Rainbow landed on her back with a thud as she tried to sweep through the trees with Kyria. It hadn't been too hard to avoid the encroaching branches as she blazed through the trees, but every so often, there would be that one branch that she just couldn't avoid. Kyria had an idea about Rainbow Dash, she was fast, even through the tree branches, the pony was easily able to outrun Kyria. The only issue was that Rainbow Dash used her speed recklessly. It was ok to be fast, and it was ok to use it the way she had, but she obviously never practiced at anything other than just raw speed. She knew Dash had began to fantasize about Kyria's profession, at which she felt flattered, but it still didn't qualify Dash for the job. Dash needed to learn to know everything about her surroundings and become two steps ahead of her enemy. So Kyria proposed the next step in training.
"Alright Rainbow Dash, get up. It's no doubt you are fast, but you wouldn't survive an encounter with anything faster than an Alex." Kyria retained the same straightforward voice she had since Rainbow first met her.
Rainbow knew this commanding attitude would get annoying quickly, but Rainbow wasn't one to stand down from a challenge, "Ok... So what do you want me to do?" Rainbow just barely kept the hint of irritation out of her voice. Kyria didn't notice it.
"Ok Dash, here" Kyria tossed Dash a small stick, barely any bigger than a foot long, "Pretend that's a dagger. Come at me" Before Rainbow had been able to obtain a full grip on the stick, Kyria had already been rushing at her.
Rainbow got struck on the side with an upward blow from Kyria's stick, "You're dead, try again"
Rainbow got irritated at the lack of preparation time she had received, "Not fair! You hardly gave me any time to even hold onto the stick!" Rainbow picked it up in her mouth and then stared aggressively at Kyria, "Come at me"
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Pinkie had forgotten all about the boredom that loomed over her back in Ponyville. The new sensations and places to explore had filled Pinkie with a new excitement to play and party. Still, one thought had stayed in her mind. Her toys. While Pinkie had never been too obsessed with her little inventions, she still relied on them whenever she couldn't find something fun to do, which she had noticed there wasn't a lot to do in a place where she figured nobody would attend a party held by her. Still, the resilient pink pony had kept her head up high when she heard she was heading to a much bigger city the following day. 'There has to be somepony who enjoys a good laugh and might help me throw a welcome to Arad party for my friends and me'
A rough voice broke her thoughts, "Hey you, Yes you! The pony! Come here for a second!"
Pinkie looked at the source of the voice, it was the weirdest looking thing she ever saw, a man who wore deep purple a deep purple and lush green armor and a deep purple cloak. It wasn't the odd coloring that caught her attention as much as the odd pot that the man was wearing as a mask, if it even was a mask. Pinkie just couldn't contain her curiosity. She hopped over to him with a few delighted bounces and stopped about 2 feet away from him.
"Ahh... So I was right, you can speak" He let out in a fascinated tone
"Well of course I can speak, silly" Pinkie had completely forgotten that she wasn't in Equestria any more.
The man in the pot just went along with it, "Oh of course, how silly of me to think otherwise. Well no matter what you are or what you speak, your money is good here"
Pinkie's head tilted to the side in confusion, but was quickly snapped out of it when her stomach grumbled. She connected the dots in her head, "OH! You sell apples don't you! I mean, I've been dying for an apple ever since I woke up. I'll take a red delicious please!"
The man in the pot mask stayed silent for a second. It was safe to assume that he had been a little overwhelmed with her odd reaction. He quickly gathered his bearings and stated, "I hate to disappoint but I am not that kind of shop proprietor. I sell these hand-made pots, each one destined to contain a dream, a fantasy, a wish, a-" Pinkie cut him off in mid statement.
"A chocolate cake?" Pinkie asked hopefully.
The man continued to play along, "Or a chocolate cake..."
"Oooh! I hope they taste like the one's Mrs. Cake makes! Ok, I'll take a pot!" Pinkie flipped her mane wildly until a small pouch dropped out of the curls, "How much will that be!"
"Hmmm, let's just say 5 gold will work"
"Ok!" Pinkie reached into her pouch and pulled out 5 bits and dropped them before the masked man, "Here you go!"
The masked man let out a curious "hmmm" as he examined the money set before him. It featured an alicorn on it that held it's head up over the outline of what the masked man thought was a sun.
"Alright, well it's made of gold. I'll take it. Here is your pot. Just break it open to see what's inside"
Pinkie happily took the pot and set it down. With a quick smash, the pot broke open. Pinkie gave off a look of disappointment as she realize there was nothing edible on the pot. In fact, it looked like there was nothing in the pot at all. Pinkie's mind didn't register that she might have gotten played for a fool. Instead she simply let out a huge disappointed sigh.
"Awwww, I'm not a winner am I..."
The masked man, who had already tensed his muscles to run away, stopped and stared. He was absolutely dumbfounded at how well losing 5 gold had been received by the pony. He had to take a moment to recollect his thoughts, "Care to try again?"
Pinkie began to nod and readied her mouth to say yes before a voice interrupted her
"Now hold up there Danjin" The voice said, "Don't you think it's a little mean to be taking advantage of someone not only new, but also incredibly naive?"
Pinkie thought she recognized the voice, it sounded a lot like Fluttershy's, only a little more rich, and a lot more pronounced.
"And besides, the little pony never even looked close enough at her first pot to notice it"
At the mention of it, Pinkie looked down at her first pot and began to notice something moving under a small pile of shards. It was a small white serpent with very underdeveloped wings from it's sides. Pinkie looked down at it with wide eyes, "Awwwww! It's so adorable!" she said in what anybody else would have thought was an over-exaggeration.
It looked up at Pinkie and coo'd like an infant then began crawling it's way over to Pinkie, who simply kneeled down and allowed it some refuge in her mane. Even Danjin was surprised at the small creature in the pot. He had made it his policy to never put anything alive in his products.
Pinkie looked over to thank the voice that told her about the creature, which she would figure out a name for in due time. The voice belonged to a smaller human girl, Pinkie assumed she was a filly, or whatever you called a younger human. The small girl had bright red hair tied into a small ponytail at the end, she wore a black and red dress that had been adorned with odd little charms that looked like Jack-O-Lanterns, her legs were completely covered with huge orange knee socks that crept all the way into the flared dress, and she wore a small black top hat that was barely bigger than her fist. Unlike the other humans Pinkie had seen, this one had long, pointed ears.
"Thank you sooo much! I would have missed out on this cute little guy if it wasn't for you! I'm sure he will be just as good at partying as my other pet! Hey wait! What's your name anyways? It really isn't nice to thank someone and not ask their name. Oh and what's with your ears and that dress! It looks like something Rarity designed!" The questions just seemed endless, but the little girl didn't mind. She just thought it was funny of the pink pony to be so curious.
After Pinkie stopped her barrage of questions, the girl finally said, "Let's start from the beginning: My name is Sonya, I have these ears because I am from the world known as Pandemonium, I got this dress from a woman who saved my life, sorry if it isn't your Rarity" She went on and on too, following the precise order of Pinkie's questions from what is your favorite flavor of cupcake to what is your favorite color.
Danjin couldn't take any more, "SONYA! I understand you have a lot to say about who you are and where you came from and why the sky is blue, but PLEASE take it somewhere else so that I can check my pots for any more of those, things..."
Sonya laughed and said, "Danjin, don't worry, I'm sure you don't have any more like it. These creatures are incredibly rare. In fact, this is actually the first time I've seen a familiar of light"
Danjin took a step back at the news, "A FAMILIAR OF LIGHT!?! AND I JUST GAVE IT AWAY FOR 5 GOLD?!"
Pinkie had become confused, "I'm happy that I guess I got a discount, but what is a familiar of light? It doesn't sound familiar to me"
Sonya giggled at the pun, "A familiar is the living manifestation of elements in nature. In a sense, they are the advocates of what keeps the world in harmony. When one becomes attached to you, it grants you some of it's power, which very greatly depending on the species of familiar and it's own individual personality" Sonya took a look at the little serpent that was playing around with a bouncing puff of Pinkie's hair, "It looks like this little one is a bit of a fun-lover"
Sonya looked back at Danjin who was distracted with checking his pots for other valuable merchandise, and then over to Pinkie who was looking down to her stomach as it growled, "Hey, would you care to tell me your name?"
Pinkie looked up and found it silly that she had never told Sonya anything about herself, "OH! I'm super duper sorry! I'm Pinkie Pie!"
Sonya laughed at the fitting name, "Alright Pinkie, well why don't we go meet my friends and go get something to eat" Pinkie's stomach growled again, "I'm sure you're hungry"
Pinkie nodded quickly, which through the little serpent out of her hair and onto her nose. It just stared at her with expressive eyes, "Awww... Ok Sonya, but you have to also come with me to see my friends, now that I have two new friends to show them!"
Pinkie returned the small white familiar into her mane and hopped alongside Sonya, both eager to see each other's friends.