//------------------------------// // The Beginning // Story: Too Epic for Arrogance // by NetherWalker //------------------------------// “Oh my GOOOOOOOOOO-“ I began to Scream like a B%$#& shout as manly as I could, before remembering that I was standing in front of my parents. “OOOOOOoooosh,” I finally finished, gazing upon the object of my affections, the pinnacle of my measly existence, the grand, the awe inspiring, Vegeta! Or at least his hair, The last piece of the costume had at last been gathered, ten months of extreme workouts, searching Amazon, eBay and other assorted online stores, it had finally come to this, It… Was… TIME! I had even shaved my head to resemble his receding hairline, and now to apply the wig. I grabbed the golden plumes, those fair-haired hedgehog spines. I thought I’d never find them! I’d looked everywhere, but I had thought it all for naught. But just in the nick of time, I was saved by José and Maggie, In all my seven years I had made my home with them, there had been only once when they had made me more happy, and that was when they adopted me! Such was my fervor. Oh yes I was adopted, what normal kid calls his parents by their first names? I mean, not that there’s anything wrong with you if you’re adopted, but I was a special case. “Well I’m glad you liked it.” José said putting on a knowing half-smile, excitement always got the best of him too. He set the box down and ran a hand through his salt & pepper stubble, “A good look!” he exclaimed, clapping his hands together as I gingerly set the head piece down atop my head. Maggie just stood there shaking her head, and putting on the same knowing half-smile. “Well I can tell you two will be having fun,” She said her smile growing as she eyed the one and a half men, as we both turned, facing her, “Well, we all better be going. I’ve got that ‘thing’ I’ve got to do, ‘Brom’,” she said, winking. Oh yes, anyone who has ever researched the ‘cool old guy trope’ knows that name, Eragon’s mentor, former Dragon rider, founder of the Varden, and all around badASS: Brom, from the Inheritance cycle series, and José was cosplaying as him, most people might not be that happy to have their adopted father go with them to Comic-con, but personally, I was stoked. Also, I am not most people. The only thing I was worried about was… well, the women. Because Oh My Freaking love of puppies there is no strait man at comic-con that does not, at least for a second, fantasize about certain ‘things’, a.k.a. ‘boobs’, to put it lightly. But I guess that’s why most people aren’t that happy to have their fathers with them at comic-con (especially if they’re female), but as I said before, I am not most people. But, too late to back down now, these newly toned muscles yearn to be shown off, as well as this costume! I was originally going to wear armor, but, I decided I wanted to be the Vegeta that was too buff for armor. So I settled for a blue tank top and baggie blue pants, not to mention his classic boots and gloves. But I think José took the cake, his stubble bearded chin, the wool scarf, and rough spun pants and coat, followed by an awesome scabbard and tattooed palm, the only thing that was missing was a sword. But considering Brom gave his to Eragon, canon-wise, it kind of made sense. But Maggie wasn’t going, for reasons I may address later. So, we rode the elevator down from our apartment on the fifth floor and proceeded to the underground parking lot, where we boarded our silver Silverado and drove off to our destinies! And I can tell you, the drive could NOT be slower. When we finally got to the building, there was no parking, so we had to park a few blocks away. While we were walking, I got a distinct feeling that a fight was happening, I casually brushed it off, till José spoke up, “I think I hear yelling,” he said squinting, looking around, his eyes suddenly focused as we heard a girl scream, “Coming from over there!” I looked around and found that the comic-con building wasn’t that far away, two guards were standing at a V.I.P. entrance, one was looking around frantically for the noise and the other appeared to be asleep. “José, you get the guards, I’ll find the fight.” I got the feeling that he probably tried to stop me, but I was already running. I stopped at an intersection between two alleyways, and turned right, and then I saw it, two guys in black casual wear were pushing some poor girl up against the wall, “You bitch-ass homo, thought you could get away with it?” oh god, he sounded like he was from some inbred hillbilly family that thought telegraphs were a type of grid paper. His compatriot wasn’t much better. “Yo! Hades, we need ta’ get going! Peoplea’ start ta’ hear.” The bigger one, looked back at the smaller, never decreasing his vice-like grip on the girl, “Ah say when we go, Not you, ‘mexi!” Man, the stereotyping! It’s like these two were drawn right out of some old cop movie. “Besides,” He said, looking back at the Practical child in his grip, “Ah want to have a little fun with it! You go get the van, it’s an order to go.” Oh, ho, ho, that was it! “LEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEROY” I screamed as I scaled a conveniently placed box and dumpster, jumped, and prepared to do a ‘hulk smash’ “JENKINS!” I finished as my elbow came down on top of the big one’s head just as he turned to face me, he went down, and I got to my feet. “You okay?” I asked the girl, she began to nod but her eyes widened as my knees started to buckle, then the pain exploded though my leg, and I went to one knee as the brute behind me started to rise, “Heh heh, son ova’ bitch thought he could be a hero? Well I’m about to Fu-EGh!?” I smashed my head into his nose, feeling his blood fresh on the back of my neck. I turned, my fury opening a new side of me, the whoop-bass side. “I don’t think,” I said bring my fist up into his chin, “I KNOW!!” I swear I heard my knuckles crack like thunder. He stumbled back as his minion attempted to flank and hit me with a right straight, I pushed back a bit, just enough to dodge, grabbed his wrist, and twisted him around, so that I was now facing his back with his arm splayed out in front of me, lifted my fist, and brought it down hard. *CRACK* “AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHGGGHHHHH!” Now he screamed like a b%$&#, I turned my head just in time to see a fist come flying at my face, *SMACK* I think I saw stars. I dropped the small one’s now limp arm, stumbled back, brought a hand up to my face and looked straight into the big one’s eyes. I’m sure my gaze made him crap his baggie pants, because the moment I did, all the fight went from his eyes. We stood there for a second before he grabbed his friend and walked away saying something about how “don’t make any sudden movements, it can smell your fear” I looked back at the girl after they had gone, what I saw both filled me with joy, and sucked the life out of me. She was almost completely unharmed, and on the bright side, she looked pretty happy that she was no longer being sexually harassed. But, she feared me, it was very plain, her face was easily read. But fortunately it was short lived, José and one of the guards rounded the bend where I had come from, both looking particularly panicked, until they saw me, this then lasted until they saw the blood, and Oh my blood that was a lot of said blood! “Oh My God!” the guard shouted, and rushed to where we were standing, followed closely by José. “Are you ok?” “Ah, just fine,” I said, looking back at the girl, whom I now realized was also cosplaying, “But she was the one that was being assaulted, speaking of which, are you ok?” I really wish I had kept my mouth shut, as soon as I said she, her face lit up like a Christmas tree. And she made to respond, and wow, did she have one beautiful voice, soft and quiet, which is why what came next was even more… strange. “Um, well, for one, ah, you see, I’m not ahhh,” Oh Dear, I seemed to have made a grave error, In the words of our esteemed Admiral Ackbar, “I’m… Not a… girl.” It’s a Trap! We all just stood there for a few minutes, probably because of the thick cloud of awkward that hung in the air, which was only strengthened by the guards attempt to break the silence, “Well that’s a thing.” Meanwhile: *Maggie’s P.O.V.* I continued to pace, I was still contemplating whether or not to do this, was it right? To spy on José like this? I mean I know I’m insecure, but this just seems like overkill. No, I made up my mind, I’m going. I picked up my phone and called Kellie, It rang for a few before she picked up. “Hello?” “Hi Kellie, I’m going” I smiled as she sqeed’ for joy and I opened the closet, and removed the boxes hiding my special hidden item. I opened the lid and looked down at the blue hair dye, fake tattoo, little red shirt and black dress, Yes indeed, I was going to comic-con! I’d just say ‘Meanwhile’ again, but that would be repetitive: *”Vegeta’s” P.O.V.* Me, José, and our new found friend: Alex, made our way to the building, looking for the first-aid area, like I said before “he” wasn’t really injured that badly, but I was. Both physically, and mentally, I mean, how can someone look and sound like a girl so much that even when examining him up close I couldn’t tell if he was a he, or a she. But honestly, I didn’t care what gender he was, he needed medical attention, and so did I, but I wouldn’t admit it. I was not going to let this ruin my comic-con! That and I didn’t want to sound like a jerk or weak. “Son, we should just go home,” José said, looking at me as we walked into Comic-con, “I think we’ve had enough excitement for one day.” “No,” I turned and addressed him directly, “I’ve been waiting to go for years, and just because I’ve got a little bit of a nose bleed I’m going to go home? No, besides, we have to take Alex to the First-aid area.” I finished. “Y-you really don’t have to, I… I can take myself there.” He nearly whispered, not looking at either of us, I shook my head. “No, I’m sticking by you, you haven’t been shown to be very good at communicating with people you don’t know,” I raised an eyebrow as some passing Final Fantasy fans walked by, howling cat calls directed at Alex all the while, “Besides, I’m afraid that if I leave you alone, somebody might try to make a move on you.” At this he blushed, he even acts like a girl! I thought, funny how attractive poor Alex was, I think it would actually would have been better if he was ugly and looked like a girl, then guys wouldn’t be hitting on him. After that we made our way to the first-aid station, followed the whole way by guys cat calling Alex, seriously! You’d think that a ripped teenager covered in blood and a 218 lb. man that looked like he’d crawled right out of a book titled “The Badass adventures of a Badass Badass” would deter them from their expressions of sexual longing, but nope! There was a nurse stationed there, and he checked us out, making sure that there was nothing seriously wrong with me or Alex, and taking care of the blood that was still on me, after that, he released us to do as we wished. And to say the least, I was quiet pleased, I was expecting him the call an ambulance or something. “So, want to grab a bite to eat?” I asked Alex, looking at him with a smile on my face and a spring in my step. He looked a little surprised, but said yes, and we were off! We came across a cafeteria, and I and Alex sat down while José went to order some food from one of the vendors. We sat in silence till I tried to break the ice “Who are you cosplaying as?” He looked at me then to himself for a second, then said: “Rider of black from Fate/ Apocrypha,” Oh, now I remembered, I had a vague guess as to whom he was, but it eluded me. It looked pretty darn good, his armor was black, gold, red, and white, with white and gold gauntlets and boots. He was also wearing a white and pink cape, as well as a black and gold skirt with extra protective gear on his hips, colored the same as his gauntlets. Not to mention the socking/legging things that he wore and his long pink hair with black bows in it that was at one place tied into a braid. “I was going to be Rainbow Dash from-“ “MLP!” I finished for him, “You watch it too?!” he exclaimed, light beaming in his eyes. “Heck yea! Best show ever,” I loved the look in his eyes, I’d finally connected, that definitely made this a fair bit less awkward. “Though, I have to ask, if your pretty open about being a guy, why dress up in a way that makes you look like a girl?” he put his head down, then said: “I lost a bet…” We then proceeded to talk about the show, what parts we liked, which characters were our favorite (It also turned out that the bet was about discord turning evil again), this lasted long after we had eaten. Finally, José spook up: “Were we going to look around, or talk about ponies all day?” “Yeah, why do you think we came here?” He pondered this for a sec, then turned his head in the direction of the clock on the wall, “Good, because it seems we’ve only got a few hours left and I would hate to have gone through all that trouble for nothing.” Alex and I both looked at the clock on the wall and did our respective spit takes. “Oh wow, Time flies!” He said, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, “Sorry for taking up your time.” “No, no that’s… fine,” I replied, I was to be honest, a little ticked, but hey, nothing can be done about the past, only the future. “We’ll just have to be a little more rushed.” We all got up and started to head from the exhibits, making our way through the crowds. What proceeded was what I would definitely call a blast! Members of the Star Trek cast were there, along with people from the Walking Dead, and a whole slew of video game designers, I think I even saw Notch. But the best part was John De Lancie, he was running a Q/Discord booth at the same time, I honestly didn’t know if that was entirely legal, but Alex and I loved it! As we began to wined down a bit, we came across a fairly shady looking memorabilia and prop Merchant, but it seemed as though at the same time Alex and José spotted something that held their undying attention, and left me too stand around waiting for them. But as I was, I spotted something, something- or rather someone- familiar. It was a girl, she had dark blue hair pulled back into long piggytails, and a little red button up shirt and a black skirt, part of her sleeve was torn to reveal a Fairy Tail emblem, and she looked like she’d just been given the biggest lollipop in the world only for it to be yanked away. But what was really sad, is that it was my mom, no joke! Maggie was cosplaying as Wendy Marvell from Fairy Tail, a twelve year old. And doesn’t this take the cake, it worked! Oh, right, I should probably explain, you see, Maggie has a unique disorder, she hasn’t aged past childhood (As you can imagine, this made dating hell). So, she actually does look like a twelve year old. This was the reason she WASN’T going to go to Comic-con, because we couldn’t think of anyone she could cosplay as that was not a little girl, or at least I couldn’t. José had some pretty good ideas, but they all looked a little weird. I wasn’t really preoccupied with stray thoughts right now though, I wanted to find out why Maggie came, I pushed up from my resting position and started walking towards her. She noticed that immediately however, and bumped into the lady behind her, who turned around… and turned out to be Kellie, her twenty-nine-something year old friend, whom, interestingly enough, was cosplaying as a Fate/Apocrypha Character, but right now, my focus was completely centered on Maggie… which turned out to be a big mistake. *Crash* I was blindsided by someone carrying boxes, which all fell on top of and around me, scattering the contents. As we both picked ourselves up, my eyes went to where Maggie was, but found that she had moved, leaving Kellie behind slightly confused. I groaned, and moved to help-… Andy Warhol? Ok, seriously could today get any weirder. “Oh, sorry kid.” He said, dusting himself off, he made to pick up the boxes, but caught me staring, “Uh-“ “Andy Warhol?” At this he, blanched, and did the whole ‘I have no idea what you mean thing’, before we both turned in the direction of shouting. “Hey! Give me back my merchandise!!” The shady merchant from the stall yelled, I looked down to find that indeed, there was fiction related items scattered across the floor. The Warhol look-alike just shrugged, and dashed, screaming: “Wibbly-Wobbly!” he needed to be checked by a psychologist for a mental disorder, I thought as he ran off, I was about to ask Kellie where Mags went but found she too had moved. Alex came up to me along with José. “Are… you ok?” he asked, as I looked in the direction in which the Look-alike ran off, followed by the merchant. “Yes, I’ve just got a feeling that something bad is going to happen-” I turned to find José examining a big, blue (and very sharp looking), long blade he held in his hands, “Is that a sword!?” *Maggie’s P.O.V.” Who is that? I thought, looking at the attractive young woman that was now standing behind my son, he’d been with her ever since I found him. It was a little unsettling to think that he may have a relationship I didn’t know about, and even more unsettling would be if José was willing to keep something like that a secret from me. “Calm down Mags,” I said moving away from most of the crown to a quieter area, “Your being a little too paranoid.” I apparently wasn’t watching where I was going, as I ran smack dab into someone’s chest. “I’d say you aren’t paranoid enough,” the man I ran into exclaimed, “Considering you just walked into an ideal situation for kidnaping.” My eyes widened, as I looked around finding myself in faraway from the flow of the crowds and surrounded by men in dark clothing with masks, oh crap baskets. *”Vegeta’s” P.O.V.* We continued to walk as Alex explained what they had found, for him, it was a whole slew of things: from a magic repelling book, a tuba that kills, an decorative sword, and a Hippogriff plushy. The latter I commented on, saying it was not helping his masculinity, to which he replied: “You’re just jealous.” And pouting, José however, only got one thing. A Sword. A Giant, Sharp, Blue, Sword. And it was not for decoration, at least it fit in the scabbard (which seemed rather miraculous, considering it was HUGE) we got far less people looking at us like we were crazy. “I didn’t know it was real until after I bought it!” was his counter argument when I accused him of being out of his mind. But we were past that now, and looking for Maggie, just to find out why she was here. “You sure you saw her?” he ask, for the fifth time, I was about to reply when I got a feeling, like my stomach was contracting into a singularity. “So Maggies your mom right?” Alex said, when I didn’t respond he turned and looked at me, “Um, are you Okay?” he then proceeded to poke me multiple times as I listened and waited, a fraction of a second went by and I stood rigged. Someone was screaming. And for the second time to day, I ran, I ran like the devil himself was nipping at my heels. Seriously! I thought as I ran, what is wrong with security around here! I finally, I found where the screaming was coming from, no less than seven fully grown men were trying to subdue two women, one of whom was my mom, who was already being held and was kicking and squirming in her captor’s brawny grip, and Kellie, who was beating them over their heads with a fake sword. “Let Her GO!” She shouted, succeeding in fending them off, but trapping herself in a half-circle with her back against the wall. “Oh and are you going to make us?” The one holding Maggie said, “Quick, head for the door, we need to be out of he before anyone come looking.” “Too late!” I spat, running for the one trying to reach the exit, intersecting him and smashing his face against the metal door, two of the ones taking Kellie started to attack me from behind, as I locked the one I’d attacked against the door with a full-nelson, Landing blows on my kidneys and trying to pull me off. But I stood fast, keeping him and I in a position that made using the door impossible, however, I knew I couldn’t keep it up for long, right now, this was a struggle of wills and while mine was strong, It couldn’t hold out forever. Then I heard it, like the bellowing of a freight-train: “LET GO OF MY WIFE!” José shouted, everything continued for a few moments before coming to a grinding halt, the two that were pounding me suddenly stopped, I could almost FEEL the one that was holding Maggie look down at her and then back up again. If he didn’t have a mask on, the expression would have been priceless. “What the Fu-“ *WHAM* Just what I needed, I released the guy I was holding against the door, using one hand to grab his hair and the other to hit his kidney, at this he bent backwards, allowing me to put him in a headlock. I then struck his throat and dropped him. All of this was accomplished in a few seconds, giving me just the right amount of time to turn around and grab the other two by their heads before they came out of their shock induced stupor and bash their heads together, then I jumped, pulling the back of their skulls into my knees. *Crack* Damn, that was satisfying. But, I wasn’t paying enough attention to my surroundings as too late I felt the fist in my back. The guy I had hit in the throat was back up, but instead of running away, the idiot was actually willing to get arrested just so he could beat me up. I was sent toppling over the two I had in my hands, I attempted to get back up but was pinned to the ground by his foot. “Ha! Yoou’re the onnne thhat maaade Haades shiiit hiss pantss?” he wheezed, barely managing to spit the words out. “Too bad, Hee waaas allwayss oone to talk a.. erm.. goood gammme, buut hee never fiinisheess a fighhht,” he then pulled out a pocket knife, and put it to my throat, “Unlike meee.” He began to laugh like a madman as he pull the knife across my neck, I could feel my skin parting, every cell as it cried out in pain. It burned, I wanted to scream, but I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction, I figured seeing my blood on the floor was satisfying enough, “Watts wronnng kiid? Whhhy woonn’t youuu scree-“ he never even had the chance to finish his sentence, as from my peripheral vision, I saw three long, pointed objects burst from his chest with a loud *Splerch* sound, I heard screaming and then… nothing. It seemed like eternity before I vaguely felt my body being tugged at, and turned to face the ceiling, finding the look-alike staring down at me now in a security guards outfit, I was confused at this and barely managed to whisper: “Buh.. arn.. yu?” which he replied to with a hand over my mouth and a finger over his, “Shhhh…” Everything went white, as I felt myself lift from my body, and sent flying like a bullet from the chamber, an explosion of light and color lit up my senses as I was sent tumbling face first into a formless plane, my face taking the brunt of it all as I came skidding to a stop. “So kid, how’s dying?” I looked up from my position to find the Warhol look-alike, standing in front of a slew of massive oil paintings, arranged in a row, with big red buttons beneath them. I simply stared at him, not knowing what to say. “What, no witty counter? I love witty counters!” “You’re a… bastard…” “There we go! That’s the spirit!” he said offering me a hand, which I reluctantly took, and hoisted me up, “Now pick one,” He pointed to the oil painting, which I each played host to a similar, but not identical painting: Celestia, Luna, and Discord (each in a position that best displayed their personalities), sitting atop a hill with a Greek style gazebo, each ether wearing armor or a toga, though which wore what changed depending on the paintings. This was not the biggest difference however as in some, I spotted characters that didn’t belong. In one, a black, demonic looking knight, with blond hair and a face guard covering her eyes, holding a black and red sword. In another, a girl sat crying (she too was blond in case you were wondering), while a black cat, speckled with white like the night sky comforted her, as the sky filled with innumerable enemies. And so too was it in the next one I saw, I gray skinned man in an exquisitely crafted suit of armor, carrying a naginata, with his scarf billowing in the wind, facing down a multitude of familiar foes. This continued, as I became wrapped up in the paintings, almost forgetting the strange, annoying,(not to mention dead) gay man that followed me as I browsed the paintings, walking farther and farther away from where I had started. Finally I came upon one that drew me in more than any before. Perhaps it was that Luna was different in this than all the rest, her eyes, instead of being teal, were gray and clouded. She looked away in shame from Celestia, her cutie mark shining with ethereal energies. Or maybe it was the unusual number of things that didn’t belong, like the two silver knights that stood back to back, holding their swords high as a giant of a man rested on one knee in front of them, his face obscured by a war helm carved with winding symbols. Or the three small, shaded, unarmed, warriors that floated in the sky above them, facing me with a determination that could push back a hurricane. Whatever it was, that was the one I came to choose, putting an outstretched hand on the button and pushing it. “Huh, that one, funny that you would choose his,” Warhol put a hand to his chin, and smiled, “this is going to be interesting.” Dread filled my gut as I suddenly got the distinct feeling that I had just made a decision that I might come to regret. I was about to ask him just why this was going to be interesting, but I noticed that black was engulfing my vision, All I had time to say was: “DAMN YOU ANDY WARHOOOOOOOOLLLL!!!” The black finally filled my vision, and random images started to fill my mind, they progressively got worse, as colorful lands full of trees and flowers turned into battlefields littered with the dead. Finally, the slide show stopped, and I was left with a sensation of cool relief as my senses came back to me. But, as I looked around, all I found was dead bodies, hundreds of them. However many there were, they shared only one thing in common, they weren’t human, some seemed to be bipedal, having hands and claws, while others were four legged, I even noticed a pony among them. This horrid scene continued, and didn’t seem to fade away, so, I gathered my courage, held my bile at bay, and began walking . I had been walking for a good hour before I even caught a glimpse of the border of the battlefield, it was immense. An estimate put the thing at covering, at the very least, twelve miles in every direction. But, so far every creature I came upon was either dead, or mutilated beyond being recognizable as anything besides a lump of bloody flesh. What happened here? “Arrogance!” I heard someone shout, turning to find a man, a little taller than me, push the bodies of a dead Unicorn and a cat-like creature off of himself, he was young, I’d guess around fifteen, with a thick head of short hair that stood on end and a small goatee. He looked at me with the rage of someone who has lost everything, and looking around at the countless dead, I guess he had. He screamed at me, and charged, faster than anything should have a right to go, I only had time to raise my fist, it colliding with his in a manner not unlike in anime or a comic book, the ground and air around us parting like the red-sea, then, everything went black. 1300 years before Twilight *3rd Person P.O.V.* “Discord, just tell us what thy hath found.” Luna said, stumbling through the dark of the cave along with her sister: Celestia, and Discord. “I told you, address me as you would any normal pony,” Discord called back from his position, at the front “It makes me feel less like an pawn.” “Trust me, if we could control you then the nobles wouldn’t be so eager to call a speaker’s claim in my hall.” Celestia quipped, drawing a ‘haha’ from the draconequus. They walked for a moment longer in silence, till the narrow passage widened into a bowl like structure, filled with vines, mosses and flowers feed by light streaming through a puncture in the ceiling of the cavern. “Tadda’!” The mismatched dragon spread his arms wide, indicating that they had arrived at their destination. “Was this the matter of ‘great importance’ thou was speaking of?” Luna muttered sarcastically, eyeing Discord with a look that could kill, she did not enjoy her naps being interrupted. “No,” he said, pointing to a rock sticking out of the wall, “that’s what’s important.” Upon closer inspection the rock turned out to be a statue, both the sisters inspected it closely. They were perplexed by it, it seemed to have the body of a minotaur or a young dragon, but had a face like none they had ever seen before. It also appeared to be wearing clothes covering a hide devoid of scales or fur, what was it? “Huh, odd. I didn’t notice this before,” Discord said, hovering above the statue and staring at the wall, “There’s something written here…” “What doth It say?” He squinted at it, forming the roughly hewn letters into a word “Um, A-r-r-o-g-a-n-c-e, Arrogance…” he finished floating on his back and stroking his tuft, “What a weird name.” he looked down to find that the sisters were no longer examining the statue, he scanned the room, finding them staring down the figure from the other end of the room, like they’d seen a ghost. “What are you doing all the way over there?” “Discord get away from there NOW!” “Uh, wh-“ “DISCORD NOW!” He visibly flinched at this, “Okay, Okay.” He touched down in front of them looking them both in the eyes, trying to find out why they would be so jumpy, but all he found was fear. “So what’s the big deal?” he asked, putting his claws on his hips. “That… thing is not to be tempered with, we need to leave, now.” Celestia said, looking visibly shaken, this above all else had Discord extremely confused, the princess that had fought and defeated hordes of dragons, gone toe to toe with King Minotrate and survived unscathed, and fought off the star beast invasion single hoofedly, was scared of that puny thing? “Oh come on Tia! It’s a statue! And even if it were to come to life, what damage cloud it do? It looks like a radish that grew a body! I bet I could take it with a paw tied behind my back!” “Trust me Discord, it’s far more that any of us can handle!” “Oh really? Then maybe I should bring it to life on purpose just to prove you wrong!” “You would condemn the entire world to damnation just to spite me!? “Who said anything about spiting you!?” “Um… guys…” “No one, but you inferred it!” “Um, guys!? “You should Really stop making pre-conclusive judgments! Don’t you remember the Half-wood Incident!?” “Oh, well that’s cheap! Bring that up now!” “Discord!? TIA!?” both Discord and Celestia turned their heads at the same time to face Luna, and almost in unison shouted: “WHAT!?” Luna merely lifted a hoof, pointing at the direction of the statue as a gravelly voice said: “Please, you’re making the lady shout! Can’t we all get along?” all eyes went to where the statue once was to find that a being standing on two legs had replaced it, clothed in blue, with a black mane and pale pinkish skin. “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!” all three of them disappeared in a flash, thanks to Luna’s teleportation spell, leaving the biped alone, dazed and confused. “Do I really smell that bad?