//------------------------------// // Game of Life or Death // Story: Diamonds of Stardust // by Lulamoon-Crystal //------------------------------// It was daybreak. GC, Loophole, Sunrise and Trixie stood on the damp grass. GC was more worried about Minty’s tired and messy appearance. She was bruised, dirty and her mane was in a mess. Loophole had a face that looked as if she didn’t care. Sunrise looked extremely excited, her grin was wide as it could do. While with Trixie... Trixie’s mouth was as wide open as it could get, she was making slight noises as she stared at Stardust, who stood right next to Minty. Stardust had a sparkly yellow, orange and pink bag with her. There was a flap on top and a pocket on each side. It seemed made of material. It was GC who spoke first. “Minty! Who did this to you, dude!?” She shouted. Minty sighed as she took a twig from her mane. “It’s a long story...” ”Tell-“ ”Stardust!?” Trixie finally screamed, “Trixie thought you were dead!? Are you a ghost!?” Trixie’s ears were held back. She was scared and confused on how Stardust was right there when she had died in her arms. ”That’s Stardust?” Asked GC, “Whatever... I’m more worried with what happened to Minty!” Stardust started to strum on her ukulele, “Yeah... I was accidentally sent home early... but guess who’s back!? I’m back! I’m back! Guess what?!” ”What!?” Trixie shrieked, “How!? I grieved! Trixie grieved for nothing!?” Loophole only laughed at Trixie. “That’s hilarious!” “Could be worse,” Shrugged Stardust. GC still focused on Minty. She felt terribly worried about her, like she was hiding something. “Minty, dude, it’s not natural for you to hide things from me. We are sisters...” Minty sighed and looked down, “I may have... encountered the food thief again... and Ni-” ”And it did this to you!?” Shouted GC Minty sighed, “It was an accident...” ”An accident!?” Minty opened her mouth to explain she saw Nightshade but closed it. It seemed a bad time to interrupt and cause panic. Trixie looked at Stardust, slowly approaching her. She grumbled, “Well... it seems you’ve returned...” She then sighed, slowly making eye contact with her, “Trixie has taken good care of the Starry Squad... suppose you’re the leader since- I dunno- you were meant to be the main character?” The words tasted bitter to Trixie. There was a bunch of awkward silence. ”Yep!” Exclaimed Stardust, “I’m the leader now!” Trixie gasped like someone said something incredibly offensive to her, “What!? You were supposed to say a meaningful speech how I’m more worthy to be leader!” She complained. GC shrugged, “Let’s just go, I want Minty to be as far from that food theif as we can!” Everyone nodded in agreement. Minty sighed softly. Sunrise looked at Stardust with excitement. “New dragon friend!? If you’re a dragon here then- does that mean I’ll be a pony in your world!?” Stardust laughed, “I don’t think so!” “Pony dragon still dragon fire?” Asked Tiny. Stardust stared to think, “I don’t think a fire-breathing pegasus would make sense... and my fire breath is kinda different compared to others... I think that would hurt my pony mouth...” “What about appetite?” Asked GC. “Strangely I don’t have any craving for meat...” The herbivores of the group, besides Minty gasped in shock. The omnivores, Sunrise and GC didn’t really react at all. “Dragons from your world eat meat?” Asked Loophole, “That’s really gross!” GC bumped Loophole, “Hey! Us Griffons eat meat sometimes. Usually fish... and back in griffonstone we sometimes ate seafood, small birds and rodents like mice.” “I eat fish sometimes too!” Sunrise exclaimed, “Gems are tasty too, I suppose. They have a good crunch but I prefer the soft chewiness of seafood.” “Gems?” Stardust asked, “You dragons eat gems? That’s weird...” Trixie grumbled about her lack of attention. Stardust is replacing her! She didn’t expect Stardust to return, let alone replace her! It was only a few hours before they made it to the location they needed to be at. “We’re here...” GC said, amazed. It was a huge body of water, surrounded by large, powerful waterfalls that created a strong mist that created a rainbow. The falls went as far as they could see, many falls even had bodies of water that also had waterfalls above them. It was an amazing sight, but it was a huge area meaning it was going to take a while to find a jewel, but Trixie had a plan. “Alright, the great and powerful Trixie has a plan!” She announced proudly, “Well, the previous jewels flash or glow depending on how close we are to it. So I assume if one of us carries the white jewel and the other one carries Trixie-“ ”Alright, boss!” GC joked, and she grabbed Trixie and lifted her into the air. Tixie kicked her legs trying to get down, “Wait!” She shouted, “Trixie’s not ready!” GC rolled her eyes and dropped her onto the ground. Trixie grunted as she hit the ground, she got off the grass and stared at GC annoyed. She did hear Sunrise, Stardust and Loophole give a bit of a chuckle, but then she heard Minty. ”Are you okay?” Minty asked. ”Blue pony hurt!” Tiny stated, as he had a first-aid kit in front of him. He went up to her, Trixie stepped back. She was pretty unamused at her team. Could they seriously not see the problem? She stated, “Trixie’s fine,” Then looked at GC, “In case you haven’t noticed...” “Noticed what?” GC asked. Trixie grumbled and face-hoofed before taking off her cape, folding it nicely and putting it on the ground. She soon did the same thing with her hat. GC stared at it confused as Sapphire yapped at her playfully. Sunrise giggled. ”Wanna play fetch, Sapphire?” Sunrise asked. The dog only looked at her, confused. GC rolled her eyes at Trixie. ”Really?” She asked, “Dude, c’mon, you could have gone in with it on, no big deal, just water,” she shrugged. ”Yeah!” Exclaimed Stardust, “It might be fun to swim around in that!” She giggled, “I wonder what it looks like when it’s all wet! Possibly funny, you should try it!” Trixie sighed, “Trixie... uh... it totally won’t slow Trixie down at all! She just doesn’t want to get it wet. If she was used to wet capes then she’d totally go for it!” “Meh, whatever,” GC responded. ”So, Trixo, what does it look like when it’s all wet?” Stardust asked, “Shiny? Does it stick to your fur making you look like a drowned rat?” Trixie was a bit confused by the nicknamed, “Trixie... Trixie’s gonna come back with her thoughts on that nickname-“ She scoffed, “And what does Trixie look like with a wet hat and cape?” She muttered, “Less great and powerful, clearly!” GC rolled her eyes before she picked Trixie up. Loophole flew up with the white jewel in her hooves. ”Do not drop it!” Warned Trixie. Loophole nodded and shrugged. She followed GC over the water. The two flyers flew over the ocean determinedly, Loophole leading the way, except for one problem; she wasn’t the smartest mare around, when it started flashing she flew the opposite direction. “Oh! For pony sake!” Shouted Trixie, “When it flashes, it means you’re getting closer! Not further away!” “Oh... I thought you said if it started glowing and flashing, it meant we were getting further from it...” Loophole stated. Trixie face-hoofed, “Oh dear Celestia... I never said that! I said the closer we got, then the more flashy it would get! And when we are very close, it glows!” She scolded. ”Oh...” Loophole stated, “You know I don’t understand it... a magician on a quest to save the world, a very weird choice,” “That’s not the point,” Trixie responded. “If Trixie wasn’t meant to do it, then she’d likely have some crazy, overpowered jerk steal her powers in the final battle!” “Would be cool if that happened! I would love to see your reaction! It would be so funny!” Loophole laughed, “You’d be like noooo! My destiny!” She chuckled at Trixie’s annoyed expression and flew ahead. “No it wouldn’t! Especially if they already have powerful powers of their own that’s even more powerful than the princesses!” Trixie growled, like it actually happened before. Loophole chuckled, “I’d love to see that! Wait- can you imagine if the mary-sue got all the credit?” ”I don’t think that’d be cool, dude. Trixie may have a mountain-sized ego but... man, I would not want her to experience that. Sounds really heartbreaking to have some power-hungry brat take credit for all your hard work. Especially if it was world-saving like this!” GC letting out a burp. “Oh gross!” Trixie shouted as she got a whiff of it. Trixie gagged a little, from the smell. GC rolled her eyes and kept flying, it was only a short time till a loophole stopped, Trixie looked down and saw the reflection of her in GC’s arms. “It’s here?” She asked. Loophole shook her head, “No... uh... what side point's where again? North to...” ”It doesn’t matter! It’s not a compass!” Shouted Trixie. ”Oh...” Loophole responded. Loophole kept flying until the whole thing glowed. “I think I broke it,” ”What!?” Shouted Trixie. Loophole turned around and showed her the now-glowing white jewel. Trixie gasped happily, she looked at it. ”Alright! Now drop-“ The white jewel was dropped into the water before Trixie finished, Loophole smiled proudly. “Me...” Trixie finished, annoyed. ”Oh,” Loophole responded, “Your bad, not my bad!” Trixie rolled her eyes before being dropped suddenly. She surfaced and looked at them both. GC looked at her, “Get the white one and pass it to me... and dude... when you find it use this, so we know to get you,” She said as she revealed she was holding a whistle in her claw. It was a small silver whistle with a yellow string, sport coaches often wear those when coaching. Trixie nodded as she put it round her neck. She then dived into the water, the white one was on a brown rock! It took her a while, but she managed to find it. Trixie grabbed it in her hooves and pass it to GC. “Alright bruh good luck!” GC exclaimed. Trixie boasted, “Hah! The great and powerful Trixie will get this done, easy!” Then she went under the water. The water was cold, but not enough to bother her. She dived and swished through and thick seaweed, holding her breath and just looking around for it. Soon she had to surface, but had an idea. A few weeks back, Starlight had taught her how to do a magic bubble. Starlight explained how by using the bubble it can supply oxygen for up to an hour, but can only be activated where there is plenty of it around, She focused and tried to remember the spell. She focused on the the creation of the bubble. Soon enough a light pink bubble appeared around her head, it was a bit humid but she could breathe perfectly. Trixie grinned and went under and started swimming around, no fear of drowning due to the air bubble. Trixie swam past coral and rocks, making sure to look in every nook and cranny. She made sure to only look around the area where the white jewel glowed, surely it wouldn’t be that far? It wasn’t, soon Trixie saw it out in the open, in a hole in the side of a rock. It gleamed and shone despite being in the shade. “Nice jewel, isn’t it?” A mysterious voice asked. It frightened Trixie who started to look around, to her the sea was tinted pink due to the bubble around her head. She wondered who the heck just spoke! “I’m sorry, I haven’t introduced myself,” It responded, creepily. Trixie pinpointed it coming from a nearby cave, so she looked into the darkness and saw two blue eyes that was shining. “What’s a beautiful land dweller like you doing down here?” It asked, in a nice but creepy tone. “You do realise it’s dangerous down here?” Trixie was nervous, “I’m just going to... uh... pick up that jewel and be on my way,” She responded, voice shaking slightly. ”Oh really? My name’s Oyster, what’s yours? Blueberry?” It asked, creepily. Trixie rolled her eyes, “No! How dare you say such thing in front of the great and powerful Trrrr-?“ She said before seeing the creature. A large creature swam out of the cave. It was about the size an Ursa Minor, maybe a bit bigger, maybe more the size of that that purple sea serpent who adored his mustache. It had the ears, forelegs, hooves and head resembling a horse, but with a snout that resembled the shape of the ones of the hippogriff’s seapny forms. There was a long, spiky frill that went from the top of its head all the way to the tip of the tail. It had no back legs, the behind was more seapony like. This creature was a hippocampus, Trixie thought they were only a legend. Hippocampus are big pony-like sea creatures that feast on anything. They are like sirens. They lure ships only to crash them, but they eat everyone and everything on board, sometimes even the ship! They used to be mistaken for sirens but have lots of different in appearance. They are usually only shades of greens, blues, greys and occasion browns or yellows. Unlike how sirens have fins on the fore-hooves, hippocampus have fur. In fact, the upper half has no scales. It’s completely fur, and it’s the same color as the scales on the tails, also, the only frills on hippocampus are all along the back and at the end of the tail. Hippocampus also have a long, sharp horn on their forehead, it was unknown if they could do magic as some tales had them do magic where others didn’t. Also, hippocampus was portrayed to be a bit smaller. Also, alphas had special markings. The female alpha had faint stripes on the body while males had white spots, the one Trixie was looking at had stripes, indicating that Oyster was an alpha female. Yes, this was a hippocampus Trixie was looking at, she stared at her with huge eyes and bared her sharp teeth. “I’m... just getting the jewel and be on my way to save the world...” Trixie asked, trying to hide her fear. The hippocampus grinned, “I could just eat you! But I like to play with my food first,” She said as she softly touched Trixie’s cheek. But due to her size and the bubble she bumped the bubble and pushed Trixie back a bit. “Uh.. huh?” Trixie responded, confused, “W-what game?” She asked. ”Just this, ” Oyster grinned and she took out a plastic board, “Colourbow.” Trixie looked at the board, it was flat and had a checkered pattern. Each square was either red, green or blue, then Trixie noticed ten plastic coins be put on her side of the board and ten on Oyster’s. Each side had three green, three red, three blue and one white piece. Then Ouster took out a pack of plastic black cards and a die. Trixie nodded slowly, “So, how do we uh...” ”Easy!” Shouted Oyster, making Trixie jump. “You move the one piece per turn across the board like in chess. However, each piece except for the white one has a strength and a weakness. Green beats blue, blue beats red and red beats green,” ”Got it?” Trixie was unsure, “I mean, Trixie understands!” Oyster rolled her eyes, “So, let’s say if a red opponent piece landed on the same square as a green one, the green piece is out of the game. But if an opponent's red one landed on the same one as one of your red or blue pieces then the opponent has to pick up a card.” Trixie nodded, a bit confused but continued to listen. ”If it’s a critical card then your piece is out! If it’s a number card then whoever rolls the higher number gets to keep theirs in the game! If it’s a reset card then both pieces are back at where they started. If it’s a double our card then both pieces are out! But of its a loss card then the opponent’s piece is out the game,” Trixie nodded, “So, if I win I get the jewel... if I lose-“ ”You get eaten!” Shouted Ouster making Trixie jump in fright, “And of you forfeit or cheat you get eaten too!” Trixie nodded, very afraid. “Uh, one sec!” She announced before surfacing. She decided it would be a good time to refresh her bubble, so she popped it with her magic and took in some fresh air. She took some deep breaths and calmed down. Tri ice barely understood the explanation, she was worried and scared. Equestria’s fate was determined by the result of a stupid game! ”Okay Trixie, you got this!” She assured yourself, “You’re the main character, remember,” She attempted to assure herself. She nodded, “You’ll win the game and the hippocampus I’ll leave you alone, hopefully...” Trixie then sighed, “Why me... I was just a performer, and I get taken into this mess? I’m not ever experienced with this kind of stuff... unlike Starlight, Twilight and the others...” She complained, “Here goes nothing...” She sighed and put a bubble around her head and dived back under, ready to take it on!