A Different Kind of Paradise

Chapter XV: Demise

The hulking beast Justice just lied unconscious in the crater he left after falling from over a mile high in the air.  He survived the impact, but was knocked out cold.

Two ponies moved through the settling cloud of dust that was stirred when Justice smashed into the sacred hall they were in.  It was Nero and Gabe; the two approached the edge of the crater and stared at the beast that had stolen their friend from them and threatened not only his existence, but the lives of everypony in Equestria.

As they watched the demon’s motionless body exude minimal signs of life Gabe was the first to open his mouth.  “I’ll admit it.”  He said, a little uneasy.  “I had my doubts.”

In response to this Nero actually started to laugh.  “Am I supposed to be offended?  I had no idea what I was doing half the time; sure we planned out all of this stuff, but in the end it was a little shrimp, or should I say roach?”  He poked fun at himself.  “Against a psycho that would make Lars look like Mother Teresa, I don’t know how I won; but I’m glad I did.”  His look of happiness and confidence melted away soon after however.

Gabe noticed this and tried to comfort his friend.  “We’ll save him, don’t worry.”

“Danny was the greatest friend I’ve ever had.”  Nero said solemnly.  “No matter what I did, how stupid I acted, Danny never once said anything.”  A single tear rolled down his cheek.  “But I feel so awful, knowing I’ve never once repaid him for that.   The fact that while he stuck up for me and put up with my stupidity, I’ve never once helped him.”

“This will be your repayment Nero.”  Gabe said as he put a hoof on Nero’s shoulder.  “By letting you be yourself, unafraid of consequences, Danny helped you fight the darkness of doubt in your heart.  Now by brining Justice to his downfall you are helping Danny fight the darkness in his heart, and seal it away permanently.”

“Aw, how touching.”  An all-too familiar voice caused the two to look back into the crater.  “I think I might cry.”

Justice was awake.

Nero and Gabe were unnerved by the demon’s revival.  It was hard not to look nervous as he pulled himself from the fractured marble floor.  Even though he was clearly sore from his ordeal, which just made him all the more menacing to see how easily he could pick himself back up.  “Your speech may have been touching.”  Justice started.  “But it is all for naught.”  He began to growl and cry out in pain as his wings reconnected with the joints on Justice’s back with a sickening popping sound.

Upon hearing Justice realign his wings Nero gave a disgusted face, while Gabe had to put his hoof over his mouth to keep himself from throwing up.

After briefly chuckling at this sight Justice continued.  “Michael, I admit I underestimated your strength and cunning, but in the end all you could do was dislocate my joints and put me down for a cat-nap.  Face it; you have nothing that can defeat me.”  After he finished his smug look melted away as he began to leer at Gabe, anger and hatred filling his eyes.  “I will take this world, and I will start with the one who betrayed me.”

“Not if we have something to say about it!”  A familiar voice cried out from the side.

Curious and surprised, Justice turned to the side.  When he saw what it was his eyes widened with fear.

It was Twilight Sparkle, and five of her friends; Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie.  Each one of them were wearing a golden necklace with a gem resembling their cutie mark; an apple, a diamond, a lightning bold, a butterfly, and a balloon respectively.  But Twilight was wearing a diadem with an eight pointed star gem.

“No way!”  Justice cried in fear.  “Those are…”   He cut himself off with a gasp and looked around at where he was.  The pristine marble floor and pillars, the stained glass depicting famous scenes from Equestrian history; he was in the hall of the elements, the resting place of the Elements of Harmony, Equestria’s most powerful magical weapon.

Justice was terrified.  He knew that the elements purged the darkness from Princess Luna’s heart and petrified Discord, Justice dreaded the thought of what they would do to him.  “No.  Y-y-you can’t!”  Justice pleaded.

“You stole our friend and are threatening our world, why shouldn’t we?!”  Fluttershy yelled.

“Not to mention that poor excuse for a tunic is atrocious.”  Rarity added, but it wasn’t received well as she received a series of blank stares from everyone in the room.  “What?”  She asked in response to this reaction.  “I’m sure I wasn’t the only one thinking it.”

Twilight shook her head to re-focus on the task at hand.  “Justice” she started “you will not endanger any of my friends.   My friends and I will put an end to your scheme now, with our strength and the Elements of Harmony you will fall!”  With that her eyes began to glow white as she started to radiate with power, soon she and all of her friends began floating upright their eyes closed as their elements began to glow.

“N-no!”  Justice stammered.  “There must be something I can do!”  He tried to breathe fire at the six, but the flames simply vanished before reaching the target.  He then turned his attention to Gabe “if I’m going down” he growled “YOU’RE COMING WITH ME!”  He tried to pummel Gabe with his fist, but found that he was being cut off by a semi-translucent wall of light.  He turned to see that the wall was closing him in with the Element bearers.  Justice felt his heart sink, he was helpless.  He fell to his knees and closed his eyes.

The formation of the six elements fired a massive rainbow into the air.  The rainbow arced up and came down on Justice, enveloping him in a blinding light.

Nero and Gabe watched as Justice gritted his teeth to prepare for the element’s fury, but eventually it proved too much to handle and he cried out in agony.  Shortly after this the light proved to be too much and Gabe and Nero had to shield their eyes to protect them.

Gabe was relieved to see that this nightmare was about to end.  Once the Elements finished their work they could all go home and act like none of this ever happened.  He saw that the light was beginning to fade and looked to where Danny would be; the moment he did his jaw hit the floor.

Each of the element bearers slowly levitated to the ground after the Elements finished.  Like Gabe, they all gasped in horror when they looked before them.

Justice was still kneeling in the crater, completely unaffected by the blast of the Elements.

Each of the ponies backed away; a stunned, horrified look on each of their faces.

Slowly, Justice opened one eye and looked around.  Surprised to see he was still in the hall of the elements he raised one clawed hand and waved it in front of his own face.  After he was done he began to chuckle with disbelief, but then began to laugh like a madman.  He stood up and yelled “I’M ALIVE!”

Justice’s laughter caused everypony to tremble with fear.  Their entire plan was to lure Justice to the hall of the Elements in order to destroy him and release Danny, but now that that didn’t work, they had no idea what to do next.

“I don’t know how, but the Elements of Harmony didn’t work!”  Justice continued to laugh.  “Does this mean that I am greater than Discord or Nightmare Moon?  That I am destined to rule this world?”  He turned to Gabe with a twisted smile on his face.  “You should have sided with me when you had the chance Gabriel.  For it seems that your betrayal has been for nothing.  It’s a shame that you went back on our deal, you would have been a great ruler.”

That last statement caused all of the ponies, save for Nero, to gasp in shock.  Justice noticed this and his jaw dropped.

“You didn’t tell them?”  Justice asked Gabe with disbelief.  “You didn’t tell them that all of this is your fault!?”  As Justice continued he got more excited, and by extent louder.  “That you were the one who unleashed the darkness in Daniel’s heart with the promise of becoming a king?”  He went over to Gabe and picked him up to look him in the eye.  “If you didn’t tell them what really happened then what did you tell them?  What lie did you spew in order to coerce your so-called friends into partaking in your treachery?”

“He… He didn’t have to say anything.”  Fluttershy said softly, tears gathering in her eyes.  “Danny said that a bully from their old town came and hurt him. When Gabe told us about you Justice, I asked about that night and he confirmed.”  She began to sob.

“Aw” Justice sarcastically cooed.  “Danny lied to protect his friend.  But Gabriel” Justice turned back to the grey pony in his clutches.  “Who did you lie to protect?  Certainly it wasn’t Daniel; the mane 6 would have beaten me for his sake and dealt with you later.  You lied to protect your own ego.”

Gabe could only stare in fear, his scheme had fallen apart and now he faced Justice’s fury with nopony to save him at the last moment this time.

After a brief chuckle Justice looked to the side and smiled to himself.  “It makes sense” he began.  “The Elements had no power over me, because you tried to orchestrate their power with fraud.  Instead of facing your demons you lied to others in order to have your problems solved for you.  Amazing” he chuckled.  “You sold the greatest friend you’ve ever had out to the darkness of his heart, then betrayed the one who offered you power and prestige, only to have your scheme fail and allow me access to my new throne that much quicker.   Gabriel” Justice wanted to make sure he had the trembling pony’s attention.  “I want you to reflect on that as you slowly starve to death in the wasteland that was once paradise, the only fate worse being the one you assigned to your close friend Daniel.”  He then threw Gabe at the six Element bearers and with a twisted grin shouted at the group “there he is!  The one who cost you everything!  It is because of him everyone you love will perish, and everything you have ever known will burn.”  He turned away and began to walk out of the room.  “Be sure to thank him after I leave, just make sure to leave him alive so he may face his real punishment.”   He started laughing his signature psychotic laugh as he left, not long after the sounds of destruction and ponies screaming rang through the air.

Gabe looked up at the six mares that he deceived, receiving a mix of tears, anger and looks of disappointment.  Twilight refused to make eye contact and turned away in disgust.  Fluttershy started crying and ran off.  Applejack threw her hat on the ground and walked off.  Pinkie’s mane deflated like a balloon and with her head hanging low she walked away.  Rainbow Dash glared angrily as she shook her head and walked off.

Gabe realized they were right to feel the way they did. It was because of him they would lose everything.  He put his hooves over his head and began to cry.

“PUT MY SISTER DOWN!”  The white alicorn revered as Princess Celestia roared at the top of her lungs.  She and her sister Luna have been fighting Justice to protect their throne, their country, and their subjects.  Right now Justice had overpowered Princess Luna and was holding her by the throat.

“Alright.”  Justice obliged with a smirk, he carelessly tossed Luna to the side and focused on Celestia.  “To be honest I was expecting more of a challenge from the two of you.”

Princess Luna’s coughing caught Justice’s and Celestia’s attention.  “I suppose we haven’t been training as much as we should have been Justice, but then again you are quite the admirable opponent.”

Justice smirked at this flattery while Celestia just gaped at what her sister was saying.  After a while Justice shook his head in shock.  “WAIT!”  He ran over to Luna to interrogate her.  “How did you know my name?”

Luna chuckled before answering.  “You trespassed in my realm of dreaming; as such I have been watching you for quite some time.”  Luna smirked.  She gasped softly before continuing “and by extent I have also been watching the one who will defeat you.”

“The one who will defeat me?”  Justice scoffed.   “Who exactly is this twat that’s prophesized to defeat a beast that’s been around for all of two days?”

Luna shook her head and laughed before responding.  “Maybe I should rephrase that” she grinned.  “I’ve been watching him since he walked in.”

Shocked by this Justice immediately turned to the door, what he saw made him cringe with fear.

Standing in the doorway was Gabriel, in human form.  He was barefoot wearing jeans and a brown t-shirt.  “Are you ready to finish this Justice?”  He asked, with nothing but hatred in his eyes.  “I know I am.”