//------------------------------// // Sihr Castle // Story: Bioshock: The Servant // by A-Fox //------------------------------// THIRD PONY PERSPECTIVE Mawa grumbled to herself “Great. Now what am I going to do?” The unicorn was currently locked up in one of the towers of her father’s palace, wearing a bridal outfit that looked like it cost a king’s ransom. It was the day of her arranged marriage, and she was far from happy, if she didn’t do something quick, her whole life was over. She’d considered a levitation spell, or the “Butterfly wings” spell, but her father had thought ahead and placed a lot of pegasi guards on duty in the castle. She could try the “Wave Motion Blast” spell, but there were still some good servants in the palace, and she didn’t want to risk killing them…plus, she didn’t even know if she could pull the spell off successfully, she might get herself killed or worse, knock herself out and get put under ridiculously heavy restraint. Her father had covered up as many escape routes as he possibly could, and while she’d found a few spells not even he could have suspected to have known, she wasn’t about to use them until the right time…and this wasn’t it. Even suicide wasn’t an option, he’d barred the windows and put anything she could have possibly used out of it…but not that eager. She’d considered ending her own misery a couple of times, but she was too scared to try. There had to be something, there- ‘What the Hell is this?’ She stopped pacing, she could hear a voice in her head, she never had any signs of insanity but could she finally be snapping? What could be happening? Suddenly her eyes opened up in surprise and shock, then turning back to her flank, and finally noticing her Cutie Mark. “H-holy Celestia” she muttered, her voice getting very low, so she wouldn’t alert the guard outside to her renewed hope “The spell worked after all…” MARV’S POV My eyes squinted, I was alive…I don’t know how it was possible, I just didn’t feel like a stiff. Where I was…seemed different, the air was cleaner than anything in Sin City, but I could still smell the stink of something. Probably just trash, that wasn’t important though, I had to think about what was going on. Last thing I remembered was dying, I was ready to die…but someone thought I’d be better off alive. I looked up to the ceiling “Haven’t had enough blood huh?” As I started to try and look around, I heard something in my head ‘I could care less what you do in your personal life.’ That was a surprise…usually I didn’t have voices that quick, especially not ones like this. The voice sounded like a young dame, she had an accent that sounded like it belonged in a ‘stan nation, and was calm. “Heh, I must not have had my medicine for weeks or something, never heard voices before.” ‘Well you’re certainly not deaf’ the voice dryly remarked ‘Now get up, we don’t have much time.’ I crossed my arms, this dame, voice, whatever it was, she was awfully pushy…or frantic, she needed some kind of help. “What’s the big deal? I just got here, and I didn’t even get an in-flight movie or dinner. But then again, I already ate, so-” ‘Look, we can argue later, my life and yours are in danger, everypony in this castle-’ “Heh, everyone.” ‘What?’ “You mean everyone.” ‘Everyon-…Raise your left arm.’ I did as she asked, what could it hurt? The moment I lifted one of my mitts up, the voice in my head gasped loudly. ‘Oh my Celestia! You’re a human!’ “Aren’t you?” I quipped. ‘Me?! Human?! Hardly…oh hay, this is going to be impossible, I just know it. Oh why couldn’t I have gotten a damn cave troll?’ “If it’s a cave troll you want, then just wait a few days for my hair to grow back.” ‘Look, I don’t have time for this, I was hoping for something much tougher but you’ll have to do, mister…’ “Marv.” ‘Uh…Marv. Look, this castle is filled with guards, and they’re all very xenophobic, they will no doubt try to kill you on sight purely because of how you likely look-” A grin began to rise up on my face, now this was going to be fun “Is it my birthday already?” The voice quieted down, probably confused, or in shock or something ‘I-I don’t know. Look, I need you to get up here quickly and quietly, we don’t have much time before it’s too late.’ I reached into my coat (didn’t bother thinking where it came from, it was only now that I realized my clothes had somehow appeared on me) to pull out my smokes (which were also there for some reason) “What’s the rush darlin’? You trying to escape the boogeyman or something?” ‘My dad pretty much is the boogeyman, so yeah, you could say that. Listen, I will explain everything when you get to me, just-” All of a sudden I heard a new noise, there were these stairs in the room and I could hear the sound of a door opening, and then I heard something like a horse walking down the stairs. And when I looked up to the stairs, that was exactly what I saw coming at me, a green furred horse in armor, with nobody riding it and a weird contraption on its back that looked like a pair of wings mixed with some metal and a pair of carved blades that wouldn’t look out of place in an Aladdin film. “What the hay?!!” And it talked…something told me there was a good reason that girl was surprised to hear I was human. “Heh, what’s the matter kid, you see a vampire or something?” The horse didn’t respond to my lighthearted jab and instead ran towards me, I could see the blood and fire in his eyes even several feet away. Whoever that voice was, she was right, these guys would try to kill me. The horse charged down the stairs, snorting air fiercely, and while I’d never been in a bullfight, I could figure out how to handle this. As the horse charged at me, I sidestepped the creep at the last second, then grabbed him by the neck with both hands. “Alley-Oop!” I tossed the horse several feet away, intending to finish him off while he was dazed…problem was, the horse didn’t seem to agree with that idea. The little cretin suddenly twisted around in midair and flipped around so it was standing on its hind legs, not on four like before. The horse spread out a pair of wings, which were likely for balance, though judging by how well it handled its short trip through the air, somehow it was able to fly despite the fact those wings should have been longer. No sooner did it get on its hooves, the contraption on his back (which in hindsight was made purely with metal and folded up with its wings) activated and the pair of long, curved blades were pointed right at me. The horse charged right at me, intent on taking my head, but I decided to return the favor. I quickly threw a solid punch right to his face; I could feel his nose shatter easily as he crumpled to the floor, still breathing but not for long. I drew my foot up before he could react and hurriedly slammed it right down on his neck, shattering it instantly. The horse died quickly, he didn’t have any idea what he was getting into…funnily enough, I felt a little sorry for the guy, sure he was trying to kill me, but he was still a horse, and I always did prefer animals to people. Plus, the guy looked like he came outta some kinda girl’s cartoon, the sword carrying thingy didn’t but a fur that green was just mind-boggling…where the fuck was I? The voice in my head had been silent during the whole fight, likely in shock, and who could blame her? She finally spoke ‘Oh…my’ Another pause ‘You killed him without getting a scratch on you.’ “What’d you expect? You didn’t want me dead did you?” ‘No…I’m just surprised, but then again, humans have a knack for adapting to any environment.’ “That’s one way to put it.” ‘If you could kill one guard this easily…maybe I still have a chance.’ “At escape?” ‘H-how did you know that?’ “Didn’t need to…I wondered what you’d want a lug like me for, and if you wanted just a killer, you’d have gotten somebody much better than me.” ‘Huh…you’re smarter than I thought.’ “Well thinking ain’t my strong suit, but I can figure things out if I gotta.” ‘Regardless, we should get back to the task at hoof. Despite how well you performed, I don’t think you can fight everypony here with just your fists…rip out one of the blades, they’re sort of like the weapons used by Griffins and Diamond Dogs, swords I believe they’re called.’ “Griffins?” I chuckled “Where’ve I landed in? Narnia?” “If that’s a reference to some human story or religion, please quiet down and focus on the matter at hoof. Are you strong enough to remove the blade?” I reached down to the broken horse’s contraption, carefully taking hold of one of the swords, I snapped it right out. The blade was long and curved, and I’d snapped off most the arm, but I could see it was rather just a holder for an actual sword. Freeing the blade from its confines, I looked at the handle, for a bunch of horses, they knew how to carve things pretty well, though it was probably made by one of these griffins. The voice in my head returned, dryly remarking ‘When you’re done looking at the sword, check that guy’s pockets, he might have something of value inside. And since I have a suspicion getting out of this city alone is going to be a nightmare, we’ll need everything we can get, even if it’s just pocket change.’ I’d have made a joke but I knew she was right, now I wasn’t scared of death, never have been but something smelled off about all this, and I had to stay alive long enough to figure out what. I rifled through the bag quickly, didn’t find much, just a key, a few dollar bills that didn’t look like any buck I’ve ever seen (probably the currency of this world or something), a journal, a small dagger, some kind of holy book…and a medium sized light blue bottle that looked like some kind of hootch container. I studied it, at the top there was a metal cap that looked like an ice cube and was shaped like a thermos, on the front there was a label, “Permafrost Oasis.” Damn strange name for a drink, but I haven’t had a brew since…well a little bit before my execution, but a drink’s a drink no matter how you slice it. The voice seemed to agree with me ‘Permafrost Oasis? Quick, drink that!’ “Now we’re talking” I removed the cap and pulled the thing up to my lips. It didn’t taste like any drink I’ve ever tasted, the hootch tasted like frozen raspberries mixed with pure ice, but I could feel like it had a Hell of a kick to it. I suddenly felt a large tremor coming over my very body, like a volcano about to erupt. I fell to the ground, coughing. Curiously, I lifted up one of my mitts and couldn’t believe my eyes, I saw my left mitt turning right into ice, confused I lifted up the right one and saw the same. Suddenly a burst of light filled the air, and when it went away, my mitts were back to normal. I’ve seen a lot of weird things in my time…but this beat all, was that real? Or did I do…something, to myself? ‘Interesting…so that thing actually does have empowering qualities.’ “You know what the Hell that was?” ‘If I didn’t know I’d have had you just hold onto it. That drink is Permafrost Oasis, one of the increasingly popular series of potions known as ‘Souldrives’, reportedly, those who drink them gain extraordinary powers…This one, I believe grants the ability to toss ‘ice grenades’ that shoot out freezing icicles and ice shrapnel when they explode.’ I’d dropped the bottle during this ‘trip’ or whatever the Hell you call it and looked at it “Heh, well I’ve had some cold brews in my time, but none of ‘em have anything on that. “You wouldn’t have guns or anything here would you? It’d probably be easier to get you outta here if I had something to blast faces apart with.” ‘Guns? The griffins have those loud things as well…my father received one of their ‘pistols’ as a gift from a griffin merchant he’s done business with. He keeps it mounted on the wall of a nearby dining room. There might also be some ammunition nearby as well.’ “Whoever your father is, he must be pretty stupid to leave a gun and ammunition out like that.” ‘Unicorns aren’t too commonplace here, nor are really any other species with opposable thumbs. They’re more common elsewhere in Saddle Arabia, but not in this city.’ “Funny. Why’s that?” ‘Long story. Let’s just say my father doesn’t too much approve of non-ponies’ “I gathered…what about the guards?” ‘Most of them are busy outside the palace making sure I can’t escape. My father has about…two dozen guards around here to keep any would be assassins from endangering the special guests he has, and to keep me from roaming about the building. They’re mostly around the upper levels, at best I’d guess about a dozen or two down near where you are, but they’ll be scattered.’ “Well that’s a damn shame, I could handle them all as a whole frigging squad.” ‘A brave colt, huh? Well don’t be too cocky, these men are highly trained killers.’ “You’d be surprised how many ‘highly trained killers’ I’ve killed.” ‘Fair point. Now the dining room is nearby the basement, there’s a hallway just outside of the door and just down it you’ll find a grand dining room, where the gun is held. There might be guards in the hall, so be careful.’ I stretched my arms and began to walk up to the stairs “Baby, I’m an ox in human flesh when I’m not sticking a hatchet in a hitman’s neck. But I can be careful when I need to.” ‘And when you aren’t?’ “If I’m not…then your father’s gonna need a new house.” The voice quieted down, no doubt so I could be left to my work. Nice enough of her, I needed to focus on the task at hand anyway. Creeping up the stairs silently, I cracked the door open and looked into the hall. Down the hall I could see two other guards talking, but I could hear the sound of another horse clopping down through the hall, outside of my range of sight. I didn’t hear any noise made to alarm the others, so either he didn’t notice or he just thought another guard had opened it up. The guards must have been crazier than some of the freaks in Basin City, but that was something to think about later. Normally I would wait to figure out whether or not a guy deserved to die before killing him, but given that one of them just tried to kill me as soon as he saw me… “Yep” I muttered, “They probably have it coming.” I waited until the horse was right in front of me, and just as he went past me… “Get over here” I hissed, grabbing the startled guard and pulling him in. The weight of the horse wasn’t that much greater than a human’s, and pulling him in…not a hard feat at all. Before the horse could scream out for help, I placed a hand around its mouth and used my sword to slit its throat. The horse struggled and kicked for a half-minute, but soon enough he died, and when he did, I removed my hand and let him slide down the stairs. As the horse quietly slid down to the floor, I walked right back up to the door and opened it up a crack. I might have been a little noticed when I dragged that horse in; the other two guards had suspicious looks on their muzzles and were carefully trotting right towards this door. I had to take them out quick, before they had a chance to get out a cry for help. “Hey lady” I whispered “How the hell do I use this…ice thingy?” ‘I’ve never used it myself, but I think you just need to concentrate on it, it’s supposed to come right out of your left forehoof.’ Considering the positioning of the limb in that statement, that would mean it came right out of my left hand, I focused hard in my brain, trying to bring it right out…and much to my surprise, I could feel it work. I looked down at my left hand and noticed it looked like it was frostbitten, but it felt like it was…natural. Like just another piece of flesh. The guards were right at the door now, I decided to give them a little surprise, bet they never saw this coming. I burst right out of the door “How you boys doin’?” I asked them, quickly pitching a surprisingly big iceball right outta my hand. The ball landed right between them and exploded in a white flash and a blast of ice that froze the two of them in a layer of what looked like thick ice, but left me completely untouched. “Heh, never killed a goddamn ice sculpture before.” I walked right up to them, balling up my right mitt in a solid fist, then drawing it up and delivering a punch to the one on the right so hard it shattered him, bits of ice and frozen horse corpse flying everywhere. The other horse was too frozen to speak, but I could see the terror in its eyes, but that didn’t stop me from drawing back my leg and delivering a solid kick that similarly smashed it apart. There was more noise this time and I could tell that somebody heard it. A cry of “What the hay was that?” came from a door down the hall, the same one that the voice said held the gun I was looking for. Suddenly, another guard walked right out of it, and when he saw the scene before him, his eyes grew huge. “Monster!” It yelled out, drawing to its hindlegs and rushing right at me. I tried to throw another icebomb, but the horse nimbly ducked under it, and the ball rolled to the end of the hallway, freezing up an open window. The horse had some moves, I’ll give him that, but he probably wasn’t walking on his hindlegs his whole life. And I’ve walked on them ever since I was old enough to stand. The horse charged towards me like a bull, with a drawn sword and a willingness to cut the everloving shit out of me. At the last minute, I quickly leapt right out of the way, the horse moving right past me, and giving me a perfect opportunity to end this. I quickly stabbed the guard right in the back, a short cry of pain rang out as I pierced his heart and killed him. The sucker dropped pretty quick afterwards, but I’m sure somebody might have heard that. Remembering what the voice said, I quickly rifled through his pockets, didn’t find much but a few coins and some sort of small clockwork figure, decided to pocket it in case this voice in my head could find a use for it. I pulled the sword right out of his carcass and ran back down the hall to the room where the gun was held. I burst open through the doors with my bloodstained sword in hand, inside I saw about three of those guard horses, and a female horse who looked like a scullery maid. The guards looked pretty startled, and the maid trotted off through another door screaming bloody murder. But on the wall opposite me lay the gun and its lead slugs, and all that currently stood between me and it were three sword wielding horses and one long table. ‘You sure you can handle that?’ the voice said, returning to me. “Heh, babe, this is just an appetizer.” One of the horses quickly charged off at me with fire in its eyes, gotta give the kid credit for the balls he’d need to do something like that. I waited until he was within striking distance to make my move, quickly rising up the sword to parry a blow that could have easily taken my head, then taking advantage of his disorientation by delivering a solid blow to his face. “Don’t go to sleep on me know” I taunted, quickly grabbing the horse’s neck “I haven’t even finished yet.” I threw the horse down to the ground and quickly smashed my foot down on his neck, breaking it. The other horses decided to take the initiative and charge me as well, coming from opposite sides of the table. I pulled my right arm back and I hurled my sword like a boomerang at the guy on the left, completely severing his left wing, contraption and all. “Aiieeee!” A screech of pure pain came from the winged horse as my blade impaled itself on the door the maid fled through and he tumbled to the ground, the horse on the right wavered a bit in his charge, which was a very stupid move on his part. I swiftly leapt onto the table and charged towards him, and when I got in range of him… “Goal!” I punted him right in his Goddamn snout, the horse flipped right onto the ground and landed flat on his back. Not giving him a chance to recover, I leapt down to him and took hold of his own swords before I ripped them clean out of the contraption. Then I swiftly plunged them right into his chest, killing him in an instant. Getting up from the cadaver, I quickly ran to the gun, it looked a lot like a revolver that was made over a damn century ago. It also was placed behind glass and shared that glass with two boxes of bullets that contained roughly twenty shells each in them. Drawing my fist back I shattered the glass and grabbed the gun and the shells. Whipping it open, it seems this joker was really cocky here; he didn’t remove any bullets from the spinner at all. “What a jackass.” I turned around and walked over to the guard who was currently missing a wing “Trust me pal, I’m doing you a favor” I said just before shooting him point blank in the head. I moved back to the door and pulled out my sword, this was beginning to become one Hell of a day. I wonder now…what else was going on here? “Halt monster!” Rang out a new voice. I turned around again and saw about ten angry looking guards storming right into the room. It was like one man fighting an army…but then again, I’ve been outnumbered most of the time anyways, so this didn’t bother me at all. With the gun in my left hand and the sword in my right, I smirked right at them “Now didn’t your mommies teach you it’s rude to gang up on people?”