//------------------------------// // Arc 1 - Chapter 19: Building a City Part 2 // Story: Kirsarnia // by Urimas Ebonheart //------------------------------// Kirsarnia Arc 1 - Chapter 19: Building a City Part 2 Frank and his friends are all sitting around the table in the lounge near their rooms looking over the new files. "Is it me? Or does this guy look high to you?" Jack says looking at a file for an earth pony stallion with grey fur and dark brown hair. Jack passes the file to Frank who raises an eyebrow at the laid back smile and unfocused, half-lidded eyes of the photo. "Golden Herb. Male. Age, sixty-eight. Occupation, Alchemist. Says he's been on record for dealing with some harmless though illegal powders..." Frank says reading aloud. "Why would the Princesses even include his file then?" Laura asks confused. "Maybe it's not that big of an offence?" Satoshi comments looking at another file. "We'll ask Celestia later for more info, so let's put him in the maybe pile," Frank says and puts the file down and picks up another. He picks up Cadence's file where the picture is just her smiling. 'Alicorn. Female. Age... seven-hundred and six...Occupation, Princess of the Crystal Empire.' Frank reads in his head, followed by most of what Cadence has done and so far which shows her as a kind and loving woman who likes to help others. "Safe to say Cadence is okay to join," he says and places the file in the accepted pile. "I don't think this one is okay..." Samantha says looking at a pegasus mare that looks angry. "Says she's been in a lot of fights over petty things like just being looked at funny." The others look at the file and agree she looks like more trouble than she's worth after being arrested over twenty times in the last two years alone for starting fights. Laura finds Shining Armour's file and reads it over. 'Guy, ninety-two years old, once was Captain of the guard now Prince of the Crystal Empire... No criminal records but can have a bit of a temper...' "Hey, Jack! That Shining guy is a bit like you, you're both easy to piss off!" she says with a laugh and adds Shining's file to the accepted pile. Jack grumbles and returns to the file he's holding. After a good hour going through all seventy-four files, most being that of the guards in Ponyville, nine have been rejected due to criminal records of varying types. "Well, time to tell the Princesses who we've chosen," Jack says and stands up, stretching his arms and legs. The others stretch and make their way back to the courtyard. Once they arrive they see that roadworks have begun and the ponies are fast at digging up the dirt just outside the courtyard walls, looks like they've got a large area for a plaza dug up already with concrete, tarmac, or some other kind of mixture being made already in mixers. "Princesses!" Frank calls out looking for them. A mare guard walks over and nodded to them. "The Princesses are in the command tent right now," she tells them. "I see, thank you for telling us," Frank replies and the party head to the large tent. "Princesses?" Frank asks from the front flap. After a few seconds, both Princesses exit the tent and Celestia smiles in greeting. "Hello, Frank. I take it you've finished reading the files?" she asks him. "We have," he replies as Jack holds out the accepted pile while Samantha holds out the nine rejected files. "We rejected nine of them due to criminal records, but there is one we're not sure of named Golden Herb dealing in potions and powders. While harmless it said they're illegal. Do you think he'd be more trouble than he's worth?" Frank asks her and hands her the file. Celestia and Luna look at the file and Luna rolls her eyes. "Ah yes, him. He sells various brews and powders that induce mild hallucinations or as he calls it, 'Mellows out' a pony to help them relax. While harmless, mind or personality altering substances are illegal," she says. "He himself is not dangerous, he's rather polite and friendly actually, but no matter how many times we tell him to stop selling or even making them he continues anyway saying he's just helping others who want it to relieve stress and relax," Celestia says with a light shake of her head. "Well, I'll like to meet him face to face before deciding if he can join. Sounds like he'd make a good full time alchemist for the guild," Frank replies. "Have Twilight and her friends returned yet?" the Guardian then asks them. "Not yet, but none of them have reappeared at the crystal yet, so I believe they are just fine," Celestia replies. Meanwhile... Applejack slams her shields into the timberwolves attacking her and ends up slaying one of them. Rainbow Dash then wraps her arms around the belly of another and uses her suplex skill to lean back and slam the timberwolf into the stone floor head first killing it. Twilight, Rarity, and Pinkie are to the sides using ranged attacks while Fluttershy remains focused on Applejack and Rainbow Dash to heal any damage they take. Once the fight is over, Twilight distributes the loot evenly. "This is so Awesome! Let's keep going!" Rainbow yells and runs off ahead as there's not much room for her to fly in the hallway. "RAINBOW WAIT!" Twilight calls out but it's too late. Rainbow Dash triggers a pitfall trap and yelps as she falls down flapping her wings. Her wings hit the sides of the pit preventing her from flying and she screams as the skeleton covered spikes below get closer and closer until she hits them. Her body goes limp and her colours fade to grey. 'Buck! Not again...' she thinks to herself with a mental wince at the slight pain she’s feeling as a text box floats in front of her vision. Respawn? [Yes] She just grumbles in her head as she waits for Fluttershy to cast her newly learned rebirth spell. "Hold on, Rainbow!" Twilight yells from the pit's edge as Fluttershy casts her spell. Rainbow's body glows and levitates out of the pit and back onto the stone floor as her colour returns and half her HP as well as a one hour debuff that makes her take ten percent more damage from attacks. "That wasn't fun..." the Brawler says to herself and limbers up her limbs. "Frank did tells us to be careful," Twilight says making Rainbow frown. "Yeah yeah... I'll be careful from now on," Rainbow Dash replies and crosses her arms. The party make their way around the pit and continue onward. Back at the Castle Frank and his party along with Daring Do after talking with the Princesses head down to the crafting room and begin using their newly acquired materials to make new equipment for themselves and spares for the Guild Vault. Twilight and her friends have returned with more bits and tier one materials which they deposit some into the Guild Vault and then try some crafting themselves. Frank and Celestia have agreed that the accepted people that didn't arrive today will arrive tomorrow for their interviews along with those that did. So for the rest of the day, Frank and the others watch as the workers dig up the area in front of the Castle’s courtyard while working out details with the Princesses. The next day Frank and the others are in the Dining Hall with a line of excited ponies leading up to the doors of the hall. It took a good seven hours for all three parties to escort all of them safely to the Guildhall. So far out of the twenty-five they've already interviewed, three have been turned down due to poor reasons for joining. The worst one was she just wanted power, and the other two just wanted to get rich quickly and didn't really care about clearing the dungeons or stopping the monsters. Next in line is Shining and Cadence who have been eager to start as they both sit in chairs across from the group. "So, Shining. Why do you want to join the Guild?" Frank asks him. "I would like to help take back our homes and land from the monsters and make travelling safer for everyone. The monsters around the Empire have been stopping us from mining our crystal caves and farming outside our shield for years," he replies with determination. "And you, Cadence?" Frank then asks the pink alicorn. "I too want to make the world safer, I've seen foals look so happy playing in our small park and playground, but we just don't have the space for larger areas for them to play in as we need it more for crops and housing. I'd like to see if we can take back our lands and make not just our people happy and safe again, but everyone else as well," she replies. "Alright, those are good reasons. Now that we know why you want to join, we must warn you, Shining that you may end up no longer ageing and you cannot be killed in battle. Though we do not know for certain if natural diseases can still kill you for good," Frank warns the stallion. "The Princesses have informed us about not being able to die in battle already. But the no longer ageing is new..." he replies mildly shocked. "As I said, we don't know for sure, only time will tell," Frank says. The Guardian then explains the rules and laws of the Guild and once both Cadence and Shining accept them, they're welcomed into the Guild. Shining hisses from the mild pain throbbing in his head and then looks to Cadence and sees her name, class, and HP bar above her head, as well as the others. "That's... interesting," he comments as Cadence shakes her head from the fading pain. "Now that you're members of the Guild, you now have to each choose your class. Cadence, there are a few healer classes to pick from," Frank says and let's Samantha explain the five healer classes to Cadence. "Shining, what kind of class do you want? Tank, Melee DPS, Magical DPS, or Ranged DPS?" Frank asks him. "Hmmm. What kind of melee classes are there?" Shining replies with his own question. Jack explains the melee classes to him and what each one specialises in. "I would like the Champion class then," Shining tells them. "And I'll have the Priest class please," Cadence says after listening to Samantha's details. "Alright then, here's how you select your classes," Frank says and shows them how to do so. After getting used to the menu system and they've selected their classes, Shining and Cadence are told to wait in the Castle's Ballroom until they've finished interviewing the others. Next up is the earth pony stallion they asked Celestia about named Golden Herb. He walks in with a smile and calmly sits down on a chair. "Hey dudes. Thanks for seeing me," he greets the group cheerfully. "So, you're Golden Herb correct?" Frank asks him. "Uh-huh, that's me!" the stallion replies. "Okay, so why do you want to join the guild?" Jack then asks him. "I've heard you guys are tryin' to get rid of the monsters and dungeons! I feel I'm not being much use in town as all I can do is make potions and medicine that aren't in high demand these days... But I've heard you can make potions that help you in ya fights with the monsters... I don't really want to fight, I'm a lover not a fighter you know what I'm sayin'? I'm more interested in if you need a full time alchemist," he replies with a chuckle. The group look between each other. "Having someone making sure our potion supply is fully stocked would be handy," Laura comments. "I doubt Samantha would want to spend hours a day keeping the Guild stocked for everyone, and having dedicated specialist craftsmen would be just as beneficial as fighters." "Good point," Frank says and looks back to Golden Herb. "Now about these records you have for supplying illegal potions and powders to people?" Frank asks him. "Oh, that. The potions and powders I make are relaxants and stress relievers, not once have my mixtures caused harm, side effects, or even addiction! All my recipes are one-hundred percent natural and I pride myself on being an expert of plants and other ingredients and their effects," he replies proudly. "If that's true, why are they illegal?" Satoshi asks him. "There are a few mixtures that can cause memory loss or even alter a pony's personality, so such possible mixtures and the ingredients used for them are illegal. I've spent the last thirty-two years of my life studying plants and other ingredients for my potions and powders, The only other individual I know who knows more than me is Zecora," he replies calmly and still with his smile. The group discuss what to do and after a good five minutes, decide to give him a chance. "Alright, but we ask you don't make any of your relaxants and stress reliever potions and powders until Samantha here can determine herself if they're dangerous or not, okay?" Frank tells him. Golden Herb sighs but nodded. "Fair enough, dude. So what do I do now?" he asks. The group explain the classes and Golden Herb picks the Druid class due to its use of plants and healing effects. Which the group admitted fit him well. The rest of the interviews come and go where six more are rejected due to poor reasons for joining. Though only one pony picked the Bard healer class named Octavia who the group discovered is Vinyl's marefriend. And surprisingly, only one unicorn stallion guard named Bones picked the Necromancer class. When asked why, he told the group that he performs autopsies to discover the cause of death to a body with his magic and that this class fit him in a way. After all the interviews are done, the party meet up with the new members in the Ballroom and escort them down to the vault, where the new fifty-six accepted members all collect their starter equipment, nearly emptying vault of what it had. Once armed and geared up, Frank and the others teach them over the next few hours on how to access their skills, items, their roles, how the Anchor Crystals worked, and the penalty for dying in battle. Then they formed parties and are let loose into the Whitetail Woods to have their first experiences in battle. Some remained behind and inquired about crafting professions, just like Golden Herb did. So the group escorted the seven ponies, including Golden Herb, down to the crafting room and showed them how to select the profession they wanted and how to craft equipment. By the end of the day, a total of ten ponies were killed in battle and respawned at the Anchor Crystal feeling disappointed in themselves. After some encouragement, they went back out using their map functions to locate their parties to try again. Now that they've returned, some excited and some tired, Frank offered them rooms in the Guildhall to rest in or simply allow them to head back to Ponyville themselves and unlock the Anchor Crystal so they can teleport between the two locations with ease. The guards chose to stay while those from Ponyville formed new groups and headed back home until tomorrow. Construction on the plaza is progressing fast as the workers have already started laying the concrete mix down. With the sun setting and everyone getting hungry, the guild members and workers that remained gather in the Dining Hall where food is spread out among them from the vaults. Frank stands up by his seat with his friends and the Princesses sitting with them at the main table. "Ahem. We'd like to thank you all for coming and offering your help to fight back against the dungeons and monsters that are terrorising the world. I and my friends would like to formally welcome you to the guild and hope you'll work together to make the world a safer place and help us in finding ways to get rid of the monsters and dungeons," the Guardian says making most of the new members cheer. "For the next few weeks while construction of the City continues, you will all continue to practice battling out in the woods or gathering resources. For those few who picked crafting professions, you'll start making new gear for new members in the future. Once you've reached level five and have formed a solid party with others, you can attempt the dungeon here in the Castle," Frank the tells them. "Finally, we ask that you donate at least a third of the bits you find to the Guild Vault to help pay for the construction of the new City being built here. Remember, as long as you're a member of the guild, you have access to a bed here and three meals a day for free. The more bits we can get, the more workers we can hire to speed up the process!" Another round of cheers sounds out as Frank sits down as Celestia and Luna stand up. "My sister and I are proud of you all for volunteering to help end the threat of the monsters and help protect not only ourselves and our loved ones, but the other races who will no doubt be joining us as well," Celestia says getting applause from the ponies. "Now then, let us eat and then rest as we shall have a long road ahead of us!" Luna then says and everyone starts eating and talking amongst themselves. One month later Over the last month, the new members have been out battling and levelling up while donating what they could to the vault. The dungeons of both the Castle and the Everfree have been constantly delved and looted by rotating teams, while also keeping them both suppressed. The Necromancer boss of the Everfree and the goblins seem to be bound now to the dungeon as they can't leave no matter what spell or attempt the Necromancer tries and has been slain four more times since his first defeat. Frank and his group are now level eighteen while the other guild members are ten to thirteen. Shining, Cadence, and their guards left to return to the Crystal Empire to register themselves with their Anchor Crystal so they could teleport back and forth instantly whenever they need to. They returned to the Guildhall after a couple of days to continue their training while rotating a new guard out every few days to send messages back and forth in case they were needed at the Empire. They also took notes of the monsters levels along the way and discovered the Empire's monsters are around level fifty-six to sixty, so the royal couple and their guards had to avoid battle like they've always done before. News of the construction of the new City has spread throughout Equestria and more workers have flocked to aid in its construction under the protection of the new members, as well as more requests of other ponies to join the Guild. Celestia and Luna have also sent out letters to the leaders of the other races informing them of the Guild and what they need to do if they wish to have any of their people join them. Life around the Castle is picking up as new members are joining and the vaults are packed with food, drink, equipment and gear that would last the guild months, along with a couple of artefacts the Princesses have asked Frank to store in the officer vault for safe keeping. Everyone is in high spirits as different parties come and go with new loot and resources to add to the vaults. The guild members have even taken a shine to duelling each other in friendly tournaments every week for both fun and practice. Discord's statue has also been moved to the Castle and placed in a secure room that only Celestia and Luna can enter with their magic. Cracks have been slowly forming over his statue which Celestia said meant he'll soon be free. Frank and his party stand in the newly made plaza as they watch the two-hundred construction workers building the first ten houses of the still to be named City. "Things are turning out good," Satoshi comments. "Yeah, maybe by the end of next month, we'll have a small village built already! These ponies sure do know how to build quickly," Jack says in reply. "Which is good, but now we have to focus on finding the next area to level up in. The Everfree isn't giving us the EXP we need to level efficiently anymore," Frank says with a frown. "Maybe we should finally use one of those teleport scrolls and check the areas around them and then use the crystal to come back?" Laura suggests as she watches a unicorn lift a wooden support beam into place for the earth pony and pegasi workers to nail them securely. "I'll take the Appleloosa one," Jack says. "Guess I'll take one of those Marelantis ones," Frank then says after Jack. "We'll remain here and look over the maps the Princesses brought with them, might find the next area nearby," Daring says followed by a yawn. The party head back inside to get ready while Twilight's group get ready to head out to the Everfree dungeon again. "Yeah! Time to put that creep in his place again!" Rainbow Dash says with a grin as she punches her right hand into her left palm. "I kind of feel bad for him, trapped in there alone forever..." Fluttershy says sadly. "Don't be, Shy. Dang Varmint kept ponies souls and trapped them in bodies against their will. Ah say he gets what he deserves," Applejack replies looking over her bronze war shields and full-plate armour. They all make sure they're armed and geared up before using the Anchor Crystal to teleport to Ponyville.