Brothers till the End Episode 1: The Dark Crusade

Chapters

Prologue: Conventional Nightmares
Chapter 1: Monster of Crystal
Chapter 2: Royal/Chaotic Meetings Part 1
Chapter 3: Royal/Chaotic Meetings Part 2
Chapter 4: Besieged Camp
Chapter 5: Enter the Shadows Part 1
Chapter 6: Enter the Shadows Part 2

Prologue: Conventional Nightmares

Brothers till the End

Episode 1: A New Beginning

By Jadan Stutes

Prologue: Conventional Nightmares

This year’s Convention was going to be awesome. Why you might ask? Because unlike the others times the Con has arrived, this year was the first time it was to be hosted on Halloween Night. Thousands of people would be competing for the best, scariest, or downright the coolest costume of the night. This was why both my brother and I had entered the competition dressed as our favorite video game characters.

My brother Jack had chosen to compete as Raiden from Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance. He spent a crap-load of time making it just right, asking my help to finish some of the details, and to sculpt the HF blade from a piece of plywood. In the end he looked like the spitting image of the infamous cyborg ninja, complete with an eye band, and blood red contact lens.

As for me, my name is David by the way, I decided to go as my favorite anti-hero from Castlevania Lords of Shadow 2: Dracula/Gabriel Belmont. The most difficult part of the outfit was his iconic blood red cloak with golden details. It took nearly all my spare time, but it was worth it. Everything else, like the Void Sword and the Chaos Claws, were relatively smooth to make. However, we didn't have enough time to make the “Vampire Killer,” the original Combat Cross from the first game.

With our costumes (somewhat) completed, we entered the Con.

The place was packed with all kinds of people either cos-playing, taking pictures, or just there to see the sights. We took various pictures of people with outfits that rivaled our own, occasionally posing for others who were impressed by our designs. Out of all the people we've seen, three of them really stood out from the others.

One decided to go as Ratonhnhaké:ton from Assassin’s Creed III: The Tyranny of King Washington. Another went as Alucard, who managed to get all of the tiniest details for the costume perfect. I personally thought it was funny that we dressed as father and son from the same game. Finally the last person dressed as the 10th Doctor in his iconic brown suit with large trench coat.

We became fast friends, as we waited for the contest to start. Apparently, the dude dressed as the Doctor was a Brony ironically named John Smith. Adam, the man who went as Alucard, did not realize that anyone would dress as Dracula. It was a surprise to him that someone like me appreciated the hard work that went into the game and its characters.

Robert, the man dressed as AU Connor, was quiet the whole time, occasionally passing strange looks towards John. My eyes must have been deceiving me, because those looks seemed disgusted. Maybe he had a sore spot for Bronies; I meanwhile was relatively neutral about the whole fandom thing.

As the rest of the gang continued to mingle, I excused myself to see what was up for buying. Several booths caught my attention with mini statues, signed books, and prop replicas, the latter having...Something that I had to have.

I quickly made my way to the booth I spotted to find the perfectly sculpted Combat Cross for sale. A little while later and some well spent dollars, I had the finishing touch, and just in time to because the contest was about to begin.

My friends and I had our reservations for the competition to begin. We watched from the sidelines as all the competitors did their thing. Eventually it came time for us to go on stage. John went first and started quoting the 10th Doctor in front of everyone without missing a beat. Next went Robert, who started going into various poses that depicted him battling an invisible foe. Jack entered afterwards, quoted some of Raiden’s various lines from the game, and finished with flourishes of his sword.

Finally me and Adam went last with a “father/son” routine. He started out with quick slashes of his massive blade, and finished with a finisher quote from the Revelations DLC. I went next, with the weapon cases containing the Void Sword and Chaos Claws. I started out with Dracula’s famous quote, “What is a man? But a miserable pile of secrets!” I then released the Void Sword from its case, and started fighting an invisible monster with it. Next I unleashed the Chaos Claws, which made the audience scream in delight, and started throwing punches and slashes at imaginary demons.

For the finisher, I equipped my newly acquired Combat Cross, and was about to use the whip function, when suddenly I stopped. The cross started glowing an unnatural golden glow. My friends saw what was going on and came to the rescue. But just as they touched the cross, the glow became brighter than the sun, forcing us to look away. Wind started blowing around us at increasing speeds that just went faster, and faster, and faster. Then just as it started, it stopped. When everyone recovered from the blast, they realized that five particular humans had disappeared.

All that was left was a blast mark, shaped like a peculiar looking star, on the stage where the five friends once stood.

Elsewhere in the middle of the night, towards the battlefield that was once the glorious Crystal Empire, the leader of the Equestrian Reinforcements turned in her sleep. Ever since the Battle of the Crystal Empire started 2 years ago, Celestia kept on having the same dream every time she went to sleep.

It consisted of herself watching over the events of different futures. Sombra wining the war and plunging Equestria into eternal despair, to much later where Luna would go insane under a dark influence and go under the name Nightmare Moon. The latter was the most frequent dream the Princess of the Sun had. But every time the story would go in a different direction.

One such arrangement was that a tall warrior, both man and machine, against his will would spread his insanity to a broken hearted Luna. Together they would spread eternal night and death to the world, leaving its inhabitants with no hope.

But then two warriors, brought together by an unbreakable friendship would defeat the usurpers, banishing them to the moon for a thousand years. However one of the warriors called the metal man his brother, and will be forced to make the ultimate sacrifice, leaving his immortal soul to mourn for eternity.

Celestia, haven awoken from this dream for the umpteenth time, was worried that this would soon come to pass. She loved her sister with all her heart, but wondered if the dream was set in stone. Eventually she shook her head to clear her thoughts, and focused on how her little ponies were going to be victorious in the war. The future would have to wait for now, after all Celestia had been through she kept her head high and kept telling herself a saying from an old friend.

"Always in motion, is the future. And many possible futures, there are."

Chapter 1: Monster of Crystal

Chapter 1: Crystal Paradise

Cold. That was the first thing that came to mind as I started to wake up. “Serves me right to not bring an extra shirt,” I thought angrily to myself.

There was a groan to both my left and right as I began to stand up, while opening my eyes led me to a bizarre sight.

Jack, Adam, and I were stranded in the middle of a snowy wasteland. The winds were blistering cold to us at first, but then it was replaced with a soothing cold feeling deep within my body. It seemed like Adam got the same treatment, because he had a relaxed look on his...pale cracked face?

“What is going on here,”I said to myself. As we were discussing what exactly happened, we were interrupted by the sounds of battle beyond the nearby peak. It sounded like whoever was fighting was losing badly. We eventually decided to see what was going on, when the battle noises started getting closer.

The peak wasn’t easy to climb with all the loose boulders cracking off the cliffs from the snow and frozen air. Just before we reached the top, Jack suddenly clenched his head in pain. Screaming and writhing in pain, we rushed to help him...Only to find that he stopped. He stood there with a blank look on his face, staring off into the distance, all while mumbling about someone named ‘The Ripper’.

“Adam, stay with him,” I told the Alucard lookalike. “I’ll go investigate the battle.”

Making my way down the other side of the peak, I came across a bizarre and terrifying site. A giant monster made of jet black crystal was attacking what looked like humanoid ponies with golden armor, horns on their heads or wings on their back or neither, and armed with spears/swords. It seemed that the crystal golem was having no trouble brutalizing the armored ponies with its razor sharp claws, as evidenced from the wasted delicious blood still dripping from its claws.

“Woah. Where did that come from?”

Shaking my head to clear it from the thought of blood, I weighed my options. I wanted to run from the gruesome fight, but something deep inside told me to destroy the beast. With a new determination burning in my eyes, I ran towards the monster, unleashing the Combat Cross from my cloak with a flourish that broke off a chunk of its leg. Turning its version of a head, that looked like a sickening monster that was half-n-half of a dragon and a wolf, it let out a bone chilling roar that shook the battlefield.

Boss#1: Crystal Golem

Striking it with quick flicks of the whip, I settled with dodging its heavy attacks towards my position. All that seemed to do was make it pissed off at me even more. It was smarter than I hoped, because its next attack cut off my dodging. Obviously caught in its trap, I prayed that the Combat Cross could be used to parry its next move. With a satisfying clang, the golem’s strike was shattered, giving me the perfect moment to counter.

After taking out a huge chunk of its health, the beast changed tactics. It tensed up for a second, then charged straight towards me, intent on smashing me against the snow covered peak. Suddenly, instinct took over, and I soon found myself dashing out of the charging beast’s way.

It missed, and crashed into the side of the mountain. With all the newfound strength I could muster, I slashed at the beast with every attack I knew, even attempting moves from the game. But then I stopped.

“Wait a minute,” the inner me said. “That’s it! We've been transported to a world where all the abilities from the games have found themselves into our being. That’s why Adam looks like he’s lived for hundreds of years!”

Taking a break from the beating was all the golem needed to land a sucker punch right where I was standing. I’ll spare you the details, but it hurt like hell. Getting back up, I tried to summon the Void Sword to bring me back to full health. For a moment nothing happened at first, then there was a deathly chill in my right hand. Extending from my hand like a lightsaber, the Void Sword came into existence.

It glowed and shimmered with an unnatural beauty. Twirling it around like I've wielded it hundreds of times, I prepared for the monster’s next move. It swung its left claw with enough force to rocket me to the center of the world, but luckily I dodged at the last possible second. The monster wasn't that smart to realize its attack left its claw stuck in the snow covered ground. Seeing the opportunity, I slashed the paralyzed arm with the bone chilling blade. I then felt the strangest sensation; all my fatigue that came over me when the beast did damage disappeared.

The beast did not like my barrage of slices one bit, as it settled on ripping out its entire left arm out of its socket. The arm left in the snow dispersed into a cloud of black smoke that fled the scene. I had no time to think, as the beast tried to burn me alive with emerald green fire shooting out of its disfigured maw.

Dashing to get out of the way, I settled on wanting to finish this creature once and for all. Reaching deep within my soul, I called upon the chaotic forces of the Chaos Claws. Within a minute, both my arms were shot with the most painful burning sensation ever. I then concentrated that pain into the fists and claws of my new-found weapons. Punch after slash was met with howling screeches from the beast as its crystal-like body started melting from the searing heat.

Getting desperate for the pain to stop, it lashed out its good arm at where I once stood, implanting its fist into the frozen ground. Using all the strength I could muster, I ripped the arm out of its socket, causing the beast to shout a pain-filled roar out into the blizzard air. Tossing the arm aside, I made to finish off the creature, when it captured me in its path of fire. I had never felt such a pain before, as it seemed to tear at my very soul.

Coursing every ounce of strength I had left, I concentrated the power held in the fire to my left hand, which I morphed into the Shadow Whip. The dark energy behind the golem’s blaze caused the whip to transform into a dragon sized snake that I launched straight towards where the beast’s heart should have been. It connected, and with a mighty pull I ejected the heart out of the beast, with it still beating an unnatural heartbeat.

The beast looked down at its heartless chest, and let out one last pitiful roar before it crumbled into dust. As for the emerald heart, which still gave out a few weak beats, started to lose its ethereal glow. With a mighty crack, the crystal exploded into large chunks of dull emerald, until only one shining spot remained. A shard of the emerald heart still had some life in it. Not wanting to let it go to waste, I kept it safe in my cloak.

After dusting myself off, one of the ponies guards walked up to me and said, “By Celestia’s mane. Who art thou?”

Taking a moment to respond with a dramatic effect, I replied, “I am the Prince of Darkness, the Dragon. I. Am...Dracula! And I’m in need of your help.”

King Sombra looked upon the reflection of the battlefield from his place in the war-room. To say that he was displeased was the understatement of the entire war. He fumed with anger after watching his prized golem crumble to dust under the ruse of the so called "Prince of Darkness".

With a hate-filled flick of the hand, he whisked away the image of the Ice Peaks, and spoke aloud, "Mark my words 'Dracula.' You will regret crossing my path. I don't know where you come from, but I do know you just made the biggest mistake of your LIFE!"

With his anger somewhat resided, he returned his attention to the war effort. He would have his revenge, against both him and the two Alicorn Sisters that denied his right to rule.

Chapter 2: Royal/Chaotic Meetings Part 1

As my friends came down from the mountain, the remaining soldiers lead us through a maze of jagged crystal spires towards their nearby camp. I informed them that my brother needed medical attention, on account of... “Supernatural” reasons. Throughout the trek to the camp I kept going over the fight in my head. If my powers could obliterate a creature that size, there was no telling what else my friends and I could do.

The deep thinking must have made time pass by quicker, because in that moment, the camp was in our sights. Well, it was more like a small community with its size, position, and the fact that hundreds of anthro ponies were either preparing for battle or mingling with comrades.

When the entrance to the camp came closer, I distinctly heard the snapping of fingers coming from my right. I looked in that direction to find the silhouette of a tall mix-matched creature, with yellow and red eyes looking directly at me. He motioned for me to follow, as he disappeared into the snowy wind. My curiosity eventually won out, and I decided to find out what the creature wanted.

He lead me to a secluded ice cavern that made the wind in the air whistle a strangely majestic tune. That didn't matter to me, as all my attention was directed to the grinning mix-matched creature, staring down at me from his cloud of cotton candy with a glass of chocolate milk in his left claw.

“Color me impressed young man,” he said with a recognizable voice. “I saw your little tussle with the Crystal Golem, and all I have to say is, you have a good head on your shoulders.”

I was puzzled for the longest time, until I found my voice, “What are you?”

“Oh! Pardon me for my rudeness,” he replied. “My name is Discord, Lord of Chaos and Disharmony. And you my good sir are...”

“My friends call me David,” I said to the being known as Discord. “But you can call me Dracula.”

I did not anticipate for him to spit out the melted chocolate he already swallowed after mentioning my name. It seemed like he knew me, but I've never seen him in all my life. After cleaning his muzzle off with a purple towel, he looked at me with a new found wonder... I think. The only emotion he seemed to portray at the moment was relief and delight.

“I had not realized you were the great and powerful Dracula,” Discord said while clearing his throat. “Are there any more of you around here, or are you alone?”

His last comment threw me off guard. Why would he be concerned of Jack and Adam's well being? Better still, why was he asking of them? I decided to think on this matter later. For now, I concluded that Discord seemed trustworthy enough.

“Jack is at the Ponies’ camp with Adam,” I finally said to the chimera. “Why do you ask?”

He seemed to catch on to the doubt in my voice as he replied in a quick fashion, “No reason. But now I know that there are not one, but three humans here that have nothing stopping them from making sweet, delicious Chaos... Well except for me of course.”

He then stood from the cotton candy cloud, and put his mismatched hands on both of my shoulders. “Listen to me very carefully, young man,” he said with an air of authority. “We will meet again, and I will explain to you all my intentions. But for now, as much as I hate to admit it, you must follow the flow of the sands of time... For now.”

With a snap of his paw, the whole cave disappeared like it never existed. Dazed and confused, I found myself back with the group about to enter the military camp.

Suffice to say, it was much bigger than what we previously thought. Everywhere I looked, soldiers of all ages worked tirelessly on either repairing/making new weapons or armor in the various forges, or were sharpening their skills at the makeshift training grounds. However when our merry band of battle-scarred heroes came along, everyone, “Or, I guess everypony,” stopped what they were doing and gazed upon our arriving forms.

Their looks told us vast stories to our souls, with eyes that bled curiosity, fear, sadness, and hopefulness. For what felt like an eternity no one said anything, then a nearby soldier started to slowly clap. Pretty soon all the ponies started to applaud to our little group. It seemed that this war they were in had taken its toll on the poor souls. But after knowing that there was a beacon of hope, their hearts were lit aflame with a new found power that was rarely seen.

The soldiers that were with us during the crystal encounter, which only three remained, led us to a massive tent near the center of the camp. It looked just as bland as the other tents, but it was distinctly decorated with symmetrical patterns of both the moon and sun. The inside lead to what I could only describe as a pre-World War war room, complete with a giant table with a map of the surrounding countryside.

Two beings, that were studying the map carefully, looked upon us entering. I noticed that they were equine-like beings similar to the troopers outside, but these two had very subtle differences. Firstly, they were half a head taller in comparison to us and the survivors. Secondly, They had both wings on their backs and a single horn on their heads. Finally, they contrasted each other in the strangest way by having the one on the right have a bright white coat with a flowing pastel colored mane. And the one on the left had a dark navy blue coat with a mane that depicted the night sky complete with tiny stars.

When they took their eyes off the map to see us come in, they had varying degrees of shock on their faces. Righty’s look in her eyes had a cold chill of fear in them, as if she had known this would happen.

Making herself presentable, Righty said, “Who are you, and why did you save my little ponies?”

“I think I know where we are now,” I thought nervously to myself. “We’re in Equestria.”

To Be Continued...

Chapter 3: Royal/Chaotic Meetings Part 2

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Chapter 4: Besieged Camp

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Chapter 5: Enter the Shadows Part 1

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Chapter 6: Enter the Shadows Part 2

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