Stories in Stone
Capricorn's Curse
By TDR
Run like hell
[New Canterlot, eleven years ago, six years after the War of the Gods, a few weeks before Diamond Tiara was hospitalized]
Button Mash slowly lowered his Gamecolt and stared wide eyed at the white Unicorn filly before him. It had to be a trick, she couldn't have asked what he thought she just asked.
“What?!?” Button Mash managed to stammer in a rather unelequent and broken manner, his voice cracked a little as he did so and that annoyed him a lot for the first time.
“I asked if you wanted to go out Friday.....” Sweetiebelle said again, seeming a little flustered herself. She kept glancing back behind her at Scootaloo and Applebloom who were rather poorly trying to hide behind a bush and urge the white furred filly on at the same time.
Button stared at her a moment more, certain this was some sort of trap or joke, heck it might even be another attempt to get their cutiemarks, Scootaloo had her's but Sweetiebelle and Applebloom didn't yet. Still the Crusaders were not known for being cruel, and if this was a joke, it would be a cruel one by any ones standards.
He still didn't know how to take it though, it wasn't that long ago that the colts and filly's thought each other had the dreaded cooties. Now that that phase was passed by most of them, Sweetiebelle was considered by many to be the most attractive filly in the school. There were some who said one of the other fillys. Scootaloo and Silver Spoon had their own fan followings, the former was mostly Pipsqueak, but Button agreed with the ones interested in Sweetiebelle.
He never said anything about it of course, he never considered he would have a chance even if he did. Button was little more than a pudgy, antisocial colt, with maybe two or three good friends at best, and the social graces only slightly better than Rainbow Dash's. His grades were average at best and he did everything he could not to stand out at all from every pony else, even trading in his beanie a few years ago for a much simpler, though very much video game related, hat.
The crystals used in gaming had all but exploded in popularity lately, they had gone from massive things that could only fit in arcade cabinets to hoof held devices in barely two years. Most of it had to do with the return of the Crystal Empire, they could do things with crystals there that the ponies outside the empire had never heard of. And once the games got to hoof held sized Button wasn't interested in anything else.
Well at least until this moment. What to do, what to do.... What would Captain Clydesdale do in this situation? Probably punch something, no good. Doom colt? Shoot everything, also no good. Mario? He doubted Sweetiebelle would be thrilled if he started jumping on turtles. Space fox? Barrel rolls didn't help. Guess he had to wing it.
“Um... yeah okay.” He heard himself stammering.
Sweetiebelle turned a brighter shade of red before nodding and quickly backing off with a reminder of when to come pick her up on Friday.
Button stared after her, his game forgotten as he considered what he was supposed to do now.... really there was only one thing he could do, ask some one who might know......
His mom should be off work by the time he got home.
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[ Manehatten, current day, under the Storm Cloud and descending rapidly.]
Button blinked at the memory that came unbidden to his mind. That had been a very interesting date. His mom had helped him some, but her advice to be himself was garbage he had thought. Button had decided to treat the whole thing like a game that he was determined to win. Choosing the right speech dialogue, getting the button prompts for the QTEs to get Paragon correct. Sweetiebelle had seemed impressed with how he was acting, so he thought he did well. Of course things kinda steam rolled from that point. The other Crusaders had interrupted them, the girls got in a fight and he found out Sweetiebelle was only dating him on a dare from Scootaloo. He had not taken that well and stormed out of the restaurant galloping home.
He had thought that would be it. Maybe the girls would have a laugh at his expense at school Monday, though the thought of it didn't fill him with any real dread. He found out the best way to deal with bullies a long time ago was to either not to react if it was just words and offer a good punch in the nose if they made it physical. Given one of his friends was Pipsqueak and that tiny colt was known to actively hunt for bullies, he didn't expect it to go past just words, he could deal with those, no matter how much they hurt.
The shock of his life came as he was sitting there playing Combat frogs trying to vent and his mom told him Sweetiebelle had shown up at his house.
He almost asked him mom to tell her to go away, but something stopped him, he wasn't sure what , but he went down stairs to talk to her himself.
He wasn't nice to her, he interrupted her a lot, threw what she said back in her face a few times and made more than a few nasty jabs at her friends as well. He wasn't proud of it , but he didn't realize just how much what she did hurt him.
She stood there and took everything he had to say with out retort. After he finally calmed down some he could see she looked like he felt and he let her talk. It had been a dare, but she had picked him out of a sizable list of others mostly cause she didn't know anything about him past that he liked video games, wanted to be left alone usually and was friends with Paint Brush Lily and Pipsqueak. She was rather curious to know more and she did admit to liking him from the little bit she did learn on the date. The other two were not supposed to be there, but like most things with the Crusaders it got out of hoof.
At the end she offered him an invitation to a second date, she had tickets to some band he had never heard of that she got from her music teacher. He was hesitant to accept, though when he did finally she had kissed his cheek before running off.
To say that even changed his life was a bit of a understatement. That was the first time he saw his mentor. DJ Pon3 had been awesome beyond any description he could give. It was what got him interested in music, to see the blue haired mare playing music with technology was something he had never heard of before. Then there was the date itself, the second date had gone much better than the first, and the one after that and the one after that.
Button blinked, he supposed this was the whole 'life flashing before your eyes' thing that every one spoke of right before you died.
He was gonna die right?
Well he had fallen off the airship as it was soaring into the air, they were about thirty of forty stories up when he fell, well over the tops of the buildings, though he was much lower than that now.
Hmm, time to take stock. No long fall boots or portal gun, so that was out. His gear wasn't power armor so that wouldn't help him. There were no carts of hay below him and the water was a couple blocks away. He couldn't just press downward and land on a zombie for a insta kill either, all that was below him was sidewalk, Finch had turned the ship enough that they were over open street. He had already found out the Klopnami code didn't work in real life, and he didn't see any flagpoles to grab, so maybe he should think of more practical things?
None of those on the ship could help him, aside from the Changelings none of the crew could fly and he was past any ones range of magic even if they did get themselves untied before he hit the ground.
Bleu and Spike had just made a pass and as fast as they were, they were going the other way and likely didn't even know he fell. He hadn't seen any other fliers that were not zombies and he didn't see any one on the ground who might catch him.
Button sighed as he fell closer to the roadway, his armor was too top heavy around his chest and head, it was pulling him down like a weight head first towards the ground. He had heard of ponies falling from great heights and surviving, but not when they landed on their head.
While he was not one to accept a fate such as this the most he could do at the moment was flail, and there was little point of that. He know Sweetiebelle saw him fall, he rather wished she hadn't. His death was going to cause her all sorts of problems.
He himself felt he had more troubles than just plummeting to his death. He never managed to propose...
Well if he was still going to have his life flash before his eyes maybe he could get a few replays of all the times they made out, that might make it worth it, sorta.
Any further thought Button Mash had was cut short by the sudden stop.
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[ Tamberlane, outside the shield ]
Another explosion rocked the island. Jer'rahd cursed as he glanced through the molten slag falling around Celestia's dome shield. The three Unicorn Liches had joined together in a trifecta and were pummeling the shield mercilessly. He glanced over to Celestia noting the look of strain on her face as his eyes darted back to the group of Liches.
The others were simply standing by watching for a chance to strike. It was leaving him few options. If they attacked the Liches would be ready to strike first. If they kept defending they would be worn down.
“Kaisur....” Celestia winced.
He didn't respond and simply layered a number of his shields in a dome under hers before nodding. Celestia's dome instantly faded and he winced as the Unicorns attacked again. He tensed up nearly buckling from that hit, a few more panels replacing the ones that cracked from that blow in a instant.
“Probably not my best idea to want a challenge.” Jer'rahd cursed.
“That would assume you ever had any good ideas.” Celestia shuddered. “ I did not expect this sort of power. Still we are doing what we came here to do.”
“Yeah well surviving this is also something that was on that to do list. These things have enough oomph to them to actually hurt, a lot. Still we have options.” Jer'rahd muttered. “ Though if these Liches are anything like the one we killed on the world tour we need to find their Pilla... whatever and destroy it to fully take them out.”
“Any idea where that might be?” Celestia stated looking over those outside Jer'rahd's shields as she recovered .
“Probably in a vault some where. I can see Grogar holding them in order to keep control over them.” Jer'rahd winced as another barrage slammed into the shield, this time from the Dracolich on the far side of them. “Seems they are switching up too...GAHH...”
Jer'rahd flinched as the unicorns attacked again, both sides of his shield getting hammered with powerful arcane blasts.
“Kaisur?” Celestia winced.
“It's fine... shields pretty much all I'm good for magically, I got this.”Jer'rahd growled.”I don't suppose you have a cheat for this?”
“Fraid not, and the Klopnami code doesn't work in real life.” Celestia frowned.
“I don't know what that means.” Jer'rahd grumbled.” I doubt I can hold these up against the Liches and another bombardment from the Jupiter.”
“Yes well, the issue is most of my spell focus is attack, my shield is not the best.”
“Well then shut your yap and attack” Jer'rahd growled. “Or we'll be here all night.”
“Fine, keep this thing up and I'll set up something big.” Celestia muttered.” I doubt any quick spells or even fire would do much damage here. The Dracolich used to be a red Dragon and all the others are layered with spells. The Diamond Dog keeps refreshing a number of things on the lot of them.”
“So they were prepared for this sort of thing. Think Grogar was baiting us?”
“I think it was more he underestimated us at first and he doesn't have that option now.”
“Then this is all according to plan.” Jer'rahd grinned, wincing as another few of his shields shattered and were quickly replaced.” Luna and Sparkle better hurry the buck up and take out that bell.”
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[ Manehatten, inside Sunnyside Smelting plant.]
Bray winced as he bounced across the steel catwalk, bits of his skin getting torn and jabbed on the rough steel surface. Glass and wire from the safety window he had been smashed was driven deeper into his flesh as he rolled to a stop against a safety rail. The Donkey pushed himself up right with a wince looking at the window he had been shoved through as a sudden humm and flare of magic filled the air. A magical shimmer of some kind rose over the window, the effect being mirrored by every other window and skylight as far as he could see.
An alarm somewhere started blaring in a 'hi lo' effect. Bray wasn't sure what it meant, but he recognized a shield against dead spell when he saw one, and that was what the windows were held with.
He didn't see his attacker any where, though that didn't mean anything, he doubted she was the upfront and honorable type of fighter. Which was a pity, because he loved those, so easy to take out.
“Clever mare. A shield to keep me in here?” Bray called.” And here I didn't think you were a Unicorn.
“Not my magic. Seems the Mayor of Manehatten has issues with undead. Remind me to invest in his reelection campaign.” the mares voice called from the shadows.
“Yes provided you live that long, and since I doubt there's going to be a reelection in the next five minutes I doubt you'll have the chance.” Bray called back weighing his options here as he moved across the catwalk towards a large room hanging over the middle of the massive ware house. It was the best defensible point he could see on the open steel walk way.
Looking down he could see great covered vats that glowed slightly around their lids. Likely molten steel, kept liquid over night so they could easily manipulate it on the morning. There were a number of safety spells on the giant crucibles as well, so there was no danger of falling off and into one of the things.
Bray tapped into his power a little, still feeling a depth that he didn't know he had. He let his magic play over the barriers and all the other magic in the room before he finally felt something that didn't seem to fit with anything else off to the side.
Bray lashed out suddenly with a spell, blasting that odd spot with a flash of necromantic fire. The magic shifted and a red cloaked mare burst out of the shadows flinging a number of blades at him as she lept off the railing.
Bray quickly raised a shield watching her as she fell off the railing, catching her self with her grappling hook to land lightly on the stone production floor. Her blades bounced off his shield and exploded in small bursts of fire. Bray stared down at her, grinning a little as he thought of something he had seen a Lich do before and it seemed so easy now.
Perhaps he should have a word with Grogar and put his son back in his proper place. This surge of magic was unheard of , awakening the undead had pushed him past the limit he thought he had and revealed to him another whole collection of power he was blinded to. Now he knew it was there and his limitations were gone, this annoying mare would be the first to feel all his might. Perhaps if she begged he might consider letting her warm his bed, though that had the condition of her losing her legs first. Still she'd make a delightful body pillow until he got bored with her.
Of course he'd have to catch her and get her out of that outfit of hers first. He didn't want a new pillow that he had to put a bag over the head of. She was well built and had a rather sultry sounding voice, but that's all he knew about her.
Granted there was still a lot he didn't know about himself either, like why he had so much power. Taking a heartbeat to think on it, he couldn't recall using as much power as he had here before. Grogar usually cast the spells and he tended to only use little things to keep himself going. Raising those Orcs was the first big thing he had done in a long time, maybe it had always been there like an unused muscle, that had to be it, well time to show the world how he could flex it.
He slung another spell, the horns embedded in his skull from previous experimentation allowing him to lash out with arcane spells rather easily, whatever well of power he had tapped into barely seemed to budge despite the sudden rapid fire release of a rain of destructive spells.
“Death rains from above!” He shouted as darts of lightning, fire, ice, and a mydrid of other energies was flung at the mare below him, the impacts striking anything and exploding with bursts of that energy type.
Bray laughed, redecorating the plant with smoking holes and lightning scars as he flung spell after spell down at the bounding and dodging mare. Whatever that noise was outside that came from the ship it seemed to match his attacks in tempo and beat, or perhaps he was matching it, no matter.
He grinned as the mare flung a series of daggers, mid dodge, the weapons going wide as a lightning bolt struck her, blasting the mare back across the room. Her cloak smoldered, but she didn't seem to have taken as much damage as he would have liked. Still that momentary stun was enough for him to cast a more powerful spell. This should finish her. He finished gathering the spell and was about to let loose with it only for the spell to go wild as the catwalk he was standing on shook then fell as the daggers the mare had tossed shattered the supports.
Bray cried out falling off the side as part of the steel platform was blown out from under him, his shield meant nothing to gravity, the spell he was casting going wild and slamming into one of the vats, the metal suddenly freezing around the liquid hot metal inside, cracking the crucible. The liquid steel oozed out of the crack before solidifying almost instantly as it touched the spell area. The vat quickly becoming ruined as the entire thing turned into one big solid mass of rapidly cooled metal.
Bray slammed into another vat as he fell, bouncing off the lid and hitting some piping and metal frame work before slamming into the stone ground with a sickening crunch, the donkey having fallen nearly six floors from the above catwalk. Still he was moving and Sweetie Drops was ready to fix that when the rest of the catwalk he had been on gave way and fell, the heavy steel frame work falling straight down, missing what Bray had hit and crashing down atop the prone Donkey with a crash and a splatter of blood that reminded Sweetie Drops of the act of that one comedian Lyra liked who smashed fruit with a giant mallet.
Agent Sweetie Drops stared at the wreckage a moment and sighed. Well that was easier than she thought it would be, and it didn't sound like the Rarities were even half way done with their song yet. She reached up tapping her com crystal cursing a little at the static she heard. Evidently the Donkey's lightning had shorted the spell matrix's in the sensitive bit of gear.
She was about to head off to simply find a phone when the pile of broken metal shook.
She froze watching it a moment and seeing it happen again. She cursed her luck as the pile of metal was shoved aside with a blast of a spell. She took cover behind a crucible as the area was showed in molten metal fragments. Rising from the wreckage was something that looked like it once might have been pony shaped but now looked like a tomato run over by a cart. As the mess rose, bits of fur and sinew reforming as one eye that had popped out of it's socket as the skull was crushed pulled back in with the sound of a foal slurping up spaghetti.
“That..... hurt …. bitch.” Bray growled as his vocal cords came back together. Bit of metal remained embedded in his flesh as he reformed his body seeming to adapt and adjust. She winced watching as bones slid out of his flesh clattering to the floor as the metal bars of the frame shifted and replaced them. She wasn't sure if this was something Bray was doing himself or just something that had been done to him. The Donkey panted rising fully to his hooves, a nearly intact skeletal zombie slowly rose behind him, composed of Bray's own replaced bones.
Sweetiedrops wasted no time. She flicked her tail and a half dozen exploding bolts soared across the room sticking into the donkeys chest.
Bray winced staggering back as they exploded screaming out as the wreckage was showered with more of his gore and blood. His rib cage was exposed again, though quickly covered once more. The donkeys muscle mass seemed to bubble as he screamed again, one front leg suddenly distend grotesquely and put on the sort of muscles that one saw on a body builder. The rest of his form started distorting to to unpony like proportions as the donkey screamed his flesh sucking in more of the scrap metal as it did so. His teeth and hooves falling out and off being replaced by sharpened metal talons and fangs. He was growing massive, larger now than even the Princesses as his flesh roiled and swelled.
“I've died more times than I can count already mare! I've suffered through more than you will ever know and I'll be damned if a little slab of fuck meat like you is going to be the one to stop me. If Grogar can't kill me!! You sure as shit won't either!!” Bray screamed out in pain and rage.
The monstrous former Donkey lashed out with his huge limb, the leg distending wildly as he roared at her, smashing into the spot she was a moment before and splintering the stone floor to gravel with the impact. A spell cast at the same time nearly caught her dead to rights as she dodged the physical attack.
Only the spells interwoven in the fabric of her cloak saved her from death as the blast of necromantic energy enveloped her, though the red material shredded as it lost it's magic, the cloak ripping from her form and raining down around her like snow as she landed. Still she had the armored body suit, though that was more for physical blows than magic.
He was faster now, bigger too, and still casting spells. Her magic protection was mostly gone, her communication was cut off, and Bray didn't seem to be able to die properly.
Agent Sweetie Drops swore under her breath as she quickly made for the cover of the other crucibles the monster of a Donkey roaring behind her as it followed.
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[Crystal Empire]
“How's that feel, love?” Shining Armor chuckled his hooves pressed lightly into the scruff of fur between his wife's widely spread pink wings.
Cadence managed something that sounded like a groan into her pillow, but he noticed her wings twitch which was a sure sign he was doing this right.
Shining Armored smiled pressing his hooves lightly into her back working slowly over the joints around her wings, as his wife continued her muted enjoyment of his skilled hooves.
A number of ponies had thought it odd that the Prince consort, and now Emperor of the Crystal Empire would bother to take massage lessons in the local community college. Little did they know when Cadence got worked up about something this turned out to be the fastest and surest way to get her to calm down and relax. Particularly useful if he forgot an anniversary. That she tended to reciprocate the favor more often than not was just an added bonus.
Best three hundred bits he'd ever spent.
A crash out side the door announced an end to any fun times he might have had in mind, particularly when Cadence sat bolt upright nearly dumping him on the floor yelping something about Dawn being loose again.
Before either of them could do anything, a shout to halt from outside the door was greeted with a equally loud shout of 'I outrank you, now stand the buck down and open the bucking door!'
“Crap, did Jer'rahd show up again already?” Cadence sighed.” Or is that, stars help us, Briar Rose?”
“ No, that sounded like Pip....” Shining stated the memory of the assignment he had sent Pip and Scootaloo on coming quickly to his mind.” It's got to be important if he's throwing his rank around.”
The door was shoved open before either of them could move and Pipsqueak Kaisur rushed in, a Palace Guard trying desperately to talk him out of it. Ice Berry Lily Kaisur trotted through behind him with Beryl Kaisur sitting on her back yawning softly. Behind them was a strangely large pink bunny that looked like it had eaten Scootaloo up to her ears. The orange mare seemed resigned to her fate to be rabbit food however judging by her expression.
Beryl took one look at the room and where Emperor Shining Armor was half draped over Empress Cadence's back and covered his eyes with a mock scream.
“Gah!! Mine virgin eyes! I'm scared for life I am!!!” Beryl cried out getting shushed by Berry.
“Lord Shining Armor..... ooops, sorry.....” Pip began realized what he might have interrupted and suddenly turned a bit more sheepish in his stature. Scootaloo simple muttered something about being glad some one else knew how it felt now.
“What is it, and it better be important?” Shining growled as his wife covered her head with the blanket turning a darker shade of pink despite the fact they weren't really doing anything.
“Rynthia borrowed a book of mine that has a dream walking spell in it. They also tried to ask me earlier about something and I think it may have been a nightmare they were having. If they used that spell which is not beyond Rynthia or Talon's skill level they might be trying to deal with the problem head on. The thing is if there is something that's causing the nightmares and it's a sentient entity it could very well cause them a great deal of harm or outright kill them depending on how strong it is. Going by what I've been told it's had a little over twenty hours now to mess with ponies and if it can travel the dreamscape, time means very little there and it could have been doing something for far longer than that.” Berry spouted off.
Shining blinked in confusion at the fillys rapid fire explanation before he looked at Pip.
“Sorry again. We have reason to believe the royal foals are in danger from something that's attacking ponies in their dreams.” Pip summarized.
“What!?” Cadence replied,her voice muffled from under the blanket.
“Why didn't you go there first?!” Shining asked climbing off the bed. “ I doubt the Guards would stop you given you're related to two of them.”
“That was the plan at first, though Berry stopped us. “Scootaloo chimed in.
“Until I know what spell was used I don't want to wake them. Making a bunch of noise discussing this with the Guards might do that. There could be rather unfortunate effects.” Berry muttered. “The dream realm is only a step away from the magic realm and the realm of the dead. Best case nothing happens when we wake them, worse case they wake up in the wrong bodies or not at all. And that's not even taking into account what they might be doing if they think they are gonna fight whatever the nightmare is.”
“If there is a single entity causing these nightmares it might be worse that that even. Particularly if it uses one of the foals as a host to escape. We need to find out what the spell is they used and see if we can get some one else in there to get the foals out.” Pip continued. “ If Twilight or Ma were available none of this would be a worry, but well... neither of them are.”
“Then what are we waiting for......” The blanket responded before rising up and darting out the door nearly running into the Guard before Cadence yanked the blanket off her head. The others quickly following.
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[ New Canterlot]
Sunset Shimmer stared out off the balcony her eyes wide at the sight of New Canterlot.
The balcony they were on jutted out from the main castle over the court yard far enough for the young mare to see a number of things.
Even in the darkness of the moonless night, there was plenty to see. The lights at the top of the broken Manterhorn, where the Pegasus City of Cloudsdale was moored, made for a impressive fake moon, and showed the outline of the new city. Despite the rebuilt city already being named there was a movement among the Pegasi that had survived it's earlier destruction that was rapidly picking up momentum among the Survivors of Tirek. They wanted to rename the city to Angeldale, both in memory of those lost as well as the rabbit who helped save so many of it's citizens.
The cloud city was practically glowing and the constantly shifting city was still under renovation, the inhabitants never seeming to be satisfied with it , wanting more than just a reproduction of their old cloud home.
The stars in the sky also likely looked different if Sunset paid attention to them. Many had died and joined the celestial vista, and many more had departed to their next life, their stars fading as their purpose for remaining to watch over the world was past.
The city itself looked as if those missing stars had simply come back to Equss. From this position one could see all of the old city of Canterlot, as well as the massive marble staircase and memorial arch that lead down into the Ponyville district, the names of the fallen carved into the arch softly glowing on the memorial. The Ponyville district of the city had grown by leaps and bounds since the War of the Gods and had barely suffered any damage during the attack of Tirek. Much of the new architecture of the city was starting to rival Manehatten, though the ever present Everfree forest still dominated most of the scenery. The city of Ponyville grew away from the forest and around the fallen mountain top rather than clear the woods to expand.
Sunset Shimmer stared at this for quite a while as Peach Blossom and Starfall stood by the door with the researchers. All of them remained quiet as they watched the armored mare look out over the city.
“Still think this is a trick miss Sunday Supper?” Swordtail asked with a chuckle.
“How.......” Sunset questioned.
“I think that was explained. In all honesty if the only thing that happened to you is a bit of time displacement you got off lucky. Messing with unknown artifacts could have wound up much worse.” Yearling pointed out.
“Much worse? Every one I know is likely dead and everything I know is wrong!” Sunset snarled. “ Exactly how much worse could it get than that?”
“Best not to ask, because there are some rather unpleasant examples I can cite.” Yearling stated flatly before being shushed by nearly every one else in her group.
“Tact is not something you have either I see. “ Starfall muttered. “ Professor Swordtail I would like you to stick around a little to help with Miss Sunset, the rest of you should go.”
“But the research on the mirror...” Whise whined.” Soo many questions.”
“They can wait. And that wasn't a request Professor Whise, with exception to what I asked of Professor Swordtail, it was an order. You are dismissed.” Starfall stated with a faint glare to the scholars, all of who caught the initial intent and were more than happy to drag Whise out by his tail.
“If you do not mind Guard Captain. I would like to stay as well. Sunset was in a few of my classes when she was here.” Belladonna commented and Starfall nodded.
Starfall looked over to the still tense Sunset before letting out a sigh.” Now that we have a better understanding of the situation miss Shimmer, I would like too ask you two things. First to remove the armor, there is no threat to you here and it doesn't belong to you anyway and second to tell us what this is all about. Princess Celestia will likely be gone for a while and the Elements of Harmony are out of your reach. I promise no harm will come to you unless you do something to warrant repercussion. Simply talking should not warrant anything.”
“And why should I believe you....” Sunset muttered.
“Well for starters she's the Bearer of the Element of Honesty.” Peach Blossom chimed in.
“Former bearer. Applejack Apple is the current bearer. Though given the loss of their Bearer of Generosity I wonder how long it will take before the elements choose another group.” Starfall stated, adding a bit to the conversation to try and keep the talk casual. “ I can also send someone to the kitchen if you like.”
Sunset looked back out at the city and exhaled. “That depends.”
“On what ?”
“If my birth years counts as my age or my actual age counts. Cause if it's my birth year I want hard Cider or something stronger, and if I have to go with how old I actually am, Dandelion tea........” Sunset grumbled.
“Tea it is.” Starfall smirked.
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[ Dreamscape]
“I know I said I hated that cheese world I was stuck in. But I think I prefer it to this.” Elusive said quietly.
The dreamscape was normally some what in a state of flux. Objects and locations flickering in and out of being as various dreams and subconsciousness thoughts intermingled trying to make sense of it. Despite the oddity, it was relatively harmless, even a multitude of individuals would only show more things and landscapes as there were more minds to draw on. For travelers the changing landscape wouldn't affect their movement towards a goal, even if the terrain became open air or water. Unless they went into some ones dream the terrain likely wouldn't become more than the wispy hints of land around them, like walking inside of a cloud.
Right now the dreamscape was static. Nothing shifted, everything looked solid and the ethereal quality that tended to hang around the place was gone, replaced by a feeling of dread.
The land around them was filled with jagged black rocks, many of which had cracks or openings that glowed red with or oozed some sort of reddish substance. The slimy mess inside the rocks shed some light on the area, though the goop leaking out had no such illumination and seemed either a waste product of the glowing, or was simply there to unnerve any one who witnessed it with' bleeding' rocks.
The effect was working on the foals, with the exception of Dawn all of them were more than a little jittery. The random pops and hisses filling the air as the rock's blood oozed from within didn't help matters.
“Dawn are you sure this is the way?” Glimmer muttered. “ I don't see Charlotte willingly coming this way.”
“Scents getting stronger, I figure even Fluffy and Brainy can smell it.” Dawn commented.” Sides Taipair eat dreams, this is a dream so he'd come here to eat it... odd there's only him through. Normally dream eaters have little packs they stay in.”
“All I smell is a scent like wet rust, or copper.” Elusive muttered.” No idea what that is.”
“That's blood.” Talon explained making the others wince.
“Maybe we should head back.....” Shin muttered.
“We need to rescue Charlotte first. We left her alone with that thing when he caught us last time.” Glimmer ordered her wings ruffling.” I'm not doing it again.”
“Can we even get her out of here?” Rynthia asked. “ The chapter on removing things from the dream world was not exactly...... transparent... see through...”
“Clear.” Dawn stated with a shrug.
“With all that you have shown to know here do you have any idea what we can do Dawn?” Talon questioned.
“Nah … I'm not a Mary Sue. I don't have the answers to everything. And the rabbit won't say whats going on half the time.” Dawn rambled on.
“What?” Glimmer asked.
“What?” Dawn responded.
“ What's a Mary Sue?” Shin asked.
“What rabbit?” Elusive asked his ears perked up curiously.
“There's a bunny?” Dawn asked excitedly, spinning around looking for it before noticing the fluff on the end of her tail and starting to chase that. After a few moments of spinning in circles the orange scaled Kirin filly toppled over with a groan holding her head.
“You know what, never mind I don't even want to know now.” Glimmer sighed after the display. “ Just can you please just find Charlotte so we can leave this place?”
“Ummm 3P this is where the scent stops.” Dawn stated from the ground. “ All I smell is bacon now.”
“What?” Glimmer asked looking around frantically.
“Over there.” Talon stated, pointing a claw at a small form huddled against one of the bleeding rocks.
The taipair looked miserable and quite banged up. It had a collar of some kind far too tight about it's neck and the chain running from it had links nearly the size of the creatures head connecting it to the rock it was against under. It would be a small wonder if the creature could even move.
“Charlotte!” Glimmer shouted galloping off towards the small creature with Talon and Shin close behind her.
“Something is wrong.” Elusive muttered looking around. “This seems like a trap.... HEY! Guys stop a second!”
The warning was unheeded by Glimmer, though Talon and Shin at least slowed up to look back. Glimmer managed to almost make it to the chained creature when the ground around her rumbled and a ring of stone spikes burst from the rocky surface encircling the pink Pegicorn in a dome.
“Got her.” A voice snarled and a small number of large Kirin moved to surround the cage chuckling huskily. Their black and red forms were greatly distorted from what a normal Kirin looked like. Their claws and fangs were larger and ragged as if they had never been maintained. The pink Pony Princess panicked and pulled predictably away from the bars and the surrounding Kirin.
“GLIMMER!” Talon shouted only for the sound of buzzing to fill the air and a massive swarm of locusts, wasps, and other assorted bugs to flow like a flying river, buzzing around the Griffon cub. The black wall of insects darted in, stinging and biting the Griffon, forcing him to the middle of the globe forming around him with a panicked cry.
Shin's shriek drew Rynthia and Elusive's attention. The small changeling had been tied up in what looked to be barbed wire and was being held face first to the ground by a good half dozen distorted Changelings all of them wearing scowls and hissing insults and curses at the Godling.
Elusive screamed right next to the Rynthia, the Kirin colt flailing in a panic as what looked to be a blob of gooey cheese had enveloped his legs and was slowly drawing him inside of itself as the colt flapped his wings madly and tried to claw away from it.
Rynthia moved to help him but a cage of stone like what trapped Glimmer burst from the ground and closed around her as well.
Dawn roared.
This was not something any of them had heard from the Kirin filly before. There was anger in that cry and and it was at a volume that should not have been possible from anything but a full grown Dragon.
Rynthia blinked noting the others reaction focused briefly on Dawn and the things around them wavered slightly.
Dawn rushed forward, making a bee line for the Changelings holding Shin. Several stone spikes burst from the ground to encircle her but the Kirin filly some how managed to slip through them before they closed around her. She managed to get close enough to the Changelings to make them flinch as she lept into the air at them, claws and fangs bared, the flicker of fire dancing around her fangs.
A massive shadow suddenly dropped from the sky, slamming into the leaping filly and smashing her to the ground with a sickening thud as the impact created a small crater in the ground stirring up a cloud of rock blood flecked dust.
The dust didn't take long to settle and a massive gray form was standing there, one clawed hoof twisting as if grinding a cigarette butt into the ground, or in this case a whimpering Kirin filly.
“ >Now now, none of that.<” the creature hissed with a voice like claws over a chalk board coupled with a thousand foals in the midst of a temper tantrum.
The Tantabus was much larger than it had been before,where before it could have looked down on Princess Celestia, now it was of a size closer to Bleu or Spike. The creatures smoke like tail and mane had darkened, the ends where it connected to flesh actively seeming to burn now with black fire that billowed the smokey mess of the rest of it. The long serrated horn had changed and now it looked as if some one had plunged a wicked looking serrated sword into the underside of it's head and driven the blade all the way through to form a mockery of a horn, the handle of the sword hung from it's throat like a poorly grown beard. The blade was pitted with rust and caked in blood that probably wasn't from the Tantabus or the rocks. It's colorless eyes were now framed in a near skull that the flesh had seemingly drawn back from to lie about the creatures neck like a rotted collar. The flame in it's eyes still danced with a fire that spoke of pain and cruelty. The draconic wings that had been present on it's back before were still there, but they were little but chard bone now, shadowy darkness twined between and around them in a mimicry of wing membranes. A third pair of legs had joined the other two and this pair was further up on his chest, the ends of them capped in clawed bestial hands with three fingers each. The massive hoof which had slammed into Dawn was split like a goats , the black edges of which glittered with some sort of greenish icor like a poison or some sort of rot. The massive hoof was enough that nothing of Dawn could be seen but her twitching tail.
The creature kicked it's limb forward, the limp form of Dawn soaring through the air to crash to the ground near Rynthia, unmoving, before a cage of stone ensnared her as well.
“>Imagine my annoyance when I let you go before I didn't recognize you lot aside from one of my sisters the first time you came through here. As busy as I was I thought perhaps you were just some foals who were lucid dreamers. Imagine my annoyance with myself when i realized who you really were.<“ Tantabus snarled.”>And then my joy when you came back when you did. The daughters of my father, the son of my greatest threat, and the other children of Equss leaders. Ahh my ticket to freedom all but gift wrapped for …..............<”
The creature trailed off, it's eyes snapping up to the roiling cloud filled sky.
Rynthia followed it's gaze upward and briefly saw the form of a purple alicorn glaring down in shock and rapidly growing anger before the figure was gone.
“Auntie Twilight?” Rynthia questioned.
“>PISS OFF GUARDIAN, UNLESS YOU WANT TO WAKE TO THE CORPSES OF YOUR YOUNG!!!”< The Tantabus screamed into the air. The creature glared, it's moth eaten ears flicking in agitation before it grinned showing horrid jagged and rotted teeth, like a shark that badly needed a dentist.
“>Even the guardian of the dream has fled..... yes you foals are mine.<” The Tantabus cackled. “>My ticket to the world of the dreamers and my freedom!<”