Horns, Hooves, and Fur

by Deyeaz

XII - Toying With Weapons

Author's Note: Yep, CramierX lended me a helping hoof in the production of this chapter. And because I decided to change the rules a bit about finding the chapter references (because none of you could find the Disturbed reference), congratulations, Tablex! Your OC pony will be cameo'd in the sequel! Send me a PM about it, and you can bet it will be there.

And now for the twelfth chapter of HHaF!

XII - Toying With Weapons

"Why does Aksheal want me to see him?" asked Praxis as he reequipped his undershirt and jacket and adjusted his messenger bag into a more comfortable position upon his right pauldron. The two had walked into town and into a secluded alley to go to the Dream Realm, because the town's residents didn't really know this extraordinary fact about the three of them.

"Beats me, dude," said Vinyl, pushing her shades back up her muzzle with a hoof. "But I think it's something pretty important."

"Indeed it is," agreed Jace. "Now come on: we don't have all day." With that, he brought the Calling Card to his lips and whispered into it: "Zeke, come on out, man."

Only two seconds after the command was made, a torrent of black shot out from the middle of the hourglass and soared into the air before turning around and colliding into the ground. The black torrent soon took the from of a very familiar reaper, holding a very familiar scythe.

But they were visited with a very unfamiliar greeting.

"Haaay~," gushed Zeke in a metrosexual tone. This entrance was rewarded with a laugh from the others. He returned to being solemn by saying, "You rang, Jace?"

"Mm-hmm. We gotta visit Aksheal--" began Jace.

"--Like I don't already know that--"

"And we would like you to watch over the Calling Card. Is that alright?"

"Alright, then. Hurry up, though. I hate being the center of attention, what with being seven-and-a-half feet tall and comprised of bones and all."

"Welcome to my world. Please enjoy your stay here," deadpanned Praxis.

Jace set the Calling Card upon the soil of the alley. The skull on the hourglass's top gave off its light cone, and Jace, Praxis, Vinyl entered the Dream Realm Markarth, while Zeke remained in the outside world to look after the Calling Card. Otherwise, somepony could foolishly pick it up and do Celestia-knows-what to it.

Zeke let out a sigh. "Dear Celestia, I am now bored out of my mind...."

---

Aksheal turned and closed the book he was reading. He saw the three materialize before him. He pulled down the hood he was wearing and saw the three fall on top of each other like they usually do when they enter. "Still haven't gotten use to materialization..." He huffed, keeping a straight face as he put the book down and walked around the table he had been standing behind. He waved his hand for them to follow, and they all obliged with neither questions nor hesitation.

After many flights of stairs they came to a large open room with chest lining the walls. There was a pentagram in the center of the room and weapon racks stood next to the chests.

"Jeez, man, ever thought of adding some elevators?" Praxis wheezed as he sat on the floor and rubbed his tired legs. They were twelve stories below where they were.

"Aww, I'm sorry, does the goat need a tin can to regain his energy?" Aksheal mused cruelly. Praxis shot him a menacing look, but was interrupted by the red glow in Aksheal's hand. "I wouldn't look at me that way if I were you."

"Ba-a-a-a!" Praxis bleated in fright at what Aksheal would do. Instead, Aksheal turned his open palm towards one of the weapons racks and waved his hand toward himself. The rack slid across the floor and stopped in front of Praxis.

"For saving the CMC and trying to help Big Mac in the fire, you may choose one out of three weapons for your reward," Aksheal said as he moved his hand over the weapons on the rack. Vinyl lifted her glasses above her eyes, staring wondrously at a pair of white-and-blue gloves on the rack with diamonds on the back of the hands. Praxis eyed over all the weapons: the gloves, a weapon that looked like a pair of silver knuckle dusters, yet with glowing red gems above each finger hole, and a four-foot long Oriental scimitar. He settled on the scimitar that had caught his eye last. He picked up the sword by its gold and leather-bound hilt and examined it carefully, taking interest to a soft green Chinese dragon that was ornately painted on the blade and the three golfball-sized, forest green gems that were encased in the shiny material it was made out of.

"Ahh, Typhoon. A fine choice..." Aksheal complimented as he slid the rack back into place and took the sword into his hands. "Now, this blade was found in the old times of Markarth. Made of a silver dragon's scale and wrought with pure gold, it is as durable as titanium and sharp enough to cut obsidian. The gems of the blade are called Tempest Jades, magical gems that the wizard Marrin had put into the blade during its construction. He put an enchantment in the gems, making them act as... leeches, if you will, because when the blade spills the blood of your enemies at least three times, the gem at the hilt will glow, and the power of the blade increases. After the ninth kill has been dealt by the blade, the dragon shines like the sun and - if willed by the user - can send out deadly magical winds that slash through the toughest of metal." Aksheal turned heel and stared at the pentagram. He held his hand up and the red glow shined for a few seconds before a small group of demons rose from the pentagram. While their arms were replaced with long and sharp blades, they didn't move an inch, due to the fact that they were simply docile test dummies that Aksheal used for training. Aksheal walked up to one of the hideous creatures and sliced the head off of it. It fell to the ground, spurting a black liquid from where its head once was. A white smoke came from the body and was absorbed in the Tempest Jade at the hilt of the sword. As Praxis leaned in to get a closer look at it, he noticed that the smoke from earlier was swirling around inside the jade at the hilt.

"One..." Aksheal counted as he walked to the next demon. Repeating the same thing, the white mist flew into the same gem, accumulating and swimming around with the essence inside. "Two..." He did it once more, and when the demon's essence was absorbed by the same gem, it seemed to become illuminated, making its jewel prison shimmer a bright and vibrant green. "Three. The first jade is powered." He went through the next three swiftly and the gem inside the dragon's underbelly glowed the same bright green as its sibling. "Six. Now the second gem is powered..." The next three went down without difficulty and the last gem in the dragon's mouth had glowed green. "Nine. The third jade is now powered." As the jewel glowed, the scimitar's dragon soon glowed the same color as the gems it harbored. "Now, observe...." He walked in the center of the pentagram. "Stand back please..." The three did as they were instructed before what seemed to be an entire armada of demons arose from the pentagram and surrounded Aksheal on all sides. Aksheal stood calmly as he raised the blade and swung it in a horizontal fashion, spinning around one time.

"Hurricane of Razors!" He bellowed as the blade slashed through the air and made it whistle slightly. An eruption of winds came from the blade as the slash went through the environment and revolved around Aksheal. The razor-sharp gusts of wind sounded like a vicious tornado as they made their way towards the army of demons. Vinyl turned away when they made contact, the winds dicing the army to bits without any problems. The gems' glow faded as Aksheal flicked the blade to the ground, the blood flinging off of the sword and splattering upon the floor. He then looked towards Praxis. "That, is the power of this blade."

"Whoa.... Nice choice, Praxis!" Vinyl congratulated as she patted Praxis on the back. Aksheal, with another crimson glow of his hands, had summoned a black scabbard for Typhoon. The scabbard was wide enough to hold the scimitar, and was magnificently decorated with a similar soft-green Chinese dragon spiraling from the bottom of the scabbard all the way to the top of it.

"No kidding," added Jace. "That blade AND that scabbard look pretty swanky. But... what's with the dragon being on the scabbard and the sword?"

"Well, the weapon was named after the dragon. It was known as Táifēng in ancient China, and legends say that it usually dwells in high mountain regions, where the winds are strong and the skies are clear," answered Aksheal as he sheathed Typhoon and hovered it over to Praxis. He took the scabbard's belt strap and buckled it securely around his waist. He buckled and tightened a second strap in the middle of the scabbard above his left knee so that the sword wouldn't bounce on his leg when he was on the move. Praxis was at a loss of words, eyes wide from it all. He was unsure of what to do, or how to thank the god of Markarth for his clothes and his new sword. So he did the one thing that he thought would appease Aksheal the best.

He got down to one knee, bowing his head low and placing a fist upon his chest to show his gratitude. "Thank you, Aksheal."

"Get up, you fool," the deity simply replied.

"I- wait, what?"

"You heard me, Praxis. You bow to no one, understand?"

Praxis got up from the ground of the training room, complete mortification etched into his face at his blunder. "Yyyeah, I'm an idiot."

"Aw, don't worry about it," Aksheal said, waving his hand to dismiss the problem. "You didn't really know, so it isn't really your fault." He then turned towards Jace and Vinyl. "And I'd hate to see you two leave empty-handed. You may take your pick of any of the weapons here."

Vinyl make a beeline for the gloves the second the words escaped Aksheal's mouth. Jace went to walk around the training room, looking for the right weapon. Vinyl used her magic to don her new tools of combat, and gave them a look of reverence as the tubes for the fingers receded into the gloves. The hoofwear actually became fitted for hooves rather than for the hands of humans.

"Ah, so you like the Chaos Gloves, don't you, Vinyl?" Aksheal asked. The DJ gave a vigorous nod.

"Yes, hoh my gosh!" Vinyl exclaimed.

"Good. It's another excellent choice. With the Chaos Gloves, anything you think of becomes reality."

"Whoa... that reminds me of all those Magic Lantern comics from fillyhood." All of those days reading about the Pegasus pony with the superpowered bracelet and his adventures to fight aliens had sent waves of nostalgia crashing into Vinyl.

"And with good reason, too: they are capable of doing the things that Magic Lantern's bracelet could do. Marrin, who also created these Gloves, infused their Shadow Fiber with the ichor of a draconnequis... who was not Discord!" Aksheal reassured Vinyl when he saw her look of worry and fear at the mention of a draconnequis. "But it was a draconnequis nonetheless. Now that I think of it, there are a few draconnequi dwelling in the kingdom of Markarth. They are mostly benign, of course, but... thousands of years ago, there was an army of them, and they wreaked disharmony and chaosat a destructive level. That was when everyone - ponies, humans, griffins, dragons - EVERYone decided to take up arms and fight them before Markarth became an exact replica of Tartarus. The jewels on the Gloves are known as Havoc Diamonds - also created by Marrin - and they act like Praxis' Tempest Jades, yet each Diamond only requires two kills to be charged. And because draconneqi are creatures of chaos, their ichor, their golden blood, were perfect for enchanting things and strengthening them, like clothes and weapons.

"Speaking of weapons, it's time to be practical." Aksheal's fist was shrouded in a crimson aura once more as his pointed his hand to the pentagram. Five demon dummies had risen from the floor, standing motionless as they gazed off into space. "Try to imagine hitting them with, say... a bow and arrow."

"Alright!" exclaimed Vinyl. She pointed her right front hoof towards the dummy on the far left. The hoof-encasing glove glowed golden as she narrowed her eyes in concentration, and a shimmering golden mirage of a composite bow had appeared, unimaginably sharp arrow pulled back along the bowstring. Vinyl willed the bow to fire its projectile. The arrow was launched through the air and impaled itself into the skull of the inanimate demon. The dummy fell to the floor, its black blood squirting out of the exit wound. She shot another one that stood next to its fallen ally and killed it, but something seemed a little wrong when the arrow and the bow vanished. Vinyl was panting rather heavily, chest rising and falling with each labored breath. She watched the demons' white essence flow into each of the Havoc Diamonds, which glowed slightly brighter than before they slaughtered their victims.

"Alright, Vinyl!" Jace cheered from the other side of the room. Praxis gave a small round of applause, amazed at what he saw.

"Wh... what gives, Aksheal? How the hell... am I tired... after the second shot?" Vinyl asked between pants before shaking her head.

"Hmm... " Aksheal gave his bearded chin a rub as he pondered the reason for this peculiarity. "Well," he finally answered. "Not only are you tired from how much mana the Chaos Gloves can sap out of you, but because your magical endurance isn't exactly..." he hesitated, trying to find the right words to say. "...up to par." He then turned to Praxis. "Wanna give Typhoon a test run?" Aksheal gave the satyr a bit of a challenge by enchanting the demon on the far right to attack him, rather than being still.

Praxis set down his bag and drew his sword. "With pleasure!" he answered. Praxis ran to the demon and parried a slash from the blade-arm of his opponent. The demon sent a stab that Praxis spun on his heel to sidestep. At the end of his spin, Praxis punched the dummy's face with his free left hand, making his foe back away from the blow. The demon charged, blade-arm cocked back to deliver another stab. Praxis sidestepped again and swung Typhoon upward, slicing off the demon's blade-arm. He then rushed the dummy, stabbing it in the stomach. He gave it a hoof to the chest and kicked it away. He flicked the blade to the ground and let the blood fling off of it. The white smoke from the demon had flown into the jewel at the hilt as Praxis sheathed Typhoon and slung his bag over his shoulder again. He stepped out of the pentagram and took a seat next to Vinyl.

"Pretty good for a first-timer," she said.

"First-timer? I took fencing classes when I was 12," he told her. She scratched the back of her neck, going red at her foolishness.

"MY TURN!" shouted Jace giddily, holding a massive scythe. The haft of it it was about two yards long, the serrated blade of it half that length and a foot in width. At the top of the haft, where the blade exited, was a big black skull, its mouth open wide enough to expel the blade. A shiny black jewel the size of a baseball was embedded in each of the skull's eye sockets. Jace, holding the scythe in an upside-down style, swung it upwards into the demon in the middle. The dummy was lifted up into the air as the blade entered his belly and exited out his back, black blood streaking the blade. As Praxis leaned in closer he saw that the sharp points that serrated the scythe seemed a shade darker than the actual blade... almost like it had been melded there.

"Time to die!" yelled Jace as his hands glowed the same shade of red as Aksheal's. The sharp points soon began to move along the blade, ripping the enemy's abdomen as it traversed down the blade, sharply turning at the scythe's tip to travel along the top of it, into the top of the scythe's skull's mouth, and out the bottom of it, revolving along the blade like it was a chainsaw. The points were tearing the demon to pieces. Jace swung upwards and arced the scythe through the air, halving the demon from the stomach all the way to the head. The dummy fell to the floor, the white essence escaping its mutilated body and floating into the jewel in the scythe's skull's right eye socket.

"Oh-ho-ho!" Aksheal said. "It seems he's spotted the Chain Scythe." Vinyl's and Praxis' looks of confusions made him pursue in explaining the weapon's origin. "Allow me to clarify: the Death Jets at the skull's eye sockets were also founded and enchanted by Marrin, but they need five kills for a Jet to be charged. Aflatoon got bored one day and created the Chain Scythe. Being a satyr, he can work at lightning speeds and resist getting tired easily until he overworks himself. He spent a whole day and night making it. The haft and skull were made from sagewood, which is a very durable form of wood enchanted by the female druid, Gyaxala, because she focused more on nature and life than anything else. The blade is created from beryllium, and the serrating barbs are actually titanium barb wires melted into the blade. I helped enchant the blade and the barbs so that the two act as a chainsaw. What's more is that the Chain Scythe is collapsible, meaning that the skull and half of the haft can be folded up, allowing it to be more versatile."

"Yep, it's official. Jace won the 'Pick The Best Weapon' Competition. Do you agree, Vi?" said Praxis.

"Yep. I agree," Vinyl said.

"Alright, Jace, fun's over," announced Aksheal, banishing the demons and the large puddles of their blood with a snap of his fingers.

"Awww," groaned Jace as he folded the entire weapon into thirds: he apparently figured out how it worked while Vinyl and Praxis were dueling the dummies. "I was having fun, too... say, Aksheal, do you have something that'll carry this big-ass thing?"

"Why, certainly," Aksheal said. His hand glowed red again as he hovered a pair of crossed belts over to him. As Jace walked over to see it, he spotted that the belts had a thin bar on the back, right below where the neck meets the shoulders. On that bar was a small rounded rectangle, with clasps on its top and bottom. Jace slipped the belts on, and placed the collapsed scythe through the top clasp. It rested on the bottom clasp, which didn't open to let the scythe fall. Jace tugged the scythe down, and the bottom clasp was flung ajar as the Chain Scythe came loose of its holster. He put it back in.

"Niiiiice," Jace said. "Is that all, Aksheal?"

"Mm-hmm," Aksheal replied. "You can leave now, you three. And enjoy your new 'toys'!"

With that, the three of them began to glow brighter and brighter as they left the Dream Realm. They vanished with a small pop. Aksheal left the training room and ascended the many staircases.

"Son of a bitch, that satyr had a point. I need an elevator...."

Comments

[Gigabyte]

Bad. Ass.

Let me bring my own weapon to the table.

4.bp.blogspot.com/_u2NDc3T-AYk/Sb8fSN1KsCI/AAAAAAAAACs/zrx1zwHwook/s400/sean_mcnally_blade_01.jpg

Let's see how my enemies like the smell of organs burning.

[the other sans]

Elevators, the solution to all problems (regarding to stairs)

587786 Hmm... that weapon seems to have a familiar concept to the one in Dead Space 3. Did you take some idea from that of maybe another source?

[Gigabyte]

590197Mate. It's an energy sword from halo. O-o

[the other sans]

591358Never played Halo so iono.

[Knighthawker]

I love the power glove. Its so bad.

[dragenfire68]

that last line there about the escalator was funny as hell

[megamataman]

587786
I belive my weapon is *slightly* more powerful than yours
static.comicvine.com/uploads/original/12/123441/3227218-4.jpg

[Leviatah-13]

3208502 ...i dont need to kill to win i just have to see your future and ran off