Dale had finished getting his clothes fitted on him. They felt new, no, better than new. Dale was very impressed by the quality of the repair and made sure to not only pay Rarity for her services but also throw in a small tip, it's the least he could do for the last minute fix. Dale was on his way to "Twilight Sparkle's Library" as Rarity called it, he was hoping that she could at least help a bit when it came to getting a grasp on the situation.
"But be careful, darling. Twilight can be a little... obsessive" Rarity's words echoed through Dale's mind as he approached the door to the so-called library. Could you really blame him for thinking that this place wasn't a library? Hell, how could it even be a building, it was a tree that looked to be hollowed out. There was plenty of moss growing all over the tree, conveniently acting as a roof over certain parts of the deformed tree. This tree looked like nothing he'd seen back at home, or even in the Everfree Forest for that matter. Dale began to worry about the nutjob that lived in here.
"Hey, Alex?" Dale raised his arm brace to his face.
"Yes, Master Dale?" Alex responded almost instantly.
"Are you sure this is the right place? I mean, it's a god damn tree," Dale wanted to double check since he wasn't too confident this is where the so-called "Smartest Pony in Equestria" lived.
"Give me one moment," Alex fell silent as she processed the request. The holographic map opened up and automatically scrolled to where Dale is standing, it hovered there for a few moments before closing, "This is the place, Master Dale."
"What am I even worried about? It's just a library," Dale thought as he began to walk up to the door. He knocked on it three times before crossing his arms with a smirk on his face, "What's the worse that can happen? It's not like I'll run into like a dragon or something" Dale almost immediately regretted his words when the pony who answered the door wasn't a pony at all. Dale almost shit himself when he saw the creature that answered the door, it was a small purple fucking dragon.
"What the fuck!" Dale yelled in shock, he stumbled back before falling right on his ass. The dragon had purple scales and green spikes on his head and tail, it didn't look super threatening, but it was still a fucking dragon no matter how you looked at it.
"Uh... Are you okay?" The dragon asked while crossing its claws across its chest. The dragon's voice was high pitched, Dale couldn't tell if it was because it was young or if it was just because it was female.
"Y-Yeah! I'm fine!" Dale stood up in a panic, wiping the dirt off of his clothes. His eyes darted around, making sure no one saw him make a fool out of himself. Dale cleared his throat, "I'm looking for a Twilight Sparkle, I was wondering if you know where she is?"
Before the dragon could answer, it was shoved out of the way by a purple blast. Replacing the dragon was a unicorn with a purple coat and a violet mane and tail. Her mane and tail both had a pink stripe going down them. The unicorn had a picture of a pink star surrounded by bright white ones.
"You're earlier than expected..." The unicorn began to walk around Dale, examining all of his features from his clothing, to body structure. The unicorn ran her hoof across Dale's leg, causing him to instinctively swipe it away.
"What the hell are you doing?" Dale asked while taking a step back.
"You look different from yesterday, Matthew. Can humans manipulate their molecular structure to take different shapes and manes? Hmm, this is fascinating," The unicorn levitated a quill and paper from inside the library and began to quickly scribble down her notes.
"Uhh, Twilight?" the dragon that was pushed aside stumbled back to the door, a book resting atop his head. The dragon's eyes were swirling from the knockback, it looked like it hurt. "I don't think this is the same guy from yesterday? I mean, he seems... shorter."
"The fuck did you just say?" Dale thought as he gritted his teeth. At least one thing was confirmed, this is Twilight Sparkle. At least, Dale assumed it was.
"Oh, Spike. Don't be silly, we know nothing about humans, this is probably just how humans look on Wednesdays!" Twilight Sparkle responded, not taking her eyes off of the paper as she scribbled down.
"Your friend is right, ma'am. I'm not Matt. My name is Dale, but I'm also a human if that helps" Dale says. Twilight stops writing on her paper, she lets out a sigh before using her magic to crumple the paper into a small ball and throw it away.
"I'm sorry about that, sir. I was just waiting for Matthew to come by and got excited, he said that he'd help me with my research." Twilight Sparkle replies in a formal matter.
"Yeah, Twilight can get real crazy sometimes," The dragon Twilight referred to as Spike said while elbowing her flank. Twilight looked down at him with annoyance, causing Spike to grin sheepishly while backing away.
"Matt's been making his way around I see," Dale thought to himself. "Anyways... I was told that this was a library and that you could help me with my problem?"
"You have a problem?" Twilight asked in conformation, "Well since Matthew isn't here yet, I'm happy to help out in any way I can. After all, I may be able to record more data on you humans if there are two here!" Twilight shouts excitedly. Dale just nods his head and follows her into the library.
"Yeah, I'm looking for something and I was told to come here to at least try to find what it is," Dale said. He took a look around the area he just entered.
The library looked different than Dale ever imagined it being. The inside of the tree still kept all of the unpainted wood for the walls and flooring. There are spots on the wall that have been carved out to fit books as far as the eye could see, as well as plants and even a flight of stairs leading to another floor. The books were all organized alphabetically as well as by genre, with sticky notes above each section. Throughout the first floor of the library, there were desks made out of small tree trunks, each one having books and paper spread out.
"Now this is pretty impressive," Dale said as he spun around in place, looking at every makeshift shelf.
"Oh, this? This is nothing like the library back at home. It only took me about a month to get through everything," Twilight said casually as she walked towards one of the desks.
"What do you mean by that?"
"It only took me a month to read through everything and understand it to its fullest ability," Twilight said as she used her magic to sort through the piles of papers.
Dale chuckled, "Yeah, sure."
"I'm serious!" Twilight said with a little offence in her voice. She quickly pointed her hoof at multiple books on one of the desks, "You see those books? Those are all the ones I have to have read and written about in my assignment due by the end of the week."
"Jesus! That reminds me a little too much of college..." Dale said aloud.
"Aha! So humans also have an advanced education system!" Twilight said with glee as she discovered just a little more about humans. Dale didn't know it, but Twilight has always been fascinated with learning about the unknown as well as mastering what is already known. Twilight Sparkle was a bit of a perfectionist, and she wouldn't want it any other way. "Spike! I need another piece of parchment!" Twilight called out. Spike gave a salute before running upstairs.
"So, is that little guy your servant?" Dale asked as his eyes followed Spike up the stairs.
"Spike is actually my number one assistant, I've known him since he hatched from his egg." Twilight smiled at Dale.
"So does that mean you raised him? Sorry, I don't know a lot about pony living situations," Dale chuckled a little.
"In a way, I guess I did. I hatched him with my magic when I was a filly, it was how I was accepted into the School for Gifted Unicorns. What do humans learn in schools?" Twilight used her magic to pull a seat up to Dale, making him fall right on it.
"You know, Math, Science, History..." Dale trailed off as he watched Twilight become fully absorbed into his words, "I was actually learning how to make movies before I came here, but that doesn't seem like it's going to happen at this point." Dale became a little glum due to a few years of his life going to waste. That, and his dream job no longer existing for him, unless movies are a thing in Ponyville.
"Fascinating! How did travel to Equestria? Matthew said he just woke up in the Everfree forest without any idea on what happened. I just want to see if that is the case for you since Earth isn't something located on our planet." Before Dale could answer Twilight's question, Spike came running downstairs with a handful of parchment paper rolled in a scroll shape. Each scroll was neatly tied up for easy storage.
"Well..." Dale had to choose his next words carefully. Should he reveal the truth of what happened to the only pony he knew could be of help? or would it be too much for her to take if he just came out and said "You only exist because Earth was destroyed and a God let some teenager that likes a little girls show create his desired world" Even though he should just come out and say what really happened since it would help him out the most when it came to finding about what happened, Dale wasn't sure what the consequences would be. After all, everything that he says and does will affect his "Alignment" and he's already in Chaos, whatever that meant.
"I was at home and... I just passed out all of a sudden. I woke up in an abandoned castle and had to make my way here. I was surprised to be in a place like this, but I managed to find Matthew after he saved my life. Sorry if that's not what you wanted to hear," Dale placed his hands in his pockets, he figured that even though Twilight didn't exist in flesh and blood until recently he should at least play along with this world and not try to rope her into something she wasn't prepared for.
"Matthew saved your life? He's just full of surprises I guess," Twilight said with a hint of admiration for Matt. Dale just rolled his eyes, of course, Matthew would make it so that he is the coolest guy around. It's like a kids self, it is his dream reality after all. "It's strange that neither of you remembers how you arrived in Equestria... It could've been from an outside force, but I would have to look into it later..."
Dale's arm brace beeped twice before a hologram opened up in front of him.
Alignment Shift
Current Alignment: Neutral
Once again Dale has been set back to Neutral, and once again Dale had no idea what the system even meant to his overall journey. He had no idea how to influence the system at all, or what the ramifications would be if he went too far in one alignment, so he thought it would be best to just play it cool and do what he felt was right.
"What was that sound?" Twilight stopped scribbling on the parchment and looked at Dale's arm brace. "You have one of those too?" Twilight stood up from her haunches and walked towards Dale. "May you please hold your forehoof out?"
Dale raised his eyebrow, "I think you mean arm, Twilight?"
"Y-Yes, sorry!" Twilight said quickly while shaking her head back and forth, she was still not used to talking to humans and still used pony words around them. Dale complied and held out his left arm. "I see," Twilight began. She leaned in close to examine the contraption that she's never seen before, "It's a bit bulky, made out of some sort of metal, and has a piece of glass going across it," Twilight tapped the touch screen on the arm brace. There was no reaction to her hoof touching it, "What does this device do?" Twilight used her magic to levitate her quill and parchment towards her.
Spike walked up to see what the commotion was about. "Woah," Spike said a little impressed, "Talk about a fashion statement," Spike dragged his finger across the glass with his tongue sticking out. "Do you know where I could get one of those? I could really impress the ladies with that," Spike nudged Dale as an attempt to get him to speak.
"I don't know where I got it, I just woke up with it on my arm," Dale responded. Spike wasn't really happy with the response and crossed his arms.
"Figures," Spike rolled his eyes.
"Spike! This is serious!" Twilight scolded Spike who recoiled. "Dale, may you please explain what this does?"
"What did Matt tell you? I just want to make sure that he and I can do the same things, y'know?" Dale said rather quickly, he just wanted to make sure to not blow his cover above all else.
"Well..." Twilight began to sort through all of her parchment paper in order to find Matt's sheet. "He said that he can use his arm brace to summon monsters and cast magic. Matthew never ended up showing me though..." Twilight then looked directly at Dale's arm brace, "Oh! Can you show me!" Twilight said, her eyes twinkling.
"H-Hold on! Didn't you say that you would help me with my problem!" Dale tried to protest, he was burning precious daylight and didn't want to waste time playing scientist with a pony.
"Please! It'll take no time at all, I really want to see what it looks like. Dale, do it for the research. I can help you with finding whatever it was you're looking for afterwards. We have plenty of time to see what it is, and Matthew is beginning to run late.
Before Dale could answer, a menu appeared in front of him.
Quest Log
New Quest
"Showtime!"
Twilight Sparkle wants to see your magic in action! Follow her to the training location and let loose with what you got!
Current Objective
Follow Twilight Sparkle to the training grounds
Rewards:
150EXP
50 Bits
5 App Points.
"Law" Alignment Increases Slightly
Accept?
"Yes"
or
"No"
Dale noticed that this was a different kind of quest, it was optional. Not only that, but it also affected his alignment, with no drawback from just denying the quest. He remembered that Matt was currently on the Law alignment, so maybe it was best to just follow in his footsteps. Matt seemed to know what he was doing so maybe it was a good idea to just stick to Law. Dale didn't just want to throw it away as he would need to become stronger in order to survive this world, and the rewards were very enticing, to say the least. So fuck it, Dale tapped on the "Yes' choice. The hologram disappeared and Dale cleared his throat.
"Alright, you win... I'll show you what we humans can do, but you need to help me out afterwards, deal?" Dale reluctantly agreed.
"Of course! I hope you're ready!" Twilight shouted in glee.
"Hope you haven't eaten recently," Spike tugged Dale's arm to get his attention.
"What do you mean by that?" Dale responded. Suddenly, Twilight's horn began to glow a bright purple before it turned into a bright white. The magic began to surround the three in the room, paper and books began to get thrown around the room because of the small storm. Dale was beginning to regret his decision, what the fuck was she doing?
In a flash of light, the three were no longer in the library but were in an open field. Twilight Sparkle, this small purple pony, managed to teleport three people to a new location. Dale didn't take the new sensation too well as he felt his stomach begin to turn and his whole world was spinning around him. He felt sick to put it lightly, as well as scared.
"What the hell!" Dale yelled out as he stumbled for a second before falling right on his face.
Twilight and Spike laughed in amusement, "Sorry, I should've warned you first," Twilight said between giggles, "I just moved us to an open field so we wouldn't have to worry about destroying anything.
"What?" Dale questioned while standing up, "I thought I was just going to show you how my magic and shit worked?" Dale had no idea what he was in for.
"You really thought that I would just ask you to show me your magic without really putting it to the test?" Twilight laughed, "Spike, I suggest you back up... a lot."
"Good luck, man!" Spike said before running far off, towards a hilltop.
"What's going on?!" Dale began to get worried, he had a slight idea of where this was going but he really didn't want to think about it.
"I took us to this open field where there are no ponies, trees, or any animals that could get hurt," Twilight began to walk away from Dale. She got a good amount of distance before turning around with a look of determination in her eyes. Her gaze almost pierced Dale's soul. "I want you to show me what humans are capable of! Don't hold back now!" Twilight shouted.
Suddenly Dale's arm brace beeped once again.
Quest Log
"Showtime!"
Twilight Sparkle wants to see your magic in action! Follow her to the training location and let loose with what you got!
Current Objective
Battle Twilight Sparkle!
Rewards:
150EXP
50 Bits
5 App Points.
"Law" Alignment Increases Slightly
Dale felt a pit in his stomach grow, his hands began to tremble as a sudden pressure began to overwhelm him. Dale looked at Twilight in horror as she began to charge her horn with her purple magic, Dale didn't know what to do, he was frozen in place. Twilight fired a purple ball of energy at him, the element of the spell looked unfamiliar to him. The magic orb approached at a massive pace, Dale was about to run out of time to think. Only one thing came to his mind. Dodge.
Dale quickly lept to his right side as the magic attack passed right by him, the heat almost burning his skin just from being close to it. Dale landed face first on the ground and quickly turned onto his back to see what Twilight was going to do next. Twilight inhaled and exhaled slowly as the light from her horn began to fade away. The magic orb turned the grass below the path it travelled a coal black. Twilight could've annihilated Dale with that one attack.
"Are you fucking insane!?" Dale shouted at Twilight as he stood up on his feet, "You could've killed me with that!"
"Hurry up, Dale! I'm giving you a chance to do something!" Twilight shouted playfully. Dale was suddenly enlightened, this chick was crazy!
Dale quickly opened up his status menu so he could get a grip on the situation.
Name: Dale Stevens
Level: 5
HP: 55/55
MP: 35/35
Status
Strength: 4
Magic: 5
Vitality: 6
Agility: 3
Luck: 5
Skills
Zio (Light Electric damage to one foe, low chance of shock) -4MP
Bufu (Light Ice damage to one foe, low chance of freeze) -4MP
Dale didn't have many options to use against Twilight. Hell, he had no idea what would even work on her. Dale quickly pulled up the status menu for Twilight
Twilight Sparkle
HP: (Unknown)
MP: (Unknown)
Skills
(Unknown)
Actions
Fight
Just like the battle with the Manticore, Dale didn't have any information on Twilight. The only action he could take would be to fight back, this time he had no way to luck out and have someone save him. Maybe she would go easy on him... No.
Dale decided that now would be the time he would stand his ground if he's going to find a way back home he would need to summon all of the strength he possessed in order to overcome any obstacle. Just because his stats were low and he didn't have any monsters to summon, doesn't mean he should just go out without a fighting chance. Dale thought that he wouldn't deserve to go back home if he didn't earn it on his own, this would only be the first hurdle he would have to overcome.
Dale adjusted the way he stood, holding his arm brace in front of his face, his holographic window appearing once again. "Alex!" Dale said.
"Yes, Master Dale?" Alex responded.
"I need you to keep track of what Twilight Sparkle does in the glossary. If we're going to win, I'll need to figure out what she can do, got it?" Dale said.
"Yes, Master Dale. I wish you good luck!" Alex responded rather chipper.
Dale took a deep breath, mentally and physically preparing himself. Time to show her what humans are really made of!