//------------------------------// // Chaos Kombat // Story: Dragon Scales and Other Tails // by Darkwing Dash //------------------------------//         I stood there, my mind blank, staring at my friend, his motionless body still held upright by the spear now stuck in the wall behind him. I didn’t understand. What was going on? Why wasn’t he regenerating? He’d opened the watch, something should be happening by now! I felt a tug on my arm. I looked up to see Shining Armor trying to pull me away.         “We have to go,” he said, his eyes brimming with tears. “Quick, while we still can, before he finds us.” “No!” I said, my voice sounding shrill and faint in my ears. “He’ll regenerate. He has to! You’ll see! He opened the watch.” Shining Armor was pulling harder now. The more I stared though, the more frantic I got. Time passed and there was nothing. No sign of movement, no orange glow. He merely slumped there, dead. “Come on,” said Shining Armor, his voice coming out thickly. “I’m trying to keep you all safe.”         “NO!” yelled Kate. We looked over at her, shocked. Her face was wet with tears, but her eyes burned furiously. “We’re not running away.” “We can’t fight!” cried Shining Armor. “It’s him! He’s here! Discord!” “I DON’T CARE!” roared Kate. “I’m going to find him, and I’m going to rip his ugly goat head off! And then, I’m going to shove it up-” “Now, now, now, princess, such language,” said a smug voice, seeming to echo from nowhere. There was a loud snap. The lights overhead, previously at nighttime setting, flared into life. The room around us shone, and the exits were illuminated. There, leaning against the exit in front of us, absently twirling his beard around one claw, was Discord. He turned towards us, his face a mask of boredom, but malice gleamed in his yellow eyes. “I’m impressed, Cadance,” he said smoothly. “I didn’t know you had such a colorful vocabulary.” He snapped his fingers again and stone shot up in each of the three archways leading from the room, sealing them completely, leaving us against the only normal wall. “Wouldn’t want you leaving before the fun’s even started, now would we?” he said. “Who said anything about leaving?” yelled Kate, stepping towards the draconequus. “I’m going to make you pay for what you did to David!” “Ah yes, him,” mused Discord, glancing over at the body pinned to the wall. “Really though, the Doctor should have learned by now to keep his nose out of my business, whatever form he’s in.” “You killed him for no reason!” cried Kate. “No reason?” repeated Discord, affronted. “Au contraire, my Princess, I never kill without a reason.” He looked over at David again. “I had a score to settle with the Doctor and I settled it. Game, set and match.” Kate’s eyes boiled with rage. “This isn’t a game!” she yelled, her horn blazing with blue light. “It’s GAME OVER!” She let loose a blast of pure wide bore magic laser surging towards Discord. The room shook. Unfazed, Discord snapped his fingers. A ramp of pure black metal appeared in the floor in front of him, directing the beam over his head,  missing him entirely. The blast exploded out of the roof and into the night air with a sound like a jet engine. Discord stood, unharmed. But the blast was a smokescreen. Shining Armor came charging up the ramp behind the beam, Discord unaware of his foe until the unicorn was upon him. Shining leapt at Discord, a sword from one of the suits of armor gripped in his magic and swinging at the villian. Discord’s eyes widened in surprise, but he snapped his fingers and a blade of his own appeared in his hand. He parried Shining’s blow. “Perfect!” he cried, delighted. “Things were starting to get dull!” The two went back and forth, hacking at each other with their blades. Discord was clearly toying with Shining Armor, letting the fight drag on. He even swept his blade out to the side, leaving himself defenseless. Shining sliced at his middle. Discord’s body separated itself, and the blade passed cleanly through the gap, which sealed behind it. Discord grinned broadly at Shining’s stunned face. Shining Armor swung at him again, and the battle continued. My eyes drifted over to David, to his limp body. Tears filled my eyes, and the more I looked, the more disgusted I became. I didn’t care what happened, I knew I couldn’t leave him there, pinned like a bug on a card. I ran towards him, intent on my target. I could feel Discord’s attention on me, could feel the spell he launched at me. It felt like I was moving through syrup. I looked down at my legs and seemed to see the image of tree roots layered over them, as though they were trying to occupy the same space. I struggled against it, until my dragon scales shrugged off the transformation spell and I shot forward, grabbing onto the spear handle. Discord grabbed me in levitation magic and yanked me backwards, blocking a cut from Shining at the same time. I kept my grip on the spear and it flew with me as I crashed into the wall next to Cadance. Discord turned to Shining Armor, obviously bored of the fight. With a wave of his hand, he sent Shining Armor flying backwards into the wall to land beside me. Shining Armor jumped to his feet, intent on fighting. I noticed his head twitching from side to side, as if he were having an internal conversation. “Who’s there?” I asked. “Shane or Shining?” “Yes.” he said. “Well, I must admit, this was entertaining,” said Discord, slowly walking towards us. “But I think it’s time we moved on to Round 2.” “I’m not through with you yet!” cried Shining Armor, charging at Discord with his sword thrust forward. “I’ll run you through!” A hole opened up in Discord’s body and the sword passed right into it. As the sword entered it, the hole closed around it, encasing it completely. Shining Armor stood in horror, looking at the protruding sword. “You’re a nasty liar,” said Discord. His hand shot out and he planted a finger on Shining Armor’s head, directly underneath his horn. A wave of grey ran through his body, leaving his coat dull, and his mane monochromatic. His eyes stared blankly ahead, unfocused. “After all,” hissed Discord. “Anyone can see that you’re not going to even lay a hoof on me, are you?” Woodenly, Shining Armor shook his head.  “I thought not,” said Discord. He turned to us. “Now it’s time for some real fun. There’s so much you can do with a sword, and none of it even has to involve death. It’s quite fascinating when you think about it.” Shining Armor stiffly turned around to face us, his eyes blank and unseeing. “Now, who should we have you work on first?” he asked, looking at the two of us, “Oh, I know, how about your lovely wife Cadance!” he cried. He unsheathed the blade from his body with a sound like a sword on metal, handing it to Shining Armor, who took it in his magic. Shining Armor started to move towards Kate, sword held high. Kate stared, her eyes going wide in panic. She was obviously facing her worst nightmare. She backed up a step, staring at Shining Armor in terror. All of a sudden, her pupils dilated and shrank until they were mere pinpoints. She shut her eyes. Something shifted. When her eyes opened again, they were at their normal intensity. She stared calmly at Discord, a half-smile on her face. “Well, well,” she said. “We meet again, Discord. It’s been a while.” Discord’s grin broadened further. “The real Princess Cadance! You’re back! This is just too perfect.” “I was never really gone,” said Cadance. “And I fail to see the perfectness of the situation.” “You do?” asked Discord skeptically. “You don’t see the poeticness of the whole setup, attacked by your very own husband?” Cadance raised one eyebrow dramatically. “Attacked by my own husband? Now why would he go and do a thing like that?” She looked at the still advancing Shining Armor and feigned a sudden understanding. “Oh, I see, I see.” She shook her head. “I really have been gone for a while, if you think I can’t deal with a cheap old trick like that.” Her horn glowed blue, and a heart sprouted from the tip of it. It floated lazily over to Shining Armor and hit him right between the eyes. Instantly, his mane returned to full color, his eyes lost their unfocused look and his coat turned white. He shook his head to clear the fog out of it. “What? Where am I? What happ- oh, not again! Seriously?!” Cadance smiled at him “Don’t worry about it.” “Spoilsport,” said Discord, frowning. “Ah well,” he sighed. He snapped his fingers. Instantly, the three of us were immobilized by grey magic cords, tying up our four limbs and splaying us out like dissection subjects. “I suppose if you want something done right, you have to do it yourself.” The sword appeared in his hands once more, and he stalked towards us. “Let’s begin, shall we?” An orange beam of energy lanced in from the side, hitting Discord’s blade and knocking it from his hand to land charred and melted on the floor. A tut-tutting sound came from off to Discord’s left. “You know better than that,” said a voice. “Any and all operations should be performed by a trained and qualified Doctor.” Standing there, grinning confidently, was the Doctor, upraised hoof smoking. He fired another blast, which caught Discord in the gut and sent him flying. The Doctor trotted over to stand next to us. “But- what? How?” Discord sputtered. “I- the spear?” “Good ol’ regeneration,” said the Doctor simply. “I must admit though, large metal spears are not very conducive to the process. Thanks for that, by the way,” he said, nodding at me. Discord got to his feet. “It doesn’t matter,” he growled. “I can kill you as many times as I need to until you stay dead!” He snapped his fingers. Nothing happened. The Doctor grinned. “You forgot the first rule of supervillainy: Go big or go home.” He raised one eyebrow. “My body’s equipped to handle near complete cellular regeneration. A spear wound  is child’s play. And as such, my body has quite a bit of regeneration energy left over. A lot of it, actually. Enough, in fact, to do this!” He reared up and slammed his front hooves on the ground, A large, shimmering orange sphere erupted from the Doctor, shielding us completely. As the sphere passed over our limbs, the grey cords dissolved and we dropped to the floor. Discord roared in anger and charged at the shield. He hit it and stopped, unable to go any further, pounding his fists in frustration against the orange surface. “What?” I stammered “But- How?” The Doctor wasted no time. “Regeneration energy,” he replied, dropping to the ground and scooping up the pocketwatch. “Discord’s magic twists and manipulates anything it touches, but regeneration energy is exactly the opposite. It fixes and creates, restores things to their full state. The two are polar opposites. So, that means that Discord can’t do anything to it.” He clicked the watch open and looked at its face. Instead of a clock, it was a screen, with a long set of numbers displayed on it. The Doctor nodded, obviously understanding what the watch displayed. He turned to Shining Armor and Cadance. “I’m going to assume that some part of you is awake that can use your full powers, correct?” he asked. The couple looked at each other and nodded. “Good,” said the Doctor. He showed them the face of the pocketwatch. “I need you to put a shield at these coordinates. It shouldn’t be that hard.” Shining Armor and Cadance looked at each other. “Now! Hurry!” cried the Doctor. The two sprang into motion. They put their head together and closed their eyes, concentrating intently. Their horns burst into light, slowly growing in power, glowing a deep purple, the color of their magic combined. The Doctor turned back to look at Discord, who was smiling evilly. “You think you’ve won?” Discord hissed. “That you’re safe behind your little shield? Well, I’ve made friends since my little visit to Earth. Literally.” He snapped his fingers. The stone that filled the archways on the other three walls of the room began to ripple, as though it had suddenly turned to water. Shapes could be seen slowly moving through the stone. Fingers, hands, arms, belonging to beings that were made of stone themselves. Sixteen stone people emerged through the doorways, five from one, five from the second, and six from the third. They wore security guard uniforms, and bore badges that carried the insignia of the museum. Our shield was positioned near the center of the room, so in order to catch sight of the other guards, I had to turn and stare in the opposite direction. The Doctor gasped when he saw the figures, his eyes going wide. He glared at Discord, who floated above one such group. “You monster,” he spat. Discord laughed. “How unoriginal. You don’t know how many times I’ve been called that.” His face grew pensive. “You know, maybe I should keep a count of how many times I’ve been called certain insults. It would make things more entertaining.” “What?” I asked the Doctor. “What did he do? What are these things?” I tried to keep my eyes on both groups of guards that were in front of me, but I could only watch one set at a time. “Weeping Angels,” the Doctor replied. “He turned the security guards into Weeping Angels.” The bottom dropped out of my stomach, and my blood ran cold. Weeping Angels. The nightmares of the universe. Living statues. When you looked at them, they were stone, completely immobile. But the minute you looked away, the second you blinked, they were on you, lightning fast. They zapped you back to the past and fed off of the energy of your now non-existent life in the present. Or sometimes they just snapped your neck. That was always a possibility. They were completely indestructible, and now we were cornered, forced into a staring contest with a wall. My breathing grew heavy, and I tried to keep both groups in my sight, but I couldn’t. They were too far apart. They moved closer all the time. I could see it. They slowly stalked towards us, intent on dragging us from our safety to face the wrath of their master. “Keep your eyes on them,” said the Doctor. “I’ll take this other group. The Angels are stone if you look at them, but-” “I know about Weeping Angels!” I snapped, my mind freaking out. “But I can’t watch them both! They keep moving!” “How do you-?” asked the Doctor, confused. “Oh, right, that TV show. Well, It doesn’t matter. Just calm down. Do the best you can. These Angels don’t seem to be as fast as the normal kind. They won’t get here in time to stop us.” “Stop us? Stop us from doing what?” I asked, but the Doctor didn’t answer. He spoke to Discord. “So, you figured out how to make Weeping Angels, did you?” Discord grinned broadly. “Indeed I did. I must say, I’m rather proud of my handiwork.” He ran a finger down the side of the face of one of the statues immobilized by the Doctor’s gaze. “Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to get the knack of making it so that they can transport people through time, which is a real shame. It’s their most chaotic feature.” I whipped my gaze back and forth between the two groups, but the Angels were slowly advancing. The Doctor continued his conversation. “So how did you learn to make them anyway? There’s only one place I know of that has information on the chemical composition of Weeping Angels.” “Is that so?” replied Discord serenely. “And that would be?” “The TARDIS database, as you know full well,” the Doctor snapped. “That’s the only place you could have learned it.” Discord chuckled. “Ah yes, that wonderful machine of yours. It was quite informative, now that you mention it. I got so many wonderful ideas from that little wellspring of knowledge.” Strangely, the Doctor smiled. “What exactly did you do with it when you were done reading?” he asked. “I know you couldn’t have managed to get it to fly.” “What business is it of yours?” said Discord with a sneer. The Doctor continued. “A ship that powerful, my guess is you didn’t leave it behind when you came here. Knowing you, I’d guess you stored it in a pocket dimension? Maybe something with these coordinates?” He flicked the pocket watch open, displaying the coordinates for Discord to see. “Clever,” growled Discord. “Nah,” said the Doctor flippantly. “Just a simple tracking device. But here’s what I don’t get though. The TARDIS is excellent at escaping from pocket dimensions, and I had it set to return to me upon the activation of the pocket watch. So why isn’t it here?” Discord snarled. “Do you really think I’m that stupid? I designed that dimension specifically to hold it! The walls of that place would rip it to pieces if it made contact with them.” “Oh, I don’t buy that for a minute,” replied the Doctor conversationally. “The TARDIS’s shields are strong enough to handle anything you could make on your own.” “Your shields were down when I busted through and sent you to Earth, remember?” snapped Discord. “There are no shields.” “Oh yes, you’re quite right. The shields are quite disabled.” said the Doctor in a tone of mock disappointment. “If only we had a way to conjure up a secondary shield for it somehow.” He glanced back at Shining Armor and Cadance, who stood with their horns blazing, fully illuminated with magic. “Nah, forget I said anything. Where would we ever find something like that?” Discord’s eyes widened in understanding. “No!” he cried. “Get them!” One group of Angels surged forward, pushing through the orange forcefield. But it was too late. There was a whirring, whooshing sound that seemed to echo all around us. The sound was deep and low, like someone dragging a key over a piano string. The scene in front of me faded in between the museum, complete with Discord and his statues, and a cavernous chamber with steel grey walls, illuminated with a bluish light. The image of the cavern grew clearer and clearer as the whirring sound grew, until the image became a reality, and the Doctor, Cadance, Shining Armor and I were standing in the TARDIS. The Doctor dashed off to the console and started hitting buttons. “Ah, home sweet home,” he said, looking up at the room around him. “How I’ve missed this place. And now,” he said, grabbing a lever. “To make our escape!” “Where are we going?” Cadance asked. “Anywhere but here!” The Doctor threw the switch. With a rattling shake, we hurtled away from the museum and out into the stars. After the rattling stopped, we picked ourselves up off the dusty floor. “Where are we?” asked Shining Armor. “A distant galaxy,” the Doctor replied. “Somewhere far away from Discord. That’s all that matters.” He began to tap buttons on the console once again, looking at various screens. A thought occurred to me. I hesitated, afraid to voice it, afraid to know the answer. “Doctor,” I began. “Is David still in there? Is he still alive?” The Doctor glanced up at me. “What? David? You mean the-” His head suddenly jerked to the left. “Don’t worry Spike,” he said. “I’m still in here.” His head jerked back to the right. “Oy!” cried the Doctor. “I can answer his question perfectly fine, thanks.” His head jerked to the left again. “Why shouldn’t I answer him myself?” David asked. “He’s my friend, after all.” Back to the right. “Because it’s my body, that’s why,” snapped the Doctor. Relief flooded through me. “How?” I asked. “How are you still here? Not that I’m not totally glad that you’re still around, but I thought the watch would erase you!” “It has to do with the restoration matrix in the pocket watch,” said David. “You see-” “Oy!” cried the Doctor. “I’m the one talking here! Wait your turn!” “Why can’t I tell it?” asked David. “I can tell it just as well as you can.” “My body, my rules,” said the Doctor. “Besides, I like doing the explainy parts.” I sat there, bemused at the sight of the pony standing at the console, having a heated argument with himself. “Look,” I said, cutting over their conversation. “Will one of you please tell me exactly what is going on here?” There was silence. “Thank you,” said the Doctor. “Now, it has to do with the restoration matrix in the pocket watch. You see, when the watch was opened, it began to restore me to my Timelord state. However, I had a bit of a problem at the time. Well, more like a huge, gaping spear wound problem. So, instead of restoring my memories first, it worked on regenerating my body, using the Timelord template it contained. Normally, there are safeguards, and David should have been erased. However, David is more developed than your average filler personality that takes up residence when you use the Chameleon Arch. He has his own memories and experiences in his life. The filler personality was erased when Discord cast his curse.” I tried to follow along. “So... you’re saying that when the watch regenerated you, it also regenerated David too? Wouldn’t that make him-” “Back and better than ever!” cried David. “The world’s first part-Timelord.” The Doctor scowled. I laughed. “Well, you’re actually not the world’s first part-Timelord, if Doctor Who is to be believed. But you’re certainly the coolest.” David grinned. “Yes, well, if you’re both through reminiscing,” said the Doctor stiffly. “I have some diagnostics to run. So if you’ll excuse me,” he walked over to the console and examined some screens. “So what’s next on the list now?” asked Cadance. “Now, we need to get our primary shields online,” said the Doctor, tapping buttons. “We have rudimentary shields, and those will serve us well enough for now, but we need to get the primaries up as soon as possible.” He continued tapping. “And... that should do it,” he said, flicking one final switch. There was a faint shimmering sound. The Doctor grinned, pleased with himself. Suddenly a shudder ran through the ship. There was a lurch, and everyone was knocked off their feet. “What’s going on!?” cried Shining Armor. The Doctor pulled himself up to the console, staring at one of the screens. His face paled. “The engine,” he said quietly. “The TARDIS engine is malfunctioning.” He stood bolt upright. “We have to get down there and fix it!” He dashed down one of the walkways and out of sight down a corridor. He poked his head back around. “Well? What are you waiting for?” he asked. “Quick! To the center of the TARDIS!”