Regenerator 228
Chapter 17
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Princess Celestia was having a good day.
She had been having more and more of those ever since Luna had returned. Her days were--somewhat ironically, given her sibling’s position-- brightened considerably by her presence.
The two had taken some time off from their royal duties to catch up and it had been both very funny, as demonstrated when Luna accidentally blew up a microwave whilst trying to cook a whole bag of pizza bites, and somewhat sad, as evidenced by how many ponies still gave her a wide berth or looked at her like she might grow fangs and eat their heads.
As nice as my little ponies can be, they can also be complete morons. the Princess of the Sun thought exasperatedly.
But, even though there were still many obstacles for Luna to overcome, her days were still getting better and better; Luna had even stopped having her nightmares, although she still insisted on sharing Celestia’s bed.
I’m really going to have to talk to her about that. she thought as she levitated a cup of tea to her lips. There was a creaking sound as the door to her chambers opened and Princess Luna came out, still wearing her snowflake pajamas and carrying her teddy bear on her back.
“Greetings, sister.” said Luna after letting out a massive yawn.
“My, my, it looks like somepony’s got bed head.” giggled Celestia, observing her sister’s wilde mane. Luna snickered and used her magic to straighten her hair out, then she trotted up and took her place next to Celestia. The Solar Princess felt warmth fill her heart at the sight of Luna sitting in her rightful place.
“So, what is on the agenda for today, dearest sister?” asked Luna, shifting in her seat to look her in the eyes.
“Well, first we have to see Mayor Mare about the plans for the next Summer Sun Celebration…. or should I say, The Summer Eclipse Celebration?”
Luna’s eyes brightened and a massive smile formed on her face, erasing every trace of tiredness from it, “Thou speakest truthfully, dear sister?” she asked, her voice positively giddy. Celestia laughed and ruffled Luna’s hair, “Of course I’m serious, Luna. You’re as much a princess as I am and you deserve to have some recognition for all your hard work.”
Luna gave a very un-princess-like squeal and tackled her sister in a crushing hug. Celestia laughed and returned the hug with vigor, happy beyond words to see her sister so full of joy.
After some amount of time passed--Celestia didn’t know or care how long--Luna let go and said, “Thank thee, dearest sister. This is the most joyous news We-I mean I have heard in quite some time.”
Celestia smiled, “There’s one more bit of good news: after we visit the mayor we have the whole day off!”, Celestia and Luna let out twin whoops of joy and leaped out of their thrones, doing a small dance before collapsing onto their backs in a fit of giggles.
They both lay there, basking in the warmth of the sun that radiated from the massive window that dominated the ceiling. Both sisters were happy and content in each other’s presence and their rare lack of duties.
“It’s good to not have any issues come up.” said Celestia, closing her eyes and sighing.
Then the warmth disappeared as a gargantuan shadow blotted out the light. Celestia and Luna barely had time to notice the change, recognize the dark shape as a threat and dive out of the way before a massive, leathery hand crashed through the window and turned the spot that they were laying in to rubble.
“Me and my big mouth.” groaned Celestia, getting to her hooves and charging her horn just as the hand’s owner tore a huge chunk off of the roof and leaned in.
It was a titanic, bipedal thing, with broad, crude features, almost like its face had been sculpted out of wet clay. It gazed at them with glimmering eyes and roared challengingly, showing off its gapped, blunt teeth.
“Nice going, Tiny, but could ya tone down the crushing by a little bit? I’d prefer Sun-Butt and Moon-Flank to be un-squashed.” said a familiar voice from behind the giant’s head.
“Discord!” said both princesses at once.
There was a guffaw and the giant’s head turned to reveal the draconequus, who was wearing a safari shirt, top hat and star-shaped sunglasses. “How’s it going, girls?” he asked.
“Oh, you know, the usual: stopping your ridiculous, childish schemes before having some tea and cake.” said Celestia, smirking as Discord frowned and huffed. “Y’know it’s that kind of attitude that made me not like you.” he said with a pout.
“Really? I thought it was because you’re just a chaos-loving jerk who had a massive temper tantrum when he didn’t get to turn the palace into chocolate.” said Luna with a grin, Celestia whispered “Good one.” in her ear before returning to her fighting stance.
Discord looked livid, “Y’know, I almost want to disable my kill-proofing, but I won’t. Not that that will help you.”. He snapped his fingers and produced a riding crop that was shaped like a zig-zag, “Alright, Tiny” he bellowed, “Show these orderly butt-heads who’s boss!”
“Tiny” roared and raised his titanic fists, then he brought them town on the roof, caving the rest of it in with a thunderous CRASH!! Luna raised a shield around her and her sister just as the rubble hit them.
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Discord smirked as Luna blasted off the piece of ancient stone that had nearly squashed her. Tiny was doing better than he had thought possible, though it had been a bit difficult to teleport him onto the roof of the palace without anyone seeing.
The draconequus watched as Tiny picked up a piece of statuary as large as a carriage and hurl it at the two princesses, both Luna and Celestia fired their magic and destroyed the hunk of stone, only to have to teleport out of the way a second later when Tiny slammed his foot down on the spot where they had been standing.
Discord turned his head a full 180 degrees in an attempt to locate the two, in his haste he forgot to look up and was nearly knocked off of his perch when Luna flew over his head and shot a beam at him.
Discord regained his balance just as Luna turned around for another attack, he was about to conjure a giant jello cube to crush her when Tiny, who as it turns out had pinned Celestia’s wing under a toe, reached out and grabbed the Lunar Princess like a karate master catching a fly. Discord grinned and sat back, “So, are we having fun?”
Luna opened her mouth to retort, but all that came out was a cry of pain as Tiny began to tighten his grip, Discord’s smirk dropped the second that sound came from Luna’s mouth, it was accompanied by a few small popping noises which he recognized as dislocating joints.
“Tiny, drop her right now!” he bellowed, but Tiny didn’t listen, instead he just squeezed tighter until Discord heard a single, solitary CRACK!!. at which point Luna screamed and Discord snapped his fingers, the kill-proofing shield came into effect and Tiny’s tree-like fingers slowly pulled apart, but the effect was slow and ponderous, almost like…
Almost like I’m losing my power over the big lug. thought Discord, wondering why this crap had to happen at the worst possible time.
Luna plummeted towards the ground with one wing bent at an unnatural angle, Discord knew that the fall could very well kill the Princess of the Night and made to snap his fingers again, but something shifted violently underneath Discord’s body, throwing him off balance. Thankfully Celestia, who was still trying to free herself, saw her younger sister falling to the earth and conjured a net to catch her.
Discord breathed a sigh of relief, then felt the thing shift again, this time it was so strong it knocked him off buis perch completely, forcing him to use is mismatched wings to glide to safety.
Tiny roared and covered his bald, malformed head with his massive hands, he bent double like he was about to vomit and let out a low groan, Discord expected the giant to barf, or to pass out, or even to just die from some unknown disease that he picked up from somewhere, he was not expecting a massive, pink, insectoid grub-thing to tear itself out of Tiny’s broad back.
The sight of the slimy…. whatever it was, with its wriggling tentacles and flailing limbs, emerging from a long slit in Tiny’s skin was enough to make the Lord of Chaos to feel ill. He looked away and saw that both princesses were giving the giant disgusted looks as well.
Tiny let out a groan that was so deep that it rattled the stain glass windows, then he slowly got to his feet and turned his head to look right at Discord, then, with an animalistic snarl, he began to move towards his former rider.
Discord began to frantically snap his fingers, but nothing happened. He looked at Tiny’s gargantuan hands and, to his utter horror, saw that the kill-proofing spell had faded away entirely.
And now Tiny was looking at him with pure, unbridled anger in his gray eyes.
“Eh-heh-heh…. no hard feelings?” whimpered Discord, holding up his talon and paw in a “truce” gesture. Tiny just raised his foot and slammed it down.
Discord leaped back in time to avoid getting crushed, but the shockwave from the impact sent him tumbling ass over teakettle. He got to his feet and raised his paw to snap, but Tiny’s hand closed around his serpentine body, pinning his arms and wings, Discord struggled in the giant’s grasp, but it was like struggling against an iron band that was three sizes too small for his body.
Then Tiny began to squeeze.
The pain was immediate and unbelievable, Discord felt his bones shift, his vertebrae popped and his joints began to grind together; it felt like his innards had been filled with magma. Black spots began to crowd around the edges of his vision and he felt like he was falling, even though he could feel the giant’s fingers around his thin torso.
Then he really was falling. He landed with a sharp pain that forced the wind out of his lungs in a loud Whoosh, he groaned and rolled onto his side, wincing as his joints popped back into place. He opened an eye and saw Celestia circling Tiny’s head, dodging every clumsy swipe with ease.
Celestia fired a bolt of magic at Tiny and the giant stumbled backwards, his massive arms pinwheeling in an effort to keep himself steady.
Discord saw the dark blots return and multiply just as the giant fell, I wonder if I’m dying… he thought as the darkness overtook him, if I don’t then…. then I guess I’ll be having a talk with Sun-Butt…
Discord’s head hit the ground as he drifted off into unconsciousness, as he did, his hold on the other monsters in his group was released, allowing them the ability to kill once again.