//------------------------------// // Prologue: Me, Volvagia, And Some Random Guy // Story: Dark Body, Light Soul (Or the Tale of the Stalfos) // by Garino //------------------------------// Prologue: Me, Volvagia, And Some Random Guy "...and I'll be DAMNED if I let a dragon stop my progress!" Those were the last words I uttered before I stepped into the arena. A rocky platform surrounded on all sides by lava, with 9 holes on its surface. The ground rumbled as my opponent rose from the middle crater. The in-game text revealed his name: Subterranean Lava Dragon Volvagia I rolled my right arm, ready for battle. I gripped my controller, ready to face the next obstacle in what I considered my greatest challenge: the 3-heart run. With a smirk, I said one last thing before the fighting ensued. "Prepare to go back to your grave." Guess I should introduce myself before I get too wrapped up in this. My name is...actually, I'll tell you that later, it's not important right now. I'm a gamer, almost literally born with a controller in my hands. And as a gamer, at least in my opinion, this also extends to being a computer guy. Not as big as, say, Tech, but pretty good at figuring out problems. I'm 6 feet tall, around 210 pounds, the whitest kid u know (not really, I do have a bit of a farmer's tan), and a Texas-born individual with the accent to match. Or I wish, but I feel living up north is making me lose it, but I ramble. Speaking of rambling, I bring you back to the epic fight. Volvagia is looking grim, having to cast 3 fire spells to keep me guessing at where he'll pop up next. It's no different from the last two times: as he appears, I use a jump attack to drop the hammer on his poor head. He takes the hit, slumping from the weight I just applied. I follow up with another jump, making him clutch his throbbing cranium and sinking back into the pit. He comes up from the far end, ready to drop flaming rocks. I look at my health: 3 full hearts. This is almost too easy. What? Personality? Okay...best way to say it, I always start by trying to be nice. At least, if I want to catch someone's attention. If I don't, I try to avoid people as much as possible. Or, if they're like Kyle Kusanagi (a.k.a. a perfect asshat), then I will respond with malice. I'm very easy to irritate, not very trusting (since my trust has been abused so much), but loyal to those I deem worthy enough to be considered a friend. "Oh, that's not good," I muttered. What I was going to consider my "finishing blow" missed, and Volvagia kindly reminded me why it's important to land your hits. Namely, by bringing my 3 hearts down all the way to one. Yep, that critical sound was going off. This just turned from "curb-stomp battle" to "sudden death overtime." No health restoratives, no fairies for insurance, and certainly no more arrows to damage him further. I glanced at the picture beside my emulator screen. "C'mon, Rainbow Dash. Give me some luck here!" Oh, you didn't know? Yeah, she's a character from this series called My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. I'll admit, I didn't think much about it when it first came out: it's meant for young girls, not a college-level student, right? Well, fandoms have a way of getting into my media. After hearing so much hype about it (and finding a cool drawing of a ponified Justin from EGS kicking a dragon outta nowhere), I finally caved in to see what the hype was about. The rest, as they say, is history. Volvagia came down from the sky and back into the arena. One, two, three, four, YES! He was close by! Lock on, jump attack, and...no! I missed again! I swear by Azura's Star that Volvagia laughed at my miss as he swung his claw at me, taking away the small amount of health that I had left. My character dropped his hammer, fell to his knees, and finally collapsed facedown into the dirt. Dead. And along with it, my 3-heart challenge. Oh, how I wish to practice that which I preach, especially when I see what happens to everyone else. I closed the emulator in sorrow, and turned my attention to the picture of the rainbow-maned pegasus. Apparently, I couldn't will her to give me good luck. I switched to a different tab where I listen to music and started listening to the trainwreck that was the Battletoads 4 Player race. "Such a pity. I thought you were doing so well," a voice remarked. I looked behind me to find a middle-aged man. You know, that one guy who's between 35 and 55, not old enough to be a geezer, but not exactly young enough to be ignorant of the world? Yeah, yeah, not everyone is hardwired the same, but that's how I see it. He was wearing a real nice tweed suit, with one of those old-time top hats (not like "Abe Lincoln" top hat, but like Flim and Flam's hats), red tie, and dark brown dress shoes. First thought in my mind: The 1950s called. They want their look back. First thing I said: "I seem to be off today. That punk doesn't even get a hit on me when I'm doing a normal run." "It happens sometimes," the man nodded in agreement. "Maybe next run, you'll get him back for this transgression." I couldn't help but smile in agreement. "Yeah...there's always next time." The man leaned on his cane (wait, where'd that cane come from?) as he glanced over at my laptop's screen, watching the race. He didn't seem interested in it, though. "Excuse me, but could you, uh, pull up that other tab you were on just now?" he asked politely. I was a tad worried about that request. As much as I liked the ponies, I wasn't quite as ecstatic to actually show my appreciation to everyone else. In fact, real life fact, the only one that knew about it within my family was my aunt, and that's because she watches it with her 6-year-old son. (Another fun fact: both believe Princess Luna is best pony) After a moment's hesitation, I clicked on the tab I had recently broken away from. "Interesting..." he said. "You're one of them 'brony' fellows, aren't you?" No denying it now. "Yes..." I muttered. I closed my eyes, not really wanting to see the negative reaction. So it was surprising when I actually heard him chuckling. "No need to hide it, boy," he said. "Nothing wrong with it. Actually, let's talk a bit. You hungry?" As soon as he said the word, my stomache rumbled. I gave a nervous laugh. "A little, yeah." He pointed over to the nearby diner. "How about we fix that? It's on me, and before you say no, don't worry. I have no problem paying for you." We decided to eat outside of the diner. It was a nice enough day, clouds were blocking the sun, but there was no rain, we had a nice breeze, and the temperature was around the 80F mark. Even though he was paying for me, I ordered something small so I didn't break his wallet. Our conversation was mostly pony-related: this guy seemed to really know his stuff. Was he a brony, too? As I polished off the last of my fries, he asked the two most important questions (or at least the ones I considered most important). "So out of all the different ponies out there, who's your favorite?" Ah, the old "who is best pony?" question. The one question sure to get fans debating, but never fighting. At least, I haven't seen much fighting over it. "Well," I started, "like most fans, I don't really have a favorite. For me, it's more along the lines of 'which pony do you like best in this category?' simply because my top three are all different types." "Don't keep me in suspense," the gentleman egged on. "I wish to know." "For pegasus, that's a given always," I chuckled. "You say 'pegasus,' my first thought is always Fluttershy. It's just so hard to dislike her, or even have neutral feelings for her. "Unicorns aren't really my favorite type, but thanks to the fandom, they seem to display the Great and Powerful Trixie as such a likable character. If you follow their interpretation most of the time, she just seems like a shoo-in. "And for Earth Pony, honestly," I chuckled again, knowing what I was going to say, "I believe I follow Commander Shephard in his decision: Applejack is the best pony in all of Equestria. She's got great strength, a kind soul, never afraid to tell it like it is, and...well..." I mutter the last part to myself, "her accent reminds me of home." The man smiled. "Nothing shameful about connecting with someone simply because they remind you of your roots." He took a bite out of his fish before he asked the second question: "Given the chance, would you like to meet them?" I couldn't help but raise an eyebrow. Where have I heard this before? "I actually wouldn't mind. Even if it's just meeting their VA's, I'd feel honored. It's ju-" "Nonononononono, you didn't hear me," the man cut me off. "I didn't ask if you'd like to meet their voice actors. I asked if you wanted to meet THEM. The ponies themselves. How would you like to meet Fluttershy, Trixie, and Applejack?" "It's impossible, isn't it?" I asked. "It's just a show, nothing more." The man frowned and gestured at me to give him my hand. "The difficult can be done immediately," he responded. He placed a black pill in my palm. "The impossible simply takes a while." We got up as he paid the bill. "If you want to truly see them, take that pill. If you don't believe me, you can do whatever you wish with it: keep it in case you change your mind, give it to someone who really wants to go to Equestria, or simply throw it away without a second thought." I broke eye contact with him and examined the pill. It was one of those "liquid pills," the kind with a shell that actually holds the liquid inside, and God help you if you break the capsule before you pop it in your mouth. I took a deep breath. "Assuming I actually go through with this, what will I be?" No answer. I looked up and found he was long gone. Before I headed home, our waiter stopped me. "That old man asked me to give you this. He said you'd know what it meant." Without another word, he handed me a sheet of paper and went back to his duties. Thus, it brings me to why I'm sitting back in my apartment, with a black liquid pill on a small plate, with a glass of water on the right and a quarter in my left hand. I kept switching my gaze from the coin, to the pill, to the note, and back to the coin. I examined the quarter: normal, George was on one side, the eagle on the other. The pill was black as ever. The sheet of paper was a simple sentence: "Your form is related to what killed you first in your 3 heart run." I thought back to how Volvagia had defeated me. To be that underground lizard? In such a peaceful land? I couldn't bring myself to unleash that kind of evil on them! Then again...that would be me, right? I could choose to be Volvagia, or I could choose to be me: Mr. Nice Guy who could roast the one who pissed me off one too many times. I looked back at the coin. I sighed and thought to myself. This will make my decision for me. Heads, I take the risk. I may wind up in the hospital, and Dad may give me a dope slap for actually doing this, but that's only if it doesn't work. If it does, hey, I'm a snapping dragon in Equestria! If it's tails, I'll just toss it. I don't want to be tempted to go back on a coin's decision, and I doubt anyone would believe me if I told them what this was for. I nodded and flipped the coin as high into the air without hitting the ceiling as I could. When it came down, I caught it and slapped it onto the back of my hand. I lifted my hand slowly. The result............ was heads. Well, Equestria, I thought, prepare yourself for Volvagia, the dragon. I grabbed the pill, threw it into my throat, and took a swig of water to help. I waited for a while for something to happen. 5 minutes passed. 10 more passed. And another 15. Nothing happened. I sighed. I guess it was too good to be true. I rolled my arms and decided to go to bed. "Oh, tomorrow's gonna be a long day if that pill doesn't agree with me," I muttered. I gave one last look at the diner across from the apartment complex, wondering who exactly was that guy? I hit the bed, closed my eyes, and went to sleep. I reiterate: Why, oh why, do I never practice what I preach? Because in all things, the lady known as Fate just HATES it when you tempt her.