Chapters Richard was having a good day. He just got finished mowing the lawn for his dad, his son was playing outside with his wife Caroline. His mother was bringing him some of her famous chocolate chip cookies and lemonade. The sun was shining, and there was a nice breeze to keep him cool.
As he wiped the sweat of his face, he ran over to his son, and picked him. He started to laugh and set him on his shoulders, one of billy's favorite places to be. "You having fun bill?"
His son looked at put his hand over his dad's face and said " Yeah. I like the pond. Can we go swimming later?"
Richard set him down, and gave a smirk at his son. " Depends. Did you get all of the sticks out of the backyard?"
His son gave an innocent giggle " Yeah dad."
The memory then faded away as one of the scientists came up and poked him. " Subject overlord seems to be non responsive today. During tomorrows test, we'll have to inject with 8mm of pain simulator to get response." With a clipboard in her magic, she wrote down some notes and walked out the cell door.
Richard sighed, and looked around his cell. It was nothing special, with gray metal and a gray door. There were no windows, save for a small air duct, that had a metal covering on it, but no other ducts or windows. None that he could see anyway.. There was a small bed in the corner,and a mirror, but that was about it. There was some red splotches on the floor, but that was where he had been bleeding from his metal body.
As he got up, he looked in the mirror again. He didn't know why he did, but he did anyway. Maybe he was still hoping that this was all just a horrible nightmare.
As he looked at himself, he saw his helmet with no visible eyeholes, and a large hole where his mouth should have been. His arms where thick like a tree trunks, and his fingers looked as sharp as daggers. His left shoulder had a strange symbol on it that looked like a C surrounded by commas. He knew that it was a mark, and he knew who's it was. He he grabbed a side of the mirror, and slightly bent it with his hand. ' Celestia.' He growled. suddenly he heard a raspy voice.
" You know, if you keep trashing your mirrors, they won't get you anymore."
As he looked up, he saw what a normal person would call a monster, but to him, it was just one of his friends. "Sunshine," he sighed " you know I don't like it when you crawl in here without knocking. It's rude." As his friend dropped onto the floor, he looked at her.
She was a yellow Pegasus, but that wasn't what was would make her a monster. No, what was weird was that every single one of her feathers had been replaced with a large sewing needle, and her pony teeth had been replaced with manticore teeth. That, and the fact that her cutiemark had been cut away. She wouldn't come out of her room for months after that. Just another sin on the scientists head, and ultimately, Celestia's.
" So sunshine, what's new in hell?"
" Well, the scientist's have been grumbling about how celestia may be shutting us down, so they've been trying to make all new monsters to keep her favor. So expect some new playmates soon. Plus, the singer twins were able to perfect their death song, so the revolt is that much closer."
" Good, good. Anything else?"
" Yeah, we were able to get wither to make acid balls for us to fling at the walls, and ragnorok was able to teach the lesser shadows how to alpha scream, and scream resonance, so that happened. Other than that, not much happened."
She jumped on the bed, and in a unusually serious voice said " Richard, even if we get out, I'm scared. Would any pony accept us? I mean, we look like demons, and when we tell them that Celestia did this, no one is going to want us around. Another thing-"
Richard put his hand on her back, and started to pet her. She gave a small smile and said " Thanks, I was starting to freak out a little."
With a sigh he moved his hand up to her head, and said " I don't know Sunshine, but i'm sure I can find us a home. There's always someone willing to help." After a few more minutes, Richard moved his hand away, and said " The Warden will be here soon, You should get back to your cell." Sunshine gave a sad groan, but eventually got off the bed, and dragged herself into the vent.
As he waited, he heard the trademark whistle of the warden making his rounds. "Hello cellmate M-9, how are you today?"
Richard just stared at the door, not saying a word. As he heard a heavy sigh, and the sound of a button being pushed he thought ' Oh crap.'Electricity filled the air, and he gave a ear breaking scream. He heard the warden say " Good thing for mufflers huh? Now, as I was saying, how are we today?"
As the warden yelled lights off, he got on his two sizes too small bed, and hoped that something interesting would happen. ' You better hope we don't get free celestia, or all your skeletons will come crawling out of the closet.'
Little did he know of the being that was being born in the ice and cold. A being that would cause his freedom, and the freedom of his blood brothers, as long as it wasn't killed by ice golems.
As he was played some tic tac toe with himself, he heard a loud, somewhat girly scream. ' I wonder who that is.' As he walked towards the source of the scream, he saw a human. He pulled him into his mind after a few minutes. After getting over his initial suprise, he thought to himself ' So the solar tyrant got her hooves on another one huh? '
As the being looked at him, he saw a look on his face that said " I'm going to freak out, and scream in a very annoying manner." Before he had the chance, Richard said "Hey, don't freak out. Yeah, I look like a fucking nightmare, but shut up. My names richard. What's yours?
" Jesus H. Tapdancing christ! What the hell is this, and who the hell are you!" Ow, and, what the hell? He sounded like a girl just then.
"Nice to meet you cupcakes. To answer your question, I was a human. Because of the solar tyrant, I'm not so sure anymore. The scientists call me Overlord. I am the result of a experiment, one I didn't exactly agree to. Tell me, do you know how painful it is to feel your skin get turned into metal? It hurts like a bitch."
The other human looked a little freaked out after hearing that, and started looking around. " Ok, I know who you are, and where I am, but what about this place?"
He looked at him and said " Oh this? This is my mind. I can bring you in here because you are asleep."
"Uh, Why exactly did you bring me here?"
"Because I wanted to someone else that wasn't from here. I mean, sure, I like talking to my blood brothers, but even they get tiring to talk to after a while. Plus, before you came, I was the only human here. Now, you're here."
"Well... Okay I guess? I've been in a land of talking horses for about two years, and after seeing you, I don't think anything can phase me." The other human extended its hand. "The name's Dempson. Those horse demons call me The Puppeteer, apparently."
Richard took his hand and started to shake it. " Names Richard. Ponies call me Overlord, those that know about me anyway." Richard pulled up some chairs. " So, what did you do to get the solar tyrants attention?"
As Dempson told his story, Richard grew angrier and angrier. If he had eyebrows, they would have ben narrowed in anger. He rose and roared " That BITCH!" He grabbed dempson and almost yelled in his face "That means she's going to send you here!" He got up and started pacing. " If she can't 'reform' you, then she's going to put you in this hellhole."
"The hell?!" Dempson screamed, "What the fuck do you mean, 'send me here'?!"
"What I mean," Overlord growled, "Is that she will make you part of Project Nova, where they will experiment on you, and turn into a monster. That's what I mean. Now, I have a plan that will help both of us. It will get me and my blood siblings free, and you don't get experimented on. You ready to listen?"
"Hell to the fuck yes, bitch!" Dempson exclaimed, "No demon project for me, thank you!"
"Okay, here's the plan. I want you to get her attention, and run around inside the castle. It may sound design crazy, but if you get her her to use up enough magic, the doors to our prison will be unlocked. We will break free, and head to a part of Equestria called the Everfree Forest. Now, you will be captured again, but I will send one of my Shadow Walkers to break you out. He will bring you to our current location, and we can go from there."
"Oh God, I really hate being bait... Fine, but you better come back for me."
Richard thought for a second before saying " Here, I will swear on the River Styx. That promise is very much real here." Richard stood up from his chair and recited, " I, The Overlord, swear on the River Styx to come back for you and free you." Just then, thunder rolled in the background. "I am bound."
Dempson looked around the white expanse in search of the source of the sound. "How can thunder roll if we're in your mind?" he wondered. "Never mind, scratch that. I'm in, but with a strange Percy Jackson-esque feeling."
"It's weird, but you will always hear thunder when you swear on the River Styx. Either thunder, or lightning. Anyway, just to warn you, my Shadow Walkers look like zombies. But don't worry, he won't eat you. Just, don't have any sunflower seeds on you when you leave."
THE NEXT DAY
As Richard waited with bated breath, Sunshine came up to him and asked " Boss, I don't mean any offense, but do you think this plan will work? I mean, it seems silly putting all our hope on this one person who we don't even know."
He turned to her and said " Just trust him. Right now, unless we want to wait another 3 years, he is our best chance of getting out of here. Have a little faith." A few moment later, they heard a series of loud shouts, stone crumbling, a collective groan of metal bending, and a large, almost ear piercing snap of chains. As Richard pushed on the door to the main entrance, he found it was empty. ' He did it, that glorious bastard actually did it.'
As he pushed opened the door, he barked a quick order to the magic users of the group to do a group teleportation to the everfree castle. As he felt the surge of magic about to whisk him and his group away, he could swear he heard music in the background. ' What the fu-'
As he took in a deep breathe of air, He watched as his friends, his family set up shop in the ruins of an very large cave. He sighed and said " Ok, let's get this all ready for our guest. " He pointed at one of the shadow walkers before he walked off. " You stay, I have a mission for you. It involves our friend."
The shadow turned towards him and said " What would you have me do?" As he was told of his mission, he felt his grin get bigger and bigger, till it threatened to split his face in two. " Very well commander."
As the shadow melted away, Richard could almost feel a phantom smile. ' Skeletons, and closets Celestia. Skeletons and closets.'
A Few minutes, he saw his partner in crime practically dumped on the ground, and heard a low moan eminent from him. ' Well, I am going to have words with carl later. He knows not to just dump people on the ground.'
" As you can see, I kept my side of the bargain," he said, trying to get Dempsons attention.
" What is this place?"
" It is a cave not far from the Everfree castle." He looked over the forest, or, at least what they could see from the mouth of the cave anyway.
" Ah, and where exactly is the cavern?"
' Cheeky little bastard, huh? Fine, two can play that game.' To Dempson, he replied in a voice that he hoped would make him feel a little stupid. "In the Everfree Forest. Hence, the castle being called the Everfree Castle. Kind of obvious, but right now I am too happy to be annoyed."
Dempson smiled and said " Ah, good. Well, it looks like it's about twelve o' clock at night. I'm gonna get some shut-eye," he said, mumbling the last part through a yawn.
" Very well. I will have Sunshine wake you up in the morning. Just, wake up when she tells you to, or you may have to deal with ice. Lots of ice."
Dempson seemed to pale at the thought of Sunshine dumping water in him. "Gotcha," he said, before shambling into the cavern for a place to sleep.
Richard looked at him,, and then looked back at the forest. ' What the fuck have I gotten myself into?'
Author's Note
Sorry this took so long. But, to make up for this, we have shenanigans, and Richard and Dempson finally meet face to face. What will happen? Hell if I know. Let's watch this train wreck
As Sunshine walked towards the bed with the other human, she snorted in disbelief. "This is the one called Dempson? What's so special about him?" She thought. Leaning near him, she said in a sickly sweet voice, "Time to wake up."
Dempson seemed to roar to life, with a loud voice like thunder, " WHO IS THE INTERLOPER THAT DARES AWAKEN ME?!" His voice blasted those near him tumbling backwards and giving them a very rude awakening.
Sunshine merely gave an unimpressed look, a narrow frown, and said " Real cute." She stepped over one of her Blood brothers, and said " Richard sent me to wake you up."As they walked down the hallway, sunshine kept on glancing at him with a look of disapproval.
Dempon noticed this. "What's with the glare? I didn't know that my shout had magic in this world."
Sunshine sighed. "To be honest, I'm always like this around everyone except Richard and Crona. I just don't get what he sees in you."
"Another human?" Dempson replied. "I mean, look around. All these guys used to be ponies and what-not. He and I are the only humans here." Dempson looked forwards again, seeing Richard. "Speak of the devil, and he shall appear."
Richard walked forwards, saying,"Ah, I see your awake. I hope Sunshine wasn't rough when she woke you up?" Sunshine suddenly lost her frown, and grew a small smile.
"Richard, I'm going to go check on Crona. You know how he gets if he's left alone for too long." She walked off, and gave Dempson one last glare.
Dempson shrugged, saying "Well, what's the plan for today?" He said, chuckling mildly to himself.
"Get everybody set up here. Long term, expose Celestia and get something resembling normal lives back." Richard said, idly scratching where some of the oozing blood scabbed over.
"Well... Okay then." Dempson said, turning on his heel and delving deeper into the cave.
After some time, Dempson found Richard again. "Hey, I was thinking that while you set up a base here, I'll go scouting around and seeing if any ponies are nearby." He said, giving the cave entrance a glance. "Don't want to be discovered so soon after escaping."
"Sounds good." Richard said, also looking outside the cavern. "I'll send Sunshine with you."
"...Alright." He shrugged, making his way towards the hole, hearing Richard call to the needle-pegasus in question.
As Sunshine walked next to Dempson, she asked, "So, what exactly are you hoping to accomplish?"
"Well," He began, "What would you do if you were in Sun-Butt's gold plated shoes?" He said. "Would you just give up, or order every guardsman with the clearance to hunt us down?" Dempson paused to shake some leaves off of his shoes. "I just want to know if there are any settlements nearby that we need to be careful of."
With a impressed smile, she said "Well, what do you know? You do have something rattling around in your skull after all."
Dempson gave a toothy grin. "Humans didn't become apex predators by slapping things with sticks." He said, pointing to a far-off village in the distance. "And what the hell do you know? There is a town here!"
Sunshine looked at it with a suspicious gaze, and said "I have a bad feeling about this." She then rubbed her head and said "There's something about this town I used to know. Oh, what was it?"
"Well, let's go tell the bossy boy, he'll want to know about this." Dempson said, turning on his heel.
" Okay, 'captain.'" As they started to walk away, they saw a mare with gray fur, a yellow mane, and wonky eyes. The moment Sunshine saw her, she froze, and just stared as the mystery mare was delivering letters.
Dempson waved a hand in front of Sunshine's face. "Hello? Sunny Side Up?" He said, confused. "Are ya there?"
"Derpy." She turned to him, and said "That's my little girl. Well," She said with a forced laugh, "Not so little anymore..."
Dempson looked at the grey pegasus as she looped around in the air. "...Well." He finally said, "We'd better tell Richard about this place. Come on, Sunny."
"Yeah. We should go." As she turned to head back to camp, she took one last look at her daughter, and walked away.
"Richy my boy!" Dempson shouted. Richard turned to look at him, with his trademark emotionless gaze."Have I got news for you!"
"Oh really, what would that be?" Richard replied "Also," he said, almost like an after thought, "Don't call me Richy."
"Well, Bossy Boy, we found a town not too far from here. A few hours walk, if that." Dempson said, grinning. "I was thinking of hitting it up during the night, seeing what's around there."
With an idea to spend more time with the only other human he knew, he said "Cool. Mind if I come with you? I mean, I like spending time with my blood siblings, but I can only take so much of them at once per day."
"Go right ahead." Dempson replied, maintaining his grin. "Let's see if we can't find out any information about this place."
"Alrighty then."
As Richard stood up, a pale looking pony with a pink mane and a black robe seem to come out of no where.
"Hello, Crona." The first time he had met Crona, he couldn't tell if they where a boy or a girl. To this day, he still didn't know. He didn't plan to ask. Ever.
Dempson whirled around and looked at the newcomer. "Hello there?"
Crona looked at him, then looked at Richard. Repeating this several times, he finally said "Did you make a flesh golem again?"
Dempson doubled over laughing. "Sweet... mother of... God... in the heavens!" He said, out of breath. "No, I'm not a flesh golem. I'm a human." Dempson said, after quieting down.
"Ah, okay." He turned to Richard and asked "So, where are you going?"
"Richard and I are scouting out the town that-a-way of us tonight." Dempson said for him, pointing in the general direction of the town. "Best get to packing. Don't wanna be caught unprepared."
Night fell quicky, and as they reached the town. Richard looked over where the town was and said "So this is it, huh?"
"Yep." Dempson replied, gazing at the town. Ponies were asleep, so it was unlikely they would be caught. "Let's check it out!" He said, falling on his back and log-rolling down the hill towards the village
As Richard walked down the street, he saw a huge tree with windows. He felt something close to horror. ' What did they do to that beautiful tree!?' "What the hell did they do to that tree?"
"It seems like they took a living tree and magic-a-poofed a house inside it." Dempson said, gazing at the tree. "And yes, magic-a-poof is a word now because I say so." He looked at Richard, seeing the sign on the door. "Library. Wanna go in?"
"Let's go in. I love libraries." Richard pushed open the door, and saw rows upon rows of books. He gave a manly squeal and ran towards the history section.
"Egghead." Dempson chuckled, before giving a quiet squee at the science books and dashing over. "Got a bag we can put these in?" He asked, looking over the texts.
Crona appeared with a huge cloth bag, and said "Here you go." He then saw the comic book section, and said "I'll be right back. I have to go look at those. For science."
"Where did he come from?" Dempson asked, glancing at Crona who was busy sifting through scientific magazines called 'Power Ponies' "I don't remember inviting him along..."
Richard walked over and said "He's blind in the usual sense, but he can see auras and teleport. He can also harden his blood and make it tough as steel."
"Yeah, and don't you forget it." A strange, black creature had sprouted from Crona's back.
Dempson's eyes took in the oily creature on Crona's spine. "...Kill the leech!" He shouted, swinging a particularly heavy book at the organism.
Crona simply said " Stop." A cut on his hoof opened up, and a series of tiny, black needles ripped the book apart. He then motioned towards the creature on his back. "This is my partner Ragnorok."
Dempson stopped, stared at the parasitic a looking creature the thing called its partner, turned around, and said "Nope, nope, nope, nope, nope," and he kept saying that as he gathered the science books and left the library. Turning around, he saw the lights on upstairs. "Shit..."
"Hello?" Richard heard someone say sleeply. A sandy colored mare walked down the stairs, and looked around the room.
Richards only thought was ' And this little trip was going so well.'
Author's Note
yes, I'm alive. Praise the gods for better wifi.