//------------------------------// // Chapter 2: Meeting Cid and Josef // Story: My Final Pony Fantasy II // by Vimtrust5 //------------------------------// As our heroes journeyed north along with their new companion the white mage Minwu, Twilight couldn't help but feel sad when she saw Prince Scott die from his wounds. Surely it wasn't about happen again, was it? Princess Cadence trotted next to her and placed her wing over her shoulder and gave her a reassuring smile. "Thank you, Cadence," said Twilight, hugging her sister-in-law. They continued onward, and as they did, Twilight and Fluttershy couldn't believe that the currency the humans used in this world was gil, the same currency from their last otherworldly quest. In the distance, the group saw a ship docked near a town surrounded almost entirely by a stone wall. Without a doubt, this was the port town of Paloom. "That must be it over there," she said. "That's right," Minwu confirmed. "Well, what're we waiting for? Let's go!" said Spike. The rest agreed, all except for the white mage. "Not yet, my little friend," he said. "But why?" "Given the imperial attacks the world has suffered, I doubt they would easily welcome us. And not to mention the fact that you are a dragon." Knowing what the white mage was saying, Spike surmised, "In other words, us non-humans--" "WE non-humans," Twilight corrected. "WE... non-humans have to keep our mouths shut?" "That's one way to put it," Minwu stated. *music fades out* Before they could even reach the town, four goblins appeared and before our heroes could respond, the monsters immediately went on the assault; one went straight for Princess Cadence and clawed at her forehead. The second goblin kicked Maria in the mid-section; the third monster then punched Guy in the face, and the last goblin charged Minwu, hitting the white mage in the abdomen. While Minwu used his magic to heal the pink princess, Firion and Fluttershy went for two of the creatures and easily disposed of them with the former's sword and a good Stare from the latter. The goblin was so frightened by the pony's Stare that it escaped into the forest. Maria fired an arrow at the third goblin, only for it to dodge and headbutt the young girl. "You leave her alone!" Spike shouted, breathing a hot green flame at its direction. As the flames consumed the goblin, it disappeared without a trace. The last goblin delivered a firm uppercut on Princess Cadence, only for the pink equine to counterattack by buck into the tree behind it. Losing consciousness, the creature faded away leaving our heroes victorious. And with that victory, the party's life force increased as did their vitality and magic skills. *music stops* Just then, Princess Cadence's body began to glow, almost blinding everyone present. After a while, the flashing stopped; when it did, everyone was taken aback by what they had seen. "What is it?" the pink pony asked. "There something on your head," said Guy. "My head...?" Could it be...? she thought. The Princess of Love gazed upon her reflection in the water and gasped; her horn had returned and she was an alicorn once again! "Oh, Cadence!" said Twilight. "Wow! You've got your horn back!" Spike said excitedly. "Well," said Firion. "Now that we've taken care of those things, let's move on." Everyone agreed and continued onward. Paloom The town was, much to their surprise, inhabited by pirates. But these weren't the same roughhousing types Twilight and Fluttershy encountered in Pravoka. Paloom was a lovely town with a river flowing through. Like Altair, there was a magic shop among other stores so our heroes purchased more tomes teaching its readers spells such as protect and shell. The weapon shop, however, only had the same type of weapons the humans already carried in their arsenal. While exploring, the group ran into a woman was instantly infatuated with the young Firion. "Paloom is a town of freedom," she said. "Why don't you live with me, handsome?" Firion stuttered. "I... gotta go with my friends, now. Bye!" "...Typical," she muttered as they left. "So, do we wanna go to Poft now?" asked Spike. "I guess so," said Twilight. They went back to the entrance and spoke with the ferryman. "Excuse me," said Firion. "We'd like a ride on your ship." "Headin' to Poft, are ya? Only 32 gil." "Here." "And what of the little ones here?" Minwu added, gesturing to the Equestrians. "Sure. They may be animals, but I don't judge," he said. The ponies and dragon couldn't help but feel a little offended, being treated like dumb animals than sentient beings, but they took the white mages advice and remained silent. "Okay, I'll see you at my shop outside town." The party exited Paloom and boarded the ship; it went east and then north, taking them to their destination. Poft The town was no different than any other places our heroes visited before. There were item shops, magic shops, an inn and a pub. Inside the pub, the party found several men in aviation attire, correctly deducing that they were Cid's crew. They spoke with several of them, learning of the locatoin of Bafsk to the east of town, along with rumors of the imperial army constructing a deadly weapon. They knew, without a doubt, it was the Dreadnought. The group also found a blonde-haired, middle-aged man sitting near the table; he also had a brown mustache and wore a red top, purple shoulder pads, purple pants, and brown shoes. They cautiously approached him; he took notice of the multi-colored equines and the purple dragon accompanying the four youths. "If you're looking to ride on my airship," he said, "I'm afraid you're gonna have to leave your animals in someone else's care." "How come?" asked Firion. "No animals or monsters of any kind on my ship. That's my policy." Twilight, Cadence and Spike took great offense, but none more so than Twilight. Her face red with anger and fury, broke her silence. *music stops* "Excuse us?!" Twilight shouted, surprising everyone present. "What the...?!" "That's right! We can talk! We can also read, write, and do several other things that humans can do!" "Twilight, please," Minwu said, trying to calm her down. "I'm sorry, Minwu, but I just can't keep quiet anymore. Not with everyone outside our circle of friends insulting our intelligence and treating us like we're stupid!" "Um, Twilight?" Fluttershy said, meekly. "We've come a long way from Altair, and that was after my friends and I found ourselves beaten by imperial thugs!" Cid sat straight up at that statement. "You had a run in with the Empire?!" "Yes, that's right! And they've invaded our home world and--" "Twilight!" Fluttershy barely yelled. The purple pony stopped ranting almost immediately and saw Fluttershy quivering with fear. She gasped and covered her muzzle with her front hooves, shocked that she had inadvertently frightened her pegasus friend. "I... I'm sorry, Fluttershy," she said, hugging her friend. "I don't know what came over me." Guy knelt to the two ponies and gently petted them, as did Maria. Firion stepped in. "Look. These are our friends, and they came here to save someone who's been captured by the Emperor's servants: a newborn. Will you please let them on board with us?" The older man closed his eyes and crossed his arms as he contemplated his next move. Would he really make an exception for these visitors? Please... Please... Twilight said in thought. *music starts over* "Alright, you win," Cid answered. "If you wanna ride my airship, just give your gil to the guy behind me." "Thank you, sir," said Cadence. "Oh, and by the way..." "Yes...?" "What do you think about this Dreadnought?" "The Dreadnought?" Cid scoffed. "What's so great about that mess of a machine? Nothing can beat my beauty!" he said proudly. He seems pretty confident... Twilight thought. Firion walked over to the man behind Cid. "Where to, young man?" Cid's assistant asked. "Salamand," Firion responded. "Alright. That's 200 gil." "Two hundred?" said Maria. "That sounds reasonable." "Yes... Although..." "Although...?" "You may not need to travel by air; you can just travel by foot." The bandana wearing youth turned to Cid. "Is that true, sir?" "Of course. Do you have a map?" "Sure..." Firion replied, not sure of what the man was saying. He handed Cid the map; the older man pointing to the area in the northern part of the world. "You see that place at the foot of that mountain there? That's Salamand. It's not too far from here as you can see." "Are you sure about this?" asked Twilight. "You could really use the money for your business," said Cadence. "Consider this hint to be... free of charge." "Thank you, sir! Thank you!" Twilight said happily as she and the rest left the pub. "Don't mention it..." said Cid. And so, our heroes set off for the town of Salamand. As they went through the woods... Seven hornets and a queen bee appeared, ready to strike. Our heroes went into their battle stances once more. Guy chopped up one of the flying insects with ease but was stung by another. "Guy!" said Fluttershy. The yellow pony gave him an antitode curing him of the venom. "Thank you," he said. Twilight cast a Fire spell on the same hornet, sending it to the ground. Cadence floated off the ground, flared her horn and levitated one of the hornets and sent it flying off into the distance. The queen bee, furious that her subjects, were being tossed aside like garbage, unleashed her fury on Twilight and Fluttershy. Maria noticed and released an arrow striking the insect in the thorax. The angry monsters, however, would not give up so easily and prepared to sting them all at once until... "Stop right there!" said Fluttershy, giving all them her most powerful Stare. "We are on an important mission, and for you to just attack us for no reason is unacceptable! You all need to leave us alone and never pick on anyone again! Am I understood?!" The queen bee and her subjects shook, their bravado crumbling. Unable to continue, the insects fled, leaving our heroes triumphant. Fluttershy's vitality and life force increased once more, as did Firion and Guy's physical strength, along with Twilight and Cadence's magic attributes. *music stops* As they celebrated their victory, Fluttershy's body began to glow; after the flashing stopped Fluttershy looked at herself and found her wings on her body. "My wings! My wings are back! WOOOOOO!" Fluttershy cheered loudly, flying in a somersault. Our heroes continued on their march. Just as soon as they exited the woods, Salamand was in their reach. Salamand In the snowy village, our heroes found that the population consisted of women, leaving them to wonder where the males were. The woman at the entrance told them that the male half of the populace was enslaved by the Empire, forcing them to work in the cavern behind Semitt Falls, digging for the very same elements our heroes sought: mythril. "We'll take care of it," said Fluttershy. They next went into the house on their left. When they entered the first thing they saw, much to Fluttershy's horror, was a pair of antlers hanging on the wall. "D-Do we really have to talk with person...?" asked the timid pegasus. "I'm sure... other than... that, he's really nice..." "What's gotten into her?" Firion whispered. "She's really REALLY fond of animals, you see," Twilight replied. "Oh..." Guy shared her sentiment, for he too had a fondness for animals. "Want go outside with me?" he offered. "Y-Yes... Thank you." And so the two animal lovers left the house, leaving the others to go and speak with Josef himself. They found a bald-headed man with a brown mustache standing near his bed; he wore a dark green poncho held on his shoulders by a metal neckpiece with red spikes on the back and purple clothing underneath. "Excuse me, sir?" asked Twilight. The man turned around, saw the six visitors and was surprised to see that the voice belonged to the small purple unicorn in front of him. "Yes...?" "Are you Josef?" asked Maria. "That's right," he answered suspiciously. "We've just been recruited into the Wild Rose Rebellion and--" "Princess Hilda sent you here?" he said in disbelief. "A group of half-pints and a pink horse? I find that hard to believe." "Excuse me," said Cadence. "I just so happen to be a pony like this young lady here." She gestured to Twilight. "And I'm a dragon, not a lizard!" Spike said. "Dragon?!" said a surprised Josef. "Oh, but he's a very friendly dragon," said Twilight. "We don't mean any harm; we came here because we want to know what you know about mythril. That's all." "M-Mythril? Well, um... I haven't found any yet," he said nervously. "I've got clues, though... Before I go further, I need you to prove yourselves." Firion raised his brow. "Prove ourselves? How?" "The people of Salamand have been put to work in the cavern behind the Semitt Falls. If you want to earn my trust, save them." "Oh, that's right. The Empire's using them to mine mythril. We'll do it." "Yeah!!" Spike said enthusiastically. The heroes exited the house and met up with Guy who was successfully comforting Fluttershy. Once all was said and done, they left the town and went across the river using Minwu's canoe while Cadence and Fluttershy took to the air, keeping an eye out for whatever dangers they would come across. "That must be it over there!" Spike pointed out. And so, our heroes reached Semitt Falls. As they went inside the cavern, several thoughts plagued their minds. Why was Josef hesitant to help them? What were the imperials hoping to accomplish with the mythril? What of the Dreadnought? What of Maria's brother? And what of little Flurry Heart?