The Beating of my Heart.
Chapter 47: The Lord of the Land Approaches! Part 3 Welcome to the Dungeon!
Previous Chapter Next ChapterAuthor's Notes:
Because I left this story alone for so long I had forgotten some important things that were mentioned in crossovers that I had to bring up here. So I fixed it.
"Umm... I'm just the cook?" The bloat thrall said in an uncertain tone. The Celestia that spoke narrowed her eyes at his words and flew forward while drawing a flaming sword. "Oh crud!" The bloat thrall cried out as he backed away while drawing his weapon and firing a spray of acidic green slime at her, but she easily sidestepped the spray and with an upward swing attacked the bloat thrall. I tried to use my hand to get him out of there but it was to fast and the blade cut deeply through his decayed belly. Unfortunately for her and the rest of the group she was unaware of one of the bloat thrall’s abilities. 'BOOM!' When they're defeated, they explode. The room filled with groans as all the Celestia's got up off the floor. Shaking the blast off.
"What the buck was that?!" One of the Celestias asked.
"You must not have many necromancers in your universe. In mine it was a common tactic for them to rig undead to explode." Another replied as she and the others looked around. Not only was the bloat thrall being used as a fresh coat of green paint for the room but all of the foxes in the room were dead, their flesh melted by acid and bones broken by the concussive force.
"Hey, over here. What do you all make of this?" One of them called out, drawing the other's attention to the large, heavy steel doors. They were covered from top to bottom with warning signs and over the door was written 'Warning! Princess Luna's cooking lab! Do not open!'
"A sick joke." One answered before using her alicorn strength to buck the doors open with the horrid screech of metal being torn apart. What they found inside was another kitchen and on a large table in the center of the room was a giant, beautiful cake. One of the Celestias moved closer to sniff at it.
"Be careful! It could be poisoned, or booby trapped!" One of the other Celestias warned.
"What if it really was made by Luna?" The Celestia who got close asked.
"That would be even worse!" Whatever the other Celestia was going to say was cut off as the rattling sound of bones filled the air. Turning to the entrance, they saw a large group of skeletons who were drawn to the sound of the bloat thrall exploding.
“...Why are they all wearing red shirts?” A steampunk Celestia asked.
“It doesn't matter.” A human looking Celestia said as she steps forward and lifts her spear. “Vile creatures of darkness! Burn away under my holy light!” At those words the spear shone like the sun cutting off all sight in the room for a moment. Once the light faded the skeletons were still standing there. “...What the,”
“Hell!?” I say in shock. What was that!? I just felt a major drain on my reserves! I tense as it happens again, and again. Looking back to my uninvited guests I see the light one was just standing there flashing her light over and over. Her face shows that she can’t comprehend that the undead aren't being obliterated and is running on autopilot. My skeletons by this point had rushed the group. After my skeleton army was full I had opted to enhance what I had by carving runes into them making them run faster, hit harder and take more damage before going down… didn’t help them in the slightest. One of the other Celestias had had enough and blasted that side of the room with a powerful fire spell destroying the skeletons and stopping the drain.
“Is she just going to keep doing that?” An anthro Celestia asked as the human looking one was still spamming her light with a look of incomprehension on her face.
“Give her a moment for the shock to wear off. At least they’re still vulnerable to fire.” Another said before they heard a gasp. Turning as one they saw that one of their own was laying up against the table, her head buried deep into the cake, unmoving. Pulling her out, the other Celestias saw that her face had turned blue and that her eyes had rolled into the back of her head with foam coming out of her mouth.
“No poison should be able to affect us this fast or this hard.” One Celestia said in shock.
“This can only mean one thing.” Another said looking from left to the right at the others.
“It truly is Luna’s cooking.”
“That monster! Weaponizing Luna’s cooking!? Such an act is a war crime!” one of the Celestia’s exclaimed aghast at the idea.
“Quick! We need to get that stuff out of her before it’s too late!” And with that the group got to work trying to empty the fallen mare’s stomach.
“This is certainly a situation.” I say before summoning a token. “Kruger, I need a diplomat here.” I call out.
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…
…
“Kruger?... Dogfish?” I asked after getting no reply. Looking the thing over I saw nothing wrong with it so I tried another. “Ax? You there?... Doctor Doom?... Buggy wan kenobi?” I got no reply from any of them. Then I pulled out the token for Handsome Jack and I saw some scary words on the screen. ‘No Signal.’
“...They're blocking me? How do you block a token!?” I cry out. This is bad. Most of the minions I have here are undead. The rest are attacking various Goodly basses. I need a displaced now!... “Bring me Doctor Wolf!” At my orders several imps vanished and a short while later came back with a very surprised looking wolf.
“What is going on here!?” The wolf demanded as he got up off the floor when the foxes stopped dragging him.
“I’m being attacked by a raid party of Celestias! I need you to go talk with them and convince them I’m not evil! What do you think?” I asked him.
“I think you’re trying to get my ass kicked.” He replied frowning at Rin, his ears flattened to the back of his head.
“Well I’m sorry but they’re blocking me from using tokens.” I explain to him in exasperation.
“You can do that!?” He shouted in shock.
“Apparently!” I shout out with my forelegs raised up in the air. “Now are you going to help me or not?”
“Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh… What hit me.” The downed Celestia asked as she tried to get up but her legs were too weak and she just fell to the floor again.
“You were warned.” A Celestia wearing a lab coat said.
“Excuse me?” A voice called out and the group turned to see a bipedal wolf waving a white flag. “I’m here to negotiate your cease of hostilities.” He said meekly.
“Then you can start by returning the ponies your dark mistress has taken.” Steampunk Celestia said.
“I- what? What are you talking about?” He asked in confusion, tilting his head to the side as he tried to process what they had said.
“Twilight Sparkle, the element of magic. She has abducted them in bulk from all of our worlds!” the same Celestia replied.
“I’m sorry, but I have no idea what you’re talking about. I’ve never even heard of a bunch of Twilights being here all at once.” He said in even more confusion.
That’s because Celestia has gone out of her way to make sure her Twilight doesn't find out about my library or the giant floating magic school from another world. Though how long she can keep it up is anyone's guess. I thought to myself as I watched their interaction.
“And I don’t work for Rin, she just dragged me here because she needed a diplomat and apparently she couldn’t summon one.” He continued, noting the smirk on steampunk Celestia’s face.
“Then you have been fooled. We know they’re here.” Lab coat Celestia replied angrily.
“And how do you know that?” he asked evenly to avoid antagonizing the swarm of Celestia.
“We have a very reliable source.” Was his only reply to that question.
“Now tell her to return our subjects or burn.” A goth Celestia said darkly.
“And what if your info is wrong and they’re not here?” He asked with worry. They replied by charging up their horns making him run away yipping in fear.
“Fast for something on two legs.” The only male member of the group said before looking to the cake eater. “I don’t think she will be able to go on.”
“Agreed, she’ll need to be hospitalized.” A Celestia wearing a stereotype Disney princess dress said in concern. A few of their numbers used their magic to send her home.
“Now to knock this one back to reality.” Goth Celestia said to light goddess Celestia who was still just standing there flashing her light over and over again. With a snort Gothlestia walked behind the light bringer and lowered her head and thrusting her horn forward a little.
“Youch!” Lightlestia shouted as she jumped forward and used her free hand to cover her butt. She was about to yell at the other her when what happened before registered. “How can the undead be immune to my purifying light!?”
“They still burn.” Another Celestia said.
“They should burn by my light!” Lightlestia shouted. Her mane catching fire as she yelled.
“How should we know? You can just ask her when we catch her.” Tiki mask wearing Celestia said.
“Your right. I’ll interrogate her.” Lightlestia said as she took a calming breath. "Let's go."
"One moment, there is something we must do first." Said a Celestia made entirely out of legos, getting a nod from the others. Then without a moment's hesitation Luna's kitchen lab was incinerated in white fire leaving nothing in there but ash and molten rock. The evil vanquished, the party moved to leave the room and I used my inspiration manifestation along with my hand of evil to change the door to my latest model. The one I got from Sombra's research notes, in the hopes that it will buy me some time.
Once the group reached the door and when one of them tried to open it the door shot across the wall and stopped on the wall to their left a small distance away. The group stopped for a moment to look at the door that had fled them before deciding on a solution to this new problem. BOOM! They blasted the wall where the door used to be, making their own opening that wouldn't run away. Normally such tactics would never work in a dungeon with reinforced walls because the magic flowing through them hardens them too much to make the energy needed to keep up such things impossible... But with this group, they have the mana to spare.
Dr. Wolf ran back into the command room with the imp I lent him so he wouldn't get lost and stopped dead at what he saw.
"You... you actually did it?! You've been kidnapping Twilights!?" He demanded drawing the attention of the mass of purple adorkableness surrounding me.
"I did not! They came to me on their own. That's why they're here, to explain things to the sun army of kickassery so they will stop." I reply.
"How have I not heard of this?" Dr. Wolf asked with exasperation.
"Because an army of Twilights traveled across dimensions to live in my city. So Celestia thought that it would be best if our Twilight finished her therapy lessons before she found out." I reply.
"...You have a city?" He asked with an eye twitch.
"Best not to think about it. Now enough distractions. Twilights, move out!" I command and the large group of eggheads who were very disgruntled about being taken away from their books followed the guide fox that will lead them to my disgruntled guests. Hopefully the minions I sent to keep them distracted will be able to hold them off till they get there.
"Mime, mr. mime!" Gambit said tiredly.
"Yes, we get it, you're a mime! Which aren't supposed to talk!" A Celestia said as she bashed against the pokemon's barrier with a burning, golden mace. "Best invisible box act I've ever seen though."
"Mr. mime." The clown groaned. He couldn't keep this up much longer with how strong the blows to his barrier, which the pokemon once proudly assumed was unbreakable, are. But was at his limits.
"Gambit, time to switch out!" Treat called out. Treat was the nickname Rin gave pokemon trainer Trixie along with Trick which is what she now called this world's Trixie, so that they could be told apart in conversation. Treat had already pulled out the next pokeball to call out Tank, her blastoise. A name she stole from Rainbow's pet because she thought it would suit her starter better. But just as she was going to throw the ball she was distracted by my bellsprout who jumped forward and glowed golden.
"Bell, SPROUT!" As the small plant cried out a massive beam shot out from his mouth and grew far larger as it shot down the hall like a Dragon Ball Z attack. The plant type had just used its solar beam, a move that gets its strength by absorbing sunlight and focusing it into an attack. And he had just been standing in front of a bunch of Celestias soaking in the light of their power as they wailed on Gambit's barrier. As such the beam was supercharged and shook the walls of the dungeon as it covered every inch of the hallway with blinding light. Once the attack had eaten through all of that stored up energy and the beam shrank away to nothing he was severely disappointed to see all of the invaders still standing in the same spot looking down at him without even a scratch.
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...
...
"Tank, hydro pump!" Treat called out, ignoring the small plant type who was sulking away with anime tears in his beady little eyes at what had to be the most impressive solar beam in pokemon history, which was about as effective as a splash attack. Once Tank fired his blasts of water, two Celestias countered with two beams of fire which met the water in the middle and instantly filled the surrounding area with thick steam and an almost painfully loud hiss. Seeing this I hit Treat with a quick protection from energy (Fire) to protect her from getting cooked. Nothing could be seen through the mist as it spread out as if attempting to invade my dungeon itself. The battle between two powerful water cannons and two beams of fire raged on for almost a full minute before Tank could see the twin beams of fire inching forward, evaporating his powerful streams of water as they went. Once they reached him he was blown back by the power and instantly knocked out.
"Tank? Tank are you okay?" Treat asked as she tried to return Tank to his ball but was unable to as she couldn't see where he landed through the fog of steam and the sweat in her eyes thanks to the heat. At that moment she was picked up with my hand of evil with the pokemon and moved to a safe location far from the invaders.
"I don't hear them. What's going on?" Celestia asked.
"I don't know, I can't even see my own muzzle." Celestia replied.
As this was happening I'm surprised to see my new toy ,Pyramid Pink, sneaking up on the intruders. Impressive not just for the fact that she's smart enough to lift her weapon off the ground so that it won't make any noise. But the fact that she can walk softly at all. That blade is made from an incomplete dragon skeleton I got my paws on and compressed. As you'd imagine, it is extremely heavy. As such super strength isn't enough to use it. If you're not heavier than the blade then strong or not you just can't swing it. As such I had to make her body extremely dense. I watch as she manages to sneak up to the Celestia in the back and swings her giant kitchen knife flat side forward.
'SMACK!' The walls echoed the sound of a thunderous slap and the shrill scream of a flying Celestia covering her butt protectively before using her face as an emergency break. It sounded like tires screeching from a car trying to stop before crashing into a wall. Alas this Celestia just couldn't stop in time and I can't help but laugh when her crashing into the wall causes the air in the front of her dress to be pushed to the back, making the back of her dress blow up like air bags for a moment.
Fortunately I had the presence of mind to snatch up Pyramid Pink just in time. Before setting her down in another part of the dungeon I look her over and am surprised to see that she has a soul. That is, Pinkamina's soul. She must have jumped ship for her own body.
"Celestias, flap!" Another Celestia called out, grabbing my attention. And as one the collective groups began flapping their wings creating a powerful wind to clear the air. Unfortunately the magic in the dungeon walls and floor that allow my dungeons to keep fresh air and cleans up the poison gas when a gas trap goes off or when someone farts helped them speed up the process.
Sigh, what a waist. That could have slowed them down for a little while if none of them had any spells to help them see.
Once the fog had been cleared they hurried over to their downed member.
"Are you alright? What happened?" A Celestia asked.
"I'm not going to be able to sit on my throne for a month." The downed Celestia groaned. "Face hurts a little to." After giving her time to collect herself they once more moved on, only stopping every now and again to change directions... Sometimes without reaching a dead end... Wait, they're...
"Excuse us?" One of the Twilight's called out as they approach the raid party. The Celestia parade stopped with looks of surprise on their faces. "We're here to set it strait that we weren’t foal-napped and came of our own free will for the books." Not... exactly diplomatic. It's clear the Twilight speaking just wants to get back to the library as fast as possible. Without even so much as a word Lightlestia lifted her staff and unleashed a powerful light that washed over the surprised bookworm brigade.
"Now I wash away the taint in my holy light! Be free!" Lightlestia called out.
"What was that?" A Twilight asked.
"I think she was casting a brainwashing nullification spell?" Another guessed.
"Sooo.... can we go back to the library now?" Lightlestia blinked at that last Twilight's question.
"Library? But, don't you want to come home?" Lightlestia asked.
"Do you have any idea how many books Rin has? And her library is still growing!" a Twilight exclaimed.
"But I... no." Lightlestia steeled herself. "This is just like it was with the undead. Somehow her dark magic is immune to my light."
Immune my fluffy butt! You ate through more than half of my mana doing that!
"Don't worry little ones, we will save you." Lightlestia said with conviction and tried to hit the purple party with a spell to shift them to another plane but the Twilights were ready this time and as one they all performed a teleportation spell. "NO!"
"Don't worry, I've got a lock on their magical signature now." Steampunk Celestia reassured as she checked the readings on a device that looked like a huge stopwatch. "They're not even in the dungeon anymore. They were for a moment but made a much larger jump to some place in Equestria."
"Then they're out of the way. We should focus on stopping the villain." Male Celestia said. With a nod of determination, they once more started moving forward.
...Well I tried diplomacy and rolled a one. Or maybe a nineteen. Back in the room I was in, I called over two foxes and ordered them to go find Celestia and Luna and explain the situation to them. With that done I turn my attention back to the invaders. I noticed before the Twilight's had arrived that despite making a few mistakes they have been heading straight for me without any aid. To test this I create a portal and jump to a new location in my dungeon and check on team sun. The raid party had indeed stopped moving and were now looking back the way they had come. Or to be more exact, they're looking in my general direction.
Instead of moving my way though they huddle together and whisper for a moment before most of them lit up their horns and as one a blast of golden light flew out in all directions, passing through the walls to reach every dark corner. Looking up with my actual eye sockets I see a wall of golden magic flying at me as fast as a bullet.
"Oh shit!" I cry out and try to raise up a shield while backpedaling but I just didn't have the time. "Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!"
....
Opening my eyes I look around to see nothing has happened. I check myself over with my magic to find... nothing. No damage, no debuffs, no tracer. My body, mind and soul went untouched. I checked my dungeon and minions as well and everything is fine.
"Then what did that spell do?" I ask myself before checking back up with the intruders who have already started back the way they came. Carefully stepping over the pieces of what used to be walls and doors that they had been blasting as they moved through my dungeon. It wasn't long however before they came to a stop in bewilderment after turning a corner. The path that they had destroyed not long ago was almost completely repaired. In the small section that was still damaged were several foxes wearing yellow hard hats and armed with construction equipment frozen in place as they stared back at the invaders. Around the foxes were slimes that were happily plopping around.
Without a word one of the Celestias lifted her sword to strike but fortunately I had realized that my new fox imps had a great potential to wield a power beyond description, one that could protect them from even some of the most powerful beings out there.
"Eep!" They cried out as they dropped their tools and curled up like kicked puppies. Their bodies shaking in a perfect simulation of fear as they whimpered pitifully on the ground. That's right. I taught them the way of the Fluttershy! And they can pull her off flawlessly! Who would strike down my imps now? Some of them can even cry on demand!
The Celestia stopped dead when she saw this and looked to her comrades who were also not sure what to do here and looked like they were forcing themselves to stay where they stood and not hug the foxes for fear that it was a trap. With a cringe the Celestia filled her sword with her magic and struck down the slimes that were plopping towards her without hitting the foxes.
"Excuse me?" The Celestia with a sword began.
"Eep!" The foxes shrank back even further as some of them let tears flow silently as they moved just right to tug at the heartstrings. It was a true Oscar worthy performance. The look of guilt on the mares faces was evidence of that. Once more the Celestia that had stepped forward looked back to her party for help.
"They... I think they're just workers. They might even be slaves." A Celestia said but she wasn't that sure about that last part as the foxes looked healthy and had no bindings.
"Then why did they have slimes?" Another asked.
Because if Dungeons and Dragons has taught me anything about slimes, it's that they make amazing janitors.
"Um, guards?" One of the Celestias guessed.
"Here, let me." The Celestia made out of legos gently used her magic to move the foxes to one side before she started throwing tools and rubble at them which managed to stack and connect into a cage around the foxes without hitting any of them. It was just like in those lego video games, including those lego coins appearing out of nowhere. "That should take care of it." Legolestia said in a voice of uncertainty and guilt.
With that the party moved on, most of which cooed and whispered assurances to the trembling foxes as they passed while a few even slipped some sweets through the bars for them. Once enough time has passed after the raid group had left the foxes dropped the act and split the candy haul they got out of it. Even if they are constructs they are made of flesh and blood so they can eat for energy even if they don't strictly need it.
Meanwhile the raid party was marching along, being considerably less destructive. Partly because they didn't want to bring in anymore foxes after what had just happened. They were already feeling guilty not only from scaring the poor things, but also from the foxes that died from the bloat thrall's detonation. But also the mana cost they had to pay to cast that spell earlier as well as its upkeep. They could feel three powerful beings outside the dungeon trying to break the spell so they didn't want to be too wasteful. On this path it wasn't long before they came to something else that made them pause.
"Is that a treasure chest?"
"Steel chest with fancy gold and jewel decorations... yep, looks like a treasure chest."
"Wait! What are you doing!?" One of the Celestia's exclaimed at some of her party members that were just about to open it making them stop to look at her. "Why would there be a treasure chest just sitting in the middle of a hallway? This is obviously a trap."
"I've already cast greater detect trap and didn't pick up anything." One of the Celestias that had moved towards the chest said before casting an unlocking spell. Once they heard the click one of them opened it without delay.
"No!" The Celestia that had warned them cried out in alarm.
"Mostly gold and jewels but there are a few potions and a box of... cookies." The Celestia that had cast the spells on the chest said as she pulled out the loot. The Celestia who tried to warn them gave the treasure a deer in the headlights look as another Celestia patted her on the back.
"You don't have dungeons in your world do you?" No answer was given. The Celestia that shouted the warning simply started massaging her temples.
(Celestia #7 POV)
This is so idiotic. The chest is bad enough, but cookies! The lord of this dungeon is mocking us!
"Can we just... Keep moving?" I ask the others which thankfully agree. As we move I wonder why this underlord hadn't been defeated yet. All we've seen so far are weak undead. Skeleton after skeleton smashed to bits or burned to ashes. At least, until we cut through a room labeled the 'Cadaver Lab.' We all slowed down to look around at the many mini rooms along the walls. Each cut off with a thin crystal wall. I had to keep down the bile as I look at some of the creations in each room.
There was one that was a massive number of corpses fused together into a giant ball. It's many arms pushing at the ground to keep itself rolling. Another code named 'Shock Troopers' had several human zombies in the room. Each one with metal blades in place of hands as well as spikes running down its back and a few in other places. Though the most dangerous things about them is the powerful electricity jumping about their bodies and how fast they're running around in there.
"No stop!" My attention is turned to my comrade who had shouted out. Looking to who she had shouted at I saw one of the mes looking back with her hoof on a big, shiny red button.
"Administering liquid pain." A mechanical voice rang out. With concern I look to the chamber that the button belonged to. 'Project Bane.' Inside was a simple zombie with tubes sticking out of various parts of its bodies connected to a tank on the back wall. In the tubes I see a glowing red liquid being pumped into the undead which starts to spasm violently. Despite common sense telling me to destroy it now I can't help but watch as the weak zombie swells with muscles and grows larger and more distorted in a way that makes it even more terrifying. As it's eyes begin to glow the same red as the liquid being pumped into it the abomination let out a scream of rage and charged through the crystal window and attack.
"Buck!" One of my comrades cried out as she put up a barrier but the brute shattered it with a punch and sent her flying through the crystal wall keeping the shock troopers in their room. Loud electric sounding screams filled the room along with the screams of the other me that was sent flying. Another of our group broke off to help her while the rest of us readied to fight the hulking monster. It had shattered its own arm with that attack but its arm was quickly mending itself.
I bight back a curse as I hit it with a fire spell which the others follow up with their own attacks. Rather than being turned into ash like the others though it instead jumps at me and, before I can react, punches me across the room and into a wall. Thankfully not into another project room. I groan as one of the others heals me, I can feel my muzzle reforming itself. Unfortunately the monster was also recovering from the damage caused by our fire as well as the immense damage it's doing to itself every time it attacks. One of the others came up behind it and smashed its skull, crushing it flat and into its torso but even that doesn't stop it as it keeps attacking while it's head repairs itself.
"It's getting smaller!" One of the others shouted. "Its eyes aren't glowing as bright! I think that red stuff that made it grow is also what heals it! If we give it bigger wounds I think it will burn through the stuff faster!" It was as good a theory as any so rather than setting its body on fire with weak, mana conserving attacks we just hit it with white flames that quickly burns large holes through it until it looks like swiss cheese. She was right, as its body restores the damage it quickly shrinks back into a normal zombie. It's even still badly damaged from the attack. As it slowly crawled towards me I use that weak fire spell and turn it into ash.
"What were you thinking!? Don't just go around pushing buttons! Especially the big red ones! Nothing good ever comes from pushing big red buttons!" Our party member in the goth getup shouted at one of the ones now sporting Afros.
"We're sorry, we don't have buttons in our world so we didn't know." The Celestia who pushed the button replied with her ears folded back. Before the angry goth could continue her tirade however the door on the other side of the room opened and two creatures that look like golems in the shape of flightless birds with large reptile skulls and another that walks on 4 legs and has some kind of gun for one of its arms enter the lab. Having learned our lesson we just melt the things instead of worrying to much about conserving our mana.
"The clock is ticking." I remind the angry goth who snorts before moving forward with the rest of us.
"At least she got her punishment with those electric zombies. Nice mane by the way." One of the others joked and, as the fates saw fit, at that moment we triggered some kind of electric trap shocking the rest of us into having soul power on our heads. "... Not... a... word."
As we moved forward we came to a large room filled with toys which kind of freaked me out a bit as it looked like their eyes were following me. Which might be true as something soft just landed on my back and wrapped around my neck. Looking down I see a teddy bear with its arms around my neck.
"What's it doing?" The Celestia next to me asked.
"Well... it's either trying to strangle me, or give me a hug." I reply as it isn't hurting me.
'ding...ding ding...ding...ding ding ding ding.'
We all turn to the box making the sound before the lid shoots open and a scary little clown pops up, laughing in an unnatural way. It then pulls up a little cannon that quickly fires a ball, which breaks on the ground, releasing some kind of gas. It gives off another manic laugh before it pulls itself back into its box and closes it just in time as a fire ball hits it, sending its box flying a short distance. As if to mock us it pops back out again to laugh at us before retreating back into the safety of its box to evade another attack.
With an annoyed grunt the Celestia with the mace stormed up to the box and brought her weapon down on it, managing to scratch the paint.
"What?" The Celestia who had just attacked said in bewilderment before attacking it again to get the same results. "What is this box made of?" She asked as she drops her weapon and attempts to pry the lid open with her bare hands. The deranged laughter of the clown seeping out of the box the entire time.
"Everypony." A Celestia said drawing all of our attention to the toys around the room that had pulled out weapons and were moving in on us. This problem was solved, as many can be, by burning them. All this time that one Celestia was still trying to get at that clown so when the toy barbecue was finished I walked back the way we came and picked up a busted down steel door, sigh at the foxes I see cleaning up the mess we were making, and head back.
"Here let me." I say as I take the box in my magic and almost falter at its magic resistance before setting it down right-side up. I then place the steel door down on top of the box, trapping the annoying clown.
(Rin POV)
As they are moving along I am freaking out. I had found out what the spell they cast earlier was when my imps tried to teleport out of the cage that was built around them... they couldn't. I tried pick them out with the hand of evil but that didn't work either. It was at this point that I realized they stopped space magic. I was fine then as shadow portals aren't space magic so I made them one to get out... they bounced off of some kind of golden barrier that showed up in front of the portal. It's not a spell that stops space magic. It's a spell that stops others from leaving space through magic! Wait, what about entering it?
With my sight of evil spell I look up over my dungeon to find Celestia and Luna as well as Discord wailing on the spell that's keeping them from entering. I was wondering what was taking them so long.
Returning to my own normal sight I'm forced to contemplate my situation. I am now cornered and unable to even summon a lifeforce crystal to make a new imp and the invaders are between me and my old imps. Meeting the invaders is also out of the question as I'm facing a raid party that has a complete type advantage against me. So I can't use magic to escape, nor can I fight. I tried bombarding them with spells from my hand of evil but it looks like they were informed of that as they all already had magical shielding from spells.
"Wait! Maybe there is a way!" I use the create gold spell then use it to cast the create imp spell without lifeforce. Once the corpse falls to the ground I cast reanimation to make it a zombie fox. With a groan it lifts itself off the ground.
"Yes, now dig me an escape tunnel!" I order. With a groan it lifts its pickax and swings it in the general direction of the wall but only hitting air.
"...You might want to get a little closer." I suggest and it does get closer before making a swing... closer to me. "Hey!" I shout as it almost hits me. "I meant closer to the wall!" I'm getting desperate now. If this doesn't work I'm going to have to do something I really don't want to do... manual labor. I am forced to concede however when the zombie falls onto its back and tries to dig a tunnel into the ceiling by swinging at it from its spot on the ground.
"And I thought normal zombies were stupid." I grumble as I snatch the pickax away and give the zombie fox a good kick. I then drag it over to serve as my seat cushion while I start digging my escape tunnel and so I can have something to take my frustration out on. If nothing else this zombie could be useful as a punching bag.
During all this time team Celestia has made it through some undead, evil toys and one lightning trap and is currently coming to what has to be one of the dickest thing you could place in a dungeon.
As the Celestia party marched out of a room that was formerly filled with evil toys, leaving only jack-ass in the box, the teddy that was attempting to strangle a Celestia, and a smarty pants doll that was chasing the party which was ignoring it as it held up, not a knife, but a sheet of paper with a big, menacing red F on it.
The first thing that could be noticed about the group is the large afros they all now wore on their heard after their run in with a well placed lightning trap. The awesome soul power they got from those afros was striped away by the afros made from their tails that were now bobbing up and down over their butts. At least for the ones that had tails. This humiliation was stacked upon when the Celestias in front suddenly found their faces squished against something they couldn't see like kids making faces by pressing against a window. This was followed by the Celestias behind them crashing into them before being sandwiched by the ones in the back causing the entire party to crash to the ground.
"What the buck was that?" One of them asked as they all struggled to get out of the pile.
"We crashed into something." Another answered as she looked around what appears to be a giant empty room. While this was happening another pushed her magic out to trace the invisible structure in front of them before frowning.
"It's an invisible wall maze." She answered getting a sour look from the others. There was no need for a discussion on how to proceed. As one they sent a blast of magic to make a clear path through this BS challenge. What can I say, I was experimenting. Once the beams reached the other end they stopped their attack and moved forward, which resulted in a few face plants.
"Watch out for invisible rubble." A Celestia called out as she flew over the party only to run her head into a chunk of wall that was still there in the upper area. Needless to say I was ready to cheat to slow them down and I had a bit of inspiration. Opening a shadow portal in that room I will the darkness of the shadow realm to come over and blanket the room.
Shouts of indignation rang out from the group as they tried to light the way, but every time a horn, staff, or gadget started producing light the darkness made it clear what it thought of that and started attacking. Getting the message they stopped trying to brighten things up and start moving forward as fast as they could, though still slowly. As they trudged along most of them gritted their teeth as the darkness tried to drain them. I can only hope it's enough because with all the drain I've suffered from that light Celestia I don't think I can do that again in the time I have left. Once they got through that section they marched down two more hallways, blasting a boulder trap on the way, before being stopped again.
"Halt!" a voice cried out making them stop and look around but seeing nothing other than a door with dragon designs blocking their path. "Who dares to approach the mighty Neapolitan!? Strongest of all magic doors and guardian of the empty room that will one day be used as storage for important things?"
"Did that door just talk to us?" One of the Celestias questioned.
"Yes! And you are obviously intruders! Begone from this place or face the awesome power of my mighty loogies!" The door replied.
"...Is this some kind of joke?" Another Celestia asked.
"I see that you do not yet know of my power, behold! Pew!" The door spat out a golf ball sized fireball that the entire party sidestepped, not out of fear of fire but none of them wanted to be hit with what the door said was a loogie. With a snort one of the Celestias blasted the door with her magic followed by a bombardment from the others. Unable to stand up to the attacks the magic door let out one final, defiant cry of "GGGGGGGOOOOOOOOSSSSSSSHHHHHHH!" before disintegrating away to show that beyond the magic door was... another door.
374 doors later the party came to the last room on this path. Just as the first door had said it was clearly a storage room with long holes carved into the walls to make shelves, though all of the shelves were empty. In fact the entire room was empty save for some dirt around a small hole in the back where they could hear someone digging. The hole was small, maybe big enough for a foal to crawl through but they all knew they wouldn't be able to fit in there.
"Fiend! Come out and face us!" Lightlestia shouted into the hole.
"No! You're going to bully me!" I replied as I kept digging.
"Coward! You will face us even if we need to blast through this wall to get to you!" Lightlestia shouted back but was stopped by the hoof of one of her party members.
"We have cake. If you come out you can have as much as you like." A Celestia called out. ...She can't seriously believe that would work.
"I already have a stockpile of cake in here." I shot back.
"I don't smell any cake coming from this hole." She replied.
"AHA! How can you smell for cake in here if there is cake out there!"
"Alright my turn." Another Celestia said before doing, what's in my opinion, the dumbest thing she could have done... She stuck her head in the hole.
"My cake!" Zap thunk bzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
"AHHHHHHHH!" The Celestia cried out as she quickly pulled her head out and backpedaled as her face was being chased by a very angry sounding swarm of wasps. The swarm was quickly dealt with be waves of fire from some of the others but they all noticed an increase in their share of the upkeep of the spell they had cast earlier. Looking to the Celestia that had stuck her head in the hole they saw her looking up at her horn that was covered in tiny black crystals. Another spoils of war from Sombra.
"Right, blasting it is." Lightlestia said as she attacked the wall but I put up a barrier to protect it as well as myself. But soon all of the others joined in with the bombardment forcing me to burn through my reserves faster. This is bad, against one Celestia I could easily win in a war of attrition, but against all of them? My shields won't hold out long enough. Especially considering I need to use some of my magic to keep my tunnel from caving in as the collective attacks are shaking the room.
Every now and then a rock would fall from the ceiling onto the Celestias but they just ignored them. Between all the spells they've been casting and maintaining the wide range spatial lock spell which has been and is still being bombarded by three powerful beings they were running low on magic and needed to get to the fox before they were too low on mana to beat to her.
Not good not good, how could this get any wo- No! It was to late, Baby Carmen and and Berry's kid chose that exact moment to walk into the room to see what's going on and of course Murphy, that ass, has a particularly large chunk of the ceiling falling towards them. In a moment of panic I divert my focus and protect the rugrats with a barrier and the last thing I see is a shit ton of dirt as my tunnel caves in on me.
"Ohhhhhhhh..." I groan as I come to in my own room.
"Oh good, you're awake. Fix Trixie's plot!" I hear a demand and look over at Trixie who was laying in a hospital bed in my room with some kind of machine attached to her butt.
"...what," I began to say.
"No, just no. Fix Trixie's plot... and we never speak of this again." Trixie demanded.
"..."
With a thud Vinyl and Cluck fell to the floor shortly before Celestia, who was with Vinyl when I pulled her teleported in.
"Aunty! You're awake, are you okay?" Celestia asked with worry.
"I'll live, but I want to know what happened to those kids that walked in on the raid, what happened to Trixie's plot, what happened with Cluck and what happened to the Celestia raid party... in that order." I reply.
"The children are fine. They're safe with their mothers." Celestia answered.
"And you don't need to know! Just fix Trixie's plot!" Trixie demanded.
"Vinyl?" I ask.
(Flashback)
"YYYYYYOOOOOOUUUUUUTTTTTHHHHHH!" The green earth pony cried out as he and Vinyl clashed in a pure hoof to hoof battle. As this was going on Trixie was aiming her hat at the one eyed unicorn as he moved forward dodging the large playing card shaped blades that were being launched by a rapid fire mechanism on the other side of the portal by the foxes. Realizing that the cards aren't cutting it she decides to change tactics.
"Jackpot balls!" Trixie calls out. Once the cards stop flying She places her hat back on and activates her trick horseshoes with runes for kinetic force activating, lifting Trixie into the air and she angles one hoof slightly so that she could hover around the room quickly to keep out of range of her foe.
"Great fireball jutsu!" The unicorn called out as he shot a large fireball at Trixie but Trixie had trained extensively with her props and was able to dodged the attack. This was the problem with Trixie's hat. It was a powerful weapon as she had her own armory at her beck and call at all times including heavy artillery. But she couldn't just reach in and grab it on the spot. She needed to wait for her assistants to go get the weapon she needs and bring it over. Not so bad for things they can carry easily but when the heavy machines get involved she needs to wait for the foxes to move them to where they need to be, prep them to fire and load them. As such Trixie is forced to improvise between heavy duty props. So using her skills if controlling a large number of things at once from the elemental puppets training she quickly grabbed the card blades that were stuck in the walls.
"Pick a card! Any card!" Trixie calls out as all of the cards begin to spin like buzz-saws and fly at the unicorn all at once.
"I'll take this one." The unicorn said as he flipped through the air dodging the wave of cards while grabbing one mid jump and throwing it back at Trixie.
"EEK!" Trixie shrieked as she narrowly avoided the card by boosting the magic she was sending into her horseshoes making her shoot up and almost hit the rafters before falling back down to her hoovering height.
"Phoenix flower jutsu" The unicorn called out as he fired off a large number of tiny fireballs spread out in place of one big one. With a squeak Trixie created a barrier to protect herself from the countless weak attacks.
"You want to compete with the great and powerful Trixie in fireworks?" Trixie shouted and she dipped into the magic in her amulet and created several large fireballs of different colours that sparkled like the ends of sparklers. She then dropped her shield and let them fly forcing the unicorn to retreat back as Trixie's festive fire balls exploded against the ground in festive lights.
As Trixie was using the opportunity to gain some more distance she heard a ding, signaling that her attack is ready. Removing her hat she aimed it at the one eyed unicorn.
"Jackpot winner!" Trixie shouted. This wasn't only the signal to let the foxes know that she was ready to open fire but a warning for nearby allies. Instantly Vinyl disengaged from the earth pony by teleporting away. Next thing the green beast knew his opponent was up in the rafters using her two floating dragon heads as a shield. As for the unicorn he was extra weary now as he saw three large crystal balls with golden sevens all over the outside of it. With his well trained eye he thought he could see runes inside but was unable to see what they were.
Once the balls went flying Trixie continued to move away as fast as her horseshoes would let her while dipping into her amulet again to create a powerful barrier. The first effect of the ball activated creating the sound of slot machines ringing the sound of a jackpot. Then the second effect activated, the create gold spell. And finally the third effect which was a powerful kinetic force which sent the conjured coins flying in all directions like bullets.
Realizing that there was no way for him to avoid all of those coins the unicorn also tapped into is own mountain heart eye to create a powerful barrier for himself. Unfortunately for him he wasn't fast enough to go unscathed and as he waited in his bubble for the attack to end he was using his magic to pick gold coins out of his legs and torso. He was just counting himself lucky none hit his head or neck. The coins weren't flying fast enough to dig too deep but the fact they could sink into his flesh at all meant he couldn't let them hit his head or jugular.
Slowly, as everypony was waiting out the attack the balls began to shrink as the runes weren't just using the magic stored in the crystal for this effect but the magic that was used to conjure the crystal and the golden sevens. Once they were down to the size of golf balls all of the magic was used up all at once to shoot out three fireworks that shot up and exploded, each spelling the word winner!
"Guy! Are you okay?" The unicorn called out to his friend.
"That... was... most unyouthful." The green earth pony groaned. His earth pony endurance protected him from being made out of money but he was still covered in bruises and was bleeding lightly in places all over his body. His head and neck which he protected with his forelegs were the only places that weren't too badly damaged.
Before anypony could get their bearings the glow of Trixie's magic filled the room as all of the gold coins suddenly converged on one spot and quickly took on the form of a giant pony made out of gold coins. As it was taking form Trixie dived into it using it as makeshift mech.
"Behold! Jackpot Trixie!" The showmare proudly proclaimed the name of this form.
"I must admit, most members of our forces would have a hard time against that form." The unicorn said as he takes a moment to glance at his partner who was back to fighting the vampire and was not doing so well in his current condition. Not only that but the vampire was taking advantage of Guy's bleeding state to feed, making her not only stronger but also healing any damage Guy did to her.
"But I'm not them." He said as he lifted one leg and magic from his mountain heart eye traveled down his leg and into his horseshoe which then began to spark violently with electricity. "Chidori!" With that shout he leapt up at the approaching giant and struck at its chest. The room was filled with Trixie's screams as the electricity arched across the golden puppet before it began to collapse.
"Gold, is an excellent conductor for electricity." He said as he landed. His attention was quickly grabbed by a groan as a dazed Trixie crawled out of the gold. Seeing an opportunity to finish the fight the unicorn quickly teleported behind the mare to use his most devastating attack.
"One thousand years of death!" 'Squish'. Trixie stood frozen in the immense pain of having two hooves shoved right up the puckered center of her behind before she felt her colon suddenly inflate with pressure before she was launched like a bottle rocket, screaming until she collided with the wall.
"Hold on Guy, I'm coming!" The unicorn shouted as he ran over to back up his friend. Now faced with two opponents, Vinyl brought out her gaster blasters, flying them around while shooting at the two while fighting and teleporting. Unfortunately Vinyl's style is best for fighting high powered individuals one on one and both of her opponents were fast and worked together like a well oiled machine. When she was up in the air after dodging an attack from the unicorn she was grabbed from behind by the green beast who began to spend both of them around at insane speeds head first towards the ground.
"Primary lotus!" The earthpony cried out as they spiraled towards the floor but at the last moment Vinyl teleported to safety causing Guy to take the header into the floor himself knocking him out. When Vinyl reappeared on the floor she was very dizzy and had a hard time standing as she tried to collect herself. This resulted in her not noticing the other pony moving in to attack her from behind. 'Squish'
"One thousand years of death!" Trixie cried out from behind the unicorn that was moments away from attacking Vinyl. With a look of agony he turned back to see Trixie glaring at him with a hatred that can only be given by a female that had just been violated. "Fireworks edition!" at this she lit the fuse on the huge bottle rocket now sticking out of his plot, sending him flying with a scream.
Groaning Trixie fell to the floor in pain, morning her poor posterior.
"You okay Trix?" Vinyl asked getting another groan from the showmare. "Man, you really saved my plot there." The groan was mixed with more pain and a little hatred this time. "But you really turned that guy into the butt of the joke."
"Shut up or Trixie will end you!"
(End Flashback.)
"...Fix...Trixie's...plot!" Trixie demanded. I focus on Trixie's backside and remove the tube before squeezing her colon to its right size and her sphincter back to normal before hitting it with several healing spells.
"It will still be sore for a while, even I can't insta heal everything and stretching damage is hard. But it will make a full recovery." Trixie decided that she will continue to take advantage of the liquid pain spell woven into the hospital bed and just leaned back into her pillow.
"Okay Cluck, you're up."
(Flashback.)
The mighty and proud griffin warrior stood ready to face whatever foe the darkness has sent in honorable combat. His keen eyes narrowing as a marble sized ball rolls in.
BANG!
The griffin cried out as the flashbang went off blinding and disorienting him. As he was stumbling back a chicken ran forward with a mini crowbar in his beak and with a mighty swing struck the griffin in the family jewels. When the griffin fell the Cluck grabbed the keys off of the griffin and started unlocking all of the doors. With a whimper the griffin tried to crawl away but was grasped in a powerful magical aura.
"Where do you think you're going?" Starlight Glimmer asked as she dragged him back.
"Bend to your ways or leave me to rot? Now it's time to kick your plot!" Zecora said angrily as she moved in and gave him a buck to his beak. As his beak throbbed in pain he realized that he was now naked as a pair of unicorn con-artists managed to disarm him with amazing skill.
As this was going down Cluck had found a new prison area with huge vault doors. He clucked as he saw that one of the doors had Rin's name on it but shook his head and moved to the only other door with a name on it. 'Holy Sword.' The end of his mission close at wing, he quickly unlocked the vault and waited through an unnecessarily elaborate unlocking mechanism.
"Excalibur! Excalibur!" A strange little white creature sang as he danced around swinging his cane. Cluck started clucking at the creature that this was a jail break but was quickly struck on the head with the cane.
"FOOL! The year was-" The creature started to say but was interrupted by Cluck clucking in indignation at the unwarranted attack, only to be struck again. "FOOL!" The creature tried to start his story once more only for the vault door to slam shut.
(End Flashback.)
"Why was Zecora there?" I asked. Cluck answered in a few clucks and I facepaw while Vinyl and Trixie facehoof.
"What did he say?" Celestia asked.
"He said they were trying to turn her away from her zebra heritage of using potion magic because it's dark, so that they can have her meet Sparkle and teach her and her friends not to discriminate against others because they're different." Trixie replies making Celestia face fault. Once she stood up again she just shook her head before speaking.
"As for the, er, mess. They noticed you saving the children and in that moment of confusion the spell that was keeping us out wavered and Luna, discord and I managed to get in. It took quite a bit of convincing to get them to accept that they had been tricked and that their attack was unwarranted." Celestia said before pointing to a giant mirror that was placed against the wall in front of my bead.
"Now you've been through a trying experience so you should relax, Luna and I got you a subscription to god TV so you can just rest." I tilt my head at this as I stare at her.
"...God TV?..." I ask incredulously.
"Yes, cable television for gods in the multiverse. I thought you already knew about it." Celestia said with confusion. "It's already linked to you. Just will it on." Turning back to the mirror and will it on, making the mirror show a gruesome scene and cries of a dying of a human woman.
"Woah! Look at that blood gush, and did you see that fetus spill out! Now that is how you sacrifice to an evil god, am I right June?" 'Click' Slowly we all turn to stare at Celestia who was looking extremely ill.
"It, um... uses its owner's aspects to narrow down channels for its user." Celestia explained. "Just, relax. You've earned it."
"Right... well I appreciate it but I should really deal with the paperwork. I want to see the report on the strike against the Goodlies." I say as I try to get up but Celestia pushes me back down.
"That won't be necessary, I can bring that report to you myself." Celestia said nervously. Alarm bells suddenly start ringing in my head at Celestia's bad acting. But why would she... no!
"Celestia... how much has the paperwork piled up?" I asked with dread. At hearing my question Celestia's head slumped in defeat before giving me a look of pity reserved for telling someone that a loved one had died.
"Well..."
Throughout the entire city of Alexandria that day everyone could have sworn they hear the crying of a child echoing throughout the city but no one could find the source.
(omake)
Vinyl watched as her green opponent did warm up exercises before the fight.
"If I can't defeat you in 10 minutes I'll run one hundred laps around Equestria on my fore hooves while juggling three boulders with my hind legs while wearing a too-too!" The green beast proclaimed.
"Why a too-too?" Vinyl had to ask.
"By adding a bit of humiliation in it will further motivate me to work harder to be even more youthful!" He replied.
"...You sure you don't just want to wear a too-too?" Vinyl asked in a deadpan.
"What?! No, why would you think that?" He asked nervously.
"Have you ever met the other goodlies?" Vinyl deadpanned.
"How dare you imply Guy sensei or any of the other heroes are anything but youthful!" A new voice rang out as foals charged into the room. Each one the same shade of green with giant eyebrows. Some looking real, some obviously fake like the black dyed cotton balls, and one even had live caterpillars that had been coated black glued over his eyes. Its wiggling making it look like he was constantly wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.
"... I feel sorry for whatever mare gave you that many kids." Vinyl said in a freaked out tone.
"LEES! What are you all doing here!?" Guy exclaimed, ignoring Vinyl's comment.
"We had to come to cheer you on Guy sensei! We had to lend you our youthfulness with shouts of encouragement!" One of the mini Guy's proclaimed.
"Oh my foolish foolish students. That was very foolish of you!" He shouted at them. "But so youthful!" Guy held out his forelegs in a hugging gesture. "Lees!"
"Guy sensei!" The green foals exclaimed all at once as they charged forward and buried Guy in a dog pile.
"Lees!" Came Guy's muffled cries.
"Guy sensei!"
"Lees!"
"Guy sensei!"
As the group continued to have their 'touching moment' the image of a sunset appeared behind the green pile while Vinyl lay on her back, her legs twitching like a dying roach.
"The sun! The sun!"
Next Chapter: Do you just like the feeling of your sins crawling down your back? Estimated time remaining: 2 Hours, 23 Minutes