Chapters View Online
The God of Destruction and Conquest (re-write)
Author's Note
Wonder if this will do well. Idk. Comment below if you catch any grammatical errors that I didn't see.
Or comment and tell me why you disliked it. Would love to know how to improve my hand in writing.
EDIT 9-17-2018: re-wrote a lot of this chapter because it was rushed and sorta shitty. Hope you all enjoy the new bits I've added!
The God of Destruction and Conquest (re-write)
“P-Princess Celestia! There is an emergency!” a panicked voice rang out through the Canterlot throne room. A few ponies jumped at the startling appearance of a battered guard.
Turning her head, Celestia was greeted by a brown pegasus stallion, his body dripping with sweat and his once golden armor now cracked and bloodied. The frenzied expression on the guard’s face drew Celestia off her throne to meet with him muzzle to muzzle.
“Lieutenant Holidor! What’s going in?! What happened to you?!” Celestia said, gripping the fallen pony in her forelimbs.
A brief grunt of exhaustion and pain escaped the mouth of the stallion. “I-I don’t know! One moment I’m flying above C-Canterlot patrolling our skies and the next I’m being knocked to the ground by some sort of wind or force. My entire platoon is now gone! There’s also now a strange metal castle or something just floating there!”
A low but audible horn could be heard emanating from somewhere outside the walls. Shortly afterwards, a rough silhouette of a short draconic creature formed in front of the throne room. A mischievous grin spread across his scaled lips, revealing rows of ivory hooks. He was draped robes the were dark as crimson and lines with pure gold threads made of silk, almost seeming to reflect the light in the room.
“Greeting, inhabitants of Equestria! My name is Dragus. It is a pleasure to meet you all and worry not, I bring wonderful news! If you will all look outside, you will see a large structure floating above this fair city.” The creature pointed a staff toward the decorated stained windows.
Outside, floating above Canterlot, was indeed said floating structure. It resembled a large castle with multiple spires levitating off its sides.
“What is the meaning of this intrusion, dragon!?” asked Celestia, startled by the appearance of the dwarf dragon.
“”I’m glad you asked, your Highness. And though I may be related to them, I am not a dragon. I am a kobold. And as to the meaning of my interruption to your day court? I am looking for a champion.”
“Champion? What has transpired to my ponies that were taken by your castle!?”
Dragus tilted his head in confusion. “Taken? Nonono, you misunderstand! I haven’t taken them prisoner like you’re thinking, they’re dead! Disintegrated! Wiped from existence! They were in the way of my home, so I saw fit to ‘remove’ them, so to speak. But yeah, they’re gone.”
Celestia’s eyes widened, her expression quickly changing into that of anger. “You monster. Explain yourself at once before I personally decide to strike you down instead of imprisoning you!”
“I don’t see why I have to explain myself to you, but I think it’s be best for both parties that I don’t get on your bad side. Not that it’d make much difference if I did.”
“Are you threatening me?” Celestia spat, lighting her horn and summoning two small spheres of fire.
“I like that, all that fire you’ve got going in there. But no, I’m not threatening you. I’m just simply saying that as a God, you’d not be much of challenge and I’d get bored not being able to do what I’ve set out to do.”
Celestia opened her mouth to speak, but quickly shut it when she saw the kobold reaching into his robes.
The kobold produced a large blue sapphire from his robes. It was decorated with small veins of golden metal all across its surface. With a snap of his free claws, Dragus caused the gem to explode into flash of light, tinting everything in the room slightly darker.
“Now then, on to my explanation. Sitting here before you is a miniature version of my home that I call a ‘dungeon’.” A smaller version of the castle appeared in front of Celestia. “Inside are all manner of traps, monster, puzzles, and prizes for anyone who manages to get through it all the way to the top. In between sets of floors is an area for rest, as you can see here on the pictures floating to the right. The goal for each contestant is to survive long enough to make it to these floors, eventually reaching floor 50 and defeating its current champion, that being me. Now I know what you’re thinking. ‘Lord Dragus, what about anyone who gets afraid and want to go home?’ Well, being the generous host that I am, I’ve set it up to where contestants are able to return to the exit before reaching the second floor. Once on the stairway up to there, there isn’t any turning back. Understand so far?”
Celestia took a moment to ponder the information. “If I am understanding this correctly, you want my ponies to go through your gauntlet for amusement? That is just pure sadism! You’re more cruel than King Sombra was!”
Dragus chuckled at the remark. “Cruel AND sadistic? You flatter me! But no, this isn’t for my enjoyment. Well it partially is, but that isn’t important. What I’m actually after is a replacement for my position as God of Destruction of this universe.” This brought a confused look to Celestia. A god wanting to be replaced was strange to her.
“You see, I’m getting old. Though I may not die of age or injury like your ponies or any other creature on this planet, I would like to retire and live out my afterlife. But, in order to do that I need to give someone else my ‘godhood’ to ‘pass on’.”
“Why not just grant somepony your powers and be done with this? Surely you’ve met a worthy candidate in all your time of being alive?”
The kobold nodded his head in agreement. “Yes, you are correct to assume that I have met worthy people in the past. But none of them were truly able to handle it. They may have been worthy in heart, but not in body and vice versa. Surely you know Discord, do you not?”
Celestia nodded. “Y-yes, I know Discord. But what does he have to do with this?”
“Discord is one of the few beings I’ve met in my time as a god that I would say is close to ‘friend’ status. He’s the thirtieth god in the cycle of Gods of Destruction. We’ve both been in power for roughly the same amount of time, give or take a few hundred centuries or so. Like me, if he wants to find a replacement, he’d have to go out and cause untold chaos and meet someone who treats his chaos as normal. They must literally become chaos incarnate and embrace it as a part of themselves. In my case, I need to provide a challenge relating to what my role is. That’s why I need a champion. It’s the rules.”
Celestia was starting to grab an understanding of what Dragus had been saying. He felt exhausted being a god and wished to really and truly move on. But something bothered her. “What sort of god are you, if I may ask? I don’t know of any other being as old as Discord.
A sadistic grin started to form on Dragus’ scaly lips. “Me? I’m the God of Destruction and Conquest, though the ‘Conquest’ part is a title I’ve earned. Now, back to my dungeon. I have a few rules I’ve set in place. Rule number one is that there is not going to be any magic that gives an advantage other than what the Dungeon allows. Anyone who tries to do it will get a puff of smoke shot out of their horn. So no teleporting or trying to transform creatures into inanimate objects. Flying is also banned to an small extent, which they will find out upon entering. You also can’t fly to the top or you’ll die a hilarious death, like those pathetic excuses you call guards. The second rule is that you must kill at least one creature in the dungeon in order to qualify for my position. Can’t have a God of Sestruction who doesn’t kill things, can we?”
“Hold on, you can’t be serious. How will my ponies defend themselves if-”
Dragus stomped his foot on the ground, causing a large tremor to be felt all across the room. “DO NOT interrupt me while I am talking.” He cleared his throat. “The third rule is that there will be no cheating to get to the top, like the aforementioned flying or trying to climb any holes that appear due to the Dungeon tweaking a floor. And the final rule is that there can only be one winner. The first one to claim the prize wins! You have a month to prepare for the journey. Otherwise I will just select a random number of inhabitants from this world and have them all go in anyway. I’ll even use children if I have to. Good luck and remember, only the strong will win this challenge!”
The fact that Dragus did not hesitate to mention children shocked everyone in the room, a few even fainting. Celestia felt a tear stream down her face at the thought of a foal being torn from its mother.
“How could you even consider using a child for auch a nefarious purpose?!” Celestia barked.
“Because I can. Literally nothing can stop me from doing what I want. My job is to destroy literally anything and everything at a steady rate in this universe. As long as I do that, I’m not doing anything wrong. It comes with the job.” Dragus held up a claw behind himself, opening a cut in reality, revealing a black void. “Now, if you will excuse me I have other things I must see to. Good day.”
She tried to calm her nerves, but couldn’t stop herself from shuddering fearfully. She did not want to send anyone to their deaths, but knew that more lives would be lost if she didn’t comply with the deranged god’s will.
Celestia shook her head to snap herself out of her fear and turned to the guards standing at her throne. “Send word to Twilight Sparkle at once.”
Twilight Sparkle marched up the steps of Canterlot Station towards the familiar castle she grew up in, her five friends walking alongside her. Each looked above the castle itself,
“The hell is THAT?!” spoke a rather raspy and tom-boyish voice pointed at Dragus’ dungeon.
“I think it might be why we’re here, Rainbow Dash. Princess Celestia didn’t specify anything in the letter other than that we were needed immediately. Whatever it is, I’m sure we’ll find out when we reach the throne room.”
The walk to the castle itself was filled with tension, especially including that the once busy streets were unusually barren. Upon reaching the throne room, Twilight opened the doors rather quickly, an expression of worry on her brow. “Princess Celestia, we came as soon as we received your summons. What’s going on? Why is there a giant floating building above the city?”
Celestia walked forward and hugged her student in a motherly embrace, making the tension in the room calm down. “It is as I said in the letter. Another fiend has threatened the harmony of Equestria and I was hoping you and the other Elements would be able to help as you have done in the past. A small draconic being of great power has come seeking a ‘champion’ to replace him, even killing many simply from making his dungeon appear. I fear there may be more deaths if we do not comply with his demands.”
“Whoa whoa whoa, let me get this straight. Some random midget lizard with crazy powers threatened to harm more ponies? The hell?!” added Rainbow Dash.
“Calm down Rainbow Dash. If at all, I would prefer to have nopony to get hurt. I called you all here to see if we can discuss ways to banish the dungeon and its master from both Equestria and the world.”
Rainbow Dash exhaled angrily. “Why don’t we just go in there ourselves and knock the bozo down a peg or two? We could totally take him!”
“I-I would prefer t-to not fight if we can help it. Especially if he’s as s-scary as Princess Celestia makes him out to be,” Fluttershy added, albeit quietly and with a frightened stutter. “Maybe all he needs is a friend, like with what happened with Discord.”
“Fat chance! He’s already killed like a DOZEN ponies. What makes you think he’d listen to reason. Guys like this only speak one language,” Rainbow Dash creacked her neck and punched her hooves together, “and that’s pain!”
Rarity stepped up underneath the floating blue pegasus. “I concur with Rainbow Dash. A ruffian such as this needs to be handled with extreme prejudice. Though I may not like being forceful, I will show him what for!”
“Now hold on there, sugarcube. Maybe Fluttershy is right. It don’t sit right with me endin’ another’s life just ‘cus they’ve hurt other. We should only be usin’ force after we try talkin’ this through. Violence only leads to more violence,” said Applejack. “And before you even say it, Pinkie, no he ain’t gunna want a party. Bad folks never do.”
The pink cotton candy earth pony looked towards the ground. “Aw phooey! How’d you know I was thinking that?”
“Because you always want to party,” the Elements speak in unison.
“It’s like you’re all up in my brain! Creepy!”
A smile of relief laid upon Celestia’s lips. “It eases my heart to know there is such eagerness to solve the matters at hoof, even if not all of you agree on one solution. But I really think you should try sealing him first. If it won’t work, then violence is our next best answer. I’ll have to send in a team of guards to dispose of Dragus. I’ll even-”
Twilight interrupted her mentor with a sharp hoof stomp. “No you won’t, Princess. You’re too important to let go somewhere as dangerous as the dungeon. If anypony should go, it should be us six. We’re no strangers to impossible odds and Equestria would be in even more danger if you died in some crazy floating castle.”
There was no doubt that Celestia knew this. The truth hurt more coming from her student’s mouth than from her own. Had there been any other option, Celestia would have tried it before summoning the Bearers of the Elements of Harmony, but there wasn’t any.
A few hours of further discussion went by about what might happen should the six fail to seal away the cruel god. If push came to shove, they would all journey inside the dungeon themselves to defeat their foe.
While the Princess and her Element Bearers were conversing, word was spread throughout Canterlot by those who were in day court at the time that morning. After three days, the news spread like wildfire, nearly covering all of Equestria in barroom gossip and rumors. An impossible reward and fame for completing the dungeon.
Entering the Dungeon (re-written)
It had been roughly four days since each of the girls had arrived in Canterlot. Each of the six elements had woken up shortly before sunrise. Through their discussion with Celestia and her sister, a plan had been set up in place to surprise Dragus and rid Equestria of its current predicament and banish the dungeon before anyone rose for the day.
Everyone now stood on a balcony, preparing to channel their energies together.
“I still think this is a bad idea,” said Rainbow Dash.
Twilight scoffed at the notion. “This again? We’re talking about powers of Harmony against powers of Destruction. Honestly, I don’t see why you’re apprehensive about using our powers to get rid of the castle. Princess Celestia and I both came to a conclusion that it should banish Dragus from our realm, considering Harmony seems to be strongest in Equestria as opposed to Destruction and Chaos. At least that is the general idea.”
A high pitched resonating sound could be heard all throughout Canterlot. Six brightly colored lights quickly formed along the balcony around Twilight and her friends, quickly releasing energy in a rainbow beam towards the floating castle. Pieces of the structure started dissipating all across the sky, leaving nothing but a floating cloud of powdered stone and metal. Ponies all over the city shouted in delight at the now absent danger in their sky. As quickly as the dungeon was destroyed, it reformed almost as a whole, minus a few bits missing from its exterior.
“Who DARES to try and destroy my dungeon?!” thundered a deep voice.
A large form of Dragus now levitated above the dungeon. He turned his head in the direction of the six ponies put to the task of banishing him. “YOU SIX! Do you have any idea how long it took me to come up with themes for each floor, MANUALLY cut pieces of worlds, and how annoying it was to fill each up with creatures?! Not to mention you just OBLITERATED all my hard work. Granted, I can just rebuild MOST of it within a few seconds, but my point still stands! Thanks for wasting my time.” He let out a long sigh of disappointment. “Every time I try to find a replacement for my position, everyone either dies or quits halfway through the first floor. Well, not this time! You six are now players for my game! Oh and about the month? You guys have until the end of the week to find more contestants, or I’m taking random sapient minds from this world myself! Think of it as a punishment for literally breaking my house into smithereens.”
With that, Dragus once again vanished from sight.
“Well great! Just great! Not only have we managed to piss off an overgrown gecko, but now we have no choice but to go inside his damn castle! This is your fault, Twilight!” screamed Rainbow Dash.
Twilight sputtered from her friend’s accusation. “My fault? You wanted to go in anyway and fight him hoof to hoof, which is stupid, considering he’s a GOD! I didn’t want anypony to just up and die like before, so I thought our Rainbow Powers were going to be enough. How was I supposed to know he wouldn’t be affected by them!?”
“My idea was a lot easier! We could have been done and over with this already if we had just gone in anyways! Now we’re forced to compete in some stupid game!”
“You’re idea would have gotten is killed!”
“Girls! We don’t have time to argue, so quit fighting like foals and buck up,” Fluttershy asserted, tears streaming from her eyes. “I know we’re in big trouble, but that isn’t a reason to be m-mean to one another! We should be working together as friends to get through this. Oh dear, I hope I didn’t upset you all by my yelling.”
After a brief moment of reflection, Pinkie Pie spoke up to try and cheer up her friends. “Fluttershy is right. Yeah, the silly dragon guy is a big ol’ meanie, but that doesn’t mean we can’t be happy! We get to hang out again together! And if words won’t cheer you girls up, then only one thing will.” A big smile stretched across Pinkie’s face. Her friends all looked confused at what the pink pony was implying, completely oblivious to her hints.
“We need a PARTY!” Pinkie cheered while bringing out her party cannon from within her mane, firing it off in random directions at the gates of the castle. Confetti gently descended towards the ground and the smell of freshly baked goods emanated from a nearby table that appeared out of nowhere.
“Pinkie, how did you plan all this out?” asked Rarity.
Pinkie bounced over to the marshmallow unicorn, hugging her by the neck. “Easy, silly! I had a feeling something bad would happen last night, so I stocked my cheer-up-your-friends-with-a-party-in-a-cannon party cannon while you all were sleeping. Not to mention having twelve pots of super-duper sugar filled coffee to keep me awake. Speaking of which, Nighty-night!” Pinkie passed out of the ground. Drool leaked from her mouth into a small puddle, making her friends laugh. Even in a disaster, she never failed to bring a smile to their faces.
The end of the week had come in almost no time at all. Princess Celestia had waited for as long as possible and could not bare to send away one of her ponies to a death sentence. A few griffons and a diamond dog had shown up at Canterlot castle to offer their services in conquering the dungeon itself, albeit for the greedy reason of becoming a god themselves. A small platform appeared below the dungeon itself and hovered over to the center of Canterlot. Dragus perched on a decorative chair up above.
Dragus directed his attention to Princess Celestia, who stood fairly far away. “So, Princess Celestia. How’s it hanging? I assume you’re doing fairly well? You get those other contestants like I wanted?”
Aside from the main six he had forced into participating, all Dragus saw were the griffons and the lone diamond dog. Maniacal laughter escaped his scaled snout. “HAHAHAHA! You call THESE contestants?! They’re just greedy fools going to their deaths! I gotta say, it’s real embarrassing to have strangers offer their help and not your own people or guards.” Dragus let out cheerful sigh, followed by a cruel smile. “Looks like I’ll have to find contestants myself.”
Celestia stood fearfully, aghast by what she had just heard. “Y-you said to find contestants. I couldn’t bear the thought of sending one of my little ponies into harm’s way.”
Dragus slithered through the air, stopping directly in front of her with a smile. “You brought me volunteers, not contestants. You call yourself a leader and you can’t force anyone into doing something to keep your country safe? Talk about being a wimp.”
“Hey you! Don’t bad mouth the Princess!” shouted a guard from nearby.
*poof*
The guard who spoke back was now a pile of dust on the ground, causing the ponies around to scream in terror, fleeing every which way. The few volunteers once brave exteriors crumbled like cheap crackers. Even Applejack and Rarity fainted.
“Fuck this! I didn’t apply to be some crazy god’s toy!”
“I thought we would be rewarded for simply showing up!”
“I-I think I just wet myself…”
“Run fer yer lives!”
“S-squaaak!”
Dragus seemed unfazed by the fleeing creatures. “Alright, I’m done separating the curds from the whey. Now, allow me to do the honor of-”
Rainbow Dash flew after the nearest griffon to her, fuming at the deserters. “Cowards! And you all call yourselves griffons!”
“Uuuugh, are you all seriously going to interrupt me? Was that guard not a good enough example for my treatment of disrespect? Or am I going to have to like, burn your wings off and make you eat your own skin or something? Because I can and will do that, just so you know.”
Celestia’s once great facade was near shattering. She wanted to run away with her subjects, scared of the malevolent god. But she remained stoic, even with a frown. “I was wrong to think of you as nothing more than a monster. You’re much worse than that to strike down innocent lives. You’re no god, you’re a devil.”
Rolling his eyes, Dragus shifted around in his seat and summoned a staircase leading from the platform down onto the ground. “Yeah yeah yeah, like I haven’t heard that before. God of Destruction isn’t just a title, so it’s not like I’m doing anything wrong. It’s literally the nature of the Gods of Destruction to be either heartless or sadistic, so quit your bitching. Now, are you all going to step up here or what? I’m extremely bored and want to get this underway already. I have other things I need to do.”
“What about the other contestants? We’re the only ones here now.” said Twilight.
“Well, if you must know, I already took the liberty of ‘inviting’ some others to take my challenge about five seconds ago. At least I think I did. They should be inside the lobby of the dungeon. Got really drunk last night, so I might have to teleport them in a bit after I check. Never really was good at it though. Teleporting others than myself I mean. Might be a few of them missing limbs. It’s no big deal, re-”
“No big deal?! You just said some might be missing limbs! How is that not a big deal?!”
A yawn escaped Dragus snout as he reached over and flicked Twilight’s muzzle. “EXCUSE ME! You don’t see me interrupting you when you talk, so why are you doing it to me? Talk about rude.” Puffs of black smoke jettisoned from Dragus nose as his expression shifted. “You know what, screw this. I’m just going to the top of the dungeon myself. At least there I won’t get interrupted by stupid ponies. You have five minutes to step on the platform or you’re REALLY going to see what I’m like when I’m angry.” Dragus floated gently up into the castle and fazed through the material like it was thin air.
Rainbow Dash tried chasing after the kobold, but was held in place by Twilight’s magic. “Hey! Let me go! I’m gonna go right up there and show this asshole who’s boss!”
“Easy Rainbow! We’ll handle him when we get to the top. You know what happens if you fly near the outside of the damnable castle.”
“But we can’t just let him get away with killing ponies left and right! It goes against everything we stand for as Elements!”
Celestia stepped forward next to Twilight, putting a hoof on her shoulder. “Let me handle this, my student.” She turned her attention to Rainbow Dash. “You’re right, Rainbow Dash. But we have no other options than to participate in his cruel game. You six are not only Equestria’s greatest weapon, but it’s most valuable asset. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t afraid of sending you all into danger, but I’m confident you all will succeed.”
“She’s right, darling. We’re no strangers to a tussle or two. We needn’t worry about the specific of the danger. Our friendship is more than strong enough to overcome our current predicament,” Rarity added, elegant as usual.
Applejack removed her hat and held it over her chest. “Aw shoot Rare, that does mah soul good to hear you say that about us. But if Ah’m honest? We’re all more scared than a bunny in a pit full of snakes.” A long sigh escaped her lips. “Kinda makes me feel like Rainbow’s right about friendship not bein’ enough for this.”
“I don’t want to hurt anypony. M-maybe we could try t-talking this out and not need to go inside...” suggested Fluttershy, earning her a depressed look from the other six present. They may not want to mention it, but each of them were feeling a depression that had spread like wildfire. Very little hope remained, but what little did was strong enough to propel them onward and protect their fellow pony from further cruelty.
The group said their goodbyes to their beloved solar princess and climbed over the steps leading onto the stone disc that was their elevator. Their hearts filled with dread the moment each stepped hoof onto the center. The further it levitated from the ground, the bigger their depression and fear grew. And a certain pink party horse had made it her mission to bring them out of their pit.
“Don’t feel bad, girls! This’ll all be over faster than we can say ‘giant-floaty-castle-thingy-filled-with-spooky-scaries’! Then we can all go home and throw a big victory party! With ‘congratulations for beating the big meanie’ cupcakes!” said Pinkie Pie as she grabbed each of her friends in her signature (and patented) Pinkie Hug, smiling as wide as could be to hide her own sadness. “No matter how bad it gets, we still have each other! So don’t let some silly dragon monster drag you down!” It wasn’t long before the other five ponies joined Pinkie in her smiling. With their resolve renewed, they faced the oncoming castle with determination.
As the six neared the bottom of the castle, a trap door opened near what they all assumed to be the front. A small gust of steam billowed forth from the entrance, giving a strangely relaxing feeling to the frightened ponies.
Author's Note
Really took me a while to come up with this. I couldn't exactly think up enough information to describe all that happens on the first floor. I believe this is a decent enough job (for my first real attempt at a fanfiction). Can only get better as I continue to write!
Enter: Floor One
The dungeon interior filled each pony with utter shock. Instead of a being dreery and dark, the hall they had entered was filled with intricate carved wood walls and paintings not even the greatest artist could have drawn. Along the walls were grand windows draped in fine silk, blood red in color. An artificial sky and sun could be seen from inside.
The floor itself would have made even the greediest of dragons jealous, as it’s tiles were each embedded with cut gems and unknown metal inlay.
“M-magnificent!” exclaimed Rarity, rushing over to hug one of the pillars. “The detail! The choice in stone! This isn’t a dungeon, but a castle fit for the richest of kings!”
Fluttershy nodded her head in agreement. “It is really pretty, Rarity. But shouldn’t we try to get to the top as soon as possible?”
“I understand you concern, darling. But one must always stop and take a moment to smell the roses. Or in this case, these delightful curtains! It’s like I’m breathing in the heavenly scent of a pine forest. It’s strangely relaxing.”
The other curtain ever so slowly started to move by itself towards Rarity. Gently, the curtains draped themselves around Rarity’s legs and torso.
A soft yawn escaped her mouth. “Strange. I suddenly feel… sleepy. And these drapes are quite comfortable.” Her eyes started to glass over with a white glow. “I think I’ll just take a short nap here before we journey onward…”
The curtains suddenly constricted the white unicorn by her legs and tried to roll her upwards into what was now a gaping mouth with two needle-thin white teeth.
“Rarity!” screamed Twilight as she gripped the curtains with her magic. The drapes let out a high pitched screech at the strange resistance and tried to pull in its prey even harder.
A blur of blue signaled that Rainbow Dash had flown up the rod which held the nasty clothe. After a swift and hard kick, the metal beam fell from its place on the wall and the creature’s head faded back into the drapes.
“Ok, mental note: Don’t touch things we expect to be normal in a creepy castle,” said Rainbow. “You okay there?”
Pinkie and Applejack helped their fashionista friend to her hooves.
Rarity shook her head rid of the strange sleeping spell. “What happened? One moment I’m admiring some very beautiful silk and now I’m lying on the floor?”
Applejack took her hat off. “You were bein’ picked up by them there curtains, Rare. It had a big ol’ mouth and was gonna eatcha. It darn right scared us to bits.”
Hearing about such an abomination to beauty made the unicorn dry heave. “H-how uncouth! What sort of horrible monster would do such a thing as to ruin such fine fabric?!”
An electrical speaker descended from the ceiling, crackling with electricity before playing the voice of Dragus.
“Testing, testing, one two three. Is this thing on? I swear, I can nev-”
Rainbow Dash bucked hard against the speaker, shattering the front in a good few inches.
“Hah! Take that, you stupid lizard! That’s just the tip of the iceberg of pain I’m going to throw at you.”
Another speaker appeared a few feet away. “You know, you ponies are really starting to get on my last nerve with the interrupting. Here I thought I was being nice by going into further detail about my rules and maybe giving you an extra life if one of you dies or something. But now I think I’m not going to be kind.”
“Kind?! You’ve killed over a dozen ponies without warning and threatened countless others! When were you ever kind?” Twilight barked at the now magic shielded second speaker.
“You do know I can hear you, right? No need to shout. And yes, I’ve been kind. I could have just created a plague that wiped out all but the strongest of inhabitants of your world, but instead I went with this floating castle. Which was really EXPENSIVE and I had to try to rebuild it with powers that are meant to destroy. Blah blah blah. Can I explain the rules now?”
“What else is there to explain? I thought you said we couldn’t fly to the top or use magic?”
Pale blue light flashed over each contestant’s mouth, sealing them shut.
“There we go. Nice and quiet. And without further ado… Welcome to the Dungeon! Ahead of you lies a gauntlet of terror, thrills and chills that are sure to bring even the toughest creature to its knees! Many have tried and failed to reach the top. Could you be the victor and claim the throne of Dragus, the god of destruction?” Dragus paused to take a small drink of water. “Was that good enough of an introduction? I spent all last night rewriting it. Well, most of the night. My memory is still fuzzy and this damnable headache isn’t helping. Stupid hangover…”
The elements looked at each other with confusion and curiousity. Did Dragus just say that gods get drunk?
“Anyway, the rules are simple. Rule one is like I told Celestia: No advanced magic. This includes teleportation, transmutation unless allowed by a puzzle, transfiguration of the body, ect. Basically anything that wouldn’t be used for self defense or for the wilderness. Rule two is that you MUST kill something in here to qualify as my replacement. Whether it’s another contestant or a monster is up to you, I don’t care.”
Fluttershy screamed a muffled scream.
“Calm down there, pacifist. I didn’t say it was a requirement for leaving. You don’t have to hurt anything in here if you don’t want to, as boring as it will be to watch on screen. I may be cruel, but I’m not without mercy.”
A small sigh of relief escaped everyone but Rainbow Dash.
“Rule three is that there is no extreme flying. That means no sonic rainbooms. Rule four is that I can add any other rules I deem fit, since this is my home and all. And finally, rule five is that there is to be no outside help for challenges meant for single contestants. Any breaking of these rules will result in…” Dragus’ sickening laugh echoed throughout the hallway. “Punishments. Good luck contestants. I bid you good day.”
“Wait! You never said anything about contestants other than us. Did you change your mind and set them free?” asked Twilight.
“Hm? Oh. They’re on the second floor. Right now they’re stuck on some puzzles and it’s hilarious watching bugs get fried for failure, both figuratively and literally. Like 20 of the hundred or so are already dead or injured.” Dragus cackled maniacally to show his enjoyment, if not because he was a little mad in the brain.
Twilight and the girl’s hearts sank at the mention of more creatures being forced to participate than what was expected. As if it wasn’t already bad enough that they had to be inside the dungeon, some unknown creatures were dying just a few dozen feet above them.
Applejack snorted. “That’s just darn cruel! Not even Tirek was as heartless as you. Don’t you care fer anypony other than yerself?”
“In all honesty, I really don’t. Maybe Discord’s sister, Eris. She’s always got a new prank to share and is surprisingly pleasant to talk to. Don’t really see why he dislikes her, she’s a riot!”
“Discord has a sister?” Rarity and Pinkie both said in unison.
“Damn right he does. I’ve never seen a god of chaos as creative as her, aside from Discord that is. Last time we spoke, she said she came up with a disease that made sentients dance until they dropped dead. Absolutely hysterical!” He let out a small moan of pleasure. “You shoulda seen the terror in their eyes as their loved ones watch life being snuffed out. I’m getting little hard just thinking about it. But enough about this. I need to get back to the other contestants and finish up a few floors. Challenge theme’s don’t make themselves. But before I go, I’m feeling a little kind from you all for listening. Here’s a hint for your floor.”
A small note materialized in a puff of cerulean smoke.
“Ta-ta for now! I expect some quality entertainment from you six.” And with that, the speakers disappeared in small flashes of blue light.
Twilight held the note aloft in a soft magenta glow. “Was he talking about changelings?”
Rainbow punched her hooves together all too eagerly. “I’ve been hoping to beating up more of those bugs! Can’t wait to get my hooves on ‘em!”
A quick glance from the rest caused Rainbow to back up slightly. “Well, maybe not without good reason. Do we really need one? They did try to take over Canterlot way back whenever.”
Fluttershy adopted a serious tone and moved closer to her fellow pegasus. “Yes, we do need a good reason. I don’t like violence and it isn’t nice to hurt somepony just because they did something bad, even if they want to fight. We should only try to defend ourselves as a last resort.”
“Ah’m disappointed in ya Rainbow. We’re ‘sposed to represent the Elements a Harmony. That just ain’t harmony-like ta want ta hurt others, even the bad ones.”
Rainbow Dash let out an annoyed groan. “I’m not sure if you remember, but those bugs nearly beat us black and blue back at the wedding! I’ll play nice when we find them, but I’ll be damned if I’m gonna let them get the first strike in.”
With the argument settled, the ponies gathered around Twilight, who was opening up the folded paper.
Dear contestant/contestants, If you are reading this, then you’ve either gotten on my good side or I simply felt like betraying my own nature and being generous. Don’t expect it to happen again though. Assuming I didn’t change the first floor, you should be inside my manor’s hallway from back in my own universe. If my memory serves me right, there should be eighteen doors. I’m going to give you a major hint: ask the gargoyles. Oh, and this message will burst into flames in about one se-
A lingering field of heat and smoke was all that remained of the note. Pinkie Pie, who was standing too close, now had a thin coat of black ash on her face.
“Oooo! That was so exciting! I can totally turn this into a new idea for party favors! Thanks Draggie!”
Twilight just shook her head. “Pinkie! You could have been hurt! Why were you standing RIGHT under the note?”
“I don’t know! But it was fun! If it was really crazy dangerous like you think, my tail would have been all a twitchy-twitch-twitch and my eyes would have been all sad!”
There wasn’t any explanation as to why any pony wouldn’t try to remain cautious. All one could do is simply shrug it off to Pinkie being Pinkie. Regardless of how ridiculous she was being, the group couldn’t afford to be distracted. A nudge from an impatient Rainbow Dash was all the group needed to get a move on.
The hallway seemed stretch on forward for about a hundred feet before making a sharp left turn and ending with a wide room. In the far corners of said room were two large gargoyles, one clad in a stone jester’s outfit and the other in a stone knight’s armor set.
Author's Note
My apologies for taking so long with this. Been sorta bored with writing, but I'm back! Enjoy this chapter!
Two Keys, One Door
A small ‘Eep’ could be heard coming from Fluttershy as she ducked behind Rarity.
Rarity scoffed at her frightened friend. “Come now, Fluttershy! There isn’t any reason to be frightened by a gargoyle. They’re just stone statues.”
“B-but they l-look so scary! It’s like they could come to life and gobble me up!”
Upon closer inspection, Rarity noticed the demon-like faces of each gargoyle. Though draconic in nature, something about these unnerved her.
“Oh hush. I’ll admit, they do look rather ghastly, but that’s the point! They look like this to ward of evil spirits and omens. What better way to do that than to make them look… different. They are just statues though. Completely harmless.”
Twilight gave Rarity an inquisitive glance. “I didn’t know you knew about Ponthic architecture, Rarity?”
Rarity giggled. “I find much of my inspiration comes from the architecture of past eras. Why do you think my last line was titled ‘Of Xoalis’? Haysia has such a wonderful culture, darling.”
“You know, I have to agree with you on that. Did you know that dragons were revered as gods by ancient Haysians? Based on the most recent findings I read, some species of modern day dragons have the same magical abilities as their predecessors.”
“Really? I didn’t know that. I guess you learn something new everyday.”
Twilight nodded. “You’re absolutely right. Even in someplace scary and new, I’m still learning new things.”
One of the gargoyles began to crack and shift under a magical aura, snapping its limbs from within the stone prison and leaving a broken shell scattered on the ground. The process was similar to how Discord originally escaped his own statue.
“Oh zank ze godz, more new conteztanz!” the gargoyle exclaimed. “I can finally move again!”
Every pony aside from Pinkie Pie gasped at the sight of the moving statues. Fluttershy laid on the ground unconscious.
The second gargoyle also moved in a similar fashion. “Eh, I’d rate it a six out of ten. Not enough rumbling before the escape, if you ask me.” It examined its now pale forest green jester’s outfit. “Well fuck, my shirt still has some dust in it. That’ll take hours to clean off.”
“I know vhat you mean. I mean, my armor haz bucket loadz of duzt inzide it. Good sing ve get a break zis veek from all ze ztanding around.”
The jester gandered toward the frightened group, laughing a hearty and deep tone. “Brother, I think we’ve managed to scare everybody here! It’s been ages since we’ve given a good scare!”
Rainbow Dash blushed ever so slightly. “Stop laughing! You didn’t scare us!”
“Are you kidding me? I think I saw you change into a new hue of blue!”
The second gargoyle joined in on the laughter. “If zhe’s zis eazy to zcare, juzt imagine vhat Dragus vill be able to do vis ze information! Hyzterical! Hahahahah!”
“I’m warning you two, stop laughing!”
This just made both gargoyles laugh harder. Even Pinkie Pie joined in with her own snorting laughter.
“Vat are you going to do about it?”
Instead of letting her own ego be tarnished, Rainbow Dash rapidly hovered over to both laughing guardians and bucked them in their semi-stone snouts. Both immediately stopped laughing.
The jester rubbed his cheek gently, a small tear escaping his right eye. “Okay, first off OW. Like holy fuck, do you have any idea how bad it hurts to be struck when your skin is made of STONE? And secondly, can you not take a fucking joke?”
Pinkie jumped up onto the jester. “Yeah Dashie, lighten up! They obviously only meant it in good fun! We do this all the time in Ponyville. You know, pranks?”
Dash huffed in annoyance. “Yeah yeah yeah, I get that. But that doesn’t mean I’m going to let some random punk get away with laughing at me! I have an image to maintain!”
“Even if ze image iz only outzide ze dungeon? Little pony, zis place carez not for your reputation. It will zwallow you like a grape vineyard if zat is all you care for here,” warned the knight. “I apologize zat I hurt your feelingz.”
The second gargoyle nodded. “Yeah, not like we meant you any harm. We just wanted to have some fun. Kind of hard to do when you’re made of stone twenty-four seven, three sixty-five.”
“If I may interject,” Rarity started. “Am I to understand that you both are only able to move when there are ‘contestants’ in this ghastly place?” Both gargoyles looked at each other and nodded.
“That’s dreadful! Oh you poor things!” She walked over to the jester and began to pet his stone scales as a means of comforting. “It must get incredibly lonely, not to mention it must be absolute evil on your lovely scales.”
“Not really. When we’re made of stone, my brother and I are able to communicate telepathically. It’s not the best existence, but it was better than the alternative. I’m Misho, by the way.”
“I’m Rarity. It is very nice to meet you.”
Misho bent down and hugged Rarity, earning a gasp. “It’s nice to meet you too. I’m sorry if we got off on the wrong claw. As much as we enjoy being together, Ghoul and I hate it here.”
Ghoul frowned. “Zis iz true. Draguz gave uz no choice but to zerve or be Misho would be usednfor his own temporary ‘enjoyment’. Yes, ve are now ageless, but ve cannot move. It haz been such a long time.”
Both statues shed tears of granite, which shattered into dust upon hitting the ground.
Fluttershy made her way up as well to comfort Ghoul. “It’s okay. Nopony can blame you for trying to protect one another. Maybe if you help us get up on the next floor, we can try to set you free.”
“You’d do that for us?” Misho’s eyes glistened with a hope he’d thought was long gone.
“We’ll do our best. Can you two nice gargoyles tell us how to get to the next floor?”
Ghoul groaned. “Zat is ze thing ve hate about our job. The most ve can help is to give you hintz.”
“He’s right. We both stand guard over this locked door between us and we each have a key that unlocks it” Misho added.
“So, why don’tcha jus’ give us one of them there keys then?” Applejack asked.
“It does not vork zat vay. Though zey both work on ze door, ze keys are enchanted. One vill kill you inztantly and ze other vill open to a staircaze to ze next floor. After zat, we go back to stone until the next victems…”
Applejack thought long and hard. It seemed too major of a risk to choose a key randomly. “I don’t suppose we could just try them both at tha same time, right? It’d help us take down that there varmint and get you two outa here.”
“No. In order to get ze key, you must ask for it. Ask uz any question you vish. But be warned, one of us can only answer in liez vhen asked. Ze other can only speak ze truth vhen asked about ze keys.”
“I’ve got it!” Twilight smirked proudly at herself. “I’m sure I’ve come up with a sound question that will help us narrow down which key is the correct one.”
Ghoul was surprised at how quickly the alicorn responded to their riddle. “Vell, go ahead and ask. Be careful though, becauze you only have one shot. And I vould hate to see such nice creaturez meet zere doom.”
Sweat beaded down Twilights forehead. “Ghoul, would Misho say you guard the key to death?”
A glazed look over takes Ghoul and his body goes rigid. His voice became almost monotone. “Yes, he would.”
Twilight let out a sigh of relief. “Thank you. Misho, we would like your key please.”
Misho wept as he handed the Princess his key. “We wish you luck, sweet ponies.”
“Wait, Twilight. Do ya really think this key is tha right one? Not that I don’t trust you, but ah’m scared. I don’t think Equestria could bear losin’ us,” said Applejack.
“I do. And like Ghoul said, we only have one shot, so it isn’t like I can just give the key back.”
Twilight crept slowly over to the ornate wooden door. Inserting the key, she gave it a gentle turn and pushed it open, revealing a set of stone brick stairs.
Rainbow Dash’s collapsed onto the puddle of sweat underneath her. “Thank Celestia…”
Fluttershy gave Twilight an inquisitive look. “How did you figure out Misho had the right key, Twilight?”
“Dragus ripped this sort of puzzle straight out of a Daring Do novel. In Daring Do and the Howling Caves, she encountered two old zebras with two different brews, one poison and the other just plain soup. This riddle was sort of the same to it,” Twilight explained. “But to be honest? I had no clue. I just went with my gut and thought up my own question for the two zebras. Who knew I’d be right? Hehehe.”
Ghoul joined his brother in crying tears of joy. “Ve might finally be free! After all zis time! You poniez have given mein brother and me a hope ve thought vas dead. You’re sure you can help uz ezcape?”
In a blur of pink, Pinkie Pie zipped over to the knight, grabbing onto and hanging from his face. “You bet your cupcakes we will, buster! Nopony, and I mean NOPONY, takes away the smiles of somepony else! I thought Dragus was a meanie meaner-pants before, but now I think he’s an even biggerer meanie meaner-pants! Just you wait, we’ll bring smiles to those snouts.”
“Vell, continue onward. Ve shall be praying in our heartz for your victory.”
Each of the girls said their goodbyes to the gargoyles, Fluttershy taking especially long with a hug and kiss on each of their cheeks. They climbed up the stairway, the sound of their hooves clacking on the warm stone steps. The first of many trials were over. Now, it was on to the next floor to go and meet what may be death itself, even more so than the dungeon.
Author's Note
Hope you all enjoy the slightly longer chapter, because this next floor is going to be pretty long. As always, please feel free to correct any grammar in the comments.
The Swamp
The stairway seemed to stretch on for hours. Everyone except for Pinkie Pie felt a dip in their energy from climbing an innumerable number of stairs. Eventually, Twilight signaled for the group to stop.
Rainbow Dash flitted her wings in annoyance. “What’s the hold up now?”
“I’m feeling some sort of strange magic ahead of us. It sort of feels like the same kind of magic from the mirror portal I used to chase after Sunset Shimmer all those moons ago. It’s making me feel uneasy,” said Twilight. “It feels really sickly.”
Fluttershy started to slowly back down the stairs, quivering the entire time. “M-maybe we s-should go b-back. I’m sure Ghoul a-and Misho can point out another way to the top.”
“No can do, Fluttershy. The door shut behind us when we all passed through. The only way forward is to the strange magic I’m feeling,” Twilight said reassuringly. “We just have to stay strong until we get out of here. Who knows what we might face when we get to the next floor?”
After a few more minutes of talking, with the occasional comforting for Fluttershy, the group continued on up the spiraling stairway. The stone brick of the walls and stairs slowly began to turn into dead wood and moss. Eventually, the six ponies stumbled into a hallway ending in a large and glowing grey fog wall.
Rarity scrunched her muzzle up, nearly vomiting. “Urgh, what is that FOUL stench? It smells like… I don’t even want to imagine what it smells like. Oh Celestia, I think I’m going to bring up my lunch...”
Fluttershy gave the air a quick sniff. “Why does it smell like Rainbow Dash after her usual training session with Scootaloo?”
Even Pinkie Pie had a hard time keeping a straight face.
Rainbow took immediate offense. “Oh come ON! We don’t smell that bad after flight practice!” She took a quick sniff herself only to blush from embarrassment. “Okay, nevermind. It does smell like me after a workout.”
Applejack, the strongest of the six even felt the need to bring her hoof to her nose. “Whooie, that there fog smells ripe, I’ll say that. Makin’ me feel all sortsa sick to mah belly too. And that’s sayin’ somethin’, considering I can handle Big Mac’s bean and pepper casserole.”
“Anything could be on the other side of this fog, girls. So before we go in, we need to keep on the lookout for anything that might be dangerous,” cautioned Twilight.
“I think we can handle ourselves if talking statues and hungry curtains are what we’re dealing with,” Rainbow Dash boasted. “I mean, we’ve saved loads of times Equestria from things worse than magic furniture.”
Twilight barked angrily at the mare. “Rainbow, this is serious! If I hadn’t read the last Daring Do book, we could have very easily died from the doorway to these stairs! We can’t just go in hooves blazing or we’ll get hurt! And I couldn’t live with myself if anypony got hurt and we all couldn’t go home together.”
Rainbow Dash looked down in defeat, secretly admitting that she felt the same way. “I-I’m sorry. I’m just so pent up because of that jerk Dragus. He hurt innocent ponies and threw even more in this unknown place for his own sick game. I just... want to bring him to justice and avenge those that died, y’know? I’ll try to be more careful.”
“And we will. But for now, let’s just keep moving and get through this together.”
“All for one and one for all!” Pinkie Pie giggled, putting her hoof out.
Rarity added her hoof to Pinkie’s. “I couldn’t have put it more simple if I tried, darling.”
The girls put their hooves in the hoof circle, ending it off with a quick pump into the air. One by one, they carefully stepped through the fog wall and onto the other side of whatever room lay there.
“Ugh, those ponies really sicken me with their ‘friendship’ bullshit. Like seriously, can they just get on with the show already?”
Dragus popped a freshly caught field mouse into his mouth, grinding it between his fangs to try and calm himself. A small stream of blood and fur dripped down the side where the mouse lay dying between razor sharp spikes.
“Those two stupid statues are supposed to react violently to whoever they lay their eyes on. Why didn’t they kill one or at least maim one of the ponies before snapping back to their usual selves?”
Dragus stood up in the starry void he was seated in and waved his left claw to put away the magic screen he was using to watch the ‘contestants’.
“Oh well. I suppose that’s to be expected for a few mess ups here and there with my magic today. Guess Discord was right when he said to not drink Godbriar and use our magic.” He gripped his temples. “Hey, give me some powdered opium or something, will you? This headache is REALLY ruining my usual cheery mood.”
The dungeon responded by materializing a small glass of water and two small red tablets.
“What is this? I don’t think I asked to get high off my fucking rocker. Just give me some pain relief.”
A bottle of name brand painkillers materialized in place of the tablets.
Dragus glanced over the bottle and shrugged his shoulders, pouring the water down his throat along with the entire bottle of painkillers.
“Now to wait a few minutes for them to kick in. And thanks for the water too. I was feeling a bit parched.”
A small red square now flashed in front of Dragus’ face, causing him to smile gleefully. “Oh, they’ve reached the fog wall. This should be entertaining…”
Upon all six of the girls entering the fog wall, the black void that lay on the other side of the fog shifted into a dreary and overcast sky above a murky and putrefied swamp. Natural instinct overcame Twilight, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash, forcing their wings out to allow them to glide down to safety. Unfortunately, things didn’t go so well for the others.
“Waaaah!” screamed those without wings in unison as they landed on the thick and muddy ground.
Applejack pushed herself up, nearly slipping back into the mud. Steam puffed violently from her nose. “Consarnit! Now mah hat’s all filthy! Oh, when ah see Dragus next, he’s gonna know the fury of an Earth Pony!”
Pinkie Pie’s almost literally brightened with light from how wide her smile was. She gathered a hoof-full of mud, packing it tightly together as best she could. “Mud fight! Rainbow Dash, think fast!”
Rainbow Dash skillfully dodged Pinkie’s lob of mud, responding with a carefully placed dive into the mud below, resulting in Pinkie Pie getting covered from head to tail in the thick, paste-like mud.
“Hehehe, how’s THAT for dodging?” asked Rainbow.
“Super dodg-a-rific, Dashie! What do you think, Rarity?” Pinkie Pie asked, only for her eyelid to start twitching and her nostril to flare.
“EVERYPONY COVER YOUR EARS!”
Rarity, who had been staring in shock at the ground for the past few moments, raised a hoof to her mane, feeling the mud in it. She cautiously looked over her shoulders and viewed the mud covering her in large splotches.
“GYAAAH!” Rarity squealed, almost loud enough to shatter glass. “There’s filth in my mane! My fur! Aaaaaah!”
Rainbow Dash dug in her left ear with a hoof as she rolled her eyes. “Ah jeez, seriously? You get flipping mud facials from the spa like twice a month. Why are you freaking out?”
Rarity marched through the mud over to the dry circle created by Rainbow’s impact on the mud, gripping her friend’s face with mud-laden hooves. “It’s not the same! This mud is FILTHY! It has all kind of disgusting fluids and insects in it!”
As if fate were listening, a small beetle made its way out of the mud on Rarity’s mane and flitted away.
“Ugh, if you’re gonna complain about a little mud, then I’m just going to go and get a cloud from up there and rinse you off. Be glad it’ll be semi fresh rain water and not saltwater.”
Rainbow Dash leapt off of the matted dead grass under her and took to the air with a single powerful beat, landing a couple dozen feet from the cloudline above the swamp. Zipping her way around one of the sparse patches of mangrove clusters and continued on upward. Finally, she reached what appeared to be a blanket of clouds that went on for miles.
Weird cloud formation. It’s smells really bad, Rainbow Dash thought to herself. Eh, I don’t have time to complain about some smelly cloud. Time to get this over with so we can find our way to the next floor.
Immediately after Rainbow Dash arrived at the cloud blanket, Pinkie Pie’s face twisted to one of horror as her fur stood on end all over herself. She looked toward her speedy friend and screamed. “Rainbow Dash, don’t go in there! My Pinkie Sense says-- oh dear.”
Pinkie Pie was too late. Rainbow Dash had already entered the clouds and was currently on a spiralling fall back down to the swamp floor. Noticing this, Twilight attempted to teleport over to catch her out of the air, but felt her magic get sucked out of her horn and produce sparks. Luckily though, a portal had appeared on the ground underneath Rainbow Dash, with a familiar draconic figure stepping out.
“Alrighty, now to WHAT THE FYUARGH!” bleat Dragus, whom was making his acquaintance with the ground now thanks to Rainbow Dash. Rainbow Dash on the other hand coughed violently and gripped her chest with her hooves.
“Get the fuck off me, you damn horse!” said Dragus, pushing Rainbow Dash off of his chest. He scowled at his now mud-covered robes. “You know, I spent a lot of money on these robes. Finest wyrm silk in all the universes. Now, I have to replace them. And before you ask, no I can’t just magic up some new ones. Unlike some of the other gods, I have to actually work for my riches. Destruction can’t create from nothing.”
Rainbow Dash continued to cough, raspily gasping for air. “Can’t… breathe…”
“Wait a minute, you can’t breathe? What, did you try to fly into the clouds and hide or something?” Dragus picked up the pegasus by the mane and sniffed her breath, tossing her towards her friends. “This makes explaining things easier for me, as you’ll be dead in a few days. Also looks like I’ve lost one of my livelier contenders.”
“Rainbow Dash!” Twilight shouted as she caught her friend in a weak field of magic, just barely managing to cushion her impact on the ground. “What did you do to her!?”
Dragus raised his brow on one eye. “Me? I’m not responsible for this. It’s her fault for flying into the toxic fog. It’s not like I’m the one who made the swamp.”
“Wait, TOXIC fog!? She’s poisoned!?”
“What do you think happens when you breathe in the vapours from the geysers here? I was coming to make some sort of pun about how dangerous trying to fly here was, but I think that’s quite apparent now.”
Dragus floated gently into the air and laid on his side, summoning a bucket of young shrews to chew on. He casually picked one up and dropped it into his mouth, chewing for a bit and spitting it into the mud below.
“Blegh! Dungeon, I said mice not shrews! Shrews taste terrible!”
Fluttershy looked on in horror as Dragus snapped his claw, causing the bucket to burst into a small ball of hellfire and then smoke. “You horrible monster! You can’t do that to innocent animals!”
In a flash, the kobold vanished from his floating spot and re-appeared in front of Fluttershy, glaring into her eyes. “I don’t think you understand who you are speaking to. I am the GOD of this dungeon and you will not tell me what I can and cannot do. Do I make myself clear?”
“Y-yes s-s-sir,”Fluttershy whispered as she shrunk back, quivering.
“Good. Now I suggest you all get a move on. I have other things I need to do.”
Dragus raised his claw to open a portal back into his void at the top of the dungeon, only to have it gripped tightly by Twilight.
Dragus snarled. “Uh, excuse me? I said I have other things to do.”
“I’m not letting you go until you tell us how to cure the poison in Rainbow Dash,” ordered Twilight.
“Well, I suppose it’s only fair that I give you a help, in exchange for payment.” Dragus scratched his chin. “If I remember correctly, diseases and ailments aren’t carried over from one floor to another. So if you can manage to find the exit to this floor within the next three or four days, then she should be fine. That, or have her eat a specific mushroom that grows near the center of the swamp.”
Twilight released her magic grip on Dragus’ forearm. “A-and the payment?”
Dragus smiled a crooked smile. “Oh, I think I can imagine a few ways you can pay for the information I’ve given.”
The kobold god jut out his left arm and clenched his claw around Twilight’s throat, gently floating upward with the princess, her eyes wide as tea saucers. Twilight struggled to free herself from her assailant’s grasp, but to no avail. The other girls stood too shocked to move. Applejack, being the first to snap out of her fear, angrily attempted to jump and buck Dragus to the ground, only to meet an invisible barrier and violently rebound back..
Dragus snapped his free hand, causing a tree root to force its way out of the ground below and into Twilight’s gut and then going back into the ground. “Keep the change, bitch. Let this be a lesson to any of you six the next time you try to order me to do anything.”
With that, Dragus dropped the purple alicorn and blinked out of sight back into his void.
“I don’t like it here anymore…” whined Pinkie Pie, tears starting to flow as she hyperventilated. “This isn’t like any kind scary we’ve seen before. I-I’m scared...”
Fluttershy laid down in the mud, crying softly in her hooves.
Rainbow Dash, who finally stopped coughing long enough to speak. “Heh, that’s unlike you, Pinkie Pie. You’re usually full of laughter, even in the scariest times.”
“Rainbow Dash! Y-you’re okay!” Pinkie Pie quickly walked over and knelt down to her pegasus friend. “I-I thought you were…”
“What, you thought I was dead from some stupid smelly cloud? H-hah! Like I’d let myself be taken down by something as s-stupid as a cloud.” Rainbow Dash attempted to stand back up on shaking legs, helped along by both Pinkie Pie and Applejack. “What about Twilight? I couldn’t see anything while I was out of it.”
The three looked over to Twilight, who was now being tended to by Rarity. She was busy attempting to apply pressure on Twilight’s wound with a small handkerchief.
“I can’t stop the bleeding!” exclaimed Rarity.
Twilight’s pained grimace contorted harder the more Rarity pushed onto her belly. “F-FUCK! Rarity, please stop!”
“If you think for one moment that I, Rarity, am going to allow you to bleed, you are wrong! No friend of mine is going to die in some filthy swamp!”
The handkerchief only dug deeper into the alicorn’s golf ball sized wound, eliciting agonizing screams.
Rainbow Dash, noticing movement not too far off from where she stood, hastily made her way over to the duo and pushed aside the white mare.
Rarity scoffed. “I cannot believe you, Rainbow Dash! You of all ponies should know first-hoof how important first aid is!”
“You can be mad at me all you want, but if you keep making her scream her throat out something’s gonna find us!” Rainbow Dash pointed at a large white figure off in the distance. “And I don’t think you want to deal with big and nasty over there. So quit it!”
Rainbow Dash signalled for Applejack and Pinkie Pie to come over and help Twilight onto her side. She then looked over to Fluttershy, who was still crying on the ground. As much as she didn’t want to be harsh to a sensitive friend, this wasn’t a time for weakness.
“Fluttershy I know this is mean, but you have to stop crying and be tough right now. Twilight’s hurt pretty bad,” said Rainbow Dash. “We need your help to fix her up. Nopony else here knows how to deal with things like this.”
The words ‘Twilight’s hurt pretty bad’ rang in Fluttershy’s ears like a small orchestra. She peeked up from her hooves and looked her friend’s body, gasping at the sight of the stab wound.
Fluttershy stood back up and darted over to examine the wound closer. “Oh my goodness, I-I didn’t know how bad this was! We need to stanch this bleeding right now!”
Even with how gentle Fluttershy was with her hooves, the miniscule bumps against Twilight caused her to hiss.
“We need to stitch this shut somehow or singe it. Do you have some sort of spell to make heat?” Fluttershy asked Twilight.
Twilight continued to hiss at the gentle effort being done to slow her bleeding. “I-I think I c-could use a mana bolt.”
“Applejack, can you bring me some of the dead wood from one of the trees around?”
Applejack nodded and galloped a small dead tree around where Dragus portalled in. With one hard buck, the tree snapped off it’s roots and came crashing down onto the swamp floor. Carefully, she broke off a reasonably sized branch and carried it back to her awaiting friends.
Applejack spit the log onto a fairly dry spot on the ground. “Here ya go, sugarcube. Hope this is big enough.”
Fluttershy picked up the branch with her wings. “Try to light the branch on fire, if you can, and brace yourself.”
“Okay, calm down Twilight. You can get through this,” Twilight reassured herself.
Twilight’s horn lit up it’s signature magenta glow and discharged a thin beam of energy into the wood, bringing a small portion of the branch to embers.
Fluttershy speedily pushed the smouldering end of the branch against Twilight’s wound, pressing into it. Again, she let out an ear-shattering scream, which was quickly muffled by Rainbow Dash’s hooves. After a minute or two, the wound had been cauterized over by the ember.
The easy part was now over. Fluttershy helped to pull Twilight back to her hooves and hugged her tightly. However, the two hurt ponies weren’t a problem now. The problem was the puddle of blood that lay where Twilight was.
“Oh sweet merciful Celestia…. it’s over…” Twilight breathed heavily.
Twilight shakily reached a hoof down to her belly and touched the small burnt scab, wincing. Applejack slowly picked Twilight up onto her back.
“Applejack, I can walk just fine. You don’t need to carry me.” Twilight attempted to crawl off of Applejack’s back, only to be held in place by the earth pony’s strength and hoof.
She shook her head. “No can do, Twilight. You may be strong an’ all, but until you’re sure as sugar I’m gonna carry you, no matter what.”
“B-but-”
“No buts. I ain’t gonna hear it. You’re mah friend an’ you’re hurt. And I’d rather have to buck an entire orchard in the summer heat than let you go and injure yerself further.”
Twilight didn’t put up any further resistance, her heart touched. She nuzzled her head against Applejack’s neck as a sign of thanks.
After a few brief minutes of securing Twilight to the apple pony with a vine, the group began to walk through the swamp’s mud. Everything seemed new and terrifying, so much so that even Pinkie Pie refused to laughed at any of it, aside from a rock that looked like a face. Every now and again, Rainbow Dash would enter a coughing fit, which would caused the group to stop until it faded back to ‘normal’ breathing. Listening carefully to Rainbow’s breathing, Fluttershy heard it start to become more raspy than usual. What struck her as strange though was that she swore she could hear a faint buzzing somewhere, but couldn’t put her hoof on it. Deciding it must just be her imagination, she put the thought out of her mind.
Eventually, the group stopped by what looked to be a large pool of murky water dotted with small rocks and even a few dead mangrove trees. To the far east of the pond was an enormous fallen over tree, hollowed from the years of rot and age, leaving only a rock-hard shell.
Rainbow Dash coughed a few times, wheezing dryly. “We’ve been walking for hours. Can we please stop to rest? I’m not feeling to hot.”
Twilight looked over to her pegasus friend as saw in her eyes the toxins slowly making an impact on her system. Rainbow looked unusually tired and shook every so often.
“Rainbow Dash, are you alright?” asked Twilight.
Rainbow Dash strained to smile. “N-never better! I’m just a little worn out.”
The buzzing sound started to get closer, albeit still too quiet for anyone to hear, aside from Fluttershy.
Rarity stepped a bit closer to Rainbow Dash, who was starting to drip with sweat. “Are you sure, darling? We’ve only been traveling for a few hours and you are usually still full of determination on these quests we do.”
“I-I’m fine. Just tired. I… I think I…” Rainbow Dash brought a hoof to her forehead and swayed back and forth. “I think that cloud is starting to get to me. Everything’s starting to ache and I’m thirsty as hell.”
Twilight tapped Applejack on her back. “Applejack, can you set me down? I need to take a closer look at Rainbow Dash.”
Applejack lowered herself to the ground, letting Twilight step back onto the ground, allowing her to get closer to their poisoned friend. Twilight placed a lone hoof onto Rainbow’s forehead, pulling it back in pain.
“You’re burning up! And I don’t mean a fever, I mean you’re hotter than what should be possible for any living creature!”
Rainbow Dash sat down, trying her hardest to keep herself from falling over. “It’s getting really hard to keep myself up. I’m just going to take a nap right here.”
“Let’s get you someplace dry to rest,” said Fluttershy, guiding the fellow pegasus over to the gigantic tree shell. Calmly she set her friend to lay down inside the interior.
All Rainbow Dash could manage to respond with was moaning and laboured breathing. True to Twilight’s word, she was burning up inside. To Rainbow, it felt like her insides were boiling and it hurt worse than the time she broke her a wing trying to impress her old coltfriend.
An hour had passed and Rainbow Dash still wouldn’t wake up. Twilight had tried a multitude of spells to try and rouse her friend, but most just resulted in a fizzle or wouldn’t work at all, like someone had sucked the magic right out of her. The only thing anyone could think of was to reduce her unnatural fever and help ease her pain, which Fluttershy saw to with some of the surprisingly clean and pure water of the lake by the hollow tree. Although originally murky, it turned out to just be a layer of algae floating at the top, but otherwise the water helped to ease both Rainbow’s fever and pain, as well as speed up Twilight’s own healing.
“Girls, I’m going to be honest with you. I don’t think Rainbow Dash is going to be able to move for much longer in her condition. She’s getting weaker by the second.” Twilight looked down at the burnt hole on her belly, noticing it to be half the size than it was a few hours ago. “We have to find the exit to this swamp as soon as possible.”
Sighing with relief, Fluttershy walked back over to the gathering of ponies, feeling Rainbow Dash would be fine left alone. The log lay only about twenty feet away, after all.
“I’ve done all I can to make the fever go down, but without the herbs I usually use for my remedies, I can’t fix it permanently,” began Fluttershy. “Though, the pond water helped bring it down. I just hope she holds on long enough for us to get out of here.”
Applejack took off her stetson to wipe her brow. “We all do, sugarcube. Ah swear, this is just getting more and more hopeless by the minute. It don’t help none that it’s hotter than a sauna in the summer in this here swamp.”
The strange buzzing increased ever louder, this time more audible. Everyone’s ears twitched from the sound coming from somewhere, pulling their attention south.
“What in Equestria is that darn buzzing sound?” asked Applejack. “It’s makin’ mah skin feel like its crawl.”
Fluttershy whimpered and started to back up into the log. “I knew I didn’t imagine that sound…”
Pinkie Pie, who was finding it difficult to remain cheery, smiled awkwardly. “It sounds like a jackhammer! Is somepony building a house?”
Twilight shuddered at the grating noise, looking in its general direction. “I don’t like this.”
Like flies descending upon rot, an impossibly large mosquito dropped down from the sky and hovered in front of the equine group, startling them. Three more followed suit, each of which had small bits of red covering their proboscises.
Though the ponies were instinctively fearful, Fluttershy was the first to actually build up the courage to walk up to the mosquitoes, though she still felt unsure if they represented a threat. The buzzing almost seemed like it wanted to deafen her as she approached the one in front of her.
“H-hello there, little guys,” Fluttershy said with a quiver, lifting up a hoof to pet the head of the large mosquito in front of her. She gently stroked its carapace, a small smile creeping over her muzzle. “Even though you look scary, you’re all just softies aren’t you?”
The mosquitoes responded with tilted heads, excluding the one being pet. Almost as quick as lightning, the mosquito in front of Fluttershy flew forward, knocking her to the ground. It landed violently on top of her and attempted to stab into her neck, only to be bucked off by Applejack.
“These ain’t no friends, they’re varmints!” screamed Applejack as she stomped on the hawk-sized mosquito’s wing, eliciting a quiet ‘scree’.
With the same ferocity and speed, the other three thrashed around in a circle around the ponies, looking for a chance to catch one off guard. The mosquito-hawks exclusively kept their heads turned on Twilight the entire time, as if to strike fear into her. They could smell the traces of blood on her stomach, itching to taste more than the puddle from earlier.
Meanwhile, Applejack kept herself lowered to the ground and facing the now wingless mosquito, who buzzed his wing stubs angrily. It lashed forward, trying to jab at her chest, only to be deflected each time by two powerful hooves.
Applejack smirked. “That all ya got, pinhead? You look like yer hardly tryin’!”
Twilight on the other hand, was trying to throw up a forcefield around her and her friends, only for her horn to light and fizzle disappointingly.
“I-I can’t cast my shield spell!” exclaimed Twilight.
Over by the tree log, Rainbow Dash groaned loudly, attracting the attention of the bugs. The three winged mosquitoes each let out a screech, flying without care on over to the ponies unconscious friend.
“Oh no you don’t, you ill-mannered insects!” Rarity lit her horn and wrapped one of the bugs in her magic, compromising one of its wings and forcing it also to become ground-bound and turn back.
Every so often, the mosquito-hawk would skitter forward a few inches, its proboscis dripping with paralytic saliva. Applejack backed up further to ensure she stayed between Fluttershy and her opponent.
She snarled. “Ya think your pointy nose is gonna scare me? I’ll snap it off and shove it right in yer eye!”
Another sickening snap of wings, as well as an insect leg this time, and Rarity disabled another one if the flying terrors.
Thinking quickly, Twilight gathered as much of the ambient magic around her into her horn and released a shot of mana at Applejack’s target, disintegrating half of its head. The mosquito-hawk started screeching loudly and seized on the ground violently before ultimately lying dead. Twilight then turned her attention to the last flying mosquito and shot another bolt of mana towards it, only managing to fry off a small portion of an antenna and scorch some of the fallen tree it was flying towards.
Time felt to slow down to a crawl for the girls. Nothing anyone could do would be able to stop Rainbow Dash from being harmed. The final mosquito-hawk plunged down towards her, vibrating in delight at finally getting an easy meal. The air was so dense with fear and worry that it was almost palpable. That is until Pinkie Pie jumped out of the log and splattered the mosquito-hawk with one swipe of a dead tree branch, which shattered into thousands of pieces. Her breathing increased to deep huffs, while her mane and tail sluggishly drooped and became straight and dulled. Even her fur color dulled itself from its usual hot pink.
Aside from the green blood that covered Dash’s fur, nothing remained of the threat that once was. She lay blissfully unaware of the fate that could have befallen both her and her friends.
Pinkie Pie knelt down to hug Rainbow Dash, tears streaming down her cheeks. Words escaped her and she just sobbed into the rainbow mane, crying incoherently.
The feeling of tears dripping onto her face was enough to finally stir Rainbow Dash from her toxin-induced coma. Her eyes fluttered open and she groaned from her sore body. “Ugh, my head. The hell happened?”
Pinkie Pie embraced Rainbow into an even harder hug. “Dashie! You’re okay! I-I th-thought you weren’t ever gonna wake up again!” Her mane regained some of its usual poofiness.
“Whatcha mean?”
Although she wasn’t expressing it, Twilight also felt relief in her heart. She wanted to cry along side Pinkie Pie, but held her tears. “You said you were starting to get tired and you were thirsty. And you nearly fell down while Fluttershy helped move you into this tree.”
Rainbow Dash looked at her front hooves, trying her hardest to remember what had transpired her. Other than remembering feeling some slight aches and a little feverish, there seemed to be a gap in her memory. “I remember walking and then everything went black for a few seconds. Now I’m here lying down and- uh Pinkie? You can stop hugging me now.”
“Sorry I-I just… I was scared,” Pinkie Pie admitted, her voice quivering. “These giant bug thingies dropped out of the sky and Fluttershy tried being nice and then Applejack crushed one of their wings a-and… Oh Dashie, they tried to kill us!”
That grabbed Dash’s attention more than anything. “Whoa whoa whoa, what in the hells of Tartarus happened while I was out?”
Twilight and Rarity explained everything that had happened in the last hour, making sure to not leave out any details of the fight with the strange mosquitoes. What shocked Rainbow Dash the most was that the insects immediately reacted violently to Fluttershy, of all the ponies of the group. She did exclaim about how ‘awesome’ Pinkie Pie was in getting rid of the last one of them and started complaining about being useless during the whole ordeal.
All of the complaints were interrupted by a growl from Rarity’s stomach. In the entire unknown amount of time the group spent walking, no one had noticed the hunger and fatigue they felt. It hit all of them at once, the growls of hunger going off one by one.
Rainbow Dash gripped her belly sofly. “Guess this place took more outa of us than we thought. Did anypony think to pack snacks?”
Pinkie Pie noticed a perfect chance to cheer up her friends, her mane and fur returning once more to their cotton-candy selves. She reached into her mane and pulled out a stack of paper wrapped meals, each marked with their cutie marks. A sly grin grew on her muzzle. “Does THIS answer your question?”
Twilight looked at the pink terror curiously, as if to try and figure out how so much food managed to fit in her mane. Instead of racking her brain in pain, she just shrugged it off to Pinkie being Pinkie. Even if it was a little stranger than usual.
The group set up camp inside of the hollow tree, carving a small pit and lighting dead branches in the middle of it. Pinkie Pie tool time to pass out each of the carefully wrapped meals. Unsurprisingly, each meal contained foods her friends favored, even the more obscure ‘fancy’ food Rarity enjoyed. The group ate in relative silence, aside from the periodic small talk about what might be happening outside of the dungeon or about how much actual time had passed. Eventually, the sky grew darker than before, signalling night time. Taking this as a cue to rest, everyone decided to sleep around the magic-enhanced fire, Applejack making sure to add enough wood to keep it burning for a few more hours.
Unbeknownst to the ponies, the dungeon seemed to shift reality slightly, moving the log further inwards towards the center of the swamp, as if to help along the contestants. Feeling they’d suffered enough by the claws of its ruler, it slowed the passage of time inside itself to better give them more hours of sleep, even going so far as to slow Rainbow Dash’s ailment. Dragus however, was not pleased that his entertainment would be interrupted by notions of ‘sympathy’.
“You worthless piece of trash! How DARE you help them?!” Dragus held his brow. “I created you to bring me ENTERTAINMENT! You don’t get to decide if the creatures I bring inside live or die, I do!”
The dungeon hummed.
“What, you think that just because they’re suffering that they deserve help? They’re my TOYS! They don't get help unless I feel like giving it!”
A picture of a small kobold family flashed up on the screen Dragus used to watch Twilight and her friends.
Small gouts of flame escaped from Dragus’ nostrils. “My family? Do you really think you can get me to calm down by showing me the people I SLAUGHTERED to gain this position? I’m warning you, dungeon. Step out of line again and I’ll find some OTHER spirit to do your job.”
Sighing, Dragus turned his attention to a presence he felt in the room with him.
“What? You think of me cruel?” Dragus grinned. “That’s the point. I don’t care anything that doesn’t benefit me in some way.”
The figure stayed silent, looking down at its bare body.
“No snide remarks today? Did you finally give up on praying for escape and realize that no gods are going to answer them, aside from me of course. And just in case you thought I’d let you go, I’d never let a toy go unused.”
Dragus snapped his fingers and summoned a brazier of lit coals and an iron rod. Slowly he picked up the iron rod, making sure to beat the semi-molten end on the edge of the bowl, causing sparks to shower into the figure’s face. It grimaced from the heat.
Dragus smiled at the terror on the figure’s face. “My pet, I think I have a little game for us to play. If you can manage to stay awake after our fun, I’ll cut you a deal. For as long as these ponies are on the next floor, I’ll leave you be. I doubt you’ll last, seeing as you’ve already given up. But, who knows?”
Raising his free claw, the kobold signaled for the chains holding his victims arms raised, leaving it dangling.
Dragus rubbed his chin. “Y’know, I’ve been considering putting you on one of the floors for this round of contestants. I’d hang you from a wall and wait for them to try and ‘rescue’ you, only to pull away your taste of freedom. It would be entertaining, to say the least.”
The figure raised its head slightly to look it its captor’s eyes, a fire of determination re-lit upon hearing of possibly escaping.
“Then again, I think it’d be much more interesting to…” Dragus trailed off, mumbling to himself. “Oh yes, that’s good. Consider this a chance to earn your freedom. And, if you do as I say, you’ll be free.”
The figure finally opened its mouth and coughed, his shredded vocal chords aching. “W-what do I have to do?”
This shocked Dragus. He hadn’t expected his prey to take him seriously. It amused him that it would even think he’d actually let his property go. “Oh, it speaks! I thought our activities had damaged your brain. And to answer, nothing too hard. I just want you to eventually kill some of the ponies I’ve forced into my dungeon. Sometime near the end, preferably. Betrayal is SOO savory and salty. Do that, and I’ll return you to a point in time hundreds of years before I even destroyed your planet.”
“And that’s it? You’ll let me go?”
The god snarled. “Did I not just say that? Gods, you of all people should know not to question me. And here I was debating on letting you rest for a day or two.”
The figure put his head back down to hang.
“That’s what I thought.”
Dragus stuck the now partially cooled iron back into the coal, taking it back out after it had become red hot. He walked up to his prisoner and brought the iron close to his cheek, pausing to cause tension. Then, he stabbed it into his eye, squealing with delight at his symphony of screams. The figure howled, feeling his eye melting onto the metal rod. His thrashing proved fruitless..
Dragus finally removed the hot iron. He licked the burnt remains of the eye off of the hot iron.
“Oooh, extra crispy. I forgot how tasty your people are. I should take more prisoners and just use them as cattle,” Dragus giggled, then scoffed. “Or not. I’m sure you would just end up missing your dear master here and we can’t have that!”
Once more, Dragus plunged the hot iron into the mysterious creature, this time in their left thigh. Their screams rang out into the void like an army of raging thunderstorms, an anguished inner self begging for the release of death the entire time. This only caused the kobold god to chuckle and eventually break out into mad-induced laughter.
Dragus slapped his forehead. “Oh silly me! I almost forgot to put your usual enchantment onto you! Can’t have you dying on me.” He waved his hand to emit a small purple-green wave of energy. “Now, back to the fun!”
After an hour of repeated stabbings and melted skin, the almost tattered corpse slumped down and breathed heavily. The diminutive kobold raised his weapon high to strike his punching bag one more, only to stopping to inhale and recover a bit more strength for the final hit. He released the blow with enough speed that it crushed in a good portion of the creature’s ribcage.
As promised, Dragus snapped a claw, forcing the chains to snap at the figure’s wrists. He sighed contently and dropped the iron into its container, dismissing it and floating up into the void.
“Eh, I’m bored again.” Dragus looked up. “Hey Dungeon, teleport my pet to the healing pools, then bring me something new to eat. I’m getting tired of the live rodents and am craving something strange.”
The dungeon complied and opened up a portal below the almost dead being, sealing it back up once it was onto the other side. As for the food, the dungeon responded by summoning up a large portion of unusually charred meat inside of a black shell, Dragus opening his eyes in surprise, smelling the air.
“I don’t know what this is, but it smells fantastic. I’ll take twelve platters.”
Author's Note
Wonder who/what the mysterious figure could be?
All I'm gonna say is that I got some plans for them~
