My Final Pony Fantasy III

by Vimtrust5

Chapter 7: Gulgan Gulch and the Tower of Owen

Author's Note:

Sorry this took so long. Hopefully the next chapter will be up quicker.

The wind was calm, as calm it could be with the power of the Crystal. The waters, too, were tranquil, thanks to the efforts of the Equestrians and the Warriors of Light, calming the Nepto Dragon. Aboard the Enterprise, our heroes looked all around taking in the sights they could see and feel the cold breeze blowing in their faces.

"So, where to?" asked Luneth, as he was steering the ship.

"Ooh, ooh, me, me, me, me!" Pinkie Pie said repeatedly as she waved her hoof again and again.

"Yes, Pinkie?"

"Let's try this little town, right here!"

The rest of the group looked to where Pinkie was pointing on the map: it was a small village several miles southwest of the Nepto Shrine.

"Looks like we might need some more information," said Twilight.

"Let's go!"

*music fades out*

Before they could continue, two monsters emerged from the sea.

"Are those...?"

"They look like..."

"No way...!"

"SEA PONIES?!"

"What?!"

"I know!" Pinkie said. "I'm not sure if sea ponies exist in our home, or whatnot, but I think we'll run into them pretty soon on another adventure at some point."

The rest of the group again looked at Pinkie Pie, thinking she had finally lost her sanity.

"I don't think these things are friendly... or sentient!" said Twilight.

"We've got no choice," said Ingus.

The sea creatures--known as Tangies--glared at the party as they roared. The effects of the glare caused Pinkie Pie's eyes to grow heavy, as she suddenly yawned and lay herself on the deck.

"Pinkie, this is no time for a nap!" Rainbow reprimanded.

"It's not her fault," said Ingus, who averted his eyes. "Apparently, these beasts are to blame. If they glare at you, there's a chance that they will put you to sleep, just as they did our friend."

"WHAT?!"

"Let's get 'em!" said Rainbow Dash, her eyes closed.

As she charged towards the sea monsters, however, they quickly dodged. Realizing she missed her targets, Rainbow immediately went back and knocked one of them in the back headfirst.

"Pinkie, wake up," said Twilight.

"I didn't want to do this, but," said Refia. "Please forgive me, Pinkie." The white mage knelt before the pink earth pony and flicked her on the ear.

"Who, what, where, how, why?"

Pinkie Pie instantly woke up and looked all around.

"I'm sorry, Pinkie," said Refia.

"That's alright; I kinda really needed that."

Now awake, the pink mare closed her eyes and chanted an incantation. Curious, the monsters tilted their heads.

"Thundara!!" she shouted. The spell struck the Tangies, one of them fell to the sea. The other growled and attempted to lunge at Pinkie, who jumped straight up into the sky. Luneth then finished it off with his sword, our heroes emerging victorious.

With the creatures defeated, the group decided to take a rest, dropped the anchor, and began to nurse their wounds. Afterwards, the ponies leaned toward the deck and surveyed the area. While the others observed their surroundings, Desch felt his head beginning to throb in pain. He placed his hand on his forehead, hoping to ease the pain.

"Desch?"

"It... It's nothing," he said.

"Okay..."

Raising the anchor, the Enterprise made its way to the Tokkul area.

"Well our first stop has to be this village. Come on, everyone."

The party agreed and stopped the ship, disembarked and approached the nearest village...

---

Tokkul

As our heroes went closer, they saw that the village had apparently been either abandoned or destroyed by a horrible storm.

"Wow..."

The village looked as if it had been attacked by a storm or a warship.

"Ah'll be sayin' it: this place has seen much better days," said Applejack.

"You're right about that," Rainbow Dash agreed.

"What a dismal village," Rarity added. "Wouldn't you agree, Pinkie Pie?"

To everyone's surprise, the pink earth pony was nowhere to be seen!

"Pinkie?!" said Luneth.

"PINKIE PIE?!" the Equestrians shouted.

"Oh, where could that pony have gone to, now?!" Spike complained.

"Hi, guys!"

The group screamed.

"How many times do I have to tell you? Don't. DO THAT!!" Twilight scolded.

After several minutes of investigating, none of the heroes could find anything worthwhile.

---

Village of the Ancients

"Wow..."

Luneth approached a villager near the item shop.

"Excuse us," he said.

The villager turned his attention.

"We're the Warriors of Light, and we're looking for the nearest crystal."

"Oh, my goodness!" he said.

"Is there anywhere where we can find the next Crystal?"

"There is," the villager replied. "There is, however, a task you must undertake before continuing your journey."

"And what would that be?" asked Desch.

"You must go to the Tower of Owen, for if it falls, this entire continent will fall from the sky!"

*music fades out*

After a few minutes of silence...

"Wh-Wh-Wh-Wh-Wh-Wh... WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?!"

"Did you just say this continent will... FALL?!"

"Does that mean... WE'RE HIGH IN THE SKY NOW?!"

"B-But that doesn't make any sense whatsoever! I mean, how do you explain there being water?! How can there be a river if..."

Twilight felt as if her mind came to a crashing halt. She then took out the map and realized.

"Look at this!"

Rainbow looked hard and asked. "Wh-What am I looking at?"

"This! It's a shadow! A shadow of this WHOLE CONTINENT!!"

Refia placed her hand in front of her mouth.

"So... It's true..."

"Ah... Ah feel like ah need to lay down..."

Before she knew it, Applejack fell to the ground.

"Applejack!"

---

One hour later...

"...plejack?"

"...Applejack...?"

"Huh...? Twilight? Rainbow?"

Applejack's vision began to focus when suddenly...

"WAKEY WAKEY, APPLEJACK!!"

The orange earth pony jolted in surprise and let out a startled yell.

"Oopsies!" said Pinkie Pie.

"'Oopsies?' Really?" said Luneth.

Applejack shook her head and rubbed her cheek with her hoof.

"Sorry 'bout that, everyone. Ah just... felt a little shocked there, what with the fact that we're REALLY HIGH UP IN THE SKY NOW!"

"Calm down, Applejack," said Twilight. "You're not the only one. I'm still trying to wrap that around that my head, as well."

"Likewise," Rainbow Dash added.

"Like they said, all of us," said Luneth.

"Now that you're awake, A.J., let's get goin'," said Rainbow.

"I think we need to pay a visit to this forest..."

Agreeing with Twilight's suggestion, the group began to move north, when suddenly...

"Gorgons?!"

"That is just great," Rainbow sighed in annoyance.

"What? Wait a minute!"

"These things don't look like gorgons!" said Twilight.

"Yeah," Pinkie added. "Usually gorgons are like half-woman, half-snake and if they stare you down, you get turned to stone."

"True," said Ingus. "They may not petrify us, but they can still be dangerous."

One of the creatures lunged towards Refia who then kicked it on the chin. Twilight then blasted the other with a burst of magic. Ingus then blew the other gorgon away with the new Blizzara spell.

With the gorgons defeated, the path to the mysterious forest was clear.

---

Once they entered the forest, the ponies encountered a familiar species.

"It... it's..."

The group smiled looking at the yellow creatures frolicking throughout.

"Well, bless my heart and soul. It's a group o' Chocobos!"

"Kweh!"

With their new avian escorts, our heroes safely moved towards their new destination: Gulgan Gulch, home of the blind seers.

---

Gulgan Gulch

Upon entering the area, they noticed a group of elderly men standing in a circle. They were wearing green robes with collars that only reached the lower backs of their heads.

"They must be..."

"Are you the ones who predicted our arrival here?" asked Twilight.

"Correct, Princess Twilight."

The ponies gasped.

"So, it's true. You do know us. But how?"

The first of the Gulgans stood up. From what they could see, the Gulgans seemed blind.

"We had received visions, you see. Visions of color equines traveling with human warriors to save other worlds and making new friends along the way."

"You had even vanquished four great evils, banished a ruthless creature to her domain, and fought against an evil empire to save your infant niece. Your true home is a world inhabited by ponies, and built on friendship and harmony."

The heroes stood in amazement, but none more so, than the four youths with them.

"You... did all that?"

"Well, not all of us..."

"Friendship and harmony," said Arc.

"That sounds lovely."

"But..."

Emperor Mateus' words still haunted Twilight even now, along with the nightmares of Equestria's doom.

"There's something we'd like to know for sure."

"Go ahead, my dear."

The purple pony took in a deep breath and then exhaled.

"Is what the villagers saying about this continent true? That it's floating above the rest of this world?"

"It is," said one Gulgan. "And the continent is in great peril, for the Tower of Owen is under enemy occupation, and you must save it."

"No... no way..." said Rainbow Dash in disbelief.

"Use this spell, and enter the Tower of Owen to the north. Desch, your destiny awaits..."

The scroll that was handed to Luneth contained the Toad spell, which, needless to see, turns whoever the spell targets into a toad, much to the disdain of both Rarity and Refia.

"The Tower of Owen is filled with machinery. That is where Desch's destiny awaits."

"You said the exact same thing ten seconds ago," said Rainbow.

"We're not really going to use that... spell, are we?" asked Refia.

"Oh, I certainly hope not, darling. I can't stand being a slimy amphibian for who knows how long!" said Rarity.

"It's not slime, Rarity. It's mucus!" Twilight replied.

"Please, don't correct on that, Twilight. If anything, it just makes the thought sound even more revolting!"

---

Tower of Owen

"So, here we are."

"Are those frogs?" asked Spike.

"Yes, Spike, those are frogs," Luneth replied. "I think..."

Several pugmen appeared blocking our heroes.

Rarity's body began to glow, and when it was over, she found her horn protruding from her head once again.

"Oh, thank heavens!" she said.

When they reached the corner.

"Time to take a dip?" said Desch.

"Well, we can't dive too deep in there... unless we were toads or something," Luneth retorted.

"Ugh... I think I've said this before, but... I hate toads! Don't turn me into one!"

"Likewise," Rarity agreed, turning her head to the side and sticking her nose up high.

"I don't like the idea of turning into toads, either," said Twilight. "But I don't think we have much of a choice."

With one glow of her horn, Twilight transformed herself and the rest of the party into toads. Letting out a croak, she led the others down the drain and into the next floor. As soon as they went in, they croaked at each other, leaving Twilight to undo the spell and turn back into their regular forms.

"Let us never speak of this again," said Rarity.

"Agreed," said Refia.

"I welcome you to the Tower of Owen... and your doom!"

"Who's there?!"

Going up to the next level, they opened a chest and took out the echo herbs.

The next level, the same voice from earlier let out an evil chuckle, sending chills down the Equestrians' spines.

"You will never find your way through this place!"

"Oh, yeah? Why don't you show yourself, huh?!" Rainbow retorted.

"Such a feisty little thing..."

Rainbow growled. You just wait, whoever you are... she thought.

Our heroes reached the top floor of the tower and encountered a disembodied head near the power source.

"Eek!" screamed Pinkie Pie.

The scream altered the creature to our heroes' presence, and as it turned around, its eyes were completely shut.

"So, it is you who seek to restore the Crystal's of Light.... Under the orders of Master Xande, I, Medusa, shall destroy this tower and send this entire continent crashing to the world below!"

"'Xande?' 'Medusa?' Nice names."

"You dare mock me and my master?!"

Rainbow stood silent. Pinkie, on the other hand, or hoof...

"Ooh, I bet you've got plenty of tricks for us, like maybe turning us to stone, and laughing at our miserable state, and--"

"Pinkie!" Twilight scolded.

"And this master of yours, is he responsible for the earthquake?" Luneth inquired.

"You will have enough time to ponder the question where you will end up! DIE!!"

The floating gorgon head opened her eyes and began to turn Twilight to stone.

"NOT AGAIN!!" she shouted, before becoming completely petrified.

"Twilight!!" the Equestrians yelled in unison.

Using a Golden Needle, Applejack was quickly able to bring her lavender friend back to normal. The others quickly averted/closed their eyes. Rainbow quickly charged at Medusa, who dodged. The cyan pegasus landed straight onto the wall. Groaning in pain, she got back up and snorted.

"You're not gettin' away with this!" she declared. She made to attack the gorgon once more, this time her attack connected.

"You FOOL!!"

One of Medusa's snake-like strands of her grabbed Rainbow Dash and tossed her to the floor.

"Arc!" said Applejack. "Ya have somethin' that can help us?!"

"I-I'll try..." the little boy began chanting... and then... "THUNDARA!!"

"Cura!"

Rainbow was healed thanks to Refia.

A large bolt of lightning struck Medusa from above, and she screeched in pain.

"FIRA!!" Pinkie shouted.

Large flames consumed the evil creature, nearly bringing her to the brink.

"This... this cannot be...!"

Medusa let out one final scream as she felt the life leave her being. With the wicked gorgon vanquished, our heroes looked toward the core and pondered what to do next. Sensing his memories' return, Desch approached the core.

"Desch! Don't too close!" Refia warned. "The fire... It looks like it's going to blow up!"

"Get away from there!" said Luneth.

"I... I finally remember..."

"Desch?" said a worried Refia.

"I was the guardian of this very tower!"

The group reacted in shock as their eyes widened at this news. Once again, fate had played its hand.

"That's right. I'm an 'Ancient,' as you would call us. I was asleep for a very long time. I was supposed to awaken when this tower was in danger." He then turned to face the group. "I guess I slept too long. Took me forever to remember my task."

"I'm glad your memory's back," said Twilight. "But what we do now?"

"The damage is extensive... but it's not too late."

"Desch?" Refia said worriedly.

"At this rate, the floating continent will be flung away from the sun... The negative effects on its inhabitants are unimaginable..."

Worried about the situation, our heroes wondered if there was anything they could do to stop the crisis. At that point, Desch said something that would shock them greatly.

"I'll go inside and try to stabilize the tower."

*music stops*

"Wh... WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?!"

"What in tarnation are ya sayin'?!" Applejack shouted.

"I thank you for everything you've done for me. And... it was fun being with you guys."

"But... but... what about Salina?! She's still waiting for you!" Rarity argued.

The utterance of that name gave him brief pause. Still not looking back, he said, "Tell her... I'm sorry I couldn't spend more time with her... But... This is my destiny..."

"Desch! Stop!!" Rainbow argued.

"NO, DESCH!!" Pinkie yelled.

"I won't forget any of you... Good-bye."

"Desch, no!" Luneth cried.

"Stop!!"

But it was too late; their friend jumped inside and, to their knowledge, perished. The ground rumbled, knocking our heroes unconscious.

---

Sometime later, the group opened their eyes and found themselves aboard a familiar vessel.

"Is this...?"

"The Enterprise? Did Desch send us here...?"

"That... IDIOT!!!" Rainbow Dash screamed. "What the hay was he THINKING??!!"

Pinkie Pie lowered her head to the ground, her puffy mane deflating.

"Look!" Arc pointed out. "The maelstrom's weakening! We can get out!"

Sure enough, the storm that blocked our heroes' path dissipated completely.

"We are in Desch's debt," said Ingus.

"Desch... Please be safe," said Refia solemnly.

The rest of the group bowed their heads, hoping that Desch survived, despite what appeared to be his demise. The heroes then made their way to the dwarfs' island...

---

Fluttershy's Cottage

One night, Fluttershy was tossing and turning in her sleep...

"We shall engulf Equestria as we did the realm of Light.

All shall be sent to the Void!"

---

"AAAAAAAH!!"

Panting, a panicked Fluttershy looked around and heard a whimper come from outside.

"Randi? Is that you?"

The yellow pegasus pony exited her house and found her Chocobo friend shivering in fear. She approached him slowly, trying not to frighten the bird.

"Randi?"

Randi jolted and let out a fearful cry.

"Randi?" Fluttershy asked worriedly.

"Kweh... kweh..."

It didn't take long for Fluttershy to understand what sort of dream the avian experienced. She placed her hoof around him and embraced him protectively.

"Oh, Randi..."

She looked up towards the night sky and wondered for her friends' safety once more. It was decided then that she would take the next train to the Crystal Empire, whenever that would be...

Comments

[Omegamorph]

Well I'm glad I chose to get caught up recently with the actual game. Right now I'm at where Aria first shows up. I feel we'll definitely continue to see Dashie's fascination with airships. I like the detail with the fight scenes and almost forgot about the Tangies. I'm definitely curious what kind of strategy the girls will have adapting to Hein.

On another note I am going to try to work around to Stranger of Paradise eventually. Interested in just what they carry over from the original game on that.