//------------------------------// // Tail 14- The Trouble with Temples // Story: Monkey Business // by FrostTheWolf //------------------------------// Monkey Business- The Trouble with Temples Earlier that day…         For two friends, they did not want to deal with any what if’s or maybe’s. They had heard news that one of their friends was in a town called Ponyville and unlike their teammate Sage, who had the calm and patience in order to wait and take a chance that their friend would come to them, Neptune and Scarlet decided that they needed to go to this town and find their friend. Now, the red haired teen was using his blade and cutting through any tree branches that was getting in his face to make it easier for the two of them.         “Are you sure that we’re going the right way?” Neptune asked his comrade. Earlier, the two of them had a map. But after an earlier incident on their travels involving an Ursa Major Grimm attacking a small town of Hollow Shades, they’re map was torn to shreds and they had to ask for directions from the townspeople and their mayor, a batpony by the name of Shadow Wing, before they were able to begin traveling again.         “Yes I am. The directions from Shadow Wing told us to just keep going this direction and to go across the train tracks when we approach them. We’ve already passed the tracks, so all we have to deal with now is the forest here.” Scarlet replied, hacking a few more branches off with his cutlass. “Any signs of Grimm?”         “No, not since we left Hollow Shades.” The blue haired teen replied. “No signs of life now… either. Should we stop to take a break? We got a lot of ground to cover and that arm of yours might be getting tired from hacking at trees all day.”         “Yeah, but still, I would prefer to rest when the sun is down and when we find shelter.” Scarlet retorted. Looking around, he soon noticed a rising pillar of smoke in the distance. “Hey, do you think anybody might be camping out here?”         “Not with the Grimm running rampant. Why do you ask?” His partner said, until he saw the same thing his partner was looking at. “That is either a really good sign… Or a REALLY bad one.”         “Oh come on now.” Scarlet sighed. “Don’t tell me you’re going to wimp out on me. Besides, that might be a campfire with food.”         “Yeah, food that doesn’t belong to us. Scarlet, you’re talking like you want to steal someone else’s stuff.” Neptune pointed out to him as the two kept on getting closer.         “Okay, look, how about we come up with a plan.” He suggested. “We’ll go see what it is first and then evaluate our options.” Neptune nodded his head in agreement on that one. It didn’t involve any crazy maneuvers and they could see what was going on before actually doing anything wild and crazy. As they got closer though, the cracking of wood and flames became louder and the two of them soon heard sounds of what appeared to be tribal chants. Almost like some natives speaking their own native language. That was when Neptune got closer and realized what was happening.         “Uhh Scarlet? That is not a campfire.”         The two teens were now looking at what looked to be some sort of ancient temple. Where the ponies there were wearing tribal headdress’ and the blaze from the bonfire was the cause of the smoke. Either some sort of ritual was being performed or they were offering a sacrifice to whatever they called their gods. The one who was leading them was what appeared to be an overgrown wolverine with a hand at the end of it’s tail.         “Okay, is it just me or is this giving me some sort of Indiana Jones vibe?” Scarlet asked as he looked at the massive crowd. “All we need now is a Damsel in Distress-.” The second he said that, a light brownish pegasus mare was seen inside a bamboo cage. She had a black mane and tail, a cutie mark of a compass and from the looks of it, was suppose to be some sort of explorer.         “You were saying?” Neptune replied. “In all seriousness, we should help her but-.” He soon realized that his words were on deaf ears when he saw his friend walking towards the massive mob.         “Oh god, what the hell is he thinking!?” The teen screamed mentally inside his mind, taking a moment to stop him just as he was about to reach the temple walls. “Okay, what kind of suicidal plan do you have now?”         “Well, it would be easier to save that pony if we had a distraction right?” The teen pointed out, grabbing a jar out of his bag. “And I have just the right distraction for them.”         “Wait a second… is that-?”         “Red sap? Yeah. I got it from the innkeeper at Hollow Shades as a way to say thanks for helping the town. Also, look above the crowd.” Scarlet told Neptune as he looked up. Above the huge mob of tribal ponies was a big nest of wasps. But not just ordinary wasps. Rapier Wasps. Though they were only mentioned briefly in RWBY and not actually seen in the show, Rapier Wasps are attracted by the smell of red sap. Which meant that the entire swarm would swarm around them the moment that the sap got on them.         “Okay, what’s your plan?”         “I throw this, you shoot it. In the chaos, we get the pegasus and get the hell out of here.” He explained.         “You say that like it’s easy.” Neptune sighed, preparing his weapon and holding onto the grip tightly. “Get up on the wall so I have an easier shot with this.” His partner and friend nodded, using the grappling hook capabilities of his pistol to pull himself up and onto the wall above where the cage of the pegasus was. When the mare did look at him and Neptune, all they did was signal to her to be quiet. Giving Scarlet the right opportunity to lob the jar of sap into the air and with one shot, Neptune blasted it and red sap was now all over not just the tribal ponies, but also the huge wolverine         “What in the-!?”         Before they could react though, the buzzing swarm of Rapier Wasps soon made it’s descent upon them as Scarlet got to work on the cage. As the tribal warriors were screaming like fillies, Scarlet broke the cage apart. “There we go. All taken care of.”         “T-thanks!” The stunned mare replied, noticing Neptune as he arrived. “Not to be rude, but who or what exactly are you two?”         “We can answer that once we get out of here. Those Rapier Wasps aren’t the only things the red sap attracted.” Neptune told her, looking back. He could hear the sounds of Grimm as they came closer. “Scarlet, we got Grimm on our tail.”         “Damn… Not what I wanted right around now, but it provides a distraction for us to hightail it out of here.” The teen replied, letting the Pegasus take a amulet with an Amber ore in the center of the piece as they ran. But this didn’t go unnoticed by the wolverine as he looked back at them and growled.         “RUNRUNRUNRUNRUNRUN!!!!” Scarlet shouted to Neptune as he turned around to see what was staring at them.         “What that actual F*** is that thing!?”         “Who cares?! Just run!!”         “GET BACK HERE!! NO ONE STEALS FROM AHUIZOTL AND GETS AWAY WITH IT!!!” It screamed, only to soon get tackled over by two Ursa Grimm. But something that the beast could handle on his own. By then, the three mischief makers that he was trying to pursue were long gone by then. “CURSE YOU DARING DO!!!!”         Running for ten minutes straight would cause both human and pony alike to get extremely tired. That was such a case for Daring Do, Scarlet and Neptune. The group was finally able to get into an open clearing by a lake where they were able to catch their breath and try to regain the energy that they previously had expended. For the Pegasus, her having to get caught up in a temple and run in Ahuizolt was what she saw as normal. However, being saved by… whatever or who these two are suppose to be? That wasn’t exactly normal in her book.         “Excuse me.” She stated, catching the blue haired teen’s attention while the redhead was busy trying to make sure there wasn’t any sand or anything in his boot like shoes. “I don’t mean to sound ungrateful, but I really have a lot of questions for the both of you. Who the hay are you two even?”         The one who was paying attention sighed deeply. “We could ask you the same thing, miss…”         Upon realizing what he meant, so soon began to work on trying to remedy her mistake. “Oh… right. I’m Daring. Daring Do. Archeologist and Explorer. What about you two?”         “I’m Neptune.” The young teen replied, looking over his shoulder at his distracted friend. “And my friend who is trying to make sure that a snake hasn’t gotten in his boot is Scarlet.”         “Oh screw you, Neptune!” The teen snarled back.         “O… kay. I have a lot of questions and I don’t even know where to start.” The Pegasus replied.         “Maybe I can ask you something instead,” Neptune interjected. “What were you doing in that temple in the first place? Is it having to involve that Amulet you took from that overgrown furball?”         “Yeah.” She replied, getting the item out. “The Amber Amulet. Back in the ancient texts, the civilizations that lived in the past used this to make many temples like the one we were in. It allowed the one who wore it to bend the earth to their will because of the gem’s power.” When Neptune had a closer look at it though, he soon noticed something as he looked closer at it. The energy in the crystal and it’s form was like something he had seen before.         “I think I have an idea on why such a thing is possible.” Neptune replied as Scarlet walked over and sat down. “That gem in there is a Dust crystal.”         “A what?” The Pegasus asked.         “Think Crystalline Magic.” Scarlet replied, trying to simplify things. “Trust us, there’s a lot of things that would take some time to explain. If Sun were here, he would probably simplify things.”         “Wait… you mean that Monkey boy that was in the New Yoke Times?” Daring asked, pulling out a newspaper clipping that had the Faunus on the front cover.         “Yeah, he’s a friend of ours.” Neptune replied. “We’re trying to get to the town of Ponyville in order to find him, but we got lost along the way. Originally, Scarlet thought that the smoke from the bonfire meant that he could ask somepony for directions, but we soon found out otherwise.”         “Ponyville? I know where that is.” The explorer replied, catching their attention immediately. “Hey, how about since you two saved my life and helped me recover this artifact, I can help you two get to Ponyville. Along the way, you can talk to me about this dust you’re talking about and also what exactly were the bears we saw earlier.”         “Those are some terms I can agree with.” Neptune replied, shaking her outstretched hoof with his hand. “I’m guessing that Sage might soon be regretting his decision to stay behind back at Manehattan by now.” Ponyville         Sage was right now looking back at Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Friendship, element of magic and also the pony that was letting him stay in her castle. He had a raised eyebrow and was looking at her in confusion. “Okay, run that by me again. What exactly were you thinking about doing?”         “Well, I was visiting Celestia’s schools for gifted unicorns earlier today and after I resolved some problems with some former classmates of mine, I thought that maybe I could open up some sort of academy here in the future. Not for just magic though, but for all ponies.” She cleared her throat a little before looking back at Sage. “With the sight of Grimm, we need ponies who could be able to hold their own against them. I was thinking that Raven, Sun, you and a few others could also help.”         Sage thought about it for a moment before answering back. “I like the idea, but have you thought about anything besides that?”         “Well, as a princess, many ponies look to Princess Celestia, Luna, Cadance and myself as a beacon of hope in times of need. So, I wanted this academy to be the same thing for anypony who has the talent. Sometimes, a pony’s talents and abilities are overlooked based on appearance or how their living situation is. I just want to find a way to reach out to help them.” The princess soon calmed herself, trying to catch her breath. But soon, that was when Sage said something that caught her attention.         “Beacon… That’s what the name should be. Beacon Academy.” Sage answered, shifting back to where he wasn’t leaning against a wall anymore.         “I like that. It really fits well.” She gleefully spoke, almost like she was cheering a little. Sage just personally chuckled. Until he noticed something. One of the guards out front was carrying something in on his back while holding a letter or scroll of sorts.         “P-princess…” He breathed. “I have something you should see and a package for Mr… Sage is it?” The human was surprised to see that there was a package for him no less. Only to realize that it was something Raven had ordered from the blacksmith for him earlier in the day. It was a two handed Claymore with the first twelve numbers in roman numerals on either side. He called the blade Timekeeper since the hilt of the blade reminded him of an old Roman sundial back in the day.         “Thank you, Captain… Sentry right?”         “Yes, but call me Flash. Everypony else does.” The pegasus replied. “Also, Princess, you should see this report that came in recently.” He advised her, handling the scroll over using his right wing along with a couple of others. “Apparently, there has been a few sightings of more humans and faunus in other parts of Equestria.”         That… immediately caught Sage and Twilight’s attention. “More? Where?”         “Two teams of four were spotted on the west and east coast of Equestria. One in the city of Applewood while the other being in Manehattan. We have photographic evidence of the groups so you can evaluate them.” The photographs were handed over to Sage, who upon inspecting them, could tell that something was really wrong. The first group he wasn’t worried about. But the second group though… One person he saw in there immediately caught his attention.         “Get Sun, he would want to see this… Now.” The pegasus nodded his head, flying off to get the Faunus. A few moments later, Sun was running into the castle with Fluttershy and the wolf pup named Griff right next to them.         “Sage? What’s wrong?”         “You might want to have a look at this,” He told him, handing the photographs. “One of the guards we were talking too was informing us of the sightings of more teams. But this one in Manehattan caught my attention.” When Sun looked at it though, his eyes widened. Walking over to a wall, he started to begin banging his head against it before looking back at the small group.         “This is bad… Very bad.”         “Sun? What’s wrong?” Fluttershy asked, looking at him with a bit of concern. He gave a deep sigh, before pointing to one girl that was in the image taken in Manehattan. She had designer leather pants and clothes with a pair of Black shades, a black designer hat and a handbag the size of a Tool Chest.         “That… is Coco. My mother is friends with hers, but I know her for a different reason.”         Twilight raised an eyebrow, “Different reason?”         “She’s my Ex-girlfriend.” End Tail 14