//------------------------------// // 2 Dungeon // Story: The Tournament of Chaos: By the Light of the Sun // by Crimson Trident //------------------------------// I idly tapped my fingers against the metal shackle that was entirely too large to fit on my arm. My encounter with the singer had not ended very well for me. I was so dumbstruck with the whole situation that when a bunch of small horses (unicorn and otherwise) in armor, carrying spears came and threw me in the dungeon, I didn’t do much about it. I heard footsteps coming down the hall and glanced up from the floor. It was another one of those small Unicorns (so I guess that makes those hoofsteps). He was mostly a dark blue, almost purple in some places, and I knew it was a ‘he’ before he even spoke because he had a freaking beard. His rather impressive facial hair was a light magenta with pink streaks, the same as his mane, which was tied back into a ponytail with an ornately carved golden cuff. A similarly engraved golden peytrel held up a quilted cloak that laid over his back. His hard orange eyes bored into me -if looks could kill I would have died right there. “Such a pitiful little creature you are, peeping on my niece like you did.” “Hey, if we were both standing up on two legs, I’d be taller.” One of the horse’s eyebrows raised a full inch. “That is the point you wish to contest?” “If I knew somebody was bathing down there I would have not slipped and fell -actually, what’s the big deal anyways? You’ve got fur covering everything!” “It’s “somepony”,” He corrected. I internally groaned at the pun. “And this is no matter of decency, but of secrecy. Not that I would expect you to understand the difference, they being only a few letters off.” I’m sure he must have had on a cocky grin under that beard. You could sure as hell hear the condescension in his voice. “I’m an alien not an invalid.” I shot back. “And what, did your sister have a scandal and come out of it with a kid that shouldn’t exist?” He lowered his head slightly, leveling his horn at me. A corona of purple light burst from the large flutes at its base before quickly coating its entire length. I felt something tug at the front of my shirt, and looked down to see a similarly hued… glob of energy appear, before I was ripped from my spot on the floor and sent flying face first into the bars. “You had best watch your tongue about the ruler of our nation, Human. Yes, I know full well what you are, what your kind is capable of, and what your goal is.” “G-goal? I’m just t-trying to get home.” I struggled to say. It was kinda hard to breathe, being pressed against the bars. “Don’t lie to me, Human. Your vile race has only one goal: the capture and exploitation of our most sacred of citizenry, the Alicorn princesses.” “Alicorn? I thought you and her were Unicorns.” “You thou- wha- how-” He sputtered, his grip on me loosening slightly. “You mean to tell me, that when you barged into the outdoor baths you didn’t even notice Celestia had wings?!” “Is that what an Alicorn is? Just a Unicorn with wings?” The unicorn before me lifted one of his gold-shod hooves and smacked himself in the face. Did he just… facehoof? “Oh what a wonderful situation we have here.” He said, words so full of sarcasm I was surprised  the stuff wasn’t dripping out of his mouth. “Well I definitely can’t let you out any time soon, not after blabbing a state secret like that. On my name as Nova Shine, brother to the Queen and sorcerer of the High Court of Everfree, you are never leaving that cell.” Out of the corner of my eye, I could see a certain someone sneaking up behind the unicorn. Looks like mr Shine here wants to leave… If he sees Beck that’ll turn out badly. “Do you really have to? Not like I can tell the other little horses that your niece has wings when I get home.” “And where exactly is “home” from here?” He asked, narrowing his eyes on me again. “Heck if I know. One moment I’m waiting for my coffee, then some guy snaps his fingers and I’m here.” The grip on the front of my shirt loosened considerably as the unicorn’s eyes widened. “Snapped his… fingers? That… that couldn’t possibly be- gaugh!” The unicorn crumpled to the floor as Beck slammed a table leg into the back of his head. The glow of his horn faded and I fell back from the bars. “Thanks for the save, but how did you get out?” “These ponies don’t seem to be able to grasp the concept that everyday clothes can have pockets.” He said, tossing away the now broken table leg, and pulling his knife out of his pocket. “You didn’t… y’know?” I asked, miming a stab towards the unconscious unicorn. “No. I used it to pick the lock. They didn’t bother guarding either of us.” Beck knelt down next to the cell door and stuck his knife into the lock. A few seconds later the door swung open. I slid out of the shackles, which surprisingly didn’t come off when the unicorn grabbed me, and exited my cell. I went to grab the unicorn and throw him into the cell in my place, but as my hand passed his horn a spark of purple jumped from it to my hand. “Yeouch!” I leapt back a few feet and shook out my hand. “What the hell?!” I looked down at my hand, finding that the skin had been blackened all up my middle finger, partially up my ring and index fingers, and in a starburst shape on my palm. But even as I stared at it, it looked like it was healing. “Double what the hell?” “Ignore him, let’s get out of here.” Beck insisted. And so the two of us started running. The way Beck had come from just led to more cells, so we went the other way. The long, carved stone tunnel lined on one side with standing torches eventually led to a set of stairs, at the top of which was a large wooden door. I got to it first and juggled the handle. “Locked.” “Not for much long-” “Wait.” I pressed an ear against the door, and could hear the rhythmatic clip-clopping of hoofsteps on the other side. Once they had faded into the distance, I stepped aside to let Beck pick the lock.  The first thing I noticed when the door swung open was the forest-green unicorn sitting on the red carpet in the adjacent hall, right in front of us. Thankfully she was looking to the side and didn’t see us right away. The second, was Beck’s look of surprise slowly turning into a glare aimed in my direction. “Oh, Lord Shine, did you get anything out of the prisoners…” She trailed off as she turned towards us. “PRISONERS!” She leapt to her hooves and leveled her horn at me and Beck. Unlike the last time a unicorn pointed their horn at me, no grab-blob appeared anywhere, and instead a ball of painful-looking energy built up on the tip. I instinctively raised my arms to protect my face from what I knew was going to be some sort of attack. The ball of energy launched from her horn, but collided harmlessly against a rippling barrier in front of me. While both me and the mare were surprised, Beck took the opportunity to make his own attack. He lunged at the mare and coiled around her like a snake, forcing both arms around her neck. She tried to pull him off with her horn-grab-thing, but his grip was just too strong. After a few moments, her eyes fluttered closed and she went limp. Beck slowly let go of her. “What are you?” I asked. “Don’t you ‘what are you’ me.” Beck stood and stared directly into my soul. “What are you? What was that shield thing?” "Do you honestly think I know? I don't. But you? You know exactly what you're capable of. No normal person can just, choke someone unconscious like that." "This is going in circles." Beck growled. "We can finish this once we're out of this castle." "R-right." We started walking through the castle, taking the path of least resistance, while trying to be sneaky. Whenever we found a path that had guards, or just any of the ponies in it, we'd find another. Eventually we got to a long hallway, and spotted a set of large wooden doors at the other end. That was about when the pressure in my head started. As we ran down the hallway, the pressure in my head began to grow. It felt like I was sinking head-first into the Marianas Trench, the closer we got to the doors at the end of the hall. I wouldn’t let myself show any sort of weakness to Beck, but I slowed down my pace nonetheless. And of course, he noticed when I did. “Keep up. We’ve got to be close to the exit by now.” “I’m trying.” I tell him through grit teeth. We finally got to the doors, and Beck brought a hand up to push them open. “Beck, wait,” He lowered his hand and looked at me. “Whatever is on the other side of that door… It's powerful.” “What?” “The, uh… the shield thing. It’s more than just a shield, it’s an energy that’s in the air around us, and I can sense and manipulate it. Except, right now manipulating it is only instinctual. Whatever this energy is, it’s been getting denser closer to those doors.” I explained. “I feel like I’m going to get swept up in a raging torrent If we actually step through them.” Beck gave me an odd look. Well, odd for him. I think he was expressing concern for the first time since we arrived in this world. “How long do you think you can stand it?” He asked. I took a deep breath to try and steady the pounding in my skull. I was half tempted to tell him we should turn around and find a different route. But, I was finally starting to get a read on his personality. He wouldn’t accept that. “A couple minutes max. I’ve had some pretty bad headaches in my life, this is just one more.” He nodded and turned back to the doors. He pressed his hands against them, and after straining for a moment, threw them open with a single mighty heave. We both ran through before seeing what room awaited us. On the other side of the doors, was the throne room. At the other end of the room, sitting atop a magnificent, half-silver half-gold throne, was an Alicorn easily taller than me or Beck. She had a pure white coat like Celestia, but a deeper red mane rather than pink. Just staring at her, I could tell that the good foot and a half of horn protruding from her forehead was the source of the powerful feeling I was getting. She had been looking down at, and probably talking to, the blue Unicorn in robes similar to Nova Shine’s, standing in front of the throne. But now, her attention was on us. The unicorn turned around to see what she was looking at, the bells on his wizardly hat jingling as he did so. “The prisoners!” He exclaimed. “How did they escape? No matter, I shall-” “That will not be necessary, Starswirl.” The Alicorn spoke, stepping down off her throne. “We will handle this.” “This is bad,” I said. “She’s the source of it.” “No kidding. With her attention on us, even I can feel it.” Her horn lit up with golden-hued energy, and the doors slammed shut behind us. Beck and I shared a glance, plan forming almost instantly between our pupils. Her horn-aura shifted slightly and seven balls of golden static peeled away from it to float in the air around her. The static balls were launched towards us and we both ran in opposite directions. Beck turned and dashed directly at the alicorn, while I stopped and held out my scarred hand towards him, bracing my arm with my other hand. I focused on Beck, and on the memory of the shield I created before. I imagined an impenetrable dome of energy surrounding him, and after a few moments it appeared. The alicorn looked surprised, and looked over at me. This in itself was almost enough of a distraction for her to miss Beck lunging for her neck. She quickly turned her attention back to him and lit up her horn, firing from it a lance of blazing light that shattered the barrier I created, sending a spike of red-hot pain up my brain and sending Beck tumbling to the floor. As I was still reeling, I suddenly found myself enveloped in a bubble of golden energy, totally unable to move. Beck was put in a second identical bubble and we were both floated over to in front of the Alicorn. "My Queen," the unicorn -Starswirl- stepped forward. "Did you see what this golden-haired Human did?" "I did. He cast magic. He cast magic," her expression softened considerably, "and did so without becoming Changed. Perhaps we started off on the wrong hoof. What are your names, Humans?"