//------------------------------// // Worst Time to Thaw // Story: Ofolrodi // by Imploding Colon //------------------------------// Flynn exhaled heavily. "Sweet raisins!" He smiled at his hoofwork. Instrument panels around him lit up while the suspended power core up above glimmered across its array of crystal shards. The electrified hum of power echoed through the halls and corridors of Darkreach once again. "Now that's what I'm talking about!" He swiped his bald brow and relaxed his muscles. "Now if only I could reinvent hair." A satisfied sigh. He swiveled about and reached for the intercom button. A beaked face stared him down. "Gah!" Flynn hopped back, pupils shrinking. His horn glowed in surprise, and he eventually slumped with a ragged breath. "Unnngh... Wildcard... cheese and crackers..." His tail flicked as he gestured at the humming generator room surrounding them. "Gotta work on your entrances, buddy." "... ... ..." Wildcard merely stared at him. "Anyways, I got things up and running again," Flynn said, brushing aside crystals and a few tools from the nearby counter. "You don't have to thank me. However, you might wanna go back downstairs and check up on Rainbow and... Ariel... ... ..." Flynn's good eye blinked. "Wait a minute..." He pivoted about, his mechanical lense zeroing in on Wildcard's lower body. "... ... ...how the hell did you grow back your left arm—?" WHAM! The limb in question uppercutted Flynn across the chin. Flynn stumbled backwards. Before he could react, a lion's tail wrapped around his neck and—swoooosh—WHAM—slammed his skull into a sparkling instrument panel. "Grnnfhfhggh..." Flynn's eye rolled back and he collapsed like a pile of meat. Thwump. Fuming, the griffin loomed above Flynn. He flicked his talon to the side, morphing it into a razor sharp organic scythe. He raised the blade above Flynn's skull, preparing to decapitate him in one fatal swing— "Aaaaaugh!" the creature spontaneously shrieked, instantly shrinking into a chitinous quadruped under a sickly plume of green light. FLASH! Gangly, malnourished, and bleeding from a dozen spots, the metamorph clutched its skull with porous fetlocks and stumbled backwards. Th-Thump! It collapsed over a tool bench, shivering and weeping. "Mrmmmff... Momma..." Tears bled from its compound eye sockets, evaporating as soon as they came into contact with the scalding wounds seeping through the creature's ruptured exoskeleton. The air was pierced by an infantile squeal. The creature shook, writhed, and thrashed about. The work bench was knocked over and tools scattered all around Flynn's unconscious body. The changeling fell to its knees, clutching its head and fighting the urge to weep. Hissing breaths of pain fountained in and out of its fanged muzzle. Quivering, the metamorph slowly looked up... staring out into the adjacent hallways of Darkreach. Webbed ears perked up. As a dull light pulsed beneath the surface of its eyes, the creature licked its mandibles... and slowly got up. Wings buzzed... then relaxed limply as it shuffled a slow, zig-zagged lurch towards the exit... leaking green blood in random puddles the entire way. "... ... ..." Kepler's eyes narrowed. He looked towards one exit of the common room... then the next. "... ... ...something is amiss." "Did they teach you to meditate on the obvious in Wyvern Point?" Seraphimus asked. "Shhhhhh!" He held a claw up while gazing across the chamber. Light flickered, glinting off the tile mosaic of Verdestone. "... ... ...we should have hearrd worrd frrom the otherrs by now." He swallowed. "Flynn, at the verry least." Seraphimus opened her beak to say something else in protest... but chose to be silent instead. Soon, she too was craning her neck and listening intently from where she had been chained. The feathers of her headcrest were still ruffling to a stop from the gust of artificial wind that had been forced through the nearby ducts. Now all was eerily still, with only the buzz of flickering manalights interrupting the deadness. Kepler's scorpion tail curled up defensively. He clenched his jaw shut beneath his tusks as he turned about, gazing. Seraphimus' hawkeyes narrowed. She held her breath, craning her neck left... right... left again... A rustling sound. "???" Seraphimus jerked her head to the left. Her gaze fell on a dark stairwell in the distance. A shadow shifted amidst the darkness. "... ... ...wyvern..." "I hearrd it too," Kepler said. On nimble claws, the Heraldite crept towards the corridor. His hairs bristled on end as he squatted low. His tail uncurled as he summoned a courageous breath: "Flynn? Rrainbow One?" A beat. "Wildcarrd? Is that you, brrotherr?" A voice came from the shadows, stately and feminine: "Come to me, Kepler." He froze in place, every limb locked. "There is no reason for alarm, good servant," the voice practically purred. "Let us meditate like old times, child." "You..." Kepler's claws tightened against the floor. His voice took on a hissing, beastly tone. "You arre not the Mountain Matrron..." "Please... child..." Shadows. Shifting. A near-weeping. "I've been so lonely without my faithful Herald. I... mrmmmfff... h-hunger..." "Therre is no hungerr forr herr in the Harrmonic Plains." Schiiiing! Kepler picked up an ancient lance from the floor and aimed it towards the stairwell. "You arre something else. Now show yourrself—" Th-THWPPP! A narrow black tentacle flew out of the darkness and wrapped three times around Kepler's neck. "Grkkkk!" He jerked in place, breathless. With a solid yank, the prehensile limb flung Kepler off his feet. Swoooosh! WHAM! His body was slammed against the doorframe. He tumbled in one way while his spectacles slid in the other. The wyvern lay silent, twitching. Seraphimus clenched her beak. Her talons worked on the chains, attempting in futility to yank the manacles free. "Mrmfff... damnation..." Hissing, she fought and struggled to get loose. While the former Talon Leader fussed with her restraints, a piece of the shadow slithered out... crouching low to the floor as it examined Kepler closely. The blackness summoned strength, growing larger... more distinct. A pair of flickering green eyes loomed over Kepler, and fangs glistened in the dim manalight. Then it froze... "... ... ..." Seraphimus locked her limbs, remaining still as stone. Silence. The green eyes lifted, peering across the common room at the griffin. Seraphimus held her breath. "... ... ...mmmm..." The green eyes vanished into the blackness. The onyx shape crawled slowly... sickly towards Seraphimus. "Mmmmm-mmmm..." The inkness rolled back, revealing pale feathers... a tan hide... talons and paws and a playfully twirling lion's tail. "...mmmmm-mommy...?" Seraphimus' slitted pupils shrank. Her beak hung open. "... ... ...Verlaxion." "Mommy?" A pair of eyes flickered to life. Hazel and glossy and beautiful. "Is that you?" "Verlaxion, take me..." Seraphimus yanked and yanked at the manacles. "Mommy, it's been so long..." "Verlaxion—!" Seraphimus shook and fought. Her wrists bled raw. With a mewling sound, the griffin child crossed the distance between them. "What's wrong, Mommy?" "Get away..." Seraphimus was hyperventilating now. She seethed with a final bastion of contempt. "Blighted Demon! You're not... you are not—!" "Please, Mommy..." It crawled up her legs. "...don't be mad..." Cold paw pads on her chest. A vaporous breath. Iced tears. "Don't you see?" A smiling face. Claws running through neck feathers. "No!" Seraphimus shouted. She sobbed. "Get away—!" "We're together again..." It closed its eyes and nuzzled the former Talon Commander. "I love you, Mommy—" "Get aw—Get away from me!" Seraphimus' voice cracked as she struggled and thrashed in vain to throw the toddler off. "Get away from me!!!" She bellowed. "I love you—" The child cooed, its eyes flickering green as it opened its beak wide, hissing— Swoooooosh! A prismatic blur sliced through the room. Rainbow's hoof caught the infant under its neck. "Nrkkk!" The creature flailed in surprise. "Mommy—!" "Rrrrrgh!" Rainbow Dash spun around, violently slamming the little body through a nearby table. SMASH! The changeling enlarged to its chitinous nude self. Chunks of wood and loose junk rattled across the room, sliding to a stop before the stairwell where Ariel stood with a bleeding, wincing Wildcard leaning against her figure. Fighting tears, Seraphimus squinted one eye open to witness the event. "Rnnngh—hresssssssh!" The changeling rippled into a gilatinous pile of black glue then rose back up in a quadrupedal shape. "Party's over!" Rainbow shouted, staring the metamorph down. "Give it up while you still have the strength!" She faced off against the creature, limbs locked and muscles tightening. "We don't have to do this the hard way!" "The... srnkkkt... harrrrd way..." The creature shook its head, then snarled at Rainbow Dash with a freckled muzzle. "But yer always doin' thangs the hard way, sugarcube!" Applejack hissed. "Awwwwwwwwwww Luna Poop." Rainbow's ears folded. "This is gonna suck." "Aaaaaaaaaaaaaugh!" the farm mare galloped straight for her in a death charge. Rainbow closed her eyes tight as she delivered the beast a savage right hook. WHUD!!!