//------------------------------// // Ballad of Rage // Story: Marabian Knights // by silvershad0 //------------------------------//         “So what feat are you gonna take?” Bon Bon asked Lyra as they resumed walking after their lunch break.  The sun was now high in the sky above them, though it wasn’t nearly as unbearable today thanks to their new apparel.         “I think I’m going to focus on empowering my songs to help the group more, so I took one that makes them last longer after I finish playing.  That way I can help with the fighting after I play, and don’t have to restart immediately.  Or I could have several songs going at once, overlapping each other to provide multiple benefits.”         Redheart smiled and trotted up next to the two.  “That’s smart thinking.  I’m glad to see you two taking this so seriously.  I just wish some other pony would do the same.”  She glared at Vinyl, who gasped mockingly at her insults.         “Well excuuuse me, princess!  Maybe I should just let you pick how I run my character.”  The sorceress harumphed and turned her nose up.  “And who says the power to summon my own theme song is a waste of a feat?  We need epic tunes if we’re going to save the world and all that other stuff!”  Just as she finished speaking, a pounding bass materialized out of nowhere, gradually fading in and out to an “epic tune” now playing all around them.         “Isn’t providing the group with music suppose to be my job?” Lyra asked with a bit of jealousy in her tone.         “Your music is better suited to combat, and besides, wouldn’t you get tired of playing all the time?  With this we can have tunes whenever we want.  Not to mention it can be any type of music from any instrument, not just a lyre.”         “Fair enough,” Lyra conceded, “but any and all battle music is mine, you got that?”  Vinyl nodded, happy to have won for now, though she wasn’t sure she would be able to help herself when they finally confronted this Misira.         The remainder of the trip toward the caves passed in either small talk or complete silence.  Every few minutes Bon Bon would take to the air to look for any signs that the terrain would be shifting from desert to mountainous.           “I see it,” she shouted from the air, “the desert ends right up ahead of us!”         ‘Dunt Dunna Dunna,’ a loud musical tune echoed all around them.         “Vinyl, will you knock that off already,” Octavia shouted over the still repeating tune.  At once the noise halted, leaving the grey mare with a slightly larger headache than before.  ‘I could almost handle being covered in dried out slime from a disgusting creature’s insides, slowly baked into my fur in such a fashion that it will probably never come out, but if I have to deal with anything else today, I think I may lose it.”         Bon Bon’s voice snapped her out of her raging thoughts with a worried tone.  “Guys, there are some ponies heading straight for us at the desert’s edge.”         Octavia’s left eye twitched ever so slightly.  ‘Calm down, old girl, they’re probably just travelers like us.”         “There are eight of them and they’re carrying weapons,” Bon Bon added meekly.  Hearing those words, Octavia collapsed to the ground and began quietly sobbing to herself, cursing each and every grain of sand beneath her individually.         It didn’t take long before the two groups paths met, each stopping within easy conversation distance from each other.  Each of the opposing group’s members wore a blue bandana around their heads and several had eye patches.  All of them were middle-aged stallions with distinct scars and tattoos covering them head to hoof.  Each held a cutlass in one hoof with the exception of the largest among them, who wielded two.         This supposed leader of the gang spoke up in a salty tone.  “Yer belongings or yer lives, what’ll it be?”  The others laughed as they cast menacing stares at the mares.         “This is sooo cool,” Vinyl spoke up in excitement, effectively ending the thick tension.  “You guys are actual pirates, right?  And you’re pirating our stuff now!”  Vinyl looked as though she had just met her idol.         The pirates looked between each other in confusion before the leader spoke up again.  “Yarr, that be right.  Now hoof over yer stuff or prepare fer armed battle!”         “Wow, you even have the cool pirate accent down!” Vinyl replied, much to the leader’s growing impatience.         “Vinyl,” Redheart said slowly, trying to imply the seriousness of the current situation, “You do understand that they are robbing us, right?  They want to take our stuff, and even then they may still kill us or,” she gulped, “worse.”         The pirates caught her meaning and laughed even harder, some licking their lips with wild-looking eyes.  One of them finally spoke up after a slight pause.  “I say we forget the loot and help ourselves to some real booty.”  The laughter grew even louder as a few of the bolder members took a few steps toward the group.  They were set to charge until a piercing scream halted all movement on both sides.         Octavia rose from her wallowing and screamed even louder, causing everypony to shield their ears from the painful noise.  Her eyes were bloodshot and her teeth clenched tightly.  Her very presence was rage and it she was directing it straight at the gang of pirates now staring at her.  She took a step forward and grabbed her cello from her back, the pirates taking a step back and holding their weapons in a defensive manner.         She gave a slightly manic-looking smile as her eyes drifted to each pony now standing in her way.  “Let’s play, shall we?” she asked and then began charging straight for the leader.         Redheart leaned toward Vinyl and whispered carefully so as not to disrupt the raging mass of psycho musician from her work.  “Did Octavia say anything about taking barbarian levels recently to you?”         Vinyl just shook her head and grinned.  “Nope, this is one hundred percent Tavi.  Besides, paladins can’t multiclass into barbarians; alignment restrictions and all that.”         Redheart blinked at her a few times before turning her attention back to the scene unfolding before her.  Octavia swung wildly around in the middle of the gang, landing a few glancing blows here and there.  The pirates ducked and dodged away, unable to retaliate due to her reach vastly dwarfing their own.         “Shouldn’t we help her?” Bon Bon asked, worried both for her friend and for the poor pirates.  “I wouldn’t want her angry with us for just standing around while she was fighting for her life.”  The others thought about this for a second before nodding in unison.         Lyra began playing, Vinyl and Red began charging their spells, and Bon Bon took to the air, circling around and landing on the other side of the fight.  The rogue leapt forward and gave a hearty shove to the rear of one of the distracted ruffians.  Octavia noticed his balance leave him and delivered her cello to the underside of his chin, sending him flying backwards through the air and onto one of his fellow gang members.  Another turned to face Bon Bon, only to receive a similar wound to the back of his skull, effectively ending his consciousness for the day.         Vinyl and Redheart each released their offensive spell on the same target, although instead of just one missile from the sorceress, there were now two heading her target.  With half their members down, the leader quickly decided a strategic retreat was in order, each of them grabbing an unconscious or wounded pony and running back the way they came.         Lyra stopped her playing a sent her new toy out to play, the boomerang striking each of them cleanly against their head.  They toppled over, the extra weight they had been carrying now pinning them against the desert floor as the blade returned to her outstretched hand.                  “Nice shot,” Bon Bon commented.  The group made their way over to the tangled mess of bodies just as the leader had scraped and clawed his way out from underneath one of the larger masses.  He rose up just in time to see Octavia staring down at him, her cello glowing in a silvery light.  He sat back down and gave her a weak smile.         Vinyl walked up beside her marefriend, putting a hoof on her shoulder.  “Great job, babe.  You really showed those pirates who’s boss.”  She laughed as she began patting the shoulder merrily.         “They’re not pirates, Vinyl,” she replied through gritted teeth.  She took a deep breath to try and calm herself before she started turning her fury on her friends and loved ones.           “Yuh huh, they look like pirates and talk like pirates, ergo, they are pirates,” Vinyl stated with utmost certainty.         “Vinyl, maybe you just let this one go, eh?” Redheart interjected with pleading eyes.  “I mean, pirates or bandits, what’s the difference.  Am I right?”  She let out a long, fake laugh.         “Pirates must be on the sea and own a ship,” Octavia resumed her argument.  “These guys are little more than petty thieves.”           “We are too pirates!” the leader spoke up.  “Didn’t you see the eye-patches and our cutlasses?”         “You stay out of this!” Octavia yelled down at him as he cowered away.  She sighed and started trying to straighten her hardened mane.  “Ugh, we don’t have time for this right now!” she shouted as she paced around in a small circle.         “So what do we do with them?” Lyra asked.  “We can’t just let them go as is or they’ll keep bothering us or other ponies.”         “Let’s just take their weapons and go,” Vinyl said, not wanting to get into this again.  “If they’re dumb enough to come after us again, then they’ll get what they deserve.”  A menacing look from Octavia was all that was needed to send the gang running with their tails between their legs.  Bon Bon gathered up their cutlasses and stored them in one of the larger packs.  Content that they would no longer be bothered, the group continued moving out of the desert and into the rocky plateau up ahead.  The sun was just setting as they finally came upon the group of caves they had been searching for to make camp for the night. Meanwhile far out at sea on a ship with crimson sails, a very angry cloaked figure stomped out of her cabin and onto the ship’s deck. “Would you care to explain to me why we’ve stopped in the middle of the bloody ocean, captain?” she demanded in an impatient tone. The captain bowed low before speaking to her.  “A thousand apologies, Lady Misira, but there seems to be an elder stallion floating on a turtle blocking our passage.”  He scratched his balding head as he pointed to the front of the ship. “And what has stopped you from going around him or, Discord forbid, OVER HIM?” she screamed.   “Well,” the captain muttered almost inaudibly, “some of the men think he’s bewitched or haunted by the looks of him.” Misira closed her eyes and vanished in a cloud of smoke, reappearing on the ship’s bowsprit.  She eyed the strange, grey stallion with the pointy hat on his head and a greying beard hanging from his chin.  He was standing on his hind two legs on a giant sea turtle floating on the water.  He leaned on an ornate wooden staff to keep his balance and returned her gaze with his misty, grey eyes. “Out of the way, hermit,” she demanded of him.  He simply shook his head in return.  “You dare refuse me?” she raised her voice and lowered her hood.  Her black and white striped coat marked her as a zebra, and as beautiful a mare as she was a malevolent dictator.  Her mane was solid black with white tips on the end.  It fluttered in the seabreeze, almost the same length as her body.   “I am Misira, and I am one of the last of the dreamwalkers.  You would be wise to do as I wish, lest you suffer my wrath.”  She darkened the skies overhead to demonstrate her power and further emphasize her menacing threat.  The old stallion stroked his chin as if in deep thought before sticking his tongue out at the now-fuming zebra.   Her eyes began glowing bright yellow and the black clouds sparked with energy.  Several bolts rained down directly over the stallion, who simply raised his staff over his head and somehow absorbed the massive bolts into the wooden stick.  Before she could summon another wave, the crazed-looking stallion stuck out his tongue once more and both he and the turtle submerged beneath the waves. Misira stared at the empty waters and ground her teeth harshly together.  “Full speed ahead, captain!” she yelled as she silently fumed to herself, “and no more delays or you’ll be joining him on the bottom of the sea!”   The group cautiously entered one of the larger looking caves, noticing the same glowing fungi that they had seen in the kobolds’ lair lining the walls.  Not far in, the passage opened up into a large crevice.  Sunlight peared through small gaps in the ceiling, revealing a narrow staircase leading down into a small, underground spring. Octavia looked like she was about to cry as she stared at the clean water spilling in from a small waterfall on the opposite side of the crevice.  They made their way down and peered into its depths, trying to discern how deep it was and if it was safe to drink.  After a few small tests from the cleric, she gave the ok and everypony dove into the cool waters.   As Octavia and Vinyl tried to scrub the gunk out of each others fur, the others simply relaxed in the shallow part of the pool.  The few small, scattered ripples breaking against the bathing couple soon turned into many and they quickly turned to see something large disturbing the water’s surface in the center of the spring.  A wide shadow formed under the surface and began moving toward them as both of Octavia’s eyes started twitching franticly.