Chapter 6: Gnomes, Vikings, and Dragons
Equestria
Throughout the entire land, the citizens of Ponyville, Manehattan, the Crystal Empire, Canterlot, and all the other major areas experienced terrible nightmares; worse still Princess Luna, the guardian of the ponies' dreams had attempted to fight off with the source of it all, only to find herself nearly drained of powers and physically exhausted. It was time that she and Celestia went off to to check on Twilight and her friends' progress.
Everypony in the Crystal Empire was discussing among themselves the countless and horrifying nightmares they endured the past moons. Just then, they saw a chariot in the sky, carrying Celestia and Luna. They arrived in the presence of Princess Cadence and Shining Armor.
"How goes their journey?"
"We heard they encountered and escaped a large dragon," said Cadence.
"And that's not the most shocking thing about it."
"What is...?"
"This dragon... It's called Bahamut!"
"'Bahamut'?" Luna said in disbelief. "If I recall, the Dragon King they had met the first time going into the Chamber of Crystals was named 'Bahamut,' was it not?"
"Yes, but I don't think this one's quite as friendly..."
Shining Armor shuddered at the thought of his little sister and friends facing this creature. "I hope they're alright..."
Upon escaping the wrath of what Twilight assumed to be Bahamut, she and the others left Dragon's Peak and headed for a small oasis where they found a creature the size of a Breezy.
"What's that?"
"It appears to be a gnome," said Ingus.
"A gnome?" the Equestrians asked in unison.
"There aren't any in your Equestria?"
"Not as far as I know," said Twilight. "Anyway, let's go talk with it... if it'll talk."
"Excuse us," said Luneth.
The gnome turned to see the creatures bigger than he.
"Easy. We're not going to hurt you."
"Y-Y-You can speak?"
"Eeyup," said Applejack.
Seriously, Rainbow thought. How. Many. Times?!
"Anyway... What are you doing here?" asked Desch.
"Me? I just came to take this strange water back to the gnomish village in the southern woods. Only gnomes can enter the village."
"Only gnomes?"
"Yes, but I can give you an extra scroll for the Mini spell!"
"Why, thank you, good sir!" said Rarity.
As they left the spring, they looked around the area sighed in relief. Using the newly acquired Mini spell, Twilight shrunk herself and everyone else to the size of gnomes and entered their village to the south.
"Wow... This is... just like almost every other village or town we've been to," said a disappointed Rainbow.
"Except it's smaller," said Pinkie Pie.
"Thanks for stating the obvious, Pinkie."
"You're welcome," Pinkie said cheerfully, making the blue pegasus plant her hoof on her forehead.
"I see a a magic store over there," said Refia.
As they went in, our heroes looked around and learned that the interior was the same as the other stores in the human villages.
Twilight made sure to purchase a scroll containing the Cure spell. Elsewhere, the Warriors of Light purchased some Mythril Bracers for better defense against what was to come in their next destination.
"Dr. Shelco isn't doing any good."
"Doctor who?" asked Rainbow, unintentionally causing Pinkie Pie to hum a strange song to herself.
"Dr. Shelco, our resident physician."
"Yeah. He's been eating some strange berries out in the woods and he's been poisoned because of it."
"Some doctor," Rainbow muttered to herself.
Inside Doctor Shelco's home, they gave him an antidote, curing him almost instantly.
"Phew, you saved me," he said. "That'll teach me to randomly sample berries in the woods..."
"You know, Doctor, you really should be careful with strange objects."
"I suppose I should," he chuckled. "Anyway, you all deserve a reward! I'll share with you one of my most treasured secrets!"
"Ooh!" said Pinkie Pie. "What is it? What is it? What is it?"
Shelco walked over to the small table with a lamp on it, pressing a hidden switch, revealing a secret passage!
"Go down the stairs at the end of that passage, and you'll find the way to Miralka Basin!"
They did so and as they went downstairs, they saw two treasure chests on opposite sides of the small room; each contained a Phoenix Down. They went down another set of stairs and went straight into...
The tunnel was a grim place, littered with several large bones in the first corridor. Not helping was the large monster in their way called a Darkface.
"What is that thing?"
"Whatever it is, let's get it!"
"WAIT!"
"What?"
"Given our current size, we can't take on any monsters with physical attacks. You have to use magic spells against them."
"Seriously?" asked Rainbow Dash.
"'Fraid so."
It was decided; Twilight and Arc each cast a Fire spell upon the monster. It turned out to be much weaker than any other monsters as it was easily blown by the two magic users' attacks. And so, Twilight and Arc's skills as mages increased. Upon crawling through the dungeon, the party faced several more Darkfaces, sometimes accompanied by leprechauns. After their last battle, Twilight's body began to glow. When it stopped, Twilight found that she had regained her wings once again.
"Did... did she just...?"
"Eeyup! Now she's back to bein' an alicorn!" said Applejack, proudly.
Twilight awkwardly rubbed her hoof.
"Well, let's press on," she said.
Our heroes finally exited the tunnel and entered the Myraluka Valley; there, they went back into their regular size and went into yet another cave-like area.
Traveling through the cave, the party encountered several humans dressing in winged helmets and armor. Along the way they collected treasures to help them in their quest. Near the end of the cave, they encountered who was presumably the leader of the vikings.
"Are you in charge here?" asked Spike.
"Yes, I run things around--" he said, turning around and seeing Spike.
"A dragon!!"
"No no no! He's our friend."
"Your... friend?" he asked reluctantly.
"Yeah!"
Lower his weapons, the viking said, "My apologies... It's just that... Well, ever since this sea dragon appeared and destroyed most of our ships, there hasn't really been that much to run."
"How can we help?" asked Luneth.
"Hmm... You look capable adventurers. If you can somehow defeat the dragon, our best ship, the Enterprise, is all yours!"
"Really? Promise?"
"Promise--viking's honor! If you come back alive, that is..."
"Oh, we'll make it back alright!" Rainbow Dash said proudly.
"I wouldn't be overconfident if I were you, Rainbow," said Refia.
"To be honest... I'm not sure these little creatures can help."
"Oh, yeah?!" said Rainbow. "You just wait!"
The others sighed.
"Why is that Rainbow Dash has to be the impatient one and almost gets in trouble for it?" Twilight asked.
"I don't know, Twilight. I don't know," said Rarity.
"But we'll still prove it," said Applejack.
Later...
"What exactly are we going to do?" asked Rainbow Dash.
"We've got to do something about this Nepto Dragon, quickly," said Luneth.
"Yeah..."
"No sudden movements, alright, Rainbow Dash?"
Twilight's question was unanswered, for Rainbow was no longer with the group at that moment.
"Rainbow? RAINBOW?!"
"Oh, no..." said Applejack.
To their horror, the group saw Rainbow Dash attempting to fight the large sea dragon, only for her to be knocked back near the exit to the Vikings' Cove. The group rushed over to her side and carried her back to the Inn.
Later that day, Rainbow Dash regained consciousness and found her fellow Equestrians giving her the evil eye. Rarity calmly walked toward the bed and took a deep breath; Rainbow gulped, feeling she was about to be lectured harshly.
"Rainbow Dash, dear," said Rarity. "Have you forgotten the very first time we'd faced a dragon before?"
"No..."
"Then let me ask you: WHY IN THE NAME OF FAUST DID YOU DARE TO REPEAT THE SAME MISTAKE?!"
The cyan pegasus could only lower her head in shame.
"Just as I thought..." Rarity said in a disappointed tone.
"Rainbow," said Twilight. "Stick. With. Us. OKAY?!"
"Okay, okay!" said Rainbow Dash, rubbing her ears.
"Let's head into that cave."
"Alright."
"WHOA!!"
As they entered the chamber, the group came face-to-face with a large dragon head!
"Is that thing alive?"
"If it is, it's probably sleeping," Rarity replied.
"Uh, guys?"
Everyone turned their attention to Applejack.
"Ah'm pretty sure that's a statue. Right?"
They looked towards it once more and found that, yes, it was indeed a statue of a dragon. Only, this dragon was missing an eye.
Observing the mouth of the statue, Arc said, "It looks like this hole goes on for a bit. We could squeeze in there if we use Mini."
"I agree," said Twilight.
"Me, too," Pinkie added.
"Likewise," said Ingus.
They went into the statue's mouth and found themselves on a path high above floating water; they followed the path and soon discovered on opposite ends two staircases. The group separated with the humans going down on the left and the Equestrians on the right. Luneth and his group entered a small area and opened two treasure chests which contained a Shell Helmet and Shell Armor, helping to increase their defenses. After finding nothing else of interest, they went back the stairs and went to catch up with the ponies and dragon.
The Equestrians found only one treasure chest, opened it, and obtained a Serpent Sword.
"You think this might handle that big guy out there?" asked Pinkie Pie.
"Ah dunno, sugarcube," said Applejack. "But at least we got something good here."
"There you are!"
The Equestrians looked and saw the humans catch up. With the party reunited, they proceeded to move forward and descend even further into the shrine. Before they could reach the stairs, however, they were waylaid by a pair of Blood Worms.
"I've got this! Stand back!"
Desch stepped forward and unleased a powerful Thundara spell on the two monsters, destroying them. With the Blood Worms defeated, our heroes went down the stairs and found themselves on the the fourth level, turning left in a long corridor taking them to a large chamber (given their current size).
In the chamber, a large rat appeared before our heroes' eyes, guarding a red gem identical to the eye of the dragon statue.
"That's one big rat," remarked Pinkie Pie.
"We can see that," Twilight said, making the pink pony giggle. "What is it now?"
"You just said a rhyme."
"Forget that, Pinkie. Let's get him!" said Rainbow Dash.
"SQUEEEAK!! Who you be?"
The Equestrians gasped.
"It talked!" Spike cried.
"You no take shiny, squeak!"
The large rat lunged at Spike and sank its fangs into Spike, poisoning the little dragon. Twilight took out an antidote and immediately cured her friend before he could even succumb to its deadly effects. Now furious, the ponies charged at the giant rodent with Applejack giving it two strong kicks from her hind legs. Arc cast a powerful Fira spell, greatly injuring it. Luneth slashed it twice his sword.
During the battle, the Equestrians thought to themselves: what would happen if Fluttershy were with them at that moment? Would she use her Stare against this beast?
The rat collapsed, no longer able to fight, granting our heroes a well-earned victory. Luneth stepped forward and grabbed the gem and upon inspecting it, discovered that it was indeed the missing Nepto Eye!
"That was pretty rough," said Applejack.
As soon as our heroes came out of the statue's mouth, Twilight undid the Mini spell and the party grew back to their normal size. Luneth proceeded to place the missing eye in the socket.
"There!" Luneth said.
"You have done well, Warriors of the Light," said a mysterious voice.
"Huh? Who said that?" asked Twilight.
"I am the Nepto Dragon, guardian of the seas. I thank you for returning my missing eye. The eye is more than a simple gem--it is my soul. Without it, my physical manifestation, the dragon, could not be controlled."
"That explains why the dragon was acting wildly," Ingus said.
"Yes... And now that I am whole once more, I may rest in peace and watch over these waters... However, the water itself has lost its light. Someone created the great earthquake, and the light was pulled into the depths of the nether..."
That earthquake again... Twilight thought to herself. Just why would someone want to do such a thing?
"Warriors of Light, ponies and dragon, I will bestow upon you the Fang of Water. It will infuse you with new powers that will allow you to overcome new challenges."
"Ooh, new powers!" said Pinkie.
"Now you must go forth, and recover the light..."
"We... we did it!"
"Let's get back to Vikings' Cove."
Before they could get into the forest, two Basilisks appeared.
"Uh-oh!" said Desch.
"Oh, no! Not Basilisks!" Rainbow cried. "I don't wanna be turned to stone!"
"Don't worry, we've got Golden Needles," Pinkie Pie reassured them.
"I don't think these things can do that, so we're safe somewhat. But they can put us to sleep!"
"Oh..."
After dealing with the wild lizards, the party pressed on and returned to the cove.
"We're here!"
"Welcome back! We vikings will never forget what you have done this day! As promised, the Enterprise is yours! Take it and sail forth, young heroes. May the wind guide you!"
"Thank you," said Arc.
"I believe I owe each of you an apology," he said, addressing the Equestrians. "I doubted you, and yet you still conquered the Nepto Shrine and calmed the dragon."
"Apology accepted," said Twilight. "Before we go out into the world, though, I think we should take a rest."
"Likewise," Luneth agreed.
"Yeah. I think we deserve it," said Spike.
"No problem. The inn is right over there," said the viking leader.
"Thank you."
The party went in the direction of the inn, checked in for the night, and closed their eyes.
The next morning...
Heading outside the cove, our heroes discovered their new vessel, the Enterprise, docked near the shore and boarded it. Where the second Crystal lay was still unknown, but there was still hope...
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As usual, It's good to hear from you. Know that real lofe can get busy. I do remember it was just after this section that I left off on FF3 and sadly never touched it since. Just too many games on my plate, although I could dig through my DS library sometime for camping trips given that I've expended all I could do with my 3DS library.
Almost forgot that the downsides of going into Mini form transfer to in battle. Expected more lingering with everyone's reactions to that, but otherwise good as always and I am of course looking forward to more.
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As always, thank you for reading, Omega. It's good to have your support.
worth it
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Thanks.
As usual, I hope things are going well for you. I've got a long trip tomorrow and going to dust off my DS copy of FF3. Hopefully, I won't feel too lost going back into it.
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Alright. Take care.