The tavern was crowded, even by the standards of small-town taverns built near a crossroads where two trade routes meet. There wasn’t a free seat in the house, and even the standing room at the bar was full to capacity – and it was noisy, full of chatter and shouts as the rowdy crowd of would-be adventurers tried to impress each other with their skills and deeds.
For this year the annual Adventurer Test was being held nearby, for the first time in living memory. The Emperor had declared that the conquered races of fae – the ponies, griffons, purrsians, suncats, cloven, and zebras – would for the first time be eligible for entry into the Pathfinder Guild, empowered to dispense justice across the land in his name. Accordingly, a small outpost near the town of Crossroads – located equidistant between the sprawling metropolis of Bright Valley and the hidden forest citadel known as Dream Castle, the two largest surviving cities of the fae – had been selected as the location to administer the test.
Despite this, few of the fae came to participate. While not openly disloyal, as a rule, the fae had always chafed under the empire’s yoke, and only six were present, among all the goblins, orcs, humans, elves, and gnolls that competed every year. It was hardly surprising that they congregated in a relatively quiet corner…
“Of the rafters,” said the lavender unicorn, with some amusement. “I suppose that’s one way to keep out of the humanoids’ clutches.” She offered her hoof to the griffon who’d dragged her up to the little nest the flying fae had made over the heads of the crowd below. “Twilight Sparkle, fighter by trade.”
“Yeah, I could tell by that weapon… thing you’re carrying,” the griffon replied, spreading her wings to show off her prismatic feathers. “I’m Rainbow Dash, and I could kick your tail six ways to Sun’s Day.”
“Please don’t fight,” squeaked a pale yellow flutterpony, with brilliant pink butterfly wings.
“So…” Twilight Sparkle prompted. The griffon stared at her, confused. “When I hold my hoof out like that, you’re supposed to –“
The griffon gripped her hoof in strong talons from one of her eagle claws. “Arm wrestle! Got it!”
It was a very short contest, that left the unicorn rubbing her pastern, dismayed. “If I’m going to wrestle, I’d use my magic. It’s very strong, telekinetically, as you can see by my cutie mark.”
“Thank you Mrs. Exposition,” Rainbow Dash replied, rolling her eyes. “So, what about you three?”
“Pinkie Pie!” said the bright pink pegasus. “SUPER-genius, at your service.”
The griffon looked her up and down. “So, um… you spent your equipment money on a dozen vials of lamp oil?”
“No, dear, she’s an alchemist,” said the other non-flying fae who’d been dragged up into the rafters. “And yes, she’s always like this,” the zebra added, as the Pink One rubbed her hooves together and cackled for no apparent reason. “We’ve been friends forever, you see. We trained together and coordinated our tactics –“
“You’re allowed to do that?” Twilight Sparkle asked, looking surprised.
“Actually, I think you’re supposed to form up teams before you even come anywhere near the contest,” replied the last member of the Rafter Party, one of the winged felines known as purrsians. She wore an expensive suit of black leather reinforced with matte metal studs, but carried no weapons other than her own teeth and claws. “Name’s Applejack.”
“Applejack,” the griffon said, giving her a look.
“Ayup,” the cat replied, with a toothy grin. “See, there was this guard who had me cornered in an alley after he caught me stealin’ apples, and it turns out if you put a bunch of apples in a sock, they work as a half-decent blackjack.”
Pinkie Pie burst into laughter.
Rainbow Dash groaned, and turned to the zebra. “And I suppose that makes your name…”
“Well, as you know,” the zebra said, with a coy grin, “my people are known for their skills in alchemy, and in fact taught Pinkie Pie there everything she knows.”
“They did not!” Pinkie protested. “Just everything I know about alchemy.”
“But I decided that mixing potions and poisons was not for me, and turned my study to the more pure and elegant applications of the arcane. A wizard like myself is something of a Rarity amongst zebrakind.”
“Right,” Rainbow Dash said. “I should have guessed.”
As the six fae-folk finished their introductions, the good-natured clamor from below was broken by a roar of indignation from a large orc wearing a suit of golden full-plate. “There they are, the cowards!” he screamed, pointing up at the rafters. “Even after we crush them underfoot, they still think they have the right to set themselves above us!”
Rainbow Dash glared down at him, and flexed her claws. “I see somepony doesn’t want to wait for the big contest tomorrow to get his throat torn out.”
“Waaaaait!” screamed the flutterpony, placing himself between the two. “I’m sorry if you’re offended by the attitude our people had in the past, but we’re not the ones you want to take it out on. The six of us are the ponies and… other creatures who’ve decided that it’s time to make peace with our place as members of the empire, and work with the –“
“So many words!” the orc scowled. “If you think you’re one of us, why are you hiding up there in the shadows?”
“Well…” the flutterpony started.
Applejack cut in, “This place is crowded enough, we figured it wouldn’t be right for humble fae like us to take your rightful seat, your worshipfulness.”
“Ha!” the orc shouted. “So you’re cowards!”
“Take that back!” Rainbow Dash snarled.
At that point, the bartender intervened. “I’m not going to be having any fighting in this bar! It’s survived this long without being burned to the ground, and I’m not going to lose it now, not to you whelps. Take it outside!”
“Fine by me,” the griffon replied.
The orc nodded as well, and soon the bar was empty as the entire crowd filed out into the town square – the eponymous Crossroads that the village had grown up around – and formed a circle around the orc and the six fae folk.
“So how are we going to do this?” Twilight Sparkle asked. “Six against one hardly seems fair.”
The orc laughed. “Too bad none of the other flower-pickers were stupid enough to come try to compete with the might of the Horde. Another dozen and maybe you’d be a match.”
“Please,” Twilight replied, rolling her eyes. “We’re all trainee adventurers or we wouldn’t be here, and between my exceptional magical power and my carefully honed skills, I’m willing to bet that I could lay you out in a single blow.”
The orc grinned. “You’re on.” He drew a heavy two-handed mace, and set himself in a combat stance. “But when you fail, I’ll show you no mercy.”
“Failure is mathematically impossible,” Twilight replied, drawing her own heavy flail with her pink magical aura and prancing towards him, spinning the head faster and faster. She was still several feet away when the weapon suddenly lunged past the orc’s defenses, the spiked ball crunching into his chin, denting the metal of his helmet and sending a spray of green blood from between his lips as his head jerked to the side. She squinted one eye closed as the tacky liquid squirted onto her face, and waited for her enemy to fall.
He didn’t fall.
“He’s an orc, sugarcube,” Applejack explained. “They don’t go down easy, even if you’ve hurt ‘em bad enough that they won’t live to see morning.”
“Oh. Right,” Twilight said, taking a step back. “I probably should have anticipated that.”
“My turn,” growled the orc.
Twilight fumbled for her shield, which she’d left slung across her back in her arrogant surety that the orc wouldn’t be getting a return swing, but wasn’t able to stop the mace from slamming into her barding, lifting her bodily into the air, to collapse to her knees a few feet away, coughing up blood from the injury. “I’m okay,” she wheezed, dragging herself to her feet, a bit unsteadily.
“So…” Rainbow Dash asked, pawing at the ground impatiently, “My turn next?”
The orc laughed. “No need for that. You’ve got some spirit, for a bunch of woodland pixies.” He coughed, and leaned on his mace, spitting up more blood. “And she hits like a truck. I think… I think I’m going to –“
“Fluttershy!” Applejack hissed, “Heal him, quick!”
“But… I have to touch him…” the flutterpony whimpered, looking askance at the giant mace, and at Twilight’s wounds.
Applejack shook her head. “If he dies, we’re in hot water. We ain’t adventurers yet, we can’t go around killin’ folks without gettin’ our necks in a noose.”
“But –“
“Just do it already!” Pinkie Pie squeaked, grabbing hold of the flutterpony and physically dragging her over to the orc. “Make with the healy, now!”
There was a blue glow as the flutterpony channeled positive energy, and the orc got a drugged look on his face, then stared right into Fluttershy’s eyes. “You’re an angel,” he said.
“No,” Fluttershy said, covering her face with her bangs. “I’m really, really not.”