//------------------------------// // 14 - Roll for Initiative // Story: End Game // by Meep the Changeling //------------------------------// Day 10 Arrex Village - Wieav The most remote village in all of Wieav is tucked neatly between the Great Tomb of Arrex and Bonedust Cavern. The two fabled ruins sit at opposite ends of a long dead river which once connected two nearby mountains. One mountain stood proud until a great battle compressed the entire mountain into a single diamond the size of a small castle, then buried it deep beneath the earth in a catacomb-like cavern, still roamed unto this day by the damned souls crushed to death as the mountain was transfigured. The other still stood, towering above the land like a giant tombstone. An unwanted reminder of that which rested below the surprisingly fertile soil surrounding both mountains. The rich black earth drew people back to the long forgotten battlefield. The ancient tomb, seemingly empty yet consecrated by the Gods, compelled them to stay. Most people who lived in Arrex had never heard of their village’s namesake. They stayed for the temple. For the one day which might come when her Divine Grace, Null might have need of attendants in her temple. For what else could such a grand structure with her seal carved into the marble of its very threshold be? A tomb. The tomb. But one can not blame the Elbez for mistaking a seal meant to contain, with an invitation to come in. Arrex sprawled across the fields at the mountain's base. Wide, open, sparse. It might take five or even ten minutes to run from one home to the other, with only the town square, mayor’s manor, the temple, and businesses located close to one another in any fashion sane people would define as a city. The scattered manner in which Arrex’s log cabins and earthen pathways felt more akin to the areas around cities, past the farms and homes surrounding the city’s core. The places where more, unusual for an Elbezan community. The deer-people made up nearly all of Arrex’s population, and despite the Elbez making up a large percentage of Wieav’s citizens, most of the ones who lived in Arrex were not native to Wieav. These Elbez had come from the north, across the border a mere hundred kilometers away, fleeing the savage barbarism of the Karhami tribes to the north. They were once missionaries, sent forth from the Golden City of Bhast to tame the savages and bring them into Null’s loving embrace. Some of their converts fled with them and lead long happy lives helping to tend Arrex’s fields. The rest of the blood traitors who listened to the Elbez served their kin well as backpacks, tent flaps, rawhide chews, and other such goods. The hundred or so Krahami living in Arrex were the only reason the village was on the map. Scholars heard of them, and had flocked to the village for a brief time, seeking the knowledge a pack of that fallen race could provide. Many of the transformation spells taught within the world’s great universities came from Arrex. The red-panda-like Karahami only had so many secrets to tell. Their once noble civilization fell long long ago, with only a few half-remembered stories preserved through oral tradition left to shed light upon their ancestors lives. Once the tales had been written down, the village was forgotten. Not out of malice, but out of fear. A handful of Elbez and Krahami zealots did not know what the Tomb was. Scholars did, and wanted to be nowhere near the jagged mountain once the good reasons to be there ran out. They had warned the village elders of the danger, but such remarks had been interpreted as heresy. Her Divine Grace had not told them to leave, and so they would stay. What exactly the scholars had warned the elders of wasn’t a thing most of the villagers wished to know. Irien Dwin’rriten wished to know. Immensely. She was an odd one. At least by Arrex’s standards. She looked ordinary enough. Short, slender, as tanned as any Elbez could become. Pale ivory skin on her upper body, all four legs covered in soft tan fur which matched the short cut hair which fell across her eyes. She even dressed like most of the villagers, a simple red tunic, no decoration, no utility, a simple expression of modesty. (Why the Elbez men and women see covering their humanoid upper bodies as mandatory, but have no problems at all with trimming their tails and the fur of their plots to display their goods for all to see is one of the world’s great mysteries.) Irien’s actions are what made her different from her fellow villagers. She was the outsider, the troublemaker. The neerdowell whom other parents warned their children to avoid at all costs. A shame unto her parents, who dared defy the Elders at every last opportunity. The only person to be shunned by nearly everyone in town for their heinous crimes. When Irien was but a young fawn, a mere seven years old, she’d decided to become an adventurer. She would train, and then set forth into the world to slay monsters, seek her fortune, and rescue damsels in distress. Even these two decades later Irien had no idea what exactly damsels were, other than things in distress which heroes were to save. Her parents did know the meaning of that single word, and Irien’s use of it along with her parents assumptions were the sole basis for their disapproval. As for the rest of Arrex’s hatred, it all came down to one simple thing. No one in Arrex was allowed to do anything without Her Divine Grace’s blessing. When Irien had prayed at the chapel for permission to embark on her quest as a hero, the Goddess had answered. She said, “I don’t think so. There’s a certain look a hero needs to have, in the case of a woman, it’s a tomboyish yet conventionally pretty look. You’re more of a… Pretty little flower. Completely unsuitable for the roll of a hero. Wouldn’t you agree? You would make a fine love interest for a hero, does that interest you?” For anyone else within the Village, that would have been that. The Goddess had spoken. But for Irien? She had been smart enough to not say as much to her Divine Grace, but when the Elders yelled at her for later practicing swordplay, the little girl’s exact words were, “Go fuck your hat.” Twenty years had passed since that day. Twenty years and countless dismissals of authority given in the form of lewd profanities. Twenty years of daily training which occupied every last moment of the young Elbez’s time. It’s a shame absolutely none of it had been spent studying real combat. None of the traveling merchants who came through Arrex once a year had ever brought with them weapon manuals or martial tomes. Though they had comic books about heroes, and to Irien’s ignorant mind, surely the artists who penned those stories depicted battle as it truly was. Irien walked through the village square, thankful as always that people stepped out of her way to avoid contact with her. The village square was oddly packed this morning, as if some event were going on or something important was to be announced soon. Irien didn’t care. She had to get to work. Not only would the village’s Smith be angry if she were late again, but her sword had broken yet again last night and since selling her a blade had been made a crime to appease Her Grace, Irien had to make the repair herself. What the young woman did not see was the squad of soldiers doing their absolute best to explain to the villagers for the tenth time exactly why they needed to evacuate. A shame really, because if Irien had noticed them, and chose to wait and listen, her chance to finally be a hero could have come when the sergeant finally snapped under the irritation gown by country bumpkin’s and ordered them to be shot. A crime anyone could understand, but none would acquit him for. But that future was not to be. Irien turned away from the square, turning towards the dirt path leading to the smithy, and stopped in her tracks. A lone Krahami dressed in the pale yellow robes of a seer staggered up the path, moving towards the square from the chapel in the jerky, unnatural, frankly frightening manner of a seer caught within the web of a vision. Astonishingly, that was all anyone could have said about him, no matter how observant they were. Aside from the obvious pain and seer’s attire, absolutely nothing about him stood out at all. A complete and total average example of his species. The sort of red-orange, charcoal, and cream face that vanishes so well into the rest you’ve seen you’d never be able to tell another specifically what it looked like. Why is no one helping him? Irien wondered as she raced towards the young seer, her hooves franticly thumping against the packed earthen path as she ran. Whatever he’s seeing will be lost if no one asks what it is! He’s come all this way, everyone must be in the square, no one is in the chapel to record his vision. It must be nearly gone now. I have to learn it! As Irien reached the young seer, she saw his gold eyes were clouded over, fresh foam glittered on his muzzle. Whatever vision he was trapped within was dire, toxic, evil. Exactly the sort of a thing a hero would have to deal with. Irien grabbed the seer by his right shoulder, careful not to shake him too much as she demanded, “What is it? What do you see?” The Seer’s cloudy eyes swiveled, looking directly into the gray of Irien’s eyes as if magnetized. “Sanctus dominus. Infernus ad astra. Sanctus dominus. Infernus ad astra.” The Seer said, his voice low, droning, and unnaturally reverberating as the potent magic spoke through him. Irien’s tail flicked in irritation. “I don’t speak that language,” she said as calmly as she could. “The knights of Dragons are defeated,” the seer moaned, his voice wreathed in pain as he spoke a language aside from the Goddess’s own tongue. “The fortress of Helm is lost. Zeneanus rises from his prison of frost.” Even here, in the tiny village the Dark Lord had never thought of, let alone bothered with, that name brought nothing but terror. Iriene dropped her bag, the broken halves of her sword clanged like an iron bell as it struck the ground. But the Seer was not finished delivering his grim message. “Centuries of war return. No longer, peace will survive. The great Kingdom of Wieav will die. Evil sorcerer returns, his Chaos Wizards rise. “On dark wings of steel they are flying. They know where the sorcerer’s bane was hidden. To the Great Tomb they must go, great terror they sow, nothing can stand in their way. The village shall burn in their wake. They arrive… Today.” Irien’s eyes widened, her cheeks grew pale, and her tail stood upright. In any other species, the woman would have been expressing nothing less than white knuckled terror in response to a poop-inducing nightmare. For an Elbez, that body language conveys the exact opposite. Iriene’s heart fluttered with delight at the opportunity before her today. No one else had heard the Seer’s warning, they didn't care. They were all doing some nonsensical social activity in the square. Only she knew of the danger. No one would believe her if she said a Seer foretold danger. They would all assume it was another of her tricks to try and be allowed to go off and adventure. This was her chance, and she would seize it by the throat. “What can I do to stop this?” Iriene asked eagerly, her hindquarters twitching eagerly as she held back her all consuming desire to sprint headlong for the tomb, screaming a warcry the entire way as she blazed a trail into the future she had chosen for herself. The Seer twitched and jerked, caught in a mild seizure as the magic reacted poorly to the question. “Two demons lead them,” the Seer said, gasping as the agony inflicted upon him became too much. “Oak. Oak through the heart. The beast will be slain. White leads- AAAAAA!” The Seer’s body jerked, several bones popping out of their sockets as he spasmed hard enough to jerk free of Iriene’s grip and fall to the road. “Oh my goodness!” Iriene yelped, kneeling down to immediately pop the seer’s left arm back into its socket. “Are you okay? Do you need anything?” The Seer’s eyes unclouded, leaving the yellow orbs gree to glitter oddly in the noonday sun. “I- Pain… They said— My first time,” he weazed, chest heaving as the ravaged biped sat up. “Did you… Did you listen?” Iriene nodded firmly. “Yes. I got everything. Don’t worry! I’ll take care of it, just like the vision demands. I’ll need to go now, you’ll have to tell the village. The Dark Lord is back, his minions are going into the Tomb, and I need to stop them. And it can ONLY be me who stops them.” The Seer frowned oddly, then nodded once. “Y— Yes. I can remember… Some of it. That’s right. You must save us,” he rambled before gasping and reaching into the front of his robe with his left hand, retrieving a small wooden letter opener from an inner pocket. “Oak! You need oak. This is blessed. It will work.” Iriene nodded and took the small wooden blade from him with her right hand, tucking it into her tunic for safekeeping. “Thanks. Do you need anymore help?” She asked hopefully. The seer shook his head. “No. Go. Don’t let it happen,” he said, closing his eyes Iriene’s eyes took on a steely look as her soul filled with determination. This was it. Her time was now. Everyone who had once laughed would apologize, even the Goddess herself. She reached down and retrieved her bag, slipping its strap over her shoulder in such a way as to allow the bag to hang at her side. Her sword may have been broken, but in her mind she had a dagger. Iriene reared up, smiling as she pivoted on her hind legs to turn towards the mountain, just in time to see the Dark Fortress descend from the sky amid the sound of a lone horn, signaling war. The silver disk beneath the ancient stone fortress shimmered in the sunlight like a beacon. A beacon of death to the villagers who now understood that the army really wasn’t trying to steal their special family moonshine recipes (all of which were actually the same recipe). A beacon of hope to the would be hero missing a marble or two. This is the BEST day, the would be hero thought as she galloped towards her destiny like a bolt of living lightning. Behind her, the seer smiled. Sky Trigger - Day 10 The Great Tomb of Arrex - Wieav Deep within the bowels of the Engineering deck, Sky Trigger and Veena rushed from console to console amid a frantic search. Boxes of spare parts lay scattered on the floor amid stray tools, bolts, and bottles of oil. Each lying where they fell as absolutely every surface was swept clean in their desperate attempt to locate a specific manual override. It figures the landing gear refuse to work the first time we need them too, Sky growled internally, as he plotted revenge on whichever cannoneer had destroyed the gatehouse, and in so doing also caused them to lose the fortress’s only ladder. “I’d be happy to fly everyone down,” Veena said for the third time. “No good! What if we need to split up and get back at separate times? What if we need to board in a hurry? You can carry two ponies, or one person my or Chem’s size. We NEED to touch down,” Sky said as he swept the junk off the second to last console in the room. “Well, looks like we’re gonna have to set her down on her belly,” Veena sighed, the dragoness finishing inspecting the console in front of her. “This one lets us vent the septic system. Could be handy soon. I mean, if we don’t get the landing gear down it will be a pretty shi—” “DON’T YOU DARE!” Sky shouted, turning to give Veena a glare. Veena grinned at Sky then nodded to the console he’d uncovered. “That one?” Sky turned back towards the black glass panel. It was covered with an array of small gold buttons, exactly like what Veena had told him to look for. And exactly like what every other control panel in this room was. Sky’s eyes scanned over the button’s labels. Searching for any of the draconic words he knew. While not many, he knew more than enough to find the word “land” if not the whole word he was searching for. One button caught his eye. It’s label was long, an entire phrase. Perhaps even a sentence. “Veena, what's this do? Is it some kind of automatic system reset? That would do the trick to!” Sky called excitedly. The white Dragoness stepped over to the console, craning her neck down to read. She blinked. “Uhh…” She said to herself in confusion. Sky frowned, tilting his head up to see what the problem was. "Is it an old dialect or something?" He asked. Veena shook her head, a puzzled expression taking over her face as she read the label once more. “No, just confusing. It says 'Unnecessary bwaaa noise'." “Wut?” Sky said pressing the button on pure instinct. The sound of a lone horn filled the air, it’s impossibly loud cry carrying across the land like an overly dramatic proclamation that the impossible had arrived. That was the Inception horn, Sky noted, his face scrunching up as he was more than a little taken aback. “Who built this?" He asked of reality. “And why?” “Found it!” Veena exclaimed excitedly, her left foreleg darting over Sky’s shoulder as she pressed a button on the console. The Dark Fortress groaned, shuddered, and screeched as the battered machine extended its three talon-like landing legs. The Fortress didn’t have much life left in it, that much was clear by the way it limped towards the ground like a wounded animal. Veena blinked once. “Okay. Apparently my ancestors thought adding a button to make everything create ominous sounds was a good idea. I’m going to just go process that,” she said, shaking her head and turning around to leave the engineering quarters. This is exactly the kind of thing Ayna would have built into a sky fortress. Heh, he shook his head and withdrew his rifle from beneath his cloak, moving to place it on his workbench. “You do that. I’ll meet you guys at the gate when we touch down,” Sky said, hiding a grin from his draconic assistant. Veena turned her head around while still walking for the door. “Any reason you’re not going to come with—” She said, stopping midsentence as she saw Sky about to place Sheila on the workbench. “Oh! Numerican gun. Those don’t need maintenance, you know,” the dragoness quickly corrected. “Actually, I promised her a few upgrades,” Sky corrected. “I was about to give her a second scope before we had this little crisis.” Veena frowned curiously, only for the spirit living within the weapon to answer her question before she asked it. “I want to try out binocular vision!” Sheila said eagerly. Veena nodded, a look of uneese crossing her face at the thought of being sequestered inside a small appliance for all time. “Alright. See you soon,” she said after a moment. Sky nodded and waved a hand, removing the scope he had built from a belt pouch with his other hand as he waved. “Later. Won't be long. Just need to drill and tap four holes.” “I thought you were married,” Sheila said teasingly. Sky smiled, shook his head, and got to work. Vinyl Scratch - Day 10 The Great Tomb of Arrex - Wieav The heroes stood upon the tomb’s threshold, looking into the imposing entryway which seemed to plunge straight into the mountain’s very heart, the space beyond the open doors growing darker and darker until you couldn’t be certain as to whether or not you were staring into an abyss. The abyss lurked beyond the threshold, seemingly devouring the marble floor, as if the great limestone archway were the mouth of an enormous beast. The obelisks on either side of the entry looked far too much like fangs for anyone’s liking, and even the shape of the mountain itself lent to the image of a monster hunching over to consume its prey. The scale of everything didn't help either. Giants would call the Tomb’s entrance “a little big”. A six story building could have been built in the entrance, and happily housed several dozen people. With the gaping hole in the mountainside being as imposing as it was, three specific questions entered the minds of any who saw them. Why were the doors open? What had opened them? Was it hungry? Everyone had brought all the equipment they thought they might need. Everyone knew just how much hinged on getting the eye, and the minute Lyra had spotted the tomb’s entrance after landing, the gamer in her had sensed a dungeon crawl. Vinyl had agreed with her completely. Traps, guardian beasts, ancient magical relics unstable with age. Those were what the mysterious doorway promised to contain. What else would be sequestered away in a tomb so grandiose other than something dangerous, or guards to protect the remains of someone precious. As such, Chem had brought with him every magical item he could easily carry, including a large staff topped with a silver stormcloud sculpture which he’d discovered was a lightning gun. Sky hadn’t augmented his equipment, instead he’d shored up the team by making Lyra a proper crossbow, or at least adapting one taken from the Goblin Commandos for use with pony hooves, and then suped it up. He wasn’t about to have the team’s marksmare enter melee combat again. This wasn’t a game. The only person who had less equipment on than before was Vinyl. Francine hadn’t said anything over the last few days, though Chem had been able to determine she was indeed still conscious within the hauberk. Vinyl simply hadn’t been able to justify endangering her by bringing her along. It was one thing to wear armor which was simply links of metal. But if an arrow broke a link in that armor now... Vinyl was not the type of mare to be okay with using a living shield. Besides, the armor had been shaped for a kobold, and restricted her movement badly now that she was on four legs again. Unfortunately nothing in the Dark Fortress had been able to replace her armor. Not surprising, considering the fact that ponies were not native to Mar’rath. However, as a first generation vampire, armor was fairly optional. Supernatural agility does have its perks, and she still had her sword. But it’s still no substitute for real protection… Too bad there wasn’t time to make something fit… Or for Francine to wake up and say it’s okay to wear her into battle. Vinyl thought to herself as she imagined a giant timberwolf stepping out of the shadows in front of her. And why is this door big enough for Light Step to use? “You guys have any idea why the doors are this big?” Vinyl asked her friends as she looked into the darkness. “Or why they are open?” Sky shrugged, moving to speak only to be cut off by Lyra. “I’m more interested in the seal in the floor,” she said pointing down from her position on Veena’s back to the design made of black marble which was inlayed into the threshold itself. It was a heart set within a lit lantern. Not a stylized heart placed within a simple flame which shed light from within a lantern. No. A vividly realistic heart, ripped not cut from the chest of a living being and set aflame as the wick for an iron lamp. “That’s Null’s sigil,” Veena informed, spitting the name out of her mouth in disgust. Chem frowned and took a step back, moving away from the sigil. “That’s bad. Vee, you weren't’ there but we heard her yell at her sister and, well, being that they are gods who actually interact with their followers—” “Null’s not a god,” Veena said, her tail lashing in anger. Lyra frowned. “Hey, calm down… I don’t want to fall off.” Vinyl’s eyes lit up for a moment, a memory from a few days ago coming back to her. “You called the rider we encountered a Guest,” she said as she turned to face the dragoness. “I’ve got a hunch that is somehow connected to you hating Null. Am I right?” Sky hummed and turned to face the Dragoness as well. “Any time we’ve been talking about the Eldritch Radar you got really sad if I bought up NaN. You know what this planet’s deal is and that looks like a temple. Is there anything we should know if we're about to get face to face with that quote unquote god?” he asked firmly. Vinyl smiled with half her mouth. “Sick of not knowing what to do in this world too?” She asked. Sky nodded. “Yeah. I don’t like— Skip it. Veena, what’s up?” Veena bit her lip, a worried look crossing her face as an internal debate raged within her for several long moments. “There’s a whole world at stake, Vee,” Lyra reminded quietly. Veena sighed. “Yeah, there is,” she agreed. “Okay, so… I was kicked out by Null two decades ago. I’m not supposed to be here, and she should know if I was. But she’s not here killing me. Which means she can’t see me, or see people around me. Because if she saw half a conversation I was having it would be clear that I was here.” That explains why Null isn’t attacking us right now. We’re standing at the entrance to well, her temple I guess. Seems like Null should know we were here if she could just locate her sister like she did, Vinyl noted. Vinyl nodded. “You’re the center of a cloaking field. Somehow. Everyone stick close to her so Null doesn't spot us.” Chem hummed and looked over at the Dark Fortress. “It must be a sizeable field, because she would be reacting if she saw half a fortress land in front of her mountain door.” Vinyl nodded. “Point. Still, probably better detection inside.” This time it was Chem’s turn to nod. “Point,” he agreed. “Exactly,” Veena confirmed. “She wont know I told you, but I don’t know if my COs are monitoring me, and releasing the information to civilians is a misdemeanor. But—” “But we really need to know,” Sky and Vinyl said together. Veena took a deep breath of frustration. “That’s what I was about to say,” the dragoness deadpanned. She took a few steps forwards, looking into the darkness, her biomechanical eyes switching vision modes in order to scan as much of the interior space as she could. With her luck, the false-goddess would be standing just out of sight in the shadows and hear every word of the truth which was heresy. As soon as she was satisfied, Veena turned around and faced the group once more. “Null is a paperclip maximizer,” she summarized. Sky’s face grew pale, the others only grew confused. “I think you just word-salad’ed, Miss Dragon,” Chem said with a smile. “Unless you mean she’s doing all this to make more or greater paperclips.” “It’s an AI term, you idiot!” Sky snapped, fear getting the better of him for that instant. “S— Sorry. It’s a very terrifying AI term. Up there with Gray Goo in terms of being shit that doesn't sound scary but couldn’t possibly be more terrifying.” Chem chuckled. “I know. But I also know the proper term is instrumental convergence, and assumed our friend meant she is literally a machine programed to make paper clips, alla the thought experiment,” he elaborated. Sky shot Chem a confused look of his own. “Who thinks like that?” Veena gave the two a confused look. “None of you are surprised to learn the Goddesses are AIs?” She asked skeptically. Vinyl shook her head. “No. Sky’s made a few of them. We know what they are and NaN’s avatar was clearly a hologram. We were pretty certain that they were AIs, or people using advanced technology. But seriously, what’s a paperclip thing?” “It’s when an AI is given a simple task that is very vaguely worded and also not given any clear instructions of what NOT to do,” Sky elaborated as he drew Sheila from under his cloak and held her at the ready. “We’ll probably encounter some really nasty machines in there… Abandoned temple called a Tomb holding a relic that can detect Eldritch abominations. I’m calling it. This is where her core is located.” Veena shook her head. “No. It’s located in the Golden City on the other side of the world. This is nothing as far as I know,” she corrected. Lyra sighed and waved her hoof in the universal gesture for someone to get on with it. Then facehooved as she realized Veena couldn't see her from on her own back. “I hate how we don’t trust each other enough to have that thought link on by default,” Lyra grumbled. “Could you explain what Null is programmed to do?” Veena took a deep breath, clearly letting out some rather serious anger. “She’s programmed to improve, manage, and maintain Mar’rath Adventures. An amusement park. Based on a now dead race’s popular fantasy novels.” The silence which followed Veena’s statement was chilling. Not because her friends were filled with fear, but instead because each of them simply nodded acceptingly. “Makes sense to me,” Lyra said with a little shake of her head. “Greedy corporation does something dumb in the name of more money. That’s the whole reason ethics and business ethics are mandatory high school classes back home.” “Yeah, Princess World would totally make the same mistake if they tried putting an AI incharge of park design,” Sky agreed with a sigh. “Have you seen how they design their equipment? It’s amazing there’s only been three deaths there.” “I never thought we’d be fighting a sapient amusement park,” Vinyl mused, tapping a hoof to her chin in thought. “That seems more like a Elements of Harmony adventure than one of ours.” “Doesn’t it?” Lyra agreed with a giggle. “I kinda want to read those books,” Chem said thoughtfully as he looked out across the rolling green planes surrounding the mountain. Veena’s jaw slowly dropped as she witnessed their reactions. Turning to each of them slowly, the dragoness shook her head and demanded. “What in the world could you possibly have done to learn that an AI has taken over almost the entire planet to make a themepark larger and more accurate to the novels, even reshaping entire continents and finding a way to let EVERYONE cast spells if they simply learn them—” Vinyl smirked and walked up to the confused dragoness, gently hooking a foreleg around her head. “Veena, we’re Equestrians. From Ponyville. This is exactly what would happen if somepony was allowed to build a theme park there.” The Dragoness shook her head almost violently. “That doesn't explain anything!” She insisted, stamping a talon in frustration. “The town is a weirdness magnet,” Chem explained. “If it’s weird enough to be an anomaly and would happen in Equestria, it’s funneled into that one little town. Which is always fine in the end because a town where disaster strikes but the town always survives, which is an anomaly in and of itself. So it happens in Ponyville.” “Yeah!” Lyra agreed with a smile, and then a sad sigh. “Like the time the whole town got sucked into the Realm of Dreams and I got into a hoof fight with literal nightmares and lost.” Veena nodded slowly. “Yes, you told me about that… Certainly it’s the only thing to happen there. I can’t imagine—” “That’s nothing,” Vinyl interrupted. “While we were doing that the town’s location in the real world was ground zero for a demon invasion. And then a whole other time the God of Chaos escaped and used Ponyville as his personal playground. There’s also the time Twilight was stupid and magiced a swarm of parasprites into eating the whole place. Oh! This other time—” Lyra held up a hoof to stop her friend. “Vi, we’ll literally be here all day just listing everything,” she said with a wink. “Veena, I’ll get Derpy to mail you a list when we go home. For now, trust us, this is normal. Especially the saving the world part.” “Kind of our job… Which we’ve been doing pretty crapily recently,” Vinyl said, her ears drooping with shame. Lyra nodded in agreement. “Yeah… But that’s because it’s just us. No offense Sky, Chem, best dragon, but when you spend multiple decades working with the same people there’s just all these things you KNOW people will do for you.” That is the problem, isn’t it? I’m just too used to the team being the same as it always is. I may make bad decisions, but our failures here are because of something I can fix right now.  Vinyl realized, the seed of hope starting to bloom in her heart. The world depends on us, and this time us isn’t Lyra, Bonbon, Cole, Meep, and I. It’s Sky, Chem, Veena, Lyra, and I. I can work with this. I WILL work with this. We can’t keep doing a bad job. We have to win. Then I can retire, and never have to be in charge of battle plans again. Veena’s wings twitched as she processed what she had been told. “Ate… The town?” She asked. “Yes. They ate the town. I’ll tell you about it later,” Lyra said as she looked over her shoulder back towards the Tomb. “Right now… Vi, how about I scout the entrance, then we can move in and set up a perimeter.” No more mistakes. Vinyl decided. No more bad calls. This could be our only chance to win. “Do it. If we get the eye we win,” Vinyl said decisively. “We still have to find Hatty and kill him,” Sky reminded. “It’s not quite an instant victory.” Vinyl nodded. “Yeah, but once we have the radar, we can just go get Vi’s mom to walk over and step on him. Yog made him re-roll his character without min-maxing. There’s nothing he can do to get out of that, and nothing will stop dragonmom from doing it because if Lyra dies so does Veena.” Sky hummed and looked into the tomb thoughtfully. “That’s a good point… But he could stop us on the way back to Safeton. So we still need to be on our guard.” “Not quite,” Chem disagreed as he pulled a small brown leather satchel from his robes to show. “I do not like being unable to contribute to my side.” “What tricks’ do you have up your satchel?” Sky asked, raising an eyebrow. “Magic teleporter?” Chem nodded, Sky’s eyebrows raised a little more, clearly not the reaction he had been expecting. “The Fortress’s treasure rooms contained many magical scrolls. Several of them were transport related. I’ve been to the base of Mount Mercy, as far as I understand I can use one of the scrolls I’ve obtained to teleport us back there as soon as we have the thing. You are ready to just drop the part in, right?” “Not quite…” Sky said with a nervous shake of his head. “I would prefer a full lab, but I could make do with my toolkit and any flat surface if I really had too.” “But our only lab is inside a giant flying target that everyone has all the reason in the world to attack,” Lyra reminded. “And they had airships. There’s no way they don’t have some way of watching the skies for aircraft. If they didn’t, some other nation would have rolled in here with their airships and taken the whole thing over.” Sky pursed his lips, searching for an objection but finding none. “That’s actually a good point. They even had an army attack us within a week. They’ve got to already be on alert, and there’s no way we were not tracked here.” “And they have railroads,” Veena pointed out helpfully. “Once Wieav knows of a threat, it’s army is only a few hours away from anywhere in the nation.” There isn’t a better time to strike. Vinyl decided. We have the advantage right now over Hatty, but only thanks to Veena’s mom. If something happens when the military catches up to us and Lyra dies, we will probably lose that asset and be screwed. Vinyl looked up at Lyra, who was still looking down at her expectantly as she patiently waited for orders. “Lyra, go scout,” Vinyl ordered as she stood up straight, adopting a proper officer’s attentive posture. “Sky, keep your rifle trained on the entrance to cover Lyra if she comes running back. Chem, we’ll need to find the eye quickly. Prepare any detection and locating spells you know. Veena, watch our backs while Lyra scouts.” “Woah,” Sky exclaimed in surprise at Vinyl’s sudden shift. “Where has this you been the whole time?” Vinyl bit her lip. “Too worried about making a mistake to do her job,” she admitted painfully. Sensing the pony’s shame, Veena coughed to draw attention to herself. “We don’t know what could be in there. I may be bigger than Lyra but I’m stealthy. I should go with her incase there’s trouble. Scouts usually work in pairs, right?” Vinyl turned her head to look up at Lyra and raised an eyebrow questioningly. “I think she won't cause me any problems,” Lyra said with a smile. “We got to talking about how we could work together. Rangers are sneaky little things.” Vinyl nodded in agreement after a moment of mulling the idea over. “She normally works alone… But you have a telepathic link. Yeah, go ahead. I can watch our backs.” Veena smiled gratefully and stooped down to let Lyra slide off her back. “Thanks. I don't want to die because I couldn't block an arrow trap or something from putting a hole in her heart,” the dragoness said as she turned and walked across the threshold with Lyra at her side. A sudden spike of fear shot through the hope Vinyl had managed to obtain. What if we lose them? We should all go in now. Then there’s less risk of— No! There’s more risk. We could all die to— UGH! You have a plan, Vi. Stick to it. Chem sat down and opened his spellbook, slowly paging through it as he searched for the spells requested of him. Sky lay down on his belly, and pointed Sheila into the open Tomb. “Okay, Sheila. Don’t shoot if you see Ly or Vee in your crosshairs. If they come running out with something on their hooves, I might accidentally shoot at them,” he instructed. “No problem,” the rifle replied cheerfully. Vinyl couldn’t help but smile. At least there’s one thing that can’t go wrong. She thought as she turned around to keep watch. Of course… This whole field could already be full of enemy scouts. Or snipers. The grass was tall enough for Sky to disappear in if he scrunched down a bit. Vinyl squinted in the sunlight and began to slowly inspect each and every little dip of break in the grass. There were game trails, places animals had traveled enough to make scrambled pathways through the grass. A few obvious dips in the earth making bowl-shaped depressions in the field of grass. The afternoon breeze made the endless sea of green ripple and wave. I so don’t like that! Vinyl thought as her eyes tracked the path of the grass waves, which the wind was sending directly towards them.. That could easily hide movement. It’s how I would get into position to attack us. Vinyl focused her eyes even more closely on the grass before her, desperately wishing Sky had been able to find the materials needed to make her a pair of sunglasses. I’m a nocturnal predator. It’s just too bright right now for me to see. I’m not suited for guard duty. Someone else has to do this. I made a mistake! Vinyl turned around, facing her remaining friends. “Hey, Chem?” She asked, embarrassment, urgency, and worry creeping into her voice. “It’s too bright. I can’t see if there’s anything in the grass. Could you watch out backs instead?” Chem nodded and held up his left hand with one finger extended. “Yes. One moment. I found a spell which could help—” “Motion: 6-o-clock!” Sheila warned. The grass rustle. Hoofsteps thundered against stone. Vinyl’s senses registered something large moving behind her. “Luna, no!” Vinyl yelled as she spun around, drawing her sword from her back with her arcane grip, horn ablaze as she readied herself to strike down the Arakan soldiers leaping from the brush. There were no soldiers. A single Elbez girl leaped for Vinyl, her right hand outstretched, holding a small wooden blade. Vinyl swung her sword, aiming for the girls’ wrist, every last ounce of her vampiric speed put into her blade’s graceful arc. It wasn’t enough. If Vinyl had been beneath Celestia’s sun, perhaps she would have had the speed she needed. She’d counted on being fast enough to see the threat, then react to it as she always had been but in the brighter sunlight of Mar’rath, Vinyl was as a mortal. The Elbez girl tackled her to the stone, her blade burying itself in Vinyls heart with a wet thump, like a hoof going into a watermelon. “Oh shit!” Vinyl heard Sky swear, as if through a meter of water. Sheila’s roar cracked faintly in her ears. The world blackened around Vinyl and the last thing she saw was her attacker’s body tumbling down the steps into the grass. “LYRA!” Chem screamed distantly. “GET BACK HERE! I DON’T KNOW HOW TO HEAL EQUESTRIAN VAMPIRES!” I was wrong. I can’t do this. I failed… I should have let Sky make the plans. I’m so sorry everypony, I’ve doomed us all. Vinyl thought. Then closed her eyes and thought nothing more. “Oh, come on!” Vinyl’s own voice exclaimed, the outburst carrying more venom and pity than Vi thought possible. Vinyl opened her eyes. She was in a void. Perhaps even THE void. True nothing stretching as far as the eye could see in every direction. No light, no darkness, no white, no blackness. Nothing. Except for Vinyl. And another Vinyl who was standing a few meters away from her and giving her a look that was half death-glare and half sympathetic understanding. “You really just couldn’t stop second guessing yourself, Me. Could you?” The other Vinyl huffed, sitting down and crossing her forelegs over her barrel. “You knew that would get you killed and you just couldn’t stop doing it. But I know why you couldn’t… I can’t be too mad.” “What, the actual, buck?” Vinyl asked herself, and her other self, her ears plastered flat against her head.