//------------------------------// // Chapter 4: Meeting the Locals (Revised) // Story: Gamers in Equestria // by Neoandermcd //------------------------------// After couple hours of singing different songs like ‘All Together Now’, ‘Hungry like the Wolf’ and ‘Bicycle Race’ while having an amazing time, we finally decided to take a breather and rest. It was rather nice out. We were in a small pasture, the wind gently blowing in our direction giving us a nice little breeze. I slightly laugh to myself ‘Even the Everfree forest can be peacefully what a shocker’. “Pretty nice huh” I said to everyone as we all decided to lie down on the grass. “Sure is” Ben said. “Can’t argue over here” Manny said. “Well the grass is going to make us itchy, but it’s cool all the same” Pedro said getting a couple of chuckles from us. “So who’s up for a nap” I said while staring at the clear blue sky followed by a yawn. “I’ll take the first watch” Ben said. As I closed my eyes waiting for sleep to take me, the universe seemed to have other plans for us as a loud ear piercing scream could be heard…and it was close. As we all jumped to our feet we tried to identify which way the sound came from. “Hey guys I’m getting a couple of blue ticks on my EFS…and a red one” Pedro said pointing towards where the ticks were coming from. “What do we do?” Manny asked. “Isn’t it obvious Manny we’re going to go help them” I said. “And why should we I mean don’t get me wrong, but what if it’s something we can’t handle” Manny said. “Because genius they could be familiar or at least locals, they will probably know how to get out of here” Ben said. “And besides we’ll know once and for all if we are really in Equestria or some other world” he said. With quick nods of agreements Pedro lead the way, the screams becoming louder the closer we got. When suddenly Pedro motioned for us to get down and remain quiet. Following his directions we peaked out of the bushes to see, what was a strange creature for Manny and Pedro, but to me and Ben something we could never forget…it was a manticore. The manticore seemed to have trapped a bunch of kids about maybe ten or twelve years old, but it was too hard to see from our position. Motioning for the guys to get close I whispered to them “Ok here how’s this is going to go down. I’m going to charge the manticore while Pedro makes a path for the kids towards Ben so he can take them to someplace safe then Manny I want you to sneak up on it from behind and backstab it, hopefully killing it with one blow, while Pedro and I distract it”. “And how do you know that a backstab will actually work?” Manny asked skeptically. “Dude I can use a freaking dragon shout while Ben’s immortal and you actually believe you can’t backstab people…creatures without instantly killing them?” I replied back. “……Well played” he said. “Wouldn’t it be better if I joined you? You know maybe put them somewhere safe and come back?” Ben asked. “No and for two reason: One we need you to give us a signal if more show up and two we don’t want them to run off they’re our best chance of getting out of here” I said. Silent nods of agreements were passed around and we got ourselves into position. As I ran towards the Manticore from the side I yelled “FUS RO DAH” sending the familiar blue aura towards it, sending the manticore flying a few feet away. Wasting no time I drew out my sword and shield and yelled “Go towards the guy with normal cloths he’ll keep you safe”. I didn’t hear any response, but I did hear the sound of them running away. “Ok they’re gone” Pedro said to the left of me his knife in his hand. The manticore got up quickly eyeing us with anger. He then gave out a mighty roar and charged towards us. Pedro rolled to the left even further while I jumped towards the right while slashing in an upward arc, but the manticore was quick and easily dodged it. It then tried to swipe me with his claw, wasting no time I raised my shield and bashed his attack away. Pedro came from the side and nicked the manticore on his side, but he quickly retaliated and started to swipe at my friend. Pedro would duck, jump and roll all over the place barely dodging the barrage of swipes. While the manticore was distracted I charged and swung my blade towards his side, however he saw this coming and took to the skies. Gliding back down a bit away from us he then slowly started to circle towards us while we did the same thing and started to circle one another. ‘Come on Manny where are you?’ I thought when I saw an invisible blob make its way towards the manticore. Manny now uncloaked his knife in a backstab position ‘Just a bit more’ I thought smiling triumphantly when suddenly the manticore swung his tail hitting Manny right in the chest and sending him flying back towards the forest. “MANNY” Pedro yelled and started to run towards our friend. “Pedro wait” I said, but it was too late. The manticore shot forward and swiped Pedro with both claws, sending him flying towards the area where the girls were trapped. Pedro hit the wall hard and fell to the ground with a flop followed by the collapse of the wall covering Pedro with dirt and rocks up to his legs, but thankfully wearing his armor reduced the damage. He tried to get up, but was having trouble lifting the rocks and was still a bit disoriented. The manticore started to charged towards Pedro, but I intercepted him before he could get close and started to swipe at him causing him to back off.  He quickly retaliated by throwing his own swipes back at me. After a couple more failed attempts at swiping me, he decided to use his scorpion tail and let me tell you that sucker is fast. I was having trouble dodging it let alone counter attacking, slowly being pushed back to where Pedro was. “Pedro get up I could use some help” I said looking over my shoulder, Pedro still having trouble getting up. That’s when the manticore took another swipe and sent my blade flying a few feet away. Now with only my shield I could only defend or I could try to bash it to death, but something told me that wasn’t going to work. As the manticore continued his assaulted I yelled while blocking his attacks “Pedro throw me your knife”. Pedro then grabbed his knife and chucked it close to me ‘Alright it’s better than nothing’ I thought while I grabbed it ‘Let’s do this’ and tried to lift it up….it didn’t even budge. ‘What the…’ I thought putting all my energy into lifting it, but to no avail. The manticore wasting no time in my distress sent his stinger right for me, letting go of the knife I dodged the hit, put both hands on my shield and spun.  Using the momentum I slammed my shield to the ground completely serving his stinger. With a roar of pain he backed off while a mixture of blood and poison spilled out from his wound. Pulling out my shield from the ground I ran towards the Manticore and took a deep breath. “FUS RO DAH” I yelled, but nothing happened. I tried again and again, but the same result happened. That’s when I noticed a little blue bar in my upper vision…slowly recharging. “Son of a bit…” I tried to say when suddenly what felt like a train rammed into me sending me to the grounds. As I tried to get up a massive weight kept me down to the ground…it was the manticore a few seconds away from biting my head off. As I tried to wiggle my way out it, with no result, the creature just unexpectedly let me go and was now trying to swipe something off its back. As I laid there watching the scene unfold the manticore gave out a loud roar of pain and started to fall towards me. Wasting no time I rolled out of the way, with a loud flop, the body just laid there unmoving. Remembering about Pedro’s problem I ran over to him and proceeded to dig him out. Seconds later he was out, a bit bruised up, but fine. As we made our way towards the manticore we notice a familiar blue suit friend smoking while walking away from the body a bloody dagger in his hand. Manny’s point of view ‘This is crazy…no insane’ I thought as I snuck my way around the edge of the forest to get behind the so called manticore. ‘This won’t work we should have just made a run for it’. The creature and my friends were slowly walking around in circles like one of those cowboy movies. ‘Ok here goes nothing’ I thought and clocked making my way towards it slowly. My heartbeat was racing like mad as I made my way closer and closer. ‘Almost’ I thought as I got up behind it my hand instinctively going into a backstab position. ‘Now’ I thought and uncloaked only to get smacked by its tail and sent flying towards the forest, luckily a bush softened the blow. “Ow” I said and brushed myself off, but then remembered what was going on. I peeked out from behind some bushes to see BJ cutting off the manticore stinger with his shield making the creature roar out in pain. ‘Guess that’s one way of going about it’. BJ then grabbed his shield and charged towards it and yelled “FUS RO DAH” but nothing happened, he tried a few more time getting the same results. The manticore took this opportunity   to tackle BJ and pinned him to the ground. ‘Oh shit! What do I do?! What do I do?!’ I yelled in my head and ran as fast as I could, time seemed to slow down as the creature got ever so closer to biting my friends head off. Without thinking I jumped onto the creature’s back and held on with all my strength. The creature then started to try and shake me off occasionally swiping at me. I then plunged my knife into its back followed by a pain filled roar from the creature. With one final shake it threw me off before it fell, but I was able to stick the landing. Without thinking I grabbed a cigarette and lit it, slowly making my way towards the down creature. With a kick to make sure it was dead I grabbed my knife from its back and made my way towards Pedro and BJ. “It appears we made…quite a mess” I said with awkward smile. “Did you really just say that…and also you’re smoking again” BJ said with a sigh. Realizing I am in fact smoking for the fifth time now today I just shrugged and said “I really don’t care anymore.” “Hey guys is cool to come out now? I need to show BJ something” Ben said with enthusiasm. “Uh yeah the manticore’s dead you guys can come out now” BJ said as he sheathed his sword and shield. As Ben started to come out he motioned for the kids we saved to come out as well. “So what was it you wanted…to show me” BJ said as he looked at the three girls in surprise. Ben’s point of view “Ok girls come over here” I said as I signaled the three girls next to me behind a bush. As we watched the scene unfold one of the girls asked with concern “Are ya’ll friends going to be alright?” she said with a strong southern accent. “Yeah they’ll be fine they’re much stronger than they look” I said now getting a better look at them, they seemed…strangely familiar. The girl closest to me wore blue overalls with a light olive t shirt. She had orangish eyes with bright red hair on her head was a light pink bow. The girl in the middle had a white dress on. She had sap green eyes and her hair was a mix of pink and purple.  The most surprising feature on her was her little white horn sticking out of her forehead. The one farthest away had a pair of blue jeans on with an orange t shirt. Her eyes were a grayish purple and her hair was fuchsia and compared to the other girls her hairstyle was rather tomboyish. She also had a pair of little orange wings sticking out from her back. The girls were about the same height two foot three or two foot four, except the tomboy one she was a couple hairs higher. Looking back at the fight they were now just circling one another “So how did you girls get him so riled up?” I asked. “Well Scootaloo was the one who wanted to try being Cutie Mark Crusader jungle explorers and…” the girl in the middle said her voice was rather high pitched. That’s when they started to play the blame game, but I Ignored what they were saying after she said Cutie Mark Crusader. ‘But how’s…by the way they act they are indeed the same CMC from the show, but they’re human…So we’re in Equestria, but maybe a different universe or maybe we’re in a different universe all together like Pedro said and this is all a coincidence’. “Hey girls” I said stopping their argument “I know this is going to sound strange, but where are we exactly?” “You’re in the Everfree forest” Scootaloo said confused. “I mean what country are we in?” “Why yer in Equestria” Apple Bloom I presumed said with a bright smile that changed quickly when Manny went flying back toward the forest. “Are ya sure yer friends are goin’ ta be alright?” “Yeah he’ll be fine” I said with a dismissive wave. ‘So then we are in Equestria…only in this Equestria the ponies are humans?’ I thought now deep in thought trying to figure out what’s what. Only to come out from my sense when I believe Sweetie Belle started to shake me to get my attention “It doesn’t look like they’re fine” she said pointing toward Pedro who was now buried underneath some rocks and BJ only had a shield ‘What the fuck did I miss in those past couple seconds…or minutes. You know I really need to stop thinking too much especially when we’re in a situation like…’ I thought before I was interrupted again. “What are ya’ll doin yer friends are in trouble” Apple Bloom screamed and pointed to where BJ was now pinned down by the manticore. “Oh shit” I said and shot up only to stop when I noticed Manny hanging onto its back for dear life. That’s when Manny backstabbed it and the manticore let out a mighty roar of pain followed by it flopping dead to the ground. Looking back at the girls I said trying to be nonchalant “Told you my friends could handle it” “Wow” they all said amazed with big bright eyes. “Hey guys is cool to come out now? I need to show BJ something” I said with enthusiasm. “Uh yeah the manticore’s dead you guys can come out now” BJ said as he sheathed his sword and shield. As I started to come out of the bushes I motioned for the girls to come out as well. “So what was it you wanted…to show me” BJ said as he looked at the three girls in surprise. “Just something you might find interesting…Oh before I forget introductions I’m Ben and these are my friends BJ, Pedro and Manny” I said while gesturing with my hands “And what are your names?” I asked trying not to act like I know them. “I’m Apple Bloom and its nice to meet ya’ll” “I’m Sweetie Belle and thank you for saving us” “I’m Scootaloo and that was pretty cool how you took down the manticore…I mean Rainbow Dash would have been 20% cooler, but you guys were still pretty cool.” “Uh yeah no prob…hey girls can you give us a minute we’ll be right back” BJ said and motioned us over to a spot where we huddled up. My point of view We kind of stood there for a couple minutes, my friends waiting for me to collect my thoughts. Taking a deep breath I said “Ben are those really…” “Yeah they are. I even asked them where we are and they responded with what you’d expect…we’re in Equestria” “Wait if we’re in Equestria why aren’t they girly ponies?” Pedro asked confused, but more annoyed that he was wrong. “Well Mr. fan fic expert care to shed some light” Manny said sarcastically. “Well I’ll admit that there were some stories where people get sent to Equestria and meet humanoid pony version, but that was really rare to find since it’s mostly humans go to Equestria and find just ponies” I said. “Well just like how there are different worlds/universes in Doctor Who there could be different worlds/universes for MLP” Ben said with a shrug. “So what’s the plan?” Manny asked. “Well given all the fanfics I’ve read we should ask the girls if they know how to get out of here, make our way to Ponyville, explain what’s going on, ask Twilight if she knows a spell to get us out of here and if she doesn’t we ask her to ask Princess Celestia if she knows any kind of spell like that” I said. “Princess Celestia?” Pedro and Manny asked. “Uh yeah there leader is a Princess kind of rude to not call her that” I said with a shrug. “Oh and before I forget make sure to use pony words until we can explain our situation to Twilight” I said this resulted in blank stares from Manny and Pedro. “Pony words…you’re kidding right?” Pedro asked Manny nodding his head in agreement. “Yeah pony words like hell is hay, fuck is buck, people is ponies, person is pony and so on and so forth” Ben said. “Don’t worry about it just make sure to watch what you say and let Me and Ben do most of the talking” I said as we broke out of our huddle and stretched. “Hey I wonder if we got our cutie mark for hiding” Scootaloo said. My brain instantly stopped ‘Cutie mark…cutie mark….oh fuck’ I thought and sprinted towards the girls. Ben must have came to the same conclusion since he was right behind me. “Awwww I didn’t get a cutie mark for hiding” they said at the same time while looking…at the back of their hands. That’s when Ben and I just tripped and fell face first to the floor, our legs twitching every so often. “Are y'all alright” Apple Bloom said looking at us with concern. “Uh yeah we're fine” I said while I got up, brushed myself off and gave her a little pat on the head, she seemed to really brighten up for some reason when I patted her. “So girls me and my friends here are…lost and we could use some help getting out of here. Do you know which way to go to get out of here?” I asked with a friendly smile my friends now joining us. “Uh well about that” Scootaloo said kicking the ground a bit sheepishly. “You’re kidding me you guys are lost I thought you would know your way around this forest don’t they live close by and…” Manny said before Pedro thankfully shut him up by covering his mouth. The girls really started to tear up and I did the only thing I could think of at the time, I brought them into a hug. Being careful not to squeeze them too tight into my armor, they didn’t protest and soon returned the gesture. Let’s make something clear I’m not a pedo bear, I just like children platonically. With their youthful optimism how can you not help, but laugh and smile remembering the good simple days before reality made you it’s bitch. We sat there for a few minutes before they broke it off wiping tears away. ‘Best.Day.Ever’ I thought. “Don’t worry girls there’s no shame in being lost I’m mean look at us” gesturing towards my friends “We’re full grown adults and we were asking a bunch of fillies for help” I said with a half hearted laugh. “*giggle* yeah that is pretty funny” Sweetie Belle said. “So how are we going to get out of here now?” Scootaloo asked. “Well…do you girls remember which direction it is from Ponyville to the Everfree forest?” Ben asked. “Ah believe its northeast to the Everfree forest from Ponyville” Apple Bloom said. “So if we were to say go southwest we would most likely find Ponyville” I said with a smug smile towards Pedro. “Uh yeah I guess” Scootaloo said confused. “What are ya’ll waiting for let’s go” Apple Bloom said and started to walk off in a direction her friends following closely behind. “Uh girls southwest is that way” Pedro said pointing in the opposite direction. They smile sheepishly at us “We knew that” and then we started to make our way southwest. Later…and still bright out? Pedro was taking the lead while the girls were in the middle between me and Manny while Ben took up the rear. As we kept silent and continued our pace Apple Bloom decided to ask “So where are y'all from?” My friends started to shuffle nervously so I answered “We’re from the Griffon kingdom.” “Oh I’ve never been there before what is it like” Sweetie Belle asked curiously. “Wait aren’t you a bit young to be traveling by yourself?” Manny asked. “I wasn’t by myself. My parents are business ponies that invest into different companies and stuff. They are constantly on the move. I eventually got tired of traveling and decided to stay with my big sister” she said. “Well the Griffon kingdom is no place for…kind ponies like yourselves. It’s a rather dangerous place” I said. “Why were y’all there then?” Apple Bloom asked. “Well you see girls were mercenaries” I said but they gave me blank looks. “What the hay is a ‘mercenaries’?” Scootaloo asked. “Well girls mercenaries or singular form mercenary is a per…pony or ponies that for a better lack of term are hired soldiers that work for mon…bits” Ben said like he was reading it out of a dictionary. They just ‘ohd’ in understanding and everyone….everypony…screw it were in Equestria, everypony went silent for a bit. Until the girls stomachs growled loudly causing the girls to blush in embarrassment while we chuckled. “Hey Ben do we still have some of that fruit we found?” I asked. “Yup saved some just encase we got hungry again later and we couldn’t find anything edible” he said as he reached into his pocket and pulled out small slices of the blue fruit. “Just a heads up it’s really sweet” he said now handing a couple of pieces to them. The second they bit into it there faces scrunched up from the sweetness and we laughed at their expense again. Couple of minutes later we found a small stream and decided to follow it towards our destination and came upon a small clearing where we found one of the most prettiest girl I have ever seen in my entire life, humming the most peaceful and loveliest of tunes. “Hey isn’t that Fluttershy” Sweetie Belle said. Fluttershy looked about five foot one wearing a yellow sun dress. She had yellow wings sticking out of her back, her long pink hair covered her face and she was wearing a tanish sunhat. She was kneeling down in the grass picking up some flowers and putting them into a wicker basket, they were probably medicinal flowers. “Do you know her?” Manny asked. “Yeah my sister and her are really good friends they go to the spa like every other week” Sweetie Belle said. “Yeah my sister friends with her as well, but y'all should stay put and let us talk ta her because Fluttershy really sh…” Apple Bloom tried to say before Pedro said something. “Hey Fluttershy can you show us the way out” he yelled out loud. Now for those of you who don’t know Fluttershy plus loud noise equals a run away and hide scared Fluttershy. She ‘Epeed’ and jumped, now normally she would have ran off towards a bush and hid or something…this was not the case. You see she jumped so high she hit her head on a tree branch, hard knocking her out cold as she fell to the ground and kind of just laid there not moving. The girls instantly ran over to her to see if she was alright while Manny, Ben and I just glared daggers at Pedro, while Pedro just gave a bad poker face like smile followed by a “Whoops.” “Her name was Fluttershy. FlutterSHY.” Ben said putting extra emphasis on ‘shy’. “Good job Pedro because of you, now it’ll take even longer to get out of here” Manny said angrily. “Look I’m sorry OK” Pedro said. “Enough guys this is getting us nowhere. Let’s just go see if she’s fine or not” I said as I made my way towards Fluttershy and the CMC, my friends right behind me. As I got closer I notice on her right hand she had three butterflies ‘So I guess that’s where the cutie mark shows up…huh guess it’s better than showing up on your butt…flank…whatever’. The girls were softly shaking her to see if she would wake up, but it didn’t seem like it was going to happen anytime soon. “So what do we do now?” Manny asked. “We can’t just leave her here!” Sweetie Belle said. “And we’re not going to just… give me a sec to think” I said while everypony just watch me pace back and forth. ‘Ok let’s see here we have a knocked out Fluttershy and the girls seem pretty tired as well and the sun is starting to go down’ “Hey Pedro can you tell me what time it is?” I asked. “It’s four thirty five” he replied. ‘Yeah we don’t have time to wait we need to get out of here pronto. I don’t know about my friends but I’m tired of this stupid forest.’ “Ok let’s see here” I said as I looked at everypony now “Ben I want you to carry Fluttershy” “Right” he said getting closer to Fluttershy. “Manny carry her wicker basket” “Uh ok…I guess” he said while grabbing the basket. “ Pedro put your helmet back on to increase your perception and make sure to let us know if any red ticks show up.” “But it make my head itch” he jokingly whined. “Want to trade” Manny asked sourly. “Nah i'm good” Pedro said while putting on his helmet. “Girls come here” I said waving them over. When they got close enough I leaned down enough for them to climb on. “But we’ll be too heavy if you carry all three of us” Sweetie Belle said. “Yeah and besides we can walk we wouldn’t want to burden you” Scootaloo said. “Trust me girls this will make getting out of here once and for all go by much quicker and besides I’m stronger than I look” I said gesturing  them to climb on up. They were reluctant about it at first, but eventually climb on up. Scootaloo was in the middle her legs going around my head while Sweetie Belle was on my left shoulder and Apple Bloom was on my right. I then put both my hands on their legs to make sure they wouldn’t fall. Now truth be told I wasn’t sure if I could actually carry them, but was half surprised to feel fine if anything a little weighed down, nonetheless I was able to walk. “Wow ya might just be as strong as my big brother” Apple Bloom said. ‘Yeah gonna chalk this up to be because of magical lands of Equestria’. “Wow BJ been working out much?” Manny said surprised as well. “Please Manny I’ve fought mudcrabs stronger than this” I said with a laugh. “No for real?” he asked. “Manny remember dragon shout, your watch, Pedro’s pip boy and Ben’s…power” I said trying to not revealing anything to the girls, but they weren’t really paying attention. Probably not use to being up so high I assumed as I could feel them moving, pointing and talking about stuff. “Well shall we go” Ben said carrying Fluttershy on his back. “You good Ben?” I asked. “Yeah she’s surprisingly not heavy at all” he said proving it by jumping up and down a couple of times. “If we’re done messing around shall we get going” Pedro said walking off towards the forest, with us right behind him.