"What?" I asked, my stare was quizzical to the griffin, "I just told you to bug off... Not stick around."
"No can do oh so powerful Puppet Master," she replied in turn, crossing her arms and tilting her head away as though I hadn't just spared her life, "You have my contract, and until it's been paid off your stuck with me."
My quizzical expression became complete deadpan, "And let me guess, if you break contract you lose honor due to some unsaid oath that all mercenaries need a reputation of completing their contracts, and that's something you can't lose?"
She rose an eyebrow, "How did you-"
I resisted the urge to snark, instead internally sighing. This situation was like the most cliche case for a bounty hunter to join a hero in both novels, movies, and games back home. Only this time it was for a villain, who coincidentally happened to be me. So instead, I opted for the mysterious, if only to keep her off balance, "I've seen this happen before, in a place far far away from here, countless times." Technically not a lie, after all another universe was as far as you can be, and I didn't want to bother to remember the whole villain face-heel-turn list of people swapping sides.
"Alright then..." she dragged the two words out, as if not sure what to say to that, "So you visited the kingdom of griffins?"
"Nope. Farther than you will probably ever know." I responded, continuing to set up my workstation, "And further than I wish to explain to someone who just tried to kill me."
"Ah." was that disappointment? I checked in her direction and yep, definitely a frown on her beak.
I dragged a solid gold table out of the dragons hoard that was present in the cave, vaguely wondering where he had acquired such a thing before setting it up as an impromptu crafting space around my other supplies in the cave. The first thing I set up was the generator, and power cords, while digging out a small supply of gems from the ever present mass of treasure. I'd also managed to drag out a few fancy chairs which must of belonged to some sort of unfortunate lord who was now missing a majority of his furniture. Joining the chairs was another pair of tables, some bookshelves, and a heavy metal treasure chest which promptly had its contents emptied so that it could be used as a storage container. It was also hilarious since the key belonging to said chest was still in the lock. It left me the impression of either the dragon somehow having turned said tiny key with his big claws, or having stolen it right after someone had open the chest.
Of course, that was assuming that adult dragons were still like the show, if they were like the anthropomorphic ponies, well. I' wouldn't hate to see a giant thirty to fifty foot tall girl. Even if she was scaley or something. Of course, unless she was angry, in which case I'd have to hope any mask on hand would be able to beat a monster of that size. Shaking my head I resumed setting up my gear, the griffin having dug out a mostly intact rug to lay around her own section of the cave while I manipulated and organized my workstation so that all the tools and supplies were neatly organized on or below the gold table.
However, there was something I didn't recognize within my wooden backpack. For one, it was shaped like a laptop. And on its back was a stylized version of Discord's face, simplified to show each individually colored body part of his head, being the head itself, each horn, his tooth, and his beard. The rest of the face and body was nowhere to be seen and as I opened it, I could spot that it was indeed a laptop. Albeit without any power.So I shoved a diamond into the magical generator and plugged it in, marveling how the gem began to whirl and glow while allowing the laptop to charge for a few seconds before turning it on.
I was met first by the same logo that was on the back of the laptop followed by large words underneath the symbol written in several variants of font barely organized into a legible line reading, "A.O.K. Operating System." which then elaborated with a sudden scrolling system, "Agent Of Knowledge."
I sat down, bringing the laptop closer to me and waited until a login screen presented itself, showing the options of trying to log in as either the system administrator which was the draconequus himself, or as an agent. I clicked on that, and it asked me my name and date of activation. Once inputted it, for the lack of a better word, welcomed me with a loud chime which was followed up by several rapid fire chimes as a program I didn't recognize gained five numbers in rapid succession. This drew the attention of the Griffin, but I ignored her for now, instead removing my mask so that Aku's towering frame wasn't forcing me to huddle to see the screen and clicking on the offending beeping program.
A.O.K. Quest System: Where powers are gained for completing objectives!
Congratulations Puppet Master, you have acquired (5) new Achievements! Keep the good work up! Be sure to check your A.O.K. Computer regularly for regular updates as your journey progresses!
Quest Completed: First Steps: Introduce yourself to the Elements of Harmony.
Rewards: Ability to mask your puppetsAccept?
Quest Completed: Puppet Discovery: You Discovered that your marionette doll has, well you know.
Rewards: +1 Maximum puppets per Marionette doll controller.Accept?
Quest Completed: First Masks: You've used and broken your first mask, Maybe this will help.
Reward: 20% increase in mask power.Accept?
Quest Completed: Out With The Old: If it's not great the first time, remake it! You've rebuilt a mask as a better quality, which means it was stronger than the first time.
Reward: Props can now be built!Accept?
Quest Completed: Power Play: You've acquired power for the rest of your tools.
Reward: Puppet tutorial unlocked in Programs menu.Accept?
I pressed accept on each one and they faded away from the screen, and before my eyes the marionette doll split into three upon the same rack, and a slight glow momentarily overcame my tool kit as something happened to it. I didn't question it much, after all. This was Discord we were talking about. Though how the computer was able to interact with the rest of my kit, was another matter. Closing it out, I noticed there was a few new programs on the desktop, these being the puppet tutorial, and a search bar for quickly finding something.
Of course, now I had to give the griffin a glare, as she was eavesdropping and reading over my shoulder, and a bit taken aback at my normal masked face as it glared, what I imagined, was death flames at her, "You're a very nosy birdy aren't you?" I asked.
She shrugged, "The noise got my attention, can't read it anyway, those aren't any runes I recognize anyway, not equestrian that's for sure."
Huh, but I was pretty sure that they were the same language, I mean, the few instances I've seen the language at work they were in the same one. Did that mean there was an enchantment on this thing so that only the operator could read it or something? That's completely okay with me, that just meant if Twilight got her mitts on it, she'd have a hard time getting anything out of it.
I tapped through to the puppet tutorial program, "What's your name anyway?"
"Who me?" She asked, looking over my tools with the curiosity of a cat in a mouse convention.
I gave her a quizzical glance, "Is there anyone else in the cave?"
She chuckled, "Good point, the name's Amber, Amber Feathershaker"
"Feathershaker?" I smirked, "Sound's like you know how to ruffle some-"
Her death glare shut me up as she replied tensely, "Finish that pun and I'll murder you in your sleep."
I shrugged, "Alright, alright. No need to be tense, no doubt you alright know me as the Puppet Master, or Pm for short."
I reserved the giving of my usual first name to friends, and she was more of an acquaintance at the very most. Her response of, "Whatever Boss." however, also worked.
I dedicated the next few hours of the day to reading up on how my marionette dolls worked. Overall there were about forty pages on the finer details of how the physics worked, and those I would be reviewing over and over across the next few days, What was important however, was that now what I had found on accident when I was fighting against Shining Armor was about to become a lot more... Useful. Of course, I had to check the limits of these at my own time as well. But first, it was time to make the second mask to my collection. That and the first prop. Luckily, however, I knew just the two I had time to make before night fell yet again.
The mask, was going to be a product of need similar to that of Aku in the case that he had been able to shape-shift and absorb a good portion of damage thus far. It only made sense to start working on the next utility that I would need in order to progress with actually having a base, at least within full operational capacity. It might not be perfect but- the idea struck me on who would be the best candidate and it was followed by a wide grin.
I threw a gem into the foam generator and eyed its progress as the machine began to warm up. A few seconds later it began to dispense a large amount of expanding foam onto the table which I began to manipulate the machine into making a rather large semi circular lump in the center of the table. I could spot Amber watching still, wondering what I was doing but I didn't care overly much. Once the machine had done its fill I was left with a rather massive pile of expanding foam, albeitly slightly off color due to the source of its production. Something I attributed to magic over industrial science. The first step was clear, using a larger knife I cut out a large portion of foam in the general shape of my desired mental image's head. The large semi circular sphere losing a lot of its excess bulk that could later be used as material from a prop.
The next step was simple, I began to remove excess mass with an exacto knife, removing more and more excess mass until it began to take shape. I've heard once that the wood carvers desire upon the wood he carved helped it take shape as he worked with it, so too was it that way with foam. Each stroke I could see it coming to life a bit more, each cut and each take away. Before I knew it an hour had passed and it had only felt like seconds, the once blob of foam having been carved down to a rough similarity of the queen of inhumane science experiments. Now was where the power tools came into play. More specifically my Dremel, which came into play in order to smooth out the rougher cuts and give it a smoother texture and more pristine look to the colorless off-white foam. Next came the details which took a combination of both tools and minute details.
My favorite part came next, the painting. Beginning with a white coat, followed by a slight spray of metallic silver spray paint on the majority of the frame. With a dark grey, almost black for the details around the metal looking shell that was given a slightly aged look to it with a metal brush once it dried. The entire thing was almost perfect. The only thing missing, was the eye itself.
"Hey." I spoke up, rousing Amber from her slumber, she had fallen asleep some point during the painting process, and now that she was awake, it was time to ask, "Think you can search out a fist wide circular amber to fit this hole?"
"Yeah, why?" She mumbled, shaking off her nap and stretching lazily.
"Need one to finish this thing,"I told her. Ordinarily I'd use a type of light for this, but I thought the gem would look better for the sake of ascetics, the rest of the eye had been formed out of a small cut portion of EVA foam, heat gunned until it maintained a pipe like shape that fit just right into the helmet.
She nodded and flew off, and I left the project to the side to finish drying off after adding some minute details. With the rest of the foam, I considered the sun and thought about what sort of prop I wanted to make from it. Couldn't be large, and there was no way I'd just make a gun, at least not the traditional kind anyway. After all, I wasn't planning on killing anyone, just wounding.
I dug into my mind, thinking over it. What gear was common of someone who was often taken for a villain? Something that gave them a delicious ironic standing while simultaneously putting fear into the hearts of mortal men? I thought back to my childhood, during the scant months of summer that usually followed between one school year and the next. My parents had often moved, and as a ten year old this was just a few months after their third time moving around, this time in a heavy urban city. I had made a few new friends, though I knew that I'd probably be gone come the new year, but it was mainly because of an interest in a rather popular roleplay that had started up a few years back.
The session had been from the makers of the Warhammer franchise and had been labeled "Dark Heresy." We had all rolled characters back then during school between assignments and studying for two weeks and we had finally come together for our first Inquisitorial session of the summer. Through straws, we had been given the role of dungeon master to Yuko. She was a transfer student of slender build and raven black hair who's father owned a hobby shop and we had all acquired a small figurine or two from our meek allowances. However, through luck, I'd been assigned the role of Inquisitor for the group as the party leader to mix things up a bit.
The first session, I recalled was a rather fun mission of investigating the rumors of orks on planet 'Bob' (Rather uncreative name, but hey we were ten year old children, not grand space architects). Ork's were a problem,because they were green skinned brutish figures who repopulated faster than bunnies and had the rage of beserkers all the time, and once they started spreading, war and decimation soon followed. But the locals were rather tight lipped until the Inquisition arrived and dealt with the situation. Their universal hallmark badge of office granting them access to information and at the same time. It was called a Rosarius, and since we were active roleplayers, meaning that we acted out our roles, the usual badge of the Inquisition had changed frequently among us when we played. Sometimes it was a poker-chip, other times a playing card, and since I was the new player among the group, it was going to be my turn to provide the prop.
I smiled to myself as I remembered what I had done, taking some spare bits of cardboard and foam from my junior crafting kit and having made a crude skull upon a nearly flat shield. Having also used a gummy worm in place of piping to lead from one part of the skull to another and a bit too much black and white paint. It had been one of my favorite nights ever, and my other friends had been suitably impressed. From that point onward it became our badge of the Inquisition to join our fantastic little space marines and imperial guards on their adventures.
Even when I left, I had given the badge to Yuko and she had promised to use it whenever they played the game. To my knowledge she still played to this day, having turned the hobby into a job and almost having taken over her fathers shop. I used to write her letters, and if I ever was in the same city I'd visit her and the guys and another session would often start and last long into the night. She was also my number one customer whenever props were involved.
A slowly growing frown decorated my face as I realized that I would also never see her, or any other members of my friends and family, a cost for having been transported to another dimension. I shook my head, deciding not to dwell on it. What was in the past was in the past, I needed to focus on the present. Now it was time for the more technical aspects of the Rosarie.
The Rosarie itself was an almost miraculous device in that universe to protect its wearer from ranged damage, and an Inquisitor would rarely be caught dead without one. Each one was unique to the Inquisitor who had it, and for them to give their underlings their Rosarie, showed a great deal of trust in the Inquisitor that they had in their servant, as each badge gave access to a massive amount of resources within the Imperium, and the shield generator it boasted was no small wonder either. Able to block a shocking twelve wounds at the same time before overloading, but completely useless in melee combat. At least that's how I knew it.
My hands worked as I thought about it, slowly carving out a similar shield shape out of Foam but leaving most of the other side intact. I'd mount it as a necklace, and since I wanted it to be in one Piece, that meant a foam chain as well. By the time I had worked out a small necklace from the foam, Amber had returned with the jewel I had wanted.
"Thank you, now please put it on the table for now." I said to her, and she did.
"What's that?" she asked, gesturing to my prop as I carved a few final links out of the foam still attached to it, freeing it from the remainder of the mass, and allowing them to shake freely like another light weight chain.
I sighed, as I began to work on carving out the skull, adding far more elaborate details then the one from oh so long ago, "Short answer, protection and memory. Long answer, none of your business."
She sighed, "Eesh. Don't have to be so serious all the time..." My deadpan in her direction made her roll her eyes, "Yes, yes I know. I just tried to kill you, but aren't most people social creatures?"
Now it was my turn to roll my eyes, "Right..." I continued to work, every detail mattered after all. If I was going to do this, I was going to do it right, or not at all.
Tragic Villain Z This character plays antagonist against Tenchi's protagonist and had his fate cruelly twisted by three goddesses attempting to find the god above them. Ended up serving the youngest goddess and came close to killing the hero.
His powers are drawn from his ability to use five nearly unsurpassed shields in various ways. Enhance his body, block attacks, or use them as a blade capable of cutting through anything but another one of the shields.
img4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20090813222708/tenchi/images/2/22/ZTenchi.jpg
http://tenchi.wikia.com/wiki/Z
Tragic villain, Darth Vader. He was corrupted and served under the emperor. He could teach the mane 6 about redemption, as in the end of 6, vader is redeems himself right before death. Just a thought that came to mind
How about Mr. Freeze? He can teach them about loss, I mean, the guys only a villain because he wants to save his doomed wife.
Tragic Villain: Frankenstein's monster. Poor bastard was created with a bit of arrogance and a lot of good intentions, then was shunned by everyone(even his own maker) just for his looks. Goes evil from everyone judging him by his appearance. Convinces his creator to make a mate for him, based on the argument that as an intelligent being he had a right to at least a chance of happiness.. just to watch Frankie destroy the almost completed work out of a fear of a 'race of monsters that would plague mankind'. And he at that point truly beings to act the monster everyone treated him as.
Lessons available? Actions have consequences, payback is a bitch, book/cover, sow the wind and reap the whirlwind, cruelty and callousness are fast ways to make enemies and so on.
From the Monster himself: “I do know that for the sympathy of one living being, I would make peace with all. I have love in me the likes of which you can scarcely imagine and rage the likes of which you would not believe. If I cannot satisfy the one, I will indulge the other.”
Given the town's reaction to a Zecora, a giant creature made of multiple ponies stitched together would have a 99% chance of getting the 'shoot first' response. And, if made from all three races on top of the basic superhuman.. pony.. zombie.. package, he'd be a credible threat.
Tragic villain Starkiller from star wars the force unleashed. he was taken as a child by darth vader, to be made into an apprentice against his will more or less. but after awhile he starts to see the light and tries to go to the light side.maybe teach them that everyone has good inside of them? I don't know. that wasn't really a good example for a lesson. so if you can, maybe find a better lesson then mine.
Evil villain: Orochimaru from Naruto.
Psycho fuck's first appearance was to curse a twelve year old so he could later steal his body, followed by destroying his whole damn childhood village to start a war for shits and giggles.
I think the four great ones from Dark Souls 2 can all apply.
The Lost Sinner, forever punishing herself for what many consider the ultimate sin. Trying to light the first flame.
The Rotten, embracing everything unwanted and thrown away in his sanctuary.
The Old Iron King, who in his glory and greed turned into a demon.
And the Duke's Dear Freja, who was twisted by the duke.
While some may argue that they aren't "bad guys", they still try to kill you on sight.
Then there is Velstadt, the royal aegis, who was always at the king's side, as if his shadow,
and king Vendrick himself, who is now only a shadow of his former self.
I believe I have a villain which, while not a complete villain, could be considered one given the circumstances . It's a Dota 2 character named Rizzrack the Timbersaw. (http://dota2.gamepedia.com/Timbersaw)
He's someone with a phobia against trees. Brought about from an army of them attacking his town. The only way to deal with the fear was to build something to chop any tree he comes across with reckless abandonment.
Now if you put him in the middle of.... oh say, Sweet Apple Acres, then he would start chopping them down until none are left standing. He's doesn't do it out of malice, but out of pure fear.
Tragic Villain: Gilgamesh fro Fate/Stay Night and Fate/Zero. Although it doesn't go into much detail in the shows, his character is based off his legend in the real world, in which he was given his only friend by the gods to curb his arrogance, but later his friend was taken from him by those same gods to punish him for saving his people. Gilgamesh grew resentful of the world around him and saw himself as someone deserving to stand among the gods. This gives us a powerful villain in the fate series.
Wot'z dat you'z sayin' about da boyz? Breedin' fastah den... liddle woite squigz? Da zog?
4279495 I looked up timbersaw and he's actually one of the heroes, but if you want a tragic villain from that game, venomancer is awesome.
I swear to God that's master hamd in the background!
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Eh, back to writing. After all, we need a reason for the puppet master to use them.
4279495
I personally prefer Broodmother, after all she did everything in order to protect her children from intruders, also my favorite hero on Dota 2 in general for her abilities. Who else can pretty much freely traverse cliffs and forests while bringing along an entire army made from the corpses of their enemies?
For example, Aku is seen as an evil super villain by samurai Jack because he killed off a lot of people with his wars, yet blatantly ignores the fact, that without Aku, humans fate probably would of been much worse, as well as the fate of the rest of the galaxy with endless wars. In other-words Aku kills off the few to secure the future of the many when hes uniting the universe under his flag. Is it right? No of course not, no war is right, but it happens anyway. What Aku did was win all those wars and put them to an end under one empire. There's a reason you don't see many wars between other nations going on in samurai jack, instead you mostly see Aku's hired bounty hunters and what can be considered mere street crimes in comparison to the devastating effects of a war.
Tl;dr version: Aku is seen as a necessary evil in order to prevent a greater evil from causing mass carnage upon the universe that is Samurai Jack.
As for villains like Mr.Freeze and GLadOS, well I have something planned for a certain white and purple pair...
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, Premature judgement
, Loyalty without Question
. Though to be of note, no pony is perfect, but is discovering and knowing about your problems that allows you to be a better person. Not even the princesses or minor charecters will be perfect in this regard. For example Glory
, recklessness 

, and political manipulation
. All in the attempt of changing Equestria's hypocrit version of justice seen within the show.
The Foremost reason why a villain is going to be included is to show a flaw in a pony, both major or minor, that they claim to represent in their personality, by showing a villain that failed thanks to that trait. Thing's like obsession
It's just one of the reasons I am ignoring comments like "Add Arthas" or "Add timbersaw because he is afraid of trees." While their roles would be hillarious in the story, the puppet master intends to teach a lesson, not cause random havoc for no reason. A better comment would be to draw a parallel with Timbersaw, For example: "Timbersaw from Dota 2 would make a great lesson to applejack, showing that not everypony likes what she likes, and may be outright afraid of what she finds enjoyable on Apple Acres"
But be aware, despite their histories certain villains can fall out of the tragic range from their actions, an example being Tobi, from the popular series known as Naruto. His actions during the Ninja war had nothing to do with how he was raised, but rather how the ninja villages themselves operated. Not to mention the countless ninjas he slaughtered and tricked in order to achieve his ends of acquiring power for powers sake alone. This qualifies him as a True Villain,
As for Sauron, and why he is in the title image, The lesson is the Difference between a true and tragic villain after all. Though his part in this story isn't going to be for a long while. Like not until mid season 3 long. So wait before then before commenting on people who have no lesson to teach if you don't mind. And Sorry for this rant.
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These are pretty good examples of tragic villains, though whom they would teach their lessons would still be in question, however, for a few, particularly in the Dark souls comment, I can already see who would need it.
4352412 Ah true, and the wonderbolts have proven themselves below with Dash on multiple occasions. And seem to be a military joke similar to that of Celestia. But then again they're show ponies, not warriors.
I don't like the quest system. A protagonist should have his own objectives. The reason why only video games have those is because you, the player, can't have ultimate freedom and needs an objective. A protagonist of a written story, however, can, making this pointless, and more so: restricting.
Get an editor ASAP. I stumbled on a lot of spelling and grammatical errors. It's really distracting.
P.S. I'm impressed on your knowledge of villainy; that's certainly not an issue in this. I think the subject you took for a story is too vast, and I fear it's going to go "all over the place", in a bad way. I'll keep on reading, hoping that the story will draw me in.
P.P.S. I know I'm being really critical. But this not supposed to be a story for the sake of mindless entertainment, you know? Just trying to help out! :X
Hmm... now that I re-read the part about Zuko, I thought of what lesson he could teach.
Honor isn't something gained from a king. Just because someone in a lofty position says you have or don't have honor doesn't mean he or she is right. Prince Zuko is seen as dishonorable due to his exile, caused by refusal to send soldiers to die in hopes of clogging the 'meat grinder' (due to him actually valuing human life), and his refusal to fight his father - branding him a coward to boot.
Yet he isn't trying to attack people on the back after a duel has been declared over, nor does he do quite a lot of the crazy/stupid things we see other firebenders do. (Dear God is Azula flipping insane or what?)
What others see as 'honorable' might not be right, and if you cannot see the honor within yourself, then all of the 'honors' supposedly-granted by others will seem hollow. Zuko didn't seem too happy after having the adoration of the masses, after all.
Another lesson could be 'always listen to Uncle Iroh'.
You should do Majora's Mask
5497692 dayum that would be fun
Puppet Master meets Dragoness:
cs425130.vk.me/v425130204/6e50/_vZjZ9HQi-o.jpg
5833163 lol
5833163 where did you find that hmmmmmm?
how do you put the lines I have been trying to do it but it won't work
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its [ quote ] line [ /quote ]
So, side from everything else, why is he staying in compromised base? Because, you know, she waited here for him.
Also, what's up with that unconditional trust, based completely on him knowing a tv trope? It's not like she might lie about it, or be bad merc, isn't it? Not that she is, because she had perfect chance when she sneaked behind him.