VI - Dungeon Crawling
Dungeon Crawling
“That didn’t used to be there, did it?” Ganondorf questioned her fellow Triforce Wielders. The source of said question being the large cave entrance standing before the three fillies.
After a fairly annoying descent through the ‘trail’ Link had found, they had reached the bottom of the ravine. Alas, before they could start the equally annoying climb on the other side so that they could finally reach the ruined castle, they had stumbled upon this little oddity.
“No, it most certainly did not,” Zelda confirmed, the tiny unicorn’s brow scrunched in thought as she probably tried to remember every single geographic and geological work ever made about the region or something along those lines. “The cliff face where the castle is located was solid rock all the way through. It was one of the main reasons why the spot had been chosen for its foundation in the first place, after all.
“There shouldn’t be a cave system here at all. And that is ignoring how the rock type seems to change from granite to some kind of crystal the further into the cave you go.” She firmly stated, observing the oddity that was the normal grey rock changing to the bluish purple crystal. “This is most definitely not a normal phenomenon.”
“Yeah, you make a good point,” Ganondorf agreed, nodding her head, her bow swaying with the motion, as she stood next to the little Princess to examine the crystal-like growths at the cave’s mouth. “What do you think, Kid?”
After a moment with nothing but silence to answer her question, the Wielder of Power stopped her prodding of the crystals with a stick to look for what was holding up Link’s answer, only to notice that the Wielder of Courage was not anywhere near them.
Dropping the stick, the yellow-coated filly looked around for the missing member of their trio. A moment later, and the sight of an orange coat disappearing deep into the cave answered her question of where the Kid had wandered off.
“She never looks before leaping, does she?” Ganondorf mused with a chuckle as she stared at where Link had just disappeared from view.
“Was that a rhetorical question?” Zelda half joked, a resigned yet amused air on her as she started after the orange-coated pegasus.
Shrugging her shoulders while barking out an amused laugh, Ganondorf followed. All the while musing if they would be lucky enough for Link’s odd luck to awaken some ancient sealed evil or something along those lines that could lead to a fun fight.
It really wouldn’t surprise her if it happened. After all, the Golden Goddesses as her witness, it wouldn’t be the oddest turn of Fate caused by Link’s weird relationship with Lady Luck.
The deeper they went into the cave, the more the crystal replaced the stones, until finally it overtook them altogether. The fact that the crystals seemed to shine with an inner light only added to the overall oddness of the place. Even then, she had to admit that the light made traversing the cave far less of a hassle.
With a last turn, the cave plunged downwards and opened into a grotto. The crystals covered every single inch of the place. The cave shining with their glow that lit up every single inch of it. The magic in the air was so thick Ganondorf could almost taste it. And right in the middle of it all, with an orange-coated pegasus filly right in front of it, seemingly staring at the ground of all things, was a large crystal tree that was most likely the source of all the magic.
“Well, that’s something you don’t see every day,” she stated, Zelda making a sound of agreement as they neared the tree.
“Six empty indentations near the tree’s crown,” Zelda mused as she placed a hoof upon the crystal tree’s trunk and closed her eyes, her horn lighting with a faint blue glow.
As Zelda was communing with nature or whatever the heck it was she was doing, Ganondorf instead moved towards the next very notable thing on the tree.
“Moonbutt, Sunbutt,” the wielder of power stated as she looked at the alicorn sisters’ ‘emblems’ proudly emblazoned on the crystal tree, before moving towards the third unknown ‘emblem’ right in the middle of the crystal plant. “Starbutt?”
“And the stars shall aid her escape,” Zelda muttered under her breath, as she opened her eyes. “This is undoubtedly the source of the Elements the legend was talking about; the amount of Fate magic gathered upon this tree is quite impressive.”
“So Fate was nice enough to give the ‘emblem’ of the one needed to fix the mess, neat,” Ganondorf sarcastically drawled, before continuing in a far more upbeat tone of voice. “And what do you know! Not a single golden triangle in sight!”
That little fact greatly raised her spirits! For even Fate itself agreed with her! Whatever this mess was, it was not their problem!
A smile on her face, she turned to the orange-coated pegasus that was still staring at the ground but a few hooves away from her. “And what are you doing there, Kid?”
“The Master Sword used to be here,” Link simply stated, still staring at what Ganondorf could now see was an indentation in the solid crystal where the Kid’s blade could have fit like a glove, now completely empty and lacking said blade.
“Huh, tough luck. Wonder who could’ve taken it?” the Wielder of Power said while giving a short pat of commiseration to Link’s shoulder. She simply made a noise the Wielder of Power translated through long practice with the Kid’s monosyllabic answers to ‘no idea’.
Which, fair enough. For while it was true that only a true hero could wield the Blade of Evil’s Bane, that didn’t help narrow down who the heck could’ve taken the sword besides it being some other goody-two-shoes.
After another moment of silence where the only sound heard was Zelda casting a few more spells upon the tree, the cave, and basically anything that caught her fancy at the moment, Ganondorf decided to voice to the Kid a question that had been bothering him since the Wielder of Courage had first mentioned the Master Sword back on the forest’s trail.
“Hey, Kid. You are kinda tiny right now,” she conversationally stated, gaining a deadpan look from the pegasus filly for it. Paying it no mind, she carried on. “So, had that picky blade of yours still been here, would you have been able to pick it up, or would you have ended up in a magical coma and woke up a few years from now when you would be able to wield it?”
The brief flabbergasted look that was Link’s answer to her question made a wide smile appear upon Ganondorf’s muzzle.
It wasn’t everyday she managed to break through Link’s zen-like armor, after all.
As she walked through the dilapidated corridors of the abandoned castle, Ganondorf basically slammed open every door she saw. She was a filly on a mission and would not be denied! And so, after leaving Zelda and Link back in the castle’s throne room as the little princess kept analyzing five stone spheres, of all things, Ganondorf instead kept searching for anything made out of metal she could salvage.
So far her quest had awarded her one halberd, two swords, and a shield. All of them had some rust and showed signs of the passing of time, but nothing that some work at the forge couldn’t fix in order to salvage the metal. Sadly, if her math was right, the amount of metal that would give her would be barely enough to make Big Mac a proper plow. Her big brother was a big pony, after all.
Therefore, she continued her search, wandering through the empty ruined castle in search of anything of note.
Reaching the last room in the corridor she was currently traveling through, Ganondorf attempted to open the door, only for it to not budge one bit even when she applied more force.
“What?” she mused to herself, as she realized that she was applying more than enough force that the wooden door should have shattered by now.
Actually paying attention now, the yellow-coated filly promptly noted that both the door and its lock were actually enchanted. And a closer look showed the magical signature upon said enchantments to be from none other than Sunbutt herself.
“Well now, this is promising,” she happily commented, now quite interested in what Sunbutt had locked away. It could be anything really, Sunbutt had the really bad habit of stashing stuff away and then forgetting about it.
Analyzing the enchantments, Ganondorf promptly realized they greatly increased both the door and its lock’s durability far past its natural threshold. Alongside that, they made it highly resistant to magic. Bypassing them to open the door would be quite a pain and take a lot of work.
That is, if Sunbutt hadn’t made quite the rookie mistake with the setup of this whole production.
And so, Ganondorf took a couple of steps to the left of the door, and applied the ‘Indestructible Door Fallacy’.
A moment of concentration as she gathered her mana upon her right front hoof. A surge of motion. And with a loud crashing noise that echoed through the empty corridors and halls, and a large cloud of shattered stone, the room had a neat new entrance through its ordinary stone unenchanted wall.
Jumping through the hole, the Wielder of Power took in her surroundings.
It was a medium sized room with no windows, covered in dust and cobwebs. No adornment or decoration was upon its walls. The only light entered by the hole she had made. The only thing of note was the small librarian’s lectern in its center.
That, and the book resting upon said lectern, that is.
A book that was radiating dark magic in waves, filling the room with its presence, making it so that it almost felt like there were dozens of voices loudly speaking over each other, making promises of greatness and might if one were to but open its pages and read its contents.
It was a black book encrusted with blood-red gems upon its cover, clearly an artifact of power of some kind. A magical item capable of giving the most ordinary of beings powers they couldn’t even fathom. The thick leather bound tome radiated malice and power in a thick miasma that could beguile the senses and warp the will of the weak-willed.
Sadly for the ancient artifact, said adjective simply could not be applied to the Wielder of Power in any way, shape, or form.
“That’s downright embarrassing! You should be ashamed of yourself!” the yellow-coated filly berated the dark tome as she sneered at it, completely unbothered by the clogging miasma filling up the room. “What were you even thinking?
“You are a dark tome of forbidden secrets! Not a cursed sword or other such weapon to justify such a brutish display!” she continued, getting closer to the tome and forcibly pointing at it admonishingly.
“I mean, seriously? A miasma of corrupted power and enough magic to saturate the whole room?” she mockingly questioned as the voices slowly stopped.
“You need to be subtle and elusive, giving just enough of a hint of your power as you slowly draw the unwary towards you in such a way that they will doubt it’s even happening!” she ranted at the clearly cursed book, which was swiftly drawing back its magical aura of corruption back into itself as if in embarrassment. “Have some goddess damned common sense! And by Din’s sacred flame, stop acting like a fishmonger’s wife screaming at the top of their lungs for attention!”
The book’s visage remained the same, and yet, if a book could flinch it would be doing so.
Magic levels in the dark room covered in cobwebs quickly returned to normal. Or, as normal as anything was in the Everfree. Ganondorf nodded once before once more forcibly pointing at the book. “Now, let it out slowly. Just enough to lightly fill the room without it being immediately noticeable.”
After a moment’s hesitation, the dark book did just that. Its magic slowly seeped out until it almost looked like there was a subtle shimmer upon the air in the room, something those not paying attention could easily dismiss as a trick of the light.
“Yes, much better,” the filly nodded, before continuing her lecture. “Now add just a hint of glamour. Enough to make you look interesting and valuable, but not enough to raise too many questions.”
There was a barely felt hint of magic, and the book suddenly looked far more inviting and interesting, in a way that would lead those that looked at it to feel the subtle desire to leaf through its pages playing around their minds.
“Better! Now keep practicing!” the Wielder of Power proclaimed with finality before turning around and making her way back towards the hole in the wall. “And if I hear you embarrassed dark artifacts with such an unseemingly display again I will destroy you myself!”
And with those partying words, the filly left the room, leaving nothing within it but darkness, dust, cobwebs, and a highly confused, chastised, and embarrassed dark tome of forbidden knowledge alone in the old forgotten room.
As she cast spell after spell upon the inert orbs her magical senses told her, in no uncertain terms, had to be the Elements of Harmony the legend was talking about, Zelda had no choice but to give it all up as a bad job.
The Elements were completely inert and unresponsive, and all her analyses showed they would remain this way until the sixth and currently missing element was brought back to its brethren. And considering the rest of said legend, even then its bearer would have to reactivate it for the magic of the Elements to be reawakened once more.
As much as she hated to admit, it seemed that Ganondorf had been right. This was not their quest to undertake.
“So, you done playing with the pebbles?”
And speak of the devil. Zelda mused, as she turned to see Ganondorf’s current form entering the throne room of the ruined castle. The dichotomy that was knowing that the tiny yellow-coated filly with a red mane sporting a huge crimson bow was the Wielder of Power briefly lifted the Wielder of Wisdom’s mood.
“Yes, it is clear that only the bearers of the elements will be able to reawaken them, and even then, only when the holder of the final element steps forward when the time is right,” she shared her findings, giving the five stone spheres a last look before shaking her head. “There is nothing we can do until then.”
“Told you so, for once it’s not our problem!” Ganondorf happily chirped as she approached Zelda’s white-coated form. “It’s Starbutt’s time to be fate’s chew toy! So leave it to whoever that is to do so!”
“I guess you are correct, no matter how crassly you worded it,” Zelda let out a sigh as she briefly massaged her brow with a hoof. “Especially since I’m certain that the ‘right time’ will be only after Nightmare Moon has already made her escape.”
“That is how things usually go with these things,” Ganondorf readily agreed with a shrug of a shoulder as she stopped next to Zelda. A hint of annoyance appeared on her features as she continued. “Also, couldn’t Moonbutt have chosen a proper villain name for her alter ego? Nightmare Moon looks like something to scare tiny fillies rather than a proper dark title!”
As Ganondorf kept ranting about the ponies ‘cursed lack of ability to choose appropriate names’ Zelda couldn’t help but let out a brief chuckle. She remembered well Ganondorf’s constant and fruitless crusade in their last life, as the Wielder of Power tried and failed to make the ponies stop giving things either cutesy or joke-like names. However, after a moment, she noticed something else, and so she cut the earth pony’s rant short.
“Ganondorf, where is Link?” she questioned, noting the lack of the orange-coated pegasus.
“Didn’t she stay with you?” the Wielder of Power asked in confusion.
“I thought she followed you to explore the castle,” the Wielder of Wisdom answered back, a hint of alarm in her tone.
“What are you two talking about?” the Wielder of Courage calmly asked. The orange-coated pegasus entered into the throne room from a completely different corridor, a very innocent look on her muzzle.
Zelda traded a look with Ganondorf, as both unicorn and earth pony realized that Link had been left unsupervised in an abandoned ruin for several minutes. With a silent consensus, both fillies turned towards the third member of their trio and asked as one.
“What did you do?” they questioned, alarm in the unicorn’s words and eagerness in the earth pony’s.
For her part, Link simply blinked her eyes. Then tilted her head slightly to the side, silently conveying her incomprehension of the question. Unsurprisingly, neither of the other fillies bought it for a second.
And so both started to question the Wielder of Courage to find out exactly what shenanigans she had been up to.
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great chapter can't wait to find out that the Master Sword was taken by Flim & Flam or somepony just as morally questionable
Aye, I did enjoy it; thanks for writing (this and the recent Power of Freedom update)!
I will never tire of Ganondorf's insistence on proper evil decorum. Also, I give it very good odds that yon book manages to grab Moony for some extra chaos.
For Master Sword, Celestia I guess? I would say Flash Magnus but that guy clearly has the shield. So... no idea really, we shall see later, I suppose. Also looking forward to them meeting "Starbutt" and figuring out that their families are involved.
Loved the Inspiration Manifestation bit!
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Or Daring Do, who put it in a museum lol. Maybe anyway.
Poor Scootaloo, it make sense she's the adventurer Link cause her parents are also adventurous in their own ways. Speaking of parents , i wonder how Appledorf feel to the fact she HAD parents that were lost to him and two older siblings who cared about her too much?
This was so cute. Thanks for the chapter! Loved scolding Ganon!
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Glad you liked the chapter. 
Glad that you got the reference. 
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Good to hear.
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Just because you are evil does not mean you shouldn't have standarts!
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Ganondorf is being a tsundere about having a family that loves her.
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Heh love these little glimpses into the young/ ancient minds of these 3.
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who has the Master Sword?
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Imagen what happens when "Starbutt" realisess who the CMC are.
Well Link always go for it especially to the unknown
But I'm sure you guys will help eventually
It looks like link has no idea
Ganondorf
Today I learned evil books should be ashamed from being too obvious
Lol well then that was something so it looks like they made it to the location where the elements of harmonies are hidden of the castle of the Two Sisters in Zelda tried to figure out what's going on while this was happening Ganondorf and Link decided to check around the place and apparently Ganondorf found a secret passageway but also found a dark artifact which apparently he was disappointed about its appearances and even telling it to be a little bit better if you're going to release dark magic or even intimidating which that was pretty funny after returning they noticed that link is not around but then suddenly showed up and exactly where did he go anyway I guess we'll find out next time
I'm loving the story so far! I'm not too familiar with The Legend of Zelda, so there's probably a few references I'm missing, but even without that knowledge I'm having a blast!
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No, no, the joke is that this exact thing happened in Ocarina of Time, which was also Ganondorf's first appearance under that name (as opposed to Ganon).
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i can't wait for Twilight , after the whole Nightmare Moon thing got a good look at the familiar looking CM. Celestia and Luna would see them first though
You know what happened.
"Link, why are there shards of pottery everywhere?"
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...Yeah.
That's what the chapter was about.
This chapter was GOLDEN! (Pun VERY intended) I love the ineteractions betweeon the trio as they explored, and how Appledorf chasitised an Evil Book, and that I am assumed containens Sombra, for being too too obvious about it's intent. Then we have the cliff hanging of Zelda and Gannon questioning their third friend about were they had gotten off too, now I REALLY wanna know too!
And to those making guesses as to where the Master Sword is and who took it. The Most plausable guess i have seen so far was Daring Do. Remember that if lore holds true even in Equestria, I wouldnt put it past the sword to generate three artifacts needed to pull said sword. And Daring has experaince and getting artifacts. And if this IS the case, I have a sus she would NOT in fact put it in a Museum as by that point she'd probably understand it was a weapon of great importance and could very well one day be needed again and putting it in a Museum would make it difficult to get ahold of if it was needed.
Edit: I have been corrected about my guess about the book, but will not spoil what it was. But I will say its Not in fact Sombra
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media.tenor.com/mhh1fJtYbLYAAAAC/its-a-secret-xelloss.gif
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The resulting fanfilly screech shall shatter all windows on Ponyville.
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Thanks, fixed it.
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A lesson to remenber.
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Happy to hear. I try to keep things lore-friendly for those who don't know much about the Zelda-franchise.
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Yeah, that will be fun.
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Celestia's poor potery colection...
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it would be really funny if the hero of strength ended up giving lectures to other evil artifacts going your evil, not a one-and-done cartoon villain toy!
Delightful stuff. Always good to recognize when a given quest isn’t actually yours to see through, and Ganondorf giving evil etiquette lessons was a delight, as was the bypass she enacted shortly beforehand.
In all, lovely bunch of shenanigans. Now there’s just the question of who has the Master Sword…
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Happy to hear you enjoyed the chapter.
Good old trope-savvy Ganondorf. An indestructible door is only as good as the weakest part of the adjacent wall.
Blowing a hole in the wall and teaching the dark book how to better draw people in will surely have no adverse consequences whatsoever. It definitely won't attract any of the Mane Six when they actually have to come to the castle for the first time. #foreshadowing
Great chapter! So how powerful are each of them separately when they reached their full potential? For example, would Link with the master sword be able to defeat Alicorns?
I wonder where the sword went. I hope it's not just in some random descendant's attic
Oh dear, Link has been up to shenanigans again :D
Loved this chapter, especially Appledorf lecturing the book.
... ... ... XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD W-What the heck!?! XD XD XD XD XD Is this going to be a running gag ever since you done the dark sword lecture in one of your side shots? Ganondorf just picking apart any dark artifact she encounters as sub-standard, as she's the queen of evil and knows better what a dark, cursed artifact is supposed to be like? WHAT A RIOT!!! XD XD XD XD XD *sigh* that would be one successful running gag. Probably a good idea for a mini-series of one-shots of Ganondorf just running into different Dark artifacts... heck, probably have her make one herself that someone just traumatizes themselves over it as she rewards it for being soo evil.
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How would that work? "Sword of evil's bane". How would flim and flam have even removed the sword if their scam artist aura prevents them from even lifting the blade
And this lives too, wohooooo! Simply delightful.
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Indeed.
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Hard to say. Comparing power levels from diferent universes is always frustrating because you are basically trying to compare apples with pears. It also doesn't help that the ponies power levels vary wildly throughout the show.
I would say that he could beat an Alicorn if he goes all out and has the right equipment though.
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Nah, I have plans for that blade, rest assured.
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Her own way of purifying dark objects. Make them feel inadequate and give up being evil out of embaressment.
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Glad to ehar you liked it.
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Not what i meant.
I mean yeah, some spirits might be soo embarrassed and chatisised that they dispel themselves, but how many would wind up even more effective with her advice and guidance? How would they feel if she came across one that had the self-confidence and experience that she can't help but admire how well of a cursed, dark artifact they were that, if she hadn't been the queen of evil, she would have fallen for it/succumbed to the darkness/curse they hold? That's what i meant.
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It would be amusing to me if Celestia and Luna had found and used Link's and Ganon's swords against Discord or Sombra.
Because Ganon wouldn't be considered a bad guy by the ponies, so why would they think his sword is evil? By that point, the swords are probably known by different names, perhaps the swords of Light and Darkness?
Thematically appropriate for our Day/Night alicorns, no? And then you get more of a reason for Luna's fall, if she was spending a bit too much time around Ganon's Actually Evil Swordtm.
Alright scoots/link what did you do probably found a hidden magic item to use probably one of his/her old items like the boomerang or lantern. It would be hilarious if the triforce crusaders entered the mirror after twilight to get her Crown back while also causing a multitude of shenanigans like trolling their EG CMC and humane 5.
I've really been enjoying The Power of Freedom, so when I stumbled upon this I was elated. I'm having almost too much fun reading this one. If someone had told me that making the three not just ponies, but the Cutiemark Crusaders, would be such a blast... I'd have questioned their sanity. I would have been wrong. I might just like this one better than the main one.
I really get the feeling that at NMM's appearance, instead of the three cowering together in a group as is canon, Zelda will be rolling her eyes at the theatrics, Link will actually be getting ready to attack, and Ganondorf will actually just walk straight up to her with a deadpan expression and say something like, "Seriously, Moonbutt, this is what you're going with? And you know eternal night will kill all the plants, right?"
Edit: Also, they'll surely spot the element bearers as Twilight checks in with them, or at least their sisters & Rainbow Dash.
A rare victory that
Ah yes, the classic "I may not be able to break that indestructible door... but the wall right next to it is looking very destructible"
No subtly, no skill... I swear, Dark Artifacts just aren't what they used to be
...oh, oh no
Woo! This lives. And Appledorf's lecture was amusing while we wait to find out what ScootaLink did in the castle.
My bet is it involved a room full of pots and LOTS of smashing.
Wonderful
Then why fate had us return if it already has its new pawn?
Maybe we should play the coaches for this Starbutt pony?
You gotta be kidding me. Can’t I get a vacation for once?
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Ganondorf: Proud pony noises.
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That would be a fun idea for an omake.
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Sunset: How are you so at ease walking around as humans?
CMC: Oh, we used to be like this a few milenia ago.
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Happy to hear you are enjoying the story.
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Yeah, the canon rails have long since been destroyed.
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Indeed. Happy to hear you liked it.
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Thanks.
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I'm really looking forward to Appledorf's reaction that one of fate's new 'che toys' is her big sis.
And now this one updates? You've been busy! Busier than I'd dared assume at any rate.
Solid fun here and I'm already mad there isn't more.
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Already working on the next chapter. Pinkie Promisse that this will not be the last update of the year.
Makes me wonder how their family will react when they return home from the forest