PURPLE MAGE

Good stupid fun. Intellectual properties of Hasbro and Square Enix (to which I lay no claim) appear in this story and go on ludicrous adventures together. The names of the Warriors of Light are taken from the Final Fantasy I · II · III novelization where possible, instruction manuals otherwise, or simply made up when none are available.


"See? See? See?!" Pinkie Pie was beside herself with excitement. Twilight Sparkle thought that if Pinkie bounced around any faster, it would look like she really was beside herself.

"I'm really quite impressed!" Twilight told her. "How did you come up with this idea?"

"Welllll-" Pinkie took a deep breath.

Twilight knew it when she saw it. "Okay, okay, let's not be hasty-"

The singing began. Twilight hung her head.

My mama always told me
There's two sides to every story-
There's two sides to a lot of things:
Leaves and paper, doors and rings-

"Rings?" Twilight wondered.

Inside and an outside, silly-
You can't mix those willy nilly

So you know just the other day
Sunset Shimmer went away
Stole your crown so you went with her
Talked to humans in a mirror!

What a story! What a tale!
Mirrors have two sides as well!

Seeing that Pinkie was finished, Twilight raised a hoof. "That last line didn't really rhyme, you know. And you ended it really abruptly..."

Pinkie shrugged. "I had to end the song early. I'm thirsty!" She produced a juice box and took a deep swig.

Twilight looked around while her friend drank. Earlier that day, Pinkie had snuck into the room in Canterlot containing the magic mirror which had sent Twilight into a world full of humans. When she pried the glass out of the horseshoe-shaped frame and set it on a table, it turned out that the back side was a fully-silvered mirror as well.

Twilight eyed the mirror. If it was double-sided... "I wonder if there's a portal on this side of the mirror, too?"

"Oh, that's easy," Pinkie Pie told her, spitting out her straw. She grabbed a broom that had been lying against the wall.

"Wath thith." Holding it in her teeth, she used the broom to poke at the mirror. Instead of hitting the glass, it passed through. She wiggled it around and pulled it back out. Caught in the bristles were decaying leaves and twigs- things, Twilight remembered, which weren't present around the portal at Canterlot High School.

"A second gate to another world," Twilight breathed. "That's amazing, Pinkie. We've got to tell Princess Celestia right away!"

There was a dainty "ptooi!" and the broom clattered back against the wall.

Twilight frowned as she realized. "Does this mean I have to go through again?"

Pinkie bounced up and down. "Ooh, ooh, I wanna go!"

Twilight's frown gave way to resignation. "This means I have to go through again."


On the plains northwest of Cornelia walked a party of five. Three were wearing robes and one was wearing a tattered dress, the hem of which was brushing against the grass.

The fifth party member walked ahead of the others. A monk, he wore an immaculate martial arts uniform, and he was arguing with the others.

"I understand we serve the same mission," he said, "but surely you've seen how difficult it is to work together! I think we should go our separate ways for a while and reconvene after we've each made some progress. My journey would be easier and shorter without my having to protect a group of mages all the time."

"And who'll 'protect' us then?" a slouching man in a blue robe asked peevishly. His broad-brimmed pointy hat hid his face, but an eldritch yellow light animated his eyes.

The monk threw up his hands. "It's as I've been saying! With three mages together, you're almost strong enough to hold the monsters back to give you enough spellcasting time! With some effort, you three can stand on your own!"

He whirled on a tall red-robed man with a feathered hat. "You, red mage! You wield a sword!"

Next was a stocky woman in a hooded white robe with red markings on the ends of the sleeves. "White mage! Your hammer is a truly frightening weapon!"

The blue-robed man was last on his list. "And you, black mage... with that dagger of yours, you fight from the rear, but none can surpass you in destructive magics."

The three mages still looked annoyed, but more thoughtful than before.

The monk tightened the black belt around his waist. "I have an idea. I will escort Princess Sarah the rest of the way back to the city myself. Meanwhile, you three make camp here and discuss this. I'll return by morning and we'll decide what to do."

He dropped his pack on the ground. "Come, your highness. I'll take you home."

The woman in the dress followed him into the distance.

The black mage put his hands on his hips. "How troublesome."

"We probably deserved this," the red mage admitted. "When we challenged Sir Garland for the princess, none of us fought as we should have. We only avoided a premature death by drinking almost every potion we had. ...our monastic friend had to drink the most."

He doffed his extravagant hat and turned it around in his hands. "Let's make camp, then. Black mage, you and I will erect the tents and light a fire."

"I do have a name," the black mage grumbled, digging in his pack for the tent pegs.

"White mage, do we have enough food for a meal?"

The white mage frowned. "I may have to hunt a few more rabbits." She set off into the grass, hammer in her hands.

The tents were easily set up, and a few minutes later found the red and black mage digging a hole for a fire pit. That was less easy.

"So what's your name, then?" the red mage asked, wiping the sweat from his forehead.

"Daewoo," the black mage replied. "You?"

"Satoshi." The red mage groaned as he shifted another shovelful of dirt. "We mages aren't cut out for this sort of thing, are we?"

"Would have preferred not to be reminded," Daewoo grumbled. "Do you think this is deep enough?"

They stepped back and looked it over.

"Good enough for me," Satoshi muttered, and dumped an armful of firewood in the hole. Daewoo followed it up with a bundle of dried grass.

They looked at each other. "Who shall light the fire?" Satoshi asked.

"I have some charges left," Daewoo told him.

"As do I," Satoshi replied. He eyed him for a moment, then grinned. "Twice the fire is twice the fun. What do you say?"

Daewoo grinned back. "I say 'indeed.'"

The two mages raised their hands and chanted. The contents of the pit instantly burst into flame with a loud whoosh.

The white mage returned to find them sitting side by side, watching the fire, peeling vegetables, and chattering like old acquaintances.

"We've gotten off on the wrong foot, I'd say," Satoshi was saying. "It does seem we have quite a lot in common, and we should be friends. It's a pity it took the monk's departure to make us realize that. I'll have to apologize to him when he returns."

"No time for that," the white mage told him grimly. "Get ready to fight."

The two mages sprung up. "What's the matter?" Daewoo asked.

She pointed east with her hammer, the end of which was still caked with bits of rabbit. "Monsters after me. A group of crazyhorse coming this way. They scented blood when I bagged my second rabbit and now they're working up into a frenzy."

The men swore. The crazyhorse was one of the more irritating inhabitants of the Cornelia area. Unlike other horses, they had yellow coats and a single horn in the middle of their foreheads. There was also the matter of their insanity: they stampeded about, frothing at the mouth and trampling goblin and human alike.

The white mage set the game she'd caught by the fire and hefted her hammer.

"Tactics," Satoshi said. "Keep your backs to the fire. Front row is me and the white ma... what's your name?"

"Floe," she said.

He nodded sharply. "My name is Satoshi and his is Daewoo. It's strange we hadn't gotten around to this earlier. Now, the formation is Floe and me in the front row, Daewoo in the back. We're almost out of potions so Floe and I reserve our remaining magic charges for healing. Stay calm; the sun is starting to set and they're coming from the east so our eyes will have the advantage."

Daewoo scanned the horizon. "There they are."

A full herd of four crazyhorse. The mages gritted their teeth. This was going to take a while.

Daewoo frowned. "I had thought all crazyhorse were yellow."

One of the four horses was purple.

He squinted. "Are those... wings?"

(The next day, Floe would sketch the crazyhorse in her journal. It is a sketch crafted of pastels. It is encircled with bands of black pastel. It menaces with spikes of red pastel. It depicts an image of a yellow horse. It depicts an image of a yellow horse. It depicts an image of a yellow horse. It depicts an image of a purple horse. The yellow horse is charging. The yellow horse is leaping. The yellow horse is charging. The purple horse is flying. The purple horse is screaming.)

Daewoo frowned. "Do you hear someone crying for help?"

"We can rescue them after putting these monsters down," Satoshi growled. "Weapons ready!"

The horses were upon them, and then all was chaos. Floe and Satoshi lashed out with hammer and sword, while Daewoo used his last few spell charges to hurl small thunderbolts. The battlefield came alive with shouts.

"They're flanking to the left!"

"I need a heal!"

"Floe, duck!"

"helphelphelphelpohcelestiaidontwannadiehelphelp"

"Someone bring that flying purple one down!"

"On it!"

"Aiieeeeeeee!"

"It just flew into the tent!"

"Collapse the tent and keep fighting!"

A few minutes later, the corpses of three horses lay strewn on the ground. Satoshi and Daewoo, hoof-shaped bruises on their arms, dragged them away from the camp. Floe tied down the collapsed tent to trap its contents, then went to skin the rabbits.

The three of them met in front of the tent after they were done, wiping the blood off their hands. The rush of battle was fading away. Floe's eyes were tired as she used the last of her healing magic.

Satoshi stared at the tent holding their final foe. It had gone oddly still and silent. "What now, I wonder?" he asked.

"Burn it," Daewoo suggested. "We can buy another tent."

"No! Please!" a woman's voice came from inside. It was the same one they'd heard earlier including, oddly, during the battle.

"Who's there?" Satoshi demanded. "Did the purple horse-thing harm you?"

There was a pause. "...please don't call me a 'purple horse-thing.'"


"So you've had a bad day, princess," Satoshi remarked neutrally.

The three mages and the alicorn were sitting around a roaring fire. The stars were twinkling their way to visibility overhead.

"Carrot?" Floe offered.

"Thank you." Twilight Sparkle accepted it and began to eat, carefully avoiding looking at the roast rabbit meat the others were enjoying.

"I'm sorry I put you to all this trouble," Twilight said. "I know how to fight too, really I do! I use magic just like you do and I've had to defend my own kingdom more than once. But when I arrived here about fifteen minutes ago, the first thing that happened was those awful ponies started to chase me around and I couldn't get far enough away to concentrate and cast any magic. I'm not very good at flying yet, so they pulled me down and forced me to run with the herd. And then they saw you and went after you, too. Thank you for saving me!"

"Second princess we've saved today," Satoshi said. "The first one wasn't purple, though."

"You're a mage?" Floe asked.

Twilight smiled. "We don't use the term 'mage' in my country, but yes, you could call me one. I've been studying magic all my life and I know a lot of spells! Not that many of them are useful for fighting, though, like the spells you use."

"In our country, schools of magic are classified by color," Satoshi told her. "Which color is yours?"

"We don't use colors, but really I've learned spells from all the schools we have," Twilight said.

"We may well call you a 'purple mage' for convenience," Satoshi decided.

"You and your purple," Twilight grumbled.

"Better than scarlet," Daewoo retorted.

Twilight stiffened. "Hey! I am a lady and a scholar!"

Daewoo chuckled, 'gotcha!' written all over his face. Whatever part of his face was visible under that hat, that is. "Yes, your royal highness." Twilight only looked more indignant, which only made Daewoo chuckle louder.

"Roast you an apple?" Floe asked, distracting Twilight.

"Yes, please. I wonder if I should try to make diplomatic contact with the local authorities. Is there a king or queen near here?"

"The royal capital's a few hours' travel to the south," Satoshi told her. "May I ask... does your hair always look like that?"

Twilight felt above her head with her hooves and groaned. "No, it's never that poofy. I think one of your electric attack spells just missed me but messed up my hair."

"But that color..." Satoshi marveled.

"I must look like Pinkie Pie," Twilight grumbled. She suddenly thought of something and gasped. "The other ponies! Did you..."

"I wouldn't call them 'ponies,'" Daewoo said. "Horrible mindless creatures. Killing them wasn't murder, it was just like exterminating any other rabid beast."

Twilight opened her mouth, then closed it, then opened it again. "They don't talk or anything?"

"You're the first horse I've ever met who so much as understands human speech," Satoshi told her. "The crazyhorse aren't even intelligent enough to be called savages."

"This... is a violent place," Twilight concluded. "So what are you guys up to? Camping trip?"

"We were called to save the world," Satoshi told her.

"Sounds familiar," Twilight sighed.

Satoshi held up a darkened crystal. "There are four Warriors of Light, each one bearing one of the four Crystals. You see three Warriors here before you. Our mission is to defeat four Fiends and restore the light to the Crystals."

"Oh, hey," Twilight said brightly. "I've got one of those."

She dug in her saddlebag and pulled out a drawing of a tiara. "See, here, on my crown. We call this crystal an Element of Harmony. Maybe this means your four crystals are the local equivalent of the Elements. But only four instead of six... could I borrow that crystal for a minute? Thanks."

The three mages watched as she set the crystal on the ground and tapped it with her horn. "Definitely some power generation going on in here... attenuated effect... an elemental affinity with... wind! Oh, this is exciting!"

"There are four elements," Satoshi told her. "Earth, fire, water, and, yes, the wind. The Fiends have darkened the Crystals governing each one, so we are charged to restore them."

"It's going to be quite the adventure," Daewoo added.

"You're just like us!" Twilight concluded, her excitement growing. "My five friends and I, we've had to do some similar things with our six Elements. But... didn't you say there was a fourth Warrior of Light?"

"We had an argument today and he left," Daewoo admitted. "He's not a mage himself, so there's been some friction. He'll return by morning."

"Speaking of seeing you in the morning," Twilight said, "I should head home myself."

"Apple's ready," Floe said, holding up a just-roasted apple on a stick.

"Okay, maybe I'll stay a few more minutes."


"...and then they showed me an analogue of the Elements! Their affinity seems to be to nature instead of friendship, and there are only four. But there's no mistaking it, Princess, those four are just like us! The correspondence isn't as tight as it was with the girls from the other human universe, but it's definitely there!"

Princess Celestia put down her tea. "You really are my favorite student. Well done, Twilight."

"Um," Fluttershy said.

Her five friends and Princesses Celestia and Luna all turned to look at her.

She shied back.

"Please, go on," Celestia told her.

"Do you... do you think we should go help them? On their quest?"

"I was considering going," Twilight admitted. "They've got some fascinating magic. I saw one of them throw lightning around like it was nothing!"

"And that suggests something which troubles me," Celestia said. "You said it yourself when you were there: that is a violent world. Going there to fight battles not your own will be far more dangerous than what you've seen in Equestria or in that 'high school.' Since the portal seems to be permanently stable, anything we do there is going to have long-term consequences."

Twilight hung her head. "I know. But those three mages and I are kind of almost friends now, and it feels right to help them out, especially since it's the sort of magic I've dealt with before."

Celestia smiled warmly. "Well said, my little pony. I'm proud of you. It takes courage to face danger for the sake of your friends. That said, that doesn't mean we can't be practical about it. Why don't we plan it out like this? It sounds like the Warriors of Light have just started their quest and things are still moving slowly. You can get away with visiting them every day and coming back to report at night, and your friends can also drop by to contribute their special talents when it's necessary. When we know more about their world and what it will take to help them, we can figure out who else to send and what they should do."

Princess Luna looked thoughtful. "One thing I remember from your report of the Sunset Shimmer incident-" Celestia winced at the mention of the name- "was the loneliness and isolation you suffered from. I suggest we move the mirror to your library in Ponyville. You will at least be able to spend your nights at home with your friends, and by talking to them every night you'll more quickly know when they are needed."

"I do hope I get to go," Rarity said. "I absolutely must see what humans wear!"

"They've got some very nice hats," Twilight told her.


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