//------------------------------// // Ch. 4: Clueless Kobolds and Planar pervaders // Story: A bard's tale // by Brotato //------------------------------// Chapter 4 Clueless Kobolds and Planar pervaders A pony in full-plate cautiously walked down a damp and dark stone hallway. The smell of mildew and other various smells that would make a pony wrinkle their nose was prominent in the confined space. With little help from the nearby torches, the pony lifted her helmet's visor to reveal a tan colored mare with cerulean eyes. Bits of grey-scale mane poked out of the top of the opening. She looked back toward the members of her party, which followed behind in single file. Behind her was another pony who was busy balancing a gold coin on her nose. She wore a jesters hat, minus the bells, and a tight-fitting dress made of different patches of fabric. She had told her countless times how the bells would alarm enemies. Her coat used to be a bright pink, but their constant adventuring slowly coated it with grime. "Oh! did you see that Dashie? I totally balanced that coin for at least a minute!" The jester-pony said excitedly. The tan pony facehoofed, her armor shifting loudly in the stone hallway. "For the last time... Slappy. My name is not Dashie. It's Daring Do." "Hay! What in tarnation is the holdup?" Another mare's head poked around behind Slappy. She had a orange coat and was in a lighter armor made of leather with metal studs that protected up to her chest. Strapped to her side was a simple iron longsword. "We've been wanderin down these hallways for who knows how long. When are we gonna kill this varmint and get the hay out of here?" Daring almost forgot the entire reason they were here in from how long they're traveled this confusing place. They had learned that a pony had fled into the forbidden and abandoned western wing of the king's dungeon. One would've not worried about him as the place was ridden with dangerous beasts like poisonous spiders, cadavers, and possibly specters. However, the king believed the pony was responsible for bringing the cadavers to his castle, and needed to be dealt with quickly before they spread. The party was glad they only ran into the first two, but their target was nowhere to be seen. Slappy turned her head toward the pony behind her, a grin on her face. "Don't worry, Cider. I've been keeping track of where we are in my head." Cider didn't show any sign of amusement or reassurance to her claim, but that didn't stop Slappy from contining anyway. "Now according to my map, this hallway should lead us either that way or that way!" She pointed down both sides of the hallway. A collection of groaned emanated from the group, minus Slappy. "This is all well and good, but why does Deekin have to be..." he looked at Cider and whispered. "What am I again?" "You're a small lizard, sugarcube. It's on your player sheet." Cider looked down on the stone floor. Standing next to her leg, barely above her hoof, was a red lizard. It looked up at her with a hint of intelligence in its eyes. "Right! Why is Deekin a small lizard?" Deekin asked. "Because it was a joke!" Daring seethed, doing her best to keep her voice low. "There's a difference between me saying 'you look like a lizard' and 'play as a lizard' you know." Slappy beamed at the small lizard on the ground. "Hehe. Dash called-" "Daring!" Daring corrected futilely. "-you a lizard!" Before the conversation could go any further, a stiff howling breeze pushed against the party from behind. Slappy tapped a hoof to her lip thoughtfully. "Huh, that's strange. There's no open windows in the castle!" "There ain't no windows at all, sugarcube." Cider pointed out. "But that still leaves the question: Were did it come from?" A shiver ran down her spine as the hallway seemed to grow cold. While everypony was looking forward, Daring saw something nopony else did. "Now would be a really good time to run," she whispered, pointing an armored hoof behind them. Everypony turned around to see several spectral ponies moving through the darkness lazily, without a care. Their bodies were a transparent light-blue with pitch-dark eye-sockets. They seemed to playfully pass through the stone walls and floor with ease. Daring placed a hoof behind her to get ready to run. Unfortunately, her heavy armor made enough noise to warn every monster in the entire wing as it resonated down the hallway. Every ghost's gaze snapped at attention toward the party ahead of them. They stared at each other for several seconds before every ghost suddenly let out a loud bellowing groan. Soon after, they began to quickly advance on the party; with obvious intent to do harm. "RUN!" Cider picked up Deekin and threw him on her back before bolting down the stone hallway. The entire party ran for dear life as the swarm of ghosts followed by each hoofstep; neither gaining or losing distance. Daring, even with her heavy armor kept in stride. After passing by a cross section, they came across the familiar sight of a decaying pony body, still laying on the side of the hallway. "Wait, I remember this body. How did we... never mind! Up ahead there should be a T-section. If we take a left, that should lead us back to the door we took to get here in the first place!" They followed her order and soon found the turn they were looking for. Just out of view in the darkness was a wooden door, and their freedom. "We're going to make it! Huzzah!" Deekin shouted, holding onto Cider's mane for dear life as it flailed about from her running. Without a care for the door, Daring shouldered into it as she turned the knob, sending the door flying to the side and slamming into the stone wall beside it. "Shut it!" She yelled. Cider quickly complied and bucked the door closed, making even more ruckus in the once quiet wing. The party found themselves back in a well-lit and furnished corridor which linked the southern and western wing together. However, the party was more focused on the shut door where the ghosts were going to so easily pass through any second now. Cider took out her blade and made sure she had a good grip on it in her teeth, while Daring had taken out her mighty warhammer. Now that they were out of the cramped hallways, she could do some real damage. Slappy and Deekin didn't have weapons. One just didn't bring one as she used all her money to eat pasteries, while the other had more to worry about. Like how to wield a weapon in the first place. After several minutes of staring at the door, the party's gaze shifted uneasily around the room and each other. Somethign was obviously wrong. Ghosts shouldn't have a problem going through solid objects. So why were they not going through the doorway? "Cider," Daring whispered, getting the pony's attention. She pointed her nose at the door and motioned for her to open it. "Oh no you don't. You're the one with all the armor. You do it!" "Full-plate still doesn't help stop a ghost's attacks, genius!" Daring retorted. They both continued to argue until a loud slamming noise came from the doorway. It sounded and looked as if somepony was constantly bucking the door as it shuttered violently each time. Finally after the third time, it shattered to pieces. The party covered their faces to prevent splinters getting into their eyes. When the dust cleared, they all saw- "What are you all doing?" Everypony, and Deekin, looked up from their game to find Twilight Sparkle standing by the front door. Her eyes were squinted in suspicion as to what her friends were doing around Fluttershy's coffee table. Pieces of paper, dice, and books littered the floor. It didn't take long before her eyes widened in realization. "Are you playing a campaign of Dungeons and Ponies without me?" "No?" Rainbow Dash hesitantly said, hoping Twilight would take the obvious lie. "Fluttershy, you're the DM?" Twilight walked over to the huddled group. Confusion showing on her face. Fluttershy drooped her head so she was hiding behind the DM screen, keeping anypony from seeing her actions. "Everypony voted for me to do it after Pinkie's campaign was too... strange," she explained. "I didn't think I'd enjoy it, but it's very... um... nice. "Yeah!" Pinkie piped up. "I never knew Fluttershy would be so great at a horror campaign!" Twilight hovered over the contents on the table and wished she hadn't. Her eyes were assaulted with questionable choices, errors, and rule breaks everywhere. How did Rainbow Dash acquire mithral +5 full-plate at level three? Why does Pinkie not have a weapon? Why is Deekin playing as a small lizard? The sight made her dizzy and she had to pull away from it. "Twilight, are you alright?" Fluttershy left her hiding spot as her worry for her friend overthrew her shyness. Twilight simply waved a dismissive hoof. "I'm fine, fluttershy," Twilight reassured. Fluttershy stared for several seconds before hesitantly sitting back down. "I just came over to tell you Celestia responded to my letter about our new friend." She looked over at Deekin and began speaking directly to him. "The Princess has agreed to let you stay in Equestria for as long as you like. However, she would like to see you and has set up a private audience." Deekin may not have been the sharpest claw in his tribe, but he knew such a title as "Princess" was important. He let a smile form, but it faded when he remembered his teeth were showing. "Royalty wishes to see... Deekin?" He squeaked out in excitement. The thought of adding royalty and important figures to his story made him a very happy bard. "Deekin accepts and will gladly see your Princess!" Twilight smiled with amusement for his enthusiasm. "Great, because a chariot has already been sent and should arrive soon. I need to head toward the library and gather some things." She trotted toward the front door, but noticed her friends were packing up their game. "Oh! I'm sorry everypony, but Celestia said only Deekin and myself needed to be present." "What?" Rainbow bursted in outrage, accidently dropping several dice she was collecting. "Why not?" "Because such a large group of ponies could draw too much attention. Just Deekin and I should be enough to visit without suspicion." "Yeah, cause flying in Equestria in a royal chariot is any better," Rainbow muttered. Either Twilight didn't hear her and just ignored the comment, because she began to leave the cottage without comment. "Deekin, when you're done gathering your belongings wait outside. The chariot will come to pick you up." With nothing else to say, Twilight shut the door behind her. "Well..." Pinkie began. Her voice wasn't as cheery like several moment ago, but she did her best to keep smiling. "We can always play another time, right?" Applejack returned several books back to the floor. "Besides the fact we argued over the silliest things every couple of minutes? I wouldn't mind one bit. I had a mighty fine time." "Yeah, I guess." Rainbow huffed, still peeved at recent events. Fluttershy only nodded an affirmative "Maybe another time," Deekin said while doing his best to clean his area of papers. "Game takes too much effort to complete and Deekin needs to continue tale about his adventures here." With the papers in a neat stack, he stood up with his satchel and lute in each hand. Before he left out the door he turned back toward the group. "Thank you for the tea and being so nice, Fluttershy." He did a small bow and left the cottage before anypony could respond. Or notice the blush across the shy mare's face. Primus stood inside a workshop enormous enough for him to comfortably stand in. In front of him was an elf and a equine shaped construct made of metal and stone. The elf was currently putting the last touches to its creation by applying several pieces of ceramic to help give it the shape of a pony. Though it was clearly obvious this pony wasn't of flesh and blood. In-between the ceramic plates, bronze colored servos, cogs, and pumps could be seen in constant motion. Even as a demi-god, Primus was wise enough to both admire and fear creatures as old as the Axiomites. They were the one's who created the inevitables, along with endless dozens of other creations in mechanus. Their humanoid forms were not their 'true' form. All axiomites were actually clouds of glowing, crystalline dust that constantly swirl and congeal into complex tangles of symbols and equations. To put it in simpler terms, they're literally creatures of pure mathematical law. "What is your function, Inevitable?" Primus looked down at the construct with an appraising eye. He had seen his Axiomite crafters create millions of these keepers of law, but they had just outdone themselves. Due to the nature of the world they would be sending their agent, an entirely different shell had to be constructed. Even with magic at the inevitable's disposal, it was impossible to disguise a humanoid shape to look equine. The inevitable's piercing and emotionless grey eyes shifted from the floor to meet Primus's. It spoke in a clear, soft voice that sounded nothing like a creature of metal and stone. "Hello, grand Primus. My function is to find and send my target back to their original plane. So long as I still function, I will not stop to complete this task." "Good, his programming is working." The elf said mostly to himself. He stood up, a burst of artistic coils of symbols and equations replacing his legs, before reforming into flesh a moment later. He turned his gaze to Primus. Even after such a great feat of technology, the elf held no sense of accomplishment. "Is there anything else you require of me, my lord?" "That will be all, Axiomite." The elf simply bowed and returned to the forge and began the long task of shaping metal. Primus motioned for the inevitable to follow him, and did so without question. They left the workshop to find themselves on one of the endlessly moving cogs. He walked toward the center before about facing the construct behind him. "Thankfully your entire purpose is programmed, all I have to do is give you the order." He placed his hands behind his back as he continued. "But before I do, what is your response in the event of interference with the locals?" "Detain or ignore," the construct responded quickly. "And if they pose a real threat?" Primus raised a brow. It took a moment for the construct to respond. A small whirring sound could be heard before it answered. "If the locals prove deadly or bar my way of completing the mission... they will be met with extreme force." "Go then, but be cautious," Primus warned. "A being of chaos is present and has a hand in this. Consider what I'm about to say be a part of your programming. If you see or know the location of this creature... Kill it." "It shall be done." The inevitable bowed low. Without another word between the two of them, the inevitable's body disappeared in the blink of an eye when it cast its plane shift spell. The construct reappeared in a dense and pitch-dark forest, but to him his eyes saw everything in the blacks and whites of darkvision. He scanned the ground as he had sensed this was the location of a powerful plane shifting spell that reeked of chaotic magic. To the trained eye, it could see in the damp soil with two sets of tracks. One consisted of tiny clawed feet, while the other had mighty paws. Seeing that something with paws that big enough might still be around, he slowly made his way through the forest while keeping watch for more clues. As he stepped over a protruding root, he noticed the dirt showed signs of a scuffle. Whatever beast had been chasing the small clawed creature had finally caught it. However, he noticed another set of tracks. Hoofprints, his mind whirred in recognition. And, they were clearly showing a trail leading east. If the construct had emotions, it would be grinning in triumph. Before it could take another step, a low growl came from a bush behind him and to the left. It's head turned to face the noise and saw two beady eyes staring at it. Keeping its distance. Not a threat to the mission... yet. As if insulted for being considered such a way, the hiding Manticore burst through the foliage it was hiding in. A mighty paw swept to the side to smash the invader to pieces. Correction: Escalating threat. Deal with quickly. Nonlethal. The pony inevitable simply spun to face the threat. With a simple word, he forced the beast to his will. His calm voice echoed as the words of power left his artificial throat. "Hold!" The beast stopped mid-swipe, its claw just inches from its face. The magic paralyzed the manticore's entire body, but allowed it to still be aware and breathe; eyes still glaring at its prey with malice. The pony met its gaze that seemed to pierce into the beasts soul and the manticore's eyes shifted to terror. With the threat out of the way, the pony continued down the path toward his mission. Uncaring of the fact it had left the beast in place for several days.