//------------------------------// // Chapter 104 - Familiar Encounters. // Story: Terraria: Friendship Is Magic // by Pomp-Neigh //------------------------------// -TERRARIA, THE PYRAMID- Everyone’s gaze was now fixated on the image that Rainbow Dash had just informed them about. Shock and awe was prevalent on each and every one of their faces as both Terralestia and Sai Sahan gritted their teeth in anger. “How could Yharim have been there so long ago? Just, what the hell is he?” Terralestia inquires. “By my ancestors, what does this all mean? And that dragon… It’s the same one that we flew on, seven years ago.” Sai Sahan comments. ………. “What do you make of this, Tanner?” King Amidias inquires which momentarily stuns The Guide before he replies: “I honestly don’t know… this is all just too bizarre.” “That can’t be, you’re The Guide. I would assume that you of all people would possess knowledge of this unknown phenomenon.” Overhearing this, Applejack glances towards The Guide from behind, with a raised eyebrow, as she states internally: -Another lie? Tanner, what the hay is goin’ on with ya’?- Of course, Applejack’s guardian, who still lurks within her shadow, momentarily smirks as Tori says internally -I was right to gamble on you, Element Of Honesty. Feel it within your mind and allow your inner voice to soar- Some time passes by as the group continues to make their way deeper into the pyramid. They took in the nearly countless images that were etched onto the walls of this ancient place, practically a vault of long lost knowledge. So much in fact that Rainbow Dash jokes about Twilight fuming from her mouth were the lavender alicorn present. Everyone then turns a corner only to find themselves within a large chamber. King Amidias ordered his guards to set up a perimeter as he and everyone else present took in the absolute marvels that were present before their very eyes. Like the rest of the pyramid, historical images were etched onto the walls along with various statues that gave the illusion that the group weren’t the only ones present. Little did they know, this was accurate in a sense. “Whoa… these statues look even more awesome than the ones we saw in the hallways.” Rainbow Dash comments as she then attempts to touch the statue with a forehoof. However, mere seconds before her hoof makes contact, the statue does something that causes everyone to shift their stances into one of caution: It moves. “Everyone! On guard!” King Amidias exclaims as the statues, which bore a humanoid dog resemblance and donned in various pieces of gold, all started to move in tandem with the statue that Rainbow Dash had touched. “Dang ‘namit, Rainbow. Why the heck do ya’ got to go and touch everythin’?” Applejack inquires in frustration as she conjures forth her energy based weapon: Orange Phaseblade. “Hey! How was I supposed to know that this would-” “Who dares to enter my sanctuary?!” A powerful voice interjects which practically causes the entire chamber, possibly even the whole pyramid, to quake in response. “Are you a bunch of foolish raiders?! Bandits?! Come to take treasures from my domain?! You will suffer my wrath and I will spank you sideways! So declares: Anubis!” “No!” Applejack exclaims in response. “We ain’t here to take anythin’ from ya’! Ah’ swear it!” “I was just curious!” Rainbow Dash roars out. “I wasn’t trying to take anything! I just touched the statu-” Rainbow Dash’s words were cut off by what happens next as all of the statues begin to be consumed by green flames. Both Applejack and Rainbow Dash’s eyes were widened in a combination of horror and recognition as they took notice of bipedal entities who were disguised as the statues. “R-Rainbow… are mah’ eyes deceiving me?” Applejack inquires in disbelief. “No way… changelings?! But, they look different to the ones back home!” Rainbow Dash responds as they were now surrounded by a small legion of these humanoid changelings. All the while, Amidias’s men run towards their king in an effort to protect him. Sai Sahan, Terralestia, Jeremy The Angler, and Tanner The Guide all stand at the ready and in anticipation of a possible confrontation. One of the humanoid changelings, who incidentally was the very same one that Rainbow Dash had touched when they were a statue, steps forward and says: “Lord Anubis has spoken, intruders. Speak your intentions or I, Echo Silhouette, King Of The Changelings, shall enforce our lord’s will upon you all!”   -TERRARIA, THE CRIMSON BIOME- Twilight, Celebes, Linn, Tori, and the horse, Ves, were currently engaged in combat with the monsters of The Crimson. Much like what had happened in the past, the creatures of the flesh continue to run at the group in a hoard. Linn spins her lance above her head as she then thrusts it forth, sending forward a small shockwave that pushes aside some of the bipedal entities of the flesh. In response, Ves stampedes over to their master as the horse notices a flying flesh entity attempting to swoop down on Linn from her blind spot. Ves then jumps high into the air, turns around, and bucks the flying flesh entity with so much force that it causes the monstrosity to burst into a rainfall of blood and gore. Twilight was currently flying around her allies as she fires up her horn and unleashes a relentless assault of magical energy. In addition, the lavender mare also utilizes both of her weapons: Space Gun and Book Of Skulls. Thanks to her meteor armor, the lavender mare could afford to fire a never ending barrage of ranged magical blasts from her Space Gun, killing off a handsome number of flesh monstrosities. Flaming skulls were also unleashed via her spell book which in turn engulfs some of the flesh monsters in fire; moments before the skulls would explode soon after. Celebes was slicing through her foes with her Fiery Greatsword, like a hot knife through butter. One of the flesh entities that resembles a spider tries to entrap her with what appears to be webs only in this case, the ‘Webs’ were in fact made completely out of veins. Despite the disgusting actions of the spider-like entity of flesh, The Dryad raises her blade up into the air and calls down multiple spirals of flame. Like a tornado going through a barn, the twisters of hellfire effortlessly scorches and pathed the way through a large number of enemies. Tori spins around and unleashes a whirlwind of daggers, all of which impales the flesh of the monstrosities that surrounded them. The humanoid bird then hops into the air and performs a hand gesture which causes the blades to explode as a result. Tori then flies higher into the crimson skies and conjures forth a very familiar ranged weapon: The Minishark. A relentless barrage of ammunition is let loose as Tori unloads every last bit of ammunition they had within the shark-like weapon. Some time goes by as the group continues to fight their way through The Crimson Biome. Although their weapons aided them greatly, the group was starting to give into fatigue as the flesh monstrosities were showing no signs of relenting. Hoard after hoard, the flesh abominations just kept coming at them all. It even got to a point that Linn was starting to fear for her beloved mount, Ves, which caused the pink haired terrarian to wisp the horse away to safety via an item that resembled an apple. “Celebes!” twilight calls out. “There’s too many of them! What do we do?!” “I’m going to activate my last resort and teleport us to a safe location,” Celebes responds as she raises her fiery greatsword above her head and gathers a powerful red aura around her blade. This aura then turns into what looked like a small sun that floated at the edge of the blade. “Twilight! Linn! Tori! Gather around me!” Heeding to The Dryad’s request, the aforementioned individuals hurriedly headed towards Celebes and soon found themselves standing around her, in a circle formation, all while the monsters of the flesh continued to run towards them. Twilight was about to erect a barrier but was stopped by Tori who gestures for her to not perform the action. “Supernova!” Celebes roars out as she thrusts the blade into the earth which in turn causes the small sun that was positioned at the edge to explode upon impact, killing and consuming all of the creatures present in a powerful explosion of flames; leaving behind charred remains and a localized scorched landscape. -TERRARIA, UNKNOWN LABORATORY- In a sudden spiral of flames, Twilight, Celebes, Tori, and Linn reappear within a strange laboratory. Celebes lets out a small sigh as she says: “Is everyone alright?” Tori nods in response as the humanoid bird copies Celebes’s voice and says: “I am alright. Good call on combining those two spells.” Linn gives a thumbs as she comments: “Thank goodness that I sent Ves away before things got hairy. I’d be depressed if anything happened to my beautiful girl.” Twilight lets out a small cough before she replies: “I’m ok,” The pony then looks around. “But, where are we?” “Do you remember when I mentioned Dr Draedon’s lab, Twilight? The one that was positioned beneath The Crimson?” “Oh, yes. It was when we fought The Perforators. You mentioned something about it being their birth place?” Celebes nods in response as she looks around one last time and notices a nearby mechanical door. The Dryad looks at the door with an expression of recognition as she says: “This is where Dr Draedon created that monstrosity; along with another creature: The Hivemind.”