As the creature got a little closer, it resolved into a recognizable shape, though it was much larger than Applejack was used to seeing.

“Is that what Ah think it is?” she asked, barely able to believe her eyes.

“That’s a Huge Rat.” Minerva answered.

“Ya don’t say.” Applejack drawled dryly, drawing her pistol.

“That’s what it’s called. Go ahead and scan it, if you want.” Minerva insisted.

“How do Ah do that, again?”

“Just point at it and say ‘Scan’.” Minerva reminded her.

“Right.” Applejack said, raising her left hand to point at the creature that was approaching slowly, its path meandering. “Scan.” At that, Minerva’s horn glowed, and a new panel appeared in Applejack’s field of vision, a little bit above the creature.

Huge Rat – Lv. 2

“Don’t worry that its level is higher than yours.” Minerva told her. “One level isn’t enough to be really dangerous.”

“Alright.” Applejack said, waiting for the rat to get in range of her weapon. When she judged it to be close enough, she raised her gun and pointed the barrel at the white body. She tried to cock the hammer with her thumb, but she couldn’t pull it back far enough, so she used her left hand, like Minerva had told her.

“You might want to cup your left hand under your right, to help hold your gun steady.” Minerva offered, and Applejack took her advice, as the rat stopped to sniff the ground. Minerva gave a few more tips on stance, that Applejack also followed. By the time she was ready to fire, the rat had closed to about eight meters. It stopped again, lifting its head to look right at Applejack.

“Remember, gently squeeze the trigger.” Minerva reminded Applejack, as the rat stared for a second. Then it narrowed its red eyes and tensed its body, preparing to spring forward.

BANG!!

“Gah!” Applejack yelped, as the gun bucked in her grip. “Sweet Celestia, that was loud!” she complained, cringing with her ears folded flat against her skull. Somehow, she managed not to drop her gun as she fumbled it back into the holster. “Ah’m not doing that again, even if that rat—“

“Horseapples!” she swore, remembering the huge rat.

Fortunately, when she looked up, she saw the rat was not an instant away from tearing her face off. Instead, it was still where it had been when she’d shot it, with a red stripe down its neck. Applejack wondered how she’d missed that before, when it suddenly clicked that it was actually blood. Her stomach lurched a little at the sight, but she fought it down and approached the body. Knowing she’d have to get used to this sort of thing, she decided that sooner was better.

She froze for a moment, though, when she got close enough to see the body still twitching slightly.

“What the…?” she wondered.

“It looks like your bullet hit its spine, mostly paralyzing it.” Minerva said, flying over to get a closer look at the rats injury. “You should probably put it out of its misery.”

“Right.” Applejack agreed. Since she really didn’t want to use her gun again, she drew her sword and somewhat clumsily decapitated the rat. When she did, the panel with its information vanished.

“The body can be sold for money in a village, so you should pick it up.” Minerva gently told her.

Shuddering briefly, Applejack reached out a hand to touch one leg, and the whole body disappeared. Including the separated head, which made Applejack shudder again. Just as she started to get up, a glint caught her eye.

“What’s this?” she asked, picking up the object. It was round, like a large marble, with small red spots all over it. On one half, they formed a clockwise swirl, and on the other, a counterclockwise one. And it had a chain on top. A short one—only three or four links—that ended in a loop, like the ones on her armor.

“That’s a Soul Crystal.” Minerva answered.

“And what’s it for?”

“You can do a lot of different things with them. The most common use is turning them in to either the Hunter’s or Tamer’s Guild for a bounty. Most people do this to help supplement their income.”

“You mean you don’t have to be a member of the guild to get paid for them?”

“You don’t have to be a member of the guild to get them, do you?” Minerva countered. Applejack shrugged, realizing she had a point. Anyone could be attacked. “Naturally, the bounty depends on how rare and how strong the creature it came from was. Scanning the crystal will tell you what critter or beastie it came from, and you can tell the level just by looking at it. Above level four, it looks like a gem, with the number of facets equal to the creature’s level. Under level four, you count the number of swirls, instead. Anyways, the second most common thing people do with them is use them to modify equipment.”

“How’s that work?”

“There are two ways. The easier way is just to clip the crystal to your weapon or armor. That’s referred to as mounting, and it’s what all those loops are for. Why don’t you try it now.” Minerva suggested, as Applejack tried to not snort the pun.

“Is it still a pun when it’s not a joke?’ Applejack wondered, distracted. “No, it’s a double entendre.”

That settled, she touched the loop on the Soul Crystal to a loop on her jerkin—which she only now realized was directly over her nipple—and they clipped together. Like those so-called magic rings she’d seen an illusionist using once in Manehatten, when she was younger.

“Now if you open your status panel, you’ll see what that did for you.”

Applejack Anadolu | Furred Race-Horse | Lv. 1
Female Ordinary Civilian
HP: 120 | MP: 80
Strength: 11 | Endurance: 12
Perception: 14 | Agility: 9 | Dexterity: 8
Intelligence: 8 | Willpower: 10 | Charisma: 10

RESISTANCES
Fire 2%

“Now all fire attacks will do two percent less damage to you. Which isn’t much, admittedly, but what else can you expect from such a weak creature?” Minerva asked rhetorically, before continuing. “If you were to mount it on a weapon instead, all your attacks with that weapon would deal two percent more damage, with the bonus damage having a fire affinity. Again, at this point, that’s only one extra point of damage, assuming the enemy isn’t resistant to fire.”

“Still, more damage is more damage.” Applejack said.

“There are a couple things to be aware of when doing this, though.” Minerva continued. “First of all, doing it like this, you can’t stack bonuses from the same creature. In other words, if you get a Soul Crystal from a level three Huge Rat, and mount that on your armor too, your Fire Resistance will only be three percent, instead of five. And that Crystal you currently have mounted won’t do anything. So you should just mount it on another piece of armor, or a weapon.”

“That’s not so bad.” Applejack shrugged.

“No, but when using Soul Crystals this way, the bonuses only apply when they’re attached. And while they’ll never just fall off, they can be knocked off in battle. Or removed with the Pickpocket Skill. And of course, losing a bonus mid-fight can cost you the fight.”

“Yeah, that’s…That’s something to watch out for.” Applejack agreed. “Is there any way to defend against that?”

“Not really, though some equipment will try to keep the mounting rings out of the way. Like on a sheath or holster. And shields tend to have their mounting rings on their inside, where they’re nearly unreachable. So long as you don’t drop it, of course. There is one way around it, but it has its own drawbacks.”

“Like what?”

“You have to take the Soul Crystal and the equipment to an enchanter, or learn the Enchanting Skill yourself. They break down the stone and infuse the bonus directly into the piece of equipment. This makes the bonus permanent, but it also destroys the Soul Crystal in the process. Which is not the same as destroying someone or something’s soul, so don’t worry about that. It also means there’s no way to transfer that bonus to another piece of equipment. On the bright side, enchanting does allow you to stack bonuses. Using both Crystals from the earlier example in Enchanting would result in a five percent Fire Resistance, while still allowing you to mount a third Huge Rat crystal and get it’s bonus, too.”

“That sounds like it could be easy to abuse.”

“Which is why any piece of equipment can only hold a certain number of enchantments. Which you can learn by scanning them. Also, enchanters tend to be kind of expensive, and don’t take students easily.”

“Well, it’s good to hear that it’s not that easy to become overpowered. Kinda.” Applejack amended.

“Yeah. Especially since every creature’s Soul Crystal has a different bonus, that can do all sorts of different things. Giving elemental bonuses, Stat bonuses, teaching Spells, or rarely even Skills. And lots of other things, besides. There’s even a beastie in a few dungeons that can reduce the sound of a gunshot. The nearest dungeon you can find that one in is more than four months away by foot.” Minerva said, just as Applejack opened her mouth to ask.

“Shucks.”

“There are other things you can do with Soul Crystal that have nothing to do with the bonuses they provide. Tamers and Summoners use them as the basis for their summoning. In fact, you can only summon a creature whose Soul Crystal is in your possession.”

“What’s the difference between a summoner and a tamer?”

“While they both belong to the same guild, since there are so many similarities between them, Summoners mostly use the creatures they summon for combat or other utilitarian purposes, treating them more like minions. Tamers, however, tend to treat their summons more like pets and friends. They usually fight alongside their menagerie, instead of merely commanding from the rear. Summoners prefer to use simple Summon spells, while Tamers usually have at least one or two creatures that they got from True Summoning.”

“True summoning?”

“The basic Summon Critter and Summon Beastie spells only need a Soul Crystal to work. And ideally, a Taming Skill level equal to or greater than the summoned creature’s, to properly control it. The spell consumes some of your MP to give life to the creature, and that amount can’t be regenerated until the creature is dispelled. Either by the caster or by being killed. Summoned creatures can gain experience and levels. In fact, some summoners make money this way, by summoning low level creatures, leveling them up a bit, and then selling the resulting higher level Soul Crystal.” Minerva explained.

“True Summoning, on the other hand, is much more involved. It requires a Ritual Chamber, first of all. And, in addition to the Soul Crystal, you need at least one vial of blood from that kind of creature, a few drops of your own blood, and your cum.”

“What.”

“Its own blood, to instill power—one vial for every level you want it to start with—your own blood, to instill loyalty, and the fluid of life, to instill life. And while we know that feminal1 fluid doesn’t create life, the way semen does, magically, it still counts.

“That…that actually makes sense, and not just pornographic sense.” Applejack admitted.

“Anyways, unlike the basic summoning spells, True summoning costs more MP, but doesn’t lower the caster’s functional maximum. Also, you don’t have to cast the spell yourself, so long as you provide the blood and cum. Both forms of summoning can gain levels, but True Summons can also metamorphose, if they have the Stats and Skills required.”

“Metamorphose?”

“Some beasties can change from one kind to another, if they meet the appropriate conditions. Like the Huge Rat can become a Giant Rat, which can then become a Monstrous Rat.”

“Only beasties? And ain’t rats critters?”

“Any critter that is sized as Huge or larger becomes a beastie. I mean, think about it. Do rats naturally get that big?” Minerva pointed out. And Applejack had to admit, she had a point. That thing had come up almost to her knees, after all. “Anyways, Soul Crystals can be quite beautiful, so some people collect them. They’re usually open to trading, if you’ve got something they don’t. You can trade with Tamers and Summoners too, of course. And some places will let you use them in bartering. And there might be one or two more things you can use them for.”

“These things are real useful, it sounds like.”

“Yep!”

“Are there any other beasties around here waiting to attack?” Applejack asked, as it suddenly occurred to her that she should.

“Not that you can sense.”

“And you can’t tell me about any Ah can’t sense, can you?” Applejack asked rhetorically. Minerva answered anyway.

“That would be cheating.” she confirmed.

“In that case, you mentioned something about a town nearby?”

“A village actually, since it has less than a thousand inhabitants. Towns have one to ten thousand. Any bigger than that, and it’s considered a city, until you reach the million mark, when it becomes a metropolis. But yes, there’s a village about half a day’s walk north-northwest of here. If you follow the road, you won’t have to worry about being attacked by anything stronger than that Huge Rat.”

“Really?”

“Yep. The closer you are to a settlement, the weaker the wild creatures you’ll encounter. And conversely, the further away you are, the stronger they are. But no matter where you go in the world, you’ll never find anything above Level 10 outside of a dungeon.”

“Well, that’s reassuring. But didn’t you say Ah could run faster as a pony?”

“Horse.” Minerva corrected. “But yes. You could reach the village an hour or two before sundown if you transformed. Which is done exactly the same way as casting a spell.”

“Then why aren’t they on the spell list?”

“Because they aren’t spells. Anyone can learn any spell, with enough effort, but a magical Skill can only be learned by certain people.”

“Makes sense.” Applejack nodded, before closing her eyes and focusing on her old body. “Transform.” she said, but nothing happened.

“First of all, you really should be on the road when you do that.” Minerva warned her. “Horses and Equestrian ponies are very different. Your legs won’t have the range of motion you’re used to, and have effectively no rotation at all. And your spine has less flexibility than you’re used to.”

“How much less?”

“Uh…according to the information GOD gave me earlier, comparing an Equestrian to a horse is…like comparing Pinkie Pie to a normal Equestrian pony. Your Agility Stat should allow you to move as easily as you are now, but it’s still better not to test your luck just yet. Especially since without your magical hoof-gripping abilities, these rocks could be dangerous.”

Accepting that she had a point, Applejack started walking towards the road, and Minerva spoke up again. “Secondly, you need to specify what you want to transform into, or it won’t work.”

Soon enough, Applejack stood on four hooves again, and as promised, it was different than she was used to. Her body felt bigger and heavier. But weirder than that, her field of vision was a lot wider. She could see almost everything around her, in fact, though most of it lacked depth perception.

Looking back at her body, she saw she was still the same colors—though she felt a pang of concern when she noticed her missing cutie mark—but her barrel was a bit thinner than she was used to, and there was a strange dip in her spine, just behind her forelegs that worried her, but she figured it was supposed to be there, because neither Minerva nor The Gestalt had said anything about her having some form of deformity. She also noticed the Ident Bracelets on her skinny legs, just above her forehooves.

Walking with her longer and thinner legs proved a tad awkward too, but she got used to it quickly enough. A couple minutes later, she sped up to a trot, and then an easy canter. And a couple minutes after that, she was galloping along steadily.

The next couple hours passed pretty quickly for Applejack, as she enjoyed the wind in her mane and the burn in her legs. It wasn’t quite the same as in Equestria, of course, but the tree-lined road was certainly pleasant. As she alternated between a casual trot and a harder gallop, she glimpsed a few rats and other creatures among the trees, but none of them got closer to the road than a couple body lengths. Applejack never gave them more than a glance as she passed. Until one in a little roadside clearing caught her attention, and she had to slow down to stare at it.

It was a Huge Rat, like she’d fought earlier. Maybe a little smaller than that one, with more grayish-silver fur. But the big difference was its skin. Unlike the normal, pink paws and tail of the one she’d killed, this one had baby-blue extremities. And when the rat turned in her direction, she saw it also had sapphire-blue eyes.

“What in Equestria?” she wondered.

“It’s an ordinary Huge Rat, just like the others you’ve seen today. It just has a water affinity.” Minerva explained. “You’ve passed a few rats with other affinities, but you only saw their fur, so you probably didn’t realize.”

“How did you hear me?” Applejack asked. Or tried to ask, but all that came out was a neigh, followed by a series of snorts and whickers.

“You don’t have to talk out loud for me to hear you. You just have to think at me, and I’ll hear it.” Minerva told her.

“And how do Ah think at you?” Applejack asked, not thinking about the fact that she was doing exactly that.

“Just pretend you’re talking to me. Imagine me hearing your question or comment, and I will.” Minerva explained. “And you should start trying to get into the habit of doing it that way. Even though everyone has a mini-divinity that only they can see and hear, talking to yourself is still not viewed any better than in Equestria. Maybe even worse, since it’s considered impolite, and is a sign of lack of self-control.”

Applejack thought about fighting the rat, and wondered if it would be worth it to try in this horse form, or if it would be better to turn bipedal, and get a little practice with her sword. She definitely wasn’t ready to try beating something to death with her fists, which somehow felt different than using her hooves. And that’s when she realized exactly what she was thinking, and was surprised by just how quickly she seemed to be adapting.

“Minerva, you said Ah could cast some magic in this pony—uh, horse form?” Applejack started. “Does that include Scan?”

“You can cast Life Magic in this form, yes.” Minerva confirmed. “You don’t need to point, as long as you’ve got a clear target in mind. And before you ask, you still have to call the spell’s name to trigger the magic, even if it doesn’t come out sounding like the word as you know it.”

“Right. Well, here goes nothing.” Applejack thought. Staring hard at the rat—almost glaring—she said, “Scan.” It came out as more of a chuff, but Minerva’s horn lit up, and a panel appeared above the blue and gray beastie.

Huge Rat – Lv. 1

Applejack was a little disappointed that that didn’t help her decide whether to use her hooves or her sword. Then she remembered something else Minerva had told her while she was creating this character. “How close are we to the village?” she asked her mini-divinity.

“Maybe eight, ten minutes at a gallop. Or half an hour at a walk, give or take.”

Figuring that her walking speed would be about the same in any form, she transformed into her Humanoid form. A quick glance turned into a double-take when she noticed that she still had on all the equipment she’d been wearing earlier, along with a pair of boots. And socks too, it looked like.

So, since she didn’t need to reequip herself, Applejack wasted no time drawing her short sword and carefully approaching the Huge Rat. When she was about five meters away, it turned to glare at her. They both tensed up, before the rat charged. Applejack expected it to leap at her when it got close enough, and it did. So she jumped to one side, dodging the oversized rodent, while also twisting to keep it in sight.

As it flew past her, the rat lashed out with its forepaw, barely scratching Applejack’s jerkin. An instant later, she brought her sword down in a broad and clumsy swing. By sheer dumb luck, the top inch found its way between the creature’s ribs. Its momentum almost jerked the sword out of Applejack’s hand, but she managed to keep ahold of it, turning the wound into a ragged gash.

When the rat landed, it squealed in pain and instinctively froze for an instant. At the same time, Applejack lunged for it. The beastie tried to twist its bleeding wound away from its attacker, but wasn’t fast enough to avoid the red-tipped blade.

Unfortunately for Applejack, luck was not on her side this time, and the blade hit the ribs, skewing away. It left her overextended and off-balance, and she fell to one knee, which allowed the Huge Rat finished to finish twisting away, then snap at her.

This time it was Applejack that lashed out wildly, with her left hand. Her fist managed to connect with the rat’s face, and Applejack felt something give under her fist. She was too hopped up on adrenaline to pay it any mind, though. She barely had enough presence of mind to aim her next stab at the creature’s throat. And despite the awkward, nearly-vertical angle of the strike, she managed to open the rat’s throat.

Not noticing, Applejack immediately tried to roll away. Her sword jerked in her grip again, and this time, she lost hold of it. Coming out of the roll, she twisted to face the rat, her clenched fists coming up, ready to jab.

An endless second later, what she was looking at sank in, and Applejack really saw the blue paws scrabbling weakly. A couple long seconds after that, the Huge Rat’s Info Panel disappeared.

As time returned to its normal flow, Applejack sat down heavily. Unable to do anything but sit and stare, she waited for her heart to stop pounding in her ears.

She had plenty of experience with the adrenaline rush of a life or death moment, but more often than not, the Elements of Harmony had resolved the situation and helped her through the aftermath. Still, between Princess Cadance’s wedding and a few other unforgettable moments—not all of which had come after meeting Twilight—Applejack knew to lower her head and take deep breaths, though it took a moment to manage the action.

While she was doing that, the feeling of bone breaking under her fist came back to her mind. It was different than feeling changeling chitin—which was oddly flexible—give under her hooves, and it made her stomach turn, but Applejack had no trouble keeping her bile down.

A little while later, Applejack stood up and approached the Huge Rat. Her sword was still stuck several inches into the ground, and it took some wiggling to work it loose. Knowing better than to leave all the muck on the blade, she wiped it on the fur a few times. It didn’t get it all off, but it was good enough for now.

After sheathing the short sword, Applejack collected the rat’s corpse and picked up its Soul Crystal. It was covered in pale blue spots that created a single swirl that looped around the entire sphere. Not sure what to do with it, she just looked at it for a few seconds, before trying to bag it. She wasn't really surprised when it vanished from her hand.

Applejack then looked around absent-mindedly, and seeing nothing else she needed to do, she returned to the road and headed for the village.

“So, why…” Applejack started to say, several minutes later, before stopping. Remembering what Minerva had told her earlier, she started over, trying to keep her question unspoken. “Why am Ah not more bothered by all this? Ah didn’t even get shaky.”

“Well…” Minerva hedged, getting Applejack’s attention. “I know this will probably sound worse than it is, but the same way GOD made you more accepting of meat, It also made you more accepting of the realities of combat. Not by much, though. It didn’t have to.” the mini-divinity added quickly.

“Ah figured that’s what it was.” Applejack said. Then she went quiet again, but it was a mostly comfortable silence.

“What is this?” Applejack asked, looking curiously at a box on a post. She was probably five or ten minutes outside of town, and there was nothing else around. The only thing she could think of was some sort of mailbox, but it was way too small for that. Roughly the size of a jewelry box, it was too small for one person’s mail, much less a whole village. She’d already lifted the latch and looked inside, but the box was empty.

“It’s not just critters and beasties that have Soul Crystals. People have them, too.” Minerva said, her tone almost solemn. “They don’t give any equipment bonuses, or anything like that. About the only thing they’re good for is providing proof of death. For bounty hunters or missing person cases, though some people wear them in remembrance. You can occasionally find them in the wild, or more often, in dungeons.”

Minerva suddenly changed to her Nightmare form before continuing. “If you find one, while it’s by no means illegal to leave it where you find it, it’s incredibly disrespectful. And similarly, it’s not illegal to not turn them in to the guard at your first opportunity, it’s often seen as suspicious. Sometimes even by people who know why you might not want to.”

“And why wouldn’t Ah want to turn them in?” Applejack asked, offended. Her parents—her real parents, Bright Mac and Buttercup—had died in an accident that hadn’t left much to bury. The idea that anyone would refuse to turn over someone else’s remains left her completely peeved.

“When you turn a person’s Soul Crystal in to the guards, you will almost invariably be taken into custody—not arrested, just taken into custody.” Nightmare Minerva emphasized. “This is to prevent you leaving before the guards can determine what, if anything, you had to do with the death of the person the Soul Crystal came from.”

“And how do they do that?” Applejack asked, starting to understand.

“They fetch a seer. Someone who can examine the Soul Crystal and find out exactly how the person died, and how you got the Soul Crystal. If you’re not guilty of anything, the guards will let you go. In cities and towns, where there’s a seer in residence, this usually only takes a matter of hours, and you’ll almost always be held in the guard’s barracks until you’re cleared or arrested. The real problem is in villages like this one, where they have to send someone to fetch a seer. It can be days, or even a couple of weeks, depending on how busy the seer is, and how remote the village. And during that time, while you'll usually be allowed to go anywhere you want in town, you won’t be allowed to leave for just about anything. Though you might be able to convince a guard to escort you, if you absolutely must leave for some reason.”

“Okay, Ah can see how that might make someone reluctant to turn one in.” Applejack grudgingly admitted to herself.

“Therefore, many settlements set up dropboxes like this, where anyone can anonymously leave a person’s Soul Crystal. They’re kept out of sight of the settlement, and someone, usually a guard, checks it first thing every morning.”

As she got back on her way towards town, Applejack had to admit that it was a good idea.

Author's Note

I've read lots of fight scenes, but this is my first time writing one, so please, PLEASE, give me feedback on how I did, and what I need to do better on.

1. I couldn’t resist the pun. Sorry, not-really-sorry.