The CMC, Diamond Tiara, and Silver Spoon walked out of the house feeling great, the Riches were alright and talking with somepony never before seen in Ponyville, "...and I'm telling you, my stock is not for civilians, but for heroes like those 'Cutie Mark Crusaders' you spoke about," the new one said as time didn't move for moments.
Whoever that was knew the CMC and none of them were particularly happy about that, "Oh, sorry. Brendan be damned, I didn't realize I was talking about people who were listening. I'll certainly be sitting in Hell for a few weeks after this," he said before truly turning to the CMC, "Please forgive me, I have yet to fully learn everything about this world... But Brendan needed Bad Guy beaten fast, so I came by to assist you and all your party members, current and future, by selling you items that'll certainly help you on your adventure, but first... could I see your model of U.I.?" He said adding to the group of newly appointed hero's confusion. Apple Bloom nodded as U.I. went over to the stranger, "Just a quick question, why do ya want to see U.I.?" Apple Bloom asked as the stranger messed with U.I. He was going and seeing something wrong, "Damn it, will I have to factory reset the built-in crafting grid?" He mumbled.
The exchange happened for about five minutes before he said, "Okay, U.I. should be in perfect working order now, mainly the crafting grid part," he told the group of heroes, "Anyways, since you five are here, why not buy some of my wares?" He added as he used his forelimbs to open up his coat, and there were alot of items: potions, weapons, armor, accessories, and even crafting recipes! With the bits they had, they managed to upgrade all of their weapons to tier 2, and get armor for all of them.
"All right, and good to see that you have someone with a real Diamond tiara which has been searched for for years!" The shopkeeper said without further elaborating. "U.I. please detail all equipped accessories," Sweetie Belle said as U.I. popped out. "Diamond tiara, equipped to user Diamond Tiara, wearing this makes enemies think you're royalty, so they drop double money. Glasses, equipped to user Silver Spoon, wearing these makes it easier to find weak points, increasing crit rate," U.I. stated shocking Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, who never guessed their usual attire had benefits in this strange situation. At least... beyond what Silver's glasses already did for her.
"Before you go, I should say that I have to update your U.I., it is just a small but helpful feature where you can have U.I. analyze something and U.I. will be able to craft it from then on out!" The shopkeeper said, earning nods from the group of heroes. They started exploring and found a couple of chests(some having pretty decent stuff, including a pair of goggles given to Sweetie Belle) when everypony in the group thought to go check the school.
It took awhile to get there, but the heroes made it there, entering the oddly silent school house, they found a green fancy chest and U.I. had to open it, "Adding recipe...
...
...
Finished! Recipe for Spectral Goggles added to crafting grid!" U.I. said which was confusing but nopony was willing to ask any questions. Together, they went to Ms. Cheerilee's class, finding the teacher hiding behind her desk, papers thrown about the room, "Ms. Cheerilee? What's going on in here, there's barely any monsters in the school!" Scootaloo demanded as Sweetie Belle started looking towards the back of the class... then screeching! "What in tarnation Sweetie Belle, what did ya see?!" Apple Bloom asked her friend who pointed a hoof towards what she saw. It was a cloaked pony with missing legs, all 4 are missing, and red eyes being visible. "Ghost, a spectral entity with a strong resistance to physical attacks... made of heavy Exoplasm" U.I. described... giving the group an idea. "While the ghost very well might be able to hit us, we can't attack with our basic attacks... All out offense as best as we can?" Scootaloo asked starting to prepare for the use of Thunder Affinity... and everypony nodded.
Scootaloo used Thunder Affinity!
Scootaloo's weapon now has the Thunder element!
Scootaloo held her stance as to not mess up the others with their moves.
Diamond Tiara attacks!
Resisted! Ghost took 25 damage!
"Even a headshot doesn't deal extra damage to enemies that resist it!?" Diamond Tiara said realizing her headshot didn't deal extra damage. "Actualleh Diamond... ah think ya missed the head shot..." Apple Bloom said as she pointed her sword at the area the bullet hit, just below the ghost's head
Silver Spoon attacks!
Resisted! Ghost took 25 damage!
"Okay, this is taking forever!" Silver Spoon said, getting quite mad at how little they were doing. Not that it'd make Sweetie Belle any worse than she is in damage. Not that Sweetie Belle would be physically dealing damage anyways.
Sweetie Belle casts Fire Ball!
Critical! Ghost took 165 damage!
Exoplasm acquired!
"And it's been done." Sweetie Belle said as she gathered the Exoplasm and looked towards U.I. "Hey, U.I. could you take the Exoplasm and combine them with these goggles?" To which U.I. immediately did and crafted the Spectral Goggles with the following text to say, "Spectral Goggles, 3 DEF(+2 DEF from Goggles), a pair of goggles with built in Wisp detection. Collect enough of a type of wisp to unlock team wide skills of that element!" To which Sweetie Belle just nodded and looked around in awe.
The group of five assisted Ms Cheerilee with cleaning up the classroom, Ms Cheerilee giving them some bits for their hard work and a special line, "You know, I overheard that Ghost saying something about a guardian at the Train Station, I'd say you should go handle that but... I also heard that the Everfree has some treasures hidden within it." She said, and the team all agreed that it might be best to search the Everfree first before tackling whatever that "guardian" is and so, they set out to go and brave the Everfree for it's treasures.