//------------------------------// // A Battle in Canterlot Castle, Part Two // Story: Mischmasch // by SpiralWriter //------------------------------// We hurried to the gates of the castle and let ourselves in, no guards present to actually halt us. Most had either fled with the rest of the inhabitants of Canterlot, had been snapped away to another place by Discord, or were trapped within the madhouse that the home of the royal alicorns had been transformed into. I did not know if they would help us or hurt us, but I did not wish to find out, especially considering that some might have seen me arriving with the disharmonic spirit. Stepping into the front courtyard, I observed that an eerie calm had settled upon the castle. Where was the sound of reality being distorted? Or the shouts and screams? Not even a hush of the grass rustling as a soft wind blew by. Either Discord had given up, or we were in for something quite...unappealing to our current interests. "...Too quiet. Ah don't like it." Alamo nervously twitched his gun through the air with his telekinesis, threatening to shoot anything that moved. "Neither do I..." I said, taking a small step forward to observe further. I tenderly placed my kangaroo paw down onto the paved path that lead into the castle, nothing happened. At least we didn't have to worry about traps. But what of getting inside? We couldn't barge right into the throne room and have everything end right there. Or...could we? The thought of stalling came once again, and it seemed like the best bet to go by. "C'mon." I waved at the others behind me, and they nodded slowly in compliance. Approaching the doors of the castle was about the most tense thing I had ever done, other than the time my twelve year old self had to overcome anxiety issues and give an oral report on the mating of humpback whales, but that's a different, and rather boring, humiliating story that ended with me on the floor with the a concussion. With a grunt and a heave of my body, I pushed open the doors into the royal throne room, the doors opening with an ominous and echoing bang. We stepped inside... ...Only to find that we didn't enter the throne room at all. Instead, the chaos magic surrounding the castle had opted to pop us into the kitchen instead. A familiarly mad cackle could be heard throughout the halls. "...Dammit." The auburn pony muttered, shuffling nervously. I had never seen the crone so wound up before. Couldn't blame him, this whole ordeal was incredibly nerve-wracking. A chaos god unleashed? Can't trust the ground beneath you? The fate of an entire country, possibly the entire world, resting on your actions? Yeah...I was beginning to feel the stress a bit as well. We made our way through the kitchen, obviously not stopping to grab a bite to eat. Why would you? A wall that was once once finely-sculpted marble was now mashed potatoes. Moving down the empty halls of the castle, the eery quality of the atmosphere only furthered with ever step. The sounds of chaos was slowly revving back up, and it did not sound happy. There was some screeching, some wailing, some moaning. It was as if Discord was purposefully trying to unnerve us. Alamo jerked his revolver this way and that, Zola nervously fidgeted with the stick she carried in her mouth, and even Legion scratched his claws against one another, prepared to rip any foe we might face asunder. And me? Well, I fared no better. I had been made leader of this dashed-together little escapade, and I had never really been the one to be a great leader. Ever tried leading a group of scrawny, snot-nosed kids to victory in a game of dodgeball against testerone-pumped jocks? Didn't turn out so well. Hopefully I would do much better here and not end up with the imprint of the dodgeball logo on my forehead. "Wait...do you hear that?" I held out an arm, signaling the others to stop. They were all caught up in their own thoughts, unheeded my gesture of leadership, and barreled right into me, one after another until we were a tangled pile of limbs and awkward placement. "I thought you guys would stop." I deadpanned as I removed Zola's back hoof from my face. "You didn't say stop." Alamo mumbled, Legion's tail stuffed in his mouth. "I held out my arm." "That means nothin'." With a sigh, I heaved up every last one of them and dumped them all onto their separate standing, each one dusting themselves off. I peaked my head once more, a low, grinding sound slowly becoming steadier and and louder as the moments ticked by, until at last, the sound seemed to be coming from directly underneath our feet. "That cannot be good." Zola remarked right before the entire castle was turned on its head. It was as if the hallway itself was alive, twisting and turn as stone and concrete were silly putty. I yelped as a new wall popped right up in front of me from the ground up, separating me from the others. From the shouts, I could tell the others had been pushed into newly created rooms as well. "Pulling out old tricks?" I shouted, directly speaking to Discord. I knew he could hear me. "You tried this back in the beginning of season two!" "What's season two?" Alamo's faint voice replied, but his words died down to where I couldn't even hear anymore. I was on my own, at least for now. "Consarnit!" The cowpony shouted as he now found himself relocated to the famed Canterlot library, lost amongst the countless shelves containing all the gathered knowledge Equestria had to offer. He bolted right for the exit, or at least where he assumed the exit would be. He would turn a corner, expecting a door, only to see another empty wall or a bookshelf mocking him with books that he had no interest in reading. "Must be a way outta here...just gotta be..." His ears twitched underneath his hat at the sound of the light tapping of hoof movement. Ever so slowly, he cocked his gun held a magical grip on the trigger, ready to reflexively shoot whatever may be stalking him. "C'mon out, Ah'm only half blind, not deaf. Ah know yer out there." He proclaimed, turning another corner in the seemingly endless library, only to bump face to face with another pony. He yelped and misfired, the bullet missing entirely and shooting into the ceiling. A bright green body chuckled at his reaction, leaning against the bookshelf on one elbow. "Ooh, did you see that sister? Old coot nearly jumped out of his skin!" Alamo grimaced as he glared at the pony before him. Young, no cutie mark, but old enough to have one. Intense, violet eyes greeted him along with the wide grin alongside the pony's face. "And who're you?" "Name's Riot, this is my sister, Ruin." He motioned his head to his left, and from behind the bookshelf, Alamo nearly reeled at the sight of another head attached to the body, this one more effeminate. "Hello!" She cackled, giving a little wave. "...Ah'll just be goin' now...sorry fer shootin' at ya." "Ohh...you're not gonna stick around?" The double-headed pony disappeared behind the bookshelf, only to reappear around a shelf right behind Alamo. "We have so much fun planned for you..." Riot laughed as they disappeared once more. "We have lots of games and tricks..." Their voices came from a distance now, as if they were shouting from the other side of the library. Alamo shook his head and readied his gun. "...Ones that will make you see double." "..." Legion found his many-minded body in a familiar setting, one he was accustomed to on a regular basis before and after his punishment. He was in the old Canterlot catacombs. The dirt beneath his paws, the scent of cold and ancient air filling his senses. Nobody, pony, diamond dog, or anything else, had been down here for a long, long time. The pack had decided to simply follow their instincts towards the exit. A diamond dog had a sort of internal compass that pointed them to the surface whenever they were underground, it had evolved from years of dogs being trapped in cave-ins and diggings to help them escape their dark and dirty second world. There were crystals down here, very rare ones, but hardly worth any taste or value to the dog at the moment. Only escaping and finding the rest of 'Pack Oddjob' was what mattered. As his paws delicately strode through the caverns, his supremely keen senses told him to duck, and he did just as something sharp whizzed right overhead to pierce the cave wall behind him, narrowly missing his head by centimeters. If not for his reaction time, Legion would be missing more than his normality. "You're quick, I like that." A slithering, hissing voice calmly called from the darkness. "And you're aim is slightly off. If you had thrown a bit to the right, you would have pierced one of our ears instead of missing entirely." "...Cocky too. Don't like that as much." "May we pass by this simple prattling? We sense you are here to stop us from proceeding to our goal." Out of the shadows, a body entirely made of the shades stepped forth, cut from the cloth of the night itself save for the bone-white skull painted upon his face. Decay grinned, brandishing a thin blade sharpened from the cut crystals around him. "I'm fine with that." He chuckled, stepping towards Legion, every last inch of his body creeping with tendrils of smoke. "As are we." Legion popped out his claws and bared his fangs. The zebra known as Zola, seconds before had been in a hallways with her allies, was now in the royal gardens, surrounded by the peaceful serenity of flora and statues. "Very lovely, very nice, too bad there may be a price..." She tilted her head as one of the statues nearby danced away at her presence. She sighed and simply carried on, walking through the lush botanical beauty that had been established as one of the castle's premiere locations, normally open to the public, but unfortunately closed due to a chaos storm. Birds circled overhead, wary of landing and what may happen if they do. Would that tree branch give out on them or become a string of taffy? If they returned to their nest, would their hatchlings be all grown up or back in the form of eggs? Zola mused this as one of the avians overhead descended. She raised an eye, this one was much larger than any of the others. Perhaps it was an eagle? They were known to be one of the many animals kept in the gardens. She found at as the harpy zoomed down and snatched her up in her razor-sharp claws. I was in a hallway, that was for certain. Which hallway, I didn't know. Was it the one I was previously in, or another? Dammit Celestia, every hallway looked the same! Maybe it would be for the best that Discord rearranged this place. Making my way down the hallway, I really couldn't admire the equestrian architecture like I should have. I was in Canterlot castle, home of Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, two characters that I have always wanted wanted to meet, and now under the circumstances, I couldn't. Even the inner fanboy within me had died down because of all this. With no sense of direction and no idea of where to go, I began opening doors randomly. Some rooms had absolutely nothing in them, literally. Just an empty void of white space that lead nowhere. Others were slightly normal, everything within the room off-kilter an inch or so to the left, that would really annoy whoever would step inside. I had arrived at the end of the hall after going through several doors, and as my bird hand settled upon the doorknob, I hesitated, feeling a small shiver run down my spine. Whether it was a good sign or bad, I had no choice. Turned the knob, opened the door, and stepped in. Strangely enough, this room was quite mundane compared to the others. It seemed to be a quarter for a single pony, as their was only one bed, a desk, and a small bookshelf neatly tucked away in the corner. I ambled over to the desk and examined the contents. A letter opener, a phial of ink, some scrolls, and a leatherbound journal. With a shrug, I picked it up and thumbed through the first few pages. I could not read any further, for before my eyes could gaze upon the first sentence, a searing pain had arced across my back. I doubled over right onto the floor, something sharp and solid aimed directly at my throat. I looked up, my dichromatic eyes peering over a golden blade hovering in the air, the cold stare of an equally golden-armored pony gazing back at me. "Sir Vorpal." I said, eying the blade that threatened to puncture my throat. "Jabberwocky." He said through gritted teeth.