//------------------------------//
// Chapter 6: Another one's tale 
// Story: When life gives you EXP 
// by FanOfSun 
//------------------------------//

4 years ago, Earth

It was a stormy night. For some unknown reasons, there was no rain. Instead, thunderbolts were appearing literally everywhere in the clouds. Everyone were in their houses, hiding from all of this.

Suddenly, one of the lightning bolts hit the ground near to the road. Bright flash lit up the whole place. Storm settled down a bit. It started to rain. 

On the place where lightning hit though, something was moving. It was a young boy. He was wearing an orange hoodie with jeans, and simple shoes. 

He tried to stand up, but didn't manage. Boy looked and his limbs, and gasped. He was confused, scared and horrified.

He screamed "WHAT IN CELESTIA'S NAME AM I?!"

He quickly moved his head around and examined his body. Something was troubling him "Where are my hooves?! And wings?!" he tried to calm down "Alright...Calm down Danny...."

Apparently, it wasn't a human. At least it used to be a bat pony. Her name was Paper Dandelion. Just a few moments ago, she was flying in the storm while heading back home. And now, she is here.

Dandelion tried to move her new limbs "This is...Awkwardly simple...Like I knew how to do it" she managed to stand up and even stretch. Dandelion brightened up a bit "Alright, this is not so bad after all!" she then noticed that her voice was young and...Manly?

Before Dandelion could think about it, voice from somewhere nearby called her "Uh...Excuse me, are you alright?"

She raised her head and looked at another ape like being. It looked young...Though Dandelion never saw those creatures before. It seemed a bit confused and concerned. It also had an umbrella.

It repeated it's question "Do you need any help?" 

Dandelion thought about her answer "Well, yes actually, I'm a bit lost"

It hestitated "Well maybe I uh...Could help you?" boy approached Dandelion and extended his arm "My name is Vlad"

Dandelion looked at it and tilted her head.

Vlad awkwardly put it away "I...I don't think it's a good idea to stand under the rain..."

Now that Dandelion took notice, it was really getting cold. She was shivering.

Dandelion looked up "Well, yeah...I guess you are right..." she approached him, but kept distance.

Vlad gave another boy an umbrella "You look like you need it more"

Dandelion hestirated before taking it "Thanks.." she didn't have any problems with moving her new limbs.

Vlad smiled "It's alright! Come on  let's get you somewhere better!" boy turned around and started walking.

Dandelion walked after him. Something new appeared in her head "My name.."

Vlad slowed down and turned his head around "Hm?"

Dandelion continued "My name is Danya"





2 years later, Earth

Dandelion was sitting in her room...Well, technically it belonged to Vlad's family, but they happily gave it to her...Him...Whatever.

Dandelion was really close to finally coming back to Equestria. Not like she didn't like life on Earth, no. It was awesome actually. The reason was to tell everypony about the whole new world. And also, to finally tell Vlad the truth. She was hiding her true identity for way too long. It was the least Dandelion could do to repay him and his family for their kindness.

But how could she come back if there is absolutely no magic on Earth? Well, SHE brought some! After that 'teleportation', Dandelion managed to collect all this energy piece by piece. However, it was still not enough...

Dandelion wanted to give up, but Vlad once told her one thing...

They were playing a RPG videogame. As simple as that. However, Daniel accidentally picked class that used HP as an energy. 

He laughed at it "Dude, that's just hillarious! Why would you use your own blood to cast spells?"

Vlad shrugged "Everething has a price. It just can happen that it's not always the same"

Daniel looked at him "What do you mean?"

Vlad was ocasionally saying things like that. Sometimes he looked like he was...Experienced in life? Whenever Dandelion asked Vlad about it, he was shrugging it off and saying jokes. 

Her friend explained "Let's take game for example. We use money to buy equipment. Mana to cast spells. HP to keep us alive" he was still choosing his character "We always pay something for something. Whenever you think you got something for free, you are wrong. At least I think so"

Dandelion slipped her eyes "Huh...I actually never thought about that..." she drifted into her own thoughts.

'If you think about it...I could add something to that energy I collected. Maybe my lifeforce, or...I dunno, maybe-'

She was brought back to Earth by Vlad "Are we going to start or something? I'm ready!"

Dandelion gasped and nodded "Y-yea! Let's do this!"

For now, she put that thought away. They had a game to beat.


But now, there she stood, holding the energy she collected over those 2 years. It was a quiet place where noone would ever go because of it's rumors. There were just an abandoned house and empty parking place. After thinking about Vlad's words for a while, Dandelion got it. At least she thought she did. 

Human exhaled "Well, there goes nothing..."

She lifted the ball up. It levitated into the air and seemed to inflate a bit. It was about to explode, when Dandelion clenched her arms and closed her eyes.

'Please work. PLEASE work!'

After standing like that for several seconds, she opened one of her eyes and looked at the ball. It seemed to stop growing. Instead, it was slowly changing colors, from bright blue to dark purple.

Dandelion gulped "Oh..." she stepped back.

Orb emitted a wave. It didn't affect anything, but Dandelion knew what was happening

Magic was choosing it's payment.

Some of the rules Dandelion learnt about Earth, is that nothing here happens out of nowhere and nothing here is for free. Not even a damn stick! Something had to happen before it. Someone had to pay a price for somthing to happen. Even though there is no magic on Earth, this law could be it's replacement.

After wave dissapeared, Dandelion's body slightly lit up with a 'bing' sound. That was something she expected. Now, Dandelion had to endure what was coming as a payment and-

Suddenly, another 'bing' was heard nearby. Dandelion's body froze. 

'What..? But..'

She slowly turned her head around, to notice weak light through the wall. It was another human. They didn't seem to notice anything for some reason. 

Dandelion's eyes widened 'No no! Wait!' she ran towards the passage between buildings. She couldn't allow herself to hurt someone just because she decided to experiment. When Dandelion noticed who it was, her heart stopped for a moment.

There stood Vlad. His back was turned towards Dandelion. He didn't even know what was going on.

Dandelion tried to warn him "VLAD! RUN!"

But it was too late...Dark purple spikes lunged towards human from Dandelion's back. She didn't see what happened to him, because she got caught in a mist.

Payment was a success, but not for Dandelion.

She put her dissapearing hand forward and screamed "NO!"





"NO!"

Dandelion suddenly woke up and flew up. She hit the ceiling and fell back onto her chair. Bat pony hissed and held onto her head with closed eyes. Several pieces of paper fell on the floor. There were pages for new chapter of Dandelion's comic. 

She groaned and opened one of her eyes "Geez, fell asleep again?" she stopped pressing onto her head and started to pick up those fallen pages.

Dandelion had the same appearance like other bat ponies. Grey fur, black wings and dark blue mane. However, there was orange line in her mane, what made her different from the rest. Her eyes were orange as well. Paper Dandelion's qutiemark was...A paper dandelion, with a pen and a pencil above.

When she finished collecting her work, Dandelion put paper onto her table and huffed when strand of her mane fell on her face "Yeah, better get some rest" she flapped her wings and plopped onto the nearby sofa with her belly. Sure, she had a bed, but it was too far. And besides, sofa was better for her. Bed was for quests...Who actually never appeared since she basically lived at the edge of Everfree forest. Still, it was nice to have one.

Dandelion hummed "Maybe I should go 'n buy something tasty...Mango pies?" she opened her eyes and looked nowhere in particular. She spotted one of the pages on the cupboard right in front of her. 

Dandelion reached for it with a hoof and grabbed the unfinished drawing. It was one of those more detailed arts she was ocasionally making as 'specials' for some of her comics. Dandelion got this idea when she was reading manga back on Earth. This one featured a V character. It was a light blue dragon. She created him based on Vlad and his character back on Earth.  Half of his body on this art was fluffy, and half of it was supposed to be sharp. Dandelion didn't finish it yet, since she basically put all her efforts into those. Not like she isn't trying as best as she can with her main comics, it's just that on those arts she is showing character of heroes. On the left side, the fluffy one, V had calm expression with a smile and glasses on his face. On the unfinished right side, V looked menacing, with cracked glasses and blazing eye.

Dandelion snorted "Well, guess he wouldn't really like it. Way too badass, yeah?" she placed painting back on the cupboard and sighed "Well, guess I could eat something and start packing up! Can't let my silliness distract myself from the main stuff!"

She rolled over and landed on her hooves. Humming, she headed towards her kitchen. Next few weeks were going to be extremely intense for her!