All music is from Tales of Symphonia unless specified otherwise.

(intro: White Wishes/Tales of Graces)

Phase 1: Welcome to Ponyville!

Wake up...

Hey... wake up...

"I said WAKE UP!"

You are startled awake by the high pitched voice. You look around to try and find the source of the voice, which turns out to be a tiny red fairy floating around you.

"Good, you're finally awake. My name is Emma. Do you remember your name?" Emma asks you.

What's your name?

(input name) V-A-L-E

Is your name Vale?
Yes
No

"Vale huh? Nice to meet you!" The little fairy says to you. She said her name was Emma, but why is she here? For that matter, why do you feel so... weird? You look around at yourself, finally seeing what's wrong. You're a PONY! You have white fur all on your body, your mane is beep blue with light blue highlights and goes down to both sides of your head and is really long, and your tail matches your mane in color and length. You're both a pegasus and a unicorn, shown by the horn on your forehead and the wings on your back. On your flank is a design shaped like a shield with a sword diagonally behind it.

"I guess you're wondering about the form you took," Emma says, "You see, this world is called Equestria, and ponies are the dominate species here. When you arrived, the magic of the world changed your form."

Wait, arrived? What does Emma mean? Where did you come from, and why are you here now?

"I don't fully understand myself, all I know is that I was pulled here to help you. Let's be good friends."

You nod happily. It looks like you and this little fairy are going to get along great.

"I think there's a town nearby. We might be able to learn more about this place there," Emma says, "Let's go." You follow your new friend to the town ahead. Like she said, you might be able to learn more about why you're here in that town.

~Ponyville~

As you and Emma enter the town, you take a look around you again. There are ponies of all kinds here, but do any of them know about you? You decide to walk around town and search for somebody who might know who you are. You go over to one random green unicorn sitting on a bench.

"You're a new face?" she says, "My name is Lyra Heartstrings. What's yours?"

"Her name is Vale," Emma says sweetly, "She can't remember where she came from or why she's here?"

"That's horrible," Lyra says, "I hope you remember soon. Either way, welcome to Ponyville."

You thank Lyra and continue to explore the town you now know to be "Ponyville". As you continue to walk you see a pink pony with puffy hair and three balloon symbols on her shaft walking around in small circles.

"Twitch – a – Twitch... Twitch – a – Twitch... Twitch – a – Twitch..." she keeps saying to herself over and over.

"Ooookay..." Emma says as the two of you stare at the unusual pony, "I doubt she's going to have anything useful to say. We should leave her alone." You nod in agreement.

You continue to explore the town until you see a tree/building. The sign reads "Golden Oaks Library". You try to enter, but it's locked.

"It says 'closed for special research'," Emma reads, "What kind of librarian closes the library to do 'research'?"

That's... a good question actually. You decide to let that one go and continue to explore the town.

You eventually come across another pony. This one is orange with a long blond mane and tail, both of which tied in a pony tail, wearing a cowboy hat and has three apple symbols on her flank. She's trying to pull a large cart of apples, and it looks like she's having a hard time.

"Hey Vale," Emma says, "That pony looks like she needs help," you nod and trot over to the blond pony.

"Hey, are you okay?" Emma asks the blond pony.

"Ah'm... jus... fine..." she says. She has a southern drawl in her voice.

"You don't look fine," Emma says, "does she Vale?" you shake your head, and then turn back to the blond pony, who by the way has been trying to pull herself along all this time, and has only moved half an inch. Just how many apples are in this cart?

"Now listen... here..." the blond pony says, "If I needed... help... Ah'd 've asked... ya'll fer help... Now if youd'... 'scuse me... Ah've... got... apples... ta... pull..." she continued, really struggling now.

"I'm sorry Vale," Emma says turning to you, "but this is really sad, and I don't mean in a boo hoo kind of way. What do you want to do? She's not going to accept our offer."

You look at the blond pony as she struggles with the cart.

What do you do?
Wait for her to ask
Help her anyway

Despite her insistence that she's okay, you go behind the cart and begin pushing it while she pulls. It takes a while, but eventually you two begin to make progress.

"Huh?" the blond pony says when she realizes that she's moving now, clearly taken aback. Rather than look a gift horse in the mouth, she continues to move toward her destination.

~Sweet Apple Acres~

You stop when you reach a barn. It looks like the pony you helped lives here.

"Thank ya kindly, Sugar Cube," she says with a smile, "Perhaps Ah really did bite off more than Ah could chew there."

"Think nothing of it," Emma says, "But if you need help then you should really ask, don't you think?"

"Yea, I guess..." she looks embarrassed, "Usually Big Mac does that run, but he ain't feelin well so I felt I could do him a favor."

"Big Mac? Who's that?" Emma asks.

"He's mah older brother. Since he's so large he usually handles the heavy labor."

"But since he's sick today you decided to do it for him. He's lucky to have a good sister like you, but you need to be careful not to overwork yourself," Emma states.

"Yeah, Ah reckon yer right," she said looking down, "Well, ya'll were kind enough to help me out, so why don't Ah return the favor."

"Oh, no need for that. Vale and I were just trying to be helpful," Emma explains, you nodding in agreement.

"Nonsense," the blond pony says, "Here in Sweet Apple Acres, we always show gratitude to those who help us. Come on."

She trots off. Emma looks at you.

"Well, I guess we're not in a hurry. Why don't we stay here for a while?" you nod and walk after the blond pony.

~A few minutes later~

She sat you down at a table, and you are now looking at a slice of apple pie. Emma has a slice as well, but her's is much smaller as she's so tiny. It looks like it was just made, because it's smells so fresh. Is this what she meant as gratitude?

"Well," she says with a smile you swear is full of pride, "Dig in."

You look at Emma, and then you both take a bite out of the pie. You gasp. This is the best apple pie you've ever tasted! The flavor, the texture, everything is perfect, like you just bit into heaven itself. You can't stop yourself. You take another series of bites out of the pie. The blond pony bursts out laughing.

"I reckon that means ya like it?" she asks.

"Like it?" Emma says, "This is the greatest apple pie I've ever had!"

"Well thank ya for the compliment, Sugar Cube," she says tipping her had forward in triumph. You get the feeling that she had a lot to do with this pie.

"I'm guessing you made this pie, right?" Emma asks.

"Ya guessed correctly," the blond pony states, "Apple pies are my specialty," she then looks shocked at something, "Oh mah stars! Ah've been so caught up in what ya'll did fer me Ah plume forgot to ask yer names."

Emma is laughing, "That's okay. My name is Emma, and this is my friend Vale."

"Vale and Emma huh? Mah name's Applejack," she holds out a hoof, "It's nice ta meet ya."

You shake hooves. You have a feeling you're gonna like this pony.

"Not that we expect you to know much, but we're trying to find out who she is," Emma explains, "You see, Vale and I aren't from around here, and we suspect we were sent here for something important, but we don't know what."

"Ah see," Applejack says thoughtfully, "Ah ain't gonna lie, any other pony would insist ya lost it. But ya'll don't look like liers. Tell ya what, Ah may not know much, but if nothing else ya'll should talk ta Twilight. She's probably the smartest pony in Ponyville, and this seems right up her ally."

"Twilight, huh?" Emma asks, then turning to you, "Looks like she's our best bet. Okay then, could you take us to this Twilight?"

"Well Ah don't expect ya to go find her yerselves," Applejack says with a smile, "Come on you two, follow me."

You nod and begin to walk after her. After a few seconds you stop and she turns to look at the mark on your flank.

"That's a mighty interesting Cutie Mark you got there. What do ya do for a livin?" Applejack asks you.

"That strange mark on her hip? What does that have to do with her career?" Emma asks Applejack, who looks at her like she is insane.

"Only everything! That mark represents what yer supposed to excel at," she turns around and shows off hers. Sure enough, the fact that her's looks like three apples makes sense now, but why is yours a sword and shield?

Before you can question anything else, you hear a crash in the distance, followed by a deep whinny. All three of you turn to the direction of the noise, but Applejack looks really worried.

"That sounded like Big Mac!" she says before galloping off.

"Vale, we need to go to!" Emma says. You gallop after Applejack. You arrive at the fields in front of her house, where you see three small troll monsters holding large forks surrounding a large red stallion with a yolk around his neck. He's lying down and looks really hurt.

"Big Mac!" Applejack shouts in horror, "Ya'll be messin with the wrong ponies! Jus 'cause we sell apples don't mean we're sweet!" in a shocking turn, Applejack runs in and begins fighting the monsters. It looks like she's having a hard time.

"Applejack! That's too dangerous!" Emma shouts, "Vale, what are we going to do?! She's going to get hurt if she tries to fight those things herself!"

What are you going to do? She needs help, but if you run off now she might die.
Help her yourself
Find somepony else to help

"Wait, WHAT?! Are you crazy?!" you tell Emma why you want to help, "Well, I guess that's true... What the hell. Let's go!" You run into the fight and stand next to Applejack.

"What are ya'll doin?!" she asks shocked.

"What does it look like?!" Emma asks, "Helping you!"

"Ah'm fine!" Applejack says, "Ah can take these-"

"Will you shut up and let us help!" Emma shouts, "Pulling apple carts is one thing, but this is life or death!"

"Ahh..." Applejack looks down in shame, "Alright. Vale, Ah'm countin on ya!"

You nod and brace yourself for battle.

~Battle: Troll x3~ (play song: Full Force)

"Get out of our way!" Vale shouted.

Vale and Applejack ran forward. Vale kicked one troll with her hind legs and then jumped back. She then began firing small darts out of her horn at the troll she was fighting. While that was going on Applejack was going to town on the first troll she faced, first jabbing the troll, then stomping down hard with her hooves, then doing a back leg horse kick. The second troll walked up to Applejack and began attacking her, causing her to cry out in pain.

Vale charged up her magic and then stood pointing her horn forward, "Lightning!" she shouted firing a stream of lightning at the troll she was fighting, killing it. She then galloped over to Applejack and horse kicked one troll away from her.

Applejack, now able to focus on her fight, continued to do her usual combo on the troll she was fighting. That lasted until she started glowing a bit, "Stampede!" she shouted charging at the troll knocking it to the ground, then stomping it while on the ground. It died shortly afterwards.

Vale fired darts out of her horn. And then got on her hind legs and kicked the troll with her front legs. Applejack ran up to the fight and jabbed at the troll, killing it instantly.

(Play song: Won the Battle)

Applejack sat up straight and tipped her hat forward, "Don't come back now, ya hear?"

~End Battle~

With the trolls dead, you and Applejack relax a bit.

"Well, that takes care of those vermin," Applejack states before turning to you, "Ya'll were mighty helpful in that fight. Most of mah skills are self taught, but you look like ya fight things like that fer a livin."

"Applejack is right," Emma says flying over to you, "You really handled yourself there. By the way Applejack, we should check on your brother."

"Ahh! Mac!" she then completely forgot what she was doing and runs over to her brother, "Mac, ya alright?" she asks sweetly, nudging him up.

"Eeeyup..." he says getting up slowly.

"What are ya doin out here anyway? Ya supposed to be in bed restin!" Applejack scolds.

"Well, Ah started feelin better," Big Mac begins, "And since Ah was bored anyway Ah decided to do some work in the fields. Besides, who are YOU to scold me on workin too hard? Don't think Ah didn't see ya tryin to pull that cart. Ah reckon if these two hadn't shown up, we'd still be waitin on them apples."

"Why you!" Applejack says angrily. You can tell these are usual conversations between these two.

"Is everyone alright?" a sweet voice asks. You turn to see a purple unicorn with a long dark purple and pink mane and matching tail and a star shaped Cutie Mark walking up to you guys. She has a baby dragon on her back.

"Everything's fine now, Twilight," Applejack states, "Vale and I took care of them critters," sensing Twilight's confusion, Applejack continues, "Oh, that's right. Vale, Emma, this here's the pony Ah told ya'll about, Twilight Sparkle. Twilight, this is Vale and Emma."

"Nice to meet you, Twilight," Emma says.

"Likewise," she goes to you to shake hooves, but stops when she sees the mark on your shaft, "Oh my... Spike! Send a message to Princess Celestia!"

Wh-what?" the dragon says in shock, apparently he's Spike.

"Tell her we found the Guardian!" Twilight continues, confusing the hell out of you.

"Wait, Guardian?" Emma asks, "What's going on here?"

Spike finished writing the message, "Got it!" he then takes a deep breath and sets the scroll ablaze, it's ashes being guided by a magical green haze, "Twilight, are you sure it's her?"

"That Cutie Mark is all the evidence we need," Twilight Sparkle says.

"Um, excuse me," Emma says, "But Vale and I have no idea what you're talking about. What's going on? What's this 'Guardian'?"

Before Twilight could explain, Spike gives a loud belch, but another scroll materializes in front of him. He opens it and reads aloud, "I understand, please bring her to Canterlot immediately."

"Great," Twilight Sparkle turns to you again, "Princess Celestia can explain things a lot better than I can."

"Princess Celestia?" Emma asks.

"She's one of two rulers of Equestria,"Applejack explains, "If anyone can tell ya who ya are, it's her."

"Come on," Twilight Sparkle says "There's probably a carriage waiting for us in the town square."

Twilight Sparkle walks ahead. You're about to leave but...

"Vale, wait," Applejack calls out. You turn to her to see her smiling at you, "Ya helped me out twice today, the second time savin my life. Thanks again. If ya'll ever need anything, ya'll can come see me anytime."

"Thanks Applejack," Emma says, "We'll remember that." Emma turns to you, "Well, it looks like we're finally about to learn our reasoning for being here. Let's get moving, Vale."

You nod and run after Twilight Sparkle and Spike, towards your destiny.