Chapter 1: Rebirth

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Have you ever seen something that has not only shook you to your very core but was also something truly beautiful at the same time? An event that couldn't be described even if you were to try your hardest to. Something that fills you with feelings that are contradictions of each other.

These are the thoughts that are currently running through the fresh college graduate, Dale Stevens, as he stood on his apartments' balcony. His gaze was fixated on the sun since something was horribly wrong with it. Instead of the usual bright yellow shine that would illuminate the planet, there was a black star in its place. This was only brought to Dales' attention a few minutes prior as the bickering and screaming caused him to see what the commotion was about. The atmosphere outside felt completely different than what it's supposed to be. The clouds turned a blood red that sent chills down Dales' spine.

People down on the streets below got out of their cars to make sure that what they were seeing was real. Many voices tried to talk over each other, some asking questions, most screaming in fear.

Dale quickly pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and began to dial the only phone number he could immediately think of. The phone only rang for a second before someone picked up, "Mom!? Are you okay? Are you seeing what's going on?" the panic in Dales' voice was obvious. Dales' parents lived across town from him, so this was the fastest way to check up and see if they were okay.

"Dale? Thank god, you're okay! Your Father and I are watching the news right now!' Dales' Mother is equally as panicked as Dale himself is, that's never a good sign, "They're saying to remain in our home and to make sure all of the doors are locked. Where are you right now?"

"I-I'm at my apartment. I was just on my computer before this started to happen and I don't know what to do!" Dale began to pace back and forth on his balcony. It took a few seconds for his Mother to respond.

"When it's safe to leave, please come home!" His mother begged.

Before Dale even had a chance to respond, the Earth began to shake. Dale would've fallen off of the balcony if he didn't have an iron grip on the handrails. He could hear his Mother try to say something over the phone, but couldn't make out what she wanted to say.

Suddenly, a bright bolt of lightning struck the Earth with a loud thunderclap that could almost make a man go deaf. Dale closed his eyes out of fear and to shield himself from the blinding light. When his vision returned he quickly realised that the entire city had fallen silent.

"Hello?" Dale tried to talk to his mother over the phone, "Hello! Mom! Are you okay?!" Dale was beginning to worry about his Mothers' well being. The pit in his stomach slowly began to grow as there was no more response coming from the phone. Dale then began to look down at the street again to see why everyone has fallen silent. His eyes widened as he discovered that no one was on the street anymore, almost as if the lightning blast had completely vaporized them.

"What the fuck is happening!" Dale yelled into the now dark blue sky.

Suddenly, Dale was lifted from his balcony by a strong force and began to slowly fly towards the black sun in the sky. Fear enveloped him as he flew higher and higher above the city. Just when he thought that his life officially began as he graduated from college, it slowly began to seem like it was coming to an end already. Why was this happening to him? Was this some malevolent god getting their revenge on mankind for their ignorance? Did we cause this from being too careless with the planet? Dale would never find the answers to these questions as he shielded his eyes with his arms and braced for impact...

When Dale regained consciousness he was no longer floating towards the black sun; he was now in a white room that seemed to stretch on forever. Dale was in too much of a haze to say or do anything. This room felt peaceful and calming.

"Show me your soul..." An almighty voice echo's throughout Dales' head, "I see... You have no desired reality you wish to create..."

"Desired reality?" Dale groggily thought to himself. What could this voice mean by that?

"Very well... I shall send you to someone else's reality..." Dale loses consciousness once again as the voice fades into the back of his mind.

Dale slowly opens his eyes once to be greeted by a stone ceiling. He quickly sits up on the bed he was previously laying on and looks around. Dale was in a dark, stone room that looked like a dungeon from the medieval era, the gate was wide open.

"What happened..." Dale rubbed his head slowly, "Wait, where am I? Where is everyone? Didn't I..." Dale slowly stops speaking as he remembers the events that just transpired. He quickly felt his stomach violently churn. Dale leaned over the bedside and vomited onto the stone floor.

"Was what just happened the end of the world? Then how did I survive?" Dale thought as he wiped his mouth with his black jacket sleeve. Dale hears a beeping noise coming from his left arm. Once he looks over he sees something that wasn't there before, there's a white arm brace on his jacket. It's a bit bulky and has a screen on it. The screen is flashing in time with the beeps. Dale stands on the stone floor and holds his arm up to his face to look at the screen. He cautiously taps the screen to see what will happen.

The screen emits a holographic display of a black box with white text on it.

Name: Dale Stevens

Level: 1

HP: 50/50

MP: 20/20

Status

Strength (Physical Attack power and how much you can lift) 2

Magic (Magic casting efficiency and maximum MP) 2

Vitality (Maximum HP, Physical Defence, Magic Defence, and Stamina) 5

Agility (Speed, Acrobatic ability, and Accuracy) 3

Luck (Item drop rate, Status Ailment hit rate, Negotiation success rate) 1

EXP: 0/20

App Points: 0

Current Alignment: Neutral

Class

Blank Slate: Has the ability to learn any type of skill from any Element and is defaulted to the "Neutral Alignment"

Skills

N/A

Equipment

Casual Clothes

Function Currently Unavailable

Function Currently Unavailable (Available at Level 3)

Dale scrolled through the holographic display with a look of awe on his face. He had no idea what to make of any of this; the screen was structured like one of the video games he played back at home when he was younger. Many questions began to form in his mind: What were App Points? What was the deal with "Neutral Alignment" and why was it important? But the biggest question of all was "Why is this happening?"

"Maybe if I play along with this, I'll find the answer..." Dale thought to himself as he closed the menu. The screen on the arm brace displays Dales' current HP and MP, it made him wonder if this place is at all dangerous. Dale never got into any sort of trouble when he was growing up, he'd try his hardest to not make anyone angry or annoyed with him in fear of getting his lights knocked out. As a result, he never got into any fights; his stats showed it too...

Dale cautiously left the dungeon cell, making sure no one was around looking for a fight, "This is crazy!" Dale thought to himself, "I need to find my way out of here so I can at least gauge where I am," Dale used this alone time to think about what exactly has happened. He managed to come up with a very confusing explanation, "If the Earth no longer exists due to that black star that was in the sky... Then maybe... that voice that was telling me that I didn't have a desired reality actually sent me into someone else's? Maybe this is all some sort of realistic feeling nightmare? Maybe this is real..." Dale began to believe that what he was experiencing was real while he ran through the dark corridors, "If this is someones desired reality, that would explain why there are status menus and skills. It's probably a reality modelled off of a video game. That would mean at least one person from Earth is here, but I have no idea where to even begin looking for them..."

Suddenly, the arm brace began beeping while flashing red. Before Dale even had time to react, a strange creature that he has never seen before leapt into his vision.

"What the fuck is that!?" Dale questioned in fear. The monster was in the shape of a wolf but was made out of tree branches and twigs. As the wolf snarled at Dale, tree sap dripped from its bark mouth. Instead of fur, the monster had moss growing from the wood that made up its body. The worst part about the monster that ambushed Dale, was the bright green eyes that worked well at intimidating Dale.

Dales' arm brace once again produced a hologram

Timberwolf

HP: 30/30

MP: 0

Skills

(Unkown)

Would you like to know what actions you can take?

(Yes)

(No)

Dale looked around his hologram to see what the monster was doing, to his surprise it was just standing there, "Maybe this is supposed to be some sort of tutorial? If I'm going to survive here, I should learn how to this 'game' works. Hell, it'll at least buy me some time." Dale taps "yes" on the screen.

Actions

Fight (Use all of your skills and might to defeat the enemy. Earn EXP and Items for doing so.)

Talk (Attempt to communicate with the enemy. Depending on what you say, you can convince the enemy to give you an Item, give you Money, leave you alone, or you can convince them to join your party. Talking requires you to understand what your enemy wants, as well as your luck playing in your favour. Be careful, as an enemy may try to scam you out of your Items or attempt to kill you anyway.)

Run (If your speed stat is higher than your enemy's you may attempt to flee the battle)

Dale thought over his choices carefully. He knew that trying to run away would be a bad idea, he wasn't sure if he was fast enough and the way out was to pass the 'Timberwolf' so he decided to try to talk to the monster.

"Uh... Hey, little... guy?" Dale said awkwardly to the monster, "Do you think you can let me go on my way, I didn't mean to disturb your... lovely home," The monster only snarled in response, "I think that only made it angrier!" Dale thought in a panic.

The Timberwolf lunged at Dale, attempting to bite him. Dale quickly raised his arms to guard his face, and the monster bit down on his right arm. A red number appeared in front of Dale as he yelled in pain.

-7HP

Dale retaliated by throwing the Timberwolf off of him and directly into a wall. The Timberwolf whimpered in pain as its back collided with the stone. A red number appeared above its head.

-5HP

Dale then ran up to the Timberwolf and kicked it directly in the face, causing the creature to explode into bits and pieces.

-28HP Critical!

Dale stood in silence trying to catch his breath as his experience bar began to fill up completely from that one battle. He knew he should be worried about more of those monsters, but the thrill of the fight sent him into overdrive, it felt really good to him. The arm brace began to beep once again.

Level Up!

Level: 2

You've earned 3 stat points! Please choose what stats you wish to improve!

App Points: 10

Dale had to think about this for a moment. He knew that putting anything into magic right now would be a waste of points since he didn't have any. Rather than relying on a dice roll to talk to any monsters, he would come across, Dale decided the best course of action would be placing two points into Strength and one into Vitality since he may need to defend himself more before he comes across civilization. After adding his points into the stats, he felt his body surge with energy. Dale felt much better than he did a second ago, so he decided to check his arm brace.

Name: Dale Stevens

Level: 2

HP: 55/55

MP: 20/20

"It looks like levelling up completely healed me," Dale said aloud.

Dale continued down the path he was taking before and eventually came across a balcony; it reminded him of his home before the apocalypse. Dale looked over the horizon in awe, the sun was only just rising up and the scenery was breathtaking. Trees covered the valley as far as the eye could see, but there was an ending to this supposedly never-ending forest. Far off into the distance was a small town, Dale could barely see it from where he was. It looked like a medieval town, matching the setting of the castle. Could it be that he was in a medieval-themed RPG of some sort?

"Looks like I found the place. Maybe if the person who created this world arrived in the same spot as me, they also went to that town... It's the only lead I've got. Do they even know that they created this world, or was it a subconscious effort?" Dale was asking himself these questions as he descended down the balcony with the ladder that was to his left.

His journey was only just beginning, Dale thought he'd seen the worst of this world already, but he was in for another surprise once he'll reach the distant town...

Chapter 2: Artificial Intelligence

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Dale looked around the area while he descended down the ladder; the last thing he wanted was to be surprised by another monster. He could barely believe that he managed to defend himself from that "Timberwolf" as it was called. Dale assumed that because this world is using mechanics from a Role-Playing Game he stood a better chance, but all the mechanics in this universe wouldn't mean anything if he came across something that was completely out of his league. The unknown is what Dale feared the most about the forest he was descending into. He knew how dangerous they can be when you're unprepared, but Dale was going in almost naked with the exception of the clothes on his back.

"People for some reason wonder why I hated the wilderness. If only they could see what it's like here; it's dark and filled with strange creatures that want to tear my head off..." Dale thought as his feet touched the grass. The sunrise that he saw on the balcony was being overshadowed by the weeping trees of the forest. Dale began to doubt that he was alone due to the cold chill that began to run down his spine. He thought that the best course of action would be checking his status screen for anything he may have missed.

Name: Dale Stevens

Level: 2

HP: 55/55

MP: 20/20

Status

Strength: 4

Magic: 2

Vitality: 6

Agility: 3

Luck: 1

EXP: 0/50

App Points: 10

Current Alignment: Neutral

(If you would like to review what each stat does, please select "Review" for each stat)

"So I guess the tutorial for the stats is over? I still have no idea what App Points are, or even what this 'Alignment' is," Dale voiced his small bit of frustration aloud as he began to scroll through the menu once again. He didn't gain any new skills or new equipment from the last fight, unsurprising due to his low luck stat. What bothered him the most were the four functions that were unavailable to him.

Function Currently Unavailable

Function Currently Unavailable (Available at Level 3)

"If some god put me here for a reason, it would've been nice of them to at least give me all of the functions of something that's supposed to keep me from getting killed..." Dale began to tap the screen, hoping that a glitch would occur that would give him access to these locked screens. Each tap produced an annoying beeping noise, like the one you would hear when your computer encountered an error. Brute forcing his way through turned out to be a pointless endeavour, it was almost expected to him. One of the functions was different from the others, it listed a level requirement that needed to be reached in order to be activated. Dale scratched his chin while thinking, "If the only thing that's required is me reaching one more level, I could just hang around this forest and try to grind up... It says I need fifty experience points to gain another level; I can get another function for this device as well as some extra points to distribute. The only thing I'm worried about is how tough the enemies are in this forest, that Timberwolf encounter was probably just me getting lucky. I also don't have any way of healing myself in case I get injured, maybe I should just head straight for that village I saw," Dale wanted to make the best decision here and he didn't have all the time in the world to do so. The inventory he had didn't contain any food or water, there is also the risk of him taking too long to find shelter, and he didn't know what monsters could come out at night.

"I must be out of my fucking mind," Dale groaned to himself as he began to run down the path towards the village. Dale wasn't going to the village right away, he thought that he had enough time and energy to attempt to get both enough EXP as well as make it to the village without dying. His stats were a little bit higher than they were before, so Dale assumed that he would at least have an easier time dealing with any monster that he could come across, "I just have to manage myself properly and I'll be fine. If it gets too tough I can always attempt to run away and hide somewhere in the forest," Dale thought as he looked to his sides, making sure nothing was going to get the jump on him. Talking to the monsters was out of the question for Dale, he didn't have any luck last time and he also didn't want to risk the damage without a way to heal himself.

Dale was a bit surprised at the amount of progress he managed to make in a short amount of time, he wasn't getting winded at all. This may have something to do with this Vitality stat currently being the highest stat he has. Even back at home, he couldn't jog for this long without having to pace his breathing; Dale wasn't in the best shape but he wasn't exactly the healthiest man either. This didn't distract Dale long enough for him not to notice that the arm brace was slowly flashing the colour yellow.

"That must mean there's an enemy nearby," Dale said as he slowed down to a walking pace. He made sure to look all around him so that the enemy couldn't get the jump on him. Dales' heat had begun beating at a rapid pace, the anticipation and build up for the fight has slowly been creeping into his mind. He needed to stay focused in order to win, otherwise, he will die where no one could hear him scream. The bushes began to rustle all around him as he shifted his eyes back and forth. Dale could feel the sweat drip from his forehead, "Come on..." Dale whispered quietly, "Show yourself..."

The arm brace began to flash red and beep rapidly as the bushes rustled behind Dale, he quickly turned around and got ready to kick the shit out of whatever was going to attack him. What came out of the bush was the last thing Dale expected it to be. Rather than a bloodthirsty monster looking for its next meal, it was a small, ball-shaped. flying creature with big green eyes. Dale stares blankly at the creature while it smiles back. At first, nothing came to his mind on what to do, then he began to laugh uncontrollably.

"Y-You can't be serious?!" Dale managed to say in between laughs, "Are you going to eat me, little guy?" Dale asked said in a taunting tone. He checked his arm brace to see what the holographic display had to say about it.

Parasprite

HP: 15

MP: 30

Skills

(Unknown)

"Parasprite, aye? It also has MP, that must mean it can cast magic. Low enough HP, so I don't think I need to worry at all" Dale mumbled to himself. He took note that the Skills were listed as unknown, just like the Timberwolf, "Maybe I'll have to get the enemy to join me if I want the data? I'll worry about that later," Dale wasn't worried about the Parasprite since it looked harmless on the outside, but Dale was in for a rude awakening.

The Parasprites' face twisted in disgust before spitting how a ball of brown mush right in front of Dales' foot. Dale took a step back in order to get clear of the vomit, he wasn't really a germaphobe but since this is a new world he would be better off avoiding touching it. The pile of mush began to sprout wings out of it, slowly beginning to form into another Parasprite. The new Parasprite took the side of the one that effectively gave birth to it, both having the same smile on their faces.

"What the hell? That's fucking gross!" Dale shouted in disgust. He's never seen anything like that happen back on Earth; he began to question why this would be someones most desired reality. Both of the Parasprite's faces turned from the upbeat look they had before, into ones of anger. The Parasprite on the left flapped its wings incredibly fast, Dale could barely keep up with it. The force of the wings began to shoot wind directly into Dales' face. The wind was so powerful that it began to cut his cheek and his jacket.

-8HP

"How the hell is it doing that?" Dale thought as his HP dropped. It didn't cut super deep, but it felt like when you accidentally cut yourself with a knife.

The Parasprite on the right flew forward so fast, it slammed into Dales' face with the force of a heavy hitting punch back on Earth. Dale recoiled back, almost falling over.

-5HP

Dale quickly wiped off the residue left on his face, he felt gross on the inside. Dale quickly ran at one of the Parasprites and threw a punch that hit dead smack in its face. The Parasprite flew back into a tree, immediately blowing up in a flash of red.

-17HP Enemy Defeated

The original Parasprite once again tried to use its wings to fire a blast of wind at Dale, but he managed to take cover behind another tree before it hit him. He could see the splinters of the tree he was hiding behind blast past him. Once the wind calmed down, Dale quickly left his cover and slammed his fist on top of the Parasprites' head. The Parasprite rocketed down to the ground and blew up in a flash of red.

-17HP Enemy Defeated

Dale wiped the goop off of his hands while his experience bar began to fill up.

You gained 14 EXP

"That's it?" Dale complained aloud. He was disappointed that two enemies gave out less experience than the one Timberwolf he killed, "Maybe these guys weren't that high of a level," Dale thought as he stared at the hologram. There was no time for rest as he had to try to find more Parasprites to kill before it gets too dark.

Dale yelled out in anger as his attack connected with the final Parasprite causing it to instantly be defeated, "Is that it? You bastard!" Dale huffed. Dale had been grinding experience points for the last half an hour, he was close to getting to level 3 but the final Parasprite wouldn't stop vomiting offspring. Dale lost track of how many he fought; he was relieved that it was over. Dales' experience bar not only filled up the rest of the way but also filled up some of the next level as well

Current EXP: 27/70

Level Up!

Level 3

You've earned 3 stat points! Please choose what stats you wish to improve!

App Points: 20

Dale opened his Status screen and saw his HP has fully recovered once again, this relieved him as he was getting uncomfortably low, "Those assholes were getting hard to hit, I think I know what I'll be spending this on," Dale said as he navigated to the Agility bar. He placed two points inside the Agility stat which will make him faster and more accurate. He had one point left over that he couldn't decide to use it on. When Dale thought about it, none of the enemies he killed dropped any items at all, that could be because of his low luck stat. Dale placed his final point into Luck so it could help him later on... hopefully, "Maybe now monsters will have a better chance at listening to me," Dale said with a sarcastic tone, everytime he tried to talk to a monster it didn't go well for him. The tutorial screen did say something about luck helping with Critical Hits and Negotiation of all kind, so it could be worth it to invest.

That's not what Dale was looking forward to though, he was excited to see what that hidden function on his arm brace did.

Function Currently Unavailable

Alex

"Alex?" Dale asked aloud, "What kind of a function is this?" Dale tapped on the screen with a bit of worry building up, he was worried that he just wasted his time and put his life on the line for an app that could potentially be useless.

"Congratulations on completing the beginner's program, Master Dale!" A feminine voice rang out from Dales' arm brace. This caught him off guard, almost causing him to jump out of his skin.

"What the fuck?!" Dale yelled out in shock. The voice from the arm brace sounded like a woman nearing her 30's

"My apologies, Master Dale. I am your Artificial Intelligent assistant, Alex. My duty is to support you and provide information on any function for your journey," the voice known as Alex responded with a bubbly tone.

"Provide support?"

"Yes, while I cannot directly interfere with any action you may take on your journey, I can provide support via Function unlocks and Skill purchases," When Alex finished her sentence Dale lit up in excitement as he was finally going to find out what his arm brace can really do, "Would you like me to go over how to purchase Functions and Skills?"

"Uhh, yeah!" Dale responded happily.

Functions

(Spend App Points in order to install Applications. More Applications will be available to purchase at a later date)

Map (Shows current location and automatically map out where you have explored with a built-in compass) -10AP

Quest Log (Take requests in order to earn rewards such as Money, Items, EXP, and App Points. Quests will be automatically registered with this App installed) -5AP

Advanced Translator (Translate monsters that don't speak your native language making it easier to negotiate with them) -30AP

Glossary (Allows Alex to record whatever you discover about monsters and people alike for you to view whenever you want) -10AP

Skills

(You may also spend App Points on skills that you can learn. You can know a maximum of 8 skills before you have to begin to discard them. You may repurchase a skill if you choose to do so. More skills will be available to purchase at a later date)

Zio (Light Electric damage to one foe, low chance of shock) -5AP (4MP cost)

Bufu (Light Ice damage to one foe, low chance of freeze) -5AP (4MP cost)

With the choices presented to him, Dale had to think hard about what he wanted to spend his App Points on since he only earned 10 points with every level currently. As tempting as it was to snag both of the skills to see what they can do, he decided it would be for the best if he picked up the Map and Quest Log functions at least. That'll leave him with only 5 App Points left, which begs the question 'Lightning or Ice?" Dale doubted that one skill was stronger than the other since the cost was the same for both, maybe it really depended on preference?

"Hey, Alex. Can you tell me why two different elements are listed for purchase?" Dale asked since there's no way in hell he'll waste these points on something he won't like.

"Different enemies are weak to different elements if you find out what enemy is weak to what element, it'll make winning battles much easier," Alex responded.

"Uh... I guess Zio?" Dale had no idea what to pick since none of the enemy data is available to him, so it was best to go with his gut feeling. Dale made his final purchase and installed the apps.

Thank you for your purchase! Your new functions are available now!

Just as the screen said, two new functions appeared on his home screen. Since Dale has this new A.I companion with him, he wanted to see how much she knew about his situation.

"Alex," Dale began, "Can you tell me where exactly I am?"

"You're currently located here," Alex responded while pulling up the holographic map. The map showed where Dale has been in this forest, it seemed as though he went slightly off course. Top corner of the map said "Everfree forest, Equestria" the name confused him as it seemed strange for a world that's based off a medieval RPG.

"Huh, sounds familiar... Equestria... I should try to find my way out of this forest now that I'm a little stronger," Dale then took off in a light jog, making sure that he wasn't being followed by any enemies.

Dale had done it, he had successfully made it out of the Everfree forest and was running down the pathway that leads to the nearest town, "This is great!" he yelled triumphantly. Dale already had his plan in mind when he was going to arrive in town. He was going to get something to eat and then start looking for the person who created this world. It shouldn't be too hard, he just has to find someone wearing an arm brace like him, unless everyone was wearing an arm brace around here, then he would need a backup plan.

Dale stopped once he reached the stone bridge that would cross the stream, his face turning from excitement into confusion. All of the houses in the village looked like they were made out of hay. Something about this felt familiar, almost like he's seen this place somewhere before.

"Is something wrong, Master Dale?" Alex asked.

"It's nothing... I just feel like I've seen this place once, but I can't remember where," When Dale finished responding a loud boom was heard close by followed by a bright rainbow streak flying above the sky. Dales' eyes widen in shock, he now knows where he is. Dale remembers the times where he was sent video clips of a show that was becoming popular years ago, a show that was meant for small children but had a very strong male fanbase.

"You've got to be shittin' me," Dale said as he looked at the pegasus flying above the sky.

Someone's desired reality after the Apocalypse was to live in My Little Pony with the mechanics of an RPG, and God or whatever that black sun was roped Dale into it.

Chapter 3: Wild Goose Chase

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Dale had been standing in the same place for the past couple of minutes trying to grasp the situation. Out of any reality that could have been chosen for him to live in, why did it have to be one based of My Little Pony? He would've accepted anything other than this place if he had the choice. Dale began to question what he did to God that made him decide that this was going to be the reality he was going to spend his life in. If this world is supposed to be the one from My Little Pony, then why were there so many creatures that were trying to kill him earlier? Dale thought that this show was supposed to be all sunshine and rainbows, not filled to the brim with bloodthirsty branch wolves, and furballs that wanted to take his head off.

"I shouldn't just stand here forever. I've been trying to fend for myself for a while, I deserve a break at least," Dale thought to himself as he begrudgingly began to walk across the bridge that leads into the town. Dale pulled up his holographic map to see what this new location is called. The map was filling out little by little with each step he took; he looked at the top corner of the map and read the name out loud.

"Ponyville?" Dale said while cringing at his own voice, "You've got to be kidding me," Dale was very unimpressed with the name, he thought that at least he now knows what he's getting into. Dale decided that he should at least try to look for the creator of this world while trying to rest up; Hopefully, they were still human.

Once Dale reached the town entrance, he looked at his surroundings. The houses were actually made out of hay, it wasn't just his mind playing tricks on him. Dale began to awkwardly walk through the town, trying his hardest not to make eye contact with any of the multicoloured ponies. Dale thought it was really strange seeing what cartoon characters would look like in real flesh and blood, it also didn't help that these were talking animals. Dale stood out like a sore thumb in this place, he knew that he was at least getting eyed up but didn't want to pay attention to what they were saying.

Despite this town being populated by horses, it functioned surprisingly well as a society. Dale had entered what he assumed was a marketplace as there were multiple vendors occupying street space. It was beginning to get a little cramped for Dale, it didn't help that he was significantly bigger than the ponies that were trying to do their shopping.

"They don't call it My Little Pony for nothing," Dale placed his hands in his pockets as he began to look around. He had no idea where to go or who to talk to in order to get any leads. Dale decided that he should just talk to anyone and see if they know anything about another human, maybe if he got lucky it would be over quick. Dale walked up to one of the market stands, the pony behind it was selling an assortment of fruits. Every fruit was separated in their own baskets, all of them were neatly organized. Dale noticed that the dark blue mare behind the counter had a horn sticking out of her head; he tried his hardest not to stare at it.

"Wow, I've never seen anything like you before," The mare behind the counter said, "You must not be from around here. Where are you from?"

Dale scratched the back of his head, "It's a long story," Dale wasn't really surprised that the mare wasn't freaking out at the sight of this new creature. After all, the Everfree forest was filled to the brim with different creatures that Dale had never seen before. The mare probably assumed he was friendly at the very least, "Anyways, I'm just passing by this town. I'm looking for someone and was wondering if you've seen them. They should like kind of like me... But different," Dale couldn't think of a good way to describe the person he was looking for. He had no idea who he was looking for himself.

The mare sat there for a moment, thinking to herself, "I'm sorry, but I can't say I have. If there's anypony you should be asking, it would be Pinkie Pie. She's friends with everypony in Ponyville!" The mare responded excitedly. Dale wasn't surprised by the name at this point, he's come to terms with the kind of place he's in.

"Where can I find her?"

"She's usually at the bakery called Sugarcube Corner. You just need to head down the marketplace and go to your left, you can't miss it" The mare said while pointing her hoof in the direction for Dale to go.

Dale's arm brace suddenly began beeping rapidly; This caught him off guard. Dale quickly took a look on his holographic menu to see what the issue was. The section titled "Quest Log" was slowly blinking.

Quest Log

Current Quest

"The Creator"

Find the creator of this reality to hopefully receive answers to why you're here.

Current Objective:

Go to Sugarcube Corner and talk to Pinkie Pie.

Rewards:

100 EXP

50 Bits

5 App Points

(To complete a quest you must first complete all of the Quest Objectives. Quest Objectives are not listed until activated)

Pending Quests

N/A

Completed Quests:

N/A

"Um, are you okay, mister?" The mare asked Dale, this caused him to snap back to reality, "You've been just staring at your band thingy for the last couple of minutes," This caught Dale off guard, could she really not see him in his menus? Dale thought this was a thing that everyone could do. Maybe it's because this reality counts people who don't have any arm braces as NPCs from a video game? It would fit with the rest of the theme the creator was going for.

"S-Sorry," Dale stuttered, "I was just... zoned out for a sec. It happens all the time," Even Dale thought his own excuse was poor.

The mare smirked, "well, it was nice speaking to you. You can take a free sample of fruit if you want," she offered.

"Really?" Dale said in disbelief. That's something that would never happen back on Earth, he thought she was just trying to secure a customer for next time. Dale was too hungry to ignore the offer, he's been fighting monsters for a while and hasn't come across anything to eat yet.

"Of course," The mare said while her horn began to glow. One of the pears that were sitting in the basket became wrapped in a dark blue energy field and slowly began to lift out of the basket. The pear slowly levitated into Dales' hands while there was a faint humming sound.

"Thank you very much, ma'am!" Dale said happily before beginning to gobble down the juicy piece of fruit. Dale was kind of shocked that he held a normal conversation with a talking animal. To him, it felt more like he was speaking to another person back home. It felt strange, but he won't let that get in the way of what he's after.

"We've arrived at your destination, Master Dale" Alex's voice range from the arm brace as Dale reached the building he was looking for. This building looked nothing like the other ones he saw in town. Rather than being made out of hay, this building looked to be made out of gingerbread and icing, almost like one of those gingerbread houses he made when he was younger. The building looked oddly nostalgic to Dale, even though he's never seen it before. It was probably because gingerbread houses reminded him of his parents.

"It's probably best not to think about them now," Dale thought to himself as he swallowed his sorrow. Dale walked up to the door covered in icing and pushed it open; A bell chimed as he entered the store. Even though the outside of Sugarcube corner was themed as a gingerbread house, the inside looked totally normal. At least as normal as a bakery being run by ponies could be. Dale could see ponies all around him snacking on various sweets, it almost made him jealous in fact. Almost.

"Hey there, stranger! How may I help you today," The stallion behind the counter greeted Dale as he approached. The stallion had an orange mane and tail, a white apron on with a bow tie slightly above it, and what looked to be pictures of cubed pieces of cake on his flank. Dale found that strange as the ponies around here seem to all have the same quirk of having different pictures on them; he wondered what it meant.

"Hey there, I was told that a pony named Pinkie Pie usually hangs out around here. Is it possible you could tell me where she is? I need her help to find the person I'm looking for," Dale explained the situation as directly as he could, he didn't want to waste any more time; especially now that it's slowly becoming sunset. The last thing he wanted was to be left out in the dark without anywhere to stay.

"Of course, she's actually one of my employees. I can go grab her," The store owner walks away from the counter and into the back. After a few minutes of waiting, a pink pony started to bounce out of the back happily. Her pink curly mane and tail bounced in rhythm with her and the pictures of balloons on her flank really made her stand out.

"Who is it?" the pony that Dale assumed was Pinkie Pie called out. When Pinkie Pie made eye contact with Dale, she immediately gasped loudly and bolted out of the store in a streak of pink. Dale stood there for a couple of seconds trying to process what just happened until he realised that the pony he was looking for was getting away at an incredible rate.

"Wait! I need to ask you something!" Dale called out as he gave chase as fast as he could. Dale was trying to avoid running into as many ponies as he could while chasing Pinkie Pie, she was proving to be too fast for him even though his current Agility stat was level 4, "Excuse me! Sorry!" Dale shouted out as he bumped into a stallion almost causing the both of them to fall over.

"Hey, watch where you're going!" The stallion called out in his thick accent.

Dale raised his arm brace up to his mouth, "Alex! Is there any way you can track Pinkie Pie? I'm starting to lose her!" Dale shouted as he began to lose sight of the pony that was moving at a blinding speed.

"I'm sorry, Master Dale. You do not have a function installed that is capable to do that," Alex responded. Dale wanted to curse out the worst profanities he could think of, but that would make him run out of breath faster which was the last thing he wanted. Dale began to slow down as he ran out of breath, Pinkie Pie got away and she was nowhere to be seen.

"How the hell... is she so fast!" Dale yelled while trying to catch his breath. When Dale looked up after panting for a second, he saw multiple eyes staring at him awkwardly. Dale found out the hard way that cursing is frowned upon, even if it's the smallest of words.

What at one point was a sunset, turned into the dead of night. All the streets of Ponyville have been cleared of civilians and shops have been closed. Dale sat down on the bench that was outside of a giant tree and sighed. He spent the rest of the day trying to track Pinkie Pie down, only to turn up empty-handed. Dale felt like he has fallen behind on what he's supposed to do and just needed to vent out that frustration; or at the very least, distract himself.

"Hey, Alex," Dale said into his arm brace, "Can you tell me something about this world?"

"I'm sorry but you do not currently have the Glossary function installed, Master Dale," Alex asked.

"Of course that's the case..." Dale decided to lie on the bench that was just a little too small for him, one leg dangled off of it. Dale looked up at the moon that was in the sky, it reminded him of the home he once had.

"Is something on your mind, Master Dale?"

"Yeah, a lot of things actually. I don't even know where to begin," This past day has gone by in a flash for Dale, so much has changed that his old life felt like years ago even though it hasn't even been a day yet.

"You can just say whatever is on your mind," Alex tries to egg Dale on. Even though ranting to Alex would be about as effective as ranting to a brick wall, Dale gave it some thought. Even though she was just a computer program inside his arm brace, just letting out his thoughts could at least help out a little.

"If you were to ask me where I thought I was going to end up after college, I would've told you 'working my dream job on a movie set' I wouldn't have cared what I was doing, I just wanted to work on movies. Just as it seemed my life was about to go somewhere, everything just vanished in a flash of light. My family, my friends, my entire fucking planet. All of it was gone, and there was nothing I could do to stop it. I don't even know if I'd rather be dead right now than be alive with nothing left. Even if I do end up finding whoever created this world, what would I do? What could they do? I'm probably only doing this to get some sort of closure on what happened, there's no way to get that old life back. There's no way for the creator of this world to get their old life back, and the probably wouldn't even want it since this is their idea of paradise," Dale rubs his face from the pent-up stress and anger. He could tell he was holding back tears, but no matter how much he could cry or scream there's nothing he can do right now to change anything.

"You should not lose hope, Master Dale. I believe that it will all work out in the end if you do what you feel is right," Alex says with a tone of understanding, "You should just focus on what is happening now and what you can do this second rather than later. I am only here to support you, I don't have any control over your actions. It is up to you if you chose to listen to my advice or not. I'll be supporting you in any way I can," Alex's words touch Dale in a way he thought they never could. Is it even possible to be friends with A.I?

"Thanks, Alex. That means a lot," Dale continued to sit in silence for a while, his thoughts swimming through his head. He believed that Alex has a point and that he should just try to focus on what's happening now rather than dwelling on the past or worrying about the future. Even if it doesn't seem like it right now, everything can be worked out in the end if Dale tried his hardest.

Dales' thoughts are interrupted by the vibrations of music being blasted through the town of Ponyville. He thought that everyone already went to bed, why is the music being played so loud. It didn't really sit right with Dale to remain laying down any longer, so he decided that he was going to investigate what was going on. Dale stood up from his position and looked back up at the moon one last time before heading towards the source of the sound.

Chapter 4: Enter the Summoner

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Dale stands outside of Sugarcube Corner with a confused look on his face. Lights of multiple colours are bleeding out of the windows, illuminating the dark city. The music was being blasted at a really high volume, it almost hurt Dales' ears.

"Is this place a nightclub all of a sudden?" Dale thought to himself. Dale wasn't sure why there was a party going on at this hour, he thought that everyone went to sleep. Dale felt bad for the poor sucker that was trying to get some shut-eye before they worked in the morning, "If I'm here, I might as well look for Pinkie Pie. Hopefully, she doesn't run away again," Dale cautiously reached for the door handle.

The inside of Sugarcube Corner was decorated with plenty of streamers, balloons, and confetti. The detail would've been easy to miss since the only lights in the room were the strobe lights. The store was filled to the brim with ponies of all shapes and sizes, all of them were dancing to the electronic tune. Some of the pegasi were using their wings to hover off of the ground while the danced the night away. There was a big banner that stretched across the wall that said: "Welcome, Matthew!" with a little-posted note below that said, "And the other guy!"

"Matthew?" Dale thought to himself, he wondered if this is the guy who created this world. Dale suddenly felt a lot more hopeful than he did earlier. A loud beeping came from the arm brace.

Quest Log

Current Quest

"The Creator"

Find the creator of this reality to hopefully receive answers to why you're here.

Current Objective:

Talk to the ponies and find Matthew.

Rewards:

100 EXP

50 Bits

5 App Points

Dale closed his Quest Log and began to fulfil his objective. Dale knew that it would be too loud in this room to hold a conversation at all, so he decided to look around a bit to see if he could find a more quiet place to gather information. Dale thought it was a little strange that this Matthew guy got a party thrown for him, almost like he was expected. Dale didn't really know how this world worked too well, so it could just be something that would happen in the My Little Pony cartoon. Dale was never a fan of parties, even while he was attending college. He wasn't sure if it was the act itself that turned him off or the people that would attend. Dale would rather spend his nights either preparing for a test on screenwriting or staying up late browsing internet forums and talking to his friends; he just wanted to find Matthew and go somewhere to talk to him.

Dale had to push himself through different crowds of ponies, interrupting their dancing in the process. It didn't really matter to him since he wasn't planning on staying here long and it's not like they could hear him apologize anyway. Dale soon found himself in the back room, it looked like it was the spot where Sugarcube Corner employees did their baking. There were tables set up with a variety of snacks and drinks; Dale doubted that any of them were alcoholic, he could really go for something hard after a day like today.

"What even is the legal drinking age here?" Dale thought to himself, he was placing a lot of faith in a world based off of a children's show to have any kind of booze at all. Dale was having an easier time hearing his own thoughts as the doors muffled out the music a bit, he could try to talk to someone here to try to get a location on Matthew. Before Dale could do anything, Pinkie Pie jumped in front of him.

"Surprise! Did you like the party? Of course you did! I had a super secret special party planned for the new pony, Matty! I didn't have enough time to add your name to the banner, I don't even know your name come to think of it. My name is Pinkie Pie, the greatest party planner in all of Equestria!" Pinkie Pie shouted, her cheery attitude was almost too much to handle.

"Y-yeah! It's great," Dale said, he was bending the truth just a tiny bit.

"Sorry that I ran away from you like that earlier today, I was making preparations for tonight then I saw you and I knew I had to make even more preparations and it was exhausting!" Pinkie Pie responded in a single breath.

"Yeah..." Dale responded awkwardly, he wanted nothing to do with this and just wanted answers, "Anyways, you said something about Matthew? Can you tell me where he is? There's something I have to ask him"

"Matty went back to Fluttershy's cottage with her for some alone time," Pinkie Pie nudged Dale with her hoof. Dale doubted that there were any real connotations behind that and that Pinkie Pie was just fooling around. Dale decided not to think about that any more than he should.

"Can you tell me where that is? It's really important that I see him now."

"You're leaving already? But I spent so much time getting this party ready for you," Pinkie Pie's eyes grew big and began to water a bit. Dale was a little unsettled at the cartoon physics happening in front of him. His arm brace began to beep.

Name: Dale Stevens

Level: 3

HP: 55/55

MP: 20/20

Status

Strength: 4

Magic: 2

Vitality: 6

Agility: 5

Luck: 2

EXP: 27/70

App Points: 0

Current Alignment: Neutral

(Your alignment will change depending on what actions you take in battle and outside of battle. How you speak to people, the people who fight in your party, what you say, and choices you make will all affect the way your alignment may shift. Your alignment will define who you are and the way your journey will end.)

Dale didn't like the way that looked, not one bit. How could staying or leaving a party early affect this stat? Would leaving the party make him evil? Dale thought that would be ridiculous, maybe it was a bit more complex than that? Dale looked back at Pinkie Pie who was still giving a puppy dog look at him, this caused him to break down.

"Alright... I'll stay for a bit..." Dale crossed his arms in annoyance. Pinkie Pie's face lit up in glee and she began to bounce around Dale in circles.

"This is going to be so much fun! We'll play games and watch movies and talk and eat cupcakes and..." Pinkie Pie continued to list off different activities she had planned. Dale sighed now being trapped in the situation, at least he'll get some time to relax.

Dale had been telling Pinkie Pie how he suddenly woke up in the castle and made his way over to Ponyville, he left out some details like how his world was destroyed and everything to do with his stat screen. He wasn't sure if Matthew had the same arm brace as him and even if he did, Dale wasn't sure if Matthew told the ponies about the RPG stat screen. Dale was making sure to choose his words carefully, the last thing he wants is to slip up and say something that he isn't supposed to say.

"Matty said he was from this strange cool place called Earth. I thought it was funny because I'm an earth pony," Pinkie Pie giggled.

"Oh yeah? Did he say how he got here?" Dale took a sip out of the fruit punch on the table, he wanted to know what Matthew had to say about how he got here so Dale could try to play off of it.

"Hmm," Pinkie Pie rubbed her chin with her hoof, "He said that there were a bunch of loud noises going on from outside of his house and before he could see what it was he fell asleep."

"So he never saw the black sun. I don't think he knows that the Earth was destroyed," Dale thought to himself. Dale stood up from his seat and adjusted his jacket, "I think I should get going now."

"Fine..." Pinkie Pie says glumly before perking up, "We can have another party soon and you'll be invited for sure because I invite everypony!" Dale chuckled a little, she really is something.

Dale ran down the path that Pinkie Pie told him to, he was becoming really excited that he'll finally find another human after all this time. Dale wondered if Matthew had any answers to what was going on, he wanted to know if Matthew experienced anything before coming to Equestria and if he was holding part of the truth back. Since Dale was going to a pretty secluded area just outside of town, the two will have all the privacy they'll need to discuss the situation.

Quest Log

Current Quest

"The Creator"

Find the creator of this reality to hopefully receive answers to why you're here.

Current Objective:

Go to Fluttershy's cottage to find Matthew.

Rewards:

100 EXP

50 Bits

5 App Points

Dale reached a bridge that would cross over a small pond to get to the cottage. There were multiple birdhouses strung along the trees as well as burrows in the dirt. The cottage itself looked more organic than the houses in Ponyville did. The lights in the cottage were on so Dale assumed at least someone was there. Dale ran up to the door and knocked three times. He waited awkwardly for a few seconds only to get no response. Dale knocked another three times just to be safe. There was still no response.

"Uhh, hello? I'm looking for Matthew, is he there?" Dale called out; there was still no response. At this point, Dale thought that he was just bamboozled by Pinkie Pie and began to walk across the bridge once again, "This is just great..."

Dale heard something come from his left side, it was the faint sound of people talking. When he looked over to see what it was, he saw the Everfree forest. Dale wasn't sure if he should investigate or not, considering how dark it is. It's not like he had anything else he could do.

Before Dale could even realise it, he was running back into the Everfree Forest in hopes of locating the voices he heard before. He was starting to think he was going insane at this point, only following something he thought he heard rather than using common sense. It was beginning to get really dark, the feeling of unnerving began to rise in Dales' stomach. Dale had been taking shortcuts through different bushes while trying to listen for any voices only to turn up with nothing.

"This is stupid," Dale said aloud, "I should just go back..." Dale slowly turned around before his arm brace began to beep and flash red. Dale quickly looked around to see what it was. The slurping and crunching sounds of something being eaten were heard from the darkness followed by booming thumps. Each thump shook the ground as something emerged from the darkness; the yellow eyes pierced Dales' soul.

The monster emerged from the darkness with blood dripping from its mouth as it chewed something. The monster had the head and body of a lion with razor sharp teeth, a scorpions tail elegantly swayed behind the beast, and bat wings outstretched from the creatures back while it stood on all fours. The monster was massive, it was much bigger than anything Dale has come across so far. It was bigger than the truck that his dad used to drive. The monster swallowed whatever it was eating and began to eye Dale up while snarling. Dale checked his arm brace to see what that thing even is.

Manticore

HP: (Unknown)

MP: (Unknown)

Skills

(Unknown)

Actions

Fight

"What the FUCK!" Dale yelled in fear, he was too scared to even do anything. The Manticore's HP and MP didn't even show up on his arm brace and the only action he could do is fight it. The Manticore let out a mighty roar sending a shockwave through the forest. The roar almost blasted Dale back from sheer force alone, some leftover blood splattered on his clothes, "Alex!" Dale screamed, "I'm going to need your help, now!"

"How can I assist you, Master Dale?" Alex responded.

"Tell me all of my options!" Dale shouted. The Manticore lunged at Dale, its sharp claws going for a slash. The creature was surprisingly nimble for its size, but Dale managed to dodge the attack before it could connect. He was grateful for putting some points into Agility.

Skills

Zio (Light Electic damage to one foe, low chance of shock) -4MP

(To use magic, move your hand forward and shout the spell name)

Dale put in faith that this was going to work, the arm brace hasn't lied to him yet. Dale shoved his left hand forward and yelled, "Zio!" Suddenly, a lightning arc shot out of Dales' hand and struck the Manticore, the lightning illuminated the forest with a loud crackling noise. The Manticore roared in pain.

-30HP

Dale stood there in shock, he did something that was supposed to be impossible. He just did magic, if only he would've been able to do this as a kid, then his mind would've been even more blown. Dale was too caught up in what happened to not notice the Manticore swipe at Dale with its tail. The trunk of the tail struck Dale with a force strong enough to send him flying backwards and roll across the dirt.

-18HP

Dale slowly stood up while the Manticore began to charge at him, "Zio!" Dale shouted as another lightning bolt fired at the Manticore, causing it to stop in its tracks as it was hit.

-30HP

While the Manticore was stunned, Dale ran up and punched it as hard as he could in its face.

-19HP

The Manticore then swiped at Dale with his claw, he wasn't fast enough to dodge it this time. Dale was sent falling to the ground with a huge slash going across his chest. Dale felt a sharp pain before it became numb, he was having trouble breathing at this point. Blood began to pour out of his chest, he couldn't believe what was happening.

-27HP Critical!

"Master Dale, your HP is at a critical level!" Alex's voice shouted over the arm brace. Dale couldn't do anything about it, he had no items to use and no healing magic. Tears began to overwhelm him as he realized that he blew his second chance at life due to his stupidity. Despite the amount of MP Dale had left, he had no strength to lift his arm. The Manticore opened its mouth, its sharp teeth frightened Dale to the core. He closed his eyes in fear as the Manticore was about to feast on him.

"Agi!" A voice yelled from the distance. A burst of fire blasted the Manticore away from Dale just before he would meet his demise.

-50HP Weak!

Dale looked up at the voice that saved him, he was greeted by a human figure. He had blonde hair, brown eyes, and a light blue jacket with a white arm brace on his left arm; The jacket was unzipped to reveal a white shirt. Dale was shocked to see another human out here, was this Matthew? The man in the blue jacket opened his status menu and tapped a button on his display, he then thrust his hand at Dale. Suddenly, a Parasprite appeared in front of him but it didn't attack.

"Use Dia on that guy!" The young man commanded his Parasprite. The summoned Parasprite then cast a spell on Dale that slowly began to heal the wounds that he had gotten. Dales' body was engulfed with a green aroura as it was happening, soon he felt better than he did before.

+50HP

Dale slowly stood up while looking at his chest, his bleeding had stopped completely. His chest looked unscathed now. Dale placed his hand on his chest to make sure he wasn't hallucinating. Dale's thoughts were then interrupted, "Hey, buddy! Get over here!" Dale quickly ran to the young man, making sure the Manticore wasn't chasing him.

"Holy shit! You just saved my life. How'd you do that with the monster?" Dale wanted to ask this guy all the questions on his mind.

"I'll tell you after... Dale?" The young man looked at his arm brace, looking at the status screen that was brought up for him, "By the way, the name's Matthew, but call me Matt," He said coolly. Dale took a stand with Matt as they both eyed the Manticore, "He's weak to fire skills, so I'll be the main damage dealer. What skills do you have?"

"I've only got lightning damage, and not a lot of MP left. I'm only good for three more Zios" Dale opened his status screen to double check.

"Don't worry about saving MP, we'll be leaving after this fight. My Parasprite will be our healer if something goes wrong," Matt replied. Dale was really impressed that this guy knew what he was doing, he kept a level head the entire time. Dale knew that he had to ask him questions once they were safe, but for now they had something to do.

The Manticore used his wings to fly up into the sky, it was preparing an attack. The beast slammed down on the ground, causing a shockwave to knock the boys backwards. This Parasprite was unaffected because it was hovering above the ground.

-20HP

Both of them stood up, Dale checked the stats for Matt to make sure he was okay.

Name: Matthew Greene

Level: 5

HP: 50/70

MP: 46/50

Status

Strength: 3

Magic: 6

Vitality: 8

Agility: 3

Luck: 5

Current Alignment: Law

Class

Summoner: Has an easier time recruiting monsters as well as having the ability to fuse monsters together outside of battle. (Learns fire magic)

"Shit, are you alright?" Matt asked Dale, he nodded in response, "Good, let's roast this bastard. Agi!" Matt shot another blast of fire at the Manticore but the creature managed to dodge it this time, "Damnit!"

"Zio!" Dale zapped the beast with another lightning spell, luck was on his side because the Manticore became shocked.

-35HP

Matt quickly ran up to the Manticore and punched it in the face dealing massive damage! The Manticore flew backwards, crashing into a tree in the process.

-30HP Enemy Defeated!

You gained 80 EXP

Level Up!

EXP 37/120

You've earned 3 stat points! Please choose what stats you wish to improve!

App Points: 10

Dale was trying to catch his breath after the fight, he was happy to be alive. It was because of Matt that he won the fight, he definitely owes him one. Dale placed two points into luck and one into magic. Dale quickly pulled up his stat screen to review where he was at.

Name: Dale Stevens

Level: 4

HP: 55/55

MP: 25/25

Status

Strength: 4

Magic: 3

Vitality: 6

Agility: 3

Luck: 4

Current Alignment: Neutral

The Parasprite returned into Matt's arm brace while he was trying to catch his breath. Dale got lucky tonight, not only did he survive the fight but he found the person he was looking for. Hopefully, Matt didn't mind being asked a lot of questions...

Chapter 5: Unanswered Questions

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Matt had finished trying to catch his breath after a couple of minutes, Dale wasn't sure if Matt was also shaken up by the event that just happened. Matt kept a level head throughout the ordeal, almost like he thought of a plan almost immediately. Dale took a few steps towards Matt while he was checking his status screen, Dale assumed he levelled up as well. Matt closed his menu when he finished allocating his stats and turned to face Dale.

"Yo, you doing alright? You're pretty lucky that I found you when I did, you could've been torn to shreds," Matt said while placing one hand on his hip.

"Yeah, I'd say so..." Dale began, he tried to avoid eye contact since he didn't really know what to say to Matt. It's not like he was just going to come out and say 'you and everyone you know died' Dale didn't know how Matt would react to that, it could end badly, "Thanks for the help. How'd you find me anyway? It was pretty dead out here and no one knew where I was."

"Mind if you follow me while I answer that?" Matt responded as he began to walk a little deeper into the forest, "I was helping my friend Fluttershy look for her animals that went missing. We just got back from a party and wanted to unwind, but she was worried that some of her animals were missing when she counted them. I told her that I would go and look around for them and I found you while you were trying to fight off a Manticore by yourself. I got to admit, that's pretty ballsy," Matt nudged Dale with his elbow while the two walked through the forest, "I was pretty surprised to find another human here, especially one that also has one of those arm braces. Why were you out here by yourself?"

"Believe it or not, I was looking for you," Dale stopped in his place while Matt began to rustle around in the bushes, looking for Fluttershy's lost animal.

"For me?" Matt questioned.

"Yeah. I need to know what you remember before ending up here in Equestria."

Matt crossed his arms, "Shouldn't I be the one asking you how you ended up here in the first place," Dale took note that Matt thought Dale was a bit suspicious. Dale couldn't blame him since he was probably the first human he has come across since arriving in Equestria. Dale thought to himself that he would probably be doing the same thing if he were in Matts' shoes, it's probably best to come clean.

"Look, it's very important to me that you tell me what you know. I'll even tell you how I got here too, but you'll have to believe that I'll be telling the absolute truth. Hell, I can even tell you why you're here if that means anything," Dale bargained, "If it helps, I can see the numbers and the screens too. I'm not like everyone else here, I'm from Earth too."

"Everypony," Matt responded, while he pushed more shrubs to the side.

"Pardon me?" Dale said with a confused look on his face.

"That's what they say in the show. It's not 'everybody' it's 'everypony' I thought you would've known that since you're here. Aren't you a brony too?" Matt asked. Dale was a little annoyed that out of everything he just said, Matt chose to focus on the least important thing.

"First of all, I'm not saying that. Second, I'm not even a brony and I have no idea why I was sent here of all places."

Matt looked at Dale dumbfounded before beginning to smirk. This smirk turned into a snicker, which turned into a gut-busting laugh, "You can't be for real?!" Matt managed to spit out while he fell onto the dirt ground. Dale rolled his eyes in annoyance while Matt pointed at him, "I don't know if somepony has it out for you, or you're just that unlucky!"

"Please stop saying that," Dale requested.

"Do you even know how many people would give you anything just to be in your shoes?" Matts' laughter slowed down a bit while he stood up from the ground, dusting himself off.

"It wouldn't surprise me if I saw it, to be honest, people seem to have a really strong attachment to My Little Pony of all things...

"How about we go back to Fluttershy's Cottage, for now, the last thing I want is to be caught be another Manticore. You can tell me what you wanted to say when we get there," Matt suggested. Dale knew that it would be a better place to talk than here, there's no telling what could jump out of the shadows, "Melissa, open up the Map," Matt said into his arm brace.

"Sure thing, Master Matthew!" Melissa's voice sounded young and bubbly, unlike Alex's. It surprised Dale that Matt had his own unique A.I instead of the same one. It's not completely out of left field, but it was something Dale took note of.

Dale followed Matt through the forest while he was looking at his holographic map, hoping that they would be out soon.

After what felt like an hour, the two boys had made it back to Fluttershy's cottage, they just crossed the bridge and were about to enter the home. Matt grasped the doorknob and turned to Dale, "Just letting you know, Fluttershy is a little... Uncomfortable around strangers," Matt said.

"Let me guess, is it because she's shy?" Dale folded his arms and raised an eyebrow. With a literal name like that, Dale knew what he was getting into.

"Oh ha ha," Matt responded sarcastically, "But I mean it. Just try not to do anything that may freak her out. Also, don't mention anything about the status menus or video gamey shit around the ponies, they don't seem to know about it and I don't think they'll respond to it well." When Matt finished, Dale gave him a thumbs up with a smirk as a sign of saying 'I got it'

When the two boys walked inside, their visions were flooded with the bright lights of the cottage. After a few seconds of adjusting to the light, Dale looked around the unfamiliar place. The cottage wasn't that big on the inside, but it had a lot of furniture and a staircase that lead somewhere. Dale saw that there were plenty of bird cages and holes in the walls for mice, as well as a small fluffy bed for other animals to sleep in. The cottage looked like it was a makeshift animal shelter, there was plenty of different kinds of food laying around in bags and on the countertops.

"Yo, Fluttershy!" Matt called out, "You just stay right here, I'll be back" Matt then ran up the stairs, leaving Dale to fiddle around with his arm brace.

"Alex, can you bring up the Quest Log?"

Quest Log

Current Quest

"The Creator"

Find the creator of this reality to hopefully receive answers to why you're here.

Current Objective:

Talk to Matthew in order to gather information on this world.

Rewards:

100 EXP

50 Bits

5 App Points

"Jesus, how much longer is this fucking Quest going to go on for?" Dale thought to himself as he closed the menu. He was beginning to get impatient with the Quest Log and began to fear how tedious the future Quests could possibly be.

"There's somepony I want you to meet, Fluttershy. Don't worry, he's friendly. He's actually a human just like me," Matt's voice can be heard from upstairs, "I found him while I was looking for your animal friends in the forest, he was attacked by a Manticore, but I managed to save him," Matt walked a yellow pegasus down the stairs. She had a pink mane that covered one of her eyes and her flank had an image of pink butterflies on both sides of them.

"Oh my goodness!" The yellow pegasus said with a soft voice as she saw Dale's ripped shirt, "It's not hurt, is it?" Fluttershy walked around Dale, making sure he wasn't injured. Dale was taken aback that she wasn't as shy as he thought she would be.

"I-I'm fine," Dale said as Fluttershy's tail brushed past a ticklish area causing him to feel rather weird.

"So, umm, are you from this Earth place too?" Fluttershy asked Dale, "Matthew told us that he was from a faraway land called Earth, that's where your species live."

"Yeah... I am..." Dale wasn't sure what Matt has told Fluttershy, so he thought it would be best to just play along with whatever Matt has said.

"Dale is from a different part of Earth than I am, he also just arrived here today and doesn't have a place to stay. Would it be alright if he also stayed here for the night, he'll be up looking for your animal friends with me in the morning!" Matt clenched his fist with determination. Dale, on the other hand, wasn't too thrilled with the idea of wasting time going on a scavenger hunt for Fluttershy's animals, he thought he had more important things to do.

"Of course, I really miss Harry and I would love any help I can get to get him back home. Mr Dale, is it okay that you sleep on the couch for the night? I'm really sorry but I don't have enough beds for the both of you at the moment," Fluttershy's sweet voice almost melted Dales' heart.

"That'll be no problem," Dale said, "I just need to talk to Matt about something if that's okay? Just between us guys," Fluttershy nodded and began to go upstairs to grab a pillow and blanket for Dale. Dale looked at Matt with a little annoyance, "I didn't agree to help her out with this," he whispered so Fluttershy can't hear.

"Hey, she's letting you stay here for free out of the kindness of her heart. The least you can do is help out by looking for her animal friends," Matt pushed Dales' shoulder with his palm aggressively. Matt's voice was lowered like Dale's was, "If you don't want to do that, then you can just leave right now and sleep on a park bench."

"I didn't choose to come here, you know. I was happy living my life back on Earth before that black star came and ruined everything!"

"Black star?" Matt asked, backing off from Dale a bit.

"Wait... What's the last thing you remember before coming here?" Dale asked with a pit beginning to form in his stomach.

Matt stood in silence for a second before speaking, "I was at my house, there was a warning on my T.V about staying inside. I heard people yelling outside, so I wanted to go and check on it, but I just blacked out before I could even get there. I then woke up in a castle in the Everfree forest. I had no idea where I was until I saw one of the monsters from My Little Pony while trying to reach this town, that's when I got pretty excited actually."

"For real?" Dale was dumbfounded, how did Matt not see the black star that replaced the sun.

"Yeah. I couldn't believe that I was in Equestria, and on top of that reality was almost like one of my favourite video games. The menus of an RPG with stats and levels, I could recruit the monsters to join my party, I saw many faces that I longed to be with back at home. It was almost like I woke up in paradise," As Matt continued on, Dale sat in silence, "I was welcomed in like I was always apart of this world. I got to meet Twilight Sparkle, Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Spike, and many others. I thought I was just dreaming this entire time until I found you being attacked," Matt finished and looked back at Dale who was trying to process the information.

"I... I don't know how to put this... But..." Dale was trying to think of what to say to Matt, he decided that just being straightforward would be the best option, "I didn't know that you never saw this, but something horrible happened back on Earth," Matt's face became one filled with worry as Dale began to speak, "Out of nowhere, the sun was replaced by a black star. The star was soul piercing and it just hung in the sky. People on the streets were worries, I was scared out of my mind. I was on the phone with my Mom, we didn't know what was going on. Suddenly, everyone just became silent, it was almost like they ceased to exist all at once. My friends, my family, they were all gone in a flash of light and I was left there alone. I then woke up in the same castle as you did, with the same arm brace that you have," Dale pointed his finger at Matt's arm brace. Matt was left in shock and didn't know what to say.

"Does that mean, everyone died? Matt was being filled with many emotions as he began to feel sick.

"Honestly, I don't even know at this point since you and I are still here. I remember a voice telling me something about entering someone's dream reality since I didn't have one of my own, and I woke up here. That's why I wanted to find you, Matt. I needed to meet you to see if you knew anything about this reality since you're the one who created it," Dale pointed his finger at Matt when he finished speaking. Matt looked at his own hands in shock as he began to tremble slightly.

"Does that mean, this is a second chance at life?" Matt asked with hope in his eyes. Dale could only shrug his shoulders since he didn't know the answer.

"That's why I can't stay here, Matt. I don't have much time to rest, and I need to keep moving. I need to find the answers to what happened to our world and why I'm here."

"Dale, this is a second chance to live and be whatever you want. I don't think that chasing after an answer that doesn't exist is a good idea," Matt said.

"You don't know that there isn't an answer!" Dale panicked.

"Look, if you want to leave tomorrow, you can. I won't stop you, but can you at least help me find Fluttershy's animal buddies before you leave? I can help show you the ropes of this world that way. I can teach you everything you need to know, and maybe you'll change your mind about leaving," Matt held out his hand for a handshake. Dale looked at his own hand for a second, many thoughts swirled in his brain. Dale's hand locked with Matt's firmly as the boys reached an agreement.

Quest Log

Quest Completed!

Rewards:

100 EXP

50 Bits

5 App Points

New Quest

"Equestria 101"

Team up with Matthew and learn how to survive on your own.

Current Objective

Meet Matthew in the Everfree Forest tomorrow.

Rewards:

120 EXP

60 Bits

5 App Points.

Level Up!

EXP 17/200

You've earned 3 stat points! Please choose what stats you wish to improve!

App Points: 15

Chapter 6: Understanding the Mechanics

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Dale let out a massive yawn as he and Matt walked through the Everfree Forest. Dale didn't get that good of a sleep last night since he was sleeping on a pretty small couch, but it was still better than sleeping in the cold. The forest was a lot colder than it was yesterday, probably because it was really early in the morning. Dale was annoyed that he didn't even get to have any breakfast before Matt shoved him out to help look for Fluttershy's animals. Fluttershy wasn't even awake when the boys left the cottage, in fact, no one seemed to be awake other than the two.

"Keep your eyes peeled, Dale. Harry couldn't have gone that far," Matt said while squinting his eyes, the fog in the Everfree Forest was thick today.

"Yeah yeah..." Dale muttered, he really thought about just ditching in the morning so he wouldn't have to waste his time. Fluttershy did give him a roof over his head for the night, so the guilt might have eaten him up on the inside. Dale didn't even know where he would go if he left town, he had no more leads since Matt didn't know what happened to the Earth either. "What are we looking for anyway?" Dale asked.

"Fluttershy's animal friend," Matt responded while shuffling through a bush, Dale followed suit.

"I get that," Dale rolled his eyes, "But what animal are we looking for?"

"We're looking for a bear, I'm not sure what kind though."

"Wait, what?" Dale stopped walking to talk, "You're fucking with me, right?"

"Don't worry, he's friendly... I think so at least," Matt scratched the back of his head. "Just stick with me and you'll be fine," Matt began to walk deeper into the fog.

"Whatever you say..." Dale thought to himself as he began to follow Matt once more. Dale was beginning to feel really cold, it didn't help that his clothes were still damaged. Dale wanted to see if there was anything he could do to get them patched up as soon as possible, the last thing he wants is to get hypothermia. Dale tapped his arm brace to bring up the holographic menu, he then decided to check his stats for anything new.

Name: Dale Stevens

Level: 5

HP: 55/55

MP: 25/25

Status

Strength: 4

Magic: 3

Vitality: 6

Agility: 3

Luck: 4

EXP: 17/200

App Points: 15

Stat Points (Allocate when ready) 3

Current Alignment: Neutral

Skills

Zio (Light Electric damage to one foe, low chance of shock) -4MP

Dale had forgotten that he levelled up last night, it was probably because he was too tired to care. Now that he has some Stat Points and App Points, Dale decided that it would be for the best to take a look in Alex's Function.

"Hey, Alex," Dale said aloud. Matt stopped walking and looked at Dale.

"How may I help you, Master Dale?" Alex's voice spoke.

"Can you pull up the list of Functions and Skills I can purchase?" Dale asked. The screen that Dale was on morphed into a new shape.

Functions

(More Functions will be available to purchase at a later date)

Advanced Translator (Translate monsters that don't speak your native language making it easier to negotiate with them) -30AP

Glossary (Allows Alex to record whatever you discover about monsters and people alike for you to view whenever you want) -10AP

Skills

Zio (Light Electric damage to one foe, low chance of shock) -5AP (4MP cost) (Currently Installed)

Mazio (Light Electric damage to all foes, low chance of shock) -15AP (8MP cost)

Bufu (Light Ice damage to one foe, low chance of freeze) -5AP (4MP cost)

Dale looked longingly at the Mazio skill, it not only sounded cool but it looked like it could be useful. The drawback would be that all of his App Points would not only be spent, but the MP cost for the skill alone was too high to use multiple times. Dale was too focused on his own thoughts to notice Matt walk over with a slight grin.

"Yo, what are you looking at?" Matt walked around Dale as an attempt to look at his holographic menu. Matt frowned as he realized that he couldn't see what was on Dale's screen, it just showed up blank for Matt. Matt opened up his holographic menu and looked at the stats for Dale; he realized that the only thing he could see about Dale were his basic stats, level, alignment, and class. "Huh, I guess I can only see your stats on my arm brace; just like the ponies in town," Matt began to fiddle with his own status menu.

"Hey, Matt," Dale started, "How much do you know about how this world works?"

"In what regard?" Matt asked without taking his eyes off of his screen.

"I mean, mechanically. How much do you understand the mechanics? I don't know what to build into for the 'class' I was assigned to. I was wondering if you could help me with that?" When Dale asked his question, Matt looked at him with a grin on his face.

"Fuck, how much time do you got?" Matt asked the rhetorical question while chuckling. "Anyways, think of it like this. Your class 'Blank Slate' lets you use any skill of any element, right?"

Dale nodded his head, "Yeah"

"Does that mean Physical skills or Magical skills?"

Dale quickly checked his Skills menu again to see what was available for purchase, "The only ones I can buy right now are Magical Skills," he said while scrolling through the menu.

"Then when you get the chance, I say just dump as many points into your magic stat as you can for now," Matt suggested.

Dale looked at him like he was crazy, "But that would leave me wide open if I fight something that can block magic, right?"

"That's why you should be trying to recruit monsters and other party members, to cover what you can't do. Take this for an example," Matt flipped through his menu and tapped his screen on the 'Summon' option. When Matt thrust his left hand forward a Parasprite appeared from a flash of light, the same one that Matt used the previous night. "You see this little guy? He watches my back by covering what I can't do myself. I can only use fire magic on my own, so I am out of luck when it comes to something that will block fire magic, the only thing I could do at that point is an attack with my fists or a weapon if I get one. But, if the enemy is weak to wind skills, the Parasprite will be able to do serious damage since they can use the skill 'Garu' which does light wind damage to one enemy. You see how I'm suddenly back to having the advantage? Not only do I know the weakness, but I also have a second party member to help me in the fight to make it easier to survive."

As much as Dale would hate to admit it, Matt is right about this. Dale can't get by on his own no matter how hard he tries because there is always the chance of him running into something he can't take care of with his power. Dale opened his status screen once more so he can begin to figure out what to do. He placed two points into magic and one point into luck on his level screen. He did this so he can have an easier time getting items and recruiting party members, also to increase his maximum MP and magic attack.

Name: Dale Stevens

Level: 5

HP: 55/55

MP: 35/35

Status

Strength: 4

Magic: 5

Vitality: 6

Agility: 3

Luck: 5

Dale thought about what to spend his App Points on for a while. As much as he wanted to get the Mazio skill, it would be the better option to snag the Glossary now so that Alex could track all of the data. It could even help with finding out more about Equestria. Dale purchased the Glossary function as well as the Bufu skill so he could expand his element coverage. Once again he was back to zero App Points but was a little more sure of himself now that he was becoming more prepared for any challenge he may come across.

"Good job, now we just need you to learn how to recruit a monster into your party and you'll be set," Matt scratched his chin getting lost in his own thoughts. Matt began to shiver as the wind began to pick up. "I can show you how to do that another time. Let's just try to find Harry for now." The two boys began their search through the forest, making sure to check every spot they could. Hope began to dwindle more and more as time passed, Dale had no idea how a bear could get this lost especially if it usually lives with Fluttershy. A knot began to form in Dale's stomach as he saw blood stains on the grass.

"Hey! I think I found something!" Dale yelled to Matt who was looking in the distance. Matt jogged over towards Dale, only to slow down as he saw the blood stains on the grass.

"Oh shit," Matt muttered as he began to run in the direction the blood was leading to. Dale followed close behind, making sure not to run into any trees or trip on any branches, the fog was beginning to become thicker. "Get off of him you fuckers!" Matt's voice echoed through the forest, Dale used this as a way to find out where Matt was. Dale saw a bright orange glow slice through the fog, flames began to warm him up as Matt cast his fire magic on the three Timberwolves that he ran into. "Maragi!" Matt yelled out as all the Timberwolves were ignited.

-60HP Weak! Enemies Defeated!

The numbers flashed above the head of the Timberwolves as they collapsed into a burning heap. Matt ran over to what the Timberwolves were focused on, not caring about the Exp he just received. Dale began to cautiously walk over to Matt with a look of concern on his face.

"Hey... What's going on?" Dale asked. Matt only stood in silence as he looked down at the corpse that layed before him. Dale stood beside the shocked boy and looked at the gruesome event that was in front of them. There was a dark brown bear laying on the ground cut open and missing one of its hind legs. Dale couldn't look at the sight for long before retreating to a nearby bush to vomit.

"Goddamnit!" Matt shouted in anger; it all but confirmed that the dead bear was indeed Harry. Matt knew better than Dale would since he watched the show. Matt began to curse in anger, possibly to vent out the frustration of being too late to save Fluttershy's friend. Matt took notice that the bloodstains weren't fresh and that Harry could have been dead for a while before the boys even found him.

It had been a few hours since Dale and Matt found Harry in the Everfree Forest and neither of them was excited to tell Fluttershy the bad news. The boys had been discussing with each other over who should be the one to deliver the message to her ever since they returned to the cottage entrance.

"I'm telling you, Dale. I really think you should be the one to do it," Matt said. He had been trying to convince Dale to be the one to talk to Fluttershy because he believed that it would be a chance to show that he wasn't a bad guy.

"There's no way in hell I'm doing that," Dale responded, "I don't even know her. I don't know how she would react to it. What would you do if a stranger went up to you and said 'your friend is dead' because I would be more angry than sad? You're the one who watched the show, so you know what to say."

"Something like this never happened in the show at all," Matt said glumly, "This is your chance to show her that you're nice and maybe you'll be able to stay here with her and me."

"Matt, I'm not planning on staying here you know that. Once I get my next lead I'll be out of this town for good. It'll just be a waste of time to try to get to know her," Dale sat down on the edge of the bridge that crossed over the pond. He was already set on what he wanted to do next and didn't want to get distracted.

"Where would you even go?" Matt asked with anger in his voice, "This is the only place you have with a roof over your head, the least you can do is be nice."

"Yeah, well I already tried to search for her friend and we saw how that turned out." Dale turned his head and glared at Matt.

"Whatever..." Matt said before walking into Fluttershy's cottage to break the news to her. Dale sat down for a few minutes in silence, he couldn't even tell if the two were talking at all or not. Dale's thoughts were broken by his arm brace beeping.

Quest Log

Quest Completed!

"Equestria 101"

Rewards:

120 EXP

60 Bits

5 App Points.

EXP: 137/200

App Points: 5

Alignment Shift

Current Alignment: Chaos

The Alignment change worried Dale a bit as he wondered what it meant, but he soon ignored it as he began to think of his next course of action. He looked down at his chest and sighed, his shirt was still torn and it needed to be repaired. Dale wondered if the Bits that he has been receiving was a form of accepted currency in Equestria. He hoped it was, it was beginning to get really cold out and Dale didn't plan on freezing to death.

Chapter 7: A New Lead

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Dale stood outside of a tall building that was decorated in with pink and purple.

"This must be the place," He said aloud. Dale had been walking around town for a bit, trying to figure out a clothing shop that could fix the damages to his shirt and jacket. It didn't take long for a pony to direct him to this area and find the "Carousel Boutique" it's said to be the best clothing store in all of Ponyville. Dale had some extra "Bits" as they were called, so he wanted to spoil himself a bit and make sure his clothing would be higher quality than it started. Carousel Boutique definitely stood out amongst the cone-shaped tents in this part of town, it was a good idea to grab someones attention to get them to buy something. Dale thought that was probably why Sugarcube Corner looks the way it does as well.

Dale approached the door and knocked three times. Even though this was a business, he felt the need to knock since it looked like it was also someones home. After a few seconds of waiting, the door opened up. Dale was expecting a mare to open the door but was instead greeted by a small filly with a white coat. The filly came to about the top of Dale's kneecap, her mane and tale were neatly curled at the end. The thing Dale noticed about the filly was that there was no picture on her flank like the older ponies had, he didn't really know what it meant though. The little filly also had a tiny unicorn horn sticking out of her forehead.

"Uh, hi. I'm looking for a place that can fix up my clothes, some of the ponies pointed me here and I was wondering if I could speak to the owner of this establishment?" Dale asked trying to sound professional, for all he knew this little filly could be the owner. The filly looked at Dale's ripped shirt for a second before turning around and yelling into the house.

"Rarity! That human thing is at the door for you!" The filly squeaked. "You can come inside and wait for her," The filly's voice was high pitched, even for a female. The filly then trotted passed Dale, leaving the door open for him. Dale walked inside the house to be greeted by a room that was not only a fitting room with mirrors surrounding the main platform but also had the same colour scheme as the outside of the building. The manakins were in the shape of horses, there were many makeup stations as well as pink drapes. Dale knew without a single doubt in his mind that this place was primarily a female clothing store. Dale just hoped that the business owner could at least patch up his clothes for a relatively cheap price, he remembered how much the spa would cost his mother back on Earth and didn't feel like getting scammed out of his money too quickly.

"Hello?" Dale called out while he was walking around the bottom floor. He didn't feel like snooping around too much since this is someone's house as well.

"I'll be down in just one minute, Matthew!" A voice called from upstairs. The mare definitely had an accent to her voice, an elegant one.

"Actually, I'm not him. He's at Fluttershy's house..." Dale didn't want to mention why Matt was there because Fluttershy probably needed time to herself after what happened to Harry.

The mare came trotting down the staircase elegantly. She had a white coat just like the filly, her mane and tail were neatly curled and also a dark shade of purple. The unicorn had a picture of shimmering diamonds on her flank. Dale was surprised at how well she took care of herself considering she was a horse. The unicorn looked shocked when she saw Dale from the stairs, so shocked in fact that she let out a gasp.

"Oh my goodness what happened to your clothes, dear?" The mare's strong British accent was soothing. The mare trotted around Dale, looking at his clothes from every angle. She let out grunts of disapproval every time she found something she didn't like. The mare looked at his arm brace and raised her eyebrow, "Oh, so you have one of those strange accessories too? Is it a trend at Earth?" she believed that Earth was located somewhere in this world and not from another reality.

"It's a long story..." Dale crossed his arms over his chest. "I was informed that you could fix up my clothes for a fee Miss..." Dale never learned this mare's name so he was trying to goat her into telling him.

"My apologies! My name is Rarity. I am Ponyvilles expert fashionista," Rarity tilted her head up and used one of her hooves to show off her mane while wearing a smug grin. Rarity took pride in what she did for a living as well as how she looked to others. Dale assumed that's why the filly that left the house also had a lot of care put into her looks. "So you're the other human that was supposed to be at Pinkie Pies party. I didn't see you there, so I am sorry that I didn't catch your name."

"Don't worry about it, I was only there for a few minutes. My name's Dale by the way. If you're not busy, I was wondering if you could help fix up my clothes? I'm willing to pay."

"Of course, darling. There would be nothing else I'd love to do more. May you please remove the clothes that you wish to be repaired," Rarity says trying to secure a sale, Dale caught onto the tactic immediately. He didn't have any other option to get his clothes fixed so he just nodded his head. Dale's arm brace beeps before a screen appears in front of him

Current Equipment

Casual Clothes (Normal resistance to all Elements) Durability 60/100 (30 Bits, 1 hour wait time)

Available Equipment

N/A

(In order to have your equipment to be repaired, you must unequip them and hand them over to Rarity. Repairing and purchasing equipment will not only cost a fee, but it will also require you to wait a certain amount of time for the process to be finished. It is recommended for you to have multiple pieces of equipment on you at all times so you do not need to waste. Different pieces of equipment will have resistances and weaknesses to different Elements, they will also offer certain bonuses depending on the equipment.)

It slightly annoyed Dale that he couldn't just take off his clothes for whatever reason, instead, he had to unequip them. Also, he needed to wait for it to be fixed even though everything else in this world has been functioning instantaneously. It felt like a total pace breaker to him, but rules are rules. Dale sighed as he tapped the button on his arm brace that said "Unequipped" suddenly, Dale's clothes disappeared off of his body in a flash of light, leaving him in his boxers. His clothes are neatly folded in his hands, but his arm brace is still attached on his left arm. Dale almost turned as red as a tomato when he realized what just happened, Rarity seemed to not care; probably because she's used to seeing mares and stallions almost naked all the time. Dale, however, was about to die eternally, he has never been this exposed to a woman before, horse or not.

"How did you get out of your clothes so quickly and why are you still wearing that thing on your forehoof?" Rarity asked not knowing the proper term for Dale's arm.

"Y-you know. Just a human thing," Dale was too flustered to think of any response other than that.

"You may take a seat if you wish, it'll be done in just a moment," Rarity trots to her workstation while her horn begins to glow. Dale's clothing is covered in a light blue glow and is slowly lifted out of his hands. He began to feel quite envious of the unicorn's magic he's been seeing all over town, it's a lot more practical than being able to shoot a lightning bolt out of your hand.

"Okay," Dale said as he waddled over to the makeup chair and sat uncomfortably on it. It was a little small for someone his stature, obviously, but he managed. Rarity used her magic to levitate a pair of bright red glasses and place them on her head. Her magic then wrapped around a needle and thread as she began to get to work on the shirt first.

"So Dale, how well do you know Matthew? I assume you two know each other because what are the odds of two of the same species arriving in Ponyville at the same time." Rarity sticks her tongue out of the side of her mouth as she begins to thread the needle.

"Yeah, the odds of that seem very low..." Dale says a little annoyed, it still pains him that he ended up in My Little Pony of all things, "Honestly, I don't really know him that well, we just met last night. It's just a coincidence that we found each other here." Dale wasn't sure how much Matt told the ponies about their powers and RPG mechanics, so he decided to dance around the subject.

"Well if you ask me, Matthew seems like a really nice 'Man' as he would say," Rarity says as she starts to patch up the smaller holes, "What brings you to Ponyville if you don't mind me asking?"

"I'm just passing through. I lost something and I thought that I could get some help finding it, but I was wrong," Dale was vague with his response, "I've never been here before, so I have no idea what this place has in store. It's really different than Earth to put it lightly."

Rarity's ear perked up, "Hmm... Why don't you go see Twilight Sparkle at the Ponyville library?

"Twilight Sparkle?" Dale had to make sure he heard that right, out of all the names he's heard so far this one is now his new 'worst name' he's heard with Pinkie Pie being a close second.

"Yes! She and I go way back, she's the smartest pony I've ever met. If there's somepony who can help you with what you want to know it's going to be her." Rarity clopped her hooves together in delight.

Dale thought about it for a second. He had no other leads to go off of, and if she's really smart she'll be able to fill up his glossary with useful information about the world. It seemed like a good deal to him so he decided that he would head over to her library right away... or as soon as he got his clothes back...

Chapter 8: Showtime

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Dale had finished getting his clothes fitted on him. They felt new, no, better than new. Dale was very impressed by the quality of the repair and made sure to not only pay Rarity for her services but also throw in a small tip, it's the least he could do for the last minute fix. Dale was on his way to "Twilight Sparkle's Library" as Rarity called it, he was hoping that she could at least help a bit when it came to getting a grasp on the situation.

"But be careful, darling. Twilight can be a little... obsessive" Rarity's words echoed through Dale's mind as he approached the door to the so-called library. Could you really blame him for thinking that this place wasn't a library? Hell, how could it even be a building, it was a tree that looked to be hollowed out. There was plenty of moss growing all over the tree, conveniently acting as a roof over certain parts of the deformed tree. This tree looked like nothing he'd seen back at home, or even in the Everfree Forest for that matter. Dale began to worry about the nutjob that lived in here.

"Hey, Alex?" Dale raised his arm brace to his face.

"Yes, Master Dale?" Alex responded almost instantly.

"Are you sure this is the right place? I mean, it's a god damn tree," Dale wanted to double check since he wasn't too confident this is where the so-called "Smartest Pony in Equestria" lived.

"Give me one moment," Alex fell silent as she processed the request. The holographic map opened up and automatically scrolled to where Dale is standing, it hovered there for a few moments before closing, "This is the place, Master Dale."

"What am I even worried about? It's just a library," Dale thought as he began to walk up to the door. He knocked on it three times before crossing his arms with a smirk on his face, "What's the worse that can happen? It's not like I'll run into like a dragon or something" Dale almost immediately regretted his words when the pony who answered the door wasn't a pony at all. Dale almost shit himself when he saw the creature that answered the door, it was a small purple fucking dragon.

"What the fuck!" Dale yelled in shock, he stumbled back before falling right on his ass. The dragon had purple scales and green spikes on his head and tail, it didn't look super threatening, but it was still a fucking dragon no matter how you looked at it.

"Uh... Are you okay?" The dragon asked while crossing its claws across its chest. The dragon's voice was high pitched, Dale couldn't tell if it was because it was young or if it was just because it was female.

"Y-Yeah! I'm fine!" Dale stood up in a panic, wiping the dirt off of his clothes. His eyes darted around, making sure no one saw him make a fool out of himself. Dale cleared his throat, "I'm looking for a Twilight Sparkle, I was wondering if you know where she is?"

Before the dragon could answer, it was shoved out of the way by a purple blast. Replacing the dragon was a unicorn with a purple coat and a violet mane and tail. Her mane and tail both had a pink stripe going down them. The unicorn had a picture of a pink star surrounded by bright white ones.

"You're earlier than expected..." The unicorn began to walk around Dale, examining all of his features from his clothing, to body structure. The unicorn ran her hoof across Dale's leg, causing him to instinctively swipe it away.

"What the hell are you doing?" Dale asked while taking a step back.

"You look different from yesterday, Matthew. Can humans manipulate their molecular structure to take different shapes and manes? Hmm, this is fascinating," The unicorn levitated a quill and paper from inside the library and began to quickly scribble down her notes.

"Uhh, Twilight?" the dragon that was pushed aside stumbled back to the door, a book resting atop his head. The dragon's eyes were swirling from the knockback, it looked like it hurt. "I don't think this is the same guy from yesterday? I mean, he seems... shorter."

"The fuck did you just say?" Dale thought as he gritted his teeth. At least one thing was confirmed, this is Twilight Sparkle. At least, Dale assumed it was.

"Oh, Spike. Don't be silly, we know nothing about humans, this is probably just how humans look on Wednesdays!" Twilight Sparkle responded, not taking her eyes off of the paper as she scribbled down.

"Your friend is right, ma'am. I'm not Matt. My name is Dale, but I'm also a human if that helps" Dale says. Twilight stops writing on her paper, she lets out a sigh before using her magic to crumple the paper into a small ball and throw it away.

"I'm sorry about that, sir. I was just waiting for Matthew to come by and got excited, he said that he'd help me with my research." Twilight Sparkle replies in a formal matter.

"Yeah, Twilight can get real crazy sometimes," The dragon Twilight referred to as Spike said while elbowing her flank. Twilight looked down at him with annoyance, causing Spike to grin sheepishly while backing away.

"Matt's been making his way around I see," Dale thought to himself. "Anyways... I was told that this was a library and that you could help me with my problem?"

"You have a problem?" Twilight asked in conformation, "Well since Matthew isn't here yet, I'm happy to help out in any way I can. After all, I may be able to record more data on you humans if there are two here!" Twilight shouts excitedly. Dale just nods his head and follows her into the library.

"Yeah, I'm looking for something and I was told to come here to at least try to find what it is," Dale said. He took a look around the area he just entered.

The library looked different than Dale ever imagined it being. The inside of the tree still kept all of the unpainted wood for the walls and flooring. There are spots on the wall that have been carved out to fit books as far as the eye could see, as well as plants and even a flight of stairs leading to another floor. The books were all organized alphabetically as well as by genre, with sticky notes above each section. Throughout the first floor of the library, there were desks made out of small tree trunks, each one having books and paper spread out.

"Now this is pretty impressive," Dale said as he spun around in place, looking at every makeshift shelf.

"Oh, this? This is nothing like the library back at home. It only took me about a month to get through everything," Twilight said casually as she walked towards one of the desks.

"What do you mean by that?"

"It only took me a month to read through everything and understand it to its fullest ability," Twilight said as she used her magic to sort through the piles of papers.

Dale chuckled, "Yeah, sure."

"I'm serious!" Twilight said with a little offence in her voice. She quickly pointed her hoof at multiple books on one of the desks, "You see those books? Those are all the ones I have to have read and written about in my assignment due by the end of the week."

"Jesus! That reminds me a little too much of college..." Dale said aloud.

"Aha! So humans also have an advanced education system!" Twilight said with glee as she discovered just a little more about humans. Dale didn't know it, but Twilight has always been fascinated with learning about the unknown as well as mastering what is already known. Twilight Sparkle was a bit of a perfectionist, and she wouldn't want it any other way. "Spike! I need another piece of parchment!" Twilight called out. Spike gave a salute before running upstairs.

"So, is that little guy your servant?" Dale asked as his eyes followed Spike up the stairs.

"Spike is actually my number one assistant, I've known him since he hatched from his egg." Twilight smiled at Dale.

"So does that mean you raised him? Sorry, I don't know a lot about pony living situations," Dale chuckled a little.

"In a way, I guess I did. I hatched him with my magic when I was a filly, it was how I was accepted into the School for Gifted Unicorns. What do humans learn in schools?" Twilight used her magic to pull a seat up to Dale, making him fall right on it.

"You know, Math, Science, History..." Dale trailed off as he watched Twilight become fully absorbed into his words, "I was actually learning how to make movies before I came here, but that doesn't seem like it's going to happen at this point." Dale became a little glum due to a few years of his life going to waste. That, and his dream job no longer existing for him, unless movies are a thing in Ponyville.

"Fascinating! How did you travel to Equestria? Matthew said he just woke up in the Everfree forest without any idea on what happened. I just want to see if that is the case for you since Earth isn't something located on our planet." Before Dale could answer Twilight's question, Spike came running downstairs with a handful of parchment paper rolled in a scroll shape. Each scroll was neatly tied up for easy storage.

"Well..." Dale had to choose his next words carefully. Should he reveal the truth of what happened to the only pony he knew could be of help? or would it be too much for her to take if he just came out and said "You only exist because Earth was destroyed and a God let some teenager that likes a little girls show create his desired world" Even though he should just come out and say what really happened since it would help him out the most when it came to finding about what happened, Dale wasn't sure what the consequences would be. After all, everything that he says and does will affect his "Alignment" and he's already in Chaos, whatever that meant.

"I was at home and... I just passed out all of a sudden. I woke up in an abandoned castle and had to make my way here. I was surprised to be in a place like this, but I managed to find Matthew after he saved my life. Sorry if that's not what you wanted to hear," Dale placed his hands in his pockets, he figured that even though Twilight didn't exist in flesh and blood until recently he should at least play along with this world and not try to rope her into something she wasn't prepared for.

"Matthew saved your life? He's just full of surprises I guess," Twilight said with a hint of admiration for Matt. Dale just rolled his eyes, of course, Matthew would make it so that he is the coolest guy around. It's like a kids self, it is his dream reality after all. "It's strange that neither of you remembers how you arrived in Equestria... It could've been from an outside force, but I would have to look into it later..."

Dale's arm brace beeped twice before a hologram opened up in front of him.

Alignment Shift

Current Alignment: Neutral

Once again Dale has been set back to Neutral, and once again Dale had no idea what the system even meant to his overall journey. He had no idea how to influence the system at all, or what the ramifications would be if he went too far in one alignment, so he thought it would be best to just play it cool and do what he felt was right.

"What was that sound?" Twilight stopped scribbling on the parchment and looked at Dale's arm brace. "You have one of those too?" Twilight stood up from her haunches and walked towards Dale. "May you please hold your forehoof out?"

Dale raised his eyebrow, "I think you mean arm, Twilight?"

"Y-Yes, sorry!" Twilight said quickly while shaking her head back and forth, she was still not used to talking to humans and still used pony words around them. Dale complied and held out his left arm. "I see," Twilight began. She leaned in close to examine the contraption that she's never seen before, "It's a bit bulky, made out of some sort of metal, and has a piece of glass going across it," Twilight tapped the touch screen on the arm brace. There was no reaction to her hoof touching it, "What does this device do?" Twilight used her magic to levitate her quill and parchment towards her.

Spike walked up to see what the commotion was about. "Woah," Spike said a little impressed, "Talk about a fashion statement," Spike dragged his finger across the glass with his tongue sticking out. "Do you know where I could get one of those? I could really impress the ladies with that," Spike nudged Dale as an attempt to get him to speak.

"I don't know where I got it, I just woke up with it on my arm," Dale responded. Spike wasn't really happy with the response and crossed his arms.

"Figures," Spike rolled his eyes.

"Spike! This is serious!" Twilight scolded Spike who recoiled. "Dale, may you please explain what this does?"

"What did Matt tell you? I just want to make sure that he and I can do the same things, y'know?" Dale said rather quickly, he just wanted to make sure to not blow his cover above all else.

"Well..." Twilight began to sort through all of her parchment paper in order to find Matt's sheet. "He said that he can use his arm brace to summon monsters and cast magic. Matthew never ended up showing me though..." Twilight then looked directly at Dale's arm brace, "Oh! Can you show me!" Twilight said, her eyes twinkling.

"H-Hold on! Didn't you say that you would help me with my problem!" Dale tried to protest, he was burning precious daylight and didn't want to waste time playing scientist with a pony.

"Please! It'll take no time at all, I really want to see what it looks like. Dale, do it for the research. I can help you with finding whatever it was you're looking for afterwards. We have plenty of time to see what it is, and Matthew is beginning to run late.

Before Dale could answer, a menu appeared in front of him.

Quest Log

New Quest

"Showtime!"

Twilight Sparkle wants to see your magic in action! Follow her to the training location and let loose with what you got!

Current Objective

Follow Twilight Sparkle to the training grounds

Rewards:

150EXP

50 Bits

5 App Points.

"Law" Alignment Increases Slightly

Accept?

"Yes"

"No"

Dale noticed that this was a different kind of quest, it was optional. Not only that, but it also affected his alignment, with no drawback from just denying the quest. He remembered that Matt was currently on the Law alignment, so maybe it was best to just follow in his footsteps. Matt seemed to know what he was doing so maybe it was a good idea to just stick to Law. Dale didn't just want to throw it away as he would need to become stronger in order to survive this world, and the rewards were very enticing, to say the least. So fuck it, Dale tapped on the "Yes' choice. The hologram disappeared and Dale cleared his throat.

"Alright, you win... I'll show you what we humans can do, but you need to help me out afterwards, deal?" Dale reluctantly agreed.

"Of course! I hope you're ready!" Twilight shouted in glee.

"Hope you haven't eaten recently," Spike tugged Dale's arm to get his attention.

"What do you mean by that?" Dale responded. Suddenly, Twilight's horn began to glow a bright purple before it turned into a bright white. The magic began to surround the three in the room, paper and books began to get thrown around the room because of the small storm. Dale was beginning to regret his decision, what the fuck was she doing?

In a flash of light, the three were no longer in the library but were in an open field. Twilight Sparkle, this small purple pony, managed to teleport three people to a new location. Dale didn't take the new sensation too well as he felt his stomach begin to turn and his whole world was spinning around him. He felt sick to put it lightly, as well as scared.

"What the hell!" Dale yelled out as he stumbled for a second before falling right on his face.

Twilight and Spike laughed in amusement, "Sorry, I should've warned you first," Twilight said between giggles, "I just moved us to an open field so we wouldn't have to worry about destroying anything.

"What?" Dale questioned while standing up, "I thought I was just going to show you how my magic and shit worked?" Dale had no idea what he was in for.

"You really thought that I would just ask you to show me your magic without really putting it to the test?" Twilight laughed, "Spike, I suggest you back up... a lot."

"Good luck, man!" Spike said before running far off, towards a hilltop.

"What's going on?!" Dale began to get worried, he had a slight idea of where this was going but he really didn't want to think about it.

"I took us to this open field where there are no ponies, trees, or any animals that could get hurt," Twilight began to walk away from Dale. She got a good amount of distance before turning around with a look of determination in her eyes. Her gaze almost pierced Dale's soul. "I want you to show me what humans are capable of! Don't hold back now!" Twilight shouted.

Suddenly Dale's arm brace beeped once again.

Quest Log

"Showtime!"

Twilight Sparkle wants to see your magic in action! Follow her to the training location and let loose with what you got!

Current Objective

Battle Twilight Sparkle!

Rewards:

150EXP

50 Bits

5 App Points.

"Law" Alignment Increases Slightly

Dale felt a pit in his stomach grow, his hands began to tremble as a sudden pressure began to overwhelm him. Dale looked at Twilight in horror as she began to charge her horn with her purple magic, Dale didn't know what to do, he was frozen in place. Twilight fired a purple ball of energy at him, the element of the spell looked unfamiliar to him. The magic orb approached at a massive pace, Dale was about to run out of time to think. Only one thing came to his mind. Dodge.

Dale quickly lept to his right side as the magic attack passed right by him, the heat almost burning his skin just from being close to it. Dale landed face first on the ground and quickly turned onto his back to see what Twilight was going to do next. Twilight inhaled and exhaled slowly as the light from her horn began to fade away. The magic orb turned the grass below the path it travelled a coal black. Twilight could've annihilated Dale with that one attack.

"Are you fucking insane!?" Dale shouted at Twilight as he stood up on his feet, "You could've killed me with that!"

"Hurry up, Dale! I'm giving you a chance to do something!" Twilight shouted playfully. Dale was suddenly enlightened, this chick was crazy!

Dale quickly opened up his status menu so he could get a grip on the situation.

Name: Dale Stevens

Level: 5

HP: 55/55

MP: 35/35

Status

Strength: 4

Magic: 5

Vitality: 6

Agility: 3

Luck: 5

Skills

Zio (Light Electric damage to one foe, low chance of shock) -4MP

Bufu (Light Ice damage to one foe, low chance of freeze) -4MP

Dale didn't have many options to use against Twilight. Hell, he had no idea what would even work on her. Dale quickly pulled up the status menu for Twilight

Twilight Sparkle

HP: (Unknown)

MP: (Unknown)

Skills

(Unknown)

Actions

Fight

Just like the battle with the Manticore, Dale didn't have any information on Twilight. The only action he could take would be to fight back, this time he had no way to luck out and have someone save him. Maybe she would go easy on him... No.

Dale decided that now would be the time he would stand his ground if he's going to find a way back home he would need to summon all of the strength he possessed in order to overcome any obstacle. Just because his stats were low and he didn't have any monsters to summon, doesn't mean he should just go out without a fighting chance. Dale thought that he wouldn't deserve to go back home if he didn't earn it on his own, this would only be the first hurdle he would have to overcome.

Dale adjusted the way he stood, holding his arm brace in front of his face, his holographic window appearing once again. "Alex!" Dale said.

"Yes, Master Dale?" Alex responded.

"I need you to keep track of what Twilight Sparkle does in the glossary. If we're going to win, I'll need to figure out what she can do, got it?" Dale said.

"Yes, Master Dale. I wish you good luck!" Alex responded rather chipper.

Dale took a deep breath, mentally and physically preparing himself. Time to show her what humans are really made of!

Chapter 9: The Battle of Magic

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The tension between Dale and Twilight had been growing at a rapid pace. No one was moving a single muscle, not even Spike, who was observing the event. Besides the light breeze blowing through the flat field, there was no sound. Both of the fighters were trying their hardest to not make their next move obvious. Dale could feel his heart beat faster and faster, his nervousness was going to get the best of him. Dale knew that he had to stay calm or Twilight would get the upper hand immediately. There wasn't much that he had at his disposal anyway, but Twilight didn't know that so she may also be exercising caution.

Every second felt like it was lasting an eternity, it didn't help that Twilight Sparkle's horn was glowing an intimidating purple. Twilight was giving Dale a free shot, and Dale didn't know how to respond to it. Dale decided that the only thing that he could really do is hit her with everything he's got. Dale quickly pulled his left hand back while glaring at Twilight. She only smirked in response. Dale then quickly thrust his hand forward and yelled as loud as he could.

"Zio!" Dale shouted as a bright blue bolt of lightning shot from his hand and towards his opponent. The loud crackles of the attack boomed throughout the field as the magic flew across at a blinding fast speed. Twilight's horn glow grew bright as the lightning bolt came closer and closer before a flash of white light blinded Dale. He heard the attack he launched connect with something as there was a loud and echoing boom that could be heard from miles away. Dale had to shield his face with his arms as the strong winds began to throw dust and debris towards him.

"Why was the impact so severe?" Dale thought to himself as he moved his arms away from his face, "Usually, it's a lot smaller than that... unless..." Dale couldn't finish his own train of thought as he saw the dust begin to swirl back to the location Twilight was standing. He could see her silhouette through the dust cloud as well as her purple horn glow slicing through the thick blanket. Dale felt his stomach drop as Twilight emerged from the smoke completely unscathed.

Blocked!

The damage indicator above Twilight Sparkle had no numbers, the attack did absolutely no damage. Dale began to sweat as Twilight took steps towards him.

"Wow, that was amazing! You performed magic without even having a horn! I've never seen a spell like that before, you actually made me use a shield spell to block it." Twilight was oddly happy while she was speaking. "Oh, Spike! Did you get that?" Twilight shouted to her assistant. Spike then peeked his head over the hill while wearing an army helmet, Dale didn't even notice the dragon grab it before they left.

"Y-Yes, Twilight!" Spike shouted back, his voice was shaking due to the event that just transpired in front of him.

"Hey!" Dale yelled at Twilight Sparkle, "You totally cheated!" He pointed a finger angerly at Twilight who only looked back in confusion.

"What do you mean?" Twilight tilted her head.

"What I mean is, how the hell are you able to just block my attack?"

"Well, I wasn't sure what kind of magic you were going to use, so I just used my shield spell to try to defend myself... I was honestly surprised it worked, I was expecting your attack to be stronger."

Dale took this as a personal attack towards his low magic stat. He thought that it wasn't his fault that it was low, it was just him trying to spread them out evenly. Before Twilight could do another attack, Dale decided to try to get a cheeky hit in.

"Bufu!" Dale called out while he thrust his hand forward. Dale felt the temperature in his hand drop down to freezing cold, even the oxygen around it was much hotter. In fact, the white air was almost visible. A large icicle, in the shape of a crystal, shot out of Dale's palm and towards Twilight. Twilight's eyes widened at the sudden attack and quickly jumped to the side. The ice blast flew directly into a tree that was behind Twilight, causing both the tree and the Bufu spell to explode into little shards.

"I see how it is..." Twilight slowly stood up, a grin growing across her face, "You like playing rough!" Twilight's horn began to glow the same bright purple from earlier. Her words sent shivers down Dale's spine.

"Please don't say that again!" Dale shouted back at her.

Twilight didn't respond with words. Instead, she fired off multiple magical orbs towards Dale. The small purple orbs began to chase him as he ran to his left side, but they weren't the most accurate. Most of them eventually fell to the floor, causing a small burst in magic energy each time. Dale began to stumble as each one exploded until he was knocked off of his feet by the last explosion.

-10HP

Dale slowly picked himself off the floor. Even though the attack barely hit him, it still did a decent amount of damage to his maximum HP. Dale didn't want to leave himself open, so he quickly fired off another spell towards Twilight.

"Bufu!" Dale shouted once again. Another ice blast left his hand the same way it did prior, but this time, Twilight was prepared. She quickly charged her horn and fired off an even bigger spell. This new spell completely destroyed the one that was heading towards her. Dale's eyes widened in shock as the massive ball approached him and quickly braced for impact. The magic engulfed Dale, sending him back a good distance.

-32HP Critical!

Master Dale, your HP is at a critical level!" Alex's voice shouted over the arm brace. Dale looked up into the clouds, breathing heavily. He couldn't believe it, this little horse kicked his ass. A mix of shame and anger began to fill him while he stood up.

"Dale? Are you okay?" Twilight called out while running towards him, "I'm really sorry! I didn't mean for my spell to be that strong! I just... I just really got into the moment." Twilight went from panicked, to being filled with guilt in the span of a few seconds.

"Y-Yeah. I'll be fine... My HP is ju-" Dale quickly stopped himself before he could continue." I mean, I'm just a little hurt, could I get something to help me out?"

"Uh, no problem," Twilight found Dale's words a little strange but didn't think too hard about it. She ran back to where Spike was and began to search for anything to help with Dale's wounds.

"I really blew it, Alex..." Dale said glumly to his arm brace companion.

"Do not worry, master Dale. You will be able to complete the quest regardless." Alex replied. Dale almost completely forgot that this was a quest, to begin with. His pride was on the line and that was more important to him than some measly reward.

Quest Log

Quest Completed!

"Showtime"

Rewards:

150EXP

50 Bits

5 App Points.

"Law" Alignment Increased Slightly

Level Up!

Current EXP: 87/350

You've earned 3 stat points! Please choose what stats you wish to improve!

App Points: 15

Dale immediately felt better than he did before. His wounds healed after the level up, so he stood up on his own and began to walk towards Twilight.

"Hey, Twilight!" A voice called from over one of the hills, "Sorry I'm late, I got really caught up with helping Fluttershy with a personal issue," Matt came from over the hill and approached Twilight who was still searching through her saddlebag.

"Matthew! Don't worry about it. How did you find us?" Twilight looked up at the much taller human.

"I could hear you shooting off spells all the way at Fluttershy's house, and I thought you started without me. I see that you and Dale have been getting along just fine," Matt glared back at Dale with jealousy in his eyes.

"Good to see you too, Matt," Dale responded as he walked up to the group. Twilight turned to Dale, more confused than ever.

"Huh? You looked like you were in bad shape before? How come you're just fine now?" Twilight was very confused. Before Dale could respond, Matt took the lead.

"Yeah, we humans are like that. For some reason, our bodies can repair themselves almost instantly after a major event occurs for us. Isn't that right, Dale?" Matt winked at Dale.

"Yeah... It's pretty weird how it works" Dale went along with Matt's words, "But, Matt knows more about this than I do, so bother him about it." Dale didn't feel like putting up with any more of Twilight's questions for the day. He was drained. But, there was one thing he did want from her, "Alright, Twilight. Since I helped you out with your 'experiment' can you help me now?"

Twilight turned to Dale and smiled, "Yes, it's the least I can do for what I put you through."

"Alright. Well, the truth is, I'm looking for someone, anyone that can help me out. I've lost something very special to me, something that I'm not even sure I can bring back. So I came to your library to get any information I can about who exactly rules this land since I believe that they may be able to help me out."

Twilight looked at Matt for advice and he nodded, signifying to her that Dale can be trusted.

"Well... Equestria's ruler's princess Celestia and princess Luna could potentially help with your problem... but, they are very busy ponies and are all the way up in Canterlot and since our train is currently out of order you can't just walk there!" Twilight's information wasn't exactly what Dale wanted to hear, but it didn't matter to him.

"Right. Thank you for telling me." Dale began to walk off towards town.

"Hey! Where do you think you're going?" Matt called out to Dale. Dale stopped walking and began to speak without turning around.

"I'm going to Canterlot, isn't it obvious?

"What!?" Matt, Twilight and Spike shouted in unison.

"You can't just walk all the way to Canterlot!" Twilight shouted at Dale with a concerned tone.

"Twilight's right!" Matt followed up, "It's too far for you to go by yourself."

"Plus with all the monsters..." Spike shuddered a bit at the thought.

"And even if you were to somehow make it. Who says that they'll even have the time to talk with you!" Matt shouted.

"It's not like I have any other option, Matt!" Dale turned around and shouted back, "I don't have a house here, or a job, I can't just sleep out on the park bench for the rest of my life. And I don't feel like sitting around and let my problems solve themselves."

"Fine..." Matt said, "I can't stop you from going all the way up to Canterlot if you really want to. But, I'm going to at least suggest you stay here for at least one week and prepare yourself. I'll even help you out," Matt extended his hand out to Dale.

Dale knew that Matt was right. If he did rush out into something he wasn't prepared for, he'd be sliced into bits by monsters that he hasn't encountered before. Matt does have a huge edge on Dale since he seems to grasp the mechanics of this world better than Dale does.

Dale grasped Matt's hand and shook it. Without exchanging words, Dale and Matt came to the agreement. This next week would be hell for Dale, but he knew that he'd have to stick to it in order to go on this journey.

Chapter 10: Preparations

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One day has passed since Dale and Matt made their agreement and, sure enough, the two were out in the Everfree forest by the morning. Dale had gotten lucky enough to find a place to stay at for his remaining week in town. Matt was able to butter Fluttershy up to let his "friend" stay at her place for at least a few more nights. Dale was very grateful for her kindness, even though he wasn't there to break the news about her bear. Dale did think Fluttershy was handling the situation as well as she could, even though she did seem to be in a very bad mood.

"Alright, Dale. It's time I fulfil a promise I made to you last time we were out here!" The way Matt spoke was with the tone of someone who had hatched the ultimate plan. The way he marched through the foggy forest only added to the analogy.

"Yeah? And what would that be?" Dale clearly didn't like where this was going. He'd realised that Matt wasn't exactly the best teacher in the world not too long after the two began their journey throughout the forest.

"I'm glad you asked. You see, you have a flaw that is hard for you to grasp. You keep getting your ass kicked!"

"H-Hey! It's not my fault that I'm constantly going up against creatures that can blow up the side of a mountain casually! Especially when I have to do it alone!" Dale shouted angerly.

"See, that's your problem," Matt stopped walking and turned towards Dale, "You're not going at this with the right mindset. You're not supposed to fight on your own. I mean, you certainly can, if you want. But, the way this world seems to work is like a video game. Did you ever play RPG's back on Earth?" The way Matt said 'Earth" clearly made him uncomfortable, but he was trying to not let the fact that it was gone get to him.

"I played them a bit when I was younger."

"Think back to that time then. When playing those video games, you weren't alone in the game. You had a few people following you, helping out with difficult battles."

"Yeah, we went over this already the last time we were out. You told me I needed to recruit people to help me out."

"And how did that go?" Matt crossed his arms with a smug grin on his face since he already knew the answer. Dale glared at Matt with annoyance. Dale thought it wasn't his fault that he didn't have anyone tagging along with him. He tried to recruit monsters already, but that was a total bust. Dale also knew he'd be driven mad if he had any of the ponies following him around 24/7.

"Are you going to teach me or not!" Dale was beginning to get frustrated at the berating. He didn't want to waste time goofing off when he could be heading towards Canterlot.

"Cool your jets..." Matt replied.

The two boys began their journey through the forest, looking for enemies that Dale could attempt to recruit. There was a surprising lack of enemies in the forest today, and the boys didn't know what to think of it. No matter where they looked, their search ended up in a dead-end.

"Come the fuck on!" Matt shouted at nothing in particular, "Of course when we actually want to fight an enemy, it just doesn't show up. But when we're minding our own business. it's like 'oh shit, here's about 50 timberwolves and 12 manticores' like Jesus Christ!" Matt's bouts of anger amused Dale a bit more than it should. Seeing Matt in a state that wasn't calm and collected was a bit refreshing. Dale's attention was drawn to something else not too long after though. It was a lone timberwolf.

"Hey! Hey! Matt!" Dale patted the back of his companion who was still cursing to himself.

"What is it now?" Matt answered, his face a bright red from the yelling. Dale pointed at the timberwolf with glee, "Way to go buddy." Matt said, "Now let's get you a party member!"

The two quickly ran up to the Timberwolf and engaged it in a fight. The familiar holographic display appeared in front of Dale.

Timberwolf

HP: 40/40

MP: 0

Skills

(Unkown)

Actions

Fight

Talk

Run

Dale immediately found it refreshing to finally have the ability to just run away from a fight back. Dale knew that it would be difficult to find another timberwolf out here, so it was now or never. Dale carefully approached the timberwolf.

"Hey there, buddy," Dale raised his hands up to show that he was no harm to the creature, "Would you like to join my team?"

The timberwolf snarled at Dale, causing him to back up slightly.

"Dale, offer it something. Sometimes you just need to butter them up for them to join you," Matt informed Dale. Dale quickly thought of what he had in his inventory. What would a wolf made out of branches and twigs even like?

"I've got... uhh... money?" Dale quickly summoned a coin pouch filled with some of the bits he earned from doing quests. He proceeded to toss it to the timberwolf. The coin pouch rolled on the grass before coming to a stop. The timberwolf approached the offer cautiously, sniffing the pouch a bit before picking it up in its mouth. The timberwolf looked at Dale for a second, before adjusting its eyes back down to the pouch. Dale's arm brace beeped twice before opening up a menu.

Congratulations!

You've acquired a Timberwolf as a member of your team!

Timberwolf

HP: 40/40

MP: 0

Status

(Ally status increases every level, just like yourself. But, the Status Point distribution is out of your control)

Strength: 5

Magic: 0

Vitality: 4

Agility: 7

Luck: 2

Skills

Feral Bite (Moderate physical damage to one foe, medium crit) 12% Max HP

Learnable Skills

(This skills will be taught to the creature upon levelling up. Every level gives you a new skill, but once the creature learns all of their skills, levelling up will only provide status bonuses.)

Stun Claw (light physical damage to one foe, medium stun chance) 17% Max HP

Taunt (Causes every enemy to focus on the caster, gives defence boost) 20 MP

Dale felt a bit overwhelmed by what he saw. There was a new type of skill that would drain the user of their HP when used, and the fact that the timberwolf has a magic skill despite the fact that it doesn't have any MP currently. He was also confused that he didn't get the money back that he gave to the timberwolf. If it was in his party, why would it need to keep his money? cheapskate.

"Way to go!" Matt called out happily, "That wasn't so bad. I'm even a little jealous, I still don't have a timberwolf in my party."

Dale's arm brace beeped once again. A new notification popped up on the screen

Summoning function now available!

You're allowed to have one creature summoned at a time, but are able to switch out your current creature at any time. If the creature is defeated, the data of its current form will be stored. but you need to revive the creature with an item before it can be summoned again. At your current level, you can contain a total of 4 creatures before needing to delete any to make room for more creatures.

Dale studied the new mechanic for any 'gotch ya' moments, but it seemed to be as straight forward as it sounded. Dale tapped the Summoning command on his menu and was greeted with a new screen.

Summoning

Timberwolf: HP 40/40, MP 0

N/A

Retract or Replace Summon

Yes

Dale pressed the 'yes' to see what would happen. His arm brace's touch screen lit up a bright white, as well as the timberwolf. The light blinded both of the boys and when it dimmed down, the timberwolf was gone.

"You can summon it whenever you want in or outside of battle now," Matt said.

Dale was pretty satisfied with what he was able to accomplish today, so the two boys went back to town to celebrate.

Not too long after Dale and Matt left the Everfree forest, the two were dining at the Sugarcube Corner. Dale was surprised at how busy it was for a sweet shop, he hasn't been here since Matt's welcome party. Even then, he didn't stick around for too long. The party pony Pinkie Pie hopped towards the two, a smile on her face, and a tray balanced on her head.

"Here you go you two! Two Pinkie Pie speciality cupcakes, fresh out of the oven!" Pinkie Pie did a quick hop and the tray landed perfectly on the table.

"Thanks, Pinkie! Your food is to die for," Matt complimented while tossing her a few bits, "Don't worry, Dale. I've got you covered," Matt added before digging into the sweet treat before him. Dale sat there, casually picking at his cupcake. He wasn't the fastest eater in the world, and it was nice for him to finally relax a little. Dale could barely remember the last time he didn't have something he was worried about.

"So, what is next on the list?" Dale asked.

Matt placed his hand on his chin while trying to think, "Well there are a few things that we can do to get you ready. We can head out and level grind for a bit so your timberwolf and yourself can get stronger. That's the obvious one. I'm not too sure how long it would take you to get to Canterlot if I'm being honest..."

"Then that means I should get a lot of supplies for the journey ahead. Like buying a lot of food and other things," Dale finished Matt's thoughts for him.

"Exactly. That kind of stuff costs money, so you should try to see if you can do any quests to earn money" Matt lowered himself to a whisper when he said 'quest'

Dale agreed with Matt on that one, nothing in life is free, and if he needed to do the odd job to earn some cash, he was all for it.

"I just need to find some time in order to train up in between that," Dale crossed his arms. His words caught the attention of one of the pegasi in the store. Her cyan ears perked up a bit and she quickly flew over to the table Dale was sitting at.

"Did you mention training?" The tomboyish sounding pony said with excitement.

Dale was a little uncomfortable with how close she was to his face, her rose eyes glaring deep into his own, "Uhh... yeah?"

"Hey, Rainbow Dash. How's it going?" Matt said to the mare. It was obvious to Dale that Matt knew her.

"It's not going fine at all! I haven't been able to practice any of my moves in such a long time since my last training partner is currently in the hospital!" Rainbow Dash panicked, "So I came here to try to find somepony, anypony, that would help me out!"

Matt chuckled, "You know you could have just asked me to help out, right? I'd be glad to help you train up!" Matt winked at her with a smug grin.

"Do you really mean it?" Rainbow Dash flew over to Matt and looked at him with hope in her eyes.

"Of course! In fact, you've got two partners now."

Dale rolled his eyes, once again he was roped into doing something shitty against his will. But the more Dale thought about it, the more he realised that it would actually be a good idea. Training not only with Matt but also this athletic-looking chick, she's bound to know a good method that's for sure.

The trio decided on the time they would meet the following day rather quickly. Dale began to eat his cupcake while Matt and Rainbow Dash really hit off the conversation. Dale knew he only had to put up with six more days, what was the worst that could happen?

Chapter 11: The Final Days

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It turns out a lot of things could go wrong. Dale learned this the hard way when he found himself laying face down in the dirt for the fourth time that hour. Rainbow Dash had been the cause of almost all of these faceplants. She was constantly either trying to attempt a new trick or just plain fly too fast, which would cause her to lose control and fly full force directly into Dale. Dale began to growl to himself as he gripped a fistful of dirt, he used the cold earth as a stress ball.

"Rainbow Dash!" Matt called out to her, "You got a little too close to the ground that time and knocked Dale over again!" Dale could tell that Matt was holding back his laughter.

"My bad!" Rainbow's shrill voice called back.

Dale scrambled up and ran towards Matt before the insane pegasus could try any more of her 'stunts'

"How much longer is this going to go on for?" Dale asked Matt while throwing his clump of dirt to the ground.

"I dunno," Matt placed his hands into his pockets while he eyed Rainbow Dash, "Give her about... four, maybe five hours top"

"That's not happening," Dale said bluntly. He took a few steps away from Matt before shouting up to Rainbow Dash, "Hey! We've wasted enough time on your lame tricks! Come down here and hold up your end of the deal!"

"Uh oh..." Matt said with slight fear in his voice. Dale looked over his shoulder, his eyebrow raised. He didn't know what he did wrong.

"Oh come on, did you even see her? She makes a better bullet than a stunt flyer." Dale smirked at his own remark. Before he could think of anything else to say, his arm brace beeped twice. Dale looked at it in confusion. He knew that the arm brace would only go off like that when there was an encounter, but there was nothing dangerous around him. Or so he thought.

The ground behind Dale shook violently and a blast of wind hit Dale's back with a lot of force. Dale quickly spun around, fear welling up inside of him. He had no idea what he just did, but Dale would learn to never say what he said ever again. Rainbow Dash stood behind Dale, her wings flared out and she was breathing heavily. You could swear that you could see smoke coming from her nose every time she exhaled, almost like a raging bull. It didn't help that Rainbow's eyes were a crimson red of rage.

"What did you just say about my flying?" Rainbow huffed out, her voice sounded like it could stab someone like a knife. Dale couldn't respond, he was overwhelmed with the pressure she was putting off. It was even stronger than the feeling he felt when he fought Twilight. No matter how hard Dale tried, he couldn't spit out any coherent words. He just stood there, stammering out random gibberish to the flaming Rainbow Dash.

"S-something about a bul-" Before Dale could finish his words, Rainbow skillfully did a spinning roundhouse kick to Dale's face. He didn't even see it coming at all, it came in a blur. She managed to hover and do the attack in what felt like less than a second.

Dale quickly scrambled to his feet after almost falling over. Before he could say anything to Rainbow, she continued her barrage of hits. The way she fought was almost like a human. She'd use her forehooves as fists, and her hind legs as kicks. Each blow caused Dale to stumble back one step, he didn't even get to see how much HP he was losing before he was struck again. Dale had enough of getting smacked around. He grit his teeth, clenched his fist, and threw a punch forward without even looking. Rainbow Dash flew back before the blow could even connect, she then flew high into the sky.

"Hey, Dale! How's this for a bullet!" Rainbow yelled down to the bruised and beaten man. Dale braced himself for what would come next.

Rainbow Dash did a quick flip in the air before diving straight towards the ground. Her speed and carelessness of being injured stuck out to Dale. Before she could collide with the ground, she pulled up just a bit to be flying at the level it would take to hit Dale's chest. Rainbow Dash stuck both of her forehooves out while she approached Dale at a pace that was unreal to him. Dale barely had any time to think before he found himself jumping to his side and landing flat on his stomach. Rainbow Dash past right over Dale, missing her mark; a huge gust of wind following shortly after.

"You know what? Fuck this!" Dale thought to himself. He quickly stood to his own feet and glared at Rainbow Dash. She was quickly trying to set up another stunt like that one. Rainbow Dash once again dove towards the ground, but this time, Dale had a plan of his own. Dale took his stance and looked much like a matador glaring down its opponent. Instead of using a muleta, he'd use one of the few magic spells that he had available to him in this situation.

Rainbow Dash didn't take notice of Dale as he pulled his arm back and preparing his attack. Time felt like it slowed down for him and he could hear his own heart beat faster and faster. Dale narrowed his eyes, completely shutting off the world from around him and only focusing on his target.

"Zio!" Dale shouted as he thrust his hand forward. The violent crackling of the Zio spell could be heard throughout the entire field the group was standing in. The lightning travelled through the air and towards Rainbow Dash. Her eyes widened and she quickly pulled up; trying to escape the magic. She managed to avoid the spell, but just barely as her hindlegs grazed her. Rainbow Dash had to fly up high to regain her composure, her breathing increased as she took in what just happened.

"Hey, that's enough you two!" Matt called out. Both Dale and Rainbow Dash were caught off guard by this, they forgot that Matt was even there, "Training is fine and all, Dale. But you could have seriously hurt her!"

"You've got to be shitting me, she started it!" Dale protested. Rainbow landed gracefully on the ground, she was much calmer than she was only a minute ago.

"Don't worry about me Matt, he couldn't hit me even if I let him," She winked at Matt, "And besides, as an up incoming wonderbolt, I need to prepare myself for any dangerous stunt that I will have to do," There was a lot of pride in her voice, either that or stupidity.

"I know. I have no doubts that you'll be able to make it too!" Matt gave her a thumbs up. Dale knew for a fact that Matt was using his knowledge of this world to butter these girls up. The only thing Dale didn't know was the reason behind it and maybe it would be for the best that he didn't find out, "What do you say that we go on a short break, you both must be exhausted."

Rainbow and Dale nodded their heads at the statement. Dale quickly looked at his arm brace to check his HP.

Name: Dale Stevens

Level: 6

HP: 20/55

MP: 30/35

3 stat points available!

"The bitch took out half of my hp..." Dale thought to himself as he closed his menu. He's been holding those stat points for a while now, but he didn't know what to spend them on. He thought that he should just hold onto the points until later tonight or when he was in the mood to think about those things.

It didn't take the trio long to decide what they wanted to get for lunch. Matt and Rainbow Dash did all the work on that front and they decided on apple cider from a place Dale never heard of called "Sweet Apple Acres" Matt was very excited because he wanted to try the apple cider really badly and Rainbow Dash was hyping him up for it. Dale was just happy to have some sort of break from the action for once. He barely remembers the last time he was able to just rest.

the three were walking along a path that leads slightly outside of town, Rainbow said that just following the white picket fence was the easiest way to find Sweet Apple Acres. The trees were beginning to become more populated with bright red juicy apples. They looked almost fake in a way; kind of like how a product would be presented in an advertisement.

"C'mon you two! We're almost there!" Rainbow Dash took off from the ground and began to fly ahead of the two men. Dale and Matt looked at each other before running after her.

"You have no idea how many people back home would kill to try some of this stuff!" Matt turned his head to Dale and grinned.

"Sorry, I'm not interested," Dale responded coldly.

Matt groaned in response before speaking again, "Jesus, man. Can you just at least try to enjoy yourself for once?"

Deep down, Dale knew Matt was right. Dale would never admit that to his face though. He thought about taking it slow for the time they had to just relax for once. Dale began to pick up his pace; overtaking Matt slightly.

"Alright, fine! I'll try to at least save some cider for you!" Dale looked back at Matt and winked. Matt smirked and began to race Dale towards the barn.

By the time the two men made it to the barn, Rainbow Dash had already begun talking to one of the workers there. The way the two spoke to each other gave off the impression that they are friends. The mare Rainbow was talking to didn't have anything special looking to her other than the obvious Equestria pony staples. One thing that did stick out was her dusty looking cowboy hat that she wore with pride atop of her blonde mane.

"Here they are now," Rainbow Dash said as Dale and Matt arrived on the scene. The unknown mare trotted up to the boys as they stood around to catch their breath.

"Howdy there! So you're the new critters that I heard so much about for the past few days. My names Applejack, but you can call me AJ for short," Applejack introduced herself with a tip of her hat and a wink of her green eye.

"Nice to meet you Applejack, my name is Matthew and this is Dale," Matt grabbed her extended forehoof and the two began to shake hands rather roughly, but Matt held through.

"Uhh, hey," Dale said with a small wave of his hand.

"Soooo AJ," Rainbow began, "You still have any of the apple cider left over?" The Rainbow Dash said her words implied that she already knew the answer and was just trying to goat Applejack into saying it herself.

Applejack chuckled, "You're right about that. Last cider season we managed to make it out with a few spare jars, and by the way you're drooling, it looks like you want some," Rainbow nodded very fast, causing AJ to laugh, "Well, come along you three."

The three followed Applejack inside of her house that was close to one of the stables. It was a nice little house, one with multiple rooms and a second floor. Dale just assumed that the second floor was for personal living space and didn't want to intrude on the Apple family's privacy. It didn't take long for everyone to be seated in chairs around the kitchen table, each with a cup of slightly aged cider. The drink was pretty strong for something that is primarily made with apple. It tasted pretty good, but if you were to ask Dale, he'd say it was overrated.

As he drank the cider, Dale began to feel a bit better. Dale quickly checked his arm brace to find out that his HP is increasing back to normal with each sip of the drink. In some backwards way, apple cider works as some sort of healing potion in this world. Applejack quickly finished chugging down her drink, slamming the mug down on the wooden table.

"How are ya two liking it in our small town of Ponyville? It ain't much, but it's home," Applejack asked.

"It's great!" Matt began, "Back home kind of sucked, I just feel like I belong here, y'know? I won't bore you with the details though," Matt finished by taking a drink out of his cup. Dale took notice about how Matt talked about home. Even though Dale barely knew anything about Matt, it seemed like he was holding something back about his old life, "The pony's here are great, and I've already made a few good friends after only being here for a few days. Dale, on the other hand, is leaving in a few days."

"Yeah," Dale said, "I've got some important business to take care of. It's pretty far away so I need to prepare for the trip. I just need to get some money together while I prepare," Dale left out where he was going, the last thing he needed was another freakout like what happened a few days ago. Plus, he thought it didn't matter to them where he was going. Matt took slight notice to this but didn't say anything.

Applejack placed a hoof under her chin, "Well, we could always use some help around the barn if you really need to make some bits."

"You being for real?" Dale asked.

"Of course I'm bein serious. It's gonna get real busy soon because apple season will be start'n up and we'll need as many hooves as we can get." Applejack was very passionate about her farm life and that was obvious to Dale, "I can show you around after yer done drink'n"

Dale nodded his head before taking another sip of his drink.

The next five days went like a blur for Dale. He was placed in a routine of going into the Everfree forest with Matt in the morning to fight some random encounters with his new summon. In the afternoons, Dale and Matt would be doing a group workout session with Rainbow Dash while she also practised some of her stunt work. Over the course of the days, Dale would notice when Rainbow Dash would begin to crash during a trick and began to react faster to it. He was able to avoid hits easier, as well as dodge when Rainbow would fly into him. Working at the Apple family farm in the evenings until the dead of night was a pretty gruelling task since he was already exhausted from the day. The more he worked with on the farm, the more he saw the passion the Apple family had for what they do. The family had this synergy that Dale had never seen anywhere else in his life. The pay for working at the farm was a lot bigger than he thought it was going to be, but Dale was praying that he would have enough money to pack for the journey.

Dale thought that leaving town on the day he set was going to be easy. But as it turned out, it would be one of the most difficult days of his life.

Chapter 12: Emergency Quest

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Dale's eyes fluttered open tiredly; today was the day he'd be leaving Ponyville. He had a very restless night but wasn't sure if it was from jitters or the couch he slept on finally getting the better of him. One thing was for certain, he was awake before anyone else in the house. Fluttershy and Matt were sleeping peacefully upstairs and Dale didn't want to disturb them. He didn't want to wait around for the two to wake up and thank them for the housing and food, so he decided that leaving a note was in order.

Dale took a parchment and quill that was on the living room table and began to write down his thank you note to Fluttershy.

"Dear, Fluttershy. Thank you very much for letting me stay here for the past week. I am very grateful that you opened your home to me and I will never forget that no matter where I end up. When you read this, I'll most likely be out of town. Thank you again for all that you provided me with. Sincerely, Dale Stevens," Dale finished his letter with a signature of his initials. He didn't have much to give as a thank you gift, but he couldn't linger on it too long.

Dale took a step outside and gently closed the door to not wake the people upstairs. The sun was just coming over the horizons. If Dale had to guess, it would have to be just turning 6:00 am now. Dale rubbed his eyes to help clear his vision and let out a yawn. Back on Earth, he would only get up this early when he worked at a crappy job in between school semesters. Those are the days that Dale didn't miss.

"Yo, Alex," Dale said casually as he tapped the screen of his arm brace.

"Yes, Master Dale?" The voice responded immediately. Dale felt kind of bad for not talking to Alex for a few days, but here she is, as alert as ever.

"I need you to help guide me through town and keep track of all the items I'll need to purchase."

"Apologies, Master Dale. That is something that I cannot currently do for you," Alex replied. Dale raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"What do you mean?"

"You are currently lacking that information in your "Glossary" function. Alex was very cold with her response. Dale sighed, he knew he forgot something. Dale decided to check his status screen to see if there was anything he needed to do before he left.

Name: Dale Stevens

Level: 10

HP: 100/100

MP: 50/50

Status

Strength: 6

Magic: 8

Vitality: 10

Agility: 6

Luck: 8

EXP: 43/700

App Points: 45

Skills

Zio (Light Electric damage to one foe, low chance of shock) -4MP

Bufu (Light Ice damage to one foe, low chance of freeze) -4MP

Dale took notice of how much the experience curve has gone up. even if for whatever reason he would stick around this area, he wouldn't be able to fight any tougher monsters to level up efficiently. Dale also noticed how many App Points he had to spend, so he decided to check how much any new functions would cost.

Functions

(More Functions will be available to purchase at a later date)

Advanced Translator (Translate monsters that don't speak your native language making it easier to negotiate with them) -30AP

Skills

Zio (Light Electric damage to one foe, low chance of shock) -5AP (4MP cost) (Currently Installed)

Mazio (Light Electric damage to all foes, low chance of shock) -15AP (8MP cost)

Bufu (Light Ice damage to one foe, low chance of freeze) -5AP (4MP cost) (Currently Installed)

Mabufu (Light Ice damage to all foes, low chance of freeze) -15AP (8MP cost)

Agi (Light Fire damage to one foe) -5AP (4MP cost)

Garu (Light Wind damage to one foe) -5AP (4MP cost)

Rakukaja (Rah-Koo-Kah-Jah) (Increases defence on one party member for a short period) -20AP (12MP cost)

"What the fuck is a rakukaja?" Dale tried to sound out the spell name but stumbled over his own words; he did think it sounded powerful though. After much thought, Dale chose the skills and functions that he thought he may need for this journey. He purchased Rakukaja, and the Agi skill. Dale was thinking about picking up Garu as well, but decided against it to save up for the Advanced Translator function.

Thank you for your purchase! Installing new Skills and Functions now!

App Points: 20

With that, Dale began his journey into town one last time.

Dale wiped the sweat from his forehead while he walked through the town of Ponyville. The sun was beaming down on the town more than usual today, It was beginning to get hot. The climate in Equestria is pretty different here; Dale remembered one time when Matt said that the pegasi are responsible for controlling the weather around Equestria. Matt even said that Rainbow Dash is one of these workers; Dale wouldn't trust Rainbow Dash with any responsibility that high considering how reckless she can be.

Dale sat down on the park bench right outside of Twilight's library. Dale found it wild how far he's come since the last time he was on this bench. He went from being completely lost, to having at least some sort of plan in mind. Dale opened up the inventory screen of the arm brace. It didn't surprise him all too much when he found out that he could just store the items in his inventory whenever he purchased any; he kept his money in the same place.

Dale looked through his inventory, counting everything that he has purchased thus far. There was plenty of food, mostly fruits of different varieties, but also things like energy bars. He made sure to pack plenty of water too, the last thing he'd want is to die of thirst before he could make it to Canterlot. The only thing Dale was missing was a tent, which he may have to cheap out on since he didn't have a lot of bits left.

What Dale did notice was just like the apple cider he had at Applejack's house that one time, the food he purchased can also restore his HP. Something like a single apple could restore 20HP if he ate it when injured, which is very useful information. Dale did wonder if he could even find the time in a fight to pull out an apple and gobble it down before someone could kick his ass. He thought that he should practice speed eating, that could be helpful.

"Hey!" A voice called out, catching Dale off guard. He closed his inventory to see what the noise was about. Matt was running towards Dale with a look of dread and panic on his face. "Thank god you're still here!" Matt shouted as he stopped in front of Dale. The worried tone in his voice was very offputting to Dale.

"What's up? You didn't seem like the type to have abandonment issues," Dale said jokingly as an attempt to deflate the tension.

"Shut up you idiot! There's an actual crisis going on here," Matt responded harshly. Dale has never seen this side of Matt before, so it must be important, "Look, I was out early this morning because I've had a bad feeling about the number of timberwolves close to town. Ever since you and I showed up, the situation has been getting worse. Remember Harry the bear? How we found him dead in the forest?"

"Yeah?" Dale stood up from the bench and folded his arms.

"I've been doing some digging ever since that day. Whenever you and I went out in the morning to train, I'd be on the lookout for any more of Fluttershy's animals that haven't turned up yet. Today, I went out while you were still asleep to see if I could find the animals at all," Matt leaned closer to Dale and lowered his voice so that no one passing by could hear, "I found more blood trails, kind of like the one that we found a few days ago. I followed it into this strange cave that I've never seen before; not even in the show," Matt looked around to make sure no one heard his comments, "I think I found the source of the timberwolf problem, I think I found their den."

"They've got a den set up around here huh?"

"Yeah, and like I said, something like this never happened in the show," Matt was obviously referring to the My Little Pony show, "Good thing I found the letter you left to Fluttershy before it was too late, I was afraid that you were gone already. If we hurry, we can get the girls together and storm the place before anything bad can happen," Matt grabbed Dales's arm and attempted to drag him to Twilight's library. Dale quickly yanked his arm away from Matt. Matt looked at Dale with confusion, "Hey, is something up?"

"Look, this has nothing to do with me," Dale said as he turned around; he couldn't look Matt in the eyes, "I should've been on my way by now."

Matt stood in silence, processing the words that came out of Dale's mouth. It was awkward for the both of them; Matt began to speak, "So, the week you spent here with us meant nothing then, huh? You're just going to abandon your friends because you can't just for once think of someone other than yourself? Isn't that right?" Matt raised his voice, causing a crowd of ponies to surround the two men. Even though these ponies had nothing to do with this conversation, the still would drop whatever they're doing just to observe the drama; much like humans would.

"They aren't my friends!" Dale spun around with force, glaring at Matt, "I never wanted anything to do with this. I just want to find a way back home, back to my old life! But for some reason I just can't ever have what I want, can I?"

"That's exactly what I'm talking about, Dale!" Matt began to take steps towards Dale, "When will you realize that life isn't always about you! Everypony here has been nothing but kind to you. Fluttershy let you stay in her house and gave you food out of the kindness of her heart, and when you get the opportunity to help pay her back, you just turn up your nose because you think that it isn't worth your time!" With every word Matt emphasized, he poked Dale's chest, causing him to take a step back to the crowd. Dale could feel his heart beat faster and faster as the argument between the two men became more heated.

"W-Who cares if her animals are missing anyways?" Dale was trying to rationalize his selfishness, though deep down he knew that he was in the wrong.

"It's animals today, but tomorrow it could be children and innocent lives." Matt boldly stated. No one, not even the ponies who didn't have the full context of the situation said anything in protest. After what felt like hours of silence, Matt spoke again, "Look, Dale. Someone or something has given you a second chance at life, and instead of showing appreciation for it, you just want to go back to the way things were before. In the end, it's up to you with what you do with your life, but at least consider how your actions can affect others," With that, Matt began to walk away from Dale.

The crowd stayed silent and stared at both of them. At some point during the scuffle, Twilight Sparkle had exited her library to see what the commotion was about; she began to talk to Matt with a worried look on her face as the two walked away. The crowd looked at Dale one last time before awkwardly dispersing, going back to their own lives. Dale was left alone in silence, losing himself in his thoughts.

Dale knew Matt was right, he had only been thinking about himself ever since he arrived in Equestria. But could you blame Dale for thinking for himself in a situation like this? Dale was just trying to find a way back to the life he worked so hard to get. Was it truly out of line to just leave town right now and try to forget that any of this happened? It would only really get in the way of the mission Dale was trying to accomplish.

Dale's arm brace beeped twice before opening up a holographic menu; he has received a new quest.

Quest Log

New Quest

"Timber Takedown"

The timberwolf den has been discovered and it's up to you and your party to slay the alpha once and for all!

Current Objective

Meet Matthew and his friends in the Everfree forest

Rewards:

"Law" Alignment Increases Drastically

If Quest is Declined:

"Chaos" Alignment Increases Drastically

Accept?

"Yes"

"No"

Dale was presented with a choice, either leave town and go off on his own or swallow his pride and go help out everyone with the task. It was easier for Dale to make up his mind now that he had options to chose from. All of his training with Matthew and Rainbow Dash would go to waste if he didn't leave. All of the money he earned on the Apple farm, working with Applejack and her family would be for nothing if he had no reason to use his supplies. The hours spent looking for Pinkie Pie so he could know where Matt was, the wasted time at Rarity's boutique, the shitty mornings in the Everfree forest looking for Fluttershy's damn animals, and the major ass blasting he took while fighting Twilight would be wasted. Dale needed to go to Canterlot, he needed to find a way home. It took no time at all for him to come to his decision.

Matt stood with his six pony friends outside of the dark cave. There was something offputting about it; was it the fear of the unknown? A shadowy entrance where anything could happen, including the demise of the unfortunate soul who dares to enter it at the wrong time. Matt knew one thing was for certain, he had to suck it up and do what he believed was right. Not just for himself, but for the safety of his new home.

"Matthew, are you sure this is the place?" Twilight Sparkle asked. She glared into the cave as well, squinting to try to get any sort of hint of the dangers inside.

"Positive," Matt replied, "It's too dark to see anything in there, sorry I couldn't get a look inside earlier."

"Aw, Sugar. No need for apologies. You did the right thing comin' back to us before doing anything reckless," Applejack reassured, "Dashy here would just rush in faster than a pig could run away from its bath," Applejack bumped Rainbow Dash with her flank.

"Yeah! A wonderbolt's gotta be fearless!" Rainbow Dash shouted at her friend. The group laughed in response.

"Oh boy, I love surprises! I can't wait to see what's inside! Do you think it's chocolate? No! Cake? I love cake! Can we throw a party when we're done?" Pinkie Pie jumped in place excitedly, already planning the aftermath of the quest.

"For sure!" Matt said, giving Pinkie Pie a wink. Matt turned to the crowd of ponies, "If anypony wants out now, say the word and you can leave. It may be dangerous in there; I'll try my best to keep everypony safe."

"I can't just leave now. My animal friends are still inside," Fluttershy said. She sounded more assure and more confident than usual.

"Well I for one expect Matthew to be my knight in shining armour in case there is any trouble," Rarity played with her hair and fluttered her eyes at Matt.

"You sure seven of use will be enough?" Twilight asked Matt.

"Let's hope so. It would've been easier if Dale was here, that's for sure," Matt crossed his arms

"I'll kick his teeth in the next time we see him. That'll show him to not abandon his friends," Rainbow Dash threw some air punches in the middle of her words.

"I wouldn't waste the effort, Dash. He's long gone at this point," Matt said.

"I always knew he was a brute from the second I laid eyes on him! He would stare longingly at me when I was fixing up his clothes, a forbidden lust filled his heart because he knew that someone like him would never be able to win over a pony as beautiful and magnificent as I!" Rarity overacted her performance as much as a high school student would in a drama class. Everyone else just looked at her awkwardly.

"A brute, huh?" The voice said through the forest. The group quickly turned their heads towards the source of the sound, eyes widened. Dale walked from the fog covered bushes with a small smile on his face.

"What?!" The entire group yelled in unison.

"You came back?!" Matt shouted at Dale in shock.

"Hey, Guys-AH!" Dale's greeting was interrupted by Rainbow Dash giving Dale a swift slap across the face. Before she could continue her attacks on Dale, Applejack grabbed Rainbow's tale with her teeth and dragged her back.

"Sorry bout that, partner. RD gets like that," Applejack said through her teeth.

"I'm not gonna lie, I kind of deserved that," Dale rubbed his cheek as an attempt to soothe the pain.

-5HP

"I heard that you were running away with your tail between your legs! What're you doing here?" Rainbow said with a lot of sass in her voice.

"I'm here because I wanted to right my wrongs," Dale began. The group quieted down and looked at Dale, "I was acting like a real ass ever since I got here. To put it bluntly, I was being selfish and I said things that I shouldn't have. Even though I'm a total stranger to all of you, you guys still offered me kindness and respect. I took you all for granted and only focused on myself. Matt helped me realized this, I'm not the most important person in the world and my actions have consequences. I guess in a way I was just scared and was desperately trying to cling onto my old life and wanted to get back to that. I still plan on going to Canterlot when this is over, I just couldn't get over it if I gave up here. But I wanted to apologize to you all for how I've acted. Especially to you, Matt."

The group sat in silence at Dale's words, not knowing how to react. After a couple of minutes, Matt smiled and looked at Dale.

"Are you sure it's me that you should be saying that to?" Matt teased before eyeing Fluttershy.

Dale chuckled; he got on one knee so he could look Fluttershy in the eyes when he spoke, "Fluttershy, I'm sorry for taking you for granted. I should have said 'Thank you' a lot more than I did. I should have been there when Matt told you about what happened with your friend Harry. I wasn't being a good friend to you then. Hopefully, I can make it up to you by being here now. I promise that I'll make sure your other animal friends are okay."

Fluttershy couldn't respond with her words, instead, she latched onto Dale with a tight hug. Dale could feel her tears dampen his jacket. He cautiously hugged her back for a moment before letting her go. Dale stood up and gave Fluttershy a reassuring nod.

"Ahem, I believe you're forgetting about somepony in particular," Rarity tilted her head up with pride.

"Sorry for being a "brute," Dale laughed.

"Apology accepted," Rarity said.

"Hurray! Dale's back! That means we can have two parties when we're finished! A welcome back and a victory party!" Pinkie Pie sounded like she was about to overload.

"Save the party planning for later," Twilight said. She covered her horn in the dark purple glow of her magic and began to light the way into the dark cavern, "Alright, girls. Also Matt and Dale. It's time we get a move on," Twilight began to walk into the cave full of confidence.

"Right!" Everyone shouted as the followed swiftly.

For what seemed like a small cavern on the outside, turned out to be a sprawling labyrinth of different pathways, most lead to dead ends. The darkness could almost reignite the childhood fear of a monster hiding in the dark, but rather than your parents showing you that everything is okay, there may be something hiding in there. Dale placed a hand on the cavern wall as they walked in fear that the group may get turned around somehow. Even though Ponyville and the surrounding area has been free of clouds, the walls were very damp. Since this was a timberwolf den, it could be tree sap rather than moisture. Matt pulled Dale to the side and began to talk to him.

"Hey, can you give us a second?" Matt said to the group of ponies, "I just need to talk to Dale about something important. Feel free to take a break, girls," The ponies nodded their heads in agreement and attempted to relax their tense muscles

"What's up?" Dale whispered to Matt.

"Is this place creeping you out too?" Matt asked.

"Yeah, a bit," Dale was honest with his companion.

"It's totally weird, I imagined that a den wouldn't be this confusing to navigate. I was thinking that this is like a dungeon in an RPG," Matt lowered his voice in fear that someone may overhear the two and ask what an "RPG" was.

"You're the expert here, man. What do you do in those games whenever you get to a dungeon," Dale had to rely on Matt once again.

"We've got to get to the end of the place and beat the boss, but I have no idea where we're going. We haven't seen a single timber wolf yet either."

"Maybe they're about to feast, so we just need to find out where they keep the food."

"If that's the case, then we need to hurry. Fluttershy's animals could be in danger. I just wish we knew where to go..." Matt placed a hand on his chin trying to think of a solution. Matt let out a sigh, not knowing how to handle the situation, "We're gonna need a group opinion on this one," Matt walked towards the group of girls to ask questions. Dale followed closely, making sure to not be left in the dark. The only source of light was coming from Rarity and Twilight's horns after all, "Alright, we're going to need everypony to say what they know about timberwolves. Dale and I believe that they are currently preparing to feast on any prey that they have, we just need to know where they are keeping the pray. Does anypony know about how timberwolves work as a pack?"

Fluttershy began to look even more worried about her animal friends, Dale had to reassure her that everything was going to be okay.

"Well, timberwolves stay in packs so they can hunt, It's instinct for them to use their sense of smell to locate their prey. The same could be applied to where they keep their prey before they feast on them as a group.

"Oh! It's like when you throw a big party and nopony knows where the food and drinks are, usually, they just ask me where we keep them," Pinkie Pie said, "But if I'm not around, they can just smell the delicious cupcakes and find their way like that!" The way Pinkie Pie described it was crude, but she was correct.

"So we just need to smell?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Not just smell, but we have to be able to tell the smells apart and I don't think any of us can do that with enough accuracy. Unless humans can," Twilight said.

"Sorry, we can't do that," Matt responded with gloom in his voice, "But maybe..." Matt looked at his arm brace, his eyes widening, "Dale!"

"Uh... Yeah?" Dale raised an eyebrow.

"You still have that timberwolf you can summon right?" Matt looked at Dale, hope filling his eyes.

Dale caught on to what Matt was implying, "Yeah!"

"Hold on just a minute, did you just say "summon?" Applejack was very confused and felt lost.

"Yeah, it's something Dale and I can do. Come on! Bust it out!" Matt shouted excitedly; his voice echoed through the cavern.

"Right!" Dale replied. He opened up his holographic menu and selected the "Summoning" option

Summoning

Timberwolf: HP 80/80, MP 20

N/A

Do you wish to summon "Timberwolf"

"Yes"

"No"

Dale pressed "Yes" on the summon screen. He pulled his arm back and thrust it forward the same way Matt did it. In a white flash of light, the timberwolf Dale has been training with appeared in front of the young man.

Timberwolf

HP: 80/80

MP: 20/20

Status

Strength: 6

Magic: 2

Vitality: 8

Agility: 9

Luck: 2

Skills

Feral Bite (Moderate physical damage to one foe, medium crit) 12% Max HP

Stun Claw (light physical damage to one foe, medium stun chance) 17% Max HP

Taunt (Causes every enemy to focus on the caster, gives defence boost) 20 MP

Learnable Skills

N/A

Something Dale had noticed after training with the timberwolf summoned was that it gained EXP a lot slower than Dale himself did. This could prove to be a problem if the timberwolf falls far behind later on.

"Woah," Twilight was put in a trance by the summon ability that Dale just showed, she's never seen anything like it before.

"That's pretty tight," Rainbow Dash said with a whistle.

"Uhh, it's friendly right?" Rarity took a step back from the timberwolf.

"Don't worry, it won't hurt you. Unless you ever call me a 'brute' again," Dale teased. Rarity only stamped her hoof and let out a "hmph" in response, "Alrighty, boy. Go give us a house tour," Dale encouraged his timberwolf companion like it was his own dog. The timberwolf sniffed the air a few times and began to trot down the cavern system.

"Twilight, if you can give us light?" Matt asked.

The group followed the timberwolf through the dark. Dale made sure to have it slow down if it was getting too far ahead. The further they went into the darkness, the more anxious everyone became. It felt like they were travelling for days, but in reality, it could've only been an hour inside the cave. There was a light at the end of one of the tunnels, the timberwolf companion ran towards it and was engulfed by the light.

"We're almost there!" Matt shouted as he ran ahead of the group.

"Wait! Be careful!" Twilight tried to slow down Matt but to no avail. Rainbow Dash was also caught up in the excitement and flew forward as fast as she could; the sound of her wings echoed through the cavern with every flap.

After a few seconds of silence, Matt began to yell from the other side of the light, "Maragi!" followed by an intense heat blasting through the cavern. The group ran forward to catch up with Matt and see what was going on.

"What the hell!?" Dale shouted when he made it to the end of the tunnel. He looked around at what appeared to be the timberwolf feeding grounds. Multiple bones were completely picked of their meat laying around the ground. Live animals were running around the area, scared out of their minds. Not just because of the predators surrounding them in the room, but also because of Matt throwing around fireballs at groups of timberwolves. The feeding grounds had multiple cracks in the cavern ceiling to let light in which reflected off of the bloodstained ground. Dale couldn't even tell if the blood was fresh or not, it didn't matter to him at this moment.

There were multiple entrances to this feeding ground, all of which had multiple timberwolves pouring in. This room alone was as big as a high school football field was back home, and this space was required for all of the chaos that was ensuing.

"Maragi!" Matt called out again. He fired off multiple fireballs at once, each of them slamming into their targets. A total of four timberwolves exploded into multiple shards of burning wood and sap.

-72HP Weak! Enemies Defeated!

Matt was too busy to notice that his friends had come in to help him out. Rainbow Dash was already getting to work by slamming her hooves into timberwolves with the speed that was nearly impossible to keep up with. Every single blow produced a red number.

-30HP

-23HP

-26HP Enemy Defeated!

Rainbow Dash wasn't nearly as efficient as Matt was at dispatching of foes, but unlike Matt, she didn't need MP to defeat them.

"We've got to help them!" Twilight shouted as she charged into battle. Dale could hardly keep track of what was going on anymore as the three fearlessly battled away to protect the animals.

Applejack quickly took charge of the five that were standing there, "Fluttershy, Rarity, Pinkie Pie! Make sure the critters get out safely. Dale and I will help out Twi and the others," The three that were commanded immediately took off to do their job. Applejack looked at Dale and said, "Make sure you and the good timberwolf stay out of our way so we don't get confused and beat it up," Applejack ran out of sight. Dale and his timberwolf took place at one of the feeding ground entrances and prepared to battle.

Everything else surrounding Dale didn't matter to him anymore. It was just him and the oncoming threat that he needed to focus one. One by one, timberwolves poured out of the cavern entrance until they were in a group of three. Even though Dale was short by one party member for it to be an equal match, he still has the elemental advantage in the form of the Agi skill he purchased earlier.

One of the fiend timberwolves lunged at Dale, sap dripping from its sharp wooden teeth. Dale managed to jump out of the way of the creature and retaliated by having his own timberwolf engage in battle with it, "Feral Bite," Dale shouted. Dale's timberwolf tackled the enemy to the rocky ground, biting down on the neck of it. Dale's timberwolf tore the head of the enemy's clean off

-60HP Critical! Enemy Defeated!

Dale's arm brace alerted him that the skill the timberwolf just used subtracted some of the 12% of its max HP

Timberwolf

HP: 70/80

(HP skills will take the percentage and round it up to the nearest single digit. In this case, 12% of 80 is 9.6, but it will be rounded up to 10 because the HP is also a flat number with no half points of HP)

Dale was too distracted with looking at the arm brace that he didn't notice one of the other timberwolves attack him. Dale was knocked to the ground, pinned down by a timberwolf that clawed at his face.

-13HP

Dale managed to roll the heavy creature off of him before it could continue its assault. Dale quickly scrambled to his feet and kicked the creature while it was down.

-32HP

This attack didn't kill the timberwolf right away, so Dale commanded his own timberwolf to attack the down one. Dale's timberwolf charged into battle, clawing and biting at the downed enemy until it exploded into a flash of red.

-35HP Enemy Defeated.

Dale smirked at how easily these creatures were being defeated by him and his timberwolf; all the level grinding really paid off in the end. The last timberwolf took a couple of steps back in fear that it has reached the end of its life. Dale pulled back his arm and shouted, "Agi!" Dale's palm grew hot, almost as hot as when you place your hand inside the oven when it's been preheated. A bright orange ball of fire flew out of his hand, the heat of it warming his face. The ball travelled forward and collided with the enemy, causing it to instantly explode into shards that all disappeared in the bright red flash every enemy did.

-67HP Weak! Enemy Defeated!

Before Dale could even take a breather, more timberwolves appeared from the cave. This time, it was a set of four that he had to battle.

"How many of these fucking things are there?" Dale thought to himself; it didn't matter right now, the only thing that did was the battle for survival.

Dale was hunched over, catching his breath. The group finally did it, they eliminated the timberwolves that were constantly pouring in, or they at the very least caused them to retreat for the time being. Despite the number of enemy's Dale dispatched, he didn't level up at all from it. His experience curve was growing too high for these creatures to keep up with. Dale checked his status screen to see his HP and MP

Name: Dale Stevens

Level: 10

HP: 46/100

MP: 22/50

Dale had almost exhausted most of his MP during the battle against the horde of enemies and didn't have any items that could restore any, but he did have a way to restore HP. Dale took multiple apples out of his inventory; one by one he began to eat them. He even tossed a few apples on the ground for his timberwolf to eat. Twilight saw this and looked at him with confusion.

"Uh... What are you doing?" She asked.

"Trust me, it helps," Dale's words were muffled by the amount of fruit he was stuffing into his face. He peered around to see if everyone was alright. Rainbow Dash and Applejack were collapsed on top of each other in exhaustion and Twilight was sweating up a storm. Her horn was still lit as well, almost like she didn't notice it. The only person who wasn't accounted for was Matt, he was missing, "H-Hey? Do you know where Matt went?" Dale was a bit concerned.

"He said *Huff* He said something about the Alpha Dog I think," Rainbow Dash tried to say in between breaths.

"He went off to do the boss battle alone!?" Dale shouted. Twilight raised her eyebrow at Dale.

"Boss battle? What do you mean?" Twilight leaned in like a sceptic.

"That doesn't matter right now we've gotta help him! AJ, RD, can you two walk?" Dale ran over to the two exhausted mares.

"Y-Yeah, just uh... just give us a minute, sugar cube," Applejack said.

"Damnit," Dale thought. He realized that these two already spent all of their energy on the horde that they fought, "Twilight? Can you get these two back to town? or at the very least, out of here?"

Twilight had to think for a second before answering, "I'm pretty sure I've got it in me to do one teleport to the library, but then I'll have to take it easy for a bit."

"Can you use it now?"

"Now? But what about Matthew?"

"I'll take care of him, you just need to get these two out of here before any more timberwolves come back. Matt might be in trouble right now and we can't risk leaving Rainbow Dash and Applejack alone or waiting for him to come back," Dale stated. He knew that the only thing Twilight could do is use her magic for the teleport, if she wasted even a single drop of it on anything else, there's a chance that she may not have enough to teleport.

Twilight didn't answer right away. Worry began to take over her face, but she knew she had to trust Dale, "Just please be careful. The moment I have enough magic, I'll come back for you two."

"It's okay, we'll be alright," Dale reassured Twilight. He gave her a thumbs up and winked, "Just make sure to take it easy."

Twilight smiled briefly; her horn began to glow bright, purple aura surrounding her and her friends. A white flash and a poof later, they were gone, leaving Dale to find Matt.

Dale turned to his timberwolf summon, "You think you can find Matt?" The timberwolf nodded before running off into one of the caverns with Dale following swiftly.

Dale wasn't sure what to expect when he'd reach the end of the tunnel that he was being guided through. He wanted to reach the end and find out that Matt took care of everything by himself just so he can finally have a chance to rest and go to sleep, but life isn't always that easy. The last thing Dale was expecting was what turned out to be true. The "Alpha Dog" was no ordinary timberwolf. This timberwolf was massive in scale, it was around 30 feet tall. The hulking Timberwolf had full trees attached to it rather than the logs and branches that made up the smaller ones. it was constantly oozing with sap and had sharp teeth made out of stone.

Simply put, it was a monster.

The creature towered above the injured Matthew who was attempting to crawl away from the thing. Matt was seriously injured and was almost knocking on death's door. Time seemed to freeze when Matt looked up and saw Dale standing in the entrance with a shocked expression. Dale saw that the timberwolf was preparing its jaws to eat Matt in a single bit. Dale didn't even think, he just reacted on instinct. He thrust his hand forward and shouted as loud as he could, "Taunt!" Dale's friendly timberwolf let out a mighty howl, catching the attention of the Alpha Dog. Dale's timberwolf lit up blue for a moment before returning to normal.

With each step the Alpha Dog took, the entire cavern the men were in started to shake. Loose rocks came falling from the ceiling, almost crushing Dale as he ran towards Matt.

"D-Dale," Matt said weakly. He began to cough violently, blood spraying onto the floor, "I couldn't do it! I thought I could beat it on my own, but I just couldn't!" tears began to fall from Matt as he slammed his fist onto the stone ground.

"It's okay, it's okay!" Dale said. He opened up his inventory and quickly pulled out a bunch of food from it, "Just eat this, please! It'll heal you. Do it fast though, the Alpha Dog is focusing on my timberwolf right now." Matt ate as fast as he could, his wounds slowly healing.

"The bastard killed my parasprite; I've got no way of healing myself. Even though it's supposed to be weak to fire, it keeps putting up this red barrier before I can hit it with Agi. This barrier blocks the spell; it wiped the floor with me.

"Come on, Matt. We can find a way to beat this thing..." Dale helped Matt off the ground and onto his feet. Matt's HP recovered.

+70HP

"He's got a lot of HP, even with the Parasprite using Garu spells, I don't think I made much progress against it," Matt glared at the beast with anger. The Alpha Dog managed to smack Dale's timberwolf across the room with one powerful swipe. The timberwolf tumbled across the stone and right into the rock wall.

-35HP

Dale took notice that even with the defence boost the Taunt skill gave the timberwolf, it still received a crazy amount of damage. It was very clear to both of them that even with their spells and elemental advantage that they were simply too weak to take this monster on even as a team. Dale had to think of a plan quickly to defeat this monster before it eats them.

"My timberwolf has the Stun Claw skill, if we get lucky enough, we may be able to keep the giant timberwolf in place," Dale suggested.

"If it's stunned, then maybe it won't be able to use the red wall ability and we can just slam it with as mani Agi spells as we can," Matt quickly checked his status menu, "I've only got enough MP to cast three more."

"I can cast at most five Agi spells, but I can also give one of us a defence boost in case we go in for a physical hit. It takes 12MP so that'll leave me with at least two Agi spells," Dale said. Their conversation was interrupted by the booming steps of the giant timberwolf charging towards the two, gradually picking up speed. This was the best shot they had at beating the creature, it was all up to a coin flip whether or not they can stun the creature. The two men looked at each other and nodded, this was their final gamble, "Stun Claw!" Dale shouted.

Dale's timberwolf charged towards the Alpha Dog in a final showdown. Dale's creature leapt up towards the monster, slashing it deep across the face; mountains of sap pouring out of the wound.

-23HP

The monster stumbled back slightly after the attack. The two men crossed their fingers and hoped to god that they managed to inflict the stun status effect.

But nothing happened.

The creature moved just fine on its own as if nothing happened. The giant timberwolf picked up Dale's summon in its mouth and threw it up towards the ceiling. Dale's timberwolf exploded into multiple shards and disappeared in a flash of red. Dale and Matt stood there in shock as the room shook violently, more boulders crashing down from the decaying roof of rocks. This time, Dale took notice of what just happened; he quickly shot his hand forward, "Bufu!" he shouted with adrenaline.

The ice crystal fired out of Dale's hand at the speed of a rocket, colliding with the foe.

-30HP

"What are you doing?" Matt asked snapping out of his daze of fear. Dale didn't answer right away, he just stood there glaring at the Alpha Dog, hoping his plan would work. Dale's eyes widened as he saw the ice slowly begin to cover the timberwolf, trapping it in a frozen prison.

"Blast the ceiling with everything you've got!" Dale commanded Matt. It took Matt a second to understand the plan Dale just hatched. His eyes widened at the crazy idea, but it was their only chance at victory. Both men thrust their arms in rapid succession, each time shouting Agi! Every fire blast was aimed at the ceiling; exploding on impact. Even though Matt fired his two right away, he was still making the motion and saying the word in hope that something would happen.

Boulders began to fall from the roof, multiple landing right on the frozen timberwolf, with only a few missing.

-98HP Critical!

-102HP Critical!

-97HP Critical!

-100HP Critical!

-101HP Critical!

The numbers kept piling on as the timberwolf was crushed by more and more boulders. Dale and Matt began to make their leave as quickly as they could, just narrowly escaping their crushing by hiding in the entrance of the room. The two lay on the floor in the cavern exhausted, taking deep breaths and silently praying to god that they put the beast down.

"Did we win?" Dale asked. Matt sat up and checked his arm brace, experience points began to pile on. Not a small amount either, both of them received 3000 EXP each. Dale checked the notification on his arm brace.

Level Up!

Level: 13

You've earned 9 stat points! Please choose what stats you wish to improve!

App Points: 50

Dale couldn't care less about the stat points and app points he earned, all he wanted to do is soak in the free HP and MP restoration. Dale began to chuckle to himself a bit, causing Matt to look over at him.

"What's so funny?" He asked. Dale calmed himself down for one moment.

"You think we'll be able to take on the Alpha Dog now?" Dale said while elbowing Matt. Matt sat in silence for a moment before beginning to chuckle himself, which turned into full-on laughter. The men both fell on their backs from laughing, they stayed like this for a few minutes.

"Hey, Dale," Matt said.

"Yeah?"

"Thanks for coming back. I'd be dead if you didn't show up."

"I was just returning the favour," Dale said, he was referring to the first time he and Matt met.

"Wait until the girls hear about this one," Matt said.

Quest Log

Quest Completed!

"Timber Takedown"

Rewards:

"Law" Alignment Increases Drastically

Alignment Shift

Current Alignment: Law

It was now night time. Dale and Matt made their way back to Ponyville with no trouble at all. When they defeated the Alpha Dog, it seemed that all the timberwolves disappeared. Dale hoped that they were gone for good, but knowing his luck, this was only a temporary victory. It didn't take long for everyone to find themselves at Sugarcube corner, celebrating a job well done. Even Dale was trying to enjoy himself after all of this, he thought that he damn well earned the right to anyway. The way Matt explained the story to the girls sort of favoured himself more than Dale, which he didn't mind too much. They seemed to be gripped by the last-minute save more than anything. If you were to ask Dale about how they made it out, he'd respond with one word. Luck.

"Dale, um, since you leaving was pushed back by one day because of my animals. You can stay at my home again if you'd like, I don't mind..." Fluttershy said sheepishly.

"Thanks for the offer. It isn't your fault at all, so don't worry about it. I'll be heading out tomorrow for sure though," Dale responded. Matt placed his drink down on the table and prepared himself for what he was about to say.

"Well guys, there's no better time to say this than now..." Matt began. Everyone, including Dale, looked at him with confusion.

"Is something wrong, Matthew?" Twilight asked with concern. Dale began to sip the drink he had to help calm his nerves.

"You see... I've been thinking about something... I realized today that I want to go to Canterlot too!" Matt said with determination. When Matt finished his sentence, Dale almost choked on his drink, "And I'll be damned if I have to wait for the train to be back in service. So as of tomorrow, I'll be leaving with Dale." Dale sat in silence when Matt finished talking, he can't be serious, can he?

"Well if Matty's going, then so am I!" Pinkie Pie announced, "I said I'd stay by Matty's side no matter what!"

"Oh God," Dale thought to himself.

"You know what, it has been a while since the last time we were in Canterlot, so maybe I should join too," Twilight said with a smile.

"Oh Fuck!" Dale thought when Twilight finished. One by one, everyone at the table came up with their own excuse for joining the journey to Canterlot. Ranging from checking out the fashion state to advertising fucking apples there. Even though it was supposedly a gruelling task to make it there on foot, no one seemed to care because they were going together. The ponies even started to make plans on what they'd do when they got there.

"Well, Dale. Looks like the whole gang will be joining you for the journey! Isn't that great!" Matt wrapped his arm around Dale's shoulder.

"Oh God, Oh Fuck, Oh God, Oh Fuck, Oh God, Oh Fuck," Those words went through Dale's mind on repeat. Dale wanted to go on this journey to get away from these people and try to find a way back home! But as of tomorrow he's no longer going alone, now he has a party of seven others going with him. Dale was now regretting winning against the giant timberwolf.

Chapter 13: The Journey to Canterlot

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It was now the day following the Timberwolf situation, and Dale has finally managed to leave Ponyville. The only issue in his eyes was that he was stuck going with some of the ponies of said town. They didn't seem to grasp the fact that even though Dale helped them out, that he wasn't their friend. Dale didn't hate any of them, he just thought that there were more important things to worry about currently. But, he'd be lying if he didn't admit that it was nice to travel with someone other than himself.

Before the group left town, they made sure to stock up on supplies and make a schedule for how they would be travelling. Matt and Twilight were coordinating everyone to get tents, food, water, and all the necessities to make this travel. Twilight estimated that the trip would take about four days if they moved at a reasonable pace and took breaks every couple of hours. She even made sleeping schedules for everyone.

Dale had a lot less to worry about for the journey now, but the thought of being eaten by an unbeatable monster still lingered in the back of his mind.

The light of the sun sliced through the trees, illuminating the dark green grass of the Everfree Forest. The atmosphere of the forest felt different than it was back when the group was closer to Ponyville. Even though the forest looked really calming and friendly, in the back of the group's mind, they knew it was some sort of trap to lead them into a false sense of security.

Twilight was the one leading the pack. She was scanning the map in front of her eyes while occasionally glancing upwards to see if they were heading the correct way. Matt followed closely behind her; he volunteered to be the first line of defence if any monsters were to attack the group since he could summon his Parasprite as a backup if needed. The rest of the ponies were behind Matt with Dale being at the very back of the group. Matt directed Dale to stay in the back in case something came at them from behind. Dale didn't mind this position as he could just zone out until his arm brace gave him the warning to watch out.

Dale and Matt were both tasked with carrying the supplies in their inventories. Twilight questioned the men constantly about how their arm brace devices worked before the left town, but they both just dodged the questions by saying 'it's just a human thing'

Dale placed his hands in his pockets as his eyes darted around the trees of the forest. The forest reminded him of the times when he was younger where he and his childhood friends would go on make-believe adventures. In real life, it would just be a simple park, but in their minds, it was a sprawling jungle filled with vicious creatures. It was kind of humorous to the young man now that he thought about it. He had been on his own real-life adventure for a bit now, and he couldn't wait for it to all be over when he reached his destination. At least, that's what Dale hoped.

"ugh, I cannot believe that there is this much filth around here!" Rarity complained. She was attempting to avoid as much of the gunk on the ground as she could. Edging around puddles of dark green water, dodging strange goop that was just laying on the ground, and making sure that her hooves stayed as clean as possible.

"Quit your whining. It ain't that bad," Applejack responded bluntly. She stepped in a puddle, causing the liquid to splash out of it and almost land on Rarity.

Rarity quickly moved her front left hoof out of the way in response, "Easy for you to say. You don't spend nearly as much time as I do making sure everything looks good!" Rarity said back, "You should have let me bring the proper clothing for the trip. The ground is so icky!"

"Like I said before we left, it would only slow us all down if you brought all of your designer clothing or whatever" Applejack and Rarity continued their argument to themselves as they walked. Twilight, however, was beginning to get annoyed with their bickering. Her eye visibly twitched as she tried to focus on the map before letting out a groan in annoyance.

"How about we take a break!" She shouted in frustration. Everyone stopped in their tracks and looked at her with worry in their eyes. Dale had a slight idea of what Twilight Sparkle was capable of, and he didn't want to be on the receiving end of her might again, "We've been out for a while already and we could all use a rest for a bit."

Rainbow Dash, who had been flying for the entire journey so far, landed on the ground, "Already? C'mon, I can go for much longer!" She boasted.

Pinkie Pie skid to a halt, her eyes filling with glee, "Hurray! I've been waiting for this moment my entire life! I get to share the snacks I baked for this occasion!" Pinkie Pie quickly dashed over to Matt and began to bounce up and down while squealing, "I made a very special one for you too Matty!"

Matt scratched the back of his head, his face flushing slightly, "That's real nice of you, Pinkie,"

Fluttershy, however, looked a little down from the exchange. Her eyes drifted to the ground and she dragged her hoof through the damp grass. Dale saw her actions from where he was standing and took a mental note. Dale tapped his arm brace to bring up his inventory and selected a single apple. The fruit materialized in his hand as he walked towards Fluttershy.

"Hey," Dale said to the pony. Fluttershy snapped back to reality and jolted back to her regular position, her eyes wide in surprise. She looked up at Dale a little embarrassed. Dale smiled lightly as he offered her the apple with no words. Fluttershy cautiously took the apple from the usually cold human with her mouth. She sat on her haunches and bit into the apple, using her forehooves to hold the fruit in place.

Dale walked away without saying a word and leaned his pack against a nearby tree. He summoned a bottle of water from his inventory and began to take drinks from it casually. His body cooled off because of the liquid, letting him clear his mind and think about things.

"Five whole days of this? Canterlot better be worth it because I can already tell that this journey is going to be a slog," Dale thought to himself.

"Hey bro, how are you holdin' up?" Matt walked over to Dale, taking bites out of the treat Pinkie Pie made for him. Dale looked towards Matt and at the cupcake, he was holding. The sweet has a little pink heart on it that was half-eaten. Dale opened his mouth, about to tell Matt about Fluttershy's feelings but decided against it. Whatever was going on between those two didn't involve Dale, so he decided that he shouldn't try to intervene.

"I'm doing alright," Dale quickly said.

Matt raised an eyebrow in confusion, "Uh, okay?" Matt took another bite from his food while leaning on the tree close to Dale, "You know, it's weird. I never imagined the Everfree forest to look calming,"

"What do you mean?" Dale asked.

"Well, from what I was told and what I knew about this place, it was supposed to be nothing but trouble. It's dangerous in here yeah, but when something isn't trying to kill you and you get the chance to take it in, it's actually pretty nice," Matt's eyes followed a leaf that fell off of one of the trees, "That doesn't change the fact that from here on out, the monsters are gonna get stronger than they were back at Ponyville," Matt stood up straight and began to stretch his arms and legs, "And I for one, can't wait to see what else I can recruit!" He gave Dale a thumbs up and winked at him before walking towards the mares and instantly beginning a conversation.

"Stronger monsters..." Dale thought to himself. He knew that Matt was right; video games are supposed to get more difficult the farther on you get, and Dale wasn't sure if he was really prepared for that fact.

Dale quickly opened up his status screen and examined it.

Name: Dale Stevens

Level: 13

HP: 100/100

MP: 50/50

Stat Points: 9

Status

Strength: 6

Magic: 8

Vitality: 10

Agility: 6

Luck: 8

EXP: 37/1200

App Points: 50

Dale had forgotten that he had earned a lot of rewards for defeating the Alpha Timber Wolf. The stat points alone was a huge thing since he had 9 that he could spend. Dale had to think about what he prioritized most; his biggest issue was the fact that he kept running out of MP, so he needed to rectify that. Dale quickly dumped 5 of the stat points into magic to fix it. It also helped that his spells would be more effective this way.

"Matt said that there were going to be stronger monsters... Maybe I should put more into luck to make getting new ally's easier?" Dale thought. He hadn't realized it at first, but Matt actually gave him a tip when the two were talking. Dale spent the remaining 4 points upgrading his luck stat.

Dale decided to also check the Functions to see what he could spend his App Points on.

Functions

(More Functions will be available to purchase at a later date)

Advanced Translator (Translate monsters that don't speak your native language making it easier to negotiate with them) -30AP

Skills

Zionga (Medium Electric damage to one foe, medium chance of shock) -20AP (8MP cost)

Mazio (Light Electric damage to all foes, low chance of shock) -15AP (8MP cost)

Bufu (Light Ice damage to one foe, low chance of freeze) -5AP (4MP cost) (Currently Installed)

Mabufu (Light Ice damage to all foes, low chance of freeze) -15AP (8MP cost)

Agi (Light Fire damage to one foe) -5AP (4MP cost) (Currently Installed)

Garu (Light Wind damage to one foe) -5AP (4MP cost)

Rakukaja (Rah-Koo-Kah-Jah) (Increases defence on one party member for a short period) -20AP (12MP cost) (Currently Installed)

This one was a no brainer for Dale as he wanted to obtain new monsters, the last thing he wants is to be stuck with the Timberwolf he has when it can get curb stomped. Dale also saw that there was a new Zio skill that said was more powerful than the old one. It costed as much as the Mazio skill to use, but it was a single target attack instead. It seemed like a really good improvement, so Dale took the plunge and spent the last of his AP on the Zionga skill. He hoped that he wouldn't get buyers remorse from the purchase.

Thank you for your purchase! Installing new Skills and Functions now!

App Points: 0

Dale closed his screen and stood up from the tree. It was about time the group went back onto the road.

The group have been back on the journey for about an hour. The terrain became murkier as they travelled through the swamp section of the Everfree forest. The sun had begun to set and the path became darker. The group walked much closer to each other than before. There were no signs of enemies just yet, but they were all anticipating something to go wrong.

Somehow, through all of this, Pinkie Pie kept up her usual bubbly self. She was still bouncing around and whistling, but that made it tenser for everyone else. Fluttershy kept very close to Matt, almost using him as a shield.

"Don't worry, we'll be alright as long as I'm here," Matt reassured his friend. Fluttershy only nodded in response and pressed up against him, shivering lightly.

"Keep your guard up everypony, we're almost in the clear," Twilight said as she ignited her horn. The violet glow of her horn illuminated the area around the group, but Twilight didn't consider how much this exposed the group to predators. Dale and Matt's arm braces both flashed red before the swamp water began to violently bubble. Twilight let out a yelp and stumbled back slightly, startled.

Out of the water sprang a crocodile, but it wasn't like the ones back on Earth. This crocodile was completely made out of stone, much like the timberwolves near Ponyville. Different colours of rocks covered the creature like it was armour, and its teeth were also made out of stone. Dark green rocks ran across it's back and black stones protruded out of the creature like spikes. The size of this crocodile was overwhelming. If it stood on its hind legs, it would tower even over the two humans in height.

Cragadile

HP: 150/150

MP: 30/30

Skills

(Unknown)

Actions

Fight

Talk

Run

Twilight quickly ran to the front of the group and lowered her stance slightly, igniting her horn. Even though the creature surprised her, she was able to quickly recover and get ready to fight. Rainbow Dash flew to her side and the mares nodded their heads to each other. Dale had also begun to take his battle stance. Without words, the group came to the conclusion that they needed to fight the thing.

"Wait!" Matt shouted, catching everyone off guard, "Let me try something!" Matt ran up to the front lines and raised his hands to the cragadile. Matt gently approached the creature, "It's okay, we're not gonna hurt you," Matt told the cragadile. The cragadile snarled at the young man, swamp water pouring out of its agape mouth. Matt looked behind him and saw that everyone was still ready to attack if the creature made any wrong moves, " Hey, hey! Take it easy, guys!" Matt shouted at the group.

"What are you doing? That thing is dangerous!" Twilight shouted at Matt.

"Yeah, just let us kick that things tail!" Rainbow Dash pounded her hooves together.

"Trust me on this! Just calm down and watch this," Matt replied calmly. The two mares looked at each other and without words, came to an agreement to lower their guard a bit. Dale also lowered his guard a bit, he knew what Matt was trying to do. Matt turned back towards the cragadile, "See? They were just scared, we don't mean any harm," Matt summoned a strange rock to his hand and placed it on the ground, "It's called a 'Life Stone' you can have it if you want," Matt lowered his own guard. Dale watched in awe at how easily Matt was winning the creature over.

"No way..." Dale thought. The cragadile took the stone in his mouth and swallowed it; the creature looked pleased.

"So how about it? You want to come along with me?" Matt asked the cragadile, gently patting it on the nose. The cragadile smiled, it's sharp teeth being illuminated by Twilight's magical light. The creature walked pass Matt, the human smirking, "Don't worry about it guys, he's friendly." Everyone but Dale looked at Matt in shock at how he managed to tame a beast. Twilight ran up to Matt, her eyes gleaming with curiosity.

"That was amazing! You need to tell me how you did that!" Twilight quickly pulled a quill and parchment out of her saddlebag and began to fire questions at Matt at a rapid pace.

"Slow down for just a second, we should probably set up camp before you get too excited, Twi," Applejack bumped Twilight and stuck her tongue out at her. Twilight blushed at her actions.

"Oh... Y-Yeah we should do that," Twilight quickly recovered from her own missteps.

The group made a lot of progress today towards Canterlot but they were still a long ways away from the upper-class city. The journey there will be much more difficult from here on out...

Chapter 14: Reminiscing

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Dale tossed another stick into the campfire, causing more flames to erupt from it. The group had settled down for the night and tents were being set up. Even though the party was made up of adults, they were still dividing it up like kids. There was going to be a girls tent and a boys tent. Dale didn't mind this since he knew that the girls would stay up much later than he would, gossiping about their lives and relationships.

Dale and Matt got their tent set up rather quickly, he was surprised at how easy it was. Dale had never gone camping like this back on Earth, and Matt said he never had experience with setting up a tent. When the men finished setting up their tents, Matt immediately went to work on helping the mares with theirs. Dale watched from a distance as Rarity skillfully began to pitch up her side of the tent. She effortlessly moved poles through the correct holes with her teal blue magic.

"I guess she does have her use out here after all," Dale smirked at his thoughts. The mare's tent was much larger than the men's, as well as coloured a dark purple. No doubt Dale and Matt got the short end of the stick on this one. The two humans were going to share the tent that Dale had bought for himself, so boundaries are going to have to be set.

Dale saw Twilight, who was away from the group, trace a strange white powder around the campsite. Her magic was levitating the powder as well as a book that she was constantly looking at. Twilight mumbled to herself while she read the book. Dale was bored so he decided to see what was up with her. Dale stood up from the log he was sitting on, hands in his pocket, and began to walk over to Twilight.

"Hey, " Dale asked Twilight.

Twilight stopped shaking her white dust and turned around, "Oh, hi. Is everything okay?" She asked, a friendly smile on her face.

"Yeah, I'm good. I just wanted to see what this is all about," Dale gestured to the powder on the grass.

"Oh, this? It's actually supposed to be a magical barrier that'll keep monsters out while we try to sleep. Once I finish this, it'll be like we're totally invisible... as long as you stay in the circle." Twilight levitated the book she was reading up to Dale's face. Dale took the book out of the air and began to scan the pages. He could barely understand any of it, not because of the language the text was written in, but because of the terms that would only make sense if you lived in Equestria.

"So, what you're saying is... It's like bug spray?" Dale guessed.

"Kind of like that, but instead of mosquitos, it's bloodthirsty monsters," Twilight sounded a little too excited. She took the remaining of the powder she had and connected the circle that she started. Twilight's horn began to glow and she closed her eyes. A purple stream slivered gently out of the tip of her horn and touched the white powder. The magic stream coursed through the entire circle, and for a split second, a flash of white enveloped everyone before fading out. Matt and the girls looked up at confusion, then over at Twilight.

"What the hay was that?" Rainbow Dash shouted to Twilight.

"That's just our security system! We're safe now!" Twilight shouted back. Rainbow nodded her head and began to get back to fumbling around with the tent. Dale watched from a distance and found it amusing that someone as boastful as Rainbow Dash couldn't even tie a knot.

"Well... She is using hooves and a mouth... But it's no less funny," Dale thought.

"Hey... Dale?" Twilight asked, looking up at the human.

Dale looked down with a confused look on his face, "What's up?"

Twilight's eyes darted around a bit and she bit her lip before asking, "If you're not busy... Do you think you can tell me what your life was like back on Earth? It's just that... Whenever I tried asking Matthew, he didn't really want to talk about it. He looked sad whenever I did ask him what his life was like. I don't want to try again because he doesn't seem to want to and I don't want to bother him either. It's just that you-" Twilight was interrupted by Dale patting her on the head.

"I get it, Twilight. Let's take a seat," Dale pointed his thumb behind him, towards the logs set up around the fire. Dale knew that talking about his old life would only make him emotional, but he needed to vent out the pent up frustration. Twilight sat on the log next to Dale's, "So what do you want to know?"

"Well... What did it look like there? Twilight asked.

"I used to live in a pretty big city. There were plenty of tall buildings, and I mean, really tall. There was a castle in the Everfree forest that was as tall as the apartment building I lived in," Dale replied. He looked into the fire as he spoke.

"So you lived on your own?"

"Not exactly. I used to have a roommate before... I showed up here," Dale had to stop himself from saying that the world ended. Not because he didn't want Twilight to know, but because he didn't want to remind himself, "He was around my age; I met him at the school I attended," Dale clenched his fists tightly.

"What was he like?" Twilight's full attention was on Dale and his words.

"That dude was a real dick at points. He would party a lot, get drunk, make a mess. We'd get into a lot of arguments,"

"If you two would argue, why would you live with them?" Twilight looked confused.

"To be honest, I didn't really have much of a choice. My friends had different ambitions from myself which caused them to move to different cities. So I thought I could try to make a new friend, that didn't work out too well," Dale laughed lightly. Dale briefly wondered what paradise was given to that guy when the black sun showed up. He thought that it would probably be better than being stuck here.

The two continued their back and forth conversation. Twilight would ask Dale a relatively simple question, and Dale would give a simple answer. Dale had troubles explaining to Twilight what exactly a "car" was. He wasn't an engineer after all.

"So these complex machines require a year of practising with another just so you're able to operate it on your own?" Twilight sounded shocked.

"Yeah, it's called a 'learners license' and before you even get that you need to take a written exam and pass with a certain grade. I thankfully was able to get mine when I was 16, so when I got out of high school, I was already able to drive by myself." Dale said. By this point, the tent that the others were working on was fully set up and they began to slowly join Dale and Twilight.

"What're y'all talking about?" Applejack asked, taking a seat. She sat on the other side of the fire so she could face the two.

"Dale was just telling me about Earth. He said that they invented many things to make their lives easier, one was a form of transportation that they call a 'car'" Twilight excitedly told Applejack. Applejack raised her eyebrow; it was funny to Dale how they reacted to things that he found normal.

"So I take it you humans also invented that do-dad you wear all the time," Applejack pointed at Dale's arm brace. Dale raised his arm to his face and looked deep into the arm brace. He never really thought about how amazing this piece of technology was. It certainly saved his life in almost every occasion, and the last thing Dale would want to know is what would happen if he lost it.

"To tell you the truth, this thing is way more advanced than anything we have back home. I have no idea where it came from; When I arrived here it was on my arm already," Dale told Applejack. Applejack stood up from her log and walked up to Dale. She began to examine the arm brace and poked it a couple of times, only to produce no reaction from the device.

"Huh, I see..." Applejack looked dumbfounded at the otherworldy device, "How did ya get here anyway?" Applejack looked up at Dale.

Before Dale could answer, Matt spoke up, "Who knows? Who cares? All I remember is everything going black and waking up in the Everfree forest," Matt took a seat on one of the nearby logs and was joined by the other mares. Pinkie Pie sat on Matt's left, and Fluttershy sat on his right, "The same thing happened to him apparently," Matt easily passed this off as the truth.

Twilight pressed her hoof to her chin, "That's very strange that something as huge as that could happen. Twice no less," Twilight said. She was trying her hardest to think of any theories to how the men arrived in Equestria.

"I'm thankful for whatever was behind that, I like this place a hell of a lot more than Earth," Matt stretched his arms after he spoke.

"What do you mean by that, deary? Don't you miss your home?" Rarity asked Matt with concern in her voice.

"Um... I'd rather not talk about that," Matt didn't look Rarity in the eyes as he spoke. He instead looked into the fire; his voice sounded different than his usual self.

"How about you?" Twilight looked at Dale. He looked at her with his eyebrow raised, "Do you miss Earth?" Twilight's words punched right through Dale. She didn't know how much his answer tore him up on the inside.

"Yeah..." Dale replied. He looked up at the moon in the sky, "More than anything in the world," Twilight's eyes widened as she came to the realization as to why Dale wanted to go to Canterlot as soon as he could. She knew now that Dale missed his home and he wanted to go back to his old life.

"So, uh... How did all of you meet?" Dale quickly said, wanting to change the subject. This was information that Dale wanted to know; how did these 6 seemingly random ponies not only become this close of friends but also how were they pretty capable at fighting off threats. That and the fact that Dale just really wanted to kill time.

Rainbow Dash flew over and landed next to Dale, "How much time do you got?" She asked sarcastically.

"It depends. How long is the magical barrier going to last for?" Dale asked with a hint of sarcasm.

"That's sarcasm, Twilight!" Matt shouted before Twilight was about to seriously answer.

"I knew that!" Twilight shouted back, pouting and crossing her hooves; Everyone else laughed.

"So you mean to tell me that you're not only the pupil of one of the princesses themselves, but you're also one of those 'Elements of Harmony' things!?" Dale stood up from his log in shock. Dale had just finished hearing the story about how Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Applejack, and Fluttershy defeated the corrupted version of the princess of the night. He was informed that Twilight was actually sent to Ponyville to learn about friendship, which is how she met her friends that were currently in the party.

"Yep!" Twilight said with a smile.

"If these Elements of Harmony are strong enough to defeat that Nightmare Moon mare, then why didn't you use them when we fought those timberwolves?" Dale was very annoyed; he almost died when he and Matt fought the alpha dog.

"Y-Yeah! You could've made our lives a lot easier!" Matt chimed in, pretending he didn't already know the answer.

"We only use them on super de duper emergencies, not teeny tiny emergencies, and especially on super ultra de duper emergencies!" Pinkie Pie shouted, making the hoof movements for each "emergency."

"They can also only be used to keep peace and order, so they can't destroy anything. Which is why Princess Luna is back to her old self and Discord is imprisoned." Twilight stated.

"Discord?" Dale questioned; This was the first time he heard that name. Rainbow Dash began to fly around the campfire, doing little twirls and tricks every once in a while.

"It's a long story. All you need to know is that he was a bad dude and we kicked his butt!" Rainbow Dash said as she began to fly in the pose of relaxing on her back.

"He also made yummy chocolate milk rain!" Pinkie Pie added. This only served to confused Dale more.

"Uhh... Okay then?" Dale shrugged. He let out a yawn and stretched. The group didn't realize how long they have been sitting at the campfire for, and all of them were feeling very tired. Each of them said there goodnights and retired to their tents.

"You seem like you had a good time," Matt teased Dale as he began to get inside his sleeping bag.

"Just passing the time," Dale replied while zipping the tent close.

"Sure, whatever you say, dude!" Matt laughed a little. Dale got inside his own sleeping bag and scooted a little over to his left to give Matt more room. The two sat in silence for a couple of minutes before Matt spoke up, "So, what do you think will happen when we get to Canterlot?"

Dale sighed, "Honestly, I have no idea. Best case scenario is that those princesses can zap me back to my old life, but that's impossible at this point."

Matt rolled over on his side to face Dale, "So why are you bothering to go this far? I'm going because I want to check out Canterlot for myself and spend time with the girls. If it's impossible for you to go home, then why did you want to go so bad?" Dale turned to face Matt. It was hard for the two of them to see each other in the dark, but they could still see facial features.

"If they really are the highest power of Equestria, then maybe I can still at least know what that black star was back on Earth. At this point, I really just want closure."

"Do you know what you're going to do after that though?" Matt asked.

"I have no idea, Matt," Dale rolled onto his back and just stared at the tent ceiling, "But I can't give up!"

"I know you'll figure it out when the time comes," Matt replied, "You could always stick with us too, that's always an option."

"I don't know, they like you a lot more. I might be better off alone," Dale said.

"You have plenty of time to think about it, so if you change your mind you can just let me know,"

Dale had a lot to think about for when this journey would come to an end. Would he really want to stay by himself, or would be sticking around with Matt be the better option? Dale couldn't decide right away, so he thought it would be best for fate to make the choice for him when the time came...

Chapter 15: The Final Stretch

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The sun shined bright once again and the group was back on the road. It didn't take them too long to clean up all of their supplies and have a hearty breakfast of fruits and nuts. Dale slept much better than he did for the past couple of days since he didn't have a lot to worry about. The scariest part of the journey, which was just taking the first steps, was already over.

"So, you mean to tell me it's just you and your sister living there?" Dale asked Rarity. The two of them found themselves walking alongside each other since they left camp. To keep things from getting awkward, her and Dale struck up a conversation. The topic of Rarity's Carousel Boutique came up, unsurprisingly. She was very eager to explain the high-end fashion that they have up in Canterlot and how it was her goal to be one of "the greats" as she called it.

"Well not all the time, darling. Sweetie Bell only stays over when our parents go on vacation. She makes sure to not be a nuisance when I'm working on any projects. She spends a lot of time with her filly friends trying to get her cutie mark," Rarity wiggled her flank slightly to get Dale to look at her so-called cutie mark. He saw the familiar picture on her flank that he noticed when the two first met.

"So those things are called 'cutie marks' huh?" Dale replied.

"Oh, you humans don't know about those. They are what symbolize somepony's special talent. A cutie mark is the single most important piece of identity, and the day you finally get one, you'll feel like the most important pony in all of Equestria!" Rarity swayed her forehoof in a very dramatic way. Dale watched on with a look of confusion... and disappointment. All of the build-up and questions he asked himself were all for what was basically a dumb tattoo?

"Eh, sounds overrated," Dale shrugged his shoulders.

"Hmph!" Rarity turned her head up in response to him. Dale looked slightly ahead of him at Rainbow Dash's flank, trying to decipher what her cutie mark meant. Her flank tattoo was of a white cloud with a rainbow coloured lightning bolt striking out of it. Dale tried to work out in his mind what that meant.

"Obviously the colour of the lightning bolt is in reference to the colour of her mane and tail... but why a lightning bolt? is it because she's fast?" Dale was too deep in thought to notice Rarity anymore. Feeling ignored, she put on one of her classic scenes.

"Dale! Did you just do what I think you did?" Rarity gasped in shock.

"Here she goes again," Applejack groaned. She was walking just behind the two and was all too familiar with Rarities dramatic outbursts.

"What are you talking about?" Dale asked, annoyance in his voice.

"You know what you did! I saw you ogling Rainbow Dash's behind without her permission!" Rarity made sure to be loud enough for Rainbow Dash to hear. Rainbow turned around in confusion before realizing what Dale was actually doing.

"Oh, I don't care. I know my cutie mark is awesome," Rainbow Dash flapped her wings and hovered beside Rarity and Dale.

"I'm sure it was just a misunderstanding, Rarity," Twilight said, stopping in her tracks to talk to her friend. Dale groaned and rolled his eyes. He didn't do anything wrong, Rarity just wanted revenge for no reason.

"But Twilight! Look at his eyes! He's been visually undressing us for hours!" Rarity emphasised her words. At this point, Matt came over chuckling.

"I knew you were warming up to them!" Matt patted Dale on the back. These antics were interrupted by the familiar beeping of the arm braces. Dale and Matt quickly turned around to try to find whatever was causing the alarm.

"Is something wrong?" Fluttershy looked up at Matt with worry in her eyes.

"Stay with the others, Fluttershy," Matt replied. He and Dale began to cautiously walk towards the rattling bushes. Rainbow Dash and Applejack got into a defensive stance. Matt quickly summoned his new partner, the cragadile. Dale wasn't able to summon anything because his timberwolf was defeated by the alpha dog and he didn't have the item to revive it.

Matt's cragadile stomped towards the bushes without fear and began to search through it. After a few seconds of silence, the bushes began to shake violently and an unknown creature sprung out of them. This new creature had the head of a chicken with the body of a snake. The wings of the chicken were covered in dark green scales and it had sharp, red talons. The most striking part of the monster was it's bright red deathly eyes. Dale and Matt coiled back in surprise

Cockatrice

HP: 170/170

SP:100/100

Skills

(Unknown)

Actions

Fight

Talk

Run

Matt's cragadile quickly jumped out of the bushes as well, landing in front of its master in a defensive stance.

"Don't look at it!" Twilight called out, quickly shielding her eyes, "Cockatrice can use their vision to turn you into stone!" The group quickly followed Twilight's instructions and covered their eyes with their hooves.

Matt laughed lightly, "Come on, girls. It's just one Cockatrice! Nothing more than we can handle."

The Cockatrice didn't like Matt's taunting. The creature glared angrily at the young man before letting out a loud, ear-piercing chirp. The group had to shield their ears from the noise. Dale's arm brace beeped twice.

"Come, my brethren. It is time to feast!" The sharp voice of the cockatrice rang through Dale's head; His eyes widened at its harshness.

"The hell was that?" Dale thought to himself, "Was that because of the advanced translator?" Dale's thoughts were interrupted as more cockatrice began to slither out from the dense trees, causing the group to be backed into a circle. They were surrounded, to put it bluntly.

"Alright, everypony. We need to stick together to solve this issue, so get into groups now!" Twilight quickly shouted her strategy to everyone. The mares broke off into groups of two and began to attack the foes, leaving Matt and Dale by themselves.

"If you got any new tricks, now would be a great time to show me," Matt said to Dale, keeping his gaze focused on the two cockatrices in front of him. Dale was given the opportunity to show Matt what he was capable of, and he wasn't going to let that pass.

"Keep my ass covered," Dale replied, "I'm going to try to snag one of these guys for myself,"

Matt smirked and gave Dale a thumbs up, "Got it!" The two men set their plan into motion afterwards. Dale walked up to the cockatrice in front of him while Matt and his cragadile fought off any enemies that would try to sneak up from behind. Dale tried not to get distracted from the battles surrounding him.

"I want you to join my party," Dale pointed a finger at the cockatrice, trying to look intimidating. The serpent glared at the young man before speaking.

"You've certainly got guts for staring down a cockatrice like that," Its voice made Dale very uncomfortable, but he tried to not let that get to him, "How are you so sure that I won't just kill you where you stand?"

Dale had to pick his next words carefully since he wasn't sure how to gauge the creature's interest. He took notice of the cockatrice's big talk, so he may just have to call it's bluff.

"I hate to break it to you, but I'm actually taking pity on you," Dale replied in a smug tone. To prove his point, he decided to conjure up a bufu spell and rocket it towards one of the trees around the two. The ice magic exploded the tree into little woodchips that flew past the man and the monster.

"An impressive display of power, especially for a nobody creature like yourself," The cockatrice enjoyed Dale's magical ability, "I have a question. What matters more to you: power over others or equality for everyone?" Dale listened to the question intently and thought about his answer.

"If I were to answer truthfully, will this guy actually like my answer?" Dale decided that the best course of action was to lie to try to get on the cockatrice's good side, "The weak are beneath me; I should be the one calling the shots."

"You and I are in agreement, then," The cockatrice was more than pleased with Dale's answer, "I believe that you and I should make a pact."

Dale grinned at the offer, "Who would've thought that this whole negotiating thing was a lot easier when you can understand what they're saying?"

Congratulations!

You've acquired a Cockatrice as a member of your team!

Cockatrice

HP: 170/170

SP:100/100

Status

Strength: 6

Magic: 10

Vitality: 13

Agility: 8

Luck: 9

Skills

Stone Gaze (Chance of inflicting stone on one enemy) 6 MP

Mudo (Low odds of instantly killing an enemy) 6 MP

Magaru (Light wind damage to all foes) 8 MP

Learnable Skills

Garula (Medium wind damage to one foe) 6 MP

Rakunda (Temperarally decreases one target's defence) 12 MP

Dale smirked at his new summon's stats, they were much better than the timberwolf's, though the lack of any physical skills was a downgrade so it wasn't an outright replacement. Dale's thoughts were interrupted by Matt letting out a yelp in pain. Dale quickly whipped his head around to see Matt getting thrown back by a gust of wind from the Cockatrice he was fighting. Before Dale could help out Matt, the young man barked out an order

"Don't worry about me, make sure Fluttershy is okay!" Matt quickly jumped back onto his feet and charged towards his opponents.

The two cockatrices he was fighting were on their last ropes and were getting desperate. One quickly tried to use its gaze to turn Matt into stone, but he crouched behind his cragadile summon and used it as a shield against the spell.

BLOCKED

"Did you really just trying turning a creature made out of rock into stone?" Matt taunted. The cockatrices hissed at Matt, the insult cut deep. Matt laughed to himself before rolling out of his cover. He aimed his palm towards his enemies and shouted, "Maragi!" Two blisteringly hot fireballs rocketed towards his targets and slammed into them with precision. The two opponents disappeared in a flash of red

-60 HP Enemies Defeated!

Dale watched in awe at Matt's abilities. He thought that even though he found the guy a little much at times, he was good at this "game" of his. Dale knew that he had a lot to learn from Matt when it came to fighting. Dale's train of thought was broken when he heard the familiar eep of Fluttershy.

"Oh no," Dale said before running off in the direction of the sound. During the battle, Fluttershy ended up getting separated from her partner, Rarity. She was cornered by one of the cockatrices when Dale got there. He immediately noticed something was amiss about this situation as the cockatrice looked like it was quivering in fear. Dale's run slowed into a walk as his adrenaline came down. He walked past the cockatrice and looked at what he thought was going to be the normal, quiet, meek Fluttershy. Only to be greeted by the most unnerving stare he has ever seen.

This was no ordinary glare of anger that Fluttershy was giving the beast. This was a stare that felt like could tear your very soul out of your body, and her eyes were the gates of hell. It made Dale very uncomfortable just looking at Fluttershy and would hate being on the receiving end of this torture.

"Uh, Fluttershy? I think you got him," Dale never thought it would come to this, but he was terrified of Fluttershy's capabilities. Fluttershy quickly blinked twice and came back to reality, she looked a bit dazed from what she did to the cockatrice. The poor creature slithered away in fear back into the depths of the Everfree Forest.

"O-Oh... I'm sorry you saw that..." Fluttershy was very embarrassed that Dale saw her infamous stare. Unknown to him, she would only use the stare as a last resort to keep animals under control. The two quickly rejoined the rest of their party; everyone else had just finished their battles and were all sitting down to rest.

Matt took a drink out of his cantine and wiped the sweat pouring from his head, "Man, that was intense."

"You sure did hold your own there," Applejack complimented Matt.

"It was nothing," Matt chuckled while petting his cragadile that was laying down next to him.

"Those things you two are wearing never cease to amaze me," Twilight said. She was referring to the arm braces that Dale and Matt both wore. Dale never really questioned the origin of the device, nor did it really matter to him since he was impressed with its capabilities.

"Matt probably knows the most about these since it's his world after all," Dale thought to himself while looking at his arm brace. Dale looked over at Matt who was having a conversation with Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie. The three were laughing and looked like they were having a good time, "I wonder why Matt's ideal paradise is this world anyway. Doesn't he miss his family?"

Dale decided to not ask Matt these questions out in public. Not just because the ponies would have no idea what the two were even talking about, but because Matt wasn't into the idea of talking about Earth when the topic was brought up last night.

The next few days went by like a blur for Dale. The journey quickly fell into a general routine of making some progress through the forest, fighting any monsters that crossed their path, and traversing dangerous landscapes. The group even came across a Manticore during their travels that Matt tried to recruit but to no avail. The times when the group did rest, however, were very relaxing. Dale gradually began to join in on the dumb conversations that they would have. He learned a lot about the previous adventures of the ponies, both big and small. He learned about Rainbow Dash's sonic rainboom at the young fliers competition and the catastrophe at the grand galloping gala.

There were plenty of beautiful things that Dale saw throughout the journey. But nothing could beat the time when the group had to scale a small mountain and were able to get a good look at the surrounding land. It really put it into perspective how far Dale had travelled away from Ponyville when Rainbow Dash pointed out that the small spec in the distance was their starting area.

But the estimated last day of the journey to Canterlot had finally arrived and more than ever, Dale was feeling relieved.

"Alright, we just need to cut through this swamp and go through that cave and we'll be at Canterlot shortly!" Twilight said, looking up from her map.

"Thank goodness! Any more of this and I'd turn into one of those savages," Rarity proclaimed dramatically. At this point, Dale was used to her overzealous performances, but that didn't mean he found it any less annoying.

"I know the first thing I'll do is go to Donut Joe's!" Pinkie Pie bounced in place while naming everything she'll order off the menu.

"Do you know what you're going to do when we get there, Dale?" Twilight asked.

"You can all go sightseeing if you want, but I've got business there," Dale replied, walking towards the swamp.

"You sure you don't want to take a little break, partner? You've been goin on about this for days now," Applejack suggested. She was correct, Dale was very focused on just getting this over with and was constantly reminding himself of his end goal.

"I don't plan on staying here for long, remember?" Dale turned around to face the group. They all had an awkward reaction to Dale's words, "So let's just get this over with," Dale turned once again and began to advance to the murky swamp water.

The water made Dale a bit uneasy since the colour of it was unnatural. His thoughts were interrupted however as the water began to bubble violently. Dale quickly jumped backwards in surprise as something large emerged from the swamp. This, however, wasn't an average monster. What came out of the water was huge; it was taller than buildings. Everyone looked up at the creature in shock, even Dale began to shake a bit in worry at what they had just encountered.

"You've got to be fucking kidding me," Dale said as he took a defensive stance.

One of the beast's claws slammed onto the ground, causing the very land around it to shake violently. Swamp water poured from its scales mouths. The group didn't need an encyclopedia to know that they have just encountered the multi-headed behemoth, and what could be very well considered the boss of this dungeon, the hydra. And this hydra definitely wasn't going to just politely let the group pass by.

The hydra roared from all three of its heads, blowing huge gusts of wind around the area in the process. The trees shook violently and Dale needed to shield his face with his arms to prevent any of the dirty water from flying into his face. Dale heard a hoof step next to him, he looked over to his left and saw Twilight Sparkle, readying herself for a battle. Everyone else slowly joined her at Dale's sides. Even Rarity looked like she was ready to throw down with the beast. Her horn ignited with teal blue and her eyes narrowed.

No words needed to be exchanged by anyone to know that this battle was inevitable...

Chapter 16: Big Bad Boss Battle

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The fierce hydra towered over the group, the mouths of the beast were all watering in anticipation for its next meal. Anyone with common sense would just turn around and hightail it out of there, but Dale and the others had come too far to just give up. Dale managed to work up the courage to take one step towards the monster. Even though he's gone up against all sorts of different creatures ranging from parasprites, manticores, and all other obstacles, Dale had a sinking feeling in his stomach about this one. He's never been up against something as large as a hydra, and he sure as hell didn't like the difference in size compared to himself. Trying his best to act tough, Dale looked up at the middle head of the three-headed serpent.

"Hey, you bastard! Get the hell out of our way!" Dale tried his best to act intimidating even though the hydra clearly had the advantage over the group. The middle head of the hydra hissed and began to speak to Dale.

"You foolish creatures that have disturbed our domain, do you expect us to follow the order of such a puny bunch?" The hydra's slimy voice boomed. Matt took a step forward, crossing his arms and eye up the hydra before laughing to himself.

"You better listen to this guy. My friends over here aren't exactly the bunch that you should be messing with," Matt said, gesturing to the rest of the party, who were all getting themselves ready for the upcoming battle. Matt punched his own palm, wrapping his hand around his fist, "So take this as your warning. Let us by, or we'll have to kick your ass!"

"Very well, then. It is death that you have all chosen!" The hydra roared out. The soundwave of the monster boomed across the forest, shaking the earth beneath everyone slightly, "You shall all make a fine meal for us. Prepare to die!" The hydra quickly maneuvered its heads towards the group; the multiple pairs of razor-sharp teeth flashed brightly in the sun. Thinking swiftly, everyone moved out of the way of the attack. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy took to the skies above, Twilight and Rarity teleported to a safer location, and the rest were thrown back multiple feet due to the shockwave of the many hydra heads crashing into the ground.

Dale rolled across the damp grass for a bit before his back hit a nearby tree; he was so dazed that he didn't see how much hp that attack took off of him. Dale slowly stumbled back onto his feet while his spinning vision reorientated itself. As Dale's vision returned, he was able to see Rainbow Dash flying around in the sky, gracefully evading the hydra's attempts to bite down on her. She would occasionally take the opportunity to counterattack by striking the heads towards the ground where Rarity and Twilight would fire magic of all sorts of elements at the heads of the beast. Dale took a quick look at his surroundings and spotted Pinkie Pie, who somehow got stuck inside a large knothole. He quickly ran over and pulled her out of it. Pinkie Pie's eyes were spinning, and Dale could swear he saw stars flying around her head.

"Are you hurt?" Dale asked. Pinkie Pie shook her head to regain her composer before answering.

"Wowie! Did you see that!?" Pinkie Pie sprung up excitedly. Dale knew from that response that she was okay. He quickly scanned the area for Matt and Applejack but could not find either of them; the most he could do was hope that they weren't dead.

Dale quickly turned to Pinkie Pie, "Pinkie Pie, can you make sure that your friends are alright? I'm going to help out the others!" Dale gave Pinkie her new orders, and she responded with a salute before zooming off. Dale turned to the hydra that was busy fighting the rest of his party. He didn't want to rush in without a plan, so Dale quickly opened up his status screen to see what he had to work with.

Name: Dale Stevens

Level: 18

HP: 210/230

MP: 125/125

Status

Strength: 6

Magic: 15

Vitality: 16

Agility: 7

Luck: 12

App Points: 50

Skills

Zionga (Medium Electric damage to one foe, medium chance of shock) (8MP cost)

Bufu (Light Ice damage to one foe, small chance of freeze) (4MP cost)

Agi (Light Fire damage to one foe) (4MP cost)

Rakukaja (Increases defence on one party member for a short time) (12MP cost)

It only occurred to Dale now that even though he gained multiple levels throughout the journey to Canterlot, he never took the time to spend any app points on acquiring any new skills. Since he was currently in a battle, his arm brace wouldn't let him view the functions and skills store; he was stuck with what he now had. Dale did have a trick up his sleeve in the form of the cockatrice that he managed to level up alongside himself. Dale opened the summon screen on his display and called forth his only available companion.

"Cockatrice!" Dale shouted as he thrust his hand forward. A flash of light blinded his vision momentarily, and his creature materialized in front of the young man.

Cockatrice

HP: 190/190

SP:200/200

Skills

Stone Gaze (Chance of inflicting stone on one enemy) 6 MP

Mudo (Low odds of instantly killing an enemy) 6 MP

Magaru (Light wind damage to all foes) 8 MP

Garula (Medium wind damage to one foe) 6 MP

Rakunda (Temperarally decreases one target's defence) 12 MP

Dale looked at the many options available to him and tried to formulate a plan to take down the hydra. His thoughts were interrupted when he heard a big smacking sound, followed by a familiar cyan pegasus flying past him. Rainbow Dash skidded across the dirt but managed to roll back onto her hooves and stop herself from crashing into a tree. Dale could tell just by looking at her that she took a lot of damage from that. Rainbow Dash was breathing heavily and sweating, but she didn't look like she wanted to give up anytime soon.

"Lucky shot... He caught me off guard and almost chomped me. I got out of the way, but his damn tail got me. It felt like getting hit by a train," She said exhaustingly. Before Dale could say anything, she took off once again towards the beast who had his eyes on Fluttershy. Even though Fluttershy was timid, Dale learned that she wasn't as fragile as she looked. While not as fast as Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy could still move very gracefully in the air and avoided the hydra's heads with ease.

Dale began to run towards the hydra, his cockatrice slithering alongside him. It didn't look like the monster would slow down anytime soon, and just by looking at the girls, they seemed exhausted already. "Where the hell are Matt, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie?" Dale thought to himself as he approached the massive creature. Twilight and Rarity were panting due to using up most of their magic. For the most part, the hydra has been ignoring the two in favour of trying to snatch Rainbow or Fluttershy. Sometimes one of the stray heads would attempt to chomp down on the two, but they'd use the opportunity to get a clean shot at the face.

"I've dealt with my fair share of persistent stallions, but this is just ridiculous," Rarity joked in an attempt to distract herself from the exhaustion.

"Come on, Rarity. We just have to keep this up a little bit longer," Twilight encouraged her friend. Twilight had dealt with a hydra in the past by outsmarting it to escape, but fighting one head-on was a completely different experience for her. She had no idea how much of a beating it could take when in a life or death scenario. Twilight was beginning to feel worried. She had no idea where half her friends were or even how to defeat the hydra. She did know one thing, though, and that was to never ever cut off a hydra's head.

"Zionga!" Dale shouted while thrusting his hand forwards. This caught the attention of all three of the hydra's heads and the ponies that were fighting the beast. Unlike the regular zio spell, zionga was much more powerful. Dale's hand even cocked backwards with recoil like a shotgun when he fired out a giant bolt of lightning from his palm. The lighting travelled to one of the hydra heads, and the resulting blast was devastating. The head exploded instantly, showering the area with green blood.

-120HP Enemy defeated!

"How do you like that?" Dale taunted the now two-headed serpent. His self-gratification was interrupted by Twilight's voice.

"Are you crazy! Don't you realize what you just did?" Twilight shrieked in fear, running towards Dale.

"Uh... What do you mean?" Dale asked; he was genuinely confused about what was going on, "I just saved your ass, and the thanks I get is getting in shit for it?"

Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy landed next to Dale. Rainbow did not look happy, "You dork, you're not supposed to cut off a hydra's head!" Rainbow Dash yelled. Dale suddenly remembered what the hydra's entire gimmick was and felt his stomach drop. The hydra began to laugh with it's two remaining heads while the neck of the third one started to bubble violently. Everyone began to take a few steps back as the hydra began to approach the group with its large body. Each step it took shook the ground violently, almost like mini earthquakes. The hydra's neck sprouted two separate heads to replace what was lost, along with granting the beast another advantage. The blood of the hydra's body dripped from the scales and mouth of the new heads.

"I don't believe this," Dale said in shock, "How are we supposed to beat this guy?" Dale was hoping for an easy answer from Twilight, who was practically the leader throughout the entire journey, but she didn't answer. It didn't seem like anyone had any ideas.

"Well, I'm not going to let this ruffian have his way with me!" Rarity shouted at the hydra, once again taking her battle stance. Her determination sparked something in everyone else.

"Rarity's right, everypony. It's not over yet," Twilight ignited her horn, and it glowed brighter than ever, "As long as we stick together, we can figure out a solution!"

"Right!" Everyone said, including Dale. He knew that he wasn't going to die here, not after coming this far, that's for sure. As the hydra began to rear its heads back for an attack, it was interrupted by a blast of fire magic at the back of its head.

-100HP Resist.

Everyone looked for where the attack source came from, but it wasn't until a familiar voice called out when they managed to find the source. On top of the tall mountain cave entrance that the hydra was blocking was Matt, who, along with Pinkie Pie and Apple Jack, managed to sneak by the hydra while fighting the others.

"You little worm!" The hydra yelled from all four of its heads. Out of rage, the hydra began to focus its attention on Matt and started to make its way towards the human. Even though the hydra was incapable of climbing up the mountain, its heads could still reach over and eat the stragglers that managed to get away. Dale and Matt locked eyes for a moment before Dale understood what Matt, Pinkie Pie, and Applejack were trying to do.

"We have to keep the hydra busy!" Dale said to his small group of companions, "I've got a feeling that Matt has come up with a plan, so we just have to give him time to prepare."

Twilight thought for a moment before it clicked with her, "I see, they're going to try to crush it! Rainbow, Fluttershy, can you two fly for just a bit longer?"

"Of course, I can!" Rainbow Dash confirmed, beaming with confidence. Fluttershy simply nodded her head. Before the two could take off, Dale stopped them.

"Hold on! Let me help you out a bit," Dale said. He shot his hand forward and shouted, "Rakukaja!" Suddenly, a blue shield formed around both of them before fading away, "this will help keep you protected for a short amount of time, but don't get careless," Dale looked at Rainbow Dash as he finished speaking.

"Yeah, I know," she replied with a lot of sass in her voice before taking off.

"I would use it on us, but I don't want to drain my magic too quickly, sorry," Dale told Rarity and Twilight. The two of them nodded in response.

The hydra approached Matt, one of its heads rearing back for an attack. The young man just stood there with his arms crossed with a confident expression. Before the hydra could chomp down on him, the attack was interrupted by Rainbow Dash flying by and giving the beast a thwack on the head to get its attention. Rainbow Dash's attack was followed by multiple spells being fired at the many heads of the hydra.

-60HP Resist

-80HP

-95HP

The hydra divided up its focus. Two of the heads were trying to fight Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy, while the other two were trying to fight Dale, Twilight, and Rarity. This was starting to become annoying for the hydra; at this point, it didn't care about eating them anymore. Instead, the hydra just wanted these pests dead. The two heads facing Dale's group began to spit out a toxic purple substance towards them. Quickly, the trio dodged out of the way just before the sludge could land on them. Dale looked back and saw the liquid dissolve the grass and dirt, almost as if the creature shot acid from its mouth. In retaliation, Dale commanded his cockatrice to use the Magaru spell to attack every single head with blasts of wind.

-80HP

The mini tornado's sliced at the hydra's heads, leaving multiple cuts that poured out the beast's blood. Dale now knew that he had to be careful with how much damage he did to the hydra's heads because it would do nothing but make the situation more problematic.

While the hydra was distracted fighting, Matt took the opportunity to run down the mountain path slightly and rendezvous with Pinkie Pie and Apple Jack, who were waiting next to multiple large boulders. Matt summoned his cragadile companion to help them move the boulders into position. Their plan was simple, but there was some prep time needed since it would take a lot of effort to set up the boulders in the proper position. Matt, Applejack, Pinkie, and Matt's cragadile all got behind one of the large rocks and began to push it with all their might. Even though Matt didn't outright neglect his strength stat whenever he levelled up, this was a task that he couldn't accomplish alone. Inch by inch, the boulder began to roll across the rocky terrain and slowly up the mountain. Matt's arms began to feel like jelly as the journey went on, but thankfully he had the support of his friends and summon to help with the task.

As the battle proceeded, the main fighters began to slowly drain their energy. Every minute felt like an hour to Dale as his MP and HP began to drop from using his magic to regenerate Rainbow Dash's and Fluttershy's defence buffs and from taking unlucky hits from the hydra. Dale had begun to rely more and more on his cockatrice to keep the hydra busy in order to not run out of MP to defend himself.

"Stone Gaze!" Dale shouted, commanding his companion to attempt to petrify one of the hydra heads. Dale's cockatrice closed its eyes momentarily before opening them. Its eyes glowed a bright red and stared directly at the head right in front of it. The attempt was futile, however, because the hydra was immune to the cockatrice's curse.

BLOCKED!

The hydra head retaliated by using its face as a battering ram, slamming right into Dale's cockatrice and sending it flying towards its owner. Both Dale and the cockatrice flew back, but the mans' summon took a good majority of the damage.

-50HP

-15HP

Dale sat up and quickly checked his arm brace where he saw that the cockatrice didn't have much fight left in him, "Another attack like and this little guy is done for," Dale thought to himself. Dale slowly got back onto his feet; he didn't know how much more he could take of this either. The young man knew that he had enough MP for a couple more attacks of his own, but Dale decided it would probably be better if he chose his attacks wisely. Dale readied himself as the Hydra head he was battle slithered its way towards him, mouth wide open. Before Dale could engage, a blast of ice magic slammed into the side of the serpent's head, causing it to get redirected and crashed into a tree.

-100HP

Dale looked over and saw a panting Rarity who looked a lot worse than he did. Even though the two would bicker a lot during their trip here, she really did have his back at points. The hydra itself began to look worn out at this point. Despite its ability to regenerate any lost heads, the creature still felt pain and was beginning to grow tired of the attacks. It would only take one more significant blow to, at the very least, knock the creature out. Dale's thoughts were interrupted by a loud whistle from the top of the mountain. Dale and Rarity looked up and saw Matt, Pinkie, and Applejack, standing at the top of the mountain exhausted with multiple boulders lined up next to each other. Matt gave Dale a thumbs up before retreated down the mountain with his friends. Dale knew right away what Matt wanted him to do, but he wasn't too sure if he could pull it off.

"Rarity, I need you and the others to keep this guy busy while I line up a good shot," Dale said to the mare who was trying to catch her breath. She understood right away what Dale was going to do and proceeded to run to Twilight's side to help fight the hydra for just a little longer. Dale took a deep breath and aimed his hand out towards the top of the mountain where the boulders were set up. He would have to bring out the heavy hitter spell if he was going to blow a big enough hole to cause an avalanche. Dale took a deep breath and waited for the hydra to get into the proper position.

Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy flew around the skies avoiding the heads of the beast. Rarity and Twilight both were firing any magic that they could to keep any of the heads from taking a bite at their friends. Matt, Pinkie Pie, and Applejack managed to evacuate the top of the mountain in time and rejoin the rest of the group. Dale took a final look at the small gap he had to shoot a zionga spell through and exhaled lightly.

"Zionga!" Dale shouted as loud as he could. The hydra turned its heads to the source of the noise before feeling something very sharp and hot cut across its cheek. The mountain behind the monster violently exploded, the loud boom echoed throughout the entire forest. Dale watched as the top of the mountain began to break apart, causing an avalanche to occur. The hydra's heads all looked at the oncoming debris in fear before quickly being smothered by many boulders and stone. The large boulders that were set up, in particular, did much more damage than the rest. Everything that the hydra's body caused the monster to roar out in pain.

-300HP

-296HP

-313HP

-299HP

The hydra was buried underneath mounds of rocks in due time, and the group waited anxiously for the monster's next move... but it never happened. A massive wave of relief washed over the group who had just survived their most formidable opponent yet. In particular, Matt and Dale reaped the huge experience boost that was obtained by defeating the hydra. Dale's arm brace beeped twice.

Level up!

Level 20!

You've earned 6 stat points! Please choose what stats you wish to improve!

App Points: 70

Matt and the girls were all hugging to celebrate their victory and soon after began to laugh at the trouble that the hydra had caused them all, but Dale wanted to get a move on as soon as possible. Canterlot was just around the corner, and he eagerly anticipated reaching his destination...

Chapter 17: Canterlot Castle

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After what felt like an eternity, the seemingly never-ending journey to Canterlot has finally come to a close. Dale's heart raced as he stood outside of the pearly gates of Equestria's upper class. Not just because his goals of attaining the truth were barely within grasp, but because he felt even more out of his element than he already did. The ponies of Canterlot stood in stark contrast to those he met in Ponyville for multiple reasons. What captured Dale's attention almost immediately was their audacious sense of fashion. Almost everyone Dale laid his eyes on wore some clothing or an expensive-looking accessory. Not to mention the way they styled their manes exuded confidence and personality. Anyone from the humble little town of Ponyville would stick out like a sore thumb here due to them being much more reserved in the looks department.

"C'mon, what are you waiting for?" Matt shouted, breaking the young man's train of thought. Without realizing it, most of Dale's party had already begun to explore the bustling city without him.

"Sorry, I got distracted," Dale replied before quickly jogging over to the rest of the group. The last thing Dale wanted was to get lost in an unfamiliar location, though after giving it some further thought, he wouldn't mind the alone time. He spent the last few days practically glued to Matt and the other ponies, and at this point, he was a little sick of it.

"Matthew, and Dale, I know you two are eager to do some sightseeing, but please stick close to us for just a little bit longer," Twilight said, turning back with a smile, "After we drop off our stuff at the castle, we'll be sure to give you a tour!" Since Twilight was the star pupil of Princess Celestia, she was able to pull some strings and allow the group to stay at her castle for the duration of their visit.

"I for one cannot wait to run a nice warm bath after spending all that time in that disgusting swamp," Rarity spoke with a shudder.

"Oh brother," Rainbow Dash couldn't help but roll her eyes upon hearing her friend's complaint. For the past few days, Rarity made it loud and clear that she wasn't a fan of the murky terrain the group had to venture through. While everyone else was on edge due to the dangerous monsters they encountered, Rarity's anxiety came from a more trivial reason. After nearly every battle fought, she would quickly pull out her pocket mirror and check to see if everything was in order. It was almost as if Rarity operated in her own world, one where style mattered above all else. It was almost no wonder why Rarity loved Canterlot so much.

"I can't believe I'm sayin' this, but I agree with Rarity. Hard work is one thing, but livin' out in the woods just ain't for me," Applejack replied. This was one of the rare times these two were able to come to some sort of agreeance.

"I'm glad you can finally see it my way, Applejack. While we're at it, we should stop by Hoity Toity's boutique and pick out something marvellous for you to wear!" Rarity said, her voice beaming with excitement.

"Don't push it," Applejack's response did nothing but illicit an annoyed huff from Rarity. Try as she might, she just can't change the way someone is that easy. The group continued to walk towards the castle, with Twilight leading the pack. Along the way, they discussed which hot spots they wanted to hit up during their stay. Donut Joe's sweet shop, Canterlot Castle's garden, the local opera theatre, and many other locations were mentioned. Dale, on the other hand, couldn't care less about that. All he was looking forward to was the chance to finally speak to the ruler of this land.

"If there's anyone who would know the answers as to what happened to my world, it would be her. She has to know at least something," Dale thought to himself. Twilight had told the two boys earlier that Princess Celestia was interested in meeting them. Dale assumed that it was because they were a new species and that she wanted to size them up; making sure that they wouldn't be a threat to her land. While he wasn't too big on the pony culture, Dale knew he was going to have to suck up a bit if he wanted to get his answers. The last thing he wanted was to get turned down after coming this far or suffer even greater consequences he hadn't taken into consideration.

Before long, the party found themselves exiting the main area of town and travelled up to the castle's drawbridge. However, two snow-white unicorns blocked the entrance. Unlike everyone else in Canterlot, these ponies wore gold-plated armour and were using their magic to levitate spears by their side. Dale initially found this to be a bit strange, but he managed to rationalize it after a few moments, "Seems like even they know the practical use of standard weapons," He thought.

"Please state your business," The unicorn on the left bluntly stated. He didn't seem phased at all by the two humans, though this could be chalked up to being desensitized to mysterious creatures.

"Hello, there. My name is Twilight Sparkle. My friends and I are looking to visit Princess Celestia and have received expressed written permission to do so," Twilight used her magic to pull a scroll out of her saddlebag. She unravelled the message and presented it to the two guards. Both of them examined the scroll one at a time; double-checking to make sure it couldn't possibly be forged. After a few minutes of anticipation, the two security guards looked at each other and nodded.

"You may proceed," They said in unison.

"Thank you very much. Let's go, girls!" Twilight said with happiness in her voice. Everyone began to cross the bridge in a single file line, though once it was Dale and Matt's turn, the two guards blocked them with their spears. The guard on the right glared daggers at the two men.

"Never seen your kind around here. Try any funny business and we won't hesitate to lock you up until your bones are dust," He threatened. The guard's stern voice sent chills down Dale's spine. He knew that this guy meant business, so it would be best to stay on their good side.

"Don't gotta worry about us, boss," Matt replied casually before wrapping an arm around Dale's shoulder and pulling him close, "My buddy and I will be on our best behaviour," The guard continued to give the boys the stink eye for a few more seconds before returning his spear to a neutral position.

"You may proceed," The guards said in unison.

The two men walked across the bridge side by side, but after gaining enough distance, Dale leaned over to Matt and whispered, "Not exactly the most welcoming bunch,"

Matt shrugged, "Eh, there's just doin' their job. C'mon, we gotta catch up to the others," with that, Matt and Dale jogged towards the girls who were waiting for them at the castle's entrance.

Compared to everything else Dale had seen thus far, the inside of Canterlot Castle was almost awe-inspiring. The scale of just the main hall was far larger than any of the other buildings he'd been inside. Most impressively of all was how clean everything was. You would assume that there would be some imperfections due to the species that ran this kingdom, but that couldn't be further from the truth. A beautiful velvet-red carpet was laid upon the white and purple checkerboard marble tiles. the carpet led to a staircase which branched off into two different directions. One side was accompanied by a dark blue stain-glassed window, with a bright yellow one standing in contrast on the opposite end. Dale's mind raced with images as to what these paths could potentially lead to, but his thoughts were interrupted by a service pony grabbing the group's attention.

"Excuse me, I shall be the one guiding you to your living quarters," The mare spoke with a soft voice, accompanied by a vaguely french accent. Unlike the guards, this mare wore an outfit less suited for combat and more so for cleaning; her mane was done up in a ponytail to not get in her way while working. The mare guided the group through a seemingly never-ending series of hallways. Each room they passed looked more impressive than the last and Dale couldn't help but ogle at the fine decor. Every once in a while, they would pass a guard patrolling the hallway and Dale could feel them glare at him every time.

"If this is how royalty lives, I can get used to this," Matt said allowed in a joking tone. For once, Dale could agree. Though, after some time, they would eventually reach their destination. A long hallway with doors leading to private bedrooms.

"I shall leave it to you to decide where you stay," The service mare said. She did a slight bow before walking off, presumably to attend to something else in the castle. after the mare was out of sight the group couldn't help but let out a huge breath of exhaustion.

"I know we're all tired from the trip. I think it would be best if we were to refresh a bit," Twilight said, her voice sounding a little groggy.

"Well, in that case, I want my room to be next to Matty's!" Pinkie Pie said while playfully bumping into the human in question, "We can have one of my patented perfect Pinkie Pie slumber parties. We'll stay up all night playing games, watching movies, eating snacks, and..." Pinkie Pie went on and on, listing the various activities she had in store. It was as if those few days out in the woods didn't even affect the party pony. Matt couldn't help but blush a little because of Pinkie's enthusiasm.

"Wow, Pinkie. That sounds like a lot of fun. But can it wait until later? I need some time to recharge a bit," Matt sheepishly scratched the back of his head.

"Oh, alright," Pinkie Pie's enthusiasm deflated because of the rejection. Before the mood could become awkward, Rainbow Dash chimed in.

"Well, I'm off to hit the sack. Feel free to holler if you need anything," With a wink and a quick salute, Rainbow Dash took off and quickly claimed one of the rooms as her own. Taking this as a sign, the group said their goodbyes before quickly securing bedrooms for themselves.

Much like everything else in Canterlot Castle, no expense was spared on the guest bedrooms. Dale wasn't too sure what to expect, but he for sure didn't think that this "guest room" was going to be nearly as big as the apartment he lived in back on earth. The room had almost all of the essentials needed for someone to permanently live there. Next to the door, there was a decently large dresser accompanied by a full-size mirror. Not too far from the right of it was another door that lead to a bathroom. There was also a third door near the end of the room. Considering the floor his bedroom was located on, Dale just assumed that it lead to a balcony. However, that wasn't what caught Dale's attention. That honour would go to the queen-sized bed that sat proudly in the center of the chamber. Dale had gotten so used to sleeping on couches and in tents that the mere sight of a comfortable bed nearly brought tears to his eyes. But to the young man, the best part about all of this is that he finally had some time to himself.

"If this place had a kitchen then I'd be set," He said with a small chuckle. It had been so long since the last time Dale was able to comfortably unwind that he almost had forgotten how to. Ever since arriving in Equestria, he'd been on edge for multiple reasons but the sight of a nice, quiet room felt welcoming. As Dale walked towards the bed, he caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror. The trek from Ponyville to here took a toll on the man; he hardly recognized the figure staring back at him. His hair was dirty and greasy. Bags sat comfortably under his eye sockets from the sleepless nights and he could almost see the odour coming from his body. Dale knew that the first order of business was to have himself a hot shower. The bed can wait for him to get back.

With a single tap on his arm brace, Dale brought up the status screen and unequipped his current clothes. He hadn't quite gotten used to doing this instead of taking them off the old-fashioned way. But hey, rules are rules. after nearly folding them up and placing them on the lavender bed sheets, Dale stepped into the bathroom and turned on the shower faucet. Dale ran his right hand under the water to make sure it wasn't too hot. It only took a few moments for the shower to reach a perfect temperature. However, before stepping in, a thought crossed his mind.

"What the hell do I do with this?" Dale said aloud. He was referring to his arm brace that had been attached to his left arm since arriving in this new world. He assumed that the device was at the very least waterproof, but he wasn't sure to the extent. The last thing he wanted to do was break the damn thing in case he needed it in the future. After thinking about it, he noticed that there was no way to even take the arm brace off. No matter how hard Dale looked, he couldn't find any latches or clips to undo. The arm brace was practically fused to his body and he was going to have to live with it. Dale cautiously ran the device under the shower's water before quickly checking to make sure it still worked. Thankfully, it turned back on without any issues. With his concerns completely squashed, Dale entered the shower and allowed himself to fully enjoy the soothing hot water.

After around 20 minutes of cleaning and scrubbing, Dale turned off the faucet and grabbed a towel. He usually wasn't the one to take long showers, but after what he's been through lately, he figured that he earned it. As the young man dried his hair with the towel, he used his free hand to wipe away some of the steam covering the mirror, "Much better," Dale thought to himself. Just the shower on its own was enough to make him look and feel more like his old self. Upon walking out of the bathroom, Dale let out a big stretch; letting the cool air wash over his body. After drying off and re-equipping his clothes, Dale laid down on the edge of the bed and stared up at the ceiling. For the first time in a while, he felt relaxed. So much so that his eyelids grew heavy and he felt himself almost drift off into a slumber. However, before he could get some much-needed shuteye, a soft knock at his door snapped Dale back to reality.

"Oh, right... What exactly do they want now?" Dale thought as he groggily sat up and walked towards his door. He had nearly forgotten that the others were staying just a few doors down from him. Rubbing his eyes a bit, Dale grasped the door handle and opened it, only to be greeted by Fluttershy of all people.

"Um, hi," Fluttershy meekly said.

"Uh... Hi?" Dale responded.

"Am I interrupting anything?"

"No, not at all," This interaction caught Dale off guard. He had hardly interacted with Fluttershy at all before this, yet here she was standing outside of his door looking to talk to him.

"I was wondering... if, um... If you're not busy if you would like to come and see the castle's garden with me and Rainbow Dash? Since we have to wait a while before we can visit Princess Celestia, I thought I should ask if you wanted to come..." Fluttershy could hardly keep eye contact with Dale. He could tell that she was nervous from the way she spoke. While the two had spoken before in a group setting, this was different. This was one of, if not, the first time Dale has had a one-on-one conversation with Fluttershy.

"Does she want to hang out with me?" This, along with many other thoughts, raced through Dale's head. Truth be told, he was a little surprised by the offer. Mostly because of who was asking the question. If it was Pinkie Pie at the door, Dale might've just slammed it on her face. But there was something different about the butter-coloured pegasus compared to the others he was grouped with. While he was tempted to decline the offer, Dale knew that he would just end up spending the day cooped up in his room if he did. Since he came all this way to Canterlot, he may as well check it out while he could.

"You know what? I'm in" Dale said with affirmation, this caught Fluttershy off guard.

"Really?" She said with a twinkle in her eye. Dale nodded in response. This confirmation illicit a happy response from Fluttershy, "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Fluttershy said with excitement. It was almost out of character to see her this excited. To Dale, this pony was always very reserved and kept to herself. So this sudden burst of energy, no matter how small, was a bit of a whiplash to him. He couldn't help but smile at the sight and before long, Dale and Fluttershy made their way to Canterlot's garden together.

Dale pushed open the double glass that stood before him and his eyes were momentarily assaulted by the bright sun. Once his vision cleared, Dale was greeted by one of the most lavish and elaborate areas of the castle. When he first heard that this castle had a garden, he assumed that it would be a slightly larger-than-average one. A garden big enough so that potential visitors would be impressed, but nothing too over the top. However, those expectations were completely blown out of the water. Sure there were flowers, as to be expected; each patch neatly divided up in colour, shape and size. But what Dale wasn't expecting to see were the masterly carved stone statues littered about. Each statue he walked past depicted a different species of pony in a unique pose. Dale initially assumed that a unicorn was the one behind the art before him. their magic would be able to manipulate the tools in a way that an earth pony or pegasus couldn't with their hooves. Though after giving it some thought, it could be possible that someone whose special talent was in this field could accomplish this with enough training and effort. One thing was for certain though, Dale was impressed by the work.

"I'm not much of an art guy, but even I can admit that this is pretty cool," Dale said aloud. This elicited a slight giggle from his pony companion.

"I'm glad you like it. I can barely remember the last time I was able to get a good look at the displays," Fluttershy replied with enthusiasm. before the two could continue their conversation any longer, Fluttershy spotted Rainbow Dash in the distance, "Oh, there she is,"

Dale shifted his attention to the familiar cyan pony waiting for them. Rainbow sat on her haunches, forehooves crossed. he could see the mare impatiently tapping her hindleg on the ground. You could tell that she was bored with nothing but a simple glance. Much like her name implied, Rainbow liked to be on the move and one of the things she hated most was waiting around. Rainbow scanned the area, looking to see if her friend had arrived yet. After a few seconds, her eyes locked on Dale and Fluttershy. She let out a sigh of relief, knowing that things were going to become at least a little more interesting. As quick as a flash, Rainbow Dash took off from her sitting position and flew towards the two.

"Ugh, finally! What took you so long?" Rainbow Dash said with annoyance before landing in front of Fluttershy.

"I'm sorry, Rainbow. I just wanted to make sure Dale knew his way around the castle so he wouldn't get lost on his own," Fluttershy explained.

"Don't sweat it," Rainbow replied with a sigh before looking up at Dale with a smug smirk spread across her face, "I'm surprised you even showed up. I was kinda expectin' you to stay locked in your room. Must be hard going even five minutes without thinking about the princesses," from the tone of her voice, Dale immediately knew that she was trying to get under his skin which was a fight he wasn't going to let him win too easily.

"You know how it is, we all got some time to kill. I figured I could at least check this place out a bit. And besides, I'm surprised you're even here. Didn't take you for someone who could appreciate art. That's more Rarity's schtick," Dale fired back with equal smugness.

"Guess we're in the same boat then. I usually only try to show off my moves to the Wonderbolts whenever I'm here. But since there isn't anything special going on right now, I've got nothing better to do," Dale wasn't too sure if she was just trying to play off as cool or if those words had any sort of truth to them. Not wanting to open that can of worms, he decided to change the topic.

"Come to think of it, what's everyone else doing? I thought you'd all want to spend your time here together?" Dale asked. Rainbow put her hoof to her chip before answering.

"I think Twilight, AJ, and Rarity went to the spa. I can't really stand that place so I decided to hang out with Fluttershy. Pinkie is probably gettin' donuts with Matt or something," Rainbow said nonchalantly but the answer given sparked some curiosity from Dale.

"Pinkie Pie and Matt? What makes you think those two are together?" Dale's response caused Rainbow Dash to laugh.

"Man, you must be clueless! It's pretty obvious that she's crushin' on the guy," Rainbow Dash's words, while aimed at Dale, caught Fluttershy's attention, "Though, I don't blame her. Matt is pretty cool. He can kick butt, knows how to crack jokes, is pretty strong, has a nice smile-" Rainbow quickly stopped herself before she could reveal any more of her opinions. She turned her head away from Dale and Fluttershy in an attempt to hide the blush slowly spreading across her cheek, "The point is you can learn a thing or two from him!" Rainbow shouted; her raspy voice slightly cracking. While Dale wrote her words off with a shrug, they cut Fluttershy much deeper. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't help but think about what Pinkie Pie and Matt were getting up to. And all this did was create a feeling of unease within the yellow pegasus. Her sadness-filled eyes drifted to the ground as the trio walked through the garden. Dale couldn't help but take notice of Fluttershy's reaction to this information. While he had his suspicions before, this all but confirmed it to him and he couldn't help but feel sympathy for the pony. He quickly looked around for something that he could use to change the subject.

"H-hey, why don't we check out what's in that hedge maze?" Dale quickly suggested, hoping to defuse the awkward tension in the air, "These statues are pretty cool. Are there any more you can show me?" This snapped Fluttershy out of her trance and she looked up at the young man; not knowing that his sudden interest was something he did for her sake.

"Y-yes! I can think of a few that you might like," Fluttershy quickly recovered from her depressive state before leading the two deep into the maze. Before the two could follow Fluttershy, Dale crossed his arms and glared at Rainbow Dash.

"What?" She said, slightly annoyed at Dale.

"Man, you must be clueless," Dale stated in a mocking tone before entering the hedge maze. Rather than directly explaining what she did wrong, Dale decided to throw Rainbow's words back at her to see if she could figure it out. Despite telling himself that he wanted to stay out of Matt's personal life, Dale knew now that at some point, he was gonna need to knock some sense into that man before it was too late...

Someone Else's Paradise

by Green Supernova

Chapter 1: Rebirth

Chapter 2: Artificial Intelligence

Chapter 3: Wild Goose Chase

Chapter 4: Enter the Summoner

Chapter 5: Unanswered Questions

Chapter 6: Understanding the Mechanics

Chapter 7: A New Lead

Chapter 8: Showtime

Chapter 9: The Battle of Magic

Chapter 10: Preparations

Chapter 11: The Final Days

Chapter 12: Emergency Quest

Chapter 13: The Journey to Canterlot

Chapter 14: Reminiscing

Chapter 15: The Final Stretch

Chapter 16: Big Bad Boss Battle

Chapter 17: Canterlot Castle