The Fates We Weave
Stardust
“What do you mean you can’t find her!” Somepony shouted outside.
I hid behind the wall both thankful of my luck and cursing it at the same time. The upper floors were in a panic as they were trying to find me. The fire was a good idea as it brought everyone to deal with the fire…
The only problem was that instead of an orderly fashion they flooded towards the burning room from every corridor. I sighed in relief as I was safely hidden away in one of the secret parts of the castle.
Either this place really was built as part “funhouse” or the original builders kept many hidden passages just in case the wild creatures from the Everfree forest ever got inside the castle. Considering what little upkeep it had been given over the years I’m not sure if the pony who built this place was a genius for how long this castle has stood… or possibly insane for building it in the Everfree forest in the first place.
I really wish I had paid more attention to history class.
I sighed as I tried to bring up any knowledge that could help me. Fun houses used tricks to move a pony about. Trick houses or those places with secret passages in murder mysterious had rooms with dimensions off so find rooms that were off were your best bet of moving about unseen.
Of course hidden passages built for escape… either they were built to reach the next passage or strung out in a manner that operated on day to day functions. That required knowing how the castle was built and more importantly the room layout. You wouldn’t find a secret passageway in a kitchen, but throne room or “boss’s bedroom” where the only tunnels out of the castle.
“And I highly doubt I could put on a sexy dress to trick him to letting me in the room before a smashed a vase across his head.” I joked to myself “Nope. Just chemical explosives and…”
My mouth ran dry for just a second as I realized a vital flaw in my plan. This was a Castle in the Everfree forest. How in Celestia’s name would I get back home? I mean out in the open everypony is trying to find me, but in the forest? I had no idea which direction I should go!
My head started to ache as I tried figuring a way out of this mess.
Forest had animals. Animals had sensitive noses. Creatures in the Everfree forest stayed away from Poison Joke due to it’s harmful effects. All I needed was a few blue flowers and something to wrap them up in.
I needed curtains.
“Find the entrance hallways and steal some curtains or something.” I slowly replied as I walked down the tunnel “Now only if I had Rarity’s dress making skills. Then I could properly make something that would be hard to run in.”
Maybe if I was lucky one of the groups would talk about the location of a nearby town. After all they had to get their food from somewhere.
******
Lockheart
I rubbed my aching head as I tried to figure out where I was now. Maxwell was getting on my nerves and I wasn’t about to let him find out about my alternative method of feeding/refilling my magic.
Then there were all those statues and one of them… somehow had a slide attached to it or something as I was split up from Maxwell. Now I was lost in the castle with no idea on where to go... unless I tried to find the Elements of Harmony.
The hallways were oddly deserted as I found one of the rooms I was looking for. Well a section of the room at least as I didn’t see where the pony version of Necronomicon or Drug Abuse was hidden away. Either they hadn’t found it yet or they thought it was too dangerous to use.
Hopefully they stayed away from any evil or creepy looking objects that stand out in a land full of sun shine and rainbows. While the broken down castle was placed in a forest full of monsters… in a land ponies couldn’t use their magic to tame the land…
I smacked myself in the head and muttered “It really is an evil villain fortress. All that’s missing is a monolog and a badly dressed villain! The only thing that makes this place seem “friendly” is that it belonged to Celestia and Luna and of course Ponyville being close to it.”
How the heck was the Everfree Forest kosher in Equestria?
I sighed as I started to look through the books in this section of the library. I wasn’t cracking them open and reading them, but I did skim through the covers trying to see if any interested me or could possibly help me. Worse come to worse I shove in my saddle bags with the rest of items I had found. If only I had more time or if this place wasn't filled with so many crazed enemies.
sigh
Information was important so I looked at the covers on every book on magic or possible journals left by Celestia and/or Luna. If I was going to be stuck in Equestria lore and magic were important things I needed to know. I sat on one of the cushions for a moment and took a deep breath as I felt the subtle tug of warped emotions pollute the air.
Honestly it felt sickening trying to feed on it, but my magic was low and I found a place to rest. If I just stayed calm and try to keep my mind of the bitter distaste of my current actions I would be fine. Hopefully I could gather up enough magic to deal with whatever disaster struck me next.
So I did the one thing I hoped I wouldn’t have to do for a good long time. I thought about my situation and my plans for the future.
Did changelings have any sort of natural anti-mind control ability like how Earth Ponies deal with nature and Pegasi can naturally fly or walk on clouds? If that didn’t work would gorging on emotion work? Would I have to try unleashing chaos magic and hope the fallout didn’t screw me over?
I felt the locket around my neck grow heavy at that thought. Celestia made it for me to help deal with the chaos magic and I honestly had no idea how to use it. My small bag of tricks included illusions. I had some subtle mind magic, and of course alteration magic always helped. What little necromancy I knew would be worthless in a fight. Heck the only weapon I had was just a "one trick shot" that would be rendered completely useless after I used it.
Even then it wasn't a complete guarantee.
“All it would take is a big burly tank to beat me to death.” I muttered to myself in annoyance. “So what about a plan B?”
They didn’t have the Elements of Harmony and I could find it thanks to my quest system made by Discord. I could grab the Elements of Harmony… but what then?
“Do I just leave them here for them to find?” I muttered to myself “Blackmail might work… of course using them as a bargaining chip against Duran wouldn’t work out to well.”
I had seen one too many shows where they villain side simply double crossed the heroes. Heck I wasn’t even sure if Duran wouldn’t try taking it by force or be enraged that he couldn’t find it while living here and I found it in just a few hours.
Of course if I did find them what would I do with them? Stuff them in the saddle bag? Try to keep one away from them so they couldn’t complete their crazy scheme? Trade one for Stardust… keep the rest hidden and then have Celestia clean up the mess?
“Take Discord’s deal?” Whispered an acidic voice in the back of my mind. “One piece of harmony for one shot at Immortality.”
I ignored the voice as I went onto the second issue. What the heck do I do with the rest of the former humans? Let’s say I get Celestia and her Royal Guard captures everyone without any bloodshed or problems?
I rolled my eyes as I heard myself say “Here’s a bunch of Former Humans who kidnapped and brainwashed your subjects.”
I could see the look of confusion on Celestia’s face and the upcoming death threats and attempts on my life from my former members of humanity. That’s not even including Equestria’s population! Take Luna for an example!
One shot of the Nightmare parasite to make Nightmare Moon. One thousand years down the line she is still feared as a foal eating monster. Heck Luna doesn’t even look like Freaking Nightmare Moon! Nightmare Moon has shark teeth, reptile eyes, and a bunch of other details and they couldn’t separate Nightmare Moon from Luna!
If they couldn’t take the redemption of Celestia’s own sister then how the hell could I convince them that humanity (and me by inclusion) wasn’t a bunch of blood thirsty heartless brain washing monsters!
Of course even if they did get captured how the heck could they be contained? A unicorn could simply dump some points into Teleportation. Earth Pony would dump some points to pretend to be the Incredible Hulk. I don’t know what for pegasi, but every race properly has some get out of jail card.
So throwing them in jail would only end with a bunch of angry people escaping with a grudge against me. Heck how where they going to even use the Elements of Harmony to get home? My only guess would be to de-curse Discord and try to threaten him to poof them back home.
That would obviously end badly… either making the Elements go poof and trapping them in a world full of chaos… or possibly sending them back to earth… but not as humans. That would go down horribly for them back home.
Ways back home would be to either find out how this twisted game worked… if there even was a way back home at the end of the twisted joke… or try to use one of Celestia’s reality mirror things. I mean Pony Earth version isn’t that far off… and the people are hopefully better than regular earth.
“At the very least I’ll get to eat hamburgers and have the internet.” I sighed “Of course it only works every two and a half years or something.”
“Do you want to even leave?” The acidic voice replied again “Just one soul out of a million trying to crave a piece of life out for themselves. A lot of people would literally kill to be in Equestria. Heck you’re doing something instead of just being a minor cog in the machine called life back home. ”
I glanced at my side as I stared at my fake cutie mark. I didn’t belong here. I wasn’t even a pony as I was some sort of emotion vampire. I’m a race that every living soul fears and the rest of the players would properly out right kill me if they found out I was a changeling. Staying in Equestria wasn’t exactly safe for me either.
Back home if I barely knew what I was doing I could either make due or lose a paycheck or my job. In Equestria… I could die.
“I don’t even want to think about the time differences.” I muttered “Is it normal time or like that one TV show with the kids at Summer camp where a few months only ended up as a few hours.”
I go back home only to have missed a few hours as I’m forced to pretend all of this was some crazy dream or try to repress it all… or I along with hundreds if not thousands of other people went missing for weeks. Best case I end up as “found” as I’ll return home to a lot of bills and missing payments I suddenly need to pay off. Worst case the public or the government tries to make me tell them where I had been.
Either option wasn’t really that great.
I felt my hooves itch as I glanced at the menu again… The Elements of Harmony. I could just take one of them. Use it to get close to Duran or Stardust… sucker punch the guards and then bolt for it. With one Element of Harmony in hand I could blackmail Celestia into dealing with these creeps and then try to either piece together some sort of plan or simply craft myself a new persona.
I bit my lip and shoved it all aside as I stared into a nearby mirror and said “Who cares? You hate Duran. Duran want’s the Elements of Harmony. Just take one. Then grab Stardust and bolt. Worst case you run into a trap and go nuts with chaos magic. Otherwise you get what you need to have Sun Butt torch every mind bender in this place. She can deal with the PR nightmare as you can make as many fake cutie marks and disguises as you freaking want! So shut up and deal with this mess instead of worrying about the insanity of your current situation!”
I nodded to my reflection and followed the arrow to the Elements of Harmony.
******
Valkyrie
I coughed as I tried to wave the dust out of my eyes and tried to recall what had happened in the last few seconds.
I did something stupid. I tried to save the Twilight Replacement Copy and then I pissed off everyone in the stands as they were getting ready to beat me senseless. Then Remedy’s horn started to glow and…
I rubbed my aching head “Oh right. That’s when everyone started swearing.”
It was hard to try to watch the level of chaos that filled the room and claim it was the same neat and orderly room as it looked as if something tried blowing up the place. Even then I could barely figure out where all the junk came from as the center of the room was a mixture between a hole and a hill as the floors had caved in… yet also a ton of items fell on them while the celling was still intact.
Was hammer space employed to make this possible?
Some parts of the rubble started to move as I prepared myself for round two. The cursing curse took out a lot of the players, but there were still enough to cause a lot of pain and trouble for us to deal with. Fake Applejack and Rainbow Dash just stood still like statues waiting for their next order or something. Fake Twilight tried to move, but her body was essentially frozen stiff.
This was going to be a hard fight and unlike them I haven’t had any experience fighting humans.
The first pony pushed them self out of the rubble as the yellow coat and blazing red mane pony got up. He wasn’t exactly large like Bic Mac… but he was buff. What surprised me the most was that the earth pony had a cutie mark... a cutie mark of a bull’s skull. The kind you see in deserts or wild west movies.
He spat out the dirt and grim in his mouth and cursed out loud “Fucking Bullshit!” He turned around clawing his hoof into the ground “You used some Fucking Bullshit magic spell to screw us over bitch? Well tough luck bitch, because I’m god dam fucking immune!”
Instead of a hail of chaos or some other disaster ready to strike him with the wrath of Celestia herself he charged after Remedy. Remedy’s horn glowed as magic started to form around the cursing pony’s legs only for it to fizzle out as something sparkled around his neck. Steel quickly swung his halberd drawing blood as he forced the cursing pony to turn away.
The cursing pony growled as the blood red gash across his side bleed profusely as Steel held his halberd ready to strike again. To everyone’s surprise the cursing pony only laughed as the wound started to close up in a matter of seconds.
He grinned as he wiped the blood off his coat only to reveal the wound was gone. “Sorry little shits, but you’re playing in the big leagues now.”
I snapped my wings open ready to help only for something to snap around them as I fell to the ground. Some sort of balls attached to a string kept them tied up as another one wrapped itself around my back legs tying me up.
“Well now Sheela.” A really bad impersonation of an Australian accent joked out loud “Three against one isn’t really fair is it?”
The sky blue coat Pegasus grinned as he adjusted his gray Fedora hat over short brown hair. He lacked a cutie mark like me, but the way he grinned properly meant he wasn’t a push over.
“Funny thing about cursing is that it only works when you shout the right swears.” He gloated as he pulled out two more ball rope things from his saddle bags with his wings with the same flexibility as if he still had hands… I need to figure out how to do that. “Still you might make a fine Dashy.”
I pushed myself off the stage as one of the ball ropes were thrown at me only to crash near my neck. This was not good!
******
Lockheart
I walked across the room as I found what I was looking for. One stone brick wall stood in my way as the blinking arrow pointed straight at it. I sighed in a mixture of annoyance and sorrow as the green flames wrapped around my right leg reforming a draconic limb so I could take off the locket Celestia made for me.
I could feel the chaotic flames start to boil in my chest as I stared at the wall in front of me. I spoke a single curse as the words became twisted into an eldritch tongue as the chaotic flames coated the wall. I took a step back as the wall began to warp and shift into itself. Pieces of it altered and changed before my very eyes until it settled down to the form of a big red door.
I took a deep breath as I placed Celestia’s locket around my neck again “It’s now or never.”
I felt the clawed digits take hold of the door as I pulled it open. I couldn’t help but shut one of my eyes and hesitate before I quickly moved to the side expecting some sort of trap or sugary concoction to come flying out of the door. When nothing flew out to strike me I stared at the door excepting to see a brick wall or some other sick joke only to actually see the Elements of Harmony on it’s weird stand.
“One, two, three, four, five…” I counted out loud “Where is the sixth… oh right. Magic BS machina.” I tilted my head trying to look around the large stand “Or possibly just on the other side of the thing.”
I stretched my hand out to the first one I could see and felt my skin shiver as I quickly pulled it back as I stared at the room. Was there some sort of protection spell over the place? Possibly some sort of anti-evil aura set up to guard the orbs? I stared at the empty room as I couldn’t believe that this was all the defense these little rock orb sealed elements had.
Grant it they were essentially locked them up in a forest everyone is afraid filled with deadly monsters. Then they were placed in a castle built like a maze littered with traps and fun house reject projects. Then they were sealed in a room with no entrance as Celestia’s new castle was on a nearby mountain letting her get down here rather quickly if anything should happen…
“When you say it like that it doesn’t seem that bad.” I caught myself chuckling “To bad she’s off somewhere else.”
Not wanting to take a chance I focused on my horn as I levitated the first orb over to me. Honestly it felt horrible… not cursed retribution horrible, but more like carrying a bowling ball over your head as you feel like you’re going to drop it any second horrible.
I licked my lips as I brought it back over to me as green flames covered my fore legs granting me the use of both my hands again. I stopped as I stared at the orb as I couldn’t help but wonder how it worked.
I tried to smile as I felt like an idiot as I spoke to it “I’m just going to borrow you. Evil villain. Friends in danger. Celestia should be alerted by your theft letting her save everyone else… I mean everypony.”
No idea if that did anything, but hey… Talking to a rock may sound stupid until you realize that it came from a magic reality warping/fixing machine. That and all the fanon had crafted a lot of tricky little details. Like magic lock on rainbow wave and Thor hammer judgement.
I did not want to piss off the magic rock that could turn me to stone.
I took a deep breath as I grabbed the orb with my hands only for pain to shoot through my body. I felt like screaming for a moment as I knew something went horribly wrong. Was there some sort of protection spell? Where only those worthy were allowed to touch them?
“Just take an Element of Harmony.” Discord’s voice rang in my ears.
Green flames danced around the orb as I stared at in fear. The menu snapped open as Discord was doing a little victory dance. Discord’s quest wasn’t talking about me giving him an Element of Harmony or even keeping one… just taking one.
Pain wracked through my body as I screamed. My chest burned in pain as I struggled to breathe as my body was quickly becoming drenched in sweat. The orb moved closer to me as it touched my chest. My voice died at that moment as it started burning through my chest.
Discord’s laughter could be heard all around me. My own body started shifting and changing again. Each burst of green flames altering a piece of my body. Bones started cracking apart only to reform again as tears ran down my eyes. The orb was half way into my chest when my side felt like someone shoved a torch onto it.
It felt as if someone was taking a knife and carving an image into my very hide as the orb disappeared into my chest. I collapsed to the ground struggling in pain as my body reverted to the changeling form again. The other elements of harmony rested on the stand… and on my flank was a new cutie mark… in my changeling form.
It was a heart locket with a key. Expect this key had a starburst symbol on it. I didn’t need someone to take a guess what the hidden meaning could be as my heart started beating again. It was Discord’s own little joke with the subtly of a baseball bat to the knees. I get immortality… and the freaking Element of Magic is locked safely way in my heart.
The menu popped up as Discord’s voice chuckled “The Element of Honesty for one who always lies. Nice pick!”
“You suck.” I muttered in agony
Discord chuckled “Why you shouldn’t mind a few tiny scrapes considering you have your whole life ahead of you now! Oh and one last thing.”
With the sound of a snap the entire stand holding the other elements disappeared. I stared at it in horror. Oh shit.
“Now you don’t have to worry you head if it’s an Element of Magic, Honesty, or any other one from the whole collector’s set.” He sang cheerfully like a brat “Oh and the guards properly noticed that. If you want you can tell Celestia that you have one of the Elements locked away inside your heart… and just hope she doesn’t try ripping out your heart.”
That stupid Indiana joke played out from the menu “Cover your heart Indy!”
Discord laughed at the bad joke “Come to think of it… Lockheart really does fit you now. Are you locking away your feelings? Is it referring to the locked away a piece of magic trapped in your heart? Maybe it’s some two bit tale of destiny about somepony opening up the heart you locked away from the world? Which let’s face it… it’s going to hurt. Have Fun!”
I laid on my back forcing my disguise back up. The gray fur covered my body. The wings forming back again as my body didn’t have much time to recover… the cutie mark or “joke” was still seared onto my butt as it rested on my new disguise.
The problem with Discord is that he never makes you think straight. It’s always twists and turns where you think you can out think him or something. The truth is I made the same mistake the girls did when they tried to get the Elements of Harmony back from him.
I knew what he said. I thought I knew what he meant… but in the end. He already had a card to play as the real meaning of the phrase was utterly lost on me until I practically tipped on it only after I lost playing his game.
Sadly I don’t think a friendship report is going to solve this blunder.
******
Valkyrie
Something felt wrong. Horribly wrong as everyone in the room paused for a second. That’s when the scream came. The inhuman agonizing scream that reached into the back of your brain and racked it’s claws against your skull laughing.
Trying to explain it was like trying to explain the idea of nails of a chalk board. It wasn’t the sound that bothered you the most. It was the sudden shock and pain as something horrible was mixed into the painful melody that assaulted your ears.
It also bought me enough time to rip part of the rope freeing my legs as the blue Pegasus turned to face me again only this time I was prepared. He threw the weapon at me still unnerved from the sudden noise as I jumped straight at him. The rope crashed along the ground underneath my feet as I pounced on him like a savage animal.
I fought a freaking monster that looked like an eldritch horror as the train went up in flames! I wasn’t going to let a jerk in a hat and some creepy sounds stop me!
He screamed in fear as I hit him in his face with my gauntlets.
He was going to turn me into a Rainbow Dash clone.
My gauntlets struck his nose as blood started flowing out of it.
He had captured, tortured, and brainwashed innocent people as he pretended this was all some sort of game!
His wing moved to the saddle bag grabbing another rope. I slammed my hoof down on his wing and pulled down as the claws left blood gashes.
He gloated about it. He acted as if there was nothing wrong with what he did!
“Stop!” someone shouted as I lifted my hoof up.
Something grabbed it as I struggled to get free before I felt someone grab me from behind. I quickly grabbed the foreleg ready to snap their limb only for wings to wrap around me.
“It’s over.” Steel shouted as I felt my body freeze up “He’s down… he’s down.”
I looked back at the Pegasus before me as I couldn’t recognize him. His body was a mess as blood pooled from his body. Remedy’s magic began to shine as bandages were wrapped around his wounds. I felt sick to my stomach as it looked like he had been mauled to death by a wild bear. I was surprised he was still breathing.
In contrast my body was still brimming with energy as the power rush from the point dump still filled me with strength… strength that bothered me now.
Steel gently pulled me away as Remedy went to work on saving his life or at least keeping it stable. I looked at Steel as bags had formed under his eyes. Blood now stained his dirt brown coat as he kept his grip on me.
Two ponies were lying on the floor… one was a unicorn who’s horn was broken. The other was the red stallion as his blood covered the floor. A golden necklace with a black gem rested away from his body as a halberd rested nearby covered in blood. I stared at the stallion’s neck and saw the dozens of white bandages around it… I didn’t want to think about how Steel removed the amulet.
I looked back at the unicorn “What happened to her?”
Steel sighed as he looked tired “She used a silence spell on herself. Caught us by surprise since she didn’t make any noise… Remedy fought back as the mare specialized in fire spells.”
I just noticed the scorch marks on the walls and along the ground. A fireball is a standard attack in RPGs. Heck it’s unusual to not have fireballs in an RPG much less an MMO. Of course in a game it does a set amount of damage… in real life… it’s fire.
Maybe it might have the same cartoony logic as lightening for some aspects… but considering my lightning bolts tore through training dummies… It’s properly safe to say it was dangerous.
Steel shook his head as he stared at the scorch marks “I’ve fought in the Royal Guard. Recused ponies, fought bandits, but most of our efforts are focused on dealing with wild monsters. If a hydra goes berserk then the Royal Guard takes care of it before it rampages across a town… if a bandit strikes than they either flee or surrender before the might of the Royal Guard came down on them.”
Steel didn’t say anymore as I understood. The Royal Guard wasn’t a military force… it was a force… but it was somewhere in-between monster hunter and police officer. Kind of like how a SWAT team is different than a police officer, but neither of them are military soldiers.
I turned my head around as I remembered something important “The unicorn mare…”
I relaxed as I saw Remedy’s horn glow as the fake Twilight’s features seemed to turn less stiff. Sorrow now filled the former human’s face as she cried. She wasn’t stuck as a lifeless puppet, but she was a sobbing mess as she curled up on the floor. I didn’t like Remedy’s expression as she stared at the other two puppets.
Maybe they were just too far gone for her to help… hopefully she just needed help as the fake Twilight’s problem could be solved with a quick fix.
“Is Stardust back there?” I asked in a mixture of fear and hope.
I hoped she would be nearby. I hoped we would be able to find her before they did anything to her… or at least enough to quickly fix whatever they tried to do to her… after all fake Twilight didn’t seem completely brainwashed. Then again according to Maxwell’s story Duran just mind wiped his victims.
“But she wasn’t…” I looked back at fake Twilight in fear.
She continued to cry as I saw the tears were real and suddenly felt like a jerk. The fact there was more than one person doing mind control properly meant fake Twilight was lucky to have a two bit hack screw up instead of being face to face with Duran to have a full mind wipe.
It also meant we had a chance. If we went back with what we had we could convince Celestia to send the Royal Guard along with her to clear out this place. The fact we survived the battle meant our protection spells worked well enough for a much larger force to attack with Celestia guiding the assault herself.
“I don’t believe this…” Remedy spoke in shock as I went around the stage to her.
I stared at the makeshift dressing room. Each of the puppet versions of the Mane Six stood in their perspective booths. Two other version of Applejack just stood there as various paints and makeup stood by along with a check sheet.
Twelve different Pinkie Pies were placed around in her room as I could even see some pegasi and unicorns as the papers talked about trying to get the right… feeling for Pinkie Pie and her antics. Apparently it wasn’t enough to make a crazy pink pony. They wanted their version to also come with the Pinkie Pie tricks.
The failed version were either kept around in case the current version didn’t fit the bill or to be simply used as mannequins to figure out the right… makeup? Design? They turned living people into freaking props!
I felt a sick knot in my stomach as I stared at the section for Rarity. Dozens of items littered the room as a small version of Rarity had been turned into a living doll along with attempts to make the hair into the style Rarity had… yet Stardust wasn’t in the room.
She wasn’t here.
She was still missing.
******
Stardust
I held my breath not daring to make a sound as I crawled my way through the hidden hallway. Dozens of green sticky sacks and green glowing goo covered the walls as black creatures filled them.
I had no idea where they came from, but a part of my mind called them changelings… how did I know about a creature I had never seen before? I had talked about them on the train… yet…
Both my body and my thoughts froze as one of the green sacks shifted for a moment. Every hair on my body stood on end as the black insect like pony shifted in its sleep for a moment before staying still again. My eyes stayed fixated on the alien creature as it didn’t exactly match the changeling image that rested in the back of my mind.
These changelings had four wings spread out resting in the goo as some sort of stinger rested on it like a wasp. Even then unlike the pony form it seemed further warped or stretched resembling more like a xenomorphic than an actual pony.
Far away it might not seem like much, but up close I couldn’t help but feel the unnatural… wrongness of the creature before me. It was kind of like one of those warped pictures that either looked very cheesy or very creepy depending on your point of view.
The sound of hoof steps beat across the floor as I quickly ducked as part of the wall cracked open. Three ponies walked into the room carrying some sort of sack.
I slowly peeked out from behind my cover and watched them. The two armored ponies dropped the sack without much care as they stood there like statues. The third pony who wasn’t in armor grumbled before a burst of green flames covered his body only to reveal a changeling… except more similar to the ones in my memory than without the unnatural creepy feeling as the ones in the pods.
More than that the changeling didn’t seem happy. He seemed to shiver when he looked around the room and he didn’t exactly seem thrilled at leaving whatever he was dumping here.
The changeling sighed “Well there goes another one. Hopefully she will help fix the next batch…” He frowned glancing at the green pods “Whatever Duran’s next batch is going to be.”
He turned around and glanced at the two armored ponies before lifting one of the visors up. The pony stared at him unmoving as the changeling waved his hoof right in front of the armored pony’s face.
“Mind Control, replacements, body swaps…” The changeling sighed “What’s next? The Spanish Inquisition?”
His body froze as he quickly turned around as I hid behind the creep green sack holding the creepy changeling. It took a few moments before the changeling sighed in relief as if he was expecting something to have happened. My hoof moved over to the insect replant as I had no idea if it would work… but hopefully it would buy my enough time from how horrible it smelled.
In a burst of light the changeling muttered “No way am I going to let that crazy freak try to feed me to a tree.”
The wall cracked open again as I heard the ponies leave the room. Once the wall closed I peeked out from behind my cover and scanned the room just in case the changeling was still in the room.
Once I slowly got out I rushed over to the green sack that had been dropped and stared at it. A changeling was stuck in the green gunk, but it looked more like the changeling that entered the room than the freaky bugs in the other cocoons.
I rubbed my chin “What is going on?”
My hoof shifted as I glanced at the floor… there was a root. A large sickly gnarled root that was moving.
I quickly jumped back as the root tried to grab me! My heart raced in my chest as the root slowly returned to the floor as if it hadn’t tried to grab me. Instead it slowly started to coil around the green cocoon.
The room was filled with creepy bugs and the non-creepy bug… dear Celestia that sounded wrong… was being grabbed by the freaky tree things. A part of me just wanted me to leave, but then I saw words floating near the cocoon. Words… like the ones Lockheart and Valkyrie had above their heads.
“Well I could always use a hostage.” I bitterly joked to myself as I pulled out my makeshift Molotov “Besides I haven’t had my fill of Arson today!”
I ran forward as the roots slowed down ready to try to ambush me again. I grabbed the icky creepy sticky bug thing with my fore legs and tossed the bottle with my mouth. To my utter horror and surprise the roots grabbed my Molotov before they started to converge on my.
Thank Celestia it caught the bottle upside down as the burning liquid poured down onto the roots setting the thing on fire. The roots flailed about obviously unhappy at my dirty trick as one of the roots flung me into a wall and tore the cocoon.
The changeling inside started to cough as it opened their eyes staring at me while I was trying to catch my breath. I never expected it to stare at me in fear, but I’ll take shocked fear over standard horror trope… which sadly was starting to happen as the other bug cocoons started to move.
“You with the freaky killer tree?” I quickly asked out loud.
The changeling shook it’s head “No!”
I smiled “Then let’s run!”
“But!” The changeling muttered in confusion “Aren’t you with Duran to…”
The changeling gulped as I had a sinking feeling on just what Duran might have had been planning for her.
“Well you’re not a creepy bug thing so let’s run!” I shouted trying to find that stupid wall door again!
“But…” The changeling started to say before the words died on her lips.
It was nice to know that I wasn’t the only one to think the other changelings were Nightmare Moon brand of scary as the Changeling beside me stared at them in horror. The flames started to lick the cocoon as the demonic bugs started hissing, growling, and perfectly befitting a horror movie scene as the dancing flames just seemed to bring out their pants wetting terror creepy levels.
The friendly changeling’s horn started to glow as a shield came before us just as the creepy flaming demon tree roots struck them. The changeling was hopping up and down in a nervous fit. As I ran my hoof against the blasted wall trying to find out how to open it.
“Come on! Come on! Come on!” The changeling shouted frantically as the demon bugs birthing scene continued behind my back.
It’s kind of creepy how they hissed like snakes or how their wings buzzed like the sound of angry hornets.
“Found it!” I shouted in joy pulling open the secret door as the changeling ran into me pushing up both through the barely opened door.
As soon as we fell into the hallway the demon bugs started to claw their way to the door nearly forcing it open with sheer numbers if not from the green barrier spell keeping the opening shut. I pulled out another incendiary concoction and hurled it at the door as the demon bugs flew back.
“Shut it!” I screamed as the green magical aura slammed the door shut.
I sighed in relief as my new partner in crime sheepishly smiled “Thanks for the safe, but you know Duran’s going to be… angry at you.”
I smiled back as I ironically found a new friend in my attempt to escape “Well if we both get out of here we can call it even.”
Both of us froze as what sounded like dozens of bugs clawing their way through the stone walls. These were thick walls and there were a lot of bugs on the other side of said walls.
“Run now talk latter.” I quickly shouted as we both bolted down the hallways before the demon bugs could escape their prison!
******
(may remove)
Maxwell
Okay deep breaths. You’re lost in the crazed fun house that turned Luna into a demonic horse of vengeance while warping a normally peaceful forest into Freddy Kruger’s backyard funhouse… or crazed animal zoo!
Don’t think about how everyone in the castle knows you and wants to rip your heart out. Never mind the fact you screwed them all over and managed to get everyone else to safety… who then promptly ditched you right away.
I’m not alone. I have friends… well allies who are with me… well currently near me… inside the castle at least!
“There’s the bastard!” Someone screamed “Lets rip his b- Ahh!”
I turned around. Fucking molten lava fell through the celling onto the poor sap or very close to him. Even the castle warps the very curses into a demonic entity by itself!
“Buck! Buck! Buck!” I shouted as I bolt through the hallway.
The sounds of my former associates charging through the hallway only to stop as the screaming from Bob’s possible death slowed them down. I could hear one start to naturally curse out loud from the sheer shock of it before his or her allies stopped them from dooming them all.
I think this is the real part of the cursing curse that makes it so deadly. It’s like being told you’re not allowed to have a cookie while having it right in front of you. The fact that you can’t have it makes you want it even more. The fact that the whole world around you is completely bonkers also kind of helps.
Kind of like that one Jurassic park scene where yelling only attracts the T-Rex… which is kind of hard not to do when you see the thing trying to eat you!
Without even thinking I opened up my menu and froze. Lots of skill points. Lots of abilities, talents, and nice shinny things that could help me. All of them could be mine… all for the low price of every memory I hold dear. I snapped the skill menu shut and switched to the map.
Well it wasn’t exactly a map, but more like a… drawing. This place is a madhouse and unlike some idiots I kept a rough draft of this place including all it’s secret doors.
Like the one down the hallway as I kicked the stand opening up the staircase and shutting it behind me as the crazed horde descended down the hallway trying to catch up with me.
I sighed “Alright… maybe there was some thought put into this madhouse.”
The cursed menu of doom continued to blink as it had the memory wiping numbers dancing in front of my face. Unlike the cursing curse which slapped you hand every time you did it. This was more like watching a bear trap… above a shark tank… with a 10% discount coupon on your next purchase on something as bait.
“So not worth it.” I quickly replied closing the skill tree icon and hiding it behind my trusty non-memory wiping map. “Guards above with prisoners below. That just leaves the evil overlord sitting on the throne.”
I rested my back against the wall. Just how could I fight a magic evil unicorn with mind wipe abilities with my hooves… and non-mind wiped mind? No idea why it didn’t work. It just didn’t and somehow I didn’t feel safe betting on it to save my bacon without an alicorn powerhouse to back me up.
So I did the only thing I could think of and prayed “Oh merciful chaos and scion of fun. May Discord guide the way to let myself run.”
Okay not a rounded about prayer or something to put in a bible, but hey. Not a lot of deities to worship and Celestia is currently occupied. I’m kind of running short on options here!
I twisted down through the broken rubble and damage left through years of neglect. The rocks scrapped across my skin as I moved down to the next level. Ash and dust filled the air as I managed to fall through the roof and land on the floor below.
As soon as I pushed myself up I came face to face with a griffin. Leaping back I pulled out my cutlass and prepared myself for his attack. To my shock and horror he didn't move at all as I saw the blood stained face before me now.
The armor the griffin wore was now twisted, bent, and warped. Pieces of his own armor stuck out of his bloody dripping in blood. The reason why the body hadn't fallen was because the armor kept the corpse propped up like some twisted scarecrow.
"Maybe I should have pray to Celestia instead." I couldn't help but mutter in fear.
That's when I heard the laugh... Lockheart was laughing? What the hell! We came to rescue someone and have Celestia save everyone! Not this! We didn't come to kill them!
I raced down the hallway trying to reach them before it someone else died. My heart raced in my chest as I had to stop it!
A crack filled the air as my body froze up. Something hit the floor as Lockheart stepped forward. His coat was black as his green hair rested down his head. His fur was matted with blood as he walked towards me. His eyes blazed in fury as the scent of smoke reeked from him.
"What happened?" I couldn't help but ask in horror.
Matteson was one of the few people who hadn't tried to escape. Sure he was a bit of a jerk but... he didn't deserve this.
Lockheart glared at me "Let's move."
I glanced at Matteson... "What happened? Why did you..."
"It was a trap..." Lockheart bitterly replied "We need to find the others and warn them. Duran was expecting us. The Elements of Harmony aren't here... Their gone."
"But why did you kill them?" I repeated out loud. We did he kill them?
Lockheart shook his head "Their still alive... The griffin passed out from fear. Not blood loss. The other one... isn't getting up for a while. "
I glanced at Matteson a second time... he didn't look alight. His arms were a mess. Blood covered his body as he wasn't moving. Lockheart rolled his eyes and held up a piece of a broken mirror to Matteson's mouth as the glass started to fog up.
Lockheart shook his head "Their alive. Castle is on aleart so let one of their doctors patch these two up and we get back to the front of the castle and warn them!"
Lockheart started moving down the hallway as I shouted "What makes you think they'll be there?"
Lockheart shouted in frustration "Because I don't know any other way out of here and neither do they!"
******
Valkyrie
It was rough but things were going well for us. Remedy managed to make the replacement ponies follow us as… Lilly.
I wasn’t sure if that was her real name or if that was the first thing that popped into her head. Well to be precise the first thing she did when she stopped crying was go into the Rainbow Dash room and dump the blue paint over her head or something as she was now sporting two colors.
Now the top half of her body was sky blue as her back was purple. Her hair was now dark blue as the ends stayed purple. Remedy gave her a cloak to cover her back as Nighty was terrified. She didn’t want to be turned into Twilight Sparkle.
It felt old calling the sky blue unicorn Lilly “So… how do we warn Celestia?”
Steel shook his head as he watched the hallways “I can tell Remedy how to perform an Emergency spell flare. Hopefully Canterlot will be able to stop it… but we are going to have to run through the Everfree forest.”
I tried not to flinch. Our escape plan was to run and hope we didn’t get caught. The fact that we had just kicked the hornet’s nest didn’t help either as I felt the silence was a mixed blessing. Of course just because we haven’t seen anyone yet didn’t mean we were safe.
Everyone stopped as we heard footsteps racing down the end of the hallway. We hid behind one of the walls as we tried to stay calm. The footsteps grew louder and louder as I felt like one of those cartoon characters hiding right behind the villains back praying to Celestia that they didn’t turn around.
The wall next to us cracked open as a changeling stood face to face with me. Before I could react another figure came into view pulling the changeling back and holding a hoof up.
“Wait!” Stardust whispered loudly “In now!”
Without wasting any time we rushed inside the hidden hallways before the changeling shut the door behind us. The hidden passageway wasn’t bad if you were trying to escape, but it was a little bit cramp for a group.
Stardust and the changeling looked out of the wall apparently having found peepholes or something as they waited.
“See! Just two halls down a left at the statue and…” One of the players started to mutter.
His companion face palmed as she groaned “How the heck did you lost?”
“Hey!” The first one snapped back “Left hallway was sealed shut from some wild animal or freaky monster attack! Besides worse come to worse we just lock the doors to the movie room and wait for this to all blow over.”
Someone else chuckled “And thus why nobody in Equestria does anything when the big bad attacks.”
The first one grumbled “Isn’t that why we are making the Mane Six. That way we don’t have to go outside every time a pack of Timberwolves or monster gets too close to this dump?”
I sighed in relief when the bickering group finally left though it did hurt me a little on the inside to see them so… useless?
Well I had bigger things to worry about like why Stardust was traveling with a changeling after being kidnapped by a crazed psycho path. I turned to face her as Steel and Remedy glanced at the changeling in… confusion? Horror? I guess disbelief would be the best term.
Stardust sighed in relief “Please tell me you have a way out of here.”
I rubbed the back of my head “We have a plan, but we need to get outside…”
Stardust glanced at me and then at the changeling “Oh don’t worry the cuddle bug is friendly.”
The changeling seemed to stand on end like a frightened cat “Cuddle Bug?”
Stardust simply rolled her eyes “You don’t look like one of the creepy bugs back in that room and you’re not trying to rip out my throat.”
The changeling nodded “Meh. You win on that point.”
“Wait! Time out for a second.” I tried to wrap my head around what was going on “Creepy Bugs?”
Stardust shivered “Like Cuddle Bug, except less pony-like and more Nightmarish. We kind of set that part of the castle on fire when running from them.”
“Can we please get out of here and possibly try warning Celestia or something?” The changeling asked out loud “I mean I would, but…” She gestured to herself.
Steel shook his head as he chuckled a little “I knew this was going to be crazy, but… Cuddle Bug.” The changeling… no the player looked at Steel Halberd like a frightened child “Sorry for the delay and try to be careful.”
The changeling paused for a second “What?”
Stardust smiled “Did you try to capture and brainwash the people captured here?”
The changeling shook her head “No!”
She looked disgusted at the very thought of such an action. Glad to know she kept her humanity better than most of the creeps in this place.
“They offered food and they didn’t run away or try to…” She hung her head obviously not wanting to talk about it.
Stardust simply hugged the changeling. I on the other hand rubbed my aching head as the situation was growing more difficult. Apparently Duran was still recruiting and he wasn’t discriminating with who he picked. Now it’s confirmed that he had mind controlling shape shifting bugs under his employment now.
We really needed to warn Celestia just in case Duran thought it would be a good idea to invade Canterlot to try to figure out the proper “requirements” needed to use an Element of Harmony.
I know it sounds insane, but I have a swarm of Pinky Pies behind me. Sanity had left this building a long time ago!
“Okay.” I took a deep breath and tried to recap “Lockheart and Maxwell are still missing. Castle in on alert and there are changelings…”
“Demon bugs!” The resident changeling argued back “They even creep me out.”
“Demon bugs,” I replied as I rested the urge to do air quotes “and we just rescued a bunch of hostages from a mad
psychopath. Anything else or does he have the Elements of Harmony?”
The changeling shrugged “Actually he’s rather… frustrated as he hasn’t found them. Then again he’s been keeping secrets from everyone else like his hidden creepy demon bug swarm. Not kosher I might add.”
I had no idea what that exactly meant, but it was just another reason to get out of here and call in the Calvary.
******
I’ll admit that when I came in here I was expecting to have to rescue Stardust. I didn’t expect… him… her? It was a little hard to come up with which gender term to use as Stardust seemed more… positive?
Grant it Stardust was just as frightened or worried as the rest of us, but she was putting on a better face for the group than the rest of us. Steel stood strong and gave the fake Mane Six members who were given back some free will to look up to. Remedy helped provide hope that the others may be helped, but she wasn’t exactly warm to begin with.
Stardust took her time to help everyone who had been captured. She gave the changeling hope and a friendly face who didn’t mind her being given an unlucky pick as I’ll be honest… the changeling did unnerve me a little.
Stardust talked about Canterlot and joked about how she would give them a tour of the place or a place to rest for the next few days. She did her best to try to help ease everyone’s worries.
I just wish we had a better plan that walking out the front door. Grant it we just needed Remedy to fire up a flare for reinforcements, but with the castle on high alert and a hidden group of creepy changelings added to the mix?
I really underestimated how much trouble a group of panicked humans could cause in the Everfree forest.
Everything was looking up as Maxwell came into view. He paced around the entrance of the castle nervously as no one was around. The castle was in a panic trying to stop the fires and sudden bug invasion leaving the exit free for us to use.
Maxwell turned his head noticing us and shouted “You have them! Good!” He turned around racing out the front door “We need to get going now!”
Everyone else got ready to run as we walked towards the exit. All Remedy had to do was fire up that flare and then we would have to run into the woods. Of course there were still the ponies at the makeshift fort to deal with… but hopefully Remedy’s curse would buy us enough time to run past them.
As soon as we entered the archway of the castle Maxwell turned around and smiled. His eyes briefly glowed green for a second before a flash of light covered the room.
Runes etched into the walls glowed around us as Maxwell was now sporting a unicorn horn as the title Traitor hung above his head. I felt like screaming or cursing at him, but the magical trap kept us frozen as the string of profanity and curses were unable to be spoken.
Green flames surrounded Maxwell revealing him to be a changeling as he smiled “Fooled you.”
It was a changeling… we were tricked by a fucking player turned changeling! I should have seen this coming as the traitor walked past us looking us over as if he was inspecting some item before buying it.
“Nice flanks, but a bit too much muscle. Wings are a bit large, but with Butch Jack I don’t nobody will care too much.” He simply commented “Shame about the unicorn. It’s hard to find Twilight replacements as this one is going to need a through work over.”
He glanced at Remedy and then Steel “But hey… free maid and a guard isn’t that bad of a catch. That bonus is mine this week!”
“Of course I need a new disguise…” the traitor started to say as the castle doors opened up.
Duran stood outside along with a dozen other players. The changeling player turned around and smiled nervously as he had yet to recast his disguise. The other players looked at their changeling ally in disgust as he tried to look towards Duran for help.
“Duran!” He shouted in fear “Look I caught them! I set up the trap and…”
Duran shook his head “Tisk tisk. I should have seen this coming. I never thought a villain would be lurking amongst us after Maxwell’s betrayal.”
The changeling player looked at Duran in disbelief as his allies glared at the changeling. These weren’t the eyes of allies welcoming their friend for stopping us. These eyes were filled with hatred as they saw the changeling player as an abomination.
Duran sighed “You just happened to catch them only after we stood by the exit.”
The changeling player shouted in panic “You told me to…”
Duran’s green magical aura snapped the player’s mouth shut “This is why we must have constant vigilance for who knows when someone might try to sabotage our work. After all if the Mane Six have the Elements of Harmony than are able to go back home, but naturally the villains will want to stop us.”
The changeling struggled as the magical aura covered his body yanking him out of the doorway and out into the open. He hit the ground hard as he landed right in front of the angry mob.
As soon as Duran’s grip was released he screamed “Guys you know me! I’m Malcom! We play poker and I helped…”
Duran’s magical grip shut Maclom’s mouth again as Duran shook his head “Lies spoken by a traitor who can’t be trusted. Let’s show him what happens to villains because after all… Changelings are a villain race as none of us were given the choice to be them.”
Malcom stared at his former allies in panic before they descended upon him as we were forced to watch. The mob attacked him as the weapons they held were soon covered in blood as Duran simply smiled enjoying the slaughter.
Duran just betrayed his own ally… he used Malcom to impersonate Maxwell to trick us and then killed him. He properly already had a convenient excuse to take the credit for the trap and why the heck he kept everyone waiting outside.
If anyone was a villain that it was that slimy bastard who stood before me!
As soon as the slaughter had been finished the players turned around and stared at us. Every single one of those twisted bastards were glaring at us darkly for trying to steal their “ticket home” after murdering one of their own allies.
Duran stepped forth smiling as he revealed his shit eating smile “I told you that you wouldn’t escape from me. You tried to run and I caught all your little traitors... including a second changeling?”
He frowned at that. Apparently Malcom was the only changeling he had planned to kill. The other players glared at the only person Duran hadn’t poisoned. I wanted to run, scream, do anything to stop them!
Duran glanced at us and grinned “Rarity so how about you stop being selfish and show me your generosity and kill that other changeling for me.” His horn started to glow “And don’t worry… You’ll enjoy slaying the villain my little hero!”
His horn glowed with an eldritch green as he took his time. The traitors behind him cheered as he basked in their praise as he knew we were trapped. I could only move my eyes as I frantically tried to do something! Steel was trapped as Remedy’s horn didn’t glow. The friendly changeling started to tear up as she knew she was about to be killed.
Stardust shut her eyes as tears ran down them. She was getting ready for the attack and was going to try her best even if she had no idea what to do. I strained my eyes trying to see behind us as I couldn’t help but wonder if anyone else was still able to move.
There had to be someone who wasn’t caught by the trap. They couldn’t have waited to spring that trap until we were all in it.
It couldn’t end like this.
Duran laughed “It’s just like I promised! I’ll save us all!”
The light from Duran’s shot out and as I shut my eyes. The light exploded as I heard everyone gasp in shock. The castle doors were shut blocking the magic attack apparently. I couldn’t help but stare in shock at the close save before the doors were covered in a green magical light.
“Enough games!” Duran screamed from outside as his magic ripped the doors from their hinges “I… I…”
The mad man’s face was frozen in fear as the color drained from his face. Those behind him stared at us in fear as the looks of anger and vengeful pride and disappeared. A few of them started shaking in fear as one of them actually dropped their weapon.
“Pardon me. Excuse me.” A familiar voice spoke behind me “Love what you've done with the place, but honestly I thought there would a lot more pointy spikes and random fireplaces set about to fit the whole evil villain motif.”
I turned my head as my blood ran cold “Discord?"
The dark god of chaos was right beside me as he grinned “Who were you expecting? John de Lancie?”
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I was reading and as I see when Discord appeared all I could think was...
Liked the story.
Is the last scene still in Valkyrie's POV?
--SPOILER AHEAD--
I really like the twist in Discord's quest.
Lockheart is supposed to "only" take an element and Discord never mentioned anything in regards of keeping it.
Of course he also didn't mention anything in regards of Lockheart being unable to put it back down.
That is exactly what you would expect from a malicious Discord.
It is obvious in hindsight especially with the pun on Lockheart's name, but it is the kind of obvious that you easily overlook, especially since Discord gave many guarantees regarding the kind of immortality Lockheart would be rewarded with and thereby distracted from the actual conundrum:
How does Discord reliably profit from it? What does it actally cost?
You don't often see Discord's malicious side that well done while keeping him from being his own deus ex machina.
Well done!
Though there are here and there some parts where you put the wrong word like an "and" instead of a "had", but overall minor mistakes.
It seems like that last scene is still valkyrie POV, but you may want to help clarify that to the readers. The Maxwell bit seemed a little off... and like Miro commented a few possible spell check mistakes as you may want to recheck it again.
Other than that... Other changeling players might be interesting.
Nice cruel twist on the quest though... I can only wonder what valkyrie quest might do.
You keep writing "properly" instead of "probably".
NIIIIICCCEEE! Both a Q AND a John DeLancie reference in the same story, and both perfectly delivered at that
Some more grammar corrections needed: "Grant it" & the one case where you used "granite" should probably all be "Granted".
You're doing a wonderful job keeping track of a wide assortment of characters. Keep up the good work. Really looking forward to more of this
The vision of Lockheart's 200'th birthday.
The year he has to die.
This was a great read in the weekend
#fun!fun!fun!fun!fun!
reminds me of the story "the irony of Applejack".