The Awesome Quest of My Little Ponies

by ThatOneYellowPony

2: Welcome to the Shadow Lands

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// Story: The Awesome Quest of My Little Ponies
// Chapter: Chapter 2: Welcome to the Shadow Lands
// Author: ThatOneYellowPony
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It's a strange feeling, waking up someplace unfamiliar with no memories to even suggest how you got there. Spike had once been resting all cozy and warm inside a little dragon egg before out of nowhere a sweaty little unicorn freed him as part of some entrance exam. He had rapidly grown until he was so large his not-so-little skull smashed a hole in the examination hall's ceiling.

Perhaps this is why she almost fell back unconscious when she awoke from a cold morning's breeze on the top of a grassy green hill with nothing even remotely recognizable in any direction. Her line of sight wasn't impaired by anything, in fact she could see so far over the tree tops that the world simply dipped below the horizon. In an attempt to gather her thoughts she glanced about herself. In her inventory she had a few potions, a black key, and a single orb of elementia.

The first thing to strike her as odd was that she had just ‘checked her inventory’. She didn't even know what that meant. She looked about herself and saw that she was naked as per usual. Where or how she was stashing a key, orb, and a few potions escaped her. There was no proof of their existence yet somehow she knew she had them, like it was in some invisible pouch slung over her back. She also knew that she was a level one with zero experience points, although she didn't understand where she was reading that from. Perhaps her mind had begun to organize itself like the encyclopedias that were her first true love. She blushed in spite of her situation. Books were the dashing stallions in the eyes of ponies like Twilight. Oh what she would have given to have but a single encyclopedia on her. Even if it were just the letter H, or G, yeah she quite liked G...

The purple unicorn forced herself to snap out of it. She still had no idea how she had arrived on the tip top of a grassy hill on a sunny day somewhere between nowhere and nowhere else. Raking her brain, she remembered something about the shadow lands beyond Equestria's borders and that she and her friends where being sent there on an important mission. She remembered being warned by Luna moments before they were teleported out of Equestria that they would likely be scattered upon arrival due to the complicated magical protection that they would have to snake through on the way out.

She tried to pull out the black key but then remembered the wise words of Princess Celestia:

"Twilight, there is a time and place for everything: you can't use that item here"

A statement that was strangely specific to say the least.

She then pulled out her orb of elementia, which thankfully she was permitted to do, and a flood of memories returned at its sight. It was about the size of her eyeball, which was actually pretty massive, and bore her cutie mark on it. It was the color of her violet coat. Actually, the more she looked at it the more it looked like somepony had ripped off a hunk of her flank, but there was no tail protruding from it to fit the look.

She was given this in town hall, less than a day ago. She remembered Celestia's instructions:

"These elements have the power to awaken what lies inside. I created them with my level 87 crafting skill. Do you know how long it took me to get all the Blue Ore I needed? I mined so many plain materials that I built the city of Canterlot during my breaks. No really. Brick by brick too"

So this thing was supposed to unlock her inner potential. Great. Now if only she could figure out what that meant.

Her reverie was interrupted by a familiar "YEEEEEEEEEEEHAAAAAAAAAAW!!!!!!!!!!!" from behind her.

Twilight whirled around to see her orange friend riding what appeared to be a giant brown wolf. She had a firm hold on the canine's ears, but that didn't stop the charging beast from stopping and bucking her off.

"Uh oh!" yelped the orange pony as she rose into a high arc. What a pity it must be not to have wings. She landed with a ‘whump’ in front of Twilight's feet.

Applejack, being a tough pony, couldn't let a measly little three story drop wind her, especially not in front of her friend Twilight.

"H-howdy ‘Twi" she said after a few coughs "fancy seeing you here. Woke up to this here feller's bad breath. Bucked him with my hind legs before I could get both eyes open and I don't suspect he liked that. Whataya say we show this mutt who’s boss?" She finished with a wink.

"I thought Celestia was the boss, although I think it would be more accurate to call her a mentor or a governor or perhaps-"

"I meant let's fight this thing"

"Fight it?! AJ are you nuts?! The thing's bigger than Trixie's butt!" Ever since Trixie had jokingly called Twilight pudgy, she had not too subtly been implying that the boastful pony was overweight.

The wolf, growing impatient, roared into the two friends' faces.

Twilight's heart stopped. She was all out of ideas, and she hadn't even had one yet. A few moments passed, the three combatants just kind of standing there.

"Is, is anypony going to do anything?" asked AJ after a few moments more

"Why haven't you?" replied Twilight

"Better yet, why hasn't that big bad wolf-WHAT THE HAY IS THAT?!" the orange pony shouted, pointing a hoof at the blinking blue circle below Twilight's feet.

"Cursor?! CUUUUUURRRSOOOOORRRR!" she tried to run away from it but found herself constrained as though by magic to about a meter and a half squared.

"I think this is part of the whole turned base combat thing Celestia mentioned. I can't seem to remember exactly what her highness said, but I think that blue thing means it's your turn. Better make it count."

"Combat? You mean you want me to attack? But I don't have that kind of power inside me-" she stopped midsentence and her eyes dilated to the size of Frisbees. She pulled out her orb of elementia and observed as it burst into a brilliant light and she remembered a scene from her past.

"Twilight, your special talent has always lied in magic. Therefore it should come as no surprise that your inner power has to do with the mastery of combat magic. When there is an enemy resistant to physical battery, you must step in and unhinge them with carefully selected attacks. Remember though: your health and physical strength are both low end. Don't forget that spells eat up mana and promise me you will use your powers responsibly. If you don't want to walk through tall grass because you're afraid of random battles, it is NOT acceptable to burn it all to ash with a quick rain of fire. It is however, acceptable to use a lightning bolt to zap the stupid grin off of that stupid Trixie who thinks she's better than you" Princess Celestia had told her during their six on one, although that last point might only have been said in a very pleasant dream.

She snapped back to her present

"Twilight? I'm uh, ah'm getting a little bored here"

Without another work she summoned a fireball which burst out from her horn and dealt 103 damage points to the wolf. She wasn't sure how she knew the exact value of damage she dealt or even how one would go about measuring this, but as she witnessed her own power, a very different kind of fire lit in my little pony’s heart. That right there, that was cool.

"How did you-" started Applejack, to whom the blue cursor had relocated.

"Pull out your orb! You'll see!"

Applejack pulled out her orb of elementia, an orange orb with her apple cutie mark on it, which burst into light like Twilight's had done. Likewise, Applejack remembered a detail from their last meet up with the Princess.

"Applejack, you will be the party's tank. All those years of lifespan shortening labor have allowed you to build up tough, manly muscles. Of all you six ponies, you are capable of dealing the most damage. You also have the most hit points and highest defense. That means that ideally, you will be drawing the enemies to you with your sentinel abilities. Remember: you're not doing your job right unless they're pounding the day's breakfast out of you. You're doing a great job if they're pounding yesterday's breakfast out of you. You may not have fancy spells or even mana points, but if I know you you're more comfortable with the direct hit-‘em-till-they-can't-stand-up method of confrontation. Just make sure you're being healed or even you'll run out of steam."

Like Twilight, it only took a moment for Applejack to snap into her battle role as if it were instinctual. It's kind of like how we gamers don't need to read manuals. Somehow we just...know...

Anyways, AJ pounced at the wolf, twisting her form and bucking him with a solid 'thwack'. 342 damage. She bounced straight back in line catching her hat and getting a full 10 of 10 for radicalness.

The two ponies grinned at one another. Despite themselves they were in awe of how strikingly awesome their new found ability was. Unfortunately, as often happens when somepony is high on excitement, the world is quick to drag you back down. You see, while the two cutesy ponies hopped about and giggled, the blue cursor whisked its way over to the heavy set paws of Mr. Big Bad himself. After having been engulfed in fire and kicked by two very hard hooves, the wolf wasn't exactly in the mood to courteously wait for them to be ready.

The wolf used Maw, leaping upon Twilight and clamping his teeth down upon her. You might think that a tough thing to walk away from, but remember that here in battle mode, nopony really gets hurt, instead their hit points slowly deplete until they pass out. Passed out ponies, sometimes called 'dead' ponies, can be revived using magic or items. Keep in mind that revives don't always work. We call that the Aerith’s Law.

Twilight shrieked as her hit points dropped by 234 down to 289.

"Hey! We weren't ready for that ya dirt dog!" yelled Applejack. "Twilight, did he hurt you?"

"I should be fine" said Twilight, a little shaken, like how I enjoy my orange juice.

"I shouldn't let him hit you. Tell you what; I got this sentinel ability called Sucker Punch. Says here in the description It'll provoke him to hit me instead." said Applejack, eying her enemy. Even she wasn't quite sure what she meant by 'in the description', but it was her turn now and she was going to make it count.

"How do you like these apples!?" She cried as she power-bucked him once more. The technique cost a few ability points and wasn't as strong as a regular attack, but it was capable of drawing aggression, which is all AJ was looking for. Not that it would matter, because this was the hit that defeated the low level beast. The wolf burst into a flashy puff of smoke and was gone.

"Celestia, I did it!" Chirped Twilight automatically as she and Applejack performed a small victory dance.

Applejack burst out in laughter "What was that?!"

"I don't know! It was like I had no control" blushed Twilight. Her victory quip had come out in a very high, very sweet voice that rivaled Pinkie Pie's cheeriest of greetings.

Then, out of nowhere, the two of them erupted in sparkling lights, leveling up to level two.

"Hey we're stronger now!" cried Twilight in the excitement of it all.

"Wow! I bet all our leveling up will be that easy." cried Applejack

"We two level two's can take on anything now!"

"Hey, look! That dog dropped 7 bits and a magic jewel!"

######

"Brother! How many times have I told you we’re not supposed-ta be here! Sky says there are baddies out here" said the voice of a colt that Fluttershy couldn’t distinguish.

Actually, Fluttershy was only just starting to stir out from unconsciousness. She had no idea where the voices were in relation to her and only had vague recollections of the mission Celestia had sent her and her friends on.

"I ain't afraid" said a much younger male voice. He sounded like his mouth hadn't fully developed yet. "I could take on a dragon!"

"No you can't because I'm your big brother and I say so! You're just a baby!" said the older colt, although he too sounded quite young

"Yeah, huh?! Well look! I found myself a mud monster!" the younger said, Fluttershy being able to hear the glow in his eyes.

There was a pause

"That's no mud monster. That’s a pony...I...I don't see her breathing." a longer pause "Go home Pip." said the older colt, managing to keep his composure.

"She's not dead, Plop" came a third voice which sounded suspiciously like Rainbow Dash's.

Apparently, her presence was a surprise, as Fluttershy could hear the two boys jump and fall back into what sounded like dry leaves or ferns.

"She's been there all day, covered her in mud to keep the beasts from getting at her. She's been blacked out all day. I've been gathering berries all the while. At least I was until I heard you two bad apples barreling through the woods" Her voice was spiteful.

"It's not my fault! He left! We was playing tag and he left out a bounds and I chased him but he kept going and I-" started Plop, stopping when the female pony stuffed her hoof into his mouth. Ponies do that a lot. I don’t know why.

"Not another word. We'll continue this at home, where you both belong and you know it. We'll take the pink haired one with us: she stirs"

Groggily, the cream pony opened her eyes, one at a time. Before her were three ponies. Pip was the smallest with a brown mane and dark green coat. Next was Plop with a brown coat and tan mane. Last was the mare with the voice of Rainbow Dash, who also shared many of her physical traits. Sky, as this pony was called, had a light tan coat and a blonde mane that matched Rainbow’s to a tee. Her eyes were green but despite that they somehow screamed of RDs pink ones. Her cutie mark was a knife of sorts. It could be seen through her leather armor. They all had leather on. The similarities were still remarkable.

One hoof as a time, she lifted herself from the mud with a 'schleeeeeeerp' noise.

"Pony; can you walk?" asked Sky, stepping forward and eying her hardly.

"Y-yes, I think so" said Fluttershy. It was actually easy for the timid pony to talk to somepony who so closely resembled her friend.

"Then come, we can talk much on the way" said Sky without a moment’s hesitation.

The four of them set off following some unmarked trail only Sky could see. They were in the woods and the stars were out: a thousand beautiful lights that peaked through the tall pines. The forest floor had rich, earthy dirt that squished pleasantly under their hooves. All around them were crinkly ferns and old rotted out stumps.

"I couldn't help but notice you were a level one. Explain that." said Sky. She was polite but firm in her demands.

"Oh, I, level one? I don't know what you mean" said Fluttershy.

"I thought so. Don't tell me: you're an Equestrian Pony aren't you?"

"Yes! Eep! Does that mean we're in the shadow lands?!" She stopped and stiffened. The woods had gone from strangely beautiful to the most horrifyingly horrible horror she had ever been in.

"Yeah, you're in the shadow lands. But this place ain't what you think it is. Just as safe and cozy as your Equestria, so long as you stay away from what I like to call the real shadow lands" said Sky. Fluttershy returned to a moderate pace, trembling in lingering fear.

"Yeah! You don't-" started Plop before Sky promptly instructed him to "Zip it!"

"What do you mean the real shadow lands?" asked Fluttershy.

"Look, kid, I'll tell you it straight: I used to be like you. I used to live right there in Ponyville, right where it was at. I even knew Celestia. Heck, she knew my name I knew hers. Pretty big feat for an earth pony. She told me what she told everyone: A bunch of lies. The biggest lie of all was that the shadow lands were some horrible place filled with, I don't know, demons or something. Had to be something bad ‘cause she always made it sound so darn terrifying. She didn't tell me there were villages out here. She didn't tell me there were cities, societies, trains, all the works. Yeah sure, there are monsters out there, but if you've got some kick in ya you'll be fine: We're here"

Before them stood a great log cabin with a single stack of smoke emitting from the chimney. Several quarts of firewood lay bundled beside it.

"This is my home kid" said Sky "You can stay here a bit but I want you gone in a week. Ask no more questions. Now we rest ‘cause tomorrow I’m teaching you hoof to hoof combat."

######

Darkness. Darkness was all Rarity could see. Great crushing blackness so deep you could lose yourself in it. She was lying on something cold and hard. Realizing she had her eyes closed, she opened them.

Darkness. Darkness was all Rarity could see. Great crushing blackness so deep you could lose yourself in it. She was lying on something cold and hard, but at least her eyes were now open.

Using magic she lit up her immediate surroundings. She appeared to be in a small natural cave, but she didn't know which way was out. Unlike her compatriots, she had zero memory of how she got there or the six on one meeting they had with the princess.

"Hello! Can anypony hear me?!" she called desperately "I think I've fallen and I can't get up!"

She listened closely for a reply that didn't come. She continued to gaze at her surroundings until a small glint caught her eyes. When you are as into jewels and treasure as Rarity is, you too would be able to pick out the glint of something valuable anywhere and anytime. In a heartbeat the Element of Generosity seemed to warp over to it, a grin taking up most of her face. It only grew bigger when she realized the small golden goblet was a lone roll-away from a far greater mountain of valuables.

She stopped dead in her tracks, mouth agape. No matter how inviting the pile of jewels and gold seemed, it could never cloud the unicorn's judgment when it came to dragons. This here was clearly a dragon's den. On one hoof, she knew that dragons and dragon dens went together like chocolate and happy mares. On the other hoof, dragons were notoriously loud snorers. She used a quick check-time spell to determine it was well past spike's beddy-bye time. Surely all dragons, like Spike, would be long asleep by 5:30! Clearly, there was no dragon here, which meant it would be more than all right for her to take a few of the less precious, precious, gemstones.

No sooner did she lay a hoof on the hoard then a voice barked "WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN THE PALACE VAULT!!!!!"

On cue, several magically powered spotlights blasted her with light.

Lightness. Lightness was all Rarity could see. Retina-burning glory so striking you couldn't find your way out. She fell back onto a mound of jagged trinkets. Realizing she had her eyes open, she closed them.

"I'm innocent! You can't arrest me! I call upon the finders’ keepers’ clause!!!" She shouted as unseen ponies wrapped hooves around her and began to drag her in an unknown direction.

"Hey Copper Hooves, this pony’s a level one!" said one of the guards while Rarity continued to shout on and on about her basic pony rights.

"She naked too, what's your point?" said Copper Hooves.

"Think: only player characters rip off all their armor and take on all the palace guards as a part some pointlessly greedy endeavor." said the first guard, who was named Blackmane.

"You're-You're right! That makes us NPCs!"

"I knew it!"

Author's Note:

Before anypony asks: no, not every battle will be described turn by turn. That would be boring. Oh yeah, and again: to be continued.
Sincerely; ThatOneYellowPony

A big thanks to Cl0setBr0ny101 for editing this chapter for me. It's always a great help!

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