//------------------------------// // Prologue - Part 2 // Story: Paper Ponies // by Techno Flare //------------------------------// Paper Ponies Prologue - Part 2: The first of Many Starting music: March Ahead That feeling that Pinkie described earlier, the other five now knew what she meant. As they all slowly made their way to the ground beneath them, all they could think was 'Gosh, Pinkie Pie! Why did you have to do that?' All of them eventually laid flat on the ground, all of them jumping back up in unison. "Is everypony okay?" questioned Twilight. "I think so, Twi," replied Applejack. "I finally see what Pinkie meant by "fallin' like a feather". Can you count the girls up fer me? I have a bit of a headache." She rubbed her temples, obviously distorted by the descent. Twilight did as Applejack asked. One, two, three, four, five... one was missing. "Girls," said Twilight, "where's Fluttershy?" "I'm over here," came a voice that Twilight barely picked up. They started searching the area until it came again. "Under the rubble." They looked over towards a pile of wood. Must have been the deck that it was supposed to be there, thought Twilight. As Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Twilight were removing the mound of wood, Rarity was fussing as usual. "Oooooooh! No matter how many times I do my hair, something always seems to mess it up! If only we were back in Equestria where I could do my hair, put in some curls..." and on she went, Pinkie Pie listening the whole time. After a couple minutes, the three ponies digging through the broken veranda managed to get Fluttershy out of the mound. She sprung to her feet as the last piece was cleared. "Thank you so much, but I'm worried about Angel." Her voice was muffled as she started to dig through her saddlebags. "There you are!" said the relaxing Fluttershy. Out hopped Angel onto Fluttershy's back. Crossing her arms, he started talking in bunny about how he didn't have any food. "Angel we don't have time right now," scolded Fluttershy, trying to calm the rabbit down. "Alright, lets try to find our way back to the village and get rid of... whatever was in the way." Twilight led the march as the other five followed in a single file line behind her. As they got to the path, they saw a creature similar to the ones in the village, yet this had a green hat upon his head and big gray eyebrows. "Oh, my back..." he complained. "Hm, who's that? Oh, are you things finally awake? I told them you were living things. You should thank me." In your dreams, grandpa, thought Twilight. "Anywho, I remember a great crashing noise and then the veranda collapsed and I fell. Did you fall, too?" "Yeah," replied Rainbow Dash. "Pinkie Pie pushed us right out the door." "How many times do I have to say I'm sorry?" questioned Pinkie, obviously upset. "Umm, just once," answered Applejack. "That's the first time you told us." "Ohh. Heehee! Sorry," said Pinkie with a shrug. "Girls," Twilight intervened. "Let the thing talk." And with that, the old man resumed. "Well, we're all ok, I think. Problem is, we can't get home right now because that block is in the way." The old man walked up to the block, the six ponies gathering around him. "This block... This block shouldn't be here. Well this is a problem for us." About all the girls were thinking in their heads 'no duh'. "Excuse me," Rarity interrupted. "The others up there were talking about a hammer of some sort, and we think you know where it is." "Huh?" asked the man. "A hammer? Oh, of course! Um..." the man looked around. "Where did it go? I was using it to fix the veranda, so it's likely around here somewhere... Hm! Nowhere to be seen. I guess it might have fallen somewhere over there." The direction he was looking in suggested a park just west of them. "Well girls, we'd better look for it." And with that, the girls proceeded to go look in the park. They walked over to a spot where the path extended out into nothing. "Um, I don't mean to be a nuisance, but where do we go sir?" Applejack mused. The girls were wondering the same thing. "Oh that's right," the man remembered. "You are new to this world. Just walk onto the ledge and you will appear in a different area." "That's unbelievable!" Twilight snapped. "That defies everything that has to do with physics. Also, why should we listen to you?" "Because I'm all you have. You are in a game, after all." The man was right. If they didn't believe him, then who could they ask for directions? Well, there was that one mushroom head thing... but he's long gone. "Alright, but let me go first. If I don't come back in thirty seconds, run away." Twilight braced herself as the girls nodded in unison. She let out a quick sigh. "Alright, let's do this." She walked onto the ledge and everything around her faded into black. The farther she walked, the dimmer the world was. "Just keep walking, just keep walking," she sang to herself. As she progressed through, the light started to come back to her, but there was a different scene. There was a fence beside her, some bushes, one of those 'save' blocks, and trees at every corner. She was dizzy from the experience and almost fell to her feet, but made out the surroundings - even if they were a little blurry. Knowing that she had to go back, she braced herself again and headed back down the path. I better get used to this, she thought, realizing just how many times she was going to go through this. On her arrival, her friends relaxed a little bit. "Oh, don't let your guard down," warned Twilight. "Going through there may be simple, but it takes a toll on your brain." The girls headed back through,all of them stumbling. Fluttershy was so affected, she fell to the ground. "Fluttershy!" screamed Rainbow Dash. "Are you okay?" Fluttershy rolled over onto her arms and replied weakly. "I'm fine, just let me catch my breath." Rainbow Dash was reluctant at first, but allowed Fluttershy some time to recuperate. Behind the pack, the old man spoke yet again. "The Hammer has got to be somewhere close by. It looks just like this. Look for bushes that might cover it up. If "!" appears over your head, press the A button to search the bush." "Umm... what do-" Twilight held a hoof in front of the confused Rainbow Dash. "Just search the bushes." And with that they were off. Applejack was the first to find something. She put a hoof through the bush, and out popped a golden coin. "No hammer here. But I did find somethin' that looks like a bit." "Good," Twilight replied. "Maybe that's what they use as currency." Now speaking to the rest of the group, "If any of you find one of those, just store them somewhere." The group heard and cohered the finding. The next to find one was Pinkie, then Rarity, next Rainbow Dash. But Twilight decided to search the bush farthest from the entrance. There she stuck a hoof through the bush... but this time she grabbed something. The bush fell down immediately and Twilight held the hammer in the air with her levitating spell, although she didn't call upon her powers by herself. A loud noise pierced the air as a box, similar to the one when they hit the save block, appeared above her. You found the Hammer! Mario can do the Hammer attack now! You can smash a yellow block with this Hammer. The man suddenly appeared behind Twilight and shouted, "Oh!! There we go! That's it! That's the Hammer! I'll wager that if you use that Hammer, you can break the block that's in our way. You can also use the Hammer to hit trees and make them sway. Sometimes stuff will fall out! You can use it by pressing the B button." Well if I can hit trees... Twilight proceeded to hit a tree in the far right corner. Using her arcane energy, she swung the Hammer - her head motioning with the Hammer - and hit the tree full force. Out came a dolly that looked like a person. "Oh! That looks like Goombaria's dolly. Oh, she'll be so happy that you found it!" "Well it seems like you've found the Hammer," stated Rarity. "Let's get this show on the road people! Places to see, princesses to save!" And with that, they moved towards the exit. The old man walked ahead of them, blocking the exit for a small bit. "Hmmm... Well! We found the Hammer, so I guess we should head for home." The old man walked onto the path before the rest of the group could. A bellow vibrated through the air as the old man tumbled back into the park. "YYOUCH!!" Music change: Jr. Troopa Theme "Who are you guys!?" screeched a little yellow kid in a broken eggshell. "Umm, EXCCUUUSE ME! But we are ladies, and that is how we would like to be treated!" Rarity demanded. "Whatever! This is my playground, idiots! Nobody sets foot in here without my permission! Nobody! Prepare to start crying at the feet of Master Jr. Troopa!" Everything around the girls turned black. The lights came on to behold a stage. "Are we supposed to go on there?" Fluttershy asked anxiously. I don't know,Fluttershy, Twilight thought. Seeing as how there is nothing else but thin air around us and the only thing we can see is that stage, I think just maybe we should go up there. As Twilight stepped up on the platform, the girls followed one by one, Fluttershy shaking out of her hooves. The stage was somewhat like their previous surroundings, but it was all artificial. Even the trees looked like they were made of a flimsy plastic. The hard wood was painted green, with different squares their own shades of green. The bushes in the front of the stage looked primarily the same, however. And most of all, the border around the whole stage used yellow rods on a light green wood in the front. The old man was on the stage as well, probably to help them. "Girls, this is Jr. Troopa. He's the boss of the neighborhood gang. A bit of a bully obviously. I know this is a brand new concept to you, but turn by turn battle should come easily. This kid's more bark than bite. You can beat him. Just boost yourself up and don't take any lip! I'll stay right here behind you and watch your progress." Kind of helpful, but I guess we'll soon see how this turns out. A banner suddenly came from the top of the stage showing a heart with the symbol 'HP' Hit Points... Luckily it was showing a full 10/10. The next was a flower with the acronym 'FP' Flower Points? I'll find out what it means eventually. Third was an orb with a star spinning around, that read 0. The last was the bit-like coin that Applejack had found. This counter read 6. At least we're not broke, Twilight thought sarcastically. A projector soon displayed some round light displayed in front of her that Twilight could change by just thinking about it. Those are probably the attacks I can do. Jump was displayed with a... shoe? That's what Twilight heard Lyra call it. The Hammer attack was displayed with, you guessed it, the Hammer. There was something that read 'items' but Twilight did not have any. Therefore, the flower it was represented by was gray. The last one was a red flag that uses 'strategies'. I'll figure that out later as well. There was a lot on her bucket list for this world, but there were things she had to know. She decided to select the jump. A gloved finger started pointing at Jr. Troopa, and his name appeared in white with a blue highlight above Twilight. She mentally chose this as well. Applejack immediately started running toward the opposition. "What in the hay!? I can't control my body!" Something forced her to leap onto the enemy. As she landed, a large star appeared with a large "1" in red inside the star. "I think that's a damage indicator!" Twilight shouted over the blaring music. "We took away one of his 'Hit Points'. We have those, too. Ours are right there." She pointed with her horn to where the banner showed the 10/10. "Oh, excellent!" declared the old man behind them. "Good move! Go on!!" After he stopped talking, Jr.Troopa came over and jumped onto Twilight's back. The same star-like indicator appeared, but this time the banner above them changed. The HP counter changed from 10/10 to 9/10. I hope we get this over with... She knew that losing all of those would result in a game over. Celestia told her much about these worlds, but Twilight never knew how handy this information would be. The projector showed up once again, but this time Twilight decided to choose the Hammer attack. Somehow, Rarity's arcane energy was summoned. Her horn forced the Hammer over to Jr. Troopa, and, with one powerful blast of magic, the Hammer swung back and hit Jr. Troopa full on. A star with the "1" showed up again. "Are you joking? There must be some mistake! That used up a whole lot of my energy and it only did 1 damage! I am disgusted!" "Grrr! I'm just getting warmed up!" and Jr. Troopa attacked again. Another round of attacks passed. After a jump attack by Rainbow Dash, Jr. Troopa decided to up the ante. "Alright, you asked for it! Say hello to Jr. Troopa's special attack! FULL POWER!! A purple ring formed around Jr. Troopa, and the VWOOUUUM sound came again. This time, as Jr. Troopa's attack landed, a star appeared with a little star beside it. The big star had the number "2" inside it. The girls' HP went down to 5/10. A sound started blaring, and the words 'danger' appeared above their heads. "Let's take this little punk down!" shouted Twilight. The other five mares were taken aback at Twilight's sudden burst in anger. Twilight hefted the Hammer with her magic and took a swing at Jr. Troopa. He fell to the ground spinning. As he hit the wooden stage, orbs with stars in them came piling out. "Girls," intervened the old man yet again, "that was wonderful fighting. You got Star Points! You get Star Points every time you beat an enemy. Every time you save up 100 Star Points, you'll go up a level. Always try hard to get points!" And with that, 20 Star Points were added to the banner. With some great music and a pose from Twilight, the girls walked off the stage in triumph.