//------------------------------//
// 11: Level Up 
// Story: To Err is Equine 
// by RLYoshi 
//------------------------------//

[Perspective: Arrell]

I stared blankly at Risk. He stared back. False just looked back and forth between us.

"...well?" I asked impatiently.

"Huh?" Risk seemed to snap out of whatever trance he was in. "Oh, sorry. Had to make sure we were in the next chapter."

...what?

"Anyway, here's my theory," he continued. "You said that in order to cross the River Styx, you had to pay a toll, right?" I nodded. "That got me thinking about why you were chosen to come here. I think, maybe, you did something like that."

"I paid a toll?"

"Maybe not exactly like that, but you did something that pleased or helped Styx, so she brought you over to Equestria. I don't think you were randomly selected. Something you did made her think of you as being unique."

I chuckled. "Well, can't argue on the whole 'being unique' thing, but I doubt it's in a good way."

"Maybe we don't even need to be making theories like this," False broke in. "If Arrell just told us what happened in the three days before he came here, it'd give us a clue."

"I'd tell you if I remembered!" I yelled, irritated. This was, what, the tenth time I told them I forgot?

Fortunately, Risk intervened before False or I said anything we'd regret. He got us back on the path to Stalliongrad, and before long, we were silently walking along. Not a word passed between us for at least an hour.

"Boooooring..." I sighed, breaking the streak. C-C-C-COMBO BREAKER!





Later that night, we had stopped for camp and set up a couple of tents that Risk packed. Due to her orders, False was required to sleep in the same tent as me, which naturally made everything a lot more awkward for me.

Eventually, after lying awake for several hours, I crawled out of the tent, deciding to get a headstart on my practicing. The first thing I wanted to do was figure out the origin of my little 'FUS RO DAH' power from my first five minutes in Equestria. I hadn't used it since, nor had I even tried to figure it out. Now was the time to fix that.

I walked for about fifteen minutes away from the sleeping site and eventually came to a small forest. It didn't seem nearly as big or dangerous as the Everfree, so I crept inside. The lack of nearby dangerous creatures and plants calmed my nerves, and I prepared to unleash another voice attack on a nearby tree.

"Mind telling me what you're doing out here?"

Startled, I exhaled the breath I had taken in, falling into a small coughing fit before turning around. False stood a few feet behind me, looking annoyed as usual.

"Getting interrupted from my training," I replied. "How about you?"

"Interrupting you from your training, it seems." She shrugged. "Or rather, following orders. I'm not supposed to let you just slip away."

"Weren't you asleep when I left?"

"Royal guards are trained to be very light sleepers, so that even the quietest of sounds would wake them up."

"Fair enough." I looked away. "Considering I'm just trying to practice, which is half the reason we came on this trip, I doubt you can really hold this against me."

She glared. "Arrell...there's so much I can already hold against you."

...why did my mind suddenly fall into the gutter at that remark?

"But no, I'm not going to report you to the princess, if that's what you're thinking. Though I'd prefer it if next time you went to train, you let me know."

I looked down at the ground. "I didn't want to wake you up."

Before you think I'm all heart, keep in mind that part of the reason I didn't want to wake her was because I knew she'd be crabby, and another part was that I didn't want her to keep me from going. So I'm more one-third heart and two-thirds idiot.

"Well, you did anyway, so c'est la vie. What exactly are you doing anyway? I know you're training, but I followed you for almost twenty minutes and all you've done is stare at a tree."

I briefly explained my little manticore encounter and the voice attack I used. I avoided talking about Skyrim for fear of raising more questions and prolonging my training further.

"I was about to try it again on that tree, then you interrupted me," I finished. "I don't know if I can just pull it off whenever, but I kind of hope that I can. It'd be useful."

False nodded. "Agreed. It'd make any hostile encounters a lot less dangerous." She stepped a safe distance away. "Have at it." I saw a small smile on her face.

I turned back to the tree and focused, trying to draw energy from within my very being to channel into a force greater than man or pony could ever imagine. That didn't work, so I just inhaled deeply and aimed at the tree.

"FUS RO DAH!" I screamed, even louder than back with the manticore. Back then I was still groggy and not really serious, but this time, I was putting more energy into it. And it showed.

Instead of just cracking the tree with my voice or something, I ended up snapping all of its branches off, as well as those of several trees around us. I didn't see if anything else happened, because the force launched my unprepared body backwards, flying past False and straight into another tree. I heard a crack as I collided, but I couldn't tell if it was my bones or the tree. If it was the former, I was too numb to notice.

"Arrell!" False cried, rushing over to me. "Are you okay?"

I tried to breathe out an answer, but all I did was start another coughing fit. Every time I tried to inhale and say something, anything, all I got to do was lapse back into nearly suffocating on my own air.

Finally, after regaining sense in my body, I looked up. The tree I had been aiming at had toppled over, but the other trees in the crossfire, while damaged, remained upright.

"Didn't...expect that," I panted, slowly climbing to my hooves, False helping me up. Her sudden caring nature was not lost on me, but I didn't point it out. Too busy trying to keep my lungs working. Suddenly, I heard another crack like the one I heard when I crashed into the tree...oh no.

I turned around slowly, looking at the tree I had been thrown at. Apparently Equestrian physics were slacking off that day, because even though the tree should have fallen in the direction opposite where I hit it, it began to lean towards us. And leaned further.

And further.

Horseapples.





[Perspective: False Front]

I stared, jaw open, as the tree began to fall towards us. Naturally, my instinct was to get out of the way of the tree, but one glance at Arrell told me he wasn't having the same thought process. For some reason, that single thought kept me from moving myself to safety.

"Arrell, move!" I yelled, feeling as though everything went into slow motion. The tree seemed to take hours to fall, when in reality it likely didn't even take three seconds. I wanted to move out of the way, but seeing Arrell in a trance and ignoring my warnings kept me rooted to the ground, as though doing so would keep us safe. I shut my eyes and waited.

The tree didn't land on us.

I cracked open an eye to a surprising sight. Arrell was crouched low to the ground, his eyes shut as though concentrating. Around us was a strange, bubble-like dome, which the tree was resting on, having landed on it instead of us. Arrell opened his eyes to the same sight.

"Move!" he suddenly yelled, jumping to the side. I finally managed to do the same, just as the dome around us faded and the tree fell onto the ground. It landed right where we had been just seconds ago. If not for that dome, we – or Arrell, at least – wouldn't have had time to move out of the way.

I looked at Arrell, who seemed to be shocked, enthusiastic, and scared, all at once. He looked at me with wide eyes, which looked pretty weird given his lack of pupils. He then looked back at the tree, then down at the ground. As if trying something, he crouched low again and shut his eyes.

The dome suddenly reappeared around us, startling me. I looked around nervously for whatever was causing it, taking a moment to realize that Arrell was making it. I walked up to one of the walls and tried to tap it, but my hoof went right through it. A few steps showed me that I could walk through the walls of the dome without an issue.

Then how did it stop the tree?

The dome disappeared once more, and Arrell looked absolutely delighted. He looked at me with a giant grin.

"Drop Shield!" he proclaimed, as if I knew what the hay that meant. "I don't know how I got it, but I got it!"

"Drop Shield?" I asked, one eyebrow raised.

"Long story, but it's kind of like my voice attack in terms of origin. Something impossible from back home that I can do here, except this is the first time I've done it."

I cocked my head. "Considering I could walk through it, it doesn't seem like a very effective shield."

He shrugged. "From what I know, living beings and vehicles can pass through it, but nothing else. That must be why it stopped the tree. Though it only lasts a few seconds, so it's not as useful as an actual barrier or magic force field."

"It's not useful at all compared to those," I snapped. "If we got into a fight, that'd just keep them from throwing things at us. It wouldn't stop them from walking up and cutting us open."

"It's better than nothing. At least I have a theory as to why I have my voice attack – and now, the Drop Shield." He started walking back in the direction of our tents, me following.

"And what would that theory be?" I inquired.

He smirked. "Styx knew that I didn't know much about fighting, and that I wouldn't be able to master Windigo powers for a long time...so she gave me video game powers."

There was a silence.

"I hope you weren't expecting a dramatic gasp," I finally said.

"I wasn't. Though I was expecting some questioning about what a video game is."

"Honestly? I don't care. I just chalk that kind of thing up to 'human crap' and leave it that way."

He thought for a moment. "Probably better that way."





Author's Notes: Okay, we didn't get to the long chapter yet. Hopefully soon though. And yes, Arrell has video game powers. First Skyrim's FUS RO DAH - or as he calls it, the voice attack - and Halo's drop shield. I'll be giving him a few more as time goes on, but don't worry about him becoming a walking video game console; he'll be likely using Windigo abilities more.