Faraway Friends

Chapters

Somewhere in the Jungle
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Interlude 1
Chapter 4
Prologue

Somewhere in the Jungle

Three thousand miles away, two ponies scream as they fall into the canopy of a jungle.

Fluttershy, the one with wings, has to tuck hers in to avoid all the whipping branches and grasping vines in every direction, though she’s not able to pull them in before a sharp crack is heard, and Fluttershy cries out in pain.

The two land, Applejack mere moments before her friend. The battered pegasus lands, whimpering, and the farm mare quickly goes to check on her, wincing at the sight of the dislocated wing. “Ah, that’s tough... alright, Fluttershy, gimme a couple moments, an’ I’ll get some stuff to make a splint...” she says, looking around and realizing this isn’t the Everfree forest or some other small patch of woods she’s familiar with. The trees go so far up their tops are hidden by a high-flying fog, the ground underhoof littered with broken fronds, thick underbrush, and enough moss and fallen branches to take away all semblance of good footing.

Applejack sighs. “Well... shoot. Ah guess I’ll have ta use a... what’s the name fer a fern leaf? Eh, whatever...” she mutters to herself, grabbing a tough-enough looking fern and ripping up the fronds, keeping an eye out. As she pulls the plant up and starts dragging the large, broad-leafed frond to her friend, something moves in the underbrush.

She looks about in fear, then moves closer to Fluttershy, who also looks fearful. The movement in the brush comes from the other side of them, making them whip their heads towards it, only to twitch and look in another direction as a third source of sound moves nearby, and the two press closer together, Applejack wishing she had her rope lasso.

The noises stop, and the ponies are, for the moment, warily optimistic. That changes quickly when, which a screech, a tall, blue-green reptile leaps from the underbrush. A rounded head with two feathered crests atop it, feathers coming from their stubby elbows, and even feathers on their backs and tails, they look almost like cartoon versions of raptors, but the bloody looks in the leader’s eye is far from child friendly.

The crested Yoshi snarls at the two, then grins when they scream in fear, a mean look in its eye as two move stride from the brush and prevent the pony’s escape.

“You two look losst, little morsselss.” the leader hisses, grin revealing far too many sharp teeth for him to be an omnivore or an herbivore. “Maybe you’d like to come back to our village; we’d love ta... have ya for lunch!” the leader cackles as he lunges forward, the bare, clawed feet pushing him forward...

Only for him to dodge at the last second around a spear as a short figure, only knee-high to one of the ponies, drops in front of him. The diminutive figure brandishes the spear, face hidden behind a pale, three-hole mask with four stripes down one side in a series of colors. A deep, royal-purple robe covers the entirety of the shyguy’s body.

While the shyguy doesn’t speak, the yoshi certainly does. “Oh, it’s a snack with a stick!” he snarls, leaping at the shyguy again, only to be batted away by the but of the spear, swung in a wide arc. The leader stands up again, then looks at the other two crested yoshi. “Don’t just stand there! Get them already!” he shouts, spurring the others into sprinting at the shyguy.

WHU-CRACK

The sound of the wooden shaft smashing one yoshi to the ground, followed by the almost-gentle ‘snikt’ of the spear’s tip drawing a line in blood across the other’s cheek, leaving both to scramble back, screeching in pain.

The leader, sensing he’s outmatched, snarls and backs off, but not before promising, “You may’ve won now, but the pack’s coming for you, and we’ll eat all of you!” The crested yoshi snarls one more time, before yelping and ducking under a well-thrown spear, one of several on the shyguy’s back.

The strange clothing of their saviour catches the ponies’ attention first, mainly because their pale, white masks cover everything their simple robe-like clothing and grass skirt doesn’t. Their mask, which shows a constant expression of surprise or curiosity in their perfectly uniform open black eyes and similarly-open o-shaped mouths hide them from any prying eyes. Even the mask’s warpaint is the same across the entire tribe: a pair of red horizontal lines under each eye, with the rainbow of smaller marks below the left eyehole.

The shyguy reaches up a cloth-shrouded hand, offering it to the cowering ponies. Applejack, deciding to be brave, reaches out with a hoof and gently sets it on the shyguy’s hand, and he gives a surprisingly strong tug to help AJ back onto her hooves, befor eoffering the hand to Fluttershy next.

“Ah, buddy, she’s got a hurt wing; she needs’ta get that splinted afore we can get a move on.” she tells him, and he lowers his hand, stepping closer, before looking at the hardwood shaft of his spear. Something flashes from under his robes, and the cut end of the spear falls free. With deft motions, he takes the cut wood and the torn frond and lashes Fluttershy’s injured wing to her side, pausing only for a moment when she whimpers until she tells him to continue. Applejack, for her part, whistles in appreciation of the fast and efficient combat dressing of the wound.

Once the splint is, very effectively, applied, the shyguy takes his spears and, raising them above his head, begin motioning for the ponies to follow them.

The two follow closely, staring in wonder in all directions at the continuous, untouched jungle in every direction, until their guide steps onto a well-concealed mat of woven bamboo and plant-based rope, and the ponies hesitantly step on it, and the shyguy taps the tree with his spear. A moment later, Fluttershy is squealing in terror as the platform zips skyward, stopping just under the canopy, the pegasus clinging to the platform with desperate strength, Applejack sighing as she peels Fluttershy up and turns.

When she sees the shyguy village, though, her jaw practically drops off, as the tiny little figures are, while using primarily wood, thatch, rope, stone, and bamboo, have managed to build what looks like a massive factory, a smith off to one side and the other side producing an endless array of glider wings, more robes, fresh spear hafts, pre-made woven hut walls, and so much more. As well, a trio of shyguys, all bearing spears, have come to attention at the sight of the one leading Applejack and Fluttershy, none of them bearing the multicolored stripes on their largely undecorated masks. Their own robes are a more plain purple in color, and the sweet scent of berries gives away the source of the normally hard-to-find color of dye.

With a bit of hesitation, the ponies and shyguys watch each other, both sides attempting to discern the others’ species. In a fit of confusion, one shyguy breaks off from the trio to approach and begins talking with their supposed leader. The speech consists of chirps and indiscernible vocal noises, though no actual words are formed.

Fluttershy blinks, then responds in a fluent series of similar chirps and whistles, startling every single shyguy in range to hear her.

“Uh, what’d ya just say, Shy?” Applejack asks as the four shyguys int he ‘guard’ step closer, making Applejack nervous.

“Oh, uhm, sorry, I was just saying it’s a bit rude to speak about somepony in another language you think they don’t know.” she says, sounding abashed.

The leading shyguy walks over to Fluttershy and, indicating her wing, makes a questioning motion, before pointing at Applejack. Basically asking general information about who they are. Not that AJ understood a single noise either the creatures or her friend made.

“Oh, uhm,” she pauses for a moment, thinking over her vocabulary of animals signals and terms, before giving a few low chirps, a whistle, and a soft whinny. The leader of the shyguy group nods, then points to AJ again, and Fluttershy whistles twice, makes an odd chittering noise, and a more forceful whinny, and the shyguys nod again.

“Uh, not ta be rude or nothin’ but we kinda did just completely skip lunch...” Applejack states, noting her stomach rumble a bit. She had been working on the farm all morning, and this picnic was going to be her personal reward for a job well done. “Ya don’t suppose they eat, like, nuts or bugs or stuff, do ya?”

The shyguys all look to each other, then all give chittering giggles, hands covering their mouths as the laugh at the awkwardness of the farm pony’s question. The leader says something in the way of some short hoots and a soft click, and then begins moving off, and Fluttershy only hesitates for a moment before following him along, and AJ sighs and follows her.

What follows is a whirlwind of action and movement, the shyguys setting up a feast for the entire village, a small, low-volume bell ringing out to call them all in, and the cacophony dies down as everyone heads for the large feast table, loading it up with a bucket-brigade-style series of lines pulling stockpiled food and supplies out and getting them to the table without a single trip or misplaced motion.

“Is this... for us?” AJ questions, a little surprised.

Fluttershy giggles. “No, no, they’re just setting up lunch and inviting us. We’re going to be guests of- oop!” her last noise is from a group of shyguys beginning to tug her carefully off to the side, both to set up a line to haul in baskets of berries (which are bigger than the ponies) as well as a few small, yellow-green melons; and to get them next to a few shyguys who are clustered around a figure in a tall, imposing mask that stands out as very different from the others - but Fluttershy doesn’t fear it, as she recognizes the mask’s design as almost the same as the one Zecora has to indicate her stash of healing herbs, and is meant to ward off disease and ill fortune.

“This guy smells like ‘Bloom after she comes back from Zecora’s...” Applejack points out, noting the interesting smells of varying degrees of sourness and sweetness emanating from the strangely-masked shyguy.

Fluttershy sits down, and the large-masked guy starts speaking to her in a low, whispery tone, some of the sounds echoing from the mask, others half-swallowed by it. But she’s nodding along, and AJ starts to feel a little left out. Then, she finds herself getting pushed simply by the flow of the crowd until she winds up just near a group of shyguys, who look up curiously. Each of them, she notes with surprise, don’t have the same white masks as the others. They have white paint on them, yes, and with ‘eyebrows’ painted on in red, but the masks themselves are made of scarred, well-worn metal, with lenses over the eyes flipped up, and a filter over the mouth-hole of each of them.

“Uh... I’ll just be... over there.” Applejack says, pointing with an open hoof back to where Fluttershy is, and upon seeing her hoof, the steel-masked shyguys begin chittering wildly, staring at the hoof. “Uh, did I do somethin’?”

One of the shyguys takes a careful look at the hoof and, tapping it curiously and generally feeling around it, makes AJ rather uneasy before a small ‘pop’ noise comes from the end of her foreleg. The metal masked ones look over the horseshoe which was, for the most part, only decently intact. The metal-guys (or whatever they were called) begin huddling around the horseshoe and then speed off into a more sturdy-looking hut.

“What the hay jus’ happened here?” Applejack asks, completely bewildered. A moment later, the metal-masked guys storm back out, and begin to pull her towards the smithy building, much to her surprise, and end up lifting her to make it easier, before setting her on a large bench and going after her other horseshoes, which are quickly tossed into a large smelter. “H-hay! Ah need those!” she yells, until a few moments pass and she realizes the shyguys are inspecting her hooves again with measuring sticks and the hammers come out. Fearing for her hooves, she yanks them back, but the shyguys show no interest in her as they begin to pour out a sturdy alloy into long channels, which they check, reject, toss back into the smeltery, and try again after throwing more ingredients in.

A minute or less of bewilderingly fast activity later, and they’re pouring out a set of horseshoes into sand moulds, and waiting to let them cool. Applejack looks around, stunned, as the sand is shaken from the shoes, and a whiplash-inducing spree of activity occurs as the shoes are passed down the line of seven or so shyguys, each pass off stripping them down and shining them up, until they’ve got a coppery sheen and a layer of sealant on the outside that also makes them duller in color and less likely to be visible.

They step closer, holding up the shoes, and the farmpony hesitantly holds out a hoof. The shoes are placed and nailed in with speed and precision, and she finds that they’re almost unimaginably comfy. The smithy guys crowd around, to see her reaction. She takes a step, then smiles. “Well, now, that’s pretty nifty! Sorry fer gettin’ all frightened back there... how can ah repay ya?” she asks, and the guys all shake their heads, waving their arms in a gesture of ‘no need’. “Well, iffen y’all’re sure... I’d hate ta feel like I’m takin’ advantage of ya.”

The Smithy Guys all shake their heads and, going over the measurements they’ve taken as well as the molds they’d made from said measurements, begin to chatter a bit lower amongst themselves. After a bit of time, they all look back to AJ and begin making odd motions. The one thing Applejack can figure out from the archaic pantomiming is the general idea of labor.

The farm pony, over the course of the next twenty minutes or so, finally puzzles out that they’re asking what job she does, and when she explains she bucks trees, they all seem just as confused by this as she is about their entire village.

Figuring she would do better with either an example or a translator, and lacking any noteable fruit-bearing trees around-slash-on the village as far as she knew, she decided to wait for Fluttershy who, was quickly directed to her friend once the shaman was done. The first thing Applejack noticed was that, along the twenty minutes they had been separated, Fluttershy’s wing was no longer in a splint but a very basic leafy bandage of sorts. The second thing she noticed was that the pegasus was happily chatting with the shyguys while laying on her side and covered in colored paint in various patterns.

“Well, they’re kinda weird, but I guess these little guys are bein’ pretty good neighbors...” AJ’s stomach rumbles again. “What say we get some grub?”

Fluttershy looks up, “Oh, hello Applejack, uhm, yes, “ she pauses to chitter to the others, who all hold up two fingers, and Shy nods. “Two more minutes, Applejack, let’s go find some seats-” she goes to stand up, and the shaman guy shakes his head, before pointing at a pair of large, comfortable-looking chairs being setup on one side of the big chair meant for the chieftain of the tribe.

“Anyways, while we wait, what were you up to?” Fluttershy asks, as the two begin to head for the chairs evidently meant for them, which finish being woven and stuffed on their way over.

“Well, as far as makin’ shoes go, these little guys know how to make ‘em comfy; but I’d need to buck a few trees to know if they can hold up to a harvest.” AJ explains, looking at her coppery shoes. “Well, they match my coat at least... heh, if Rarity could hear me now...” AJ trails off, chuckling a bit.

“They do look really nice on you, Applejack!” Fluttershy offers, before sitting on her new chair. “Oh, these are quite comfy.”

“Speakin’ of Rarity.” Applejack starts, taking her own seat. “And everypony else... where is everypony else?”

Fluttershy sighs. “I... I don’t know. The shyguy who rescued us... he came because he saw us falling into the jungle, and we weren’t being very quiet.” she says. Applejack blinks at the name.

“Is that... is that what these little guys are?” She asks, getting a nod in return. “Huh... alright. Well, can they get us home somehow? I’m pretty sure our friends are a might worried considering we... what exactly happened again? Some weird, giant hand grabbed Anthony...” AJ cringes for a second. “And then it pulled us through with ‘im but... we ain’t home or with Anthony at all.”

“I... I don’t know, Applejack. I think Twilight did something, but I don’t know; I only remember trying to pull Anthony out, and then getting shaken off, and then we were falling...” she says, shuddering at the memory, her uninjured wing flexing.

“Well, then whatever grabbed him... got him and got rid of us, but didn’t bother puttin’ us back.”

Fluttershy’s expression falls. “I hope Anthony’s alright.” she mutters.

“Eh, he can take care of himself, but I guess finding him before we head home would be the right thing ta do.”

“Well, why would anypo- anybody try to take him if they didn’t think they could? What if... what if somebody wanted to- to hurt him, Applejack?” Fluttershy says. She knows the implications would be worse if she said ‘kill him’, but she couldn’t bring herself to say it... and for someone like Anthony, she knew being crippled or similarly injured permanently would eb far worse than mere death.

“Okay... that does sound bad.” Applejack admits. “So what do we do to find him?” She turns to the shy guys beside her. “Any a’ y’all see a big... what’d he say he was? A human? One of them?”

The shyguys all turn to each other, a wave of quiet radiating outwards through the crowd from Applejack. One of them, a slightly large shyguy walking with the help of an extremely decorated and muh cruder-looking spear than the others, steps up and begins to speak in the chirps, whistles, and noises of their language, and Fluttershy listens intently. Then, she gasps, turning. “A-Applejack! There’s lots of humans here!” she says, looking shocked and amazed.

“Ya... ya don’t think whatever grabbed Anthony was tryin’a take him home or somethin’?”

“I-I don’t know...” Fluttershy says, then turns tot he shyguys again, and asks something in chitters, and waits for a response. When she makes a certain noise, every shyguy around flinches as one, the response not going unnoticed by AJ and Fluttershy.

She turns to Applejack, looking shaky and pale. “Th-they say ‘the fire-dragon-king’ took him, and... and that he hates humans!”

“Wh- How- Do they know where he is?” Applejack says, very confused and lost. She just wanted a straight answer from something she could talk to.

As if to answer her desire, a bulkier shyguy steps forward, carrying a fully steel pike on his back and a metal mask with a different pattern of holes, more akin to a flatter knight’s helm than the other guys’ masks. In a soft, lilting voice, he says, “Yes, but we cannot reach it alone.” His voice, while quiet, holds a form of charisma and surety to it that relaxes Applejack, reminding her of a warm voice tucking her in as a foal. Fluttershy is similarly affected, hearing the soft noises of the forest, muted and channeled into a kindness only nature can provide in that voice.

Between them, they’re ready to hear what this shyguy has to say, though he sounds grim.

“We must defeat the crested yoshi, and ally with the local bright yoshi tribe if we’re to get to the Mushroom kingdom; it’s your only hope of reaching Bowser in time to save your friend.”

Chapter 2

“W-wait, defeat the what? Ally the who? Wh-what’s a Mushroom Kingdom?” Applejack asks in utter bafflement. “What’s a Bowser?”

At the final phrase, a group of the shyguys all huddle together and begin fearfully chirruping wildly amongst each other. The mere name seemed to throw the lower members of the tribe into a very controlled frenzy.

Though who could blame them when one brought up the one who had invaded countless homelands, conquering everything in the name of his greed, forcing his captives into slavery if they weren’t outright killed by his massive armies?

Finally, the Knightguy speaks up again. “King Bowser rules a kingdom opposed to the Mushroom Kingdom. His rule is absolute, and dictatorial, and he often schemes to take over the entirety of the world; he has only been stopped by the combined power of the two great heroes of this world. Mario, who is a powerful and fearless man, is the elder of the brothers, and has smote Bowser time and again, and shows great mercy, even to those that lesser folk would not have the strength of character to forgive. Luigi, the younger brother, is athletic and swift, and has been said to soar into the sky by his own power. Together, they wield the power granted them by the stars to defeat evil wherever it may crop up.”

“Well, don’t they sound important...” Applejack thinks aloud, having a feeling that there might be a slight bit of exaggeration in that speech, though on which parts she couldn’t quite tell. “But if ya say we need ‘em then... the sooner we find them the better.”

“Indeed. Our best bet is to travel, as swiftly as we may, to the village of the Bright Yoshi; if we can ally with them, they can help the village stay safe whilst I accompany you to find the Star Brothers.” he says.

Fluttershy nods, her next words barely audible. “How do we find them? Where even are we right now?”

“Our island is named-” he makes a series of clicks, whistles, and short hoots that Fluttershy nods to, “-and the next island over is called Yoshi Island; it is where most of the Bright Yoshi live. They have long been allies of the Mushroom Kingdom, and there is a port there we can charter a ship to the Kingdom from. But to reach the Bright Yoshi on this island, we will need to travel north first, to the edge of the Gray Tribe’s territory.”

“‘Grey Tribe’?” Applejack asks.

“A tribe of fellow Shyguys, but their philosophy differs from ours.”

“How so?”

“They believe strongly in the merits of a ‘stab it first, then stab it again, then ask if it is edible’ mentality.”

Fluttershy and Applejack both clam up at that.

“So... where’s your, ah, princess in all this mess then?” AJ asks, figuring any sentient race would have a some figurehead that protects them from any vile actions being committed.

“Princess?” the Knightguy parrots, before continuing, “Our Chief has no heirs at this time.” he says, sounding confused, which only confuses Applejack for a moment before she recalls the Buffalo tribes having a similar setup.

“Well, what’s yer chief doin’ about these ah... mean folk?”

“Recovering, after a Crested Yoshi bite turned... bad. Unfortunately, all the healing Mushrooms nearby are in the Crested Yoshi’s nesting area, and it is impossible to get to them.”

“Well, if there’s something we can do, we should...” Fluttershy says, looking a bit pensive at the thought of all the carnivores having the medicine and not sharing. True, nature was brutal at times, but suffering is not a part of nature. At least, she never considered it that way. If one animal was to eat another, then they should just... end it. Causing pain that lasts and then hoarding all the medicine for themselves, the hunters? Her eyes narrowed just a teeny bit, the vague shadow of what could be mistaken for anger crosses her features. “We must help if we can!”

“We- we thank you!” the Knightguy says, bowing low to the caretaker, who blushes. As he straightens up again, he speaks once more. “But we must be away as soon as the meal is over with; we mustn’t be out at night. There are worse things than the Yoshi out at night.”

Applejack sighed, happy to hear that food was finally available. It was getting to the point where focusing was difficult. The ponies took their seats at the table as did several others, and soon enough, food was presented. Many varieties of fruit and vegetable, with all manners of odd, jungle-style dishes that the ponies could not fathom the name of just from looking at them. Nevertheless, they ate and, while foreign, they enjoyed it.

Only a few moments after the meal was over, the Knightguy leads the ponies to the platform that lowers them to the jungle floor and, much further from the canopy now, they realized how dark it really was. They could see of course, but the amount of shade from the thick foliage that completely surrounded them made the noon-day sun seem like a winter’s morning if it weren’t for the noticeable humidity. This time, he’s carrying two of the metal pikes, with a small, rectangular shield on his back.

“Ah, it is good there is so much light... let us be off; follow me closely to avoid the traps.” the Knightguy begins to lead them through the thick, dense undergrowth, avoiding the obvious paths. Along the way, he occasionally has them pause as huge, yellow caterpillar-like animals trundle along. As well, strange, red-shelled creatures with huge and metallic spikes pass by, as do short, smooth-shelled creatures with a dark blue color.

Fluttershy is, naturally, curious about all of them, even if Applejack isn’t, and the Knightguy keeps a running explanation going whenever possible for her.

“The large yellow insectoids are called ‘Wigglers’. Very docile, completely harmless and friendly... until one disturbs their flowers.” The nearest Wiggler inches up to the party and just walks past, the flower coming out of the caterpillar-like creature’s head was bobbing back and forth almost happily.

“Say, what’s with the flower?” Applejack asks, eyebrow raised at the sight of the bobbing flora.

“It is unclear, but it seems to be a stopper of sorts. Should one damage or remove the flower, they will become greatly enraged and attack whatever disturbed them. At that point, it is impossible to calm them down, and fighting back is your only option, hence why simply letting them be is the best approach.”

“Ah, makes sense... ah guess.” Applejack says, feeling no less confused than before.

Fluttershy leans down to inspect a roving spike-shelled animal, who is peeking its head out to sniff her in return.

“Ah, a Spiny. Their shells are thin, though very well-protected by the various spikes all over them. While many are wild, the Koopa King has enlisted many of them into his ranks, making them a rather troublesome part of his army. The easiest way to fend one off is to avoid touching it entirely and fight from afar.”

“Aww, but they’re so cu~ute!” Fluttershy says, getting a happy noise from the Spiny, who nuzzles her nose appreciatively. “Why would anypony want to fight one?”

“Actually, what ah wanna know is, who’s the Koopa King?” Applejack asks, and the Knightguy pauses.

“Yes, right... the Koopa King is another title of Bowser’s, among many, that specific one earned through simply being the seat of power that leads all members of the Koopa species.”

Applejack furrows her brow as they continue along, thinking things over as she walks. “So... he’s jus’ the King because he says he is? That don’ sound right at all. Sounds like somepony needs ta give him a buck in the buttocks until he gets himself sorted out.”

“The only ones who have ever succeeded in thwarting Bowser have been the Star Brothers. None else has ever managed to stop him, and even then, they would not dethrone him completely due to their great mercy.” The Knightguy says as they walk along. “Many crusades of various tribes and species have been on missions to take him down, none of which were very successful in being more than annoyances to him. His might is not to be trifled with... but the moment you truly fear him is when he has all the power.”

Fluttershy shivers. “He does sound pretty scary, though...” she admits, getting a soft pat on the withers from the Knightguy.

“Do not worry; he does not know you are here, and so the only dangers int he jungle now are-”

A blur of dark blue scales and feathers hit the Knightguy in the side, the crested Yoshi screeching as it begins to try biting him. The sound of teeth on metal as it bites his chest shows that the metal mask isn’t the only armor he’s wearing.

As Applejack and Fluttershy bunch up, the sound of further movement comes from the undergrowth, and they’re split up by the pounce of a second crested Yoshi. This one, green, opens its jaws wide and shoots its tongue out at Fluttershy, only to get knocked to the side by Applejack charging it.

A third yoshi, this one sporting bright orange feathers and hide, steps calmly out of the undergrowth and flexes its claws at Fluttershy, licking its lips.

Fluttershy dashes off in an undecided direction, anything to get away from the dangerous creatures. While the Knightguy was certainly armored enough to avoid being chewed, he was not strong enough to handle more than one Yoshi at a time. Seeing the predicament he was in, Applejack rushed up to the Yoshi biting her guide and whalloped it in the stomach with a forehoof, forcing it to let go.

Knightguy and Applejack turned to the remaining two Yoshi and began their charge, Knightguy brandishing his weapon and drawing multiple cuts along the orange yoshi’s body, before Applejack, moving faster as a quadruped, gave a dashing headbutt to the green one. The dazed Yoshi leaped up, showing incredible jumping ability and landed several yards away from the fight and its natural green color camouflage it as it ducked into the foliage.

Unsure if it was retreating or preparing for a sneak attack, AJ ran over to where she last saw the green Yoshi. Finding nothing, she turned in order to see that the orange yoshi was fed up with its tussle with the armored shyguy and, in one swift motion, licked him up and swallowed him whole. Horrified by the sudden devouring, Applejack was shocked, and the next thing she knew she was seeing stars. The green yoshi from before had shoulder-checked her into a sturdy tree, making an echoing THWACK as the impact damaged Applejack’s vulnerable barrel.

Fluttershy, who had flown up and was hiding in a tree, shut her eyes tightly, trying to think of a way out, praying for someone who might be able to save them, but... nobody she knew of was fast enough to get here, or couldn’t get here. It was up to her.

Fluttershy stood up and leaped from the tree, dive-bombing the orange Yoshi with a landing grapple, and managed, through various holds and squeezes, to force the reptile to spit up the shyguy in its stomach, and such an excruciating experience on the creature’s organs forced it to collapse as it tried to recover from the force of Fluttershy’s efforts. Two Yoshi down, they only had the green left, and it was advancing on Applejack who was just now getting to her hooves.

The yoshi takes notice of Fluttershy and the very disoriented Knightguy and jumps back into the undergrowth before returning seconds later armed with a spear not unlike those wielded by the shyguy tribe. The yoshi held the spear forward and, letting out a battlecry, lunged at the pair, aiming for the weakened Knightguy first. The exhilaration of events and adrenaline was nearly too much for Fluttershy to handle and she felt faint and, once she had successfully rammed into the yoshi’s side, throwing it through several large ferns, nearly collapsed.

Her efforts were rewarded though as the Knightguy was given time to regain his senses and when the yoshi returned, still armed and now looked very angry, hurled itself at the Knightguy and pike met spear. The metal tip of the Yoshi’s spear was easily deflected by Knightguy’s armor and the spear was broken in half when it was swung yet again against the steel weapon, wood splintering and snapping as the Yoshi attempted to strike yet again. Angered, the Yoshi delivered a kick to Knightguy, knocking him off his feet and sending him into a tree. At this point, it was Applejack’s turn to get up and both she and Knightguy backed up, the ferocious yoshi advancing menacingly. Knightguy goes to swing mightily at the reptile but the Yoshi, being rather swift, ducks under the swipe and kicks the pike out of his hands into the jungle.

If reptiles were even able to sneer, this yoshi would certainly be doing so. Their most experienced fighter unarmed, Applejack feared what might happen. She looked to Fluttershy who was still hyperventilating at both the horrific events as well as the rush. Steeling her nerves, Applejack stared down the yoshi and, rearing back, gave the yoshi a series of flailing kicks to the face. The Yoshi, knocked over, staggered to its feet, but in the time it took for the carnivorous foe to regain balance, Knightguy leaped onto Applejack, who had begun dashing forward. Now riding on a suitable mount, Knightguy had the height he needed and as AJ crossed the Yoshi’s path, Knightguy swung his second pike out to the side and, the momentum carrying it, sent the blade deep into the Yoshi’s neck, leaving the dinosaur nearly headless.

Collapsed and definitely only minutes from death, the Yoshi gives one final angered shriek, sounding more like a gurgle before the jungle turned eerily quiet. Applejack turned and, seeing the corpse, turned almost entirely pale. “Di- Did we just...?”

Fluttershy takes a shaky, wavering breath, eyes closed and face paler than normal. “We... we did what we had to, Applejack.” she sounds close to tears as she steps forward and carefully shuts the lids over the downed reptile’s glassy eyes.

The Knightguy, staying quiet, simply nodded, and dismounted from Applejack to collect his other pike, returning it and his shield to his back. Solemn, he gives Fluttershy a gentle hug, and receives a tight, rib-crushing embrace in return from the kind mare. A moment later, Applejack comes over and joins in, the three sharing a moment of silence for the fallen, enemy or not.

The noise does not return to the jungle for nearly eight minutes, and it’s a further ten before they’re ready to be moving again.

Fluttershy is, at this point, silent. Applejack doesn’t have much to say, but is now carrying Knightguy on her back, giving him a better vantage point than from the ground. As they come across a stream, the Knightguy speaks up. “Ah, we near the BRight Yoshi village.” he says softly, pointing up the shallow water’s path to where a large number of spiked barricades and a palisade wall encircles a small village, and brightly colored, featherless Yoshi patrol or wander around, a few of them tending to what looks like a small orchard with trees bearing some sort of purplish fruit.

“So... what now? They don’t look too open to visitors.” Applejack states, indicating the rather well-built -if primitive- means used to keep outsiders from entering.

“They likely are not - this is the main reason we needed your help. They will not simply open the gates for a shyguy, regardless of the story given. You, however, are clearly not a shyguy, and are equally clearly not a Crested Yoshi, and may yet be able to do more than merely get chased away.” he says. “If you wish, I can accompany you to the gate, though if you would prefer to leave me behind and out of sight, I will do so.”

“Well...” Applejack thinks. “Maybe if ya just stayed here. If we come in with somepony they don’t like it might not help our case.”

The knightguy nods and hops off, staying in the bushes as Fluttershy and Applejack move towards the gate. Several Yoshi stop to look at them, and the ones by the palisade just give odd stares. They had always thought they had seen just about any species on the island, meaning they were from... elsewhere.

Good natured almost to a fault though, the Bright Yoshis, aptly named for their brighter, much happier and pastel-like colors of hide, let the ponies enter, and while hesitant, attempted to show hospitality. Noting the injuries the ponies had suffered, an odd sort of salad was offered that the Yoshi mimes eating before giving a happy grin and an energetic “Yip!”

The two ponies eat the salad, and both are surprised to feel their muscles untense, their scratches and bruises fade, and even Fluttershy’s mane and feathers smooth out to look like they’ve been groomed a bit.

Both are surprised at this, even though it’s a relatively minor effect compared to the others available; this level of healing isn’t common in Equestria.

Applejack, of course, simply states this.

“Whoo-ee! Ah feel better’n... well, better’n Ah have in ages! No wonder the little guys wanna be yer friends!”

The Yoshis, having their own language, begin their excited whooping and cheering as the ponies are led into the village. They themselves could not understand what the ponies were saying, but they could tell the newcomers were grateful and so decided to introduce them to their chief.

The chief, a female Yoshi with a six-hued rainbow hide and a golden shell on her back -no wonder she’s the chief- who smiles at the two visitors. “Greetings!” she says, waving to them both. Her voice is a bit nasally, but cheerful. “Welcome to our village; I’ve been told you needed healing, are you feeling better?”

“Oh, well... we need a bit of help.” Applejack states, trying not to get dizzy looking at the very distracting array of color the chief Yoshi was sporting. “A friend of ours is in a mighty heap of trouble and... we need some help gettin’ him back. After that, we’ll need ta figure out a way home.”

“Really? Where is your friend, and how can we help?” The Yoshi asks pleasantly, still smiling beneficently.

“We were told that some greedy lout named Bowser’s got ‘im.” Applejack says, preparing to gauge the reaction this species had to the name.

The Yoshis in the hall all stop at the name and turn towards the two, the mood turning somber.

“Your friend was taken by him? I- I’m sorry! I wish we could help, but we haven’t anyone to spare for such a big undertaking, there simply isn’t enough warriors in our tribe to defend ourselves, let alone aid you. I... I regret not being able to help you, my friends.” she says, sounding genuinely sad.

“Well... we might have a solution to that, actually. A little ways south’a y’all is a village of shyguys who’ve got a ton a warriors, but need medicine somethin’ fierce. They sent a representative with us to see if y’all’d negotiate for a...” she pauses to think of the word. “Ah think they said treaty, but ah could be wrong on the specific word. Anyhow, he’s waitin’ outside in the jungle to hear the answer.”

The Yoshi chief looks pensive, thinking it over. “Well... we’ve had bad experiences with Shyguys in the past. I know not all of them are bad, but what’s the proof that these ones are going to help us?” she asks the two of them.

Applejack looks the Yoshi in the eyes, and something flashes in the emerald depths of her gaze. “Ah promise, on mah family name, that they’re on the up-an’-up.” Something about her words resonates with the rainbow-hued Yoshi, who begins nodding.

“Y’know... I think I trust you; you seem like an honest sort,” the Yoshi says, getting a bit of a titter from Fluttershy. “Alright. They need medicine, and then they can help us, right? We’ll send you with a few loads of our herbs a couple Mushrooms, and then you can return with as many Shyguys as can follow.” she says. “If they’re gonna be our allies, we’re gonna need to be closer than ‘a ways to the north’ of them, so we might as well host them here.”

The ponies nod and, once loaded up with some sacks full of various healing plants, head back to outside the village gate where Knightguy is waiting. “So, did we make peace?”

Fluttershy nods. “She said that we could bring you these healthy fruits and vegetables, and that we could also bring as many of your people back here as we can.”

Knightguy looks over them, then nods. “I recognize a few of these, especially the Mushrooms. They are potent methods of healing.” The comment surprises Applejack and Fluttershy, but neither comments. They’re already speaking to tiny men with spears and defending themselves from ravenous, neon dinosaurs, so both let it slide.

Applejack, with the majority of the materials on her back, can’t carry the Knightguy, and he’s too heavy for Fluttershy, and has to stand at the head of the tiny caravan as they head back - however, it seems they took too long in the Yoshi village, as they’re less than halfway back before night begins to fall.

Chapter 3

The already dark jungle, now at night, is shrouded in black with very little visibility unless something moves or makes noise. The jungle at night has many things to listen to, but what was once a mere signal of presence becomes a threatening tone to the ears of anything that could be considered prey. In the indiscernible depths of the darkened foliage, the distinction of ‘prey or predator’ becomes very hard for one to make about themselves.

Needless to say, the whole group was on edge.

Constant low-level and ever-present noise filled the jungle, seemingly every creature still awake after the sun’s fall. Knightguy, pulling free a torch and taking a moment to light it, peers out ahead of the group. “We are being followed.” he says, quietly.

Applejack, laden with the supplies, can’t do much, but Fluttershy looks worriedly out into the night, whimpering slightly in fear. The jungle depths aren’t too much like any place she’d gone before, and the darkness of night was exaggerated by the flickering light of the torch. “Wh-who’s f-f-f-following us?” the timid pegasus whispers back.

“Gray tribe - but they have not attacked yet, and that worries me.” Knightguy already has his pike in his other hand.

A confused look crosses Applejack’s face. “Not that I’m complainin’ or nothin’ but why would they be holdin’ back? I don’t see anything that dangerous.”

Fluttershy offers her understanding of nature and the usual hunting tendencies of predators. “If you don’t see it, then it’s a lot harder to get away.”

“Point taken. So what can we do? I don’t like the idea much but if we tried goin’ around and taking a long way, would it be easier in the taller plants around?”

“... I do not think so, no. They would hamper our already limited vision. Whatever is moving out there, it has unsettled both the Gray Tribe members and myself. My tribe tries to avoid going out at night, and I will freely admit this means we do not know much of the dangers, just that they are severe.” Knightguy glances left and right as he talks before slowing to a stop.

“What’s up?” Applejack asks, looking around.

“Do you hear that?” Knightguy looks around, Applejack shaking her head - she doesn’t hear anything. At about the time she does so, Fluttershy feels her heart skip a beat as she recognizes what a suddenly silent jungle means.

“Ah can’t hear anythi-”

Before she can finish her sentence, Applejack is interrupted by a sound like a steam train’s whistle, and the sound of a dozen or so feet tromping at high speed and fury straight at the group!

Knightguy gasps. “Giga-Wiggler! Something has enraged it!” he shouted, moments before a massive Wiggler, easily six times bigger than the ones they’d seen earlier, but also a furious-looking red and pouring steam from its nose. As it stood, the group had to dive to the sides of the gigantic Wiggler’s path to avoid getting trampled, and even then, it was already turning around. Another odd thing about the Wiggler was that it wasn’t just red all over - it had odd white spots and a green coloration to its limbs, as well as its segments displaying white-ridged splits making a ‘grin’ shape on each section.

Tumbling and charging after the enraged Wiggler was a group of eight Shyguys in medium-gray robes, their masks all scratched or cracked, and every one of them either wielding a sword-like weapon or a long spear with a cross-shaped guard right behind the head. The hunting party split between pointing weapons at the trio of travellers and at the rampaging wiggler, even as the angry arthropod started coming right at them.

“Wh- what do we do!?” Applejack yells, as she stares at the notably-hostile Shy Guys in front of them. The Wiggler seems to, for now, have tramped off into the jungle during its mad dash, but that left the issue of the gray tribe Guys that as far as she recalled, were not going to be easy to get around.

Fluttershy cowers behind Knightguy. “Maybe we could... just talk with them?” The lead Gray Shyguy, pointing his spear at Fluttershy, shouts something in the bestial Shyguy language and charges, making the pegasus yelp in fright. “Th-that wasn’t nice to say! N-nor was trying to s-skewer me!” she shouts, having dodged upwards, much to her assaulter’s consternation.

It doesn’t last long though, as the already-weak flier had to contend with her wing having not fully healed; it hadn’t been properly bandaged for more than a few hours. She does manage to get a distance away before she had to land, though.

Applejack, frustratedly keeping the supplies on her back, was also fending off an attack, this time by the machete-wielding pair that had targeted her. Each one came from a different side - one from the front, the other from the back. However, unlike a Wiggler, Applejack could attack in both directions, as she demonstrated by putting a rear hoof into one Shyguy’s mask hard enough to crack it at the same time she planted a forehoof in the other Guy’s stomach, doubling him over and shoving him back. The maneuver, however, had her nearly drop the basket of items.

Overall, the trio wasn’t prepared to make many effective moves without potentially losing or ruining their items. A way to carry them better than just a large woven basket would make moving around easier. As it was though, there weren’t many options that easily involved making sure the supplies weren’t dropped, ruined or stolen.

“Any advice for these things?” AJ asks her guide. “If I had a rope or somethin’ I could do more but I can’t do much with this basket on mah back!”

Knightguy, stuck in a spear-duel, shouted back, “Trip them if you are able, all of us have a hard time righting ourselves if flipped over!”

“Dunno if ya noticed but y’all don’t make it easy to get at yer feet, being so short ‘n all.” Applejack points out. Her harassers being only as tall as her legs made the notion difficult unless she had something to trip them with. “Seriously, anythin’ you got that I could use as a rope?”

Fluttershy was being harried herself and at this point had run out of use of her wings. She could only move away on foot but this just served to separate her from the group further. In her panicked state she didn’t have many options aside from moving about as much as she could and hoping she wouldn’t lock up. “Oh this can’t be happening, this can’t be happening...”

Without warning, the Wiggler stormed into the area again, leaving them with a large clearing - this time, however, the Giga-Wiggler was circling the area angrily, still snorting steam. As it charged around, it smashed into the Shyguy chasing Fluttershy - but it didn’t just trample him. Instead, the front of the Wiggler opened wide, showing a toothy maw that snapped shut on the gray-clad Shyguy, before chewing twice. After those two extra bites, the massive Wiggler opened its mouth again... and belched forth a massive fireball at the other gray tribe Shyguys, setting two on fire and knocking a third and fourth prone. Having been in front of the two now on fire, Applejack reared back in surprise, barely keeping the basket of goods on her back as the vicious shyguys began to panic - those robes are exceptionally flammable, it seems.

Backing up, Applejack gets tripped up for a moment as her hind leg is snagged on some undergrowth. It doesn’t take more than a few sharp tugs before she gets her leg out, but it does give her an idea. If she could get some thicker vines, she might be able to fashion a rope out of it, as fragile as it was in relation to the usual hempen weave she was used to. “Any chance of us cutting up some of these vines? I could do something with that, I bet!”

Knightguy dodges a stray fireball just barely, his metal armor being more resistant than the robes, though it certainly heated him up a bit. Sweaty was better than dead, at least. “We may have bigger problems now. That large creature seems to be some sort of crossbreed of Wiggler and Piranha Plant, which, if you can imagine, puts us in a much less favorable position!”

“C- could we just run away?” Fluttershy pleads, thankfully overlooked by the insect-plant monster for the time being.

“Actually... Ah may have an idea. If it’s a plant, Ah may have a way to at least calm it down a bit. Fer now, dodge that fire and try to lure those gray guys into the Wiggler - we can’t beat ‘em and keep the supplies safe, but the Wiggler can.” Applejack said, grinning.

“If you have some form of calming a Wiggler down after it’s already infuriated, I would be most interested in your technique. Such an act has not been seen or heard of across any tribe on this island.” Knightguy says, skeptically. The mentoning of the poor odds, while normally demoralizing, does more to urge Applejack on, however.

“Jus’ give me a bit of time and I’ll show ya what an Earth Pony can do. But get these darn gray fellas away from me, I can’t focus if they keep pokin’ at me!”

The second gray shyguy harassing Fluttershy, getting fed up with its previous attempts, tries throwing its spear at the pegasus, who manages to barely duck away from it with a painful but only shallow cut along her side. She may be hurt and cowering, but her assailant was now weaponless and the Piranha-Wiggler makes another pass. The unarmed gray shyguy takes notice and, as the terrifying beast charges over, the hunter makes a horrified, screaming wail as it makes a mad leap away... only for its suffering to be prolonged as the monster lands a tremendous chomp and bites its prey’s legs clean off at the torso. The severed upper half of the once-hostile shyguy’s inarticulate wails crescendo as pain overtakes it before the charging feet crush it into the undergrowth, ending its suffering instantly with a wet crunch. Fluttershy wishes she hadn’t chosen then to look up from covering her face.

The Wiggler, in passing, had looked at her, its grin red and wet and full of teeth to put a bear trap to shame. Her first instinct is to lock up and freeze as usual, but instead manages to push herself into making a mad dash to the side. As fast as the monstrosity was, it didn’t seem too keen on cornering during its charge.

Applejack, seeing the oncoming pain-train, turned and gave a two-hoof, full-power buck to one Shyguy’s mask, throwing him backwards and straight into the waiting maw of the Giga-Wiggler, leading to her turning a bit green and gulping. “Whoops. Only meant ta knock him out...” she muttered, feeling guilty in spite of the circumstances.

Granted, most of the things she used her full strength on weren’t half her height and a quarter or less of her own weight. The end result, however, was roughly the same as what she wanted. One less problem to worry about, and she was now free of the small islanders. She decided that now was the time for her to begin concentrating on the biggest problem.

Having had a second, twin-sized serving of Shyguy, the monstrosity belches a supersized sphere of sizzling flame, and this time, Knightguy is given less time to evade and he, as well as his dueling partner, are well and truly toasted.

Knightguy himself is knocked clean off his feet and smoking just a tad as he lands at the base of a tree. His opponent, however, is much less fortunate. The gray robes that made up its clothing catches instantly and engulfs it in a blazing inferno that, for the briefest of moments, seemed not too dissimilar to a traditional Pyro Guy before the flames continued to eat ravenously at the screeching assailant's body which is reduced to a pile of rough ashes.

So far, the only thing keeping the jungle around the area to not be burned down or even catch at all was the intense amount of humidity everywhere saturating the plantlife with enough water both inside and out to be practically fireproof, as well as the muddy ditch that marked where the Wiggler had rampaged acting as an excellent firegap.
.
With the Shyguy hunting party defeated, Applejack took stock before pausing and taking a deep breath. “Alright, here goes nothing...” as she felt outwards with the natural magics inherent in all Earth Ponies, and strongest in those that have worked the land.

Knightguy, unsure what was happening, very nearly interrupted her concentration until he felt the faint and subtle hum of magic, and Fluttershy looked in wonder as the Wiggler began to slow down, cherry-red color slowly fading to a duller, but still crayon-grade shade of crimson. As well, the Wiggler’s eyes were no longer creased with fury, and it blinked a few times, looking around.

Applejack concentrated a bit harder, a nearly invisible aura around her hooves matching one atop the Wiggler’s head as a small sprout grew there, finally budding and producing a miniscule piranha plant that looked around in confusion of its new life. As the apple farmer sighed and came out of her trance-like state, she noticed the Piranha Wiggler take a moment to sniff her before simply starting to toddle off into the night. Nobody noticed the tiny apples now growing off the small Piranha Plant on the Wiggler’s head.

“Whoo... never done anything like that before...” She huffed in exhaustion. “Didn’t even know I could get it to work so fast. It just seemed... a lot easier’n usual. Dunno what it is. Like it’s in the ground or somethin’ I guess.”

“That... what was that?” Knightguy asks, now back to his whispering tone. “I have never seen anything like that before.”

“Well, it’s somethin’ that Earth Ponies can do if they work with plants a lot. I dunno how Twi explained it exactly but we can sorta just help the plant grow or what-have-ya. Like we’re talkin’ to it, but not really. It sounds weird ta me, but it does make sense why Earth ponies tend to grow bigger and tastier plants than a unicorn or pegasus can. Twilight said it had somethin ta do with our connection to th’ earth an’ stuff but... I just assumed it was ‘cause they never talked with plants. Flowers like that a lot so I figured it was that or...” In trying to detail her explanation further she just ended up confusing herself further. “Ah dunno how it works, it’s just somethin’ ah do, but it’s a lot easier hereabouts.” The farm mare pulls the thankfully undisturbed basket of medical supplements onto her back. “Now, let’s git ‘fore more a those guys come back. How much further we got yet?”

Knightguy takes a moment to respond, still trying to parse the barebones explanation, not helped by the fact that terms like ‘Earth Pony’ made no sense to him to begin with. “Oh, well...” He looks around and, finding his bearings, locates the direction back to his tribe. “We’re not too distant. Should hopefully be back well before midnight. It won’t be long, assuming we are not interrupted further.” He takes a moment to sit and let his armor cool as he retrieves his other pike. He notices Fluttershy’s cut where the spear had tagged her earlier. “That... will need dressing as soon as possible. We should make haste. I’m not sure of this band, but the Gray Tribe has a penchant for poisoned weaponry. Larger prey, after all, are easier to kill if weakened significantly.”

Fluttershy and Applejack gasp at the idea, before getting a move-on, Knightguy lighting another torch from the cinders of the fireballs.

===========

The rest of the trek was made thankfully easier by following the churned path of the Giga-Wiggler’s wandering, taking them much closer before it veered off to go in another direction; still, the path it had left was dead silent the entire time, the jungle hushed for nearly two full minutes behind the Giga-Wiggler’s retreating backside out of fear of attracting its attention.

Likewise, the group had remained quiet.

However, they approached the great trees of the Knightguy’s home, finding plenty of light being cast upon the jungle floor (kept meticulously clean during the day) by primitive spotlights, as well as the elevator system being already lowered.

“It’ll be good ta get some rest.” Applejack said, already feeling more tired at the idea of getting to lay down. “Wasn’t expectin’ ta have that kinda workout this mornin’.” The tired farm pony stepped onto the elevator, sitting down heavily with the supplies on her back shifting place.

“You wouldn’t happen to have a couple of spare beds, would you?” Fluttershy asked quietly, also settling onto the elevator, Knightguy behind her.

“We’ll need to ask the elders, but it should not be hard to find one... or possibly just make a bedroll. We have plenty of leaves, after all.”

“That works.” AJ replies sounding more tired than even seconds before. “Can’t be too diff’rent from sleepin’ on hay in the barn.”

“I’ve slept on leaves plenty of times... sometimes, you just need to hug an animal to sleep, and they don’t like being inside.” Fluttershy said, yawning quietly.

“Well, let’s get you patched up first. Y’all said it could be poisoned? How do we fix that?”

“The elders will know how to make a restorative stew to fix any poisons - the Gray tribe wouldn’t risk anything they couldn’t fix themselves, after all, or their kills wouldn’t be edible.”

“All this huntin’ and killin’ stuff is real gruesome. How do ya deal with it so often?” Applejack turns to Fluttershy for the question.

“Well... well usually it isn’t very slow. Mostly it’s either avoided entirely or over in a few seconds. The chases are the long parts, and animals don’t usually throw s- spears to slow prey down.” She was rather shocked at how brutal things got when tool users more advanced than birds acted so savage. “It’s not much like that very often.”

“Shucks... Ah S’pose that’s true...”

“I... I guess it’s just really hitting me because of the things they were saying when they were attacking. It was so horrible...” Fluttershy shivered. “I’d rather not think about it, if that’s okay with you...”

“Ah don’t have a clue what they were saying anyways. Was all grunts and noises ta me.” She pauses and looks to Knightguy. “No offense or anythin’. I just can’t tell the difference between you guys talkin’ and a bunch of birds fightin’ over an ear o’ corn.”

“None taken - we patterned our language and dialects after local animal sounds to hide our speech. Sometimes makes things awkward with the Peter Birds. They’re named because they’re incessant repeaters of any sounds they hear.” Knightguy said.

“Oh, parrots!” Fluttershy said, with a bit of tired cheer in her voice as the elevator reached the tree platform, and the trio was swarmed by grateful shyguys. “Parrots are so lovely...”

“Heh... excitable little guys. You always this energetic?” Applejack asked. Between coming here and the trip through the jungle itself, most of their time was spent with the tribe members rushing around back and forth and carrying the ponies along with their work as if they were a living tidal wave. They just rush in and move everything along with them.

They were very efficient and quick, but just watching the bustle immediately made Applejack tired enough to yawn louder than she had in weeks.

Neither pony really paid much attention as they were bustled along, both of them being ushered towards a large pot as the farm pony’s load was rapidly lightened by pulling vegetables out of the basket as the tribesmen deigned. Almost immediately, the smell of something delicious cooking met the trio’s tired noses, and even Knightguy sighed appreciatively at the scent.

One of the large, red mushrooms was dropped into the pot, followed by a green one and a handful of various leafy herbs, and the stew began to bubble instantly, a pair of shyguys standing next to the cauldron (which was easily four times taller than themselves) stirring frantically but rhythmically to keep it from burning.

Finally, moments later, the ponies and Knightguy are passed bowls, even as another bowl is shuffled towards the chief’s home, and the two Equestrian’s both sigh in relaxation as they tasted the revitalizing brew. “Whooee! It’s strange, but this tastes like home - even though Ah ain’t never seen anything like those plants what went into it... and hey, I only feel sleepy now, not dead tired!”

“These are very powerful restorative herbs.” Fluttershy agrees. “But you’re right. I don’t know of anything this effective if only ground up and mixed. Even Zecora’s solutions are... well, solutions. And they take a while...” She takes a hungry slurp from her bowl and her side where she was scraped by the spear immediately felt better, like she hadn’t been hurt at all. “This is incredible.”

One of the shyguys nods and chitters happily, before heading off to pass her compliment to the chef.

Several more bowls are filled and emptied for them both (the bowls are barely the size of teacups for them, after all) and at last they prepare to bed down for the rest of the night, glad they will be able to sleep the rest of it away...

===========

The leaves of the canopy break silently, a small figure wreathed in the shadow of night is somewhat illuminated by the moon above the treetops. Several more appear and converge, the small propellers on their heads holding them aloft with a near-silent whirring noise. They group together and share a few whispers, reporting what each had seen. It had been quite a while since anything happened on this island in particular, and the Toady who had it as his purview finally had quite a tale to tell.

More near-silent discussion later and they decide that the discovery was detailed enough to be worth reporting. After assignment of others to continue monitoring the strange newcomers, and much more closely, the remaining group took off. Their surprising speed coupled with their nigh-undetectable movement through the nighttime cloud cover meant they would get to the Koopa Kingdom in a few short hours. One voice was a bit louder, due to the excitement of the speaker. “Master Kamek will absolutely need to hear of this.”

Interlude 1

The soft whirring of a tiny propeller ends as the Toady lands in the glassless window of a large stone fortress towering over the base of a volcanic mountain. The noise is nearly silent, but is still noticed by the sole occupant of the room, who moves to the window, blue cloak ruffling as he sets aside his current project. “Report, sentry. Have you learned anything?”

“We’ve witnessed odd and unpredicted events, Master Kamek. The currently unnamed island twenty four nautical miles to the southeast of Yoshi’s Island has had some strange occurrences.” the small, red-robed figure said with a slight bow.

The masterful magikoopa frowns. “Can you be less vague? What’s going on? There’s nothing there but Shy Guys and some crazed Yoshi. What’s new?”

“Apologies, Master Kamek. Shortly before noon yesterday, some new creatures we’ve never catalogued before were noticed on the island. They seemed to simply appear from thin air several meters above the undergrowth. They met with a tribe of Shy Guys and seemed to be trying to make diplomatic connections with the Bright Yoshi tribe that occupies a separate part of the jungle.”

Kamek pauses as he thinks over the report. “Hmmm... and you’re sure we’ve never had any records of the creatures? Strange... well, there’s nothing to work off of just yet. Keep watch and report with any significant developments that concern the tribes. Perhaps... have a Toady specifically keep an eye on the new creatures as well, just in case.”

The short, simple commands are all that’s needed, the Toady salutes and flies back towards the island to continue the gathering of information. Kamek sighs and decides now would be a good time to check on the king. The retrieval of the ‘Star that would not be missed from any night sky’ seemed to go much smoother than he anticipated, even considering Bowser’s slight aggression. Kamek had to make sure the king hadn’t done anything to damage the star in the process but from what he could tell it was perfectly fine... even if a very odd sort of star.

He walked up to the large door that led to the throne room and took a breath before entering, composing himself. Upon entering he sees the usual sight of King Koopa sitting on his throne adorned with soft cushions and wicked spikes, though now with the addition of a large squat table on which the star’s cage rests, just to the side of the throne itself. It seemed Bowser heeded the magikoopa’s warning to not let it out of sight for long.

Bowser seemed somewhat amused at the star’s actions of defiance and rebellion... even as it could do nothing more than shout angry insults at the king from the cage that sapped its power if it ever tried to even jostle the trap.

Bowser being Bowser, he chuckled at a particularly colorful remark, something that Kamek didn’t catch all of, but sounded more or less like ‘...then I'm gonna put your head on a spike and throw it into a pit.’

“Ah, Kamek!” Bowser says, noticing his advisor’s presence finally. “I don’t know where you had us look for this star, but this thing’s a riot! I think it’s trying to scare me! Haha!” The Koopa King seemed genuinely delighted by his acquisition, grinning broadly.

“I’d be a lot scarier if you didn’t lock me up! Get me out of here and fight, you stupid coward!”

Bowser leered at Anthony. “If you think I’m dumb enough to fall for that, you must have gotten a bad case of that Mushroom Kingdom propaganda. I’m not stupid!” He punctuates it by grabbing the cage by the top and giving it a quick, violent shake.

Kamek starts a bit, unsure how forceful the cage could be handled without consequence. It could siphon the star’s power, but the structural integrity wasn’t much better than a well-reinforced metal cage. As sturdily built as it was, that meant nothing to the Koopa King’s raw strength. “B- be careful with the containment, your aggressiveness!”

“If he wants to break me out, let him!” Anthony shouts. “Shove off, you second-rate street magician!”

Kamek wasn’t one to get mad. He wasn’t one to be affected by being berated... if it was Bowser doing the insulting. “You had better show some respect to us, star! Or did you forget who put you there in the first place? I’ve mastered magic you couldn’t dream of!”

Anthony rolls his eyes at the claim. “Bull! I’ve seen someone juggle the sun and moon, I know people who’ve traveled through time of their own power alone, and even people who can bend physics to near their breaking points just to make a dramatic entrance.... And I could kick all their butts if I had half a mind to. You’re a joke wrapped up in a crappy blanket!”

Bowser frowns at this. “Don’t worry yourself with him Kamek.” He then grins. “I’ll worry for ya.” with that, he lets out a tremendous roar at Anthony, the sound of which rattled the throne itself and even the entire room to an extent. Anthony was left forced to clutch his ears, as little good as it would do against the sheer volume. Bowser’s toothy maw closed after the outburst and he stared at the star. “You don’t get to insult any of my minions, and especially not Kamek, get it?”

Anthony is barely on his knees as he tries to recover from the ringing and the sheer pressure the sound waves put on him. “B- big... Talk...”

Bowser returns to an amused grin. “He tries so hard that it’s almost cute, like a stupid puppy.”

Kamek composes himself after both his and his king’s outburst. “Well, aside from that, I suppose we should consider what our next move is and when to make it.”

Bowser nods. “I’d like to get back at Mario now that I got a secret weapon... but running at him headfirst with a new toy hasn’t worked so well in the past...” He puts on a thoughtful face as he considers his options. At this, Kamek feels incredibly proud of Bowser, while hearing Bowser making one of the wisest statements any villain could likely make actually scares Anthony a bit. Bowser was being smart. Really smart. This... was not good. And as far as he knew, nobody had any idea of his situation and he wasn’t going to be getting any help escaping.

“You wouldn’t... beat Mario anyways...” He was still winded from that roar, but that didn’t stop his adamant nature. “He’s kicked your tail for years, the only reason you aren’t gonna be in the hospital within the week is because he doesn’t know what’s up right now.”

Bowser leers. “And it’s him not knowing that makes this perfect. If he doesn’t know, he won’t come after me. If he doesn’t come after me, I can do anything I want. And by the time he is on his way to my castle, I’ll already have an advantage he’s never seen coming!”

This worried Anthony, how intelligently Bowser was acting. He was the same brutish bully Anthony knew from various games but this time, it seemed Bowser had decided to learn from all his failures, but he couldn’t let Bowser know that he was scared. “Oh yeah? How’s this different from the Star Rod? You literally wished for invincibility, got it, and he still wiped the floor with your spiny ass.”

“Hey! You watch it, I have kids you know! You keep misusing that tongue in my castle, and I’ll remove it!”

Anthony recoiled, taken aback at the prospect of Bowser being so protective of his children. He lets Junior and the Koopalings fight in his army, but he draws the line at cussing? This was a strange experience for sure. “Still, he beat you. If Mario walks in here and you make a big deal about having ultimate power again, he’s probably gonna go for getting rid of your fancy new toy before kicking you to the curb like he always does.”

Bowser pauses and then nods. “Yeah, you’re right, aren’t you?” Anthony’s eyes go wide in shock at the Koopa King taking the comment in stride so easily. “Kamek, can you make some kinda plumber-proof magical thing on this cage? Don’t want Mario or his lame brother getting their grubby hands on this before I have the chance to squash ‘em!”

Anthony was dumbfounded at the response. Bowser had never been this forward-thinking! A Bowser... that learned. Anthony had to make a conscious effort not to physically shudder at the thought.

“Already done, your maliciousness!” Kamek crowed. “I built that cage specifically to only work for Koopa-kind.” He looks to Anthony. “I simply set up a prerequisite enchantment on the siphon so that any energy that would be transferred checks the recipient of said energy before applying it. Neither Mario nor Luigi would be able to break or use the cage at all.” Kamek stares Anthony in the eyes through his thick glasses. “It was very simple.”

“I can’t believe it... since when did you guys grow a brain cell?” Anthony replies, astounded. “I mean, the smartest one of you is an overhyped babysitter with a magic stick!”

Kamek and Bowser paused. Knowing Mario and his feats was probably a given, even to someone who came from another world but... “How do you know I sent Kamek back in time to raise little me?”

Anthony racked his brain trying to find a good answer. “Uh... lucky guess?”

Bowser shrugged. “Maybe.” Then gave Anthony a sideways glance, sitting up in his throne. “Or maybe you’re smarter than you really should be. Maybe we should muzzle you. Wouldn’t want your loud mouth spouting anything actually important.”

“You muzzle me, and when I get out I’m gonna shove a Bob-Omb so far up your rear end you’ll be puking gunpowder for a week!”

Bowser paused again and leaned back in his throne, relaxing significantly. “If.”

Kamek nodded sagely, trying (and failing) to hide a grin. “If is good.”

“So if you already got me...” Anthony started, trying to figure out how he could change the subject fast enough for Bowser to switch gears and stop being so... terrifying. “I guess you don’t need to kidnap Peach?”

“Of course I need princess Peach! You’re just step one. You think my castle isn’t big enough for two prisoners? I got enough space for twenty of ya in the broom closet!”

“Actually, the broom closet is properly stocked for once, your viciousness.” Kamek interjects.

“Oh. The dungeons’re plenty big enough, then!”

“Why do you even want Peach anyways?” Anthony asks, at least trying to get a solid answer on a long-held question.

“Do you think that I need to tell you that, or anything at all? You keep yer mouth shut and be a nice little star and let me do all the work. You aren’t getting out, nobody’s comin’ to get you, and you aren’t gonna do anything to get yourself out. You’re my ace in the hole, but not much more, buddy.”

“Wow... you really are trying to be smart for once.” Anthony mutters, though Bowser manages to catch it.

“I’m plenty smart. Mario just cheats!” Bowser shouts in anger.

Kamek nods. “True, he’s had a sparse few fair victories, but I can’t count how many times he’s won simply due to Stella Ex Machina. But this time, we have a star too, and it’s one he doesn’t get to use!”

“Exactly!” Bowser said, grinning wide and with teeth that would make a dozen sharks collectively envious and fearful. “You’re mine, Mario’s got no idea we’re comin’ or when we’re gonna strike, and when we do, I’ll be able to mount his moustache over my fireplace!”

“Dude... seriously? Out of all the times he’s won, you think an advantage you’ve had several times before is gonna net you a win?” Anthony asks incredulously.

“Yes, I do. You think I’m gonna give up? I’ve been at this game far too long to not learn a few things, and so far I’m holding all the cards. Mario won’t do a thing until I make a move, which means I have all the time I need to get ready for the next part!”

“You’re gonna kidnap Peach... what’s so different about this?” Anthony sighs.

Bowser’s grin turns diabolical. “Because as far as Mario knows, I haven’t done anything yet. I get all the time I need to design my first move and have the element of surprise, and I have you! Mario thinks he’s so great with all his athletics and power-ups. Well, I have one myself this time, and it’s way better than those gross-tasting mushrooms and flowers!”

“I bet you five hundred Coins that you get your butt kicked anyways.” Anthony remarks.

Bowser raises an eyebrow and laughs aloud. “You think a wager like that means anything to me? I am the King of the whole Koopa Kingdom! I’m rich enough to support an entire nation out of my own pocket with minimal taxes and still shell out enough for thirty fully equipped airship fleets! I once commissioned cannons that shoot Bonzai Bills made out of solid gold! I don’t need your pocket change! Hahahahaha!”

“So you aren’t taking the bet, then?”

“I don’t need to! I’m not letting Mario and his klutzy brother jump all over me anymore! This time, I’m stacking the deck before they even know what game we’re playing!” The announcement is punctuated with great bellowing laughter from Bowser.

“Indeed.” Kamek says, adjusting his glasses sinisterly as he grins. “We have the advantage, and one we can’t lose at that. This time, we’re done playing around. In less than ten weeks, Mario’s game will be over.”

“Permanently!” Bowser says, relishing the word on his tongue. After this, the king rises from his throne and heads for the great doors, which he flings open with barely a nudge. “Now then, it’s time we got down to business. Kamek, contact the troops down at the kennel. I want some Chain Chomps stationed here to guard my weapon. Have a few Sledge Bros stationed by the door, as well.”

Kamek nods, following after Bowser. “At once, your dastardliness.”

“Hmmm... I like the sound of that one... Add it to the list after you get our win-condition properly guarded.” He turns to glare at Anthony. “Don’t try anything funny or you’ll regret it, Star-Boy.”

After that, the doors to the throne room slam shut, leaving Anthony alone in the total silence of the throne room. This... was not good in any way whatsoever, and he was stuck in a cage! He could hardly believe it. He was so angry but couldn’t do anything about it, with nobody even knowing he was in trouble... as far as he knew, at least.

Chapter 4

Applejack yawned mightily as she woke up, the faint glow of dim light rousing her as the morning sun always had. She was still somewhat tired, but blamed that on getting to sleep especially late last evening. Sleepy or not though, she was ready for a long day of work. As she got off the pile of leaves though, she recalled the exact situation and that morning chores weren’t the most pressing matter. It was rescuing Anthony and getting back home somehow.

Her gaze shifts towards Fluttershy on another patch of leaves, still fast asleep. That was fine, not many got up as early as Applejack did. She places her favored hat back on her head and looks up, and involuntarily balks at the whirlwind of activity that the workaholic Shyguys had whipped themselves into. It was striking to see them so energetic, after such a late night of similar activity and it being so early in the morning, as far as Applejack could tell. ‘Nopony gets up before me!’ Applejack thought in amazement. ‘Even Big Mac doesn’t get outta bed until I’m already downstairs!’

A separate group of Shyguys take notice of Applejack and quickly usher her towards another part of the canopy village. She follows along with the hoof-tall wave of Shyguys, starting to pick up her pace to match theirs better. Applejack had to admire their work ethic, even if she couldn’t fathom where it came from. ‘And Rainbow Dash says I work too hard.’ she thought as she moved along, getting more used to the speedy junglefolk. Once the short escort is done, she’s sat in front of Knight Guy... and with a steaming wooden cup of some liquid placed in front of her.

“Ah, you are awake.” Knight Guy says, his mask currently the only armor on his stout body, though a pike is still strapped to his back. “Thank you for your aid with the Bright Yoshi yesterday. After such a filling and energizing supper of those powerful plants, we barely needed breakfast this morning and were able to get an early start. We had a fair amount left over as well. Please, drink.” Knight Guy gestures to the cup.

Applejack decides to save the conversation for later and begins drinking. The tea-like liquid was earthy and strong in both taste and smell. She wasn’t quite used to the flavor but she couldn’t deny the spring in her step it gave her. “Ah!” she exhales as a quick wave of general relief washes over her. “That really hits the spot! Thanks a bundle, and yer welcome. So what are we doin’ today?”

“At the moment we are simply finishing our general chores, though a few of us had the spare time to make something that we believe would aid you.” Knight Guy stands back and makes a short tweeting noise that echoes across the nearby jungle trees. Not five seconds after the warble, a pair of Shyguys are already in front of Applejack and presenting her with their handiwork: A green coil of tightly-braided plant fibers made into a very sturdy-looking length of rope, and plenty of it. The Shyguys place it on the ground at Applejack’s hooves and then dash away to vanish once more into the bustling crowd of mysterious workers.

“You made good use of that vine the other night, and I thought we could provide you with a much sturdier option.” Knight Guy says in his odd whispery voice.

Applejack laid a hoof on the ‘rope’ and felt it as she uncoiled it slightly and was instantly beside herself. It was barely smoother than the rough hemp fibers she was used to, but its weight was shocking. “This is perfect. And ya made it outta a bunch of those vines?”

“Not the type you had made use of. We used a different variety of plant. I am glad that we were able to satisfy you. Hopefully this will be to your advantage.”

“I’ll say...” was all Applejack could mutter as she held the product of the Shyguy’s efforts. Between the rope and her new shoes, she’d never known such incredible efforts, and to have them simply gifted to her was even more baffling. She drapes the coils of rope over herself to make carrying it easier. “Ah... I’ll be honest, I’m not sure if I can repay ya fairly, but I’ll sure as sugar try mah best to.”

“No worries. I’m sure you will in time. Now, I think we should wake miss Fluttershy. It’s a few hours until midday and we should make haste to the Bright Yoshi once more.”

Applejack nods, pausing in confusion when Knight Guy’s words settle. “Wait, it’s almost noon? But the sun’s barely out-” Applejack looks up and sees the thick, smothering growth of the canopy above them, the thickly-leaved branches blocking all but a few gaps that let the peaking sun’s light to filter down into the village. Applejack sighs as the revelation hits her. “Right... Hayfeathers, that means I've been catchin’ Z’s all mornin’! I’m terribly sorry, I should’a been up and at ‘em sooner.”

Knightguy waves it off. “Nothing to fret about, last night was exhausting. I slept in a bit myself. I might have been asleep well into afternoon if we didn’t have such potent vegetables for dinner.”

Applejack looks back at the various clusters of working Shyguys, who’d had the same meal for dinner and a bit for breakfast, but hadn’t been fighting for their lives last night. “Alright, I s’pose that’s fair. Alright, let’s see how ‘Shy’s doin’.”

“I wouldn’t be surprised if she needed a bit more rest.” Knight Guy said softly. “She had been injured the worst and possibly poisoned. We know that she’s made a full recovery, but it’s sure to have exhausted her either way.”

“Well, she’s better at all this translatin’ anyways. Especially if she can actually understand folks. I’m just glad the Yoshi fellas speak Equestrian.” Applejack says. “I never knew bein’ able to talk to animals like she does would be so important.”

“Communing with the plants and the earth is easily as commendable a skill.” Knightguy replies equinamably.

“I don’t talk to plants.” Applejack replied defensively. “I mean... I got a way with ‘em for sure, but saying I talk to plants is... makes me sound like some kinda crazy mare who lost her marbles. I mean yeah it’s like talking but... saying I ‘commune with plants’ is a weird way of putting it. It sounds stranger when you call it what it is, iff’n ya follow.”

“I... do not.” he replied, pausing for a brief moment. “But I will take your word for it.”

Done with the conversation, Applejack walks over to Fluttershy and gently taps her. After a few moments the pegasus rouses. “Oh... how late is it? I didn’t sleep too long, did I?”

Applejack furrowed her brow just slightly. She wasn’t so enthused at being the only one who thought it was still very early in the day. “No big deal. We just need ta get back to them nice Yoshi so we can talk more about this treaty deal.”

“Right, of course.” Fluttershy replies softly as she gets up and stretches, flapping her wings slightly. “I do feel much better than last night at least.”

“Good thing, too. I’m not much fer talkin’ things out like this, but we gotta get off this island.” A thought crosses the farmer’s mind. “Say, you little guys are a fast and clever bunch. Why don’tcha make a boat yerselves?”

Knight Guy looks up at AJ for a few moments before responding. “We have all we really need here in the jungle. We haven’t needed to leave at all, so we haven’t had a necessity to learn how to construct or pilot anything more than a river raft.”

“...Okay, I suppose that makes sense.” Applejack submitted. “Jus’ a thought.”

Fluttershy is noticed as being awake and a troupe of Shyguys wander by, depositing a cup of the leftover dinner, Fluttershy squeaking slightly at their sudden appearance and pace, before giving her thanks just before the Shyguys are out of earshot.

Knightguy makes a noise that sounds like either an upset ape or odd chuckling. “They seem to like you two quite a bit.”

Applejack paused. “How can you tell?”

“They slowed down quite a bit while in her presence.” Knightguy explained, his brief laugh quieting down into his regular speaking voice.

“They slowed down?” Applejack questioned, still just as confused.

“We live our lives in a span much shorter than most thinking races in this world - even so, we get as much done in our forty to fifty years as any Toad or Koopa can in their one to three centuries.”

Fluttershy looked a bit confused now. “Most animals back home are lucky to live fifty years unless cared for very well... Over a hundred years is a standard age range?” Fluttershy began doing some quick math in her head. “You have the average lifespan of a pegasus, but you say you don’t live very long? I think you’re very impressive, especially for your size.”

“Oh, ah, thank you miss!” Knight Guy says, shuffling his stubby feet in mild embarrassment. “Still, the average lifespan of most other thinking beings in the world is a century or more, especially for those with access to some of the more potent magics... I’ve heard that the Mushroom Kingdom is ruled by an eternal princess who has reigned there for millenia.”

“Wow. And she ain’t an alicorn?” Applejack asks for clarification, though she already can assume the answer. “That’s mighty impressive.”

“They say she is a goddess, descended from the heavens to rule her people in kindness. The tales say much of her generosity and her loyalty to her people - she has been the target of many schemes by dark creatures due to her power and the sheer, honest, goodness she embodies.”

Applejack and Fluttershy both blink. “So... she is like an alicorn... but she’s not a pony?” Fluttershy just shrugs and makes her point. “It doesn’t matter that much right now. If our best chances of rescuing Anthony are in that kingdom, we have to go there. I’m sure if this princess is really that old and powerful, she must have some magical ability to get us home afterwards.”

“Right now, ah’ll believe anything that don’t get me feelin’ bad about hearing it.” Applejack says with a sigh. “Let’s get this treaty-thing dealt with so we can get a move on. Is it just gonna be us three again or are ya bringin’ more of you fellas with?”

“Several more - we must bring a full delegation to the Bright Yoshi.” Knight Guy says, standing a bit straighter; he’s almost audibly smiling. “Thankfully, this means we may bring more warriors to defend the group with.”

Knight Guy makes a few more chirps and then an almost howl-like sound, and a swarm of Shyguys run up, many of their white masks decorated with various deliberate streaks of assorted colors, all of them carrying spears taller than themselves by several times. A few come up to affix the rest of Knight Guy's armor onto him, working so fast that one could only hear the clasps and buckles being pulled and snapped into place for a few moments, before the armorer's leave and come back with their own spears. The company already appears that much more numerous just from the addition of a few members, and the assembled Shyguys begin to repeat a stern, non-verbal phrase in their animalistic language whilst raising their spears upwards ceremonially.

Fluttershy and Applejack find the display of weaponry and low chanting to be almost frightening. The warriors themselves were only up to the ponies’ legs, but their spears were nearly twice head height, and the painted markings on their masks were just a bit intimidating. “Well... I don’t think we’ll have much trouble from those feathery Yoshis this time.” Applejack says, still somewhat awed at the troupe that was to accompany them.

“Actually, the Crested Yoshi might take it as a challenge. We will still be moving through the underbrush as much as possible.” Knight Guy informs. “Though the Gray Tribe will likely stay away unless they happen to be in a hunting party themselves.”

“That’s... good.” Fluttershy offers. “Let’s just go as soon as possible. Perhaps bring something to offer the Bright Yoshi? Gifts sound like a nice idea if we’re trying to make friends.”

Another group of Shyguys look to one another and chatter quickly and sharply before all begin nodding in agreement, then dashing off to various workstations and quickly hammering out a small slew of interesting device-like trinkets and knick-knacks. Impressively, it only took four Shyguys to carry almost twice the load Applejack had carried back the night before, the small people once again demonstrating their exceptional combined fortitude.

“I wonder what sort of work ya could do on a farm if all ya had ta do was grow trees and pick from ‘em. Could probably get half a month’s harvest done in under a day.” Applejack says, feeling like she’d never stop being awed at their sheer impressiveness. “Glad yer on our side.”

“The Gray Tribe are only our rivals because they never abandon their savage ways, only worrying about creating more dangerous weapons and poisons. They have no art for craftsmanship beyond a wickedly barbed net.” Knightguy says with a sigh. “And yet... they eat better than we on many occasions. But we try to think ahead rather than only worrying about how much food we can put in our pots. There are some tribes on Yoshi’s Island who are primarily farmers and they eat better than anyone on this island could imagine... but their land is much richer and more accepting of trees that grow fruits.”

“Why don’t you move there then?” Fluttershy asks. “If you’re going hungry...”

“Do not mistake me. We are never hungry, but we do not get enough food that throwing it away is ever something we will worry about. Besides that, the waters are treacherous without a proper vessel. We decided long ago that we would not take the risk of leaving the island just to have more than what we need and already have.” Knight Guy sighs and adjusts the pike in his grasp. “Now then, let us make haste. Hopefully we can reach the Bright Yoshi well before the sun lowers.”

The entire group gets on the thatch and wood elevator, and the Shyguy troupe squeezes together almost comically to fit all of them at once, even going so far as to balance atop one another to leave room for the ponies to stand comfortably.

The journey through the jungle was, while dark and eerie as ever, uneventful. The only dangers were the ones perceived from flickered shadows and lightly rustling leaves. The Shyguy troupe moved forward unfettered. Applejack also noted a great functional advantage to the masks they wore, noting how often they could take a swinging frond to the face and not flinch, whereas she would have to make sure she wasn’t growing a welt on the end of her snout with every vine or leaf capable of bapping her in the face.

Nevertheless, the trip to the Bright Yoshi’s land was indeed expedient and easy, and they were at the clearing’s fortification much sooner than it seemed to take before. During the entire walk, the only trouble was Fluttershy getting a feather caught on a gnarled vine at one point, which was easily dealt with. As the troupe neared the portcullis of the Bright Yoshi’s village, all spears were held back over their shoulders non-aggressively.

The yoshi stationed to watch the gate visibly gawks at the seemingly-emotionless phalanx of armed and painted Shyguys. “Uh...”

“We are the delegation, arriving as requested.” Knightguy states.

Without another word from the shocked Yoshi, the main gate is opened. The Shyguys are about to pile in as their usual tidal wave but Applejack holds up a hoof, backed by Knight Guy. “Ah, they prolly ain’t used ta folks walking around like they got a dozen places ta be in the next ten seconds. We prolly wanna take this a bit slow here.”

A few chirps and whistles come from the crowd and after a bit of ‘discussion’ they all settle on a light chittering noise that makes its way across the swarm and they drop their spears to the ground before the gate and wander in... and it was at that moment that Fluttershy realized she had never seen their feet move slow enough to not be considered a blur, until now.

As it would take several hours to have the delegation settle in (negotiations to be started the following day), Fluttershy and Applejack had the time to simply relax and enjoy themselves. As well, the local Yoshi encouraged the two ponies to explore the port area if they wished, and even Fluttershy seemed quite enamored with the bright and colorful reptiles all around.

“It’s very nice. Especially these Yoshi. Normally when animals are this brightly colored, especially reptiles, it means they’re venomous.” She pauses and looks to a passing Yoshi with bright orange scales. “You aren’t venomous, are you?”

The Yoshi pauses and quirks it’s head before making a confused-sounding warble noise in the back of its throat. After a few moments, the Yoshi gives up and continues walking.

“Does he mean he don’t understand what ya asked, or if he’s not sure what you’re talkin’ about?” AJ asks, scratching her head in confusion.

Fluttershy quirks her head this time. “They aren’t making animal noises I’m familiar with, like the Shyguys do. “The Yoshi seem to actually have their own language.”

Applejack huffs and adjusts her hat. “An’ it just figures that the ones that do talk are the nasty ones. I swear, those guys had some crazy teeth, but I’m not entirely sure these guys even have teeth, sharp or not.”

“Oh, we do.” a Yoshi says, walking up to them, this one’s scales a solid brick-red. “But they aren’t sharp like those Crested guys. We eat melons. I love melons. Oh, but we don’t have poison or anything in our mouths.”

“Well, uhm, technically it’d be venom...” Fluttershy says, her voice getting progressively quieter as she realizes she’s correcting someone.

“Eh, venom, poison, what’s the difference?” the red Yoshi replies with a hand wave and a small smile. “Anyway the chieftess said we’re gonna be helping you get across the ocean. You’re so lucky getting to go on an adventure. I wish I could go on an adventure. I like wandering off and finding cool stuff, but it gets dangerous if you get too far from the clearing. And getting to cross the ocean is like... an even bigger adventure!”

Applejack and Fluttershy were starting to relate this Yoshi with Pinkie Pie and it made them feel a bit more at home, despite being an unknown multiversal distance away from it.

“I just had an idea! I’m gonna go ask the chieftess if I can come with you! That’ll be great! Oh if she says yes I’ll have to think of what to pack...” the brick-red yoshi wanders off quickly towards where the chieftess’ house was, a light hop and flutter in her step not too dissimilar from the pronking that ponies had seen from... “Pinkie Pie. She’s like Pinkie.” Fluttershy finally states aloud.

“Ayep...”

“It’s almost weird in a way.”

“How similar they are?”

“The fact that I’m imagining Pinkie Pie with scales.” Fluttershy clarifies.

Applejack cocks an eyebrow at the mental image. “Yep. Not thinkin’ about that again.”

“Me neither. That Yoshi seems nice either way, though. And maybe it’d be nice to have somepony with us if Knight Guy isn’t coming. I mean, I assumed he wasn’t coming. Maybe he is.”

The pair keep looking around the Yoshi’s odd jungle town. It was certainly friendlier-looking than the deep jungle the Shyguys lived in. For one there was ample sunlight at any given time. “It’s nice here. Very relaxing.” Fluttershy comments softly, and she gets a reply sooner than she’d expected.

“Yep! It’s so nice out today! But the best part about living around here are the fruits. Most of them like it a bit humid but that means having to go out into the jungle, but that just makes them taste better!” The brick-red Yoshi was back, not that the ponies needed eyes to tell. “Oh, and the chieftess said I could come with you if you let me. Apparently we’ll have a boat big enough for six Yoshis, which will be great since there aren’t gonna be six of us! Oh, have you tried any of the fruit yet?”

“Ah, we had some a them mushrooms and veggies from last night.” Applejack offers.

“Oh those are tasty too, but you need to try some of this other stuff, I’ll be just a second!” The Yoshi dashes off again.

Applejack sighs as a smile crosses her face. “Well I can name one difference between her and Pinkie. Pinkie at least introduces herself first-thing before shovin’ food in yer face.”

“Maybe she doesn’t have one. They don’t seem to have names.” Fluttershy thinks aloud quietly.

AJ rolls her eyes and chuckles. “Aw come on, everypony’s got a name. She’s probably just excited is all. I mean, back when I was a young’un I thought me leaving the farm to have an adventure was gonna be the best thing in the world. Even if it didn’t end well for me, I can understand where she’s comin’ from.”

The brick-red Yoshi comes back around with a couple of fist-sized fruits that neither of the ponies had a name for. “These are pretty good. I really like the fruits around here. I mean, everyone likes the fruit around here but I really like the fruit around here. Though I hear they have other fruits on the other island. They got things like uh... uh... oh I heard they had names for them but I can’t remember. They’re supposed to be yellow. Really yellow.”

Fluttershy takes the offered jungle fruit and eats, finding it very sweet. Applejack decided to try helping the Yoshi determine the name of her mystery island fruit. “Yellow? Uh, where do they grow?”

“Oh, the other island is a lot more tropical and stuff and... uh, they’re supposed to grow on trees.”

“Bananas?”

“I... I don’t think so? They’re kinda lumpy.”

Applejack pauses and she gives several answers that are refuted as being not correct, despite the Yoshi being unable to give proper defined reasons for why they were all wrong. This continued for a few minutes before Applejack gave up. “Ah can’t think of anything else it might be.”

“Well, maybe when we go there we can find it and I can show you!”

“But... we aren’t going to the other island.” Fluttershy says. “We’re going to the Mushroom Kingdom to find those heroes to help us save our friend.”

The Yoshi blinks and then nods. “Oh boy, we’re gonna be heroes! That’s even better than yellow fruit-melons! Yes! Oh I can’t wait, this is gonna be great!”

“Uh, sure.” Applejack says, getting a little exhausted by the intense optimism. It wasn’t a bad thing and she wasn’t opposed to it, but it was tiring her just slightly after her several minutes of trying to deduce the identity of an incredible super-fruit... which was quickly discarded amongst the tirade.

Prologue

Anthony stared up at the sky as he walked. “So what’s the plan again?”

“We’re having a picnic, as I said.” Twilight explained. “It’s the first sunny day all week, and I wanted to make the most of it.”

“We got potato salad?” Anthony asks, sighing a bit.

“Well, I don’t know what everypony else is bringing, but I have some sandwiches.”

“Oh, flowers on bread, my favorite...” Anthony groans sarcastically.

“Actually, since Spike helped put it together, he made some peanut butter and banana sandwiches for you two.” she replies, “I just wish he’d wanted to come along, but I’m glad he’s getting time to play with the Crusaders more.”

Anthony thinks that over for a bit. “You know, he’s been hanging out with them a lot. Given how much time with the opposite gender he spends, I’m expecting him to get someone special before you.”

Twilight scoffs. “And? If he’s looking, then of course he’ll find somepo- er, someone sooner than someone who isn’t.” she replies.

“I’m just saying, you taught him everything he knows, to a point at least, right? Well... I guess it’s fine, but I don’t think he’s exactly... ready yet.”

“And how would you know?” she retorts.

“Well, if he’s running off what you’ve taught him about everything, and he comes to you asking for dating advice... how prepared are you to, Idunno, explain things to him. Like, the fact that you yourself have no relationship experience.”

“I can just read the books on the subject; they’re all written by well-known and accredited specialists and researchers.”

“Who probably haven’t ever been in a relationship, either.” Anthony says. “How many of them are married stably and happily?” Twilight shoots him a withering glare instead of answering, which just draws a triumphant smirk from him.

The two round the bend in the trail, and they spot the others already setting up the rest of the picnic atop a small hill. Fluttershy and Pinkie both wave to Anthony, Applejack unloading a small delivery crate of food for them to share.

Above, the shining sun and clear skies make it perfect picnic weather indeed, and the scheduled weather says it’ll be like that for the rest of the week. There’s been no monster attacks for almost a month, and no big, nasty villains from Equestria’s past have stopped by for a quick attempt at world domination.

Hindsight would, in time, reveal these to all be dark, foul omens, but they just seemed like the setup for a perfect day at the time.

Anthony sets himself down onto the blanket that’s been laid down, Rarity passing out plates and utensils to all. Anthony looks at his spork. “Plastic this time? Are you finally figuring out that glassware and outdoors don’t mix?”

“That, and Sweetie already ‘borrowed’ my good silverware for an... experiment in jewlerymaking. I expect we’ll be able to retrieve most of the silver from the farm in time and re-cast it, but for now, plastic it is.”

Anthony puts on a thoughtful expression. “Have they tried alchemy yet? Because if they figure out how to turn silver into gold, then it would be a lot easier to get gold for more practical uses, as opposed to just Bits and jewelry.”

“Oh, Anthony, I sometimes forget you’re from a society with no magic. You can’t use alchemy to turn a Noble Metal into another Noble Metal, it has to be from one House of materials to another, not a change within the same one.” Twilight says, the majority of the terms flying over the heads of everyone present, human and pony alike.

“Well... Idunno about turning stuff to gold, but could you turn something into food?” Pinkie asks. “Like, say, metal strips into pasta? That would be interesting. What would it taste like?”

Anthony shrugs. “Not sure about the flavor, but it would certainly fix an iron deficiency.”

Twilight groans, muttering things about ‘wrong kind of iron’ and such, while it got a few chuckles from the other ponies, leaving Anthony surprised the joke hadn’t been heard by them before. He had another steel-based pun on his tongue but kept it to himself. ‘Don’t use all your puns at once, it’s all about timing after all.’ he thinks to himself.

The ponies and Anthony start handing out the food, until the ground slips to either side as Myrna slides from the earth and pulls herself up like a diver on the side of a pool. “Hey guys, sorry I’m late!” she says, pulling a backpack with more snacks out to empty for them to share.

“Ah, yes... thank you.” Twilight says, avoiding eye contact, evidently fighting her phobia, staying cordial.

Anthony eyes the food being brought by Myrna. Only person in this whole town who would bring turkey salad. It’s not potato, but... She was starting to grow on Anthony. Rarity, politely declining the proffered salad, instead goes to take a sandwich instead. Pinkie, for her part, gives Myrna a cheerful ‘Hello’ and plops down next to her, Rainbow on her other side.

Fluttershy and Applejack, sitting closest to Anthony pause for a moment when a strain of music floats past their ears. The farmpony ignores it, but Fluttershy’s nervous nature brings her to perk up, trying to find where the deep, baritone rendition of ‘Twinkle Twinkle little star’ was coming from, or why the line was changed to ‘I wonder where you are’ instead of ‘what’.

Fluttershy, at least a little curious about the tune, begins humming along. Not much a fan of random singing due to past experiences, Anthony notes this, as well as the tune that’s familiar to him.

“It’s broad daylight, what’s that for?”

“Hmm? Oh, I just thought I heard somepony singing and... uhm, sorry.” she says, grinning sheepishly and blushing.

Anthony shrugs and turns to Myrna, sitting across from him. “So, what’re your plans for the day? Find a warm rock and take a nap?”

“Actually, I was thinking of going fishing - you wouldn’t believe how fast my hair can go when there’s a carp on the line.” she says, laughing slightly.

“Ah, well I was thinking-” He pauses, looking around. “The heck?” Anthony begins hearing the singing as well, and he searches for the source, but the only beings around are himself, Myrna and the ponies.

The song repeats, and Anthony can’t help but feel the voice, deep and growling, is familiar, but he can’t place it. It’s got an almost bestial undertone, like what one might expect from a speaking wyvern or a talking volcano.

He stands up to get a better look around, his friends looking equally confused, when, without further warning, a massive black-and-purple circle appears in the air with a sound like tearing canvas, a spiraling shape of the portal’s two colors endlessly cycling as a huge, orange clawed hand reaches through, pebbly hide and spiked wrist bracelet ripping furrows from the green turf all around as it snatches Anthony, before he can properly react.

The voice, no longer chanting the song, instead bellows, "I’ve got you!" and begins to draw him towards the portal. The ponies, barely waiting to find out what’s going on, all try to go to Anthony’s rescue. Rainbow Dash dive-bombs the hand, bouncing off the armored limb while Rarity attempts to pull one of the fingers loose. Twilight begins charging some sort of spell, and Pinkie pulls her party cannon, taking aim but hesitating to put Anthony in the potential danger zone. Myrna shouts in surprise, already racing forward to grab the massive limb, as Applejack and Fluttershy both attempt to grapple it, Fluttershy more because she’s trying to make sure Anthony isn’t hurt than to attack the hand.

A loud growl issues from the portal, followed by the whoosh-roar of flames, a torrent of fire blasting out and making everyone back away from the retreating limb. Only Applejack, shrugging off the fire with her earth pony toughness, and Fluttershy, who is hidden behind the immense thumb from the searing flames, manage to cling on as the hand slips back out of the world, the portal shrinking to a pinpoint and vanishing a brief moment after Twilight’s horn flares and sends a bolt of magic that dives into the portal with less than a second to spare.

All around, the picnic’s food goes forgotten as the ponies and gorgon all try to process what just happened, and why three of their friends are now gone for reasons they do not understand or can even pretend to know.

<<{B}>>

Approximately half an hour before.

Bowser, the King Koopa, the most powerful single entity this world has upon it, mighty ruler of an empire that stretches to three separate seas, and father (by blood or adoption) of a large brood, sat fuming in his throne.

“Kamek, explain to me exactly why you haven’t finished your spell yet. I need that Star!” the massive dragon-turtle snarls, barely keeping his prodigious temper in check. Intellectually, he knows that Kamek is nearly done, and that his impatience is getting to him, but it’s hard to push that down so soon after his most recent defeat by Mario and his brother.

“Your grouchiness, I just need to test the spell for safety’s sake. It wouldn’t do your kingdom any good if the spell sends you to the Star instead of bringing it to you.” the court magician is an older koopa, and the closest thing to a father that Bowser himself ever had. He’s also a master of numerous fields of magic and study.

“And you’ve found the Star I wanted, yes?” Bowser says, mollified a little.

“One that won’t ever be missed from any night sky, of course sire!” The magician says, proud he’d even been able to find one at all, let alone one that had no guards and no powerful magic protecting it.

“Good... but are you sure I have to sing the song? It just... doesn’t feel kingly.” Bowser gripes, more to keep himself talking than to actually complain.

“Unfortunately, yes. I’ve tested a few other iterations, and all I got was star-shaped objects, and most of them were retaken by the Ninji within the hour.”

Bowser heaves a sigh, sitting back in his throne for a moment before leaning forward onto his fist again. Kamek took that as his cue to leave, and Bowser was left with only his loyal guard and an otherwise empty hall.

When the time came, he went to Kamek’s laboratory, not wanting to risk anything being damaged by moving it, and gazed warily towards the large mirror, just slightly larger than his fist. “Kamek... most of the stars I’ve seen before have been larger than me. How, and be precise, are we going to fit anything but a baby star through that?” he asks, feeling his patience thinning once more.

“Oh, I’ve found a world where the younger stars are, the more power they hold, and found one still fresh and hot, ready for the taking, sire! And I’ve already prepared the cage; any powers it uses will be instead drawn into the metal to help empower you. And, just to be certain it can’t be abused by a certain red and green pair of problems, I’ve even enchanted it to only work for you!”

Bowser liked the sound of a super-weapon that couldn’t be stolen and used against him. “Then let us begin.” he growls, a grin on his face wide enough to out-scare a fully-sized Chain Chomp. He begins to chant, “Twinkle, Twinkle, little star, how I wonder where you are? In another world so high, never seen there in the sky. Under no sun will you be seen, to shine your light only for me, you’ll give light for my power. Burning like a fire flower, twinkle twinkle little star...

I know just where you are!”

On those last words, he thrusts his arm into the mirror, feeling the sensation of disconnection from it temporarily, and he starts humming the chant again, feeling the connection settle on the world he’s reaching for.

Snatching the star, sensing its power, he begins to draw it back, only to feel resistance. Something hits his hand and, while it doesn’t hurt, does make him angry. Someone else must’ve been trying to steal his star first! How dare they?!

With a growl of fury that turns into a full roar, he unleashes the hellishly hot dragonfire that is his birthright, and pours it into the portal. Kamek squawks something about that damaging the immensely expensive mirror frame used to make the portal, but Bowser is too busy yanking his prize back to him before something else tries to steal it from him. Something hits his hand partway back, and he roars with fury once more, a gout of flame lighting up the laboratory and shaking loose something from his fist partway. He pulls his hand free of the mirror in time for the portal to collapse and the frame to simply melt, Kamek shaking in a combination of terror and horror.

“Th-that could’ve sent your hand anywhere in the world if it’d closed just a moment earlier, my liege! P-please don’t damage magical artifacts during use, your Hastiness!” he begs Bowser, who’s taking the moment to stare down at the strange star in his grip.

It doesn’t look like a star.

It doesn’t smell like a star to Bowser’s keen, predatory nose.

And when it starts shouting obscenities, he decides it also doesn’t sound like any prim and proper star he’d ever encountered before.

But the power... that he can feel, a deep and untapped well of immense power, evidently utterly unused by the strange, larger-than-expected star in his grasp. A gleeful, almost evilly smug look overtakes Bowser’s features as the star stares up at him, moments before it’s thrust into the large cage designed to hold it.

“And now, Kamek, now we have a weapon that the Mushroom Kingdom will be given no warning of.” Bowser says, before laughing triumphantly.