Life is a game, you just need to know how to play it. I learned it the hard way, even if not in the World I was actually born in.
Being tossed into the World you never knew was anything more than a Fictional Tale is something I wouldn't wish upon anyone. There are things you can hope to accomplish, plans you can make and even schemes you will try to construct but nothing will prepare you to another curve-ball that will be thrown your way. I was done a very average hand, not having the problem of being a nobody but having to actually pretend to be someone you aren't. I was given Magic, and any other person would've been thrilled but the experience was honestly tainted by the fact that I knew what will happen and that my very mediocre performance won't matter in the end. Apparently, as a boon, I was given Power. One of the most dangerous Powers ever known and enabling me to overcome my own shortcomings in a way that I didn't know was possible in the World I was no in. Getting home will get me some time to work out, but at least I won't have to worry about not surviving long enough to accomplish it. Equestria may not know it, but now it made a very big mistake by taking me away from home as now I have nothing to lose and everything to gain. My name is Jessica Soer, and I'm going to tear my way home no matter what!
How Chapters are Labeled: [Name]-[Season].[Episode].[Part]
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic/The Gamer [SI]
Do you believe in Magic? Like, real Magic? As a child I went to the circus where I saw the so-called Magicians perform tricks and entertain the crowd with their antics, pulling a rabbit out of their hats was one of their most famous stunts. I knew that they weren't real, that they Magic was nothing but a very good set of skillful manipulations of the crowd and their incredibly helpful props. Wands turning into bouquets of flowers, people being cut in two and even young women levitating over the tables without any visible support, all these things were very fun to watch but in the end you knew that they weren't real and there always was a rational explanation to them. I didn't believe in Magic, it wasn't something a young woman of twenty-five years old would believe in after living basically a quarter of her life and never seeing anything even remotely supporting its existence.
Aliens, Time Travelers and Artificial Intelligences out to take over the World were also just some very elaborated fantasies that somebody came up and the crowed picked up and ran with. Why would anyone even consider such a stupid notion anyway? My own personal opinion was that realism was a way to go, while anything else had nothing to do anywhere but on the pages of the books and comics. I never desired to be kidnapped by some aliens, give Mystical Powers or ever sent into another Dimension so that I would be able to live a life that would let me interact with my favorite Characters from one show or the other. Most people who say that they would gladly take the place of someone or the other are stupid and never consider the negative aspects of things that may or may not come to pass with them being either swept away or simply crushed by them.
It's all good and fun to wonder around Jurassic Park right up until the moment when a Velociraptor will gut you like a turkey, the whole thing was much less fun to think about after imagining yourself as Dinosaurs' next meal. It's all fun and dandy to wake up in the body of Harry Potter and do reality-warping Magic but it all come crashing down when you see that you have to live with abusive relatives and an insane Magical Neo-Nazi is gunning for your scarred head. People always think only about the good parts when they think about visiting one of those Fictional Universes, but it only as good as it will be with all the baggage that comes with it for you to carry on your shoulders.
What would you do if you were to be put into a position like that? And I don't want some crack~ish answer about being awesome, how you will fix everything and how it will be all cool and you will be the King of the World before supper. Reality is a far more violent and cruel think that wouldn't let you simply go out of your way to improve thing without getting the consequences delivering a harsh reality-check right into your face.
I found myself in a such a situation, and instead of panicking or feeling fear I felt cold and numb. Waking up in the unfamiliar place, with the wooden ceiling and very antique looking design of the interior was just the first jolt that made my heart beating far faster than normal. Looking around me and seeing things that wouldn't be out of place in some old Disney Movie made me want to move but my body simply wasn't cooperating as a stared at my surrounding in mute incomprehension. The empty and cold feeling in my chest, the sheer feeling of wrongness that was oozing out of every of my five senses that I possessed was pressing down on me, I was pretty sure I didn't blink for the duration of several minutes. While I wasn't the brightest mind there is, I wasn't dull and I knew that there was no way someone would kidnap me just to stage something like this out of the sheer amusement or something similar to that. I was a nobody, just a person who had a normal boring life that stretched out before me, rocking the boat was out of question and I had nothing else but to let the flow carry me towards what was my future. I was content, I had friends and I loved my personal space while also having a job and from time to time going out with one friend or the other for a good dinner at my favorite Grill Bar.
'... What happened?' I simply sat there and stared at nothing in particular while the cover on someone's bed were still hiding my legs and a nighty that I never saw before was covering my very modest chest.
There was certain value to people who can take on a calm approach to the problem and avoid trying something as stupid as simply rushing into things without the knowledge of their own situation.
And then there was shit like this that left you with a very strong desire to bash your head against the nearest wall in frustration. I knew that I was about one freaking hair away from going hysterical, but in the same time I was mostly keeping myself immobile as I slowly and surely was processing the information that came with this revelation. My mind was running a mile a minute as it tried to grasp the implications of what was happening and how impossible such a situation should be by all accounts, I already pinched myself several times while trying to wake up from the dream only to open my eyes once again and see the same impossible scenery around me.
Did I get a new chance in life? This question would imply that I actually died while sleeping in my bed, but that wasn't something I wanted to think about as I simply sat on the admittedly soft and fluffy bed and blankly stared at the floating window. Dying sucked, and I wasn't sure if me being dead was a good or a bad thing. Coming in terms with the whole thing was something I was sure will kick in later one, after my brain will finish processing and digesting all the wild implications of what was happening around me. It was like waking up in the Wonderland, but at the same time it felt real and my own faith in the supernatural was so nonexistent that still hoped that it will be nothing but a dream in the end. Almost mechanically I lifted my hand and touched the name that was attached to my own, it was somewhat familiar and at the same time...
As soon as my fingers touched the name my brain suddenly felt a pulse of searing pain going through it as I released a silent scream. The edges of my vision blackened as the images flew through my mind and I collapsed backwards onto the bed. The sudden assault of information and almost crippling pain going right through my head were more than enough to knock me out, the last thing that I was able to process correctly before blacking out was the fact that my hair was red.
I sat behind the table and took a sip from a glass full of orange juice, at least Moon Dancer was good at packing enough food in her fridge to last her the whole week and everything stayed fresh. I was wearing a white T-Shirt and light purple trousers over my simple white panties and bra combo that was probably the only type of the underwear that I would ever find in this house. I grimaced at the thought of how I was basically body-jacking the body of an innocent person, stealing her life and everything that came with it. After my forced nap for two hours and then a very groggy awakening I was mostly going through the motions that Moon Dancer usually went through in the morning, relying mostly on the very basic autopilot that let me at least no stumble over my own feet while trying to adjust to the new body.
I almost tripped over at least twice as my reach was somewhat bigger than the girl with a horn and a literal pony-tail had, my own body was taller and I had longer arms and legs than the rather short and petite bookworm. I was about a meter eighty-five while Moon Dancer was about a head shorter and much less developed than I was, which led to me overestimating my own steps and coordination on several occasions. From me fainting with a legendary level of a headache came out at least one, but a very good thing that left me with somewhat damaged and a little bit foggy but still mostly intact memories of the previous owner of this body. I honestly felt as if someone shoved a whole damn log between my lobs and wiggled it around for some time, but I was very glad when the pain vanished and I could again operate as a person.
The first thing that hit me like a train was the fact that I was in the place called Equestria, the fictional Universe created for children and somewhat try to appear much bigger than it actually was. I knew the show, who didn't these days as the memes were everywhere and anyone who was familiar with Internet could recognize the iconic visages of the ponies that managed to worm their way into the hearts of children almost everywhere. This cartoon~ish show was like a dream came true for the parents as it was interesting enough to not make the little ankle-bitters leave and educational enough to make sure to leave some good moral lessons behind. I honestly only knew about it because I was a big fan of one of its FanFictions where it was crossed over with Prototype, out of curiosity I watched the whole thing and was left with mixed feelings. While it was childish and somewhat redundant as it tried to force the whole 'Friendship Solves Everything' mandate down the collective throat of the younger generation, there were some interesting themes going on and some jokes were actually funny.
I read enough Fics to know about the concept of being a 'Displaced' and I honestly wasn't thrilled in the slightest, while the show was childish and followed the absolute rule of 'Nobody Dies' Trope I honestly felt that the Villains here were highly underestimated. Nightmare Moon could move the fucking moon and had enough raw Power at her disposal that she could shatter the Elements of Harmony, the local equivalent of an 'Ultimate Anti-Doom Day Device', with a fucking stomp! Discord warped reality on a whim and lost only because he honestly didn't even try to bring his A-Game onto the table and was content with screwing around rather than actually doing something like teleporting the Main Cast or the mentioned Elements far into space where they will either die or be lost forever respectably. The only competent Villain so far was actually Tirek, and even he fell under the unstoppable power of Deus-Ex-Machina that is Friendship in this Universe, Starlight Glimmer came close second with Sombra taking the Honorable Third Place.
So, as long as I wouldn't be rising my head or making waves I could live a relatively peaceful life, with the exception of the crazy shit that Discord did with the world, the whole deal with the Invasion of Changelings with Chrysalis calling the shots and Tirek probably trying to suck out my Soul. I could feel my guts freezing over from the thought of someone as powerful as one these monsters coming even near me. I wasn't a fighter, my sole talent was in computers and writing Stories that I posted on the Forums and I knew literally nothing about how to even properly throw a punch. I was screwed, or at least I would've been in any normal situation without a very good bonus I received upon awakening here.
[Telekinesis(Active) LV3 EXP: 9.15%] The Spell that lets you move items with your Magic and Mind, it's Power solely depends on the User and doesn't have any actual Limit of Volume or Weight it can be used to manipulate. The Amount of Mana used is proportional to said Parameters of the Targeted Object. Passively Increase the Weight/Volume per Mana proportion by 3% Passively Increase the Range by 3% Passively Decrease the Mana Cost by 3%
The Light Yellowish Gray spiraling horn sprouting from the upper part of my forehead was glowing a Light Ceriseish Gray color of the energy coating it, the same was happening to several items that were floating on a stable orbit around me. When I first saw it in the mirror I honestly just stared at the damn thing, it was so absurd to have a Unicorn horn on your forehead that I just couldn't comprehend the fact of its existence until the second absurd thing snapped me out of my stupor. Right above my head I could see my name, or at least the name of the Character I replaced, floating along with a Level to it in a very familiar way that I was honestly more disturbed about than the horn.
Han Jee-Han made it look easy, he made it look like it costed him almost nothing to simply sprout out one new Skill after another. I was honestly very happy that in the damaged memories of Moon Dancer I discovered how to properly access Magic and how to perform at least one Spell. [Telekinesis] was one of the most basic Spells that were hardly even considered that in the first place, there simply weren't any limitations or even a criteria for the Unicorn to be able to use it as even newborns could perform such a feat without much of a problem. It took me three tries but was able to use it, [Gamer's Mind] was keeping me calm while in any normal situation I should've been freaking the fuck out and running in circles like a headless chicken. Yes, I was 'The Gamer', I possessed the 'Ultimate Cheat-Code' to the World around me and had literally limitless potential that made it pretty much impossible for me to ever run out of progress.
Korean Manhwa didn't do this particular Ability justice when it was explaining how it worked, I could actually feel how much Health and Mana I had left while the expected Bars were missing. And I certainly didn't have the full package of [Gamer's Body] as a small cut on my finger healed naturally instead of actually doing so instantly and just taking away my Health Points. This was honestly concerning, but on the other hand I was all but certain that the most important part about it still worked as after eating some bread I was as good as new. I honestly didn't want to test just how far I could take this particular Skill and there simply wasn't any real reason to do so in this particular instant.
Two other Skills that I actually got for free were more than welcomed as I saw the reason why I had such a good Mana Pool from the start. [Unicorn] was a very strange Skill that actually gave me more Stat Points and increased my Mana Pool with each Level I will gain, while [Cutie Mark] was basically a very potent Buff to any and all Skills that I would be able to create in the future. Apparently Moon Dancer's Special Talent was connected to Magic after all, no wonder she couldn't get along with people as her status as a 'Discount Twilight Sparkle' was plainly obvious even from her hairstyle. The matching tail, something I had to tug on until it became actually painful to proof the fact that it was real, also showed the basically same body-model for the Characters used by Twilight Sparkle in Canon.
My situation was kind of good, I wasn't a Main Character so most of the problems will walk around me and target those six girls that were now representing the Ponies from Canon. Well, there was always that Episode where Twilight will try to re-establish her 'friendship' with her acquaintances from Canterlot, but I was pretty sure that I will be able to avoid it by simply leaving to somewhere else for some time. I basically had free reign and no limitations that would lead to me ending Equestria as a whole, a vacation in all but name that came with a permanent settlement and even a house and paperwork. [Gamer's Mind] was keeping my fear and anger in check and was letting me think clearly no matter how much of those feelings I head tearing at me on the inside. Realistically speaking I was at a very serious advantage here as 'The Gamer' gave me basically an Ability to survive no matter what as soon as I will learn how to Teleport, one of the most useful and only once properly used Spells in the whole damn Series.
It was almost five hours since I first woke up here, and I was reasonably sure that I was mostly calm now and would be able to operate properly. The book, the empty cup and the small scroll that were circling me while surrounded by my Magical Aura were mostly there so I would be able to tell just how much Mana I was wasting on them and how long I would be able to keep this up. If I were to trust my Stats I didn't have that much Mana with by INT being kind of low, but with [Telekinesis] being a rather cheap Skill I had more than enough of it to keep these three objects afloat indefinitely. Perk of being a Unicorn maybe?
Next thing that came to me was the fact that with me being basically removed from the Main Plot-line I had no actual goals in mind that would've been even somewhat reasonably interesting or challenging. One was to get home, but it was a very long-term one and for even a moderate amount of progress I would need to wait for either Discord to be freed or for the Chrystal Empire to rise from under the ice. Discord was powerful enough to travel through time and it was a reasonable assumption that he had enough juice in him to tear a hole through the Veil between Dimensions, while the Chrystal Empire will be the easiest place for me to gain assess to the Chrystal Mirror. The problem was? I had no way to force the first one to cooperate with me, while the second one will need me to be someone akin of local Merlin, Starswirl the Bearded if my memory serves me right, to properly operate it and adjust it akin of the Quantum Mirror from Stargate's Series.
My thoughts drifted towards the fact that right now I was literally at the bottom of the barrel, I had no resources and no base to build upon with nothing but some Bits that Moon Dancer had from her own scholarship and the basic knowledge of how to perform Magic. There really wasn't all that much I could do right now, I had a house and enough money to live the life of a medium-level citizen right up until the moment I will die from old age. Well, I would have enough money if I were to find a regular source of income as the scholarship was only good enough for basic needs such as food. If I could I would've kissed [Gamer's Mind] as it was the only thing that was keeping me calm and letting me not fall into panic, without it I would've been as useless as any normal person in my situation could be.
I took another sip from my glass of juice, I was still internally freaking out about the whole thing but I kept my whole facade calm and collected just for my own sake. I knew that I was given tools to achieve something, 'The Gamer' was the most powerful Ability ever as it could evolve and develop and never stop as long as I wanted to move forward. I had foreknowledge about the oncoming disasters that could be avoided, some of them even averted with a little bit of interference on my part. While I had no freaking clue how to stop Discord, Chrysalis or Sombra I at least could prevent Tirek from rising to power without any effort as he was as strong as a newborn kitten right after escaping Tartarus. Could I stop Starlight Glimmer? I don't think so, she was far too skilled and powerful for me to even consider this an option so I would just leave her to Twilight and her merry band of followers.
Why would I bother?
Well, I couldn't be bothered to stop Nightmare Moon or Chrysalis as they are easily avoidable as far as I was concerned, but Discord and Tirek were just too dangerous and basically Omnipotent for me to hide from. The damn centaur could fucking steal Magic from Ponies, his getting out and feeding upon the whole population would be a disaster of a catastrophic proportions if he was to devour the Magic of Alicorns along with Discord's and other important Character's. Even Twilight couldn't stop him with her own Power severely Amplified by the Magic of Celestia, Luna and Cadance that she was gifted with for the sake of safekeeping, he just shrugged everything off like nothing and that was basically a stalemate. Starlight Glimmer was another can of worms altogether, her little go at the Space-Time Continuum and the following destruction of Equestria made me want to bash her face in for the retarded decision of preventing the fucking Elements of Harmony from manifesting! Dumb bitch had no fucking clue what the fuck she was doing and how thing would've turned out for the whole world if she was to succeed in her egoistical endeavor.
I absently closed the Window that told me that my [Telekinesis] have gained a Level.
So far I was sure that avoiding everything and everyone important was the best course of action, while researching my own way home and trying to stay behind the curtain as much as I could. The knowledge that I gained from Moon Dancer was mostly half-assed and some part were missing, she didn't know how to Teleport or at least I didn't receive any knowledge of said Spell that would've saved me so many problems in the future. This was my first actual goal, the acquire said Spell and make it my bitch because it's absolutely limitless potential would leave me with far more time to do what was needed to be done as far as literally cutting out a huge chunk of time that I would've spent walking around.
I finished my juice and made the levitating items return back to their rightful places, as far as Moon Dancer knew she didn't have any appointments today and therefore neither had I. This was the time right after that disaster of a party where Twilight ditched her and therefore her friends were giving her space just to let her come out of her funk after the whole ordeal. Well, at least Minuette, Twinkleshine and Lemon Hearts were doing so and I couldn't blame them, the poor girl really was hurt because of the whole thing but I wasn't her and this wouldn't be something that would stop me. This was a perfect excuse for me to simply vanish for a day or two, as far as I was concerned there wasn't any reason for me to stick around and wait for something to happen when I could do something productive.
'First on the List: Acquire the Teleportation Spell.' I stood up and suddenly a Window popped out in front of me, its sudden appearance made me blink.
Quest Alert No More Walking: Acquire the Skill [Teleportation]! Acquire the Skill [Teleportation] and return home until Moon Dancer's friends will notice your absence. Time Limit: 24 hours. Completion Award: 200 EXP Completion Failure: -500 Reputation with Minuette; -500 Reputation with Twinkleshine; -500 Reputation with Lemon Hearts
Well, that wasn't ominous at fucking all. At least I knew that there was a chance of me being noticed, some warning is better than none at all I suppose. I pressed the accept button and walked towards the stair onto the second floor of the house, I needed to change if I wanted to actually get out and not be noticed outright. One thing I was thankful for was that my eyesight was fully fixed and I wasn't shortsighted as Moon Dancer was before I hijacked her body and probably killed her in some sort of a philosophical way. Damn if that didn't sound morbid at fucking all...
I had about three hours before the sunset, if I wanted to do what I was going to do and was going to it discreetly I would need to wait for Celestia to lower the sun and then rise the moon so the night will cover my little escapade. In the show I only saw several Ponies actually using Teleportation and that was Twilight and Starlight along with baby Unicorns and one very powerful newborn Alicorn and that was all Accidental Magic as far as I could judge from the explanations given at that time and was just forced to happen through Magical Surges, like in Harry Potter by much more frequent. I wasn't going to risk something like that, Moon Dancer knew about the Spell and that it required a hallelujah of an effort and Mana to pull of at the first time due to lack of Skill. She never actually learned it, there simply was no reason for it and she had no actual need or desire for such a Spell.
Well, this was about to change as I retreated to the second floor and sat in a cross-legged position on the carpet in front of the bed. I once again activated [Telekinesis] and this time I used it to life the big wooden bed that weighted much more than almost anything Moon Dancer had in possession short of a bookcase. I needed two more Skills that I was sure I could gain while grinding this one and also trying not to drain myself dry while performing such a heavy-lifting. I could only hope that this will be enough, I knew only one place beside the Royal Library where I could acquire such a Skill and I honestly didn't care that I would be technically breaking and entering to get it as nobody would even notice that it was gone.
Not for a couple of years to come at least.
Inventory was a wonderful things that could store an almost unlimited amount of things as long as they could be put into it and had a reasonable size to them, between my exercises and grinding I decided to raid Moon Dancer's house for any useful things that could probably help me in the future. The first thing I went after were money, there wasn't much by the local standards and I made sure to collect every Bit in the house and put them into my Inventory for future use. This was a reasonable amount for someone who was living alone and wasn't a fan of any excessive things like expensive clothing or rich furniture, I knew that if I wanted to achieve anything here I needed more and therefore I had to find a steady income that wasn't coming from the Crown.
Three hours of pure work and I managed to gain two Skills that will help in the the long run, one of them being the most broken Skill ever created and the most useful one to ever imagined: [Observe]. No matter how much anyone could coo and swoon at awesome Skills that could crush buildings and make you literally throw miniature suns at people, the Skill that can extract information with a single glance would always trump them all as it was basically an ultimate hack for the world around you. There wasn't many thing to use it on around me but I made sure scan each book I could see around me, Moon Dancer didn't possess any actual Skill Books as most of them were more theoretical in nature than practical in application. Well, I found one book that I instantly used to acquire a new Skill and that was the 'Beginner's Guide to Healthy Diet', which basically gave me [Cooking] and that was pretty much it.
It didn't even require any additional Stats to learn, so apparently it had no actual restrictions which made sense in its won weird way. It's not like anyone had to be strong enough or smart enough to learn how to cook, so logically even a person with all of his Stats being one could probably learn it and even excel in it. I looked at my Skill Window and suppressed a smug smirk, it wasn't such a bad result for the first day and if Han Jee-Han had the knowledge how his Power actually worked from the beginning then there wouldn't have been so much trouble for him to go through to grind himself some serious firepower in record times. I, on the other hand, had all the knowledge I may need and therefore I could simply skip the whole learning process and use this whole thing to its fullest right from the start.
[Telekinesis(Active) LV15 EXP: 19.15%] The Spell that lets you move items with your Magic and Mind, it's Power solely depends on the User and doesn't have any actual Limit of Volume or Weight it can be used to manipulate. The Amount of Mana used is proportional to said Parameters of the Targeted Object. Passively Increase the Weight/Volume per Mana proportion by 15% Passively Increase the Precision by 15% Passively Increase the Range by 15%
Apparently lifting bigger and heavier objects gave me much more Experience for the Skill, and while I had no actual measuring system for how much Mana I used there was a noticeable decrease in its consumption upon me making the heavy old oak bed float in the air as I sat on the carpet. It was heavier than me and therefore it was a good sign that I would probably be able to lift something of my weight easily enough even if not for a very long time as my Mana ran dry rather fast until I gained my other Skill.
[Meditation(Active) LV7 EXP: 67.57%] A serene state of Mind and Body where you fully become one with yourself. It lets you faster recover from fatigue and wounds and Increase the Rate at which you Replenish your Spirit. Regenerates per Second 0.35% of the Total Health Points Regenerates per Second 0.35% of the Total Mana Pool
This one was actually a lot more useful than I imagined, it literally let me regain my Mana and Health at the rate that left me with a far lesser drain than before and with a far more adequate way to regain way to regain Mana rather than drinking a lot of water. Apparently liquids were the ones that let me refill my Mana Pool and Stamina while food work on my Health, and probably something else as honestly didn't think much about it for now and didn't try to eat anything so far beside that juice. It didn't quite left me with infinite Mana, but it made it far easier for me to regain it after my [Telekinesis] left me with empty tank. I still had to drink several glasses of water to fully recharge before going out, but it was more of a result of me trying to actually move the bed around the room to see if it will let me gain more Experience that way.
It did, but in the same time I found out that my mastery of it wasn't enough to not crash it into walls or other furniture. At least I managed to not knock that wardrobe down, but it was mostly luck with the bed flying at such a slow speed and the damn thing was probably lighter only by a small margin. Moon Dancer didn't have much when it came to clothes, but the furniture she had was rather old and heavy and with a lot of room in it for whatever reason that I didn't know. She bought it rather cheaply on an equivalent of a yard-sale from an old man that apparently was moving somewhere and didn't need it anymore, the secretaire and the kitchen table came from the same source. I didn't remember the name of that old guy, but he knew good stuff as these things were obviously old and put through some serious paces and still held together rather admirably.
'Time to go.' I put on a pair of dark blue pants, that ratty turtleneck sweater that Moon Dancer had in Canon over my white shirt and a pair of grey shoes and exited the house. While I had some good impressions about the Canterlot from the memories of my Host, there was nothing like actually seeing the equivalent of a bastard child of a Camelot and the Disney's Castle that went through some serious PR-work to appear and children-friendly as it could. The paint-job was kind of bizarre and I honestly felt as if Willy Wonka would jump out of nearest pickle jar just to break into song, Lauren Faust was on some heavy-duty shit when she came up with this whole thing.
The sun was already down and I had all the directions I needed, it was kind of a surprise that Moon Dancer actually knew where Twilight lived. The whole memory was kind of fuzzy, but I think that it was mostly due to the fact that the purple introvert was the student of the current monarch rather than out of actual courtesy. I knew that what I was doing was kind of wrong, but at the same time there really wasn't any actual reason for me to not use a very good opportunity to acquire something useful with a guarantied success rate.
The book that would count as an actual Skill book only existed in the Royal Library, as it was a limited edition and therefore was only printed in one dozen copies. Usually [Teleportation] was taught and then properly trained with a professional tutor as it was far from easy to actually utilize it efficiently. Twilight was fucking powerful, judging by Moon Dancer's memories the demonstration of effortless spacial relocation that she performed on a whim was the all the testimony anyone would need to see just how freaking huge her Mana Pool was. For someone like Celestia, Luna and Discord it was trivial thing to perform such a Spell, but for a Unicorn to hop from place to place with such an ease was something to be proud off. I think only Starlight Glimmer and Sombra could demonstrate something like that, with the later one being so freaking strong through Voldemort-esque means and therefore being only tentatively compared. Glimmer on the other hand was good, she actually was very talented and powerful enough literally fuck up time and space to achieve her own goal while flipping off this Universe's version of freaking Merlin in the process.
Then there was Tirek, he wasn't actually strong and all his impressive performance was only due to him literally draining a whole country worth of Magic to rise to such heights. While I honestly didn't care about the means but there was a general rule that was left behind the door by him that said: Always check for a Hidden Trump Card! He had everything in hand and all of it went down because of Rainbow-Ex-Machina, bullshit credit is where the bullshit credit is due.
Royal Library was out of question for me because of all the Royal Guards positioned around the place and because there was some kind of an alarm system tied to the whole thing, and Moon Dancer didn't know how to get around it. Hell, the only reason she knew was because it was taught during the History Lessons in school, it was told that it was placed there so nobody will try to use those Spells and probably get hurt due to simply not being competent enough to perform them. Spells can backfire if they are cast improperly and with some rather interesting results, it all boiled dow to how you screwed up and what Spell you were trying to perform in the first place. Again, Twilight's little performance during her initiation into the School for Gifted Unicorns showed just how dangerous these miscasts can be, she fucking turned her parents into plants and that was the smallest of her trouble with Spike growing to the size of an adult Dragon in an instant taking the absolute TOP.
Moon Dancer never bothered with the Special Courses like 'Art of Teleportation' and the 'Art of Defense', she saw no need in taking them and just concentrated more on her studies of a more academic subjects. Therefore I now have literally no Combat Magic and doesn't know how to perform Spacial Transportation at the drop of a fucking hat, it was a blessing that 'The Gamer' made my own capabilities so flexible that it simply didn't matter. If the knowledge I gained was correct then there simply wasn't any real limitation on who could perform the Spell that I was seeking, the Magical Capabilities only limited the Range and the number of times you could cast it before keeling over from sheer exhaustion. Even a rather average Unicorn had the capability to perform at least five successful jumps about twenty meters in length before severely draining himself, six if he were to push himself. Earlier I redistributed my free Points into INT to boost my Mana Pool at least somewhat, I agreed with Han Jee-Han that just grinding other Parameters was the right way to go about it with INT being the hardest to gain manually and therefore a prime receiver of the free Points.
It was really weird to actually feel my Mana Pool growing a bit less than a quarter bigger, Unicorns were always keenly aware of their own Magic and from Moon Dancer's perspective it would've been downright bizarre to suddenly have her own Reserves expanded out of the blue like that. I knew what was happening, but it still felt weird to actually be aware of the whole thing happening inside of me, even a little bit creepy.
I carefully looked around, some people were still outside and hurrying around on their own businesses, the Summer Sun Celebration was one of the more grandiose events of the year and therefore the population tended to be a bit more exited about it. This World was a lot more peaceful and idealistic than the Real One and I could see how everyone here was in a far greater mood than normal and basically preparing for the parties to go out with a bang. It was also a good thing because nobody paid any attention to a scrawny girl walking down the road without a care, nobody even took a moment to look at me a second time as everyone who still was outside were trying to get to their destination as fast as possible. Equestria was a very peaceful and benevolent country, and the crime here wasn't as obvious or spread as it was back home so everyone's sense of danger was weak and dull.
'Thanks for that.' It was kind of weird that the first thing I was going to do upon waking up in a Fictional World was to commit a crime, but I honestly didn't care about anything other than my own hide and therefore couldn't give a flying fuck about the laws right now. It wasn't like my morals were gone or I was turning into an uncaring psycho that would kill people just because they weren't real, I just had very little care about the rules that were forced upon me without my agreement. Whoever did this, and I owned that person a very good beating and probably some missing teeth, obviously have gained something out of it. Well, I wasn't going to play by the rules anyway, my only priority was to get home and that was pretty much it from where I stood right now. If my actions were according to what was expected from me I didn't care as there literally was no way for me to know and therefore to avoid it, no point of trying to do anything about something that you have no knowledge about.
I stood in front of the doors that led into the former home of Twilight Sparkle, considering that there was no way she will be returning here I had several hours before somebody will start pocking around. There was a big chance that Celestial will send some Royal Guards to pick some personal belongings of the soon-to-be Element of Magic, but it won't happen until Twilight will announce her desire to stay in Ponyville in the pseudo-morning.
I took a deep breath through my mouth and then released the air through my nose and with a minor application of [Telekinesis] I opened the double-doors that led into the penthouse of the tower. Just opening them wide enough to sneak in I squeezed through and then closed them behind me, making sure not to make any noise as the slowly looked around.
The first floor was rather spacious, and obviously used as a living quarter rather than the study one judging by the small but well-equipped kitchen and a big bed. There also were som cushions lying around and some books on the floor, I instantly spotted the stairs that were leading towards the second floor where the library and other, less important, things were. Picking the books from the floor with my Magic I took a look at their covers to make sure that I won't miss anything vital or useful, all seven of them were mostly about Magical Theory and therefore didn't count as actual Skill Books but I still put them into my Inventory as there always was a chance that I will find something useful on those pages later.
I climbed on the second floor and my jaw actually almost dropped, seeing the whole place on TV is one thing, but to actually see the huge ass thing by myself was an entirely different matter. I was honestly not so surprised that Twilight ended up a little bit of a jerk, with the amount of rare books here I was pretty sure that Celestia had a hand in supplying them to her student around the board so to speak. From what Moon Dancer knew at least a tenth of these books were Limited Editions and costed a pretty penny on the market, which in turn made it really hard for me see how there could be any actual conflict in this Series at fucking all. While I could understand the local population's non-violent mindsets there had to be a limit on how freaking far it could go, Twilight leaving Starlight to fuck with the Time-Space Continuum instead of dropping her like sack of shit and only then questioning her would've been a far smarter decision than that whole mess.
I stopped in the center of the room and used [Telekinesis] to drag books down from the shelves, making sure to put them back after looking over the title and deposing some into my Inventory that had valuable information and weren't in Moon Dancer's possession already. I already had at least a dozen new ones, there simply wasn't all that much interesting to read here as most of the books were about how to actually perform Spells rather than actual instructions on how to do them. I managed to get 'The Guide to the Mastery of Telekinesis' written by Prime Twister, which held a ton of different exercises and explanation on how to perform different types of tricks with [Telekinesis] and they actually got progressively harder over the pages. The Author was actually really good from what Moony knew, but he tended to ramble a lot and described his idea in the most roundabout way possible which led to the book being as thick as my forearm.
'The Equestria Bestiary: Everfree Edition' also went into my Inventory, there was no fucking way that all the critters that were shown so far were the only ones present in that small patch of sane land in Equestria.
It took me about an hour to find the book, Twilight had them all sorted out in some strange and obscure way that I had no actual idea how to get through, it wasn't alphabetic or by content for sure so I had to just plow through them manually. I even got a Level for my Skill from the whole thing, apparently manipulating a lot of objects at once also counted as a strain and therefore I gained Experience pretty fast. I was kind of cheating with my [Gamer's Mind] that let me keep my cool and no strain my mind by manipulating so many things at once, [Telekinesis] could potentially stress out the User's mind if he or she would try to lift too many things at the same time. Twilight was very talented as she demonstrated in the show, but her aptitude was mostly towards the raw power as she showed while dealing with Ursa Minor.
I took the book named 'The Guide to Magical Relocation and Spacial Transportation' from my Magical grasp into my hand.
This is a Skill Book, [Teleportation]. Would you like to Learn this Skill?
I pressed 'Yes' without a second thought, making the book dissipate in a flash of light that absorbed into my body. The knowledge that suddenly bloomed in my mind and instantly settled as if it was there all along made me flinch, it wasn't an everyday occurrence when you literally had a whole fucking tome shoved into your brain of the knowledge that you never even heard before. [Cooking] was easier to digest as I honestly had a far better grasp on the basics myself and the Skill Book only organized them and turned them into a Skill, without Moony's knowledge I would've been caught completely flatfooted here but wasn't and therefore I now had one of the most useful Spells even created as my Skill.
[Teleportation(Active) LV1 EXP: 0.00%] This Ability lets you Teleport from one spot to another as long as you have a clear knowledge about you Destination and enough Mana to perform the Transition. You also can use this Skill to Teleport others or items around with the same limitations as yourself. Passively Increase Range by 1% Passively Decrease Mana Cost by 1%
I grinned and almost did a small happy dance, but decided against it as I still had some work to do before I would be able to celebrate anything worth mentioning. The knowledge in my mind was very precise and I easily could see just how far I could go before I will be running with an empty tank, Moony's house wasn't in range but the alley not far away was and it will leave me empty but still pretty much satisfied. And again I had to thank [Gamer's Mind] for keeping me calm and collected otherwise I would've been jumping around like a child that just go themselves a new toy that they always dreamed off. I still felt the fear and the panic from suddenly appearing in the World no my own, but they were mostly distant and I didn't want to act upon them without any good reason to. It won't change anything, and suddenly collapsing with slow and progressively more self-destructive mental breakdown won't do me any good if I wanted to actually make my own situation better.
Concentrating on my destination I activated the Skill and vanished in a flash of Light Ceriseish Gray light.
I closed the door into Moony's, now probably mine, house and released a sigh of relief while thinking about all the things I could now do due to simply having the Ability to pop from one place to another without problem. Yes, I would need to practice it to the point of it actually becoming useful and not draining me so much, but the point still stands that it was awesome and I couldn't even properly express it without looking like a child. My sense of dignity held me back from giggling and skipping around, [Teleportation] was one of the most generic Superpowers and always fascinated everyone beyond reason as they pursuit the means to acquire it.
Look at the original movie 'The Fly' from nineteen fifty-eight? That was one of the best introductions of this particular humanity's dream into the masses. Nowadays it was present almost in every Sci-Fi or Fantasy Movie ever made, but at the same time there was a sever case underusing it in some of them like in 'Harry Potter' Series for example. The sheer level of 'Fuck You!' it gave out to the audience made me even more glad that I saw all that was wrong with it before I had to waste more money on tickets than it was needed. Apparation sucked in the Movies, it was more like some weird form of intangibility and fast-travel based on the idea of turning yourself in a smoky... comet, I honestly felt the producers were just wanking on how much of the budget they could waste on CGI rather than trying to make it look closer to the book's description.
Quest Alert No More Walking: Acquire the Skill [Teleportation]! - Complete! Acquire the Skill [Teleportation] and return home until Moon Dancer's friends will notice your absence. Time Limit: 24 hours. Completion Award: 200 EXP
I closed the window that appeared informing me that I managed to finish my first Quest, now I just had to wait until the pseudo-morning will come and I will be able to depart towards Ponyville. I had no desire to interact with anyone there, nor I wanted to meet with the Main Cast, but at the same time I needed to go there so I would be able to reach another good place where I will be able to acquire more Skill Books. While Royal Library was closed to me at the moment, nothing happened to the old Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters, it was in ruins and nobody actually cleaned it in like thousand years but if Canon applied here then there was a very big chance that the library there was still intact and the books there will be incredibly useful. All I needed now was to wait until Nightmare Moon was banished, Luna being brought back and Twilight officially starting to live inside the Golden Oak Library, then I will only need to take one train-ride there and then a trip through the Everfree Forest.
While Everfree Forest could prove to be a problem to the most, I had a very effective way of avoiding all the dangers it held with just one Skill that I could create myself pretty easily. All it will take is some practice and some grinding and I will be set to go as soon as the sun will rise, I had about ten or so hours before that and therefore I had time to practice. Other people would probably say that I was rushing things and trying to jump well above my league at the moment, but at the same time I simply didn't have enough time on my hands to sit idly and do nothing about my own situation. There was nothing wrong with a bit of a healthy paranoia, you just needed to work it into a logical and low-risk plan to ensure your own safety of body and mind.
Through continuous logical and thoughtful decision-making your WIS has increased by 1.
Even my Power agreed with me!
I regained enough Mana to simply teleport to the bedroom and sit onto the floor in a cross-legged position, activating [Meditation] I grasped my bed with [Telekinesis] and levitated it into the air while opening Inventory and reaching for the book on the critters of Everfree. I literally didn't have anything other to do right now and therefore had the time to work with hole in knowledge that were present in my view of Equestria, the Series never showed us everything and therefore left us with one surprise after another. For example I had a very poor understanding of geography with the only source being that cartoonish map presented on the Wikipedia page, now I will have at least some sort of knowledge to stick the names I had to.
The other thing I had took from Twilight's house was the book about how to properly make Magical Shield, while it was mostly theory about Defensive Spell-Casting and how it worked in general I will have at least something as a base to work with while trying to recreate one later. Han Jee-Han was right about making a proper defense, and while I wasn't going to be a pure Mage-Type Character there was a very good reason to know how to protect oneself with Magic. There is no 'Art of Taking Hits', but it also doesn't mean that I will forget about basic Physical Defense as well. I will be sort of going after all the 'Types of Growth' at the same time while trying not to slow myself down and not to limit my won progress, my goal was to be well-rounded and tough-as-nail heavy-hitter that could bring a lot of Magical firepower to bear. Something akin of a Paladin in World of Warcraft that went into 'Retribution' Branch of combat, but with a little more Long-Range Spells.
Considering the potential dangers I would be facing there is literally wasn't anything that I shouldn't improve upon.
Through continuous logical and thoughtful decision-making your WIS has increased by 1.
And my Power agreed with me again!
From the memories I got from Moon Dancer I knew that not far away from here there was a Gym that was a a part of a Fitness Center, I would normally have to spend money on getting the reservation but if the next Skill that I was planning to create will work out as good as I hoped it would... Well, there won't be any monetary concerns for me in the future, at all. Right now my main priority was to get my most prominent Skill as a Unicorn up to snuff, [Telekinesis] was the basics of the basics and every Unicorn with a functioning horn knew it like their second nature. Well, and the image of me doing a very good impression of Tatsumaki also tickled my heart in a funny way that urged me to giggle like a little girl.
I also was going to use this time reading to also consider what to do about Moony's friends: Minuette, Twinkleshine and Lemon Hearts. I could just cut off the contact I had with them, basically repeating the same thing that Moony did in Canon and just isolating myself to have more time to study and prepare, but it wasn't Canon and I wasn't Moon Dancer. Yes, she was hurt when Twilight blew her off, and I was honestly thinking how hypocritical she was when she became 'Princess of Friendship' and managed to actually hold onto that Tittle long enough for it to become a thing. How Celestia missed the obvious signs was a mystery to me, the girl literally had no actual friends and what we saw in Canon could be literally called abuse when it came to her relationships with Spike. While she improved in the later Seasons, it was really strange and I strongly suspected that someone having basically what amounted to a tunnel vision was to blame for this whole fiasco. Well, I honestly didn't care one way or another about Twilight and her friends, they had their own adventures and until a very distant future I won't facture in them one way or another.
Moony had a very nice house, a small two-story building that looked like it came out of the old book with a very small land around it surrounded by a small fence and with a big tree growing on the left side of an entrance. White walls and the red-tiled roof, it was hiding between two buildings on one of the Canterlot's main living streets. A better place I couldn't even wish for, there literally was a plot of land that I legally owned now and I could do anything with it as long as it won't disturb the neighborhood.
'And nobody will hear the screams.' I snorted at a bad joke, which came out a bit more horse-like that was normally humanly possible.
I mentally went over the list of things that I would need to accomplish or to acquire during my stay here, if the Canon will stay true to itself then I will be mostly picking up the pieces of what will remain after the adventures of the 'Mane Six'. Seriously, they left so many vulnerable things behind that I had to facepalm when I mentally made a list.
The huge hoard that the Dragon from the Seventh Episode of the First Season left behind would've been worth whole fucking ton of Bits! I mean, seriously! The overgrown flaming gecko just took off without as much as a satchel on him, leaving all that gold there because... reasons? I knew that Ponies were naive and basically amounted for downright idiotic in some cases, but there is simply no way that nobody would be coming to claim that huge mountain of treasures! The second Dragon's hoard from the Twenty-Fourth Episode of the First Episode, I'm honestly thinking about looting both and basically getting myself settled for a very long time.
I shook off the lingering thoughts about the whole thing and concentrated on the book in my hand, my Magical Aura suddenly appeared around it and I released it as it started floating under the Power of my [Telekinesis]. Anything can be used for training, I just had to grind the Skills I could properly until they won't be such an issue and I would have a Mana Regeneration good enough to actually outpace my loss while not using the [Meditation] as a supplementary Skill to regain it. I still had some ideas about how I will be grinding [Teleportation], but most of them were basically me just flashing around like Kurt Wagner on an overdose of caffeine-rich energy drinks. It will be very wasteful in terms of Mana, but I honestly had no better ideas so far. Maybe something will appear later on, who knows?
'Now, what do we have on Manticore?' I looked at the headline of the book, this will prove rather enlightening night.
While sitting on your ass for about twelve hours may appear to be boring and really unproductive, 'The Gamer' makes it all work out as I didn't even feel numb after this long being in one position and simply reading book after book. After about an hour or so I dismissed my turtleneck, shoes, and pants as it was a rather warm night and just sat there in a shirt and panties while trying to understand the rumbling of an old Earth Pony that apparently had a boner for Cartography. After finishing the book about the beasts of the Everfree I took the next one that was written about the geography of Equestria and how it was bordering with several other countries, which wasn't mentioned in the show and therefore I only had this book and somewhat fractured memories of Moon Dancer to go with.
'Having a Special Talent in Cartography is one thing, but this guy apparently had a love to read whatever he wrote so he decided to wank his own genius for thirteen fucking pages!' Honestly, Red Liner spent over a dozen pages simply patting himself on the back and telling everyone how fucking awesome he was because he managed to travel around more than an average Pony ever would! Talk about an Ego with a Capital 'E' being fully deserved and earned through hard work. The book was actually called 'The Lands of the World' and had a rather dry and scientific summary on the first page, but apparently it was written after the damn bastard submitted his work to the publisher and then someone slapped this little thing on the title-page for some reason. I took one of the notebooks that Moony had and made a list of places that I would need to visit, it wasn't an urgent matter and I simply wanted to check them out if something worth taking was there as I had no actual desire to risk my neck for nothing. Getting through the rumblings and wild descriptions was a chore, but I managed to create a somewhat chronological list of places in Equestria that I would need to visit at one point or another.
I had no plans on living the country yet, this was like a 'Beginner's Territory' in Gamer's terms and therefore had a very large population of things that could let me kick-start my own growth. For example, if Parasprites could produce even a little Experience then I could just feed them and kill them at a rather fast pace as they procreated at the speed that would make nanomachines turn green with envy. The easy, safe and absolutely harmless way of pumping myself up with free Experience as long as I don't run out of the bugs to kill and food to feed them so they would multiply. Why bother with dangerous critters when there was a very safe and very easily acquired source of basically limitless grinding via pseudo-pest-control?
During the night I tried to actually use [Telekinesis] to lift myself from the ground and ran into a little bit of a snag. While I could do it and there really wasn't any problem with it, the drain on my Mana went up by an order of magnitude and I again marveled just how fucking much Mana does Twilight have to be able to levitate Spike all around like in the Series. Apparently, living beings were somewhat resistant to Magic on some fundamental level, and you either required a specific Spell that would let bypass it or much more juice put into your Spell to brute-force your way through. 'Magical Theory of Spell Application' was a goldmine when it came to explaining things like that to me, Moon Dancer probably knew them too but the memories on that were hazy and lacked some facts leaving holes that could cause some serious problems in the future. Now I was filling these with fresh knowledge from books and repairing some of the damage done by my arrival, and I even managed to get a couple of Points in INT for the troubles.
Also, one of the things I did during the night on one of my breaks was to make some Skills that would guarantee my own safety in any area upon use, the second most useful Skill ever created and probably one of the only reasons I knew that I will be able to sneak into some of the more protected parts of Equestria without notice.
[ID Create(Active) LV1 EXP: 17.33%] Used to create Instant Dungeons. Stronger Instant Dungeons may be created at higher Levels. Currently available ID list: 1. Empty ID - Monsters: None
This was the most underused Skill ever created! I could potentially just create an Illusion Barrier, walk into the guarded vault and exit it there. After basically cleaning it out I would create another Illusion Barrier and see myself out without anyone noticing a damn thing! Same can be said about traveling through the dangerous territories and the only living beings that will enter the Illusion Barrier with me will be the ones I wanted to come with we when I created it and that was pretty much it. There literally wasn't a defense capable of stopping me, or a prison able to hold me as I would simply slip away and escape no matter what was said and done about containing me. While I won't try and get myself into troubles now, I still did a little mental happy dance at the new achievement and a very good new way of getting things.
My little escapade into Twilight's former house could've turned out really badly if I were to be caught, but a little bit of luck with general population being too concerned about their ongoing celebration rather than about a single girl behaving slightly suspiciously saved my ass there. I rushed into things, I didn't properly think things through and just did something while operating on a half-baked plan that held little to nothing when it came to backups in case of my arrest. I really wanted to tear my hair out, but what was done was done and I came out without a scratch so there wasn't a reason to beat myself about it now. I won't make the same mistake again, this was for sure as I mentally made a note to always operate under the assumption that the World had it out for me and everything that could go wrong will.
On a more relaxed note, I managed to make another Skill, this time I decided to stick to the more general Spells that were mostly accepted in Equestria and won't make people raise any eyebrows if I were to use it in the open. In basic terms it was that beam attack that Unicorns liked to use so much before Sombra I actually thought that it was the only Combat Orientated Magic that actually existed period but apparently I was proven wrong. It took me some time to figure out how to manipulate Mana in a right way, but after an hour of trying not to make a bolt out of it but a stable beam I managed to actually do it. While I was inside a freshly created Illusion Barrier I managed to put a hole in my window, shattering glass like nothing and sending a rather thin and underpowered-looking beam of Magic from the tip of my horn.
And I couldn't help but be a little bit of a nerd about it too.
[Cero(Active) LV1 EXP: 4.99%] The Basic Magical Beam-Attack that can be produced by the User and solely depends on how much Mana you put into it. Deals 150% Magical Attack Damage Passively Decrease Mana Cost by 1%
Yes, it was pencil-thin and wouldn't scratch even the flimsiest of defenses, but it was still awesome to launch freaking lasers at things with my own Power. I tried launching it from the tip of my index finger and it was as easy as from the horn, I just had to apply a little bit of concentration to mentally relocate the initial launching point of the Spell we had a very watered down version of Hollow's main attack. Yes, I blatantly decided to reap off the name from the Anime Bleach, but I couldn't care less if someone will call me unoriginal because it was my Power I could do whatever I wanted with it. Yes, it was a childish reason and all that, but an Anime-Fan in me would've cried bloody tears of I were to miss such a golden opportunity.
I wasn't in any hurry to get my [ID Create] to start spewing Monsters at me, I had time and, even at the first Level, it was incredibly potent and useful. I now had all the basic bases covered with [Teleportation] and [Cero] making me able to basically deal damage while keeping myself safe and away from my Target. I could probably make myself fly with [Telekinesis], but it wasn't up to snuff just yet for that and my Mana Pool would be drained pretty damn fast if I were to attempt such a thing. Hit-And-Run Tactic was the key for me so far, at least until I would be able to find myself something to deal with the enemies that would be able to get close and personal with me.
'Hey, hey, my, my... Kung Fu can never die.' I had no even the faintest clue about where I would be able to actually acquire the Skills needed for Close Combat. In Magical Combat, I could just use some tricks and a little bit of simple ingenuity to come up with Technique, one after another, but there was no actual way I would be able to win a sword-fight through sheer persistence and durability. Theoretically, I could just venture onto the training grounds of the Royal Guards, but there was no fucking way somebody would be dumb enough to leave anything that could count as a Skill Book lying around where I would be able to snatch it. Hand-to-Hand was also a questionable choice as there was no fucking way I would be able to pull a Saitama and simply have so much raw Power that any Skill would become literally useless.
Do you remember a time when Video Games weren't all about bold new shotgun-based interior design techniques, those intellectual days of the point-and-click adventure when games were comfortable about testing the players' Skills beyond the ability to line up a set of crosshairs with the softest and gushiest regions of a shouting murderer? Don't you long for the days when you'd methodically track your mouse pointer across every pixel on the screen to find more inventory items to run around rubbing on every interactive object in the game in the hope of finding a way onto the one solitary thread of logic that was about as straightforward as a cow's digestive system?
No? Good. 'Cause neither does Equestria.
My deep thinking was interrupted by the loud knock on the front door, it was morning now and I was pretty sure it was either one of Moon Dancer's friends that wanted to cheer her up or the Royal Guards to arrest me for theft. Either was I would need to be on my best behavior, while Moon Dancer wasn't all that sociable and started to open up not long ago she still had certain patterns to her behavior and therefore there was a chance that someone educated enough could point at me and say: 'Changeling! J'accuse!'. Ponies were kind of naive and somewhat blind to the facts that were smacking them into the face, but they were also rather weird when it came to facing possible threats as it was proven with 'Green Wedding Incident'.
I stood up and switched my clothes to Moon Dancer's daily attire, making sure not to miss anything. The only things that I left behind were the glasses that were now useless to me and the adjustment to my hairstyle as no fucking way I was going to wear something like that. Instead, I decided to put my hair into a mid-ponytail and just leave it there as it didn't actually bother me after fully grasping Moony's memories. I walked down the stairs and towards the door, mentally going over the list of things that I could use as an excuse to ward off any questions that may lead to my exposure as an imposter. Taking a deep breath, even if I didn't need to calm down due to [Gamer's Mind] making it impossible for me to panic, I reached out and grasp the door handle.
'Time to face the music.' And with that thought, I opened the door.
I severely underestimated just how much of a 'Good Samaritans' the Ponies were before engaging my guests in a conversation, the three girls that showed up on my doorsteps were Moony's old classmates and actually someone who she could tentatively call friends: Minuette, Twinkleshine, and Lemon Hearts. While I knew them from the Series and the slightly faded and damaged memories of the owner of the body I was now in there were certain things that were slightly off about what I actually expected of them. In Canon, they dropped Moony and left her stew in her own misery until Twilight came to shove her whole muzzle where it didn't belong and again prove to us that she considered anyone who didn't think like her automatically wrong.
Moony was hurt by the fact that the purple Unicorn didn't attend her party, she was just coming out of her shell and gathering the courage to properly engage herself into society and was met with what basically was a bitch-slap. The memory of her, of her feelings at that day, were so vivid due to them the most recent that I honestly had to suppress the desire to get to the Elements of Harmony before her and steal them so Nightmare Moon would kick her ass while I would pull other girls out of there in time.
Apparently in this version of Equestria there was just a tad bit more connection between those three and Moon Dancer, Minuette actually was the most vocal about how I should get out and do something about my 'broody' behavior. They were supportive, Lemon even got herself a free day from work that she liked so much just so she could come and help and that was something that I had not foreseen. Lemon Hearts was actually something akin to a 'Event Manager' but on a grander scale and was in the group of people that planned the big shows around the Canterlot and performed all the 'drawing-board'-types of the development. While the Summer Sun Celebration was kind of a yearly thing, it still required a damn good team to pull through all the things that needed to be done, while the whole system was a lot less restricted than in the Real World there still were some unpredictable curveballs.
"Moony, just try and you'll see that it's fun." Her encouragements were calm and spoken in a such tone that you couldn't help but listen to her. "I know that you don't like all these physical activities, but you need something that will let you unwind and this is a perfect opportunity to do so."
<Heartfelt Planner> LV4 Lemon Hearts
She was taller and curvier than me, I actually wondered if Moony was a midget or something like that, with long wavy moderate cerulean hair that curled on the ends with a light cerulean tail streak. She was wearing green jeans, yellow shirt and rented white and red special shoes, her moderate raspberry eyes held warmth as them as she looked at me with a smile as her light brilliant yellow hold glowed with moderate fuchsia Magical Aura. Between us was hovering a bowling ball that she was persuading me to try and throw, it was an utter surprise that the group would drag me here of all places as Moon Dancer wasn't a very physically fit person around to begin with. I was moderately good at the game, but the Discount Twilight never even saw the thing in her whole life and I was pretty sure that I wasn't good enough of an actor to pull a fake miss convincingly.
I was actually quite glad that I managed to develop [Observe] because otherwise, I would've been screw quite literally because of Lemon, the girl had a honest to God empathy. Due to her 'Special Talent' she could literally feel the emotions of others around her, and while I was pretty sure that Cadenza was far better at it I still felt really creeped out about a person who could read others like an open book. [Gamer's Mind] let me hide my emotions from her and I did it with some of them, but I couldn't do it with every one of them because having no emotions would ring so many alarm bells in Lemon's head that I honestly didn't even dare to count. It wasn't all that hard to let only the appropriate ones to leak through, but there was always a risk of me slipping and screwing up and that made me sweat buckets.
"Do it!" Minuette was standing not far behind us, with a bottle of water in hand as she just sent her own ball rolling and knocked down seven pins. "Or we won't let you go otherwise!"
<Girl on the Clock> LV5 Minuette
She was wearing identical to Lemon's rented shoes, blue and white horizontally striped pantyhose, thighs-length gray shirt and short light cornflower blue as her horn jacket with long sleeves. She was also taller and curvier than me which kind of irked, her wide enthusiastic smile that held no strain or fake~ishness of the one from Canon actually helped along with a sincere desire to help that she showed. Her moderate sapphire blue eyes were all but sparkling with energy as she stood there and edged me on to participate in the game.
Using [Observe] on her honestly made me want to reconsider the fact that Time Turner wasn't actually a Time Lord, Minuette held a whole fucking torch for that position with her 'Special Talent' actually being 'Temporal Manipulations' and an innate understanding of Time-Stream which made her basically a walking talking timer as she never lost the sense of time. As Luna would've said right now: 'Bullshit Has Been Doubled'! I stood near a person who can actually manipulate fucking Time and there weren't any men in black suits loading her into the van to study this phenomenon in Equestrian's version of Area Fifty-One. How the fuck was this even fair?! She had the Power to literally alter the Fourth Dimension on a whim and nobody took any notice about her apparent valuable status?! I knew that there were several Spells that could manipulate Time to an extent, Starlight Glimmer's little time-travel trick and that one-time Twilight went back into the past to create a stable time-loop with herself as the main initiator of the whole thing. Minuette apparently, not even having a half of the Mana these two possessed during those incidents, could pull the same stunts if she was to put her mind into it and just work in the right direction with a little bit of help.
'And Celestia just left these girls to go into the World without batting an eyelash, truly her eyes are the sharpest among the blind.' The sarcasm never left the safe confines of my mind, any need to attract the unneeded attention to myself by speaking against the local New Jesus.
<Twinkling Star> LV3 Twinkleshine
The last of the group just smile warmly at me, Twinkleshine was a lot like a more confident and outgoing Fluttershy when it came to kindness to others. Her hair and tail were pale cerise and twisted into spirals at the ends, moderate arctic blue eyes and light goldish gray horn. Her figure also left me feeling kind of jealous as her curves were seen even through the thigh-long very pale-brown sundress that she wore, I was really considering the fact that I was the runt of the group here. She was sitting on the chair near our rented line and drank from a cup of mint tea, she was actually the one that persuaded me to come with her rather short but very touching speech about how I shouldn't let one bad experience ruin my perception in life.
Oh, and [Observe] revealed that her 'Special Talent' granted her the Ability to cast fucking Stellar Magic, which put her on the same starting line as Luna due to similarities in their Specializations and a ridiculous bullshit it could do. While I honestly had little knowledge about the Magic itself, Moony was good with theory but came out short in practice and never bothered to get herself into shape. I had no freaking clue why the fuck there simply wasn't some kind of a course that would let people bring out their own Specializations to bare, if my guess was correct then there was a huge possibility that Twinkleshine could potentially throw around balls of pure plasma on a whim if she was taught how to. I knew the reason, but it wasn't a very good one and I honestly only had the Series itself to base it upon: 'Necessity is the Mother of Invention' and there simply was no actual need for someone like that with Celestia being the Turtle and Jesus in a one package. There were no Wars, the conflict was actually solved by freaking pies as it was shown with Buffalo, even whining could work like it happened with Diamond Dogs and Rarity, why would anyone need to know how to fight when there was no need for it? Twilight could fire beams that could punch through stone, but it was all she had going for her in contrast to hundred cantrips that she could perform at a drop of a hat.
But it was beside the point, the main problem right now I had was the Window floating in front of me.
Quest Alert Let's Get that Ball Rolling: Participate in the Game of Bowling with your Friends! Participate in the Game of Bowling with your Friends and do not take the Last Spot. Completion Award: 500 EXP; +250 Reputation with Minuette; +250 Reputation with Twinkleshine; +250 Reputation with Lemon Hearts Additional Completion Award: [?] Completion Failure: -150 Reputation with Minuette; -150 Reputation with Twinkleshine; -150 Reputation with Lemon Hearts
Well, apparently my Power also agreed with them.
"Alright, I'll play." I said in the best imitation of depressed Moony I could do and took the ball from Lemon's Telekinetic grip. "But I never played before so there is no chance of me actually hitting the pins."
"Fantastic." Lemon nodded as I adjusted a proper grip on the ball and put my fingers into right holes. "And don't worry, the point here is for you to unwind and for us to show you that you shouldn't try to lock yourself out like you did yesterday. This is us having fun, not competing or anything like that."
I kind off could understand her, she was an Empath could feel the problems with others around her. I couldn't get much information about her as my [Observe] wasn't good enough to dig out anything worth mentioning other than the fact that she was concerned and worried about me. Moony probably was a total wreck when she left the party and had a very bad emotional output that made Lemon put such an effort into this whole thing, my theory that Moony actually took the shortcut to the 'Next Great Adventure' was gaining more and more ground here. Damn, that was kind of Dark for the World where pastel-colored Ponies ran supreme and the sun was being actually moved instead of the planet moving around it like in a proper World it should actually be.
"If you insist." I sighed and walked to the beginning of the line and took the position. "But I can't guarantee any actual success."
One thing about 'The Gamer' that I was thankful for was that I could use my old reflexes and coordination as good as I did in my old body, I just needed to adjust to a shorter reach and the difference in the body-type to properly use what I knew. Bowling wasn't that hard of a game, you just needed practice and a good aim for it to become a question of how much you practiced and developed your motor skills with the ball. Girls' question about my glasses was answered that I decided to go with the lenses that Moony actually owned but never used since 'The School for Horny Population', who knew?
I let my hand swing back and then forward, letting the heavy ball shoot forward in a perfect line without even a slight drop and directly towards the leading pin. With the loud impact and the sound of the pins flying away, I was treated to the sight of a clear line and the sudden silence from Minuette. I just managed to pull a Strike on my first shot, there just wasn't any way that this was an anything but pure dumb...
Through the Demonstration of the absurd amount of Fortuna's Favor your LUK has Increased by 1.
'Agreed...' I honestly wasn't even trying here, and my Power agreed with me.
"Damn! That's what others call Beginner's Luck, eh?" Minuette whistled with a cheerful smile coming back onto her face she almost choked on her water from seeing my feat. "Well, Moony, this is going to be fun!"
"I agree." Lemon nodded with her own smile. "Are you sure you never played before? This was one good shot there."
I could hear from the tone she was using that she was only teasing, and I had the decency to blush as I stared as machine put all the pins back into their proper places. This was something I honestly wasn't expecting coming here, but at least this made me actually have some fun and I wasn't going to let it go. I was paranoid, but it didn't mean that I was going to simply live the life of a loner that wore tin-hat and lived on can-food while collecting cutouts from the newspapers. I had friends in my previous life and I had a great time with them, this new life came with already attached friends that weren't mine but if my suspicions were right and Moony was actually dead then... I wasn't a bad person, I never really wanted to be a Hero or something like that but being cruel to someone just for the sake of something that at the moment didn't matter wasn't something I would ever do.
'Why does thing have to be so fucking complicated?' It was a good thing that I couldn't actually get a headache thanks to [Gamer's Mind] or this would've been one hell of a migraine. I was delivered an opportunity to have friends on a silver platter with no actual strings attached, but from the ethical point of view, it will be actually wrong to perceive them as such due to the fact that they didn't see me as Jessica Soer but as Moon Dancer. Would've they been as supportive of me as they were now if they knew the truth? No fucking way, I would've been probably confined to the dungeons as some kind of a 'body snatcher' and then blasted with the Racist Rainbow-Canon for several times until they will learn that there wasn't any way for me be affected by them. Well, I wasn't certain what will come next, but I was pretty sure that it won't be pretty. 'Well, at least that would happen if I was anywhere else, but I can't say for certain with Equestria.'
I retreated towards the table where Twinkie sat, my mind as calm as ever as I sat on the free chair and took a sip from my glass with orange juice. I really wanted it to suddenly turn into beer, but there just wasn't any fucking way I could get some without raising any suspicious from the girls that were currently with me. And the small nice buzz from the alcohol coursing through my bloodstream would've been such a nice distraction from the heavy and really depressing thoughts. I absently noted how Minuette just knocked down six pins and landed herself with a two-on-two Split, quite a predicament, and one that can't be solved by someone without any seriously good aim. Pure luck would work too, but we can't expect blessings with each penny on the plate, it didn't work that way.
"See, it's not that bad, isn't it?" I looked up and saw Twinkie smiling at me. "Lemon told us." I actually had to blink, I have no idea what she was leading me up to and Moony had no memories that provided any insight. "About how you're suppressing how you feel, she rather good at telling how people feel. Yesterday you were feeling hurt and we really wanted to come but it didn't feel right, today she could tell that you just locked yourself up and left it all boil inside."
'Oh, fuck no!'This wasn't a conversation I was prepared to have at any given moment, there simply wasn't enough whiskey in the whole fucking blue world to wash away all the guilt that I could feel coming down on me like a tidal wave. Twinkleshine, along with Lemon Hearts and Minuette originally came there to comfort Moony and only after Lemon told them about how she felt my emotions flat-lining due to [Gamer's Mind] they decided to drag me outside! Shit, this wasn't a something akin of a 'Cheer-Up!'-outing but rather an intervention that was being performed due to them being worried that I would do something stupid to myself. I'm pretty sure that they weren't even considering something as radical as a suicide, these girls were just too soft and too innocent for something like that and it was displayed by their awkward and rather an inept attempt to distract me and demonstrate that I wasn't alone.
'Bunnies die from loneliness.' Equestria was a rather soft and innocent land that was built on certain values that would clash with Reality so hard that the Void will probably leak through the cracks. The whole Nation like one big cage of bunnies, who valued 'Friendship' as an actual Concept that tied things together and could overcome the greatest of calamities. These girls would never think that there is a chance I would slit my wrists in the bath-tub full of ice, they were afraid that I would go into depression and decided to interfere in their own way that they felt was the right one. This wasn't even Disney, death was accepted there and therefore they held such a high standards for their production and tried to establish themselves as a well-rounded company at the current date. This was something akin of an old and a rather idealistic setting where all was good and as long as you were positive anything could happen, this was the World where 'Happily Ever After' was a Concept of Reality and the Law of Nature at the same time.
"Listen..." I began, but she just kept talking as if she didn't hear me.
"We're friends and we want to help you." Her voice was calm and warm, but I could detect the slight note pleading in her tone. "What Twilight did was wrong and we all agree, but we don't want you to just retreat back from what you already achieved. You never talked with others in school until we pulled you in, I still remember how you helped us out with our projects when Sparkle went into one of her obsessive-compulsive little fits."
One of the most troublesome things that I read in Fics about people falling into Fictional Worlds was the fact that they assumed that all they saw in the Series they entered was Canon. I was dosed with a very big hose of sulfur-scented liquid Reality when I tried to see just how close this Universe was to the Canonical land of Pastel Colored Ponies. This was probably something akin of a 'For What of a Nail'-things that would lead to some very serious changes later on, I honestly had no real point of reference and only knew some facts that may or may not happen depending on how the whole Humanization-thing will affect the outcomes. This whole situation made my head almost hurt, Twinkleshine was Moony's first friend and they actually got along in school while Lemon and Minuette came in later with each carrying their own weight and significance. There was no fucking way I could simply pretend to be Moony with Twinkie basically hovering over me, I was a horrible actor and had no actual clue how I managed to wing it this far.
The Window that showed my Reputation with others told me that much.
From I deducted I would need to actually meet someone to have their Reputation displayed and perform at least some basic form of interaction so they will be forming an opinion about me. These girls already have their opinions about me, with it coming from their interactions with the original Moon Dancer and therefore they will be far easier to interact with. I would need to figure out how to work around Lemon's Empathy, it will be a pain in the ass if she was to start digging deeper into my life and notice something that she really shouldn't. There is no freaking way I would be able to figure out how to actually erase memories of someone, and I'm honestly not going to even try as any brainwashing of allies is one of the things that I won't do no matter what.
From the corner of my eye, I saw how Lemon managed to put down five pins after Minuette failed to knock down her Split, I really wasn't sure what they actually thought when they dragged me here and how they were going to cheer Moony up with bowling of all things. She wasn't athletic, there simply wasn't any way for her to enjoy this and even remotely speaking I honestly had no freaking clue how to react to this whole thing. The memories I had game me nothing, at least nothing useful as I could recall Twinkie talking about Moony needing some time outside and actually enjoying the life outside of her own shell more.
'Were they this helpful in Canon?' I was pretty sure that they weren't as Moony turned out to be just one step short of a hermit there. There was no fucking way they would've been just able to fail to bring her out with how good their relationships were right now, even if their friendship would've turned into a one-way street in Canon they wouldn't have abandoned her. This smelled badly of me being too far removed from Canonical Universe for some important events to play out right, Twilight becoming an Alicorn would happen because Celestia would probably drag the poor girl towards Ascension kicking and screaming if needed. Nightmare Moon debacle was already taken care of, today was a holiday just for that reason and only social places were open for business while others closed for the whole day.
If my memory serves me right the next thing will be 'The Ticket Master', which will leave the Main Six distracted for some time before the next Episode will roll in. Should I interfere with any of those? Planning wasn't my good point as I never had to perform any scheming of my own, but I was pretty sure that 'Griffon the Brush-Off' and 'Boast Busters' had some potential for me to gain new information and probably some help in my own goals. While befriending someone for the sole reason of gaining something was a very poor and low move, I wasn't going to throw them away and will try to get them settled to the best of my abilities and help as much as I would be able to.
'Dragonshy' went without question, a whole fucking horde of treasures was just laying there because of reasons unknown. No fucking way I was going to simply let it be left there, 'Need before Greed' and I fucking needed funds to sponsor my own life here and some serious purchases I was going to make at a later date. Maybe I will be able to buy the Alicorn Amulet? I had no clue how it will work out, but there simply wasn't any way I would let it be used by anyone so destroying it and nipping that little problem in the bud was the only real choice I had. I had no clue what I would be doing with Plunder Seeds, Discord left them there to grow and I honestly had no actual way to kill them all off in any conventional way other than blasting the whole thing with hoping the Tree of Harmony was tough enough to withstand the resulting explosion.
And I really needed to write it all down... I watched as Twinkie stood up, it was her turn to roll the ball, she actually managed to knock down nine pins and then finish off the last one, putting her on the second place right after me.
"Wow, didn't know she could do that." Lemon plopped onto the chair near me, I caught her glancing at me with a little worry but it was over fast. "So, let's see if you luck will hold, eh?"
I gave her a small smile, making sure to push some actual calm enjoyment over the [Gamer's Mind] so she won't worry so much. I noticed her becoming a little less stiff as I started leaking small amounts of positive emotions out, letting her feel them and making sure that none of my current frustration managed to get out. A little social engineer sitting near me wasn't going to leave anytime soon, and I would need to work out a way to interact with her without actually raising any alarms with how much of my emotions were hidden behind the impenetrable barrier of my Skill. There also was the matter of me actually having to struggle through the social life of Moon Dancer, I couldn't just invite the girls to a bar to get a couple of beers and bond with them over the night of drunken debauchery like I did once. These three simply weren't made from the same stuff as normal humans and I honestly couldn't think of a way for them to become drunk enough to build an improvised catapult from garbage and then shoot dead rats at the windows of a museum...
'Ah, good times.' I thought as I stood up and walked towards the line, picking up the ball on my way.
"... Wow." Lemon stared at the final scores of our game, I actually stared with her as we both gaped.
"Well, Moony, I think we found what you're good at something besides worming your way through the libraries." Minuette chuckled as she scratched the back of her head.
"Congratulations!" Shine just smiled at me.
I won, and damn I even left them all in the dust by a large margin while doing that.
Quest Alert Let's Get that Ball Rolling: Participate in the Game of Bowling with your Friends! - Complete! Participate in the Game of Bowling with your Friends and do not take the Last Spot. Completion Award: 500 EXP; +250 Reputation with Minuette; +250 Reputation with Twinkleshine; +250 Reputation with Lemon Hearts Additional Completion Award(Win the Game.): 1500 EXP
Well, this was kind of awesome...
Your Level has Increased by 1.
Your Level has Increased by 1.
I discreetly put all the Points I gained into INT, as right now I needed it the most. The feeling of my Mana Reserves growing still gave me shivers, it wasn't unpleasant by any means, but for a Unicorn something like that was just so alien that the inborn sense of self that I gained from Moon Dancer was kind of screwed over for a moment there. Mana Reserves didn't work like that in the My Little Pony universe, there was a lot of things that could be done but outright growth that doesn't come from an artificial expansion was not one of them. Luna became stronger as Nightmare Moon because she actually got herself an expansion to her fuel tank via that shadowy thing that got her the size increase as well, her own Reserves were the same size but she gets an additional Pool plugged into her drain so to speak.
I didn't have time to ponder on what I was going to do about my situation as I couldn't just train my Reserves into growing with 'The Gamer' keeping them constantly at the same size but Minuette.
"And now, for the victory feast!" I didn't even have to pretend to be Moony to pinch the bridge of my nose and sigh at her proclamation. "To the Burning Stable!"
"And how are we going to afford it?" I asked, that particular restaurant wasn't cheap by any means.
"Oh, don't worry! Lemon will be buying us a meal!" The toothpaste-haired girl smirked. "She received very substantial bonus at work for her effort in organizing the Summer Sun Celebration."
"Hey!" Came the protest from our forcefully volunteered sponsor. "Why am I paying?"
"Because you're the only one with a job?" Asked Minuette.
"Because you're kind, generous and understanding?" Came the voice of young Celestia's stunt-double.
"Because it will make you appear not so sour about it?" I blurted out before I could stop myself.
The trio stared at me as I felt the cold sweat run down my back, and then the blue and white haired girl snorted and started to chuckle. Lemon blink and actually pouted at my jab while Shine patted her on the back with an amused smile that she failed to suppress.
"And that's Moony's first attempt at a joke, we need to write it down and celebrate down the line sometime!" Minuette put her hand around my shoulders and pulled me closer to her. "Don't worry, everyone gets a dud on their first try."
Through the Positive Interaction your Reputation with Lemon Hearts Increased by 50.
Through the Positive Interaction your Reputation with Minuette Increased by 50.
Through the Positive Interaction your Reputation with Twinkleshine Increased by 50.
'... De fuck?!' So I don't even need to actually do any Quests to get an Increase in Reputations? Just being a good person with them would do the job? How does it even work? Well, this is a logical thing to happen, good interactions with someone can get you on their good side even without a Power like mine so there shouldn't be any difference. One thing that irked me was the fact that there really wasn't any instruction for this kind of thing, Han Jee-Han's version of 'The Gamer' was different and had a noticeably more intuitive interface than mine had. It doesn't mean that I had any actual troubles with it, there was one good thing about being rather educated when it came to Computer Games.
"I'll try better next time." I answered with a deadpanned expression, no way I would let her leave me being the butt of the joke. "But right now it's much more important for us to get something to ear, right? Because I don't know about you, but I can feel my stomach asking for a snack."
"Agreed, but maybe you should take a rain-check?" Minuette pinched by stomach with two fingers, making me almost squeak and try to squirm away from her grip. "You're getting kind of pudgy with all that sitting and eating you're doing now, what did you actually had for dinner?"
"Eh... Hay Burger with some roasted potatoes?" I blinked, Moony was somewhat pudgy and kind of lanky at the same time.
"... We really need to get you to eat healthier food." Lemon deadpanned.
"Or get you into the Fitness-Center." Added Shine.
"But I have work to be done..." I protested.
Well, I actually didn't, but it could potentially limit my personal time when I would be able to work on what I would really need. I still had to get to the Everfree Forest and to that castle where I would be able to acquire some very serious reading material, and I hoped some more Skill Books to learn and to improve my own performance. I couldn't spend my whole time in this world sitting inside the Illusion Barrier and hoping for the best, no matter how appealing this option was making out itself to be.
"You don't even have a job." Lemon looked at me with a frown. "You're studying for the sake of studying and that's not normal, I know that you want to be at your best when it comes to knowledge but you really need to find yourself something to do. What about your sister? Maybe she will need some help at her shop?"
I blinked, this honestly came out of nowhere. Morning Roast had a coffee-shop in Manehatten, it wasn't such a big concern for me to actually even consider it and I had my own pride to not be a beggar and a freeloader like Fluttershy's pathetic excuse of a younger brother. I kind of knew about her, but never even considered her anything but a fact because she wasn't in Canterlot and therefore wasn't a factor in my planning of how I would want to handle my new occupation as a member of a Fiction World.
"No." I answered with steel-bound certainty. "I'm not going to become a leech, I can stand on my own two feet and I'm not going to freeload. If I would need some more money I can easily find myself a source of income without the need to burden anyone with my problems."
This was actually quite close to what an actual Moon Dancer would've said, she had her independence going strongly.
"I'm not talking about freeloading." Lemon raised her hands in surrender. "But you can't go on like that, your sponsorship by the Crown will end soon and I'm pretty sure you have no other avenues to go."
She was kind of right, but only had to wait until the whole mess with the Dragon to look his cave and get myself enough money for me to last long enough until the next time. There were at least three instances where I knew I could gain money, one of them being 'Dragonshy' and the other being 'Owl's Well That Ends Well', both having me stealing from Dragons that would be either indisposed or distracted enough to not notice my entrance.
"I already have a good idea how to acquire enough money to pay for everything I would need, don't worry." I answered evenly. "I'm not sure what brought it up again, but I'm not helpless and I know what I'm doing."
This was the third time this month that Lemon tried to get to work. I knew that Moony's position looked kind of bad, from her memories at least, but at the same time, I also knew that she was planning to apply to work in the library next week and didn't tell anyone just yet which was fine by me. Work would only leave me with even less time to do anything worth mentioning, so I would need to persuade them that I was good on my word. And again I actually wondered how thing managed to get so bad in Canon if this was how girls actually acted when it came to Moony and how supportive they were. It was really hard to imagine someone become such an introvert with friends like these three.
"... You aren't going to apply to work in the library, aren't you?" Minuette was the one who asked with a raised eyebrow.
"No, I have a better idea." I actually had to use [Gamer's Mind] to hold back a snort at how good they knew Moony.
"... Bookstore?" Lemon asked.
"No, and I'm not that predictable!" I didn't even have to pretend to feel irritated by their blatant simplification of Moony's character.
"Moony, we know you for years, trust me when I say you can't do anything to surprise us anymore." Lemon shook her head. "And you really don't need to, we love you the way you are and that's how you should behave, like you. We already had this chat before, and nothing changed from before as far as I can tell."
"Nope, absolutely nothing." Minuette agreed.
I pouted at them, something I never did in my life and for some reason felt really appropriate right now.
[ID Create] made it borderline impossible for me to get caught while sneaking anywhere, I literally could enter any property undetected and leave without a fuss anytime I wanted to. There was no limit of how useful this Skill was and how easy it was to abuse it to steal something, which I did but not in the sense like many would think about it. My target wasn't some place well-guarded and there wasn't any lock that I couldn't break with pure brute force, I just didn't want to leave any traces behind or let anyone know that I actually visited it. I couldn't let the girls know as they would get suspicious, it would take me some time to bring up the subject and slowly slip it into the conversation like I did today. After eating at the 'Silver Platette', which was akin of a British high-class cafe, we parted ways after saying our goodbyes and Lemon with Shine hugging me. Minuette attempted to hug me too, but her version reminded me more of something from a Mixed Martial Arts where you try to crush your opponent around the middle.
'These strange minty pasties were good thought.' I felt as sweat rolled down my face as I bench-pressed the rather heavy barbell. Maybe sneaking into the gym after it closed to not pay the fee wasn't such a big thing to use my Power for, but I honestly needed some serious work-out to get this body into fighting shape. I refused to be a person who depended solely on Magic as it was one of the things that led to defeat, I also wasn't going to neglect it as I was using [Telekinesis] to levitate every other weight around the large hall. 'Horsepower' was one of the more prestigious Gyms that orientated more on heavy workouts rather than a variety of different exercises like 'Healthy Horse' did, I had nothing to gain from yoga or gymnastics so it wasn't my cup of tea.
Through the heavy Work-Out your STR has Increased by 1.
I grunted and kept pushing myself even harder, as soon as I was reaching my limit I rested for half an hour while using [Meditation] to restore my Mana and then started to push myself again. There was literally no threat of torn muscles or anything like that as [Gamer's Body] prevented it from happening so I could push myself to my limit and then some if I were to put my mind into it. As soon as the barbell would start to grow lighter I would increase the weight and go on, there literally wasn't any reason for me to stop and I honestly wasn't going to as I already decided that I will get as much as I could from it and not stop until I won't be able to gain more. While I had no clue how I would work on my DEX, I was pretty sure that I had my STR and VIT covered by the simple fact that I was working out like crazy and constantly pushing myself towards the next Point.
A bit like in 'World of Warcraft' where you Raided for items with better 'Numbers' on them so you will have an easier time Raiding for better idems with better 'Numbers' attached to them so they will be able to help you reduce Bosses' 'Numbers' faster.
I wasn't very enthusiastic about my progress, but at least the monotonous repeating of the same action let me do some thinking about my position and how to gain whatever I needed now. I was pretty sure that 'The Ticket Master' was going to happen soon enough, but it wasn't much of a concern to me as I didn't care about that particular clusterfuck. The whole thing with the Gala wasn't my problem as I honestly had no desire to go there and the only reason I may visit the Castle was to pick some books from the Royal Archive via [ID Create] and then get away with it. I suspected that even in such idealistic World there was no fucking way that anything worth reading would be stashed in any place that was known to more than a handful of people, something akin of a secret archive where Celestia would probably keep her most concerning books and scrolls. Dark Magic was a thing, and I was pretty sure that there must be at least something written about it somewhere that wasn't currently buried under several tons of ice and snow, it will be a pain to wait for the Chrystal Empire to re-emerge and for me to actually get there before Twilight.
First order of business would be getting to the Castle and getting all the books I would be able to find there, Inventory will come in handy during this little trip. I would simply take everything that I will find there, probably including Inspiration Manifestation to make sure that Spike won't find it and get Rarity go Twilight-Grade insane. I honestly had no use for it, but at the same time, there was a very good possibility that it will become useful somewhere down the road. The problem that I had with Equestria's Magic is that the books written about it contained more theory than an actual Spells and therefore there was very little chance to find a Skill Book anywhere but in the most secured libraries around the place. The Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters was a godsend right up until Celestia will send Twilight to clean it and read her diary, which is still the weirdest part about the whole thing as later on she gained her Castle of Friendship and the old thing was left there forgotten and mostly untouched. I knew there will be a fuck-ton of traps but at least most of them won't be lethal and none of them would stop someone who could at least somewhat fly, I had it in the bad as long I there won't be any unforeseen problems down the line.
'... Did I just jinxed myself?' I groaned inside my own head.
Tomorrow, or technically today as it was already past midnight, I will be taking a ride towards Ponyville and then using Illusion Barriers to safely get through the Everfree Forest and into the Castle, easiest journey ever if not for the huge amount of walking I would require to do. Well, I would be able to grind my [Teleportation] somewhat as [ID Create] doesn't take any Mana at all and therefore can't be disabled via exhaustion. I needed to get there and back as fast as possible, I told girls that I will spend the whole day just relaxing and the next day we will be meeting again and there won't be any way for me to avoid them without making them think I ran off somewhere. How the fuck did Moony manage to break their friendship in Canon? Maybe she was purposely behaving like an introvert jerk?
I toyed with a thought of trying to steal the Elements of Harmony when Discord will manage to break out and then give them to Twilight and the others so they will be able to put him down faster, but getting the crazy bastard to notice me was one of the things that had no desire to do. I knew just how powerful and destructive the self-proclaimed Spirit of Chaos can be and I had no desire to find out of [Gamer's Body] and [Gamer's Mind] would be able to protect me from being affected by the reality-warping childish asshole with the list of issues a mile long. Also, it will be interesting to see if I could store some of the food he created in my Inventory and test if it will disappear after he will be trapped again. Having a raincloud made out of cotton candy that rains chocolate milk can come in handy as a literally limitless source of food later one, I would be able to replenish my Health and Mana anywhere without limit.
Through the Heavy Work-Out your STR has Increased by 1.
Through the Great Strain of your Stamina your VIT has Increased by 1.
'Thank you!' I smiled as I kept going, the growth of my VIT also gave me much-needed juice to work with and I could actually do this self-mutilating training noticeably longer than when I started. I grunted as I could feel the end of my Stamina approaching, I would need to rest soon but it didn't mean that I would stop grinding as my [Telekinesis] went up a Level several times already and had no indication of actually stopping anytime soon.
'It requires an appropriate Background Music!' I held my barbell with [Telekinesis] and opened the Menu, apparently, I literally had the whole list of music and Songs from the mobile phone and my account in social network downloaded here and I couldn't be happier to be able to hear some familiar tunes. Pressing several buttons I found the song and activated it, the music only I could hear started playing and I again took hold of the barbell. I would need to watch out for someone coming in, but the first rays of the sun that will go through the window will alert me that it would be time to leave. Yes, it was silly to switch-on the music like that, but I always worked better with it blasting into my ears as I did something that required concentration or imagination.
"Frustrated, degraded, down before you're done~"
Another thought struck me, nobody ever found out what actually happened with the remains of armor that Nightmare Moon wore. Maybe I would be able to find it and salvage at least something or even fix it at least partially? it will be awesome to have an armor like that, I didn't know how it looked like in this Universe but in Canon, it looked kind of badass with Sombra's outfit coming a close second. At least I hoped it wouldn't be like on one of those pictures I saw on the Internet, she looked like a severely steroid-addicted amazon wearing enough armor to cover maybe one-quarter of a person.
On the other hand, I hoped that there will be none of that crap that the armor was made of Magic and I won't be able to recreate it. It actually depended on how Nightmare Moon wanted it, she was obviously strong enough to actually pull this off and then make it work for herself like Arturia did in 'Fate'-Series.
I'm still unsure how Bits can be properly converted to dollars, but even then I'm pretty fucking sure that that fifteen of the former was far too much for an early morning ticket to Ponyville! While I didn't argue there was just something really annoying about not knowing the proper value of money you owned, and Moon Dancer didn't have enough knowledge about prices to actually tell me the proper exchange rate. I wasn't sure if it was only me who got unlucky, or it was just the fact that I was literally catching the first train towards my targeted area. In theory I knew what I had to do upon getting there, but even then the sensation of uncertainty in my guts never fully disappeared as the train finally departed from Canterlot.
'Could've been a better time to know about how Stats affect me.' After working out for the whole night and rising my Stats through literally self-mutilation I noticed how normally fitting clothes Moon Dancer had became a bit more tight around me and decided to check. Apparently gaining VIT also reflected on the general figure I had and made me look healthier and much more fit than before with each Point, while STR gave me the muscles that would be shown but not bulge like on those bodybuilders who dutifully swallow a mug full of pills every morning. In the end I was honestly at loss how to proceed, there was no chance in hell that nobody will notice that I was growing taller faster than it was naturally possible. Changing figure I could just hide with baggy clothes and probably some elastic bands, but changed height was another matter entirely.
I packed all the books that Moony had into the inventory, making sure to not leave anything behind so I would be able to get something to read while I was riding towards Ponyville. It wasn't that I had to wait long as the ride was rather short by normal standards, but simply staring out of the window was going to get boring fast and I decided to at least get something useful to do. The book I pulled out, after making sure nobody will notice that I literally got from thin air, was called 'The Nature of Mana Management' and was filled with useful tips about how to properly work on your control and how to safely find your limits. There wasn't anything really revealing in it that Moony didn't already know, but the memories I gained from her were fractured and I really didn't want to stumble upon some kind of a nasty pitfall that would lead to me getting crippled in a crucial moment. I won't earn any INT from it, but at least I wouldn't be as ill-equipped as any normal person in my position would be.
Next on my agenda was also the fact that I needed to find myself a good source of Experience, there was no telling just how man things I would be able to run into by simply living in Equestria and most of the would well above me. [ID Create] was one way to go, I would need to grind it more and find out properly just what I will be getting out of it here. I had no delusions that mine will be the same as Jee-Han had, this wasn't Earth and I was pretty sure that it was kind of important as his friend was well aware of everything that there was inside of those Illusion Barriers. Maybe I will get Timberwolves? These wooden bastards were sort-of tough and could pull a very good impression of Constructicons by merging into an Alpha Timberwolf at a drop of a hat. It was kind of pointless to simply wonder about it as I would get my answer sooner rather than later, I had all the time until the Grand Galloping Gala to train my ass off to be able to survive Discord intact.
I bought a chocolate bar from the passing trolley, one thing that I could freely admit was the fact that the food here was far better than at home. I already tasted apples, much juicer than I even imagined them being able to be in the first place and the taste was just wonderful. There was some things that were actually worse, the obvious lack of meat in the menu was kind of concerning as I had no intentions of denying myself a good old steak or some chicken for the duration of my stay here. I knew that there was some kind of a taboo about it for Ponies, but there had to be at least something out there! Griffins were carnivore and I was pretty sure that they weren't going to simply bow-out on demand, maybe I could visit Griffonstone? If I will managed to get Gilda on my side I would probably be able to persuade her to give me a tour, even if it's a dump at the moment and looks like a Revolution went thought not long ago. Idol of Boreas was also an interesting thing to see, I honestly was curious if it actually was Magical in some way or form or just a pretty chunk of gold that served more as a symbol rather than 'Aura of Leadership'-doohickey. And maybe add some chilly from the Canter Creek? Kicking out those bulls won't be a problem anyhow...
'Damn, and now I want a burger.' I knew that in Everfree Forest there was cragadile, maybe I could pull a Dandy? Nah, it will be too much of a risk for that to actually work out and I had no idea how big that thing was to begin with. The problem was that the whole World was resized to the more human standards and therefore some fauna appeared to be either bigger or smaller than it was in the show and I had no fucking clue how some of the critters in Everfree were altered. While I was planning to take a look and make sure that I at least had a general idea of what I was going to face there, I had no desire to face anything as unprepared as I was now. I still had no idea how to properly defend myself, even with the most basic arsenal I still had a long way to go before I would consider myself ready to take on an Illusion Barrier with actual Monsters in it, be it a Zombie or something easier.
Maybe I should consider some minor interference with the Canonical Events? I could potentially prevent Tirek's escape, but I had no idea how to actually hold him in Tartarus short of killing him and that was troubling. I could probably kill someone, [Gamer's Mind] would prevent me from hesitating if used right and if there was no other option to prevent something bad from happening I would need to take responsibilities and fix the mess that would happen should I screw up. But it wasn't here nor now and I could just put it on the shelf for the foreseen future, but at the same time never fully leave the option out of question for the sake of having it open in my mind.
I turned the page in the book, doing it with [Telekinesis] was kind of tricky and required a certain level of concentration that I was able to achieve solely due to [Gamer's Mind] helping me to keep a complete focus. Good thing to know that I wouldn't ever be stopped from casting Magic by emotional condition or the lack of an actual concentration due to some form of distraction. I had some time left for me and the next Chapter in the book about the possibility of using your own Magic to Empower someone else's Spell sounded rather interesting.
My arrival onto the station of Ponyville was rather underwhelming as not many people were arriving and there wasn't any real reason for the station to be crowded. I was so used to the Underground that I honestly felt kind of weird not seeing anyone on the station upon train's arrival, good thing that I wasn't going to stick around long enough to actually be noticed. Without any further delay I used [Teleportation] to relocate myself onto the roof of the train station and activated [ID Create] out of sight of everyone, this was going to be a long journey and I had no desire to risk being seen.
The problem with Everfree was the fact that there wasn't any actual map of the place and all I had was a very vague direction towards the Castle that I remembered from the map I saw on the Internet, thank you [Gamer's Mind] for the perfect recall. I turned and looked towards the town, locating the Town Hall was easy as it was one of the tallest building there and now I had my first target. I powered-up my [Teleportation] and made another jump, which actually took noticeably less of my reserves than I actually expected it to. Landing on the other hand was less than spectacular as I missed slightly and appeared too high, the small but sudden fall almost made me lose my footing but I managed to grab onto the ramp and not plant my face into the wooden floor. The building itself was rather big, bigger than it appeared in the show and certainly much more detailed than the Series could properly demonstrate to us.
'This is going to be a long trip.' I stood up straight and looked around, due to a big amount of trees I couldn't see my next landmark but I didn't need to as I could see the bridge that led towards it without much in a way of possibility of getting lost. Another jump and I appeared on the road right after the bridge, this was actually my third use of said Skill period and I already lost a huge amount of my Mana onto it. 'How the fuck Twilight could do it with such an ease I would never understand, her Mana Pool should be monstrous in size for her to just shrug off drains like this! Two uses and I'm left with only about half of my original Mana, I need to grind this Skill as much as possible later on.'
This actually was a very good opportunity to do just that, as I again activated [Teleportation] but appeared only about five meters further towards the place I knew to be Fluttershy's house. As soon as I could see my next target I repeated the process, performing short jumps to make sure that I wouldn't miss anything important. This was actually a very favored tactic in some Computer Games where you could somehow grind Skills, you performed them in the safe and controlled environment in short repeated bursts to gain the Experience needed to Upgrade it further. There was an Online Game called 'Rising Force Online' where you needed to actually grin certain Proficiencies with certain weapons or Magic to increase your Ability to use them and deal damage to the Monsters, I once left my Character standing under the assault of a dozen Mobs just so I could grin his Shield Mastery and it payed off as I spent about an hour away from my computer while also gaining something useful out of it. This was a bit different, more like in the first edition of 'World of Warcraft' where you needed to grind your proficiency with weapons to actually hit the target by fighting and I shuddered as I remembered those dark days.
I only managed to reach the house of the Element of Kindness as I ran out of juice and had to stop jumping, this was convenient enough for me as I made my way around it and into the forest that most people described as 'Unnatural' because they didn't control what was happening there. It was kind of creepy whenever they said it, I was honestly more in the group that thought that Nature should be the one to do all these things and not the population who apparently hated it with passion with the shit they said about it. Fluttershy's complain that animals actually took care about themselves there made me almost facepalm, I would've liked to show her that picture of a lion from Futurama that was taught to eat tofu... I think? Well, something that wasn't naturally on its menu and wasn't meat, Faust was giving out so many 'Control Freak' signals then and there that I lost some of my respect for her.
Taking in the sight of Fluttershy's house I kind of felt a small sense of disbelief fest inside my mind, there was no freaking way that this was possible to build without some fuckery with the laws of Nature. In the Cartoon it looked kind of nice a homey, but now it looked more like it actually grew from the ground and just pushed the higher layers up with its roof. It was still rather nice, even if it looked a little different so not to break too many laws of space and time was my guess, but without any actual fauna around it to finish the image it just looked abandoned and even slightly creepy. I honestly wanted to try and enter, maybe take a look at whatever the girl had going for her for the interior design but in the end refrained from doing so. I would have time and a reason at a later date, but right now I needed to move so not to lose sunlight on irrelevant for today things.
As I rounded the house I saw the road that directly lead into the Everfree Forest, I honestly didn't know how long it will take me to get there and I wasn't very inclined to test my LUK by asking Fluttershy about directions. There was always the option of me simply teleporting onto the highest branch and taking a peak while still remaining inside the Illusion Barrier, which I honestly had no idea how big was at the moment. Upon creating it didn't receive any actual information about its size, only that it was present and created by me, or at least I could feel that much at least. If I would run out of space I could just dispel it and the deploy a new one, but I really didn't want to risk it with how my little abominations in there could actually fly. It was hard to actually judge the distance by a Cartoon so there literally wasn't any actual way for me to know how long it will take me to get to the Castle and how far it actually was now. I could only hope that I was going in the right direction as the only knowledge I had was the one from the Shoe itself, and this Universe obviously wasn't Canon.
I reached out as the Menu opened, this will be a long walk and a good song may shorten the wait and make the experience much more enjoyable. Finding the right Track I pushed the button and the music filled the surroundings, heard only by me but no less real because of that.
"Кого только нет у меня в лесу~"
I was actually also going to check if the difference in the Universes would cause the Castle to gain an actual Armory, getting myself a weapon would be a nice touch and I wouldn't need to wait until I will lean and be strong enough to actually create one from pure Mana.
"И заяц, и лось, и барсук!~"
I could go with the hand-to-hand option, but judging by the fact that Celestia of this World carried around a long golden staff with a big symbol of the sun on the top there was something I would need to look into. It was a pity I couldn't use [Observe] on the things from my memory, it would've been interesting to actually know what the fuck that thing did. I knew that it could've been just a Royal Decoration that she carried around for the sake of the image or some other crap, but there was always a chance that it was something more.
"И старый глухарь, услыхавши лису~"
And speaking of Celestia, I honestly felt that people underestimated just how fucking big she was when transformed into a humanized version! I mean, in the Series she was tall but there were things that looked better on paper than in life and apparently the size-difference between her and a normal person was transferred as accurately as possible. She was a freaking giantess that was twice as tall as a normal person! I kind of glossed it over as a memory from Moony's younger days, but after checking for the second time I actually was stunned into silence from the image I saw of the current member of Equestria's Diarchy.
"Взлетает на толстый сук.~"
'I will call bullshit if isn't using Magic for support, these things are literally the size of big pumpkins!' Her flowing rainbow-colored hair that was long enough to reach the ground and a tail of the same length, her white horn that can be mistaken for a freaking spear attached to her forehead and her huge white wings with golden regalia attached to them... I honestly expected many things but this honestly took the cake and the whole fucking bakery with it, I didn't see Luna just yet but I wasn't going to try and guess just huge she will be even if smaller than the Sunbutt.
"И ёж по дорожке бежит, семеня~"
This only spoke volumes about how fucking innocent this World was with the fact that her appearance alone didn't instantly generate an instant boner-fest from the male population. I'm pretty sure that if someone with these gifts would've walked down the street in the normal World there will be some serious consequences and a huge strain on the male population's ability to concentrate for some time.
"К хорошим друзьям на обед.~"
I shook off the image and concentrated on making my way towards the general direction of the Castle, I still had no fucking clue how anyone managed to find his or her way here to begin with. These girls must've been spliced with fucking birds to have internal compasses that fucking precise!
"Fuck you!" I called out from the branch of a rather tall tree I was sitting on. "You and your whole fucking family!"
The Timberwolf and its two clones just growled as they prowled on the ground, making circles around the tree and snapping at me from time to time. They were at it for about five minutes now and at least let me use [Meditation] to regain my Mana, it wasn't all that hard to tune them out after the initial shock of being attacked by the animated piles of wood wore off. I decided to exit the Illusion Barrier and check if there was any clues outside of it, there were some things that just didn't reveal themselves inside of it and you had to see the real thing to know. It took me a minute of meditating to regain Mana and then I teleported onto the highest branch of a tree, trying to gain at least some understanding of my location when I heard the noise and saw these wooden bastards jumping out of the big bushes. I basically missed them by several seconds, there was no way I could've been able to fight them off in a close and personal encounter.
<Spiritual Beast of the Forest> LV21 Timberwolf
But my current position gave me a very nice opportunity to test out a Skill. I raised my hand and pointed my index finger at the Timberwolf that put its front paws onto the tree for leverage to try and reach me, a ball of Magic started gathering over its tip.
[Cero]
This time I didn't make it as concentrated as I did at first and let it show its full size, the cone-shaped beam of Mana slammed into the animated wooden animal with enough force to knock it back and blast off most of its front. I put every last bit of Mana I had into it and kept it going until my reserves ran dry, I managed to destroy most of its body with some pieces being thrown to the sides by the kinetic force of the attack when it connected.
Gained 2,170 EXP.
Your Level has Increased by 1.
'... De fuck?!' I gaped at the sheer amount of Experience I gained from just one of these bastards. This was just too fucking easy, but at the same time I knew that it really wasn't due to the fact that now I had a very good idea just how fucking ridiculously powerful the Titans like Celestia, Nightmare Moon, Luna, Tirek and Discord were. There always was a very easy way to see how strong someone was when compared to you in a Computer Game, you needed to find a Mob that you theoretically can't kill and ask this person to kill it. If my theory was right then Celestia could wipe Timberwolves from existence with her sheer presence alone, if she wished to anyway.
I absently put my newly gained Points into INT and activated [Meditation] to regain my Mana to finish off the other two bastards. I actually used [Observe] on one of them and had to actually snort at the Stats that these things were assigned by my Power.
STR: 53 VIT: 25 DEX: 37 INT: 20 WIS: 10 LUK: 20
This was rather interesting thing to see, and while I knew that these things weren't actually smart the INT was more about the fact that they had Mana in them. Well, to be more precise the Mana in them was used to actually hold them together as they were Spirits possessing big piles of twigs, but the points still was that they had it and not as little as I thought. In the end I just decided to not care as these bastards gave me Experience for almost free and served as good little test-dummies for my Skills, as far as I could see my first test went without a hitch and I still had to of them to try my [Cero] on. They weren't even technically living beings, so putting them down wouldn't be out of place in this World. If my memory serves me right then Applejack actually killed some them herself, and then Spike did the same with an Alpha Timberwolf via a rock to the throat...
'How fucking stupid does they think the kids watching the Series actually are?' That was one of the most anticlimactic victories in the whole damn thing, and I'm counting the whole bullshit mess with Changeling Invasion where Mana was literally generated out of thin air. My train of thoughts was interrupted by the grown from the other Timberwolf who glared at me from the ground, the crater I made with my previous blast right in front of it as it sniffed the remains of its comrade. 'Well, I just have something for you too.'
Once more I pointed my finger and the Mana started collecting on its tip, even making the cool sound that all the Fans loved so much.
[Cero]
Another blast crashed down onto the small clearing that was right in front of me, this time impacting its target directly onto its back and pushing the damn thing down while tearing through its wooden carcass. I honestly didn't mind much about how I was going to spend most of my Mana on these attacks as the reward was making all the recharge time totally worth it. I could practically see as the body of the Timberwolf was torn apart and the pieces shredded by the attack, it was only because these guys has so little in terms of the defense that I could actually pull this shit off with their bodies literally made out of rotting wood and all that. Even with the own Magic holding them together there was very little that actually prevented their bodies from taking damage, and if I remembered right then 'The Gamer' actually prevented them from regenerating and reassembling themselves after I killed them. So I effectively just got rid of two Timberwolves permanently, nothing would bring them back and there was now two less beasts populating the Everfree Forest that everyone would need to be in danger from.
'Goodie.' I smirked as two Windows popped out in front of me.
Gained 2,170 EXP.
Your Level has Increased by 1.
I put all the gained Points into INT and again started to wait for [Meditation] to replenish my Mana so i would be able to get rid of the last wolf. There was something very therapeutic about killing this little shits with such an ease while actually being aware of the whole 'Peaceful Harmony' that was going on in this World, a strange and very warm feeling that left me with a sense of fulfillment. I wasn't going to go on a murderous rampage like some monster, but getting rid of small problems that were plaguing this land with the solution that was obvious from the fucking start and wasn't used because of reasons unknown felt really good. Maybe I could just get rid of the whole problem with the Ursa Minor while I was at it? Nah, there was no chance that I would be able to even scratch the damn thing with my Magic.
I could feel that my Mana was full again, it only took about a minute and a half to fully refill my Mana Pool with [Meditation] and even then it was brutally useful Skill. In most Games there simply wasn't any time to sit and simply recover and you had to drink potions or use Skills with huge cooldowns to restore yourself to a combat-capable condition, in here I felt almost blessed with how much I could just sit around and recover while my opponent simply prowled around while growling at me. There were things that I would need to address at a later date, like that fact that my Mana Regeneration during combat was kind of pathetic and needed some serious work, but it could wait as I took aim again.
[Cero]
Third shot and all opponents were out! This one came out even stronger than the previous two and I could clearly see how it tore through the ground under the wolf while literally grinding the wooden beast into pieces. Cool thing, no matter how many time I look at it, there is simply no other way to describe how fucking awesome it is to be able to simply shoot beams on demand!
Gained 2,170 EXP.
This time I didn't get a Level, but it didn't matter as I gained something much more important in the end. I now knew how my attacks worked against the local fauna, it wasn't a battle experience per say, but it was close enough to it so I could measure myself up against something that would come later on and see if I could beat it or not. A test of strength maybe? Nah, I just basically put my everything into those shots and there was no way I would be able to repeat this performance in a real battle without leaving myself exposed and vulnerable to my opponent. I sighted and activated my other Skill, I still had some things to do and wolves didn't drop anything so no luck here.
[ID Create]
Tracking through the forest when there was nothing but you around was kind of weird, even in my world you could always hear something like a bird or any other critter around you or just the wind blowing through the treetops. In Illusion Barrier the only thing you could hear was yourself as you was the only thing that moved about or mover period as even the wind wasn't present here. After I managed to teleport myself onto the highest branch of the tree and get a good look for the directions I found out that I actually was moving in generally right one, but slightly off.
'Good thing that whatever crap lives around here can't see me, I honestly not sure how I would do against a Manticore.' I knew that theoretically I would be able to pull it off, I just needed to keep myself out of range and then smack it with my [Cero] as many times as I would need to put it down, but there was no fucking chance that I would be able to pull it out on practice. While [Gamer's Mind] gave me a cool head, there was a certain thing such as actual capability through accumulated experience that I needed to take into account as I had none when it came to fighting something or someone. In many Fics the Self-Insert somehow was able to fight off different foes for one reason or another, but at the same time it was never explained where the fuck did they get the sheer Skill that was needed to get their wins. I never wielded a sword and therefore I had no clue how to do anything with it beside swinging it around and trying to hit someone or something with the sharp side, it wasn't like I will suddenly become a Master Swordswoman just because I'm in Equestria now.
Well, technically I would need a Skill Book and a lot of time for grinding, but it would still not be an instant Mastery no matter what.
I also spent time grinding my [Telekinesis], it wasn't that hard to find a boulder big enough to be a proper target and then just carry it around to slowly grind the Skill while making several smaller ones rotate on an orbit around me. Due to the Level of the Skill it was a very slow process, but I honestly couldn't care less as long as there was at least some progress going on and I could actually do something about not standing still when it came to my advancement. Not long ago I came upon the river that left with at least some knowledge that I was coming closer due to me being pretty sure that it was the same one that Steven Magnet lived in, I had enough Mana to simply teleport onto the other side so there wasn't any need for me to get wet. I had to leave my training rocks behind, but I would need all the Mana I could get to fully scout the Castle and then get away without being either spotted or stuck somewhere unpleasant due to the traps that littered the place. From what I gathered from 'Castle-mania' the place could give Castlevania a half-hearted run for her pocket-change on its best day, but even this was impressive all on its own.
While I was walking I had a very nasty thought that due to some unforeseen change in the Timeline or some form of 'For What of a Nail' crap the whole thing with a Shadow Pony would turn out real and I would need to get out of there. While I couldn't throw away such a notion, there simply wasn't all that much I could do without actually knowing what there is to do about a literal ghost. Well, [Gamer's Mind] should prevent it from possessing me, so there wasn't any risk of Nightmare Moon returning through me and the trying to pull the same retarded shit for the second time around.
It took me another fifteen minutes of walking to reach the damn bridge and see the ruins of the Castle, there was no fucking way to describe the whole thing other than as dump. The whole place looked downright abandoned, which was expected, but the sheer level of neglect it was suffering from was downright ridiculous! It was like Celestia specifically assisted Mother Nature in ruining the whole place so nobody would notice how it was housing Equestria's all-powerful 'Win Button' that were the Elements of Racism. I was pretty sure that there was something akin of a Magical monitoring system in place, there was no fucking way that Sunbutt would leave those rocks unguarded, but my [ID Create] and the fact that Elements weren't there anymore should let me bypass that. I will be spamming [Observe] without a pause to make sure that there wasn't any unforeseen surprises for me to stumble upon, but I only had this one chance because I won't be returning here ever again. Or at least until Twilight will get her own Castle, that's for sure.
Using [Teleportation] to get over the chasm, there was no fucking way I would trust the flimsy bridge to not drop me to my death, I started walking towards the very old ruins that were possible holding the solutions to my problems. I was a realist and I knew that there wouldn't be any easy answers, but at least this will be a start and that would mean I had a very nice chance of getting myself something worthy as a reward. As I reached the huge opened double-doors I made sure to scan everything around with [Observe] so not to stumble upon a trap, I could see the weird pedestal that held the Elements' stoned forms in Canon before Twilight and her band managed to turn them into a crown and five collars. I walked in and looked around, inside the Illusion Barrier there was nothing that could even remotely say that there was a World-Changing Event performed right in this half-collapsed chamber and if the Canon was right then...
'So that would mean that the place where Nightmare was finally vanquished...' I looked to the right and saw a tall part of the Castle with stairs leading up to it, I knew that expecting any sort of consistency from Canon here would be pretty stupid but I honestly had no better lead than this. The pedestal and the room itself held literally no value to me, and risking dropping the Illusion Barrier wasn't something I was inclined to do, but the room where there was a chance to find the remains of Nightmare Moon's armor? Now that was an absolutely different matter altogether, I don't think Celestia will instantly drop everything and teleport here if someone would stumble upon the whole thing and I could probably lie my way out of the whole mess with [Gamer's Mind] keeping my emotions in check. For a chance to have something like that in my possession I could take one small risk, and with [ID Create] I would be able to escape faster than anyone would be able to arrive even if I was detected.
Another use of [Teleportation] took me to the top of the stairs, it pretty much emptied my reserves as I walked up and towards the room that held now almost iconic value in this World. I knew that Celestia was going to give Twilight a free reign over this place, but even then I was pretty sure that she wouldn't let her come here before cleaning up the place from some of the more unsavory literature. Inspiration Manifestation was one thing, and while it was powerful from a certain point of view, it was relatively harmless than some of the things I was aware off from my personal knowledge of the Universe I was currently in. I had to wonder if the parallel world from the Comics was real or not, it would mean that Star Swirl's hidden lab was also a thing and I would be able to loot it too if I would be able to actually find it. But that would also mean that the crap about Nightmare Forces and that would mean that I would need to take care of that too, but only if Twilight won't be able to do so as had no fucking desire to live in the World with eternal night going on.
The outer stair of the building lead me onto the inner stair and then into the room that not two days ago was the place of a less than impressive showdown between Nightmare Moon and six civilians that were somehow dragged into this whole thing. Preparing [Observe] I took and deep breath and let the air out from my nose and then dropped the Illusion Barrier and instantly starting scanning everything around me while trying not to move as much as possible. It took me about fifteen seconds to find something that made my mind almost short-circuit from the shock.
[Essence of Nightmare Moon - Level: Legendary] The remaining Essence of Nightmare Moon that still clings to the World in the form of the remains of her Armor. While there is almost nothing left of the Evil Spirit after its destruction via the Elements of Harmony, even in its severely weakened state the Essence possess Power on par with the strongest Unicorns. With the conscious gone there is nothing holding the Integrity of the Essence together and it will soon fade away into Oblivion, its Power forever lost.
'... De fuck?!' I honestly never would've even considered the fact that the remains of Armor were anything but what they appeared to be, but apparently I was wrong. I knew that there was something wrong with this whole thing, Celestia couldn't just leave this lying here without some measure of protection. If someone could find it there could be a brand new Nightmare Moon Incident occurring, and this time with a far more danger as there will be no telling what the twisted mind of the new host would desire to accomplish. The chest-plate, an armored gauntlet and a pauldron looked rather harmless, all made from midnight blue metal and just left on the floor as if they were nothing but a discarded trash. If I didn't know better I would've agreed, but my [Observe] opened an entirely new can of worms that I honestly had no desire to try and even poke with a twenty-meter stick. Maybe this was the real source of that Shadow Pony crap and in reality some poor bastard stabled upon it and got possessed? Fuck, this whole mess was giving me a headache and severely lowered my opinion on Celestia, if she wanted for this thing to disappear on itself then why did she leave it here?!
"... This is one of the things that were left behind the curtain, isn't it?" I muttered as I reached out and touched the remains of one of the terrors of Equestria, that was currently also one of the most incompetent Villains in the Series. As soon as my fingers brushed against the cool metal a new Window popped up and after reading it I felt a little bit feint from the sheer bullshit that was currently presented to me on the silver platter.
This is the Essence of [Nightmare Moon]. Would you like to Absorb it?
I had no fucking clue what to do... There was so fucking many things wrong with this crap that I had no idea how to properly respond to it, I knew that whatever 'The Gamer' was suggesting wasn't harmful to me as the Warning would've popped out and informed me that I was hacking at my own ankles. Han Jee-Han had that safety feature and I was pretty sure that I had it too, but on the other hand there was no way for me to find out for sure as I literally had no way to test it. There were several ways for me to do so, but at the same time I had a sinking suspicious that any one of them would end up with me dead or worse and therefore I decided against any experimentation until I would get a more detailed knowledge about the capabilities of Magic I possessed. Right now I was presented with an opportunity to actually test something like this, and technically with [ID Create] I always had a safe way to contain whatever side-effects would be caused by my little tests. I couldn't do them in the presence of others due to the fact that anyone in Equestria will think that something was seriously wrong with me if I was to start testing Spells made for killing others. There literally wasn't any actual fighting in Canon, and the only proper fight that we saw was between Tirek and Twilight while she was on some serious steroids via Alicorn Magic. Those bitch-fights we saw after Starlight Glimmer screwed up the timeline didn't count as I was honestly unimpressed by them rather than anything else, Celestia could literally incinerate Sombra with one blast but that conflict still somehow took place.
I sighed and shook off the random thoughts that again were coming to me in the moment of confusion, rambling was one of the things I did when nothing made sense and shit was literally flying at my face. Right now I had a choice to make, and I knew that it was the one that I had to make now and hope for the best outcome possible in the end. As I picked up the remaining pieces I instantly tried to put them into the Inventory, but it failed as this thing was technically alive and therefore I couldn't store it no matter what. Simply carrying it with me around sounded rather dumb as I honestly couldn't hid it anywhere and I didn't know any protective Magic that could hide this thing from anyone period. As soon as I listed it I instantly applied [ID Create] and therefore prevented anyone from spotting me or detecting my actions when it came to the Essence, no need to risk the two Divine Rulers of Equestria dropping on my head with their horn blazing.
This left me with either leaving it here, which wasn't an option I honestly was going to consider, or trust into 'The Gamer' and use it to 'absorb' the Essence, whatever that mean. I knew that the original Power wouldn't have let me get hurt, but mine was slightly different and therefore there was a chance of me actually screwing myself over with a huge rusty cleaver. I wasn't sure what exactly would happen, but it self me with several options I could potentially imagine happening.
The first option was me simply becoming stronger, like those little 'Boost Sigil' that in some games you could pick-up to Increase your Stats. I wasn't betting on it as there was no fucking way I would stumble upon such a cheap way of doing things, there was a limit at how broken my Power could be and I honestly wasn't going to hope for the best here.
The second option was that it will act as a Skill Book that will give me some Skills that Nightmare Moon knew, which would be kind of cool as I really wanted that mist-form thingy she had going for herself. Being able to fly like that and get through obstacles via small cracks in their structure would be downright awesome! And if it worked as I hoped it was I could even use it to avoid taking any damage whatsoever by simply shifting into it whenever an attack would be heading towards me!
The third option was that it will actually affect me and make me assume the traits of Nightmare Moon, making me look like her at least partially and therefore being unable to hide my own status from the people. It will be the worst of the best option as it will leave me with relatively free reign while I would need to forever forget about my identity as Moon Dancer and just create a new one somewhere else. Maybe that village that Starlight Glimmer claimed for herself? There wasn't much going on for her and with a simple sneaking I would be able to expose her and her little game while making sure that she won't get away from the lynching mob, I wasn't above breaking someone's legs when their little grudge could lead to the collapse of a Time-Space Continuum.
'Well, future favors the bold, eh?' I pushed the button and accepted the option, if I already got myself tangled in this crap then I would do everything in my Power to make it end well at least for myself. Risking another Nightmare Moon was something I couldn't do no matter what, there was not enough Scooby Snacks in the World for me to even consider it! As the remains of the Nightmare Moon burst into motes of light and the absorbed into my body I felt as if my own skin was too damn tight for me as the sensation of something expanding inside of me grew. Several Windows popped open as the world around me spoon but I managed to regain my footing, I could swear I felt as if something ripped right before the strange sensation inside me finally reached its proverbial bursting point and suddenly rushed all over my body. 'This was so fucking stupid...'
As I finally managed to focus enough to read the Windows I got another interesting news about why 'The Gamer' made my life infinitely easier.
Through the Absorption of the Essence of [Nightmare Moon] your STR has Increased by 25.
Through the Absorption of the Essence of [Nightmare Moon] your VIT has Increased by 25.
Through the Absorption of the Essence of [Nightmare Moon] your DEX has Increased by 25.
Through the Absorption of the Essence of [Nightmare Moon] your INT has Increased by 50.
The Skill [Mana Affinity] has been Created through the INT rising above 50.
Through the Absorption of the Essence of [Nightmare Moon] you WIS has Increased by 50.
The Skill [Mental Serenity] has been Created through the WIS rising above 50.
Through the Absorption of the Essence of [Nightmare Moon] your Skill [Unicorn(Passive)] has Evolved into [Alicorn(Passive)].
Through the Absorption of the Essence of [Nightmare Moon] a Skill [Nightmare Form] has been Created.
'Well, shit...' I could only think as I stared at the Windows that all but spelled out to me how I managed to royally fuck up.
"This is so fucking bad that I can even tell that I'm at the bottom right now and still trying to push through!" I grimaced as I looked at the Window that showed my Stats. "Fuck!"
I sat on the small podium that was in the room and literally brooded, while an unexpected boost in Power and an incredibly was welcomed with open arms the other additions were better left unreceived! I glanced over my shoulder at a huge pair of wings that tore their way out through my clothes, they the same color as my horn as had a huge span that I couldn't properly measure right now. Due to the Skill that I gained from the [Alicorn] I could at least perform some basic actions through them and probably fly without much problem but at a very sedated pace and with borderline tank-esque maneuverability. My horn also became longer and sharper, I could actually stab someone with it like with a spear... that was attached to my head.
On the other hand, the sheer implication of what [Alicorn] gave me were borderline stroke-inducing, Luna and Celestia had these things for more than a thousand years and their Levels were probably in several hundreds which meant that they were pretty much monsters in terms of sheer Power. And then I remembered that Chrysalis managed to beat Celestia somehow... And Cadance... And then I remembered that she was preparing an invasion that would potentially made her clash with Celestia in a one-on-one combat... The only thing that stopped me from curling into a ball and starting to suck my thumb was [Gamer's Mind] that stopped me from having a panic attack and think rationally, there was a Canterlot to consider and I was pretty sure that there won't be a 'Dragon Ball'-Level fight going on as Sunbutt won't let loose with so many innocent bystanders present. Turning the Capitol of her Nation into a smoking crater would be a poor idea when she was still at large and in-charge in Equestria, it will be her weakness as she won't be able to use her whole Power to squash the Changeling Queen like a bug without risking the lives of people around her.
'At least the boosts in INT and WIS are good from something.' I thought bitterly, this whole situation was a disaster and I could only blame myself for it. In theory, I could still salvage it and probably manage something bearable out of it without anyone noticing, but... There was no fucking way I would be able to hide my wings from the public, they were just too fucking big and I had no way of concealing them other than cutting them off. There also was a fucking chance that they will actually grow back as I would eat something and therefore will restore my own Health back while also repairing any damage done to me in the process. My altered appearance also bore some serious consideration, you can't just gain fifteen centimeters over a day and this was also what I couldn't hide along with my now rather noticeably curvy body. I could practically feel as if someone was laughing at me right now, some higher Being that was responsible for my current situation was obviously getting the kicks out of my misery and there was no other way to put it.
My clothes, that were quite baggy when I put them on, were not tightly hugging my body but at least they were still good to go and I won't risk going commando. I could still do something about my position, there were things that I honestly had no idea how to handle but they were rare and in-between and mostly were about how I was going to handle any social interactions from now on. One thing I knew for sure was that in no fucking case I was going to reveal my new status to Celestia or anyone who would snitch on me to her, I would prefer death before becoming a crowned Princess of Equestria for very obvious reasons that anyone would see if they were to look close enough.
It was time to move, as I already lost half-an-hour to simply sulking about what happened instead of trying to actually do something about it myself. There wasn't any easy win here, and there won't be a miracle that will fix everything in my new and temporary life, I had to move on my own and I had to do so with my own two feet down the road and into the World... And I just managed to sound incredibly lame and corny inside my own head. But at least it was true, nothing will happen if I won't work for it to actually happen, so it was time to finish what I came here for and then leave to never come back. There was no way for me other than up now, I managed to dig myself into a really deep hole and the mess wasn't going to clean itself...
'And now I'm rambling again.' I sighed and stood up, this was just me stalling for time that I could be using to actually do something productive. Concentrating on the image of the entrance to the Castle I activated [Teleportation] and vanished in a flash of light, appearing right where I needed to be and with a far less drain than before due to my new Skills and much more solid reserves. Now I needed to find the Library, and then clean it up while still being on high alert to prevent anyone from noticing me and then running away from here as fast as possible towards my new home and using the whole night there to figure out what to do from here now on. Getting all the books available was one of the things I was going to do anyway, so there was a big chance that I will be able to find something in there that will let me hide my new appearance from everyone. I wasn't sure how developed was Illusion Magic in Equestria, but there was a big chance that there was a Spell for invisibility and I would be able to at least partially apply it to myself to hide my wings.
Walking through the entrance again and then heading towards the path that led directly towards the big stairs, there wasn't much to go by and the only other way for a quick search was by flying around and searching for the hole in the roof the would lead me right into the library. At least I had a general direction thanks to the 'Castle-mania' and its literal bullshit of a plot, while it was a horrible source of proper directions as the turns and twists that the girls went thought made Hogwarts look like a straight line there were simple facts that I could work with. With a single use of [Teleportation] I was on the top of the stairs, I walked to the right and made sure to look under my feet so not to trigger one of those shitty booby-traps that made the floor open and then close over your head. The corridor was mostly made out of stone blocks, an odd picture here and there left a lot to be desired but I couldn't care less as I made my way towards the inner chambers of the former home of Equestria's Diarchy.
It took me about twenty minutes to finally locate the right room, and I honestly could tell that the place was huge! Canterlot's public library had more books in its disposal, but this one had it beat by sheer quality over quantity when all the modern books were accounted for. I opened my Inventory and prepared for the most crucial part of my visit, with the new and improved Mana Pool I would probably be able to do this in one go without dropping any of the books and I would need to be fast as I still feared that a lot of things could go wrong at any given moment. Taking a deep breath and then releasing the air through my nose I dropped the Illusion Barrier and instantly started grasping books that lay around me with [Telekinesis] and shoving them into my Inventory at an accelerated pace. I didn't even bother to read any labels as I simply took everything and was going to browse through them at a later date when I will have the time to do so alone, an old and crumbling relic of the bygone era wasn't a proper place for that.
Book after book flew from their shelves and disappeared into my Inventory, I could feel the drain on my Mana and it was far lesser than I could imagine it to be with so many objects being manipulated at the same time. Without stopping I walked towards the nearest chair and pulled on its back, but nothing happened and I moved to the next one that made the secret entrance into the Princesses' Chamber to open for me. I stretched my influence over the books inside and pulled them all towards me, whatever Celestia and Luna had privately for themselves couldn't be worthless so I needed to take these books too. The only thing that I didn't touch was their private diary, I had no desire to actually read it and there wasn't any actual information that I would need inside of it.
Logically my next step would be to search for the treasury or for the armory, but I knew that it would be a futile endeavor as Celestia wouldn't have left anything like that behind no matter how bitter she was about Luna and the whole thing with banishment. I still held a certain cave as a possible source of my income as soon as the Dragon inside would be given the boot, maybe I would be able to even buy myself a better equipment than what Moon Dancer had in her possession at the moment. From a purely optimistic point of view I basically skipped a very serious time of grinding by pure accident and therefore could actually spend time grinding my Skills so they would be able to catch-up to my sheer Power. I was still nothing when compared to the likes of Discord, Tirek, Celestia, Luna, Cadance, Shining Armor, Sombra, Starlight Glimmer, Sunset Shimmer and Twilight Sparkle, but today I too a very big step forward in department of sheer brute force, the only thing left for me to do was to apply a lot of finesse to it.
Suddenly I detected a resistance against my pull that followed by a click and the sound of the wall sliding away, I turned around only to see an entrance to the chamber that held Inspiration Manifestation. Well, searching for the right book would've been a long and boring process, but by simply pulling in all of them I actually managed to open the hidden door in a record time. I walked towards the door and looked at the lock, Spike melted the thing with his fire but I didn't have such an option so that left me with relying on a pure brute strength and the small hope that it wasn't made very sturdy. I stopped collecting book and used my [Telekinesis] to grasp the padlock, steadily adding more and more Mana I started pulling with as much force as I could apply. I could hear the groan of the metal as it bent under the force of my telekinetic pull and then with a screech the tore through the ring that it was locked upon and crashed into the far wall of the library with enough force to tear through the solid rock and leave a hole behind.
'Maybe I used too much Power...' I opened the door and walked inside, making sure to watch where I was stepping and I walked up the stairs that were hanging in the air over something that closely resembled a bottomless pit. The book made out of stone, with spikes and a strange mark on its cover was lying on the pedestal under a ray of green light that looked like it was coming out of nowhere, as I approached I could make out the sounds of bats that apparently took their residence in this particular place and no my arrival woke them up. I wasn't going to risk using [Teleportation] for this one, if there was a protection against it or an alarm system I wouldn't be able to tell and it would probably cost me a lot more than I was willing to give up. As soon as I grasped the book I saw a Window appearing right in front of me.
This is a Skill Book [Inspiration Manifestation]. Would you like to Learn this Skill?
I pressed the acceptance button and instantly dashed back down the stairs, finishing my run with a big jump as I landed onto the floor of the library and could hear as the stairs behind me were collapsing. I smirked, this was going far better than I expected and as I listened to the door behind me closing I again reached out with my [Telekinesis] and started collecting books into my Inventory. I also called out my Skills Window and looked at the new Skill, it wasn't all that impressive on the surface but, in the end, it was cool nonetheless as it severely boosted my performance when it came to the Magic that was considered my 'Special Talent'.
It took me another minute or so to finish gathering all the books that were in the library, I even lifted the table and made sure to check behind the bookcases so not to miss anything worth taking. With the Royal Diary being the last book left I could safely say that I managed to accomplish my task for today, even if it came with absolutely ridiculous side-effects that made me want to swallow a whole bottle of Tylenol. Making sure that I had everything I used [ID Create] to produce an Illusion Barrier and then teleported out fo the Castle, it will be a long way home because I now had no actual way to use the train. Well, I did gain a pair of pretty nice wings and I should probably test them out at some point in the future, so why not now?
Flying for the first time sucks, no matter how much the fans of Peter Pan would protest to that. While I technically knew how to fly and for to the basic maneuvers like taking off and landing, there still was a huge gap in my knowledge when it came to actually doing something other than flying in a straight line. I didn't even have the memories to work with here, Moony was a Unicorn and therefore had no real experience with flight one way or another, this was a whole new field of experience that I had to work through on my own. One good thing was that [Flight] actually counted as Magic due to me actually using Pegasus-Aspect of my Magic to properly fly in Equestria and actually feel the air currents that I had to adjust to while trying not to fall down, and as such fell under the effect of my boosted [Cutie Mark] and gained Experience pretty fast. While I was still rather slow in the air, the progress was being made and in a good direction.
I was high enough to actually see the Ponyville and therefore I didn't need to stumble around to find my way back, the whole thing with me returning to Canterlot also was solved by the simple fact that I could actually see the damn thing from here. It was huge and was sticking from the side of the mountain like a sore thumb, there was no way I would be able to miss something like that without being both blind and stupid. The flight there may be a little too much for me, but if nothing else it will let me get used to the wings and will get me so much needed Experience into that Skill. While flying there I would also have enough time to properly think things through, as my identity as Moon Dancer was all but gone I was in dire need of some place to stay where I can have a reasonable privacy and possibly somewhere close enough to civilization that I wouldn't need to hunt things down to make clothes from their skins and grow my own food. This was really a bleak way of thinking as there literally was no place in Equestria that would let me stay unnoticed by anyone, there was always someone out there who would manage to alert Celestia like a very dedicated Deus-Ex-Machina.
'And then there is the matter of what to do with all the books I now have.' Most of them would probably be useful, but in the same time they were literally useless as almost none of the were Skill Books. I didn't touch any of them, but at the same time I knew that there couldn't be that many of those there as they were very rare in Equestria. I probably could develop some Magic from them, but at the same time I was far more versed in simple and direct Mana Manipulation than any of the complex crap that was mostly written in them. I wasn't interested in most of those Spells as they were pretty much useless for me, maybe some of them could b re-purposed with enough work but it would be just a lot of hard work a not so worthy gain in the end.
On the other hand I was now much better equipped when it came to grinding Skills as of now I had enough Mana to spam them nonstop, [Flight] didn't take much and I regained more than I lost with it so discharging several [Cero] during my trip back to Canterlot wasn't such a big deal. Initially I only wanted to test just how much damage it will do with my new upgrades, and then it was just for the sake of seeing the Golden Oak Library getting torn apart while I flew over Ponyville. Seriously, I literally annihilated the whole place and a chunk of surrounding area with one blast and kept it going until about half of my Mana was gone, the tree-building was fully gone and the surrounding ones looked like a bomb went off nearby with some of them eve collapsing outright. Han Jee-Han did pretty much the same thing with his huge overpowered Rasengan, but he had less Mana than I do and the Skill was different in execution so I was still far less destructive than what he had going for him. Good thing that I only did it while inside the illusion Barrier, or there would've been a lot of dead people involved with some of them being literally disintegrated by the blast.
Now that was what I could call an acceptable starting point for my own little journey, as long as I will stay out of the big picture and keep myself hidden from everyone there shouldn't be much of a problem further down the road. New big thing will be the mess with Gilda, Trixie and then the Dragon that I would need to rob blind while he will be dealing with the Main Six. I didn't know the actual timing, so I would need to somehow find a way to keep myself informed about the happenings in Ponyville and plan accordingly to the events that would be unfolding there in the near future. I was pretty sure that 'The Ticket Master' held no actual value to me as I had no plans to do to the Gala or even be near the Castle at that time, 'Applebuck Season' also was a bit of a waste of time with how it was literally just Applejack being too proud for her own shoes and therefore there literally wasn't any real reason for me to be present there. It gave me about two weeks of time to deal with the matters of my disguise and how to handle the questions about my changed appearance, which was one of the main problems I would be facing during my stay here.
I mentally went over the things that I would need to do before the Gala, including the whole mess with two Dragons, Gilda, Trixie, a Cockatrice and maybe Diamond Dogs if I were to play the whole thing by the ear and get myself something even remotely resembling a digger. I knew that those mutts weren't very bright and I could probably trick or force some of them to dig me a tunnel to the Chrystal Caves under the Canterlot and then start experimenting there, it was a long shot but it would let me get Cadance out of there at a later date and prevent Chrysalis from doing more harm than she would otherwise. And I would need to do all these things before Gala, which would led me to question of I actually could pull something like that off in the first place. Well, it wasn't like I needed to do all this things in that order specifically anyway, these were just the most obvious points that I would need to work with and I honestly couldn't think of anything else before the whole mess with Discord.
As much as I wanted to I had to wait before taking out Starlight Glimmer because I sure as fuck wasn't strong enough to do so now, it wasn't such a big things as she only enslaved a small village for now and technically wasn't hurting anyone just yet. I would need to take her out before she would start to fuck-up the Timeline with her little petty grudge-race, I wasn't sure what would happen to me if she was to be left free to do so as I literally wasn't a part of this World but only this one specific Timeline. Would I be erased? Would I be reinstalled into other ones? I had no fucking clue and no actual desire to find it out. The only other being that would be able to screw me like that was Discord and I was planning to just wait him out inside an Illusion Barrier until everything will calm down, risking him noticing that there was something off about me was as much of a bad thing as Celestia finding out about me being an Alicorn.
'Hm... Will it be worth it for me to interfere with the whole mess during 'The Chrystal Empire'? I could probably score some books there and maybe even get Sombra's horn...' If the whole thing with Nightmare Moon's Essence wasn't a fluke then I was pretty sure I could so something like that with the remains of Sombra and theoretically get myself at least some Skill in Dark Magic. [Gamer's Mind] would work as a buffer that won't let me go insane from use of it and it was an insanely powerful asset not to exploit, there literally wasn't any actual reason for me not to use it other than the whole social view on the damn thing. Did I care about how others thought about me? Not in the slightest. 'Decisions, decisions...'
The train-ride on the train got me to Ponyville in about an hour, my flight back took me three and a half and that was with me pushing myself with what little capability I actually had. I was getting better during the whole thing but I still had no actual way of properly maneuver myself without risking an emergency crash-landing. I finally landed onto the outskirt of the city and just decided to screw everything and used [Teleportation] to get home faster, the distance was small enough for me to actually manage it without fearing screwing up.
I appeared in the main room of Moon Dancer's house and just collapsed onto the nearest chair, it was like a huge weight suddenly was lifted from my back and I finally could take a proper breath. While [Gamer's Mind] did a wonderful job of protecting me from emotional pitfalls, it didn't make me emotionless and even if I could ignore my own distress and perform as if there was none it was still there and I could still feel it. I wasn't really all that worried about the whole trip in the beginning, but the whole ordeal with me becoming an Alicorn made most of my plans be derailed very thoughtfully and without any real chance of salvaging them. I hoped beyond all reason that there won't be any more surprises like this down the road, but I also knew that there really wasn't any chance now that my existence in Equestria will be as peaceful as I originally wanted it to be. That door was closed for me now, but at least several others were still open and if I could just properly use the opportunities...
I collapsed the Illusion Barrier and instantly I could head the sounds of the living and breathing Capital right behind the door, it was only about four in the afternoon and the city was bursting with activity as all the people living here were going somewhere. I could almost imagine the carefree crowd passing the house not even knowing that they were not that far away from the new Alicorn on the block, there will probably be shocked gasps and sound of something breaking as they will probably drop what they were carrying...
"Oh, I didn't hear... What the?!" I could hear a gasp and a chocked exclamation from my left, the sound of something heavy hitting the floor came next.
'Yeah, something like that...' I blinked. 'Wait, what?!'
I turned to my right and saw Minuette sitting on the floor, she wore a sky-blue sleeveless T-shirt and a dark yellow skirt along with white thigh-length stockings and sandals. Her eyes were probably the size of dinner plates as she stared at me with her mouth slightly ajar, strange squeaky noises coming from it as she apparently lost the ability to communicate. She lifted her right arm and with a shaky movement pointed at me with her index finger, apparently this action was suppose to be accomplished by words but all she managed to get out was the sound of mouse farting.
"... I can explain?" It came out most as a question than a statement.
And when I couldn't think of a way it could turn out any worse...
"Oi, Minuette, what is keeping you so long?" Lemon Hearts walked down the stairs. "I know that you... wanted... to... Eh?"
The Empathic girl slowed down to a complete stop as her eyes fell on me, her expression frozen and her eyes also getting as big as it was physically possible. She stood frozen on the last step of the stairs, her expression of curiosity still in place as apparently her mind decided to go offline after facing with the impossible fact of her friend suddenly gaining a pair of wings. She was still in her yellow T-shirt and green jeans from yesterday, the only change were the beach-slippers that she was wearing now.
Minuette answered her with another squeaky release of air from her lungs.
"... Will it make it easier to acknowledge if I will admit that it was an accident?" I asked, [Gamer's Mind] helping me with remaining calm and collected.
"Girls?" Came Twinkleshine's call from the second floor. "Is something wrong?"
I could hear her footsteps as she followed Lemon down the stairs and walked into the main room of the first floor. She wore a flowing white sundress with strange pink drawings on it that were probably meant to be stars but came out looking more like starfishes having a stroke. She looked around curiously, her eyes passing me as she looked from Lemon to Minuette and then back, it took her a couple of seconds to register the anomaly in the scenery as she slowly turned and looked at me.
"... Hi, Shine." I tried.
She nodded slowly and a smile appeared on her face.
"Hi, Moony... Surprise..." Was all she managed to get out before her eyes rolled back and she lost conscious.
I barely was able to catch her before she would've collided with the floor, if not for my improved DEX then there was a chance of her getting a concussion there. I didn't waste any time as I lifted her bridal-style and walked around Lemon and the stairs towards the bedroom.
"If you have any questions then lets go upstairs where we can let Shine rest and recover, it won't do us any good just staring at each other." I said as I reached the second floor and entered the bedroom.
After deposing the unconscious girl onto my bead I just sat near her and waited for the other two girls to finally snap out of it and follow me. I knew that there literally was no way for this day to go any worse, the only thing that was missing now was Celestia showing up on my doorsteps with a full orchestrate and a tiara while proclaiming me the new Princess of Equestria. That would be a disaster of literally titanic proportions and I shuddered from even thinking about what would happen then, getting myself phallically acknowledged as a Royalty will all but chain me down to the spot while at the same to producing an indestructible golden cage around me that will prevent me from ever finding my way home.
Minuette and Lemon didn't run as I actually expected them to, they just walked into the room with the toothpaste-haired girl coming first and they just stared at me. I honestly felt a little bit uncomfortable as their blank faces made me feel as if I was the most fascinating being in the world right now and they simply didn't know how to react to the collapse of the fifth dimension that my existence signified.
"Explain." Minuette was the firs one to break the silence. "Now."
"The short version will be that I pushed myself too hard to move forward, and this..." I motioned to my new wings. "... happened because of it. I honestly don't have a better explanation other than that right now, but I going to be working on one in the near future."
"... What?" Lemon just stared at me, her voice flat and emotionless.
"Imagine it like me overstepping my own limit and my being trying to catch-up to my performance." I smiled sheepishly. "There is a lot more to it than that, but the gist of it is that I did something that pushed me far above the natural limits of myself and as a result I kind of managed to... force myself over the edge?"
I couldn't explain it better than that, my assimilation of an Essence of an Alicorn was what actually did the job but my explanation still was as close to truth as I was willing to go. The Essence did push me over the edge and triggered the Ascension via literally breaking the hardwired limits of my being and bulldozing through them at a rather rapid pace. It was only a guesswork by this point, but with what I felt during the whole thing I could safely say that the crap Celestia spewed about how Ponies become Alicorns was mostly just to make Twilight feel special in some way. I wasn't going to actually run around and tell everyone that they can become Alicorn if they were to push themselves hard enough, because I was pretty sure if I was to push myself as hard as the Essence did me I would die.
'Not a week here and I already discovered something pretty fucking ridiculous... Neat.' I wanted to snort, but didn't as I kept up my calm mask via a very thoughtful use of [Gamer's Mind].
"... They are real." Minuette stared at my wings with blank stare, it was like she was trying to will my wings to disappear so the Reality around her will start making sense again. "You have real wings."
"... Surprise?" I couldn't hold back a little bit of a cheek, it was one of my normal defense mechanisms and I rarely used it like that.
"You're an Alicorn." Blue and white haired girl slowly walked up to me and very slowly and gently stretched out her right hand, her index finger extended to touch my left wing. As the tip touched my feathers I could see her eyes widening even more, she stood there frozen for several moments before her eyes slowly shifted so she looked directly at me. "They aren't fake, right? They aren't some kind of props that you managed to acquire, right?"
"No." I could understand her hesitation about acknowledging my new Status, but we really needed to move start moving forward, at least with baby-steps. "They are real, and not produced by any Spell, Illusion Magic or a horrible reconstructive surgery that worked with stolen body-parts."
"... Moony, you will have to explain it to us a lot more thoughtfully, because this... sound too unbelievable for us to work with." Lemon sighed, closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose. "You just come out of the blue and become an Alicorn, I'm pretty sure that it's not how it suppose to work! The only three Alicorns in Equestria are the current Princesses and just pop out of nowhere and just drop... this on us is too much even for me to take in."
I was a bit confused by her last comment, but then I remembered that she actually worked in the Castle and therefore had a moderate amount of contact with Celestia. She was probably already used to the presence of the Princess and was able to acclimate somewhat to the whole 'Divine Monarch' thing, Luna's arrival probably managed to kick her out of her usual routine and that's why she was able to take such a prolonged vacation from her job. It wasn't like Luna was unwelcome, it was just the fact that she came basically out of nowhere and the population of Equestria was never good at their reaction to sudden changes that came without even the tiniest shred of warning. Most of the citizens probably just slept on it and moved one, some would probably still need some time to digest the news but for the most part it will just just them whole Nation getting used to the fact that they now have Diarchy rather than Monarchy.
'Celestia sure knows how to drop a bomb, I'm pretty sure she did it intentionally just for the sake of shock and awe that it will produce in the masses.' I honestly wasn't sure if I was impressed with the perfect bombing or amused by the fact that it actually worked with how much the local population resembled a mob of bumbling idiots most of the time. I opened my mouth to answer but stopped when I felt a tug on my left wing, I looked and saw Minuette apparently trying to to remove one of my feathers.
"... Ehem." She stopped moving and looked at me with a rather sheepish smile while looking like a child that was caught with her hand in a cookie-jar. "And what exactly are you doing?"
"Eh..." She blinked and then looked at her hand that was still holding onto the feather. "Testing if it's real?"
"... Right." I deadpanned.
I stretched my left wing just enough to not make it touch the wall, making the girl release the feather, and then with a fast and precise movement I literally slapped Minuette with it. I didn't use any amount of serious force, but even then the strike was strong enough to actually make stumble backwards. Lemon managed to step to the side so the toothpaste-haired girl missed her and then stared at my now outstretched wing in wonder, Moony wasn't very versed on Pegasi's physiology but I was pretty sure that there were some things weren't really normal even for the humanized versions of the mystical winged horses.
"Auuu..." My winged snapped back into a folded position as I turned my head to look at the now slowly awakening Twinkleshine. "... Wah?"
"Shine, are you alright?" I watched as her eyes slowly opened and she raised her right hand to her forehead as her face morphed into a confused expression. "You fainted and really scared us there."
"Moony?" She mumbled and blinked, her eyes still a bit unfocused. "I think Minuette pranked me again. I could swear that I saw you with wings, and with a much more curvier body... and wings... and..." She blinked again and frowned slightly. "And then I don't remember what happened... Did I drink one of her experimental drinks again?"
I grimaced from the memory that floated onto the surface, during the school Minuette tried to make an improvised cider in the chemistry lab and ended up with something that I labeled as an unholy child of hallucinogens and Ecstasy in a liquid state. Shine tried it, good thing that she wasn't physically fit or we would've had a lot more trouble restraining her and preventing her from trying to strip and then eat the chair that she claimed stole her children. Then she curled up in a ball and started mumbling things about how Princess was responsible for her having only one arm and three legs while swearing vengeance against the purple flying toilet that was trying to takeover Equestria with peanuts and rubber-bands. We managed, somehow, to haul her stoned ass into the empty basement and then write to her parents that she will be staying with us while we waited out on her episode. It was a good thing that Twilight wasn't there, the Pet with a capital 'P' would've reported us imminently to the teacher and we would've been expelled.
"No." I sighed and watched as her eyes slowly widened, apparently it took some time for her to fully comprehend the information. "It's all true."
For a moment there was silence, and then Shine slowly got up into a sitting position and stared blankly at me.
"You somehow became an Alicorn." I nodded. "You now have wings." I nodded. "... So you're a Princess now?"
I blinked and then shook my head.
"No!" I waved my hands in denial. "Being an Alicorn doesn't automatically make me a Princess! And even if they would ask I will refuse!"
Shine blinked, then she blinked at me again and then her face morphed into an expression that of child who was told that Christmas was forever canceled.
"Why?! It will be so cool!" I blinked at the girl that not a moment ago was borderline catatonic and not looked at me as if I drowned all of her puppies. "You can be like Princess Celestia and Princess Luna and Princess Mi Amore Cadenza! And we even can be your Maidens and all work in the Castle!"
"I don't think it works like that..." I began but was interrupted by the still devastated girl.
"And then we can go on all those Diplomatic Missions with you so we extend the connections of Equestria and spread the Harmony around the World." Twinkleshine's little flood of fantasies wasn't stopping. "And the, when one of our Allies will be in danger we can swoop in save them, you Royal Presence making others see the Errors in their ways and accepting Peace and Happiness in Friendship!"
"... Shine." Even Minuette apparently managed to snap out of her stupor and try to address the problem on hand.
"And then you will fall in love with one of our enemies, who will turn out to be a Commander of their troops and you will have to fight with your heart while crossing blades with him." My left eye twitched, this was starting to sound borderline retarded now. "And he will feel the same, but you will have to fight and in the end you will come victorious while he will be locked in prison and you will be visiting him from time to time as even the bars of his cell won't stop the flames of your love..."
"Shine!" Lemon interrupted the girl with a firm call. "What did I tell you about all those books and how they will make your brain rot?"
"But.. but... but..." The pink-haired girl stammered as she shifted her eyes from me to the two girls that were now giving her deadpan looks. "But the Love, the Tragedy, the Romance, the Plot!"
"Shine, I'm pretty sure that there will be none of what your described happening in any future that I will agree to live in." I said with even tone. "Your fantasy of my time as Royalty won't come true as I would never accept the position as a Princess."
"... Why?" Minuette asked. "Isn't it like, I don't know, an every mare's dream? I mean, having a crown and living in the Castle, having servants on your beck and call, bathing in all those High-Society creams?"
"Yeah, and the responsibilities coming with it are far more than what I would ever be able to accept, there simply not enough pros to outweigh the cons here." I shrugged. "Princesses... They are the Symbols and they are the Royals of Equestria, but they are also the ones who lead the Country and the ones who are at the helm of everything that is happening around here. Their positions are like that of a very beautiful birds in golden cages, they are the ones that uphold the Country and I'm honestly not selfless or stupid enough to just surrender my freedom for the sake of some rather questionable bonuses."
"... You're telling me that you won't accept your now Royal status because you're lazy?" Lemon looked at me as if I grew a second head instead of wings.
"What? No! It's nothing to do with me being lazy or anything like that, I just don't want the position." I scratched the back of my head in frustration, trying to come up with a proper explanation. "Listen, it's more in terms of me simply wanting to do something else rather than being a Princess just because I'm an Alicorn now. No matter how other gush over it and how everyone think that it's a very prestigious thing and a dream come true, it's not what I really want to do and honestly can't see myself doing at any point in the future."
"I see.." Lemon looked thoughtfully at me and then nodded, as if coming to some very enlightening realization. "You're an idiot."
"... Pardon?!" I honestly gaped at her. "How the fuck did you come up with that conclusion?!"
"Moony! You just told us that you don't want to become a Princess!" She shook her head. "Did you hit your head or something?! This is not something your can just wave off with a 'Don't wanna!' excuse, it's not even something that can be acquired by anyone! You literally passing an opportunity to become the Top of the Ponykind!"
"Because it's not what I want to do in life!" I answered back.
"... Moony." This time it was Minuette that talked. "We're your friends and we're both behind you no matter what you will decide, but are you sure? I mean, it will be awesome for you to become a Royalty but at the same time if this isn't what you really want I can see how the position won't really appeal to you. I can understand how things like that can work out badly, you know how my parents wanted me to become a dentist?" She chuckled. "They even wanted to call me Colgate if I wasn't born a mare, but at least that pitfall was avoided. You don't want to be a Princess? Fine. But can you at least tell us how are you going to hide your... this." She motioned to my wings. "There is no way to avoid being seen like that, you need to leave the house sometime."
We three stared at the usually cheerful and upbeat girl that had a little too much energy in her, the serious tone that she used now clashed so hard with her usual persona that I would've probably pinned her down and call Lemon to checks if she was a Changeling if not for [Observe] telling me exactly who she was.
"... Who are you and what did you do with Minuette?" Also, it didn't mean that I couldn't have a little fun at her expense.
"What?!" She squawked while losing her compose from the question. "Hey!"
"Maybe she's being controlled by someone?" Asked Lemon.
"Hey!" The target of our teasing actually pouted. "I too know when to be serious you know!"
"Sorry." I chuckled. "And I already have it covered."
I knew that I had to do something to earn their agreement, simply disappearing and then not being seen by anyone wasn't an option and to get their cooperation I would need to extend some trust here. I honestly wasn't sure if it was my own idea or Moon Dancer's lingering desire for friendship and fear of loneliness that I still could feel in her memories, but there was only one way to go here without becoming a hermit. Trying to explain it on the other hand would be a much more difficult thing altogether, while in a Harry Potter Universe telling someone that 'A Hologram Deer showed me the Way.' will earn you a respectful nod, here Magic actually was studied and much more in lines of Science than that of a Mysticism. Explaining how Illusion Barrier worked would be a problem, showing will have to do and only then I would need to work on how to properly explain the whole 'spawning monsters on demand'-thing.
I knew that it wasn't a smart idea to tell them, but I wasn't a cretin who thought that I was alone and had to bear my own weight for the duration of my stay here. It wouldn't be like I would tell them that I was some human that was pulling a pretty fucking amazing Scott Bakula imitation on their friend or anything like that. But revealing some of the truth may be an actual boon for me if my idea of how these girls will react hold true. On the off chance that they will react negatively I would just need to leave them inside the Illusion Barrier and find a way to cross that particular bridge without drowning.
"And how exactly are you going to do so?" Lemon looked at me with a raised eyebrow. "Illusion Magic never was your thing and I'm sure you don't know any, so...?"
I sighed and used [ID Create] to deploy an Illusion Barrier while also pulling all the girl with me, I could see by their sudden frozen expressions that they noticed that something was off about the whole thing.
"What...?" Minuette looked around. "Did you feel anything right now?"
"Yes, I did too..." Shine looked at me. "Moony, did you..."
"It's properly called an 'Illusion Barrier', but in reality is has nothing to do with actual illusions." I explained. "Look outside."
Minuette blinked at me but complied, she walked towards the window and glanced outside. It took her several seconds, but she noticed one crucial part fo the environment that was now missing and that actually solved all the problems I would have with moving around the World without being noticed.
"Okay... Where is everyone?" She was still looking, trying to find at least someone out and about.
"What?" Lemon looked at her curiously. "What do you mean?"
"There is nobody there, literally!" Minuette actually opened the window and leaned outside to get a better look at the street. "Not a single pony on the whole darn street!"
"Oh, they are there alright." I smiled a little. "It's just that we aren't inside the same house anymore."
"... Moony, just explain it please, I honestly have no desire to play that game right now." Lemon looked at me with a bored look.
"You're no fun." I snorted. "Well, technically, we're in a pocket dimension that I created just now that copies the original landscape and fully exploitable with an overlaying layout that we have to take into account upon our leave. Basically, it's my personal copy of the world that I can create on a whim and which is overlaying the real one with absolute precision."
"Huh?" Minuette blinked at me from her position near the window.
"Okay, this is just creepy." Minuette said as she looked inside the store that sold writing supplies. "Unbelievably cool, but still creepy. It's like we're walking through one of those 'Ghost Towns' from the books Shine read, but without the whole romance gig going on and us being in need to repopulate the World."
I blinked and looked at the pink-haired girl whose face was approaching the color of her hair now as she walked near me.
"... I don't want to know." I shook my head and turned back to Minuette who now was walking on my left as we made our way towards the Castle. "Well, this basically is a perfect copy of the Real World, but without anyone alive in it, and anything that will happen here won't bring any consequences onto the actual Canterlot. I'm unsure about its actual size as I literally flew from the Everfree Forest to here and didn't need to actually resummon it even once, I was planning to test it sometime later thought."
"Wait, what were you doing in that forsaken place anyway?" Lemon looked at me with a raised eyebrow. "I understand that with this thing you can't be found or harmed, but why go there in the first place?"
"Books, I went to the Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters there where I collected all the old tomes that were only collecting dust, now they are at least become of use at least." I smirked as I remembered the other things I acquired there. "They are safely stored inside another pocket dimension of mine that I have attached to myself, it's a whole damn library and I'm really looking forward to studying these relicts of the bygone Era. I'm pretty sure that there are more in these tomes that was actually forgotten by the Equestrian Magical Society over the thousand years that they were just rotting there for nothing."
I noticed how Lemon was looking at me with a deadpan expression.
"You ransacked the Old Royal Library..." She said to me in an even tone. "You raided the ruins of the former Royal Castle that are technically can be considered a Historical Monument and stole every book there."
"Well, when you put it like that it does sound bad." I snorted. "But honestly, nobody would care that some of these books were to vanish, they were there for thousand years and if Celestia never bothered to retrieve them then I'm pretty sure that 'Finders Keepers' applies to this situation."
"... There is no way it works that way." Lemon pinched the bridge of her nose. "Alright, assuming you won't be hunted down for desecrating a Historical Monument, what did you actually get from the whole trip without counting a ton of literature and a pair of wings."
"Well, you do know that Alicorns are like a mixture of all three Pony-Type only better?" She nodded and I lifted my hand, my finger pointing towards one the stores on the right of us, this one sold clothes apparently. "The boost in Power is very substantiation."
My horn came alight as a small orb of Magic started collecting at the tip of my finger, the characteristic sound accomplishing it.
[Cero]
The blast itself roared to life and instantly tore through the shopwindow of the store, I'm not sure what happened next as the Magical equivalent of the famous attack was too dense for me to see through but at the same time I could tell that the building was blasted through without any problem. I let the attack die down naturally and then observed the damage done, I wasn't disappointed as I saw that the roof was there only because it was holding onto the two building on its sides and nothing else. The back-wall was gone as the wall behind it, anything inside was torn to sherds and I was pretty sure that most of the merchandise was simply incinerated by the blast.
"That was awesome!" I almost jumped out of my skin as Minuette appeared on my side. "I know that most Unicorns can blast things like that, it's one of the first things that we do, but that was borderline insane at home much pure Magic was put in there! And you don't even look winded at all!"
She was borderline bouncing on her heels from the excitement.
"Well, no. It wasn't all that draining and I did receive an increase in Magical Power after my Ascension..." I frowned, the blast was actually a bit too cheap even with my boost. "I think that not only I have more Mana now but it's also much more potent than before."
I couldn't actually explain to her about my Skills providing an additional kick to my Mana, there literally was no way for me to do so without sounding crazy or stupid. There was also a very interesting point that whatever crappy proof about my 'The Gamer' I would be able to put together will be simply dismissed as a somewhat obscure Magic or an Illusion. There was simply no way or reason for me to bother trying to tell them about my Power as it won't change anything other than actually giving them the reason to doubt my words or thinking that I'm in need of some serious professional help.
"Damn." She crossed her hands on her chest. "Now I too want to become an Alicorn so I would be able to pull things like that on a whim!"
"Well, given enough time I would probably be able to develop a safe way for you to do so." I said nonchalantly. "From what I understand it's not that hard given certain facts that I managed to gather about my fluke of an Ascension, it will take some work and you will need to actually train really hard to..." I stopped and looked at the three girls that were behind me as they all three stared at me with wide eyes. "What?"
"You're serious, aren't you?" Asked Minuette with a blank look.
"Well, yes." I nodded. "Why wouldn't I be? You're my friends and I wouldn't leave you behind, that will be a very bad thing to do."
I actually never bought that crap that Celestia spewed about how Twilight gained her wings, it was so stupid that I honestly felt that she simply was bullshiting that girl simply to cover-up the real way how Ponies became Alicorns in the first place. My theory was that Twilight simply managed to gain such a fantastic proficiency in field of expertise that she only needed a powerful enough source of Energy to push her over the edge so she could gain her wings and all that crap that came with it. She basically did it through Skill rather than through Power like I actually did, her own version was probably more Natural than the brute-force one that I undergone by absorbing the Essence of Nightmare Moon. I honestly couldn't see anything wrong with finding a way to do it without Bullshit-Spell-Ex-Machina or 'The Gamer' to do the heavy lifting for the person who was going through the process.
"Wait, you're seriously considering just giving us a way to Ascend?!" Lemon's exclamation ended in a rather embarrassing squeak.
"Why not?" I asked. "I know that from the side it looks like a big deal, but I can tell you that it's really isn't." I sighed. "You all think that it's something big and grand and majestic that takes you on a whole new Level of Existence, right?" The girl hesitantly nodded. "Well, that's bullshit and all it was a flash of light and me in need of a new wardrobe due to my wings literally tearing its way through he back of my shirt. Whatever romanticized fantasy you came up with is probably miles away from what it's actually all about, everyone have the capability to perform go through the Ascension and all you need is to surpass what it means to be your particular Pony-Type. Princess Cadenza was a Pegasus for fucks sake and she pulled through no problem without the need to perform some unholy surgery to gain herself a horn so she would be able to cast Magic before Ascending!" In my agitation I involuntarily spread my wings, still needed to get used to these things. "Why would I hide something like that from you three?"
Honestly, I owned them nothing from the personal point of view, but the memories of Moon Dancer and the fact that they lost a friend because of me made me want to somehow earn my stay here so to speak. Damaged memories or not, I knew that these girls were the reason Moony started to pull out from her shell and they stuck with her when she needed them the most, and I took away their friend that they actually cherished and the least I could do was to actually become a good friend to them. Maybe it sounded as a misguided attempt to somehow justify my own presence and Moon Dancer's apparent demise, me stealing her face and all that came with it, but in the end it was my life now and I wasn't planning on simply throwing away people just because they weren't the ones I personally befriended. If they were assholes or some kind of villains I would've dropped them at a first opportunity I would've came by, preferably from the cliff just for the sake of the sake of the Wilhelm Scream. These girls cared about Moon Dancer, and I would feel like trash for the rest of my life if I wouldn't at least try to be a good friend so not to cause them any grief over the loss of one of their friends.
Through the Positive Interaction your Reputation with Lemon Hearts Increased by 2,500.
Through the Positive Interaction your Reputation with Minuette Increased by 2,500.
Through the Positive Interaction your Reputation with Twinkleshine Increased by 2,500.
You're now Revered with Twinkleshine.
'What the fuck?!' It was the only thought that I managed to get out before I was glomped by the pink-haired missile.
I grimaced as I looked over my newly Leveled-Up Skill, apparently I now needed to invent a phone because I fucking called it! The next Illusion Barrier I gained didn't contain Zombies, it didn't contain anything even remotely as awesome as I hoped it would be. There were kicks in the guts like the Night Watch that pissed all over what the book was all about. Then there were kicks like Naruto that literally showed us how fucked up and pathetic a plot can turn out to be with the Author running out of ideas how to make the Main Character that sucks so much that he breaths spunk instead of air defeat the Villains that are so fucking awesome that fucking Reality bow down to them. And then there is this crap.
[ID Create(Active) LV2 EXP: 0.21%] Used to create Instant Dungeons. Stronger Instant Dungeons may be created at higher Levels. Currently Available ID List: 1. Empty ID - Monsters: None 2. Poring Grade-1 ID - Monsters: Porings
I honestly wasn't sure how to react to this. After I spent the rest of the day with the girls, explaining things to them took some time and I had to find my way out of several rather inconvenient situations, I decided to simply grind my [ID Create] as I was pretty sure that now I was ready for at least the first Monsters that it would throw at me. Apparently I was wrong as I was simply too strong to actually gain anything from these little thing as they were borderline nothing from what I remembered they had going for them in Ragnarok Online. They were literally the lowest of the low and had no value other than being the butts of the jokes that were thrown around the Gaming Community during the peak of the Game's popularity. They were also the symbol of the Game and had a very big fan-base in the Internet, the trinkets with their adorable faces were sold almost instantly and there was almost no person who didn't have a small metallic keychain attached to their keys or a mobile phone.
I was a big fan of the whole thing too, played as an Assassin Class and was kind of a big shot due to me being rich and equipped enough to take on almost every mob that I aimed for personally and without any help. This little revelation was like a small breath of the past that somehow managed to stay fresh for decades that went by, while I knew that these things couldn't pose a threat to me due to the fact that I could fly there was a certain warm and bubbling feeling in my chest about seeing these adorable blobs attacking me.
'Eh, I'll take them as they come.' I chuckled and then called out the new Illusion Barrier. Without hesitation I opened my house's door and stepped out, there wasn't anything I could gain from simply waiting and I honestly was interested in seeing what the hell my [ID Create] did to Porings. As soon as I stepped out I was greeted with the very familiar and welcomed sound, it was hard to describe it for someone who never heard it but at the same time anyone who heard it would imminently know it for what it was. I looked around and saw at least several dozens of these little pink blobs jumping around with the characteristic squeaky plops of their jelly-like bodies against the hard surface of the street. 'Damn, they are just too cute to kill, but I need to see how much I can get from them so...'
LV1 Poring
LV1 Drops
I flapped my wings and flew up, and only after rising higher than the rooftops did I fully comprehend the sheer numbers in which these invasion happened. The whole city was covered in the literal sea of pink and light-orange blobs that were literally everywhere, apparently this Illusion Barrier contained not only Porings but Drops too and I now had to eradicate them. Using a quick [Observe] I could safely say that these things didn't even have the smallest chance of ever harming me, they simply were too weak to do so. I lifted my right hand and my horn came alight, a small ball of Mana started collecting over the tip of my index finger.
[Cero]
The beam of destruction impacted the ground under me and I could see the explosion killing the little jello-monsters the size of beach-balls with absurd ease. I didn't stop pumping Mana into my attack and simply started moving may hand over the street and letting the beam destroy everything in its way. Window after Window were popping out in front of me but I ignored them for the sake of keeping up my attack going, there were enemies to defeat and I was going to see if I could at least get something out of this or I should just spend some time grinding [ID Create] until something much more sufficient will be accessible.
Gained 50 EXP.
Well, the haul when it came to Experience wasn't all that big but I wasn't all that disappointed as I simply could m genocide these little guys by hundreds and there will a very good reward coming my way frat that. There wasn't much in a way of knowing what kind of look I will be able to gain here, will it be something like from that Game or will it be something completely different? Only testing will tell and I could probably keep this up all night long and not get bored, simple mindless destruction was always fun no matter what others would say about it. If there was no consequences then why bother holding back when you could let loose and just flex what Power you had? I knew when to stop and [Gamer's Mind] wouldn't let me become insane idiot hellbent on destroying the World around me for shit and giggles, if I would ever find myself in need of taking over Equestria I would do it the smart way and simply use the same methods as many other people used in their time. I will buy it through the ridiculous amount of money I would potentially be able to gain if these little guys dropped Bits.
I only stopped once to spent the Points I gained after killing a bit more then two dozens of them and gained a Level for that, as usual everything went into INT. I didn't stop my attacks after that, all of my small targets apparently saw or heard as their comrades were dying and decided to come and try to avenge them as the streets were literally flooded with wave after wave of Porings and Drops hopping towards where I was hovering. Some of them were dropping from the roofs and some even coming from the building, but they all were going in the same general direction and that was directly towards me as I hovered above the building and watched in fascination as a huge pile of colorful blobs was slowly growing on the street. These guys weren't really intelligent or anything like that, the problem was with them just taking someone on with sheer numbers alone... But against me Quantity didn't work at all against my overwhelming amount of Quality, and because I could fly and shoot doom-lasers from the height they simply couldn't reach no matter what!
'If you aren't cheating, you aren't trying, right?' I pointed downward where the now huge pile of adorable targets gathered for me to kill them for Power... And I know how screwed up it sound and I honestly didn't care. If things were as easy right now as they were going to be later on then I honestly couldn't complain as free things were always welcomed. I kept going with my [Cero] being shot towards the accumulated pile of Porings and their tanned brothers, each time I saw enough of them coming together in one spot I delivered a devastating blow of areal bombardment onto their heads and just enjoyed the gained Experience. This was probably going to take awhile, but I didn't care as there was all night ahead of me and I was reasonably pumped-up for some good killing with how many of these guys were coming at me from all sides.
I also had the time to think about what girls said to me, the whole conversation went in a very strange way that I couldn't exactly properly explain even to myself. They actually wanted to help me, I could guess that they would be eager to hear what I was planning to do about my new Alicorn status, but their desire to help me literally came out of nowhere. I could think of a couple of ideas, simply letting them loose here was one of the ideas I was honestly entertaining as I glanced at the jumping blobs of light-orange and pink under me. They could actually gain Power here, at least if my theory how things worked here was right and I could actually empower them through the Illusion Barrier. My theory was basically that the Monsters that are killed doesn't disappear, but the Essence that they were composed of is absorbed into the body of their killed to reinforce it and that's how I gain Experience from killing them. At least this was what I thought was happening, it could be something absolutely different and my whole idea was pure bullshit pulled out of an ass so the only thing I could do right now was to test of the Boss that will spawn here was as easy to kill as the others little bastards that I killed already too many of.
I couldn't create a Party, I already tried it earlier that day and it failed to react to any command I could come up with. The function of simply teaming up with them was apparently out, so I was going for the option of making them work their asses out and then gain a substantiation enough progress for the whole thing with an Ascension to happen on its own. I wasn't sure how I would do it, but I promised so it was at least something I could do in my free time until the Crystal Empire will re-emerge and I would need to depart there and make sure to clean-up their library too. I wasn't going to fight Sombra, the bastard was crazy and pretty fucking strong from what I saw him do in Canon, and I had no desire to test what he could do with those Black Crystals of his and Dark Magic that made him all but indestructible. Love-Blast-Ex-Machina was bullshit on its own, Ponies actually managed to weaponize Love and turn it into an Energy Bomb, even the Elements of Racism weren't as fucked up as the Crystal Nuke was when you will think about it more thoughtfully and deeply. Well, at least I could hopefully say that even with my rather limited understanding of the working of the Elements I could say that they won't do shit to me, I wasn't Evil and couldn't care less about Harmony if I tried so there was nothing that I had against those Rocks of Pony-Supremacy.
It took me a lot of time to wipe off all the Mobs that were present and by that time I already gained a couple more Levels and finally my INT breached on hundred and I could enjoy the two new Skills that I gained from it.
Since your INT passed 100, you will Gain a Random Ability related to you Brain Function.
New Skill [Magical Sense] Created.
Since your INT passed 100, you Gained the Passive Skill [Medium Mana Capacity].
Since your INT passed 100, you Gained the Passive Skill [Mana Regeneration].
While the second and the third Skills were expected, I was a little bit surprised by the first one as it was different from what Han Jee-Han gained upon his own passage of this particular INT number. It was said to be a random thing doing on, so I probably just got a different number on my dice. And then I actually felt how it was to have [Magical Sense] going in your head and I instantly started praying that it will somehow become an Active Skill, the constant buzz at the back of your head and the fact that you're literally aware of all the Mana around you makes it really hard to actually think clearly. I could kind of shield myself with [Gamer's Mind] and then additionally suppress the damn thing with my own free will, but fuck if it wasn't hard to do so for the first time as I struggled to regain my equilibrium and a proper awareness.
"Pori!" Came a rather squeaky battlecry from below me.
"For fuck's sake, shut the fuck up already!" I screamed at an overgrow Poring that jumped under me along with ten of his little bastard-clones. "For five fucking minutes, keep your trap shut! Wait for five minutes and I'll come down to kill you, just let me get my fucking headache under control!"
LV15 Mastering
'I'll kill you slowly...' I gritted my teach as another wave of dizziness overcame me and almost knocked me down from the sky but I managed to keep myself afloat... somehow. This fucking Skill really needed to come with a manual how to properly operate it without giving yourself a freaking migraine, apparently it didn't have any even ground and either I could fully suppress it or it would be working full-throttle with its range rather large and my mind still not fully adjusted for the intake of information. 'This is going to be a long night...'
Killing Mastering with one blast was awesome, it honestly wasn't all that strong and if I was still a Unicorn I probably would've been much more hard-pressed to finish this particular Illusion Barrier, but with the ability to actually fly I literally had nothing to fear from these guys. A nice chunk of Experience wasn't a bad gain too, I was honestly more disturbed with the fact that it was just too easy for me to finish this whole thing and my guts were telling me that it just couldn't be this simple no matter what my eyes were telling me. There also was the fact that I wasn't sure if I actually finished all the Mobs or some of them were still out there waiting to be found and killed by me, at least they will disappear when I will dispel the Illusion Barrier and that was good.
'And now for the much more pleasant part!' I grinned as I looked at the pile of things that I actually managed to salvage from the killed Mobs, apparently they did drop Loot and a pretty good amount of it. Mostly I gained apples, and I actually now had a lot of them with me as almost every third Poring dropped one for me to collect later on. They only restored my Health and not that much of it, but free food was free food and I just put them into my Inventory for the sake of having something to heal myself with other than relying on [Meditation] all the time. It wasn't such a hard thing to do either, they stacked and I even ate one for a test and damn these thing were delicious! Whatever Han Jee-Han got from actually killing his Legion Zombie had nothing one these apples!
Money weren't an issue anymore either as apparently Porings did drop some, even in small amounts they were just so numerous that I honestly couldn't care less as the total income was still very substantial. This was one problem solved if I ever was going to run out of Bits and that idea I had for the Dragon's treasures wasn't going to cut it, I still didn't have any idea just how much money I would gain by emptying the cave so there was always that.
I also found Cards, and I mean it literally. The Cards that were dropped by the Monsters in the Game were also dropped here and I could collect them for the sake of... doing something with them. I honestly have no idea what I was going to do with these things as they were obviously not for Inserting into garments of any kind, so I was a bit lost while looking them over. I only gained one Poring Card and one Drops Card, and while I knew that theoretically I could just get more via a genocide of said Mobs I didn't want to take any risks and waste something that could help me later on. While these were relatively useless Cards, they were all I had and therefore I had no desire to lose them due to my own fucking incompetence, while I could sacrifice the Poring Card I had no desire to lose Drops Card as it actually gave me DEX for fucks sake. Well, it gave me only one Point but it still was one Point more than nothing, and it was all that counts for me to decide that it was much more useful than the one that gave me LUK.
This is a [Poring Card]. Would you like to Use it?
I sighed and pressed 'Yes' just for the sake of knowing what the fuck did these things do in the end. The Card in my hand glowed and broke down into motes of light and then they absorbed into my body, there wasn't any actual outward changes that I could feel so I really wasn't sure if I should be disappointed or not, the Window that suddenly appeared told me what to do.
Through the Use of the [Poring Card] your LUK has Increased by 1.
'... Bullshit!' I instantly checked my Stats and there was an actual Point added to my LUK without it being a Bonus or anything else! There was some insane crap that could be pulled through sheer convenient cheating like I did with Porings, their inability to fly like I did made it almost too easy to kill them without even lifting a finger, but this was on the whole new Plain of Existence of Bullshit if I could simply gain Stats through fucking Cards. This wasn't as much of a Bullshit as it was a sheer Game-Breaker given form, I wasn't sure if I should be jumping and whooping in joy or feeling kind of cheated because it took me a lot of time that I could've spent killing these things to get to this point. Sure, me becoming an Alicorn was awesome and all that, but this was a true goldmine that would let me gain Points that were literally so hard to come by that I wasn't sure if I would ever find a way to gain some from any other source than using the Points I would get from Leveling-Up.
I instantly pulled the other Card that I got and used it too.
Through the Use of the [Drops Card] your DEX has Increased by 1.
"Bullshit has Officially been Doubled!" I grinned at the Window and then dismissed it.
"Well, maybe not the most efficient way but close enough to it." I mumbled as I slashed at another Poring that tried to headbutt me.
It took me some thinking but I finally managed to find a proper balance of things being done at the same time that wouldn't fully drain my Mana, but at the same time it won't let it drop too low without me being able to regain it through the quick use of [Meditation]. The biggest drain that I was currently having was me using [Telekinesis] to make a rather sizable chunk of a building to hover behind me and follow my progress through the street as I slowly but surely made my way through the horde of small adorable terrors. While I was aware that there were easier ways of grinding this particular Skill I honestly couldn't figure them out myself so I simply went with the most head-on approach I could imagine and just tore a building apart and took a large part of it to put a sizable strain on my [Telekinesis] and therefore make it easier to gain Experience for it.
Another thing was that I actually finally tried out [Nightmare Form] that actually was pretty fucking awesome all things consider, and while I looked scary as fuck and I was pretty sure that nobody would even recognize me with how different I looked I didn't want to risk it. My hair turned fully black and my skin paled to the ash-gray color, my nails became black too and sharpened into claws and my teeth also sharpened giving me a shark-like smile. My tail became a thin long black cord with a black tuff of fur on its end, it looked remarkably like what Ulquiorra had in his [Resurrección: Segunda Etapa], it was really flexible and strong and was about three meters in length. My wings also became black and leathery bat-like, with turfs of black fur at their bases on my back. From what I understood about eh Skill it too the most 'Nightmarish' appearance I had in mind and crafted my form after it, and as a big fan of Bleach I knew the two most awesome fighters there being Ulquiorra and Ichigo in his full Hollow Form, apparently the Skill pulled mostly on those images while making my form and this was the result. The black turfs of fur: two starting from my collarbone and stretching around my neck, one on each of my wrists and ankles also came from Ichigo, while the hair-color, skin, wings and the tail from Ulquiorra, and in the end I also had my eyes recolored with the irises being golden yellow and scleras being solid black. The last pieces of the transformation was the fact that my normal horn vanished as I gained two new long forward-pointing horns on the sides of my head that were copies of the ones that Ichigo had: flat, bone-white with black lines going in the center on their upper sides toward the tips.
'And holy shit did I look scary!' I was pretty sure that I looked like something out of a nightmare that crawled into the living world just for the sake of killing something. I even renamed the Skill, apparently I could do it so I took a great pleasure of now knowing that I had [Murciélago] as one of my own personal Skills that I could call upon at any given moment. Yes, I sounded like a total nerd and an otaku, so what? Nobody here knew about 'Bleach' so nobody would get the reference with the sole exception of Discord, but I had no idea how far his knowledge of the Multiverse actually extended so it was a safe bet that he won't recognize the obvious similarities between me and the Characters.
There were another two Skills that I created solely for the sake of actually developing my Close-Combat department and they were also going pretty nicely. The first one was [Mana Sword] that let me forge an actual sword out of my Mana and as long as I was able to supply more it would remain in existence, the drain wasn't as big as [Murciélago] or my current [Telekinesis] had on my Reserves but it was still far more than what the little happy blob behind me needed to live. Between these four Skills I actually had a decent time losing some of my Mana, even if at a rather slow pace but still there was a very noticeable drop in my Reserves and I even had to use [Meditation] a couple of times to fully restore myself. It was a rather simply straight katana-like blade that I used to chop things with, I didn't possess any actual mastery in wielding a sword as I never even held one to begin with so all I could do was to make sure that the sharp end was hitting the target and that was pretty much it. I also gained [Sword Mastery] and slowly I was able to somewhat turn my wild swings into something that even remotely approached sword-strikes, I still sucked but at least I didn't suck as badly as I did at the start even if by a very small margin.
My tail shot forward and smacked another Drops that tried to jump me away killing it in the process, my sword preoccupied with cleaving the nearby Poring in two. This was going to be a very tiresome several hours and I could feel that tomorrow will be even more of a headache than I could expect it to be.
"What the hell are these!?" Asked Minuette from her position on the floating piece of the wall that I was holding up with my [Telekinesis]. "They look like blobs of jello with eyes and mouths."
"They are so cute!" Called out Shine as she laid on the floating slab of rock and I could swear her eyes were actually sparkling as she stared at the pink mass below. "Can we have one as a pet? I would be able to take care of him, feed him and imagine all the cute clothes I would be able to put on him!"
"Shine, I'm pretty sure that they aren't for taming." Lemon deadpanned as she held her pink-haired friend by the collar of her dress to prevent her from trying to jump down. "I'm not even sure why Moony is showing us all this, they don't look as dangerous as you described them to be." She looked at me. "What are we going to do here?"
"Battle-training!" I grinned as the three girls looked at me with blank expressions. "And don't give me those looks, these things are nothing more than training dummies and not even alive to begin with. They are Magical Constructs that were created from the Mana in the air when I deployed my Illusion Barrier and therefore aren't really living beings as much as solid illusions. Think of it as a test and an evaluation of what you're really capable of, go wild and lets see what we will have to work on."
It was morning and the girls came back as we agreed, they weren't as shocked by my Alicorn status as they were yesterday after they had the time to sleep on it. I wasn't very worried about them actually spilling the beans about me, they were friends and they were also trusting me to tell them the truth about everything today after they finally digested the first bomb I dropped on them. I'm not sure what excuse Lemon was using, but apparently she was able to weasel herself some time off work to get together with us and discuss the pressing matters. While I wasn't exactly sure what these girls were thinking going to happen, they sure as hell wasn't expecting what I was going to drop onto their laps. After the second time I finished off the Poring population and I also got myself one more Poring Card I deemed the thing safe enough to use is as an introduction into the world of 'Grinding and Leveling', I knew that Minuette took some Karate Classes and knew a thing or two about how to throw a punch I had literally nothing on Shine and Lemon.
"... But they are so cute!" Shine went limp with a crestfallen expression.
"... There is something really wrong with you if you think we're going to fight them." Lemon said as she observed the pink population of the Illusion Barrier. "These guy look like they barely can hold themselves together, why would you want us to actually fight them?"
Because I wanted to see them in action, not that there will be any actual fighting involved as they probably won't be able to actually pull anything worth noticing for a while but the point was still there. They will gain Experience and their Levels will grow, this was the main point of me making them actually do this crap instead of giving them the books I had in my Inventory. Oh, I head some very interesting tomes that I was going to share with them, purely theoretical and mostly useless for me but for them they could serve as a very good source to kickstart their own growths and I was going to force developments down their throats by myself if it will become necessary. But to start with the books they will still need to develop at least some form of foundation, without it there wasn't any way in hell there will be any stable growth in the future for them.
"Because I said so!" I smiled. "Girls, you asked me to get you going right?"
"Well, not exactly." Lemon blinked at my phrasing. "We asked you to show us how you reached the point where you managed to get yourself a pair of wings."
"You also displayed the desire to get yourselves these things too, right?" I saw them nod, Shine was still laying on her chest and being held by her collar by Lemon so her nod came a bit awkward. "My way of doing things is getting better until you will literally surpass yourselves, and that means that you would need to grow to do so. As I already told you, my Ascension was a fluke where I managed to push myself too far and over the edge by pure accident, to repeat something like that you would need to managed to recreate all the circumstances of how it happened to me. That's imply impossible to achieve, there won't be a second set of such convenient thing aligning together for anyone else to pull this off and believe me, I know!" I sighted at their looks, Shine and Minuette were already on-board but Lemon looked a bit skeptical with [Observe] confirming it. "Girls, if things happened even a tiny bit differently, I would've either died or turned into an insane monster that would've ravage Equestria until one of the Princesses would've put it down."
"What?!" Minuette and Shine were looking at me with wide eyes, but only Lemon voiced her disbelief. "You could've died?! What did you do?! What were you thinking while doing something that could potentially kill you?!"
I actually was telling the truth, without 'The Gamer' my body would've either failed under the strain of the Mana invading it and either broken down or detonated liked a bomb, or Nightmare Moon's influence would've shattered my mind and left me a monster that would retain basic functions of the mind and all the malicious intent of the Mare of the Moon. Many people actually never took into account how fucking old Nightmare Moon was, one thousand years of bathing yourself in malice and hate doesn't simply leave you untainted and even her own Essence alone would've shattered my feeble in compassion Mind like glass with its invasion into my brain. Nightmare wasn't a physical being, she was a Spiritual one that covered Luna like a body-tight suit and her Essence carried all her malice and insanity in it in the form of a basic imprint and I actually was fucking terrified when I learned what could've happened to me without my bullshit Power. I had to read at least three very thick books about the mechanics of the Magical Possession and how Spirits worked to get the general idea of these outcomes, I was pretty fucking lucky that at least there was no actual Mind backing all that Power that I absorbed.
"Something incredibly stupid, and potentially really dangerous that I did upon a hunch and ended up with more than I could ever hope to gain." I answered with a bitter smirk. "I know you want to know, but please trust me on this one that there is no danger anymore and I'm never going to do something like that ever again. It was a spur of the moment thing and I couldn't wait as the chance was literally slipping through my fingers, I decided to perform a metaphorical 'Leap of Faith' and ended up better off in the end. I know that you want to hear more about that..."
"Damn right we want." Muttered Minuette.
"... but what matters right now is for you to actually listen to me and hear me out." I grinned. "I promised you to make you all Alicorns, right? Well, seeing as we really can't spend next several decades developing enough new Types Magic for you all to Ascend and I'm not sure that Celestia will lend us Elements of Harmony to actually provide the whole thing with enough Power to happen... Well, we will need to do it the old-fashioned way, through a lot of hard work and pushing your limits!"
"And how beating-up living jello will help us with that?" Asked Lemon.
I was glad that they agreed to drop the subject for now, but I could see in their eyes and read through [Observe] that they all were far less than satisfied with that. I would need to come at least partially clean at a later date, telling them about [Murciélago] will be especially interesting. But it wasn't here nor now, so I could at least relax for now.
"Good question!" I smiled. "The harder you will push yourselves, the more you will eventually gain through effort and through strain that you will be put under. We don't have the resources to make something like a training room and this whole thing around us is the closet thing I could come-up with for now. We will have to make due here, training will be hard and I'm sure there will be some very harsh things that I will be requiring you to do in the future, but it will all be for your own benefit."
"You do understand that we aren't fighters, right?" Lemon asked. "I never fought in my life, Minuette knows Karate only because she wanted to find some outlet for her energy and Shine barely can utter a bad word. The three of us aren't actually all that fit for the whole thing, I see what you're trying to do but it won't cut it with us."
"Oh, but it will!" My grin became a bit more malicious. "The most someone grows is when they are put under the pressure, combat is the best thing for that and I'm pretty sure you won't feel all that bad about it once the results will start showing. Think of it as one of those Role-Playing Board Games that are so popular with the geeks, but only turned real and with you being the Newbie Heroes at the start of your Epic Journey." It worked in 'Dungeons and Discord' so I honestly hoped that the lightning will strike twice. "I'm pretty sure if you try you'll like it."
"Wait, you mean like one of those Games where you have to come-up with your own Character and then play using your own imagination?" Minuette scratched the back of your head. "I actually played one of those once, it was kind of fun but I had to think a lot and it was hard to keep everything inside my head at once. In the end I ran out of paper to write all the things down to actually remember how to properly play."
"... Wait, where is Shine?" Lemon suddenly asked.
"Eh..." I looked around and saw the pink-haired girl standing on the nearby roof. "I think she became much more enthusiastic about it than you two."
Both girls looked at me and then followed my line of sight, their faces became rather deadpanned as they watched their friend with her horn aglow casting some kind of a Spell. It made small glowing spheres of Magic materialize in the air and then fall down onto the Porings on the street below, each shot leaving behind a small glowing trail akin of a falling star. The projectiles weren't bigger than peanuts, and it took about three or so of those to finish off each of the Porings that she apparently aimed at, but at least she was making progress...
"Anyone saw that one coming?" Asked Minuette.
"Nope." Said Lemon.
"I honestly didn't." I agreed.
"Girls, what takes you so long?" Called out the girl who could be Celestia's Stunt-Double. "I call dibs on Range-Support!"
"... This is far more bizarre than I could've expected it to be." I admitted. "I never knew she was a fan of those things..."
"Me neither, but apparently we find out things like that every day." Agreed the toothpaste-haired teen.
"Well, it won't be fair if only she will be having fun, right?" I grinned at my two friends as their heads snapped in my direction. "Good luck!"
I used [Teleportation] to disappear and then appear on the nearby roof, as soon as my feet touched the stone I started lowing the improvised platform down. These two were going to fight and there was nothing that they could do about it, I was honestly unsure how to proceed with the whole thing at the beginning so all I could do was Power-Level them until something will come up and then use it for the intended purpose. Maybe the Alicorn Amulet? I could wait for the Elements of Harmony to be placed into Golden Oak Library and then borrow them for a night and try to use them as an Energy Source for the Ascension, but it will probably attract a shitload of attention and lead to me being discovered. Would it be worth it if I will also discover why Twilight have a crown and other girls have necklaces? Probably no, it was just a cheap hint about how things will progress further and how they will be for Twilight, her own Ascension made the whole tiara-thing hit her future Princess-hood a little bit too on the nose.
'Whatever. Foreshadowing. You are amazed!' I thought with a snort.
The only other thing I could think of was the Crystal Heart, but it would be really hard for me to get it before Twilight was to find it and then return it so they will be able to save the Crystal Empire. Sombra will be dealt with, I will raid their libraries and there also will be no actual way for me to remove the Crystal Heart without provoking a huge indiscrimination snowstorm from killing everyone in the Empire via hypothermia. Would I be able to use it without removing it from its pedestal? Probably no, and I really didn't want to try as there was a big chance of me activating it on pure accident and possibly either damaging it or draining it fully and by that leaving the population to die from the mentioned above snowstorm.
"Wah?!" I watched as one brave Poring jumped high enough to land on the platform and then proceeded to headbutt Minuette's knee. "Damn it! What are you made of?!"
I knew the feeling, but with my very high VIT it felt like I was touched by a feather rather than a very sturdy water-balloon that surprisingly was launched at you from a canon. This guys had enough STR to actually hit, and Drops had even more so these two weren't there for an easy fight. It only made thing much more fun to watch as the cute little blobs of jello were assaulting two teen girls and actually winning as far as I could tell, I held back my laugh with [Gamer's Mind] so not to distract them from the whole thing.
"Oi! This is gross!" Lemon shook her hand as a Drops actually tried to bite her. "Moony! You'll pay for it!"
By this point I already released my [Telekinesis] and just let the pice of concrete land onto the street, luckily I managed to avoid crushing any of the Mobs so not to steal any Experience from the trio of girls. Watching as Lemon stomped one of the pink balls into the ground and Minuette punched one of the jumping ones into the face made my day, it was both amusing and entertaining to watch them struggle at first but with each killed Mob they were becoming better at it. Shine, to my utter shock, was having a blast as she shot one Poring after another and actually was having fun as far as I could tell, maybe she into Role-Playing Games? I'll ask her later on, right now I was more interested in the Spell she was using and how come the most peaceful of the three girls actually knew Combat Magic. Well, at least what could be used as Combat Magic and I wasn't sure about that in the first place with how freaking diverse Equestrian Magical System was. It looked like she was simply making these floating things and then hitting Porings with them, whatever this was I was pretty sure that it wasn't a real Spell that had its actual goal in harming someone.
Minuette was simply kicking and punching things, I could see with my untrained eyes that she actually knew what she was doing and therefore could keep-up with the horde of Porings and Drops attacking her. And for the fact that these things were literally like jello and she could kill them relatively easy with how she was going right now, it was interesting to see that at least someone knew what they were doing here.
Lemon fought... like a girl. She stomped the attackers and kicked the around, mostly trying to fend them off while standing on the slab of rock that I levitated them on. Well, she had the height advantage versus the advantage in numbers that her opponents had, while I was sure they won't be able to kill her I also wasn't sure that they couldn't actually harm her and therefore I was ready to come to their help. Oh, and she looked kind of angry at me, probably for the whole thing with me dropping them into the fray of things and all that.
This was going to be fun.
"Hate you..." Lemon wheezed while lying on the now again floating platform. "Hate you so much..."
She was sweaty all over, I was pretty sure that she couldn't even stand by this point as she just crumpled on the ground as soon as I started lifting the thing up and didn't even bother to stand or roll over. She was just laying there on her side and groaned in pain from time to time, it was kind of understandable as she really didn't have all that much physical exercises in her life and a pretty passive work so her stamina was pretty low. Minuette was better off as she simply sat nearby, trying to get her breathing under control and looking rather pale but still able to move around at least somewhat. Maybe I acted a bit cruel to them, but at the same time I was amazed how far they moved during the whole thing as I looked them over with [Observe], all of them gained at least a Level and Shine gained three in a span of several hours of hard work. I could only speculate, but apparently their Stats were automatically distributed towards Attributes that they actually used to take down their opponents, which would explain a very noticeable growth in Twinkleshine's INT as she just bombarded everything with Magic.
"... Hnya... All the cake..." Shine mumbled.
'Wait, what?' I looked at her again and noticed that she actually fallen asleep... while still leaning against me and apparently started to drool sightly onto my left thigh. As adorable as it was, I wasn't in the mood to be drenched in slobber and we really needed to move as I had to dispatch from the Mastering myself. Girls were too tired and there was no chance that they would be able to actually do something rather than glare hatefully at it, one of my [Cero] would solve the problem without any fuss and for today they did a wonderful job in actually showing me what they could do. This opened as whole new set of possibilities, all I needed to do was to test things out and make sure that I have all the needed information to start their little trip to Ascension and on the way I would be able to search for answers to my really crappy problem with going back home.
I also had some books in my Inventory that I wanted them to read, I had no need for them and there literally wasn't all that much I could do without actually having a base for my little search. Crystal Mirror was one thing, but I had no idea where it was and scouting the Canterlot Castle would lead me to some very bad encounters in the future with how good the security inside was, or at least how I perceived it to be with how many valuable things Celestia had hidden in there. I also had to visit some other places that may or may not hold a certain items of value, Alicorn Amulet being one of the things that I needed to obtain before Trixie would get her hands on it because there was no chance in hell Twilight will let it go after that.
'But not today, today we need some relaxation and girls need to feel the difference.' I smiled slightly and then turned towards the incoming Boss Mob and ten of his bastards. I lifted my right hand, a small sphere of Magic blooming just above the tip of my index finger.
[Cero]
"This is absolutely fantastic!" Minuette called out as she sat on the couch with her nose in the book. "I mean, I know that you took this from that old castle in the Everfree Forest and all that, but damn!"
She was currently reading the book called 'Theory of Time Streams and Temporal Fields' by Professor Pendulum, the guy apparently was an Earth Pony from a long time ago and studied [Time] Magic in incredible depth. Minuette was one of the people who had trouble understanding what her Cutie Mark actually meant, and while Time Turner was more into the Scientific side of the whole thing she literally was more in tune with the Mystical one. I actually asked her about what her Special Talent was and she answered that it was about her incredibly precise sense of time and how she had the feeling of the Time Stream constantly jammed into her head. I had to face-palm at this, and then explain to her in details just what she could do with her own Magic and how it was really much more broad thing than some really simple thing as Passive Awareness.
"I agree, this is actually is rather interesting and I can see how it can help." Lemon was sitting behind the table, drinking from a cup of strawberry tea that she made. "I understand just where from you're coming with this, but I'm honestly not sure if this is actually safe. You literally pushed us so hard I could barely walk, then you explained to Minuette how she misunderstood her own calling and then you also presented us with the only copies of books that literally have no price when it comes to the worth of knowledge on their pages. I know that you want to push us, but this is some really serious things here!"
Her book was called 'Fire and Ice of your Heart' by the man named Broad Specter, the guy was actually a Captain in the old Equestrian Military and wrote a book about Magic of Emotions after retiring from combat. He literally fought with his emotions out and about, the Unicorn that could literally make Love burn like fire was one of those things that you would tend to avoid with all of your power. I actually tried to see what was written in there, but even with my IQ seriously boosted and with Moon Dancer's rather prodigious understanding of Magic I kind of came short when it came to comprehending the whole thing. My mind kind of went blank after trying to digest the whole 'Flow of Emotions' concept, apparently it was somehow connected to the Magic held inside the body of every person in the World and I had a sneaking suspicious that he somehow managed to interview Changelings on their own Magic to write this book.
"Don't worry, this is basically your homework until tomorrow that I honestly feel you will need to work on." I waved her off as I sat behind the table and wrote down things that I needed her to buy for me, I couldn't go out in public so Lemon would be buying me clothes with the measurements that we did earlier. I supplied her with enough Bits so she could buy me enough underwear and some light clothes to last, I just needed to be careful and not damage them. "You girls are really talented, and you weren't even tapping into your full potential, which in my book is a bad thing so I'm just doing what any friend would do in my position and helping you. I know that this whole thing looks rather fast and I'm pretty sure you didn't expect anything like this from me..."
"Don't mention it." Minuette interrupted me. "You know that two of us don't really have a job and on some days it's really boring to simply wander around the city on your own. You really made things interesting for us, and I'm honestly liking it so far. Just several days ago you was barely crawling out of your shell, and then you started dropping one bomb after another on us without stopping." She looked at me with a raised eyebrow with a smirk. "I'm honestly suspecting that you're an imposter that took Moony's place by this point."
"In school you decided to trying to be rebelliously outgoing and wore some outrageously frilly panties for a day, that was pretty much all that you did because you managed to rub yourself raw with them and for the second half of said day you was walking funny." I said without missing a beat, the reddening of the Time-Attuned girl's face and how she tried to hide behind the book was all the answer I needed about her little dig at my identity. "Any more takers? I was sitting on the crate with ammunition for years and I'm not afraid to take a few shots."
"No, I'm good with my dignity intact." Lemon said as she tried to stiffen her laughs from spilling out, she actually covered her mouth and her shoulders were shaking as she looked at Minuette. "So that was why you waddled for the whole afternoon back then?"
"Please, stop." The girl groaned with her face literally buried into the book. "Moony, you traitor!"
"I never said that I wouldn't tell anyone, I just said that you shouldn't try things you aren't comfortable with and that I'll help you." I smirked back.
Through all our talk I could see from the corner of my eye how Tinkleshine was sitting on the chair and reading, her attention solely on the book in her hands. Her passion about stars and the night sky wasn't a secret to me, but at the same time I wasn't sure why she wasn't going all head over heels over Luna's return, and I didn't feel like asking as it will be rude. She actually told me what Spell she was using to kill Porings and I actually was impressed, the whole thing was nothing more than a prop from an old book about how to perform a falling star in miniature. Those small things were suppose to create small pretty explosions upon impact, harmless and pretty for the public but with Shine putting more Mana into the Spell and basically making the improvised projectiles more durable than they originally were suppose to be and it resulted in them hitting their targets pretty damn hard.
Also, her answer on why she was so proactive about the whole thing stunned the three of us into silence.
"Well, it's like the beginning of an Adventure, and we're not strong enough to go with Moony so we have to train hard to catch-up to her as soon as possible! I wouldn't want to slow her down and prevent her from finding what she's looking for and as her friend I must do my best to help her!"
Such a simple and sincere answer made me almost tear-up, right up until the moment that I remembered that I had to pull her out from Mastering's path so wouldn't have gotten trampled over by the Boss Mob and his bastards. I certainly wasn't all that pleased when she said that she 'had him', considering that her shots just bounced off of him like actual peanuts. If she was at her full capacity then I would've been required to flip a coin to see who would win there, but with her basically running on fumes and adrenaline there literally was no chance that she could've ended him. Also, after I brutally killed it and made sure to collect all the loot that the girls managed to get I sat them down and decided to have a nice long chat with them on how to properly utilize their Special Talents. [Observe] was useful like that, I knew their Specializations and also could tell if they were understanding them incorrectly while only partially comprehending what they were all about.
"Hey, if we're going to run with this whole 'Role-Play Game' analogy here, what about going on Quests and all that other things that Heroes do there?" Minuette actually kept the straight face as she asked it.
'That's actually not a bad idea, but I'm not sure if they can gather Experience from Quests.' I pondered on the question and then decided to just answer it as it was.
"Honestly? There is not much we can do while in Equestria as it's not that popular when it comes to interesting things with how peaceful it is." I pretended to think about it. "Originally I was going to take a leave and travel around while gaining the so much needed experience, like a small journey for the famous landmarks along with it being my own research on several subjects that I'm currently working on."
"What about money?" Lemon asked with a raised eyebrow. "And while your little income from those blobs, and I'm honestly still can't believe just how convenient the whole thing is, can probably sustain you for the time-being..." She frowned a little as she probably did the math in her head. "... but any more than that will require some very substantial funds. While I have a nice paycheck with my job in the Castle, I'm not rich and there are thing that I would never be able to buy myself no matter how hard I will try with additional shifts and even a second job. What you're talking about is basically a huge gamble on how far you would be able to go and how often you'll need to go through trouble of getting money through these Porings of yours."
"I'll think of something, it's not like I'm going to leave now or something like that." I shrugged, there was still several issues that I would need to address here that I simply couldn't ignored. "Right now I'm just making sure that all my bases are covered and all things would be taken care off while I'll be away, I'm pretty sure that there won't be much of a problem with transportation with me being now able to fly and all that. Of course I won't be able to fly over bigger distances, I don't possess limitless Stamina and therefore I would probably require some form of transportation like a ship or something like that."
"And where are you planning on getting one?" The teal-haired girl looked rather skeptical. "They aren't cheap and renting one will only give you a limited amount of time you'll be able to use it before you'll have to return and there is no such thing as a stable timetable in a distant journey."
"I'm already on my way to figuring things out!" I smiled as the image of all the treasures I will get when I'll look that Dragon's horde flashed in my mind. "It will take some time but I'm sure I'll be able to acquire enough funds to sponsor the purchase of my own ship, in the worst case scenario I could always claim the ship of some pirates that will be stupid enough to try and pillage the boat I will be on."
And what a surprise it was, apparently that nonsense about pirates being present in the World was true. That also meant that I was sharing the same World with that cheap imitation of a pirate, this fact alone made me feel rather negative about actually using the ship and considering that flying wherever I would need to go. It wasn't that I had some kind of hate for him, it was just that he was mocking a truly interesting Fictional Character with his existence alone and that actually rubbed me all the wrong way. Also, the only pirates that I will ever respect will be the ones from 'One Piece' as they were actually more than just scumming lot or cannon-fodder to kick around, sure they weren't perfect but they were far better than in any of the other Stories that I had ever read.
"You really think that you can take on a whole pirate crew?" Minuette asked. "You know, if they are still out there then they were skilled enough to actually remain in the open sea and not get captured or arrested for their debauchery, right?"
"And?" I raised an eyebrow. "I'm pretty sure I would be able to fight them off."
Simple thugs? Easy. Something more powerful and actually capable of hitting back? I'm probably going to be screwed.
I flew over the woods, making sure to keep the rails in sight, I didn't have the correct coordinates and using Equestria's map proved to be kind of useless. I knew the general direction and how only one railroad lead there. It was near Manhattan's equivalent of this World, and I was kind of flying blind here, but at the same time there was nothing like a good old search and destroy when you needed a good workout. Some thing I would be fixing as they come, my presence alone would probably turn several events on its head and I would need to tie most of the loose ends before something even worse than Canon would happen because of my lack of awareness about the consequences of the butterflies I kicked into flight. My [Flight] was slowly crawling up and I was much more stable in the air now, and could push for even more speed with how far I had to go without actually landing, the problem was that I wasn't using Illusion Barrier and therefore I could be seen flying around and actually be caught. Normally I wouldn't leave my new house without deploying one, but now I couldn't be sure that I will get a proper reading on the place if I were to go there without being able to actually sense the presences of others, or at least their Magic.
'Super useful Skill.' I smiled inwardly as I strained my sight to see where I was going. that little nameless village wasn't going to free itself, and Starlight Glimmer wasn't someone I could take lightly while I also couldn't actually leave her be with there being even the slightest chance that she wouldn't be stopped in the future. I honestly wasn't sure if I even could defeat her, there were things that spoke of her sheer Skill and Power louder than anything else in Canon. She actually was able to go on equal footing with Twilight, and that was when the purple Element of Magic was an Alicorn of all things! Well, there were also the the little differences in our approach as I wasn't going to pull my punches as Twilight did, there was no chance in Hell that the girl had any intent to kill in any of her blows and even then she wasted more Magic by simply using that Time Traveling Spell that Starlight cooked up.
"Ichigo, what's the difference between a King and his Horse? I don't mean kiddy shit like 'One's a person and one's an animal.' or 'One has two legs and one has four.'. If their Form, Ability and Power were exactly the same, why is it that one becomes the King and controls the battle, while the other becomes the Horse and carries the King?! There's only one answer. Instinct! In order for identical beings to get stronger and gain the Power they need to become King, they must search for more battles and Power! They thirst for battle, and live to mercilessly, crush, shred, and slice their enemies! Deep, deep within our body lies the honed Instinct to kill, and slaughter our enemies! But you don't have that! You don't have those pure, base Instincts! You fight with your brain. You try to defeat your enemies with Logic! And it doesn't work! You're trying to cut them with a sheathed sword! That's why you're weaker than me, Ichigo!"
Well, with [Gamer's Mind] being able to suppress any hesitation I may feel there will be nothing left but Instinct and that what will make my blade sharper and Magic much more potent that what Starlight will throw at me. In the end, behind all that bravado and strong Spells, behind the Skills and knowledge that she accumulated with years of learning and practice, she was still a Pony and therefore she was far softer than any normal human raised in a Real World. Sunset was going to literally wage War on Equestria with students of the School while using the Element of Magic to turn herself into a Demon, and even then she was mostly harmless when it came to real Evil and even her planning was downright faulty with the fact that she obviously didn't account for fact that zombielike kids won't stand a fucking chance in Hell against trained Royal Guards and would be rounded up and crushed in less than ten minutes. Celestia herself would probably be able to finish them off with one fucking Spell, there really wasn't all that much for the sense of scale in her mind when she came up with her little scheme, was there?.
I would also need to get rid of the 'Staff of Sameness', I really didn't care about the Cutie Marks but mine gave me a nice boost in learning Magic and therefore I wouldn't want to lose it. I also had no idea why it made the Main Six physically weak and slow, and whatever Negative Effect they suffered from was one that I really didn't want to experience for myself. The plan was simply in essence, I just needed to sneak into Starlight's house and then deploy the Illusion Barrier while also dragging her with me inside and confront her where she won't be able to call upon help or take anyone hostage. She would be fighting back, and that was one of the things that I really didn't want to happen in the populated village where innocent misguided civilians would be in danger of dying from the crossfire. Some may think that I could prepare more, learn some restraining Magic or even get myself a Magical Inhibitor for the occasion but at the same time they would be wrong simply because I had no desire to wait any longer and risking something bad happening that would affect me. I was also actually curious if it even could affect me, [Gamer's Body] should prevent it from do shit to me but that was in theory only. I wasn't sure how the damn thing functioned, and the fact that I had no clue if it was even real to begin with. On the Wikia there was a very transparent explanation about hot it actually functioned and mostly it was written off as a dud while Starlight actually was the one who was using the Spell herself, I couldn't be sure if it was still true in this World so I would need to be cautious about coming even close to it. One good hit should be enough to take care of the holding mechanism and release all the Cutie Marks, but the main issue would be preventing Starlight from escaping when she'll see that her plan has crashed and burned with my intervention.
'This is going to be one big headache.' I grimaced and pushed myself to fly faster, making sure to keep myself as high as possible without losing the sight of the ground beneath me. I couldn't risk missing the nameless village and then getting lost, it would be a big problem for me if I would end up flapping back and forth like a confused magpie at the aluminum foil tennis championships trying to find my way around the desolated landscape. I knew that it was a very long flight from Canterlot, but taking a train was out of question and therefore it left me with nothing but my own wings to carry me there. At least I warned the girls that they don't need to worry about me as I will be away for some time, and will probably be retuning with an additional person in tow that may or may not be friendly.
I grimaced as I saw the rails end, from here I would be on my own and the only actual landmark that I will be having here would be the mountains where the vault was. And I didn't fucking know which of the mountains contained it! There was bullshit and then there was this. I sighed and then chose a random mountain and flew towards it, it was going to be a very long night.
I grunted as I deployed an Illusion Barrier and then took a sharp dive towards the ground, I actually managed to get a Point VIT and DEX for the sheer persistence and for the fact that I pushed my body beyond its limits when it came to speed. With a heavy thud my feet connected with the ground, there was a certain sensation of numbness in my wings as I stretched and then folded them so they would rest a little, I had no idea how Rainbow Dash did her routine of always flying around but she she as fuck now has my respect for that! I looked over the edge of the cliff that I landed on and saw the village, thirteen building with twelve standing in two rows by six and one being in the end of the improvised main street. All bleak and absolutely identical save the the main one, all built only for the sake of sating the twisted understanding of how the World works of one girl that had a grudge and was to bitter to move on.
'Damn this place looks creepy as fuck.' I shuddered a little, it was about half-an-hour before the sunrise and I had no desire to waste time trying to suppress the reaction I was having to this crappy place. There literally was no life here, none of the vibrant bright colorful shine that everything in Equestria had, this was something akin of a creepy cultish settlement that I wanted to be as far away as possible. Well, technically it was a cult-town with Starlight being the main priest of the shitty religion that promoted loss of individuality, it was like a huge reference to 'Equilibrium' but with a far softer angle and almost none of the fighting.
Without any reason to hold back while I was in the Illusion Barrier I just used [Teleportation] to appear right in front of the door to Starlight's house. I didn't want to jinx it, so I would first need to use [Observe] on her to find out if she was really the Villain here or if this World was different ans she didn't change into a psychopath that would soon decided to destroy Equestria due to her own desire for revenge. I still couldn't even fathom why these hip-stamps were so important, but I also knew that this was my Human mindset talking and nothing else. Moony was happy to gain hers, so were the others and I wasn't sure just how Starlight felt about it due to me no actually having a clear picture of that part of Moon Dancer's memories.
I raised my right arm and clenched my hand into a fist, with one straight punch the wooden door shattered into splinters and I walked in. There was no point of keeping quiet as nobody could hear me right now, I actually had to restrain myself from pulling out my sword and just cutting my way in but that would be too much even for me. I looked around and noticed that the room on the first floor had stairs that were going up onto the second floor and the middle wall that separated the second room at the back of the house and the stairs on the right side was probably the hollow dud that had Starlight secret escape passage inside of it. No matter how many times I saw it in the Cartoon, i was still baffled by the sheer stupidity of the whole thing and how a secret passage the led underground had to be entered through the second floor. I didn't see any of the pictures or anything that actually spoke of Starlight's character as a whole, but that was probably because I was in the Illusion Barrier and those thing didn't carry-over here. Without a pause I made my way up the stars and shattered the door to the bedroom with one solid kick, my STR was more than enough for me to not even feel the resistance of the wood against the tip of my shoes.
As I walked in I looked around and saw that at least the bed was still here, I could guess that the trapdoor was under it and therefore I would need to remove Starlight from here before talking to her. There was no point in stalling and I dropped the Barrier and instantly I could hear the white noise of Nature around me, along with quiet little snores coming from the now present occupant of the bed. I looked around and saw that there literally wasn't much difference between Reality and Illusion Barrier, for whatever reason Starlight's room looked rather spartan in its nature and, with only the bed, the table with a chair and a wooden wardrobe being present, I could honestly say that even Moony in her depression had more than this. Either she didn't really care about the decorations, or, and this was a more likely reason, she was more concerned with upholding her image as the leader of the Equality-Cult and therefore had to cut her own living arrangements to bare minimums to not stand out and to make sure that nobody would question her dedication to the cause.
I looked at the bed and my eyes budged out, I knew that she was powerful and I actually was much more aware of it since she managed to actually pull out a tie with Twilight, but what I saw was bullshit. There were cases with extreme grinding, and then there were cases like this, at least using [Observe] on her revealed that she was as close to Canon as I could understand and was actually hurting because of her own delusion. Well, this at least sealed the case, she wasn't going to be de-horned and left to rot in Tartarus as I originally planned for her to be, being a good person and an actual possessor of Meta-Knowledge left me being aware that she was capable of better things. Starlight Glimmer was capable of being a better person, simply removing her as a threat and then throwing her into the Pit wasn't an option after what [Observe] revealed to me.
'Fuck my bleeding heart.' I grimaced as I looked at the sleeping girl that was actually about a year older than me.
I looked at the sleeping form of Starlight, my [Observe] revealed that if I wasn't an Alicorn I would've been very hard-pressed to actually do anything against this monster other than amusing her with my pitiful attempts. She was literally the highest Level I have ever saw in here, and I could see how the fuck did she pull that shit with Twilight and how she could match her blow for blow for so long, she may have possessed less in terms of raw Mana but she obviously made-up for it with Skill and determination. Her Stats were insane, she actually managed to grind herself twenty-eight additional Points and that was when she probably worked her ass off while accomplishing task after task. It was hard for her to get more Points for INT and WIS than for others and I wasn't sure just where all the Points went so it was kind of hard to judge what she did to gain such a high Level of Power with her only being fucking nineteen.
[ID Create]
I deployed another Illusion Barrier and this time I took her with me, she didn't wake up but at the same time I could see a small frown appearing on her face. Even in her sleep she could tell that something about her surrounding changed and that the World around her felt off, or at least that was what I thought it was all about as she relaxed again and kept sleeping. I made sure to keep [Observe] going so I would be ready for whatever shit she may pull out, being able to read emotions of the person you was talking to helped and I could even be considered something akin of an Empath from a far away and with a pair of very bad glasses. But I was rambling again and it was time to have a chat with the local Mayor and the Founder of this creepy place...
Suddenly another Window popped out.
Quest Alert Redemption of the Misguided: Make Starlight Glimmer turn away from the Path of Destruction! Persuade Starlight Glimmer to abandon her Crusade against Cutie Marks and reject her Twisted Impression about Friendship. Completion Award: 20,000 EXP; +5,000 Reputation with Starlight Glimmer Additional Completion Award: [?] Completion Failure: -50,000 Reputation with Starlight Glimmer
'... On one hand I would have a chance to gain a freaking ton of Experience, on the other hand there is a big chance of me having to fight a Juggernaut-Unicorn that if perfectly fit to Ascend to Alicornhood with just a little push.' I weighted my options and accepted the Quest, there simply wasn't even a chance that I would simply walk away here. Her fucking up the Timeline would end with me in a far worse position than before, and that was one of the things that I honestly didn't want to experience right now. I remembered the one with Tirek, the one with Discord and the one with Nightmare Moon... Yeah, I was going to either beat all the shit out of her and then set her brains straight, or I will beat her up, cut off her horn and then drop her into Tartarus so she won't bother anyone in the future no matter what. I noticed a change in her Window, her Status has changed and without it actually cluing me in I would've missed her waking up.
"I know that you're awake." I stated in a flat tone. "Pretending is meaningless and will only result in wasting time that we can spend talking."
She opened her eyes and instantly narrowed them at me, I could see her taking in every detail about me and roaming all over my body while searching for something that she could probably use to identify me. I could see her eyes widening slightly as she noticed that I was an Alicorn, but the girl had the self-control of a monk and it took her about a second to compose herself again. I know that I didn't look very intimidating right now, I wore a black top that was stretched over my chest along with jeans-shorts and sandals on a barefoot. I didn't project the image of a Noble Princess and there was no air of benevolence that Celestia perfected to a form of art over the years, I couldn't look at myself from the others' point of view so I could only guess what impression I was giving off with my flat and emotionless face and my arms crossed under my chest. Nonetheless, Starlight kept her act up and put a perfect mask of innocent shock as she sat up on her bed but kept the cover over her chest, her eyes wide and only [Observe] telling me that this was all an act.
"I wasn't aware that there was another Princess in Equestria." I could feel a very slight pulse of Magic coming from her, the barely noticeable shimmer surrounding her horn.
"Drop the act, Starlight." I answered. "There is no point in keeping it up with me, if you're trying for the sake of the whole gig you have going with the Cutie Marks being stolen and you keeping your own then don't bother as I know the truth."
This time her eyes widened even further and her face froze in that fake expression of wonder, I could practically hear as the gears inside her head came to a screeching halt and then went into overdrive. She was more shocked than she showed, her whole plan was heavily rooted into the fact that nobody would find out about her keeping her own hip-stamp while giving the others some crappy replacements. This was so close to the 'The Legend of Korra' that I was honestly not sure if I would be surprised if it will turn out that she knows how to control blood, but it was a thought for another time that didn't have a trigger-happy Unicorn very close to blasting me with her Magic. If my memory served me right then she had a way to entrap others in some kind of crystalline prisons, Twilight could do so too and actually was able to catch Starlight once before she freed herself with one blast. Twilight only really fought once, and it was against Tirek where she literally was performing a creative landscaping with all the Power of other Alicorns, against Starlight her performance was kind of weak and pathetic in comparison.
"And what do you know?" Her mask melted off and she stared at me with an angry frown.
"I know a lot more than others." Playing this game was going to suck so much. "For example, I know why are you doing it, and I also know that you really shouldn't as it will only backfire upon you in the end. I'm not going to read a moral lesson here, you chose your own path and that was your own decision so all what will come out of it is entirely your fault."
"Is that a threat?" I could see the slight shimmer of Magic around her horn becoming slightly more pronounced. "Who are you exactly anyway? There surely wasn't an announcement of a new Princess taking up the mantle, so I can only assume that either the horn or the wings, or both of them together are fake."
"No, they're quite real." To demonstrate my point I lit up my horn, and then with a flap of my wings lifted myself into the air. "And there wasn't any announcement done because I'm not a Princess, my status as an Alicorn doesn't matter considering that I'm not going to go public with it."
That actually made Starlight blink, her mind actually short-circuiting for a moment as she tried to process what I just said. I stop my little light show and descended back onto the wooden floor, it was kind of amusing seeing her trying to come up with a decision on what to comment from my display and statement. Even her little build-up vanished from the lack of concentration, apparently coming to a decision she looked at me with far more intensity than before.
"What do you want?" She asked in a flat voice. "You obviously here not for a pleasant chat."
"No matter how corny it will sound, but I'm here to help you." I couldn't care less about unrepentant criminals and monsters like Nightmare Moon, Discord, and Tirek, but simply putting down someone like Starlight wasn't something I could do. "You're obviously doing it for a reason, I did some digging and I have a pretty good idea why you're doing it. But it is always better to hear from the source so to speak, and please leave the bullshit about 'Equality' that you spew all around to make the Ponies leave their Cutie Marks to you."
"What are you..." She began but I cut her off.
"You can't lie to me, I would know if you do." That wasn't actually a lie so to speak, but at the same time, it wasn't all truth. "What I want to know is why such a gifted Unicorn as you managed to drive herself to the point that she's all but crumbling from the inside, that she's so afraid that she prefers loneliness to actually making bonds with others."
Her eyes were wide as she looked at me, I probably hit several nails on the head right her and right now and it made her uncomfortable. Good, I needed to make her feel out of her comfort zone and force her to spill the beans about Sunburst and how they were separated in childhood. I was kind of pissed at him too, because of his inability to actually face his own insecurities he didn't write to Starlight and therefore left her to stew in her own misery and isolation. This was kind of a dick move, I'm not even sure if he was even her friend to begin with or not as what he did wasn't very 'Friendship is Magic' to me.
"And how do you know that?" There was steel in her voice, anger shimmering under the carefully woven mask of calm serenity. "How do you know anything about me? We have never met, and I'm sure that there wasn't very much you could've found out about me from talking with the other occupants of this town."
"I didn't, I know about you from another source." I wasn't going to make it easier for myself, but admitting this would open out other possibilities. "But that's not what we should be talking about right now, my argument here is you either cease your actions of stealing Cutie Marks and face your problems like an adult..."
"Or?" She asked.
A shimmer around her horn returned but then vanished as my right arm moved faster than she anticipated and a sharp edge of my blade pressed against the base of her horn. It was a pure gambit here, I watched as Starlight's expression froze.
"Or I will fight you, and the outcome won't be as pretty as you think it would be." I wasn't going to actually do any lasting damage, but, at the same time, I had no intentions of pulling punches. "But you should know the difference between me and any other opponent you could ever face among the Ponies, I always fight with the intent to kill."
I could see her irises dilate at the last part, fear becoming far more prominent in her emotions and I could tell that the statement really shook her. I'm pretty sure that nobody ever came to her with the open desire to kill her, this was something she had never faced before and it created pressure that I was using to draw her out even more. I didn't want to talk with Starlight while she was still holding herself behind the walls that she herself built, I was going to force her to get out if only to stay alive and face me. I didn't have Twilight's naivety and compassion, but even then I had to make due with what I had on hand and right now it was a very sharp sword back-up by a very new Alicorn that had not idea how to use her Power efficiently. My opponent didn't know it, and so I was going to bluff my way through this crappy situation till the end.
"You..." She whispered, but not quiet enough for me to miss it.
"I'm aware of your desire for the Cutie Marks to be gone, how the difference between Ponies will leave them alone and separated." I spoke and she listened. "You think that having a hip-stamp makes someone better than the other, or makes them feel superior due to the fact that they have a better capability to perform some particular work. This is bullshit and even you know it, I'm pretty sure that if we dig a little deeper we will find something that will really open your heart to me, right?"
"What do you think you're looking for?" She was now glaring at me, fear apparently forgotten as I started poking near the wound. "I created this place, I made them happy and showed them what it was like be equal to others! Be the same and be friends without having to fight off their own differences!"
"And why don't I believe you." It wasn't a question. "Starlight, you really have a great potential in you, I can sense Magic and you have a lot of Mana that with the fact that you manage to pull out the whole scheme makes you even more incredible. I can honestly say that you're one of the most powerful Unicorns I have ever seen, there are only three to my knowledge that I can say were better." My tone was as even and as flat as before. "And only one of them was better than you in both Skill and Power departments, other two were beating you only in Power and that says a lot."
"So what?" I can see that fear was still there, but it was now used to fuel her anger. "I can sense Magic too, and for an Alicorn you aren't all that special."
I lifted my eyebrow, she obviously met Celestia mastering that particular Skill and I was not even a grain of sand to her mountain when it came to pure raw Power. My theory was that she could only suppress it so much before simply not having the capability anymore, what Starlight sensed was the leak that simply was left out due to Sunbutt simply being unable to stop it with how much she had to hold back all the time. Me being overwhelmed even by that tiny amount? That was really scary.
"Yes, I'm not anything special." There was no point in denying it. "But it doesn't really matter right now, does it? Right now I'm the one with the sword against your throat, so that means I can have no Magic whatsoever and still be able to hold your attention." I pressed the blade a little bit harder to the skin on the left side of her neck. "Am I right?"
This time she stopped herself from answering, her skin went a little bit paler as she fearfully glanced at the blade without moving her head so not to risk being beheaded. The whole situation was far from what she was used to, far from what she was comfortable with and as far as the normal interactions in Equestria went. I brought something new onto the table, I reminded Starlight that she was mortal and that there were things in this world that could end her life prematurely, and I was one of those things right now. It was nothing more than a brutal wake-up call for a Pony that spent too much time in misery, too much time alone and too much time feeling anger at something she couldn't properly explain and fear at something she couldn't properly comprehend.
I let my sword vanish.
'Maybe all these Points in INT and WIS actually did me some good, it's a lot easier to think things like these through.' I resisted the urge to chuckle, it wasn't a time nor it wasn't a place to break my mask like that. Right now I was trying to force her see and to understand, this wasn't a game she was playing and this wasn't a simple mistake she was making.
"What do you want?" She looked me right in the eyes.
"Move on." I said. "He left, and it had nothing to do with a Cutie Mark."
Her eyes widened, and she stiffed. This was a low blow, but everything was fair when you was trying to save your own ass from being erased from the Time-Stream! I wasn't going to pull punches, this was going to hurt no matter what and I was going to make it stick no matter how deep I will need to bash it into her skull.
"How do you...?" She wasn't able to finish.
"I know things, some little digging was all it took." I looked at her with a somber expression. "He left and you was all alone, right?"
"It took him away from me." There was still anger in her voice, she averted her gaze and looked at her hands that were still clutching the covers. "Cutie Mark appeared and tore him away, he was my friend and that blasted thing took him away from! We were together, doing everything side-by-side and after he gained that blasted thing it all crashed and burned!"
"I know how you feel." She tightened her hold on the covers. "I would never be able to understand how it was for you, but at the same time, I can see how it made you feel and therefore I know what it felt back then. You felt hurt, cold, alone, there was nothing left and all that you remembered about him suddenly turned cold and distant."
"You speak as if you experienced something like that." She snarked at me.
"Something like that, but mine was just my own fault for not seeing how shitty the person I thought was my friend really was." I admitted with a shrug. "Little self-absorbed bitch didn't even acknowledge my existence, and now I'm just feeling silly for ever thinking of her like that." I snorted, Moony really wanted to be friends with Twilight and saw as a kinder spirit. "But what you had with Sunburst was real, you both were seeing each other as friends and there wasn't anything that stood between you two."
"He was so good at Magic, and I was just dragging behind." She mumbled.
"No, you were walking side by side." I tried to recall everything I could remember about the whole mess. "It was just that each of you could stumble only for the other to not let you fall, that was what friendship is about and that was what you and he had. You chose to hold onto that, to never let go and you never moved forward since then, that's why you can't feel the same as you did all those years ago. Tell me, did he ever bragged about his Skill, did he ever lord his superiority over you or anyone else?"
"No." She didn't move.
"And you still feel angry about him leave you, right?" I couldn't see her face, but with [Observe] I didn't need to. "He moved forward, you decided to hold onto the past and reject the future that awaited you at the next turn. You refused to open up again, in fear that the pain that he caused you will only be felt again when someone will tear the barely healing the wound on your heart open again. You locked yourself up, put your life into studying Magic and put together a small perfect society that you made you feel safe as nobody could betray you here again as they were all the same. Am I right?"
"Ho do you know?" She asked, her voice sounded empty. "Ho do you know anything of this?"
"If I was to tell you, you won't believe me." I said with a snort. "More importantly, I want to ask you the question that you never asked yourself in fear of what you will find if you'll try to search for an answer." She slowly lifted her head and looked me directly into the eyes. "What's next? What are you going to do next? You locked yourself into a fake world, an illusion of your own creation that lets you forget about the pain and fear and just live your life day after day while feeling the same anger and pain as before. The only thing you did was preventing it from getting worse, it will never leave if you won't let it go and move on." There was something in her eyes, I couldn't tell, but the Window told me that she felt fear and a slowly growing amount of despair. "What will you do when the illusion will break?"
There was no warning, and I honestly didn't need one as I could easily avoid what happened next but decided against it. Starlight jumped from the bed and literally tackled me, with a grunt I fell back and landed on my back onto the floor with the Unicorn straddling my waist while wearing nothing but a white nighty and a pair of white panties. I honestly didn't care how erotic it may have looked like from the side as her right fist crashed directly into my left cheek, with my high VIT I also gained resistance to damage and right now it was put to a test she Starlight delivered blow after blow to my face. My nose, forehead, cheeks, chin, she obviously didn't care about the target as long as her punches would connect to at least some part of me. They stung, but I didn't care as the girl grunted in effort and delivered a strong blow right between my eyes.
"Why!?" She screamed. "You came here! You threatened me! You mocked all I did and then you just crushed what little I still had, all this for what!?"
I could see tears starting to gather in her eyes, she was venting off on me and I was letting her go as long as she would need to. Right now she was letting out all what was left inside her, all the pain and anger, all the hate and misery that were accumulating inside her for years were now bursting out. She wouldn't be able to bottle them up anymore, I pushed her over the edge and now there was no turning back, all I had to do was now to make her let it all out.
She didn't react well to my silence and her horn burst to life, her Magic erupted akin of a blowtorch and started gathering to form a Spell. I didn't wait for it to finish, my right hand lashed out and my palm connected to her chin, forcing her head up and backward and by that screwing up her aim. The stream of Mana roared to life and I saw as the part of the ceiling suddenly was missing as the beam tore a watermelon-size hole in it with its edges blackened and smoking. This was far from what could be called a safe Spell, she wasn't going to simply disable me and that meant that I would need to actually move so not to lose something that a good sleep won't be able to restore. I didn't wait for her to recover as I triggered the [Teleportation] and appeared right over the main street of her little town, about thirty meters over the ground.
I grabbed her left ankle and twisted around while using my now freed wings for leverage and maneuvering. With a yelp Starlight was sent flying as I released my hold on her, I had to give her actual bonus points for reflexes as right before she was about to collide with a house her Magic coated her whole body and prevented her from actually getting hurt. But it didn't stop her from crashing through the roof and probably right through the first floor of the building, the momentum was strong enough but I couldn't be sure. Without a word I let myself hover in the air, she wasn't dead and I was pretty sure that she wasn't even hurt so she was to going to get up pretty soon.
True to my prediction I saw as a Light Turquoise light flared inside the hole and then next thing I knew was that Starlight shot like a shining comet from the hole while being surrounded by her own Magical Aura. Her face was full of anger and desperation, but, at the same time, the tears that were leaking down her cheeks spoke that I again hit the nail on the head. I didn't react fast enough, the display of Magic actually stunned me a little, but it was enough for her to cover the distance between us and appear just a little bit over me. What followed next was a bright flash of Magic and me feeling as if a battery ram crashed right into my diaphragm, I was sent flying backward while keeping myself from reacting to pain by pulling every scrap of [Gamer's Mind] onto the surface. I felt as my back connected with the wall of the building, the less durable surface gave in and my body tore through it without much problem, next wall followed as not enough of my momentum bleed out for something like that to stop me. The ground didn't yield much but I still made a trench about ten meters in length before stopping, I could see a message appearing right in front of my face I as got up without showing even the tiniest indication of pain that I currently felt.
'Fuck you [Physical Endurance]! I could use you fucking ages ago!' Mentally I was cursing up a storm. 'Fuck! What the Hell did she use to hit me with?! I think my ribcage shattered from the impact!' I stood up and with a beat of my wings I shot up into the sky, my sword once again appearing in my hand as I hovered at the same level as Starlight. She didn't look winded at all, her Stats obviously were there not for show and the amount of force that she generated with one Spell would've killed anyone else and turned their body into a fucking paste. She wasn't pulling punches here, and that was good as I wasn't going to do that either. Without uttering a word I lifted my left hand, my index finger pointing directly at her, I could see as she tensed in preparation for oncoming the attack but it was useless as I was simply faster.
[Cero]
A wide beam of Mana roared to life, between the moment of it being launched and it connecting with its target I could see Starlight's eyes widening and the Magic covering her body glowing brighter. I could see her as the attack was far wider than her body and covered her whole, but I could tell that she wasn't dead or actually seriously hurt by the force of my [Cero]. As the attack died down I could see her still hovering where she was, the Aura surrounding her dimmed slightly and she lowered her arms, that she crossed in front of her face, slightly.
"This is all?" I asked. "I'm unimpressed." With a quick application of [Teleportation] I appeared right behind her. "You're wide open."
I lashed out with my sword, the sharp edge of the blade connecting to her left side and I could hear her grunting as her shielding wasn't able to absorb the force of the blow and she was sent flying towards the ground with a breakneck speed. While she was using Magic to protect herself, I tanked her blow with my won durability and as I saw her flipping and rolling over while tearing another gorge in the earth I decided that I really mast learn how she did it. Apparently, Starlight was better than I expected as she managed to actually even herself and with a flip land on her bare feet, and even then the momentum still made her slid a couple more meters backward. I didn't waste any time and teleported again, this time I appeared right in front of her a little bit above, my sword coming down on her in a horizontal arc with enough force to cut stone like butter.
My perception, boosted by my high DEX, left me with unique view how Starlight's eyes narrowed and she lashed out with her own punch. The front part of her right fist became covered in a far denser glow of her Magic as her knuckles connected to my blade and a resulting shockwave blew away all the dust that she fall lifted from the ground and a crater formed under her feet as the ground gave away before her Magically Reinforced body. I could see her struggling to push back but my strength was far above hers and I was pretty sure that her Spell wasn't exactly made to boost her physical performance and it was just a very good side effect of it. This was getting me nowhere, I really needed to learn something for a fast movement that isn't[Teleprotation], it was a pain to maneuver myself like that without actually being able to properly adjust to the new surrounding in time.
'And I'm an idiot.' Apparently, I lost a part of my brain somewhere because I forgot that I wasn't the only one who knew how to teleport. Starlight suddenly vanished with a flash of Magic and I barely was able to balance myself so not to fall flat on my face from the loss of an opposing force against my sword. I straightened myself just in time to twist around and raise my sword to block a foot that would've impacted the back of my head and probably drove my head into the ground. Good thing my [Magic Sense] picked upon the approaching source of Mana, back thing that I only knew her position and the actual block was pure dumb luck altogether. My feet dug into the earth as I pushed the Magically Infused drop-kick back, making Starlight fly back but stop midair, her eyes locked on me as I straightened myself again.
Without a warning I vanished again and appeared right in front of her, my blade shooting forward to stab her directly into her stomach but her shielding held and she was just thrown backward with a surprised and slightly pained expression. I didn't let her recover and painted my left index finger at her, a ball of Mana already hovering above the tip.
[Cero]
Wide, conical beam of Magic roared to life and crashed into the still moving Starlight, I could see her eye widening and then the attack covered her completely. It lasted only for several seconds and when I died I could see the damage done, which wasn't exactly much as she was mostly unharmed with her shielding shining rather brightly and her hovering in place while slightly out of breath. She wasn't exhausted, I could sense a lot of Mana coming from her, but the last attack caught her by surprise and therefore she was more shocked than anything else. I didn't bother to wait and shot forward with all the speed I had, for someone who actually had a rather lacking flight-time I think I was pretty decent and my assault certainly was fast enough to catch the girl unaware. I reached out with my left hand and my palm covered her face, with a heave I pushed and threw her forward with all the strength I had right now without the utilization of [Murciélago].
Starlight shot forward as a bright missile, her path taking her away from the town and towards the mountains. I teleported right over her flying form and delivered another blow with my sword, this horizontal slash sent her tumbling through the air and right into the side of the mountain. The impact created a sizable crater, she managed to catch herself before she would've started falling and raised her head. With another teleport I appeared right in front of her, our eyes meeting for a moment right before herself widened as suddenly my lift index finger was right in front of her face.
[Cero]
This time the attack created a powerful explosion that tore apart a huge chunk of the mountain, the backslash of the blast didn't bother me as the pieces of rocks and debris were bouncing off my skin without causing any harm. The explosion itself shook me slightly, as the force of my own attack protected me and I didn't have a scratch on me. I didn't have to wait for the dust to settle or for the rocks to stop falling as I felt the gathering of Mana behind me and used [Teleportation] to avoid a melon-sized ball of Magic create a perfectly round hole in the solid rock. Starlight was back in the fight and apparently really pissed about me tossing her around like that.
Next two spheres did a turn and shot directly towards me, apparently, they were either remotely controlled or passed some kind of a guidance system. This was becoming very problematic, and I had no tricks to pull out of my ass while my opponent was only warming up right now. I teleported again to avoid the attack and appeared right above the source of Mana, but as soon as I looked down I felt a very strong spike from it and then everything around me was light as I apparently was just blown up.
'Tricky bitch.' I grimaced and then teleported again, this time outside of the dust cloud and away from the still incoming projectiles. I couldn't sense shit right now, but, at the same time, I knew that she couldn't have hidden her Magic from my senses as it was literally impossible. Pony's body always had some of the Mana close to the surface that a good enough sensor could detect, there was no such thing as fully suppressing your Magic as you always had it in you and you could only hide your Power from someone but your presence would still be detectable. So there was no way that I could simply lose her, and that meant that she somehow masked her own presence which would require some incredibly powerful Artifact or a very clever tactic.
My eyes widened as I was almost ready to smack myself, this was clever and very hard to pull off but this girl apparently was just that good. I teleported again and appeared right over the two flying orbs of Mana, my leg coming down in a powerful axe-kick and connecting with what on the first glance would be an empty place right behind the orbs but a broken Illusion Spell revealed Starlight who took the hit right onto her back. Using her own powerful attack to cover her presence was a damn good move, but I knew that she had only her underwear on and had no access to any Artifacts that would let her pull a disappearing trick so it was an easy guess. The blow came with enough force that the impact created a crater several meters in diameter, the orbs that were created by her Magic vanished as she lost concentration on them.
I teleported again and appeared right at the edge of the crater, hovering about a meter above the ground. I descended as I heard Starlight coughing inside the cloud of dust, right after my feet touched the ground I made a powerful flap of my wings and blew the cloud away. She was standing in the center of the crater, the glow surrounding her body almost unnoticeable as she coughed a couple more times and then looked at me.
"What will happen next?" She aked.
"Depends on you." I shrugged.
"... I would have to let them go, am I?" She sounded bitter, I could see tears starting to gether in her eyes. "I would have to let go."
"Yes." I started walking towards her, making sure not to stumble and fall down. "But look at the bright side, you'll be able to finally have the real thing."
"Why would you want someone like me?" She asked, tears streaming down her face as the Magic, that was surrounding her, winked out of existence. "I did all that and would've done it again and again, I'm not sure that I even deserve it anymore. Even the illusion of it."
"Tough luck then, you're coming with me anyway." I dispelled my sword and put my hands behind my back. "I have others that you would need to meet, they will be glad to have another friend around. Twinkleshine would probably start asking you all sorts of questions, maybe will try to put you in some weird constume that will make you look like an Evil Overlady." I chuckled. "Minuette will pull you into something with a lot of running, she's energetic like that and will get up all pumped-up for action in no time." I stopped right in front of her. "Lemon Hearts will just call you stupid for thinking that they won't accept you and then will pull you into a hug so you won't feel so afraid and alone."
"I will have to tell them, won't I?" She looked down at her feet. "About everything? The town? The whole deal with Cutie Marks?"
"There're no secrets between friends." I know that I sounded hipocritical here, but who cares? "It's not like it will mean anything in the end, you had a rough patch in your life and did some stupid things that could've been avoided but weren't. But what is important that it will be in the past, that it will be something that came and gone and therefore it won't be important as you already know that it was wrong. Past doesn't matter, if you're going to keep moving forward then everything with time will become your past and the only thing that will remain with us are memories and the gained experience that will prevent us from making similar mistakes in the future."
"... I don't know what to do." I could hear her voice breaking, tears were falling onto the ground as we stood in the crater. "I don't know what will I have to do."
"Nothing." I said without even blinking. "Just be yourself."
"... Just like that?" She mumbled and looked up.
"Yes." For the first time since I introduced myself I let [Gamer's Mind] slip a little and let a small smile appear on my face. "Just like that."
Next thing I knew was that I was being hugged by crying and sobbing nineteen years old, she buried her face in my chest and just cried. I wrapped my hands around her, just holding her was more than enough as she tightened her hold on me and just kept sobbing. I entertained the idea of actually teleporting us to her house, but decided against it as I simply stood there and let my top soak-up all the waterworks. I quick use of [Observe] made me see that right now almost all the anger was simply gone from her and only pain, fear and grief still festered in her heart. Well, at least I managed to solve one problem, all I have left was to take care of an emotionally vulnerable girl that just had all the wounds on her heart torn open and was openly sobbing into my chest while being afraid and confused about what will be happening to her.
"Thank you." It came as nothing more than a whisper, but I still heard it.
In response I just put my left hand on the back of her head and held her closer, I had all day and it didn't really matter how long will it take for me to calm her down right now. All that mattered was to make sure that Starlight won't feel alone anymore.
I knew that the vault where the Cutie Marks were kept was huge, but I have never imagined just how tall it was. The whole thing was made out of a strange glass with each shelf containing dozens of small cells that had floating hip-stamps in them. Not all of them were actually occupied, but that was basically telling me that Starlight planned ahead and made sure that there will be free space if there will be new arrivals into her small town. I looked over the whole thing, the symbol of 'Equality' that was drawn on the top part of the vault irked me but I held back the disgusted expression and looked over to Starlight whole was staring at her creation with an unreadable expression.
"That's all of them?" I asked.
My question snapped the Unicorn out of her trance and she nodded.
"This is from the whole population of the town, the Spells I weaved in it prevents anyone but me from opening it." She answered. "The containment measures weren't that hard to create, Cutie Marks doesn't have all the much Power in them after all."
"Good." I stepped back a little and looked at her. "Are you ready?"
"Yes." She nodded.
Her horn came alight and, with a sudden flare, the glass that was containing the floating hip-stamps shattered into million little pieces. They weren't really corporal, just a Spell in a physical form that was made to hold them in place, and therefore as soon as the integrity was breached the whole thing crumbled and vanished in wisps of Mana. What happened next wasn't something that I could properly describe, the release of Cutie Marks was beautiful as each and every one of them shot forward to return to their rightful owners like multicolored Magical comets. They weren't going in straight lines either, all of them moving in one general direction but each making their own way and twisting and turning in the air as if they were happy to finally be free and able to go home. From the corner of my eye I saw Starlight watching the whole thing with a blank expression as if she couldn't believe what was happening before her eyes and how everything she did came undone with a simple Spell.
"Lets go." I said as the last Mark flew away. "There will be some confusion and panic in town and you will need to be presentable to explain it to the population." She was still wearing only her panties and a nighty. "It won't do for you to explain everything while in the underwear."
Starlight blinked and then looked at me with a confused expression, it took several minutes for her brain to process what I said. Her eyes widened she released a strange squawk as she looked down and noticed her still rather minimal attire, it only made me smirk a little as the girl looked at me with a blush.
"Lets... Lets just go." She mumbled.
"Oh, don't worry, there is nothing for you to be ashamed off!" I couldn't help but tease her a little. "You obviously have it where it counts."
I was answered with an embarrassed squeak and Starlight quickening her pace towards the exit of the cave, her blush was almost glowing in the darkness of the cavern. These Ponies were so damn innocent that I'm not sure if I will ever run out of the material to get them to blush, and I think I found my new favorite pastime! I chuckled and walked after her while taking one last glance at the now empty vault and at the broken remain of the 'Staff of Sameness', nobody was going to get hurt by these things anymore.
I never actually thought about what Starlight was going to say to her citizens, the ones she basically manipulated and then left to suffer in what can only be a big fat lie made by a desperate girl. I actually have to admit that I was impressed with her, the makeup she wore made her look older and more mature than she really was and that spoke volumes when I couldn't even see her real age anymore after she put on her dress and did her hair in a high ponytail. I actually didn't bother with attending the town meeting and just observe it from Starlight's bedroom's window, if something would go south I could just teleport to her and even the odds pretty quickly. I listened to her speech and I kind of felt bad for her, I knew that it was what had to be done but that fact didn't stop me from feeling like a bitch for forcing her to go through this.
She was explaining things to the citizens for about ten minutes now and so far nobody started breaking out torches and pitchforks, so I could only assume that it wouldn't get to that. Ponies weren't malicious by nature, so I'm pretty sure that they won;y lynch her for the whole mess, but at the same time I knew that there were things that I honestly felt were really out of order with this species. The whole mess with Zecora spoke volumes about how fearful and xenophobic they were, I honestly felt like slugging the Main Six right into the kissers for their prejudice and irrational fear. Ignorance and superstition, they’re like twin idiots running rampant throughout the land.
I sighed and rubbed the bridge of my nose, there was a strange feeling in my gut that I was doing something right and at the same time wrong but for the right reasons. Was it a right decision to make? Was I doing something good by preventing the whole debacle with Starlight? I grunted with a frown, there was no other answer other than the fact that I was doing what I have to do to ensure my own survival in the future. I wasn't heartless, I wasn't going to drop Starlight onto someone's lap and then forget about her, I took this responsibility upon myself to take care of her. One of Moony's last memories floated to the surface, the heartbroken expression on her face as she was informed that Twilight wasn't going to come to her birthday party. Yeah, there was no fucking way I was going to do something like that, Ponies were fragile and really easy to emotionally hurt when they felt as if the ground was taken from under their feet. My heart was made of steel when compared to their glass ones, I wasn't going to be the one who will shatter something that was already cracked and barely held together by pure force of will and old memories.
'Damn, this place made me sappy.' I snorted as I watched Starlight actually bowing to the crowd, I don't know what she said to them but apparently it pacified them enough for her to be able to earn at least some understanding. 'Good, she doesn't need any more negative experiences today.'
I mentally went over the list of things that I would need to work on in the nearest future, one thing was finding and killing myself a cockatrice. There were a lot of things that can be done with an Ability of Petrification on hand, I had no clue if the Skill Book will fall out of him or not but at least I would be able to cleanse the Everfree Forest from these things and make it even a little bit safer. Timberwolves were already on my shit-list, so I could just work my way through the whole population of the local critters without problems while grinding my Skills, maybe I would even be able to run into Zecora? Who knows, the whole thing would be mostly for the sake of gaining on my Levels that I obviously was missing right now. Starlight was incredably powerful, and if I wasn't an Alicorn she would've killed me right then and there with that first attack, there was really no question who was really stronger between us without the boosts provided to us by our Statuses.
The I would need to work on Gilda and Trixie, both of them were not really all that dangerous, but the first one would provide me with some insight on what the fuck was wrong with Griffins in general while the second one would need to be stopped before she would acquire the Alicorn Amulet. That fucking trinket won't survive the meeting with me, for all the trouble it caused in that one Episode it deserved to be destroyed with extreme prejudice without questions asked. I also need to find where the entrance to Tartarus is, waiting for Tirek to escape would be a gamble as I had no idea just how he managed to sneak out and if I would be able to track him down afterward. I knew that it would be a darker than what Equestria was ready for, but it was a good thing that I wasn't from here and didn't care about what they thought was appropriate and what wasn't, Tirek was going to die as he was simply too dangerous to let live. I knew that soft-balling things here would only lead to even more complications later on, he had no redeemable qualities and also only cared about himself and stealing Magic from others.
Discord? I had no clue if he even could be killed in the first place, I wasn't aware if he was actually a physical being or his own Power gave him tangible form that we all could perceive. The safest way to contain he would probably be simply draining him of his Magic, but only Tirek could do so and I would never strike a bargain with him. It left me with only one choice and that was to wait and see, and if he would be captured again then I would simply drag him to Tartarus and let Cerberus do the rest. He was labeled as 'Redeemed' and then betrayed everyone for Tirek for the sake of being a dick, or at least something like that. His motivation was kind of vague and I had no clue or desire to figure it out, there also was no guarantee that in this World he could also be turned to the side of 'Vague Good' as it happened in Canon.
My knowledge was only as useful as it could be without me solely relying on the fact that Canon will happen, many people would probably disagree and try to force it to happen solely to preserve their knowledge of the future and the events that yet to come. I didn't care about that crap, if I could change things for the better then I sure as fuck would do so in a heartbeat, and all who would try to reason that it will be wrong could just go and fuck themselves.
I glanced at the gathered crowd that was at the moment talking about something with Starlight, and I didn't see any aggression from them so far. It was good, it meant that I wouldn't need to intervene and make a point of putting her under my protection no matter how empty such a claim would actually be. I was an Alicorn, they won't question me if I would appear in suitably dramatic fashion and make it sound like a Royal Decree. But it appeared to be unneeded as Starlight bowed to them again and then vanished in a flash of Magic.
"Feeling better?" I asked without looking.
"No." She answered.
"You will, but it will take time and effort." I answered and finally looked at her. "Facing your own mistakes is never pleasant, overcoming them is never easy and moving forward is always hard. But in the end, a brighter future is what awaits us around the corner and that is the reason why we should strive to never stop."
"Philosophy, really?" She snorted bitterly.
"Either that or demented ramblings, your choice." I shrugged and walked up to her. "Are you ready?"
She nodded and a big green backpack hovered to her from near the bed, right now she was wearing something akin of a Chinese dress of the same color as her horn, white flower-like patterns and a high cut, black stockings with lace edges on suspenders, a sash of the same color as her hair and the shoes of the same color as her dress. She also put on silk dark-purple gloves that went also to her elbows.
"This is all I have with me." She said as she put her hands through the straps.
I nodded and walked up to her, without a warning I pulled her into a hug and she hugged me back without hesistation.
"Don't worry, the hardest part is already behind." I said as I deployed an Illusion Barrier.
Quest Alert Redemption of the Misguided: Make Starlight Glimmer turn away from the Path of Destruction! - Complete! Persuade Starlight Glimmer to abandon her Crusade against Cutie Marks and reject her Twisted Impression about Friendship. Completion Award: 20,000 EXP; +5,000 Reputation with Starlight Glimmer Additional Completion Award(Finish the Quest in less than 1 Hour.): 60,000 EXP; +15,000 Reputation with Starlight Glimmer
Your Level has Increased by 1.
Your Level has Increased by 1.
Your Level has Increased by 1.
Your Level has Increased by 1.
Your Level has Increased by 1.
Your Level has Increased by 1.
Your Level has Increased by 1.
You're now Honored with Starlight Glimmer.
With a flash of Magic we vanished.
The Skill [Advance Magic] has been Created through the INT rising above 150.
'This is far above what I have even imagined.' I snickered as I bench-pressed the statue that I cut down with my sword earlier. I couldn't just walk into the gym and workout so I had to improvise while also letting the girls use my Illusion Barrier. They weren't working on their own Magic just yet, they simply had no actual time to actually figure out just yet what they were going to do. Starlight's introduction went without a hitch, girls were happy to meet a new friend and someone that can tutor them in Magic without them having to fight their way through the horde of little slimes hellbent on killing them. Oh, I also made them work on their bodies by running circles around the plaza and then doing push-ups, sit-ups, and squats while they could go on and then passing them to Starlight for her to get them into gear in Magic department.
So far she was making them hold rather big pieces of buildings while meditating while trying to push their Magic to their limit. Starlight was incredibly fascinated with Illusion Barrier and borderline shocked when she saw how much bullshit it can do with it, I wasn't sure if me blasting one of the Castle's towers with a [Cero] to prove that nobody was present but was an overkill or not. I could see with [Observe] that she wasn't yet still all that comfortable with the fact that Minuette, Shine and Lemon were so acceptable of her, but with time she was opening up little by little. I suggested for her to simply sit this one out and not participate so she could get her head around the change of scenery, but apparently Minuette and Shine had other plans and pulled her into the discussion about Magic and how the books that I 'liberated' from the old ruins were rare and priceless relics of the past.
I didn't know what came out of that discussion as I simply tuned them out, the variation of a girl-talk that just replaced boys with books wasn't something I could honestly participate with a straight face. Starlight was shocked when she saw some of the tomes that I pulled out of my Inventory, the one about Conceptual Magic that apparently was considered a lost knowledge among the Unicorns made her literally gape at me for ten seconds flat. Well, there were some small speed-bumps on the way, like when she finished telling girls about the whole mess with the town and her taking away other's Cutie Marks... Well, the blank stares that the girls were giving her made her really uncomfortable and she was ready to back away before Lemon just marched to her and pulled the taller girl into a hug, called her an idiot for thinking that they would reject her and then dragged towards my kitchen to have tea with apples that they collected from the dead Porings. When Starlight asked them why they trusted her so after hearing what she had done it was Shine who actually spoke up.
"Well, Moony trusts you and you feel bad about what you did and isn't going to do so again. You fixed everything in the end and want to change and be friends with us, so there really no problem!"
Minuette was a bit more crude about it.
"And you had an awesome fight with Moony! I would've given up my tickets to the Daring Do Convention just to see your fight! It was probably with a lot of explosions and Magic and clashes of Spell against the Sword..."
... That went for some time until Lemon just shoved an apple into her mouth to shut her up.
Next ten hours we spent talking about all the crazy things that happened during my little trip, girls were running laps around the plaza while Starlight was doing her own set of exercises and I was using a huge metallic statue instead of a barbell. My aim was to reach the fifty in STR and VIT to get at least some Bonuses out of it so I would be prepared for my trip to Tartarus, Illusion Barrier may give me a way in and a way out but actually facing down Tirek will require some serious firepower even in his weakened state. I wasn't going to risk it and was going to get myself all the metaphorical ammunition I could get myself until then, the sooner I will do it the sooner I would be able to put one of the major threats to me and my friends six feet under.
Through the Great Strain of your Stamina your VIT has Increased by 1.
The Skill [Natural Body] has been Created through the VIT rising above 50.
Through the Heavy Work-Out your STR has Increased by 1.
The Skill [Monstrous Strength] has been Created through the STR rising above 50.
'Tirek won't survive his attempt to escape the Tartarus.' I grimaced as I pushed myself harder to get some burning into my muscles, nothing could be left to chance here.
'Fuck, this hurt.' I grumbled as I extracted myself from the rubble of the house that I crashed into. Starlight surely didn't pull any punches on me, that last blast that she threw at me drove me right through the roof and two floors with only the ground being able to stop my momentum. I knew that practice was necessary and with my insane Stats girls wouldn't be much of a challenge for me, she was much closer to what I needed and even with all her Power she was only able to keep up with me while I didn't use either [Teleportation] or [Murciélago]. With the last one I was actually risking bisecting her with a slash, her shielding wouldn't be able to withstand a hit from a sword that carried enough force behind it to carve through still like through air.
With a flap of my wings I shot up and emerged from the hole that I made upon my entrance, my [Magical Sense] was constantly tracking my opponent so I didn't need to search for her. I instantly could see several baseball sized balls of Mana heading directly towards me, I only pushed myself harder as my right hand became a blur and my blade cleaved each and every of them in two. With their integrity broken the Magical Bullets shattered as I moved directly towards their creator, Starlight was hovering in place and glowing with her Magical Aura to support herself in the air and to shield her from the damage. She already upped the density of her Spell so I wouldn't hurt her with my new Strength, and I could still tell that it put a strain on her to try and tank my blows one after another without having the time to catch her breath.
In a moment I was right in front of her, my blade connecting with her forearm as she blocked the blow. I was pushing her to her limit with my superior speed, I had no actual style and fought more like a berserker that relied more on natural instincts than an actual tactic or some kind of Art of the Blade. There were no rhyme nor reason to each of my strikes as I wailed on her, but, at the same time, I was pushing her harder and harder as with each Level of my [Sword Mastery] my attacks were becoming stronger, faster and more precise. Our exchange was making the air hum with Power, Starlight's Magic clashing with my insane physical strength and speed, she was taking much more hits but responded with blasts from her horn that connected and left marks on my body when I wasn't able to block them with my blade. She had Skill and Experience backing her up, when we were resting she told us how she actually studied Martial Arts as a part of her training to increase her Stamina and therefore capability to keep up with High-Grade Magic's demanding nature. Her self-levitation and shielding ate through her body's reserves at a rather slow but steady rate as she managed to master the Spells to the point where hey weren't as demanding as when she first learned them. She admitted that, at first, she could only lift herself from the ground for about two minutes tops after which she felt as if she ran a marathon, one thing that the girl had in spades was the determination as she literally forced herself to keep going until she could fly freely without collapsing half-dead afterward.
I leaned to the side to avoid another small but fast blast of Magic, this one was probably her Spell that covered its target in a crystal prison. I already experienced this one once, she didn't have enough mastery over it just yet to actually entrap me fully but one limb at a time was more than enough to force me to disengage. It was really hard to keep myself in the air with only one wing working, while the another one was frozen in place by a thick layer of artificial transparent rock. I didn't know a counter for this one, so I just flexed my wing and shattered the coverage through the pure brute strength and instantly shot towards the smirking girl that found me tumbling through air amusing.
'Not going to work this time.' I grinned as the edge of my sword managed to slightly penetrate the shielding and almost touch the skin of her left shoulder, the sudden threat of an actual injury threw Starlight off as she backpedaled and left me with an opening. I pulled my sword back and then performed a lightning fast thrust right towards her solar plexus, the impact sent her flying backward as the force of it drove the air out of her lungs. I followed and with a twist delivered a powerful kick right into her stomach, it didn't let her recover and she crashed right into the tall building that I was pretty sure belonged to the Royal Guards. I barreled after her, right through the hole she made in the roof with my right foot aimed directly towards her chest.
Starlight's eyes widened and she managed to roll to the side at the last moment, my leg only crashed into the ground and created a wide crater that took most of the floor down. Not pausing I threw myself to the side to avoid a powerful blast of Mana that tore right through the wall on my right, my opponent was already hovering over the collapsed ground and ready to continue. I blurred forward, the palm of my left hand covering her face and driving her straight through the wall, as soon as we emerged from the building I heaved and threw Starlight forward with all of my strength. She flew back like a shining comet, her form tearing through the wall of the next building and then going right through it with losing much of its momentum.
I didn't wait for her to collect herself and shot upward into the sky, it was easy to follow the trail of dust clouds that were raised by Starlight's body crashing through buildings. I flew over the trail and so how the last cloud suddenly exploded and the whole fucking building flew right at me at an insane speed while also spinning like a drill! It was only a one-story house, but I sure as fuck didn't care as it was coming at me with enough force to crush any normal person! I didn't bother dodging, using my own [Telekinesis] was also out as it would mean that I would lose through disqualification, there really wasn't all that many options for me to work with.
'This is going to hurt.' I dove forward and right towards the place where I could sense Starlight was, she wasn't going to get away with throwing fucking buildings at me! I pushed my body to its maximum speed and put my left fist forward while putting my sword in front of me face to shield me at least from some debris, the impact wasn't as hard as I imagined it to be as I tore through the wood and thin stone with ease and come out from the other side. I didn't bother looking to see whatever happened with the building as I adjusted my course to fly directly towards my opponent with my sword at the ready, the payback will be sweet.
As I approached her I felt another spike of Mana, without thinking I lifted my sword and struck the incoming wide beam of Magic. I wasn't sure what Starlight did but it actually demonstrated a very admirable level of resistance as I tried to cut it, the damn thing actually managed to slow me down somewhat but just bearly. She was learning frighteningly fast and could adapt in a matter of days, there really wasn't a way for her to invent Spells on the fly as the only reason I could do it because 'The Gamer' let me skip some steps and all the ever made were based on raw manipulation of Mana. I didn't let my musing distract me and pushed forward, but what I didn't anticipate was another spike and several small spheres spinning around the beam in a perfect circle suddenly coming at me with much more speed than I thought it was possible for her. The last thought I had before the impact was that the cheeky girl actually was holding back on me, or at least no pulling out her trump cards for this whole time.
And then I was thrown backward by a very powerful explosion.
I felt my back impacting the ground as a tumbled while tearing a trench in the street that I landed on, it was a surprisingly short flight and a very sudden landing. I twisted around and managed to push myself up with my left hand, again being airborne I was able to stop my momentum with my wings and then straighten myself as I looked a the destruction caused by the attack. My shirt was mostly gone, pants were torn and I lost my shoes some time ago so it wasn't anything new, the fact that I was flashing my newly purchased bra around irked but I ignored it as I tried to sense where Starlight was. I was thrown backward for several dozen meters, I wasn't sure how much power did she put in that attacks but that was pure bullshit and I was honestly considering just throwing in the towel after that display of her capacity for combat.
I found her not too far away, and her Mana felt rather weak and I could tell that she wasn't using her shielding anymore. With a beat of my wings of I shot forward and in her direction, this was probably the end as she obviously was out of juice and I really needed a change of clothes as what I had now was holding onto a good word and a prayer. It took me a several second to reach her and what I saw actually made me chuckle, Starlight looked like she just went through the most torturous workout of her life, sweat was dripping from her forehead as she lay on the ground and panted. I landed near her and dispelled my sword, our spar was over and I honestly didn't feel like continuing even if my partner could stand up.
"What...*Pant* would...*Pant* it...*Pant* take...*Pant* to...*Pant* keep...*Pant* you...*Pant* down?!" She groaned from her position.
"Don't know." I answered as I plopped down near her in a cross-legged position. "Booze?"
"Not...*Pant* funny!" She wheezed out.
"Here, this will help." I pulled a bottle of water from the Inventory and removed the cap.
I stretched my hand and tipped the bottle, letting the edge of its nozzle touch her lips and a little bit of water leak out for her to swallow. She hungrily drank the liquid life with me increasing the flow little by little until the whole thing was empty, Starlight released a breath of satisfaction and closed her eyes.
"Better." She muttered.
"You're really good." I said as I put the bottle back and pulled out another one for myself. "If I wasn't so durable and an Alicorn I would've been toast from the first time you hit me, I'm pretty sure that you can fight one on one with a Royal Guard and win right now."
"Thanks." She said quietly. "When I joined you I would've never thought that you were such a hardcore taskmaster, I never managed to push myself this hard before and it says a lot because I used to juggle huge boulders to train my Magic and force my Mana Pool to grow faster."
"Well, it depends on what you actually expected out of our little group." I shrugged and finished my own water and put the bottle back into Inventory. "Did you think that we were going to have tea-drinking gatherings and slumber parties while talking about all things cute and fluffy?"
"With how you owned my ass back then?" She snorted. "No chance."
"Then don't complain." I lay down near her and straighten my legs while putting my hands behind my head. "Why do you think I train myself so harsh? Why do you think I push myself beyond the limits and even further to reach the new heights?"
"..." She turned her head and looked at me with a searching look. "Why?"
"Because I refuse to lose my friends." A small smile appeared on my face. "You probably didn't notice in your small remote village, but the return of Nightmare Moon wasn't such a peaceful event as many not present would be led to believe. I don't know all the details, but what I know is that we aren't living with an 'Eternal Night' haunting our asses because of sheer dumb luck. There was no fight, no actual meaningful resistance and no actual plan of retaliation upon her victory. All the population was doing back then was panicking and then celebrating as if nothing happened, six civilians with no actual clue what they were doing or an actual understanding of what was happening managed to reactivate the Elements of Harmony by the power of sheer dumb Deus-Ex-Machina." I chuckled. "I was afraid, I feared that there won't be a sunrise again and how I and my friends would fare against the new life that was almost upon us. While it would've been possible to adjust with time, the first several years of full nocturnal existence could've potentially taken many lives and claimed many types of plants and species that don't have Magic to help the adjust."
"So what, now you want to protect Equestria?" There was only a tiny bit of sarcasm in her voice.
"No, just my friends." I said without hesitation. "No matter how I may look from the side, but I'm no 'Noble Hero' and I only do what I want to do because I want to do so. Right now I want to make sure that I would never lose what is precious to me, you remember what I told you about the whole deal with the Ascension?"
"Yeah, and I'm still can't wrap my mind around the sheer idea of that." She chuckled. "From what you told me... It does sound legit, but, at the same time, I can't help but wonder why nobody actually managed to do so till now? Princesse Cadenza aside, there must have been others that were able to perform something absolutely outstanding in their own field of practice. Lack of a suitable Energy Source on hand? Maybe." Starlight hummed. "If your theory about surpassing the limits of oneself is true, and with you being an example I'm inclined to acknowledge it, then it will take something phenominal to force someone to Ascend without some lucky fluke like the one you had."
"We will just have to keep trying then." I smirked. "What about you? Are you going to try?"
"Why not?" She shrugged and then grimaced, probably her body protesting against any actions from her sore muscles. "And I'm pretty sure that if I was to refuse Twinkleshine won't let me live it down until I will change my mind."
"Indeed." I agreed sagely. "Does it bother you? The fact that the girls accepted you so easily?"
"Yes." She nodded. "I feel as if I don't deserve it, as if it's a lie and the only thing that should be present is scorn and rejection, that I shouldn't be forgiven so easily for what I have done." She sighed and then chuckled. "But then I look at them and there is nothing that I could even try to interpret as hostility in their eyes, just one day is enough for them to take me in and see me as a part of their group. How? I was ready to never have friends in my life anymore, I felt the pain and I'm now regretting my blind and selfish decision. I hid like a coward, tried to live in denial and lie to everyone including myself, I almost ruined the lives of others who trusted me and went to extreme lengths to basically cover my own fears and insecurities..." She turned her head a looked at me. "And then you came, broke everything that I put so much effort into building, shattered the illusion I was living in and then kicked my ass all over the place like nothing. You took away everything that I worked so hard on acquiring, and then gave me something so much better that I can't even describe it."
"Your point?" I raised an eyebrow at her.
"Just who are you?" She asked with pleading eyes. "You did all that for what? You already said that you didn't care about the citizens of the town, then why did you do it?"
"Because I decided that I wanted you to join our group." I answered truthfully. "You're cool, strong and skilled. You can perform Magic that any normal Unicorn will struggle with while you cast Spells after Spell without a problem, you was literally wasting your potential in that backwater little hamlet." I shrugged.
"... Was that all?" She asked, there was a note of uncertainty in her voice.
"No, that was why I dragged you here to join us." I said. "Why I did all the other things? Because you were alone, and nobody deserves to be alone in this World. You was hurting, afraid and lonely and all of the pain you channeled into keeping your little lie going. I saw this and decided to help, there is literally nothing more to that than this." I shrugged and looked her right in the eyes. "If you're looking for a deeper reason or some higher meaning then you should look somewhere else, I did what I did because I wanted to and that is all to that." I turned my head and looked directly into the sky. "I'm just selfish like that."
I left out the fact that originally I was planning on cutting off her horn and dropping her into Tartarus, or the fact that my main reason for searching her out was to prevent her from going Kyle Reese on Twilight's ass later on. Thank God that [Gamer's Mind] let me be such a good liar, or at least let me hide the half-truths behind the calm mind and cold head. But what I said was the truth too, after I saw the information from using [Observe] on Starlight I couldn't just leave her there and I obviously couldn't just throw her to the wolves that were Twilight and her merry cult. Well, I got myself a friend, that counted for something, right?
Suddenly I heard Starlight moving and then I felt as something was laid upon my stomach, I didn't even need to look as I felt something wet touched my skin. I just extended my hand and let her grab it with her own, her hold was tight as she held onto me for reassurance and support. For whatever tough exterior she displayed and for whatever power she had, Starlight was still a Pony and they were incredibly social and rather fragile beings and she was still only starting to recover from years of pain and grief that ate at her mind and heart and craved deep wounds in both. Time and support, that was what she needed the most right now and I was going to provide both in spades.
"Thank you." I heard a whisper.
I squeezed her hand reassuringly.
'When did I become such a good conversationist?' I wondered.
Through the Positive Interaction your Reputation with Lemon Hearts Increased by 5,000.
You're now Revered with Lemon Hearts.
Through the Positive Interaction your Reputation with Minuette Increased by 5,000.
You're now Revered with Minuette .
Through the Positive Interaction your Reputation with Twinkleshine Increased by 5,000.
Through the Positive Interaction your Reputation with Starlight Glimmer Increased by 5,000.
You're now Revered with Starlight Glimmer.
'... What the fuck?' I blinked at the sudden flood of Notifications.
"Should we let you two finish?" From the corner of my eye I could see Lemon standing with her arms crossed and with a smirk on her face. "Or can we join on the team-bonding moment?"
Minuette was behind her while Twinkleshine was on the side and looked at us with a strange glint in her eyes. I sighed, the whole time I was talking with Starlight I suppressed my [Magical Sense] and therefore didn't detect their arrival, we were in no danger and therefore I had no reason to actually bother with keeping my guard up. These three probably sneaked up on us and heard me, this was becoming absurdly problematic and not even funny anymore.
"Just come here." I groaned.
The three girls snickered but obliged nonetheless, with Shine claiming my left arm to hug against her chest and my left shoulder to lay her head upon as she snuggled up against me. Bonding moment or not, we all were kind of sweaty and smelt, but it didn't make us move or pull away. Minuette laid her head on my chest along Starlight and used her left hand to pull the surprised Unicorn closer to her, while Lemon used my left thigh as a pillow, the only reason I wasn't uncomfortable and Shine's grip didn't cut out the circulation in my arm was the fact that I was far tougher than normal.
"You're surprisingly comfy." Said the toothpaste-haired girl.
"Just be quiet and don't ruin the moment." I groaned.
I stretched my wings to provide girls with at least some comfort and support, laying on the stony ground probably wasn't very comfortable even with me as a pillow. Internally I facepalmed, only in Equestria something like this was possible as in a Real World something like this would only occur after a very drunken night and most of us would probably be lacking most of their clothes in the end. This place made touching fluffy moments a norm, and that both felt strangely touching and extremely creepy as I honestly had no idea how to properly act when such open and blatant displays of affection were actually accepted and encouraged.
'This place is made from Sunshines and Rainbows, you knew that Jess.' I mentally counted from ten to zero. 'Endure it, just endure the sappy moments that make Disney look bloody and brutal.'
I left Starlight and the girl to sleep the night off at my house, Starlight took my bed as I just didn't need it and the girls took the floor and the couch. I just deployed an Illusion Barrier and flew off, I needed to work out my current frustration that I had no idea where the fuck Tartarus was. Books only provided a vague information about its location and the landmarks were erased by time, I actually was considering breaking the Royal Library and to Hell with any consequences. Putting out heads together only made a migraine spread, it would require a lot of time to figure out where the damn entrance was and even then I would need to know how to enter it without having to blast my way in as I wasn't sure I had the firepower to break in even in the Illusion Barrier.
'Honestly, Canon seriously did its job to amend a lot of facts about Tartarus.' I grimaced as I neared the Everfree Forest. I could potentially try and dig for information from the Golden Oak Library, but even then I'm pretty sure that Twilight won't leave something as valuable as the directions to this World's special maximum security prison lying around. Oh, I was pretty sure that she knew where it was but there was no indication that anyone else in her circle of friends also did so, with the obvious exception of Spike and the logical exception of Sweety Drops who now went by Bon Bon. It was frustrating to be so close to something and not being able to reach it, the whole thing gave me a headache and the only reason I was even in the Everfree right now was to let out some steam and probably earn myself a couple of Levels.
Due to my [Flying] being of a higher Level than before and me being actually far more comfortable in the air I reached the place far faster than before and even managed to somehow land right near Zecora's hut. Some things were missing, like the masks and other decorations, but the place was obviously a home where the local Shaman lived and I honestly had no clue about most of her history besides that she was good at potions and lived here. The Fanon was strong here, as it also mixed rather unevenly with Canon and caused several things to blur about the origins of the woman and where did she come from, I was a fan of Zebrica's Theory. The local version of Africa sounded kind of cool and I should really find a way to visit it at a later date, maybe even take the girls with me so they would experience the life outside of Equestria and see that the World was far bigger than what they expected it to be.
'Pity I can't approach her today, it would've been an interesting experience.' I shrugged and started walking away from the hut before stopping and looking back at it. 'Well, one little glance won't hurt, right?'
I used [Teleportation] to appear on the highest branch of the nearby tree and then crouched behind the leafs, it would be impossible to notice me without actually looking and I could always sneak into the Illusion Barrier at a moment's notice. I was actually one of the people who thought that the Zebra in question was honestly unappreciated and there literally wasn't all that much done in Canon to explore her Character or even give her anything that could even be considered a meaningful role. She was used as a tool to show how Ponies are bumbling idiots and racists, then as a tool for another Pony to get a lesson out of it and in the end as a cheap exposition-supplier to give Twilight directions so she won't get lost in a straight line. The whole thing showed just how much Ponies were portrayed as some kind of a Masters of the World and everyone not of their kin was either Evil or a tool to be used so Ponies could get something out of it.
'I'm pretty sure that Griffins' backstory was shown only so Ponies could fix things up via pissing all over their culture and injecting their values into a completely different species' culture.' I grimaced, there were low blows and then there were things like what Pinkie and Dash did in Canon. I was honestly rather disgusted with their absolutely wanton butchering of what was actually important about the Idol of Boreas, it was the cultural symbol and the fucking legacy of their ancestors and these two apparently were able to replace it with fucking coockies. Good thing they never tried to do so with Zecora or she would've turned out to be like one of those singers from the sixties, who didn't carry guns and didn't rap.
I brought down the Illusion Barrier and could see the light inside the hut, Zecora was making something and I could see her through the window as she put some strange greenish-gray roots into her boiling cauldron. What actually surprised me was her Level and how actually strong she was when compared to the Ponies I saw on the streets, but on the other hand I could kind of understand it as she lived in the Everfree Forest where everything was out to kill you. Well, it was more in lines with Ponies simply being afraid of the place where things happened naturally and not under their direct control, which was actually a lot more homie than what I saw so far around the place.
<Shaman> LV35 Zecora
The only non-human things I could see about her was the tail, her dark skin and cyan eyes were an expected traits, as were the golden rings around her neck and both wrists. She actually didn't have a mohawk like in Canon, her hair was rather short with long bands framing her face and on the back barely reaching her neck. Her earrings weren't as ridiculously big as they were in Canon, still with the thicker low part and thinner upper one but at least now they didn't look like they were supposed to tear of flash from a single step. Her hair was of an very bright gray color with its darkening into almost black at the ends of the lower parts. She wore a strapless variation of a sports bra with black outlines and black zebra stripes over the white fabric that hugged her rather sizable chest. Around her waist there was some kind of a belt with the golden solid belt that supported a loincloth that reached down to her ankles, it left kind of little to the imagination here. She also wore a bracelet around her left thigh and slightly above her right ankle with the same coloration as her bra. Also, I could see black zebra stripe-like tattoos on her biceps and thighs with a smaller tattoo that was similar to her Cutie Mark over her navel. The nails on her hands and feet were painted black, which kind of gave a strange dangerous vibe that instantly was dispelled by the warmth in her eyes and a rather friendly disposition that she displayed and [Observe] confirmed.
'Was she this young in the show?' Honestly, she was probably in her younger twenties and actually twenty-one in reality. I honestly thought that [Observe] was broken for a moment, because I could swear that Zecora was in her thirties at least by voice and behavior alone! Fuck, did everyone in this World decided to screw me over and destroy my perception of Canon? Well, at least she was as badass as I expected her to be, her Stats were monstrousous and on her Physical Stats alone she could probably give Starlight a run for her money right up until the Unicorn will stop holding back and will blast the Zerba into bits or will just fly up and then start tossing her around with [Telekinesis]. The girls? She would kick their asses like nothing, and that would be with her being blindfolded and her arms tied behind her back for a good measure.
My [Magical Sense] was giving me a constant hum from the surrounding, it was like the concentration of Mana in the air was far thicker than anywhere else and I honestly could've expected this from the Everfree Forest. This place was the last stronghold of Nature against the oppression it suffered from the Ponies, I kind of liked this place already and I was honestly interested if there was really a Spirit here like in some Fanon or not. I could see Zecora putting up the cups on the table and preparing... tea? Was she waiting for someone? I was pretty sure that 'Bridle Gossip' didn't happen just yet, so she had no contact with the citizens of Ponyville and therefore...
It was then that she opened the small window of her hut and looked out, but more importantly was that she looked directly at me!
"It would be rude not to invite such a mighty guest~." She stated with a smile. "Come in so the wonderful brew won't go to waste~."
'... And she really rhymes her speech.' Was the only thought that I had before I finally managed to snap out of my stupor. With a shake of my head I just decided to go with the flow, this was so bizarre that I honestly couldn't care less about the specifics at the moment. With a flash of [Teleportation] I appeared right in front of her door and pushed it open, this land really dislikes locks and that bothered me in more ways than one. Looking inside I could actually feel the small desire to squee like a fangirl because Zecora's home was awesome! She was literally the owner of the Which Doctor's Secret Layer only cracked up to eleven, with the old masks and shelves carved upon in walls with what can only be some ingredients for her concoction, the wooden stylized kitchen table attached to the wall and a huge cauldron near the wall and over the fire. I honestly was confused how she can have a fire inside an actual living tree, but then I noticed a hole over the boiling brew that could only be an improvised ventilation hood.
All the furniture was carved from solid blocks of wood, all handmade and looking very impressive. A quick [Observe] showed me what the masked at were hanging from the walls meant, I was kind of surprised when too only slightly different ones had quite a different meaning behind their expressions. Another big hollowing in the wall, right under one of the windows actually, was serving as the bed which at the moment was covered with a leopard-themed covers.
"A nice place you have here." I couldn't help but say. "So, may I know the name of someone who invited me for a tea?"
She chuckled and motioned me to take a seat, the chair was made without a back but was surprisingly comfortable for a solid brick of wood. As I sat down I saw her pouring tea from an old ceramic-looking teapot into a couple of ceramic cups, a quick series of [Observe] told me everything I needed to know and even the fact that the tea I was being served was one of the stronger brews with a slight calming effect on the nerves in it.
"Zecora would be my name~." She answered as she served the cups and I accepted one myself. "May I inquire the same~?"
"Moon Dancer." I took a sip from the cup, damn it was a strong brew that hit right where it counted. "I'm honestly surprised to meet a Zebra in the Every Forest, with all the critters and the population of the nearby town freaking out that Nature keeps its reigns here I thought that with reputation alone nobody would dare take a residence here."
"While the tales may speak badly of this infamous place~." She answered as she put the teapot back on the fire and sat on the opposite side of the table. "I find it comforting to find things here moving at a more familiar pace~. Many herds of the rare kind grow in these woods~, no Pony comes here to claim the countless goods~. While my journey led to me being here~, I have to ask how you found yourself near~?"
"Personal interest, I was heading for the old ruins deeper in the woods and saw your house." I moved my wings a little. "You can only fly so far without properly knowing the layout and not get lost without the landmarks. It took me some time to get here from Canterlot and there were a lot of hoops that I needed to jump through to not be seen, being a bit on the rarere side tend to get annoying."
"I knew not of the new Princess being admitted on a throne~, how long ago have in your new life you been born~?" She actually looked curious.
"Several days, and I'm not a Princess." I snorted. "The Title means nothing to me, and nobody would force me to wear a crown. I'm hiding my status as an Alicorn so not to be instantly dragged and crowned for the sake of Equestria's fancy little political shows."
"Wouldn't wearing the crown be the greatest honor~?" She quirked an eyebrow. "Wouldn't it be a dream come true to be the title's owner~?"
"Nope." I smirked. "At least it's not my dream." I took another sip of the tea, it was still burning hot but the flavor it left me with was worth it. "I'm actually interested how come you're here? Zebrica is really far away from here, I'm not even sure the locals know that it exists at all."
"To see the World on a journey I departed~, three years went past since it started~." She took a sip from her tea. "I found this wonderful and mystical woods~, here Nature shows her real moods~. I went to the nearest town several times~, but the doors were closed and missing the chimes~."
'Alright, it does get a little annoying after awhile.' I took another sip from my cup, so far I was pretty sure that there wasn't much I could do to make her not tell anyone and judging by what I was reading from my [Observe] she really wasn't all that comfortable with such a hostile reaction from Ponyville.
"Don't take it personally, most of the town are bumbling alarmists that tend to fear and shun anything that is out of their comfort zone." I shrugged. "You're new, you don't look like them and don't act like them and you literally came out of nowhere from the Everfree Forest. I'm pretty surprised that they didn't call for the Royal Guards already, ignorance and superstitions are a lifestyle here."
"You sound like you don't see yourself part of the lot~, you seem to know their answer to a dot~." She looked at me questioningly.
"Because I saw how this 'lot' acts whenever they are pressed, they turn into a singular mass of bumbling idiots and follow the loudest voice." I snorted. "You saw the whole thing with the Nightmare Moon, right? They literally were crashing into each other while trying to stampede their way towards any direction that would take them further away from her. Royal Guards went up, got blasted once and went down for the count like a group of freaking fairies! It took six civilians, an insane amount of luck that would need all the stars to align in line to happen again, and Nighty not taking them all that seriously for her to be brought down and dragged back in line. I'm pretty sure you sensed shockwave from the activation of Elements of Harmony, right?"
"I did feel the wave of Power passing by~, the Mare's downfall was the reason why~?" She looked rather surprised.
"Yep, and they managed to do it for the reasons beyond my understanding." I grimaced. "You have pretty good senses if you picked on me here, how strongly did you feel the pulse was?"
This question actually brought a small smile on Zecora's face. She reached out and pulled a tiny bottle with a black cord wrapped around its neck and bluish powder inside it from the small box that was also on the table, it wasn't that hard to notice that the content was actually glowing slightly with a ghostly white light. I actually almost choked on my tea when I used [Observe] on it to find out what the strange device did, Zecora was good and I couldn't help but agree with the Fanon that she knew her way around the place.
"My Inner Vision may not be up to par~, but other methods served me well so far~." Her smile widened from seeing my expression. "I see you recognized this rather simple construct~, I didn't know that in this land Ponies knew of tricks this obstract~. Mana flows from you like a roaring waterfall~, it's not that hard to detect such Power after all~."
"Damn, a special powder that absorbs Mana." I looked the small thing over. "And you also managed to make it ignore your own and the ambient one in the air from the Everfree Forest. This is really impressive, the locals can only make something like this with a complex Runic Arrays carved into devices that would serve as anchors and conductors for the Mana in question, and it takes a lot of Skill and Experience to actually tune it so it won't give false alarms. Damn, I knew that Zebrica's Shamans were impressive but this is something on a whole new level of that!"
"Your prize fills me with joy~, but you don't need to be so coy~." The fire of curiosity that was in her eyes actually made me want to back away slightly. "You avoided any other scrying on my part~, what Mystics did you use to bypass my art~?"
"In basic terms? An overlapping pocket dimension that was layered over the real one and I was able to move freely in it." I shrugged, the thoughtful expression on her face that followed by an understanding and then shock actually were worth spilling the beans on it. "I can create one on a whim, and it lets me stay undetected and sneak past most of the defenses that normally would stop anyone on their tracks."
"You can create a Spiritual Realm on demand~, such an act may only be performed by a masterful hand~!" Even in her gobsmacked state she still managed to rhyme. "Who taught you such a complex Spell~, they must be wise in Art and be off rather well?"
"Actually, it was more of an accident on my part." I took a bigger gulp from the cup, the tea cooled down a little. "I made this by accident and so far nobody could actually replicate it, it's a rather easy and don't need Mana to actually be used. The point here his concentration and the desire for it to work, I'm honestly not sure if there anything else as I bothered with figuring out. It lets me practice without anyone seeing, no collateral damage either as some of my tricks are rather destructive."
"You trick may be an accident one of a kind~, but you should keep it uniqueness in mind~." She didn't inquire more at least. "And of old deserted Castle that you seek~? Going there alone shows that your heart isn't meek~."
"Mostly? Knowledge." I shrugged. "I already visited that place once, looted it for all the books that were there and walked away. I'm trying to see if I missed something, what I'm seeking wasn't in the books and I thought I could let out some steam while getting a workout against Timberwolves and maybe a Manticore."
"These beasts won't serve as a challenge to your might~, you won't find anything that even close to a satisfactory fight~." Zecora sounded almost sad about it. "I trained to protect myself at homeland~, but nothing here can against me stand~. Keeping my skills sharp becoming a chore~, these creatures after a time becoming a bore~."
'No fucking wonder, your Stats are all out of the fucking Charts!' I actually had to use [Gamer's Mind] to suppress a snort. [Observe] was telling me more as I was putting pieces together and actually had to cringe at the implications of what this whole thing sounded like, apparently Equestria literally was the East Blue of the World here and it can be seen. When I was walking the streets I honestly never saw anyone who breached the bar of Level Seven, Starlight and now Zecora broke this rule because of their extensive circumstances and the fact that they weren't keeping the standard mindset of the local population. Starlight trained herself to the bone, being constantly reminded that she lost her friend because of the fact that she was lagging behind and all that was in her head was catching up to him and ending the pain that her loneliness was causing her. Zecora arrived here from Zebrica, and while Moony's knowledge wasn't actually extended beyond the most basic geography I could conclude that things there were following the Natural Order instead of the one that was Enforced by Ponies.
"I take it in Zebrica things usually aren't this calm and peaceful?" I raised an eyebrow.
"Oh, you don't know the half of it~!" Her eyes actually twinkled as she smiled. "It flicking as a fire of a candle that was only just lit~!"
"Oh, do tell!" I smiled, this was going to be interesting. "Living in Equestria you tend to miss things from the other side of the border, and most of the population never bothers to learn so I'm really interested how things are outside of this land."
'While it probably wasn't as productive as I thought it will be, this day certainly was much more interesting than I expected it to be.' I smiled as I flew towards the Canterlot, there were things that I found out that I honestly wasn't all that sure I cared to think about so far. Zebrica was actually a thing, they were basically an Africa of this World and life there wasn't as bad as you may think as the Tribes were mostly peaceful and lived their lives by the principals of their lands. I honestly didn't know what that meant, but I also wasn't going to ask Zecora to explain it to me as it would've interrupted her tale. I wasn't all that surprised that she was so welcoming, living alone in the Everfree Forest must've sucked royally for her, if Twilight and her pets will pull the same shit as they did in Canon I would probably stab at least one of them for being ignorant superstitious bastards. Zecora was lonely and I made sure to promise that I will visit her as soon as I will be free and I will also bring so friends over, I would need to ask the girl to buy some food so we wouldn't be leeching on her fridge like that. Maybe a cake?
Hell, she was actually awesome and I would gladly hang out with her more as soon as I'll get some free time and end a couple of threats before they will manage to actually do damage. The stories she told me of her land were also very interesting, I could actually understand why she decided to live in the Everfree as it reminded her of home with it actually following the Natural Order of things. No Pegasi trying to control the weather, no idiots that are trying to kill the 'Wild' part in the 'Wild Animals' expression, none of this fuckery with trying to force plants to grow as you think they should. Yes, her own Tribe did some serious farming to supply them with part of the food, but they never bothered with all the routine that made me shudder in the 'Winter Wrap Up'.
I didn't think that it will be such a hard task for me to find some information on Tartarus, but apparently there were things that even Ponies new not to speak about in the open. My visit to the Castle was also kind of useless as the only new thing I was to check the room that used to contain the Elements of Harmony. [Observe] revealed nothing new, so all I could do was to head home and hope that I would be able to dig something from the library, some things were left untouched if nobody thought that they were unimportant and even the trail of breadcrumbs at the moment was better than nothing. It was kind of sad that Ponies tend to not care about forgetting the bad things that happened with them, Discord and Nightmare Moon were only the small examples of such things.
'Also, the Sirens.' I reminded myself. This was actually one of the things that I also tried to look up, there was a book about them and it even counted as historically accurate documentation of the events that happened back then. In reality, it was a thick tome about how bad they were, how Starswirl was a 'Hero' and how he saved everyone by banishing them to the other Dimension. If not for the fact that the events were actually described and all the opinions about them were outlined and weren't affecting the information presented I could've just labeled this book as propaganda and throw it away. I wasn't honestly sure just what those three did as the only thing I got were the small snippets of their final acts before banishment, these girls were old and I'm pretty sure that they weren't even suspecting how much time have passed in Equestria during their absence. I wasn't sure if they were simply Quasi-Immortal like Alicorns or the connection between World was just that wonky that they misalign so much that the effect of a Time-Dilation actually started taking place.
And that actually brought me to the question of Sunset Shimmer and the fact that she was going to be arriving sometime in the future, the whole mess that she would cause along with me being rather active could make things far worse than they were supposed to be. Well, I already was planning on wreaking Canon with an aluminium baseball bat, I already made Fifth Season mostly invalid with Starlight not being there to cause the events of 'The Cutie Map - Part 1', 'The Cutie Map - Part 2', 'The Cutie Re-Mark - Part 1' and 'The Cutie Re-Mark - Part 2'. There were things that I wasn't very comfortable with and one of them was Time-Traveling, it was the most complex and problematic thing to work around and I was honestly not sure if I would be able to handle something like that no matter how thoughtful I would prepare. The mood soured by the thoughts about the things I should be preparing for I decided that it was pointless to stall anymore and just used [Teleportation] to appear right home, it wasn't worth flying it back anyway when the heart being no into it. As I dropped the Illusion barrier I heard a startled cry and the sound of someone falling onto the floor.
"Don't do that!" I turned around and saw Lemon sitting on the floor. "Seriously, a little warning would've been appreciated."
"Sorry about that." I looked around. "Where're the others?"
"Minuette is reading, that book you gave got her hooked." Lemon got up and shrugged. "Shine is sleeping, she's was too tired after the training and still didn't wake up. Starry..." She gained a thoughtful expression while I inwardly snickered at the nickname that our new friend already got herself stuck with. "I'm pretty sure she left for a walk around Canterlot, she actually was pretty interested in that bookstore that you visit so much and I pointed her towards it."
I blinked and then remembered that Moon Dancer actually had a very set routine before I came to be here, she always visited the same bookstore and the same library without fail. I was actually thinking about doing the same, but before that I would need to hide my wings somehow or there would be questions I wouldn't want to answer to no matter what. I would also need to visit the local Mystical Shops, I had enough Bits to buy the Alicorn Amulet and it also made me able to find if at least anyhting in that particular shop was worth the effort of finding it other than the damned trinket.
"Good." I nodded. "She really needs to relax a little more, there is no more need for her to constantly look over her shoulder."
"Should I be concerned about you not being against her new and rather unhealthy obsession with getting herself to surpass her own limits?" Lemon raised an eyebrow. "If you gave her the same speech..."
"I don't see you complaining about what came out of it." I smirked at her, Lemon answered with a deadpan stare. "I saw how all three of you pushed yourselves, I'm pretty sure that you never tried as hard as you did in the last days."
"That's because of you." She said. "I don't know what you did, but you somehow managed to get us to follow you into this madness you call training. I was honestly hoping that it was something akin of a phase, and then Starlight came and I saw what you was capable of after less than a week! Moony, this isn't normal! Nobody gets so much stronger in just several days!" Lemon looked at me pleadingly. "And the worst part? I know you Moony, and I know that each and every word you said to us were nothing but the truth. For whatever reason, you managed to drag even me onto your crazy bandwagon, and that is saying something as I was very skeptical about it. But the I saw you clashing with Starry and it hit me like a train, everything you said was real and you was serious about it no matter how crazy it sounded."
"I find your lack of faith in my credability disturning." I commented drily.
"Oh, be quiet!" Lemon snarked back. "You just came to us with this, did you really think it would be so easy to accept? But after seeing all this, I'm pretty sure that whatever your plan for us is..." She shrugged. "Well, you'll get us there, right?"
"Yep." I nodded seriously.
"So, any idea what Royal Title should I call dibs upon?" Lemon smirked at my half-lidded glare. "Maybe 'Princess of Hearts'? But I think it will bother Princess Cadenza too much, or will encourage her to take her role more seriously." She hummed thoughtfully. "Maybe 'Princess of Celebrations'? Nah, it will sound too cheesy..."
"Oh, shut up already." I sighed. "You can come up with what to stamp on your badge later, right now I want to know if you actually have something good to tell me as my mood is a bit sour at the moment."
"Do I look like an entertainer?" She raised an eyebrow.
"Nope, but even a crappy joke will do." I walked towards the nearest chair and sat down. "One good thing happened today was that I made a new friend."
"Oh, do tell." Lemon pulled another chair from the kitchen with her Magic and sat right in front of me. "Should we prepare another welcoming banquet?"
I snorted, our little celebration for Starlight was very homey and lasted only one evening, we did it mostly to demonstrate that we were welcoming her with open arms. The little things were the ones that made the most impact and the feelings behind the gestures that mattered the most. We were showing her that she didn't need to run anymore, didn't need to hide or build the walls around her wounded heart.
"Nah, she has her own place to stay and I promised her to take you all there for a visit." I smirked. "Zecora is cool, I met her when I was in the Everfree Forest."
"Wait, she actually caught you?" Lemon blinked.
"Nah, more like I underestimated her capabilities at detecting Mana." I smiled sheepishly. "She's a Zebra and a Shaman to boot, I honestly had no chances there to sneak past her."
"Wow, that is cool." She hummed. "Wait, Zebra? As from Zebrica? I thought that they never ventured beyond their borders and lived in their own Tribes around the country."
"Not entirely true." I grimaced. "You need to refresh your knowledge about them, Zecora is a traveler and she came here and decided to stay in Everfree as it was rather close to her home when it came to weather."
"I know that they don't have Pegasi controlling the weather there, but it's really hard to imagine." She frowned. "And weird too. How do they actually make do in such an environment?"
"They live pretty nice actually, she told me about her homeland and damn I really want to visit there." I smiled a little at the memory fo the rather animated discussion we had. "Their studies of Mysticism are ncredably detailed but also rather abstract from what Ponies are used to, I'm so going to take a long leave and go there just to see one of their traditional celebrations!"
"Yeah, you would be interested in that, right?" She smirked. "I'm actually quite curious too, their traditions should be practically ancient when compared to what we have, it will be like having a trip to the past."
"Heh, agreed." Something suddenly clicked inside my mind and my eyes widened.
'Some traditions doesn't change and that means...' I really wanted to bash my head against the wall, I was so stupid that I had to restrain myself with [Gamer's Mind] not to start cursing. All this time I was looking for some direct description of Tartarus, some kind of mentioning that could potentially lead to me being able to locate it from the small clues that I would be able to collect. I never bothered to look at the bigger picture and think much more simple, Ponies were not that complex as I was imagining them to be and therefore I only had to make a small change in the direction of my search to pinpoint the exact location of Tartarus! 'Because there is no smoke without fire...'
I was honestly unsure how good my guess will be, there were precedents that I could count on one hand where something like this worked. The fact that all the successes in the past were made in Movies was only as valid as the fact that Magical Talking Ponies weren't real, I was one so there really wasn't all that much that I could claim was impossible here. It was a good thing that Canterlot was the Capital of Equestria and therefore some of the most accurate paperwork was here and safely stored inside the Royal Archive. The building was part of the Castle, but it was far less guarded and only had one member of the staff was present at a time, even at night and I was counting my blessings that it was a rather old man that pushing his fifties in this position. Straight Count was the Royal Archivarius since he was thirty and never failed on his job, apparently, Celestia had a soft spot for the old strict man that was a dedicated pedant and took only night shifts now.
'Damn it, when will you fall asleep you old fart?!' I cursed as I quietly sat on top of the very tall bookcase that contained the records of the Canterlot's denied requests for construction approval. Straight Count was taking his third walk around and with his slow speed and a borderline unhealthy habit of going everything with fine-toothed comb I was feeling like I would be here for an long time. I still wasn't sure how I will be going to go about opening the cases where the files that I needed were located, the heavy metal lock wasn't actually much of an obstacle as I could tear it off with bare hands. The problems came when I actually had to figure out how to not leave any traces of my visit, and breaking the lock would certainly leave the local staff aware of the break-in and just what the intruder interested in.
I looked at the man that stopped in front of one of the shelves, checking one of the locked compartments for any traces of someone trying to get in. He was a bald short man with more wrinkles than a face, his tail was gray from age and he was really short for an Earth Pony. He wore small rounded glasses and a permanent frown on his face. His wardrobe made me want to cringe, the old ratty sweater that at one time maybe was red in color but now looked more pale-brown than anything, gray pants and old squeaky shoes that I was pretty sure came right from the fifties.
"Damn that Scroll!" Grumbled the antique Archivarius. "That youth doesn't know how to keep things in order to save his life! Leaving these locks unattended, will he? Next time I see him he'll get what is coming to him! So what if his father is some flimsy Noble? The brat needs to learn how to walk on his own two feet instead of riding on his daddy's tail like a young colt! Bah!"
I resisted to urge to facepalm, this was so cliche that I was honestly wanted to make the dinging sound of a CinemaSin being assigned. I didn't need to sleep so a visit at night was the most rational decision, but I never considered the fact that there would be something like this positioned in the way. And the problem was that I couldn't even simply knock him out, the old far will tell everyone about it and then will put on his tinfoil hat while thinking that someone was out to get him fired. By this point, I was convinced that he was put here simply so he wouldn't disturb the peace in the Castle and, for some reason, they couldn't fire the walking relict. I could feel Royal Guards doing their patrols, the fact that their training obviously not including Sensing Magic was a blessing, in my range I could feel at least ten of said guys following the establish routine and damn they were impressive. I could probably take them on, but, at the same time, it would be me just brute-forcing my way through the lot of them without much of problem while in terms of Skill they would wipe the floor with me.
'Sucks to be them.' I remembered how they were simply swiped aside by Nightmare Moon, they honestly needed more firepower if they even hoped to be of some use when it counted. Discord took them out like nothing, the same was with Tirek, and I was pretty sure Starlight won't be taken down by these guys no matter how many they will wail on her. Shining Armor? Maybe, he was just that good and powerful. Normal cannon-fodder? Nope.
I looked at the old man and noticed that while I was thinking about Starlight kicking Royal Guards' asses he moved to the end of the bookshelf and was about to head away. I barely suppressed the desire to cheer, it would give me about half an hour of free time and some more if he'll find something wrong with other sections of the Archive. As soon as he was out of sight I used [Telekinesis] to lower myself down, [Teleportation] was too flashy and my wings were too loud so it was the only way. I looked at the padlock, it was an old large thing that opened with a really antique key, I was pretty sure that my sword will cut through it like nothing but it would leave the evidence of my presence and alert Celestia... I grimaced, I wasn't any good at picking locks and there wasn't much of a choice I had right now with how it was also Enchanted against me simply teleporting it from the place. Well, I'm pretty sure nobody knew how to protect it from sudden shifts in Dimensions.
I carefully grabbed the lock and deployed the Illusion Barrier, making sure to take only the lock with me. I dismissed the message that my Skill grew in Level and manifested my sword, with a swift cut I removed the holding ring of the case and then dropped the Illusion Barrier while also dispelling the sword. The padlock was in my hand, but the hinders were intact and the safe box with the documents I needed was open. Without a moment's hesitation, I pulled it open while making sure that nobody would hear me started listing through the folders that lay inside. There was something very wrong with feeling so excited about being able to perform something that you only saw in 'Burn Notice', I made sure to use as little Mana as I could while levitating several of the papers around me.
'It will take forever to get through these!' I grimaced. This was going to be a pain in the ass, the whole thing was nothing but partially approved plans along with the ones that were going to be employed very soon. I didn't know how to make copies, but, at the same time, I had no clue if they would be missed if I was to take them home to study the whole thing more thoughtfully. This was one of the things that I had to cope with here, the lack of technological progress and therefore I had no smartphone to use to take pictures.
I decided that it wasn't worth it to worry and pulled out all the folders from the box, the stack was huge and I was pretty sure that it weighed at least several time more than me. I closed the box and used the Illusion Barrier to put the padlock but into its place, and then used the same Skill to vanish from the Archives and to nob be noticed as I used [Teleportation] to get home. This will take me a lot of time and I was pretty sure that there were things that I would need to repeatedly check before something will start making sense to me. What I borrowed right now were the plans for the future constructions all over Equestria, the whole thing wasn't just yet put into motions plans but mostly the ones that were approved by Celestia as the ones which could potentially be used in the future. Ponies liked to be prepared and I'm not sure how accurate these ones were, but at the same time this was all I had and therefore I would need to make due with what I could.
The plan was pretty simple, to make the plans layer one over another and figure out the one and only spot in Equestria that will never be approved for any construction's works. Ponies that had their Special Talent in architecture or similar things were numerous and I was pretty sure that there were at least several hundreds of these plans for the space around Canterlot alone! It all depended on how tight they were going to fit with one another, they weren't made on see-through plastic sheets so I had no way to just put them all together and instantly see the bigger picture. What was going to follow was me sitting with the biggest map of Equestria with the highest resolution and methodically crossing off the parts one after another. It was like I was back in school and my Geography teacher asked as to demonstrate where rats didn't leave on our portable maps by making us put colors on all the places that they were actually inhabiting! A mind-numbing task of infinite repetition and I didn't even have a way to shorten it with Magic!
'Fuck you, Harry Potter, Magic can't make writing things easier!' I grimaced as I looked over another chart for the restaurant on the road, this will be the most boring several hours I would ever know.
"I'll be back before you'll know it, I can guarantee you." I said as I dressed into a white shirt over a sports bra that left my stomach bare due to it being a bit too small for me now and a pair of now skin-tight jeans over my newly purchased boxers. If I was going to grow more then at least I needed to take it into consideration and adjust appropriately. "This trip won't be as dangerous as the one where I had to confront Starry."
Starlight groaned from under the book that was covering her face, she was still not used to being called that but couldn't actually refuse when Twinkleshine was asking with her doe-eyes that literally twinkled. There was something really amusing to see the one person here who could literally crush all three girls in one go surrendering to the one who actually was the most peaceful and kind one. Damn, Shine was literally one big fluffy bunny that liked to be petted and hugged! Well, in this case, she was more into hugging me as she clung to my waist and refused to budge, apparently telling them that I was going to investigate Tartarus wasn't my brightest idea.
"But what about Cerberus?!" She sniffed and looked at me.
"It won't even see me, this isn't like he can break into my Illusion Barrier." I answered.
"I'm more interested in the reason for you going there." Lemon said from her position on the couch. "This is the prison where the things that made-up the nightmares of foals are held, all those old tales about monsters that will never leave their final destination... Moony, if you're planning on something crazy please tell us so we can prepare for the oncoming disaster and get away from the blast zone."
"Nothing so major, just making sure that one of the prisoners won't escape." I said as I walked towards the table and took the map, putting it into my Inventory. "There literally won't be any more danger for me, it will be a quick visit and nothing more."
"So, who's the big scary monster that you need to keep in check?" Minuette asked as she stood near the door and chewed on a banana. "And how do you even know about him in the first place?"
"He's..." I grimaced, it would be really hard to explain Tirek to them. "He's a very complicated being that puts all the Equestria in danger with his sole presence, the only thing that I want to do is to make sure he won't have any means to escape no matter what will happen. He already did an insane amount of damage upon his first rampage and there will be no way I will let him go on a second one, not when you all are going to be endangered by his madness."
"He sounds like such a pleasant company." Sarcasm dripping from each of Starlight's words. "I understand that it's important for you to go there, but why are you going there alone?"
"Magic won't work on him, or, at least, not correctly." I answered. "I would be able to resist his attempts to assault me, you're all Unicorns and therefore won't stand a chance in a direct confrontation. You coming will only put you at risk here, and if you actually could fight back then I would've agreed, but against him... No."
"Just who is he?!" Lemon asked as she looked at me. "And tell me again why won't we just anonymously inform Princess Celestia of this breach?"
"He's the beast know as Lord Tirek." I couldn't actually hide the truth from them, they were friends and it felt wrong to do so. "A Centaurus from the faraway Kingdome that studied the dark art of draining Magic from the living beings and Equestria was his next target. Long ago he tried to take away all the Magic in Equestria, his brother Scorpan that came with him was mostly on the whole thing but was then swayed and persuaded by Star Swirl to betrays Tirek and therefore save Equestria. The exact details are scarce and I'm not sure about the exact fate of Scorpan or what actually were the terms of their agreement with Star Swirl, but the malice that is in Tirek's heart knows no forgiveness and he won't make the same mistake twice."
"What will he do?" Lemon asked.
"He will leave us all to die, there won't be much left after he will drain us all and the Ponykind will go extinct." I said bluntly. "At least in Equestria, and I know that it won't be enough for him."
"And you're going to go visit that monster?!" Minuette asked with wide eyes. "What will happen if he will try to drain you?!"
"He won't, he's too weak to do anything to an Alicorn." I grimaced, this wasn't technically a lie. "But a Unicorn won't stand a chance against him."
"... How bad it can be?" Starlight asked from her position on the couch.
"With the Magic of Celestia, Luna, and Cadenza?" I shrugged. "He will be strong enough to wipe Equestria from the maps."
"You didn't answer, how do you even know about him?" Minuette asked.
"Books, the old books that I couldn't take with me." I faked a grimace. "Notes on the old coot's little disadvantages, I know a couple more of his fuck-ups that would be in need of correction."
"Star Swirl?" Everyone blinked. "You had his notes?"
"... Okay, it's really creepy how you all said it at the same time." I deadpanned. "And no, I had more like the summary of his notes. And even then I had no actual ability to take them with me, but I memorized as much as I could. The old Unicorn made a ton of fuck-ups in the past, like the creation of Changelings and him banishing the Sirens..."
"Who?" All four asked.
"... Still creepy, stop it." I glared at them. "And it will be a discussion for the next time, right now I'm in a serious need of some calm and monotonic flight to clear my head and prepare myself for the meeting with the tyrannical monster that almost wiped out this place in the past."
"Alright." Lemon sighed. "But don't make a habit of it, we're your friends and we won't let you leave us behind no matter what."
"No chance." Minuette added.
"Na-ah." Shine just hugged my waist tighter.
"Yep, you took me in so I'm pretty sure that makes you responsible for me." Starlight added her two bits.
"Alright, I got it." I waved my hand in mock surrender. "I won't be going on any more dangerous missions without you, I promise!" The I looked down at the mop of pink hair firmly attached to me. "And Shine? Please let me go, this is getting really weird."
Speed was the essence and therefore I pushed myself as hard as I could, even with my speed it would take me some time to get to the place I suspected was the entrance to Tartarus. With how much I studied the maps it was the only place where it could be, and literally no other place in Equestria had the same persistence to stay untouched bar the Everfree Forest. I was even using [Murciélago] to push myself even harder, speed was the essence here and I needed to make sure that will cover as much ground as possible today, I didn't know how long it will take for Cerberus to wander off so I couldn't waste any minute when I had my objective in reach.
'Famous last words.' I chuckled drily, this was going to be a mess and I knew it no matter how hard I pushed that thought to the back of my mind. The main reason why I didn't take anyone with me because of what I was going to do, Tirek wasn't going to as cooperative as Discord pretended to be so there literally was no another way. I was going to kill him, using [Gamer's Mind] I could suppress any hesitation or mercy I may feel and do it without a pause or any risk of him having the time to react. Ponies abhorred murder, they simply were too peaceful and too naive for such an act to take root in their conscious and I wasn't going to expose them to something they were no ready for no matter what. Minuette, Twinkleshine, Lemon Heart and even Starlight Glimmer, they were still innocent in their belief about how the World actually worked. I was human, we went through Wars, genocide, Fascism, Russia survived Stalin's Regime while Germany Hitler's, we had nothing on this peace-loving World that made even Disney seem rather dark and cruel.
I was Human, not a Pony, the fact that I was killing not a Human or another Pony actually made it easier to stomach. Tirek was a monster, his parents were right that he was unfit for anything but failure with his lust for Power. Sendak got what was coming for him, the old fart earned all the shit that happened to him and how Tirek backstabbed him in the end. Vorak and Haydon? They cared for a viper and got bitten, that pretty much sums it up nicely.
With a beat of my black bat-like wings, I pushed myself even faster, there was no point in simply thinking about it when actions awaited me in the near future. Getting in would be easy, getting out wouldn't be a problem, but doing what I was intending to do could potentially spell a whole bucket of complications in the process. I had no clue just how weakened was Tirek, I knew that it took him a lot of time to recover enough to harvest Magic from others, more than a Season actually, but it didn't mean that he was weak now. For all I knew, he could be simply too weak to use the Spell, but still strong enough to crush my head like a grape in his hand without a problem. I would need to as careful as I can while also being fast and precise, I wasn't aware of his anatomy enough to perform a decent stab right into the heart so it only left me with severing his head from his body.
I waved away the message that told me that my DEX grew from the strain I put and the speed I made my body perform at. It was a gamble and I fully intended in putting everything I had in one strike, it worked as my times as it didn't in the history of slaying Monsters so I had a coin toss of a chance here. There were complications of course that would follow, if Tirek was alive then that would mean that Scorpan could be alive too and I was pretty sure that taking him on would require more than I could potentially deliver no matter what. I wasn't sure if his parents will bother, but there was always hope and then there was always loyalty that Tirek's brother held for him and for them. Which will win out? It all depended on how they will receive the news of one member of their family passing on, I wasn't going to leave any pieces around for them to bury.
I looked down and saw as the land was passing under me, the White Tail Woods were actually rather big and it took some time to get over it even with my speed. I blinked as I saw the railroad below, I knew that soon it will turn to the left and will lead directly to Los Pegasus and at that moment I would need to keep going forward. Celestia apparently wasn't taking any risks, the entrance to Tartarus was actually near the border of the known territory and right before the Undiscovered West in the mountain range. She had plans on actually putting down to construction there as soon as it was required, plans were already drawn and the budget calculated, all that was required was a small spark to get the whole machine running. I'm not sure if Luna was aware of the whole thing or not, I knew that she was more than aware of Tartarus and its location but at the same time she wasn't all that informed about her sister's plans on colonizing the nearby territory.
Of course, the area near Tartarus was strictly off limits, but, apparently, the threat of literal Hell breaking loose wasn't enough to stop the Monarch from laying plans on using the free space that wasn't too close to be a concern in her mind. I couldn't honestly tell, there were things that I could tell I didn't understand and this was one of them. My personal opinion was that she should just ward the whole place and forget that it was there until it would be required, Twilight making her way here alone with Cerberus on a metaphorical leash was enough proof for me that there literally wasn't' enough protection on the place to work properly.
The forest ended and I was now flying over the plains that stretched further than the eye could see, the mountains were on bothe sides, a lot less on the right but details. I took a slight turn to the left, adjusting my course so I would now head directly towards my destination. I couldn't feel it, but the idea alone that I was near the place the contained beasts that were equal to Greek Titans made my skin crawl but I suppressed it with [Gamer's Mind] and pushed myself further. There was no turning back here, not second chance and no way to retry it later, this was me either doing it or being the reason for Equestria's fall onto the path of extinction. In theory Tirek won't be able to do shit, [Gamer's Body]should be able to counter whatever he had in store for anyone stupid enough to come close to his cage, but I would prefer not to test this theory.
With another flat of my wings I adjusted my course again and took a dive towards the base of the closest mountain, I couldn't anything inside the Illusion Barrier as I won't be able to sense Magic from the Real World here. I accelerated and twisted in the last moment, my feet impacted the ground with a tremendous crash and I bent my knees to absorb the impact, the crater that I created was probably about five meters in radius and that told me that I overdid it. I lifted myself again and hovered about a meter above the ground, with steeled determination I dropped the Illusion Barrier and instantly made sure that nobody was around with my [Magical Sense]. Magic was present almost in everything in this World, most of it was in sentient beings but the background Mana also settled over the animals and such so they became much more than simple beasts ruled by instinct and grew sort of smarter here. That was the reason Fluttershy could actually communicate with them and not get some gibberish in response, these critters could hold an actual dialogue and it made me feel kind of crept out by the fact that they understood most of what was happening around them.
'Like in the Simpsons' Movie, it was funny only when it wasn't you in that situation.' I snorted and landed on the ground, no damage translated from my landing into the Real World. I couldn't simply run around the whole thing, it would be pointless as I honestly didn't know if I even could sense the entrance to Tartarus or not. My bare feet didn't feel a thing as I walked over the rocks and small patches of dirt in the mostly grassy field that I landed upon. Right in front of me was the mountain that started the whole chain, and the place where I had a good hunch Tartarus was located, or at least the entrance into it. There was confidence in my step, it was supported by [Gamer's Mind], but at least, for an unaware person, I would appear to be aware just where I was going, and that suited me just well.
The problem was that I couldn't sense anything out of place, there wasn't any actual place that was within my reach that gave off anything other than background Mana and that was pretty much it. I could feel something close by, it was underground and didn't move but at the same time gave off a moderately strong signature that I couldn't quite place. Well, if it was underground then I could only think of it either being a Tatzlwurm or a rather weak Dragon that started hoarding his riches in the cave beneath the ground. Either way, it won't disturb me one bit, Illusion Barrier would hide me without fail.
I kept going forward, nothing obscured my way as which each step I was getting close and closer to the mountain, or at least to its base. It was really tall and I could see the snow on its top, probably would be a long way down for anyone brave enough to find their way up there. Well, I had wings, so it won't be a problem for me, but at the same time it was kind of cheating with them when it came to such an old and respected sport as alpinism, I saw too many movies about it to be able to disrespect it like that. And my mind was again wandering strange places so not to think about an upcoming venture into the most secured and dangerous prison in Equestria, there was a limit on how much I could take and the damned suspension was killing me with how slow it stretched. I couldn't risk flying there, either I would risk missing the whole thing altogether or I would risk triggering the defenses of the place that were put there to defend it against flyers, a good prison should be able to withstand a siege without the risk of collapsing on itself.
This was ridiculous, I was probably walking for an hour and there literally was no way I wasn't going to detect at least somehting here! I could feel the background Mana, but that was it and there literally was nothing anywhere near here as I finally managed to get to the base of the mountain, the only way forward would also include up and that wasn't what I had in mind right now. The entrance should be at the ground level, or it would've been absolutely impossible for Twilight to led Cerberus back without needing someone else to lift the huge mutt's ass up. She was good, but I don't think she was that good!
I was literally ready to start cursing when something caught my attention, it was very subtle but I could feel as if something was not exactly right with the picture around me. My sword instantly materialized into my hand, my senses stretched to their limits as I tried to determine the strange presence that I could detect but not pinpoint, there was something really weird about it and I was honestly not sure if it was even alive or not. [Gamer's Mind] came to full capacity as I felt something slamming into it with a rather heavy blow, there was something trying to get into my mind and that was what I felt here as I moved towards the mountain. I tried to classify the strange thing, but the only property of it I could detect was that it was trying to intimidate me and force fear and despair to cloud my mind.
'... Cute trick.' I snorted as suddenly everything came to me and pieces clicked into place, I missed the most obvious thing about my surroundings that any actual novice would've already noticed. There was no noise, no sounds of nature or anything else even remotely similar to it, I was literally walking on the land that appeared to be dead and desolated by anything that was even remotely capable of thinking. Well, this was apparently the reason for the lack of any population and if not for the [Gamer's Mind] I would've never been able to actually notice this particular field that I could only guess was the first line of defense against intruders. I turned around several times, trying to figure out the direction from which the oppressing aura was coming and failed due to it covering the whole area. Apparently, at least some measures were taken to prevent an easier location of the entrance, it was kind of annoying and impressive at the same time.
I mentally flipped a coin and started walking to the left, at least now I had a somewhat defined area to search through. This will take awhile, but the reward will be totally worth it, in the end, the place where they contained the vilest and most undesirable criminals that any normal prison won't be able to hold could also serve other purposes if the need arise. I had a couple of ideas about the people that should be thrown there, they weren't at the stage where they should be thrown there but, by this point, they would be approaching that edge pretty fucking soon if I wouldn't do anything to prevent them from falling. Some could be saved, but some of them were notoriously malicious or downright murderous in their little pursuits of their goals.
'Nobody mourns the wicked.' A truer statement cannot be said about the circumstances I found myself in, Tirek was the exception to it as I was sure that Scorpan would actually shed a tear for his passing. Discord? Nobody would miss him, nobody would care and nobody would actually see is as anything other than the World around them becoming a safer and much more stable than before. The most appropriate course of action would actually be taking away Discord's Magic and leaving him as nothing but a husk, the misery he would feel due to him losing his Godhood would last an eternity and be an appropriate punishment.
Suddenly I felt a small spike of the same pressure that was trying to get through my [Gamer's Mind], it became stronger and noticeably so. This could only mean that I was getting closer, the entrance to the pit was right ahead of me and it both worried and excited me. I honestly couldn't even imagine how it would look like, there literally wasn't any kind of description in the book and only a very vague statement that sounded more like a footnote than anything else. This was going to be interesting...
'This is kind of both a letdown and a very elaborate reward.' I stared blankly at what I could only assume was the entrance to Tartarus. There was no actual gates, no doorway or anything even remotely similar to an actual entrance as far as I could tell. The whole thing was a very tall and wide crack in the otherwise spotless side of the mountain, it was wide enough that eighteen-wheels could park here from one side to another and there still be enough space left for a person to squeeze through. There was no actual light, just a dark chasm that bore no signs of life or actually being inhabited, and the problem was that I couldn't sense literally anyhting coming from it as if it didn't exist at all. There was just a blank spot in my [Magical Sense] and I had no clue if it was just me or it was designed like that from the start. Dried off ground cracked under my feet, a perfectly circular field with no vegetation was right in front of the damn thing as if life itself didn't want to get near it.
Well, at least they kept it relatively true to its theme, I was pretty sure there will be either some cartoonish warnings or some attempt to make it kids-friendly. It was a good thing in my mind, that meant that the whole thing was a serious attempt at containment and wouldn't have of the stupidity going on here that would make the prisoner's life any easier. Without any hesitation I stepped inside the chasm and darkness instantly covered me, there was no light and I could tell that the one coming from the outside could not bypass the threshold of the gateway. As I made several steps forward I could finally see my surrounding as a very dim light appeared around me, it was coming from nowhere and everywhere at once and I honestly didn't care about it one bit because I was right in front of my prize.
I instantly deployed an Illusion Barrier and flew forward, this was going to be the hardest part as far as I could think of. Locating the bastard would take almost no effort, his plateau was right behind the Cerberus and therefore it will only take locating the dog itself to find Tirek. The tunnel I was in finally ended I flew into probably the biggest cave I have ever seen and will ever see, the damn place could probably house Canterlot and there still will be plenty of room left. I couldn't even see the ceiling, just an infinite darkness where it should've been. The save was true for the floor as the only way to move around here were rather narrow paths of stone with stairs on them in some cases. There were several crossroads as they all were connected to each other in some way or form, and each of the paths led to a tall pike with a plateau carved in it with right and left sides of each had the still rising spikes of stone. It was damn impressive and I couldn't care less about the fact that it was basically Hell for the living, this place was awesome and I had to actually restrain myself from simply flying around to see just how deep the floor was or how high the ceiling.
I landed on the rather small cliff that sprouted from the wall near the entrance and dropped the Illusion Barrier, it didn't take me long to find Cerberus with my eyes but it did take me long to actually stop looking at the beast.
<The Warden of the Damned> LV? Cerberus
The beast was massive, about sixteen or so meters tall with three bulldog's heads each having a collar with metal spikes on it. Its eyes glowed with Power, the red irises with yellow sclera were constantly shifting around as if searching for something and never actually finding it. I could feel the sheer might of the creature that was charged with guarding this place, the Magic that was rolling from it in wave dwarfed me like a mountain looming over a sand grain and my [Magical Sense] was all but screaming at me that there was far more from where this came from. Its fur was solid black in color with only its three muzzles being gray, the muscles that I could see all over its body were pretty much rock-solid and a rather short and looked more like it belonged to a bastard child of a squirrel and a german shepherd than a mighty beast like him.
Suddenly, as if by some invisible cue, all three head were turned towards me, three pairs of eyes looking directly at my hiding place and I couldn't turn away from the piercing gaze of Cerberus. There was something off about it, like it was judging me but without actually doing it intellectually. I could feel the air suddenly thickening to the point that I almost choked on it, but it was only for a moment and then the feeling was gone as the dog huffed and just dismissed me altogether. My [Observe] wasn't high enough in Level to gain much information on it, but, apparently, Cerberus instinctively knew who was Evil and who wasn't and was smart enough to see the difference between a prisoner and an intruder. I wasn't Evil from its point of view and therefore I was of no concern for it, an interesting fact was that the tusk-like fangs that came from the lower jaw and could be seen from here were also able to render any Magical Defense null and void so any Barrier Spell would be useless against it.
I gulped and released the breath that I was unknowingly holding, this was the scariest moment in my life period. Without the [Gamer's Mind] I would've probably pissed and shit myself from a single glance from the Warden of Tartarus, thank God I had it and the only result was that I had to use it to suppress the terror that was almost strong enough to stop someone's heart. It shrugged off the effects, I didn't have the time for it and I don't think Cerberus would approve of me taking away one of its prisoners. With just once glance I saw it, the cage that was containing Lord Tirek, the path to it was connected to the summit where the dog was roaming free and I was pretty sure it was done intentionally so it would have the easiest access to the centaur if he was to try anything.
<The Lord Devourer of Magic> LV? Tirek
It wasn't like I expected anything else, he was one of the most powerful and destructive forces that ever came to Equestria and was sure that if not for Scorpan there wouldn't have been anything left of this land. His Stats were hidden from me, but I could see that he was weakened and therefore vulnerable to whatever I could throw at him right now. Magic wasn't the best idea, he would just eat it and regain some of his might, but the more physical approach was mostly unhindered because in his current state he was actually quite fragile. All it would take was one swing of my sword, and nothing else would matter as I would simply be done with one of the threats to the place that I at the moment called home, and therefore to me.
I tried to memorize his position to the best of my abilities, his was slouched over and lying right at the center of his cage. It wasn't as if he would be able to see me coming, but, on the safe side, I waited if there will be any actual reaction to my presence or not. He wasn't even moving, just simply being there like a husk instead of a living body. Well, he was in a terrible condition and as far as I could tell there literally wasn't much that could be done to weaken him any further, his body was thin and I could even see the bones of his ribcage through the skin of his chest. His arms were no better, no muscles were seen and I swear that the skin he had was simply stretched over his skeleton by this point. The most important par was that his eyes were closed and he obviously wasn't paying attention to anything that was happening around him, that was good as I had no desire to risk him reacting to my intrusion.
I deployed an Illusion Barrier and instantly materialized my sword into existence in my right hand, this was going to be a tough call. [Murciélago] was still active and I had more than enough Mana to sustain it for some time, it wasn't as draining as before due to me becoming stronger and the Skill gaining several Levels that lessened the drain considerably. Without even blinking I used [Teleportation] to appear right in front of the place where Tirek was, my arm raised to the side and prepared to cut no matter what was going to stand in my way. [Gamer's Mind] became active and on my command suppressed everything that I felt, there was no mercy or hesitation in me right now and there certainly was now pity for the monster that was going to die today.
I'm not sure if it was just me, but the moment my hand started moving was like the whole World just stopped around me. I could hear only the deafening silence surrounding me and the calm rhythmic beating of my own heart, it was really strange and alien feeling that made me almost miss the moment when it came. I dropped the Illusion Barrier and I saw as reality rewritten itself and right in front of me there was now laying Tirek, from his perspective I probably just appeared out of nowhere and without even an ounce of Mana used. He didn't move, probably wasn't yet aware of the fact that death was approaching him, and it was alright with me as I didn't want to give him even the honor of having his last words spoken. My sword moved with agonizingly slow pace as it crawled closer and closer to his neck, there was literally no actual way he would be able to dodge it anymore and that was good as I wasn't sure that I could take him on even now.
And then the moment was broken as the edge of my blade touched his flesh, the blade's capabilities were based on my Magical Power and at the moment it was at its highest. I was pretty sure that if I was any weaker than now I would've failed, but I wasn't and therefore I now could see how the sharp blade tore through the skin and then muscles of the monster that didn't deserve to live. I saw everything, and I felt each and every millimeter of my sword's progress being made as it carved through flesh and then through bone with some resistance that was countered by my Strength. Lord Tirek didn't even have the time to open his eyes or acknowledge his own demise as it happened, this was beheading and I left nothing to a chance here.
Sooner rather than later the blade came out from the other side and I could see as it easily slid out of Centaur's neck. There was nothing else to do as I watched his head being separated from his body and blood starting to flow from both stumps, but, apparently, my Power decided that it was the perfect time to take charge and his body suddenly disintegrated into black mist and a burst and left behind only two books and a glowing orb of Magic that lay on the floor of the cage. I just saw one of the most dangerous monsters in Equestria's history die, not with a scream but in silence and without even perceiving his own death.
Gained 200,000 EXP.
Your Level has Increased by 1.
Your Level has Increased by 1.
Your Level has Increased by 1.
Your Level has Increased by 1.
Your Level has Increased by 1.
Your Level has Increased by 1.
Your Level has Increased by 1.
Your Level has Increased by 1.
Your Level has Increased by 1.
Your Level has Increased by 1.
I didn't bother checking my Stats or even distributing my Points, all that mattered was that I succeeded and now I needed to leave as fast as possible. Without even bothering the read the appearing Windows I grabbed the books and hastily shoved them into my Inventory, the glowing ord refused to enter it so I simply held it in hand and deployed the Illusion Barrier. The cage around me vanished and I used [Teleportation] to vanish and appear outside of the Tartarus, without bothering to wait I instantly took flight and didn't dare to look back. My speed was higher than before, I knew that [Alicorn] gave me some serious boosts so it was probably the consequences of my growth. I pushed myself as hard as I could, the land under me blurred as I gain altitude and flew towards the familiar lands of Equestria, where I will be safe and nothing will be able to harm me.
I didn't stop flying until I reached White Tail Woods, there was nothing that got in my way as I finally landed and just crumbled onto the ground. I couldn't feel anything just yet, [Gamer's Mind] was preventing me from actually doing so until I would release my hold on it. I knew that I should feel guilty, but at the same time I couldn't care less about Tirek and his fate, there was no actual reason for me to feel remorse after his death as all I did was ridding the World from one of the Monsters that still draw breath. I just lay there, unmoving as I slowly but surely was coming to terms with what I have just done, with what I have just accomplished while still being on the incredibly low Level of Power by the actual measures of this World. There was a small sense of being slightly wrong in my judgment here, the whole question of me being in the right or in the wrong by decided who will live or who will die...
'Fuck it!' I drew a deep breath and then exhaled, there was no point in my little moral dilemma as there literally wasn't much of anything I could do about it now. The bullshit about letting them live, not lowering myself down on their level, this was bullshit and nothing more as I honestly had no actual feeling about it being wrong. Batman? He could've killed Joker and ended the whole circle of pain and misery that that demented clown always started, but instead he decided to be morally right about it and let the maniac go without punishment. I looked at the shiny sphere that I dropped when I fell, it was glowing with vivid vermillion energy and with black spark running over it. I stood up and used [Observe] on it, this came out of Tirek and I really hoped that it was that I thought it was.
[Living Essence of Tirek - Level: Legendary] The Living Essence of Tirek, it doesn't possess any actual capability to perform any actions other than existing. Tirek's Quasi-Immortal Nature doesn't let his Essence to pass on the Afterlife and therefore will forever remain in the World of the Living until it would be either destroyed or regain enough Power to restore its Physical Form.
'This is... new?' I blinked, this was actually kind like this thing being Tirek's Soul or something like that? I knew that Nightmare Moon wasn't actually a living being and therefore it wouldn't be able to recover after losing its host. Tirek's? Well, this was going to be an interesting development... I picked it up and a new Window popped up.
This is the Essence of [Tirek]. Would you like to Drain it?
I blinked again, this was also new. There was literally no actual precedent here and I had no idea how this was going to work out, I knew that 'The Gamer' won't let me actually get hurt while using anything that I would try, or at least will warn me when I would try to shoot myself in the foot, but here I was kind of feeling a bit cautious. It was literally a Soul of someone, or at least the closest thing that I could think of that resembled the actual inner manifestation of a person or a monster in this case. I knew that it wasn't an actual Soul, Tirek could've survived without this thing, but he wouldn't have been able to use Magic of any kind and nothing would've been able to restore this Ability to him.
It was like Unicorn's horn, not the Soul but the Manifestation of Everything they were, bar their actual self. Nightmare Moon, if she was to survive and was an actual being, would've probably been able to just float around as an Essence and collect Power for herself to restore her own Physical Form over time. Tirek Stole Magic from Ponies, but he also stole not only Mana, that they could've recover over time, but their actual Essences that were the equivalent of a Powerplant and the Railgun for a Magical Being when it came to actual Magic. That was why his Power Grew and not just temporary Increased due to him being so full of Mana at that moment, it was the theory I actually picked by pieces and assembled into something even remotely plausible while basing it all on Mon Dancer's knowledge and things I read in books that I had in my Inventory. It was probably ironic that Tirek's own Essence was going to be used for the good of Ponies, or at least a small group of them. I smirked at the thought as I pressed the button.
Through the Absorption of the Essence of [Tirek] your STR has Increased by 50.
Since your STR passed 100, you will Gain a Random Ability related to you Bodily Function.
New Skill [Pink Fibers] Created.
Since your STR passed 100, you Gained the Passive Skill [Giant's Strength].
Since your STR passed 100, you Gained the Passive Skill [Giant's Body].
Through the Absorption of the Essence of [Tirek] your VIT has Increased by 50.
Since your VIT passed 100, you will Gain a Random Ability related to you Bodily Function.
New Skill [Battle Continuation] Created.
Since your VIT passed 100, you Gained the Passive Skill [Robust Health].
Since your VIT passed 100, you Gained the Passive Skill [Grace of God].
Through the Absorption of the Essence of [Tirek] your DEX has Increased by 25.
The Skill [Nible Build] has been Created through the DEX rising above 50.
Through the Absorption of the Essence of [Tirek] your INT has Increased by 25.
Through the Absorption of the Essence of [Tirek] your WIS has Increased by 15.
I grunted as my clothes were torn apart by my body gaining new height and build, the Skills that appeared in Windows floating around me were telling me one important thing. Even, if by some miracle I would be able to hide my wings there was no chance in hell I would be able to actually hide myself or mix with the crowd and right now I was freakishly tell and unplasuably busty amazon that possessed a six-pack and muscles hard enough to stop swords. This was like the world was screwing with me, it was like whoever made this whole thing and put me in here wanted me to be as noticeable as possible for the sole reason of screwing any plans I may have of ever going out in public.
I groaned as I reached and tore away the remainings of my jeans and shirt, they were nothing but tatters now and would serve no purpose at the moment. I threw them into Inventory and then looked over myself, even pulling out a mirror just to check if something changed in my face. What I saw made me want to bang my head against the nearest tree, the only reason I didn't was because I knew that the tree will give in first and I won't gain any satisfaction from the act. It was like all little imperfections I ever had in this body were literally washed away, everything out of order was now in a such a perfect composition and form that made me too perfect to look actually natural. But at the same time nothing was there that would blemish my perfect image and body, my skin became smooth, clean and perfectly fit to cover my body, my face went through some serious but very precise and delicate reconstruction that left me with my own face but without anything that could be said negatively about it. This was inhuman to the point that I was pretty sure that I would be turning heads no matter where I would go, it would be such a pain to explain to girls and probably also a very painful procedure of trying to actually cover this whole thing up for me to go outside. I sighed and opened my Stats, the gain was great as I put all my newly gained Points into INT and prepared for another boost.
The Skill [Magic Control] has been Created through the INT rising above 200.
As the Skill appeared I actually smiled, this was what I was waiting for! So many new possibilities and so many new Skills that I could potentially Create with this, [Magic Control] gave me enough control over my Mana that I would be able to finish my repertoire of Skills that I wanted to create and then some! Fuck, this was probably the second best thing happening to me today! I pulled out the two Skill Books I gained from Tirek and used them without even reading them with [Observe], I wanted it to be a surprise!
This is a Skill Book [Might of Magic]. Would you like to Learn this Skill?
I pressed 'Yes'.
This is a Skill Book [Magical Drain]. Would you like to Learn this Skill?
I pressed 'Yes'.
This is the Pure Essence of [Tirek]. Would you like to Rejuvenate it?
I pressed 'Yes'.
'... Wait, what?!' I blinked as the orb, that I was still holding in my other hand suddenly glowed like a miniature sun and I reflexively released it. Suddenly it was like a punch in the guts as a huge chunk of my Mana was drained out of me and transported into the orb that now was on the ground and the glow from it was growing stronger and stronger. I stepped away from it and manifested my sword, whatever the fuck was happening wasn't good in any sense of the word and I was ready for a fight as I still didn't drop [Murciélago] and had enough Mana to level this place if I will need to. It was also good that I didn't step out of the Illusion Barrier as it would be able to contain whatever was coming from this little second fucking sun!
Suddenly, with a huge surge of Mana and a flash the glow vanished and I rapidly blinked away the spots in my vision. As soon as I saw just what came out of that whole thing my heart stopped and my mind suffered a malfunction and went rebooting somewhere far away from it. My face was blank as I simply stared at something that shouldn't be possible, at something that my [Observe]must be lying to me about, at something that shouldn't even exist in the first place! I was prepared for anything and everything, I was even ready to fight Tirek until his second trip six feet under from my blade, there was literally a ton of possibilities running through my head and not once did I considered what actually happened. Using [Observe] on everything was kind of a habit now, and I instantly used it upon the result of my loss of Mana and terrible lapse in attention.
My Golden-Yellow eyes with Black sclera met with solid Black eyes with Light Brilliant Yellow pupils.
My mind finally processed what was written.
I expected many things, some of them were so terrifying that I even didn't want to think about them in the first place, but I would have never expected to be tackled to the ground by a blur of red, black, gray and white. The small missile that came upon my bypassed my defense with ease, managed to overpower me in an instant and lock my neck in a death grip that would've probably snapped the spine of anyone else. I expected many things but being glomped by a child was not one of them, and the battlecry that made me want to just go and free Discord so the World would start making sense again was the final nail in my mind's coffin.
"Mama!" One single word made all my Power worthless as I simply stood there in pure shock as [Gamer's Mind] struggled to keep me conscious.
'So this is how Hell feels like.' I thought as I walked with a glassy stare and blank expression. 'I expected much more fire and brimstone.'
It would be a long walk back towards Canterlot, but I at the moment I couldn't care less. The whole thing with me ending the threat of Tirek ever breaking free was severely overshadowed by the consequences of my actions. Sure, I gained whole ten Levels out of it, two awesome Skill Books and several Skills that came from Stats growing so much, but, at the same time, I felt as this whole thing was just a prelude for me to drop my guard and let the incoming knife stab me right into the kidney. I could feel my heart beating in my chest with hollow thuds as if there was no point in doing so anymore and it was just going through the motions solely because of a reflex and not because it was supposed to keep me alive. My mind felt numb, emotions were hard to produce and I had to struggle to even remember why I was even like that in the first place, the shock fro earlier left me mostly empty as everything inside was wrecked to the point that even [Gamer's Mind] was severely overtaxed while struggling to keep my sanity intact and my mind from shattering like fucking glass.
I read several Self-Insert Fics on the Internet, there were things that could happen to people, they could end up as somebody else for example. The idea was kind of nice, if not for the vomit-inducing addition that made all of them suffer from the effects of the original owners of the body screwing their minds over for the sake of Fake Conflict. Some ended up as one of the Main Characters and had to play their parts to keep the World from keeling over earlier than it was destined to do, it was kind of sad to read the Stories where the Authors couldn't come up with anything original that would keep the plot going and not repeat the original Canonical events for the sake of not needing to invent something original. I think that I now saw something in those that chose to stay put and keep their heads down. If I didn't act so rashly, if I just stay put and pretend to be Moony without actually doing any grinding or explorations on my own, if only I just kept my fucking head down! I honestly felt like crying right now, I had no idea what to do and how to keep going from this point and what I was going to tell the girls...
I looked down at the small Centaur that held my right hand tightly and trotted near me while looking around as if trying to take her whole surrounding in at the same time. Her smile was just radiating happiness as she held onto me and didn't let go, her black eyes with light brilliant-yellow pupils practically shining with curiosity as she studied the woods that we were going through. Her black skin-tight muscle shirt was covering her from the waist up but left her arms and shoulders bare, it had high-collar that also covered her neck. She also wore silver metal bracers on her wrists, a choker-like necklace thingy at the base of her neck and the metal ring in her nose, that was pretty much that was on her. Her moderate raspberry skin was smooth and I could tell that it indeed its natural color, it was kind of bizarre to see but at the same time it fit her just right. Her hair was black and light phthalo bluish gray and tied in a high ponytail, her tail. on the other hand. was solid gray in color and swished from side to side with excitement. The fur of her horse part was azureish black with her light lime greenish gray hooves with amberish gray clefts. Her eyebrows were of the same color of gray as her hair, but, from under her hair, I could see a helmet-like part of her skin on her head being black with her cow-like ears covered by the fur of the same color. What would also draw everyone's attention was a pair of dark sapphire bluish gray curve bull-like horns that came from the sides of her head and pointed up, they were pretty big for her rather small statue but also managed to look rather fitting with what I knew of her origin and how he looked at the peak of his 'growth'.
Teria was... miniature to say the truth, she looked like she was in her early teens but smaller than you would expect of her. She had lean built and I could see some muscles on her arms but they were still rather small but obviously present. I could feel her Magic too, it was so similar to what I felt from Tirek back then, but it was somehow cleaner than what he had and much less powerful than he could produce even in his weakened state. At first, I actually had no clue what to do with her, the small part of me actually considered killing her right then and there and by that removing the last part of Tirek from this World, but my hand simply refused to move after I already made the mistake of looking into her eyes. Love, happiness, devotion, even [Observe] verified that the emotions that she showed were real and genuine, she was so happy and so innocent that I simply couldn't do anything but watch as she hugged me with all the strength her newly formed body possessed. It felt remarkably like a sucker-punch right into the guts, she didn't even question the presence of my sword and just was happy to hug me even if I didn't return the gesture.
'It's not fucking fair!' I cried inwardly, the young girl that lead towards home was by all accounts an impossibility that shouldn't have been capable of existing simply because there was no place for her in the World. And yet, she was happily holding my hand as I walked through the forest, from the corner of my eyes I could see the floating Window of my [Observe] that showed me her emotions and current disposition. The love and devotion were still present and they were directed at me of all people, she sincere loved me as her mother and I honestly was at loss of what to do with this. There literally wasn't much I could do, killing her or in any other way getting rid of her was out of question as I would never abandon an innocent child to the wolves, Celestia will probably kill her or lock her in Tartarus without even a second thought if she would think that Teria was a reincarnation of Tirek. Oh, I knew about her whole shtick about 'Second Chances', but one thing that I saw in the Cartoon made me want to keep Teria as far away from Sunbutt as possible.
"But I have use for Discord's Magic if it can be reformed to serve good instead of evil."
This particular line bore some very bad connotations, it may be just a bad wording on the part of the Author or something like that, but I honestly didn't feel inclined to find out what 'use' will she find for Teria. I could think of a couple of rather unpleasant ones, Discord proved that the crap Celestia was trying to spew wasn't all that much of value when it came to it being valid. Discord turning over a new leaf? Bullshit and a half, I honestly wasn't going to trust the animal jigsaw puzzle with unparalleled Power to be even remotely redeemable. I originally planned to deal with him by letting him break out, and then sealed again so I could steal the statue and drop it into one of the pits of Tartarus for another thousand years or even more to come. But that option was unavailable now, or more like unneeded, with [Magical Drain] I could remove him anytime I wanted to without any problem, the only question is when I should do so? I don't know if me tearing his Essence from him will break his prison or not, it was a huge problem that I wanted to solve as soon as possible.
"Mama!" I twitched but still turned my head to look at the excited child that was still grasping my right hand. "Look what I can do!"
Between Teria's horns and right above her head was floating a small sphere of Magic, Tirek did the same with he used his and I wasn't all that surprised with her Magic being the same color as his was. I'm not sure if I should be impressed or scared of her being able to figure out how to activate her own Magic, maybe she was talented or it was just that simple for her to do so?
"Wonderful!" I put on a kind smile. "You already figured out how to bring out your Magic."
The sensation of my heart being stabbed with a serrated dagger manifested as soon as I saw the sheer level of delight that my compliment brought forth. The one-armed hug that she gave my right leg, as she refused to let go of my hand, only twisted it, there was no way I would be able to actually do anything about her now that I brought her into the World. Her smile at me was so happy that I wanted to punch myself for no actually meaning anything of what I just said, the fangs that were longer and sharper than normal didn't diminish the sheer level 'Adorable!' that Teria was radiating right now.
'Fuck, I will be feeling like shit if I won't do it, am I?' I sighed internally and after letting her let go of my leg I crouched down and pulled her into a hug that she eagerly returned. [Observe] was still reading her and my action right now brought another burst of joy for her, there literally wasn't all that much I could do about it and I honestly didn't want to. Taking responsibility? I was already screwed, so why not to add something like this to the pile? The warmth of her small body and the fact that she obviously milking my decision to hug her for all she could make me almost groan, it was only [Gamer's Mind] that saved me from doing so openly.
"Mama?" Teria pulled back a little and looked me in the eyes, her expression a bit unsure. "I just wanted to know..."
She looked won, the embarrassed look really didn't suit her face. It was actually fully human face or, at least, as close to human's as it can be instead of the baboonish mug that Tirek had. I really couldn't catch a break here, am I?
"What's wrong?" This time was soft and far less fake.
"Em, I was just wondering, where are we going?" She looked at me with curiosity.
I stared at her for a moment, my gaze made her squirm a little but she didn't let go of me as I tried to come up with a correct answer. With what [Observe] showed to me, with her demeanor and with me being responsible for her creation...
"Home." I smiled at her, this time it was fully genuine.
It took us a lot of time to get through the White Tail Woods, even with me using [Teleportation] to considerably shorten our path I really had to flex the Skill to make sure that we will arrive before the nightfall. I needed time, stalling was the only way I could get some without actually doing nothing productive, or anything at all for that matter. Teria was fascinated by me being able to just pop us around like that, I did a couple of teleportations just for the sake of her entertainment and for the sake of getting my mind off the more pressing matters of her existence and my position as her technical mother.
There literally wasn't anything I could do about it, she was here and I couldn't just let a Magic-Eating Centaur wander around unsupervised. There also wasn't much I could do to fix the problem on my own, I couldn't bring myself to kill her or return her to Tartarus where Cerberus would take care of her as it would probably recognize her as a part of Tirek. I also couldn't just drop her on someone who would be able to take care of her, the only ones aware of what she was capable of and actually knowledgeable enough for the job were Celestia and Luna and they were not an option. I also had a very strong feeling that Teria won't let me abandon her that easily, she would probably try to search for me and that would end up in a disaster without fail.
'Damn it, I don't even know how to properly take care of her!' If she was either a Pony or a Human I would've been able to cope, but her being a Centaur made it far harder than it should be in the first place. I could only cope and hope that some general principals applied here too, whatever counted here for an actual childhood I wasn't sure with Vorak being shown only once and not in a parental role... I groaned internally, there was just some things that were simply immune to any and all attempts to make them simpler than they already were. This was one of them, no matter how much I thought about it I couldn't actually come up with any easy way to deal with the whole bag crap that was suddenly and without warning dropped on my head. At least right now I had a small break that I could use to sort out my thoughts and maybe gain some kind of an insight about how to...
"Mama, look what I found!" The joyful cry from the source of my headaches broke my train of thought.
I let Teria roam freely on the big clearing that I found in the woods, she mostly just ran around and explored the place while I sat under a tree and trying to come to terms with what actually happened. My mind was mostly going in circles, there literally was no defined solution I could come up with for the sake at least reaching some form of conclusion on the matter. I wasn't a monster who would abandon a child, and I couldn't keep her due to her literally being the female copy of one of the terrifying threats Equestria ever faced.
I looked up only to see Teria holding up a raccoon with both her hands, the poor critter looked ready to shit himself and was trying to take a break for freedom. Its struggles were really in vain as the poor thing had no chance in overpowering its captor's grip on its sides and escaping. Apparently, Teria was holding it too tightly as it also was making gurgling noises while obviously choking on its own innards. I decided to save the poor rodent and stood up, with one step I was in front of the little terror that would send chills down anyone's spine who was aware of what her predecessor was capable of.
"That's nice, sweetie." I reached out and ruffled her hair, which made her grin even brighter at me. "But we will be leaving soon and you can't let this little guy come with us."
Teria's ears dropped a little as she looked sadly at the struggling critter that was probably seeing its life flashing before its eyes by this point. Her sad eyes almost made me cave in and let her keep it up until the point it would keel over, there was no amount of pleading she could dish out for me to let her drag a cadaver of a rodent around. A quick application of [Gamer's Mind] fixed the problem and I just smiled apologetically at her.
"Really?" I could swear I even heard a small sad sniff.
"Sorry, but his place is in this forest where his home is." One quick check with [Observe] supplied with the gender of the raccoon, these critters were actually smart and there was no point of provoking it to shit on my foot or something like that. "I'll see if we can get you a pet after we'll get home, but only after everything concerning your arrival will be taken care of."
The last part made her smile return full force. Without even bothering with manual extraction I used [Teleportation] to relocate the critter to the nearby part of the clearing where it instantly broke into a mad dash and soon disappeared behind the trees. The lucky little guy could just run away, I truly envied him right about now.
"Are we going home now?" I looked back at the girl in front of me. "Can I get something big when we will get there? Like a big cat? Or a big bird? Or... Or a bear?!"
In my mind, I could actually see the image of Teria dragging around a struggling bear that was fighting for its life while trying to break free from the vice-like grip fo the centaur girl. I suppressed a small shudder from the whole thing, it reminded me too much of an episode of 'Screwy Squirrel' for my comfort.
"I'll see what we will be able to find." I smiled woodenly at her, my mind too occupied with the images of dead animals. "Now, let go home."
I reached out and took her hand, there was no point of actually stalling anymore as the more time I was absent the more worried the girls will be. Lemon will probably lecture me about being stupid and putting myself in danger, but it will all be derailed when Teria will make her entrance. I also hoped that they will miss my newly acquire height and curves for the sake of actually figuring out how she came along and where from. I deployed an Illusion Barrier and, with a flash of light, we were gone. Due to me not being overly confident in my capability to fly us back to Canterlot I decided that [Teleportation] would have to do for the moment.
'Think positive thoughts, there won't be much damage they will be able to do to me now, right?' Even this little positive thing tasted bitter. I was in my house, just arriving there felt like jumping into the pit and waiting for the spiky press to come down on you, and right now I was about to push the button for its release. With a deep sigh and still holding Teria's hand as the small Centaur was looking around the living room I dropped the Illusion Barrier.
"... and then we will be able to simply relax in the spa." I heard Minuette finish.
She was sitting on the couch with Lemon and Shy, while Starlight was sitting on the chair nearby. They all were looking at something that I could only guess was some kind of an advertisement brochure, I sure hope they weren't planning on dragging me along the ride as I simply wouldn't be able to actually join them in their endeavor for obvious reasons.
"And how are you planning on having Moony with us?" Lemon asked. "I'm pretty sure that there won't be a way for us to actually sneak her in without anyone noticing, even with those fancy Illusion Barriers of her there surely will be at least someone who will see her there!"
'Yeah, now even more than before.' I grimaced and glanced at Teria, who was looking at the girls with wide and curious eyes. They were the only other people she has met so far so there really wasn't all that much surprise in her reaction. I was actually more surprised that she hasn't tried to jump in and talk to them so far, but the tightening of her grip and a quick glance at her with [Observe] cleared that up. She was just being unsure and a little bit shy about the whole thing, I was 'Mama' and therefore automatically approachable but these girls were an unknown and therefore she was lost at what to do and how to react to them. I shoudl've actually warned her about them, but it didn't really feel right to do so without actually alerting girls about Teria too.
"That's the beauty of my plan!" Minuette grinned. "We will rent the whole thing off, or at least one of the saunas and then just make it our little relaxation spot for the evening."
"There is no way we would be able to pull it off." Starlight groaned. "I know about a couple of Spells that would be able to render any part of the body invisible, but the problem with those is that they are kind of useless during things like fog or rain. The steam in the spa will just make the whole thing pointless as it will collect on her wings and render them partially visible, and I'm pretty sure that we won't be able to cast it on her horn without anyone asking questions how she suddenly changed her Type."
"What are we going to do then?" Lemon raised an eyebrow. "I agree that we should pull her out, the stress she's putting herself through isn't normal and the amount of training she's probably doing to grow so fast should be borderline insane with how much stronger she became recently... Whatever she does, it can't be healthy or actually all that simple as she tell us."
"What do you mean?" Minuette raised an eyebrow. "I know that the whole schtick with her becoming an Alicorn was a huge shock, but..."
"No, listen to me here." The Empath of the group, and I was wondering why she didn't notice us just yet with her Power, interrupted the Chronomancer-in-training. "We all went through this thing in school, the lecture about the capabilities and growth-rates of Unicorn's Power. There are limits to how much someone's Magical Power can grow, what Moony demonstrated in these days is an unprecendental case of growth that literally breaks every Rule in the book. I don't think she's doing something bad, like using some foul Magic to increase her own Power just for the sake of Power, but..." Here she grimaced. "I can't really tell, but it's like Moony is making progress unnaturally fast for the sake of warding something off that I can't really pinpoint."
'Damn, she's a smart cookie.' I actually was surprised just how perspective Lemon was here.
"And that would be?" Starlight asked with a rather serious tone.
"How did she know about you?" The cerulean-haired girl asked. "She literally had no actual source for information like that, she eve knew about your past and I'm pretty sure that there won't be anything written about it anywhere? I'm not saying that we shouldn't trust her, I will be the first to admit that I know Moony and there is no way she would be doing anything that can be harmful to anyone else, but things around her just stopped adding up all of a sudden and I'm more concerned for her than about her."
"I'm too." Shine spoke, her head was bowed slightly as she looked at the floor. "She's different, she's now much more confident and outgoing than she was before, she isn't as hesitant in her steps as she was and it makes her appear so much stronger. When we first met she was a shut-in, her awkward attempts at socialization were making her a loner and I was pretty sure that the only reason she actually talked with others at all was because she had to so not to fail assignments. And then she met me, it took me months to drag her out of her shell and actually bond with her because she barely talked herself and always looked so sad."
'Well, Moony was actually more unsure than sad, according to the memories I mean.' I tried to dig some more, but it was kind of blurry. 'I think her main problem was that she simply didn't know how to properly make friends and interact with children her age. Damn that orphanage sucked ass, no wonder she actually went clam-like for some time if these kids were so damn forceful. I mean, some roughhousing isn't bad and builds character but simply teasing a child that had no actual way to fight back about her refusal to participate in sports? I know that these kids were Ponies, but even then it comes out kind of rough and very hypocritical with them being Earth-Ponies while Moony was a Unicorn.'
"What, really?" Minuette looked at Shine. "When I met her she was kind of shy and unsure, but not to the extent you just mentioned."
"I agree, I could tell that she was kind of nervous but hopeful at the same time back then." Lemon shrugged. "It took some time but she eased up around me and Minuette, you basically being glued to her all the time also helped with how you tried everything to cheer her up. I was pretty sure Morning Roast was considering asking you if you wanted to switch rooms with her, so you won't need to stay away from your crush for prolonged periods of time at night. Apparently, the only objection came from your parents, they really weren't into letting their child live in the orphanage."
I could hear the smirk in her voice.
"W...Wha...What?!" Shine's face was tinted with a pink blush as she waved her hands as if trying to shield herself away from the insinuations. "It wasn't like that! She was just so fragile back then and I didn't want my closest friend to feel alone! Roast was busy with helping around, she already was good with what she does now and Moony had nothing but books going on for her..."
"And thank you for that." I finally announced my presence. "Without you I wouldn't have known the wonders of trying to get the paint out of my skin in the morning and how horribly it itched while I was trying to rub as much acetone into it to get that fake blush out."
"Eep!" Shine actually jumped in her position on the couch and tumbled onto the floor.
"Wha?!" Lemon's head whipped around so fast that I could swear I heard her bones cracking.
Minuette just stiffed as a board, but then also turned around with her eyes wide and pupils shark to the size of pinheads. Through this whole mess, Starlight remained calm and just turned to look at me with a smirk and a raised eyebrow, she obviously detected my arrival but decided to not announce it to the girls. I actually smirked back, this was actually funny.
"So, how was the trip?" She asked with a raised eyebrow, but then her eyes fell onto Teria and her compose shattered as she jumped back. "What the?! Who is that?!"
The loud noise snapped Lemon and Minuette from their shock as they too saw the rather diminutive Centaur that hid behind my leg and shyly peeked from behind it at the four girls that were staring at her with wide as dinner plates eyes. It could feel the grip she had on my hand tightened as she became the center of attention, this was going to get ugly really fast if I won't do anything. Shine managed to climb back onto her feet and she too became stiff as a board as she looked at the creature she has never seen before in her life, there wasn't any actual fear in her eyes but a lot of shock and uncertainty.
"Before we will begin can someone get me something to wear?" I motioned to my rather exposed body. "This isn't the attire I'm really comfortable discussing thing in."
This managed to snap others from the shock, Shine released a squeak and blushed red and instantly switched her gaze at the floor. Minuette finally noticed that I was only dressed in my underwear and her eyes grew even wider and her mouth opened but no sound came out, Lemon was just sitting in the same position and staring at the two of us with a blank look, I'm pretty sure that she wasn't even blinking. Starlight on the other hand apparently caught her breath and restored her balance as she blinked at my words and then released a slight groan and then pinched the bridge of her nose with her eyes closed.
"Only in exchange for the list of what you're eating to grow like that." She let go of her nose and looked me in the eyes. "Seriously, if this some kind of an Alicorn-thing? There is no freaking way that you would be able to suddenly gain that much height in a span of a day!"
"Some very good exercises." I smiled at her twitching left eye. "Did you really think that a visit to Tartarus would be all sunshine and rainbows? It took me some time to get there, but at the same time it took me far less time and far more effort to actually get in and then get out without having to have to fight the Cerberus on the way."
"I thought Cerberus would only harm the Evil..." Starlight blinked.
"Technically? Yes." I grimaced a little. "But he also positioned there to make sure that nothing will ever get out and I didn't want to test my luck if it will see that I don't belong there. The damn thing was powerful, even from a rather large distance I almost keeled over from a single glance it gave me. I'm pretty sure that even Celestia will have a hard time getting around such a monster, this actually pose a question why she didn't simply lock Nightmare Moon in Tartarus instead of sending her to the moon."
"What?!" Lemon apparently regained her wind as she jumped on her feet. "Explain!"
"Well, I'm not sure that Nightmare would've been able to get out..." I began but was interrupted by her glaring at me with fire in her eyes.
"Not that!" She marched over to me and tried to look imposing by the difference in heights kind of made it hard for her. "Explain that!" She pointed with her left hand at Teria, who shrinker slightly behind me. "Explain this!" I actually had to use [Gamer's Mind] to retain my calm exterior as Lemon grabbed my left breast with her right hand. "Explain everything!"
"... Before or after you'll finish groping me?" I asked teasingly with a raised eyebrow.
This question actually managed to knock the winds out of her sails and she blinked, the anger leaving her face and confusion taking its place. She looked at her right hand as if she was seeing it for the first time in her life and then gave my breast an experimental squeeze. Apparently the fact that she was technically molesting me finally registered in her mind as she suddenly flushed as red as a tomato and jumped back with a sound of a cat having its first experience with anal.
"Mama, who are they?" Teria asked, apparently overcoming her shyness due to sheer circumstances.
"Well, the one with with blue and white hair is Minuette, the one with pink hair is Twinkleshine and the one who just grabbed my breast was Lemon Hearts." I then looked at the girls that were frozen in shock, apparently the little Centaur dropping the bomb so casually temporary disabled their higher brain function. "And the last one is Starlight Glimmer. Now, don't be shy and greet them properly."
Teria looked at me with some uncertainty, but apparently her trust in me was strong enough for her to overcome her own fear as she stepped from behind me and raised her right hand in an awkward wave. She didn't let go of my right hand, though.
"Hi, I'm Teria." She fidgeted on the spot at the dead gazes of the audience. "You're mama's friends, right?"
The first one to move was Shine, her eyes rolled back and she collapsed as a puppet that had its strings cut. Her departure from the land of the wakefulness apparently wasn't enough to snap others of their stupor as the still just stood and looked at us with blanks stares. It was kind of becoming creepy, and their soulless gazes reminded me too much about zombies for comfort.
'Fuck, I need some new clothes.' I finally managed to squeeze myself into one of my last sweaters I actually had, Moony didn't have that many clothes that could be stretched that fucking much. I would need some new clothes soon, pants or a skirt were out of the question as they literally didn't fit me anymore no matter what I did with them. I even actually used Inventory to try and put them on, but they were torn apart upon manifestation by my body's far larger frame than they were made for. So right now I was sitting on the couch in training boxers, that for some reason existed in Equestria, and a sweater that was stretched to the extreme and would probably be torn apart if I as much as flex my own muscles or perform any sudden movements.
"Now, you will explain everything." Oh, and Lemon was standing in front of me with a murderous scowl on her face. "You won't cut any corners and will say everything as it is."
Starlight was sitting on the chair nearby, reading a book but was clearly amused by the whole thing as she was glancing at us from time to time. Minuette was sitting on the worktable that I had here, I didn't really care as she won't be able to break it with her weight and she looked really out of her comfort zone right now. Shine was just sitting on the floor and looking at Teria with a small wooden smile on her face, I was kind of afraid that she would stop breathing at some point if she will keep this up.
"What exactly do you want me to explain?" I sighed and rubbed my forehead with my right hand.
"Everything!" Lemon look really not in the mood right now. "How did you get so much bigger just in a day?!"
"Honestly?" I had an answer for that one, even if it wasn't a complete truth. "It's a Spell called [Might of Magic], Tirek developed it passively and on an accident and I just replicated the effect while I visited him. It's not really all that hard, it's just that your own Magic powers-up your body making it stronger, I have a lot of Magic and it got me a boost that you see right now."
"Alright, and what does this Spell actually do beside the growth-thing?" Lemon wasn't going to let it go.
"I'm stronger, faster and much tougher than before due to my own Magic." I shrugged. "It's passive effect and once applied cannot be canceled off no matter what, I was trying to analyze Tirek to find a better way to contain him and, in the end, I stumbled upon this. It's honestly awesome, I can feel my Magic coursing through my body and enhancing it while also not actually being used!"
"... It's not some kind of a Dark Magic, is it?" Lemon sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose while closing her eyes.
"No!" I huffed at the accusation. "It's nothing like that! Think of as about a 'natural augmentation' that my own Magic provides to my body by just being inside of it. It's nothing like what you're thinking off, and I didn't have to actually alter myself to learn how to do it."
"And what about the growth?" She didn't lose any wind in her sails, but at least Lemon decided that at least this conversation can be calm and constructive. "I can understand the principal of what you're talking about, Starry did something similar when you sparred with each other, but she never grew because of it."
"Actually, mine if quite different from what she's describing." Starlight said as she put the book down.
"How so?" My interrogator looked at the second most powerful being in the room.
"Well, I just coat myself in Magic and provide myself with a powerful and flexible shield that would also enhance my physical capabilities as a side-effect. Think of it as wearing an armor made out of Mana, but it also adds some more to your capabilities in close combat." She shrugged. "It's the most basic explanation I can give, it took me months to figure it out and make it so I could use efficiently without risking running out of Mana. Incorporating flight into it was also a tough nut to crack, but, in the end, it was totally worth it."
"Alright..." Lemon scratched the back of her head. "I'm not very good at that Type of Magic, but what about the negative consequences Moony can suffer from this?"
"None." Starlight looked at me with interest. "You literally let your won Magic run through your body to make it tougher and sort of reinforce it to fit your own Magical Power, right?" I nodded slowly. "Well, it's kind of what Princesses do, they are that big because they are that powerful and their Mana is so dense and they how so much of it that it literally infuse their bodies with itself and makes them bigger. I'm pretty sure that Princess Celestia would be able to literally shrug off anything I would be able to throw her way, she won't even feel the attacks and they won't cause any damage whatsoever."
"So Moony isn't turning into a Villain?" Minuette asked from her position against the wall. "And we won't need some stupid costumes as her minions?"
I threw her an annoyed look, she sure as hell could keep her trap shut about this whole thing. Her joke may have relaxed the atmosphere a little, but, at the same time, it also gave the others some very unneeded ideas that I would need to work around for my next trick.
"Ha, ha, ha." I deadpanned. "I'm not sure you would be able to even pass as one, maybe a jester?"
"Nah, I'll leave it to Shine, she knows how to make you smile." She smirked at the still catatonic girl. "Is she alright?"
"Just leave her be, she'll snap out of it sooner or later." I waved her off.
I could see Teria sitting on the floor behind the couch, and munching on the apples I gave her, she already went through about a dozen of them and I honestly couldn't see her even slowing down. The little terror was pretty much satisfied with nobody paying an actual attention to her and me being near while she stuffed her face with delicious food, considering that it was her first day existing I couldn't blame her for going a bit too far with her exploration. The main question was: where the fuck was she putting it all?!
"And what about her?" Lemon nodded towards the Centaur. "Where did she come from?"
"Actually, that's a very interesting story here." I chuckled sheepishly, this part I would have to play perfectly because otherwise, they would be able to tell that I'm bullshitting them. "Tirek tried to drain my Magic, he wasn't able to do so as I was too strong for him to actually brute-force his away through, but I managed to figure out the whole thing and basically reverse the process... somewhat."
"You... stole his Magic?!" Starlight's exclamation ended in an embarrassing squeak.
"Not exactly." I shrugged. "I managed to extract his Essence, there literally wasn't any Magic in him after all these years and I managed to tear it out o him."
"So...?" Lemon looked at me, I could see a slight trace of fear in her eyes. "What happened to him?"
"He won't be able to use Magic or steal it from anyone ever again." I smirked. "He's literally less than nothing now, even if I had to kind of use his own method against him to make it so."
"... Alright..." Lemon was still staring at me as if searching for something but then she just sighed and shook her head. "On a less morbid note, where does she comes into the picture?" She motioned towards Teria. "She's not his daughter or something?"
"Nah." I shook my head. "She's basically his legacy, but in a very roundabout way. Funny thing about Essence, it will always try to reconstruct itself a body and if given enough Mana to do so..."
Starlight's eyes widened and she instantly locked her gaze on the still eating Teria, Lemon did the same as hers almost popped out of her head from surprise. Minuette was a bit slower on the uptake, but then her head snapped towards the Centaur too and her mouth opened slightly. Apparently, me dropping such a bomb on them once again rendered their minds broken and inactive. Strangely, it was a very satisfying feeling.
"... You created her?!" Lemon choked out. "But... But where did you get the amount of Mana needed to actually do such a thing?! To permanently conjure a living tissue and then construct a vessel that would actually function as a fully living body..."
"It shouldn't be possible." Starlight acquired a faraway look as she probably was trying to calculate just how complicated this whole thing was. "You would need to deliver an insane amount of information into the Essence to perfectly micromanage the process, there is no way your brain would be capable of something like that! That's why Cloning via Life Magic was actually banned out as the Unicorns trying to do so just burned their own gray matter out upon the first try!"
"I had enough Mana all by myself, and the Essense did all the heavy-lifting as it already had a blueprint of Tirek's physiology in it." I smirked at their stunned looks. "I just needed to provide the fuel for the process and in a record time she popped out into existence!"
"But..." Starlight blinked. "But what about the Soul? You couldn't have just pulled it out of nowhere!"
"Again, the Essence had the blueprints for everything, I only needed to add Mana to it." I sighed. "This is not a Golem, not an Automaton and not a Simulacrum, this is a living breathing being that was born today via me infusing Tirek's Essence with enough Mana for it to reconstruct itself a new Vessel." I blinked. "And it sounded way better in my head too." I decided to ignore the accidental innuendo. "It felt like a kick in the guts, but at the same time I have a very good Recovery Rate of my Mana and therefore I was back at full tank rather soon. Teria here is far from what she could've been and I can safely say that she's not like Tirek in any way or form. He was a Monster, she's an innocent child that is now experiencing her first day of actual life."
"... You brute-forced Creation via pure dumb luck..." Starlight groaned as she buried her face in the palms of her hands. "I actually read the 'Theory if Spiritual Equivalation' and the author was spot on about his hypothesis, what you did was basically his masterpiece that he wasn't able to accomplish due to old age and him simply not being strong enough to pull this off. It was a pity that Celestia refused to even listen to him, Blazing Heart was the most talented Unicorn of his generation and a true genius when it came to Soul Magic..." She lifted her head and looked at me with a small sardonic smile. "I actually used his teachings to steal Cutie Marks, and two hundred years after his death you basically managed to accomplish his Dream through an accident that wasn't even meant to be anything other than a disarming of a ticking bomb."
"... Why did she refuse?" I actually was curious what reason did Sunbutt came up with for this one.
"She said it was unnatural and that his research was against the Harmony of Equestria." Deadpanned Starlight.
"That's kind of stupid." I scratched the back of my head. "So many problems could've been solved by simply developing Soul Magic, at least from where I'm standing."
"Will you two stop reminiscing the past already?!" Lemon cut in. "It doesn't fix the problem that we have the representation of one of the most prominent Villains in Equestria's history sitting inside Moony's house! Stay on topic here, we need to find a solution to this as soon as possible!"
"What to decide? She can stay here and I will be taking care of her." I said with a straight face.
"... What?!" Lemon gaped at me. "You can't just do that! She isn't a puppy or a kitten that you can just take in like that!"
"Mama, you promised that I can get a pet when we will be home, can it be a puppy?" Teria showed a perfect timing as she asked her question. "Big and fluffy one?"
"We'll see, but right now I need to deal with the current problems." I turned and looked at her. "After I'll deal with this we'll see about getting you a pet."
"Okay!" She grinned at me and then returned to munching on apples.
"... You promised her a pet?" Minuette asked with a snort. "Did you actually specify what kind of a pet you're going to get her?"
"Mama said that she will find me one!" Chippered Teria, her fanged grin looked both adorable and scary for normal Ponies. "Mama didn't let me get that raccoon that I found in the forest, but now I'll get to have one even better than that!"
'Ever helpful...' I groaned internally.
"I'll think of something." I answered. "And about me knowing these things? I already told you about Starlight and how did I find her town, there really isn't that much of a story if you're observant and can see the patterns in the strange disappearances that were happening all around the place. Did you really think that nobody would notice so many Ponies going missing?"
"Actually?" Starlight scratched the back of her head sheepishly. "No, I had them in the town and they could verify for each other if authorities would arrive. If the person isn't missing and isn't held against his own will then there is literally nothing actually illegal about my actions. If nobody would try and dig deeper and figure out that I technically didn't own the place and it wasn't registered as a settlement then I was pretty much untouchable from the juristical point of view."
"You really thought these things through, didn't you?" Minuette smirked at the girl.
"About Tirek?" I grimaced. "There was a book about him, the only copy in existence at the moment is in the Royal Library, and I'm talking about the Forbidden Section where Celestia hides all the dirty secrets about the past that nobody should know about without some very explicit need." Partially true, the book existed in Canon. "The 'History of Equestria' speaks of several great calamities that can threaten our country, the first one to arrive was Nightmare Moon and she was put down by the Elements of Harmony. There is literally can't be smoke without fire, and if the Elements returned then there must be a very serious reason for their reemergence, there is no such thing as coincidence and you already saw the proof."
"And what exactly was the proof of what you're saying?" Starlight wasn't mocking me, she was listening to every word I said intensely. "I won't be the one saying that you're wrong, I'm the proof of the fact that some of the things you're talking about are true. There is no way you could've learned about... him without some very serious digging done."
"Moony, to be perfectly honest this whole thing sounds like a talk of a crazy tinfoil-hat, but you're my friend and I know you aren't going to simply lie about something like that..." Lemon hesitated for a moment, probably trying to come up with a proper wording. "I'm giving you the benefit of doubt here, and I trust you that there is something to your theory."
"I'm in." Minuette shrugged. "So far all you said turned out to be the truth, so I have no reason to believe otherwise."
"I was never in doubt, you helped me out and gave me something worth living for." Starlight looked me in the eyes. "There is literally nothing I can do to repay you fully for this."
"Thanks, girls." I smiled at them, this really warmed my heart. Then my smile turned into a smirk. "So, who's up to some serious training?" Without waiting for their reply I deployed an Illusion Barrier but then noticed that one of us still was catatonic. "Right after we will snap Shine out of her stupor."
"Damn, look at her go!" Minuette whistled from her position on a floating platform that I was holding in their air with [Telekinesis]. "She sure knows how to kick ass!"
Teria right now tearing through the horde of Porings and Drops with absurd ease as she literally stomped some of them into the ground. Her hands were always in motion as delivered punch after punch to the ones which decided to jump her, she was tough enough not to get hurt but they could still overwhelm her with sheer numbers. So far she was holding great and even got several Levels after several hours and probably a couple of Points for the sheer effort.
Meanwhile Minuette, Shine, Lemon and Starry were performing the standard routine of their physical training while we were talking about what to do next. They basically told me to stop being an idiot and spill the bean already, and really wasn't going to argue with that one as they should probably know that my next target was Discord. I gave them a brief summary of what was going to happen if he ever got free and all four of them agreed that he should never be released with his Powers intact. I may have added a bit more vivid details to the whole description, but it was for the sake of making a point and also warning them of the danger should he ever be left to rampage through Equestria again. Chaos Magic was dangerous, I couldn't emphasize more on this matter and they got the idea of just how far it can stretch the boundaries of Reality for the sole purpose of some childish monster's amusement. Nobody protested against me pulling out his Essence, they knew that it was necessary and that it was for the good of all of us. One of the most prominent threats to the World would be neutralized without even getting a chance to cause harm, there wasn't a better option I could see here.
I once again looked at Teria as she punched another Poring into oblivion, she was doing great and the girls were free for the night as I was going to keep them here until tomorrow for the sake of preparing them for the challenges to come. Some would be small, some would be big and some would even challenge their perception of the World around them. There wasn't any Magical 'Win Button' that Twilight and her minions had, we weren't born with a 'Silver Spoon of Destiny' in our mouths like those six were and that meant that we would need to actually push forward on our own as the World itself won't hold our hands for this whole trip. I already screwed things up, Season Five and Six were mostly gone and Season Four would be left in shambles soon enough.
I grunted as I pushed up a huge block of stone that I tore out of the ground, there literally wasn't any actual equipment strong enough to become a challenge for me now and I had to improvise. Starlight and I discussed the idea of some sort of adjustable weights that we would be able to carry around as a part of our training, she wasn't very knowledgeable about Enchantments like the ones we needed but the basics were the same as everywhere. Runes weren't a problem, but the actual execution was. I was honestly more inclined in creation of something akin of a Gravity Room like in 'Dragon Ball Z', but it wasn't all that practical to use so we decided to make them mobile weights like the ones I saw in 'Naruto' and then just adjust them with time and maybe add some other functions more. Standard barbells and dumbells were also included, we just needed something to make them weight more than they originally did.
'Gravitation Magic isn't an option, this would end up with a disaster like that one time they tried to create a small floating island via it.' Using this Magic for a long-term Enchantments wasn't something you would actually want to do, the whole thing was really glitchy and required a lot of constant adjustments and maintaining so the sphere of influence wouldn't slip and accidentally hurt anyone. Simply making the item weight more on the other hand was far easier and required far fewer headaches to work through, Twinkleshine even volatile to help as Gravitation Magic as a Sub-Class of Stellar Magic and she was actually pretty good with it after only reading the book once. While not able to actually cast any Spells she was sucking in the knowledge as a sponge and after getting them ready physically I was going to let them work on their Magic for as long as it will be needed.
I saw Teria charging at the now appeared Mastering, it was several hours already since she started her battle and the damn girl knew how to keep going no matter what! She was tough and I could see her Stats actually growing rather fast, soon she would be ready to tackle the next Level of my [ID Create] along with the girls, I knew that the Mobs would be getting stronger with an exponential progression so I would need to keep them here for a tad bit longer until I would be comfortable enough with their progress to let them try out the next one. Starlight and I could probably tear it apart in less than an hour, it would boil down to our ability to kill the Mobs en masse and how many of them we would be able to destroy in one blast. Minuette, Shine and Lemon didn't have such a luxury so they would need to adapt and grow a tad bit more before they would be ready in my understanding of the term.
'Well, at least she's having fun.' I snorted as I saw Teria's fist tore right through the building's wall as the huge Poring managed to dodge her punch. She didn't have any style and like I fought like a brawler, it was mostly her being so young that she was never taught anything just yet and this was mostly a demonstration of what she was capable of specifically made for me. Her STR was insane for her Level and she would only be getting better with time, I only needed to make sure that she wouldn't solely work on it and forget about her other Stats that would become very valuable later on. I wasn't worried about the girls, they were doing great and soon they will be entering another regime of training that I developed specifically for them where my own method will be hopefully applied to them by proxy.
And also I would need to track down Discord, there won't be any second chances for him to break free and wreck havoc through the land. 'The Return of Harmony - Part 1' and 'The Return of Harmony - Part 2' won't happen, I will prevent them from becoming Reality and there wasn't anything that would stop me from doing so. It was so easy to see it from the other side of the screen, and it was so hard to not shudder when you were going to actually be part of the twisted and borderline insane World that was warped by Discord's Magic. Celestia will have to find herself a new tool to work with because I'm going to break this one permanently, killing him now wasn't an option as he was encased in stone and therefore temporary unreachable, but his Magic was there for the taking.
It would be kind of ironic, he will end up powerless in the land where everyone hates him for what he had done all those years ago. The same position of helplessness that he made others go through when he ruled Equestria, with the positions being reversed I was actually wondering what he will do. I was pretty sure that his reaction would be kind of similar to Tirek's, if he was still alive to find out that his Power became Teria and she's on the road to became what he failed to, 'An Indomitable Force'.
'This is far harder than I thought it would be.' I grimaced as I watched Teria and Starlight sparring, I was kind of too strong now and ran the risk of overdoing it and actually seriously hurting anyone so I left them to figure it out all by themselves. It was pretty damn obvious that Starlight was the only one beside me who could fight Teria, as Minuette's and Lemon's punches simply did nothing while the young Centaur cheerfully cracked their bones with hers. Shine had even less success, Teria simply caught her projectile and ate it right in front of everyone while grinning as she did so. Apparently, the use of [Magical Drain] was much more instinctual for her than it was for Tirek, it wasn't a Spell anymore but an actual Ability that she had as a part of her being and therefore I wouldn't need to teach her how to do it. I had enough of a headache from teaching her how to shoot basic beams of Magic and the use of [Telekinesis], I spent the whole night doing so while girls decided to bunk in my house and I spent my time with my newly acquire 'daughter'.
I also let her tear through the Porings one more time, but this time using only Magic. This was kind of awesome as I watched her tear through them without much of a hassle, there was a minor hiccup when she ran out of Mana but it was solved by me simply firing a minor and heavily underpowered [Cero] at her so she could eat it and restore her reserves. For now, I limited the whole thing to just one run, I spent the rest of the night basically serving as her punching bag, while her attacks didn't exactly hurt I was making sure to retaliate in kind and actually dodge and block her strikes. Teria even tried to fire a beam at me several times, but I simply shrugged them off like nothing and kept going without slowing down and made sure to deliver a little bit more serious punch to her stomach when she stopped to gape at me simply ignoring her blast. I didn't want to actually hurt her, not seriously at least, but it would've been counterproductive for me to simply let her wail on me without any response so I fought back with a rather small effort. She now possessed a rather intimidating amount of physical prowess and could easily punch through a concrete wall, I was pretty sure that she would easily take on someone of her Level and snap them lick a twig without much of an effort.
I also got a couple of Cards for myself, only two Drops Cards but it was far better than nothing in the long run. [Physical Endurance] also grew steadily, even if a tad bit slowly due to me being very resistant to damage already and Teria's punches simply not being able to hit me hard enough to get to grow faster than that. Well, some progress was better than no progress at all so I just enjoyed the time I spent with the energetic Centaur that took any and all chances to attach herself to me like a barnacle and become a cuddle bug whenever we took a break. It was still hard to believe that this innocent and lovable little sweety came from that monster, the only resemblances were the horns and the species, but otherwise they were different and I could tell without any hesitation that she would never do something like that monster did when he was still alive. I watched her as she lay on my lap and was hugging me against the waist while burying her face into my stomach, as I slowly stroke the back of her head I couldn't help but smile a little at the rather childish display of affection. In the moments like these, I could truly say that I felt a tad be less negative about me coming to this World, but it also reminded me that I just got even more reasons to keep things as quiet as possible so nothing will disturb this peace.
I still needed to take care of Discord, and therefore I needed to boost my INT as much as I could in the near future. I now had the second Type of the Illusion Dungeon where, judging by the name, I would meet a bunch of giant grasshoppers that will try to kill me. They will be stronger than Porings, but I wasn't as worried as I probably should be at this point with how strong I was and how weak they should be by any logic applied. I still needed to get the girls into gear, as only Starlight knew what she was doing and how to do so with her own capabilities. Minuette, Twinkleshine, and Lemon Hearts were working hard and I could tell that they were trying to grow with how much effort they put into their own training, but it wasn't enough just yet. I would need to make them put down the whole population of Porings sooner rather than later, and I was pretty sure that if I was to force their growth things could get ugly really fast with the simple reason being their Power. A growth of that caliber cannot be hidden, so any all progress that they would make will have to be somewhat explained and the backstory shouldn't be complicated so not to people asking questions. Me? I'm pretty sure that there is nothing I can do to hide my changes, but at the same time I didn't show my face to anyone just yet and therefore I would need far less explanation for my changes no matter how big they are.
"Well, you did a good job today girls!" I smiled at the three of them that were laying and groaning on the couch. "You surely made some serious progress."
"Yeah, I can feel it." Minuette mumbled sarcastically. "We sure made some progress with discovering just how painful the soreness can be after a workout with you."
"Don't forget that she made us all kill those Porings." Groaned Lemon. "I'm not sure that I can feel my legs right now."
Both were in a pretty rough shape, sweating bullets and their breathing was labored while they barely could move. Shine was already sleeping, as she collapsed after finishing her own Porings and just feel asleep before I was able to catch her, she didn't wake up since. At least Teria and Starlight were serious about their training and were still going at each other outside, I heard at least one building crumbling down not long ago. I was sure that Teria could take whatever Starry will throw at her, and Starlight could withstand the miniature Centaur's punches easily enough. It was kind of amusing that any Magical Attack that Starlight tried to throw at Teria was used to replenish the later's own Mana Pool as the red-skinned girl just ate everything made out of Mana that was thrown at her. There wasn't much going on in terms of a ranged combat with the exception of Teria shooting beams from time to time, she still didn't have any particular grasp on [Telekinesis] to actually try using it in combat efficiently so she didn't even bother.
"It's for your own good you know." I snorted at their groans. "There are things that you need to work on and Starlight is still trying to help you figure out your own brands of Magic that you can actually utilize in combat to upper your efficiency. So far, the only real progress was made with Shine, as she already knew something that could be used for battle beforehand and just altered it accordingly. You two..." I looked at Lemon and Minuette. "... have literally nothing in terms of Combat Magic, and therefore your progress is slower than it could have been. We will need to push you harder than before, and while working on your Magic is important there is the discipline of the body that you need to take into account too."
"Easy for you to say." Snarked Lemon. "You can literally topple over building with your insane strength, we're Unicorns and therefore don't have the luxury of our Magic aiding us like that!"
'Yeah, and you're the ones with some insane potential when it comes to Magic.' I groaned inwardly.
"Also, what were those Cards that fell out of the Mobs?" Asked Minuette.
"Oh, those?" I raised an eyebrow. "These were concentrated... I don't think there is a correct word for it, think of it as a Manifestation of Monster's Nature in a solid form. Basically, this thing lets you absorb some additional Power from the Monster and Increase your own body's capabilities with it, and I'm talking about a permanent growth here."
"... And why didn't you let us use them?" Growled Lemon. "We could've used something like that a long time ago!"
"Because I'm honestly not sure if they will work on you." I shrugged. "My body can withstand the infusions, yours? I'm not sure honestly, it can do some damage instead of actually helping. I wouldn't risk your health here, and as soon as I will figure out the safe way for you to use them I will instantly let you get some of those."
"... Why do you always have to twist things so that it's us who feels bad about you actions?" Grumbled Minuette. "It's not fair!"
"Life rarely is." I smirked at her whining. "But as I said, we can actually test something out right now. It's rather harmless and will help you in the long run, but with how it works out I'm not sure. The best option will be that it will work and that would mean that you would be able to actually grow even faster than before, or it will give you a severe migraine and do nothing and then we will need to find another way for you to grow."
"And what is this mysterious way to Power you're talking about?" Lemon quirked an eyebrow.
Without bothering with the explanation I pulled out a book from behind my back, from the Inventory actually but who cares about semantics? It was a Skill Book that fell out from the Mastering after Teria killed it, apparently these Mobs could drop something other than money and all Mini-Bosses were capable of this particular Skill in the Game. I was actually almost vibrating with excitement, the language that the book was written on wasn't' actually a language at all and more of an Arcane Code that was like a computer one that fully described the Technique of the Skill. God bless [Observe] for explaining it for me, as I honestly wasn't sure how these small scribbles were going to translate into anything as I sure as fuck couldn't understand them. The best part was? I didn't need to as it was literally a Skill Book to the core of its being, so if the tendency of how 'The Gamer' worked will remain the same I could theoretically let others use it...
"Well, as the third Magically strongest person around, I think Shine would be the most suited to try this out." I said as I reached out and shook the girl's shoulder. "Wake up, Shine. We need your help here, and I'm pretty sure you'll like where this will be going."
"... Wah?" She stirred and blinked, her bleary eyes opening slightly as she tried to take in the scenery around her. "What?"
"Wait a minute!" Minuette apparently caught onto my wording. "She's the third strongest?"
"Yep." I nodded, as the pink haired girl tried to blink away the sleepiness from her eyes. "I'm the first, Starlight is the second, Shine is the third, Lemon if the fourth, you're the fifth and Teria is the sixth."
"Hey, why am I so low?!" She actually pouted here.
"You don't exercise your Magic like Shine does." I shrugged. "Work on it, and then you'll be able to grow faster in that area. You're an actual Chronomancer in the making, I can tell you at least a dozen applications of your Magic in Combat from the top of my head right now and that's without browsing the books."
"Easier said than done, it's not like it's easy to make things work like that." She grumbled. "I'm still trying to figure out how to actually apply this Magic at all, the ideas behind it are insanely complex you know!"
"Well, here's your motivation for the future." I smirked and then turned to know mostly awake Twinkleshine. "Here, try to channel some Magic into it, it should do the trick."
I gave her the book and she took it, watching her looking at the tome was kind of amusing due to her blank stare as she was trying to figure out what the fuck was happening. Apparently, her trust in me overrode any logical question she may have had about doing something like that and her horn lit up as her Magical Aura enveloped the Skill Book. It took only a second before the book suddenly shattered into motes of golden light and they streamed into Shine's body, her eyes flew open in alarm as she stared with unseeing eyes at the spot where the book was just a moment ago.
"... Okay." Minuette stared at Shine. "What exactly just happened?"
"Well, it's a theory that I was actually working out for some time and I think I have an answer." I smiled. "This was Shine learning something from the background impression of the Mana that was forced into a physical form that she absorbed."
"... What?" Lemon stared at me like I grew a second head.
"It's a lot harder to explain than to simply show you." I shook my head. "Basically, the Monster that was killed learned how to teleport himself, but this knowledge was crystallized into a vessel that upon contact with Magic instantly was absorbed into its host."
"... What?" Both girls were now staring at me.
I grinned, this was going to be interesting to see how they will react to Twinkleshine now knowing how to teleport. It won't be such a big deal for her to know the Spell itself, but the fact that she learned it so freaking easily was probably mind-breaking for any normal person who knew how Magic worked. Celestia's School was kind of good like that, even if Magic itself wasn't their exact specialization they still were more than equipped to comprehend something like that. I opened my mouth to answer but was interrupted as the wall near the door suddenly and rather violently exploded and a red and black blur shot past me and crashed into the wall on my left.
'De fuck?' I slowly turned and looked at the remains of the wall, suddenly a head of gray and black hair popped from the pile of broken wood and stone. Teria shook her head to remove the dust and climbed out from the debris, a grin on her face. She wasn't all that injured, I could see several bruises on her skin and a small trail of blood was leaking from her temple but a quick check with [Observe] showed me that the damage was cosmetic at best. Then her eyes fell on me.
"Hi, Mama!" Her grin became even more cheerful.
"What exactly just happened?" I asked her with an even tone.
"Well, Aunty Starry used one of her Spells to grab a lampost and then hit me with it." She answered as she skipped towards me. "Then I went flying and ended up here!"
"Aha." I nodded with a deadpan expression. "She sent you flying with a lampost."
"Yep." Teria gave me a hug and I absently ruffled her hair with my left hand, which earned my a tighter hold of her hands. "We were having so much fun! She's so strong and can use so many tasty Magic! I'm not sure how she did most of the things, but it was so cool!" I could actually see as her eyes sparkled as she looked up to me. "She made that big dome of Magic that stopped my own attacks, I couldn't break it with my fists and I had to eat through it because nothing else worked! She then kicked me and then I actually flew before she teleported above me and kicked me again and then I crashed into the ground!"
'Yeah, she's as resilient as I thought she will be.' I thought with a snort. Taking this much punishment from Starlight and shrugging it off was something that not everyone could do, I know that she was holding back for the sake of keeping it a fair fight against Teria but still. I was really impressed right now, Teria was sure as hell up to the course with some of more prominent members of the civilians here and then some more. Sure, she had no freaking chance of taking on someone who actually mattered and I was pretty sure that it will remain like that for some time until she will grow stronger. Starlight wasn't a slouch either and if I was to bet she could grow pretty fucking impressive results if she would desire so, she was mostly reading books right now to get herself some of so much needed ideas about what we will need to learn later on.
"Sorry about that, Moony." Starlight walked through the hole in the all with a sheepish expression. "I think we got a bit carried away with our spar and I lost the control a bit."
"Nah, no problem." I waved her off, noting how she didn't even look winded. "It's inside the Illusion Barrier, so there is no trouble at all when I will drop it."
"Cool." She then looked at the trio on the couch who was still looking at Teria with blank looks. "Did I miss something?"
"As a matter of fact..." I smirked.
"... Why do you hate reality?" Groaned Lemon as she watched Twinkleshine teleport from place to place with a big smile on her face. "That's not even how it suppose to work, the direct infusion of information to such a precise degree doesn't simply happen without some sort of negative consequences. She shouldn't be even able to comprehend it, much less use it to literally pull out something like this out of her ass!"
"I think it's awesome!" Grinned Minuette. "Damn it, I really think we should upper our effort on cleaning these Porings out if this will be the result!"
"I'm still not sure what exactly happened, but I'm pretty sure that questioning it would earn me a headache." Muttered Starlight as she also was trying to follow the erratic pattern of Shine's teleports. "She now knows how to properly teleport, that's a big plus with now three of us capable of such a thing and it will also get us much more mobility. How many others you can take with you if you push it?"
The last question was directed at me.
"Honestly?" I shrugged. "I have no clue, I never pushed myself quite like that and therefore even theoretically... I'm not sure."
"We'll need to test it sooner or later, it may be useful if you would be able to relocate more than a dozen people at once." She hummed. "What was the plan for today?"
"Well, I was planning on introducing you all to Zecora actually." It was a spur of the moment decision, but with Shine successfully learning from a Skill Book I now had a good outlet on how to upgrade them faster than before. "She will be delighted to meet you lot."
"The Zebra?" Lemon blinked and looked at me. "Isn't she living in the Everfree?"
"Well, yeah." I nodded. "Something the matter?"
"No, it's just that I heard some really nasty rumors about it from the others and I'm still unsure how she managed to survive there." She shrugged. "She's either really lucky, really smart or really strong to pull something like that off."
"If you'll start rambling about how Everfree is 'unnatural' I'll kick you." My deadpanned voice made her raise an eyebrow. "What Ponies do is unnatural, the animals that live by their instincts and the weather that is controlled by no one but Nature is how the World have to work. Really, other Nations doesn't have Pegasi to managed weather and they never complain, Equestria looks more like a Nation that is populated with control-freaks rather than anything else." I huffed. "It's like Magic is supposed to be the answer to anything and everything, which is kind of stupid altogether considering that most of the times it makes thing worse rather than better."
"You really don't like the whole thing?" Lemon frowned questioningly at me. "What brought this up anyway?"
"Honestly? I read some books about the lands where they don't bend weather to their whims and still live good." I shrugged. "The grass is greener on the other side I guess? It's like finally finding that the only thing you knew and thought was right actually wasn't the only one and wasn't the best at fucking all." I ignored her slight twitch from me cursing. "There are things that wouldn't work as well for someone without looking at the alternatives, I'm simply finding the different ways more suited for my tastes now that I'm aware of their existence."
With a flash of Magic Shine appeared right in front of me, and far faster than I thought she was capable of locked her arms around my neck in a tight hug. Yeah, I was being glomped by her again in the last hour, the first time happened when she actually came out of her stupor and then realized that I just gifted her with a Spell directly downloaded into her mind. Fuck, it was kind of awesome seeing someone enjoying their progress so much, but even then she was bouncing off the wall from the fact that I basically cheated and let her overcome all the needed time of studying that would be required to pull something like that off. Well, if you're not cheating that only means that you aren't trying, and I wasn't above trying to make things as easy for me and others as possible.
"When are we leaving?" Teria asked from behind me, after cleaning herself and addressing the wound on her head she was good to go. "I really want to meet the Zebra that Mommy spoke about, it's sounds really interesting!"
"Everything is interesting to you." I snorted with a small smile. "And we're leaving as soon as everyone will be ready, I'm up to snuff with my own Magic and will be able to carry you lot directly towards the Everfree."
"Yay!" Teria pumped her small fist into the air in victory.
"I'm ready." Shugged Lemon.
"No objections from me." Starlight adjusted her shirt. "I'm really interested in meeting this Zecora, someone who can survive in the Everfree for so long should be pretty cool."
"To the Everfree we go!" Shine cheered, still a little hipper from her earlier outburst.
"... This is going to be a bumpy ride, wouldn't it?" Minuette groaned but still smiled a little.
"We will see." I smirked and triggered the Skill.
One one hand I should've thought these things through a lot more before trying something like this, sure I had Mana in spades and [Teleportation] wasn't all that hard to use now that I Leveled it up and properly got used to it, but still. I actually felt the drain from the use as we appeared near the bottom of the mountain that housed Canterlot, it was actually quite substantial if put into numerical form but not as bad when put into the percentage of my actual reserves. It was a good thing that I had a good memory of the route when I took it by train and therefore could simply 'jump' down the railroad with my passengers without the care in the world about losing the direction or missing the mark.
In another flash of Mana we appeared on the railroad, I was making sure not to make the jumps too big for me to lose focus or run out of juice. There literally wasn't much to be said about the whole thing, I knew that, in theory, I should be able to cover the distance without much trouble by myself but I had no clue how much it will take out of me to drag them all along with me. Better safe than sorry, as they say. I wasn't going to take any chances here, there was no chance of actually 'splicing' like in the World that Rowling created but simply appearing somewhere between your point of departure and your destination could be hazardous too. Imagine materializing in the air without Mana or the ability to fly? Or if there are numerous sharp spikes at the bottom of the gorge that you suddenly popped over? Yeah, that would be the dumbest way to die, and probably one of the most embarrassing for anyone who at least learned the first five safety rules of this Spell. Who didn't bother to? Well, they can die for all I care so not to pollute the gene pool with their stupidity.
It was a good thing that I had a lot of Mana, and, even by normal standards, I won't be able to simply run out of juice due to other Skill lowering the cost that my Skills had upon use. I was still nowhere close to the likes of Discord, Celestia, Nightmare Moon, Luna or even Chrysalis, but it was a good feeling to at least get up from the bottom. Now if only I was able to keep going with the same progress as before...
"This is different from what I actually expected." Lemon looked at Zecora's hut with a raised eyebrow. "Neat, but still rather weird in its own way."
"I think it's cool, she has an awesome and scary house here without any backdoor backstory with it!" Minuette added. "I mean, I know all these tales about some haunted mansions that are told to foals before sleep, but this is both kickass and rather new."
"Oh, you saw nothing yet." I smirked and dropped the Illusion Barrier.
Without even turning around I instantly raised my right hand to grab the end of a wooden staff that was aimed at my temple. It was a good thing that I kept my [Magical Sense] going without restraining it when we entered the Everfree, I instantly sense Zecora right behind me and heard the whistling sound of the weapon being aimed right at my head. It wasn't as easy as you may imagine, I wouldn't have been able to pull this off if not for my rather good peripherical vision and pure dumb luck giving me some slack and not having to test whatever the Zebra Shaman had prepared for the unwelcomed intruders.
"I must apologize for my sudden attack~, but you appeared right behind my back~." Zecora said from behind me as I let go of her weapon that she tried to use to bash my brains out. "Excellent reflexes you demonstrated~, your reaction wasn't belated~!"
I turned around and looked at the smiling form of Zecora, who twirled her staff and then hit the ground with one of its ends. Oh, she wasn't all that apologetic because she knew that I would understand her reasons, but at the same time she was being polite and I could only smile at the reclusive young woman that led a rather lonely lifestyle till now. Whatever Canon intended for her can go and fuck itself, I liked what I found out from our conversation and what [Observe] told me about her, so there was no way I was going to just leave her to rot here.
"Sure, no problem." I smiled.
Others just now managed to get out of their stupor, Starlight's horn dimmed as she saw just who attacked me and Teria dispelled the ball of Magic hovering between her horns. Others weren't as good off as these two, they simply didn't have the capability to react like that, Starlight's training and Teria's instincts were rather good and sharp respectably and only the fact that a blow like that wouldn't have really hurt me stopped them from shooting first and asking questions never.
"So, you're Zecora I presume?" Starlight looked at the Shaman with a raised eyebrow. "Well, damn, you have things here going rather good I can see."
"I cannot really complain~, but still living here is rather plain~." The white and black haired woman smiled. "This forest holds many mysteries that even a lifetime won't be enough to uncover~, and each turn I given something new to discover~."
"Have to agree with you here." Lemon shugged. "I'm Lemon Hearts, Moony said that she met you no long ago and decided it was a good idea to introduce us."
"Hi! I'm Minuette." The Chronomancer in training smiled. "Nice to meet ya!"
"Starlight Glimmer, it's rather surprising to find someone who would actually decide to live in a place like this one." Former cult-leader gave a wave.
"Ah, I'm Twinkleshine." The pink-haired girl introduced herself. "I'm happy to meet someone new here."
"Hi!" Teria didn't bother with such small things as personal space or tact, as she just trotted forward and stared Zecora right into the eyes with a grin on her face. "I'm Teria! Mommy said that you can make potions, is that true?"
I'm pretty sure that Zebra's mind short-circuited just a moment there as she laid her eyes on the Centaur. It was probably the first time in her life that she was able to see someone like that, and I didn't blame her for stumbling slightly upon the introduction. At least she managed to snap out of her stupor only after a couple of seconds and put on a rather pleasant smile.
"Hello to you too child~ and the claim wasn't mild~. I indeed know how to brew many different mixes~, it is unknown just what situations would require which fixes~." Zecora's broad grin spoke volumes about how happy she was for our visit. "Why would you like to know~? I'm pretty sure that it's not for a simple show~."
'Cutie Mark Crusaders' earlier addition, life isn't fair.' I groaned inwardly, this was going to be rather painful for me in the long run.
'Well, what do you know, these little shits are back.' I grinned when I saw several Timberwolves sniffing around the clearing, I managed to sense them earlier and just went to check them out, but with five of them being present... It would be a nice little snack for me, and I literally had nothing to lose from simply trying out the new Skill on these buggers. If it will fail I always could simply kill them off, they weren't strong enough to actually threaten me anyway now and if push comes to shove I could fucking fly and they couldn't. With these thoughts I jumped from the branch and landed on the clearing, making five pairs of acid yellow eyes instantly home on me with all of the Timberwolves tensing and preparing to jump me now.
[Magical Drain]
I didn't give them the chance, as I felt my own Magic hooking up to theirs and forcefully pulling it out towards me I finally understood just what Tirek actually did with his own little trip to Power. My own Magic was too powerful to actually resist and therefore they literally had no chance to escape or fight back as the literal threads of their Magic was being pulled out of their bodies and into my own. I could feel the Mana settling in, adding itself to my already vast reserves but not actually permanently increasing them as far as I could say, only temporary right up until I will use up all the additional fuel. It ended far faster than I thought it would as a feeling of five small something far denser than Mana slipping down my throat and the flood ended and I closed my mouth with almost a satisfaction purr while leaking my lips. The feeling I got from doing this was fantastic, my body felt energized and at its full capacity and even beyond that at the moment, the taste of a fresh salad with just the right amount of spices to make all the better. The please was almost sexual and arousing, and I swear that if I had any less control over myself I would've been tempted to tease myself right about now.
Gained 2,170 EXP.
Your Level has Increased by 1.
Gained 2,170 EXP.
Gained 2,170 EXP.
Gained 2,170 EXP.
Gained 2,170 EXP.
Through the Absorption of the Essence of [Timberwolf] your STR has Increased by 5.
Through the Absorption of the Essence of [Timberwolf] your STR has Increased by 5.
Through the Absorption of the Essence of [Timberwolf] your STR has Increased by 5.
Through the Absorption of the Essence of [Timberwolf] your STR has Increased by 5.
Through the Absorption of the Essence of [Timberwolf] your STR has Increased by 5.
Through the Absorption of the Essence of [Timberwolf] your VIT has Increased by 2.
Through the Absorption of the Essence of [Timberwolf] your VIT has Increased by 2.
Through the Absorption of the Essence of [Timberwolf] your VIT has Increased by 2.
Through the Absorption of the Essence of [Timberwolf] your VIT has Increased by 2.
Through the Absorption of the Essence of [Timberwolf] your VIT has Increased by 2.
Through the Absorption of the Essence of [Timberwolf] your DEX has Increased by 3.
Through the Absorption of the Essence of [Timberwolf] your DEX has Increased by 3.
Through the Absorption of the Essence of [Timberwolf] your DEX has Increased by 3.
Through the Absorption of the Essence of [Timberwolf] your DEX has Increased by 3.
Through the Absorption of the Essence of [Timberwolf] your DEX has Increased by 3.
Through the Absorption of the Essence of [Timberwolf] your INT has Increased by 2.
Through the Absorption of the Essence of [Timberwolf] your INT has Increased by 2.
Through the Absorption of the Essence of [Timberwolf] your INT has Increased by 2.
Through the Absorption of the Essence of [Timberwolf] your INT has Increased by 2.
The Skill [Supreme Magic] has been Created through the INT rising above 250.
Through the Absorption of the Essence of [Timberwolf] your INT has Increased by 2.
Through the Absorption of the Essence of [Timberwolf] your WIS has Increased by 1.
Through the Absorption of the Essence of [Timberwolf] your WIS has Increased by 1.
Through the Absorption of the Essence of [Timberwolf] your WIS has Increased by 1.
Through the Absorption of the Essence of [Timberwolf] your WIS has Increased by 1.
Through the Absorption of the Essence of [Timberwolf] your WIS has Increased by 1.
I could feel as my Mana Pool expanded once more, it was still mostly weird to feel it doing so but oh so welcomed. The Skill that I gained even before throwing all my Stats into INT was fantastic, just what I needed right now, it made my Magic of so much stronger and also let me gain even more INT basically for free. With a slight hesitation, I suppressed my slightly euphoric feelings with [Gamer's Mind] and shook off the slight daze I was in from devouring the Magic of Timberwolves, no wonder Tirek loved to do it so much if each time it literally gave him a boner for his efforts. Or maybe it was just me? I shrugged and walked towards the places where the Loot from the wolves was laying, some Bits and a Skill Book that I honestly wasn't sure what to do with as I took it in my hand.
This is a Skill Book [Summon Lowest Nature Spirit]. Would you like to Learn this Skill?
'Is it like Jee-Han's [Summon Lowest Elemental]?' I actually wasn't sure if I really needed something like this, as far as I was concerned there really wasn't all that much I would gain as my specialization was more in terms me facing my opponents alone so not to worry about the consequences and risking hurting someone with my Power. This may be beneficial in the long run, but in the same time it would be kind of useful to have another pair of eyes and ears wherever I go and by the Element of it I could see several interesting possibilities. There weren't much to do and I don't think anyone in my group would benefit from it due to their own capabilities or Styles of Combat, the only ones who would probably be able to pull this off would be Starlight and Twinkleshine and the second one would almost keel over from the strain and I'm not sure if she would be able to sustain one for more than a short periods of time. But it was only if the drain will be as big as it was in the Manhwa, and it would be me guessing things and not actually knowing them for sure.
And it will be better not to risk it, and I will literally not lose anything if I would try this just once. Skills can't actually harm me, or at least I hope they can't as it will be a pretty fucking stupid death to go down from. I reached out and Accepted the Skill, the Skill Book instantly burst into glowing golden particles and flowed into my body as the knowledge flooded my mind. Apparently, I gained a significantly altered version of what Han Jee-Han had and, in some ways, it was better while in the others it was weaker and less promising at a first glance. The Window appeared in front of me and I read it just to make sure.
[Summon Lowest Nature Spirit(Active) LV1 EXP: 0.00%] Summons the Most Basic Spirit of Nature. Nature was always aware of what was happening around it and the Men knew of its Power. Spirits of Nature were one of the Manifestations of its Will and with the help of Men they were able to step into the World as more than just Phantoms of the Flora around. Summoning Spirit means binding it to you for all your life as it will be supported into the World by you own Power, they will grow and flourish with time and your Bond will also grow. The Spirit's Attributes will change as Caster's INT and Skill Level grows, it will also allow it to Evolve into a Stronger Form with time. Passively Decrease Mana Cost by 1%
Well, I actually couldn't Summon more than one and it will be permanent because as long as I live it will be able to simply reform its material form making it almost immortal. There really wasn't a good way of saying this, but, in some ways, it was a very good boon while in the other it was limiting due to me not having the same versatility as it would've been with the Elemental. Well, I still gained something and it was kind of better than nothing at this point, maybe I would even find some use for whatever Spirit I would be able to call out for myself. In contrast to Elementals Spirits really didn't need any actual Ceremony, complex Invocation or even a Ritual to Summon as they actually wanted to be called out and step into the Material Plane. All I needed was the Catalyst, which was the Everfree Forest itself here as I wasn't going to cut angles on this one, and enough Mana to let one actually materialize fully. The problem was that I was honestly sure that the Spirits didn't actually exist in this World, there simply wasn't anything even approaching them with the exception of Discord and he was more of an Exception than a Rule with how his Nature was Chaos.
However, there was a very good possibility that there was one Spirit present that would fit the bill just fine and will be eager enough to answer my Call. Everfree Forest itself could be called self-aware due to how it resisted the totalitarian control that Ponies were trying to force upon Nature and if my theory was right then I would gain an ally and will give the whole Equestria a middle finger. This actually made me grin evilly, one of the things that I actually disliked about the show was the fact that Ponies were displayed as some superior race and even the World needed to bend over backward for them with their control-freakishness. Having Nature itself rebel against them would be kind of fun, but, at the same time, it will be a dangerous line to cross with them possibly not being able to sustain themselves anymore. I wasn't going to simply kill them for the sake of proving a point, but it didn't mean that my good heart won't let me screw with them for the sake of some lolz.
I outstretched my hand and prepared for the worst.
[Summon Lowest Nature Spirit]
I let out a grunt as about seventy-five percents of my Mana left me, it felt remarkably as a punch right into the guts that also pushed most of the air out of my lungs. I could feel as the tendrils of my Magic reached out and grasped the only presence that actually could be considered fitting for my Summoning and pulled it out from the forest around me. I could feel confusion, it wasn't aware enough to actually be even remotely sentient in a regular definition of the word, but it had enough of a mind to understand that it was being pulled out from its usual place of habitat. There was some resistance, but the whispers of my Power promising a Form and an actual Mind turned it into eager acceptance that let the Spirit follow the flow of Mana and into the clearing where I was. I could feel it... her taking shape as the form started emerging from the ground right in front of me, unlike Gnome who literally burst from the ground the Spirit was taking her time to slowly slither her way out as if a plant growing at a higher pace than normal.
The strange nagging feeling in my mind and the fact that her face was very recognizable for anyone who watched a certain Anime told me that once again the Skill decided to borrow something from my memories for the sake of familiarity. I was honestly feeling kind of annoyed and also happy, it wasn't as bad as it could've been but it also left me with at least some idea of what to call the newly formed Material Spirit that finally fully emerged from the grassy clearing. Her hair seemed to be made of leaves, and her arms and legs were plant-like appendages that look like wood, I could see wines with leaves coming from the back of her head that was covered in hair that was actually just a big pile of leaves too. Her blue eyes were staring at me with small red outlines on their outer sides and small leaves for eyebrows. I could see two vines going over her shoulders and providing two big leaves to cover her breasts to preserve at least some modesty while her crotch was covered with soft tree bark. Basically? I just produce Kii from the 'Monster Musume no Iru Nichijou' into this World and me sure as hell wasn't really all the what the fuck I should do with her.
She looked at me with innocent sparkling eyes, and for a moment I wasn't sure what she was about to do as something shifted in her gaze and a happy smile appeared on her face.
"Mama!" And then I was glomped by a Spiritual Dryad of the Everfree Forest with the battlecry that made my stomach drop.
'Oh, fuck! Not again!' I could feel the drain on my Mana that supported her existence and the sheer flood of joy and happiness and pure warm love that she was pouring through the bond almost made me choke. This was the second time that I was involuntarily branded into motherhood and I was starting to see the pattern here, and it scared me almost as much as the chance of being discovered by Celestia or Luna. This was going to suck so fucking much.
'Well, at least there is some progress going on.' I shrugged as I sat on the improvised wooden chair in Zecora's hut. Kii, and yes I did name the Spiritual Dryad that, was currently having fun with Teria outside as they played and bonded with both of them basically being technically sisters in some very strange way. The small Dryad was mostly calling up veins from the ground with her eyes coming aglow with brilliant green light each time she used Magic, it was kind cool watching them play and chat but my attention was mostly on the several pairs of eyes that were staring at me with deadpan half-lidded glares.
"What... happened?" Asked Lemon with dead cold voice.
"I... kind of Bonded with the Spirit of the Everfree Forest?" I scratched the back of my head. "Apparently all the Magic and the unique nature of the land here rendered the place Quasi-Sentient and therefore let me pull her out with little to no actual effort."
"Everfree Forest was..." She blinked. "... sentient?"
"Almost, she needed only a small nudge that I provided." I nodded.
"And you... pulled her out?" Another blink.
"Yeah." I answered with a shrug. "I was actually thinking about where Timberwolves came from and then I figured out that maybe they were mostly just parts of something much more. Apparently, and I'm only guessing here now, Kii was trying to defend herself somehow but had no actual idea or how to do so or possessed enough awareness to actually think about the whole thing and she literally came up with them. Well, more like she tried to defend herself and they popped out by accident or something like that, but I don't have enough evidence to support either theory as she doesn't have any actual memories from before me Summoning her due to her not actually being able to think properly. Sensations? Impressions? Sure! But not actual memories."
"And now you're her... mommy?" I think Lemon wasn't breathing by this point.
"Well, I'm the first one she saw, I'm supplying her with Mana for her existence and I was the one who gave her an ability to think and actually live instead of simply existing." I smiled. "So, it's kind of fits, at least I think it does."
After several seconds of rather tense silence Minuette burst into laughter, she was actually clutching her sides as she roared with laughter with tears in her eyes. Lemon simply took a sip of her tea and stared at me with a strange look of fascination as if I just grew several heads that barfed out gold and different jewels. Shine simply sat there, her eyes glazed over as she twitched occasionally as if she was suffering from some sort of a nervous disease. Starlight just facepalmed and groaned, she was probably already trying to come up with things to list about another impossible thing I did without taking into account the Laws of Magic and World.
"I fascinated how you can wield an Arcane Art~, you even make the limit of possibility part~." Zecora said with a broad smile. "I must comment that calling out the Heart of the Forest is a fit~, I find the fuse of my curiosity coming alit~."
"It's not like I actually was expecting it to happen, you know." I snorted. "It just happens to me from time to time, if you have some complaint about the Everfree Forest being like that then you can take it to King Aspen and his crappy brew. I'm pretty sure that they are responsible for the sole fact that this place was borderline alive and all but taking its first breath."
"The Deers' concoction may be a Magic in its own way~, but in a matter of True Life it has no actual say~." She shook her head. "The Great King may possess the Power to rise a new grass~, but your little miracles him managed to surpass~."
"Well, then it will suck to be him in the near future." I smirked. "Because the Everfree Forest now have a voice of its own, and a pretty loud one too. I'm not sure if he can tell the difference between before and now, but soon enough there will be some serious changes going on here with Kii taking the helm of this place."
"And what changes are you planning to instill~?" Zeocra raised an eyebrow. "Wasn't you the one that enjoyed the Forest's Free Will~?"
"Oh, I'm planning on keeping it and more." I smirked. "It's just that I'm more inclined to ward off any and all dangers that may threaten the place, and I'm not talking about Ponies alone here. Not long ago I came upon information that some of the local soil was suffering from the infestation of the Plunderseeds, it won't be such a big concern for me if not for the fact that they will go wild pretty damn soon. I'm going to ask Kii to scout around and find them so nobody would be in danger from the Chaos Magic they possess."
"... Does anyone feel left out here, or is it just me?" Asked Lemon with a deadpan expression.
"Nope, I can see what you mean." Minuette finally managed to get her laughing fit under control. "I'm pretty sure that about a half of what was said here right now was literally out of context for us with how little we actually know right now."
"It's not that you missed much." I said to them, Shine was still kind of twitchy and I'm pretty sure that she didn't blink for the whole time. "If you're confused about King Aspen, then think of a Deer that has Magical Water that can make plants grow under his control. Basically, he and his whole band are living inside the Everfree Forest and preaching about the fragile balance of the local ecosystem while defending the whole place from the outsiders and invaders. He's a friend of Celestia and makes it a point to whine about everything bad that happens to the Forest, I heard he has a son now that as much of a Drama Queen as his pops is." I looked at Zecora. "What was the brat's name? Bamble? Brable?"
"The name of the Prince of the Thicket is Bramble if memory serves me right~, I see that your opinion on their Kingdome isn't very bright~." She took a sip of her tea and raised an eyebrow. "May I inquire why in such a negative light you see Deers~? They are a Noble and Kind peers~."
"Not exactly for what I'm going here." I shook my head. "They all good in my books, the problem here is that they are too stuck upon protecting the Forest by the very weird means, like making it grow bigger if it would be cut down instead of making the ones cutting down the Forest back away with a very real threat of having their asses handed to them by weed. They need to learn to use at least some common sense before I would be able to take their opinion seriously without a pinch of black pepper for a proper comprehension."
"Well, at least there are some citizens inside this Forest that are concerned about it." Starlight shugged. "From what I was able to gather about this place, there are literally not many things capable of breaching the whole thing without some serious firepower backing them up. With how many dangerous critters lives here I'm more surprised that anyone actually lives near it at all, this Aspen fella sounds like he has the backbone of steel to actually support a whole damn City here."
"Not that surprising actually, he's the King and he respects the place more so than the Ponies do." I answered with a thoughtful expression. "Most of them fear it due to things not working out as they please and I'm pretty sure that at least half of them are trying to find a way to authorize its destruction. With Aspen having his antennas pressed against the jugular of the settlements around the whole thing there is literally no way Celestia will agree to it, leaving the Thicket alone is the best choice of action that will leave everyone happy here."
"They aren't that bad, are they?" Lemon looked at me with raised eyebrow.
"Oh, no." I waved her concerns off. "Aspen is a decent guy, has the heart of gold and all that jazz, but he's also a King of his Kingdome and therefore will defend it to the best of his abilities when push will come to shove. I'm pretty sure with their Magic alone they would be able to strike back with enough force to literally turn a huge chunk of the surrounding area green including Canterlot."
«Mama! I found some strange black seeds that are growing in the ground, they feel funny and Big Sis drained one of its Magic and said that they tasted funny too.» I blinked as I heard Kii's voice inside my head.
«Just let Teria destroy them after draining them.» I sent back through the Bond. «I'll even give you both a little suprise at home if you manage to find them all!»
«Ah, Teria wants a cake.» I almost facepalmed here.
«She'll get one if you'll find all of the seeds like this.» I answered. If the image that I got from Kii was any indication then the Plunderseeds won't be a problem for long, but just to make sure that it won't be much of a problem at a later date... «Kii, also make sure to it and assimilate one for the future use, these things will let you drain Magic and create some very powerful vines with spikes on them. It will be useful if you'll be able to produce them on demand, even if you probably won't be strong enough to get a lot of them going at the start.»
«Alight!» There was a pause. «Ewww! They taste bad, like sour and sweet and bland and the Magic makes my tummy feel funny!»
I could feel the Chaos Magic from the Plunderseed trying to grasp the Magic that Kii possessed, but with me backing her up and her being directly produced by the Skill there literally was no chance for it to do anything. The Magic in Kii's body surged and retaliated while literally digesting the seed and making it melt while breaking down its structure and assimilating the traits into itself for future use. This was a very good thing, and even if Kii won't be able to supply a big enough patch of them, at least one relatively strong foe won't be able to get away or actually do anything against the onslaught of them coming from the ground. I really hoped that there won't be much of backlash from this one, I basically left the Tree of Harmony without the Elements because without the Plunderseeds the mess from 'Princess Twilight Sparkle - Part 1' and 'Princess Twilight Sparkle - Part 2' simply won't happen. Well, no Magical Castle of Friendship for Twilight, not that many would miss that monstrosity anyway, and therefore no Map to send her to deal with problems around Equestria that can be solved via a simple application of a fist and logic.
"Something the matter?" Starlight asked, her concerned expression snapped out of my thoughts. "You just blanked out there."
"Sorry, Kii just informed me that she found the Plunderseeds." I smirked. "Apparently the last of Discord's little mines soon will be fully disabled, and I'm all for a small celebration at a later date." I looked at Zecora. "You don't mind if I will leave Kii and Teria here for the night? They will be searching for Plunderseeds and it will take them some time to find every one of these things, and I'm pretty sure there are many more than what they will manage to gather in the Everfree."
"It won't be a bother for me to let them stay~, to ensure the destruction of the vile weed they a going a long way~." Zecora nodded. "If you want to you also stay the night~, to separate a mother from her children just isn't right~."
I could see the merry twinkling in her eyes, Zecora of all people was teasing me here and that was both refreshing and honestly groan-inducing with how fast she jumped the bandwagon. Was it something in the water here? It wasn't like I was against the idea of spending the night here, nothing I could thnk of would be able to get pass me and Kii with us not needing to actually sleep. Well, it will be rude to not at least try to just for one night as the Zebra was offering us a roof over our heads out of the kindness of her heart with a little bit of selfish desire not to be alone anymore. Eh, what the worst that could happen?
Kii didn't remember much from before Mama awakened her, she knew that she kind of slept but knew what was happening around her to some extent. Things were moving, Ponies were coming and going and all she could do was to see them off while defending herself without actually fully understanding what she was doing. She didn't want to go to sleep again, it was strange how clear everything around her was now and how dim and dark her past now seemed. She could see and move and talk, she now had a Mother who cared and loved her as she felt through their bond, a Big Sister who accepted her and they were now playing together, and many more things that were yet to come! She wasn't alone anymore!
"Found one!" Kii called out as she made a vine grow from the ground with its tip wrapped around a big black seed that felt funny. "Sis, this one even have roots!"
"Mommy said that these things were bad, right?" Teria walked closer and looked over the seed, a ball of Magic appearing between her horns as she opened her mouth and the Magic from seed was pulled into her mouth as she swallowed it all. "Mmmm, but they taste delicious!"
"Mou! How can they taste so good to you but not for me?!" Kii pouted as the black seed crumbled into nothing. "I'm the Spirit of Nature here!"
"But I'm the one who can drain Magic from everything!" The young Centaur stuck her tongue out. "You literally eat them, so that means that you taste the whole thing, while I only devour the Magic and all Magic is tasty!"
"That's not fair!" The young sprite crossed her arms over her chest.
They were searching for Plunderseeds for hours now, Mama and her friends were still at Zecora's place and talking over the tea while Kii and Teria were having fun with their own mission. They made some serious progress with it, over a couple of dozens of black seeds were successfully found and drained by the young Centaur, Kii wasn't sure just how many there were but they will find them all. Mama said that with these things out of the way the land would be left without the danger of being consumed by the Plundervines, the tale about how the Tree of Harmony was needed for now and with it being drained it would leave a very big opening for some vile beings to come and harm Equestria. While the most dangerous that Mama was aware of she would be taking care personally, there always was a chance that a 'bigger fish' would come by when it will smell blood and easy prey. Discord's sole presence and reputation made sure that the land was protected during his rule over it, only the Elements of Harmony were able to overcome him and that was through his arrogance and uncaring attitude.
'Mama will take care of the meanies, while I and Big Sis will make sure that she won't be distracted by the small things!' Kii smiled slightly as she walked towards the next location she could tell a Plunderseed was residing in. With her senses being spread as far as she could and due to Mama being so powerful her range and precision were rather high and she could tell that the area they were heading towards wasn't natural. She was warned about the possibility of encountering Ponies and how she should avoid it at all costs, and also make sure that nobody would see Teria as it will be even worse and will probably bring down the might of the whole Equestria's Army upon them. She would need to get there herself and without being seen, it would be rather easy as she could simply move through the ground or just emerge from the nearby plant. Her sister, on the other hand, didn't have such a luxury and therefore would need to stay put while Kii will go after the Plunderseed.
"Something wrong?" Teria asked as she saw the Spirit of Nature stopping.
"Yes, the next Plunderseed is located in the area populated by Ponies." She pointed in its general direction. "I'll go and just appear out of a tree and will grab the seed while you'll have to wait here."
"Do I have to?" Whined the Centaur, her ears dropping slightly. "Mommy told me so much about Ponies and I really wanted to see them. Aunties are cool and all, but I wanted to see how their town was and how they were living there."
"Don't worry, Mama will surely find a way for you to visit that place soon!" Kii tried to cheer up her sister. "Maybe even to say hello to some of them!"
"Maybe." Teria perked up slightly.
It was enough for the Dryad as she let herself sink into the ground and then move right through the earth towards the place where she could feel the Plunderseed being present. She was aware of everything around her, every strand of grass and every tree was connected to her due to her being the Spirit of Nature and so she instantly knew that someone was not far from the seed itself and apparently was attacking trees. While Kii couldn't actually interfere directly, her curiosity was stronger as she decided to at least look just who decided to be bold enough to harm Nature so violently. It was a matter of seconds for her to find an appropriate position and for her eyes to open on the bark of one of the apple trees to watched as a blond green-eyed Earth-Pony was doing her best to kick all the apples from the trees around her.
'What?' Kii knew that these trees were grown here to be harvested by the Ponies, but the generosity of Nature should not be so brutally abused! Kicking a tree to make it drop all of its fruits was downright barbaric and Mama said that she was also free to protect Nature as she saw fit from the ones who was against it and tried to control or destroy it. While technically this wasn't the Everfree Forest and therefore she shouldn't do anything about it there was always an exception and Kii believed that she just found one! With nothing but a thought, she made the nearby roots grab the Plunderseed and pass it along towards Teria so the Centaur would be able to destroy it, Kii would need some time to deal with this uncultured brute.
Said brute was a tall Earth-Pony mare with blond hair and tail, green eyes and dressed in short pair jeans shorts from under which you could partially see her Cutie Mark of several red apples, shirt, that had its low ends tied under her breasts, cowboy boots, and a stetson. The ends of her hair and tail were also tied up with red ribbons and she wore a harness that crisscrossed over her back and chest that held two big baskets on her sides where she carried the apples. Nothing of it actually clued Kii about the reasons for her violent behavior, she also looked rather exhausted but it didn't bother Kii in the slightest as she enfolded her presence and connected with every tree in the vicinity. As the young girl came closer to the one and was prepared to kick it the Dryad took action, the rather thick branch that was right behind the mare suddenly moved and with a blinding speed delivered a harsh blow right at the back of her head. Her obviously weakened condition and a direct hit from a Magically Reinforced improvised wooden club made the blond tree-abuser crumble onto the ground unconscious even despite her innate toughness as an Earth-Pony.
'This done, and now to undo all the damage she had done.' Kii focused on the surrounding trees and soon small thin brown vines came from the spots when the apples were originally hanging and shot towards the stolen fruits. Connecting to the leftover stalks the veins instantly pulled back and made the apples return to their rightful place, good as new and without a single one out of place as the Dryad repeated the process over and over again while making sure that nobody would see her. The loss of fruits was collosal and some trees weren't able to reclaim theirs, but Kii just channeled some Magic and helped them grow new ones while also rejuvenating them and adding some innate protection that would make these trees far harder to bully by stupid Ponies. If they wanted fruits then they will show some proper respect and apprciation for the Nature that generously provided them with the source!
It took her about half an hour to finish everything, including the purge of some leftover Magic that came from the Earth-Pony and some others that obviously worked here and replacing it with her own to make things easier for the trees. Kii couldn't identify just who the other three were, but she thought that maybe they were the other Ponies that lived on this farm and helped around here from time to time. It was really nasty things to do to infuse the trees with Magic like that, making them deliver the fruits at a far higher rate and basically force Nature to bent over and give out for free. Kii's little infusion would cause the trees to reject the alien Mana and protect themselves, and, in addition, they will stay healthy and more resistant to outside forces than before.
Satisfied with her work Kii sank back into the ground and moved towards where Teria was waiting for her, the young Centaur was pacing impatiently and looked rather worried about the fact that her younger sister was missing far longer than she was supposed to with the Plunderseed destroyed. As the Dryad emerged from the ground she was immediately met with the questions about her whereabouts and why she didn't return earlier. After a brief explanation, Teria calmed down and even laughed with her about the punishment that befell on the violent tree-abuser, even if it wasn't all that violent or even long-lasting. Kii would make sure that the reasoning stick, as she would be checking on this particular place rather often with her being position in the Everfree Forest to defend it make sure that nothing bad will come out of it. Mama spoke something about an annoying tree that wasn't even a tree, but that was for a later date and nobody was quite sure what to do with it and how to make sure that it won't be a problem later on.
Teria grunted as she pulled a rather sizable rock from the ground and then threw it away, apparently, one of the Plunderseeds got stuck between the rocks and Kii couldn't get it without some time-consuming effort to wiggle her way in. The direct approach was far faster and easier than that, and Teria was all for it as she threw another piece of stone away and uncovered the big black seed right under it. Picking the thing up she opened her mouth as the small sphere of Magic came alight between her horns, she reached out and grasped the Magic of the seed and with a hard yank pulled it into her gaping maw. Whoever this Discord was he sure knew how to make things with his Magic, these Plunderseeds were delicious and she could feel her own Magic overwhelming and devour the newly absorbed one really quickly due to its lack of any actual capability to resist.
Mommy said that she will get a nice reward for her job, it was nice and only made her try all that harder to finish cleaning up the Everfree Forest as soon as possible. Teria also knew that she would be given a chance to prove herself later on, Mommy was mumbling something about her cleaning out the stupid red rock from its pollution and getting rid of every little shit that lived in it. She wasn't sure what was the whole thing about, but it sounded like she would be able to drain a lot of Magic and that would be awesome! Mommy also knew places where Teria would be able to fight some very dangerous critters, it was very fun sparring with Aunty Starry but the point was that she could use her full capabilities due to risking leaving Aunty without Magic and that was what stopped her from utilizing her full potential. She absently wondered if she should've drained that Earth-Pony that Kii knocked out, but decided against it as it would've been stupid since that mare's condition would've alerted the other Ponies in the town about her presence.
Suddenly Kii stopped and looked to the side, her eyes narrowed as they glowed with Magic. Teria didn't question it, she just prepared her own Magic and took position beside her little sister, whatever was coming should be really dangerous if it managed to get the Dryad so tense. Suddenly there was a howl of pain and wet snapping sound that was followed by the tearing one, now the Centaur was absolutely sure that whatever was there was strong as Kii wouldn't have to concentrate to kill anything weak. With a grin, she walked past her sister and followed the direction she heard the sound, it wasn't hard and as she walked Kii walked behind her and every branch of vine moved out of the way to let them through. After moving past another tree Teria saw just what got the Spirit so worked-up, the clearing that she entered looked rather torn as several Plundervines were sticking from the ground and in a position as if they were grasping something. The lack of remains of whatever it was didn't concern her as she knew that Mommy's Power just made them disappear, but she was curious just what hiding here and waiting to attack.
"So, what was it?" Teria looked around but didn't find anything worth notice.
"A Manticore tried to hide here and was preparing for an ambush." Kii's eyes glowed and the Plundervines retreated back under the ground. "I used the Plundervines to tear it in two, Mama is happy that we're making sure that nothing would get past us but she's also concerned that somebody heard its call."
"Is there anyone here?" Teria raised an eyebrow.
"No, I would've known as nothing can escape the gaze of Nature." Dryad answered. "She's also concerned that the Pony I knocked out is actually one of the Elements of Harmony and therefore has a major pull in the event yet to come."
"... So, we should've taken her with us?" Centaur blinked, not understanding what the problem was. "Or I should've drained her?"
"No, it's just that she's important and Mama don't want us to attract any unwanted attention from the Elements until we will be strong enough to oppose them." The leaf-haired girl frowned. "She's also saying that we shouldn't come close to the Ponyville, as there are some very dangerous individuals living there. And they are dangerous not because of their strength, but because they are in a position to ruin Mama's plans and probably also expose us to Equestria's citizens."
"Can't Mommy just beat them?" Teria still didn't see the problem here. "She's strong and I'm pretty sure that she could've taken on that mare that you knocked out all by herself."
"The problem is that Princesses are too strong for Mama." Kii blinked. "At least at the moment, and battling them will result in us losing. But mama have a plan and she will become much stronger soon, she just needs time and some work on the side."
"What about Aunties?" Teria liked them and didn't want them to remain weak. "Will they too become stronger?"
"Yes, but Mama is making sure that it won't happen too fast so they will be able to adjust to their own capabilities." Dryad made her way further into the forest. "This way, another seed isn't that far away and we should hurry up if we want to finish it here before the nightfall."
"Alright!" Teria grinned as she trotted after her sister. "I'm really up for a cake that Mommy promised us!"
«What about us?» Kii asked Mama through their Bond. «Will we be able to fight too?»
«I'm not sure...» Mama answered with hesitation. «The problem here is that I'm unaware just how strong our opposition will be, their performance grows with their Level and so far it wasn't all that hard but we won't be able to tell until I'll cover the whole thing with you two. How far are you through the seeds?»
«We destroyed about three dozen of them, but there are more to go.» Little Dryad smiled as she skipped through the Everfree Forest. «What about you? What are you and Aunties doing?»
«Oh, mostly listening to Zecora's tales about her homeland and trading jokes.» There was an impression of her snorting. «Mine apparently needs some work, as nobody could understand even a half of them. What about Teria?»
Kii looked to the side and watched as the young Centaur drained another seed with a satisfying smile on her face, apparently they tasted like chocolate and cotton candy to her. The Spirit of Nature honestly couldn't see just how her sister could find these things delicious, they tasted differently and the same at the same time and made her tummy gurgle as she digested one that Mama asked her to. Whoever this Discord was her sure knew what he was doing with these Plunderseeds, Kii could feel just how powerful they were and how she could use them to literally render any Magic user helpless and borderline crippled.
«She's enjoying it.» She pouted again. «Why can't they taste good for me too?»
«Probably because they are unnatural creations of Chaos Magic.» Mama noted dryly. «For Teria it's just Magic and she can actually taste it, while for you they are actual physical objects and I'm pretty sure not meant for eating. Discord was powerful and very few could boast being able to best him, but a good creator he was not. Honestly, if he ever put any effort into whatever he was doing I'm pretty sure that there won't be a single soul being able to challenge him or even slow him down. Good thing we know where he is and how to get rid of him permanently. While tearing away his Magic would piss all over Celestia's plans for him at a later date I'm more than happy to do so simply because all the negative consequences won't be coming even close to removing the risk of him wrecking havoc around Equestria.»
«So... You're going to stop him?» Kii tilted her head to the side.
«More in lines with preventing him from even properly escaping in the first place.» She could feel Mama's smugness through the Bond. «He's just too dangerous to be left unattended, it won't take much as without his Magic he's basically nothing and nobody.»
"Hey, sis, where to next?" Teria called out.
Kii blinked and then spread her awareness, there was one one and very faint trace that she could feel right now. It was kind of strange as if something was muting it somehow but not fully. She was pretty sure that it was still in her range and after a bit of manipulation the local plantlife she managed to see just what was in the way of her senses.
«Mama, what is this?» She sent an image through the Bond.
«That... is the Tree of Harmony, Basically the Magic Mc'Gaffin of all Magical Mc'Gaffins of this World.» Mama answered with a slight hesitation. «I have no clue just how it will react to you two, but as long as you wouldn't try and directly attack it I think everything will be alright. Just make it quick and stay at a reasonable distance with it, the damn thing have some nasty tricks up its sleeves for anyone who disagrees with what Harmony is preaching about in Equestria.»
"Let's go." Kii made her way towards their next target. "Mama said that it's near the Tree of Harmony, some kind of a crystal tree that makes bad things happen to the people who disagree with Harmony."
"... What?" Teria blinked as she trotted behind the Dryad. "A tree that hurt people?"
"No, it's a crystal that looks like a tree and hurts the people who disagree with what Harmony stands for." She made a face. "Mama warned us to stay away from it, I'll try to recover the Plunderseed as fast as possible and not come into contact with the thing."
"Can't I just drain it?" The older of two siblings asked. "It's Magical, right? So I should be able to drain it like any other thing."
«I would advise against it.» Came Mama's voice. «It's a Deus-Ex-Machina that literally bend reality to its whims simply because its only goal is to promote 'Friendship is Magic' crap without actually caring how many morally questionable acts it will have to commit. Brainwashing? Sure! Enslaving? For Harmony! Petrification? Presto!»
Kii felt a shiver of disgust running down her back from the images and examples Mama sent her through the Bond, whatever this thing was... She really had no clue what to do here, the sheer level of pure malice that the Tree of Harmony possessed made her almost want to vomit. She forced these feelings down and made a note to never come even close to the abomination thing no matter what, and also warn Teria to do the same.
"Mama said no, and also showed me just what happens to anyone who tries to oppose it." Kii shuddered. "We're not coming even close to it, I'll try to retrieve the see from the maximum distance and then we'll make our way out of there as fast as possible."
"It's really that bad?" Teria tilted her head to the side.
"Yes." The Dryad nodded and quicken her pace. "Let's go."
Teria watched as her sister stood on the edge of the huge gorge that separated them from the old Castle, the little Dryad's eyes were glowing brightly as she was trying to carefully and safely extract the Plunderseed from beneath the Tree of Harmony. It was taking her far more time than it would've originally required because she had to make sure not to come into contact with the accused thing no matter what and therefore couldn't just rush it like she did before. From her brief explanation about what she doing Teria managed to understand only the fact that she must not be disturbed or distracted no matter what, something about her risking a wrong twitch or something like that. Well, that was a pretty straightforward thing for the young Centaur, simply keeping Kii unbothered would be pretty damn easy at this point as nobody actually ventured this far into the Everfree Forest.
Mommy was still with Zecora and Aunties, Teria had no clue what they were talking about and it didn't bother her as the adult things tended to be boring and sleep-inducing at best. While she liked spending time with Mommy, the long babbling of her Aunties about things she didn't quite understand made her uncomfortable and she just tuned them out most of the time. Suddenly Teria heard a growl coming from behind her and looked around, while she did expect to run into some animals here there wasn't any actual chance that they may pose a danger to her or to Kii as they simply were too strong to be defeated by mere critters.
"Well, what do we have here?" Said a deep female voice.
"Never saw something like this, maybe she's new here?" Another voice said, this one with a strange, slightly high-pitched and raspy undertone.
"Oh, it will be a very delightful surprise for us to find something new this early after coming here!" Another voice, but this one less deep and with a hissing mixed in.
The creature that was standing before Teria was a mix-bag of three animals, with its right head being that of a sabertooth tiger along with its from legs and front-right side of its body. It's left head being that of a goat along with its back legs and its left from and whole back sides of its body. Its tail, on the other hand, was literally a snake with its head being the tip, and all three pair of eyes of the Chimera were staring at her right now. Teria felt no actual fear, the thing wasn't all that big or strong like a Manticore or actually Magically Powerful like Mommy or Aunt Starry, it was just a large beast that could talk and had three heads and her instincts were silent about its approach so it wasn't a threat. Also, Kii wasn't bothered by it, so it was of no concern at all for her.
"You want something?" Teria asked with a tilt of her head.
"Hm..." Tigress' head sniffed the air. "I can smell Ponies on you, but they are not around here right now. Luck apparently is on our side right now! After such a long journey from the Flame Geyser Swamp we, almost instantly, found ourselves a meal and a half, sisters!"
"Truly..." Hissed the snake as it bent its body to get closer to Teria's face. "What's a little one like you doing all the way here?"
"Oh, Mommy sent me and Kii to collect the bad seeds that would've grown into big black spiky vines that would've basically overrun the forest and attacked everyone and everything that had Magic." The answer made the beast stop and blink. "Oh, I probably shouldn't have said it. I hope Mommy won't be too angry about it, and if I deal with you then there won't be a problem anymore anyway!"
This caused the Chimera to blink again, with all three sets of eyes, which included the snake's as it for some reason had eyelids.
"You deal with... us?" Goat's head asked in disbelief.
"Of course!" Teria nodded with a smile. "Mommy didn't teach me how to erase memories with Magic so I'll just be hitting all three of your heads until I'll do enough damage to cause the loss of memories! Or I can just kill you, but I'm not sure if I should as Mommy said not to attack the local population but you're not a Pony or a Griffon or any other species that can be counted as a part of the population, but you also can speak..." She frowned with a pout. "You're confusing!"
The logical fallacy and the weird accusation made the three-headed Monster blink again, its three minds were trying and failing to comprehend what the flying fuck was happening. Chimera was used to simple things, like Ponies running away from it, it eating everything eatable it can get its claws and teeth on, including Ponies and their food, and defending its territory from time to time from some other critters. Some Ponies were brave enough not to show fear, some even somewhat fought back, most just used tricks to escape with their hides intact, in rare cases some Ponies were even lucky enough to land a couple of blows before fleeing. The current situation was totally alien to the beast and it simply didn't possess the brainpower, nor the previous experience or points of reference, to figure out on itself.
"... What?" Tigress' head asked.
"Mama said to finish the ugly thing off and move on, it's presence only endangers the local population." Kii suddenly chimed in and all attention suddenly was on her. "You can have this one, sis."
Suddenly a small vine broke out from the ground with its tip wrapped around a big black seed, it put its prize on Dryad's open palm and then retreated back into the ground as if it wasn't there just a moment ago. Then, without any warning, another plant broke the surface of the ground and within seconds a rather big bush formed from the earth right next to Kii, its branches heavily wavered together and interlocked in such a way that made it look like an armchair made out of leaves. The leaf-haired girl happily jumped right into her new seat, making the Chimera blink again while Teria just wondered if she could persuade Mommy to let her sister make her a bed like this at home.
"Alright." Centaur said as she filed the question fo later and turned towards her opponent. "If Mommy says it's alright to beat you up then I don't need to hold back!"
Chimera didn't have much time to comprehend just what was happening as a small sphere of Magic suddenly appeared between Teria's horns, the next thing the creature knew was pain as a rather sizable beam of Magic slammed into Tigress' head with a enough force to through the whole creature back and slam it into a tree. Mixed cries of pain, confusion and anger came from the three mouths of the beast, even if from Tigress' it sounded a tad bit gurgling as a trickle of blood leaked from its maw. Goat's head managed to pull the body up while the Tigress' was stunned and still seeing stars and Snake's couldn't actually control anything besides its part of the body, it turned with a growl towards the Centaur but it was too late as all it saw was a small red fist heading directly towards its nose. With a crunch and a spray of blood, the Goat's head howled with pain as its muzzle was broken with the force of the attack.
Teria didn't even flinch as she leaned slightly back to avoid being bitten by the snake, going for the most convenient she answered with the same move and her jaws closed around the base of its neck. Her sharp fangs managing to pierce its scaly skin, drawing blood and making the head starting to emit gurgling noises as it struggled to free itself. Apparently, the burst of new and much more agonizing pain snapped the other two heads from their own daze as they both twisted and, with angry snarls, shot towards Teria's shoulder and head. Their charge was stopped short as she grabbed one of Tigress' long fangs with her left hand and Goat's slightly smaller thin tusks with her right one, her strength enough to prevent the Chimera from doing any progress. Without any good footing due to it being pressed against the tree Chimera had no way to gain any leverage to outmaneuver its opponent and free itself, it also left Teria unable to let go without the risk of being bitten herself and left her with not many options for an attack.
'I hope this will work, Mommy won't be happy with me if I will lose because of doing something stupid.' Teria knew that she couldn't beat Aunty Starry in a straight-up combat, while Mommy didn't even need Magic to simply crush her with pure brute strength, but she also knew that she wasn't physically weak, so it left her with a very interesting option. With a heave, that made her hooves almost sink into the ground, she started moving her occupied hands in a slightly different direction, to Chimera's surprise and to Teria's glee her idea actually worked and with a final flex of her muscles she managed to actually lift the beast from the ground. Not making the rookie mistake of gloating over her achievement Teria wasted no time and, with a forced half-spin, sent the beast flying into the nearby tree with enough force to almost topple it over.
Chimera released a painful grunt as its side impacted the tree and the air was driven out of its lungs, Teria had to release the Snake's neck that now was gurgling, spitting blood and wheezing due to its throat being severely damaged by Centaur's jaws. Only inborn instincts managed to make the creature attempt to sloppily roll away to avoid a pair of hooves being driven right in the Tigress' forehead, the impact with the ground created a small crater and made a small amount of fear to leak into the creature's minds. It also wasted no time and lashed out with its right paw, but Teria raised her left hand to block the attack and receiving four small cuts on her forearm, enough to draw blood but not enough to warrant any actual concern.
In retaliation, she delivered a rather devastating blow with the back of the same hand now clutched into a fist right into the left side of the feline's head. Apparently, the same trick didn't work out twice and with a surprising speed the Goat's head lashed out in an attempt to bite said limb, Teria put her right hand in the way and the sharp teeth of the creature closed right around the metal bracer on her wrist and failed to even scratch the metal that was supposed to be used to restrain Tirek at his full Power. She barely managed to lift her left one to prevent the serpentine head from tearing into her throat, instead, its maw locked on her elbow with the teeth barely managing to pierce the skin as it was still somewhat weakened due to the damage that was done to its own throat.
Teria was short on libs to stop the feline head from biting off her own face, and as it lunged forward she did the only thing she could think of at the moment. With all the strength she could muster she pulled her head back and the delivered a devastating blow to its nose with her forehead, the crunching sound told her that something gave in during the impact and she was pretty sure it wasn't her skull. Tigress' head pulled back with an angry and somewhat painful whine as the blood started flowing from its slightly misshaped nose, the bones obviously crushed by the collision against a much tougher opposing force. When its mouth opened again to either attack or roar at the Centaur Teria didn't waste a moment and shot a dense and overpowered beam directly down its throat, the sheer force behind the blast made the head snap back but the damage was already done as the beast started thrashing in pain from having its throat and one of its spines reduced to cinders.
She jumped back as she watched Chimera blindly lashing out on the ground while howling from pain as one of its heads was having trouble getting any blood flowing into its brain. This basically left it open for an attack, and that was at least something good so far, now she had a proper target and a very good opportunity to test herself.
'Well, it worked...' Teria spat out some snake's blood that was left in her mouth. 'Somewhat...'
Without giving the damn thing regain its bearing she charged up her Magic, this time she pushed everything she had into it and fired directly into its now unprotected belly. The blast was far more intense than the first one and by impacting its target managed to launch the Chimera back and right into another tree, this time Teria didn't let up and kept firing without caring about her reserves slowly running lower. She could feel the resistance of Chimera's body against her Magic, and she could tell how it was slowly waning and giving into the assault of concentrated assault of potent Mana Blast. As soon as her Mana passed the point of one-third of her full reserves Teria stopped the attack, taking several deep breaths to get her heartbeat back under control while she looked over the results of her last attack.
Chimera looked almost overcooked, the fur was gone and the skin was black and cracked all over. The wounds that weren't cauterized were bleeding heavily and with each harsh and ragged breath it took small bursts of a red life-liquid shot from its mouths. Wheezing and groaning, the hissing of air being expelled and the gurgling of blood being breathed in and exhaled, the whole picture was kind of gross but it didn't bother Teria all that much as she was more concerned with the fact that the damn thing was still alive! This wouldn't do and she decided to finish the job, the only thing keeping the thing alive was its inborn vitality and it was a rather easy obstacle to overcome. She opened her mouth and a small sphere of Magic ignited between her horns, she could feel as her own Magic reached out and sank its proverbial claws into whatever innate one was left in the beast.
It was a quick process, the whole thing took less than five seconds before Teria felt the Essence of now dead monster slid down her throat and increased her own Power. The scratches on her arm instantly healed and even her reserves were somewhat refilled, even if far from fully. The taste was kind of odd, like three different things at the same time that were mixed together but not fully so you still could figure out just what the original ones were. Teria loved the feeling of her body growing, being filled with more Power and gaining new heights, it all reminded her that she was getting closer and closer to Mommy in terms of a statue and will soon catch up with the rest of her family. This time she gained a lot, at least by her standards and this fact left her grinning in glee as she literally skipped back towards Kii and away from the husk of the Chimera. But she also saw how the earth beneath the corpse suddenly started shifting and it made her stop, several vines burst from the ground and fully enveloped the dead body and with an almost a sickening series of crunches and snaps dragged the whole thing underground through a big hole that closed afterward. The tree that was hurt by her blast started healing and the grass sprouted from the ground, blood and pieces of flesh were gone faster than it was seemingly possible and the whole thing returned to its original untouched state.
'Must be Kii taking care to not leave any evidence.' Teria shrugged as she again started bouncing towards her sister.
«That was actually pretty decent.» Mama noted as she finished observing the fight through Kii's eyes. «She will need a lot of work and even more training, but a credit is where the credit is due. Almost flawless victory in her first fight, not a dangerous one or anything like that but still incredibly good one.»
«Mama, when will I be able to fight too?» Kii asked as she stood up from her improvised chair and made it sink back into the ground. «The animals here aren't any fun and they lose too fast, can go and find something else? I want to show what I can do like Teria did!»
«Well, maybe when we will be venturing through those caves with giant spiders and Trolls...» She mused. «It will be a perfect opportunity for you to demonstrate your own talent and how powerful you can be when you want to!»
Kii didn't even bother to look as a vein suddenly shot from the nearby tree and wrapped around a big stick that almost hit her over her head, the rather short assailant yelped as even more of these shot out and wrapped around her legs, arms, torso, and even tail. She didn't want to risk it as she knew what Mama could do with her tail if she wanted to, this little attacker won't be given any chance of escape.
"Let ma' go!" Called out a voice as the young Dryad turned around to look at her opponent. "I'll kick ya' butt!"
«Well, fuck.» Mama sounded actually stunned here. «How the fuck did you manage to miss her?!»
«Ah, well...» Kii shifted sheepishly. «I never sensed any physical presence beyond several meters around me and sis, and she probably stayed away from us for that long. Seeds don't need to be sensed physically, their presence in the World is enough for me to pinpoint their location, she probably stayed far enough from us until we encountered the Chimera... Or even before I put my full concentration into pulling that one seed from under the Tree of Harmony.»
«... I'm honestly not surprised about the amount of sheer dumb luck she displayed here, it's in her very Nature to pull stunts like this.» The Alicorn deadpanned. «You have no idea what she will do with two companions when they'll join her in her endeavors.»
"Who is that?" Teria asked as she came to stand beside Kii. "Where this filly came from?"
«From the farm, she's the younger sister of the girl you almost clubbed to death.» Mama supplied. «Her name is Apple Bloom.»
She looked over the struggling girl, bright red hair that went down to her waist along with a long tail, amber eyes and slim build for an eight years old. She wore a pair of shoes, blue jeans, and a yellow shirt, it was kind of funny how she was trying to wiggle her way out of the restraints.
"This is Apple Bloom, the younger sister of the one who I knocked out." Kii explained.
"Ya hit ma' sister, grass head!" The small girl called out with a scowl that made her look more adorable than scary. "I'll beat yar' flank!"
"She was abusing Nature, and as a Dryad it's my duty to protect it." She paused and then pouted. "And it's leaves! Not grass!"
"Keep telling yourself that, weed." The small redhead stuck her tongue out with a smug look on her face.
«Stop letting her draw out this pointless argument.» Kii could almost see her mother facepalming. «Just try to calm her down and reason with her, I'll talk with the girls and see what they think we should do about it. I'm still a bit baffled about how she managed to actually follow you up to this point, Everfree Forest sure doesn't live up to its reputation.»
"Should I drain her?" Teria asked. "I mean, it's not like we can just let her go or something like that, right?"
"What da ya' mean?" Apple Bloom looked at the Centaur with wide eyes. "Are... are ya' goin' to drain mah blood!?"
"What? No!" Teria shook her head. "I was talking about Magic, I can drain it from you and leave you here to stay until you'll die."
This made the young girl pale and start struggling, even more, this time from fear.
"We're not going to do it." Kii tried to explain.
"Wait, we aren't?" Teria looked unsure at this revelation. "Then how are we going to keep her silent? Mommy said that we should make sure that nobody would find us and reveal our existence to the others?"
"I'll keep silent, Ah promise!" Called out the girl.
"No, it will only make thing more complicated in the long run." Dryad shook her head. "Mama to keep her here talk to her, explain things so she wouldn't run to the first adult and tell them about us."
«Celestia will rise all the troops and call all the cavalry if someone even remotely looking like Tirek will be sighted near the town where her precious little pet lives.» Mama added. «We hide from them in the Illusion Barrier, but it won't be enough as she will know about the fact that we actually exist. Keep her entertain while I'll get everyone organized here and we'll arrive soon.»
"She said that you look to similar to Tirek, and that will make Celestia raise the troops to attack you." The Spirit explained. "She will be here soon to make sure that things will be taken care of, we only need to make sure that Apple Bloom here won't escape." She looked at the girl that now looked between the two with fear in her eyes. "I'll put you down and release you, but only if you promise not to run away."
The redhead, who had the beginnings of tears in her eyes nodded once and then was unceremonially dropped onto her butt as the veins retracted back into the ground and trees. She slowly pulled herself back onto her feet and looked at the two, sniffing slightly as she rubbed the sore spots on her hands and wrists. She opened her mouth to say something but was interrupted by a bright flash of light as six figures teleported into the clearing. Kii felt as her connection to Nature around her flicker which meant that an Illusion Barrier was deployed, Mama wasn't taking any chances.
"Well, this is one way to screw things up." Mama was standing with her arms on her hips and a deadpan expression on her face. "I expected many thing to go wrong, including the scenario with a maniac with a borderline Omnipotence breaking out and bending the whole land over his mismatched knees while introducing it to its first experience with anal with his tail. This kind of takes the cake, you managed to run into one of the only Ponies around that wouldn't simply dismiss you two as a mere dream or hallucination."
"We didn't, she ran into us... Or after us." Protested Teria.
"Does it really matter at this point?" Aunty Lemon asked and then looked at Mama. "What are you going to do with her anyway?"
"... Zecora, anything?" Mama, in turn, looked at the present Zebra.
But before she could answer a blur of red, blue and yellow shot towards her and revealed itself to be Apple Bloom that was bouncing on her feet right in front of Mama with her hands clasped before her chest and her eyes literally sparkling as she all but glowed at Mama.
"Ya're Princess!" The miniature redhead squealed. "A real darn Princess!"
"Actually, no." Mama said with a slightly crept out expression. "I'm an Alicorn, but I'm not a Princess, I never accepted the Title."
This made Apple Bloom stop bouncing and frown.
"Nah~ah!" She shook her head. "Ya're an Alicorn and therefore ya're a Princess!"
"It really doesn't work that way." Mama deadpanned. "There should be a coronation, an official acceptance of the position, literal mountains of paperwork that would need to be filled out, I'm not even sure what else at this point. I literally went through none of these, and therefore I'm not a Princess and any form or capacity."
"Ya have a horn and wings, that makes yar' a Princess!" Protested the girl. "Where 're yahr crown?"
"Don't have one." The Alicorn groaned and pinched the bridge of her nose. "If I was a Princess then wouldn't I have been really well known or something like that? The moment someone will gain a full set like me they will be instantly dragged into the Canterlot by Celestia and then simply forced into being one, I escaped that fate because I was lucky enough to Ascend somewhere where she couldn't actually notice and reach me. Trust me, if I had a crown forced upon my head I would've torn it off and then destroyed it with all the Power I had at that moment at my disposal."
"But why?" Whined the child. "Isn't being a Princess like tha best thing in tha World?"
"Nope." Mama shook her head. "It honestly sucks, you literally have no freedom and have to work her way through the problems of other while carrying a whole Nation of whiny little shits on your back who have not guts or even a half of a backbone. Whoever said that being a Princess is anything even remotely connected with fun or joy was lying you right into the face, and I'm telling you this now so when you'll see someone becoming one you would know that you should pity them and offer your condolences instead of congratulating them and giving your well-wishes."
«Mama, are you talking about the time when Twilight Sparkle is destined to Ascend?» Kii asked curiously.
«Yes.» She answered through the bond. «I'm not sure if it will still happen or not, though.»
"Hey, mah sister told me that!" Protested Apple Bloom with a huff.
"Well, she never knew better so, of course, she would tell you that." Mama rebuked. "Celestia and Luna kept this little fact under tight wraps, who want to wear a crown if they will be aware that it's made of thorns under the pretty wrappings?"
"That's silly!" The filly crossed her arms over her chest. "Why would anyone make a crown out of thorns? It'll hurt to wear on like that."
"It's a saying, I was talking that the position sucks so much that the crown could be made out of thorns and it won't make a difference!" Mama's wings twitched in agitation.
"What does it suck?" The small redhead frowned and cocked her head to the side, trying to understand the twist of speech. "Candy? Lolipop? I once tried those strange sticks that mah brother likes so much, but they were so sore!" She scrunched her nose from the memory.
"I was talking about how bad it was." Mama's left eye twitched.
"Oh." Apple Bloom's face brightened. "Then why didn't you say it?"
"Should we... do something?" Asked Aunty Shi quietly.
"Nah, this is just too funny." Answered Aunty Min with a grin.
"... You know, screw it." Mama looked at Teria. "Drain her, I'm don't give a flying fuck anymore."
"Wow, so anyone can be a Princess?" Apple Bloom was riding on Mommy's shoulders as the four of them made their way towards the farm. "Oh, I meant Alicorn." The small child correct herself when Mommy cleared her throat.
After Aunties and Zecora were teleported back to the hut she, Teria and Kii decided to take the small girl back to the farm by foot so Mammy will have time to explain to her the importance of keeping their secret safe.
"Yeah, and it's not such a big deal anyway." She shrugged. "I was a Unicorn before, all I got were wings and a huge bill for all the clothes I need to but to keep myself decent because nothing of my old ones fit anymore."
"Hmmm..." The little girl put on a thinking face. "Can Ah be one too?"
"Sure." Mommy blinked but didn't stop. "Why would you want to? It will take a lot of work and probably even more than you're now imagining to come even close to the Ascension, you literally will simply get bored doing something like that for so long."
"Nah, if it will get me mah Cutie Mark then I'll be glad to do so!" Answered the small redhead.
"Wow, you're one of those, huh?" The Alicorn mused with a smirk. "Also, drop the accent, I'm well aware that you're capable of speaking normally and not like a redneck that just rolled down the hill where he lived like a hermit."
"... How did you know?" Apple Bloom asked with a small voice.
"You miss words on occasion, I noticed it as soon as you started talking." Mommy shrugged. "You're good and was able to fool your family into thinking that you too spoke with an accent, but I'm honestly not sure just why you bothered. It's not like they will kick you out for not sounding like a hillbilly all the time, they should be proud that they have at least someone around that doesn't sound like they're going to spit something on your boot any moment soon." This made the girl giggle a little. "So, reasons?"
"Well, Applejack was always so proud of her phrases and all slang she used... She sounded kind of cool and with me growing up around her I thought that it was how speech actually was supposed to sound at the beginning." She smiled. "She was so proud that I was imitating her that I simply never stopped, even after I figured out things a bit more clearly and understood that only our family spoke like that."
"Well, that sounds kind of sweet, but ultimately stupid." The tall Alicorn said with a snort. "You're obviously handicapping yourself for the sake of appreciation, and that is basically equal to purposely stepping on a rusty nail for nothing. You think that if you stop talking like that she will love or care for you less or something?"
"No, I'm not that silly." Apple Bloom shook her head. "I just want to show her that I'm proud of being her little sister and it's kind of funny to speak like that."
"Well, to each their own." Then Mommy stopped. "Hey. you said that you want to get a Cutie Mark, right?"
"Of course I do!" The girl explained. "Bullies in the school always go on and on about how I'm a 'Blank Flank', showing off their own Cutie Marks and..."
"And why do you even care about what they say?" The Alicorn asked. "I mean, you're going to get it sooner or late anyway, and so their taunting has absolutely no actual reason or base for it to be actually harmful. If you were somehow incapapble of getting one then sure, but at the same time you would've been in your full right to bash their heads against the nearby wall till either their skulls or the wall would've given in." Mommy snorted. "You're not handicapped, whoever is teasing you are just trash and shouldn't be concerned with no matter what. Also, don't take any shit about 'turning the other cheek' crap, it never works. In the end, you'll end with your whole face so black and blue that not even you will recognize it in the mirror!"
Apple Bloom shook her head as if trying to get a nasty image out of her head.
"So, what am I supposed to do?" Her voice was a bit hesitant but hopeful.
"Well, first, stop caring so fucking much about your Cutie Mark." Was the answer. "It only gives them an opening and you a rusty nail in the ass, just do what you like and it will appear one way or another. Behaving like an obsessed cretin won't do you any good, you'll just lose time doing so that you could use for something that you actually enjoyed doing all by yourself even without the glorified reminder that Cutie Mark is all about in the end."
"... What?" The girl's voice was filled with disbelief.
"What did you think it was all about?" Mommy raised an eyebrow. "It's more like a reminder than anything else, whatever crap you were told before was probably a huge pile of how important it is and how you need to follow your call and all that shit, right?" She looked up to the girl's stunned face who nodded. "New flash, kid. It's all one big pile of shit with sparkles placed all over it. These marks are nothing else but reminders of what you're good at, they told you absolutely nothing new because by the moment you'll get one you already will know just what is your talent is. Whatever shit about they telling you something or prophesying about your future is a big pile of crap that needs to be cleaned out from your mind before it will move any further in your life."
"... So..." Apple Bloom asked with a trembling voice. "My sister being so proud about hers...?"
"Is your sister suffering from some kind of a mental disorder if she needs a tattoo on her ass to remind her of something she already knew from the fucking start. While she has a profitable business, it's such a low goal and a really unambitious route to take that I'm pretty sure that average was her actual dream due to extremely low self-esteem." Mommy continued. "Remember kid, you have no limits or boundaries around you no matter what anyone will tell you how your 'Destiny' is determined by the ass-stamp. Reach higher, no matter what you will try and no matter what situation you will find yourself in, always strive for a higher sky that is filled with diamonds." A mix of a snort and a chuckle escaped her lips. "Sorry for sounding cheesy there."
Apple Bloom didn't react, she just looked at the back of Mommy's head with wide eyes.
"What do you do for life?" She asked after several seconds of silence.
"Oh, me and the girls? We fight monsters." Came the answer with a smirk in it.
I frowned as I observed the town beneath me, it was night and I was lazily hovering over Ponyville as the population slumbered. My friends were left at Zecora for the night, the Zebra was all too happy to provide us with a roof over our heads as it will provide her with a company that she was really missing over all these months in Everfree Forest. I didn't need to sleep and therefore I decided to make the night as profitable as possible and gain a couple of Levels, but I forgot to take into account one factor that left me with the job of an overseer and limited my own capability to grind.
"So, what are we going to do?" Apple Bloom was hanging on my back like a barnacle and looking rather excited to be here. "Are we going to find some bad guy to defeat? Will you teach me how to kick ass and take names?"
"Well, I'm not sure about the first part as you're just a squirt so far." I snorted. "The second part? Sorry, but you're simply too weak to learn anything yet, we will need to get you on a proper level of physical abilities before anything would be done."
As she pouted I deployed an empty Illusion Barrier and dropped down onto the street, landing as graciously as I could to retain at least some air of dignity by not destroying the ground under my feet. Right now I was mostly inclined to simply put her through a very strict workout, but simply exercising won't solve the problem of her wanting to become stronger. Why did I put this idea into her head again? I knew that I would need to take responsibility for this rather bad oversight, the little girl was just too impressionable and it led to her taking a different route than she did in Canon just because I unintentionally showed it to her. Well, at least the unholy bullshit that was the gaining of the Cutie Marks of the Cutie Mark Crusaders was averted, or I hoped it was at least.
'Lets see how long it will take for you to actually earn something.' I let Apple Bloom down onto the ground and looked the girl over with an [Observe]. She wasn't weak by any definition of the word, for her Level she was rather decent and I was taking into account her young age and how it was obvious that she never received any specific training in her life. Well, at least I could do her some good and redirect her rather violent outbursts of energy into something constructive, in Canon she was a small hellion that had the capability to literally wipe out the whole town with her two cohorts in crime and I could at least prevent that from happening. As she looked at me with eyes so bright and full of hope I had to use [Gamer's Mind] to prevent this weaponized cuteness from affecting my judgment, there were some things that even I couldn't withstand without the help of this Skill.
"So, what exactly am I going to do?" She asked.
I hummed and then decided to try and quell her rather misplaced desire for a Cutie Mark first.
"Tell me, what do you want to do in the future?" I asked.
"I..." She blinked and hesitated with the answer. "I don't know."
"That's good." I nodded as she looked questioningly at me. "It means that you're right now at a stage where you're in a blank state and can become anyone you want. I have no clue what exactly you can do, and that doesn't really matter as the main question here is what you want to accomplish in life." It was a bit of a white lie as I could tell that she had some talent in Engineering, but it was for the time when I will be telling her about her options. "Cutie Mark doesn't decide what you have to do in life, it doesn't matter as a whole and you really shouldn't let it dictate your life choices for you. Tell me, what were you told about the 'meaning' of the Cutie Mark?"
"That it shows us what we're talented in?" She answered unsure, my tone when I said 'meaning' was probably throwing her off. "It tells us what our Destiny is?"
"It was once said, 'The future's not set. There's no Fate but what we make for ourselves.' and I wholeheartedly believe in it." I mentally sent my token of respect to James Cameron for such an awesome line that I now could use. "You and only you can decide on whatever you can do with your life in the future, making your choice depends on some ass-stamp is as stupid as it comes. Would you really be satisfied with your life if you suddenly gained a Mark that will tell you that you main talent was to shovel literal shit around?"
"No! Ewwwwwww..." She scrunched her face in disgust. "But then how does it work?"
"Simple, you just have to strive for something on yourself." I answered. "If whatever Cutie Mark that you'll get will fit? Well, good for you. If not? Not a big loss."
"What does yours means?" She asked as she looked at my hip as if trying to see through my pants.
"Mine?" I blinked. "That I'm good with [Shadow] and [Lunar] Magic and the Magic as a whole, I lucked out and that's all there is to it."
"Oh." Apple Bloom blinked and nodded. "Then what exactly am I going to do here?"
"Train." I grinned. "I would need to get you into a workable shape before anything else would be done to you. First, we will spend time on purely physical exercises that will work on your body and will get you prepared for the next stage of training. I will be pushing you harder than you have been pushed before and I will make sure that you won't be able to back away after you'll agree to this, so think carefully because there will be no turning away from this path."
"..." She looked at me. "You said that you'll make me an Alicorn too, right?"
"Yep." I nodded. "That's the goal, it will be a long path full of sweat, pain, and tears but the reward will be worth it."
"Then I agree." Apple Bloom nodded.
"Well, then prepare." I grinned with malicious intent practically rolling off of my whole being, I could see as Apple Bloom's posture became rigid as she felt fear creeping into her heart. "This will hurt... a lot."
"Can I rest now?" Apple Bloom called out as I benchpress the tree-house that Twilight lives in right now, its copy inside the Illusion Barrier wasn't in any way lighter than the real thing so I didn't lose on a workout. "My arms are about to fall off."
"Nope." I said as a looked at her, she was doing pushups with Kii sitting on her back for additional weight. "Keep going, the only way to better yourself is to surpass your own limits and still push further."
"It hurts." She groaned. "A lot."
"Well, of course it hurts. Your body never had to go through the strain of this caliber, this pain is the feeling of weakness leaving your body and freeing space for strength." I answered. "I already said to you that I won't let you give up, so just suck it up and keep going."
I was also using [Telekinesis] to levitate several houses around to grind this Skill, it wasn't much when you counted the other Skills that I could use but it was the one with the biggest versatility that I had. It was all about that little thing that Han Jee-Han said, about becoming akin to a machine specifically made for grinding, an automaton that was doing everything in its capabilities to progress further and further with every moment spent. Apple Bloom didn't have the capability to simply keep going like I could but I was going to push her beyond her breaking point to make the progress as fast as possible, the innate Magic of an Earth Pony would also let her recover far faster than any normal human would be able to.
I made her run circles around the town with Kii on her heels to motivate her, benchpress the axletree from a wagon I managed to steal from her farm and then do pushups and situps nonstop until she wouldn't be able to move. It was probably incredibly dangerous in normal circumstances for a child to perform such a workout, but she wasn't human and therefore could simply rely on her rather weak but still useful healing factor as an Earth Pony.
"And what will you be teaching me?" She asked while panting heavily, probably trying to take her mind away from the pain that was tearing her body apart right now. "Some cool moves?"
"First I will need to teach you how to meditate, so you will be able to properly gain access to your Magic." I answered nonchalantly. "It will let you kick your own growth into an overdrive and open a new avenue for learning thing."
"Wait, what?!" Apple Bloom somehow lost her balance and fell onto the ground. "You'll teach me Magic?!"
"Yeah, why not?" I was having too much fun with this, but I couldn't hold back. "Every Pony has Magic of their own, all you need to learn if to how you can properly access it then build-up from there. Pegasi can stand on clouds and sculpture weather, Unicorns channel it through their horn and do much more obvious things with it, Earth Ponies gain a passive increase in physical performance and a proverbial green thumb. Did you really think that Unicorns were the only ones that could use their Magic consciously?" I raised an eyebrow at her. "And nobody said you can stop, keep up the works."
"Ah..." She blinked at me as she pulled herself up and resumed her exercise. "So I will be able to... Cast Spells? Like a Unicorn?"
"Theoretically." I was thinking about the Skill Books if Shine could learn from them then what stopped Apple Bloom from doing the same? "It will take a lot of meditation and work to let you at least learn how to channel it due to you not being a Unicorn, but I think we will be able to manage something in the end. It all depends on how much effort you will put into your training, so work harder than you ever worked before and I'll work on getting you something to work with."
There was no way to describe the sheer astonishment that was now displayed on her face, it was one thing to know that you had Magic and it was entirely another to find out that you could use it when you shouldn't have the capability to do so by definition. It was a normal state of Equestria where only Unicorns could cast Spells while the other two Types were left with only passive enhancements from their innate Magic, with my words I just broke the status quo inside Apple Bloom's head right over my knee with a loud crack. It wasn't such a big thing in my mind, but I wasn't from Equestria and therefore I had a rather different outlook on the things that are here were taken for granted. I asked questions and gained results because I didn't attach myself to the routes that were already mapped, I refused to succumb to the collective delirium of the masses and made my own way around the whole thing.
I killed Tirek, and nobody would've been worse from his death beside Scorpan and he really didn't need to know about the whole thing. The horned bastard wasn't someone you could simply keep at bay, he escaped Tartarus and almost made the whole country his bitch while draining all the Magic that these lands held in the process. Did anyone actually bother to think about the possibility of him escaping? Celestia and Luna looked rather nonchalant about the fact that one of the worst creatures in Equestria's history ran rampant over their land for God knows how fucking long. Twilight had the capacity to finish him off, she literally held the raw Power to match him blow for blow and even then she failed to do the killing blow while winning via Secret-Chest-of-Obviousness Ex Machina. At least I dealt with him before he would pose any kind of a threat, it wasn't such a big deal now that Cerberus may leave his current position for some time as I honestly was hard pressed to think that anyone else would be able to crawl out.
Discord was the next, instead of sealing him away and hoping for the best I was going to take everything from him that let him be anything else but some four years old's drug trip. I wasn't sure if taking his Essence will render him mortal, and I really wasn't going to actually test it out as I was more than satisfied to leave him powerless to drag his pathetic existence through the lands. What danger did he pose without his Magic? What could this bastard do without his borderline Omnipotent Power backing him up? During that whole fiasco with Changelings where they turned from badasses into abominations, he could only whine and complain while being nothing but a ballast for the group where it counted. No, no matter what Celestia thought, Discord was going down and just to make it a Karmic Justice I will leave him to live and suffer from his powerless state when anyone could beat the shit out of him for the crap he pulled thousand years ago.
"And what will I learn?" Apple Bloom asked.
"Well, it all depends on what exactly you'll be able to learn, it's not as simple as it sounds." I shrugged while still pushing myself to bench-press the tree-house. "I was thinking about something simple, maybe [Telekinesis]?"
"So I will be able to move things around?" I could hear the eagerness in her tired voice. "Will I be able to fly?"
I blinked and then thought about it, it was technically true that you could use this Skill to levitate yourself around if you had enough understanding of it or combine it with another Spell like Starlight did. I could probably ask her to teach the squirt how to do so, it won't be such a tall call and she really needed some time to enjoy herself and have some fun and watching this particular chibi struggle will result in both.
"Maybe? It all depends on the Spells you'll learn." I answered thoughtfully. "Also, if you won't be able to access your Magic properly then we'll just concentrate on making you an Alicorn first and then working on it."
"... Why are you doing it?" She finally asked after a minute of silence.
"What exactly?" I knew the answer but wanted to make her admit it.
"Well, helping me." She said. "Becoming an Alicorn should be something of a great honor, like becoming a Royalty or something, and you just treating it so casually like it's not a big deal. You offered me something that I didn't even know was possible like an apple from a basket..." I snorted at her rather expected description. "... and didn't ask for anything in return."
"What can you give me?" I asked her. "You're a smart kid, don't sell yourself short, but you're thinking too much about it. I don't think about becoming an Alicorn being such a big deal because it's honestly isn't. All Ponies have such capability, it's just that they aren't aware of it and therefore incapable of gaining the proper traction to reach this particular point of evolution. All I did was telling you the truth and also telling you that I will provide the means to do so, nothing more and nothing less." I was pulling this out of my ass and it was still somehow sounding plausible. "I gave you what you should've had from the beginning, something that was lost in the past and never recovered and now can be properly salvaged with the new generations. I'm not going to spread the word, nobody would believe me and some would try to do so and probably get themselves severely injured or killed in the process." I made myself sounded as nonchalant as possible for the next part. "You asked for it and I gave it to you, but only under the condition that I will be overseeing your growth so not to be the one responsible for you tearing yourself apart."
Through the Positive Interaction your Reputation with Apple Bloom Increased by 5000.
You're now Friendly with Apple Bloom.
'De fuck?!' I blinked. 'She was that easy to impress?'
"Thank you." Muttered the girl as she kept doing her pushups.
"Don't mention it." I answered as I mentally went over the list of things that I would need to do sooner rather than later. "And don't forget that you will need to push yourself like that every single day to gain the results you're probably expecting."
There was to say something about how fucking easy it was to travel in Equestria when you had wings, flying at incredible speeds through the air was one of the things that I actually fully enjoyed doing simply for the sake of doing it. While trying to find something in a large area like the one behind the mountains near the Galloping Gorge was a thing of pure fiction in a Real World I had no idea how the logic will apply here. Finding several Ponies there with nothing but a passing knowledge that they may cause problems, later on, would sound rather paranoid if not for the fact that one of them was a rare kind that could commit an actual cold bloodied murder in Equestria. And also one weird beasty that was trying to activate a Super Discount Doom's Day Device that would fry the good portion of the World like in the Movie 'Core', I had no actual clue what it will do but the implications were rather worrisome.
And so I was trying to find some rather pathetic Villains that could bring some real trouble for the sake of testing one of my theories and also preventing them from becoming a legitimate threat later on. I really couldn't fathom how it came to this with me looking for cheap imitations of Indiana Jones' crabby Nemesis and their worthless Cannon Fodder of thugs, they weren't really in the Big League when it came to threats with just a couple of lucky shots behind their belts. But they were capable of unleashing an Extinction Event at least once so I had to take care of them, at least they will be doing something useful for the general population by being my test dummies.
'Big whoop, these idiots cannot even set a trap right.' Once again I wondered how Equestria didn't crumble under the weight of idiots with too much Power that could end it but didn't due to sheer incompetence or arrogance.
I felt my eyebrow twitch as I saw just the people I was looking for in the clearing eight beneath me, flying over the whole thing randomly did let me see their freaking campfire that they didn't even shield for some reason. I was dealing with literal retards here and I could feel a headache forming in my brain from just hearing them talk, Caballeron was ranting and basically whining about how Daring Do outwit him once more. I didn't even care enough to listen to what he was saying, just get the gist of what could be amounted to a grown man crying like a little bitch mixed with a cartoonish Villian's petty rant.
Without even bothering to give them a proper introduction I dropped from the sky and crashed right behind the whining moron with a loud crash, my bare feet easily making the ground beneath me sink into a crater. As the three stooges tried to get back on their feet as they fell from the surprise and the slight shockwave of my arrival I was watching as the infamous Doctor Caballeron was rolling on the ground and screaming in pain as he had the unfortunate case of landing into the campfire and toppling over a cauldron of a boiling soup onto himself.
"It burns!" He was shorter than me but with noticeably broad shoulders and slight bulky build. "My eyes!"
"Wow, this is even more pathetic than I thought it would be." I couldn't help but snort and then looked at the three stooges that managed to climb to their feet and were now gaping at me towering over them. "Even your three stooges are laughable."
One dude in a black suit and a black fedora with an unshaved face.
One burly Irish looking fella in a beige vest and dark gray shorts with orange hair.
One skinny beanpole with a black pompadour in sunglasses straight from the sixties and a white pimp-suit.
"Who are you?" Oh, the main idiot stopped rolling on the ground and finally noticed me. "How dare you do it to me?!"
"Yeah..." I blinked at him as he climbed to his feet and glared at me. "Because you're a waste of space that is soon going to never bother anyone ever again?"
Maybe I should've changed before coming here as I only had a white tank top and black shorts on me that were borderline skintight by this point, the top barely keeping itself together under the strain of my breasts. Honestly, if these things were going to grow any larger I would be invested in finding out a Spell to reduce their size, being pretty is one thing but having two watermelons attached to you wasn't part of it in my opinion.
"Wah?" He also gaped at me. "Do you even know just who you're dealing with?! Don't think that because you're a Princess we're going to go easy on some obviously mannerless brat!"
"Wow, you're obviously overestimating yourself here." I looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "Do you think that three henchmen that you obviously purchased with some serious discount would do anything to me?"
I knew that I was egging him on but it was my way of trying to get them to actually attack me, the curiosity of how they would be able to do so was kind of eating at me a little. I wasn't arrogant enough to let them simply wail on me for the sake of getting wailed upon, I was just making a point here to test how my current capabilities would work against the more normal opponents. Just blasting them and being done here was oh so tempting but I had to restrain myself from doing so as it will defeat the purpose of the test, I needed them alive for it and my [Cero] wouldn't leave anything behind.
Also seeing Caballeron turning an interesting shade of red was kind of funny.
"Get her!" He roared. "We'll see if Ahuizotl will be interested in purchasing an Alicorn!"
I could see the hesitation in the movements of his three henchmen but the developed reflex of following orders and the fact that they obviously were somewhat loyal to him decided it for them. Watching the three barreling towards me felt kind of strange, Starlight made me feel concerned for my wellbeing as she could put me down at a time and had all the motivation she needed to do so. I was shitting bricks when I came after Tirek as even in his reduced state the Centaur was dangerous as fuck, him stealing my Magic would've resulted in the new Apocalipsis with the World being rendered Magicless and literally dead. These three? I felt kind of silly as the first one, the one in sunglasses, reached me and delivered a punch to my stomach only to pull back and cradle his hand as he obviously bruised his fingers against my abs.
"Ow!" He called out. "What are you made of?!"
He failed to budge me even an inch as I just raised an eyebrow at him, his punch didn't even hurt or stung as I only felt a very mild feeling of being lightly poked. The Irish guy aimed at my face with the same result only for his middle find to actually break from coming into contact with my nose, him howling in pain wasn't even funny. The last one was slightly smarter and pulled out knuckledusters and put them onto his hands before punching me, after several moves that reminded me of some kind of a boxing style the man slowed down and looked up right into my eyes.
"You finished?" I asked with a bemused expression.
"What are you three doing?!" Caballeron screamed as he watched his three underlings looking at me with wariness. "Just deal her in!"
"It's like punching steel, Boss. I broke my finger against her nose and she didn't even as much as blinked after it!" Called out the Irish one with a wince as he looked over his wrongly bent finger. "She is tough!"
I was honestly feeling rather amused by the byplay, it was like watching some kind of a comedy without the background music and applause to get the mood right. I didn't bother to let them finish as I opened my mouth and activated [Magical Drain], my horn blazing with Power as I felt my Skill took hold of their Magic and started to pull it out. Four streams of Magic that instantly were pulled towards me, I could feel my reserves being filled over their capacity and then four balls of Essence started moving towards me after a tug of dislodging them from the four Ponies' bodies.
I heard their surprised yelps, it's not like they had much of it, to begin with, but I didn't care about the amount and more about the Essences that I would need to experiment with. It was more about figuring out if I could actually help Apple Bloom with her training by bringing her some of the Essences to swallow, the question would she grow stronger from it or not in the end. If these four would help me find a way to help others grow stronger it would be a wonderful new opening for me to get the others up to a proper Level.
"... How?" Caballeron groaned from the ground where his prone form lay.
I looked at him took in his dimmed features, the skin was pale and he looked all around drained and borderline starved. The Earth Pony was fully left without Magic or an Essence in his entire being and therefore will have the pleasure of adjusting to the life without his activities being supported by inner Reinforcement from them. It will take Caballeron some time to recover and actually start learning how to be on par with an actual Human rather than a Pony, I would've loved to watch the whole thing but I had no desire to tip Celestia.
"Easy." I said as I placed the four glowing balls of Essence into the Inventory. "I'm just a person with a certain set of Skill..." I deployed an empty Illusion Barrier. "... who found your worthless hides where nobody would bother to look..." I activated [Murciélago] which made the man's eyes to widen in terror at seeing my new form. "... and decided to collect the wager you owned the World for wasting so much air over the years of your life."
I lifted my right hand and pointed the index finger, the Mana started gathering into a tight ball as I gave him a wide grin while showing my now sharp teeth. The air became filled with heavy pressure as I let my Power flare for a more dramatic effect, I may not be a good actor but you didn't need to be one when you could make your Target too afraid to notice your bluff.
"No!" He tried to struggle to pull himself up but he was still too weakened to do anything. "Please!"
"Well, I don't know." I spread my wings and made my tail lash out like a whip. "You're scum that wasn't bothered by all of the danger your actions could bring onto Equestria, I see no reason to leave you alive with the chance of you coming back later on for vengeance or some shit like that. Villians aren't all that competent here and therefore 'Good Guys' always prevail but they never actually do anything to prevent the situation from happening again." I pushed more Mana into my attack. "I'm just going to cheat out of this shitty circle."
He didn't have time to react.
[Cero]
After collecting all the goods that Caballeron and his thugs had on them along all the Bits I flew towards Canterlot as I felt the need to address one more problem this night, there was one thing that I now felt I was strong enough to handle. The problem was that I had no clue how it worked and how the whole thing would interact with [Gamer's Mind], I knew that I won't be affected mentally but it didn't mean that nothing bad will happen to me. Using [Teleportation] at a maximum distance I could actually feel the drain on my reserves as I finally arrived into the Capital of Equestria and instantly landed while trying to pinpoint where exactly I was. I chose the less rich part of Canterlot to make sure that there will be a higher chance of me finding the damn Artifact in the first place, I had no clue if it was even here because no matter how naive Celestia acted I don't think she would've let this one slide.
Exiting the Illusion Barrier I scanned around with my [Magical Sense] but it wasn't really all that useful as Alicorn Amulet wasn't active and therefore didn't give off any actual Magic away. While it had some residual Corruption lingering around it from the many Users it had before there was a high chance that it wore off over the time that it wasn't in use. Straining my senses I could feel many signatures of different Ponies asleep and even some of them awake, Royal Guards that patrolled the area were noticeable due to their stronger presence and obvious Power that made them loom over the civilians.
At least the Skill was being pushed to its limit and was constantly gaining more and more Experience as I felt my awareness blur a little, the whole damn thing would've given me a headache if it wasn't for my insane constitution and mental prowess. I ignored the Skill gaining a Level and just used the additional scraps that I gained from it to dive even deeper into the background saturation of Mana of Canterlot, there were several points that read just blank for me and most of them were located in the Castle so I ignored them. There were also several presences that felt off and I could tell that they didn't belong to Ponies, Griffins that came here from their now mostly ruined Country to live in the prosperity of Ponies.
'Fuck, how hard can it be?!' I frowned as I ignored the two simply massive presences that were currently in the Castle as those were Celestia and Luna, I didn't want to risk them sensing me so I didn't even as much as look their way. Another signature that had a whiff of Alicorn to it was probably Cadance but she was noticeably weaker than them but still stronger than mine, at least not physically as her superiority was mostly Magical in nature from what I could tell.
Finally I managed to find a Pony with a very weak trace of a taint in his presence, that was probably the shopkeeper and the slight imprint was from him coming into contact with the Amulet. It didn't feel like an actual Corruption so I didn't have to worry about killing him to get my hands onto the damn thing, it was one of the properties of the Amulet that the only one who could remove it was the one who was wearing it in the first place. If he wasn't stupid enough to wear it then there was no problem with what I had in mind for the Artifact in question, the only problem was that I had no idea if it will actually work.
Redeploying the Illusion Barrier I shot towards the place where I felt his presence, he wasn't asleep so that left him with a task of managing the Store and me at an advantage of now knowing where it was. I didn't even bother using the door as I simply crashed through the roof, the damage won't affect the Real World so there was no point in holding back here. I walked towards the counter and crouched down while using the additional shelf that was placed on it to fully hide behind, it wasn't as if I was going to actually show myself to some crook that ran a Store that sold pretty fucking Dark shit. As soon as I dropped the Illusion Barrier I could instantly tell where the owner was and not because I could sense him, the cheap Chinese-looking asshat was right in front of me!
It was pure luck that he was standing with his back turned towards me while swiping the floor, I had no clue if he would've reacted well to someone suddenly popping in his Store from fucking nowhere. I stilled myself and very carefully looked around, the Amulet was in the same place I saw him in Canon and I could feel the lingering tainted Magic surrounding it with how close I was right now. Straightening stood up to my full height and grabbed the handle of the grass cover placed over the accursed thing, lifting it up I grabbed it and instantly put the cover back down while redeploying the Illusion Barrier.
'At least this went well.' I grimaced as a new Window suddenly appeared right in front of my face, making me blink as I read what I hoped was the solution to my problem with Discord. A smile started to appear on my face as I felt a small sense of relief flooding my chest, this was even better than what I have expected in the first place and I had no clue what would've happened in the first place! Things were damn looking up right now!
[Essence of Alicorn - Level: Legendary] This Amulet was said to contain the Corrupted Essence of an Alicorn that grants the wearer an unbelievable Magical Power but slowly drives their Minds to Evil and twists their perception towards the Dark Path. Nobody ever managed to use this Artifact without becoming a being of Evil and with their Hearts Corrupted they performed dark deeds with their newfound Might.
I grinned as I read these lines, the damn thing was literally the most damn easily accessible cheat-code ever given to anyone! I knew that any normal Pony trying to use it will be a bad idea as the damn thing will be trying to turn them into a megalomaniac but this point was worthless against me as I had [Gamer's Mind] to back me up. An impenetrable defense against all and any mental attacks that will come my way, the fact that I could probably use it to turn someone else into an Alicorn crossed my mind but I dismissed it. There was a chance that the Corruption will still linger inside the person and therefore will also affect the one that will be Ascending with the use of the damn thing, there was literally no other use for me but to consume it.
This is the Essence of [Alicorn]. Would you like to Absorb it?
I pressed the button and saw how the red gem in the center of the Amulet suddenly broke down and the crimson Magic flowed into me, leaving behind the harness that I had no use for other than as some kind of a freaky decoration.
Through the Absorption of the Essence of [Alicorn] a Skill [Might of an Alicorn(Passive)] has been Created.
I could feel the floor underneath me breaking as the sudden surge of raw Power shattered the windows and any other glass in the Store and the literal whirlwind of Mana surrounded me. I felt powerful as the newly acquired Skill made my Reserves grow and I could feel the incredible potency of the Mana that I now had surging even higher as the Energy became so freaking dense that I could see it tearing apart the wooden furniture around me. If I fucking knew that this would happen I would've taken the damn thing a long time ago as the pure might that I could tell now pulsing through my being all but confirmed my theory about the Amulet. While it wasn't a real Essence it was damn close to being one but without any actual 'juice' in it which led to none of my Stats being given a boost, not a big loss but still.
Now I could probably tear Discord apart with [Magical Drain] and walk away unharmed, the damn jigsaw puzzle would be left without anything worth mentioning and completely powerful for anyone to see. I had no idea what will Celestia do but at the same time I could imagine her being very confused and somewhat frustrated that her little idea of 'Reforming' Discord will never come to pass. Well, I couldn't care about her or her delusional goal of being a Dumbledore, she can try all she wants and get then hoisted by her own petard when one of her Targets will just stab her in the back later on.
[Murciélago] activated and I simply walked right through the wall without an issue, it was kind of funny how Discord will still know some Chaos that would be created by him but won't be able to enjoy it. I'm more than sure that Sunbutt will be tearing her hair out about the fact that someone stole his Magic without there being any hint of Tirek escaping the Tartarus, she will probably check on him only to find an empty cage without any clue how it became so. I would really need to invest into finding some kind of a scrying Spell that would let me observe how she will react to this whole mess, her meltdown would probably be Legendary!
I spread my wings and crouched, my mood was so good that I decided that a little fun won't be out of the question right now as I shot forward while making the street under me crumble from my take-off. I wasn't going to do the stupid thing and rush after the self-proclaimed Lord of Chaos all by myself, it would be an absolutely stupid and irresponsible thing to do right now with how much of an unknown he was. Tirek had most of the Equestria's population consumed before he even entertained the thought of trying to backstab Discord, there was a reason that this damn bastard was only even defeated by the Elements of Harmony with nothing else being able to even put a scratch on his being.
Was I equally strong to Tirek of that time?
Fucking no!
That bastard how too much Power coursing through him to be even properly categorized, I'm pretty sure that by that point he was actually a legitimate God in terms of sheer Might! Discord couldn't stand-up to him and Twilight could fight him on an equal footing only because she had the Power from several Alicorns powering her up which made her also a rather good potential Goddess. Once more I sighed at the lack of fucking consistancy of the World when it came to Power-Levels, it was ridiculous how much pure fucking bullshit could happen just because someone didn't have a proper grasp in the bigger picture.
I checked on Kii but the small Dryad was doing her best to arrange herself some kind of a layer in the Everfree Forest, she also found the Mirror Pool and sent me the image and the location of yet another Cursed Artifact. It will take some time to figure out how to properly dispose of the damn thing, I had no desire the see the reanimation of 'Attack of Clones' with Pinkie Pie playing all the Clones at the same fucking time. It looked really creepy in the show and if I saw in real life I would probably start shooting before asking any questions simply because I could do so, Twilight didn't see it as an actual murder so I would probably be in the clean about pocking them with my sword.
As I landed in the clearing near the Ponyville and removed the Illusion Barrier I could instantly see Apple Bloom laying on the grass too far away and snoring quietly, the girl fell asleep while training. It would've been almost cute if not for the fact that she also looked like she tried to wrestle the ground and ended it by headbutting it into submission, I told her to push herself beyond what she felt she was capable of but I didn't actually expect her to follow through with it!
Walking towards her I deactivated [Murciélago] and decided to gently wake her up, it only took me a little bit of poking her into her sides to make her stir. She groggily opened her eyes and looked at me with bleary eyes, I took a lot of effort for me not to laugh at an obvious attempt at a glare that she directed towards me as soon as recognition settled in.
"Rise and shine as I brought gifts~!" I said in a singsong voice. "And I'm honestly curious what will happen when you'll try one of them!"
"Wah?" Apple Bloom yawned and tried to move but her body refused to obey. "What are you talking about?"
"These." I pulled out the Essence of one of Caballeron's cronies. "Trust me, it wasn't hard to get these but find more would be a real pain."
"What is it?" She asked as I rolled her over onto her back. "Shiny Magical ball?"
"Better." I smirked and then put it to her lips. "Swallow this one and I can guarantee you will get some results from it, there are no shortcuts to getting stronger but sometimes you can speed-up the process somewhat."
She didn't question it any more as I watched her swallow the whole thing while almost choking on the damn thing, there was some really unhealthy amount she placed on me with how she didn't even ask what it was exactly. Did I make such an impression on her? Was it something else? I honestly had no clue how to explain it but she did trust me enough to eat an obviously glowy Magical ball that she had no clue where came from.
Suddenly I felt her presence spike and the numbers changed, it made me grin as I saw Apple Bloom's eyes widened as she literally grew right before my eyes even if a little bit. There was something to be said about the effects that Essence had on others, one of these things was the fact that it made their bodies better to handle the new Stats.
It was the weakest one of these thugs, even if the results looked minor I could pretty much guess what the next one will be. I pulled out the stronger Essence and I could see Bloom eyeing in pure wonder, she was probably trying to figure out what exactly was I going to do with it and if she could have it for herself. She didn't have the [Gamer's Mind] to help her sort through the feelings that were brought out during the absorption process and the whole thing hit her really hard, it was a good thing that she still didn't hit puberty or there might have been an accident there.
I placed the next small ball in front of her mouth and she instantly ate it, swallowing it almost hungrily. I felt her presence spiking once more and I could see the number shiting once more as her clothes strained slightly against her growing frame.
She now actually had breasts to speak off, I had no desire to perve on an eight years old but fucking damn she was growing fast with how I was feeding her these Essences. Also, I may have been slightly overly optimistic about her lacking a proper reaction as I could see her face gaining a slight pink hue as she forced herself into a sitting position with her new strength. She was looking at me with a strange look that I didn't even need [Observe] to actually recognize, to my relief there was also some confusion mixed with it so I wasn't under a threat of an aroused child trying to glomp me.
The third Essence was presented to her and she grabbed it from my hand with her own and shoved it into her mouth, I could see the effects taking place and also the fact that Bloom was obviously getting kicks from it. The numbers changed once more and I had to hold back a snicker as the small girl actually let out a small moan as she shuddered as her body stretched her shirt lightly.
"More." The girl mumbled with her half-lidded eyes as she swayed slightly from side to side.
"Like those, didn't ya?" I asked.
Apple Bloom blinked and her eyes refocused on me as she shook her head slightly to clear it, it was obvious that the surges of raw Power were rather pleasurable for the small girl as she looked down at her chest and then reached out with her left hand to grope her newly formed left breast. She looked confused and somewhat dazed but I can tell that the more she thought about the clearer it was becoming for her that she wasn't the same as a minute ago.
"... What?" She blinked several times. "I have breasts?"
"Congratulations!" I grinned at her as she looked up and then back down. "You grew up so fast, You'll probably soon catch up to your sister!"
I counted seconds as my words slowly made their way through the girl's brain and she suddenly went very still, she eyes widening and then dialing as she sprang to her feet in a panic. I could see her eyes shifting wildly around the pace as she had her first mental breakdown, it was kind of amusing to watch.
"What will Applejack say about it?!" She called out as she grabbed both of her breasts with her hands, all fatigue was forgotten for the moment. "How am I going to explain it to her?!"
"I don't think she will notice." I said nonchalantly. "Kii hit her rather hard to the head, she may have knocked a couple of screws loose so you'll have a perfect opportunity to simply substitute the old truth with the new one."
"That doesn't work that way!" The girl hissed at me. "She isn't that stupid to not notice how much I changed over one night, and what about Big Mac and Granny Smith?! What, will Kii bludgeon them too and hope for the best?!"
"You brother will need some work and I won't recommend hitting your grandma, the amount of force Kii used would probably put her out of commission forever." I snorted. "Tell them that it was a growth spurt?"
"How can you say something like that!" Bloom grabbed my shoulders and started to shake me, her new strength giving her an actual capability to do so and it's not like I actually resisted. "There is no way any of them will buy this excuse! Nobody is that stupid and I'm pretty sure that there is no way any of would suddenly forget how I looked like in the first place for it to work!"
"Well, it's a dilemma." I nodded sagely. "The explanation and be pretty simple actually, you can go without it as Big Mac is bedridden along with Applejack who is sleeping off her bruised head. Granny is the only one active in the house and by this point, I'm pretty sure she has Alzheimer so it won't be such a long shot about her simply going with the flow and not seeing anything wrong with you in the first place. You just need to replace your wardrobe as soon as possible with the slightly bigger clothes and everything will go smoothly, I will even ask one of the girls to go with you to help and provide money for it."
"You will do it for me?" She asked with wide eyes, it was funny how she totally ignored how I just called her family incompetent in a roundabout way. "You'll help me with it?"
I shrugged, it was kind of my fault for not considering how the whole thing can turn out without the [Gamer's Mind] helping smooth off the edges. I had one more Essence in my Inventory, the one that belonged to Caballeron and I was damn going to enjoy the results as much as I could with how her reaction will probably be to it!
"Sure." I nodded and pulled out the last Essence. "Would you like the last one now? I was going to keep it for some time so you will be able to adjust to the changes but you're doing far better than I expected. But with how you obviously don't want to risk it..."
Bloom was looking at the glowing ball with conflicted expression, she sure as hell wanted it but the fact that she will grow even more made it a hard choice as she tried to find a solution. There were things that no mere moment of consideration will fix and I wasn't going to complain when I had such a show in front of me, I could tell that the whole thing was tearing her in two and I was betting on...
Apple Bloom snatched the Essence from my hand and hungrily swallowed it, the spike in her presence and the actual moan of pleasure made me smile more as I watched her and her numbers going through some significant changes.
"You better run." I grinned at her. "Or they may notice you being gone as the morning is rather soon."
Apple Bloom nodded absently but then looked at me in a slight confusion, I could see something grinding her gears behind her eyes but not exactly what. I could see from the [Observe] that she was confused, dazed, aroused and happy but there was no clue as to what her confusion was all about. I was answered as the small Oppai-Loli grabbed me by my collar and pulled me forward into a rather sloppy kiss that wasn't anywhere near a real thing but was more about the initiator expressing herself in a very impulsive manner through the means she saw as appropriate.
Through the Positive Interaction your Reputation with Apple Bloom Increased by 25,000.
You're now Revered with Apple Bloom.
Apple Bloom pulled back and looked at me, her eyes still slightly foggy as she simply nodded to herself and turned around. I watched as the eight years old waddled back towards her house and raised my hand towards my lips, blinking several times as my mind rebooted.
'I'm so going to hell for this...' I blinked once more as all the fun of the situation was suddenly dead and gone for me.
I floated in the sky while watching the moon moving behind the horizon as I silently looked at the night was replaced by the day, my mind racing a mile a minute as I tried harder than anything else to find the solution to the seriously fucked-up situation I had here. Even the new Skill that I made didn't make me feel any better than I was right now as it only distracted me for a very short period of time and then was just kind of hanging in the background while being constantly grinded due to its Toggle On use.
The idea of anyone kissing me in this World never even crossed my mind and as I always worked towards the goal of making sure nothing will spoil this little piece of Paradise I managed to claim for myself. With me being an Alicorn I was expecting myself to live a very long and very fulfilling life while searching for my way home, it wasn't like I was going to miss on all the possible advantages of being here as I was. Finding love? That I threw away as soon as the idea came into my mind, the presence of [Gamer's Mind] proved to be a boon for me as I could simply forget about romance and direct everything towards my goals with some fun on the road.
I knew that Apple Bloom was just confused, aroused and riding on the pleasure of being granted an Essence that gave her so much raw Power, it wasn't actually serious no matter how you would look at it but the pint remained. Bloom took the whole thing seriously and while still dazed didn't fully processed what she did and just wandered off towards her house. There will probably be some shocks coming for her in the near future, I'm not sure what exactly will happen but damn it will be both very embarrassing and painful for the girl in question.
Nobody developed feelings this fast!
It was a spur of the moment thing and I wasn't going to entertain the thought of her even having a crush on me as she obviously didn't, I was going to be an adult here and talk to her when she will come running back tomorrow. My heart at the moment wasn't even into training as I felt I did far more than I could possibly imagine today, anything else would have to wait as I will be trying to get myself some good old bloody money.
Kii found my target not long after she started to reintegrate herself into the Everfree Forest and I wasn't going to let such an opportunity get stolen from me, it was more about actually doing the deed than the actual reward. If my memory serves me right his name was Reginald and he owned a rather sizable hoard in the Everfree Forest, I just needed to get my hands on it and then dispose of the Dragon in question so he won't cause any problems later on. There wasn't much that can be done here as he won't simply give me the treasures and simply taking them from him would only invite problems later on, like him invading Ponyville while looking for it or something as absurd as that.
Shooting towards the place where I knew his cave was I landed there not that long after, my speed was getting better with each day I did it as the Skill grew and I could feel its effects on my performance. There were many different things I could say about this but honestly, I just needed to take my mind off the current issue and simply getting rid of one of the problems that presented itself to me was something I could get behind right now. I don't think Spike will run off again, it all depends if Twilight will be as blind as she was in Canon and will miss all the signs of him feeling left out but I was honestly feeling rather confident that she will screw up with how she managed to always make the same mistakes over and over again.
The question of morally being right arose in my head and then died a pathetic death, with Caballeron it was justifiable as he was a person who would've killed others without hesitation like he almost did in Canon. Here? I didn't have any morally good reason to kill the Dragon but it would prevent my identity from leaking out and Reginald from going onto a rampage which would be rather inconvenient for me in the future. I still needed Ponyville intact as it was a hotspot for all the bullshit that is happening around here and I couldn't simply leave myself hanging without any frame of reference to the events yet to come.
Gilda...
Beatrice Lulamoon or Trixie for shorts...
Flim and Flam...
Yeah, all the crazy folk were going to be here and I was not in the mood to run around and search for them just for the sake of solving their problems when I could simply wait and see here. It wasn't much but I could honestly say that I had no desire to see how much worse this whole thing can become with the Ponivilly being taken out too early, I could honestly say that it wasn't much of a chance that they will still come here to gaze at the smoking crater. With somebody like Chrysalis or Sombra it wouldn't be so hard as I honestly knew where they were and could get rid of them without any problem, but only when I felt that I actually could do so without keeling over. The only time Chrysalis was outside of her Hive or the house I knew she lived for some time in the Comics was when she attacked Canterlot, it was my best bet to try and get to her at that exact time and simply drain and then kill her.
It will also prevent that horrible abomination that was Thorax from being ever capable of becoming that horrifying reject of an Original Character that he became in Canon but I will need to find him first and that won't be so hard. With how [Observe] gave me the names of everyone I had laid my eyes upon it won't be a problem and with [Magical Sense] I will be able to keep track of him. The only question remained was of me being capable of using Magic while under the effects of that Throne that Chrysalis had in the Hive, it will be an inconvenience if I had to attack it and be left without some of my more useful and destructive Skills.
As I landed onto the ground with a thud and started walking towards the mouth of the cave I still pondered on the question of how to deal with each and every problem that this World was suffering from, not for its sake but so they won't affect me later on. My next stop will be finding some Ponies to drain so I would be able to give girls some boosts, I think Ahuizotl had some of them in employment in a rather large number and all ripe for the taking. Them willingly participating in an attempt of genocide removed any reservations of me taking their Essences away and giving them to someone who actually would be far better suited for their use, also getting rid of them worthless monster would serve Equestria some good.
As I dropped the Illusion Barrier I was welcomed by a huge pile of treasures with a light-green Europian-looking Dragon sleeping on it, a smirk worked its way onto my face as I opened my Inventory.
Name: Jessica Soer/Moon Dancer Age: 25/18 Hair: Brilliant Amaranth with Moderate Purple and Grayish Violet highlights/While using [Murciélago]: Black Eyes: Dark Purple/While using [Murciélago]: Golden-Yellow Irises and Black Sclera Height: 201 cm. Horn/Wings: Light Yellowish Gray/While using [Murciélago]: White Horns and Black Wings. Magic Aura: Light Ceriseish Gray Body Measurements: B123-W61-H93 cm. Occupation: The Gamer Level: 32 (11,600/27,300 EXP) Title: N/A
[Gamer's Body(Passive) LV MAX] It provides the Body to live the Reality as a Game.
[Gamer's Mind(Passive) LV MAX] Recognizes the Reality as a Game and keeps calm. Keeps the mind calm. Immunity to Mental Disorder.
[Alicorn(Passive) LV MAX] You're an Alicorn, a Pinnacle of Pony-kind's Evolution and possess the Magic of all three Pony-Types and also greatly Enhance it. You're Quasi-Immortal and will stop Aging as soon as you will reach the Zenith of your Maturity. Passively Grants [Flight(Passive) LV1 EXP: 0.00%] Passively Increase STR by 25 Passively Increase VIT by 50 Passively Increase DEX by 25 Passively Increase INT by 50 Passively Increase WIS by 50 Passively Increase Mana Capacity by 500% Passively Increase STR per Level by 5 Passively Increase VIT per Level by 10 Passively Increase DEX per Level by 5 Passively Increase INT per Level by 10 Passively Increase WIS per Level by 10 Passively Increase Health Capacity per Level by 5% Passively Increase Mana Capacity per Level by 5%
[Cutie Mark(Passive) LV MAX] You Acquired a Cutie Mark that represents your Special Talent and lets you gain Experience in it at an Increased Rate when compared to other Skills. This Skill has no restrictions on which Areas it will work upon and therefore any Skill that falls under it Effect will receive the Boosts coming with from it. Passively Increase Magic Skills Experience Gain by 300% Passively Increase [Lunar] Magic Experience Gain by 150% Passively Increase [Shadow] Magic Skills Experience Gain by 150%
[Telekinesis(Active) LV53 EXP: 21.12%] The Spell that lets you move items with your Magic and Mind, it's Power solely depends on the User and doesn't have any actual Limit of Volume or Weight it can be used to manipulate. The Amount of Mana used is proportional to said Parameters of the Targeted Object. Passively Increase the Weight/Volume per Mana Proportion by 53% Passively Increase the Precision by 53% Passively Increase the Range by 53%
[Observe(Active) LV12 EXP: 46.88%] This is the Skill that lets you gather information about surrounding you people, objects, and animals. With the higher Level, you will be able to obtain more Data while using this Skill.
[Meditation(Active) LV22 EXP: 3.19%] A serene state of Mind and Body where you fully become one with yourself. It lets you faster recover from fatigue and wounds and Increase the Rate at which you Replenish your Spirit. Regenerates per Second 1.1% of the Total Health Points Regenerates per Second 1.1% of the Total Mana Pool
[Cooking(Passive) LV1 EXP: 0.00%] The Skill that measures your Proficiency at preparing food, measuring its Quality and the Speed at which you can cook it without making any mistakes during the process itself. The Higher the Level of the Skill, the more Complex the Dishes coming from under your hands will be and their Quality will grow appropriately. Passively Increase the Quality by 1% Passively Increase the Creation Speed by 1% Passively Decrease the Failure Rate by 1%
[Teleportation(Active) LV44 EXP: 11.99%] This Ability lets you Teleport from one spot to another as long as you have a clear knowledge about you Destination and enough Mana to perform the Transition. You also can use this Skill to Teleport others or items around with the same limitations as yourself. Passively Increase Range by 44% Passively Decrease Mana Cost by 44%
[ID Create(Active) LV3 EXP: 88.21%] Used to create Instant Dungeons. Stronger Instant Dungeons may be created at higher Levels. Currently Available ID List: 1. Empty ID - Monsters: None 2. Poring Grade-1 ID - Monsters: Porings 3. Rocker ID - Monsters: Rockers
[ID Escape(Active) LV3 EXP: 88.21%] Used to escape Instant Dungeons.
[Cero(Active) LV24 EXP: 35.55%] The Basic Magical Beam-Attack that can be produced by the User and solely depends on how much Mana you put into it. Deals 224% Magical Attack Damage Passively Decrease Mana Cost by 24%
[Flight(Passive) LV70 EXP: 15.18%] You have the Ability to Fly with your Wings and the use of Pegasus-Aspect of your Magic. Passively Increase Flight's Speed by 70% Passively Increase Flight's Maneuverability by 70% Passively Increase Maximum Lifting Weight by 70%
[Mana Affinity(Passive)] A Skill that allows the User to become more sensitive to Mana and handle it better. Passively Increase Mana Regeneration by 10% Passively Increase Mana Capacity by 5% Passively Increase Magical Power by 5% Passively Increase Magical Resistance by 5% Passively Increase Mana Related Skills Efficiency by 30%
[Mental Serenity(Passive)] A Skill that lets the User be more aware of the workings of her body's Inner Energies and handle them better. Passively Increase Mana Regeneration by 30% Passively Increase Mana Capacity by 5% Passively Increase Magical Resistance by 15%
[Murciélago(Active) LV49 EXP: 14.44%] A Skill that lets you assume a Nightmare Form that greatly Increases your Battle Capabilities but costs Mana to maintain. The Form itself is produced by the User's Imagination and after the first Activation will remain a constant one for the duration of the User's life. This Skill will automatically Deactivate if the User will lose consciousness or if the Mana will run out. When Active Increase STR by 200% When Active Increase DEX by 200% When Active Increase Magical Power by 200% When Active Decrease Physical Damage by 25% When Active Increase Magical Resistance by 25% Passively Decrease Mana Cost by 49%
[Inspiration Manifestation(Passive)] A Skill to bring out the Full Potential of the User's Special Talent for a far more manageable price when it comes to performance. Passively Increase the Efficiency of the Skill [Cutie Mark] by 50%
[Magical Sense(Passive) LV40 EXP: 10.01%] The Ability to Sense Mana around the User, it's an Art of those who can Perceive the World around them through their Sixth Sense and Feel the Energies of the World flowing around them. Passively Increase the Precision by 40% Passively Increase Range by 40%
[Medium Mana Capacity(Passive)] An Ability Give to the few Mana Users that a born with an Exceptional Ability to handle Mana. Passively Increase Magical Power by 15% Passively Decrease Mana Related Skills' Cost by 10%
[Mana Regeneration(Passive)] An Ability given only to those of Special Heritage that allows faster Recovery of Mana. Passively Increase Mana Regeneration by 100%
[Mana Sword(Active) LV26 EXP: 33.19%] An Ability to Forge a Weapon from the User's Mana alone and Manifest it into the World, it's a Technique that will let you never be unarmed and with practice and dedication, you can make your Sword as strong, if not stronger, than the most powerful weapons that exist. Passively Increase the Weapon's Durability by 26% Passively Decrease Mana Cost by 26%
[Sword Mastery(Passive) LV13 EXP: 71.95%] The Mastery over a One-Hand Sword-Type Weapons. Passively Increase Attack Power of One-Handed Swords by 65% Passively Increase Attack Speed of One-Handed Swords by 39%
[Physical Endurance(Passive) LV21 EXP: 12.68%] The Body's Durability Increase and you take less Damage. Passively Decrease Physical Damage by 24%
[Advance Magic(Passive)] An Ability born in those who possess Magical Powers that are stronger than others. Passively Increase Magical Power by 30% Passively Decrease Mana Related Skills' Cost by 30%
[Natural Body(Passive)] An Ability acquired through possessing a very rich Bloodline that passed the best genes on the User whose was born with a Body superior to others. Passively Increase Health Capacity by 15% Passively Increase Stamina Capacity by 30% Passively Increase Health Regeneration by 15% Passively Decrease Physical Damage by 10%
[Monstrous Strength(Passive)] This Ability demonstrates the Inhuman capability of your Body, the Strength of a Wild Beast is in your muscles and Feats of Power you can display surpass anything any normal person is capable of. Passively Increase STR by 15% Passively Increase Attack Power by 30%
[Pink Fibers(Passive)] Due to training and incredible development of the Body all the muscles were turned into Pink Fibers, they contain tremendous Power and very high Stamina. This Skill also makes it so the one who Achieved such an incredible feat won't suffer from her build ever being uncomfortable or in some way deteriorating. Passively Increase Attack Power by 50% Passively Increase Attack Speed by 15% Passively Increase Stamina Capacity by 25%
[Giant's Strength(Passive)] With an incredible amount of training and effort, you were able to compress your muscles to increase their density so that they would be able to provide much more benefit for you. You're a Human with the might of a Giant restrained in you lieth form, your Might know no limits and your Strength can crush your enemies. Passively Increase STR by 25% Passively Increase Attack Power by 50%
[Giant's Body(Passive)] The density of your muscles is so great that they serve as natural armor against attacks. While skin is still can be penetrated, your enemy will find a harder time trying to get through your muscles that will have the protection capabilities of iron. They can also work better and harder than normal due to them becoming far superior any normal ones. Passively Decrease Physical Damage by 25% Passively Increase Stamina Capacity by 5%
[Battle Continuation(Passive)] The Strength of Vitality for predicaments. You can fight unhindered by wounds and pain, your capability to function at full capacity until your death was the result of incredibly torturous training, where you learned how to overcome even the limitations of your own body. The User won't be hindered by any Physical Wound short of Beheading. The User won't lose her Full Capabilities until Death. Passively Increase Health Capacity by 5% Passively Increase Stamina Capacity by 5%
[Robust Health(Passive)] You're the actual Pinnacle of Health and Stamina of your Species. Your lifespan is far greater and you body contains much more Life Energy than any other because of your incredible Vitality and Physical Health. it can withstand much more than normal and recover far faster than most Healers would deem possible. Passively Increase Health Capacity by 35% Passively Increase Stamina Capacity by 30% Passively Increase Health Regeneration by 50%
[Grace of God(Passive)] You possess the Physiology of a Divine Nature. Was it Inherited by you from your Ancestor or Achieved through an incredible feat of determination and training, the fact is that you now have the body of someone who has surpassed the Mortal Health and Beauty and therefore will not be even mistaken for a mere Mortal. Passively Increase the Reputation Gain through Personal Interactions by 200% Passively Increase Health Capacity by 30%
[Nimble Build(Passive)] Your body is as nimble as that of a wild cat, dexterity and flexibility are things that you excel in and it is shown by your performance. Passively Increase DEX by 15% Passively Increase Attack Speed by 30%
[Magic Control(Passive)] An ability that allows one to control the magic artfully. Passively Decrease Mana Related Skills' Cost by 10%
[Might of Magic(Passive)] Magic is the Essence of Life and it brings Power to its Owner, your own Magic makes you stronger and much more Vital than you would normally be. The more Magic you have, the more Power it will provide you. Passively Increase STR by 25% of your INT Passively Increase VIT by 25% of your INT Passively Increase DEX by 15% of your INT Passively Decrease Physical Damage by 25% Passively Increase Magical Resistance by 25%
[Magical Drain(Active)] A Forbidden Art of Draining Magic of other beings to add it to your own Power, this can cause damage to the Target or even extract its Essence, which will forever leave it without the capability to use Mana until its Essence will be restored. The Range and the Amount of Magic being Drained depend on your INT.
[Supreme Magic(Passive)] A very rare Gift bestowed upon the ones whose Magical Talent is far above others, born under the mark of the Arcane Might they are far above normal Mages in Power. Passively Increase INT by 15% Passively Increase Magical Power by 35% Passively Increase Mana Capacity by 35% Passively Increase Mana Regeneration by 35% Passively Decrease Mana Related Skills' Cost by 35%
[Summon Lowest Nature Spirit(Active) LV45 EXP: 44.44%] Age: ? Hair: Green Eyes: Brilliant Phthalo Blue Height: 142 cm. Magic Aura: Forest Green with Brilliant Green outline Body Measurements: B75-W57-H73 cm. Race: Spirit/Dryad Summons the Most Basic Spirit of Nature. Nature was always aware of what was happening around it and the Men knew of its Power. Spirits of Nature were one of the Manifestations of its Will and with the help of Men, they were able to step into the World as more than just Phantoms of the Flora around. Summoning Spirit means binding it to you for all your life as it will be supported in the World by your own Power, they will grow and flourish with time and your Bond will also grow. The Spirit's Attributes will change as Caster's INT and Skill Level grows, it will also allow it to Evolve into a Stronger Form with time. Passively Decrease Mana Cost by 45%
[Might of an Alicorn(Passive)] You were granted the Blessing of an Alicorn's Magical Might that will significantly increase your Magical Power and capabilities with Magic as a whole, even a simply Unicorn can feel what it feels like to be Ascended onto the next Plane of Existence with this particular Blessing. Passively Increase INT by 150% Passively Increase Magical Power by 500% Passively Increase Mana Capacity by 500% Passively Increase Mana Regeneration by 150% Passively Decrease Mana Related Skills' Cost by 75%
[Hierro(Active) LV7 EXP: 95.47%] By saturating your skin with Mana you're capable making it far harder than even the best of armor and with how it literally covers your whole body you cannot actually lose it or be stripped of it. Lesser weapons won't even be able to scratch you while the stronger one won't do more than actually scratching you, only someone equal to you or stronger will be able to actually do any actual damage to you and that is without counting any other tricks you may have up your sleeve. The toughness of your skin depends on your INT and therefore even if you're not a close-combat Specialist you'll be able to take attacks from those and prevent the most of the damage from going through. Passively Decrease Mana Cost by 7%
Apple Bloom Race: Earth-Pony Gender: Female Age: 8 Hair: Brilliant Amaranth Eyes: Brilliant Gamboge Height: 157 cm. Body Measurements: B89-W55-H79 cm. Level: 5 (1,110/3,840 EXP) Title: N/A STR: 148(133+15) VIT: 152(137+15) DEX: 60(60) INT: 59(59) WIS: 21(21) LUK: 19(19) Status: Earth-Pony(Passive): Passively Increase STR by 10; Passively Increase VIT by 10; Passively Increase Health Capacity by 100%; Passively Increase STR per Level by 1; Passively Increase VIT per Level by 1; Passively Increase Health Capacity per Level by 1% Cutie Mark: N/A
Lemon Hearts Race: Unicorn Gender: Female Age: 18 Hair: Moderate Cerulean with a Light Cerulean tail streak Eyes: Moderate Raspberry Horn: Light Brilliant Yellow Magic Aura: Moderate Fuchsia Height: 179 cm. Body Measurements: B90-W56-H79 cm. Level: 11 (3,530/7,200 EXP) Title: Heartfelt Planner(Passively Increase Reputation Gained by 5%) STR: 25(25) VIT: 32(32) DEX: 22(22) INT: 40(19+21) WIS: 39(18+21) LUK: 14(14) Status: Unicorn(Passive): Passively Increase INT by 10; Passively Increase WIS by 10; Passively Increase Mana Capacity by 100%; Passively Increase INT per Level by 1; Passively Increase WIS per Level by 1; Passively Increase Mana Capacity per Level by 1% Cutie Mark(Passive): Passively Increase Magic Skills Experience Gain by 150%; Passively Increase [Empathy] Magic Experience Gain by 300% Cutie Mark:
Minutte Race: Unicorn Gender: Female Age: 18 Hair: Moderate Blue with Light Persian Bluish Gray stripes Eyes: Moderate Sapphire Blue Horn: Light Cornflower Blue Magic Aura: Pale Light Grayish Gold Height: 178 cm. Body Measurements: B83-W57-H78 cm. Level: 11 (2,300/7,200 EXP) Title: Girl on the Clock(Passively Increase Experiences Gained for [Time] Magic Skills by 5%) STR: 25(25) VIT: 31(31) DEX: 23(23) INT: 38(17+21) WIS: 35(14+21) LUK: 19(19) Status: Unicorn(Passive): Passively Increase INT by 10; Passively Increase WIS by 10; Passively Increase Mana Capacity by 100%; Passively Increase INT per Level by 1; Passively Increase WIS per Level by 1; Passively Increase Mana Capacity per Level by 1% Cutie Mark(Passive): Passively Increase Magic Skills Experience Gain by 150%; Passively Increase [Time] Magic Experience Gain by 300% Cutie Mark:
Starlight Glimmer Race: Unicorn Gender: Female Age: 19 Hair: Moderate purple with Lighter Purple and Pale Light-Grayish Aquamarine highlights Eyes: Moderate Persian Blue Horn: Pale Light-Grayish Heliotrope Magic Aura: Light Turquoise Height: 181 cm. Body Measurements: B95-W58-H84 cm. Level: 51 (5,555/71,400 EXP) Title: Arcane Artist(Passively Increase Magic Skills Experience Gain by 15%) STR: 37(37) VIT: 47(47) DEX: 36(36) INT: 160(99+61) WIS: 156(95+61) LUK: 35(35) Status: Unicorn(Passive): Passively Increase INT by 10; Passively Increase WIS by 10; Passively Increase Mana Capacity by 100%; Passively Increase INT per Level by 1; Passively Increase WIS per Level by 1; Passively Increase Mana Capacity per Level by 1% Cutie Mark(Passive): Passively Increase Magic Skills Experience Gain by 300%; Passively Increase INT Experience Gain by 150%; Passively Increase WIS Experience Gain by 150% Cutie Mark:
Teria Race: Centaur Gender: Female Age: 0 Hair: Black with Light Phthalo Bluish Gray streaks and tail. Eyes: Black with Light Brilliant-Yellow pupils Horns: Dark Sapphire Bluish Gray Coat: Azureish Black Skin: Moderate Raspberry Hooves: Light Lime Greenish Gray with Amberish Gray clefts Magic Aura: Vivid Vermilion with Black sparks Height(Without Horns): 145 cm. Body Measurements: B88-W50 cm. Level: 13 (3,900/7,620 EXP) Title: The Lady Devourer of Magic(Passively Increase [Magical Drain] Skill's Effeciency by 25%) STR: 97.5(49+36+12.5) VIT: 94.5(46+36+12.5) DEX: 65.5(40+18+7.5) INT: 55(50+5) WIS: 25(20+5) LUK: 10(10) Status: Centaur(Passive): Passively Increase STR by 10; Passively Increase VIT by 10; Passively Increase DEX by 5; Passively Increase INT by 5; Passively Increase WIS by 5; Passively Increase Health Capacity by 100%; Passively Increase Mana Capacity by 50%; Passively Increase STR per Level by 2; Passively Increase VIT per Level by 2; Passively Increase DEX per Level by 1; Passively Increase Health Capacity per Level by 2%; Passively Increase Mana Capacity per Level by 1% Might of Magic(Passive): Passively Increase STR by 25% of your INT; Passively Increase VIT by 25% of your INT; Passively Increase DEX by 15% of your INT; Passively Decrease Physical Damage by 25%; Passively Increase Magical Resistance by 25%
Twinkleshine Race: Unicorn Gender: Female Age: 18 Hair: Pale Cerise Eyes: Moderate Arctic Blue Horn: Light Goldish Gray Magic Aura: Light Blue Height: 179 cm. Body Measurements: B84-W57-H78 cm. Level: 11 (1,860/7,200 EXP) Title: Twinkling Star(Passively Increase Experiences Gained for [Stellar] Magic Skills by 5%) STR: 17(17) VIT: 23(23) DEX: 13(13) INT: 73(52+21) WIS: 39(18+21) LUK: 14(14) Status: Unicorn(Passive): Passively Increase INT by 10; Passively Increase WIS by 10; Passively Increase Mana Capacity by 100%; Passively Increase INT per Level by 1; Passively Increase WIS per Level by 1; Passively Increase Mana Capacity per Level by 1% Cutie Mark(Passive): Passively Increase Magic Skills Experience Gain by 150%; Passively Increase [Stellar] Magic Experience Gain by 300% Cutie Mark:
Zecora Race: Zebra Gender: Female Age: 21 Hair: Light Heliotropeish Gray turning into Dark Persian Bluish Gray and then Black at the lower ends Eyes: Strong Cyan Horn: None Magic Aura: None Height: 191 cm. Body Measurements: B111-W60-H90 cm. Level: 35 (7,800/31,200 EXP) Title: Shaman(Passively Increase Experiences Gained for [Herbalism] by 15%; Passively Increase Experiences Gained for [Potions] by 15%; Passively Increase Experiences Gained for [Nature] Magic Skills by 15%) STR: 89(49+40) VIT: 91(51+40) DEX: 86(46+40) INT: 77(77) WIS: 57(57) LUK: 33(33) Status: Zebra(Passive): Passively Increase STR by 5; Passively Increase VIT by 5; Passively Increase DEX by 5; Passively Increase STR per Level by 1; Passively Increase VIT per Level by 1; Passively Increase DEX per Level by 1 Cutie Mark(Passive): Passively Increase [Shamanism] Magic Experience Gain by 450% Cutie Mark:
Applejack Race: Earth-Pony Gender: Female Age: 19 Hair: Pale light-Grayish Olive Eyes: Moderate Sap-Green Height: 192 cm. Body Measurements: B96-W56-H88 cm. Level: 28 (9,900/22,100 EXP) Title: Element of Honesty(Passively Increase [Discernment of the Poor] Skill Experience Gain by 150%;) STR: 102(64+38) VIT: 93(55+38) DEX: 39(39) INT: 23(23) WIS: 27(27) LUK: 19(19) Status: Earth-Pony(Passive): Passively Increase STR by 10; Passively Increase VIT by 10; Passively Increase Health Capacity by 100%; Passively Increase STR per Level by 1; Passively Increase VIT per Level by 1; Passively Increase Health Capacity per Level by 1% Cutie Mark(Passive): Passively Increase [Agromancy] Skills Experience Gain by 300% Cutie Mark:
Celestia Race: Alicorn Gender: Female Age: ~[>1000] Hair: Light Cerulean; Light Turquoise; Very Light Cobalt Blue; Pale Heliotrope Eyes: Pale Light Grayish Magenta Horn/Wings: Light Fuchsiaish Gray Magic Aura: Very Light Gold Height: 411 cm. Body Measurements: B273-W93-H140 cm. Level: ? (?/? EXP) Title: Solar Monarch(?) STR: ?(?) VIT: ?(?) DEX: ?(?) INT: ?(?) WIS: ?(?) LUK: ?(?) Status: Alicorn(Passive): Passively Increase STR by 25; Passively Increase VIT by 50; Passively Increase DEX by 25; Passively Increase INT by 50; Passively Increase WIS by 50; Passively Increase Mana Capacity by 500%; Passively Increase STR per Level by 5; Passively Increase VIT per Level by 10; Passively Increase DEX per Level by 5; Passively Increase INT per Level by 10; Passively Increase WIS per Level by 10; Passively Increase Health Capacity per Level by 5%; Passively Increase Mana Capacity per Level by 5% Cutie Mark(Passive): Passively Increase Magic Skills Experience Gain by 300%; Passively Increase [Solar] Magic Experience Gain by 300% Cutie Mark:
Twilight Sparkle Race: Unicorn Gender: Female Age: 18 Hair: Moderate Sapphire Blue with Moderate Violet and Brilliant Rose streaks Eyes: Moderate Violet Horn: Pale Light-Grayish Mulberry Magic Aura: Light Brilliant Raspberry Height: 160 cm. Body Measurements: B71-W56-H72 cm. Level: 31 (1,150/26,000 EXP) Title: Element of Magic(Passively Increase Magic Skills Experience Gain by 150%;) STR: 14(14) VIT: 15(15) DEX: 14(14) INT: 192(151+41) WIS: 71(30+41) LUK: 15(15) Status: Unicorn(Passive): Passively Increase INT by 10; Passively Increase WIS by 10; Passively Increase Mana Capacity by 100%; Passively Increase INT per Level by 1; Passively Increase WIS per Level by 1; Passively Increase Mana Capacity per Level by 1% Cutie Mark(Passive): Passively Increase Magic Skills Experience Gain by 350%; Passively Increase INT Experience Gain by 300% Cutie Mark:
Vocal Stats: Level: 35 Reward: 6,750 EXP. Title: None STR: 10 VIT: 85(75+10) DEX: 50(40+10) INT: 55 WIS: 15 LUK: 40 Status: Swift(Passive): Passively Increase DEX by 10 Lively(Passive): Passively Increase VIT by 10 Mini Boss(Passive): Passively Increase Health Capacity by 15%; Passively Increase Mana Capacity by 15%
EVERFREE FOREST
Chimera Stats: Level: 29 Reward: 2,600 EXP. Title: Mystical Beast(Passively Increase Attack Speed by 15%; Passively Increase Attack Power by 15%) STR: 51(46+5) VIT: 51(46+5) DEX: 41 INT: 40 WIS: 18 LUK: 13 Status: Higher Constitution(Passive): Passively Increase STR by 5; Passively Increase VIT by 5
Manticore Stats: Level: 33 Reward: 3,250 EXP. Title: Mystical Beast(Passively Increase Attack Speed by 15%; Passively Increase Attack Power by 15%) STR: 90(75+5+10) VIT: 88(73+5+10) DEX: 38 INT: 13 WIS: 13 LUK: 13 Status: Strong Constitution(Passive): Passively Increase STR by 5; Passively Increase VIT by 5; Passively Increase Health Capacity by 5%; Passively Decrease Received Damage by 15% Built(Passive): Passively Increase STR by 10 Lively(Passive): Passively Increase VIT by 10
Timberwolves Stats: Level: 21 Reward: 2,170 EXP. Title: Spiritual Beast of the Forest(Passively Increase Attack Speed when on [Woods] Territory by 10%; Passively Increase Attack Power when on [Woods] Territory by 10%) STR: 53 VIT: 25 DEX: 37 INT: 20 WIS: 10 LUK: 20 Status: Weak Constitution(Passive): Passively Increase Received Damage by 200%
TARTARUS
Cerberus Stats: Level: ? Reward: ? EXP. Title: The Warden of the Damned(Passively Increase Attack Power agains [Evil] Beings by 500%; Passively Decrease Physical Damage from [Evil] Beings by 95%; Passively Increase Health Regeneration when in [Tartarus] by 1000%) STR: ? VIT: ? DEX: ? INT: ? WIS: ? LUK: ? Status: Eternal(Passive): Remove the need of Sustenance; Remove the need of Sleep; Remove the Effect of Aging; Stamina is Infinite
