Equescape: Tail of the Six (Edited Twice to ponify, correct grammar/plot holes)
Chapter one: "Welcome to the world of Gielinor"
A young stallion finds himself awakening in the courtyard of a castle, he has entered the world of Gielinor from an unknown past. He remembers nothing of this past and stands on the cobblestones of the courtyard dazed and confused. A strange old stallion wearing dark blue robes comes to greet him.
"Why, hello there,welcome to the world of Gielinor! Did Miss Cheerilee send you after passing your exams in Edgeville?" the stallion questions. "Oh how rude of me, I didn't even introduce myself! I am the Lumbridge guide, I helped aspiring young ponies to become brave adventurers, until they all started heading to Taverly instead…" he exclaims, pausing for a moment and revealing the astronomical pattern on his robes.
"Anyway, I haven't seen anypony like you around here, so you must be wondering how to become an artisan of your trade, become the mightiest warrior or maybe become a wise wizard like myself, the only problem is that Equescape has become somewhat different since I started showing colts and fillies around, then with the gods coming back, I just can't keep up lately…".The young stallion listens as he familiarizes himself with his surroundings.
"But I can offer you one handy piece of advice, you will want to make some friends to assist you on the path you take, it is not safe to go alone, so take this" He hands the young stallion a bronze dagger. The stallion thanks the Guide and turns to see some goblins shouting from a bridge not far from him. He turns back to ask the Guide how to equip the dagger, but he has vanished.
The stallion charges at one of the grimy, green goblins and wildly flails his hooves in the air, attempting to fight. Shortly after the attempt though, he appears back in the courtyard, again puzzled how he got there and the fact that his dagger is nowhere in sight. He figures he shall master some kind of skill and explores the town to see if he can ask anypony for help.
As the general store comes into his view, a purple mare exits wearing some plain blue robes and a minimalist wooden staff sheathed at her side, under a saddle filled with what looked to be supplies. She spots the stallion and approaches him. "Hey there, my name is Twilight Sparkle" Twilight greets. "You seem a bit, confused, are you new around here?" she asks, the stallion nodding his head.
"Well, I just passed my adventurers exam a few days ago and the headmaster from the wizard's tower wanted me to explore around, so here I am" she explains sheepishly. "I actually came to Lumbridge because I though this place had been deserted so I could study spell-casting in peace, but you seem like a nice pony, do you want to explore around with me?". "Yes" the stallion answers and they leave Lumbridge to its usual quietness.
They cross the bridge, ignoring the goblins and Twilight explains that she has been sent out to explore the use of magic in pony society, including casting spells, crafting the elemental 'runes' required to fuel the spells and a later development, harnessing this strange essence the wizards don't fully understand yet to use in new objects that utilize such power. "And that's why we are headed this way, it will take us to a place called Varrock, where somepony there sells runes" Twilight explains.
They enter the city, both of them look around in awe. Twilight spots the rune shop and talks to the store holder behind the counter, before she accepts a small pile of rocks with odd markings on them. She comes out and explains to the stallion "These magical stones here are runes, take a few of these ones and try and cast a spell".
The stallion holds a pair of the stones that bear white wave-like markings and feels an odd feeling overwhelm him as the runes disappear and a bolt of air conjures from his hand, smashing the window of a nearby building. A mare with a glamorous purple mane and a white coat appears from the entrance with a scolding look on her face, and then she notices Twilight and the look changes to one of joy as she hugs Twilight. "Why hello there Twilight, I haven't gotten a glimpse of you since after the exam darling" she says, releasing her hug.
"Who is this friend you have here?" The mare asks as she turns to the stallion with an unamused expression. Twilight explains "Rarity, this here is my stallion friend I met in Lumbridge, he isn't much of a talker but I'm showing him around Equescape because he is new around here". "Your stallion friend hey Twi? I'm not sure he is really your type but love is love I guess, about my window though. I'll get my parents to fix it, you don't need to worry yourself" Rarity explains. "Seeing you have come all this way to see me Twilight Sparkle, I feel I should offer my hoof in helping this stallion before he breaks the window of King Sombra's palace, which would be THE WORST POSSIBLE THING".
"The more the merrier I guess" Twilight mutters to herself, "Can you tell us anything interesting about the city of Varrock Rarity?". "Sure thing Twi, just north is Varrock palace, where King Sombra rules the city, then the museum is that way", pointing to the east, "and the cook's guild is in front of the grand exchange over this way" she explains as she gestures to the west.
"The exchange is where I buy all the supplies for my clothing creation, then I sell those there too sometimes" a sad look crosses over her face "But recently, the gear I have the skills to make sells for less than the materials at the exchange and I don't have the desire to acquire leather from those disgusting bovines dotted around the place!".
"Well Rarity, you never know, our friend here or one of the other girls might be able to help with that". "Ah yes, speaking of fashion, those robes look be-dazzling, but do you maybe want me to add some leather for added protection? And you…" she examines the stallion, who appears to have no equipment at all, "You need a makeover". After that moment, Rarity drags the stallion inside, designing him a protective saddle to cover his body, with storage spaces, and a matching hat.
She also finds a set of hoof covers she made before and giggled with delight as they fit perfectly over his large, grey hooves. "There, PERFECT! I would have gone and made something with dragon leathers, but you will probably want to get used to wearing this first, now for your additions Twi…" ."Rarity are you sure you passed your exam earlier? Because you should know that adding disenchanted leather to my robes would disrupt the flow of magic and I haven't learnt the spell for enchanting yet!" Twilight exclaims, face-hoofing.
"Oh yes, I remembered that of course, I was just jesting with you darling" Rarity kids with a sheepish tone. The three of them walked west, laughing at the situation that had unfolded. They were headed to Edgeville, as Rarity had told them one of the other mares who took the exam had been living right near the school there.
The three ponies passed through a village of barbarian ponies, much to Rarities dismay, and entered the small village named Edgeville. They stopped when they saw their rainbow-mained friend appear from nowhere next to the bank. The blue mare stomped her hooves and cursed before she looked up to see her friends. "Hey Raindowdash, what's wrong?" Twilight asked.
"Those damn ponies did it again! They went and beat me up when I tried exploring up north!" Dash explained. "Dash, you do know what's' past here right? It's the wilderness of the everfree forest, you can't just roam around there and not expect thieves, scoundrels and law-breakers to murder you for no reason in there, its dangerous!" Twilight explains, again wondering how her friends passed the exam.
"I don't care Twilight, I'm going to become the greatest warrior and show those ponies who's boss when I see them again!" Dash starts acrobatically kicking and punching the air around her. "Anyway, this here is my stallion friend and we were wondering if you would like to help show him around?". "Well Twi, I'd never let you or our friends down, but there isn't much in edgeville, I could probably tell you everything about it in ten seconds flat" Dash then recalls everything about Edgevile in an astonishing 9.8 seconds.
A pony walking by hears this and exclaims "That right there is a new academy record", the yellow mare wearing a very stylish suit of red armor accompanied by a set of claws strapped to her fore-hooves. "You again, once I do some training, you're going down!" Dash yells at the figure. "She was the mare that killed me earlier, she won't see what's coming...". "Anyway Dash, let's leave before you get angry anymore today.
The ponies walk south again past the barbarians and Draynor manor just to giggle at Rarity's disapproval. They reach a farm where an orange mare is standing in front of a tree chopping it, while some potatoes are growing in the fields to the south. As she swings her hatchet at the tree, it crashes down, leaving a neat pile of evenly split logs in her pockets. "Hey Applejack, busy farming I see?" Twillight calls out.
Applejack looks over and then asks "What're y'all doing here? I haven't see you silly fillies since the exam, and who's that there pony?" , talking about the stallion. Twilight goes to say the same thing she said to her other friends, but Dash jumps in "This here pony is chillin' with us, he is gona be my pony-killing buddy in the wilderness someday, wana come with us AJ?. "Well shucks, Big Macintosh was gona give me some farmin' pointers, but honestly I'd love to join y'all". "So Applejack, anything important around here our friend needs to know about?" Twilight inquires.
"Well, Draynor village is a quaint and quiet li'l town, but you might be interested in the market, they sell wine and seeds down there for when Ima farmin', otherwise someponies from the big city are selling fun stuff like kites and spinnin' plates there too" AJ answers.
As the group face Draynor village, Twilight spots the Wizard's tower, "That's where I've been studying magic, the place is full to the brim of brilliant minds and books, so many books to read!". "Honestly Twi, stop speakin' in fancy and let's go look for Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy before you keep talking about that magic munbo jumbo".
They trot north to Falador, a town that is home to the smithing artisans, the crafting and mining guilds and the party room, where Pinkie Pie is dancing and poping balloons with somepony in a party hat. "Hey Pinkie" Twilight greets. "The girls and I-" Twilight is cut off as Pinkie Pie lets out a loud gasp and approaches the stallion.
"Hey there you, I've never seen you before, have you seen me before? I'm Pinkamena Diane Pie but I like just being called Pinkie.." Pinky continues talking for an extended period of time before allowing anypony else to speak.
"Ok Pinky, so do you want to come with us…" Twi is cut off again as Pinkie demonstrates her full approval of the idea, along with a catchy musical number. They all head off to Taverly, where Fluttershy lives, talking and laughing along the way with Pinkie putting smiles and on all of their faces.
As they approached the gates of Tavalery, they hear a high-pitched squeal that sounded like a mouse coming from the town. They rush inside, to find that Fluttershy is curled up on the ground with a baby troll standing next to her. "What's wrong Fluttershy, he heard you scream! Did this trolls parents come and scare you?". Fluttershy is distraught as this point as the troll looks at her with big, cute, beady eyes.
Twilight picks up the baby troll and explains to Fluttershy it can't hurt her. "Fluttershy slowly stands up and mutters "Oh…". She picks up the troll and hugs it against her shoulder saying "The poor little thing probably thinks I'm its mother, and I was so frightened over nothing…." She pauses and then looks at the group "I have been here screaming for the last hour and nopony helped me, thank you so for showing such kindness girls". Pinkie scrunches her face and quickly states "Fluttershy, we have my besstest new buddy here too!", pointing to the stallion. "Oh, hi there, I'm Fluttershy, I'm a very very shy pony…" Fluttershy turns awkwardly timid.
"So Fluttershy, I've gathered the girls here to help this stallion around, interested in joining us?" Twilight asks. "Well, thank you very much for the offer Twilight, but I have to um…um" Flutter looks down at her new potion kit that she trampled in her incident. "Ok, I'll come with you seeing you came all this way out here just for me, you girls are so nice".
With the whole group now assembled, they planned to show the stallion all the skills they could do in Tavelry and Fluttershy even offered to let them stay in her small pony-owned house she had started to build as a gesture of kindness while they were away from home.