//------------------------------// // Wyverns and Stairs // Story: Labyrinth of Madness // by Speven Dillberg //------------------------------// Wyverns and Stairs The room laid out before them was dominated by an array of four crystal topped spires, each one taller than the last. It was easily the largest of the rooms that they’d been in, with a ceiling several stories high and walls that stretched into the distance. On each of the spires was a minimum of at least five flights of winding stairs that led up to the platform that held the crystal. Now it’s your turn, Ethan. My how I’ve been looking forwards to this, Kata giggled. “That’s a lot of stairs,” Ethan muttered. Yes, yes it is. I thought you’d enjoy the exercise, especially with your bad leg, Kata taunted with another giggle. “What is it with evil people and stairs? I mean first it was Sombra, then it was the super mutants, and then it was fucking Sombra again!” Twilight complained. “Did you all get the same idea pamphlet when you graduated from ‘lil villian’ school?” she asked rhetorically. Kata decided to ignore Twilight’s snide remark. “What’s Ethan’s challenge,” Celestia asked. As you might’ve guessed, it has to do with stairs, Kata said with another giggle. “Yes, I think we got that part,” Thomas muttered. However, the real fun part of this task comes from what happens when you’re done climbing those stairs, “Which is?” Luna asked. I’m giving him access to four simple spells that correspond to four elements. Once he gets to the top of a pillar he has to zap the crystal with one of them. One wrong choice and he dies a horrible death. “And what of the rest of us, are we to sit idle while he does this?” Luna inquired. No, you’re going to be entertaining a fun swarm of wyverns while he works, Kata replied. “A swarm of what?” Thomas asked. “Wyverns, they’re an unintelligent subspecies of dragon with vestigial arms that can’t breathe fire, although their breath is toxic in some cases and they may or may not spit acid depending on where they’re from,” Twilight rattled off of the top of her head. “They’re usually about the size of a large wasteland dog and are covered in reflective scales. Besides the breath and acid you’ve also got to watch out for their bite, it’s both mildly poisonous and extremely painful,” the woman lectured. “Oh goodie,” Scarlet sorely said. “It’s a good thing I have the fake,” she paused as she just realized something,” ...damn it.” Scarlet placed a hoof over her chest to feel a solid heartbeat. “And I thought that was part of my imagination.” “What?” Ethan asked curiously, taking his eyes off of all of the stairs that he’d have to climb. “I don’t have the artificial heart anymore, just a normal heart.” “That thing is so odd...” Thomas muttered. “Well it’s better than my real one, and so is this one apparently.” “I’m more surprised by the fact that you didn’t notice the fact that you had a heart beat again until now,” Twilight added dryly. “My brain likes to play tricks on me now and then with my body. I learned to ignore most of its tricks.” “That seems like an ill advised strategy,” Luna told her. “Well, ever since Big Mountain I didn’t have to take as many chems to keep my body from freaking out. Still now or then old instincts kick in, but I ignored them because they’re not a real threat. My brain making me think I have heart beat is one of them.” “I think Cassie mentioned something like that to me once or twice—” STOP TALKING! Kat shouted, cutting Ethan off mid sentence. The challenge begins now. Immediately, several holes appeared in the floor of the room and a low rumbling sound filled the air. The sound of angry hissing joined the rumbling. “And that’s my cue,” Ethan said before he took off up the first pillar at a gallop. “Any advice on how to fight these wyverns?” Scarlet asked Celestia and Twilight. “Stay away from their mouths, that poison is nasty,” Twilight advised. “The flesh around their joints isn’t armored, and taking down one of their wings will leave them helpless,” Celestia added. Several dozen dog-sized wyverns stepped onto the floor, hissing angrily, the holes closing as they stepped out. They spent a few seconds looking around, sniffing the air, and then after sighting the group, they charged. “Oh shit,” Thomas muttered, looking at one of the wyverns before jumping to the left to avoid being tackled. A quick glance at the others confirmed what he had seen. “There’s no actual wing.” “That’s not right, they should have wing membranes, not that... stuff,” Twilight said in confusion as she looked at the wyverns rapidly approaching her before firing her plasma defender twice and sending the closest wyvern stumbling away. Instead of the thin webbing between the fingers there was a strange, swirling mist. It never moved beyond the tips. “It’s not stopping them from flying!” Scarlet yelled as she gave a hard kick to one who charged at her. “Just watch your heads!” Twilight shouted while discharging her defender twice directly into one of the wyvern’s heads causing it to dissolve into a puddle of glowing green goo. “That’s a small mercy,” Luna muttered as she ducked, narrowly avoiding having her head taken off. Celestia’s spear stabbed out and impaled one in its scaly chest, causing the wyvern to howl in pain before it died. “Just don’t lose focus and stick together, you won’t last long by yourself.” “They’re normally pack hunters,” Twilight added as she backed closer to the others. “So they’re flying Nightstalkers?” Thomas asked, keeping low to the ground as he tried to get his rifle off his back. “And I thought the mutated version was bad enough,” Scarlet grunted as she ducked a low flying wyvern. “The ones that go invisible?” Thomas asked before swearing when a wyvern dodged his shot. “No, the one me and Aeron fought a while back, it was a cyber nightstalker,” she replied as gave another buck, dazing a wyvern and allowing Celestia to stab it with ease. Meanwhile Ethan had reached the first of the crystals. “God, I really hate stairs,” he muttered as he approached the faintly glowing crystal before him. “So, how do I do this, cunt?” Ethan asked Kata. Simple, just figure out what element the riddle is talking about and zap the crystal with that element. “And how in the hell do I do that?” Ethan growled. Just think about the element, your horn will do the rest, she replied annoyingly. You think your brain should’ve gotten smart hanging around a smarty pants for a long time. “Okay, so, what’s the riddle?” Ethan asked As Ethan asked his question, words appeared underneath the crystal. No legs have I to dance No lungs have I to breathe No life have I to live or die And yet I do all three. What am I? “Hmm... what can dance without legs and breathe without lungs?...” Ethan muttered to himself. “And what about when it’s talking about living and dying... but if it can do all three then it has to be something immaterial, and the only thing that I know that can dance without legs is...” Then he nodded to himself and a blast of fire shot from his horn hitting the crystal. A soothing tone rang out and the crystal glowed bright red, shooting a crimson beam of light upwards. You actually solved it; I’m surprised, Kata said mockingly. “Yay, time to climb more stairs,” Ethan muttered, ignoring her. Thomas and Luna stood next each other, Thomas balancing on his hind legs and Luna with Thomas’s Sequoia at the ready. A group of the wyverns charged them and Thomas’s rifle sang out as one of the scaled horrors’ heads exploded in a fountain of brains. Luna, who still lacked finesse with the Sequoia fired twice. One of her shots missed but the second slammed into a wyvern’s chest, sending it tumbling backwards. That left one wyvern charging at them, but a blast from Twilight’s plasma defender ended that threat as the reptile was suddenly dissolved. “Nice shot, Sparky!” Ethan called as he ran past the group, dodging under and around a pair of wyverns on his way to the next pillar. “Hurry, Ethan, I’m not sure how long we can last against these things!” Twilight shouted back as she sent another of the mini dragons to a gooey death. “I’m working on it, Sparky, calm your tits!” Ethan replied as he sent his sword slashing through one of the wyvern’s necks and continued to run to the next pillar. “Work faster!” Scarlet yelled out, dodging a wyvern tackle attack. “Stop making me talk and I will!” Ethan called as he mounted the next set of stairs. Celestia swiped her spear, slicing a wyvern’s wing off at the joint. The creature plummeted towards the ground, flopping about trying to move. Celestia impaled her spear into the creature’s side ending its life. However, another wyvern jumped out of nowhere and bit into her neck. Celestia was able to shove the creature off and kill it, and hastily placed a hand on the flowing wound. “Celestia!” Scarlet called out running up to her. Aww did the big bad solar princess get bitten? Kata asked with a giggle. Celestia dropped her spear and with her free hand fumbled in getting a stimpak from a right pouch on her side. Finding one, she injected the drug into her neck. The wound began to close, but she could feel poison still eating through her system. Her mind got hazy, her vision swam and her legs got weak. “Celestia, focus on me!” Scarlet shouted as she steadied the woman. I wish I still had some anti-venom, the mare silently cursed. “Scarlests, iss thats yous?” Celestia slurred. Scarlet was about to answer, but she saw another wyvern making a beeline towards them. Without any hesitation, Scarlet picked the spear up from the ground with her hooves and firmly planted it in the ground towards the wyvern. The wyvern didn’t have time to adjust his flight and impaled itself on the spear. Scarlet now had a spear with its tip hidden inside of a dead animal, and had no way to get it off. “Great,” she sorely said she started shake the spear with little to no success. “Ah, crap,” Dash muttered as she laid Aeron’s useless form onto the ground, a wyvern making its slow approach to her. “Well, Aeron, looks like I’m going to put that knife training to use.” Dash quickly grabbed the knife sheathed on Aeron’s hoof, holding it tightly in her hand and making a defensive stance as the wyvern hissed. “C’mon, scaly freak! You ain’t got nothin’ on Rainbow Dash!” she taunted, as the wyvern hissed violently and started to dart towards her. “Oops,” she muttered as she bolted away from Aeron’s form so that the wyvern would follow her. The wyvern kept a great pace with Dash. Both running at amazing speeds, but both never losing each other completely. Dash’s heart and brain raced as she tried to think of something, anything, to kill it. Then, it hit her. Literally, the wyvern started to push its head into Dash’s rear. “Hey!” Dash quickly flipped the knife upside down in her hand, turned around, and stabbed straight through the thing’s head. It hissed violently before collapsing to the ground. Rainbow Dash swiftly removed the knife from its head. “Glad that’s ove—” before she could finish, two more hisses were echoing behind her. Turning around, two wyverns were glaring at her, ready to strike at any moment. Dash was about to run, but the wyvern to her right bashed its head into her chest - knocking the knife out of her hand and her form onto the ground. The wyverns towered over her, like a predator going in for its finishing blow. The knife out of reach, Dash could only watch in horror as they both opened their jaws, raised their heads, and prepared for the kill. Fortunately for Dash the first wyvern’s head was bolted back as something struck it and dealt a critical blow. “I don’t think so,” Aeron growled as he held his assault rifle in a magical glow. “A-Aeron?!” Dash yelled as the second wyvern was now plowing its way to her. Quick to react, Aeron fired off ten shots of his rifle, knocking the wyvern off balance and allowing Dash to escape. She quickly grabbed the knife and moved over to Aeron. “Stay behind me.” Aeron grunted as the strain of magic was taking hold of him. “Aeron, let me—” “I said ‘stay behind me’! Now do as you’re told!” Aeron yelled, interrupting her. “I’m going to kill this fucker if it’s the last goddamned thing I do...” Dash made no response as Aeron slowly trotted forward. He began to circle dance with it, it hissing at him and waiting for him to make the first move. Aeron made no verbal response, only a furrowed brow and a vein bulging on his forehead. No one hurts Dash and they will never touch her... Aeron said to himself, no one. The wyvern quickly tackled Aeron to the ground, disrupting his magic and causing the rifle to skid across the ground. Without a chance to respond to the wyvern’s attack, it quickly bit down on Aeron’s horn and tugged his head back. Aeron let out an agonizing scream as the massive jaws of the wyvern pulled on the sensitive horn. Doing everything he could to get out of the grip - punching, kicking, pushing, twisting - he continued to scream in pain. Feeling a quick, sharp, crack Aeron’s mind went wild with pain and agony. With all his strength, Aeron pushed forward until he was on his hind hooves, his forehooves pushing against the wyvern’s neck. “Let... The fuck... GO!” he yelled and screamed as another tug came his way. Bursts of an assault rifle let off to the right of Aeron and a massive relieving of pain followed. Aeron gasped for breath as the wyvern’s body fell down. Looking to his right, Dash was kneeling next to him, holding his rifle. “Dash... I told y—” “Shh.” She put a finger to his lips. “Sometimes it’s best to go against orders. I learned that from some guy.” Aeron was breathing heavily for a moment before he broke out into a fit of laughter and then collapsing onto the ground - the pain knocking him out. “Well, useless again.” Dash sighed. Ethan ran up the stairs and really started to wish that he had longer legs, pony legs just weren’t designed for going up and down flights of stairs. His leg situation wasn’t improved by the fact that the leg that he’d broken still ached badly. He reached the top unexpectedly and let out a relieved breath as he saw another crystal waiting for him, faintly glowing. “Second verse, same as the first,” Ethan muttered as he sucked in a new breath of air and a new riddle appeared on the ground in front of him I can be a soft as a whisper Or loud as a roaring river I can never be seen But I am always around you. What am I? “I really should’ve brought Sparky with me, she’s good at riddles,” Ethan said as he pondered the riddle before him. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Kata said mockingly. Ethan however ignored her and concentrated on the riddle. “So, its volume varies, it’s invisible, and it’s always around me...” He trailed off as he thought it over. “The first two parts are important, but they’re not as important as the last part, what is always around me?” Maybe it’s the ghosts of all the people you’ve killed in your moments of weakness, Kata suggested helpfully. “No, that’s not it,” Ethan said as he breathed in a breath of air. The sound of Scarlet shouting reached him up on the pillar and Ethan’s mind jumped into overdrive. Then it struck him. “The answer is Air, it’s always with you until you die!” he exclaimed, he focused his horn on the crystal. He thought of air rushing out towards it, and the crystal responded in kind. A light greenish glow wrapped around it as an emerald beam of light shot up and joined the crimson beam. Two down, two to go. But I don’t think your friends are going to last that long. “They’ll make it, Inviscunt, just you wait and see,” Ethan said with a shrug before he hurried back down the stairs. Thomas sighted down his rifle and pulled the trigger. His eyes widened as the only thing that happened was a heart-stopping click. The pegasus was forced to drop his rifle as a wyvern charged into him, the thing only stopping him from getting bitten being its angle of attack. Luna was quick to react, despite still being shaken from her near-death experience. Her right arm shot out, the power fist she wore turning the beast’s skull into a bony, bloody pulp. “Thomas, are you okay?” “Out of ammo; my rifle’s useless,” he muttered. “Don’t get too close. I don’t know how they compare to my world’s wyverns, but a single bite could prove fatal.” Luna straightened up and holstered her revolver. “I’m no good with your weapons. I’m constantly missing and this ‘VATS’ takes too long to recharge.” “You’re new with them and trapped in a completely different body, it’s not all that surprising that you’re constantly missing,” Twilight said academically as she sent another pulse of green plasma at a wyvern charging them. “Luna, your flail, any chance you can even use it?” Thomas asked quietly. “I have enough trouble lifting it. I can’t see myself swin—” The woman was cut off when one of the wyverns slammed into her, knocking her aside to get at the pegasus. “FUCK!” Thomas was left on his back, trying to hold the creature off of him. It snapped at him, and the only thing that prevented a deadly mauling was a hoof at its throat holding it back. That didn’t stop it from clawing at him with the single claw on each of its wings. “Thomas, duck!” The stallion barely had time to do that as the weight of the attacking wyvern was lifted, courtesy of twenty pounds of spiky metal colliding with it at high speed. He looked to his left, where Luna stood, her features twisted into a fierce snarl. Her flail, the one she could barely lift thirty seconds ago, was in her hands, the metal ball covered in blood as it swung gently. The stallion just stared for a moment. God she’s sexy like that, he thought. Luna glanced at Thomas and let out a disgusted grunt. “Ugh. Keep it in your sheathe, Thomas, this is hardly the time.” Thomas glanced at what Luna was referring to and chuckled nervously. “Eheheheh...” Twilight, for her part, just snorted with laughter before she fired off another round of shots from her defender. Another wyvern charged her and she turned to point the defender at it, only for the gun to let out a spray of sparks. “By Faust, I don’t need this right now,” Twilight muttered before she dove to the side, just barely dodging the incoming wyvern while she quickly switched out the defender for her back-up plasma pistol. The wyvern landed close to her and charged the downed woman, only to be met by Ethan’s sword which lopped its head off in a single easy telekinetic swing. “Looked like you needed some help, Sparky,” Ethan told her before he gave her a grin and ran off towards the next pillar. Thomas rolled back onto his hooves, trying to ignore what had just happened. After all, there were more important things to be concerned with. Thankfully, his body decided that his brain needed more blood, and he was free to move with his dignity intact. “No gun, no armour, and poisonous things trying to kill me,” he muttered. “Welcome to my life!” Scarlet yelled out as she bucked a wyvern out of the air. Celestia was lying prostrate on the ground beside her. Scarlet then grabbed the now wyvernless spear and clumsy stabbed it through the creature she’d knocked down. “That’s life in the Wasteland,” Twilight agreed as her plasma pistol discharged another bolt at an oncoming wyvern, clearly not doing as much damage as a bolt from her defender would’ve. “Yeah, well that’s life in general.” Scarlet replied. “Not all the time,” Twilight told her with a shrug. “Sometimes life can be pretty damn good,” she added fiercely. “You know what? Fuck stairs!” Ethan exclaimed as he reached the top of the third pillar. “I’m now going to make it my life’s goal to travel back in time and personally kill the person responsible for inventing these damn things!” People, Kata corrected. “Fuck, I’ll kill all of them,” Ethan grumbled as he caught his breath. Might as well kill all life on your world. Sooner or later, someone else would come up with idea. “Oh shut up, cunt,” Ethan told her as he walked towards the crystal and waited for the next riddle to appear. I am hard as stone But can easily be broken I can be shaped into any form But I will lose it over time. What am I? “Hard as stone eh?” Ethan muttered. “But is easily broken and will lose its shape over time...” The stallion’s brows came together as he thought it over. “So not only is it hard and breakable, but it also loses its form, almost like it’s melti—” A smile split his face and a beam of ice shot from his horn and impacted against the crystal. Frost formed on the crystal as it took a deep blue glow and an aqua beam of light arch its way upwards joining the other two lights. Only one more to go, but I don’t think you’re going to guess that one. “Oh you never know, I’m pretty crafty when I need to be,” Ethan replied with a tired chuckle. So am I, Kata replied with a dark chuckle. “You know, I just realized what I really find funny about you,” Ethan told her as he started down the stairs. Please, enlighten me on what so funny. “You’re so damn cliche,” The stallion replied while he all but leapt down the steps. I see...well then let’s change it up a bit. The stairs suddenly became a flat smooth surface. “That’s not what I meant,” Ethan shouted with a grin on his face as he slid down the newly formed slide, making sure to stay on the inside edge. I don’t care what you meant. You say I’m too predictable, so here’s something different. “I suppose I’ll just add an easily hurt ego to that list of things that are cliche about you for a villain,” Ethan said with a chuckle. Have fun getting up the next spire without any of the stairs. “Oh, okay, I can do that, I was getting tired of the damn things anyways,” Ethan replied as he reached the end of the slide. So, you can defy the laws of physics now? I didn’t know you could grab hold of a frictionless surface. “Hey, Sparky,” Ethan shouted to Twilight. “Yeah, what is it Ethan?” Twilight called back while she dodged one of the wyverns. “Invisicunt got rid of the stairs on the last spiral, do you know any way for me to get up to the top without those?” The man called. “If it were me then I’d just levitate myself up there,” Twilight called back. “But I don’t think you have the strength or experience to do that,” “Shit, hey Thomas, would you mind giving me a lift?” Ethan asked the pegasus as he charged forwards, sword slashing out and slicing through the leg of the wyvern who was about to charge Thomas. Then he executed it with a simple slash through the neck. “Thanks, but I don’t know if I can lift you,” Thomas replied. “Come on, man, you’re the one with wings!” Ethan protested as he sent his sword lashing out and all but slicing another wyvern in half. “Yeah, it’s a question of if I can keep hold of you and how long I can do that,” he elaborated. “That, and Kata probably has plans for if we try that.” “Thomas, what have we said about keeping those thoughts to yourself?” Luna asked before grunting the exertion. A dead wyvern flew through the air, its ribcage crushed by the flail. “It’s your fault we fought that... thing earlier.” “Anyways, I don’t see any other options for me to get up there, so unless of course you’d prefer to stay down here and slowly get overwhelmed by these damn wyverns,” Ethan told the pegasus with a shrug before he chopped through another of the reptiles with a swing of his sword sending two bloody chunks falling to the ground. “Fine, I’ll carry you, just try not to move too much,” Thomas said after a half second of thought. “Great, I’ll do my best to keep them off of you,” Ethan replied. “You’d better, if I crash then so do you,” “We do not have time to waste talking. Fly, Thomas, and be careful!” Luna told Thomas who nodded. Thomas hovered over Ethan and tilted his head as he tried to figure out the mechanics. “I think I grab you here...?” “Go crazy, Captain, just not too crazy,” Ethan replied with a shrug. “Don’t suggest he goes crazy,” Luna muttered. “I’m still sore.” “I apologised for that,” Thomas replied as he began to lift the unicorn up. “Try not to move, this is hard enough already.” “Well I don’t feel like becoming a stain on the ground, so I’ll take your advice,” Ethan said with a half smile. “Just keep them off me,” Thomas grunted. “I’ll do my best, this magic stuff is hard and tiring as all hell,” Ethan replied. “What do you think flying’s like?” the pegasus shot back. “Seriously, how heavy are you?” “Well ponies have a much higher muscle mass ratio than the average human, so I’d wager that I’m about 250 at the moment instead of my normal 235,” Ethan said with a very slight shrug. “Well that makes sense,” Thomas said before grunting again. “No offense, Captain, but flying might be easier without all the talking,” Ethan suggested as his eyes scanned for incoming wyverns. Thomas rolled his eyes as he focused on his destination. Try as he might, he couldn’t really distract himself from his cargo. “Umm, Captain, I hate to distract you again, but there’s something pressing into my back. And as much as I like you...” Ethan trailed off hoping that Thomas understood what he was saying. Thomas didn’t say anything, instead laughing awkwardly. “Thomas, when you get back down here—!” Luna’s yelling was cut off when she was forced to fight off another wyvern. “I mean, don’t get me wrong. That offer that I gave you earlier is for real, but it’s only available if Cassie’s down with it, oh and Luna should come too,” Ethan continued before sending his sword out to slice a wyvern’s wing off as it approached them, sending the scaly bastard to a very painful death below. The sword shot back into the scabbard quickly so as to avoid straining Ethan’s magic any further than necessary. Did you really think I’d make it that easy for you? “Well I was kinda hoping you would,” Ethan replied. “Oh shit,” Thomas muttered. I’ve got a special one just for you. There was a horrible screeching sound as one of the wyverns fell from the air. Everyone did their best to watch as its body expanded and lengthened, its muscles bulging horrifically as it was transformed. “FLY FASTER!” Ethan shouted up to Thomas frantically. “I’m trying!” Thomas yelled back, flapping his wings furiously. “Then try harder!” Ethan retorted as the large wyvern stopped expanding and started to flap its membraneless wings experimentally. Before, where it had been the size of a large dog, it was now as big as a shack, with claws and teeth to match its new size. “Not good, not good, not good,” Ethan chanted to himself quietly. “Distract it!” Twilight shouted from the ground as she began to fire upon the monster with her plasma pistol. Dash aimed at the giant wyvern and fired a controlled burst of rounds at it. Luna unholstered her Sequoia and pulled the trigger, completely forgetting that she had fired all the rounds already. “Here, Luna catch,” Twilight called as she tossed Luna Ethan’s fully loaded magnum. Luna caught the magnum and opened fire on the oversized wyvern, drawing its attention. “Oh dear,” she muttered. The giant wyvern turned towards Luna and charged. “Not again!” Luna shouted as she began to run in the opposite direction of the charging wyvern. Luna ran as fast as her legs could carry her away from the giant wyvern and headed towards one of the pillars, all the while dodging the occasional attacks of smaller wyverns. The giant wyvern was surprisingly fast for something so big and Luna knew that she wouldn’t live long if it came down to a foot race. She neared the pillar with the wyvern all but snapping at her heels and with a final burst of speed she reached the very solid stone pillar and ground to a stop before turning around to face the giant wyvern as it thundered towards her. Sensing that its prey was cornered the wyvern let out a cry of victory as it ran towards the woman. It lowered its head and opened its jaws in preparation of snapping Luna in half between its sharp and powerful teeth. Then Luna ducked. She rolled forwards under the wyvern and it smashed head first into the pillar. The monster let out a pained howl as it staggered backwards. Luna kept on moving putting as much distance between them as possible. “Nice moves, Luna!” Twilight shouted encouragingly before she was forced to return her attention to a smaller wyvern who’d attempted to jump her when she hadn’t been paying attention. Up above, Thomas and Ethan had finally reached the top of the last pillar. Thomas set Ethan down before he fell to the ground next to the unicorn in a panting heap. “God. You’re. So. Heavy,” Thomas gasped. “Thanks, Captain,” Ethan replied as he walked towards the last crystal. “Alright Invisicunt, what’s the last riddle?” The riddle appeared on the ground before him. I can flow in two forms of motion infinitely, Metal is my friend but wood is my enemy, I can stop your heart in an instant, or bring it back to life before you realize that it is absent. What am I? “Hmm... metal is my friend, but wood is my enemy?” Ethan muttered to himself. “You know I really wish that Sparky was in charge of this, she’d already be done with this crap,” Having trouble? Kata asked mockingly. “Kind of,” Ethan replied with a shrug. “To be honest I guessed on the last three. I mean they were educated guesses, but they were still guesses.” Well that’s comforting, my puzzles solved by a guessing idiot, Kata grumbled. “Shut up and let me think,” Ethan replied. “I’d like to say water, but that can’t stop your heart, and it certainly can’t start it again afterwards.” The longer you waste thinking it through the less time your friends down below have to live. “I know, shut up!” Ethan growled. Aww, you like to talk a lot but not to be on the other end of the same situation, how touching. “In my defence I doubt that you have any friends to worry about,” Ethan shot back. No, it’s just fun to mess with you. “When I’m done with you there won’t be anything left,” Ethan promised her. Don’t make promises you can’t keep. I remember a bunch of children who regretted trusting your word before they were slaughtered by the Enclave. Ethan snarled and his blue eyes flashed in the near darkness. “You will leave them out of this or so help me I’ll—” Aww, I touched a nerve, just what I wanted to happen. “Ethan, hurry, we can’t keep this up forever!” Twilight shouted up from down below. They’re running out of time, Ethan. Better hurry up and solve my— “The answer’s electricity,” Thomas said, interrupting her. “Metal conducts it, wood doesn’t, and shocking someone can revive them,” the pegasus informed Ethan. “And that was a fucking terrible rhyme. A drunk raider could do better than that.” “Heh, twice today you’ve saved me, Captain,” Ethan chuckled before his horn lit up and a blast of electricity surged out of his horn directly at the last crystal. Sparks of electricity jumped out of the crystal as it turned yellow and a bright amber light shout out joining the other three lights. The room started to shake as if something was about to happen, but it quickly ended. Then the rumbling resumed and another giant spire shot out of the ground, twice as high as the one that they were currently on. On the bright side, this one had stairs. Oops, did I forgot to mention there was a fifth crystal, must’ve slipped my mind, Kata said in a sadistic voice. “BITCH!” Ethan exclaimed. Yes, I know. You really need to improve your vocabulary. Anyways same rule applies, but you will never be able to cast the spell for this one. Have fun being slowly eaten by venomous wyverns! “Thomas, if you can carry me over to that other spire it would save me a lot of time,” Ethan told the pegasus. “We’ve got to go fast, I don’t know how much longer I can carry you,” Thomas replied. “Well then let’s get moving!” Down below the group was struggling to hold off the giant wyvern while also dealing with the smaller ones. Scarlet was breathing heavily as she kicked and killed as many wyvern as she could while attempting to defend Celestia from more of the venomous reptiles. Twilight was standing back to back with Luna firing into the oncoming horde of wyverns. The two would periodically dash away from one another as the giant wyvern charged through where they’d been standing, oftentimes killing several of its smaller kin in the process. Rainbow Dash was standing over Aeron’s unmoving body firing in fairly controlled bursts at the few wyverns that approached them. It struck her as a bit odd that they weren’t receiving as much attention as the other two groups, but she knew better than to question a good thing. Especially with Aeron being unconscious and incapable of fighting. “We can’t keep this up much longer!” Twilight shouted to the others. “Vault Boy better hurry up then,” Scarlet stated as she dodged a wyvern’s sharp claw. “He’ll do it, trust me. Ethan may be a moronic jackass occasionally, but he’ll see us through this,” Twilight assured the other woman. “I feel much the same for Thomas sometimes,” Luna agreed. “Well that’s good for you, but it’s still not helping us hold off these reptiles!” Scarlet yelled. “Move!” Twilight shouted suddenly as the giant wyvern charged scattering the group once again. “Any ideas how to take that thing down?” Scarlet asked the others. “Not without my magic,” Twilight shouted back as she dodged a wyvern diving at her face. “Indeed, if I was in my natural form this would be much less difficult,” Luna muttered as her flail lashed out and destroyed a wyvern’s ribcage. “And I’m out of radiation to cast fireballs,” Scarlet stated. “We’ll just have to make do then and hope that those two have a way to kill it,” Twilight said. “You really need to eat less, Ethan,” Thomas said as he struggled towards the last spire, they only had a few more feet to go. “And you need to hurry up with these last few feet before our friends all die,” Ethan replied darkly. Thomas didn’t reply and instead only focused on continuing to move his wings.Suddenly, just as they were about to touch down, a wyvern came out of nowhere and smacked into Thomas’s right wing sending the two flying head first towards the stone stairway. Ethan landed first with Thomas landing half a second on top of him. What would’ve quickly become an awkward position quickly turned into anything but as Thomas screamed in pain. My wing!” he shouted. A sliver of bone had punctured the skin and the resulting gash was bleeding severely. The rest looked as though it had been severely crushed by the heavy impact. “Fuck,” Ethan grunted. “Thomas, this is going to hurt. A lot.” Before Thomas had time to reply he was suddenly yanked off of the steps in a stream of magic. He let out an agonized scream as the Ethan fumbled him slightly in his untrained telekinetic grip before the pegasus was set down lightly on the unicorn’s back. “Wow, you’re light,” Ethan told him. Thomas was too busy cursing in pain at the top of his lungs to notice. Ethan set off up the stairs at a gallop, his magic keeping Thomas from falling off of his back. That didn’t seem to keep Thomas’s discomfort from rising and he kept up a continuous stream of curses throughout the climb. Finally after what seemed like hours the duo reached the top of the stairway and beheld the crystal. The crystal was black and ominous unlike all the others. Just looking at it, Ethan felt a cold shiver crawl down his spine. “Something’s different about this one...” he muttered. The riddle started to take shape in the air. I have no end, but I have many boundaries, I support no light, but darkness is nowhere to be found within my foundries, I am neither alive nor dead, I just exist I am the end and the beginning, I am the catalyst What am I? “It sounds like it’s nothingness. Space? The Vacuum? The inside of a black hole maybe?” Ethan muttered. “The void,” a male voice spoke out in his mind, yet in his ear as well. “The void? I remember Sparky talking about that a few times. It sounds familiar,” The unicorn said. “But she said that it’s nothing, how can I shoot nothing out of my horn?” “You can’t; no creature made by The Light can.” “You know, the last time I followed the advice of an invisible voice in my head I almost became a receptacle for the Nightmare.” Ethan told the voice. “Of course you sound like a reasonable kind of guy so I might as well give you the benefit of the doubt.” “Actually, I am part of Nightmare Moon, but I’m here to help.” A dark hoof materialized out of the air next to Ethan and touched the crystal. A black aura formed around the crystal, and cracks started to from. Ethan felt as if something was pulling him and he saw the four beams of light starting to bend towards the black crystal. “You might want to get down as fast as you can.” The spire began to shake. “Not to complain, but a little forewarning would be nice!” Ethan cried as he took off down the steps, dodging incoming wyverns who seemed to have decided that he was a nice juicy target. “What is going on?!” Thomas exclaimed, finally saying something that wasn’t blasphemous or four letters long for the first time since his wing had broken. “Fuck if I know,” Ethan replied as he saw a wyvern diving towards them. But then it started to slow down and then it started being pulled backwards. Ethan took a risk as his eyes followed the wyvern, only to notice another one being dragged upwards. Soon, dozens upon dozen of the small wyverns were being pulled upwards. NO! That’s not possible! Kata yelled out in disbelief. “Having problems, Invisicunt?” Ethan called mockingly. There’s no way you could cast void magic. It’s impossible! “Well that’s too bad for you, because this is fan-fucking-tastic!” Ethan shouted back. It’s him isn’t it? I knew this trap would work. Where are you, brother? Come and face me! The black hole in the sky that had been killing the wyverns disappeared, taking the rest of the wyverns with it and the pulling feeling on Ethan and Thomas also vanished. “Well that takes care of the small fries, but the big one is still trying to eat your friends,” the male voice told Ethan. “I’ll handle that. Thomas, hold on tight!” Ethan shouted. It looked like they were close enough to the ground for what he was thinking of to work. “No need, I can handle that oversized lizard.” “Nah, if anyone’s going to be the showboat around here then it’s me, it’s my fucking job!” Ethan shouted back as he started to run for the edge, sword floating magically beside him. “Ethan don’t you da—” Thomas began before Ethan leapt off the side. “What the hell just happened?” Scarlet asked as she saw every wyvern getting pulled up the giant spire. The group had met up beside the final spire with their backs to the wall. “I don’t know, but I’m willing to bet that it’s Ethan’s fault somehow,” Twilight replied. “More than likely. However, we still have a rather big issue to deal with,” Luna said as she nodded towards the giant wyvern who seemed to be about to charge them. “Of course, the big ones never go away that easily,” Scarlet sorely stated. The wyvern charged straight at them, taking several shots from every gun in the room, but seemingly taking little damage. The group suddenly heard someone screaming from above. “UP HERE ASSHOLE!” Ethan’s voice, accompanied by a loud curse from Thomas, shouted as Ethan and his pegasi companion fell towards the wyvern, sword first. Oddly enough, the giant wyvern looked up as well and opened its mouth, teeth gleaming with venom and saliva. However instead of the nice meaty flavor of ponies, the wyvern suddenly found itself tasting its own blood as Ethan’s red bladed sword slashing down its throat and into its gullet. Then Ethan and Thomas disappeared into its jaws. The giant wyvern emitted a painful moan, and the tip of Ethan’s blade suddenly emerged from its chest, tearing open a gaping wound. Blood and body fluids flowed out of the wound as the wyvern lurched to the side and fell to one leg, the other going slack. The tip of the blade emerged from the interior again, and opened up another wide slash releasing a similar amount of blood as the last one. The wyvern collapsed completely, luckily landing on its side and not its front. Then Ethan and Thomas slid out of the opening created by the sword. They were covered in blood and other much more nauseating substances. “Yeah, I’m done for the day. Wake me for dinner,” Ethan grumbled before his eyes shut. “Good god this is worse than when—” Thomas began but he was suddenly cut off by Luna rushing forward and pulling him into a tight hug. This was followed swiftly by a loud string of curses. “That was the most idiotic thing I’ve seen in my life,” Scarlet muttered. “Well it worked,” Twilight replied with a shrug as she moved towards Ethan, a stimpack in hand. You think you’ve won? Kata asked in a low menacing tone, her voice no longer sounding childish but now like a fully grown up woman. I am not letting you go that easy! Sudden the whole wyvern corpse jerked, and the head shot up letting out an unholy roar. “Goddesses damn it, not another one!” Twilight shouted angrily as she stabbed the stimpack into Ethan’s neck. The undead wyvern rolled itself back up, it’s blood-red, dead eyes glaring at the group. It charged forward, only for something to slam hard into the top of its head. The head crashed into the floor making the ground shake and dust spew everywhere. “What the bloody hell!” Scarlet exclaimed. The dust settled and the group was met by an unexpected sight. A black coated earth pony with a flowing dark blue magical mane and tail was sitting on top of wyvern’s head. It leapt off and got between the group and the wyvern. “Stand back,” he ordered the others. “Tha-that’s a fucking voidling!” Twilight exclaimed, her voice was filled with equal parts excitement and fear. “I’ve never had the chance to summon one before!” “You brought him here?” Scarlet asked. “No, summoning voidlings is a dangerous occupation that takes lots of time, money, and experience. None of which I have at the moment,” Twilight replied. “That means that Ethan of all people brought it here.” “No,” Celestia’s voice weakly spoke out. Scarlet turned around to see Celestia bracing herself up. “Ethan is not his master.” The wyvern brought it’s head up, its face deformed beyond recognition. The voidling closed his eyes and concentrated on a spell, making a dark ghostly curved bladed from in the air next to him. The undead giant charged towards the voidling, but the voidling opened his eyes and in blink of an eye was at the other end of wyvern, his blade extended as if he made a single slash. The wyvern slowed to a halt and collapsed into a hundred neatly cut pieces. The chunks of dead wyvern then started to disintegrate into black smoke. The voidling let his blade dissipate and he turned around, making his way towards the group. An amused smile formed on his face. “Well that was fun,” he stated with a chuckle. “Whoa,” Scarlet exclaimed. “Mock not the power of the void, for it is unsubtle and quick to anger,” Twilight said in a hushed voice as her eyes scanned the creature before her with intense interest. “There’s no fear of this being, he means you no harm, unless you ask for it,” Celestia told the others. “You seem to know a lot about this pony,” Dash pointed out. “I, for one, would like an explanation,” Luna said as she gave her ‘sister’ a raised eyebrow. “He’s the being that turned my Luna into Nightmare Moon,” Celestia sadly replied. Luna let out an angry growl and gripped her flail tighter in her hand. “And you’re telling us to trust it?” she asked incredulously in a low voice. “If he wanted to kill us, he would’ve done so. Trust me. He is not ‘evil’, unless you want him to be,” Celestia said as she started to walk towards the voidling. “Intriguing, I’ve always wanted to get a good look at one of them,” Twilight said as she stepped forwards with Celestia, Ethan’s unconscious form forgotten for the moment. Luna chose to stay back, away from the menacing black pony, as did Scarlet and Dash. The two humans walked up to the voidling who was now sitting a few feet away from. “Celestia, it’s so nice to see you. As well as you...Twilight.” There was a bit of a strain in the voidling’s voice as he said the last part. “And the same to you ancient one,” Twilight replied with a slight bow. She was a Princess after all, and as such she had to know how to treat extradimensional beings. “There’s no need for that Twilight,” Celestia told her. “Aww, but I always dreamed Twilight would one day bow before me, though it was after my victory in our rematch.” The dark stallion chuckled in amusement. “Ah, so you’re that type of voidling, figures as much. Out of every chance in the universe that I get one of the polite ones I end up with the asshole,” Twilight grumbled. “What do you expect, mortal? I still feel ripped off from our first fight when you searched for the Elements. Though Luna was mostly in control for that.” “Technically we never fought,” Twilight pointed out. “Exactly,” the stallion added with a wide grin on his face. “Enough. What do you want?” Celestia asked in a low voice. “To make sure you were still alive, Celestia. Luna was so worried about you she called me to help her find you. I did find the portal this being dragged you in through, but I couldn’t reopen it without her help. Unfortunately, she wasn’t willing to go the full way to rescue you.” Celestia was shocked by his answer. “So she sent you to find us.” “No, she sent me back to the void. However, I decided to find you by my own choice of ‘good’ nature. This being was good with dimensional travel spells, but not good enough to cover her tracks.” “Ah, so you followed them back to this place and showed up just in time to save our collective asses,” Twilight finished for him. “Yes, though I was here for a bit longer waiting for the right moment to show myself. I only wanted to talk to Celestia, but this ‘Kata’ forced my hand... hoof earlier than I would have liked.” How did you even get in here? The Labyrinth is supposed to block all things that I do not personally approve of! Kata exclaimed angrily, her voice back to its childish tone. The stallion chuckled. “I have many tricks that I’ve learned over the course of time to override those types of blockages, but I won’t tell. But don’t worry, I’m not here to rescue them if you’re wondering.” Then why are you here? Kata growled. “I think you need your ears checked, unless you don’t have any ears, because I’ve already answered that question.” Okay mister funny guy. Let’s see how you like it when I— “Banish me back to the void, or better yet try to ‘kill’ me? I don’t think that would be good idea. It would be a shame if an Apocalypse Lord ever found out about this place. They don’t like it when mortals can use the power of the void right under their noses.” I am no mortal! Kata told him venomously. “You are a creature made by The Light, meaning you have life, hence you are a mortal.” I was not made in the light, I am not a mortal! Kata insisted. “I didn’t say you were made in the light, I said you were made by The Light. Anyways, I’m not here to bicker about The One who made everything, just let me do a few things then I’ll be out of your hair, mortal.” Fine, be quick Kata growled before her presence vanished. The voidling turned to the others. “Is she always like that?” “Pretty much,” Twilight replied with a shrug as she nudged Ethan with her foot. “So, what are the things you need to do?” Celestia asked. “First, you should rest. You and your companions have been through a lot lately and need to heal up. I can wait.” “I agree. Thomas has a broken wing, Ethan and Aeron are unconscious, and you and Scarlet look like you’re about to collapse, Celestia,” Luna said. “I’m glad you agree with me Luna,” the stallion said with a smile. Luna narrowed her eyes and glared at the voidling. The voidling took no notice of Luna’s stare, instead only turning around and walked off in the distance, vanishing from sight. “We should go,” Twilight said as she picked up Ethan in her arms and began walking towards a doorway that had appeared on the far side of the room. The others followed.