Lairs & Lycanthropy: Revival

by NeoNagasaki

Flight Square

Twilight’s head hung low as the group finally entered the village of Rochpoint. The last four days had been hard. In all honestly Twilight knew she wouldn’t have made it without Rainbow Dash and Applejack. They’d fought off minor enemy attacks in the night, but nothing they couldn’t handle.

“We’re here!” Pinkie called out cheerily, causing Twilight to look back.

“Yay.” Fluttershy said softly with a laugh, catching Pinkie off guard by tackling her from behind. A fit of laughter erupted from the two as they rolled about wrestling on the ground. The last four days had been well to the yellow mare. The tension had lifted from the group as their demure friend returned to them. Somehow she had shaken off the mental withdrawal she suffered from the horrors this place inflicted on her. Her ribs were still visible, but even after four days they had become far less pronounced.

Applejack’s eyes rolled as she darted sideways around the pink and yellow cluster of hooves to come up beside Twilight. Whatever secret druidic rituals Pinkie helped Fluttershy with each night seemed to not only feed her body, but her soul as well. Not for the first time the mage wondered exactly what they were doing at night. After all, it was well known Pinkie was happy to “party” with anypony who was fun, regardless of gender. Fluttershy...well, Fluttershy had always been a bit too embarrassed to talk about that kind of thing. Not that it mattered of course, if Fluttershy and Pinkie were together that was fine...it was just weird.

“How long you gonna stare at them sugarcube?” Applejack asked wryly.

The cyan pony next to her looked over with a grin, “Seriously Twilight, if you’re so interested go join them.”

Flushing underneath her coat Twilight’s head snapped forward. “I...I was just...” She stammered uselessly.

A wave of relief flooded through her as Rarity’s head raised up slightly before she spat “Rainbow Dash. Don’t be silly, Twilight’s right, it’s filthy.” That struck the mare as unnecessarily mean spirited, after all they didn’t even know if the two of them- “They’re going to need to thoroughly wash themselves before we meet anyone important.” Twilight flushed harder, this time because of her own mind. Of course that’s what she meant, there’s lots of dirt there...

The purple mare coughed as she thought frantically for a way to change the topic. “We...need to find a way to-” She stopped dead, the rest of the group halted beside her. They seemed to follow her gaze to the town. From the right Rainbow swore. The sight of marines wearing Viceroy Shadowflame’s uniforms blighted the city.

One of the marines tapped his friend on the shoulder with a smile, then handed him a bottle. The two tapped their bottles together and drank, stopping afterwards to laugh and talk. Twilight turned to Rainbow Dash, a grim look on her face. Instantly Twilight wished Derpy was there. Her position of as a knight would have lent them some credibility, and somehow all tasks just seemed more daunting without her.

Rainbow glared at the village with clenched teeth. “The next costal city would take us days to reach, and our boat ride to the station would be that much longer. We need this port to have a chance.”

Applejack spoke next “Well I know ya’ll want to get Celestia out as soon as we can. But maybe we should jus’ lie low for awhile. Y’know, ponies are gonna be a might twitchy with a viceroy...being put out to pasture.”

Rarity started up again, strolling forward heedlessly. “They’re not on high alert Applejack, they’re on shore leave. I’ve been talking to Pinkie about dragons. She told me every one of them is a shapeshifter.”

The three of them quickly started forward to catch up with Rarity. “What’s that got to do with anything?” Rainbow questioned. “So Discord’s got powers. These ponies are still going to be pissed little miss sunshine over there plugged him in the face.”

“I’m fairly certain Discord has taken control of Viceroy Shadowflame’s kingdom by impersonation. That’s why we need to get the elements of harmony out of there now...before he has a chance to have them moved.”

“He’s a dragon. If he was going to do that he would have done it a long time ago.”

The blood drained from Twilight’s face “He couldn’t...he doesn’t kill ponies...”

Applejack’s head slowly drooped “So...we just gave Discord an army? An army holding the princess hostage?”

Momentarily Twilight’s eyes shut “So not only did we lose Derpy...But Discord’s commanding an army that can actively stop us?” A sigh left her mouth, they had gone in there with the barest scraps of a plan and just made a bigger mess.

“Chin up darling.” Rarity cooed. “We made a mistake. We didn’t know Discord would be there. He surprised us, now we just need to pick up the pieces and try again.”

Pinkie and Fluttershy quickly sidled up behind the rest of them. Twilight couldn’t quite hear their conversation, but she knew Pinkie was consoling Fluttershy about the increased guard.

“Let’s split up.” Rarity said, “Pinkie and Fluttershy go get rooms at a local inn for us...and try to find a way to wash up will you?”

Pinkie smiled; the girls’ manes filled with dirt and loose sticks.

Next she looked over to Rainbow Dash and Applejack. “You two seem to know a thing or two about what gear we might need. I know for a fact Applejack is an excellent merchant. Do remember Fluttershy over there can’t wear any metal, will you?”

Applejack beamed as Rarity handed over the skin of whale oil. With a nod of assent she struck up a conversation with Rainbow Dash as they broke away from Rarity and Twilight, leaving them alone on the path. Twilight stole a look at the guards as they past. They didn’t even look up. “What should we do then?” Twilight asked, keeping her face turned away from each of the guards.

“Oh Twilight.” Rarity said happily “I haven’t had a nice day shopping and relaxing with a friend since this whole mess started. We’ll pick up a boat as well...something small enough for us to sneak into Shadow Station.”

Twilight almost stopped in surprise. Their doom was looming on the horizon and she wanted to go shopping? Her eyes rolled as she lost interest in the conversation and started looking out to the docks. As she expected, a single warship was stationed here. Hopefully it was just picking up supplies and would be gone soon. If not they’d just have to work around it. The purple mare shook herself out of her contemplation, realizing her friend had stopped. As she looked back she noted her friend’s hoof holding out, dangling a diamond pendant on the end of a cold chain.

Twilight had to pause, then turn about to take a closer look. Slowly her mouth opened in shock “Is...is that a...”

Rarity nodded, a look of sadness in her eyes “Yes Twilight. It’s exactly what you think it is. Come on, we’re going to the store to trade it in.”

Twilight instantly fell in line behind her friend “Ponies are supposed to get those ten years after they become full mages Rarity!” The white mare threw her a look, causing Twilight to lower her voice. “Where did you get that?”

“Twilight, you haven’t once asked me why I didn’t become a sorceress. That’s what I wrote down on my sheet after all.”

Twilight gave a quick nod, “Well Applejack and Rainbow Dash didn’t end up where they started either. So I figured you just made a decision.”

“I did.” Rarity said “Magic was never an area that interested me Twilight. But diamonds...it was a long story, but in the end I ended up with this pendant. I’ve never looked back.”

“Why...why didn’t you sell it?”

“I don’t know Twilight. I’ve kept it for as long as I could remember. I’ve always found other ways to make ends meet.” She let out a sigh as she stopped in front of a store and pushed her way inside. Twilight looked at the storefront window, it sold...fabric? Hastily, she followed.

“Rarity, what are we doing here?”

Rarity’s answer was simple and yet somehow baffling. “I want to make a dress.”

“But we’ve got other things to do, what are you going to do with a dress?”

“I don’t know.”

For the briefest of moments Twilight was silent, then Rarity turned apologetically to her friend. “Have you ever wondered how a pony whose work has gotten so much attention still worked in a shop in ponyville, making all of her dresses by herself? I’d made dresses that grace the grand galloping gala and Hoity Toity himself featured my line. Shouldn’t I have moved to Canterlot, or at least outsourced my work?”

“Well, actually, the longer we stay in this warped reality the less sense our reality seems to make.”

“It was my cutie mark. My special talent was finding gems. If any pony wanted gems supplied they’d be happy to work with me.” Her eyes drooped a little “But I didn’t want to hunt gems. I wanted to design and build clothing. Unfortunately nopony wants the fashion industry influenced by a gem hunter. That’s why I wanted to be part of high society in the first place. They won’t buy my dresses unless I can come across as refined as I can. So I hid behind a mask so good they could forget, just for a second, that it isn’t my special talent.”

“But...why make a dress here and now?”

“At some point I focused so much on becoming a social butterfly that my business became about being part of high society instead of doing something I loved. I wore the mask too long and forgot what my face looked like...if you’ll excuse the metaphor.”

This the purple mare didn’t know how to respond to that, she scratched the back of her head.

“This world did something to me Twilight. I don’t want to be...this.” She held up the diamond pendant, instantly attracting the attention of a well dressed pony who had earlier been ignoring them, “I want to be who I am. I am Rarity. I like to make dresses.”

The rest of the day continued without much serious conversation. Twilight didn’t much want to talk about the looming death. Instead she took the opportunity to feel...normal. Rarity managed to hock the diamond to pick up fabrics and sewing supplies. She then joined Twilight in purchasing a very small boat. It was a good thing too because Rarity seemed to be a good deal better at it.

The day passed quickly. With the night fast approaching the pair finally found their way to the rooms Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy had secured. The rooms weren’t exactly luxurious, but they took what they could get. Many of them were filled by marines, who weren’t required to spend their nights on the ship so long as their shore leave held out. With a smile and soft thanks Rarity retreated into her room. With that Twilight made her way back into her own room, readying herself to learn some spell more powerful than those that Discord simply shrugged off.

The purple mare sat at her desk, holding her hooves up as she focused. Crushed spell components lay on the desk, shuddering as their magical essence was drawn out of them. Sweat formed on her brow from the strain of holding the magic together. Her face lit up in the glow of the sphere of fire that flickered into existence. A small smile crossed her face, she could do this. This was a flaming sphere, a spell from the second tier of magic. When she was leafing through the stolen spellbook she was delighted to find it, although she didn’t know if she had the skill to master it. With all her study and focus she could only manage the lowest tier of spells.

With a concentrated breath she moved her hooves left, the flickering sphere followed. A small laugh escaped her lips, she did it! Twitching her hooves with slight move right allowed it to return to it’s original position. She could control second tier magic! She wanted to cheer, but she didn’t dare. The spell was there, but it was unstable. Each time her concentration deviated the sphere started to shake. She had nowhere to throw the sphere, but that didn’t matter - she would just let it go slowly.

“Hey Twilight! Fluttershy and I are going for a walk!” Pinkie practically yelled into her ear. With a startled cry the mage’s head head instinctively turned. Twilight didn’t see so much as feel the sphere destabilize. A wave of heat followed a forceful blast that caused Twilight to fly off of her haunches as she recoiled. In an instant the fire was gone and everything had returned to normal. Well, everything other than the slash mark on her arm where she had cut herself on some corner.

Twilight grit her teeth as pain radiated up her arm, muscles tensing as she stifled a cry. The marking on her foreleg first grew red, then slowly started to seep blood. There was a sharp intake of breath through her clenched jaw before she slowly let out a pained breath. Quickly she opened her eyes, she hadn’t even realized they were closed. With a sigh she pushed the pain out of her mind, looking over to her bag. She needed to go ahead and wrap this up before she made a mess. She wasn’t worried about the wound exactly, it was painful but small. So long as she kept it clean it wouldn’t fester or cause her too much trouble.

Carefully she stood on three legs and pushed herself towards the bag. Her momentum halted instantly as something pulled her tail taught. Her head turned to look back, eyes registering the pink pony’s teeth clamped down. As their eyes met Pinkie let her go, trotting up to her with a smile. “Hey Twilight! You’re bleeding!” She gave a smile that caused Twilight to cringe, “No worries, that happened to me a lot when I was learning to use my cutlass.” Her hooves raised for a moment and one flash of green light later the pain ceased. Twilight looked on in fascination as she watched her skin twist and stitch itself together. The seam in her flesh melted away, and soon all that was left was a line of red from the blood that leaked out.

With raised eyes Twilight rubbed the blood about into her fur, looking more closely at the wound...or lack thereof. The lavender mare’s astonished face fell upon her friend’s quickly retreating form. That was restorative magic, restorative magic! The magic that mended flesh and set bone. Twilight knew the mare could cast it, she had said as much. It just occurred to her how unimaginably useful it would be to know such magics herself. It didn’t come up much as it was a source of shame in the mage tower she was raised in. No the power to heal and save lives was known to the druids. And those ponies huddled in the woods selfishly guarding their secrets so that the tower couldn’t use it. Celestia forbid they actually help civilization like the tower did. Now, however, it registered Pinkie wasn’t a druid and somehow she knew.

The door to her room burst open as multiple uniformed ponies rushed in, longblades on each of their hips. The first one barked out in a gravelly voice, “What was that? Is everything allright?”

Twilight’s face flushed as she unconsciously took count of all the guards. Reflexively she reached for her spell pouch to draw any spell component that would let her cast. Pinkie’s hoof reached out and slapped hers away harshly, though she did follow it up with an apologetic look. “We’re sorry boys!” she called out with a giggle, “My friend here is part of the mage tower of Canterlot. She’s been out for a long time and she was worried she’d fallen behind in her studies. It won’t happen again, promise!”

The guard paused. Twilight’s heart fluttered as his gaze drifted slowly from Pinkie and settled onto her. A cough cleared his throat as he spoke, a threatening glare in his eyes. “Apologies ma’am. But the towers have specially designed facilities for testing spells safely. Please don’t do any more testing here, it’s not safe.” Twilight could only nod, looking to the floor in embarrassment. As the crowd began to leave Pinkie moved with them.

“Pinkie!” Twilight said, rushing over to her friend “Wait, I need to talk to you.”

Her pink friend merely turned around with a smile “Oh Twilight, no thanks necessary! You’re my friend!”

“Oh...errr...yes, thank you. Also, I just realized you know healing magic, could you teach me that spell?” Her hoof scratched at her mane “It would come in handy if anypony else gets hurt.”

“Nnnnnope!” Pinkie stood still, watching her friend with an expectant smile. “Anything else I can help with?”

Twilight froze, watching her pink friend seem genuinely looking to help her. Was she joking? “W...why not?”

“Because you don’t understand how magic works.”

A snort of laughter left Twilight’s nose as she rolled her eyes “I’m the element of magic Pinkie.” she reminded her friend “I might not know all the most powerful spells of this world, but I still understand the science of magic.”

A pink rump hit the ground as her friend sat. Sensing this conversation might go on for a while Twilight sat as well. “That’s the problem.” Pinkie informed her, “You think magic is a science, but it isn’t. It’s an art.”

A lump of arrogant irritation filled Twilight’s mind as she stomped down with a foreleg. Pinkie was going to lecture her on magic? She spent her life in a mage tower, this mare spent it on a boat! “Pinkie, what we do in the mage towers is science. We mix reagents and apply energies to find out what properties we can draw from them. We try combining them and test to see the results.”

Pinkie nodded, “You’re like children painting, pressing their hooves onto the canvas to make new pictures with the paint they’ve discovered. You can create new and interesting pictures, but you’re just experimenting with what you can do.” Twilight opened a mouth in protest but Pinkie held up a hoof to silence her. “You can’t learn life magic because you don’t have the right paint...this is a metaphor.”

That explanation was ridiculous. “Even if that were the case...” Twilight played along, “Couldn’t you just teach me how to use the right...paint?”

A smile and a nod made Twilight sit taller, thinking for a moment she had won. “I could show you Twilight, but it’ll never work for you. You spend all your time in a tower studying. Life magic hates that.”

A raised eyebrow came from the disbelieving mage, magic didn’t like or dislike anything. It did what they made it do. “But...What do I need to do to use restorative magic?”

“Who has the most powerful healing magic in all Equestria?” A pause held the room before Pinkie realized her blasphemy “Except for Celestia, of course.”

“Druids.” Twilight snapped without thinking, a sneer on her lips. Pinkie just silently eyed her and waited. With a sigh Twilight struggled to think of anypony who had healing magic, but that was the druids. Oh...wait. “Trolls?” She asked incredulously.

Pinkie’s bright smile returned as she bounced once “Yup! I knew you’d get it!” She paused awkwardly before sitting down once more. “Life magic reacts to the wilds and a drive for freedom. Trolls are extremely sensitive to life magic and react heavily to it on an unconscious level. They come back from death it’s so strong.”

Twilight deadpanned “So I have to act like a troll to use healing magic?”

Pinkie shook her head, “Don’t be silly Twilight. Wizards spend all their time learning and trying to make the fields do what they want. You can’t learn life spells because you want to control life spells.”

Twilight choked back an angry shout and did her best to proceed calmly. “The druids control those magics!” she said angrily.

“The druids revere the magic. They treat it as a gift and try to act as agents of life magic rather than it’s master.” Pinkie shrugged, “None of them try to learn life spells, the power just comes. Fluttershy is the only one of us here with any natural magical talent. She can channel life magic directly, without using anything to push it.”

Twilight rolled her eyes; Pinkie was just being Pinkie and making stuff up again. Fluttershy was a pegasus and she was a unicorn! At least in the real world she was. Magic was her special talent even! Inwardly she chided herself for feeling so childishly. This was just a game, and even in the real world everypony had something that made them special. She’d just gotten carried away hearing somepony else having the thing that made her special.

“Right.” She said dryly. “You go out with your druid friend. I’ll get back to learning the spells I can.”

“Okie dokie loki!” Pinkie said brightly before bouncing away.

Pink eyes rolled as Twilight turned back to her table, then stopped. She didn’t want any of those marines thinking she’d gone back on her word. The dejected mage turned about and moved past Pinkie’s room, looking up and down the hallway once, then tried the doorknob. Her hoof fell away as she found the door locked. Maybe it was a little underhanded to go through Pinkie’s things without her permission. Then again, the last time they didn’t do that she deafened herself with a cannon. Besides, it wasn’t like she needed to steal anything, all she needed was a few minutes to copy the spell down. She trotted a few doors down before knocking on one of the doors. There was a pause, then the soft click, then the door opened.

On the other side Rarity’s face appeared. “Oh! Twilight darling. I just got started and I’d really like some time to work. Is it terribly important?”

Twilight paused “Are you holding a knife behind the door?”

“Why yes! That’s quite observant Twilight.”

A small shake of the head led into Twilight’s question. “Rarity, I need to learn Pinkie’s healing spell. We’ll need all the healing we can get before this is out.”

The door swung fully open and Rarity slipped the blade back into her hind leg sheath. Her attention then returned to Twilight, cocking an eyebrow. “Twilight, Pinkie only has two spells or so, and I’m certain she memorized them.”

A knot unclenched in Twilight’s stomach. It seemed she didn’t have to have the conversation about morality she’d feared. That was good, right? “She picked up a book in Viceroy Shadowflame’s library. I know she still has it.”

A slight twinkle graced Rarity’s eyes as her ears raised slightly. “You don’t say?” With a smile she vanished from the doorway, then reappeared with a small pouch on her hip. Playfully Rarity pranced around Twilight. “Let’s give it a quick look then, it won’t be but a moment.”

Instinctively Twilight shot guilty glances around the hallway. As Rarity’s form strode gracefully to Pinkie’s door the stairs were checked. Nope, her friend could work in peace. A moment or two later a click that mimicked Rarity’s door from earlier sounded. The white pony stepped away, stowing her lockpicks as she looked expectantly at Twilight.

“Wow Rarity, you weren’t kidding about being able to get through those so easily.”

A dramatic mane flipped as the lockpicker’s body swung about “Oh, this? The door’s a simple four pin lock, it’s easy enough for anypony who has taken the time to practice such skill.” Twilight smiled, some things changed, some things didn’t.

Quickly they piled into Pinkie’s room and looked about. There wasn’t much to see really. Of the girls Rarity was the only one who had anything of value. Pinkie’s bed was a mess, and hanging on the bedpost was a bookbag. A pang of guilt hit Twilight’s gut, but she did her best to push it away. How guilty would she feel if any of her friends died because she was too squeamish to copy down a page or two?

Her hooves unslung the bag and immediately went through it. She found three things. First was the mare’s spell component pouch. The second was a cluster of purple pedals sealed inside a glass vial on the end of a silver necklace, worthless jewelry. Finally, the big red covered book.

Carefully she removed the book from the bag and set it on the ground, leaving the other items. As Rarity watched, purple hooves pushed the cover open to the front page. Instantly Twilight recoiled in shock and Rarity drew closer, face twisted into an inquisitive expression. This wasn’t a spellbook, it was the collective knowledge the modern world had about a specific monster. Across the inside cover was an illustration of the monster giving them a snarl, and above that the title: The Complete Guide to Lycanthropes.

Comments

[NeoNagasaki]

1747209 My editor said the same thing about Wolfshy. She said I can't possibly expect anyone to take Fluttershy seriously as a giant fearsome creature. Ah well c'est la vie.

The (That's a fragment) bit was an editor's note, and I'm silly for not getting it out of there sooner, thanks for pointing it out. I don't know if I can get away with making a cliche villain by pointing out how cliche he is twice in one story...but if I can they're totally going to be called Ebony Dark'ness.

[Scurvy]

Now that the site is not being updated I can post this. Silly Twilight, Bards don't use spellbooks. Next she'll be trying to steal a warlock's invocations or a cleric's prayers.

1773264
Nothing says Wolfshy can't be both, and to me she is. Adorably fearsome. Fearsomely adorable. And I might as well hand over the source for the name, as I go with the Mary Sue to end all Mary Sue's that /tg/ made. And who said anything about a cliche necromancer villain? There are loads of ways to not make the standard "Dark Wizard" feel dull, you just have to get creative. Three fillies in a trenchcoat?