Chapters CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS DUNGEON EXPLORERS YAY!
“Are you sure you girls can’t just take them with you? You know what happened the last time…”
“For the last time, Spike, it’s only for one night. The Griffons and Minotaurs have asked Equestria to moderate their latest debate. And, of course, the dragons want to use this as an excuse to expand their borders, again.
“No, I won’t ever forget the last time they spent the night. We’re still cleaning up the graphic novel section…”
“Aw, come on! How were we supposed to know books burned so easily? How’d that fire even start, Sweetie?”
“Umm, I don’t know. All I did was make some cereal.”
Everypony present (and dragon) resisted the urge to facehoof/claw. Sweetie Belle, while being one of the cutest fillies to ever inhabit Ponyville, also manages to be the one who made the biggest messes for the adult ponies to clean up. Really, how can you set fire to cereal? It’s sixty percent liquid!
Spike tries to argue with Twilight some more. “But Twilight! Why, specifically, does the Princess want you guys to be there? She’s got more than enough guards!”
“Again, Spike, it’s because we’re the Elements of Harmony. If anypony can be expected to keep the peace during negotiations, it would be those who embody Harmony itself. And, I’m not trying to invoke Murphy here, Pinkie Promise, but how much trouble could three fillies get into?”
With that, the six mares making up the Elements of Harmony leave the Golden Oaks Library with Spike in charge of the Triple Hurricane, the Cutie Mark Crusaders. As the door closes, Spike can almost hear the death organ playing. He turns, and meets the beaming smiles and wide eyes of Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom, and Scootaloo.
Spike giggles nervously. “So, girls, what do you want to—?”
“CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS DRAGON TAMERS YAAAY!” They shout, bowling Spike over in a pile of small horse limbs.
“Aw, shoot, girls. Ah thought we’d get our cutie marks with that one.”
Thankfully, no fires have started (yet), but the library is in complete disarray. Every book is off the shelves, all the decorations are piled haphazardly against one wall, and Spike is hanging from the ceiling light, bound tight with rope.
Scootaloo turns to the Earth filly. “Of course it wouldn’t work! It didn’t work the last time we tried.”
“But that was outside!”
Scootaloo fluttered her wings in frustration. “How would indoors really make a—Sweetie! Put that down!”
This is directed at the unicorn, who is walking out of the kitchen area, bowl, spoon, and box in magical hold. “What? I’m hungry.”
“Let Apple Bloom deal with the food this time, okay? We don’t need Twilight mad at us again.”
The Earth pony flops down beside her friends. “So, we’ve tried crusadin’ on this floor, crusadin’ upstairs, crusadin’ ‘round the tree. Where else’s there to check?”
Sweetie Belle puts her head in her hooves, thinking, then lights up. “What about the basement? What’s down there, Spike?”
He starts struggling, and manages to get the rope out of his mouth. “Girls, don’t you even dare! There’s a lot of dangerous equipment down there, mostly for a reason! We don’t need ponies getting hurt!”
The three look thoughtful. Scootaloo speaks up, “What would a cutie mark in experiment testing look like?”
Suddenly, all of them shout, “CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS LAB TESTERS YAAAY!” and converge on the basement.
“Crap crap crap crap crap!” Spike begins struggling harder than ever. Not only would Rarity and Applejack kill him if their sisters got hurt, Twilight will resurrect his corpse to kill him again for letting somepony get hurt with one of the experiments. He only gets about halfway out when a purple glow emanates from the stairway, causing Spike to stop struggling as he comprehends what just happened.
“Oh, buck.”
“YAAAY!” As the shout reverberates through the library, three sets of tiny hooves descend the stairs into the dark basement. Once down, Sweetie uses her magic to pull the single light cord. To their dismay, most of the machines and contraptions are covered by tarps, with no indication of what they could have been used for. By unspoken agreement, the three split up to search for anything they can test.
“Hey girls! Ah think ah found somethin’!” Sweetie and Scoots scramble over to their sister-in-hooves, and behold a grand looking machine. Two tall chrome pillars adorn either side of a flat circular pad. Jutting out from one of the pillars is the control device. On the lip created by the controls rests a book, bearing the single word Log .
Sweetie Belle picks up the book in her magic and examines it. “Silly Twilight! This ain’t a log. This is a notebook!” She then proceeds to throw it on the ground. Scootaloo catches it before it can hit the ground, and probably burst into flames. She opens it and begins reading as the others wander about the device.
The log begins with an introductory note:
Dear reader,
If you are reading this, congratulations! You are now in more trouble than you can possibly imagine! Please put this logbook down, march your little hooves back up the stairs, report to either Spike or Twilight Sparkle, and wait in the library proper to receive punishment. If you are here with either of the aforementioned beings, then ignore the previous statement; you are obviously here for a reason.
However, if you are reading this, and your dimension of origin is not the Realms of Equis, congratulations! There are a few beings here who would like to meet with you. Follow the instructions above, and we will begin along the path to interdimensional friendship, no punishment given. If you have experienced a trans-dimensional form shift, do not be alarmed. That will also be explained.
If you are part of the former group and encounter a being from the latter group, please make our new interdimensional guests as comfortable as possible, while also trying to get in contact with either Spike or Twilight Sparkle.
Cheers,
Twilight Sparkle, Warden of the D-Hopper
“Wow. Hey girls, I think this is some kind of teleporter!” A chorus of ‘cool’s answer. Scootaloo turns the page, to some kind of Table of Contents, with another notes page.
As of this point, the Dimensional Hopper (hereafter referred to as the D-Hopper, or D-H) has located [many scratched out numbers] 57 separate dimensions. Only a few have been explored thus far by non-deities, as Princess Celestia has ordered me to not travel through without first having her investigate first. I trust her judgment on the issue; I do not want to end up falling into a volcano upon leaving the rift.
Some have been explored by ponykind (see reports on Remnant and Pandora), while some beings from other dimensions have created the technology necessary to link to the D-H (see notes regarding the Blood Gulch Warriors Incident). The dimensions found are as follows, with markings for explored (^), approved (*), and denied (-), and relative interdimensional coordinates:
1: Remnant^
2: Lava World- (exit point: volcano)
3: Tentacopia----- (Writers Note: NOPE!)
…
The list goes on and on, with more locations later on in the list without markings. These places only go by numbers, probably because nopony’s gone there yet.
“Hey girls, you remember when we tried to get our mapmaking cutie marks? Do either of you recognize these names?”
The two wander over, and look over the list. “Nah, can’t say ah do. Let’s try one!” Apple Bloom prys the book out of Scootaloo’s hooves and tosses it to Sweetie Belle near the console. She fires it up, and scans the list. She starts putting in numbers, but stops partway through.
“Um, maps only have two sets of numbers, right? Then why are there five on these places?”
By now, even Scootaloo’s skepticism is waning at the thought of earning the famed cutie mark. “Don’t know, don’t care. Just do it!”
As Sweetie inputs the last key, a small flame starts on it. “OH COME O--!” Her cry of indignation is cut off as a shimmering purple portal opens between the pillars. One-dimensional, it sparkles with every color ever imagined and then some. Peering through, the fillies can see a starfield on the other side, stretching into oblivion. A surge of trepidation passes through the young ponies.
“Ah-Ah’m not sure ah wanna do this anymore.”
“Same.”
“Yeah, let’s just go back and apologize.”
They turn to go, but Murphy chooses this moment to make good on Twilight’s promise. The fire spreads all around the pillar, eating away at the foundation, and the pillar falls, obstructing the path back to safety. With a chorus of shrieks, and nowhere else to go, the three fillies bolt into the portal to escape the fire.
The fire that winks out the moment the portal closes, an unnatural chuckle sounding throughout the basement. “Score one for Murphy!”
CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS DUNGEON EXPLORERS YAY!
Ryu walked down the beach, tail dragging through the sand.
“Come on man, get psyched! I want to join the Guild to help others, be a hero! … But how? Why would the Guild accept a coward like me?” He reaches into his shell and brings out a small rock. At first glance, it seems unimportant, but a closer look reveals intricate carvings all across the surface.
“Not even Dad’s Lucky Charm could get me to go up there. I’m so useless.”
The creature’s bout of self-loathing is cut off by a sound akin to a bubble popping, and that pop releasing the equivalent of a small tornado. Ryu quickly scurries behind a rock, and watches as three beings fall from the sky to the beach below.
Scootaloo came to tasting sand. She groans, rolls over onto all fours, and looks around. She is on a beach of some sort in the middle of a gorgeous sunset. Rocks adorn the edges of the sandy expanse, but she can see paths through them. Scootaloo looks a bit closer to herself, and sees two piles, one blue with hints of red, and one white with hints of black. As she watches, the blue pile shakes, and a voice emanates from it.
“Oh, mah head. Girls? Ya still here?”
Scootaloo stares in shock. “A-Apple Bloom?” The pile lifts up, revealing a head with two large floppy ears, two red stripes on the ends, and a protrusion on the front with another red stripe near the junction of protrusion and head. Definitely not a pony head. Definitely not a pony body either; small, stout, with four stubby legs and a tiny, hairless tail. In fact, there isn’t much hair on Apple Bloom at all. Two small black eyes look in Scootaloo’s direction in shock.
“Scoots? What are ya? Ya look like a blue raccoon, or dog!” She spots a pool of water close by, collected in the hole during high tide, and races over.
Sure enough she’s blue. Not blue like Rainbow Dash, but a dark blue, like the stripes on her scooter. Her head is dog-shaped, with little ears sticking up, and a short muzzle. Fur like a black mask covers the areas around her eyes, with two large somethings on either side of her head. Blue paws instead of hooves, with white bumps on the backsides. It’s starting to get uncomfortable walking on all fours, so she stands on only her back legs. Strangely, it feels more natural for her to be in this position.
Apple Bloom stands, and walks over, gasping at her new body. “Ah look like a baby elephant! A blue… baby… elephant…” she turns to her friend. “Scootaloo, where are we? Why do we look like this?”
“I don’t know, girls, but I hafta say,” they turn and see a creature with Sweetie Belle’s voice, “we look awesome!” White fur adorns a sleek, dog-like body. The only black parts are claws on the end of each of her four feet, a furless tail, the face, and a wicked-looking scythe-shaped protrusion sticking out of the side of her head and arcing up above it.
“Wow Sweetie, you look so cool! But, what’s with that thing sticking out of your head?” She reaches up and gasps when she touches the scythe. She too gallops over to gaze at her new body.
“I-I dunno. It’s hard, like a bone, but it doesn’t feel like a bone. Weird. Hey, did any of us get cutie marks in shapeshifting?” They all gasp excitedly, and search their flanks. However, their jubilation is cut short.
“Um, girls? Can we still get cutie marks if we aren’t ponies?” They all ponder, but are cut off by a shout from the rocks.
“Hey! Give that back!”
“Why? What would a wimp like you want with a dumb ol’ rock anyways? We should just throw it in the ocean.”
“What? No! It’s really important!”
The trio move to investigate when a third voice pops up. The first voice sounds young and timid, a bit like Snips back on Equestria, but without the nasally undertone. The second sounds a lot more like Snips, like whoever is talking has trouble with its sinuses. The third voice is deep and slow, like Snails, but with more of a hacking, gravelly undertone.
“Whoa! If it’s important, Zubat, we could actually get something for it! I wonder how much the Keckleon Brothers would pay for a rock like this.”
“Oh yeah, Koffing. I bet we could get some good dough for this!”
The girls peek around a rock and behold the strangest sight since, well, waking up on a beach in animal-ish bodies.
A small blue turtle is backed up against a rock, flanked by a very large bat and a crater-pocked purple ball that is floating of its own accord. In the bat’s ‘feet’ is a small black rock, obviously the object of this hullabaloo. The two fliers laugh, more of a cackle, and fly off down the beach. The turtle slumps down, and begins crying.
“One of us should go help him.”
“Why only one a’ us? I think he’ll need all tha’ support he can get!”
“Apple Bloom, if he sees three creatures walk out from behind a rock after seeing two other creatures take something obviously precious to him, I think that’ll scare him more than anything. So, who’s it gonna be?”
The other two Crusaders look squarely at Scootaloo. She glares back. “Oh come on! Why me?”
“You’re the one who suggested it, Scoots, so you should be the one to go.”
Scootaloo harrumphs. “Fine. But you two had better be ready to help me if things go bad.” She steps out from behind the rock. “Hello?”
The turtle glances up, then shoots upright. “What do you want?” he glowers. Scootaloo puts her hooves (paws, this is gonna take some getting used to) up defensively.
“Hey, take it easy, I’m not gonna hurt you. I saw, and heard, those two meanies take something from you. Do you need any help?”
He pouts. “Nah, it’s not important.”
“Then why were you trying so hard to get it back?”
The turtle sighs and deflates. “Because it belonged to my dad. He wants me to grow up big and strong and powerful like him, but I’m just a shelless coward. I don’t deserve any help.” He kicks at the sand.
Scootaloo chances a move closer to him. “I feel your pain. I have these friends, well, we weren’t always friends, but that’s not quite important. The three of us were scared, because we thought we were alone, and were different from everypony else. Then one day, during a party for one of our nemesises… nemesees… whatever, we found each other, and banded together. And when we were together, we proved ourselves stronger than our foes. So maybe that’s what you’re missing; you need somepony to help, even though you think there isn’t anypony who can help you.”
The turtle sniffles, and looks up. Scootaloo is taller than him by a good head and a half. “Thanks, I guess. By the way, my name’s Ryu.”
She smiles at him. “I’m Scootaloo. Would you like to meet my friends?”
“Are they gonna try and hurt me? I mean, you’re alright, for a Riolu, but I don’t know if I should trust you just yet.”
“Oh come on, it’ll be fun! We love meeting new ponies! Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, come say hello.” The other Crusaders come out from behind the rock cautiously, trying not to appear menacing.
Scootaloo looks down, and Ryu has disappeared inside his shell, leaving only the swirly tip of his tail sticking out. She leans down, and sees gray eyes peering out at her. “Come on, silly. These are my friends.”
“What? I thought by friends, you would mean more Fighting types. How in the name of Arceus does a Riolu, Absol, and Phanpy become friends? I mean, I’ve seen some odd groupings before, but this takes the cake!”
“Well, we grew up in the same town, we’re all basically the same age, and—what did you call us?”
Ryu nervously pokes his head and limbs out of his shell and stands back up. “I said, how in the name of our Great Creator does an Absol,” points at Sweetie Belle, “a Phanpy,” Apple Bloom, “and a Riolu,” ending on Scootaloo, “know each other well enough to call each other ‘friends’?”
“Oh, so that’s what we are? Ah’ve never heard of those before.”
Ryu looks at them in shock. “What. You don’t even know what Pokémon you are? How sheltered was this town?”
“What’s a Pokémon? It sounds funny.” With that, Sweetie pokes Apple Bloom, saying “Poke-emon”, causing Apple Bloom to retort with a poke of her own. This escalates very quickly and ends just as abruptly, with the two on their backs in the sand, laughing.
“No, this is serious. How did you three make it this far in the world without knowing what you are?”
Scootaloo shifts nervously. “Um, I guess we should tell you about our town. See, where we come from, everypony’s a pony.”
“What, like a Ponyta?”
“What’s a Ponyta?”
“Looks kinda like a horse, mane of fire.” Ryu catches Scootaloo’s horrified look. “What? With Pokémon, Fire-types are usually part fire.”
“Um, no. Not like a flaming horse. Well, kind of, just not on fire. We’re from a very, very, very long ways away; one of our friends likes to do experiments, and we sorta used one of them without her permission. I don’t know why we look like this, and… girls, how are we supposed to get back?” She turns to the giggling pair, worry in her eyes.
They stop, pondering.
“Ah got nuttin’.”
“Yeah, me neither.” A tear forms in Sweetie Belle’s eye. “Scoots, what if we can’t go back?”
“Sweetie, get ahold of yourself. Once Twilight finds out we used her machine, she’ll just use it and come rescue us.”
“But, but… remember, right before we came here? The thing was falling apart. I-I mean, Twilight’s a good pony, but we destroyed it! How’s she supposed to rescue us if the thing’s broken?”
Scootaloo’s arms drop. Eyes half-closed, she moves over and sits by her friends. Ryu can’t make out their faces from the rock he’s at, but he can hear quiet sobbing.
Crap, man. You gotta do something. Be brave. Be brave. BE BRAVE! He steps forward.
“This Twilight, she’s really smart, right?”
Sweetie sniffles. “Y-yeah. She’s the smartest pony ever.”
“And she made whatever brought you here, right?”
“Uh-huh.”
Ryu crosses his arms. “Then it stands to reason she can fix it?”
A glimmer comes to Scootaloo’s eyes. “Yeah!”
“So all you need to do is wait until she can show up and take you home! By the sound of it, whatever it is took a beating, so it’ll probably take some time. I know a place we can stay.”
“Really? It’ll be safe there? Do you know the ponies there?”
“Not really. I’m talking about the Wigglytuff Guild. Pokémon go there to become heroes, to help other Pokémon wherever they go. I’ve been trying to work up the courage to join them, but…”
“Yeah, you keep saying you’re a coward. You’re not. You had the guts to give us hope again. If it’s a place we can stay, let’s go, everypony!”
Ryu chuckles. “Okay, but on one condition. I don’t know how it’s supposed to go wherever you’re from, but here, it’s ‘everymon’ and ‘anymon’, not pony.”
With that, the group sets off towards the safe haven.
They exit the beach, and Apple Bloom draws level with Ryu. “What about tha’ rock ya had? Ya know, the special one from yer dad? Don’t’cha wanna get it back?”
Ryu shrugs. “It’s just a rock. I’ve already found something better.”
CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS DUNGEON EXPLORERS YAY!
“Umm… anypon-sorry, anymon else thinking this was a bad idea?”
The quartet is standing about halfway up a hill. Behind them is darkness; in front of them is yet another strange sight. A large pink building sits at the crest of the cliff. Not a subdued pink, but full-blown Pinkie pink, with large eyes that will steal your soul and large bunny ears sticking out the sides. Lining the path are large torches, blazing in the fading light. In the buildings ‘stomach’ is a wooden gate. In front of the building, on the ground, is a grate. The four avoid the grate, and knock on the gate.
“Remind me again why we’re doing this?” Apple Bloom asks.
Ryu keeps knocking. “Because it’ll be fun. I want to help Pokémon all over the world, and what else are you three gonna do? Sit on the beach for days, weeks, months? Waste away, unable to pay anymon for food or shelter? Also, this is a great fallback plan. If-sorry, when your friend fixes her machine, we’ll have made some friends here, and I can join a team with other Pokémon instead of having to go on alone.”
“Psst! Hey, over here!” The four turn, and see something akin to a small brown mole sticking out of the ground. “You must be new. In order to get in, we hafta analyze your footprint. We can’t go around just letting any Pokémon in, you see? So, back up, and step onto the grate one at a time. Once we’re sure you aren’t evil or anything, you can come in. Got it?”
The four nod their agreement, and the mole disappears. Scootaloo turns to the others. “So, who’s first?”
There is a bit of a scramble, and Ryu ends up in front. Realizing there’s no use arguing, he sheepishly steps up to the grate.
“Pokémon detected! Pokémon detected!” A shout emanates from the hole. Ryu almost jumps off in shock, but stands firm.
“WHO’S FOOTPRINT? WHO’S FOOTPRINT?” An even louder shout comes from somewhere in the building. Either the Pokémon is in there, right inside the entrance, or he’s one of the loudest things ever.
“The footprint is Squirtle’s! The footprint is Squirtle’s! Squirtle, how many are with you?”
Ryu leans down and shouts, “Three more!” then steps off the grate. Scootaloo steps up, and the process repeats, minus the ‘how many more’.
After Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom get identified, the voice comes again. “Okay, you all check out. Please proceed to the first sublevel. Somemon will be with you shortly. Welcome to the HQ of the Wigglytuff Guild!” The gate creaks open. They look in, and see a wooden ladder leading through a hole in the ground. With a shrug, Ryu descends.
Apple Bloom and Sweetie look worried. “How are we supposed to get down? I don’t think that’s meant for four-legged creatures.”
Two minutes later…
“Wow. Why was I worried? That was a piece of cake!” Sweetie lands gracefully at the foot of the ladder.
Apple Bloom follows a moment later, tumbling onto the hard ground. “Easy for ya’ll ta say.” She grumbles, then stops at the sheer amount of everything going on.
The sublevel is large. Boards adorn the walls, all stuffed to the brim with pieces of paper. Many, many Pokémon mill about on the floor, on the walls, on the ceiling, everywhere. Some are pulling down pieces of paper, some making use of several smaller ladders placed around the edges of the room to ascend or descend, but all are grouped together in groups of two or three. A window takes up the entirety of one wall, pointing out over the ocean. A few groups of winged Pokémon flit in and out of the window.
“Wow. This is…”
“Amazing!” Ryu finishes. “I’ve never seen so many Pokémon in one place? Do you think they’re all members of Exploration Teams?”
Scootaloo looks at him. “By the way, you never really explained what that means.”
“Hello? Yes, hello? Are you the ones who were knocking upstairs?” They turn, and see a small blue, green, and yellow bird perched on the top rung of the lower ladder. The defining feature is a crest on the back of his head in the shape of a flag, making his head look like a music note.
Ryu steps forward; Scootaloo notices that the other Pokémon seem to now be avoiding this certain set of ladders. “Yeah, we’re here for—”
“Go away!” The bird screeches. “We have no need for solicitors like you!”
He continues to rant until Ryu states “We’re not here to sell you anything! We’re here to become an Exploration Team!”
The bird immediately stops mid-sentence, in the middle of sweeping one wing outwards, one foot pointing the other direction, and overall looking rather silly. “Well, why didn’t you say so? Come! Come right this way!” and hops off the ladder to the next sublevel. The four follow.
The second sublevel is much more subdued in action. Relatively few Pokémon mill about, always heading in one direction or another. Wonderful smells emanate from one hallway, and if one listened well enough, restful breathing could be heard from another. The bird motions them to a door just to the side of the ladder. The art around the door matches the style of the building above; pink around the edge, large green eyes with bunny ears, white door. He turns to our hero/heroines.
“Now, please keep a level head when dealing with the Guildmaster. He has been known to be a bit… eccentric at times. Don’t say anything out of turn or anything remotely hurtful.” He hops towards the door, then turns back. “In fact, don’t say anything at all. Leave the talking to me.” With that, he brushes open the door and ushers the four in.
A darkened room greets them. A thick carpet leads from the door to the other end of the room. Two braziers are placed on either side of the carpet, coals burning low. At the other end of the room sits a thing. In the darkness, it is hard to make out what this thing is; in the low light all that can be discerned is the thing is large. The bird hops over to the thing.
“Guildmaster?” No response. “Guildmaster? Sir?” No response. The bird becomes slightly panicked. “Wigglytuff? We have some young Pokémon here wishing to become—”
“YOOM-TAH!” With a shout, the thing turns around and the room brightens. The thing is revealed to be the same as the building and the door: tall, at least six feet high, colored like a penguin with pink instead of black, tall rabbit ears, and large soulful green eyes. “Hiya! I’m Wigglytuff! Chatot here tells me you wanna become Guild members, right?”
“Yes, Guildmaster, they do, but—” Chatot tries to interject, but Wigglytuff cuts him off.
“We’re always looking for new friends!”
“Guildmaster, we really can’t—”
“Oh, I have a feeling we’re all going to get along just fine!”
“GUILDMASTER!” Chatot shrieks. Wigglytuff looks at him, a hurtful look in his eyes. Chatot takes a step back. "I’m sorry, but we cannot accept any new teams at this time.”
Wigglytuff pouts. “Why not? The last team moved out, what, two, three days ago? And if there’s not enough room, we can always get Diglett and Dugtrio to expand again.”
“But…I…uh…” Chatot deflates. “Yes sir. Alright then, names and team designation please.”
“I’m Ryu. This is Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, and Apple Bloom. Uh… what do you mean by ‘team designation’?”
“Every team goes by a name. Razor Wind, Charm, Glee, every team has a designation that sets them apart from the others. What is your team name going to be?”
The four go into a huddle. A minute later, they turn back to Chatot. “Well, how about Team Crusaders? These three, back in their home village, were known as the Cutie Mark Crusaders. However, since I have no clue what a ‘cutie mark’ is, we’ve decided to just go with Crusaders.”
Chatot produces a piece of parchment, and begins writing. “…And, done. Welcome to the Wigglytuff Guild, Team Crusaders! Now, if you’ll just follow me…”
“Wait!” Wigglytuff yelps. Everymon turns to see him balancing a box on top of his head. He jumps, bucking the box off, and it lands with a thump in front of the Crusaders. “Every team needs the right gear. This will help you get started.” Ryu opens the box, and begins pulling stuff out. First out of the box is four pins. “These badges show everyone you are part of my Guild, and are to be treated with the respect that deserves.” Second is four small sacks. “These treasure bags will hold anything you find on your adventures. Food, items, interesting shiny bits, you name it, you can put it in there. Since you’re just starting out, the bags can only hold a few things, but with hard work, you can rise through the ranks and gain access to bigger and better things.” The third thing is a folded piece of parchment. “That’s the wonder map! Anywhere you go on your adventures, it’ll mark it down, no effort on your part! A must-have for any Exploration Team.” The fourth item is a small worn book. "That's a field guide you can use to identify basically anything you find on your adventures." Ryu nods, then pulls out the last set of items: four squares of cloth.
“What are these?”
“Oh, those are just some bandanas you can wear whilst adventuring. Nothing says you’re part of a team like matching uniforms!”
“Is that all, Guildmaster?”
“Ayup, I think so!”
“Alright then, if you would just follow me, Team Crusaders, I will show you to your quarters.” Chatot glides out of the room. The Crusaders follow, and end up in a small room with four pads of grass on the floor. “This is where you will be staying during your apprenticeship here. Life in the Guild starts pretty early, so make sure to get enough sleep. You’re going to need it.” With that, he hops off.
The four settle down, and Ryu notices the girls have wide smiles on their faces. “What’s with the smiles?”
“Oh, the Guildmaster just reminds us of a certain crazy party pony we know. Like, they act almost the same and have the same colors, almost.” Scootaloo remarks, then turns over onto her back. “Ryu, how much can you tell us about this world? If we’re gonna be stuck here for a while, we need to fit in as best we can.”
“Well, I don’t really know much, but I can tell you what my dad told me. See, a very very very very long time ago, at the creation of the universe, there was an Egg…”
CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS DUNGEON EXPLORERS YAY!
Retrieval Cutie Mark; Meanwhile 1
“Spike! Oh Spike!” A purple unicorn wearily trots into the door of the Golden Oaks Library. She shakes her head, pushes open the door, and enters. Her fur is disheveled, her mane is in disarray, and a strand of it seems to be on fire for some reason. She notices a few things as she enters. Things that cause her weariness to be shoved to the back of her mind.
One: the center table is off-center, and there are two few chairs around it.
Two: given that it is a Thursday, she usually organizes the books by spine color. The shelves are lined with books organized by title.
Three: there is no sign of CMC destruction. Usually, this is a good thing, but it’s like they were never here.
Four: a familiar purple and green dragon standing in the room, broom in claw, wearing the guiltiest smile ever smiled.
Five: the door to the basement is just so slightly ajar.
She clears her throat. “Crusaders?”
Spike drops the smile; the jig is up before it even began. “Crusaders.”
“Basement?”
“Basement.”
“Experiment?”
“Hopper.”
“Damages?”
He gestures at the door. “See for yourself.”
He continues sweeping as Twilight descends the stairs. He keeps sweeping, even as the shriek comes full force.
“OH MY CELESTIA! HOW DO YOU EVEN SET FIRE TO PURE PLATINUM?”
Less than ten minutes later, Rarity, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash are gathered in the main room. All are awaiting the arrival of the Princess of the Sun to aid them in finding their wayward sisters. Well, most are waiting. Twilight is in the basement, mourning the loss of her D-Hopper, and lamenting how long it will take to restore it to its previous glory.
“So,” Spike leans back in his chair, “How’d the negotiations go?”
Rarity huffs, Rainbow Dash decides to look around anywhere but here, and Applejack covers her face with her Stetson. “About as well as you might expect, dear. The Griffons, Minotaurs, and dragons sent their biggest brutes to ‘negotiate’; even the brother of Iron Will.”
“Whaaat? That psycho has a brother?”
“Yes, Iron Bill, but that’s not important. We managed to barely keep things from coming to blows, when Iron Bill decided to pound his fists on the table. It just so happens Pinkie Pie, the darling, set out a round of pies moments before. He hits the table, pies go up, and…” She motions to Rainbow. Sure enough, flecks of whipped cream smatter her cyan coat. Spike hides his smile behind his claws.
“Then what?”
“Absolute chaos. Cutlery flying everywhere, the dragons shooting off fireballs, my favorite fainting couch getting trampled by Iron Will’s other brother…”
“Oh man, another brother?”
“Yes, Iron Phil, but that’s also not important. Pandemonium reigned until Princess Celestia ceased the negotiations and sent all the delegates to their rooms. She informed us we were no longer needed, and sent us back to Ponyville. Then, you show up at the door to my boutique, huffing and puffing about Sweetie Belle and her friends going missing, and the rest is history. I’m just glad the Minotaurs didn’t send their lawyer.”
“Really? Who is he?”
“Iron Quill.” A golden pop draws everypony’s attention, and Princess Celestia warps into the room.
Spike dashes over to the basement door. “Twilight! Princess Celestia’s here!”
“Give me just one more moment… aha! Coming!” She trots up the stairs, lugging a small black box in her magic.
“An’ what, exactly, is that, Sugarcube?” Applejack questions.
“This is the D-Hopper’s black box.”
Everypony (and dragon) looks at her strangely. “Oh. When I was dealing with Sunset Shimmer and the Sirens in that other world, I learned a bit about some of their machines. They have these massive contraptions that can fly through the air faster than even Rainbow Dash.” She ignores the cry of indignation from the Sonic Rainboom. “Sometimes, for any number of reasons, these things go down hard. They crash somewhere, and rescuers try to save as much as they can. These machines have what is known as a black box in them. It records everything the machine was doing from the moment it took off, to the moment it landed. That idea came back to my mind while designing some of my experiments; if I could record what the experiment was doing, even if it was destroyed, I would still have everything about it. I can access the box’s records, and figure out the last spatial coordinates entered. Then we know which dimension the girls hopped to!”
“Very smart, my young student.”
Twilight fires up her horn, and touches the box. Suddenly, she goes rigid, small flashes of light bursting from her eyes. A moment later, her horn goes out and she slumps slightly. “Spike, did the logbook escape the fire?”
“Yeah.” He motions to the worn notebook on the table. Twilight takes it, and flips to the Table of Contents.
“Horseapples, they went to one of the unknowns. Princess Celestia, I don’t mean to pry, but can you figure out if you’ve ever been to this dimension?”
“I can try, Twilight. Let me see the coordinates.” Twilight lifts up the book, and Celestia’s horn glows gold. Her eyes turn white as the sun, and remain that way for several minutes. Eventually, the glows fade. “Yes and no, Twilight.”
“What?”
“No, my sister and I have never been to the dimension in question.” The other mares slump. “The good news is I do know the creator of the dimension.”
Twilight beams. “Really? That’s great! That’s… what? Creator? Like, a single being who gave birth to an entire dimension?!”
“Yes, Twilight. Dimensions do not just appear on their own; usually, there is a single being who breathes life into it. This is true for all dimensions, including ours. And before you ask,” the Princess states, expecting Twilight’s question, “Yes, we also know of the creator of this dimension, who went by the name Faust. She gave this dimension life, and cared for it deeply. However, even the Creators have controllers, and she was forced away. The creator of this new dimension, however, has never left. He remains as a guiding hand for his children, for his worlds have always been at war with balance. He must introduce new pieces to both sides constantly, or else his creations will fall to chaos.”
“So, you’re going to go and ask him if we can retrieve our sisters?” Rainbow Dash asks, now attentive. Even though they weren’t biological, she considers Scootaloo the closest to a sister she can get.
“Yes, my little Pegasus. It may take some time, though. He has always been rather blunt about how his creations are run. Twilight, may we use your balcony?”
“Sure, anything you need, Princess!” With another pop, Celestia is gone. Everypony (and dragon!) rushes up the stairs to find Celestia standing in front of a shimmering golden portal.
“Princess Celestia, how long are you going to be gone?”
“I do not know, my little pony. I do not expect to be back until this evening at the earliest. Use this time to rest; I know the negotiations took a lot out of everypony involved. Do not worry, you three. We will get your sisters back.” With that, she steps through the portal, which winks out a moment later.
“I’ll get to work fixing the D-Hopper. Celestia’s right, girls. Go home, get some rest. We’ll fix it.”
“HEY! UP AND AT ‘EM!” The roar rips through the small room. Everymon inside is jolted awake. “I AIN’T GONNA BE CALLED A SLACKER JUST ‘CAUSE THE NEWBIES DIDN’T GET UP ON TIME! NOW MOVE IT! IT’S TIME TO WORK!” thumping is heard as the thing with the voice of a hurricane stomps away.
“Oh, my head. Girls, I just had the craziest dream. We used one of Twilight’s experiments, and went to this weird world, met a blue turtle that could talk, and…” Scootaloo opens her eyes and looks down at her hooves. However, they aren’t hooves; her hooves have been turned into blue paws. “…and it wasn’t a dream, was it?”
“E’Nope.” Apple Bloom answers. She is holding her head, but isn’t in her bed. Instead, she’s sitting by the single window the room has. Of course, being a farmpony, she’s up with the sunrise.
“My head,” Sweetie Belle squeaks, “What was that? What did it say? Something about the time?”
Suddenly, the three sleepyheads bolt upwards. “Crap! We slept late!” Ryu panics, throwing grass everywhere as he struggles to get out of his bed.
The others try to dig the roar out of their ears. “What?”
Ryu turns to them, gray eyes wide. “Guild? Members? Help others? Ring a bell? We can’t do any of that if we sleep late!” He scurries for the doorway, tripping over a stretching Scootaloo in the process. They tumble into Sweetie Belle, who is walking wearily towards the door. Apple Bloom approaches the pile, indifference in her eyes. Jus’ a normal mornin’ fer the Crusaders.
Less than a minute later, Team Crusaders is in the main room on the second sublevel. There are eight other Pokémon in front of Wigglytuff and Chatot, who is leering at them with much distaste.
“It’s about time you four showed up! What kept you?”
“Sorry,” Ryu apologizes, “Traffic jam in the hallway.”
“Humph. I only hope you show more punctuality in the future. Alright then, let us commence with the morning cheers! A-one… a-two… A one-two-three!”
All the others start chanting, something about not shirking work and how smiles go for miles, but the Crusaders just listen, having never heard this before. However, even they get caught up in the excitement and enthusiasm, and with a final cry of “YAAAY!” the other Pokémon disperse to do… whatever they do.
Ryu turns to the girls. “So, what are we supposed to do?”
“I may be able to help with that,” Chatot declares as he alights on Sweetie’s back. “If you would follow me, I will take you to the Job Board.” He flies off, up the ladder. The Crusaders eagerly follow.
Three minutes later…
“I…*huff* hope… that gets *gasp*… easier… with time.” Sweetie Belle collapses at the top of the ladder, followed by Apple Bloom.
Chatot looks at them strangely. “You know, we have a couple passageways meant for our four or more legged members,” he chirps as he motions to a slanted hole in the ground across the room. Sweetie Belle lifts her head in the direction indicated, then slams it back down.
“Oh come on!”
“Anyhoo, these over here are the Job Boards,” Chatot sweeps a wing towards five boards on one side of the room. “Jobs are ranked according to their difficulty, like where it is, what dangers you may face, and so on. The jobs are split among the five boards, one for each ranking, A, B, C, D, and E. E is the easiest, recommended for newer teams. Now, let’s find you a job, hum, let’s see… aha! How about this one?” He flies up, and returns with a posting in his claws. Ryu takes the paper and reads it.
“Hmm… Spoink… lost pearl… Drenched Bluff… can’t live without it… imperative it’s returned…” Ryu looks at Chatot with indignation. “You want us to go on some stupid fetch-quest for a Pokémon who dropped a trinket?”
“Well, what were you expecting?”
Ryu gets a gleam in his eyes. “I don’t know. Finding long-lost treasure, exploring previously unknown ruins, you know, Indiana Bagon-type stuff!”
“Sorry to disappoint, but a lot of what the Guild does is just helping Pokémon who are too weak to help themselves, so to speak. The postings here are for Mystery Dungeons, where the faint of heart dare not tread. Also, this will be easy enough to see if you have what it takes to be an Exploration Team. So get going!”
“So, this must be the Drenched Bluff.” Scootaloo remarks. Team Crusaders is standing in front of a hole in the side of a cliff. The cliff is overlooking the ocean, with waves coming halfway up the cliff every minute.
“That’s what the map says. Now, the post says Spoink lost his pearl somewhere near the bottom, so we’re gonna have to fight our way through. I assume you girls don’t know how to fight, either?”
“Nope. Well, ah once tried ta learn karate fer a cutie mark, but it was a bust.”
Ryu faceclaws. “Of course. Well, all Pokémon know a set of moves they can use to fight other Pokémon. Like, I can do Tackle, Bubble, and Withdraw into my shell to defend against attacks. Scootaloo, you’re a Fighting type Pokémon, so you should be able to use moves like Quick Attack and a whole slew of strong attacks. Apple Bloom is a Ground type, so she should be able to at least use Tackle. Sweetie Belle’s a bit trickier, being a Dark type. You should at least know Scratch. Um, I don’t know any other moves off the top of my head, but we can visit a specialist in Treasure Town who can figure out what moves you guys know.”
“So, we actually have to try and kill other Pokémon?” Sweetie looks sick.
“No! You don’t kill other Pokémon, you just have to beat them down until they admit defeat; or, knock them unconscious. Either way works. I don’t know of any case where a Pokémon passed away from fighting another.”
“So, we just have to fight them until they give up? I guess I could live with that. But, how do we use these moves?”
“Practice, mostly. But, since you guys probably don’t know many right now, just do what comes naturally if we come across a Pokémon that wants to fight. Shall we?”
Two floors later…
“Celestia darn it, Sweetie Belle!”
“Not my fault! How was I supposed to know those purple flower things were actually Pokémon?”
The two Crusaders are running through the tunnels with a herd of angry flowers on their tails. Ryu and Scootaloo are searching for the way down to the next level, and tasked the other two with finding anything interesting. They found some berries, a few seeds, and of course, a room full of sleeping Lileeps. A room full of Lileeps that didn’t take too kindly to a random Pokémon coming in and sniffing their faces.
They duck down a side tunnel and watch from the shadows as the herd thunders by.
“Coming through!” the shout comes from down the side tunnel, and Ryu and Scoots collide with Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle a moment later.
Scootaloo is panicking. “Crab-things…step on one… coming this way…”
“Ryu! Translation please!”
He’s huffing and puffing. “We found a room that looked empty. We started into it, but Scootaloo stepped on a sleeping Anorith. It woke all the others up, and started a stampede. We have to move!” Sure enough, a skittering fills the tunnel behind them. Many beady eyes blink in the darkness. This fills the Crusaders with fear, spurring them into running again. They run back to the Lileep room, and Scootaloo finds a hole in the ground.
“This way!” She jumps in the hole, followed by the rest.
Everymon stops to catch their breath. “Okay, new plan,” Ryu pants. “No more splitting up.”
“Agreed.”
Four floors later…
“Finally made it.”
“No thanks to you guys!” Ryu scowls. “We should’ve fought at least some of those things.”
“Sorry, Ryu, Ah guess we need some trainin’ or somethin’.”
“Or something is right. Okay, everymon, split up and find the pearl.”
“Found it. It’s literally right in front of you, Ryu.” Sweetie Belle approaches the lost trinket.
“Sweetie, don’t!” Scootaloo shouts, and scoops the pearl up before Sweetie can touch it. “Sorry girl, but I don’t think we need this thing catching fire before we get it back to Spoink.”
Ryu looks perplexed. “Wait, how…?”
“She has a bad habit of setting things on fire when she tries to do something. She’s the only pony we know that can set cereal on fire.”
“But isn’t cereal, like, sixty percent liquid?”
“Moving on!” Sweetie interrupts, “Shouldn’t we get back to the guild?”
“Yeah, you guys need to learn how to fight. Let’s go, Crusaders.”
“Oh thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou so so much!” The small gray bouncing pig-faced Pokémon gratefully accepts its lost pearl back, situating it right on top of its head. “You see, if a Spoink goes without his pearl, he loses all Psychic ability! Not to mention the popularity backlash that might have ensued should I have been seen without my illustrious pearl! Here, take this as recompense.” He deposits a small sack and hops up the ladder.
Ryu hefts the bag. “By the graces of the Three Golems! There must be at least two thousand coins in here! Girls, we’re rich! We can do anything we—”
“I’ll be taking that.” Chatot swoops down and snatches the bag. He rifles through it a bit. “Very astute, Ryu. There is exactly two thousand coins in here. This is your share of the reward.” He places most of the coins into a much larger sack, and tosses the now nearly depleted sack to the Crusaders.
“Hey, what gives? There’s only two hundred left!”
“Yes, the Guild takes its share to pay for the upkeep of the place. It’s not easy to maintain a headquarters of this size on donations alone, so we take a cut of all Team mission rewards.”
“Okay, that makes sense, but we get only a tenth?”
Chatot leans in close. “It’s also to keep buying the Guildmaster the happy drugs he takes all the time so he doesn’t go Zubat-shit insane, hear? If he stops taking his happy drugs, even Arceus will quake in fear.”
Ryu pales. “Got it. So, now what?”
The ringing of a bell answers him, along with a similarly singsong voice, “Dinner’s ready, everymon! Come and get it!”
“YAAAAY!” a rumble is heard as the Guild workers storm the kitchen. Chatot and Team Crusaders descend the ladders (Sweetie and Apple Bloom taking the ones meant for four-legged Pokémon), and join their new friends in the multidimensional art of dinner conversation.
Meanwhile, in an undisclosed location…
“Master, our scouts have rounded up another group. Do we have enough?”
“Yes, my child.” The bearer of the voice looks down at many cages, all filled with frightened Pokémon. “I do believe we have enough to begin our conquest.”
