//------------------------------// // A shy yet elegant adventure? // Story: Pony Terrestrial // by Arcanel //------------------------------// Aha, I’ve found my source of life (aside from sweets and Coca-Cola that is)! It’s you fellow readers! CPM here. So, now you know that the ever mentioned game was none other than Ōkami! Hopefully, I’ll be able to pull the next chapters well for the sake of you guys, and to not disrespect such an awesome game. Therefore, the ado has now been hidden in a different place, and thus, I give the next chapter of The misadventures of MLP: FIM around the world, A shy yet elegant adventure? O holy spirits I beg of you. Let me live again. I will only own one thing and nothing else. May it be this piece of work, if I may. Thank you. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Well…it’s here where I will see if I did the right choice. And I hope I’m right, otherwise, I will have a traumatized pony in my hands. “I-I-I-I-Is that d-d-d-dragon back?” Fluttershy softly whispered. (Sigh) time for the explanations. “Well…yes. But don’t worry Fluttershy, it won’t hurt you and most importantly, we’ll lift his curse!” I cheered. I hoped that that statement alone would have been enough to calm her down. And while she did stopped trembling like no tomorrow, she was still scared. And I don’t blame her. I got a question as well. “How in Equestria are WE going to do that? That…thing looks just AWFUL!” Rarity asked. I could almost sense some sarcasm in there, but I wasn’t too sure. Oh well, none the matter. She shall see soon enough. “Ah ah ah. I can’t just go and tell you that now can I? Not to mention, YOU will be playing this game” I told her. I almost said mâcherié…damm you Waka. “I know you still haven’t played yet, and therefore, I’ll help on the controls and such, but the game will be played by you two. So once again I ask both of you, do you want to play?” I asked for the umpteenth time, although I intend to make this one the last. Luckily, they responded. “Well, I believe I said I was going to play, didn’t I? Besides, I simply CANNOT leave such a beautiful place in this state. And don’t even get me started on how horrible it looks now” Rarity stated, determination in her voice. ‘Well, she is totally in now…even if not entirely for the correct reasons’ I thought in semi-joy, semi-facepalm state. “I-I-I-m scared. But I don’t want to l-leave that world without help” Fluttershy whispered, also determination in her voice. ‘That’s my girl! Saving Earth and Nippon with her inequine cuteness and awesomeness since 2010!’ I mentally cheered. “Very well then! Let’s save the world!...In a matter of speaking of course” I said. Okay so I MAY be biased to say something unnecessary, buuuuuuut… After the final introductions, we went on with the game. Then we introduced the wood sprite Sakuya, and then came the turn of Ammy, better known as Amaterasu. “…Amaterasu is cute” Fluttershy said. Heh I dare say I agree. Ammy for the win! Not as cute as you dear Fluttershy of course (one, does not simply, overcome her cuteness. We know it XD). “But wait a minute, is Amaterasu some sort of…deity?” Twilight asked. I should not be surprised by now. This will be interesting. “Well…you could say that Amaterasu and Princess Celestia share something in common, so to speak” The moment I spoke the words, I swear I could hear everybody’s neck crack when turned to look at me. Except Celestia, though she did seem quite intrigued. “Both Amaterasu and Princess Celestia have powers of the sun” I explained to them. However after the immediate “Whaa…?” of Twilight I continued explaining. “You see, in the Japanese mythology, Amaterasu was considered the sun god. In this game, the representation of Amaterasu has some sort of power like that. Believe me. There are a LOT of deities because there are and were a LOT of different cultures throughout our history. And not only from the sun. The moon was also adored almost as much as the sun, if not as much. But to give you ALL the names, well…it would take me a whole day! ’Not to mention I haven’t showed them Wikipedia, so I can’t even go and check’ “Does that work for you Twilight and Princess Celestia?” I asked both ponies. A satisfied nod from Twilight, a gentle nod from Celestia, and an excited nod from Luna told me everything I need. I guess after the Nightmare Moon incident, and the whole thing that caused it, I think Luna would be pretty excited. And she has no idea at all. Afterwards came the introduction of none other than Issun…oh yeah. This is gonna be weird. “Why was he in her clothes?”All asked at the same time. How do you explain perversion to them? Simple. You don’t. You say something else…or at least try to. It’s also a good thing that they can’t see what Issun speaks and I’m the one doing the speaking...otherwise…well let me put it this way. They will know sooner or later the dark side of humanity. I don’t want that to ruin gaming moment! “Ahehehe…you see, he sometimes likes to take a trip in a more…warm place, because you can see how small he is and she just happened to pass by. Since the female version of us has breasts a bit…bigger compared to ponies, and therefore they are perfect for that purpose!” ‘HIGHWAY TO HELL!...tsss tsss…I’M GOING THERE!....tsss tsss…THAT WAS SO LAME!...tsss tsss…THAT’S AN EPIC FAIL dummmm!’ I chanted in my head, after finishing the explanation. I may have ruined one of the best rock songs in history, but frankly I couldn’t think of something else. Explaining THAT like THIS will be a nightmare forever in my head, even more because that was NOT my best quick thinking. May AC/DC, cut me some slack. If what came next didn’t left me jawdropping, then nothing will. Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Spike, Twilight Sparkle and Rarity all gave me blank stares, while Princess Celestia just put on a barely nervous face as well as Princess Luna. And after those little seconds that felt like minutes, Twilight spoke. “Arcanel…I know you want to be as polite, courteous and careful as you can but we know enough to KNOW when a pervert is there. Equestria is not without its little bad ponies” She explained. “Twilight is right dear. We appreciate the thought of trying to avoid such matter, but we can tell what is right in front of our eyes” Rarity continued. “Ah say the same thing. But ah won’t tell you anything because nopony wants to tell that kind things to others, and even more with ponies from another world, or in yer case, people as you said” Applejack said with honesty. “Yeah. Besides, that was a lame excuse” Rainbow said. Gee, how nice of her…oh well, I can’t say anything though. That WAS lame. What intrigued me was that “I agree with her, not to mention, we aren’t dumb you know?” Spike added. “You do not need to try and avoid this type of matter, Mr. Arcanel, but like Rarity said, we are grateful for to try and evade as best as possible such things…even if said way was not the best” Celestia comforted me. I wonder if in her head she is trying to make a little smile due to my horrible words. I wouldn’t be surprised. “My sister is correct Arcanel. If the theme in question is a bit too uncomfortable for you to speak of then let us know and we will understand” Luna comforted me as well. Being speechless is one of my best “Photo to take and make the guy look bad” faces, but right then I couldn’t have cared any less. After a few seconds of mind blank, I managed to speak again. “Thanks…but I’ll be honest. If I were to just go and said this from the beginning, would you have accepted this game so easily? The thing is, it takes a lot of references to the real world and mixing it with references to the Japan some hundreds of years ago. I also want Rarity and Fluttershy in this game because in this game, you need to draw on some occasions, and you need to help people in some occasions as well. That’s why the avoidance of anything” I explained to them. Granted I could have considered that Equestria isn’t a perfect world, and therefore, this wouldn’t be that much of a strange subject to touch, but I didn’t want to risk it, even more with the fact that the world I have in my mind IS perfect. Mea culpa on that one. “I will however further ask you about humans” Twilight said with a smile. ‘Oh no…oh HELL NO! I will NOT explain anatomy. I WILL NO- then again, if they ask me to go to a river a try to make it go another direction, I think I would try……dammit. This WON’T be easy’ I thought in disdain. Avoiding awkward matters won’t be the best to speak, will they? “Okay” I simply responded. Future, I hope you won’t troll me and be good. I want your streak of good stuff to continue, not continuing with the incantation of Murphy please. Meanwhile Rarity had a face like “So…u herd I laik drawing…interesting” I think I triumphed when I said the word drawing. “But on any case, shall we continue on the matter?” I quickly tried to regain matter on the game…until a voice came. “Um…before we begin…c-can I ask a question?” Fluttershy was the one who had spoken. “Sure you can Fluttershy” I said while giving her a smile. “Um…why do they talk like that?” And what a good question that was. Fluttershy gets an A+!...No scratch that. She deserves more! “Good question…unfortunately, I don’t know (if somebody could tell me the reason I would be really glad)” I told her in disappointment. “I myself wondered the same thing for a while and I really don’t know. Honestly it’s annoying to tell the truth. However, the game for some reason gains that especial feel when in voices like that. And for some reason it works like a charm. And I’m glad” I finished. I think I MAY have gone into gamer mode…again. “I…see. Thank you Arcanel” Fluttershy told me. “No problem! Now shall we delve ourselves into the game and see if you like it?” I asked my favorite ponies. With a nod from both I proceeded into getting the rest of introduction done. After a bit more of dialogue, we reached the part where Issun showed his painting skills. Needless to say, Rarity was quite impressed. “Wow…and that little…thing, managed to draw that himself? That is quite impressive if I say so myself” If she of all people/ponies say that, then Issun really knows how to paint heh heh. “Well, that is technically painting, because he uses a brush, even if it doesn’t seem like it. But yes, he did it” I told her. At this was again impressed, but continued to watch nonetheless. After the whole thing, we finally got to the point where we could move…until Fluttershy came with another question. “W-Will Sakuya be okay?” She asked. (Sigh) Oh dear. I don’t blame her at all, but what the hell I am supposed to do with her constant questioning of the plot of the game? I can’t just go and tell her everything...Wait a minute…did I just spoke more of the game than Fluttershy?...Somebody please pass me the shotgun, I need to erase my mind with a strong shot to my forehead, so step aside. (Sigh) I better tell her for her sake. Even if it goes against gaming rules. She is FAR more important. However, before I could say anything Rarity spoke first. “Fluttershy dear, I’m sure she will be fine. But do remember that is just a game and that we are supposed to be the good ponies…er, wolf in this case. If we work, we sure can make her feel better as she said. Is that okay?” She said. At this Fluttershy hesitated a little but still nodded and smiled. Salvation comes in the form of a white pony when you least expect it. Rarity just simply rocks! After all that, came my turn to explain them. “Okay then! Rarity, Fluttershy, this game needs you to react somewhat fast, which is why I am putting you two on the same joystick. It is also a bit different because you don’t move with the little arrows. Instead, you use that little lever like thing there” I said pointing to the left analog stick. “Fluttershy if you want to, you can take care of the movement and maybe other buttons. Rarity if you want you can take care of the little figure buttons. Don’t worry, I will tell you what everything does. Is that okay with two?” I asked to them. With the now common nod, we began the game. “Fluttershy try moving the stick/lever upwards to move Amaterasu into the shiny hole” I told her, and she tried to do so. And I say try because she wasn’t having an easy time because of her hooves. Anatomy….Y U No let her play! (I need to STOP with the 9gag references…). After a few more tries she managed to lead Ammy into the passage for the first stage of the game…The River of the Heavens. When we reached the place we started getting the hang of the movement for Fluttershy, until she was more used to it. Then came Issun’s breaking of the forth wall in all of its glory. “What the hay is a memory card?” Rainbow asked. Again surprise because she asked before Twilight. Prejudice don’t screw me up. “Well, do you see this little thing connected here?” I asked her pointing to the memory card. “That’s a memory card. It allows us to save the game so that when we need to retake from a certain point instead of going through the whole thing again. Of course, it also has its limits. You can’t go and save any game you want. If there is space, then can. Otherwise, you will have to delete another game’s archive to put in another. Kind of like having an archive in that little device. In fact, let me give you an example. Probably, a good lot of the Canterlot archives would enter in said device if one modified it for that purpose” I explained. The look on Celestia’s, Twilight’s and Luna’s face was absolutely PRICELESS! “You can’t be serious!” Twilight exclaimed. At this I just smiled. “Twilight…here in Earth you will learn that big stuff is for small stuff, and that small stuff is for big stuff, as much as that doesn’t make sense. Believe me. We humans have done a lot of stuff, both good and bad. But we are different civilizations, therefore, one’s surprise is another’s non-impression and viceversa” I explained. “Example, we have something that is as big as Ponyville maybe, and it is to investigate particles that can’t even be seen with the naked eye. And we have something this the size of my hand, and yet could probably hold most of the archives in the entire Equestria” I continued. Twilight was doing her best job to not have her jaw drop entirely and maybe not have her explode from the reaction “Head. DOES NOT COMPUTE!” “However we can’t, for example, “wrap up” winter, so to speak. There is a lot we can do but there is a lot we can’t do in comparison to you. Princess Celestia, we can discuss this later if wish” I finished turning myself to the white alicorn, to which she nodded. The face of Twilight meanwhile hadn’t changed from its state of “Amazing…” and Luna had her cute face of “Interesting” All that aside we continued. Then it was time for Rarity to shine this time. Time to tackle! “Fluttershy get close to the little pots and then Rarity press the button with the square” I told them, and when they did so, immediately Fluttershy exalted in worry. “Oh my…is Ammy okay?” She asked worry. The fact that she caught up with Amaterasu’s nickname made it even cuter. At least I had a living example to get this. “Don’t worry Fluttershy. Have you seen how Pinkie crashes through a lot and yet she doesn’t even have a scratch?” I asked her pointing to the pink pony. When she nodded I continued. “Well this game works the same way for Ammy. Unless a battle comes or certain things come, she won’t get hurt, okay?” I tried to assure her, which worked because we quickly went back to the game. “Okay! Now Fluttershy get close to the wall and Rarity press the button with the X twice, and then Fluttershy when she is at the top move forward” I told them once more. They did so in perfect unison. Maybe they won’t have that much trouble in the game. Then I showed them how to open the treasure chests and it was time for the first painting. “Um, how are we supposed to cross?” Rarity asked. “You’ll see. Now Rarity, Twilight, watch this” I said a little smile on my face. Then Issun with the Celestial Brush made the broken bridge reappear again. And cue the “What the hell?!” “How did he even…?” Twilight managed to say. “Remember when I said we would have to paint? Well, we are gonna have to do that and much more! What do you think Rarity?” I asked. The response was somewhat expected, if I were to say so. “Much…intriguing to say the least! Never would I have thought that painting would be used in such a…peculiar way” She said impressed. ‘Neither did I milady. Neither did I’ After that scene, we went on with the level until we had to go up the little hill to the right….and into the constellation. “Princess Luna, I think the next thing will be something that you could wish we could do so easily” I told the blue alicorn. “And why is that?” She asked me back. Initiate smug smile. “Again, you’ll see” I said. With that we went on to the hill to initiate the next scene…which involved Issun trying to restore the missing star in the constellation. “He is trying to do what?!” Luna screamed. Told you so. “You heard him, we have to restore the missing star in that constellation!” I cheered. I think she was with a face “Are you kidding me?!” but I ignored it. In exchange I went to tell the the gaming ponies what to do. “Now it’s your turn girls! Rarity all you have to do is press and hold the button with the R1 then Fluttershy, move the brush to the little apex where there is nothing and then Rarity if you can just tap the button with the square and then release the R1 button. Do you think you can do that?” I asked them. Rarity at first stared at me with a blank stare but then smiled with determination and nodded, while Fluttershy just shyly nodded. At first their try was a bit of a mess, which ended in Issun chastising, but after a few more tries, they managed to do it and they put the star in the correct place…and then, ensued the revival of Yomigami…which ended in Fluttershy’s fright. I expected as much. Hopefully, some of her “New Fluttershy” mode will sometimes go on, because she will need it. Then again, it’s bad luck the first two inhuman beings she sees, aside from Issun, are both dragons. Dammit! “Hey…Fluttershy? It’s okay, he is on our side, don’t worry” I tried to assure her. Of course, once again, if her biggest fear of all are dragons, this is NOT easy like with Orochi. At least this is one of the good guys. At least she calmed down a bit. After the little fear incident, started the whole thing of “Amaterasu mother to us all” and all those things. Which of course, after regaining the power of Rejuvenation, ended in some questions. “Where did it go?” Asked Princess Celestia, which again surprised me. How many times do I have to remind myself that Twilight won’t always be the first asking? “Well, Yomigami technically is now a part of Amaterasu. When he said that Amaterasu was mother to them all, it’s almost literally when they say it” I answered her. “What did we receive again?” Rarity asked. “Now you have the power that is called Rejuvenation! Remember what Issun did back in the bridge? Well, you can do that now!” I exclaimed in joy. “Are there more of these…powers?” Twilight asked. “Yep. But let’s get to those when we get them shall we?” I told her letting out a bit of a sly smile. However I had a question of my own. “So Princess Luna, if you don’t mind me asking, is it somewhat like that that you can create stars? Or you can’t control the stars?” I asked said pony. Hopefully I didn’t sound insulting, but there was really no other way I could put it. “Well, we can move the stars, but I can’t create any celestial beings” She explained. At this Celestia nodded as well, so as to indicate that she did the sort of the same. “I see. Well, in this case, you could say that at the tip of a brush, Ammy here can lots of stuff!” I cheered. “But now, shall we go on? Rarity, Fluttershy, head to the “river” down the hill” I told them. When we reached there and Issun explained some obvious things, came the next trial. “Well. Now you two need to create the whole river!” I told them. Okay so MAYBE that sounded like it was easy, which technically was, but maybe I didn’t realized the full situation here. Mainly because Rarity exclaimed “What?!” the moment I finished saying that. “Rarity, I trust that with your knowledge of painting and drawing, youn can fill up the little screen as if it was breeze. That’s all you need to do really. Now, isn’t that right? Just you both do your best” I told her. And with that, her determinate smile came again. “You ARE right darling! Fluttershy dear, shall we?” Rarity smugly said. ‘Great now she is fired up…never thought it would happen, hell YES!’ I happily thought at the fact that Rarity was in the game as well…and that sounded like EA Sports…dammit! Fluttershy simply smiled. Then they did exactly what they needed. Surprisingly, they painted the whole river with ease. Again, awesome team is awesome. “Nice! Good job you two, now to cross the river!” I semi-commanded. Then came another worry question from Fluttershy. “Um…but won’t Ammy drown?” She asked, worried about the wolf god. ‘Oh Fluttershy…(sigh) you need to worry less for a game. You’re pretty much like Celestia. Which is good, and I’m thankful for it’ “No, don’t worry. I mean, you’re actually right, but not for this river. It’s like you can get in it and you will never have to worry about the breath and such” I explained to her. This calmed her down once more. And with the nature of this game, I think it will happen a LOT. After crossing the river, we got the Astral Pouch, which once again netted another question. “What does Issun mean?” Twilight asked. “Well, this little thing here allows to revive you once when you lose all your points of life and ONLY when it is full. In other words, it works like an extra life or if you prefer the term, a lifesaver. If has to be filled with food we find from things so that it will fill itself and have its use in case of emergency” I explained to them. At the nod of Twilight that she understood, we continued. The good thing was, that once I explained it once, the other understood as well and I didn’t have to explain it all again. After Eternal Poison, that’s the LAST thing I want to do. After getting to the next zone, which including breaking a few things here and there, we got to the part where we reached the cave of Nagi, and after the trap was in, which earned a big “Oh whatever shall we DO?!” from the dear white unicorn, we came to the part where they had to repaint the sword…only they didn’t figure that out so quickly. That is until… “Um…maybe we have to repair the sword?” Fluttershy asked. When all brains are out, the quiet ones have the solution, rule of life. (Or…so do I think XD). “Correct Fluttershy!” I complimented her, at which she just shrunk a little and blushed. ‘Must…not…hngggggggg…she’s too cute for humanity’ After the good response from the yellow Pegasus, came the painting of the sword…which of course lead to the restorarion of yet another constellation and another brush power. “A…rat? How can that be some sort of god?” Rainbow questioned. “Ah’m agreeing with her” “And so am I” Applejack and Spike too voiced their opinions. I just smiled. ‘Incoming mouth shut in 3…2…1’ The moment Tachigami started doing all those moves with his sword, I swear I FELT their jaws drop. Hah, the fools. Never mess with the unexpected. “Still want to mess with that simple rat?” I asked them, absolute mirth in my voice. They simply nodded while trying to take their jaws back into place. Heh, Tachigami rules! Besides, his brush power is one of the most useful ones in the whole game. When we went to test it, Rarity and Fluttershy had once again no trouble at all, and so cutting down the little wooden poles was no problem too. However then came the next trial…the first fight. “What is going on?!” Rarity exclaimed. Then appeared the imps, which earned very disgusted “What in Equestria are THOSE?! They look simply awful!” from Rarity once more. Okay here comes the thing. “Okay, this is your first fight. Fluttershy, you move towards the enemies so Rarity can attack. Rarity, you can attack with thing in Ammy’s back with the square button, but press it repeatedly. You can also attack when you are jumping. Now are you ready?” I asked them. Their response was somewhat expected. “But…I can’t hurt somepony…” Fluttershy whispered. “And I will not put myself in such a low level so as to fight with these…things!” Rarity exclaimed. (Sigh) when all else fails, get the motivational speech going on! “Fluttershy, I know you don’t like to fight. But will you let them hurt Ammy? Rarity, I know you don’t like fighting either. But will you let such lowly creatures as those to hurt a such a magnificent creature like Amaterasu, who is also a god?” I asked both of the ponies. Their responses where exactly what I wanted. “No…NO! I won’t let them hurt Ammy!” Fluttershy screamed…in a normal voice for once. ‘Probably her more self-assured self coming out a bit. Well, Iron Will may have taken a step too far, but he at least did something to remain there’ I pondered. “While I do not like to indulge myself in such matters of violence…I CANNOT consider myself a pony if I let Amaterasu get hurt by these things!” Rarity exclaimed. ‘Rarity is in! And she is on FIRE!’ I thought in joy. Apparently, fire is the current mood in these times. Then the next thing that happened was as if it could be something that could EASILY happened on the show. Imagine the screen parting in two and zooming in on the faces of Fluttershy and Rarity. And then in unison they said. “IT. IS. ON!” This is one of the best moments of my life. That I can assure, regardless of whatever has happened and may happen. They simply MASSACRED the imps. Granted, these are the first ones, but for their first time…AWESOME! At the end of the battle they relaxed a little but did a little high hoof, and then everything went back to normal. Meanwhile, me avoiding to speak my mind at the moment was not working so well. “That…was…AWESOME!” I complimented both of them which earned a little blush from both of them. ‘Let’s see, I have just witnessed an awesome massacre of bad guys and blush from compliment out of my favorite ponies. Yep, this is a good day indeed, even more with the previous events. Good day is good’ After the little celebration, they went back to the original place having two more battles in the way back. And after returning to the portal they did the trip back to the portal where they came from, and into the next stage of the game…Kamiki Village. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Well, awesomeness on ponies was done! XD. (Sigh) I really think this chapter could have gone better, but then again, I underestimated the amount of stuff Arcanel had to explain, not to mention, the how to play the game. Hopefully, my little AC/DC joke lightened things up (and also here’s hoping not to get sued XD). On any case, I this chapter was as long as I intended, but had far less advance in the game than I thought, therefore, I think I will have to do more chapters than I intended for this game, which I think is a better idea. However, now that some things are out of the way, I think I can go faster on the advancing of the game, but I’m not too sure. I at least kept my promise of one chapter per week. But I still procrastinated a lot. My mind would just keep on getting distracted and that’s not good. I think I COULD have delivered two chapters instead of just one. I’m sorry. That aside, I hope the next chapter won’t generate me much troubles. Then again, the gaming chapters were much more difficult than I thought, with the exception of Burnout, which was VERY fun to write XD. I think I’m finished ranting XD. If you have some ideas on how to evolve in the game starting from this point, I would appreciate it. Whatever tip you can throw, will be read and maybe used by me. Now I’m done ranting XD. Therefore, the catchphrase. Comment, R&R, let your inner Grammar Nazi out, throw WHATEVER ideas you have for me, haters ignored, flamers abhorred, etc, etc. CPM out.