Author's Note

Sorry for the long wait. I was trying to make it continue but was hitting roadblock after roadblock, if you know what I mean. And of course, real life coming into play.

Nevertheless, Blackdust and I had a blast writing this one out, we hope you enjoy reading this as well.

[New]: I’ve decided to edit the ending in order to proceed forward. The next chapter I was working on wasn’t getting me anywhere, so hopefully this change will help me onward.

Ch.30 (Edited.)

FIGHT LIKE HELL, FIGHT LIKE DOOM MARINES!

Ch.30: The Departure of a friend...

(Kevin/Doom Marine, Twilight’s Castle of Friendship, two weeks later…)

“So how are you feeling?” I asked Silphen while he was lying on the ground, breathing heavily from today’s final training session.

"Hell.. of a lot better… than when we started." He replied, rolling over and up as he quickly recuperated. "Say, Hunter, have you told the others about that thing with the thing and them yet?"

“Say what now?” I questioned him, becoming rather confused. “How about speaking english and not butcher cryptic messaging? It’ll save us all a headache or two.” I know that was rude of me to say, but he wasn’t making much sense right now.

The wolf sighed and motioned for the datapad. After I gave it to him he tapped a few words out and handed it back, with the question, "Have you told them they're from a tv show yet?" written on it.

So I responded with this, “The ‘show’ never existed on our Earth. There’s no point in telling them what we don’t, or didn’t, know of.” This, in turn, stunned Silphen. “You weren’t the first one to tell me this, but I can assure you there was no such show called My Little Pony back home.” I explained to him.

"Huh… Well fuck me sideways with a cactaur, that's a mindfuck and a half," Silphen replied.

“If it helps, and as a reminder, Twilight did defeat Tirek some time ago. Mind telling me when that took place in the show?” I asked him, still finding it hard to believe that this whole world, Equestria, to have been a show on other Earths.

"In the show, Tirek managed to take the magic of all the races except Alicorns. Flurry wasn't born yet, so no worries there. Seemed he didn't even know about the Crystal Kingdom since he and Dissy never went there. Anyroad, the princesses were the last ones to have their magic stolen, so they all gave it to Twilight. She has trouble with it for a little while, then a huge fight scene that even DBZ would envy breaks out, destroying her tree. All her friends are captured with the aid of Discord who also gets his own magic stolen, the princesses are locked in Tireks old cage, and he tries to use Twily's friends to strong arm her into giving him the magic. She takes the deal, gets the girls free, then says that Discord is a friend as well, gets a trinket, unlocks magic chest from Tree of Harmony, beat Tirek and trap him back in Tartarus." Silphen explained, nutshelling best he could.

“...Flurry? As in Shining and Cadence’s child?” I asked him, now feeling sad for Cadence.

"Yeah, why? Shining ain't died has he?" Silphen said, chuckling faintly as he shook his head.

“He is.” We heard Bryan answer as he came up to us, sounding a little pissed off. “Shining is dead, and it wasn’t an honest, warrior’s death. They tortured him, amputated him, even cutting off his third leg. He was forced to watch his wife getting raped by the bastards that served Cocoon!” He growled, intimidating Silphen into submission. “...And I was too late to save him. But at least I got to avenge him. For now.”

"Wait, what? Seriously?" Silphen asked, turning to face him. "If he is, I have a couple spells to resurrect, but… It needs the body and something to repair the soul."

“You’re far too late.” Bryan stated, ending it as he walked away. “The last thing I want to do is hurt Cadence, Twilight and Chrysalis.”

The wolf nodded and turned back to me, saying, "If I can, I'll try and find a way to pull Cocoon into my world. Maybe above an active volcano?"

“If only it were that simple.” I shook my head. “Trying to find her and her Hive is difficult, even with Discord’s help.” It was getting rather ridiculous that even someone who is the embodiment of Chaos, cannot find a bug’s hive.

"Like I said, I can try." Was his response.

“It’s okay. We’ll be fine for now.” I told him before changing the subject. “So, liking your new body?” I asked him. The wolf’s body has gained some muscle growth and surprisingly enough, an unexpected… buffs, shall we say. Apparently, his soft metal fur had become something akin to natural armour, somehow hardening itself whenever he’s feeling threatened where most physical attacks cannot harm him. Swords, knives and other bladed weapons couldn’t pierce, cut or slice through it. However, that doesn’t mean the kinetic force of blunt weapons didn’t hurt him, such as a warhammer, or punches and kicks. But his natural resistance to electrical based attacks had also increased. “I’ll admit that these changes were… interesting. Especially throughout your training session.”

"Indeed. Honestly, not even a Copper Wolf has these enhancements, and they're our footsoldiers. Granted their intelligence is equivalent to that of a 10 year old autistic child," Silphen said.

“I’m guessing magnetic based attacks didn’t work on them as much, did it?” I questioned since magnets couldn’t stick to copper like other metallic components.

"Considering the Soft Metal Wolves live on a planet with an almost constant electromagnetic storm that prevents anything not safe from an emp from even working properly… I'd say so," the wolf replied. "Why? Yooouuu got a gun that fires off electromagnetic pulses to fry the Incubus rocket launchers or something?"

“We were thinking about creating such a weapon, but that’s debatable. The only thing that even comes close to such a feat is our Siphon Grenades.” I answered him as I showed the demonic, fleshy looking grenade to him. “As the name implies, it siphons ones life force and transfers it to you. However it also works as an EMP, disabling anything electronic for a time before it reboots itself.” I explained to him.

"Hmm… If you'd like, I can offer some fur for you to test around with." Silphen offered but I declined.

“No need to do that. I hate to see such perfect fur being ruined.”

"Takes a simple chant to regrow, I really don't mind," Silphen said, pulling his hood down to reveal his raven black hair.

“Well, if you insist. Alright then.” Seeing his magical potential first-hand, I wouldn’t doubt it.

Silphen nodded and, with a few quick words he summoned a knife and cut off a few patches of fur for them, then regrew the patches with another chant.

“Huh. And the Zebras say you can’t use magic for everything.” I commented, remembering my time in Zebrica when they were under attack by Hell. While the saying remains true, that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s for everyone.

"Yeah, I haven't been to the Zebra place in my world yet. That, and the fact that when I got summoned I had literally just been blasted by tangible white noise. Not exactly what one would call a great entrance, yeah?" Silphen replied, chuckling faintly.

“I suppose not.” I shrugged as he handed the patches of his fur over to me. “Thanks.”

He nods and turns to Bryan, "That being said, you mind helping me with my defense magic again?"

“Alright.” He nodded as we switched out. “So, remind me again on how defense magic works?” Bryan asked the wolf.

"The spell is based on the caster's willpower, and only adds on to what the caster is already used to. So basically, the sturdier the caster is, and the better the will, the more effective the spell is." Silphen explained the basics of how defense magic operates.

“So, an endurance test of sorts.” Bryan commented.

"Yeah, pretty much." The wolf nodded in acknowledgement.

With a shrug, Bryan and Silphen got to it, with the latter doing an immediate fat roll to put three layers of his Rock Armor on. Turns out that was another thing the training did for him. If he used a spell enough times now, he doesn't need to chant it. With that done, Bryan went in to attack, fists clenched as he assaulted the wolf with his punches. I warned him that Bryan was physically the strongest amongst the Doom Marines, as he was the most aggressive. Silphen learned it first-hand on how strong.

Over time, the wolf has grown to endure such harshness and fight back. Learned to keep his wits about him and figure out how to counteract. But, there are some things you can’t beat. Hopefully he won’t be faced with such a task, yet. Trying to power on through such things, while doable, is a tedious task and very taxing on one’s self.

Silphen took a good slugging to the face, the rock shattering from the blow, as he tried to use the spin from the punch to counter attack, getting a quick jab to his stomach for his efforts, cracking down to the first layer of the armor. Bryan saw what he was about to do, so he ducked under the wolf’s counter attack and gave a quick jab to the stomach. While the armor protected him, Silphen had to let out a gasp of air, stumbling backwards before regaining his footing and getting his breathing under control.

“Well, you’re holding out okay.” Bryan complimented.

"Thanks. Trying…" Silphen grunted as he fixed the armor, pulling more stone up from beneath him before trying to punch Bryan again. He didn’t try to stop it, taking every hit Silphen was throwing at him for a few moments, before grabbing both of the wolf’s rocky fists and head-butting him.

Silphen stumbled back, the rocks crumbling off of him from the head-butt. "Ow…" He said, groaning as he held his head, "Note to self, try not to head-butt a dragon…"

“Dragon?” This confused, yet intrigued Bryan. “What makes you say that?”

"Oh, please! Silphen and I have merged enough for me to see vague images of the Spiritual Branch. Auras and Spirits are the representation of one's truest self. You, sir, have the shape of a beastial dragon beneath your fiery surface," Silphen said as he reformed the armor and charged back in.

“Oh, yeah. About that…” Bryan started talking while also deflecting Silphen’s attacks. “Apparently Cadence had a dream about me being an anthropomorphic hybrid of a wolf AND dragon.” He told the wolf before performing a roundhouse kick to the face, knocking Silphen down. Now that he mentions it, Cadence did say something like that, so it’s not far from the truth. “So, if the dragon represents ones fury, what does the wolf represent?”

Silphen groaned as he got back up, using his 'dazed' position to lay a minor Earth column trap in front of Brian as he responded with, "No idea. Loyalty maybe? That, or the fact that you're always with your pack of War Brothers."

Bryan nodded his head in agreement with the wolf’s answer. “Sounds about right.” He said before walking into the trap. I really can’t tell if he’s teaching Silphen, or is purposefully dicking with him. He literally walked into it and now he’s stuck. Did he even notice it? “Shit!” My angry brother hissed, trying to free his legs as he was left vulnerable to attack… or was he? Just because Bryan’s serious doesn’t mean he’s incapable of lying.

Silphen noticed that, instead of launching him off, it simply entombed his legs and put his hands up, the signal for his acknowledgment of defeat. "Nope. That shit was meant to launch you at best, send you tumbling at worst. Not entomb your legs. Not about to fight that shit, you win," he said as the armor crumbled off of him again.

“So the trap was supposed to launch me, but instead, it broke down and trapped me on the spot?” Bryan asked as he decided to PUNCH his way out of it, the ground surrounding his legs crumbling away, freeing himself from it.

Silphen nodded and backed away slightly. "Yep. Was seriously not expecting it to do that…"

“... Am I really that scary?” Bryan asked with a deadpan expression. “Seriously, I’m pretty sure there are a lot of scarier things out in the multiverse.” I rolled my eyes at this, while what Bryan said is true, he’s the scariest thing Silphen has faced. More so than the wolf’s Celestia.

"Look, my Solar Monarch might have tried to give my soul a tan, but I think I can hold my ground now, since she only uses magical attacks from what I heard traveling. You? I would die in a heartbeat were our sessions truly life or death," Silphen countered, pointedly inverting the mana flow around himself briefly, causing any spells focused on himself to invert.

“Hm, true.” Bryan shrugged before dusting off dirt from his legs. “Can I ask you something, Silphen? It’s been bothering me ever since I’ve destroyed that damnable amulet.” He asked the wolf mage.

"Yeah? What's up?" Silphen asked.

Bryan lets out a sigh before answering him. “I… I’ve been having these… Nightmares? No, that’s not right… Visions? Yeah. Visions of some sort.” Silphen and I looked at each other before turning to face him as he continued. “I think the Alicorn Amulet, whatever spark of power it had left, was trying to contact me.” That’s… alarming.

"That uh… Fuck, I thought it would fade… Look, I detected the spark when you came back, but I figured it was just from holding the thrice cursed relic for as long as you did…" Silphen said, beginning his small pacing circle as he worked himself up. Again.

Then came the kicker on Bryan’s part. “The thing is, I felt no form of malice. It’s as if it was...submitting to me?” That made the wolf freeze in place. “Look, it’s still confusing as Hell, I know. It could even be a trap for all we know. But… I’m very certain that it doesn’t want to cause me any sort of harm.” More like annoying the Hell out of you.

"Uh… huh… Would you be willing to bet your eternal soul, be it damned or saved, to trust the Perfect Corruptor?" Silphen asked, turning to Bryan slowly, making sure that he saw how his fur bristled faintly.

“If I’m being completely honest? Yes.” Bryan answered. “Besides, there’s also… something I wanted to show you. A gift of sorts from it.” He sounded a bit conflicted by that point, holding out a hand and...conjured up fire? Yes, fire. Heat was radiated from it, before specks of ember started to fly up and then came the fiery, blood red flame. In that brief moment, we were in awe before he quickly put it out. Strange, Bryan’s attitude towards his newfound ability is… “I still don’t like the idea of using magic myself.” I was rather surprised by his utter disdain for magic. He’d never shown such negativity towards it before. Why now?

“Interesting… This could very easily be a side effect of holding the Amulet so long, and then destroying it, or what souls that were still trapped are granting you their power in favor of freeing them… Those are really the only two things I can think of, aside from the enchantment itself having gained sentience and just trying to survive.” Silphen said, still pacing slightly.

“Okay, but why do you hate using magic yourself Berserker?” I asked him.

“It feels weird. I’ve never used magic before, neither have you, or any of our brothers.” Bryan explained with a shudder. “It felt so forgein whenever I used that kind of power. And when I do use it, the fire will grow to dangerous levels if I leave it idly.” That would cause problems. “As much as I would love to set my enemies ablaze, it’s not worth it if I end up burning everything on the planet.”

"And how do you think We- er… I felt when I first got Displaced? Magic, even though I'm physically used to it, is fucking weird and has it's own laws and rules. For example, you having fire magic doesn't mean you can't use it to heal someone without some serious training and knowledge. Ever watched the Karate Kid remake?" Silphen asked, still pacing slightly.

“Which one?” Bryan asked, folding his arms. “Also, using fire magic as a means of healing someone? Are you out of your mind?” Yeah, that doesn’t sound right. At all.

"Hey, it works. And the 2010 remake. In it, the sensei used an old Japanese fire trick to 'heal' the broken leg the kid had. The theory of it is the same as an IcyHot patch, just using pure fire for it instead and washing the area of the wound." Silphen said.

“Okay, yeah. We’ve seen that trick.” Bryan sighed. “But I’m not a healer type.”

"Just using that as an example. Fire, next to shadow and light, is quite literally the most versatile element you can start with. Fire can hurt, heal, restrict, and boost. It's flashy, yes, but it does the job in th-... Aaaand now I see why you have fire magic," Silphen said as he was beginning to shake and snicker.

“... So I have Pyromancy because of my temper, isn’t it?”

"Well… More because you take the shortest and most obvious path to do something, and when you don't it's because you plan for it~," he countered in a little bit of a sing song voice. "That aside, how goes the search for your brothers?"

“We’re close to piecing together to where our fourth brother may be. But, once we do, we’ll have to be ready for it. Someone has him in their care and is using the information our armour contains to technologically advance themselves.” Bryan told the wolf, but he had a look of bewilderment. “Let’s just say Runner and I ran into them during our second visit to Manehattan. Stealth tech, 1911 colt pistols with silencers, claymores and other sorts of explosives. And even before that, they sent an assassin to snipe Celestia and Luna out of existence.”

"Fuck me sideways with a cocktus… Are you serious…? That uh… That's some news. Claymores? Shit, those things are not something you just play around with," Silphen said, rubbing his muzzle in mild thought.

“What’s worse is that they are using these things to cover-up who they really are. And I’m afraid it’s probably one of the other games from Bethesda.” Yeah, that’s an even scarier thought. Bryan has a point since Guardian backed-up that claim.

Silphen groans and chuckles at the name of that company, "'It just works'... Moving on, if you can get me anything from them, anything at all, I might, mind you I said MIGHT, be able to trace the astral and spiritual resonance back to the forge. Won't be able to get more accurate than that, but when dealing with magic…"

“Well, we do have their bomb they planned on using to blow a building up.” Bryan made mention of it.

"Sweet a-... A bomb…? You guys have a fucking building razing bomb, and you're giving it to a mage to track down its origins, when magic might set it off?" Silphen asked, very calm given what he just learned.

“Maybe? Or perhaps this new group is very paranoid and make sure to build stuff where neither magic, or science, could help in finding them?” Bryan countered the wolf mage’s question. “I mean, you said it yourself; you MIGHT be able to track them.” He pointed out Silphen’s choice words which we all heard him say.

"Y-yeah… Point taken… Still, worth a shot, right…?"

“Anything to help in searching for our brothers is worth a shot.” Bryan answered and I nodded in agreement. “Of course we’ll have to head back up to Canterlot since we stored the bomb there.” Hearing this the wolf sighed.

"Right, Canterlot… So long as Celestia doesn't try to give my soul a tan, I'll try not to taunt her," he said, mildly agitated at having to possibly see the solar diarch.

“Eh. Don’t sweat it, she can’t do anything to you in any way.” Bryan shrugs as he assures Silphen before walking towards the castle. “Let’s go see Twilight and have her teleport us up there.”

"Oh, I can do that myself, assuming the distance isn't that far off from my Equestria!" Silphen said as he moved to catch up.

“Really? Well, wait for a bit. I’m still gonna check up on Twilight. Be right back!” Bryan said before running off, leaving Silphen waiting with me to keep him company.

“Well at least he’s trying to be a good, responsible boyfriend.”

Silphen chuckled slightly as he nodded before saying, "Yeah… Vinyl blasting me and Aurana with her Bass Cannon is bad enough for me. I can only imagine how Berserker is handling this stuff if he's as bad as you say."

“He may not have been the most sociable being, but he wasn’t as rude as he is now. He was ‘reserved’ shall we say. Unfortunately, that doesn't always work and you have to be a mean asshole, just to get your point across. That’s what he thinks, at least.” I explained to the mage with a shrug.

"Ah… Yeah, that can be a bit upsetting at times, I'll admit… Wasn't the best person before getting Displaced myself. But, after being here for so long, I'm able to distinguish between myself and Silphen again! So that's some good news. I am curious as to why it started though…" Silphen said, humming as he thought for a second.

After a few moments of waiting, Bryan came back. This time he had what looked like documents of sorts. Did Twilight wanted him to deliver something to Celestia for a review? As for my brother, he stared down at the documents, looking at it with uncertainty. Whatever Twilight wrote on them has him second guessing. “...Fuck.”

“What's wrong?” I asked him.

“Some plan Twilight cooked up. One I’m not sure if it’s a good idea, even though it sounds right. There’s just the possibility of opposition that would stand against her proposal.” He answered, letting out a sigh.

Silphen and I looked at each other in confusion before I pressed the issue. “Care to elaborate on what Twilight is proposing?”

“When we get up to Canterlot and meet with Celestia and Luna. Contact Runner and tell him about the meeting. Silphen, can you take us to the City of Cunt-y snakes and Ratbag pricks?” Silphen stifled himself from laughing out loud from Bryan’s blunt statements.

"Sure thing, just give me a sec to get the circle set up," he said, pulling out a small trowel to begin digging an arcane circle into the dirt.

“Do you remember the ins and outs of the castle?” Bryan questioned. “Because if so, have us teleport close to the throne room.”

Silphen scratched his head as he brought up his mental map, before scrunching his nose and briefly abandoning his digging to sort through the maps he had before finally nodding and standing back up. "Can do. Just… Hey, do you guys hear something?"

“Hear what?” Bryan asked as we looked around, wondering what he meant.

"Hmm… Nothing. Thought I heard something talking about time. Anyw-" Silphen began to say, before a portal opened up beneath him and he was sucked back into his own world with a loud pop.

We just stared at where he used to stand, then looked at each other. “That was unexpected.”

“Maybe it was time for him to go back?” I questioned, seeing how abrupt it was. Pity, I was enjoying his company. But we all have a duty to our home.

“... I’ll go get Twilight.” With a sigh Bryan went back inside the castle to retrieve one of his girlfriends. Luna and Chrysalis had to return to Canterlot, and Visilia had to make a trip back to Tartarus to meet with her father. Whatever that may entail…

It didn’t take long for Bryan to come back with Twilight in tow. “Okay, seriously, do I look good?” The purple Alicorn asked as she straightened out anything that was out of place; wrinkles in her dress, pulling back a strain of hair, etc.

“Yes, Twilight, you look great. Now stop fussing with yourself before you end up messing with your image.” Bryan replied in exasperation, wanting to get this over with. Impatient prick.

That was when Vincent contacted us on Comms. “Hey, could you guys come up here? Celestia and Luna received some letters from the other nations.” I looked towards Bryan, both of us shared a look of cautionary interest. They probably want to talk…