(Earth, Southern California, San Diego. 1004 years ago)
“How did I let you idiots talk me into this again?”
The five people were walking out the hotel that we had booked for the duration of the San Diego Comic Con. They had come all the way to America from Britain to get in.
“Simple we needed a fifth person to go with us to America’s Comic Con and Tom was sick.” Carl explained dressed as Ezio from Assassins Creed “So you were our other choice-”
“Don’t say my name call me by the name of the person I’m dressed as”
“Fine Gilgamesh, are you happy?” Carl asked annoyed
“Very” Gilgamesh replied
“So why did you pick Gilgamesh from Fate/Stay Night?” Patrick asked dressed as an ODST “Isn’t he the bad guy?”
“Hey my cousin is dressed as Lucy from Elfen Lied and I don’t hear you giving her any shit” Gilgamesh snapped waving his Ea replica at him angrily.
“Yeah well I’m older and smarter than you” Lucy quipped
She was wearing a pink wig with cat ear like horns and was wearing a pair of contacts that changed her eye colour to a lighter shade of red. She was wearing a white t-shirt and short jeans with trainers.
“Shut up Lucy or do want me to call you by your real middle name Maria” Gilgamesh taunted
“For the last time my middle name is MARIE NOT MARIA” Lucy yelled angrily
If she had actual vectors Gilgamesh probably would have been pounded into the ground for that. She hated it when people changed her middle name from Marie to Maria for a reason he had never found out, all he knew was that it wound her up to no end which was great for amusing himself during the boring family reunions.
“Oh relax and keep your voice down we’re here” Gilgamesh said as they arrived at the security gate “Hold on a sec where’s Steven?”
The others all stopped and looked at each for a second before Patrick spoke up.
“He’ll be along, we said we’d meet him later by the food court” he answered “He’s putting the finishing touches on his Master Chief costume. He custom ordered the armour apparently”
“Whatever” Gilgamesh snorted derisively
With that the four showed their tickets and went through the security gate and entered the convention centre. It was huge there were thousands of people going back and forth between different stalls and there multiple levels to the complex as well.
“Hey me and Patrick are going to go check out a few of the stands what about you?” Carl asked
“I’m going to stick with my younger cousin” Lucy said “I promised auntie that I’d keep him out of trouble.”
“Ok see you later then; we’ll meet you at the food court around noon”
Carl and Patrick then melted away into the crowd leaving Gilgamesh and Lucy alone with each other.
They started walking around and browsing several random stalls even one with a few manga on it. After they had finished browsing they went up to the second floor, third to Americans. They walked over to the railing and Gilgamesh leant backwards against it still not letting go of Ea.
“So where did you get that Ea replica?” Lucy asked
“I got it at a weird looking store back home. It had all sorts of random crap in it and I wasn’t interested at first but he offered me the Ea replica dirt cheap. Only fifteen pounds from the usual twenty four.” Gilgamesh replied with a smirk
“Wait did the old guy wear a hood and have glowing red eyes?” Lucy asked
“Yeah” Gilgamesh confirmed turning his head to look at her “Why do you ask?”
“Because that’s the guy who sold me these replica clip on Diclonius wig, pink contacts and horns” Lucy explained
“Hmm that’s weird I…hey do you hear something?” Gilgamesh asked
“Look at Ea” Lucy ordered quickly
He did so and saw that a white glow was travelling from Ea and was crawling up his arm.
“Put it down” Lucy demanded
“I can’t my hand won’t move” Gilgamesh replied with a panicked tone.
The white glow got faster and panicked Gilgamesh took a few steps backwards and wound up falling backwards over the railing. His cousin reached out for him yelling his name, even as the white glow continued covering his body as he fell. Then all of a sudden Ea stopped in mid-air and Gilgamesh hung there with it. The white glow shot up what looked like an invisible hand, no not a hand a Vector, a Diclonius Vector.
Soon the glow covered them both and with a large flash of light and clap of thunder they vanished from Earth all together.
(Equestria, Everfree forest, 1004 years before present)
A large flash of light illuminated the darkness of the Everfree forest. A young man with blonde hair and red eyes was dropped into the clearing. His golden armour clanged against the ground. A young woman dropped on top of him a few seconds later causing his armour to clang again.
“Aggh damn it” Gilgamesh cursed as his cousin stood up off of him.
“Where in the hell are we?” Lucy asked wiping some mud off of her.
“Don’t know a forest of-”Gilgamesh paused as the ground shook.
*THOOM**THOOM*
“What the?! Is this an Earthquake?” Lucy asked struggling to keep her balance
*THOOM* *THOOM*
“No its sounds like footsteps” Gilgamesh said trying to keep himself from falling over.
Suddenly the treeline parted revealing a gigantic purplish bear with fur that looked like the night sky, and was partially translucent. It was absolutely massive and roared down at them.
“HOLY SHIT WHAT THE HELL KIND OF BEAR IS THAT?” Lucy screamed as she ran off her cousin running as fast as he could behind her.
“I DON’T KNOW JUST KEEP RUNNING” Gilgamesh yelled as a massive paw slammed into the ground behind them and scraped it up.
The colossal night sky looking bear gave a roar of anger and frustration at its prey escaping and gave chase, lumbering through the forest with massive strides. They dodged several more attempts by the bear to grab them and eventually saw a rocky cliff face with a cave ahead.
“Hey there’s a cave we should be safe from that thing in there” Lucy yelled pointing at the opening in the cliff.
“Right” Gilgamesh ran faster trying to keep up with his cousin.
Unfortunately the bear was one step ahead of them and slammed a paw into the cliff, causing a rockslide which blocked the entrance to their potential escape passage. The two skidded to a stop in front of the rubble and turned to face the bear now cornered by it.
“Is this where we’re supposed to die?” Lucy asked with fear “Eaten by some giant bear in some weird forest far away from home?”
Gilgamesh growled and stood forward and pointed Ea at the bear. Strangely the replica of the sword of rapture felt heavier than it once did and now seemed to be shinier almost like it was metal instead of plastic.
“What are you doing?” Lucy screamed “Are you crazy?”
“I know it’s futile” Gilgamesh replied “But I’ll go out fighting no matter how futile it is”
The bear growled almost like it was angry at Gilgamesh’s defiance. Suddenly in that moment, the segments of Ea began spinning faster and faster, and the wind howled along with it. A shockwave of wind was sent out of from the weapon not only causing the giant bear to stagger backwards slightly, also sending a tremor through the earth below them.
The drill shaped sword took on a crimson glow that forced Lucy to squint.
“My cousin has been there for me all my life and I will not allow some oversized throw rug to harm her” Gilgamesh yelled and instinct took him over like he was being guided by something “ENUMA ELISH”
He swung the sword downwards and it released a vortex of crimson energy that erupted at the bear. Within the space of a second, the bear was missing its top half. After a few moments the bear’s remains slammed down into the ground causing a final earthquake with its death.
“That was….But how did you?” Lucy was lost for words.
“I don’t know how but, somehow I have the powers of Gilgamesh.” Her cousin said “It’s like I felt something guiding me and Ea responded.”
The sword in question had vanished into a flurry of golden particles.
“And remember back at the convention centre when I was falling, you used a vector to grab Ea and save me.” Gilgamesh pointed out
Lucy tilted her head and saw indeed that she possessed four invisible hands. She sent one out and experimentally tore off a branch from a tree and with the vector held it out in front of her.
“This is…..unreal” Lucy gasped examining the branch “How is this even possible we were just cos-players a few minutes ago what is going on?”
“I have no idea” Gilgamesh said “But maybe if we find a way out of this forest we can find some answers”
“This….all of this is completely impossible” Lucy cried again as they started walking
“So you said” Gilgamesh replied as they tried to find a way past the giant star bears corpse.
(Equestria, Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters, 1004 years before present)
Princess Celestia, Diarch ruler of Equestria who raised the sun to bring forth the day, along with her sister Luna who raised the mono to bring forth the night were currently sitting together in the throne room. They had awakened Celestia from her slumber because of an emergency. The captain of the guard Steel Spear was stood there standing at attention.
“Now Captain what so important that I had to be roused from my sleep?” She asked patiently
“My apologies your highness but we thought that both of you needed to know that an Ursa Major was sighted moving in the forest” the captain said
“I see” Celestia said gravely
“Tis not good sister” Luna said “First we must deal with Tirek who is still at large and now we must deal with an Ursa our resources will quickly become strained with all of these crises”
Celestia looked thoughtful for second.
“Well maybe we can-” Celestia paused as a tremor shook the castle
“It came from that direction” Celestia galloped towards the balcony and looked out towards the forest.
She could just make out the Ursa Major which was illuminated by a scarlet glow coming from below it in the forest, as Luna and the captain joined her.
“Could somepony be trying to do battle with that Ursa?” Luna asked from beside her “Tis foolishness, we stop them before-”
Suddenly Luna was interrupted as the scarlet glow condensed and large beam blasted the Ursa Majors Head and shoulder away as if they had never existed in the first place. The three were left dumbstruck.
“How in Tartarus could anypony besides yourselves possess such monstrous power your highnesses?” the captain asked breathlessly
“I do not know” Celestia replied gravely “But I intend to find out”
With that she and her sister took flight into the night sky heading towards the location where the corpse of the Ursa had fallen.
(Equestria, Crystal Empire, 1002 years before present)
Much had happened in the two years since Gilgamesh and Lucy had landed in Equestria. After he had saved himself and his cousin Lucy from the Ursa Major with Ea, he had been confronted by two Alicorn sisters called Celestia and Luna who ruled Equestria. They raised the Sun and Moon to bring the Day and Night respectively.
His cousin had spoken to them when they appeared before the two, she was the more rational one and thanks to her they had managed to avoid a conflict, that time at least. A bit later they began a journey across Equestria searching for a way home while mastering their newfound abilities; they got into several fights that earned Gilgamesh great renown. Including slaying the so called Dragon King, the killing of the Great Alpha Diamond Dog, the extermination of the Windigo invaders and more. Not that his cousin had not done her own deeds of course, in fact she had been instrumental in the Dragon Kings death, without her Gilgamesh would have had a more difficult time delivering the killing blow.
But she was admittedly more humble and shrewder than he was. While he revelled in the attention and admiration that he received from the masses. His cousin preferred to stay in the shadows. They now had full control of the powers they had been afforded and she was more focused on trying to find a way to get them both home.
She sincerely was not jealous of the fame that the deeds the masses attributed to him alone gave him. She had always been humble like that but he was surpassed that she didn’t resent him for it. When he had asked her about it she replied that they were family and there was no time for petty jealousy over something as minor as fame. The most important thing was going home.
Gilgamesh chose to stay out of the way of her research and to aid her when she asked for it. She was the academic he was the muscle of their operation it was a relationship that worked. Especially when scouting out ancient ruins that she thought might hold artefacts or clues on how to get home.
Right now though Gilgamesh was revelling in his latest conquest. He was now the ruler of the Crystal Empire after slaying its King Quartz in battle and being named the empires new king. Now he and his cousin had a vast library and the resources of a kingdom at their disposal.
While some might say that he was a hero, Gilgamesh himself disagreed. He was neither a hero nor a villain he transcended such things. He did what he wanted when he wanted. The only exception to that rule was requests that were made by his cousin. She was the only one he would acquiesce to.
“King of Heroes and now ruler of the Crystal Empire” Gilgamesh chuckled to himself aloud as he sat on his Golden throne in the crystal palace with his eyes closed “Not a bad if I do say so myself. Now I wonder where it is that my dear cousin has gotten to. It’s been a while since I’ve heard from her”
“She has been locked away fiend a fate thou shalt share with her” familiar booming voice said.
Gilgamesh opened his eyes to see the Lunar and Solar Diarchs standing there in front of him, in their own battle armour that coverd them head to toe. He noted that Luna’s Horn was glowing, clearly she was charging some type of spell
“So Luna, still using that Royal Canterlot voice are you?” Gilgamesh asked with boredom “No matter what is this I hear about my cousin?”
“She has been locked away in Tartarus Gilgamesh” Celestia explained with her Horn lowered with a spell prepared.
“And you think to make me join her you petty quadruped?” Gilgamesh asked “A place like Tartarus cannot hold me you know this by now. After all you did attempt to banish me there after I killed your precious sentinels who dared to stand in the way of my claiming of the Amulet of the Stars or how about those foolish lunar agents who tried to stop me from claiming the Moon Crystal? Time and again you have tried to banish me and you have failed each time. So why not give up already? Release my cousin and I will show mercy to your subjects when I take my vengeance for this insult.”
“You are in no position to make demands Gilgamesh for we have a spell that can imprison even you” Celestia threatened
“We shall see” Gilgamesh replied standing up
The space above and around him began to ripple as his Gate of Babylon activated; various swords, spears and axes appeared in mid-air awaiting command. The spell on Luna’s horn suddenly brightened gaining a whitish blue glow.
“Sister it is almost complete” Luna informed her sister.
“I am ready Luna” Celestia said as she threw up various magical barriers and shields.
Suddenly Luna’s size was reduced slightly, and the spell glowed brighter.
“What’s this?” Gilgamesh raised his eyebrow “Am I supposed to be intimidated by this display?”
“Thou shouldst be fearful fiend” Luna growled focusing the spell “I have sacrificed half of mine own Alicorn essence to power this spell. A forbidden spell of sealing that can imprison even thee”
“We shall see about that” Gilgamesh replied “BEGONE”
The golden weapons all fired at the mares, shattering all but one of the barriers, the weapons impacted against Celestia’s final barrier. She sweated visibly as she strained to keep the shield up against the onslaught of Noble Phantasms.
“I see a soul shield” Gilgamesh observed as his gate began firing at a more rapid pace “You are desperate to get this to work aren’t you? If my Noble Phantasms shatter that barrier then your very soul will be in jeopardy Princess Celestia”
“I would sacrifice my very being to protect the ponies of Equestria” Celestia gasped out
“Then I will allow you that honour princess of the sun” Gilgamesh said as his weapons picked up pace.
A crack formed in Celestia’s barrier as the sweat began pouring down her face.
“LUNA” she screamed her horn and her body burning in agony at trying to hold the dangerous shield spell.
“Tis completed” Luna yelled as her the spell became a kaleidoscope of colours “NOW FIEND WE SEAL THEE SLEEP FOREVER MORE”
She fired the spell which erupted from her horn and became bigger than she was. It soared through the air unimpeded by the weapons that went through it.
“What’s this? Impossible” Gilgamesh growled but before he could summon a Noble Phantasm to defend himself the spell impacted with him and began encasing his form in a thick crystalline substance “THIS NOT OVER I WILL RETURN, THAT I PROMISE YOU”
Gilgamesh declared this as he was completely encased in the star patterned crystal. For good measure Celestia conjured a pair of chains which wrapped around the crystal and were locked with two padlocks one with Luna’s cutie mark engraved on it, the other with Celestia’s. Two keys with sun and moon shaped handles appeared hovering Celestia’s magical grip.
“With these two keys the chains should ensure that Gilgamesh remains sealed for a very long time” Celestia said
“We cannot simply dump Gilgamesh in Tartarus” Luna exclaimed “You know as well as I that the darkness of that realm would degrade this spell faster and all of this would be for nought”
“You made a great sacrifice Luna” Celestia nuzzled her sister consolingly “But while we may bought Equestria peace, when it comes to Gilgamesh we may have only delayed the inevitable. He will return eventually, even now I can feel his powers attempting to break the Alicorn crystal. But when he so casually slays ponies and others alike who stand in front of him and with his murder of King Quartz and his usurping of the Crystal Empire he left us no choice but to stop him”
“Perhaps in the future a greater solution will have presented itself” Luna replied
“Until then all we can do is watch over him and hope” Celestia said
“What of his cousin in Tartarus?” Luna asked “When he does free himself, should he find her deceased there is no telling what he might do. It could spell the end of Equestria”
“Luna the inside of Tartarus is more like a prison with lots of separate cells. Lucy is in no danger form the others that are kept in there” Celestia explained “And time does not pass like does out here. For every century that passes out here but one year passes in Tartarus. In order to prolong the prisoner’s punishment.”
“I suppose all we can do now is wait” Luna said
“Yes wait and watch over Gilgamesh” Celestia replied “Hopefully by the time he breaks free we can let his cousin out to reason with him.”
“Sister pray tell, what is the name of the pony that is to succeed Quartz as ruler of the empire?” Luna asked
“I believe his name is Sombra” Celestia replied.
Author's Note
So I thought I'd have a crack at this costumed human gets character powers in Equestria thing. I apologize for my spelling and grammar, if I've missed anything please don't hesistate to point it out. I hope it isn't so bad that you can't read this thing.
Also Surpassing All Others by Zarallan has nothing to do with Return of the King and I have no issue with it whatsoever. We simply came up with similar ideas around the same time.
The Kings Return and Tartarus's end
(Equestria, Canterlot Throne Room, Present Day)
Twilight Sparkle the former student of Princess Celestia and newly crowned princess of Equestria was currently very nervous. After discovering Discords betrayal of them and his siding with Tirek, Celestia had summoned her, asking the purple alicorn to come as quickly as she could.
Twilight had gotten to Canterlot as fast as she could and now found herself with Cadance, Luna and Celestia in the throne room standing in front of a giant starry crystal that was bounding chains with two padlocks. One with Celestia’s sun cutie mark engraved on it and the other with Luna’s.
She could just about make out the shadow of something inside the crystal. It looked almost like a Minotaur, but while it was certainly bulky it didn’t seem to have horns, but she couldn’t really make out all of the details with all of the crystal in the way.
“Twilight, do you remember what I have told you?” Celestia asked
“Yes Princess, be respectful, watch my tone and don’t insult him no matter what” Twilight recited what her former teacher had taught her “But what is this crystal? Shouldn’t we be looking for a way to stop Tirek and Discord?”
“This is the way Twilight Sparkle” Luna said “While I do not like this is the only way”
“I don’t understand how can this crystal stop Tirek is it magical?” Twilight asked
“No, it is a prison” Luna replied “Inside this crystal is one of the most powerful beings to ever walk our world. I am sure you have heard the legend of the King of Heroes have you not?”
“Y-you mean this is-?” Twilight backed away before Cadence stopped her
“Yes” Celestia said gravely “This is Gilgamesh, The King of Heroes and the former ruler of the Crystal Empire, and currently our only hope”
Twilight had of course read about Gilgamesh, anypony who was anypony had at least heard of him. Tales of his deeds were told even today. He was a legend amongst legends, Twilight had been told by Cadence about his battle with the Great Alpha Diamond Dog and how he had destroyed the Diamond Dogs underground kingdom and rescued all of the slaves, changeling, griffon, pony, all races were freed and he was hailed a great hero.
But there were darker tales about him as well, like how he stormed the Crystal Empire and demanded that its ruler of the time King Quartz surrender it and swear fealty to him. But seeing arrogance and cruelty in his heart Quartz refused and in a rage Gilgamesh killed him and claimed the empire for himself. Or that was how the story told it anyway and it was a thousand years ago so nopony really knew the truth, except maybe the princesses.
“I’m sure you’ve already recounted a few tales about Gilgamesh” Celestia continued “However while he can be very cruel at times, he is not unfair. If we appeal to his better nature and appease him, he may yet listen to us.”
“Indeed” Luna agreed “While he was arrogant, rude and more than willing to take the lives of others he was always fair. On the insistence of his cousin, whom he loved dearly he always gave others a chance to explain themselves before he brought judgement upon them. With luck he will yet hear us out”
“And you really think he can stop Discord and Tirek?” Twilight asked “But Discord alone is powerful enough to warp reality itself. Can Gilgamesh really beat him and Tirek?”
Celestia walked closer to the crystal.
“I assure you Gilgamesh is more than a match for Discord” Celestia replied with a reassuring tone
“Indeed, after he slew King Quartz was around the time when Discord appeared.” Luna explained “Gilgamesh ruled the empire for a year before we sealed him and in that year Discord decided to spread his chaos north to Gilgamesh’s empire. This was a grave mistake, Gilgamesh while he did find Discords chaos amusing he did not appreciate it in his domain. So he did battle with Discord.”
Luna’s horn light up and an image of Discord wrapped in chains before biped in golden armour who was holding a sword at the Draconequus’s throat, appeared.
“The fight lasted for two days before Gilgamesh decided that enough was enough, and subdued Discord using his mystical chain called Enkidu and offered Discord an ultimatum.” Celestia took over for her sister “Leave his empire and never bring his chaos to it again and in return Gilgamesh would not intervene to stop Discord or his chaos outside of Gilgamesh’s empire or the alternative was death. I think you can guess what Discord chose”
“Wait a second if Gilgamesh really defeated Discord then why isn’t that recorded in history?” Twilight asked with confusion
“Gilgamesh didn’t defeat Discord where anyone but Celestia and I could see” Luna answered “And for some reason he did not see a point to spreading news of his victory. I believe his reasoning was ‘Why should I spread a tale of stepped how I stepped on a defeated a chimera and cast it out of my domain?”
“And we did not feel inclined to aid Gilgamesh either” Celestia replied “At that point we knew who the bigger threat was and feared that if news spread that Gilgamesh could beat even Discord then others would flock to his banner seeking protection or power. If that happened then a war seeking to free Gilgamesh would have been inevitable. It is why we sealed him away before we did Discord. Gilgamesh presented biggest threat at the time.”
“Wait, if they were fighting why you didn’t use the elements on Discord when Gilgamesh defeated him or seal Gilgamesh when he was exhausted?” Twilight asked
“We did not have the elements from the tree at the time” Celestia replied “And we did not have spell to trap Gilgamesh yet and he was not exhausted from the battle, only annoyed. It would have been too dangerous to confront either of them at that time.”
“Are all of your questions answered Twilight Sparkle?” Luna asked impatiently
“Yes that’s everything I can think of” Twilight replied with a nod
“Very well, then let us begin first Luna and I will release the chains and then we will tell you what to do” Celestia walked closed to the crystal with her sister. Their horns glowed and in their respective magical grips were two small keys one yellow and other blue.
The yellow key’s handle was in the shape of Celestia’s cutie and mark the blue in the shape of Luna’s. The two looked at each apprehensively and nodded. They placed the keys into the corresponding padlocks and turned them. There was a loud sound of metal grinding against metal and several locks being released before both padlocks dissolved into a golden dust like light. The chains quickly followed also dissolving into yellow dust, leaving the starry crystal that served as Gilgamesh’s prison unbound.
“Alright then, everypony ready your magic” Celestia ordered “We must do this is as one to break the crystal open and free him. One last thing Twilight Sparkle”
“Yes princess?” She asked
“No matter what Gilgamesh says or does to me and Luna, under no circumstances are you to try to stop, impede or avenge is if he decides to slay us. Equestria is more important than me or Luna. Do you understand?” Celestia asked seriously
“B-but Princess Equestria needs you and Luna” Twilight protested “How can I possibly-“
“Do you understand?!?” Celestia yelled causing Twilight to flinch
“Y-yes Princess I understand” Twilight replied quietly
“Good, Cadence and Twilight we will need to combine our magic to un-weave the spell” Luna instructed “On the count of three, One”
Luna and Celestia’s horns light up.
“Two”
Cadence’s horn light up with its very light blue aura. Twilights light up with her own purple aura, she struggled and brought her Alicorn magic to bear.
“Three” Luna bellow “Now everypony altogether”
The four Alicorn’s sent their combined magic at the starry crystal which began to rapidly glow. It became brighter and brighter until a golden glow began emanating from it. Shafts of the golden light shot out of the crystal and cracks began forming in it. Until finally the crystal exploded causing crystallised smoke to obscure the vision of the four Alicorn’s.
“I told you I would be free one day did I not?” an arrogant voice said form the centre of the smoke “Princess’s Celestia and Luna”
The smoke finally cleared revealing a figure that Twilight had only seen in depictions in books about his legend. There standing on two legs, towering above them all, with red eyes, blond hair and wearing his trademark golden armour, stood Gilgamesh the King of Heroes. The Slayer of the Dragon king, killer of the Great Alpha Diamond Dog, amongst many other titles afforded to him by his deeds both cruel and kind.
“Now then” golden ripples appeared in the space behind Gilgamesh. Numerous weapons appeared out of them, swords, axes, spears and other weapons that Twilight hadn’t seen before were all aimed at them. This was what the legends described, the Gate of Babylon an infinite treasury said to hold so many weapons and artefacts that even Gilgamesh himself didn’t know all of their names. “You have some guts to release me Celestia instead of waiting for me to simply break free. So then explain yourselves, why release me when I gave you my word I would return on my own. You must have known what fate awaits you”
Cadance stepped forward knelt down on her forelegs and Twilight mimicked her.
“Mighty King of Heroes please, I beg of you, stay your hand and hear our plea.” Cadance implored humbly
Gilgamesh was thoughtful for a moment. He was about to deny her and slay her where she was before a familiar voice echoed in his mind.
‘Just hear her out cousin it’s only fair’ Lucy’s voice begged in his mind ‘You’re not a heartless tyrant, you’re my cousin’
Gilgamesh extended his senses but couldn’t feel anything other than the usual. It must have just been his imagination, but regardless he made his mind up.
“I am not an unfair king. So I will give you all a chance to explain this plea to me” Gilgamesh replied “I will act according to how I feel, I you promise nothing. Now go one speak your plea”
“Thank you mighty one” Cadance said gratefully “The evil Lord Tirek has escaped from Tartarus, we sent Discord to try and stop him from stealing Equestrian magic but Discord joined forces with him instead. Now Tirek is growing stronger and stronger and it’s only a matter of time before he comes to us and takes our magic. We beg you please; help us in our dire hour of need”
“AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA” Gilgamesh erupted into laughter “Tirek, that eyesore of a mutant centaur is free? That’s hilarious; you really should find a better way to secure the impudent weaklings that you don’t want escaping from imprisonment Celestia. Of course for some there’s only one punishment and one alone that will stop these scum from sinning again.”
At that one of the spears in the air tensed as if ready to fire. For a few tense moments it seemed like Gilgamesh would simply kill them all, but suddenly all but one of the weapons dissolved into golden dust. Their respective ripples vanishing as the weapons returned back into the Gate of Babylon.
Celestia sighed and stepped forward lighting up her horn as she did.
“You know that isn’t our way Gilgamesh” Celestia replied “But please, aid us and will return to you what you value above all of the treasures within your Gate”
A horned biped girl with pink hair, a blue overcoat and pink shirt with jeans and a pair of black boots appeared sleeping in a floating yellow sphere above Celestia’s head. Gilgamesh stared at the sphere impassively for a few seconds.
“What is your answer Gilgamesh?” Celestia asked
His expression was unreadable for a few seconds.
“Mongrel” he growled
Quicker than Twilight could see the spear fired from the gate and shattered Celestia’s sphere, impaling the girl and nailing her to the ground behind them. Twilight and Cadance backed away with horror on their faces. Before Twilight could say anything the girl began to flicker and suddenly faded away in a burst of yellow light. The spear returned to the gate soon after.
“Did you seriously believe?” Gilgamesh growled with fury on his face “THAT SUCH A PATHETIC ILLUSION COULD ME!!!! I WHO KNOW MY COUSIN BETTER THAN ANYONE? NOT EVEN DISCORD HIMSELF COULD FOOL ME WITH AN ILLUSION OF MY COUSIN. NEVER MIND YOUR PATHETIC MAGIC”
In Gilgamesh’s hands appeared a very large golden sledgehammer. He stormed towards them causing Cadance to grab Twilight with her magic and drag her to the side out of harm’s way. He stomped past them and stood before Celestia with an expression of fury on his face that Twilight had never seen before even on their worst enemies as they were defeated.
Gilgamesh swung his hammer and smashed Celestia and Luna hard into the walls on opposite sides of the room. Bones could be heard crunching, as they impacted. The two princesses coughed but it seemed as though only their bones were broken and it wasn’t took serious.
“Consider that part of my punishment” Gilgamesh said stopping in front of the stained glass window that displayed Twilights ascension to Alicorn princess. He swung the hammer again and when it impact it not only shattered the window but tore large hole in the castle wall.
Celestia was silently thankfully she’d ordered the guards to stay out no matter what they heard. Suddenly appearing out of the Gate appeared the flying machine that Celestia recognised as the Vimana. Gilgamesh jumped aboard and sat on the throne.
“Know this Celestia, I will go Tartarus and free my cousin” Gilgamesh announced “Who knows, she always was the compassionate one, she may yet wish to help you. But for now so long Celestia. Time has surely taken its toll on you, you’re senile and weak. There’s no glory in crushing bugs. The only reason that I let you live is because I want my cousin to decide your final fate. Till then I am content to let you suffer. ”
With that the Vimana sped off into the distance, vanishing from sight completely. Cadance helped Luna up while Twilight hurried to help Celestia.
“Princess, are you ok?” Twilight asked with worry
“I am fine, just a broken rib or three” Celestia replied with a wince
“Auntie, I don’t understand something” Cadance said
“What don’t you understand Cadance” Celestia asked wearily
“Why didn’t you just give Gilgamesh his real cousin back?” Cadance asked “He might have helped us then”
The princess of the sun let out a deep breath.
“That is because…..I could not find her” Celestia confessed reluctantly
Twilight and Cadance gasped in surprise. Only Luna seemed unsurprised.
“It is as my sister says” Luna said “We scoured Tartarus to its very depths, but Lucy’s cell was empty. She was not there”
“So what can we do?” Twilight asked “I thought Gilgamesh was our last hope?”
“There is still hope regarding him” Celestia replied “I did not inform Gilgamesh for a reason. If I had simply told him that she was not there he may have flown into a rage killed us all.”
“It is a gamble” Luna continued “But if he goes to Tartarus and discovers his cousin missing for himself, he may come to the conclusion that she is in Equestria somewhere and with luck, he may see Tirek as a threat to her and slay him out of protective instinct.”
“For now however” Celestia said “We must hide our Alicorn magic so that Tirek cannot steal it until Gilgamesh returns. But it is a big gamble”
(Equestria, Appleloosa, Present Day)
The Draconequus known as Discord, spirit of chaos and disharmony was currently sitting on a rooftop watching Tirek drain the magic out of a bunch of earth ponies, his horns grew larger and curvier as he did so and his body grew larger and more muscled as more magic was drained from the Equestrian ponies.
Suddenly Discord felt a tremor run through his body; he sensed a power that he hadn’t detected for a very long time.
“Oh boy, so she released the Great Golden Grump did she?” Discord asked himself “She must be really desperate if she’s asking him of all people to help her. But I wish her good luck; he doesn’t take orders from anyone”
Discord considered telling Tirek for a second but discarded the notion. He was a big boy and could handle himself. He didn’t need Discord to baby him all the time surely, well that and he didn't want to be on Gilgamesh's bad side. He'd barely survived the first time he'd done that.
“So where to next Tirek old boy?” Discord asked his partner
“To Canterlot” Tirek replied “Now I have enough power to claim the Alicorn magic of the princesses”
Discord sensed Gilgamesh rapidly leaving Canterlot and relieved look passed on his face. He did not want a repeat of what happened a thousand years ago. It wasn’t that he was worried about the outcome of the fight or the damage it might do. No. Gilgamesh would defeat Tirek easily if it came down to it.
Also he might not be too pleased to see Discord had ‘reformed’ and that he had not bothered to free him when Discord escaped from his stone prison a couple of years back. Gilgamesh tended to take quite a few things as personal slights. If he remembered correctly he even killed the then Griffon king. Apparently the reason was ‘I am the one true king. The ruler of the world all others are mongrels pretenders to the title any who dare name themselves King in my royal presence shall seal their doom’ or something along those lines.
After Gilgamesh killed the Dragon king he was taken far more seriously, even Luna and Celestia hadn’t been able to scratch him and Gilgamesh and that cousin of his had killed the dragon with absurd ease. It was after this that he killed the Griffon king, and ever since then no nation had dared have a king as a leader. The Griffons had changed their leader to an Archon. The Minotaur’s had their Archduke who led the council of Dukes and Duchesses. The Zebras, well he wasn’t too sure about them Discord hadn’t bothered them too much, but if he was correct then what amounted to their leader was the high priestess or something of that nature.
Basically what it meant was that even to this day no one dared to dispute Gilgamesh’s title as a king. Those that did were rarely if ever seen alive again.
“Discord!” Tirek’s yelling of his name shook him out of his thoughts “Are you coming?”
“Oh sorry I was miles away” Discord said following Tirek as he began his trek to Canterlot and the princess’s magic.
(Equestria, Approching Tartarus, Present Day)
To say Gilgamesh was not happy would be a monumental understatement. He’d briefly returned to his empire in to pick up something that he’d hidden a long time ago. Now it was with him and held a surprise for Tirek. It was currently stored in a magical chest that was designed to preserve its contents. The chest in question lay near his feet of the throne on the Vimana but it was not the chest or its contents that was the object of his ire.
No those filthy equines had made a mockery of his empire, the Arcane workshops were gone as were the magical colleges and the Arcane university, the library was significantly smaller, the warp gates used to travel great distances to the other nations had vanished and his golden throne had been replaced. It was an insult of epic proportions.
“Mongrels” Gilgamesh growled “They’ll pay in time”
It was then that Gilgamesh noticed something heavy attached to the waist of his armour. He looked and saw a large amount of keys attach to a key ring. Upon closer inspection the keys were small yet golden. They had ‘Kings Law’ inscribed on them.
“Keys?” He wondered aloud “Why do I have keys? No lock can deny me entry so why would I have these?”
As he pondered this he felt a pulling sensation coming from the keys. He detected that they were taking a sample of his essence, so in anger he broke the key ring and scattered the keys. The tiny golden keys rained down but never hit the ground, instead falling into shadowy portals and drifting to different universes.
Gilgamesh sensed that he had reached his destination and so set himself down. The mountains and forests of Equestria had vanished. Instead he was in a far more craggy and mountainous area. It was dull and lifeless; no tree no plants, no animals absolutely nothing. But that was to be expected from the place where Tartarus’s gate was located.
He strode forward dismissing the Vimana back into the Gate of Babylon and walked into a cave directly ahead. Eventually the cave opened up into a chamber that had a metal doorway that seemed to be painted on the flat wall directly in front of him.
“So this is the doorway to Tartarus is it?” Gilgamesh asked himself “How very unimpressive”
A golden ripple appeared in the air and out of it came a fist sized black key with a skull design on the handle. This was the key that opened the door to Tartarus.
When Gilgamesh had arrived in Equestria the Gate of Babylon had scanned this universe and every single treasure and item of note within it. The prototypes were stored within the Gate. However there were so many of them that Gilgamesh did not know they were there until he looked. Even then he didn’t know what all of them did, or what their names were.
This was why he and his cousin went exploring in ruins for artefacts, because they had to know what they did first or it would be pointless to use them, because they might land to two in more trouble if they just used things at random and hoped for the best.
“Time to enter this dreary place and find my cousin” Gilgamesh sighed
He brought the key close to the door the top of the door and slowly drew it downwards. When he finished the painting split open and a white light shone from within. Within seconds after a pulling sensation Gilgamesh found himself inside Tartarus.
Tartarus itself was a mountainous place with hundreds of paths leading to different flat mountaintops with the cells of prisoners atop each. Gilgamesh was broken out of his surveying of the area by a loud growling. He looked to see a giant three headed black bulldog. He had red pupils and yellows eyes and a spiked collar on each neck.
“Cerberus” Gilgamesh sighed as he saw the magical collars around his neck “What have they done to do you boy?”
Cerberus growled angrily at him, but he was unfazed. Instead he reached up and tore all three collars off of the giant dog in rapid sucession. It looked dazed for a few seconds before shaking all three of its heads. Suddenly its size expanded, it continued growing until it easily dwarfed most mansions. Cerberus looked down at him and sniffed him before gaining a happy expression on all three faces.
“Using a magic collar on my dog?” Gilgamesh sighed shaking his head “Really Celestia is that the best you could come up with? But still this is just another reason why I shall punish you for what you’ve done”
Cerberus leant down to lick him but Gilgamesh raised a gauntleted hand.
“Ah! What did we say about licking?” Gilgamesh asked the dog
Cerberus whined in disappointment. Gilgamesh began his trek into Tartarus extending his senses to look for his cousin.
“Yes I know” Gilgamesh said “But you know what Lucy would be like if you started licking again. You remember what happened when you first met. She screamed and freaked out at the sight of you.”
Cerberus gave another whine as Gilgamesh continued scanning Tartarus trying to find his cousins energy signature.
“Yes I know but…” Gilgamesh paused as his senses had reached the very edges of Tartarus and came up with nothing.
His cousin was not here. Cerberus whined and backed away, but Gilgamesh did not care. Golden ripples appeared all around him in a sphere. Weapons all protruded out of all of them. However before he could unleash his fury upon the denizens of Tartarus he heard a sound. The sound of a portal opening, dumping three things out of it and then closing again.
Gilgamesh walked with Cerberus trailing behind him and found the source of the sound. He found Celestia, Luna and Cadance all chained to the ground. He could tell they were powerless, their Alicorn magic gone. But he didn’t sense Tirek’s extraction power on them.
Which meant they must have stored it elsewhere. The golden king strode towards them laughing, while withdrawing Gae Buidhe the Yellow Rose of Mortality. When one is wounded with this spear, the wound will never heal even by magic until the spear is destroyed by Gilgamesh himself.
“Well what do we have here?” Gilgamesh chuckled looming over the three Alicorns who looked at him weakly “A worn out old hag, a shadow and a usurper. All three of you have sinned against me. But only two of you deserve my punishment.”
With that Gilgamesh struck Celestia and Luna in the side with the spear. Both of them let out screams of pain. He was sure to avoid organs or vital spots but the wounds were deep. Thanks to their Alicorn immortality they wouldn’t be able to die from such a non-fatal wound however they would feel agony whenever they moved.
“What you are feeling is Gae Buidhe. A spear that leaves wounds that no magic can heal” Gilgamesh explained “And thanks to that pesky Alicorn immortality of yours such a wound won’t kill you either. While I could end you, I think this is a more fitting punishment, a wound that will never heal and you will never be able to die from it.”
Gilgamesh whistled and Cerberus lumbered over, he picked up an Alicorn in each mouth and lifted them off of the ground. He put Gae Buidhe away into the gate and withdrew a dagger. The blade was jagged like a lightning bolt and was a mix of colours and the handle was very decorative.
"This is Rule Breaker" Gilgamesh said as Cerberus lowered Cadence to his level.
Gilgamesh walked over to Cadance and stabbed her in the flank with it. Surprisingly she felt little pain and gave him a questioning look. He put the dagger back into the gate and jumped on top of Cerberus's middle head. But not before reopening the gate and depositing a large round metallic object where the three princesses were held.
"Don't be relieved Cadance" Gilgamesh said not looking at her "With Rule Breaker I just severed your connection to the Crystal Heart. With that my rule has no challenge to it. Not that you were ever a threat to begin with."
Cadance lowered her head in defeat as the giant dog whose mouth she was in lumbered its way through the doorway and out of Tartarus. Cerberus broke free of the stone cave and lumbered its way through the rocky landscape. It stopped only to retrieve the chest that Gilgamesh had retrieved from the Crystal Empire.
Celestia raised her head weakly as she looked back at the unguarded Tartarus which was now a great distance away now thanks to the Cerberus’s giant strides.
“Gilgamesh, please without Cerberus to guard Tartarus the creatures there will-”
*KABOOM*
Celestia’s protest was cut off as an earth shattering explosion occurred behind them. Where Tartarus used to be was now a giant cloud in the shape of a mushroom. The shockwave knocked Cerberus off balance a bit but they were far enough away to not be too shaken by the explosion and continued its trek back to civilization.
“Please give me some credit Celestia” Gilgamesh said without looking at her “I do possess foresight you know. Now that I know my cousin is not in that place I no longer have any use for it. So its denizens can be safely disposed of. What you just saw was the original of the atomic bomb that destroyed Hiroshima a city from my world and as you cans see a force of great destructive power.”
Celestia sighed, she knew that many of the creatures in Tartarus deserved to be imprisoned, but she never knew anypony that deserved death. Even Tirek didn’t deserve to die, but Gilgamesh’s thinking was alien to her, she never understood him a thousand years ago, nor did she now.
“Sister, what are we going to do?” Luna asked “it would seem we have traded a powerful tyrant for an even more powerful one”
“I don’t know Luna” Celestia said with despair “I just don’t know”
Author's Note
Ok and that's it, I apologise for any spelling and grammar errors that I've missed, also Gilgamesh is now available for summoning. Just PM with the details first so we can talk about it.
