odd, I’ll admit, but really kind at heart.”

“You don’t think it was her, do you?” Vinyl asked, ignoring the pained look on the minotaur’s face.

“Her name is Misira, and she once led an ancient group known as the dreamwalkers long ago, before she was exiled. She has been waiting for an opportunity like this for far too long, and now the only missing piece she needs will soon be hers.” He laughed as he lowered his head, taking in the looks of disbelief on their faces. “And the best part about all of this? This Zecora you spoke of is the one who brought the missing piece to this world in the first place!” He tossed his head back again, laughing even harder this time.

“Just what is this ‘missing piece’ you keep going on about?” Octavia looked at him incredulously. The other four joined her in staring him down until he finished his fit of laughter.

“The only known artifact powerful enough to challenge the might of an alicorn, of course!” he stated, hoping to rile the ponies up as much as possible. Vinyl was already charging another spell as his laughing fit continued, but hearing Lyra’s meek voice say something next to her made her stop.

“What was that, Lyra?” Vinyl turned to her, only to see absolute terror plastered on not only her face, but also Bon Bon and Red’s as well. She looked to Octavia, who seemed to be just as confused as she was, then back to her other friends. “What gives, guys?”

“The Alicorn Amulet.” Lyra’s voice trembled upon speaking the words. Vinyl and Octavia shared another bewildered glance at the name.

“Care to explain just what that is and why it has reduced the three of you to scared little fillies?” Octavia asked, now becoming slightly perturbed at being left out of the loop for so long.

Redheart stepped forward and took a deep breath. “Not long ago, an arrogant showmare returned to Ponyville looking for revenge against the Element of Magic, Twilight Sparkle. Somehow, she came into the possession of the Alicorn Amulet and used its terrible power to banish Twilight from Ponyville. She then basically enslaved the town and made life miserable for all of us.” She shuddered a bit at the memory.

“It’s not really fair to say she used the amulet, so much as the amulet used her. It seemed to have a will of its own and made her act much more malevolent than she had intended,” Bon Bon added.

“Yeah,” Lyra chimed in, “But more importantly, it gave a mare with little magical prowess the ability to take on and defeat the Element of Magic herself! There’s no telling how powerful this Misira is right now, but if she was able to put Luna into some kind of a trance....” She wasn’t able to finish her sentence. She couldn’t. Trixie hadn’t been the nicest mare, but it was a far cry to call her evil. This new threat seeking the amulet was inherently evil.

Vinyl found it difficult to believe such a powerful artifact existed outside of the royal treasury’s well-guarded chambers, but now was not the time for such inquiries. “So where is the amulet now?” She turned her attention back to her captive.

“It is hidden deep within the Everfree Forest of this realm, hundreds of miles from here.” He laughed again upon seeing their expressions. “And my Mistress is likely already halfway there by now!” He tore into a laughing fit again, his sides actually starting to hurt.

“Then we’d better get moving.” There was no humor in her voice. No doubt. The others looked much more uncertain, but were happy to be leaving this place for any reason.

Ironhoof considered giving chase after they turned to exit, but thought better of it. ‘They may be weak individually, but I cannot take them all at once right now. There will be many more opportunities on the way to the Everfree. We will meet again, ponies.’

Rest Assured

The group quickly exited the cave, occasionally glancing back to ensure they weren’t be followed or watched. Once out, they made for the spring, refilled their canteens, and took a moment to rest. It appeared to be very early morning, a diminutive amount of light creeping over the horizon.

“So all of that just happened, right?” Lyra was twiddling her thumbs nervously, still going over all the information in her mind. “I mean, Equestria is in danger and we’re probably the only ones who even know about it.”

“That may be, but this is way over our heads!” Octavia shouted. “We need to inform Celestia! Or the royal guard! This is too much to take on by ourselves.”

“That’s not really fair,” Vinyl stepped forward. “We’ve done relatively well for ourselves so far and we’re only just getting started! Besides, those Elements of Harmony beat all kinds of crazy legends, including Nightmare Moon, and there were only six of them!”

“Yes, but they had six of the most powerful artifacts known to ponykind! We don’t have a single magical item between us!” Octavia wanted to believe she could make a difference, but she had to face the facts. Nightmare Moon was so powerful that not even Celestia could take her head-on. It was only with the power of the Elements that she was even able to seal her away.

Redheart stepped between the two as they stared each other down. “That’s enough, guys. Think about it logically. No matter what we decide, we have to reach Equestria as quickly as possible. And if the minotaur was right, we have some catching up to do.”

“I could always fly there now that I’m a pegasus,” Bon Bon said as she flapped her wings a few times. “I should easily be able to beat them back through the air.”

“That’s true,” commented the nurse, “but it’s far too long a trip to make in a single flight. You would have to land and rest a few times and you would be alone, exhausted, and pretty much defenseless if anything happened while you were grounded.” Red brought a hoof to her forehead and massaged her temples, in part to relieve some stress, but it also helped her think.

“Does anypony here even know ‘how’ to get back to Equestria?” Vinyl’s voice interrupted everypony else’s thoughts. “Cause I still barely even know where the buck we are.”

The group looked to Vinyl, then to each other, and finally all eyes landed on Redheart. She squinted her eyes and shot them all an incredulous glare. “What, you think I’ve ever been to Marabia? I’m just a nurse! I rarely leave Ponyville!” Her cheeks were red and small puffs of smoke could be seen escaping her flared nostrils.

“Whoa there,” Lyra held up her hands defensively. “No need to get bent out of shape.”

The nurse exhaled a deep breath she had been holding and visibly relaxed. “I know, and I’m sorry,” she remarked. She took another deep breath to calm herself, but it manifested into a yawn. “Today has been tiring and I could really use some rest.”

“Hold up a minute,” Bon Bon said, a confused frown plastered on her face. Something had been bothering her for awhile and she felt now was the time to voice her concerns. “If we go to sleep in the dreamworld, do we wake back up in the real world?”

“I don’t believe so. Vinyl slept a bit before we came to rescue you guys and she’s still here.” Lyra turned to Vinyl for confirmation.

“Actually,” Vinyl hesitated a bit. “I tried to sleep, but I never actually dozed off.”

Redheart yawned a bit louder this time. “Either way, we can’t keep going like this and we could all really use some rest. If we wake up back in Equestria, we’ll be that much closer to warning the Princess. Now I say we head back to the village and rest there. It’ll be much safer and maybe we can find out where we are and which way we need to go to get back.”

The group nodded and started heading back in the direction of town. The sun was just starting to creep over the horizon, though the blue moon could still be seen high in the sky. The vast difference in temperatures during morning and afternoon here was astounding. Where it had been hot enough to fry an egg during the daytime, it was now cool enough that, were there any moisture in the overhanging clouds, it would almost surely be snowing. This was not entirely unwelcome, however, as all five of them were in danger of collapsing from exhaustion and sleep deprivation and the cold was forcibly keeping them awake.

They finally made it back to the small village without incident, other than Vinyl and Lyra’s constant whining along the way. One of the elder ponies rushed to meet them, excitement plastered over his face. “You’re back, and in one piece!” he exclaimed. “So am I to assume that you have answered our prayers and saved our village from those miserable kobolds?” He wore a look of hope upon his face much akin to a small foal eager to open his birthday presents.

“Well, you see...” Octavia started.

“We sure did!” Vinyl interrupted. “Those nasty kobolds won’t be bothering your village again anytime soon, that’s for sure.”

His face lit up and his grin widened to match Vinyl’s. “Splendid!” he replied before another word could be said. “I must inform the townsponies at once. Oh, we simply can’t thank you enough!”

“Before you go, gramps, we could really use some food and lodging. Been kind of a long night for us, if you know what I mean.” Vinyl let out a long yawn to emphasize this, which was soon echoed by her comrades.

“Of course, of course. I’ll run ahead and speak to the innkeeper. Feel free to stay and eat as long and as much as you like.” He bowed as low as his old bones would allow him and then trotted off toward one of the larger buildings in town.

As soon as he was out of sight, a familiar grey hoof struck the DJ-sorceress in the back of her skull. “Just what do you think you’re doing, Scratch?”

‘Uh oh,’ thought Vinyl. ‘She only uses my last name like that when she’s reeeally pissed off at me. I better start explaining myself before she makes good on an earlier promise.’ She visibly gulped, imagining once more Octavia’s cello and her flank becoming one entity.

“... and you can be so irresponsible. Are you even listening to me, Scratch?!” Octavia was nearly foaming at the mouth when she saw her give only a blank stare in return.

“Easy there, Tavi. I didn’t exactly lie to him. We did take care of the kobolds; at least all the ones we came across. And if I know that minotaur half as well as I think I do, he’s gonna chase us wherever we go, not waste his time and energy terrorizing these villagers.”

Redheart just stared at her, completely dumbfounded. “You know, I think she may be right. There’s no reason for him to bother them anymore. Once we leave, I imagine he’ll give chase to ensure we don’t make it back before his boss.”

Vinyl pointed her hoof at nothing in particular and grinned widely. “Exactly. So they’ll be safe as long as we leave here pretty soon.”

“So I guess we can stay the night here and leave first thing in morning?” Bon Bon asked, barely stifling another yawn. “Or in this case, stay the day.”

“Works for me,” Lyra added. “Traveling at night is way better than the day. We should also ask the old guy if he knows the best way to get to Equestria.”

The others nodded and headed for the inn. Stepping inside, they could tell just how poor this village really was. The walls and floors were mostly undecorated and cracked badly in places. The lighting was very faint and dust was caked to everything in the room. An older mare with a tan coat and a faded, grey mane sat behind the front desk. She removed her glasses and wiped the dust from them before replacing them on her head.

“Yes, can I help you young folks,” she asked.

“We need a few rooms for the day, if you have any available,” Octavia said, sprinkling her social charm into her words. Being born into noble roots in Canterlot had forced her into learning their polite, albeit snobbish, ways. Later meeting Vinyl, however, and falling in love had removed the proverbial stick in her rump, leaving behind just the good manners, or so Octavia believed.

“Of course we do,” the elder mare replied. “Not many folks stay during the day, after all.” She looked shocked for a moment as realization hit her. “Oh, you aren’t the ones the elder came in here a jabberin about, are you? The ones who saved us from them nasty critters?”

“That’s us, the noble heroes,” Vinyl said as she struck a dramatic pose.

Redheart sarcastically laughed. “Noble, perhaps, but certainly not modest.”

Vinyl rubbed the back of her head and smiled. “This may not be a game anymore, but that doesn’t mean I can’t still have some fun now and then.”

“Not sure what you youngins are talking about, but you’re welcome to stay as long as you like. And if you need anything at all, you just let me know and I’ll see to it.”

“Actually, we were wondering if you know the fastest route to Equestria?” Lyra asked hopefully. “We need to get back as quickly as possible, but we’re kinda new around here.”

“Oh, I see. Well I don’t know nothing about no Equestria, but there’s a map in the main lobby you’re welcome to use.” She smiled and pointed further down a hallway where a large map hung as the centerpiece of a wall. The group rushed over and crowded around it, trying to make heads or tails of where they were.

“What did that elder guy say the name of this village was again?” Vinyl asked, trying to remember which letter it started with.

“Puyayna, I believe,” said Red. She pointed to some small writing on the map. “There. It looks like we’re relatively close to an ocean too. There’s a port town directly south of here.”

Bon Bon perked up. “Taking a ship would be much faster than walking! And the sea is so romantic.” She lost herself to her thoughts of Lyra and herself sharing a romantic cruise. That is, until her marefriend manifested into her current human form. ‘Why couldn’t I settle down with somepony normal. Somepony who’s happy just being a pony! She sighed and then smiled. I don’t suppose I’d have it any other way though.

“N-No, I don’t think taking a ship is a good idea at all,” Vinyl added, her grin now replaced by a frown. “We should definitely just walk.”

“But we’re on an entirely different continent than Equestria,” Lyra said. “We can’t get there without crossing a sea at some point!” She pointed to the large body of water between where they currently were and where they needed to get.

Vinyl was now visibly shaking. Her head darted back and forth across the map, but her friend was right. They had to cross somewhere if they wanted to get back and that was that, though knowing this did little to calm her nerves.

“Oh, don’t worry about her,” Octavia stepped up next to the white mare and placed a hoof on her shoulder. “She’s just got a little open water phobia. It’s nothing we can’t overcome.”

“Speak for yourself. You’ve never experienced that helpless sinking feeling; water pulling you further into its depths while trying to force its way into your lungs.” She shuddered as bad memories flooded her mind all at once.

Redheart chuckled a bit. “Are you telling me the great Vinyl Scratch is afraid of a little water? And don’t you know how to swim at all?”

Vinyl now wore an angry frown as she began to speak. “First of all, shut up,” she said, trying not to sound mean, “and second, if ponies were meant to swim, we’d have been born with fins.”

“What about seaponies?” Lyra asked as soon as she had finished speaking.

Bon Bon facehooved. She sighed deeply and then looked directly at her with steadfast determination. “Honey, seaponies are a myth. They don’t really exist.”

“How can you say that!” was her reply. “You said the same thing about humans and just look at me!” She pointed at herself with both hands to emphasize.

“Yes, dear, but this is the dreamworld. Anything is possible here.” She stopped when she realized what she was saying. Another facehoof for her and a fistpump for Lyra.

“Aaaanyway,” Red interrupted, “we should rest for the day and then make for Port Sarim. Hopefully we can get a ride back to Equestria from there.” She closed her eyes and silently meditated on her thoughts. ‘Things are finally going our way. With a ship, we should easily beat them back. Unless they took a ship too. Drat. No, no. Just gotta stay positive. Positive thoughts, Redheart. Oh, we’re positively bucked is what we are.’

“Looks like Red is already asleep.” Vinyl’s voice snapped her out of her thoughts. Red opened her eyes and stared blankly back at her. “Oh, nevermind everypony. False alarm.”

Redheart just stood there, slowly blinking as the others stared at her like she had something on her face. “Right. Well, goodnight everypony.” She smiled nervously before dashing upstairs, leaving the others a bit confused and in a great deal of hysterical laughter.

Author's Notes:

Going to take some of my writing time over the next few weeks to go back and try and fix up some previous chapters that I feel need some improving. I'll still be working on the next chapter, though it may take a little more time to get out. Still looking for some cover art if anyone out there is interested.
A big thank you to anyone and everyone still reading. You guys rock! <3

Deep Trouble

The sun is shining. Waves crash into a beautiful, sandy beach. A young, white filly takes off at a full gallop toward the water’s edge before being stopped by her mother. Her coat was also a ghostly white, but her mane was a single shade of scarlet that flowed off to one side of her head, almost touching the ground.

“Now, Vinyl dear, wait just a moment. You can go swimming, but stay where we can see you and don’t go out very far. The current will gobble you up if you get in over your head.”

“Yeah, sure, whatever Mom! Can I go now?” The filly was bouncing in place, awaiting the final word that would grant her the freedom to enter the ocean for the very first time. “Pleeeeeeeeease!” Her eyes grew twice as large and she put on her absolute best pouty face. Her mother nodded and she bolted for the water, never looking back.

“I don’t know where that filly gets all of her energy, dear.” The mare turned to her husband as she spread out a towel for herself onto the sand. He was a large, slightly overweight, brown-coated stallion with a short, light blue mane. What seemed to be a permanent frown was plastered on his face as he grunted at his wife. She chose to ignore his bad mood, opting instead to take in the many other beach-goers. So many happy families spending time together, just enjoying the glorious day.

Vinyl crashed against the waves, fighting with all of her might to proceed further into the water. The salty water stung at her eyes and left a terrible taste in her mouth, but she would not be denied her first encounter with the great blue. Finally she made it far enough to start swimming and began furiously kicking all four legs to keep her head above the surface. She kept at it for several minutes until she got the hang of it by kicking her legs in a pattern.

“Look Mom! I’m doing it! I’m swimming!” she yelled as she turned back toward the beach. Only, she could barely make out the beach from this distance and now her parents were nowhere in sight.

“Say, dear, do you perhaps want to join Vinyl out there?” Vinyl's mother asked as she turned and pointed to the spot her daughter had been swimming just moments ago.

“Why don’t you go swim with her since you adore her so much?” he snorted and flipped a newspaper over his head to shield his eyes. He awaited her angry backlash that would turn into another argument and inevitably lead to them going home early with him happy, her pissed, and Vinyl heartbroken. Total victory, except there was no angry backlash. Not even a scolding. He turned to look at her only to see panic plastered over her entire face.

“I don’t see her. I can’t find Vinyl!” She dashed toward the water, her head moving back and forth as quick as she could manage, but the filly was nowhere in sight. Then a scream somewhere off to her right sent chills down her spine. She turned to see a mare pointing far off into the water and a lifeguard rushing toward the spot she had pointed to. She followed ahead of the lifeguard to see a small white and blue speck thrashing about way past where anypony would willingly swim. It was her heart that sank first, followed by her knees, as she slipped into unconsciousness.

Vinyl was kicking her legs just as hard as she could manage now to keep from being swept further from land, but her small frame was no match for the current’s strength. Her stamina was fading quickly and she knew she couldn’t keep this up for much longer. She saw a figure making its way toward her, but it would never arrive in time. She stopped fighting against being pulled out and focused on keeping afloat, but the further out she got, the more the invisible force started to pull down on her as well. It all became too much and she took a large breath before succumbing to the will of the waves.

She held the small amount of air she had gathered for as long as she possibly could, but she was so tired now. So tired and ready for sleep, but his time she knew she would not awaken. Eyes slowly closing, she released her breath and ceased her struggling kicks. Everything grew colder by the second as she sank further into the darkness, her vision clouded by the stinging salt water and her fading life.

‘It’s so peaceful down here. I can’t believe this is it,’ Vinyl thought to herself in what she truly believed to be her final moments. She wanted to cry. She wanted to scream. She wanted to go home and give her mommy the biggest hug she could manage and tell her how much she loved her. The last thing she saw before she faded was something long and red reaching for her.

Vinyl burst forward in her bed, panting heavily and clasping her beating chest. She glanced back and forth all around the modest-looking room, desperately trying to figure out where she was and remember how she had gotten there. A sliver of light peeked through the single window of the foreign room, highlighting enough small details for her memory to recall the previous day’s events.

She sighed in great relief that not only was she safe and sound at the inn the group had stayed in the previous day, but also that the horrible nightmare had come to an end. It was her very least favorite memory of a time she would rather forget if at all possible, but with such strong feelings attached to it, she didn’t expect it to ever go away.

“Good morning, sleepyhead.” Octavia walked in the room holding a small tray filled with what appeared to be some kind of food, though it didn’t look like anything Vinyl had ever laid eyes on.

“Morning?” Vinyl asked, remembering that the original plan had been to sleep until nightfall so that they could travel while it was cool.

“Yes,” Octavia looked a bit embarrassed, but continued her explanation. “It seems we were all quite a bit more tired than we realized.” She rubbed her hoof over the back of her head and started fidgeting with her mane. “So we really need to hurry and get moving if we’re going to make up the lost time.” She hated to rush the group after the trying ordeal they had been through the previous day, but she had to stay focused on their goal if she ever wanted to make it back home.

“Yeah, I guess we should get going then,” Vinyl replied, trying not to let her nerves show. She tried to dispel the remnants of the nightmare on her way to breakfast, knowing the others would quickly recognize her demeanor.

“Something wrong, dear?” Octavia asked, turning to look directly at her. She now wore a concerned look as she put a hoof on Vinyl’s shoulder.

‘How the hay does she do that?’ Vinyl thought to herself as she tried to find some way to cover up how she was really feeling. As much as she loved Octavia and trusted her with anything, she really didn’t want to talk about this right now... or ever if she could help it.

“Vinyl?” Octavia was now getting really worried. Vinyl rarely went this long without talking unless she was thinking about something seriously and that usually meant big trouble for everypony involved.

“Oh, it’s nothing really. Just really tired from yesterday, is all.” She was starting to sweat pretty badly under the pressure of Tavi’s stern gaze, but put on the best reassuring grin she could manage.

The grey mare simply sighed and moved onward into the dining area. The other three were already sitting at a small, oval table eating bowls of what looked like thick soup. They each exchanged good mornings as the two joined them with bowls of their own.

“So, what is this we’re about to eat?” Octavia asked as she stirred the contents of her bowl around a bit. Though the surface was a muddy, brown-like color, her stirring of the spoon revealed that underneath was a layer of a thin, red liquid.

“It’s some variation of curry from what I’ve been able to gather. Slightly spicy, but not overpowering. A great breakfast meal to wake up the senses,” Redheart said as she took another bite.

“Wow, ish really good,” Vinyl said with her mouth full of the delicious distraction. “We should see if we can get some of this stuff to go!” She tossed the spoon to the side casually and picked the entire bowl up in her magic aura.

“Not a bad idea. We’ll need to restock on pretty much everything we have if we’re going to make it to Port Sarim.” Redheart pushed her bowl forward and laid out a map on the table. “Compliments of the innkeeper,” she answered before anypony could ask. She pointed about halfway between where they were and the port town. “The desert lets up right around here, replaced by rocky hills from a northern mountain. And if we go just a little bit off the road in that direction, there are some caves we can rest in for the night.”

Bon Bon became nauseous at the mention of caves, sticking her tongue out and making sure it was well understood that she was not happy with the idea.

Lyra grabbed her hoof with her hand and gave her a reassuring smile before looking to the rest of the group. “I don’t know if caves are the best idea after what we’ve been through. Just saying.”

Redheart nodded her head and breathed a heavy sigh. “Believe me, I’m not thrilled about the idea either, and I came up with it, but if we try sleeping outside we’re likely to freeze to death.” She paused at the mention of the last word she had uttered, gauging the reactions from the others. Each of them seemed to become a little somber with the realization that death was now an actual possibility and they would be facing it every day head-on.

“Let’s not concern ourselves with that at the moment,” Octavia said, trying to pierce the gloomy air. “We should just focus on what must be done and why we’re doing it. I’m going to go start gathering some water from the well and I’d advise each of you to start gathering the rest of what we need. We can’t stay here moping around forever or this ‘Misira’ is going to beat us to the amulet.” The others just stared at her blankly for a moment before her words of inspiration set in.

“She’s right!” Lyra yelled. “This is no time to get down in the dumps. We can do this, and you wanna know why?” She paused, watching the others as they looked to her for the answer. “Because we’re the Marabian Knights!” She raised her hands high in the air and motioned for the others to join her. The blank stares intensified, if such a thing was possible, until finally Vinyl snapped.

“Now that’s what I’m talking about!” the sorceress shouted as she mimicked the lyrist. For the first time that day she was finally wearing her trademark grin, which was quickly shared by Octavia, and then everypony else.

Lyra raised her hand for what she called a ‘high five’, but Vinyl instead put her hoof into the center of the group of mares. Lyra followed suit and put her hand on top of the outstretched hoof. Octavia, Redheart, and Bon Bon slowly added their hooves in with a little embarrassment, but happy for the change in mood. Vinyl counted down from three and they all shouted their adopted name as loud as they could manage, much to the annoyance of the poor old innkeeper.

Far away, on the deck of a ship, a cloaked figure peered into a crystal ball at the group as they finished their shouting. “Are those the ones?” she asked, her voice sharp but delicate at the same time. A larger, cloaked figure stepped forward and gazed at what she had been looking at, a single, curved horn sticking through his hood. He nodded and stepped back into his place among three other shadowy figures.

“You know what to do,” she said in an even tone, never taking her eyes off of the image in front of her. The minotaur gave another silent nod and started to leave before being stopped by her voice once more, though this time it was much colder.

“Do not fail me again, Sonim Ironhoof.”

Deeper Still

Supplies gathered and bellies full, the group set out on the southward dirt road for Port Sarim near noontime. Each now wore a heavy robe over their normal attire, courtesy once again of the grateful townsponies.

“Ugh, so tell me again why we have to wear these bulky things while traveling through the desert?” Vinyl whined as she tried to readjust the hood so as to not mess up her spiky mane underneath.

“They’ll help to shade us from the sun during the day and keep us from freezing during the night,” Redheart answered. “They may be a little heavy, but as long as we keep a slow, steady pace we should be fine.”

“It was really nice of them to custom make one for me, too,” Lyra added. “Though it took them a couple of tries to get the shape right.”

Bon Bon smiled lightly, still not entirely happy about the fact her special somepony was a human for time being, but finally accepting that, deep down, she was still the same old Lyra. “So how far do you think it’ll be until we reach these caves?” she asked.

Redheart laughed a little as she contemplated the answer herself. “We should be able to make it before nightfall if we keep this pace. Why? Don’t tell me you’re already tired?” She looked to the mare for an answer only to receive a fit of giggles.

“No, no, nothing like that, but whenever we start getting close to the area I can use these to help find them a lot quicker.” She flapped her wings a few times and grinned. “I just knew being a pegasus would be both fun and helpful. I think I’m going to miss them when we finally do wake up.” She frowned for a moment as she lightly massaged the outstretched appendage.

“I know exactly how you feel, Bons,” Lyra said, once more putting her hand on the rogue’s shoulder and frowning. “I’m just sad that I don’t have time to tinker with stuff now that I finally have the hands to do so properly.”

Bon Bon sighed before chuckling a bit. “Now that you mention that, I think I’ll be happy to have the two of us back to normal after all." The group shared a laugh at Lyra’s expense, conjuring a sour grin on the human’s face.

Things remained relatively uneventful for the better part of two hours as the group continued to make their way down the beaten path, the once easily-visible road now hard to differentiate from the surrounding sands. After a sufficient amount of whining from the group, Redheart decided it was best to break and have some lunch.

“Bon Bon, could you do a quick circle around us to make sure there’s nothing nearby while we set up lunch?” Red asked as she began unpacking the curry and bowls she had stored in her saddle bags. Bon Bon mock-saluted and took off into the air, making a few laps in a wide arc around the group before landing, concern evident on her face.

“There isn’t anything moving in the area, but there are these huge hole-like things all over the place. They look to be about a yard in diameter, though the sand has nearly covered most of them up.”

Vinyl sat down and poured herself a bowl of the delicious brew they had received. “Well I, for one, am not about to skip a meal because of some stupid holes in the ground. I say we eat.” With that, she started slurping the curry straight from the bowl as the others watched her with awe.

“Vinyl, dear, how you can be so concerned with food when our very lives may be in danger is beyond me. I vote we keep moving a bit further on before breaking for lunch.”

“Aw, Octy, come on. There’s nothing to worry about. Just a few holes in the ground. Maybe somepony was searching for buried treasure or something.” Vinyl continued eating, with the others soon giving up their argument and deciding to join her while they could.

No sooner than they filled their bowls, a deep rumbling shook the earth beneath them. A trail of sinking sand soon formed nearby and started moving their way, causing them to drop whatever they held in their hooves at the moment and reach for their weapons. Both the sinking and the rumbling ceased not far from them, everything going quiet and still. Bon Bon took off into the air and the others formed a tight circle with their backs to each other, each watching for any more signs of movement.

“What the buck was that and where did it go?!” Octavia shrieked, cello raised well over her head in anticipation.

“I don’t know,” Vinyl said shakily, “but I really wish I had rolled a pegasus like Bon Bon now. What are we supposed to do in a situation like this? Run, or maybe play dead?”

The rumbling returned much louder and closer, the sand beneath their hooves sinking in a flash. Each of them leapt from the spot just in time as a large form erupted from below. They turned to see a giant worm-like creature with massive pincers covering a gaping maw that could easily swallow the entire group in a single go. The creature thrashed about, spitting the sand from its mouth once it realized that its prey had eluded it.

“We need to get out of here before we become this thing’s lunch break!” Lyra yelled as she picked herself up and shook the sand from her robes.

“And just where do you think we should run to?” Octavia retorted as the worm burrowed back into the ground. “In case you’ve somehow forgotten, we’re in the middle of a desert!”

“She’s right,” Redheart yelled over the loud rumbling. “We’ve no choice but to drive it off if we don’t want to get eaten.” ‘Why has being eaten become my biggest problem these last two days? I used to worry about simple things, like keeping my patients from bleeding out or what I should order from that little Chineighse place.”

“Look out, Red!” Octavia screamed, snapping Redheart out of her daze just as the sand below the nurse started sinking in. She tried to move away, but her hooves were now more than half covered, leaving her totally immobilized.

Without even thinking about it, Octavia dove straight at her, shoving her out of the way just as the creature emerged. It fully opened its mouth and in an instant the grey mare had vanished into its depths.

Vinyl’s eyes went wide behind her shades and her mouth hung agape as she tried to form the words to call out to her. Tears flowed down her cheeks, but her sadness quickly turned to anger, and then to rage. She charged head-on at the worm before Redheart stepped in front of her to block her path.

“Vinyl, I know how you’re feeling right now, but we need to fight this thing rationally and we’re going to need your magic to beat it.” Redheart tried to give the best sympathetic look she could manage from years of having to deliver bad news to patients and their loved ones.

Vinyl calmly walked up to her, and then around her without saying a word.

“What are you going to do, Vinyl,” she nervously asked.

Vinyl lifted her head a breathed a deep breath of the hot air and turned ever so slightly to answer. “I’m going to get my marefriend back,” she said with all the cold, calculating malice of a serial killer.

The others could only watch in awe as Vinyl began her gallop again, picking up speed until she was right next to the beast. She did a semi-somersault into the air and shot a huge wave of forceful bass straight at the ground, sending her high into the air directly over the worm’s mouth.

“Here’s seconds!” Vinyl screamed as she descended into its depths.

“You crazy fool,” Redheart shouted as she began charging her horn with magic. “Now we have to rescue both of you with one less pony!” She shot a ray of light at the worm, slightly searing a small part of its hide, but otherwise having no real effect on the beast.

Lyra tried her hand at playing a song of fascination to keep it from disappearing below, but it seemed to totally ignore her attempts. Bon Bon made several fly-by attacks with her daggers, but they couldn’t pierce far enough into its hide to do any real damage.

“Nothing’s working,” Lyra said, switching to her song of valor in the hopes that the extra damage might make some kind of difference. Bon Bon tried again under its influence, but the worm seemed oblivious to her efforts as it slowly wiggled its way back into the earth.

And then it was gone, and with it, Vinyl and Octavia. The three of them stood there staring at the ground, pleading for it to come back once more so they could try again. They didn’t know what they could do different, but they just had to try if they got another chance.

The earth trembled once more, each of them preparing for an all-out assault when it surfaced. Another sound meshed with the low rumblings, even lower in pitch and pulsating loudly. It grew louder and louder until finally the creature bursted out of the sands, thrashing wildly as its whole body vibrated to the beat of the bass.

It threw open its maw and regurgitated the pair of ponies and several other items that had been lying dormant until now. A slime-covered Vinyl stood and wiped away the sticky mush from her shades and began charging for another round with the worm, but the creature quickly made its escape from the crazed pony, back into the safety of the earth to later search for a more agreeable meal.

The warm, golden light enveloped each member again, Vinyl and Lyra hoofpumping and fistpumping, respectively.

Octavia stood and shook a small amount of the slime from her coat and mane, visibly shaking and eyes wide. She opened and closed her mouth a few times, trying to find the words to describe just how she felt at that very moment, but they would not come. ‘Maybe such words do not even exist,’ she mused. She walked over to Vinyl and wrapped herself around the mare in a great big bear hug. After releasing her grip, Octavia then proceeded to shake and slap the mare silly for a good minute.

“Vinyl, I cannot thank you enough for coming to my rescue again,” she started, “but the next time you put your stomach before our safety, as Celestia as my witness, I will end you.” She then continued trying to rid herself of the foul-smelling substance covering her entirety. Vinyl only smiled as she too started to clean herself.

"And thank you, Octavia, for rescuing me while I was busy daydreaming," Redheart said, shame written all over her face. "It won't happen again, I promise."

Lyra walked over to examine the other contents deposited onto the ground, her eyes going wide at all the neat looking stuff. “Hey guys, it looks like we found our first bit of treasure here,” she yelled as she picked up a curved piece of metal. She wiped the slime from it and discovered it was a boomerang.

Bon Bon hovered over to take a look herself. “What are those strange markings on it,” she asked, pointing to some weird looking symbols adorning its center.

“They’re called magic runes,” Lyra answered, not quite sure how she knew that herself. “They’re used for enchanting magic items to give them their special properties. Looks like this one ensures that the boomerang always returns to the owner’s grasp after being thrown.”

The others' curiosity was now piqued as well, each making their way over to the pile and picking up a different item. Redheart grabbed a shiny, metal shield, Bon Bon picked up a curved blade that was similar in size to her dagger, and Vinyl took an amethyst-colored cloak.

“Are any of these items magical,” Red inquired, hoping that Lyra’s bardic knowledge would be sufficient to identify the items.

Lyra looked the three items over carefully before speaking. “The shield and the kukri aren’t, but the cloak seems to raise the wearer’s defense rating considerably. So I guess now we have to figure out some sort of system for distributing loot.”

“If our lives weren’t at stake here, I’d say that would be a good idea,” Red said before anypony could start fighting over who got what, “but I think we should give them to the pony that will best benefit us as a group. Normally, the shield would go to our tank, Octavia, but seeing as she’s using a two-handed weapon and I’m the only other pony who can use shields, I’ll be taking it. None of us are proficient with the kukri, unless Bon Bon wants to spend her new feat point to use it?” Red looked to the rogue, curious how spending feats even worked in a situation like this.

Bon Bon closed her eyes and twirled the blade around expertly, showing off in such a way as to make a knife-juggler envious. “So it seems that you just have to focus on what you want and then it just happens,” Bon Bon explained before Red could even ask.

“That’s awesome,” Vinyl added. “So, I guess Octy should get the cloak since she’s taking most of the hits? Not to mention it matches her eyes, so that makes it official.”

Octavia blushed a bit before taking the cape and trying it on. She immediately felt safer, though she couldn’t figure out how. ‘Magic, I’ll never understand you, will I?’ she thought to herself.

“So, I’ll hold on to the boomerang, since I don’t currently have another way to deal direct damage,” Lyra said, making sure it was okay with the rest of the group before she put it in her bag. Each nodded to her in agreement.

“So how about that lunch now?” Vinyl asked as she rubbed her stomach for emphasis.

Octavia blinked a few times before anger took over. “How can you possibly be hungry after nearly being digested by a GIANT WORM!” she yelled, everypony going silent awaiting Vinyl’s response. Before the sorceress had a chance to answer, Octavia’s own stomach growled loudly. Vinyl’s grin widened in direct correlation with the paladin's growing embarrassment before the latter sighed in defeat.

“Lunch sounds lovely,” she quietly admitted.

Ballad of Rage

“So what feat are you gonna take?” Bon Bon asked Lyra as they resumed walking after their lunch break. The sun was now high in the sky above them, though it wasn’t nearly as unbearable today thanks to their new apparel.

“I think I’m going to focus on empowering my songs to help the group more, so I took one that makes them last longer after I finish playing. That way I can help with the fighting after I play, and don’t have to restart immediately. Or I could have several songs going at once, overlapping each other to provide multiple benefits.”

Redheart smiled and trotted up next to the two. “That’s smart thinking. I’m glad to see you two taking this so seriously. I just wish some other pony would do the same.” She glared at Vinyl, who gasped mockingly at her insults.

“Well excuuuse me, princess! Maybe I should just let you pick how I run my character.” The sorceress harumphed and turned her nose up. “And who says the power to summon my own theme song is a waste of a feat? We need epic tunes if we’re going to save the world and all that other stuff!” Just as she finished speaking, a pounding bass materialized out of nowhere, gradually fading in and out to an “epic tune” now playing all around them.

“Isn’t providing the group with music suppose to be my job?” Lyra asked with a bit of jealousy in her tone.

“Your music is better suited to combat, and besides, wouldn’t you get tired of playing all the time? With this we can have tunes whenever we want. Not to mention it can be any type of music from any instrument, not just a lyre.”

“Fair enough,” Lyra conceded, “but any and all battle music is mine, you got that?” Vinyl nodded, happy to have won for now, though she wasn’t sure she would be able to help herself when they finally confronted this Misira.

The remainder of the trip toward the caves passed in either small talk or complete silence. Every few minutes Bon Bon would take to the air to look for any signs that the terrain would be shifting from desert to mountainous.

“I see it,” she shouted from the air, “the desert ends right up ahead of us!”

‘Dunt Dunna Dunna,’ a loud musical tune echoed all around them.

“Vinyl, will you knock that off already,” Octavia shouted over the still repeating tune. At once the noise halted, leaving the grey mare with a slightly larger headache than before. ‘I could almost handle being covered in dried out slime from a disgusting creature’s insides, slowly baked into my fur in such a fashion that it will probably never come out, but if I have to deal with anything else today, I think I may lose it.”

Bon Bon’s voice snapped her out of her raging thoughts with a worried tone. “Guys, there are some ponies heading straight for us at the desert’s edge.”

Octavia’s left eye twitched ever so slightly. ‘Calm down, old girl, they’re probably just travelers like us.”

“There are eight of them and they’re carrying weapons,” Bon Bon added meekly. Hearing those words, Octavia collapsed to the ground and began quietly sobbing to herself, cursing each and every grain of sand beneath her individually.

It didn’t take long before the two groups paths met, each stopping within easy conversation distance from each other. Each of the opposing group’s members wore a blue bandana around their heads and several had eye patches. All of them were middle-aged stallions with distinct scars and tattoos covering them head to hoof. Each held a cutlass in one hoof with the exception of the largest among them, who wielded two.

This supposed leader of the gang spoke up in a salty tone. “Yer belongings or yer lives, what’ll it be?” The others laughed as they cast menacing stares at the mares.

“This is sooo cool,” Vinyl spoke up in excitement, effectively ending the thick tension. “You guys are actual pirates, right? And you’re pirating our stuff now!” Vinyl looked as though she had just met her idol.

The pirates looked between each other in confusion before the leader spoke up again. “Yarr, that be right. Now hoof over yer stuff or prepare fer armed battle!”

“Wow, you even have the cool pirate accent down!” Vinyl replied, much to the leader’s growing impatience.

“Vinyl,” Redheart said slowly, trying to imply the seriousness of the current situation, “You do understand that they are robbing us, right? They want to take our stuff, and even then they may still kill us or,” she gulped, “worse.”

The pirates caught her meaning and laughed even harder, some licking their lips with wild-looking eyes. One of them finally spoke up after a slight pause. “I say we forget the loot and help ourselves to some real booty.” The laughter grew even louder as a few of the bolder members took a few steps toward the group. They were set to charge until a piercing scream halted all movement on both sides.

Octavia rose from her wallowing and screamed even louder, causing everypony to shield their ears from the painful noise. Her eyes were bloodshot and her teeth clenched tightly. Her very presence was rage and it she was directing it straight at the gang of pirates now staring at her. She took a step forward and grabbed her cello from her back, the pirates taking a step back and holding their weapons in a defensive manner.

She gave a slightly manic-looking smile as her eyes drifted to each pony now standing in her way. “Let’s play, shall we?” she asked and then began charging straight for the leader.

Redheart leaned toward Vinyl and whispered carefully so as not to disrupt the raging mass of psycho musician from her work. “Did Octavia say anything about taking barbarian levels recently to you?”

Vinyl just shook her head and grinned. “Nope, this is one hundred percent Tavi. Besides, paladins can’t multiclass into barbarians; alignment restrictions and all that.”

Redheart blinked at her a few times before turning her attention back to the scene unfolding before her. Octavia swung wildly around in the middle of the gang, landing a few glancing blows here and there. The pirates ducked and dodged away, unable to retaliate due to her reach vastly dwarfing their own.

“Shouldn’t we help her?” Bon Bon asked, worried both for her friend and for the poor pirates. “I wouldn’t want her angry with us for just standing around while she was fighting for her life.” The others thought about this for a second before nodding in unison.

Lyra began playing, Vinyl and Red began charging their spells, and Bon Bon took to the air, circling around and landing on the other side of the fight. The rogue leapt forward and gave a hearty shove to the rear of one of the distracted ruffians. Octavia noticed his balance leave him and delivered her cello to the underside of his chin, sending him flying backwards through the air and onto one of his fellow gang members. Another turned to face Bon Bon, only to receive a similar wound to the back of his skull, effectively ending his consciousness for the day.

Vinyl and Redheart each released their offensive spell on the same target, although instead of just one missile from the sorceress, there were now two heading her target. With half their members down, the leader quickly decided a strategic retreat was in order, each of them grabbing an unconscious or wounded pony and running back the way they came.

Lyra stopped her playing a sent her new toy out to play, the boomerang striking each of them cleanly against their head. They toppled over, the extra weight they had been carrying now pinning them against the desert floor as the blade returned to her outstretched hand.

“Nice shot,” Bon Bon commented. The group made their way over to the tangled mess of bodies just as the leader had scraped and clawed his way out from underneath one of the larger masses. He rose up just in time to see Octavia staring down at him, her cello glowing in a silvery light. He sat back down and gave her a weak smile.

Vinyl walked up beside her marefriend, putting a hoof on her shoulder. “Great job, babe. You really showed those pirates who’s boss.” She laughed as she began patting the shoulder merrily.

“They’re not pirates, Vinyl,” she replied through gritted teeth. She took a deep breath to try and calm herself before she started turning her fury on her friends and loved ones.

“Yuh huh, they look like pirates and talk like pirates, ergo, they are pirates,” Vinyl stated with utmost certainty.

“Vinyl, maybe you just let this one go, eh?” Redheart interjected with pleading eyes. “I mean, pirates or bandits, what’s the difference. Am I right?” She let out a long, fake laugh.

“Pirates must be on the sea and own a ship,” Octavia resumed her argument. “These guys are little more than petty thieves.”

“We are too pirates!” the leader spoke up. “Didn’t you see the eye-patches and our cutlasses?”

“You stay out of this!” Octavia yelled down at him as he cowered away. She sighed and started trying to straighten her hardened mane. “Ugh, we don’t have time for this right now!” she shouted as she paced around in a small circle.

“So what do we do with them?” Lyra asked. “We can’t just let them go as is or they’ll keep bothering us or other ponies.”

“Let’s just take their weapons and go,” Vinyl said, not wanting to get into this again. “If they’re dumb enough to come after us again, then they’ll get what they deserve.” A menacing look from Octavia was all that was needed to send the gang running with their tails between their legs.

Bon Bon gathered up their cutlasses and stored them in one of the larger packs. Content that they would no longer be bothered, the group continued moving out of the desert and into the rocky plateau up ahead. The sun was just setting as they finally came upon the group of caves they had been searching for to make camp for the night.

Meanwhile far out at sea on a ship with crimson sails, a very angry cloaked figure stomped out of her cabin and onto the ship’s deck.

“Would you care to explain to me why we’ve stopped in the middle of the bloody ocean, captain?” she demanded in an impatient tone.

The captain bowed low before speaking to her. “A thousand apologies, Lady Misira, but there seems to be an elder stallion floating on a turtle blocking our passage.” He scratched his balding head as he pointed to the front of the ship.

“And what has stopped you from going around him or, Discord forbid, OVER HIM?” she screamed.

“Well,” the captain muttered almost inaudibly, “some of the men think he’s bewitched or haunted by the looks of him.”

Misira closed her eyes and vanished in a cloud of smoke, reappearing on the ship’s bowsprit. She eyed the strange, grey stallion with the pointy hat on his head and a greying beard hanging from his chin. He was standing on his hind two legs on a giant sea turtle floating on the water. He leaned on an ornate wooden staff to keep his balance and returned her gaze with his misty, grey eyes.

“Out of the way, hermit,” she demanded of him. He simply shook his head in return. “You dare refuse me?” she raised her voice and lowered her hood. Her black and white striped coat marked her as a zebra, and as beautiful a mare as she was a malevolent dictator. Her mane was solid black with white tips on the end. It fluttered in the seabreeze, almost the same length as her body.

“I am Misira, and I am one of the last of the dreamwalkers. You would be wise to do as I wish, lest you suffer my wrath.” She darkened the skies overhead to demonstrate her power and further emphasize her menacing threat. The old stallion stroked his chin as if in deep thought before sticking his tongue out at the now-fuming zebra.

Her eyes began glowing bright yellow and the black clouds sparked with energy. Several bolts rained down directly over the stallion, who simply raised his staff over his head and somehow absorbed the massive bolts into the wooden stick. Before she could summon another wave, the crazed-looking stallion stuck out his tongue once more and both he and the turtle submerged beneath the waves.

Misira stared at the empty waters and ground her teeth harshly together. “Full speed ahead, captain!” she yelled as she silently fumed to herself, “and no more delays or you’ll be joining him on the bottom of the sea!”

The group cautiously entered one of the larger looking caves, noticing the same glowing fungi that they had seen in the kobolds’ lair lining the walls. Not far in, the passage opened up into a large crevice. Sunlight peared through small gaps in the ceiling, revealing a narrow staircase leading down into a small, underground spring.

Octavia looked like she was about to cry as she stared at the clean water spilling in from a small waterfall on the opposite side of the crevice. They made their way down and peered into its depths, trying to discern how deep it was and if it was safe to drink. After a few small tests from the cleric, she gave the ok and everypony dove into the cool waters.

As Octavia and Vinyl tried to scrub the gunk out of each others fur, the others simply relaxed in the shallow part of the pool. The few small, scattered ripples breaking against the bathing couple soon turned into many and they quickly turned to see something large disturbing the water’s surface in the center of the spring. A wide shadow formed under the surface and began moving toward them as both of Octavia’s eyes started twitching franticly.

Moonlight Rendezvous

Each member of the group now watched in suspense as the shadowy figure beneath the waters of the spring slowly surfaced. Two bulging eyes with slanted pupils emerged, taking time to look at each of them in detail before creeping closer. As it neared the shallow end where they were huddled, more and more of its titanic body was revealed. The five of them stared in awe as it finally stood before them, having never expected a colossal-sized frog to be their undoing. The creature was a swirling mix of blues and greens and stood taller than your average house.

Octavia raised her cello over her head and cried out in frustration at the beast, “You will not be stopping this mare from taking a much needed bath you over-sized amphibian!” She began charging through the water toward, her previous fury returning to her in this, her greatest time of need. “My hygiene will not continue to suffer due to life-threatening encounters!

The frog’s vocal sac puffed in and out several times, creating a screeching sound that echoed through the cave. The grey mare stopped her charge to cover her ears and the noise stopped. For a moment all was silent, until mysterious music began to play through the air.

“Vinyl!” Octavia shouted.

“Sorry, my bad. It seems to have a mind of its own,” she nervously laughed as the music ceased.

“That is quite alright, ibbit,” the frog spoke with a deep, booming voice. “I apologize as well, ibbit, but I needed your attention before you mistook me for your enemy, ibbit.” He took several deep breaths in through his nose before exhaling sharply.

“Wait, you’re not our enemy?” Lyra asked dubiously. She held her boomerang in her hand, not certain what good it would do against such a large creature, but prepared to try nonetheless.

“Indeed I am not, ibbit,” he responded. “I am Ibsten, ibbit, and I serve the Watcher.”

“Just who is this watcher, Mr. Ibsten,” Redheart politely asked. “You don’t mean Princess Luna, do you?”

“No, ibbit, not the Princess, per se, ibbit, but an important piece of her psyche, ibbit. Long ago, before her banishment, ibbit, Princess Luna ruled over both the dreamworld and co-ruled alongside her sister over your world, ibbit. But such a strain soon became too much for her, ibbit, so she split off a piece of her mind inside the dreamworld to watch over it while she was busy governing Equestria, ibbit. This piece became the Watcher, ibbit, and has kept our world in working order even through the Princess’ thousand year banishment on the moon.”

“So the Watcher is an actual part of Luna?” Lyra asked, her head beginning to hurt from all the new information at once.

“Sure sounds like it,” Bon Bon replied casually, though her head was faring no better.

“This is great!” Vinyl suddenly shouted. “If this watcher thingy is actually Luna, then they can take care of Misira and we can finally go home!” She ran over a gave Octavia a big hug. “You hear that, Tavi! We can go home and you can take a bath in a real bathtub now!”

The smallest of smiles crept onto the paladin’s mouth for a brief second before the frog spoke up again. “I’m afraid it’s not that simple, ibbit. The watcher only contains a fraction of the Princess’s power, ibbit, and sadly that is not enough to defeat this terrible foe, ibbit.”

A single tear crept down Octavia’s face as Vinyl stared at the giant frog with bewilderment. “So, wait. If this watcher thingy can’t beat Misira with part of the power of an alicorn princess, then how in the BUCK are we supposed to have any kind of chance beating her?” The others nodded and looked hopefully at Ibsten for an answer.

The elder frog took in another long, drawn-out breath before continuing. “When Luna brought you to this world, ibbit, she changed the laws governing over you, ibbit. Where in your world it may take years to master difficult magic spells, a sorceress playing Mazes and Minotaurs could realistically do the same in a few weeks, ibbit. You each have nearly unlimited potential here, though you are far from realizing it at the moments, and thus, far from being able to defeat Misira, ibbit.”

“So then, what you’re trying to say is that even if we beat Misira to the amulet, we won’t be able to keep her from getting it?” Vinyl asked, a little heartbroken that all that they had been through may have been for nothing.

“That’s not it, Vinyl,” Redheart answered. “I think what he’s trying to say is that we could beat Misira if we were stronger, but seeing as we also have to keep her from getting to the amulet first….”

“You do not have time to temper your hidden power, ibbit,” Ibsten finished for her. “That is why I have come here, ibbit. To inform you that you have allies in this world, and that they are fighting hard to give you your chance to stop her. I, and the other servants of the watcher will do all in our power to stall Misira from the amulet as long as we can, ibbit. You must use this time to strengthen yourselves, ibbit, and I can think of no better place than Mount Ignius, ibbit. At the top, there lies a series of trials that will test your abilities and cunning to their extremes, ibbit. Should you conquer the mountain’s trials, ibbit, you will be well on your way to matching Misira’s power, ibbit.” Each pony absorbed his words in silence as he stopped to catch his breath.

“So is Misira really that powerful?” Bon Bon asked, only to be answered with a nod from the amphibian.

“She’s gotta be if a giant frog and who knows what else can’t stop her,” Vinyl added. “The real question is can we really stop her?” The usually confident mare was now feeling dubious of their chances for success with all this new information. She hadn’t stopped to truly consider what they were up against before, the idea of an adventure clouding her judgement.

“Do not doubt yourself, little one,” Ibsten spoke again. “You are the only hope for both our worlds, ibbit. You will succeed because you must, ibbit.”

It was Octavia’s turn to speak up now. “If these mountain trials will grant us so much power, surely they must be nearly impossible to complete, am I right? And if we die trying to complete them then we’re really dead, making it an unnecessary risk if you ask me.” Octavia wasn’t as afraid of the aspect of dying as she was of dying in vain.

“It’s true that the risk is perilously high, ibbit, but the reward includes the power to save two entire worlds and the chance for you all to return home, ibbit.”

“I say we go for it,” said Lyra. When the other four just stared at her with uncertainty plastered on their faces, she became angry. “We’ve been given a chance to do something great here, not only for our nation, but for all nations. We’re the only ones who can stop this now and we kind of owe it to everypony to try.”

Bon Bon walked up beside her and hugged her oddly-shaped friend tightly. “You’re absolutely right, dear. We’ll do it because we’re the only ones who can. We’ll do it because it’s the right thing to do. And we’ll do it because we’ve got nothing better to do until it gets done!”

“Aren’t you forgetting one very important detail,” Vinyl stopped her. When the rogue just stared back at her in confusion she lowered her head and shook it back and forth. “You’re forgetting about the fact that we CAN do it, because we’re the Marabian Knights!” She raised her head and gave them a toothy grin.

Now inspired by their friends, each of them felt fired up for anything that was thrown their way. Ibsten smiled as he began speaking again. “Continue to the port as you had planned, ibbit, but change your destination to Rigor Island, a place not far out of your way to the Everfree, ibbit. The mountain lies in the center of that island, ibbit. I must go now and prepare my minions for battle, ibbit, but I wish you ponies luck.”

With that, he hopped back into the center of the spring and within seconds vanished altogether. The group sat around for a moment, meditating on his words and mentally preparing themselves for what might lie ahead.

“So,” Redheart broke the tension in the air, “I think we should stay the night here as planned and then make our way to the port tomorrow. If luck is with us, we can find a ship quickly and sleep onboard on the way to the island.”

Nopony objected, so they each began unpacking near the edge of the spring. Though they were all exhausted from the long day, each remained awake for hours mulling over what would come next.

Fed up with her inability to sleep, Bon Bon quietly crept from her sleeping bag and sat at the water’s edge. Faint traces of moonlight creeping in through the holes in the roof of the cave combined with the glowing fungi covering its walls gave the spring an eerie, although beautiful appearance. The small, glowing reflections of the fungus looked like stars in the still water, the serene allure entrancing the mare deeper into her own thoughts.

‘Everypony here has shown what they’re really made of recently. It’s hard to believe how much we’ve grown, or perhaps, we were strong all along, but just didn’t show it. Either way, I couldn’t be any more proud to call each of these girls my friend.’ She smiled as she thought back to how each of them had been there to protect one another even when a situation had looked hopeless.

She didn’t even notice when Lyra sat down beside her until a hand was placed on her shoulder. The cream mare jumped slightly before realizing who it was.

“Lyra, don’t sneak up on me like that. Are you trying to give me a heart attack?” she scolded the bard, before noticing the look of concern in her eyes.

“Sorry bout that,” Lyra replied, “I wasn’t aware you could sneak up on a rogue.” She snickered as Bon Bon’s blush intensified, but her concerned look quickly returned. “Anyway, I was just checking to make sure you were okay.”

“I’m fine, dear. Just a lot on my mind, is all.” She sighed a dreamy sigh as she glanced back to the spring. “You know, before we were sucked up in this mess, I’d actually been getting a little bored just doing the same old things every day. I even wished on a falling star once for something exciting to happen to us about a month ago.” She sighed again, though this time due to stress. “I suppose I got what I asked for, huh,” she mock laughed.

“Don’t be crazy,” Lyra said as she looked out over the water as well, her tone lightening, “To be honest, I’ve felt the same way for some time now as well. That was the whole reason I suggested we go out dancing that night with Vinyl and then….” She paused nervously, though Bon Bon urged her to go on. “Well, you see, I had been planning to go even further next weekend. I prepared reservations at a fancy restaurant and was ready to...umm,” she gulped as she mustered her courage and bent down on one knee. Both of their hearts now beat furiously as the very air seemed to become electrified with energy. “Bon Bon, if we save the world and make it back home, will you marry me?” She stared hopefully into her eyes, the beads of sweat running down her face matching the tears flowing from Bon Bon’s eyes.

Unable to hold back the raw emotion from the moment, Bon Bon yelled with all her might, “Yes, of course I will!” She embraced Lyra as they shared a passionate kiss, unaware that the other three ponies were now awake and watching them intently. A harsh cough from Vinyl after an awkward pause ended their special moment.

Lyra turned to them with a giant grin on her face. “She said yes!” She closed her eyes and gave them a thumbs up. Octavia and Redheart both congratulated the two, but Vinyl had something more in mind. She concentrated and a slow melody started to resonate through the cave. Lyra offered her hand to Bon Bon, the two stepping into the shallow waters and dancing among the proxy stars.

Perfect Plan

Morning came early after the near-sleepless night of celebration and it took everything the more responsible mares had to wake themselves up; even more so to wake a grouchy Vinyl. Each ate a quick breakfast and took a pseudo-bath in the spring before they left the caves.

They made their way south toward Port Sarim in high spirits, Lyra and her new fiance walking closer than ever. Octavia paced herself behind them, happy for the two for taking such a grand step in their relationship, but also feeling a tinge of jealousy as well. She had long considered the possibility that Vinyl might be the one for her, though parts of her brain harshly disagreed. She sighed and decided to focus on the task at hoof rather than wrack her mind over it for the moment.

Vinyl walked beside her, though her thoughts were far away from romantic. She knew that with every step she came closer and closer to having to travel the open seas on a rocking piece of wood. She had come up with at least a dozen different excuses as to why she wouldn’t be able to board the ship when the time came, but knew that her efforts would be fruitless. If she was going to save the world, she would have to conquer her fears before they made it to town. ‘Buck.’

Redheart led the group, occasionally checking the map for any signs that they may be getting close. She focused on how they were going to afford getting passage on anything that floats with the small amount of coin they had. They would sell the extra blades that they picked up from the bandits, but it wouldn’t even come close to paying ship-fare for five.

Each continued the journey in their own little world, save for Lyra and Bon Bon who were sharing one, all the way to their first rest stop. Redheart distributed bowls to each of them while Vinyl used her magic to heat up the curry, albeit with a disdainful look.

“Ugh,” she audibly sighed to further demonstrate her unhappiness. “Curry again? I know we brought more than just that to eat. Why can’t we change it up a little?” She crossed her hooves and began pouting as Octavia shoved a bowl in front of her with a sharp glare.

“Stop the whining this instant or so help me,” she threatened. “If we don’t finish off the curry soon it will go bad, and then it will have to be tossed out.”

“Not to mention we don’t have very much money to buy more right now,” Redheart added, and what little we do have will be going towards getting a ride to Rigor Island.”

“And it’s pretty tasty, too,” said Lyra. “I may have to get Bon Bon to make some of this for me when we get back home.” She took a big bite of the spicy soup with a happy grin.

“Jeez, why don’t you all just gang up on me then,” Vinyl said as she forced herself to eat.

“I swear, Vinyl, it’s like I’m dealing with a foal,” Octavia angrily replied. “Just eat your curry and let’s go.” She closed her eyes and focused on her own meal to avoid stressing out any more over the issue. Vinyl continued to eat hers, although the recent conflict had all but spoiled her appetite.

They finished their meal in awkward silence and moved on. They kept a steady pace and remained quiet to give themselves a chance to cool off their tempers, though the midday heat’s added stress made cooling off of any kind near impossible. Lyra and Bon Bon glanced between the two feuding ponies several times, concerned for their friends and feeling a bit guilty at how happy they were.

Redheart peered over the next large hill before stopping suddenly and facing the group. “Hold up, guys. There’s something…” she started to say before being interrupted by Lyra.

“She’s right. This can’t go on if we’re going to be a team. Besides, you guys make a great couple and you really shouldn’t be fighting.”

“That’s not what…” Redheart tried again, but was cut off by Bon Bon this time.

“They’re right, you know. I know this has been stressful for us all, but we’re better than this. Can we at least try to talk it out?”

Vinyl and Octavia looked each other in the eyes for a moment. Octavia closed her eyes and sighed. “Fine, I’m sorry, okay? I’ve just been under…”

“Be quiet, you two!” Redheart yelled in a hushed voice. “What I’ve been trying to tell you is that we’re here.”

She motioned for the group to quietly join her behind the hill and take a look. Port Sarim stood close to a mile ahead of them, a decently sized town sitting right on the edge of a vast ocean. A slight breeze carried a salty scent through the air along with a refreshing coolness. There was little movement anywhere to be seen, other than small groups of large creatures patrolling both inside and outside its walls. Two large ships were docked at the moderately-sized port, each being loaded with various boxes and crates by more of the large creatures.

“What are those things,” Octavia asked in disgust as she squinted to try and make out their features. They stood about twice the height of a pony and on two legs like Lyra. Brown fur was covered nearly head to toe by metal or leather armor and they carried a variety of deadly weapons.

“Hobgoblins,” Redheart replied, trying to guesstimate their numbers in her head. “They’re a step up from kobolds and much more vicious than your average pirate. Not to mention they greatly outnumber us and are guarding our one chance at escape.”

“What happened to the ponies?” Bon Bon asked, worry evident on her face.

“They’re probably keeping some of them as hostages, am I right?” Vinyl tried assuring her. “Especially the captain and sailors!” she blurted out as realization struck. “They would need a crew and captain to make any use of the ships, so they must be keeping them somewhere down there!”

“Then that just leaves finding them and getting to the ship without being spotted.” Redheart spent several moments looking for any openings into the city and formulating backup plans if anything were to go wrong.

“What if I fly around the city?” Bon Bon asked. “I can get a much clearer view of the cities layout from up there.” She started to take off but was stopped by Redheart.

“That’s a good idea, but if you’re spotted the whole town will be put on high alert. We could wait until nightfall, but none of us are particularly good at seeing in the dark either. And seeing as we have no idea where we’re going or what we’re looking for…”Redheart trailed off as she continued going over ideas in her head.

“We just need to look for the most heavily guarded building,” Vinyls answered. “That’s where they’ll be keeping the important hostages, right? At least that’s how it goes in the movies.”

Octavia was the first to admit that it sounded like a strong possibility. The group nodded and were able to make out a large building near the harbor that fit the bill perfectly. A dozen large guards were posted outside, a few patrolling the sides and back as well.

“So how do we get them away from the building without alerting them or getting into a battle we can’t win?” Lyra asked.

“We’ll need a distraction,” was Redheart’s reply. Something big enough that all of them will leave their post to take care of without thinking about it.

“Ooh, ooh, I know what we can do.” Lyra began channeling some of her magic into a spell and suddenly Luna appeared amongst the group. Everypony fell silent at the image and then looked to Lyra for an explanation, who simply waved her arm through the princess. The image faded in and out as her arm touched it, wavering ever so slightly. “It’s a low level illusion spell! It will have to be put somewhere where they can’t touch it, but it should grab their undivided attention for a few minutes.

“That’s genius, dear,” Bon Bon kissed her cheek.

Lyra flushed and rubbed her cheek bashfully. “Aw, thanks hun. I’ll need Vinyl’s help to give it some life and keep it going long enough to be convincing. That leaves you three to sneak in there and get them to the ship.”

“We’ll use the Luna illusion to break into the city and lead the guards to a dead end, then once more to lead those guarding the building away from it and the ship.” Red added.

“It’s as good a plan as any,” Octavia concluded, putting her hoof in and motioning the others to do the same. Each did and they nodded to each other.

Four hobgoblin guards stood at the entrance to the city, each looking utterly bored and unamused by the heat beating down on them. This didn’t last long as Luna herself flew in from seemingly nowhere and landed gracefully in front of them. Her eyes began glowing white and massive amounts of energy flowed freely from her horn. The four dropped their weapons and ran screaming and shouting for reinforcements into the city.

The group moved in and immediately split up, ‘Luna’ leading the way straight for the large building for Lyra’s group with the two mares staying back far enough to stay out of sight. The other three worked their way around another part of the city, stopping and hiding as several guards poured out of buildings and went straight for the other two. The plan was working beautifully so far. The Luna image ran right past the large building, several guards on her tail; Vinyl and Lyra now on top of a building to better control her and stay out of the way at the same time.

As she passed the large building, all of the guards surrounding it took the bait and charged straight for her. As soon as the coast was clear, the other three entered the building and had their suspicions confirmed. At the back of the building several ponies sat in a locked cage, each of them staring at the group with shock and terror in their eyes. Or at least they thought it was them they were staring at, as the door behind them suddenly slammed shut and a metal bar locked the door from any possibility of opening. The three turned to see it had been a familiar face who had locked them in.

“Ironhoof,” Octavia growled through clenched teeth.

Author's Notes:

Small chapter because of the rewrite going on, and more than half of this one needs to be rewritten as well.

Rematch

The large minotaur now wielded an oversized great axe in favor of his club, the head alone larger than a full grown pony. His single horn was sharpened as well, the tip needle thin. He stood in front of the now-barred door, the only way in or out of what appeared to be a large warehouse.

“I knew if I waited here long enough, you pitiful ponies would show up eventually. And it seems that there are only three of you to contend with this time around. How unfortunate for you, though I will be enjoying my revenge a tad bit quicker than I’d like seeing as you’ve kept me waiting for so long.”

“How did you get here and set all this up before we arrived?” Red asked, utterly confused by how such a large creature could travel such a great distance so quickly. Sure, they had stopped to rest along the way, but there was no way he could have traveled day and night without stopping.

“I don’t care how you got here,” Octavia interrupted as she drew her cello from her back. “It’s how you’re going to be leaving here that’s important now!” She shouted as she charged forward and swung her weapon overhead with all her might. Ironhoof sidestepped the attack with ease and delivered a kick to her chin, sending her flying back to where she had started. The force of the kick was great and she lost hold of her cello as she landed, the instrument sliding a few feet from her.

He took a step toward her and noticed one of the other two missing in the back. He grinned as he took another step forward, though all of his attention was now diverted to the rogue skulking along the wall to his left. He faked taking the final step it would take to reach the downed mare and instead kicked out in her direction when he saw the shadow leap for him. Bon Bon dove right into his outstretched hoof, the impact forcing the breath from her and nearly causing her to black out from the pain.

Red had been taking the opportunity to channel a spell and fired it straight for his eyes, only to find it reflected harmlessly into a wall by the mirrored blade of his axe. “You ponies are far too predictable. Even after a single fight with you, I can detect your moves before you make them.”

Octavia rose to her hooves, considering his words carefully. ‘If he really is able to predict what I’m going to do next then perhaps a little change-up is in order. What would Vinyl do in a situation like this?’ She facehoofed reflexively at the thought and let out a slight groan.

Ironhoof wasn’t sure exactly what was going through the little paladin’s head at the moment, but he did see a free opportunity presenting itself and decided to take it. He stepped forward and swung overhead with all of his might at the distracted pony, who in turn bolted straight towards him with blinding speed. She gathered as much of her sacred energy into her hoof as she could muster and delivered it straight into his groin. The pure physical force combined with the holy energy caused his legs to buckle and his arms to release his grasp on the weapon to comfort his poor manhood.

“Not... again,” he whimpered as his breathing became more and more shallow. Octavia knew from experience that he wouldn’t stay down from the blow for long and Bon Bon was in no condition to hold him hostage like last time, so she withdrew to retrieve her own weapon and toss his as far from the battle as possible. Redheart was already halfway through a healing spell on the downed rogue when Octavia had finished what she set out to do and returned in front of the minotaur.

Ironhoof looked up into her eyes and, fighting against the pain, rose to his hooves again. He couldn’t lose again. Misira would not give him another chance, this he knew well. He clenched both fists together tightly, drawing upon his inner rage to take control. This would trade his tactical advantage for brute strength and toughness, but he now needed this form so he could ignore the almost unbearable pain.

The three ponies lined up together with Octavia in front as they watched their foe grow almost a foot in size and bulk up like a professional body builder. The entirety of his eyes glowed bright red as he let out a savage roar, each of the three ponies gulping instinctively. He was nearly on top of them before their nerves returned, Octavia raising her cello as a shield to block the blow. The sound of his fist splintering the wood echoed throughout the building. The paladin’s muscles burned in agony at the amount of stress they were put under, just barely able to keep the attack from making its way to her body. Before she could fully recover from the first fist, the second came down like a hammer, smashing the instrument into her face and sending her to the ground.

Bon Bon took advantage of both his arms being occupied and sunk her blade deep into his back. If he noticed the attack, he didn’t show it as he kept shoving as all his weight down on the fallen Octavia. He maneuvered the cello so that its neck was now bearing down on hers, her face soon turning blue from lack of oxygen. Bon Bon continued her assault on his undefended back, desperately trying to find some sort of weak spot that would bring him down before he choked her friend to death.

Redheart jumped right into the middle of the action and used all of her strength to help alleviate the pressure on Octavia’s neck. She pulled up as he pushed down, though the difference in size and strength was barely making any difference at all. She frantically ran ideas through her head as her teammate’s eyes began bulging from her head. With little hesitation she stepped back and channeled her light spell again, taking careful aim to hit her mark precisely. She fired the white-hot bolt of light straight for the neck of the cello, the instrument snapping into two pieces as the laser made contact.

Ironhoof was thrown slightly off balance as the object he was bearing all of his weight on went two different directions as Octavia greedily took in every ounce of air she could. Bon Bon dropped to the ground and bucked the backside of his knees with all her might, sending him toppling over to Octavia’s left. The grey mare rolled out of his reach and stood up, still gasping for air and holding her tender neck.

The minotaur slowly reverted to his normal size as he groaned at the renewed pain he was now feeling. They had bested him again and with two of their numbers missing, no less! He knew what awaited him when Misira found out. No more chances and no more Ironhoof. He cringed slightly before his exhaustion set in, ferrying him into unconsciousness.

The door to the building suddenly exploded, pieces of wooden shrapnel flying everywhere. Vinyl and Lyra ran in through the opening the former had created with perhaps a little too much enthusiasm. They both stared at the downed minotaur before turning their to look at the three with a mix of shock and awe. A familiar golden aura wrapped itself around each of them, signalling they had once again leveled.

“You guys are officially badflank,” Vinyl said as she raised her hoof to Octavia, patiently awaited her to reciprocate the motion. Octavia only sat there though, staring at the two severed pieces of her instrument-turned-weapon.

Redheart trotted up beside her and put a hoof to her shoulder. “I’m so sorry I had to do that, but I couldn’t think of anything else at the time.”

Octavia looked up into her eyes and saw how worried and apologetic she must have truly felt. She did love her cello almost as much as anything, even if this was just a dream version of it. “Don’t worry about it, Redheart. You saved my life and I am truly grateful for that. I can always find another weapon to use.”

“Perhaps I can help with that,” an old, raspy voice from the back of the building spoke up. The group turned to the prisoners they had just rescued, blushing slightly at the fact that they had temporarily slipped their minds.

Not wanting to risk going anywhere near their adversary, Bon Bon decided to just pick the lock on the cage rather than searching him for a key. A little work with the lock from the rogue soon saw results as it opened and fell to the ground. The cage door opened and the twenty or so captives all spread out around them, each offering their thanks.

The former voice stepped forward and picked up the two pieces of Octavia’s cello. “I’ve done repairs on the ships outside for decades now,” he started as he continued assessing the damage to the two halves, “so I’m pretty sure I can put this thing back together in no time at all.”

Octavia’s smile returned as another larger stallion approached. His age was apparent in his facial features, the rings under his eyes a testament to many hardships and sleepless nights. He was a dull grey with a thick, black, braided mane and beard. He spoke in a slow, deep voice that commanded respect. “My name is Captain High Tide. I sail the Phoenix, fastest ship in all Marabia. I imagine you must have seen her before you came here. I’d like to thank you on behalf of Port Sarim for our rescue, though I’m curious how the five of you managed to take out all of the hobgoblins out there before taking on this brute here.”

“About that,” Lyra quickly spoke up, now looking a little anxious. “They’re not exactly ‘taken care of’,” she emphasized with air quotes. “We sent the illusion into a cellar and barricaded it after they all went in, but I can’t imagine it will hold them forever. We should probably be leaving now if there are no objections.”

“Where is everypony else?” Redheart queried. “Surely there are more than just the few of you here.”

“All of the non-sailing villagers were taken by another boat, most likely as slaves or food for the hobgoblins and who knows what else.” High Tide stated sadly. “There’s nothing we can do for them now except make sure this never happens again.”

Everyone quickly started moving for the exit. Redheart felt her heart sink at the captain’s grim words. Every minute things were getting worse here, and if they didn’t do something soon then Equestria would share the same fate. Each encounter was increasing in intensity and if they slipped up even once...if she made the wrong choice even once…. She was snapped out of her thoughts as the sun caught her in the eyes as they exited the building. The group made a beeline for the large ship, the captain shouting orders to the crew long before they even made it to the docks.

As they approached the ship, Vinyl suddenly stopped dead in her tracks and just stared out into the vast ocean. By the time the others had turned to ask what was wrong, she was already starting to freak out.

“I can’t do this, you guys! I know this is important, but I just can’t! I don’t like the ocean and there is no way I’m riding a boat over it for any period of time!” She closed her eyes and screamed before curling up into a little ball and started rocking back and forth. The others rushed over to her wearing worried looks while the sailors boarded the ship and started preparing the ship to sail.

“Vinyl,” Octavia began, rubbing her hoof through the white mare’s mane. “I don’t know what’s gotten into you, but you know we have to take this ship to reach Rigor Island. I promise we’ll stay in the cabin the whole time if it makes you feel any better. It’ll be just like staying in a moving inn,” she reassured her.

Vinyl slowly calmed down and stood up. “Okay,” she said after a moment of silence. “It’s just..” her sentence was halted prematurely as a loud rumbling was now making its way down the dock. She turned and saw the small army of hobgoblins charging straight towards them and knew with certainty that the ship was their only means of escape now.

Minds made up, they quickly filed on board and within a few minutes the ship was all set. With a final word from Hide Tide, the ship departed just seconds before the monsters could reach it. Octavia led a still-shaking a Vinyl down into the lower levels of the large ship while Redheart and the others spoke with the captain about their future plans and their new destination.

Author's Notes:

Gonna stick to the shorter chapters for now, I think. I personally prefer longer chapters, but this way lets me put out at least one chapter a week.