Equestria Amino: Search for the Stolen Catalog

by The Atlantean

Rating: teen
Tags: Original Character, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Other, Adventure
Length: 3232

Crimson Dawn, Rose Thorn, and Strong Heart search for the stolen Equestria Amino Catalog artifacts.

Disclaimer: This is supposed to be an adventure Toy Story/Wreck It Ralph-type setting. This isn't supposed to be meta, or about this site, or about the users here. Any users mentioned (if any) are references to Equestria Amino users. Also, this isn't necessarily a crossover, but it will get that tag if enough of you say it is.

This is a collab I'm doing on Equestria Amino, and I thought I'd put it here too. I'm doing the writing, EQA user TheDoodlePony is doing the art (which is why her OC Strong Heart is featured in this story!) for the Amino version.

Comments are appreciated and, quite frankly, wanted. With that out of the way, I can talk about the story.

------------------

Crimson Dawn and Rose Thorn live in a nice house in Equestria Amino City (population: 80,000+). it's quite the peaceful life, with their user coming on every now and then, checking up on them. The city is well versed in the ways of harmony and the teachings of MLP. One night, the Catalog is set aflame. While the ponies work to put out the flames, the most precious works in the city are stolen. Original copies of OC backgrounds, stories, theories, art, the entire virtual identity of Equestria Amino City is gone.

With the help of a blonde-maned pink mare named Strong Heart, Crimson and Rose go to different Amino Cities to find the stolen Catalog works and bring them back to Equestria Amino City safely.

---------------

Can someone help me decide what categories I need? It's kinda hard for this one.

Published 2017-04-20 21:40:01 UTC
Last updated 2017-05-31 01:00:56 UTC

Quiet Beginnings

Crimson Dawn woke up. His coat was a dark red and his mane and tail had a black sheen with a single blue stripe down the middle. A metal wing replaced the left one he lost years ago in a war, and the fur on his left flank was covered in a dual scar instead of the “red dawn” cutie mark on his right. Even so, he was comforted by the fact that his sacrifices had not been in vain.

He turned his head to the left. There his wife Rose Thorn slept peacefully, her pink wings covered by the blanket and her horn resting on the pillow. Her leafy green mane was fluffy and unkempt this morning, like she’d been tossing and turning all night.

Crimson slowly, quietly, got out of bed and replaced the sheets to their positions. He walked to the kitchen. Every user page had one - at least one house for the OCs they had as favorites (families were bunked together in bigger ones) and essentially a little fenced-in neighborhood per user. The higher the level of whichever user let them live here, the nicer the homes looked. Right now, by looking at the TV in the living room, Crimson could see his user was Level 11 - Wizard’s Apprentice. He’d been on Equestria Amino since August 2016, and had a fair reputation and follower count.

Crimson started up the stove, opening the refrigerator and bringing out a carton of eggs to scramble and some cheddar cheese. He didn’t know why he liked cheesy scrambled eggs - or eggs at all, for that matter - but assumed it was because his user did. Using his right wing to start the cooking, he saw Rose Thorn come down the stairs.

“Morning, Crimson.”

“You okay, Rose? You look like you had a nightmare.”

“It’s nothing.”

Crimson knew that tone. Living with Rose for so long let him recognize subject avoidance when he heard it. “We both know that lying doesn’t help the problem.”

Rose sighed. “Have you ever wondered who our user really is? I mean, I know our user is like an Overseer and he’s done a fine job so far; after all, he’s Level 11. And our little neighborhood’s bound to expand soon - the neighbors we have are fine, but it used to be just you, and I guess I was here, too. We also have that portal to CrystalSnow’s zone. Everything we have was put here by him.”

“And the dream?” Crimson mixed the eggs around with a spatula.

“I was in a different world. Everypony was a biped. It was just… nightmarish in the way everything happened. It’s too hard to explain. I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Alright.” Crimson went back to cooking. “By the way, our user won’t be back ‘till four. It’s Monday.”

A lavender Earth pony mare with a curly dandelion-blonde mane and tail meandered through the streets of Equestria Amino City. Her user had gone offline an hour or so ago, leaving her to do what she normally did: chat and stay positive. She smiled and waved as a Curator pony walked by, his coat and mane full of luster in the midmorning sun. He waved back, continuing on to wherever he was going.

This mare was named Strong Heart for reasons beyond her comprehension, but, given her patient personality and upbeat attitude, her name fit her well. She had a blue shaded heart behind a white cross for her cutie mark and dazzling sky-blue eyes. Her curly mane flowed in the light breeze as she gazed up to take in the impressive city that was Equestria Amino.

Equestria Amino City, known as EQA by its inhabitants, was a sprawling metropolis of more than 80,000 members, most of whom lived in the suburbs to the west. There was Front Page Square in the very center of the city, where one could go to see the newest features. Challenges and artwork were among the most common, but occasionally theories and stories made their way to it. Just next to the Square sat the administrative building, where the mayor Skyline and his council of Curators worked almost tirelessly to keep the city running. Also lining the Square was the many buildings that housed at least a dozen groups and teams.

But the largest structure by far was the Equestria Amino Catalog, an enormous library built from expensive Harmony stone and adorned with jewels of magnificent shine and perfect beauty. Harmonic drawings of the Mane 6 and Equestrian Princesses adorned the nine Corinthian pillars facing the Square. The entire Catalog was more than six stories tall, and it held the most precious and well-preserved information in the entire city. Copies of backstories of other EQA citizens, artwork, species, fanfictions, music, and more, the backbone of the entire city, were kept here for all to see. The actual hard copies of these precious items were kept in a vault guarded by ponies whose identities were known only to Skyline. The location of the vault was on a need-to-know basis that included the Curators as well, but that was it. Rumors claimed the vault was right under the Catalog building, but, they were just rumors.

Strong Heart walked into the Catalog, where she saw a crimson Pegasus with a robotic left wing sitting in a quiet corner. He was sipping coffee as he read stories from fimfiction on a laptop. “Hello! I don’t think we’ve met. I’m Strong Heart.” She held out her right hoof.

He looked up. “Crimson Dawn.” He shook her extended right hoof with his own. “I live on the east side of town if you want to visit sometime. It’s a little quieter than the western suburbs. Plus, it’s by the sea.”

It was then that Strong Heart noticed the scar on his left flank. He did well to hide it, even though it was unintentional. “What happened to you? Your flank…” Strong Heart trailed off, unsure of what she wanted to say next.

Crimson looked at her. His hazel eyes seemed to tell the entire story, if one looked close enough. But that wasn’t Strong Heart’s strong suit. She stared curiously back at him.

“To put it bluntly, I was protecting my sister from a rampaging Minotaur a few years back,” he finally said.

“That’s pretty terrible. Are you going to be okay? I can help.”

“I’ll be fine. It would’ve been worse had she actually gone on that one-way trip, but I got there just in time.”

“Your wing?”

“Protecting my friends by bringing down a bridge. I was under it when it crashed into the river.”

“Oh.” Strong Heart looked downcast.

Crimson had been staring at his laptop screen for most of the conversation. “Say, you could come to dinner tonight. Just you, me, and Rose.”

“Who’s Rose?”

“My wife.” Crimson stated flatly. “Whoops, wrong tone. I meant to say that more softly. I’m trying to be less serious-sounding when I talk, and it makes me seem like a jerk sometimes.”

“I don’t mind your tone. Actually, I’m quite patient with everypony anyway.” Strong Heart glanced up, briefly contemplating her evening plans. “I’ll be there.”

Author's Note

As said in the description, feedback appreciated!

Also, I may have a cover pic eventually.

Burning Books

Strong Heart walked up to the low granite wall that separated Crimson and Rose’s home from the rest of the world. A gate made of cast-iron rods was left wide open, as Crimson had said it normally was that morning. Right now, the sun was setting to her left as the moon came up on her right. She walked through the gate.

A small forest and farm occupied the area farthest from the gate. In front of it, water arced and flowed down the beautiful fountain in a large courtyard that was paved around the fountain. A grassy lawn stretched out, taking up most of the space to her right. A few other houses were on the left, but their occupants were nowhere to be seen. The largest dwelling by far had an unfinished roof, where Crimson was hammering in nails while a pink alicorn watched from the ground.

Strong Heart approached the alicorn. “Hello. Are you Rose?”

The pink mare turned her head. Her leaf-green mane fell neatly to her side. “Yes. You must be Strong Heart. Crimson told me you’d be here for dinner.” Looking up at the hammering Pegasus, she called, “Crimson! She’s here!”

Crimson stopped and looked down. “Hey, Strong Heart! Glad you could make it. Sorry the house isn’t pristine, but it ain’t quite right yet.”

The lavender Earth pony giggled. “I’m sure it will look absolutely fabulous when you’re done with it.”

The dinner was just casual, nothing special. Rose whipped up some food and the three sat in front of the TV, watching the news as they ate. It was the standard news broadcast, a pretty mare speaking into the camera about tomorrow’s weather forecast. Crimson and Rose were together on the comfortable couch while Strong Heart sat in a tan La-Z-Colt chair.

The news mare chatted on. “As for tonight, we have a seventy-five percent chance of rain on Tuesday, forty percent on Wednesday on the north end, and zero down south. Right now, a little shower is covering Westside, but most of the night should have clear skies. The high tomorrow is - what?” The weather forecaster doubled as a general newsmare so news could reach ponies’ ears faster. She was surprised by the teleprompter in front of her, behind the camera. “The Catalog is in safe hooves, Mayor Skyline, so I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

The green screen behind her switched from a weather map of EQA to live feed from a camera in the Square.

“Oh… Oh my Celestia…” The newsmare just stared at the green screen, just as stunned as everypony watching. “The Catalog…”

The entire Catalog building was on fire. Orange flames licked the roof and smoke darker than Outline’s mane billowed up from the mess. Light overwhelmed the normal street lights and shone down every street converging on the Catalog. Windows were shattered, the front doors were smashed, and the fire department struggled to get ponies out of danger. Quite a few had singed coats and worried eyes that darted from left to right and back again. A white-coated mare with a red mane and tail stumbled out of the jaunty double doors, coughing as she leaned on a firepony for support.

The newsmare on the screen finally opened her mouth to speak again. “This can’t be happening… I hope they’re okay… That looks serious,” she said, referring to a limp stallion being carried into an ambulance.

The fireponies kept trying to stem the flames, but the wind threatened to spread them to the nearby buildings. Eventually, an unexpected but Celestia-blessed rain began pouring down from the night sky, the approaching clouds having been obscured from view by the rising smoke. Steam blew skyward where the cooling rain hit open flame, but slowly, surely, brought the fire down to a reasonable level. The fireponies were able to finish it off before midnight, the light of the dying fire glowing dimmer and dimmer with each passing minute.

Crimson realized he’d been on the edge of his seat and relaxed, slumping back. Rose leaned into him for comfort, tears running down her cheeks. “Somepony’s gonna have to find out what we lost and recopy it from the originals down in the vault,” he said. “Rose? I’ll pause working on the house for now. This has a higher priority.”

As if on cue, the newsmare said, “I’m just receiving word from Mayor Skyline, who is on scene now, that he’s inspecting the vault for damage.” A few tense minutes later, she gasped. “The… The vault is open. All of the original copies of our Catalog are gone. And according to Mayor Skyline, there’s no fire damage down there. The originals were stolen.”

Strong Heart deflated. She’d been hopeful that she could volunteer in remaking the copies and make ponies happy. Now, she couldn’t even do that. It didn’t help that she’d made about an eighth of those copies that had most likely burned up. Almost a year of her hard work was destroyed.

Crimson’s face hardened. “Somepony’s got to get those back. They mean so much to us. I’ll call up Skyline.” He reached for the house phone and picked it up, dialing Skyline’s cell.

“Yes, who is this?”

“Crimson Dawn, one of Random’s OCs. Who’s going to go find the originals?”

“We don’t have a team ready, and we won’t for another week. Our highest priority as of now is to repair the damage.”

“Then I volunteer. And I get to pick a couple ponies to go with me.”

“I don’t have an objection. Who are you taking?”

“Rose Thorn… and Strong Heart.”

“Good Luck, Mr. Dawn.”

Crimson nodded. “Thank you for this opportunity.” He turned to the two mares. “Let’s pack up for a trip. Bring food, water, and supplies. I’ll handle defense.”

Rose and Strong looked curiously at him for a second. Then they jumped into action.

“So, what’s our first destination?” Rose asked as she put sandwiches together.

“KSP Amino City. I have a friend there who can get us a ride.”

Author's Note

Feedback appreciated.

And yes, the plan is to go many, many places. I'd put a pic, but it's kinda killing me right now.

It's An Airship!

A few days later.

Gene Kerman, director of Kerbal Mission Control, raised an eyebrow. His tall green face was topped with a blonde-gray hair, and he wore a white vest marking the mission his Kerbals were undertaking right then. “You need me to get you across the entire Amino world in less than a day? Sorry, but Jebediah’s on the Mun, and Valentina’s recovering from a near-fatal crash. Bill and Bob aren’t qualified to fly a craft. So that leaves you with nobody to get you there, not to mention finding the craft you’ll need. The ship you need to reach the other Amino cities would have to be stocked with supplies, and that means large.”

“So, what you’re saying is…” Rose asked.

“Sure,” Gene said. “We’re Kerbals. What could go wrong?”

“This is what you can let us have? It’s a dirigible.” Strong Heart was skeptical, which was unusual for her.

“Yeah,” Gene replied. “It’s a dirigible with a dual-island flight deck on top, plenty of cargo space, and enough fuel to get you across the world. Jeb built it in his spare time.”

Rose raised an eyebrow. “You sure it’s safe?”

“Come on, Rose,” Crimson said. “They’re Kerbals. Of course it’s fine. Thank you, Gene. I owe you one.”

Gene: “No problem.”

The boarding ramp was down and the door open, revealing a spacious living area and science lab. The main cockpit had glass windows allowing for a 180-degree view of the land in front of them.

Gene was describing the dirigible’s capabilities and features as they explored the massive vessel. “The whole thing has a capacity of twenty-to-thirty-ish Kerbals and loads of snack storage. We call her It’s An Airship!, and she’s a beauty, isn’t she? There’s even space for a couple small rovers in the cargo bay section of the envelope behind the gondola and an elevator to lift aircraft from down there up to the flight deck. She’s capable of at least two hundred meters per second with her four propeller engines, which we have four facing backwards for reverse capability and a faster braking. She has a radar that’s mainly for detecting ore, but it can be reconfigured to what you need it to find. Her forward drills allow for ore extraction in any land location conceivable, and, couple with her Convert-O-Tron, she can turn that raw ore into fuel and keep on going. But I must warn you, refueling is a slow process. It can take a very long time.”

“We’ll be fine, Gene. Thanks for letting us use her.” Crimson cut him off before he could continue much more.

“Take care of her, Crimson. She’s currently the only craft in the Kerbal Airship Program.”

“I’ll do my best.”

It’s An Airship! lifted off easily after Crimson, Strong Heart, and Rose had boarded and stowed their supplies and Gene had disembarked. Her massive envelope held the helium and ballast needed to fly, and her gondola held the three-pony crew. Below them, standing on the runway, Gene Kerman watched the dirigible fly and waved as he saw Crimson through the cockpit glass.

“Good luck to you, my little ponies,” he said. “Be safe.”

Crimson waved back at Gene and received a magical whack from Rose. “Concentrate on flying, Crimson. I know this thing is ridiculously easy to fly, and that it comes with an instruction booklet, but I’d like to make it across the world alive.”

“Yes, Mom,” Crimson smiled. He pushed a button that set off a proximity alarm even though they were a hundred meters over the blue ocean. Rose scowled and turned it off.

“Cut it out, Crimson.”

“Yes, Mom.”

Strong Heart hurried into the cockpit from the passenger cabin. “Are we about to crash?!”

“No, Strong Heart. Crimson here’s just being a pain. Like his younger days,” Rose replied, glaring at her husband. He simply returned a goofy smile a mile wide. Rose whacked him playfully again to get his attention back on flying.

It’s An Airship! coasted over the blue-green waves at relatively high speed and low altitude. Below the dirigible, dolphins from some other Amino dove and zipped just under the surface. A mermaid waved at Strong Heart, who cheerfully returned the gesture.

“I didn’t realize how much world there was beyond our borders,” she said to herself in wonder.

“Yeah,” Rose replied. She was munching on some food from the conveniently labeled snack cabinet. It looked like a sandwich. “Crimson and I explored a lot back in the day. But after a while, we settled down and stayed home. Our daughter Andromeda grew up and is now happily in her own home next to ours. It was really quite the adventure. We met Gene and Jebediah, the Space Engineer, some ‘Trekkies,’ clones, droids, pilots, all sorts of people and ponies living in harmony here in the Amino world.”

“And Equestria is just a small chunk of it. Those originals could be anywhere.”

Rose nodded. “We’ll get them back. It’s why we’re in this together, doing what we do best.”

“Crimson’s piloting skills say otherwise.”

“He’s just a goof sometimes. Deep down, Crimson is caring and loving, but don’t tell him I said that.”

It was Strong Heart’s turn to grin. “I won’t” She looked ahead of them, remembering that Crimson flew the airship from directly above them. Sighing, she took a sandwich out of the cabinet and sat down. They had a long trip ahead of them.

Author's Note

It's An Airship! is a legit craft I built using the Heisenberg Airship Parts mod. So, yes, it exists. Or it did. Some kind of mishap about part loading made it die with all 19 of its Kerbals MIA. And no pic because it's 1.94 MBs. Darn.

Feedback appreciated!