//------------------------------// // Show's Over Pt2: Head Count // Story: The Equestrian Omni-Knight // by Azure5555 //------------------------------// “So glad this is all over... hey, you afraid of ghosts?” I turn and ask the Hylian pony. “No, why do you ask?” Link said as he turned to look at me. “Because I have an axe swinging moglin ghost who acts like my maid for some reason.” “..does he… she have any problems with guests?... It’s been a very long time since I played Adventure Quest so I can’t remember that character. I’ve always been a Dragonfable player, Jeez, I wonder how much has changed since I was forced to leave earth seventeen years ago?” Link asked and pondered, placing a hoof on his chin. “So much has changed...but no yeah, Veral won't outright attack you...I hope.” Finally reaching my door, I move to knock on the aged piece of wood only for the door to swing open and a torrent of wind to nearly blow me off my legs. “NO ENTRY!” Was all I heard until the door was slammed on my face. “For the love of- Vi! It's me! Can you let us in!?” The door opened slightly, ethereal blue eyes peeked out at me and Link. With an audible gasp, Veral threw the door open and began to rub her face on my own. “OH YOU LOOK SO CUTE!!” “Mmm...Link help…” I said as I groaned in slight discomfort. Link covered his mouth with a hoof, trying his best to suppress a laugh. “I will bite you…” I hissed in mock annoyance. Veral let me go long enough to get a good look at Link as well, and though she had stars in her eyes and squee’d...she did nothing to bother him. “You're our new guest right?” She asked. “It's a little crowded, but I'm sure we can put ya somewhere…” As we all made our way inside I had to beg the question. “Crowded how? It's just us, Trixie and that changeliiii-oh.” A small hive of six badly bruised and battered changelings had filled the living room. The lights of their eyes dim and fading. “Yeeeeah…... they're not doing to well.” Veral said rather sadly. “I mean, I’D help them...but you know...dead.” She emphasized her “dead” by shoving her paw through her stomach and wiggling it. Adorable, but morbid. “How'd they even find their way here? And from where for that matter.” Link slightly frowned at seeing  bug-like pony’s current condition, he then quickly looks around in slight paranoia. The hylian leans toward me. “...their queen isn’t here, is she?” he whispered. The dying bugs turned to Link, hope in their eyes...which died as soon as it came. “Madness…” One managed to whisper. “No more hive…” “No more queen…” The group began to chitter a sad tune. “Tch, they must have been hit in the crossfire. Vi, where's our changeling? She okay?” Veral bobbed her head back and forth. “She's uh...not taking this too well. Oracle and Trixie are with her,” I move to find the trio only for Veral to grab my attention. “Hey, I get that you're cute and all right now, but Turner swung by and said you'd want these.” Phasing through a wall and returning from a corner, Veral came back with a crate of several bottles. “That what I think it is?” I ask as I eye a bottle of clear liquid. “Grab one and get vertical. I’ve got things covered here.” “By Nayru’s love..” Link commented to himself. The look on his face told me he might of had meet the changlings before as if they were a troublesome bunch. . “Speaking of which… Perhaps I could assist in healing them? I’d like to take a risk and try manipulating a spell into a healing spell.” Link said as he turned to look at me. “Unless it's...oh yeah. Nayru…” I say as I carefully remove my current costume and take a bottle. Relieving it if it's contents, I feel my bones and body shift and contort back to its normal form. “Fffffffuck it feels good to swear!!” I shout as I pass a bottle to Link. “Have at it.” The Hylian drinks it down quickly, slowly reverting back to his original form. “Alrighty.” Link said as he presses his hands together. “It’s been a while but hopefully this’ll work..” Link said as he held out his hands toward the group of changelings, taking a deep breath, he began offering a silent prayer to the goddess herself. With eyes closed, he begins to concentrate his thoughts, blue energy started to form within his hands. At first, he appeared to be struggling to change the spell, its form trying to shape itself into a diamond much like its original purpose. Sweat begins to show on his face as the diamond is forced into a brighter glow as it surrounded his hands. He kneels down and hovers his hands over each changeling, feeding him or her a variation of Nayru’s love. Their skin and chitin takes on a healthy blue glow as it begins to heal up their injuries and repair their armor. As the ordeal reaches its end, the six injured changelings close their eyes from exhaustion, their breathing easier and their wounds gone. “You okay? That looked absolutely painful.” I said as I handed Link a health potion.. “No, I’m good. Altering the base spells I haven’t changed tends to exhaust my stamina. So far, Din’s fire has two variations; Din’s fireball and Din’s barrage. I haven’t tried doing the same for Farore’s wind yet. At least the backlash didn’t become as bad as when I combined Din’s Fire with Light Arrow.” Link explained as he took a seat on the nearest chair. He takes off his red cloak and folds it up seeing as he won’t be needing it anytime soon. I sigh in relief. Veral on the other hand just stares at Link in utter awe. “Make yourself at home, it's been one of those days and I am SPENT…” I start to walk away and stop. “You still have that staff Ember was using?” Link nodded in confirmation as he reached into his pouch, he pulls out a tiny staff which quickly grows to its original size once out. “Good, it'll need some work, but I can make it into an actual amulet overnight,” Taking the staff, I flick the jagged crystal that acts as its focal point, grunting as whatever force it carried attempted to...integrate with me. “This is gonna suuuuck, but on the bright side, if all goes well I can help turn you into a Dragon Lord if you so choose.” Link almost dropped his cloak in surprise, he places it away in his pouch as it shrinks down to fit in. “W-wait, Dragonlord, me?” the hylian asked with wide-eyes. He puts away his hoo “You've got skill, will, and all the perseverance a Dragon Lord needs. I could always mine for metals in the Underworld and Elemental Plane of Magic, so making the armor won't even be a problem!” I begin to tap my chin in thought. “Though, dragon training will be a little difficult...but we can worry about all that some other time!” “There’s one problem, I’m wearing armor under my tunic” Link asked as he pulled down his tunic. Instead of chainmail, I saw leather armor with metal plated scales of unknown material covering most of his upper body. “Iron Ash made this for me and its enchanted with magical properties that activate with a spoken word. If possible, I’d like for the dragonlord armor to be light and that it can be combined with what I’m wearing now. Afterall, my fighting style involves being light on my feet, evasion and acrobatics.” the hylian explained I move in a tad closer and sniff. “Oof, powerful magics inlaid...your breastplate will act as the centerpiece of the entire thing. From there, it’s a matter of keeping the reactive metals from exploding. Should be fun…” With a curt nod and an idea in my head, I made my way to my basement, staff in hand. “Veral, if Link needs anything at all, get it for ‘im yeah?” -Basement: Hero- I summon an orb of light as I make myself comfortable in the loot crowded basement. The staff in my grasp begins to pulsate the closer I came to the dragon skeleton in my posession. “Welp...I think I know how to do this.” Taking a smaller bone, I proceeded to once again rip my heart out of my chest and carefully place it upon a workbench. Getting to work, I grind the bone to a fine powder. I take the jagged crystal that made up the staff’s focal point and began to cover it in bone dust. “Now the hard part…” As swift as a leaf in a hurricane, I jammed the crystal point first into my chest cavity. An ungodly wail silently echoed and reverberated, my mouth open and agape from the intense pain. I was hopeful the sonic shock waves didn't wake anyone who was already asleep. I thrashed and writhed, banging my head on to the floor while keeping my claws as far away from the crystal as I could. Once the unimaginably blinding pain subsided and my train of thought had returned, I began to focus my blood to reshape the crystal into a less painful and spherical form. “Hooohkay...now I just gotta give it one last…” Bolstering my resolve, I hovered my right palm over the base of the gem and ignited the crystal (and my insides) with a very focused Destruction Burst. Ribs were cracked, joints had dislocated, and I think I broke my jaw. Choking back a blood curdling screech, I started to forcibly put my broken body back together both physically and magically. -Livingroom: Link- “...Is he going to be alright or is there something I don’t know about when it comes to the dragon amulets?” the hylian asked with worry in his voice. Azure’s moglin ghost seemed to have the same look of worry. “He's never screamed that loud before…*shiver* be glad you can't hear that high, pretty sure I'd be bleeding from the ears,” She began to fly around the house, checking walls and floors. “You think I should check on him?” She asked. “I’d probably hear the pitch if I was wolf form, but yea, check on him but don’t say anything incase he’s in the middle of progress, I mean Displaced can change and he might be doing something I know nothing of.” Link said as he leaned against the nearest wall. “Yeah...I’ll be uh...right back. Feel free to raid the fridge!” And with that she descended into the floor. -Basement- “Ninety one bottles of beer on the wall, ninety one bottles of-” “For the love of-CAN I LEAVE YOU ALONE FOR FIVE MINUTES!!” The shrill disapproving sound of Veral’s echoing voice snapped me out of my daze, my eyes focusing on the crystalizing puddle of blood surrounding my muzzle...which just so happened to be lying on the floor. “Heya Vi...can you not shout? I think my ears are a little sensitive.” “What did you do to yourself?” She asked with a commanding tone and her paws on her hips. “Don't be mad…” “What did you do to yourself?” She repeated a little quieter this time. “I jammed a foreign object into my chest.” “YOU DID-no. I'm not mad. Are you okay?” “Yeah I’-DING FRIES ARE DONE!” I exclaimed. Shooting to my feet, I dislodge the crystal from my chest. “Heeheeheeheee I get that you're pretty~” I stare at the perfect sphere, it's red glow shined bright like a diamond. “Uh...maybe you should lie down?” Veral said as she grabbed my shoulders. “Nonsense! Not when I'm on the precipitle...the precipitititlalala...the precipitation of glory!!” I shout, a single finger raised skyward. Fishing through my inventory, I took out one of my “special” coin pouches. “Dragon Coin Dragon Coin, grant me a wish...wait no…” Grabbing forty Dragon Coins, I shoved them into my mouth and turned said mouth into a living furnace. After about fifty seconds of mouth melting majesty, I spat the molten river onto the gem and began to mold. “The Slayer kicked a zombies head, the WerePyre chased the Slay-er the WerePyre thought twas all good fun, POP!!” The molding had been completed and the still hot gold was propped on the staff cavity. The Dragon Coin gold melted onto the staff and it began to glow with glorious might. “Goes the Slayer~” The staff had been completed, my mind going a mile a minute. My heart...was now being put back into it's rightful place. “Now will you rest?” Veral asked me, worry written upon her adorable undead face. Her hand still on my exposed chest cavity. “Kk, wake me up when September ends…” I fell flat on my face, darkness the only thing I see. -Living room- Veral, ascended from the floor, a worried look on her face. “So what was going on? I heard a little bit of yelling, something about fries?” Link asked the moglin. The hylian sniffed the air. “Perhaps not. It kind of smells like something melted… Was he blacksmithing?” “Sure uh... let's go with that…” She seemed tense. “I'm just gonna...I'll be uh…” She floated away aimlessly, the sound of metal softly and rythmically impacting against wood soon followed. The hylian raised an eyebrow in curiosity at the Moglin’s response. Unable to stop his curiosity, Link slowly makes his way down to the basement. “Azure?” Link spoke out as he pushed the door open. Lying face first in a pile of crimson crystals and reeking of charred flesh, was Azure...only much larger, greener, and with a massive crimson mane. Soft breathing could be heard along with the rise and fall of his back. “Mm...not now Mrs. Belvedere...I’ve had too much lemonade…” Leaning on the side of a workbench was the staff Azure had taken to work with, only now it was completely different. Link was confused and worried, but mostly puzzled. “What in Hylia’s name happened?” the hylian called out as he walked over to Azure’s body. Every so often, smoke would billow out from his open muzzle, and the area where his heart was had been forcefully exposed. Link frowns at this. As he kneels down, his hands spark with blue magic as he attempts to heal the dragon man via a Nayru’s Love spell variation. Flesh and scale began to cover his heart once more, the smoke died off and Azure gained a small smile as his breathing became easier. “That can’t be comfortable to sleep on.” Link commented as he shook his head, he looks over at the staff, his interests piqued when he notices it's changes.  “..Is that..?” the hylian began as he walked over to it, he reaches his hand toward it, only to stop. His hand mere inches from it. “..No, I think it would be best to wait for Azure to wake up...” he said as he pulled his hand away.  The hylian left the basement and didn’t come back, the Moglin having told the hylian that the Dracopyre was able to sleep anywhere and wouldn’t be waking up anytime soon. -Dreamscape: Hero- The inky black of the endless pit of dreams once again surrounded me as I fell through a world with no- “Act one: Dance of the Blade!” My hand lands on a surface palm first as I cartwheel away from Midnight, several after images following close behind her. Her rapier soars through the ether, her after images slicing along her sword arm as she very narrowly misses impaling me, slashing me, or otherwise harming me. “Act two: Dance of the Mystic!” I duck underneath a fireball, only to roll to me left to dodge a jagged pillar of ice. “YIP!” Spinning into me from my right, Midnight thrust her arm skyward, a surge of electricity snapping through the air. I bobbed left only for her to spin along with me and summon another pillar of lightning. I back rolled to gain distance only to have landed on a Gate of Atlantis. “Act three: Dance of the Moon.” Six Mana ghosts appeared, one for each point. Three brandishing rapiers and after image silhouettes and three thrumming with arcane power. “Oh find me in the Alps…” Crossing my arms over my face and closing my eyes, I braced for what would no doubt be a very painful beatdown...only to open my eyes to the sound of metal and magic clashing against a barrier. “Nayru’s love…” I whispered as Midnight's spell had died down. “Another filthy wench? When will you see that I am the only master you will ever need?” Midnight proclaimed as she sheathed her blade. “Not even gonna dignify that with a response. I see you have more moves?” I say as I cross my arms together. “You will bow to me yet…”