Masks Lie and Nightmares Never Die

/
After the event with Panic in the maze separated the heroes from each other each group was even more lost than they previously and more frustrated for it.

“Grah, damn that nightmare! When I get my hands on him, I’ll bury him thirty feet under!”

“Calm down Lucain, if you get angry you’ll be only be playing into his hands.”

Lucain and Hopper being separated from the others by Panic’s trap continued to go through the maze hoping either to reach the goal or find the others. The duo ran into their fair share of false walls and corridors; growing more frustrated as they went deeper into the maze.

“I’m getting tired of this…”

“Ditto…”

The two continued their blind path until they heard laughter. Hearing this served to infuriate Lucain, for he and Hopper already knew whose laughter it belong to.

“Panic!” Lucain roared.

“Sup, wolfy,” Panic taunted as he was laying on top the wall, “I thought you two needed some company, so here I am.”

“Grrr…I swear I’m going to bury you when I get my hands on you!”

Panic chuckled slightly before putting on a faux angry face, “Oi, do I look like one of your chew toys? Blimey bastard, I was trying to be nice here, but now here you are trying to start a fight.”

Hopper gulped at the thought. If they couldn’t beat Paranoia what hope do they have against Panic, “Um...Lucain I don’t think we should make him angry, besides we don’t know if this is the real Panic.”

“Aw…cricket man doesn’t want to play?” Panic then pulled out a cricket bat and started swinging it around in threatening way. “But I have a bat with your name on it, but if you’re gonna wimp out I guess I can’t stop you.”

Hopper’s eyebrow twitched in anger, but tried not to pursue the conversation further.

“Ooh…wolfy, come out to pllaayy…wolfy, come out to pllaayy…ha ha ha ha ha!” Panic then threw the cricket bat at the two.

Lucain and Hopper both dodge the bat only to see Panic pull out a button.

“Alright mensos, it’s time to cut you down to size,” Panic then pressed the button only for nothing to happen.

…

“So…was that it?” Hopper asked confused as he looked around the corridors.

“Oh you’ll wish that was it. See ya!” Panic then left the two leaving them to wonder what he did.

“Grah! What a waste of time, c’mon let’s keep moving…”

Hopper nodded in agreement before sensing something with his feelers, “Uh, do you sense something?”

Lucain’s ears perked up in response to Hopper’s question, “Actually yes…” He kept his ears open as he got closer to a wall. Before he knew it, a large slit opened in the side of the wall, “What the heck?” Lucain stared at the slit for a short moment until he heard distance screaming. His eyes widen in response to this as he looked at Hopper who was also staring at another slit.

“Hopper!”

Hopper turns to look at Lucain, but was quickly tackled by the wolf into the ground. “Hey whats the big idea!” He yelled.

As if to answer his question, giant saw blades began to pop out of the slits in the walls much to his shock.

“What the hell?! How did they fit those in the walls?!”

Shortly after appearing, the saws quickly retreated back into the walls leaving the two to wonder when they will pop back out again.

“Shit…now we have to look out for saws…”

/

Meanwhile…

Applejack was sitting shocked as the saw blade returned to the wall.

“Sweet horse apples! That nearly cut me into two!” she checked her hat to see if it was unharmed from the hidden trap, “Ah’ have to be careful from here on out. Don’t want another of those saws catching me by surprise.”

Applejack continued her transversal of the maze deftly dodging saws blades as they appeared. After a few minutes of running through hallways Applejack eventually stopped at a calmer section of the maze in order to catch her breath, “Horse radish! This maze just goes on and on! How do I even know if I’m near the end?”

“Uh…senorita? I believe that was the point.”

Applejack quickly turned to origin of the voice, to find Panic looking down on her from the top of the wall.

“Hi yah lassie,” Panic said with a smile.

“Well if it isn’t the darn snake himself. What do you want? I thought you already did your job!”

“Correction, my clone did his job. I on the other hand, am just getting started.”

Applejack gritted her teeth together, she truly hated this nightmare. First, he tricked her and the rest of her family into thinking Applebloom was dead while he actually foalnapped her. Second, he wounded both her friend Fluttershy and Princess Luna, and now he is putting her friends’ lives at risk in this dangerous maze.

Then to Applejack’s surprise Panic jumped off the safety of the wall he was laying on, and with a graceful spin landed a few feet away in front of her.

“So tell me, why do you hold the title of; Bearer of the element of Honesty? Because if you ask me; it sounds like a whole load of bullshit.”

Applejack grew even angrier at the nightmare’s disrespect for the title she was given. To her and her friends who were also given titles; it was an honor. Clearly this was a foreign concept to the nightmare.

“Why don’t you stick a bundle of hay in it! Being a bearer of one of the elements of harmony is no load of manure. My friends and I earned the right to hold these titles ever since we went to stop Nightmare Moon.”

“Heh heh…ah ha ha ha ha ha! Right… Generosity, Kindness, Loyalty, Laughter, and Magic. Those I understand, but Honesty?! It never made sense to me! Everything that breathes and talks have at least told one lie in their lifetime! When I see that title, all I see is one big fat LIE! And, I hate lies; they infuriate me. Which is why, I mastered the art of lying, so I can see through them! And I seen your poor attempts at lying, you can barely say one to save your life!”

“That’s because I hate lying, I would rather tell the truth of how I feel than lie about it!”

“*Snicker* But not everyone can handle the truth. One of these days you’re going to break someone all because you told them the truth, and your friends won’t be there to bail you out!”

“I had enough of you already! Why don’t come here and say that to my face!”

“Why don’t you make me?”

“That’s it!”

Applejack rushed towards Panic in blinding anger not noticing the small smile he had on his face. Panic with short laugh turned around and ran forcing Applejack to run faster in order not to lose him. She chased him through various halls while dodging more saws as they appeared, Panic would also turn around running backwards only to taunt Applejack further.

“C’mon Jacky girl those nice legs of yours can move faster can they?” he said as he made a small jump to avoid a saw in the ground.

“These legs of mine can do more than run laps yah know, once I get my hoofs on you you’ll see what I mean.”

“Heh…I like to see you try!”

Applejack felt her lungs burning as she continued to force herself to run faster in order to catch up to Panic whom was gaining distance from her, “Dang nabbit, I’m losing him! At this rate I’ll lose him at the next turn!”

Panic turned to her once again with triumphant smile on his face, “Aw…getting a little tired? Do you want to take a break?”

“No, do you?” she said between panted breath.

“Heh, hardly and what did I say about lying?”

“Ah’ ain’t lying; I just don’t plan on giving up.”

“Stubborn it is then. Well I guess that’s normal for a farm girl like you, but I would say a trait like that is a double-edge sword; something I can take advantage of,” Panic then gave another smile before turning around and yelling, “Gangway! Angry mare coming this way!”

Applejack became confused why Panic would yell out such a statement, but after a short moment she ran pass one good reason; she just ran pass two of her friends and the Dream fairies helping them.

“Hey was that Applejack?”

“And Panic?!”

“Hurry after them!”

“You don’t need to tell me twice!”

Soon enough they started chasing after the two, Hopper and Shining had a hard time catching up, but Rainbow Dash and Lucain were slowly closing the distance between them and Applejack.

“Hey Applejack! We got your back!” yelled Rainbow Dash as she inched closer to her friend.

“Good to know, this varmit is starting to become handful.”

“Hey! You didn’t tell me you’ll be bringing friends!” Panic said catching their attention, “They say two’s a date and three’s a party, but I don’t know what the word is if four people are involved…eh whatever, I’ll just get rid of the remaining number,” With a quick motion of his hand suddenly Lucain tripped and fell onto his face while a new wall was placed in front of him.

“Lucain! Darn it! You just love have things your way don’t you?” said Rainbow Dash as she picked up speed.

“I know I’m a spoil brat, sue me.”

“You’re not getting away with this!”

“Well considering I’m still outrunning both of you, I’m technically getting away with it.”

“Grr…how do your brothers put up with you?”

“They found ways but that is nothing you need to know.”

“Somehow that doesn’t surprise me,” Applejack said as her breath grew more ragged.

“Hey are you okay?” Rainbow Dash asked with concern.

“To be honest, ah’ wish I had some water right about now. At this point I think he had me running for nearly half an hour straight.”

“He had you running for that long?! Applejack, I’m impressed you that much stamina to keep running.”

“Well I was able keep up with you in a hoof race, so there shouldn’t be any surprise.”

“Hey, can you cut the small talk? I believe you should see where you’re going…”

Both mares were brought out of their small conversation, “What?!” they exclaimed in surprise as they ran through a doorway into an open room.

“Wait is this…”

“…the center of the maze?”

As if to answer their question, the doorway they passed closed and became a wall. After that the sounds of Paranoia clearing his voice can be heard in the speakers around the maze.

“Attention challengers, for the first time ever we have two challengers reach the center of the maze. This increases their odds of victory over the guardian, but the bigger question is can they beat the guardian? For those who couldn’t find the center, best sit where you are, for you aren’t going anywhere anytime soon and don’t worry about the saws; I deactivated them. Thank you for your cooperation and for the curious minds out there the challengers that made it are Applejack and Rainbow Dash; I bid them good luck.”

With a small buzz of static Paranoia signed off leaving Applejack and Rainbow Dash with the silence of the room. But, the silence didn’t last very long as Panic’s laughter can be heard echoing across the room.

“Well congratulations, you both made it, but…one of you looks a little worse for wear.”

Panic’s words rung true as Applejack was still catching her breath from the marathon like run.

“*Gasp* Ah sure wish I had *gasp* some water right now *cough*”

As if some sort of joke, a bottle of water was tossed at her feet.

“All you had to do is ask,” Panic said as he remains hidden in the shadows.

Applejack grabbed the bottle, unscrewed the top and poured the contents of the bottle down her throat quickly emptying it. Once the bottle was drained, Applejack then wiped her mouth with her arm and threw away the bottle to the side.

“I would say thanks, but ah’ still remember you’re the one who’s going to fight us.”

“Yeah and we’re going to save Princess Luna while we kick your flank!”

Panic began to laugh again, though they could not see him he sounded close.

“I wouldn’t get cocky if I were you…I’m not your opponent, at least not this time.”

“Then who?”

A spotlight then appeared in front of them along with Panic himself.

“Ladies and germs, prepare to meet one of the stars of my mystifying carnival! He’s big, he’s durable, and he has a code of conduct. Everyone present please put your hands, claws, and other appendages together for Caarrrlll!!!” Shortly after naming the guardian Panic jumped into the darkness of the ceiling leaving Applejack and Rainbow Dash confused on who the guardian is.

“Carl?”

“What kind of guardian is named Carl?”

Suddenly, a giant headless knight crashed in front of them wielding an ax just as large as itself. Its steel blue armor glinted in the low light conditions along with the dark red spots plastered a near the edge of its blade.

“What the heck?! What is that?!”

“Ah don’t know, but I don’t think that ax is for cutting down trees.”

The headless knight gave out a muffled roar before walking towards the two; each step shaking the ground beneath their feet.

“Great…how are we going to take that thing down?”

“Well, one thing’s for sure; we ain’t taking that behemoth head on.”

“Well any ideas?”

*Hee hee, ha ha!*

Rainbow Dash gritted her teeth, “Great…he can’t leave us alone can he?”

“Sorry, but I almost forgot. I had to give you something to increase your survival odds!”

Suddenly, the armored giant stopped in its tracks and took a kneeling pose. This confused Applejack and Rainbow Dash, for the threatening giant was getting ready to strike. The two looked at each other and cautiously approached the giant, but before they could get any closer an axe was dropped in front of them; surprising both mares.

“What the hay?! Is that Panic’s way of giving us a fighting chance?”

Rainbow Dash took a closer look at the axe; it was beyond anything she seen before. The axe was one sided and very brutish looking. The metal it was made out of shined in the low lighting revealing the quality of the metal to be great. Rainbow Dash picked up the axe wanting to get a feel for the weapon, but struggled with it due its weight.

“Ugh, this thing is heavier than it looks. I definitely don’t see myself using thing in a fight, but it does look cool enough to keep as decoration.”

“Rainbow Dash, don’t even think about it. We’re not keeping that weapon.”

“Aww…c’mon, you have to admit it’s pretty neat.”

“Alright, enough let’s get back to the fight! Carl, resume your objective!” Panic shouted to the giant causing it to stand once again and ready its weapon.

*Muuraaaww*

“Oh boy…Rainbow we got to move!”

Rainbow Dash’s eyes widen when Carl resumed moving. Following Applejack’s lead they ran quickly in order to gain distance from the headless knight, but she found it hard to run due to the weight of the axe. However, while she was running something unraveled from the handle of the axe.

“Hey Applejack! I found something you might be familiar with.”

“What would that be?”

Rainbow picked up the pace in order to catch up with Applejack all the while showing her what she found.

“It’s your rope!”

“What?! It can’t be, let me see that!”

Rainbow Dash then tossed the axe to Applejack who caught it with no problem. To Applejack she found the axe surprisingly light in her arms as she pulled the remaining rope off the axe revealing its wooden handle. She examined the rope and quickly found out it is indeed the same rope she brought with her when they entered this world.

“Well whadda you know; it is my rope! Also I don’t know why you’re complaining Rainbow Dash this axe doesn’t feel heavy at all.”

“Says you! Anyway we need to figure out how we are going to use that axe and your rope to beat that thing!”

Thunderous stomps continue to sound behind them as if to remind them that their main threat is still there. The two mares increased their pace, gaining distance from the knight, but as soon as they did they noticed a smooth white surface in the distance; a wall.

“Great, a wall…” Rainbow Dash muttered as she looked to her left and right, but was only met with more empty space.

“A reminder that we still need to beat that armored behemoth,” Applejack added as she turned her rope into a lasso, “But something’s bothering me…”

“What do you mean?”

“What ah’ mean is, why is it so dimly lit in here? I’m pretty sure it’s not because they forgot to pay the electric bill.”

The duo then heard Carl’s thunderous steps heading toward them; causing them to take battle ready positions, “We can think about it later, because here comes the walking tin can!”

The steps grew louder as Carl ran out of the veil of thin darkness with his ax ready to cleave the two mares into four pieces.

“Rainbow Dash! Hit the dirt!”

The two mares quickly threw themselves to the floor in order to make the ax miss them completely and crash into the wall instead.

“Yikes! That was close!”

*Muurrraaawww!*

Carl struggled with his ax, as it was stuck in the wall. Applejack observed the metal menace closely checking if there were any openings that she can use her lasso or ax on. Rainbow Dash on the other hand, after the quick dodge stretched her wings, for she felt that she might able to use them in the open room. After a brief moment, Carl finally pulled the ax out of the wall and gave out another haunting moan.

“Thatta boy Carl! Give them some seismic activity!” Panic yelled from the darkness.

Carl gave a small nod in acknowledgement as it raises its ax high, “That can’t be good…”

The headless knight then began to slam its ax into the floor repeatedly causing earthquakes that prevented the two mares from moving.

“W-w-wh-ha-ts go-going on?!” Rainbow Dash asked jittered as she tried to keep her balance.

“I-i-i-iit st-st-op-ing us fr-fr-om m-m-mov-ing!”

*Muuurraaww!*

After a few more slams, Carl raised his ax in the air once more and gave a small hop before slamming the ax one more time with full force; breaking the ground with a intense shockwave that sent Applejack and Rainbow Dash flying in two directions.

“Ah!”

“Gah!”

They both exclaimed in surprise as they flew a short distance away from each other before landing hard on the floor.

“Ugh…”

“Ow…”

They both slowly got up and wiped the dirt from their bodies only to see Carl tap the handle of his ax onto the floor.

Rainbow Dash felt her frustration increase, “Great, what now?!”

Suddenly, the ax’s blades retreated into the staff before popping up at the top of the handle turning the ax into a spear.

*Muuuraaawww!*

“Rainbow look out! It’s aiming at yah!”

“Oh man…”

Carl with its spear pointed at the smaller mare rushed towards her with the intent to skewer her. Rainbow Dash quickly cycled through her options in her head, she knew that they can’t keep running forever, but what can they do? Applejack’s lasso isn’t long enough to wrap around the metal nightmare’s limbs and the ax isn’t strong enough to break through its armor. Seeing no other option Rainbow Dash extended her wings and jumped into the air nearly avoiding getting impaled by Carl’s spear.

“Whoa, that was close!” she said as she struggled a bit in the air; not being used to flying in a humanoid form, but she quickly adapted.

*Muuuraaaawww!*

Carl, not liking the fact Rainbow Dash can take to the air tried to swat her out of the air with its remaining empty hand, but to headless knights frustration; Rainbow Dash swiftly dodged all of its attempts.

“Nah nah nah nah, you can’t hit me!”

*Muuuraaawww!*

Rainbow Dash could only smile as Carl tried in vain to swat the anthrofied Pegasus. Eventually, Carl started to swing its spear wildly in order to increase its chances of hitting her, however, Rainbow Dash being a skilled flyer deftly dodges his swings.

“C’mon you pile scrap, you can do better than that!” she taunted causing Carl to jump up and down in anger.

“Yee haw! You show that walking tin can what you’re made of Rainbow Dash!”

Not willing to take anymore of her antics Carl tapped the handle on the floor once more, this time the spear shifted into a sword.

*Muuurraaawww!*

Leaving the sword in one hand Carl swung the blade fiercely at frightening speeds. Rainbow Dash became surprised by the sudden burst of speed from the knight’s attacks, and decided to fly over the nightmare in order to confuse it. However, to her surprise she felt something ran into her left wing causing her to lose balance and fall inside the armor itself.

“Rainbow Dash! Are you all right in there?!”

“I’m fine, but what hit me? I was flying fine a moment ago! Also you wouldn’t believe what I found in here!”

“What did you find?”

“Turns out that this walking pile of scrap is actually hollow! There’s nothing here!”

“What?! How can that be?”

“I don’t know! It just is!”

“Then how the heck is it moving?”

*Muuurrraaawww!*

Carl stomped in anger infuriated that these events have transpired and decided to take its frustration on Applejack. That is until Rainbow Dash flew out of the hole where its head would be and flew around the nightmare hoping to find the source of what made her fell.

“Rainbow what are you doing?”

“Trying to find, whatever messed up my flying. I think whatever it was can help us in this fight.”

Suddenly Carl stopped its approach on Applejack, but instead resumed its attention on Rainbow Dash.

“What the hay? It just changed its attention back to Rainbow Dash, but why would it do that? Maybe Rainbow is on to something…”

Applejack observed the scene before her as Carl tried desperately to knock the multi-colored Pegasus out of the air and away from it. As she was look at the headless knight she saw something strange. For a brief moment a thin layer of light shone in the darkness, a light that seems to connect to the limbs of the metal nightmare.

“Wait a minute is that…string?!” She mentally yelled as Rainbow Dash managed to grab a string that connected to one of its arms.

“Aha! There it is! What the hay? Is this string?! Why would there be string connected to this guy?”

“Rainbow Dash that’s it!”

“What’s it?” she said as she let go of the string and dodge another strike causing Carl to cut the string connected to its left arm. When that happened its left arm fell to its side uselessly, causing Carl to panic.

“That metal tin can is nothing more than a puppet! Those strings only prove it!”

Rainbow Dash then landed next to Applejack with a smile on her face, “Then we found its weak point!”

“Eeyup”

“All we need to do is to cut those strings and that pile of scrap metal can’t move!”

“Eeyup”

“Got a plan of attack?”

“Eeyup”

“Then I’ll distract him while you cut the strings, ready?”

Applejack spun the ax in her hand before adjusting her hat, “Ready!”

“Break!” they both yelled in unison as they both made their way to the giant puppet known as Carl.

*MMMUUUURAAAWW!*

The creature roared as Rainbow Dash quickly closed the distance between them immediately kicking the puppet square in the chest causing it to move a couple of steps back before retaliating with its sword. The armored puppet slashed at the anthro Pegasus, but missing every swipe as she quickly dodged them and flew next to its left leg where she found one of the strings connected to the thigh of the puppet.

“Hey! Over here!” Rainbow shouted as she gained the attention of the headless puppet trying to lead it to cut the string, but instead the puppet impaled the ground with its sword in order to have a free hand to attack the Pegasus without cutting the string. Rainbow Dash seeing the attack coming jumped and returned to the air; distracting the puppet and its unseen master.

Unbeknownst, to the puppet master Applejack managed to climb the blade of the sword which was a bit cracked from the abuse of hitting floors and walls. She managed to reach the hilt of the blade as she watched the fight before her, with Rainbow Dash kicking the puppet in the chest just to keep it at bay.

“Heh, Rainbow Dash is sure giving that thing a run for its money. Now All I have to do is wait for that puppet to come closer, so I can hitch a ride on it.”

Liked she hoped, the puppet returned for its sword giving Applejack the opportunity to jumped on its remaining arm as she used her lasso to hang on one of the spikes that circle its wrist. Applejack looked from the position she is in and tried to find the string connected to the arm, but found it harder than normal as the puppet used the same arm to swing its sword at Rainbow Dash.

“Whoa nelly! This is one crazy bull!”

Hearing the farm girl’s shout the creature stop it’s shaking and looked at its remaining arm. Seeing Applejack the puppet started shaking its arm much more vigorously in an attempt to shake her off. Rainbow Dash, not one to stand by when her friend is in danger, flew back to the puppet’s leg and started gnawing on the string there.

The puppet noticed the disturbance and started hopping on its remaining leg as it tried fruitlessly to throw both mares off its body. Applejack noticing that the shaking has stopped quickly scanned the arm she was on. After a few quick seconds she barely saw the string in the middle of the forearm. Thinking fast, she pulled the ax off her belt and readied her aim. After lining up the shot she threw her ax which soundly cut through the string and imbedding itself in the metal arm; said metal arm dropping uselessly like the sword it once wielded.

*MMMUUUUURRRAAAAWWW!*

The armored puppet roared with rage as it started to stomp on the ground. Seeing no option the puppet started to run with the mares attached to its body.

“What the hay? What’s it doing?”

“Ah’ don’t know, but if I remember correctly there is nothing but a wall waiting for us!”

“Then we need to stop this crazy thing and fast!”

“Well what are you waiting for? You can fly faster than this thing can run let’s end this already!”

“Right!”

Rainbow Dash then jumped from her spot on the puppet and took to the air once more, flying to Applejack’s position and picking her up along with her lasso.

“Hey Rainbow Dash! We’re going to need that ax! We can’t finish it without the ax!”

“On it!” she said as she flew closer to the arm that the ax was stuck in. With a little force Applejack managed to pull it out without a problem.

“Oh wow, your heavy!”

“I’m what now?! You better watch what you say!”

“Hey, it’s not easy carrying other ponies! Much less a humanized one!”

“Right, I kinda forgot about that.”

Rainbow Dash struggled with the added weight, but managed to keep up with rampaging puppet and getting near its leg where the remaining strings are.

“Applejack, now!”

“Got it!”

With a bit of momentum in her swing, Applejack threw the ax ahead of the puppet. As the ax closed the distance with the armored puppet, the sounds of snapping string can be heard along with creaking of metal as the puppet finally stopped its running march and instead tripped over one of its legs and fell over; tumbling along the ground before finally hitting a wall in a loud crash.

“Yee Haw, we did it!”

“Yeah! That’s one challenge down!”

The duo continued their celebration until they heard clapping behind them. The dim room suddenly lit up in a bright flash causing the two to shield their eyes from the harsh light. As their vision recovered they were met with smiling face of Panic himself.

“Well, well, well, you two defied my expectations. I could have sworn you would have at least taken a little bit longer in the maze, but hey you know how life is.”

“Hey, enough of the small talk! We beat your challenge, so give us Princess Luna back!”

“Yeah I suppose we did promise that…very well,” Panic snapped his fingers causing the red bubble containing Luna to slowly descend from the ceiling. When the bubble touched the ground it popped; freeing Luna in the process.

Princess Luna herself looked around in a daze before seeing Applejack, and Rainbow Dash and ran off to meet with them.

“My brave ponies, thank you for saving me,” Luna said with a smile on her face, but it didn’t last long. With a whisper she said, “But, there is something I need to discuss with all of you. When we all gather together I will explain, alright?”

The duo were surprised that Princess Luna learned of something, but knew it must be important, so they nodded in agreement.

“Hey, you three done with your reunion? Good, you can exit the maze through that portal over there; your friends are already waiting for you in the lobby, so I suggest you take your leave now,” Panic said with a hint of anger in his voice.

The three knew that Panic was furious that his challenge failed, so they quickly hurried to the portal, quickly disappearing into the inky darkness; leaving Panic alone with his failure.

“Grah…this is the second time…the second time! Grrr…this is unacceptable…I refuse to let those ponies make a mockery out of me!” his voice echoed throughout the maze as he took deep breaths to calm his nerves, “Paranoia is right…we shouldn’t underestimate these ponies, but I of course can’t blame the ponies’ skill for solving the maze. I lead them here or rather I lead Applejack, but I guess it backfired. Since I brought more than one person to the center of the maze; poor Carl couldn’t handle these twos teamwork.”

*But, Master Panic they found my strings!*

“Oh don’t beat yourself up over my friend, if there is anyone to blame, it would be me.”

*Why would I blame you master?*

“Because as your master…I purposely used the weakest strings I can create.”

*But why?*

“Heh heh heh ha ha!”

*Master?*

“Let’s just say…like an expert magician, they haven’t seen all of my tricks…Now then…let’s get you fixed up Carl; you got a show at noon.”

*Yes Master*

Panic then created a portal before shooting out clear strings out of his fingertips to grab the unmoving Carl and dragged him towards the portal.

“Heh heh heh, my dear fraulein…you haven’t seen nothing yet!”