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// Chapter 54: REBARU APPU! APPA, YIP YIP! 
// Story: Caverns & Cutie Marks 
// by TheColtTrio 
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	“OH!” Purple Heart stopped walking. The Mane Six continued past him before turning around, looking at the purple earth pony questioningly.
“What?” Applejack queried. “Got some cramps? Still sore? Need to take a nap?” Rainbow Dash and Pinkie snickered while Purple Heart merely rolled his eyes at the verbal barbs.
“Unless my calculations are faulty,” he mused, “and I’m exactly certain they are, but we all should have leveled up. I know I got something spiffy...or cringe worthy... Anyways, what about you six? And two?” He turned to Wits End and Light Patch as they trotted up beside him.
The mint-colored stallion raised an eyebrow. “What, we’re not an eight yet? What is this? Some sort of implicit segregation of ponies? Are you working for The Man?”
“You should shut up and answer the question,” Rainbow Dash stated flatly.
“I really should.” Wits yawned widely. “I was up late studying a thing. Regardless, I upgraded my Learning ability. Now I can learn skills by watching ponies use them.” He yawned again, covering his mouth with the back of one hoof. “‘Cause I’m done with getting beaten up for a while, thank you very much ma’am.”
“Done being the Scrake from Killing Floor, eh? Yeah, that's fair.” Light Patch said. “What about you Rainbow what did you get?”
The rainbow-maned pegasus frowned. “I hope whatever you got is worth making us wait.” She sighed and shook her head. “I got Fly-By. I fly away, then zoom back in super fast and shoot stuff. Next!”
“Me next!” Pinkie Pie trilled. 
“You didn’t blow it on Knowledge Cakes, did you?” Wits asked.
Pinkie shook her head wildly, sending her bells a-jingling. “Of course not! I’ve already got that maxed out!”
“Of course…”
“I upgraded my party cannon! Now it can hit a bunch of baddies in one shot!” The pink pony’s grin spread from ear to ear. “I can’t wait to try it out!” Immediately Light Patch and Purple Heart dove behind a nearby stack of crates.
“She’s not going to use it now,” Twilight said, her exasperation obvious in her voice. “So stop hiding behind me, Wits.”
The unicorn colt was curled up and cowering, putting the alicorn between him and the party pony. “No.”
Twilight sighed. In one swift motion, she shoved Wits in the side with her right hoof, sending him sprawling in a heap. “What about you, Rarity? What did you get in leveling up?”
The fashionista tossed her mane and smiled. “Obviously, I chose the Puppetry feat. Upon touching my threads, any and all ponies become subject to my will.”
Purple Heart shuddered. “Just don’t start dressing in a pink feathered overcoat and wear sunglasses,” he pleaded before turning his gaze to the gray pegasus. “What about you, Light?”
“Oh, you know. Clericy stuff,” Light Patch said quickly with a wave of his hoof. “Really nothing all that interesting.” He turned to Applejack. “What about you? What’d you get?”
Applejack gave the pegasus colt a suspicious look before shrugging it off. “Ah got the Grapple feat. Guess I can grab a hold of anypony s’long as ah have a higher strength value than them.”
The Colt Trio stared at the orange earth pony in silence, blinking at her with deadpan expressions on their faces.
“Uh,” Applejack frowned. “Something the matter with you three?”
“She can grapple,” Purple Heart whispered.
“No rules, no ridiculous rolls,” Light Patch murmured.
“I bet she can even get away with sitting on them,” Wits End muttered.
“Frak you, Discord,” the three colts intoned together. “Leave it to you to fix our grapple mechanic issue instead of making it worse.”
Twilight sighed and nodded to Rarity. The two mares rapped the three colts on the head, striking them from their stupor.
“‘M awake!” Wits End called, blinking around. “What about you Purple? Got the Profession: Coltfriend?” He winked twice and nudged the purple earth pony.
Eye twitching, Purple Heart shook his head stiffly. “No,” he gritted out. “I got Taunt-” he paused, his eyes glazing over as he stood on his hind legs, held his forelegs together above his head, and slid to the side so that he was at a rough forty-five degree angle.
“SOOOOOOOOPEEEEER~!” he crowed. The eight ponies blinked at him. Fluttershy squeaked and socked him in the shin, causing the hefty earth pony to crumple to the ground in a shrill squeak of surprise and pain. Seven ponies now gaped at the usually shy yellow pegasus. She looked around and shrugged timidly.
“Um...” she muttered. “He was asking for it? Wouldn’t you had hit him if you were annoyed with him?”
“Touche,” Wits mused. “Although, I wanted an excuse to smack him myself.”
“Oh, please,” Light Patch said, giving a small smack to the still crumpled barbarian. “Like any one of us three have ever needed an excuse to smack each other.”
“True,” Wits said. “Anyway, what’d you get, Twilight?”
“Sense Magic and Aegis,” she replied. “Sense Magic allows me to see things of magical origin, while Aegis is an impenetrable bubble shield that lasts as long as I have mana.”
“Spiffy,” Purple Heart wheezed. “A shield will definitely be helpful in the future when we come across some boss’ final form. You should stock up on mana regen potions and hope there isn’t a drink cap or refresh time. There probably is though.”
“More likely than not.” Wits End concurred, turning to Fluttershy. “So, what about you, slayer of barbarians?”
“Oh,” the yellow pegasus squeaked. “Um, I got the Turn Animal ability. I can make nearby animals allies. I guess it makes them my friends?”
Wits bit his lower lip. “Or it makes you essentially Shakti, follower of Persepony.” He made some vaguely mystical movements with his forehooves. “Thran, kinketzu, mastadoc, and then sudden troll.”
“Fire-Fist not troll!” Light Patch shouted.
“Huh,” Purple Heart hummed. “Spiffy.” He turned his gaze on the gray pegasus. “Now you. Spill: what’d you score?”
“Like I said; Cleric stuff, nothi-” Applejacks hoof cut the pegasus off.
“Ah’m gonna stop you right there. Even if I wasn’t the element of honesty, Ah could tell you were lying. So, let's try this again. What did you pick?” the farm mare asked.
Light Patch blanched for a moment before sighing. “I, uh… I multiclassed,” Light Patch said, prompting Wits End suddenly get into the pegasus stallion’s face.
“Into what?” he asked, noses almost touching.
“Necrobotanist,” he said with a guilty smile.
“Ooh no,” Wits End moaned, while Purple Heart facehoofed.
“We’re doomed,” the purple earth pony mumbled, eyes wide with fear.
“Necroboatnist? Sounds like a dumb class to me. What kind of skills does it have?” Rainbow Dash said, looking at Light Patch.
“NecroBOTanist,” he replied, stressing the word. “I bring plants back to life. Right now I can bring long dead vines back to trap my enemies, or create a climbable surface.”
“It is as we feared,” Purple Heart whispered to Wits End. “He hasn’t even reached his final form.”
“Oh, do be quiet,” Rarity sniffed. “What’s so bad about reviving plants?” Purple Heart’s gaze was haunted.
“He thought it up,” he murmured. “This doesn’t bode well for us.”
“Whatever,” Twilight rolled her eyes. “Let’s get going. Once we get to the gate, we’ll decide what to do next, okay?” The ponies nodded and began the slow march to the eastern gate of the city of Gallopilli.
“Oooh, vines, I’m so scared,” Rainbow Dash quipped as she slowly flew along next to Light Patch. “Next you’ll bring back the weeds to my garden.”
“Or maybe I’ll eventually get to the skill that lets me bring the Lishorr plants back from the dead,” Light Patch said evilly. “Ancient long dead carnivorous plants that spit acid and disguised themselves as trees,” he finished with an evil villain laugh, sending a shiver of fear through Purple Heart and Wits End.
“Curse you, Discord,” the two colts whispered as they trailed after the chatting mares.


* * *


“So...” Purple Heart eyed the eight other ponies with him by the city gates. “How do we want to play this? Two towns to visit, nine ponies. Do we try to shuffle ourselves up again? Pick captains then teams? Colts versus mares? Welp? What’s it gonna be?”
“Colts vs mares could be fun; see which group gets their part of the quest done first. Also, as much fun as it is to be with you six,” the grey pegasus said, motioning to the six mares, “it’d be nice to have some guy time.”
Wits End frowned. “But then I get stuck with you two,” he whined. He turned to Twilight. “Switch with me.”
“Absolutely not,” Twilight said plainly, ignoring the mint-colored stallion as he slumped against a nearby wall. “I agree with Light Patch. We haven’t had any time to be together without doing some sort of secret planning or something like that.” She motioned toward the three colts. “Since we have six ponies and you only have three, you can chose which group gets which town: Mistakwe or Ade.”
“Um...” Purple Heart mumbled, rubbing his chin with a hoof. “Mistakwe. Mistakes will probably be made. Considering our track record.” The purple earth pony waved a hoof at himself and his two compatriots.
“Then we’ll go to Ade,” Twilight said. “See you colts whenever we meet up again. I’ll make occasional check-ins via telepathy.”
“Roight,” Purple Heart saluted. The Mane Six waved as they departed, heading north east.
“And we’ll be in Scotland before you~” the pegasus stallion sang under his breath as he watched the mares depart for Ade. Before he could say anything further, the clanking sound of a pony in armor interrupted him.
“Ah, I was hoping I could catch up with your group,” a familiar voice chimed in. “I was hoping to accompany your group to an area near Mistakwe.” The three stallions turned to find Just Duty in full but older looking armor.
“Lord Duty,” Purple Heart greeted, respectfully inclining his head to the stallion. “What do you need to do near Mistakwe?”
“I’ve been hearing rumors of an artifact of power in some ruins near Mistakwe, and considering my town isn’t much farther from the town, I decided to act on the rumors and seize or destroy it for good.”
Wits End perked up from his rejection-induced stupor. “Not to step out of line,” he said, brushing his cloak off as he rejoined the other stallions, “but why’s a noble going out into the field on his own? Don’t you have ponies to do that for you?”
Just Duty looked at the mint unicorn, “I do have some ponies I’d trust to check it out, but not enough or skilled enough that I’d send them without more experienced help. And...” The older stallion’s stance sagged from its heroic bearing. “Hearing and seeing the actions of you adventurers has inspired me to try my hoof at it once again.” He fidgeted in his armor for a few seconds. “I’d swear this armor shrank, though.”
Wits grinned. “I wouldn’t worry too much.” He slapped Light Patch on the back, wincing as his hoof clanged off of the pegasus’ armor. “Light Patch here is a cleric, so even if you’re a little rusty, he’ll have you back in action in no time.” He waggled his eyebrows at his armored friend. “Besides, he’ll probably take all of the big blows for you. Isn’t that right?”
“And you’ve got the big old walking bruise here to hide behind, and this little guy will probably at least make a decent snack distraction for a dragon,” Light Patch said, moving to mimic Wits’ action. But in a stunning moment of spite from the dice, he missed the pinto unicorn, causing him to lose his balance and tip forward into the continued path of his own hoof. The other three stallions could only stare in mixtures of horror and amusement as the words ‘critical hit’ floated in the air over the collapsed cleric.