Final Fantasy Equestria: New Beginning

Chapter 7

Living Arrangements

(Sugarcube Corner)

“So not only are we stuck here, but an Ascian is also here with us?”The Summoner asked as she along with her friends and their counterparts sat at the table drinking and eating food that the two Pinkie Pies made together. “You think he might be the cause of us being here?”

“I wouldn’t be surprised if he was. But we can’t leave this world for the time being. Not so long as the Ascian is here.” The Paladin said as she leans back against her seat. “Not much info can be gained from them, and the information we do have that our parents left isn’t helpful.”

“Mostly due to the fact that it’s written in a language that most ponies don’t know of. All but Starlight, and she’s not here with us at the moment.” The Dark Knight added. “I’m more surprise that an Ascian is in this world.”

“You think they have the ability to do that Luna?” The White Mage asked as the ironclad knight shrugs.

“Your guess is as good as mine. Like I said, there’s not much information on the Ascian. For now, we can only gather information on them as we encounter them here in this world.”

“Well what are we waiting for?” Rainbow Dash said preparing to bolt out of Sugarcube Corner. “Let’s go find these Ascian jerks and kick their flanks-” Before she could dart off, she was quickly grabbed by her tail by her counterpart as she slams her back into her seat. “What the hay was that for!?”

“Rushing off like that will get you killed and a waste of time. Without information on our enemy, we'd be going in blindfolded and risk getting hurt or worse.” The Dragoon said which took Twilight and her friends by surprise.

“Wow…..wasn’t expecting to hear that coming from your Rainbow Dash.” Rarity said as Rainbow Dash simply huffs in annoyance.

“We may look the same, but we don’t have the same story as you all.” The Summoner said still looking at her book.

“Really? How so?” Princess Celestia asked as their counterparts stood in silence while giving each other nervous looks, well all but The Summoner.

“We’ll tell at another time when we feel like telling you about it. For now we should enjoy this little small get together.” The Red Mage said as she takes a sip from her drink.

“Don’t you mean party~?” Pinkie Pie asked, only to have The Warrior point around her at the somewhat empty room they’re in.

“It’s pretty much a small get together sugarcube. Wouldn’t blame them for not coming seeing how our Rainbow Dash kinda killed a monster in town with something that this world has never seen before.”

“Nice going other me.” Rainbow Dash said as the Dragoon ignored the pegasus’s sly remark.

“Give them time to get use to seeing you girls from another world. I’m sure they’ll come to welcome you in no time.” Celestia said before turning her attention to the Paladin. “For now let’s try to get to know each other a bit more. I happen to notice that your Twilight and her friends don’t refer to you as Princess. Why is that if you don’t mind me asking.”

“Because the title of Princess is only reserve for somepony that’s living in a country that still uses that title. My sister and I are called Generals when we’re on duty or off duty.” The Paladin answered as she leans back a bit in her seat with a sigh. “Though given how we don’t know if Equestria is still standing back home. They just call me or Luna by our names.”

“What do you mean if your Equestria is still standing?” Twilight asked.

“Sunburst teleported us before the blast from Bahamut hit us. So we don’t know if our country Equestria is still standing and not reduce to molten rock and slag.” The Warrior answered.

“Ah, I see. Sorry for your loss.”

“Don’t bucking apologise or give us sympathy. We’re not lost little fillies or colts.” The Warrior said with a stern look on her face. “Sorry for what? You never been to where we fought in the war so who are you to-”

“AJ….” The Warrior turned her attention to The White Mage as she was giving her a disappointed expression on her face. The mare blinked for a moment before clearing her throat. “Sorry, forgive me for dismissing what you say. I’m…..not a huge fan of ponies giving me sympathy over something like that…”

“I-It’s fine. I’m sorry for not knowing that I was giving you or anypony here sympathy for what happen to you.”

“As I was saying before the interruption.” The Paladin said clearing her throat. “Long story short. No Equestria, no royal stuff or perks.”
“And what if your Equestria was still standing even after you left your home world?”

“Then they elect somepony to carry the mantle of leader for Equestria.” She said as both Celestia and Luna stared at the Paladin with dumbfounded expressions on their faces. “What? Don’t you two have somepony to take the mantle as ruler over Equestria?”

“N….No….No we do not. Equestria has never been in a war before.” Celestia answered as the Paladin shook her head in disappointment. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing...just a bit disappointed at how weak my counterpart is.” The Paladin said as Twilight and her friends gasped in surprise from what the armored alicorn said. “You’re good when it comes to using your words to avoid conflict. But when words fail to help you avoid conflict, you’re not a suitable fighter.”

“Hey! Watch what you say about Princess Celestia!” Rainbow Dash said as she glared at the paladin. “She defended Equestria for over 1,000 years or so. She can so totally kick your flank!”

“Actually I have to side with our Celestia on this one.” The Summoner said as she looked up from her book. “From reading Twilight’s mind, Celestia was capture by Nightmare Moon, she along with Luna didn’t do anything during Discord’s invasion, lost to Queen Chrysalis while Luna was off someplace else, captured by vines made by the….reformed Discord, and gave your magic to somepony with little to no skills on being an alicorn.”

“Wait you read my mind!?” Twilight yelled as she glared at the lavender unicorn. “That’s an invasion of a pony’s personal privacy!”

“Yes, it is. But it was the most less time consuming way-” Before she could finish, she felt a fist bonk her on the top of her head as she lets out a yelp from the dragoon hitting her.

“Twilight, you know you’re suppose to ask before doing that silly.” The Archer said as Pinkie Pie nodded in agreement.

“Yeah, that’s how you lose the trust of ponies wanting to be friends with you.”

“.....I get the feeling we’re not going to get along with ya’ll.” Applejack said looking over at the Paladin. “No offence.”

“None taken. Twilight can be the type of pony that wants to get information on somepony or something.”

“Trust us, we know the feeling when she tried to figure out Pinkie Pie.” Rainbow Dash said which caused Twilight to fluster a bit.

“....Was it her first time seeing Pinkie being Pinkie?” The Red Mage asked as Twilight’s friends nodded. “Makes sense.”

“What about your Twilight? Did she do the same thing that our Twilight did?” Rarity asked as the archer shook her head.

“Nope, she was more accepting of it then your Twilight.” The Archer answered with a giggle.

“Can we please change the subject to something else!?” Twilight said as her face was now burning red with embarrassment.

“Maybe we can talk about where we are going to be living in for the time being?” The White Mage asked. “I mean we would try to buy a home, but I don’t think Gil is acceptable in your world.”

“Gill? Wait you mean like fish gills?”

“No, gil is what we use as currency in Eorzea.” She said before reaching into her robe to pull out a sack of silver and gold colored coins.

“Oh shiny~!” Pinkie Pie said before looking over at the coins placed on the table as she begins to play with them.

“We could provide you with some money and a house for you all to live in together?” Celestia offered but the warriors of light shook their heads.

“Thanks, but no thanks.” The Warrior said. “I don’t like taking handouts from ponies. We apple family work hard to earn our keep. Not take the easy way out.”

“Stubborn just like our Applejack.” Rainbow Dash mumbled before getting a jab to her shoulder by Rarity.

“Then how about each of you live with your counterparts then? Surely you all wouldn’t mind that would you?” Celestia asked as the counterparts look at each other for awhile before silently nodding in agreement.

“I guess we could do that. Unless they have anything against it?” The White Mage asked as she looked at her counterpart for an answer.

“Oh, I don’t mind at all. I have a spare room that you can use for the time being until you can get home.”

“I have my doubts about this. Especially after what other me did to Applebloom and her friends.” Applejack said as she glared at the warrior. “But as long as she doesn’t try anything funny, then I have no problem with...her living on the farm.”

“Well I for one wouldn’t mind having another pony at carousel boutique. Especially seeing how it’s with somepony like myself helping me with different clothes design.” Rarity said as the red mage chuckled in amusement.

“Same here!” Pinkie Pie yelled as she wrapped an arm around the bard. “With two Pinkie Pies, we’ll have twice the fun!”

“Not to mention twice the adventure!” The bard said before looking off in the distance at the people who are reading this story. “That is if we can get to the adventure part soon.”

“Pinkie?” Twilight said as the duo looked over at her. “The one with the bow...who are you talking to?”

“Oh nopony in particular~”

“Right….anyway. I wouldn’t mind having my counterpart over to stay with me. It would be interesting to get to know what her and her world are like a bit more than what I got earlier. Just don’t do the whole mind reading thing on anypony without their consent please?”

“I make no promises.” The Summoner said before getting a stern look from the paladin. “But I will try, if they don’t annoy me with how long they take in talking with me.” She said before looking over at the two Rainbow Dashes. “And what about you two? Will you two be able to be okay living with each other?”

“Why wouldn’t we?” The Dragoon said as she looked over at Rainbow Dash. “ Sure she may be rough around the edges, but she’s more tolerable to handle seeing how she’s me.”

“Hey! I take offense to that!” Rainbow Dash yelled as the summoner rolled her eyes at her reaction.

“So it’s agreed? We will live with our counterparts until we can figure out a way back home and deal with the Ascian problem in this world. Okay?” The Dark Knight said as the Eorzians nodded in agreement. “Good, with that taken care of. Let us enjoy our time here together as we drink-” Before the dark armored alicorn could finish, she soon notices Twilight and her friends cutie marks glowing from underneath their clothes as she raises an eyebrow to it. “Is there a reason why you’re cutie marks are glowing?”

“I don’t know. This has never happen before.” Twilight said as images of each of her and her friends cutie marks began to float up into the air before darting off towards Twilight’s castle.

“Seems like you’re all being summoned by somepony or something back at the castle.” The Summoner said before closing her book and looking up at the group. “Seems like it’s something important.”

“As much as I would love to stay here and chat, we need to get going Princesses.” Twilight said as she and her friends get up from their seats before heading off to the castle. Leaving the Eorzians behind with Princess Celestia and Princess Luna.

“What should we do Twilight?” The Warrior asked as she picked up her axe and place it on the holster on her back. “Should we go with them to see what’s up?”

“If our counterparts are involved in something important, then it seems like there could be an Ascian that might attack them.” The Red Mage stated.

“Fair point. But let’s not all go at once.” The Summoner said, as she looks over at The White Mage and Warrior. “Fluttershy and Applejack will go with them. The rest will stay here incase somepony or something attacks Ponyville.” She said as Applejack and Fluttershy pull themselves up from their seats and followed after Twilight and her friends.

“Is it wise to let your friends go like that?” Celestia ask, looking at the summoner with a concern look on her face.

“We have two vanguards, three ponies that are somewhat good at healing along with range attacks, an archer, and heavy hitter dragoon. Sending Applejack and Fluttershy to help Twilight and her friends shouldn’t be an issue. Not to mention this is a more effective way to search for Trixie and Starlight.”

“Still….”

“You should have some faith in my friend’s tactical decision.” The Paladin said before going back to drinking her milkshake. “She's gotten us this far, so I’ll have faith in her judgement about this.”

“If you say so.” Luna said before looking at her counterpart. “For now, let us wait and see how this will turn out.”