//------------------------------// // Chapter 8: Gutsco the Rogue // Story: My Final Pony Fantasy III // by Vimtrust5 //------------------------------// In spite of saving the Tower of Owen and the Floating Continent, our heroes felt their victory to be empty since Desch had to sacrifice himself to keep the tower stable. Twilight let out a sigh of sadness. "What now?" Everyone turned to her. "How can we face Salina and tell her?" No one had can answer to that, not even Applejack. She could only let a sigh of guilt for not stopping him. The group had no choice but to go through what was once blocked by a maelstrom until they reached a small town on the edge of the Floating Continent. Gysahl "What is this?" a villager near the magic shop cried. "Little colored ponies? And children?" "Yeah? So what?!" said an indignant Rainbow Dash. "Rainbow Dash!" Rarity scolded. "K-Keep away from me!" "Hold on there, fella," said Applejack. "We don't mean ya harm. We're just honest travelers lookin' for a Crystal." "Crystal?" "Eeyup." "Sorry, I don't know anything about Crystals." "Ya sure?" "Yes. I'm really, really sorry." The group looked despondent. "Where is this anyway?" asked Luneth. "This is Gysahl, home of the Gysahl greens." "Gysahl greens? Ah think Fluttershy must've said somethin' about that," Applejack pondered. "Yeah!" said Pinkie Pie. "I think she said that her Chocobo friend Randi likes that. So it has to be a favorite food of his, as well as other Chocobos of course." Just then, Rainbow Dash let out a heavy yawn. "I'm gettin' sleepy. How 'bout you guys?" "Yes, I do believe we should all turn in for the night," Ingus agreed. "Me, too," said Luneth. "Oh, the inn's just north of here," the villager directed. "Thank you," said Refia. The party went to the inn as directed and checked in. They had some trouble with the staff due to the fact that several party members weren't even human, but after some talk about their journey and their recent hardships, the innkeeper gave in and granted special permission for the Equestrians. "Good night, everybody. See you in the morning!" said Twilight. Twilight's eyes opened. Once again, she found herself in a dream. Please be a good dream, she told herself repeatedly. Wandering through an empty void, she began to call out for her friends. But no response had come. She tried again. "Spike!! Rainbow? Applejack! Pinkie! Rarity!" No answer. "Luneth! Arc? Refia! Ingus?!" Just then a new voice was heard, but it wasn't any of her friends. "Twilight Sparkle..." it called in a hushed whisper. Twilight could feel a sense of dread upon hearing it. "Twilight Sparkle!" The alicorn gasped at the figure she saw. Although shrouded in darkness, it appeared to be humanoid. "Prepare yourself for the coming of the void..." The next she thing she saw was Equestria cast into eternal darkness. And then... To her horror, all of her friends were dead. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHH!!!" Twilight's scream woke the rest of the party up. "Twilight! Twilight!!" The lavender alicorn gasped and panted, looking around. "I'm sorry, everyone. I didn't mean to scare you..." Refia held Twilight closely. "It's alright, Twilight. It's over." "Thank you." "Where's Spike?" They all looked around for the purple dragon until they heard voices coming from the other end of the hallway. They walked over to see Spike speaking with an elderly, bearded man. "Spike?" "Oh, hey everypon--er, everybody," Spike corrected himself. "I was just talkin' with this guy here about the monsters we've faced." "Why?" "Well, lookie here," said the old man. "What's this?" "A bestiary." "Hey, wait a minute. I saw Spike her working on a similar work back home in Ponyville." "Ponyville, eh? That your home?" "Yep." "Well, it's been nice meeting ya kids. Take care!" "Alright." The group checked out of the inn and left for the magic shop, purchasing several Blizzaga scrolls, which would later be read by Twilight, Arc, and Pinkie. The shopkeeper was wary of having to sell his spells to non-human creature but still treated them as civilly as possible. As she and the others left the village, Twilight let out a great sigh. She knew that the nightmare she had last night was the worst one yet. Stepping aboard the Enterprise, our heroes set sail for the home of the dwarfs who would guide them to the Crystal of Fire. Dwarven Hollows "Excuse us," said Twilight. "Lali-ho!" "Gutso the Rogue has stolen our ice horns!" "So..." "Aye, if you want our help, you must retrieve our ice horn!" "Alright. We'll do it!" said Twilight. Our heroes then descend to the bottom of the hollows discovering a lake, and according to the dwarf, had to use their "amphibious" abilities. "That dwarf... didn't imply what I think he did, did he?" asked the nervous Refia. "I believe so," said Twilight. "Well, what are we waitin' around for? Let's head in!" said Rainbow Dash. "Yeah!" Luneth replied. "Must we become TOADS AGAIN?!" Rarity exclaimed. "I can't stand feeling slimy," said Refia. "For your information, it's mucus, not slime," Twilight corrected, though it did little to calm the two white mages. "I don't mind!" said Pinkie Pie. "Let's just go, okay?" said Applejack. With one flash, Twilight transformed herself and her friends into toads once more. Underground Lake The Equestrians let out a gasp of awe as they stepped into the cave. "It's so lovely." said Refia. Twilight then undid the Toad spell, allowing everyone to turn back into their regular forms. "Ribbit." Rarity and Refia shrieked. They then found out it was Spike. "Sorry," he said. "Please, Spikey-wikey. Don't ever do that again," Rarity pleaded. Rainbow couldn't help but snicker, only to step when she saw Refia looming over her, arms crossed and with a cross look. "Heh heh heh... Let's move on." The group moved from the entrance crossed the suspension bridge; before they could cross the next bridge, they felt as if they were being followed. Turning around, the Equestrians were shocked to see they wer ambushed by familiar looking creatures... creatures that had the shape of fireballs with fangs! "Oh, no! BOMBS!!" Twilight shouted. "Mind fillin' us in, Twilight? Spike?" said Applejack. "Have you not read Spike's bestiary, Applejack?!" Rarity scolded. "These monsters have a tendency to self-destruct when they're on the verge of defeat!" Of the children, it was Luneth and Arc who recoiled. "Then we need to take care of these things. And fast!" Just before the last Bomb could explode, Ingus easily launched it away. "Whew, that was a close one," said Rainbow. "I didn't wanna even think about those things again," said Spike. "Let's move on," said Luneth. With the Bombs gone, our heroes crossed the second bridge and opened a treasure chest; it contained a Gold Needle. They then went down the stairs, followed the path to another staircase. Spike leaned against one of the walls, completely exhausted. "Do we even know what this Gutsco guy looks like?" "We will see him when we continue our search," Ingus reassured. The party gasped in awe as they approached the fourth floor of the dungeon. The entire area was surrounded by pure water. Pinkie looked at her reflection and waved happily. The Equestrians smiled while rolling their eyes, and continued onto the path. At the end, they finally found the enemy they sought: Gutsco the Rogue. He was a pale-skinned muscular man wearing nothing but a yellowish orange loincloth, and wrapped around his body, from his right leg to the left arm was a large snake. "So, those dwarfs sent little kids and cute little horses and a lizard after me?" the thief chuckled. "What a joke!" "No," said Luneth. "We're not leaving without that horn!" "You just go away, little brats! Scat, skittle, skibobble! The horn is MINE! MINE, I TELL YOU!" "Oh yeah?" said Rainbow Dash. "So, you can talk." "So what?" "I'm not about to let some stupid little brats and their stupid little horse friends everything for me." Rainbow Dash growled in frustration. "We. Are. Not. Horses. We. Are. PONIES!! P-O-N-I-E-S! PONIES!! GOT IT?!" "Not that it matters," the bandit scoffed. "Ready to die?" "Not today!" Luneth charged first, but the thief quickly jumped to the side, dodging the attack. However, he didn't see a certain rainbow-maned pegasus fly towards him; Rainbow Dash flew headfirst into the man's torso, crashing into the water. The bandit was furious. He then noticed Pinkie Pie chanting an incantation and tried to make a move, but... "Blizzara!" the pink earth pony shouted. Gutsco found himself at the mercy of the cold icicles headed his way, and they surrounded him, the icicles shattered leaving him in great pain. At that point, Gutsco began to fade away into nothingness, allowing our heroes to retrieve the Horn of Ice. "Now let's get back to the dwarfs," said Applejack. Everyone nodded and went back the way they came, but they didn't notice a strange shadow following them to the cave... Dwarven Hollows "Lali-ho! Lali-ho! Thank you for returning the horn!" "It was nothing," Rainbow bragged much to her friends' annoyance. "Put it back on the shrine, beside the other! I'll take down the ward! Here we go, lali-ho!" With those words, the protective barrier around the shrine vanished, allowing our heroes access. "You can approach the shrine now, and put the horn back where it belongs!" The group did so, still unaware of the shadow's presence. Once Luneth put the horn on the pedastal, a haughty laugh echoed throughout the chamber. "I was disguised as your shadow! Thanks for leading me up onto the shrine!" "Oh, no..." said Rarity. "It couldn't be, could it?" asked a scared Pinkie. They turned around and much to their horror, a familiar foe revealed himself on top of the pedastal! "GUTSCO!!" "Now both horns are mine!" he cackled. "Wha...? How'd you do that?! And why do you keep stealing the horns in the first place?!" Luneth shouted. "Ha! You silly twits!" the thief taunted. "These are the Horns of Ice, wards against the Fire Crystal's flames!" "The... Fire Crystal...?!" asked Spike. "That's right, little dragon. They are the key to the tunnel leading to the Crystal itself. Now that I have both horns, the power of the Crystal of Fire is mine! Mine!" "Such power is not meant for a hoodlum as yourself!" said Rarity. "And what do you intend to use it for? Helping people in need?" "That's right!" "If you want the power, then follow me to the Molten Cave!" Gutsco laughed. As the thief ran off, the party gave chase; there was no telling what would happen if Gutsco laid his hands on the Crystal. Molten Cave Upon entering the cave, the ponies were immediately reminded of the stepping inside the volcano Mount Gulug. Like before, Twilight cast an anti-heat spell on the group as they moved forward. On the second floor, the ponies discovered a chest. Opening it, they obtained an Ice Blade. "Is that what I think it is?" Spike asked fearfully. "A water... no, uh... LAVAFALL?!" It was a good thing Twilight cast her anti-heat spell, so without the threat of horrible burns gone, they went through and acquired some hi potions along the way before heading down to the next level. There, the group split with the young human children heading north while the Equestrians took the western path. There wasn't much in the western end, since the Equestirans only found a potion, so they rejoined their companions up north. "What's this?" asked Luneth. He pushed the stone, revealing a hidden doorway. "This must be it," said Twilight. "Let's do it!" said Rainbow Dash. As they opened the door, they finally entered the crystal chamber. There stood the Crystal of Fire in all its beauty... And in front of it, was Gutsco. "What do ya think yer doin'?!" Applejack shouted. "Isn't it obvious, cowgirl? I've already gained unlimited power with these horns! The Fire Crystal is mine!! And there's nothing you can do to stop me!" "Oh, please," said Luneth. "We've beaten you once, we can do it again!" "Yeah!" Right in front of their eyes, Gutsco had transformed into a dragon. "A dragon? Really?" said an incredulous Rainbow Dash. The dragon then attempted to chomp down on Pinkie Pie who jumped over its head. "Missed me!" He then attempted to attack Rainbow Dash, though she too had escaped harm. "Hey! Over here!" The dragon turned to Luneth, charging headfirst. "Luneth! What are you doing?!" said Arc. "You fool! Stop!" Ingus shouted. It was too late; Luneth was swept to the walls. Twilight levitated him and healed the boy with her magic. Arc, seeing this, felt a deepening anger within him and proceeded to cast several ice spells on the enemy. The Salamander barely stumbled and was able to fight back. "Take this!" said Rarity, throwing a rock with a nearby rock with her levitation spell. "One last spell: Blizzaga!" Arc's attack had done it; the wicked Salamander, Gutsco the Rogue had fallen. The villain collapsed with a look of great shock on his face, one that would stay forever. The group noticed the horns falling from their enemy's grasp and retrieved them. When they reached the Crystal of Fire, our heroes once again felt the warmth of the light emanating from it. "Warriors of the Light... Visitors from Equestria..." "I will bless you with the light contained within my eternal flames. Bringers of equilibrium... You must restore the light of hope lost from this world..." Closing their eyes and basking in the warmth, they felt new positions. Luneth had seen himself as a geomancer. Arc believed himself wearing the attire of a ranger complete with cap and feather. Refia found herself as a knight. Ingus imagined himself as a scholar. As for the ponies... The intelligent Twilight Sparkle found herself as a scholar. Rainbow Dash then imagined herself as a ranger being able to fire arrows. Pinkie Pie, too, had chosen the ranger class. Applejack somehow pictured herself in a suit of armor being called a knight. Rarity who always had an eye for detail saw herself as a scholar. Spike saw himself wearing a green bandana, which gave him the job of thief. Opening their eyes, they all surveyed the situation. "Wait a minute! I'm a thief, now?!" said Spike. "Well, you did kinda get greedy that one time, ya know?" Applejack said. "And turned into a large adult dragon as a result?" Twilight added. "It was just one time!" "True!" "Regardless," said Refia, "we've found and saved two of the four Crystals so far. Which means..." "We gotta find the other two," said Applejack. "And if we can't find them here on this continent, then they must be..." "Down below," Luneth realized. "The surface world." "But how do we get down there? What can we even do?" asked Arc. As they were about to exit the dungeon, Twilight, Refia, and Ingus turned to look sternly at Luneth. "When we get back and puts these items back to their rightful place, we have a lot to discuss," said the purple alicorn. Seeing how he had almost perished for his brashness, Luneth lowered his head in shame. One by one, the party stepped onto the tile sending them back outside. "Master..." "Yes...?" "The Crystal of Fire is saved... by those children and those strange creatures!" "WHAT?!" "It was them..." "What shall we do, master?" "Go to the other Crystals, and if those interlopers cross your way... You know what to do." "Yes, Master Xande..."