Magelight and friends partake in The Festival Of Light, but are interrupted by a barbarian chased by an evil cult. After unleashing evil upon the world, Magelight takes up a quest to save the world from The Heralds Of The Manticore.
Our story begins in EarthStar Village, a loose-knit community of Ponies, Griffins, Zebras and Other races living together in harmony, nestled in the wilds outside the Stonesaw Mountains.
Magelight, The Young Mage from Calbridle (Twilight) and her friend, the sweet loving bard, Sprinkle Party (Pinkie Pie) find themselves in EarthStar Village attending the Festival Of Light, a celebration that occurs every hundred years in honor of The Earth Star, a magical giant sapphire that protects the world by keeping the Gates Of The Demon Realm closed, and the demons at bay.
Magelight and Sprinkles are enjoying the feast at the local eatery. A beautiful resplendent Alicorn walks up to them. "Are you enjoying the festival?" She asks. You recognize her as The Earth Star Guardian, basically the chief and mayor of this city.
*Magelight thanks her for her hospitality.
After the feast, you attend the ritual which keeps The Earth Star lit. You recite the oath along with the rest of the village.
*Everyone recites the oath.
As the cheers die down, you hear a great commotion as a large cart is knocked aside. Blowing past several villagers and dashing into the center of the village, a wild barbarian looks around worried, brandishing a large weapon in her hooves.
*She is Strudelhart (Applejack) a mighty barbarian warrior. She explains she is being pursued by a group of evil cultists and that she needs help fending them off.
*Magelight is suspicious. She goes to see if their are any cultists around but she sees none, and confronts Strudel for lying. But Strudel says the cultists are out there and have blended in with the forest, trying to sneak up on the village.
You all go out and look to the direction from which Strudel came from. And you see several suspicious trees. Looking closer you see they seem to be moving ever so slightly.
You hear whistling blow forth through the forest. The whistling intensifies as the trees begin rotating. With the rotation, the trees stop being trees and start being hooded figures.
*Strudel brandishes her Battleaxe which is named "Only Friend" and flys into a barbarian rage. Her muscles swell and expand as her coat takes on a red hue along with her eyes, her mane flares wildly as her already impressive earth pony strength doubles instantly.
One of the figures throws back its hood, revealing a Jackal's head. It speaks, and says they are The Heralds Of The Manticore. They have come to collect The Earth Star. He orders you to give them the star or face the consequences.
*You refuse and they draw their weapons. There are seven hooded figures, wearing maroon cloaks.
*Strudel aims her axe at the closest cultist to her. She deals 8 damage with the barbarian rage bonus. The cultist stumbles back clutching his wound.
The Earth Star Guardian speaks out. She says you must protect the village while she takes The Earth Star to its tower, where no evil may pass.
*Magelight aims a fireball spell at the cultist closest to her, but he reflects it without much trouble despite already being wounded.
*Sprinkles takes out her Lute and charges the Jackal Cultist. She clocks him right in his face, dealing 12 damage.
*Strudel, still in her barbarian rage, starts swinging her axe and manages to score a critical hit, cleaving right through one of the cultists, as his body falls into two pieces. Her axe swings hard into the second cultist's leg, and he falls to the ground, but not dead.
*Magelight withdraws a flame of Alchemist's Fire from her robes and tosses it at one of the cultists. Its a Critical Failure. She winds up for the pitch but it slips out way too early and lands on her head, dealing 5 burning damage to her mane.
The cultists make there move, but a heavily armored figure, clad in dark plate mail strides directly through the fight and captures the Earth Star Guardian by using a mysterious black gem that turns her into an obsidian statue. He then grabs the Earth Star.
The runes beneath the Earth Star begin to glow and you hear the sound of the sky cracking and ripping as you witness a tear in space form where the Earth Star was once floating. And through the tear like a coursing river, flows a torrent of evil spirits. Three carriage sized abominations, each a different color, rush through the tear and destroy buildings as they pour out into the free world leaving a trail of destruction.
*Sneaking up around the corner behind the cultists, Sprinkles hits a button on her Lute and a long blade extends from the bottom. She flips it over and, wielding it like a sword, scores a critical sneak attack on one of the cultists. Swingin the lute sword, she slices clean through ones legs and then decapitates the other scoring a total of 27 damage.
The jackal head cultist announces that now that they have The Earth Star guardian and the Earth Star, they will use it to resurrect The Manticore and bring about the end of the world.
The dark armored figure waves his hands around in a magical manner, as you see red projectiles made of energy of some sort, come barraging into the area. They hit everyone as an area of effect, knocking everyone down and damaging Magelight and Sprinkles.
*Magelight takes 17 damage
*Sprinkles takes 12 Damage
As everyone struggles to get back up, you see the cultists begin floating up into the air magically and disappear, along with the Obsidian statue that was once the Earth Star Guardian.
Commander Stormhorn (Tempest) the leader of the village militia, comes out to let you know that the village is safe but the world is in danger. She tells you to go and warn the chief of the neighboring town of Freshport that The Earth Star has been taken, and to warn him of the impending doom. She says you can get there by cutting through Stonesaw Mines, the merry dwarven settlement in the mountains.
Will our heroes prevail? Or will evil triumph in their dark mission? Find out next time in Friendship Quest.