005 [Video]

[hiptobe_eraqus]

[Being there when the portal opened up, Eraqus of course decided to walk through it and see what world they had discovered this time.]

[And it is a lot more colorful than the previous one. It seems like one of his Spirits is helping him hold up his communicator now, since facing it...]

[The Keyblade Master is now a gray earth pony with reddish hooves, a black, spiky mane and tail, and a gold Master emblem for a cutie mark. He's still got the facial hair and the scars, too. He looks less shocked about this than one might expect...mostly a little confused as to how quadrupeds are supposed to operate.]

Considering our previous conversation regarding your world, Celestia, I would say in hindsight this adds a certain degree of irony.

Comments

[sailorlaughter]

Sure! There's nowhere NEAR as many ponies to buy from it now! I do a lot of the baking normally anyway, and I've even run the counter all by myself before!

[hiptobe_eraqus]

[Okay, he doesn't have much cause to argue against that. It just sounds like a whole of lot business for someone he's not sure has that much...business sense.]

That sounds like quiet a bit of work.

[sailorlaughter]

It's okay! I like baking anyway!

So, see that city way way WAAAAAAAAY off that way, on the side of the mountain? That's where the Princesses live!

[hiptobe_eraqus]

[It's easier to do work that one enjoys, anyway.] As long as you enjoy doing it.

[He looked to the distant city, practically growing out of the mountainside...and couldn't help being struck with a pang of homesickness. He hid it well, though.] It looks quite impressive.

[sailorlaughter]

It TOTALLY is! I've been up there a couple times, like when they gave us all a big party for defeating Discord and being put in a window! It wasn't even a boring party like most Canterlot ones.

[hiptobe_eraqus]

[It's like every time Pinkie says something new, he has to try and figure it out first before finally admitting that he can't and asking for more clarification.] For defeating 'Discord?'

[sailorlaughter]

Yeah, he was an evil chaos spirit thing that tried to take over Equestria. He turned us all evil for a little bit, but then we beat him and turned him into a statue! He lives in Ponyville too now, though, 'cause I guess he turned good or something.

[hiptobe_eraqus]

[So that's probably what Celestia meant by their own kinds of darkness. That last part leaves him a little skeptical...that rarely just happens.]

He just 'turned good?'

[sailorlaughter]

Uhhhhhhh...yeeeeeah? Princess Celestia let him out and asked Fluttershy to turn him good, so she made friends with him even though he was TOTALLY rude to everypony the whole time and almost flooded Applejack's whole farm, so I guess now he likes her so he's being nice so she'll stay friends with him.

Oh, but Twilight has the Elements now just in case we ever need to turn him to stone again. They're in the library too!

[hiptobe_eraqus]

I...see.

[Eraqus's eyebrows rise a little more at that. He doesn't sound...entirely convinced, but maybe it's not something to worry about unless Discord actually showed up in this world. There's something else catching his attention.]

What Elements are these?

[sailorlaughter]

The Elements of Harmony! They're like these really REALLY neat magic necklaces me and the girls to fight evil! Wellllll, we probably can't use them now, 'cause it's just me and Rarity, but I'm the Element of Laughter and she's the Element of Generosity! The other ones are Magic, Honesty, Loyalty, and Kindness!

[hiptobe_eraqus]

[He remembers some of Celestia talking about this before, at least in relation to Pinkie Pie and Rarity, but this is the first time in hearing that they were necklaces. It sounded like magic based around virtues.]

Can they only be used collectively, then?

[sailorlaughter]

I don't think we've ever really tried them separately...that wouldn't make a whole lot of sense though! I mean, you can't really make them go at all without the Element of Magic!

[hiptobe_eraqus]

[He's getting more curious about these things.] Hmm. So magic acts as a catalyst for the others?

[sailorlaughter]

No, it's more like a crown. [We may never know what Pinkie thinks a catalyst is.]

But it can't show up unless the other five are together, either! Like, when we got all of them in the castle, there was this biiiiiiiig flash of light! BAM! And then it just came down outta nowhere!

[hiptobe_eraqus]

It's...hnn. [Okay no, he doesn't know what she thinks 'catalyst' is.]

Which castle? [And it might be good to see what they look like, just for future reference.] And can I see these things?

[sailorlaughter]

The old abandoned one in the forest! It's out thataway!

Sure! They're probably still in the library, c'mon! [And she bounds off towards the big tree.]

[hiptobe_eraqus]

Abandoned castle? [Those can be kind of suspicious sometimes. Likely a good Nightmare hangout.]

Very well. [He follows along after her, but still at a walking pace. No bounding for him, thanks. This does look like a very pleasant library, though.]

[sailorlaughter]

[Pinkie tries the door and, finding it open, bounces right in.]

Twiiiiiiiiliiiiiight? Huh, guess she's not in. I kinda didn't think she WOULD be, she's busy back home with princess stuff...she usually keeps the Elements over here!

[hiptobe_eraqus]

[Eraqus wanders in after her. While it's still got the feel and trappings of a very...rainbow-ponies-world, this building at least looks like the sort of place he wouldn't mind spending more time.]

I'm guessing this would be like most worlds, and would be devoid of the majority of inhabitants... [And he follows her over.]

[sailorlaughter]

Makes sense!

[She trots up to the Element pedestal, opening up the box they're usually kept in.]

It's too bad, though. The Elements fix pretty much EVERYTHING - I bet if the girls were here, we could wrap this whole thing up! Except that would be kinda sad, 'cause then we'd lose all our friends here...

[revenancenpcs]

[Unfortunately for the idea of wrapping things up, the contents of the box are not at all what Pinkie expects. Namely, none of the Elements are there at all. Not ever hers, which is probably more than a little concerning.

Instead, all the box contains is a single slip of paper. Should either of them pull it out and read it, it contains the following sentence, written in exceedingly elegant hand(hoof?)writing:

To find the missing parts, look inside your hearts.]

[sailorlaughter]

[Pinkie peers inside the box. Then turns it upside down, holds it up over her head, and peers into it again.]

...huh. Guess we don't have to worry about that! They're totally gone!

[She looks down at the piece of paper that fluttered out during her examinations.]

Oh. Yeah, that makes TOTAL sense! I think!

[hiptobe_eraqus]

[Eraqus's eyes widen when Pinkie opens the box to reveal it is empty. Magical artifacts that are important to the safety of this world, now missing? This can't mean anything good.]

It looks like your elements have been replaced with a riddle. [And he can't tell if she's being sarcastic or not...] Does it make any sense to you?

...We should let others know about this. [He figures that the pony princesses at least would want to know.]

[sailorlaughter]

Yeeeeeeeah, that's happened before. It was pretty bad.

But it KINDA makes sense, right? 'Cause when the Elements were broken before, they got fixed 'cause we were all friends and stuff, all by ourselves without any necklaces or anything!