//------------------------------// // The Great Pet Adventure // Story: Gong Yi Tem Ponies // by TrombonePlayingPony //------------------------------// After everyone went through the one dozen or so showers Rarity insisted we take (I did mine clothed of course), I headed home to rest. The next day I had some more free time and, taking what Twilight had said into consideration, decided to head into town. The ponies of Ponyville were used to homes being damaged by various crazy happenings and had already put together a good amount of the town. I found a nice spot in the park to settle down in before pulling open my scroll to figure out our mystery Shen Gong Wu. Turns out it was the Juju Fly Trap, and no it doesn’t shoot parasprites. At least, not anymore. I’m guessing the parasprite who ate it somehow caused it to change its purpose, which is to just shoot normal flies or bees. Not exactly a great Wu but hey, I got it before it was even revealed so I’ll take that as a win. “Oh there you are Allan.” I turned to see Rarity standing there. “I was wondering if I could ask you for a favor.” I closed the scroll and stowed away the fly trap before getting up. “Sure Rarity, whatcha need?” “Ah, you see the gala will be coming up soon and I’ve decided to make the girls and myself dresses for the event. It will be a lot of work so I’ll need someone to watch Sweetie Belle for the day. Do you think you could do that for me?” She batted her eyelashes at me, only causing me to chuckle. “Come on senorita. You don’t need to act all sweet to convince me. Heck, I would have done it even if you didn’t ask.” Rarity seemed kind of shocked by what I said before walking over and giving me a hug. “Oh thank you! I’ll be sure to make you something right after I finish with the girls.” “Hey, I don’t need anything in return. Besides, these robes are pretty formal when not covered in parasprite goo.” “Oh, that reminds me.” She said as she let go of me. “Could you go speak to Fluttershy? When we were cleaning up she seemed… scared of you. I couldn’t fathom why though.” “Sure, I’ll check up on her. Where does she live?” “In a small cottage by the Everfree Forest. You can’t miss it.” I gave Rarity a wave goodbye before heading down the road to Fluttershy’s. Ponies waved to me as I passed by, apparently having heard I was the one who got rid of the big one. I just waved back until I ran into Twilight. “Oh Allan, there you are. The princess’ letter for you has arrived.” She floated it over to me. “So… any bad feelings about today?” She so unsubtle-y asked for one of my Wu. I just sighed before taking the letter and pulling out the Juju Fly Trap. She quickly picked it up in her magic and began looking over it intently. “Isn’t this the Wu you found inside the parasprite? What does it do?” “Shoots swarms of flies or bees, depending on your preference. It’s called the Juju Fly Trap. Just be careful where you aim that thing.” Twilight rolled her eyes. “Of course I’ll be careful. Why wouldn’t I be careful? Besides, this Juju Fly Trap looks less dan-” As she spoke, the end of the fly trap opened and a swarm of flies came out, swarming a pony that was standing on a ladder against a house. The pony began flailing about before the ladder fell over backwards with a thud. “Whoops.” Twilight said sheepishly. “Sorry!” I just shook my head and opened the letter, determined to keep uninvolved in whatever chaos Twilight causes. The letter was once again in Celestia’s curved, elegant handwriting. And yes, I’m sticking with handwriting despite them not using hands. Dear Allan, I am truly sorry I had to cut our last meeting so short. I’m sure you have a lot of questions about your new position and I will try my best to answer as many of them here. Officially you are now a part of the royal guard. The badge I gave you is a symbol of that. Showing it to anyone will allow you inside most places, as well as gives you access to various documents here in the Canterlot archives. Don’t worry about wearing gold armor or having guard duty though as this is only your official title. Unofficially you are the first of Luna’s agents. Since her return to Equestria, she had no agents to speak of. Normally one would be allowed to choose who they would like to serve under, but Luna seemed so excited at the idea I couldn’t tell her no. I do hope this is alright with you. Agent of Luna? I scratched my head in confusion. Sounds like I’ve become James Bond minus the nice tux and a hispanic accent instead of british. For princess and country! Being an agent of either of us is rather basic. All you are really expected to do is defend Equestria, something you have been doing rather well with so far. Luna may ask of you specific tasks but don’t worry about that. She knows you are a busy man and won’t call upon you unless it is urgent. Beyond that you can ask Luna, as she will be visiting Ponyville soon for Nightmare Night. Based on what Twilight has sent me of your world, it sounds similar to your Halloween so you shouldn’t be too caught off guard by the festivities. I wish you the best of luck, Celestia I looked over the letter one more time, just to make sure I didn’t miss anything important. So… what? It just sounds like she made my current job official and said ‘keep at it’. Is there really a reason for all this? I sighed before stuffing the paper in my robes. At least she told me Luna was visiting. She was fun to hang around last time. “Alright Twilight, I’ve got to head to Fluttershy’s. Make sure you don’t hurt anyone too badly with that thing, alright?” Twilight nodded before prancing off. Dios mio, that girl gets too happy when research is involved. *     *     * Fluttershy’s house was pretty easy to spot. Just look for the cottage next to the forest of doom covered in every animal known to mankind. And no, I’m not exaggerating. She had a freaking bear in her front yard, just sitting there happily doing nothing. A bear!! Not to mention the birds, rabbits, squirrels, cats, dogs, fish in the nearby pond. I would continue but I’d be here all day. The animals seemed rather curious of me as I approached the door, a few of them even so bold as to climb on my shoulders. I just let them do their thing as I knocked on the door. I heard Fluttershy’s tiny voice call out, “Be there in a second.” After a few moments the door creaked open, though she froze when she saw it was me. “Hey Fluttershy. Rarity told me you seemed kind of off put by me and I wanted to make sure nothing was wrong.” She shook her head side to side quickly, her face still the look of fear it had been since the moment she laid eyes on me. “Fluttershy,” I kneeled down as I spoke softly, “What’s wrong nina?” She looked at me for a moment before suddenly speaking all at once. “I… I thought you were nice and all but nice people don’t make animals explode, even if they are monster bugs threatening the town. I don’t approve of what you did and I find it horrifying that you shook off what you did to it so easily. I’m so sorry!” She squeaked and hid behind her mane, the sound of sniffling being muffled by her long hair. “Fluttershy, you’ve got nothing to be sorry for.” I brushed some of her hair aside so I could see her face. “You know, you remind me a lot of my sister.” She sniffed. “Really?” “Oh ya. She loved animals. Wanted to become a vet when she got older. She wasn’t shy like you are, but she cared for all animals. I still remember the time she hated me for a week because I stepped on a spider. Eventually I got used to not killing bugs that get in the house or anything like that cause I knew if Rachel saw me, I would get a whole lot of lip.” “She sounds nice.” Fluttershy smiled a bit. “But then why did you destroy the giant parasprite like you did?” “I didn’t mean to Fluttershy. I was in a stomach filled with acid being attacked by parasprites. I saw the Shen Gong Wu sticking out of its stomach and went for it. I was more focused on defending you all than making sure the parasprite came out okay.” “I… think I get. I still don’t like it, but I know you don’t mean to do anything bad.” She gave me a small smile. “Oh, I just remembered. You said you wanted to get a pet, right?” “Ya, I guess I wouldn’t mind the company. Any ideas what kind of animal would be good for me?” “Well let me see…” She turned to look around her animal crowded home before turning back. “Oh, do come in.” I stepped inside, the animals that had crawled onto my shoulders jumping off as I got up. The inside of the house was cozy and rather well kept for someone who undoubtedly had a ton of animals running around. A few trinkets and picture frames sat on the shelves along the walls, a small couch and rug being the center of the room for the most part. “Maybe you’d like a squirrel?” Fluttershy held up a squirrel on her nose. “Or perhaps a raven?” The very same bird flew down and landed on her outstretched wing. “Maybe even a snake?” And just like the other two animals, it appeared, wrapping itself up Fluttershy’s hoof before resting its head next to hers. “I dunno. I was thinking something a bit bigger.” “Oh I know! Follow me.” We step back outside and she walked over to the bear. “Harry here is a big guy, but he’s such a softie. Aren’t you?” She scratched the bear under the chin, it cooing as it leaned into her hoof. “Uh… I don’t think-” “And he does tricks too! Harry, would you mind?” He shook his head before he began to dance around like some sort of circus bear. He even juggled for a bit before doing a handstand. As he was keeping balance though, one of the balls he had been juggling rolled underneath one of his paws, causing him to fall forward on his back. “Harry! Are you-” Fluttershy’s concern was interrupted by a strange cracking noise. I looked down to see the earth itself was falling apart. I moved to get Fluttershy out of the way but it was too late as the two of us fell into the darkness below. “Fluttershy! You need to fly!” I called out to her, the wind whistling in my ears. Currently she was keeping her wings locked tight against her side as she just looked in horror below her. “I- I can’t!” She screamed. I glanced down to see the ground fast approaching, spurring me into action. “Longi Kite!” The kite formed itself on my back, the wings spreading wide as I angled myself toward Fluttershy. As soon as I had her in my arms I flared the wings, slowing our descent just enough that I could shield Fluttershy from the fall. My back hit what felt like stone as the crumbling earth smashed into the ground nearby, alluding to just how bad we could have had it. “Allan! Are you alright?” I grunted a bit as Fluttershy got off of me, allowing me to sit up. “Ya. I’ve taken worse hits to be honest.” I put the kite away before looking around. “Where are we?” “I don’t know. This isn’t my basement.” Fluttershy glanced about in fear. I stood up and placed a calming hand on Fluttershy’s back before walking over to a nearby wall. The entire thing was made of stone like the floor, a burned out torch being held in a sconce. I grabbed it with one hand as I pulled out the Eye of Dashi with the other. “Eye of Dashi!” The lightning ignited the end of the torch, giving us much needed light. We were currently in some kind of long tunnel, the way we came in blocked off by the rocks that had fallen with us. A new torch sconce could be seen just at the edge of the darkness. “Well I guess we should find a way out. Stay close Fluttershy.” She nodded before walking up next to me and we headed down the tunnel. We must have walked for a half an hour before coming across a large room. Pillars lined the sides, leading up to a set of stairs with a pedestal at the top of them. There lied a golden object, a Shen Gong Wu shaped like a serpent. “Is… is that one of your things?” Fluttershy asked. I nodded to her before glancing around, my instincts screaming at me to be alert. And they were correct as I heard the sound of scales rubbing on stone, accompanied by a low growl. Fluttershy was quick to stick herself to my side, shaking in fear as a giant serpent-like creature weaved itself out from between the pillars, it’s head hanging down before blowing soot in our faces with a snort of its nostrils. I noticed unlike an actual snake, this creature had a set of arms, razor sharp claws adorning the ends of his fingers. I coughed up what I got in my lungs as I spoke. “Man, I am not getting lucky with the giant creatures lately, am I?” I tossed the torch aside before pulling out the Sword of the Storms in two hands. “You wanna go hombre?” “Hang on.” The serpent spoke as he moved his head to my side. “Is that the ancient scroll of the Shen Gong Wu?” “Uh… yes. Why does it matter to you?” “Why does it matter to me? I know the guy who wrote that thing.” Suddenly the serpent shrunk down to the size of your average snake right in front of us. He stuck a hand out like one would to shake. “Dojo Kanojo Cho, at your service.” “Uh… Allan. Allan Rhodes.” I awkwardly took his claw in my hand and shook. “Oh, and this is-” Fluttershy was suddenly gone from my side, now having wrapped Dojo in a tight hug. “Oh, you are so adorable! Just what are you doing down here all alone, you poor thing.” Dojo managed to slip out of her grasp before taking in a gasp of air. “I… was about to explain that actually. Just… no more hugs for a moment, alright?” Fluttershy squeaked and blushed, clicking her front hooves together in embarrassment. “Now, what was I going to say?” Dojo placed a claw to his chin in thought for a few moments before snapping his fingers. “Oh ya. I knew Dashi, the guy who made that scroll and the Shen Gong Wu. He actually assigned me to guard this Wu imparticular, though I can’t really remember why. It has been fifteen hundred years so my memory might be a little fuzzy.” “So you’re a fifteen hundred year old, size changing snake with arms?” Dojo deadpanned at me. “No, I’m a dragon. Was that not obvious?” I shrugged. “Not really. I’ve seen the dragons in this world and most of them have legs and wings.” Dojo grumbled. “Of course. The only dragons around here getting rep are the ones with ‘extra appendages’. I can fly just as well as they can, and without wings as a matter of fact!” I held up my hands in defense. “Woah there hombre. I didn’t mean anything by it. I’ve only been in this world for like three months so having dragons at all is still kinda new to me.” “What, you some kind of alien? Take me to your leader and all that?” “Depends who you ask. Twilight calls me a multidimensional alien but everyone else just calls me a human.” “Huh. Well, I suppose since you are here you can take the Wu. Where did you get the Sword of the Storms from anyway?” “The scroll. It stores all of my Wu.” “Really? That’s a new one. All that thing did back when I saw it was gather dust.” He slid up my leg before wrapping around my shoulder. “By the way, you mind if I tag along? I’ll admit after fifteen hundred years of isolation, you get kind of lonely.” I shrugged. “Hey, whatever you want to do. Certainly wouldn’t hurt to have a dragon around.” The three of us headed up the stairs to the pedestal where the Wu sat. The moment I picked it up, the room began to shake and rumble. The pillars in the room collapsed one by one as the entire place threatened to fall on top of us. I felt Dojo tug on my collar as he shouted “Use the Wu! Use the Serpent’s Tail before we become pancakes!” I grabbed onto Fluttershy in one arm before holding out the Wu in the other. “Serpent’s Tail!” Suddenly the Wu began to fly upward with the us hanging on to the end of it. When it reached the ceiling, instead of slamming into it we phased through. We went through various levels of dirt and stone before light suddenly hit all of our eyes and I let go of the Serpent’s Tail, it going inert while Fluttershy and I landed on our butts. “Wha- how- Allan? Fluttershy? Where- where did you come from?!” We all turned to see Twilight standing there in the middle of her library. Spike was next to her, gawking just as openly as she was. I quickly picked up the tail off the ground and deposited it in my scroll. Dojo was still wrapped around my shoulder, his head spinning somewhat. “Woah. That’s the Serpent’s Tail for ya. Though I must admit, the whole ‘phasing through solid objects’ thing makes me nauseous.” “Phasing through solid objects?” Twilight gasped before suddenly teleporting in my face. “You found a Shen Gong Wu that can do that? Please, please, please let me study it!” She said with a grin that would rival Pinkie Pie. “Uh… later Twilight. You still got the Juju Fly Trap anyway.” “Woah, woah, woah there sister.” Dojo suddenly moved between the two of us, pushing Twilight back by her muzzle. “Grand Master Dashi entrusted me with keeping the Serpent’s Tail out of anyone’s hands except the dragon warrior who holds the scroll, and I ain’t about to break a fifteen hundred year old promise.” Twilight pouted at the dragon who only z-snapped in her face. “Dojo, you don’t even remember why he wanted you to keep it safe.” I noted. “Also, what’s the worse someone can do with this?” I called it back out and tossed it between my hands. “I wouldn’t call the ability to move through solid objects an end of the world scenario, especially in a world in which magic barriers are a thing.” “That may be true, but Dojo Kanojo Cho is a dragon of his word.” He stated as he wrapped himself back around my shoulder. “You’re a dragon?” Spike spoke up. “You don’t look like any dragon I’ve seen.” “Well of course you haven’t. People would have you believe that the only dragons around are ones with legs and wings. Never a mention of us sleak, serpent-like dragons. Filthy ingrates.” “Uh… I think we should go. Fluttershy has a hole to fill up in her front yard and I apparently now have a dragon to take care of.” I got up and opened the door, letting Fluttershy out before I stepped outside. “But wait!” Twilight called. “What about-” I closed the door before more could be said. “Yesh. That girl’s a crazy one, ain’t she?” Dojo muttered. “You have no idea hombre.” I turned to Fluttershy. “Anyway, shall we get you home? We should probably get that hole in your yard covered up as soon as possible.” “Oh, yes, of course. I’m just happy you found a pet after all.” Both Dojo and I looked at her shock before turning to each other and then back to her. “What pet?” She only giggled in response before heading down the road to her house, leaving the dragon and I confused.