Chapters I Prefer the Term Freedom Fighter
Author's Note
Intro
Prequel: We have a chance
***In the Crystal Empire***
It had been a little over a year since Sombra's return, and with his return the darkness that consumed him also consumed all of Equestria destroying all that attempted to stop it. Those who joined Sombra however became powerful individuals who were feared by all, and the most feared of them all was Isaac the lone human of Equestria who acted as both Sombra's enforcer and bodyguard. Isaac was a ruthless individual who would crush any one that got in the way of him and his mission whether they were friend or foe. Twilight was running around the castle with a very large book under her wing as she searched for princess Cadence.
"Hey Twily, where are you going in such a hurry" Shining called out as Twilight ran past him. She would of replied if what she had wasn't of the up most importance to the survival and possibly revival of Equestria. She ran through the Shining Crystal halls at a speed that even Rainbow dash would be amazed at had she been there to witness it. Passing by door after door Twilight finally came to a large set of Wooden doors that lead to the war room and hopefully cadence would be there right now.
"CADENCE," Twilight yelled as she busted through the door in a rather overly dramatic manner if this wasn't for the greater good of course. When Twilight had burst in however Cadence was in the middle of planning the defense for the next attack upon her kingdom that would be within a few days. After realizing it was Twilight that had so rudely burst into the room without knocking Candace smiled as her sister-in-law always had something to assist with their preparations.
"Yes Twilight, What is it you have for me now" Twilight took a deep breath before beginning to explain her insane plan of summoning something to assist them.
"... After that we should be able to push Sombra back and help my friends." Twilight said gleefully as she opened the book to a specific page before continuing. "All we have to do is follow these instructions exactly. Normally Celestia and Luna would have to cast this spell, but I believe it only has to be two alicorns." Twilight said as she reached behind her to pet her wings only to realize they were no longer there after her most recent encounter with Isaac who tore them out.
"I hope your right Twilight, We don't even know what we're summoning"
"The spell is supposed to summon a group of heroes, What could possibly happen?"
***On a small islands beach***
Isaac was relaxing in the sand as Luca splashed around in the salty water of whatever the hell the ponies called this ocean. It has been four months since their contract to protect Twilight and her friends and the first thing that Isaac did with the money they made was buy a small island just off the coast of Equestria. Isaac just enjoyed finally being able to relax after pulling off so many contracts for the princesses of equestria since they couldn't risk their guard in many of these assignments. A shadow started to spread across Isaac which he took notice of before looking up being met with a smiling Sombra.
"Good to see you smiling for once Sombra, I started to think that frown of yours was permanent" Isaac said as he pulled himself up and dusted the sand off of his shorts. Sombra just continues smiling before explaining why he was so happy,
"Well I finally have something to smile about. Silver agreed to letting me court her" Isaac's eyes shot wide open as well as a huge grin formed on his face,
"You lucky son of a bitch, Congratulations on getting her to agree to date you" Isaac then looked toward Luca who had started to leave the water before he yelled, "HEY LUCA, I WAS RIGHT" The changeling's eyes shot open before darting toward them a fast as her legs could carry her so she could personally congratulate him.
"You're still not getting that twenty bits you know" Luca said as she walked up to them and patted Sombra on the back before saying, "I thought Silver was the one who was going to ask you out. Isaac said you'd ask her." Luca explained to him as she turned back to Isaac who was still sporting a grin that was not humanly possible.
"I told you he would work up the nerve first"
"Well maybe Silver was about to ask him. We'll never know now though" Luca said as she stuck her tongue out at the human before walking closer to him, "Besides they're happy. Now just to get Flim and Flam some marefriends and we're all set" Isaac groaned over having to set up two more of his friends so that they would stop complaining about him and Luca making so much noise at night, what checkers can be competitive between the two.
"Why do we have to. Sombra and Silver are now a thing let them handle it"
"You're right, they are. They are going to be a little busy with each other for awhile."
"Reminds me of when we first got together" Isaac said as he began to reminisce over his and Luca's first two months as a couple, it took Isaac a solid week of doing nothing to recover from the exertion. He just smiled dumbly to himself as Silver came from the path that lead to their little base at the center of the island. The zebra moved gracefully with each step before stopping next to Sombra and kissing his cheek. Blushing Sombra returned the kiss before speaking again,
"Silver and I are heading toward the waterfall for the evening If you'd like to join us"
"We are not going to switch partners Sombra" Isaac said using his hands to add extra emphasis on what he was saying.
"Why not Isaac? Afraid I'll fall for Sombra" Luca said as she playfully leaned against Sombra and acted as if she was in the deepest of love with him.
"No, I'm scared because I might steal Silver away from him with my huge-"
"Will you two stop, I meant join us for a swim not that" Sombra said in an aggravated tone when Silver tugged his face toward her and started to make some motions. "I know they were only joking I-" Silver started to make more motions, "Alright, we will talk to you two later" Sombra said as he and Silver started back down the path leading into the islands jungle.
"Want to go mess with Flim and Flam?" Luca asked before looking up to the man beside her,
"Do I!"
***Nightfall***
Everyone had gathered around the campfire at the center of their little camp site as they started to eat there primarily plant based dinner except for Isaac who was enjoying a nice fish. Flim and Flam were still having some trouble looking at each other even after Luca and Isaac revealed there prank to them which delighted both of the pranksters every time they saw the two look away embarrassed over what happened.
"So, anyone have anything they want to talk about?" Isaac asked to break the ice so that they wouldn't be so silent when s letter appeared in a puff of smoke in front of Isaac. This was pretty normal for their contracts since Celestia would require Luna to get them to him in his dreams and he is to far away from a post office for a mail courier to bring it to him. "Never mind, Let's read the contract. Please don't involve yaks"
Dear Isaac
It is of up most importance that you accept this contract as all of Equestria depends on you. I can not go into the detail, but you must know you and your friend are the only ones that can stop it. If you do accept the contract throw it into your fire.
"Well that was brief, Jesus sunny is getting sloppy she didn't even put her name on here this time" Isaac said as he re-read the message, "So we got a contract, but we have no idea on the pay or what we're doing, however it says all of Equestria is depending on us. Who wants to take the contract?" Isaac looked around the site to see three hooves go up and the other two stay down.
"If that's all the info we have it's better just to leave it" Luca said as she scooched next to Isaac.
"If Equestira needs us though we should help, besides I'd be good PR" Sombra said as he looked over to Luca, "Besides we don't use the info we get anyway"
"True, but it'd still be nice to have"
"So re-vote?" Isaac asked looking toward the group this time however with Luca raising her hoof along with them totaling the vote four to two.
"Alright, it said to burn this if we accept so..." With that Isaac tossed the parchment into the fire which quickly engulfed it. "Well that did-OH SHIT" Isaac yelled as the fire came to life and started grabbing him and his company and tossing them into itself. Isaac watched as each of his friends seemed to disappear into the fire before finally it started to pull him in. "FUCK MAGIC" Isaac yelled as he was soon engulfed in the flames.
***Back at the Crystal empire***
Twilight was pacing around in front of the portal she and Candace had created waiting for something to come out of it, but so far it's only been mocking her with its swirling, damn you swirling vortex. As she turned around to continue her pacing Twilight noticed that the portal now had a bit of fire coming out of it causing her to panic because the last thing they needed was a fire in the war room. Twilight then realized that maybe the heroes that Candace and her had summoned when all the blood drained out of her face as Sombra was tossed through followed by his two lieutenants and some other ponies. When the last one came through however Twilight screamed as she could see Isaac getting up from the pile of evil bodies that laid before her.
"Gah Twilight, do you have to scream so loud" Isaac said as he tried to clean out his ear in hopes of returning his hearing to normal or at least get the ringing to stop. Twilight didn't answer however as she sprinted out of the room calling for the guards to come and help her. Isaac began to realize he was back in what he assumed was the real Crystal Empire when he noticed that most of the walls were made of Crystal as well as some of the decorations. "Imagine if we could afford to buy this place, eh"
A few moments after mentioning that the door flew open to reveal multiple guards with spears pointing at Isaac who just looked at them with an unamused glare.
"I don't care if your on the princesses pay roll. You do NOT threaten me" Isaac said reaching back for his flintlock pistol.
"Put your hands up" One of the ponies said poking the spear at Isaac's chest.
"Listen I don't fucking care who you think you are, but I am here to pick up a contract from Celestia now FUCK OFF" The guard looked at Isaac confused as to why he said he was here to pick up a contract from their captured princess. That was when both Candace and Twilight came into the room seeming rather agitated as well as afraid. "Twilight can you please just stop this joke, I don't think these guards have a sense of humor"
"What joke? you are a threat to Equestria"
"Wow I thought we were finally friends Twilight" The everyone in the room Gasped and looked at Twilight,
"I would never befriend a monster like you!"
I Prefer the Term Freedom Fighter
Chapter 1: Prison Break
***In the Crystal empire's dungeons***
"How did you breach our defenses" Shining asked the human who's hands were chained to the table in front of him. The human looked up at the white unicorn and smiled before flipping him a bird and saying,
"I'd love to tell you, how about over tea and then you can tell me why you've had me caged for the past three days!"
"You should know why,"
"For the love of god if you say that one more time I will give you are reason to keep me caged!" Isaac said pointing at the unicorn before letting his hands relax allowing them to rest on the table, "Just tell me"
"Where to begin let's start with how you almost killed my sister!" Shining said exaggerating the last bit. Isaac stared long and hard at the unicorn before asking,
"Who the fuck is your sister?"
"Twilight Sparkle"
"Now I know you're bullshitting because I haven't talked to Twilight in four months, excluding three days ago"
"Really now because we have I witness accounts of you ripping her wings out!"
"Then your eye witnesses clearly have problems because I wouldn't do anything like that"
"It doesn't matter now, your slated for execution in a few hours" Isaac wanted to just beat this pony to death because of his attitude problem, however that would only lead to problems so it's a fuck it option in Isaac's mind. Shinning left the interrogation room through a solid steel door across from Isaac. Isaac stared at the door for a few minutes to make sure that his interrogator was gone before he pulled out what used to be part of a toothbrush.
"Thank you Luca for teaching me how to make lock picks" Isaac said to himself as he started to fiddle with the lock on the chains around his wrists. After a few minutes of messing with the lock Isaac heard a click and let out a satisfied sigh as he was now free to get out of here after rescuing everyone else of course. Making his way to the door Isaac realized that he'd stick out like a sore thumb if he was seen so before leaving he looked around the room for a weapon or disguise, preferably weapon. Deciding that the room lacked anything practical Isaac kicked one of the wooden table legs causing it to come lose and fall over along with the rest of the table. "A whoopin stick, not my preferred style of weapon but whatever".
Right as Isaac had said that however one of the Guards opened the door and walked in as if the prisoner being free was the most ordinary things he's seen today when the guard erupted in green flames. Once the flames had subsided Luca stood there with a large grin across her face as she Levitated Isaac's flintlock out of her saddlebag.
"Sorry Isaac, I'm doing the rescuing today." She said when Isaac grabbed the floating gun that he'd gotten only a few months ago. It really wasn't very impressive except for the fact that it was equestria's first and only fire arm. The only reason that this thing even existed was because Isaac asked Flim and Flam to crate it which he was grateful for, however he realized what he brought into this world and made them swear to never write the plans for the gun. Realizing that he was staring at the gun Isaac put it in its holster before heading to the door and asking,
"Ready to go?"
"Isaac please, I came here for your ass so lets get going" The two smiled at each other before exiting the room through the steel door which lead into a long cavern like hallway. To help avoid detection Luca went back into her guard disguise and escorted Isaac toward the cell block where everyone else was. None of the guards stopped the two until they were just a few feet away from their friends, and the dungeons warden walked over and asked Luca,
"Why are you bringing that thing here?"
"Um... I'm taking him back to his cell."
"His cell is on the other side of the dungeon, how can you get this turned around recruit?"
"Fuck this" Isaac said as he grabbed onto the warden and threw him into the wall when Luca hit him with a spell to knock him out.
"I could of saved that" Luca said disgruntled
"He was on to us, besides I needed to hit something" Luca just rolled her eyes as they entered the cell block where everybody else had been held cells that restricted them all differently. Silver's cell restrained her legs and forced her head forward while Sombra's had the traditional steel bars except for the fact they were glowing blue. Flim and Flam were in the same cell surprisingly with nothing really special about it other than the face that they had a window showing a vary dark sky in the distance.
"Good to see the rescue party is here, thought you guys gave us up for dead" Sombra said as he walked over toward the front of his cell and pointing toward another door, "That's where the warden kept the keys"
"You know we'd never leave you guys, besides It's hard to find all powerful unicorns who don't annoy the living hell out of me," Isaac said making his way over toward the door that supposedly hid the key to his friends cells. "You know, Theses ponies said that I ripped out Twilight's wings, Any of you heard anything weird also"
"I heard them talk about how they finally caught me and my lieutenants, I don't recall having lieutenants do you?"
"If anything your my lieutenant Sombra, something is definitely going on here" Finally opening the door into a small office like room Isaac began searching for the keys to the cells. Starting with the desk Isaac started to shift through the piles of paperwork to see if the keys were hidden behind or under any of them when his eyes fell upon a photo sitting at the edge of the desk. It was a simple photo a picture of the warden and a small unicorn filly sitting by a tree. Isaac sighed at the picture remembering how he and his brother used to go out and do the stupidest things before they ended up by the lake. Isaac snapped out of his stupor when Luca started to jingle the keys in front of his face.
"You do realize keys tend to be on key hooks, right?" Luca said pointing over toward a key hook right beside the door they had entered from. Isaac rubbed the back of his head and grabbed the keys before walking back over toward the door and looking toward Luca,
"Once we get out of here, We are going to have a word with the princesses."
"What will that do?"
"Get these jackasses off our backs for one" Walking over to Silver first Isaac started to remove the restraints around her legs and neck, and with her new found freedom Silver started to pop her joints. After a minute or so of this she looked up to Isaac and started to make various motions,"Well it's your fault for punching Shining in the face". Silver rolled her eyed before taking the keys from Isaac and moving toward Sombra's cell to free him of his restraint. When she inserted the key however she received small shock causing her to withdraw her hoof with more annoyance than pain.
"Sombra's cell is charged with magic. you should of realized this with the bars glowing " Luca said in a smart tone. Silver made rather fast slightly jerky motions at Luca, "Language Silver"
"You two can fuck around later, Luca how do we get him out of here?"
"Oh, that's simple we just overload the cell by pumping so much magic into it that it can't hold it all"
"Alright, Sombra start overloading the bars"
"You're joking right?" Sombra said which caused Isaac to take on a very confused expression before Sombra decided to let him in on why he was currently unable to use magic, "Isaac the magics in the bars prevent me from using any magic". Isaac realizing that his plan was complete shit now decided that the next best course of action would be freeing Flim and Flam in hopes they can overload the bars.
"Hey there Isaac, Nice to see you didn't forget us" Flim said walking up to the cell bars.
"Has Isaac ever forgotten about us?"Flam asked to try and show up his brother who looked at him and said,
"That one time we went into a dragon nest and he forgot that we were hiding under one of the hoards"
"Okay that one-"
"Can we reminisce about my forgetfulness after we get out of here?" Isaac interrupted the two brothers before they went into another one of their arguments. They both looked at him and nodded as they walked out of their now open cell door toward Sombra's before they began to focus their magic on the bars causing them to glow even brighter than they had been originally until they sparked and went out. "Really, They are just like fucking light bulbs. Why do I even question this anymore?"
"Thanks, Now I believe it is time to make our escape" Sombra said as he walked out of his cell toward where Isaac and Luca had originally entered. The plan was to just walk out, but nothing ever goes to plan as when they opened that door they were met with a full compliment of guards with spears at the ready.
"Why can't we ever have a plan go off without a hitch"
Author's Note
UPDATE
ps. sorry for the short chapter but it's still doesn't break my minimum of 1500 words so its something.
I Prefer the Term Freedom Fighter
Author's Note
Hello again beautiful readers it's me again, and I'm back from vacation, with Sunburns! (screw you sun) Anyway I've finally gotten off my lazy butt to bring you guys another chapter and hopefully it wont suck, but if it does i'll try to do better next time so as always I hope to make this worth your time. (why do I always type that?)
P.s. Sorry about the long wait I was going to release a chapter sooner but distractions are everywhere. Also as a side note here I might start writing another story as well as this one, if you would like to give your input as to what story that is go over to this blog
Rarely easy
Chapter 3: Rarely easy
"Get back in your cells and you wont be harmed" One of the guards said, his armor was slightly different from the rest as it was made of a metal other than gold which meant he was probably one of the higher ups. Isaac glared at all the guards as he was looking for all possible escape routes that wouldn't involve hurting anyone as the last thing they needed was to piss these ponies off. Eventually Isaac noticed that the guards only formed two lines which meant Sombra could teleport behind them and not waste all of his magic for the escape.
"Sure, sure we'll just go and SOMBRA TELEPORT US" Isaac yelled before he kicked one of the guards in the face and grabbing onto Sombra who then teleprted behind the guards. After the jump everyone started to run toward the exit while patting away the bits of flame that lingered on them before it could do any real damage. They ran down hallway after hallway searching for anyway out while also dodging guards who think they're smart with their traps and spears forcing the group to constantly change direction until they finally arrived at an intersection.
"Any bright ideas?" Sombra asked before looking behind them to see some rather pissed off guards catching up to them.
"Just one, we split up. If we don't run into each other again we will meet south of town, alright" Everyone broke into teams of two with the groups comprising of Sombra with silver, Flim with Flam, and Isaac with Luca. They all started to run down the different hallways in attempts to either find the exit or make it easier to knock out the guards that have been harassing them since they arrived. Isaac and Luca running up a set of stairs after a few moments which either meant they were either on ground level or s floor above it either of which would be just fine for them.
"When we get out of here I'm going to kick sparkly's ass" Luca said as they continued down a long corridor with multiple windows beside showing what appeared to be a city of crystal with a dark cloud a little ways off.
"Get your own nickname for her, and only after I've had my go" When they were about halfway through the hallway another group of guards appeared blocking their path forward, and going back was out of the question since their pursuers were blocking the other way.
"You've got no where to go. Now come in peacefully or we will use deadly force" One of the guards said walking closer to the two freelancers.
"Well since I don't have an- LUCA WINDOW" Right as he yelled that Isaac jumped through one of the hallways windows leading to the street below. The fall would off broken his legs easily if it wasn't for Luca grabbing him just before he hits the stone street. Luca would of tried to fly out of the city if it wasn't for the added weight from Isaac throwing her off balance and causing them to crash into an alleyway.
"A little more warning before jumping out the window would of been nice"
"Could be worse. I mean you should see some of the things people back home come up with"
"I don't think I could handle another Isaac"
"Remind me to show you the mirror pool in ponyville sometime"
"fuck you"
"Later, but right now we need a plan to get out of here"
*** Sombra and Silver***
Sombra was running just behind silver and would occasionally throw up barriers to slow down their pursuers for a few moments as they ran through the maze of hallways in search of any way to get them out of there. The doors that they'd find however were all locked so they couldn't even tell what part of the castle they were in even with Sombra's experience in it he still needed some marker.
"GET BACK HERE" Shining armor yelled as he chased down the former tyrant in an attempt to capture him for his crimes against ponies. Shining had dreamed of the day he'd finally be able to deliver justice upon the evil that had destroyed the world he once knew and he was not going to let it slip away so easily so he would throw up his own barriers in front of them in order to slow them down. This was not very effective however as every time he'd be about to cast a barrier Sombra would throw up one right in front of him causing him to lose his concentration and change the spell he had charged into s shield breaker over what it was originally meant to be.
"Why do they think we will stop when they go on and on about executing us?" Sombra asked as he and Silver quickly rounded a corner to find a dead end.
"We have you no- WHERE ARE THEY" Shining yelled at the now empty hallway. Shining decided to have a closer inspection of the hall to ensure that they were not hiding in anything, especially since the flower pot incident last year. Unable to find them anywhere Shining decided that maybe they had teleported out and began to search for any magical residue in the area only to find none and become baffled by the strange disappearance of the two.
Silver kept a close eye on Shining as he inspected the hallway in hopes of him not noticing the switch beside the painting they were currently hiding behind. Sombra had realized where they were just in time to quickly hit the switch which made the wall revolve causing the two to move with it into the wall. The wall lead them into an intricate maze of hallways that lead all over the castle and given enough time could lead them out of the city all together.
"Thank Celestia my guards were paranoid" Sombra said as he started to walk in a random direction with Silver close behind him. Silver started to make certain motions with her hoof which Sombra responded to with, "They will be fine. I mean haven'e you seen Isaac."Silver started to make he same motions but went slower on the last one. "I'm sure Flim and Flam will be fine to. Don't worry Silver we'll all get out of here"
*** Flim and Flam***
"Flam we don't have time to look around let's go"
"But brother of mine don't you see all the crystals, we'll be rich"
"We already are rich Flam"
"Oh yeah" The two brothers unlike the other four weren't being chased down ad they weren't high priority like the others because to the guards they were just the standard thralls of Sombra's so they could do no real harm. The two were walking nonchalantly down the halls with multiple guards stopping to look at them before going back to whatever it was they were doing originally.
"You'd think they would try to at least stop us," Flim said as they crossed the grand hall that lead to the exit.
"Do you really want to try our luck"
"A little, I mean we don't fight like everypony else, we just kind of sit in the background" Flim continued as they pushed open the two large doors that lead back out to the Crystal empire. Ponies were running around frantically grabbing random object and slamming their doors shut before boarding up their windows.
"I do believe that we might have a bit of a problem"
"Why do you say that Flam" Flim asked before Flam turned his head toward the cloud that had been growing closer to the town and now they could recognize that it wasn't any ordinary cloud. "We need to find Isaac and Sombra, now"
*** Back to Isaac and Luca"
"Why do I have to hide in the cart" Isaac wined from inside of the hay cart that Luca was currently pulling through the town while she was in her traditional disguise of being a Pegasus with a red coat and unkempt purple mane. None of the ponies were paying them any attention any way as they seemed to be preparing for something.
"As soon as you can change into other ponies you will have to stay in there" Luca retorted keeping here eyes forward as they passed by another Crystal pony who was staring at the pony talking to her cart.
"Looks like you just gave Flim and Flam a new project, giving me magic"
"They do that and I will throw all three of you off a cliff"
"Love you too"
"When I'm done kicking sparkly's ass yours is next" With that the two were inching ever closer to the edge of town when Luca noticed Flim and Flam heading toward them. "Flim, Flam good to see you guys made it" The two stared at Luca for a minute before realizing it was Luca in disguise before they asked,
"Where is Isaac?" Luca then kicked one of the bales of hay which gave a muffled yelp of surprise before it spoke up,
"Luca If I could get up without drawing attention I'd shove you into one of these hay bales"
"Sounds kinky"
"Then when we get back I'll buy some hay from applejack"
"I was joking Isaac"
"Who said I wasn't" Luca just rolled her eyes as she wasn't going to have this conversation right now. The two brothers just watched the two talk about things best left in private with Flim taking more interest in with the topic.
"No offence to anyone but I think it's time we left. Besides I don't think talking to a cart is normal" Flam said as he started to take the lead out of town. "Oh and another thing. Isaac, that spirit is free again"
"Oh no problem just...wait WHAT"
"Look" Flam said as he pointed toward the ominous cloud that was just about to engulf part of the city.
"We stick to the plan and then we deal with it, alright"
"I don't know Isaac, I mean do you really want to risk it getting all these ponies"Luca asked
"We can't charge at it so we need to get Sombra to enchant a gem to capture it, which is why we're sticking to the plan." The others of the group seemed to be disheartened by the answer, but they all understood Isaac's reasoning in there being no point charging in unprepared. They finally reached the southern point of town where both Sombra and Silver had set up a small camp fire to ward off the cold air that bled into the bubble around the city.
"Good to see you all made it" Sombra said walking over to them with Silver beside him.
"Sombra we've got problems" Isaac said before pointing at the cloud that now had engulfed at least half of the city.
"I'll get started with enchanting one of the Crystals nearby, though this may take some time since crystals are more delicate then gems when it comes to magic"
"Get it done, I'll head back into the city and see if I can get any one out of there"
"Not alone your not" Luca said as she walked over to Isaac. "The last time you went back to help you were possessed by that thing"
"Fine, but Luca..." Luca looked over to Isaac to give him her full attention, "stay safe"
"There is nothing safe about this"
I Prefer the Term Freedom Fighter
Author's Note
Finally the chapter where we meet some of our villains Which I've been excited about! First off, to avoid confusion I'm going to make this really simple.
Isaac "I will kill you"<------- enforcer/ antagonist
Isaac "I will kill you"<------- freelancer/ protagonist
I'm doing this so it will be easier to keep track of which version of a character is doing what. Anyway enjoy, and as for the extra story idea I'll get started on it either later tonight or tomorrow. (tomorrow more likely.) You already know what I usually say so enjoy!
Ps. Gah this hurt my brain to write!
Equal in skill
Chapter 3: Equal in skill
***Inside the cloud***
Isaac was had just forced one of the Crystal buildings to crumble from his arcane gauntlet as he walked calmly through the streets of the Crystal empire. He was unimpressed by the guards attempt to stop their army to say the least considering that many of them surrendered after watching their commander become nothing more than a stain in mere seconds. The few who were brave enough to fight back were made short work of when the first wave of shadow ponies moved in, and with Isaac's help they were able to punch a hole right through granting them access to the city.
"You'd expect them to at least have more stallions on guard. They should of guessed I'd be here" Isaac said to himself as he continued down the street with multiple stall burning around him which irritated his eyes slightly. He remembered back to when he first began this campaign with Sombra, and how their first target was ponyville the town that saw him as a monster. They wanted a monster after all so what better way to give it to them than by conquering them and ripping out a certain purple ponies wings. He chuckled to himself at the memory and screams of the one Isaac hated the most in this god forsaken world he found himself in.
"What's so funny Isaac?" Sombra asked in a rather agitated way. Sombra was wearing bits of metal armor around his neck and barrel protecting him from any harm though it was unnecessary as nothing could actually hit him.
"I'm remembering how they called me a monster. It's funny how they think I've always wanted to destroy them"
"I suppose it is funny, seeing as you've become their worse nightmare"
"It's what they wanted, I'm just giving it to them" As the two walked the black cloud followed them consuming more of the town in it's darkness. Luca and Silver were deeper in the city already searching for the princess and pitiful excuse for a unicorn to be brought before Sombra for judgement.
***Further in the city***
"GET THE CIVILIANS TO THE CASTLE" Shining armor yelled out to all the guards that were currently fighting off a wave of Shadow ponies to get them away from the citizens while they made their escape. Shining knew that as soon as Sombra escaped that they were screwed because now that cloud could replenish the shadow's numbers.
"Would you look at that, a unicorn who actually looks fit" Luca said as she walked over to shining armor wiht a path of unconscious guards behind her. "That is a rare sight you know"
"Stay back or else"
"Or else, oh chrysalis that is grand. How about this you come with me and I don't remove that horn of yours, eh"
"Buck you"
"Sorry, but I'm off the table" with that she started to charge her horn up with a stunning spell before they heard a yell from the south.
"YO LUCA I SAID I WOULD CHECK THE CASTLE" Isaac yelled toward his friend. Isaac and Luca had agreed to split up to cover more ground and to get more civilians to safety if they could so seeing Luca there baffled Isaac. Luca on the other hand was baffled by Isaac showing up without his swords or gauntlets on while yelling at her about checking the castle when he was supposed to be protecting Sombra.
"Get back to Sombra Isaac, you're not taking credit for bringing shining in"
"What are you talking about, as much as I'd love to knock his ass out we've got to help the civilians here" At this shining decided to cut in.
"Yeah right, Isaac helping civilians that's a laugh"
"Damn you really hate me, don't you"
"I'd hate to cut in, but Isaac what are you trying to play at?" Luca asked genuinly confused as to why Sombra's personal guard was out here talking about saving civilians when they all heard her voice come call out from behind Isaac.
"Hey Isaac I couldn't find anypony over there so I figured... Why is there another me?" Luca asked staring at herself. Everyone was kind of shocked to see the two in the same location and Isaac even rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn't hallucinating or in one of Luca's weirder dreams.
"There are two of you now" Shining said with in disbelief as he glared at both changeling watching them both drop into combat stances.
"I don't know who you are, but I'm the impersonator here"
"Your right, because I'm the real Luca bitch" The two started to charge up there horns to fire spells at one another when Isaac turned to shining and said,
"I'm just as confused as you man" Shining just looked at this Isaac wondering exactly what the hell was going on here as he didn't seem to hold any type of anger or hate for him. Whatever the reason Shining saw a very big possibility here when he asked,
"If you really want to help with Civilians the guards could use a hand over there"
"Got it" Isaac said before pulling out his pistol and taking aim at a shadow pony that was getting really close to one of the guards. "This day just got interesting."
The two Lucas took to the skies earlier and were currently fighting overhead alongside the various guards and shadow ponies that were also up there with them.
***Back to Sombra***
The city was crumbling faster than expected considering this was the ponies last hope in freedom so the sheer lack of guards trying to fight off their forces was rather disappointing to Isaac, however fighting that pink princess is going to be one of the highlights of Isaac's conquests. A few arrows had hit Isaac earlier but thanks to the magic of not giving a fuck and his arcane gauntlet allowing him to use healing spells on himself.
"I was really hoping to freeze one of these ponies, you know go all sub-zero on there asses" Isaac said to Sombra who was still walking beside him. Though Isaac had used his arcane gauntlet so often this day he was getting rather impatient with the use of his elemental gauntlet. "At least we're almost done here"
"Isaac Luca's encountered a problem near the castle" Sombra said then he faced Isaac and said "Fix it" Isaac gave a nod before walking ahead of Sombra leaving the cloud and army behind him. Slight bits of the cloud would be left wherever he would step a mark of someone who wasn't entirely in control.
***Back by the castle***
'BANG' Isaac took aim as another shadow pony was getting closer to some of the civilians that were running from the destruction only a few blocks away from them all. When Isaac joined the guards ranks they were worried to say the least ,but Isaac rushing in to tackle one of the shadows about to grab one of the civilians made them reconsider stabbing him in the back.
"I swear they better hurry up with that enchantment" Isaac said as he kicked one of the shadow ponies that was getting to close in the face stunning it long enough for one of the guards to shove a spear through it. As time went on more and more of these shadows were pouring in making it harder and harder to defend this castle, and without that Crystal they would surely be taken. A resounding boom was heard throughout the town when Isaac was rammed in the back by a pony sized freight train.
"YOU BUCKING TRAITOR" Raibow dash yelled as she lifted Isaac high above the castle at break neck speeds.
"WHAT? I"M HELPING YOU GUYS!"
"NO YOU"RE HELPING SHINING! BY THE WAY RIDES OVER" After that dash let go of Isaac letting him fall toward the ground from at least a mile up. He started panicking as he searched for anyway to save himself, but sadly there was nothing that would slow his descent until he hit something on his way down.
"GET OFF OF ME" Luca Cried as she started trying to buck Isaac off of her though this only served in making him tighten his grip on her neck. By the way she was acting Isaac could tell that this definitely wan't his Luca so he didn't feel bad for grabbing onto her wings forcing her to drop like a rock.
"Sorry, but you're a bitch" Isaac said as they fell toward the ground at higher speeds when Isaac was lifted off of Luca by the version of her Isaac wanted to see giving him a cheeky smile as she set him down on the ground. The other Luca was able to right her flying just in time to prevent her from dying, however she couldn't correct her flight path as she went face first into a nearby building knocking her unconscious.
"HEY, JACKASS" a very familiar voice called out to the duo who were heading off towards the castle to help with its defense. Turning around the two saw yet another copy of one of them, this one being Isaac. "I don't know what's going on, but I don't fucking care"
"I don't either, but I'm not above destroying something so pretty as my own face"
"Neither am I, now as a great ninja once said GET OVER HERE" An invisible force shoved Isaac toward this other version of him as it drew two swords.
"God damn it, Why am I acting Like scorpion"
"Because he had the best fatalities" With that Isaac threw a fire ball directly at Isaac's chest which Isaac avoided by ducking which left part of his hair singed. While ducked however the other Isaac ran toward him slashing his blades at him only to be thrown away but Luca who was standing next to Isaac. He quickly got up from the blast and charged up another fireball before being picked up and slammed into the ground by a blue type of aura. Looking up Isaac realized he had taken the notice of one alicorn who looked extremely pissed. Taking this moment of distraction Isaac tackled Isaac from behind and started wrestling with him which confused the alicorn as she only saw one Isaac a second ago.
"Nice gloves" Isaac said as he grabbed onto one of his doppelgangers hands and slid one off which caused his other self to become really agitated.
"Give me back my glove!" He roared as he levitated a nearby barrel before throwing it at Isaac's head which actually hit him launching him into a nearby building. "You might have my face but you have none of my skills"
"Leave him alone!" Luca yelled as she galloped toward Isaac to see if he was alright only for her to be thrown aside by Isaac. He walked over toward his unconscious self before raising his sword to finish the job when it was pulled from his grip by the princess who finally realized that she still had a duty to perform which involves stopping evil if possible. Isaac grinned at the princess before using his magic to force her onto the ground which she struggled against with all her might, but no matter how much she struggled she couldn't get back up and she could only watch as her captor walked over toward her with his other sword at the ready.
"Forgot about me? Big mistake mother fucker" Isaac said as he slashed the other him with it's own sword that Cadence had yanked out of his hands. This surprised Isaac but he quickly teleported away before Isaac could slash him again. Cadence was looking over at this other Isaac perplexed at the fact that he had just saved her when her thoughts were interrupted by him saying, "You going to sit there and stare or are you going to help me track him down"
"Why did you save me" Cadence asked when she was finally able to form an actual sentence.
"Who else is going to hire us?"
I Prefer the Term Freedom Fighter
Author's Note
Sorry about the wait folks but aside from getting another story started it seems the weather hates me. In the past two days my power has gone out for a few hours so I wasn't able to begin writing anything and even when the power was on I was helping put everything back in its place. (Interesting thing, my neighbors trampoline landed right next to my fence!)
Also I apologize for it being so short and for breaking my rule of 1500 word minimum chapters.
For the right price
Chapter 4: For the right price
***Back with Sombra***
"Sir, I believe you should know that there are duplicates of us." Isaac said while walking toward Sombra, "The other me stole my elemental gauntlet as well so we've got a big problem" The king of darkness stopped and looked at Isaac with a calm expression before speaking,
"Do you know where they came from?"
"No, but they are helping the ponies so that mean we have to deal with them!"
"Or we can make them work for us"
"Sombra there was one of me and one of Luca, It's reasonable to assume there is also one of you and Silver"
"We will have to deal with that then, wont we."
The two continued down the street without saying a word as they both knew that if some version of them were helping the ponies problems would certainly arise. Of course Neither of them knew anything about the other set of them but based on Isaac coming back without one of his swords and missing a gauntlet meant that they were cunning and tactful.
***Back at the Castle***
"I don't want to set the woooorrrrllllllddddd on fire, I just want to start a flame-"
"Do you have to sing?" Luca asked before Isaac threw another fireball at one of the shadow ponies charging at them.
"Hey, I've been waiting my entire life to sing that in this context!" Isaac said before tossing another fireball into a cart filled with hay causing the shadows nearby to shrink away from it giving the guard time to rush in a stab them. When Isaac had put on the Gauntlets earlier he just did it for a laugh when he accidentally shot a fireball out of it causing one of the market stalls to catch fire with the owner yelling "MY CABBAGES"
The shadows stopped pouring in for a few moments which gave everyone a moment to recuperate and decide on what to do to ward of the next wave that would inevitably come. Taking a few steps toward the pink alicorn he and Luca returned with Isaac grinned as he began formulating how he would negotiate this contract when he was picked up by a magenta aura.
"Hello Isaac" Twilight said walking up to the human who was suspended in the air before flipping him upside down to speak to him face to face, "How did you get out exactly?"
"Human ingenuity my dear purple pony, now GET ME DOWN" Isaac yelled which got the attention of everyone within earshot including Luca who was already getting ready to beat twilight to near death. Isaac however immediately fell when another magical aura enveloped his body which caused Twilight to look around for who was interfering when her eyes fell upon Cadence.
"Cadence, don't you realize this is Isaac?"
"Not the Isaac you believe him to be."
"There's only one Isaac princess."
"Not anymore, Not Isaac meet Twilight" Cadence said gesturing the to toward each other.
"I am Isaac, just not that evil fuck you know." Isaac said before extending a hand toward Twilight, "Nice to remeet you Twilight." Twilight glared at the hand before carefully putting her hoof in it,
"Twilight"
"I'm assuming that asshole did that to you." Isaac said as he pointed at the two nubs where Twilight's wings used to be.
"Yes, you did"
"Not me the other me"
"I don't see much of a difference from where I'm standing"
"I swear you are much more of a bitch than my twilight"
"WHAT DID YOU CALL ME"
"A bitch, now before this escalates I'm going to talk to Cadence" Twilight tried to continue the argument but Isaac didn't rightly care to speak to this twilight since she still believes that he was a monster. With everything concluded everyone that had been looking at the scene proceeded to pretend that they didn't see anything while they whistled nonchalantly.
"So princess, As you have seen by now me and Luca are quite capable of dealing with you problems, and just so you know we accept payment in bits, gems, and magical artifacts"
"YOU"RE ASKING FOR MONEY NOW" Cadence yelled right in his face.
"No, just when we establish a contract and we complete it" Isaac said completely calm about the situation. This was the typical reaction to Isaac's contracts since most of the time he offers his groups services during dangerous situations like this one.
"You're not going to help us unless we PAY you?"
"No, we will help you until you send us back home anyway"
"Okay, okay, how much do you want" Cadance asked defeated
"Since I have a certain expertise in dealing with this thing that no one else has... 10,000 bits"
"THAT IS OUTRAGE... Wait, only 10,000?"
"Yeah, that thing would kind of cut business if free so you're getting a huge discount" Isaac said before walking back toward Luca who was having a heated argument with Twilight, "If you do hire us though I should tell you, you were wrong about our friend in that prison as well so don't freak out when they show up.
I Prefer the Term Freedom Fighter
Author's Note
I really don't feel like writing tonight, but you all have waited patiently so I won't let personal things interfere with the story. Anyway I've attempted to improve my grammar and pacing (Going to be hard here since the pacing has been established already) so the story is more readable and enjoyable. As always I hope to make this worth your time. Also new minimum is 1000 words per chapter... ignore that last chapter it's a fluke!
Before I leave this though I just want to say you guys are awesome, and I can't think of anything better than writing this for you all. Especially those of you who gave me the confidence I needed to write these stories. Stay awesome my friends and remember I am and always will be one of the crowd. (I'm so sorry for that)
Easy there!
Chapter 5: Easy there!
***several hours later****
After much discussion the princess did in fact condsider to hire the 'freelancers' much to Twilight's disapproval. Isaac and Luca had made preparations to depart back to the southern end of town to regroup with their friends when Twilight stopped them.
"Where do you think you're going?" She asked, spiting out every word as if it would poison Isaac...again. Isaac has heard from this Twilight countless times how 'he' had ruined her life, and destroyed everything she held dear. He wasn't heartless, but the more she blamed him for the actions of his counter part the less he cared. After all he could have easily let their doppelgangers take over the city, but he didn't because he wanted to help these poor ponies.
Isaac continued on his path though Twilight didn't seem to understand he wasn't going to respond to her. She was following them for quite some time as they passed buildings of crystal and even a small park or two, but she didn't notice any of them as she continued on her rant until Isaac finally stopped and turned to her,
"Listen, you want to keep on about what that bastard did, and blame me, Fine. Just remember, I didn't have to help you ponies at all." Twilight stopped in her tracks while Isaac continued on toward the edge of town with a frown on his face. Luca wasn't feeling to good about everything either, but she dealt with being seen as a villain before. She however was more worried about how Isaac was handling the whole situation of being one of the most hated things on the planet.
Eventually, the two reached the camp where everyone was currently. Isaac turned to Luca and gave a nod before heading off toward the bubble. Sombra was staring into the fire before noticing Luca and Isaac had returned before he said,
"It took forever, but I finally got a few of the crystals to hold the enchantment!" He was grinning proudly to himself at his accomplishment of enchanting these crystals. Each crystal glowed with a dim light with various colors emanating from the center of each individual crystal, showing off that there were special properties on each.
Isaac didn't respond to what Sombra had said before he put a hand up on the bubble and tapped it causing it to ripple. The bubble wasn't supposed to ripple, it was supposed to be more solid than the castle in Canterlot! Isaac then used the gauntlet to form a fireball before tossing the fire at the bubble sailing right through it with almost no resistance.
"That answers one question," Isaac said to himself before turning to his friend who all wore a shocked expression, well all except Luca who was no longer in awe of magical Isaac. Realizing why they were all staring at him Isaac raised his gauntlet and said, "I got good, son!"
"Pardon our prench, but WHAT THE BUCK!" Flam said before Flim shoved a hoof in his mouth to silence him.
"As my brother rather rudely said. Why can Isaac use magic now," Flim asked in a much more polite tone before Sombra spoke up,
"I do believe that those gems in the glove have something to do with it, Flim"
Isaac raised the gauntlet to his face and inspected it closer to see if anything about it stood out, but the only thing that stood out was the various gems which consisted of a ruby, emerald, sapphire, Diamond, and there was also a piece of obsidian in the palm. Other than those gems though the gauntlet didn't have any discerning features except for a bit of metal covering the hand. It was clearly made for practical use rather than for fashion which was fine by Isaac, but this did beg the question of why the other him had such a thing.
"What are you thinking,Isaac?" Luca asked before walking beside him to look at the gauntlet as well. She wasn't as interested in the simple thing as Isaac was however, and she just chalked up Isaac's interest in the thing as one of his Isaac things.
"I'm thinking that this me is messing with things he shouldn't" Isaac said before lowering the gauntlet and charging another fireball to get some practice in when Luca stopped him.
"Isaac, look" She said while motioning toward the gauntlet. The ruby was now shining a brilliant red, and only grew brighter as Isaac held the fireball in place causing it to grow.
"Well, damn"Isaac said as he stared at the glow, completely unaware of the fireball growing out of control until it was the size of a pony. Isaac quickly tossed the fireball away before it could hurt any of them only for it to smack into the bubble causing it to shatter leaving the city not only exposed to the shadows, but also the Ice and snow.
"ISAAC, DO YOU REALIZE WHAT YOU JUST DID!" Sombra yelled before going over to Isaac and poked his chest, "You have just ensured that the ponies here are going to die! If not by the shadows then the cold and starvation!"
"I don't see how they can starve from that bubble bursting,"
"The plants barely take root up here with the bubble in place. With it gone the cold will kill them in a matter of hours,"
"Well shit," The group of freelancers then made for the city to see if the could help stop what Isaac had just caused with his negligence. They had no idea what they were in for as off in the mountains a roar resounded throughout the valley.
I Prefer the Term Freedom Fighter
Chapter 6: Reasonable Anger
"Damn it, Isaac! You just had to play with your fucking magic, didn't you," Sombra said as they made their way toward the castle at the center of town. They had been running a good few minutes without stopping because they could already here the cries of pain and suffering off in the distance.
"Sorry, Jesus I just wanted to practice!" Isaac said as they neared the castle that now had a larger hoard of shadows surrounding it. Luca took to the air while Flim and Flam stayed back to keep out of the fight; Isaac, Silver, and Sombra however were going to have to charge into the middle of the hoard just go get close to the castle.
"You really know how to fuck things up, Isaac," Sombra said as he summoned up a sword to slash through the shadows. Silver charged ahead of both Isaac and Sombra, and promptly began to beat the living hell out of every shadow that was within staff distance. Normally this would be something Isaac would pay to see, but seeing as Silver was heavily outnumbered both he and Sombra charged in and began to tear apart the shadows with fire and steel.
They helped a little, but the sheer number of the shadows would simply overwhelm them in a matter of minutes unless something would save them. Speaking of something to save them a roar resounded through the air as off in the distance a speck appeared, and as that speck grew closer it became very apparent that the speck was a pissed off dragon. How could they tell it was pissed off? Because it was burning the legions of shadows that were still gathering outside the city, that's why.
The shadows were distracted by the dragon giving the freelancers time to finish off the ones they were fighting while sneaking by the rest with ease. That dragon is only going to be helpful as long as it stayed out of the city because if it moved in well... it was a nice town for awhile. The rest of the way to the castle was littered with corpses and shadows that were completely oblivious to Isaac and everyone else.
"You know, since there is a dragon here that means there is a hoard nearby! How about-"
"We are not going to raid a dragon's hoard, again!" Isaac cut Flam off before he could continue his ridiculous idea of stealing from the dragon that was currently frying a large portion of the alternate Sombra's forces for them.
They finally arrived at the castle where a purple unicorn was running around frantically looking for the reason that the buv=bblle around the city had fallen. She finally turned and her yes narrowed on Isaac before running up to him and shouting,
"YOU DID THIS! I KNEW WE COULDN'T TRUST YOU!"
"Calm down princess sparkly. you're right I did fuck up, but I'm here to help fix it,"
"HOW ARE YOU GOING TO FIX THAT!" Twilight said as she pointed toward the dragon that was now bored of burning random shadows and was making its way toward the castle.
That was actually a good question as when Isaac fought dragons before, but that was in caves where you could drop a boulder on its head. There were no boulders hanging precariously on any of the buildings here so that limits the options available for the freelancers to use to deal with this new problem.
"Any idea's Sombra?" At this Twilight turned to Sombra and promptly screamed in his face before sprinting off into the castle while calling for the guards again. Everyone promptly facepalmed/hooved at the fact that she did that when she had plenty of warning about this Sombra in particular
"We going to stop her?"
"Fuck that! She's probably told half the castle by now anyway," Isaac responded with as he began trying to plan exactly how to fight a dragon with nothing more than a castle and a gauntlet that lets him throw great balls of fire!
*** Near the Castle***
"This complicates things" Sombra said as he observed a dragon decimating his forces with relatively no effort, "You have any plans, Isaac?"
"You bring it down, and then I go to town on its throat?"
"We can't waste my magic on such a trivial thing, Isaac! I have to conserve it so that we can make shinning armor one of our generals."
"I still think he'll try to get out of it,"
"Like you?"
"Yeah," Isaac said as he began walking toward the castle to get assistance with the dragon.
"Where are you going?"
"To get help from someone as competent as me."
Author's Note
I don't know why, but I don't really feel like writing this story anymore. I'm not canceling it as that would break a rule I've set for myself, but I might not write anymore chapters for awhile at least until I feel like writing this story again. I'm sorry to those of you that wanted to see this until completion, but I just can't get into writing this story like I did with the first few chapters. Again I am sorry, but I shall continue writing other stories that might hold you until I come back to writing this.
This chapter is also a fluke in the word minimum!