//------------------------------// // Twelve: Discord's Tower of Demise (Pt 1) // Story: Fire Upon Strings // by New Dawn //------------------------------// "Uhhh..." I just utter as the sight I see unravels. Cotton candy clouds are flying all over the place, Animals running wild and even chocolate milk rain. That's just a few of the things. "Mind explaining?" Adrian deadpans. I just shake my head. "Wee!" Dinky yells, running around in the rain. "Dinky! Your coat is going to get all sticky!" I recover and shout. "Aww..." She moans. "I didn't think it has been that long..." I mutter. Adrian looks at me. "Discord." I simply say. "You mean that hybrid that was in that book?" He asks. I nod. "Great. Well, Can't Twilight just blast him again and get it over with?" He asks. "He's a master, not to mention god, of chaos. He can make anything out of midair, Change anything, and practically go anywhere." I explain. "Oh." "Yeah." I say. I soon see spike running up, panting. "Princess... Celestia... Canterlot... Now.." He pants. I look to Adrian and nod. "Spike! Look after Dinky! If one hair on her mane is out of place you will be held to it!" I shout. He salutes and takes Dinky inside. The minute we reach the train station we're stopped by the train sprouting wings and flying away. "Well, There goes our way to canterlot." I mutter. "I'm afraid I can't let you go." "Is that-" Adrian starts to say. "Discord." I growl. "I see the strangers already know me. Then again you're crawling with Multiversial void energy." Discord says, still not visible. "Show yourself so I can stick this sword through your mouth!" Adrian yells. Discord laughs and with a bright flash the Draconiquis shows himself. I place my hand on Adrian's shoulder. "You really think you can touch me, much less defeat me?!" He laughs. "Shut up!" Adrian yells. "He's trying to tick you off! Calm down!" I tell Adrian. Adrian let out a breath of air, much to Discord's annoyance, and calmed down. "What do you want Discord?" I ask. "Nothing really, Just to spread eternal chaos all over the world." He says. I stay silent. Discord falls silent. "Really? That's all?" He asks. I remain silent. "You might like to know... Tartarus is coming." He says. "Huh?" I ask. Discord snaps his fingers and a huge flare of light emits from it, blinding me and rendering me unconscious. Ohhh... my head... My vision wavers as I see Twilight and her friends facing discord. The place was a bit different however. It was a room lit by green light, Blood covering the floors and walls. A familiar tower door was sitting at the top of a staircase, however... Damn, Tartarus... Thought it was creepy in the game but this is insane... I shift my vision to the side. Adrian was bound up by ropes, not to mention hanging from the ceiling, and gagged. I turned to look at myself. I was in a similar situation, Only a black aura was surrounding my gag and my speaker. Most likely a silencing spell. "Welcome, My little ponies, to the real game!" He shouts. He steps aside. "Orpheus! Thanatos!" Twilight yells. The other ponies gasp. "Where are we Discord?!" Rainbow yells, flying in front of Discord. "Great question Rainbow! I'd like to welcome you all to the tower of Demise, Tartarus!" He announces. "But Tartarus isn't anything like this!" Twilight yells. If only you knew Twilight... If only you knew. "This is a special tower, Only special ponies know of it. I guess that means we're all special!" He shouts, cackling. The ponies look around, minus Flutters. Discord snaps his fingers and the wings of Flutters and Rainbow and Horns of Rarity and Twilight vanish. "First rule, No wings or magic. Not that they'll be any use to you in this place. It has natural magic canceling properties. So do the shadows." He says. "S-shadows?!" Fluttershy squeaks. "Rule two! Everypony must play or the game is over..." He says. He teleports in front of Twilight. "Or you have no way out and I win." He taunts. The ponies gasp. "Rule three! Those two will be on the Fifth and Tenth floor respectively. Defeat the shadows and they can help you." He says. I suppress a growl. "A fair bit of warning, This new tower is like a labyrinth. lose concentration and you'll lose your way." He says, summoning a map with various scribbles on it. "I'll be waiting on the Fifteenth floor. Don't be eaten by the shadows on your way up and don't keep me waiting./" He says, placing a marker on a random spot on the map. "One question, however, for you twilight... Do you fear the reaper?" He asks. He cackles like mad and teleports away, taking me and Adrian with him. Discord, You sly devil... Nice reference though. Twilight gasps as she watches Orpheus and Thanatos vanish. "ORPHEY! THANNY!" Pinkie cries. "They'll be ok Pinkie. We need to hurry to the Tenth floor however." Twilight tries to assure. "But how? Discord took your horns away and our wings as well!" Rainbow yells. Twilight looks at the staircase. "I think this leads in." She says. "Well, What are y'all waitin' for!" Applejack cheers. "Uh... G-girls? What exactly are S-shadows?" Fluttershy squeaks. "I don't know... but the way Discord said it makes it sound like they're monsters." Twilight says. "Don't worry Fluttershy! I'll pound their ugly faces in if they even try to hurt you!" Rainbow tells Fluttershy. Fluttershy nods. The group makes their way up the long ascending staircase, up to the golden door. "Here we go." Twilight swallows and opens the door. She steps in and looks behind her. The other members of the group are gone. "Girls!?" She shouts. The air is silent. Twilight takes a few steps forward. "G-girls?" She whispers. A black blob of something drops from the ceiling. Twilight gives a small yelp as it starts to crawl near her. A blue mask soon pops out of the tar-like substance. "T-this must be a shadow!" She yells, running the opposite direction of the shadow. She kept running until she got to a staircase. The shadows that had started to chase her stopped at the entrance of the room. "Huh... They can't go in the staircase room." Twilight notes. "What!? Our friendship will be ruined?!" The voice of Applejack rings out. "Applejack!" Twilight shouts, running up the staircase. She finds Applejack staring at a wall with a shocked expression on her face. "Applejack! I'm so glad to have found you! Who were you talking to?" Twilight asks. Applejack looks around. "Uh... Nopony!" She spits. Twilight raises an eyebrow. "We.. uh... best be goin'! Can't let the shadows find us!" Applejack says, trotting off. Twilight shakes her head and follows. (Jake's POV) Ouch! Good god Discord!!!! I internally moan as open my eyes to a giant eagle-like shadow. VENUS EAGLE! VENUS EAGLE! VENUS EAGLE!!! The shadow made a sort of laughing noise and flew off. Why me?! "It's... Uh... close!" I hear Applejack say. "You said that a floor ago!" Twilight shouts. I see her come into the room from the staircase. Oh dear... This isn't good... I remember that the first Venus Eagle was pretty tough for a sub-boss if you had the wrong persona... "Orpheus!" Twilight gasps. I rapidly try to warn her about the shadow but she doesn't listen and takes a few more steps towards me. A green spot soon shows up under her. The Venus Eagle shrieks and launches a Garu attack. Twilight gets swept up in the wind and launched at me. OUCH! Lay off the oats Twi! Twilight rubs her head and looks around. "Oh right. Probably should untie you." She sheepishly remarked. Ya think? She fumbles around with the knot on my hands as Applejack becomes the main target of the Venus Eagle. HURRY UP TWI! "And... There!" She says, jumping back. I quickly stand up and take off my harp, which Discord was such a fool to have let me keep. Time to test a theory.... SWIFT STRIKE! I jump up and hit the shadow once on it's head, once on it's chest and once on it's back, knocking it to the ground. So I can control my skills just by thinking.... Well then, Tarunda! A red glow bathes the Shadow. ASSAULT DIVE! I jump up and throw the blunt edge down at the shadow. It makes contact and the shadow vanishes in a blur of black. Twilight quickly then latches onto me. Huh?! "This is a powerful silencing spell... Must be Chaotic magic for sure." Twilight confirms. T-twilight!!! She then blushes and jumps off me. "W-we better go." She coughs. I nod eagerly and drag the two off the floor. "We should be close." Applejack mutters for the fifth time. Twilight groans and sighs. Just a few more floors...Hold on Twi... We walk up to the sixth floor and find Pinkie standing in the middle. Great... Discorded Pinkie... "Pinkie!" Twilight shouts. Pinkie turns around and glares. "We're so happy to see you!" Twilight then says, running over. "Why? So you can have a good laugh!?" Pinkie shouts. Twilight stops. Pinkie marches past her. Ugh... Great. Twilight looks at me and I just shrug. "Well... Let's go..." She sighs. I nod. "Now who put this here?!" Twilight exclaims. A huge rock is blocking the way. This wasn't in the game.... We haven't made it to the gate to the Arqa block yet... We're still in the Thebel block... The stone suddenly falls and standing there is Rarity. She's trying to heft a rock on her back. TOM! "Huh, Rarity... What's with the boulder?" Twilight asks. "Boulder? This huge, shining, hunk of a rock is a DIAMOND!" She exclaims. I facepalm. "Yeah... No." Twilight deadpans. Rarity frowns and continues to walk towards the stairway. "Something is wrong with these guys... " Twilight mutters, walking off. I quickly follow. We eventually arrive at the Tenth floor. In the middle of the floor I see Adrian tied up and knocked out. I signal to twilight that I can untie him. Suddenly three disembodied hands fall down and block my path. The girls scream with terror. Dancing hands... this... will be a problem. I take off my harp. Alrighty.... If I remember correctly you three are weak to strike damage... so BASH! I rush forward and quickly hit one. ONCE MORE! I repeat the actions on the middle hand. AAANNND AGAIN! I quickly knock down the other one. Woo! If it wasn't only me then I wish I could- oh screw it! ALL OUT ATTACK! WOOOO! I quickly rush in and somehow a cloud of dust rises. I get punched out of the dust cloud many times but soon it explodes, inflicting damage to all three. But they were still standing. I hear the sound of cracking and look out. SHIT! ZIO ATTACK! I feel the sting as a wall of lightning crashes onto me. The other two repeat the same attack. Ouch. I quickly picked myself up and stood at the ready. Alrighty... BASH ONCE MORE! I quickly knock all three down again and watch as they go down with a puff of black smoke. Yeah! I'm stronger than I expected. Tartarus! You should have risen when I first got here! I quickly then run over to my brother, who has regained consciousness. "God... Discord will pay..." He moans. I internally laugh and untie him. "So. Discord got you bad huh." He says. I sign him "Yeah... We're on our way to the top of this block to meet him." "Good. I need to knock his head around." He laughs. I laugh internally again and continue on with the girls to the next floor... But that's when the sound of chains made themselves noticeable...