Almost nine weeks had passed since I told Twilight that I’m the one who told Discord about the pink elephants and snow had arrived to the rest of Equestria and if I thought it was cold before it was freezing now, I’m seriously glad my robe has a built-in heating spell otherwise I’d be screwed because without my robe I can’t transform into the Champions. Once I returned home after making an uh… tactical retreat from an annoyed Twilight, I delved into my first real project, which is to learn all I can from the spell tomes and scrolls I bought before I start working on the warp gate. Translating the Fire Emblem tomes is proceeding at a stable pace. So far, I’ve finished translating the first of each element and much to my surprise all the tomes that I had translated were stories of different heroes who used the different elements. The Thunder and Wind Tomes were about the Shinto gods Fujin and Raijin so I had fun learning a little more about them.
As pleased as I was with how fast I translated some of the tomes and became accustomed to the magic held within the pages, I was completely stumped on how I’m going to proceed with my secret project and no matter how hard I tried to push the question out of my mind it was always there like an itch you can’t reach. I’d even transformed in to every Champion that I didn’t have on my ‘forbidden’ or 'restricted' list, who focuses on magic and none of them had any information that could help which just made me even more frustrated.
It didn’t help that ever since I woke up I’ve been in a bad mood and the problem with my and the problem with my projects wasn’t helping. Currently I’m in my study at the top of the tower going over a few notes I had made since I began studding magic. “GAH FORGET THIS!” I yelled tempted to push the dozens of papers and books of my desk in my fit of rage. “I need a break.” I muttered before making my way out of my study and to a window with a small ledge so if I wasn’t paying attention to my front door then Rainbow had another way to get my attention. “CHAMPION TRANSFORMATION! ANIVIA!”
As I flew over the snow covered Everfree I was grateful for how quiet and beautiful everything was, until I saw smoke billowing up from Ponyville. “Wonder what’s going on. *sigh* I highly doubt Pinkie would let anyplace in town burn down,” Once I was over the town I saw something that didn’t make my mood any better, in fact it made it worse. In the center of Ponyville I saw a ring of twelve skeleton solders in moldy leather armor and rusty swords. Six of them had their blades to Twilight’s and the other’s throats. Standing in the ring was a large ram with dark blue fur, a red collar with gold circlets on it and held a tall wooden staff with a skull carved out of a black stone with his right hoof. Unfortunately, the smoke was coming from the remains of three houses.
Surrounding the ring was a group of Royal Guards, most of them were panting but were ready to continue fighting the undead. “You’re so called ‘greatest defenders of the realm’ are now at my mercy. Now do as I say and bring me the wizard that lives in the Everfree! And be quick about it! I’m not one you want to make wait”
“Why wait? I’m here now.” I yelled as I landed on the ground and returned to my true form with the snow crunching under my shoes. “Now who the hell are you?”
“I am Grogar, and if you want these six to live you will swear loyalty to me and become my servant!” Grogar exclaimed. “And don’t even think of trying anything. If you transform I’ll have my minions kill them immediately. Once I heard of you and your power I knew it would be wasted by you aligning you’re self with these ponies, but if you work for me you’d be free to study whatever you wanted, and…”
As Grogar continued his monolog, I cast a Libra spell on him before doing the same to his undead. [Grogar the Necromancer. HP: ???? MP: ???? No Weaknesses, No Resistances] [Skeleton Barbarian HP: 5/5 MP: 0000 No Weaknesses. Resistances to Slash damage, Blunt damage, Piercing Damage, Fire, Ice, Lighting, Poison, Wind, Earth, Gravity, Water, Dark, Charm.]
(HAH! The dumbass didn’t make himself resistant to death spells, isn’t that kind of thing Necromancy 101? But how the hell did he make these things that fucking resilient? Oh well, I guess it doesn’t matter. One Cure spell and they’ll all return to death, but how am I going to get them away from the Undead?)
My thoughts were interrupted by Grogar yelling. “Stop ignoring me! or do you not care what happens to them?”
I looked at Grogar, smirked then said. “Sorry what was that? I was too busy thinking of what book I should read next.”
“Are you mocking me?!”
Raising a hand, I said. “Oh no, no, no, no, no…....pfft. Yeah. But then again, I have this. Cure!” A white glow emanated from my hand before the skeletons also began to glow. The ones holding my friends dropped their swords and released their hostages before they along with their weapons and armor turned to dust as guards quickly got Twilight and the others out of danger.
“IMPOSSIBLE! Grrr no matter I can still…” Grogar yelled as he raised his staff.
“Silence!” I yelled interrupting Grogar as a ball of light green energy shot out of my palm and hit him in the chest.
When nothing happened Grogar asked. “My... my magic! What happened?! WHAT DID YOU DO!”
“Simple. I saved my friends. You see I’ve been in a bad mood all day, and you threatening my friends didn’t help.” I said as I slowly walked towards him. “I came to town looking for a chance to relax, but what do I find? Some dumbass who went and bit off more than he could chew. As for what that last spell did, I'd say that's obvious.” As I drew closer to Grogar he changed how he was holding his staff so he was ready to fight. At least until I reached into my Hypercube and pulled out a silver katana with a bronze hilt shaped somewhat like a V with small two wings. Inside the V on both sides of the hilt are two amethysts that glowed with imbued magic, but what made Grogar falter was that the entire sword glowed purple and parts of this aura kept splintering off in the form of sakura petals before dissipating.
“What… what is that?” Grogar asked unable to keep his fear out of his voice as he involuntarily took a step back as if he sensed something about my blade.
“This is my sword it's called a Youmuu’s Ghostblade. There are many like it but this one is mine.” I replied stopping in my tracks and pointing the sword at him. “Now then do you surrender? Because after the way today's been going I am in no mood for anymore of your bullshit.”
Grogar didn’t say anything as he reached under his collar and pulled out a small black and red orb. “Surrender? No. Now that I know more of what your capable of I’ll be ready for you next… GARRR MY HOOF!” Before Grogar could continue I quickly moved in and slashed at his hoof making him drop the orb but he quickly retaliated with his staff. As the two of us fought it quickly became apparent that Grogar had the advantage and was pushing me back and getting more then a few good hits in. Somehow during the fight Grogar got his staff between my legs and pulled it to the side causing me to fall onto my ass with my blade flying out of my hands where it landed blade first into the ground behind Grogar before he used the skull to bash me in the gut almost knocking the wind out of me. “While you know magic that makes my undead useless, it’s obvious that I’m better then you when it comes to a strait up fight!”
“That may be true but here’s the thing.” I said as I threw a handful of snow into Grogar’s eyes making him jerk back in surprise as he wipes the snow away with his free hoof. “I’m not afraid to fight dirty when I need to.” Darting to my feet I grabbed Grogar’s staff and wrenched it out of his clutches, and used it to bash him in the back of the head. Once Grogar was on the ground the surrounding guards rushed to arrest him but before they reached him the orb Grogar dropped shattered and Grogar was enveloped in a pillar of black flame while the staff in my hand turned to black smoke that flew into the flames. When the flames died down Grogar had vanished.
“You alright Thrin?” Twilight asked as she and the others approached.
“I’ll be fine, bit pissed at how the day’s been going so far but what can ya do?” I said as a wisp of green fire appeared before me before transforming into a scroll. Grabbing it I quickly read it and learned that a large red squid or octopus like creature has been causing problems at Manehattan making it almost impossible to get ships in and out of the port. “And when it rains it pours!”
“What’s going on Thrin?” Rarity asked worried.
“We’re needed in Manehattan because a large red octopus like creature is preventing ships of sailing and Celestia wants me and Twilight to help while the rest of you help investigate to see if anyone was involved in causing this incident. Princess Luna is sending us carriages that will be here in half an hour.” I replied.
“How are we supposed ta do that?” Applejack asked.
“If I had to guess, asking around if anyone seen anything unusual or suspicious. My theory is it’s the work of a man named Dhoulmagus.” I said.
“Why? And who’s Dollmegan?” Twilight asked.
I stared at Twilight for a moment before breaking out in laughter. “Not Dollmegan, Dhoulmagus but I am going to use that as a nickname for him from now on!” Once I calmed down I said. “Dhoulmagus is a villain from a game I used to play. Do you remember the mushroom and slug monsters that attacked the town with the orcs?”
“Yes, but why did you bring up the horrid things?” Rarity asked.
“Dhoulmagus is from the same universe and in that universe he did manipulated a kraken named khalamari to do EXACT same thing, but I’m surprised Tia didn’t tell all of you about Dhoulmagus.” I replied.
“Guess she thought we could use a break after Discord.” Pinkie said shrugging.
“That’s… probably exactly why she didn’t. Here’s a few things you should know about him first he’s dressed like a jester…”
Before I could continue Rainbow and Pinkie started laughing before Rainbow managed to say. “HAHAHA! You’re scared of a jester?!”
“Rainbow this jester was possessed by a God of Darkness named Rhapthorn because his soul was sealed in a magical staff called the Godbird Scepter, and this allows him to possess ANYONE who holds it. While possessed Dhoulmagus went on to kill many people including four out of seven of the descendants of the sages who sealed Rhapthorn in the staff. Each death of a sage weakened the seal on Rhapthorn’s soul and the first one was supposed to be a very powerful wizard.” I said in a sharp voice that made both stop laughing and look at me horrified. “So, if you see a tall pale human dressed like a jester while in Manehattan. DON’T fight him, don’t fallow him, don’t approach him. Just get out of there and let me know as soon as you can. So, pack your bags girls because we only have fifteen minutes the carriage Princess Luna sent to pick us up will get here.”
“What are you going to do in the meantime? Just wait out here?” Fluttershy asked.
“I’m going to wait in the library and work on translating my Elwind tome.” I said.
“Do you really need to translate all of them?” Twilight asked.
“Not really considering I've finished translating the first three books, but it helps me remember the language that gives the Tomes power and I can’t use the spell unless I can understand the language. Besides each Tome has a story that’s both enjoyable and interesting… well at least the ones I’ve already translated do. Don’t really know what the rest will have.” I said shrugging
“I…guess that makes sense? But how come you’ve never mentioned this magic before?” Rarity asked.
A large grin crept its way onto my face as I said. “No one ever asked what kind of magic I know or what I bought from Shopkeep, so I never brought it up.” Twilight's only response to this is a facehoof.
*On the flight, five minutes away from Manehattan*
For most of the flight everyone was quiet so I used that time to think about which champions to use apart from Anivia but after thinking about the last few fights I decide not to choose a Champion for the remaining slots before the fight and only choose Nami the Tidecaller. After I pulled out my Elwind tome again Twilight finally asked. “You said no one asked what kind of magic you know, so now I’m asking. What kind of magic do you know?”
“I was wondering when someone was going to ask, but since we’re so close to Manehattan, I’m not going to count the magic that the Champions know and only focus on magic from one Universe, which I call the ‘Final Fantasy’ universe.” I replied my eyes never leaving the book as Twilight grumbled saying I was ‘Holding back valuable information’ and wishing that she had asked earlier. “There are five categories to this magic. Black, White, Blue, Time, and Summoning. Black Magic is based on Offence and mostly focuses on the power of Fire, Ice, and Lighting but it also has Wind, Water, and various spells that induce a ‘status ailment’ such as Sleep and Silence. White Magic is for healing and support. I can also use it's healing spells to hurt undead which I demonstrated when I saved all of you. It also allows me to ‘Scan’ the opponent so I can see if they have any weaknesses, but it doesn’t say what ability’s they might have."
"Blue magic is where someone learns their spells from their opponents, mainly by having the spell cast on them but I do know of one Blue Mage who EATS their target to gain the spell but they are… odd to say the least. Time magic is exactly what it sounds like but it also has a few spells that effect gravity. And last is Summoning which might be the most complex of the five categories. With the right spell, it allows someone to summon a variety of different beings known as Eidolons. Each one has a unique power but I haven’t spent much time learning this kind of magic so I have only memorized the way to summoning one Eidolon. A small wind spirit known as Sylph but I don’t know if that’s enough to summon her.”
“How many other Ehdo… Edole….. Summons are there?” Applejack asked.
“Let’s see...” I pulled the large scroll out of my hypercube, after looking through it for five minutes I said. “If I learn every spell, I’ll have the ability to summon seventy-six of them but I’m 95% sure there are more.” Everyone’s jaw dropped upon hearing how many there were. (And if Rhapthorn’s trapped within the Godbird Scepter, then chances are I’m going to need spend more time on learning magic and more about my abilities, and less on my other projects… not that I was making any progress on them, anyways.) I thought scowling before shaking my head.
Rainbow opened her mouth to say something but before she could the carriage jerked as it touched down. Once we left the carriage I saw that hundreds of ponies were looking at the seven of us curious, but many of the more ‘upper crust’ ponies scoffed in disgust when they saw me before returning to their business. “All right, let’s take care this and get out of here. After being in my tower for so long I’m a bit uncomfortable with so many ponies staring at me, and remember what I said about Dhoulmagus.” I said before everyone nodded and we went our separate ways.
Once Twilight and I reached the docks an old gryphon approached us. His hind legs are those of a black panther and his torso is that of an osprey but both his fur and feathers were graying with age and his front left leg had been replaced with a peg leg. In a gruff voice he said. “Are you the ones the Princesses sent to help? I was told to expect ‘the elf of the wild wood’.”
“We are, but I’m afraid you have been misinformed because I’m the ‘half-elf of the wild wood’.” I replied before Twilight asked.
“What can you tell us about the attacks and may we know your name?”
“Folks around here call me Willie, as for the attacks there’s not much to tell. Boat goes out and not even five minutes into the voyage, the beast comes up and attacks. Heck I nearly lost my last talon two days ago.”
“Did the kraken say anything?” I asked.
“Why would it? From everything we’ve seen it’s just a violent beast tartarusbent on ruining our lives, and are you sure it’s a kraken? Because if it is then I think we’ll have to shut this harbor down. After all krakens are one of the strongest beasts of the sea.” Willie said worried..
Twilight pulled the Bestiary out of her saddle bag and flipped through the pages. “I doubt you’ll find what we’re facing in their Twi. It is missing most of the more powerful creatures from the world.” I said.
“Then what are we going to do?” Twilight asked. “I do think we should fight this kind of creature from a ship’s deck.”
“I’ll try to draw its attention away from the city so we can fight it from a beach. Then after it’s weakened we can try to break any enchantment that might have been placed on it, or capture it so it can be relocated into a part of the sea where it won’t bother anyone.”
“Why don’t you just kill the thing and be done with it?” Willie asked.
“That is a possibility, but I don’t think we should do that unless we have to.” Twilight said as she looked a bit sick to her stomach at the thought of personally ending a creature’s life.
Rubbing Twilights back I said. “I doubt it will come to that, but we should get started with getting the kraken away from the city. You head to a beach south of town while I distract the kraken. Once you’re there send a burst of magic into the sky and I’ll head right over. All right?”
Twilight nodded before Willie said. “How are you going to get to it? I mean its winter so the water’s going to be freezing.”
“That won’t be a problem.” I said before breaking into a run and dashed over nearby pier. When I reached the end I jumped with all my might and yelled. “CHAMPION TRANSFORMATION! NAMI!” Right when I finished there was a splash and I vanished under the waves.
“WHAT THE HELL IS HE THINKING?!” Willie yelled in shock before someone jumped out of the water a short distance from the pier. They wore what looked like a silver crown with a large sapphires connoted to a necklace with more sapphires, long blond hair that looked like it was made of seaweed, instead of legs they have a large dolphin like tail, and they’re covered in light green scales. A large staff could be seen clutched in their hands before they dove back into the ocean.
“Well… You don’t see that every day.” Willie said.