Dragon Quest 9 1/2: New Starry Skies

by Swordoath

Arrival

A resounding crash echoed throughout the Everfree forest. A dimly glowing pile of metal lay on it's side, having smashed though several trees. Rather, it was not a pile of scrap- no, it was a train. The Starflight Express had crashed to the ground once again, leaving a trail of destruction in it's wake. Moments ago it had been soaring above the Protocrate, until beams of black energy struck it down from its radiant path and forced it to crash. The rear door opened, falling listlessly of the hinges, and three figures emerged.

"What the flap was that?!" Exlaimed Stella, the diva fairy of the group. Her pink wings fluttered quickly as she paced through the air, arms and legs flailing. "What just happened!? We were in the air one second and plummeting like a mountain the next!"

"Och, I dunno. Shut yer flapper a sec, will ya?" Said the burly man who stepped out, Sterling, the captain of the Starflight Express. "Och, oh, what'd they do te ya...?" He said sadly, taking in the damage to his beloved Starflight.

The third figure stepped out in silence, brushing off his fencing frock and cavalier hat. This was the semi-mortal, Rylan, savior of the Protocrate, Observatory, and Realm of the Almighty. Though, he'd not done so alone- his companions had aided him in combat, but couldn't have followed him on the Starflight. Stella had been his record keeper and pep talker, and Sterling had helped him escape the Goretress and taught him to drive the sky-soaring train.

Survaying his surroundings, Rylan noted the strange forms of plantlife- unlike any he'd seen in the Protocrate. He turned to Sterling, who was still standing in stunned silence over the demolished Starflight.

"Old girl's never been banged-up this bad... gonna take some time to fix. Even then, poor thing's empty. No benevolessence." The old driver said.

"Benevolessence? Rylan and I got that covered, right?" Stella asked him, to which he nodded in reply. "Right. We'll try to figure out where we are, you try and fix it up."

"Right then. You two best be off. It's gonna take me a while." Responded Sterling.

So Stella returned to faye form and followed Rylan into the unknown woods. No monsteres appear for quite some time- The two began to wonder whether this was a safe zone, until a wolf made of leaves and wood jumped out. Rylan drew his Inferno Sword, using it to send a cloud of fire at the beast. It did damage, but not enough to destroy the wolf. The wolf jumped and bit at him, sinking it's teeth into his battler's bracers. Rylan did not sustain much damage, and took the opportunity to slash horizontally across the wolf, cleanly cutting through and causing it to fall apart into a pile of sticks. Rylan found a few strange looking, think golden coins, but they did not look like the gold used in the protocrate, or mini-medals. He stowed them in the bag anyway, figuring them to be a potential alchemical ingredient.

"That was weird. I've never seen monsters that don't vanish when you defeat them," Stella noted.

Rylan noticed this too, but forged on into the forest anyways. Eventually he came to a narrow pass between two cliffs. A large, chimera-like creature stood between them, licking it's paws with a think, pink tongue. It didn't run away or otherwise react to his presence, initially, though stopped licking it's paw when he approached. It was too large to go around without bothering, but seemed like a formidable foe, one on one. Having no other option, Rylan drew his sword and readied his power shield.

The beast quickly got up on it's legs, and gave a loud, intimidating shout. Rylan was not deterred, however, and used the fire fource on himself, giving his siloette a slightly red tinged aura. The beast batted at him with a paw, but missed. Rylan slashed at the beast twice in quick sucession, only suceeding in giving it a scrape across the cheek. It reared up on it's hind legs and swung it's paw at Rylan again, suceeding in hitting him hard, dealing a massive amount of damage to him.

Rylan knew this was a mismatched fight, even as he healed himself with the power sheild. He couldn't sustain damage like that very well. If he were a paladin or warrior, it would be a different story, but his current voation was all about boosting allies. Luckily, he still had a trick up his sleeve.

Drawing back from the beast, he focused his mind on the scroll in his pocket- a borrowed copy of Paladin's Primer- and unleashed the Solar Flair on the attacking monster. The magical attack was incredibly effective, and the beast staggered back. Rylan drew back his sword to unleash a final strike to end the battle, but was stopped mid-stroke by a female voice.

"No! Stop!" Shouted someone behind the monster. A yellow figure rose above it- a horse? With wings? And why was the mane pink?

Rylan had seen many creatures in his journies- Trigertaurs, giant spiders, literal demons, fallen Celestrians, even an embodiment of a cursed sickness- but this was new to him.

"Uh, Rylan?" Stella whispered. "You see the flying pony too, right? I'm not off my chair, am I?"

He nodded, stepping away from the beasts- though not letting down his guard.

"Oh," said the winged pony, condoling the beast. "Did the big bad monster hurt you? Let me see," she looked at the beasts face and dialated pupils. "Oh my, it really did hurt you, didn't it? Well don't worry. I'll take care of that meanie."

The pony turned to Rylan, staring angrily at him. "What do you have to say for yourself, hurting another innocent creature like that?"

Rylan had stood up to the curse of a hundred year old demon witch, but the stare of this oddity of an equine still managed to make his courage falter slightly. He did feel slightly remorseful for the damage he'd caused, momentarily.

"Hey! Protocrate-to-Rylan! What the flap are you doing?" Stella demanded.

"Y-you can talk?" Said the surprised bird-pony.

"You can see me?!" Said the equally astounded fairy.

"Grooah..." groaned the monster, walking away from the fight.

Rylan returned his sword and shield to their places, slung across his back. No experience for him for that battle. And now the yellow horse was confused as well as mad.

"W-who are you two?" Said the pony. "Why were you attacking the Mr. Manticore?"

Another monster to add to the list noted Rylan.

"Mr. Manticore? That thing's your pet?" Stella said, exasperated. "Again, with the mortals having monsters for pets...?"

Rylan began explaining to the pony about how the monster- the Maniticore had been blocking off the pass, and the only way past would be to make it move, as he couldn't reason with it, being a monster.

"Well, what were you doing in the Everfree Forest anyways?" She asked. "Your not from it, are you?"

"Well, uh, you see," Stella started. "We didn't even mean to be here. Sorta an accident, really."

Rylan explained that he and Stella had gotten lost, disoriented by a flash of light, and had been wandering the forest in search of a way out.

"Well I could show you out." The pony smiled at the pair. "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't catch your names."

"I'm Stella, stunningly beautiful stewardess of the Starflight Express!" Stella struck what she believed to be a model pose. Being met with confused silence, Stella continued, "and this is Rylan."

"Pleased to meet you, Rylan and Stella. My name is FlutterShy. This way, I'll show you to town."

"Hey, Rylan," Stella whispered. "is it just you, or is something not right here? I mean, she seems nice, but... there aren't exactly taking horses in the Protocrate, right?"

Rylan nodded to her, and followed the two-colored flying pony. He agreed on the fact that he was no longer in the Protocrate apparently, nor the realm of the Almighty, or even the now-lost Observatory. Perhaps he'd stumbled upon a new realm to be explored? Whatever the case, the black beams of energy that had brought him here were all to familiar, and needed to be further investigated upon.

Author's Note:

Yes. I feel like I'm going to have fun writing this.
Let me know what you think!

Comments

[butterfield pancake]

I always name the hero weird things in DQ 9 I named mine Chuoob

[I_am_the_Matrix]

Pretty good, got Stella pretty good, will have to see how this goes.

Any chance the mane six will have vocations assigned to them, or at least have Rylan/Stella make comparisons of there talents to their classes? Cause Rylan may want a sage with him if he wants to switch vocations on the fly.

Wonder how Rylan will react to hearing Celestia's name

[butterfield pancake]

Should do the old Stella joke of her calling Sterling Ol Fatguts

[Swordoath]

3432004 I'm quite glad someone brought this up. You reading my notes...?
Yes, they will, and I have given thought on Celestia/Celestria name similarity.
As for the sage factor, I prefer he stayed one vocation, personally. If anyone would be a sage, however- that yet remains to be seen.