Anon Quest: 3.3 The Crimson Killers

Mission #3.3 The Crimson Killers.

>There’s a sense of warmth and the comfort around the body of Anon, clad in nothing but his braies, and wrapped in a blanket.
>As his eyes opens, he realizes he’s in the bed of a completely white room lit by wall lanterns, with Rainbow Dash at the right of his bedside, and the others in the background; Pinkie’s playing cards with Applejack, Twilight’s in a chair by the wall, reading a spell book from her satchel, and Rarity’s and Fluttershy, who sit by Twilight, conversing about the robes Rarity’s planning on making for the fall.
>Looking at the window, he can see the sun disappearing with the evening, similar to how the last fight had ended.
>Sure that he’s awake, Dash leans in slightly, further grabbing his attention.
>“Heeey buddy. You feeling okay?”
I don’t know. I barely remember-”
>Anon tries to rise out of the bed, but he falls back slightly, with a horribly sharp pain in his gut interfering.
>“Be careful Anon!” yells Dash concernedly.
>Still playing cards, Pinkie tells him, “You’ve been out cold for the past two days.”
Did Fluttershy use her mana?
>Dash tells him, “No. She wanted to, but I made sure she didn’t, like you said. We’re in the hospital, and you’re showing signs of recovery.”
And the pirates?
>“We jailed the ones that we fought a couple days back to hide them. Got in a few fights here and there, but we weren’t going to risk taking on their leader until we knew you were going to be okay.”
>Fluttershy comes from her chair to walk towards the left side of his face, and begins to speak.
>“It took most of the money we earned, but we have you mostly healed.”
>His HP is now HP: 108/120, and their bits total to only 15 of their originally collected 130.
>Fluttershy ads, “It’s a miracle the doctors were able to stich you up like they did. Heavy internal bleeding is still very possible if you push yourself though, so you should maybe stay in bed longer…if you want. Your insides were kind of torn open after all.”
>Despite the pain and risk, he forces himself up.
This is nothing compared to my old life in Discord’s territory. I’ve been through much worse than this.
>He sets the covers aside, before finally getting out.
>Rarity looks away, noticing the massive red and swollen scar going down Anon’s exposed chest
Where’s my chain mill and robe? It’s a little chilly in here.
>“I’ll get it darling,” says Rarity.
Great.

~~Night~~

>At the cost of most of their bits, Anon and his party remain with much of their HP and MP intact. There are no upgrades for anypony in the party, but Anon has faith that his party will do well enough, so that they don’t need it.
>With the moon risen, glowing through the darkness of the night, Anon and his party exit the hospital.
>The town feels almost dead, with the sound of the cold night air being the first thing that enters the ears of these heroes. Eventually though, they do hear sound far into the background, east of the hospital’s entrance, by the shore.
>It’s music.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ma4UAxe1MHA
>It’s an accordion, and a fiddle playing a joyful tune.
They must be having a party.
>Pinkie excitedly screams, “A PARTY?!” before immediately being smacked in the back of the head by Anon.
>“Ouch! What was that for!” she says rubbing the wound.
“Do you want the whole town to know we’re out right now?!” he says in an angered whisper.
>“But it’s a party. Other than building contraptions, this is what I do,” she says in disappointment with a whimper.
>Despite his hostile nature, Anon can’t help but feel a touch of regret for smacking Pinkie. Stronger men have fallen victim to her puppy dog eyes and lip quiver.
Well…when we get rid of the pirates, I’m sure the entire town would LOVE to celebrate. Doesn’t that sound great?
>Her eyes light up at the idea.
>“You bet!”
Riiight. So let’s be quite, and calmly arrive to the pier. Last thing we need is them to scatter, or plan an ambush. Come on gang.
>Anon and party follow the music, keeping an eye out in case they were being watched, but thankfully for them, there is no such case.
>In a matter of minutes, they make it to the corner of the Cloudsdale Novelty Shop, and take a left where they finally see the batpony pirates a couple dozen meters away at the pier, standing out from the lamps that illuminate the area.
>There are eight of them.
>Two small colts in red and white striped shirts, sitting on a crate with their backs to Anon’s group.
>A lanky mare with a short and frilly cardinal dress drinking a mug of whiskey.
>A giant male antro, at least seven feet tall, muscular, with a fancy redwood shirt, black jacket and belt with a pair of swords on each side. He’s plastered, and lying against the wall of a now abandoned shop stand.
>A slender anthropic archer. Female with a maroon quiver and bow around her.
>The archer claps and stomps rhythmically for the sixth member. An adorable mare in the center of the group’s circle, dancing in a ludicrously poufy ruby dress.
>Playing the violin is a batcolt, non-anthropic, standing on his hind legs and wearing a tight fitting red vest.
>Lastly, their leader. Eight feet tall, anthropic, with a very short blue beard, wearing a traditional pirate captain’s uniform of crimson. He sits on a barrel, happily playing the accordion for his friends.
We’ve got the advantage of distance right now. Pinkie, I want you to use your turret and-
>Anon turns his head and notices Pinkie’s not there. He turns to the other side; still nothing.
Where’s Pinkie Pie?
>From the pirate group, he suddenly hears the dancing batpony announce, “Dear Luna, you’re a really cute mare.”
>Anon sighs, and slowly turns his head back to the pirates. Sure enough, Pinkie’s dancing with the batpony, and they pirates are just loving it.
Darn it Pinkie.
>She dances surprisingly well for a mare with two fifty pound turrets on her sides.
>With a wave of the arm, he tells the others,
Come on girls.
>They walk in, until making it to the outside of the ring of pirates, and Anon announces,
Hey Pirates?!
>Aside from the sleeping swordsmen, the others take a look at Anon and his party.
>The leader then rises with his accordion still in his hands, and speaks.
>“You look familiar.”
Blue Anon. Former assassin of the Discordian Militia.
>“Aw yes! The man who left Discord’s territory and survived. I’ve heard of you. I am Konbara, leader of the Crimson Eagle pirates.”
Pleasure.
>“I’m guessing you’re probably here for a rumble then.”
>Dash yells out, “We’re going to knock the daylight’s out of you guys!”
>The archer pulls out an arrow in anticipation, pointing it directly at Dash’s skull, but she’s too focused on Konbara to notice.
>“The colorful mare’s got a mouth on her,” says Konbara with a smile.
>Konbara puts down the accordion, and slowly pulls out a massive blade, almost the size of Anon, that was obscured under his jacket.
>”Very well.”
>Simultaneously, the two formerly dancing ponies ask their captains, “Does this mean the party’s over?”
>Konbara says to himself, “Darn it Sylvia,” as Blue Anon brings his palms to his forehead.
Why is she the only ship builder I know?
>“KILL THEM!”
>Sylvia immediately kicks Pinkie square in her jaw, knocking her back into the dirt. An arrow from the archer then flies towards Dash, but Twilight sees it coming and moves her out of the way, causing it to only nick her right hind leg.
NO HOLDING BACK, DO WHATEVER YOU WANT!
>Anon draws his arrow back, and prepares a corrosive “Black-Heart Arrow” for the Captain, but as the arrow leaves his grip and begins flying, it’s immediately deflected mid-path by the blades of the sleeping swordsmen, who is now wide awake.
>“Try harder,” he says in a serious manner.
>Dash then flies in, giving him a stern punch to the cheek.
>It knocks him away as Anon retreats further to pull another arrow.
>Meanwhile, one of the stripe shirts flies towards Applejack and drives his fangs deep into the non-armor covered space at the front of her neck, but to Applejacks surprise, his teeth don’t go nearly as deep as she’d assume.
>She gives a sharp “Tss,” and tells him, “Now calm down fella. I don’t play frisky!”
>She then punches his snout and pries his mouth open with her hoof, before kicking him away.
>As he falls back, a dense, purple liquid is seen coming from his mouth.
>“What in tarnation?” Applejack says to herself.
>She then feels an even sharper pain in her neck, causing her to give a horrid groan as her entire body begins to feel a horrible stinging sensation, her senses begin to distort slightly, and her throat begins to swell.
>Her defense is very obnoxious, so using “toxin” was definitely a smarter move. She’ll lose 10 HP for the next five turns, and all the defense in the world won’t stop that.
>As Applejack begins coughing out her lunges, Pinkie’s already springed up, and has dodged several swings and kicks from Sylvia.
>“Maaan you’re spryly,” says Pinkie with a grin.
>She then activates her ability “Advancing Ammunition”, allowing her to attack three times with a damage cap of 20 on each roll.
>Pinkie’s turrets suddenly begin to rumble, causing her entire body to vibrate with it, before they begin firing a seemingly endless barrage of explosives.
>Sylvia tries running and dodging as many as she can, avoiding the first few nicely, but eventually, she succumbs to the many, many rounds fired.
>She, and everything even remotely close to her is now covered in glitter, confetti, and colorful explosive residue.
>She ends up taking 43 points of damage. It would’ve been worse, but she managed to limp behind a barrel for cover during the last few second.
>The lanky mare goes directly for the group healer Fluttershy, giving her a stern ramming headbutt that knocks her to the ground. The second stripe shirt then rushes in, and jumps onto her stomach to hold her down. As she struggles to get up, she can see high into the air, the fiddler, now with a rapier in his hooves, pointing downward.
>“Oh no,” says Fluttershy silently to herself.
>“Critical Strike,” +20 attack.
>The Fiddler’s wings close in, and he begins to dive bomb from the sky, ready to pierce Fluttershy’s skull.

>If you were lucky, you maybe could’ve ended her with this, but at the table, Applejack announces, “Ah’m using ‘cover’” and completely takes Fluttershy’s place for the umteeth time.
>Surprisingly though, Applejack gets a poor role of 23 versus your 87, and she ends up taking a very satisfying 64 points of damage.

>Despite the poison, Applejack manages to push the second stripe shirt out of the way, allowing Fluttershy to barely escape, just in the nick of time. At the cost of the healer’s safety through, Applejack is left in place of the attack, and the Fiddler lands directly on her spine, shattering the vertebrae, breaking her ribs, and sending the rapier clean through what now replaces Fluttershy’s head, Applejack’s tailbone.
>She dies in a quick, but horrifying manner.
>A bit edgy for your taste, the kind of thing your brother would think of, but it seems fitting.
Crap!
>In this brief moment of distraction, the twin swordsmen tries to strike Anon, but he quickly ignores AJ and blocks the swing of his blades with his gauntlet.
>Dash then fires into him using her “Marksmenship” for a +15 buff.
Fluttershy “revive” AJ!
>She does just so, and with her eyes closed and a prayer to Celestia, AJ’s enveloped in her holy light.
>Her bones then begin to reset themselves as her health increases back to 60.
>As AJ slowly regains consciousness, Rarity gathers her mana, to performs a “Maximum Summon” summoning her strongest lady, the Diamond Minion (40 health, 70 attack, and 30 defense) from the diamond accessory on the ribbon that keeps her hat on.
>As her minion comes into form however, Konbara flies in like a canon and slashes at her side with his blade, further ruining her dress, and piercing clean through a lot of soft side flesh before Twilight intervenes, teleporting her and Rarity away, to the other side of the pier.
>Rarity wails in pain as this 34 damage attack sets in.
>“Stay calm, you’ll be fine,” she says in a stern but comforting manner.
>Twilight teleports back to Konbara, and casts “Attack Minus.” To deteriorate his attack by -20 for the next two turns.
>You retaliate though, by using his react based ability, “Negate Attack.” Out-rolling Twilight, you cancel her ability before it can even take effect.
>“Pitiful tactic,” says Konbara.
>With the second phase starting, you use his ability, “Bone Breaker”, giving him a +50 attack at the expense of -20HP.
>His body begins to emanate a thick grey aura, before he flies into the air and dives down towards Twilight.
>“EAT THIS!”
>Her horn glows, and looking him dead in the face from the distance, she tells him, “Pitiful tactic.”
>SHE NEGATES YOUR ATTACK WITH THE EXACT SAME ABILITY.
>His aura vanishes, and he comes to the ground grinding his legs past Twilight and through the clouds. (This is one of those moments that really make you hate the corruptionist class. Why couldn’t she have just stayed a mage until Blue got back to being a DM?!)
>As he comes to a stop, Anon fires an arrow that goes deep into his back, almost going through the spine to paralyze him.
>“Son of a gun.”
>He pulls it out without any hesitation, as Applejack bucks the fiddler’s face in with the Diamond Minion’s aid, effectively beating him unconscious.
>The archer then fires an arrow into Fluttershy, but Applejack ‘covers’ Fluttershy causing the arrow to deflect off of her helmet.
>It barely harms her…darn it.
>Meanwhile, Sylvia’s still hiding behind the body high cover of barrels and crates, desperately trying to avoid Pinkie’s gunfire.
>“Come out, come out wherever you aaare,” says Pinkie playfully.
>Stripe shirt #1 flies through the air unconscious towards her, thanks to Dash, and Pinkie jumps over him without even looking.
>“Don’t make me waste the whisky by blowing it all up, cuz I will if I have to,” she adds.
>Sylvia then notices through the cracks of a couple of barrels, the swordsmen, whose name is Roda by the way, slicing up Dash for what she just did to stripe shirt.
>Roda’s a tough guy, and he’s doing a pretty good job dealing with that rainbow mare. Maybe if she gets to him, the pink girl will try to pick somepony else.
>Rarity is dropped from the sky by the second stripe shirt, face planting right in front of her.
>She gives a yelp in shock, and decides rather than check if the mare’s dead (close but no), to just book it now.
>She turns the right side of the barrel to begin running, only to be immediately blown the hay out by a series of explosive blast.
>She looks like a piñata, and she just took a beating.
>Lanky finishes off Rarity with a hoof onto the back of her head, using her collective weight to smash her face deep into the cloud.
>With her out of the way, her minion dissolves back into a gem of nothingness.
>Fluttershy fails to notice Rarity behind the barrels, but it doesn’t matter; the same move can’t be used twice in a fight, so she can’t ‘revive’ Rarity. Rather, she uses "Recovery,” and with a holy orb of light, heals AJ by +50.
>Finally, Dash finishes the second phase with a second blow to the swordsman, only to be shot clean through the neck in the third phase by the archer.
>It’s five on five now.
>Konbara waste no time getting into it, and lunges towards Anon with his blade ready to slice him in half.
>Blue Anon pulls out his significantly smaller blade however, to stop him mid swing.
>As they get trapped in blade lock, they begin to speak to each other as the fighting continues in the background.
>“You and your party have potential. If you had asked, I probably wouldn’t have minded having you with the crew.”
I wouldn’t have accepted, even if you had offered.
>Their blades separate only to reconnect with another pair of swings.
I live to fight scum like you.
>Twilight hits the archer with a magical blast, and Applejack finishes her off.
>“What makes you so righteous, Anon? I thought all Discordians were underhanded backstabbers.”
>Pinkie fires at the other stripe shirt, and Fluttershy chokes him out.
Who says I’m not?
>Anon barely moves Konbara’s sword, causing the swing to pass by him. With this brief opening, Anon grabs an arrow with his left hand, drives it in Konbara’s side, and breaks it off in his kidney.
>He wails in pain, wanting to pull it out, but being unable, and in this moment of unshakable pain, Anon drives his sword deep into konbara’s neck, pulls it out, and allow him to bleed to an eventual death.
>As he falls to his knees, coughing and gagging up blood into the cloud, Anon looks to him with a cold and unforgiving expression, and tells him,
I was almost cut in half a few days ago, and I still had more grace than that.
>In a matter of seconds, Captain Konbara dies.
>The swordsmen, enraged by the sight, flies to Anon as quickly as he can, and before he can even turn to react, Anon’s back is cleanly pierced with both of his swords.
>The party gasps in shock, as he’s then kicked off of the blades.
>“HOW’S THAT FOR GRACE?” the swordsmen yells.
>Lanky then shoves Twilight aside, running in for the final blow.
>She leaps into the air, ready to pound him in with her hooves, but as her right fore-hoof comes down, Anon somehow rolls out of the way.
>She tries again, but he then grabs her hoof, stopping her completely.
>“How are you still moving?!” She questions in complete shock.
Not…
>He coughs a little blood.
…tough enough.
>The remaining party members then rush in, to finish things off in the third phase.
>Twilight and Pinkie blast the swordsmen out cold, and Applejack breaks the lanky mares jaw with a buck, with Fluttershy then using her non-brutish method of suffocation to bring her to the point of unconsciousness.
>The last thing Lanky sees, is the sight of Anon, completely upright, and drawing an arrow.

>The game is over, and Anon’s team has won.
I guess I need to make an ending now…okaaay, um. After successfully defeating the Crimson Eagle Pirates, Blue Anon and his party remained in Cloudsdale’s hospital for the next few days, to make a complete recovery. It costed a butt load of money, but thankfully they had more than enough booty to spare.
>Pinkie giggles a little.
They “confiscated” the treasure from their ships, to pay their debt in full. Their recovery was celebrated with a massive party in town square, lasting for thirteen hours, and resulting in Anon being re-hospitalized for heavy alcohol poisoning. Happy endings for all, and everything returned to normal. Good job everypony.
>The others complement you back, responding with “good game” and “you tried your best”. They feel a little empty, like the kind of words little league teams are forced to say at the end of a match, but Blue Anon does tell you something, that really makes you feel nice.
>“For a guy who doesn’t like playing the DM, you did pretty good.”
Wow, uh, thanks bro.
>He suddenly grabs you in a headlock, and begins to noogie you as he says, “I doubt you’d ever win as a DM, but you still did pretty good, haha!”
>You struggle as he continues, but he’s too strong for someone as young as you.
It’s not like /you’ve/ won any matches as a DM bro!
>He laughs, grinding his knuckles harder.
>“I’ve just been goin’ easy on you sprouts! Don’t worry, I’ll be sure to win next time.”
>Twilight finally stops him, pulling his body away with magic as she tells him, “Anon, stop picking on your little brother.”
>He scoffs at the statement.
>“Me? Picking on sweet little Red Anon? The idea is laughable. Well, now that the match is over, I shall officially take over my roles as DM once more. Startiiing
now. Don’t think this doesn’t mean we won’t switch things up from time to time though.
>“Sure thing bro.”
>Applejack asks you, “Does that mean we’re done for the day?”
Well, it is getting pretty late, so I guess we should head back.
>The ponies almost leave the table to get their things or head for the balloon, but Spike stops them at a sudden realization.
>“Wait, Red never mentioned me and the ship.”
>“Aw man! I completely forgot about that!” says Red Anon in a worried tone.
Too bad. As the DM, I’ll take it from here.

>Anon and his party eventually leave Cloudsdale about a week from when they first arrived, now riding in the airship of the Crimson Eagle pirates, which has now been renamed, “Skysplitter 2”. (All flags of the ship have been covered with pink paint, and replaced with a red heart.)
>They then locate the old ship. Run down, and damaged from confrontations old, and new that they were not there for.
Tsss, ooooooh.
>The party gather towards the end of the ship, and Anon yells out,
SPIKE?! YOU STILL OKAY!
>He eventually walks out of the cabin halls, pale, sickly, skinnier than before, and chewing on a sponge because he ran out of food two days ago.
>“W-where were you guys?” he says weakly.
>Anon awkwardly runs his hand threw his hair, and quietly tells the others,
Let’s not mention the party that happened.

EPILOGUE
>With the exception of Dash, who of course lives in the house, the others wait on the balloon, anticipating your arrival. Twilight brought the Connect Four board, the Uno packs, Twister, and Battleship boards with her, and all that remains, is for you to back things up in Hero’s Tale.
>As you knock the cards on her cloud table to straighten them, Dash looks at you from the entranceway of the kitchen, where she will have a lot of dishes to do.
>“Hey, Anon?”
>You acknowledge her, while still paying attention to packing.
Yes Dash?
>“I just wanted to tell you…I know the others were a bit peeved with the way you bossed everypony around during the quest, and I’m not sure if you think you should just stick to being a DM or not but…I think you…kinda…sort of did a good job, I guess.”
It’s no big deal really. I just used AJ as a damage sponge with Twilight as a complement to make damaging her less likely and Fluttershy as a class hugger.
>You seal the box, allowing you to finally leave.
Well, I guess I’ll see you later.
>“Yeah, see ya.”
>You walk out the door, but stop to tell her one last thing.
Oh, and Dash? Don’t think just because we worked as a team, things are going to change between us. Come next week, we’re rivals again.
>She gives a slightly cocky smile, and tells you, “Hope you’ll be ready for me, Anon.”