20 - Royal Decree
Roll looked around quickly as she gathered herself to her hooves. "Is everyone alright?"
A soft chorus of noises came in the affirmative as the group pulled itself together. The sounds of steps came before a panicked-looking servant turned the corner towards them and slowed fearfully. "Are you with the skull-masked thugs?"
Twilight shook her head at the scared pony. "No, of course not. Not a single mask among us. Can you point us towards the problem?"
"Where aren't they!?" she cried before composing herself and pointing back where she came. "I last left them tearing through some of the guest rooms. Just take a left and hug the wall and you'll find them, or go anywhere else and avoid them, which is what I plan to do."
True squeaked determinedly and thumped his small chest.
Morning gathered him up with her teeth and threw him onto her back. "As my small friend says, leave it to us."
Roll nodded to the servant. "We will advance. The way behind us is a dead end, you should be warned. If you sought escape, this is not the way."
"Figures..." She looked around with darting eyes. "Gods watch over you." She bolted down another hallway.
Recovered and ready, the rest of the group advanced where the servant had come from to hear the sounds of things breaking, and many ponies, one quite scared.
"I don't know where it is!" claimed a muffled stallion.
"Tell us," ordered a gruff male voice. "Your loyalty to your whore of a queen won't make it hurt any less."
Roll moved for the door that led to the voices with a nod to the rest of the group. Though she could have planned, it seemed action was what she intended.
Morning broke out into a sudden battle melody, singing of valor and protection of the weak.
Sunset and Twilight caught in place a moment, surprised at the energizing effect of the song, but Twilight recovered first. "Bard song, great! That'll help my blasts!"
"How does a song help with blasts?" questioned Sunset, but they were both advancing behind Roll. There was no time to answer the question.
Roll kicked the door open, making the ponies jump in surprise. There were six thugs in all, and one of the servants, a male, strapped down to a chair and squirming.
"We have company! Look like guests, rough 'em up!" ordered one of the thugs, pointing at the group. They drew short swords from their sides, except the one that had spoken, he had a sizable axe that he clenched between his teeth.
Roll was hardly unarmed after a moment, drawing the very pick she had won her way to freedom with from her side and charging straight forward to meet the two brave enough to advance on her. She brought down the dangerous pick, but a sword met it and his ally gave a quick swipe across her metallic front, making it spark as he dented her.
True hopped free of his friend and planted his bow as Twilight and Sunset shared a brief look and set the pony that attacked Roll in elemental agony.
That informed the thugs to their presence and the leader advanced with two of his cronies. "Wizards first." Neither of them were wizards, but arguing the point felt silly.
Morning advanced to meet them, but had no weapon. She lashed out with her hooves, each impacting with the force of a mace as her heavy crystalline body crashed into their fleshy ones. Her song did not pause even as they struck back, making her chip and bleed for her efforts.
With the distinctive twang of a released arrow, True lived up to his name as he sent one of the thugs staggering back with an arrow protruding from his side. "Damn..."
The leader shoved past Morning in time for Sunset to bind him with an invisible force to the ground beneath him, arresting him in place for Morning to crash a hoof into his side painfully, only for cold to slam into him from Twilight's shining horn. "They're organized, focus and take down!"
They gave up on pressing through to the spellcasters. They were pushing Morning back instead with quick swipes and increasing wounds. But this did little to stop Roll. Her claws deployed from her hooves and she pushed back with her pick, knocking the thug off balance in time for her to dig her claws painfully into his chest. He collapsed before her and the way was clear for her. "I am coming." She approached those on Morning like an angry steam engine, puffing that steam with every powerful step.
Morning knocked one into the path of the train and he barely got out a yelp as Roll drove down her pick into him, skewering him on the mining implement and leaving him twitching in agony before he slid free and collapsed.
The other thugs were losing their nerve and broke away, leaving the bound leader behind for the winning party to scowl at.
He threw down his axe with a spit. "Fine..."
Roll nodded at the one remaining. "A wise decision. Tell us who sent you."
Twilight advanced on the terrified pony, untying him with her magic quickly. "You're alright now. You may be safer staying in here, seeing as the whole castle is under attack."
"Whole castle?!" cried the freed servant as he staggered to his hooves. "Where are the guards?"
Sunset swiveled an ear. "I hear them fighting. We're here to help." She turned to Roll and Morning interrogating the leader of the skull thugs. "Learn anything?"
Roll shook her head. "He was given a list of ponies to not harass and paid to cause as much damage as possible. Beyond that is unknown."
The servant eyed the doors nervously. "I'll stay here if you don't mind."
Roll nodded as she knocked the leader over and they tied him up for the authorities later, along with the other injured thugs. "Affirmative. This is as safe a place for you as any."
Morning had ceased singing her battle song and ran her hoof over her worst wounds as she banished most of them away with a soft mixture of stories from long ago of heroes that withstood far worse and survived. "I thought I was done with this when I got the job to work here, but maybe not..."
True marched to the door and peeked outside before waving for the others to come, and they did. The hallway was empty save for the sounds of battle. They had little practical choice but to follow those sounds, of clashing ponies and ravaged furniture, towards other thugs.
They began to lay down a path of their own destruction as they smashed through the thugs. The invading force was large, but poorly organized, and they began to pick up guards as they went that were eager to help protect the castle.
"I admit I am a little shamed," spoke one of the guards. "You are a guest of the castle, you shouldn't have to fight."
Twilight shook her head. "You were surprised, just as we were. Let's focus on the task at ha--er, hoof and get this sorted out." She cast a self-conscious look at one of her hooves as she went.
The noise was settling down around them. The more they cleared the castle, the less noise there was to hear. As they marched down a hallway, a female voice rose to greet them. "Someone's coming, be ready to greet them!"
It was a familiar voice, and Roll responded, "Instructor Petals, we have arrived with support."
"Sun blind me." She came around the corner, one of her hooves in a sling from her own battle. "I knew you didn't need the academy training." She broke into a fit of laughter as she waved them forward awkwardly with one of her hooves not supporting her. "I sent forward one class to clear the east side for the queen while you mopped up the west side." She inclined her head, ear raising. "It's starting to sound almost peaceful in here. Glad you're on our side."
She broke off from Roll and the others to address the guards they brought with them and get them moving where they were needed before she turned back. "You're looking quite spry for fighting. One of you a healer?" She glanced from one to the other before settling on Morning, the one she didn't fight. "You, I wager."
Morning dipped her head towards the brightly-maned warrior. "A pleasure to meet you. Rosy Petals is it? Academy of Kind Blades?"
"My reputation precedes me." Rosy snorted softly. "In either event, you've more than helped. You should head home and let us take it from here."
Twilight shook her head. "Is the Queen safe? Can we see her?"
Rosy raised a brow. "She was evacuated when the attack began, but you aren't on the short list of need to know. If it makes you feel better, I'm not either and I know her first name." She snorted softly. "She won't be easily taken down though, so I'm not that worried for her." She waved a hoof at the banquet hall they found themselves in. "This is part of why she won't be helping with the short-legs, unfortunately."
Sunset pulled at Twilight. "This whole place is under siege, let's go before we get sucked up into it."
"Wait!" Twilight could see one door heading the opposite direction of hers. "Is that East?"
Rosy blinked at the question. "Yes?"
"Good!" She broke into a gallop suddenly, making a break for the door and the way she hoped would lead to the queen.
Rosy sat down so she had a hoof to spare to put it to her face. "Please gather up your friend. Wherever the queen has gone, it's almost certainly a secret passage and she isn't likely to find her."
True gave a salute even as he was picked up by Roll and the group followed after Twilight, who ignored their pleas to slow down or stop.
She muttered under her breath about where she'd hide a secret passage as she quickly moved through the hallway, glancing left and right and came to a rise in the hall that led to two guards in front of the closed door. "Excuse me, coming through!" But they moved to block her instead. "Hey!"
"We're sorry, but it's not safe to proceed at this time," reported the guard on the left.
The one on the right nodded in agreement. "We already let one group advance to their detriment."
"How bad could it be?"
They demonstrated by opening the double doors and revealing that the hallway that led to another set of opened doors was nothing but a pit. "We don't want you to be hurt, miss. You sh--" He trailed off as the others caught up and he looked them over. "None of you seem to be with the guards or the Academy, you should leave immediately for your own safety."
Twilight glanced to her friends approaching and backed up a little. "I guess we should..." She charged forward and jumped the pit, sailing through the air before she came down on the other side and toppled onto the carpet on the other side in a fit of gracelessness, but she had made it.
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In every reign a little life must fall. Or something like that. In any case, Iliana has her own problems right now, though it's going to take a lot more to dissuade Twilight. I just hope her friends can follow her.
Typos are an inevitable result of combat, but the story made it out of this one only lightly wounded:
Missing "is."
7351412 Fix'd! Can Twilight be dissuaded from adventure?!
Shouldn't that be True/Shot?
Sorry
7351449 He would be upset to be called simply 'Short'. Fixed!
*sigh* Twilight, Leeroy Jenkins is not one of the RPG tropes you should be following.
First couple level points have to be easier to pick up or youd never be able t do so.
Whats the name of that dungeon manual with all the things like a double sized pit full of spikes, the far side of which is a hidden pitfall and the cieling beam is a trigger for the roof to fall?
7351685 Grimtooth's Traps?
7351636 "What would a brave pony like Rainbow Dash do?"
7351685 I think it's the "Grimtooth's" series of trap books, dating back to the 80s.
Short hopped free - True hopped free
worst words - worst wounds
Thye had little - They had little
that lead to two - that led to two
*****
Great chapter, and I apologize for being behind in my proofreading.
I hope Twilight doesn't happen across a chandelier. The way she's acting she wouldn't be able to resist swinging from it.
7352311 Typos fixed! She's using her genre savvy!
7352179
Get into a back room cage match and get her wing ripped off...
7352655 So step one, find a scroll of Beast Shape.
I have a lot to say all of a sudden, so typos first:
and leaving him twitching (otherwise it sounds like Roll was twitching in agony)
is
Then comments:
Obligatory observation about talking with one's mouth full.
Arguing the minutia is a tactic Twilight's saving for emergencies.
Incidental side question: What color is crystal pony blood?
Heh, the PCs took all three potions. Losers.
I really, really hope you're going to flesh out the queen's hidey-hole story (really).
7353135 Typos fixed, gem ponies bleed red like other ponies, you may be happy to know.
7352205 Yep, a great read for a DM!
Yay, they're back!
...
DAM—
7352655 I get it!
images6.fanpop.com/image/photos/35000000/MLP-Memes-my-little-pony-friendship-is-magic-35005724-398-206.jpg
I like how this works. True shot originally had a functioning voicebox like anyone else, so he would usually be typically understandable. But i think this works just as well. While we and presumably the party have to strain to get what he's saying, he's emotive enough that you can infer what he's saying with just a few descriprtive gestures. It's seriously brilliant character writing!
She's determined; ya gotta give her that.