//------------------------------// // Chapter 6 - Part 2 - Branches of the Mind // Story: Dreams in Discord // by Gsbrill //------------------------------// After their strange encounter with the Dungeon Master, the small group decided to follow his advice and kept on going through the trail before them. Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash lead the way and the first one bounced happily as usual. Fluttershy couldn’t leave Applejack’s side and Spike was side to side with them. They kept on going for about fifteen minutes before the entrance of the forest could no longer be seen. Spike looked down to the ground and saw a thick book that was open down on the ground. He picked it up and browsed through a few pages, which were all completely blank. He then closed the book and looked at the cover. “The Complete Encyclopedia of Dragons; Collector’s Edition”. “Well, I guess I just found out where the dragons came from” He said waving the book around to show the cover to everyone. “So ah reckon we better avoid opening any books round here” They all nodded in approval to Applejack’s statement. They followed the golden brick road for a few more minutes, and everyone looked down to the ground as their steps started to make a strange sound. Before, they could hear the clanking of their hooves to the gold but now it echoed. It sounded like they were stepping on a large and hollow glass ball. As they proceeded forward they saw that the forest reached a perfectly circular clearing, and the pathway stopped, continuing in the other end of it. The floor was really made of glass, and they couldn’t see under it, for it was completely darkened. In the middle of the circular space, there was what looked like a giant bolt, that held together three large metal arms with spear like tips, each one with a different size, the longer and thinner one as long as the clearing itself and the shorter and thicker one reached a bit more than half of it. Each one of the three arms pointed to a different direction, forming a y in front of them. “So are we going or are we staring at it all day?” Rainbow Dash was the first one to take the initiative and to walk upon the glass. The others followed right after. The two thicker metal arms were impossible to walk under, so they had to go around them, having to nearly walk around the entire clearing. Neither Rainbow Dash nor Fluttershy dared to fly over them, fearing the beasts that roamed the skies above them, even though they wouldn’t have to fly higher than a few meters. At least the thinner one could be walked under. When they passed under the last arm, a strange and rhythmic noise, loud as a dragon roar could be heard from beneath. “What the hay? Is that a bell?” Shouted Applejack under the ground shaking noise. Then the glass beneath them suddenly lit up, revealing what was under it. They could see thousands of gears, nuts, bolts and pendulums that moved at different rhythms, and in the far side of the clearing they could see huge numbers under the glass. The noise stopped. “I think we better get out of here” Said Fluttershy shyly. “Hey this is just a clock, what’s the worst that could haaaaaaa...” A large trapdoor opened right beneath her, swallowing her body into the clock as her voice slowly vanished in the distance. It took her a few seconds to realize she was falling and a few more to remember that she had wings, which she spread quickly and glided down to a large gear. Looking up, she saw the hole that she fell through, and darted towards it, barely dodging many of the gears that oddly enough seemed to be flying around attached to absolutely nothing. Right before she got close enough to it, the door slammed. “Rainbow Dash! We’ll get you outta there!” Screamed Applejack barely being heard through the thick glass. “No! Go ahead without me! I can get out of here before you can scream my name again!” She seemed to be trying to comfort herself more that the others, not being very certain if there was actually a way out. “Rainbow Dash!” She screamed again. “I was being sarcastic!”She shouted with a displeased expression. Fluttershy pointed terrified towards something behind her, and Rainbow Dash could barely dodge a flying gear that came towards her spinning to the side. “Anyway get the buck out of here, I’ll catch up!” She turned back and flew further down the clock. “Don’t you die on me!” She could barely hear Applejack scream. “Yeah, don’t worry about that” She said to herself with a chuckle. Anyway, she had to find a way out. The clock seemed infinite and she saw nothing but more and more clockwork as she moved down. At least there was some light coming from the walls, but only up to a certain point, and then nothing but complete darkness. “Late again I see!” Came a thunderous voice from below. She looked down but saw nothing under the thick wall of darkness. Then, the walls and the ground bellow her trembled. She wasn’t on the ground but could feel the air move just as much. A large metallic hand came from bellow, grasping the air where she was just seconds ago. More and more of the strange creature came from beneath as the trembling became stronger. “You know what we do to late students? WE PUNISH THEM!” The phrase finished with a large cracking noise as the torso of what seemed to be an enormous clockwork golem emerged from bellow. It was made completely of the same materials as the clock itself, and had a humanoid shape. In the middle of its chest a glass wall could be seen, and inside of it, was a pony, whose body was made completely of book pages. He had a long ruler in its mouth and worn what seemed to be a lab coat, also made of book pages. He stood upon a metal disc, with a large console in front of him. “Late? Do you know who you’re talking to? I’m the fastest flyer of Equestria, I’m never late; that is the same as slow” Rainbow Dash screamed angrily at the creature, earning herself a puzzled look from the creature. “Well in my classroom you are no one! I demand you stay shut and be quiet now!” He tried to catch her again with the large metal hand, and once again she dodged in the last instant. “Were the teachers at that unicorn school that bad? And I thought the guys at flight school sucked” She thought to herself. That was Twilight’s mind after all, even thought it was a bit messed up “She must have hated this guy”. She didn’t have much time to contemplate, as the gears around her started to move on their own and fly towards her. At least the clock was that big and gave her quite a large space to maneuver. She dodged them all and the metal hand came upon her from above, this time faster than before. As it started closing upon her she managed to squeeze between its fingers right before being crushed. “Damn! I gotta get out of here” “No running inside the classroom! I command you to stop!” The voice thundered again “TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE!” ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ “Do you think she’ll be fine?” Fluttershy and the others had barely left the clearing and she was already worried sick about her. “Nah, don’t worry about her, Dashie is the best flyer ever! She can get out of that dumb old clock” Pinkie said continuing to smile and bounce through the road. “Ah’m not that optimistic but ah reckon she can look after herself, don’t go worrying over nothing sugarcube” It seemed like Applejack was trying more to calm herself down that Fluttershy, but it ended up working both ways. They passed through a small opening between a few trees, and Applejack could hear the voices of a few ponies, that seemed to be discussing. She walked back to the opening, looking through it. She could see a small group on ponies sitting around a round table with a shiny object in the middle. “I will take it! I will take the ring to Mordor!” Shouted one of the younger ponies. Applejack just ignored it and walked away, noticing that the others had stopped too, and were staring at her. “What was that about?” Asked Spike “No idea, but it seemed important, let’s not bother them”. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The battle between Discord and Luna continued fiercely. The storm of blades charged towards Discord unrelentingly, but he dodged them with ease, using the many buildings around him for cover, moving through the air like a snake with an impossible agility while carrying such massive weapon. The blades whistled around him in a deadly tornado, but he didn’t block even once, dodging them all. When he found a small opening he charged through it and slammed his club upon her. Luna managed to dodge in the last instant, redirecting the flying swords to block the attack, but only managing to slow it down a bit, breaking a few of her blades in the process. It slammed into a house that was right behind her, completely destroying one of its walls. Luna was glad that the soldiers could evacuate the city so fast, otherwise there would already be many dead just from their quarrel in the city streets. Just before he managed to recover from his blow and raise the weapon again, Luna brought down her own hammer upon him. He put his club in the way just before the hit, taking flight once again, this time being pursued by Luna, followed by her wave of blades. Just before he managed to recover from his blow and raise the weapon again, Luna brought down her own hammer upon him. He put his club in the way just before the hit, taking flight once again, this time being pursued by Luna, followed by her wave of blades. Both of them stopped in the air, high above the streets of Canterlot. “I believe it is about time I spice up this fight of ours don’t you think?” Suggested Discord deviously. Just as he snapped his fingers, large pillars of fire erupted from the ground, high enough to get to them. It seemed as not even Discord was really controlling them, as he had to dodge a few himself. “You don’t mind a little obstacle course do you? Just for fun?” Luna was too focused, having her own problems to give a proper answer, dodging the pillars of fire as the fight resumed “I just hope they get here soon, in this rhythm I won’t be able to keep this up for much longer” she muttered. “Whoever you are waiting for will do you no good, not even a miracle can help you now” Discord, having teleported right above her head said, having heard her wish, and bringing down his club once again. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- After a long walk the four reached a rope bridge that passed above a large river with a strong flow. They only looked at each other, not even asking about the obvious only path trough. Just as Pinkie was about to step on the bridge, a voice came from her side. “None shall pass” Said the voice. Looking to their side they saw a pony fallen to the ground, wearing a black armor. He was leaning on a tree trunk on the ground, and his four legs had been cut clean off, apparently not too long ago, seeing as they still bled. “Beg ya pardon?” Asked Applejack. “None shall pass” Repeated the black knight. They just stared at him. “I’m sorry sir but we really need to get through this bridge” Said Fluttershy politely. “Then you shall die” They kept on staring at him for a few seconds. “You’re gonna stop us? You have no legs, you can’t even stand!” Spike was puzzled by the strange figure before them. “Tis but a flesh wound. I’ve had worse!” The knight proclaimed. A few more seconds of silence fell upon them. “So, to the bridge then?” Asked Spike. Everypony else nodded and they kept going. “Oh, oh, I see! Running away, eh? You yellow bastards! Come back here and take what's coming to you! I'll bite your legs off!” The knight shouted, getting no attention. The bridge was too thin and seemed far too weakened for them to cross at the same time so they had to go one by one. The river was thin enough for them to cross it quite fast but it wasn’t possible to jump over it, as the bridge rose to a higher level. Pinkie went first, hopping through the bridge against better advice from Spike, who followed right behind, and then Fluttershy. Applejack had started to cross the bridge when a strange rumbling came from beneath. From the water right under the bridge emerged a long tail, that snapped through the bridge, Applejack still on the other side. “Wait there Applejack, I’ll grab the rope and fly to your side” Fluttershy tried to scream without much success. Before she could take any initiative, a snake-like head emerged from the water. Right behind it came a body shaped like a dragon, but with the skin of a snake. The long neck and the head looked disproportionally small compared to the body. It looked right at Applejack and opened its mouth, revealing a pair of fangs that were almost as big as her. The creature spat a green liquid at Applejack. She jumped to the side and dodged it, just to see the spot where it hit melt down. She looked around for a way to run or fight. Then she remembered the knight. She ran towards him and saw the sword right beside him. “Ah’l just borrow this for a second” She grabbed it with her mouth. It tasted of moss and blood but she tried to ignore it. She looked at the beast before her, who was charging towards her. It seemed to be more of an aquatic creature since it ran awkwardly. When it got close enough it started trying to bite her, moving its large neck back and forth like a spring. Applejack kept on jumping from side to side, and when she had the chance to, she jumped behind a large tree trunk on the ground. The creature then proceeded to spit on the log. As it began to melt down Applejack became more desperate. “This ain’t real. This ain’t real. This ain’t real. This ain’t real.” She muttered to herself again and again. “Applejack watch out!” Spike shouted and she barely had time to turn and jump down as the snake head passed flying right above her own, breaking through the corroded log and sticking into another one. Before she managed to pull out Applejack took the courage to raise the sword and cut of its neck, screaming in desperation as she did it. She spat the sword and sat down sighing “Whew, glad that’s over”. “I doubt it” Said the fallen knight, bursting out in laughter as the headless body rose from the ground and two more heads grew where there was once just one. “Ah horsefeathers”