Opening Theme:
Crazy_Canuck's Comment
The Pony Spartan's Comment
Ersied the ink-moth's Comment
You charge forth and enact your plan, more than a bit peeved by that horrible scene you just witnessed. What scene? Oh right,
Minutes Before Action is Called
As the actor playing you finishes his lines, you can barely contain your unabashed hatred. Not because you're eager to beat the tar out of some Crimson Knights... well okay, that too. But because the actor they got to play you is so cliche!
"I must defeat you! For I am the good guy that everypony thinks is a bad guy. But you are a bad guy that is actually a bad guy!" the actor says at an annoyingly slow pace, enunciating every single word. "Your reign of horror ends here, Nightmare. You are me. But you are also not me, because I am me. There can be only one 'me', so now it is time to finish this... once and for all... ...for the last time... ...finally. Catchphrase!"
"I do not talk like that!" You mutter, grinding your teeth.
I don't know. It's actually a bit of an improvement; very on topic and to the point.
Indeed, the perfect example of the stoic yet foolish hero.
Shut up you! I didn't say you could agree with me! Selena barks.
"Shush." you tell the voices in your head as you're called on as the stunt double.
You take your place, and stare up at the giant Nightmare puppet. It seems the Knights spared no expense in making it look as terrifying as possible, cranking up the 'terrify' factor on its appearance to a ludicrous degree. Even so... you can remember first-hoof how it felt to be in the presence of the real thing, (heck, you had to fight him) and for all their effort, the puppet doesn't even come close.
"Alright," Solar calls, "you know the drill, it's time for the epic final battle! Make this epic!"
"Oh... I'm gonna." you whisper with a smirk. If they want a badflank fight scene, you're gonna give them a fight they'll never forget.
"ACTION!"
Back to the Present
The camera starts rolling and the Nightmare winds up to swing its tails at you. The script says you're supposed to get pummeled, but you've got a last-minute alteration.
The tails sweep the ground in front of you, and instead of taking the hit, you leap onto the moving mass of fabric and metal skeleton, using the momentum to launch yourself straight at the Knights! Putting on a twist with a Psycho Crusher, you barrel towards them, ready to rip off their cloaks in dramatic fashion.
The two directors scream and hug each other in fright and surprise as that clearly wasn't in the script.
"I've got you NOWWWWW!" you yell and grasp for their cloaks...
Only to sail harmlessly over them mere inches out of reach, and crash into the wall behind them.
"Ow." you moan as you get to your hooves. You look up to see the two directors looming over you.
"I knew it! I knew this guy was up to something!" Rutherford jabs an accusing claw at you.
"Looks like you were right." Solar comments, "I can't wait to see what our security has to say about thi-"
*Cloth ripping*
Everyling in the room lets out a collective gasp, and the Knight Leaders pat themselves down to find their cloaks have been torn off. They spin around to see Aqua and Maud holding their cloaks, showing everyone in the room the Crimson Knight insignia and glaring them down.
"I'm interested in what the security is going to say too," Maud monotones smugly. She then stomps the ground, causing the cement floor to spike up and lock around the Knight leaders' feet.
"Crimson Knight leaders Rutherford and Solarkness, you are hereby under arrest," you tell them like a badflank.
Suddenly a very woozy looking Flash jumps in from nowhere as he declares,
"Crimons Knights? I knew it! I'll take it from here," he tells you causing you to facehoof. "As they said, you are under arrest. Charges include multiple safety violations, conspiring against the crown, unlawful production of propaganda to induce fear into the populace, and worst of all... casting a pegasus to play the part of this psychotic version of Pinkie Pie."
"Uh... that last one's not a crime," Rutherford points out.
"It's a crime against the source material. I know the real Pinkie Pie, even if you call this one Pink Piekie, it's very obvious who she is. And the real Pinkie is an earth pony; having her played by a pegasus just isn't right."
"Speciesist."
"I AM NOT A SPECIESIST!" Flash roars, "I'M JUST AN ADVOCATE FOR POLITICAL CORRECTNESS IN FILM!
"Whatever you speciesist," Solar shrugs, "We're not going anywhere with you anyway," he says as he and Rutherford break free of Maud's leg traps and get into a fighting stance. "Well Rutherford, looks like it's time for the critics to get blown away."
Rutherford nods his head at this as he begins to crack his knuckles, but he gains a look of confusion as he points to you and asks,
"But who are you? You're clearly not some random stunt double. Are you some sort of undercover guard or something?"
You chuckle slightly at this as you shake your head while saying,
"Oh no. I'm far worse then some under covered guard. For you see I am," with this you fling your hood off your body to reveal your badflank bounty hunter cloths as you finish,
"The Crimson Vengeance! Bounty hunter and ally of justice! In other words...your worse bucking nightmare!"
Several eyes widen at your statement as you hear ponies begin to mumble,
"Isn't he the guy who captured those bulls back in Dodge Junction?"
"Yeah, and he also captured the Extra Lives gang too!"
"I heard he left them barely alive when he turned them in!"
"Yeah, and didn't he kick that one puppy at-"
Your eye twitches in annoyance as you yell,
"HEY! THOSE LAST TWO AREN'T TRUE!"
The mumbling ponies merely "eep" in fear while Solark just rolls his eyes as he says,
"Whatever, bounty hunter or not we'll still gonna take you down."
Your face mask revels it's teeth and your voice modulator kicks in to menacing mode as you say,
"You wanna bet on that wolfy?"
The timberwolf growls in anger and is about to charge at you when...
"Wait a second, you're a bounty hunter?" Flash asks as he turns around to face you.
"Sigh, yes Flash, I'm a bounty hunter," you say in annoyance.
"Why didn't you tell me that?"
"Because you were too busy crying yesterday over my brother and you never asked and-OOF!" you are suddenly headbutted by Solarkness, sending you skidding backward. He then proceeds to back kick Flash in the jaw, sending him flying off the set.
"Thanks for letting your guard down!" smirks the wolf, causing you to growl and charge him. And then the battle begins.
As soon as the fighting breaks out, you tell Maud to start getting ponies to safety. She agrees, shifting the surface of the floor like a conveyor belt to bring them outside, but they're none too happy about it.
"Oh come on, I want to watch the fight!" one stallion manages to complain as he clings stubbornly to Maud's leg.
"Don't worry, it'll be coming to DVD and Redd-ray this summer, available for rental or purchase at your nearest Blocksmasher video store," Maud says as she pulls up a wall of stone and shoves him out with the rest, completely blocking any door leading in or out. Even the pegasi don't try to come back in from the top since every time they tried they looked at Maud straight in the eyes and were taken aback.
You can't help but gulp in fear at this as you think,
Note to self, if it's even possible, don't piss Maud off.
After that thought you look back over to your target...
Pony Spartan's Comment
BrownDog's Comment
Only for the timberwolf to pin you down and to sniff you.
"I knew I shouldn't have trusted you bug, but I guess my sentimental heart got the better of me!" He growls, "Once we take you back to headquarters, we are going to have a fun time, and then I'll be sending you straight to Celestia to add insult to injury!"
"Oh shut the buck up," You say in annoyance before falcon kicking him off of you.
He hits the ceiling and gets stuck up there for a second, soon after falling down and grunting while getting back up.
"You really have to teach me that," Aqua tells you.
You shake your head as you say,
"Sorry, that move's trademarked."
"Oh you filthy bucking changeling!" yells the Timberwolf.
You then stand with her and take up a battle stance. Staring down the two foes, you declare to them
"You fools are going down, just like your buddy Kichi!"
"What? You're the ones who took that self absorbed bug down?" asks Solarkness.
"No spit Sherlock. That's what you smelled on my cloak. And your stupid dragon friend thought that changeling scent was me, how bucking stupid are you? Why would a changeling need this awesome of an outfit?" you lie.
And with this explanation, also in accordance with the Doctor's Perception filter still being attached to you, they buy it.
"Ah! I knew that scent was familiar! Guess I should sniff other changelings for a reference and-" yells Rutherford.
"It doesn't matter if you're not a changeling! You're still going down for ruining my movie on the LAST BUCKING SCENE!!!" yells the Timberwolf in anger.
"Oh boohoo, we ruined your snuff film, get over it!"
"Enemy of the Knights, you will be purged!" yells Solarkness melodramatically.
"Nice line Solar," compliments Rutherford.
"Thanks, I thought it would sound cool," barks the Timberwolf.
Aqua rolls her eyes and is about to say something...when a jet of water smacks into her and sends her flying into a wall. Your eyes widen in shock and your about to go and help her, but you get tackled again by the timberwolf and are forced to deal with him before helping out your partner, although looking back at her, you see her smirk and stop the Dragon's Water Breath in midair.
"What the buck?!"
"Water Bender Sweetheart," she smirks before blasting him with his own attack. This momentarily distracts Solarkness, so you take advantage and uppercut him, splintering some of his face.
"AAAAHHHH!!! Ah to tartarus with this!" he snarls before looking up and shouting.
Solarkness's Comment
"FLOUR! TANTA! Get over here NOW!"
"There's noling coming to save you Solarkness!" you mock.
He crouches down while forming a wooden sword, right afterwards leaping high into the air. As he closes the distance, you can't help but feel that attack is familiar. At the last second, you snap out of it and roll to the side.
The ground shatters on impact, and so do his forelegs. He grunts, and his shattered forelimbs move back into position, as if they always were made out of many more small pieces.
"Oh, great, you have regeneration," you grin. He just grins back at you, before somersaulting into the air, slamming his sword down vertically. You step to the side, narrowly avoiding it, "Hey! Not fair!" To which he just repeats his maneuver, and you sidestep it once again, "Seriously, no need to-" Once more, he repeats this maneuver, shattering his sword. "Ha!" you shout out, "Your sword is-"
He pummels you, interrupting you for the second time. You groaned at that, "Okay. Now you're just asking for it," you punch him, while he's still shoving you back, and as that does not help, you punch again, and again, and again...
Until you can't feel your hind legs suddenly. Or, to be more accurate, you can still feel them, and they feel cold, "You've got to be kidding me," you mumble.
"We're not," a voice whispers behind you, "We're doing pretty much the opposite." You discreetly activate your fire to melt your hind legs, while still grasping for a hoofhold against Solarkness.
"Oh, great. Two against one, just the way I like it," you reply, trying to figure out who's behind you, "So, would you kindly-," you're interrupted as your throat starts freezing. You cough, gasping for air.
"I wouldn't talk," the voice whispers, "It wouldn't end well."
Your forelegs start freezing too, and as you look down, you see just what has come to the fight: A wendigo.
"You're kidding," you breath out, before shutting up, seeing the maniacal grin the wendigo bore.
"Flour," Solarkness growls, "Once you're done freezing his forelegs, go help Rutherford. I'll make sure this guy doesn't melt your ice."
"Sure," 'Flour' responds, "But he's already trying. I am replenishing frost on his hind legs and-"
The Wendigo is suddenly caught up in a water blast that was also carrying Rutherford, and the two fly away from you and the wolf as Aqua chases after them.
"Wait, Aqua! Careful! There's a Wendo-OW!" you try to warn before Solarkness starts clawing at your face. Luckily your mask protects most of it, but the exposed parts are taking in plenty of scratches and splinters.
"Would you kindly Fire it Up?!" you yell, melting your limb manacles. Before he even realizes what you've done, you punch out at him, splintering more of his face.
"Oh Come On!" he shouts.
Grey Rebl's Comment
MEANWHILE WITH AQUA
Only faintly hearing your warning, she just thinks you're telling her to be careful, she continues to whip the dragon.
She gets one of her whips around his throat...but then suddenly it turns to ice and shatters around his neck.
"Wait, what the heck was...?" you begin to ask, before you are blasted back by Rutherford taking a cheap shot.
You growl and try to send out another whip, but it too freezes in mid swing.
"HOW?! I didn't-GRAGH!"
Again she is hit back by a punch from the dragon, this time into a wall. Rutherford, now having the upper claw, gloats at her.
“Hehehe...Having a hard time? Ready to give up?”
Aqua growls in response as she dodges a casual swipe from Rutherford’s claw. It is so wide of a motion that it catches the frozen results of her attempts to waterbend, and crushes it like glass.
She then finally sees the spectral looking enemy hovering around the dragon that's been freezing her attacks.
"A Wendigo?! Are you serious?!"
"Deadly. But if you think he's bad, wait until you meet Tanta," smirks the dragon as he rushes you again.
It turns into a frustrating dance of chase as Aqua is left with hardly any way to counterattack. Rutherford would swipe, Aqua would dodge, and then she would execute a seemingly perfect counter, only for it to get frozen over by Flour’s influence. Rinse, and repeat. Even worse, it’s getting inexplicitly colder. Her legs are getting stiff. She knows she'll tire out eventually! And she’s not the type to contest a wyvern of all things with endurance.
Aqua gives a cocky smirk in an attempt hide how tired she’s getting. “Is that it? I’m just warming up!” She dodges another swing.
Rutherford raises a brow, smiling with his sharp teeth showing. “Oh?” He swings, ice shatters, and Aqua remains out of reach. “Warming up? Well why don’t we just amp up the pace?” He suddenly rushes forward, his wings thrusting him on.
The waterbender ducks out of instinct to avoid the claw overhead, but she has no time to think nor the time to attempt to waterbend as the claws come rapidly one after another. It turns into a barrage of claw attacks, violent and relentless. He is unpredictable. Even if it seems the attack is imbalanced, the wings keeps him stable. Soon enough, Aqua is pushed back towards another wall.
“Now I have you!” Rutherford yells and rears back a claw.
At the last possible moment, she weaves around through an a crushing downward palm strike and beneath the underbelly of the wyvern. Smirking tauntingly, she says, “Too fast?” and consecutively snaps several whips of water in an instant. She has to roll away from under away, because that too freezes, and then shatters as Rutherford thrashes around out of surprise. In his stumble, he accidentally causes cracks to form on the wall.
This causes Aqua a few precious seconds to catch her breath as the battle pauses. When Rutherford stands back up straight, he chuckles. Aqua tenses.
“Clever girl. Was I really that predictable?”
“Hmph. You’re attacks?” Aqua begins, “Naw, it’s just you’re wing beats. They seem to follow a certain rhythm. I just followed the beat.”
“All that on your first try? Impressive.” He nods respectfully. “Not even scared by the claws, too,” he notes.
“...I’ve seen scarier,” Aqua says darkly. After all, nothing can hold a candle to CV in his Nightmare form. Her leg hurts just thinking about it.
“I’ll keep that in mind. But I guess this means I won’t be needing to hold back against such an interesting opponent.”
She tries her best not gulp at that statement. “Aw. All for little ol’ me? You cheater, it’s already two against one,” she teases.
“Hydro Pump!” Rutherford roars.
Eyes wide, Aqua dives to the side right when a jet of water slices across the floor and towards where she once stood. The attack cuts it clean, a small trench formed. Turning back towards the wyvern, with even more caution than before, she takes a ready stance.
“I can still use water, unlike you. Then again, all you’ve got is ice anyways.” To prove his point, Flour the Wendigo floats by him. “What’ll you do now?”
Aqua is silent for a moment. But then she chuckles. This confuses the wyvern and winter spirit as the pony apparently saw something funny that they didn’t.
“What’s so funny?” Rutherford asks wearily.
Aqua elaborates, still in a fit of giggles. “Oh, nothing. It’s just that I’ve never thought that I'd be doing this again.”
“‘Again?’” This sets off warnings in Rutherford's head.
“Normally, I don’t. Never had enough ice to work with. It’s also just not my style. But then again, I was trained by an Earthbender, one of the best in fact...”
At this, Rutherford’s eyes widen, looking around the icy battlefield that’s been caused by the Flour’s influence. Icy spikes begins to extend from the frozen floor around him. Looking to the Wendigo, he realizes it isn't Flour doing it.
“You…! It was a set up the entire time!”
Aqua smirks. “It's called a hustle sweetheart. Now, let’s do this.”
BACK WITH YOU
Erised the ink-moth's Comment
We go back to your battle with the timberwolf, which has escalated to the two of you punching (or biting in the timberwolf's case) each other. You soon tackle the timberwolf with enough force to crash through a studio wall, and you find yourself in a room full of assorted movie weapons. And just by chance, a lightsaber happened to roll towards each of them, Solar's a bright green and your's a dark red.
"Where in the heck do you guys keep getting these wonderful toys?!"
"Trade secret!"
Grabbing the elegant weapons from a more civilized age, the two of you get ready for the ultimate duel of the fates. Charging at each other, you strike at the wooden wolf with sparks and laser sounds flying as they struck at each other.
The duel leads onto the rafters above the movie set as Solar's attacks continue relentlessly. And the fighting only gets more intense when beams start falling and giant lights begin to swing loose around them.
Finally though, Bugze gets an opening when the platform under Solar tilts, throwing him off balance. Seeing his chance, Bugze slashes his lightsaber at Solar, severing his right paw and causing his own saber to fall.
"Obi-Wan never told you what happened to your father." Bugze says, using his mask's modulator to give his voice an intimidating low pitch.
Solar blinks. "What?"
"I am your father."
Solar just stares at Bugze while his missing paw reforms. "Seriously? We're in the middle of a fight and you choose to quote Mare Wars?"
Bugze chuckles awkwardly. "I couldn't resist."
Solar just growls in annoyance and swipes at you, but you manage to dodge it. Sadly the laser sword cuts through the last support beam, sending you, Solar, and the walkway you were standing on crashing towards the ground. The walkway lands right in between Aqua and Rutherford, causing them to pause their battle in order to dodge. As you get up and rub your soar body, you barely dodge a claw swipe and land next to Aqua. Solar jumps back from the crash and lands next to Rutherford.
After this bit of interuption, both sides take a moment to catch their breaths.
Oh man, I hope we can end this fight quickly. I mean, with all this racket we're making, the authorities are bound to notice. Unless of course something even more epic than our fight occurs right this moment, but what are the chances of that?
BrownDog's Comment
ELSEWHERE
An angry Michael Beigh, currently on fire, explodes a studio door in front of him.
"SHAMALAMADINGDONG!!!" he yells at the top of his lungs.
"Ah, nice of you to drop by Michael. I have been expecting you," comes the muffled mask voiced of the other bad director who sits in a chair in a darkened room.
Beigh looks him over and see that he is wearing, some sort of white mask with a red circle on the forehead and writing all over it, and a large black overcoat.
Next to him are a dazed looking Shia Lahoof and Meighan Fox.
"Give me back my actors! My fans are screaming for their return!"
In the distance someone heckles.
"NO WE'RE NOT!!!"
"SHUT UP!" Beigh yells and sends a fireball out the hole he made, launching the heckler into the sky.
"Ah, I would Beigh, but unfortunately, they have already signed a contract to appear in my new show Wayward Birch," says M. Night as he gestures to the two actors.
"Yes...we will act..." says the dazed Lahoof.
"Acting...good..." says the equally dazed Fox.
"Oh Sweet Explosivey Goodness, they're actually MORE coherent than usual! What have you done to them?"
"I Shamalized them," says the masked director as he holds up his glowing hoof. "Normally it takes a bit of energy to suck out talent and emotions from someone...but these two were surprisingly easy."
"You son of a b!%$#! I need them for my new Transformares Trilogy! The muse of explosions has spoken!" he roars as his fire becomes more brighter.
Shamalamadingdong sits up angrily.
"Never! You called my perfect beautiful hair stupid! I will never concede! Never surrender!" he says as he places his glowing hoof over Beigh's forehead.
"Now be Shamalized!" he says. After a moment of nothing happening, Beigh just laughs and says,
"You idiot, you can't take talent that was never there!"
He then explodes M. Night off of him, who recovers with his air bending.
"WHAT A TWIST! Very well then. Let us engage in Mortal Kombat!"
"Bring it on!"
They then both rush forth, flying at each other as they yell.
"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!"
"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!"
As they strike, a powerful shockwave radiates out, destroying most of the studio and making a sound so loud, it busts the windows of every building in a 5 mile radius.
And epic battle of Horrible Directors then begins, that is so much more chaotic and powerful than your battle, that your incident is completely ignored by guards and civilians alike who witness the battle of Beigh vs Shamalamadingdong.
Thanks to two of your most despised Applewood personalities, you don't have to worry about the Cops.
Back With You in a 5 Mile Radius.
All the windows and glass near you suddenly explode in shards, causing your enemies to become distracted. Taking the opportunity, you cheap shot The Timberwolf. You then see exactly how his face and limbs keep regenerating. There are hidden piles of forest trees around the set. Smirking, you burn some of his stockpile of replacement wood.
"NO! Cut that out!" shouts Solarkness.
"Why don't you make me?" you yell as you continue looking for wood piles, burning all you find.
MEANWHILE
As you do that, Aqua rengages with Rutherford and Flour, unfortunately, they were the ones to cheapshot her when all the glass exploded.
They have frozen her limbs against the wall, causing her to snarl.
"Not so tough now are ya Pony?" smirks the dragon as he raises his fist, only for a stone pillar to knock him and the wendigo back.
"I wouldn't be harming my pupil if I were you," comes the almost bored sounding voice of Maud as she causally walks into battle.
"Wait a minute, aren't you a background actor? Rock number 5?"
"Yes. And now I'm here to rock you...like a hurricane," she says the one liner in her same bored tone.
"Good one sensei, but I can take him if it weren't for that damned Wendigo!" snarls Aqua as she finally breaks out.
Maud just looks at Flour and goes,
"Hmmm..." she then starts moving her arms around her causing all the bits of broken glass to lift up off the ground."
"What the...but that's not earth, how are you...?" questions a flabbergasted Rutherford.
"Glass is just superheated sand. Thousands of tiny little rocks," she says before bending the glass shards in fine sharp dust towards the Wendigo, who's storm magic brings it into it's body, causing it pain. She then solidifies it within it's body, causing it to drop to the floor. Aqua then uses her bending to form mud from the shards in it's body, encasing it in a sharp clay prison, trapping it.
"Holy Tartarus! Flour!" Rutherford shouts seeing this. "Why you no good monotone bi-Uh Oh..." he notices that Maud still has glass dust swirling around her, before unleashing it at him.
Closing his eyes and Mouth, the dust only scrapes off his scales harmlessly, but not so much his wing Membranes. Hurting them enough to keep him grounded for the fight.
"AH!" he yells as he tries to move his bleeding, aching wings.
Maud then looks to the speechless Aqua and says.
"There, now the fight should be more even," she then looks back at the very pissed looking Rutherford. "You two can fight again."
"NO! I don't care about her anymore. It's you I want!" he shouts as he tackles Maud and the two end up rolling across the set fighting for dominance, while Aqua runs after them, intending to assist her master.
Back to You
You burn yet another pile of wood and take a look at Solarkness...and he looks like he's about to explode in pure anger. No literally his face is super red, steam is coming out of his ears, and some parts of him are on fire (not your doing) His anger reaches it's breaking point as he shouts towards the heavens,
"THAT'S IT! YOU'RE BUCKING DEAD!!!"
Solarkness's Comment
He leaps high into the air and slams his sword overhead and at you, a roll being the only thing saving you from being hit by it. He then continues his assault, going faster and faster, anger fueling him. It gets so fast, you aren't able to dodge all of them.
"Ow! Ouch! Son of a! WHAH!" you yell as he cuts you.
Luckily though, you are saved from a massive overhead strike that surely would have hit you, by a pair of stone knives. Both of you look to the source and see Maud looking in your direction with her hoof raised, as she dodges a swipe by Rutherford, who has injured wings. He is then whipped by Aqua with her bending, sending him stumbling.
"Flour!" Solarkness yells while literally vibrating, unable to move, "Go destroy that waterbender, and let Tanta distract the earthbender!" When nothing happens he just shouts, "Flour?!" in confusion, before You bodyslam him just as he stops vibrating, and scream,
"GERONIMO!" You don't let up on your attack, kicking, punching and kicking him towards the Nightmare-you animatronic, that is still throwing its tails everywhere, smashing anything too close to it.
"RUTHERFORD," Solar screeches right before he enters the field the animatronic is devastating, "Where is-?! *whack*" He is suddenly struck out of your hooves by the flailing animatronic. He lands on the other side of it, and starts getting his second wind, staring at the two ponies ganging up on Rutherford. As you try to reach him, the flailing tails of the Nightmare Prop keep swinging wildly, keeping you from reaching him.
Your eye twitches in annoyance at the animatronic as it's constant flailing is keeping you from stopping Solar. So you do the most reasonable thing to stop it...
Lord Sergal's Comment
You smash through its head only to find out that it isn't a robot. You stare down at... Well, you're not sure what it is, but it is staring back.
"HEY, YOU AREN'T SUPPOSED TO ACTUALLY BREAK THE SUIT!"
You just stare at the...whatever it is as you think,
Wait, what?
Shaking your head you focus back on the creature as you ask it,
"This isn't an act we'r-"
"WHAT WAS THAT? YOU'LL HAVE TO SPEAK UP!"
"I SAID- YOWCH!" You jump back and rub your just-bitten nose as the weird creature runs off shouting "WOPWOPWOPWOP!"
Why do I get the feeling he's going to cause problems?
You are about to respond when a new flurry of sparks bursts up in your face and you look down to see Mangle reaching out of the Inventory and grabbing random wires. It quickly attaches them to its voice box just as you hear a howl behind you. You turn around to see Solark is about to strike Aqua from behind. Your eyes widen and you attempt to stop him when Mangle suddenly shouts blasting ear-shattering music through its suped -up speakers,
"-DROP THE BASS!-"
The timbrwolf literally shakes apart from the vibrations; too bad you can't hear anything else that's going on. You decide to ignore the ringing in your ears in favor of attacking the disassembled wolf. You quickly catch up to his reforming body and Falcon Punch him back towards your side of the studio-turn battlefield. Solar growls in annoyance and he tackles you as you get close to him before jumping onto a nearby structure. You growl in annoyance looking at him on his high ground, so you yell out,
Solarkness's Comment
"Maud! I need a lift!" When nothing happens, you say again, "Maud?" As you look around, you see her... passed out on the floor?
Weird, you think to yourself, She didn't seem the type to... No. He said something about letting Tanta distract the earthbender, whatever the heck that means. That's probably magically induced. Someone's firing sleep spells and...
Don't be ridiculous. If that was the case, then why only her? And do you see anyone that could have cast the spell?
You do not, in fact, see a spellcaster aside from Aqua, and why would she make Maud pass out? But still, you think, Isn't it-
Selena interrupts you, audibly stressed,
Unless...oh no...oh no no no.
What? What is it?
The magic is familiar. But I thought there was only one... They didn't... she says even more stressed
You run towards the battle, leaving Solarkness on his perch, asking,
What? What did they not do?
But you're interrupted by Solark throwing wooden daggers at you, to which you barely dodge. As you slowly get back up, you can't help but feel annoyed. They don't seem to want to let you do anything.
This is worse than I thought, Selena tells you.
Why? you wonder, Sure, we're not winning at the moment, Maud is out already it seems, but...
They have the Tantabus.
After that revelation, you could only think of one thing,
What the buck is a Tantabus?
The Tantabus is basically anti-Luna. There has always been a Tantabus, even though it's incarnation has changed over time, Selena explains as you dodge another water jet.
It's the concentration of every nightmare someone has had. If it's part of these Crimson Knights, then it would explain why Maud is asleep, since it is able to induce sleep. A dark sleep that would be haunted by nightmares.
You nod your head at this information and are about to reply when Solar tackles you to the ground and attempts to naw your head off. Luckily again, your mask saves you. In retaliation you attack, but so does he.
Grey Rebl's Comment
One hoof crashes through wood, and One paw tears through cloth. You and Solarkness trade strike after strike, not looking to back down. You both make this exchange for a few seconds before you end it with a swift hook to the Timberwolf’s snout, causing him to flinch.
Taking a chance, you shout, “No Shadow Kick!” and proceed to chip away the wood of his bare chest. You hop away when he tries to retaliate with a swing of his blade. Unfortunately, every bit of damage that you did regenerates. With the distance between the both of you, you both begin to circle around each other, testing who’ll blink first.
“You’re tough. I didn’t think you’d shrug off a blow from my blade,” Solarkness comments.
“Meh, not even that sharp,” you reply coolly.
Ow ow ow! Oh Luna, I think I cracked my chitin!
“Hehehe,” Solarkness chuckles. Coming from a Timberwolf, it sounds awfully hollow. “Don’t think you can outlast me. I’m not like the rest of my kind, who can follow apart just by the whip of a branch or by a thrown rock.”
“Well, you are still made of wood…” you snark
“Then can wood do this?!” He shouts and pounces.
You dodge deftly to the side, preparing to make a swing at him. Suddenly, hardened wooden spikes protrudes out from the wolf’s hide and digs into your clothes!
“Argh!”
You flinch away, but Solarkness’s maw comes down on you. You try to block it off with your Power Glove, preventing the deceptively weak, stick teeth from cutting through your clothes yet again. However, he holds firm and lifts you off the ground by your hoof and--
“Oh, Buc--!”
*Smack!*
--slams you to the ground. Lifts you up again. And slams you to the ground. Again.
“--ing, MOTHER OF--!”
*Smack!*
“--LUNA, PLEASE JUST--”
*Smack!*
Solarkness does this several more times as you repeatedly curse obscenely before you finally shout, “WOULD YOU KINDLY EAT SOME BEES?!”
The insides of the Timberwolf’s mouth buzzes with life and his eyes widen. He lets you fall and tumble to the ground as something much more important matters: Getting the bees out.
“Aaarghh! Not the bees! Not the bees!” he shouts as he scratches his face to get rid the buzzing horrors. “You’ll pay for this. You’re going to pay!”
You chuckle at the scene and say, “Never gets old with that reference,” but then you cough as the beating takes its toll on your body.
Bugze, focus!
“Huh--? Oof!” was the only thing that came out of your mouth before you get tackled across the studio by the snarling mass of wood and tumble violently away.
“Now you’ve done it! No more Mister Nice Guy! It’s time for the big bad wolf to join the party!” Solarkness shouts.
You unsteadily stand back up and give a roar of your own. “Bring it on then!”
Solarkness lunges with a maw wide open. Deciding not to keep too close, you slide right underneath him. You rear up for a kick right when he is going to turn around, but wooden spikes suddenly struck out from the blindspot of the wolf’s body, forcing you to clumsily roll away. You hop away with a yelp when he seizes the moment to stomp at you. The place from where you were before is dented from the stomp.
“Okay...he’s really mad,” you say nervously.
Solarkness comes in with another lunge. You try to sidestep it, but the wolf does something surprising. His front limbs detach, separating from each joint and turning into massive paws as an eerie, green glow surrounds it, effectively increasing its range. It contracts after it swallows you up into a dangerous hug. Sticks sting you everywhere, even through your clothes.
You are forced into a wrestling match as the both of your struggle to obtain dominance. You both tumble around all over the place, crashing through the props, the sets and even a chair. Finally, Solarkness gets you pinned. Wooden stakes extend from his underbelly as it pins you to the floor. His paw keeps your front hooves away, preventing you from aiming Power Hoof from anywhere that you want. He stares down at you with a cocky grin.
“Well, well, well. You broke my director’s chair. It was my new favorite, too. I’ll feel better once I break you.”
You grunt. “Would you kindly get the buck off?!”
And with that, your hoof releases Bucking Bronco. It fires off into a box of to the side that says “Warning: Volatile Explosives.” Your plasmid causes it to float crookedly several feet into the air.
You stare at the box. Solarkness stares at the box. You then both stare at each other. You both look around. All around you, there are other boxes with the same exact labels. This is apparently where they keep ALL of the explosives, particularly for the purpose of letting the final scene go off with a bang. Then, you both look back at the floating box again. The plasmid runs out of time on the Bucking Bronco, and releases it from its hold, letting gravity take over.
“Uh, whoops--?”
“Oh, bucking gre--!”
It lands with a crash and whatever pin that has been pulled causes a great chain reaction of explosions that blows you both away.
MEANWHILE OUTSIDE
The evacuated ponies looked on the studio building as an epic battle appears to be taking place from the inside. Roars and crashes resounded, causing the people outside to flinch in anticipation. All they could do was listen in antsy silence.
“Man, it sounds like a good fight is going on in there,” says a random pony.
Another pony, next to the speaker replies,“Yeah. It’s a shame we can’t go in and watch. Not even pegasi seem to be willing to go watch from above. Something scared them."
“Scared? Dude, it sounds awesome inside there! What could make them want to miss out on the show?!”
“I’m not sure about your sort of thinking, but it sounds serious in there…”
“Okay, yeah, but you gotta admit, aren’t you curious about what’s going? Instead of, you know, just listening to the noises and using your imagination?”
“...yeah. It does sound awesome in there…” the other pony admits.
Suddenly, more random ponies are seen running across the street and then out of view. This catches the attention of the evacuated ponies.
“Hey! Yo! What’s going on?” shouts one of the evacuees
“Didn’t you hear? Michael Beigh and M. Night Shamalamadingdong, the two worst directors in Applewood, are duking it out! It’s going to be the fight of the century!”
“Are you serious?!”
“Yeah, I’m serious. Come quick, or else there won't be any more room to get a good view of the match!”
Out of the excitement of something else to do, the crowd of the original staff of theHooded Offender movie rush off to partake in spectating the ultimate showdown. Soon enough, all is empty. Just in time, too. Because the entire studio explodes.
Back Inside the Explosivey Goodness
Dust. Dust from the battle and explosion is everywhere. It obscures your vision as your ears stop ringing. You hear coughing to your left and find Aqua, a little banged up, but still kicking. In front of you in the dust you see Rutherford picking Solarkness up. You all glare at each other through the dust... but then a figure comes crashing down between you all as fast as lightning. It effectively shatters the floor into shards and leaves a crater as a result.
“Sorry about that. I got caught up by something.” When the dust clears, Maud is seen standing in the middle.
“Sensei!”
“Maud?!”
“What the--What in Tartarus?!” Solarkness sputters. “You were supposed to be taken care off by Tanta!”
“Oh, the shadowy figure in my dream? She ran away.”
“‘Ran away’? You can’t be serious! There’s no way you can out scare her! She's the embodiment of nightmares in the Dreamscape!”
Hmmph! Selena pouts.
“Well, she did,” Maud says, unbothered. “Can we please get this over with? I have a score to settle. My sister had a lot of things to say about you guys for a while now...”
Suddenly, Rutherford pauses, looking at the grey mare with some deep consideration. “Wait, that bored sounding voice...now I remember!”
“What is it, Rutherford?”
It’s her!” he says, pointing at Maud. “She’s the voice actress of the character from One Punch Mare!”
Silence.
“Wait, really?!” you shout, breaking the mood even further.
"Actually no. But I do receive royalties since that character IS somewhat based on me," she says in her usual bored tone.
Everyling, aside from Aqua, begins to eye her wearily till you see the roof starting to break up.
"Alright Maud, how about you One Punch these guys after fixing that? We'll hold them off till then!"
She looks up and nods, before jumping up to repair the roof with her bending.
Aqua then speaks up. "Hey, let's switch it up. You take the dragon and I'll take the wolf."
"Umm, you sure you want to," you start before she rushes Solarkness and engages him.
"Why does everyling keep rushing in and cutting me off?!"
You then see Rutherford look at you with bared teeth (very sharp teeth) and rush you.
Solarkness's Comment
You jump back, shouting, "Come on! Stop rushing me! In fact, would you kindly just buck off so we can take out Solarkness first?" you say annoyed.
"Oh Tartarus no! I'm keeping you from hindering my ally," Rutherford replies, not missing a beat to attack again. This time with a hydro blast. As you sidestep it, you realize too late that he shot two at once, meaning you still get hit.
You lose your balance, not getting up in time to dodge the next waterjet, and are hit rapidly, again and again and again. Just as you start to think you won't get out of this predicament, you hear a shout of, "IN THE NAME OF THE MOON, I WILL PUNISH YOU!" and the blasts stop.
"Ugh," you mumble, "Way to go, me," you look over to where the Rutherford was, and you see Flash Sentry flying at you, "STOP!" you shout, stumbling over yourself to dodge him. Needless to say, you failed and you both end up dogpilled.
"OH...did anyone get the number of that dragon...Oh, heyo CV," Flash tells you, once he gets back on his hooves, "Want to help me take them down?"
You shrug, and reply, "I was working at that before you came in and got your ass handed to you," also having gotten back up, and circling the Rutherford.
"Hey, he's a dragon, cut me some slack," Flash defends himself, "Also, It's not my fault. That grey mare threw me at him before I even realized what was going on...or even that she threw me!"
"Oh, so Maud threw you... that makes sense...," you say, as your head starts to feel heavy, your eyelids droopy, "Excuse me, I think I'll go off to sleep," you mumble.
"Wait, what? CV what are you...
And everything goes black.
You can't move. It's the first thing you realize. The second is that there is only one thing here besides you, a transparent, midnight blue with purple outlines, equine-shaped blur.
"The Tantabus," you hear Selena's voice from beside you. You look to your left and see her standing there, gazing at it inquisitively,
"Although the void is unusual. Normally there would be nightmares."
"It's...kind of weird looking," you say as you finally regain movement and stand up.
"Yes it is...and it's behavior is strange as well," Selena says suspiciously.
"Um, hello dear Tantabus," you dare to say, "Lovely weather, right?"
"What are you doing?!" she shrieks to you.
"Trying to show it I'm not a threat?"
Objective: Distract Enemy it says before it's misty body swirls around you.
"Uuh, okay?" you wonder, "Is that all?"
Objective: Distract Enemy it says as it continues to swirl around you, doing absolutely nothing.
"...this is boring," you mutter, "I hope this blows over soon, I got a fight to get back to."
"Agreed, now wake up Bugze," Selena says as she places a hoof on your forehead. But nothing happens. Her eyes widen as she says again, "Wake up!" But nothing happens.
"Uhhh, Selly? What gives?"
She looks very confused and startled, "I don't know, something has gone wrong! I don't understand what is ha-"
Suddenly Selena's panicking is cut of by...static? You see her look fearfully towards you and calling out, "Bugze! You have to wake up! You have to-" but but the static cuts her off again. She then fades out of your vision as the void becomes even more dark. You begin to look around in confusion as you mumble,
"What the buck...Selena? Selena where'd you..."
Suddenly the whole dreamscape begins to shake and...change? The dull void begins to change as your surroundings begin to change into a run-down red rusted looking factory. Your eyes widen as you remember the last time you saw a scene like this, and you're about to yell in panic when suddenly this begins to play. It starts softly, but it soon it begins to get louder and louder until it is almost unbearable.
"Oh No! Oh Tartarus no! Not again!" you shout.
You look down at yourself and see you have nothing on you. No inventory, no clothing, nothing but your bare chitin.
You hear some sort of distorting sound coming from the Tantabus and you turn around. It's fuzzy equine like form stands before you as the surroundings finish changing. The tantabus itself then begins changing forms. Changing into something you were really hoping to never see again. Something that fills you with dread. Just before the transformation is complete you hear the Tantabus say,
Nightmare...complete.
Soon after it's transformation is complete and now standing before you, with the disturbing music playing from nowhere is...
...
Pyramid Head
"Oh buck me!"
WHAT DO YOU DO!?!
Outro:
