Act I - Ch. 5 Everfree Bound
Here it is, the fifth chapter! Only three more and this’ll have more chapters then the longest fanfic I’ve kept on working on. Will be in Act II by then, of course.
You know, its hard for me to not work to make each chapter close to the same size or bigger than the last. I blame you guys and your blasted positive comments.
Curse you and your enjoying of my work!....not that I don’t want you to keep it all up, of course.
Annoyingly enough my beta-reader was going to start beta-reading the story with this chapter, at least I assume she was since she always says yes but sadly only a few hours ago i got an email from her that she was sick and fairly unwell, with a chance of unconsciousness involved so I decided to wait until the next chapter was done before asking her to start beta-reading Justice Itself. Don't worry, I made sure to actually proof-read it on here after having a half-an-hour break so I could read it in a somewhat different format not immediately after having written the last 3000 or so words so it should be better than usual.
*
Tyrael watched Fluttershy vanish from sight and let out a sigh of relief. She was safe and would be able to warn Ponyville that something was going on.
The growls of the timber wolves drew his attention back as they circled, ready for the pounce.
“I doubt Ponyville could fight beasts like you in any great number.” He told them, stretching. Rainbow Dash had insisted he go through some before their practice, and now he was thankful she had explained why. Muscles were really a rather inefficient system compared to what he used to be, but he would make do.
“I will have to end your threat myself.”
In answer the timber wolves howled and, as one, leapt. They came crashing through the air, saliva dripping from their maws.
Tyrael waited until it seemed almost too late before he moved, jumping beneath one’s snapping jaws much like he had at the beginning of the fight. He ran under its stomach and put his weight on his forehooves. His considerable muscles tensed and he unleashed a buck into its chest.
The feeling of power that had come when he had struck them before did not come, and while he had clearly broken the surface layer the dark root was quickly binding the wound.
With a curse Tyrael realised that whatever power he had been able to marshal had exhausted itself. It was the only explanation he could think of right now. He had struck the beast with enough force, at least, to cause it to stagger into its kin and much chaos ensued.
“By the Courts of Justice.” He hissed aloud. If he couldn’t truly wound them yet, there was only one choice. A choice Imperius had always been loath to accept, but sometimes it was the only way.
He ran, bounding his way through the forest. The timber wolves milled behind him in confusion, having lost track of the pegasus as they scrambled against each other. If they were anything like the lupine creatures he had seen before, however....
Howls filled the forest around him and already Tyrael could hear the monsters forcing their way through in pursuit. He grit his teeth, knowing he was only buying time.
‘I need to lose them, or remove them for a time.’ he thought. His hooves dug into the dirt and mud as he ran, galloping as fast as he could. His legs moved, and Tyrael was thankful the Princesses had at least ensured he could use his shell properly without having to spend time relearning how to walk and run.
The howls were getting closer. For all the obvious advantage an equine form granted for running, the timber wolves were in their home ground and knew the terrain. ‘One way or another they cannot follow me to Zecora’s. She is either in trouble and bringing four more will not improve matters or she is fine and I will be bringing a pack of monsters to her home. I will accept neither outcome.’
‘I need to be faster. I need to reach Zecora. I need to fly!’ he roared inside. Zecora’s life hung in the balance. Tyrael could feel it. Whether it was his angelic nature, some supernatural quirk of Equestria or his blasted subconscious actually being of use for once Tyrael knew not.
A snarling wooden visage flashed between vines and branches to his right. Tyrael ducked to the left, hooves churning. Another timber wolf barked from the left and he altered his path again. They were clearly already around him, Tyrael realised. ‘So why do they not attack?’
The foliage to his right was slashed away ahead of him and the blackened skull of the revived timber wolf burst towards him. It was slow, and Tyrael easily evaded it by changing his direction slightly.
‘They’re herding me!’ Tyrael realised, and experienced a moment of supreme indignity. ‘Like some kind of...livestock!’
There are few words capable of describing the feelings of an ancient being capable of waging war on the very masters of Hell when it found itself being treated in a very real sense like a herd animal.
Humiliation is a good one though, as is rage.
“They’ll pay for this.” He hissed aloud in a moment of uncharacteristic darkness, hoping they would hear him and some part of their animal brains would understand the threat.
‘But why?’ he pondered, growing more worried. They could strike at him at any moment if they chose to, for he was certain such creatures would believe themselves superior. Tyrael himself was confident he could defeat two of them even in his current state. But if they could all regenerate with the aid of the black roots any conflict would be pointless. He would tire himself until at last they could strike.
He had to do something! The roots must have a limit to their ability to revive timber wolves, he simply needed to find how far they could go. A large rock, its tip coming to a blunt point as it sat in the dirt came into sight and a plan formed.
The next time a timber wolf exposed itself to correct his path when he tried to vary his path at the rock, it found nothing where a moment ago the pegasus had been. It had a moment to sniff before something hard came crashing down on its skull.
In a single moment, as the foliage blocked the timber wolf’s sight as it burst out, Tyrael had jumped and now he brought his full weight down on its head. The wooden jaw slammed into the rock. Tyrael didn’t pause to see how damaged it was. He repeated the attack.
He jumped and fell back down time and again. Each time the skull was slowly cracked and any roots that scrambled forth to knit the pieces together were mashed. After a few seconds he felt the skull give way and under twenty later the innards of the timber wolf’s head had been quite literally pulped.
Coming to a conclusion, Tyrael finally looked down when he felt nothing solid beneath his hind-hooves. The body twitched, something he could feel quite well since his hooves were inside the remains of its skull. Whatever served the beast as a brain coated Tyrael’s hooves in an ugly mash.
Even the roots had ceased attempts to repair the damage. He had been unsure if the creatures were undead before. For whatever reason, many such things required a head to focus the energies animating them. If the root also required its host to have a functioning brain or if it was undead, the timber wolf was dead.
There were, however, three more and the howls they unleashed certainly attested to that. Tyrael knew he was lucky to have this much time so far. He couldn’t imagine what had held them back but he was glad for it.
One came barrelling towards him, snarling furiously. Unlike its unfortunate kin it held back from leaping at the dangerous pony. Its paw slashed out, wooden claws tearing through the air.
Tyrael evaded, jumping off the corpse and hitting the ground on all four hooves. The timber wolf bashed the corpse when it missed and pulped brain leaked onto the ground.
Another timber wolf appeared jaws wide open from his left. Tyrael’s ducked, legs splaying out and the wolf went over him. Its neck exposed he wasted no time in ramming his head into its throat. A strangled yelp managed to work its way out of the beast’s mouth. Its chest, Tyrael realised, bore a tightened binding of dark roots.
The last of the pack made no appearance, but the one which had attempted to slash him with its paw was still present.
Tyrael cast his eye about, searching. Through a gap in the plant-life he saw a hill which sported half a dozen tall pillar-like stones arranged in a rough circle at the top. He had no idea why they were there, but he wasn’t about to challenge such good fortune.
He shot away, racing between the legs of the massive timber wolf as it hacked up a lung, although it was probably too much to hope for that to actually happen. Vines and branches were simply shouldered out of the way as Tyrael tore a path to the hill. He put everything he could into the effort, teeth gritting and ignoring the annoyance of thin, sharp branches leaving long scratches down his flank.
The angelic pegasus reached the base of the hill before the monsters were halfway to him. In his desperate dash the faint glow of power trickling into his legs had been missed, once again lost trying to force its way through the wall of unconscious urges and feelings of a living body.
The timber wolves were seconds later at the base of the hill. They snarled, watching the top of the hill carefully. The pegasus was not to be seen, concealed by one of the stones so with a growl the beast which still sounded like it had been punched – or headbutted in this case – in the throat began to scale the hill.
Tyrael smirked, ears monitoring the sounds.
‘Now!’
His hind-hooves, resting flat against the stone pillar facing the direction the timber wolves emerged, pushed.
The timber wolf redoubled its speed, keen hearing picking up the grunt of exertion from what it thought was it prey. It bounded up, jaw open wide as it approached the stone obviously hiding the pony-
Tyrael took a deep breath and rammed his hooves with every ounce of strength in his body. This time he felt it, a surge of familiar energy rushing into his shell.
-moving far too fast to alter its course as the pillar came tumbling down on it. The sound of wood splintering under immense weight filled the forest. Pillar and corpse skidded down the hill, leaving a trail of something like tree-sap in its wake.
Intending to focus on the third foe, Tyrael’s focus was torn away by a sound bound to always get his attention – a scream. His head jerked in the direction of the sound. Three voices, one remotely familiar , screamed with renewed strength when a terrifying howl joined them.
The last of the Wolves came from Tyrael’s right. A moment of indecision would have left him open, taken his only chance to react, had he needed to decide between fighting his own foe or going in the direction of the screams.
The Wolf missed as Tyrael bolted between the stone columns towards the screams. It let out an enraged snarl but even as it took off after him it was futile.
White light burned from his now glowing hooves. He thundered through the forest like a lightning storm given form. No plant stopped him, vines that tried to catch on his wings or head were ripped apart and the earth itself seemed to give way to his will, loose dirt failing to cause him to stumble.
Tyrael erupted from the forest. The thickly rooted skull of the undead timber wolf stood, only several feet away from the edge of a cliff overlooking a ravine.
Huddled together at the very edge three fillies stared with wide eyes at the monster slowly stalking towards them. No, Tyrael realised as he charged, staring past it, at him. One, he absently noted, was the orange-coated pegasus from the day before.
The Cutie Mark Crusaders would never forget this. Though the monster had ignored it, they had seen the strange white glow from the forest. They heard the sounds of something tearing through the forest, the slam of hooves moving with the speed and power of a train as the glow approached.
The image of the large pegasus, his hooves, wings and tail seemingly ablaze with white fire ramming into the timber wolf with such force as to throw it over their heads and into the ravine was etched into their memories.
He looked at them as though he hadn’t just thrown a creature at least three times his size off a cliff and asked “Are you alright?”
They stared at him, mouths agape. Scootaloo had told them about the impressive pegasus she had run into on the way to school and this morning learned he had been introduced to Applejack and Rarity as well. All three had been excited about a new pony in town to ask about his cutie mark.
Paladin frowned suddenly, much to their concern. “Should you not be in school?” he asked suspiciously.
That certainly got their attention away from his heroics. Before they could explain, or squee in glee at what he had just done, something dark appeared behind Tyrael.
Despite her later assertions, Scootaloo certainly did let out a high-pitched shriek of fright.
The timber wolf snarled in rage, gnashing its teeth in eagerness to kill the infuriating pony.
At least until he turned to face it.
White fire burned in every inch of Tyrael’s eyes. Without realising it his wings spread out just as they had done when he had shown them to Scootaloo. For a moment, just a moment, his wings almost seemed to vanish in a display of tendrils of white-blue fire.
“Begone.”
Power radiated in that word. If it is possible to speak a word perfectly, to convey its meaning to all the senses at once, how he spoke would have fit such a distinction. It was not simply a command, not a demand. He was not merely telling the timber wolf to leave, to flee. He was making a statement.
It wasn’t an order.
It was a fact.
The timber wolf fled, impossible terror coursing through it. Even the blackened root digging into its brain screaming with a voice from a nightmare could not overpower the sheer force of its terror.
The girls stared at their saviour with awe.
Their saviour said, certainty in his voice, “You should be in school.”
*
It took several minutes to calm the CMC down, primarily because they were screaming again. Not in terror but in elation, even if none of them knew that word.
“That was sooooo cool!” squealed Scootaloo.
Applebloom was practically bouncing. “Yer even stronger than Big Macintosh! An’ yer not even an earth pony!”
“Wow.” Repeated Sweetie Belle for the eighteenth time.
Paladin still wore his frown, though the Crusaders certainly felt their excu- reason was a perfectly good one. Their teacher was sick and, naturally, their first thought was to help her get better. Denouncing nutritious soup as uncreative and unhelpful the trio of determined fillies had resolved that clearly the next best thing was to travel into the dangerous Everfree and ask Zecora for a cure.
He was still unsure how they had gotten lost, but it seemed to involve Scootaloo underestimating the thickness of a branch she had tried to break to draw something in the dirt, a tumble down a hill and what generally happens when three children with more energy than navigational skill wanted to get somewhere fast.
“We weren’t lost.” Explained Sweetie Belle. “We were, uh Rarity told it was...oh yeah! ‘Geographically confused’!” She smiled proudly.
Scootaloo made a raspberry. “You’re such a dictionary.”
“Yeah? Well you’re a thesaurus!” Sweetie Belle snapped back.
“Hah, I don’t even know what that means!”
Paladin lifted a hoof to prematurely end the argument.
“This is not the time for arguments! You are all in danger here.” He told them sternly. “Can you find your own way o- no.” He cut himself off, a scowl developing. “No, I can’t let you go alone...damnation.”
“Uh, Mistah Paladin?” Applebloom ask cautiously. “Ain’t ya already sent the timber wolves runnin’?”
“Yeah, with your awesome magic fire! Seriously, how did you do that? It was sooo cool, maybe even as cool as Rainbow Dash!” this, perhaps predictably, came from Scootaloo. “Can you teach me?”
“No.” Paladin shot the idea down right away. He gave them a serious look. “I need the three of you to promise me you will not reveal what happened to anypony, is that clear? The...fire is something of a secret.”
The girls exchanged glances and backed away into a huddle. Every few seconds one would look up at him with a suscipous expression to make sure he wasn’t listening in.
“He seems pretty serious about it.”
“It must be important! I think Applejack an’ Big Mac would want me to promise him. He did save us, afta all.”
“I dunno, I think we can get something out of it. You know girls, what we haven’t been able to get so far...”
“Are ya sure?”
“Yeah Scootaloo, we really shouldn’t be so mean. How could he possibly find one?”
“Come on, he’s a grown-up! It’ll be easy for him!”
Since they were still only about two feet away it was hard not to overhear.
Finally they turned back to look at the large pegasus. He stared back without expression.
“We’ll keep it a secret if you promise us one thing.” Scootaloo said, confident in her plan. Her friends looked a tad less secure.
Paladin cocked an eyebrow at them. “Indeed?” he rumbled. “And what might this condition be?”
“Help us find another CUTIE MARK CRUSADER!” they screamed together with unrelenting force.
“What?” his tone was flat as he stared at them.
“Well, ya see Mistah Paladin, we were readin’ at school the other day about how ponies who only let in just boys or girls are bad.” Began Applebloom.
“We realised we're all girls, and there aren’t any boys in the Cutie Mark Crusaders!” Sweetie Belle took over.
“It would be uncool to be bad ponies, so we decided to find a colt who wants to be a Crusader!” added Scootaloo.
He sighed. “And why do you require my aid?”
All three adopted expressions of disappointment.
“Nopony wants to join!” cried Sweetie Belle despondently.
“So we want you to help us find somepony who will! A colt!” Scootaloo finished. “Deal?” the three now smiled endearingly at Paladin with all their concentrated cuteness. In truth it had little to no effect but the result was the same either way.
“Very well.” He sighed, knowing this was going to turn out to be distracting in the future. Of course, neither he nor Zecora had time for him to argue with them. He turned his back to them. “Get on.”
“Huh?”
“Please get on.” He repeated impatiently. “We need to go, quickly. I cannot leave you here on your own and I must get to Zecora soon.” Tyrael had no wish to take them closer to possible danger but at least with him they would be where he could protect them. Left on their own there was no telling what might happen.
“We ain’t lost! We’re just a little...uh...” Applebloom’s eyes darted around, searching for inspiration.
“The Everfree is dangerous. I must insist. The peril of leaving you on your own here is too great even if you knew how to get back to Ponyville.” When they still hesitated, he sighed. “Zecora may be in danger. Now come. You may be children but there is only so much I will put up with.”
Tyrael didn’t actually know what he would do if they continued to protest since it wasn’t like he could just carry them. Hands were, he now realised, a luxury ill-appreciated.
Much to his unknown fortune, Tyrael’s warning concerning Zecora was enough to make the Crusders ignore the ‘children’ part...for now.
“Zecora’s in danger?” Applebloom asked disbelievingly.
He nodded. “Yes, and we must hurry or she might-”
Before he could finish the three fillies had bounded up, crowding the large pony’s back. Breathing his thanks quietly, Tyrael waited until they had settled between his wings.
With that done, he began to head towards Zecora’s hut, forcing his way through the forest. His angelic power lurked closer to the surface then ever. The only reason he could think of was that somehow, acting according to his nature had spurred its growth on. With the way it was going, he would be strong enough to depart in a matter of days.
As Tyrael raced through the Everfree Forest, it never occurred to him to wonder how he knew which direction Zecora’s hut was in when he knew less about the area than the fillies on his back. He simply knew it with the certainty all Angels are born with. Who they are. What they are.
*
Meanwhile, five mares comforted their teary-eyed friend.
“Fluttershy, take it slowly. Let me just clarify, okay?” Twilight gently murmured, supporting her friend physically and emotionally. She nodded at the others. “You were on your way back from Zecora’s with Paladin, who came along because he had heard that there were dangerous creatures in the Everfree Forest.”
“Yes!” the pegasus said with surprising force. She looked at them pleadingly. “Please, we have to go and help! Oh, I shouldn’t have left him alone, he might be hurt or-” she cut herself off, shaking fiercely.
They exchanged looks of concern. Whatever had happened, it was clearly bad. As much as she hated not doing anything, Twilight knew that they would be no help if they ran heedlessly into the Everfree without a clear idea of what was going on.
Rainbow Dash slung a foreleg over Fluttershy and pulled her close. “Don’t you worry, ‘Shy! Everything’ll be fine, trust me. Paladin looks like a stallion who can look after himself. I bet we’ll find him and he’ll be a-ok.” She forced a smirk of confidence onto her face.
“R-really?” Fluttershy whispered quietly.
“Of course! He’s one of the coolest colts I’ve met, and this is me talking!” Rainbow Dash assured her. “So you tell what happened, we go find Paladin and then we kick the butt of whoever made trouble for you guys! Simple as that.”
A weak smile made its way onto Fluttershy’s face. “O-ok.” She sniffed. “W-we were about halfway back when Paladin said we were being followed. We g-got to the small clearing on the path and t-they surrounded us.” Momentarily overcome by the memory of the abnormally large, vicious timber wolves circling them Fluttershy buried her face in her hooves.
Rubbing her friend’s back, Rainbow Dash vowed to make the monsters responsible for doing this pay. Similar thoughts were running through the heads of the others no doubt. Pinkie’s hair seemed on the verge of collapsing, Applejack’s hind-legs were twitching with the impulse to buck something senseless and Rarity was having what she might call ‘elegantly dark thoughts’ accompanied by a tightening of expression.
Taking a deep breath after a few seconds, Fluttershy forced herself onward.
“H-He fought them. It was v-very brave of him. Paladin hurt two of them bad, but they were...the roots fixed them.” She whimpered at the memory of the bizarre roots knitting the monsters back together.
Her friends exchanged another look, this time of confusion. “Roots?” Twilight asked carefully. “You mean, like tree roots?”
Fluttershy nodded. “They w-were black, and horrible. T-they pulled the bits Paladin broke back together.” She suddenly squeaked. “Oh no! I forgot!” With that she dived for her saddlebags where they had been placed when she arrived in a distressed state of panic.
They stared at her, a little shocked at the change in her manner.
“Aw, sugercube? Whatcha need so badly? I thought this was urge-” Applejack began to ask.
“I found it!” Fluttershy pulled away from the saddlebags, relieved that the clay vessel had been jostled deeper into the bag instead of falling out. She rushed to show it to Twilight. “Zecora gave me this! She wanted you to have a look at it. It’s a piece of the black root.”
“The same one you saw infesting the timber wolves? How in Equestria did she get some?” pondered Twilight, already levitating the container over. “Spike! Get my herbology gear!” she called out, receiving a shout of confirmation from the basement.
In short order Spike emerged, a tad dust covered but with a complex set of various tools.
“Keep talking, sugarcube.” Applejack reminded Fluttershy.
“T-that’s all r-really.” The pegasus shrugged. “P-Paladin told me to hurry back and tell you something was wrong. He...he said Zecora might be in trouble!”
Rainbow Dash took to the air, fire in her eyes. “That’s it! Let’s get going and kick their flank!” she shouted, only to be suddenly tugged back down.
Spitting out her friend’s tail, Applejack wasted no time. “RD, hold on a minute. We can’t just go runnin’ in without a plan. Like ya'll said, Paladin can look after himself and hearing what Fluttershy told us he was able to beat two of them timber wolves.”
“Pfft-” the pegasus snorted, obviously not convinced.
“Applejack has a point, darling. From the sound of it Paladin is a most capable pony, and a gentlecolt. Let Twilight find out what this nasty little root is before we all go rushing off.” Rarity added, placing a calming hoof on Rainbow’s shoulder.
“Fiiiiiine.” In what was definitely not a whine, Rainbow Dash moved to rest atop one of the bookshelves. “Twilight can get her egghead on, but I’m not waiting forever!”
“Want some cheese with your whine?” Spike muttered under his breath as he helped his carer.
Dash’s ear twitched and she looked down at him. “What was that?” she asked with a forced grin.
“Uh, want some...bees?” Spike gulped. “Uh, yeah, bee’s honey I meant. You know, in case anypony’s hungry. Can’t go off saving the day on an empty stomach.” He finished with the least convincing smile of innocence seen outside the Cutie Mark Crusaders.
Ignoring the banter going on, Twilight upended the clay container on a small glass tray. An inch long piece of some root fell out. Bringing up a magnifying glass, she studied the piece of vegetation closely. Its surface looked twisted, like the skin had been rotated over and over again. One end tapered to a point, the other torn from where Zecora had no doubt removed it. A number of tools began to float around her, notably a scalpel.
“The inside seems to be pale purple in col- Spike, stop playing with Rainbow Dash and write this down – the inside seems to be pale purple in colour. Surface bears a strange, twisted skin. Colour is pitch black. Despite being removed from the main body it still looks to be moist after cutting into the flesh of the root. Note: ask Zecora when she acquired the sample, end note. The surface of the tear and the skin are both dry.”
The rest of the room fell silent as Twilight’s inspection went on, the only sounds Spike’s pencil scribbling away and Twilight’ quiet dictation.
“Beginning magical analysis.” Her horn lit up. Her friends gathered behind her in the middle of the room, hoping she was nearly done. “The root has trace amounts of some kind of magical energy!” she exclaimed a moment after her power encapsulated the root.
“Ohh, a magical root! I wonder if its like the Poison Joke.” Pinkie spoke up, clapping her hooves.
“Pinkie, it was infesting timber wolves who attacked Fluttershy.” Rainbow Dash reminded her. “At least the Poison Joke wasn’t being, y’know, evil.”
“Ohhh, I suppose so.” The disappointed party pony fell back into silence.
Twilight’s brow furrowed in concentration. “It-its resisting my magic!” she cried, eyes shutting as she began to truly dedicate all her mental functions to it.
Her horn burned with brighter light and the shade of magic around the root flickered and intensified. Power poured, unseen, from horn to root.
‘How can it be resisting my spell?’ Twilight wondered. This was more magic then she had to use for something as simple as picking up arcane energy in a plant. ‘To prevent me from getting a more accurate reading it has to be able to match the energy of my spell. I can almost imagine the piece having enough left from when it was whole to resist the original spell, but I’ve put far too much magic into the spell now for it to resist. It can’t have enough power in that little piece to hold me off like it is!’
Sweat was starting to run down her forehead, trickling down her face. Absently she noted with pleasure when a small familiar hand began to mop it up. Spike was always doing his best to help, even if all he could do was just jogging in spot with a worried expression and a sponge.
The rest of the room became background sound. Every thought narrowed in on the root. ‘Okay Twilight, think this through just like Celestia taught you. Unless the root is much more powerful then I could have possibly imagined it to be it can’t hold the power to still be stopping me. If it was that magically strong I would have detected it long ago, especially if it’s part of a larger entity. Improbable on the verge of impossible. So, what else could it be....ah ha!’
“It’s still connected!” she said aloud. “The root is still connected to whatever its parent is.” Ignoring her friend’s questions, Twilight settled back into her mental analysis. ‘It doesn’t need a physical connection. That’s how it has the power to resist me. But it can only get so much magic from its parent in a limited amount of time, so I just have to overwhelm it all at once!’
Twilight took a deep breath and began to summon up nearly twice as much power. She let it build, like water behind a dam. At last, after a minute of focus, she unleashed the pent-up power.
The magic slammed into the root and for a moment she feared the amount of energy would simply incinerate the root.
In many ways, that would have been a much preferable choice.
‘Success!’ thought Twilight, the resistance vanishing in an instant. A smile started to grow before she realised something was wrong. ‘What the hay? I’m not getting any readings but my magic is being used...oh no!’
Dread filled the scholarly pony. It was absorbing her magic! Her mind cut off the flow of power but it was too late. The glow of Twilight’s magic faded, but a sickening dark purple mist began to pour from the torn root.
“Everypony get back!” Twilight shouted. “It absorbed my magic! Spike, burn it!”
It took Spike a few seconds to realise she had spoken to him. “What? But I thought-”
“Spike, there’s no time!” she pointed a hoof at the root. It was twitching and wriggling like a snake. “It can absorb magic so I can’t control it and its too dangerous for anypony to touch. You have to burn it now!”
Nodding frantically at her tone, Spike rushed over. He sucked in, chest puffing out, and spat a burst of non-magical fire onto the root. Twilight couldn’t help wincing at the loss of her tools but she wasn’t about to risk the root doing anything.
She shuddered. Something about the root had struck her as...wrong. In the moment when she was still in magical contact with the root as it began to feast upon her magic had conveyed a sickening feeling. It was almost as if the root had been...gleeful? That couldn’t be right. Despite her dismissal of the idea something about the power glutting itself on her magic had been strangely familiar.
“Twi’, what’in the hay was that about?” Applejack was quick to ask.
“Yeah! I mean, as cool as seeing Spike set stuff on fire is even I know not to do it indoors....again.” Added Rainbow Dash.
Twilight shook her head. “Paladin was right. There is something wrong about that root. There is no way in Equestria a root, not of any plant I’ve heard of, should be able to first resist my spell and then start to absorb my magic. That implies....” she trailed off, a light bulb going off.
“Darling, are you alright?” Rarity came over, checking her forehead temperature.
“I’m fine. The problem is, the only way the root could do anything like it was doing would be if-” Twilight was saying, only to be interrupted by Spike.
“Twilight! The root!”
All heads turned towards where Spike was pointing. The root, smoking but otherwise unharmed, was wriggling towards the edge of the table.
“No!” her horn began to glow and half a dozen heavy tomes went flying with intent to crush the root.
With sudden dexterity the root whipped around and evaded all but one book. The last struck it at an angle and the root was sent flying.
“No! Don’t let it touch the floor!” she cried, sending more objects flying at the root.
Rainbow Dash leapt through the air, hooves outstretched.
“Got it!” she exclaimed, a second before hitting the wall.
She slid to the ground, the root dropping from her hooves and bouncing across the floor. Like a worm going back underground, the root pressed into the wooden floor as though it was dirt and was quickly gone.
They all stared at the spot the root had dug into for a few seconds, not sure how to react.
Finally, Twilight’s brain kicked in. “Everypony out!”
“Huh?” was the general reply.
Except Pinkie, who had her eye pressed into the spot. “Where did you go, sneaky little root! You can run, but you can’t hide from Pinkie Pie! Even if you did just get eaten by the tree-house, I know you’re in there!”
“Pinkie, get away from there! The only way the root could have been acting like that was if...was if...if...” her jaw dropped and she stared past the rest, who were all looking at her.
“Uh, sugercube?” quired Applejack, “You wanna finish sayin’ that?”
Not speaking, Twilight pointed to what she was looking at. They all turned.
The door was barred, now bound by thick branches. Roots and branches grew out, shadowy black and reaching slowly towards them.
Looking around, the warm brown of the tree-house was darkening all around them. Branches began to close off the windows and every door out of the room was quickly being sealed.
Together, all six mares and the baby dragon came together in the middle of the room as they were surrounded.
“Twi, what’s goin’ on?” Applejack gulped, alarming not simply creeping but leaping and bounding into her voice.
“The root...something is controlling it, something with a mind. Its the only way it could react like that. It could control the timber wolves, and now its got into the tree.” Twilight’s horn briefly lit up, but it soon faded. “And I can’t even teleport us out now, its blocking my magic from reaching outside the tree.”
“Oh no oh no oh no oh no.” Fluttershy whimpered, pressing close to her friends.
“Pfft.” Rolling her eyes and stamping the ground Rainbow Dash snarled at the dark tendrils reaching for them. “Its just branches! I’ll show you how to deal with some stupid sticks!”
Before Twilight could call out for her to stop, the hasty pegasus was off. She shot at the branches, tearing through them. Snapping was off with a strike from one hoof, slamming her shoulder threw another, Rainbow began to destroy everything moving in sight.
“See? Its easy!” she called to the others smugly, crushing another branch underhoof. Rainbow Dash turned to her friends, smirk on her lips. “I-”
A branch lashed out, wrapping around her face and forming a gag through her mouth. At the same moment more roots began to bind her other limbs.
Rainbow Dash’s victorious words were forgotten in favour of panicked screams and thrashing about. Her legs kicked and her wings flapped wildly but the roots continued their work heedless of how many broke and snapped, new growth quickly replacing the lost.
“Rainbow!” her friends cried out in horrified stereo.
The roots tightened and Rainbow Dash’s muffled shouts were reduced to terrified whimpers. She could feel them, the roots growing along her fur all over her back. Entwining with her wings, tiny offshoots weaving between feathers. All ability to move was being taken away and this more than anything else terrified the weathermare.
Within seconds only her head was left visible but even so the roots kept any movement to a minimum.
Their friend stared straight at them, no longer able to even whimper. Her eyes were frozen too, but not by the roots. Horror and fear snaked its way through her mind and she couldn’t think.
‘I can’t move, I want to move, I can’t move, I want to move, I can’t move I can’t move!’ the single thought resonated through her mind. Unseen, a root pressed against the back of her skull and began to split open, glowing with dark magic.
The look in Rainbow Dash’s eyes had frozen her friends in shock, but Twilight still felt it. Magic.
“Girls, its using magic! It’s doing something to her!” Twilight didn’t waste time. Her mind cast about, and her mental grip on her magic strengthened. She might not be able to teleport them out, but so long as her magic didn’t touch the roots it could still help.
The root hidden behind Dash’s head pulsed with power and dark pleasure. It could feel the fear it was impressing on the mind of its captive. How fitting, that Loyalty’s love of freedom and movement was being amplified into fear of captivity and binding. That fear, though originally artificially forced into her mind had come to life and was now truly the pegasus’ own. Each thought, every moment of fear feed the root the power it would need to overwhelm her friends.
Hidden on the bookshelf, a group of several books bearing the title ‘Theories On Turnip Colouration” and the numerals I to VI came flying off. Twilight’s magic pulled them towards the groups dodging and weaving between snatching roots and branches.
Had roots not sprouted from the ground to enwrap the five ponies, they might have reached them.
“No!” Twilight struggled, knowing her friends were doing the same. She could hear Spike, ignored for some reason by the roots, crying out for her.
With a lurch each cocooned pony was shifted until they were suspended in a circle. Tears in his eyes, Spike began to resort to trying to burn the roots. His flame washed over the plants, doing nothing.
The books fell to the ground in the centre of the room, tumbling open to reveal the Elements concealed in their hollowed innards.
Outside, ponies slowed to a halt to stare at the now dead and blackened tree housing the library. Within ten minutes, Big Mac would be there attempting to force open the branches sealing every entrance shut, but it would do no good even if he had succeeded. Unicorns would pit their magic against the wood, achieving nothing as the power was siphoned away.
Already, the roots had begun to feed.
*
“Are we there yet?” whined one of the Cutie Mark Crusaders for what must have been close to the fiftieth time.
“No.” Answered Paladin stoically in exactly the same tone for what must have been close to the fiftieth time.
They had made a game of repeating the question in turn at rapid pace, throwing in the occasional ‘Are we not there yet?’ and simply changing the exact wording.
Each time Paladin had simply answered them, in turn, with a no. He did vary the routine to say yes when they reversed the question, much to the fillies’ disappointment. He had been unwilling to answer questions on where he was from or how he got his cutie mark as well, leaving the girls extremely bored.
Despite the lack of anymore timber wolves Paladin remained cautious. Simply because they couldn’t see anything out there didn’t mean there wasn’t, he had told them. To this Scootaloo had rolled her eyes and Sweetie Belle gasped and begun to peer into the shadows around them. Applebloom sighed at her friends actions...although she did keep an eye on the trees around them. Just in case.
They had found the path in short order and by the signs Tyrael was certain they were nearly there. Of mounting concern were the black roots. There were more and more infested trees around them as they went deeper into the Everfree. With each step he was growing more uneasy about bringing the girls with him, but what choice did he have? In the end, he would protect them regardless of what awaited him.
His hooves churning away, they finally came to the hut containing the only zebra in Ponyville. Even though she did live in the Everfree it was the opinion of the town that she most certainly was part of Ponyville.
“Zecora!” Tyrael called. “Are you there?” he paused a few feet from the door. There was no movement he could see, and nothing responded to him.
“Maybe she’s havin’ a nap?” Applebloom suggested quietly.
“What, in the middle of the day?” Scootaloo pointed out.
A frown appeared on Applebloom’s face. “What’s wrong with nappin’ in the middle of the day? Rainbow Dash does it all the time.”
“Well, yeah but...but that’s Rainbow Dash!”
“Girls.” Tyrael kept his voice quiet but firm. “Please get down.”
Silenced by the serious tone in his voice they complied without a word.
“I’m going to go in and get Zecora.” He told them. “Once I have her, we’ll all head back to Ponyville. You just have to wait out here. If anything happens, anything at all, shout. Especially those roots do anything. Alright?”
“Alright.” They chorused back at him with some reluctance.
Tyrael paid this no mind and simply nodded, trotting to the entrance to Zecora’s hut.
“Zecora?” he called again and once more received no answer.
Stepping through the entrance cautiously, Tyrael’s ear twitched at a rustle. The main room that dominated the structure was nearly the same save for a few items lying on the ground. He strode further in, past the bubbling cauldron that currently contained a green liquid that occasionally swirled on its own with yellow slashes of colour.
Somepony who had not been here before would have simply assumed Zecora was out. There was no sign of struggle, no blood or anything to suggest violence had taken place. But Tyrael knew battlefields, he knew the feeling of a place touched by conflict. He could feel it, his angelic senses reaching out to touch the impressions in the air. Desperation, determination, fear.
He could hear it though, a faint rustle coming from the small room on the far side of the central chamber. Rounding the entrance, he finally saw who he came to collect.
The fact she was cocooned in roots so tightly to be unable to even grunt was a downside. Her eyes were wide, and they were shouting warnings to her ill-fated saviour as he beheld her.
To the zebra’s shock, Paladin simply let a smirk he had been trying to hide come out.
Vines, gathering silently in the shadows around him, struck. They struck air, their target whirling on his back hooves a step away and rearing in a single movement. Aimed from above, where the roots had been concealed, they hit the ground with a moment to spare before Tyrael’s glowing hooves came falling down.
His fore-hooves fell, crushing the vines with ease. As his hooves came to touch the ground he put his weight forward and bucked. Luminescent hooves shattered Zecora’s binding and she fell, gasping for breath and in awe as the roots dissolved away.
“Zecora, come!” Paladin barked at her and she obeyed, leaping to her feet and following him. He moved impossibly swiftly, reacting to reaching vines and roots before they were more than an inch long out of the floor. Where Paladin left glowing hoof prints the now blackening wood would clear and nothing would raise to strike at them.
“Paladin, give me a moment! I require a brew most potent!” Ignoring the frustration on her rescuer’s face Zecora went for the cauldron. She noted with satisfaction that no roots had approached it and none tried to grow over it. With a swift movement a glass container was taken from the shelf next to it and dipped into the liquid.
Inside, Tyrael cursed as he defended the zebra from attack. He reared and struck with his forehooves to great effect. Roots gave way, tearing and falling limp as they lightened along their lengths. He had no idea what power gave the roots animation but clearly his holy might was cleansing at least some of the corruption.
In quick efficient movement Zecora filled another container and sealed both with corks. She threw a single light pair of saddlebags, little more than a bag on each end of a rope after stowing the containers.
“I have taken what I need, let us go before we bleed.” She said. Paladin grunted in response, and would likely have not responded had a trio of familiar screams pierced the air.
Alarm came to his features. “The girls!” he roared, all but stampeding out. With little choice but to try to keep close, Zecora followed. As she did so she grabbed a bundle of herbs in her mouth and tossed them in the cauldron. It hissed and bubbled, instantly turning completely yellow. Zecora kicked away the rocks circling the cauldron on her way out and heard it crashing to the ground and spilling its payload as she fled.
What she saw was shocking indeed.
A massive timber wolf, its body now largely held together by black roots such that it would fall apart without them, towered over the girls.
“Applebloom, Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle....” she gaped, unable to hide her surprise that Crusaders would be here of all places of all times. “What the hell?”
This would later cause a visit to Sweet Apple Acres and a sincere apology to Granny Smith, but it certainly felt worth it at that moment.
“Damned beast!” Paladin roared, charging at the monster. “You’ll die this time, I swear it by the Halls of Valour!”
Seeing its enemy, the timber wolf snarled and turned its attention away from the fillies. They scattered, fleeing to Zecora as the battle was joined between pegasus and undead.
Tyrael focused his whole attention on the beast, weaving between its paws as it tried to grasp him with its jaws. It was always a step behind, always a moment too slow to catch the evasive pony. Had this been any other enemy, it would have been swiftly dispatched.
Every time Tyrael struck, his power burnt away some of the roots and shattered the monster’s remaining natural body. Yet this creature had been infested by the dark root for far longer than Zecora’s hut, and the lost growth was rapidly replaced. The battle could go on forever, had Tyrael been what he truly was. Of course, if Tyrael had been in his full power he could have destroyed the beast with a single strike of El’druin and the matter would be done. As it was he was stuck in a living body and had all its weaknesses. Even enhanced by his rekindled angelic power, Tyrael’s shell could not last forever.
Zecora was no foal, and even as Paladin fought bravely with his mysterious power she could tell he was not going to win if he could not truly slay the beast. Her delay, however, had not been in vain and he was about see why. She comforted the girls even as she opened one of her bags.
“Hear me brave Paladin, I have the means to win!” she called, hefting one of the class containers. “Break open this upon it you must try, if you do it will surely die!”
Tyrael kept his concentration on the fight, waiting until there was a moment where his gaze would be directed at them as he crushed a hoof through its paw. He saw the zebra clutching one of the glass jars she had filled.
“You must do it!” he shouted back. “I will distract the beast, but I cannot handle such a thing with my hooves.”
She hesitated, seeing the truth of his words. But could she truly...? Zecora’s eyes narrowed and her features gained a determined cast. He had saved her, freeing her from her hunt when it had taken her with only time to thrash and struggle for a few seconds. She could do this in return.
Whether a spirit in mortal guise as she now suspected or merely wielder of some strange power he had helped her. He deserved anything she might be able to do for him.
Waiting until the timber wolf was turned away, Zecora took a deep breath. She took the jar in her mouth and prepared to run in.
“Zecora?” Applebloom looked at her, eyes wide with fright. “What are ya doin’?”
Much as she wanted to answer the filly who had resolved the town’s fear of her, all Zecora could do was smile around the jar and try to convey through her eyes that everything would be alright.
“Now!” Paladin’s voice roared over the sound of the beast snarling.
Zecora’s legs seemed to hear before the rest of her did and she was off. The timber wolf was facing away, swiping down at Paladin with its front paws. Since the beginning of the fight it had become even more root-covered, covered in a lumpy surface of black roots almost across every inch of it.
With either surprising daring or stunning idiocy, Zecora leapt up onto its back when it fell, right leg torn away for the third time in a single day and the second time in the last few minutes. Stumbling as it swayed, she lifted her head and in a single movement threw the jar downwards.
In the scant seconds between the jar leaving her hooves and hitting the monster, it lurched backwards. Zecora was sent flying and as she hit the ground she feared the jar would miss and be lost.
Distantly the timber wolf felt something wet crunch against its shoulders but paid the feeling no mind. Not that it had much mind left, the black root replacing it with commands that were mostly now just the roots moving its broken body like a puppet. All that was left were the instincts of a predator, conserved for a single purpose.
It saw a pony as it turned, growling at the creature. It wasn’t managing to kill the glowing one, but this one would at least die before it could be saved. The timber wolf howled as it charged, jaws wide.
“Zecora!” the fillies cried out. Paladin gave a wordless roar, leaping forward in an attempt to get its attention.
She recoiled, lifting a hoof in a pointless defence. Zecora prayed her brew would work in time. At least, she thought, she wouldn’t find out if it didn’t.
After a few seconds of not being torn apart, Zecora lowered her hoof...and jumped in shock. A few inches away from her a set of stone fangs leered, unmoving.
Retreating a few steps, she looked into the shocked expressions of the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Paladin joined them, the light of his power fading, coming from behind the stoned timber wolf.
To their befuddled looks she simply pointed at her hut. “My brews work quite a treat; I don’t think they can be beat.”
“Wha...” Paladin looked past her, finally noticing what the fight had distracted him from. Zecora’s hut had become stone, just as the timber wolf had.
“I feared the root might be threats, so I crafted a potion to turn them to statuettes.” She explained.
Paladin considered this, eyeing the other saddlebag. “You have only one left then? The effect is permanent?”
She nodded, but was cut off before she could reply. “Do you have any idea where the root might be coming from?”
“Indeed, it lies deeper in the Everfree. To the heart you must go, but brave you must be.” She pointed,
Paladin took the saddlebags and threw it around his neck. “Then I will take the potion and cut out the heart of this corruption.” His expression darkened as he spoke.
“Aw, you can’t go alone!” Applebloom protested.
“She’s right! What if something happens?” added Sweetie Bellee.
“We want to come!” demanded Scootaloo.
“No.” He gave them a stern stare. “It is far too dangerous. Remain with Zecora inside until I return.”
To Zecora he said “Keep them inside. There may be more timber wolves, but so long as your home remains rock they will be unable to get to you. If you can, make more in case I do not succeed.”
She nodded, quietly leaning down to calm the Crusaders. With a little effort she herded them into the hut, glancing back to glimpse Paladin’s form as he vanished into the gloom of the forest. She bowed her head, praying to the spirits of the land to aid what surely must be their brother given mortal form.
Tyrael forced his way deeper into the forest, smashing aside the undergrowth as he did so. Though he didn’t know it, he was now in a race against time. Every step, every second, another drop of life was being drained from six mares.
Spike curled up in a ball, unable to bear the sight of the mare that raised him, who had been the closest thing to a mother he had ever had, paling sickeningly as her life was being eaten away. The little dragon hoped, hoped and prayed like he never had before, to anything that would listen.
* Chapter Fin. *
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Wow I'm starting to like this more and more
*beating his own head on the desk several times* WY.......THIS.......FIC......SO......... AWESOME!!!
CMC want a colt in their club....probably the best foursome, allegedly. They certainly sounded like that ok.
MEGA FLARE, USE MEGA FLARE
hah whelp it seems tyrial is gonna have some fun with this world after all. cant wait till his rage ends up incinerating his corporeal shell releasing the floodgates of light that consist of his soul.
These black roots kind of remind me of Baal's Festering Appendages.
Moooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooore.
Anyways, awesome chapter! Despite your lack of a beta, you only had a few minor errors scattered throughout. I hope Tyrael is able to take flight in the coming chapters! That'd be kickass for sure. Keep up the great work!
"Here it is, the fifth chapter! Only three more and this’ll have more chapters then the longest fanfic I’ve kept on working on. Will be in Act II by then, of course."
I found an error in the Author's Notes at the beginning. Prepare for maximum trolling:
'then' should be 'than' because you're comparing this fanfiction to another fanfiction, therefore it is a comparison, meriting 'than' and not 'then.'
As I've said before to many people: 'Then' is chronological (He bought a cake. THEN he bought a pie.) and 'than' is a comparison. (This chapter is longer THAN that chapter.)
You play the Dark Heresy games? Awesome, I just finished with a group that was doing that, we had a lot of fun running around as a bunch of Chaos marines blowing up everything in our ways.
anyways, awesome work!
I wonder though... wouldn't Parasprites love this new food-source?
Might be our only hope, Tyrael isn't fully powered yet...
I think if would be funny if Tyrael turned into an angel pony like the one on the fic's picture.
Sith wookie you say
Also, good chapter!
If he's a Paladin, he can just bubble hearth out of danger!
Oh, wait, wrong Blizzard game.
No, but seriously, this is some dark stuff. I'm in suspense!
830791
It's Baal! He came to Equestria too!
Black roots...
Baal?
It's correcting time!
his blasted subconscious actually being of use for one Tyrael knew not.
One should be changed to once fallowed by a comma.
Tyrael knew he lucky to have this much time so far.
A was belongs between he and lucky.
We were, uh Rarity told it was...oh yeah! ‘Geographically confused’!” she smiled proudly.
Exchanging told with said sounds smoother.
“We realised we all girls, and there aren’t any boys in the Cutie Mark Crusaders!”
Change the we to we're or add an are after we.
It took feel the fear it was impressing on the mind of its captive.
I'm not too sure how incorrect this is, but it feels like an of belongs between feel and the.
Much as she wanted to give the filly who had resolved the town’s fear of her,
Change the give to answer, otherwise you are not telling us what Zecora wanted to give her.
it lurked backwards
I think you meant lurched here, Lurked means to hide with the intent to ambush. Lurched mean to make abrupt, unsteady, uncontrolled movements.
831294
I don't know if it is him or not, these tendrils seem to be feeding of the Mane 6's terror. That's more of Diablo's realm, not Baal's
Unless the root is much more powerful then I could have it possibly could it can’t hold the power to still be stopping me.
"Unless the root has much more power than I could have imagined it possibly could, it can't hold the power to still be stopping me" as a
rewrite perhaps? guessing at intent here, but I tripped over this sentence kinda hard while reading
Keep up the good work
still thoroughly enjoying this story
The elements of harmony are all trapped, no one can free them, and the black roots seem to be some kinda demonic entity that followed Tyrael and now Equestria is in a LOT of danger.... The only thing I can say to this is...
a2.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/417168_342042932514875_100001275120449_981397_716797655_n.jpg
gaaaah the suspense!!!!
great work sir!
831474
Thanks once again for the pointing out, by coincidence most of those if not all were from when I was writing at about 2am. Good for story/plot, bad for grammar. Far too often I simply think further ahead then I'm typing and my fingers forget to type in certain words.
831997
Same as above, thanks for pointing it out.
830961
No no no no, author notes don't count! Funny thing is, it was originally the correct one but in a fit of paranoia fuelled by, well, Paranoia and it being about 3am when I was putting the chapter up.
832705
....
Are you sure it's not...
You know...
...a tra-
833055
Haha, happens to the best.
Congrats my good sir, you have succeeded in taking away what little of a life that I had before this Fic... You should feel proud...
Ah, who am I kidding, I LOVE HAVING NO LIFE! Please, do go on...
-Jorofrarie
832442
HAhaha dat face
don't play diablo but this character is awesome!!!
"A branch lashed out, wrapping around her face and forming a gag through her mouth. At the same moment more roots began to bind her other limbs."
i1.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/000/152/312/Ducreux%20Hentai.jpg
840259 Yeah, I did kind of realise that. I get the same feeling whenever I write the word buck. But hey, I decided to be above board and mature about it since its not actually nasty like that, its not like I'm writing clop or anything. There's really no right way to write about roots/vines gagging and tying someone up without resorting to being far too vague. The sentence "the roots tied her up" doesn't really seem up to standard and you can still twist it.
I mean, I did have to stop to giggle madly after I re-reading it but I can only be so mature at one time.
Still, I like the picture. Funny as buck.
I realize this is just a story and all, but I am genuinely scared right now. Actually picturing the Mane6 trapped like that and seeing them slowly dying is making me rage like Imperius right now.
"Begone mortal! You have no place in this conflict!"
Buck you Imperius! They're in trouble! It's fourth-wall breaking time! See you all on the flip side!
...Okay, I think I need to go to sleep soon.
this fits so well XD well at least i think it does
2122748 I reject you old song and substitute my own!
2378435 i can honestly say that that i can't put into words how awesome that was
6 moustaches out of 5 my good friend
The word WIN, which pretty much describes alot of things comes nowhere near describing that
God... dammit... I gotta work in the morning and I don't wanna leaaaavveeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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l2oqP779wb7R1Pxv3PL94TvA/Bx9H/o6+3pJ8em/vy92LVuLt7yfuYTqEVT13Knh5n8TfP1f60549vm/mAni34sSznHIqcRF8lMus3zZVzAN2LKRWJ9nZ1Cmd+O5LnGMqrfz22OXJIqNCyZ0qjtwNGVsWuQCVaOWLMiGHLHYo6SIBxyOZgbZLjwtXbJcHclwwtXudzA7kuGDRMx1SBXO3DD0XMdzAbkzCwaNmOZgWYlx4NGzHHIHmOXFg0S5Lg7kuGDRMxMwO5LjwaJmJmB3JcMGiZiXB3JcWDRcxMwK5Lhg0XMTMCuS4YNFzkzArkuPBq7Zy5W5Lhg1a525S5Lhg1e524O5Lhg1e524O5Lhg1e5aLBXLwYYNDZwhBpQhCDwIQhBBCEIAQhCDwIQhBBCEIAQhCAEIQgBCEIAQhCAEIQgBCEIAQhCAEIQgBCEIAQhCAEIQgBC8SEAP//Z This is suppost to be picture :(
I hate it when people do that. My parents in particular do it all the time. I'll shout stop (and I mean shout) and they'll just keep doing whatever they are doing while asking me "why?". I have nearly been badly injured several times due to this and yet they still do it every time. Twilight's friends just did the same thing and now look where it got them. Screwed.
Well, i figure that that is because...
[youtube=http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4F4qzPbcFiA]
I remember once playing the latter. We were about to fight a sith who was about halfway through his speech. One of the players was saying "oh
this!" He did a lightsaber chuck and rolled a 20.
Well, so much for the boss fight.
encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRvpdwdLCCSjfVnUMsqeQqEzio48PMYgqhBLk2h-jXr50iLu6Uc4Q
So... why hasn't the Celestia signal been deployed? That is to say, why has Spike not messaged Big C?
6068401 That's discussed next chapter.
The grim dark is good. Warhammer 40k, is one Hell of a good time.
Nothing is more hilarious then healing someone's wounds with psychic abilities, only for you to fail and summon daemons everywhere.
Star Wars dnd?!?!?!?!? Yesssssssssssss! I shall find this. I have only played normal dnd
The sheer amount of badassery contained within this is astounding.
9865055
Have you found this?