//------------------------------// // 3: Three is Company // Story: The Awesome Quest of My Little Ponies // by ThatOneYellowPony //------------------------------// //----------------------------- // Story: The Awesome Quest of My Little Ponies // Chapter: Chapter 3: Three is Company // Author: ThatOneYellowPony //----------------------------- “Right! So now that you know the elements of a good battle cry, let’s hear one! Kick the dummy with all your might.” Instructed Sky as though she were a high ranking military personnel. “Hiya!” cried Fluttershy meekly, kicking the suspended flour bag with all her might. 1 damage. “Ugh, you’re going to use that as your battle cry?” Said Sky, face-hoofing “Louder” “Hiya!” cried Fluttershy, perhaps three quarters of a smidge louder than before. Again she dealt 1 damage to the dummy. “Louder!” “Hiya!” 2 damage, she’s getting better you know. “LOOUUUDEEEEEERR!!!” Fluttershy took a very deep breath in before emitting a “Hiya!” just as preciously as ever. This time her dealt damage returned to 1. I guess she got a critical that one time. Sky was on the brink of giving up. The pair of them had been at this all morning and it was becoming painfully clear that the first bear, dragon, or giant floating eye with wings the yellow pony encountered would be her last. She seemed the kind of pony who would fit best in a really big adventuring squad, staying in the back and never, ever, ever doing anything. Even though Sky had wanted to go to bed last night, the endearing pegasus had managed to get her talking long into the night. Together they decided the best course of action was for Fluttershy to head to a place called New Canterlot. Knowing Fluttershy had apparently vanquished some dragon thingy named Discord, a mare of terrible dark magic, a changeling queen, and some dark cloud with poison-green eyeballs, Sky assumed that Celestia had sent the pony here to take care of the ‘real shadows’ that were the only true blight on the land. New Canterlot was the home of a black stallion everypony knew of but few knew by name. The glass windows of his dark replica of the Equestrian capitol depict several gruesome acts being committed on alicorns resembling Luna and Celestia. The mysterious stallion seemed the likely reason Equestria had been sealed in its own little bubble long ago. Living in dangerous proximity to New Canterlot was a stallion named Firetrotter. Everypony Sky knew said that Firetrotter was some sort of all-knowing oracle with a special means of communicating with the ‘Bringer of Day’ Celestia. Unfortunately New Canterlot was somewhere between 3 and 4 zillion kilometers away, and Sky really, really didn’t want to escort Fluttershy there. The pony lacked the stuff that put the ‘tough’ in ‘tough ponies’ like Sky. After all, Fluttershy had trouble sleeping last night because being someplace unfamiliar and isolated was making her scared. You and I might spill our hearts out at the thought of that but Sky was far too hardened to---actually, she found it heart wrenching too, but dang it she had a reputation to uphold! “You know maybe you should just stick to using potions and using the flee command as often as possible” suggested Sky as Fluttershy continued to chip away at the flour bags health one point at a time. “But you said there are big scary monsters out there, and I don’t have anypony to keep me safe…” The poor pony took a breather to voice her fear. Her body sunk as though hanging from a hook. She really was giving it her all, despite the fear and worry doing everything short of torturing her. Impressively, despite the sadness of the pony before her, Sky managed to keep a stern demeanor despite her internal organs dissolving into slurry. “Fine; I’ll take you out hunting with me so you can see how a pro does it. Stick close, because I it’ll be the end of ya if ya get in a fight without me.” Said Sky truthfully. Fluttershy threw her arms around an unsuspecting Sky, the earth pony’s demeanor breaking into an undesired smile. “Thankyouthankyouthankyou!” breathed Fluttershy. Sky awkwardly rested a hoof on her shoulder. What was she going to do with her? ###### “All I’m saying is they should at least have the courtesy to label the potions ‘health potions’ otherwise how are ponies like me supposed to figure anything out?” complained Twilight to Applejack as they trotted through the pine forest, following the sandy bank of a small creek. “You’re just mad cause you couldn’t figure out how to heal yourself and I had to help” said a very smug Applejack. “You know how I used to spend my Tuesday evenings? Labeling, because labeling helps save everypony from looking foalish!” “Still sounds like sour apples to me” smiled Applejack, although Twilight had already stopped “What’s the matter?” “There’s a bridge over there” she observed. Surely enough, a small bridge constructed of little red bricks connected a cobblestone path from one side of the creek to a dirt path on the other. “Just a bridge Twi” said Applejack, motioning her friend to carry on. “It’s a pony-made bridge. We’ve been in the Shadow lands for almost a full day and not once did we come across any signs of pony kind. If we take one of these paths, perhaps we can find out a little more about where we are. This may not even be the Shadow Lands, which means we’re going to have to hustle to make it there and do whatever it is Celestia wants done.“ The purple pony frowned. It was becoming apparent that she knew very little about anything anymore, which swallowed the pony’s heart in a deep dark pit somewhere within. Applejack trotted over to her purple pal and placed a hoof on her shoulder. “Look, I reckon if we find a way to civilization, we’re gonna find a way to get back together with our friends, cuz I’ll bet you bits to fritters they’re gonna be looking for us too” “Gosh, you really seem confident we’ll find them” sniffed Twilight. “We always do. Now let’s get going on the cobbly-pathy thingy. Don’t tell Rarity or nothing, but I don’t like muddy hooves if I can avoid ‘em” The two ponies trotted along in silence, admiring the beauty of the world around them. The path rode with the land, never cutting through it, which made it feel like a feature of the earth itself. The sounds of the flowing water and the creeks of the evergreens calmed the two ponies who, once the excitement of their awesome RPG powers started to fade, had succumbed to homesickness and worry. After a blissful hour, the two of them had reached a very steep section leading them up a very rocky hill overlooking a very large lake. On the path they had only a few encounters with level ones and level twos which they could handle with moderate ease. The two of them were starting to get comfortable in their respective battle roles. Cresting the hill they saw a small inn with a poorly written sign reading ‘Griff Game Specials here at Lucky’s Inn! Bit of a commute but hey! More bits for you! Cheap rates guarantee!!” The inn overlooked the lake, which had a distant town on the far coast. Details were hard to make out but the town looked to be celebrating something, with brightly colored circus tents spread about on the surrounding hills. The inn itself was decorated with cheap banners and the occasional balloon that floated so low it looked in pain. Pinkie would have cried her eyes out. Other than the pitifully lame decor the inn was small but held a quaint charm to it. It had a straw roof and green highlights. Applejack noticed the door was mahogany. Twilight noticed the door was wood. Regardless, they pushed it open. The lobby was small with the odd griffon here or there. Behind the counter was Lucky: a blue unicorn with a blonde mane, tiny glasses and a plain cloth garment. He wore a charming smile when he saw fellow ponies. “Ponies in griffon country! And ones I haven’t seen before too! What brings you so far east? No no! Don’t tell me! Is it, the Griff Games by chance?” Lucky had that smug business-pony tone like Flim and Flam did. “Actually, I was hoping you’d give us a map. My friend and I are from Equestria and we need to figure out where ‘here’ is” explained Twilight promptly. Lucky blinked. He had once been asked a similar question by a pony named Sky. At first he hadn’t believed her but with time her story made sense, and if he had learned anything through her it was that the Shadow lands really were that different and that frightening to ponies from Equestria. Normally, Lucky also ran a shop because NPCs don’t do anything but stand around anyways. This meant that a map of the known world should have costed 20 bits, but he gave them one for free in the hopes that it could help them out in some small way. “Thank you, your small contribution to our cause may one day save Equestria from-“ “WHAT, ARE THEY FOLLOWING US?!!” exclaimed somepony outside. Twilight and Applejack looked at each other and without a word confirmed that they were indeed thinking the same thing: Rainbow Dash. Who else would have a voice that scratched at all the right pitches like RD’s? Lucky hopped the counter and ran towards the door, certain he had heard Sky. This far east, there weren’t a lot of other ponies it could be. After AJ and Twi, a few griffons followed, because curiosity is a curious thing. One griffon stayed behind because every lobby has that one unique chair that sucks you in so hard, your entire family would have to contract a deadly illness before you’d consider vacating it. Just down the cobblestone path was the tan colored earth pony named Sky. A shadowy entity resembling a pterodactyl hovered over her, screeching madly. Cowering beside the pony was Fluttershy, who drew the attention of the party immediately. “Fluttershy, hold on!” shrieked Twilight, her and Applejack dashing towards the monster. “Looks like a level three. I wouldn’t have been able to handle this on my own if I were your level, so I’ll take him off your hands.” said Sky. Not that it mattered; their field training had always resulted in the higher level Sky taking over and whipping the butt of whatever was in their way. Applejack and Twilight, who hadn’t yet grasped the art of determining somepony’s level, didn’t know that Sky was level fifteen and could easily defeat the beast who was indeed level three. “Don’t worry now! We got yer back!” said Applejack, spitting at the road and growling at the abomination. “We just need to work together!” affirmed Twilight, taking a battle stance beside her orange friend, digging at the grass with her hoof. Surviving out in the wilds requires a certain amount of quick-thinking skills on part of ponies like Sky. This is why whenever she leveled up she would always put at least one point into her Sharpness Stat. Although initially she had thought a higher Sharpness Stat would cause her to sprout a steadily more impressive horn to learn magic with. So when she saw the two level twos galumphing towards her an idea hatched. “Fluttershy! Listen to me! Let these two ponies join the party and I’ll leave it! You three should be able to handle this, but you’ve got to promise me you’ll try to really be a fighter this time! Okay?” speed-rapped Sky, placing her forehooves on either side of Fluttershy’s head. She knew she had to be quick, before the encounter officially started. Fluttershy whimpered and nodded. Applejack and Twilight were too distracted by the frightening creature’s wails to hear the pair of them. “If I have to I’ll help and if you need it I’ll coach you through turn by turn but you’re not going to get anywhere if I’m always right here.” Sensing her time was closing and unnerved by the beasts snarls, growls, and screeches, she leapt back, leaving the party as Twilight and Applejack automatically switched in. And not a moment too soon; the encounter officially started between the darkspawn, Fluttershy, Applejack, and Twilight Sparkle when the spawn used Roar, lowering the strength of the three ponies. Fluttershy’s turn. “Shy, am I ever glad to see you! Now why in the hay did that tan pony up and leave? We’re gonna need all we can get and then some to take down this beasty!” said Applejack. Instead of explaining, Fluttershy merely whimpered at the blue blinking beneath her. “It’s only a level three featherbrains!” shouted a griffon from the sides. “C’mon that’s the basics! Just cause it looks tough doesn’t mean-”Sky stopped mid sentence. Why would she have to explain that? Her heart sunk: these ponies were Equestrian weren’t they? “Potions and monsters: two things that SHOULD be labeled but evidently aren’t” lamented Twilight “Now come on Fluttershy! If your inner potential is as spectacular as Applejack’s or mine, I can’t wait to see it!” Fluttershy of course didn’t know she had an orb of elementia that, when unleashed, would make her life a whole lot easier. She decided to perform the only move she knew how: Attack. The crowd of griffons and company made the nervous pony completely forgot her “hiya!” as she fluttered up to the flying darkspawn and lightly thrust a hoof into its muzzle. 1 damage. Her face was lobster red as she fluttered back down and saw her friends gawking at the, um, incredible physical trauma just unleashed. AJ’s turn. Applejack appeared paralyzed, which is a real status ailment that will swiftly become everypony’s least favorite faster than Sweetie Belle discovered zap-apple trees really ought not to be bucked! “Shy, that was… that was… good job Shy!” Applejack lied, which is rather unfortunate because a lying applejack is as obvious as a jealous Spike, no matter how well intentioned she was. Fluttershy’s heart broke, which led to Twilight and Applejack’s hearts breaking, which lead to your and my hearts breaking, which led to the griffons remaining indifferent because griffons don’t have hearts. Obviously. Without further words the ponies continued their fight. Applejack was beginning to master the subtle art of hitting things really hard and drawing aggression with cheesy insults (“Ah ever introduce you to Kicks McGee?”), when it wasn’t her turn Twilight was using calculus to derive an understanding of how to most effectively use her current three spells, and Fluttershy’s esteem dropped lower and lower as she continued to do the only action she knew how. At first her friends and those who were watching tried to encourage her with cheers, but it wasn’t long before her turns were followed by lingering awkward silences where nopony said anything at all. The trouble came in with the darkspawn, who was a particularly brutal level three. Despite being only one level higher than Twi and AJ and two higher than Fluttershy, a serious can of whoop-flank had been opened. Without any magic abilities the beast focused on physical, area of effect style attacks like Black Wing. It would hardly be a rotation before Fluttershy would have to bust into their potion supply and heal members up. The only other ability the beast had was simply Attack, most always directed to the agro-drawing Applejack. Their potions depleted even faster because Fluttershy’s hit points were almost criminally low and nopony in the party knew how to revive a fallen member. Sky kept insisting they could just use a Muffin or stop at an inn, but they were in the middle of battle and had no Muffins in inventory. The beast was also considered a low-flyer type, which meant melee attacks had a tendency to miss, lowering the speed the ‘Apple-tank’ could dish out the pain. The fight went on, and before they knew it their small supply of potions had depleted, the last being used on Fluttershy. Following this, the darkspawn used Black Wing, which hit the full party for critical damage, felling Twilight, leaving Applejack in the red zone of her health bar and taking Fluttershy down to about half health. Sky facehoofed. These three ponies should have been able to handle this. The worst part was she suspected they were two, maybe three, solid hits from winning. The trouble came from poor healing methods and Fluttershy being completely incapable. “I’m stepping in.” announced Sky, the disappointment in her voice hard to miss. Fluttershy looked at the ground, not to observe the curser under her hooves, but because she had been told they could handle this. Although that’s not to say she wasn’t a bit surprised to find it was her turn again, as turns were determined by an Initiative Stat she didn’t really understand. Apparently battle etiquette here was above the let’s-all-go-in-a-circle method of turn order. Brzzzt! “oof!” Sky was bumped back from trying to enter the battle. She looked quite confused. She tried towards them again but there was another Brzzzt! noise and she was thrown backwards. “uh-oh” said Sky “Whatya mean ‘uh-oh’?” said Applejack, wincing. “It’s not letting me join the party mid battle” said Sky, her eyebrow furrowing. “What the? Whatya? WHAT’s stopping yeh!?” “Same thing that stops you leaving you little square meter when it’s not your turn. It’s just called the rules. Been here a while but I’m not usually in parties. I thought I could just hop back in when you needed me. Sorry, I guess I can’t do that” said sky, frowning worriedly at the heap of felled unicorn that needed revival her party couldn’t offer. “Well what’s gonna happen if we can’t get him beat in time? What if we don’t make it?!” Applejack was entering a sort of hysteria. The monster roared triumphantly. When you’re a level three beast in an RPG world you seldom ever expect to win any battles. “It’s, you-you disappear. Just kinda fade away. I’m sorry.” Sky turned her head, her heart pounding and her eyes welling a little. Were three brand-new ponies going to bite the dust before her? “It’s game over…” she whispered, though everypony heard her. The pterodactyl like entity seemed to smile. “Well shy, I’m plum outta ideas. Guess we’re gonna hafta try fleeing. That’s a command we have. Reckon we can do it? Says in the description Twi will return to life with 1 hit point if we do it right. You ready?” suggested Applejack, a look of misery in her, she too didn’t want to fail their expectations. “I think it’s our only hope. Not unless this orb I have can do us any good.” Sighed Fluttershy, ready to try the Flee command. “You haven’t opened your orb a’ elementia?” Silence. “Well bring it out!!” implored Applejack, baffled she hadn’t realized this sooner. Fluttershy removed her orb from her inventory. It was big, round, and displayed her butterfly cutie mark. At once it burst into light and a memory of a past encounter with Celestia returned to her. “Fluttershy: congratulations. You get to be the party healer, and with it live out some of the most time-honored traditions of battle. If anything ever goes wrong, and I mean anything, you will take all of the blame despite having one of the hardest and most detrimental jobs. You’ll be using the spells ‘heal’ and ‘revive’ almost every turn for the foreseeable future. Along the way you’ll slowly gain better versions of these as well as some almost entirely useless protection spells. You class really doesn’t change until somewhere in the upper eighties. That’s when you get ludicrously powerful offensive magic that basically makes you a god trapped in a puny pegasus’ body. I tell you Divine Judgment will be totally worth it! But for now of course, I would advise you to never, under any circumstances, try to deal damage to any kind of foe before you get access to what I call ‘Holy Cow!’ magic. Leave that for ponies like Applejack and Rainbow Dash.” Celestia had told her, back in town hall, giving a wink as she did so. Fluttershy remembered what a relief it was to know how she would never really need to fight anything. “You know Fluttershy your and my battle classes are the same, meaning you’ll get the honor of following in my hoofprints! Oh how I remember waiting until Luna was almost but not quite felled, then healing her for as few points as possible. Ah, good times…” And that concluded Fluttershy’s memory. “I’m a healer!” Cheered Fluttershy in one of those voices she adorable perceived as ‘loud’. “What can you do? And I thought you needed magic to use spells” “I think I can use either Heal or Revive” “Rule number 83: prioritize!” shouted Sky from the sidelines, always quick to adapt to new situations. “You gotta remember now that you’re the lifeblood of this team! I think we’ve seen all the bite this puppy’s got in ‘em! Heal yourself up first because no matter what you have to be ready to survive his most powerful attack! Besides; your total hit points kinda suck!” Stepping up to the seriousness of the situation, Fluttershy cast Heal on herself. She was embodied with a revitalizing light that restored 312 hit points. The sensation of using magic for the first time was so profoundly queer, she could scarcely describe it. The pair of them survived the next onslaught by the darkspawn, who attacked twice in an unexpected--but not party wiping--turn of events. Meticulously, Fluttershy continued to maintain the party’s health. In a daring play on Fluttershy’s part, she managed to revive Twilight despite having only 198 hit points. A ray of light shone from the heavens and choir of angels serenaded the unicorn’s resurrection. Twilight was revived to 262 hit points, better described as halfway to being fully healed. Although a pessimist might say she was halfway to being dead all over again. “We shouldn’t play so rough…” said a dazed Twilight. “What are you crazy?” Sky shouted from the sides “If he attacks you, your whole team’s done for! Bottom line! End of the road!” I imagine Sky’s shouting went on but I think you get the gist. “Guess we don’t leave nopony behind!” sung a certain smug apple farmer, as she jumped forth and, hammering her two muddy hooves into the beasts jaw, felled the darkspawn and ended the encounter. “Oh! Is it over?” was Fluttershy’s automatically-said victory quote as the party danced about in pride. Unfortunately there was no loot, but Fluttershy leveled up. As soon as they could, Applejack and Twilight rushed over to hug their friend. Sky, trotted over, looking relieved but not joining in, and the griffons returned to being jerks back in the inn instead of being jerks over here. Lucky kept a respectful distance too. “I’m so relieved you’re okay” said Twilight. “I’m just happy I could help” blushed Fluttershy. “Help us a little? Shy you were amazing! Why I bet if it weren’t for you, we wouldn’t of made it! Suppose you were just meant to be a healer.” Said Applejack. “Wait a minute! You’re a healer?!” Twilight retreated from the hug scornfully. “That means you wasted all our potions!!” “She didn’t activate her orb thinger-mer-whatsit. You kinda missed out being unconscious and all” explained AJ. “Ooooooooohhhh…” ###### Two nights ago, a little dragon named Spike had gone forth for a special meeting with Princess Celestia. He hadn’t the slightest idea why he was summoned, and was one of the last to see her. She was in the middle of the aisle between the large wooden benches that faced the hall’s stage. Her back was towards him and, save for that world famous mane of hers, was completely still. The rest of the hall had an old, aged look to it, more so than usual. In fact, he hadn’t noticed it until now. “Spike, there is no easy way for me to tell you this” said Celestia “But Twilight Sparkle and her friends, I’m sure you know whom, are going to be sent on a journey to the Shadow Lands beyond our borders” the princess did not turn around. There is a very unpleasant sensation that has been known to happen in times like this. If you’ve ever been told horrible news and knew exactly what it is before it was said aloud, you’ve experienced this phenomenon. Their mannerisms change and they look at you with unfamiliar eyes, and you know they’ve been unfaithful seconds before they say “I’ve been seeing somepony else” Spike knew what Celestia was going to say, word for word, before “I want you to say your goodbyes” left her lips. The little dragon said nothing. Instead he clasped his hands in front of his tummy and patiently waited for her to continue. Still technically a baby, tears came quickly for him, but he fought back. Twilight, Pinkie, Rarity, and the other ones had gone on adventures before, but he knew already that this time would be different. Never before had he been asked to ‘say his goodbyes’, but he trusted Celestia and would obey her orders. “When I speak with them I will be forced to place them under complicated memory spells. There will be a time in their journey they will reach a place called Azio’s Alter, near New Canterlot. There a friend of mine named Firetrotter will inform me of their arrival and I will unlock their full memory of the events that will happen from their meet up with me to their being teleported out. Then they will know their real quest.” Explained Celestia calmly, normally the princess would have at least thrown a joke in. Spike remained silent, so the princess continued. “There is a very real possibility they will want to abandon their quest at this time. That’s why I intend to send them something. I need you to find me an object that will help guide Twilight Sparkle towards what is right: to show her that the light is worth fighting for. It has to be something of great significance to her, something I as her teacher could never hope to produce. Again: they will have no memory of anything from their upcoming meeting to their being teleported out of here by my sister. I plan for them to be gone by the day after tomorrow.” said Princess Celestia, still continuing her rigid stance. The next silence was longer, assuming he was dismissed, the dragon turned towards the door, unsure of just what was going on. “Spike, I’ve told the others similar things. You know: the Apples, Scootaloo, Mr. and Mrs. Cake…” she said as Spike reached the door, at long last turning her body “But other than Rainbow Dash Fluttershy doesn’t have any family here in Ponyville. Since Rainbow can’t, I was hoping that you would get something for her too: something to tell her just how brave she can be. Will you do that for me?” The dragon nodded, and then left her presence. Celestia sighed and turned back towards the podium again. She only had the big one left: The meeting with Twilight, Pinkie Pie, Rarity and the other ones. Then, at long, long last, the sun would set on her time fighting the black stallion and his crooked ways.