//------------------------------// // Chapter 13: A Weird Warrior // Story: My Little Pony, Friendship is Magic: Heart of Friendship // by ShadowDurza //------------------------------// Pinkie Pie zoomed down the way, her feet whirling like wheels. In almost no time at all, she reached the flower clock. She soon got distracted by the pretty colors and stretched her neck to take a bite, but reeled back with tears in her eyes as she quickly realized they were all made of metal. After the pain in her mouth subsided, she looked around to see if there were any distinctive humans around, but it seemed that many humans had decided to take a rest amid all the fun surrounding them. Pinkie Pie decided to do the most logical thing to find the one she was looking for (according to her), took out a megaphone, and got up on her hind legs. “ATTENTION ALPHONSE: YOU ARE NEEDED! HEY ALPHONSE, OVER HERE! YO PHONZIE, I NEED SOME HELP! Pinkie’s din continued on for several minutes, driving most of the people in the area to vacate while covering their ears and rubbing their foreheads. (Moderately) Shortly after most of the people had left, Pinkie Pie stopped her constant shouting and took notice. She looked around and saw a human in a black jumpsuit lounging on one of the benches. She soon made her way over and rose up next to the human’s head. “Hey, mister! Some of my friends are in big, big, big trouble and I was told a human named Alphonse could help me save them from the Underworlders! So I came here to find him even though I don’t know what he looks like, sounds like, what he wears, what he can do, or even what his full name is! So can you help me find Alphonse pretty, pretty please with whipped cream, sprinkles, toasted marshmallows, fruit syrup, chocolate shavings, and a cherry on top?” The human sat up and looked at her with his dark eyes below his dark hair. “I don’t know who told you, but there is no Alphonse. Nobody like that has ever been here.” Pinkie Pie’s eyes grew very wide and she went rigid. “What, what, WHAT? But Simone said that he likes to hang out here around this time!” The human rolled their eyes. “Oh, that… Well, at one point there was a dashing, brave, and good-humored hero named Alphonse, and a few of the streets nearby were named for him, but I don’t think he’s ever laid eyes on this place.” Pinkie Pie looked around, clearly showing distress. However, a Central Forces officer soon walked up to the duo. “Pardon me, I got word of a disturbance in this area. Would you two happen to know-” However, he stopped short once he saw the human on the bench. “Oh, it’s you again. Tell me, why do you like making my job unnecessarily harder than it has to be, Alphie?” The human shifted his position upright and made a mirthless laugh. “It’s Alphie now? Honestly, that’s even worse than Phonzie!” Pinkie did a few double-takes between the officer and the presumed Alphonse. Then she held her hooves to her cheeks and gasped. “But- What- You- lied to me?” Alphonse shrugged. “Of course I did! It’s easy, and fun! Especially when you’re doing it for no reason at all to a complete stranger as strange as you.” Pinkie Pie angrily scowled at Alphonse, and the officer gently placed his hand upon her shoulder. “Don’t get yourself worked up girlie. This lowlife can’t help but interfere in everyone’s business for nothing beyond his own amusement. Why every time a good officer tries to write a ticket, they suddenly remember something they’d rather be doing and forget about it like-” Suddenly, the officer got a far-off look in his eyes and started swaying on his feet. “Uh… Um… what was I doing again?” Alphonse smirked and pointed into the distance. “You were about to pick up a couple dozen jelly mossnuts for your buddies down at the station.” The officer perked up almost immediately, almost too soon. “Yeah! That’s right! Have a nice day you two.” The officer tipped their helmet and marched away. Pinkie Pie raised her eyebrow at Alphonse. “Did you do something to that guy?” Alphonse giggled and leaned back to relax. “The fairy element. Charms, glamors, energy projection and constructs. Not too tough, but oh so multi-faceted.” Pinkie gave Alphonse a scrutinizing look in the eye as she leaned close to his face. “You shouldn’t use magic to manipulate your way out of trouble, it’s no fun for anyone.” Alphonse just laughed. “Oh I can assure you, the years have taught me that the best kind of fun is at other people’s expense.” Pinkie Pie made an exaggerated sound of disgust and started cantering away. In response, Alphonse stood up and started calling after her. “Hold it, Ponygirl! Weren’t you hollering just a minute ago about how you needed my help?” Pinkie Pie turned back to him, her mane flinging wildly. “Forget it! Simone might have recommended you by name, but clearly her good judgment of character had a lapse in regards to you! I’LL SAVE MY FRIENDS MYSELF IF I HAVE TO!” On that note, Alphonse sat straight up. “Wait, you’re friends with Simone? As in, Simone Webster?” Pinkie Pie pivoted on her hooves to face him, her eyes rolled away. “Oh, what’s it to you? It’s not like you’d care!” Alphonse sighed. “Well, all the librarians like to try to shoo me out because I never read anything when I hang out to enjoy the peace and quiet, except her. Her good point is that she never bothers anyone. Her bad point is that she never bothers anyone. But you call her friend?” Pinkie Pie turned back around. “Nope! I’ve given you way too much of my time anyway! I’ve got to find a way to save everyone!” Before Alphonse could get another word in, she was already galloping away. He stroked his chin for a moment, then got up and started walking in the same direction. *** Pinkie Pie stopped in front of the theater, which now had a police line with the entrance surrounded by Central Forces officers. Pinkie tried to race up to the entrance, but she got blocked off by barriers of several types that abruptly sprung up in her way the moment she got near the line. As Pinkie Pie sat dazed on the ground, an officer walked up to her to help her up. “I’m sorry little lady. It’s your party that’s among the ones taken hostage, right? I don’t know how you got away, but I’m afraid now it’s official business.” Pinkie Pie was getting visibly distressed. “But, but, my friends need me! They’ve cast a spell on Twilight to stop her magic and bound up the rest of my friends! I have to do something!” The officer straightened up and looked Pinkie in the face. “Look I’m sorry, but-” However, she suddenly got a glazed look in her eyes. “I never… meant to… keep you away from your friends. Please… go… ahead.” The officer signaled to the barrier mages to let Pinkie through. The mages, though looking confused, complied and made a pony-sized hole with a series of gestures. Pinkie gave the guard a big smile. “Thanks a ton, ma’am!” With an and away we go posture, Pinkie zoomed back into the theater. Meanwhile, the officer swayed in place for a moment before regaining her posture and shaking her head, then scratching her chin in confusion. Meanwhile, back in the theater, Pinkie Pie peered at the underworlders guarding the hostages, trying to formulate a plan to rescue them all by herself. Most of the plans involved vast quantities of cake and balloons. “Okay, now this is bad. No wonder I was asked for by name.” Pinkie Pie squealed in shock and collapsed on the ground. Then she quickly covered her mouth and ducked behind a few more chairs. She peered out from around the chairs to look at Alphonse leisurely leaning back in a chair.. “WHAT THE WHAT?” She quickly stuffed her hooves in her mouth and quickly slid to hide back behind the seats. At this, Aplhonse just chuckled and continued eating. “Relax. They can’t see or hear us, I’ve made sure of that.” Pinkie Pie carefully poked her head out and turned to face Alphonse. “How did you get here?” Alphonse chuckled and put his feet up on the seat in front of him. “How do you think you got here in the first place? Now, why don’t we take this opportunity to formulate our plan of atta-” However, Pinkie Pie zoomed down the lane right to the underworlders and their hostages. Alphonse nearly fell out of his seat trying to quickly stand back up. “Wait! The spell only works-” However, an underworlder Grunt soon took notice and raised an alarm. “-a short range around me…” Pinkie Pie quickly retreated back to Alphonse despite his gestures to go back and soon, the both of them had to take cover as they were being assailed by magical projectiles. Pinkie Pie grimaced at Alphonse as she tried to cover her head with her hooves. “I thought you said your spell made it so they couldn’t see or hear us?” Alphonse rolled his eyes at the pony. “My spells are delicate, remember? When you raced back here, their focus on you popped my spell like a bubble!” Pinkie Pie tried to look out from behind their cover, but quickly retreated back to safety. “Well, why can’t you just make them all friendly like you seem to love to do to innocent people?” Alphonse grimaced at Pinkie Pie. “What part of ‘delicate spells’ do you not understand? Unless you’ve got rocks for brains like that officer back at the flower clock, my charms won’t work if the intended target is on guard!” Pinkie Pie frowned and pointed a hoof at Alphonse. “Hey! I grew up on a rock farm!” At that, Alphonse gave Pinkie a half-lidded stare. “Of course you did.” Pinkie Pie sighed and let her hooves droop. “Well, what can your magic do?” Alphonse gave Pinkie a self-satisfied smirk. “Well, why don’t I show you?” Alphonse quickly maneuvered into the middle of the lane and raised his hand, creating a wall of solid bright-green light that deflected the onslaught. He then raised his other hand and in his grip appeared a cool green whip in a flash of light. It had a rigid emerald handle with a cup guard and knuckle bow connected to a dark, grassy cord that wound to meet a bright green shape affixed to the other end resembling a flur de lis. With a mighty swing, he send his whip flying as it harmlessly passed through the other side of the barrier and struck down the frontmost row of underworlder Grunts. He then looked right at Pinkie. “If you’ve got anything you want to use, use it now!” Pinkie gave a mischievous grin and zipped over behind the shield and in the blink of an eye, set up a broadside’s worth of party cannons. Once their short fuses burned out, they let loose an onslaught of flying piñatas that covered the main force of underworlder Grunts in a pile of bubble gum. With that, Alphonse took down his shield and Pinkie joined him in running towards the hostages. However, their path was suddenly blocked off by what looked like a pair of lions, except they only had claws, fangs and full-body manes. Alphonse managed to drive them back with a few lashings from his whip, then he clutched his free hand into a fist before it started glowing intensely. After a few seconds, he pointed his palm at one of the guardians and let fly an intensely glowing blast of magic which sent one of the guardians flying. Then, with a precise swing of his whip, he lashed the thing in two, making it disappear in a pile of sand. However, on top of his dune, Mummy chuckled as the same guardian emerged from the small mountain of sand, shaking the residue off its poofy body. Alphonse grunted and erected another shield to block off the guardians. Pinkie Pie galloped up next to him. “They’ve been doing that ever since they first got here! What’s he doing?” Alphonse turned towards Pinkie as he repeatedly lashed his whip to keep the guardians at bay. “See those glyphs? They’re utilized in an old technique to issue complex commands to both one’s magic and magic in the environment. He must be using it to draw the defeated guardians’ essence into that pile of sand to instantly regenerate. This is going to be a lot of trouble to overcome…” Pinkie placed her hoof under her chin. “If only we could just trap them before they get the chance to return to the pile…” Alphonse turned back towards Pinkie and blinked a couple of times. “That just might be the smartest thing you’ve said since I’ve met you! And I know just how to do that, if we can find and free Simone.” On that note, Pinkie Pie perked up and peered at the group of bound hostages surrounded by the remainder of the Underworlders. “I can totally do that, if you can distract the guardians!” Alphonse grinned at her and took down his shield with a clutch of his free hand. “Distractions are some of what I do best!” Soon, his hand started emitting green sparks. Then he swung it overhead and released his grip, sending up a firework-like show that drew the attention of all the guardians. “Thankfully, such simple-minded guardians are easier to charm than people!” Once the guardians started rushing at Alphonse, Pinkie sneakily zoomed down the lanes. Hiding among the chairs, she pushed out a brightly-wrapped birthday present towards some of the frontmost underworlders. A couple of Grunts took notice and bent down to pick at the wrapping. Suddenly, the package erupted into a loud explosion of bright colors that knocked the Grunts out. As the others were distracted, the humans bound by the now unconscious Grunts’ magic were set free and started attacking the Grunts closest to them. Group by group, more humans were set free and started attacking the now fewer remaining Grunts. Soon, all of the hostages were free and Pinkie zoomed up to Simone. “We need to trap the guardians before they can regenerate in that big sand pile!” Simone soon regained her composure and stood up, clutching her encyclopedia. “I… I could try to trap them in my encyclopedia’s flyleaf, but they’d all have to be in one place.” Pinkie Pie looked back towards Alphonse as he repeatedly lashed his whip to keep all the guardians at bay and soon pointed at them. Simone quickly straightened her glasses. “That’ll work!” Simone raced down the rows and positioned herself behind the small army of bizarre magically-animated creatures and opened her encyclopedia to its first blank page. She thrust it at the guardians as tendrils made up of ethereal sentences emerged from the book and moved to surround and entangle the group of guardians. Soon, it pulled all the creatures backwards and into the flyleaf of the encyclopedia, appearing as illustrations on the blank page. Mummy screamed from atop his sand pile and slid down. He started rushing towards Simone, brandishing his whirling saw blade. Before he could reach her, Alphonse lashed his whip and wrapped it around Mummy, helplessly binding him. Then, he pulled him back towards himself, wrapping his free hand in a bright green spiked gauntlet of energy, and socked the underworlder Administrator right in the face. Mummy was sent flying until he slammed into the base of the stage and drooped to the floor, unconscious. Pinkie and her friends moved to meet back up. However, Twilight, Rarity, and even Alphonse were struck by a massive tingling sensation. They quickly scanned the surrounding theater and found a giant wave-like shadow moving from the back of the theater, consuming all light as it covered everything in its path. Everyone was forced to take cover as the whole theater was enshrouded in darkness. Just as quickly as the shadow had appeared, it vanished as light was returned to the theater. Twilight looked around once more. “What happened? Is everypony okay?” Rainbow Dash scowled. “Aw, man! The Underworlders got away again!” Fluttershy smiled at her. “Well… it could have been worse, couldn’t it?” Rainbow Dash crossed her hooves and rolled her eyes. “I guess so…” She turned towards Pinkie with a more gentle expression. “So, can you introduce us to the human you brought to save us?” Pinkie Pie started bouncing on her hooves. “He’s amazing! But a little annoying… He’s really strong! But a bit of a trouble-maker…” Before anypony could enquire about such contrasting statements, she’d already zoomed off right to Alphonse, but couldn't find him anywhere. All she found was a bright green note on the floor with dark green ink. She picked it up and cleared her throat to read from it as her friends surrounded her. “Dear Pinkie, I really think we could have been friends. But a long time ago I was hurt badly by circumstances and I’m not ready to open my heart to just anyone yet. But thankfully, you’ve been able to do something that almost never happens: You’ve earned my respect, you kind young pony you. Signed, Alphonse Faeno. P.S….” As she finished the last of the letter, a glob of dark green goop flew from the paper and hit her in the face. While everypony else was stunned in shock, Pinkie Pie started giggling. Pretty soon, she was roaring with laughter and rolling around on the floor. Her friends could only stare and awkwardly laugh along.