An Iron Pawn

Chapters

A New Form
Iron Against Stone
Wooden Fangs
Wooden Claws
Wooden- OH MY GOD, SPIDERS!
Lolcano Pt. 1
Lolcano Pt. 2
Lolcano Pt. 3
Ancient Tales
An Old Pawn

A New Form

An Iron Pawn

A New Form

My eyes opened slowly. Well technically they didn't open since I didn't have them anymore, but you get what I'm saying.

'All right first things first. I'm in a new game, in Equestria. That probably means that Equestria isn't all cake, smiles, and rainbows. Games never take place in somewhere that nice.'

I paused for a moment, getting my thought back on track.

'Alright, field of vision...two eyes. Body feels...scratch that body doesn't feel. Strange ... alright limbs.'

I slowly move one leg, then the other, then my arms. I pull myself out of the smoking crevice that I had found myself stuck in, and I glance at my body.

'Well, damn. She sure went all out on this.'

Looking down at my body, I could see why I couldn't feel anything. I was made of metal. No I wasn't wearing a suit of armor or anything (gods be praised if you start out with some), I was literally made out of metal. My body had grown considerably, I was easily 7 feet tall, maybe closer to 7 and a half. My hands were ... different. I only had two large fingers, accompanied by a thumb on each. I quickly rapped my knuckled together, then hit my chest, and listened carefully to the ringing. I was solid all the way through.

Next I looked down my legs. They to had changed. My feet were a single solid piece, I had no toes. In addition all of my limbs were much longer than they should have been, proportional to my body. I'd have shrugged, but I soon discovered that I couldn't, as I didn't have a neck, or one long enough to shrug at any rate. It was a still a good body, all things considered.

"So ... do you like it?" I heard a familiar voice ask from behind me.

I turned around to look at my sponsor. She looked different, which didn't really surprise me, what did surprise me was how she looked. I guess that she used up too much power bringing me here, because it looked like she was stuck partway between the form she appeared to me in, and her actual form.

Cora was about the same height, 4 and a half feet. She, like my new form, had two fingers, and a thumb, except hers were more claw like, and her feet resembled her hands. Her body looked like it was a solid piece of metal, but with a closer look, I could see what looked like cracks in her body, that had a slight glow coming from them. She still had hair, which was now just past shoulder length, but it held a metallic sheen, and looked like hundreds of metal strands.

"Your body, I'm not that good with live things..." she said, shaking me out of my examination, "How is it? Did I do well?"

I said, "You did an excellent job Cora, I couldn't be happier."

Well, that's what I would have said, but for some reason I couldn't.

I tried again, with the same result.

I slowly reached up a hand to my face and began to rub it around. Aside from my eyes, I had no facial features to speak of (see what I did there?). No nose, or mouth.

'Damn.'

"What? Did I do something wrong?" Cora asked with concern.

'Well, I don't have a mouth, so I can't really speak. Which is going to make this game much harder.'

"Oh, I'm sorry ... Wait," she said suspiciously, "If you can't talk, then how can I hear you?"

'You're my sponsor, you're going to be aware of me at all times.'

"Oh..."

We had reached another moment of silence. I had a feeling that they would become commonplace in our conversations.

'Never mind, this is a wonderful body. So then, will you tell me what domain you hold sway over?'

"Oh, right. I'm the Core Goddess. Center of the planet and all that."

I nodded in understanding. It certainly explained my body, I'm now almost certain that it was made of iron.

'Thank you for answering, but I must ask you another question, does your body normally look like that?'

Cora had a confused look, but she glanced down at her body and gasped.

"No, no, no, no, no! This isn't good. I used too much power! I can't change back completely. What do I do?" Cora was panicking and I found it rather amusing, but I decided to calm her down.

'Simple. You leave me to protect you, while you regain your strength, though it will be much faster, if we take out some other pieces.'

"O-OK then."

I walked over to her and picked her up, she was very light, and placed her on my shoulder. I then really looked around for the first time. Aside from the large crack in the ground I had come from, the entire area I was in was heavily forested. The trees were enormous, and were definitely tropical. I was probably in a rainforest.

'So where are we anyways?'

"Well I didn't have much strength left, so I brought us close to my sister's domain, it eased the strain a bit."

I looked around, and every direction was pretty much identical, so I decided to just pick a direction and start walking. Before I had taken a step a net dropped over me. I looked to see where it had come from, to my surprise there was a group of five diamond dogs, three holding crude spears, one with a tube, which I assume shot the net, and one who looked to be in command of the group, and had several glass vials strapped across his chest.

"What is it?" one of the dogs said.

"Of no matter. It still work in mines." said the leader of the group.

Work in the mines, would I? I slowly and deliberately lifted my hands to the net, and tore it in half. The dogs looked on is shock. The first to recover was the leader, he quickly grabbed a vial and leaped towards me, smashing the glass into my face. When the vial broke, it released some sort of green gas. It didn't bother me in the slightest, as I had no mouth or nose. I responded to the attack with a sudden punch, which turned the leader into a lovely red smear.

I turned my focus to the rest of the dogs who looked on is shock. Taking a long stride I grabbed two of the dog's heads, and decided to test my new body's strength. I slowly started to increase the pressure on the dog's skulls. They started struggling and yipping, then the yipping turned into whimpers of pain, then the whimpers and the struggling stopped with two simultaneous sickening crunches. I looked for the two remaining dogs, but it seems that they had taken off while I was ... preoccupied. I glanced towards where they had been, and if my face had any features then it would had shown a slight smirk. The dogs were clearly not the best at stealth, and had left a trail that I could easily follow.

I turned my head to look at my sponsor, who looked rater indifferent to the whole episode.

'Shall we go then?'

Cora just shrugged her shoulders, "Well it's on the way to my sister's place, so why not?."

'Well then off we go, to kill some dogs!'

A/N

Well here's the contact chapter, and while it doesn't have ponies it does have d-dogs. Soon there will be ponies.

I don't really know what else to say, other than, as always I accept all comments and criticism. If you don't like the story let me know why to see if I can fix it.

See you all next time.

~Eathlome

Iron Against Stone

An Iron Pawn

Iron Against Stone

"Are we there yet?"

'No.'

"Are we there yet?"

'No.'

"Are we there yet?"

'No.'

"................How about now?"

I slowly brought up a hand to my face. This conversation had been repeating for the past 10 minutes.

'No, we are not there yet. We will get there when we get there.'

"OK."

We continued to follow the dog's trail in silence. About 5 minutes later:

"When do you think we'll get there."

This was going to be a long trip.

"What about now?"

'Cora.'

"Maybe now?"

'Cora.'

"Are w-?"

'CORA!'

"What?"

'We're here.'

I pointed to the cave we had arrived at. The dog's tracks lead into it. The cave wasn't very roomy, and I could barely fit into it. Hopefully it would widen out the deeper we went in.

Luckily it did, once out of the narrow passage Cora and I entered a wide circular chamber. Suspiciously, there was no sign of life. Either the dogs had evacuated at the story of the two survivors or ...

Clang, Ting, Ting, Crash, Clang. Several crude spears bounced harmlessly of my body.

...Or it was an ambush. Several groups of dogs were now visible, each hefting some weapon or another.

'This makes things easier.'

I lower Cora down from my shoulder, so she would be out of harms way, and rushed at one of the several clusters of dogs who had revealed themselves.

Now I suppose at least some of you have seen an epic fight scene in a movie. The kind where both sides slowly orbit each other, before erupting into a series of incredible attacks, blocks, and dodges. You know what kind of fight I'm talking about.

This fight was nothing like that. Real fights are brutal and messy, and what I did to the dogs was brutal and messy. Now I'm not going to say that the fight was fairly one sided, and that the dogs probably wouldn't have stood a chance, that would just be lying. It would be far more truthful to say that the fight was completely one sided, and that the dogs never stood a chance.

My first attack, if you can really call it an attack, involved me running into a wall. With the dogs between me and said wall. On the downside the vibrations that wracked my body were fairly irritating, on the plus side there were three less diamond dogs to kill. I quickly turned to face the remaining dog of the group and quickly dropped it with a skull shattering punch. I then moved on to the bulk of the dogs, who had congregated while I ravaged the smaller group. They were probably thinking something along the lines of safety in numbers. I was thinking something along the lines of 'Ooh, a bigger target.'

The fight was mostly me flailing through the mass of dogs while they ineffectually hit me with their weapons. It was actually rather sad. I was almost considering letting some of them live, when one decided that Cora might be an easier target. I was at least halfway across the room at this point, and did the only thing I could. I threw the nearest object with lethal force. The object just happened to be another diamond dog.

Cora was giggling and clapping her hands as I fought. Most people would probably think:

'Damn, that kid needs counseling.'

I on the other had thought:

'Yeah... She's definitely a deity.'

After the slaughter was over, at least 8 more dogs now coated the walls, and around 20 were strewn across the floor. As I grabbed one of the few remaining survivors I thought to Cora,

'Cora, are you a Blood Deity?'

"What's that?"

'You gain power through a blood sacrifice.'

"Hmmmm... I don't know."

'Alright,' I responded while dragging the dog over to a clear spot, 'I'll give it a try.'

'CORALIS, GREAT LADY OF THE MOLTEN CORE, KEEPER OF THE DEEP PLACES, PROVIDER OF THE LIFEBLOOD OF THE EARTH. I PLACE BEFORE YOU THIS HUMBLE OFFERING, SO YOU MAY GROW IN STRENGTH AND MAGNIFICENCE. MAY THE BLOOD OF THIS SACRIFICE IGNITE THE FLAMES OF POWER WITHIN YOU, AS YOU FEED OFF THEIR PATHETIC LIFE.'

I then quickly pushed my hand through the dog's chest and ripped out it's heart, well most of it anyway. I then held the heart high in the air for a few seconds, before glancing to Cora.

'Feel anything yet?'

Cora held her hands out in from of her, as if to feel her power returning to her. She then dropped her arms to her sides and gave me a shrug.

"Nope, nothing."

I tossed the heart over my shoulder and sat down.

'Well, there goes that idea.'

"Don't worry, I'm sure you'll think of another way for me to get my full power back."

'Well the only ways that I can think of now would be to stat up a new religion, and get you worshiped, find another deity willing to share some of their strength with you, or kill or dethrone a deity and steal their power base. But speaking of other deities that reminds me of something. Do you have enough strength to open up a fissure to the center of the planet?'

"Oh, sure. It just won't be a very big one."

'That's no problem, now if you'll excuse me I need to write a note.'

I quickly walked over to one of the many dead dogs and ripped off it's shirt. The cloth wasn't too bloody, which was good. I dipped a finger into a nearby pool of blood and quickly wrote out a message. I then folded up the cloth and headed over to the fissure that Cora had opened up. It was fairly small, but it would suit it's purpose.

I gave a quick prayer, and dropped the cloth in. Cora looked at me with curiosity.

"What'd you do?"

'I sent a message to an old friend. Hopefully Charon will be able to get it to her.'

I turned to face Cora.

'So where did you say your sister's place was?'

I was tromping through the forest with Cora riding along on my shoulder.

"So?"

'So, what?'

"Who is she?"

'Huh?'

"Who you sent the message to. Who is she?"

'I already told you, she's an old friend.'

"Were you two dating?"

'WHAT!? NO!'

"Then why won't you tell me who she is?"

'Fine. She's a goddess.'

"But I'm-"

'She isn't a sponsor. The only reason I know her is that her dad used to be one.'

"Oh? So how did you two become friends?"

'Well...'

I glanced around. It was rather bleak, the landscape that is. Smoke and fire filled the air, the only place not a wasteland was a dark river. One moment I had been in the middle of a great battle. I had been surrounded on all sides, standing on a mountain of corpses, blood pouring down from my many wounds. Then I was here, completely fine.

"Well damn."

I had died. Again.

It's not as bad as it sounds. I've made enough bargains and pacts with death gods, reapers, and other powerful beings to keep getting me resurrected for at least a few millennium. But the waiting, the waiting was just so boring. There was absolutely no one else arou-

Correction there was one other person around. She was a young woman, and had a staff in her hands. I walked up behind her. She was in deep concentration.

"Hello."

She let out a small gasp, and quickly turned around and swung the staff at my head. I quickly brought up my hand and deflected it away.

She stared at me.

"That's impossible. You couldn't have done that. How did you do that?"

She was really irritated, and quite forceful.

"TELL ME, BOY!"

"I brought up my hand," I raised my hand in demonstration, "and deflected your staff."

I could see that this wasn't the answer she was looking for.

"This staff is the symbol of my divinity, there is no possible way that a mortal could simply bat it away."

"Yeah... I'm not exactly what would be called mortal, per se..."

"Are you a demigod then?"

"No, I ... earned my 'immortality'. Speaking of which, it's time for me to go."

While we were talking a boat had pulled up to the riverbank, in it was a tall cloaked figure. I hopped into the boat.

"Hey Charon, how have you been?"

Charon didn't answer, as I had come to expect from him.

The woman called out to me as the boat pulled away.

"Hey, boy! What's your name?"

"It's Adam now." I shouted back, "What's your's?"

"It's Skeleton Jack."

We were silent for a moment.

"Do your parents hate you?"

Jack growled and launched a blast from her staff, but I ducked and it went over my head.

"Just kidding, see you around!" I laughed.

"So the first time you met, she tried to kill you?"

'I guess.'

"...And you say that she's your friend?."

'Enough about her, can we please move on to something else?'

"Like what?"

'Well,' I thought while vaulting over a fallen tree, 'Tell me about your sister.'

"Well she's really nice, and she didn't go to sleep like I did, so she's fairly powerful."

'What's she the goddess of?'

"She's in charge of plants, and nature, and the Earth in general. Well things close to the surface of the Earth. Oh, oh, and she's a tree."

'A tree, really? Well, what's her name?'

"Terra."

'...come again?'

"Her name's Terra," Cora looked at me with a small grin, "Have you met her?"

DAMN IT!

A/N

Well here's the next chapter of An Iron Pawn. Hope you all enjoyed it. Also I love feedback, so if you tell me what you want to see happen, I'll try to steer my story towards it.

Skeleton Jack is a character of Forevermore.

Terra is a character of Zombie_Lizard. Read his story here.

As always I would like if you could point out any mistakes I have made, and if you have any criticism don't hesitate.

~Eathlome

Wooden Fangs

An Iron Pawn

Wooden Fangs

We had been walking for a while in silence. I could tell that Cora was a bit confused. After a bit longer she decided to speak up.

"What happened between you and my sister?"

'Well... You know that I've been in multiple games before this one.'

I quickly moved to the side a a manticore leaped out of the underbrush.

"Yep."

'So a while back I was in a game. My sponsors for it were Poseidon, Thor, and Terra. Now that I think about it, I have absolutely no idea of how they even could have met each other.'

The manticore tried to sting me, but it was completely ineffective.

"And what happened?"

'Well, I entered a contract with them. They would grant me access to a portion of their powers, and in turn I would win them the game as quickly as I could. Which I did.'

I grabbed the manticore be the tail and pulled it towards me.

"...what else?"

'Nothing else.'

I snapped a small sapling as I rushed by it, pulling the manticore along.

"But that doesn't explain why she doesn't like you."

'Let's just say that she didn't like how I won the game, and since Poseidon and Thor both supported my way of doing things, she couldn't stop me.'

I shoved me hands into the manticore's mouth and quickly pulled its jaw apart.

"Well that's just silly. She should be mad at those two, not you. You were just doing what you did best. That's no reason to dislike someone."

I dropped the corpse to the ground and threw my arms into the air.

'That's exactly what I said! But no, she decided to blame me.'

"Well I'll see if I can get her to forgive you. Then everything will be all better."

'Good luck with that.'

I stopped as we reached what looked like a solid wall of trees. I glanced over at Cora, who had a slightly guilty look.

'Cora...'

"We...We've reached the wall."

'The...wall.'

"Yeah. We've... come from the wrong side. The entrance is on the other side."

I picked Cora up off my shoulder, and placed her down on the ground.

"I said we have to go around."

'No we don't.' I said while backing up.

"But we do. There's no other way in."

'I'm going to make one.'

I bolted forward and slammed my body into the wall of vegetation, like a humanoid wrecking ball. I crunched through the wood and vines, leaving a large hole, and many crushed plants in my wake. Cora looked at the hole I had opened up.

"Oh."

She ran up to me and I picked her back up.

"Don't you think that my sister's going to be a bit upset with you over this?"

'Didn't you say you were going to get her to forgive me?'

Cora was silent for a moment, before giving me a big grin.

"Right! But you might want to wash up if you want to see her."

I glanced down at my body and noticed that it was still caked with red, from the fight with the dogs, and my hands still dripped with fresh blood from the manticore.

'Mmmmmm'kay. Let's find a stream or something.'

After tromping through the forest for a few minutes we came across a small river. I wasn't going to question the convenience of it. I placed Cora down on the riverbank and proceeded to wash the dried blood off my body.

"Hey. I just thought of something."

'What?'

"You said that Skeleton Jack," Cora stifled a giggle, "was an old friend."

'And?'

"Well you've reincarnated a bunch of times, right?"

'Yes.'

"And in your story, when you first met her, you were reincarnating."

'Yes.'

"And you told her that in the life you were about to be reborn into, you would be called Adam."

'So?'

"Well, that's your name this time. So relatively speaking she wouldn't really be an 'old friend'."

'Cora...'

"Uh-huh?"

I have been called Adam in more than just this life.'

"Oh... never-mind then."

I just shook my head and got out of the river.

'Ready to go?'

Cora was determining the direction of her sister again. While sitting on my shoulder, she had her eyes closed, her head slightly bowed, and her arms spread out in front of her. After a moment she opened her eyes and pointed slightly to the left.

"This way."

We had been walking for the better part of an hour, and every ten minutes or so Cora would ask that we stop, so she could correct our course. I, on the other hand, had been very careful not to get any blood on me, while I defended us from wild animals. So far we had been attacked by another manticore, two cockatrices, a leopard, and an anaconda. In order to minimize the amount of mess, I resorted to cracking the manticore's skull, snapping the cockatrices' and the leopard's necks, and I just threw the snake.

Once Cora had indicated the new direction I began to walk again.

We ended up at the edge of a cliff. It wasn’t very high, only a hundred feet or so. I looked at Cora.

‘Are you sure that this is the way?’

“Yep, definitely this way.”

‘Because once we go down that, it’s going to take a while to get back up.’

Cora crossed her arms and gave a little pout.

“I said it’s this way, and I mean it’s this way!”

‘Alright then. Hold on.’

After cradling Cora in my arms, I jumped over the edge. I hit the bottom with a loud CRASH. It took a while, but soon I was up again. Cora had been completely fine.

“Let’s do that again!”

‘No.’

I continued to walk in the direction we were supposed to be going. We were getting fairly deep into the forest at this point, and I was a bit suspicious. In forests, jungles, and even small woods there are always animals. You can always hear them, be it birds cheeping or monkeys chittering.

That is why I wasn’t completely taken by surprise when I heard a low growl.

They slowly began to reveal themselves.

‘Timber wolves. Just perfect.’

These timber wolves were huge, in fact they were just a bit shorter than I was. They slowly began to spread out, attempting to surround us.

“Timber wolves! These are her’s!”

Cora jumped down from my shoulder and walked up to the nearest wolf, and reached out her hand.

‘I don’t think that a good idea.’

“I’m sure that she just sent them as an escort.”

The wolf lunged at Cora. I reached out and grabbed her arm, pulling her to my chest. I swiftly lashed out and smashed the timber wolf’s head. I quickly turned around, and swung out my elbow catching another lunging wolf, sending wood chips everywhere. I started running back the way we came. The remaining wolves took up the chase.

“Why are we running?”

‘I’m getting us to a place where I can fight without worrying about you.’

“Where?”

‘There.’

I pointed up ahead to the cliff we had jumped down. The sheer face gave me a place to defend, without worrying about being flanked. I dropped Cora, and turned to face my opponents. There were about a dozen remaining.

The lumber lupines charged as one. I lunged forward and crushed the nearest one with a two handed overhead smash, forcing it into the ground. I then whipped out my arm and bashed another sending it flying into a tree, which buckled under the force of the hit. One of the remaining wolves lunged for my throat. It managed to get a tentative grasp, and I wrapped my arms around it and squeezed, until it snapped in half. The wolves howled at me, and I charged at them. I barreled into two more, crushing them together.

I looked up and saw 9 wolves remaining, but one was hanging out in the back, hiding among the trees. I decided to ignore it for now, and I turned my attention back to the others. I leaped towards them, slamming into another wolf, as they scrambled to avoid my lunge. I grabbed the closest one by its tail and swung it around, before throwing it high into the air. It fell back down, and hit the ground with a crunch.

The six remaining had managed to surround me, and they lunged as one. I started pivoting, and allowed the centripetal force to force my arms wide, turning them into two makeshift maces. The wolves yelped and were blasted away. I leaped at the nearest one and buried it under my body. The others jumped atop me, and tried to claw and bite me, but since I was made of iron, all of their attacks did more damage to themselves than to me. I shook my head started to force myself up. These wolves were pretty heavy. Once I managed to stand back up, two of them were still clinging to my back. This upset my balance, and I toppled over backwards, crushing the wolves in the process. Two of the remaining wolves charged at me again, and when they were close I reached out an snapped their legs. The fell and I used their heads to help stand back up, crushing them in the process. I picked up one of the corpses and launched it at the last wolf, who dodged it only to be crushed between my shoulder and a tree, as I bull-rushed it.

I glanced around for any remaining combatants. I spotted the wolf that had stayed in the back during the battle, and when it turned to run, I scooped up Cora and chased after it.
"Did you have fun?"
'Lots.'

A/N

Sup readers?
This has been the first chapter in a crossover with Zombie_Lizard's story, Broken Howls and Tattered Leaves, which is amazing. Seriously you should give it a look.

Anyways, how did you all find the chapter?

And as always: comments, criticism, and corrections are always appreciated.

~Eathlome

Wooden Claws

An Iron Pawn

Wooden Claws

While I was chasing after the last Timber Wolf, Cora had clambered from my arms back to 'her place' on my shoulder. I was keeping pace with my quarry, while it had the home field advantage, and greater agility than I did, I was content to go through obstacles, rather than around them.

'Huh? Where did it go?'

I glanced around, the timber wolf I had been following had just made a dive to the ground, than disappeared. I leaped up onto a pile of dirt and fallen branches, to get a higher vantage point. Gravity disagreed with me, and I soon found myself crashing through the mound, and falling into a rather deep pit.

My landing was... unique. The only thing that I could compare it to would be jumping off a ladder and landing on a balloon filled with jam.

As I hit the bottom I heard a combination of a pop and a squelch. I glanced down at my legs, which were now covered in the innards of what looked like it was once a very large spider.

'See, this is why I rarely bother to clean up.'

Cora giggled at my plight. Then she pointed to the side of the pit, where the timber wolf I had been chasing was stuck.

"That's where it went."

'What, did you expand your domain to encompass all things obvious now?'

Cora glared at me, then huffed. I chuckled to myself, before reeling back my fist.

'Well, this is the last one.'

My fist sped forward, and was about to smash through the remaining timber wolf's chest, when Cora shouted out.

"WAIT!"

My fist halted, barely half an inch from the wolf. I turned to Cora.

'What?'

Cora looked at the wolf for a while.

"You serve Terra. Why did you shout out 'Celestia save me'?"

After listening for a moment Cora continued her unheard conversation.

"How is it a force of habit? That wouldn't make sense, unless you aren't a timber wolf, but clearly you are."

More silence.

"A not-timber wolf? That doesn't make sense. If you're not a timber wolf than what are you?"

...

Cora crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow.

"I'm an ancient goddess who controls the very core of this planet. He," Cora patted my head, "Is probably the most fearsome warrior of all time. Try me."

Silence again.

Cora clapped her hands and gave a small giggle.

"Did you hear that?" Cora asked, turning to me.

I looked at her for a moment before responding.

'No, I did not. I can't hear half of this conversation.'

Cora raised a finger to her lips.

"Oops? I'll fix that right now."

Cora quickly dug her hands into my head, phasing through the iron. It wasn't the most pleasant experience, but I've had worse.

When she withdrew them I looked at the timber wolf, still stuck to the side of the pit.

'Now, what did you tell her?'

The timber wolf's reply was almost a question.

'Umm... I'm a human?'

I looked at the timb- no, the other player. They had ran, so they clearly weren't completely inept, but I could tell that this guy wasn't much of a fighter. Cora tapped the side of my head.

"So? What do you think?"

'Probably a mid-level pawn, at best. Maybe if he healed up a bit he could do better, but the way he is now?' I paused and thought about what I should say next, 'He might be of use, but probably not.'

"Well if he might be of use, then we should take him." Cora chirped.

I shrugged and grabbed the other player, before ripping him off the wall.

'Try not to land funny.'

'Wait, wha-' the player yelped.

I then wound up, and chucked him out of the pit. Then began to climb of after him, Cora laughing from her place on my shoulder.

Once I pulled myself out, the other player looked at me.

'Not cool,' He said, 'but... thanks anyways.'

He looked at us for a moment longer.

'Just why do you want to see Terra anyways?'

I looked at Cora, she gave me a grin.

"A family reunion!"

The player stood there for a moment, dumbstruck.

'Wait... YOU are her sister?! I thought you would be more.... pony-ish...'

Cora raised an eyebrow,

"Well you're a human, shouldn't you look more human-ish?"

If I had still been made of flesh and blood, I would have been trying very hard not to laugh.

The other player clearly didn't enjoy Cora's sense of humor, as he glared at her.

'Whatever,' he muttered, 'I guess I should take you to Terra now... '

"ALL RIGHT!" Cora shouted gleefully, "THAT WAY!" Cora pointed off towards the distance.

I started to walk in the direction she had indicated, before turning towards the player.

'So, do you have a name?'

'Well... I call myself Twigleaf here. I kinda made it up on the spot.'

Wow, just wow. Really? Twigleaf? Now I'm not going to judge the guy, but I'm going to guess that he wasn't the most creative thing alive.

'Adam. So Kindlingfern, how much do you know?'

Twigleaf gave me an agitated look. Ha, too easy.

'Not much... I thought it was all conjecture when I got sent here. I don't even know who my 'Chess Master' is. Or whatever Terra called them.'

I gave a little thought to this. So Twig was a complete newbie. Well I guess it's time for a lesson. No one can say I'm not helpful. Well, unless I'm killing them.

'Alright. You are in a game. Gods from all the different pantheons participate. The games can be for fun or, more commonly, for power. Since the gods and goddesses can't directly interfere in the game, they use pieces, like you and me, to do their work for them. Based on your current strength you're a low-to-mid level pawn.'

'A-a pawn?' Twig seemed to be slightly insulted. 'Well... I can't argue there... I did almost die a few days ago.' I thought for a moment. 'wait. You talk like you have done this before. How?'

'Well I've been in games before this one.'

Twig seemed to be interested.

'What was it like?'

I thought for a moment. It was a tricky question.

'Well, my first game started off a bit confusing. I was in a raid on a small coastal settlement, when Siegfried decided that we should have a brawl. That cheater bathed in dragon blood, so he was invincible. Oh, and that doesn't work with the types of dragons you find here. Well Siggy gut me like a boar, and then I was visited by a goddess, Skadi. She told me that there was a great battle, and that she would require my help. I accepted, and the next thing I know, I'm on some mountain and I'm a Yeti. After I found out what was going on I had a pretty good time. I didn't win, but I lasted to the end.'

Twig was silent for a while.

'So, this kind of thing happens often? What usually happens after it is all done?'

If I could laugh, I would've.

'Games happen all the time. I've been in 5 officially, this one being my 6th. And as for what happens after? Well it depends. Pieces who want to go home normally go home. Most pieces prefer to stay and live out their life, some start religions for their sponsor.' I paused seeing the confused look of his face, 'Your sponsor is your patron, player, chess master. The deity you serve. That's pretty much it. What happens after depends on you. Unless you die, then you're dead.'

'Wow... I don't think I would want to stay. Nice as it is here, I miss my family. Heck, all I know about my 'Sponsor' is that he is a jerk.'

Damn. This wasn't going to be pleasant.

'Well, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but if your sponsor doesn't send you home, then you're probably going to be stuck here. Unless you get another sponsor.'

Twig seemed rather confused about this.

'I can get another Sponsor? How would I do that?'

'Well basically there are two types of sponsors. The first type selects a piece form their world and brings them to the board. The piece then acts in the interests of their sponsor. The second type of sponsor is when a deity brings a bunch of random pieces, and then ignores them. Other deities, who may not be strong enough to find a piece of their own, rely on these pieces. They'll normally offer a contract, or just start looking after the piece that they want.'

'Huh...' Twig replied, as we approached a large wall of thorns, sitting in a clearing. On the other side I could see an enormous tree. 'By the way, you might want to stand back a bit. I don't think the other wolves are going to like you.'

I looked at Twig.

'You worry too much, what's the worst that could happen?'

It seems that Fate has a sense of humor, because as soon as I said that a skeleton burst out of the ground right in front of us.

'Whargarble! What the Fuck!' Twig shouted as he leaped back from the undead creature.

Well Jack, your timing is terrible as usual. The skeleton held out a familiar piece of cloth. I took it and read what was written.

Adam,

What's up, buddy? Do you like bananas?

Jack

Well that's a surprise. I dropped the cloth to the ground, and touched the skeleton's skull.

'Let her know I'll see her soon. Also give her my congratulations on taking over Tartarus.'

The skeleton gave a quick nod, before sinking back into the soil. I turned to Twig who was staring at the spot that the skeleton had been a moment before.

'Where were we?'

'What the fuck was that...' clearly Twig was stunned. After a few moments he replied. 'Oh! we were going to see Terra. She is behind the wall there.' He pointed to the large thorned wall in front of us.

'Give me a minute.' He went into some sort of staring match with the thorns, and after a while the slowly began to move. While waiting I felt a familiar presence. I looked around and saw two figures fade into the shadows.
'Jack?'

'There... we... go...' Twig panted, it probably took all he had to move the thorns. He looked so proud of himself that I didn't have the heart to tell him I could have just torn through using a fraction of the energy and time he spent. Cora, on the other hand, had no such qualms.

"Hey Adam, couldn't you have just smashed your way through? It probably would've been faster."

Twig continued to gasp for breath as he entered the clearing.

'Well,' he said after catching his breath, ' They would just regrow if you tried to force your way in.'

Twig walked further in, up to the giant tree.

'Hey! Terra, you have a visitor!'

I felt a distinct and familiar hum in the air.

'Cora,' I thought so only she could hear, 'Could you let me have a bit of fun?'

Cora gave me a large grin.

"Sure!"

We turned out attention back to Twig, as Terra stepped out of the tree.

"Welcome back Child of Man. I see that the creature is not whom the trees told me it was."

Twig turned back to us, before continuing his conversation.

'And I think you may recognize one of them.'

"One?" Terra asked.

'TWO!' I shouted with my thoughts, 'THREE!'

I started walking forward, and threw my arms wide.

'Terra! It's wonderful to see you again! It seems like only yesterday that you rallied 29 of the most powerful deities against me, attempting to stop any further involvement I have in the Games. Ah, where does the time go?'

Twig looked like he had just ran into a wall.

'Wait. YOU TWO KNOW EACHOTHER?! I thought... Abuh..buh'

"Ah, Adam." Terra sounded as if she had just stepped in something nasty "I was hoping that it wasn't you... Might I ask what you are doing with Cora?"

I looked at Cora, still sitting on my shoulder.

'Isn't it obvious?'

"Hi sis! He's carrying me!" Cora shouted out.

"I can see that. But I can only hope that you did not enter a contract with him..." Terra seemed to be rather apprehensive, so I decided to assuage her fears.

'She did!'

At the same moment Cora said, "I did!"

Terra facehoofed and sighed. "Cora... You do realize that he is possibly the most destructive Piece out there."

"Yep." Cora replied with a smile.

'I don't know about that. I haven't done much... yet.'

Terra sighed again. "Just as long as you know what you are getting yourself into..." She turned to face Twig, then looked at me.

"I have a proposition for you Adam..."

'Is this going to be like last time? Where you try to kill me, to stop me from completing my side of the bargain?'

"Are you still mad about that?" Terra's voice was dripping with false sincerity "But no, I need your help."

'Just checking,' I looked to Cora, 'Do you want me to help her?'

Cora put a finger to her lips, pretending to think for a moment.

"Sure!"

Terra smiled at her sister.

"I need you to help Twig retrieve the Seed of Gaea."

Twig blanched at the request.

'I-I don't t-think we should..."

'Alright, just one condition.'

"And what would that be?" Terra sounded slightly suspicious.

''Nothing to big, just a power transfer. You may not have noticed, but Cora isn't exactly at her strongest right now. If you gave her about, let's say a third of your strength, it would vastly improve her recovery time.'

After a moment of thought Terra replied, "Of course. Anything for Cora. Now, I need you and Twigleaf to retrieve the Seed of Gaea from Amalorg. I fear that she is using it's power to keep herself alive. I need you two to either take back the Seed and let her die normally or... Slay her..."

'Huh. Sounds good to me. Cora, why don't you stay here and catch up with your sister.'

Cora nodded, and hopped down. She walked over to Terra, leaving slight scorch marks where her feet touched the ground.

I turned to Twig, who was still quivering slightly.

'Alright, Tumbleweed. Lead the way.'

A/N

Holy dialogue batman!
Well that was the next chapter of my crossover with Zombie_Lizard's story, Broken Howls and Tattered Leaves.
If you want Twigleaf's POV for this chapter, just head on over.

So, back to the chapter. How was it?
I know that there wasn't much action, but there should be some more coming up soon. I also gave a bit more of Adam's back-story.

And, as always, please comment, criticism, and correct.

Thanks for reading.

~Eathlome

Wooden- OH MY GOD, SPIDERS!

An Iron Pawn

Wooden- OH MY GOD, SPIDERS!

I jabbed my fingers into the bark of the enormous tree, and hauled myself up another few feet. Looking down I could see the path I had taken, marked by the many holes in the otherwise unmarred wood. It wasn't the fastest way of travel, but the fact that this tree was actually Terra's body more than made up for the speed of the climb. I glanced up at Twig, who had gone on just a bit ahead, using vines to aid in his ascent. He offered to let me climb using them, but they snapped under my weight.

'So, Underbrush.' I thought up to him, 'What exactly are we doing up here anyways? What's got you so scared?'

Twig pulled himself up with a vine, landing on a large branch.

'You don't w-wanna know...' he stopped and shuddered, 'Just...no.'

I glanced at Twig, as I swung myself onto the branch beside him. Hopefully this one wouldn't break.

'Just tell me. I can guarantee that I've seen worse. And anyways, how am I suppose to help if you wont tell me what were up against?'

'Oh yeah? And just what have you seen...' Twigs voice was full of confidence, and he sounded just a bit condescending.

'Well... so far I've seen the four horsemen, I've died several hundred times, had every one of my organs removed in such a way that I was conscientious and alive throughout the entire procedure, and I also brought back Hades' daughter after her curfew had passed. And that's just the tip of the iceberg.'

Twig was speechless for a moment.

'Wait... FOUR horsemen? As in the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse? Well, have you s-seen a Giant Zombie Spider?'

Wow, this kid's got a phobia or something.

'No,' I thought, forcing as much sarcasm into it as I could, 'the Four Horsemen of jolly good times. Of course Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse! And about giant zombie spiders? Well I've fought giants, zombies, spiders, zombie spiders, giant zombies, and giant spiders. A giant zombie spider would just be saving time in my books.'

'I-i see...' Twig said, as he swung to another branch covered with webs ''W-we're h-here... j-just a l-little f-further...'

I took a jump, and dug into the branch, hauling myself up. I was greeted with a fairly funny sight. There was Twig, scrambling backwards, as a hoard of tiny spiders rushed forward. I casually started forward, the spiders either being crushed, scraped into a paste against the branch, or sent flying over the edge with each step.

I glanced back over my shoulder at Twig.

'You coming?'

Twig was staring at me, and after a moment he replied.

'Y-yeah... sure.'

Cora glanced at her sister and smiled. She was sitting on a large rock her sister had gotten for her, but even now her small form was starting to char the rock.

"Teeeeerrraaaaa~" Cora called out in a singsong voice.

Terra shook her head and looked at her sister with a slightly worried look.

"Oh don't be so fussy. Adam won't let anything happen to Twig."

"It isn't that I don't trust Adam to keep Twigleaf safe." Terra sighed, "It is that I hope that he at least tries to stay out of the fighting. He is quite dedicated to anything I ask of him. I am worried that he will do something brash."

Cora giggled.

"I doubt he'll be much into the fighting. He's terrified of spiders. You should've seen him after we... rescued... him from one."

"And I am to blame for his fear of arachnids. I had sent him after the Seed a few days ago and Amalorg nearly killed him. He had fallen all the way from my canopy in pieces..." Terra looked towards the ground and sighed.

Cora leaned towards her sister and gave her a hug.

"And he's willing to go up anyways." she murmured into Terra's ear, "That certainly says something about him."

Cora leaned back and gave Terra a huge grin.

"And if he breaks, you can just fix him again!"

Terra smiled and embraced her sister. "Thank you big sister. I am glad you are back from your slumber." she said, ending the hug with a smile. "Just what woke you up after all this time?"

"I suppose hunger would be the easiest way of describing it. Most knowledge of me is lost, and my creations are... gone now. I have very few who even remember me, belief in me is quickly diapering..."

Terra gave Cora a warm smile.

"Then we shall have to change that now, won't we?" She said with a wink.

Cora let out a girlish giggle.

"Oh, you."

It's times like these when I'm really glad that Cora didn't make me with a mouth. And be times like these, I mean times when I'm walking through what could possibly be over a hundred cubed feet of spiderwebs. I turned to face Twig, showing that most of my body had a thick coating of webbing on it.

'Hey Barkbrains, are you sure you don't want to go first?'

Twig looked at me, and shuddered.

'No thanks. I think you got it.'

'Suit yourself.'

I continued to plow through the webs, occasionally coming across a spider, which I would either splatter, or throw at Twig. Eventually the resistance began to lessen, and I pushed myself through the last wall of webs, into a large hollow chamber. I glanced at Twig.

'So... where to next?'

Twig looked like he had swallowed a jackhammer, despite the look of determination on his face.

'W-we're here...'

I looked around again.

'So, if were here... where are all the spiders?'

Of course this is a terrible question to ask, no matter the circumstances.

As if on cue, Amalorg slowly descended from the top of the dome.

"Why hast thou interrupted my slumberrrrr...." Her voice was annoying as heck, like nails on a chalkboard.

It looked down at Twig, and I could see that most of it's eyes were blind.

"Yoooooouuuuu...." Twig promptly scrabled behind me.

"Hast thou returned to take that which is rightfully mine!?"

'I-it d-doesn't b-belong t-t-t-t-t-to y-you...' Twig said, clearly terrified. 'It b-belongs t-t-t-to Terra...'

I suddenly remembered something.

'Armalorg!' I pounded my fist into my hand, 'High Priestess Armalorg, the Spider Goddess' Emissary! How did you screw up badly enough top end up like this?

Amalorg hissed as she recognized my voice.

"Yoooooouuuuuu..... yoooou did this toooo meeeee! with myyy faaaaiillure tooo defeeeeaaaat yoooouu, myyy goooodeeesssss cuuuurrsssseeeed meee tooo thiiiis foooorrrmmmm!"

"I WIIIIIILLL HAAAAAVEEEE MYYY REEEVEEENGEEE!" She screeched, while a long leg at me.

'Aww, I missed you too.' I said, grabbing the large appendage.

'Let me give you a HUG.' I wrap my arms tighter, and her leg starts to buckle.

Amalorg screeched in pain, as I crushed part of her leg, pretty much rendering it useless.

She drew her injured leg back to her bulky form. Small Drone spiders flowed from the wound like blood, and they began to bandage the wound with webs. Amalorg shot a large stream of sticky webbing at me.

Twig leaped into me shouting, 'L-look out!'

Twig ended up caught in the webbing, stuck to the trunk of the tree. The spiders began to crawl all over him, and soon they returned to Amalorg with some stone they took from Twig.

"Leeeeeet uuuussss ssssseeee yyyoooooooouuuu beeeaaaat mmmeeeee nnoooooww thaaaat I haaave a hoooosssstaaaageeee...." Amalorg said with her vile voice.

I looked at the stone.

'Soul stone?'

Twig slowly nodded.

'Hmm, I'll have to ask Cora about that... Anyways, what makes you think that having a hostage would work?'

"Hhhheeeee iiissssss yyyyooooouuuurrrrr fffrrrriiiieeeeennnndddd. Yyyyyyoooouuuu wwwwoooouuuullllddddnnnnn'ttttt hhhuuuurrrrttt yyyoooouuuurrrr ffffrrriiiieennnddd..." she said, with spittle flying from her mandibles.

'Are you sure about that? I only met him a few hours ago tops.' I said to Amalorg, before addressing Twig, 'Don't worry Twig, I'll avenge you.'

Twig was shaking like a leaf.

'Just make it hurt... Alot.'

'I'll gladly honor that last request.'

I took a step forward and raised my fists, then there was a white blur and Twig was gone.

'Well...' I saw the look of shock and horror on Amalorg's face, 'That was convenient.'

"Ssssssoooooooo, aaaaaaaaa bllllluuuuuufffffff thhhhheeeennnnn."

'No, not really.' I replied, before launching myself at her.

Amalorg leaped away, and started climbing further up. I grabbed the leg I had injured earlier and pulled her back down. Amalorg fell, landing on top of me. I started to pummel her bulbous form, while she squirmed about, in an attempt to right herself.

By the time she got back up, she had several nasty bruises, and had many breaks in her chitin, some oozing a thick yellowy-green fluid. I shook off the slime, and turned to look at her pointedly.

'Care to surrender yet?'

The only reply I received was a combination of snarl and hiss. Many smaller spiders started raining down on me. And by smaller I mean smaller that Amalorg, they were still roughly the size of a dog. I thrashed about as I was mobbed by the veritable army of spiders, sending many of them flying and leaving many others dead. Eventually I grew tired of the game, and I charged at the trunk.

When I collided most of the spiders were either knocked off, or crushed between me and the tree. I gave a final shake, which sent the remaining spiders flying off of the branch. I turned to face Amalorg once again.

"WWWWWWHHHHHHHYYYYYYYY! WWWWWOOOOOOOONNNNN"T! YYYYYOOOOUUUUU! DIIIIIIEEEEE!"

I leaped towards her, and grabbed her in a bear hug around her abdomen. I tightened my grip, causing her to let out a wail of pain.

'Just give up!'

"NNNNNEEEEVVVVEEEERRR!" She hissed, "IIIIIIIIIII caaaaannnnn't! Sssssshhhhhheeeeee wwwwwoooouuuuulllllld nnnnneeeeevvvvvveeeerrrrr fffffffoooooooooorrrrrgiiiiiiivvvvve mmmmmmmeeeeee."

'Damn it Ama! Just give me the seed!'

Amalorg stopped struggling, and began to softly weep.

"Wwwwwhhhhhyyyyy? Wwwwwwhhhhhhyyyyyy doooooooo yyyyyyyoooooouuuu ssssspaaaaarrrrrre meeeee?"

I released my grip on the arachnid, and backed up.

'The same reason I spared you during our last battle, I never forget a debt. You saved my life, so I won't take yours.'

We were both silent for a moment, then a small spider scurried towards us, carrying a gold acorn.

"Taaaaaake iiiiiiiit. Juuuuuuusssssstt lllllllleeeeeeaaaaaavvvvvve."

I reached down and picked the seed up.

'Than-'

"IIIII SSSSAAAIIIIID LLLLLEEEEAAAVVVVVE!" Amalorg hissed, bashing me with her legs. The force of the blow sent me reeling over the edge of the branch. As I was falling only one thought came to mind.

'Well, it's faster than climbing down.'

A While Earlier

Cora looked at her sister. Terra was wincing slightly.

"What's wrong?"

Terra winced again.

"Nothing it's just that- ugh -Adam's not being as courteous as her could be."

Cora patted her sister's hoof.

"That's just how he is. You don't expect him to climb up with those flimsy vines, do you?"

"Well I suppose not..."

Cora leaned back on her rock, which by now was almost completely burnt through.

"Well, I suppose that now's a good a time as any."

Terra smiled at her sister.

"Yes, I do suppose now would be a good time to start. We wouldn't want you to burn your way back to the core, now would we?"

She lowered her horn towards Cora, the wind itself was wrapping around Terra's form and the tip of her horn glowed in a majestic green light.

"Come sister, let us become one. Even if it is only for a moment."

Cora reached up a hand, covered in a dark red glow, and gently touched a finger to the tip of Terra's horn. The lights merged, turning the color of rich loam, and enveloped the sisters. Their eyes began to glow a bright white, and when Terra pushed the pure energy into her sister, the glow slowly subsided, until it had completely dissipated. Cora glowed red for a moment, then it was finished.

"It is done, my sister." Terra panted. She slightly exhausted, as she had given Cora a little more than what was agreed upon.

"Thank you, sis."

Cora gave her sister a hug. This touching moment was rudely interrupted as I slammed into the ground, only a few feet away from the pair. Soon after a bird flew down with Twig's soul stone in its claws.

'Well, that could have gone better.'

Once I pulled myself out of the small crater I had made, I pointed an accusatory finger at Terra.

'I blame you for this.'

Terra smirked at me.

"Then let us call it even for gouging out my flesh during your climb. Besides that, where you successful in your mission?"

I started to casually toss the Seed of Gaia from hand to hand.

'What do you think?'

Terra gave a sigh of relief.

"Thank you Adam. Can you bring it over here?" She asked, pointing to a small stone that looked like a pedestal. "Just place it on the stone."

I shrugged and started towards the pedestal. As I passed by Twig, the seed began to glow.

'Um...'

It slowly floated out of my hands and headed towards Twig. When it reached him, the seed melded with his soul stone. There was a fury of motion, as fallen branches, vines, moss, and other vegetation flew towards Twig. The various plants merged together, reforming Twigs body.

Twig opened his eyes, and dropped to the ground, now having a slight glow. I glanced at Terra.

'Was that supposed to happen?'

Twig started to shudder violently, thrashing about, growling and snapping at anything close to him.

'...Evidently not.'

Twig suddenly charged, and slammed into me head first. The force of the collision sent me back a few feet. I responded with a charge of my own, it being far more effective.

'TERRA! WHAT DID YOU DO?'

"It wasn't me! The Seed of Gaia, it chose Twigleaf, but it's too strong."

Great, just great. As Twig lunged at me again, I wrapped my arms around his neck and torso, and flipped him over my shoulder, slamming him into the ground. Before he could recover I grabbed hi back legs and started to spin in a circle, before tossing him, hammer-throw style.As twig slammed into a tree, I turned towards the goddesses.

'What are you going to do?!'

Terra seemed quite calm with her reply.

"We just need you to restrain him for us, them we will be able to seal most of the excess power."

"Please Adam." With Cora siding with Terra, I had no choice.

'...fine.'

I returned to face Twig, while the two deities began to cast their spell.

I rained blow after blow onto Twig, but more branched kept on filling in the damaged parts. Eventually I got a solid blow, right in his chest, and his soul stone was shot out. I may have celebrated a little premaaturaly, as his body quickly reformed around him.

'OH COME ON!'

After several minutes of me pummling Twig and him regenerating, Cora and Terra were finally ready.

"Just hold him still!"

'Easier said than done.'

Well, it was. You try holding a seven foot long, god-powered, wooden canine. I tried grappling, and pinning him, but he kept on wriggling away, or breaking my hold. Eventually I decided to just sit on him, and use my weight to restrain him.

'Any time you're ready.'

Cora rushed forward and lightly touched Twig on the head. His entire body instantly turned to ash, leaving his soul stone vulnerable. Terra quickly shot a net of her divine energy, which wrapped around Twig's soul stone, and quickly sunk in. I backed away, and watched as Twig's body slowly reformed. When it had finished, he was laying on the ground, unconscious.

Cora rushed towards me, and clambered her way up to me shoulder.

'Well, I guess this is goodbye...'

"Bye-bye sis, see you later! Thanks for the power boost!"

Cora cheerfully waved. Terra gave a small grin.

"Goodbye sister, it has been good to see you again, although your choice in helpers leaves much to be desired."

Cora giggled, and I harrumphed.

"Love you sis."

Our departure was much easier than our arrival. The wall of vines opened up, as we approached it, and no animals attempted to deter us from our path. Once we had left Gaia's Naval, I decided to ask Cora something which I had been wondering about for a while.

'Cora...'

"Mm-hmm?"

'Let's say your full strength is the size of Terra's tree, ok?'

"Alrighty."

'What is your current power at?'

Cora looked around for a bit, before pointing at a nearby tree.

"That."

I looked at the tree, it was about 12 feet high, give or take.

'That tree, hmm.'

Cora looked at me with a smile.

"Not the tree silly, the leaf!"

'Oh. This might take a while.'

A/N

It's done! Well here's the newest chapter of An Iron Pawn, this has been the last chapter of the crossover with Zombie_Lizard's... scratch that, with Chewed Pencil's story, Broken Howls and Tattered Leaves. Anyways, give me your take on the chapter, how was it?

Please be brutally honest, let me know if you spot any mistakes that I didn't.

I've also started an ask blog, for any of you who want me explain Adam's or Cora's background or personality or anything else you would like me to elaborate on in the story. Find it here. I probably won't have image replies, but I might try my hand at drawing a few.

~Eathlome

Lolcano Pt. 1

An Iron Pawn

Lolcano Pt. 1

'AAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!'

"WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

'AAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!'

"WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

'CORA! THIS WAS A TERRIBLE IDEA!'

"WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

Much Earlier

'So, Cora, any ideas about how we can restore your power a bit more?'

"Hmmmm..."

'Any secret worshipers, ancient artifacts, or hidden temples?'

"Nope."

'Ancient seals, which when broken will return a portion of your strength?'

Cora just shook her head.

'How about and conveniently placed wells of power?'

Cora paused for a moment, I could tell she was thinking very hard about what I had just said.

"I'VE GOT IT!"

I gestured for her to continue.

"We could use Ley Nexuses. They have a bunch of unused energy floating around."

'Alright, this is good. Where's the nearest one?'

Cora let out a nervous giggle.

"Well... that would be at ... Gaia's Naval..."

There was an awkward silence, followed shortly after by the distinct metallic clang of my hand and face enthusiastically greeting each other.

'...Do you want to head back?'

Cora scratched her head, before giving shake no.

"It isn't a very strong one anyways, and I have a better idea!"

I was a bit hesitant about Cora's idea.

'...what is it?'

"Well, there's a pretty strong Ley Nexus not to far from here... and another smaller one on the way..."

'And?'

"Well, the smaller one might have some strange side effects... but you shouldn't be affected."

'What about the larger one?'

"It's on top of a volcano!" Cora said, with a huge smile.

I know I'm going to regret this.

'Alright,' I said, picking Cora up, 'which way?'

Cora gave a gleeful giggle, and pointed in a direction that was approximately west. We continued walking, and by that I mean that I walked and Cora rode on my shoulder. I don't know exactly how long we walked for, but we decided to stop once it got dark. While I don't get tired, it still is pretty hard to see when it's pitch black out, and I didn't want off walk off a nearby cliff.

We passed the night away by telling stories. I told Cora about some of my adventures, past games, and so on; and Cora told me about how she came into being, and helped hold this world together while it formed, how she went to sleep embraced by her younger sister, and the different times she awoke. I had a feeling that she was leaving out an important detail, but I'm sure she'd tell me if I needed to know. It was probably a bad memory she didn't want to remember. By the time we had finished our tales the sun had just passed over the horizon, so we decided to start moving again.

After a couple hours of walking, I began to feel a strange sensation. It was sort of like a buzz or a hum, right at the back of my head. I shook my head, ignoring it, and pressed on. As we continued, the trees began to thin slightly, and the hum began to steadily increase.

'Cora?'

"We're almost there."

I paused, and glanced at Cora.

'Cora... is this buzzing I feel, caused by the Ley Nexus?'

Cora grinned and shrugged.

"Probably, why?"

I stopped at the trees abruptly halted.

'There is enough power here, to physically manifest itself through an alteration of perception, and you call that little?!'

Cora nodded, with a big smile plastered on her face.

"Yep!"

OK, she is just way to powerful for her own good.

"Now all we have to do is get me to the middle of it... oh, that might be a problem..."

Cora pointed to the rather large lake we have come across.

'Cora, please tell me that the Ley Nexus isn't in the middle of the lake.'

"Well... eheheh."

'Why didn't you tell me that it was in the middle of a lake?!'

Cora gave me a pout.

"There wasn't a lake the last time I was here!"

Great, just perfect. The lake was fairly large, but it wasn't too far across. No, the problem was that how deep it was. Even with crystal clear waters like the ones it held, I still couldn't see all the way to the bottom.

'So... How do you plan on getting to the middle? Because I sure can't carry you.'

"Why not?" Cora asked, genuinely confused.

I gave her a look, and proceeded to explain why I wouldn't be able to carry her to the Ley Nexus, in the simplest terms possible.

'Me metal, lake water. Metal sink in water.'

Cora smacked me in the back of the head. Note to self, don't tease the insanely overpowered goddess who is riding on your shoulder. Cora hopped down, and started a small blaze when she landed, which I tried to contain to prevent a forest fire.

"I know exactly what to do." Cora had a glint in her eyes that I had come to connect to a determined deity. Which meant that she was going to do something, and everything should just stay out of her way. Cora raised her arm, and with a visible effort slowly pushed it down, then brought it up.

The result was a small tremor, followed by a huge gout of steam from the lake. When the steam had cleared I could see Cora, laying face down on the ground. Not much had changed, except there was now a path of glassy black stone heading to the middle of the lake. I ran over to Cora and picked her up. She let out a small giggle and poked my face.

"Hey Adam," she paused as her head lolled around for a bit, "did it work?"

'It sure did.' I replied, as I walked towards the Ley Nexus. Once we got to the center Cora slowly lifted out of my arms, and began glowing a dark red. Ambient while lights appeared, and slowly changed to match Cora's glow, before being sucked into her. The amount of magical energy began to build, being collected faster than Cora could feed it into her own strength.

If I was still made of flesh and blood, my eyes would have gotten very wide and I would probably have been sweating profusely. I realized what was going to happen, and tried to get Cora to slow down.

'Nonononono, wait! The backla-'

The resulting magical shock-wave sent me flying away, flipping over and over, until I slammed head first into the ground. I pushed myself up, and surveyed the surroundings. There wasn't much damage done, aside from the trench dug by my head. I guess we found out why the trees don't grow very close to the lake. If this is the result of a "small" Ley Nexus, I can only imagine the effects of what Cora calls a "large" one.

I went up to congratulate the beaming Cora, only to stop short and point out the plummeting figure above her. As I rushed towards Cora, the falling object slammed into the water, drenching Cora. By the time I got to her, she had already evaporated the water off of herself. I could see with a glance that the "figure" was in fact a beige pegasus. I looked up to see if there were going to be any more unexpected guests dropping in.

'Wow Cora, you knocked him right out of the sky.'

Cora seemed a bit surprised, but it soon passed.

"Adam, can you get him?"

I reached out, and picked up the pegasus. Luckily he was within arms reach, else I would've had to leave him. After we walked back to shore, I laid him out on the ground. I could see he was still breathing, which was fortunate, because I wouldn't have been able to preform CPR, and Cora would probably set him on fire if she tried. After a few moments of waiting, I decided to speak up.

'Are we going to go, or wait here?'

Cora ignored me and crouched next to the unconscious pegasus.

"♪Hey~♪" she called in a singsong voice, "♪Can you hear me?♪"

Cora put her face next to the pegasus' and whispered to him.

"♪Hello? I anybody home?♪"

Cora reached put a finger, and poked the pegasus' cheek.

"♪Poke~♪"

The stallion's reaction was instantaneous. With a yelp, he leaped into the air, staring at Cora, some smoke rising from the burn on his cheek. A moment later he dropped to the ground, and bowed so deeply, that his face was literally in the ground. His voice was slightly muffled by the dirt, and he spoke with a strange lilt.

"Oh, most divine and purest of beauties. You are far greater than any mortal could hope to understand, surely this is what she meant when they said I would be able to see the truth should I come here. Please allow my to serve you, most perfect and complete of beings."

It's probably a good thing I'm made of metal, else I would've passed out from laughing so hard. Cora turned to me with a huge grin.

"Isn't he just the sweetest thing? Can we keep him?"

I glanced at him, his eyes full of awe and worship as he looked at Cora. I gave a shrug.

'Sure, why not?'

A/N

Hey all, how's it going?
I finally finished up this chapter, so celebrations all around! ♫Hooray!♫
Anyways, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter.
If you are confused about the beginning, it will be cleared up in the next chapter or two (This will be a multi-part chapter).'
Also if you're confused about the pegasus who decided to start worshiping Cora please read DPR's story, Myou've Gotta be Kidding Me. It's pretty amazing.
As always, please feel free to comment, criticize, and correct to your heart's content.

~Eathlome

P.S. I dropped the mane 6 character tag, as I probably wont be seeing any of them for a fairly long while... sadface.

P.P.S Hooray! 100+ likes! 150+ favs! You are all so good to me!

Lolcano Pt. 2

An Iron Pawn

Lolcano Pt. 2

"WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

'YOU JUST HAD TO MAKE IT ERUPT, DIDN'T YOU?! OY, FEATHERBRAINS! FLY FASTER!'

"I'm going as fast as I can!"

'GO FASTER OR ROAST ALIVE! IT'S YOUR CHOICE!'

"WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

The pegasus looked up at me, his eyes wide. He then jumped backwards, flapping his winds desperately, and letting out a comically high pitched shriek. Cora turned to me with a pout on her face.

"Adam! Don't go scaring my pegasus."

'I didn't even do anything!'

Cora rolled her eyes, and called out to her pegasus.

The pegasus came slowly back down.

"Don't worry, Adam wont hurt you."

The pegasus gave a nod.

"As you say, Great One."

"Sooo... What's your name?"

His eyes went wide.

"My name is Written Scribe, oh most perfect of all beings."

Cora waited for him to continue, and Written Scribe looked back at her, waiting. This lead to an awkward silence. These are getting real old, real fast. Eventually Cora decided to speak up.

"So... What do you do?"

"I am a collector of knowledge!" Written said proudly, showing the marking on his flank, a quill dipped in an inkwell superimposed over a blank sheet of parchment "Be it fact or fancy, history or mythology, ideals, beliefs, or technologies! It is my greatest goal to learn it all!"

'...That was a bit hammy.'

Cora punched me in the leg.

Scribe continued on, ignoring the interplay between Cora and I.

"In fact I have several incredible pieces that I have found, in fact I have them right here... in... my... bags..."

His eyes went wide, and he began looking around frantically. I pointed out over the lake to some brown specks floating on the surface. With a gasp, Scribe shot off, speeding towards his missing bags.

I looked over to Cora.

'So... how are you now?'

Cora looked at me with a puzzled expression on her face.

'I mean, with the power you've just absorbed, how powerful are you.'

Cora thought for a moment, watching Scribe making several failed dives to get his bags. After a while she shrugged.

"More powerful."

Ahh, the metallic clang of a face-palm, will it ever get old?

'Alright then... how many more of these do you think we'll need to visit?'

Cora stuck a fingertip in her mouth as she thought.

"Ones like this? A couple thousand, at least. But if you're talking about ones like where we are going ... then it will be a lot less."

We sat there in silence, watching as Scribe repetitively attempted to snatch his bags from the surface of the lake.

'Are you sure you want to bring him with us?' I asked, pointing at the pegasus, 'You know that he'll probably just slow us down.'

"How's that?" Cora seemed genuinely confused.

'Neither of us need to eat, drink or sleep. He does.'

Cora pouted, "But I haven't had any worshipers since..." Cora's pout turned into a grimace, "... I haven't had any worshipers for a long time."

I would have asked for her to continue, but Scribe came flying back, having finally retrieved his bags. He landed beside us, and pulled out several tubed from his packs.

"I found these very useful when I navigated my way here, they are some of the most completed to date!"

Opening the tubes he pulled out several large pieces of paper, which revealed themselves to be maps when unfurled. Written Scribe stood back, smiling proudly.

After a few moments of examining the maps, and preventing Cora from touching them, we had finally determined where we were. The area that we were in was commonly known as The Great Southern Rainforest to the, but was referred to as the Feline Jungle by the cat-like species that inhabited it, although existence of this species is widely unknown to the vast majority of the Equestrian populace.

After several small debates, Cora had managed to convince me that Scribe coming with us would be the batter idea. the main thing that got me was that Scribe was the only one of us familiar with this world, and given his wide field of knowledge, I relented.

We returned to our trek, although with Scribe here Cora had someone to talk to. And talk they did. Just by listening, I was able to learn a lot about our new travel companion/Cora's fanatic. Apparently he's a researcher, specializing in myths and lore. He had discovered some information about a collection of mysterious relics, called Star Objects, and had decided to see if it would pan out. He headed to a group that had sprung up recently, that was looking to hire explorers and researchers. Scribe met with a secretary named Page Turner and told them about his discoveries (a few mentions in some old tomes, and several stone carvings). Scribe was thanked for his time, and given a few bits. While he was wandering around the compound he met a unicorn, named Brick, who had told him about the lake, calling it the "Pool of Truth", saying how it allowed her to see beyond what mortal eyes can observe. Scribe had decided that this was too good a chance for any real researcher to pass up, and had started preparing for the journey almost immediately. After he had tied up a few loose ends, he hitched a ride on a supply airship to a town called Wethoof, and had flown the rest of the way.

After our second day of travel, I asked Cora to do the stick-her-hands-into-my-head-so-I-can-talk thing. It turns out that Cora only let me talk to Timber Wolves the last time she did it, she can't just let me talk to everything, she has to do it one at a time. Well, at least now I can talk to ponies. Now that I could ask him directly, instead of speaking through Cora, I could finally ask Scribe several questions that I thought were important.

'What do you know about the organization you were at?'

Scribe shrugged, "Not much, they were hiring a lot of explorers, so they're probably looking for something."

'Do you think that you might have been followed?'

"I doubt it," he snorted, "I'm not exactly famous, like Daring Do. I've been very careful not to make any enemies."

Most of the questions went like this, and I eventually decided to drop it for now. Travel had slowed a moderate amount due to our now needed rest time. During this time I would either talk to Cora, or read through a few of the books Scribe has with him. I could understand most of them, but some were written in an unknown dialect.

Near the middle of our third day of travel, the trees started to thin out. the ground became dryer, and their seemed to be less and less of the smaller plants we had been tromping through. After a few more hours,we finally left behind the last of the trees. Looking out over the desolate, mountainous landscape before us Scribe cleared his throat.

"Welcome to the Volcanic Wastes."

Standing on the cracked and parched ground, with Cora sitting on my shoulder, I could feel the thrum of energy deep beneath the ground. I only hoped that when we got Cora to that volcano, she didn't shatter the continent apart. I would probably get blamed if she did.

Hey all!

Sorry if this chapter seems a bit awkward, I spent a while smoothing it over, but I don't know if I got all the bumps. I also had the small time jump, this was mainly because I'm pretty sure you didn't want me to spend the next five chapters having them walk through a jungle. Also sorry if this chapter seems a bit short, I didn't want to have an awkward cut off, so I stopped it there.

And as always please leave any comments, criticism, corrections, or questions you may have.

~Eathlome

Lolcano Pt. 3

An Iron Pawn

Lolcano Pt. 3

We began our trek into the rugged rocky terrain. I strode over the jagged stones and pointed rocks that littered the ground, Cora riding on my shoulder. Scribe flew slightly behind us, and I could notice his eyes darting around, as he nervously scanned the sky. There was very little wildlife in this desolate area, aside from some small snakes and scorpions, which made me wonder what could have him so concerned. I soon found out.

As we crested a ridge, a loud shriek halted us. In the distant sky there were several dark figures, which were quickly closing in on us. Scribe was staring at them, a look of horror on his face.

"Not again..." he groaned.

'What now?'

"Every single time! It never fails!" Scribe ranted, "Celestia and Luna twice damn it to Tartarus!"

Cora cleared her throat with a slight Ahem.

"It couldn't have not happened just this once! I can't just have a nice trip to the Volcanic Wastes without them showing up! Noooooo, of course they just have to be out and about when ever I come here!"

Cora tapped the side of my head, and gave a nod at Scribe. I shrugged, nearly toppling Cora off, then reached up and yanked the pegasus down by his back leg. I quickly flipped him around, and grabbed him with both hands, so he was facing me and Cora.

'Explain. Now.'

My blunt demand was punctuated by another shriek, this one much closer.

"Harpies." he mumbled.

Cora leaned forward.

"Could speak a bit louder? Pleeeeease?"

"Harpies." he said again, just barely a whisper.

'OUT WITH IT!'

"HARPIES!" he screamed, "Every single time I ever come to the Volcanic Wastes, I'm attacked by harpies! I have no idea how they know I'm coming, but they never fail to show!"

"Why would harpies be interested in you?" Cora asked, scratching her head in confusion, causing small sparks to leap from her fingertips.

Scribe blushed, and looked down to the side.

"Er... Well... The thing about harpies... is that... well, they don't have any males, so- "

'OOOOOKAY! That's enough explaining for now! We have bigger problems.' I gestured to the six harpies who had come close enough to see properly. They were wretched creatures. Oversized wings, sharp talons, and the crusty red coating of dried blood covering their bodies. I thought back to the last time I had fought harpies... I had died.

I let go of Scribe and he flew back a bit.

"Alright, these harpies are after me. So I'm going to fly as fast as I can, to keep them from you." He pointed a hoof at me, "Make sure you protect her with your life."

I would have been a very dramatic and beautiful scene, except Cora burst into laughter. After her giggles had subsided, Cora waved a hand at Scribe.

"No. You're going to stay right here with us, and Adam will take care of everything, understand?"

"B-but-"

"Understand?" Cora repeated, in a slightly more forceful tone.

Scribe opened his mouth slightly, but quickly closed it with a glare from Cora. He slowly nodded, and Cora's cheery demeanor quickly returned.

"Great!" Cora slid off me, with a smile. When she landed, several small spurts of lava shot up out of some of the cracks in the ground.

'Showoff.'

Cora stuck her tongue out at me, and motioned for Scribe to hover beside her.

"Now all we have to do is let Ada-"

Cora was cut off by another loud screech, this one nearly right above us. Glancing up I saw that the harpies were very close now, and the one which had screeched was already in a steep dive. I bent my knees slightly , and spread my arms out wide. The harpy, almost upon us, prepared to let out another cry, but it was cut short when I slammed my arm into it like a metal club. The blow caused several things to go snap, and I spun around, following up with my momentum, and slammed the harpy to the ground. The harpy shrieked in pain and a dark smoke started to fill the air. The harpy had landed in one of the small pools of lava Cora had made. I quickly stomped down on the harpy, caving in it's chest.

Cora had started up a chant in the background, "Adam, Adam, he's the guy! He can wipe out these small fry!"

I turned my attention towards the remaining harpies, three of which had already began their dives. Their dive was in a tight formation, and perfectly synchronized. Unfortunately for them, that would only help me. I leaped into the air, and grabbed the harpies in a bear hug. I landed a few feet away from Cora and Scribe, and began to squeeze. The harpies thrashed and shrieked, desperately trying to break my hold. The quickly lashed out at me with their talons. These ineffective attacks soon fell of after several crunches, after which the screeches increased in volume. With a final strain I swept my arms past each other, effectively crushing the harpies in half.

As I let the mass of gore fall to the ground I looked up at the remaining two harpies, who were circling warily. They made several moves to dive, but withdrew as I moved to intercept. Suddenly they both dived, from opposite directions. I knew that I couldn't block from both sides, one would knock me away and the other would grab Scribe, so I let my instincts take over. I reached down and scooped up a mix of ash, burning flesh and magma from the first harpy, and launched at one of the other ones diving. As I turned to face the other assailant, I could see out of the corner of my eye, that the flaming molten mass had struck the harpy on the wing, and it was rapidly falling. I turned my attention to the last attacker, and launched a sledgehammer like punch, caving in the harpy's head, and splattering brain everywhere.

'Damn. Where am I going to find a place to wash off here?'

Scribe was staring at me open mouthed, his left eye twitching slightly. Cora giggled and clapped her hands.

"Don't worry about that. Let's get back on track."

Cora reached her arms towards me, waiting to be picked up. I reached down and swept her up onto my shoulder. She pointed towards a large mountain.

"There it is!"

We started off, and walked for a few minutes, before we noticed that Scribe wasn't with us. We hurried back and found his still staring at the remains of the harpies. I grabbed him, and began to tow him a little bit behind me, as he hovered just off the ground. By the time he had gotten over his shock we had arrived at the base of the volcano. To my surprise there appeared to be something like a rough path leading up it.

"Is this where we are heading?"

I glanced over at Scribe, as Cora nodded.

"Yep."

Scribes eyes brightened.

"I see. Is it because of the gems?"

After a moment of silence from both of us Scribe continued on.

"Because many of the gems here have strange properties. Rumor has it that every single gem produces a unique effect when magic is applied to them. I'm not sure if that's true, but gems from this area are very easy to imbue with magic, and that makes them quite valuable. In fact there are a few small mining camps nearby which rely on them as their primary source of income."

I decided to answer his original question, else we would probably end up hearing about the last few hundred years of this place.

'No. Were not here about the gems... It's more about what causes the gems to act like that, if I'm not mistaken.'

This caught Scribe's attention right away

"You know what causes the gems to act this way? You must tell me! This could be the find of the century!"

If I were still flesh and blood, or at the very least had a working respiratory system, I probably would have groaned, or given a regretful sigh. As neither of those two options were available to me, I resigned myself to raising my head to the sky and looking around for more harpies to kill. Unfortunately there were none.

By the time we had crested the last ridge on the path, Scribe had filled up three small notebooks, which he had taken from his bags, with what I had told him about Ley lines, Ley Nexi, and their effects on the surrounding area.

"Stop right there! Don't come any closer!"

The shout had come from a small barricade, made from some of the larger boulders in the area. Peering over top of the short wall was a rather large earth pony. He was wearing some old plate armor, and had a crossbow, which had somehow been mounted on his hooves. The pony called out again.

"We are heavily armed, and will not hesitate to shoot, should you come any closer. We took out the last group of dogs that came here, and no matter how much armor you pile on, we’ll still wipe out you mutts!"

I glanced at Cora and shrugged.

‘Well, we tried. Let’s go home.’

Smack!

Cora wasn’t amused. I shook my head,in a vain attempt to stop the ringing.

‘I’m not sure I really deserved that.’

After that Scribe decided to take the diplomacy into his own hooves. He flew to the front of our small group, so that he was visible to the guard. The guard started at the appearance of the pegasus,but didn’t lower his weapon.

“Clearly there has been some sort of mistake. You seem to be under the impression that we are... diamond dogs? I’d like to personally assure that none of us are.”

The guard seemed a bit hesitant, but was no longer aiming directly at us. After a few moments deliberation, he lowered his weapon.

“I’m willing to admit that I may have been a bit hasty in labeling you like that. But that still doesn’t mean I can trust you. Why are you heading to The Camp?”

Scribe seemed a bit puzzled. I’m going to go out on a limb and say that Cora and I were fairly confused as well.

“What’s The Camp?”

The guard looked at us for a moment, then slowly started to nod.

“You’re not from around here.”

It was a statement, not a question. The guard continued with his explanation.

“The Camp is sort of like a small town that was set up by the miners. You claim whatever house is available when you get there, and you keep it in repair until you leave. Then it’s free for the next pony who comes along.“

It seemed like an interesting setup, and if we weren't most likely going to level the place, it would probably be very interesting to see how it worked in more depth. Unfortunately that probably wouldn’t be an option. The guard looked at us again and cleared his throat.

“So if you weren’t heading to the camp, why were you coming up here?”

Scribe opened his mouth, then paused. A confused look flitted across his features, and he turned to look at us.

“Your greatest magnificence, I’m afraid that I was never informed of the reason we have brought you most hallowed being here. I know that he,” Scribe gestured at me, “gave an explanation of the ambient magical properties of Ley energy, but it was never tied in with your grand plan.”

Cora waved a hand at his ridiculous amount of flattery, and let out a small giggle.

‘Careful Scribbles, if you keep that up, her huge head will make it much harder to balance up here.’

Smack!

‘Now, I might have deserved that one.’

The guard let out a rough chuckle.

“I might not be too sure what you are, but you don’t seem to be dangerous. I’ll let you pass, but if I get word about any trouble, you can be sure you’ll be going off the side faster that you can say “It wasn’t me!”, got it?”

‘Yep.’

“Understood.”

Cora blew a raspberry.

After the guard had let us pass the wall, I turned to ask him a very important question.

‘Do you have any plans in case the volcano, you know, erupts?’

He barked out a harsh laugh.

“This place has been dormant for hundreds of years! We don’t need to worry about that.”

I gave a slow nod.

‘Alright then. ’

The pony had less than a second before my fist gently smashed into the side of his head. And by gently, I mean that his head wasn’t turned into jelly, and that he would merely be asleep for a couple of hours... or days.

“What did you do that for!? He was perfectly willing to help us, you didn’t ha- URK!”

Scribe choked off and his eyes bulged slightly, so I lessened my grip on his throat, just enough so that he could breath.

‘Listen Scribe, I’ve lived for a very long time. Debts, boons, owing and repaying what is owed. These are what I have come to value over my many lifes. Yes, this guard was willing to help us, so I’m going to help him.”

I released my grip on him completely, before continuing.

‘What we’re going to be doing here is incredibly dangerous. If we try to convince the miners to leave, they’ll just think that we’re trying to steal their gems. If I have to be the “bad guy” in order to save the ponies in The Camp and repay my debt this guard, then by Coralis, Skadi, Odin, Ra, Poseidon, Osiris, Artemis, Hel, Set, and Eric, I’ll do it!’

Scribe looked at me with rapt attention, then he slowly nodded in acceptance.

“Yes... I suppose you are correct.”

Scribe looked at the unconscious guardspony and gave a sigh, before glancing at Cora and nodding again.

“Alright. So what’s the plan?”

I thought for a moment.

‘You and Cora stay out of sight-’

“HEY!” Cora let out an indignant shout. “Why do I have to stay behind?”

I would have raised an eyebrow, if I had any.

‘Cora, you already interfered during our last fight, even if it was by accident. But if you do it again, I’m pretty sure the others won’t appreciate it.’

Cora struggled for a moment, before deciding to cross her arms and scowl at me.

“Fine.”

Scribe had a combination of irritation, probably because of how I rebuked Cora, and interest across his face.

“What oth-?”

‘Not now. Back to the plan, you two stay hidden while go into The Camp, terrorize everyone there, get them to leave, then you two can come in and we’ll blow up the volcano.’

“Wait!” Scribe shouted frantically, “What was that about blowing up the volcano?”

‘Ask Cora. Now shoo.’

As Cora and Scribe moved away to hunker down, I thought about how I was going to approach the situation with The Camp.

‘Well I suppose I could always use subterfuge, and surprise them from within... nah.’

‘RRRHHHAAAAAAAAGGHHHH!!’ I telepathically roared, ‘FOOLISH PONIES. DID YOU REALLY THINK YOU COULD HIDE YOUR BOUNTY FROM ME!?’

The Camp was in complete chaos, and not the funny cotton candy cloud type. It was closer to sheer pandemonium. Most of the ponies there were running around in mass panic. A few of the guards had managed to load their hoof-mounted crossbows and began firing at me, mostly missing, but a few blots glancing off of me every few shots. One of the miners even managed to muster up enough courage to charge me with his pick. So I naturally responded in the most reasonable way.

‘BWAHAHAHAHAH.’ I grabbed the offending pony and hurled him at the guards, who tried to scatter, but still got hit by the living ballistic.

‘YOU THINK YOU CAN DEFEAT ME?! I HAVE FACED FAR WORSE THREATS THAN YOU! I AM THE DESTROYER OF ATLANTIS, THE SINKER OF MU, THE DOUBLE EDGED SWORD OF THE GODS!’

I decided to show some humility, by not reciting all of the titles I had amassed over previous games. If I had we probably would have been their for the better part of a week. I also internally winced as I brought up the titles I had earned in the last two games, not that it would really matter since none of the ponies here would know anything about them.

‘I COULD DESTROY ALL OF YOU WITH EASE... BUT I WILL SHOW MERCY. ALL OF YOU LEAVE NOW! OR YOUR LIVES ARE FORFEIT!’

It was a literal stampede. The mob of ponies frantically rush passed me, fleeing with reckless abandon. A few grabbed the guards, tossed them onto some wagons, and pulled them along, but other then that, no other item were taken.

I looked around at the town, aside from some damage caused by my initial rush, everything was in excellent condition. I had to agree with the first guard, the system did work. I did a quick look into the mines. All the crystal lamps were off, so I assumed that nobody was in there.

After the check on the mine I stood in the center of the deserted town, when a thought suddenly occurred to me. How was I going to let Cora know that we were ready to go? I started walking back to the entrance, only to find Cora and Scribe already coming towards me.

‘How did you know I had cleared out the place?’

Scribe raised an eyebrow.

“The horde of screaming ponies was more than enough of a sign.”

I paused for a moment, then shrugged.

‘Good enough for me. Cora, lead the way.’

Cora took several slow steps forward, a very concentrated look on her face. I reached down, and swept her up onto my shoulder. She gave me a slightly surprised, yet smug look.

‘I’m only doing this because it takes you too long to walk without melting the ground out from under your feet.’

Cora let out a giggle, and gestured towards the summit of the volcano.

“This way.”

Once we had trekked up the last part of the volcano we had an excellent view of the surrounding area. Including a large group of ponies who were nowhere near far enough away. I looked between Cora and Scribe.

‘So... do you want to play twenty questions?’

“Is it bigger than a breadbox?”

‘No. Seven.’

“Is it smaller than a breadbox?”

‘No. Eight.’

“Hmmmm... Is it a breadbox?”

‘No. Nine.’

“I spy with my little eye, something that is... brownish grey.”

‘...Is it a rock?’

“Yes! How did you know?”

“Apple.”

‘Eggplant.’

“Tomato.”

“Orange.”

‘Etrog.’

“What in the name of Celestia is an Etrog?”

‘It’s a real fruit, Scribe.’

“It’s true.”

“Fine... Ginger.”

I looked down from the summit, at the distant group of ponies.

‘They should be far enough away by now.’

Scribe raised a hoof to shield his eyes, and squinted towards the distant herd.

“I’d say you’re probably right.”

He turned to Cora.

“Now what?”

“Well, I have to get to the middle of the volcano’s mouth, so-”

‘Easy enough.’

I reached over, picked up Cora, and tossed her into the volcano. Scribe stared at me, one of his eyes twitching. Cora had her arms crossed, and was glaring at me, as she floated midair. I held up my hands innocently.

‘What? It got the job done.’

Whatever Cora’s response would have been, was lost when the volcano erupted. But this wasn’t a normal eruption. This was a magically over charged, goddess induced eruption. As I looked at the giant pillar of molten rock, metal, and energy, I could only think of one thing to say.

‘Per Vulcani irrumabo.’

The majestic beauty of the raw untamed natural power of it was captivating. I have no idea how long I stood there, only partially aware of Scribe just beside me, watching with an awestruck expression. The divine, magical, and natural energies mixed together, creating an intricate tapestry of arcane might and beauty. It easily made it into my top ten list of most amazing things I’ve seen a deity do.

My amazement only faded once the lava fell back down into the volcano, and Cora came drifting forward. She landed just beside the opening, and launched herself up onto my shoulder giggling madly.

‘Well that wasn’t so bad...’

“Yeah! Now all we have to worry about is the actual eruption.”

The ground started to rumble, then shake violently.

‘Scribe. Fly. Now.’

I began to dash down the side of the volcano as fast as I could, the grund cracking around my feet, and spewing forth lava. Cora was laughing like mad.

'AAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!'

"WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

'AAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!'

"WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

'CORA! THIS WAS A TERRIBLE IDEA!'

"WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

'YOU JUST HAD TO MAKE IT ERUPT, DIDN'T YOU?! OY, FEATHERBRAINS! FLY FASTER!'

"I'm going as fast as I can!"

'GO FASTER OR ROAST ALIVE! IT'S YOUR CHOICE!'

"WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

A/N

Ha-ha!

I have finally completed this chapter!

It took me many long hours, and blah, blah, blah.

Anyway, yeah I finished it. Hope you all like it, and sorry for taking so long.

Interesting Facts About This Chapter:

I had originally planned to have this done near the end of September, then stuff happened.
I had rewritten the guard scene at least eight times.
The first draft had Adam listing off more than thirty deities during his ‘by Coralis...’ speech. I looked at it after I had finished and then began removing them until the list was a bit more manageable. I also had another twenty or so that I could have added in, but didn’t.
I thinking about lampshading this by having Scribe remark upon how long a list Adam used, and Adam replying that he was trying to keep it short.

And as always and comments, corrections and questions are welcome.

~Eathlome

Ancient Tales

An Iron Pawn

Ancient Tales
(otherwise known as The Chapter That Is Totally Relevant To The Plot, And Not Just Filler)

During our dash down the shattering volcano Cora had finally stopped laughing, and was trying to calm the rest of us down.

"Don't worry, we don't have much further to go."

Had I not been trying to avoid falling into the pockets of lava spewing out of the ground I would have stared at her, I nearly did anyway.

'What do you mean, "we don't have much further to go"? In case you've forgotten, I'm mortal! I know this body is incredibly resilient, but that doesn't mean I want to test if I can survive being submerged in lava!'

Cora gave a short giggle before replying.

"I'm pretty sure you'd be fine, but that isn't what I meant."

I leaped over a small chasm that suddenly opened in front of us, narrowly avoiding the gush of liquid stone the shot out of it. As I landed, I jumped to the side and dodged a large chunk of rock which had fallen down after us. Cora continued obliviously, as the boulder continued to careen down the mountain.

"The only reason that the volcano is erupting is because my sudden influx of power excited it. Once I'm far enough away, everything should settle down nice and quickly."

'If that's the case, then why didn't you just will yourself away and end this?'

Cora stared at me for a second, a blank look face across her face.

"Well..."

If I were still flesh and blood, I would have sighed, and if I hadn't had my arms flung wide to help me balance, I would have facepalmed.

'Nevermind. Just how much further?'

"Right..."

I leaped over another newly formed magma pit.

"...about..."

As I landed, the ground at my feet crumbled, and a stream of magma burst forth, engulfing me to just above my waist.

"...now!" Cora exclaimed cheerfully, just before being launched from my shoulder as the liquid mixture of rock and metal solidified, halting my momentum. As I watched Cora sail down the side of the now-dormant volcano only one thought came to mind.

'Heh.'

As I was trying to figure out how to release myself from my stone tomb Scribe landed nearby, panting heavily. After a moment to catch his breath he began to bombard me with questions.

"What happened? Why did everything just stop? Why are you half buried? And where is the most divine and magnificent one!?"

His voice had been getting more and more urgent with each question, so I decided to answer him before he worked himself into hysteria.

'Cora... Cora... Cora... and that way.'

I pointed to the stumbling and wobbling figure of Cora as she clambered back to us. Scribe flew to her and hovered just beside her. Once they were about halfway back I called over to them.

'Stop messing around, and just get over here already.'

Cora gave a little huff of irritation and appeared next to me in an instant.

"Awww, how did you know?"

I stared at her blankly... well more blankly than usual.

'You are an ancient, incredibly powerful goddess. You would do far more damage smashing into any physical object than it could do to you. Also, the only time I've ever seen a goddess unsteady on her feet was when Loki slipped Skadi some mead without her noticing.'

Cora snorted a bit at that last comment and gave my shoulder a punch. In the meantime Scribe had made his way back to us. He looked at me for a while, then shrugged.

"I suppose that the infinitely powerful and most wonderful one will be able to get you out."

Cora winced slightly as I remembered what I had told her earlier.

'No. She can't.'

Scribe looked, the shock shown clearly on his face.

"B-but she i-"

'I don't mean that she's incapable of doing so, but she's interfered so many times now that the other deities will be looking to limit her influence, especially our last performance.'

I gestured to the devastated area around us, and Cora blushed, her silvery cheeks darkening ever so slightly.

'I'll just have to get myself out.'

"How do you plan on doing that?!"

If I still had a mouth I would have grinned as I pulled back my fist.

'Like this.'

I punched my earthen prison, resulting in a sharp crack and a few slivers of stone fly off.

"That's going to take forever." Scribe groaned.

'Well get Cora to entertain you. She's the goddess who holds domain of this planet's very core. I'm sure she could tell you how it was made. That ought to interest you.'

"Oh, I'm sure he doesn't want to hear that old story." Cora interjected with a wave of her hand. "He'd probably... much rather..."

Cora trailed off as Scribe stared at her with puppydog eyes.

"Please?"

Cora swayed from side to side, a look of reluctance on her face.

"Well I suppose..."

❇❂❇

At first there were the gods and goddesses, but little else. Each of these great beings knew what they wanted to do, and to be. They all claimed names and forms, they took power over what they desired, are known for these traits today. But when the deities first acted, it was rashly. During the formation of their beings they forgot that none of them had claimed dominion over the creation of a place for their powers to rule. None of these beings would trust another with this power, as they believed that then they would only allow what they desired to exist. In order to stop the conflict several of the gods and goddesses put forward an idea.
"What if we create a new deity, to hold this responsibility? Then all of us would be free to do as we desire."
The other deities agreed with this solution, and each of them granted a fraction of their power to create this new life, and thus a new goddess was born. The goddess knew her purpose for existence, and began to work to create a world for the others to enjoy.
First the goddess reached out her awareness and found tiny motes of matter, floating through the void. Grabbing the most plentiful of these particles, the goddess brought them together. At first she tried to force the particles together, but they would drift apart as soon as she released her hold on them. The goddess began to spin the particles around each other, and to her excitement they stayed together. The goddess looked as the tiny spinning ball, and frowned. It was far too small, it needed more. The goddess pulled more of the plentiful particles and fed them into the growing orb. The orb grew smaller as more was added to it, this confused the goddess and she continued to force more into the ball. This continued for eons uncounted until all of the goddess' work went up in flames. The particles had smashed against each other, and crushed each other, and then there was light. It was an incredible thing, but it was not what the goddess had been trying to create, and so she prepared to throw her work away.
But she was stopped by one of the others. She said that the was awed by the goddess' creation, and that she thought it would prove useful. And so the goddess granted her creation to the other, and returned to her work.
Now more learned of the small pieces she had to work with, the goddess reached for the rarer motes, the heavier and more durable ones. She then returned to her labor, and spun these particles together. As time passed the ball grew bit by bit, though this time it did not ignite. The rocky ball the goddess had created was presented to the others. They rejected it, saying that it would be impossible to create anything there. The goddess upset with her failure, and enraged by her inability to fulfill her duty lost control of her power, causing many of her first creations to spring about. The goddess looked out across the void which was now filled with distant lights and sighed. It would take many, many eons to remove every single thing she had made in her moment of instability.
'It was at this time that one of the youngest approached the goddess. She claimed to be enthralled with the goddess' most recent creations, saying that they enraptured her very spirit. The goddess, having no use for her failed creations, and seeing the wonder the other found in them offered them all to her. The young other graciously accepted, thanking the goddess for her generosity.
With her last creations now no longer her responsibility the goddess returned once again to her purpose. She worked slowly, and over time her plans came to fruition. A glowing ball of liquid rock had formed, with small solid chunks floating upon the surface. The goddess descended to the planet she had made, and began ensuring its success. After millions upon millions of years what the goddess had been waiting for happened. Smoke from deep in the center of the planet raised into the sky and it hung there, then there was a sudden flash accompanied by a sharp crack, and then a new substance was falling to the planet. Unlike before this substance was not of stone or metal, and did not burn away all it touched. Instead this substance brought life. The others approached the goddess, and admired her more. They heaped praises upon her, and said that with care this would become the greatest creation of all. But the goddess was tired, the constant creation had weakened her, and she could not continue.
And so the goddess called the upon dregs of her strength, and melded into the most abundant thing, the liquid metals around her, and created new life as had been done for her so long ago. The goddess created many more of these beings, and gave them a single task.
"Ensure that this planet continues to grow while I slumber. Ensure that it does not fall stagnant, and continue my work untill I return."
The goddess then receded into the very center of her creation, and fell into a deep sleep

❇❂❇

Cora fell silent as a loud CRACK filled the air. I had just pulverized the stone encasing my left foot, and wrenched my right free from the ground, along with most of the rock on it. Scribe was staring at Cora with awe filled eyes, several sheets of paper covered in a elegant spidery script, from while he was transcribing Cora's tale.

'Alright, glad that that didn't take too long. Where to next?'

Scribe gently blew on his papers, to dry the ink, before placing then gently in his saddle bag. He then pulled out a map of Equestria and laid it down for us to see.

"We're around here." he said, pointing to the lower left of the map, "If we go a bit to the north we should run into Port Redstone, I really need the supplies, and we could also hire a ship if we are going to go north."

I glanced over to Cora, who shrugged with a small look of confusion on her face.

'Alright, sounds like that's what we're doing. Good thinking Ink Stain. Now, let's get a move on.'

Scribe rolled his eyes at the name, as Cora giggled. After she clambered back up to my shoulder the three of us began our trek to out next destination: Port Redstone.

As the goddess slept her children worked to make sure her creation did not fall to ruin. As the goddess slept they toiled without rest, for they needed none, and acted without fear, for they had none. As they toiled, as they worked, as the goddess slumbered deep beneath the surface, many changes happened, many new creations were brought into existence as the other deities claimed there place on this new world. And finally after many millennia the goddess awoke once again.

Author's Note

Hello readers,

I'm back. I know it's been a while since An Iron Pawn has updated, but I've really been bogged down by school and work. It also didn't help that it took nearly all of February for my ISP to switch over to Acanac.
But let's look on the bright side, I'm writing again, and should be able to do so at a reasonable rate.

That's all for now.

Eathlome

P.S. As always, please leave any concerns, corrections, or criticisms in the comments below. Thank you!

An Old Pawn

An Iron Pawn

~An Old Pawn~

I glanced back over his shoulder, and saw her.

'Damn, she's still following me.'

Now most guys would be thrilled to have a girl following them around, in fact I normally would, but not in this case. For two reasons actually:

This girl was very young, probably around 8 or 9.
I'm pretty sure she wasn't human.

OK so the second one doesn't sound very likely, but I've experienced some crazy things, so I couldn't completely count it out. Anyways, my day was going fairly well. I had just got out of exams and was heading back home, free from worry and stress. That's when I had noticed her. I'd been walking for about half an hour, and she was still following me.

When I finally get back home I couldn't see her any more, which would be a good thing, right?

WRONG!

So I go inside and head up to my room. Once I close the door I let out a sigh.

"So what do you want?"

The reply I get is a combination squeak/gasp.

I turn around to face the young girl sitting on my bed.

"Well?" I wasn't really in the mood for this kind of thing, I just wanted to relax.

"Um... Well... I was ... er ... kind of ... wonderi-"

The girl cut off abruptly with a small yelp, as I pushed my face right next to hers.

"Hmmm...You're not Skadi, nor Eris, nor any other goddess I've met before." Yeah, that's right, I've met some goddesses.

"I-I'm not-"

"Oh, don't lie, I've noticed you tailing me since I got out of school, and since the only ones who would be really interested in me are deities, you've got to be one. So who are you?"

"I-I'm Coralis."

"Alright Coralis ... actually I'm just going to call you Cora."

Coralis opened her mouth to object, but I quickly cut her off.

"No, that's what I'm calling you. Now Cora, why are you in my house?"

Coralis straightened up a bit at this point and tried to put on an air of confidence.

"What would you say if I cou... no wait that's not right ..."

"..."

"OK, I've got this," Coralis cleared her throat, "So how long have you watched My Little Pony?"

Now this really through me for a loop, it wasn't what a god or goddess would normally ask you. Normally it would be something like 'What is it that you desire over all else?' or 'If you do this for me, an eternity in paradise is yours. Wouldn't you like that?'

"Well, I started about halfway through season 2. It's a pretty good show."

Coralis gave me a small grin. You know, the kind that makes you want to slowly back out of the room.

"What would you say if I could send you to Equest-"

"HOLD IT!"

Coralis looked a bit confused about my sudden outburst, and she stopped talking.

"Is this where you're supposed to trick me into saying yes, then use me as a pawn in a giant game?"

Coralis gaped at me, "How-"

"Do you really not know who I am?" I stared at her in disbelief, "I've been in five of the damn things already, I know how it works."

Coralis let out a sigh of relief.

"Thank goodness, because I have no idea what to do."

A fairly long awkward silence followed.

"So, Coralis. Can you tell me how old you are?"

"Well, I'm not really sure ... I've been around pretty much since the beginning."

"How about how long you've been active? You know, not sleeping or imprisoned?"

"Oh, then 257 years."

"Ugh. SO let me get this straight. You are incredibly old, but have only been active for a quarter of a millennium. Also, you've never been in one of these games before?"

"That's about right."

I thought about it for a moment.

"How did you end up in this? I mean there have got to be a huge number of deities in this, and, no offense, but you're really weak."

Coralis harrumphed.

"You try sleeping for 8000 years, and we'll see how strong you are."

"Point taken. But that still doesn't expl..."

I trailed off at this point, I'm fairly sure I just figured out what she was planning.

"This is a power grab, isn't it? Let all the big players fight it out with their pieces, let them whittle each other down, then you come in with a powerful piece at your disposal, and you put them all in checkmate."

There was a moment of silence after I had finished my tirade. I was still stunned about the maneuver she planned on using, mostly because it was riskier than Odin's Gambit. Coralis, on the other hand was looking very worried, probably because I figured out her scheme so quickly.

"Alright, I'm in."

Coralis gave me a look of surprise.

"Really?"

"Yeah, sure. I haven't been in a game for a while. Actually I didn't think I'd ever get to be in another one, after the last two."

"Why? What happened?"

I glanced over at Coralis, she looked slightly nervous. I was a bit nervous too.

"Er...What have you heard about Mu and Atlantis?"

Coralis thought for a moment before responding, "Never heard of them. Why?"

"If anyone ever tells you about them, it wasn't my fault. Honest."

"OK then..."

I stood up and stretched.

"So, are you ready to do this?"

Coralis looked up at me with a blank look on her face, before she remembered what she was doing.

"Oh, yes! So the first thing I do is...uh..."

I gave a small sigh and helped her out.

"My body."

"Body?"

"Well I can't do any good like this!" I gestured to my body, which was actually fairly in shape with some toned muscles, "I know that every other god and goddess playing will be beefing up their pieces, trying to gain any advantage they can. And anyways I'm fairly certain that there are no Humans in Equestria."

"Oh, right."

Coralis closed her eyes for a moment, then opened them.

"Done! What's next?"

Coralis slightly sagged, clearly she had expended a great deal of power on my body. I hope it's awesome.

"Alright, wait a second," I sat down in a chair, and relaxed against the back, "Alright, send me to Equestria."

"Wait. Don't you want me to tell you the rules?"

"You can't," I grinned, "It's against the rules."

Coralis rolled her eyes, and started towards me. I quickly shouted out, "No hitting! Just snap your fingers or clap your hands or something."

Coralis gave a little pout, and rolled her shoulders, before bringing her hands together in a sharp clap.

My vision slowly faded to black, and I suddenly had a thought.

'Damnit, I totally forgot to ask what she's the goddess of!'

A/N

Alright, I'm sure many of you have been reading the Chess Game of the Gods collection, well so have I. The thing that I noticed is that no one has any idea of what there getting into. I also noticed that the Game Masters were pretty much all trolling bastards.

I figured that this probably isn't the first time that a group of deities get together and decided to screw around with mortals, so I made my character a 'repeat player' of sorts. Additionally I decided to alter the relation of game master to piece, in this story. This is because I thought that it would be fairly funny having the rolls reversed, the player being the more knowledgeable of the two.

Anyways, I hope that you all enjoyed this, and that f you spot anything that needs to be fixed, just let me know.

Also, as always I accept all comments and criticism. If you don't like the story let me know why to see if I can fix it.

Oh, and special thanks to Zombie_Lizard for helping me name Cora.

~Eathlome