//------------------------------// // And so, the game begins // Story: Discorded Skyrim: The Star Swirl scrolls // by Fluttercordia //------------------------------// The mares and draconequus stirred, each of them waking up at the same time to the sound of a carts wheels beating against the rough terrain, and hoofsteps of the ponies assumed to be puling it. Once their eyesight had adjusted to the blinding light they realised they were in this cart, sitting merely inches across from one another, and there appeared to be other ponies there too. They blinked a few times, and looked at their surroundings, shooting each other looks, as if asking if they knew what happened or where they were. Rarity went to rub her temple with her left hoof, only to find her other hoof came with it. They were all bound and chained at the neck. Twilight, Fluttershy, Discord, and Rainbows wings were bound as well. Rarity and Twilights horns were wrapped in a cloth that felt damp and heavy, Discord didn't appear to have any magical restraints. If any of them had something to say, they couldn't find their voice. "Guys! you're okay, thank Celestia." Spikes voice could be heard, evident with relief. "Spike, where the hay are we?" Applejack asked in a raspy, tired voice, looking to the sky as if she might see him there. "I don't know, i've never played this before, I can only use one of you to look around at the moment, I don't have any control over anything else right now. Pretty sure this might be the intro in that case." "Hey, you, glad to see you're all finally awake." A dark blue earth stallion spoke to the group. He had a blonde mane up to his shoulders, two braids at each side of his face, and facial hair that implied he hadn't kept properly groomed for a month. If he had a cutie mark they couldn't see it, as he was adorned in chain mail and a blue cloth that wraped around the quilted armor underneath it, with leather belts fastening around the torso. "You were all trying to cross the boarder right? walked right into Celestias Imperial ambush. Same as us, and that thief over there." "Damn you Stormcloaks." snapped the light brown stallion of whom the earth mare was referring to. He was a pegasus, wings bound as well, like all pegasus in the cart with them, and the two other carts ahead and behind their own. Although his face was bare of any facial hair, he looked even more unkempt than the other, head to hoof in rags and his dark brown mane sleek with natural oil. "Skyrim was fine until you came along, The Empire was nice and lazy. If they hadn't been looking for you, I would have stolen some supplies and been half way to Hoofell by now." He sneered, and looked at the unique group in front of him. "We shouldn't be here, its these Stormcloaks the empire wants." They glared at each other for a short while, an edge in their eyes. "You have NO idea." Said Twilight, and she turned to glare at Discord, who was looking at his hands a bit dumbfounded. She hadn't seen him snapping his fingers with no results. "We're all brothers and sisters in binds now, thief." "Shut up back there!" One of the soldiers pulling the carts chimed in. He was a pegasus, And was dressed in steel armor that looked incredibly heavy. Ignoring this the thief looked at the only pony that had a blood stained bag over their head in the cart, "Whats wrong with that one, huh?" The mane 6 followed his gaze. The pony looked like a pegasus, as the wings were bound as well. But what caught their attention most was her visible dark blue ethereal tail, which seemed to glitter as it defied gravity. surely that couldn't be- "Watch your tongue!" The Earth stallion snapped. "You're speaking to Nightmare Moon, the true high queen of Skyrim!" "NIGHTMARE MOON!" The girls gasped. "This. Is. Awesome!" Spike stated through the console, his voice getting higher with every syllable. "Well what do you know," Discord grumbled, "She looks better with a bag over her head." "Nightmare moon? Jarl of Windhelm? Sister of queen Celestia?" The thief said in disbelief before starting in a panic, catching on to the situation at hoof. "You're the leader of the rebellion, If they've captured you- oh gods, Celestia! Where are they taking us?!" "I don't know where we are going, but Sovengarde awaits." The now confirmed rebel, declared. "Sovengarde?" Rarity asked aloud, With nothing better to do, and a little curious. "Its a place i've read about in books, a legend really. Back in the medieval days of Equestria, it was believed that if you proved yourself in battle, you would go to this place in death, and you could, well, I guess with a lack of a way to put it, party to no end?" Twilight described. "It's an afterlife, essentially." Twilight would usually enjoy sharing her knowledge with anypony, but right now, she was tired, frustrated, and most certainly would have missed the train to Canterlot. Pinkies jaw hung low, her eyes sparkled at the thought. "I no longer fear death." She gushed in a whisper. Rainbow started to grunt and jerk, trying in vain to get the binds on her loose. Applejack, seeing her friends attempts, motioned with her head for Rainbow to lift her hooves up. When she did so, Applejack tried to naw at them with her teeth to get them loose, but that wasn't working either. "WILL SOMEPONY GET US OUT OF HERE!?" Rarity screeched. "I SWEAR I'M LOSING MY HEAD OVER HERE!" "No! This can't be happening! This isn't happening." The thief fretted, starting to hyperventilate. "Hey," The Rebel pony said, in a soothing manner almost, "What village are you from, thief?" The thief's voice quivered slightly, "Why do you care?" "A ponies last thoughts, should be of home." The rebel said with solemn. There was a thump in the carriage, which briefly jolted everyone on board. They were passing through a small stream, if they hadn't been in this situation, this would have been an enjoyable scenic ride. The mane 6 and even Discord remained silent, intrigued with the conversation happening before them. Twilight would even say she was proud of this stranger pony before her, for providing comfort to somepony he didn't even know, and dare she say... adding comfort for herself. It seemed her friends were feeling the same way, due to their more relaxed composure. "Rorikstable. Im from Rorikstable" The thief said, visibly calmer, like he had found his happy place. An entrance came into view, a bridge above it manned by a guards stallion, The roof was made of wood and log, a great wall surrounding the entirety of the structure of what so far, appeared to be a small town. The ride became more bumpy due to the sudden switch of dirt to cobblestone. The cart passed a sign that read 'Helgen' pointing towards their headed destination. "General Sining Armor, sir!" A soldier pulling the cart said as he made is way past a group of ponies, or at least 2 of them were ponies, the others looked different. They were... changelings, at least, what the changelings were before their reformation back in Equestria. No doubt about it, Black fur, holes like Swiss cheese, bug like wings. "The headspony is waiting!" "Good, Lets get this over with." The Unicorn dressed in more finer armour than the others, stated with indifference, before turning back to the group of changelings. "MY BROTHER!" Twilight shouted. The girls gasped in delight. surely they had found someone to save them from whatever fate lay ahead of them. "Wait, did they say headspony? But that means-" Twilight had only just processed the meaning of the word and interaction. "Shining! Shining its me! your sister, Twilight and the rest of us! You have to help us, this is a mistake!" If General Shining heard her, he didn't show it. The girls watched on as they drew further away from Twilights brother, their hopes dashed. Discords ears had flattened as well. which didn't go unnoticed by Twilight. "Why is he so concerned, he could just get us out of hear if he just came to his senses!" Twilight mentally accused, in anger The thief had come to the same realisation as Twilight it would seem, as he too started to ramble incoherent sentences in fear. "Divines! Celestia! Please help me!" He pleaded. Discord snickered at the thief, and nudged Rarity, who was sitting to the left of him, "Finally, somepony who might be more Dramatic than you." Rarity scowled. "So, Shining Armor is the general in this," Spike could be heard exclaiming. "I...dont think he can hear you Twilight. Or maybe he can? i'm not sure." Fluttershy, on Discords right side, leaned into him for comfort, which put him in distress, he knew how scared she was. "Its just a game, my dear." He whispered, "I won't let anything happen to you, I swear it." Fluttershy believed him, and couldn't help but feel more safe, and still, she whimpered, pushing her face slightly further into his side. It was a lot warmer than this crisp cold air coming in from the mountains, visible from their position. As her eyes were off him, she didn't notice him look at his paw and claw, visibly miserable. "Look at him," the rebel nodded towards Twilights brother. "General Shining, the military governor. And it looks like the Changelings are with him." He shook his head. "Damn parasites, I bet they have something to do with this." The last cart made it's way through the gates, and they closed behind it. "This is Helgen, I used to be sweet on a mare from here, I wonder if Berry Brew is still making that mead with juniper berries mixed in. Funny, when I was a colt the celestial imperial walls made me feel so safe." A young earth colt, with brown fur and a two-toned orange mane and tail, was watching from the deck of his small home, "Who are they Daddy? Where are they going?" He questioned curiously. A larger Earth stallion, who was leaning on the rails beside him, straightened up. "You need to go inside, Button." "Why? I wanna watch the soldiers." "Inside the house. Now." The presumed father ushered him along, and the colt reluctantly followed. The cart finally came to a halt in front of a wall, much to the mane 6 and thief's confusion. “Wait,” said the pegasus thief, panicking, “Why are we stopping?” “Why do you think?” asked the rebel rhetorically, as if it should be obvious, “End of the line.” The girls and Discord drew in a sharp breath and a few nervous swallows. It didn't go unnoticed by them that there was a chopping block in front of a large tower to the left of them, and they were almost 100% sure it wasn't used for chopping vegetables. "Hey, Rarity! You were right! We ARE going to lose our heads!" Pinkie laughed. Not only were the girls dumbfounded at Pinkie, so was Discord. She was clearly not taking the situation they were in seriously. All of the prisoners hopped off the cart. “The Imperials love their damn lists,” said the Rebel. There was a light orange Pegasus and a yellow pegasus. The orange Pegasus was wearing steel armor, His mane was a a dark hue of blue, with the eyes to match. The yellow pegasus had a yellow and orange mane, spiked and fashioned into a mohawk, She was wearing a mixture os steel, and leather armor, it looked as though she had a higher status. Her amber eyes locked with the orange ponies own, urging him to proceed. The pegasus looked down at his list, then back up at Nightmare Moon. “Jarl Nightmare Moon of Windhelm,” he called. Nightmare Moon stepped forward and turned left toward the group of prisoners that had already been checked off. “It’s been an honour, Jarl Nightmare,” the Earth pony said with a small crack in his tone, showing he truly was nervous himself. "Mane Moon, of Rorikstable!" The now named pegasus they had shared a cart with lurched forward in distress. “No! I’m not a rebel! You can’t do this!” and he suddenly galloped past the imperial soldiers, "You can't kill me!" He taunted, making it halfway down the villages road. "ARCHERS!" The yellow pegasus yelled, and a group of pegasi from above and earth ponies from below drew their bows, and at her command they released their arrows into the pegasus. The mane 6 and Discords mouths dropped. Applejacks heart sunk to her stomach, Fluttershy felt the ground sway beneath her hooves, and Rarity actually fainted. "SPIKE, I THOUGHT THIS WAS A PG GAME!" Twilight shouted in distress. She did not receive a response because unbeknownst to her, Spike, having witnessed this himself had sunk his face into the pillows of the couch in fright. For a game it had incredible graphics, and it was easy to see the blood splatter under the fallen pegasus. "Anypony else feel like running?" The commander of the archers asked rhetorically. The mane 6 and Discord shook their heads in response, though it wasn't needed. "Hey Everypony, im sorry ta bring this up and all, but remember when we first got here, and Rainbow socked me in the jaw?" Applejack queried. Everypony nodded their heads, wondering what her point was. "Really, you're gonna bring this up now?!" Rainbow rasped. "What im tryin ta say is that it HURT!" "I said I was sorry!" "Gosh darn, Rainbow, Everypony, what im trying to say, is if THAT hurt, then who's to say getting our heads chopped off is gonna be a walk in the orchards?!" The realisation dawned on them of what she was implying. Fluttershy stumbled, but Discord caught her with his body and helped her regain balance. "Discord! You need to get us out of here!" Twilight frantically pleaded. She had no anger in this moment, just fear. "Or Spike, whoever, I don't care!" "This isn't fun anymore!" Pinkie wailed, bursting into tears. Discord knew the situation was dire, and he snapped his paw. Nothing happened. "This couldn't be happening, not right now, not to my friends, not to me... not to Fluttershy." He thought to himself. Spike, back in Equestria, was also frantically smashing buttons again, which caused Rainbow to lunge forward and bump into the orange Pegasus soldier. "You there! all of you, Step forward." He commanded. They all did so, aside from Rarity, who was still unconscious on the ground. “Who… are you?” He asked them. There was a moments pause, and a bar appeared below and above the lot of them, each with their names written on the bar below. On the bar above it read; Race Body Head Face Eyes Brow mouth Hair Twilight looked above her, and saw this. "What in Equestria?" The others followed her gaze and was left in equal bewilderment. There was a soft click, and the girls turned to look behind them and cringed at the sight. Discord was now in hysterics. Rarity started to stir, and opened her eyes to see all her friends standing before the soldiers, and looking at her. She blinked a few times, "What are you all looking at?" She asked softly, curious, but she needn't have wondered for long when she looked up and Shrieked. Her hair was now a ghastly green, fashioned into a bundle of braids that had absolutely no correlation. "Getting my head cut off doesn't seem like such a problem anymore!" Disembodied laughter could be heard all around them. "Spike! What are ya doin? Whats goin' on now?" Applejack looked around sternly, hoping that Spike, from wherever he was, could see the utter seriousness in her tone and eyes. "It's creation mode, I can make all kinds of changes on you." Another Click came, and Applejack turned into a stallion, looking much like her brother, only with her own unique features such as her cutie mark and colour. Discord was now on the floor at this, laughing along with Spike. Another click came, and Fluttershy was suddenly a Bat Pony. She drew in a gasp and pulled her hoof to her mouth to hide her fangs, forgetting she was bound and losing her balance. This was not something she was fond of, as it brought back old memories of when she had turned into that nasty Flutterbat. Discord couldn't help but fawn over her new appearance, "I must say, My dear, that look is quite becoming on you." He purred. "DO ME! DO ME!" Pinkie squealed. jumping up and down in place, the chains around her neck clattering together in the process. Twilight put her back hoof down. "NO, Pinkie! Spike change us back to the way we were, RIGHT NOW! THIS IS SERIOUS!" "Okay, okay, jeesh." Another few clicks rang out and Everypony seemed to be back to their normal selves, Rarity held onto her mane as if it would fall of her head, sighing with relief. Another box appeared, "Do you want to rename your characters?" The "Yes" below it was highlighted. "Spike..." Twilight warned. It switched over to no. "Hm," The soldier spoke again, slowly. "Twilight, Rarity, Pinkamena, Fluttershy, Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Discord." He looked over to the yellow pegasus, flipping the papers of his lists down again. "Captain Spitfire, What do we do? They're not on the list. “Forget the list,” captain Spitfire said. “They go to the block.” “Yes, ma’am,” said the soldier, giving a small salute. He looked at the unusual group one last time with an apologetic gaze. “I’m truly sorry. At least it’ll all be over quick,” he said solemnly. “Follow the captain here.” They made their way over involuntarily to the now fairly large group of prisoners, awaiting their fate by the block. Shining Armor faced Nightmare Moon, her bag now off her head, cloth wrapped around her horn in what can only be assumed to have anti magic cast upon it. Nightmare didn't seem to waver under the generals stare. “Nightmare Moon,” Shining affirmed. His voice was raspy, and held confidence. “Some ponies in Helgen may call you a hero. But a hero doesn’t use a power like the Voice to attempt to murder the Queen, and plunge Skyrim into eternal night,” he said, narrowing his eyes at the ethereal alicorn. Nightmare Moon said nothing. “You started this war! You plunged Skyrim into chaos, and now the empire is going to put you down, and restore the peace!” A strange thunder was heard in the distance. "I'm surprised ya still have an appetite." Said Applejack, thinking it was Spikes stomach. "Huh? That wasn't me." "Yes, General Shining." Captain Spitfire looked over at the executioner, a unicorn from what they could see, as only a horn protruded from their black hood. "Give them their last rights." She said to an elegantly dressed earth mare. The mare started to speak their last rights. "As we commend your souls, let the blessings of the eight divines and Celestia be upon you-" "For the love of Luna - Lets get on with it!" A unicorn rebel demanded, interrupting the priestess, and walking over to the block, head held high, bravely. The priestess glared at the unicorn stallion, insulted, "As you wish.." Captain Spitfire pressed the unicorns head against the block. "Come on! I haven't got all morning. Does Celestia even know you are doing this to the ponies of Skyrim?" The unicorn questioned angrily. Everpony ignored this. The executioner held an axe high, it glinted in the sunlight. The mane 6 couldn't bare to look, and turned away from the sight. The axe came down and easily sliced a clean cut through the stallions neck, the sound of bones cracking. "YOU IMPERIAL BASTARDS!" Sompony yelled from the crowd. "JUSTICE!" another onlooker shouted. "As fearless in death, as he was in life.." The earth stallion they shared a cart with stated solemnly. Captain Spitfires gaze returned to the prisoners. "Next, the Rainbow pagasus!" The strange thunder came again, and a few soldiers commented on it. Captain Spitfire dismissed this. "I said, next prisoner!" "To the block prisoner, nice and easy." The orange pegasus guard requested, softly. "Huh-What?" Rainbow couldn't control her own hooves, they moved forward to the stone slab adjacent to the rest of them. Her Head was pushed against the slab, with Captain Spitfires assistance. Rainbow Dash could hear the protests of her friends, but it seemed it all fell on death ears. For a game it all felt so real, the blood from the previous fallen pony was warm, Rainbow could swear she smelt the copper aroma coming from it, and it took all her strength not to gag at the unicorns head in the basket before her. This was all too real. She made a last attempt to wriggle her way out of the binds. "DO SOMETHING DIP-CORD!" Fluttershy watched her best friend since she was a filly wriggle in vain, this was on par with the demise of Moon Mane she witnessed only moments earlier, as one of the most frightening things she had experienced in her life. Not even the dangers back in Equestria had ever truly seemed life threatening, and those that did were far and few. "Discord! Please!" She begged. "Ugh guys, you don't think that.. if you die in this game you die in real life, do you?" Spike asked, he sounded like he was welling up with tears, but no pony could be sure, being that he wasn't visible to them. "Thanks for that pleasant thought!" Rarity sarcastically replied. A distressed Pinkie Pie called out to Rainbow Dash, "If you go to that sovengarde place can you save me a cupcake, surely a party afterlife has cupcakes..." "NOT HELPING PINKIE!" Discord frantically snapped his paw, his tail, his eagle talon...nothing. He started sweating from the forehead. "Why isn't this working, what in Equestria is going on?" He tried harder, more force, gritting his teeth so hard his lone fang bit into his bottom lip, drawing a speckle of blood. "WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?" Twilight shouted in a panic, not understanding Discord wasn't waiting for anything, he was simply failing the task at hoof. Rainbow Dash swallowed nervously, from the corner of her eyes she could see the executioner make the same motion they used before the unicorn's untimely end. She shut her eyes tight, ready for what she would consider "A world of hurt." Even the voices of her friends were starting to become muffled, due to the blood rushing to her head, but she swears she made out the words "What in oblivion is that?!" The earth beneath her rumbled as if coming to life, a wind blew back the ominous cloaked unicorn, that was about to end her life. She looked up and saw to the top of the tower to her left, and saw.. "A DRAGON!?" Twilight cried. The dragon was black, with red eyes that looked like tiny fires on his much larger face. He was horned, he was HUGE, and he was NOT like any dragon the girls, nor Twilight had ever seen in Equestria before. Twilight took a step back instantly, and when she was able to do so, she realised she could move again, she rushed over to Rainbow Dash, who had been too busy staring up at the huge beast to move. "Rainbow Dash, we gotta go, NOW!" Twilight pulled at her bound wings, not focusing on freeing them, but rather moving Rainbow out of harms way. The strange thunder came again, the source was not unknown anymore, it was the dragons doing. it was LOUD, and it had warped the skies in a swirling storm, electricity evident in the atmosphere. "Get the townsponies to safety!" General Shining called out. The rebel earth pony they had shared a cart with came over to them, crouching to stabilise himself. "Hey, get up! Come on, the gods won't give us another chance!" He had a small white arrow on his head. The girls didn't question this, and they didn't need to be told twice. "This way!" He instructed, running to the tower ahead of them. Discord followed in tow, as did the mane 6, well, as best they could with their hooves and wings bound. Discord was quite used to standing on two legs, but they eventually made it to the safety of the towers walls, along with Jarl Nightmare Moon and a few others. Rainbow Dash rubbed her neck, happy to have it still attached to her. "Jarl Nightmare, what is that thing? Could the legends be true?" Asked the rebel, in disorientation. Nightmare Moons restraints were no more. "Legends don't burn villages to the ground." She said in a regal tone, head held high. "How poetic." Rarity said dreamily. Discord groaned, "Yes, yes, its all very nice, I've got one to. Roses are red, poison joke is blue, I think we should run, but I don't know about you!" "Oh my goodness!" Fluttershy chimed in distress, at the display of injured ponies occupying the tower. They were being tended too, lying in pools of blood. She made a mental note to cross this game of her 'to buy' list. This was definitely more violent than any game she had ever indulged in. "We need to move, NOW!" Jarl Nightmare commanded. "Up the stairs!" Applejack cried. They all started ascending the spiralling staircase in the tower, a few of them stumbling up the steps due to their restraints. "What the hay were you doing Discord? Why didn't you snap us out of this mess?" Twilight cried, helping Applejack, who tripped a little on the 5th step, find her hoofing again. Discord looked at her with low spirits, as they slowly made it halfway up. "Twilight I-" A huge blast cut him off, knocking a few of the ponies down. Twilight lost her balance and was about to fall from the staircase. Thinking quickly Pinkie and Rarity caught her by her binds with their teeth, pulling her back up to safety, or at least what they thought was safety, as when they turned around the dragons face was merely inches from the group. Its breath created a gush of wind which pushed their manes back easily. "WATCH OUT!" Spike warned. "DUCK!" Rarity cried. "Ducks? Where?!" Asked Pinkie, looking around the tower, "I don't see any-" Rainbow Dash tackled Pinkie to the ground just in time, as the dragon spat a large wall of flames into the tower. The heat singing a few wings. Rocks tumbled around them from the shaken building. The dragon then flew back and retreated, to cause more havoc on the village and its ponies. "I'm hot enough, thank you very much." Discord spat, putting out a small flame on his antler. He looked at the hole in the wall, their was a building adjacent to it, the roof had been reduced to ruble, and it seemed in leaping distance. The rebel stallion made his way up to them, "See the inn on the other side? Jump through the roof and keep going! Go! We will follow when we can!" "I figured as much already, jeesh." "Oh no, I am not jumping from here!" Rarity insisted, stubbornly. Spike grunted and held down the △ button on his Ponystation controller, whilst moving the joystick forwards. Rarity started to move forward with no control. "Spike, SPIKE! DON'T YOU DARE - AHHHHH!" Rarity shrieked as she involuntarily flung herself from the tower and onto the roof, "OOF!" She grunted, Landing with only a small thud. She got up and from the wooden ruble, and groggily looked around. "Rarity! are you okay?!" Twilight shouted. "Yes, i'm... fine. A little warning next time Spike, if you don't mind." She sneered. "Sorry Rarity, I panicked." Spike added meekly. Pinkie Pie did a gallop up to the broken wall, surprisingly fast for somepony who had two hooves tied together. "WEEEEE!" She cried out in delight, as she jumped onto the ruined Inn, joining Rarity, who had to quickly move out of the ecstatic mares way. "It's not that bad! Kinda fun actually, like skydiving without a parachute!" "Okay Everypony, on the count to three, we jump!" Applejack commanded. Everypony lined up at the wall and swallowed some deep breaths. Fluttershy whimpered, shaking as she looked down at their destination. It was still too incredibly far down for her liking. "Umm... can we at least count to ten?" Rainbow Dash and Applejack sighed, "Alright on the count to ten." Rainbow Dash said. "One." Applejack started. "Two." Twilight continued. "TEN!" Discord shouted, and he lunged himself into the mares backsides, pushing them all out of the tower, where they fortunately landed on the building with no harm. Discord then jumped himself, landing a lot less hard than the majority of them. "Okay, now thats out of the way, LETS GO!" Discord led the way, coming to a hole in the floor, wood burned all around the, Rainbow Dash started to cough and splutter from the fumes. With a great leap Discord jumped to the ground below, the others hesitantly followed suit. He dashed outside, but stopped when he noticed the others had come to a halt. "This is no time to horse around! Pun not intended.. Move!" The girls looked at him in disbelief. "Back out there?!" Rarity cried. "ARE YOU CA-RAZY?!" Pinkie asked rhetorically. Twilight, with a look of determination on her face, didn't question Discord. She followed him outside and into the chaos, and surprisingly, the most unlikely of ponies followed behind her, Fluttershy. The rest reluctantly joined. The Orange Pegasus soldier pulled a young colt from harms way, as another building collapsed under the weight of fallen stone and flames. "Short Round! Get out of here, NOW!" He shouted. The little colt ran and ducked under some fallen debris. "That a boy! You're doing great" The soldier praised. "Everypony get back!" The soldier turned to the mane 6 and Discord. "Still alive prisoners? Keep close to me if you want to stay that way." "He makes ah convincin' argument." Applejack said, and motioned for the others to follow her and the soldier. They all made their way through the crumbling village, now being led by the pegasus, Pinkie ran through a small fire in the process of trying to keep up. "OUCH!" She cried out in pain, but pressed on with the others. A bar below her in red, started decreasing in colour. "Careful Pinkie!" Spike hollered. "You alright sugar-cube?" "Yeah," Stated Pinkie, catching her breath. After a moment the bar below started increasing colour again. "After a few moments, it doesn't hurt at all!" Pinkie concluded. "Stay close to the wall!" Discord skidded to a halt, obeying the soldier. He pushed the mane 6 to the wall with him, and loomed over Fluttershy, She blushed, for not only being so close, but for the mere fact that he would put himself in more danger, if it meant adding a little more protection to her. The Dragon landed on the wall above, his wings draping over, almost touching the mares. It didn't seem to see them. It breathed another round of intense heat and flame onto the landscape in front of the group. The soldier took of again, commanding them to keep up. "Its just a game. Its just a game. Its just a game.." Twilight muttered, repeatedly in a panic, trying to convince herself. "It's a scary game! it's a scary game! it's a scary game!" Squealed Pinkie Pie, joining in with Twilights rambles. The townsponies and guards were fighting the dragon off, vigorously, and shouting all sorts of profanities. "Its you and me prisoners, stay close!" They all passed under a bridge, the dragon flying above them, more engaged with the other ponies than themselves. The pegasus soldiers, including captain Spit Fire, joined combat in the airspace. The soldier that had been leading them ran over to the doors of the building, by the end of the village. "Come on, all of you, into the keep! With me prisoners, lets go!" He motioned for them to come inside. "We've got to get out of here." The mane 6 and Discord followed, Applejack stood by the door, making sure Everypony got in safely before herself, and then she dashed inside too, slamming the door behind her. The image before Spike cut to a loading screen. He took this moment to release the breath that he didn't know he was holding. "WOAH, that, was intense." He looked to the ceiling. "Wish I was a big, strong, powerful dragon like that." he mumbled to himself. "Well.... maybe not AS scary." A knock came at the castle doors. Spike eyed the door curiously, and dropped the controller on the couch. He made his way over to door, opening it only slightly and peering out the crack. Big Mac raised his eyebrow in confusion, it was guys night, surely he was expected, although late. So why was Spike being so cautious? "Big Mac, hey!" Spike opened the door fully to give Big Mac some room to come in, as he made his way through the door spike glanced outside looking left to right before shutting it again and heading back to the couch. "Sorry i'm late, got a bit held up, hope ya didn't start without me." Big Mac stood behind the couch, and looked around the room. "Erm, Where's Discord?" "Okay, Big Mac, don't freak out or anything, but," Spike drew in a long breath and started to speak rapidly, without taking a breath at all, "Theres this new game I got for guys night that features almost Everypony in Equestria except them and this made Discord and the girls a little disappointed so Discord hurled them all including your sister into it and it turns out I can control some of their movements and actions and- " Spike stopped and gasped for breath before continuing. "And then they got caught by Imperials and taken to Helgen where they were about to get their heads cut of and I had a thought and mentioned that maybe they could die in real life if they die in the game but i'm not 100% positive!" Big Mac noticed Spike going purple at the face from ranting without so much as a single stop for breath, well, more purple than his natural hue. He opened his mouth to try to get a word in, but the perturbed dragon piped up again. "Then a pegasus DIED! And the Rainbow Dash was about to get her head cut off and then a big scary dragon attacked and they had to run away and-" Spike finally stopped his ramble when he caught Big Mac's overwhelmed expression. Spike sighed, "So, thats just about it..." There was a brief awkward moment of silence between them, when Spike motioned to the couch. "Soooo, you wanna play too? erm, i mean join?" Big Mac stared at the screen, then to the PS4, and then back to Spike. "Eeyup."