Blacklight Retribution: Ondra's Fall

“Big Brother,” Sarah whispered to me. I was loading a fresh magazine into my pistol.

“What is it?” I asked.

“You’re going to have to make me a promise over yours,” she quietly stated.

I look at her, she took the hint to continue, “Do not make me the reason you die.”

I shake my head, “I’m not going to die, none of us are.”

I understood what she was saying. She did not want to be the reason I become depressed if I lose her... I will NOT lose her, not to this infection, not to anyone or anything! She’s all I got...

“Those bastards are going to if anyone,” I pointed my pistol towards the door.

“Come on,” letting my arms prepare to carry her, “we’re going through the back door, it’s safe.”

“Come on, you said it yourself,” Sarah chimed, “There is no safe. There is only safer.”

I stop to look like I was thinking about that, “Whatever.”

“Ondra,” Sarah started, hugging me tighter, “before we go through those doors.”

I look at her, she was sobbing.

“What happened to mom or dad was not your fault, and never say it was.”

This time I paused to really think about that.

“You did what you could. I know that better than you do,” she sniffled, “You’re going to have to change that oversight or it will ruin you. I can’t have that happening to my one and only big brother can I? Mom and dad would agree.”

I let out a tear, and shrugged it away, “Come on, let’s get going.”

Sarah clinged to me as she did with the chibi.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Crystal Empire/Kingdom: Jousting Tournament

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The matches that I thought were going to be boring were actually intense. Knowing that the more dominant player per match has a chance to face you, which makes my job at winning harder. They let me use my morphing wing, much to my surprise, to compete. I didn’t really think it was fair.

“And the winning champion is once again: Midnight FLAME!” the announcer bellowed through the loudspeakers. The crowd went wild, I was silent because I didn’t really know what to do with myself when there was a lot of praise sent towards me. Rainbow Dash of course handled it like the egotistic woman she was back in Ponyville.

She was doing aerial stunts she did to pass her time, and did dance moves in the air yelling in success when she wins EACH match.

I was only surprised it never got old with the audience.

Though I understood why...

Rainbow Dash actually looked... What’s that word? Awesome? Yeah, I’ll just use her word.

She looked amazing in that armor, unfortunately she caught me looking almost every time.

This was not going to end well for me

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Outskirts; unknown town

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Ondra, I hear them,” Sarah whispered.

“Yes, I know. They’re to the left,” I whispered back.

“Then we go right,”

“We would be making too much noise going right, I need to find something to distract them,”

“Well make it quick, they’re not going to focus too much on it for too long,”

“I know,” I take a quick look around us, I spot a bottle. Must have come from a sewage bum that lost himself to the infected or the Order’s Militia.

I poke my head around the corner with Sarah slumped on a wall.

“This will work,” I said twisting the bottle around.

Sarah gave me a nod, I poked my head around again only to be welcomed with about three lights.

“Target confirmed! Fire!” next thing I know there was bullets flailing in my direction, but I pull my head back behind the wall.

“SHIT!” I screamed.

“Sarah hold on!” I rush over to Sarah, who had a frightened face.

“Just stay with me, hold on tight!”

I started carrying Sarah to safety, “I’ve got enough ammo to take care of this squad!”

They started opening fire after they made it around the corner.

“Big Brother,” Sarah called out to me behind the noise of the gunfire, “BIG BROTHER!”

“What?!” Sarah was poking me with a frightened face then held out a... Grenade?!

“I’ll see what I can do!” I grab the nade, it was HE for christ sake, and Sarah nodded as she covered her ears.

“Here’s a grenade for you FUCKERS!” that HE nade was a beautiful glow in the sewage dark, and I waited for the explosion.

“Guys! Grena-!” boom.

I pop my head out of cover to see what was left... Nothing, I give a little cheer of victory for that moment.

“They’re gone, Sarah,” I gesture towards her, “C’mon, let’s get you up.”

“How did they see you? You didn’t even pop your head out that first time and they were ready to shoot,” she asked with a worried expression.

“That’s what I’m about to find out,” looking for an intact soldier, I looked at Sarah in a way I thought this could be life scarring for Sar-

“Don’t start with that, you’re not mom or dad,” Sarah punched me in the shoulder, focusing on looking for an intact soldier.

“Over there,” Sarah called out pointing to a rifleman that looked like all his equipment was at least intact

“Let’s see what they got,” I gently put her down and approached the soldier.

“His helmet,” Sarah breathed, “it doesn’t look like anything I recognize, not even any military use anything like this it looks like EVA if anything.”

“I told you to stop playing those video games,” Sarah dismissed it with a playful flip of the bird.

I chuckle at that, “Whatever, you think you know anything about this model?”

Sarah looked closer, “I said it doesn’t look like anything I recognize, but hey look.”

She started putting up a mocking face [*GENIUS*], “Here’s a button, put it on and push it.”

I stared at her like she was telling me to jump off a bridge, “You serious?”

Sarah cleared her throat, “As others would say: ‘NO BALLZ’ ‘YOU WON’T’!”

She broke into a giggling fit, then started bending over due to pain.

I rush to her side, “I’m FINE! Really, I’m fine. Just check it out, it could save ya.”

I gave a submissive nod, “HRV... Huh, what do you supposed that means?”

Sarah gave me a deadpanned look, “Right, right, nothing you recognize alright.”

I put the helmet on and push the button...

Everything was seen, I mean everything. I was at silent awe at this until.

“Woah,” I heard sarah gasped, I remove the helmet and looked for her.

“Sarah! What are you doing?!” I hissed between my teeth.

“What?” Sarah removed her helmet, “I wanted to try one myself. Don’t you dare tell me to throw it away.”

I give a sigh of relief, I thought the damn thing could kill a child just by using it.

“Ok,” I dismissed with a hand, “Let’s get whatever we need to get going, we’re not that far from safe zone.”

“You,” Sarah started pointed expectantly, “YOU are going to the safety zone, there is no cure. You and I know that best, heck it was on the damn new reports: Latest vaccination tests failed.”

I glared at her, “Latest, Sarah, they’re still trying.”

“I know,” she slowly nodded, “but not enough to save me from this.”

“Let’s just get going,” Sarah was still rummaging through a rifleman’s things, “What are you doing?”

“This guy looked like the most significant of the squad, he might have something import-”

“Aha!” she cheered with joy.

“What is it?”

“This,” she held out a snub nose revolver.

“You’ve gotta be kidding me,” I facepalmed.

“You really want to start this now?” she glared at me threateningly.

“Fine, but promise me something,” I held out a hand to place on her shoulder, “DO not make this thing be the end of your life.”

“I know,” she put her own helmet on, “I know I’m not going to do it, you will.”

she placed a shoulder on me that she thought could comfort me after what she had just said.

“Now come on, let’s get moving, your carrying me remember?”

“At least I got a gun, right?” she finished.

I open my mouth and started moving my arms in protest, but I close my mouth and put my hands down. Now’s not the time.

“Fine,” and with that, we carried along through the sewage, under all that has been taken away from us.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Crystal Empire/Kingdom: Jousting Tournament Final

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There I was prepared to compete in the final jousting match.

Of course this final match was against Rainbow Dash.

The other contestants were either too weak or too depressed to be a real foe in this tournament.

That made it more worrying for all of us, because whatever these crystal people saw, we were going to face it.

Rainbow Dash on the other hand was obviously pretty cool about this situation, a little too cool.

It seemed like she was not taking this seriously and just wanted an expensive dinner that I have to pay for, she was going to make my sandwich... As some of my old friends would say:

“GET TO THE KITCHEN!”

That was not going to be my battle cry... It was going to be something a little more uncontroversial.

We both prepared for an all out sprint, Rainbow Dash looking like she’ll start first.

And then, I did the same, “FOR NARNIA!”

What? It was something.

We were closing our distance pretty fast, my wing stick still formed and hard, ready to dominate the mare... Fuck...

Almost there, and-

“SHHHHHHHHHHHHHHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII-” how the hell did that not work?!

I was sent flying into the air, my first instinct was to reform my jousting stick into my normal wing.

I tried to recover to the best of my ability, I tried keeping my wings straight and I finally recovered and turned towards the staging grounds gliding effortlessly after taking such a hit.

I get closer to the ground and noticed some clouds forming... That same cloud from outside.

I finally land, I was surprised nothing fundamental to my walking wasn’t badly hurt to an impact like that. I continued to stare at that cloud forming above the... Main palace?

“Hah, looks like I wo-!”

“Is there something you’re not telling me?” I interrupted Rainbow Dash.

“What?” she looked at the main palace and its cloud.

“Oh,” Rainbow started rubbing the back of her head, “I kinda didn’t trust you with tha-”

I manage to interrupt her with my glare, “You know what? Fuck you, I’ll buy your dinner later, like. WHEN YOU TRUST ME, I’ve got someone to kill up there.”

Rainbow’s eyes widened at my phrase, “What?!”

I jabbed a hoof to her chest, but instantly recoiled it. My beef isn't with these mares, but the sick man who killed everything I cared about back home, it was my closure.

“Stay out of my way,” I growled, Rainbow Dash only looking at me with shock, slowly putting a hoof to her chest to ‘heal’ the part I hit.

“Come on, flying should not be that hard, right? Heh, right,” I mumble to myself.

“Just like the eagles you saw in the internet, man, come on,” I started pumping my wings.

“Some forward speed shouldn’t hurt,” I notice a clearing, this should do for my need for speed.

“And,” I started pumping my wings harder, like I was swimming with my arms, “GO!”

I went in to an all out sprint much like in the tournament.

This is for all of you guys, I close my eyes as I felt my ground separating from my hooves.

I continue pumping my wings for a solid ten seconds, then opened my eyes.

“OH SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIITTTT,” I screamed as I continued to soar through the air.

“Calm down you foal,”

“Rainbow Dash?!” I yelled through the cutting winds, “I told you to stay out of my way!”

“I’m not stopping you!” she glided under me, then I felt some lift from my belly, “I’m here to help!”

“There’s something going on at the crystal Palace!”

“YOU DON’T SAY?!” how the hell did she know about that phrase?!

“I’m going to give you some speed so you better know how to work those wings!”

“What?! I thou-!”

Too late, my support vanished from beneath my and I given more speed than I could handle...

Or so I thought.

I tried morphing my wings a in a manner those fighter jets do when they go super sonic, that kind of speed was unnecessary because the palace was a little too clo-

I crashed through a window.

This ended up in a very, very bad landing. Luckily I formed my wings the same way when I saved Rainbow Dash from that little training fiasco.

“Ohhhh, my head,” I continued to grunt in pain, my wings were strong, but not that strong.

“Flame! What are you doing here?” A purple mare gasped: Twilight

“Investigating,” I started walking past her, “What do you know?”

“The crystal heart is the power source to the harmony of these ponies, and King Sombra hid it somewhere.”

“And you placed a fake instead of the original?”

“How...”

“I saw some ponies that were actually happy in this kingdom, now let’s get looking.”

“Right,” Twilight sighed, “You have a clue where an evil tyrant would hide everyone’s hope to taking him down?”

This was a tough one, “Hm. Right where no one would dare go to while he breaths, maybe his bed, maybe his restroom.” I take a look at his chambers.

“Hey Twilight,” I said staring at that throne.

“Yes?”

“This tyrant guy, Sombra,” I continued to stare at the throne, “He had a lot of magic, right?”

“Yes?”

“Follow me,” I started walking my way to the throne with my eyes fixed on the top of it, the most significant looking thing on top of it, as I got closer it seemed more and more discolored.

“Take a look at that crystal at the top,” I pointed a hoof, “See anything?”

Twilight started squinting at the black sheep that I saw, then she gasped, “OF COURSE! King Sombra had a magic lock to prevent other from getting to it, he did not destroy it, after all it was his source of power.”

I take a glance at Twilight then continued to stare at that displaced crystal, “Do your thang.”

I noticed she was concentrating on something, then her eyes starting glowing with the colors that I thought represented the evil of this world.

“Hey,” I called out to her quietly, “You there? You look like you’re going to shit.”

She continued like this, and then a huge beam of the said colors popped from her horn.

“GODDAMNIT! DON’T LET IT TAKE YOU!” I tackle her to the ground, Twilight giving a yelp of surprise, like she was going to be raped.

“What? What happened?” Twilight was rubbing her temples.

“I thought I was going to lose ya there, you ok?”

Twilight blinked at me, I’m assuming she took that the wrong way... Goddamnit she blushed.

“Let’s just get goi-” I was interrupted by a passage that creaked open.

I blinked, “Well, let’s get to it.”

Walking towards the entrance, I was stopped by Twilight’s hoof, “Promise me something, Flame.”

Oh god, the feeling of deja vu, “What?”

“Don’t make me the reason you go away,” she requested.

I’m going to make sure, “I’m confused.”

“That magic outburst I had, if that happens again, please don’t do that again,” she looked at the ground in shame, “I might... I might...”

She was hesitating.

“Kill me?” her head shot up like she heard she was going to be banished from Equestria.

“F-Flame, I-”

“Look,” I place a reassuring hoof to her shoulder, “After all that has happened to me, I have come to terms with my past. I know I’ve done what I could, and that is now all I care about. The last thing I want is for all of you to feel bad when I... Go away.”

“But... But...”

“No ‘buts’. You said it yourself: to complete this task, everypony (heh) needs to smile.”

I look to my hooves and metal wings, probably the last time I look at them.

“I’ll promise you something, and it’s definitely something I can keep.”

She looked at me expectantly, on the verge of developing tears, I understood completely. To be the reason why someone died, maybe I wasn’t the real reason a certain death happens, but I know what it feels like to regret not doing enough, and regretting to let that feeling slide for some time before realising. I was someone significant to all these people in a good way, and they might feel they had not done enough to keep that character alive in their story full of harmony.

“When I die, you’ll find a smile on my face,” I demonstrated that smile as I see that my HRV helmet is strapped around my back, it’s ready to be in use. This was a good thing.

“Now what do you say we get this done, yeah?” I playfully push a hoof on her shoulder.

Twilight blinked to the ground, How can he just be so light hearted about the end of his life?