~Chapter Ⅱ: Cinders~
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He says we're all treated as equal, that's coming from a squad of shape shifters, at least they aren't changelings, still, he acts like he's the one in charge here, I think I may be underestimating him, we have to set up camp for the night, I hope everything will go smoothly tomorrow.
"Wake up everypony! Time to go!" Lorenzo shouted, which was definitely by itself enough to wake everypony up. I'm certainly going to have to learn to hate him.
"We head to the west, I can see a large building towering up to the heavens, I assume that's where they are being held," Lorenzo said, me and the others just stared in shock,
"Jesus! What was their budget when building this place?" the stocky pony known as Shayne asked,
"I don't know, but it won't matter if we blow it up," Lorenzo said,
"Isn't that a bit overkill?" I asked,
"Sometimes you gotta be overkill to get your point across," Lorenzo answered. Seemed to make sense,
"Alright everyone, Codename Time," Lorenzo announced as we packed up our belongings,
"So my codename is Divine Circus, Shayne's is Scarred Honor, Blues' is Gloomy Oath, Blaze is Cursed Fire, Aiden's is Wishful Hug, Pavle's is Lucky Risk and last, but not least, the Lovely Luna's code name is Starry Virtue," Divine said, this confused me a bit, but I got used to it, and at least I didn't get a bad name,
"Alright, let's move out!"
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"What do you want with me?" I asked, fear sensible in my voice,
"Well Miss Sparkle, you see, you may hold the key to prosperity and maybe even world peace," Zealous Might said plainly,
"How?"
"Simply put, you're an Alicorn, only a select few are blessed with that gift, some receive Alicorn status at birth, and others become one through other challenges, like you Miss Sparkle," Zealous answered,
"But... why me?"
"Well you see... Alicorns are usually protected in a castle of sorts, you may have your own castle, but it is not very heavily guarded, if at all. However, you also made the mistake of coming to PonyVille, out of your safe zone in Canterlot, so we couldn't kidnap Celestia or Luna, as powerful as we are, we tend to remain in the dark,"
"So, w-what are you going to do to me? Where are my f-friends? Are they okay?"
"Your friends are just being held here for their safety so they don't do anything that they would most certainly regret, they are completely alright as long as they do as they're told, and we are going to suck out your life essence,"
"Oh good, wait, what was that last part?"
"With your life essence, we will be able to make our greatest creation: The Alicorn Serum! Don't think of it as a bad thing Twilight, you will be making a lot of ponies very happy," His cold voice made me shudder knowing that I couldn't let this happen,
"You d-don't have to do this..."
"Oh, but Twilight I believe I must, for it is my destiny, your sacrifice will not be in vain, I will be sure to have a statue constructed in your honor when we use the Alicorn Serum to take over Equestria," Zealous finished with a cackle and slammed the door before I could object.
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We were heading through a cave inside of a mountain, it looked a bit unstable, but we should be fine as long as we stay quiet, I muttered a few words that only I could understand under my breath and I shifted back to my human form, the others were un aware of this seeing as it was pitch black in the cave, well, except maybe for Scarred, with my enhanced vision, I searched for the weakest spot in the wall seeing as the cave was a dead end. I located it by the right center and picked up a rock, I muttered a few more words under my breath, my aura shaped the rock and it glowed a bright orange making it into a shining hammer, the others turned towards the light and then I immediately flung the hammer at the wall, Starry understood this gesture and her horn began to glow and a small burst of energy flew out of it and went straight for the hammer, treating it as a marker for the wall, the wall crumbled and the misty night sky began flood the cave with moonlight.
"Where... Are we?" Lucky asked, "I don't remember this area on my way here,"
"That's because I took a shortcut," I responded,
"How do you know were going the right way now?" Lucky asked,
"I can't tell you that,"
"O-oh, Okay..."
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We've been walking for what feels like forever, well, they have been, I have been flying the whole time, but we have been travelling for so long now my wings have gotten tired so I have been walking as well. We have set up camp for the night, Lor-Divine, keeps saying were almost there, but he says we need to go slow to avoid being detected. I hope that Twilight and her friends are alright.
~=~ⒻⓁⓊⓉⓉⒺⓇⓈⒽⓎ'Ⓢ ⓅⓄⓋ~=~
This has to be a nightmare, it can't be real. One of the fillies apparently spoke out of turn and got a beating, judging by the looks of the three fillies, it looks like it was Scootaloo, the others seemed to have been beaten too for attempting to help her. I feel weaker then ever. Why can I not do anything to help them? Why are they doing this? There has to be something we can do...
~=~ⓁⓄⓇⒺⓃⓏⓄ'Ⓢ ⓅⓄⓋ~=~
I woke up screaming, a sudden rage had filled me, my eyes blazed red. Everyone looked at me in horror except for Scarred,
"Which one was it? Dream or Vision?" Scarred asked me,
"Vision..." I growled,
"Kids in danger?"
"We leave now," I Replied with a nod,
"But it's the middle of the night..." Starry began, before I could say anything Scarred turned towards her and made a gesture that indicated not to argue, Starry scowled, but got up and began to pack up her supplies.
"Are we bum rushing?" Scarred asked me,
"Hell Yeah, but we will try our best to stay in the shadows," I answered.
~=~
We are right in front of the village, I don't even think most of the inhabitants here are ponies, no griffons, no zebras, nothing I should be familiar with. I saw a large castle up ahead, I pressed my hoof against my head to focus myself, to channel my anger into energy. I sensed all their auras except for one of them, which I assumed was the one known as Twilight Sparkle, due to her being an Alicorn, her aura is different. Me and Scarred were both shape shifted back to being ponies so we didn't draw attention, we had our hoods slung over so we wouldn't draw attention. We headed up towards the castle, I couldn't wait any longer.
"Stop! Step away from the gate!" One of the guards Barked, where were his manners? Starry was about to say something but I cut her off.
"Out of my way or I shall set your village ablaze!" I Ordered, the Guard seemed not so convinced,
"Ha! None of our citizens are capable of sorcery! and unless you smuggled in some match's, I doubt you're capable of such a crime, now since I'm in a good mood I forget about this encounter. Now, get out of my face scum," He spat at me and then the other guards began to laugh, I cursed under my breath at their ignorance and turned around, making them think I was leaving, my eyes began to glow a bright orange, a fireball began to expand in my hoof, once the glow of the fire met the guard's eyes, the laughter ceased, and there was only fear. I hurled the fireball at a nearby building, the fireball exploded into five bright orange streaks which covered the village, shrieks and screams filled the air. The guards slowly backed away, I nodded towards Gloomy who formed two icicles that levitated in his hoof, he threw them at an incredible speed and they impaled two of the three guards, killing them in a matter of seconds. The final guard began to run but Scarred appeared in front of him in a small explosion of shadowy smoke. When the smoke cleared we all had our knives pressed against his throat, except for Starry and Wishful.
"Where is your main prison?" I asked, the blood lust sensible in my voice,
"I-i'll never tell!" He answered, Lucky just shook his head,
"How unfortunate, however it shouldn't be too difficult to find, thank you for your contribution to my KD fund towards charity," I said with a chuckle as I stabbed him in the throat.
"Your KD Fund Towards charity?" Scarred asked me,
"Oh you know, Every kill I get earns me like, five bucks that goes to charity or something, so pretty much the K Fund towards charity I guess," I Answered,
"Seems Legit,"
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Apparently a rumor has arose that the castle has been invaded, Zealous Might has declined to prove any of the rumors true until today, he stepped into my room and pointed some weird object at me which I assumed to be a weapon.
"Your saviors are here apparently, but they I'll make sure they do not get you, my sweet," Zealous said, the insanity practically dripping from his voice, I saw the device in his hand flicker then I felt a large pain rush through me that sent me straight to the ground.
"Bet you thought it was a dud, eh? However your kind have probably never even heard of technology THIS advanced, I assume it was, quite a shocker for you hmm?" He said with a cackle as my vision began to fade, I didn't mind him taking me, I just wanted my friends to be okay...
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I Entered the building and quickly took off my hat and mumbled a few words to it as it flew away, it will know when to find me. I slung My hood over my head and me and my team split up, basically Scarred came with me. Before we all parted ways to save the others, I made sure to tell them to conceal themselves so we do not show our faces. I made a mad dash down the hallway, Scarred was the only one who knew I was actually a 'very rare breed' of Earth Pony who had the blood of a Unicorn. I closed my eyes and tried my best to focus, I sensed several auras that stuck out to me throughout the building's layout. The auras I sensed were in fact the ones I was looking for, I levitated a knife out of its sheath, my eyes glowing their furious orange as I made my way down the corridor. I saw six guards taunting three fillies behind bars, my aura began to glow red with fury as I flung the knife at one of the guards, it went straight through his head killing two of them. The other four stared down the hallway at me in horror, electricity crackled in my hoof as it shot out in an arc frying all four of the guards. I trotted over to the cell door the fillies paralyzed with fear, my smile seemed to light up through the darkness, I raised my hoof and a small ball of air appeared in it, I slashed downwards cutting the door in half as the three fillies just stared at me, speechless.
"Don't be shy, my last intention would be to hurt you girls, I am a friend," I said breaking the silence in a voice that was just barley above a whisper,
"Y-you're g-gonna help us?" The small orange Pegasi managed to stutter out, their wounds were visible as they slowly stepped into the light, the orange one also walked with a limp.
"As best I can, even if it means I die trying," I answered, confidence full in my voice. Smoke filled the air, my smile grew as my eyes sparkled with magic, I had already started the burning process, it should be burnt to a crisp within the next hour.
"We must go quickly, before the fire spreads here and destroys the prison along with us in it!" I exclaimed as I levitated the three fillies onto my back and bashed through the door to the next prison block. A poor mistake on my part, I had put far too much power into that last fireball back there.
~Chapter Ⅰ: Chaos Inbound~
~=~ⒸⒺⓁⒺⓈⓉⓛⒶ'Ⓢ ⓅⓄⓋ~=~
A messenger appeared in the throne room informing me an army was approaching Ponyville, I had sent as many soldiers as I could, but it was no use, they were too powerful, it seemed they were looking for something, which I could only assume were the Elements of Harmony, Now Twilight and her friends have been captured along with some other unfortunate ponies, every guard I send to negotiate ends up dead shortly afterwards, poison, killed in action, assassinated when they return, These kidnappers are a ruthless group, I didn't want to have to do this but... I need to ask a favor of a hopeful ally. I have sent a messenger with the last known coordinates of the organization known as Greenwatch, they may be our last hope.
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"Sir! There is a messenger here bearing a message from the princess!" Said a sharply dressed man with an urgent expression,
"A messenger? For what reason I wonder... Bring im' here," I said with a curious grin. I saw a man wearing a light suit of leather armor, but no mailbag, must be a vocal message.
"The p-princess requests you come t-to the castle to speak a-about help..." The messenger said, fear clearly audible in his voice,
"Must be very serious for her to send a vocal messenger to me, very well, and I may come alone so you may feel safer in my presence," I said with a happy sigh and began to walk up the stairs up to Ponyville.
"Where in Equestria is everypony?? It's a ghost town here!" I said in both shock and confusion,
"Everything will be explained at the castle," The messenger said as they boarded the train.
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In front of you, you saw the Leader of Greenwatch himself, he had no guards, but even though he had no visible weapons, you knew he was armed, his name was Lorenzo Barker, the so far peaceful leader of his organization,
"Hello Princess! What could an all-powerful monarch such as yourself want with a petty citizen such as me?" Lorenzo said with a sly grin,
"The bearers of the Elements of Harmony have been kidnapped by an army of some foreign country of sorts," I said quickly, knowing best not to waste his time,
"Annnnd? The Elements of Harmony are not my problem, they are yours, I don't need to get tangled with a bunch of ponies and their issues just as much as you and your ponies do not wish to get involved with mine," Lorenzo stated plainly,
"Lorenzo, please, this is of the utmost importance, you must help us," I pleaded, even though I knew it would have no effect... at least coming from an adult.
"You know what Celestia??" Lorenzo said with a happy little sigh,
"Yes?"
"I will help you, and do you know why? Because I will not turn into a harbinger of evil and darkness when I don't get what I want," Lorenzo said with an evil grin staring at Luna, who glared daggers at him,
"C'mon Lulu, we need to learn to laugh at the past," Lorenzo said,
"Don't call me that..." Luna said, before she left the throne room in what seemed like frustration,
"So you will assist us in retrieving them?" I asked with a more excited tone in her dreary voice,
"Yes, but I refuse to send any of my people to fight for you," Lorenzo said, I stared at him blankly with confusion,
"Then how do you intend to save them?"
"I'll do it myself, I will not endanger the lives of my people just to save some strangers,"
"Thank you Lorenzo, They headed off towards the mountains, the path to their area is heavily guarded, be safe," I said, still wondering how he managed so save them all and return alive,
"They sent a message for ransom, half of all our bits, they seem fond of gold, or objects that shine," I said,
"I'll show them something that shines," With that, he pulled out a sword and stood in the doorway and shouted one last thing,
"Don't worry about me, I'll bring some friends to ensure their safety your highness, not any of my men of course, Lorenzo said with a happy grin as he left the throne room,
"Sister... Are you sure about this? About HIM?" Luna asked as she re-entered the throne room,
"Luna, I don't think we have any other choice but to trust him,"
"No... I need to go with him, to ensure their safety..." Luna said,
"Sister, it's far too dangerous, what happens that if you get killed?"
"If I get killed it's best that it will be in battle and not here,"
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They've brought us to this large village of sorts leading up to a some kind of castle, the girls have been quiet for awhile and with good reason too, the guards threatened us that if we tried anything we would all die, how could this have happened? I feel the worst has yet to come...
"Hurry up back there and when you do get up here enter the building on your right!" A creature from the front shouted as me and my friends were all separated I entered a heavily fortified building where four guards stood by a door, they parted to let me, and the other creature who had been following me to ensure that I do not attempt to escape,
"Ah! Twilight Sparkle, I've been eagerly waiting for your arrival," bellowed a voice from an unknown direction. A pony teleported in front of me and knocked me off balance,
"What's the matter? I thought you were used to teleportation Miss Sparkle, in Fact, you're gonna be using your magic a lot this vacation...And allow me to introduce myself, my name is Zealous Might",
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I marched towards the mountain side and already saw five guards there, well this could get slightly messy, I turned to my team, my cleric, Aiden. My best friend and martial artist, Shayne, and our make shift spell caster Blues, our silent killer, Blaze, and last, but not least we had... Luna??.
"Luna, what are you doing here??" I said in a confused whisper,
"Making sure you don't screw up," She answered which got a giggle out of me, It was not the best team I had ever organized, but it was close... in some aspects, we headed towards the mountains, we hid behind a bush as I motioned towards Blaze, he nodded at me and climbed up a tree, three minutes later he pounced on two of the guards from above plunging his hidden blades in their backs, the other three spun around in shock, and that's when we went in for the kill, I stabbed two of them and Shayne knocked the last one out, interrogation time.
"Buh..." The guard said as he spat out a tooth,
"Ah! Excellent! You're awake! Now let's make this quick why don't we, all your friends are dead and you have no choice to point me in the right direction to find your people or you will die here and now, I will accept your mercy." I said quickly with an evil grin plastered on my face,
"H-huh?" The guard said then Shayne back slapped him receiving a large satisfying crack,
"Now tell me, where are your people located people? Your leader? Where you buy your favorite dirty mags?" I asked again, more pressuring this time,
"H-hehe, Never g-gonna tell," The guard said, a shaggy smile creeping on his face,
"Wrong answer," I said as I flipped out a knife a pressed it against his throat,
"Last chance buddy, I don't play around," I said, sensing the fear in his eyes, I wasn't bluffing.
"N-never!" The guard said, he thought I was bluffing, I pulled the knife away from his neck, he sighed in relief before I stabbed him in the leg, he cringed and I pressed the now crimson knife against his throat one last time,
"Bonus chance, Tell me or I'll just torture you," I said, serious mode now,
"W-west! P-please don't kill me!" The guard said as tears streamed from his face, I smiled in triumph,
"Thank you very much sir, Aiden heal him, once you're healed, get your ass out of here and never return until you have learned to think clearly, and if you lied to me, I will hunt you down and torture you, are we clear?" I said, there was nothing but truth in my voice,
"C-crystal Sir..." The guard said before he began to slump down and Aiden ran over to heal him. No one was going to stand in my way, this is a rare opportunity to show everyone how powerful just a few Members of Greenwatch can be.
"Wait, who's protecting the Towns?" Shayne asked, an odd question for anypony else with an easy answer.
"My friend Naiza is, and of course he has help from The Mafia, Greenwatch, The Royal Guard and the Assassins, not to mention his own men." I answered plainly.
"We are pretty powerful, aren't we? I sometimes forget what it was like to just be normal," Shayne said almost in a whisper,
"I honestly don't think there was ever a time when you were ever normal," I said with a laugh,
"We should become a War Band,"
"Aren't we already a War Band?"
"I mean pick up travellers along the way and have them join us,"
"Hmm, Interesting gag, Greenwatch War Band,"
"Its got a ring to it," Me and Shayne said in unison.
~=~ⓈⓌⒺⒺⓉⒾⒺ ⒷⒺⓁⓁⒺ'Ⓢ ⓅⓄⓋ~=~
I don't know where I am, I'm scared, Rarity and the others look scared too. I don't know who a lot of these ponies are... some of them aren't even ponies. Rarity told us everything will be alright but that pony at front of us yelled at her for talking, I don't like him. I want to go home.
~=~ⓁⓄⓇⒺⓃⓏⓄ'Ⓢ ⓅⓄⓋ~=~
"My sense are tingling," I said, knowing something was horribly, horribly wrong,
"The one where we're being stalked or the one where a child is in peril?" Shayne asked,
"Both,"
"Fuck," Shayne replied quickly before jumping behind a rock as a hail of arrows rained from above,
"How many?" Blues asked,
"Nine,"
"I might be able t' take out three of em'... maybe four," Blues answered, his accent growing in not fear, but excitement,
"I got a plan, follow my lead," I told them plainly as I vaulted over the rock we had taken cover behind and made a mad dash up the stony hill.
"What the hell is e' doin'?" Blues asked in immense confusion,
"Bum Rushing without telling me," Shayne said with an irritated expression as he as well vaulted over the rock and brought up his assault rifle and began spraying at the hill killing two of the archers while I rushed up killing three of them.
"Five down, four to go," I whispered to myself to help me focus, I rushed the others but one of the arrows hit me but bounced off of my dark purple armor which shined beautifully in the moon light, Blues fired a shard of ice at my attacker, killing him, Blaze flanked the other two and stabbed them from behind leaving the last archer dropping his weapons for fear of his life,
"Now tell us... Where are they?!" I asked in a familiar voice to the archer, Shayne just looked at the ground and shook his head,
"I-I don't know!!" The archer cried out as I began to take out my knife his eyes expanded and his body shook in fear,
"WEST! THEY WENT TO THE WEST! Y-you should see a-a tree... that has someone's n-name engraved in it! Turn right at the tree!" The archer cried, however, I thought of something clever,
"Did you write that in the tree?" I asked,
"Y-yes..."
"What do you think your 'partner' would think if they knew you were doing this?" I asked, staring into his bloodshot eyes,
"Disappointment..." He muttered,
"Disappointed because we defeated you? Or disappointed you're forced to do this?"
"S-she wouldn't want to see me like this..." He said, sadness filling his voice,
"Come with us, friend, help us overthrow these demons and bring justice to your lands," I asked, certain I knew his response,
"T-thank you..."
"Do you have a name, comrade?"
"Pavle Benjamin, sir," Pavle answered,
"Welcome to the team, Pavle, and please refrain from calling me 'sir', we are all treated equal in this party, even if some are more respected then others, we are all equals," I said as we went on our way, further west.
~=~ⓈⒸⓄⓄⓉⒶⓁⓄⓄ'Ⓢ ⓅⓄⓋ~=~
I'm so confused, Rainbow Dash said that everything was gonna be alright, to just stay close to her, but the 'thing' at the front separated us and put us in different rooms with bars. The bed here is cold. I miss AppleBloom and Sweetie Belle. I want to be free.
