• Published 1st Aug 2015
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Life of a Wanted Changeling Season 3: Tyrants, Terrorists, and Tiaras, Oh My! - Down with Chrysalis



The continued adventures of you, Bugze the Changeling! (Comment-Driven Story)

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Episode 22: Level 1: Video Game Mafia HQ (The Video Game Arc Part 1)

Opening Theme:

BrownDog's Comment

"OK, I'm gonna go inside and scope it out, you check the perimeter for anything suspicious, OK?"

"Alright, but don't do anything destructive yet, we don't even know if the mafia boys are in there already," Aqua replies as she ducks into a nearby alleyway."

"Noted," you reply with an eyeroll.

Seriously, how come there are so many mares demeaning me all the time?

Because we are vastly smarter and more cautious than you?

That is true...but still...

You start heading to the restaurant, but since it would look weird for a grown stallion in a mask to be wandering around by himself in a kids place, you decide to bring Nightshade out.

"Alright Honey, I need you to be a unicorn for right now."

"Okie Dokie."

She changes and then sees Freddy Fazbears.

"Oh My Gosh, there's another one? I thought they closed down!" she says in excitement.

"I say they all should be burned down, but anyway, we don't need to be thrown out of this one honey, we have to scope it out alright? So stay close."

"OK, but can we still get Pizza?"

"Yes yes, but seriously, stay away from the animatronics, the last ones looked...bitey..."


As you three wander around the creepy place, yes it is still creepy in the daylight, you see that it actually does look like just a regular pizzeria, it even has a similar layout to the first one, except...

"Whoa, what the buck? What is up with the animatronics? They look too..."

"Cutesy?" Nightshade guesses

"Yeah..." And it's true, the robot animal things look too bright and shiny compared to the ones from the other Fazbears. Like updated models, but somehow more creepy with the perpetual smiles. In one room you even see foals recklessly tearing apart the fox robot, and even it looks overhauled with pink and white colors.

"Ugh, they changed it, now it sucks," Nightshade huffs and crosses her arms, "I liked the other ones better daddy," Nightshade harumphs.

"Yeah, sure they had blood and mucus coming out of the eye sockets, but at least they weren't made to look like demeaning Haysbro toys."

"And why is Chica in short shorts? Did we really need that?" Nightshade complains.

As you wander around more, you find that this place has even more kid activity rooms. There is even some original animatronics. One is some chubby colt with balloons and a propeller hat.

"Aw, he reminds me of Button," Nightshade says in nostalgia. Gritting your teeth, you choose to ignore that and look at the other robot...and it's the creepiest of the bunch. It's face is white, with huge black eyes and a mouth, with purple and red around it. It's bipedal and has striped zebra like colors all over it's wiry body. It seems to be watching you, even though it has no eyes and...

"OK, I'm done looking at creepy robots, let's get some food.

After taking a seat and ordering pizza, you find out one change that is actually good.

"Well at least this place's pizza is way better. Seriously, this is fantastic!" you declare as you slide a slice through your open mask slit.

"Yeah, it's got the right amount of grease and oil from the cheese, plenty of sauce, and the crust is still firm and crispy," Nightshade agrees, as she slams 2 pieces into her mouth at once.

"Exactly...ugh," you say as you facehoof.

"What is it daddy?"

"This place IS the perfect cover. We haven't found anything aside from the old Fazbear creep factor."

"Did you want to check the back?" Nightshade asks as she points down a poorly lit hallway with a few closed doors.

You sigh.

"No, but we gotta."

After finishing the pizza, you walk down the hallway and keep opening doors. Two of them are clearly bathrooms, one of them leads to the kitchen, and another leads to what looks like a repair shop, and inside you see.

"Oh wow, look daddy, it's the old models!" Nightshade points out.

"There, in disrepair, are the original four animatronics that the Ponyville Fazbears had. And now you feel bad for criticizing the cutesy ones from before, because these ones look like corpses.

"Let's uh...not go in there honey, I don't like the looks of it."

As you say that, the Bonnie suit with the missing top half of it's head suddenly glows red where it's eye would have been.

You slam the door quickly.

You then make your way to an open doorway, which has no door at all for some reason, and see a purple stallion inside with a phone in his hand.

"Hello? Hello Hello? Well, you made it to night 2 so congratulations and...oh hold on a second..." he presses a stop button on the answering machine he's talking into and looks at you.

"Sorry sir, but this area is employees only I'm afraid."

"Oh sorry, we were looking for the bathroom," you say to him as you glance around the room. There are airvents to the left and right of the doorway you're in, his desk has a big lamp on it, and behind it is a door that says, "Management" on it.

"So, what's in that room, more broken animatronics?" you ask.

"Oh no, that's the managers' room, and only they are allowed back there. Heck, we security guards aren't even allowed back there...much as we'd like to some times...but yeah, If you're looking for the restroom, it's back that way" he points down the hallway.

"Oh, Okay, thanks buddy...but before I go, one more thing."

"You sure ask a lot of questions mister..." the purple stallion asks suspiciously.

"It's only one more. Does this store have the same guard disappearing problems the others had?"

He squints his eyes before answering. "Well...I'm not at liberty to say sir, but our newest night guard seems determined enough to...oh wait, what's this?" he asks as he suddenly picks up a letter on the desk.

He opens it, and reading it upside down, you can read the words.

BUCK THIS BUCKING JOB! I QUIT!!!

"Oh...well I guess we DO need a new hire..."

You roll your eyes and say, "Well thanks again, good luck with all that," before you and Nightshade turn around and walk out.

"No problem, you and your daughter have a wonderful day at Freddy Fazbear's," he says with a smile.

As you both walk away, you hear him start talking into his phone again,

"Well, guess I gotta leave a NEW kind of message..." he mumbles.

After walking back into the showroom, you turn to Nightshade and say.

"Okay, now we know where they meet," you declare.

Nightshade gives you a confused look as she asks,

"We do daddy?"

You nod your head as you say,

"Yeah! If these guys are anything like the shady criminals I've seen in movies, then they'd be hiding out in a restricted area that's in plain site. In this case, the Manager's office!"

Nightshade gains a thoughtful face before she nods her head and says,

"You're right Daddy! That makes complete and total sense!"

You can hear Selena facehoof in your head as she grumbles angrily,

I swear you're corrupting our daughter with your stupidness everyday.

Your eye twitches in mid annoyance, but you just decide to ignore Selena's comment as you tell Nightshade,

"Come on honey, we got all the information we needed. Let's get out of here before we get kicked out. Besides those animatronics are giving me the creeps."

With that said you and Nightshade leave the pizza diner, but as you leave you feel like your being watched. You turn around to see who's watching you...and see the animatronics staring right at you...with their soulless eyes...

....

...

...

"NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE SO MUCH NOPE!"

To this day all anyling saw was a red and dark blue blur that rushed out of the building...taking the doors and some nearby tables with it.

SOME TIME LATER

After Aqua berated you for destroying the doors to the diner as well as some tables, you tell her about the Managers office. She gets into a thinking position before deciding that it was fine to take a look. After that she went off to get some background information on the building, blueprints and the like, while you decided to walk around with Nightshade to get a look of the city. While walking through the busy streets however...

Kropsling's Comment

You hear a passing voice in the crowd.

"Stupid Sparkle, stupid rock farm, stupid hard to find amulet. Once I find you, they'll all pay for laughing, and then He'll return again..."

You and Nightshade stop dead in your tracks and look around you. The voice is...familiar, but you can't quite place it.
Unfortunately you don't see anyone in the crowd who looks familiar, only normal business ponies going to lunch, street vendors, a black cloaked figure with light blue hooves, and a living statue.

"Strange...I feel incredibly angry and ready to fight right now..." you growl as you clench your teeth.

"Same here Daddy..." you hear Nightshade hiss. You look down at her and see her eyes are starting to glow white in anger.

"Honey, unglow your eyes before someling sees!" you order her.

She seems confused at first, as if she didn't even realize she was doing it, but she does what she is told.

She's not the only one Bugze...

What?! you think in alarm before realizing your own eyes are faintly glowing orange.

"Oh Buck!" you say as you close your eyes before anyone can see. Thankfully your wide hat covers your slip up.

After you both unglow, you take Nightshade by the hoof and get away from that crowd. Whatever it was in that crowd that got you angry, you wanna get away from it.

"Alright honey, let's go cool off and try not to be angry at things we can't exactly understand."

"Alright then daddy...but still that voice...I swear I know it..." she mumbles.

After that whole thing, you and Nightshade decide to take a rest under a tree near the Pizzeria. After all you're not going in till nightfall, so might as well take a nap. As you are about to sleep, you can't help but wonder what's going on in Ponyville. Sure the place was a deathtrap for you, but you still made some friends there...and enemies...mostly enemies, but some friends as well...even if some of them count as both. But anyway, as you rest, you can't help but wonder.

Eh, I'm sure they're doing fine.

With that you fall asleep...

MEANWHILE IN PONYVILLE

The Pony Spartan's Comment

A dark blue unicorn pony with a sharp turquoise mane and tail walked through the streets of the town. His cutie mark was a game controller and he wore a sleeveless black winter jacket with a hint of red lining, which was odd seeing that it wasn't winter... or even cold... or chilly.

He paid no attention to the ponies around him, just walking forward with a frown on his face.

Some kids ran towards him, and by accident, some of them shoved him a bit, which he just ignored.

He then took notice of an alleyway.

His anger grew rapidly when he saw what was happening.

A yellow pegasus with a pink mane and two fillies were being confronted by two figures in hooded cloaks.

He walked up on the two hooded ones.

The taller hooded pony bumped his two hooves together. “Come on already, just tell us. Where. Is. The Hooded Offender?” He had a teen male voice.

Fluttershy shook in fear and the two fillies held her close also scared, but she answered back.

"I don't know. He disappeared after the Crystal Empire incident."

"Where's the filly called Night Springs...or was it Night Fury... Night Cover?"

"It's Nightshade! And She's gone you bucker!" Scootaloo yelled. "What would you want with her in the first place? She had nothing to do with the Offender!"

“I have no idea, but orders are order...so not gonna tell us? Oh well, we didn't want to do this, but... we gotta take you to the boss...es. Whichever one is closest I guess.”

“Yeah! What he sai-” The smaller hooded pony's sentence was cut off by a hoof slamming onto his head.

“Huh?” His hooded friend looked down. “What are you doing on the floor dude?” He looked behind himself. “Oh...”

“Hi.” The blue pony said bitterly. “What's going on here?”

“Oh, us? We're from the Crimson Knights,” The standing one started.

“Uh-huh.”

“And we have orders to take this yellow pegasus named Fluttershy to the leaders for questioning, for...reasons. Nopony really tells us why we do the things we do.” The fallen said weakly.

“Right.”

“And now you're a witness, so you're coming too I guess. Ugh, so much work.”

The blue pony stood silent for a second, closing his eyes, then opening them up again and taking a look at the Crimson Knight Cultists with fire in his eyes. “Let me tell you something about me. I. Hate! The Horde!”

“Well, that's too bad. I thought we were doing pretty goo-” A blue hoof slammed into his face. Once he rubbed a hoof on his cheek where he was punched, he continued. “Owww... What was that for?!”

“One, you're obviously doing something wrong here. And two, I despise your group.” The pony reached into his jacket and revealed a saddle bag. Soon after, the area glowed a bright blue.

LATER

After a while in the alleyway, the two hooded ponies could be seen running away.

“Hmph, cowards...” The blue pony had two ripped pieces of the hooded cloaks which had the Crimson Knight symbol on them in his hoof. He ripped the cloth with his magic and began to walk away but stopped when the white unicorn filly from before called him and pulled on his hind leg.

“Wait!”

“What?” He spat.

“...T-thanks.”

“Hmph!" He kicked back slightly, making the filly tumble backwards. "Don't think I did this for you or your friend OR for the mare. I did this only because I absolutely hate the Crimson Knights!” He began to walk again, only to be stopped by Fluttershy.

“Wait! We didn't get your name.” Fluttershy said.

"Why do you care."

"Well... You saved me and these two little fillies." She explained.

The blue pony pondered if he should reply a truthful answer, and soon enough, he decided he would. “I don't have a name... Actually, I go by many names. Destiny Changer, Life Changer, ...a past Crimson Knight named Pony Spartan... I thought that was a cool name! But nooooo... Stupid bucking Ink-Moth, Minds Eye, and the others... one day we'll meet again.” He whispered the last part to himself. "Speaking of..." He suddenly turned and took hold of Fluttershy with his magic. He slammed her against the wall but not so hard to hurt her...much. "What were those two doing here?" He asked menacingly.

The two little fillies took a step back horrified at the situation.

"W-What...?"

"One of them said that they needed to take you, Fluttershy, to the leaders. What's so special about you?"

Fluttershy just floated in the air via magic shaking wildly.

"I-I-I-well..." she stuttered.

"Tell me, or I will have to force the answers-"

"She was a past member of the horde! The president of the Ponyville branch" Scootaloo suddenly shouted out.

The blue pony looked at Scootaloo, who flinched under his gaze, then turned back to look at Fluttershy.

"A past leader huh? DO you know where the Offender is then?"

"I... don't know. I swear it." Fluttershy squeaked.

"Really now?..."

"S-she... w-we..." Sweetie was too scared to say anything to this pony.

"Fine." He dropped Fluttershy. "It doesn't matter what information you hold anyway. I probably already know it." He walked away until he reached to the entrance to the alleyway. “Oh, and to answer your question, You can call me... Changer.” He told them.

Soon after, Changer walked out of the alleyway leaving the three shaken ponies to watch him go, thinking to himself, “Pony or Changeling. Crimson Knight or The Hooded Offender himself. I will annihilate you all.”

"Kichi, you always pissed me off the most with your foal laborers. Wonder if you're still in the Bastion area..."

NIGHTFALL, BACK WITH YOU

You, Aqua, Nightshade, and the still hoof-cuffed Samus stand outside the pizza diner. While Aqua has a look of readiness, your prisoner has more of a look of fear.

"Why, exactly, do you need me again?"

You give another sigh as you say,

"We don't really need you, in fact the only reason you're awake right now is that my knock-out device only works once a day."

Samus gains a confused look at this as she asks,

"If that's the case, then why haven't you guys brought me to jail yet?"

This time it's Aqua who answers as she says,

"Because from what CV has told me, the Crimson Knights probably have Stained Shields working for them. If these Video Game Mafia guys really are working for one of their leaders, then turning you in is a bad idea. The minute we turn in the Extra Lives Gang leader, one of their spies will alert them and this whole place will be cleared out before we can even get in. Also, they'd probably pluck you for leading us this far."

Samus gains a straight face for a few minutes before she sighs and says,

"I guess you make a good point there, so..."

Samus soon gains a glint in her eyes as she says,

Kersey's Comment

"So are you two gonna bust in there and kill every motherbucker with a pulse or are you just gonna give them crippling injuries that will make every day for the rest of their lives a Tartarus on Equestria?"

"Whoa whoa whao! You make Batmare's non-lethal-ness sounds horrible, but I'm NOT a killer-" you defensively stammer before Aqua interrupt-snarks,

"Injuries, Tartarus on Equestria, etc. Got it."


You just stutter at this before you sigh and mumble,

"Fine, whatever! Let's just get this over with..."

With that said you and the others are about to head into the building when...

Kichi's Comment

"Breaking into Freddy Fazbears again, Alright! Let's go!" Nightshade shouts excitedly. You interrupt her enthusiasm though.

"Sorry Honey, you know the rules," you tell her as you open up the Saddlebags.

She looks at the Inventory exasperatedly and rolls her eyes.

"Ugh...Fine..." she says breathlessly as she jumps into the bag.

"Do you always keep that kid in that bag?" Samus asks.

"Not ALWAYS...just when it's dangerous."

"Sounds like she's starting to gain a rebellious spirit there CV," Aqua teases.

"She's not a teenager yet! Ahem, Now... It's time to take out the gamer mafia! Let's go."



As you three walk up to the door, you try it and it's locked.

"Of course, that would have been too easy. So... any idea about how to enter?" you ask Aqua

"There aren't any backdoors in, and all the emergency fire exits are welded shut" Aqua explains.

"Seriously? Isn't that against the law? Why would they..." Suddenly the door of the pizzeria opens by itself slowly revealing the dark empty restaurant.

"Creepy..." you mutter as you make your way inside.

As you walk through the main room, you see the main three animatronics on stage, still looking creepy as ever, but you can detect no signs of life.

"Huh, maybe they're already in the Manger's Office," you whisper as the three of you make your way down the poorly lit hallways.

Inside the guard room, there is nothing but an empty desk, with a tiny desk fan on.

Behind the desk is the Manager's Office, and now that you have more time to look at it, it looks like reinforced steel and you see multiple key holes in it.

"Whoah, it's like a bank vault or something," Aqua comments.

"Well that means they have something to hide then. We probably need some keys for it, let's check the desk."

You three enter the room and the desk is empty...except.


"Is that a fresh made pizza?" Aqua whispers with a bit of drool dripping.

It is in fact a freshly made pizza, with all the toppings.

"Well that doesn't look ominous at all," Samus groans.

"Hey, I'm the snarky one lady, get your own shtick."

She rolls her eyes at this, but you ignore it and look around, but whoever made the pizza is nowhere in sight.

"It could be a night guard who got himself a snack, and went back to get a drink?" Aqua suggests.

"Hmmm...maybe. But finders keepers," you say as you rush forth and steal the pizza.

"I'm sure they'll notice that missing," Aqua states.

"Who gives a buck? We'll just scare him off when he comes looking for it. Besides, I didn't eat Dinner, did you guys?" you say as you take a slice and chomp down on it.

Both Aqua's and Samus's stomach's growl as the fresh pizza scent hits them.

"Oh what the hay?" Aqua says as she grabs a slice, and Samus does as well.

After consuming the Pizza however, a banner above the Manager's office comes down with fanfare and confetti that says

"TO THE BOSS ROOM" with arrows pointing to the Manager's Office.


"What in the..."

BUGZE! SPIT THAT FOOD OUT NOW!!! Selena screams from within your mind.

But why it...

Suddenly, Samus and Aqua both fall to the floor, unconcious.

You look to them and back to the pizza, and notice your vision is starting to swim.

"Oh...of course...drugs...why did I expect anything different?" you ask aloud before you pass out.


LATER

You wake up feeling groggy.

"Ugh...what happened," you ask as you hold your head. You blink the blurriness out of your eyes as you look around your surroundings.

You are sitting behind the Night Guard Desk. In front of you above the open doorway is another banner. It says LEVEL 1.

Looking behind you, you see that the TO THE BOSS ROOM banner is still there as well.

"Okay...Aqua, you alright? Aqua? Samus?" you ask, but the griffon and mare are nowhere in sight.

"Alright, think Bugze think, what happened? You came in here, ate pizza, the banner came down and, oh right, I WAS DRUGGED AGAIN!"
You facehoof over how often this happens to you. In facehoofing though, you knock loose a cap that was resting on your red hat. Looking down, you see you are wearing a security guard uniform over your Crimson Vengeance outfit.

"The Buck?"

Awww, isn't that adorable...

You jump at her sudden voice, but you quickly ask.

Selena! What the hay's going on? Where's Aqua and Samus?

You should, like...totally wear this shirt more often, it compliments your eyes... comes her warbled response

What?

Oh wow this bed is sooooo comfortable...you always give me the nicest things...

Oh Dear Luna, Are you on the sauce again?! you think in panic.

Heheheh, that's right buggy bug boy...and it was in the pizza sauce, teehee... she druggily says.

"Oh no, not again!" you grumble holding your face, as you remember the two days of her last trip.

Hey, hey, hey...listen. I'll allllways take the drugs for you. Always. That's how much I care...oooooooo....shiny.

Before you can respond back, the phone suddenly rings, nearly giving you a heart attack. It rings twice, before the machine picks it up. And when it does, a very familiar voice comes from it.

"Hello? Hello? Is this on?...Well If you're hearing this, then that means you've woken up Mr. Crimson Vengeance. Yes we know who you are. We kind of noticed that our partners in Baltimare kind of got captured by a scary looking bounty hunter, that's not gonna look good on the income sheets."

You sweat nervously at this.

"And well, you asking all those questions did make me suspicious. But anyway, there have also been reports that you're after Crimson Knights, and that Kichi is your next target. And well, that doesn't sit too well with me, what with that being MY name and all."

Your eyes widen at that.

"That Purple Guy was Kichi!!!"

"Now you may be asking, why in the world is a Crimson Knight Leader posing as a security guard? Well, I like being close to my supply of Video Game memorabilia, so do all the foals. Also, since I practically buy everything the mafia has, I in turn have free run of this place as my own little HQ. I don't even think the other Knights have their own HQ, and if they do, it's probably not as cool and Videogamey as mine."

"He was right under my bucking nose," you chide yourself.

"But anyway Mr. Bounty Hunter, you've probably got a million other questions about what the buck is going on. Let me answer a few of them. First of all, you're in my house now and you're going to be playing a little game. I mean, you did take down the Cattle Rustlers, and the Extra Lives by yourself, so this should be fun. Past this Manager's Office Door is the boss room where I and my VG Mafia friends will be waiting. The water bender and your prisoner are here waiting as well. And no, they are not in another tower, they are right here I promise."

"As if I could trust your word cultist," you chide the phone.

"In order to get past the door, you'll need three keys. And no, you can't knock the door or walls down, and the locks are unpickable. Besides only a cheater would even try something like that, and we don't like cheaters. There are three hidden challenge rooms within this building, each is full of videogame goodness. Pass the challenges, get the keys, and face me. Simple enough right?"

What a soothing voice he has...Selena mumbles drugily. You snort and start to get up off your chair.

"Oh and one more thing," the voice over the speaker says again causing you to freeze. "Freddy and his friends like to roam the building starting at Midnight, and believe me, you do not want them getting a hold of you. Even if you break them, they kind of don't stay down. Anyway, food for thought. So watch those corners, survive the animatronics, find the three challenge rooms and face us. Also, you only have till 6:00 AM or it's Game Over. So...Good Luck with that."

And with that, the recorded message clicks off.

"I've only got till 6:00? Well what time is it now?" you ask aloud. Just then a clock chimes. You look behind you and see the Clock reads 12:00 AM.

Down the hallway in the restauraunt, you suddenly hear a deep haunting chortle of laughter.

You review your situation. You have 6 Hours to complete 3 Hidden Challenges to face a Crimson Knight in a building with evil Animatronics. Your allies are captured, and Selena is drugged up to her eyeballs.

"I'm gonna bucking die..." you mutter.

Yay! To Adventure! Selena shouts in drugged glee.

WHAT DO YOU DO?

Author's Note:

Are you all ready....for Freddy!? (couldn't help it, sorry)

Sorry for the delay on this episode, BrownDog had to do his job and I had to plan a surprise birthday part for my aunt.

So now it begins! The very first Crimson Knight Leader hunt! Now as it was explained Bugze (you) are goanna have go through a few 'level's to get your friends back, as well as find the leader! So the rules for this arc are as shown:

1. No Outing Bugze as Hooded Offender. Kichi only thinks he's a bounty hunter looking to make a buck.
2. The Nightmare Cloak is on the fritz due to drugs. But Bugze does have other skills.
3. No Killing, for Obvious Reasons.
4. Have fun.

That's all you guys need to follow, so besides that have fun and go reference crazy!

Here is the ever useful StrawPoll to decide this seasons Outro! Voting ends March 11, so get votes in before it's too late!

VOTE HERE!

See you all next week! This is DWC, signing off!

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