Leaving the area of the Volcano Force Point Temple proved to be relatively easy, with no new obstacles getting in their way. It took nearly no time at all for the group to make their way back into Moon Mountain Pass. Once they were on the slope back down again, Sunset's aura faded and she rejoined Fox and Tricky on foot...and not long after, they were caught off guard by an unexpected voice: Krystal's.
"Help me..." she was calling out in Dinosaur Language. "Please help me...I'm dying..."
"Krystal!" Fox called out worriedly. "Where are you?"
"I need Krazoa Spirits or I will die..." Krystal's voice continued. "Help me..."
Fox frowned. That doesn't sound like Krystal, he thought worriedly. Turning, he saw Sunset looked...tense.
A masked figure appeared, only half-physical, the mask high above the trio with a long robe hanging down. Tricky gasped in shock. "A Krazoa..."
"Do you wish to accept our test?" the Spirit asked Fox.
Fox glanced towards Sunset thoughtfully. "Test?" he asked quietly.
"The Krazoa Spirits won't loan their powers to just anyone," Sunset explained quietly. "Anyone who wants to call on their power has to pass their trials, and they exact a terrible price from anyone who would seek to circumvent their trials."
"You know our ways well, Child of the Sun Raiser," the Krazoa Spirit responded readily as he seemed to become more physical. "However, as you have been instructed, your magic is too strong to safely carry us. To attempt to do so would risk both the Spirit's pure-magic form and your high-magic life force. Of your group, only the elder is a viable host. As such, the trials are only open to him...if he wishes to accept them."
"I'm here to find a way to fix the planet," Fox responded readily. "I understand I need your help for that. I accept the test."
The Spirit looked at Fox for a time. "You are of stronger character than anticipated," it observed thoughtfully. "Do you not fear the danger to your mate?"
"That's not Mom," Sunset stated flatly. "It's her voice, but it's Ku-so'tsno, not Ku-so'tsuno. Mom's very particular about pronunciations, and wouldn't make that mistake even when calling for help. Someone's using collected samples of her voice to try and make us think she's calling for help." She smiled sourly. "Besides, if she were really in desperate need of help to the point her mind wandered to that level, she'd be calling out in Cerinian, not Dinosaur Language. We both know it."
"It is a pity you must be denied to our trials," the Spirit observed thoughtfully. "Already, you show both courage and wisdom. Know however that she is in danger, and only our power can free her...and help you repair the planet. Five Spirits still must be gathered to Krazoa Palace. Find their shrines..." The figure faded out of vision, as a nearby ancient door slid open. "Defeat the creature to collect a moon seed..."
"Creature?" Fox asked in confusion as he moved towards the now open door.
A strange beast with a thick body, bulbous head, and crab-like arms lifted half way out of a nearby pit in an attempt to attack Fox. Sunset quickly subdued it with a barrage of fireballs to the back of its head, causing it to drop the Moon Seed in question, a gray-purple seed shaped like a crescent moon settled on its ends. "I recognize these from texts!" Sunset declared excitedly. "These grow when exposed to fire into thick vine-like growths that even the heaviest of creatures can climb!"
"Which means we should probably plant it there," Tricky pointed out, indicating a patch of ground next to a wall near the open door.
"Then I'll check out the door first," Fox stated, heading into the revealed tunnel.
Sunset and Tricky waited patiently. Before long, Fox came back out. "More magic for the staff," he explained. "The Ground Quake spell."
"That sounds sweet," Sunset purred as she planted the Moon Seed. A bit of fire, and it sprouted into a climbing vine. "Let's go!"
The deeper path into the Moon Mountain Pass proved a bit more hazardous, as other dinosaur-like mutants that roamed with great rage and little mind. One such example was a creature that seemed twisted inside a spiky shell, generating intense flames from its body when approached, and only breaking down when frozen.
Moon Seeds proved greatly useful in opening paths for the trio to maneuver, as did the manipulation of gas vents. Deeper into the Pass, they came across a doorway with odd decorations into a small chamber with a large teleporter...a chamber that actively repelled Sunset. "Huh?" Sunset demanded in confusion.
"Must be a Krazoa Shrine," Fox observed thoughtfully as he easily walked in. "The Spirit did say they would be closed to you."
Sunset's face fell. "You mean I don't even get to see it? That's not fair!"
"I'll wait out here with you!" Tricky offered helpfully as the teleporter sent Fox elsewhere.
Sighing, Sunset leaned against the wall. "This sucks..." she grumbled irritably. "First I couldn't see the Volcano Force Point Temple because my magic was too strong...now I can't even see the Krazoa Shrines for the same reason! It's not fair..."
"They weren't much to see," Fox stated as he stepped back out of the teleporter, purple miasma filling his eyes. "Just an obstacle course and a puzzle, and the architecture wasn't really anything that impressive. Honestly rather bland."
"Still..." Sunset complained, only for her voice to stop as she caught sight of the glow in her father's eyes. "Dad, what the hell?"
"Language, young lady!" Fox scolded. "I don't want you swearing until you're at least 13."
"But your eyes!" Sunset insisted.
"Yeah, that's the Spirit's energy," Fox explained, touching his face awkwardly. "Come on, let's get back to the Warpstone so he can send us to the Palace."
As Sunset started to speak, the Krazoa Spirit that spoke to them before suddenly appeared. "You have proven yourself to be pure of heart," it spoke calmly. "Bring the Spirit to Krazoa Palace, and I will guide you further. Come to Krazoa Palace." It then faded away.
Sunset frowned thoughtfully. "That...that wasn't the same spirit as before..." she murmured worriedly. "It...it wasn't speaking the same language..."
"Then we'll just have to be careful," Fox decided firmly.
Ohhhh, miasma? Do I detect an allusion to Sombra's eyes there or is that merely a coincidence?
Are the Krazoa Spirits related to the Triforce? Is Sunset the Triforce made flesh?
Nah, I guess this is Tat's explanation for how Andross tries to influence Fox or stuff
I, for one, thoroughly enjoyed the otherworldly amethyst-shimmer the Krazoa give to the eyes of those acting as vessels.
Surprised no one's talked about this line yet. The Spirit's definitely talking about Celestia, right? Who else would be the "Sun Raiser"? And while I'm not sure what Tat's got in store for Sunset's backstory here, I've seen quite a few stories where Sunset sees Celestia as a mother figure. So the Krazoa Spirits seem to know quite a bit.
When having a parent hypersensitive to grammar and elocution actually pays off.
Few thinks are more frustrating then being blocked for even observing the test chamber.
8611272
More like a coincidence, as the dark power flowing off Sombra's eyes is how the word miasma is generally used.
While the Krazoa spirits are good, Fox is still under a form of possession while carrying one. Thus, 'his eyes filled with a purple miasma' is a fairly alliterative way to describe the purple glow his eyes had at that point.
8611313
If anything "child of the sun raiser" is most likely referring to Celestia in a godly/divine fashion where it would most likely be aware of such forces beyond the planet where there is the legends, or equestria is a very distant past of the Dino planet and thus caused legends to be left behind, Tats has done self fulfilling prophecies before such as with Pinkie a similar case could be happening here, or maybe it is a literal meaning where this section of the multiverse has celestia as sunsets mother(grand/great by how ever many generations is possible to)
8611313
And Nearly as many where tia WAS Sunset’s mother
I hope Sunset figures out who the other spirit is quickly.
Now Fox is getting into the spirit of things. Can't say the same for Sunset or Tricky though.
Child of the Sun Raiser? Does that mean this Sunset has the same backstory as she had in Sparkle?
8611642
Of course she does. Discord's story makes it quite clear that all the Pwny stories splinter off from the same core timeline. That said, I'm hoping all this wibbly wobbly timey wimey malarkey will result in two different Sunset Shimmers. I may approve of SunsetSparkle, but in this fic I am Team TrickyShimmer.
Formatting is weird.
8611665
Not saying that I don't think that's the case either, but PWNY-verse has also been shown to occasionally retroactively re-write individual histories of the various timelines where necessary. It's one of the reasons why I have the strong suspension that many of Discord's appearances in the different stories are actually the Mad King of the Deadra running damage control.
8611665
You...did read the part that the noble dinosaur heirs are required to mate with those of their own tribes to guarantee the continuation of the Gatekeeper bloodlines by guaranteeing fertile offspring, right? That includes Tricky.
8611272
`miasma` may have been the wrong word, in the game, there's no particle trails or anything flowing out of his eyes, it's more like a glow or a visible tint. You can see Fox's original eye color in brief moments, but until the Spirit is returned it's usually purple.
8612158
Does this mean this Sunset is going to team up with someone else in PWN-questria, or will she just be a second Sunset Shimmer? I know Fox and probably Krystal may come around for the ride, but I don't think any of the PWNies have actually teamed up with their own 'dad' or 'mom', aside from Spike and Samus since there was literally nobody else to team up with.
8612980
I used 'miasma' because you can see the tint moving inside his eyes like fog if you shift the camera to zoom in on him. That's why I described it as his eyes being filled with miasma, rather than it pouring out of his eyes.
8612988
And...I'm not sure what you mean by 'teaming up'.
8613001
What I mean by 'teaming up' is whoever they bring with them.
When Spike came to PWNquestria, Samus came along with him. When Gilda arrived, they brought Aperture Labs (and by extension, GLaDOS, P-body and Atlas, and whoever GLaDOS decides to brain-scan). When Octavia and Vinyl arrived, they brought... each other? I guess? how would that even work?
We have two Sunsets arriving in PWNquestria. Who are they going to team up with? Will we just have two Sunsets working together? Will their buddies enhance Sunset's attacks? Will one Sunset just absorb the memories and experience of the other?
Or is this going to work out like one is the pony Sunset, and one is the human Sunset?
(random side-thought: I kind of want to see Sunset practicing teleporting and accidentally teleport Arwings off of the Great Fox, or other fun mishaps while she gets her teleporting under control.
Fox: "Uh... Where's my arwing?"
ROB: "Detecting Arwing signal approximately 12 miles from the Great Fox. No pilot found."
Sunset: "uh... oops?"
Fox: "Welp... Anyone ready for another space journey?"
)
8613309
Vinyl brought Wily, Bass, Splash Woman, their Fortress, and all the security robots therein.
Octavia brought X, Alia, Zero, Iris, Prometheus, Armatige, Axl, Marino, and Cinnamon.
And there's only one PWNYverse Sunset. That's this one. The Sunset of "Sparkle in His Eye" is the Sunset of that timeline, and doesn't necessarily have any connection whatsoever to this one.
8612158
Oh, I read the part where the Gatekeepers need to breed true. What I missed was that each tribe had a Gatekeeper line, and it coincided with the royal line. As such, as someone who skipped this game in the series, my reaction to this post was, "Wait, Tricky is a Gatekeeper?!?"
8614179
Yup. Tricky is of a Gatekeeper line.
8613309 Twelve miles, when dealing with a ship that can cross an entire solar system in less than a week, is essentially a trip from your front door to the mailbox. Hardly a space adventure.
I just had a weird thought at work.
What if Uncle Slippy made little Sunset her own AR Wing but as 1/16 the size of her father's.
After coaxing her out of her hole and a few hours of pouting, Slippy convinces her to Astro project in the "model".
She finds her perspective changed as she looks up from the cockpit into the giant face of her amphibian uncle.
He then explains that the model is to scale Real ship and all bits and bobbles are fully operational.
This way she can learn the bird from inside and out, but be safe and sound while doing so.
She could fly all she wants but two rules must be fallowed.
One: She must take care of her bird, all fueling, repairs, and all modifications by her self, but no help other then advise.
Two: No flying untill after she takes care of her real life first, that means chores done, homework complete, and meals regularly eaten.
Thought of that after remembering this...78.media.tumblr.com/6023527c2d8327de5c8caaf6cf100052/tumblr_n8680pm6Ha1s3uawvo3_r1_500.gif
Like I sead, it's a weird thought.
8613313
And here I thought all the "dimensional doubles" would fuse with each other as part of the "reconstruct the universe" part of the plan... kind of like what already happened with Fluttershy in her story.