Chapter 26

Experience Pointers

Horsecules and Reyna picked themselves up off the hard, stone floor. The room they had fallen into was dimly lit by glowing embers and the smoke rising up from the rubble smelled like something unnatural. Strange carvings and scorch marks lined the walls and nearby there were two familiar ponies lying one on top of the other.

Flute didn't seem to be moving, but Pin Kay managed to shake herself awake and stood up. Her mane suddenly became frizzy and a large smile appeared across her face. She turned to the warriors and waved a hoof, saying, "Hey! I think I shook off that lotus stuff. How ya doing, Rey...?"

WHAM!

Horsecules had jumped at the bard and placed a strong hoof against her head, sending her to the floor again. The filly's leg twitched and her eyes spun around, but she was otherwise motionless. She moaned in pain and confusion, "Did anypony get the number on that train?"

"Whoa!" Reyna yelled, "Hey! Big guy! Lay off!"

Horsecules turned around and asked, "What? She tried to bewitch us before! I was making sure it didn't happen again. She's not a friend of yours, is she?"

Reyna walked over to the fallen bard and explained, "Actually, she is..."

"I mean, shouldn't you know that? You're standing at the same table."

Rainbow Dash was giving an angry glare to X. the pink pegasus rubbed the back of her head and explained, "You see, this is part of the whole 'player knowledge and character knowledge' thing we talked about before. I know that Pin is being played by Pinkie over here and that she's not really evil,, but the last thing Horsecules saw Pin do was try to hurt his friends so I have the character act accordingly."

Rainbow arched an eyebrow, "What's the point of that? Doesn't that hurt us?"

Roller interjected, "Yes, but playing your character is part of the fun here. That and I tend to give away role-playing experience for stuff like this. Really, there's no downside in the long run."

"Experience?" Rainbow Dash asked, "What's that?"

Everyone around the table just looked at Rainbow as if she had two heads. Then they looked to each other, some of them shrugging before looking back to her. Finally, Twilight asked, "Dash, how much of the Player's Hoofbook did you read?"

"Just the first level stuff," she answered, "You guys said that's all I needed to know for now. What's experience? Is it important?"

Roller put his face in one hoof. "I'll explain later," he told her, "In the meantime, let's get back to the game. Just know that experience is good. You want experience..."

"Back to role-playing."

Horsecules stood over Pin Kay and nudged her a little with one hoof. "Um, Miss?" he sounded worried, "I'm, uh, sorry for the rough treatment. Thought you were an evil enchantress. Are you alright?"

The bard lifted her head for a second and let out a laugh before collapsing again. Reyna growled as she walked past the other two and approached Flute. She tried to sound calm and hide her worry and anger as she gently tapped on the forest pony's head. "Flute?" she spoke softly, "Wake up. It's time to go."

Flute stirred a little, but didn't gt up. The barbarian lifted her onto her back and looked back to her other friends to see that Horsecules had done the same for Pin Kay. The two warriors nodded to each other and walked out of the room into a dark, smokey corridor.

Jack stood at the edge of the moat and cursed their bad luck. "We'll never get across with the drawbridge up," he said as he kicked at the ground a little, "That is, unless one of y'all learns how to fly right quick."

The others looked around for another solution, but it was futile. Twin star sat down and pondered for a while, but couldn't think of anything. "What if... no..." she mumbled, "We could... no, that wouldn't work either... hm... we'd need a lot of rope for that... that would take a ten foot pole... no, that's not it... hm..."

Suddenly, the slow grinding of gears could be heard and the drawbridge slowly lowered. The party stood in surprise as they could see the figure of a familiar colt on the other side. Jack called out "Hey! You're that fella that helped us get away! Thanks!"

The young stallion smiled and walked across the bridge. "No problem," he took a small bow, "Just doing my patriotic duty. Save the Queen and all that."

Twin Star walked up to him and asked, "What's your name? We didn't catch it when we first met."

The hooded figure took down his hood, revealing a young, dirt-covered face. He smiled and introduced himself, "I'm Oliver. I used to be a miner back in Clydesdale, but then the dogs took me away. I've been fighting against Faust ever since. You're not the first group to try and rescue us, but it looks like you're the most successful so far."

Lady Styles asked, "How so? We're still stuck in this dreadful place and our friends are probably terrible danger in that castle."

Oliver laughed a little and told them, "Ever since you all showed up, that wannabe king has been losing his mind trying to catch you. I don't know what you did to get him so riled, but it worked. Anyway, a pair of barbarians and a really cute forest pony sprung most of the prisoners from the dungeon and we've started a riot. I think some of us got a fire going. Wanna join in the fun?"

Robin Hoof answered this question with a question, "Do you even have to ask?" and then he led the group onwards, galloping across the bridge.

The other side of the bridge was home to a courtyard that had been overtaken by plants. Ivy crept up the walls, hedges went untrimmed and weeds sprung up from cracks in the walkway. A large fountain sat in the middle of this place.

"That looks familiar," Twin Star observed, walking up to the fountain, "Isn't this the same kind of fountain from the town?"

Jack nodded, "Looks like, but we ain't got time to admire the scenery," he then walked around the fountain, "Does anypony have a plan for once we're in the castle?"

A voice answered from over the hedge, "Stupid ponies not get that far!" and a pack of diamond dogs jumped through the foliage at the adventurers! Jack drew back in surprise, stumbled and fell into the fountain.
Oliver grit his teeth and growled, "Darn! They must have followed me when I ran!" he then turned to where Sir Jack fell and said, "I hope you're ready for a fight."

There was splashing in the fountain, but no answer. "Sir Knight?" Oliver was concerned, "You in there?"

"You not find out!" one of the dogs cried out as it jumped over the fountain and brought down a heavy paw on Oliver's head. The other dogs circled around the fountain, gnashing their teeth as they went. Panicking, Twin Star jumped into the fountain after her friend and vanished from view under the water.

Robin Hoof kicked Oliver's attacker away and asked, "You alright, mate? That looked bad."

The rebel dizzily swayed back and forth, claiming that he was fine until he heard the other guards approaching. Robin Hoof ran at the fountain and tried to jump over to make an escape, but couldn't clear it and fell into the water.
Lady Style huffed, "Of all the times to roll a one on the... I mean... Let a real treasure hunter show you how it's done," and then attempted the same task with the same result.

Beopony was now facing down a large group of diamond dogs. He looked right and saw them cracking their knuckles. He looked left and saw one pounding his fist into an open paw. Then he gulped, shouted, "Forget this!" and tried to run past the guards, only for one to push him into the water as well.

The knight sank to what should have been the bottom of the fountain, but then kept sinking. Down and down he went, deeper and deeper with no apparent end in sight. Just when he though he couldn't hold his breath anymore, he felt the water fall away from his face and he took several large gasps of air.

Looking around, Beopony could see that he was no longer in the court yard. He was in another fountain, this one in the middle of a large room. The walls were lined with books and a desk sat again one of the walls. "What in Equestraland..." he started to say, but then heard a familiar voice."

"About time you showed up, mate," Robin Hoof greeted from just out of the fountain. The others were with him, drying themselves off. The thief chuckled, "We were about to leave without you."

Twin Star forced her soaked hat out of her face and asked, "What is this place? Some kind of library?"

"Sugar cube, what would a fountain be doin' in the middle of a library?" Jack responded, "That doesn't make any sense."

The sorceress thought for a moment and eventually concluded, "It's not just a fountain. It's some kind of portal! Like the one back in the mines."

The others looked to each other, then the fountain. Beopony climbed out and then jumped back in, but to no effect. "I guess it's a one-way trip," he shrugged.

Twin Star suggested, "Maybe it's like any other spell and can only be used a few times a day. It passed six of us through the first time. This time it passed you, Robin Hoof, Jack, Styles, and me. If I'm right, it should only be able to send one more."

Suddenly, another pony emerged from the fountain. He muttered something rude about the guards as he got out and shook himself dry. "I'm not having a good day," Oliver complained, "There's way too much action for me."

Down the hallway, Reyna and Horsecules could here a sound like splashing water and voices. The barbarian and her new friend quieted their hoofsteps as they carried on with their fallen allies on their backs. "This won't end well," the large stallion growled under his breath, "I can tell you that much."

"What was that?" Robin Hoof turned around a few times, "I hear something coming. You hear it too?"

The others listened carefully and heard the sounds of somepony trotting towards them. They looked in the direction of the noise and saw a closed set of large doors. "We'll set up an ambush," Beopony declared, "Sir Jack, take the left side of the door. I'll take the right. Thieves, to either side of the door behind the knights and wait for my signal. Twin Star, find a safe place to cast spells from. Oliver, dry off and keep her out of the fray. Everypony understand?"

The others looked at the knight with wide eye. Robin Hoof laughed a little before cheering, "That's the leader I remember! Places everyone!"

Horsecules and Reyna came to a set of large doors. The barbarian carefully opened on of them and stepped into what seemed to be a large library. "This is weird," she stated, "Why would somepony put a libra..."

"ATTACK!" Beopony cried out as he leaped from covered and charged the savage pony. Reyna saw the attack coming and jumped forward, out of the way, losing Flute in the process as she slid off and hit the floor.

The barbarian growled and was about to retaliate when Twin Star shouted, "Wait! It's Reyna and Flute! Stop!" and emerged from behind the fountain with Oliver, "They're friends of ours, Sir Beopony."

The armored stallion stopped and blushed. "F-friends?" he tried to look away, "Oh, um, oops. Sorry."

Flute lifted her head and shook herself awake. "H-hello?" she murmured, still a little dizzy, "Did someone say my name?"

"I didn't," Pin said as she climbed off of Horsecules back and entered the large room, "but it is a fun name to say. Flute. Fluuuuute. Flute Flute Flute," she then grinned and giggled, "We have funny names."

"Pin!" Lady Styles cheered as she ran up and embraced her, "I thought we lost you. Are you alright? What is that dreadful mark on your head?"

Horsecules entered the room and admitted, "Sorry, that was me," only to be smacked in the jaw by Robin Hoof. The large pony yelled, "Well, I thought she was evil!" only to be smacked again.

"Bad barbarian," the unicorn scolded, "Very bad. You have to be more gentle with fillies. Even the evil ones. Remember?"

Reyna scoffed, "Did you see what we all just went through?" she then marched up to Robin Hoof and locked eyes with him, challenging, "Does it look like we need special treatment to you?"

All was quiet for a moment. You could hear a pin drop. The tension in the air was fairly thick as the thief seemed to shrink away from view.

"Um, I do," Flute admitted.

Reyna sighed, "Right... Well... Flute does."