Star Ocean: A New Frontier

Chapter Three

A Step Ahead

“Any sign of the kid?” Twilight asked as Rarity and Fluttershy shook their heads. “Darn, maybe Applejack and Starlight have it better off then we did.”

“I wouldn’t be too sure about that.” Rainbow Dash said as she pointed over to the left. The group looked over to their left to see Starlight levitating a familiar farm girl over to them.

“Oh my goodness! What happened to you two?” Fluttershy asked as she and Rainbow Dash quickly moved over and caught the apple farmer.

“The kid got the drop on us, and stunned us with that weird gauntlet on her arm. Applejack might have gotten the worst of it given the spice on her face.” Starlight answered as Twilight let out an annoyed sigh. “Sorry Twilight.”

“This is going to be harder than I thought. We might need some help from Celestia if we’re going to make sure she doesn’t escape from the hospital...wait, where were the two of you when this happened?”

“It happened in the kitchen...why?”

“Doesn’t this place have a back...door.” Their eyes widen upon hearing Rarity complete her sentence at the sudden realisation of what happened as everyone looked over at Twilight. “Oh...this might be a problem.”

“Great, so we have a zap happy kid wandering around town. This is going to be like trying to find a needle in a sea of clouds..only she’ll possibly zap somepony if they cross her.” Rainbow Dash said before noticing Twilight pulling out a cellphone and began to push buttons on it. “Really? Texting at a time like this?”

“I’m sending a message to Princess Celestia and Princess Luna to see if they can help. Should’ve done this sooner, but I didn’t think this would be a problem.” Twilight said before sending the message off. “Until we get a message from them, we’ll have to think of a plan to catch her before she escapes Ponyville.”

“And how are we going to get her before she escapes Ponyville?” Rarity asked as he bit the nail on her thumb. “It’s not like we know where she’s going to go first.”

“....I think I might know where she might go first.” Starlight said as everyone looked over at her. “She was in the kitchen when we last saw her. My guess is that she must’ve been trying to find something to eat. So we can try and lure her out with food of some kind.”

“That might work. But what do you think she’ll eat? Pinkie Pie, you wouldn’t happen to” Fluttershy looked over to ask Pinkie Pie, but paused as she couldn’t find her with them. “Um...where’s Pinkie Pie?”

“She was just here a minute ago...Don’t tell me she went off to do something ridiculous?” Rarity asked as Fluttershy shrugs, causing the seamstress to sigh. “I’ll have a look around the hospital again. You girls find the kid and give me a call if you see Pinkie pie as well.”

“I’ll help you too once Rainbow Dash and I get Applejack to a doctor.” Fluttershy said as she, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash walked down the hallway carrying the knocked out farm pony humanoid.

“Looks like it’s just you and me Starlight.” Twilight said as Starlight folded her arms in annoyance. “Look, I know you’re angry after what happened. But we have to remember that she’s just a scared kid...a scared kid with stuff that looks like they belong to the royal guard and having surprising cat-like reflexes, but still a scared kid.”

“I know..But I’m more worried that she might get in trouble. Law wise at least.”

“You worry too much, I'm sure the guards in Ponyville won’t do anything that might hurt her.” Twilight said as Starlight raised an eyebrow at her. “...We should inform my brother about this.”

“That would be best seeing how a lot of them are not the brightest bunch of bananas. No offense.”

“None taken…” Twilight said after sending a message to Shining Armor about the situation going on. “Okay, sent the same message for the princesses to my brother. Now we just need to know where she’s going.”

“Well, if I was in her shoes. Scared and alone in a place unfamiliar to me, I would be trying to find where my stuff would be...which means she’s heading for the castle of friendship.”

“You think she knows where my home is?”

“She might, especially seeing how you’re home is a giant crystal sticking out of the ground and she might have a tracking spell on her stuff.” Starlight said as she noticed Twilight’s thinking expression on her face. “You have an idea on how to get her don’t you?”

“I do, but I need you to tell the girls to meet in front of my home and have Applejack ready with a rope.”

While Twilight and her friends were busy formulating a plan, Nelsha meanwhile hopped from rooftop to rooftop making her way to where her equipment was located thanks to Vi’s help. While hoping from rooftop to rooftop, she would at times look below her to take notice of some of the features the inhabitants have which got her a bit curious along with her surrounding area.

“This place is weird. Not because the humanoid looking horse people, but mainly from how modern this place is from what you said VI. Got anything else that you looked up on this world’s internet?”

“At the moment no. I’m more focused on repairing the universal translator. You’re currently on your own gathering information about this world until I’m done.”

“Makes sense. Focus on repairing it for the time being, but keep me updated on the process aokay?”

“Acknowledged.” Vi said before showing her a digital map of where her gear was located. “Here’s the location of your gear. Do try not to make too much trouble to get them back like last time.”

“Hey, that time it wasn't my fault. How was I supposed to know they do daily clean of lockers.” Nelsha said before continuing making her way through town. As she hopped onto another rooftop, she soon caught a whiff of something sweet in the air as it caused her to stop on the next rooftop. She began to sniff the air around her as she walked over to the side of the roof to see a familiar pink haired girl placing what appeared to be pie underneath a giant box with a stick holding it up with a string attached to it. “...Vi, are you seeing this?”

“You mean the fact that the girl from the hospital is doing something from a cartoon?”

“How primitive does she think I am? Even I’m not that stupid enough to fall for something like that.”

“To be fair, you did get your hand stuck in the vending machine back at HQ.”

“Hey, I wasn’t going to let that candy bar go. Especially seeing how I didn’t have any more change on me at the time.” Nelsha said before turning around to head towards the direction of the Castle. “Best not mess with her for the time being. Just need to get my stuff and head back to the denchi bunny before anything else happens.”

“Smart move on your part for once-” Before Vi could finish, Nelsha’s ears twitches upon hearing someone scream off in the distance as she turns her direction towards the west part of the area she’s in. “Is something the matter?”

“I heard someone screaming. Off to the west of this village.” She said while using her ears to pick up on the perceived location of the scream.

“Now is not the time for you to be helping others Nelsha. You need to get your gear before that woman that took it figures out where you’re going.” Vi said as the Lesser Fellpool rolled her eyes before picking up the location of the scream as she quickly headed over to it. Once she was there, she could see a pair of light skin colored humanoid like ponies holding each in fear from a pack of wild dogs slowly creeping up towards them.

“This is why I hate dogs, Silver Spoon! Nothing good ever comes from them!” Diamond Tiara yelled as she and Silver Spoon backed up even more until their backs were against the wall of the alleyway they’re in.

“This is not how I wanted my life to end! It was supposed to end with me getting old!” Silver Spoon yelled as she buried her face into Diamond’s chest while hugging her tightly. The lesser fellpool looked down upon the scene as she pulled herself back a bit and began to stretch her limbs a bit.

“You’re not thinking of getting involved in this are you? Not that I’m against the idea of you helping, but bare in mind that you only have your gauntlet and Radiation Bots as the only weapon you have on you.”

“Not like I can leave them to fend for themselves seeing how they’re kids.”

“But aren’t you a kid as well?” Vi asked as Nelsha paused upon hearing that.

“Yeah, but I have more combat experience than they do. Besides, dealing with these mutts won’t be a problem.” She said before finishing stretching her limbs, jumps off the roof, and lands in between the two humanoid pony girls and the wild dogs. Both the girls and the group of dogs were taken by surprise from Nelsha’s entrance; their attention was focused on her now then each other. The lesser fellpool looked over at Diamond Tiara and SIlver Spoon with a smirk before looking back at the dogs who were glaring and growling at her before taking a step forwards towards her.

“I would advise to eliminate them due to the fact that they have rabies and could possibly attack other citizens in this town. Also do try to make it look less bloody. Mainly because it might freak the girls you’re protecting.”

“So use extreme measures, but make it look less bloody than it needs to be. Fair enough I suppose.” Nelsha said as one of the dogs lunged itself towards her, only for the alien girl to quickly reach for a nearby trash lid, and toss it at the dog as it hits its neck making a loud cracking sound before hitting the ground hard. “One down, two to go.” She said before noticing the other two dogs moving to her sides.

“Seems like they have some kind of intelligence if they’re trying to attack you from both sides. But it won’t help them given the counter measure you have for this...right?” He asked as the alien simply nodded before noticing the dogs lunging at her from both sides. Just as they were inches from latching their teeth onto her, she quickly jumped into the air as they collided head first into each other and fell to the ground, staggered. Once she landed onto the ground she quickly rushed over to the dogs and delivered a high voltage shock to the two with her gauntlet as the dogs let out loud yelps of pain before going silent and motionless on the ground.

“Targets down and out. Nice to see that my reflexes are still good.” She said before looking over at the two girls behind her with a wink before hopping onto a nearby building and quickly running off towards the crystal castle. Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon stared at the creature running off for a moment before turning their attention to the dead dogs.

“I’m not the only one that saw this right?” Diamond asked as she pulled herself together.

“No, I saw it too... was she a donkey or something?” Silver asked as Diamond shook her head.

“I don’t think so...but did you see what she just did? Such power, such skills, and the way she could handle herself in a fight.” Diamond said as a grin appeared on her face. “We need to make that girl our friend so she can teach us how to do that!”

“....You can’t be serious? Did you not see what she just did to those dogs? How do we know she won’t kill us?”

“Then why would she save us from the dogs and run off?” Diamond asked as she began to move past the dead dogs. “We’re going after her to see where she lives. Once we know where she lives, we’ll be able to have a little talk with her. Are you coming Silver Spoon? Because if you’re not, then I’ll go alone if I need to.”

“....Darnit! Fine, I’ll go with you. But I’m doing this so you don’t get hurt or worse. She might end up killing you and eating your corpse for dinner or something.” Silver said as she quickly followed after Diamond. “Do you even know where she’s going?” She asked as Diamond looked around the area they’re in, only for her to see the lesser fellpool hopping from rooftop to rooftop heading towards Twilight’s Castle.

“She’s heading towards the castle.”

“Why would she go there?”

“Who knows. Maybe she has something that belongs to her?” Diamond answered before quickly running after the lesser fellpool. “All I know is that we need to get her to come with us.”

“H-Hey! Wait up!” Silver yelled as she quickly followed after Diamond Tiara towards the crystal castle.