Edited Details

by ILurvTrixie

As it is written

Twilight quailed internally as she took a defensive stance behind her shield. This is impossible. Griffons don't grow that big! The more normal sized griffons shrieked and hissed challenge at Twilight and Discord, coming to a stop as the massive griffon raised his empty talon. A wicked smile played over his face as he began to narrate in that vicious whispering voice.

"Discord glared at the new arrival then looked over at the alicorn beside him, protecting his friends. While he wasn't about to admit it to anyone, he wasn't going to let anything truly harmful happen to Fluttershy, or her friends, if he was around. With a snap of his fingers, the entire party found itself relocated to a more familiar setting."

The griffon laughed quietly, heading into uproarious laughter as Discord tried to fight against the narration, finding his fingers snapping against his will. The party vanished, reappearing inside Sugar Cube Corner. Pinkie perked from behind the counter. "Hi guys! ...Whoa, what happened to you?"

Discord looked traumatized, staring at his fingers. Twilight looked terrified as she let her shield drop. Dash, Fluttershy, Daring, and Daring were all still out. Pinkie frowned. That was going to get confusing.

Twilight shook her head. "Did he just...?"

Discord nodded mutely.

Twilight whimpered, dropping to the floor, covering her eyes with her hooves. "This is bad. This is so bad."

"How about I get you all some ice-water so we can start getting better explanations going on?" Pinkie smiled hugely, heading into the back.

Spike ran in through the front door, followed by Applejack and Rarity. "Pinkie, Twilight needs you at-" He blinked, looking around the eatery, then scratched the back of his head. "Well, this is convenient."

~*~

Spike, Rarity, Applejack, and Pinkie were all looking a bit horrified. Discord was staring out the window at the library, which as of yet had not decided to start attacking the rest of Ponyville. Daring the author, Dash, and Fluttershy had all woken up without much trouble, but Daring the creation still seemed to be struggling to get out the state of dreaming. She had stabilized into deeper breathing, and no longer appeared to be faded, although her shadow still flickered around the edges, much as the griffon guard had when it had first come across with the artifact.

"So.. yeah. We seem to be dealing with someone who is able to control what others do. Including Discord. Ideas?"

"Call the sisters in to nuke Ponyville from orbit?" Discord grumbled. "I don't have a problem with that."

"Discord!" Applejack looked horrified. "I can't risk anything happening to the farm!"

"Don't you think other priorities might need to be considered, Applejack?" Rarity favored her with a cool glance.

Applejack frowned, chewing on her lower lip in an effort to knock a better idea loose.

Pinkie waved a hoof enthusiastically. "Oo, oo, if he can control Discord, why did that griffon just throw you all out?"

Twilight blinked, and pondered the point. "That's an excellent question Pinkie, I don't know."

"I.. can guess." Book Daring forced herself upright, obviously in serious pain. "He's not real, same as me. He needs time to pull it all together." She panted a bit. "I don't remember feeling this bad ever."

Fluttershy gently pushed book Daring back onto her back, giving her a worried nuzzle. Twilight shook her head. "You were hit worst of the group. I think that's why you were siphoning energy. Less personally, and more as a secondary battery like the artifact. That's what the correlation seemed to be."

Daring the author rolled her eyes. "That doesn't help much now, but at least we have an idea. We need to get back in there before he consolidates his power."

"That may be a little more bothersome now, ladies." Discord gestured out the window. The familiar tree containing the library was becoming buried in an expanding wave of jungle growth, as signs of ancient ruins started to push forth from the ground. Crumbling walls and decaying stone blocks pushed themselves into being, slowly forming a thicker ruin around the central point.

Book Daring had sat up again, much to Fluttershy's consternation. "That's the ruins I was going through when I found the artifact."

Author Daring stared at it. "I wrote that. It's a more dramatic version of the ruins I found the artifact in."

Twilight sighed. "Great. Alright everypony. We're going to have to risk the lack of plan in favor of speed. Any objections?"

Pinkie spoke up. "I think we should all grab something to eat and drink first to keep our strength up."

Twilight paused, and nodded. "Alright, a five minute snack break, and then we take on our mysterious enemy."

Everyone except Discord nodded. Twilight looked at the draconequus. "Comment?"

"Concern. I think it would be best if I stay out of range."

"...Fair point. Alright team, let's get ready."

~*~

Fluttershy nudged book Daring again, earning a wince as they walked for the jungle ruins. "Are you sure..."

The adventurer shook her head, and forced a smile. "We need as many ponies as we can get for an offensive. There are five griffon guards, and while I can handle two or three, that would still leave us short."

Author Daring rolled her eyes. "I'm here too you know. Between the two of us the guards shouldn't pose much of a threat."

Applejack rolled her eyes as they passed the entrance of the ruins. "That's assumin' we don't get hit with some kind of mind whammy as soon as we start actin' like a bull in a daisy garden."

The two Darings looked around carefully, taking point. Dash grinned. "Oh boy, what's going on?"

""Traps."" The coordinated response caused them to look at each other, frown, and look away.

Rarity pursed her lips at the reaction. "Is it just me or is there a bit of tension between those two?"

Two adventurers glared back at her, before sighing. Book daring pointed at the author. "She created me. Every failure, every success, every wound is because of her. She's not a god, but she made me, and everything that has gone wrong in my life is her fault."

Author Daring pointed back at her creation. "She's me in an action hero sense. She's almost indestructible, she can fight for hours, live off bare necessities, and thinks clearer and faster than I can in real life, just so she's able to respond to threats dramatically. She's more than capable of ruining my life accidentally, as she may already be doing." She shot a small glare at Fluttershy, who eeped, hiding behind her hair and cowering.

"Hey, you wrote about the Días de Noches, so you can't be that surprised."

Daring the author flushed and stammered for words. "I never even published that! It was just an experiment. In college!"

Dash blinked. "An unpublished story? What was it about?"

Daring the author stared at the incriminating smile from Daring the creation and groaned. "I was.. it was back in college, like I said. I may have had the tiniest mare-crush on one of my classmates and written an incredibly bad and poorly thought out action romance novella. I buried the only copy of it in a box in my closet."

"Swashbuckling, several ripped coats, at least one extremely steamy scene, and didn't the villain end up 'getting involved' at the end as the twist?" The author blushed almost completely pink as her creation taunted her. Dash just stared at her in surprise.

"Do.. you write a lot of romance?"

"No!"

"I think she erases most of it. I have a lot of things in my head that don't feel like complete memories." The creation easily avoided the shin kick from the now glaring author, who rolled her eyes, still blushing.

"Whatever. We've got a crisis to handle. Speaking of."

The two Darings flared their wings, blocking the way forward, cautiously advancing. The ground around a single stone had dropped, making the stone ominously obvious. Holes in the wall were barely visible.

"Pit trap and a support stone."

"Support stone is a dart trap."

"Trigger?"

"I've got a sandbag, but where's the fun in that?" The creation donned a grim smile as she leapt forward, landing on the stone. There was an audible click as the trap triggered, Daring facing the wall holes with a professional formality. As the darts started firing out, she spread her wings, hooves moving with practiced grace. Using her wings as a form of cape, she spun in place, smacking the majority of darts out of the air, before completing her revolution and catching the final dart aimed at her face with the pith helmet that had suddenly ended in her hooves. She slammed the ancient looking dart into the trigger stone, locking the mechanism into place. She grinned back at the shocked expressions of the rest of the party, taking a cocky bow. Fluttershy applauded slightly as Daring cleared the jump off the other side. The party made their way over with no further incidents.

Daring the author rolled her eyes. "See, that's what I mean. Using a sandbag would've been just as effective."

"Unless one of the darts knocked it off and allowed the trap to reset. In this case I just skipped the usual Action Hero Blunder."

"The what?" Applejack blinked.

"In an action story a hero is almost infallible. They can leap chasms, wrestle manticores, hit the only target in a room filled with antique china. But when it actually matters, they always fail. They run out of supplies. They dropped their weapon two rooms ago. They manage to catch up with the enemy, but are surrounded on all sides. It's narrative convenience, since it creates enough fallibility for realism, and generates drama in a scene that without the mistake would be easy to pass." The author shrugged.

"Or more plainly, the only reason I didn't screw up was because it didn't matter."

Applejack blinked at the shorter explanation, shrugging as she followed along.

"Actually that's an interesting angle of consideration. Narrative casualty. This guy did come out of a book." Twilight pondered a bit.

"But who is he? Why couldn't I find any information when I tried to research it?" Daring the author frowned.

"And how did he control Discord of all beings?" Daring the creation joined in the frowning.

"And why did he just let you waltz in down the least trapped passageway?" The voice from ahead resembled that of the vicious whispering Twilight had heard before, only now had a surprising depth and resonance to it. Twilight winced slightly. Is he gathering energy that quickly? The party entered what could only be called the Grand Chamber of the ruins, sufficiently large that the whole of Golden Oaks Library was contained within it. Jeweled masks of griffons adorned the walls, as torches along the primary pillars gave flickering light. The massive griffon was casually picking up books from the library as one of his guards brought them out, scanning them with a moving light from the artifact, and tossing them to one side. The other four guards had arrayed themselves around the party, ready for action, but as yet holding back. "Hello there Twilight Sparkle." Twilight's thoughts derailed as he addressed her by name. "Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie." The massive griffon nodded urbanely to the surprised ponies in order. His beak twisted into a smug smile when he reached the two Darings. "Creation. Author." The pair tensed slightly.

Rainbow Dash broke formation, zipping over the heads of the griffon guards on mark to drive her hooves into the massive griffon's head. The griffon calmly narrated.

"Rainbow Dash in her usual brash way charged into the unknown. The towering griffon smiled to himself as he coiled the muscles in his forelimb. While Dash was sure she had an advantage in speed, the sudden lash from the griffon sent her flying, landing back in the middle of her group of friends."

Even as he had said it, it had happened, his claw blurring into action as Dash flew back to crash in the midst of the party. Pinkie and Applejack gave her a quick rejuvenation as the griffon tutted to himself. "I should really introduce myself, it loses a lot of necessary dramatic tension when I keep referring to myself as 'the griffon' simply because you don't know me. My name is-" The language barrier fell apart slightly as the griffon produced more animalistic sounds for a moment. "But since we are speaking a much more modern language, you may call me Edward, the undying." He bowed to the party, mockingly. "You are already familiar with my tor." He gestured with the artifact, smiling vaguely. The two Darings blinked, and face hooved. Twilight followed a moment later. Rarity blinked at them all.

"Did we miss something?"

"Edward's Tor. Eddy's Tor. Editor." Daring the creation snarled.

"He can affect words." The author frowned thoughtfully.

"Full marks for Daring Do. Both of them." Edward gave a small golf clap. "Now let's put the little pieces of information together shall we?"

The author bit her lower lip, nervously. "Because you can affect words, you actually erased almost every reference to the artifact yourself. This has been a long term set up, and this is probably not the first time you've gotten out."

"The artifact was important for storing up the energy you needed, but you need a stooge as well, one active form of collection to go with the passive collection." The creation braced herself with a frustrated snort. "That was me. But you needed me separated from my creator. That's why I ended up in Ponyville. But there's still a lot of holes in that theory."

"Then let me take this monologue. My name is Edward, the Undying. Many many centuries ago, I ruled over most of what is known as Equestria, as well as extensive lands beyond that. I found the power of control to be the strongest one could have over a situation. When reality itself bends to your whims, when plants grow and tides recede at your word, there is no question of your greatness. After a ...disagreement with someone I presumed loyal, I ended up trapped in the written world. Since my power is that of control, and the narrative of that world is set in stone, all I needed to do was learn to become the narrator. I have tried to escape many many times, but the problem is that I am limited to affecting the written world until I can rejoin the real world. I can send my tor across, but if I were to go myself, without additional energies, I would simply keel over, having long since exhausted my natural supply.

"But sending a 'stooge', as you so put it, is incredibly unreliable. Many creations are not happy with their creators. Diary entries would punish their authors for the overwhelming emotion. Childish heroes would cause great calamities through simple do-goodery. Dramatic villains would take their creators out and try to take over their lives, fading away as the only one who had any knowledge of them passed on. So in this case, once my charged tor returned, I simply reached through the aether for a far point from your writing location. It was imperfect, but such actions usually are. As for destroying information, well, I left only enough to tantalize someone into hunting the artifact again, which did work as expected.

"And here I am, returned, alive, and ready to conquer the world anew. And all I will need to do is narrate the changes I wish to see in this world." The griffon clacked his beak definitively. "That is why I have no problem explaining this to you. I know you, from bits and pieces of writing. I can take anything you yourself have written, and gain the knowledge of every other thing you have written. You have no secrets before me, and I have full control over your actions. Twilight's magical research notes, and I know the Princess. Celestia's notes to Twilight and I know the ruler of Equestria. A receipt from Sugar Cube Corner and I know Pinkie Pie. An annotated Farmer's Almanac and I know Applejack. Of course Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were much easier, since they were already introduced in the story with my tor." Edward turned a bemused look to the two Darings. "And of course, the one to trigger my artifact, and her creation, dragged along to open the gate. You write prolifically."

The Author frowned. "I'd be more flattered if I didn't know you were using it against me."

Edward laughed, a wicked and fright inducing sound with his full volume returning. "Then allow me to liven things up with a little blood sport. I think I'm entitled after all this time.

"The extended taunting had served to fray the creations' nerves to the last. "That's it," she shouted, gesturing at her creator. "My entire life is a lie, and I'll be bucked if I'm going to die without taking you with me." The creator narrowed her eyes, and circled her former ally, not wasting the words that could be the difference between life and death. Creation lashed out at creator with brutal energy."

The two Darings had begun moving as the narration began, spoke when the narration had them speak, and were now locked into a hoof-to-hoof battle, each moving with practiced grace. Their faces were locked in grimaces as they struggled against their bodies. The mane six exchanged a look, getting ready to charge Edward. Who wasn't waiting for them.

"Fluttershy cowered, unable to force her body into action against the massive foe. Twilight's brain spun in pointless circles as she realized Edward had possible control over the princess. Rarity, unsuited for combat, circled for an opening. Pinkie Pie leaped forward only to be distracted by one of the guards. Leaving the two more comfortable fighters to try their efforts. Edward didn't flinch away from either's charge, easily stopping the powerful earth pony's blow and sending Dash flying with a gust from his own wings."

Dash and Applejack were scattered at the edge of Edward's range, but both remained defiant. Their serious expressions cracked into smiles, earning a confused blink from Edward.

"You think you know everything-" Dash started.

Applejack finished "- but Ah reckon you missed a smidge."

"Hiyah!" Rarity's karate chop rattled Edward's head with a surprising amount of force. The headlock the fashionista forced him into was almost as improbable as her continued efforts were effective. He strained, finally breaking her grip by sheer virtue of size and strength, but was obviously winded and had his security rattled. He glared at Rarity as she climbed back to her hooves, snapping her head up with a flick of her hair. "Hmph. Not my fault that you thought I was too weak. People always just see the fashion designer."

"Alright then, let's make this a bit less personal then." He gestured with the tor and the guard griffons lunged forward to take on the three combatant ponies. Twilight and Fluttershy were still disabled from the narration, although Twilight at least appeared to be trying to fight. Pinkie had managed to reduce the guard she was talking to to a confused lump of feathers and fur, the distraction having worked rather too well in her favor. And the two Darings continued their battle, although the effects were suffering.

The author knew she couldn't stand up to repeated blows, especially from the action novel version of herself. She was trying to rely on hit and run strikes, dashing in every time the copy swung wildly. Of course watching one of those blows cracking the stone floor beneath them drove home the point about staying safe. Both Darings were trying to struggle against their narrated desire for combat, although it was only with Rarity's direct attack that they seemed able to break through.

The creation growled as she turned another vicious jab into an exaggerated hay-maker punch. The author kept landing small blows on her, but she wasn't able to bring her full stopping power to bear. Book Daring forced her eyes over to the griffons circling the trio of ponies that had managed to challenge Edward, feeling her head rock back as she suffered an actually painful uppercut. She wiped at her chin with her hoof, glaring at the author. "Nothing... to... say?" It was the first words that either of them had gotten out since the start of the combat.

The author took the breather, resting her wings as she tried to force words out. "Gotta... stop... Edward."

"I... know." The creation growled as her hoof crashed into the floor, forcing up a splinter of stone from her previous cracking. "Duck!"

The author hit the deck as the rock shard sliced through the air above her, scattering a light dusting of feathers. The geological assault slammed into the side of a griffon's head, flooring the guard. The battle went from five on three to four on three. The two Darings struggled to smile, once again forced into brutal battle.

"Not.. gonna stop."

"Need... to... finish fight."

The Darings circled one another again, looking for an opening. The creation's focus slipped and her hoof lashed out in a pugilist's strike, sending the author reeling. She charged in, swinging her forehooves high in a two-hooved hammer strike. The author narrowly rolled to one side as the two hooves shattered the stone she had been on down into rubble. The creation pointed a hoof at the author, and drew it across her throat. "Sorry."

"S'okay." The author watched her creation as they circled again. The sounds in the background made it obvious that Edward was probably abusing his ability to control the combatants again. As the creation walked over the freshly created rubble, her back leg shifted, and her face contorted in pain. She put a few thoughts together.

"Hit... flank!"

"What?" The author swung low as another hay-maker sizzled through the air above her, lunging with her hoof into a kidney punch. The hoof was withdrawn with a shake, finding the entire lower section of the opposing mare too solid with muscle to gain much advantage. The creation swung out with a wing and a hoof, trying to box the author in. The author simply took to the air with adrenaline assisted speed.

"Tissue.. sample! Pain!" Book Daring leaped into the air after her foe, the pair starting to dive and dash around the room, in a dangerous game of cat and mouse. Real Daring tried to brace herself against one of the primary pillars, only to have her creation wrapping her hooves around the pillar. The rock cracked and groaned as it was finally torn loose. The ceiling shifted, blocks creaking ominously above. But all the author could think of right now was that she really shouldn't have written her creation this strong. Book Daring swung the massive chunk of connected stone and cement pillar at her creator; a horizontal sweep accompanied by a wordless howl of rage and agony. Author Daring dodged upwards, almost running face-first into falling bricks. As the ceiling scattered more small bricks and the first signs of major disruption cracked their way along part of the roof, the creation tracked her creator, armed with the chunk of pillar.

The pillar slowed her down enough for the author to put some distance between them. Judging the distance, book Daring swung the pillar piece over her head, launching the rocky remainder across the gulf between them. Author Daring zipped back down to the ground, a hoof on her pith helmet as the pillar piece tore a hole into the outer wall, a warm beam of sunlight penetrating Book Daring returned to the ground with cratering force, glaring up at her creator. "Getting.. harder. Stop me."

Author Daring grunted, shifting as the duo circled. The creation lunged forward, the author sidestepping and ramming her hoof into her double's flank. The other Daring screamed in pain, lashing out at her author, who; now finally able to crack her opponent's defenses; danced in and out expertly. As she landed her fifth blow, the creation sank to the floor as her back legs buckled. She raised a forehoof weakly as the Author stepped in with a two hooved hammer uppercut, finally knocking the creation out. The author panted, realizing the desire for combat had finally passed her over. She looked over at the fight, the three ponies forced back to back as the griffons pressed in on their position. She launched herself into the nearest griffon with a laugh. "Miss me, boys?!"

Twilight had been stuck in a rut this entire time. Her thoughts were basically infinite looping around the thoughts of Edward's control over the situation, how Celestia might be affected, if she could do anything, and then back to the control. She knew she had to knock herself out of the stream of consciousness. The more she struggled against it, the more her horrified brain kept circling around what could go wrong, or why it was bad. She just couldn't resolve a way out of this, although the most obvious answer was right in front of her. She needed to get in there, to defeat this griffon who claimed to have once ruled the world, and stop him. That would fix everything. But then her mind quailed at his ability to control the situation, and trapped her once more.

She struggled to get herself moving, as the Darings engaged in their aerial battle. As the roof shuddered from the loss of support, her fear started to be replaced with worry for herself and Fluttershy. As the beam of sunlight cut through the gloom, illuminating the alicorn, she snapped a few thoughts together. Light! The artifact and the typewriter... words! He's not real. That's why he's so large. He's just made himself that way, probably the same way he's undying. 'I'm not evil, I'm just written that way.' But how...? Her eyes snapped open as she grimaced at the thought. Well, it would have to be tested. She charged a blast of magical energy into her horn, and released it, letting the spiraling mote spin towards Edward.

The griffon frowned as the claw to hoof battle turned once again, using his control over the combatants to give himself an advantage, but with the battle now even, four on four, he was the only one contributing to successful strikes on his side. He spotted the slow moving mote, and laughed. "Are you trying to tickle me?"

"No." Twilight grinned to herself as the mote zipped past Edward and into the library, scooting down the stairs and striking the still glowing typewriter, where it was hidden from the world around. The crackling purple power grounded itself through Edward, who shrieked as the ruins around him crumbled into words floating in midair, finally vanishing. The griffon guards stumbled, falling forward in surprise. They didn't get back up.

"Nice one Twi!" Applejack grinned broadly as Daring Do tossed the griffon she'd been wrestling aside. Dash and Rarity readied themselves as Edward started to... shed. Pieces of his massive form began to crumble, falling off his body, and turning into words that faded away much like the ruins had. An ancient looking griffon of grey feathers and fur glared at the party from beneath a wooden tribal mask.

Twilight stepped forward. "Hello Edward."

The griffon grimaced, snarling at the party. His voice had lost its richness, instead falling back into the vicious whisper they had first encountered. "Why do you keep resisting? Why can't you just obey?!"

"You really have no idea who you're messing with, do you?" Rarity chuckled darkly.

Edward tensed, before grumbling. "There should've been more power, more charge. It couldn't have been that soon."

Dash took to the air, pointing a hoof. "Give it up! You've got nowhere to go, and we know your weak spot!"

Daring the creation slowly limped over to the still cowering Fluttershy, giving her a supportive nuzzle. The shy pegasus blinked and gasped at the beaten looking pegasus. "Come on 'Shy, looks like we're wrapping this up."

"But-"

"I'm an action hero. If this doesn't heal in a few days I'm doing something wrong." Daring decided to focus on Edward's final monologue. Fluttershy took a seat beside her.

Edward laughed darkly as a simple hedge maze started to form around him. It looked a lot like the one back when Discord-

The party barely managed to reach that thought as bushes started to seperate them from each other. The party tried to reach one another, finding their ways blocked. Dash leaped into the air with Daring, only for both of them to impact an improbably solid mass of cloud cover, barely a hoof length above the thorny hedges.

"All I need is time, and I can control any one of you, even in this weaker state! You will obey!" The voice hissed through the bushes, threatening. Twilight narrowed her eyes.

"We will find you, and we will stop you."

Pinkie pie peeked out from behind the princess. "So, should we just start walking, Twi?"

"Nothing else for it, Pinkie."

The party began making their nervous way through the maze; book Daring and Fluttershy; Applejack and Rarity; Rainbow Dash and real Daring; Twilight and Pinkie Pie.

Comments

[ForSpite]

Huh, you'd think gryphon guards would be easier than a giant maze (if less useful). Maybe living things are just harder?

[ForSpite]

Is that all Daring is? ...Focus Twilight.

Well, that's an interesting question. She has been eating real food. So was she converting that to 'words and magic' or converting bits of herself to flesh and blood? If the latter, she just needs to eat enough.