Chapter Seven: A New Weapon, A New Friend

私の小さい馬：大きな鉱石の物語

MY LITTLE PONY: THE LEGEND OF THE GREAT CRYSTALS

Daishichishou: Arata na Wepon to Arata na Tomodachi

だいしちしょう：あらたなウェポンとあらたなともだち

第七章：新たなウェポンと新たな友達

Chapter Seven: A New Weapon, A New Friend

Gash had entered the castle, and it looked even worse on the inside than it did on the outside-windows on the walls were shattered, their frames torn and bent in many different ways. Glass littered the ground underneath. There were pillars lining the edge of the room, and some of them were completely collapsed, the rest cracked. Vines grew down from these pillars, creating a lot of overgrowth. The floor was the same cobble that the castle was built out of, and there were many small cracks protruding from one large crack running down the center of the room, which lead into an alter of sorts. The alter had a large, marble-like base, which came up into a short, trapezoid-like shaft which led to another ring of marble. In the center of the ring was a tall, cylindrical pedestal, of which had a large, white ball on top of it. Out of the pedestal protruded six wings, each of which had a cup shape at the edge of them, as if something was supposed to go in each of them. This whole alter was completely covered with vines. Around the alter on the ground were two rings in the ground, of which looked purposely designed, and not cracks.

The next-most obvious thing about the room was that a large amount of the timber-wolves were lying around the room, apparently sleeping. There had to be thirty-five to forty of them. Gash slowly and softly walked around each of these wolves and up to the alter. He pushed some of the vines away to closer examine the structure. He didn’t find anything useful, so he walked to the back of the room, where a large, purple throne sat. There was another large crack from the alter to the throne, presumably the same crack from the other side of the room. The seat itself was cracked and chipped, but otherwise looked to be in good condition. He walked up to it and sat down, unknowing of what was about to happen.

When he sat down, the seat pushed down, like a switch. A large, white glow erupted from the cracks in the floor, and lead into the alter. Gash stood up and jumped to the side, hanging from a vine growing out from the ceiling. The alter shined a bright, white as the rings on the ground began to shake. This caused the entire room to quake, waking any of the wolves that had not yet awoken. The two rings began to collapse, creating stairs leading to a lower area of the castle. Gash dropped off the vine, to find many growling timber-wolves looking at him. He looked across the crowd, and assuming he would be fighting them, pulled out his book. He opened it to the page with the ‘Zakeru’ spell and worked out an attack strategy.

‘Because there are stairs leading to the next floor down, there has to be area underneath. I should be able to fire ‘Zakeru’ into the cracks in the floor and cause it to collapse. From the amount of cracking in the ground, it should collapse completely in one or two blasts,” he thought, concentrating his negative emotions into his book, which glowed.

“Zakeru!” he cried, releasing the electricity into the largest crack.

The resulting explosion caused the cracks in the floor up to the alter to split open and collapse, dragging a good twenty-five or so wolfs down with it. There was a huge drop, and Gash assumed they fell to their death. The remaining wolves were on the other side of the alter, out of reach. They backpedaled out of fear, running out the door, howling.

“Hey, where ya’ going, cowards!” he shouted, shaking his fist. “Eh, whatever. The only thing to do now is to go downstairs,” he said, tucking his book into the internal pocket of the mantle and jumping to the stairs.

He underestimated the distance between the throne and the stairs, and hung to the edge of them. He looked down the chasm below, which was seemingly bottomless. He shrugged and pulled himself up. He dusted his mantle off, sidling down the rest of the stairs. At the bottom was a long hallway, with many rooms on both sides. He cautiously walked down the hall, checking each room along the way. Most of them had rusted weapons and shields in them, which lead Gash to believe this was an armory of some sort in the past. Partway down the hall, he started to hear a faint sobbing sound, of which was feminine. He pulled his book out and more cautiously checking each room. The crying got louder as he walked the hall. As he walked up to one room, the crying was clearly coming from inside. He took a deep breath and walked into the room.

Laying there was a black, insect like creature, laying on overgrowth. It looked somewhat like a pony, about the size of a young teenage filly. Its mane and tail were blue, with dark-green highlights. There was a light-green shell on its back, and growing out of it were two light-blue wings, which looked like they would’ve belonged to a fly. There were a few dark-grey spots on its neck. It had two small fangs out of its mouth, and had two large, green eyes. Its irises were dark-green and it had two giant pupils. It also had a horn, which was very jagged compared to that of a pony's, and its ears were splayed back against the head. There were many wounds and scars along its body, which oozed light-green blood. It turned its head towards Gash, and its eyes widened. It panted heavily and crawled backwards, away from the human. He walked up to it.

“No! Stay back! I...I’ll bite!” she threatened, baring her fangs, but obviously was bluffing. Gash was unsure of what to do, so he tried playing the nice route for once.

“Uh…I won’t hurt you?” he tried, putting a small grin on his face. She felt slightly better knowing that, but still trembled. That was until she saw his book, when she started crying a little harder.

“No, please…stay away…” she sobbed. “I don’t want to die…” she mumbled.

“Are you…alright?” he struggled.

“Do I look like I’m alright!?” she snapped.

“It’s a few scratches and cuts.”

“Are you serious?” she asked, rolling over.

He walked in front of her, and saw a huge tear along her other side, which was completely scab covered. He put a look of disgust on his face. While this was completely repulsive to him, his eyes focused on something else. There was a book next to her. He reached out to grab it, but she smacked his hand away.

“Leave that alone!”

“I’m just curious,” he said, shoving her hoof away.

She continued to struggle, so he put his book down and held her arm. The tears had created a puddle under her face. He grabbed the book and lifted his own. The book was a lemon-yellow color, and had the same design that was on Gash’s spellbook. He looked confusedly at the bug-girl.

“These two books-They have the same design on them.”

“Uh…uh huh…” she nodded, scared. “Will you hurt me?” she said, her voice cracking, becoming tiny.

“No.”

“Do you promise?” she asked. He hesitated for a few moments, but grinned at her.

“Yeah, why not.”

“Yay!” she cried, jumping to him, hugging him. It looked very painful for her, but she felt happy, so she ignored the pain, Gash was uncomfortable, as the green blood dripped onto his body. He lifted her up and put her back down.

“As for the book…” he started, but was interrupted.

“Can you read that red one?”

“…Yes,” he said, dragging the ‘s.’ “A few words.”

“Then…you’re a demon, too?” she asked. He gave her a surprised stare.

“D-Demon? Please explain what you mean,” he stammeringly requested, unable to speak properly at the moment.

“Yes. Every thousand years, one hundred inhabitants of the newest generation of creatures in this world are picked, by the gods, to fight in this great battle. They are known as ‘Mamono,’ or ‘Demons.’”

“But…I’m not from this world. I come from a different world altogether, if I have what little facts I know about myself straight.”

“You’re not from this world? Do you know how you got here?”

“Nope. I apparently fell out of the sky and was just kind of…there. I have amnesia, so I don’t know much about my past…”

“Well, that sucks, and defies the logic that I have been given… I don’t know how else to respond to that, so I’m going to continue with my explanation. Okay?”

“Please, proceed.”

“To win this battle, you must be the last remaining Mamono with a book. When the book of a Mamono is burned, that demon is removed from the battle.”

“What happens to them?”

“I recall my mother telling me that those Mamono disappear from this world, to a place that is unknown. I don’t remember what she told me about that. It was years ago.”

“Okay. Go on.”

“The winner is said to be granted any one wish they want. It can be anything-if they wanted something small, like world peace, they could have it. If they wanted something huge, like to be the ruler of an entire galaxy, they could have it. The only problem is, is that the Mamono aren’t told that they are participating in this battle. It is said that they learn of the battle and find their book through the strings of fate.”

“Wow…I guess that means that my ‘strings of fate’ lead me here to learn about this…” he pondered. “You seem to be educated about this topic, and you said that the Mamono learn of the battle through their own experiences. How did you learn of the battle?”

“My mother, Queen Pillaria, is a highly educated mare. She knows a lot of information about many things, and this just happened to be one of the things she knew a lot about. I don’t know where she gained her knowledge of this.”

“You’re…a princess?”

“Indeed, I am.”

“In that case, what the hell are you doing all the way out here in the middle of nowhere? Shouldn’t you be at your home!?” he shouted at her, some concern in his voice. She started to tear up.

“I don’t… like to talk about it…” she trailed, sniffling, looking to the side and releasing her tears. His mouth opened slightly, but he didn’t say anything for a while.

“I’m sorry…” he sympathetically said.

“I-It’s fine. You didn’t know…” she said, rubbing her eyes. After a minute of awkward silence, she spoke again. “Well, now that that’s over, I have a question for you, as well.”

“What?”

“Where did you come from to get here?”

“I came from a small village on the other side of the woods after I was chased down by them. I would’ve gone anywhere, so after following a path in the forest I ended up here.

“Was that village full of ponies?”

“Yes. Have you been there?”

“The damn ponies chased me out. They hate any race of creatures that aren't their own. It proves how close-minded they are. I didn't even do anything while I was there! I just walked into the town and they ran me out!" she growled.

“Really?"

“Yes! Did the same happen to you?”

“Not exactly. I got in a few fights, and then was chased out. The thing is, I was always the one being attacked first. They blamed me for trying to kill them, but I was doing little more than protecting myself. A bunch of overreacting, little prissy bitches, they are.”

“I second that.”

“Anyway, I’ll be back.”

“Where are you going?”

“I’m going to beat that monster’s ass.”

“What!? You can’t! You’ll be killed! I barely escaped with my life!”

“I’ll be fine,” he said, standing up, walking toward the door.”

“One last thing,” she added. He stopped and turned his head. “What’s your name?”

“I don’t know my actual name, but I’m called Gash. And you?”

“My name is Chrysalis,” she smilingly answered. He turned back to the door. “Oh, and good luck!”

“I don’t think I’ll need it, but thanks anyway, I guess,” he smilingly replied, walking out, down the hall.

At the end of the hall was a very large, circular room, with three layers of circular platforms leading up to a small pedestal, of which had many cracks in it. The room itself was incredibly dusty and cracked. Out of this pedestal was a sword. This sword was the only piece of steel equipment he had found that wasn’t rusted. The part of the blade that was coming out of the ground was dark red, and it slowly progressed in lighter shades of red toward the hilt of the blade. The hilt itself was a black, rectangular prism, and a white cylinder was growing from the center of the prism. Out of the center of the cylinder was a white handle. There was a strange, yellow looking pattern coming off the very back of the handle, which had many notches and nicks in it.

Gash walked up to the blade and studied it for a few moments. He touched all the different parts of the blade, but nothing seemed to happen. As if he were some video game character, he put his hands upon the handle. He pulled up on the blade, expecting nothing to happen, but to his surprise, the blade began to lift from the pedestal.

The slit in the pedestal of which the sword was jammed into began to glow white, and the entire room lit up with white. He dropped the blade and shielded his eyes. When the glow died down, Gash uncovered his eyes and saw a blue pattern had erupted on each of the tiers. On the middle tier, right under the pedestal, there were just straight lines. On the bottom tier were seven circles, each of which were glowing white, light-blue, dark-blue, green, orange, purple and yellow, in that order going to the right, with the white glowing ring directly behind the pedestal.

The dust in the room began to float and came together, forming a sheath for the sword. It was a simple sheathe, with golden lines going from the base to the opening, on each of the creases. Gash lifted up the sheath and placed the sword within. The sheath had small leather straps, which he used to clip it onto his mantle. Looking down while doing so, he noticed his book was glowing.

When he finished hooking up his sheathe, he pulled his book out of the internal pocket. He stared at the book, confused as to what was going on. He opened it, but the words on the pages with his previous spells looked the same. He flipped further and found that a page a bit later on was glowing. He flipped to that page and found new words had been glowing. He grinned.

“A new spell. Wonderful!”

“So-ru-do Za-ke-ru-ga,” he said. He put his negative emotions together and shouted the words. “Sorudo Zakeruga!” he cried, but nothing happened. He looked confused. “Sorudo Zakeruga!” he cried again. Still, nothing happened. “What the hell?” he asked. He thought for a few minutes, and got an idea. He started saying ‘Sorudo’ really fast.

“Sorudo-Sorudo-Sorudo-Sordo-Sordo-Sord-Sord-Sword!” he shouted. “It sounds like ‘Sword!’” he ecstatically shouted, drawing his blade.

“Sorudo Zakeruga!” he shouted. His hand released a yellow wave of energy, which was transferred into his sword, which glowed yellow. It extended to a greater length. The blade itself looked like a series of lightning bolts put together. There were two colors the blade was-white on the inner area of the blade, and golden on the external area. On both sides of the white area, in the center were a light-blue ring, of which had a dark-blue lightning bolt in the center.

“Oh, that is so damn awesome. Now I can decapitate those stupid wolves in style!” he said, placing his book back into his pouch.

He put his other hand on the blade, giving it a few practice swings. After fifteen seconds, the blade turned back to its normal form. He placed it back in his sheathe. He looked back to the pattern on the ground, examining it. He couldn’t determine what it was, so he left it for the moment.

“Now, that Chrysalis girl said that her foe was on the left wing…” he said, trying to determine which hallway lead to the left wing. “Damn this terrible sense of direction…”

He took a minute to figure it out, and quickly entered the wing. He ran down the hallway. At the end of the hallway was a large, spiral staircase that lead to another, apparently large room. He climbed the stairs as fast as he could, but found himself tired by the time he got there. After resting for a minute, he carefully ascended into the next room. He looked around a wall and saw a huge timber-wolf lying there, with a dark-brown book on the ground right beside it. Its eyes were open, so sneaking up on it would get him no where.

“Who goes there?” he asked, standing up and stretching. The sound of wood cracking filled the room.

‘Damn, he saw me…’

“Reveal yourself now or face my wrath!” he roared.

“Well, here goes nothing…” Gash said, walking into the room. When the wolf saw him, he tilted his head in confusion.

“Who are you?”

“I am Gash, and I will be your foe,” he said, pulling out his red book, forcing his emotions into it.

“Juron!” the wooden demon shouted, as vines came from under Gash, wrapping around him and lifting him up.

“Zakeru!” Gash cried as the electricity surged and destroyed the vines. He landed on the ground, as he charged another spell.

“Juruku!” the wolf howled, as multiple apparently-living trees shot up from out of the ground around him. The trees’ limbs spread out around Gash, trying to hit him. He countered this.

“Sorudo Zakeruga!” he shouted, drawing his blade and transferring his energy into it.

Once the sword had transformed, he placed his book in his pocket and started slashing away at the trees. He started advancing toward the brown-booked demon, but was hit back multiple times by the branches. He began noticing a pattern-when the branches were slashed, they took a certain amount of time to regenerate. He ran back, the ‘Sorudo Zakeruga’ running out of time. He let the vines accumulate in mass numbers, and they tried to reach him. The vines didn’t reach him at the very back of the room, and once he had waited for about a minute, he slashed all of the vines at once.

“Sorudo Zakeruga!” he cast, the blade once again transforming.

He slashed the mass of vines and walked forward, slashing the entire group multiple times until he reached the trees themselves. He swung his sword back, gaining strength for a strong slash. After a moment of concentration, he spun around, obliterating the trees in front of him. The wolf turned toward him, surprised, and attempted to cast a spell. Gash, one step ahead, slashed the wolf, causing his spell to cancel out. Gash dashed toward the beast and slashed once more, but the wolf dodged to the left, jumping at Gash. He pushed Gash to the ground and began scratching at his cloak and face. This hurt Gash, as a few scars and scratches formed down his face. He got incredibly frustrated and started casting spells, his body emanating the red aura, turning into its demonic form.

“Zakeru!” he shouted, blowing the demon off of him.

“Zakeru!” he incanted once again, hitting the demon back towards the wall.

“Zakeru!” His electricity hit the wolf and forced it back against the wall, writhing in agony.

“You think…that you really have this amount of power over me? You are a weakling. A child, helpless on the verge of his death by my power. What makes you think you can really stop me?” the wolf growled.

“Says the dumb-ass who has been doing little more than throwing spells out at random, hoping for them to hit. You have no sense of marksmanship, and if you don’t get serious right now, I’m going to kill you where you stand! Now, get up and fight me!” Gash cried, his book glowing.

The wolf’s book also glowed, but in a different way than before. Before, it was just a slight shimmer, barely noticeable through the murk coloration of the room. Now, however, it was like a miniature pillar of light growing out of the book. Gash noticed this and inferred that a large spell was coming his way. He charged up for his spell, but waited for the timber-wolf to cast his spell so he could make a proper judgment as to what to do.

“Raajia Jugaro!” he cried.

After a few moments, a huge, green, thorny and vine-like stem with a faded-pink flower with a small hole in it rose up out of the ground. The flower swelled up in size, and the hole in the center of the flower began to expand. Many brown spheres of dirt began shooting out of the opening. Gash, thinking fast, released his own powerful spell.

“Rashirudo!” he shouted, releasing the shield, which was much larger than it normally was.

“A shield? Really!? Ha! Your puny little barrier will crumble under the power of my spell!” he bluffed. Gash chuckled.

“This shield doesn’t operate like a normal shield, you jack-ass,” Gash muttered.

The rocks hit the huge barrier, and after a few seconds of struggling, the dirt balls were launched back at the wolf, coated with a small layer of electricity. The wolf had no time to react to this, and was hit by some of the rocks, his book sent flying away.

“It sure looks like my barrier ‘crumbled under the power of your spell,’ huh?” Gash started, lifting the defenseless wolf from its neck. “You weak, worthless piece of garbage!” he shouted, throwing the wolf against the wall.

“Zakeru!” The bolt of lightning slammed into the wolf, shooting out of him and into his book, setting it ablaze.

“No! I…will not let you…win! I command the power of the crystal within to give me more strength!” the wolf cried.

‘The…crystal within?’ Gash thought, confused.

The book shined brightly, as if to give one last wave of resistance. Moreover, the wolf itself glowed with a bright, white light. It stood up; multiple branches and leaves falling out of its ‘skeleton.’ Gash jumped back, as he could sense another spell coming.

“Ganzu Teojugaro!” the wolf cried as multiple, smaller flowers grew in front of him, releasing huge waves of seeds at Gash.

“Rashirudo!” he cried, releasing the shield.

He found himself panting, out of breath. He didn’t know where this sudden tiredness came from, but he shrugged it off and sat down with his back leaning against the shield. He thought he was safe, so he closed his eyes to rest. He then felt his skin being pelted with seeds.

“What the hell!?” he shouted, seeing seeds bounce off the wall behind him, and directly into him. “I guess I can just cast another ‘Rashirudo’ for this…” he said, opening his book.

“Rashirudo!” he shouted.

Instead of another shield appearing in front of him to block the bullet-like seeds, the shield behind him grew to a much more massive size. He looked at this, but found himself too tired to sit up, and fell over.

‘If I cast ‘Rashirudo’ while another is still active, it expands the surface area of the shield. Got it,’ he thought, breathing heavily. ‘Why am I so damn tired!? I haven’t exerted very much physical labor at all! Maybe the spells drain away at my body’s energy. It’s the only thing that makes sense.’

The shield behind him fell, and he rolled over to see the wolf lying there, presumably dead. Gash sat there for a few minutes, regaining strength after the battle. When he was strong enough to stand up, he got up and walked over to the demonic wolf. He drew his blade.

“To make sure you don’t come back…” he said, lifting the blade skyward. “Rest in pieces!”

He swung it downward, slicing the wolf in half. In the center was a large, red…mass of some sort of substance. He touched it, and found that it was like a tree sap. Unexpectedly, the red substance glowed and expanded over the wolf’s severed body. Gash jumped back, assuming it was dangerous to be around. It shined bright and exploded, covering a large area around the wolf. Gash was still in its blast radius, but was far enough away that his face and mantle were merely covered in soot. He coughed out, wiping his face and cloak. He looked at the area where the wolf exploded, and there was a white crystal lying there, as well as a burn mark on the ground where his book used to be. He walked over to it and touched it, automatically feeling a large burst of energy. He lifted it up and held it out in front of him. He didn’t know what this crystal was or what its properties were, but it gave him energy and he liked it. He placed it in another pocket on the inside of the mantle and headed back down to the ‘Pedestal Room,’ as Gash called it.

The area around the pedestal was still glowing, and he saw the gem he had in one of his mantle’s pockets glowing. He lifted it out and headed toward the top tier of the platforms. He could see a white glow emanating from the slit where the sword once stood; He placed the crystal down and drew his blade, replacing it into the stone. The white jewel shined bright as it lifted off the ground, disappearing in a flash of light. It reappeared in the column of white respective to its own color. It flashed and Gash felt a giant surge of energy flow through his body, as if he had been revitalized. He felt no fatigue on his body from the battle earlier, and he felt great. The crystal dropped to the ground, shimmering. The pattern on the floor of the room vanished. Gash removed the blade from its pedestal and sheathed it once again, walking over to the crystal, lifting it up. He once again noticed his book shining.

“Another new spell?” he asked, lifting his book out of the pocket, setting the treasure on the ground.

He opened the book and on the page opposite of the ‘Sorudo Zakeruga’ spell were a few more characters, except instead of these ones glowing white, not red like the others. He also couldn’t read these characters, although the color of the text gave him a pretty big hint as to what to do. He lifted the crystal off the ground and put nearer to the book. A radiance shot out from the white gem over the characters in the book, turning them light-gray He found himself able to read these characters, as if the trinket translated them. He read the words.

“The fourth spell: Ji-ke-ru-do. Jikerudo,” he said, becoming excited once again. “Jikerudo!” he shouted, with emotion. He waited for a few moments, but nothing happened. “What the hell? Jikerudo!” he cried, receiving the same result. “Am I doing something wrong? Why isn’t it working?” he asked. ‘One more time: Jikerudo!” Still, nothing happened. “A useless spell. Okay. I’ll need to work on getting that one to function,” he told himself, walking into the hallway leading to Chrysalis’ room.

“I’m back!” Gash declared as he walked into the room. Chrysalis looked at him in shock.

“You…won?” she asked.

“I did. Piece of cake,” he bragged. She was still staring at him, her mouth agape. “What? Do I have something on my face?”

“You…won! You won! Ha-ha! I knew you could do it!” she said, standing up, trotting over to him and hugging him.

“Was there any doubt?” he chuckled, rubbing her mane playfully. She was giggling happily, but she was suddenly hit with a jolt of pain in her side.

“Oh…oh…ow…” she moaned. He quickly noticed her pain and slowly lowered her to the ground.

“Are you okay?”

“Just…a cramp. I’m fine,” she admitted.

“Can you stand?”

“Yeah…just give me a moment to catch…my breath…” she panted. He gently rubbed her side, which made her feel better.

“Thanks,” she smiled, looking up at Gash. He helped her up. “Was there anything…strange about that wolf?” she suddenly asked.

“…Not really. When I beat him, I sliced him in half, and there was this red…sap, I guess? It exploded in my face, and what was left was…” he started pulling the gem out, “…this white crystal, which seems to have magical properties. When I first came in contact with it, it replenished my energy. It felt great. Here, you try,” he said, passing the crystal to her.

“Wow! That does feel good!” she remarked, as some of her injuries healed.

“And it healed you a bit,” Gash informed, pointing to her scabby side, which had turned back to the black

“Whoa…this gem clearly has a lot of power,” she stated.

“But that’s not all! From the time that I left and came back, I’ve learned two spells,” he informed. Her eyes widened.

“Two!?”

“Yes. Maybe I should show you my spells.”

“That would be awesome!” she squeed. He smiled.

“You’re cute,” he admitted, rubbing the top of her head. She blushed.

“Thanks,” she cooed.

“So, shall we go?” he suggested.

“Sure!” she agreed, as they went towards the pedestal room.

“So, in here, I unlocked my first new spell after drawing…” he began, drawing his blade, “this sword. The other spell I learned was when I put that crystal to my book.”

“Cool! Will you show me the spells?”

“Yeah,” he said, drawing his book.

“The first spell: Zakeru!” he shouted, releasing his wave of electricity into the back wall. He held it out for the full twenty seconds.

“Wow! It’s electricity!”

“That’s my element, apparently. Anyway, I can hold the surge of electricity for up to twenty seconds.”

“Cool! What else do you have?”

“The second spell: Rashirudo!” he cried, releasing the shield.

“A shield!”

“That’s right. This shield will catch an enemy’s projectiles and send it back at them, with electricity surrounding the projectiles.”

“That’s a rather…unique shield.”

“I can do more with it. Just watch,” he said, charging for another spell.

“Rashirudo!” he shouted, causing the shield to increase in size.”

“It got bigger!”

“Yes it did. I don’t think I can cast multiple at once, because every time I try, it just makes the shield bigger.”

“Hm…” Chrysalis took a moment to think, but she didn’t know what to say. “Interesting. What else is there?”

“The third spell: Sorudo Zakeruga!” he shouted, causing his blade to glow and change. “This spell makes my sword stronger, and that’s pretty much it.”

“Okay! So, you’re a swordsman, too?”

“I am now.”

“Hee-hee…” she giggled. Gash cancelled his spell.

“You said you had one more?”

“Yes, but I don’t know how to use it. It’s called ‘Jikerudo,’ but every time I try to cast it, it does nothing.”

“Hm…strange. Maybe it’s conditional.”

That’s my guess…” he said, not knowing what else to say. They sat there for a moment, just staring at nothing.

“So…do you wanna explore the other area of the castle?” Chrysalis said, breaking the silence.

“Well, unless you want to stand here forever, I’m down for that.”

“Wonderful! Let’s go!” she said, him nodding. The pair went into the right wing of the castle.

This wing of the castle was like the other wing, in that there were lots of rooms with lots of rusted weapons and shields. There were a few rooms with dusty, old books, but they were in a language neither of them could understand. They came up to a large spiral staircase, like on the other side. It led up to another large room. This room had more timber-wolves in it, but was slightly different than the room on the other side. There was a throne on top of stairs in the back of the room.

“Lord Pokkeiro?” one of the wolves asked.

“’Lord Pokkeiro’ is gone. I, Gash, am now your lord!” Gash shouted across the room.

“What do you mean that he’s gone?” one growled.

“He’s dead. Sent to the other world. Kicked the bucket.”

The wolves all looked at him, eyes wide. One spoke up.

“All hail Lord Gash!” it cried. The rest chanted.

“All hail Lord Gash! All hail Lord Gash! All hail Lord Gash!”

“Hell. Yes. Chrysalis, we get to be pseudo-lords.”

“This is going to be so awesome!” she said, the two walking to the throne.

Gash sat down, with Chrysalis sitting next to the throne. Gash sat back in the throne, relaxing. Chrysalis lay down on the ground. After a few minutes, she fell asleep.

The three battalions lined up in front of the castle after traveling through the forest.

“Do you all understand your mission?” Luna shouted. The group chanted.

“Yes, my princess!”

“Divide and conquer!” she roared, the three miniature armies marching into the castle.

“Whoa! What happened to this place?” Rainbow Dash asked, surprised.

“I’m going to bet that Gash did this,” Twilight asked.

“Ah wouldn’t doubt it.”

“Everypony, be careful,” Celestia requested. The groups agreed and traveled down the stairs, one pony at a time.

When they got to the pedestal room, Celestia and Luna both gasped, looking to each other. They mouthed words to each other, of which nopony could understand.

“Are you alright, Princesses?” Twilight asked.

“…Yes. We are fine,” Luna replied. “Let’s go,” she ordered, with her army going to the left wing.

“We’ll stay here in the main castle, while you search that area,” Celestia said, motioning to the other wing.

“Okay!” they agreed, them and their guards going to their sector.

Gash was sitting there on his throne. He had set up a system for the wolves to be on his guard-two on each side of the door, with three rows of three in front of him. He could hear the sound of footsteps and voices coming from down the stairs. He got up off of his throne and softly nudged Chrysalis.

“Chrysalis,” he said. “Wake up. It’s Showtime. They’ve come to battle, I assume.”

“Oh…” she said, her face turning into a frown.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah. Let’s do this,” she said, with a hint of melancholy in her voice. They stood in front of the throne as the group of ponies entered the room. Gash cleared his throat.

“Hello, one and all! Welcome to my castle!” he shouted, as he drew his book.