//------------------------------// // Check // Story: Lairs & Lycanthropy: Revival // by NeoNagasaki //------------------------------// The seven astonished heads of the esteemed heroines stared down at the now lifeless body of Viceroy Shadowflame. The group had gathered around him in a circle and now quietly stared down at his limp form; moving only slightly to avoid the pooling blood. Finally Applejack raised a foreleg and kicked the body twice, then set her hoof to the ground calmly. “I reckon he’s dead.” she noted, her eyes stayed transfixed anyway. “C-can that even happen?” Fluttershy asked in a soft tone. Twilight raised an eyebrow “Well. I suppose there’s no reason it shouldn’t. Alicorn anatomy is pretty much the same as ours. Just...no one’s ever shot an alicorn in the face with a crossbow...” Pinkie blinked in confusion “I...I didn’t mean to kill him.” she informed them. Rainbow Dash let out a snort of barely hidden laughter “You just performed an impromptu lobotomy at ten feet Pinkie. What was it you meant to do?” “It’s a light crossbow!” Pinkie insisted “Even if I scored perfectly it does like...sixteen damage at best. This was the endgame boss, he has to have more health than that.” Applejack raised an eye, tearing her vision from the fallen alicorn to look at Pinkie. “Crossbows aint toys and this ain’t no game sugarcube. They’ve got exactly one function, and that’s killin’ critters.” Her eyes fell to the alicorn once more “And they do a particular fine job doin’ just that.” Pinkie paused for a few moments “Can we shoot him again? Just to be sure?” A scowl crossed Rarity’s lips as she fixed Pinkie with a glare that could freeze magma. “Have you no respect for the dead?” Pinkie withered, looking away and muttering “Come on. He’s the bad guy. You saw Princess Celestia; we’re one whip away from a sacred lesbian BDSM orgy.” If Rarity cold kill a pony with a look Pinkie now knew what that look would be. Applejack paused, shifting uncomfortably with a look back to the princess. “You...you don’t think this here fella paid the troll to let her go do you? I mean, maybe she was just so grateful that she...” Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow “You think maybe Pinkie just offed a viceroy in the middle of Celestia’s private time?” Pinkie leaned to the side glancing past Rainbow at the bound and gagged Celestia. The majestic while alicorn was throwing all of them death glares. The pink mare’s head moved back into place to address her friends’ concerns. “Don’t worry.” She assured them “The chains are metal and pretty tightly on there. They would have used some sort of soft leather if they-” “Enough!” Twilight yelled. “Rainbow, Applejack; Stop talking about the princess that way. Pinkie, stop thinking of the best way to tie down Princess Celestia. It’s bad enough Rainbow decided to use that particular swear twenty feet from the goddess that calls out the sun.” A cyan head lowered. “Come on, how often is Celestia listening when somepony says that?” A dejected sigh left her lips as she rubbed a hoof along the back of her head. “Maybe we should go let her out? And by we I mean anyone who isn’t me. I can feel her staring at me.” The five girls turned about and started heading towards the princess, leaving Pinkie and Rainbow with the body. Once the rest had their backs to her Rainbow shot Pinkie a smile and pulled her combat knife from its sheath. Her blow came quickly and silently. She slid the knife into the back of the alicorn’s neck, right above his armored plate. There was a light crunch as she neatly severed spinal column between vertebrae. Pinkie coughed quickly to cover the noise, throwing a look at her friend’s backs. Rainbow wrenched the blade free and wiped it on the alicorn’s neck before putting it away. A grateful look and a smile was throw to the cyan barbarian. Certainly it was unnecessary, but Pinkie felt more comfortable this way. A daunting laugh from a disembodied voice shook the throne and reverberated the glass. “Oh wow! Did you see the look on his face? He was just in the middle of the monologue and pow! Dead.” The laughter resumed. The pink mare’s mind went into overdrive as she looked around this room. This was familiar... not the same as last time but similar enough. Similar to the point that he had to have orchestrated it. Not too long ago they had come into a throne room with the stained glass windows like this. They had gone there seeking Celestia just as they had now, and right when they thought they had won, he tore that hope away. Just as before he made his entrance with majesty and theatrics, just to let them know how powerless they were. “Discord...” Pinkie whispered in shock. Discord had returned, but instead of making the world a wonderful place of surprise and food, he had made it a warzone. Each of the ponies stepped back several steps towards the door as multicolored smoke billowed into the room and covered everything. “It’s so good to see you again. I was so very worried you’d never get here.” With a giant gust of wind the center of the room cleared, leaving the sides a glowing red wall of fog. Sitting between Celestia and her rescue party was a massive winged beast. A wicked row of sharp curved teeth grinned unnaturally as the thing looked down at them. Instantly Pinkie recognized it as a dragon. Dragons, just like in their world, were some of the most dangerous beasts the game produced. It was lucky for this world that they were far rarer than in the real world. So this thing was big, and very dangerous. Pinkie had determined when she came across the entry on dragons that she wouldn’t fight one. Run screaming perhaps, but never fight. It worried her that she couldn’t pinpoint the subspecies of the dragon. It wasn’t a chromatic dragon like the blue, red, or green dragons. It wasn’t a metallic dragon like the copper, brass, or gold dragons. This dragon was in a category of it’s own. As it moved its scales rippled from light blue to a rose, touching every shade in between. Its colourful beauty radiated off of it even as it leaned down to get a closer look at them. It flapped its wings of fine changing coloured gossamer one more time, sending a gale of air across the room, then folded them. “So Twilight, how are you finding your little game?” The dragon crooned with pleasure, folding his massive clawed arms in front of himself. The rest of them just stood there, awestruck. Did they hear her? Did they even know this was Discord? He certainly looked different. Pinkie was about to tell them again, but Twilight found the nerve to speak first. “Let Princess Celestia go!” Just because she had found the nerve to speak didn’t mean she had anything useful to say. The dragon’s eyes rolled “Oh come now. That’s no fun. Does anypony ever just roll over and give into demands like that?” “You have no right to hold her against her will!” Twilight insisted. A sigh was issued as the dragon slumped over “You know you’re right, I never considered whether or not I had the right to interfere with ponies lives. I just assumed having godlike powers gave me the right to interfere with lesser beings.” His words were so thickly laced with sarcasm, Pinkie swore she could almost see the slime. The purple mare paused, considering her words. Playing the moral high ground didn’t seem to be working. “Why Lairs and Lycanthropy Discord? Last time you remade the world as you saw fit, why this game?” Twilight asked, she probably hoped extra information would help. Pinkie admitted it was a better move than screaming impotently at a god. Discord smiled with a row of gleaming dangerous teeth. “Why don’t you guess Twilight? Here’s a hint, ponies wanted to play this game and their desires were quashed by others.” A mask of understanding crossed Twilight’s face “Their intolerance...bred a spark of discord. That’s something you can connect with, even while sealed in stone.” “Close enough.” He admitted “There was a spark but the Game Matrix doesn’t have the power to do much on it’s own. I didn’t have anything else to do with my time, so I decided to play. You know, since some ponies turned me to stone.” He looked over each of them accusingly, none of them flinched. A stern look crossed Twilight’s face. “No. You just have them killed.” Discord’s claw raised daintily tapping his chest “Me? I’ve never killed anypony in my life, or turned them to stone. That’s not my thing, it’s yours.” His glance moved over to the pony whose body wasn’t even yet cold. “I’ve got family who died ‘cause of you that says different.” Applejack spat. Her rage was evident in her voice. Boiling just beneath her skin and waiting for her to do something stupid. One massive claw was held up as Discord offered a correction. “No. I gave others the option to kill them. They did it, not me.” Twilight stepped forward to take control of the conversation “It’s the same thing. If you didn’t ruin the world all the ponies would still be alive. It’s your fault they’re dead.” For a moment Discord looked genuinely saddened by the words, “Oh Twilight, it’s not even remotely the same.” With a shake of his head he reared up “Enough, this mindless debate is so dreadfully dull. You picked the game Twilight Sparkle, I’m just here to play. You made a move by killing the viceroy, I’ve made a move by stopping you here. It’s your move girls, I’ll give you five minutes.” “You have to play this game.” Twilight observed. “You’re not free, you’re just effecting things through the GM. If we finished the game...” A sly grin crossed Discord’s face as he appraised the group, “If you finish the game the GM turns off and your world returns to normal. Last time I got to choose the game you played for the fate of your world. This time I let you pick. You’re welcome - Four minutes forty five seconds.” He looked at his wrist, though Pinkie couldn’t reason why. The group turned, looking to each other as they considered their options. “What if we all killed ourselves?” Rainbow asked, receiving horrified looks from most of the party. Pinkie was not among them. “I’m not saying we should, but it would be nice to know if we have any leverage.” Twilight’s head shook slowly “I don’t know much about game matrixes, but I think it runs off of the power of anypony connected to it. Even if all of us were to fall, Discord would still be connected to it, and I don’t think he’s going to die. We need to shut it down.” “If we could get him out of the way and free Celestia, would the world be set right?” Derpy questioned, receiving a nod from Twilight. “Then stand back.” Everypony looked to Derpy in confusion but the mare stood confidently and turned about. A low hum seemed to emanate from the girl and Pinkie could feel arcane power pushing on her. “Derpy, no. You’re not...” Twilight’s harsh hushed voice protested. Derpy turned and gave them a smile “I’ll see you tomorrow if I’ve got any mail for you.” With that she turned back to Discord who didn’t seem impressed “Four minutes.” he muttered, cleaning the underside of a claw with another. With a scream Derpy charged forward, leaving the other ponies stunned. Each of them stood back as the arcane energies built up inside her, threatening to explode from her any minute. They watched in horror as Derpy’s galloping form started to glow a light blue, her scream increasing in volume as she neared. With a snap of Discord’s mighty clawed fingers Derpy vanished in a pop and a puff of smoke. “What?” he questioned “If you strike me down and I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine? It’s been done girls, and it’s been done better. Three minutes forty five seconds.” They all froze, staring at the massive behemoth “Where is she!” Twilight demanded. “I sent her to meet her father.” he said dryly. “Honestly, you should thank me.” In unison, twin battle cries sounded as Rainbow Dash and Applejack rushed past Twilight at the beast. Pinkie took a few steps back, then sunk to her haunches. She now knew what type of dragon this was; it was a prismatic dragon. Discord had chosen arguably the most powerful creature in the game, and in fairness, why wouldn’t he? If Pinkie had been given this game and told to be anything she wanted, she would have made the same choice. Discord’s tail uncoiled and slammed into Rainbow’s charging figure. The resounding crash of the stained glass window was followed by white light pouring into the room, and accentuating the brilliant colour of the dragon. Rainbow’s scream could be heard from outside “Fuuuuuuuuuck youuuuu...” If there was more to the cryptic message it was cut out as it faded into the distance. A small pink projectile left Twilight's hoof and unerringly met with Discord’s face. Pinkie sighed and looked down, their wizard was throwing around the most basic magical spells against a prismatic dragon. The beast probably didn’t even feel it. Applejack ran up the dragon’s tail and started hacking and stabbing with a combination of knife and sword strokes. The metal weapons weren’t even strong enough to get past or beneath the dragon’s scales. Discord grabbed once, twice, then on his third strike clutched her in his claw. “Here’s the pitch!” he announced, winding up and throwing her. The pink mare winced at the second crash and subsequent sound of sprinkled glass. The room grew brighter as they listened to the sound of Applejack’s screams fading the further away she became. “Aaaaaand you’re out!” Discord cried out in maniacal glee. Discord surged forward, putting his face four inches from Twilight so she could bounce another magical projectile off his forehead. “Are you done?” he questioned, “You get, what, three spells? I wouldn’t want to rob you of the chance to show me your true power.” Twilight flicked him between the eyes with a shimmering ball of magic. It did nothing. Pinkie looked about for her friends thinking perhaps they’d been smarter and run. Rarity would do well blending in with the guards until she got away...No, Rarity had vanished into the fog at the edges of the room and snuck past Discord. Pinkie’s heart held a single meager ray of hope. Twilight knew full well she couldn’t hurt Discord with her magic, but Celestia could. The wizard pitifully bouncing magic off of Discord was merely a distraction. Rarity was the true force behind the plan, kneeling next to Celestia and furiously working over the locks with her picks. There was a loud crash that drew Pinkie’s attention back onto Discord. To Twilight’s credit, she didn’t scream as she fell. The dragon’s gaze fell to the two of them. Pinkie sitting passively and watching with a detached calmness as her friends were thrown off the tower, and Fluttershy who wasn’t. The yellow mare had her hooves...Pinkie looked closer...The yellow mare had her paws stretched out in front of her, growling like a cornered beast. Her face stretched into a long pointed muzzle as whiskers protruded out of it. As her mane shrunk and her fur grew long and black the ex-mare started barking. Her figure convulsed once before doubling in size to a threatening tower of furred muscle that would give anypony nightmares. Check that, anypony that wasn’t already having nightmares about the dragon the size of a house casually flicking them off of towers. Hesitantly Pinkie shifted her spell component pouch away. It had been difficult to convince Rarity she needed to smuggle the wolfsbane all the way to Trotterdam. She really didn’t need Fluttershy sensing it during her first transformation. Fluttershy charged, barking the whole way. Discord swung a claw in surprise, but the lithe canine form was far more agile than the colourful dragon expected. She darted sideways and jumped, landing evenly on his claw and charged up the side of his arm. Ten or twelve claw slashes riddled his arm as he yelled out in pain, twisting sideways and letting Fluttershy swing; she hung only by her teeth buried in his neck. With an angered cry of pain Discord tore Fluttershy from his throat and hurled her out a window. He chose to forego pleasant banter as he put a clawed hand to his neck, nursing it gently. “Ouch...that actually hurt...oh, do hold on a moment won’t you Pinkie?” His tail thrashed about behind him, casually pulling Rarity away from Celestia and tossing her out one of the windows. That ray of hope now dashed he focused his attention on Pinkie. “There, that’s better. When did she become a lycan? I suppose I should have been watching you more carefully but this body has such straining limitations...” A prismatic dragon was a limit to his power, wonderful. “A few weeks ago.” Pinkie replied. “She was bitten in a fight I think. I wasn’t there. The odds of her contracting it from a mere bite weren’t in her favor but it happens sometimes.” Discord raised an eyebrow, “You’re just going to sit there and have a conversation with me? I just threw your friends off of a building.” There was a slight nod as Pinkie looked to the one unbroken window on the left side of the room. “You’re a prismatic dragon. You could have caught us all with your breath and every one of us would be dead. But you don’t kill ponies right? That’s one of your rules. You don’t want me dead Discord.” One of his claws tapped his chin thoughtfully before he broke out into a smile “Oh Pinkie, always one step ahead of the curve aren’t you? Unfortunately Pinkie, the game has been set, and if you don’t play, your friends might lose. Why are you still here?” Pinkie approached him, a pleading look in her eyes. “I want to do what we should have done in the first place Discord. I want to negotiate. Just tell me what you want.” Discord gave a laugh, “It’s too late for that Pinkie. The first time I was in Equestria I gave you everything you wanted. I turned the world into a paradise where food was given freely and the changing nature of the world would make every day of your life an adventure. Everypony’s job was unnecessary because I provided for every single one of you. I gave you a world where every pony could play from dawn till dusk every day of their life if they chose to.” He stared at Pinkie evenly “If everything you ever wanted for free isn’t an offer you could accept, then there’s no deal on earth I could offer that you would take.” Pinkie looked at her hooves. This was the devil who had offered her the world, and she had turned him down for her friends. She didn’t understand how they could be happier in their world instead of the one Discord offered...but she chose her friends over eternal paradise and she’d do it again. “What are you trying to accomplish Discord?” Pinkie asked weakly. “Personally? I want a revival. But it’s not about what I want.” Pinkie blinked a few times. Wanting a revival made sense, he wanted to roam Equestria without the bonds the game matrix put on him. It was the other part that caught her attention “If not what you want, what’s it about?” Discord snickered “It’s about the Prismatic Queen.” He paused, giving Pinkie a second to process that. “I’m here, doing everything that needs to be done for her. And when all this is over the Prismatic Queen will rule the free world, and I will have my revival.” Pinkie’s eyes narrowed. The books hadn’t told her about any Prismatic Queen. This wasn’t part of the game itself. “Who is the Prismatic Queen?” The massive dragon’s head shook disapprovingly as he shook a claw. “No no Pinkie. You get to see all the pieces on the board, and no more.” There was a long pause before a heavy thump on the door attracted Pinkie’s attention. The brace they had put against the door budged, cracking under the force of a battering ram. “I don’t kill ponies, Pinkie, but I can’t speak for those guards. You’re down to fifteen seconds.” The pink mare slowly stood with a frown, then took off running. It probably would have been smarter to jump out of one of the already broken windows. On the other hoof jumping out of a stain glass window was much more cinematic. Pinkie hung in mid air, bits of coloured glass flying all about her as she arced, then swan dove off the tower toward the rushing ocean below.