//------------------------------// // Chapter 1- A Rocky Start // Story: Ponosuba! // by 2SuriYourself //------------------------------// Although the sudden brightness that comes with going from a fairly dark void to a bright area had blinded me temporarily, I did my best to try to observe this new world.  The first thing I noticed was the light floral breeze that seemed to be everywhere. I could feel the warmth of the sun, the chill of the wind! A rather loud creaking sound, almost like an old tree in the breeze, broke me out of my thoughts. “Well hey there! Are you both lost?” Startled at the sudden sound of the sudden masculine voice, I blearily turned to face our first Equestrian. As my vision adjusted to the light, I could now see where we were. We seemed to be in some sort of forest near a path. A pony with a cart behind them was on my right, looking at us with a concerned look on his face.  Celestia spoke up first. “We are. We’re trying to get to Pastelburg, and I’m fairly sure we’re close right now.” “Well, that’s just dandy! We’re only a short trot away, and I was already headed that way! I’m making a return trip right now, so the wagon’s got plenty of room for the both of ya!” After hopping in the cart, Celestia briefly explained Pastelburg’s status as quite far outside the Chaos Lord’s domain, with comparatively weak monsters roaming its vicinity. Thus, many adventurers looking to start their adventure would travel here to begin it. Typically, reincarnated heroes are summoned near it for their convenience. Getting out of the wagon near the center of the town, I asked Celestia, “So, where in Pastelburg do adventurers usually start?” Celestia smiled serenely. “I have absolutely no idea. I’m nearly as clueless about how this city’s laid out as you are, I just know this is where I’ve been leaving new adventurers.” Great. I guess an afterlife guide’s not the most reliable source for mortal-world adventuring info.  Well, if it goes anything like an RPG, there should be some sort of gathering place for adventurers somewhere around here where we can get some beginning quests. I decided to ask the first pony I saw where to find it. “Excuse me, miss? Do you know where we could find the guild hall? I’m from… out of town.” The mare looked at me inquisitively. “The guild hall? It’s near the clock tower right over there.” Saying this, she pointed a hoof towards the by-far most conspicuous structure that loomed over the city. “I imagine you’re hoping to sign up with them? Just keep heading towards the clock tower and I’m sure you won’t miss the guild.”  “Follow the tower, got it! Thanks for the help! Let’s go, Celestia!” Trotting off towards the guild hall, Celestia nervously leaned toward me. “Um, Twilight? I’m afraid I’ve just realized something. Perhaps it’s not best to refer to me as Celestia in this world. Being in charge of many… afterlife affairs, somepony may put two and two together and figure out who I am.” Taking this into account, I nodded. “You got it. You have any idea what I should call you, then?” Celestia shook her head. “I’ll need a while to come up with something I’d actually want to stick. Names are even more important for ponies than they are for humans.” A short trot later, we arrived at the guild hall. Upon entering, we were met with the bustling sight of a gargantuan banquet hall with dozens of ponies sitting at tables eating and drinking, servers flitting about to make sure everyone had what they wanted, and a large, currently empty stage near the front. I also noticed just how scary some of the ponies looked. I really should have thought of this earlier. Of course the adventurer’s guild would have the most rough-and-tough types around! Even if none of them really seemed to be noticing us. Oh, no. Spoke too soon! About the most dangerous-looking pony I could even imagine turned to face me. She stood about the height Celestia was now, which I imagine is about as tall a pony can get, with a scar over her left eye. (Well, my left, her right. Wait, now’s not the time for this, Twilight!) And if that wasn’t scary enough, her horn appeared to be broken off! Whoever this was was as battle hardened as it gets, to be sure.  And they were coming straight towards me. Looming over me, the pony looked down and began to speak. “I can’t say I’ve seen you around here before.” Quick, Twilight! Just imagine she’s an NPC and say something bold! “Can’t say I’ve seen you either.” That’s not bold! That’s stupid! “I mean, uh, we’re new in town. So obviously we haven’t seen each other before!” I say, with a nervous grin. “We?” The menacing pony looked over me (not especially hard for her to do) and glanced over at Celestia, who suddenly became very interested in checking out a potted plant behind me. Turning back down to me,the pony continued, “Well, seeing as how you’re new in town, I think I should get your name and what you’re here in the guild hall for, if you don’t mind.” Thoroughly terrified of this pony, I decide to do what she asks. “The name is Twilight Sparkle. I hope to become an adventurer!”  A small, scary-looking smile grows on the mare’s face. “Twilight Sparkle, eh?” Then she turns around and bellows to the whole room, “Twilight Sparkle here is trying to make it as an adventurer!” Oh no. Now the whole guild hall is going to make a laughing stock of me for sure! Or worse, put me through some weird hazing! Or– An odd sound snaps me out of my thoughts. I look around the room and quickly realize that much of the room  was stomping, clapping, or otherwise cheering.  “Let’s raise a cup to her! Hoorah!” Many enthusiastic ponies echo back a “Hoorah!” while several more enthusiastically raised their cup in the air. The mare looks back towards me with a full-on toothy smile. “Glad to have you on board! The life of an adventurer isn’t easy, but if it’s a path you’re wanting to take, then the guild desk is just over there,” she said, pointing a hoof towards a large counter. “Welcome to the gates of Tartarus!” The counter had four receptionists sitting behind it. Two had one pony they were assisting, the third counter worker had a fairly long line, but the fourth receptionist was tending an empty section of the shiny black counter, polishing it with a cloth in her hoof. I walk up, confident in my ability to register us both efficiently. Before I can even get a word out, though, the gray receptionist notices me and speaks up in a rather slow, almost bored tone. “New around here? I know I haven’t seen you before. Did you know that this countertop is made from gabbro? It’s an igneous rock. Most people tend to call it black granite, but geologically speaking it’s too mafic.” Okay, I can see why she has the shortest line.  “Anyways, I just thought you might like to know that. How may I help you?” “We’re here to sign up to become adventurers!” “Alright then. Should have you in and out faster than it took for the counter to form. That’s a joke, by the way. Gabbro is intrusive, and takes several million years to form. The registration fee is ten bits.” “What’s a bit?” “I see you appreciate dry humor. Thanks.” I glance back at Celestia and mouth out Help me! Celestia trotted up beside me. “Give us one moment please.” Turning away from the desk, Celestia began, “A bit is the standard currency of this world. I’m not sure on the exact conversion, but it’s probably about a dollar or so.” “Oh! Okay! So you have some, right?” “...Twilight, I don’t exactly keep a pile of money around. Everything’s free in the afterlife. Even if I did have some, I wouldn’t have got a chance to bring it.” I remember the artifact pages all having some extra starting items written on them as a bonus, but I didn’t write them down on mine!  So I’m missing… A large sum of starter money, quite a bit of starter gear, and who knows what else. Great. “So how are we supposed to get money if we need ten bits to even join the guild? Do we need to ask everyone in the entire guild hall for money? Find the bank and take a loan? Steal?” I felt panic begin to rise in my voice. Presumably hearing my panicked rambling, the receptionist spoke back up. “Yeah, um, it’s only ten bits. It’s not exactly a huge fee, if you want me to just pay it for you both. It’d be nice if you paid me back later, though.” “You’d do that for us?! Thank you so much!” I was probably a bit too enthused about not needing to find somepony else to have to start talking to. The receptionist seemingly shared none of my enthusiasm, and continued, “Of course, I assume you coming in here and immediately asking to sign up means you know what an adventurer does?” She pointed a hoof at a corkboard on the nearby wall. “The corkboard has a lot of guild-posted quests. Some of them involve getting rid of monsters to keep the townsponies safe. Some are just odds and ends that need doing. Most quests will have a reward posted on the paper. We also try to rate the general difficulty of them.” Sounding pretty familiar so far. “So how do we start?” The receptionist ducked under the counter and began poking around for something. About half a minute later, she placed a large blue spherical crystal in an intricately constructed wood-and-gold framework on the countertop along with 2 large cards. “This is the crystal we use to get an idea of your strengths and weaknesses. That way you can make a good pick about what class can help you with what you can already do well. The crystal itself is actually rather interesting, since it’s made of celestite. Contrary to what some ponies think, it’s actually named after its coloration being similar to that of the sky. Now if you just please place your hoof onto the crystal, it’ll work its magic.” The receptionist placed one of the mostly-blank cards under the apparatus. I delicately place my hoof onto the crystal, and watch in awe as it erupts into a dazzlingly bright display of light as magic coursed over the golden parts of the apparatus, moving them, and eventually all of the magic focused through a floating golden ring at the bottom as a pinpoint and quickly began flitting across the card, writing down all sorts of information as it went.  After the crystal stopped glowing, I eagerly awaited learning what my stats would be! Er, “strengths and weaknesses”. Same thing. The receptionist picked up the card and began reading it. “Twilight Sparkle. Let’s see. Huh. This is a very average card. At least you have decent luck. Mine is rock bottom. You have really high intelligence, though. If your magic was that high too, you’d definitely want to pick some sort of magic class, especially since you’re a unicorn, but you seem well rounded enough that you should probably just keep general adventurer for your class. It’ll make it a bit harder to pick up skills, but high intelligence makes them easier to learn, so it should balance out a little. If you decide to change your mind, you can always come back here and I’ll give you a rundown on your new class and update the card.” Celestia spoke up. “Um, sorry, does that crystal get your name when it does its reading?” The receptionist nodded, then looked around her section of the countertop. “Oh, speaking of names, I just realized I forgot to put my nameplate onto the desk when I got here.” She ducked under the desk and came back up with a stone nameplate that read ‘Maud Pie’. “I always forget to do that. But yeah, the crystal gets your name. Now can you place your hoof onto the crystal, please?” Celestia placed her hoof onto the sphere reluctantly, and the device began to print once more. A minute later, Maud picked up the second card and began to read it.  “So you’re Celestia. Been enjoying life up in the sky?” What little color there was in Celestia’s face drained. “Ha, I crack myself up,” Maud said dryly. “I’ve only met a few ponies named Celestia before, it must be nice to have something in common with this beauty,” she said, lightly poking the crystal. “Actually, speaking of the goddesses, Luna’s right over there.” She then pointed a hoof towards the receptionist with the longest line, a white mare with her yellow mane tied up in a bun with the rest of her wavy mane on either side of her face. Hearing her name, she waved at Maud. “Enough foaling around, though. Let’s check the rest of your card.” Her eyebrows raised fairly high, and her eyelids opened way further than they had before. “Wow. That’s a lot of magic. That might actually be the highest magic I’ve ever seen. Strength is really good too. Really high wisdom, even if intelligence is a bit below average. Decent dexterity, average luck and... Oh, that’s not good.” “What’s wrong?” asked Celestia. “Well, your vitality isn’t great, but you have a very low agility. I’ve seen pegasi with injured wings with better agility than this. It probably would be a good idea to work on raising it at least a bit. If I had to recommend a specific class, something that takes a more support-oriented role would fit better for your weaknesses. Probably something faith-based. Wisdom spells are definitely going to be very strong for you, and that class set has the most. In fact, you actually have high enough stats to start as an advanced class, like Arch Priestess.” After Maud gave a short explanation to Celestia about advanced classes– while Celestia nervously glanced around hoping nopony was going to notice the situation– Celestia chose the Solar Arch Priestess class, gave me her adventurer’s card to put in my tracksuit’s pocket, and we went to check the questboard. As soon as we left the counter, the other receptionist, Luna, squealed as she grabbed another adventurer’s new card.  “My word! That has to be the highest magic score I’ve ever seen! You’re a prodigy! Nopony ever starts with a magic stat of thirty!” As Luna continued her shower of praise on the novice and much of the room began looking her way, I noticed Celestia briefly pull out her card from my pocket and checked the magic stat. 73. Probably for the best we took the short line.