My Little Forumites are Magic

by Mx Story Anomalax

Struggles and Regrets

The dragon's one glowing red eye started to turn into a pinker shade, something appearing in the pupil, before the dragon smiled and started to charge electricity in its mouth. In a second or two, as the bard of cute was about to launch Smeareyes into the air, who put his hand out to disrupt the spine that was about to hit him, the dragon had swung its tail. The bard of cute was thrown off guard, having to immediately defend after launching Smeareyes - which had propelled him much quicker than if he had flown (and flying would have been dangerous), and kicked a few spines out; although one got through and chopped through Phynicxs upper right half. His mind stopped immediately. The bard of cute screamed and was about to be hit by lightning.

Smeareyes threw the shuriken at the other dragon's remaining eye which immediately dimmed. The dragon started to flail about as Smeareyes did a flip and landed on it, thrusting his palms onto the dragon's scales and flowing an absurd amount of rage into the dragon's brain, knowing full well what he was doing. The dragon's mouth opened, gaping, its blind eyes widening before screaming. It was cut short as the dragon lost consciousness and started to fall to the ground.

The bard of cute was amazed, but quickly turned her attention to the fallen warrior. Smeareyes was crying, which messed up some of his eyeliner while he floated above the dragon's unconscious body.

The ponies behind Jordan started calling out and screaming and asking what was going on. Jordan turned around to see what was getting their attention so much as the water started to settle.

---

There was a rainbow flashing light coming off of Ying as his head reconnected to his body with a few snaps and crackles. Almost immediately after, Ying gasped, trying to take in the air he was unable to when he was decapitated. He sat up quickly, breathing heavily, scaring the ponies and causing them to back off slightly. Rarity was very distressed, holding a hoof in the air and turning away. She looked like she was about to deem what happened as gross, but thought better of it. The ponies hugged Ying, who were all soaked in some blood. Rarity's immediate reaction right after relief was a whine about the blood in her coat and how hard, if not nearly impossible, it was going to be to get out. She stomped her little hoofsies very ladylike against the boat and started turning and trotting in place, as though she could shake off the blood. Applejack told her to can it, while Rainbow Dash thought what just happened was pretty cool, she started to wonder where Typo was, and voiced her concern. Jordan told her he had apparently swam away, because he could sense his life signature further on in the cave. Something occured to Jordan as Ying checked his body - not used to resurrecting - and dived into the water again, coming back up holding the pinwheel.

"I thought it might be useful." Jordan stated, setting it off to the side. "I can't use it, but I have a hunch Typo might be able to."

---

Smeareyes was relieved when he saw the glowing light given off by Phynicxs who quickly rose and pumped a fist into the air at the fact that he could walk again, but then had a sinking feeling that something worse was going to happen later; although he didn't feel personal attachment to the eerie feeling.

The seer of rage flew up to Phynicxs and wrapped him in a big, tight hug. Much tighter than one might've expected. Phynicxs wheezed and motioned for Smeareyes to put him down, which he did after a few seconds.

The bard of cute watched the reuinion with a tear in her eye, and squeaked when she heard something behind her, jumping and turning.

"Hiya there what's your name!?" Pinkie Pie was hopping in place.

"When did you get here and who are you!?" The bard squeaked, looking angry at being surprised.

"I'm Pinkie Pie, and I love meeting new friends, so what's your name?" She leaned forward, getting into the bard of cute's personal space.

"Varkarrus, but call me Vark." Vark looked extremely uneasy about this pony, and thought something might be wrong with her.

Twilight sighed in relief as she and Fluttershy came cantering up to the group. "There you are Pinkie, how did you disappear like that?"

"PlacestogopeopletomeetyouknowhowitisTwilighta fter allyouhaveaverybusylifealthoughreallyyoudospendmor etimein-" Twilight cut Pinkie off.

"That's okay, I get it Pinkie."

"OOH! And this is Vark - Vark, these are my friends, Phynicxs, Smeareyes, Twilight Sparkle, and Fluttershy."

Fluttershy meeped and hid behind her mane. "Nice to meet you..." She trailed off.

Vark smiled and rustled Fluttershy's jimmies-Imean mane and looked her in the eyes, which seemed to calm her down. "You're so sweet and cute." Fluttershy picked Vark up and started tossing her into the air, which Vark just sort of dealt with, having enjoyed this in the past before making godtier.

Smeareyes was quick to befriend Vark, despite the fact that she had almost cost him his best friend's life. "What's your story?"

Vark was finally put down and she sighed, as though explaining it had been a common occurrence. She said how basically, long story short, she had been involved with exiling her groups' carpacians and ended up exiling herself as well by mistake. She sighed and looked away, before looking back and smiling and explaining how that doesn't matter anymore because she's found companions!

Phynicxs was the first to ask about the symbol on Varkarrus, and she responded by saying it stood for, "cute." That she was the Bard of Cute. This kind of threw Phynicxs for a loop, but knew how the game had made exceptions at times firsthand.

Twilight spoke up. "What's all this blood?" She seemed confused.

Vark was the one who responded, telling it like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Someone died there, story over, now let's talk about that dragon." Twilight looked up, curious, but Fluttershy squealed and hid behind Smeareyes once she finally saw the dragon. Twilight and Pinkie Pie kept away, letting the three players go up to it.

Smeareyes mentioned how someone had been controlling the dragon's heart/soul, which was weird because normally heart magic wasn't as forceful as this. Smeareyes took the shuriken out of the dragon's eyes and let Phynicxs stop the bleeding. "I didn't make them go in deep so his eyes should be fine. When I saw how the dragon reacted to Vark's ability I put two and two together, especially after my own shuriken had hit. I used the second shuriken to do what I had unintentionally done the first time, severing a piece of the connection between the dragon and whoever was controlling it. I then used my power to overflow the link and sever it completely.

Phynicxs, already used to Smeareye's cunning, smiled while Vark was stunned. The three ponies looked to each other momentarily before Twilight continued to examine the blood, seemingly very confused about this, as the blood that had soaked into Phynicxs clothes was hard to see, due to its color.

---

Jordan helped dry and warm the party as they made their way forward in the boat. When they finally reached some land, they found Typo sitting in a corner, brooding.

Jordan, feeling forgiving and still guilty, made his way to him while Rainbow Dash sort of sneered. Ying brought the ship out of the water and placed it in the water across so that they can continue on. Rainbow Dash and Rarity started gossiping and Applejack told them to knock it off and hoofed them both in the noggin.

"What's up Typo?" Jordan said sincerely, trying to put a smile on his face as he hunkered down by Typo.

"I'm so sorry." He closed his eyes tightly, as though he had been crying. "Again. I was no use in a battle again." Typo hiccuped. He seemed far away, as though he were dwelling on the past.

"Hey, we can't all help all the time, sometimes we just get in the way. You have to use strategy in battles like that."

"People could have DIED!" Typo shouted enough for the ponies to hear. Everyone just glanced over sympathetically.

"People can die every day, sometimes you can't do anything about it. I've accepted this and I try to help as many as I can to make up for it."

"But it was all my fault." He started to cry harder. "My whole session. If I had paid attention, I would have known that he couldn't be trusted."

Jordan thought back to what he knew of Typo and nodded understandingly. "Maybe you just wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt?"

"But because of him and my naivette everybody's dead!"

"And you learned from that. You can't go beating yourself up for it forever. Besides, you should focus on what you can do NOW."

"But... But I've been following him for so long, and I can't beat anyone with their own aspect. He's destroyed so many worlds." Typo sobbed, and suddenly it clicked for Jordan, who put a hand on his shoulder and hugged him.

"I have something that might help you, Typo." He pulled out the pinwheel from his captchalogue deck and laid it in front of Typo. "I imagine you can make better use of this than I can." Typo noticed fleetingly that the onyx was imbued with the power of breath, and that whoever had been using it had been taking advantage of that while using their own aspect. Now Typo put two and two together, realizing that the player Jordan had fought was a void player and he had been using the breath to enhance his skills. Typo felt strength returning and he placed a hand on the weapon, his hiccuping starting to dwindle.

---

The dragon's head lifted slightly and looked around, his eyes no longer glowing. He stared at Smeareyes.

"I'M SO SORRY." His voice was deep and a little rattly.

Smeareyes smiled and waved his arm. "Think nothing of it, I'm just glad no one was hurt."

The dragon smiled at the contradiction in the statement, but didn't bring it up, understanding to some degree what he meant.

"Why and who was controlling you?" Phynicxs asked.

"SOME HUMAN IN MAROON CLOTHING." This caused Smeareyes and Phynicxs to share a glance, both understanding the situation almost immediately.

"Where is he?"

"HE? OH, YOU MEAN THE HUMAN. IT IS A HER. SHE IS LIVING WITH THE CHANGELINGS AND HAS BECOME THEIR LEADER. SHE USURPED THE PREVIOUS RULER AND HAS BEEN KEEPING HER LOCKED UP, STARVING HER SLOWLY TO TORTURE HER."

Phynicxs motioned for Vark and Smeareyes to huddle and they did. The dragon didn't seem to mind, and acted very patient, probably thankful.

"A her? Well, that makes our job harder because she probably knows we're coming." Smeareyes deduced.

Phynicxs nodded and said, "well, we may have to sneak in. I don't really want a confrontation with a heart player that's strong enough to force her soul on others - especially a dragon."

Vark nodded, looking between them, feeling a little left out.

"Well, we have to get in somehow," Smeareyes stated.

Vark perked up, "I'm going with you! It sounds fun. Also, maybe the dragon can take us close to there so we don't have to walk all the way?" Phynicxs and Smeareyes nodded in unison, and Phynicxs motioned for Smeareyes to be the one to ask.

"Grand dragon, we are on our way to that same location. We have business there, and would appreciate it if you could help us."

"I WILL ON ONE CONDITION," he paused, "I WOULD WISH TO HELP YOU IN ANY BATTLE YOU MAY FACE AGAINST THEM, AND I WOULD APPRECIATE IT IF YOU COULD AT LEAST TAKE AWAY THAT STRANGE HUMAN'S POWER OVER OTHERS. OTHER THAN THAT, I WILL DO ANYTHING TO ATONE FOR WHAT I HAVE DONE, AND I WILL ESPECIALLY HELP THE ONE WHO CUT THE CONTROL SHE HAD ON ME."

Phynicxs looked to the others and nodded, causing Smeareyes to smile. "It's a deal. But we need to try and sneak in quietly, and if things go sour, you may aid us. Is that fine with you?"

The dragon appeared contemplative, but then nodded, smiling. "I CAN WORK WITH THAT. I VALUE DISCRETION."

The three players nodded to each other and motioned for the ponies to come up, having heard all of it. Twilight dragged Fluttershy, not wanting to put up with it; although she seemed a little calmer knowing that the dragon was friendly.

---

After a few more minutes of sitting down, Typo picked up the pinwheel and felt the power surging inside of it. He used his thief abilities to take a little of the breath, causing it to hang in the air much like the void player had been doing, and spun it around slowly, creating a small force.

Jordan stood up and sighed. "Alright, we got to get going." He looked toward the ponies and Ying and nodded to them. He lowered a hand down to help Typo up, but he slapped it away.

"Just because I show a little vulnerability doesn't mean I'm weak," he huffed. He wiped the tears away with his fists and felt more determined than ever. Today. Well, not today. But this time. This time he knew. Things would be different. He still considered himself as being on a solo mission, not really letting the others in.

Applejack was the first to pipe up. "Yeehaw! Lat's take down some godtiers!" Applejack trotted in place as Rainbow Dash smiled and held up a hoof to brohoof Jordan and Typo, who consented - Jordan with more enthusiasm than Typo.

Rarity broke the mood, "Whatever darlings, I need to find some place to rest and get this blood out of my coat."

Rainbow Dash facehoofed as she flew in place, while Applejack laid down and covered her eyes with her hooves. Jordan took it well and smiled. "Well, we better get going then - it'll be easier to make camp when it's not so dark."

"But don't you have a laht? Applejack asked.

Jordan nodded, "Yes, but we're not in the game, so using abilities takes more strain, even if it's not noticeable when you're fully charged."

Typo kept to himself and sat down to brood. Jordan let him, knowing he'd probably be alright; although he had his own thoughts to mull over.

Ying got cheery and started singing a travel song while moving the boat with his space powers. They'd be out soon.

---

Fluttershy squeezed her eyes tight, every other piece of her body tensed up to the point where she had the clinging ability of a tick. Vark tried to comfort Fluttershy a little by rubbing her back, and watched as Phynicxs and Smeareyes continued to talk amongst themselves. Twilight Sparkle was laying near the head, grabbed onto one of the dragon's smaller spines that he'd grown specifically for her. Pinkie Pie was in silent contemplation, feeling a little homesick and missing the Cakes, especially Pumpkin and Pound. Pinkie Pie was the least afraid out of them all, which was weird. She saw Vark's frown and noticed she was looking longingly at the two friends.

"Hey there, what can I do to get you to smile?"

"O-oh, hey Pinkie. I didn't hear you come over."

"We're up in the air silly willy, pretty much all the sound is drowned out." This caused Vark's lips to turn up a little.

"Anyways, what do you want Pinkie?"

Pinkie shook her head. "I just want to make you smile. We're on an adventure, we should be having fun!"

Vark nearly smiled, showing some teeth. I just miss my old friends. I never got to say goodbye to them and I have no idea where they are now. I don't even know if our session had been successful or not. Sometimes I like to think and dream that maybe, maybe because I exited the session that they were given the tools they needed to win it and get their reward. Kind of like a sacrifice, y'know? 'Cause, I mean, it's irrational, I know, but still."

Pinkie was very understanding. She wrapped a hoof around Vark with sad eyes, smiling at her. "I'm sure you're right, and even if you're not, I imagine your friends were strong enough to accomplish it."

This caused Vark to smile and hug Pinkie - she was really warm and soft, almost like a mother. She was almost crying.

"I just miss them so much."

Pinkie cooed, trying to shush her. "I'm sure they're happy, wherever they are.

"T-thanks, Pinkie." Vark pulled away. "So what was your reason going on their dangerous mission?"

"Oh, I didn't really have a reason. But if anything, I think it was because I wanted to make sure my friends stayed safe, even if I can't be there with all of them all the time. I feel that by being there I might be able to do something significant. I feel that my friends would do the same for me - I know they would."

Pinkie continued, winking at Vark. "And you know, you'll never make new friends if you don't take the initiative."

Vark nodded, understanding what she meant, interested that Pinkie was so wise sometimes. "Thanks Pinkie."

"You're verily wearily welcome!" Chirped Pinkie as she bounced toward Twilight, which was weird because she wasn't pushed off by the wind when she bounced.

Vark dried her tears, gave a smile, and walked over to Smeareyes and Phynicxs. Maybe this was her chance to start fresh.