Yet Another Human in Equestria Story
By: Bardic Knowledge
Chapter 21: October 16/17, Stare Master+
It was finally time to run my second ever gaming session (the first didn't go very well because I was simply re-hashing the plot of Scenario 000 from Dissidia 012 Duodecim: Final Fantasy). We gathered at Golden Oaks Library. I wasn't entirely certain why we were gaming there rather than my house, but it seemed oddly right to me.
The five of us gathered in a side room so as not to disturb any potential book-borrowers and I began my opening spiel:
“Alright, over the past few weeks we've made your characters and given them pretty solid backgrounds. As you all know, I asked each of you to make the latest point in their backgrounds something exceptionally emotional to them. The reason for this is simple: at the high point of this event, your characters disappear from everything they've ever known, and find themselves in a strange place with three strangers,” I smiled sinisterly. “Begin.”
Immediately, Pinkie jumped into character, “'No! How could they?! Sharkey's men will pay for this!'”
Spike and Trixie began to reply simultaneously:
(Spike) “I jump to my feet and draw my hammer!”
(Trixie) “I look around in panic. This isn't my laboratory!”
Dash looked a bit shocked for a moment before adding in her own character's response, “What the hay are you guys? And where am I?!”
Pinkie continued to pretend cry as Spike responded, “I lift my hammer and face the speaker. 'I am Darrin Skyhammer, Dwarven Paragon of Orzammar. What be you?'”
“'Name's Prism Wing,” Dash retorted, “Pegasus captain of the Wonderbolts. Wh-”
Trixie interrupted her with a raised hoof, “'I demand to know where we are! And will you stop that crying?!'”
Pinkie gasped, “I scramble back from the others and cry out 'Big folk! I will avenge my wife!'”
“'Hold!'” replied Spike. “'I know not of what you speak. Calm yourself, young human-'”
“'I'm not a human, whatever that is, I'm a Hobbit!'”
“'What in the world is a Hobbit?'” asked Trixie.
“'Silence!'” shouted Spike. “And I slam my hammer onto the ground.”
“Your hammer strikes the ground with a resounding crack, punching a hole in the rock and cracking it for several feet around the four of you.”
Everyone glanced at each other, then Trixie gestured for Spike to continue.
He nodded, “'Now, I know not where we are and I believe that none of you know either, correct?'” There was a round of nods. “'As we all seem here against our will together, I suggest we introduce ourselves. I am Darrin Skyhammer, Dwarven Paragon of Orzammar in Ferelden. The last thing I recall before my arrival was when they named me Paragon.' I then point at the human and tell her to go next.”
Trixie cleared her throat, “'I am Dawn Starre, Arcane Researcher for the Imperial Magic Academy of Archadia. The last thing I recall was making a breakthrough on a spell that had stymied several other mages before me.'”
Spike nodded, then gestured to Dash.
“'Like I said before, my name is Prism Wing, I'm from Equestria. Last thing I knew I had just managed to pull off a Sonic Rainboom while practicing for a show. A feat nopony's done in ages!'”
Pinkie took it upon herself to begin, “'M-my name's P-P-P-Peregrin P-P-P-Proudfoot, of-of the Shire, Middle-Earth. An-And my wife was just killed by Sharkey's men because I wouldn't pay him tribute!'”
“'Monstrous,'” intoned Spike. He was really getting into it. “'Should we return to our homes, I shall assist in you righteous vengeance. For now, however, we should find out where we are.' I look around.”
Finally.
“The ground around you is entirely made out of smoothed stone, making the high-noon sun beating down on you almost unbearably hot, and in the distance you can see several rusted, crumbling spires dotting the landscape. There are only two unusual things you can see from here, one is a distant yellow building, while the other is what looks to be a long-dead giant tree.”
“'Perhaps we can get some information on where we are from that building over there?'” said Spike.
“'Hang on,'” said Rainbow, “'I'll go take a look.' Then I fly off to scout out the building.”
“The building is fairly large, and you can see several creatures similar to Dawn milling around inside.”
“I think I'll check out the tree, too.”
“As noted before, the tree is dead and very large. It doesn't seem to look like any tree you've seen before, either. Near the roots, though, you can see a large gap with a path coming out of it.”
Trixie raised a hoof. “While she's doing that, I'm going to scan the area with my magic. I'll put in one point of Effort from my Blue Magic.”
“The area has traces of blue mana left in the air, but only traces. There's a taste of red, but it seems almost coincidental, the only mana truly left being almost colourless.”
“And the stone?” asked Spike.
“The stone is smooth as river rocks, save where your hammer impacted. However, there doesn't seem to be any water here for miles.”
“I'll come back and tell everyone what I've found,” said Rainbow. They discussed things for a while, and though Pinkie, or, rather, Peregrin, wanted to investigate the path below the tree, they opted for the building in the distance.
“Upon arriving at the building, you are greeted by a young man with yellow hair and bright green eyes, which, upon closer inspection, have swirls instead of normal pupils. 'Greetings, I am Rin the fifth, and welcome to my family's Travel Agency. We do not often get visitors these days.'”
Spike glanced at the others before speaking, “I introduce us and ask him where we are, since we seem to be lost.”
“He says he finds it odd that you wouldn't recognize the Thunder Plains, but says it's only fair because he doesn't recognize what Prism is, then he invites you inside to use a map.”
“Does anywhere on the map look familiar?” asked Trixie.
“No. Nothing on the map looks like anything any of you have seen before.”
“'Mr. Rin?'” said Pinkie. “'I've never heard of any of these places.'”
“'Really?' he replies. 'Most unusual. The best advice I can give you is to travel to Luca. There you might find someone who can help.' He points out the city on the map and advises you on the fastest way to get there, by going south through Old Guadosalam..”
“I thank him for his help and go out the door,” said Spike.
Trixie raised an eyebrow and added, “I ask him which way is south.”
“He informs you that south is the direction of the giant tree.” Everyone nodded and I skipped us ahead to the roots of the tree, where “Just as you approach the entrance, you hear a shattering sound and three creatures appear before you. One looks like a large, cracked suit of armour holding a massive club, while the other two are groups of floating orbs, each coloured a sort of golden-red. They appear to be hostile.”
“The orbs look pretty hard to hit, right?” asked Spike.
“Right. They look like they're barely holding formation as it is.”
“I'll take my hammer and charge the big guy, and I'll put an Effort into acting first and two into my attack.”
I nodded, made a note, and turned to Trixie, who said “I'll throw a bolt of lightning at one of the orbs, one Red Magic Effort.” I suppressed a smirk and noted that.
“I'm going to hide behind the big folk,” said Pinkie. “I don't have much in the way of fighting skills.” I nodded, and looked at Dash.
“I'll charge the big guy, too, but I'll go through one of the orb groups on the way. Two Effort into the attack, and two on going first.” Spike shot a look at Dash, but shrugged.
“One thing, which group of orbs are either of you aiming at?” I asked. “Right or left?” Without any consultation, they chose different Lightning Elementals. “Okay. Prism flies through her group of orbs so fast that they barely have time to react and half the orbs break apart and turn into little wisps of light and float away, the other half bunches a little closer together to compensate. She then smacks into the armour, but because you attacked two things at once, the damage is lessened and it only staggers back a few steps as the cracks on its chest get bigger.
“Darrin charges forward afterwards, and with a mighty crash his hammer breaks into the weakened armour and reveals that there's nothing inside before it collapses to the ground and fades away like the orbs did.
“Peregrin hides himself behind Dawn's legs as she throws off a lightning bolt, which, upon hitting the enemy...” I took a deep breath through my nose and smirked. “Strengthens it, making the red in it fade slightly and the orbs fly in a tighter formation.”
“What?” gasped Trixie.
Pinkie shot upright from where she was pretending to cower (Wow, she's really going overboard. But I guess that's Pinkie.), and gasped “'Miss Starre! Remember what Mister Rin said? This place is called the Thunder Plains!'” Trixie face-hoofed.
“The remaining monsters spin a little to build a charge, then shoot lightning at Darrin and Prism, the weakened one going after Prism. Because of it's weakened state and a Pegasus' natural lightning resistance, you don't take any damage. However, Darrin gets hit for two points of injury.” Spike winced and made note of it on his character sheet.
Next turn, Dash flew through the same swarm while Spike attempted to strike the stronger one, with mixed results. Pinkie put some Effort from her Reasoning and Creativity about what to do, which I passed on to Trixie, who used a Blue Magic Effort to unravel the magic sustaining them slightly. This continued for a couple more turns, until they stood slightly battered, but victorious. They seemed mildly confused, though, when I mentioned three piles of coins on the ground where the monsters used to be.
They entered Old Guadosalam, which was a medium-small area of mostly-empty pathways. After having Peregrin/Pinkie talk to one of the three people milling about taking pictures, they were directed to a device called a Save Sphere, which was supposed to heal them up when they touched it. Refreshed, they continued on their way, finding themselves at a river. Following the path, they came to a port-like place for the river, with two boats docked to it, and one large, blue creature next to a crane.
After a bit more discussion with the locals, they decided that none of them wanted to try the strange-looking boats, so they approached the big, blue thing. I smiled.
“'Ride zhe Shoo-puf?'” I said, with my best Hypello accent. “Looking to the source of the voice, you see a squat, blue human-frog-looking thing that's approaching your group.”
“'If that's what this big guy is called, yes,'” said Pinkie. She was quickly becoming the Face of the group.
“'Wonderful,' chirps the creature. 'ALL ABOARDSH!' and he directs you into the basket of the crane, which is deposited on the back of the Shoopuf and it starts wading across the river.” After chatting amongst themselves in-character, they reached the other side of the river and continued walking to the Djose Highroad. There, with persuasion and the Gil they had won from the Thunder Plains fiends, they rented a hovercar that took them to Mushroom Rock Road.
Since most of their characters came from a low-technology setting, they acted leery about getting in, until Dawn mentioned similar devices in her home city, even though they were designed rather differently. With some assistance from Prism's flight and Dawn's Blue Magic, they safely navigated Mushroom Rock Road, and entered the Mi'ihen Highroad.
“After walking a few minutes, you find yourselves staring at a blue version of the Travel Agency you visited in the Thunder Plains. In a pen to one side are several giant yellow birds and standing by the door is a very familiar-looking figure.” I smirked. “It's Rin.”
“What?” shouted Dash. “How'd he beat us here? I go up and demand an answer.”
“He says that he used the teleport function of the Save Sphere in the Thunder Plains Travel Agency, and adds that it wouldn't have helped you because it can only take you to another Save Sphere you've touched or an airship.”
“'So now that we've touched the Sphere at Old Guadosalam, we can use any other to go there again?'” asked Trixie, in-character.
“'Indeed,' he replies. 'And since you're here, might I interest you in renting one of our Chocobos?' He indicates the yellow birds. 'It would be much faster than walking.'”
“'I'm afraid we don't have much money, Mr. Rin,'” said Pinkie.
“'Well, there is something you can do for me in lieu of payment. You see, it is almost time for the Chocobo Eater to return, and obviously it wouldn't be good for it to attack.'”
“'So you want us to fight the thing off,'” said Dash.
“'That is so.'” Before I could continue I suddenly noticed Spike glancing worriedly at the clock, then out the window, where it was rather dark out. “Spike? Is something wrong?”
“Oh, uh, sorry,” he answered, blushing lightly. “It's just, Twilight should've been home by now, and I haven't heard the door close yet.”
“Where was she going?” asked Trixie.
“She said she wanted to visit Zecora's for a while and get some of her favourite tea-”
I shot out of my seat. “Wingshreds! Stare Master is tonight?”
“W-what?”
“Argh! There's a cockatrice in the Everfree, and Twilight's probably run into it by now!”
“A cockatrice?” gasped Trixie.
I put a hand over my heart and tried to calm down. “I almost forgot, somehow, that everything turns out okay. Fluttershy finds her and manages to Stare the cockatrice into turning Twilight back to normal.”
“Even so, we shouldn't let Fluttershy go into the forest without her knowing.”
“She'll find petrified Twilight before meeting the cockatrice. It'll be okay. Kinda wish I knew she was going so I could pass a warning to her.”
“Sure we can't go and help?” asked Rainbow Dash.
“Pretty sure. Fluttershy's Stare is good against everything. Well, almost everything. Doesn't work on spirits.”
“I'm afraid the game's been de-railed, though,” said Trixie. I bit my lip and nodded.
“We'll just have to pick this up again some other time. I'll make a note as to where we were.”
As the group broke up, I kept glancing in the direction of the forest. “Non-interference can be such a pain,” I muttered. “Why can't time go faster!”
Trixie and I headed home, but I couldn't stop fidgeting with my notes and looking at the Everfree Forest. If only there was some way to know how far things had gotten without breaking continuity! ...Wait.
“Trixie. I need to see how things are going. Make us invisible.”
“I was waiting to see what you would do.” And with a tingle of magic, I couldn't see Trixie anymore, and, I knew, she couldn't see me. Which made it rather odd to ride her to Fluttershy's cottage, since it looked to me like I was just floating above the ground.
When we arrived, I direct Trixie through whispers towards the chicken coop. Depending on the tracks in the dirt would tell me how things were going. Or, now that I saw it, the scrap of Crusader cape on the fence answers my question.
“Okay,” I whispered. “Looks like everything's according to schedule. I don't know if Fluttershy's left yet, though.”
“Should we go in and check?” she whispered back.
“Let me just look in the window. If she's on the couch, then she hasn't noticed the Crusaders have left yet. If she's not, then we can go get Spike and wait for everyone here.”
“She's not there. I'll go get Spike myself.”
“Thanks Pinkie...” I slipped off Trixie's back in surprise. “Pinkie? How did you...?”
“Well, I heard you coming this way, so I followed you. Then I went to see if Fluttershy was home while you came out here.”
I sighed. “Whatever. Yeah, go get Spike.” She nodded and zipped off. “Might need a sound-dampening spell in addition to the invisibility next time.”
“Good idea,” answered Trixie, mystified.
When Twilight, Fluttershy, and the Crusaders made it out of the forest, we were all there to greet them, Spike practically hugging the metaphorical stuffing out of Twilight. Scootaloo was ecstatic to see Dash was worried about her, but tried to play it cool (not very successfully, I might add).
I shivered. It was getting cold.
Winter was coming soon.