It's All In Your Head
Not for the first time in my life I woke up having no idea where I was. However, unlike those other times, I don’t think I can blame alcohol for this one. I distinctly remember being tortured by a psychotic unicorn with a ridiculously difficult to pronounce name. This difficulty was only compounded by the fact that the unicorn in question had a tendency to run electricity through people, making it next to impossible to say his name through the spasms. It was almost as though Kowey Thingy-majig the Fourth didn’t want people to say his name.
I slowly picked myself up off the floor that I had been stretched out upon, noting the comfortable green carpet underneath me as I rose. This might well be the first carpet I have seen since coming to Equestria. For some strange reason, ponies didn’t seem to like the feel of a smooth rug underneath them; maybe it had something to do with the hooves. I took a look around, trying to ascertain my current location, and almost wept for joy when I realised where I was.
A casino. I’m in a casino, traditional habitat and hunting ground for the species Devious Gamblerous. I wasn’t sure if I would ever see such a sight again. Since most ponies must suck at gambling, Honesty being one of the six big parts of their culture, I figured that casinos wouldn’t be a thing here. How glad I am to be wrong about Equestria.
“Ah, but you’re not in Equestria.” A disturbingly familiar voice said from behind me.
Whirling round, I confronted the speaker. Kowelth Gatar Nolis sat calmly by the bar, somehow managing to look both ridiculous and menacing as he perched atop a tall stool in a position most commonly associated with dogs when told to ‘sit’. Also, can Kowelth read minds now?
“Only surface thoughts,” He smiled smugly, “For now at least. You have no idea where we are, correct?”
“Fraid not Kowey boy. Care to enlighten a poor lost soul?”
His smug expression turned hard at the sound of his name being butchered, “My name is Kowelth Gatar Nolis. However, soon you will be calling me Master.”
“Woah,” I held my hands up and took a step back, “No need to make this kinky Mr. Cowl.”
“That’s Kowelth.” He growled through bared teeth.
“That’s what I said isn’t it? Mr. Coal?”
“Kowelth!” He shouted.
“Kal-El?”
“Kowelth!” He repeated, this time lighting up his horn and looking ready to do battle.
In response I held out my hand and smiled, “Ace. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
A distinct grating sound, like the horrified winces of a thousand dentists, filled the air as Kowleth began to grind his teeth together in frustration. He pointed his horn at me and looked about ready to fire when he managed to stop himself. He took a deep breath, releasing his magic, and brought back his smug look from earlier.
“Very good, you seek to infuriate me. Throw me off my game yes?” He chuckled, “And yet, you cannot take advantage of this. You have no weapons, yes?”
It was sadly true. Kowelth may not have actually seen the subtle movements I made as I checked myself for my various weapons, but he had managed to deduce my reasoning for angering him. My knife was missing from it’s sheath and my cards were suspiciously absent.
“Maybe I should just tell you where we are? Mister Ace, welcome,” He paused dramatically, “To your mind!”
My mind is a casino. Somehow, I’m not at all surprised by this.
“Here we can get to the heart of who you truly are,” Kowelth continued, “And, when I defeat you here, I will own that person; mind, body and soul.” He leaped off his chair to stand before me, once again charging up his horn, “Prepare yourself!”
With that, he began his attack. A bolt of sickly yellow energy shot towards me, forcing me to throw myself to one side, barely dodging the attack. As it flew past me, I could feel the heat of its passing, even though I was at least a metre away. One of the many roulette tables that lay around the room was completely obliterated when the fireball landed, leaving nothing but a few burning splinters where the wooden table once stood.
“Impressive yes?” Kowelth chuckled as I stared in amazement at the damage a single attack did, “I am well trained in mental magics and, in here, everything is in the mind, quite literally. Accept it, Mister Ace, I have all the power here.” He finished this with another chuckle and casually fired off several more bolts.
I snapped out of my amazed rigor just as the first bolt landed near me. The concussive force of the explosion sent me flying, luckily allowing the next couple of bolts in the salvo to pass through the space I had just occupied. Not so luckily, it meant my brief acquaintance with the wonder of flight ended with me smashing through a table. Breath shot out of me as I landed with a painful crack, jagged shards of pain shooting through my chest. A broken rib or two at the very least.
Crawling out of the wreckage, I felt a thousand smaller jolts of pain shooting through my back and realised the problem with using a wooden table as a crash mat. Fragments of wood, at least ten of them the size of nails, were lodged into my back, probably making me look like some kind of macabre hedgehog. I struggled to stand as the pain wracked through my body, the knowledge that staying still meant my death was the only thing that forced me onwards.
Kowleth, smug grin still fixed on his face, seemed to have decided against destroying me with magic and was trotting forwards calmly. As he approached, I stumbled backwards into the table’s ruins and fell on my backside, my hand grasping a large shard of wood that had once been a table leg behind my back.
“You see your foolishness now yes? I cannot be defeated here.” Kowelth chuckled as he stepped up to stand over me.
With a snarl of pain and anger, I shot forward, the shard of wood blazing a trail through the air as I thrust it forward with all the strength I could muster. It struck Kowleth in the throat and lodged there, blood spurting out of the jagged wound. Kowelth stumbled back in shock, his eyes wide and his mouth desperately gasping at the air like a fish, trying to force oxygen through his ruined throat. A horrible rattling sound came from him as his broken windpipe stuttered and failed. I watched in amazement as Kowelth, the first living being I had ever killed, gave out his last few death gasps before me.
My amazement turned to terror as a new timbre was added to these gasps. No longer were they the desperate wheezes of a dying creature, but instead the dark chuckles of someone who has just pulled off a great trick.
The wooden obstruction was wrapped in Kowelth’s yellow magic and began to slowly be pulled out of his neck, making a sicking squelching noise as it exited the wound. The ragged hole began to close up, the blood flowing backwards into the unicorn’s body, until not even a scar remained. Kowelth smiled at me.
“When I said I could not be defeated here, I was not lying you know.”
Almost casually, he stepped forward and brought his hoof down on my hip. Despite the seemingly light touch he used, I still gasped in pain as my hipbone was broken. He was right. He had all the power here. I had nothing.
Another stamp. Another crack as another couple of my ribs were broken.
A slash with his horn. Blood began to flow from a deep cut in my shoulder.
A swing of his hoof. My head slammed into the ground as my teeth were busted inwards.
Kowleth stopped and stood over me, relishing his victory and enjoying the sight of a defeated and broken opponent. “I wish I could say you were a worthy opponent,” He said calmly, “I wish I could say that I respected you as an enemy. But then I would just be lying yes? And I do feel that I should be honest to you. After all, we are currently as close as it is possible for two beings to be. I’m quite literally in your head. You can’t hide anything from me here, so I feel I should extend to you the same courtesy.”
He took a deep breath and sighed, looking down at me in an almost sad way. “I’m going to break your mind. All those little secrets and tricks you might have in here? I’m going to take them all and leave you with nothing. To the outside world, you’ll be nothing but a drooling vegetable, trapped in your own empty head.”
He lit his horn up once more and began to lower it towards my head. I struggled futilely under his hooves, his unnatural strength easily keeping me pinned down as the final blow slowly approached. Just as his horn was mere centimeters away from my head, there was a sudden series of bangs that echoed through the room. Someone was knocking at the large double doors to my mental casino.
Kowelth naturally looked at me in some confusion, “We’re inside your head. How is something knocking at the door?”
Despite the pain, I couldn’t help but reply sarcastically, “I don’t know. I assumed you’d invited them.”
“It’s a powerful mental assault spell, not some Canterlot tea party. This isn’t usually a group activity.” He turned back to face me, “No matter, I’ll deal with you and then go and-”
Whatever else he was about to say was cut off as a loud crack echoed through the air. Kowelth fell back as one side of his head exploded into gore, the nearly headless unicorn stumbled around for a moment but didn’t fall as his freaky mental regeneration cut in, healing his ruined face into a snarl.
“Who dares interrupt my art?!” He shouted at whatever being was beyond the door.
“Didn’t your mother ever teach you,” A breathy and very familiar voice called out from beyond the portal, “It’s rude to keep a Lady waiting.”
Magic began to gather in Kowelth’s horn as he prepared to attack the door and the speaker beyond with one of his firebolts. Before he could loose the attack though, a dozen more cracks, which I could now identify as gunshots, shattered both the silence, the door and various parts of Kowelth’s body. His horn disappeared into fragments as a shot went straight through it, his right eye popped as another bullet disappeared into his brain just as one of his legs burst into gore, at least three bullets smashing it to bits.
Amazingly, he still managed to pull himself together, though it looked like he had strained himself to do so. He was visibly sweating now, and looked like he had just run a marathon.
Whilst Kowelth was able to regenerate himself thanks to his mental magics, the door to the casino was not so fortunate. With various bullet holes riddling it’s framework, it slowly collapsed inwards, revealing the figure beyond. The first thing I always notice about Lady Luck is the hair. I don’t know what it is about it but even as I sat there in terrible pain I couldn’t help but think that it was the reddest red I had ever seen. Seriously, it was very red. Shockingly so. My own red hair, which people usually remarked was unusual, paled in comparison to the sheer redness of her locks.
Actually, I’m probably just rambling and delusional from all the blood loss. Still, it was nice hair.
This time she had chosen to forgo her usual long dresses, which made her look like a cross between Jessica Rabbit and a Bond girl, and had instead gone with a pinstripe suit, complete with fedora, deep royal purple blouse and a very liberal pinstriped miniskirt. The rest of her legs were covered mostly by a pair knee length leather boots that would make a dominatrix green with envy which ended in stiletto heels so pointed that most would consider them a deadly weapon. The most distinctive change that she had made to her attire was the rather radical accessory choice of a Thompson submachine gun, which she casually rested on one hip as she blew gently on its smoking barrel. I was impressed to say the least. Not many women can pull off the ‘carrying guns like a badass’ look.
She stepped elegantly over the ruined door, stiletto heels clicking as she observed the badly damaged casino. With a tut and a shake of her head, she seemed to manage to express enough disappointment to make me cringe inwardly, despite my wounds. On one hand, I knew that my mind had been invaded by an evil unicorn and the damage done here wasn’t really my fault, on the other hand though was the very powerful instinct that told my I really should have cleaned up a bit in here.
Her unflappable calm was barely even ruffled as she casually sidestepped a firebolt thrown by Kowelth, who had evidently got tired of being ignored. “Oh, you're still here?” She asked casually.
“Who in Tartarus are you!?” He shouted back, clearly infuriated by not being the smug, all-powerful being in the room.
“Tartarus? Nice place to visit but I’m not actually from there,” Lady Luck replied with a gentle smile, “I suppose you could say I’m the dealer in this little game.”
“Game?” Kowelth spluttered, “You think this is some game!? You are interrupting my ART! My art is no game!”
Lady Luck sighed, “Calm down honey. To people like me, everything is a game. Tell you what, why don’t I give you a fighting chance? I’ll let you have the first move.”
There was silence as the two combatants simply watched each other, one warily whilst the other seemed more interested in the condition of her nails. Suddenly, Kowleth made his move. Screaming in fury, he fired off several high power firebolts, the incandescent energy searing through the air towards the goddess. Almost carelessly, the red-haired beauty plucked the fedora from atop her locks and held it out, catching each firebolt in turn as they disappeared into the impossible depths of the hat.
She then sent a wink and a grin at me as she returned the fedora to its rightful place, “Learnt that one from you. Gotta love those hat tricks.”
Turning her attention back to Kowelth, who still seemed shocked that his attack had been blocked so effortlessly, her grin turned a bit sadistic. “Have you ever wondered about the phrase ‘the house always wins’?” She asked the unicorn, who was beginning to back away, realising that he was fighting someone way above his class. Her smile lost all of its remaining humour, leaving only a merciless smirk, as she lowered her Tommy gun to point at Kowleth. “It’s because they rig all the games.”
The gun thundered as Lady Luck held down the trigger, the weapon bucking back in her steel grip. This was not at all like the sharp cracks from earlier, but a deafening booming, as though the gun was an artillery piece made of the goddesses wrath. The sound was merely impressive though, the effect it had on its target was almost horrifying. Kowelth was damn near blown into bloody chunks as bullet after bullet ripped into him, only barely managing to hold his mental self together. Occasionally, through the hail of bullets and blood, I would catch a glimpse of his grimacing face, only to have it disappear once more into various terrible wounds as the salvo continued to rip him apart. Not only was he blown apart, but he was also blown backwards by the force of each round slamming into him, until eventually he was pressed with his back against the wall, each new bullet now tearing into his stomach and chest.
Eventually, the red-headed Valkyrie ceased her terrible onslaught, releasing the trigger and raising the gun to once more point at the ceiling. What remained of Kowelth was not pretty. He was barely managing to hold himself together, his back half being an obscene distance away from the rest of him whilst his face was in several parts. Yet still, somehow, he was attempting to regenerate from these ghastly wounds. Lady Luck was clearly not too impressed by this behaviour.
“Ew.” She commented, before raising one of her stiletto heels and bringing it down on Kowelth’s head, right between his eyes. The mage finally ceased his attempts to regenerate, the 5 inch long heel rather impeding his thought process as it stabbed into his brain.
Normal people would have been horrified at Lady Luck’s actions. At her casual attitude towards, quite literally, stamping out her opponent’s life. Maybe something had changed in me though, something that being at Kowelth’s mercy had done, because as I saw the torturer’s head smash open one last time, I felt only one thing.
Satisfaction.
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Well, dayum. Though I wonder what the other Players will think of such direct interference. Considering it all happened in Ace's mind I doubt many will care, but it still seems like Lady Luck is pushing the boundaries of what her fellows will permit. Still, seeing Kowelth get the shit kicked out of him by a deity was oh so satisfying.
Hehehe Gory and awesome chapter!! Keep up the good work! You know there is just something hot about a red head chick using a gun......
I have a feeling Ace is about to get yelled at ... a lot ... again.
hot hot hot hot hot hot hot
So Lady Luck uses a gun, eh? Is one of her favourite games Russian Roulette then?
This is fucking spectacular, loved the new chapter and can't wait for more!
Description sounds like she's dressed for a date with the Joker. Love it.
Also Murphy put the wrong [ceiling] in just after the main shooting he used (sealing). Murphies finest invention, spell check.
2796420
Danke for the edit, fixed it now. Also, for anyone curious, Lady Luck's new outfit was designed off of this:
fc06.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2012/016/e/8/lol___mafia_miss_fortune_by_knockwurst-d4mlns2.jpg
... Damn, Lady Luck kicks ass!
2796433
So lady luck's outfit is based on a skin for Miss Fortune? If that is not on purpose, that's one hell of a coincidence
2796509
Kind of on purpose. Initially, Lady Luck was designed as a completely separate entity from Miss Fortune. Then, a few weeks ago, I got my ass handed to me in a LoL game by a Miss Fortune player with that skin and thought to myself 'The red hair and badassary is awesome, got to use that somehow'. And now here it is.
The weirdest thing to me was how the Lady managed to instantly be at the doors to right against the wall where Kowelth wound up and Ace didn't even notice XD Usually he really twigs on stuff like that. to be fair I can easily see why that would slip your mind
Again an awesome chapter.
You describe the situations very good and I think everybody can just imagine what is happening in your chapters.
As usual there is also the drama that happens to Ace and then somebody helps him out. in that case Lady Luck
I hope you are going to write more of this entertaining story and i am already waiting to read more
Watch this be deleted and then Barrel posts a blog that's like "What new chapter? Guys, it's all in your head..."
Lady Luck is a fucking badass
i love you, Barrel-of-fun
That is the most bad-ass thing I have read this week.
I'd like to imagine someone said this:
2796433
...so you play League of Legends, eh? I wonder who your favorite champion is.
2796895
Definitely Vi. There's just something about that 'kickass punk chick that could crush my head with one of her gloves' image that really speaks to me...
2796905
GET DUNKED! *gets ass handed to me by the R + airblast combo or w/e it is*
Makes me want to make a dunk crew for 3v3 now...
Darius, Jayce, and Vi would be interesting for that.
2796282
Eeyup.
Just gonna say it BoF, you dissappointed me with the small chapter length. It just leaves me screaming for more!
2796344 every one knows lady luck is the house
Lady Luck has SWAG.
Seriously, full auto heavy artillery rounds in a Tommy gun?
You can't get more American than that!
Fucking win.
2796243
She's Lady Luck. And he's Ace. They bend the rules.
ace you eamn wimp! it was all in your mind, you could have beat him with a limp noodle with a simple Solana p if yso wantd to
2796905 Vi is clearly best. Punch first, ask questions while punching.
Aww yeah! Bad ass-ery at it's finest!
2796304 You are channelling Toby wrong. It's: HOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOT
I admit F Would have preferred if Ace had won on his own but this was still a gratifying turn of events
2806796 same here...
how is that an invader has the advantage, while the other is playing local? Ace was in an universe created by himself, goddamit...
anyway, The Lady is awesome...
2796243
True, but there have been many instances of the "gods" coming in and using dreams (the unconscious mind) to do many things, like Knightmare being trained or "Dreaming of Paws" and how Morpheus continually comes and gives him information and help in his dreams. So while I do agree many people will not mind, I just wanted to point out that there is a precedence (which makes me bothered as I do not like to go out of my way to make the thief look better than what he is).
Ah Lady Luck and Ace. This is got my back on LoL and playing Twisted Fate
"Lady Luck lays it down"
Incidentally, i can no longer hear this song without picturing a gorgeous red-haired woman wearing a needle striped suit and holding a Thompson.
Lady Luck cheated.
...
...
...
Awesome.
Totally badass
I took a huge wager that she'd make her entrance... Lady Luck was on his side AND mine this time around.
DAMN she's a Badass!
As you asked, Im giving feedback, for this particular chapter for my experience in its topic, explicitly: Estranged parents: Im in a slightly different boat as I first met my DAD at the age of 8 and was young and innocent and had a fairly pure outlook on life, that was a while ago, And I don't remember all the mess of crazy thoughts and feelings, but I do I particular remember feeling a strange sort of awe, and I merely silently observed him as he went about and did day-to-day activities, and when I could finally talk, I stuttered and would ask awkward questions. I got tired of making a fool of myself so I just stopped talking unless spoken to and watched him, STARED at him, like a piece of meat and I was a half-starved lion ready to kill. It was on that day I also met my two half brothers, but they were much younger and could barely speak, so I ignored them. All in all meeting new family members, especially ones as important as parents is a very confusing experience, one of which I wasn't equipped to handle at my younger age, but Ace being 20 sum thin seemed to handle it as well as I would imagine someone like him to, it was a great chappy.
I can't help but feel a bit weird reading that last word.
How does someone else have all the power in his mind? And fuck you if you say magic.
5531652 Magic.
5531652
Magic.
I think I have fallen in love!💟
i0.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/facebook/000/007/031/131693703696-First_Discord_image_.jpg
At least Ace mind is saved... He still needs his body rescued... When Vibrant Melody learn of his escape i doubt he survive another capture... Lets hope Summer come to save him in her shining armor
Wile Iron gives em some Dancing lessons 