All the Trolls. ALL OF THEM.

by Alex Prior

Act 2 Chapter 1

Act Two

Begin Chapter One
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“So… let me get this straight,” Vantas said. The trolls, who had before been celebrating their victory and escape over the ponies, were now quietly gathered round Vantas, taking in Zahhak’s story. “You’re telling me that this is not the only Equestria, that there are in fact multiple Equestrias, each with possibly radically different timelines and events, and that we can create tokens to send into the void in exchange for being randomly summoned by a variety of beings throughout the multiverse. And you figured all this out because you’re a void player. Correct?” Zahhak nodded in response. “Jeez. And I thought dreambubbles were complicated.”

“Wwhy wwould wwe do that, though?” Ampora asked. “It seems to me that wwe’re busy enough as it is.”

“D --> If you let them use yours, they’ll let you use theirs.”

As if on cue, tokens, all the tokens, in almost every form imaginable poured out of the ceiling. The trolls took several seconds to stare in amazement at the accumulating pile of crap on the lab floor, until Vantas spoke up. “Where are they coming from? Is there a fucking portal in the roof?”

“Just another motherfucking miracle,” was Makara’s helpful input.

“D --> Yes actually,” Zahhak said. “I mean, yes Vantas. There is a portal in the roof.”

“Oh. Um.. well then.”

“We sh0uld d0 this!” Megido spoke up. “I mean, imagine it! Allies fr0m acr0ss the multiverse, at 0ur beck and call!”

“Hmph. So long 4s w3 run 3rr4nds for th3m,” Pyrope muttered. “4nd how 3x4ctly w1ll w3 m4k3 th3s3 ‘tok3ns?’”

“D --> I can apply the necessary enchantments. I will be sure to make them of considerable STRENGTH. All you need do is provide the base object and your message to the multitudes.”

“And wwhere are wwe supposed to get these base objects?” Ampora asked. Zahhak pointed behind him, to the lab full of Cruxtruders, Alchemiters, and Totem Lathes.

“...Oh.”

-----
Twilight Sparkle sat alone in her living room, lying on the couch staring at the ceiling. The books were all set neatly on the shelves, and for that she was thankful, because she didn’t have the energy to go reorganizing them again. After the guards had left, she’d come home and flopped exhausted on her couch. She’d woken up but a few hours before, and had been replaying the previous night’s events over and over, repeatedly seeing where it all went wrong.

“Hey, Twilight?” Spike asked, carrying a tray over to her. “I brought you some tea.” He set the tray down on the coffee table, and noticed that Twilight made no move to reach for her mug. “Twilight? Are you OK?”

“I don’t know, Spike,” Twilight moaned. “I just keep seeing last night over and over, and thinking about how I could’ve prevented what happened. If I’d just been quicker, or thought a bit faster, we could’ve beaten those trolls then and there. I just...”

“Twilight, er- do you want to talk about it?”

“...No,” Twilight said. “No, I just want to lay back and think.” Noticing that Spike didn’t turn to leave , she asked, “Spike? Is there anything you want to talk about?”

“Well… I guess,” Spike admitted. “See I’m sorry, Twilight. I’m sorry I’m so useless. No!” he cried, holding up a finger to silence his surrogate mom, “Don’t say 'You’re not useless, Spike,' because I am! Last night, you all went up there and you stood up to those trolls, and all I could think to do was hide in here. I could’ve helped, I’m a dragon for pony’s sake, and yet…”

“Oh, Spike,” Twilight said, grabbing the young drake with her magic and levitating him closer. “I’m glad you didn’t fight. Do you know why?” She wrapped Spike in a tight hug. “Because I love you Spike. And I’d hate to see you get hurt. You’re just a child, and I know sometimes I’m not around enough to be there for you, but hear me now. I love you, Spike, and I’ll always be there to protect you.”

“I love you to, Twilight,” Spike said. The two hugged, and the Library got just a little bit cosier. The floating hand was ignored by everyone present.

-----
Zahhak did his token first. “D --> Strength equals weakness,” he intoned, before dropping a bow into a pit conjured by void majyyks. “D --> Call upon your strength and snap this bow.” He turned away from the pit and gestured for the next troll to step forth.

Megido brought forwards an old-style clockface, with the hands positioned at 6:12. “When the cl0ck strikes twelve, the Maid 0f Time shall arrive by the final bell,” she chanted, depositing the timepiece into the portal.

Captor stepped forth, holding out a copied pair of his blue/red glasses. “Iif you want 2omethiing hacked quiickly and don’t miind the occa2iional de2tructiion, II’m your troll,” he muttered, letting the frames fall into the pit.

Leijon held out a pair of clawed gloves. “:33 < If you need help from this kitty, scratch your itch and the cat shall pounce!” She tossed the gloves into the pit.

Both Vantas and Pyrope stepped up, to the curiosity of their peers. Between Vantas’s fingers was a coin, with the sign of Blood on one side, and the sign of Mind on the other. “Need Vengeance? N33d Just1c3? Call Trollcops! Just fl1p th3 co1n 4nd w3’ll b3 th3r3!” they said, dropping the coin into the portal.

Maryam stepped up next, clutching a tube of lipstick that the rest strongly suspected was also a chainsaw. ““I Am A Caretaker. A Healer. I... Help People. If You Need My Help, Please Call Out. I Shall Not Refuse.”

Serket came forth, a magic 8 ball in her grip, Nitram following behind. “If you find yourself in need of a pir8, call for Mindfang and the Toreador. We are simply the 8est there are,” she said.

Makara stepped up, grinning wildly. In his hands he held the greatest friend anyone ever had that also creeped them out: Lil Cal. “HAA HAA HEE HEE HOO HOO!” he cackled, drawing disturbed stares from the rest.

Finally came Ampora and Peixes, the later holding a golden coin with the symbols of Aquarius and Pisces engraved on either side. “If you wwant a wwuss, wwe are not your choice. On t)(e ot)(er fin, if you want a competent pair, we ARE, in fact, your c)(oice. Choose wwisely.” The pair let the last token drop into the pit. Zahhak summoned his powers of void and the portal slowly faded away.

The trolls stood around for another few seconds, smiling to themselves. “............ Well, that happened,” Captor said.

-----
*Ding dong*

“No, Spike, I’ll get it,” Twilight ordered, getting up from her couch. She opened the door. “I’m sorry, but due to recent events the Golden Oaks Library is currently- Princess Luna!” Twilight stepped back to let Luna in. “I’m sorry Princess,” she stumbled as the Princess trotted inside. “I didn’t know it would be you, and I-”

“Cease, Twilight Sparkle,” Luna said. Twilight’s mouth locked itself shut as Luna said, “Come. Let us sit. We have much to talk about.”

Spike brought out some more tea as Luna took a seat in the recliner across from Twilight’s couch. The Princess took a sip of her tea as Twilight waited patiently for her to finish.

“To begin, Twilight, We owe ye an apology,” she said.

“Ugh, what is it with everypony today apologizing to me!” Twilight cried. “If anything, I should be apologizing to you. You fought all those powerful trolls and I just…”

“Twilight Sparkle, please believe Us when We say that what We did last night was nothing special. Dare We say is was in truth rather pathetic of Us, to be bested so easily. Ye shall’nt remember given how ye weren’t yet alive, but even before Our… corruption, Our Sister and We were feared throughout the fields of battle as two of the greatest warriors alive. Monsters quaked in our presence, armies crumbled beneath our hooves, only the truly deranged dared stand against us. To be bested so easily, to face such difficult opposition… t’was an eye-opening experience.

And worse, to have Our very mind sullied by the touch of The Controller, to fall into his hypnotic grip and attack Our very allies. We owe ye three apologies, Twilight Sparkle: one for failing to best the enemy, one for failing to resist their assaults upon Our mind, and one for attacking thee.”

“Princess Luna,” Twilight said. “Really, there’s no need for all this apologizing. You were fantastic yesterday, it was me who should’ve done better.”

Luna gave Twilight a cold, disappointed look, piercing through her eyes straight to her mind. “It was not thy responsibility to best these foes,” she said. “It was Ours. We fear Our words do not do our former strength justice, so this will have to do. If We were anywhere near as powerful as We should’ve been, the Gods would’ve lasted less than five minutes.”

Twilight gave a shiver, breaking Luna out of her serious trance. “Ah, but tis not worth regret,” the princess decided, taking a sip of her tea. “We’d come here not simply to apologize, Twilight Sparkle. We’d come also to announce that we’re taking leave for a good while.”

“You’re leaving?” Twilight asked. “Where? For how long?”

“Of this, We can give no definitive answer,” Luna said, taking another gulp of tea. “We know but this- We shall go and train ourselves to Our former glory, the skill and power We should possess. And We shall return when We are ready and We shall crush the Doomed Gods like maggots beneath Our hooves.”

“Uhm…” Twilight said, nervously. “Err- does Princess Celestia know of this?”

Luna gave a sly smile. “Despite what she may think, she needs not know everything.”

“Alright then,” Twilight said. “I don’t suppose you’d like to stay for awhile. I could show you around town, and we could all send you off.”

“No, no,” Luna objected. “We planned for just a short visit. We’ve not time for such affairs.”

“Oh come on,” Twilight said. “It’ll be fun.”

“Well… alright,” Luna surrendered. “But only because thy assistant brews such wonderful tea.”

“He does, doesn’t he,” Twilight smiled, taking a sip from her own mug. Glancing outside, she spotted the mailbox, with its red flag-thingy turned up. “Spike!” she called. “Mail’s here!”

“Already?” Spike asked, opening the door. “Jeez, day’s gone by quick. Well, at least Twilight’s feeling better,” he said, mostly to himself, as he ambled down the little path that led to the mailbox. He glanced inside, spotting the pair laughing at something- probably Pinkie’s new horns, which had turned out to be permanent, somehow. Rarity was looking into hats.

Spike reached the mailbox. He stuck out his little hand and pulled open the lid, and suddenly there was a great ball of fire and a rush of smoke and a peace-shattering BOOM!!! as the mailbox exploded and Spike felt the world around him slip away.

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End Chapter One

Author's Note:

Slightly shorter chapter, but hey! Tokens!

And speaking of danger...

Comments

[SpyketheRAWRCat]

I SMELL A FAIRY TAIL REFERENCE HERE....

[Alex Prior]

7027160
...Unless my co-author was being clever, it was probably unintentional.

[Caldoric]

7027328

Question... Can a "player" die on either a quest bed or sacrifice slab that corresponds to their assigned element, yet originates from a different "session" than their own, and still attain their god-tier?

Also, would there happen to be god-tier elevation items such as those in your story? (Still reading, but I'm asking anyways just in case. I may have need of a Space bed, but I'm not sure yet.)