Episode 206: Dragons and Dungeons
Episode 206: Dragons and Dungeons
“Alright, so we’ve got Howl, Claw, Hide, Venom, and Tail so far,” Sunset said, counting up on her fingers as she shifted on the rock she was using as a seat. One thing she was sorely missing about the human world right now was proper furniture. “That makes five Anima aspects, but you said we got eight, right Asena?”
“Correct, Lady Shimmer,” Asena replied with a pleased tone, “I’m glad someone is paying attention.” She eyed Spike, who was curled up, half nodded off. The dog gave a yawn and cracked open an eye.
“Hey, I’m listening. Just doing it with my eyes closed. Ears still work.”
“Hmm, we shall see, young Lord Spike. Now, the final three aspects are Fang, Wing, and Shell. Fang is an offensive aspect, like its cousin, Claw. However, Fang users are known for both their ability to pierce defenses and consume energies. While not as powerful in raw attack strength as Claw, Fang makes up for it with that penetrative quality, and the numerous powers that stem from the ability to consume.”
For emphasis, Asena licked her lips and snapped her jaws, grinning, “Be careful of a Fang user’s bite, they’ll take more than just flesh, more often than not.”
“Creepy,” said Rainbow Dash, to which Asena chuckled, causing the girl to blush and frown, “What? What’s so funny?”
“Ah, nothing, Lady Dash. Only, from what I sense of your own Anima when it came upon you, I highly suspect your affinity is for Fang,” said Asena, “You may not have realized this, but the troglodyte who entrapped you in its web was most likely a Tail user. Tail Anima is versatile, with powers of all kinds of utility besides attacking, and those webs had the feeling of such Anima. Fang Anima is vulnerable to Tail Anima, which may have contributed to yours awakening, sensing that vulnerability to trigger your instincts more fiercely.”
“Ehhh... not sure how to feel about that one,” Rainbow Dash said, scratching at the dirt in front of her with one cat claw, frowning at her hand, “Claw sounded cooler to me.”
“We do not choose our affinity, but nothing prevents you from developing powers of any Anima type. Your affinity only determines which type will be strongest for you,” Simurgh put in, “The trick is knowing the properties of your Anima, and learning that of your foe’s.”
“So we got not just our own strengths ta think of, but our weaknesses, too,” said Applejack, “Do all Anima got this whole bein’ weak ta one deal goin’ on. Assumin’ that also means there’s Anima we’d be strong against?”
“A warrior born, you are,” said Asena, nodding enthusiastically, tail wagging, “Indeed. Rainbow Dash’s Fang Anima would be strong against Hide Anima, such as my own. But we can cover those properties later. Let us first finish covering the basics. Simurgh, you are a Wing user, so do explain it to our eager learners.”
The colorful avian trilled out a soft laugh and spread her wings wide, “It shall come as no surprise that many of the Tribe of Sky are born Wing users. Wing is the affinity of Anima that spreads itself the widest, with powers that can cover a vast area. The most powerful of Wing Anima is said to be able to affect entire realms at once, although only the likes of the great Quetzalcoatl could have such a grand Anima.”
“Huh... the flames that came out of me during the fight,” Sunset said, rubbing her chin, “They formed into feathers. Does that mean I’m...?”
“Not necessarily,” said Simurgh, “Wing Anima naturally spreads to affect a large area. Did the feathers of flame you conjured strike you as something wide spread, or more focused?”
“I... I couldn't really tell. I mean, I wasn’t using the power with any conscious decision. The feathers just kind of flew out and hit things at random. They also exploded,” Sunset said with a thoughtful look, “But I can’t say for sure that the blasts were all that widespread. If anything they felt a lot more focused and contained.”
“I see,” Simurgh folded her wings, making another soft trilling noise, perhaps her version of a ‘hmm’, “It is still possible it is Wing Anima, but by your description it may also be Howl, due to its ranged property.”
“Sounds kinda weird,” said Wallflower, “Wouldn’t she need to like, shout or something for that kind of, er, Anima?”
“Oh not at all,” Simurgh said, “Do not let the names alone confuse you. The names of each aspect do stem from elements of the core nature of the Anima, but one need not have Wings to use Wing Anima, or indeed have any avian traits at all. The core of Wing Anima is the wide area of its powers, like wings casting a long shadow. By the same token, one need not roar to use Howl Anima. Howl Anima’s trait is its incredible yet focused range, like a howl piercing the air. The powers can take many shapes. That is why I say young Lady Shimmer might be a Wing user, or a Howl user. One will learn the truth in time, as one becomes more accustomed to one’s Anima.”
“O-okay... uh, neat?” Wallflower said, giving Sunset Shimmer a helpless shrug. Sunset returned a warm smile to her, encouraging the girl, glad to see she was at least participating in the conversation. It was a step up from the quiet.
“So, lay it on us then,” said Spike suddenly, “Just Shell left, right? Immediately thinking of turtles, here.”
Asena’s ears twitched a bit but she nodded at him, “Shell, like Hide, is a defensive aspect, but unlike Hide, which can have offensive properties, Shell is an aspect of pure defense, unrivaled in regards to powers of protection. Indeed so potent is a Shell user's defense, that not even Fang’s vaunted penetration powers can fully counter it. In battles against a Shell user, one might be clever to find a way around such powers, rather than rely on brute force.”
Shining Armor suddenly cracked a smile, one hand on his hip, “Sounds interesting. I wonder how my Bastion would stack up against a good Shell user.”
“Oh, don’t go comparing your barriers with other men's’, dear,” said Cadence with a wink, “You don’t need to impress me.”
“He can’t help it,” said Rainbow Dash, “Dudes are always concerned about the size and thickness of their barriers.”
“And mine are prodigious indeed,” Shining Armor said, giving Rainbow Dash a joking wink. Sunset Shimmer could only let out a small laugh, letting more of her tension flow out of her. The air itself somehow seemed more vibrant, now. More relaxed. She looked up at the ‘sky’, as it were, the rocky ceiling of the insanely huge cavern where the glitter of thousands of gems and colored stones created a painter’s dream of clashing colors.
She then blinked, and squinted.
“Hey, what’s that?” she said, pointing up. Everyone looked where her finger indicated.
High above, amid the glow of a cluster of gem shards the size of houses that gave off a saturated white glow, a large shadow filled the ceiling with a tangled and twisting shape. At first Sunset thought it was another of those skyscraper sized centipedes they’d witnessed upon first arriving here, but this mass wasn’t moving, and instead just had lots of offshoots that curled through the ceiling rock like tendrils.
Or roots.
“Yggdrasil,” said Simurgh, “Or, one of its many long burrowing roots. The World Tree’s roots stem through all of the Beast Realm, stretching far from the actual Tree itself.”
“Amazing,” said Cadence in awe, standing and peering intently, “Those roots must be a kilometer long, and hundreds of meters wide. And they spread everywhere?”
“Of course. Even into Midgard and Asgard,” said Asena, “Deep in your Earth, and the realm known as Equestria, Yggdrasil spreads its supporting roots. Connecting all. A bridge for souls to cross into the restful seas beyond until rebirth.”
Sunset wondered about that. Was Yggdrasil really connected to Equestria and the Earth both? She felt like she knew so little, even after having learned so much. Jormungandr wanted the tree dead, and had hinted at Glory having done something to it, a violation of some sort that motivated Jormungandr to put the tree down like a sick creature.
“Huh, its more of those weird Blank things,” said Rainbow Dash suddenly, causing everyone to peer more intently at the roots. After a moment Sunset realized that Dash was right! There were small, pale dots floating around the Yggdrasil roots, with distinctive, conical red mask heads, their white shrouded bodies making them look utterly ethereal. They moved slowly, like listless balloons in a weak wind, but they didn’t drift far from the roots.
“What are they, exactly?” Sunset asked, glancing between Asena and Simurgh.
“They are the river of the cycle,” replied Simurgh in a quiet, reverent tone that suggested the words were more than just hyperbole, “They are the shape the soul takes when wandering the boughs of eternity between incarnations.”
“Huh?” was the collective response from more than a few present, and Sunset couldn’t quite tell who looked more taken aback, especially Clover or the two Quincy.
“You mean to say those shades are souls moving between phases of the reincarnation cycle?” Clover probed, eyes slightly wide with keen interest.
“That is right, young Soul Reaper. Your people may bring souls to your Soul Society for a period of time, but eventually all souls flow through Yggdrasil’s roots, prepared for rebirth. When one of your kind perishes, or one of ours, even the Hollows when not slain by a Soul Reaper’s blade.”
“Wait... what about Quincy weapons?” asked Cadence with sudden intensity, “There’s never any sign of a soul’s energy after...”
Simurgh’s gaze fixed on Cadence and Shining Armor, speaking simply, “I know what you might be wondering, Quincy, but I cannot confirm to you whether or not your weapons destroy the soul of Hollows or return them to Yggdrasil as Blanks. We of the Beast Realm have no way to count or measure such things.”
“But it is a possibility,” Shining Armor said to himself, gazing at the distant cloud of hundreds of Blanks floating around the offshoot root of Yggdrasil.
Clover looked thoughtful as well, “If there was a way to confirm it, one way or another, it could go leagues to help settle tensions between the Soul Society and Quincy. Asena, Simurgh, are you sure there’s no one among the Tribes of the Beast Realm who studies this flow of souls that travels through Yggdrasil? Surely there must be someone?”
“There are,” Simurgh confirmed, raising one wing i a waving gesture, “But you must understand, measuring something like what you are asking is akin to trying to measure how much water is in the ocean.”
“Pretty sure we actually do that on Earth,” said Rainbow Dash, “Bet you anything I could Goggle how much water is in the oceans.”
Simurgh stared at the girl in blinking confusion, and Clover eyed Dash, “I think I grasp Simurgh’s point, regardless. She’s saying that the flow of souls through Yggdrasil is so enormous that no effort has ever been made to measure it. What would be the point?”
“Hold on, then wouldn’t that mean there’s also been no noticeable decrease in the amount of souls?” asked Cadence, a creeping hope in her tone, “You’d notice it if there was, right?”
“Honey, the Soul Reapers have been going on and on about the ‘balance of souls’ for ages while fighting us, and the world never destroyed itself due to that lack of supposed ‘balance’,” said Shining Armor, “If they still think our weapon destroy Hollow Souls, despite that total lack of evidence, I don’t think any measurements one way or another from some Beat Realm scholar would change anything.”
Cadence looked down, nodding after a moment of deflated silence. Clover, however kept a hopeful look on her face, “Be that as it may, if I can find any further evidence on this matter while I’m here, you can rest assured I’ll take it with me to Soul Society to present to the Captains of the Gotei 13 and the chambers of Central 46.”
“Here’s ta hopin’ any o’ that will still matter before Jormungandr an’ the Zero Division screw things over,” said Applejack.
Sunset frowned, thinking about her battle with Jormungandr, and crossed her arms as she said, “Hey, I’ve been wondering... Jormungandr used Blanks when we fought, turned them into a weapon, somehow. What’s the deal with that? Is that an Anima power?”
This time Asena answered, growling deep in her throat, “No, not an Anima power. Blanks are very malleable by outside forces and will. Jormungandr developed a means of controlling them to form weapons or enhance Anima abilities, and spread this dark knowledge to his followers. A foul technique, forbidden by the other Tribes.”
“Yeah, and that troglodyte jerk used them too,” said Rainbow Dash, “Like, ate them then spat them out with its webs. I think the webs got stronger because of it.”
Both the huge wolf and birds heads snapped around to stare at Rainbow Dash, Asena growling, “Are you certain!? The troglodyte Anima users also made use of Blanks?”
“U-uh, yeah,” Rainbow said, leaning back a bit from Asena’s intense stare, “Why, is that a big deal?”
“It is no good sign,” said Asena, lashing her tail about and her big, sword-like claws digging furrows in the dirt in agitation, “Only Jormungandr’s cult makes use of Blanks in battle. I just said it is a forbidden art. If that troglodyte used them, it must serve the lord of Niflheim, or at least learned from one of his vassals.”
“That’s bad,” said Sunset, “Do we need to get moving? Does this mean they know where we are, now?”
“Possibly,” said Simurgh, but after a moment she shook her head, ruffling her feathers about nervously, “It is just as likely this one troglodyte learned the technique to control Blanks a long time ago, and neither presently serves Jormungandr, or at least does not know that he seeks a party like ours. News of us may not have spread beyond his Einherjar.”
“There is little point in running like spooked rabbits,” said Asena, taking a few billows-like breaths to calm herself down, “I apologize for my outburst. The bird is right. It is unlikely our position is compromised.”
Rainbow Dash held up her hands, her whole frame cringing a bit as she shook her head of ever more unkempt hair. Sunset noticed that now that Dash had cat ears, they were currently laying flat on the girl’s head as she said, “It’s cool, dude, seriously. I should’ve had the smarts to bring up the Blank thing earlier, but totally spaced it on account of freaking out over going all Cheetara over here.”
“Eh, ya strike me as more o’ a Catra,” said Applejack, which only made Rainbow Dash groan.
“Wrong cartoon, AJ, but whatevs, still just wish I’d gone anything other than standard issue cat-girl. At least you’ve got some badass bear stylings to work with.”
Applejack didn’t exactly look all that impressed with herself as she looked at her own furry and clawed hands, “Can’t say I know fer sure what ta feel ‘bout this, other n’ I just hope it helps us out n’ the long run. Say, Asena, Simurgh, all this ‘aspects’ stuff is facinatin’ an’ all, but what I really wanna know is how are we supposed ta learn ta control Anima?”
There was a pause of some weight as the two native Beast Realmers both quietly looked at one another. Sunset got the distinct feeling that the question, while not unexpected, was something neither of their local guides truly knew how to answer. It was that kind of pause that a teacher has when a student asks a question that isn’t covered by the textbook. Which was weird, considering the learning of Anima control would logically be a pretty well known and basic piece of knowledge of folk like Asena and Simurgh, Sunset would think. But there was a factor here that probably made things different...
“You’re not sure,” she said aloud, hand reaching to touch the Hogyoku now firmly hidden back under her robes, “Both because we’re not Beast Realm natives and because the Hogyoku is involved.”
“That is... accurate,” said Simurgh at length, lowering her head in an apologetic bow, “While Asena and I can try to guide you, the truth of the matter is that for one born of the Beast Realm like us, the learning of Anima is a matter of instinct. We do so in the same manner than children of Midgard might learn to walk or count. Yes, true mastery requires much more, and there are more formalized ways to train that, but the basics of Anima use is something we do in the same way a bird knows how to fly or a fish to swim.”
“Or a wolf to hunt,” said Asena, “Our Inner Beast will grow strong as we follow our natures, and Anima flows by the growth of our instincts. The power will gain shape from our innermost desires and become sharpened by training to hone our instincts to obtain those desires. Take myself as an example.”
Her fur suddenly grew with shades of crimson light and the thick fibers of her furry hide grew long, rigid, and curved. Blade after twisting crescent blade became her furred hide, as if her very body was an armor to tear flesh from bone. Sunset had to admire the simple brutality of it, having seen this bladed fur armor at work. Her spiritual senses could pick up on the Anima in use, although she was still struck by how different it felt from raw reiatsu. Given her and the girl’s powers were also intermixed with magic, she wondered if this is how they felt to other spirit beings when sensing them?
Holding up a paw as if to grasp something, Asena focused and the fur along the back of her paw grew longer still, the blades changing from curved scythes to long, pointed spikes, “As a young wolf, I was separated from my pack on a hunt. Lost, I wandered into a swamp, and was nearly eaten alive by the foul, giant and carnivorous plants. The swamp was so thick with them I could hardly move without fighting for every inch, being bitten at from all sides. My Anima was nascent, only just awakening, but I needed no training to instinctually know my own Inner Beast and my desire to cut myself free of that wretched place. So my Anima took its proper shape, manifesting into the Hide Anima I used to rip apart those plans and escape to freedom, to find my pack once more.”
“So... what you’re saying is that you’re not sure if it will work the same for us, because there’s no way to be sure our ‘Inner Beast’ will act the same or react to the same instincts,” Sunset said, glancing at Rainbow Dash, “But it is at least clear that instinct played a role, right? I mean, Dash’s powers came out when she got caught and felt like she was in danger. And I know mine came out when I started to get frustrated that the troglodytes were still coming at us...”
“An’ mine sure felt like they came out when I saw Sunset n’ trouble an’ wanted ta give them beasts an’ even more thorough trouncin’,” said Applejack, cracking her knuckles.
“Which is why I say that for now it is best to simply teach you the basics of what Anima is and how its aspects work,” said Asena, “You, young warriors of Midgard, may have the instincts to sharpen your Inner Beasts, or you may not. Yet I shall ensure that, whether you can tap into your instincts or no, you shall be armed with the knowledge to understand Anima. If nothing else, when facing Jormungandr and his minions, that knowledge may aid you in defeating them.”
“Good point,” Sunset agreed, “I... actually have no idea what Jormungandr’s Anima power really is. It was weird. He was manifesting giant claws, like they were pieces of his true form, maybe?”
“Ah,” said Simurgh, “Jormungandr is an outlier. A rare individual who has no affinity for any aspect, but rather excels at all of them.”
“Oh... great,” Sunset put her chin in her hand, sighing heavily, “Can’t ever be easy, can it? For once I’d like to have a major enemy who’s like a video game boss, with a big, shiny bit that’s labeled ‘Hit me to win’.”
“If our lives were a video game, Sunset, I think it’d be made by From Software,” said Rainbow Dash with a snarky smirk, one that Sunset returned with one of her own, knowing full well that her friend was probably right.
“Hmm, out of curiosity are there others like him out there who have this omni-affinity?” Clover asked, “Just how rare are they?”
“Exceedingly,” said Asena, “So much so that Jormungandr is the only one we know of who is living in the current age. It is one of the reasons he bested Leviathan for leadership of the Tribe of Sea, and why he was able to so boldly go to war with the other Tribes in the past.”
“Yikes,” Rainbow Dash said, “Talk about OP.”
“OP?” Asena said, head tilting and ears twitching.
“Er, ‘over powered’, kinda a human term we use for shit that is not fair and in need of rebalancing,” said Rainbow Dash, to which Asena let out a bit of a rumbling chuckle.
“I see. OP. I... like it. But, do not despair. Jormungandr is mighty, it is true, but even one like him must obey the rules of Anima like any other. If he makes use of one Anima affinity, that power will have a weakness to its natural counter. The difficulty is in the way he can use all of the affinities at their full potential. If and when you face him again, you must be prepared to identify what Anima he is using and when. As for his conjuring of those giant claws, Lady Shimmer, I know that power from the tales of the old war. It is a Fang affinity power, one that lets him reproduce the body parts of anything... or anyone he’s eaten.”
“E-eaten!?” Wallflower let out a frightened squeak.
Sunset frowned, thinking back to the fight. Had all of the claws Jormungander had conjured been uniform? Or the large tail he’d created? Had they... all been parts of different bodies? Her memory was fuzzy, but she thought perhaps they had all had small differences, as if they’d not all come from the same source. “Just how many people has Jormungandr consumed?”
“In the war? Thousands,” said Asena bluntly, “Too many met their ends in his voracious belly. And with that particular Anima power, he can bring forth all of them to his side in battle. To fight Jormungandr is not just to fight a monster of immense power, but an army of his consumed victims.”
“But do not fear!” said Simurgh, “With good hope and fortune, you won’t even have to face him yourselves. At the Convocation of Clans, you can petition the great Quetzalcoatl for aid!”
Asena cleared her throat, “And Lady Fenris.”
“Yes, yes, her too, I suppose,” said Simurgh, “But for now, I think there has been enough talk. You should all rest for the night, now that we’ve eaten.”
“I’d love to get some sleep, but I’m afraid I’ve got important training of my own to do,” said Clover, standing up and brushing off her robes. She bowed respectfully to the two Beast Realm natives, “Sincerest thanks for the informative lesson. Even if I don’t develop any Anima like Sunset and the others, I always enjoy learning.”
“Yeah, looking forward to hearing more,” said Sunset, standing as well and giving Clover a small bump on her shoulder with a fist, “If you don’t mind, I’ll come with you. Way past time I communed with Hokori no Hikari.”
“I’d welcome the company,” Clover replied, flashing a small smile.
“Don’t go too far,” Shining Armor warned, “I set up my barrier to have around a football field radius, so if you go beyond that point you won’t be covered.”
“We’ll be careful, and stick close to camp,” Sunset promised.
“You know what?” Rainbow Dash suddenly said, hopping to her feet as well, “Not really all that tired yet, either. I get you and Clover got, like Soul Reaper stuff you’re training with, so I can’t do much to help you there. But I got some energy I still need to burn off... uh, AJ, you think you could...?”
“Yeah, yeah, I got ya, sugarcube,” Applejack said, grunting as she got to her feet, “Bit of sparrin’ before bed sounds just fine ta me.”
“You girls are impossible,” Cadence said with a chiming laugh, “Even after all that happened today, you can’t sit still, can you? No wonder Celestia and Luna were always complaining to me back in the old school principal days that they never had a quiet week with you girls on the loose.”
“Would it be okay if I came and, uh, watched?” asked Wallflower, to which the girls all exchanged looks and Sunset gave a firm nod.
“Sure, just don’t expect much. I’m basically going to sit and meditate with my sword, and probably have an existential crisis once I’m in there. Clover is going to punch spells into existence with her mind. Applejack and Rainbow Dash are going to hit each other platonically until both probably pass out. Not sure it's what you’d call a fun night on the town, but come with if you like.”
“I just feel way more comfortable being around you guys in case, you know, she comes popping out of my head,” Wallflower said, tapping her skull with a finger.
“No problem, WF, if your tall, dark, and weird goddess personality comes calling, we’ll keep her in check,” said Rainbow Dash.
With that, the group split, and as Shining Armor told them, they didn’t go far. There was a long and relatively flat cliff shelf less than a hundred feet up from the campsite, just large enough for everyone to fit comfortably. Clover had a cozy spot near a rock outcropping to sit with her scrolls and begin work on taming the Kido spell she was working on. Just next to that was a mossy overhang that Sunset could sit on cross-legged, her Zanpaktou laid out across her knees. Behind her Wallflower had found a nice spot on a tall, strewn out series of rocks to sit with hands braced backward to watch as Applejack and Rainbow Dash squared off along the wide stretch of the cliff shelf.
The calm of the scene helped Sunset get her mind and soul in order. She laid her hands on Hokori no Hikari’s gently curved, gleaming edge. The blade was warm to her touch, as if her Zanpaktou had been hotly anticipating when Sunset would finally get around to doing this.
Sorry it took awhile, girls. Been a hell of a distracting few days. But I’m ready to get to work. Show me what you’ve got.
It didn’t even take a moment. With the flashing sensation of light and heat filling her mind and spilling into her very spirit, Sunset Shimmer felt herself drawn like a river of flame into her Zanpaktou’s Inner World.
----------
Spike was relying on gut instinct. He had rarely been in a lot of fights. Twilight and the other mares tended to be front and center when crisis’ came calling to Ponyville. Not that Spike wasn’t ready and willing to throw down beside his friends, it was just that actual opportunities to do so had been relatively few and far between. As such he didn’t really have any formal combat training to rely on. However, he was a dragon, and at this moment a very big dragon. On top of that, even if he had no real order to the memories of Fafnir in his mind, there felt like there was something helping guide him, if only on that instinctive level he could feel down in his bones.
It’s why he was able to spring across the gap between himself and Nidhogg with the kind of speed and power that came from a natural predator leaping on prey. He wasn’t attacking mindlessly, however. He knew Nidhogg had some kind of protective magic covering his body. Spike didn’t know if his own talons and teeth would do much, but he was hoping Nidhogg would assume he didn’t know that. As such, Spike’s charge was a feint, albeit one he had to commit to to make it convincing.
He reared up and slammed down at Nidhogg with both his front claws. Nidhogg didn’t even try to dodge, instead rising to meet Spike’s charging swipes with his own claws surging up to grasp Spike’s wrists mid-swing. For a moment the two dragon’s slammed and strained against one another, muscle to muscle, but the shimmering field of distortion covering Nidhogg’s body caused a wrenching feeling inside Spike as if the air itself was trying to rip the scales from his body.
“Poor brother,” Nidhogg said, “You have the body of a dragon grown, but you are still a whelp in heart and mind. The ponies of this world raised you soft, so I must harden you once more. Batter your unblemished hide until your true instincts and memories as Fafnir awaken.”
“Dude,” Spike growled, and lashed his tail behind him hard, “Put a cork in it.”
Again, instinct is what was guiding him. Spike was a fairly laid back person, most of the time. Took life as it came at him. Perhaps it was this nature that led him to simply trust his instincts, to not question how he knew that lashing his tail would conjure another explosion of mountain rock to take his tail’s shape and lash sidelong at Nidhogg’s flank. He just knew it, and followed that gut feeling.
The strike was not all that refined. The rock heaved like a wave, forming a vague tail shape as it careened into Nidhogg’s side with a devastating crash. Yet Nidhogg rolled with the blow as if he’d been expecting it, and Spike saw his opponent grin savagely as he hooked Spike’s arm under his own and used his bulk and momentum from being struck to wrench spike over and down into a powerful throw that sent Spike sprawling into the mountainside with tremendous impact that scattered rock bits around for hundreds of feet.
“Well you were never much of a talker yourself, brother. So terse in your time. I had to make up the difference somehow. Now then...”
Nidhogg’s wings spread. They were unlike Spike’s, longer yet somehow thinner, with many more lines of ribbed spines shooting through their length as they curved more into a crescent shape. Much of Nidhogg’s black scaled body was not like that of dragons that Spike knew. Somehow Nidhogg’s scales were thicker, with greater defined ridges and sharpened plate edges, as if every part of his body was evolved into a weapon. The same could be said of his thick, curled horns, or the massive, spiked whip of his tail. No Equestrian dragon could ever be considered soft, yet Nidhogg looked like a creature that existed solely to sunder and tear flesh. It made for quite the intimidation display as he flapped those wings to get airborne, stirring up a whirlwind in the process. As Nidhogg rose, he kept his neck craned to fixate his head upon Spike’s position, and Spike felt the power surging in Nidhogg even before he saw the lines of baleful green light pulsating up Nidhogg’s throat to pool between his jaws.
Spike didn’t exactly need to be a battle hardened veteran to know that standing still was not a good idea, but he also knew he didn’t have time to dodge out of the way fully. As he hurled his body sideways from the dizzied position he was on, halfway down into a crater his impact had made, Spike also flicked his tail once more. He felt the drag and pull of energies inside him, felt a growing roar in his mind, but one with purpose. It wasn’t speaking in a voice so much as hammering meaning through something deeper, like a resonant vibration, more song than sentence.
All Spike knew is that it was telling him his power could be used to guard as well as attack, and immediately following his action the mountain stone shuddered to form a rising wall of rock twenty feet thick and fifty high that was shaped with the indentations of dragon scales.
This, just as Nidhogg unleashed his breath, intermixed with a roaring howl and terrible pulsation of magical and spiritual power. Flames of pale green shot forth not in a wide sheet of natural fire, but an unnaturally focused spiral that distorted the air with warbling force. Spike’s shield of stone was shattered like the wall of a sandcastle being dashed by a shovel, rock blasting everywhere, but the impact did give Spike a precious second to finish diving out of harm’s way.
Nidhogg’s head whipped upward, sending the practical beam of focused flames and spiraling force energy ripping up the mountainside in a hazardous line of destruction. Spike saw thousands of tons of rock heaved skyward in great flying chunks, only to be broken down into smaller chunks and then... suspended in mid-air?
He blinked, confused. Nidhogg’s roaring scream kept going, the force from his mouth creating a distorted field of energies that caught the chunks of mountainside and spun them as if in a field of negated gravity. Spike thought back to when he and Ember were hit with that howling roar, how his sense of gravity had felt broken and put in disarray.
He thought maybe that had just been his head getting a bit dazed. But now it looked like Nidhogg’s ability was far more directly in control of gravity, and Spike had all of a few seconds to shake off his daze before Nidhogg tilted his chin down, and send the flying wave of rock shards hurtling towards Spike under an amplified wave of gravitational forces.
Spike was agile, by dragon standards, and while he might not have been the world’s most experienced warrior, the young dragon knew how to dodge. Scootaloo and her obsessive competitiveness in dodgeball had seen to that before Spike had ever set foot out of Ponyville. He shifted his immense bulk with the kind of shuffling ease that would have likely shocked onlookers, and he did his best to weave his way through the hail of rock chunks, some of which were as large as his head and likely weighed dozens of not hundreds of tons. A few impacted his body, regardless of his skill, one bruising his left wing, another taking a few scales off his right hip, while a third caught the end of his tail. Each strike hurt, but Spike was mad enough to push pain aside.
He still didn’t know where Ember was, and that was unacceptable. If she was hurt... oh, Nidhogg was going to need a lot more than some fancy gravity-defying tricks to get out of this unscathed!
Besides, if he wants to chuck rocks, he’s not the only one who can play that game.
Spike leaped into the sky, bursting past the last of the falling stones as he let his large wings carrying him upward, but only high enough that he could cruise up the mountainside at about twenty feet up. He sharply turned, eyeing Nidhogg, who had gained height as well and was keeping his distance. Spike had a feeling burning in his stomach that told him Nidhogg was gathering energy for another display of power. Was this some kind of magic sense? Spike wasn’t sure, he just knew he could feel Nidhogg’s power gathering like a rumble, and Spike planned to beat him to the punch this time.
Reaching a spot near the mountain’s peak, Spike banked sharply and let his tail drag down and scrape along the stone and ice that was there. He felt the rock beneath the icy peak respond and his tail flicked like it was hurtling a javelin. Half the mountain peak sheared off and reshaped itself into a long, sharp replica of one of Spike’s horns, flying at Nidhogg with enough force to form an air cone around it.
Spike didn’t stop there, dipping into a dive and running his tail along the mountain, flicking the appendage left and right as he created more and more stone javelins that he sent hurtling at his opponent, although none as large as the first one.
Nidhogg let out another blasting howl of force and flame, catching the largest initial spike of stone just a dozen meters from impact. It slowed then stopped in mid-air in front of Nidhogg, then abruptly crashed down as if yanked to the earth by an invisible hand, gravity multiplying to crush it to the ground in an instant. Spike’s smaller javelins of stone hurtled in, reaching Nidhogg as he hovered in the air with defiant pride. The way the air around his body was distorted ripped the stone javelins to chunks before they could meaningfully impact him. By now Spike realized that distortion surrounding Nidhogg’s hide was more warped gravity, only pulling in different directions to act as both an ablative shield against attack and a punishing counter to those that got too close.
But Spike knew that guard had a weak spot. The knowledge stemmed from the same spot as that guiding, roaring song in his gut. In his mind he could almost feel the press of another mind, another him, whispering things Spike would never had known. Anima and affinities. Nidhogg’s strengths and weaknesses.
Fafnir knew his brother all too well, and little had changed over the many centuries where Nidhogg was concerned. Whereas Fafnir? Fafnir was a whole new dragon, now.
He couldn’t break through Nidhogg’s defense with pure force. His power wasn’t right for that. Fafnir’s memories were scattered and vague, but Spike knew he didn’t have the needed “affinity” to overpower that “Hide” ability. However, he did know that the power he did have had the potential to create an opening he could take advantage of, as long as he survived long enough to do it.
That’s why he kept flying low to the ground, soaring down the mountainside while throwing up great piles of rock with each swing of his tail. Dust and ice kept getting kicked up, forming a growing cloud of debris and mist that helped obscure Spike’s movements. Nidhogg was staying high in the air, keeping distance. Again, a flicker of Fafnir’s memories told Spike that was how a good “Howl” fighter worked, although Nidhogg had a habit of liking to get in close once he felt comfortable to use an affinity he was less potent in like “Claw”.
None of these terms made a lot of sense to Spike, but he wasn’t questioning it. He was just glad these jumbled thoughts and feelings from Fafnir were good for something. Fafnir’s own anger felt as if it overlapped Spike’s well, although Fafnir’s was more a raw wound of frustration and regret as much as anger.
“It’s strange,” called Nidhogg’s voice as the dark dragon circled the growing cloud of rock dust and ice mist that Spike was kicking up, “I cannot tell how much you remember and how much of this is just guesswork on your part, brother. Do you remember how to truly use Anima? You don’t have to swing your tail about to use Tail Anima, you know? Hah, reminds me of when we were wyrmlings, you did enjoy tail wrestling. Oh, am I talking too much again? Forgive me, I was just gathering power...”
Nidhogg inhaled, and this time his whole chest lit up with pulsating, inner green light that built up through his long neck to glow at his mouth. He then threw his head down as he circled Spike’s obscured position and let out a roar. The flames and warped gravity energy within this roar spread wider than before, although Nidhogg still had to sweep his head about like someone trying to power wash a floor tile. Where the wide beam of conical force and burning green flame touched, rock, mist, ice and snow, all flew skyward as gravity reversed. It was clear Nidhogg was trying to pick Spike up out of his protective cover.
Yet Nidhogg didn’t see Spike amid the numerous piles of snow, ice chunks, and boulders of various sizes that rose from the mist. He kept up a gradual roar, controlling the gravity howl to keep the debris lifted up to float in place. That was when he realized one particular pile of rocks was oddly clumped together, and as Nidhogg narrowed his eyes at it, the entire pile of collected boulders exploded outward. Spike, having hidden himself inside by using his mysterious new power to gather the debris around his body, now directed the dozens of multi-ton boulders to hammer right into Nidhogg as they shaped themselves into pointed talons. Nidhogg grunted as the barrage struck his defensive Hide, the warped space breaking down the sharp rocks.
However this meant he did cut off his roar, which sent the rest of the debris falling. It also let Spike spread his wings and surge upward, getting above Nidhogg just as the rock barrage was striking the larger dragon. Spike then, having kept one large boulder wrapped in his tail, dove down and shaped the rock around is tail like an extra layer, sprouting spikes like a giant stone mace.
He slammed his tail, along with that stone mace, right into Nidhogg’s back with crushing force, and this time Nidhogg’s protection didn’t hold up nearly as well. That was because Spike new from Fafnir’s memories that if Nidhogg’s “Hide” was busy focusing on protecting one side of him, the other sides weakened as a result.
Nidhogg let out a roar of pain and went sailing down right into the ground, slamming into the mountainside hard enough to send cracks running over the stone and ice for scores of meters. Spike, grinning with satisfaction, went charging down after him.
“Maybe you should stop treating me like your bro and just fight, dude!”
Spike hurtled towards Nidhogg, but even so, still saw the black dragon’s lips curl in a fang filled smile as he said, “As you prefer.”
Nidhogg sprang up with shocking speed, given his size, and sized Spike’s outstretched talons with his own, all but stopping Spike’s descending charge dead in it’s tracks. Spike still impacted with Nidhogg and the two wrestled on the mountain slope, rolling end over end as they bit and clawed at each other. Spike tried to get a few more stone constructs formed, but he couldn’t focus as Nidhogg’s gravity warped talons slammed his face sideways one moment, then struck his chest and crumpled scales the next. Nidhogg’s protective field was weakened, so Spike’s own bites and claws scored a few blows that drew blood, but before Spike knew it he was heaved onto his back and pinned down by Nidhogg’s superior bulk.
Nidhogg used one of his hind legs to hold down Spike’s tail as he tried to lash it, and Nidhogg’s pointed, almost blade-like features gazed down at Spike with a air churning growl.
“No more talk or games, brother. It is time to take you home.”
The ground shuddered and the air above them roiled, as if stirred to storm. Rain started to fall upon the mountain slope, even if it had been a fairly clear day just minutes ago. Spike felt the buzzing sensation of powerful magic and other energies in the air as Nidhogg’s body lit up with green patterns of spiral light. Spike struggled to move, but it seemed Nidhogg had a firm pin on Spike that was preventing him getting any meaningful leverage.
“Spike! Let him go, you jerk!”
Spike’s eyes shot wide as he recognized Ember’s voice, and saw the small blue, bipedal dragon flying in from above. She was carrying the Dragon Lord’s Scepter with both clawed hands as if about to baseball swing it into the back of Nidhogg’s head. Nidhogg barely glanced her way as she flew at him, then glanced back at Spike with a strange grin.
“Well, looks like you’ll have a guest joining us in Lord Jormungandr’s court.”
Spike saw the flash of magical energies forming sigils on the mountain around him and Nidhogg. He might not have known the details himself about how the powers Nidhogg used worked, but Fafnir’s broken memories did tell him clearly enough one word; portal.
“Ember, stay back!” he roared in warning, but too late.
Ember reached Nidhogg and swung the scepter with its gleaming ruby head. Nidhogg laughed as the world around them in a single circle flashed with pure white light.
Then the mountainside was empty, with Nidhogg, Spike, and Ember nowhere to be found in all of Equestria.
----------
“Hmmmmm...”
“...”
“Grrrrr...”
“...Can I-?”
“No. Let me think.”
“...”
“...Maybe if I turn this one? No... grrraaah.”
“I think I know-”
Chrysalis, with a snappish twist of her head, gave Ocellus a glare that could strip paint. “I said let me think! This stupid puzzle cannot possibly be this hard!”
Ocellus, chin resting on one hoof as she sat on her haunches at the back of the octagonal room, sighed softly and didn’t respond to Chrysalis’ outburst. Instead the young Changeling simply pointed with her other hoof upward, where Chrysalis against her better judgment looked. Up at the roof of the chamber there was a set of pictographs, ones that, to Chrysalis’ growing dismay, matched the patterns on the wall tiles she’d been fiddling with without progress for the past ten minutes.
It burned her pride fiercely to think she hadn’t actually just looked up and had been laser focused on just the wall tiles, each one rotatable to allow for different pictographs to be aligned side by side. Given the chamber, upon aligning the wrong pictographs, would fills with bursts of flame from floor nozzles, Chrysalis felt at least a tad justified in wanting to take her time with this. Not that it was hard to take the shape of something flame resistant, like the five foot long fire newt she currently was, and choose to remain so until she started arranging the pictographs according to the pattern on the ceiling.
When this was rewarded with a grinding sound of stone as a circular hole in the floor opened up, Chrysalis transformed back into her ‘Vespid’ disguise and gave Ocellus a flat look, “I... would’ve looked up eventually.”
Ocellus cleared her throat with a polite cough and fluttered her wings as she buzzed over to the hole in the floor, peering into the darkness below, “I’m sure you would have.”
Chrysalis bit back at retort. It was rather difficult to tell of Ocellus was being condescending or genuine. Chrysalis wanted to assume the later, but a growing part of her was starting to think Ocellus was a lot more intelligent and perceptive than she let on. And also had a hidden snark streak.
Reminded Chrysalis a little of Pharynx, if he was inherently less abrasive.
Well, whatever, they could start making progress again. The delve ever deeper into this labyrinth was wearing upon Chrysalis’ patience and nerves. Traps and puzzles aside, the twists and turns of the maze itself had grown more complex the deeper she and Ocellus had gone. Luckily navigation was made easier by assuming forms with echolocation. A good look around as a giant bat provided a sort of mental map to the area ahead. Even now, she watched Ocellus take her turn in transforming, becoming a big blue bat with pink wing membranes, and give a sonic screech into the tunnel below.
Chrysalis waited as Ocellus’ transformed state let her map out the chambers below with the sound waves she’d just produced. Still in bat form, Ocellus raised a wing to her nose and scratched it in thought, “That’s odd.”
“What? Don’t just leave me guessing,” Chrysalis said, trying to keep her anxiety and bubbling ire in check.
“I think we’ve reached the bottom. I couldn’t sense any more tunnels or passages down there,” Ocellus said, transforming back into her natural form, hovering in the air with fitful wing buzzes, “There’s just one more big chamber down there, shaped like a long rectangle. This floor tunnel leads to one end of it. Then there’s a lot of pillars on either side of the room leading up to what felt like a... um..”
“Yes, yes, out with it already!” Chrysalis insisted, her patience thin as tissue paper.
“A, uh... coffin.”
That made Chrysalis blink for a moment, taken slightly aback. She had not expected to find something like that down here. Was... was the body of her previous incarnation actually buried in this tomb? Like the mummified bodies of some of the cultures in the south of Equestria? Not precisely what Chrysalis would have wanted to find, but then if the Relic was going to be anywhere, it may as well be buried with its owner. Soon to be former owner.
“Morbid, but I think you and I can deal with a few dusty old bones. The Relic has to be there, if there’s no further places to progress too. Hm, then again this may be just another puzzle room with a secret exit.”
“Maybe,” said Ocellus, “But usually we can feel the false floors or walls where those have been. It’s how we knew this chamber was the right spot to progress in.”
“True enough... well then, I’ll go first. You didn’t sense any trap triggers?”
“No, but considering we’ve run into a few that spring from magical glyphs rather than physical mechanisms, that doesn’t mean it’s safe,” Ocellus pointed out, to which Chrysalis gave a reluctant nod of agreement. Girl was sharp, Chrysalis had to give her that. Of course Chrysalis could have done this on her own, but galling as it was, Ocellus had made things go faster than they otherwise would have.
Licking her lips with anticipation, Chrysalis took to the air and started to hover down the vertical floor tunnel, with Ocellus flying in right behind her. The pair descended what Chrysalis guessed was about fifty paces until they exited out from the ceiling of the chamber Ocellus had described. It... had a different feeling to it that struck Chrysalis immediately as somehow both reverent, sacred, yet dangerous.
Part of it was the lighting. Here, unlike in all other spaces, there was bright lighting from long preserved crystal lanterns that hung from the ceilings and pillars, bathing everything in a gentle and somber white glow. The air was warmer, as if heated to a spring day via some unseen magical force. The air wasn’t still and dead, either, but slightly hummed with an energy that felt almost vibrant.
That’s when Chrysalis saw the plants. Living plants, although how they were alive after who knows how long being down here she had to assume was due to magic. Between the pillars along either wall of the rectangular chamber was a vibrant garden where flowers of all manner bloomed, weaving a carpet of color. The wall themselves hung with ivy and vines that sprouted similar, wider petaled flower blooms. The air was thick with their fragrant scents, and against her own will, Chrysalis shuddered a little.
She felt like she knew this place.
Her head started to throb, and she rubbed it with a hoof. Something was creeping through her mind’s eye, or rather something deeper, connected to a part of her that... had never meant much of anything to her in the past.
“Vespid? Hey, you okay?” Ocellus was hovering next to her, eyes looking her over with worry. Chrysalis moved away from her, keeping herself from scowling and forcing herself to sound calm.
“Fine. I’m fine,” she said, angry without knowing why, “Let’s just get what we came for.”
Examining the room, she saw what Ocellus had meant by a ‘coffin’ on the other side of the chamber. The room itself must have been several hundred feet long, with the ceiling of slightly curved stone standing an easy sixty or so feet high. Chrysalis was hesitant to set hoof on the floor, although she imagined if there were any final, deadly traps present, their makers were smart enough to set triggers in case of flying thieves.
More than ever before there was a sense in her gut she couldn’t name that told her to advance with caution, especially with her target in sight. The coffin was more like a stone sarcophagus. It seemed plain from a distance, but some kind of bas relief was carved onto its lid, although Chrysalis could make out not details from far away. Gesturing for Ocellus to follow her, Chrysalis flew forward slowly, hovering about ten feet off the floor. She looked left and right, keen to spot any hint of a trap going off so she could transform into an appropriate creature to weather the danger.
To her surprise, nothing happened. They passed the first set of pillars unmolested. Yet, Chrysalis slowed, stopping.
“What is this...?” she whispered, the pressure in her mind increasing as she looked at the pillars. Beside her, Ocellus raised a hoof to her mouth, letting out a quiet gasp.
“So beautiful... who is she?”
The pillars were painted with nearly photorealistic pictures of stunning composition. Starting from the top and spiraling their way down each pillar, the pictures looked to be telling a story, all of them starring an alicorn mare of almost painfully elegant beauty. Her fur was black as a night sky, yet her mane, wild and windswept, reflected a stunning gold sheen. Her wings were graced with both black and gold feathers, alternating lines that made the wings glimmer. Her body was lithe and athletic, yet elegant as a cracking whip. Upon her body she wore a magnificent torc of jade, from which hung a sheath with a curved, long dagger with a hilt caped with a perfectly spherical orb of jade.
The first pair of pillars showed this alicorn mare in her youth, dancing and playing with a number of other alicorns, most notable a pair that looked like sisters; one dark blue and black like nearly a twin of night, while the other was regal and white, with flame spun hair like the sun.
Chrysalis’ head hurt ever more, yet she couldn’t look away from the pillars, as if something inside her was gripping her by the back of the head and forcing her to look. She could feel her heartbeat in her chest growing faster, although she couldn’t tell if it was in fear, dismay, or something else. Almost like she was on autopilot, she hovered forward, gazing upon the pillars as the pictures continued to tell their story in expertly painted detail.
As the story went on the dark furred beauty was shown walking among glorious cities in the sky, some so fantastical that Chrysalis half thought they must have been built from moonlight, rainbows, and the very essence of the stars. Alicorns filled these cities, so many that their radiant colors nearly hurt the eyes. The alicorn beauty walked among them, gathering flowers, tending a garden, and spreading the beauty of it to others.
Until some stopped looking. The pictures started to gain a gray cast as the alicorn mare beauty wandered into rare shades of darkness and gray. Alleys and tunnels beneath the glorious cities, where a hoof full of alicorns dwelled who were less colorful than the rest. Outcasts, for one reason or another. Somehow, in Chrysalis’ mind that grew all the more pressured, she knew that these alicorns were shunned by their peers for as many reasons as there were stars in the sky. Some had made mistakes that made them pariah's. Others had been born weaker than others and so could not contribute as much to society, left to fend for themselves. Others had simply never fit in with society at all, insular by nature.
Regardless of the reason, they were all outcasts, left in the rare dark shadows of the alicorn’s shining civilization.
And the alicorn mare of singular beauty discovered a new desire.
The next pillars showed depictions of the dark beauty now wearing a cloak of onyx over her sleek form, the cloak tattered in places, yet somehow enshrouding her and her form like oil. She gathered the outcasts in secret places, built her gardens for them, and delivered the sustenance and wealth, treasures taken as she was shown sliding and slipping like a shadow through vaults and shining chambers of treasure. She would snatch away these treasures, and in their place leave flowers of countless shades and colors, as if trying to remind the owners of those vaults of wealth that there was beauty beyond the shine of a gem or coin.
She was often shown being chased by alicorn guards in crystal armor, the mare of beautiful shadows laughing as she skipped away with treasures piled upon her back. The outcasts gathered around her like a flock, or... a hive, surviving off of her treasures, learning to steal with equal aplomb, and carving new tunnels and hidden places within the forgotten corners of alicorn cities.
Chrysalis halted in front of one particular pillar, one which showed the mare with her cloak of shadows wrapping around her like a cocoon. Then, in the next picture, the mare had taken a new shape. The shadows took whatever shape she needed. Bird. Beast. Bug. With such means she could fool others, get into more secret places, steal more treasures for her people. Her people, who learned to shape themselves the same way she did.
And all the while, she was chased, this mare. The white alicorn of flaming mane and righteous light was always shown a few steps behind the laughing mare of shapeshifting shadow. One particular picture even showed them clashing, briefly, jade gapped dagger poised against a massive blade of light. Yet even that ‘battle’ was just another of the shadow mare’s tricks, a puff of smoke vanishing under the sunlight blade, the white alicorn shown howling in fury as her rival skipped away again, twirling a tiara on her hoof that was clearly stolen from the sun alicorn’s very head.
Chrysalis didn’t even realize she was talking, words coming from her mouth with a strange mirth and smirk, “You and I have always fought, Eos... always my rival... a joy to get the better of you, a pleasant pain when you got the better of me...”
She clutched her head, the sensations of pained pressure increasing, yet also reaching a river-like breaking point of release. A name, repeated in her mind, spoken by a hundred different voices.
”Laverna...”
“Vespid!”
Chrysalis felt herself staring at the floor, just a few feet from her face. Ocellus had her hooves wrapped around Chrysalis’ mid-section, having caught her. Chrysalis realized she must have passed out briefly, and fallen from the air, only Ocellus’ quick intervention preventing her from cracking her head open on the stone floor.
Grunting in irritation, she raised a hoof to push Ocellus away, but hesitated, if only for a second.
“...Thanks,” she muttered quietly, then pushed Ocellus back, “I’m fine now. Just responding to the Relic, and-”
She stopped talking, voice halting in her throat as her eyes widened. Ocellus, looking up and over at the pillars that Chrysalis was staring at now mirrored the same expression, adding a fearful gulp to the mix.
The pictures on the pillars had come to life. The beautiful dark mare of shadows, dozen of them, had their eyes flare with baleful emerald light and one by one some two score living paintings pulled themselves from the pillars and began to trail dark magic like contrails of smoke. They surrounded Ocellus and Chrysalis, a flock of living paintings that radiated potent magic. Then, as one, the paintings spoke in a female voice that was painfully close to Chrysalis’ own, magnified to a gale storm of voices.
“At long last my future shadow arrives! I applaud you getting here. I hope you enjoyed the game of mazes and traps. My children loved such diversions as much as I did, and our homes were filled with games and laughter, even in the darkest places where we dwelled. If you’re anything like me you got here relatively unscathed. But now the real test begins, myself from a future age. You see, unlike Eos, who probably couldn’t wait to get reborn via her Relic, I’m not so sure I like the idea of just giving over my power and memories to someone I don’t know can use the power for what it's meant for. Who knows who I’d eventually get reborn as?”
The paintings all smiled and winked as one, laughing almost derisively, “My future self might be a selfish bitch, after all. So, one last test. One last game. Pass it and live to receive our Relic. Fail and... well, from my perspective I’ll already be dead. I don’t mind staying that way if it means keeping power out of the hooves of those who would only abuse it.”
Chrysalis would have been lying if she claimed she wasn’t afraid, considering just how many of these painting shades there were. She sensed a collectively massive amount of magic coming from them, although individually they didn’t seem too strong. But as the former Queen of the Changelings, she was well aware of the power of overwhelming numbers.
She had her magic, she had her Bakkoto, and most of all she had a whole massive heap of built up, murderous rage she’d been forced to keep in check for entirely too long. If this was to be a fight, Chrysalis wasn’t about to back down from it. Ocellus was at her back, but Chrysalis had no idea if the child could be relied upon in a fight. Probably just a liability. Then again, the painting shades might not even consider Ocellus a target. The fact that they had activated and spoke with knowledge of at least who Chrysalis was supposed to be, as an Inheritor, suggested the magic that fueled these constructs was keyed in on Chrysalis' specific magical signature, which would resemble ‘Laverna’.
In all likelihood, that meant...
Chrysalis’ fears were confirmed when, swift as the wind itself, a flight of a dozen violent murder-paintings swept in from the flock and flew right at her and only her, extending numerous blades, claws, and coiling whips of razor sharp, magic infused paint.
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Holy hell this is still going - and updating routinely. Your determination is staggering, sir.
Pony chrysalis might actually become quite impressive depending on how the Inheritance interacts with her… fake zapangtu?
Anima seems really interesting. Looking forward to seeing it used in practice. Side note, that's how Jormungander's Anima works? Dash is right that is OP.
Cool to find out what blanks actually are. Loving the world building.
I could've sworn the Dragon Lord's Scepter was Spike's relic so why does Ember still have it?
Laverna seems like a really interesting character (just look at how much she infuriated Eos). Chrissy should learn a thing or 2 from her. Guessing this test has more to it then just a straight fight.
11840092
That's because the Scepter is also still the symbol of the Dragon Lord, which Ember still is, so Spike has her hold onto it. Since he, for the moment, is stuck in his transformed state he doesn't need to hold on to the Relic himself.
11840104
Well perhaps the relic and the scepter are in fact two separate but combined pieces. After all it would make safeguarding and ensuring it isn’t lost easier.
I personally believe that Fafnir wouldn’t want to rule his group of dragonkind forever. But didn’t want to leave the chance that his relic could be lost or misused. So he created the dragon lord’s scepter and the traditions of rulership before merging it to the scepter so he could have someone constantly defending it.
Welp, chrysalis is a selfish bitch, Albert a little less than yesterday, so what will she do to convince Laverna she is ok to reincarnate?
Ok, so Laverna is testing Chrysalis for worthyness in the same combat focused manner as a zanpakto does with their soul reaper. Interesting.
Meanwhile, both Spikes are in the Beast Realm now. I can't remember if they've met before here, but the contrast between them and potential interactions later will prove to be very amusing. One is a tiny puppy and the other is a gigantic dragon. Hopefully puppy Spike doesn't get jealous. 😅
This doesn't look good for the Dragon Duo. Torch will be pissed. Ember's not much of a help against opponents like Nidhogg. Maybe she'll do better against the ones in her weight class?
Guess it's safe to assume that The Bloodstone Scepter doesn't grant control over non-equestrian dragons. Hopefully it doesn't grant them the control either.
On Chrysalis side, I like Laverna so far. She seems nice. Call me a sceptic tho, cus I suspect Chrysalis' less "Selfish Bitch" moments just being influenced by her past life.
I'm gonna assume that Hell is the only exception. That's why they can't leave.
Playing devil's advocate, there's 8 billion people in the living world, not counting those in the souls society and animals in both Living World and Beast Realm (and Soul Society maybe). Quincy are numerous but their efforts would be like humans trying to steal hydrogen from the sun. Quincy have been active for,like 1000 years? Doubt the flow of souls would feel much of the difference. It's... really interesting how big some things can be in the universe.
Granted, Ialso don't believe they destroy the souls.
Fun tidbit, foxes hide food around their dens so the young foxes could learn how to find it. Maybe they can find a kitsune or other fox to teach them?
Ok, now they have to go through a poisonous swamp at some point, Miyazaki demands it.
Ohh, boy. Will there be a Phoenix in her Inner World? Or maybe a HellBorn version of her?
Speaking of them, wonder what Asena and Simurgh would think if they heard Celestia has a Phoenix for a pet. One of the rarest being in the Realm and she has it for a shoulder pet.
Knew
11840461
It's likely Puppy Spike will get big as well during his time in the Beast Realm. Though I think they should both revert back, like how Twilight changed back from her big form.