“I thought you said you knew the way to Squirk’s lair,” Captain Wuzz hissed accusatorily.
“I’m sorry, but all these hallways look the same, and its not as though I had a lot of chances to memorize the route. Next time I’m being dragged off by a bunch of monsters I’ll try and pay more attention to my surroundings,” Pluma fired back.
“Will you both stop arguing, I think we’re almost there.” Garbunkle waved his companions over from an intersection further down the hall. As the others quickly hurried over and peered around the corner, they say that just down the hall were a set of massive, elaborate double doors. “I can’t really say for certain, but I’m pretty sure those as the doors to Squirk’s lair.”
Pluma nodded. “That’s definitely it, I remember Crank carrying us through there.”
“Finally, its about time you were certain of something. Now, what’s our plan to take back the amulet?” Captain Wuzz asked. “I mean, we do have a plan, right? We weren’t planning on just rushing in, grabbing the amulet, and then fleeing for our lives, right?” Captain Wuzz’s query was answered by an awkward silence from the rest of his companions. “Oh for goodness sake! How did I end up being the only one who understands the importance of planning? I hate being the responsible one!”
“What’s the big deal? Whenever we do have a plan you’re always the first one to do something completely different,” Garbunkle countered, to which Sir McBiggun added an affirmative ‘Eeyup’.
“I know, it’s just no fun to go off the rails if there aren’t any rails to go off of,” Captain Wuzz replied sheepishly.
Garbunkle responded to this statement with a stream of strangled sounds of frustration and anger before taking a deep, calming breath. “Now’s not the time to get into this, we’ve got much more important things to deal with right now. Is everycreature ready? Then let’s do this! Sir McBiggun, you bust down the doors, then me and Captain Wuzz will go in first with our long-range attacks. That should keep Squirk off-balance enough so that either you or Pluma have a chance to snatch the amulet. Once we have it, get it to me and I’ll try using it to get us out of here before Squirk can take it back.” Nodding in agreement and realizing that this was as close to a plan as they could hope for, the group took their positions around the double doors leading into Squirk’s inner sanctum.
Once everycreature was in place, Sir McBiggun delivered a bone-crushing double hooved buck to the doors, smashing them open with enough force to nearly tear them free of their hinges. Before the doors had even fully swung open, Garbunkle and Captain Wuzz unleashed their own assault, firing volleys of arrows and sheets of magical fire through the doorway.
“You know the door was unlocked, right?” an irritated voice called out from inside the room. As the dust and arcane flares slowly settled, Squirk was revealed to be sitting on his dais surrounded by a crimson barrier, completely unharmed. “Do you miserable cretains have any concept of how hard it’s going to be to have that repaired? Just finding competent workers is enough of a hassle, but then I have to drag them back to the island, threaten them to do the work…admittedly that part’s fun. But the rest of it’s just a tedious hassle!”
“After all that, you’re complaining about the door?” Captain Wuzz yelled in frustration before nocking an arrow and firing it directly at Squirk’s eye. The arrow simply ricocheted off Squirk’s barrier, however, before harmlessly clattering to the stone floor.
“To answer your question, destroying me door is about the only thing you’ve actually accomplished coming here. Even without my amulet you halfwits couldn’t begin to threaten me. Of course, normally trash like you wouldn’t have ever gotten this far, but apparently Crank’s been getting lazy. Speaking of whom…CRANK! GET YOUR INCOMPETENT CARAPACE IN HERE AND CLEAN UP THIS MESS!”
“No!” Garbunkle cried out as he fired another barrage of spells at Squirk. “We can’t lose! Not when we’re this close!”
“Really? How close did you think you were?” Squirk asked as Garbunkle’s magic bounced off his shield. “You never had any hope of actually defeating me in the first place. Think about it, if a pack of bumbling idiots like yourselves could accomplish anything against my power then would I really still be he –AGH!” While Squirk was engrossed in lambasting his attackers, he failed to notice one of Garbunkle’s spells strike his dais, causing it to grow legs and heave him off to the ground. “Alright, I’ll admit I hadn’t seen that coming. Of course, now I’m going to destroy you myself instead of waiting for Crank to get here.” As Squirk spoke he lashed out at Garbunkle and the others with his tentacles. While most were able to dive out of the way of the attack, Captain Wuzz wasn’t guite fast enough and was snatched up into the air.
“What? Let me go!” Squirming desparately in Squirk’s grasp, Captain Wuzz managed to work one of his arms free. Finding Squirk disinclined to accede to his demands to release him, Captain Wuzz drew one of his arrows and drove it into Squirk’s rubbery flesh with all the force he could muster. To the surprise of everycreature present, the injury caused Squirk to let out a shrill screech of pain and release Captain Wuzz, dropping him back to the ground.
“Hey! Go for the tentacles!” Garbunkle cried out as he saw his ally’s escape. “Squirk’s barrier isn’t protecting his tentacles!” To emphasize his point, Garbunkle launched a gout of flame at another tentacle that was reaching towards Sir McBiggun.
“Ahh! Curse you, you miserable little pests! I was planning on simply executing you, but now I’m not going to be that merciful!” Squirk screamed as he thrashed about in a desperate effort to fend off his assailants. Squirk’s protestations, however, only served to embolden his attackers by providing them with proof that their attacks were having an impact.
Such renewed optimism, however, would not last long. Despite having put Squirk on the defensive, a feat in and of itself, Squirk was only using six of his tentacles to fend off the group. The remaining two held the Flashstone Amulet and were kept clutched tight behind Squirk’s shield. “This isn’t working,” Garbunkle yelled in frustration. “We need to find some way of getting the amulet away from Squirk.”
“Do you actually think for a second that I’d let you get away with something like that? As soon as Crank get’s here you’re all finished!” As Squirk ranted, however, a bedraggled figure appeared in the doorway. “What? You’re not Crank…actually, this is even better. You, gryphon, destroy these –”
“SQUIRK!” Gregor half spat, half screamed as he stumbled into the room. “My memories…you took – changed…give them back.”
Squirk watched as Gregor shambled forward before letting out an exasperated sigh. “So much for you being more useful to me than Crank. If you’re going to go insane, could you at least kill one of these other intruders before I have to destroy – YGAH!” Taking advantage of Squirk’s momentary distraction, Garbunkle had cast a spell to encase the end of one of Squirk’s tentacles in ice. Then, before Squirk could compose himself enough to retaliate, Sir McBiggun levitated the frozen appendage and slammed it back through Squirk’s barrier, striking him straight in the eye.
“Hah, it worked!” Garbunkle crowed. “We might not be able to get through your barrier, but it looks like your tentacles still can.”
Even as Squirk tried to respond to this, Gregor began darting wildly across the chamber, viciously slashing at Squirk’s tentacles as he went. “What did you do to me? My memories…why can’t I think…have to get them back. Give them back!”
“Is it just me, or has Gregor lost what little mind he had to begin with?” Captain Wuzz asked as he watched Gregor assault his former master while raving like a lunatic.
“Right now, I’m just glad he’s more or less on our side right now,” Garbunkle replied. “Besides, if we can just get that amulet away form Squirk then we’ll be able to fix whatever’s wrong with him.”
“You still actually believe that – Ow! – I’d let you get away with – Gah! Let go of me! – That I’d really allow you to steal me – Ah! No!” Sir McBiggun had deftly hooked Squirk’s frozen tentacle around one of the two holding the Flashstone Amulet and pulled hard, nearly breaking Squirk’s grasp on the relic. Unfortunately, Squirk was quick to tighten his grip with the other tentacle before the amulet could be taken. “That’s it! I’ve had ENOUGH!” With a scream of rage, Squirk caused his barrier to rapidly expand outward, slamming into Garbunkle and the others and binding them with crimson rings of magical energy. “Look what you insects made me do! I had to interrupt my spell to put an end to your stupidity. All that work wasted!”
“Lord Squirk! I came as quickly as I –” As Crank scuttled into the doorway he froze in horror at the scene before him.
“There you are, you worthless excuse for a brine shrimp. Where were you when you might have actually been useful? Nevermind, I don’t want to hear your excuses, just be ready to clean up this mess when I’m through. As for the rest of you,” Squirk said as he turned his attention back towards his would-be assailants. “You’ve succeeded in interrupting my spell and by extension wasting my valuable time. Congratulations. As a reward, I’m going to let you all live just long enough to witness the destruction of your world and my ultimate victory. Then, after I finally grow bored of drawing out your executions and allow you to perish, I’ll hunt down every creature you’ve ever known or cared about until the very memory of your existence has been eradicated! For now, though, you’ll have the privilege of witnessing the twilight of your world.” Squirk’s final proclamation was met by a bloodcurdling scream of anguish from Gregor as the maddened griffon began thrashing wildly against his bonds. “See? That one’s crazy, but he gets it,” Squirk said with an evil chuckle as he raised his amulet to restart the casting of his spell.
*********
The inside of Gregor’s mind was collapsing. If hearing the word ‘friend’ had brought on mental agony, then words simply didn’t exist for what hearing the word ‘twilight’ had brought on.
“Not a word. A name.”
A voice echoed out in Gregor’s mind from beyond the pain. It was his voice, and yet it wasn’t his.
“Twilight is in danger. I have to protect her. That’s all that matters.”
The voice was insistent, speaking with a tone of pure, unshakeable certainty that came down on Gregor’s mind like a hammer. “Who are you?” Gregor demanded silently as he tried to push back against the inexorable force battering against his consciousness. “Get out of my mind!”
“This isn’t your mind. It’s mine, and I have work to do.”
“What are you –” Gregor’s efforts to argue with the voice were abruptly ended as a sudden torrent of memories engulfed his mind. In an instant, all of the emotions and recollections which up until then had floated just out of reach now came crashing down onto him. An entire lifetime of experiences flowed through Gregor’s mind, washing away the lie that Squirk had created for him and leaving only truth behind.
He was Moonwhisper. He loved Princess Twilight Sparkle. And he had work to do.
*********
When Moonwhisper opened his eyes once again not much had changed. Spike, Big McIntosh, Discord and Pluma were all still restrained as he was. Occasionally, one of them would try staining against the magical force holding them, but their half-hearted efforts and dejected expressions revealed that they had already all but given up hope of escape. Squirk, meanwhile, had returned his complete attention towards casting his apocalyptic spell, likely hoping to make up for the interruption by putting his full concentration to the task.
Any hope of stopping Squirk would first depend on somehow escaping his bonds, so Moonwhisper started by focusing on that. The bindings that Squirk had conjured consisted of a set of rings that held his forelimbs tight against his barrel while keeping him floating a few feet in the air. Given that none of his companions had escaped yet, Moonwhisper could safely rule out brute force or frantic wriggling as a way to get free, but he did have other potential options. Closing his eyes, Moonwhisper took a deep breath as he focused all his awareness on the sensation of how the bands of energy dug into him as his torso expanded. Then, just as slowly, Moonwhisper exhaled. As Moonwhisper had hoped, he could feel the tightness of the bands alleviate slightly as the air left his lungs. By itself it wouldn’t be enough to escape, but Moonwhisper knew of at least one way to capitalize on it.
With a potential escape now a possibility, Moonwhisper turned his attention to Squirk himself. If Moonwhisper was unable to get to Squirk himself. If Moonwhisper was unable to get to Squirk and retrieve the amulet then freeing himself would be an ultimately pointless victory.
“The biggest problem is that barrier spell of his,” Moonwhisper though to himself. “If I still had my magic then I might be able to brute force my way through, but as it is I’ll need to find some other option. Although, it’s also possible Squirk might not even be active anymore. If Squirk’s confident we’re not longer capable of threatening him, he might have dropped his shield to focus more on his other spell. All I need is a sign…” Years of being the subject of a one-sided rivalry with Shining Armor had had the side benefit of providing Moonwhisper with an excellent education on how to spot the weaknesses of magical barriers. Here, Moonwhisper was actually grateful for his transformation, as his eyesight as a gryphon was sharp enough to easily spot the motes of dust floating in the air around Squirk. For what seemed like hours, Moonwhisper watched the tiny bits of dust float in otherwise imperceptible currents of air until he was satisfied with his conclusion; Squirk had indeed lowered his defenses.
Now satisfied that he had an opportunity to act, Moonwhisper put his escape plan into action. Keeping an eye on Squirk for any sign of reaction, Moonwhisper slowly twisted himself around in his bonds, contorting himself more and more until finally he succeeded in dislocating his shoulder in dislocating his shoulder with an audible pop. When Squirk failed to respond to the noise, Moonwhisper proceeded to wriggle his way loose of the magical bonds using the extra slack created by his injured shoulder. After a few minutes of Moonwhisper was able to work himself free completely, flopping down onto the floor as quietly as he was able. Wasting no time, aside from briefly checking the distance between Squirk and Garbunkle, Moonwhisper slipped through the shadows until he was facing Squirk directly. Squirk was indeed fully focused on his spell, eyes closed as he held the amulet in front of him with two of his tentacles. Taking a deep breath, Moonwhisper steeled himself for what he was about to do before launching himself at Squirk and the amulet.
With one single motion, Moonwhisper wrapped his tail around the amulet’s chain, yanked it out of Squirk’s grasp and tossed it over Squirk’s head. Then, before Squirk had a chance to fully process what was going on, Moonwhisper leapt forward and drove the talons of his good arm into one of Squirk’s eyes.
In an instant, Moonwhisper was grabbed by four of Squirk’s tentacles and slammed into the opposite wall while Squirk himself let out an earsplitting scream of rage and pain. “YOU! You somehow find a way to escape, and instead of fleeing you attack me? If you’re in that much of a hurry for me to destroy you then fine!” Crackling waves of energy immediately began to travel down Squirk’s tentacles into Moonwhisper, who was forced to clench his beak in agony. “You know, out of everything that’s happened recently, you’re the biggest disappointment by far. I was certain you could have made an excellent minion, maybe even become my new second-in-command. But instead, you choose to throw it all away, and for what? What did you actually think you were going to accomplish by attacking me?” As Moonwhisper writhed weakly in Squirk’s grasp he appeared to attempt to respond, but his voice was too weak and soft to make out. “What’s that? Storry, but you’ll have to speak up. I can’t hear you over the sound of my killing you!” Squirk sneered as he leaned in until his face was almost touching Moonwhisper’s.
Despite Squirk’s taunts, however, Moonwhisper grinned defiantly at his captor. “I’m distracting you, you subnormal half-wit.”
Squirk immediately pulled back, not fully understanding what Moonwhisper was talking about until the sound of a burst magical energy prompted him to turn around. Standing behind him were Pluma, Captain Wuzz and Sir McBiggun, now free of their restraints. Of far greater concern, however, was Garbunkle, who was floating a foot or two off the ground surrounded by a corona of energy courtesy of the Flashstone Amulet in his claws.
“Oh, this won’t end well,” Squirk muttered to himself.
*********
Even under the best of circumstances and the seas were calm, most ships tended to avoid sailing in the waters surrounding Squirk’s island fortress. In the face of the storms being raised by Squirk’s magic, no ship was willing to come with leagues of the island. As such, there was no one outside the island to bear witness when a massive explosion of energy blasted the roof off of Squirk’s fortress, nor the much more subdued flash of light that followed.
Moments later, and many miles away, Garbunkle, Captain Wuzz, Sir McBiggun, Pluma and Moonwhisper all appeared on a deserted beach. The latter of whom was covered in what could reasonably described as chum.
“I think its fair to say that, barring an extraordinary capacity for regeneration on the part of Squrik, the threat that he poses to this world has been effectively neutralized,” Moonwhisper said as he tired to shake the goop off of himself. “On a somewhat related noted, I now desperately need a bath.”
“Does this mean you’re back to normal?” Garbunkle asked cautiously, holding on tight to the Flashstone Amulet just in case.
“If you’re referring to what Squirk did to my memories, then yes, I’m back to normal,” Moonwhisper said as he picked pieces of despot out of his feathers. “Luckily, Squirk’s alterations weren’t altogether thorough and what he missed was important enough to send the whole metaphorical house of cards collapsing. Now, with that out of the way, could you please use that amulet to send us back home?”
“Well, I guess with Squirk gone there isn’t too much else left for us to do here…wait, what about Squirk’s minion, that giant lobster guy? Now that Squirk’s gone, won’t he start causing trouble now?” Garbunkle asked.
Pluma, however, shook her head. “I won’t say that Crank isn’t dangerous even without Squirk, but its not nearly the same. Now that Squirk’s gone, Crank doesn’t have any way of controlling the monsters or undead that Squirk created. To be honest, I’m not even sure how many of those will be able to even keep existing without Squirk’s magic sustaining them.”
“Huh, well, I guess if everything’s really alright now…” Garbunkle said.
“Yes, yes, she just said we’re done here,” Captain Wuzz said. “As much as it shocks me that I’m agreeing with the gryphon, I’d like to get back home as well. In case you’ve forgotten, we still have a princess to rescue from the clutches of our own Squizard!”
“Holy guacamole, you’re right!” Garbunkle exclaimed in alarm. “I’ve been so focused on what we’ve been doing here that I almost completely forgot! Okay, everycreature gather together.” Moonwhisper, Captain Wuzz and Sir McBiggun clustered together around Garbunkle as he raised the Flashstone Amulet into the air. Then, in a bright flash of light, the four adventurers vanished into thin air, leaving Pluma alone on the beach,
*********
Back in Twilight’s castle, Moonwhisper, Discord, Big McIntosh and Spike all reappeared atop the map table in a flash of light. “Aha! We’re back!” Spike declared. “And now, on to rescue Princess Shmarity from…the Squizard…” Spike blinked his eyes several times as though he were waking up from an overly long daydream. “Woah, wait a minute, I’m not…we’re back in Equestria, right?”
“Yes, yes, we are. Finally,” Moonwhisper said as he deftly levitated the Flashstone Amulet out of Spike’s claws. “I think it might be best if I take this and secure it for the time being. In the morning I’ll contact Greater Good to have it taken someplace safe. After which I’m going to beat him unconscious,” Moonwhisper added with an unnerving degree of calm.
“Yeah, I think we should probably call the game for now, anyway,” Spike said. “I don’t know about the rest of you, but I think I’ve had enough of being somecreature else for the time being.”
“Eeyup,” Big McIntosh added.
“I suppose I’ll have to third the motion,” Discord said. “Captain Wuzz is a fun me to visit, but I wouldn’t want to live there. So, in the meantime, just out of curiosity, what od you think your friend Greater is going to do with that little trinket?”
“Ultimately, that will be his problem to figure out. Now that we know the basics of what it does, he’ll probably find some expendable researchers to verify if it could corrupt its user somehow or if it has any other side effects we don’t know about. Assuming it’s safe to use, we may want to hold onto it as an emergency defense option. In the right hooves somepony could likely accomplish a great deal with this thing,” Moonwhisper added.
“Oh, I agree,” Discord replied as he watched Moonwhisper wrap the amulet up. “It could do a great deal in the right hooves.”