//------------------------------// // Session 72 // Story: Ponies and Dragons (Just Have Fun) // by Alex Warlorn //------------------------------// Session 72.0 Ardashir "'Ponyville's First Hot Sauce Contest'?" Starlight blinked at the sign. All about her ponies, and even a few griffons, minotaurs, and other creatures, were signing in on a posted sheet. Past them and hidden by the crowd a figure sat, raking in the bits offered as the entry fee. "'Entry fee ten bits, grand prize 10,000 bits'? Trixie, did you know anything about this?" "Me!" Her friend set one hoof dramatically to her chest before throwing it across her face, turning away and raising her eyes innocently towards the sky. "Why would Trixie know anything about this contest? Why must a cruel and suspicious world always assume the the Innocent and Distrusted Trixie would be involved with some shady plot?" She peeked and saw Starlight giving her a tired look. "Not convinced?" "I can recognize your hoofwriting," Starlight pointed at the sign. "But what do you want with a hot sauce contest?" "It's not her, stripes, it's me." The voice came from the table. The crowd was now dispersed, some of them excitedly talking about how they hoped to do in the contest. Starlight looked and blinked. "Garble? I thought you were at the summit with Lady Ember." "Yeah, right," Garble jerked one thumb over his shoulder. "My hoard is what's there, so Ember and those other wuss dragons she took along can sleep at night. I mean, one of them is a librarian! What do dragons need to know about history other than we're great and everyone else is a loser?" "Which explains your rousing successes of late," Starlight said. To her surprise Garble didn't lose his temper like he normally did whenever draconic superiority was questioned. "Yeah, well, now I'll prove it. And I'm gonna get rich again too." Garble smiled as he reached under the table and dragged out a large stone tablet. What looked like wedge-tipped lines had been carved into it. He triumphantly thrust a claw at it. "That's, like, one of the oldest pieces of dragon cuneiform. It tells how dragons learned how ta restore their fire if they ever lost it. It's never left the Dragonlands before." He shuddered. "Uh, not that I ever lost my fire, heh. Anyway, it's also how to make the hottest hot sauce ever devised by mortal hands." Garble grinned. "I'll make that stuff up, win the contest, keep the entry fees AND the big prize. I win!" "Wait," Trixie asked. "What 'big prize'? You just said you'd lost your hoard. Also, Trixie would like to be paid for making that sign in the first place." "The big prize I was gonna pay with the bits I collected for the entry fee, duh." Garble waved his claw dismissively as he walked around the table and started bagging up the bits. "Geeze, how dumb are ya?" He started to walk away, but Trixie got in his way. She coughed meaningfully and held her hat out. "Fine," Garble grumbled and tossed some bits into her hat. Trixie swiftly put it back on. "Anyway, I gotta gather the ingredients. There an active volcano anywhere around here?" "Wait a minute," Starlight got in front of Garble. She eyed the tablet warily. "You say that's one of the oldest pieces of dragon history and culture in existence? And Ember let you just walk off with it for a hot sauce contest?" "Hey, are you accusing me of stealing it?" Garble huffed. "Because I totally didn't! I'm just, uh, borrowing it. Temporarily. Without letting the other dragons know about it. Anyway, I'm the dragon diplomat, so I'm not in any trouble." Something large flew overhead, casting a gigantic shadow. It was so high up neither Trixie or Starlight could identify it. Garble seemed to turn pale. "Whoops! Heh, gotta run and set everything up!" He snatched up the bits and the tablet and hurried off. Starlight and Trixie looked at each other. "You know something's going to go wrong." "Of course Trixie knows," the showmare said before she trotted in the direction of the town's popcorn shop with a smile. "Which is why Trixie wants to be ready for the free entertainment when it does!" Session 72.1 Mtangalion Scootaloo buzzed her wings, floating up just enough to see Trixie's sign over the crowd. "Hey girls, look at that!" "Wow..." Sweetie Belle rubbed her chin with a hoof. "We could do all sorts of things for our new Cutie Mark Counseling service with ten thousand bits! Hey, Apple Bloom, you know some Apple family recipes for some really hot chili, don't you?" Apple Bloom grinned. "Hot enough to tan a hog's hide at twenty paces! Hang on a sec, though..." She trotted up to Garble, who had just returned with a sack full of ingredients. "Say, don't ya need a thousand people entering your contest, just to get the bits to pay off that ten thousand bit grand prize?" Scootaloo blinked. "There's no way a contest in Ponyville would be that popular, so... you're planning on taking a loss? Wow, you're the most generous dragon I've ever heard of!" "Sh- shut up!" shouted Garble, cringing. "I don't need any of your sissy math to pull off my awesome plan." He stomped away, then looked back uncertainly, counting the ponies and other creatures in line to sign up for the contest. "Seven, eight..." He realized that he was out of claws to count on. "Um... eight and one, eight and two, eight and five... " "Three," said Apple Bloom helpfully. "I knew that!" roared Garble. "Stop following me!" Session 72.2 Alex Warlorn "Oh Master! I hope I can do everything to make you happy!" Rainbow Dash said, blushing and with sparkles in her eyes, the maid uniform looked good on her, Zephyr Breeze had to admit. "I know you will darling, I know you will!" "Ah know Ah'll make ya happy master!" Applejack smiled and nodded confidently. "I already have a schedule all prepared to make sure the estate is run to best efficiency!" Said Twilight Sparkle the Alicorn. "I'll be sure to make you and the house as fabulous as you want master!" Rarity coo'ed. "I'm an idiot, hit me in the face with a pie," Spike said. "I love making you happy master! Tee-hee!" Maid Pinkie Pie giggled. "I, um, I hope that I can help you be happy too master..." Maid Fluttershy said. "ICK! So wrong!" He took out a book and quickly scrawled through it. Fluttershy vanished and the other forget she'd even been there. "Much better!" --- "He's playing WHAT?!" Rainbow Dash said, breathing fire. "This is a travesty! This is wrong! This is criminal... WHY IS NOT TRIXIE IN THIS GAME?!" "Apparently you, Starlight, Maud Pie, and 'Eris', are all expansion pack characters," Twilight Sparkle said reading the description of the 'Maid Simulator'. "LET ME IN THERE!" Rainbow Dash roared as her friends held her back. "Do you REALLY WANNA SEE what Fluttershy's brother is doing in there with a pretend version of you?" Applejack asked. Rainbow Dash turned green with disgust, then grinned demonically. "Let's burn it with him inside." "Doesn't work that way, and the spell would automatically eject everypony inside at the first sign of danger, and if the comic was destroyed, he'd just pop back into this world unarmed," Twilight explained. "Rats." Spike asked, "Can we change the settings to make the maids personalities more... authentic, from outside and teach him a lesson?" "Not while the game is in session." "Rats." Session 72.3 Grogar-the-oneser "I'm more curious as to how the devil those developers made a game using our images," Starlight muttered. "You would think they be afraid of lawsuits." "According to this copyright, they got permission from our agent," Twilight stated. "What agent, I don't have a agent!" Rainbow Dash said. "This could only mean one of two things..." Starlight stated. "Well one of those things better not be Trixie cause she would have demanded to be a main character, not some lousy expansion pack," Trixie snapped. "Okay one thing, one of us must have met some lawyer type and we got tricked into getting rich quick." "That's ridiculous, no one tha-" Twilight pause as she looked at Spike who began to whistle innocently. "You didn't." "Okay I know this looks bad but once we get money to buy some stuff back from Flim and Flam URK!" Spike squeaked as Rainbow grabbed him "FLUTTERSHY'S BROTHER IS DOING WHO KNOWS WHAT WITH IMAGINARY ME CAUSE YOU COULDN'T CONTROL WANTING REVENGE ON THOSE TWO IDIOTS!" Rainbow roared. "Well at least one tiny good thing came out of this," Fluttershy stated. "WHAT! What good thing came out of this!" Rainbow snapped letting go of Spike (Who quickly hid behind Twilight). "He's the product tester for this, so if he leaves a bad enough review, they may have to cancel this project," Fluttershy stated. "... OH!" Everypony stated. most of the mares had an evil grin on their faces as they waited for Fluttershy's brother to come out of the book. Session 72.4 Mtangalion Rainbow Dash, Tempest Shadow, and Trixie stood in a line, staring glassy-eyed at nothing and swaying to the beat of Aria's soft, entrancing song. When Aria finished, she couldn't help but grin and stroke her restored gemstone yet again. "Okay, that'll take care of these three for a while, but how do we stop Princess Twilight and Nerd Twilight from ruining everything? You know they won't just sit around when we have one of their friends." Adagio finished typing something on the laptop and smacked the enter key. "I have just the thing for them. Get a load of this!" The moment Aria walked away, Sonata popped up in front of the mesmerized new sirens. "Hi there!" she whispered, waving. Dash, Tempest, and Trixie copied her wave, moving in unison. "Oooh." Sonata made funny faces, and they did that too... and stuck their thumbs in their ears and wiggled their fingers... and hopped on one foot... Then she saw the loyalty geode around Dash's neck. "Huh, what's that?" She grabbed it and squinted at it. "Hmm!" She tried squeezing it in her fist, then rubbing it like a genie's lamp. "C'mon..." Then she licked the geode, and it sent a magical charge through her tongue that knocked her flat. Adagio and Aria glanced up, but quickly dismissed it as Sonata being Sonata. "Stupid thing!" Sonata opened the locker room door and threw the geode out as hard as she could. Ember the dog was trotting near the CHS athletic fields, looking all around and whining a bit. "How did I get here? Which way is home? I'm lonesome, where's mistress Gilda?" Then a shiny rock thing came bouncing across the lawn and bonked her nose before falling back into the grass. "Huh?!" She pawed at it, then grinned, wagging her tail. "New toy!" But then Winona came back, growling and barking, still mad about Dash trying to make them fight. She grabbed the shiny in her teeth first and ran off with it! "Hey, that shiny rock is mine!" barked Ember. "You bring it back! Bad dog!" She realized what she'd said, face-pawed, and chased after Winona. Gilda folded her arms, watching both Twilights strapping their VR eyepatches back on. "I still say you're nuts. Your great big smarty-brains have finally lost it." Human Twilight shook her head. "It's a risk, yes, but it's the best plan we could come up with. Starlight and Sunburst stay in the van and hack the VR network any way they can. Rarity, AJ, and the others confront the Sirens inside the school... and we defeat the source of the corruption, inside the virtual world." Princess Twilight pumped a fist. "You were able to fight back, so we should be able to do it too, now that we know what's going on. Nothing will stand in our way." Human Twilight suddenly gulped, staring at something that didn't exist in the real world. "Unless... there's snakes!" She screamed, pointing. "Like that giant snake boss!" Princess Twilight screamed too, clinging to her twin. "WORSE! It's a giant snake MADE OF SNAKES!" "SNAAAAAKES!" Both Twilight Sparkles looked like they might faint on the spot. Gilda smacked her forehead. "Would you two stop being a bunch of babies?!" She pulled on her own VR eyepatch and let it snap into place. At once, she saw the Twilights in their fantasy adventure armor, and the snake monster slithering closer. "So, you dweebs aren't going to try to make friends with it? No? Heh, good. Hammer!" A satisfyingly heavy two-handed war mace settled into her hands. Roaring with a volume that impressed even herself, she charged in, swinging. The Twilights clung to each other again, yelping as the hammer went WHACK-WHACK-WHACK-WHAM and little snakes went flying everywhere. Princess Twilight blinked. "Gilda! You... you're..." "Yeah, yeah, I know I'm awesome." Gilda smirked and shouldered the hammer. "Well, come on, let's go help Dash!" "Gilda, look at yourself," blurted out Human Twilight. "Ehh?" Gilda looked at her hands... her yellow-scaled and clawed hands, and nearly dropped the hammer. She patted her face and "felt" a beak, too. Her VR game avatar had completely changed into some kind of bipedal griffon wearing a chain-mail bikini. "Hey, what gives!?" she squawked at the sky. "Can I get something with a little more protection here?" "Okay!" Screwball giggled, typing up a storm. Gilda's outfit morphed into nice sturdy armor that still left her wings and finger and toe-claws free. "Yeah, now we're talking." She leveled her hammer at the dark fortress in front of them, full of orcs, timber wolves, quesadilla monsters, and all the other players that they had to save from getting mind-warped. "Let's do this!" Session 72.5 Ardashir "Grubber? Grubber!" Tempest snorted annoyance as she walked into the game room of Twilight's castle. A small purple dragon was there, whistling as he cleaned up the table. "Spike!" "Wha! Huh, oh, it's you Tempest." He dropped down off the table and walked over to her, his claws clicking against the crystal floor. "What's up?" "Nothing in particular," Tempest looked around the room as she spoke. "I've just been looking for Grubber. Ever since he heard about that contest that lizard Garble is putting on, he wanted to become one of the judges." She tossed her mane. "Maybe I should let him enter with the last few crates of Storm King Hot Sauce just to use that horrible-tasting junk up." "Wait, the Storm King had his own hot sauce?" Tempest just looked at him. Spike faceclawed. "Oh, yeah, right. He copyrighted everything else he could. No, I haven't seen Grubber." He scratched his scaly chin. "Huh, or Garble either, not for hours. He said he had to get ready for the contest. But here in Ponyville, how much trouble could they be in?" And down in the deepest basement/dungeon of the Friendship Palace? The cat-sized brain monsters clawed madly at the bars of their cell, desperate for escape, somehow conveying the impression of unspeakable agony even though they couldn't speak. The skull of Poncererak was beating itself against the wall in a frenzy of self-destruction. "Enough! Enough!" It shrieked. "The torments of Tartarus were preferable to this! The STENCH!" "Ah, shut up, you wimps!" An apron-wearing Garble stood at the center of the room, beside a cauldron filled with a bubbling something that looked like tar and smelled like sheer agony. Next to it, Grubber fought helplessly against the ropes that bound him to a chair. A table sat nearby, laden with spices and cooking utensils. Garble said, "How else am I supposed ta know if I got the recipe right?" He stuck a fork into the cauldron's contents and heaved something that looked like a chunk of semi-molten tar onto the plate he held. The plate began to melt. Garble smiled hideously. He turned to Grubber. "Okay, Shorty, open wide! Time for the fifteenth taste test of the day!" Garble couldn't understand what Grubber was screaming. "I WANNA FACE THE ANGRY MOTHERS OF EQUESTRIA INSTEAD!" Session 72.6 Alex Warlorn Adagio sniggered, "Those five humans and two pretty little princesses could barely beat the three of us... let's see how they do against an ARMY of sirens! After this boss, it'll be time for the bigger event... a song with out new sisters and brothers across town to bring it under our control, and we'll spread from there." "It will be nice to have a bigger family to help us take over the world, imagine the sleep overs!" Sonata said happily. The sirens had never feared armies, it was a trivial point when you could get soldiers to attack each other on the spot, and the vast majority of ponies (and humans) had no idea how their powers even worked, so it wasn't exactly common knowledge to just cover your ears... and the sirens were hardly helpless against the deaf. "Hey big sister... how did you know Twilight Sparkle was scared of snakes?" Sonata asked. "It does seem like a big plot hole Adagio," Blaze added. "Nothing of the sort... remember all those times we visited the pony world?" Adagio held up a copy of the friendship journal of the mane six that had been available at any book store. "I didn't even need to sneak into her room and read her diary like I was planning on doing!" Adagio opened to a specific page and spoke in a mockery of Twilight's voice, "Snakes! Snaaakes!" Adagio burst out laughing. Session 72.7 Mtangalion In the open field where Ponyville ponies usually set up their market stalls, the official Ponyville Hot Stuff contest was finally underway... and Princess Twilight was shaking her head. "I'm sorry. I don't think I can let you enter this dragon hot sauce in the contest." "What?!" roared Garble. "YOU can't let me enter my hot sauce in MY contest? Who put you in charge?!" Twilight glanced away, fluttering her wings sheepishly. "Actually, I did, since the contest had nearly a hundred signups, and despite me giving you numerous hints, you showed no interest in arranging a venue, hiring judges, ruling on whether chili could be entered as well as hot sauce, or anything else but collecting the entry fees, really." She beamed. "But that's okay! I like organizing." Garble stamped a scaly foot, trying to look big and intimidating, not that it seemed to phase Twilight much. "Aww, but I have to enter it! Just because some ponies are too wussy to handle real hot sauce..." Twilight coughed. "Well..." She was interrupted by a small commotion... Grubber was waddling towards them, tossing aside a hospital gown that had gotten shredded on his quills anyway. "Sir, you really should stay in the hospital burn ward," said Nurse Redheart, hot on his heels. "No, no, I'm fine!" said Grubber. "I'm sure I have it all out of my system now." Suddenly, the hedgehog hiccuped, cheeks bulging. "Oh stormking no not again!" Then he belched purple flames, setting part of the lawn merrily ablaze. Nurse Redheart rolled her eyes and started putting the fire out with a magic-nulling fire extinguisher. Mr. Cake, Big Macintosh, Zecora, and Cranky Doodle, all wearing judging ribbons, froze. "Garble's entry is #13," said Twilight helpfully. They hastily pushed the tungsten metal bowls away. Garble smacked his own forehead hard enough to chip stone, but "lucky" for him, his head was harder than that. "Gahhh! This is so not fair!" "Don't worry," said Twilight. "We can put your entry in a special category... like the meat chili... which you also should have known was a thing, and either unambiguously excluded or otherwise addressed in the contest rules." Twilight pointed a hoof, drawing Garble's attention to a gathering that was extraordinary even by Ponyville standards. Gustave le Grand, Rover the diamond dog, Iosef from Icehome, that griffon chef with the apron from Ponyville's meat restaurant, and... a chimera?! ... were enthusiastically tasting samples of chili from each other's cook-pots. "I should have moved them further away," mused Princess Twilight. "The smell is making ponies turn green who aren't normally green every time the wind shifts. On the bright side, Rover and Iosef have completely forgotten that they really don't like each other! I might have to make you a stained glass window for finally discovering something that diamond dogs and wolves can start building peaceful common ground on!" Garble slumped. "Can I sell it for bits? I think I'm gonna need them to pay the grand prize." Twilight chuckled. "We can discuss..." She blinked at the judging table. "Wait, that's only four bowls of #13. Where's... Oh no! Princess Celestia! Don't taste... that?" "Oh my goodness!" exclaimed Princess Celestia, gasping for air, sweating and fanning herself with a hoof. "That's... that's hot!" Her Guards watched in horror and awe as Celestia, the elder Alicorn Princess, Sun Who Is the Sun... stuck her head in a tub of water and gulped half of it down, steam coming out of her ears. "This hot sauce is amazing!" she exclaimed, when she surfaced again. "I must have the recipe! I'll pay a thousand bits from my personal funds for it. No, ten thousand!" Garble went looking for something harder to bang his head against. Session 72.8 Ardashir The door to the Dazzlings' current apartment, a top-rate loft in the best part of town, slowly opened. Rarity smiled and strolled in. "Amazing what you can still do with a hairpin, isn't it?" "ADAGIO! SONATA AND ARIA!" Sunset stormed in, her friends close behind her -- all save the increasingly uncooperative Dash, who they'd left behind with some sushi takeout and a TV political talk show on to keep her happy. Sunset looked around the main room. "You're up to something. We're not sure what, but..." Her voice trailed off. "Dears," Rarity walked in and looked around. "Is it just me, or do the Dazzlings appear to be out?" Her mouth twisted in disgust when she saw some of the art hanging on the walls. It was all either scenes of historical violence and mayhem, or bizarre sea life of the oceanic trenches. One especially grisly piece of art showed a dead pirate on the ocean floor being eaten by crabs. Rarity shuddered. "Lovely taste in art." "Gee, I thought they'd be here for the big fight," Pinkie Pie stepped onto the kitchen and opened the fridge. A horrendous stench of rotting fish rolled out. Pinkie turned a livid green and quickly closed it. "That's what the villains in Dashie's comics always do." "Girls, let's remember, we're not sure if the Dazzlings are even doing anything wrong yet," Sunset reminded them. "We're not cops, all we can do is to let them know we're keeping an eye on them." "Doggone it," Applejack grumbled. She stepped over to a low couch and dropped down on it. "Here we are, all ready for what might be a big show-down an' they ain't even here. Wonder where they're at, anyhow?" Fluttershy reached down and picked a piece of folded paper up off a table. "Uh, maybe this will tell us?" Sunset took the paper and read it. "'To the taco delivery guy, my sisters and I are going to our holiday volunteer work at the mall. We love Christmas so much.' They do?" "Aww!" Pinkie smiled in innocent delight. "Maybe they really ARE turning over a new leaf!" The HuMane Six, er, Five looked at each other. Might they have been wrong about the Dazzlings? *** "THAT'S MINE YOU HARPY!" "HANDS OFF! MY KIDS HAVE BEEN BUGGING ME FOR ONE OF THESE FOR WEEKS!" The second parent roared at the first, sending them stumbling into a pile of teddy bears with a shove. They yanked the 'Windy the Singing Windigo' toy away, only to yell as a third parent snatched it from their hands. "I SAY IT'S MINE! WANNA MAKE SOMETHING OF IT?" Watching from a mall customer service booth nearby, the Dazzlings looked on in utter delight. The half a dozen Windy toys they'd bought for later private resale at exorbitant prices sat at their feet, out of sight. "I can't eat it yet but I can feel it," Aria groaned in pleasure. Looking like she'd swallowed something vile, she said, "I hate to admit it, Sonata, but this WAS a great idea you had." Sonata didn't respond. She looked blissed out, munching on a taco in one hand, while breathing in the atmosphere of greed and rage all around them. Adagio simply cupped her new amulet at her throat as she bent to the microphone. "Remember, everyone, no more Windy the Singing Windigo shipments until after the holiday, so if you want one for your beloved children, better get it now." As the battle redoubled in intensity, Adagio nearly purred in delight. "What a wonderful holiday. It should be like this all years long." Session 72.9 Grogar-the-oneser (I have to wonder why they would be able to eat if the amulet singing power wasn't being use so i came up with this.) 5 hour earlier "WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU AIN'T SHARING!" Adagio roared. The windigo just snorted "Yes your arguably doing all the work due to us using totems of you as a midway to feast, but come on, as a creature who also eats hatred, shouldn't we look out for one another." the windigo whinnied "WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU BELIEVE IN SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST!?" "Ohh let me try!" Sonata said before clearing her throat. "Great windigo, I know you hate sharing, I don't like sharing my taco with others either but think of it this way, we're the lowly delivery guy, you paid us and you get to eat the smorgasbord, all we ask are the leftovers." "There no way-" The windigo whinnied "WHAT! You agree after hearing that!" Adagio snapped. "Ugh fine whatever. As long as I can use my amulet to chow down I don't care." Session 72.10 Kendell2 "Wait, you want that much Fruitcake?" asked Mrs. Cake, eyes wide. Pinkie's friend Minty nodded. "Yep!" "Alright, dear, but why exactly? We have trouble selling them," the mare replied as her husband began packing it up. "Well I don't really like it, but my friend December Poinsettia LOVES fruitcake! It's her favorite kind..." the mint green pony explained, then noticed the expression that got her. "No, really! She is!" "Alright...well, I can't complain..." "Santa Simulator?" asked Rainbow Dash, raising an eyebrow nearby as they prepared to play an RPG. "Yep! We have to keep track of if ponies are naughty or nice, make sure to make their gift, and so on," Pinkie Pie explained. "Pretty cool, huh!" she replied, as Minty pulled over a cart full of Fruitcakes. OOC: Based off a G3 Pony named December Poinsettia who's bio card literally says 'Favorite Kind of Cake: Fruitcake (No, really!).' http://mylittlewiki.org/wiki/File:Decemberpoinsettiacard.jpg Session 72.11 Alex Warlorn "Did you have to break out that Risk set with a map of town? Even I think we're counting our chickens before they hatch. Remember, the last time trouble showed up to ruin our golden opportunity, it was right went we sang 'nothing can stop us now.' It's like those words are jinxed!" Aria Blazed snorted seeing Sonata play with the risk pieces and she pushed them about the town map. "Don't worry, our final grand even is planned at midnight on new years," Adagio said, "By then, we'll have reached maximum saturation with our new sirens, and we'll have our final boss... of course he'll be unbeatable... but that'll be besides the point. Our new little sisters will swarm this town, and then this country, and then the world." Adagio said proudly. "Not worry about atomic bombs?" "We're immortal again remember? They nuke themselves, and we'll rule over the radiated wasteland as goddesses as the only ones who can organize civilization back together, and even those who resist us will be forced to begrudgingly follow us! We'll rule the entire county by the end of the day, and most will won't even realize it. And by then our sisters will feed on their own success." What they didn't know was the AI Screwball had added an Event to make the Final Boss, Dra-Gon, only insanely hard to defeat, rather than utterly impossible. Speaking of which, Screwball, doing what she did best, found that the hero character Sonambula (that human Starlight Glimmer has chosen as her hero character) was overwhelmingly under-powered compared to the selectable heroes... definitely in need of rebalancing... Session 72.12 Mtangalion Two young dragon warriors faced each other across a barren rocky plain. Bit by bit the tension mounted, the ever-gusting wind the only sound... "This is stupid!" shouted Garble, his words faint at this distance in the dusty air. "Why aren't we fighting yet?" Spike exhaled sharply, losing his heroic glare of impending battle. "Oh, come on, Garble! It's a Dragon Egg enchanted comic battle game! We can't just start fighting without the staredown!" Garble shook his head, claws on hips. "Hah, so much for you being such a smarty-dragon. The staredown is just to fill up pages so some pathetic old pony artist can be lazy. Do like I do and flip the pages until you see dudes punching each other!" Spike smirked, rolling his eyes. "Guess we're into the trash-talking phase now." Garble grinned, clenching a fist. "Hey Spike, I'll let you in a little secret. I skip that part too!" Roaring, the red drake sprang... flickered, moving faster than mere pony eyes could see... flickered again, right on top of Spike with his fist drawn back to punch... Spike growled and braced himself, clawed feet punching footholds into solid stone as he deflected the blow. Garble's concussive blast flew past Spike and caused multiple explosions along the ground, culminating in a twenty foot wide boulder in the distance splitting clean in half and falling apart. Garble gawked, then sprang back. "You... you must have cheated somehow! There's totally no way your puny baby dragon body can hold as much battle magic as mine can!" Spike grinned smugly, puffing his small chest out. "Don't bother using your scouter, Garble. My battle magic level is over nine thousand." Garble clenched both fists, shaking. "Like I care!" He crouched and grunted, gathered more battle magic until a flaming gold aura ignited around him. "You're just lying anyway, and even if you're not, I can power up way higher than that! I'm gonna turn you into a dragon pancake!" Spike grinned all the more, baring his fangs. "Show me. If you can." Then he clenched his fists and snarled too, explosively gaining a green battle aura. The ground shook and crumbled around the mighty dragon fighters, small stones beginning to levitate into the air. "Spike! Garble!" said the voice of Princess Twilight, echoing down from the clouds. "Dinner's almost ready! Pinkie made gem casserole." Spike groaned. "Twilight, can't it wait a few more minutes? We're almost to the part where we actually fight!" "Yeah!" echoed Garble. "This is a fight between men... or dragons or something, and weak sissy mares should butt out!" Spike's jaw dropped. "Dude.... You shouldn't have said that." Garble laughed uproariously. "Pfft. What's your prissy pony princess gonna do? Give me a friendship lesson?!" A thunderbolt slammed into the ground not thirty feet away, and a purple mare in a martial arts gi rose up, balancing on her hind hooves. Twilight smirked. "Have I told you how Shiny and I used to play this game... all... the.... time?" Her battle magic ignited, turning her mane silver and blowing away every bit of dust and cloud for miles around. "I don't want dinner to get cold, boys, so I'm going to make this quick." It was all Spike and Garble could do to not get blown away themselves, from her battle magic aura alone. Spike gulped. "Hey, Garble? Do you think we stand a chance if we team up against her?" Garble grinned. "Get real, Spike, she's totally gonna hand us our butts... but I'm getting excited anyway!" He bumped fists with Spike, and they roared and charged, together! Session 72.13 Kendell2 The Mane Six had decided to play Darkest Oubliettes (a decision they often regretted). In part because some expansions had come out...and Fizzlepop had wanted to try it out. "Wow, and I thought my life was depressing," was her reaction. The quest they'd gone on had gone a bit longer than expected. It was a venture into the warrens to get three grain sacks for the townspeople from these pig ponies used in the ancestor's experiments (Fluttershy worried about stealing from them, but was reminded they ate ponies). They did manage to accomplish that, by two in the morning, but as no pony had anything to do, they decided to do another small mission. They decided on a short quest to the evil mushroom infested forest with mushroom zombies and other monstrosities. They were well on their way when... "Wait..." Rainbow Dash said. "Twilight...did you say that boomer crop event happened?" "Yes..." Twilight replied. Said event meant everything bought for the next adventure was free...they'd gotten the bar necessities and were too tired to realize it until then. "..." Rainbow promptly slammed her head into the table. The 'little' quest ended with a Crusader having a disease and two others insane. "...Ah think we'd best get to bed..." said Applejack as Rainbow beat her head on the table. "Dang it, this game is hard..." said Spike, a young purple dragon on the screen fighting ape-like monsters while trying to stop the resurrection of the 'Dark Master'. The fact the protagonist was a very important and special purple dragon totally had nothing to do with it. "What was that pink thing you left in the last room?" asked Twilight. "Eh, some collectible. Probably unlocks concept art or something," replied the baby dragon. "That's what the quills do." Twilight looked at the instruction manual. "...Spike?" "Yeah?" "That was an HP up..." Spike's eyes went wide. "W-What?" "The green ones are mana ups too." The baby dragon stared in shock, it slowly occurring to him that after the boss he was fighting now, the final level was all that there was left, meaning he only had one of each he could find. "...Okay, I'm going to go get some soap," Twilight replied after seeing and hearing Spike's reaction. OOC: Based off some gaming fumbles me and Alex had. Session 72.14 Alex Warlorn "Geeze... The Equestria Server is like a ghost town today," said Thorax in his Faux-NPC character, finding the virtual town of Ponyville effectively deserted. Vice President of Crystal Soft games punched in a number on her cell phone. "Yes mother?" Came the rough voice on the other end. "A very big mess is going around here. Those three girls who hired are up to something and I don't like being in the dark. Get me a status update of what's going... find out what the hell is going on around here. I don't care stupid or insane it sounds." "Is this about that 'magic horses' stuff?" "Giant lasers don't shoot up into the sky on their own. I don't care if it's Martians or Canadians, find out." "Yes mother." Session 72.15 Mtangalion Adapted from an idea that Ardashir and SomeRandomMinion were kicking around. Feel free to add more. :) --- Princess Twilight stared at the scene in the Cutie Map room, already starting to twitch. "I'm sorry, could you repeat that? It sounded like you said you're playing ‘Pezuñas: The Hooves of Fate'" Starlight grinned nervously. "Um, maybe?" Spike stumbled across the crystal table, humming a haunting and very repetitive tune while trying not to giggle. "Allow me to... carry your luggage, Miss... Rarity! I take... care of the place while... the Prince is away!" Applejack rolled the dice. "Hey, Ah saw that Prince first. Ah hit Rarity over the head with my pillow again!" Rainbow Dash kicked back in her throne, putting her hooves up on the table. "Me too. She totally has it coming." Rarity gasped in mock-horror. "Why, I never! Spike, you'll help me pummel those ruffians, won't you?" Spike raised a fist, ready to leap to her defense. "You can count on me, Rarity! Um, just as soon as I get there. I can only walk two and a half feet per turn for some reason." "You do know that Celestia banished the writer and the director to the moon, right?" deadpanned Twilight. "And that performing Pezuñas is a banishing-to-the-moon offense? The law is still on the books." "Ah, but technically we're playing Pezuñas: The Hooves of Fate: The RPG!" countered Starlight. "Totally different! Although, the game might have gone off the rails just a little bit." She turned and shouted at a different table off in the corner. "Any time you guys want to join us in the mysterious haunted adventure mansion, that'd be great!" "Eenope, we're good," said Big Mac, going right back to shamelessly kissing with Miss Cheerilee. Twilight's eyes widened, and she turned away, blushing. "That's it, I'm out of here." "There is no way out of here!" called Spike, hopping down from the table and lurching into her path. "It'll be dark soon. There is no way..." Twilight teleported away, leaving the young dragon without an audience. "Except for that." Session 72.16 Alex Warlorn "Starlight... did you really have to do this?" Sunburst asked... Currently a rather handsome looking golden dragon with orange fins. Starlight, a violet dragon with purple fins and a teal highlight just smiled. "Now now Sunburst, I promised that I wasn't going to turn us into foals, and you agreed to try out my magically enhanced Dragon Pit game." "I thought you meant Dragon Pit with real dragons." "Hey lady! I knew never notice how hot you look!" Garble declared. "I've seen Rarity as a dragon, she's much hotter." Spike protested. True, Mina, Ember and Rarity had been giant sized and going off greed growth as they wrestled for him at the time, but Spike could still appreciate Rarity's beauty. "Meh! Ponies have the power to upgrade their species and decide to go back to being four hooves grass eaters? I knew they were lame, but not THAT lame!" "Well, you didn't ask, so there. Besides, it's not like this spell has disrupted the space time continuum or something." Everydragon held their breath, nothing happened. "See?" Reminded Spike of when Sweetie told him about how the CMC tried to INVOKE Discord to turn them into their King of Canterlot giant monster board game characters. "Well, since you brought that up, some instruments I borrowed from Doctor Whooves have pointed to time becoming convoluted with the flow of time in reality and the reality Sunset Shimmer lives have going in and out of sync randomly, speeding up, slowing down, events stopping and starting... I'm worried that somepony or someTHING has disrupted the time space continuum to such a degree that our whole universe and NEIGHBORING UNIVERSES will implode!" "Not me this time," Starlight said in total honesty and factual correctness. - "Adagio... would you kill me if I ever tried to turn good?" Aria asked. It felt like their pendants were beginning to quiver with power, and all thanks to that stupid little mirror turned magical by some leaking magic from Equestria. "Yes... and I know you'd do the same!" Adagio said with pride and endearment. The two sirens hugged. "Nice to know we've got each other's back to this 'redemption' nonsense that ponies and humans are obsessed with." Adagio smiled warmly at her sister. "I wouldn't turn good on you girls either!" Sonata said, "Not even for a taco! Well, maybe-" "If you finish that sentence with 'two tacos' Sonata, you can feed off the bad vibes of bickering old married couples." "But that tastes so stale and shallow!" "Good we understand each other." Session 72.17 Alex Warlorn https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filly_Funtasia = RPG Ambiance Fantasy #03 INTO THE DEPTHS OF DUNGEON - 2 hours in a Dark Castle = A powerful wind blew Rose's windows open, the invading gale knocking over her figurines and flying her notes everywhere. The banging of the shutters also woke her out. The unicorn got out of bed. "Oh no... " Rose shook her head. Her mini-figures of the humans fighting Adagio's sirens were scattered all over the floor. Rose took a step forward in the arm, only to hear something snap under her hooves. "Worse oh no," Rose sighed in dismay. She magically pick up the now broken figurine of Flash Sentry. - "AGH!" "Flash you okay?" the Rarity asked. "Lyra, she broke my arm..." Flash grunted. The corrupted Note Worthy floated to the sirenized Lyra and Bon Bon, "Hey Lyra, room for one more?" - "My notes... they're totally out of order... " The other table for the Equestria campaign didn't look much better... She'd completely lost her miniatures for half the changelings before. Another harsh wind trespassed in her room making things more a mess, Rose shivered. She heard the howl of wind, the patter of rain, and the crack of thunder, and a dark rumbling. She went to her window to look out at the storm. She was shocked to see everything outside seemed to be freezing over! The rain turning to ice as it hit the ground. Colors slowly fading before her eyes. - "Twilight," Pinkie the pony asked. "Do you think a story world only exists while you're reading it? Or does it just continue on its own? Do you think, erm-" She got that look from Twilight. "-I mean, IF our characters in our O&O campaign, which we've really been neglecting lately, if we stop playing, or just forget about it, and don't even finish an ending for the adventure we're on... are they just... frozen in place? Do they continue without us? Or do that just... fade away?" Session 72.17 Kendell2 Adagio laughed maniacally as they waited on New Years for their endgame. "It's almost showtime, you girls ready?" The other two Sirens smirked. "You know it." "Okay, are you girls SURE it's now or never time?" asked AJ. "This is the last boss," Princess Twilight said, looking at the email. "I don't know when they'd do it otherwise..." The players, corrupted and otherwise, assembled for the final boss. Naturally, bickering and fighting had broken out.  Suddenly, the curtains opened on a stage set up, and out walked the three Sirens onto the stage. "Hello everybody! Are you ready for the final boss?!" asked Adagio, getting cheers. "Then let's do it..." she said, putting on her enhanced necklace, her sisters doing the same and their new pendents fully forming. = Welcome to the Show (Remix) - itsannachloem = The monsters began to spawn and the fighting began... And the sirens began to sing their signature long note, red colored digitized lightning crackling around them.  "Welcome to the show... We're here to let you know... The end is now... Play time is running out..." Adagio sang, the lightning crackling more intensely before a massive beam of it erupted into the sky and turned the clouds into a storm like one would see at sea as the Sirens continued to sing their wordless vocals. "Feel the wave of sound! As it crashes down!" the Sirens sang, sending up a soundwave...that quickly multiplied into a TIDAL wave of red music before crashing down on the players and radiating outwards across the entire town. In their rooms (grounded at this point) the CMC gasped, eyes glowing red. "Sirens here to stay! Come and see things our way!" the trio sang, energy erupting from their gems...and gems forming on all those ready for the siren transformation as well, energy quickly erupting from their gems as well. The convert's all got the same cocoons the origin three got 'Sirening up', the same happening all across town, but the original three got grid pattern style cocoons with digitized lines running through them. The mane six (or five, given Rainbow wasn't on their side at the moment) skid to a stop with their group and gasped. "...CRUD!" Gilda exclaimed. "We're too late!" both Twilight's exclaimed. "Time to be adored! Come and be just like us! You won't be ignored! It's time for our reward!" sung the original three... "Now you're need us... Come and heed us..." sang the REST of the new converts along with them. "Come bow before us now!" the school of Sirens sang, the mane six having to actively SHIELD their allies from the spell now as the sirens sang more... The lesser Siren's cocoons shattered off like glass, revealing all of them with pony ears, longer 'pony tail' hair, siren wings, and glowing red eyes, all smirking with fangs. "Let your freedom go... And let our school grow... Throw thought away, And fight all day..." sang the school. "Now we have in store, All we want and more, Free from the abyss, Now it's time to finish this!" The cocoons finally broke open, waves of digitized lightning crackling over everything to reveal the original three Sirens in their 'Siren Up' forms...before the lightning imploded inward before exploding once again, revealing the trio in high tech, menacing looking dresses pulsing with power in tron lines. Their fin-like wings spread out before wireframe, spiked wings extended from them, giving the trio an appearance of digital demons.  "Now we're in control, You apes can't resist us, Now the abyss opens to swallow you whole! You can't stop us! You're beneath us! Now its time to finish you!" the original trio sang, laughing maniacally. Adagio laughed, floating down and causally throwing around a few upstart challengers like ragdolls without taking her eyes off her archenemies. "Welcome to the Dazzlings Return Tour, Rainbooms!...Minus one that is..." she laughed, smirking to Dash, who gave a toothy grin. "They've somehow managed to combine technology with their magic!" Sci Twi pointed out. "It's Super Sirens!" Pinkie Pie shouted loudly. Adagio growled. "We are SO not going by that!" "Oh! What about Cyber Sirens?" asked Sonata. "Or Syber Sirens, with an S!" Adagio gave her a 'shut up' Sonata look. "No, we're now...Abyssus Sirens...I like that..." "Oh...can we still change our band name to Digital Dazzlings?" "...Maybe..." "...That's just Latin for Abyss Sirens..." Sci Twi pointed out. "So?" Adagio asked, crossing her hands. "All that matters is after MONTHS of being made a laughing stock by you and playing nice, we're BACK!...Oh, and you may want to start running." "...Why?" AJ asked. The minions from the simulation AND the new Siren converts look at them, the minions now there whether or not they were wearing the VR eyepatch or not.  "We just put bounties on ALL of you and Sirens don't factor into the enemy AI as players," replied Adagio with a psychopathic smirk. "...Horseapples..." Twilight muttered, also noting Rainbow Dash was not on their side anymore.  The Rainbooms had to fall back, at least from the enclosed area they were currently in. "But the question is, where are you going to run to now! This town is OURS!" Adagio cackled. "...And soon, the WORLD will be..." she said with a shark's smirk.  "Should we tell them the last boss shows up if they beat all the minions?" asked Sonata. "Nah, let 'em figure it out for themselves..." OOC: I only own my altered lyrics to the song, everyone go support the creator and listen to the original. Session 72.18 Mtangalion (with edits by me) The Canterlot Crusaders had been humbled and made to apologize for all the chaos at school, then grounded separately in their respective houses, or so their big sisters thought. Thanks to the augmented reality eye patches and Apple Bloom's tinkering with the network, the girls had been in contact every day. With Apple Bloom modding the game engine (it was like the security program wasn't even TRYING to fight Apple Bloom as she created all these new designs and settings for her school-mates (school as in siren, not class), Sweetie Belle had reimagined her room at Rarity's house into the chamber at the top of a lonely tower by the sea, where her sister, the wicked Queen Chrysalis, had unjustly imprisoned her. Two magic mirrors on the wall showed her friends, and a third showed the stage where Adagio, Aria, and Sonata were starting the main event. "So..." Apple Bloom had entirely ditched the fantasy setting of the game world somehow, and modded her bedroom at the Acres into the bridge of the main starship from Star Trot. Bloom flashed a satisfied grin, watching her robots efficiently man the other bridge stations. "Looks like everything's going according to plan." Not to be outdone, Scootaloo had turned the game world representation of her bedroom into Daring Do's famed treasure and trophy room. "Yeah... Adagio's plan. I still want to get her back for what she did to Dash!" How much that was still endearment towards a fellow siren... and how much that was anger at something Scootaloo considered her property was a mystery. Sweetie ordered the Queen Chrysalis' changeling guards to bring her another wine glass, so she could sing a pure high note and shatter that one too. In the third magic mirror, the concert was reaching some kind of climax. "I do too, Scoots, but you know we're not strong enough. We didn't dare cross her even before, and now..." All three of the girls froze, eyes glowing red and fully-formed jewels appearing at their throats. Sweetie Belle felt all the magic rushing back to her... no, she had even *more* power now than she'd had at school! The reflections of her friends flickered... they sirened-up right before her eyes, their actual human bodies transforming, not just the game avatars, and Sweetie grinned, knowing that the same must have just happened to her! Unexpectedly, Apple Bloom burst out laughing. "She's done it... We can beat her, Ah know we can!" She ran to the science station and started typing. "Once Ah hack Adagio's power-up program..." Further plans for power grab thinly veiled as revenge were interrupted when someone knocked on Sweetie's bedroom window and slid it open / when a brave lone and obliviously heavily modded Flash Sentry The Pegasus Guard made the heroic climb up her prison tower and jumped in through the window, wearing his usual jeans and sweater and propeller beanie / wearing green adventuring tights and a wolf pendant, and then he suddenly spun and parried a changeling guard's sword, then stabbed it, turning it into a cloud of stray pixels. He sank to his knees, breathing hard. "Sweetie Belle... Oh no, you've already changed! Sorry it took me so long to get here..." The other Crusaders gasped in the magic mirrors, but Sweetie gasped loudest of all. "Button Mash?" Her face lit up in a seductive smile. "We missed you at school, Button. Where've you been?" "My fault," said Button, blushing as he hauled himself upright again. "I lied to my mom... made her think I had the flu, when I really wanted to finish the new Legend of Cadence game. But now I'm here to help you!" Apple Bloom grinned. "You can help, alright. Ah've got just the thing! Computer, load King Sombra armor version 4b!" A rotating image of night-black spiky armor with a two-handed ebony sword appeared on her view screen, and then another button tap "beamed" it over to Sweetie's tower. Scootaloo rubbed her hands together gleefully. "Yeah! It's about time somebody realized just how awesome we really are and came to us first." Button Mash recoiled. "What.. no! I meant, I'm here to save you, not help you that way!" Sweetie Belle beckoned to her still-human boyfriend, floating in her renewed magic and humming a heroic song, a call to adventure. "But you will be saving us, Button. You'll be one of the heroes who stopped Adagio once and for all, and the Siren Crusaders will finally make our mark on the world, just like we always wanted to. Put the armor on? Please?" A pixel-art sprite appeared that only Button could see, and only in his eye patch. It floated over his left shoulder, a chibi-Button with dragon wings and eyes, and color-shifting hair. "Come on, what are you waiting for?" it said. "Isn't this what you've always wanted? The power to make your own world, where boring things like school and work and college can go away forever?" Another sprite appeared over his right shoulder, this one with feathered wings and a circlet with a jewel over its forehead, carrying a little staff with a golden D-Pad controller on the end. "There's more to life than video games... or would you be happy replacing Sweetie Belle with a dating simulator? If you're gonna be the game master, you have to be the master! The video games can't be YOUR master." Everything faded to gray, except for two floating buttons. "Fight for Sweetie Belle and become KING SOMBRA." "Oppose Sweetie Belle and become a SHINING ARMOR." "What, seriously?" asked Button Mash in that paused moment of game time. "Those are the only things I can chose? That's not fair!" He shoved the text boxes aside and leaned closer to Sweetie Belle. "All I really wanted... was to be your hero." The gray silence fractured, shattering into a blaze of rainbow light! Session 72.19 Grogar-the-oneser "Why are you so obsess with this," Sweetie Belle said. "Cause you are a good person, and I'm hoping the real can fight this creepy hate plague. If not just strike me down cause I don't want to fight you or join evil you hurting people. I only ask that you don't do it in a Xykon matter in case your also part lich," Button added. Session 72.20 Mtangalion All over Canterlot, people who were greeting the New Year in the Siren’s game world staggered or spaced out, as all the spare magic in the network was siphoned off and concentrated. Adagio herself felt it, scowling briefly, but she couldn’t start yelling orders at Aria now... they had to keep singing! A cocoon of light surrounded Button Mash, lighting up Sweetie Belle’s bedroom like day and making her float back, shading her eyes and hissing. Then the cocoon burst, scattering glowing golden feathers artfully. "Arise, Mashimus Prime!" yelled Button. "Heh, just kidding! I sure turned into something, though..." Still too bright to make out clearly, Button Mash ponied-up, sprouting pony ears, longer princely hair, and wings. When the glow faded at last, he was wearing the armor of the Last Champion of Crystarule. Sweetie Belle hissed, eyes glowing red. "That harmony... I can’t bear it! That horrible, awful harmony!" She lunged at Button, fingers twisted into claws. Button Mash started to reach for his sword, then quickly changed his mind and raised his shield, the holy artifact bearing the symbol of the Triangles of Power. Sweetie Belle saw her reflection in the shield and shrieked a note that made the house tremble on its foundations before she collapsed, sickly green mist boiling out of her and flying away out the window. When the last of the Siren magic was gone, Sweetie sucked in a deep breath and ponied-up properly. The game world around her glitched. (System Error. System Err-er-er- Secret Avatar unlocked: Queen Majesty. Congratulations, user Sweetie Belle) "B-Button?" murmured Sweetie. She gaped at Button, and then at herself when she realized that her game avatar was wearing a beautiful gown with blue ribbons and golden gloves and high heels. Then she saw her spell list and her jaw dropped. "Isn’t this... a little over the top?" Button Mash shrugged, grinning back. "Heh, maybe. Oh, we need to go save your friends, too! I wish we could just Warp Pipe over to them. Maybe..." The floor promptly turned inside-out, plunging them into a dark tunnel. "Aaaaaaaah, me and my big mouth! Aaaaaah..." Sunset and her friends were in a fighting retreat from the outdoor stage, forced to battle wave after wave of enemies... not computer-controlled monsters, but other players, corrupted into new sirens. They’d already defeated and purified over a dozen of the weaker ones, but more of them kept coming. "We’re getting close to the school," said Fluttershy, holding the Healing Staff of Somnambula in a shaky grip. (Aria had tried to delete that character the moment she saw it in the game files, but it just kept popping up again somehow.) "Maybe we can hide in there!" Applejack shook her head. "They want us to go in there, sugarcube. They’re herding us." A small dog raced across the field and started barking and nipping at Gilda’s heels. "Mistress! Oh, Mistress, it’s dangerous here, please take this! Winona wanted it, but Ember said she couldn’t have it!" Gilda gasped. "Ember? Duh, of course it’s dangerous here! Ember, I told you to stay home! Bad dog!" Ember whimpered, ears drooping, but she used her teeth to grip something shiny stuck in her collar, and she flung it at Gilda’s feet. A sparkling blue, very shiny something. Rainbow Dash’s missing geode. "Gimme that!" cried Gilda, snatching it up at once. "How on earth did you... Heh, did I say ‘bad dog?’ I meant good dog! Best dog!" She scritched Ember’s ears energetically. "You just earned a mountain of dog treats, pal!" Session 72.21 Alex Warlorn Adagio and her sisters didn't need to sign 24-7 to keep things going... that would have been stupid and inane, and now that they had their army of their own kind... they didn't need it... "What the fuck are they doing? What, the actual fuck, do they fucking thinking they're fucking doing?!" Adagio snarled, thousands of years of poise melting away at this outrage. "Oh. Oh no. No way. No how. Dream on. They don't get to! Not this time! That isn't happening! We have not worked through all this scheming, planning, working, preparing, dodging, just to hand over making our enemies even more powerful on a sliver platter... I AM NOT FALLING FOR AMATEUR HOUR CRAP LIKE THE HEROES TAKING YOUR CORRUPTING AND BECOMING EVEN MORE POWERFUL FROM IT! NO! FUCKING!!! WAY!!!!" While those transformed back it would take forever to re-corrupt, it was easy peasy to turn them into musically brainwashed onto the spot, the sirens had been doing that for eons. "... We spend weeks corrupting, I mean uplifting humans into our own kind... and they've devolve some like it was no big deal?!" Aria herself felt angry... but it wasn't like Adagio's fury. Instead, it was like something dear and precious had been taken from her. "THEY BELONG TO OUR SCHOOL NOW YOU LITTLE SWINES!" The heroes looked over their heads... saw HP totals, subtitles, and type. Bounties had been declared on all of them. Not that it really mattered. The game itself seemed almost defunct at this point. - "Huh... online bill for unlocking your character... 200 dollars!?!??!!" Button Mash's eyes bulged. Sweetie suddenly wondered with dread what the bill was for her character. - Scootaloo and Apple Bloom simply left their houses, their thralled families simply letting them leaves and joining the army. The two sirens met up in the sky. "So do we go after Sweetie Belle?" Scootaloo asked. "Naw, Ah've seen this movie before, we'll just get zapped somehow too. And the School will have more to worry about. They need to be isolated." Session 72.22 Alex Warlorn "Oh don't be such silly willies remember?" Sonata said happily, "Unbeatable final boss? Remember? Direct conduit of eldritch magic and our patron Great Old One? Causes corruption stat to sky rocket just by BEING NEAR HIM? Powers up and extends all Wave Mode forms and attacks again just by being near him? Has an attack he can use a free action that TRIGGERS Wave Mode? Don't get made sisters! TAKE BACK what's getting stolen from us!" Sonata smiled. "We finally have lots of brothers and sisters, let's not have those sticks in the mud kidnapping them! Dra-gon is the man!" Session 72.23 Kendell2 "Okay, brainiac," asked Gilda to Twilight, holding the geode. "I can Griffon up, can I use THIS thing?" "I...don't know..." Twilight admitted, rubbing her head. "What do you mean?!" "Magic works DIFFERENTLY here, in our Equestria you have to have a bond to the other Bearers to use the Elements, I don't know if that's how it works here," Twilight replied. "And you need Loyalty to do it. that's the ELEMENT of Loyalty." "..." Gilda growled, not sure she fit the description. They got into a room and barricaded a door, but given they were dealing with a horde of SIRENS, that wouldn't hold long. "Alright, we need a plan," Applejack stated. "We're dealin' with those three, stronger than ever, and an entire army of Sirens..." "Come out you chickens!" Rainbow Dash hissed. "...And Rainbow Dash is one of them," Applejack replied. "Well obviously purifying Rainbow Dash is step one," Sci-Twi said. "Problem is she's one of the stronger Sirens, so we have no chance of purifying her when she's with an ARMY of them." "We we need to somehow isolate Rainbow from and army of sirens and a bunch of evil digital minions brought to life somehow," Twilight said, then signed. "This is not good." Session 72.24 QuartzScale "Snow... what am I looking at here?" Sombra spoke out in his office as he looked at the chaos that was the new Heroes game that those three music department girls had mentioned to be making. "Well... it looks as though someone is affecting the code and there have been several complaints about things getting unfair and weird." Snow answered as he tapped away on his laptop. "Right then... And all this talk about magic and stuff affecting the world isn't the cause for it right?" Sombra almost pleaded as Radiant Hope entered the room. There were weird power fluctuations happening due to all the traffic on the servers. Radiant Hope was sporting pony ears and a crystal coat. Sombra couldn't exactly say he wasn't... intrigued by the sight but when it had started affecting him then it started getting weird. He had a strange jagged red horn sticking out of his forehead though it didn't hurt and even though it was dark looking it wasn't affecting his mind. In fact half the building, due to housing the servers, had transformed the entire building into weird anthropomorphic creatures. The ones who looked like changelings were also being really lazy for some reason. "Would you like me to shut down the game then?" Snow cautiously asked as the clacking of the keys came to a stop. "No... Instead can you lock out all other game creators and give only me access to changing things from this terminal in my office. Whoever these hackers are, they've tried my patience for the last time." Sombra growled out as his horn actually started to glow. ========= Zappityhoof, Goldcap, and Decepticolt all gulped as they were led out by Tirek. Their bail had been paid explicitly by someone known only as the Storm King and they would be working for him indefinitely. ========= Aria managed to see the screen of the computer activate as her control of the game was cut off. Unfortunately they were too busy singing to do anything about it. Adagio and Sonata were having too much fun. Though now they couldn't affect any would be hero anymore. She snarled as several more sirens slammed their fists on the doors where the self proclaimed heroes were attempting to stop them were. ========= Screwball was becoming increasingly perturbed by the unfairness for the users who got the boosted characters. She quietly deleted the pay account they were billed and used some of her own funds that her daddy had given her to bail them out. No one needed to know even if Daddy was going to get the bill later anyways. Several weeks after the incident "Why was I charged so much this month!?" Discord screamed out to the heavens. 'Knew I forgot something...' Screwball mused to herself.