//------------------------------// // Show Me Your War Face // Story: The Three Warrior Friends // by Duckyworth //------------------------------// The models of Chrysalis, The Storm King and Sludge were all arranged in a row next to the cliff face. To try and prop up Ember’s model, hers was wedged between two large rocks, but it’s lopsided figure was still slightly tipped over…. Once again, they had tried about ten times to get it to stay upright, but they finally decided to call it quits, and Ember said it represented Sludge perfectly, so they decided to let it be. The air was quiet yet again, until the voice of Ember pierced the silence. ‘Alright then, soldiers! Have you all been practicing your war faces lately? Our soft friends have been telling us that if we can scare our opponents into submission and make them run away, we won’t HAVE to waste our energy with fighting or hurt anyone…. As boring as that sounds compared to actual fighting, we may as well practice, right?’ Ember laughed. ‘Boring? It can be pretty fun seeing them run away. Did I tell you about the time I scared away a cockatrice? The thing ran away quicker than that time I introduced my brother to some new playmates – a bunch of pukwudgies!’ Pharynx gave a wide smile, his sharp teeth glistening. ‘Scaring away a big chicken? Yes – very impressive.’ Fizzlepop snarked in a deadpan and calm tone, to which Pharynx grimaced towards. ‘Well, let me show you exactly how I did it – this may give you nightmares, ladies, so prepare yourselves! Just because I’m all colourful now doesn’t mean that I still can’t be frightening!’ Pharynx loosened his facial muscles, and when he was ready, he gave the most menacing hiss he could. As former captain of the guard of the changelings, some of the teachings that Chrysalis had given him had rubbed on him. As much as he now resented the queen that he used to serve, he could proudly admit that one thing she did was something he was happy to remember – the terrifying faces she kept sporting every so often whenever someone had failed her. He had used shapeshifting to scare away the bullies that had threatened his brother when they were nymphs, but now he was older and fully grown, he could use that very art to protect his kind. And if he kept practicing, maybe the day would come where he would be able to scare that very same former queen into leaving Equestria, never to return. His fangs were sharper than all of the other changelings, so he was the most suited to scaring away anyone who tried to threaten his brood, and this was evident in his expression. Giving off a grin as if he was a predator holding their prey in place just before pouncing for the kill, perhaps what made it more unnerving to look at was the fact he was no longer as dark or unsettling in appearance as before he had shared his love and undergone metamorphosis. While he was the darkest of the reformed changelings in colour, you’d never be able to guess he could pull off an expression like that if you were to just look at him. But he had learned one of many advantages of his new form – the element of surprise. While he didn’t share his former queen’s cat-like irises, he was able to focus his eyes into an unbending, animalistic stare that felt like he was holding whoever he was looking at in place – pinning them to the spot simply by looking at them – as if a thousand icy daggers pierced them and had held their limbs down to the floor. Thank Celestia that he was one of the PROTECTORS of Equestria….. If he was let loose into Canterlot, he could do whatever he wanted if he just pulled that look on the guards! ‘And that’s mine – what do you think?’ Pharynx relaxed his facial muscles, and his eyes returned to normal, as he looked at Ember and Fizzlepop – they were almost entranced by the stare he demonstrated. Ember looked like she had just been chilled to the bone, and while Fizzlepop was better at controlling her emotions, she was still looking as though she was slightly shaken by Pharynx’s stare. ‘Well… I…..I think my blood temperature just dropped a few degrees…’ Ember quipped. ‘I…I thought…. dragons were cold blooded already?’ Fizzlepop turned to Ember, her voice quiet. ‘Even more so, I mean…’ Ember laughed. ‘How about that, ladies? Anyone else want a go?‘ Pharynx grinned. Ember stepped forward and was next to try to give her war face, but as she was attempting to get herself angry, she found it tricky to get herself riled up….. She had used up a lot of her anger already…. Curse those allergies, making her use up all of her strong emotions at once! ‘I…. think I’ve used up a lot of my angry faces for today, guys…. I think my big entrance backfired….’ Ember rubbed the back of her neck bashfully, and then looked up as she saw her friends staring at her in silence. Were… they judging her? Ember looked back and forth between Fizzlepop and Pharynx, and felt her emotions start to rile up. ‘B-blame my dad! He’s always saying that the best dragon lords give big flashy entrances…. But I think I need to save some of my energy for AFTER the entrance…‘ ‘No duh.’ Pharynx smirked. However, at that point, his expression curled into a devilish grin as an idea crept into his tricky mind. ‘Or did you purposefully do that to use up your energy because you were too SCARED to give it your all?’ Ember’s wings opened up in surprise, her bashfulness melting away. ‘……….scared? Me?! You think I’m scared of you, GRUB?!’ Fizzlepop caught onto what Pharynx was planning, and gave a smirk, but she had her own secret plans, so she kept her emotions to herself. She didn’t even change her expression when she saw Ember muster up another fireball in her inner being and give off another mighty roar, shooting bright pink flames and smoke outwards of her mouth. Her roar wasn’t as powerful as the one she had given when she arrived, but considering the fact she had given off multiple roars and fireballs in that same day, and that she was still young, it was impressive she could regain the energy to release fire like that so many successive times. ‘…..meh, that was alright.’ Pharynx shrugged with a smirk. ‘And it’s not like I helped you to build up your anger or anything.‘. Fizzlepop had remained quiet the whole time, even as Ember’s face appeared to be turning purple. She’s really easily riled up, isn’t she? ‘Anyway, you’re awfully quiet over there, Tempest – are you all quiet because you’ve used up all of your anger too?’ Ember stomped over to Fizzlepop. ‘You’re always so quiet like this – what’s going in that mohawked head of yours?’ ‘You’re always so quiet and reserved on the outside – but for this exercise, do you have your own war face ready? You’re always so quiet and brooding – do you even have as much anger in there as us loose cannons here?’ Pharynx tapped the quiet pony on the back of the head, who still didn’t even flinch - unknown to Pharynx, a storm was brewing inside her very being. ‘Anger, hm?‘ Fizzlepop turned around to face Ember and Pharynx, giving an oddly playful smirk on her face, even with her tone remaining as oddly tranquil as ever, ‘Well, there was a reason why I decided to call myself TEMPEST Shadow. It wasn’t just to make myself sound cooler. The Storm King loser had to steal magic to be able to make a storm, but me?‘ Slowly standing up, Fizzlepop, her eyes closed, began to laugh in a slightly cocky tone. ‘I could always make one. I could ALWAYS make a storm whenever I wanted.’ And then – the lightning storm came. Opening up her eyes, Fizzlepop released all of her emotions that she had been holding in out of her cracked horn. Raw lightning and sparks burst out, directed towards the cliff face away from them. Her usually stoic expression had warped into an expression of unparalleled fury – her teeth were gritted firmly, her eyes wide with her pupils shrunk, and her limbs were firmly pressed into the ground, her horseshoes cracking the ground beneath her. Clearing her throat and closing her eyes as she took a deep breath, Fizzlepop then calmly looked at her befuddled friends’ faces and the scorched marks on the wall. ‘If I was to show anger more often, that’s what it would look like. Still want me to be angry more?’ Fizzlepop’s expression returned back to her reserved and stoic normalcy, she had an air of smug pride about her. Pharynx and Ember had to struggle to get their breaths back from the lightning that had burst out from their friend’s broken horn, but before long, the two of them were laughing with vim and vigour, exhilarated by their friend’s warrior spirit. ‘Hahaha! Now THAT’S a war face right there! I swear, you better try that around my brother, or you might give him a heart attack!’ Pharynx gave out a hearty laugh, impressed with Fizzlepop’s display. But when she looked towards him, she could see a bead of sweat dropping down his forehead. His composure was cracking slightly? ‘……seriously though, please don’t do it around him…. Okay?’ ‘W-wow, okay – so you can direct all your energy…. T-toward a wall… But… c-can you… erm… erm… I’m not… scared… are you scared, Pharynx? I’m – I’m not…’ Ember could not contain the shock in her voice in the slightest as she stumbled to her feet, and when looking towards Pharynx, she noticed the sweat drop dropping down his forehead, and gave a slightly shaky chuckle at the sight of him being nervous. ‘Oh, please stop with the gushing… Yours were great too. And unlike you, I’m not used to expelling all my rage like that, so…. G-give me a moment.’ Fizzlepop took deep breaths, as her emotional display had partially drained her – causing her to drop to her haunches for a while, wiping her mohawk back as she attempted to regain her energy. ‘N-now, are we all ready to do what we’ve actually been meaning to do with these things?’ Ember, putting her helmet back on, and clearing her throat, held her sceptre close to her, and leered towards the crude shell and stick model of Sludge the dragon, rocked slightly by all of the raw energy that had erupted from the three companions. ‘If they were the real thing, I think they would have keeled over and died from our faces just then….. but let’s kick their butts anyway – I’d willingly destroy that deceitful witch TWICE, let me tell you now – once mentally and once physically – but it still wouldn’t be enough for her.‘ Pharynx laughed. ‘Phew…. I’m ready to rid the world of that hideous king’s shabby merchandise now….’ Fizzlepop, having regained her breath, shakily stood back up, and stared towards the plushie that lay on the floor in front of her. Guiding all of their energy towards the targets of their aggression, the three friends all charged towards the three models that lay in front of them. ………..needless to say, it was a curb stomp battle.