Chapters Another Time, Another Place, Another Universe
*Knock Knock*
“G’ way” I mumble
*Knock Knock Knock*
“F’ off” I said louder
*BANG BANG BANG BANG *
“GOD DAMMIT OK I'M UP!” I shouted as I got up.
I headed over to the door and open it after removing the deadbolt.
“Someone better be dead or dying I swear-” I say as I opened the door and came face to face with.. Sollux Captor?
“Dude the con starts soon, get dressed and meet us downstairs.” He says as he begins to walk away but not before adding “Oh and you told me to wake you up before I went down. Ass”
Oh ya, It’s all coming back to me now
I had just finished my Graduate Degree and got my Master’s in Computer Science. I even had a few job offers, something a bit difficult in the world right now. As a graduation present my parents paid for an all expenses paid trip to this year’s Comic-Con for me and my five closest friends.
I closed the door and moved over to the closet. Inside was some casual clothing, but what I was interested in was the black wig, white dress shirt and black dress pants, black tie, long black suit coat, white gloves, and fedora hat.
I was dressing as Kuroudo Akabane from the Get Backers. I even had some plastic scalpels that I could bring out with a little bit of sleight of hand, looking strikingly similar to how Akabane did it.
Before I could begin getting dressed my alarm began to go off.
Must have hit snooze in my sleep I thought as I walk over to it.
After turning it off I got dressed and hid the scalpels then headed down.
When I got down there, I looked at my friends, we had kept who we were going to be dressed as a secret until the day of the convention. Sitting around a large round table were 5 people who I could instantly tell are my friends despite being in full costume.
Matt, the guy who woke me up, was Sollux Captor from HomeStuck. He was only wearing a black t-shirt with the Gemini symbol on it in a kind of sickly dark yellow. Gray jeans, and black and white shoes. He was also wearing troll horns, and was wearing a set of fake teeth that had two large fangs sticking out with two smaller fangs between the two big ones. Lets not forget the red and blue glasses that he was wearing. What was even more unbelievable is that he really LOOKED like Sollux even without the accessories. And to add to it he was a genius programmer too, 4.0 GPA his whole school life with a Masters in Computer Science. He was basically the human Sollux anyway. We were classmates since first grade and I would honestly say my closest friend. All in All not surprising to say the least.
Rob, my first and oldest friend, as dressed like Kakashi from Naruto. He had a white wig, a headband covering his left eye. He was wearing a costume that he had ordered that looked exactly like Kekashi’s jounin uniform. Complete with the fingerless gloves, leg wrap on his right thigh, and green jounin vest. He honestly didn’t pull it off very well. It was obvious who he was cosplaying as, but it just didn’t seem to work for him. Well he seemed happy with it so whatever.
Dave was Gildarts Clive from Fairy Tail. By the look of it he went all the way and dyed his hair orange, like in the anime version, and had a three or four day old beard. He was wearing what looked like one of those fake sleeve tattoo things that made his left arm look like it was made of metal. His costume was actually rather simple, and by that I mean it looked EXACTLY like Gildarts’ cloths. He was wearing a long, black, high-collared cloak that was ripped and torn in places with shoulder plates. He also had loose-fitting dark blue pants, with a belt and an armored waist-guard as well as some greyish blue boots.
Ashley was dressed like Erza Scarlet from Fairy Tail. And not just wearing any armor, she was fully in Erza’s Armadura Fairy armor. I must say it looked great on her. The armor itself is a light pink with a simple breastplate and a lot of wing motifs. She even had two Fairy Piercing Swords, they were sporting large and decorated hand-guards reminiscent of a pair of wings, and with the blades protruding near the hilts to with additional decorative motifs. She was definitely the most dressed up of us all.
Courtney was wearing a gray tanktop, blue jeans, knee high boots, some fake fangs and what I assumed was some red paint on her neck, made to look like bite marks. Yes a vampire, but not just any vampire she was the Vampire Queen, Marceline Abadeer from Adventure Time. Complete with an Ax Bass.
“Hello Dr. Jackal, so nice of you to join us” Courtney says.
“Why, thank you! I’m not used to being up this early” I say not bothering to try to imitate Akabane’s manners.
“It’s 9am... Didn’t you just finish getting a masters degree or something?” Matt asks
“Exactly!” I say without missing a beat.
That got a few laughs or at least a smile from everyone. They know I am not a morning person in any sense and had scheduled all of my classes to be in the afternoon or evening.
“Well let’s go it’ll take a few minutes to get there” Dave said.
“Right, Right. Let’s go” I said
We ended up reached the convention center but a few minutes after they opened the doors.
We stayed together for the first few hours or so. Looking at everyone’s costume and generally doing some people watching. Checking out the stalls and such. Convention things basically.
I got challenged to a fight by Deadpool. I actually managed to rush up and put a plastic scalpel to his neck just before he finished drawing his swords from his back. I was honestly quite proud of myself for that victory.
Soon after that we decided to split up and look around the convention center, planning to meet up together towards the end of the day. I actually was asked to pose for some pictures and even met two people dressed as Ban and Ginji. Had quite a lot of fun with them.
Actually sneaked up behind them as they were talking to other cosplayers and actually was able to give them the “We've just got to stop meeting like this.” line from the manga. It got quite a few laughs and they asked if I could take some pictures with them as well.
It was just when I was heading to the rendezvous point that I saw it. Now I saw a lot of stalls that were selling things, but this one… There was just something about it I just could not put my finger on. I decided to have a look to see what kind of things they had for sale.
After looking at a few of the things I saw a sword that actually looked identical to Akabane’s Sword from the manga, with bloodstains and all. I was very tempted to buy it but, at the same time… I wasn’t a collector or anything and what the hell was I going to do with a sword after the convention. It didn’t even have a scabbard or anything. Like hell I was just going to walk around with it in my hand. I decided to skip it and move on.
The next thing that caught my fancy was a mannequin hand with a bunch of rings on it. Most were gaudy or things I would not be caught dead wearing. However there were some that actually looked rather cool. I decided to buy two of the rings I liked.
I picked a regular looking black tungsten ring with writing on it like the One Ring from Lord of the Rings or something, and finally an unassuming gold ring with a good sized gem in the center. It actually looked kind of like the rings that you could make in Skyrim, but what really drew me to it was that it didn’t look like any kind of gem I had seen before. It was a deep red but in the center was this black ball with what looked like tendrils snaking their way out towards the edges of the gem. All in all it looked amazing.
It was as I was going up to the merchant that I passed a stand with necklaces on them. Out of the corner of my eye but I saw what looked like the Void Aspect symbol from Homestuck. I turned and took a look and sure enough, there was a black amulet with a dark blue void symbol on it. I always thought of Void as one of the most interesting Aspects from Homestuck. It even had amulets with the other Aspects. I decided to also get the Void amulet and tell Matt about the Doom amulet. It was him that got me hooked on Homestuck in the first place.
I walked up to the merchant and got my first look a the guy… Or tried should be the operative world. He was wearing a full size black robe with the hood up. I can’t really explain it but just being in this guys presence, just gave me the creeps.
I just put the rings and amulet on the table.
“How -” I started
“20 for the amulet, 10 each for the rings” He interrupted, his voice sending a shiver down my spine.
I dropped two twenties and simply left without another word, wanting to get away from this guy. I put on the amulet and the rings.
I met back up with my friends and we showed each other what we had found or bought. Dave and Matt liked the rings while the rest thought they were a waste or didn’t really care. I told Matt about the Doom necklace, but apparently he already had one.
As we began to leave I started to feel… strange.
I can’t even really explain it…
Ever have the feeling that you're not you anymore, like someone else is moving your body but at the same time you know that it is you moving it. It was like that until I stumbled. I could hear my friends asking me something, likely asking if I was alright, but I just couldn’t process the words. Like they were very far away from me. I kind of heard them yelling at people around us, but my vision had begun to go dark and blurry. I barely realized I couldn’t feel anything anymore.
Next thing I know?
I’m lying face down in the middle of a forest.
I groaned as I began to wake up. I knew something was wrong when I could feel grass under me instead of some bedsheets.
After a few more minutes of just lying there I finally had the wherewithal to get up and looked around.
It was a forest but… It seemed wrong. It seemed to be darker and more… I don’t know sinister, than any forest I ever been in before.
What happened? How did I get here? I wondered
I tried to remember what happened but, I just couldn’t. I remembered getting up and going to the convention, hanging out with my friends, splitting up, that creepy merchant, and getting back together.
What happened next?
“How did I get here?” I asked out loud
It seemed like a normal forest, if a bit creepy. I decide to look over myself, I seemed to have everything but the plastic scalpels.
Why would anyone take those and nothing else? Hell, I still have my wallet, my phone, my watch, as well as the rings and amulet.
I took out my Iphone, no signal, honestly didn’t expect there to be. One can hope I suppose. According to the time it was a little after 8 in the evening.
I look around again and turned it off entirely. I decided to check it every so often to see if I can find a signal. I should make the battery last as long as possible.
I decide to take my chances and explore. One question remained though.
Which way?
The canopy was too thick for me to see the sun or stars and I couldn’t see a path or anything from where I was standing. I decide to simply choose a path at random and begin walking.
I continued walking for about twenty minutes. I really didn’t see anything but trees and the occasional stream of water, though I don’t know what I was expecting beyond some sign of civilization. One thing that was odd and slightly worrying was that there weren’t all the sounds I would have expected to hear in a forest. It took me a while to notice what was missing. Oh sure there was the sounds like the rustling of leaves in the winds, creaking of branches, and running water.
Are there no animals here? I wonder after realizing what was missing.
No chirping of birds, no roaring animals, nothing. It was off putting to say the least, what kind of forest doesn’t have animals?
Five minutes later and I got my answer. As I was walking I heard a rustling coming from my right and it definitely wasn’t the wind. I hid behind a tree to get a look at whatever it was before it saw me.
To say I was unprepared would be an understatement. The thing that appeared looked like some kind of humanoid black blob. The only things I could distinguish was that it was vaguely humanoid and had two white eyes without any pupils and teeth.
I turn to try to quietly leave, only to come face to face with three others that had been behind me.
SHIT!
I looked around and saw another eight or nine at least. I was completely surrounded. All things being what they are? I was regretting not getting that sword. Damn would it have come in handy in this situation.
They definitely knew I was here as they began to tighten their ring. I kept looking around and realized that I could not see a way out. Out of the corner of my eye I saw one of the creatures lunge at me. Out of some kind of instinct I tried to draw my scalpels and throw them at the imp.
To my astonishment, four bluish silver scalpels appeared in my hand and was thrown at the creature. The second that the scalpels hit the creature it was thrown back. When it hit the ground it seemed to explode, leaving behind a bunch of weird stuff on the ground.
Before I could figure out how I even did that, the creatures seemed to take this as a signal to attack, because attack they did. I started to run, using the opening from the creature I killed while trying to keep a tree between me and at least a few of them. I tried to flick my wrist like I did before and sure enough four more scalpels materialized in my hand. I was not stupid enough to stand and fight, it was still at least 12 or 13 of them and I had like, zero combat training.
Of course just as I began to run two imps jumped at me from either side. Almost as instinct again I threw my scalpels at the one on my right. Before I even realized what I was doing I pointed my palm at the other imp. Three scalpels materialized, not in my hand but making a circle a mere inch from my palm.
The imp impacted against some kind of barely visible shield. I knew I couldn’t stop to wonder what had just happened.
I needed help if I was going to survive this. As if responding to that statement, I began to feel this pressure building up from one of the rings. I tried focusing on that ring while still running, it was difficult but I felt something like a pressure being relieved.
‘Ah Master, shall we help you dispatch these pathetic creatures?’ said a voice
‘What, what was that?’ I thought
‘It’s us Master, would you like our help?’ the voice responded to my thoughts
‘What!? Who’s ‘us’ and how did you know what I thought?’ I practically shouted the voice in my head
‘Your speaking to me through our telepathic link. Ever hear of a hive mind? It’s kind of like that, but not. Do you want our help or are you going to keep running like a little girl?’ the voice taunted me calmly
‘Fuck, Fine help me! Get rid of these things’ I responded
With that I suddenly heard a lot of commotion behind me and dared to glance back. I saw those creatures attacking and being attacked by what looked like the darklings from The Darkness. The darklings kept up a kind of hit and run, kiting tactic, blending in with the shadows from the trees then jumping out to hit one of the creatures before running back into the shadows.
I noticed that it seemed to take a few hits for the darklings to destroy one of those creatures. But the creatures were able to kill a darkling in one hit. At least three darklings had been killed in only a few seconds and only one of those things.
Are, are you guys those darklings? I tried to ask
I received no response.
‘Hello, are you there?’ I tried again, this time trying to send my thoughts to them
‘Ya Master, were kind of busy and need to concentrate, these things are tougher than they look, give us a few minutes’ it replied
I realized that while they needed to land multiple hits I seemed to be able to kill them with a single hit. I decided to try to do my part, they had already managed to take down five more. There were still about eight more if my count was correct. I threw my scalpels at the creatures that were left. To my surprise even with my lack of throwing skills I still managed to hit two and I was a few feet away with trees in the way.
The creatures seemed to try to switch back and forth between me and the darklings and ended up not going after either of us. I managed to hit three more and the darklings got the rest.
‘That’s the last one Master’ the voice said
“Wait” I Interrupt
“Yes” he asks innocently.
“Not only were you were attacked by over ten imps and got away without a scratch, but managed to destroy them with a single hit?” I ask
“Technically four hits, I found out later I could kill them with only two scalpels” he said nonchalantly
It takes a full squad of trained guards to beat one. He defeated multiple, and defeated them with a single attack? How is that possible? I thought to myself
“Please continue” I say after a moment
“Right, where was I? Ah! That’s right!”
‘That’s the last one Master’ the voice said
‘Good, now I have a few question s’ I respond
‘To answer a few I know you will have, we are known as the Darklings, you are our Master and we are compelled to follow your every order’ It said.
‘Well that's a few questions answered, what is your name’ I ask
‘Name? We don’t have names, we are darklings, we have no need of names’ It responds
‘No name, isn’t that confusing? Also are you the only one that can talk?’
‘No, we can talk too Master, he’s just kind of our leader’ a different voice responds.
‘Leader huh, why are you the leader’ I ask, I am not sure how but I just sort of knew I was asking the original voice
‘I was the first you summoned with the others came soon after. The oldest darkling is always the leader, and for your first question I believe you answered that yourself when you spoke directly to me, instead of the one who just responded to you, or all of us at once’ The original voice answered
‘So.. what can you guys do?’
‘We have a few abilities Master, As you already know we have a hive mind like telepathy, we can also instantly move from shadow to shadow so long as we can visually see the shadow we are jumping to as well as being extremely hard to detect while in the shadows, we also have very highly developed senses and night vision. Oh and we also give you a sort of passive ability while there is even one of us summoned. Think of it like a hostility sense, in addition the rest of your natural senses are slightly improved as well.’
‘You said, As long as one of you are here, is there a limit to how long you can say or can you stay indefinitely?’
‘Indefinitely, but there is a limit to how many of us you can have summoned at once’
‘How many?’
‘No idea, just know there’s a limit it answered
‘Ok, that’s enough questions for now, thanks’
‘Before I forget you can also use the telepathic link to actually see and experience things from our perspective, even our memories’
‘Really? That can actually be very useful’
I decided to look at the things that those creatures dropped.
“This looks like, is this Build Grist? And that, that’s Shale Grist” I whisper to myself as I inspect the materials. Sure enough it really does look like the grist from Homestuck. I grab one to examine it closer and it disappears into thin air.
The fuck? I must have collected it or something. Wait, does that mean those things were imps? I think I remember seeing a non prototyped one on the wiki once.
Wait... Egbert had such a hard time dealing with them when he first got into the Median, it only got easier for him when he alchemized that new hammer and then he was able to one hit them. Although those imps were tier 1 prototyped and not the non prototyped ones I just fought
I couldn’t help but sigh.
Ok, let’s recap... I’m in some kind of forest, I assume filled with the imps from Homestuck that drop Grist like in the actual webcomic. I apparently have minions that will obey my commands and give me a few bonuses as well. So… does this mean I’ve started a sburb session?
So many questions, so little answers I think as I rub my temples and let out a yawn.
Now that the adrenaline had worn off, I was starting to feel rather exhausted
‘Hey, how are you guys at scouting’ I ask the darklings
‘Good enough Master, you want us to check out the surroundings?’
‘Yes, if you find a road or something follow it and try to find a town or village’ I respond
I find an open spot at the base of the tree and settle down for the night.
I woke up in a strange place. Well not strange so much as Cthulian. Seriously if you ever saw that episode of South Park where Cthulhu sent the kids to Rlyeh? That’s what this place looks like.
̨̢̟̱̰̗̹͖͚͔̜̞͓̮̙̯̺̥͆̋̈́̄̏͑̊ͥ͗͒̀̚͘P̴͊ͧ̃́̐̇̒̒̄̾̆͂ͧͣ͊ͮͣ̚͘͏̫̟̘̭̤͈͕ͅh̸̛͉̦̩͙̒ͣͭ͌̾͒ͣ͋͆́̄͒͒ͪ̏̀̚͘͘'̡͉̰͉͔̟͈̩͖͉͖͔͎͎͑̆̏ͯͩͦͫ͗̆̂̂̔͗ͤ͊̌̓̇̉͢͞ň̸̤͕͉͙̈ͪ̉ͯͦͭ̓̉̄́g̻̥̖̩̦̦͉̬̮͕̲̝̞̲͙͖̞̥̫̈́̏̽ͯͯ̏̒͐̉̑̔́̋̀͝͠l̓̆̌ͦ̈́̏̒̾̃̅̋̆̂ͪ͋ͦͦ̓ͯ͢҉̭̫̩̪͉̖̯̻̞̜͍͙̪̻̟͞ͅu̡̯̰̼̪͙̝̜͍̦̬̼͍͛̆ͦ̏̾̄̽̋̄ͦͯ̽͐̾ͨ͜i͐̏̃ͮ͑ͤͭ̋ͫ̽ͯ̊͌̃ͨͧ̍̈́҉̧͈̘͇͚̱͙ ̴̫̯̜̝̝͈̪̮͔̝͕̲̲ͣͮͣ́̎̑̈́͗͆̆͊̐̂̂̉ͥ͡ͅm̵̆̃̎̂̌̀ͣ̇͌̒̈́ͬ͑̌͋ͥ̚҉̷͔̻̮̱͙̖͚͟ģ̶̻͈̪̭̯̠̺̝̞̟̑̍͆̽͑̎̓͌̓ͧ̌͞l̸̯͓̜̲̥͙̫̟̼̮̭͍̜̫ͯ͐͆̇́ͦ̈̄̈̽̓͢w̼͔͔̥̞̞̪̬̫̥̝̤͊̊ͫͭ̈́̅́̆̽̾͜͡'͌ͣ͛ͩ̊͂̓ͤ̉̇̔҉̴̼̳͉̻̝̹̯̗̬͙͍̥̝́͠n̷̸̼̭̳̮̗̣̏ͤ́̅͒ͦͮ͑a̴ͬ͆̿͂̐̔̃̍̇͏̀͏͖̹̝̖f̶̨̯͓̳̲̥̱̞̮͖̝͈̎̍̊͛̆ͪ̏̇̓ͮ̅̈ͅh̸̟̬̻̱̰̗̗̥͚̾̄̐̎̾̾͗ͨ͜͡ ̧̮̮̥͉͍ͥ̑ͭ͐̍ͦ̌̋͟͟Ř̷̵̢̲͎̹͚̙̣̟͎̗͎̫̩̼͔͎̓ͬ̑̈́ͤ͛͐́'̷͈̟̤͕̪̮̹̻̠̌̐́̐̊̋͑͐͋ͯ̍̚͟͝l̶̳͙͉̪̦̤̣͓̍̋̅͛̽̆ͧ͐ͣ̿̋͒͘͜ỷ̴̈́ͩ̌͋͗͏̜͔̫̜̙̗͟ȩ̶̸̰̱̖͉̼̹͖̪̫͔̭̜̬̰͍͛̓̂̉̐ͣ̔̊̄̓͋̓͋̈̌̚͘h̡̯̗̹̥͕͖̉ͣ̓̂͂ͫͨ̈́͆̾͗̊͐̿ͫ̊̔̕
̸̨̺͍͓̻̰̞͐̆ͤ͊̉̎ͮ̈ͦ̇̒ͫͣ͠G͆̒̅̃͗ͦͫ͒ͩ͛̏̓͏̷̷̞̙̤͓̘̞̥͙̮͚̭̰̮̟̹̹̯r̨͚̱̬̹͉̟̫̰̲̙̥͙̙̙̤ͤͣ̑́͟e̴̷̻̩͎̬͍ͧ̈͛̾ͦͤ̐ȩ̵̨̹̗̝̮͓̘̺͉̳̗̠̗͎͋ͪͧ͒̿́͜t̵̵͙͚̻̥̩͔͇͈̭̺ͧ͑̒̓̈́ͦ͆̇̂̓̕͢͡ͅi̸̺̟̝͖̩̘̩̞̓̂̑ͫͭ͊͛̒ͥ̔̌̍͗̏̿̕͢͢ͅn̷̨̺̦̼̼̤̺͕̖̜̲͕̙̫ͩͤͫ̂̔̍̇̉̒͐̎̽̇̔͌͐͑̃ͮ͢͜͝g̨̧̨̟͕̝̥̝̖̝͈̼͓̝̀̔͊͒̿́̈́̉̍̀́͐́ ̂̏̏͆͛̓̉ͩ̈́ͪ͐̏̂ͭͮͩ͆̚͏̳͈̩͍̳͠H̸͇̯̹̣̍̅ͥ̅̄ͨͫ͂̎͒̽̓̋̀͊͆̚ę̡̭͖̹͚̪̜̰͉̤̹ͩ̓̇ͬ̄͒̍̅ͨ̽͒r̭͕͈̺̮̜̬̟͖̦͐̇̈́̿̚͞ȏ̾ͮ̌͑̊̍̽͑̒ͬ̔̌̍͏̸̺̪̩͈̳̪̗̲̞̲̻ ̵͔̙͚̹͈̦̘̪̿͗̑͌̄̆̾͑̓͟ȍ̎̓ͩ͌͗̊҉̸̛̭̰͇̹͖̰̼̹͓̖͙͖̜͙͙̕ͅf̢͖̤͇͔̟̓͂͛̃̉̈́͡ ̡̹̪͇͙̟̖͇̲͇͖̲͓̣̻̩̞ͬ͋̓̾̈̏ͨͤ̈́͌̓ͩͫ͌͜͠͞ͅV̴̲̠̻̭͈̲͍̬̠͖͈̺͈̥̘̅ͭͥ͑ͩ̄̊ͥ͊̿ͥͥ̋̓̐̀́o̷ͪͬ̊̏̆̑͑ͯ̊̃ͭ͏̖̜͓̠̼į̶̡̧͕̜̲̭̲̥̫̥̖̩͙̭ͩ̾͑ͤ͊͐̍͆̐͞d̡̧͕̫͇͖̥̣̺̘̠̝̜̘͎͖̬̖̖̞̈̏̑ͮͭͣ͑̓ͮ̆͘͜͞.̵̛̱͇͚̰̯̰͈͉̺̱̳̭͍̺̪̙̱͚̒̒͂ͫͫ̈͒͗̃̕͘ͅ
̴̠͓̭̮̤̼̩̼̦̮̥̹̯ͦ͋ͣ̀̎̎̋̌̑̾̆͐͋̌̐ͬͬ̀͞ͅĆ̡̑͑̎ͮ̾̓̀ͣ̀͋̆͂̑̾̓ͪ̓̚͏̭͕̤̪̩͉̘ţ̶̛̦͓̝͕͖̻͉̟̩̜͚͎̰̦̯͎̉ͦ̽͋͝h̛̥̞̻̯̭͎̠̱̹͙̤͓̱̞̀̓̈́̔̾͛̓̈́̿̈́̈̿̃̋͊ͮ͆͘͘u̷̧͓̱͓̬̰̖̠̥͕̠̬̘͎̟̺͓̣̖̍̉͛́ͅl̷̉͊̓͋́҉̵̬̻̱̜̠̩̥͈̗͉̤͔̘͖̹͈̣̙ḩ̶͙͎̬̞̯̖̭̘̳̹̤͒͛̋ͩ̍͐̄ͨͩ͝͠ű̴̧ͯ̊̒̈́̎͌ͣ̓̇͒́͑ͭͮͯͦ͠҉̱̼͖̝̟̦̯͍̳̘͜ͅ ̸͆͗̋̓̈́́̋̕͢҉̯̩̰̣̘̫͕̼͔̭͔͖̻̩̘̲̲ ̱̹̗̼̺̮̦̜̲̻͎̠̻͋̓̀ͧ̂̿̆͗̈̾̓̓̉̌̃̃̒̆͂͡w̗͚̫̩̩̼̟͔͕̙̒͐͋̄̀ͨ͆ͧͤ̈́ͯͧ͊́͟͝ģ̩͙͙̣͓̰̦̱͚͉͈̺͐̈́̆ͦ̔̏̓ͭͤ̋̄ͣͭ̓̇͒̊͘å̵̫͓̤͓̪̼̻̤̝̂̏ͣͨ͌ͣ̔͛ͤ̉̏͑͟͞hͨ̄͑ͩͤ̑̓̄͌̆͗ͦ̀͒҉̸͉͓̬̱͙̤̙̙̝̹̜͙̹̰̭͔͉̕͝͡'̃ͪ̈͑̋ͤ̑ͬ̓͛ͯ̈́͒̒̊̚̕͟҉̞̠̱̼̟̹̹͘n͔̺͇̣͕͍̪̗̘͔̣̪̓̍̎͊͟͠ͅa̋ͩ̎͂͌́͘͢͞͏̴͙̫̰͙͈g̵̯̖͓̲͕̺̞̹̺̻̜̝̜̮̦͍̟̖͆̋̃̽l̵̆́ͤ̎̏ͯ̌̊̍͐̾͑ͦͩ̚͝͏̢̟̞͙̦̫̫͉̱̩̳̰͓̳͜ ̓̎̏̌̌ͦ̽̚͠҉̱̩̪͖͓͈̳f̼̼̤̭̣ͣͤ͊̏̿̆͘͡h͈͇̗̱̮̞͔̘̫̘̞͈̭͔̞̄͆̒̇̾̈́̋̅̃̓̆̋ͬ͊̂ͪ͒̚̕t̵̡̢͖̘̳͕̳̙̞̻̪̮̪̭̱̹̫͉̝̿̆̾̽̆͊͛ͩͭͩ̀ả̡͌ͦͭ͊̈̌̍ͤͤͧ͞͏̬̗͖͉̺͔̱̗̮̰͔̜͙g̛̥̝̥̩̠̫̺͙͕͎̗̒͊͆̏̿̊ͨͮ̑̋̿͞n̷͔̼̭̙͎̲̹̳͓͍͒́ͯ̒ͧ̾ͧͨ̀ͮ̂ͪ́ͥͪ̀̕̕
What the shit was that noise!?!
I look around but I don’t see anything that could have made it.
Guess I will need to keep an eye out for monsters in this place too.
I decide to take a minute to give myself a once over.
“These aren’t my clothes...” I whisper to myself realizing I am now in a royal purple tabard with purple pants and black shoes.
“Dream self” I whisper “This is my Derse dream self!” I said as realization dawned on me. “Though this place does NOT look like Derse at all.”
Well there is nothing else to really do but explore this place a bit. I start walking toward the nearest structure. Looks kind of like a building, maybe. I think I see windows... maybe.
“Wait, can’t I fly here?” I ask myself. Sure enough, yes, I can fly.
̸̡̧̡̼̖̠͖̤̝͕̟̠̪̱͆͑͋ͮ̓͐̓̽̋͐̓ͨ̋̓̍̚P̫̯̜̟͙̜̙͍͚͖͉͍̻͇̣̼̘͓̞̈͐ͬͨ̊͒ͤ͊͑͋͊̈̀̓̎͜͢h̸̸̯̻͍̬͓̼͎̙̺̲̖̼͈̹͎̝̆ͨͯ̆͗̀̚'̶̻̻̞̩̮͔͔̞̪ͪ̋͛̓̾ͭͬ̔̋ͮn̯̰̼̳̩͉̻͍͇͕̬͔̙͇͕̿͛̇ͮ̓̌͌̋͟͟͝g̴̢̨̛͇̤̹̞̙͈̫̺ͬ̆̉̄̔ͣ͛ͫ̒͒ͨ̈̉ͨ̊͂ͥ́l͌̑ͦ̌̓ͦ͊̿ͬ͌̕͏̭͉̹͈̭̩̦͝u̷̲̺͎̳̬̠̬̣͖̥͔̺̪͎̬̖̱̞͑͂͗͋̓̚̕ͅi̡ͯ̄͊̆̑̀҉̸̶̞̣̪̻͔ ̴̷̞̼͓̩̥̄̂̊̄͋̔̐̀̐m͙̯̳̜̱̯̤ͣͭ̒͐̑̕͜͞g̸͚̬̹̼̦͉̲̹̤̗̺̙ͬ̉͑̇ͭ̚͜ḽ̛̲͕͖̮̹̬̻̥̮̞͚͙͈̖͚̠̾̔͌̍̃͂̾ͫͮ̓ͬ̈̀͜͟wͧ̊̑͂̐ͯ͐͋̂̑͊̆̄ͨ̈ͯ̉̈́͗͏̜̠̫̫̼͔̣̣͡'̴͙̬̰̺̭̝̩̲͙̠̗͚͎͔̻̤ͨ̆̊ͦͭ̄ͨͫ͆̄͗̏̔͒̉̇̑̓͢͟͟nͮͬ̌̄ͩ͂ͭ̈̂͏̵̦̲̜̥̞̱̰̝̟͔͇͕̪̺̱̳̪̮͘͝a̶͕̟̗̣͍̰̳̳͈͎͎͓̘̼̙̭̒͌̉̍ͯ́̔̒͒̔̒͛̓̏̓͛͋́̚͡f̊͑ͪͪ̈́ͯ͑͌̓̎̓̀͌ͤ̂̿̀̚̕͢҉̱̪̯̮̱̥̰͈̪̳̖̗̬̤̝̦͡ͅh̛̛͔͖̝͖͉̰͚̲̜͊̍ͮͣ̉̓́̆ͩ͗ͣ̿̀ͯ͊̓ͅ ̵̸̘͉͖̩̼̹̖͍̯̉͑ͮ͗̎̕R̛̎ͮ͐̀̒ͧ́̐͑͂ͩ͆̒̓͛̚҉̸̱̮͇̗̗̹̘̤̗ͅ'̷̯͓͎͔̯̥͈̑͆̌̽͐̐ͦ͆̓͒̄͊ͥ͞͡lͥ͐ͯͬ́̋͌̽͛ͥ̀̓ͦ́͏̴̸̱̥̞͔̭͉̤̻̱̪͚͙͈̭ͅͅy̸̖̹͎̹̜͖̦̰̝̲̬̱̌̃͋̍́e̵̢̛̹̘͓͉̗̙͔͇̪̼͔̳͕͍̥̜͎ͬ̏̉ͫ̋͊̑̐ͮ̊̍͂͑̐͢͢ͅẖ̭̞͙͔͈͖͙̖̜̑̓̏̚̕͝ͅ
̷̖͔̥͈̰̲͇̫͙̟͚̺ͤ͋ͣ̉̓͢͠͞͝H̘͙̹̝̺̱̱̝̰̳̝̭̩͙͔͉̥̩͚͐̔̅̆̓͛̏ͨ͋̊̚̕͘͡͝e̷̢͍̜͙̭͐ͦ̏̈́ͣͨ̍̈̐̒̏̓̃r̵̢̟̦̪̜̤̍͑̆͒͑ͩͤ̋ͮ̉̇͢o͆̒̎͋ͨ̌͐͗ͨ̚̚͏̢̗͚̳̦̺̀̀̕!̵ͪ͌̆̈ͮ̈́̓ͩ̇ͤ͏̛͎̩̝̭͚̥̗́͘ ̷̛̲̼̥̪̻̦͉͓̠͖̹͇̄ͤ̂ͣ̋̅͑̃̅̂̌̇͛ͧ̏͂̃̈́͢͝Y̴͈̗̮̘̩̐ͭͥ̍̉ͩ͌ͨ̓͑̃͂̓õ̢͇̩̜̙̭̝̘̥̩͈͙̫͇̝͊ͩ̔̎̾ͮ̋ͦ̂ͯͯ̒͆͋̓̈́͛͌́ũ̔ͫ̃̊҉̢̱̘̺͙̗͜ ̵̡̳͓͓̻̺̮̪ͧͤ̌͑ͩͭ̈́̍̈́̾ͤ̄ͣ̈̀m̈̐͌͊̎ͫ̽ͫ̌͗̒҉̧̱̖͓̞̰͉̤͙̬̣͕̭̱̻̼̖̕ȕ̢̿̽ͥ̊͡͏҉̪̪̰̭̤͇̣̖̝s̶̨̜̺͕̲̭̀ͮͤͥ̾ͪ́̉ͨ̒̿̊ͥ̐̀͟t̲̻̖͔͔̺͔̖̬̲̠̩̲͚̄͋̔̀̆̒̅̌̈́̋͊̉̑̅͘͘̕ ̡͓̪͔̣̤̞̽̈̅̽ͯ͆̍ͯ̒l̨̛ͥ͐ͣ̍̄̚҉̘̥̟͇̗̣̙͈i̴̧͕̫̲̗̼̞̜̫̥͍̳̮̓ͧ͐̃͐͆̚͘̕s͆̒͑ͪ͒̕͞҉͕͇̙̱̺͚̻͖̦͙̦̪ţ̱̲̺͓͕͍͓͙̭͎ͮ͋̄̂͛̓͗ͭ̍̕͢ḛ̺͕̫̗̮̤͉̖̜ͬ̑̓̀ͩͩ̏ͨͥͭ͐͋ͥ́́͟͞ͅͅͅn̸̍͑̈̈́ͤ̏̚͏̛̬̖̺̗̮̩̝̞̝͈̝̫̫͖̗̮͎͠ ̷̢̨̭̟̰̭̜͖̲̦͚͇͈̘̣̫͍͒ͯͧͥ͆ͭ̈͟͜t̷̨̼̗̙̣̬̀̀̊ͫ̒́o̸͚͈̬̥̳͔̭̝͎̮̘̹̻̬̟͛̂̍ͭ̀̂͌̐́̚ͅ ̛̥͖̮̦̻̟̦̱͍̪̐̈́͒̆̅ͩͯͯͦͬͤ̉ͤ̋̌̒̕ͅu̵̡̦̗̙͚̬̭͕̩̖̳ͫ̉̓ͫ̊ͤͣ́́͞s̴͖̯͓͍̙̜̟̳̳̟͍̹̝̝͔̱͖̾͆ͪ͒̉͢͟ͅ
̶̡̨̫̖̫̹͎̯̱̟̪̫̼̃̿̈ͯ̅̃̾̐̾̂̎̎ͦ̇̉̚C̳̮̟̱͎̫̹̼̮̻̥̭̠̤̝̜̭̬͐ͦ̐ͬ͘ͅt̺͔̥ͣͩ̏͊̔̽ͬ̃͜͠͞h̨̛̟͉̎̐̽͑ͭ̄̕ͅu̸̧̯̗̫̞̰͔̬̲̫̪̪̹̫̐̓̐̃ͣ͆̋l̷̠̙̱͔͔̹̪̫̼͔̦͎̼̱̬͗͑̉ͣ͆ͤ͜͢͢ͅh̫̺͓̻͍͕͌͛ͩ̓̂ͮͤ̅ͭ͗ͯͭͨ̅̈́̂͑̕͘͢ų̶̦̗͚͕̫̺͍̦̞̘̬͙̘̖͕̯̅̏ͫ͋̾̆ͭ̎ͤ̒́͞͡ ̶̪̝͔̭͎̿͒̓̚͟ ̨͈̗͉̘͍͉̦̜̣̳͔͙͈ͧ̐̄͒̋͑̆͐̚̕w̸̡̞̦͙̦̰̲̜̋͂̏͆̊́̓͊͂́͂ģ̵̸̨̭̖̰̬̰̯̻̝ͩͯ͗̃́a̧͔̮͉̹̠̱̖̻͓̫͎͉ͯ̉̓ͮ̎̚͝͞h̴̛͓̭̣̜̣̩͓͎̟̭͙̘̥̼͖̺͑̈ͤ͋̚͢'̢͋̽͑̐͛̉̍̽ͬͦ̿ͮ҉̯̱̳̺̘͜͞n̴̸͒̇̎͑͆͗͒̄̉͊͡͏̮͉͙͔̞̬̥ͅa̯̥̭̭̖͍̟̼͉̲͙̜͔͉̔̽̅̌̋̔͆ͥͫ͆ͧ̓͛ͬ̔̎͜͝g̷̷̥̘̤̪͊̃̀̏̑̆̿̋͂ͪͤ͛́͆̚l͎̹̗̰͚̠̟͈̱̻̫̖͔͔̲͉̲̿ͦ̓͗̀͠ ̴̢̮̝͚̣̙͌ͫ̒́f̡̧͈͔̭͙̟̼̈͐̉ͧͯ̅͊̾͟͢͞h̞̞̩̳̲̻̩ͯͤͬ͆ͭ̀̚͠ṭ̷̨͙̮͎ͣ̃͊͑̏͂͆ͮͦ̎ͩͧͧ̑͜͜a̯͕̮̱͈̖͓̠ͫ̉̋ͯ͛ͯ͌͂ͣ̉͐͒̎̔̂̄̑̑ͨ̀͢g̻̖͖̹̭͕̻̠̹ͭ̾ͮ̄͒̽ͯ̐ͣ́̿̽͢ͅn̸̵͎̯̤̼͓̜̭͓͚͉̾̓̔̉̈̍̉͂͠ͅ
“SHIT!” I say clutching my chest.
It’s like a fucking auditory jump scare.
I still see no signs of life or anything around. Actually that seems to add to the creepiness of this place.
After looking through the thing I thought was a building, I found nothing of interest.
Hmm where should I go next ?
After looking around I decide to head to the largest structure so at the very least I could get a bird’s eye view of this place.
Holy shit is that a quest bed? Looks like God Tier is a thing then.
P̸̨͙̬͔͔̭̗̺͉̼̤͇̿̒ͤ̽ͤ̅̈́̐ͦ̋̏͋̐̀̚̕h̷̵͛̈͐̿̄̍̅͛͛ͤ̾ͬ͐ͭͮ̔̈́͏̷̖̦͈̲̻̲̬͖̼̳̞̺̭̲̖͚'̴̢̲̥̠̯͇̮̣̫̘̝͙͙̺͔̦̓ͧ̾̑ͤͦ́̈́̇͐̇ͯ͐͠͞ͅn̶̴̙͖̲̯̑ͣ̿̓̓̏̔̔ͦ̊ͭ̽̅͆̒̔̔̕͟͠ġ̛̲̺̭̥̘̮̩̦̔ͫ̂́̃̈̀͒́́͘͢l̢̨̟̪̙̟̜͍͚̿̓̈͋̄ͨ̃͆̅̇͘͟͢ư̡̡̜̰̟̙̻͍̲͚̰͇̹̹̘͍̹̹̙ͨ͆̇̀̉ͮ͆̈ͫ̍ͥ̄̍͑͑͐̌ͩ̏̀͞ͅí̵̛̹̲͓̯̦̫͎̗̖̐͆̓͠ͅ ̶̡̬̺̻̺̳̄̇͒̓͊̂̈́ͤ̑̊̍m̨̗̬̳̠͍̰̳̩̘̗̗̮̙̫͍̟̬̥ͨ̊̐ͦͪ̏ͦ̊͒̔̊͋͛ͣ́̚͞g̡̪̼̙̭̖ͥ́͛̔͂̎ͭ̂ͪ̐̀̀͜͢l̵̢̡̞̬̙̳̩̥̭̝͔̹͎̰͐̂͐ͣͪ͆͑ͪͥ̀̓̅̿ͯ̚̕͝w̐ͦ̈́́ͭ̾̄ͭ͊͑͆̇̒͏̡̼͉̲̠͎͕̝̺̱͟͢'̀ͥ̃̂́̈́̎͋͛̅͆͞҉̨͉͔̱̜͔̗̖̞̩̖̟̠͍͓̗n̡͍͔̲̱̙͎̘̜̣͚̠̖̦̜̖̞̙ͤ̐̉̌͑̎̕a̡͚̪̲̝̲͉̻ͤ͂ͤ́̏̈͛̆ͪ͒̉̋͂͌ͨ͠͡f͚̤̰̫̫̔ͭ̈́͒̑́͡ͅĥ̸̵̡͙̯͔͕͉̯̦͍͔̝͖͇̭̌̈̃̌̓̚͡ͅ ̽̔̒͐ͮ̊̂̽̏̚҉̵̹͉̯̥̼̪͓̝̥̝̥̜͓̮̭͖̜̻͢Ṙ̸̡̛̺͚͉̝͉̫̺̙̙̬̬̪̺̘͇̯͎̖̉̾̑͊̾̃̎̅̔̏̓͋̊̌ͧͤͮͮ̀͜ͅ'̠̯̖̭̻̻̖̰͇̔̀ͥ̾̽̌̚͟͢l̬̦̭͇̓̒ͮͣ̀ͮ̎ͯ̈̈ͧ̚͘͟y̴̡̫͉̖̪̱̗̦̞̬̯͔̣͍̯̳͛̏̈́̄ͣͦ̊ͬ̑͌́͢ͅe̷̠̞̳͈͎ͫͤ͋̏̎̀h̔ͦ̆̋҉̡̺̭͍̞͘͟
H̪̠̫͍̩͂ͭ̊̾͌̃ͫͦ̃ͮͭ͒̓͛̅͢͢ͅê̶̾̉͋ͧͪ̉͛̐̈́̽̊̈́̚͞͏̹̦̼̭͈r̨̂̌̓̋̑̀͡҉̤̙̹̲̞͟ͅo͑ͩ̄̏̓̿͂͞҉̷̲̩̪͎ ̴͍̭͎̜͖̪̫̫̝͔͉̯̱̭̠̭ͬ̅̒͂̆ͯͭ̃ͯ̒̃̇ͧ̑̑͟P͗̋ͮ̊̈́̐҉̸̦̗̖͍͈͎̝̼̱̹͉̪͘ͅl̵̸̶̶͖͓̻̞͓̙̠̬͖̅̑ͩ͂̐̅̒̉̌̋̚͝ẽ̱̪̘̣̑̋̑̀͠a̩͎̯͍͔̣͓̥̝ͭ̿̂ͮ̀͟ͅͅs̵̯̜̻̠͕̬͔͎͕̎ͮ̌ͦ̓̽͊́͜e̛̜̭̬̳͇͖̤͓̭͖̗̹͙͙̟͑̓ͣͥͯ̅͌͠ ̴̧̛͎͚̗̤̜̞̪̟̹̝̟̯͎͌̃̓͋͂̀̅͆̈́ͤ̽͊ͯ͆̾ͅl̷̹̝͉̭̱̮̟̭̽ͦ́̊ͪͨ͊̓̏ͭ̕į̛̩͉̣̦̯͎̭̤͇͚̰̙̘̳͍͔̜͚̰̾ͮ̓͊͐̓͘͢͡s̸͖͕̝̗̎̿̂ͪ͐̋ͤ̑̕ţ̵̹̞̗͚͎͇̦̜̲̝̹̩̝ͭ͒͆̓̂͛͛͑̐͒̀̚e̶̛̥̜͚̯̘̹̳͍̥̬̮̤̊̓̑͗͗̀̒̒̏͋ͬ̐ͭ̓̅̑͛̈̌͟n̴̼͕̤̟̮̻̗̹̭̝͙̺̝̣͆ͯ̐̅ͨ̌̎ͭͮ́ͬ̈́͝ͅ ̡̹͇͇̥̦̺̲̙͎̼͙̿̃̔̄ͮ̀̌͛͒͌̀̚͘t̛̿͐ͭ̋ͤ͑̓ͭ͂ͣ̒̑̑͊ͥ̆ͭͬ҉͕̫͇̖̠̳̟̬̲̩̱̯̘̲̻̙ơ̸̛̩̤̬̙̼̦̰͔͎̰̩̲̥̣̜͈̊͐ͨ͗ͮͤ̈̆̇͒ͭ͂͗̾͐͜ ̨̨̫̥͎̱̭͚̙͕̳͙ͣ͋ͮ̅̽u̷̢͎̠̖͍̔̍ͯͫ̃̔̉ͨ̾̽́s̶̨̘̤͚̺͇̲̭͕͍͚̹̥͕̫͔̄̂̃̀͂̄̈͒͋͋̚͢͜͟!̴̴̛̠̲̫͈̮͇̗̯̣̰̝̫ͤ̂̌̂͆͐͆ͩͪ̔ͫ̍ͪ̆̅̒̑̒̇̀͝
Y͍̝̝̼̱̘̮̝̰͎̮͚̳̖ͮ̃ͣ̅͊͗ͬ̄͘͟͝ͅo̷̷̧̞͇̪̳̱̺̳͉̲͎͐ͯ̂ͥ̎̿̎́̋̕ṵ̸̝̳͈̠͉̥̥̠ͭͩ̓̓̒͋̆ͮ̒ͪ͆́͘͜ ̡͔̝̠͚̲̦͍̜͈͕̯͇͇͔̺̽̍̈̎̽ͩ̒͒̽̆̅́̚̚ͅă̶͉͓̘̜̲͚̜͔̲͇̹̦̞͎͖̲͇͆́ͨ̚͞r̸̤̖̖̯͖̤̺̱͔͇͚̩͖̫̞͚ͪ̓͛̏ͬͥ̎ͮ̚̚͜͟͜͢e̵̺͔̖͕͉̤̰͇̎̌̉͗̍ͯͣ͘̕͢͟ ͂ͧ͐͑͌̃͒ͩ̐̑̉ͧ̓̓ͭ͒̏͏̧͍͉̙̞̘̯͟͝ḯ̢ͮͨ́̎̎ͦ̈́͌̒͜͏̗͓̦̬͔͚̝̰͓̦̩̞͔̭͕̻̘n̛̜̺͎̤̩̬̩͍̪̤̠̖̂̂͒̏̾͗̀͛͐̽̽̄̓͗͐̈́͆ͅ ̶̹̜̙̻̦̺̱̥̟̳̠͙̠̽͂̄͑ͣ͟͝Ğͦ̎́̃̚͏̴̗̮̥̦͜r̷ͯ̆̿̃̈̿̒̏͏͢҉̠̲͚͙̞̫̤̠͔̤̜̭̙͍̜̱̫a̢̡͈̱̳̘̖̥̦͍͗̉͆ͪ̊͢͞ͅv́̃̏͋̏̂ͫ̔͜͠҉͉̟̜̤̺̪̻̪͉e̴̴̸̛͒̾́̽̋̐̎͋͒ͥ̚҉͍͇̦̰̗̱̺̳̯̩͈̥̥̳̝ͅͅ ̶̵̛͉̹̪̖̲̱̞̹̦̙͖̮̳͈ͬ̋ͮ͊̿ͦ̈̏̃̾̓̆͠͝D̴̜̙͉̟͚̖̥̬̱̗͆̔̆̏ͦ͂̎̉̎̔ͬͧͧ̂̆́ͭ̑͝ͅͅạ̸̩͚̙͔̙̜̰̹͙͉̮͍͕̹̲̱͚͕̍ͥͣ̉ͨͨ̀̀̚͢ņ̶̹̜̟͇̔̒͂̓̏͋͐͗͂̓ͮ͛̓̕̕͝g̨̈́ͩ̓ͬ͒ͦ̿ͩ͗̓̊ͯͯͧ͌̕͟҉̝̙̪̗͈͡e̝̭̥̹ͤ͛̋̆ͭ̊̋͊̏ͫͨͩ̂͌̂͐̈ͤ̀̚͝͞r̨͙̪̗̯̱̰͇̜̺̭̤͇̘̝̖̈̎ͧ̄̊͆͛̃̂̈̔̔͆̂͆̏ͪͮ̀͜͝ͅ
C̸̢̛̻͓̺̼͉̥̯̺̺̋̎ͯ̍͂ͤ͆ͧͭ͗ͤ̔̊ͣ̑̑́ͫͫ̕͠t́̊̐̃͂̿̈́ͨ͒̈́̌̏͆͏̪̬̻̞̪͙̜̤͔͡h̶̢̳̪̙̯͖̩̬͙̝̘̩̪̗͉̫͚ͫͤ͋ͦǘ̴͎̙͖͍̥̥͇̠͖̼̼̏̉̾́̀͜͡ļ̲͔͉̺̼̥̟̤̹̥̙̾̎̉̿̊ͨ̔̍́ͮ̿͆͑͜͠h̳̺̱̦̘̺͇͂ͭͪ̿ͥ̓̍͡͠u̥̲̲̙̣̤͇̞̼̤̥̩̒͊ͭ̃̓͛ͭͩ͂͊͐͆́̎͘͟ͅ ̵̢̤̳̭̠̤̱̱̺̙̠̘̲̘ͣͫ̏ͨ̑ͩͯͩ̑͂̌̒͊͑̾͊͋̏ ̷̢̮͔͓̣̼͕͇̣͉̹͚̦͎͈̹̝͙̔̓̋͑͌͡͡w̢̍ͯ̎̋͒̓ͯ͊̉ͩ̌͞҉̢͖̱̫͓̬͈̯̖̯̪̙̻̤̞͘ġ̵̸̵̖͙͙̩̥̥̥͎͆̉ͯ͐͊ͭ̎ͭ̂̊͑̀a̸̛̱͓̞͇͙͍̥̖̠̠͖͉͇̐͒̑͗͝͞h̟͈̮̙͔̣̠̹̠̩̦̤̤̹̲̻͎̓̾ͩͣ͂ͮͩͫ́͟͡͡ͅ'̷̰̲̖̱̰̖̺̥̦̙̝̇̐͗̂ͧ̒̾̂͊̍̚ͅn̡̢͖̫͔̗͍̖̭̓ͯͯ̒̆ͬ̌̿̅ͥͥ͂̓̄͂̌a͓̰̞̝͓͚̘̘̹̤̲̥̗̪ͬ́ͤͣ̎ͧ̊͝g̮͙͖̣͓͕̹͈̣͇̐͆̾ͧ͐̿̂̽͒̏ͬ̈̔̚͠ļ̴̧̨͖̻̫̺̘̬͉̱̝̜̭ͧ̋̇̋ͮͮ̓̔ͥ̆ͮͪ̈́͑͌ͣ̈́͘ ̶̳̪̬̈̈́ͯ̇͌̆̐̔̃́̑̏̂̉ͭ̀͞ͅf̨̢͓̪͓̩͍̠̻̖͓̖̻̪̰̰̻̆̃̀̋͐͒ͮ̓ͫ̋̃͛̚͠ͅͅḩ͙̼̣͚̦̘͙͎̫̱͇͈ͣ͑ͪ̀̔ͧ̽̎̓ͤ̏̌̄̉̌̕͟ͅť̙̭͔̗̞͖̲̎̉ͨ͒ͬ̊̎̓ͣ͂̀̚ą̵̻̬̮̫̣̟̠͕͒̑̓͋̉ͩ͆̃ͨͥ̄̏͜͟g̮̼̥̦̣ͮͦ̎̃͊ͤ̀n͐̂͂̓̊̇̚̚҉̸̛̬͓̤̻̰͎̗ͅ
“GAH!” I shout trying to slow my heart rate down.
“GOD DAMNIT CUT THAT OUT!” I shout
I decided to try shouting my objections to the heavens and see if that would make that noise stop. So I looked up
A God woke from it’s self imposed slumber and began to silently laugh. A mistake from before time was about to be repaired. The world was about to get very interesting.
A God was startled and worried but she felt a sort of necessity from the sensation. She continued with her daily routine keeping an eye out for any problems.
A God was startled out of bed when she felt something she recognized. Something she dreaded. She began to prepare for the battle she knew was coming.
A lavender unicorn awoke with a start. She looked around but did not see nor feel anything out of the ordinary. Assuming it was just part of the dream she was having and promptly went back to sleep.
A cyan pegasus bolted out of her bed, eyes wide and searching. She saw nothing, but preceded to do a full inspection of her home. A Wonderbolt is never caught unaware, she reasoned. Returning to bed only when nothing was found.
A pink pony giggled in her sleep, knowing she was about to meet a very unique new friend.
A orange pony groggily opened her eye, she wasn’t sure what she felt, but decided it was almost time to get up anyway.
A yellow pegasus shivered in her bed but did not awaken from her dreams.
A white unicorn woke up in a cold sweat. Her intuition telling her that something huge was about to happen. Something important. Something dangerous.
Something... necessary.
I woke up in a cold sweat, trying to wrap my head around what I just saw.
“What. The. Actual. Fuck. Did I just witness.” I said breathlessly
‘Good Morning Master! We found a village like you asked. Oh and the ruins of some old castle as well’
Author's Note
The thing I used for the HorrorTerror speak seems to be kind of hit and miss... Hopefully I got it to work right.
“That is all there is too it” I say to my niece
“Thank you Auntie!” She exclaims happily “I don’t know what I would do without you!”
“You would have figured it out in your own time. I am sure of that” I say as I smile down at her.
“Are you going back to see him again?” She asks, her smile morphing to a worried look
“Yes”
“What… What do you honestly think of him?”
I sigh “It is simply too early to tell right now Cadence.”
I turn to one of the guards.
“Please have Mr. Frost brought in for questioning”
He salutes and walks away. I turn to another guard.
“Please inform my sister, Twilight Sparkle, and Ms. Inkwell to meet me down there”
“Yes, Princess” He responds before leaving
I head down to the dungeons and enter, wait for him to be brought in.
A few minutes later he enters, gives me a slight bow of his head and sits down.
Well that’s progress from yesterday at least I think to myself
“So Celestia, where were we?” he asks neutrally.
“You had just awoken and one of your creatures had found a village” I respond neutrally
“Ah, yes. My first encounter, and fight, with those six.” He responds as if fondly regarding a treasured memory.
“Well, after I had awoken -” He began
I wandered through the forest for about an hour. As well as encountering more of those imps. Thankfully there were only one or two and no huge gathering like the first group. I learned more about that shield, apparently it was Akabane’s Bloody Shield. I also found that I seem to also have gained Akabane’s speed. I assume it was some kind of flash step ability, well, that’s what I’m now calling it. It takes a bit of stamina to do, especially if I chain multiple flash steps. Although it is quickly becoming easier.
I finally saw the village that my darklings had found. It looked very medieval, appearing to be made entirely of wood, at least from this distance.
‘Master’ Said my new friend
‘What do you have for me?’ I ask
‘Like you said we went in, making sure not to be seen, and the village seems to be nothing more than a small town with no real strategic value beyond the population itself. That’s really about all there is to this place.’ He responds
‘Hmm, what about guards and defenses?’ I ask
‘Minimal and nonexistent’
I raise my eyebrow at that
Strange. This close to the forest and no defenses and minimal guards? Either the guards are very good at their jobs or these guys are dangerously naive. Or the monsters don't ever leave the forest. But why wouldn’t they? Hmm, something to experiment with later. Or just ask the townspeople
‘OK, I want you all to stay out, you guys look terrifying and I would like to make a good first impression’ I respond as I begin to leave the forest.
As I entered the village I noticed that there indeed seem to be no defenses in place, despite the fact that, if my experiences were accurate, there were a lot of monsters in the forest. I enter the town with no problems, however I still did not see anyone. I can hear voices toward the right so head that way.
I couldn’t help but notice that in addition to there being no practical defences, It seems that I was correct on my first impression of the village, it looks to have not progressed past the medieval era. One or two story houses, made of wood, some kind of hay, and I think I saw one made of gingerbread in the distance. I pray that that last one was just designed to look like that, and not made of actual gingerbread. Though with everything I have seen so far I would not be very surprised if it was.
While I was walking through an apparently deserted section of the village I could not shake the feeling of familiarity. Like I have seen it before, that I should know this place. I decide to push that thought to the back of my mind for the time being. There will be time to more fully explore this place later.
As I entered what I assumed to be a market I finally got a look at the people living here. Needless to say it was NOT what I was expecting.
AT ALL
They looked human, walked on two legs, had arms and hands, a torso,and a head. That is where the human similarities ended and the horse similarities started. They had muzzles, longer ears, slightly bigger eyes, hooves instead of actual feet and a coat instead of skin. Said coat was also not the blacks, browns, and whites of a normal horse. They were colorful, with every color palette I could think of. Basically they looked like humanoid horses. Very colorful humanoid horses.
The only thing running through my head at that moment?
Why didn’t I search that darkling's memories for what they looked like before coming?
While I was making these observations said horses also began to observe me. Apparently they saw me much more menacing than I found them as they began to collectively lose their minds. Said mind loss pulling me from my own thoughts.
“MONSTER!” a few of them screamed at the top of their lungs.
Well that’s a bit harsh
I was not having the best of days. First I had been forced to get up two hours earlier than I planned. This was not actually a problem as I simply devoted the extra time to my studies. It was just a little while ago that Pinkie came over and said there was a big important meeting at Rarity’s and asked me to get Fluttershy, then ask Fluttershy to get Dash.
While I enjoy the peace and tranquility of Ponyville, sometimes it can become rather hectic. Thankfully this did not seem to be the case today so my shortcut through the market to get to Fluttershy’s cottage was rather uneventful. However it seemed going through the market was a good idea as I ran into her.
“Fluttershy!” I called happily
“Oh, good morning Twilight.” she responded meekly
“Pinkie said there is an important meeting at Rarity’s and asked me to tell you and ask you to get Dash.”
“Oh, sure. I was about to do some grocery shopping but if it’s important I can do it later” she responded
“Grea-” I began before being interrupted by a scream
“MONSTER!”
Both Fluttershy and I turned towards the source of the scream and then we both found ourselves shocked into stillness with our mouths agape.
Standing there, in the middle of the market, in its terrifying glory, was a monster.
Once those few began to scream and run it was like a domino effect. Some looked at me and began running and screaming while the rest seemed to just run, peer pressure and all that I guess.
However there were two that were not running and screaming, a purple one and a yellow one, they just sort of stood stock still and stared at me with wide eyes and open mouths. I also noticed that the yellow one seems to have a pair of wings on her back. Just by looking at them I could tell they were way too small to actually allow flight. The purple one seemed to have a small purple nub poking out of her hair.
A horn? A unicorn and a pegasus?
I looked around and noticed that the once busy market is now barren save the three of us.
I decided that I have had enough excitement for now.
“Fuck this, I’m out” I deadpan
I turn on my heel and begin leaving the way I came. However it seems that fate had other plans. Thanks to all the fights I have been in recently, I had gotten used to that hostility sensor thing and wow was it tingling right now. I could feel a lot of hostility was coming right at me.
It was coming at me too fast for me to react fully, and on instinct I made a rushed shield to guard. I knew that without the proper trigger, it would be significantly weaker, but I had no time.
I turned just in time to see a cyan pegasus, with hair the colors of the rainbow, moments away from crashing through my shield. I looked into her fiery eyes just as -
*WHAM*
*CRASH*
*THUNK*
as she was repelled by my shitty shield. If those two lumps on her chest were any indication of gender at least.
Now, I fully expected for my shield to be shattered, doing nothing but lessening the damage I was about to receive, but to my surprise not only did it hold, it caused the attacker to hit the ground so hard they actually bounced. I could even see a small depression where she landed first before bouncing and coming to rest, completely KOed.
I just looked at her, though before I could dwell on what a stupid plan that was and why she thought it was a good one, I could hear some raised voices, and the clinking of armored boots on cobblestone.
No doubt the guards, who were trying to find out what was going on. I also realized that standing over an unconscious woman was going to do me no favors. Said woman now with a black eye no less, and some bruises.
Wonderful
I also had no desire to deal with them. So I decided to just leave. Maybe come back in a day or two and try to explain what happen when everyone calmed down a bit.
I just could not deal with this today.
I began to simply walk back into the forest.
I however could not shake the nagging feeling that I should recognize not only the pegasus that attacked me but also those other two who were in the market. Something was very familiar about them but I could not place it. Once more I shoved it to the back of my mind.
I need to work on improving my ability to sense hostility. That pegasus got way too close before I sensed her
I was walking through the forest rather lost in thought, thinking of everything that just happened.
And why do those three horses and the village itself look so damn familiar?
I shook my head in an effort to dispel those thoughts. I decided to sit down at the base of a tree and resting for a minute or two.
Another time. Now I need to plan my next move. I guess I will have the darklings keep searching the surroundings. I’ll go back to that village in a day or two and try that again.
‘Hey, any ideas on why I was greeted with fear and hostility, you know, without me even doing anything threatening? To my knowledge at least...’ I asked my darklings
‘Probably because of your aura ’
‘Aura?’
‘Ya Master, you got this aura. Here, try and see through my eyes, feel what I feel’
I try to feel where the link is to that specific darkling, after a few seconds I find it. I try to figure out how to actually do what he said. I just sort of tug on the link and suddenly I feel that kind of out of body experience I felt just before I woke up in this place.
I now find myself looking at my own body from up on a branch above me. I can understand what they were talking about now. It was like the shadows were coiling around me like some kind of second coat, that was alive. But it was more than that, just looking at the shadows just filled me with a feeling of wrongness. Like the shadows were some kind of primal fear. It wasn’t… bad, but it definitely would set anyone on edge.
After a few minutes of studying the shadows, I try to pull back on the connection. Basically I tried to do the opposite of what I had done before. Sure enough I find myself back in my own body.
‘So. Any particular reason that none of you told me about that before now?’ I ask
‘Two reasons Master: We thought you already knew about it and could control it, you didn’t have it yesterday. The other reasons is that we figured you wanted to make an impression with the locals.’ came the sarcastic reply
Well I did make an impression that’s for sure
‘Oh, that aura is also why you haven’t seen any wildlife aside from the imps. Any creature other than them seems to run in the opposite direction of you the moment they feel it.’
I decided to spend some trying to figure out how to stop that aura, looking for something like that link with the darklings. If anything it would make second impressions go better than the first.
I did what I do best in this kind of situation, Research. After making sure Dash was awake and OK, I headed back to the library.
I had already read through at least four bestiaries and number five was not looking good either.
“Nothing!” I say as I shut the book.
That was it. That was the last book that held any information on the creatures living in Equestria. I looked through every type of animal, from current creatures to ones that had gone extinct long ago even to creatures that were believed to be only a myth.
Absolutely nothing!
Even though it was cloaked in shadow, there was nothing that matched to description of the creature in the marketplace, not even anything that could make a pony feel like that just by being in it’s presence. It was something more than fear, something primal. How could there be no record of something like that!?
As I rub my temples to try and alleviate the headache I had developed, I turned to face the girls. Fluttershy and Applejack were tending to Dash’s bruises and black eye. Rarity, and Pinkie Pie were around the library. Everyone was in various states of worry. Well, except Pinkie, who was bouncing around mumbling something about a party, and Dash who looked more annoyed than anything.
“So… What happened, exactly?” Rarity inquired nervously
“I don’t really know myself, I had just met Fluttershy in the market when that thing just sort of appeared. Or at least it wasn’t noticed until it was in the marketplace. That’s when the panic started. Dash came shortly after and tried to dive bomb it but was knocked out. I -” Before I could continue I was interrupted by an indignant shout by Dash.
“Hey, it didn’t beat me up!” she yelled defensively. “It just got the drop on me. Ya! That’s what happened!” she finished
“Sure it did, sugarcube.” Applejack said, voice dripping with sarcasm.
Thankfully before they could get into a shouting match, Rarity interviened.
“So what do we do now Twilight?” Rarity asked, changing the subject.
“I think it’s obvious what we have to do. We have to go into the forest, find the creature, and capture it.“
This did not have the response I had hoped, though I should have expected.
“What about it’s PARRRRRTY!” Pinkie shouted throwing confetti into the air followed by giving me her best puppy dog eyes.
Thankfully for my sanity, I had learned to stop questioning Pinkie’s antics.
“No Pinkie, we have to find it, subdue it, and bring it to Princess Celestia. She will know what to do with it.” I say
“Must we really? I just had a spa treatment yesterday and I dread what that forest will do to me.” Rarity said in a huff.
“Yes, Do we have to go?” Fluttershy meekly asked. Finally done fussing with Dash’s bruises. Which were not even visible anymore.
I knew she wouldn’t want to go, but we needed her.
“I’m sorry Fluttershy but yes, you saw how easily Dash was beaten -”
“HEY!”
“-just think of what would happen if that creature attacked a pony? Or an animal!” I threw in at the end. Knowing that the best way to get Fluttershy on board was to remind her of the dangers to her animals.
As I hoped, Fluttershy’s eyes went from worried to determined.
“You’re right!” she said with resolve.
“Girls, this is going to be dangerous. Can I count on you?” I ask, looking at the others
“Of course, I need to pay it back for that sucker punch it gave me!” Dash proclaimed.
“Ah’m in Twilight, you can always count on me” Applejack agreed
“Ya, that monster needs a cheering up Party!” Pinkie yelled as she jumped around
“Oh, I suppose if everyone else is going, I can get my hooves dirty.” Rarity acquiesced.
“Great” I exclaimed “Girls, grab your elements and Spike, take a letter...”
I was so lost in thought that I didn’t even hear the rustling of leaves until my hostility sense began to tingle again.
This time however it was not the imps I have been facing so far exiting the foliage. It was some kind of lion, but it had large bat like wings on its back, as well as bat like ears on its head and it’s tail looked like it belonged to a scorpion. It also had two teeth that were sticking up that looked like they belonged to a damn sabretooth tiger.
I hear more rustling and turn to see more of the creatures exiting the foliage around me. I counted five in total, each positioned so that they surrounded me fully. Judging by the hunger in their eyes I realized that this was a hunting pack, and I was their pray.
What did I just say about my sensing ability... I thought as I stood up.
Instead of seeing this as an issue, I instead decided to look at this as an opportunity to relieve some stress.
I looked at the new creatures. Sizing them up and waiting for them to make the first move. To allow them to determine who would die first.
It seems that the one to my left seemed to be the lucky winner. Just as it roared and began to charge, I flash stepped right in front of it and using my scalpel, cut its head clean off.
I noticed at that point that these things were not like the imps, they didn’t disappear, nor did they drop any grist. I turned and saw the remaining four stop their charge at me. They looked at me and were obviously trying to think of a way to overcome my speed. They began to spread out to remake the ring around me.
After a few seconds, I decided to just end this quickly. I flashed stepped between the four slicing them to pieces.
When I finally stopped, I retracted my scalpel and began to walk away. After two steps I heard the tell-tale sound of their body parts hitting the ground. A third step and I heard the tell-tale gasp from a hereto unknown and uninvited guest.
This was not turning out to the adventure I had expected it being. Once again because of a certain hyperactive pony, who I should learn to expect the unexpected from.
“What do you think it eats? Should I bring cake? What about cookies?” Pinkie rambled, as she had been doing since before we even left the library.
I looked to the others, hoping one of them would would have the answer to silencing a rambling Pinkie. They were all very obviously trying not to make eye contact with me.
Except for Rarity who was complaining about split ends and needing to take another shower when she got home.
“Pinkie,” I begin, trying to think of what to say “You need to be quiet. How can we throw it a surprise party if it hears us coming?”
This sadly did not get the reaction I was hoping for.
Pinkie gasped dramatically “You’re right! OK everypony! No more taking starting now! Oh, I just talked, OK starting, now! AH! Wait no, NOW!”
This continued for a while.
“PINKIE! Shoosh.” I finally snapped.
Pinkie closed her mouth and made a zipping sound while running her thumb and index across her lips.
I was about to sigh in relief but a roar stopped me.
“What was that?” I asked quietly
“Sounded familiar.” Applejack whispered back.
“Manticore!” Fluttershy shouted before running towards the roar.
“Fluttershy, no! Wait for us!” I desperately called after her.
We caught up to Fluttershy after a second or two. It became obvious why she had stopped. There was was the creature and it was surrounded by four manticores with a decapitated manticore on the ground near it.
We watched in shock as he proceeded to kill the remaining four manticores in less than a second, causing Fluttershy to gasp in equal parts shock and horror.
I turn and look to where the sound emanated from. I saw not one uninvited guest but six. Three of which I had seen before. The purple, the yellow and the cyan, who I noticed was sans any bruises or black eyes. There were also three new ponies, an orange normal looking horse, another pink normal horse and a white unicorn.
I simply looked each of them in the eyes before turning around and beginning to walk away.
I got maybe two more steps before I found a lasso tied around my chest. I turned and saw the orange one had a lasso in her hands that I apparently did not see before and it looked like she was trying to reel me in. She actually managed to drag me a few inches before I pulled out a scalpel and simply cut the rope, causing her to stumble back.
“Twilight, get It!” the white one shouted, fear evident in her voice.
I saw the purple one’s horn light up with a purple glow then fire a small blast from her hand, a la megaman or something.
[Bloody Shield] I used nine scalpels that time, just in case. I had learned the more scalpels I used, the stronger the shield, but without using the trigger phrase I could only bring out three scalpels to make the shield.
The purple blast hit my shield and simply splashed against it. I didn’t feel even the slightest recoil from the shield being hit meaning I could have gotten away with my minimum three scalpel shield and still not have been the slightest bit worried.
From her expression, she was obviously not used to her attacks not working, or at least being blocked so easily, she began to preparing another blast.
“Hit it again!” The cyan one said, her tone was much closer to full on panic.
“I’m trying, Rarity grab it!”
I saw the white one’s horn lit up but nothing seemed to happen. I began to advance toward them, or atleast I tried to. I looked down at myself and saw a blue field surrounding my entire body, the same color as the white horse’s horn.
Through brute force I could move a little but not much. I tried to flash step my way out of the hold, and sure enough, I broke free.
“Gah!” the white one shouted.
I simply dodged the next shot from the purple one instead of wasting my time on a shield.
The pink one seemed to decide to join the fray at this point. Doing so by pulled out a huge cannon out of her hair. If I was not in fight mode I would have stopped and stared. Instead I made another shield ready to take the cannonball.
What I got instead was confetti and pies being fired at me. As the pies impacted my shield, even in fight mode I just had to stop and stare.
Really? Were in the middle of a fight and she pulls out a cannon and fires pastries and confetti?
Deciding to give her the benefit of the doubt and believe she was just trying to distract me, I looked around. To credit her was the orange one that had been trying to flank me decided to try the direct approach when I spotted her. She rushed me and got into a boxer’s pose only to throw out a kick. I simply sidestepped and hit her right in the jaw followed by an uppercut.
She dropped like a rock.
I turned to the purple one who was charging for another blast. I flash stepped right in front of her and nutted her Glaswegian style.
Down she went.
I turned to the remaining four, the white one was the only danger left so she was next. I think she knew it too. I flash stepped in front of her and slugged her right in the gut.
She dropped to her knees clutching her stomach.
I turned to the final three.
“STOP!” The yellow one suddenly screamed, apparently getting over her catatonia.
I simply looked over at her impassively.
“How dare you! HOW DARE YOU! You do not go around attacking my friends. DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME ! Now you are going to apologize and stop, right, NOW !”
“No”
She seems genuinely shocked by that remark. I decide to elaborate.
“I have been attacked twice now, once in the village,” pausing to spare a glance toward the still catatonic cyan one, who had fallen to her knees “and again just now, both times completely unprovoked. As far as I am concerned I’m the one who is owed an apology.”
“You killed those manticores!” She shouts back, tears in her eyes
Manticores? Aren’t those supposed to have the head of a human?
“The laws of nature are rather harsh for predators. Kill or Be Killed. They tried the former, as did I. I succeeded, they did not.” I said
“They were STARVING! They were just looking for food” She cried, still not breaking eye contact with me I noted
I actually looked over to the corpse, well the only one that was still relatively in one piece, and sure enough I could very easily see its ribs and where I would assume it’s stomach would be did have quite the concave appearance.
“I stand by my earlier statement” I respond, still studying the corpse.
A flash of light made me snap my head back toward her. It seems I had given the corpse too much attention as the other five had gathered around the pegasus.
“Girls, we need to use the elements!” The purple one shouted
They take out what looks like a gem from their pockets, and in the pink one’s case, her cleavage, except for the purple one, a sceptre just appeared in her hand. The gems seemed to glow white for a second before becoming legitimate weapons.
What!? If they had weapons why didn’t they have them out and ready when they attacked me?
Purple had a white scepter with an amethyst star at the top. White had six throwing knives that were made of a much darker amethyst. Cyan had a katana with a blade that looks like it was made out of a ruby. Orange had a two crystalline orange sickles attached through a green chain. Yellow had a pink crystalline bow, didn’t see any arrows anywhere for her to use. Pink had a massive warhammer with the head that looks like it was made out of tanzanite.
Once again, all six of their weapons began to glow, this time instead of white, it was the same color as the weapons themselves. The light began to shine brighter almost until it became blinding then it shot into the sky in a rainbow of colors.
I realize I should be moving or at least making a shield to defend against the attack. It was also at that moment I realized I was really in trouble this time.
I couldn’t move at all.
SHIT, SHIT, SHIT, SHITSHITSHITSHITSHITSHIT! I kept repeating in my mind as the rainbow beam arced back down towards me until it engulfed me fully.
I had no idea what to expect, but it certainly was not... nothing. Sure I couldn’t see and my body felt a bit warmer, like I was directly beneath a shining sun, nothing uncomfortable or anything.
Then...
Then I Understood. I just understood so much.
How to use Akabane’s powers.
How to view my character sheet and manipulate the game construct in general.
How to use my Sylladex, just... Just everything I needed to know to begin the sburb session.
As suddenly as it began, it ended.
Just like that, the rainbow beam disappeared. I looked back to those six and saw that they seemed exhausted and looking at me with looks that I could only describe as total despair.
Except…
Except the Pink one.
She was faking, I could see it in her eyes. She knew .
“It, it didn’t work” Said the purple one in a heartbroken voice, like it had personally betrayed her by not working.
“No it didn’t” I said simply
The fact that the Pink one was faking her despair was making me feel uneasy. I decided that it was time to abscond.
“Now I have had a long day already so... Goodbye.”
With that I performed a chain of flash steps, intending to simply get away from them to regroup and eventually make a real camp. There was no reason to tell them they just helped me more than they will ever know.
But, what I don’t understand is why. They obviously believed that it would destroy me or something. Why did it give me so much useful information instead? And what was with that Pink One? So many questions and no answers. Well, for now, I have a lot of work to do, and a session to start.
I could not tell if he was lying or being entirely truthful. It was… vexing. Nothing like this has ever happened.
“So the elements taught you about your powers as well as this... ancient magical abstract framework that serves as the foundation of your powers.” I ask
“Sort of, It was less teaching and more shoving in the information that made it seem like I always had it. It was like of like remembering something from a long ago that time pushed to the depth of your mind.” He responded
There were times during my reign that I wondered what it was like to be on the other side of my ever present smile. This man, Jack Frost, has given me a fair idea, he is so calm and collected at all times, it’s actually slightly worrying how in control he seems to be, despite his current predicament, its like he wanted to be here. Like it was all part of his plan…
“I believe that is enough for today.” I say “Guards, please escort him back to his cell.”
Jack stands up quietly and walks out with the guards without even a backward glance. That smile never leaving his face.
Author's Note
I wasn’t sure what gems the elements of Honesty, Kindness, and Generosity would be classified as so I guessed.
Next Chapter: I hope you like tutorials and info dumps!
The Session Begins with a Tutorial
Author's Note
Sorry this is mainly an Info Dump chapter. Hopefully there will not be many of these.
The Session Begins with a Tutorial
I stop flash stepping when I reached a strange area. I was slightly tired but not as much as I thought I should be, what with all the chain steps I just did.
The place was a kind of swamp, that was on fire. It was all foggy and the dirt and well everything was tinted red. Not only that, every so often a jet of flame would shoot up from what I thought were puddles. As I was looking around this strange place a voice spoke up from behind me.
“I would stay where you are.”
I turn around and come face to face will a full fledged four headed chimera.
“This is the only safe place around” Says the Lion head
“Well not from us anyway” Says the goat head
“What? Can you all speak up? I can’t hear anything back here” Says the snake head
“Quiet you! We are in the middle of getting dinner ” Says the dragon head
“Yes, as you might guess, my brothers and I cannot ever seem to agree on what to eat, so we take turns” Says the lion head. “It’s my turn today, and I choose you!”
While they were doing that, I was thinking over the new powers I had discovered and there was one I was dying to try.
[Bloody Cross] I say as I removed my glove and pointed my palm at them, just as they pounced.
The effect was instantaneous. The middle head, the lion, was just gone, as was most of the body. The goat got hit by one of the edges and lost the upper half his face. The dragon had his neck up high enough that he was only decapitated. The snake also seemed to go flying off, though most of it’s ‘body’ was still intact.
I however only caught a glimpse of this as I had dropped to my knees clutching my hand.
Shit, now I know why Akabane had those scars on his hands. I think shaking a bit from the completely unexpected pain. So, some of Akabane’s powers are a double edged sword. Gotta keep an eye out for those and never try an untested ability in the middle of combat again.
I inspect the new cross scar on my hand, front and back. I get up and look around for that carcass. I find it a few feet behind me. Well what's left of it at least. I guess it went right over my head.
I walked over to the severed dragon’s head. It was obviously dead. I picked it up by one of it’s horns and look at it.
“I am so going to mount you to my wall!” I said smiling
I decided to give my Sylladex a try and captchalogue it. From what I learned all I need to do is pick something up with the intent of storing it.
Sure enough a card with a red border appears around the head. The once blank face of the card now shows the severed head. I watch as the card turns to a red liquid and begins to slither to my new scar and into my bloodstream.
What the what? Is my fetch modi blood? If not I am so calling it that.
I turn to leave but remember why I was here in the first place.
‘Hey, You guys there?’ I send to my darklings.
‘Sorta boss. You’re really far ahead of us, it seems you can use that flash step much faster and more often then we can shadow jump. ’ my friend said.
‘Ok, few things; One, just because I would like to be able to call you by name, I hereby declare that you shall be called Umbra. Call it a human thing if you want. Two, where the hell am I? Three, where were those ruins you were telling me this morning? ’
‘No idea where you are but in a second you will feel one of us pulling on our link to you. Just follow that and you will find the ruins. By the way it’s infested with those imps we fought yesterday.’ Umbra responds
Sure enough I feel a sort of tug in my mind. I turn so it is straight in front of me and begin to flash step once more. After a few minutes I reach the ruins.
Wow father time really took a bat to this place I think as I look at the ruins. Though they are ruins so I guess it’s to be expected.
Just as Umbra said, the place was lousy with imps. As I walk in, destroying imps as they try to attack me, I see two banners hanging down from what’s left of the ceiling. One was yellow with sun motifs on it, the other was blue with moon motifs on it. The ground was also covered in rubble. Overall, it was what you think when you think ‘Castle Ruins’.
Time to go exploring, and treasure hunting... and imp slaying. Not sure which I am more excited about.
Within ten minutes the majority of the imps on the foyer are gone. I decide that this is as good a place as any to make my base and decide to try deploying my gear. With all the things I am sure to find I can also go on an alchemizing spree.
If I remember correctly to open the interface I need to think of the a menu screen and swipe my index and middle down directly in front of me.
Instead of an interface opening, Gandalf the Fucking Gray appears in front of me.
“Greetings” he says in the voice of Morgan Freeman.
I am totally OK with this
“Who are you?” I ask
“I am a wizard and I am here to help you get set up and begin the game”
“Oh, I actually know what I’m doing, so can I skip you?” I ask
“You can, but I should warn you that this game is a modified version of the game you know and as such as slightly different rules and when we are finished you will receive five Captcha cards, two Strife cards, and the Array fetch modus as a reward.”
“Wait. How do you know that I know about how the game is played?”
“Apologies, I am a Virtual Intelligence with a set amount of responses to a set amount of questions, you have asked something that I do not have the answer too. Please ask something else.” It responds
I glare at the wizard “OK Mr. Wizard, what’s first”
“First, Open your interface like you did before” Mr. Wizard begins
I do so and this time I get the actual interface with seven buttons.The first six are equal size and the one on the very bottom one starts blood red on one side and fades to solid Green on the other, it’s also twice the size of the others. There are also two orbs to the bottom left and right, Red and Blue respectively, going with the assumption that those are my Health and Mana, I appear to be missing a tenth of my HP.
“So as you can see there are seven options for you to choose from here. Echeladder, Magic, Map, Minions, Stats, Quests and Sylladex. Lets go through each.”
I sigh This is going to take a while
“First on the list is the Echeladder, which opens the Achievement Rungs. For each Rung you go up you will receive a boost to a single stat and an increase to all stat limits.”
I open the echeladder and see that I already moved up by 8 rungs. Going from ‘Noob Gingrich’ to ‘Wascally Wabbit’.
I have instant dislike of these naming conventions
“Lets move on to Magic, this is a repository of all the spells you have currently learned. You do not need to actually go to this page to use the spell, simply think of what you want to happen and if you have the mana, it will be cast.”
I open Magic and see a screen with a lot of tabs going down the left side. Things like All, Aeromancy, Cryomancy, Electromancy, Enchanting, Geomancy, Pyromancy, Psychomancy and a few others.
Currently I only have Telekinesis and Arcane Bolt unlocked but I do see others simply grayed out. I assumed there were ways for me to discover or even make new spells.
“How do I unlock new magic or create my own?” I ask
“Two ways, The first is that the game construct will assign you some spells and allow you to unlock them in different ways. The other way is available to you right now but it is both the hardest to use but allows for the most robust useage of spells. The other way is… ” He pauses for dramatic effect I assume “Learn it like everyone else on this planet.”
Of course
“Next is the Map. This is a Three Dimensional Map of where you have already visited” He continues before I have a chance to ask anything else.
I open the Map and see 3D map. Most of it is black but there are paths going through it. It seems to start in the middle of the forest and heads SouthWest, before turning and heading due North to a village then heading SouthWest to a swamp and finally directly East to the ruins I am now standing in.
Well that’s super useful
“After that, we have Minions. This will open the stats page of your minions as well as their unlocked mutations and their current level.”
I open it to see that there seems to be two tabs one says ‘Boss’ and the other says ‘Underlings’.
“Please note that for minions, there are two interfaces here, one for the oldest minion or the boss minion and one for all of the others. The boss minion is always the oldest, strongest and separate from the other minions in terms of stats and mutation.”
Well that answers that
“The stats of the minions goes by the S.P.E.C.I.A.L. system. Strength, Perception, Endurance, Charisma, Intelligence, Agility and Luck. With every level they gain, you will be able to allocate points to each attribute at your discretion. It’s up to you to figure out what each does, though most are self explanatory. Every 4th level a minion will gain a mutation point. These points can unlock mutations that improve a minions abilities or give them special abilities.”
I see that Umbra gained a level and the minions gained three, I decide to allocate those later. I also notice that the attributes are not the same as fallout as perception is currently at 15.
“Next we have Stats, there are two tabs on this page, ‘Statistics’ and ‘Perks’. Statistics are your personal statistics which show how powerful you are on a numeric scale. There are seven attributes; Strength, Dexterity, Agility, Endurance, Wisdom, Intelligence, and Charisma. Each attribute is not as cut and dry as you might think. An example is that Strength and Dexterity both influence how much damage you do to enemies. As well as much more subtle ways. There is really nothing to do on this page but look at what your stats currently are and how your perks influence them.” He pauses, I assume for me to ask questions. I have none so I waited for him to continue.
“The other tab shows what perks you can, as well as, have unlocked.” He continues “This tab has most of the perks available to you and most perks have prerequisites that must be met before they can be unlocked. Also not all perks are here, some perks can be awarded in different ways. As a little hint, when your stats hit and exceed a certain value a perk will be unlocked that is specific to the stat that unlocked it.”
I notice I have a few perks unlocked and after a very quick skim through, I can’t help but notice that more than a few of these perk names are the same as in fallout. I decide to play with that later..
Another thing to look into later
“Next comes the Quests. As you gain quests, as well as quests that have been automatically assigned to you, they will appear here. Complete quests and return here for special rewards. Don’t forget the harder the quest the better the rewards.”
I see that I already have one quest completed called Kill 100 Imps with a green button with Reward written on it. I notice that most of my automatic quests revolve around killing monsters, alchemizing a specific amount of things, deploying machines, etc… I also notice that most of the monster names are just question marks. Guess I will need to meet one first before I know how much I need to kill for the quests.
I click Reward and get a thousand Build, Shale and Chalk Grist and a Modus Control Deck.
“Finally we have the Sylladex, this is your inventory system, which is broken up into the Captchalogue Deck and the Strife Deck.” He continues, not even letting me ask any questions.
Finally, almost done
“Lets open your Strife Deck first. This is the type of weapons or Kind Abstractus, called Strife Specibus, that you have the ability to use in battle. The Strife deck holds your Strife Specibi or collectively called the Strife Portfolio. Currently you only have one Kind Abstratus but you can have others added”
I open it to see that, apparently, I use knifekind. This isn’t surprising at all as I had been using scalpels as knives this entire time.
“Simple enough” I say
“Lets move to the Captchalogue Deck. This is where items are stored for later use. This is only limited by how many captchalogue cards you have in the deck and more can be added by captchaloguing new captchalogue cards. Anything that is captchalogued has no weight or physical size and is stored in a personal hammerspace that only you can access.”
I open the Captchalogue Deck to see that my new Modus Control Deck is there, along with the severed dragon head.
“Altogether this makes up your client interface, now if you swipe down again you will be brought to your server interface” Mr. Wizard continues
Oh my god there’s still more
I swipe down. Consigned to my fate.
Suddenly I see myself standing in the middle of the foyer, alone, from a 3rd person viewpoint. I also notice that there seems to be absolutely no imps around.
How nice of them to give me a break before resuming the slaughter
“Let’s get started” Mr. Wizard says “As you can see, you currently have a third person view of your own environment. Let’s start with using the viewscreen to look around your surroundings. We are going to be focusing on the upper left hand corner. By clicking on the arrows you can move your view however there is a limit to how far from you the view can go. Clicking the center of the arrows will cause the view to center on you. Clicking the turn arrows will rotate your screen to the left or right depending on which you clicked. The magnifying glass will change how zoomed into the player you are.”
“Easy enough” I say
“Next are the options you can choose from. These are the tabs that are directly above the viewscreen. From left to right, they are: Select, Revise, Deploy, Phernalia Registry, Grist Cache, Atheneum, and Alchemy Excursus.”
“Ok”
“Now; 'Select' allows you to select an object and move it around. 'Revise' allows you to change the environments dimensions, making more floor space, walls, copy and paste environmental objects, etc. The 'Phernalia Registry' holds machines such as the Cruxtruder and Alchemiter. We will talk more about those soon. 'Deploy' will allow you to drop an item from the Phernalia Registry into your environment. The 'Grist Cache' displays how much Grist you currently have available to you. Grist being a resource that is expended when Revise, Deploy, or the Alchemiter are used. The 'Atheneum' lists all the known configurations of totems made from cruxite dowels and the corresponding item for each totem. The final option the Alchemy Excursus is an index documenting all the known results for punch card alchemy combinations, this will be useful later.”
I already knew all of this but I guess it’s good to review everything since it seriously matters now.
“Ok, to begin you need to deploy the machines from the Phernalia Registry. Currently your registry will only have a few machines in it, but it will gain additional and expensive new machines over time. So open your Phernalia Registry, and then Deploy the Cruxtruder, Totem Lathe and Alchemiter. “
I open the registry and select the Cruxtruder with the deploy option, a faint outline of the machine appears on the display, I look up but cannot see it myself. I move the outline so it is a few feet in front of me and deploy it. I look up again, this time seeing a machine with a tall cylinder rising out of a large square base materializing out of thin air. I do this for the Totem Lathe and Alchemiter, making sure to avoid any exits and cluster them close together. I notice that while it says I have the Grist, the Punch Designix is still grayed out. I also noticed that there seemed to be no Pre-Punched card in the Registry.
That’s slightly ominous
“Good, you have now deployed the three most important machines, for now. They are used to perform alchemy, a process which allow you to create nearly any item. Later you will be given a machine that will allow you to make punched captchalogue cards. These punched cards are essential for performing alchemy.”
Then why are those three the most important?
“Let’s begin with practicing with something you can alchemize, Perfectly Generic Objects. First of all you will need to activate your Cruxtruder. To activate, you have to open the lid in some way, such as by dropping something heavy on it. This will release the kernelsprite, who has been banging on the lid this entire time, as well as allow you to extract cruxite dowels from the Cruxtruder.”
I go back to my select option and pick up a piece of rubble and drop the rubble onto the lid and out comes a black and red kernelsprite and a dowel of cruxite.
“Now, normally you would take the dowel to the totem lathe to have it carved using punched captchalogue cards, however for now simply take the cruxite dowel to the Alchemiter.” He continues
“Now, beside the large platform is a small pedestal for placing totems onto. Doing so will activate the machine, and it will scan the totem. Then you will be able to set the amount of items you wish to produce, and finally confirm the action to create the items. Why don’t you try making three Perfectly Generic Objects. It will cost 6 build grist but don't worry, you can restore this grist by recycling the objects back into grist.” The wizard continues
I already did so before he was halfway finished.
“Excellent! You have taken your first steps into the wonderful world of alchemy and reached the end of my help. Meaning that’s all the help you are going to get from me. Good Bye.”
The Wizard then disappears leaving five blood red cards, two green cards, and a gray card with a blue face.
It’s nice that things don't always have to be a federal fucking issue.
I go back to the Phernalia Registry and see that the Punch Designix is now deployable as well as the Jumper Block Extension, Punch Card Shunt and Holopad. Although I don’t seem to have enough Build Grist for the holopad. I turn to look at my kernelsprite.
What? Are you just floating there, doing nothi- THE CRUXTRUDER!
I look over to the Cruxtruder to see how long I have. I look all around the device but I don’t see anything. No countdown, no nothing. Just blank faces on all sides.
Well... Mr. Wizard did say I was playing a modified version… does that mean there is no medium? But that was a huge part of Sburb…
As I am pondering these things, the kernelsprite decides it has been quite long enough and begins to jitter around and make these annoying chirping noises
What? Is it time to prototype you? I look back toward the Cruxtruder and still see nothing out of the ordinary.
I look around trying to find something cool to prototype it with, I remembered that the sprite will also be able to fight with me, so long as that hasn’t changed.
Wait. I have the greatest thing right here
I open my Captchalogue and pull out my severed dragon head.
I wanted to mount you on a wall but this will be even better
I cock my arm back and threw the head into the kernelsprite. After a brief flash, a translucent black and red dragon head that is just sort of floating there.
“Awesome”
I reopen the registry again and deploy the Punch Designix, deciding to do a little alchemizing. Before that, I decided to get some codes. First the code for an empty captchalogue card, then a empty strife card, finally the array modus. After getting all of these codes I go up to the Designix and enter the code for the empty captchalogue card, I put in an empty card and leave the designix with a punched card. I go over to the Alchemiter and grab to dowel on the platform. Next I head over to the Totem Lathe, putting in the dowel and the punched card into the machine and getting a carved dowel in return. Heading back to the Alchemiter, I put the carved dowel on the smaller pad and sure enough my interface pops up asking me how many captchalogue cards I want to alchemize. I decide on 50 since I have a ton of build grist right now.
Well now I will not be running out of room in my Captchalogue deck any time soon. Ok, next, like any sane individual, it’s time to punch random things into the Designix and see what happens.
After going through the previous steps and putting the new carved dowel onto the Alchemiter and made one of my mystery item.
Is.. Is that a pack of gushers…
On the Alchemiter is a small black box with a picture of different color grist looking objects.
Well, I am kind of hungry…
I open the box and grab what I thought was a grape gusher.
What? I think, taking another look at the box, instead of saying ‘FRUIT GUSHERS’ across the top it instead says ‘GRIST LURES’.
Oh these must summon a monster that drops the type of grist that I ate. Shale Grist is the purple looking one. This is actually insanely useful, I need to look at what other types of grist I need.
I don’t feel like fighting a single Shale imp as I had been slaying them by the dozens not a few minutes ago.
Suddenly the world began to twist and shift. I couldn’t help but chuckle.
Said smile is wiped from my face as I see the Imp jump out of the distortion and remember what the prototyping does to the underlings.
Even though the dragon’s head came from a chimera, it seems that the game didn’t really seem to care. The imps now have definite dragon like attributes, such as their bodies becoming more defined, and covered in scales, with horns jutting out of its head, and two small wings coming out of it’s back.
WHAT! I thought only the prototyping done pre-entry to the medium causes the underlings to grow more powerful! Unless… Unless there is no medium… does this mean Tier 2 prototyping will also be carried over to the underlings?
I decide to try to finish this quickly, I flash step behind it and throw eight scalpels just to be sure. I had found that attacking from behind results in a sort of sneak bonus, though not as much as if the imp was off guard.
Thanks Darklings, learning even more from you guys.
Unfortunately it wasn’t close to enough as the scalpels barely pierce their scales. With the prototyped dragon giving them a boost, it seems they are actually formidable now.
Shit, I’m going to need to alchemize better weapons too… Unless I can improve these scalpels.
It turned to try and lunge at me. I simply flash step behind it, cutting it as I passed then threw another eight scalpels. We continue this dance for a while until the imp looks like a porcupine and finally explodes into a bunch of Build ,a lot of Shale, and some Ruby Grist.
Ok, time to have the darklings find a sword or something so I can atleast do some alchemizing with it.
‘Umbra, send some darklings to search the ruins for a nice looking sword. Or at this point, any sword really. Oh and do not get caught. I just fucked up a bit and made the imps really strong. ’
‘Ya, we noticed boss, also only about a fifth of the imps changed, the rest either still look the same or only having slight changes. Also we ran across some kind of giant centipede or something in the basement of this place. We found some armor and weapons, swords too, while we were checking this place out, I’ll send a few darklings back with some of the things we found ’ Umbra responds.
More non prototyped imps of different colors? Does this mean that there are other players and other kernelsprites that need prototyping?
I also remembered that I need to look into how my Blood modus works and see if the Array modus would be better, or use the modus command deck to mix the two. Well when the darklings arrive, I could test out the deck and to try out some alchemizing.
It has been a few hours since Celestia received word from Twilight about their failure to capture the creature and Luna was having trouble falling asleep. Luna remembered seeing her regal sister, just after the note arrived. Only thanks to years of knowing her sister, was she able to see past the mask, see the worry for her student and her friends.
She could see Celestia was dying to go and comfort them. But protocol dictated that they remain in Canterlot. Not to say the panic that would arise if she suddenly left Canterlot just after an attack was reported in Ponyville. Especially with that town’s track record.
We are forced to sit idle and wait for it to make it’s next move. I need a way, an excuse to go to the town and look for clues.
Luna got out of bed and strode out of her bedroom, she soon reached the balcony and looked out, toward Ponyville.
I need to go to Ponyville and find out where that poor pony is and rid them of that terrible curse. Nopony should suffer for my mistakes.
Luna once more turned around and walked back in, as she did so she turned to where her Regalia lay and picked up her Obsidian Tiara.
You are supposed to allow me to better protect our little ponies, yet when they need us most, you are a shackle, binding us and forcing us to do little.
This was not a thought that she enjoyed having, it was thoughts like that that had lead to her… episode. Especially since it seemed the chain had gotten smaller, the shackle tighter, in her absence.
How… How do I help them without causing a panic? Without breaking these inane protocols?
As she mulled that thought over and over in her mind, she heard some of the maids talking.
“So what are you going to wear during Nightmare Night?” One asked
“Or better yet, who are you spending it with?” Another said in a sly tone
Luna did not hear the second question as the first question hid the answer she was looking for.
Nightmare Night! That’s it! It would give me a viable excuse to go to Ponyville. I could pitch it to Tia as a way for me to better reconnect with our subjects and I will go to Ponyville as to have her student’s help as she is there studying the Magic of Friendship. Whatever that means. If I remember correctly it is in but a few days. It’s perfect!
“Ah, Luna! It’s good to see you again.” I say happily
She scowls at me, still bitter about our first run in no doubt.
“I am in no mood for your horseplay” She says angrily
I needed to suppress a laugh
“Please tell me this is not a good cop, bad cop thing. I have been cooperating fully and that’s not even mentioning how cliche it is.”
She doesn’t seem to understand what I meant, I decided to elaborate.
“You know, one person acts all nice and sweet, the other acts all angry and violent, so that the perp will become much more open and receptive to the nice one’s charm.” I say neutrally
She actually seems offended
“Just continue with your story, my sister has told me everything you said so far.” she says angrily
“Very well, It’s actually good you’re here, this is the part where we first meet” I say with a smile
Her scowl deepens
“Today’s story begins with a lovely chat with my friends, the cephalopods…” I begin
Here again huh? OK Rule 1 of this place: DO NOT LOOK UP
I begin to look around Rlyeh some more to see if there is anything to actually do here.
Hmm wonder if I can contact my darklings from here
I search for the link to Umbra, but find nothing.
Guess not, I can’t even feel the connection.
h̛͖̘̹̦͎͔̭̟̮̤͎͔̦̣̥͎͎̤̓̄̅ͫ̅ͥ̚͟͜͝'͔̰̻͕̯̩͕͇̞̣̠̠̰̣̺̱ͣ̆̇̓ͧ̋̒͂̅̐́ņ͚͓͚̯̱̝͚̜̝̘̯̠̲̬͖̜̠͈͙ͪͥ͑̑ͤͤ̇ͣͣ̿̋̍ͫ̏ͭ́͠g͈̠͉̥̭̲͍͖ͧ̃̐ͪ͐̐ͪ̃̃̃̎͐̉́̀̚͠l͕̩̼̥͎̠̱̹̹̗͎̞͉̭͗̌̍́͒͐͐̂ͥ̃͡ͅͅuͫ͛̍̿̄̉̈̂ͬ̂͟͏͈̬͙̹̟̫̦̙̲̗͙i̴͎̰̩̙̙̱͈̯ͪ̋̎̏͜ͅ ̶̳̘̰̭̯ͭ̃̂̎͆͂͑̇̉̋̓͌͛͢͠m̧̰̝͔̝̱̎̍̓̀ͪͪ̓̽͌ͫ͌̍̃̍̚͘͝ģ̡͙̼͎̳̘͎̜̟̗̪͍̠͇̹̤̼͎͐̅̍̓̅̈̀͜͢ͅͅļ̥͔͙͚̖̮̼̬̰͖̙͚̘̹̱̬̰̰̗ͩ͐̄̆ͭ͗̈́̌̏ͮ͂ͥ̔ͥ̄̕͟͡wͮ̅̾͗͌̏͏̛̩̬͓̺̦̩͜'̷̶̧̰̥̼̹̥̥̠͍̲̩̘͍͖̤͎̝̪͛̍͐ͫͮ̓̚̚n̛̪̹̱̮͉͓̠̲̼̥̈̂͛̄͊̋̇̍̃͊͊ͦͩ͝ͅă͌̇̐͂ͫ͆́̽ͬͥ҉̶̴̕҉̤͎̤͎͙͉̙f̨̡̫͚͚̦͙̹̮̲̭ͭ̈͐̃̀̉̄̋͌̓̑ͩ͂̚h̛̛̯̯̻̟̝̹̥͉̝̝̹̭͔̩ͭ̒͑ͨ̋̃̌̏̽́ ̨̤̪̻͚͈̱̤͍̄̿̇ͨ̂ͤ̆ͪ͒ͣĘ̶̛͉̲̩͎̭̲ͮͥͤ͆ͬ͂ͩ̄͊̈́͗ͪ̇̇̓͘͝ͅl̢̟̗̖̪̼̙̤̉ͥͤͯͮ̋̄ͮ̔̂͋͟͢d̷̜̲͙̳̳̙͉̦̰̾ͯ͊̍ͪ͒̿̑̂̾̀͜r̴̶ͧ̒͑̅̆͐͗́̈́͝͏̙̤̫͎̟̱̣̝̲̝͙̘̘̜̘ͅi̘̗͖̬̪̦͕͔͖̣̖̓ͯ̎́͛͗͐̒̔̔ͨͪ͒̋ͩͦ̀̚̚͠ͅt̛̘̲̖̫̹̭̄̾̒͋̂̅̚͘͜͟c̲̪̯̰͓̗͉̝̘̞̥͉͖̤͎̝̮̺ͫͣ͌͛ͤ͟h̴̨̛̺̻̬̺̹̯̘̬̺̜̳̥̞̞̪̬̖̠͗́̆̄͠ͅ
The ring connects me to - I think before realizing I don’t know who said that.
“Wait. What the fuck?”
P͓̝̠̳̥͖̰̹̜̟̲̘͎̘͇̆ͮͪ̀ͩͣ͊̀ͅͅh̸̷̸͙̫̪̻̱̖͉̬̻̘̲̝̣͉̠̱̆͛͑͐͆̂̅͌̈́̈́ͣ̆̉͟͞'̴̵͎͖̘̹̹͆̅̐̍͠͠n̵̶̨͈̮̦͔̝̻͔̮͇̻͚̪̞ͪ̍̃̒ͣ̈́̇̊͘g̵͍͔̦̲̩̠̗̫͎̤̺̟̥̗̼͙̤̮̤͊̾̾͊ͥͧͥͪͣͤ̐͂̀ͫ͛̇ͥ͡l͛̒̋ͫ͗ͨ̅ͦ͐̿͛͐̎̚͏̶̜̣͚̟̙̩̹̯̦̭̩̗͚̣ũ̡̨̹̤̫͙͕͇̹̫̩̲͔̫̠̩̘̳ͪ̏͒̈̏͐̎̾ͦ͒̎̅͢͡ͅi̴̯͓̦̪̣̯̣͈͖͉̬̪̭̖̠̗̱̘͛͒͋̉ͥ͌̎ͥ̽ͮͫ̀̇ͧ̍̽ͦ̕ͅ ̨͚̘͙̝̝̘̺͙̥͍̣̐ͯͧ͂ͫ̽ͯͬ̽ͯͦ̐̏̇́͘͡m̧̧ͪ͋́͂̆̽̆̽͊͂̏ͬ͊͟͏̶̗̠̩̲̘̥ĝ̶͗̃ͣ̊̌̔̈́̂ͪ͌̉͆͛̓ͫ́҉͚̰͓̳͕͉̫̺̖̻l̡̨̛͖̭̦̥͚̬̜̙͕̰̫̘̙͉̗ͦ̐͊͐̒ͦͅw͖͓͍͉̩͓̦͈̳̰̟̞̓͂̆̒͆̈́͋ͨ̇͋ͩ͊̊̀͟͡ͅ'̴̵͙̘̈̒̈̓̎ͪ̈́̒̔̃ͬ̒̐ͨ́͟ͅñ̵̷̜͕̮̮̭̩͒̎̾̽̈́a̶͖̥̦͔̹̥͍̖̤̪̩̳̪ͥ̈ͯ͊̒ͭ͛ͪ͂ͯ̊ͤ́́͜f̸̷̡̨̻̲̥̘̰̼ͣ̽ͮ̂͗̑̅ͦ̎͑́̓͜h̸̯͎̤͈̲̺̝̞̘̫̪̠̣̝ͫ̈ͤ̉̎̈̈ͪ̑̏̈ͧͦͫ̋͛̿̚̚͘͟͞ͅ ̡̽̈́ͧ̎͋̍̓͜͟҉̷͇̹̖̖͈͇͙̖̼͉̠̼͍̺̺̗͍E̴̸̛͔̱̰̼̰̳̫̦͕͓̺̗̳̬̦̪̦̓ͯ̀͋̊͊̋̒̂ͤ̓͒͡ͅl̴̨ͭͯ̋͛̀͘͠҉̯͓̩͉̱͈͙̤̞ď̛͈̥͍̙̝͈͇̤̘͉̔ͦ̒͂̔ͣ̌͑̎ͭ̑͊͋̀͠r̟͚̬͇̞̘͖͇̼̰̦͇̠̥̯͔̫̃͋̎ͮ̾̿ͧ̏̄̓͑ͪ̈́̀̀͜͢ĭ̦̞̪͍̤̽̑̌͟ṭ̸̸̝͓̘̭͉̹͚̪̣̖̖͉̗̥̯̞̞ͥ͂̽͐̆ͧ̓͐̄̋̑ͥ̌̏͊̚͢c̵͕̤̯̰̃̊̈́̔ͩ͗̓ͯ̄̚͘͢h̆̌̓̆̔ͥͥͬͬ̈̇ͩ̏ͬ̄̈́̀͒͘͟͏̩̗̻̲̥̠̬͓͖
“No you still sound like.. I can’t even describe it, but its like this feeling more than actual words”
P̢̓̏͌͂͒̽͗ͥ̓͑ͧ̑̾͗͋ͫ̐ͯ́͢҉҉̸͖͚̘͙̱̺̱̪̮͕̝̳̳̦͖͍̘̪̝hͦͧ́̀̄͋́̚͡͠͏̡̮̣̲͈͎̹̝̣̻'̧̢̗͇̪͚͉̱͎͚̬̱͇̉ͥ̈͗̓̔̈́̂͊̔͋ͨ͆̇͊͗̈́̍̚͜͝n̸̡̙̦̯̝̯͚͙̤̦͈̥͋̓ͥ̈̾̊ͬ̃̋͑̽͂ͦ̎̏͢͡ġ̨̢͕̮͍͈̾̐̃͑̐ͩ̅̉̆̇͡lͨ̃̂̾̇͛͐ͫ̽ͧ̃ͬ͂͌ͤ̀͘͏̱̩̞̙̝̣̝͍u̸̢̩͖̖͉͔̰̩̮̗͖̖͈͚̼ͣ͐̌͗̎̈̒̏͂ͮ͟͠ͅi̷̢͖̼̠͔͍͔͂̐̏ͭ͂ͤͪ̓͆͛̋ ̅̽̾ͭ̔͌͘҉̺̞̰̹͙̯̼̫̳̺̭͕̰̩͓̦̭̯͝ḿ̷̥̩̮̠̪̙̱̿̒͛ͫ̌́̎̐͒́̇ͭ͝͠g̴̜̙̤͕͛̌ͮ̓͋ͥͭͩ͐̎͋ͦͨ͗͒͂͛̚͘ͅl̶̺͉̗̬͓̠̱̤̽͊̿̕͡w̸̨̟̹̘̦̠̭̰̣͓̫̲̯̖̼̫̭̦̬̣̄̿̂̽̚͢'̴̨̡̘̰̝̹̪̦͍̩̘͎͇͍͎̯͒̑̿ͥ̇͋̒̍̾̾̂ͬ̐̋̔͆͑̄͗n̷̽̍̾̿̊ͨ͋̇̉͂̏̔͌͆̄̈́҉̢̫̖͉̯̦̜͠ą̷̛̘͕̺̺̯͓͉ͧ͑͛̑̾ͦ̇͗ͯ̌̈́̋̇̆ͬ̾̾ͨͪ͠f̛͖̫̰̻̗̮̯̮͈̤̤̠͈̐ͭͭͤ̈̿̔ͮ̓͢h̸̡̺̰̳͚̲̱͎̬͙͇ͤ́͛͑ͨ̏̽̉͌̍͐ͅ ̶̶̢̢̩̖̹̻̫̬̺͚͗̌ͨ̌̉ͫ̆̍͆E̴̪̖̤̗̙̲̮̒̐͐̃ͣͦͤ̄̄͂̒ͮͫ̿ͥ͂̌͟ļ̵̮̩̠͙͈̰̲̫̣̻̣͓̂ͤ̆͆̈́̕͝ͅd̨̟͇̜͚̼ͬ͗ͤ͐̒ͫ͗̀͊͌͗͗͌́̀̚͘r̸̡͖̳͍̹̮ͫ́̓͊͊̓̚̚͝į̨̡͍̝̹͖̼͓̣̱̳͆̍̑̐̀̔͒͑̃̇́͡tͧ̔ͦ̓͛̆̅̌͏̸̷̫̼͓̞͙͎̪͍̜̹͔͚͉͉̬͢͝ͅç̯͉͓̟̙͐̇̓̔̐̀͛̾̓̓͒̓ͩͤͨ̃ͣ̚͘͘͞h̍͑̍ͭ̿ͧ͐̐ͪ̂̊̈́̽҉̶̷̵̼͈̼͔̯̜͕̹̤̼̼̟̖̼̙
“Waiting?” I ask
P̸̸͔̼̩̰͈̯̠̬̮̤̞̻̆̏͛ͤ̅͂̌͋̃̾̋͠h̴̵̵̡͊ͮͬ̌͛̒̽́̋ͫͯ̄̈́̓̋ͥ͏͚͔̪͓͙͎̭͙̯͕̠̘̙̲͕͕̯͎'ͩ̃̄̒̍̂ͤͦ̈́̚̕҉̻͍̲̘͔̼̩̪̤̙̞̕͜n͈͔̳̦͙̘͈̦̻̬̘̳̈ͯ̄̅ͭ͢͞g̥͍͎̩̤̩̦̪̤͚̣͎̍̔ͮ͒̍͛̏ͮͣ͌ͧͧ̐̏̓̅͑̊͐͘͡l̨̡̠͖̳̭̤͉̟̬̭̉ͯ̾̋̏̿ͬͣ͜͟u̧͚͚̣̤͕̪̣͓̖͙ͯ̒̉ͩ͒̈̃ͩ̔ͧ̂͘i̸̸̢̪͙̠̜͔̩͈̳͈̜̠̯͙͉̿̔ͦ̂̑̄͑ͤ̒͑͊̉͆̃̒͐ͣ̕ ̶̥̹͓͎͔͖̼ͭ̍̌͐̄ͩ̅̆̾͗ͫ͂̓͐̄ͭ̕͞͠m̠̮̦̫̤̞̭̺͓͖ͤ̂̃̒͗͛ͯ͜͢ͅͅg͎̠̝͖̘̎ͮ̄̽̔̈̐ͣͧ̊̒̌ͩ̽̿́͐͘͞ļ̞̼̞̘̼̘̜͙̹̪̹̭͉̞͐ͭ̾̌̈̃͂̇̃̈̿̓ͩ̅͛̃̚͢ͅw̸̓̈́̿̈̐ͯͬ̓̚͟͜͏̠̞̤̲̪͘'̶̘̩͍̠͚̫͎̱̗̞̮͚̥̒̒̌̐̔̋ͪͬ͊̇̑̊͐̄́̕͘͞n̎̾ͨ͗̈͊̔̑ͭ͝҉̶̨̜̜̫̞̼̹̩̫̥͔a̵̡̢̡̜̖̬̰̙̜̱̜͖̜̯͔͔̐̿̓͡f̷̨͓̝̱̥̺̜̼̠̹̳͈̥̫̘̣̜̗̿ͭ̃̿̈ͮͅḧ́̑ͪͤ̋ͫ̓ͬ́҉̷͍̭̲̗͎̲̰̤̱̳͙͉̜̀͡ ̃̅̓ͤ͒ͥ͒̑̈́̓͗͡͏̦̞̰̰̼͇͙̯Ę̷̢̊͐̅̃҉̜͍̥͍̝̤̙ḷ̲̥͓̰̮̝̥͉͚͎̤̈̏ͨ̅͊͐͆̋̾ͪ́̕ḑ̸̤̘̤͈̽͂̒͊̂̽͛̾̉̚r̺̣͕̜͙͎͇͉̭͊ͭ͊͆͐̿͆̏̽̒́̇̈ͨͨ̀i͐ͮ͛̈́̆ͬ̋̂̍̉̅ͣ͏̵̭̟͍͍͜͟t̴̸ͩ̽̇ͣ͛̈̔͐̈́͌̂̾̒͂ͥ̀͜͏̗͚͍̯̠̜c̠̭̮̠͍͓͖͎̤̺͕̃ͯ̄̈̈ͭ̉ͭ̀̑̋͘͝h̛̬̫̼̞͕̟̯̠͕ͥ̏ͯ͒ͭ̀̚͟͡
“What could we possibly have to talk about?”
P̖͇̺͔̪͖̮͓̭͎͔̮͕̗͈̝̝͕̪̐̿̈́ͯ͑̈ͩ͌̉̇̓́͝͠h̴̀̿̀ͨͫ̏̓̍̉ͭͧ̄̄̀̚҉̧̪͇̯̱̕'̶̵̸̴̪͔͙̝̥̲͓̟̟̞̗͈̱͎͉̇̿̂͗ͥͤn̵͇͓̼̠̥͑ͩ̇̑ͪ̌͒ͥͮ̀̑̆̈̍͞ǧ̶̡̟̜̬̥̟͈̖͚͚̱̘̝̙̯̦̻͕͋̓̓͆͢l̶̗͉̤͖̘͔̻̦͓̘͙̅ͤ͑̊̄̐̅́̓̈́̌̿̅ͣ̍̚͟u̾͒̆ͪ̏͂̄̕҉̢͇͚̀ͅͅi̸̲̦̮̮͖̫̱̳͋͆̓͛̎͗͊̂͋̆͋̔͠ ̨̠̹͓̣̜̙̤̤̖͛ͦͦ͂̀ͅm̧̨̰̼̯̟͎̣̳̿ͨ̎ͪ͗ͨ͋̉͌̈ͯͫ̈́ͩͥ͌̂̚͘͝ͅͅgͭ͂͒ͪͥͪ͂̓͊ͭ͆ͯͦͯͬ͜͞͡͠҉͔̪̯͙̩͚͓lͧ̏ͨ͒͒ͤͮͤͣͥ̂̌̃̊̊ͭ͂̓͟͏̷̱̼̪͎͉̠̝̹̲̥w̶̷̧̰̥̰̮̠̮͖̫͔̦̖̤̱͙̝̪̺̿̑͋ͪͪ͌̈ͣ̾ͬ͊ͭͫ̄ͮ̆̀͡'̧̼̤͎̞͈̜̱̮̘͈̼̩͓̣̩͓̳̓̾̏ͧͦ̐̾ͭ̂̀̿ͫ̎͑̚͟n͛̾ͮ̿̾ͬ҉̫̦̰̞͖́͘͠ă̧̌̎ͧͬ̌͟͡҉̦̘̰͇͇̱̫̮̣̼͙̝͙̘̺̪f̶̢͖̻̟̱͇̥̣̣͙̩͍͚̖̰̰̯͔ͦͨ̈͐͗̉̊̓͗ḩ̸̘̖͔̲̜͓̜̤̞̮̼͉̞̝̜̮̲ͧ͆͋̿̽ͧ́͡ ̸̨̂͛͆͒ͣͧ̆̒̎̒̿̚͏̬͉̩͘ͅE̵̠̘̘̱͋̔ͧ͌̂̂̇͋̌ͤ̉͘l̴ͣ̿̿̊̋̍ͦ̔̚҉̧͏͏̫͚̜̟̞͔̳ͅd͌̾̈̆̿̾͛̓͛ͦ́͟͝͞҉̮͙̲͕̣͎͔̹̖̮͔̲̖̩̬͖ͅr̢̯̯̰̭̯̟̱͎̳͕̝̺̝͓̗̞͑̽̊̌̀͡i̗̮̪̦̳̬͙̜͇͕̲͉̊̄ͯ̌̂͛ͤͨ̑͌ͥͥ̕t̒̔̌̽̿̊̋̈́͋҉̠͇͎̻̤̺̘̖̲̦͈͟͝ͅč̶̲̱̘̮̗̘̹̒̓͐̑̐̔̌̽̒̒͗̓͢ĥ̭̟͚̖͇̫̥͇̲̟̏͌̏͊ͩͩ̐̾̕͢ ̶̶̨̖̺͍̰̣͍̣̥͍̲͔͕̻̣͔̮̅ͩ͌ͥͤ͐͝͠R̢̭̹̭̠͍͇͂̀͊͐ͦ̊̈́ͦͤ̂̽̚͝'̨̭͖̬̟̥͖̳͕̞̙̺̆ͮͦ̿̀͐͐ͦ͐ͫ̓́͝ḽ̡̩̖͓̮̖̤̬̈ͨ̾͒͐ͬ̂͆̓͑͂̅ͯ̅ͬ̑͌́͘͜y̶̨͒̓̊ͫ͟͡҉̞̳̮͖̦̯̯̺͎͓̭ȩ̤͔̗̺͙̥͈̻͈̜̮̗͖̦̟̝̭̗̾̽͐̑͡h̶̔̔ͨ̅̂͆ͬ̄̔͋ͧ̚̚͏̤̞̼̝̼̗̦̱̘̗̲͖̦̙̥̠͘ ̧̦͉̠̱͇̙̄ͩ̓ͣͭ̀w̶ͨ̈́̇̅ͮ̃ͭ̔͋̄ͥ̒̚͞҉͎̠͚̹̹͕̣͇ͅg̴ͯ̆ͦͩ̄ͣ̅̋͟͡҉̘͙̟̩̲̙͍̞͢a̍̾̊͗͗̈́̊͑̆̌̈́̑̚͏̸̴̖̝̳͍̰̦̳̥͟͝h̵̨͉̦̪̤͔̬̱̣̭̱̳̘̤͔̠͍̞̉͑̈ͣͨ̓ͭͪ͊̚͘͜'̷̷̵̨̭͔͉̪̯͓̥̣̻͚̻̫̝̟̻̥ͨ̅̅͂ͅn̨͓̘̟̗̫̟̲̻͍͚͚̲̲̻͖͉̟̦̒ͫ͌͆̾̃̇a̴̤͍̭̖̟̯̪͓͖̖̭̜̰̣̪̳ͨ͆ͪ̏ͧͫ̾ͥ͘͟ͅg̓ͫ͌̾͛͑̒͊ͣ̌͋̉̂̌̉ͯ̚҉̡̡̜͖͍̮̜̥͝l̸ͯͬͯ̊ͭͪͭ͜͝҉͉̩̫͇̬͎̣̗͕̟͉͇̹͚̝̳̺ͅ ̨͙̺̭͉̓ͫ̄̊̽ͩ̑̎ͫ̎̃̐͌̒̀̋ͭ͢͝f̾̃̈́̿ͮ̇̔͗ͭ͋̐̽͌ͣ͌͋҉̧͓̦͕̱̤h̸̻͔͔ͦͪ͛̊̄͢͠ţ̱̭̺̪̮̘͌̍ͥ̃̌͂͜͢͡å̷̧̪͓͖̅ͭͤ̈́͢ĝ̷̛̮̫͖̠̗͉̣̤̠͖̹̬̗̔̍̊̌́͐̇̎̓̐ͨ͐͝ͅn̨̠̝͉͎̪͈̰̘̗̝̣̻̜̗̗ͩ̅̆͂͆̽͑ͬ̿̉ͩ̏͂ͩ̍̚
“That’s because…” I trailed off trying to think of why I acted so unlike myself
P̛͌̏̊ͮ͛ͨͣ́̿̐͛ͮ҉̗̟͉̭̼ḧ̷̲̺͓̜͇͉̫͌ͥ̓ͯ̄͘͘͝'̶̈́ͮ̊̑̏ͤ̄̐̌ͫ҉̥͚̣͉͎̟̥̩͉̦̘̣͖͍͈̲̟̀͝͡n̘̜̠̠̖̩͈̐̀ͨ͋͛̂̃̔͠͝g͈̰̬̻̉̊̔ͥ̐̌͒ͦ͗̊̏ͣ͐̚͟͠l̡ͥ̏ͣ̅ͫ̔̐̋͒̿ͬ̿̓̚̕҉̝͕͓͚͔͇̰̦̻͚̦̻u̸͚͉̳͉̮͉̣̜̾̒ͣ͗ͥ̽̀̀͟͡i̷̴͍̞̻̪͖ͤͦ̒̅ͯ̒ͭͨ̆ͪ́̇͢͡ͅ ̴̵͍̙̼͖͖͎̠̫̋̋ͪ̔͑ͣ̐̾̊ͬͣ̓ͦ͘͢͝m̸̢͎͎̮̙̮̖̍ͧͣ͑ͫͨ̐ͣ̌̌̆͝g̔̈́ͣ͂̓̿̎ͨͯ͏͎̝̹͔͕̫̯̣̤͜͜͠l̶̨̳̙̠͈͓̠̹͔̹͍̘͉̫̞̥̦̝̥ͦ̈́͐ͭ̆̊̃͆̇͘͝w͕̮͚͎͙͔̹̯͎͙̲͇̉ͪ̌̇̽̾̅͌́͢͞'ͮ̉̉̊͛͗̍̿͂̀̇ͣ̅̐̂̓̚͏͎͓̗̮̭̠̦̭̱̫́͝ͅn̷̶̴͕̰̙͖͉͚̦͓̯̩̗̬̳̼̼͉̖̰̤͆ͯͭͩ͌̈ͥ̇̇ͣ̚͟͝a̷̷̸̩͇̖͇̮̟̩͔̜̮͒́ͫ̎̎͆̅̍ͮ̋̍̄ͫ̀̕f̵̶̵̫̻̬̱͙̯̳̌ͮ̎͗̍ͩ̿͂̐̕͡h̢̛̰̖̞͉̭͋̇̔̏̓ͭ̊̓ͯ̓̏͐̏͂͊ͯͨ́̕ͅ ̋ͧ̊͐̇̐̌͛͏̧̯̤͕͙̪̲̤̙̣̭̪͜E̢̨̡͚͔̯̖̮̘̮̺̺͕̭̘͎͍͂ͦ͒͗̔̄́́̓̚l̬͕̥̗͕͎̮̦ͪ͂̓ͧͬ͊ͤͦ͒ͩ͌ͧͦ̆̓͋͟͡ͅd̿̉̏͌ͫ̎̓͏͔̖̺̗̫͍̘̣̬̪̳̮̞͍̠̲̺͚͝r̰̻͈̳͎̙͕͈̜̭̺̞̲̭̼̙̯͑̃ͯ͐̃ͥ̾̍ͧ͛ͭ͂̊̐ͦ͠i̵̡͖̬͙̱̖͈̳͓̳̘̯̩̼̻͙̪̥̝̋ͮ͊̔̈́͂̅̋͢t̵̨̳̝̠̮̗͕͎͔̳̱̼͎̯͍͉̘̝ͯ̓ͥ͛͒̄̅̍̓͂̒͌̂̋̊̎̚͟c̪̗̠͊͐̋̓̓͗ͮ͐̄ͥ̾͊ͨͧ͜͝h́̈́̍͂͏̧̝͙͕̣͚̲̺̹̦͘ ̵̴̴̞̬̞̳͍̲̳̩̻̪̼͈͚̦̞͖͗͐ͯ̈̊͊ͪ͘R̦̲͔̖̜̬͚̮̭͇͕͚ͭ͂ͭ͢͜͜'̷̷͍̻̱̣̪̜̣̬̞̹͚̹͎ͩͥ̓̋̂̋ͤ̏̅̉͋͑̓͊ͫ́͠ͅl̴̡͓̙͍͇͚̰͚͉̣̜͔̯̰̬̀ͣͧͣͧ͛̍ͪ̒͗́ͤ̑͋͗ͩ́ͩͭÿ́ͮ͂̉̃ͪͭ́̚͢҉̸͚̹̟̙̭͎͠ȇ̵̡͙͉̰͉͎͎̼̖̼̗̺̦ͨ̍̈̈́̑͂ͯͣͫ́̂͐̏̄h͍͔͓̙̖͚̮̭̱̤̠͙̳͚̗̥̊ͬ̏ͦ̃̀̏͛̂̐̈̿̓͐͢͞ ̶̛̟͇̠̱͚̤̖͓̲̏̓͊͌ͯ̒͆̍̂͋͒̎̅͌̀̀͢w̡̛͚̤̳͈̫̫͚̟͔͚̒̑̿͑̇͘͢͠ͅģ̸̝̹̘̯̤͓̒̐͐ͣ͛̐ͦ̆̔͒ͩͫ̑͜͠ͅa̸̢̘̗͎̠̬̣͓͕͈͈͙̟͂̒̃ͯ̆̆ͯͩ͛̀̌͜ḫ̨̞̟͇̭̟̬̙̫͈̜̮̼̯̱͓̹̳̗̐̉ͥ̃̓̊̃͢͢͠'̓͒͊̍̂̿͛̃͂̂ͮͩͥ̉͌̅ͩͭ͏҉̳̲̪̳͈̘͓͕̜̫͙͖̀͘ͅṅ͍̝̻̱̹̼̄ͫ͛ͧ͗ͫ͘͝ḁ̴̸͔̬̥̬̥͇̰̤̪̐͊̅̋͒̈́̑̿ͥ̑̎ͧ͌ͯ́͝g̱͇̹ͣͪ̆̂̀͋ͫ͑̐ͨ̓̽͒̔̌̽͞͞l̷̜͎̪̦̟̩͍ͭ̍̃̈͟͠ ̶̡̇͑̌̍ͨ͛̏ͨͫ͐̍̔͜҉̴̭͓̩̭̦̗͇̤̘̣̥͓f̴̸̶̢̻̯̝͖̹̮̼͙̙̖̫̗͙͉̗̳̫̄͌ͫ͂ͬͯ̈̅ͦ͐ͨ̌͆ͭͣ͋̄̚hͭ̐̓̆̓ͯͦ̎̾̂̐̀̔ͬ͊̀̚͏̖̜̫̺̣̝̹̦̳͢ͅț̤̤͖͈̳̠̭̪͖̭͇̝̘ͧͩ̑ͩ͟͢ä̺̰̤̱͉̻̝͈͚̘͎̗͎ͣ̋̽̿̏͋͆ͨ͛ͣͮ́̉̐ͧͯ̌ͮ͢͝g̶̡̛̖͉̲̲͙̞̟̖̟͒͒̾̋̌̿ͪ͛͗͑ͣ̍͛̅̓̏̋ͧ͢͠ņ̵͙͓̰̩̤̫͉͉̾̓̿̊̈́͆ͭͯ̎ͦ̂̾͗̔̃̈̾ͣ
“What... I... Uh” I try to respond
P̴̯̩̣̱͈̫̪̞͚̣̾̇ͬ͌̀ͨ̃̉ͥ̕̕h̶̴̨̨̙͎̝͓͈̓̒͊ͤ̀̑ͯ̀͟'̷̴̵̛̬͔̲̙͖͉͓̦͉̖̱̲̩̲͚͚͙̘ͦ̊̄̓̈́͊̀ṋ̶̡̙͇̰̭̗̞̘̳̹̠͈̱̊̔̆͋̇̑̎ͤ̌̈̆̅̓̓ͩ̚̚͡͝g̷̊͆ͤͣͪ̽ͪ̆̑̿͂̍ͮͤ́͏͏̸̜͉̤̟̙̼̲̮̬̹͎͉̮̙̹͈̹l̨̦͉͎̹͉̗͍͖̠̼̩̹̺̩̜̗͖ͩ͂͐̋̓͊͋̆̾ͬụ̵̙̹̥̗̥̘̩̭̪͚̌̉̽̋̑̈́̿ͤ̇ͪ͋ͧ̑̽͛̀͜͠į̶̷̲͍̰͎̲̝͖̪͈̜̰͖̰̰̩̜̟̺͎̊ͮ͂͛̆͛́̈̋͝ ̴̺̤͚̜̰̝̤̙͉ͨͥͭ̒̉̾͐̅͋ͪ́͑̐̚͘͝͠m̴̛̟͈̖̘͓̔ͩ̑̽ͯ́g̸̨̓̋͑́͏̱̣͉̪̝̖͓̻͔̺̰̪̫̪̠͇́͡l̵̡̨̘͔̦͔͙͖̖̳̤̰͇̬̤̣͉̼͎̲ͩͪ͐̉ͩͧͣ͘͟w̵̼̙̳̥͉̘͕̤͇̝͎̿́̈̒̂͗͌͆̔̇̆ͧ̈́̀́̕͜'̵̵̧̪͔̩̹̘̤̘ͦ̏́̕n͂̅̊ͧͬ̊ͩ͛ͪ̂ͧͨ̿͘͟͝͏͍̠̬̥̰̻̺̪͇̩͈̹͈̰͜a̪͉̞̹̞̩͚̞͓̯̺͕̻̟̹͖͚̣̱͌ͭ̿ͮ͘͠f̶̧̺̙̮̺̊̆ͨ̽ͨ̓̕ḩ̸̏͗̍̃̐ͫ̓͋ͤ͛ͮ́̚҉̲͈̝͈̹̮͕̼̭̬̱̪̹̠ ̡̛͎̯̹̺̺̖͚̭̘̺̻͕̩͑ͩ͛ͯ͌͋́E̲̫̮̯̞͕ͭͮͣ̑̍̓̓̐ͧ̇ͤͪͯ̽ͤͥ͐̂̕͜l̵̦͎͚̙̎̇̃̌̿͑̀̓ͭ͋͂̊̐ͧ̿̂ḑ̶̓̽͌̅͏͕̼̤̲͙͙̪̤̞͕̬͕̘͙̀͜ͅr̵̢̭͉̣̺̞̥̼̠̬̊͊͂͂̅ͨ̒ͤͥ́͘͡i̶̷͎̫̘̞̼̭̣͗̉̓̄ͪ̈́̂͗̿͂̃̓̉͆̈ţ͙̭̘̝̣͔̰̱̘̮̭̮̜̮̾̀ͪ̉͂̍̐̃̓̒̑̄̈̾ͬ͑ͪ̀̀̚͢ĉ̵̵͚̖͔̩̞̗̘̥̘̲͕͔͐̀ͯͪ͟͞͡h̵̘̻̙̹̤̠̱̪̝̳̘̬̤̪̠̐ͨ͑̎̊͌̇̋̊͛̋͘͠͡ͅ
“What do you mean, ‘you erred’?”
P̓͌͑̉̋̈̊̒ͥ̄ͨ̅̅ͦ͆ͮͭ͞҉̸̳̼̟̲̱͡͝ͅh̃ͤ̂̔̈ͯ̏ͨͥ̅̈́̍ͧͮ̔҉̨҉̸̖̤̟͙̰̩̘'̧̧̭͕̗̯͔̞̩̻̦̹̹̭̲̞̦̣̠̘ͮ̎̐̐͌͂̌͢͠n̸̍͌̋͌͐̑̎̅̈͆ͫ͋̃҉̥̞̝̪̘͙̜̯̯̲̻̫̖̤͟g̴̱̤̮̜͖̟̥͈̺̦̘̮̥̤̭̠̈́͊̑ͤͧͯ̏̊̿̓ͨͦ͛̍̃̀͂̓ͨ̀̕͝ͅͅl̡̠̪̦̩̻̬̰̰̮͚̦͙̐͆ͥͬͭ̀͠ư͍̞̤͉͈͎͓̫̠͙͍̱̓̓̅ͩͫ̎́͊͛͐̒̊̀̚͢͠i̵̡̖̼̱̼̱̥̯̰̜̪͖͕͚̍̋̿ͫ͂̋̈́̍ͨ͑̓͐ͯ͋ͫ̈́͠ͅ ̔ͬ͆̆ͮ̓̈ͮ̃̾ͪͭ͏҉̥̰͎̘̪͍̹́͘m̵̷̧̩̞̪͚̼͍̠̺̪̥͕̟̪͚̞͓͔̮̣̔ͥ͗̂̐͑ͥ̾̔̓̎̉̇̿͐͟g̵̡͍̦̝̩̮̺͕̫̤̺͇̦̰̞͈͎̻̲ͮ̎̊͊̓̀ͦ̀̅̂̄͛ͣͯ̄̂̋͟l̵̻̤̗͚͇̼ͯͪ̅̾̓̅ͩ̓͛͗̍ͨ̽̓͡ẉ̴̴̡̳̱͍̬͈͎̼̦̆ͪ͒ͭ͗̒͒ͯ̅͛̑̄̆͒'̵̵̨̨̱̮̻̞̥̥̬̠̥̥̦̗̼̩̲̞̔̆̊̓̒ͨ͒̐ͯͯn̶̞̯͍̭͒͊͐̉̈̈͒ͪ̏͂͋̏ͧ̐́̚͜͞a͊ͦ͑̀͗ͥͥ̽ͩ̌ͬ̽̿҉͖̫̦͙͘f̵̡̊͂̅͋̑̏̈́ͣ̾ͣ́ͮ̓ͯ͐̋̚҉͎̫͕̖̲̘̠̺̭͞h̛̘̞̥̻͇̽̑ͪͭͫ ̵̜̺̰̘̫̻̜̫̫̖̻͙͕̯̥̝̓ͨͤ̎̍ͨ̃̾̈́ͦͫ͝E̵̵̼̟̭̫̩͖̝̍̆ͪͤ̆̐ͨ̐́͞͠l̠̰̠͈̝̟̱̣̩̆̾̐̉̐͋̅͐͛̀͜͠ḑ̸̰̪͍̦͖͎̦̰͙̞̹̹̬̠̝̻̉̍ͬ͒̔͗͑ͫ̅ͧ̈́̊ͫ̇̌ͦ̽͟͝ȓ̵̡̛̳͎͓̟̣̜̝̗̗̖ͨ̎͗̇̎ͮ̀͟i̘̮̙̬͇̦̝̽͆ͤ͑̅̓͋̕͡ţ̭̬͎̟̼̟̓ͥ̄ͣͧ̔͆̅ͭ͐ͭ̎̄̆̇͘̕͢͡c̝͔͎̬͓̻̾ͪ͑̑̓ͥ̑͋̾̀h̢̬̫̦̹͇̲̖ͮͧ̇ͣ̾̍ͣͮͥͫ̎̚͘ͅ
“FUCKING WHAT!”
P̸̶̩̫͙͈̱̞͍͍͖̦̪͌̾ͩ̆̓̂ͩ̉͐ͣ̈́ḥ̦͈̘̟̠̳͚̥̦̼͍̺̾̔̋̉͆͌ͪ̊̃ͦ̀͑͢ͅ'̵̴̲̥̮̹̥͕̠͇͓̽̐̈͛̐ͭ̓̂͂̒ͧ̌ͯͦͪͬͯ͐̔ͅn̷͍͓̼̳̜͇͔͔̣͍̼̩̹̻̞̳̏̏̿͐ͩ̂ͣ̽̊ͮ́́̚ͅg̈͐̂̋̌̄̓͏̵̢̝̯̗͔̰͕̖̝͢͡l̮̜̠̲̝̠̹͔͉̪̎̉͋͗̏̏ͮ̌͒̆̊̿̎̍ͣͤ͐̃ͧ́͟͠ų͎̪̲̬̤̗̤̬͖͎̳͈̭͚̙ͧͪ͊̊͛ͮ̽̄̒ͤͩ̌͊̊ͪͬͪ̾ͭ̀͢į̸̷̴̨̠̗͓̥͕̮̹̞̉͆͂ͅ ̤̹̬̠̲̤̫̘̤̙͗̋̅̏͑̄̅ͣ̉ͩ̄̅̀͢͠͠m̵͍̠̩͍̞͕̠̣̖̈̍̀̄̀͋ͨg̑ͦͤͪ̉̈ͣ̈ͩ̂͊̏̚͜͏̴͈̰̝͚̦̞̙͔̪̻̝̦͓̥͇͡l̵̹̞̗̟̭͚͕͓̩͙̱̗̩̪̘̼͓͆̍ͣ̄̊ͤ͆̆͐̆͛̄͂̾̀̓̚͜ͅẅ̛̼̙͔̬͈̪̀ͯ̉̄̽̒͢'̶̸̠̮̗͙͕̀̀ͨͥͭ̌͒́̽͑̋ͪ͛ͫ̆͂͡n̢̘̦̮̻͕͙̮̲̪̬̩̞̩̜̤̐̈̈̓̉͋ͯ͋̿̒ͫͭͧ͟aͭͬͫ̃͊ͨͥ̉ͨ́̆ͫ͆ͩ̑̚͏̦̹͖̩̗̱̗̲̝̪̫̜̕fͬ͑͐̊ͫ̀͒̊ͭ̿͏̡̧̢͈̘͔̗̦̫̱̖̫̮͉͠h̫̤̪̭̬̤̮͔̮̠̣̱̖̖̯̭̮̪ͧͣ̏ͮ͂̆̂̀̍͛̃̿ͣ͂̈̔͂̚͟ͅ ̷̛̪̩̥͙͚̲͗ͫ͆̃̒ͨͯ͞Ę̢̢̗̗̭͍͚̟̺̙̝̘͖̪͑̆̌ͬ͊̒ͧ͐͊̽ͨ̍͘͝l̴̴̡̧̜̫͙̯̜̪̞̭͔̙̭͕͙̞̯͙̳̭̂̊͆ͨͩ̊ͧͥ͂̾̓ͣ̃̓ͥ̑͌d̷̪̠͙̪̯͕͉͍̳̤͙̼̼͕̜̗̝͂ͣ͋̽̓̅͂̀͟͡r̠̹͇̦̦̯̜̜͔̘̯̘͌̃ͮͣ͐͒̓̚͡i̸̶̧̺̻̘̼̠̱̹͉̜̦̻͙̦̦̥͕͉̔̓ͨ̿̓̂ͧ́ͤ̍̓t̨̲͍̩̩̭̦̙̮͍̘̱̘͓͚ͬ́ͭ̆ͪ̂̄͐̔̏̃̓̈́̽͛ͥ͝͞c̵̷̶̟̱̠̞͖̝̭͙͙̘̉̃̄̀̎ͨ̿̎͌̽͋̇̽̚͜͠h̽̿̇͊͏̥̥̗̠̳̙͚̗̭̭̼
P̡͕̮̗̣͓̦̩ͫ͐͊̃̇ͣ̐͟͜͝h̊̒ͦ͛̏͑̓̆̔̆̉̏̌҉̟̟̘͙̮̤̣'̴̴̔͆̉̂ͮ̾̽ͫ͐̍̓ͥͪ̋̌̐ͩ͏͇͙̗̜̰̙̦͙͉̰̲͓͎̱̫ͅn̶̠̱̬͈̩͉͍͓̞̞̪̺͎̱͍̼͕̍͒ͭͩ̀̀̕͜g̶̥̩̬͎̃̈ͪļ̩͎̻̙̪̬̲̪̦̝̍ͩ̑ͫ̓ͧͨ́̿͋̀͠ͅu̢͈͉̱͎̞̖̯̩͔̺͙̤̗͔͇͑͋̐͒̆́̔͛̒ͨ̾ͤȋ̢͇̖̼̰̰͓̹̙̼̺̳̫̳ͫ̓̿͊̎̎ͯ͒̃̏͊ͣ̉͌ͬ͆͜͡ͅ ̯͍̤̺̎̓͗ͮͭͬ͜m̷̞̘̺͙͛͗ͤ̔̎̒ͮ̀ͥ̄ͫͦ̓̂ͮ̓̍̎͠͞g̸̢̞̼͍̦̔̒̋͐̒̾͊̏̓ͩ̀̌ͯ̅ͦ͢l̷̷̛͑ͯͮ͐͆͗ͥ͑͗̊̃̔̚҉̱͖̬̗̗̠̤̠̩̖̫͖̘̠͔̺̺̥ŵ̶̸̖̗̝͔͈̯̟̝̗̱̞͙͕̍ͦͣͩ̐ͅ'̯̮̪̖͔̦̳ͬ̐̈ͦ̈́̾̈͜͡n̴̓̓ͩͣ̉͒ͤͩͮ̐̽̊͒̔ͬͨ̚͏͙̤̱̣̮̬͕̞̫̞͚̘̲̣a̵̶̸͍̟̹̪̹̱͖̜̹̗̟̣̍ͭ̆̽ͮ́ͫͨ͗̉̕ͅf̶̿̔ͧ̑͐̀̅͊̂ͭͮͣͮ̉͋̈́͏̧̰̥̯͍͉̺͖̮͉̤̹̤͈̝͜͡ͅh̸̤̭̝͈̻̯͍̦̞͗͋͗̆͗́̕ ̜̣̠̺̠̬̎ͭ̂̏̋̍͒͆ͫ͜Ě͇͕̲̩̟̼̖̦̗̖͈̩̞̹̱̪̦͊ͧ͂̿ͯ͂̉̀͘ḽ̷̡͕̮̜̪̜͕̰̣̹̪͇̺͓̭͔̥̞͛͆͒ͪͭ̆̆̈́̀̍͌̑͗ͪ̈̏̚d̷̤̯̹͈͙̫͉̗͍͕͙̿̍ͬͯ̉͐͌ͥ̀͝r̸̢̢̖͉͔͕̠̔̄̂̊͂ͧ͆̆̽͘ȉ̡̤̫̜͇̱̪̲̖̣̬̳͒͋̆ͫͮ̿͢͡ͅţ͍̭̥̥̭̯͙̣̣̬̞̲̠̻̞͋͐ͪ̿ͥ̈͌͗̀ç̵̻̬̮̘͈̤͙ͨ͆͛̓̑̉͗̾̎̓̎́͘ẖ̵̷̩̗͔̣͖̭̗̗͇̻̝̳̠̦͂̽ͬ̌͛̇̌ͤͣ͒ͬ̇͑ͮ̐ͬ̀͟͠
“Your saying I went crazy because I LOOKED AT YOU!?!”
P̷̲̮̮̺̫͓̮͚̏̍ͬ͌̓̌̋̎͋̚̚̕͞͝ͅh̀ͨͤ̔̆́ͦ͗̓̑̚͝҉҉̺̖̜̹̲̘͖̜̼̫͓̪̬̪'̢̎ͮ͛̑̐͋͐̓͒́҉̯̝̝̪̲̪͉̙̟̪̕͟ņ̝̱̤͓̂̏͒́ͮͦ̀͑̇̃̋ͨ͊ͮ̉̀͜ĝ̶̨̔ͪͪ̀͘͏̖̼̲̻̼̫̟̬̩̦͕͕̬ľ̛͇̞͍̯̮̩͖̯̟͕͚̘̓ͩ̽̃̑ͪ͘̕͜ͅṵ̴̷̶̘̺̤̖͎͔̻̝͙̦ͫͦͦ̃ͦ̊͐ͣ̀̓͝͠į̷̱͇̲͖̗͉̠̺̰͓̮͇̪͈͇̿̔̓͊̉̋̔̈́̃ͥ̏̾͋̌ͣ͛ͬ̉͟͡͝ ̋ͯ̓̈̇ͫ͐͂ͮͦ͏̸̡͇̹̳̺̻̹̣͇͓̗̤͙̻̩̣̟͇̰͟m̧̨̘̗̜͓͈̳̟̘͚̱͍̮͈̲̫͌ͮ̄͋̄̽͆ͩ̆ͦ̾̌̽̄͆̈̓͘g̸̨̹̠̮̥̘̙̰̯͇̰͙̙͖̋̀̈́̚͜l̸̻̻̲̄̓͛͑ͩ̌́̓͐̓̾̒̀͐̋ͣ͆ͬͭ̕w̷̴͎̠̟̮͈͕̾̊̊̐͑̃ͧ͌͑͂́̑ͪ͆̐ͫ̉̚͞'̶̴̵̘̖͉̥̝̞͕̭̭̟ͣ͗ͩ̑͋͐̆̊́n̸̍̓ͬͭ҉͏̫̪̝̟̠͕̣̗̗̭͈͔̣̬ͅa̵̶̧̪͕̭͇̻̺̰͔̮̦̼̙͓͇̅ͧ̆̉̏̌̋̇͛ͤͬ̃́f̡̨̢̬͕̺̫̟͓̘͕͖͋̇͑͠h̵͉͉̺͎͖ͣ̄̀̌̽́͢ ̡̈ͪͣ̓ͫ͗́҉̩̭͎̗Ẽ͇̼̯͖̤̺͓̘͖̩͍͍̱̼͉̆͋ͬ̎͋̔̌͠͞l̙̦̙̻̗̪̰͈͓̓́̓ͭͥ̈́ͦ̔͑͋̏̾ͤ̀͛̿͐͘dͩͥ̍̈́ͫ̈̌͐̒ͪ́͏̨̳̭͇̰̬̙̹̰̫̬̫̳̲͙͈͉̹͈r̷̸̴̢̢̟̯̰̱͙͍̬͈̙̞̤̬̣̤̤̰͊̂̋͐i̧̝͇͓̘̗̱̲͎̟̾͌ͧ͊̍ͭt̨̨͔̘̞̰̯͙̏̏ͬ͛ͮ̓̏ͭͯ͐̓̈́͘͡c̛͑ͬͥ̊̃͛̂̂͟͏̥̪̤̤͉̟̩͎̲̗͉̝͍̥͘h͌̌ͨͭ̉ͯ̃҉̨͔̻͍̫̣̥́́͜
“YOU KNEW IT WOULD HAPPEN!”
P̢̜̥̼̖̼̲͓͙̞̝̪̥̬̅̇͌̈́͂͌ͨ͗ͣ͐̾̈͒̚͜ͅͅḫ̩̜͙̯̱̳̼̉̌̃͊͑͂͟͝'̷̧̺̖̖̤͓̲̈̌͗̂ͥ̉̽n̶͓̟̗̺̭̲̻̝̦̽̍́̏͊ͯ͐̓͛̊͆͋̍̓̔̀ͅg̷̛̛͓̺̘͖̬̪͇̺̗̞͚̹ͤͦ̔́̍͂ͮ̌̈́͛̍̄ͫ̃̀͡l̨̨̻͚͓͖͚͚͙̝̠̫͕̞̙̮̰̣̞̖̜͛̍͒͌̋͋̈́̾ͮͯͨ̿ͩͯ́͆̀̚͝uͫ̔̐̀̾͏͈̘͕͇̖̪͢i̸̡͇̖͇̣̖͍͊̅̒̂ͨ̇̾ͣ̄̍͗͂̐̈́͒̌͘͜ ̶͌ͯ͂̈́ͩͧ͗̉́̚͏̢̡̢̻̦̺̭̙͇̰̦͇̫̘ͅm̗̲͔̘̼̲͓̘̟͈̲͙͉͈ͤ̍̉̾̽ͫͤ́͐̀ͤ̄ͧͩ̅̒̚͘͘͠ġ̵͍̦̼̦̙͈̯̬̩͇̼͙̖̼̰͖̿̌͗̔ͦ͋ͥ̓͒̀l̴̵̡̨̫̠̹̯̱̯̦̱͈̪̣̩̤̎̓͌̆́͂̆̈́̊ͭ̔͋ͤͥ́w̵̢̛̬̝̬̙̰̘̤͇͖ͣͭ̂̆̃̈́̋ͪ͘͝'̶̨̛̮̫̙̹̙͇͔̱̻̪̫̗̳̽͒̂̎́͆ͨ͛̽ͦ̿͌ͭ̍͘͝ṇ̷̵̵͚̞͚̲̳͖̭̪͖͕ͬ̋͂ͯͅȁ̷̞̳͓̗̳̝̟̙̙̞̣̟͕̼̜̬͚ͣͥ́͋͊͌̍̃ͩ̂ͭ͑̊̀͢ḟ̛ͥ͆̉ͣ̿̓͆͐ͮ҉̟̳̩̠̜̦̞̞̫̯̫̩ͅh͐ͣ̍͗͑͐̓͑̈́͏̠̱̗̗̖̤̻̫̗̩̬̱̥̗̺ͅ ̵͔̼̱̭̣̭̘̜͍̗̟͕͓͇̮͔͙͍͋̐́̿̈́ͪ͋̉ͣ̆ͬͮ̒͌̀̚Ęͧ̾̌́̎̑ͩ̚͏̴̴͖̬̳̮͕͟ͅl̢͆̊̉ͮ̐̄͘͟҉͇̟̯͎͍̠d̢̝͎̜͓͓̺̹̮͓̞̤̳̪̠͔̱͐ͭͭ̿̍͑̒ͫ̊̅̚͟ŗ̙͓̩̺̫͖͙̟̘̯̜̩͗̋̔̋̽̆͋̍ͭ̉̈́̀͡͡ͅi̵̙͍͓̤͕͎̠͊̄͋̇̌̋̀͘͜͟t̅ͮ͒̀̾̆͌̒̊̑̾͛͑͏̫̳͚̜̤͕̥͇̙cͨ̆͋ͬ̏̓ͩ̌ͫ̇̂ͥ҉̺̺͉͚̀h̵̵̢̛̩̯̦͙̘̦̝̼͚̣̼̳̞̠ͭ̊̓̽ͨ́̔ͫ̈ͭͭͅͅͅ
“HELP” I shout, trying to calm down “Help with what?”
P̷̡̞͖̖̟̮͈̬͔̣̰͊ͪ́ͩ̔ͧ̆̑̉̔̕h̡̔̅̏́̾̈́̀́̿ͬͥ͜҉̟̣̘͇͚̙̱̣̝̫͎̰̕'̷͔̠̣͎̭͉̳̝̤͉̙̺̖̟̞̯̣ͨ͗͐̋͛̍͝ǹ̨̨̝̤͙̝͚̳̪͎̲̝͕͎̩͓͎̰̼̓ͫ̑͒̅ͮ͗̊͘͘͝g̷̦̹̜̙͎̻̠̹̰̯̦̯͓͇͖͉̘̯̈͂ͨ̌̉̌̉̋͒͂ͫļ̸̞͖̙̝̹͛̌̐͋ͭ̋u̸̷̸̩̙̗̩̳̜͕͚͚͍ͨͧ͊̒ͮͨ̌̈́ͤͩ̎̒̾̌̍͗͘͘i̶̯̜͖͙̣̗͉ͦ͌͑͋ͮ͋̇͠ ̵̡̨̧͉̫̮͔̻̖̟͇̬͍̖̦̠͚̹́ͮ̎̆̽ͫͮ͑̉͑̍ͥͯ̂͌̊ͮ̓m̴̞̭̟̻̗̱̟̙̪̺̺̖̙͇̘̮͌̔̌̅̄̈ͬͤ͒̈̀́͢ͅg̛̅̉̐̑ͥ͆̓̊͛ͩͭ̀̾̈́́̚͘͟͏̦͈͔̱͉l̷ͩͤͨ̾ͫ͏̦̲̼̥͇͓̗̻̩̠̖̣͙̭̱͠w̖͙͖̗͈̦͈͇̟̤̹͒̈́͋̓ͦ̌͂̏ͩ̓ͫ́̔̑ͬͣ͟͞ͅ'̵̴͎͇̼̹̪̫̫̥̺̘̱̖͓̖̖͍̙̬ͥ̊ͯ̈́͐͆̑͑ͫ̕͘ͅn̴̢̼̣̝̗̟̙͇̝̂̅ͧ̓̓̄̌͋͐̀͆͘͠ͅã̛̯͎͎̤̺̭̝̪̭̤̖͔̱̎ͣ̍͐̈͋ͦ͂͊̿̓ͨ̐͛͐̾̒ͬ̀͟͡f̵̨̩͕̱̺̟̣̥̤̥͓̐̋ͥ͋̄̇̄̏͋̄͊ͧ͐͋̚͢h̪̥͇̳̝̼͕̥̙͍ͦ͒̉͒̊̍ͮͫ͜͝ ̢̠̭̣͔̻̂͌̅̑̂̋͑͐̓͗̏̒̈ͣ̚͝Ë̛̱͍͍̝̩̪̥͈̙̈́͂͊̒͌̐̽͐͠ͅlͮ͛ͥͬ̽̕҉̵͔͓̗̹̯̝̰̮͖̰͠ͅḑ̼͇͍͔̬̤̠̿͒ͫ͋͆̇͛̋͛̽ͯ̅̋ͥͯ̿ͫ́r̢̛̻̹̤̖̼̩̻̩̟͓̰̻̲̭͓ͤͯͧ͐̽̌ͫͣ̓ͪ̓̎̎̀͘͡ͅi̛͓͙̮̝̖̹͈͉͛͋̓̅͘̕͝͠t̟̗͕̩̝̘̪̪̺̻̯̼̞̯̜̔͋̆ͩ͌̿̏̕͝ͅcͦ̿͊ͬ͐ͪ̃̆̈ͬ̍҉̫̣͙̻̫͚̻̫̝͓̻̬͙̯̮̼͠h̸̴̵͈̼̞̠̯͈͙̬͓̟͍̳͚̞̬͓̬̲͐ͧ̒͒͂̓͆͌ͣ̅͌ͮ̏ͪ̈̔̚̚͘͟
“What.. universal peril right off the bat?”
Ṕ̷̻̩͇̣̱̙̳̩̘̼̞͊̉ͤͪͤͥͣ̚͜͝h̼̺͎̮͍͕͎ͩ͛͐ͬͪͦ̄̔̊ͪ̄͌̽̽́͟͜͝͝'̑̿͆̾͆̅͒ͬͪ͏̶̡̯̬̪̙̩̠̬n̵̙͇͖͉̖͓̖̰̣̍̾̇͘͟͝ͅģ̶̷̪̳̥̥͙͔̱̇́ͮ̇͆̎͛ͨͫ̏͒͒̀̉ͅl͐̿ͫ̒͛͑̋̅ͬ͗̏ͥͩ͒͛ͦ̑ͣ͏̵̸̟͉͖̦͎̥͜͠ͅͅu̧̽̆͂̈ͧͣͭ̄̐̚҉̶̪̰͎̯̜̘̙̘̲̦͕̖͙͇̝̞̜̰̫͢i̭̝̪̭̜͖͙̙̪̹̹̠͚͖̫̐ͨ͑͆ͩͦ͡ͅͅ ͒̓͑͌̄́ͯ̍̇̄ͯ̿͋̓͌ͩ͢҉̲̙̰̮̻̟̠̞̪̲̦͍m̭̰̘̫͉͇͈̥̳ͬͣ̄͒̾̆ͨͧ̑̈̈ͭ̔ͫ̋̕͞g̶̷̷͕̳̖͖͙͇̞̲͍͌͒ͮ̑͂͗̽̂̽̂ͥ͌͒ͯͫ̇̉̓l̴̨̢̢͈̪̙͍̫̝̥͙̳̱͍̱̣̯͖̒̆ͫ̎ͫͨ͢w̥͎̟̬̺̰͚͔̼̝͇͓͈̬͉̃ͯ͊̿̂̑̚͜ͅ'̧͔̮̮̪̮̦̺̙͓͉̖̤̪͗̿͌ͭ́͜͡͡ǹ̌̓͑ͥ̂ͮ̅ͫͭ͂͒͗̿͏͏̨̙̘̻̘̯̗̠̪̠̗̫̮͈͔a̴̸̛̼̦̘̟͍̫̰̹͙̣̠͖ͫͩ͛̓̍͒͂ͦ͛̀f̶̧̨̢͓̙̭͎̺̦̤͎̙ͪ̑̋ͧ̌̍̚͡h̶͙͎̜͖̹͎͎̤̔͌̒͐̏͒͋̆̽̍̊̀ͣͥ͝ ̡̛͇̜͙͔̣̰̞ͦ̋̔̋͗̏͒̓̿̐̑̐̒Ę̵̥̯̹͍͓̘ͯ̅ͭͨ̅ͪ͋ͫ͊̈́͗̾̎͊̔̉͛͜l̛̘͚̤̥̱̺͈̭ͯ̒̿́ͪͪ̌ͫ́ͫͣ͂̏ͬ̽͊͝͝d̨̰̠̩͚͇̼̠ͭ̓ͬ̍̒̅ͤͯ̀̀̚͟͡r̵̷̷͓̣͍̹̰̫͕ͯ̔ͬ̌̾̋͑ͨͫͭ̿̑͌͗̀͝ͅį̶̛̯̻̙̦͓͕̝̬̪̃̎̅̍ͤ̍ͤ̅ͮͮ̀͘ͅţ̪͚̩͓͖̫̹̑̎̊̌̃̆ͯ̉̀̚͡ͅč̶̵͎͍͕̻̭͕̝̞̤̈́ͯ̾̒̂̋̓̄̍͛́̐ͅͅh̐̂̀͐̐͆ͯ̚͏̧̛̬̹͚͉͍̩̖̺͎̬͓̞̀ ͧ̒͗̽͛ͣ͒̈́͆͋ͮͥ́͏̨̥͕͎͎̹̤͎͕̞͇̞̣R̶͒ͨ̿ͥ̃͢͞҉̰̥̗̠͍̖̝͎̞̳͍̟̠͙̹̱̘̻͘'̶̼͇̫̙͎͕̦͖͚̘͉͙͙̬̮ͦ̇ͩ̒̔̌͂͜͜l̻͉̰̻͈͆̂ͭͩ͛ͧ̎ͭ̌͟y̸̛͚͇̹̗̝̫͙͎̜͇͌̈̈̕͘͠e̊̊ͨ̒ͣͩͨͤ̈́̊̋̉̉̇̈́ͩ̈́̀͏̦͍̜͓̞̯̭̠͉̱͔̩͖̱̼̞͚̹ͅh̒̍ͤ̋̿̋̈̏ͤͣ̄̏̾́͏͎̹̠͍͚͖́̕ ̷̢̈͆͋͆ͪ͆҉͟͏̲̣͉̞ͅw͕͍̮̹͕̒ͤͭͣ̈́́ͨ̀̓̐͒̍ͧͯ̈́͆̅͜͠g̴ͬ̓̌ͨͭ͗̾͊ͤ͗ͤ̈́͏̵̧̱̥̖͓̟̘͍̼̻̮͓̮̳̦̱̙͍͟ͅả̸̏͛̇͒̉ͦ̋ͮ̔ͨͧ̒͌̃̽̊҉̜͙̹̟̜ͅͅh̶̘̝̤̲̤̟̜̙̪͚̪̻͓̜̥̞͇̙͚ͭͭ̽ͨͮ͋̃͐ͭ͜'̵̴̧̹̥̙͉̫̳̰̞̗̳͔͇̼̜̫͊̈́͐̉̒͆ͣ͌̋͂̿ͬͧ͆́͝n̴̨͚͕͇̻̱͖͈̘͎͈̳̬̫͉̰̫͚͕̱ͥ̓̆̓̉͘͡a̵̹̜̳͉͈͇̾̒̓̄ͭͪ̑̄͋̑̄͘͡g̴̸̢̲͚̬̙͓̭͍̘̺͎̪̮̫̯̖̅̇̌̓̋͆͊̑̐̂ͭͥ̔͌̓̑̚͡ͅĺ̏̇̓̃ͭ̂̇̇ͤ͆͂͌̎̍̓̀҉͏͉̟̝͎͖̰̮̣̲͈̘̰̝̜̥̕ ̗̺̣̗̣̩̖̰̞͇̭͇͉͖ͬ̇̊̌̉͆ͥ̐̃́̌͌͊̌͆ͦ̂́̀f̭͓͖͈̗͓̪͖̥̘̺ͦ͒͋͊ͨ̓̔͘ḥ̵̡̲̺̯͎̪͍̱̺͇̯̗̟͓͎̫̭̟ͭͪ̋̓̈ͪ͜t͎͙̲̟̠̘̲͈̲͖̖͎͎̬̿ͧ͆ͣ͐̊͋͆ͧͫ̔̑̈́͑̓̈́́́́͝͞a̵̝͉̲̪̜̟̺̰̼̟̜̙͔̜ͩ̏̑ͣ̓̇ͩͨ͒ͤ̋̐̿̉̍̎̓́͟g̵̠͍̭̭͔̙̗̫ͫ̔̅̾̇̔̉̐́͞͡ǹ̨̟͈̭͚̜̯̹̯͍̬͙͔̗ͣ̋ͪ͌̽̽͒ͪ͜ͅ
“Wait, there ARE other players?”
P̧̝̖͔͋͒ͧ̍ͬ͂̎̈́́͘͞͝ͅh͌ͤ̐̉̃̔̇̉̊ͮ̉̊ͥ̚͏̛̤̱̺̝͉͎̳̺̼̖̹̲̝̙̻̮͎͖̭͞͞͝'̧̭̼̖̠͔̓̉ͪ͐ͧ̄̇̔͜͢͡n̷̢͙̮͖̖͎̹̪͚̫͛̊̀͑ͯͨ́̃́̕g̴̢̛͉̦͇͚̥̭̟͔̞͒̐ͩ̓͜͝l̡̢̰̝͉̟͛̄̈̇ụ̷̬̜̩̪̰̮̺̗̜̥̯̠̮͔̭͖͒̒̂̇̀i̸̧̟͕̖͍̪͎̜̼̜̣̮̖̲̤̟̹̓ͨͬ͌͆̓̉ͣ̄̚ ̵̤̖̞̞͈̥̳̺͇͍͑ͮ̔̅̐͗̓̂́́͠m̲̭̦̠̰̍̊̀̾͛̀͌̽̔̉͊ͩ̆̓͠g̨̖̝̥̞̩̹̤̼̼͚͖͖̬̉ͮ͂̆̇̾̈͊̎̐̍̆̏ͭ͊ͩ̚͝ľ̠̰̻͍̤̦͍͎͕͕̼̙̍̌ͯͭ̃̊̈̒̕w̴̺̟̭̲̩̯̘̻̩̯͕̹̩̘͕̠̝̌̐ͬͦ̔̉̓ͫ̋ͬͣ͡'͌ͩͥͪͯ͜҉̹͕̪̞̦̬̬̬̣͈̞̻̭̤ṉ̶̣̞͉͙̱̅̿̿́̒̒̆͠ą̶̶̧̨̺̯̥̺̭̳̺͎͙̖͍̩̟͙̝̯ͭ͋͛̆̈ͅf̨̨͇̣̱͕̘͕͕͕̓ͬ̑͌͌ͤ̀͗́̉̍́ͯ͐͑ͪ̆̕ḩ̴͈̱͖̣͚̮̠͗͒ͦ̅̏̋ͣ̄̇̏͊̈́͒̒̿ ̷̡̼̥̯̼̮̞͓̲̻̯̉͗ͧ͐͆ͧ̆̏̍̈ͪ̒ͮͥ͗̀̚̚̕͟ͅĘ̸̵̒̿͌̋̎͐ͯͫͪ̓ͨ̉͏̬̲̣̭̬̫͙̘̟̭̪̩͖̭͔̥̤ͅļ̵͓̗͎͔̯̬̦͎̖͕͓̺̑͗̓͗̂̿ͅḑ̷͇̠̰͍̖̹͍̜̄̑̚r̨͙̥͓͔͇͈͚̳̬͖̲̱̟̤̊̅̊̽̔͊̆ͩ̿͒͂̾̃̀̚į̸͚͚͚̰͚̩̭̼̤͈̥̯̭̫̪͂ͣ̅̈̎ͪͯ͜͞͞t̴̹̙̮͎̹͈̓̍̐̌̀̐̅͊ͧ̊͡c̛͇̖͔̞͈̭̝̬̮̖̺̮̦͕͔̾͊ͥ̽͑ͯ͋͒̽ͧͯͬ̀̀͊͊͛͞͝ͅh̓͋ͭͦ͒̔ͣ̒̊̍͌ͦ̿͢͏̢̻̠͇̮̰̜͇̭̹͎͝ͅͅͅ
“Wait. Them? Seriously?” I asked skeptically
P͓͚͍̞̞̙̺̖̘̥͎̱̤̞͚̦͔ͮ̅̇̐ͩ̍̔̐́̚͠ͅḩ̸̧̢̥̣̤͓͚͕͕̞͚̜̖ͯ͊͐͌ͨ̀̾ͯͨͫ̅'̨̧̡͚̥̯̯̝̬̭͇͉͈̩̪͉̳̽̉̒͗̓̆̃ͦ̄ͤ̆̓͂͐͌͢n̸̲̞͇̥͚̯͖̜̩̥͓̱̉ͫͬ͌͆̃ͤͦ̈̎͛̕͜͜͝g̸̔ͩͭͥ̓̈͏̷̧͖̼̗̖͕͈̱͔̲̭̖͞lͬ̔͗̍̓̃͛̆͐ͨ̿̌ͤ̔̊ͪ͒͢͟͏̫̭͚̻͓̠̜͓͍͎̫͝u͆̐̏̽҉̶̕҉̖̠̯͖ì̷̶̛̥̙͉̻̘̲͓͈͔͂ͦ̓͂̓́ͣ́ͭͅ ͔̬̣̦̃͌͋̒͛ͭ̅͊ͯ͘͘͟m̡̡̩̳̻͈̍̉͊̌ͬ͆̓̑̊ͤ̚g̡͂̔ͨͫ̽͛́̑̽̌̐̚҉̷́͏͖̻̩̼̪̞̘̦̯͎̻̟͕̗l̵̖̫̼͈̯̻̳͖͉̍́̈̌ͯ̑ͩ͋͌ͯ͘͘͢w̴͙̫͙̙̘ͯ͊̓̾͑̈́̈́̚'͇̳̪̝͚͖̗̬̝̹̞̉̆̊̍͛͒̓ͯ̏̏ͥ̒̚͘̕̕͢n̵̉̋ͦ̏ͧ̌͗ͥͣ҉͕̠̮̗̯̰͙̰̜̟̩̺̰̤̼̗̦͘ͅͅa̶̧̓ͩ̇̓͋ͫͩ͑͋ͦ͛̀̈͒̇̾ͩͮ͏͖̥̞̯̲̤̦̖̥̟̻̙f̧̧̻̰̬̝̙͉͖̑̌̾ͭͭ̐͒̑̇ͧ͛͗̈́ͨ̍̍̓ͅh̨̞̣͕̻̙ͮ͗ͧͭ͆͘͢ ̢͈̲̩̜͈͕͚̟̖͓̭̠̽ͧ̓̉ͯ͐̾́͋ͮ͐͟͜͞ͅͅE̸̷̓ͭ̽̿ͫ̄ͪͬͦ̒͆̂҉̴̙̜̬̪̜̝̦͕̹̮l̢̓̃̌͗ͪ͑̽ͬ̐͂ͩ͏̼̠̱̣̗̜͕͎̖̙̥̪̺̟̝d̸̶̸̘̗̥̠̭̙̓̉͆͗̎̈́ͫ̍͆ͭ̒͒̐̈́̋̇͘͞ͅͅr̡̧̘͚͈̺͖̹̣͔̞͎̞̠̰͉̰̗̭̟̜̒̑̽̿͂̇̎̑͂ͫ̿̽͌̄̐̄̀͟i̾̿͒́ͬ̍̓̽͏̟̝̻͙̞̳̜͔͕͕́͜͢ͅţ̷̤̮̯̰͉͙̥̣̅ͫ̎͂͌ͨ̓̓͋͊͗͘͜c̵̡̞̠̳̟͍̞͓̦̙̭̬͍̣͈͖̈̋ͮ͑ͅh̷͈̯͈̯͔̹̖͎̦̳͔͕̝̫͚̘̼̋ͭ̾͂ͤ̅̉̂̓̈́ͤ͊ͧ͊̓ͤ͢͞͞͝ͅ
“Anything else I should know?” I ask angrily
Ṕ̷͔͇̲̪̟̜̲̞͈̯̞̳̱͖̣̦̝̜̆̅̈̀͟͠ͅh̑̔̎̌ͨ̍ͤͭ̀ͪ̓̂̚͏̛͢͏҉̳͍̟̦̩ͅ'̛ͦͧ͑͐̓̋̿ͤͯ͑͋̋ͧ̒͋ͦ͡͏̴̤̰̭͉̫̫̹͙͕͎̰̰̺̦̀n̤͙̩̘̥͍̳̪̞̺͔̗̳̜͋̓͒ͯ̃͒͗͋ͥ͠gͫ̏̌̀͘͝͏̛͎͍̣͖̰̝̭̖̜̭̲̮̱̳̗̟l̵͚͙̖̪ͮͤ̓̒ͧ͐̊̿̈ͬ̓͐͢u̻̞͚̪ͨ̍̾ͪͫ̊ͨ̋̋͒͛́̽̒̂̿ͬͩ́͘͢į̷̖̳͙̞̻̤͉ͦ̋ͧ̃ͨͫ͌͂̔͗͒̔̆͗ͩ̃̒͂̍̀͞͞ ͗̇ͧͮͯ̒͐͋̐̓̚͢͠͏̷̱̗̩̟̜̤̩̙͙͇͚̻̮̮͉͇͡m̷̮̭̹̻͖͙͓̖̯̦̻͖ͫ̾ͧͣ̐̿̎͛ͤ̏ͨ̎̄ͦ͒̀̉̕͝g̷̛̗͎̠̳̦̭̺̣̩̦̱̝͆͂̈́͋̿̃ͭ́̚̕͠ḽ̛̘̙̟͔̞̖̰͕̘̻̘̗̯̩̌̓̔̓̿ͪͫͪ̏͟͢w̐͂ͬ̓ͫ̾ͫ́͐̃̏̏̐̉̒̉̒̍̋͏̦̥̭̰̤̭̬͢'̸̧͔̲̲͍̦̻͓̰̝̠̹̹̯̖̥̈͗̐͊̍̊ͮ̐̅͒̿ͅͅnͤͪ͌ͩ̆͗͆ͦ͏̯͍̳̬͕̼̰̘͇̺͍̭͈̹̦͔̕a̧̝̬̖͓̦̻ͤ̑͌̽͐̓ͤ̎͑̀̅ͦͮ͜͢͝f̶̶̲̤̹̟͚̜̘̬̥̱̯̫͗̓̋̍̿ͩ̀̎͋̇ͣ̍̃̓̏̓̀ḩ̉̏̈́̀͆̋̂̒̎́̒̃͛̉͛͛̋͗͝͏̴҉̬̱̭̼͍͍̼̮ ̶̡͊̒̈́́̃̔͌̀̊͞҉̲͖͕̖̲̗̬͚͙̩̦͍͉͙̻͔̬Ȩ̷͈̩̼͇̟͔̺͎̩͎̹ͨ̄̾͞͡ͅl̰͓͙̼̰͓̩͇̦̞͕͑̔́̈͞d̵͔̠̤͇̣͈̟̯̻͎͓̽ͨ̒̅ͣͭ̒͗̀r̢̢̛̯͕̻̱̹̼̖̮̪͕ͩͬͩͧ̈̓ͅͅį͔̻͚̜͉͍̾̊̏̓̕ͅt͔̼̟̣̭͇͓̘̫̤͍̼̭̱̖͖̺̠̬ͦ͒ͧ̾̋̋̔ͦͯ͟c̡͈̺̯̲͍̯̲͎̣͈͚͊̋̂͐h̡̡͉͓͍̼̩̱͕̯̣̞̯͇͐̇͋̂ͣͣ̔ͫ̔̐̍̓͂̚̕͠͞ ̴̡̬̬̮͓̝̤̝̹̺̙̺̭͙̔ͮͤͯ̋ͮͧ͟͡R̯̞͎͓̻̟̫̖̝̞͊ͣ̒ͭ̒͋̃̃̑͜͠ͅ'̢̿̋ͣ̑̎ͯ̾ͫͭ͗̀҉̛̦̟̫̙ļ̼̣͇̜̜̻̻͇̦͇̞̰̤̻̟̋͑͑̆͆ͭ̍͊͐ͬͤͭ͐ͨ́̇̀̃̐̕y̷̴̞̙̳̰̺̼̘͕͈ͧ́̆̊ͥͣͤ͆̏̓̿̿ͨ̔͊̒ͣ͘͢e͑͒̒͌ͭͧͪ̾ͫ̄ͫ̈́̑̊͟҉̷̞̝̯̫̹͓̬̳̦̦̥̭̫̦̬̹̼͟ͅḩ̧̧̜̠͔̣̩̗̀̊̄͗ͫ̊͑̅͊̚͜ ̯̰̗̼̺̹̻̤̩̱̱ͧ͛͒̋ͫ̿̓̆͋̽̆̕̕͢͞͞ͅw͛͗ͨ̅̂̍̄̾ͧ̂͌͛̓̎̊҉̦̺̘͓̣̩͙̻̤̙͡g̵̵̬̤̭̘̭̙͕ͯ̊ͥ͆̅̐̿͛̿͗͐͑ͯͫ̈́̋͊͢͡a̸̛̯̫̫̯̬̘͂͆͗̄̚͝͞ĥ̵͔͍̖̤̝͎̜̱̩͍͕̯͈̀ͤ͂̊̆͂̾̅̑ͫ̐ͨ̈̈ͪ͒ͣ̀̀͟͠'̛̘̮͓̘̟͔̘̱͕̖̳͎̩̻̩̤͚ͨ̿͌̂ͫͪ͢͞n̗̝͚̮̼̖͛̇̓́ͤ̃̊̒́̚͟a̷̛̳̰͍̭͉͚̦̺̘͙͙ͨͫ͌̐͡ͅg̷̩͍̻̖̣͂̓̑̃̑͑ͤ̌̂͌͊ͮͥͣ̂́͢l͌̈́́̍ͪ̅̈͗͌̔̋̌̓̚͏̻͎̖͉̰͇̺͍̘͈̮͇͖͖̲͟ ̛̜̖͚̜̠̱͇̮̻͖̳̭̱̘͕̭̥ͥ̇̄̂̌ͯ́͛͋ͧ̆̈͆͊̀͡f̴̵̗̟͈͓̼̘͎͌ͫͯ͒̈́̓ͤ͆ͥͨ̉̐͑͢͠͝ḩ̢̰͍̭̹͉̫̟̫͓̖̻͌ͤ͐̾̾̀͑̃̈́̎ͨ̑̈ͪ͌̒̐̐͗t̲͙͕̻̫̘͈͋̐ͤͨ͂͆ͮ̒̏̓͑͆ͥͨ͛͛͑͘͟͟aͮͮ̄͌ͫ́̒͂ͥ͑ͫ̆̅ͥ͐҉̴̝̣̮̩̻͈̟͚̜̀͝g̶̡̭̬̩̣̼ͮ̅ͨ̎̉͋̀͂̈͐ͧ̽͗̌̈ͮn̵̨̺̰͕͖̩̪͚̣̩̔̄͌͛͊̍̍͌ͧ̅͋ͤ̋̍̎̉̚͟͟͡
“That simple huh” I ask sarcastically
P͚̙̞̪̗̟̣̄͗ͯ̀̎͢͢͡h̑̍ͦ̊̏̆͡҉͔͕̘̲̞̀ͅ'̴͔͇͚̪͇̩̼̩͎̖͔͖̹͆ͪ̿ͧͦ̂̑̆ͮͤ͆͐͝n̩̭͎̘͕̤͍̭͖̱͍̤̙͖̮͒͆͛ͩ̏͆͑̀̆ͪ͆̈͐̒̒͆̉̓̐͞͝g̨̍ͬͤͣͪͬ̈́̋̆҉҉̠͎̼̥̜̱͉̩͞͝ļ̭̹͔̩͖̬ͮͮͧͩͮ̆̒ͣ͒̋͛͛̎͢͠ͅȗ̵̂̐ͯͤ́͏͓̦̺̫͡í͙̙͓͓̘͇͔̥̪ͧ͑̅ͤ̍͊̊͢͠ͅ ̴̯̯͚̯͓̗͇̃̓̋ͫ̕m̈́̓ͪ͆͋͂̑͜͏҉͉͔̬̭̝̻̳͇̘̻̪̘ͅg̶̪̖͔͍̞̠̼̤̣̩̰̮̩̗̲̱̞͕͔̋ͪͩ̂ͧ̉ͯ̑̍̎ͬ͆ͫ̚͜͠l̂͒̄ͬ̐͊̊̔ͪ̇̾̋͑͟͏͏͎̟̣̘͕̺͇͍̣̱͉͈̣̝̳w̶̛̛̱͇̙̏ͫ̇́͟͢'̶̸̧̨͉͕͈̩̙̫̼̠̟̬͎̱͍̗̂̽̈̋̉͌́͜ņ̶̵̷̥̹̳̞̘͖̅ͩ̅ͯ͊̈́͝a͌̿͗̎̋͗͐͒͂͛͒̊ͭ̍̋ͣͮ͏̵̙̦̮̤͇͉͜͠ͅf̶̻͖̞̭͉̹̗̙͕͇̤̠̞͍̍ͭ̌̂ͧ̓͂̋̔͂̀́ͅḩ̵̣̠͖͚͚̝̬͉̹̯̺͖̪̠̟͔̆ͧͤͤ͋ͅ ̴̷̡̞̝̘̜̗̞̜̗͙̤͍͈̳͔̺͎̲̒͑͂̊̆̌̃͆́̄ͤ̉̐E̞̘̲̗͑̑̑͆ͩ̉̀̚͘͠ͅl̨̩̺͕͈̗̼̻̜̗̯͉ͮ́ͤͥ͗ͩ̂ͦ̂̑͛̌ͬ͊ͩ̓̊̀̚̕͜͡dͦ́ͪ̐͌ͨ̋̏ͭ͌̑̄ͯ́̚͏͕̦̦̘͓̲̲̮̙̕r̿ͭ͂͌͋̅̊ͥ̎̚͏̨̘̰͎̼̼͠î̷̵̛͉͎̟̼̠̖͉͋ͧ͆ͬͪ̇͑ͦ̌̚͢͜t͒̊͑̂͆҉̛̥̭̪͔̬͔͔͙̯̙͉͟͡c̝̞̲̞͍̖̰͛ͪ͌̈͆ͨͩ̈̌̀̀̕ͅͅh̶̷̼̱̼̥̳ͪ́͛̈́ͧ͌̇ͭ̉̎͊͒̃ͣ̕͡͡ ̶̲͔̮͚̣͍͍͕̬͙͉̞͕̮͍͔̟̙̻ͯ͛̅̈̄ͭ̊ͣ͋̑͞Ŗ̴̪̖͔͔̣̲̉̅̏ͯ̈ͮ̔͐̅͜'̵̖̯͕̮̦̣͉̻̻̳̹̊̇́̀ͧͭ̓̊̏͜͡ļ͈̟̮͚͚̗͍̣̲̮̖ͥ̎ͩ͑̀̈́̓͌̊͡y͖̞͍̦͔̪̯̥̙̪͛ͦ̊̑̆͊̏̄͒̔̆̋̊̊́̌͜e̴̡̍ͮ̆̽̽ͫ̓̅̔ͨ͆ͩ̔̈́̀́ͥͦ̕҉͎̣̮̲͙̲͇̘̳̰̳̫̬̟̗ͅͅȟ̵̸̠̞̟̖̺̖̥̩̭̳̓ͮ̃͛ͨ͡͝ ̨̏̽ͭ͆ͬ̓̑̆͘͝҉̹̗͔̟̠̖̰͝w̸̧̨̛̛̲̖̰̳̱̯̥͍̞͕̮͇͔̻̞͚͓ͭ͆ͦ̐ͩͦͬ̃͒͐̽̂͛̓g̶̩̲̤͍͉ͦͫͯ̓ͬ̄̏̒͋ͭ͂ͧͬͥ͜ǎ̶̡ͣͨ͆̔͑̌ͤ̿̄͊͝҉͎̤̲̩̱͎̞̻͕̗̝̞̜̹͎̩̺̙hͨ͒̎̀͌ͫͫ̇̿̂ͧͥͮͨ̇̔͑̏͠҉͓̭̺͍͉͚͖͎̟̬̩͎̻̀͟'͕̳̝͓̮̫͈̯̫̱̗͙͎̼̎͋̌ͣͤ̊̇̌̓̇ͧ̚͜͞ͅn̸̡̘̗̣̠̱̩̏̎̔͞ͅa̓͐͛ͬ̋͑̆ͥ̆҉̧̯͙͍̲̮̥͓ͅg̴̨͉̰͎̼̣͎̮̞̼̦̘̤͚̈́́͋͂ͩ̀ͯ̈́̂͛̽ͧ̈́͑̂̂͌̀͜͜l̨̡̥͖̤̱͙͕̜ͯ̓̀ͭ͋͂̀͠ ̯̥̯̺͖͎̺̣͔̼ͥ̆̎ͨͮͭ̓̀͂̆͡͞f̨̛͔͔͉̫͇͇͚͇̲̱̏ͮͦ͒̏ͤ̊ͧ͊͒̀ḫ̵̡̛͔̼̤͈̖̟̼̭͕̜͙̟̭̪ͮ̈́̄̊ͫ̒̚t̨̯͓̳͕̙̬͙͈̹̬̟̫̒͌͌ͧ́ͅä̡̳͙̰̲̰̩͙͚̳͙̖̖̈̈ͣͫ̂̓̏̄̎̒͜ͅģ̷̴̵̗͇̜̹̲̹͙̦͉̺̩͕̜̦̯͓͇̝̏ͫ̆̓͑ͩͯ̇̎̾̿̔n̵͍̰̼͉̝͋̃̓̈́̇̋́̃ͫ͟
“Really? Just focus on the amulet and I can control that aura?”
P̛̝̱͉̲ͪ̂̉́̓̌̒͗̋̚͡h̑͛̉͗͌ͭ́͏̢̮̠͈̪̠̻̳̻̥̖͎̬͈̖͉͓̪̱͡͠'̷̧͕̭̪̝̫̫̞̩̻̹͚̓͛̈́̇̒͐̾̇̈́ͬ̆͗͛́ͥ̿͑̚͢͞͝n̸̸̴̘̪͇̣̖͇̪͎̙̭̖͎͓̠̼͆ͯ̉̌̄͒́̕ģ̞̼̖̙̹̼̟̄͛ͫ̓̉̾̀͐̒ͭ͌͂̉̌ͦͮ̑ͩ̀́͠͠l̵̴̞̹̭̮͐̇ͮͭ̀̅́͠͡u̢̢̝̼͙̤̲̫̹̻ͩ̇͆ͧ̉̓ͨ̆ͧ̒̚͝ͅȉ̸̹̰̩̟̖̜̤͇̠̞̹̠͕̙̝͓̖̥̦͐ͭ̆̆ͪ͆̂ͯͦ̑ͪͭ̑̄ͦͩ̕͢ ̨̢̢̜̫͎͕̱̹̀̏̂́̀ͫͭͦ̆̈͌ͮ̾͌͗̎̄̽ͬ͠m̷̡̿͑ͯ̈͡͏͎̗̳̘̳̹̥͓̱̬̝ͅg̷̯̲̙̞̮̰̜͖̤̯̺͗̑ͬ͌ͨͩ̂̄̓̇́l̴̢̨̫̺̤̳͔̤͕̜ͮͯ͌ͮ͒ͥ͑̄ͥ̅̏͆ͦ̌̒ͅw̷̷̷͎̖̮͔̼͌ͭͬ̊ͥ͛̓'̃ͮͩͩ͗̅̓̔͊̈́ͦ̃͊̑̌͒͂͞҉̨̙̱͉̭̝̱̩̯͔̣͖̣͕ͅņ̞͉͙͉̟͕̟̦̬̖͎̠͇̻͖̜̦̫ͧ̓͆͆̈́ͮ̐̆̋̿̾̽ͥ̒͊ͯͥ̀͡ͅȧ͓͈͎͕͙͙̳́̏́́̏̇ͣͧ́̀f͖̠̟̭͍̗͙͚̍̏͆̄̌͋͂ͯ͑ͫ͗͊̄͋ͬ͌́͝ḣ̌͛ͪ҉̶̜͙̠͇̮̙͕̘͡͝ ̘̰̬̞̺̘͕͎̱̯̘͉̱̘̫̤̫̫̄͐͂͟͝E̡͓̪͕̟̩̟̖̮͍̲͚̤͊ͣ̍ͤ̊̓̆̑̆̔ͨ̔̒̔͋̌̄́́̚͢͠l͒̈̎̈́͊̓͐ͩ̉͐͆ͤ͐ͥ͠͏̴̲̘͖͓͘͡d̵̲̹͈̞̋̍͊͟͠r̫̰̗̣͇̰͉̝̺̳̹͖̦̼̬̤͈̿͋̈̄ͣ͞i̧̡̡̛̭̭̼̗̬͓̣̣͈̤̙͇̊ͩ̒ͫ̔͡t̏̽̈́̓ͥ̇̄͟͢͠͏̛̫̝̘̤͍̮̱͈͇͖̼c̶̢̳͚̬̙̝̭͈̣̼̯̥͉͔̦̱̦̿̀̊̌ͦͨ̉̆̆̑̔̅̕͘hͨ̐ͣ̔͆̊̃ͫͩ̽̓͑͑̊̄͐҉͚̳̟̩̬̟̠͎̭̤̣̲͇̖̀̀͠ͅ
So, It seems that those girls are important. Great. Seems I’m going to need to go and talk with them.
I decide that in order to prevent the kind of panic from before it would be best to go during the night. That way I will be a bit obscure and will be able to talk before they freak out. Oh, and I will need to turn off that aura. If those eldritch abominations can even be trusted then…
Sure enough I find a strange feeling coming from the amulet.
It’s not like the darklings, but if I remove the connection it should remove that aura
I suddenly feel weaker than before, less energy, like I had just gone for a run or something. I realize that the aura must make me stronger or give me more stamina, maybe both. I also feel slightly... different, I assume it’s my emotions coming back. Or whatever, you know what I mean.
Another thing to experiment with I suppose
Well it was a few hours until sundown so I decide to explore the castle some more. I opened up my interface and went to the ‘revise’ option, removing the wall I made to keep the imps and other underlings out.
I had spent all yesterday and the day before searching the ruins and from the looks of it, it would be another few days to a week before I fully explore this place. Normally I could explore it in a day or two, but with the new prototyping, it seems that some of the underlings not only got more powerful, but smarter too.
In the first day alone I managed to run into two traps and five ambushes. The prototyped underlings becoming a sort of squad leader for the rest. Oh, and they seem to be getting stronger the deeper into the castle I go. As I need to be careful where I go, it takes almost an hour or more to fully clear out a decently sized room. There are more than a hundred rooms to go and if what my darkling scouts say is true, which it is, there are also hidden rooms and secret passages everywhere.
“Well, let’s see what I find today...” I say under my breath as I head to the stairwell that leads deeper into the castle.
“Come on Twilight, you love Nightmare Night!” Spike said, trying to cheer up the despondent unicorn.
“I know Spike” I say sighing “It’s just that after -”
“Come on! I’m sure everyone is going to love your Star Whirl the Blue costume!” Spike interrupts.
“Star Swirl the Bearded ” I say putting emphasis on Swirl and Bearded
“Oh, right. Heh, sorry.” He says apologetically
“Spike, why don’t you head over to Rarity’s and give her some help with the rest of her costumes” I say, hoping that will distract him from worrying about me.
“Are you sure Twilight?” he says, sounding worried
Wow, he must really be worried to not be halfway to the boutique already
“Yes Spike, I’m sure that Rarity could use your help, I’m just going to be here studying until later.”
“Ok Twilight, Just tell me if you need anything” He says as he heads to the door.
“Are you sure you don’t want some advice?” Celestia asked me for what seems like the tenth time.
“For what feels like the tenth time sister, no. I know what I’m doing.” I say to her slightly annoyed.
“I know Luna but you have been…gone, for so long that… things have changed a bit.” She says, still awkward about the whole banishment thing. As am I.
“I know sister but I believe I can handle things on my own.”
“Are you sure you don’t want to announce your arrival beforehand? So My- Our little ponies can have a chance to prepare for you?” She asks wincing a bit at the slip, I ignore it
“No, I want my arrival to be as authentic as possible, I believe it will help that they do not worry about my arrival.” I say, not wanting to worry her about the possibility of the Nightmare returning.
This was my battle to fight, she already fought it once, I do not want her to need to fight it again.
I also do not want the Nightmare to know I am coming. I need as many advantages as I can get to ensure minimal collateral damage.
“Very well Luna, but I still say you are making things unnecessarily difficult.” She says as she takes her leave.
Now, I have a festival to prepare for
Stupid, intelligent imps I think as I rest after yet another ambush.
I must admit this one was rather good.
They waited for me to finish off the ones in the room, then when I was searching for loot, Four rushed in from the same entrance I had used. This would not have been a problem, except the room I was in apparently had a hidden room and two secret passages connected to it. As I turn to face the imps that came in the door I knew about, five more enter from what I previously believed to be a painting, three more from a secret passage made to look like part of the brick wall, and rounding it all off was a basilisk coming up from a hidden passage that was under a rug.
Seriously, who the fuck DESIGNED THIS PLACE!?
I learned that while the prototyped imps were strong, it was the basilisk that was the danger. Apparently they were very clever and wow , did they like to wait until the opportune moment to strike. I had yet to meet one in a one on one battle, they almost always have an entourage. They are basically glass cannons; they do a lot of damage, they strike fast and are hard to hit if they have a bit of distance, but they cannot take a hit. I always made them my priority, after one managed to cut my health in half with one attack.
Fuck that hurt
‘Hey Master, still exploring? ’ comes Umbra’s telepathic question
‘Taking a break, why? ’ I ask
‘Night has fallen Master ’
‘Good, I’ll head up and make my way back to that village ’
‘Ya, about that. Master, it seems that tonight is some sort of celebration - ’ Umbra begins
‘Perfect, perhaps if they are in a party mood, they may be more willing to talk and let bygones be bygones ’ I say
‘If you say so Master ’
I decided to leave the ‘look for loot’ phase until later.
“Nightmare Night! What a fright! Give us something sweet to bite!” Said three fillies and a colt in singsong voices
“Hello everypony. Like your costumes. Happy Nightmare Night, Granny Smith.” I say with a smile
“I should have been asleep five hours ago…” She says morosely
I give each of them some candy and let them be on their way.
However before I can close the door, a yellow claw becomes my new door stop.
“Oh, hello Pinkie! How -” I begin
“Enough chit chat! Time is candy!” she interrupts
“Aren’t you a little old -” I begin again
“You’re never to old for free candy!” she interrupts again more seriously this time “Never!” she says again, this time poking me in the chest.
I simply roll my eyes and give her some candy, I am long since past trying to understand her.
“Like it?” I ask as I jingle the bells on my costume
“Ya” she says after a second “You make a great weirdo clown” she finishes cheerfully
Before I can say anything she already started to bounce away, muttering something about me being silly for thinking there was an age limit for free candy.
I look at my costume, wondering how anyone could mistake The Great Star Swirl the Bearded for a simple clown.
“It’s just Pinkie being Pinkie,” Spike begins, obviously understanding what I was doing “Grandma.” he finishes with a snicker
Perhaps Celestia was right. I had prepared for searching for it, but I didn’t think of how our subjects would handle me. A thousand years ago they would be overjoyed that my sister or I would join in their festivities. Now it seems it terrified them that I had come.
I was currently standing under the statute of my much darker alter ego. Thinking about what had just transpired, my less than stellar arrival in Ponyville.
I came specifically to deal with the threat of the Nightmare’s return, I believed that joining the festivities would be the easy part.
“Princess Luna?” a voice called from behind me. “Hi, My name is -”
“Star Swirl the Bearded” I interrupted after I turned around and recognized the costume
“Commendable costume, thou even got the bells right” I say, reverting to the Royal Archaic Form.
“Thank you! Finally -” She begins but stops when I raise my eyebrow and look at her questioningly.
“Uh, Right. Well, my actual name is -”
“Twilight Sparkle” I begin before switching to the Royal Canterlot Voice and fully delving into the Royal Archaic Form to better show her my appreciation.
“It was thou who unleashed the powers of harmony upon us and took away our dark powers! ”
“And… that was a good thing. Right?” she asks a bit worriedly
“But of course. We could not be happier. Is that not clear?” I asked not understanding her confusion
“Well, you kinda sound like you're yelling at me.”
“It is traditional to use -” I begin but I stop abruptly when I felt it.
It’s here!
“Oh, no” I say, causing Twilight to look at me questioningly
“The creature you and your friends battled in the Everfree has entered Ponyville. Gather your friends and evacuate the citizens!” I say, forgetting the Royal Archaic Form and begin donning my armor and readying my weapon.
She immediately goes from looking terrified to adopting a determined expression. Finally nodding and running back to town to rally her friends.
What? I think as I take a look though the darklings’ memories to see what kind of festival this was.
Everyone was in costume and there was a lot of gothic themed decorations and such everywhere.
Did I come just in time for Halloween? This could end very well or end terribly. Hopefully the former, Halloween is my favorite holiday after all
I pulled the black cloak I had alchemized tighter around myself, to further obscure myself. I have a similar build to them so I am hoping that I can pass for some horse in a costume. I had my aura canceled since this morning, just in case that terror field or whatever took awhile to dissipate.
I was in the middle of walking toward the village, having left the woods a few minutes ago. I had come up with a awesome plan that I believe had a great chance of working. First I would -
“STOP FIEND! ” Someone yelled at a defining level.
Or my plan could go to shit before it even had a chance
I sighed and looked toward the sound, believing it was a pegasus because the shout came from above. I saw a blue pegasus heading for me in full battle gear. As it got closer I noticed a horn, causing the sense of familiarity to come back like a sledgehammer to the face. I decided to prioritize the coming confrontation.
“You will not terrorize these ponies any longer!” she said in a much more subdued tone.
Ponies huh? Well they are a type of horse, so I wasn’t entirely wrong... I thought as I continued to push the feeling of familiarity to the back of my mind.
“I’m not here to do any terrorizing, I’m just here to talk”
“Lies! I will not fall for your silver tongue again!”
Again? We’ve never met…
“I believe you have me confused with someone else, we’ve never met before right now” I say trying to calm her down.
“Enough talk! En Garde!” She says as she charges at me as a huge fucking scythe materializing in her hand.
Aren’t you supposed to let your opponent form a defence before attacking when you say that? I think as I throw up a shield. With my previous encounter with these ponies I decide that there is nothing to worry about, especially with all the rungs I went up the last few days.
Unfortunately for me, it appears this pony is much stronger than the others. I learned this as her scythe cuts through my shield like a hot knife through warm butter. With all the experience I had gained from fighting underlings my instincts were able to save me as I flash stepped backwards, avoiding her attack.
“Wait, seriously! You're making a mistake!” I say as I just dodge her attacks, fighting would do the opposite of help in this situation.
“No, my mistake was trusting you in the first place!”
[Bloody Shield] this time using 21 scalpels. Which she again slices through like it is not even there.
Oh fuck the Cartoon/Anime/Whatever bullshit logic is allowing that scythe to be used as a legitimate combat weapon
I decide it was time to scan her and see what I was dealing with.
Scan
well, shit... So not only is she a player I apparently have no chance of beating her...
“Again. Lady. I. DO. NOT. KNOW. WHO. YOU. ARE!” I say, as I dodge an attack for every annunciated word.
This seems to have been the worst thing to say as it seemed to infuriate her further.
“I AM PRINCESS LUNA! I WILL NOT ALLOW YOU TO PLUNGE EQUESTRIA INTO A STATE OF FEAR AND TERROR EVER AGAIN !” she shouted using the Royal Canterlot Voice.
If seeing her was a sledgehammer, than this was a freight train at top speed, loaded with the precious cargo that is the answer to why it all seemed so familiar.
Oh my god, this is My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic! In Anthro form!
Thankfully while my mind was distracted with this revelation, my instincts were alive and kicking, allowing me to dodge as she teleported behind me with a horizontal swing.
Which means those girls from before were… Oh. I may have screwed the pooch on this one. Still don’t know what Luna means by ruin her life though...
It seems Luna has gone slightly berzerk as her attacks become more ferocious, but thankfully more predictable.
Wait, the HorrorTerrors said that there were eight total players. If six are the bearers, and one is definitely Luna could the final player be Celestia? If that’s the case that means they are both most likely God-Tier. This is not good. I can’t beat a God Tier, I am way to low on the echeladder.
‘Umbra I need a way to distract Luna and get away ’ I send through our link
‘What if we can make a ruckus in the village to distract her? ’ Umbra suggests
‘Good idea, I’ll activate my aura to hopefully surprise her for a second and flash step into town and disable it again, then flash step away to the right, you guys get to the other side of town and make a commotion there. MAKE SURE that you all escape before she gets there. I don’t want her knowing about you guys if I can help it ’ I tell Umbra
‘Ok Master, you got it ’
‘Tell me when you all are in place, and hurry up she just clipped me and did a fuck ton of damage ’
A few seconds later I finally receive ‘We’re good to go Master ’
‘OK. Here we go ’
I dodge another of her swipes and quickly search for the link in the amulet.
When the aura returned, I felt the power and energy return to me as well. As I hoped Luna flinched from the sudden appearance of my aura. I quickly abscond as planned.
As I head back to the ruins I could hear the ruckus in the village behind me. Followed soon after by the very loud shout of rage from a certain princess.
With all the confusion from the diversion and an angry princess none noticed a certain human, or the cyan pony at his side, on one of the rooftops overlooking Ponyville.
“We’re done here”
“Heir of Space, what does that mean?” Luna asked
“I was going to get into this later but, whatever. It has to do with the magical abstraction framework that I was talking about, it sort of... assigns those that use it a Class and an Aspect in the form of ‘Class of Aspect’. Meaning your Class is Heir and your Aspect is Space”
“Can this scan ability be wrong, I feel I would be aware of being part of some magical abstraction.”
"There is other evidence that you are part of it. Things like your personality, your past, and your… abilities”
“My Past?” she asks
“It ties into the personality part. One’s Class is largely defined by their personality. You see Heir’s really like their freedom or their ability to do as they see as the best course of action. They are natural born leaders, or have the potential to be leaders. There is another aspect that more fully embodies freedom more than Space, but I digress.”
She seems to be following so I continue
“By your past, I am referring to Nightmare Moon.” I say bluntly
Her curiosity was immediately replaced with hostility. I continue regardless.
“I bet that more often than not, you cannot help but see the throne as anything but a cage, a gilded cage I am sure, but a cage none the less. You are a natural leader, but the throne? It suits you ill. It carries far to many constraints, too many restrictions for you. Those who fight their nature will suffer terrible consequences” I finish
“Nightmare moon is gone and she is not going to return. Ever.” She states with finality
“Consequences. Plural” I state “It will not be like Nightmare Moon, it will be different. But something like that will happen”
“What are you saying?” She asks dangerously
“How long can you run, when you run from yourself?” I ask neutrally
She just glares at me for a while, but I can tell that she is thinking of what I said, trying to find flaws in what I said.
“Continue your story” She finally says
As I reentered the ruins I sent a message to Umbra
‘Umbra, I’m back at the ruins, how did the escape go? Were any darklings seen? ’
‘No boss, we got away before she even got close to us. We needed head in the opposite direction, but we are heading to the ruins now .’
I take a minute to lean against a wall and think over everything I just learned.
Ok, ok, ok. I now know that this is an anthropomorphic version of Equestria. First thing to do is find out when this is, and how close to canon this world is, anthropomorphism notwithstanding. The Mane 6 have the elements, so it’s obviously after Season 2. I believe that is when Celestia allowed them to keep the elements in Twilight’s library. Or was that mid Season 3?
I sigh wishing I had payed a little more attention. Then feeling stupid for thinking I could have prepared for this situation.
Moving on… Luna was at Nightmare Night, further proof that it is after Season 2. However her speech wasn’t archaic. Does that mean it’s somewhere in Season 3? Twilight is not an alicorn so it must be somewhere between the start of Season 2 and the end of Season 3. That is of course assuming that this world follows canon...
I need information…
‘Change of plans I want a few darklings to go back to that village and keep an eye on the village and I want four of you to follow the one I was just fighting. She will not remain in the village for long, when she leaves follow her. Your main objective is information gathering. I need to also get some information on the current events, specifically look for any mention of a being called Discord and a kingdom called The Crystal Empire. Oh, and anything about a Royal Wedding.’
I stop and think of what else I could be having them do.
‘To the ones that are following the royal blue pony, while following her she should meet up with a large white pony that also has a horn and wings like she does. When you see this other pony split up and follow both of them, one for each, the other two should go out and explore the castle and the city. Understood?’
I received a chorus of ‘Yes Master’ from the darklings
What else, what else? I think trying to figure out what I will need.
More darklings! I need more eyes and ears, information gatherers
I searched the ring to find how many darklings I actually had at my disposal. I had not made anymore since summoning that first group, it was time to change that.
Seventeen underlings and Umbra. So I have eighteen darklings under my control right now. Umbra said there was a limit on how many I can have summoned simultaneously, let’s find out what that limit is.
‘Umbra, when I summoned you and the others, it was a heat of the moment thing. How do I summon more darklings? ’ I said to Umbra
‘Focus on our ring and think of summoning more darklings to your side. More will come, Master. ’ He replies
I focus on the ring and soon I feel a pressure building similar to the first time. I think of having more darklings and the pressure begins to release, though, the first time was like a balloon popping, this was more like a smooth and constant release of pressure. This continued for a few seconds until the pressure stopped dropping and begun to increase again. I stopped focusing on the ring and the pressure faded entirely.
Ok, let’s see what the limit of darklings is… 51? Wow that’s more than I thought.
‘New guys! I want you to explore the ruins, I know there is a library somewhere in here. It still should be in good condition, well the books anyway. Find it ’ I said to the new darklings that were just summoned
After I got a confirmation I began to think of what I should be doing now.
If I’m going to deal with the princesses I am going to need to get serious. That means I’m definitely going to need to do more alchemizing
‘Ok I want a few of you to return to the village and, if I remember correctly, there should be a pony in the village who is a photographer. I need some of you to steal a camera and a photo enlarger. Hmm, and try to find a painting easel too. I have an idea.’ I said to a few that were near Ponyville.
I got an ‘Understood, Master ’ from a few darklings.
Ok, time to sit down and actually look through what mutations the darkling’s can unlock. It’s time to plan.
Gone! How could he have disappeared so perfectly! I cannot even find a trace to follow.
It had been about half an hour since I had realized that the commotion was simply a ruse.
“P-Princess Luna?” came Twilight Sparkle's voice
I turned to look at her and see some of the populous of the town behind her.
“Yes Twilight?” I ask, having calmed down over the last few minutes
“Is… Is it gone?” She asked, some worry permeating her voice.
“For now, he managed to escape by making a diversion in the town”
“What do we do now?” she asks
“I will talk to my sister about having a Royal Guard presence brought to Ponyville. The being is very fast, but it does not appear to be very strong. It did not even attempt to attack me. I believe he knew he could not defeat me and fled, with a presence of the Royal Guard I doubt that he will terrorize the town again” I tell her, raising my voice so that everypony can hear me.
They seemed to brighten at this announcement.
“For the time being, return to your homes.” I continue
“Yes, Princess!” Twilight sparkle says, as well as a general murmur of assent from the townsponies.
As I turn to speak to my Night Guards I feel a tug on my tail. I look down to see a small foal in a pirate costume.
“Um... Princess Luna. I know there's not gonna be any more Nightmare Night, but do you suppose maybe you could come back next year and scare us again anyway?” the foal asked
I was honestly speechless for a few moments.
“Child.” I began as I remembered to use the Royal Archaic Form “Art thou saying that thou... likest being scared?”
“It's really fun! Scary, but fun!”
“It,” I start, completely confused “is?” I finish lamely
“Yeah! Nightmare Night is my favorite night of the year.”
“Well then. We shall have to bring Nightmare Night back! ”
With less horrors from beyond the veil I thought
“Whoa! You're my favorite princess ever!” he says to me before turning to a group of foals behind him “She said yes, guys!” and rushes off to join them.
I couldn’t help but smile maybe this festival wasn’t all so bad
As the townsponies begin to return to their homes, I call my Night Guard and begin my trip back to Canterlot. Using the time to preparing for the conversation I must have with my sister.
I will need to talk to Tia about the Shadow Corps. We must find him before he can attack again.
‘ Master, we found everything you asked for ’ came a call as three darklings exited the shadows, holding a camera, an easel, and a photo enlarger.
‘Excellent, put them over there and help search the ruins with the other darkings’ I replied.
Good, now I can make upgrades to the Alchemiter, make a capachiroid camera allowing me to captchalogue a ghost image duplicate of an item, and possibly make a new modus that will be very helpful. Well is potentially very helpfu-
‘ Uh, Master? That... thing is back, it’s above you ’ one says, interrupting my train of thought
I looked up and to my surprise I see my prototyped sprite had returned from wherever it fucked off to after it was prototyped.
Perhaps it’s time to prototype it again? Although I really don’t want to deal with harder enemies just yet… I think as I try to think of everything I knew about the kernelsprites and prototyping.
If I remember correctly, only tier 2 prototypes can talk and be helpful. Also, from what I saw from Homestuck the greater the emotional bond to the second thing you prototype, the more helpful the sprite will be.
I try to think of what I have an emotional connection to, that will be more willing to help me and bend the rules and help me more than it really should.
Then it hits me.
‘Umbra, you said that I can use our connection to look at your memories, or learn everything that you know, right? ’
‘That is correct Master, why?’
‘Can I do that with any darkling?’
‘Technically, if you try to, it would go like this. You would connect to me then I would connect to them, you would basically be using me as a proxy.’
So if I use a darkling I can theoretically exploit the telepathic connection and learn everything that the sprite knows, without all the puzzle shit and vague or unhelpful answers. But, do I want the underlings getting the powers of a darkling? They already seem to enjoy ambushes, if they had the abilities of darklings as well… That could be a big problem.
As I was thinking of the pros and cons of prototyping a darkling, a certain darkling Boss decided to make that decision for me.
‘Jeranimo!’ I heard from Umbra
I look up just in time to see Umbra doing a cannonball from a hole in the roof, directly into the sprite.
The result?
I couldn’t stop myself from staring at the new Umbrasprite. Pre prototyping, Umbra had midnight blue skin and yellow slitted eyes that could glow if he wanted them to. Post prototyping, Umbra now had pitch black scales with red accents and his eyes also glowed red with black dragonic pupils. He also inherited draconic wings as well. All and All?
He looked BADASS!
“Umbra… what the hell?” I asked in exasperation
“Apologies Master, I live to serve you the best I can and this was the best way to do that. Also only tier 1 prototyping powers up the underlings, so no underlings will be granted darkling like abilities.” Umbrasprite says
“Did you know that before you prototyped yourself?”
“Ah, no Master. I did not”
I sighed
“Well the cat’s out of the bag already, so lets move on. What can you tell me about sburb?” I ask
“It seems there is something prohibiting me from just outright telling you things. But I cannot find anything that would stop you from using the telepathic link to get the information.”
I searched for the link to Umbrasprite and sure enough, there it was. So I decided it was time to get some answers.
Author's Note
The lesson I personally learned from the episode was not to make assumptions about things you don’t understand.
Luna saw Nightmare Night as an insult or a cruel joke, whereas I see it as Celestia using it as a sort of immersion therapy for the foals and adults so they would lose their more irrational fears of the night/dark.
“Let’s begin” came the unmistakable voice of #0 “What is the status concerning our insectoid ‘friend’?”
“She is ready to move, the switch will be made closer to the wedding.” Came the voice of #9.
“Cadenza?”
“I have finished supplanting her guard force with my own; she won’t know what hit her until it is far to late.” #5 said
“What of when the bug is on the throne?” came the voice of #15
“Each time we met I've subtly been placing a geas on her, by the time she sits on the throne she will not even be able to realize that her thoughts are not her own, but ours.” #9 replied
“Hehe, stupid bug.” Chortled #16 “Like we would ever give her any measure of real control.”
“Is she and her race properly pacified?” asked #20
“Yes, in addition to the love poisoned fools we have been supplying her, we have also been feeding her information about our defenses and the weaknesses therein. She is quite content to wait, for now.”
“Is that a good idea?” came the worried voice of #14
“We have been giving her information that will only be true during the wedding and have plans to fix those weaknesses the minute it is all over.” #2 replied
“Speaking of, #5 have you made the proper changes to the guards on duty during the wedding?” #18 asked
“Yes, when the barrier fails, my guards will be nowhere to be seen. I do not have enough forces to have the guard completely disappear but I do have enough that those that are not mine will be spread too far apart to be of any use.”
No one spoke further.
“Very well, if there are no further questions on this, we will move on” came the voice of #0
After a full minute of silence, #0 spoke again.
“The floor is now open to any topic.”
“I would like to discuss this ‘Beast of Ponyville’ and the ramifications of its actions.” #8 said
“According to what I have learned from Luna –“ #5 began
“Princess Luna” #7 interrupted
“The day I recognize that harlot as royalty is the day I relinquish my own title. The only reason she is allowed to sit on the throne is by auntie’s misplaced kindness.” #5 retorted
“So the fact that they are sisters is irrelevant to her being royalty?”
“Yes” #5 answered, not understanding where this was going
“And the fact that you are a ‘Prince’ because you are of Princess Celestia’s bloodline, has nothing to do with why you are royalty?”
“No, I have proven to be far above the peasants, and a cut above nobility as well” #5 said smugly
The unmistakable sound of a facepalm came from behind the divider showing #7
“Blue-“ #7 started angrily
“ENOUGH! ” came the defining roar of #0 “This meeting is not meant for petty squabbles. #5 continue with the topic at hand.”
“Eh, yes, where was I?” #5 tried to start after swallowing several times. “Apparently a few weeks ago some creature entered Ponyville, harming one of the element bearers and later beating four other bearers in a fight. Luna went to check it out under the guise of attending the local festival and ended up fighting the beast. It ran before she could detain it. She has since sent a squad of Royal Guard to protect the village.”
“First thing I’m doing when we rule is demolishing that money pit that dares call itself a town.” #22 said
“Can this beast be safely ignored?” #9 asked, ignoring #22
“It is not the Beast that is the problem, it is the Shadow Corps that is the real issue” #8 responded before anypony else could
“What!? The Shadow Corps was disbanded over a thousand years ago!” #5 shouted
“And you wonder why I think you are inept… The Shadow Corps was officially disbanded but it still, to this day, exists unofficially. It will most likely become official soon.” #7 replied
“For those not in the know, what is the Shadow Corps?” asked #2
“The Shadow Corps…” #5 began uncomfortably
“The Shadow Corps is a clandestine order of spies and assassins that are loyal to Princess Luna above all others. During the civil war they are credited with impossible kills and knowing things that should have been impossible for them to learn. That is why Nightmare Moon almost won despite her forces being outnumbered a thousand to one; The Shadow Corps managed to assassinate many of the high ranking members of Princess Celestia’s government and military and seemed to know their every move before they even began to make them.” #7 stated
“Why in the world would the Princess keep them around after all they did to her?” #2 asked incredulously
“The remnants of the Shadow Corps were traitors and defectors. All of the original members that were truly loyal to Nightmare Moon committed suicide the moment they were caught and the rest did everything in their power to cause as much civil unrest as they could, before they were captured and committed suicide.”
"What about the remnants of those still loyal? Could they still be around?" #2 asked
"Possible, though unlikely. The last anypony has seen of the remnants of the original Shadow Corps was during the massacre of Manehattan over 800 years ago."
“I will see about getting informants into the Corps then” #5 stated
“Good luck with that.” #7 said sarcastically
“I believe this will change nothing. The Corps will without a doubt be sent to investigate and or capture this ‘Beast of Ponyville’ and having needed to stay under everypony’s radar and remain unofficial they cannot yet have many members.” #3 put in
“I must agree with #3 the activity of the Shadow Corps changes nothing” #6 agreed
“Not like there is much we could do in any event” #7 said under their breath
A moment of silence passed
“If there are no further questions we will move onto other topics” #0 stated
Another moment of silence passed
“If there are no further topics –“
A third moment of silence passed
“Then this meeting of the Brain Trust is hereby concluded.” #0 said with finality
Intermission - What I've Learned
~~Journal Entry for - I don’t know the date…~~
~~Journal Entry #1 - No. Journal’s are for girls~~
Log Entry #1 - The point of this
I am writing these logs to record my findings on anything that I am researching.
Ok, so each log entry is going to talk about a specific area and will contain what I know about it.
I have a feeling 8 ponies will find these useful and makes it easier to not repeat myself.
That’s all really.
Log Entry #2 - Alchemiter and Punch Card Alchemy
On the back of each filled Captchalogue Card is a captcha code. This code can be input into the Punch Designix to create a punched captchalogue card. This punched card is then brought to the totem lathe to make a carved cruxite dowel. The dowel is then brought to the Alchemiter to create the item from the original card. So, if there is a pencil in the card, on the back of the card will be a unique code for that pencil. Using that code will make a unique punched pattern on a card, which will make a unique carved totem, which can then be brought to the Alchemiter to create more of that specific pencil.
I know that is a lot of work just for a pencil, but with that dowel you can make hundreds of that pencil for Grist. There is also ways to upgrade the Alchemiter so as to no longer need the Cruxtruder, Designix, or the Lathe.
However the true use of this system is what is called Punch Card Alchemy. Or combining two items to get a new item. This can be done by taking a punched card and overlapping it with another punched card. This will cover up some holes resulting in the Alchemiter creating an item that is different from the two cards that were used, this is a bitwise AND. Another way to do this is with a bitwise OR, where a card is double punched, meaning there is a hole for every hole on either card. This will again create a new item that is different from the original cards and from the bitwise AND.
So this means that using a bitwise AND will result in LESS holes, while the bitwise OR results in MORE holes.
I have also found that this system is a bit finicky. You see, it is possible to use an AND or an OR operator on different items that will result in the same pattern. This means that the item codes that go into a new code can only give you a good idea what you will get as a result. Two items may end up giving an item that is NOTHING like the two items.
Example: I tried a bitwise OR with a suit of decorative armor and a bed. The result was a fruit basket… HOW DOES ARMOR AND A BED MAKE A FRUIT BASKET!?!?!?!?!?
Good news was that I now had a source of renewable food. So I really didn’t complain.
Another weird one was when I tried a bitwise AND with a candle and a pillow. I could not even make it because the cost of it was astronomical. It required 45 different kinds of Grist and each was over 100 Thousand, and it required a BILLION Build Grist. What could POSSIBLY be the result of a candle and a pillow that could have that kind of cost?
Actually I can see what it would make now, you will learn why later in the next log.
It appears to be some kind of doomsday device… Looks like the Sphere-o-boom from Futurama
So yes, the items that are being combined merely give a good idea of what the result could be. Also the captcha codes are made of 8 uppercase, lowercase, 0-9, and two special characters. That means there are 64 possible values for EACH of the 8 spots. That means there are over 281 trillion possible combinations.
Log Entry #3 - The Phernalia Registry and New Machines
Ok I am only going to talk about the devices that Mr. Wizard did not talk about, because I already knew everything he told me. I will underline the name of the machine as to make searching easier.
Ok first new item is the Grist Warehouse. In Homestuck, the kids and trolls got their Grist Cache increased by going up rungs in their Echeladder. I have found that this is not the case for me. In order to increase my limit of Grist, I must deploy and upgrade a Grist Warehouse. Warehouse is actually a bit of a misnomer because the device itself is actually rather small. I started with a limit of 100 Grist at a time, this began to change when I began to upgrade the warehouse. I have found that the non-upgraded warehouse increases my limit by 10 to the power of X+1 with X being the level of the warehouse.
When I first deployed the warehouse it did not increase my limit as 10^(1+1) = 100 or what I already had. Once I upgraded it to level 2 my limit increased to 1000 or 10^(2+1). Currently I have it at level 3, giving me a limit of 10,000. In order to upgrade I must ‘pay’ a certain amount of different kinds of Grist.To upgrade it to level 4 I need a type of Grist that I have not acquired at all yet. Meaning that I have not encountered an underling that dropped it yet.
I should mention that the limit is not how much Grist I can have but rather how much I have access to. All the remaining Grist is there but I can not access it. Meaning that if I try to alchemize an item that costs 10,001 Grist or more I cannot because while I have more than that much, I cannot access more than 10,000 at the time, so I can not alchemize the item until I upgrade the Warehouse. I also do not know how much I truly have but I can see that I have more than I have access to.
The next machine is the Recycler. This has so far been useless for me as I am maxed out on all of my Grist types. As you may have gathered the recycler allows me to put a captchalogue card into the device and turn it into Grist. This will make it very easy to make Grist later, but for now it’s useless, as I said I am already maxed. Also I do not know if the recycler will give me Grist that I have not collected from an underling first. All of the items I have tried to recycle have only given me Grist that I have already found before.
Now I will talk about devices that are used to upgrade the Alchemiter. These next three devices are downright essential to upgrading the Alchemiter to is most useful form.
First off is the the Jumper Block Extension(JBE) this device must be used with a Punch Card Shunt(PCS). The JBE is a device that is attached to the Alchemiter that allows the Alchemiter to be upgraded. The PCS is useless without the JBE as the JBE is useless without atleast one PCS. Once a PCS is attached to the JBE a punched card can be put in which will alter the Alchemiter’s functionality. The first thing to do is to get the code for the JBE itself, as inserting a punched card into the shunt with this will cause the JBE to become much more compact with 8 slots and remove the need for any additional PCS’.
The third essential upgrade device is called the Holopad. This item can be added to the Alchemiter causing the Alchemiter to display a preview of what the player would create, adding it to the JBE will allow you to remove the need for the Cruxtruder.
However by adding in the codes of the Punch Designix and the Totem Lathe to the JBE it makes the Alchemiter completely self sufficient. Removing the need to have a Punch Designix, and Totem Lathe.
This means that the Alchemiter can punch cards, make a holographic image of the inserted cards' totem, scan it, show a hologram of the item that will be created, and make the item from it. As only 4 of the 8 possible JBE slots are in use more more extensions can be added by just putting a punched card in a slot.
I have already used one of those spots for a magnifier, allowing me to change the size of the item, and it’s cost as well. I used the code from a photo enlarger I had the darklings steal from the village. (I gave it back)
The last item that I have used is called GristTorrent. It allows those with more Grist than they know what to do with and share it with others who have the GristTorrent Client. When I touched the disk it got added to my Client Interface. It also backed up the HorrorTerrors claim that there are in total 9 players. At the time of writing this I am the only one Online.
Log Entry #4 - Minions!
This log will go into some detail on everything I have learned about my minion’s Attributes as well as their possible Mutations.
The first thing I will say is that I currently can only have 50 underlings and a Boss or leader Darkling. I have found that I have three real perks that affect the darklings which I WILL be getting.
‘Do as I do’ will allow the darklings to get experience from my fights, though our link.
‘Minion Madness’ will allow me to summon unlimited darklings but they cost mana to summon. Currently there is a limit of 51 but it does not cost me anything to summon them should any die.
‘Divergent Evolution’ is the last and in my opinion most important perk I can get. It will allow me to make ‘groups’ of underlings and will allow them to have different mutations and attributes. This means I can make a group of darklings that are primarily sneaky reconnaissance thieves, another that is primarily for fighting, etcetera. Currently this is not possible.
Now let’s talk Attributes. There are seven total attributes that make up the S.P.E.C.I.A.L. stats, and from what I have found an attribute cannot increase past 5 times their level. I have also found that I can respec them whenever I choose.
Strength - How much damage they can do and how much weight they can lift/carry.
Perception - This determines how well they can sense other creatures. They also notice secrets, traps, and other hidden things easier.
Endurance - Health, Healing rate and damage mitigation.
Charisma - I have no idea how this works but higher charisma increases the amount of darklings I can summon at one time. I believe that when I get the Minion Madness perk it will reduce the mana cost to summon them. While testing I maxed this attribute and was able to summon 61 darklings.
Intelligence - Apparently these guys can use every spell that I had learned so long as their intelligence is high enough. This means that this also determines their mana capacity and mana regeneration. Intelligence also determines how many attribute points darklings get each time they level, I am unsure if there is a cap to points gained per level. It is currently unknown if darkings can learn spells specific to themselves. It also affects their level of independence, they remain fiercely loyal but will do helpful things without me ordering it. I personally see this being the most important attribute.
Agility - This mainly determines how fast they are, how well they can stay hidden, how easily they can remain undetected, and how hard it is to hit them. Also seems to increase their damage from sneak attacks. Second most important in my opinion.
Luck - Look I will be honest. I have no idea what Luck seriously does. Makes them lucky?
Moving on…
Mutations!
Through mutations I can make changes to the darklings that allow them to evolve in various ways and some allow them to gain special abilities through that evolution.
Some mutations are simple things like making them harder to spot, making them do more damage, make them faster, develop a ranged acidic spit, mutations that increase attributes… you get the idea
Author's Note
I think I will make any info dump chapters like this from now on.
‘Master! It’s happening, just like you said it would ’
I smiled, I had quite the speech prepared.
I’ve been waiting to ask this for a long time
I peered around the corner just as Dash tackled Pinkie
“I got you now! Alright, Miss Mysterious! Mystery... solved!” Dash begins before stuttering “P-p-p-p- Pinkie?! Whudda- hud-d-duh- hud-d-duh- huh?!”
Applejack and I both walked out of our hiding spots when Pinkie was unmasked.
“Twilight?! Applejack?! There were three of you?!” Dash exclaimed when she saw us
“Yup, we all played Mare Do Well at different times.” I said
“I stopped the carriage bus with these babies, Bucky McGillicuddy and Kicks McGee.” Applejack added
“I saved the construction workers with my Pinkie Sense!” Pinkie said, before twitching a little and dodges a falling flowerpot
“Sorry!” came a mare’s voice from above
“It’s Alright!” Pinkie said
“Ooh, ooh! And I did the flyby afterwards.” Fluttershy said
“I made the costumes. Fabulous if I do say so myself!” Rarity finished
“I don't understand. Why? Don't you want me to be a hero?” Dash asked
“Of course we want you to be a hero,” I began
“But a real hero doesn’t brag” Applejack finished for me
“So this is what friendship is? Passive-Aggressive Back Stabbing? Maybe I should try this friendship thing.” came a voice from the shadows
“W-What?” I stammered, instantly on edge
“I was just commenting on this... ‘lesson’, you all taught Ms. Dash” the voice replied
“Who are you, and what do you mean Passive-Aggressive Back Stabbing!?” I ask a bit angry and honestly a bit scared
“Me? I know it’s been awhile since I’ve been in town, but I really didn’t think you would forget me. First you fail to use the elements on me, then your princess fails to capture me during the festival. I thought I would be much more infamous by now.” it said
IT’S HIM!
“For your second question, this whole Mare Do Well thing was a perfect example of passive aggressively stabbing someone in the back. Metaphorically speaking of course.” he finished
“We didn’t do anything like that. She was being extremely boastful! We were trying to help her, and it looks like it worked” I shot back defensively
“After everything she did, did she not earn the right to boast about her accomplishments?” came the casual reply
“Well, yes… But a real hero should be humble! Taking their applause graciously and just leaving!”
“Oh! So this was a lesson in modesty and/or humility?” he asked, clearly mocking me
“YES!” I shouted
“How exactly was telling her how great Mare Do Well was, while simultaneously laughing in her face, mocking her, then telling her she was jealous of Mare Do Well, meant to teach her about humility?”
That caught us off guard
“You know, in Sugarcube Corner? When you five were smugly laughing at her about how you all were showing her up and outdoing her? Well she didn’t know it was you five at the time.” he continued
“I.. We.. Well...” I stuttered
“Oh, on a related note, did you know that you and Applejack were pretty much the only ones that had a real problem with her attitude? And speaking of! What is the difference between when Applejack was convinced she could harvest all the apples on Sweet Apple Acres herself and this little event?”
“W-what?” I asked as I was thrown even further off balance
“When Applejack tried to do all the harvesting herself, you went to talked to her not once but three times. Yet with Dash, there was no talking, no ‘Maybe you should cut back on the bragging’ chat with her. It was full on ‘Hey! Let’s destroy her reputation, sense of self worth, and spirit’ right from the start.”
“That was different!” I shout back trying my hardest to ignore the second part.
“I asked how. How are these two events different?” he asked again
“Ah didn’t hurt no one!” Applejack said, looking as defensive as I felt
“How was shooting Dash into Twilight’s library, giving Pinkie and a bunch of ponies food poisoning, and starting a stampede of bunnies, that proceeded to destroy gardens and crops, constitute as ‘no one hurt’? Also who did Dash hurt before Mare Do Well?”
Applejack did not seem to have a retort as she went from looking defensive to ashamed and began to stare at the ground.
“No answer? OK, let’s talk about Rarity.”
Rarity began to look quite worried
“Rarity constantly boasts about how her dresses and designs are the best in Equestria. Why was there no suggestion to the others about setting up your own dress shop to drive Rarity out of business to ‘teach her a lesson’ about being modest? Do I even need to bring up the Young Flyers Competition?”
Rarity’s expression began mirroring Applejacks’
“However what truly makes me wonder is this. Did any of you ever think of the consequences of what you all did to Dash would be?” he said almost sounding worried
“What- What do you mean?” I ask almost on the verge of tears
“Let me tell you about how others think and usually act when someone they saw as a hero or idolized is suddenly shown up in a big way. They begin to feel their adoration was misplaced which causes them to feel embarrassed. They will feel like they were taken advantaged of. Especially if they are the ones who started making them out to be a hero to begin with. So they begin to lash out at the one they idolized.”
I was stunned. From the looks of it so were the girls.
“Do you remember what the town thought of Trixie after she left? Dash can expect far worst because they actually respected and idolized her, where Trixie made bad impression after bad impression almost from the start.”
We all turned to look at Dash in horror, Dash looked like she felt the same.
“What do we do?” I ask more to myself than anypony else
“Well, since no one knows who Mare Do Well is, your going to need to let Dash win and Mare Do Well fail, and quickly. On another related note, I believe I can help with that.” came the unexpected reply in an equally unexpected jovial tone
“WHAT! Why would you help US!” Dash cried
“Quid pro Quo” came the simple reply
“What’s that mean?” she asked, her bluster reduced by the remark
“It means that I help you, and you help me. He will help us if we help him afterward” I said to Dash
“And why would we do anything for you!” Dash shouted
“Because you need me right now and I have need of a good tailor. I help you get your fame and the respect of the townspeople back if Lady Rarity makes me a new suit per my specifications.”
“And how exactly are you going to do that!?” Dash exclaimed
“Simple, I will distract the woeful guards in the town then enter. Mare Do Well will try to defeat me and will fail. You will then try and I will let you beat me”
“HA! As if I need you to let me win!”
“Is that why you did nothing in the forest?”
Dash faltered at this
“Rarity, would you do it?” I asked Rarity before Dash could think of a retort, or get angrier
She looks a bit worried but gives a resolute nod.
“Ok…uh” I started, before realizing that after all this time, I still didn’t know his name.
“You may call me Doctor Jackal”
“OK Dr. Jackal, when and where?” I said with a sigh
“Tomorrow afternoon, same place as my first appearance, you will know when it’s started”
“What’s the plan?” I ask
“Well…” He begins
It was just past noon. I was lying on a cloud just above the market place. I had originally wanted to strike as soon as he made an appearance, but the comments from the townsponies made me believe what he had said was true. So I would wait. Twilight outright demanded to be Mare Do Well this time, I think because Mare Do Well was her idea.
Maybe we should have told the guards or warned the ponies. We are basically letting him walk into town. Who knows what damage he could do before we stop hi-
My thought was interrupted when I heard the screams. I looked over and there he was in the center of the market while the ponies were running back to their homes. I couldn’t see any sign of the Royal Guard that was in the town.
Before many of the ponies make it out of the market, Mare Do Well appeared, causing the tide of ponies running to come to a halt.
He was right, once she came, everypony stopped running
“It’s the Mysterious Mare Do Well! Were saved!” came a few shouts
I watched as Twilight threw a few bolts of magic at him, which he simply dodged by leaning to the left or right. She teleported behind him and threw another spell, but before she even fired, he disappeared. Before I could even shout a warning Jackal had moved behind Twilight and did… something.
What was that!? It looked like he just touched Twilight then suddenly she was blasted away!
Twilight got back up and fired the spell she had prepared. Jackal simply made a barrer and blocked the shot. He then threw some of those blades at Twilight, who teleported away before they got close. However when she reappeared, Jackal had already thrown two more blades. Twilight just barely dodged as the knives tore huge rends into the cape.
I heard a strangled scream that I recognized as Rarity and I couldn’t help but wonder if it was for Twilight or the costume.
Twilight rolled as she landed and got back up slowly, obviously trying to think of how to try to get him again.
Twilight teleported multiple times, I assume to confuse him. It didn’t work, once she stopped to fire off another spell he was prepared.
He seemed to teleport in front of her and punch her in the gut, He must have done that weird thing again because Twilight was blasted back and crashed into a market stall. She didn’t get up.
“That’s IT!” I shouted
As I got up to fly down, it seems that some of the Royal Guard were not so distracted and had come to investigate all the commotion. All of the guards proceeded to charged at him at once. They never even got close. As soon as they began to charge, Jackle held up his hand and suddenly black tendrils appeared under the guards and bound them in place.
I landed and charged at him, having no desire to have a repeat of the first meeting with him. I charged at him and threw a punch, but he simply leaned away. I tried a few more times to hit him but missed every hit.
He brought out four knives and threw them at me, thankfully I was able to dodge out of the way, avoiding them entirely. I threw another right hook to his face, which he immediately caught but before I could do anything he placed his palm on my stomach and I suddenly feel a force blast me back. There was no pain like I had expected, I was simply thrown back and thanks to my training I was able to recover almost immediately.
Shit! What do I do? If I attack from the air he will just put up that barrer and if I try to just attack him he either dodges or my punches are too weak to do any real damage.
Then I felt it. It was the same feeling whenever we would use the elements, but slightly different. I pulled out the Element of Loyalty, which began to glow red. Turning into a sword once again.
Jackal smiled wider and nodded to me before gesturing for me to attack. I never actually trained to fight with a sword so I just sort of charged and swung wildly. He casually dodged everything, even getting a few punches in, all of which connecting with me.
After a few seconds that felt like hours he disappeared, reappearing further ahead of me.
“Well, I believe we can end the warm up here.” he said
He then brought his hand in front of him and suddenly a sword appeared in his hand. It looked like the same type of sword the town guards use.
“En Garde” He says while getting into a strange stance. I grip my sword with both hands, he seems to take this as a go sign and rushes at me. Before I could react he was already within range of his sword. He began to swing at my head, when something… weird happened.
Just as the sword got close, it was like the whole world slowed down. I could just tell that he wasn’t pulling his punches, I got faster! It was enough for me to duck enough for his attack to miss me. I swung at his stomach but he jumped back at the last second, avoiding my swing.
What I didn’t notice was that when he jumped back he threw more knives at me. Two scratched my arms and the other nipped my ear. Thankfully they were all superficial, no worse than a papercut. I rushed at him again trying to hit his arms or legs. He dodged again and swung at my chest. Once again when he was close to hitting me suddenly everything slowed down, giving me the second I needed to jump back and avoid his slash.
What’s going on? Is he doing this?
At this point I am panting and shaking from the adrenaline, yet he doesn’t even seem winded.
We lock eyes and charge at each other at the same time. This time however we end up in a parry. Or we would have if my sword didn’t cut straight through his! I didn’t even feel any resistance. Unfortunately this meant I was now off balance because I had expected my strike to be stopped. Judging by his smirk he was waiting for that. He took full advantage of my momentary lack of balance by uppercutting me in the jaw.
“My, my. That was rather impressive!” He says in mock surprise.
I was panting even more now and as I wiped my mouth I saw that I was bleeding.
It seemed time was on my side as at that moment we could hear the rest of the Royal Guard making it’s way to the market.
“Dammit” I heard him curse “Until next time!”
He turned and disappeared
I just stood there, dumbfounded.
He was supposed to let me win… why did he run like that!?
Suddenly I feel like I had just finished doing a weeks worth of my training exercises all at once. I fell to my knees feeling utterly exhausted.
I could hear people calling me, obviously worried. It was only after a few seconds that I realized they weren’t just trying to get my attention.
“Rainbow Dash!”
“Rainbow Dash!!”
“Rainbow Dash!!!”
“RAINBOW DASH!!!”
“RAINBOW DASH!!! ”
They’re cheering for me! I thought happily
“Was that wise Master? Exposing yourself like that, what if they told the guards or worse those princesses?” Umbrasprite asked
“Yes, it was, and I knew they would not tell anyone. Their grief and pride would not allow them to. Did the letter get delivered?”
“Yes Master, it was delivered during the fight.”
“What about the library?”
“We found it. One of the darklings are alchemizing it from the ghost image now.”
“Good.” I said aloud before switching to telepathy ‘Everyone know what to lookout for next?’
‘Yes Master ’ came multiple replies
Putting Your Hoof Down A Little Too Hard
Author's Note
Sorry for the lack of updates, life has being throwing quite a lot at me recently and because of that I am putting this story on hiatus for a while. I don't honestly know when I will be able to seriously continue. For now enjoy this chapter. The next chapter is semi-written so I may post is soonish.
Putting Your Hoof Down A Little Too Hard
I stalked my prey to the mouth of the cave it had entered but a few moments before. According to the darkings there was a dragon at the depth of the cave and I would capture them before they got to the dragon.
After a few seconds, I made visual contact with it. It was wearing a dark gray suit with two bat like wings, one of Luna’s thestrals. Unlike the one in the ruins this one was wearing some kind of full body suit. I honestly thought it was leather but it didn’t look right. After making some headway in terms of learning about enchanting, I could now tell that the suit was enchanted, but I couldn’t tell with what until I looked closer at it.
He was making his way slowly deeper into the cave because he was inspecting every wall. Likely looking for hidden entrances to my secret base. Which was no where near here, which was why I had chosen to get some information from him. Even if he missed a check in, it still wouldn’t matter to me. I also liked that there was a dragon, in case he went… missing.
Now, I could have just sneaked up behind him and use the stun spell from before, but I had a better idea, and one that was far more fun for me. I sneaked closer and just as I got within spitting distance, I activated my VoidTerror.
His head spun so fast that I was sure he got whiplash.
“Hello” I said with the best sadistic smile I could muster.
Now I was expecting him to get into some kind of fighting stance or at least try to make a break for it. Instead, he promptly fainted.
Well that was anticlimactic I thought to myself
I used ‘Revise’ to make an empty square room and dropped a chair and some rope that I had captchalogued. It was time to get some answers and try another psychomancy spell. If the spell worked as intended it would make lying impossible when under it’s effect.
I also took the liberty of taking a closer look at the suit. Specifically the enchantments on it, apparently in the beginning I need to follow Skyrim logic. Find something with the enchantment and then I can enchant other things with it. I hoped that at one point I would be able to make my own unique enchantments, from what I had learned about playing with my magic so far it was a definite possibility.
From the suit I had learned quite a few enhancements, things like making the suit harder to cut through, muffle steps, enhanced senses, enhanced stamina, basically things to help with stealth and some generic things too. I also learned that while Skyrim enchanting destroys the item, here it seems to drain the enchantment, meaning my new friend was now wearing a suit that was not special in any way.
It seemed I was just in time too, my captive began to awaken.
“Uh, wha-” he murmured as he began to regain consciousness.
I had tied him to the chair with the rope I had brought. He was squirming as he began to realize his situation.
“Hello, I'm Dr. Jackal! What's your name?” I say
“My name is Nitebloom” he said monotonously, then looked surprised at himself for saying that
“Well Nitebloom, it’s nice to meet you. I assume it was me you and the others have been searching for?”
“Yes, we were ordered to search certain areas that we believed you may be hiding.” he responded in the same monotone as before
“Wha- What’s happening?” he then said, his voice no longer monotone
“I am asking you questions, and you are answering them. Understand?”
“Yes” comes the monotone response
“How are you doing that to me?!” he said in a panic
I simply grinned
“Who do you work for?” I asked
“I am a member of the Shadow Corps” he said in monotone
“And what is that?” I said before he could say anything else.
“The Shadow Corps is a clandestine organization within Equestria that only members and the Princesses themselves know exists”
“How do the Princesses communicate instructions to your leaders, I have it on good authority that there is no face to face meetings” I say
“I do not know, I received orders from my superiors, who received them from their superiors, then complete my orders and report back.”
Hmm, it must be some type of telepathic communication or secret messages
“How do you communicate with your superiors?”
“A special gem enchanted with a one way communication effect. The gem breaks after it is used. I receive a new gem through a secure teleportation once a day”
Wow that is a decent method. It will also make it harder to deal with them...
“Do you ever meet your superiors face to face?”
“Only once, when I first joined”
I suppose that this guy isn’t going to be able to give me any more useful information
“Thank you this has been most informative” I say honestly
“Are you going to kill me?” He asks with calmly
I was a little surprised about how calm he had asked that.
“No.” I say simply “You will have no recollection that any of this happened and continue exploring the cave you were in.”
I placed my palm on his head and used the same spell as last time. However, this time I simply removed all of the memories of what happened since he woke up, instead of altering them as I did last time. As I was doing this I had my darklings cut the ropes and I walked him out of the room I made. I put him right at the corner where the tunnel split. If I did this right, he will simply continue exploring like nothing had ever happened.
‘Master, Iron Will has entered Ponyville ’
I smiled
This will be interesting
I had originally decided to just make today a lazy day and just lay in bed all day, but this would be so much more fun.
I got up and left my room, flash stepping my way to Ponyville. I arrived just in time to see the start of Iron Will’s seminar. Iron Will didn’t look much different than he did on the show. I supposed minotaurs already looked human like, the goats also looked just as they did in the show as well.
Overall the whole seminar went just as it did in the episode. Iron Will entered with smoke, music and fireworks. The crowd cheered. He talked for a while, got the audience all riled up in the process. Chose Fluttershy as the volunteer, despite the fact that she did not volunteer in any way. Then proceeded to show her how to be cruel to others, with the crowd roaring in applause as she did. Iron Will then continued, bringing up other volunteers, who actually volunteered this time and continued his seminar.
It was when the seminar began to wrap up that I noticed a slight problem with my plan.
Shit, it’s getting dark… I thought this all happened over the course of a single day...
‘Ok follow Fluttershy home and let me know when she leaves her cottage in the morning. ’ I tell my darklings.
‘On it Master’ came the reply
I decided to simply head back to the ruins for the night and start fresh in the morning.
"You make me lose, I blow my fuse! " Fluttershy growled at the tourist
She then proceeded to hammer throw the guy into a hay bale as his camera flew off and hit a bell.
“Fluttershy! What are you doing?! That's no way to behave!” Rarity said a bit angrily
“Didn't you see what he did to new Fluttershy? And he thought new Fluttershy was a pushover!” Fluttershy shot back
“No, sweetie, he didn't. We saw the whole thing. We think that you've taken your assertiveness training a little too far.” Rarity says gently
“What ?! You just want new Fluttershy to be a doormat like old Fluttershy! But old Fluttershy is gone !” Fluttershy says angrily
“New Fluttershy? Old Fluttershy!?” Pinkie asks confused, grabbing her head in the process
“What happened to nice Fluttershy? We want that Fluttershy back.” Rarity asked in a worried tone
“No, you want wimp Fluttershy. You want pushover Fluttershy. You want do-anything-to-her-and-she-won't-complain Fluttershy !” Fluttershy said as she flew around her friends. Causing Pinkie’s head to go all exorcist.
If she wasn’t the bard I would call bullshit on that… I thought to myself
“Nyaaaaah! Too many Fluttershys to keep track of! Make it stop!” Pinkie begged
“Things getting too complicated for your simple little brain, Pinkie Pie?” Fluttershy said as she poked Pinkie in the forehead hard enough that she fell backwards
“Now, stop right there! Let's not let things descend into petty insults!” Rarity said after she caught Pinkie
“Why not? I thought 'petty' was what you're all about, Rarity. With your 'petty' concerns about fashion .” Fluttershy says cruelly
Rarity gasps dramatically and starting to tear up
“Hey, leave her alone! Fashion is her passion!” Pinkie defends while pretending to model
“Oh, and what are you passionate about? Birthday cake? Party hats ? I can't believe that the two most frivolous ponies in Ponyville are trying to tell new Fluttershy how to live her life when they are throwing their own lives away on pointless pursuits that nopony else gives a flying feather about !”
At this point both Pinkie and Rarity are a second away from crying and I knew it was my time to intervene.
“Ha! Well spoken Fluttershy!” I say with mock appreciation
“Wha-What?” she says to me, instantly losing all of her aggression.
“I was just complimenting you on learning the joys of cruelty and maliciousness” I begin
“A bit strange to be telling that to the Bearer of Kindness, but whatever” I say making it sound like I was talking to myself
C'mon, take the bait
“Ma-Maliciousness”
“Well the definition of maliciousness is to show malice, meaning to be intentionally hurtful, especially to those who never really deserved it” I answered casually
“What!? B-But I…” she stuttered
“You did just hammer throw an innocent tourist, then reduce two of your best friends to tears for no reason.” I continue
“NO! I.. I was being assertive...” she finished lamely, realizing that is indeed what she did.
I chuckle
“Is that what you thought you were doing? There is a difference between confidently aggressive and cruelly aggressive. You were doing the latter, the kind of assertive you wanted to be is former.” I say
It looked like she is struggling to understand the difference between them.
“The way Pinkie and Rarity were acting in the market yesterday was assertive. What you have been doing today is being malicious.” I continue “Basically you need to find a middle ground between new and old Fluttershy. That Fluttershy will be the one that is assertive but not cruelly so.”
There was a sparkle in her eye, I believe she figured it out.
“I… I think I understand now, Thank you” she finishes with genuine gratitude.
“Your welcome, I suppose. It seems my time has run out though” I say as a squad of Royal Guards make their way over to us.
I decide to hang around, keeping out of sight of the guard, and waiting for Iron Will to make his appearance. I needed to make sure she really did understand. It was an hour of tearful apologies to Pinkie and Rarity as well as some of the ponies that Fluttershy had been cruel to, before Iron Will appeared.
As they rounded a corner in town, they spotted Iron Will, who was standing on one of the goats.
What an ass
“Ah. Fluttershy! Word on the street is that you don't take no guff from nopony! So, Iron Will is here to collect Iron Will's fee.” he finishes while jumping off the goat and making poses as he spoke.
“No” she said calmly
Iron Will looked legitimately shocked before recovering with a snort.
“You were nothing but a doormat, and Iron Will turned you into a lean, mean, assertive machine! Now, pay Iron Will what you owe Iron Will!” He said with some more poses.
It was actually rather funny to watch
“I said no”
“Ohhh, I'd hate to be you right now, because Iron Will is gonna to rain down a world of hurt unless Iron Will gets his money pronto !” Iron Will shouted while making wrestling poses this time.
“As I recall, during your workshop you promised one hundred percent satisfaction guaranteed, or you pay nothing. Well, I'm not satisfied.” Fluttershy continued, unphased.
“What do you mean you're not satisfied?! Everypony has always been satisfied !” Iron Will said in shock
“Well, I guess I'm the first then. But since I'm not satisfied, I refuse to pay. It's as simple as that.”
Iron Will seemed to be speechless, before turning and starting a hushed conversation with his goats. Rarity had to close Pinkie’s mouth.
“Ohh, are you... sure you're not just a little bit satisfied? B-because maybe... we could cut a deal. I-I mean we're both reasonable creatures, aren't we?” Iron Will says, now in full salesman mode
“I'm sorry, but no means no.” Fluttershy says with finality
“No means no, huh? Nopony's ever said that to me before. Huh... I gotta remember that one. That's a good catchphrase for my next workshop.” Iron Will said to himself as he hopped back on one of the goats and began to leave
“You were amazing, Fluttershy! You totally stood up to that monster!” Pinkie cheered
“In fact, you didn't change at all! You were the same old Fluttershy that we've always loved!” Rarity congratulated
“The one we missed!” Pinkie added
I didn’t stay for the rest and took my leave back to the ruins.
Cutie Mark Crusaders Monster Hunters YAY!
‘Master! Twilight Sparkle, Pinkie Pie, and the dragon Spike are heading to Canterlot to break into the Canterlot archives now.’
That... could be a problem
‘And no one has seen any sign of Cerberus?’
‘No, Master. We have been in Ponyville since Sparkle gave the announcement that her future self had come, Sparkle has not left ponyville for Tartarus, or left at all until now.’
Shit… That means things have officially diverged from the canon timeline
‘What happen after Twilight declared that everything on her ‘To-Fix’ list was completed?’
If my memory served correctly it was just after that montage that cerberus appeared and Twilight had to bring him back to Tartarus. I had intended to stop Cerberus from leaving myself but there has been no sighting of the dog. It was also Celestia’s letter to Twilight, about Cerberus leaving, that cut her cheek.
‘Nothing much, The townspeople cheered and went back to their homes,Twilight Sparkle went to the spa with Rarity to relax. Next morning she was freaking out about a cut on her cheek’
‘How did she get the cut?’ I asked
‘Celestia sent her a letter asking her for more details about when you spoke to Fluttershy.’
I just sighed
This is going to complicate things if the timeline diverges too much from canon before my plans are ready. Well for now atleast, there are three more important events that I need to happen… Well, only time will tell I guess…
I had found the location of Tartarus, or at least the one the sisters had used when they sealed Tirec. I had a darkling watching the entrance, in case Cerberus left before the whole future Twilight thing happened. Once Twilight made her announcement I had been camped outside it, waiting for Cerberus and making sure Tirec didn’t escape. While it wasn’t exactly stated when Tirec escaped, to my knowledge, I assumed it was when Cerberus left the gates.
‘Ok, one of you stay here, just in case Cerberus leaves later. Or anything else tries to leave. If anything other than a three headed dog leave, tell me then follow it.’ I ordered to the closest darkling.
‘On it Master’ came a reply
I used ‘Revise’ to deconstruct the room I had been staying in. Seriously ‘Revise’ was so very useful. It was like living in minecraft… Kinda...
As I was flash stepping back to the ruins I was distracted by a scream as I got close. I paused to listen for where the screaming had come from. A second later came the scream again, this time I noticed there were three voices screaming at once.
As I flashed stepped over to see what was going on. I saw three very short ponies, one was a white unicorn with a two tone mane and tail of what looked like pink and purple, one was an orange pegasus with a purple mane and tail, and one was a yellow earth pony with a red mane and tail, were being chased by five timberwolves.
Aw shit. Just my luck. The Cutie Mark Crusaders… I thought with a sigh
I should have known I would need to deal with their special brand of insanity at some point… Well I did know, I just didn’t think it would be this soon. Seriously though, why do ponies keep going into a forest where everything wants to eat them or kill them with extreme prejudice.
Then I remembered Australia and realized I had no ground to stand on...
However it seemed the fillies finally made a wrong turn and found themselves between a rock and a hard place… Literally, they were at the base of a sheer cliff and they were now surrounded by the timberwolves.
I flash stepped behind the biggest wolf, correctly guessing that it was the alpha of this particular pack. I pulled out a scalpel and sliced its head off. Before it’s head had hit the floor, I had placed my hand on it’s back and dispelled the magic that was animating it before it had a chance to reassemble.
The remaining four wolves, perhaps sensing the demise of their leader all turned towards me in unison. However their body language was anything but aggressive. I had learned that even though they were just debris that was animated by rogue magic, they did have an intelligence on par with a real wolf. They knew they were now dealing with an apex predator. I doubted they had ever really gone up against many opponents who could truly kill them.
I brought more scalpels into my hands and then gestured for them to leave. They got the message and immediately turned and fled. Sure I could have just used VoidTerror to get them all to flee, but I didn’t know how the fillies would react... I assume badly.
“They’re gone now. Now would you mind explaining to me why three fillies are doing in a forest that is just teeming with things that would very much like to do you harm?” I asked the three fillies who had covered their eyes when they were cornered.
It was then that I sensed three more ponies closing in; Rarity, Applejack, and Fluttershy. They all stopped in the bushes and were now listening in. I assumed Fluttershy and Rarity were be curious enough about what I had to say to stop Applejack from rushing to Apple Bloom’s side.
The three of them looked around to see that the timberwolves were indeed gone, before looking at me. Their expressions went from relief to worry and began to look between each other.
“Well?” I ask
“One second” Scootaloo says after holding up a finger.
She then pulls the other two into a huddle and began whispering to each other. Thanks to my enhanced senses, I heard every word.
“What do we do?” Scootaloo whispered
“Uh, why not tell the truth?” Sweetie Belle whispered back
“Because ‘we were here to capture you’ is not something that you should say to somepony who just defeated a pack of timberwolves and is now standing between us and freedom!” Scootaloo loudly whispered back
“For future reference I can hear everything your saying. Also what do you mean by ‘came to capture me’?” I say, figuring that the three in the bushes aren’t going to wait very long before making their presence known. Well, known to the fillies.
“Uh.. I.. We.. Uh” Scootaloo stutters as she turns back to face me.
“Well... We were tryin’ to get our cutie marks in Monster Huntin” Apple Bloom added
“Cutie Marks?” I say feigning ignorance, knowing that it would make them more talkative.
“Ya! … Do you not know what a cutie mark is?” Sweetie Bell asks
“I’m afraid I do not. I assume it is something unique to ponies and as you can see I am not a pony.” I say casually
“Well a cutie mark are obtained when ponies discover a unique characteristic that sets themselves apart from others." Sweetie Belle explains
“Ah, but that does not explain why you are in this forest looking for me”
“Well, me and my friends formed a club where we work together to find out who we are, and what we're supposed to be. We go crusading to to find out what we are best and and then get our cutie mark.” Sweetie Belle continues
“So, let me get this straight… You three have entered an extremely dangerous forest hunting what my ego says is the most dangerous thing in it?”
“Well when you put it like that…” Scootaloo says in an embarrassed tone.
“Also, If a cutie mark is supposed to be something you're good at, then isn’t this crusader club doing the exact opposite?” I ask
“Wait, what?” all three ask in unison
“If your cutie mark appears when you realize what you're best at, or your unique characteristic then you should be doing things that you already like doing, or are good at. This club sounds like you are constantly doing new things, which is the opposite of what you should be doing.” I explain
The three of them glance at each other while thinking over what I had just said.
“Then… What should we be doing to get our cutie marks?” Sweetie Belle asks
“You should be doing things that you have done in the past, or are doing right now, that you really enjoy or that others say you are good at or do things that are similar to the things you already enjoy doing. From what it sounds like to me, getting a cutie mark is learning what your already good at, not finding something completely new and trying to do it.”
This is also one of the reasons I don’t like the concept of cutie marks, I like to think… or at least pretend that I’m the master of my own destiny…
“So you're sayin we shouldn’t be doing new things, but things we already enjoy doin?” Apple Bloom asks after a long pause
“Yes, you have successfully repeated what I just said. Now, it’s time for you three to go home and think of what I just said. Oh, and stay out of the forest, it should be obvious how dangerous it is in here for those who have no combat training. Well... Even with combat training it is extremely deadly place to be.”
Sure I had used just a touch of magic to sort of… nudge them in the right direction... Well it should allow them to walk the right path and get their cutie marks faster and hopefully I would not need to deal with the madness that is the Cutie Mark Crusaders.
I turned toward the bushes were the other three had been patiently waiting/eavesdropping.
“You can come out now, were done here.” I say to them
As they sheepishly exited the foliage I turned and flashed stepped away, just as I heard Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom shout out to their sisters.
View Online
Imagine Dragons, actually don't, they're jerks
‘Are you sure that this is a good idea, Master?’
‘For the last time, No! This is a fucking terrible idea. Now shut up before I come to my senses and listen to you.’ I responded
‘So… why exactly are you doing it?’ he asked curiously
I had to suppress a sigh
‘Because apparently the brothers need this place, and as this place technically belongs to them, it somehow falls to me to get them back’ I answered
‘It fell to you to oust a dragon from the area it now calls home?’ came the sarcastic response
‘Yes. Incidentally this is a prime example of why altruism sucks eggs. Now, Shut. Up.’
After my talk with the Flim Flam brothers they agreed to my plan, on a few conditions, but they also asked me to oust a dragon that had taken up residence in their workshop. Apparently they had a lot of shiny things lying around and when the dragon saw it, it decided that the workshop now belonged to it.
They were also rather tight lipped about how the dragon found the workshop to begin with. It wasn’t exactly out in the open and I was honestly sure that if the dragon wasn’t told where the workshop was, it wouldn’t have found it.
My theory? Someone that the brothers conned, most likely a former partner, was furious about said con and wanted revenge. Revenge in this case, took the form of a dragon, or the dragon was the one conned.
Anyway, there I was making my way though a rather roomy cave. It was obviously large enough that their cart could travel through it. According to them the workshop was located about a quarter mile within, they made me a map so that I would not get lost on the branching tunnels. They were also rather tight lipped on how they even found the area that would become their workshop.
As I took the left branch in the tunnel the ground began to become smoother.
It seems I’m close
After another minute I began to hear the rhythmic sound of a deep rumbling snore. I slowed down and began sneaking farther in. I honestly didn’t have a plan beyond go in and see what I’m dealing with.
As I moved forward I came face to face with a giant door. The brothers had told me about it and how to get past it. I held up the rune stone they had given me and as promised the door began to recede into the walls. What they neglected to mention, and what I should have expected was the noise.
So much for being sneaky… I thought with a sigh
“Oh? ” came a very deep but sleepy baritone voice “So the maggots have returned! Good I could use the protein for the coming migration. ” It continued in a strangely west country accent that seemed vaguely familiar.
I kept to the shadows and moved forward a bit. That’s when I saw the dragon. It resembled a typical european dragon with brownish colored scales. It had a long tail and snout and also had a set of spikes along his spine. I couldn't actually see any wings on its back.
That actually bodes well for me.
From what I had learned, browns are the most rational and logical of the dragons. Almost all browns were flightless which causes them to figuratively and literally be more down to earth than any other dragon.
[Scan]
Oh? So it seems combat is an option too. Either dragons aren’t as powerful as I was lead to believe or this particular one was young. Although it is possible it’s just weak
“Come out little morsels, it’s time to appease my appetite. Well, I suppose you will serve as appetizers. I doubt you two will be very filling. ” The dragon said with a chuckle
“I am afraid I am not here to fill your belly.” I say, stepping out so it could see me.
“Oh? You are not who I was expecting. Where are those other two? ” It asked looking around
“I am here on their behalf. They ask that you vacate this place, as it is their workshop. They need to use it to create and invent new things. They would like it back.” I said casually
“Hmm... I am afraid I am disinclined to acquiesce to your request. ”
I raised an eyebrow
“Means no ” The dragon finished
I couldn’t help but snicker.
“Look Barbossa-”
“How did you know my name? ” It asked a angrily, understandable really as I had learned that to tell someone the name of a dragon, without permission from said dragon, was a huge offence.
“...W-What.” I said, failing to hold back more laughter.
“My name is Barbossa. Who told you my name? ” It punctuated this question by slamming it’s front leg into the ground.
I couldn’t help it. I burst out laughing.
“What is so funny! Why are you laughing! ” Barbossa asked both furious and confused. He was obviously not used to being laughed at.
“Oh, oh my god…” I snickered again “S-Sorry. Whoo. Ah sorry, inside joke. Don’t worry about it” I said, while trying to catch my breath.
Barbossa seemed to lose his confusion, unfortunately what he lost in confusion he gained in fury. I also realized I just ruined any chance of ending this diplomatically, like I honestly cared to begin with.
With a furious roar it charged at me. Thankfully all the battles I had been in had given me quite well developed instincts. Despite the speed at which it’s jaws tried to snap at me, I was able to flash step underneath it.
Let’s give this a try
[Blast]
With that black tendrils began to entwine around my clenched fist. I immediately jumped up and punched it directly in the stomach.
I was honestly surprised how effective it was. It actually had enough force to lift the dragon up a few feet into the air. The remaining force propelled me back down. The moment I hit the ground I flash stepped away from the falling bulk.
As it hit the ground it created a small crater and made the entire workshop shake. This wasn’t surprising as it must have weighed hundreds of tons.
I later learned that Blast actually generates a huge amount of force, but the most deadly thing about it is not its force, but that fact that it hits the internal organs and completely ignores any physical defenses the enemy may have. Basically if it doesn’t have any magic defences then it deals massive damage.
It seemed Barbossa did have some magic defenses as he instantly turned and lunged at me with one foreclaw.
I flash stepped behind him, with the intent to throw some scalpels at him, however that ended up not being the case as one of his hind legs instantly shot out. My instincts didn’t save me this time and I had no time to do anything but try to jump back to lessen the impact.
I have no idea if it worked at all as I was instantly shot into a stone wall.
I used another spell that I had recently learned, I had no name for it but it worked by basically putting an illusion over my body that made it appear that I have not taken any damage and also allowed me to act, and even feel like that was actually the case.
The problem? All that damage doesn’t go away. It merely makes it look like I am totally fine, when I am really not.
This spell was far more about psychological warfare than anything else.
I bring out Astroranem and get ready for his next attack.
“Oh, that’s a fine sword you have there. I think I’ll take it! ” Barbossa says, eyeing my sword.
“Come and get it then” I say as I begin to charge at him, taking a few steps then flash stepping to his closest leg and giving it a good slash.
“GRAAAAAR ” Barbossa screams as he brings his now injured leg closer to himself. “YOU WILL PAY FOR THAT! ”
He turns to me and sucks in a breath. Then exhales a huge amount of sand.
I knew that the true purpose of the sand was not damage, though with the speed of the exhale it did have the potential to do some serious damage, it was visibility. Browns actually had pit organs like a snake, and therefore relied more on sensing body heat than using their eyes.
I jumped to the side quickly enough to avoid the sand, unfortunately Barbossa was one step ahead of me this time and managed to swing his tail at me. This time however I was able to make a shield to block the strike. I then put some magic directly into Astroranem and released a wave of magic from the sword as I swung it.
It wasn’t enough to lop off his tail but it was enough to draw blood.
Barbossa growled at me as we looked at each other.
“Leave now and we can simply end things here” I say
Barbossa seems to take personal offense at this and leaps at me.
I decide to try using Burst again and flash stepped beneath him again. Unfortunately Barbossa was wise to my plan and shot a stream of sand underneath himself. I could tell that I just took a lot of damage as I once again impacted a wall.
I realized I made the mistake of thinking his breath could only be used in a large spray. But it seems he can concentrate it into a tight blast.
I quickly captchalogued some random things to regain some health. A few more hits like that and I was done for.
I could tell that my spell was having the desired effect as I faced him again. I could see some real fear in his eyes now, no doubt wondering how I could still seem totally fine after being hit into a wall twice now.
I flash stepped forward again, cutting his other foreleg this time, I hit the back of it intending to try to hamstring him. From his pain filled roar, I believe I succeeded.
Then Barbossa’s other claw shot at me like a viper, swatting me away. I found myself getting up close and personal with another wall.
I simply walked back in front of him, allowing him the first move this time.
We simply stare at each other for a while. I had also noticed we seemed to now be in the opposite positions than when we started. With my back to the workshop and his to the door.
“Is that leaving quietly option still on the table? ” he finally asked me
I simply nod toward the door.
Barbossa quickly limped out through the still open doors with a wheeze after every step.
As soon as he was far enough away that I couldn’t hear his footsteps, I finally dropped my spell and fell over backwards. Almost totally exhausted and hurting all over.
‘Master…” Came a hesitant voice “Congratulations on your victory and all that… But… It seems the Dragon Migration is coming to Ponyville. Soon, if the lavender one is correct... ’
I groaned as I turned over and got my feet underneath me, starting to feeling like I wasn’t the master of my own destiny, and began to captchalogue things again to restore my health.
Hopefully things go to canon and I don’t need to fight more dragons I thought as I began to walk back out of the workshop.
“Nice going, Spike.” one congratulates
“Well, what are you waiting for, Spike? Smash it!”
We could see him recoil.
“Smash the egg?” he asked hesitantly
“Yeah!”
“Yeah, throw it on the ground as hard as you can!”
“Yeah!” they said, starting to shout. “Smash it! Smash it! Smash it! Smash it! Smash it!”
We could see him lift the egg above his head, obviously struggling with the decision.
“No!” Spike finally shouted “It's just a defenseless egg, like I was! And I'm not gonna let you hurt it!” he said resolutely
“What did you say?” the red one asked fiercely.
“I said no.”
“No one says no to me,” he threatened as he stepped forward.
We moved up behind Spike to make a united front against the other dragons, taking off the fake costume as we did so.
Then we felt it. That feeling of dread and hopelessness that meant he was close.
“Well Spoken.” came a very familiar voice
Everyone present began to look around frantically
“Forget this! Let’s go!” The red says fear evident in his voice as he turns tail and runs, the other two following his lead.
I couldn’t help myself, I had to chuckle as they fled.
“Dr. Jackal! What are you doing here!?” Twilight asked
“You want another go?” Dash says as she gets into some kind of boxing pose, constantly turning, as I was using the ventriloquism spell again.
“Oh, no. I honestly never saw many dragons in one place before, so I decided to have a look. I always had a fascination with dragons, you see. And lo and behold, but who enters that volcano, in the most ridiculous costume I have ever seen? You three.” I said
Rarity definitely looked annoyed that I said her costume was ridiculous.
“When I saw Spike try to make friends with dragons that are following the path of Rage, well I just had to see the result.” I finished
“P-Path of R-Rage” Spike stammered, his whole body was shaking.
I cut off my VoidTerror and saw them breath a little easier then answered
“Yes, there are a few paths a dragon can follow in life, finding your primary path in life is like a pony getting their cutie mark. You have already taken steps in two paths so far, and did not find either to your liking. Now I have a question for you, when you refused to break the egg, what did you feel? Do you regret not smashing the egg?”
“No! I don’t regret it at all, but… but I felt like a coward” he said, the end barely above a whisper.
“What! You’re not a coward at all Spike! Why do you think you are?” Dash asked
“Great, now I’m going to need to deal with the fire and the brimstone since Dash and I are in agreement.” I said before Spike could answer
“But I was gonna run away before you all showed up!”
“Oh, Spikey Wikey, that doesn’t make you a coward.” Rarity said in a soothing voice, as she pulled him into a hug.
“Once more I must agree. Do you feel like a coward because you wanted to run instead of fight? Run from a fight you had no hope of winning on your own? Because fighting a battle you cannot hope to win is not courage. That is stupidity.”
“But.. But..” He stammers once again
“Courage is not the absence of fear. It’s acting despite your fears. You would have been a coward if you broke that egg, knowing it was wrong, but doing it anyway because you were afraid. You showed real bravery and courage to stand up to those dragons.” I explain
“Without fear, courage does not exist.” Twilight said softly, then continued when her friends looked towards her “Celestia once told me that.”
“Correct” I said, stepping out, now with two phoenixes on my shoulders
They were stunned when they saw the three of us.
I looked down at the egg in Spike’s claws, he looked down at it sadly before holding it out toward the phoenixes.
They simply cawed at him and ruffled their feathers.
After seeing Spikes confused face, I held out an arm in front of me and one of the phoenixes moved from my shoulder to it.
“Phoenixes are a rather interesting species.” I stated simply looking at the big red bird.
“When a creature of another species saves an egg, the parents then give the egg to the one who saved it as a gift, basically saying they are worthy to raise it. I personally think that they see the fact that the egg needed saving means that they failed as parents, but that's simply my speculation.”
Thank you Celestia for keeping such a detailed record of caring for Philomena, and your research on phoenixes in general. That you were also gracious enough to leave in the ruin’s library I thought to myself
Twilight’s jaw dropped, whether this was do to me not using Celestia's title or that I seemed to know so much about phoenixes, I wasn’t sure.
“I… I don’t know how to take care of a phoenix.” Spike admitted
“Talk to Celestia, she had to raise Philomena. I’m sure she will help you with whatever you need.”
I threw out my arm so that the phoenix on it would fly off, toward the quartet. As they ducked to avoid being hit, I turned and brushed off the other phoenix then flashed stepped away.
Sorry everyone who liked my story, however I have just lost all interest in continuing this story so I am hereby cancelling it here. I really feel I bit off more than I can chew and I just can't get back into writing for it.
I know myself and I will eternally bug me if I simply set it to Cancelled and leave it at that. So here is an overview of the plot of The Lord of Void from where I left off to the very end of the story.
The next chapter that would have been released would be the Wedding Invasion by the changelings. I was going to start the chapter off with Jack just outside the barrier and looking in, with a darkling saying that the bearers had just entered. I would then cut to the barrier breaking and Jack walking in. Jack would have casually strolled through Canterlot, killing changelings left and right as well as helping out some civilians and the guards who were being attacked. I would then cut to the throne room showing that the elements had just been captured and Chrysalis giving her victory monologue, in canon this is when Twilight would free Cadence and she would go to Shining, blah blah blah… Instead a changeling would interrupt her and tell her about the mysterious creature that was decimating her army. She would flip out and order the changeling to bring her its head. As the changeling rushed out I was going to have Jack walk in a second later saying something like ‘One head as requested’. Chrysalis and Jack would then fight. I intended to show that Jack was just wasting time, antagonizing the queen until the canon ending of the invasion happened. It would then cut to Jack back at the ruins looking at the stolen statue of Discord. It would cut again to Celestia jumping up and screaming ‘WHAT’ at Jack back in the interrogation room and running out. This is how the chapter would end.
Ok, Ok… I can do this.
‘You’re ready? I never tried to do this at such a distance’
‘Yes Master, whenever you’re ready’
I gave a tug on the connection to that darkling and took a deep breath.
[Transversal]
Suddenly my vision was obscured by shadows. The next thing I notice is that I am now in a frozen tundra. The next-
“YOU WHAT!” Twilight shouted
“I said I used a spell to go from the ruins to the Frozen North.” I casually replied
“But… But… But… The amount of raw magic necessary… The calculations to teleport that distance… IT’S ASTRONOMICAL!”
“Twilight, please calm down” Celestia said soothingly
Twilight takes a few deep breaths before giving me a light glare.
“Explain” she downright orders
“Transversal and Teleportation spells,” I begin “while producing the same effect, have radically different methods of doing it. If I could borrow a piece of parchment I could give you a practical demonstration of how.”
Twilight immediately threw a blank piece of parchment to me. I also noticed the look of annoyance that flashed across both princesses faces.
“OK. Both Transversal and Teleportation are spells that are designed to allow for rapid movement between point A and point B” I begin while tapping a finger on either side of the parchment.
“Now Teleportation works by breaking down whatever is being moved at a molecular level and moving it from point A to point B at the speed of light, then reassemble to molecules back into the original thing. The farther the distance the more energy is needed.”
I noticed that I now only have the attention of three ponies, the rest seem to be daydreaming. This ranged from Dash who is staring at the ceiling, to Rarity who is looking at me, but is obviously checked out, to Pinkie who had fallen asleep with her head on the table and tongue hanging out.
Now that’s real talent
“Fun fact: Your method of teleportation actually kills any living thing, then brings it back to life after it reappears. It simply happens so fast that the organism simply doesn’t realize it should be dead.” I said with a smirk.
That got everyone’s attention, well except for Pinkie who snorted and rolled over… Onto the floor.
“My Transversal works differently. While it allow me to move from point A to point B it does so in a very different way.” I say holding up the parchment with a finger on both ends.
“Now where teleportation actually moves in a straight line, transversal actually warps space,” I say as I begin to fold the parchment so that the points are overlapping “so that I simply… slip through the fabric of space from point A to point B. With Transversal there is no limit in terms of distance, though it has its own set of limitations”
Twilight looked absolutely gobsmacked
“May I continue?” I ask before she could recompose and go full research mode on me.
“Please do.” Celestia says while eyeing Twilight warily
This will be a major plot point in the very last act.
Act 2 would begin with mostly slice of life things including Jack teaching the others on the finer points of what they need to know before deploying their machines and beginning the game in earnest. This is also when I would have started trying for crossovers with other Displaced. Pinkie would also never try to throw a party for Jack but would say she already did when asked, the ponies and Jack would just let it go and the readers wouldn’t know why until much later. Some of what I wrote about Jack teaching them about the game is like this;
I take out a tomato and show it to them
Act 3 would start with Discord revealing to them that the only way to get strong enough to beat the Black Rulers now was for all of them to reach God Tier, is to confront the denizen of the planet, who rests at the center of the planet. The princesses will tell them that the only way to the center of the planet is through Tartarus. But the only way in to Tartarus is to get past three trials; a maze, Cerberus, and a riddle to open the Gates of Tartarus (Sphinx riddle). The first half of Act 3 would be the seven of them going around getting what they need to enter Tartarus. For the maze they would need to go to the Minotaur capital Labyrinthia to get a guide to lead them through the maze. Go to the Diamond Dog territory to learn how to get past Cerberus. I planned to play this one for laughs, as Celestia is first explaining it to them Jack would sarcastically ask if a rolled up newspaper while pantomiming bopping it on the nose. The dogs will give them a giant rolled up newspaper and tell them to whack Cerberus on each of its snouts; first the left, then the right, then the middle. Finally they need to go to the land of the cats (I was thinking of calling them Felyne or something don’t remember if there is a canon name) to learn of the riddle and how to open the gates into Tartarus.
Once they defeat Lucifer, they are teleported back to Celestia’s tea room with Celestia and Discord having tea together. I wanted the conversation to go like this;
Suddenly my vision goes white, by the time I blink the spots out of my eyes, I notice that we’re now in Celestia’s tea room. A tea room filled by a confused and surprised Celestia and a smug Discord who is daintily sipping from a tea cup.
His shit eating grin told me everything I needed to know.
And that Ladies and Gentlemen is how the Lord of Void ends.
A few things that I couldn’t really fit in that, but would have been talked about or would happen during Act 5.
Time Shenanigans:
Silence
Silence and boredom
That pretty much sums up the last few hours quite nicely. No sound of guards patrolling, no other prisoners, nothing, just silence. I even began to entertain the thought that they had these rooms were soundproofed. I knew they weren’t, I heard the guards leaving after they put me in here. I'm also relatively sure that I am the only one down here.
I checked my interface and saw that it had been over three hours since the guards had left.
Really?
Three hours and no checking on the prisoner?
Although to be honest, with all the excitement as of late it is actually nice to just sit around. I had spent most of the time playing with my magic, learning new spells, revolutionizing outside the box. That kind of thing.
Now, they weren’t stupid enough to allow me full access to my magic, that’s what these stylish crystal manacles that went halfway to my elbows, were for. However I quickly learned that they do nothing to inhibit the power I recieved from my Aspect, or the bonuses I got from my Class.
I could have easily used those powers to break the manacles and use ‘Revise’ to escape, however that would be counterproductive to my goals and my plans.
I also passed some of the time by running over my plans, both past and present. As well as thinking over everything that happened since I got to this world. I wanted to make sure I would be able to recall as much as possible. Of course I wasn’t going to tell them everything , but I would tell them enough. Maybe some lies of omission, but no outright lies, not yet.
Nothing to do but wait I thought.
So here I am, simply sitting in my cell waiting for the guards to come and ‘interrogate’ me. I had to chuckle at that, these guys are far too soft to get me to say anything other than what I want to say.
I looked around admiring the crystalline structure I was in, It looked like it was literally made of one solid piece of crystal. Although since I was in the Crystal Empire when they finally caught me, I guess it is not really surprising that everything is made of crystal. It seems that they were smart enough not to try transporting me back to Equestria.
About ten minutes later, I heard the sound of four metal boots coming toward my cell. A few seconds later the door receded into the floor admitting two beings into my new home. They were both ponies. Anthropomorphic ponies to be precise. Wearing armor that looks like an amalgamation of every design flaw I could even imagine. Seriously it looks like it was made of iron and gold and only had a helmet, chestplate, a belt with a sword, gauntlets, and boots. Even with that only about 20-30% of their bodies were covered.
Ever see female armor designs from some MMORPGs? It’s like that, except every one wears it, male or female. I can’t imagine they have any real defensive value whatsoever.
Seriously, who the hell designed that armor. I mean all of them wear it so it is obviously standard issue, despite the fact it would be better suited for a stripper or a character designed to be fanservice.
“Get up.” One orders.
Well atleast they have the attitude. No nonsense, I like it. I think as I follow them like the good prisoner I want them to think I am. No sense rocking the boat. Not yet, anyway.
They lead me from my cell down a corridor, of crystal, up some stairs, and down another hall and over to an unassuming door that, you guessed it, were all made of crystal. Said door recedes into the floor like my cell door did and we enter, the door closing just after we pass the threshold.
Inside the room is, without question, an interrogation room. Nothing but blank walls, two chairs with a table that has a jug of water and two glasses on it, all crystal, if you didn’t spot the pattern yet. Thanks to the sensing abilities I had gained since coming here, I knew that the ‘wall’ farthest from me was something like a one way mirror. I could tell that there were three ponies behind it and I could recognize the aura of two of them. Twilight and Luna, I assume the last one was a scribe or something similar. My two guards move to the edges opposed to two other guards that were already in the room.
Seems they are not as hopeless as I had originally believed. Good, that will make things easier
One of the two chairs was already occupied by a mare I had not actually met yet, but who I knew a great deal about. Even sitting down I could tell she was a bit taller than me, maybe 4 or 5 inches. Being 6 feet tall myself this is rather large, especially since the average mare doesn’t seem to be taller than around 4 and a half feet. Oh, and how could I possibly not notice those double or maybe even triple F cups. From my vantage point I could see quite a lot of them. Adding in her looks, I wouldn’t be surprised if she could pass for a fertility goddess or something. I couldn’t find any record or anything suggesting a paramor, current or past. That would honestly be depressing if she truly is as old as the records, and my informants, claimed.
I’m getting sidetracked.
I sat down in the chair and simply waited for her to begin speaking.
“I am Princess -” She begins
“After everything I have done, after everything I have proven capable of doing, do you really think I don’t know who you and your sister are, Celestia?” I interrupted calmly. I wanted to get this started, it was going to take a while and I had better things to do. Figured I would get the ball rolling a bit faster.
If she was annoyed that I didn’t use her title nor show her any respect, she didn’t show it. I was actually slightly surprised that she didn’t even seem to react.
Interesting
“Very well” She says without missing a beat. “I have some questions and I highly suggest you answer all of them fully and truthfully”
I nod
“Let’s begin with something easy, Who are you?” She begins
“My name is Jack Frost.” I answer simply
She waited, likely expecting me to elaborate.
“That is not what you told my little ponies.” She finally said in a neutrally.
“There were extenuating circumstances, I did not wish to reveal my name to your ‘little ponies’.” I quipped. “Not after the warm, or should I say fiery, welcome they gave me.”
“What would you prefer to be called?” She asks “Jack Frost or Dr. Jackal?”
“Jack Frost is fine, I believe my time of antagonism is about over.” I said casually.
“So Mr. Frost, let us move on to other things” She says “How did you come to Equestria? You are obviously not from anywhere around here, and why did you seem to go out of your way to torment my little ponies? Especially my student and her friends.”
“I am afraid that for the first question, I have no idea how I arrived here, I was in one place, then I was in a forest. No memory of how I got from one location to the other.” I admit “As for the second; They started it, I ended it. Period” I say with a smirk.
She simply looks at me for a few seconds, no glare, no stare. Just an emotionless mask.
“I believe I will need to hear your side of the events starting from when you arrived in Equestria up until now.” She finally says
“Very well, although, I would like to hear from your little ponies’ side of the events. They did some strange things and I am rather curious about their reasons for doing them. I would, of course, give my side of the story first. I am sure they gave you a complete and biased view of what happened.” I say
After another short impromptu staring contest she agrees.
“Alright Celly, let me tell you the story of how we got here!” I say while smiling widely
Author's Note
I had this idea in the back of my head for a while. This will mainly be a Displaced fic with Homestuck concepts and such.
Authors, let me know if you would like to do a crossover. I'm game.
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So a Lord, two Con Men, and a Thestral walk into a bar...
‘Master, there is a - ’ came a telepathic voice
‘I’M A BIT BUSY AT THE MOMENT! ’ I interrupted just as I dodged a punch from an Obsidian Giclops.
I had learned very quickly that Giclops’ were very strong and were the definition of a bullet sponge enemy. Thankfully they were slow in both in movement and in wit. With my speed it is easy to confuse and outsmart them. However I still needed to concentrate because they did tons of damage. According to the scan I did before the threat level on this thing was extreme. This meant that it would be a long and possibly difficult battle.
The first Giclops I fought was an Onyx Giclops with a threat level of moderate. It legitimately took me 25 minutes to beat it because of its huge amount of HP. This one was an extreme threat and I would not be surprised to learn I had been fighting for at least 40 minutes so far. My stamina was beginning to wane and the Giclops was getting closer and closer to landing a hit.
The area we began our battle in was what I could only guess was the treasury or vault of the castle. There were some gold bits and gems scattered about, it was obvious this place was cleared out in a hurry, whether by the owners or by looters, I had no idea. The area was huge and so was the Giclops, the last one I fought was in what I assume was an underground training facility. Why it was underground I had no idea.
I had come to the conclusion that the best way to fight these Giclops’ was to outsmart them. My strategy for fighting them was to use afterimages to make it attack air and open itself up to a counterattack. It was really about being cautious and never make an attack that I wasn’t absolutely sure that it would not be able to counter me in any way.
Basically it was a very slow battle, thankfully it seemed Giclops’ hated being in groups. Both times there was nothing around them when we fought.
Ten minutes later the Obsidian Giclops finally made it’s final mistake by trying to hit an afterimage of me that I had left behind as I flash stepped behind it, creating a nice opening for me to exploit. It exploded into Grist as I slashed it in the nape of it’s neck using my newest sword Astroranem. Took me a week to get all of the Grist to finally alchemize it. So far it was well worth it. The next thing I was going for was a sword that looked like it came right from Skyrim and cost three thousand Build Grist and a bunch of other Grist as well, including a type I had not encountered yet.
As I collected the Grist that had filled the room, I checked on my Grist Warehouse and sure enough Obsidian was the last type of Grist I needed to upgrade the Warehouse to level 5. Allowing me to have a hundred thousand of each Grist types at one time. It also dropped gold which was apparently the missing Grist to my soon to be newest sword.
‘Ok, I’m done. What’s up?’ I send to the darkling that had tried to talk to me before.
‘One of those thestrals from Luna’s guard is hanging around up here ’ came the response
‘What? What time is it?’ I ask
‘ It’s still a few hours from dusk’
I look toward Astroranem, I had alchemized it from one of Luna’s old banners and an ornate officers sword that I had found while exploring. It cost quite a lot but was better than the Blood Sword that I had made from a rusty sword and my Blood modus.
Well Luna your imagery gave me a good sword, what will one of your agents give me?
‘What is he doing? ’ I ask
‘Looks like he is waiting for dark before entering the ruins, seems they know we are her e’
‘No, they think we are here. They have no proof, beyond that I am definitely somewhere in the Everfree, or else they would come in force. ’
‘What do you want us to do Master?’ came the reply after a few seconds
‘I’ll be up in a minute, just keep an eye on him. I have a plan’
I do have a new spell I would like to try.
I sat waiting in a hidden alcove of the ruins and looked through the eyes of my darklings. The thestral had been stalking around the ground floor of the ruins. Thankfully I had taken to moving everything underground weeks ago and making/removing walls with ‘Revise’.
He was actually rather methodical, moving throughout the ruins in a search pattern. Going from one room to the next, never once dropping his guard. Unfortunately for him, my darklings were far better at being sneaky than he was.
I had been playing with my VoidTerror seeing what I could do with it and I had found a way to bring out the shadows to surround me, making me blend in perfectly with the shadows around me. The only way he would know I was here would be to physically touch me. Which he would not be able to do as I would strike first.
He rounded the corner and looked directly at me. Then turned and looked down the corridor I was facing. As before he turned toward me to search for any hidden passages before he would turn and continue down the corridor. This time however, would not go as he planned.
As he neared I got into a runners’ stance and brought my palm in line with his head.
He took two more steps and before he could lift his leg again I charged. All he had time to do was look at me with wide eyes before my hand patted him on the head.
Normally he would be rather offput by this, however my hand was charged with a stunning spell, which caused him to crumple like a puppet with it’s strings cut.
Ok, let’s see if this works
I put my hand back on his head and attempted the spell I wanted to try. It would basically alter his memories slightly. I had already known that there are two types of memory, short term and long term. The ponies did not seem to know this… or atleast they didn’t a thousand years ago, but from what I had gathered, it seems that they still do not know this. From some of the reading I had done in the library, it was possible to use magic to alter memories but it was ludicrously difficult… for long term memory. Short term however, I found was almost scarily easy to change.
I used the spell I had prepared on my way back up so that he would forget about finding anything that would even hint that there may be anything living here, including seeing me. I even made him ‘remember’ running into, and avoiding, some imps. Since this place was crawling with them when I first got here. This would drastically lower the chance of being found, and him returning. I had originally intended to take him captive and trying to pump him for information. But I assumed that he must have a specific window of time where he had to report back and didn’t want to make it obvious where I was. Besides I had sent more darklings to Canterlot, and it seems I would be sending a few more. None of them seemed to know that this one was coming before he got here.
I placed some rubble by his head. He would wake up and believe he was knocked unconscious by some falling debris. With the imps he now remembers seeing, he will likely believe it was due to one of them, as well as call it a night and leave.
‘Master, it seems Cider season has begun in Ponyville’
Oh? Then that means the Flim Flam brothers will be making an appearance. I cant wait to give my comeback to Applejack’s ‘didn't learn anythin’ lesson
It had been a few days since the thestral was here and as I expected he left when he woke up and hasn’t come back. I made the darklings make noises and such to make him believe they were imps, their noises would lead him to assume he had managed to simply evade them and not question why he never encountered any on his way back. There have been other thestrals sighted in the forest, searching caves and such for me no doubt.
‘Let me know when The Flim Flam Brothers show up’
I went back to my alchemiter. I had been playing with combinations and creating Dawnbreaker. Seriously not only was it called Dawnbreaker it looked exactly like the Daedric Artifact from Skyrim.
I had also found that while using things symbolic of Celestia made better swords than things symbolic of Luna, it was exactly the opposite when it came to my scalpels. I assumed it had to do with associations.
Hmm, I wonder what would happen if I try to combine swords or a sword with a scalpel...
I try to combine the Astroranem with the newly created Dawnbreaker with a bitwise AND. It was a greatsword that truly looked like a frankenblade. I decided to try a bitwise OR, resulting in a duel blade, half Astroranem and half Dawnbreaker.
Hmm, I have another sword… Wonder what will happen if I add that to these.
I take the double punched Bitwise OR card and try to combine it with the Blood Sword. The result was a sword called Vicious Heart. Just looking at the holographic image I knew I had to have this sword. Judging by the cost. I knew I just stumbled upon a late game ultimate weapon.
It cost over 1.2 million Build Grist, 1.2 million Garnet, 1.2 million Ruby, 1.2 million Onyx, 1.2 million Obsidian, 1.2 million Gold, 1.2 million Diamond and 1 of a Grist type I haven’t discovered yet.
Holy SHIT! It’s going to take me months to get all of that Grist and I need to upgrade my warehouse two more times to be able to even make it, meaning I need even more! That’s not even thinking of that last unknown Grist, the sword costs a million of 7 different Grist types and only require 1 of it? That Grist must either be extremely super rare or a very late game type of Grist
‘Master, they have arrived’
‘On my way’
I arrived a bit after the competition ended, just in time to see those two about to take their leave.
“You wouldn't pay even one cent?” said one of the brothers
After a resounding no from the crowd they turned to each other and began a hushed conversation.
I started to have this weird feeling about them. It was like there was something... different, about them.
“How about two cups for one cent?” said the other brother
Hmm, wouldn’t hurt I suppose
Scan
Wait, what?
I focused on Flam and scanned him too
Ok, that’s weird. Each has half of the Doom Aspect by their names… Maybe if I…
Scan
Fucking What? Consort isn’t a class and Celestia MUST be the last player… How…
“Two bits for a barrel?” The brothers said in unison
“NO!” The entire crowd shouted
“It looks like we've encountered a slight... problem here in Ponyville.” Flam said nervously
“Nopony wants our product. Next town?” Flim said as they both danced a bit
“Next town. Let's go, Flim!” Flam responded
“Let's go, Flam!” Flim said
They proceeded to jump up on the podium attached to their wagon… thing and drive away.
‘Follow them. I may need to talk to those two’ I said to my darklings
“Because of this silly competition, we've made enough of our cider for the whole town!” I heard Apple Bloom shout as I moved closer.
I was slightly worried as I waited for Applejack to begin her asope. After all in the episode it was a voice over of Applejack that gave the ‘Lesson learned’ aesop. Thankfully a few seconds later she began.
“Dear Princess Celestia, I wanted to share my thoughts with you.” She pauses for a moment to clear her throat “I didn't learn anythin'! Ha! I-”
“Really? Nothing?” I interrupted
“Jackal!” Twilight shouted while looking where my voice had come from and where I had been seconds ago.
“That’s Doctor Jackal. Anyway, did you really learn nothing Applejack? I learned a bit about arrogance and underestimating others. Well the Flim Flam Brothers did anyway. They were well within their rights to deny the rest of you from helping the apple family.” I said, watching as they all spun to look at where I had just been
We still woulda won! Our cider was better than the dirt they made!” Applejack shot back
“I was watching the entire time” I lied just a bit so she would call me out on it. “The barrels that they made before Twilight and the others joined is great! It was only after you began to close the gap of barrels produced, with help of course, that they removed the filter that was filtering out the debris and bad apples. Hell, If the brothers had given the crowd a barrel from the beginning of the competition they would still be here!” I said, flash stepping after each sentence.
“You're lying!” Applejack shouted again
I made sure to sigh loud enough for them to hear.
“Twilight, there is a few barrels that, in their haste, the brothers left behind. Grab one towards the middle of the bottom row. Try it and tell me I’m wrong” I said, wondering if Applejack was really living lie detector.
Twilight hesitantly looked between the stack of barrels and her friends. After a resolute nod from Applejack she levitates the upper stack off and takes a barrel from the middle of the bottom row, then grabs a clean glass, no doubt to make sure the experiment was free of contamination, and tried it.
From the look of horror on her face, her friends knew I was not lying.
“I’m sorry Applejack. This… It tastes as good as yours” she says in a crestfallen voice. Applejack’s expression mirrored Twilight's voice.
“You got lucky. Thanks to arrogance and using one of the last barrels they made, you ‘won’. Congratulations!” I finished sarcastically.
None of them said anything and stared at the ground. I took it as my cue to leave, my message had been delivered. Leaving behind six mares realizing just how close the Apple family had come to losing everything.
Once I returned to the ruins I began to think on the brothers and what my scan revealed about them.
