//------------------------------// // The Discovery // Story: My Way or Role Play // by PonyPixel //------------------------------// The sextet stood with the cave right in front of them. The shape of a bear sent shivers down a couple of their spines. They took out some of the weapons they found in the other cave. “You think we’ll find more in there?” Sandbar asked. “Hope so,” Smolder said. She equipped some brass knuckles as she gave the paladin a long sword. “You guys ready?” Silverstream asked. “Ready,” her friends replied. The walked into the cave, bracing themselves for the worst. The cave had torches lighting the path. The sound of dripping water echoed around, adding the ominous feeling of the situation. “Why cave have to be so scary?” Yona questioned. “I think I remember we went through a cave like this in Ogres and Oubliettes,” Sandbar said. “That just game cave. This real cave.” “True. Silver, didn’t you draw what that cave looked like?” “I think I still have it at home,” the hippogriff replied. A footstep was heard, making the team stop in their tracks. “Who’s there?” Gallus asked. He drew an arrow as he crept closer to the sound of footsteps. They got closer and closer until they saw it looked to be a griffon. Sort of. It was actually a griffon skeleton. Gallus jumped, and let go of his arrow, causing it to hit the skeleton. The walking set of bones then held out a lit torch, he used to lift another torch. More torches could be seen liting up the room, showing a large room with five more piles of bones. The piles started taking shape of a hippogriff, a changeling, a yak, a dragon, and a pony. “Here we go,” Ocellus said with a gulp. She and her friends charged at their respective species, which also carried the respective weapons. Gallus and the griffon dodged each arrow they shot, Smolder and the dragon kept blowing punches, Sandbar and the pony were locked in a sword duel, and Yona and the yak kept countering each other’s swing. Silverstream was trying a different approach. She tried using one of her smoke bombs to take the hippogriff skeleton by surprise. While the smoke was still in the air, she tried to swipe one of the dagger the skeleton had. Instead, the thief pulled out one of the bones that were supporting her opponent. With its loss of balance, the hippogriff skeleton struggled to stand up. This wasn’t part of her plan, but Silverstream took her chance and knocked out her opponent. Once the hippogriff skeleton vanished, the thief turned her attention to a struggling mage. Ocellus was having a hard time hitting the changeling skeleton and dodging the oncoming magic at the same time. “Need some help?” Silverstream asked. “I would like that,” Ocellus replied. She just got hit with an ice spell, just before her friend swiped her daggers at the skeleton, making it vanish. The thief looked at her frozen friend. “...I’m okay.” The ice melted enough, allowing the mage to stand up. “Let’s help the others.” Gallus kept firing and dodging arrows until Silverstream flew up to the griffon skeleton and stole its arrows. Without any ammo, it couldn’t fire back. This allowed Gallus to shoot it a couple of times until it vanished. Ocellus managed to launch an ice spell at the dragon skeleton to help Smolder. After a few more punches, the skeleton vanished. They were about to help Sandbar and Yona, but the two had switched opponents and defeated them pretty easily. “Glad they’re gone,” Sandbar panted. “How many more monster?” Yona asked. “Don’t know,” Gallus responded. “I have a feeling if there’s someone in charge of this cave, they were expecting us.” More torches lit up to show another hallway, which the team walked down. “Okay, is it just me, or does this cave feel empty compared to the other one?” Smolder asked. “Yeah,” Sandbar agreed. “This one just seems to be a long hallway.” “At least it gives us a moment to catch our breath,” Silverstream said. “True.” When they thought they could calm down, they heard growling sound. “Alright, something’s happening now,” Gallus said. They picked up the pace until they could see an Ursa Major. Even though it looked menacing, it also looked off. When a roar was heard, the giant bear’s jaw didn’t open. When it started running towards them, there’s wasn’t any sound to its footsteps. “Don’t these things make the earth shake when they walk?” Silverstream questioned. “Normally,” Ocellus said. “Let’s try and take it down.” The mage blasted fire from her staff, which barely made the Ursa flinch. Gallus began firing more arrows to help with his changeling friend while the others fought up and close. Smolder and Silverstream flew around punching and slashing at the big beast, while Sandbar and Yona went for its feat. Suddenly, the beast spun around with moving its legs, like it was on a turntable. It roared again, without moving its mouth and swung its claws at the team. The creatures thankfully missed, and Gallus tried thinking of something to do. “Ocellus, try your magic thing on Yona’s hammer,” the griffon said to the changeling. “Are you sure?” she asked. “I’m running a little low on magic.” “I bought some potions for that. Come on, we’ve come too far to lose.” They flew out of the way as the bear claw nearly hit them. “Is it just me or is something wrong with that bear?” Silverstream asked. “I think it’s broken,” Smolder commented. She just pointed to the Ursa Major roaring with his muzzle staying still. “See?” “Friends see Cozy Glow?” Yona asked. “Where?!” Sandbar questioned in fear. “On Ursa belly.” The yak pointed to show a constellation of the infamous filly. “That does kind of look like her.” They regained focus when the major turned its attention to them. “Get your heads in the game,” Smolder said. “These things are kind of hard to miss.” “Like that centaur constellation?” Silverstream asked. She pointed to the magic stealer on the major’s left shoulder. “And Chrysalis’s is on the other side,” Ocellus added. “I feel like we’re focusing on the wrong things here,” Gallus said, launching another arrow. “Think about it. These three worked together and I don’t think it’s a coincidence that they all have a constellation on this Ursa Major.” “But why?” Silverstream questioned. The major roared again before trying to ram into Gallus. Thankfully, the archer dodged in time. “A little help here?” he asked. The griffon was getting annoyed at this point. “I’m down to like six arrows.” His friends rushed to help him, but then Yona noticed something a little odd. A part of the wall looked like it was starting to peel, like an old sticker. Curious, the yak pulled at it to reveal a door. She opened the door and could see a small living room that looked to be turned upside down and six Discord bickering over a set of blueprints. Five of them had yellow hard hats, while one had red. “Okay, look,” the orange hatted one said. “We’re already in too deep now, we just have to design the final monster.” “What’s more impressive than an Ursa Major?” one of the clones asked. “We have to think of something. I mean, half the traps didn’t...” “Um, boss,” said another worker. They all looked towards Yona, who looked pretty confused. The Discords panicked and tried to hide under the desk, sofa, or anything to block the yak’s view. “...Pay no attention to the draconequuses behind the furniture.” “Yona, there you are,” Sandbar cried running into the room. “How did you find... This... Door?” Sandbar paused when he saw Discord. The other soon followed in with mixed reactions. “I should’ve known,” Ocellus sighed. “What the heck is wrong with you?” Gallus questioned. The draconequuses in the orange hardhat sighed. “Take five boys. The show’s over.” The clones walked into another to disappear the original sadly snapped his fingers. The sextets costumes and weapons vanished with a flash as well as the door leading to the cave. “Is this seriously all you do?” Smolder questioned. “I knew this was a bad idea,” Discord sighed. “What do you mean?” Sandbar asked. “Well, you remember how I turned the school into a haunted house.” “Wish we didn’t,” Smolder responded. “And how I pretty much just gave a second try for three villains.” “You kind of did this to yourself,” Gallus stated. The other four friends glared at him and Smolder. “You were sinking in quicksand...” “Let him finish,” Yona interrupted. “Thank you,” Discord said. “Now, I wanted to try and make things up to you. Once I heard you enjoyed playing Ogres and Oubliettes I thought I’d help you take it to the next level.” He breathed a bit before sighing again. “I got in over my head. I just ended repeating history by just going, ‘Hey, let me just drop these six kids in a world they have little to no experience in. They’ll have such a fun time’.” He brought his paw to his face. “Why is doing the right thing so hard?” A bit of silence soon followed. Sandbar was the one who broke it. “We understand what your doing,” the colt said, “And you’re probably the only one in Equestria who could pull this off.” "Still, it doesn't make up for one of the biggest mistakes in history. If I did it before I was reformed that would be one thing, I did after I messed with the school." The draconequuses groaned as he banned his head on the wall. Yona walked over to him and placed her hoof on his shoulder. "Discord shouldn't feel bad," the yak said. "All creatures make mistakes." "Even if they almost destroy the world," Smolder muttered. Sandbar punched her in belly in order to get her to shut up. "Discord, we appreciate you doing this," Ocellus said. "Though, I think you probably should warn us before you did this." "I know," Discord sighed. "I think you did was pretty fun," Silverstream commented. "I actually got to steal stuff. Normally I just activate all the traps." "Oh, and I was planning on such great ones. There was one where I turned you different creature for five minutes." "What kind of creatures?" "Breezies, parasprite, usually something small. There was also going to cockatrices wandering around." "Pff," Gallus scoffed. "We've seen Silver take care of those things before." "I'm actually ashamed of you Gallus. I really thought you'd want to try out those special arrows." "Hey, I wanted try those out, but some creature said they were too expensive." "Well, that might've been on me. I was trying other things to spice up the gameplay. Like those copycat skeleton." "Yeah, those were cool," Sandbar commented. "Yona wished friends had proper monster fight," Yona sighed. The draconequuses regained a smile. Give us a minute." He whistled for his clones, who walked back into the room. With a snap of his fingers, Discord gave the six back their clothing and weapons. The door to the cave reappeared and they walked through, finding that the Ursa Major was gone. "What do we now?" Silverstream asked. "Look, he left us some chests," Smolder stated. The six looked inside and a couple of things for them. Five explosive arrows, an invisibility potion, a golden ax, a spiked gauntlet, a sword that had a fiery blade, a white spellbook. "Yona love new ax," the yak proclaimed. "What's in this book?" Ocellus question. After opening and reading what was inside, the book then vanished. "What was in it?" Sandbar asked. "I read some healing spells. So, I guess we don't need to rely on potions all the time." "This one can turn me invisible," Silverstream cheered. She was about to drink it, but Gallus stopped her. "Don't waste it," he said. "It could help if you use it with your smoke bombs." He began explaining his plan as Smolder and the other eyed their new weapons. After a few minutes, there was a boom from the wall. “Excuse me,” said a high pitched voice. The six looked down and saw a miniature Discord. “I’d advise you to stay away from the wall.” They listened to him, just as the wall crumbled with a loud “BOOM”. Out from the dust, they could see a three-headed hydra bursting through the door. Each head had a different color eye, yellow, green, and red. The hydra had a color scheme of black, red, and blue. On the back of the beast, Discord was standing there with a forcefield around him. “Show me what you’ve got,” he requested. “Bring it,” Smolder smirked. The hydra shot out some fire, which Ocellus countered with ice. Gallus flew around and fired some more arrows. However, he saw he only had six regular arrows left. He decided to save his explosive arrows for later. Sandbar was testing out his new swords, which was fire powered, as seen by the scorch marks on the hydra. Everyone did their things and were showing to be wining. “Ha! This isn’t even the final form.” With another snap, the hydra doubled in size, making the cave walls break away. Two more heads grew out of the sides of the hydra’s neck, roaring with the original three. Red wings burst out of its back as a load of spike decorated the tail. Silverstream charged at the giant beast, but just one swing of its tail caused her to fly to the ground with a mighty smash. “Ow.” “Note to self,” Discord murmured, “Remember to lower or turn off pain.” “Hold on Silver,” Ocellus said. She managed to use a healing spell, and the hippogriff was up, she and the others quickly huddled up. “That thing’s too strong.” “Maybe if we attack it all at once,” Gallus said. “Ocellus, do you think you have enough magic to give one of us a boost?” “I think so. Watch out!” The six dodged a fireball coming from the hydra. “Okay, Smolder, I’ll use lightning on your gauntlets. Yona, I’ll ice on your ax.” “I’ve already got fire,” Sandbar said. “Me too,” Silverstream added. “I’ll just use one of my arrow bombs,” Gallus said. “Sound good?” “Yep!” the team agreed. Ocellus used the respective spells on the gauntlet and ax and flew back to fire up another spell. Yona, Smolder, Silverstream, and Sandbar ran towards the hydra all at different angles, and Gallus launched three explosive arrows. Discord could see what about to happen and teleported out of the way. As the attacks landed, the hydra exploded in a bright flash with a final roar. When the light faded, in the place of the hydra was a golden card lying on the ground. Ocellus walked over to pick it up. It read, ”Live Ogres and Oubliettes play session.” “What’s this?” the changeling asked. Discord reappeared next to her. “It’s a card if you ever want to play this again,” he answered. “Though... I doubt you want to.” Sandbar took a look at the card his friend was holding. “I think this might need a bit of work,” he said, “But I’d like to play again.” The draconequuses perked up after hearing this. “Seriously?” “You are trying to make up for what you did,” Ocellus said. The changeling and colt looked back at their friends for their opinions. “Yona liked to try again,” Yona said. “No pain though.” “Ditto,” Silverstream said. Smolder and Gallus looked at each other. “You sure about this?” the dragoness asked. “Admit it,” the griffon said, “You enjoyed the combat.” “True.” “Okay,” Discord said. “I’ll make a few tweaks and we’ll try this again next week. Maybe you could bring a couple of those other students.” “...Maybe you should introduce them slowly,” Ocellus stated. “Right, true.” “Still, can’t wait to do this again,” Sandbar said. After hearing their reception. He took the card and peeled it to make five more. After that, he handed each card to each creature. “I told you they would like this,” said a familiar voice. Looking behind them, the students saw the same breezie from the start of their journey. “What are you doing here?” Sandbar asked. “Discord asked me for a bit of help.” She floated behind the draconequuses and the centaur merchant walked out from behind. “He thought you would be willing to listen to him,” the centaur said. “Besides, it may give all of this away.” Walking back behind Discord, the yak that sold them the potion appeared. “Still, having regular me would give it away too.” Walking behind him one more time, a familiar pink and yellow pegasus walked out. “Professor Fluttershy?” the students questioned. “I knew you’d be right,” Discord said hugging the kind mare. After snapping his finger, Discord teleported them back to the School of Friendship. “See you around.” After another snap, he and Fluttershy teleported away. “Kind of wish he would give us a warning,” Gallus said. “Discord take baby steps,” Yona said. Looking up in the sky, Sandbar saw the sun was setting. “Looks like that took place in real-time,” he commented. “Interesting,” Smolder said. “I’m going to my dorm and rest.” “Me too,” Ocellus said. They walked inside to take a well-earned break from their misadventure. “What do you think the others would be?” Sandbar asked. “I think Emma would be a witch,” Silverstream said. “Peri would make a good healer.” They closed the doors behind them, as a draconequuses’s chuckle could be heard.