Garry's Mod Vs. Equestria 2: War in the North

The stallion crawled, bleeding, into a corner and ducked his head, cowering. His left front leg was gone, leaving only a tattered stump that spewed dark blood over him. He looked up and his pupils shrunk to pinpricks. "No... No. No, nononono! No!" He flashed a pitiful expression. "Please! I did nothing to you! I'm merely a guard here!"

His eyes went wider as the barrel leveled with his head. "No! Please! I'll do anything! Anything! I'll be you slave! I'll wash your clothes! I'll suck your di-" The automatic shotgun roared as the entire weapon was emptied, turning his head and upper body into bloody tatters.

I lowered my shotgun and shook my head in disgust. "I fucking hate this place." I reloaded my weapon as I trudged through the remains of the temple, searching for survivors. But more than that, I was searching for Umbra. Somehow, I didn't believe that a few small nukes would kill her. No, that's not how it works with these things. Usually in video games, the villain lives, holds somebody you know hostage, then you kill them in an epic final confrontation.

Well... that was how it happened in video games, at least. But, truth be told, I wasn't sure whether or not I was in a video game, some alternate dimension, or just some stress-induced mental breakdown and I was laying on my bedroom floor twitching and foaming at the mouth.

I kicked a large chunk of rubble out of my way and made my way into a large chamber.

I thought about what I had confessed to Umbra. Truthfully, I had no idea where that had come from. And I had even less of an idea if it was true or not. I felt alive when I used my Gmod powers. I felt as if I had control over the life and destiny of the universe itself. So why... Why did I believe myself?

I shook my head with a growl. "I'll never get anywhere if I get all feely and confused," I scolded myself. "Just focus. Focus on finding Umbra." Keeping a semi-level head I explored the chamber. Surprisingly some of the statues were intact, and even a few painting and wall carvings were still hanging. I slowed my pace to looked at them each. Most of them were of ponies doing heroic things, or accomplishing great feats of combat. But a few of the paintings were a bit more tame; depicting mares and stallions together on a battlefield, relaxed--presumably after the fighting was over--smiling and huddled together. A few were portraits of Iron ponies striking poses, wearing regal attire, or armor that could belong to high ranking officers.

I walked farther into the chamber, passing toppled and shattered pew-like benches and the occasional crumbled alter. It wasn't until I was about half way through that I looked away from the statues and paintings on the wall long enough to notice a huge painting hanging above... well, calling it a shrine would be unjust. It was an enormous stepped platform that looked like it had been carved from the wall itself, instead of being added on later. On it were scorched flowers and ruined food, shattered bottles of drink, and hundreds of other various offerings; all that was missing was a virgin sacrifice tied to a stone pillar, and it would be fit for a god. I looked at the painting to see a stallion, clad in armor with a huge sword strapped across his back, smiling at me. Well, at whoever was viewing the painting, at least.

I stood very close to the shrine looking at the painting. The stallion, for all intents and purposes, looked very handsome. Like someone who was confident and knew what he was doing in life. He wasn't very tall, and didn't look very strong--maybe a bit above average on both counts. But the things that drew my attention the most was his face. His smile was genuine, happy and a bit mischievous. He had coal black eyes, thick black hair, and very light, almost silky fur. And he had no horn. If not for the snowy backdrop and the enormous crystalline city behind him in the background, I would have thought him to be a regular earth pony. He looked very familiar. Although how that was possible I had no idea as I had never seen him before.

I couldn't help but feel a bit bad for destroying this room. It felt like I had wronged the stallion in the painting by harming the mountain and destroying the temple.

I looked down at my shotgun and frowned. At my frown the shotgun turned into a single shot rifle; an M21 with a CQB sight to be exact. "No need to destroy this place any more," I said with a grimace.

"Restraining yourself now won't matter," a voice said from the other end of the room.

I started in surprise at the sudden appearance of it. Without much grace I spun, nearly tripping over a dead Iron pony in doing so, and raised my rifle at the mare who had spoken. "It's time to die, Umbra."

She scoffed and started walking towards me. She drew closer and closer, yet she did nothing. She was thirty feet away. Twenty feet. She was within reach but still she did nothing.

I was about to squeeze the trigger, but something stopped me. She wasn't looking at me. She was looking past me, at the shrine. And before I realized it she had walked past me and was standing at the base of it, gazing up at the painting.

She stood there for nearly a minute before she sighed and began straightening out the offerings. "I had hoped the spell on this room would have protected it. But it seems that your little fireworks were too much even for my most powerful wards." She looked up at the painting and said something too quiet for me to hear clearly while she tidied the shrine.

I knitted my eyebrows together in a frown. "What are you doing?" I demanded, waving my rifle at her threateningly.

She answered without looking at me. "I'm fixing my father's shrine."

I opened my mouth to make a sarcastic and hurtful comment, but stopped when her words actually registered. Instead of being rude, I asked, "Why does your father have a shrine here?" I looked up at the painting, into his smiling eyes. "Was he important?"

Umbra nodded as she righted a vase full of burnt flowers. "He was our greatest king," she told me. "He saved our people from famine, drought, disaster and war, all before he started to grow stubble." She glared at a shattered bottle of wine before sweeping the broken pieces off of the shrine. "He even led the first assault against your kind."

I looked at Umbra and raised an eyebrow in question. "How'd that go for him?" I asked out of genuine curiosity.

She snorted. "About as well as you'd think," she said with a shake of her head. "Until then we thought that you Humans were just savages living in caves and stealing our mares and foals for trophies and food." She picked up the last broken piece of an offering and faced me. "He took a hundred warriors with him into a small camp of Humans." She shook her head again, and continued at my questioning look. "The only survivor was a young stallion. According to him, there were only about twenty Humans camped there, but my father and the rest of them were slaughtered within minutes. He died in his bed a few hours after he told us what had happened."

"What happened then?" I knew I should be killing her, but I was kind of interested in her story.

She rolled her eyes. "Well, of course the Humans were angry with us for attacking them, so they launched a counter attack and wiped out half a dozen villages in as many days. They were more organized than us, they were faster than us, and they were far more deadly than us. So we had to outsmart them. And eventually, I found a way to beat them."

I had a feeling I knew where this was going.

She tapped her horn with a hoof and winced slightly. "I found an old book deep within the archives that told me how to obtain powers beyond even the twin sisters Luna and Celestia."

"And you took over the war and wiped them out?" I guessed.

She nodded. "Yes, after a time. The conflict went on for years, and I lost far too many ponies. And during all this Celestia and Luna refused to help us, because 'we started it, and we should be able to finish it'." She scoffed. "In truth they just wanted the Crystal Empire, and they were hoping the Humans would destroy us and they could have it."

"Really?" I asked suspiciously. "I've been here before, and those two didn't know what I was."

"That's because they sat in their castle while my ponies died!" she hissed at me. "They never showed up to help us, so of course they wouldn't have any idea what a Human was!"

"But enough talk," she said as she stalked towards me, an evil grin spreading across her face.

I raised my rifle up, the red dot right on her forehead. "Back off, or I'll kill you here and now."

Umbra just stared at me with a look of confidence. "Go ahead. Kill me."

I stopped myself from pulling the trigger. Not yet I thought. "I am going to kill you," I threatened.

She raised a brow at me and began walking closer.

I tensed and took a step back. "Stop!"

She stopped moving and gazed at me. She didn't really look that threatening in that moment; her hair was a mess and she had several small cuts on her. There was also an almost unnoticeable limp to her movements as well.

I looked back at her with a scowl. "Do you want to die? Is that it?!" I stepped closer, gripping the gun tighter. "If you are then I'll gladly put a bullet in your head!"

She smiled at me then. "Do it and see what happens."

I shot her a dirty look. "You think I won't?"

"Not if you want to live, you won't," she said.

I stared. "What?" was all I could manage.

She smiled a bit wider and continued to walk towards me. "My magic is still deep within you, Human. You still belong to me. All it would take is a single thought and your heart would explode." She took the last steps to reach me and smiled evilly up at me. "It would be very easy to do." As if to emphasize her point her horn lit up and it became very difficult to stand or breathe, or even think for a few seconds. "Unfortunately though..." She sighed and began to circle me. "Because of your little stunt with the explosives I had to use most of my power just to survive. So turning you into a mindless slave would be too taxing--at least until I recover, that is." She brushed against my thigh and hummed happily, and giggled at my angry expression. "All I have strength for after that explosion is keeping you under my control, keeping myself alive..." She smiled at me devilishly. "... And killing you."

I felt a little stab at my heart when she said that. Whether from panic or from some outside--or rather, inside--influence I wasn't sure. "I don't see how any of this stops me from killing you. A bullet is a whole lot faster than thoughts or words."

She stood in front of me and smiled. "Because my magic is the only thing keeping you alive. And if I die, you die."

My mouth fell open and my spine went cold. "You're lying," I said. "That's not how it works! That's bullshit!"

She slowly shook her head at me. "No. This is how it works: you do everything I say, how and when I say it; you treat me with the respect I deserve; and help me reclaim my rightful place on the crystal throne. After all of that, if I'm satisfied with your performance, then, and only then, will I pull my magic out of you."

"I don't believe you!" I shouted, pushing the barrel of my rifle against her nose. "You're a fucking liar!"

She chuckled. "Then kill me. You'll find out whether I'm lying or not very quickly."

I held my gun against her muzzle while I considered what she said. Was she lying? Could she be lying? Maybe and maybe not. She's sadistic enough to force me to kill for her, so I didn't put this past her. But what if she weren't lying? What if I could just kill her and be done with it? But could I take that chance, knowing that my mission would never be completed if I was wrong?

I growled at her and lowered my rifle. "Fine," I spat. "I'll let you live for now. But after you have the Crystal Empire you better release me."

She hummed happily. "Are you really in any place to be making demands?"

I scowled at her.

She chuckled and lit her horn, sending a lance of pain through me and making me fall to my knees. She smiled down at me, being as large as she was she was an inch or two higher than me. "I own you," she hissed. "You no longer have free will. You no longer live for yourself. You belong to me, body, mind and soul." She got uncomfortably close to my face. "Do you understand me?" she breathed.

I glared into her face. "I'll help you... but I won't submit to you. To you, or to anybody. I'll die before I break."

She smiled and made a small noise of pleasure. "And here I was thinking you might make this boring." She tapped her chin and hummed in thought for a few seconds. "I believe I have your first orders."

I growled inwardly but said nothing.

She smiled down at me. "Since you made me use all my energy to stay alive, I'm feeling tired. You're going to carry me to the Crystal Empire, and then we're going to take it over."

I snorted at her. "Do you really think it's going to be that easy? Celestia and Luna, as well as Twilight and the other Elements of Harmony are probably going to be there. Do you honestly think we can just waltz in there and take over?"

She scoffed and waved a hoof at me. "Of course we can! With your powers fueled by my magic, what could possibly go wrong?"

I closed my eyes and took a very deep breath, just before slowly facepalming.