A Fighter's World

by Sava Warg

Day two (Part Two)

As I am following this orange mare, something occurs to me: what is her name? I really am tired. "Hey, what is your name anyway? It's not nice to tell a complete stranger to follow you without telling them your name, unless you're trying to kill me."

"Heh, I guess you're right, I'm Applejack. And you are?" she asks.

"Food Fighter, but that's not something you should care about. Who are these friends you're taking me to?" I say, head feeling clearer with every step. Man, I should take more walks.

" Well, there's Twilight, and Rainbow Dash, and Rarity. Not sure if Fluttershy is gonna be there. As you can guess from the name, she's shy. Oh, then there's Pinkie"

I stop dead in my tracks, and my blood runs cold. Pinkie? This could be a problem. I decide to ask her something stupid. "Is there anyway we can, I don't know, skip Pinkie?"

This stops her. She turns her head slowly, an unsure look on her face. " Why would you want to skip Pinkie? I mean she is really nice, and likes to throw parties, especially for new ponies like you..."

Judging by her expression, something just dawned on her. She spins full circle, with the face of a foal who had found a secret stash of candy, and puts her head right in front of mine. " You have a thing for Pinkie, don't you?"

This sudden awkward accusation turns my face completely red. I'm not sure if it's from embarrassment or anger. "What in Celestia's name makes you think that?! I just don't want to be the center of attention, which is exactly where Pinkie's Party will put me! What's wrong with that?" As I end my sudden outburst, I realize I have reared up on my back legs, and am angry enough to hit somepony, which I probably would've if I hadn't caught myself. I get back down on all fours, close my eyes, and force myself to calm down. When I open them, I see Applejack has backed up and looks a bit worried. I feel really stupid after that, and I start heading off in the other direction, deciding that I should go home. Until a comforting hoof stops me.

" It's okay. I know ya didn't mean nothin' by it. Probably how I woulda acted if I were in your place. Come on, I'm sure we can explain this to Pinkie. Maybe she'll throw you a private party. Would ya like that?" she says in a voice that makes me feel like I'm a little filly being cheered up by his mom.

"Well, I would rather have no parties, but I guess that's okay. Where are we going anyway?" I say feeling much less guilty.

"Well, Twi is studying in the Library. Rainbow is probably bored, and is at the library bugging Twi. Fluttershy has been having trouble with Angel, who has been picky lately, so she is probably looking for fancy recipies. Who knows, maybe the whole gang is at the library. I guess that makes it our first stop."

"Hmm, if it's at the library, I could make use of the time it takes to explain to Pinkie to look up local legends. Who knows what this town holds in it's deepest, darkest recesses." I say, thinking out loud by accident.

"Well, why would ya wanna look into somethin like that?" she asks, voice showing suspicion.

"No reason" I say nervously."Lead on, to the library"

---

As we walk through the door of a large, hollowed out tree, a high pitched scream pierces the air, and next thing I know, I'm on the floor, expertly pinned face down to the ground by some unseen pony.

"You're not getting away this time! I'm not letting you out of my sight! I believe I owe you a batch of cupcakes for bringing him here, Applejack." I hear Pinkie say.

The pressure on my back increases, and I start having a hard time breathing.

"Darn it Pinkie Pie, what did you go and do that for? Let him go. You and I have to talk on his behalf for awhile." Applejack says, and the pressure vanishes.

I get up in time to see Pinkie being dragged away by Applejack, making the "I'm watching you" hoof signal. I stretch and pop my back, while the living blur from yesterday floats in front of me, so I can get a good look at it. Apparently, she's a cyan hided, rainbow maned pegasus. She then drops to the floor in front of me and says in a voice that is almost annoyingly arrogant "So, you're the new pony in town, huh? That's cool. Where ya from?"

"All over really, but most recently from Manehatten." I say, still stretching to get the kinks Pinkie so graciously left me with, out. That mare is way heavier than she looks.

"Manehatten, huh? You some kinda big shot? Who are you anyway?" she says flapping back into the air again.She seems a little bit anxious.

"No, I'm not some rich businessman. I'm retired from my last job. Well, It wasn't really a job as more of a well paying hobby. Oh, I'm Food Fighter." I say before I realize I said it. I am really losing my touch. Next time I'm just gonna say something like "Why do you care?" or "Why does it matter?"

"Well if must have been high paying if it got you a house in Manehatten." she says, lazily doing backflips in the air.

Oh good, one I'm ok with answering. ' No, I have a mobile house. No it's not an RV. It's a really nice log cabin."

"Huh? Ok then. Well, I think since everypony got a chance to talk to you, except for those two..." she says, gesturing to a yellow pegasus and a purple unicorn on the other side of the room." I'll leave you alone." She then flies off to where Applejack took Pinkie Pie.

As I approach, the yellow one see's me, and backs up a bit. So the yellow one is Fluttershy then. The rainbow maned one must be Rainbow Dash, so this purple unicorn must be "Twi". Well, she seems busy, and little miss Shy is not gonna talk to me, so I'll bide the time by looking in the lore section. I look through the book titles, until I see on labeled "Ancient Curses and Old Treasures."

A voice behind me says "You're not going to find anything interesting in there. Just tellin you now. It's full of nothing but old mares tales. Don't waste your time. Try something in the nonfiction section. The real treasures are in there. It's on the..."

"Already found a treasure, and what a beauty this book is." I say, cutting her off. I turn around to see her staring inquisitively at my book of choice.

"That's not a non fiction silly.." she says before I cut her off again.

"It is, or was, in my old line of work. Who knows how many ancient treasures could be discovered because of this book! I might even take a break from retirement for this!" I say eagerly. Maybe too eagerly. "You know what, I will. Excuse me, but where is the librarian?"

"That would be me, but WHAT is so interesting about this book. What does it matter to you?" she says, almost angrily

Well, considering that she would be my new information supplier for the next... next... who knows how long I will be here looking for myths. I motion for her to come close. When she does, I whisper to her "I'm a treasure hunter, or a myth hunter, or whatever it's called now. I look for things that shouldn't exist. I make haunted, dangerous places safe. Everfree forest, Freezing curse, dealt with half a year ago by eliminating the frozen hearted ghost with a hearthfire gem. Dust town in the Mild West, Deathly Ghost Mine, purged deadly curse from ore with an astonishing amount or salt bricks and gunpowder, ore left untouched, but gold stockpile removed. I have combated more legends and myths than you have owned books. The only reason I quit was because..." Ah, good,caught myself in time. Don't want to have to go through that again.

"Well... What made you quit?" she says, as if this was storytime, and she was a little filly again.

"I... don't want to talk about that. The important thing is that I want this book, and I will be back to read the rest of these little pearls." I say, getting ready for the usual bombardment of questions, but surprisingly, they don't come, or, not until she had gotten up, stands in front of me, and takes a deep breath.

"How much treasure did you get from one go? How many people have thanked you? Did you ever donate to museums?" she asks. The torrent of questions goes on for another five minutes before Applejack and a slightly grumpy Pinkie come back from the other room. "Well mister Fighter, I finally got to Pinkie. She says that she will need a couple of hours to rearrange your party schedule. So for now I guess we will just have to keep you here until she is done."

"Alright..." I say feeling relieved," until she gets back, I could show you some of my stuff. This inquisitor..." i say, gesturing to Twilight, "could probably use some information on how I got away, and what I can do with my special, magic gear. But I need to get my stuff from my house."

" I could walk you there" Applejack offers. I accept and as we head out the door I hear Twilight ask "Wait, you use magic stuff?" Then the door closes

Author's Note:

Came back to this series after some mindless TV, some herbal tea, and a refreshing stroll, so I really hope that this went as well as I had originally planned it. I would've tried third person, but that would make the conversations look a bit weirder. Looks like this is gonna be a Three parter