//------------------------------// // Setting Up The Plan // Story: The Captain of Mining // by Raybony //------------------------------// The light of a new day broke through the air, shining its rays upon the sleeping form of Fluttershy. Stirring slowly from her slumber, Fluttershy slowly sat up on her bed, rubbing her eyes to get rid of any sleep that still lingered. Fluttershy opened her eyes as she adjusted to the new lighting, thankfully she was used to it. She looked to the base of her bed, seeing the sleeping form of Kerry as she breathed softly. Fluttershy smiled at the peaceful sight. She got out of bed slowly, moving to the other end of her bed to nudge the sleeping feline. Kerry stirred a bit, letting a little groan. “Five more minutes mom.” Kerry said as she laid back on the mattress. Fluttershy just smiled at her softly. “I’m sorry; I just wanted to make sure you were alright.” Fluttershy said as she rubbed the back of the cat with one of her wings, the soft feathers softly brushing the back of the feline. “H-hey, s-stop it, that t-tickles.” Kerry said as she scrambled away from the tickling feathers, she turned around to face the pegasus with a small smile of her own. “But thanks for checking on me; I’m feeling a bit better, but still a bit sore in some places.” She said this before getting off the bed with a small jump. “But at least I can move around now.” “Oh I’m glad.” Fluttershy said as she moved towards the small dresser that was in the room, going to brush her mane which was a bit ruffled. “So did you sleep well? I hope I didn’t bother you.” Fluttershy asked as she combed her mane into the usual way that she was accustomed to. Kerry walked next to her, electing to sitting as she talk to Fluttershy. “I did, thank you, you didn’t bother me at all. Now, Sparklez was a total different story.” Kerry said in a joking manner as she recalled last night. “Speaking of him, how do you think him and Knievels did last night?” Kerry asked as she tilted her head. Fluttershy looked a bit concerned for a second, but decided not to let it get to her. “I hope they are ok, I think we should check on them.” Fluttershy said as she went towards the stairs, Kerry jumping on her back as she started to like riding the mare. When they reached downstairs, they found an unusual item laying in the living room. “Is that, an arrow?” Fluttershy asked as she neared the object. Kerry looked at it more closely before she could recognize what it was. “Skeleton arrow, how in Minecraftia did it get here?” Kerry asked before looking at the direction where the projectile seemed to come from, right towards the still destroyed door to the house. “Oh yeah, forgot about that.” Fluttershy walked towards the door frame, but was a bit hesitant as she imagined what could lurk on the other side. “Hey Shy, no need to worry, most monsters burn in the daylight, so you should be safe.” Kerry said upon noticing Shy’s behaviour. Fluttershy nodded a bit, but still had that small fear that something might appear once she crossed the doorway. Gulping a bit, she trotted slowly out the door, the sun washing over her as she came out. She looked around for a bit, expecting anything to pop out and try to harm her, she waited a bit longer before she was sure that everything was ok. She let out a sigh before turning to look at Kerry. “Seems you were right, so where do you think Sparklez and Knievels are?” Fluttershy asked as she started looking for the mentioned duo. Kerry looked around as well, not able to see anything. “Maybe they are on the other side.” Kerry suggested as she gave a small shrug of sorts. “Maybe,” Fluttershy said as she started walking around the house, going towards her backyard. Upon arriving there, she found a sight she wasn’t sure what to make of it. “Oh, my” The wall of the house, as well as the ground was littered with arrows, all of them at different angles which told that there was more than one archer. And in the middle of it all lay the sleeping form of Knievel, resting on his back as he sported a couple arrows in his body. Rested against him was Sparklez, the Sandslash in his hand as he rested in a way that he could get up quickly and strike. He was in far better wear than Knievel, but two arrows could be seen sticking out of his body, one in the back of his left shoulder and another in his right leg. Fluttershy panicked immediately, fearing for the well being of the man. “Sparklez!” Fluttershy galloped to the side of Sparklez, checking if he was better than he seemed. She put her ear against his chest, hearing the rhythmical thumb of a heart, making her glad that he was alive. Sparklez reacted to the touch, springing awake as he brought his sword up. “Stay away you freaking skeletons!” Sparklez yelled anxious, surprising the mare that was next to him. “Knievel smash!” Knievel sprung awake when Sparklez started yelling, reading his fists to smash another mob that tried to attack him or his master. “Guys, chill out. Whatever attacked you last night is gone, or dead.” Kerry said as she tried to calm down the two individuals. “I guess you had a bit of trouble then.” “W-what?” Sparklez asked as he rubbed his eyes, now noticing the mare and cat talking to them. “Oh, hey guys. Sorry if we scared you, had a bad episode with skeletons last night.” Sparklez said as he stretched his back, electing a small pop. “I can tell...” Kerry said as she eyed the arrows sticking out of the iron golem. “Mind telling us what happened?” Kerry asked as she looked at the arrows stuck on Sparklez. “If you want, that is.” Fluttershy added in, hiding her face slightly behind her mane. Sparklez rubbed his head as he tried to recall the events of last night. “Ugh, let’s see, it was about one or two hours after we got here, me and Knievels were keeping watch for any monsters that may come when…” Last Night “Knievel, watch out!” Sparklez shouted as he dodged another volley of arrows coming his way. Knievel raised an arm at his own share of arrows, making the projectiles either be deflected or get stuck in his thick arms. “Really hate white skinny monsters.” Knievel said as he crushed another of the skeletal archers with his giant hands. “I’m just glad it wasn’t Creepers and Spiders, boy would we be toast.” Sparklez said as he slashed two other skeletons with his sword, making the bones clatter into the ground, before disappearing in the same black mist as the other monsters. “But on the plus side, I’m getting some arrows out of this.” He was about to block another stray arrow when he felt one of the projectiles strike him on the back. “God damn it, these guys are getting gnarly.” He was interrupted again when he was hit on the leg by another skeleton. “Fuck!” “Arrrgh, arrow in knee!” Knievels yelled as he held his leg for a moment before charging the group of skeletons that was in front of him, receiving multiple projectiles from the mobs in the process. “Don’t start that joke in a moment like this.” Sparklez grunted as he hid behind cover, avoiding more of the projectiles. Knievels looked back at the man with a confused expression. “What joke master?” “Ugh, never mind. Lets just clear out the rest before-.” He stopped when he heard a familiar hiss, but not that of a creeper, but rather an arachnid creature. Looking towards the source, he spotted three spider jockeys, the spiders exposing their fangs, its legs bending about as they supported their weight, the tips seemed to be hairier that the rest of its body. On its back rode what seemed to be the human skeleton of some individual, the joints somehow holding themselves together without any muscle tissue. The eyes shone a bright red, making it clear that the old carcass was full of life despite of the appearance, in its hands it carried a hand-made bow, and arrow suddenly appearing on the other, readying it to shoot it at the human. “Oh come on! It was hard enough with so many skeletons, but now this?” Sparklez said as he saw the spider quickly crawling towards him, the skeleton fired the arrow that he had drawn.”This is going to be a long night.” Sparklez said as he charged the duo monster, ready to strike them down. “...It basically went like that for a while until we managed to clear the area out, we then decided to trade posts until morning, but it seems we both fell asleep.” Sparklez finished his explanation, then he took a bite of the buttered toast he was having for breakfast. “How in Tartarus did we not hear any of this happening?” Kerry asked as she ate a bit of food from a bowl that Fluttershy had offered her. The mare in question attending to all of her animal friends as she listened in. “Not sure, either the battle was more quiet than we thought, or you guys are heavy sleepers.” Sparklez said as he gave a shrug, sipping a bit of his orange juice. Although he didn’t expect it from the shy mare. Fluttershy soon came to join the two of them on the table, having now finish attending to all her little animal friends. “I’m just glad that nothing serious happened to you two, and, thanks for keeping me safe.” Fluttershy said with a small smile, hiding herself a bit behind her mane. “No problem Flutters.” Sparklez said before getting a more serious expression. “But I’m worried, we may need to do something about these attacks, we can’t protect you forever and we have been lucky until now.” “What’d you mean?” Kerry said as she went to stand in front of the man, looking at him with a confused look. Sparklez gave a sigh as he went to explain things. “We’ve been here two nights and we have been attacked by zombies, skeletons, spiders and a few creepers. And those are just the normal monsters.” “You mean there are more m-monsters?” Fluttershy said with a bit of fear, Sparklez had told her that Dave and Bart were considered monsters that would normally attack him, and just by the looks of them the first time, she had been terrified. And now she finds out there are more horrible monsters? Worse than those she has seen? Sparklez didn’t like to see the mare like this, but she needed to know for her own safety. “Yes, the creatures from yesterday are one of the tougher ones to deal with. We were lucky none of us got too hurt.” “A-and the really big and scary one?” Fluttershy asked as she hid herself a bit, really not wanting to hear an answer that she didn’t want. “Ancient Entity. And that guy can only be spawned, or summoned I guess.” Sparklez said as he scratched the back of his head. He really needed to separate the game from reality when it came to certain aspects. Fluttershy eased up a lot at that. Glad, that at least one more danger wasn’t going to ever present itself in her life or her friends again. “But we can talk about this better at Twilight’s place, and we still need to address your issue about your home and monster attacks.” Sparklez said as he went to stand up and get ready to leave. “O-ok.” Fluttershy replied softly as she looked at the man with a hint of worry. “Guys, can we get on with this? You two sound like an old married couple.” Kerry said, the last part more in a joking matter. Fluttershy started to blush faintly at that, hiding herself a bit more behind her mane. Sparklez just softly facepalmed, starting to dislike the jokes about him and one of the girls being in some kind of relationship. He didn’t know them for that long and already people, or rather his old friends, are making assumptions, maybe Minecraft is familiar with this kind of cross species relationships, he didn’t know. “Kerry, please. It’s too early and one of you making jokes about my love life is enough.” He rubbed his eyes with his fingers, trying to ease the small annoyance he was getting. “Anyways, lets go, I have a feeling that we want to spend most of the day figuring out what we are going to do.” Sparklez said as he walked towards the door frame that used to have a door. Kerry proceeded to jump on the back of Fluttershy once again. “Maybe this time we can get a more relaxing day.” Kerry said as she started playing with Fluttershy’s mane. Sparklez looked at the cat with a small smirk. “You wanted some action yesterday, and now you want tranquility today.” “Oh whatever, I’m a cat slash ocelot. Some days I want adventures, some days I just want to rest and relax. Don’t judge me.” Kerry said as she rested her head, drifting off into another one of her cat naps. Fluttershy giggled at the little statement, finding it cute coming from the little feline. “She reminds me of Rainbow. Always one for dangerous stuff, but likes to live life easy.” Fluttershy then dropped her happy her expression as she mentioned her friend. “I hope she’s doing ok.” “Hey now, we are going to solve this problem in no time, and I’m sure Dash can handle this, from what I can see.” Sparklez was partially lying, recalling how Rainbow needed a talk for the few problems that related to him in one way or another. “I, hope so.” Fluttershy said with a bit more confident, but the uncertainty was still in her voice as she worried about her friend. The three of them exited the home and started looking for Knievel, wanting to get going as soon as possible. “Knievel, buddy, we are going to Twilight’s. Where are you?” Sparklez called out, searching for the iron golem. He turned to look around one of the sides of the building, and stopped at the sight that awaited him, holding a bit of laughter at the scene, Fluttershy giggling softly as well. “Hey, what’s so funny?” Kerry exclaimed as she looked past Fluttershy’s head. When she managed to see to the front, she had to hold her laughter, as she watched Knievel being assaulted by small critters as they climbed and went around the golem’s body. “Master, little help?” Knievel asked, as he tried to gently shake a squirrel that was climbing around his right arm. A bird landed on top of Knievel’s head, where he sported a small nest that was sure to belong to the bird. “Well Knievel,” Kerry started saying between giggles. “I always knew you were a bird brain.” and with that, Kerry couldn’t hold the laughter in anymore, she started rolling around on Fluttershy’s back a bit before falling to the ground, continuing laughing at the scene. Knievel just frowned at the cat, not really seeing his current situation as funny. “Not funny.” Was all that Knievel said as he now tried to get rid of a koala that was perched around his leg. Fluttershy wanting to help the golem, went and proceeded to tell the animals to leave Knievel alone, “Sorry little guys, but knievel needs to go now, you can play with him another time.” Fluttershy cooed  as she talked to her animal friends. Following their friends words, the critters left the golem alone, Knievel shook his head as soon as the bird that was on his head flew away, making the small nest to fall to the ground in pieces. “Thank you tiny yellow horse.” “Pony.” Sparklez corrected, wanting to avoid any problem that may arise in the future from saying horse instead of pony. He still wasn’t sure if the species even existed here, only seeing the small quadruped beings going about. “It’s ok, I’m just glad I could help.” Fluttershy said with a warm smile. Knievel gave a small bow, letting her know that he was content with her. They both went and joined Sparklez and Kerry, the latter jumping back onto the yellow pegasus’s back once she was next to her. “Well, guess we better get going. To adventure!” Sparklez said as he poised out, raising an arm to the sky. “We are only going for a visit Sparky, no need to get excited.” Kerry said with a smug look, amused at the man’s usual antics. “Hehe, just thought I’d make the journey more enjoyable.” Sparklez said as the group started walking towards the town. Twilight was in the living space of the library, the rest of her friends, minus Fluttershy, were with her as they waited for the rest of their friends. “I am so bored. Isn’t Fluttershy an early riser like Applejack?” Rainbow Dash stated as she rested against the wall, her arms crossed as she waited around with the rest. “And aren’t ya a late riser? Ah’ve known you fer some time, and ya have never been awake this early.” Applejack said as she looked at her pegasus/human friend. “Don’t know, guess I felt like waking up early today.” Rainbow said as she simply shrugged, although she was wandering the same thing herself, she did go to sleep pretty late last night. Maybe humans didn’t rest that much and it affected her some way. “In the meantime, we could try to see what you can do Rainbow.” Twilight suddenly said, making everyone look at her with curious looks. “What I can do?” Rainbow asked, not sure what her lavender friend meant. “Yes. We know what Sparklez is capable of doing, and I thought that it would be good to see if you actually gained part or all of his abilities.” Twilight explained, making her friends look at Rainbow with interest. “Oh, can you make stuff disappear? It would be like you had magic like Twilight, just without the horn. But isn’t that incredible?” Pinkie said as she bounced on her seat, showing her normal eagerness. “That would be the Hyper Optimal Transdimensional Bar, or HOT BAR for short” Twilight stated, earning confused looks from the rest. “Well, I’m not sure. I can see this thing in front of me, like I told Twilight, but I don’t know if it’s the same thing that Sparklez has.” Rainbow said as she scanned the ever present HUD within her field of vision. “We can try the experiment from yesterday if you want.” Twilight started as she levitated a book from a desk near her, hovering closer to her cyan friend. “Nothing dangerous this time.” Twilight added the last bit as she remembered her actions from yesterday. Rainbow looked at her friend before staring at the book that floated in front of her, she reached out, holding the spine of the book with her hand, it sent shivers through her body, still not used to the feeling of touching things with a soft hand opposed to her hard hoof. Twilight let go of the book quickly, expecting something to happen. Everyone stared at Rainbow as she looked at the book a bit longer before letting out a groan. “Twilight, I don’t think this is working.” Rainbow said, looking a bit annoyed at the book. Twilight frowned a bit, really expecting some kind of reaction from it. She remembered what Sparklez did whenever something of a magical nature occurred. “Try to, put it on your pouch?” Twilight said, a bit uncertain at the strange request. Rainbow stared at her with a raised eyebrow. “Um Twi, don’t know if you noticed but, I don’t carry anything like that.” Rainbow said, really confused at her friend’s request. “Well, Sparklez didn’t have any visible pouches either, but he still summoned one when he went to put something away.” Twilight deduced, trying to make reason for her explanation. Rainbow took that to consideration, but it still didn't convince her that she had the same powers as Sparkles, although she would like to. "Don't know Twi, it just seems, weird to think I have something like that." Rainbow said as she eyed her hips, where the pouches supposedly rested. "Can you at least try? It could make a difference if you can help Sparklez in more ways." Twilight said with a small hopeful look. Rainbow remained silent for a bit, judging Twilight's words. "I guess you are right, but how the hay do I go around this?" Rainbow said as she held the book back up, looking at it intensely. "That's easy silly, just put it in your pouches. Even gummy can do it!" Pinkie said as she brought out a small pouch, which held the mentioned reptile inside, staring at space with its seemingly unblinking eyes. Rainbow ignored the last bit of her friend’s comment, concentrating on the rest as she said, "Pinkie, you can't expect me to just put away the book into something I don- huh?" Rainbow stopped mid sentence, as her hand was brought near her hips with the book, starting to slip from her grasp as it started to dissipated into a white mist. It soon wiggled around Rainbow's hand, before it went directly into a pouch which was held to Rainbow's hips by an also mysterious belt, the clip of which sported the mare's cutie mark. . Rainbow soon noticed something change on her vision, one of the squares on the small bar seemed to now contain the picture of a book, a white outline going around the box that contained it. "Wh-what?" Rainbow stammered a bit, surprised at the action. "How the hay did I do that?" Rainbow questioned as she tried to grasp what had just happened. The rest of her friends looked at her, a bit surprised at her being able to do what Sparklez did exactly the same way. "Golly Rainbow, you sure did manage to learn that quick." Applejack remarked as she looked at her friend content on her being able to do the task. "This is great! Now we know you have some of Sparklez’s abilities. OK now, try to take it out." Twilight instructed as she wanted to see how far Rainbow was able to use this abilities. "Wait, take it out?" Rainbow exclaimed as she looked at her friends, before looking at the image of the book in her vision. "Umm, just how do I do that?" Rainbow said with a sheepish smile, unsure of what to do. Twilight drew a blank there, she wasn't sure how Sparklez managed to take objects out his containers, plus each time he did, the pouch would appear on a section a bit different from where it was originally. "Shoot, I didn't think about that. Sorry Rainbow, but I think you will have to ask Sparklez how to do it." Twilight said a bit disappointed in herself at not being able to help her friend. Rainbow gave a sigh, expecting the same thing. “I guess I’ll have to. Speaking of him, do you have any idea how he knew those two things from last night?” Rainbow asked, trying to change the subject. “Well one thing is for certain,” Rarity started after Rainbow mentioned the two mobs from last night. “They do not share the same taste in fashion as Sparklez. Green! Oh by Celestia, it is an abomination in fashion to use white when one is such shade of green!” “Rarity, I don’t think this is the best moment to criticise fashion.” Twilight said, not in the mood to deal with the fashionista's opinions. “But I’m not sure how it could be possible for Sparklez to be friends with those monsters.” “Why not?” Applejack asked, intrigued by what her friend was referring. Twilight’s horn lit up, the large encyclopedia that held the info about the knowledge of most of the world of Minecraft. “According to this, those two were a zombie and an enderman, two of the most common hostile creatures that roam the land, at least that’s what this says.” Twilight explained as she flipped through the entries of the book again. “But that can’t be right, those two were too friendly to be of any danger, unless they are trying to fool us.” Rainbow said as she started to form a small frown, feeling this was a bit like what she did towards Sparklez. “That’s what I’m thinking, maybe not all monsters are evil, or maybe there is something that we don’t know about how they think.” Twilight deduced as she herself couldn’t be sure about this stuff. Before anyone could continue, a knock on the door brought their attention. Twilight went to the door to answer it and upon opening it, the sight of Fluttershy, Sparklez, Kerry and Knievels greeted her. “Hi guys, we were waiting for you, please come in.” She stepped to side as she let them come in. “Hello everyone, how are you all doing?” Sparklez greeted as he came inside, followed by Fluttershy with a sleeping Kerry. Knievels stayed out, due to his larger body size impeding him from coming in, but was able to see and listen to the conversation. “Hi girls, nice to see you.” Fluttershy said in her usual soft voice, giving her friends a warm smile. Sparklez looked towards Rainbow, who seemed to be standing by herself instead of with her friends. This girl, why must she still be so distant. He gave a mental sigh, knowing that she was still having a hard time adapting to all this. Everyone soon gathered up, sitting down around the small table in the middle of the living room. Rainbow Dash deciding to sit at the opposite side of Sparklez. “Soooo, shall we get started then?” Sparklez said, falling to his mock serious tone that he uses when doing his videos. “Oh, yeah. I think that we best discuss about what you know about these creatures first, and also try decipher how this whole messed up game works.” Twilight said as she emphasised the last part by shaken her arms about. “You mean the one we are in, or the one that ended up here?” Sparklez asked, wanting to make sure as to not make a mistake and give wrong information. “Well, both I guess. But right now the one that ended up here. Jeez, that sounds so bizarre.” Twilight stated as she tried to accept the idea that what was happening was connected to some kind of game, in more than one way. “Tell me about it. But as far as to what I know, it could go either way.” Sparklez responded as he rubbed the back of his head. “Sparklez, you have to stop talking like this, you don’t make sense.” Kerry butted in, wanting for her friend to stop going around stuff for no reason. “While I wouldn’t put it into those words, it would help if you could elaborate on what you mean Sparklez.” Twilight explained after giving the feline a small glare. “What I meant is, that I can’t be sure anything that I know can be actually as I would expect it to be in here. This whole thing used to be controlled by buttons of sort, even simple things aren’t as I thought they would be.” Sparklez started explaining , everyone looking at him with curiosity. “But you are still able to do them then, right? We saw you doing some form of magic without any kind of magic outlet that I could see.” Twilight said as she pointed the different accomplishments of the man. “Right, but I was lucky to figure them out. And right now I have to find out a few more things before I can try to solve this mess.” Sparklez said as he wondered what he would have to do to help these ponies and get back home, who knew what happened after he got sent here. “Are you forgetting somepony doofus?” Rainbow said as she gave the man a smirk. “If you are going to help us, then I’m coming along for the ride.” Twilight was about to scold Rainbow for her idea, before she was interrupted by her friend Applejack. “Don’t forget about me partner, if I get the chance to teach the vermin responsible of this a thin’ or two-” “Girls, we can’t just go and hope to beat Discord’s sister like that.” Twilights interrupted, trying to halt the possibility of her friends throwing themselves into danger ways like in the past. “We couldn’t even harm those creatures from yesterday, even less The Ancient Entity.” “What are you talking about silly? Dashie got rid of the big meaney all by herself, and it was  really awesome!” Pinkie exclaimed, showing her excitement clearly to the others. “That’s because she got Sparklez’s powers, and we can’t exactly get them as we wish.” Twilight rebutted, really wishing that her friend could see the problem that they were present in. “Yes we can, with these babies!” Pinkie said as she now held Sparklez’s thin shades,  then proceeded to place them on. Sparklez had a look of shock and confusion, as he had not noticed the missing shades or HUD until Pinkie had produced the pair out of thin air. Everyone had a look of horror as they knew that if what happened to Rainbow happened to Pinkie...They went to reach her in an attempt to get the shades away, but Pinkie moved to the side, giggling as she thought they were playing a game of sorts. Everyone’s eyes shrunk in shock when the shades rested on top of Pinkie’s face and, nothing. Pinkie adopted a small frown when she noticed she still had hooves instead of the funny looking appendages. “Hey what gives? Sparklez, why did you turn your glasses off? Oh, maybe they are voice activated. Shazam!...Awww, I was sure that would work.” Pinkie pouted at not being able to change form. Everyone gave a sigh of relief, glad that nothing bad happened regarding Pinkie. “This girl, she either is completely oblivious of yesterday’s events, or she is just insane.” Kerry said, trying to think which made more sense around the pink mare. “Pinkie Pie!” Twilight scolded her friend as she took the shades in her telekinetic grip. “What were you thinking? You know what happened to Rainbow yesterday after she put those on, didn’t you think that could happen to you as well?” Pinkie ears folded at Twilight’s words, knowing that they made sense. “Sorry, I guess I just wanted to see what I looked like as a human. Sorry.” Pinkie gave a small sad smile, trying to let her friend calm down. Twilight gave a sigh, calming down before she started talking. “It’s ok, nothing happened and that’s what counts at the moment.” Twilight levitated the shades back to Sparklez, who took them, giving a nod of gratitude to Twilight. “But I’m being serious about you, or anypony for that matter, to go and help Sparklez, we can’t hurt them if we don’t have that same magic energy that Sparklez has, or any of the creatures have.” Sparklez thought for a moment, not really getting what Twilight was saying but he kind of got the idea. “Hey, what about objects that have the same, the doohickey, you know, I can create weapons and tools if I can get resources.” Sparklez said, suggesting this course of action. While Twilight had a small uncertain look, Applejack sprung to the offer immediately. “Sure as hay, not sure what Twi was talking about, but anything to help us clear this place from the pests,  we’ll gladly take it.” “Oh, me too, me too! Maybe I can find more fun guys to party with.” Pinkie bounced in place, her hoof raised in the air like a filly in school. “Pinkie, dear. I highly doubt that will happen, but I must say, this is an opportunity that I cannot pass. This could be the chance for me to get more inspiration for my dress line, and who knows, find exotic materials for me to use.” Rarity exclaimed, earning an eye roll from Applejack. “What do you say Flutters? Wanna go on an adventure?” Kerry asked the canary yellow pegasus, giving her a warm smile. Fluttershy wasn’t sure what to say, she wanted to help her friends, but she was scared about all the monsters that crawled around now. “I bet there are cute critters for you to take care off.” Kerry said, having a good idea that the mare was an animal lover, if her house said anything. Fluttershy gave a small gasp, the thought of more sweet critters that she could befriend? She had a soft smile as she nodded to the cat, letting her know that she was in as well. Twilight wanted for her friends to think about this, she wanted to help out too, but she wasn’t sure what could happen if that could get one of them hurt or worse. But she knew that regardless of what she said they would still help Sparklez solve this problem and also  save Equestria. “Guess we made our choice then.” Twilight said with a bit of a smile, seeing all of her friends giving her nods of confirmation. “I guess that sorts one problem out, but do we know how are we gonna actually make this happen? We are still not sure how are we suppose to beat this crazy game.” Sparklez said as he pondered on the question, as he still had no good idea of what these elements were and how are they suppose to get them. “I was thinking about that, and I think I got the answer.” Twilight said as she got the attention of everyone. “It seems that all this monsters leave behind objects that can be used for different purposes, correct?” “Yes, some are for weapons, items, building materials, things like that.” Sparklez answered, confirming Twilight’s guess. “And Rainbow, you found your piece of element, after you killed the monster, right?” Rainbow gave a nod, answering Twilight’s question. “Then maybe our elements are left behind by monsters when we beat them.” She looked down, a frown forming on her face. “The question is, which ones?” “The boss monsters.” Sparklez said out of the blue, getting confused expressions from the ponies in the room. “It has to be them, those monsters are stronger than any other creature that appears on the world, and The Ancient Entity was one of them.” “But we don’t know which one are those.” Rainbow said, seeing a problem in this plan. “Yes, yes we do.” Twilight said as she levitated the encyclopedia to the table, opening it to an entry where it showed a rough image if the monster from yesterday, as well as a sketch of objects inside a square grid, with a familiar looking clock to the side. “This is in the section marked as Twilight Spectrum, it shows objects that uses resources coming from different dimensions, and even some monsters that can be either hostile of passive.” She said as she flipped the pages towards another entry on the book, passing other entries varying from large crabs to floating eyes with tentacles appendages sprouting from the side. “This, is another one like it.” She pointed to a image of what appeared to be a large eye, scales going around his body as a sort of armour, as well as some antenas sprouting from his sides and top of the head. A grid could be seen showing a set of three gems and a brick looking object surrounding a pink crystal eye, which gave to a blue looking one, only this one seemed to have coloured a glow around it.  “This one is called The Watcher, and is suppose to be even more dangerous than the last one.” “I see what you mean egghead.” Rainbow said as she crossed her arms. “But what is that symbol next to ugly?” Rainbow asked, pointing to a small ring that was filled with purple swirls. “A nether portal. I would normally have to travel there if I wanted to call it.” Sparklez said as he reached to one of his pouches again, this time producing the same blue crystal eye, which too had a small glow. “You had that with you too?!” Twilight asked in surprised, not expecting the man to possess such item as it seemed to require really rare materials. “I guess so, not sure how it ended up in my bag, but this saves us a bit of time.” Sparklez said as he put the eye away. “But we still need to prepare, and I guess learn to fight.” “Learn to fight? You are kidding right? You were kicking flank yesterday.” Rainbow exclaimed, surprised that Sparklez would say such thing, when he clearly was able to take three dragon looking things by himself. “I was lucky, I just went and did what I thought was right. I only know a bit of personal defence but that still doesn’t count to swordplaying.” Sparklez said as he frowned towards the concept. “I’m even surprised I have survived this long.” “Don’t say that.” Pinkie said, giving the man a hug. “If you get sad then I’ll be sad. Come on, turn that frown upside down.” She said as she moved the corners of Sparklez’s mouth into an awkward smile with her hooves. Sparklez pushed the mare off him, laughing a bit at her being silly. “Ok, ok, I’ll stop being depressed.” Pinkie responded with a large toothy smile of her own. Twilight thought for a bit, it did seem true that Sparklez needed some training. On his last spars with the creatures he seemed to be clumsy according to how his body would suppose to react. She had an idea, but wasn’t sure if it would be possible. “I could try and ask Princess Celestia about it, maybe she could find somepony that knows about it.” Sparklez thought about it, he really didn’t want to impose anything to the ruler of the land, and the chances of finding someone that could teach him were close to zero. But on the other hand he would be able to learn to fight properly against this monsters, and maybe survive long enough through this madness. “Alright Twilight, it would be good to at least try.” “Ok, I’ll write the letter later today. Anything else that we should address here?” Twilight asked, wanting to see if there was anything that she may have missed on. “Well, there is an issue regarding Fluttershy’s house.” Sparklez started as she eyed the yellow pegasus, who shied away a bit at the mention of her name. “It seems that monsters keep appearing near her home and try to attack her, last night me and Knievels had to fend off skeletons.” “Not fan of skinny guys.” Knievel said as he heard the mention of the skeletal archers, hating their existence about as much as Sparklez. “Oh how dare they! What do this ruffians want with Sparklez, or us for Celestia’s sake.” Rarity said as she had a frown pressed on her face, contemplating what she would do if she saw more of those monsters. “What happened? Is everything alright? Fluttershy, did you get hurt?” Twilight asked in a bit of panic, knowing that her friend was the more fragile out of them all. “I-I’m fine, thank you for asking.” Fluttershy spoke softly as she answer her friend’s question. “Seems that we slept through the whole fight that this two knuckle heads had.” Kerry said as she snickered a bit from her joke. “I see.” Twilight said as she went back to addressing Sparklez request. “We can try to sort that out, but I think we should move Fluttershy out of her house for now.” Twilight said looking to her shy friend. Fluttershy would have opposed to this, as she didn’t want to leave her animal friends alone at night, but she knew that it was dangerous to stay, at least until something could be done about it. “Ok then, I’m glad that was sorted out.” Sparklez said before standing up, heading straight for the door. “Hey, where are you going?” Rainbow asked as she flew to go alongside the man. “We need to make some gear don’t we?” Sparklez asked, which the majority answer with a few nods. “Then we need to get the basic ingredient for that.” “Oh, is it sugar and spice?” Pinkie said out of nowhere, wanting to guess the answer before Sparklez could say it. Sparklez just laughed, amused by the pink mares silliness yet again. “Nope, we need to chop us some good old wood.”