//------------------------------// // The Grayroot Forest Part eight: The arena and the translation. // Story: A New Tale In Equestria. // by Sylif Daring Doo //------------------------------// _____*Temple of Jandoka, the main room*_____ The large group stood around the main room currently discussing everything that needed discussed. "So.....Emerald knocked Dark out and attacked you and Firefly, and sometime in the fight, Emerald trapped Firefly inside of a trial for the mind, she failed and now she is a filly and we have this psycho drake with us now?" Gwen wondered. Roxanne nodded and Gwen gave Emerald a pissed off glare. "I know that your giving me a glare of hatred....stop it." Emerald said before continuing his talk with Fang. After ten minutes the group walked up to the final door and the seal on it disappeared. "Here goes nothing." Roxanne mumbled. ____*the next room*____ Roxanne and the group excluding Emerald dropped their jaws at the massive room before them, they were currently inside of a small box like room overlooking a massive arena that had a sandstone appearance, Roxanne walked up to the glass that was between them and the arena. "Like the view Firefly?" She asked quietly. Firefly titled her head and looked out the window. "Penk ap nie Koni?" She asked in her strange langauge. At this point and time, Roxanne really wanted to know what 'Koni' meant, because the filly always said it in some way. Roxanne instead opted to look around while Firefly looked into the arena, the room that she was in with the group was nothing special, it had sandstone walls and two wooden doors along with some chairs for viewing, Roxanne looked at Emerald. "What's with the arena?" She asked. Emerald walked over to one of the wooden doors and opened it. "It's where sacrifices are giving to Jandoka in return for his protection and wisdom, or so I'm told." He replied. Fang walked up to the opposite door and opened it, he walked through and was soon followed by Twilight and Gwen. Derpy soon followed the others and Dust followed them, leaving Rarity with Roxanne, Emerald, Dark and Firefly. "Well.....now what?" Rarity asked. Roxanne looked at Emerald who was standing just outside the door, she sighed and walked over to Emerald after making sure that Firefly was following. "Guess we follow the silent group." Dark suggested as she started following Roxanne. Rarity looked back at the other group and saw that they were already halfway across, sighing, Rarity followed the group of misfits. "I was better off back home." She grumbled. ____*two minutes later, halfway through the spectator boxes.*____ Dark and the others entered the next box and noticed a gold seal, Roxanne sighed and went to leave when a pitch black seal blocked their path back. "Typical." She muttered. Rarity eyed the seal with suspicion as Roxanne walked over to it. "How are we supposed to open this when Firefly is a filly!?" She snapped at Emerald who had suggested breaking it. Emerald sighed and walked up to the seal. "Listen.....even though Firefly is a filly she still has her powers....simply let me channel them and we may pass." He explained. Roxanne looked at Firefly who was poking the seal with interest, seeing no other option, she relented. "Fine, but hurt that filly and you will regret it." She warned before pausing. 'Where did that come from?' She asked herself. Emerald nodded and walked up to the seal, he held his claw out to Firefly and beckoned her to take it, the filly was reluctant however and looked Roxanne, who nodded, with this, Firefly slowly took the drake's claw and Emerald began the channel. Emerald's body reacted violently to Firefly's Lightning and he quickly released it to the seal, making it dissipate. "Wow that hurt...." The drake commented as he stood back up. Roxanne walked up to Firefly and the filly looked at her. "You alright?" She asked the filly. Firefly blinked and tilted her head. Roxanne sighed and stood back up, realizing the filly could not understand her. "Come on, let's keep moving, don't want to be left behind." She said. With that the group continued through the boxes at a steady pace, until..... The group entered another box and saw an unfamiliar blue seal on the opposite door, and once they walked through, a black seal barred their way back. "Wasn't one seal bad enough!?" Rarity complained. Roxanne chuckled and looked around the box for anything they could use, and to her surprise there was another cocoon. "Must be Skitter." He said to no one in particular. Dark watched as Roxanne walked up to the cocoon and ripped it open, soon after the cocoon was opened, Roxanne pulled a familiar changeling out of the cocoon. "You alright Skitter?" Roxanne asked out of concern. Skitter said nothing as she got the remaining webs of of her carapace, she then made her way to a nearby wall and sat down slowly. "No, my friends betrayed me and I woke up in an unknown location in a cocoon after being dropped down a massive pit fall, then I wake up again in a strange place with a fox asking me if I'm fine.....so no I am NOT ok." She hissed. Skitter rested her head on the wall and looked around the room, she saw Dark and Rarity which was good, she looked a little bit more and her jaw dropped. "Dragon!" She yelled As she started to panic, Roxanne rushed and up and attempted to calm Skitter down. "Whoa whoa whoa, calm down he's with us." Roxanne said calmly. After Skitter took a few deep breaths, she looked at Emerald who just seemed annoyed by the noise. "Sorry." She said quietly as she rested her head on the wall, that was when she heard a small set of hooves coming towards her, she peeked an eye open and saw a pink Pegasus filly with a blue mane and no cutie mark. "Firefly!?" She exclaimed. Firefly tilted her head and blinked. "Wop Ki xo?" She asked in the strange langauge. Skitter chuckled. "Ao la Chnao." She replied in the same tongue. Roxanne's eyes widened at this. "You can understand her?" She asked in wonder. Skitter nodded. "It's the language of the Changelings, Firefly was the only other one in our little gang that truly bothered to learn it entirely.....I can get you a Changeling to Equis dictionary if you want?" She offered. Roxanne shook her head. "No thanks.....I don't think I could handle speaking that language." She replied as she looked at the filly. Firefly then looked at Roxanne and waved. "Li Koni!" She said happily. Skitter then burst out laughing when Roxanne raised an eyebrow. "What's so funny?" Roxanne asked. The changeling then looked at Roxanne with a grin. "You......are a mom." She replied. Roxanne then did something that any sane person would do at the news......she fainted and fell backwards. ____*over with Fang and his group.*____ Fang leaned against the wall of the box as his companions walked around the room, they hadn't encountered anything on the way except a few seals, other then that it simply the view of the arena. The final box had sealed itself on both sides, the side they entered from had an unknown black seal and the one that Roxanne's group went through had a gold seal.....which begged the question. "What is keeping the others?" Fang wondered silently as he waited. ____*back with Roxanne.*____ "Roxanne wake up!" Dark said as she shook the unconscious fox. Rarity looked at Skitter with a cross look. "Why would you say that lie!?" She accused. Skitter put her hooves in the air in mock surrender. "Don't shoot the messenger/translator!" She shouted. Rarity was not amused as she lit her horn up. "Liar." She said simply. Skitter sighed and crossed her arms. "First off, i don't lie.....never had too, and secondly, I was simply translating what Firefly said, you don't like it?....get another translator." She replied. Emerald stepped in between the two and looked at Rarity. "Listen, we don't have time for this, and until we defeat Jandoka and get out of here we should work together, settle your differences outside." He said firmly. A groan from Roxanne told the group to hold their conversation another time as they looked over to the waking fox. Roxanne rubbed her eyes and sat up. "Ok, that was unexpected, but maybe we should withhold unnecessary translations for later." She suggested. Skitter stood up and shrugged. "Na, much more fun to tell you everything." She said with a grin. Roxanne sighed and walked up to the blue seal. "Any idea what this seal is for Emerald?" She asked. Emerald shook his head, he raised an eyebrow as he saw Skitter walk up to the seal and put her hoof on it, the seal then flickered and disappeared. "Let's move." Skitter said as she continued through the door, leaving a speachless group behind. "How did She?...." Roxanne asked out of shock. Emerald sighed and followed Skitter. "Let's just get this done." He said simply. ____*two minutes later.*_____ Fang was counting the bricks in the room when the gold seal disappeared and Roxxane's group entered.....along with a familiar face. "Hey Skittle, how you holding up?" Gwen teased. Skitter laughed sarcastically and walked in the room. "Shut it Gwen.......and I'm holding up just fine." She retorted. Roxanne walked over to Famg with a disturbed expression. "Hey Fang." She said simply. Fang noticed something wrong with his partners face and put a hand on her shoulder. "Are you ok Roxanne?" He asked with worry, Roxanne nodded and looked down to the filly at her legs. "Yea......uh Fang, I might have something to tell you." She said slowly. Roxanne took a deep breath and looked Fang straight in the eyes. "Fang......I'm a mother." She said plainly. Fang's eyes widened and he immediately took a step back. "I didn't do it!" He proclaimed. The entire group paused and looked at Fang out of confusion. "Didn't do what?" Derpy asked. Fang laughed nervously as he put his left hand behind his head and closed his eyes. "Uh, you know, it's nothing, really......don't mind me." He said dismissively. With that the group continued their talk and Roxanne sighed. "I didn't mean like that you imbecile....I'm talking about her!" She stated quietly while pointing at Firefly. Fang looked in shock as he looked between Firefly and Roxanne. ".....I don't want to know." He finally said. Roxanne rolled her eyes and looked at the door to leave and saw a mix between, blue, green, gold, white and purple. "Guess we need to use all of our abilities to break this seal." Roxanne observed as the group walked up. Emerald put his hand on the seal and nodded. "It would appear so." He agreed. With that, Gwen and Derpy flew up higher and started to release a small flow of their power into the seal, Roxanne, Skitter, Firefly and Emerald all did the same on the ground. "Let's hope this works." Roxanne muttered. Soon enough the seal started to flicker and the group soon walked through the door, the next room was simply a stairwell that led down, the group walked down the stairwell and found a single door at the bottom, Fang shrugged and entered the room beyond the door. _____*the next room.*_____ Fang entered what appeared to be some kind of armory, there was weapons and armor lying around, Fang ignored it however and made his way towards the door at the far end, but the closer he got, Fang could have sworn he was hearing......cheering? 'What in the world?' He wondered as he reached his hand out towards the door and just as he opened it......another vision enveloped the world. Fang entered the arena and looked around, the arena was in pristine condition, the walls were a smooth black and the spectator boxes were instead rows upon rows of seat and were a smooth black like the walls, there was also a massive crowd that was cheering loudly, Fang could just barely make out Verdant and Frost amongst the crowd, Fang and heard metal grinding and he saw a rather large metal gate lowering to reveal a Minotaur thundering out of the gate......right towards Fang. "Oh shit." He said with wide eyes as he rolled out of the way off the Minotuar's charge. Fang heard a loud voice as the Minotuar continued its mindless charge. "LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!.....WELCOME TO THE RING OF SACRIFICE!.....OUR CONTENDER TODAY IS A NEWCOMER, A SENTIENT WOLF NAMED FANG!...HIS OPPONENT IS IRON HEAD THE HAMMERHEAD!" [1] The announcer proclaimed loudly as the crowed cheered. Fang rolled his eyes at the Minotuar's name and title but still took care to dodge the charges of his opponent, once Iron Head had passed by from a charge, Fang charged up and ran up the Minotuar's back, once there he then proceeded to deliver a powerful punch to the back of the Minotuar's head. Iron Head let out a grunt of pain but soon grabbed Fang off his back and threw him across the room. Fang flew back and hit the wall, it was then that he finally realized something. 'Wait.....am I ACTUALLY here?....how didn't I see that?' He mentally cursed himself as he got back up and did his dance around the Minotuar. [2] After a few more repeats of his first strategy, the Minotuar fell over and the crowd burst into cheers. "AMAZING LADIES AND GENTLEMEM! THE NEWCOMER HAS JUST DEFEATED VETERAN IN THE RING! PERHAPS HE WILL BE HUMBLED BY THE SAGE HIMSELF.....OLD GARNE!" The announcer proclaimed and the crowd began cheering loudly. The gates opened again but this time, an old Unicorn stallion slowly stepped out and immediately got into a lotus posistio not on the ground. "Just because I cannot fight, does not mean that my friends can't help me." The sage said calmly as an energy barrier formed around him and four magical creatures formed around him. "Defeat my friends.....and you may continue." The sage stated. Fang looked amongst the creatures and identified their species, a large bear, a proud Phoenix, a fierce tiger, and a powerful drake, they were all ethereal and had a starry appearance about them. "Well this ain't fair." Fang muttered as the four creatures charged, Fang dodged the creatures attacks.....barely, as they came down around him, never giving him a moments peace, the one thing he did notice though was that Garne wasn't moving, the idea to attack Garne immediately entered Fang's head but then he had another idea, but for now he continued to dodge. The fight went on like that for a few minutes, with the four creatures attacking and Fang dodging....until Fang make his move. Fang dodged the drake's attack and just as the Phoenix attacked, Fang grabbed the Tigers claw and picked the beast up, and just as quickly he swung the tiger into the Phoenix which destroyed them both. Just as the bear went to attack, Fang jumped over it and slammed down on its spine, which destroyed the beast, leaving just the drake. The drake was strong, yes, but with its friends, it was powerful, take its friends away and it was noticeably easier, as Fang simply grabbed and twisted its arm and delivered a powerful swipe to the creatures head. Garne opened his eyes and looked at Fang. "You are the victor, it is not often that I find one strong enough to defeat my friends....but even more so, that I find one not willing to attack me to ensure a quick victory." The sage bowed towards Fang before leaving the arena. "AND THAT'S HOW YOU END A MATCH FOLKS! AND FOR DEFEATING THESE TWO CHAMPIONS, THE NEWCOMER HAS EARNED THE RIGHT TO FACE OFF AGAINST ONE OF THE CHOSEN ACOLYTES......PUT YOUR HANDS, CLAWS, HOOVES OR TALONS TOGETHER FOR........DRAXOL, THE IMMOLATOR!" The announcer proclaimed proudly as the crowd went absolutely wild. The gates opened and soon a large white Salamander standing upright entered the arena, the salamander gave Fang a glare before releasing a torrent of white flames. "Oh shit!" Fang shouted as he ran from the flames. 'This stuff is exactly like Roxanne's flame!.....but this guy seemed to have extensive training with it as he made a hawk out of white flame, which immediately started firing off fireballs. Fang then realized something, if this fire was like Roxanne's.....he knew what to do! "Here goes nothing." Fang mumbled as he charged towards Draxol. Draxol and the crowd seemed both shocked and surprised at this action but Draxol quickly started flinging more flame at Fang. Fang dodged as much flame as he could while making his way towards Draxol, and once he finally reached the salamander he grabbed his arm and started to beat up the salamander with quick and painful punches. "Why." Draxol started before getting a punch to the face. "Won't." Another punch. "You." And another. "BURN!?" Draxol finished his question with a shout. Fang punched the salamander onto the ground and knelt down, he grabbed the salamander by the throat and looked him right in the eye. "Because I know how those flames work.....and it was because you rely on them that you failed." He finished before dropping him to the floor. "....IS DEFEATED, THE NEWCOMER HAS EARNED THE RIGHT TO NAMED CHAMPION OF THIS RING!" The announcer shouted as Fang walked towards the metal gate and the vision ended. ____*Ten minutes later*____ "Hey guys you got to come see this!" Shouted Gwen. The group ran up to Gwen and looked at what she was pointing at, it was a large stone commemorating the champions of the ring of sacrifice, one name in particular caught everyone's attention.......'Fang', the undefeated champion.