It was a clear, average Saturday night in Ponyville and all was rather silent. Stars dotted the sky and the Moon shone with it’s bright, mesmerizing glow, just chocked full of enlightenment and inspiration. Ponies chattered and conversed with each other, most likely talking about their day or how work was.
Four ponies were walking down the sidewalk, all of them new to the town of Ponyville. Each one nervous and shy, a fact unbeknown to anypony else in the town. “So, what are we gonna do when we get back home?” asked a dark violet-coloured pegasus as she fixed her headband tediously.
“I don’t know, Willowmist.” a dodger blue stallion answered. “There’s so much to do here.”
“Actually, i have an idea,” giggled a royal blue unicorn, who was quite cheerful at the moment.
“What is it?” pondered Willowmist. No answer. “C’mon Sapphire, tell me!” The purple flyer skipped in place with anticipation, waiting for the name of the hopefully fun game that her lovable friend Sapphire brought with her.
Finally, she spat it out. “I brought Dungeons and Dragons!” The baby-blue mare answered with glee.
“Woohoo!” chanted a pastel green unicorn, as he jumped in the air repeatedly.
“Ocean Blue, Sapphire brought DnD!”
The blue stallion answered simply with “Awesome, Grass Green.”
The four ponies continued to walk down the sidewalks of Ponyville until they reached their home. Ocean Blue politely opened the door and held it for the others, as they thanked Sapphire for bringing their favorite role playing fantasy game with them so they could enjoy it during their travels, stopping to thank Ocean as well for holding the door. As the rest set up at the dining room table, Willowmist got the snacks and drinks and brought them to the hungry ponies waiting in their chairs eagerly, while Grass Green, Sapphire and Ocean Blue set up the game’s pieces and maps.
After 20 minutes of cooking, dinner was finally done. Willomist brought it to the table for everypony to enjoy, and sat down herself. As the four role playing ponies reminisced about their past adventures and treasure they had found back in their last endeavor, Pinkie Pie was waiting outside their door, with a big grin on her face, like she was greeting a best friend. She backed up, tilted her head, and dashed into the door.
The door busted open, the knob flying off and breaking a flower pot sitting on a side table next to the door. “Surprise,” she cheered. “Happy happy housewarming!” She had a wide, gleeful grin, a cheery spirit, and 2 pans of chocolate cupcakes with birthday candles stuck into the top. Pinkie dropped both of the pans in the middle of the table, then lit each candle one by one. “Go on, blow them out!” she insisted, still keeping that wide, somewhat creepy grin. Sapphire took a deep, long breath and exhaled, blowing out all of the small candles. “Yay!” the pink pony skipped with joy. “Welcome to Ponyville!” Pinkie skipped out of the house and closed the door behind her with a bang.
“Wow, she was really nice!” complemented Willowmist in a shy tone.
“And energetic.” added Green Grass, who was still a little surprised of the random visitor.
The four ponies got back to their game so they could finally begin. But at that moment, they realized they did not have enough players. Not nearly enough, actually. The ponies thought hard and long about who to invite, carefully thinking of everypony they heard about before they came to Ponyville. They needed 2 heroes and a dungeon master. With hard thought, they decided they would call Pinkie Pie and ask her if she would like to play with them.
Ring.
Ring.
Ring.
“Who is it!” Pinkie said in an energetic voice of delight.
“It’s me, from the housewarming greeting you gave us?” politely answered Sapphire.
“Oh, hey there!” the energetic pink pony greeted with cheer.
“Hey. I was just wondering if you would like to play some Dungeons and Dragons?”
“Definitely do-do-do! Can i bring my friends?”
“Sure, that would be great!”
“Okay, I’ll be up soon!”
“Alright, see you here.” Pinkie Pie hung up and Sapphire followed.
Assured that Pinkie was going to show up, the four ponies waited, and waited, and waited. It seemed like a few hours before, finally, Pinkie arrived, with Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash trotting behind her. “Hey everyone, we’re here!” The hot pink-maned pony cheered. Dash stopped and asked Pinkie, who was already sitting at the table and kicking her feet, “Uh, Pinkie? Where are we?”
“We’re at the new ponies’ house to play a game, silly!” the deep pink pony answered with her seemingly everlasting joyous grin accompanying it.
Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash sat down at the table, and at last, the game could begin. “First off,” Willowmist coughed. “We need a dungeon master.”
Instantly, Pinkie jumped out of her seat and cheered “Me! Ooh, me! Pick me! Ooh ooh ooh!” like a 6 year old schoolgirl desperately trying to be picked first for show and tell.
“Alright. Pinkie, you are the dungeon master.” declared the purple pegasus with little thought. “Now, what are your names?” asked the white-head-banded pony.
“Thou go first, Milady.” she said, looking at Twilight Sparkle.
“I am Twilita Stonewind, wizard of the Xorthas mountains!” The multicolor-maned unicorn answered in a voice of bravery. And then the names continued around the table.
“Awedashius, awesome rogue of Skyreach!” answered Rainbow Dash.
“Zoltihar, cleric of the Holy Path!” answered Grass Green.
“Turaeis, brave fighter of Guran Hall!” answered Ocean Blue.
“Saphira, sureshot archer of Westwind!” answered Sapphire.
“Good, welcome to the adventure, heroes!” announced Willowmist. “I, myself, am Mistius Willowbark! Skilled artificer of Wintercrest!” everypony at the table cheered in delight, quieting down after Pinkie rolled the first d12. Adventure #11 was the result. “You find yourself at an abandoned path, in the middle of the Forest of Frost Hilt. Several goblin cutthroats pursue you, and your only way of escape is down the tunnel. Yet this too is blocked by evil goblins, giving up their lives to have you dead. You must defeat them to get the parcel that was stolen from the shopkeeper.” Pinkie Pie announces dramatically. “What are you going to do, Twilita?”
“I cast a spell of confusion,” Twilight announced with a strange sound effect that resembled “Ooooh.”
And that’s where everything got strange. The world went black and silent, and there was nothing to be seen, anywhere. At all. Eventually, the blackness cleared up, revealing the 6 ponies inside a dark, snowy world, lying on the ground in the middle of a strange, medieval town.
“Welcome to Wintercrest!” a zebra with a Mayor’s badge announced.
“What?...” said a very confused Twilight. “What happened?”
“Ugh, my head hurts. Anyone got some acetaminophen?” asked Rainbow Dash as she pressured her forehead with her front left hoof. “A warm towel? sinus clearer?” No answer.
“Nothing?” finalized the cerulean Pegasus. “Alright...”
“Wintercrest...” Willowmist said in deep thought. “Oh. My. Gosh.”
“What? What is it Willowmist?” asked Sapphire, who was completely in the dark on this situation.
“I’m not Willowmist, I’m Mistius.” corrected Mistius. “We are in the Dungeons and Dragons world!”
The band of heroes all gasped in disbelief of the fact that they, themselves, were physically inside the Dungeons and Dragons world of Pegasorien, the world they created out of their own imagination and architecture. They all found themselves wearing armour and carrying weapons.
Twilita in a dark blue wizard’s robe and hat, carrying a staff with a purple orb on its tip,
Mistius in light leather armour made from bear hide, carrying a repeating crossbow,
Awedashius in light robes with a hood, carrying throwing daggers and hidden daggers,
Zoltihar in chainmail with a white tunic covering it, carrying a heavy mace and shield,
Turaeis in heavy plate armour with leather bracers, carrying a quite large greatsword,
And, Saphira in light fur armour made of wolf fur, carrying a composite longbow and 50 arrows.
The Mayor took a rather long look at the party of ponies, thinking whether or not they were up for a quest. She made her decision quickly, and stepped up to Mistius, who was also very confused. “I am Juliaris, Mayor of Windcrest,” introduced the Mayor.. “You look like a worthy band of adventurers for a little ‘task’ i need to get done.” The six got up, brushed the snow off of themselves, and all directed their attention to the Mayor. “A group of bandits in ninja suits snuck into town and robbed the treasury of everything in the vault.” she continued. “I need you to invade their palace up in the Xorthas mountains, where they keep all their stolen gold and treasures.”
“We’d love to, Ms. Mayor.” Mistius said, accepting the quest.
“Thank you, you are very brave adventurers indeed. Good luck to you all!” she said, waving them off.
The six adventurers hiked up the Xorthas mountain to the large, white palace on the peak of it. They gathered up outside and prepared everything while Twilita used her powers of Mage Armor and Bull’s Strength on her friends, boosting their abilities. “Prepare, heroes. ‘Tis time we invade the Ninja Palace!” announced Mistius dramatically.
“Since when did you come up with the name ‘Ninja Palace’?” complained Awedashius.
“Just forget it.” replied a slightly annoyed Mistius. “Me and Twilita will scout ahead, you four will charge in once you hear fighting. Got it?” Everypony nodded and got ready as Twilita and Mistius went to enter.
A plethora of golden statuettes and goblets filled the palace's interior. The walls were made of pure marble, and the floor was made of granite. This marble was different, though. Perhaps even strange. It appeared very fragile; dotted with it's distinctive imperfections and cracks. It was an unusual pastel white colour, and was covered in black-and-grey specks. As Mistius and Twilita wandered into the ancient marble palace, a large spider was watching them from above on it's neatly spun web, just waiting for the perfect time to attack the unaware adventurers who dared to intrude it’s palace.
“Amazing,” Twilita muttered to herself. “Some of these are one of a kind, irreplaceable in every way.” As Mistius went to pick up a golden goblet with gems and designs embedded into it’s rim, four ninja-like bandits jumped down from their hiding places on the entrance pillars, and the massive spider skittered down the far wall, towards the floor.
“Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear, oh dear...” blurted out Mistius in quick succession.
Saphira shot a force arrow between the ninjas guarding the door, blasting them backwards so Awedashius could continue with her plan. The rogue threw a knife into the hard marble pillar, sticking it in smooth and clean. Turaeis then threw a noose around it, tightening it by pulling hard. He ran backwards, then lunged forwards while holding the rope, and drew his sword in mid-air. He was swinging straight towards the unaware spider which was about to devour the unfortunate Mistius and Twilita.
In a split second, the spider’s two front right legs were gone. This seemed to only make it angry, as it turned around, grabbed Turaeis, and chucked him into the wall. The handicapped spider then shot a trapping web towards the door, blocking it. This was no trouble for Awedashius and Saphira, as they shot arrows and threw daggers through the large holes in the web cocoon blocking their entry.
The ninjas got up rather quick, and sprung back into action. Three of them piled on top of each other, while the fourth grabbed on to the top, pulled it back, and launched himself in the air, heading straight towards Turaeis. The shaken fighter jumped out of the way, just missing the ninja who had landed sideways on the wall, then flipped down onto the floor. And just as Turaeis was getting ready to attack, the black-suited bandito got into combat position, charged back, and jumped into a flying kick.
Turaeis blocked it with his shield at the expense of knocking himself back, leaving him vulnerable. The ninja jumped backwards, and charged towards him as he got up. Turaeis rolled out of the way, and the ninja ran head-first into the wall, knocking himself out.
Twilita used her freeze spell, cone of coldness, on the spider, freezing it instantly. As the spider became a living ice sculpture, Mistius loaded three explosive bolts, flipped her repeating crossbow from “Safe” to “Dead,” then fired at the large, creeping arachnid.
The ice statue exploded into hundreds of shards of ice, and the spider was no more. The three ninjas, finally realizing that they were routed, got on their knees and lowered their heads. Twilita and Mistius ran down to secure the bandits, while Awedashius, Zoltihar, and Saphira eventually managed to cut down the webs and enter the palace to help.
Zoltihar ran down to the fourth ninja, who was knocked out cold. He stared down at the unconscious pegasus, and looked for the right spell in his spellbook to use to break unconsciousness.
He eventually found the right one, then used it on the injured bandit. Zoltihar grabbed him, sat him up straight, and looked him in the eye for a moment. Inspecting his suit, Zoltihar found something interesting. A picture of a drop of blood on both flanks.
“What’s this?” the cleric said, looking closely at the strange imagery on the ninja’s flank.
The ninja stared at Zoltihar, then brought his head back down, looking at the ground. The other three ninjas were brought next to the fourth, all seeming like they were ashamed to have failed, unworthy of life.
The four ninjas were brought in front of the Mayor, along with the stolen gold. “Thank you, adventurers. These ninjas will be brought to-” the Mayor stopped, staring at the image of a blood drop on the flanks of all the ninja’s suits. “The Bloodmoon symbol... the Bloodmoon have returned...” The Mayor went inside her house, and came back out a few minutes later, carrying a red book, labeled ‘The Bloodmoon’
She opened the book, and showed it to the six curious adventurers. It read:
“The Bloodmoon are an ancient hidden cult, dating back many years ago. Their band of possessed and evil souls terrorized all of Pegasorien under the command of Empress Bloodmoon, a legendary Alicorn. The Empyreans waged war against them, turning the entire world into an inferno, a battlefield of truth. Eventually, the Empyreans invaded Castle Blood and froze the royals and Bloodmoon herself in a pillar of ice, enchanted to never melt. Yet, the power of the Bloodmoon cult was still too strong for it, and after 500 years of peace, the ice melted and the Bloodmoon cult roamed free. Even today, they are recruiting more and more to their evil pact, bound in blood.”
All of the heroes blankly stared at the Mayor, simply knowing what was coming next.
Please no. Please don’t-
“Heroes, i need you to help all of Pegasorien to defeat the Bloodmoon Cult.”
For Celestia’s sake...
“Destruction of such evil would free the entire world from it’s grasp.” declared the Mayor.
The band of heroes stopped, looked at one another, and nodded.
“We’d love to, Ms. Juliaris.” said Willowmist with a barely recognizable feeling of nervousness behind her words. “So, where are we going for our first quest?”
“You are going to the Plains of Impartic, where you will steal battle plans from the Bloodmoon and bring them to me, quick and simple.” announced Mayor Juliaris.
The group of heroes thought for a moment, and finally replied together, “Understood.”
The Mayor waved them off and they got going to their destination with pride, courage and confidence. They never objected or asked questions, simply followed ‘orders’, or what were supposed to be orders. It seemed as if they were robotic, or at least cyborgs. Programmed to do what they are told the instant they are told to do something.
They had walked almost three miles by now. It had been raining, and quite hard too.
It can’t be long now.
Just a little longer.
Mistius could hardly feel her legs as she walked along the forest path in hopes that she and her band of heroes would make it to their destination soon. She was soaked, dirty, and covered in leaves and pine needles, her mane hanging heavily and limply over her dull, unamused face. As they trekked forth into the haze of the evening, stars danced in the sky with great pride as the moon floated romantically above the horizon with great elegance and grace.
It had been five-and-a-half miles now, yet the heroes could not see their destination due to the eerie haze that surrounded them and the rest of the environment like a blanket, which limited them to about ten feet of view. As the band of adventurers trotted aimlessly into what they could perceive as nothing with that little view length in front of them, Awedashius had a clever idea. A very clever idea indeed.
“Everyone,” shouted Awedashius as an idea struck her mind with a clash. “I can clear up this fog!” Awedashius flew about 4 feet in the air, then began to flap her wings vigorously, pushing the dense mist out of the way. The mist revealed a small clearing, followed by the edge of a cliff overlooking the plains. As the rest of the adventurers set up camp in the clearing and began to roast marshmallows, Saphira decided to go take a glance at the view from the cliff edge that provided a good view of the Plains of Impartic. She always loved great views and the beauty of nature. She slowly stepped off to the cliff, being careful not to trip on the large rocks that were near the edge. As she neared the end of the cliff, she peered down at the plains, and just stared at them.
“Everypony?... You might want to see this,” said Saphira, mouth agape. The rest of the gang turned towards Saphira and stared confusedly at her.
“What is it?” asked a very curious Twilita as she walked carefully towards the edge of the cliff. As Twilita approached the edge, she peered down as well. She instantly let out a deafening scream.
Down in the plains was an army of Bloodmoon cultists, at least a hundred thousand of them. And there, on a podium accompanied by two stronger looking cultists, was Empress Bloodmoon herself. As the Empress took a deep breath, she stared at her audience with a deceiving look in her eyes.
And then she spoke with a loud, evil voice.
“TODAY, WE ATTACK WINTERCREST! TODAY, WE LOOT THEM OF THEIR VALUABLES! TODAY, WE KILL OFF THE HEROES WHO OPPOSE US!
TODAY, MY FRIENDS,
WE TAKE OVER PEGASORIEN!”
