Introduction: The Beginning of the End
The Beginning of the End
“Damn ponies....This is a ridiculous punishment...but...I suppose it’s better than death...poor Dragah...” Gradis grumbled to himself to himself. He looked around at his work, carrying boxes for a meager pay.
“I suppose it’s better than ordinary community service.”
He glanced at his hands, he had been stripped of his grenade launcher and scythe, all that remained was two claws, four fingers on each hand.
The grey Pirate mumbled as he stacked a group of boxes. He looked at the clock, 4:30, his work was done. He stumbled out of the large warehouse, and into a small office. There was a blue unicorn sitting there, she looked up as the former-grenadier stood before her, an open palm jutting from his body.
The unicorn grunted, then picked up three, golden coins with her magic, levitating them to the awaiting entity in front of her.
“Now...get out of here...I can’t stand the sight of you...” she growled.
“Fine...whatever...” Gradis moaned. He looked at her one more time, then put the coins in a small drawstring pouch attached to his waist.
He looked around of the crowd pointing at him, glaring. He felt humiliated, he felt depressed, his entire platoon was wiped out, Dragah Mahgra’s platoon was wiped out, and Ridley was dead. He was the only one left, and he wallowed into a world of hate and shame.
He kept on walking until he reached a small building, he walked in, and was greeted by a glare from the two ponies inside. A small, light-purple unicorn, and a larger, grey pegasus. Gradis didn’t know about either of them much, but he assumed that the pegasus was the unicorn’s mother.
“Well...thank you, again, for letting me stay here, Miss Derpy Hooves.” the Pirate said.
Derpy glared at him again, and replied with a snooty, “Oh...whatever...”
Gradis sighed, he walked over to a small sofa so he could somewhat sit down, sick of squatting in the small building. The grey mailmare looked at her houseguest, she could see in his glaring, yellow eyes that he was swamped with regret and shame. She groaned, then mumbled, “Mister...um...Mis-”
“Magis....Mister Gradis Magis...”
“Right...Anyways...I’m really sorry that you have to be like this...and I know neither me or my daughter treat you with much respect...but...could you forgive us?”
Gradis was confused, the normally bubbly, rather slow pony sounded very intelligent. He looked at her, still seeing that she had her walleyed expression, then thanked her.
“So...perhaps...well...tomorrow’s your day off? Right?”
“Yeah...I think so...why?”
“Well, maybe we could travel Ponyville for a bit...get you more...well...well-suited?”
“I suppose so.”
“Great!”
Derpy started bouncing up and down rather energetically. Her daughter looked at her with a smile, while the Aetherian Space Pirate looked at her with confusion. Gradis shook his head, and chuckled. Normally, he would’ve taken the two ponies’ heads off with his scythe, but stripped of all his weapons, he learned to accept his new lifestyle.
The grey pegasus stopped as she heard a distant rumbling. Inquisitively, she and Gradis walked outside, and the Pirate stopped, speechless.
A large, meteorite-like object was coming down, fast, a bright-yellow aura surrounding it. It shot through the atmosphere, then landed, sending a shockwave across the town, and blowing out several windows.
“Miss Hooves-”
She cut him off, “My friends call me Derpy.” she said with a smile.
“Well then...Derpy...I’m going to go see what that was...because I think I know what it is.”
“Do you want me to come along?”
“No. It’s fine, plus, it’d be a bit dangerous.”
“Oh...okay...”
Gradis turned around, then started in the direction of the meteor.
“Are you sure she would want us to do this, Twi’?”
“Yes Rainbow, she would want us to take care of him for her.”
Rainbow Dash grunted in annoyance as Twilight looked at the small, white rabbit standing before them. The lavender pony tried holding him, but he rejected. “Face it, Twi’, Fluttershy’s the only pony that Angel will let them touch.” the daredevil intervened.
“Yeah...but Fluttershy isn’t here, anymore, remember?” Twilight snapped.
“Look, all I need to do, is-” she was cut off as a small speck appeared in the small library. The two ponies then screamed as the small speck became a large, black cloud. It hung in the air for a moment, then started drifting towards Angel.
MUSICAL CONTENT NOTICE:
This is a quick note to tell you to open this song in another tab to boost the overall effect, enjoy! MP2: Echoes: Possessed Soldier Theme
“No! Twilight! STOP IT!” Rainbow Dash screamed in vain, but it was too late.
The black mass enveloped the rabbit in itself, they looked in horror of the monster Angel began mutating into. His white fur became a shade of purple, his eyes turned red, his small, buck-teeth became sharp mandibles, and his paws turned into lizard-like claws.
The mutated creature arched its back, then roared. It came back down, and started walking slowly to the two friends. “Twilight...DO SOMETHING!”
Twilight nodded, and, seconds later, her horn began glowing. She shot out a beam of magic, and it hit the monster. It got knocked back, but didn’t seem to do much else.
Angel spread his legs and planted his feet, then roared again, Twilight noticed how different it sounded, not even like an normal animal. She yelled in fear as a purple orb began forming in front of the bunny, then it fired. The ball hit the wall, and exploded, taking out a decently-sized chunk of it.
Gradis darted past to get to the impact sight, then heard the anguished scream of the two ponies. He stopped, then thought Hm...looks like they need h-. Then he heard the roar of the creature.
He stood there, eyes wide, No...it-...it can’t be.... He rushed inside of the building, then ran upstairs. He saw the two ponies backed against the wall, then saw it. The bunny turned its head, and looked at Gradis.
They stood there for a moment, then the creature charged.
Gradis got out of the way as the bunny hit the wall, it turned around, and prepared to charge again. This time, Gradis held out his palm, and caught the creature. He put it to the ground, and started punching it. It damaged the creature, but only slightly, he then looked at Twilight, and shouted, “Quick! Do you know any spells that fire a direct source of light?” in a raspy tone.
“Yeah....one...but-” Twilight was cut off as Magis screamed “USE IT ON THIS THING!”
The unicorn nodded quickly, then prepared for another blast of magic. In a matter of seconds, her horn glowed white, and a beam of white light fired and made its target.
She looked in horror as Angel started convulsing, burning from the immense power of the spell. Then, the black vapor left the body, and disappeared.
They ran around Angel, but it was too late, he was dead.
“Gradis....I...what-...What was that?” Twilight asked, shaking.
The Pirate looked at the two ponies, then said “Let’s take a seat, then I’ll explain.”
Gradis looked at the two ponies from the table, then began.
“When I worked on Aether as a grenadier, we were at war with this race of creatures. They had their own dark variant of the world, and they could travel between dimensions.”
“What’re these things called?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“The Ing. A race of malevolent creatures hell-bent on taking over every world they come to. How they managed to attack so quickly after the Leviathan hit is a-”
“The Leviathan?” Twilight inquired.
“A phazon-based creature that takes the form of a native of that planet. They come from the planet Phaaze, but...I don’t understand how one could come here after it was destroyed by the Federation.”
“Phazon? Phaaze? The Federation? I...I don’t-...What are you talking about?”
“I can’t explain now...but the Ing, as we speak, are creating a dark doppelganger of Equestria. That rabbit-”
“Angel.” the ponies interrupted in unison.
“Angel was possessed by a darkling, he was already dead the second the thing took over his body. I’m sorry, but that’s how it works. There’s only one way we can deal with the Ing, and that’s by killing the Emperor.”
Gradis moaned, then looked at the pegasus and unicorn, “The Princess is the only one who we can consult with. If we don’t do it fast enough, they’ll start spreading. And we’ll-”
He stopped as the vague screams came from down the street. He looked out the window, and his jaw hung slack.
Three, massive, black creatures, looking halfway between a hand and a spider. It had five, thin legs, a large, red eye, and several, tentacle like appendages behind it.
“No...No...This-...This can’t be happening...How...HOW?!” Gradis screamed on the last word. “What...Gradis...what is it?” Twilight asked, confused.
“Warrior Ing...they’re looking for us.”
A/N:
Sorry for this being the shortest story I’ve ever written. However, this is the introduction. This takes a bit after Ridley in Ponyville, and I understand it spoils a little of what happens in the future. But, because of my bad memory (Freakin’ ADHD), I wanted to get at least the intro done on this. I hope you all enjoy!
Chapter 1: Warriors of Darkness
A/N: Similar to Ridley in Ponyville for those who know that story, I linked songs in the chapter to bump up immersion. Anyways, on with the story!
Chapter One: Warriors of Darkness
Gradis looked in dismay at the group of Ing Warriors. They were looking for him. He looked at Twilight and Rainbow, who were both equally confused and frightened.
“Okay, look, they most likely do not know that I am here, so we may be able to stay safe for a while...”
“For a while? FOR A WHILE?! We need to take care of these things, NOW! You saw what happened to Angel?” the rainbow-maned pegasus shouted frantically.
“Yes, but do you realize that if you don’t calm down, and shut the hell up, the Ing will hear you, find you, and kill you...?”
Rainbow Dash just stared in fright at the grey creature. Shrugging her off, he turned to Twilight. “Warrior Ing are extremely powerful compared to you ponies. We are nowhere in our ability to destroy them. I would be able to with my grenade launcher, if your moronic princess didn’t confiscate my weapons.”
“Hey! Nopony calls Princess Celestia ‘moronic’!” the two of them scolded.
“Do you think I even care? I’m from a completely different planet, how should I know about your customs?”
“Well, you have been living here for a while...” Twilight intervened.
“Whatever...Look, if you could at least use your magical unicorn powers or whatever to give me some armament, that would be wonderful.”
“I don’t know how to produce weapons, though...”
“Look, we can’t just charge blindly into these things, especially a group of them. Worse, the next thing you know, you can have portals all over the damn place, and Warrior Ing, Hunter Ing, Inglets, everyone will just come and invade. For all we know, that could be the exact reason that these Ing are here, to scout out places to open portals.”
He looked at the Warriors again, they seemed to be standing completely still, occasionally looking around with their one, creepy eye.
“Look, perhaps we can trick them into attacking each other. It’s quite a gamble, but it could work...” Gradis mumbled, pulling his head from the window.
The grey alien looked back out the window, the Ing remained still. Rainbow stood at an adamant position, posed to jump out the window. “I’ll do it, they can’t do much, right?” the young daredevil inquired.
“I have seen my closest men, my superiors, even some brave children die at the wretched hands of those creatures. I had one of the most dangerous jobs of most Space Pirates, and I know what these...things...do.”
He sighed, shaking his head. “But, still, it is no illusion that these will remain here until I, or anyone, in that matter, is found”
He looked down at Twilight, who seemed to be on the verge of tears. “Twilight Sparkle, I am powerless without my weaponry, but you may have a chance against them.”
Rainbow Dash dropped from her position, and turned around, staring at the once-malicious creature with wide eyes, shocked.
“Are you NUTS?!” she screamed.
“No, I’m being completely serious. Your friend is the only one able to destroy such a creature. With a light spell that she had used on Angel, she may be able to hold them off. They’re called ‘Warriors of Darkness’ for a reason. Their prime weakness is light.”
The Pirate began walking to the stairs, the two mares following him. They eventually reached the door, Gradis opened it slowly. “We must move quickly, they will find out eventually.
Rainbow turned to her friend, she normally would make a smart remark, or some other comment, but instead, the cyan pegasus locked her friend in a tight embrace. “Good luck, Twi’.” she murmured, for the first time in a long time, the maverick shed a tear.
Twilight returned the hug, then moved towards the entryway. Magis nodded, saying, “Good luck, Twilight Sparkle.”
With that, she stepped outside.
She began walking slowly towards the Darkling soldiers. Oddly enough, they didn’t notice her. She continued walking, always keeping a watchful and worried eye on the creatures. Finally, one scanning the street laid its eye on her.
The lavender pony stopped in her tracks. Fear had caused her legs to lock up. With a high-pitched roar, the Warrior called its mates to order, who began walking towards her. The monsters stopped halfway, and, with that, the lead one lunged.
Before she could react, the gap was closed and the creature tackled her to the ground. Her legs were pinned to the ground with four of the Ing’s legs, the fifth was put to her throat. She tried to scream for help, but the Warrior had put more and more pressure on her airway with the passing seconds.
With her consciousness beginning to fade, she looked into the creature’s eye. A quick glance could easily show that the monster had no soul, all that was in its piercing gaze was hate and malice.
Trying to focus her thoughts to her horn, Twilight began to attempt a light spell. A bright flash flowed to her cusp, and it had managed to distract the Darkling. Trying to get her to stop, the creature moved its fifth leg from her throat. With the leg gone, she takes in a large breath of air, and fires her magic. The orb of light seemed to burrow its way into the Ing’s body. It screamed and thrashed around, releasing its grip completely as it burned.
The mare scrambled away as the others stared in awe of its leader. Finally, the burns began to fade away, and the Warrior crumpled to the ground. The Ing stared at Twilight Sparkle, who simply returned it with wide eyes. Panic began to come over her as they began walking towards her.
One moved in front, and, seemingly taking the place of its fallen leader, arched up, and roared. With adrenaline surging through her veins, the filly turned around and began sprinting away, the Ing doing the same.
She turned her head, and saw that the creatures were quickly catching onto her. She haplessly tried to focus energy to her horn, but the panic she was feeling kept her concentration to what lied ahead of her.
But all the energy in the filly’s minute body couldn’t help her. Within minutes after the Warrior Ing had begun pursuing her, she tired out. Without any options, she turned around, and saw that they had stopped. With another screech, the lead had opened up a circular object in front of him.
In an attempt to get away, Twilight turned completely around, and began sprinting away. But her burst of energy couldn’t do much.
A high-pitched wail followed as a white beam soared from the portal. Slicing its way through the air, and into Twilight hindleg.
She tried to scream, but she couldn’t. She was in too much shock as the beam sliced into her skin. Her eyes widened, her pupils dilated, and she fell to the ground.
She tried to look around, her vision blurred. But all that she saw was the Ing, standing over her, preparing to claim its kill. But before it could deal a final blow, something happened.
A blur of blue flashed past, and smashed into the Warrior, knocking it down.
She tried to look around again, but she couldn’t. Finally, after several painfully tantalizing minutes, she closed her eyes, and passed out.
She woke up a while later, but she wasn’t on the street. She was in a bed, in a large white room, bottles and monitors surrounding her. She looked down, and saw her leg. It was wrapped in a bloody bandage, telling her that what had happened was real.
She closed her eyes again, then heard a voice.
“Is she going to be alright, Doctor?” the voice sounded like Rainbow’s.
“She’s going to be fine, just thank Celestia that you got her here, what did you say it was?” a masculine voice asked.
“The Ing...’Warriors of Darkness’, Magis called them.”
“Magis? Gradis Magis? The Space Pirate?”
“Yep.”
Twilight opened her eyes, her familiar, cyan friend was standing next to a golden-coated doctor. Rainbow Dash was very excited, and rushed up to her bedside.
“Hey, Twi’, how’re you feeling?” she asked, worry heavy in her voice.
“Well...my...leg hurts...but...I think I’ll be fine...where’s Gradis?” she responded.
“I dunno’, I saw him walking down the street, after I got you...’Said he was going to get Princess Celestia?”
“He knows he’d have to go all the way to Canterlot, right?”
“Yeah...so...should we go with him?”
“Probably.”
Twilight began moving, but rolled off the bed. Falling onto the white tile with a painful grunt.
Rainbow chuckled, and walked over to help her up. “Your leg is still damaged, you won’t be able to walk on it for a while.” the doctor muttered.
The lavender mare nodded, and began hobbling, her friend at her side. But before she could reach the door, it was thrown open, and a dark blue flash came flying through the room. It stopped at the two friends, and the haze was cleared to reveal Princess Luna, looking quite panicked.
“P-Princess Luna? What happened?” the two asked in unison.
“No time, Twilight Sparkle...My sister...She...something happened, you have to come with me...” she wheezed in response.
“What? What do you mean?”
“I don’t know! You’ll just have to see for yourself...”
With that, the Princess of the Night’s horn began glowing, and the three materialized.
A brief moment later, they reappeared in a large bedroom. Too massive beds, one accompanied by...
“Oh...my...” Twilight strayed from her sentence as she saw what the princess had become.
She looked sickly, extremely thin, her long, flowing mane drained of color and limp. Her eyes were barely open, and all that came out of her mouth was a quiet, shaky breath.
“What-...What happened to her?!” the two asked.
“I don’t know, ever since that meteor landed, she’s been completely washed up! I don’t know what it could’ve be-”
She stopped in her sentence as commotion began coming from out the door.
“Halt! Nopony is allowed into her Highness’ quarters unless she says so.” and official voice barked.
“You don’t understand! I know what’s wrong with her! You need to let me explain!” replied a raspy, growling voice.
“How can we trust someone like you after the losses your leader caused?”
“I was arrested! Stripped of anything to defend myself! Lord Ridley is dead! But there’s an even greater risk at stake, you need to listen to me!”
Luna walked over, and opened the door. A grey, lizard-like creature stood tall over the two guards, looking exhausted, panting heavily, a red, round organ on the surface of his body beating rapidly.
“Who are you?”
“Gradis Magis...but that’s not important, and your sister is in dan-”
“How do you know about the state of my sister?”
“Because she’s the epitome of light in your land, energy that the Ing seek, and the reason why she’s probably in a frail, weakened state.”
Staring at him for a brief moment, the regal mare let him through, where he immediately rushed to what the princess had become.
He stood over Celestia, the mare barely noticing him. And, using whatever strength the Ing had left in her, asked, “W-Who....are....y-you?”
“Someone that knows why you’re like this.”
“Wh-what’s...going...o-on...?”
“That meteor wasn’t a normal meteor, Princess Celestia, that meteor was a living organism, called a Leviathan.”
“Levia-what?” several in the room asked?
“Leviathan, a creature made from a mutagenic element known as ‘Phazon’, they have the ability to produce Phazon-based creatures as well, the threat we are facing, amongst them.”
“What are we facing, exactly.” one of the ponies in the room had asked.
“They’re called...The Ing...a sentient race of dark creatures that destroy everything in their path. They have no will to reason, and feel no remorse in what they had done to...her...” he responded, pointing to the princess’s fragile form.
“Princess Celestia is the light-bearer of Equestria, she shares half of the energy that this planet uses. When the Leviathan impacted the surface, a carbon-copy of this place was created. But, like any celestial body, it needs some sort of energy to remain stable. Thus, the Ing harvested her power.”
He turned around, and faced Luna. “If we don’t act fast, and kill the probable controller of this energy; the Emperor Ing, and return it...They will go and harvest Princess Luna’s energy, and Equestria, and everywhere surrounding it, will be on the verge of planetary collapse.”
Several horrified gasps throughout the room. Magis continued, “Merely hours ago, we were assaulted by a group of Warrior Ing, and one had managed to injure Twilight Sparkle.”, motioning his hand to Twilight’s wrapped leg.
“This is extremely important, we must prepare every populated area in Equestria for an invasion. Their only weakness, however, is light. While the normal atmosphere here can’t hurt them, a concentrated burst of energy is enough to destroy the creature.”
He kneeled down towards Celestia, and said, “I need my weapons, I must be able to fight, Princess.”
Weakly, she responded, “Your...w-weapons are in....t-the...basement of the...c-castle...I will l-let you...g-get them...”
He nodded, a guard was standing still at the door, his eyes beckoning him to follow.
Twilight and Rainbow Dash walked up to their fallen leader, who weakly muttered, “Y-you...must go with...G-Gradis...and-...find this...’Emperor-...Ing’...”
However, through the haze of the violent assault on Equestria, something much more sinister was being planned out on its doppelganger. And, in the atrium of the planet’s copied palace, lay a monster beyond words. A massive, black puddle of some substance lay below a glowing orb of pure energy.
Slowly, it awoke.
The orange ball of energy above it was quickly consumed as a pedestal of darkness rose up to it, a black mass quickly formed over it, and eight, long, spiked appendages rose from the front of it, the tip finally swirling into a massive eye.
As it took its shape, two Warriors had moved up in their puddle-like form, and materialized into their spider-esque shape. With that, the massive creature spoke. To any normal creature, it would have sounded like a mindless, psychotic babble, but to the Ing, it was speech.
What is it?
One of the Warriors moved up slowly, bowed slightly, and responded, My Lord, the mysterious warrior in metal armour had destroyed it before, one that was under your predecessor’s control. But, by taking a small bit of power from your source, we have recreated Amorbis.
Amorbis? From what I understand as a youngling, it was destroyed by this ‘Mysterious Warrior.’
Yes, but we have managed to recreate anew, and we plan on using it to guard your energy source.
It stared for a brief moment, most likely in confusion, but difficult to percieve with its emotionless face. And, with that, the Emperor Ing moved slightly, revealing the orange mass of stolen energy. And, after a couple of moments, a beam shot from it, going outwards, outside of the palace. With that, the mass darkened slightly, and it covered itself once more.
Looking back at its servants, it asked, Also, what has happened to the group we had sent through the portal?
One, with its glassy stare focused on its leader, replied, From what I can recollect, the leader of the group was destroyed, and the second-in-command was injured.
Have they returned yet?
No, not yet, My Lord. We...also had another get through, and attempted possession of one of the denizens of the planet, but it was quickly destroyed.
By the same who destroyed our original group?
Yes...but both were defeated with the help of a...Space Pirate, previously from...Aether
The Emperor threw its tentacles into a flared position, roaring. What?!
It cooled down some, lowering its arms, asking, Is it one we have seen before?
Yes, an explosives-oriented Pirate, we do not know his name.
That is settled, then, he is our target priority, and I do not care if we even have to send the mighty Amorbis to destroy him. He needs to be removed, he could jeopardize this whole invasion.
Yes, My Lord.
Bowing one more time, the two Warrior Ing moved out of the room. The Emperor looked up into the sky, and back down. It will be destroyed... it muttered to itself.
