//------------------------------// // Chapter 4: Meeting a Warlock // Story: An Heir to Legends // by mattchilly //------------------------------// After an hour of searching around Shopkeep’s store, one thing that surprised me was when I picked up a Thoron tome I wanted to buy, it vanished and replaced with a note. ‘Thank you for shopping. All items you intend to buy will be teleported to the register ready for you when you leave.’. I then went to get a copy of most of the fire, thunder, and wind spell tomes, a translation book that will help me read them, a copy of the Heal, Mend, and Physic staves along with a Levin Sword but that was mostly because out of all the weapons from Fire Emblem it was my favorite. Scrolls that teach white, black, time and summoning magic from Final Fantasy. I also got some Dragon Quest spell books, a Falcon Knife, an Imp Knife, a Poison Moth Knife, a Rune Staff, and Staff of Antimagic. For Dragon Quest accessories, I grabbed a Catholicon Ring to protect me from paralysis, poison, sleep, confusion, and illusion spells. From the League of Legends, I got a tome that had instructions on how to summon the minions, beasts, and turrets along with one of my favorite items. The Youmuu's Ghostblade which is going to be my personal blade. When I thought, I had enough items from items from League of Legends, all the tables that had items from their changed to Terraria. So, I grabbed an Ancient Horn, for a mount. I also got a Shadowflame Knife, and Raven Staff.  Three books that taught Fairy Tail magic, one for Lightning magic, one for Water magic, one for Archive and a scroll that told how to turn normal gems into lacrima. From the Elder Scrolls, I only got the Candlelight spell. Once I was done I headed back to see that Arashi had left. “Have fun shopping Thrin? You were certainly in there for longer than I expected.” Shopkeep said a small smile on his face. “A bit, it’s really amazing how much stuff you have.” I said. “I aim to please. Again, I’m sorry about not having any items from Dragon’s Crown. That stuff is harder to come across, than you might think.”  “It’s fine, but how am I going to pay for everything? I could go back to Twilight’s and get what I need from the treasure chest that has my share of the loot from when I beat the monsters.” I asked. “Well if you don’t have any bits on you, I think we can work around that. Can you transform into the Champion Aurelion Sol? Shopkeep asked. “Otherwise you’ll have to wait to take anything until you have the money on you.” “I think so, I’ve never had a reason to before. Why do you ask?” “He is called the Star Forger for a reason. You can pay me with new stars.”  “Ah I see, I might have enough to cover this but I am curious how to make stars so. CHAMPION TRANSFORMATION AURELION SOL!” Replacing my form was a large serpent like dragon. My scales were reminiscent of the cosmos, ever changing with constellations and galaxies. The small corridor had changed to be able to easily fit my new form. “Glad it worked, now then let’s see.” I brought my claws up before my face and breathed into the gap between my claws. A small orb began to grow between my claws. Once I was finished it was the size of a baseball and gave of a warm yellow glow. “Not bad for a first attempt. Given the right spot this star might become a blue dwarf. Personally, I always did prefer red giants. Although i am surprised you got this on your first attempt.” Shopkeep said as he inspected the star. "I just went with 'don't think, feel'. It's what I did when i turned into Champions for the first time when i trained with Discord. I let the form guide me on how to use the powers." I explained. “Now since this is your first purchase and you’re a new member you get a discount, so I would say… fourteen more stars will cover everything.” Almost an hour later and I had a total of fifteen baby stars floating over the table and was panting heavily. Who knew creating stars was so taxing. “Good job. OH! before I forget.” With that Shopkeep floated up and touched the golden crown on my head before returning to his spot behind the register. “There we go, now it’s just decoration. No one should be able control you in this form now.” I shifted back to my true self before saying, “Thank you, I completely forgot about that enchantment on the crown.”                 “Not a problem. Think of it as a ‘welcome to the club’ present. Now here you are, everything in one complimentary hypercube. In case you don’t know what that is. It’s a box with near infinite storage, and it can fit in your pocket or attach itself to any belt! To get stuff out of the cube, just think of what you want and reach for it. I recommend not wanting all of it at once unless you’re in an open room, otherwise your end up underneath a pile of stuff, trust me that’s no fun. Oh, the way to access my store is also in there.” Shopkeep said. “Thanks, Shopkeep, for everything. By the way I have two questions, one what are you going to do with the stars? And two do you know how if I can use the other ‘skins’ of the Champions?” I asked. “I’m going to go to different universes and put them in spots where they will help. Whether they give light to planets or just give people something to look at in the night sky. It’s what I always do when people give me stars as payment unless there unstable, in that case I take them to a friend of mine who makes sure they can’t harm anyone when they explode. As for the different ‘skins’ I think you’ll unlock them as you go.”                 Giving a last wave to Shopkeep I walked out of the store to see Twilight and her friends waiting for me with Arashi nowhere to be seen. “Hi Thrin, we were expecting you to take longer. You were only in there for fifteen minutes.” Twilight said. “Ya, Arashi came out five minutes while ago and he left to go check on something.” Rainbow said. “For me it was more like an hour, man space-time magic is weird. Anyways I got a lot of stuff that could be helpful. Mostly magic though, chances are it’ll take me a few months or more likely a few years to learn it all. When I get some free time, I’ll figure out which magic to priorities. For now, though I just want to get some sleep.” During the walk, back to town I explained what I bought and how. “I bet Princess Luna will be really happy once she learns about Aurelion Sol!” Pinkie said. “I agree Pinkie, but since this is going to be Luna’s first Nightmare Night I don’t think bringing up Nightmare Moon will be a good idea. I think she needs to see that her subjects aren’t scared of her.” I said. “I think Thrin is correct on this Pinkie. After what she went through…” before Twilight could finish a loud screeching sound filed the air. Looking up we saw something that didn’t fill me with hope, a Dragon’s Crown Harpy. “First orcs and now a Harpy, this isn’t good. I’m mentally exhausted after convincing the Everfree and using Aurelion Sol’s power for the first time. I don’t think I can take on a Harpy. Damn it Arashi where are you!” I exclaimed. “Right behind you.” All seven of us spun around to see Arashi who was staring at the Harpy with a look of… disappointment? “I’ll take care of this.” With that Arashi spared his wings and charged at the Harpy yelling. “IT’S BEINGS LIKE YOU WHO GIVE TENGU LIKE ME A BAD NAME!” The Harpy only screeched in responses and charged at Arashi. “TIME FOR YOU TO LEARN NOT TO MESS WITH ME! HURRICANE SPHERE!” A ball of wind engulfed the Harpy holding her in place. The Harpy withered in pain, screeching the entire time. “Scream profanities and curses all you want. It won’t help when you, so just calm down.” Arashi yelled over the wind. “I wonder how he is able to understand that Harpy,” Twilight said. “Who cares how he understands? Are you watching this? He’s curb-stomping that monster!” Rainbow cheered. “From what I remember from Japanese mythology, Tengu are highly magical beings that are sometimes mistaken for gods, but from I know Tengu are either crow like. I don’t know why he also has wolf ears and tail.” I said bringing one hand up to my chin. “He is from another universe, maybe that one has different kinds of Tengu.” Twilight said by this point the Harpy had stopped screeching and was just being held up in the air by sphere of wind. “Now then I think you have learned your lesson. If you promise to behave I’ll not only heal you, but also figure out a way to help with your problem. All right?” Arashi said the Harpy giving a squawk in response. “Curaga.” A gentle green light enveloped the Harpy, once it finished the Harpy stood up on her legs. Arashi turned to us and said. “This Harpy is called Harukaze, it means ‘Spring Breeze’ the reason she attacked just now was a Warlock has taken her nest and eggs. He threatening to smash them if she doesn’t destroy Ponyville.” Twilight, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie gasped while I growled before Arashi continued. “Luckily, she doesn’t have to report until noon tomorrow. That gives us time to plan and you time to rest up. Thrin what do you think of having a Harpy live near your home.” “As long as she doesn’t cause any trouble. Maybe she can give me a few unfertilized eggs or allow me to have some of her molted feathers occasionally.” I said, Harukaze gave a few chirps which Arashi translated. “She agrees, and would like a few wards around her nest to help protect her young.” I smiled, “Miss Harukaze I would have offered to place wards around your nest anyways. I promise you we will do everything we can to get your eggs back.” “YA! No one threatens kids while were here! Let’s go kick his butt!” Rainbow proclaimed, “Not so fast Rainbow if we rush into this Harukaze’s eggs will be in danger, we need to come up with a plan.” Twilight said. “What kind of meanie would harm a child?” Pinkie said her main drooping slightly. “Someone evil with little to no morals, but right now I really need to get some sleep, can you wake me up before dawn so we can make a plan Arashi?” I said. Immediately Rainbow spoke up. “You’re not leaving us out of this! This Warlock guy is going down!” “I agree with Rainbow, we should be there to help.” Twilight said. “I disagree. There is a strong possibility a fight could break out. In which case this you would be a liability since we don’t know what kind of monsters he has guarding his base or the kinds he has near the eggs. If we’re not careful and they catch wind of us before we get the eggs and they smash the eggs, then even if we kill all the monsters we lose no matter what else they might be guarding.” Arashi explained in a voice that said auguring about this was pointless, causing Twilight and Rainbow Dash to sigh in defeat. “All right, Arashi you made your point we’ll wait here, BUT we will be telling the Princesses about this!” Twilight said. “I would expect nothing less. Now you are going straight to bed Thrin it’s going to be a long day tomorrow. I’ll show Harukaze where the old castle is so she can find a good area nearby for her new nest and I’ll see you an hour before dawn.” Arashi said before he and Harukaze took off and flew over the Everfree Forest. “Let’s go. Can the three of you let the others know what’s going on?” I asked as we continued the walk back to town. “You can count on us Thrin! And you can expect a ‘Good job stopping the evil Warlock/ Saving the Eggs’ party” Pinkie said. “I’m not sure that most people will like a Harpy living near town, but I think if we explain exactly what’s going on, they’ll at least tolerate her.” I said. Once we were in front of Twilight’s, Rainbow and Pinkie said their goodbyes as Twilight and I went inside. “Night, Twilight.” I said as I went up to my room. *Early the next morning* “Esuna.” I woke up with a jolt fully awake I gave a small glare at Arashi. “Sorry about that, but were on a tight schedule. Here some elven lembas, bought it yesterday since I ate the last I had last week.” Arashi apologized before handing me the wafer like short bread which I quickly ate. “For us to come up with a plan we need to know the basics of what each other can do. As you saw yesterday I can fly, use wind magic, but I can also use earth magic, and can understand any type of avian or canine like creature. I can use magic from Final Fantasy but I mostly focus on white and time magic since I find fire, lightning, and ice magic from Fairy Tail to be more effective and more fun to, but I still use it for the spell sword ability. I save the Gensoken magic for area attacks, because I learned a while back that unless you’re fighting in the air, causing a bullet hell is an easy way to cause unnecessary collateral damage, even if the bullets are non-lethal.”  “I guess no matter what universe I’m from, being a fan of Fairy Tail is a constant.” I said chuckling. “Nope. Franky is indifferent to it and Sans think it’s over rated, but that’s not that important. You know some of what I can do so what can you do?” Arashi said. “As I said yesterday, I can transform into the Champions from League of Legends. I have five ‘slots’ a day for Champion and two ‘slots’ for the Summoner magic. Since the Champions personalities can affect me if I lose concentration or lose control of my emotions. So for now I avoid the evil Champions and Champions I think are assholes, Hecarim the Shadow of War for example. I also don’t want to use the ones with dark magic even if they aren’t evil or an ass because I don’t know if it can corrupt me. Yesterday I bought a few daggers from Dragon’s Quest, a blade from League of Legends and a couple magic weapons from Terraria. So, if necessary I can fight without transforming, but I would like to avoid that if possible since I’m a squishy wizard, and have no idea how to properly use them.” I said while getting out of bed. “Compared to the game, how strong are your Champion forms?” Arashi asked.  I brought my hand up and thought for a moment. “I would guess around level four. Strong enough to have all their ability's but no where near full power, which really makes me wonder why I easily tore through the Dragon Crown Orc’s when they invaded Ponyville the day Discord an I got free. During the fight I wondered if it’s because the Champions work on different laws then the Dragon Crown’s characters.”  Arashi shrugged. “Perhaps, but here’s what I’m thinking right now. You get his attention in the form of a tank champion while I sneak in and get the eggs. The reason I suggest this is if we both go in guns blazing, he can easily just smash the eggs before we get to them. If you need help I recommend Franky since not only is he use to fighting Dragon’s Crown monsters but he almost always has his sis with him even if the rest of his team stays behind.” “So, Cecil’s sister also got displaced? Who’d she turn into… wait if she got displaced then does that mean my sister also got displaced? I asked. “Perhaps, you never know who’s going to be Displaced and who wont be and Franky’s sister is the Dragon’s Crowns Elf, and she is one of the best archers I know. Probably because she put a lot of her frustration about her situation into practicing when they first got to Equestria. The rest of his team is Twilight the Sorceress, Rainbow who's the thief of the group, Gilda is the Amazon, Sunset’s the ‘Wizard’. Last time I saw them they didn’t have a ‘Dwarf’ on the team. Not for lack of trying but they haven't found anyone who wants to join there team and have the right chemistry, and yes. They dress like the original characters from the game.” Arashi said. “I hope they find a good teammate, anyways that’s probably the best idea for now. I’ll go leave a note for Twilight.” I said. We walk down stairs only to find Twilight already up and reading, looking up she said. “Morning, I wanted to wish you two luck before you left.” “Thanks Twilight.”I said and with that Arashi and I left the library and walked out of town where I held up my Ancient Horn. There was a puff of smoke and I was sitting on top of a large orange basilisk who was wearing combat armor. “Hope you know Hastega otherwise the trip could last all day, depending on where we have to go.” Arashi smiled, “I do know the Haste spells and the Warlocks base is in that mountain.” Arashi pointed at a distant mountain far to the north-east. “That’s Smoky Mountain, its where Fluttershy stared down a dragon. Right now the Warlock’s based in the same cave the dragon was. What I hope is that we’ll get there in about three hours.” “Well then we shouldn't waste any more time right?” Without me doing anything the basilisk started to move, slowly at first but quickly building up speed. Above me I heard Arashi cast Hastega and my mounts speed went up dramatically. We stayed near the railroad to try to avoid knocking down any trees. We made good time and like Arashi had hoped we made the trip in just over three hours. We stopped in the forest at the foot of the mountain where I dismissed my mount. “Ok Arashi time to split up, if I’m remembering Project Touhou lore correctly. Didn’t the kappa Nitori make an optic camouflage device?” I asked. “Yup and with Twilight’s help they perfected it. Well I say ‘perfected’ but what I really mean is that it doesn’t short out anymore, but to compensation this, it only works for five minuet at a time before a two hour recharge. Which Champions are you thinking of using?” Arashi asked. “Garen, Graves, Poppy, and Shyvana. I can’t decide who else would be a good choice for this. I’m also going with the spells Heal and Smite.” I replied. “I can see the problem, since you have mostly melee based Champions I would suggest a spell caster. The problem is still which one. Annie’s out since we don’t want a forest fire, perhaps Ryze or Karma…no Ryze would be the better choice with his unique Rune magic. I'm positive that none of the Champions used they full power or all their skills in League of Legends, which means you have plenty of tricks of your sleeve.” Arashi said. “Good point, alright Ryze it is. Better transform before we start. CHAMPION TRANSFORMATION! GAREN!” Now I was five foot, five inches. Had short brown hair a blue scarf and was wearing full plate mail not including a helmet. I also had a large broad sword. My shoulder pads had blue gems in-bedded in them. “Alright time to get the eggs back.” Arashi activated the optic camo and few off towards the summit. I walked on being as quiet as I could until I reached the edge of the forest, the area at the base of the mountain was full of monsters. I could see Skeletons with rusted swords and shields, Lizardmen both green and blue, and much to my surprise three Gladiators, their  armor and lion shields gleaming in the morning sun. Their morning stars mace’s spikes glinting dangerously. “Just my luck.” I think as I reach for the Hypercube that was still attached to my belt and pulled out Franky’s shield. “Better have this on hand just in case.” Taking a deep breath I charge into the clearing slashing at all the monster I shout. “FOR EQUESTIRA! MINIONS OF EVIL FACE MY JUDGMENT!” With that I began spinning striking down every Lizardman who came near me and scattering the Skeletons bones across the ground. Once I stopped spinning I raised my shield to block a Lizardman’s trident. Glancing around I noticed that the Skeletons I beat were putting them self's back together and I had hardly even put a dent into their numbers.                 “Sir Cecil I am Thrin another version of you and Arashi, I am dealing with monsters you are familiar with and NEED SOME FREAKING BACK UP!” Right after I finished a great stone arch rose out of the ground with a see through purple portal lighting up in front of me sending the monsters away from me and giving me some room to breath. Out of it came six people. The one in the lead was very tall had heavy looking armor covering him self from head to toe and armed with a long sword in one hand and a large shield in the other. On his left was a much shorter woman who’s wearing a brown hood, green tunic and thigh high boots, armed with a bow almost a tall as she was that already has an arrow nocked and ready. Next to the archer is an anthro Twilight wearing scarlet robes and a purple witches hat, she was holding a hooked wooden staff which glowed red at the top.                 On the armed man’s right was a sight that even though I knew what the character looked like I wasn’t expecting. Gilda was wearing what can only be called an armored bikini and wielding a halberd. Next to Gilda was someone who's hair reminded me of fire, they were wearing a black robe and had a staff similar to Twilight’s but it had a yellow glow instead. Behind them was Rainbow Dash who wore a simple green tunic and brown pants under a green hood and had a big bag over her shoulder. The six who came out of the portal imminently began attacking the monsters with a practiced ease with the exception of Rainbow who was darting around the field picking up loot that appeared when ever any of the monsters died. Grinning I joined them placing the shield back into the Hypercube. *here’s what the game characters look like* Deciding to change things up a bit I shouted, “CHAMPION TRANSFORMATION! SHYVANA!” in Garens place was a blue skinned women just as tall as he was. I now had crimson red armor with gold highlights that didn’t restrict my movement, on my right arm was a gauntlet that represented the top half of a dragons head while on my left was one that represented the jaw. My hands burst into flames, Skeleton bones either melted or shattered. Lizardmen tried to avoided me but the ones that I didn’t get Cecil and his team got. Slowly but surely we made our way closer to the mountain until we heard someone yell,  “MINNIONS HOLD!” At this all the monsters backed off. Looking up we saw an old man wearing flowing black robes and holding a green staff where the top looked like two snakes. “Who are you, and how did you find me and my minions?” he asked his voice sounding deep and very gruff. “We are simply a group of heroes who want to stop the monsters from attack people, as for how we found you, I’m not going to tell you! Now on be-haft of the Princesses I demand surrender, or get ready for get your ass kicked!” I called not once letting down my guard. The Warlock only laughed. “Well now this is an interesting development isn’t it? Minions destroy these fools or die trying! If I learn any of you fled you will suffer the consequences, as for you ‘heroes’ to congratulate you on finding me I shall tell you my name. I am Bolarc.”                 With this said Bolarc faded away and the fight started anew. A short time later Arashi joined us by cleaving a Lizardman in two with his sword. With the seven of us the remaining monsters didn’t last long. “Well met Arashi! It has been to long since we last battled together, you really should visit more often! And it’s nice to meet you Thrin I am Cecil but everyone calls me Franky.” The armored man said. “I’m Selendrial, Cecil’s sister it’s nice to meet another version of my bro, but I really hope your more normal that this over dramatic goof.” the elven archer said with a smile before shooting Cecil an annoyed look and used her bow to hit Cecil’s helmet. “My name is Twilight Scarlet its very nice to meet you.” Twilight said  “The names Gilda and don’t you forget it ya punk.” Gilda said as she leaned on her poleaxe. “I’m Sunset Shimmer, Twilight’s twin sister. I hope you don’t mind me asking but, isn’t it a bit awkward to change genders when you transform?” “I arrived in Equestria shortly before Luna’s banishment, and since I knew of Equestria before I arrived I decided to ‘attack’ Celestia in the form of the Champion Mordekaiser, and by I attack I mean show my self right after she banished Luna and say the most cliché Saturday morning villain speech I could. I don’t even remember what I said anymore not that its important. During the time, I was a statue I met Discord and I became friends after showing him that humans can be chaotic by using internet logic. Afterwards Discord help me train with in my mind scape, so I became comfortable with the transformations long ago.”