The Knight is Risingby clearshot01ChaptersRising Knight in a nutshellFirst Day in the Facility (Rewritten)New friends, New enemies, New powersRewrites.Rising Knight in a nutshellA/N: Hello to all who read this. If anyone is interested in having a character of their own creation making an appearance, feel free to comment or send me a PM. Anyway, enough of this boring stuff, let's get on with the story! The first thing I thought when I woke up that day was Where am I and how did I get here? Last thing I remember was being knocked out after that stallion with the horn and wings... And then I remembered. My parents, or step-parents if you want to get technical, were dead, murdered by one of those monsters accompanying that pony with the wings and horn, that Alicorn, though after what he did, all I wanna call him is scum. He doesn't deserve the privilege of being called an Alicorn. If I wasn't in the situation I currently find myself in, then I would've cried thinking about my parents, but I was too busy trying to figure out where I was, and praying that my little sister was alright (No, my sister and I are not related by blood either, she was born to my step-parents, but she's still my sister). The cell wasn't big, but it wasn't small either. There was a toilet Thank god, I didn't want to have to sleep in my own filth, though if it was between that and dying, I'd probably find a way to make-do, and a bed that looked as though it had seen better days Doesn't really matter though, a bed is a bed. Beats sleeping on the floor. I got up and stretched my legs, then walked over to the iron-bar door. It didn't look that sturdy, so I thought about giving it a few good bucks. This proves to be a wasted endeavour, as the bars were electrified. Learned that the hard way, in other words ZAP!. So I tried another approach. I focused my energy into my horn, and tried to force the door open with magic. Oh right, I didn't tell you, did I? My name is Rising Knight, but everypony calls me Knight for short. They used to call me Rising, but I just told 'em I preferred Knight, so now it's Knight. Also, I'm a unicorn pony, though I'm pretty different from most ponies in general. How? For one, I've always had a few, unique, abilities. I'm able to use a strange form of 'teleportation' for lack of a better word. I can literally merge with any shadows I'm in contact with, no matter how small, and then I can reappear from within any nearby shadows. I've practiced it a lot, so my range has really increased. I can go for a few miles. This doesn't use any energy, but it's still dangerous. Not in the way that normal teleportation is dangerous. I don't have to worry about leaving parts of me behind. what I have to worry about is spending too long in that weird shadow world. See, when I merge with a shadow, I enter a weird world where I can see other parts of the world. Wasn't till I was 10 that I realised that I was seeing through shadows. It was literally as if the shadows themselves were showing me the world from their perspective. But anyway, back to the danger. See, if someone eliminates the shadows from wherever I want to go while I'm in the shadow world, then I get stuck there. It's not a case of no way back ever, just that it's extremely difficult for me to get back. Plus, I still need to eat and drink, which can't be done in the SW, since there's literally no life in there, other than myself. So at most, I could stay in the SW for around two days or so. After that, I have to get back and find something to eat and drink, or I'll die. Almost happened once, won't go into details. Let's just say that magpies are no longer on my "DO NOT KILL" list. So, wondering what else I can do? Well, I'll tell you. My other power actually involves the sun and the moon. I can literally draw energy from them and use it to boost my own magic, or to use these really cool abilities I call the "Celestial Techniques". I won't go into a boring explanation of what they are and what each of them does. All I'll say is that there are three variations of each one. The first draw their strength from just the sun, the second from the moon, and the third use a combination of the two. The third are undoubtedly the most powerful, but I can't completely control them, so I usually stick with the first and second type. I can use any of them at any time, but as you can guess, the Lunar set are stronger at night, and the Solar set are stronger in the day, so I generally use them only when they are most effective. And just so you know, I spent the past few years being trained to be an assassin. Now, I know what you're thinking. You were trained to kill people? For what? Money? And to that I say, you are ignorant. A true assassin never kills for money, or for power. A true assassin uses their skills for the safety and good of others. So, now you know about my abilities, let me tell you about my past and how I came to be here. My parents found me when I was five. I was apparently in very bad condition because I remember they had horrified looks on their faces upon seeing me. I had absolutely no memories of my past or my family, I didn't even remember my name. The only reason they knew it was because it was engraved on a small bracelet attached to my right foreleg. There was another engraving on the other side, of the sun and the moon. They told me they had suspicions of what it might mean, but they told me they didn't want to give me false hope. In the meantime, they promised to look after me until they could get me home. For the first few days, they absolutely refused to let me risk hurting myself, insisting that I rest and recover. To this day, I still don't know how bad my injuries really were. All I know is that they said I would be risking my life if I tried to get up before I had recovered. For the most part, they weren't around, always going off to do 'Big pony things' as they put it. I wasn't lonely though, as their daughter was always there, always trying to make me smile. For the most part she was successful. I was rarely without a big grin plastered to my face. One day she called me 'brother', right in front of them both, and I was more than a little surprised. It was that day that they asked me if I wanted to be part of their family. I said yes without hesitation, and I found myself initiating a group hug with my parents and sister, despite them saying that it might delay my recovery or possibly even cause permanent damage. After a few weeks though, I had recovered from whatever injuries I had suffered. It was actually that day that I discovered my ability of "Shadowporting" I know, not very creative, but it's the best I could come up with. I was walking through the woods with my dad, talking about what he did for a living. He would only say that he and mom did a 'special' kind of job that was necessary for the good of Equestria. Before I could question him further, a huge tree branch snapped and started falling right on top of me. All I remember was dad yelling and running towards me, and then suddenly I was right in front of him, the branch on the ground where I had been standing less than a moment ago. He was shocked to say the least, but it didn't stop him from wrapping his forelegs around me and crying out of relief that I was alright. He asked me how I did it, but I told him I didn't know. He was perplexed, but he put his opinions on hold until we got home. Upon our arrival, and his explanation to mom about what happened, they both combined their magic to analyse my memory in an attempt to find out what happened. When they were done, they explained that I had somehow merged with the shadows I was standing on at the time and entered some sort of shadow world, then exited it, emerging from dad's shadow right before the branch could hit me. They didn't know how I could do this, but they did know that they needed to help me to learn how to control it. It was then that they decided to tell me what they did for a living. They told me that they were trained assassins. Hearing this, I became afraid and tried to back away, which they noticed. My sister appeared beside me and told me that she knew what they did from the start, but that she had promised not to tell me. I asked why they took a job that required them to kill other ponies. Their response was simple. A true assassin never kills innocents. They only ever kill when it is for the good of others, and only when there is no other option. They never kill for power or for money, but for the safety and good of the citizens of Equestria. It was those words that calmed me, and made me realise that my fears were groundless. After all, if they had wanted to hurt me, they would have left me to die the day they found me instead of rescuing me and giving me a home, a family. They apologised for keeping it from me, saying that they didn't want to scare me or make me think I would have to go down the same path as them. They kept asking me if I could forgive them. All I said was that there was nothing to forgive. That they were just trying to protect me, and why should they need forgiveness for that. They just smiled with tears in their eyes and we all embraced each other. They asked me if I would be willing to learn the way of the assassin, in addition to learning how to control my powers. I agreed, stating that if it helped me to better protect myself and others, I would gladly undertake any training they had to offer. So from that point on, I learned how to be a master assassin, alongside my sister, who was quite skilled despite being nearly 3 years younger than me. Imagine, a three year old filly being able to erase her entire presence in an instant, or sneak up behind somepony, knock them unconscious or kill them, then vanish without even leaving a trace. It is a sight that will either leave you completely dumbstruck, or plague you with nightmares. My reaction was the former. But it didn't discourage me. If anything, it made me even more determined. We agreed that my training would not start until I had turned nine. To say it was difficult would be equivalent to saying Discord is mildly insane. In other words, it was brutal. The first thing we focused on was balance and dodging. They would place me on an extremely thin board over a pit filled with various 'items', and I had to be able to walk from one end of the board to the other without falling. To make it more challenging, they would constantly throw objects at me, not to harm, but to simply unbalance me and force me to fall. It took over 3 months (and at least 376 showers) before I had mastered the first step. After that, I could walk across the board for hours while dodging everything that was thrown at me. Once they were sure that I had reached perfection in balance and dodging, they let me rest for a month before we moved onto stealth and sensing the presence of others, without the use of magic or my shadowporting ability. This was proven to be even more difficult as I literally had to train so that I would be able to sense the presence of anypony in any given area at once, and also be able to instinctively know which ponies I would need to avoid. I would be placed in a magically created maze, and I would have to get to the center, grab the object inside, and get back to the entrance, all while avoiding being detected by the guards inside. What they didn't tell me was that the guards were magical clones, created with all their senses heightened so that even the slightest sound could be heard, or the slightest movement seen, or even the slightest odor detected. they also forgot to tell me that the second one of them detected me, I would be teleported back to the start and all the positions of the guards would be randomized, so that I couldn't memorise them and avoid places I knew they'd be. So I literally had to not only use my own senses to find and avoid them, but I also had to be wary of their heightened senses. It was literally a nightmare for me. The worst part was actually that until I mastered this aspect of my training, I could not stop to rest. It was not that I couldn't try, but the magic that created the maze and the guards also prevented me from leaving or resting, except for trips to the bathroom that were few and far between. But I kept at it, and eventually, after several months, I was able to traverse the maze, obtain the object, and reach the entrance again, all without being detected. It was then that we were to move on to the final stage of my training. the stage that would not only result in me finding out about my other inherent ability, but would also bring my existence to the attention of one who would seek to use me to bring the world to its knees. It was a month after I had finally finished my training in the maze, and we were finally moving on to the final stage. They were finally going to teach me combat and deception tactics. They told me that this was the most difficult stage. They had explained what this stage entailed while I was recovering from my exhaustion at all the training I had done in stealth without taking a break for rest, not that I had a choice. I was going to be placed in the center of a group of armed guardsponies, and I would be required to incapacitate them. It was up to me whether I chose to just knock them out or kill them. I was also told that the guards would continuously respawn until I could no longer fight them. Once that happened, I was to escape them, using whatever means necessary, short of risking the safety of innocents. I accepted the conditions, even after I was told that if I failed, I would just restart until I passed, but if I broke any of the test's conditions not only would I fail, but my training would be ended right there and then, and all my memories of what had happened in my life would be erased, and I would be left in the nearest town. With that, I was alone in the artificial town. but only for a few seconds. After which, I was attacked from all sides by several guardsponies wielding several different weapons. I had resolved from the start not to kill them, even if they were only magical clones. I had intended to make this as difficult as possible, not so much to prove that I was worthy of being an assassin, but to prove to myself that I could restrain myself from taking a life. I quickly disarmed each guard and knocked them out in rapid succession, delivering powerful bucks that sent them flying into walls and through doors. I kept that up while I moved through the town looking for any area that would be easy to defend... I found a perfect spot a few minutes later. It was a small raised platform, just high enough that normally only a pegasus could get onto it in a single jump. I however, did just that, by using magic to strengthen my legs to give me a higher jump. Once on top, I could clearly see where the guards would be coming from. On top of that, there were multiple ways for me to get away from the structure, namely roofs, but the ladder attached to the platform was the only way onto it, short of flying. This meant that until peasus guards started showing up, I only had one direction to be keep an eye on. they came up one at a time, and I bucked them back down each and every time. This went on until I was too tired to keep bucking. That was when I decided that it was time to escape. But that was also when the pegasi decided to make their appearance. So while running across the rooftops, dodging thrown weapons from the earth ponies, and magical projectiles from the unicorns, I had to deal with dive bombing and air to ground arrows from the pegasi. Luckily, my training meant that I was able to subconsciously bob and weave my way through the rainstorm of deadly projectiles. I was almost to the end of the town, when I heard a scream. I turned to see the first civilian pony I had encountered in my entire time, and she was being held by an earth pony guard who had a sword pressed to her neck. He demanded that I surrender myself or they would kill her. The second those words left his lips, I was possessed by an intense fury. I felt my horn glow a furious white, and I could hear something, words in a language I had never heard before, and suddenly everything went white... When I regained consciousness, mom, dad and my sister were all hugging me, crying. They said that there had been a huge explosion of energy from me during the training, and that when they found me, I had gained my cutie mark. Sure enough, when I looked at my flank, I saw it. My cutie mark. It was two crossed swords, one adorned with the sun, the other with the moon. My parents then searched through what they could find of the images of the training in my mind, that I had apparently summoned two strange blades of a make they had never seen before, and I had slammed them into the ground creating a huge shockwave of energy, completely decimating the guards, while somehow leaving the town and the civilian unharmed. They said that they had noticed that somehow, I had drawn energy from the sun itself when I created the shockwave. They said I should give this ability a name as well, so I called them the Celestial techniques, since they derived their strength from heavenly bodies. They then returned their attention to my test. I was sure that I had failed, but they told me that I had passed with flying colours. Their explanation was that even my sister had given herself up rather than let an innocent get hurt, since she could just escape from wherever they imprisoned her. But I had taken it further, actually taking out the guard before he could make good on his threat. In short, they were inpressed. With that, they officially welcomed me as a Celestial Assassin. They told me that the Celestial Assassins were literally the unkown defenders of the innocents of Equestria. We were shadows, whose names could never be known, and whose skills were vital in defending ponies from threats that even Princess Celestia herself was not entirely aware of. In short, we were the line of defence that dealt with threats that could never become public knowledge. I accepted this, and promised that unless it was absolutely necessary, I would not use what I had learned in my training without their express permission. And with that, my training was complete. I was 11 years old. It was at that time that, unbeknownst to me, an alicorn with a dark gray body, with a grey mane and tail, and a cutie mark, that was more like a picture, of surgiacal equipment in a barren wasteland, was standing there watching us. Grinning, with a plan forming in his mind. A plan that would result in several other worlds being destroyed and some of those worlds' inhabitants taken from everything and everypony they knew and loved, all for the sake of this alicorn's desire for vengeance... It had been two years since I became a Celestial Assassin.Since then I've trained hard, and become even more proficient in the use of my blades. The thing is, they actually don't appear unless I either say, or think of, their names, Taiyō no me (Eye of the sun) and Tsuki no me (Eye of the moon), which is pretty cool since it means I don't have to carry them around on my back or strap them to my sides. So far there have been no incidents that actually required my involvement, so mom and dad have been making sure I at least know some Equestrian history. I was not very interested in history, but I took in enough to get by. I also built on other skills I had some knowledge of, though I don't remember where I learned them, such as math and science, but also arts such as potion-making and weapon/armour smithing. The former was so that I could make antidotes to various posions, while the former was so that no matter where I went, I could make tools to aid me where my twin blades weren't going to cut it. After a few months, I was finally considered proficient in all areas my parents had decided to school me in. It was my sister's birthday, so we decided to go to a nearby town, Ponyville, and see about getting a cake for her so we could have a quiet party at home. On the way, I felt something was terribly wrong, but before I could warn them about it, there was a bright flash, and I was blinded. When I could see again, I saw mom and dad, lying there, their bodies brutally slashed, and a black-as-night unicorn with red eyes, that looked like those of a dragon, standing over them, his coat and horn stained with blood. I saw my sister, standing there, looking terrified and furious at the same time. I could see that she couldn't decide whether to run or fight, so I made the decision for her. I looked at her, and told her in no uncertain terms, to run, and not to stop until she was in Ponyville. I made her swear to stay safe until I came back for her. And when I was sure she was gone, I turned and charged at the black unicorn, who simply dodged, and laughed before introducing himself as 'One'. Every time he addressed me, he called me 'Triple Digits', infuriating me further. In the end, I lost it, summoning my blades, and I released a Tentai Shogekiha (celestial shockwave), totally focused on killing him. When the smoke cleared, he was in very bad shape, but he was still alive. Before I could finish him off, a dark grey alicorn appeared and struck me down. Before I lost consciousness, I could hear him telling One to get 'Subject 100' to the facility. My last thoughts were Mom, dad, sister, I'm sorry. I wasn't strong enough. Please forgive me... before I fell into oblivion. A/N: And now you know how Rising Knight came to be at the facility. I've had a think about it, and I've decided not to add Ichigo Ed and Naruto to the fic, instead I'm just gonna add some nameless humans. The reason I'm adding humans at all will be revealed during Knight's stay in the facility. Also, this story is set roughly four years before the first adventures of the mane 6, so Rising Knight's escape from the facility will be after the Canterlot Wedding. Rising Knight's escape from the facility will either be in the next chapter or the one directly after it. I won't be following the wedding story, as it will all be over by the time Rising Knight escapes. I will say that a battle is in his future. I'll leave it up to you to guess who it is with. First Day in the Facility (Rewritten)I found out pretty quickly that my magic was a no-go. Something, or somepony, was blocking it. Same for my shadowporting and Celestial Techniques. I was confused, to say the least. Ok, why in the name of Celestia and Luna are my powers not working? Whoever is behind this must've known about them beforehand or something, how else would they have found a way to neutralize them? For buck sake, how did they find out about them in the first place? I- My thoughts were interrupted by the cell door opening. “Hey Triple Digits, how goes it? Settling in alright?” My blood boiled when I recognized the voice, but I held my anger in check and remained silent. No sense getting myself killed. Can't use my powers, so I don't stand much of a chance against him if he was able to defeat both mom and dad in less than ten seconds. The bastard just smirked as he looked at me. “Eh, still itching to kill me? Fat chance. Maybe you didn't know, but I'm the favoured subject here. As I said before, name's One. Didn't like my old name, so when he came looking for subjects, promising power, wealth and mares, I volunteered. Turns out, I was the first, and the only willing, participant, so I've got free run of the place. Best part is, when the experiments start, I get to choose who I fight after each one.” Fight? This can't be good.... “Now come on, the boss has an announcement to make to the rest of you subjects.” And with that, I was dragged out of my cell, into a dark corridor... After what felt like hours, we finally arrived in a huge open area. I was literally tossed in the door, which was promptly shut and barricaded. Figuring that escape wasn't possible at this time, I proceeded to look around, noticed that there were only a few others here. I walked up to a female earth pony, startling her, but when I promised not to harm her, she apologized, and told me about the others here. She said with, venom in her voice, that there were around one hundred of us imprisoned here. Sixty of whom were ponies. 20 earth ponies, 20 unicorns (including myself), and 20 pegasi. Seriously, what is with this guy. He must have some serious OCD to be this precise in how many ponies he has. She also said there were 20 changelings. From what I remember learning, they were insect-like ponies that had a hive mentality, so basically, they had a telepathic bond with their queen, as well as each other. If their own Queen can't find them, then the one keeping us here must be really powerful. Finally, she told me about the last 20, who were a mix of different creatures, including a pitch black Zebra with blue eyes, How does she know what color his eyes are? She must be crushing on him or something, grey stripes, a black and grey mane and tail, and bat wings. Cool. Wonder if he has powers too, a few dragons, some diamond dogs, and some strange creatures she said she'd never seen before. They were bipedal, sort of like dragons, with long arms, but instead of claws, they had what looked like flexible branches attached to them. They had fur only on top of their heads, and they were wearing clothes all over their bodies. When I thought about it, they sounded kind of familiar. While the two of us were busy talking, the rest of the 'guests' were brought in. It was a few at a time, and all of them looked like they were either scared out of their minds, or extremely angry. After a couple of hours I noticed the zebra and the bipedal creatures she had mentioned walk in. The doors shut behind them with finality Hmm; they must be the last to arrive. And would you look at that, they make one hundred. The bipedal ones looked scared out of their minds, while the zebra just looked mildly concerned, though I could see he was shaking slightly. I decided to try to be polite and introduce myself. When the bipedal things saw me approach though, they immediately tried to be hostile. “Back off, or else, Silver.” The smallest one stated. Silver? Ok, why would they think my name is Silver? What about me could honestly make them think my name is Silver? My fur is grey! I decided to save that for later and started speaking. “Ok, I don't know what you are, or where you're from. All I know is that I wanna be here just about as much as you, so what's say we take any and all hostility and lose it, at least until we get out of this, Sound good?” Although I could tell they were hesitant, they all nodded. “Sorry, just never seen a talking horse before. Actually, we've never seen any of these kinds of creatures before. Well, except for the ones that brought us here, so our hostility is at least warranted.” What the buck? Seriously? You've never seen ponies, or diamond dogs, or any of these creatures before? Wow. “I mean, unicorns, pegasi, dragons, these definitely don't exist where we're from. There are horses, and dogs, but neither of them can talk, and the dogs definitely can't walk on two legs, at least, not for lengthy periods.” I would be lying if I said I wasn't surprised. “Really? Well what are you, and where are you from? And also, we're ponies, not horses.” I said, a little miffed at their ignorance. “We're humans, we're from Earth, and sorry about that little pony dude.” The tall one said with a shrug of his shoulders. “Ok, humans. I remember reading up a bit about them in one of my dad's old books. And are you sure that you're from Earth? This world is called Earth too and...oh. Oh no...” “What? WHAT? Come on little pony dude, tell us what you're thinking before I bust a nut!” The short one asked, a little panicked. I hesitated, but only for a second, since it would be unfair to keep them in the dark. “I just thought, what if you're from another world entirely? What if you got pulled here from yours? And 'bust a nut'? What's that even mean?" The one I assumed was the eldest sighed and shook his head. “Well, that sucks, but it beats the explanation we were thinking of a minute ago. And 'bust a nut' is an expression that means to get really angry.” He explained. I nodded. “Ok, and your theories on our predicament would be...?” The short one spoke up again. “That we were all having an insane nightmare. We even pinched ourselves to be sure, and nothing…” Just then, the Zebra walked up to us, with a grim face. “You thought you were dreaming? Well, sorry, but by the time this is all over, you'll all be wishing you were. I know I will.” We all shared a look of worry before turning back to the Zebra... “And what do you mean by that?” I asked, more than a little afraid of the answer. “You don't know? The guy in charge of this place is bad news. I recognize him from a book I read before I got kicked out of my home by my parents, on account of my looks, and 'other' reasons.” “What kind of 'other' reasons?” “It's personal, and I don't like talking about it. Anyway, the guy in charge was the brother of the Princesses, but he was apparently banished from this world during the war with Discord.” “Why?” “He wanted to experiment on other ponies in order to find ways of improving the effectiveness of the troops, but Celestia and Luna refused, saying that it was too barbaric, and that the results wouldn't be worth the cost. He got really pissed by this, and he switched sides. Joined up with Discord. Any time they captured a pony, he would torture them through experimentation. He'd push their minds and bodies to the breaking point over and over until they couldn't take it anymore and either died, or went insane and became mindless killing machines, which Discord would release on nearby populated areas.” I was feeling very ill hearing this. I noticed two of the humans had already thrown up, and the third was barely holding down the vomit. The zebra ignored this and continued. “The worst thing he did though was a forbidden ritual. He sacrificed several innocent foals, and by spilling their blood, he created a de-” Before he could continue further, he was interrupted by another voice I knew all too well. “Greetings test subjects...” “That's him...” the Zebra whispered to me, his eyes full of anger, which he was just barely keeping in check. I finally had a chance to see what the fallen alicorn looked like up close. I wasn't impressed. He had bags under his eyes, as if he hadn't slept in centuries, and he also had several cuts and bruises. Probably from trying to capture some of the more stubborn of us. My guess is he tried to do it alone the first few times, and then switched to partnering up with One. One tires us out, then he knocks us out. All in all, good strategy. “Now, I'm sure you are all wondering why you are here. Well, you have all been chosen to be part of a series of experiments. All of you are among the best of your individual species and subspecies. That is why you are here. Only one of you will leave here alive.” We all went pale at that revelation. Some even threw up on the spot. He ignored us. “That one will become a living weapon with which Lord Discord will rain Chaos and Destruction upon Equestria, overthrowing Princess Celestia and taking back his throne!” Everypony had looks of disbelief on their faces. Some tried to charge at him, probably thinking if they took him down, we'd have a shot at escaping. They didn't even get close before he restrained them with magic. What scared me though, was the fact that not only did he not look at them when casting his magic, but his expression and tone of voice never changed, and he continued on as if nothing had happened at all. “Of course, to those of you who have been here for extended periods of time, I apologize, but we needed one hundred subjects in order for the tests to be as efficient as possible. Now, I would like to turn your attention to the dark grey unicorn with the crossed swords cutie mark. Everypony, meet Rising Knight, a member of the very prestigious Celestial Assassins. However, he is no longer to be considered anything except for a fellow test subject. So, feel free to call him Subject One Hundred from now on.” Instantly, all eyes turned on me, and I wished for nothing more than to be able to shadowport anywhere, just to be away from all the probing stares... “Wait, you're a Celestial Assassin?!” The zebra exclaimed, looking me over with amazement, before regaining his composure and holding a hoof behind his head, embarrassed. “That's pretty cool. I mean, I've read books about them, but I always thought they were just a myth.” The humans, zebra and I were walking back to our cell. Turns out that the five of us would be sharing a cell. They placed most of us in groups of 5, and told us that each group would sleep in the same cell for the duration of their 'stay'. The humans protested at first, saying they didn't want to share a cell with ponies, but we shut them up, whispering that if we could come up with a plan, the five of us would have a better chance of escaping together. They eventually agreed, all too eager to escape from this hellhole and to get back home. “Anyway, my name's Dark Storm, but just call me Storm. He told everypony your name, so it's only fair that you know mine. But do you mind if I ask you something?” He inquired with almost childlike wonder. “No. Go ahead, as long as you finish telling me about what happened with that alicorn guy.” “Sure, no problem. Anyway, how'd he capture you? I heard Celestial Assassins are supposed to be almost unbeatable.” “Unbeatable? Tell that to my parents.” I told him about my life, ever since they found me, right up to the point that we were attacked. My voice was dripping with rage as I told him about it. “It only took One a few seconds to beat them. After that, I made my sister run so she wouldn't get hurt. I got her to head for Ponyville. She has some friends there, Pinkie Pie, this energetic Pink earth pony who loves parties. Fluttershy, a yellow pegasus with a heart of gold. Then there's Rainbow Dash, a pegasus who, I dare say, could be her doppelganger in terms of personality. There's also Applejack, a local apple farmer, she's got a buck that could knock you through a barn door with enough momentum left over to knock the apples out of any tree you happen to hit. Lastly, there's Rarity, I met her once, and she struck me as very sophisticated. She has an unparalleled gift for making amazing clothes too. I know that as long as she's got friends like that looking out for her, she'll be fine.” “I'm sorry about your parents, but don't worry, I'm sure you're right. Your sister will be fine.” “Thanks. So, wanna finish telling me about that guy? Just what did he create that required sacrificing foals?” He just looked at me with a grim expression before he answered my question. In all honesty, when he finished his story, a part of me wished he hadn't. “A demon. That's what they created.” “WHAT!?” A bucking demon! And I thought changelings were bad!. “Yeah, a demon. They sacrificed foals and offered their bodies and souls in order to create a powerful demon. It was called Abysmal Shadow. They bound it to Discord, so it could use his magic, and they released it upon any and all populated areas. It killed a lot of ponies, and it even took out three regiments’ worth of royal guards as if they were nothing.” I became pale trying to imagine a creature that powerful. He ignored this, and continued his explanation. “Eventually, the princesses had no choice but to take it on themselves. By that time though, it had become so powerful, that both of them combined weren't able to defeat it. In a last-ditch effort, they used the Elements of Harmony. You know what they are, right?” I nodded and motioned for him to continue. “Anyway, they used the elements and managed to destroy it. Then they turned Discord to stone, and banished the brother from this world entirely, marking him a fallen alicorn for all eternity, as well as erasing him from the history books and making his name taboo, so nopony can say it, even if they wanted to.” I didn't hear the last part. My head was only focused on what he'd done. He betrayed his sisters. He helped Discord kill hundreds, if not thousands, of innocent ponies. He killed innocent foals to create a demon, which then went on to kill more ponies. The only question I have is how did he get back here? I don't need to ask why. Storm pretty much gave enough of an explanation. He's a psychopath, that's all there is to it. And one way or another, he is gonna pay. “Yo, Knight. You there, colt?” I snapped back to reality to see Storm staring at me with a worried expression. “Yeah, I'm here. Sorry about that… Lost in thought.” “Dangerous place to be. Anyway, got any more questions? I'll answer anything you ask.” He offered. “Ok, my question is as follows: What's your story? How did you end up here?” Storm became very uncomfortable at the question. “I'm sorry, you don't have to-” “No, it's only fair. You told me about your past. I should at least tell you mine.” He sighed, as if trying to expel his fears or something. “Lemme warn you now, it's not pretty...” “As I told you before, my parents abandoned me when I was a kid. My dad was a pegasus, and my mom was a zebra. I have a little sister, she's about two years younger than I am. She was always interested in potion making, and she had a habit of speaking in rhymes. Last I heard, she was living somewhere in the Everfree Forest. She'd be about 15 now.” “Sounds like someone I may know. Would her name happen to be Zecora?” “Yeah, but how did you-” “I grew up in the Everfree with my parents and sister. I met her a couple of times, and my parents sometimes sent me over to her place to learn more about potions. If you're wondering how I could survive there, we actually had a home in a relatively quiet area in the forest. But can I ask you something about Zecora? Why is somepony so young living there by herself? What happened?” “I happened.” “What do you-” “You know how I said there were 'other' reasons for me being abandoned, besides my looks, by which I mean the wings. And yes, before you ask, I was born with them like that!” Wow, he read me like a book there. “OK, so what was the reason?” “I have a monster living inside me.” “A monster?” “Yeah, it's name is Pain.” “Charming” “Ha ha. Anyway, it's a sadistic beast, and that's putting it mildly. When it takes over, my body changes. My eyes become red with sharp slits for pupils, my mane changes so that it looks like it's made of lightning, my tail becomes more like a dragon's tail, my wings burst into flame, my mark changes from a thundercloud to a skull, this weird smoke starts coming out of my body, and these weird marks appear on my body. My teeth all become razor sharp, and I can unleash a dark energy that acts as a poison to anypony it makes contact with...” He shuddered talking about Pain's power. “It can only take over if I let it, or if I become consumed by my rage. But I've also got an ally on the inside, named Flare. He can wield fire and he's a bit of a hothead, but he's generally a nice guy once you get to know him. When he takes over, the only thing that really changes that much is my colour. My body turns red, my stripes orange, and my mane and tail turn the colour of flames and flow as if they really were made of fire.” “I got kicked out after my dad found out about them though. His exact words were ‘You're not my son, you're a freak of nature, now GET OUT!’. My mom tried to reason with him, probably thought she could do something to help me, but my dad wouldn't hear it. He kicked me out, and told me if he ever saw me again, he'd kill me. So much for unconditional love. Since then, I wandered the world, never staying in one place too long. Eventually, I got noticed by the pony One. We fought, and Pain really did a number on him. Then the big boss came in and took me out. It was so fast, I didn't even have time to prepare. Next thing I know, I'm in a cell, being called 99.” He trailed off, looking pensive, and I just waited for him to pick up the story from where he left off... Eventually he seemed to finally finish up with whatever thoughts were orbiting his mind. “That was about three days ago, but from what I've heard, most of us had been here for months. I wonder if my sister's ok...” “Don't worry, I've seen her several times. She can handle herself. I wouldn't be surprised if she turns out to be a Celestial Assassin herself.” “Seriously? My little sis, an assassin? Now that is a weird image…” We all laughed. I had completely forgotten the humans were here, but they didn't seem to mind, being content to just listen to our stories. We arrived at our 'shared' cell to find several more beds had been set up. We said our goodnights, and got some sleep. With what was in store for us, we were gonna need it. We woke to the sounds of guards banging some sort of going right outside our cell. “Get up! 99, 100, you're both first in line for experimentation. 56, 28, and 81, you're scheduled for tomorrow, so you can go back to resting your pretty little heads!” We were all considering taking on the guards and risking death to try and escape, but before we could, one of the guards' horns glowed, and I suddenly couldn't stay awake anymore. I woke up strapped to a gurney surrounded by jars filled with various organs and 'other' things. I could barely keep from vomiting right there. And then HE came into view. “Ah, you're awake. Good, then we can begin. Now, if this experiment is successful, we will have successfully given a non-changeling the ability to shape-shift without using magic. You'll literally be able to turn yourself into anything you can think of. Won't that be fun?” He was smiling with a mad gleam in his eyes. I was terrified, and began straining at the restraints keeping me there, but to no avail. They were reinforced with magic. “Ah ah ah, can't have that. A good subject knows when to BE STILL!” With those last two words, he touched his horn to my head, and suddenly I couldn't move. I was literally paralysed. I could still feel everything that happened to me, but I was powerless to do anything about it. “Good. Now let us begin the experiment!” If I hadn't been paralysed, my screams would have completely deafened everypony in the entire compound. As it was, all I could do was scream inside my head until I eventually passed out, while the fallen servant of Discord went about his work with a sick enthusiasm... I woke up in the large room we had all been gathered in last night. “What the buck... oh, my bucking head. When I get my hooves on him, that bastard’s a dead stallion walking...” I muttered, not really expecting anypony to reply as I stood, rubbing my head with one hoof. I heard a huff from not too far away, “It's about time you woke up.” a gravelly, but distinctly female voice said, as a bipedal creature, which I realized was a diamond dog, stood up. She had long, brownish-red fur, with a white area over the stomach. “And you are?” I asked as calmly as possible. The diamond dog snorted, "It's not like you'll live long enough for it to matter." Every couple seconds, her eyes kept darting to an overhanging balcony near the top of the room. “Why is that?” I inquired. “Because one of you is going to die today. Didn’t you pay attention when I mentioned the fighting part, Triple Digits?” that all too familiar voice called from above. And lo and behold, who should I see when I looked up, but One, standing on the balcony, his sadistic grin ever present on his face. “It’s pretty simple. The two of you will fight. One of you will die. Who it is depends on who the better fighter is.” He explained, turning to exit through a small door. “So, good luck, and may the best subject survive.” As one said the last word, the d-dog charged me, her fur morphing into what looked like solid strands of grey metal, which entwined with each other to form scales of what looked like steel, except for a part that grew rapidly, forming a spear-like shape, aimed right at my heart. “Shit!” I cursed, pivoting and barely avoiding the unconventional attack before retaliating with a standard magical blast. Weak, but fast enough that avoiding it from close range would be all but impossible under normal circumstances. But dodging didn’t seem to even cross her mind. The metal hairs covering the female moved faster than I could see, weaving a shield to block the spell. "I won't lose to you! I've got too much on the line!" She shouted as she created more spears of metal hair, trying to impale me. “GAH!” I yelled as several of them pierced my chest. None of them were fatal, but they would be if I didn’t end it quickly. “You’re... you’re not.. the only one... with something... on the line.” I spat, just barely taking note of the blood hitting the floor instead of saliva. “I’m not... dying here...” "Mph that's what you say." The female charged again, this time all her hairs arranged into spikes covering her body. “Got no choice...” I muttered, focusing on the shadows, letting myself melt into them and rematerialise from her own shadow, right behind her, with the one thing I felt I needed more than anything in my magical grip. My sword, or one of them anyway. “Now... LUNAR SLASH!” I screamed as I brought my blade down, the deep blue metal slicing through her sharpened hair and the flesh underneath, like a hot knife through butter. She didn't even have time to shout in pain before she died. “... I’m sorry.” I whispered, before fading from consciousness. Third-Person The nameless one stood over the unconscious body of Subject One-Hundred as Subject One disposed of the body of Subject Eighty-Four. “This test was not satisfactory... he did not test the ability he was bestowed. Instead, he relied on those he had already had... Tell the science team I want all of One-Hundred’s known abilities neutralised when in combat, so as to, ‘encourage’ him to test those that we have given him. Understood, One?” He asked without a hint of emotion as one of the facility guards grabbed the unicorn colt and none too gently dragged him back to his cell. “Understood, sir.” One replied in a cheery tone. “And if Triple Digits... refuses, to show us the results of his, improvements?” “Then he is of no use to me. Let him die, and that will be the end of it.” Nameless turned and left through the massive doorway. If he had stayed and observed just a second longer, he would have noticed the flinch One suffered upon hearing this, the only source of emotion he had ever shown in his entire service under Nameless. One simply brushed it off and finished disposing of the dead bitch, wondering why he would ever feel anything for such a worthless piece of trash as Subject One Hundred. Author's Note Ok, this is the first rewritten chapter of TKIR. So thanks to Cloud Nova for co-authoring it with me. New friends, New enemies, New powersA few weeks later “Guys, I’m... I’m sorry, about 56...” I muttered in a depressed tone as I stared through the doorway of our cell. 56 had been called for experimentation around a week ago. And he’d been set up to fight against One... the way he’d gloated as he came to deliver the news, it had been practically instantaneous. We knew 56 had gotten the ability to fool the senses of anypony... or anyone, I guess, that he wanted to. Hell, he practiced it on us on a daily basis since he discovered he could do it. At first, we were pissed as Tartarus, but eventually we’d ask him for special requests. It helped us cope. The silence that followed made me feel like a complete jackflank for even bringing it up, if you could call the dull whir of machinery and echoing screams silence. “... Seán.” “Huh?” I asked confusedly, turning towards 81, who was looking at me with an unreadable expression. “His name was Seán, not 56, and he is... was, our brother.” He said calmly. “He disappeared a few months before 28, Nathan did. I ‘followed’ about a year after him.” He bent two fingers on each of his hands at the word followed. “Séan was on his way to college, where he studied science, mostly Biology and Chemistry. He was determined to understand everything about them. He said that he’d been stopped by that guy One while he was passing the construction site Nathan worked at.” He paused for a moment, looking towards ‘Nathan’, who’d turned away from us. “Seán didn’t even get a chance to cry out before One had knocked him unconscious and dragged him through the ‘portal’, as Seán called it. Honestly, I’d describe it as a rip.” 81 shook his head, trying to get back on track. “He said he’d been here for over a year before Nathan ended up getting brought here, and it was over ten before I arrived. The first few months, he’d try to escape, but the guards would just zap him with their horns each time. It happened to all three of us. Eventually, he just opted to sit in the cell and wait. What for, he never actually told us, though I’d hazard a guess that it was a miracle he was waiting for.” “A miracle? He was waiting for divine intervention?” I asked. “Pretty much. You can see where it got us.” Nathan suddenly piped up. “He was always the one who chose science over religion. But this place made him turn towards it, and now he’s gone... A cruel man would say he got what he deserved for his lack of faith in God, that it was Karma or something. Me, I say it was just his time, no matter how much Kieran or I wish it hadn’t come when it did.” “Kieran? That’s your name?” I asked, looking at 81, who simply nodded. “And me, I w-” Nathan didn’t get a chance to speak before the cell door burst open and three guards walked in, horns glowing menacingly as they glared at us. “28, come with us..” “Screw you.” Kieran growled, stepping between the guards and his brother, only for Nathan to get up and put a hand on his shoulder, shaking his head slowly. “It’s fine, 81. Let’s get this over with you assholes.” He said calmly, cracking his neck muscles as he followed the trio out the cell door... Arena Nathan didn’t react violently when the guards shoved him to the ground before leaving. He just picked himself up and dusted himself off, muttering “Retards.” “I couldn’t agree more,” a voice said from the shadows, before an abnormally large, golden-brown diamond dog stepped out, it’s eyes closed, and wolfish snout in a sneer. “Ew, so you’re a ‘Human...’ I must say, I’m not impressed.” “Yeah, well neither am I. If this is what Diamond Dogs are like, I’m not surprised Knight beat the Auburn one...” Nathan retorted. The face of the dog twisted into a look of anger, “Tell me... Who is this ‘Knight’?” The voice came out as a growl. “Subject One Hundred, or Rising Knight, is a Celestial Assassin. He’s also the one whos’ gonna get us out of here, if I have anything to say about it.” “I see... So subject one hundred killed her...” His eyes opened glowing slightly, “I guess he’s my goal then.” “Sorry, but if you want him, you’re gonna have to go through me,” Nathan stated, placing his palms on the ground and pulling up a spear. “Not a problem,” The dog slammed his paws into the ground, and whipped his tail menacingly. “Is that supposed to scare me?” Nathan asked, slamming a fist in the floor and sending several spikes hurtling towards the dog. “No, this is.” The dog dodged, and lept into the air, extending the claws on it’s front paws, the ones on the left bursting into flames, and the right crackling with electricity. “Sorry, but I have no intention of abandoning my family!” Nathan yelled, tossing the spear upwards, even as he created several smaller weapons; Kunai, shuriken, throwing knives, etc. “I’VE ALREADY LOST ONE BROTHER! I AM NOT LEAVING THE OTHER!” The dog held up the burning claws, the spear burning to ash as it touched the flame, “You keep believing that.” He said coldly, before throwing a bolt of lightning with his right claw, completely destroying the nearby weapons, creating a clear path between them. “Maybe you’ll meet the one you lost on the other side.” “So, who was she to you?” Nathan asked, rolling to the side and creating a spiked gauntlet on his left hand. “... We’ve talked enough.” Was all the dog said, before throwing fire on Nathan, completely covering him before bolting behind, and stabbing the electric claws into his shoulder, “Die.” “AHHHHHHHHHHH!” Nathan screamed, trying to pull away. “You FUCKER!” The dog just grunted, and made the electricity flow increase, killing Nathan off with one last scream. “May you find your lost brother on the other side.” Cell “It’s only been a few minutes Kieran, calm the fuck down.” I ordered, but to no avail, as Kieran just kept pacing around the cell in a panicked state. “Luna dammit. Storm, WAKE THE FUCK UP AND TALK SOME SENSE INTO KIERAN!” Storm merely continued to snore. Though why I expected any other reaction was a mystery. He slept through the talk, the guards taking Nathan away. He even slept through them zapping him at full strength when it was his turn to fight. “Come on, where the hell is he? He should be back by now... come on, come on, come on, com-” I was spared from hearing Kieran repeat the same two words over and over for the next two hours by the merciful opening of the cell door... or that’s what I thought, before I noticed the lack of a certain human. I actually felt my blood freeze. No... oh please, no... One of the guards smiled evilly, "What's wrong? Expecting somebody else?" Kieran shot the guard a glare and grabbed him by the throat. “Where. Is. He?” The guard just zapped him off, "A delivery for you, 81." He reached behind himself, and pulled out a pure white box, tossing in casually. As said box hit the floor, it opened... and a singed head rolled out. Kieran just stared at the head for what seemed like hours... Before turning to the guards with absolute fury in his eyes. “YOU FUCKING BASTARDS!” And, with a speed I couldn’t even comprehend, he rushed the guards and slammed a knee into one of their guts. By the time he hit the ground, Kieran was already driving his interlocked fists down onto another Guard’s skull, a sickening crack sounding out as the head caved in. Before the third could react Kieran was out the door and running with no direction in mind. “KIERAN! Luna dammit... STORM, I’M GOING TO DO SOMETHING THAT MIGHT GET ME KILLED, HAVE FUN!” I yelled, following Kieran out the door, but not before driving my horn through the final Guard’s exposed throat. First rule of being part of the Celestial Assassins. No hostile witnesses. It only took me a few minutes to pick up his trail. Dust clouds are definitely more useful than I gave them credit for. Even so, I was still far behind him, and at this rate, I’d never catch up. “Dammit, where is he?” I muttered as I passed by yet another cell. This one with a single golden-brown diamond dog, who, when he saw me, glared daggers, and growled, reaching through the gap between the bars, and pulled me against his cell wall. The dog sneered at me, "Let me tell you this now, 'Rising Knight,' I'm the one who just went up against 28, and you're next on my list." “Shut up... You killed the only family Kieran had left... You’re no better than One.” I spat. The diamond dog’s eyes began to glow a sickly green"You speak like you're any better, after what you did to her." “I have a little sister to get back to. And as much as I don’t want to admit it, I can’t stand killing. And I’m guessing the auburn dog was ‘her’. If you think I take pleasure in the fact that I killed her, you’re wrong. To revel in death is to become a monster. Death may be a necessary part of life, but t---” "SHUT UP! You speak as though you're better than the rest of us. Do you want to know why she wanted to live so badly? She was pregnant. You didn't just kill my mate. You killed my unborn offspring. For that, I will murder you." I didn’t say anything for a while. I just looked him in the eyes. “... Then you’ll dishonor her memory. Killing me will not bring her back, but rather it will leave her soul in eternal torment knowing you killed for revenge. Is that what you want?” I asked in a flat tone. "Do you not want to kill One in revenge? As I said before, you're not as different as you think." “I do not want to kill him for revenge. I’m angry at him, but I refuse to insult my parents by pursuing the double-edged blade that is vengeance. I want to kill him because as long as he is alive, others will die.” "For a 'celestial assassin', you know surprisingly little about diamond dog culture." the dog said with a low growl, "To not avenge her would mean I didn't care enough to do so. “I never got the chance to learn about it before being brought to this place. I am only 13 after all.” I retorted. “And if you want to avenge her so badly, then pursue the one responsible for us being here in the first place. If not for him, I would be training with my family, and you would still be with her. He and One are the ones to blame. He set all these events in motion with his schemes...” The dog huffed, and pushed me away, "You're just as much my enemy as he is." The dog's ears picked up, "Sounds like number One found your friend, by the way. Might want to go back to your cell." I raised an eyebrow, before shooting him a grin and slamming a hoof on the ground defiantly. “... Sorry, but I don’t abandon my friends.” I exclaimed before shooting off after Kieran. "... Idiot," the d-dog muttered, before sitting back down. “KIERAN!” I yelled, rushing past cell after cell, listening for any sound that might give me his position. “Luna dammit, where is that human... KIERAN?!” “Looking for something, Triple Digits?” A voice asked from behind me. I wheeled around, only to be slammed into the wall by a sudden kick from One. “Oh, don’t worry, he’s alive. For now, anyway.” “Bastard...” I muttered, coughing up blood. One shot me an annoyed look. “... You know, I was going to just send you back to your cell with a few bruises, maybe a broken bone or two. But now? Now, I think I’ll make an example of you. HEY, WARDEN!” He yelled. A well-dressed unicorn stallion with a golden coat and a red mane and tail came sprinting around the corner, stopping in front of one and snapping off a salute, all in the space of a single second. “Yes, sir?” “Go get 69. I want to see how Triple Digits does against her.” One stated, before walking up to me, and slamming a hoof into my face. My last conscious sight was his sadistic smile. “Dammit... How many times is that bastard gonna knock me out...” I asked as I returned to consciousness and stood up “Depends, how many times are you gonna piss him off?” A somewhat annoying voice answered me, and I turned to see a changeling, wings buzzing agitatedly as it glared at me. “Seriously, what the buck is wrong with you? I was sleeping, when suddenly, three guards burst in and grab me with a collar and leash, like I’m a bucking pet. They drag me here, toss me in, and a few minutes later, you’re tossed in, completely unconscious. You ruined my beauty sleep!” “Well, sorry I tried to help my friend. Not that you’d understand...” It shot me a dirty look. “I resent that. I just so happen to understand quite well what the need to help someling you care about is like.” The last part was so quiet I almost didn’t hear it. “COME ON, GET TO THE MURDERING EACH OTHER ALREADY!” Somepony called from above us. It was, you guessed it, One, on the balcony, glaring at us impatiently. “Screw you! I have no intention of killing anyling!” The changeling stated defiantly, buzzing its wings so fast that it rose a few inches off the ground. One simply shook his head and walked out, pausing only to deliver one more line. “Fine, then I guess you can both fall together.” We barely had any time to react before the floor suddenly collapsed around us. The changeling managed to get airborne before gravity could take effect. I wasn’t so lucky. FUCK! So, you probably know that I had to do balance training right? Well, I treated this as a variation of the exercise, or I would have, if I hadn’t looked down. “SPIKES?! BUCKING SPIKES?!” I yelled out to nopony in particular, closing my eyes and waiting for the inevitable killing blow. It’s times like this I wish I had wings... ... ... ... WHY THE BUCK HAVEN’T I BEEN SKEWERED YET?! “... Uh, are ponies supposed to switch horns for wings?” ... ... ... WHAT?! I mentally screamed, my eyes snapping open and immediately falling on the pair of flapping wings at my sides, while one hoof went straight to my head, resulting in two things. One, I gave myself a massive headache and dropped a few inches, the rest of my hooves literally scraping off the tips of the spikes. Two, I confirmed what the changeling had said. I had indeed swapped my horn for the pair of wings I found myself with. “... WINGS?! BUCKING WINGS?!” I yelled, staring at the new appendages flapping of their own accord, as if I was a newborn or something. The changeling whacked me on the head with one hoof, using the other to try and cover both its ear holes at once. “Ow, please don’t scream when I’m right next to you. Changeling hearing is sensitive.” She complained. Neither of us noticed the room slowly getting darker. “Well, sorry f-” *SLAM* ... ... “... Ok, who turned out the lights?” Have you ever tried to facehoof in the dark? It’s surprisingly more difficult than you’d think it would be. I failed to cover my eye before my hoof came into contact with it, for example. “OW! My eye!” I exclaimed. “Oh, for the love of... shut up and help me figure out what happened...” The changeling retorted angrily, before buzzing in what I assumed was the direction of the ‘ceiling’. *CLANG CLANG* “Ah, Queen Dammit... Solid metal. They created a solid metal floor, or ceiling, in our case... We’re trapped, at least until we’re too tired to fly. Then, SPLAT!” It exclaimed. I had no idea what to do... What, I’d never been given a ‘Sudden Change of Pony Species and entrapment in a pitfall’ training course. I was winging it at this point, and winging it was definitely not a good option, given the situation... “HEY! EQUESTRIA TO DUMBFLANK!” “WHAT?!” I yelled back, snapped out of my thinking phase, only to place my hooves over my eyes as a bright light blinded me. The changeling had bucking blinded me. “You were so focused on whatever your thoughts were, you didn’t even notice when I shone the light from my horn in your eyes.... What are you thinking so hard about?” I shot her a dirty look, or at least I think I did. Kinda hard to tell where I’m aiming when I can’t see... “Hey, you alright? You look like you’re having a panic attack. You afraid of the shadows or something?” It asked. I could swear it was actually concerned. Wait... Shadows... shadows... “... THAT’S IT!” I suddenly yelled, freaking out the changeling and causing it to drop, almost impaling itself on a spike. It glared at me as it regained its altitude. “AGH, watch it! You almost scared me to death... Wait, what’s it?” It asked. “SHADOWS! Hey, 69, can you figure out where the wall is, and shine your light off it while I make my way over to it? Make sure you’re close enough to me that I can grab you if my idea works.” I explained. It looked at me suspiciously, but nodded and did as I asked and flew up to the wall, her horn glowing a pale green. It was dim, but workable. “Ok, now... uh, how do I move around? It’s not like I’ve ever flown before... actually, how am I even flying?” It facehoofed. “Are you bucking kidding me?” It asked in an extremely annoyed tone. “Ugh, fine, I’ll push you over too.. Oh, and by the way, it’s not 69. If you have to call me something, make it up. Just make sure it’s something a female would go by.” As I prepared to respond, it... she, grabbed me and tossed me right into the wall. I’m honestly glad I had quick reflexes, or I would’ve faceplanted instead of landing against it hooves first, my wings, mercifully, still flapping, by luck or instinct, I never figured out. “Oh thanks, I so enjoyed being thrown into the wall...” I muttered as she shined her light on me, revealing exactly what I... we, needed to escape. “Ok, on 3?” “Sure....” She replied, still confused. “1... 2...” She got ready to grab me. “... 3!” I reached out one hoof even as I started to sink into my shadow, much to her shock. The look on her face... priceless. Try crossing Jason Voorhees with Mr. Rogers. See that face you just made? That’s hers. It took a lot longer than normal for me to go through the whole Shadow Step thing, but that’s to be expected with a passenger. Actually, she was surprisingly calm the entire time. Anyway, it took a few minutes, but I managed to get the both of us out of that death trap and into my cell. She was against it, at first, but eventually relented when I said there was no way I was leaving her alone and at risk of being offed by One or Whatshisname. Kieran and Storm (Yeah, Kieran got caught and was returned to the cell, in bad shape, I might add. And Storm woke up while I was gone, Kieran summarised everything that happened for him.) had to be convinced about her, but they agreed too. So now, we have a new cellmate. I just hope we can survive long enough to find a way out of this hell hole. All of us. Author's Note For those of you who wonder how Knight knows about Friday the Thirteenth and Mr Rogers, you only need one answer... Seán and his illusions. Rewrites.This story will be undergoing rewrites. Until such time that they are finished, the old chapters will remain here.
Rising Knight in a nutshellA/N: Hello to all who read this. If anyone is interested in having a character of their own creation making an appearance, feel free to comment or send me a PM. Anyway, enough of this boring stuff, let's get on with the story! The first thing I thought when I woke up that day was Where am I and how did I get here? Last thing I remember was being knocked out after that stallion with the horn and wings... And then I remembered. My parents, or step-parents if you want to get technical, were dead, murdered by one of those monsters accompanying that pony with the wings and horn, that Alicorn, though after what he did, all I wanna call him is scum. He doesn't deserve the privilege of being called an Alicorn. If I wasn't in the situation I currently find myself in, then I would've cried thinking about my parents, but I was too busy trying to figure out where I was, and praying that my little sister was alright (No, my sister and I are not related by blood either, she was born to my step-parents, but she's still my sister). The cell wasn't big, but it wasn't small either. There was a toilet Thank god, I didn't want to have to sleep in my own filth, though if it was between that and dying, I'd probably find a way to make-do, and a bed that looked as though it had seen better days Doesn't really matter though, a bed is a bed. Beats sleeping on the floor. I got up and stretched my legs, then walked over to the iron-bar door. It didn't look that sturdy, so I thought about giving it a few good bucks. This proves to be a wasted endeavour, as the bars were electrified. Learned that the hard way, in other words ZAP!. So I tried another approach. I focused my energy into my horn, and tried to force the door open with magic. Oh right, I didn't tell you, did I? My name is Rising Knight, but everypony calls me Knight for short. They used to call me Rising, but I just told 'em I preferred Knight, so now it's Knight. Also, I'm a unicorn pony, though I'm pretty different from most ponies in general. How? For one, I've always had a few, unique, abilities. I'm able to use a strange form of 'teleportation' for lack of a better word. I can literally merge with any shadows I'm in contact with, no matter how small, and then I can reappear from within any nearby shadows. I've practiced it a lot, so my range has really increased. I can go for a few miles. This doesn't use any energy, but it's still dangerous. Not in the way that normal teleportation is dangerous. I don't have to worry about leaving parts of me behind. what I have to worry about is spending too long in that weird shadow world. See, when I merge with a shadow, I enter a weird world where I can see other parts of the world. Wasn't till I was 10 that I realised that I was seeing through shadows. It was literally as if the shadows themselves were showing me the world from their perspective. But anyway, back to the danger. See, if someone eliminates the shadows from wherever I want to go while I'm in the shadow world, then I get stuck there. It's not a case of no way back ever, just that it's extremely difficult for me to get back. Plus, I still need to eat and drink, which can't be done in the SW, since there's literally no life in there, other than myself. So at most, I could stay in the SW for around two days or so. After that, I have to get back and find something to eat and drink, or I'll die. Almost happened once, won't go into details. Let's just say that magpies are no longer on my "DO NOT KILL" list. So, wondering what else I can do? Well, I'll tell you. My other power actually involves the sun and the moon. I can literally draw energy from them and use it to boost my own magic, or to use these really cool abilities I call the "Celestial Techniques". I won't go into a boring explanation of what they are and what each of them does. All I'll say is that there are three variations of each one. The first draw their strength from just the sun, the second from the moon, and the third use a combination of the two. The third are undoubtedly the most powerful, but I can't completely control them, so I usually stick with the first and second type. I can use any of them at any time, but as you can guess, the Lunar set are stronger at night, and the Solar set are stronger in the day, so I generally use them only when they are most effective. And just so you know, I spent the past few years being trained to be an assassin. Now, I know what you're thinking. You were trained to kill people? For what? Money? And to that I say, you are ignorant. A true assassin never kills for money, or for power. A true assassin uses their skills for the safety and good of others. So, now you know about my abilities, let me tell you about my past and how I came to be here. My parents found me when I was five. I was apparently in very bad condition because I remember they had horrified looks on their faces upon seeing me. I had absolutely no memories of my past or my family, I didn't even remember my name. The only reason they knew it was because it was engraved on a small bracelet attached to my right foreleg. There was another engraving on the other side, of the sun and the moon. They told me they had suspicions of what it might mean, but they told me they didn't want to give me false hope. In the meantime, they promised to look after me until they could get me home. For the first few days, they absolutely refused to let me risk hurting myself, insisting that I rest and recover. To this day, I still don't know how bad my injuries really were. All I know is that they said I would be risking my life if I tried to get up before I had recovered. For the most part, they weren't around, always going off to do 'Big pony things' as they put it. I wasn't lonely though, as their daughter was always there, always trying to make me smile. For the most part she was successful. I was rarely without a big grin plastered to my face. One day she called me 'brother', right in front of them both, and I was more than a little surprised. It was that day that they asked me if I wanted to be part of their family. I said yes without hesitation, and I found myself initiating a group hug with my parents and sister, despite them saying that it might delay my recovery or possibly even cause permanent damage. After a few weeks though, I had recovered from whatever injuries I had suffered. It was actually that day that I discovered my ability of "Shadowporting" I know, not very creative, but it's the best I could come up with. I was walking through the woods with my dad, talking about what he did for a living. He would only say that he and mom did a 'special' kind of job that was necessary for the good of Equestria. Before I could question him further, a huge tree branch snapped and started falling right on top of me. All I remember was dad yelling and running towards me, and then suddenly I was right in front of him, the branch on the ground where I had been standing less than a moment ago. He was shocked to say the least, but it didn't stop him from wrapping his forelegs around me and crying out of relief that I was alright. He asked me how I did it, but I told him I didn't know. He was perplexed, but he put his opinions on hold until we got home. Upon our arrival, and his explanation to mom about what happened, they both combined their magic to analyse my memory in an attempt to find out what happened. When they were done, they explained that I had somehow merged with the shadows I was standing on at the time and entered some sort of shadow world, then exited it, emerging from dad's shadow right before the branch could hit me. They didn't know how I could do this, but they did know that they needed to help me to learn how to control it. It was then that they decided to tell me what they did for a living. They told me that they were trained assassins. Hearing this, I became afraid and tried to back away, which they noticed. My sister appeared beside me and told me that she knew what they did from the start, but that she had promised not to tell me. I asked why they took a job that required them to kill other ponies. Their response was simple. A true assassin never kills innocents. They only ever kill when it is for the good of others, and only when there is no other option. They never kill for power or for money, but for the safety and good of the citizens of Equestria. It was those words that calmed me, and made me realise that my fears were groundless. After all, if they had wanted to hurt me, they would have left me to die the day they found me instead of rescuing me and giving me a home, a family. They apologised for keeping it from me, saying that they didn't want to scare me or make me think I would have to go down the same path as them. They kept asking me if I could forgive them. All I said was that there was nothing to forgive. That they were just trying to protect me, and why should they need forgiveness for that. They just smiled with tears in their eyes and we all embraced each other. They asked me if I would be willing to learn the way of the assassin, in addition to learning how to control my powers. I agreed, stating that if it helped me to better protect myself and others, I would gladly undertake any training they had to offer. So from that point on, I learned how to be a master assassin, alongside my sister, who was quite skilled despite being nearly 3 years younger than me. Imagine, a three year old filly being able to erase her entire presence in an instant, or sneak up behind somepony, knock them unconscious or kill them, then vanish without even leaving a trace. It is a sight that will either leave you completely dumbstruck, or plague you with nightmares. My reaction was the former. But it didn't discourage me. If anything, it made me even more determined. We agreed that my training would not start until I had turned nine. To say it was difficult would be equivalent to saying Discord is mildly insane. In other words, it was brutal. The first thing we focused on was balance and dodging. They would place me on an extremely thin board over a pit filled with various 'items', and I had to be able to walk from one end of the board to the other without falling. To make it more challenging, they would constantly throw objects at me, not to harm, but to simply unbalance me and force me to fall. It took over 3 months (and at least 376 showers) before I had mastered the first step. After that, I could walk across the board for hours while dodging everything that was thrown at me. Once they were sure that I had reached perfection in balance and dodging, they let me rest for a month before we moved onto stealth and sensing the presence of others, without the use of magic or my shadowporting ability. This was proven to be even more difficult as I literally had to train so that I would be able to sense the presence of anypony in any given area at once, and also be able to instinctively know which ponies I would need to avoid. I would be placed in a magically created maze, and I would have to get to the center, grab the object inside, and get back to the entrance, all while avoiding being detected by the guards inside. What they didn't tell me was that the guards were magical clones, created with all their senses heightened so that even the slightest sound could be heard, or the slightest movement seen, or even the slightest odor detected. they also forgot to tell me that the second one of them detected me, I would be teleported back to the start and all the positions of the guards would be randomized, so that I couldn't memorise them and avoid places I knew they'd be. So I literally had to not only use my own senses to find and avoid them, but I also had to be wary of their heightened senses. It was literally a nightmare for me. The worst part was actually that until I mastered this aspect of my training, I could not stop to rest. It was not that I couldn't try, but the magic that created the maze and the guards also prevented me from leaving or resting, except for trips to the bathroom that were few and far between. But I kept at it, and eventually, after several months, I was able to traverse the maze, obtain the object, and reach the entrance again, all without being detected. It was then that we were to move on to the final stage of my training. the stage that would not only result in me finding out about my other inherent ability, but would also bring my existence to the attention of one who would seek to use me to bring the world to its knees. It was a month after I had finally finished my training in the maze, and we were finally moving on to the final stage. They were finally going to teach me combat and deception tactics. They told me that this was the most difficult stage. They had explained what this stage entailed while I was recovering from my exhaustion at all the training I had done in stealth without taking a break for rest, not that I had a choice. I was going to be placed in the center of a group of armed guardsponies, and I would be required to incapacitate them. It was up to me whether I chose to just knock them out or kill them. I was also told that the guards would continuously respawn until I could no longer fight them. Once that happened, I was to escape them, using whatever means necessary, short of risking the safety of innocents. I accepted the conditions, even after I was told that if I failed, I would just restart until I passed, but if I broke any of the test's conditions not only would I fail, but my training would be ended right there and then, and all my memories of what had happened in my life would be erased, and I would be left in the nearest town. With that, I was alone in the artificial town. but only for a few seconds. After which, I was attacked from all sides by several guardsponies wielding several different weapons. I had resolved from the start not to kill them, even if they were only magical clones. I had intended to make this as difficult as possible, not so much to prove that I was worthy of being an assassin, but to prove to myself that I could restrain myself from taking a life. I quickly disarmed each guard and knocked them out in rapid succession, delivering powerful bucks that sent them flying into walls and through doors. I kept that up while I moved through the town looking for any area that would be easy to defend... I found a perfect spot a few minutes later. It was a small raised platform, just high enough that normally only a pegasus could get onto it in a single jump. I however, did just that, by using magic to strengthen my legs to give me a higher jump. Once on top, I could clearly see where the guards would be coming from. On top of that, there were multiple ways for me to get away from the structure, namely roofs, but the ladder attached to the platform was the only way onto it, short of flying. This meant that until peasus guards started showing up, I only had one direction to be keep an eye on. they came up one at a time, and I bucked them back down each and every time. This went on until I was too tired to keep bucking. That was when I decided that it was time to escape. But that was also when the pegasi decided to make their appearance. So while running across the rooftops, dodging thrown weapons from the earth ponies, and magical projectiles from the unicorns, I had to deal with dive bombing and air to ground arrows from the pegasi. Luckily, my training meant that I was able to subconsciously bob and weave my way through the rainstorm of deadly projectiles. I was almost to the end of the town, when I heard a scream. I turned to see the first civilian pony I had encountered in my entire time, and she was being held by an earth pony guard who had a sword pressed to her neck. He demanded that I surrender myself or they would kill her. The second those words left his lips, I was possessed by an intense fury. I felt my horn glow a furious white, and I could hear something, words in a language I had never heard before, and suddenly everything went white... When I regained consciousness, mom, dad and my sister were all hugging me, crying. They said that there had been a huge explosion of energy from me during the training, and that when they found me, I had gained my cutie mark. Sure enough, when I looked at my flank, I saw it. My cutie mark. It was two crossed swords, one adorned with the sun, the other with the moon. My parents then searched through what they could find of the images of the training in my mind, that I had apparently summoned two strange blades of a make they had never seen before, and I had slammed them into the ground creating a huge shockwave of energy, completely decimating the guards, while somehow leaving the town and the civilian unharmed. They said that they had noticed that somehow, I had drawn energy from the sun itself when I created the shockwave. They said I should give this ability a name as well, so I called them the Celestial techniques, since they derived their strength from heavenly bodies. They then returned their attention to my test. I was sure that I had failed, but they told me that I had passed with flying colours. Their explanation was that even my sister had given herself up rather than let an innocent get hurt, since she could just escape from wherever they imprisoned her. But I had taken it further, actually taking out the guard before he could make good on his threat. In short, they were inpressed. With that, they officially welcomed me as a Celestial Assassin. They told me that the Celestial Assassins were literally the unkown defenders of the innocents of Equestria. We were shadows, whose names could never be known, and whose skills were vital in defending ponies from threats that even Princess Celestia herself was not entirely aware of. In short, we were the line of defence that dealt with threats that could never become public knowledge. I accepted this, and promised that unless it was absolutely necessary, I would not use what I had learned in my training without their express permission. And with that, my training was complete. I was 11 years old. It was at that time that, unbeknownst to me, an alicorn with a dark gray body, with a grey mane and tail, and a cutie mark, that was more like a picture, of surgiacal equipment in a barren wasteland, was standing there watching us. Grinning, with a plan forming in his mind. A plan that would result in several other worlds being destroyed and some of those worlds' inhabitants taken from everything and everypony they knew and loved, all for the sake of this alicorn's desire for vengeance... It had been two years since I became a Celestial Assassin.Since then I've trained hard, and become even more proficient in the use of my blades. The thing is, they actually don't appear unless I either say, or think of, their names, Taiyō no me (Eye of the sun) and Tsuki no me (Eye of the moon), which is pretty cool since it means I don't have to carry them around on my back or strap them to my sides. So far there have been no incidents that actually required my involvement, so mom and dad have been making sure I at least know some Equestrian history. I was not very interested in history, but I took in enough to get by. I also built on other skills I had some knowledge of, though I don't remember where I learned them, such as math and science, but also arts such as potion-making and weapon/armour smithing. The former was so that I could make antidotes to various posions, while the former was so that no matter where I went, I could make tools to aid me where my twin blades weren't going to cut it. After a few months, I was finally considered proficient in all areas my parents had decided to school me in. It was my sister's birthday, so we decided to go to a nearby town, Ponyville, and see about getting a cake for her so we could have a quiet party at home. On the way, I felt something was terribly wrong, but before I could warn them about it, there was a bright flash, and I was blinded. When I could see again, I saw mom and dad, lying there, their bodies brutally slashed, and a black-as-night unicorn with red eyes, that looked like those of a dragon, standing over them, his coat and horn stained with blood. I saw my sister, standing there, looking terrified and furious at the same time. I could see that she couldn't decide whether to run or fight, so I made the decision for her. I looked at her, and told her in no uncertain terms, to run, and not to stop until she was in Ponyville. I made her swear to stay safe until I came back for her. And when I was sure she was gone, I turned and charged at the black unicorn, who simply dodged, and laughed before introducing himself as 'One'. Every time he addressed me, he called me 'Triple Digits', infuriating me further. In the end, I lost it, summoning my blades, and I released a Tentai Shogekiha (celestial shockwave), totally focused on killing him. When the smoke cleared, he was in very bad shape, but he was still alive. Before I could finish him off, a dark grey alicorn appeared and struck me down. Before I lost consciousness, I could hear him telling One to get 'Subject 100' to the facility. My last thoughts were Mom, dad, sister, I'm sorry. I wasn't strong enough. Please forgive me... before I fell into oblivion. A/N: And now you know how Rising Knight came to be at the facility. I've had a think about it, and I've decided not to add Ichigo Ed and Naruto to the fic, instead I'm just gonna add some nameless humans. The reason I'm adding humans at all will be revealed during Knight's stay in the facility. Also, this story is set roughly four years before the first adventures of the mane 6, so Rising Knight's escape from the facility will be after the Canterlot Wedding. Rising Knight's escape from the facility will either be in the next chapter or the one directly after it. I won't be following the wedding story, as it will all be over by the time Rising Knight escapes. I will say that a battle is in his future. I'll leave it up to you to guess who it is with.
First Day in the Facility (Rewritten)I found out pretty quickly that my magic was a no-go. Something, or somepony, was blocking it. Same for my shadowporting and Celestial Techniques. I was confused, to say the least. Ok, why in the name of Celestia and Luna are my powers not working? Whoever is behind this must've known about them beforehand or something, how else would they have found a way to neutralize them? For buck sake, how did they find out about them in the first place? I- My thoughts were interrupted by the cell door opening. “Hey Triple Digits, how goes it? Settling in alright?” My blood boiled when I recognized the voice, but I held my anger in check and remained silent. No sense getting myself killed. Can't use my powers, so I don't stand much of a chance against him if he was able to defeat both mom and dad in less than ten seconds. The bastard just smirked as he looked at me. “Eh, still itching to kill me? Fat chance. Maybe you didn't know, but I'm the favoured subject here. As I said before, name's One. Didn't like my old name, so when he came looking for subjects, promising power, wealth and mares, I volunteered. Turns out, I was the first, and the only willing, participant, so I've got free run of the place. Best part is, when the experiments start, I get to choose who I fight after each one.” Fight? This can't be good.... “Now come on, the boss has an announcement to make to the rest of you subjects.” And with that, I was dragged out of my cell, into a dark corridor... After what felt like hours, we finally arrived in a huge open area. I was literally tossed in the door, which was promptly shut and barricaded. Figuring that escape wasn't possible at this time, I proceeded to look around, noticed that there were only a few others here. I walked up to a female earth pony, startling her, but when I promised not to harm her, she apologized, and told me about the others here. She said with, venom in her voice, that there were around one hundred of us imprisoned here. Sixty of whom were ponies. 20 earth ponies, 20 unicorns (including myself), and 20 pegasi. Seriously, what is with this guy. He must have some serious OCD to be this precise in how many ponies he has. She also said there were 20 changelings. From what I remember learning, they were insect-like ponies that had a hive mentality, so basically, they had a telepathic bond with their queen, as well as each other. If their own Queen can't find them, then the one keeping us here must be really powerful. Finally, she told me about the last 20, who were a mix of different creatures, including a pitch black Zebra with blue eyes, How does she know what color his eyes are? She must be crushing on him or something, grey stripes, a black and grey mane and tail, and bat wings. Cool. Wonder if he has powers too, a few dragons, some diamond dogs, and some strange creatures she said she'd never seen before. They were bipedal, sort of like dragons, with long arms, but instead of claws, they had what looked like flexible branches attached to them. They had fur only on top of their heads, and they were wearing clothes all over their bodies. When I thought about it, they sounded kind of familiar. While the two of us were busy talking, the rest of the 'guests' were brought in. It was a few at a time, and all of them looked like they were either scared out of their minds, or extremely angry. After a couple of hours I noticed the zebra and the bipedal creatures she had mentioned walk in. The doors shut behind them with finality Hmm; they must be the last to arrive. And would you look at that, they make one hundred. The bipedal ones looked scared out of their minds, while the zebra just looked mildly concerned, though I could see he was shaking slightly. I decided to try to be polite and introduce myself. When the bipedal things saw me approach though, they immediately tried to be hostile. “Back off, or else, Silver.” The smallest one stated. Silver? Ok, why would they think my name is Silver? What about me could honestly make them think my name is Silver? My fur is grey! I decided to save that for later and started speaking. “Ok, I don't know what you are, or where you're from. All I know is that I wanna be here just about as much as you, so what's say we take any and all hostility and lose it, at least until we get out of this, Sound good?” Although I could tell they were hesitant, they all nodded. “Sorry, just never seen a talking horse before. Actually, we've never seen any of these kinds of creatures before. Well, except for the ones that brought us here, so our hostility is at least warranted.” What the buck? Seriously? You've never seen ponies, or diamond dogs, or any of these creatures before? Wow. “I mean, unicorns, pegasi, dragons, these definitely don't exist where we're from. There are horses, and dogs, but neither of them can talk, and the dogs definitely can't walk on two legs, at least, not for lengthy periods.” I would be lying if I said I wasn't surprised. “Really? Well what are you, and where are you from? And also, we're ponies, not horses.” I said, a little miffed at their ignorance. “We're humans, we're from Earth, and sorry about that little pony dude.” The tall one said with a shrug of his shoulders. “Ok, humans. I remember reading up a bit about them in one of my dad's old books. And are you sure that you're from Earth? This world is called Earth too and...oh. Oh no...” “What? WHAT? Come on little pony dude, tell us what you're thinking before I bust a nut!” The short one asked, a little panicked. I hesitated, but only for a second, since it would be unfair to keep them in the dark. “I just thought, what if you're from another world entirely? What if you got pulled here from yours? And 'bust a nut'? What's that even mean?" The one I assumed was the eldest sighed and shook his head. “Well, that sucks, but it beats the explanation we were thinking of a minute ago. And 'bust a nut' is an expression that means to get really angry.” He explained. I nodded. “Ok, and your theories on our predicament would be...?” The short one spoke up again. “That we were all having an insane nightmare. We even pinched ourselves to be sure, and nothing…” Just then, the Zebra walked up to us, with a grim face. “You thought you were dreaming? Well, sorry, but by the time this is all over, you'll all be wishing you were. I know I will.” We all shared a look of worry before turning back to the Zebra... “And what do you mean by that?” I asked, more than a little afraid of the answer. “You don't know? The guy in charge of this place is bad news. I recognize him from a book I read before I got kicked out of my home by my parents, on account of my looks, and 'other' reasons.” “What kind of 'other' reasons?” “It's personal, and I don't like talking about it. Anyway, the guy in charge was the brother of the Princesses, but he was apparently banished from this world during the war with Discord.” “Why?” “He wanted to experiment on other ponies in order to find ways of improving the effectiveness of the troops, but Celestia and Luna refused, saying that it was too barbaric, and that the results wouldn't be worth the cost. He got really pissed by this, and he switched sides. Joined up with Discord. Any time they captured a pony, he would torture them through experimentation. He'd push their minds and bodies to the breaking point over and over until they couldn't take it anymore and either died, or went insane and became mindless killing machines, which Discord would release on nearby populated areas.” I was feeling very ill hearing this. I noticed two of the humans had already thrown up, and the third was barely holding down the vomit. The zebra ignored this and continued. “The worst thing he did though was a forbidden ritual. He sacrificed several innocent foals, and by spilling their blood, he created a de-” Before he could continue further, he was interrupted by another voice I knew all too well. “Greetings test subjects...” “That's him...” the Zebra whispered to me, his eyes full of anger, which he was just barely keeping in check. I finally had a chance to see what the fallen alicorn looked like up close. I wasn't impressed. He had bags under his eyes, as if he hadn't slept in centuries, and he also had several cuts and bruises. Probably from trying to capture some of the more stubborn of us. My guess is he tried to do it alone the first few times, and then switched to partnering up with One. One tires us out, then he knocks us out. All in all, good strategy. “Now, I'm sure you are all wondering why you are here. Well, you have all been chosen to be part of a series of experiments. All of you are among the best of your individual species and subspecies. That is why you are here. Only one of you will leave here alive.” We all went pale at that revelation. Some even threw up on the spot. He ignored us. “That one will become a living weapon with which Lord Discord will rain Chaos and Destruction upon Equestria, overthrowing Princess Celestia and taking back his throne!” Everypony had looks of disbelief on their faces. Some tried to charge at him, probably thinking if they took him down, we'd have a shot at escaping. They didn't even get close before he restrained them with magic. What scared me though, was the fact that not only did he not look at them when casting his magic, but his expression and tone of voice never changed, and he continued on as if nothing had happened at all. “Of course, to those of you who have been here for extended periods of time, I apologize, but we needed one hundred subjects in order for the tests to be as efficient as possible. Now, I would like to turn your attention to the dark grey unicorn with the crossed swords cutie mark. Everypony, meet Rising Knight, a member of the very prestigious Celestial Assassins. However, he is no longer to be considered anything except for a fellow test subject. So, feel free to call him Subject One Hundred from now on.” Instantly, all eyes turned on me, and I wished for nothing more than to be able to shadowport anywhere, just to be away from all the probing stares... “Wait, you're a Celestial Assassin?!” The zebra exclaimed, looking me over with amazement, before regaining his composure and holding a hoof behind his head, embarrassed. “That's pretty cool. I mean, I've read books about them, but I always thought they were just a myth.” The humans, zebra and I were walking back to our cell. Turns out that the five of us would be sharing a cell. They placed most of us in groups of 5, and told us that each group would sleep in the same cell for the duration of their 'stay'. The humans protested at first, saying they didn't want to share a cell with ponies, but we shut them up, whispering that if we could come up with a plan, the five of us would have a better chance of escaping together. They eventually agreed, all too eager to escape from this hellhole and to get back home. “Anyway, my name's Dark Storm, but just call me Storm. He told everypony your name, so it's only fair that you know mine. But do you mind if I ask you something?” He inquired with almost childlike wonder. “No. Go ahead, as long as you finish telling me about what happened with that alicorn guy.” “Sure, no problem. Anyway, how'd he capture you? I heard Celestial Assassins are supposed to be almost unbeatable.” “Unbeatable? Tell that to my parents.” I told him about my life, ever since they found me, right up to the point that we were attacked. My voice was dripping with rage as I told him about it. “It only took One a few seconds to beat them. After that, I made my sister run so she wouldn't get hurt. I got her to head for Ponyville. She has some friends there, Pinkie Pie, this energetic Pink earth pony who loves parties. Fluttershy, a yellow pegasus with a heart of gold. Then there's Rainbow Dash, a pegasus who, I dare say, could be her doppelganger in terms of personality. There's also Applejack, a local apple farmer, she's got a buck that could knock you through a barn door with enough momentum left over to knock the apples out of any tree you happen to hit. Lastly, there's Rarity, I met her once, and she struck me as very sophisticated. She has an unparalleled gift for making amazing clothes too. I know that as long as she's got friends like that looking out for her, she'll be fine.” “I'm sorry about your parents, but don't worry, I'm sure you're right. Your sister will be fine.” “Thanks. So, wanna finish telling me about that guy? Just what did he create that required sacrificing foals?” He just looked at me with a grim expression before he answered my question. In all honesty, when he finished his story, a part of me wished he hadn't. “A demon. That's what they created.” “WHAT!?” A bucking demon! And I thought changelings were bad!. “Yeah, a demon. They sacrificed foals and offered their bodies and souls in order to create a powerful demon. It was called Abysmal Shadow. They bound it to Discord, so it could use his magic, and they released it upon any and all populated areas. It killed a lot of ponies, and it even took out three regiments’ worth of royal guards as if they were nothing.” I became pale trying to imagine a creature that powerful. He ignored this, and continued his explanation. “Eventually, the princesses had no choice but to take it on themselves. By that time though, it had become so powerful, that both of them combined weren't able to defeat it. In a last-ditch effort, they used the Elements of Harmony. You know what they are, right?” I nodded and motioned for him to continue. “Anyway, they used the elements and managed to destroy it. Then they turned Discord to stone, and banished the brother from this world entirely, marking him a fallen alicorn for all eternity, as well as erasing him from the history books and making his name taboo, so nopony can say it, even if they wanted to.” I didn't hear the last part. My head was only focused on what he'd done. He betrayed his sisters. He helped Discord kill hundreds, if not thousands, of innocent ponies. He killed innocent foals to create a demon, which then went on to kill more ponies. The only question I have is how did he get back here? I don't need to ask why. Storm pretty much gave enough of an explanation. He's a psychopath, that's all there is to it. And one way or another, he is gonna pay. “Yo, Knight. You there, colt?” I snapped back to reality to see Storm staring at me with a worried expression. “Yeah, I'm here. Sorry about that… Lost in thought.” “Dangerous place to be. Anyway, got any more questions? I'll answer anything you ask.” He offered. “Ok, my question is as follows: What's your story? How did you end up here?” Storm became very uncomfortable at the question. “I'm sorry, you don't have to-” “No, it's only fair. You told me about your past. I should at least tell you mine.” He sighed, as if trying to expel his fears or something. “Lemme warn you now, it's not pretty...” “As I told you before, my parents abandoned me when I was a kid. My dad was a pegasus, and my mom was a zebra. I have a little sister, she's about two years younger than I am. She was always interested in potion making, and she had a habit of speaking in rhymes. Last I heard, she was living somewhere in the Everfree Forest. She'd be about 15 now.” “Sounds like someone I may know. Would her name happen to be Zecora?” “Yeah, but how did you-” “I grew up in the Everfree with my parents and sister. I met her a couple of times, and my parents sometimes sent me over to her place to learn more about potions. If you're wondering how I could survive there, we actually had a home in a relatively quiet area in the forest. But can I ask you something about Zecora? Why is somepony so young living there by herself? What happened?” “I happened.” “What do you-” “You know how I said there were 'other' reasons for me being abandoned, besides my looks, by which I mean the wings. And yes, before you ask, I was born with them like that!” Wow, he read me like a book there. “OK, so what was the reason?” “I have a monster living inside me.” “A monster?” “Yeah, it's name is Pain.” “Charming” “Ha ha. Anyway, it's a sadistic beast, and that's putting it mildly. When it takes over, my body changes. My eyes become red with sharp slits for pupils, my mane changes so that it looks like it's made of lightning, my tail becomes more like a dragon's tail, my wings burst into flame, my mark changes from a thundercloud to a skull, this weird smoke starts coming out of my body, and these weird marks appear on my body. My teeth all become razor sharp, and I can unleash a dark energy that acts as a poison to anypony it makes contact with...” He shuddered talking about Pain's power. “It can only take over if I let it, or if I become consumed by my rage. But I've also got an ally on the inside, named Flare. He can wield fire and he's a bit of a hothead, but he's generally a nice guy once you get to know him. When he takes over, the only thing that really changes that much is my colour. My body turns red, my stripes orange, and my mane and tail turn the colour of flames and flow as if they really were made of fire.” “I got kicked out after my dad found out about them though. His exact words were ‘You're not my son, you're a freak of nature, now GET OUT!’. My mom tried to reason with him, probably thought she could do something to help me, but my dad wouldn't hear it. He kicked me out, and told me if he ever saw me again, he'd kill me. So much for unconditional love. Since then, I wandered the world, never staying in one place too long. Eventually, I got noticed by the pony One. We fought, and Pain really did a number on him. Then the big boss came in and took me out. It was so fast, I didn't even have time to prepare. Next thing I know, I'm in a cell, being called 99.” He trailed off, looking pensive, and I just waited for him to pick up the story from where he left off... Eventually he seemed to finally finish up with whatever thoughts were orbiting his mind. “That was about three days ago, but from what I've heard, most of us had been here for months. I wonder if my sister's ok...” “Don't worry, I've seen her several times. She can handle herself. I wouldn't be surprised if she turns out to be a Celestial Assassin herself.” “Seriously? My little sis, an assassin? Now that is a weird image…” We all laughed. I had completely forgotten the humans were here, but they didn't seem to mind, being content to just listen to our stories. We arrived at our 'shared' cell to find several more beds had been set up. We said our goodnights, and got some sleep. With what was in store for us, we were gonna need it. We woke to the sounds of guards banging some sort of going right outside our cell. “Get up! 99, 100, you're both first in line for experimentation. 56, 28, and 81, you're scheduled for tomorrow, so you can go back to resting your pretty little heads!” We were all considering taking on the guards and risking death to try and escape, but before we could, one of the guards' horns glowed, and I suddenly couldn't stay awake anymore. I woke up strapped to a gurney surrounded by jars filled with various organs and 'other' things. I could barely keep from vomiting right there. And then HE came into view. “Ah, you're awake. Good, then we can begin. Now, if this experiment is successful, we will have successfully given a non-changeling the ability to shape-shift without using magic. You'll literally be able to turn yourself into anything you can think of. Won't that be fun?” He was smiling with a mad gleam in his eyes. I was terrified, and began straining at the restraints keeping me there, but to no avail. They were reinforced with magic. “Ah ah ah, can't have that. A good subject knows when to BE STILL!” With those last two words, he touched his horn to my head, and suddenly I couldn't move. I was literally paralysed. I could still feel everything that happened to me, but I was powerless to do anything about it. “Good. Now let us begin the experiment!” If I hadn't been paralysed, my screams would have completely deafened everypony in the entire compound. As it was, all I could do was scream inside my head until I eventually passed out, while the fallen servant of Discord went about his work with a sick enthusiasm... I woke up in the large room we had all been gathered in last night. “What the buck... oh, my bucking head. When I get my hooves on him, that bastard’s a dead stallion walking...” I muttered, not really expecting anypony to reply as I stood, rubbing my head with one hoof. I heard a huff from not too far away, “It's about time you woke up.” a gravelly, but distinctly female voice said, as a bipedal creature, which I realized was a diamond dog, stood up. She had long, brownish-red fur, with a white area over the stomach. “And you are?” I asked as calmly as possible. The diamond dog snorted, "It's not like you'll live long enough for it to matter." Every couple seconds, her eyes kept darting to an overhanging balcony near the top of the room. “Why is that?” I inquired. “Because one of you is going to die today. Didn’t you pay attention when I mentioned the fighting part, Triple Digits?” that all too familiar voice called from above. And lo and behold, who should I see when I looked up, but One, standing on the balcony, his sadistic grin ever present on his face. “It’s pretty simple. The two of you will fight. One of you will die. Who it is depends on who the better fighter is.” He explained, turning to exit through a small door. “So, good luck, and may the best subject survive.” As one said the last word, the d-dog charged me, her fur morphing into what looked like solid strands of grey metal, which entwined with each other to form scales of what looked like steel, except for a part that grew rapidly, forming a spear-like shape, aimed right at my heart. “Shit!” I cursed, pivoting and barely avoiding the unconventional attack before retaliating with a standard magical blast. Weak, but fast enough that avoiding it from close range would be all but impossible under normal circumstances. But dodging didn’t seem to even cross her mind. The metal hairs covering the female moved faster than I could see, weaving a shield to block the spell. "I won't lose to you! I've got too much on the line!" She shouted as she created more spears of metal hair, trying to impale me. “GAH!” I yelled as several of them pierced my chest. None of them were fatal, but they would be if I didn’t end it quickly. “You’re... you’re not.. the only one... with something... on the line.” I spat, just barely taking note of the blood hitting the floor instead of saliva. “I’m not... dying here...” "Mph that's what you say." The female charged again, this time all her hairs arranged into spikes covering her body. “Got no choice...” I muttered, focusing on the shadows, letting myself melt into them and rematerialise from her own shadow, right behind her, with the one thing I felt I needed more than anything in my magical grip. My sword, or one of them anyway. “Now... LUNAR SLASH!” I screamed as I brought my blade down, the deep blue metal slicing through her sharpened hair and the flesh underneath, like a hot knife through butter. She didn't even have time to shout in pain before she died. “... I’m sorry.” I whispered, before fading from consciousness. Third-Person The nameless one stood over the unconscious body of Subject One-Hundred as Subject One disposed of the body of Subject Eighty-Four. “This test was not satisfactory... he did not test the ability he was bestowed. Instead, he relied on those he had already had... Tell the science team I want all of One-Hundred’s known abilities neutralised when in combat, so as to, ‘encourage’ him to test those that we have given him. Understood, One?” He asked without a hint of emotion as one of the facility guards grabbed the unicorn colt and none too gently dragged him back to his cell. “Understood, sir.” One replied in a cheery tone. “And if Triple Digits... refuses, to show us the results of his, improvements?” “Then he is of no use to me. Let him die, and that will be the end of it.” Nameless turned and left through the massive doorway. If he had stayed and observed just a second longer, he would have noticed the flinch One suffered upon hearing this, the only source of emotion he had ever shown in his entire service under Nameless. One simply brushed it off and finished disposing of the dead bitch, wondering why he would ever feel anything for such a worthless piece of trash as Subject One Hundred. Author's Note Ok, this is the first rewritten chapter of TKIR. So thanks to Cloud Nova for co-authoring it with me.
New friends, New enemies, New powersA few weeks later “Guys, I’m... I’m sorry, about 56...” I muttered in a depressed tone as I stared through the doorway of our cell. 56 had been called for experimentation around a week ago. And he’d been set up to fight against One... the way he’d gloated as he came to deliver the news, it had been practically instantaneous. We knew 56 had gotten the ability to fool the senses of anypony... or anyone, I guess, that he wanted to. Hell, he practiced it on us on a daily basis since he discovered he could do it. At first, we were pissed as Tartarus, but eventually we’d ask him for special requests. It helped us cope. The silence that followed made me feel like a complete jackflank for even bringing it up, if you could call the dull whir of machinery and echoing screams silence. “... Seán.” “Huh?” I asked confusedly, turning towards 81, who was looking at me with an unreadable expression. “His name was Seán, not 56, and he is... was, our brother.” He said calmly. “He disappeared a few months before 28, Nathan did. I ‘followed’ about a year after him.” He bent two fingers on each of his hands at the word followed. “Séan was on his way to college, where he studied science, mostly Biology and Chemistry. He was determined to understand everything about them. He said that he’d been stopped by that guy One while he was passing the construction site Nathan worked at.” He paused for a moment, looking towards ‘Nathan’, who’d turned away from us. “Seán didn’t even get a chance to cry out before One had knocked him unconscious and dragged him through the ‘portal’, as Seán called it. Honestly, I’d describe it as a rip.” 81 shook his head, trying to get back on track. “He said he’d been here for over a year before Nathan ended up getting brought here, and it was over ten before I arrived. The first few months, he’d try to escape, but the guards would just zap him with their horns each time. It happened to all three of us. Eventually, he just opted to sit in the cell and wait. What for, he never actually told us, though I’d hazard a guess that it was a miracle he was waiting for.” “A miracle? He was waiting for divine intervention?” I asked. “Pretty much. You can see where it got us.” Nathan suddenly piped up. “He was always the one who chose science over religion. But this place made him turn towards it, and now he’s gone... A cruel man would say he got what he deserved for his lack of faith in God, that it was Karma or something. Me, I say it was just his time, no matter how much Kieran or I wish it hadn’t come when it did.” “Kieran? That’s your name?” I asked, looking at 81, who simply nodded. “And me, I w-” Nathan didn’t get a chance to speak before the cell door burst open and three guards walked in, horns glowing menacingly as they glared at us. “28, come with us..” “Screw you.” Kieran growled, stepping between the guards and his brother, only for Nathan to get up and put a hand on his shoulder, shaking his head slowly. “It’s fine, 81. Let’s get this over with you assholes.” He said calmly, cracking his neck muscles as he followed the trio out the cell door... Arena Nathan didn’t react violently when the guards shoved him to the ground before leaving. He just picked himself up and dusted himself off, muttering “Retards.” “I couldn’t agree more,” a voice said from the shadows, before an abnormally large, golden-brown diamond dog stepped out, it’s eyes closed, and wolfish snout in a sneer. “Ew, so you’re a ‘Human...’ I must say, I’m not impressed.” “Yeah, well neither am I. If this is what Diamond Dogs are like, I’m not surprised Knight beat the Auburn one...” Nathan retorted. The face of the dog twisted into a look of anger, “Tell me... Who is this ‘Knight’?” The voice came out as a growl. “Subject One Hundred, or Rising Knight, is a Celestial Assassin. He’s also the one whos’ gonna get us out of here, if I have anything to say about it.” “I see... So subject one hundred killed her...” His eyes opened glowing slightly, “I guess he’s my goal then.” “Sorry, but if you want him, you’re gonna have to go through me,” Nathan stated, placing his palms on the ground and pulling up a spear. “Not a problem,” The dog slammed his paws into the ground, and whipped his tail menacingly. “Is that supposed to scare me?” Nathan asked, slamming a fist in the floor and sending several spikes hurtling towards the dog. “No, this is.” The dog dodged, and lept into the air, extending the claws on it’s front paws, the ones on the left bursting into flames, and the right crackling with electricity. “Sorry, but I have no intention of abandoning my family!” Nathan yelled, tossing the spear upwards, even as he created several smaller weapons; Kunai, shuriken, throwing knives, etc. “I’VE ALREADY LOST ONE BROTHER! I AM NOT LEAVING THE OTHER!” The dog held up the burning claws, the spear burning to ash as it touched the flame, “You keep believing that.” He said coldly, before throwing a bolt of lightning with his right claw, completely destroying the nearby weapons, creating a clear path between them. “Maybe you’ll meet the one you lost on the other side.” “So, who was she to you?” Nathan asked, rolling to the side and creating a spiked gauntlet on his left hand. “... We’ve talked enough.” Was all the dog said, before throwing fire on Nathan, completely covering him before bolting behind, and stabbing the electric claws into his shoulder, “Die.” “AHHHHHHHHHHH!” Nathan screamed, trying to pull away. “You FUCKER!” The dog just grunted, and made the electricity flow increase, killing Nathan off with one last scream. “May you find your lost brother on the other side.” Cell “It’s only been a few minutes Kieran, calm the fuck down.” I ordered, but to no avail, as Kieran just kept pacing around the cell in a panicked state. “Luna dammit. Storm, WAKE THE FUCK UP AND TALK SOME SENSE INTO KIERAN!” Storm merely continued to snore. Though why I expected any other reaction was a mystery. He slept through the talk, the guards taking Nathan away. He even slept through them zapping him at full strength when it was his turn to fight. “Come on, where the hell is he? He should be back by now... come on, come on, come on, com-” I was spared from hearing Kieran repeat the same two words over and over for the next two hours by the merciful opening of the cell door... or that’s what I thought, before I noticed the lack of a certain human. I actually felt my blood freeze. No... oh please, no... One of the guards smiled evilly, "What's wrong? Expecting somebody else?" Kieran shot the guard a glare and grabbed him by the throat. “Where. Is. He?” The guard just zapped him off, "A delivery for you, 81." He reached behind himself, and pulled out a pure white box, tossing in casually. As said box hit the floor, it opened... and a singed head rolled out. Kieran just stared at the head for what seemed like hours... Before turning to the guards with absolute fury in his eyes. “YOU FUCKING BASTARDS!” And, with a speed I couldn’t even comprehend, he rushed the guards and slammed a knee into one of their guts. By the time he hit the ground, Kieran was already driving his interlocked fists down onto another Guard’s skull, a sickening crack sounding out as the head caved in. Before the third could react Kieran was out the door and running with no direction in mind. “KIERAN! Luna dammit... STORM, I’M GOING TO DO SOMETHING THAT MIGHT GET ME KILLED, HAVE FUN!” I yelled, following Kieran out the door, but not before driving my horn through the final Guard’s exposed throat. First rule of being part of the Celestial Assassins. No hostile witnesses. It only took me a few minutes to pick up his trail. Dust clouds are definitely more useful than I gave them credit for. Even so, I was still far behind him, and at this rate, I’d never catch up. “Dammit, where is he?” I muttered as I passed by yet another cell. This one with a single golden-brown diamond dog, who, when he saw me, glared daggers, and growled, reaching through the gap between the bars, and pulled me against his cell wall. The dog sneered at me, "Let me tell you this now, 'Rising Knight,' I'm the one who just went up against 28, and you're next on my list." “Shut up... You killed the only family Kieran had left... You’re no better than One.” I spat. The diamond dog’s eyes began to glow a sickly green"You speak like you're any better, after what you did to her." “I have a little sister to get back to. And as much as I don’t want to admit it, I can’t stand killing. And I’m guessing the auburn dog was ‘her’. If you think I take pleasure in the fact that I killed her, you’re wrong. To revel in death is to become a monster. Death may be a necessary part of life, but t---” "SHUT UP! You speak as though you're better than the rest of us. Do you want to know why she wanted to live so badly? She was pregnant. You didn't just kill my mate. You killed my unborn offspring. For that, I will murder you." I didn’t say anything for a while. I just looked him in the eyes. “... Then you’ll dishonor her memory. Killing me will not bring her back, but rather it will leave her soul in eternal torment knowing you killed for revenge. Is that what you want?” I asked in a flat tone. "Do you not want to kill One in revenge? As I said before, you're not as different as you think." “I do not want to kill him for revenge. I’m angry at him, but I refuse to insult my parents by pursuing the double-edged blade that is vengeance. I want to kill him because as long as he is alive, others will die.” "For a 'celestial assassin', you know surprisingly little about diamond dog culture." the dog said with a low growl, "To not avenge her would mean I didn't care enough to do so. “I never got the chance to learn about it before being brought to this place. I am only 13 after all.” I retorted. “And if you want to avenge her so badly, then pursue the one responsible for us being here in the first place. If not for him, I would be training with my family, and you would still be with her. He and One are the ones to blame. He set all these events in motion with his schemes...” The dog huffed, and pushed me away, "You're just as much my enemy as he is." The dog's ears picked up, "Sounds like number One found your friend, by the way. Might want to go back to your cell." I raised an eyebrow, before shooting him a grin and slamming a hoof on the ground defiantly. “... Sorry, but I don’t abandon my friends.” I exclaimed before shooting off after Kieran. "... Idiot," the d-dog muttered, before sitting back down. “KIERAN!” I yelled, rushing past cell after cell, listening for any sound that might give me his position. “Luna dammit, where is that human... KIERAN?!” “Looking for something, Triple Digits?” A voice asked from behind me. I wheeled around, only to be slammed into the wall by a sudden kick from One. “Oh, don’t worry, he’s alive. For now, anyway.” “Bastard...” I muttered, coughing up blood. One shot me an annoyed look. “... You know, I was going to just send you back to your cell with a few bruises, maybe a broken bone or two. But now? Now, I think I’ll make an example of you. HEY, WARDEN!” He yelled. A well-dressed unicorn stallion with a golden coat and a red mane and tail came sprinting around the corner, stopping in front of one and snapping off a salute, all in the space of a single second. “Yes, sir?” “Go get 69. I want to see how Triple Digits does against her.” One stated, before walking up to me, and slamming a hoof into my face. My last conscious sight was his sadistic smile. “Dammit... How many times is that bastard gonna knock me out...” I asked as I returned to consciousness and stood up “Depends, how many times are you gonna piss him off?” A somewhat annoying voice answered me, and I turned to see a changeling, wings buzzing agitatedly as it glared at me. “Seriously, what the buck is wrong with you? I was sleeping, when suddenly, three guards burst in and grab me with a collar and leash, like I’m a bucking pet. They drag me here, toss me in, and a few minutes later, you’re tossed in, completely unconscious. You ruined my beauty sleep!” “Well, sorry I tried to help my friend. Not that you’d understand...” It shot me a dirty look. “I resent that. I just so happen to understand quite well what the need to help someling you care about is like.” The last part was so quiet I almost didn’t hear it. “COME ON, GET TO THE MURDERING EACH OTHER ALREADY!” Somepony called from above us. It was, you guessed it, One, on the balcony, glaring at us impatiently. “Screw you! I have no intention of killing anyling!” The changeling stated defiantly, buzzing its wings so fast that it rose a few inches off the ground. One simply shook his head and walked out, pausing only to deliver one more line. “Fine, then I guess you can both fall together.” We barely had any time to react before the floor suddenly collapsed around us. The changeling managed to get airborne before gravity could take effect. I wasn’t so lucky. FUCK! So, you probably know that I had to do balance training right? Well, I treated this as a variation of the exercise, or I would have, if I hadn’t looked down. “SPIKES?! BUCKING SPIKES?!” I yelled out to nopony in particular, closing my eyes and waiting for the inevitable killing blow. It’s times like this I wish I had wings... ... ... ... WHY THE BUCK HAVEN’T I BEEN SKEWERED YET?! “... Uh, are ponies supposed to switch horns for wings?” ... ... ... WHAT?! I mentally screamed, my eyes snapping open and immediately falling on the pair of flapping wings at my sides, while one hoof went straight to my head, resulting in two things. One, I gave myself a massive headache and dropped a few inches, the rest of my hooves literally scraping off the tips of the spikes. Two, I confirmed what the changeling had said. I had indeed swapped my horn for the pair of wings I found myself with. “... WINGS?! BUCKING WINGS?!” I yelled, staring at the new appendages flapping of their own accord, as if I was a newborn or something. The changeling whacked me on the head with one hoof, using the other to try and cover both its ear holes at once. “Ow, please don’t scream when I’m right next to you. Changeling hearing is sensitive.” She complained. Neither of us noticed the room slowly getting darker. “Well, sorry f-” *SLAM* ... ... “... Ok, who turned out the lights?” Have you ever tried to facehoof in the dark? It’s surprisingly more difficult than you’d think it would be. I failed to cover my eye before my hoof came into contact with it, for example. “OW! My eye!” I exclaimed. “Oh, for the love of... shut up and help me figure out what happened...” The changeling retorted angrily, before buzzing in what I assumed was the direction of the ‘ceiling’. *CLANG CLANG* “Ah, Queen Dammit... Solid metal. They created a solid metal floor, or ceiling, in our case... We’re trapped, at least until we’re too tired to fly. Then, SPLAT!” It exclaimed. I had no idea what to do... What, I’d never been given a ‘Sudden Change of Pony Species and entrapment in a pitfall’ training course. I was winging it at this point, and winging it was definitely not a good option, given the situation... “HEY! EQUESTRIA TO DUMBFLANK!” “WHAT?!” I yelled back, snapped out of my thinking phase, only to place my hooves over my eyes as a bright light blinded me. The changeling had bucking blinded me. “You were so focused on whatever your thoughts were, you didn’t even notice when I shone the light from my horn in your eyes.... What are you thinking so hard about?” I shot her a dirty look, or at least I think I did. Kinda hard to tell where I’m aiming when I can’t see... “Hey, you alright? You look like you’re having a panic attack. You afraid of the shadows or something?” It asked. I could swear it was actually concerned. Wait... Shadows... shadows... “... THAT’S IT!” I suddenly yelled, freaking out the changeling and causing it to drop, almost impaling itself on a spike. It glared at me as it regained its altitude. “AGH, watch it! You almost scared me to death... Wait, what’s it?” It asked. “SHADOWS! Hey, 69, can you figure out where the wall is, and shine your light off it while I make my way over to it? Make sure you’re close enough to me that I can grab you if my idea works.” I explained. It looked at me suspiciously, but nodded and did as I asked and flew up to the wall, her horn glowing a pale green. It was dim, but workable. “Ok, now... uh, how do I move around? It’s not like I’ve ever flown before... actually, how am I even flying?” It facehoofed. “Are you bucking kidding me?” It asked in an extremely annoyed tone. “Ugh, fine, I’ll push you over too.. Oh, and by the way, it’s not 69. If you have to call me something, make it up. Just make sure it’s something a female would go by.” As I prepared to respond, it... she, grabbed me and tossed me right into the wall. I’m honestly glad I had quick reflexes, or I would’ve faceplanted instead of landing against it hooves first, my wings, mercifully, still flapping, by luck or instinct, I never figured out. “Oh thanks, I so enjoyed being thrown into the wall...” I muttered as she shined her light on me, revealing exactly what I... we, needed to escape. “Ok, on 3?” “Sure....” She replied, still confused. “1... 2...” She got ready to grab me. “... 3!” I reached out one hoof even as I started to sink into my shadow, much to her shock. The look on her face... priceless. Try crossing Jason Voorhees with Mr. Rogers. See that face you just made? That’s hers. It took a lot longer than normal for me to go through the whole Shadow Step thing, but that’s to be expected with a passenger. Actually, she was surprisingly calm the entire time. Anyway, it took a few minutes, but I managed to get the both of us out of that death trap and into my cell. She was against it, at first, but eventually relented when I said there was no way I was leaving her alone and at risk of being offed by One or Whatshisname. Kieran and Storm (Yeah, Kieran got caught and was returned to the cell, in bad shape, I might add. And Storm woke up while I was gone, Kieran summarised everything that happened for him.) had to be convinced about her, but they agreed too. So now, we have a new cellmate. I just hope we can survive long enough to find a way out of this hell hole. All of us. Author's Note For those of you who wonder how Knight knows about Friday the Thirteenth and Mr Rogers, you only need one answer... Seán and his illusions.
Rewrites.This story will be undergoing rewrites. Until such time that they are finished, the old chapters will remain here.
