The Sound of Madness

“Sister,” Celestia grumbled, turning her head from the noise, “sister, wake up. Twilight has awoken.” Celestia’s eyes cracked open, before tilting her head up and yawning. Rubbing her eyes, Celestia looked over to the voice, noting Luna who had bags under her eyes, hidden almost perfectly against her dark coat.

“Luna, what time is it?” Luna was about to answer, but she scratched her chin. Looking around the hallway, she tried finding a clock. She spotted one, but she could barely read it from where she was. “Luna, do you need glasses?” Luna laughed under her breath, before shaking her head. “Luna, get some sleep, we’ll start the search later today. I’ll stay with the Elements and tell them about Derek.” Luna opened her mouth to protest, but the glare she noticed from Celestia was enough to silence her. With a flash of light, Luna disappeared to her bedroom.

“Princess,” turning her head, a stallion who was wearing a white coat, sharp contrast to his dark blue coat, and a pink mane? The doctor noticed the look, and turned away sheepishly. “Sorry, a few weeks ago, my friends and I got drunk one night and we had a bet.” Celestia laughed, before getting out of her seat, stretching. Hearing a few things pop, she stood up fully. Ruffling her wings, she nodded to the doctor, who stepped aside, holding the door open for her. Crouching down slightly, she entered a cozy room, and noticed Twilight reading a book, and the others were talking to each, mostly small talk.

“Princess!” Twilight closed the book she was reading and put it on the table next to her, which had two other stacks of books. “How are you?”

“I think I should be asking you that question,” Twilight’s cheeks turned slightly pink, “but I am fine, thank you. How are you?”

“I’m fine, but I was out for three hours or so?”

“Two hours and forty six minutes actually!” Celestia turned towards Pinkie, who had a stopwatch in her hoof. She tucked it away in her mane, raising an eyebrow from Celestia, but she didn’t say anything.

“Now then, Twilight. Do you know what that thing attacked you is called?” Twilight shook her head. “I didn’t think so. That thing’s name is Derek, and he’s returned for revenge. You see, he’s not from this world, but was pulled into it when the world was born. The gods are cruel in that way, taking whatever they want and watching them for amusement. When he was brought into this world, he was given immortality… well, that’s not correct. He can live forever, until time itself ends, but he can be killed. He was also given the magic of music.” They were all listening intently, but Rainbow Dash laughed when she said that.

“Music? What a lame power! What, does he sing you to sle-OW! Twilight, what was that for?!” Twilight just socked Rainbow in the leg, making Rainbow rub the spot.

“Don’t just interrupt the Princess like that. Sorry Princess, Rainbow can sometimes be a little…” Celestia smiled, nodding her head.

“It’s fine. It is actually quite silly, now that I think about it, but, continuing on. He had gain control of his power in a few years, but still tried finding a way home. For centuries he tried everything, but the gods did not budge. They were silent, and left him on this world forever. He became angry, and focused his rage into a song… to this day I can still remember the cries of anguish. The whole world heard it, and the sky knew his rage. A massive thunderstorm hovered over him, lightning striking everywhere. For hours it went on, until he finally stopped, a pillar of light appearing from the darkened clouds. A god had appeared… but he was sinister. He wanted revenge on Faust… on my mother, for vanquishing him in battle. He made Derek a deal, kill Faust’s daughters, and he could return home. Derek accepted it, and the god gave him a weapon… a battle ax, and also… an instrument. An instrument from his world, a… key-tar? No, that’s not right… gu...guitar? Yes, that’s it. A guitar. It was like a massive lyre, strings went down the handle of the ax, and he could summon red lightning from whenever he played those cords. And so he went off on his hunt… his hunt for Luna and I. A few centuries before I banished my sister to the moon he finally found us. My sister and I hadn’t found the Elements of Harmony yet, so we ran and hid. He tore down the walls of our old castle, before the Castle of the Two Sisters, when he was about to kill us, mother appeared. She blasted him across the room, before using her magic to lock him in stone. She couldn’t say goodbye, for this was something that happened in a thousand years at best. A god, interfering with the mortal plane.” She paused, and noticed they were all looking at her, eyes wide with wonder. Twilight raised her hoof, and Celestia nodded at her.

“So, this Derek… why was he brought here? And why did he accept a deal like that? Why would anypony want to… ki-kill you?” Celestia heard the nervousness in her voice.

“I don’t know… loneliness, distraught, anguish. He wanted to return home, to where a place he could be accepted, but deep down I think he knew he couldn’t go back. He needed a way to get his anger out, and he chose us. Apparently his rage hasn’t subsided for all these years. Why he was brought here, like I said, gods are cruel. Now then, time discuss how to stop him before he causes anymore damage. I’ll have to find out where he is… I have a few ideas where he might be.”

Derek awoke with a start, hearing a long scraping noise throughout the halls, it echoing what seemed to be forever. Noticing a pillar of light, he still had daylight before night arrived. Heaving himself off the wall, he very slowly grabbed his shoulder, feeling the bandages in the barracks, which surprisingly hadn’t faded. It stung a little, but the bandages were coated in some sort of ooze which felt like fire when he first put them on, but it had soothed to a small ache. Very carefully, he rotated his shoulder, wincing a bit, but it seemed to hold together. Looking around, he saw a blade hilt with a broken blade, maybe a foot left of blade. Grabbing it, he slid it into his back pocket, and opened the musty wooden door, which had warped and rusted along the iron bolts and hinges. The scrapping stopped, and a thud resounded a few seconds after. He heard a strangled cry, and he started walking towards it, his hand on the hilt. Opening another door, a large lump of rocks was in the middle of the room, and yet it was bleeding.

“Um, are you hurt?” The thing shifted, and it opened a massive set of jaws, and it’s eyes opened, black slits surrounded by greens globes. It tried moving but it whimpered, and more blood splattered to the ground. The smell of it started hanging in the room, and he coughed a few times. Walking behind it, he watched as the eyes followed him, eyes filled with fright and anger. He crouched next to the wound, and saw deep claw marks, and a single puncture wound in its thigh. “Manticore got you… the venom will kill you, if it doesn’t you’ll be paralyzed…” Some blood started seeping through his boot, and he backed away. ‘I don’t want it to suffer, but it still could hurt me… and it could draw something else.’ He looked over at the thing, and noticed that’s jaw was rested and closed, as were its eyes. ‘Real quick,’ he pulled the blade from his pocket, ‘don’t think about it, just do it.’ Stepping over it, he slowly sat down over the middle of its back, and it didn’t acknowledge him. Shaking, he put that blade to the back of it’s neck, he felt it breathing under him, still alive.

“I’m sorry.” Shoving the knife into it, he felt it squirm, before falling limp. Getting off of it, he put his back to it, and looked at the blade, dripping the fresh blood onto his pants. “AAARG!” He threw the blade, it slapping against the wall, before falling to the ground. Standing up, he turned to look at the beast.

It was dark grey, with what looked like rocks attached to its back. Walking over, he realized it was a alligator, or a crocodile. The snout was pointed, and he forgot which one was what. Opening its jaws, they were filled with razor sharp teeth, and serrated. Carefully closing it, he walked to the other side, and a small pool of blood had settled next to it, and the blood was oozing out now. Shaking his head, he found a tattered banner, showing a crescent moon. Curling it up, he brought it over, and then draped it over the beast.

“May thy valkyrie carry your honored soul to Valhalla.” Walking over to the knife, he grabbed it and wiped it on the banner, which was now turning red in some places. “Fuck… how did it even get in h… right, the door buckled in. Probably should fix that… meh, I’ll do it later… if there is a later. Now then… how the fuck do I kill a demi-goddess?”