My Final Pony Fantasy II

by Vimtrust5

Chapter 12: Retaking Fynn

Aboard the sailing ship, our heroes enjoyed the salty sea air.

"It's nice to know we've rescued the real Princess this time" said Firion.

"I'll say," Maria replied. After that incident with... whatever that thing was, we really need to be extra cautious."

"I agree," said Twilight.

"Me, too," Cadence added.

"Likewise," said Fluttershy.

Guy simply nodded in agreement.

"I wonder what our next plan of attack is?"

"We'll find out once we get back to Altair."

As the ship docked near the town, the party disembarked and hoped everything would go well this time.

---

Altair

Approaching the guard, our heroes learned that the Princess and Gordon have led the rest of the rebellion near Fynn, intending to take back their home.

"I see," said Twilight. "Oh! What about Spike? And Leila, too?"

"Both of them left north to join the battle." The guard then sighed. "I tried to stop the little one, but he was persistent. He kept saying, 'Please! Let me go, too! I wanna join you in your camp. At least, until Twilight and everypony, er, everybody else gets back.'"

"Oh. Thank you for informing us," said Cadence.

Twilight groaned. Spike, what are you thinking?!

Our heroes then left Altair and went north to the town of Gatrea. They took notice of a campsite near the town, looked at each other and agreed to enter. There, the ponies saw a certain baby dragon sittng near Princess Hilda.

"Everyone!" said Spike. "You're all here!"

"I owe everyone of you my life," said Hilda. "I heard you destroyed the Dreadnought, too. I cannot thank you enough."

"You know, Princess Hilda," said Twilight. "That imposter really had us fooled. And honestly, I think there's one thing I should say: Wild Rose."

Hilda smiled and chuckled. "No need to worry, for I am the real Princess Hilda."

From that warm smile and the polite manner in which she spoke, there was no doubt in the party's minds: the Hilda standing right in front of them was indeed genuine. Breathing a sigh of relief, the ponies all trotted toward the princess and embraced her in a group hug.

After that, the group turned towards Gordon.

"What's our current situation?" asked Firion.

"Several of our forces have penetrated the imperials' defenses and as a result, they are now in disarray. You all must infiltrate Castle Fynn and defeat the enemy commander. Judging from your past successes, it's best you go by yourselves."

"By ourselves?" asked Fluttershy.

"Are you sure of that?" Maria questioned.

Gordon nodded. "I have every bit of confidence in you."

Twilight bowed. "Thank you, Your Highness." She then turned to her number one assistant. "Spike?"

"You don't have to say it," the dragon said dejectedly. "I'll stay here. As usual..."

*music fades out*

Feeling guilty, the Princess of Friendship put her hoof on her chin, thinking of what she should do. Allow Spike to join them and possibly get himself killed, or let him stay behind and feel unwanted?

Firion and his friends took notice and went on ahead, letting Twilight think of what to do about Spike. This was her decision after all.

Looking deep within herself, Twilight saw fond memories of her and Spike. The hatching of his egg, spending time with him in Canterlot, moving to Ponyville and meeting their friends, saving the Crystal Empire from King Sombra, and most important of all: being there when he really needed it.

*music ends*

Twilight opened her eyes, looked at Spike who sat on the ground with a sorrowful look in his face.

"Alright, Spike. You can come with us."

The dragon's emerald eyes lit up. "Do you mean it?"

"Mm-hmm. But you have to stay close to us at all times. Understood?"

Spike nodded eagerly and walked over to Twilight's side, ready for action. The Equestrians bowed to Princess Hilda and Gordon and left for Fynn. They found their human friends waiting near the entrance of the city. Now reunited, our heroes went straight to the castle, intending to take on the commanding officer occupying it.

---

Castle Fynn

As soon as they entered the castle, our heroes were entranced by the beauty of the area. However, this was no time to be distracted, for they had a mission to complete. Heading straight for the stairs, they saw a familiar pirate.

"Leila!"

The pirate nodded. "Ye don't want to be hacking yer way deep into enemy territory without me!"

Knowing they can trust her now, the party agreed. With Leila by the side once more, our heroes went up the stairway and upon going through a few more sets of stairs, found themselves in the grand hall, where upon the throne sat a muscular masked creature with a green cape over its back, and it carried a staff in its right hand.

"Rebels! Here...?"

The party stood their ground.

"This castle and this city belong to Princess Hilda!"

The demon, Gottos, sat up and took a battle stance; it started off by raising its own attack power. Maria quickly cast Haste on the entire party. As Twilight's horn flared, Gottos nearly ran into her until Guy intercepted the blow and swung his axe on the creature three times, pushing it back. Twilight opened her eyes fired a magic beam upon Gottos, but it rolled forward toward her and kicked her across the room and into the wall.

"Twilight!!" yelled Spike. The angry little dragon inhaled and unleashed a wave of fire upon the demon. With only a few burn marks, Gottos laughed wickedly.

A furious Fluttershy ramned her head into the demon's stomach, knocking it down.

Twilight got back up and slowly rejoined her friends.

"Are you alright, Twilight?" Cadence asked. Twilight nodded. She and the others faced Gottos once more.

"You do have some fight in you," it said. "No matter. DIE!"

Firion intervened and slashed at him twice, causing moderate damage. The monster roared and began to charge at all of them at once.

"Oh, no ye don't!" Leila cried, quickly slashing Gottos' chest. The imperial commander screamed in agony as Cadence stepped in to deliver the final blow; she flew upwards and cast Level 5 Blizzard on the creature, almost freezing it completely. The monster gave out one final death cry as it collapsed, never to rise again.

With Gottos' defeat, the party raised their arms in victory, the three youths in particular having successfully recaptured their home.

A while later, Princess Hilda appeared alongside Gordon and sat on the throne that rightfully belonged to them. "It is good to be back. I am only sitting here today because everyone came together as a team. My most heartfelt thanks to you all. But one thing disturbs me. Minwu left for Mysidia and we have not heard back from him. Will you please to go to Mysidia to look into the matter?"

"We will, Your Highness," said Firion.

"Before we do," said Twilight, "we need to ask you a few things."

"Very well, Twilight Sparkle. Please ask away."

"Do you thing there's a way to call the wyvern from here?"

"You should be able to call the wyvern from this Mirror Hall, but it seems the egg hasn't hatched yet."

"I see. What do you know about the dragoons of Deist?"

"I'm afraid we do not have the brave dragoons to help us in battle, but I have you with me."

Twilight lowered her head. "Your Highness, the dragoons were killed by the Empire. We saw one of their remains in the cavern."

"Did the Emperor fear them that much?" asked Maria.

"I think so, Maria," said Twilight. "Otherwise his followers wouldn't have gone so low as to poison their water supply."

Hilda closed her eyes and grimaced; she, too, was disgusted by the Empire's tactics.

"Can you tell about this 'Mysidia' place?" Firion asked.

Hilda nodded. "Mysidia is a land of mages. Without their help, we stand little chance against the Empire. I hear a mighty spell is sealed within the tower of Mysidia. Two masks hold the key to unbinding it. One mask is white, and the other is black."

A White Mask and a Black Mask. Hmm... Twilight thought.

"I think we'd like to know more about these masks. How can we use them?" asked Princess Cadence.

"Go down to the castle's base level to find the White Mask. I will tell you the magical spell to open the door, so listen carefully... 'Ekmet Teloez'..."

"Where is door?" asked Guy.

"That... I don't know..."

"What?! But, Your Highness, this is your castle. Your home," said Twilight.

"Yes, but apparently I don't know much. A bit ironic, I suppose."

A princess who doesn't know everything about her own castle? Twilight thought. Just like Gordon. Speaking of...

"Prince Gordon? May we ask you a few things?"

"Yes. But first, let me thank you all for everything you've done so far. Thanks to you, we have recaptured Castle Fynn from the clutches of the Empire."

The party bowed, accepting the prince's gratitude.

"Now... about Mysidia. Is it true that Minwu went there to get this 'utlimate spell?'"

"That's correct. The tower of Mysidia is said to have the Ultima Tome, the most powerful spell in the world..."

"The Ultima Tome?"

Gordon nodded. "Yes. It would certainly be a potent weapon against the Emperor!"

Hilda interjected. "People say that aeons ago, the gates of Hell opened and a tide of infernal creatures swarmed this land. Nothing could stop them until the legendary spell was unleashed. It banished all the creatures back to the underworld."

"Oh, my..." said Cadence.

"We'd like to have a look around the castle before we leave... if you don't mind, that is," said Twilight.

"Permission granted," Hilda and Gordon said in unison.

"And whatever treasures you come across, you may take with you," said Hilda.

"Thank you," said Firion.

As our heroes went back down to the ground floor of the castle, they went to the left of the stairs, searched about and discovered two treasures chests containing a total of 3,000 gil. Next, they went in the opposite direction and acquired 1,000 gil from the chest.

---

Fynn

Our heroes were greeted with numerous cheers once more, and they knew exactly what for. As they traveled through the town, Firion, Maria, and Guy smiled earnestly knowing they were home again. And yet, the Equestrians spotted sadness in their eyes, for even though they had successfully regained their home, they could never be reunited with their families, courtesy of the imperial army. Leon, too, was still missing, and Maria still feared that the Dark Knight they had encountered several times may have been him.

The Equestrians, too, were glad that their friends were home again. But they still had a certain infant to save and a madman to deal with. So, they asked around town to know where Paul was. They found their answer through a man saying that the thief lived in a house standing near the entrance to the town, one of the first houses on the left.

When they entered Paul's house, they found a blond-haired man wearing a white tunic, a metal chest plate, a purple cape and leather boots.

"Um, excuse me?"

"Yes?"

"Who are you, and what are you doing here?"

The man chuckled. "I see you don't recognize me without my other clothes, do you?"

"Huh?"

"Wait a minute...! Paul?"

"The one and only! How goes everything, Firion?"

After shaking his head to ward off the confusion, the bandana-wearing hero said the words "Well, first of all... Thank you for saving us at the Coliseum earlier. If it hadn't been for you, we never would have saved Princess Hilda."

This confused Spike. "What do you mean?"

The party told Spike what happened at the Coliseum.

"Wow... I can't believe it. He tricked you all into--"

"Yep," Twilight interrupted. "It was all a trap."

"We've gotta stop him."

"Exactly."

"So... Do you need my services?" asked Paul.

"Well, here's something we've learned from Hilda. Ekmet Teloez. Do you know what it means?"

"Ah, the hidden door in Castle Fynn, you ask? Of course I know! What's inside? The White Mask? Well, I'm not interested in that piece of royal trash, but I can tell you how to get there. The hidden door is on the upper right corner of the Grand Hall. But what are you going to use a mask for?"

"If you must know, sir," said Maria. "We're going to use it to help Minwu obtain what may be the key to ending this war."

"You sure about that?" the thief asked.

"Yes, we are. And thank you for your assistance," said Firion.

"Maybe we see each other again later," said Guy.

---

Castle Fynn

Heading back to the castle throne room, our heroes told them what Paul had said. They went over to the corner and said "Ekmet Teloez."

The moment those words were uttered, a small hole appeared in the wall, revealed a hidden doorway. Opening it, our heroes went down into the lower levels of the castle and ran across several undead creatures. Plowing their way through, they reached the level basement and fought against a chimera-like being called Rhyos and obtained an orichalcum knife. After that, the group went through a door and found a treasure chest in the middle of the room. Opening it, they had discovered the very object they sought: the White Mask.

"We did it!" said Spike. Just then, he noticed something. "What's that over there?"

Everyone looked where Spike was pointing. They went in the direction and found...

"It be some sort of... tile?" Leila pointed out.

"It's glowing," Cadence observed. "Some sort of magic, I guess."

"I think I know what that does," said Twilight. "This tile should be able to send us back outside."

Fluttershy agreed, "It's just like our last adventure.'

Everyone thought it over and all stepped onto the tile, one-by-one. They found themselves right outside of Castle Fynn, just as Twilight had said. They went back inside, however, to inform the couple in the Grand Hall.

"We've found it, Your Highnesses! We've got the White Mask!"

"Very good! Now, take it to Mysidia. The mages are sure to know of its use."

"We have to warn you though," said Gordon with a straight face. "The Emperor has not been seen of late, but I am sure he is readying another assault."

The group knew he was serious, and because of their last meeting with the evil tyrant, they knew Gordon was right.

"Please bring us the Ultima Scroll as soon as possible."

"Will do, Your Highness."

And so, our heroes set off once more to find Minwu and obtain the ultimate spell.

---

Meanwhile, in the Crystal Empire...

"Oh, this is bad..." said Applejack. "If we can't get the Crystal Heart workin' again..."

"Perhaps, we can help this time," said a familiar regal voice.

The ponies' attention turned to the two royal sisters Celestia and Luna.

"Princesses!" said Rainbow Dash. "Did you hear about what happened--"

"Yes, Rainbow Dash," Luna confirmed. "Shining Armor sent us a message concerning what happened with Twilight Sparkle and Cadence. And it appears that the Crystal Heart was somehow nullified by the invaders' magic."

"Your Highnesses," said Rarity. "Please, please... You must undo whatever those creatures have done!"

"Yeah!" said Pinkie Pie. "I don't wanna think about not ever seeing Twilight, Fluttershy, Spike or Princess Cadence again!!"

"We will do whatever we can," said Celestia.

Comments

[Omegamorph]

Again, like it whenever the equestrians learn some Final Fantasy spells. Since I never finished FF2 I never learned about Paul personally and that there was an NPC rep for the thief class. The ponies will likely get a sense of deja vu for the Mysidia name when they get to FF4.

[Vimtrust5]

10848076
Oh, they will... Especially when they learn that it's also inhabited by mages.

[Tailbiter231]

10848076
You'll want to know where Paul is before entering the Emperor's Cyclone. That is your only window for him to show you his hidden stash of treasure he stole from the Empire, including the Blood Sword, which does major fractional damage of enemies' MAXIMUM HP and gives that HP to you, and can even kill the Emperor's final form in three hits! (Only catch is, it has reverse effect on undead, which thankfully doesn't include the Emperor's final form)

[Vimtrust5]

10849779
I think you may have given me an idea as soon as I reach the final battle.