Flurry Heart's Story: The Ghost of Grogar

Stormy zoomed through the colorful pixelated world while destroying the enemy robots around him. His level was a brightly-colored tropical land with checkered patterns on the grass and dirt, populated by giant flowers and palm trees. There were large loop-shaped structures in the ground that he was able to run right through like a roller coaster. He was so fast; he found he was able to run over the ground with his legs spinning in a circular motion. His flying still came in handy for spots where he’d need to fly higher in order to collect tiny lightning-bolt shaped icons. The robots he was fighting released small animals that were trapped inside when destroyed. To destroy the robots, he could ram into them while flying, but he found he was also able to somersault into them to do damage. Every time a robot attacked him or he hit metal spikes growing out of the ground, he would get knocked back and lose all his lightning bolts, but he was able to retrieve some of them before they’d disappear. The levels in his world were designed for speed. The goal was to get to the end of the level to flip a sign of a ram’s head to one that resembled his. Next he had to enter a giant lightning bolt that would transport him to the next level.

“Man this game is fun! Sure wish the others could join me, but hopefully they’re doing okay in their places,” he said before jumping on top of a spring pad that launched him upwards.

As Stormy continued his quest, the others were all busy in their own respective levels.

Pound Cake was also battling robots but doing so in a world made primarily out of machinery. Some of his robots were also animal-themed, but they released small chocolate cake items that would fill up his gauge for health points. He had found a small canister shaped gun shaped somewhat like Pinkie Pie’s party cannon. If he placed it over one of his front hooves, it fired blasts that would destroy the robots. He was also able to fly, but some enemies made it difficult, so he stayed mostly on the ground and would jump every so often to get to platforms. He still could use his ramming move that he and Stormy had in the first level where they fought the spider, but the arm cannon made it way easier to destroy the robots. To get through crevices, he had to duck own and do a sliding kick, which he was already good at due to his years of playing baseball. At the end of each level was a larger robot character that would give him a new ability like launching a flying drill or spinning some bladed leaves around him. He would change colors when he used these abilities.

Pumpkin was using a weapon similar to Pound’s, but her world was very different. She was in a dark, cavernous environment with strange alien wildlife. Creatures where everywhere, crawling on the walls and flying around to give her trouble, but she used her arm cannon well and could fire all sorts of different blasts. There were griffon statues holding pumpkin pies in them that would upgrade her cannon to launch missiles. They also gave her other abilities like rolling into a ball, shooting a freezing blast, or running so fast till she could barrage through certain walls. Although this world wasn’t much her style, she bravely continued and enjoyed it nonetheless.

Chip’s world was colorful like Stormy’s, though the style was different. Instead of checkered patterns, the ground and hills in the background had zig-zags and the hills and clouds even had tiny black eyes. His jumping was much higher now and he was able to still use a bucking move like he and Annie started off with. This worked to knock his enemies down, though they would eventually get back up. His enemies were turtles and strange walking mushrooms, but if Chip jumped high enough, he could hit floating blocks that would release large red apples with eyes. Touching these apples would make him bigger and able to take out his enemies by hopping on top of them, while the green ones gave him extra “lives.” After getting through the first level, he had just found a block with a different item inside. Instead of an apple, it was a flower blossom from an apple tree. Touching this flower would change his coat white and his hair bright orange and grant him the ability to shoot fireballs from his hooves. This could defeat enemies just as quick a stomping on them, but sometimes he had to use his buck move to just knock them down and then pick them up to throw or place on buttons to open doors.

Annie’s world was also bright and colorful and had blocks to destroy, though the enemies and mechanics were different. Her enemies were cuter, though they could be quite aggressive if she didn’t defend herself. She mostly tried to avoid them, as her bucking did no good and she thought they were good due to their innocent looks, but she found there were various color-coded apples hidden everywhere. Eating one would give her a special hat and a new power to use. If she ate an orange one, it would give her a crest with fire on top and the ability to breathe fire. It made her sad to use it on the adorable critters around her, but thankfully they just disappeared with a tiny puff of magic dust and there was no violence. If she was hit by one of them, she would lose her power, but there were plenty of apples left for her to eat. The blue apples gave her a crest with icicles and the ability to use ice breath, the green ones gave her a phrygian cap and a sword to attack with, the red ones gave her a backwards baseball cap and allowed her to spin around like a wheel and ram into her enemies, the yellow one gave her a crest with lightning on top and the ability to surround herself in an electric field, and the brown one gave her a soldier’s helmet and allowed her to transform into a rock. Despite not liking video games, she was already having fun playing this one even if the enemies were too cute to want to hurt.

In Flurry’s level, she had gotten past the ruins outside and made her way into a nearby castle, but it was not like the Crystal Empire Palace. This castle had a very dark and foreboding design. It almost looked more like a gothic monastery. The enemies were also very frightening. Such enemies included horrible monsters like demons, werewolves, ghosts, ghouls, animated skeletons and bats. They would burst into flames if she killed one. She could blast them with magic from her horn, but she also found other weapons. First there was a powerful whip, which she found after breaking open a stone wall. It dealt heavy damage to the enemies and could be spun around rapidly to cause repetitive damage. If she attacked lit candles, they would drop throwing knives, axes, or bladed throwing stars that were shaped like the Element of Magic gem. If they didn’t drop a weapon, they would instead drop crystal hearts that would give her more of whichever item she was holding. Flurry’s inexperience with video games was still an issue for her, but being in the game and experiencing it helped her to understand the gameplay mechanics. Some of the rooms she would go into required intense puzzle-solving, and she was well-educated enough to understand them. She made it to one final room with tons of enemies she had to fight. After she had defeated them all, she was awarded a key with a crystal shaped like a heart. After acquiring the key, a door opened on the other end of the room with a bright light coming from it.

“PHEW! Finally! I hope the others found their keys,” she said.

As she went through the door, the light died out and she was now back in the outdoor level she and her friends had started out in. Just as he entered, five other doors opened around her and her friends emerged from each of them. The doors then disappeared behind them.

“GUYS!” she shouted. “Did you get your keys too?”

“Sure did!” Pound said, holding a key with a gem shaped like his cutie mark.

“Check mine out! It’s got a lightning bolt!” Stormy exclaimed, holing his key in the air as it hovered above his hoof.

“Pound! Look! We both got the same arm gun thingies!” exclaimed Pumpkin, showing off her cannon.

“Oh, nice! Yours looks a little more futuristic though,” Pound replied.

“Annie, I’m guessing your level had apples in it too?” Chip asked his sister.

“Yeah, how could you tell?” she asked.

“The power-ups in mine were apples just like my cutie mark. Well there were also apple tree flowers. Did your guys’ power-ups all look like your cutie marks?”

“Sure did!” Pumpkin said, shooting pie missiles out of her cannon at a nearby rock. “And we all got these awesome weapons too!”

“I can’t believe I had to go through all that,” Annie continued. “My place had these really cute little critters that kept hurting me every time I touched one, but I’ve seen enough of Chip playing games to know those are enemies, so I had to fight them. Thankfully it wasn’t as violent as I was afraid it would be. It was actually kinda fun.”

“So Chip, you can change colors when you use your powers too?” asked Pound.

“Yeah, that happens after I touch the apple flower. Now I can shoot fireballs!” Chip said, shooting a fireball that bounced over the ground until it hit the nearest wall. “My enemies were kinda cute too, Annie. My world was also pretty colorful. Somehow games like that can still be really fun!”

“You guys should’ve seen my place,” Flurry said. “I was in a really dark castle and it had all these creepy monsters like zombies and bats and skeletons. It was kinda scary.”

“Yeah, mine was kinda creepy too. I was in some crazy underground cave with spikey aliens, but no big deal. Got right through it!” Pumpkin said.

“Oh dear. I’m glad we weren’t in that world,” Annie replied.

“Are you kidding?! That world sounds awesome!” Stormy remarked.

Suddenly, a lightning bolt struck in the distance around Canterlot Mountain. They all looked back to see the castle had transformed into a larger and darker one. The sky had also darkened with clouds and the atmosphere was far more frightening. Annie quickly ran behind her brother as the others flinched at the sound of thunder.

“Oh right. We have to get to the castle now,” Pumpkin said.

“Well we’ve all got our keys. No time to waste. Let’s get this door open and get to Count Aries!”

Everyone walked to the door with six holes. Their keys floated out and fit in the holes to unlock the door. The door lit up and then faded into dust, revealing a doorway into the caverns.

“Alright, we all ready?” Flurry asked her friends.

“READY!” they shouted.

“Let’s go!”

They all ran through the cave into a new zone where there were dark creatures similar to the ones Flurry fought.

“Interesting. This looks a lot like my level. It’s almost like he just had me transported somewhere else in this same world,” Flurry said.

“Plus you came out of a door in the side of that cliff on the other side,” Pound responded.

“I did? Interesting. So you guys were all transported to different worlds with different styles and enemies, while mine stayed the same.”

“And we all completed our worlds at the exact same time.”

“Yeah, that lends more credence to the theory that this ram character is using powerful magic to keep us busy in here. I also find it interesting that I’m the only one without a cutie mark, but the heart symbol was on my key and my…what do you call them again? Power-ups.”

“That is kinda curious. You think this guy knows what your cutie mark is going to be?” asked Chip.

“Probably not, he probably just assumes it’s because of my name having the word ‘heart’ in it.”

“Whatever. That Count Aries Von Tam-Baloney guy is goin’ down!” Stormy chided.

“Von Tambelon, Stormy. That’s also an interesting choice of names. ‘From Tambelon.’ It’s probably because he’s a ram. Most sheep originate from that country. So do cattle, donkeys and goats.”

The kids all ran through the caverns, fighting occasional enemies with their weapons and solving puzzles to get past obstacles. The further on they went, the more this level looked like a castle. There were still power-ups in the form of hearts, just like Flurry’s level she went through alone. The other five were even capable of using the weapons that would fall from the candles. Once they got to levels with windows, Flurry looked out one of them and saw familiar architecture in the distance.

“Hey, I know that building! That’s the Canterlot Opera House! We must be getting close!” she said.

“You think he’s in the throne room where Twilight should be?” Pound asked.

“Most likely.”

“Well, he’d better be ready for us!” Pumpkin said.

A few minutes later, they came to a long set of stairs leading up into the main throne room. The door was already open as if someone was expecting them. Just ahead was Count Aries, sitting on Twilight’s throne and sipping a glass of grape juice.

“We’ve found you, Count Aries!” Flurry called.

“Well now. You ponies are just miserable little piles of secrets!” the evil ram sneered, tossing the glass on the ground.

“Before we fight you, tell us what’s going on!” Pound ordered.

“As I said in the last realm: you children called me here. You call yourselves friends yet you argued and fought like animals over a scrap of meat. Consider this a trial to atone for your actions.”

“Well we’re friends again and we’ve made up! Right guys?” asked Pumpkin as everyone nodded their heads.

“Yes. I can see that. Now you are friends only because I put you here.”

“We’re friends because we know friendship is stronger than any force in the world. Still, we should thank you for doing this for us, otherwise we might still be fighting,” Flurry said.

“Whoever you are, whatever you’re trying to do, we’ve learned our lesson, Count Aries. We’re ready for you!” Pound added.

“And you’ve done very well to get to this place, but friendship will not get you far! Now have at you!”

Count Aries stood up from his throne and teleported away in a column of light. He then appeared behind the kids and lifted one side of his red cape. Three ferocious bats emerged to attack the kids. They all jumped to avoid the bats, but Chip and Annie were not fast enough and took damage.

“AGH! Chip!” Annie cried.

“Annie, are you okay?” Chip asked his sister, helping her up.

“MUAHAHAHA!” Count Aries cackled as he teleported to the other side of the room and shot thunderbolts out of his cape.

“I got this!” Stormy called, dodging the thunderbolts.

The brave little pegasus then and attempted to spin-attack into him, but the attack failed and he jumped back in pain.

“GAAAH! How didn’t that hurt him?!”

Pound and Pumpkin tried shooting him with their cannons, but there was no affect. They even tried using more powerful weapons or abilities they had achieved and it still didn’t work.

“I don’t think any of our attacks are working on him!” Pumpkin said.

“Well we have to have some sort of attack that hurts him or this game is totally broken!” Pound remarked.

“Hold on, I think I know what it is!” Flurry said.

When Count Aries teleported back, Flurry tried using her six-sided throwing stars at him and they caused damage. They spun right through him and he flashed rapidly for a moment. Flurry had just enough time to try her whip, which also worked.

“AAAAGGGGH!!” screamed Count Aries before vanishing.

“The whip and stars work! Everyone, take my stars and I’ll use my whip!” Flurry called to her friends, tossing several star icons on the ground.

The others grabbed a star and started throwing them at Count Aries. He continued to scream in pain every time they hit him, but he didn’t flinch and was able to still launch his attacks from his cape and teleport just fine. Pound noticed there were two health bars on the side, and one of them was almost depleted. Just as the monster launched fireballs from his cape one last time, Pound took this opportunity to throw a star at his head. The star came back to Pound and the evil count paused as everyone took a moment to catch their breath.

“I think we got him!” Flurry said.

“Not yet. That’s probably only his first form,” Pound said.

“First form? Wait, there’s a second?!”

“Hahahaha! This isn’t the end, my little ponies!” shouted Count Aries.

The children watched as the anthropomorphic ram put his arms in the air and slowly transformed into a huge, far more monstrous version of himself. The environment around them looked like they were floating around in space with a spiral galaxy turning around in a three-dimensional format. The ground did not appear beneath them, but somehow they were still able to walk as if there was ground. The kids all huddled together in fear over what they saw before them. Count Aries’ new form no longer had clothes, but it was far more muscular and stood hunched over, ready to pounce. The demonic ram made one long roar before it started leaping across the battlefield, launching fireballs from its mouth and lightning from its hands.

“AGH! What is that thing?!” Annie cried, trembling.

“Oh that’s nothing! Final bosses do this all the time! We just fight his second form and then we get the Easter Egg!” said Stormy.

“Come on! We won’t get anything done sitting around!” Pound said, throwing a star at the beast’s head till it flashed.

This battle took as long as the last one, but Count Aries’ new form was far more erratic and difficult to track. His elemental attacks also took down a lot of health for the kids every time they were hit. When his health was at its lowest, so was theirs. They also could no longer throw any stars since they had used up all their hearts. The only thing that could harm him now was Flurry’s whip, but she had the least amount of health left. All hope seemed lost, until Chip had an idea.

“Guys, here, I saved these in case things got hairy!” Chip said, lending them all five red apples as he used his own.

Everyone watched as Chip grew twice his size. They touched their apples and grew just as big. This would be enough to help them stay in the game before dealing the final blow. They all ran at the beast as he blasted fireballs at them. They shrank back down after getting hit, but this gave Flurry the chance to use her whip one last time. She swung at his head and his health bar melted. Explosions began to appear all over his body.

“No! Impossible!! AAAAAAAARRRRRGGGGGHHHHH!”

They were all consumed by light and in a few seconds, the environment transformed back into the throne room. Count Aries was back to his first form and was kneeling on the ground in defeat.

“Heheheh…that’s more fun than I’ve had in almost two millennia,” He crooned. “But we’re not done yet!”

Count Aries’ voice grew deeper and he morphed into black smoke again. A portal opened behind the kids. Both the smoke and the portal were not made of pixels like everything else in this world. He was ready to take them into another realm with a different art style.

“I’ll see you children on the other side! HAHAHAHA!”

The black smoke flew through the portal as it stayed open for them to step into.

“He’s getting away!” Flurry shouted.

“Come on guys! We gotta stop this monster!” Pound called as he and Flurry ran into the portal.

“But what about the Easter Egg?” asked Stormy.

“Who cares about the Easter Egg?! It’s probably just some random little message or cut-scene that has no importance to the game anyway!” Pumpkin said, pushing Stormy along.

“Come on, Annie!” Chip said, holding his sister’s hoof.

“I sure hope this is all over soon!” Annie replied.

Everyone hopped through the portal and it disappeared. There was silence in the throne room until the sound of wings flapping could be heard off to the side. A grey female pegasus with blonde hair and eyes pointing in different directions came in. She was wearing a pizza delivery uniform and carrying a box of pizza.

“Pizza time! Is there a Count Aries Von Tambelon in here? Hello?” she asked, looking around. “Oh dear. Looks like everyone missed the Easter Egg. Oh well.”

Back in the real world, Cozy slept peacefully in her bed with the book she had been reading next to her. She woke up and noticed that neither Flurry, Chip nor Annie were in their beds. She got up to look around for them.

“Uh, guys? Where are you?” she asked.

She suddenly noticed a light coming from downstairs that was visible on the wall next to the door that was left open. She heard faint voices from below. Thinking this was her friends speaking to each other, a good feeling came over her.

“Oh, they’re together again. That’s great! That means they’ve made up!”

Cozy flew downstairs while speaking happily to her friends.

“Guys? Hey, if you’re all down here, I’m glad to see you’ve made up. I know what happened earlier was pretty bad, but this just goes to show friendship really is….magic?”

Cozy made her way downstairs and was not ready for what she saw. All her friends were lying asleep on the ground, but they were covered in a red magical aura. They were moving a little and mumbling to themselves, but were still fast asleep.

“Guys?! What’s going on? Flurry? Hey! Flurry, can you hear me?”

Cozy walked up to Flurry and gave her a nudge, but Flurry did not wake up. She flew around and tried all the others.

“Pound? Pumpkin? Stormy? Chip and Annie!? Guys, please don’t make me scream!”

She tried raising her voice, but none of them woke up. She then walked over and turned on the karaoke machine to a loud volume while covering her ears. None of them reacted to the sound. Finally she dug through the toy chest and found a pair of cymbals. She reluctantly clanged them together loudly, but still had no luck in waking her friends up.

“Guys, what’s happening to you?! Think, Cozy! Think!”

Cozy paced around, thinking of another way to help wake up her friends. She was so puzzled by the red aura.

“Is…is this a magic spell? Who even cast this spell? Well I’d better just go get help. Discord said he’d be with Spike and his family at the castle. Maybe he can figure this out. Hang in there, guys! I’ll be back!”