Chapters Doom: The Equestrian Detour
It was a nice quiet day in Ponyville. Normally this would be a good thing, however Ponyville had not had any major accidents befall it or evil creatures attack it for nearly a month now. This was far too long to be normal, and while everypony tried to enjoy themselves they all knew in the back of their minds that somehow, somewhere, something was going to go wrong.
They had no idea just how right they were.
The first sign was a bright blue light appearing in the middle of town. It sparked as though it were made up of electricity before it flashed white, blinding everypony who wasn’t quick enough to shield their eyes. After the flash died down, a figure was now in its place. It looked similar to a minotaur, and was about as tall as one, too. However, it’s legs were clearly arranged differently, and it possessed neither a horns nor tail. It was covered in a dark green and bulky armor that completely covered every inch of its body, leavy only gaps made of some black material to allow mobility. It’s face was obscured by a helmet that, despite having a wide open hole in the front large enough to see most of its face, obscured it with a tinted glass. If one looked close, they might see a pair of vicious, piercing eyes.
Though they didn’t know it yet, this the was being that would be forever known throughout Equestrian history by many names: “The Destroyer”, “The Beast”, “The Bloodmaker,” and many others. The most well-known name, however, would be spoken in either reverence by those that idolized him or terror by those that feared him.
“The Doom Slayer.”
The Doom Slayer instinctively levelled his weapon at a nearby pony, a weapon they had never seen before, but halted. The Doom Slayer may have been a vicious killer, but he was not a fool. He quickly noticed the strange shape of the creature in front of him, with its innocent eyes filled with curiosity and fear, not to mention its harmless and cutesy appearance. He concluded that this being was neither a demon, nor a threat, and lowered his weapon to take in his surroundings. The Doom Slayer squinted at what he saw, the bright and girly colors a far cry from the industrial greys, flashing yellows, and demonic reds he was used to.
Then suddenly he was assaulted by something. Something very loud, very fast, and very… pink.
“OHMYGOSHHINICETOMEETYOUNEWPONYMYNAMEISPINKIEPIEWELCOMETOPONYVILLEIT’SSONICETOHAVEYOUHERELET’SGETYOUSOMETHINGTOEATSOICANHAVESOMETIMETOGETYOUR”WELCOMETOPONYVILLE”PARTYREADYFOLLOWME!”
The Doom Slayer was pulled by a force even more powerful than the Tether that sent him here. It only lasted for a moment, and he found himself inside some kind of bakery.
“Ok Doomy, you go ahead and grab whatever you want, I’ll get the party streamers ready!” the strange pink equine said before zooming out the door faster than a Summoner’s teleport. The Doom Slayer blinked for a few moments before turning to face the counter, seeing several displays of rather delectable looking sweets. The Doom Slayer’s mouth watered, he couldn’t remember the last time he ate something that actually looked tasty.
“U-Um…”
He looked up and saw two more of the pony creatures, one male, yellow with orange hair, the other female, blue with pink hair. Both of them looked terrified, ready to bolt at the first sign of trouble, and yet forced themselves to smile.
“C-C-Can we get you anything?” the female asked.
The Doom Slayer thought for a moment, then turned to look at the glass container in front of him. He raised his fist and smashed it through the glass. The two store owners bolted out through the back, not seeing the Doom Slayer remove his helmet.
Twilight, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Spike, and Starlight galloped towards Sugarcube Corner, having heard something from the Cakes about a “monster” smashing their store up.
“What do you think it is, Twi? Some kinda monster from the Everfree?” Applejack asked.
“Another ancient evil like Tirek?” Spike suggested.
“I don’t know. The Cakes didn’t exactly give a good description,” Twilight replied, her expression clearly worried.
“Oh don’t worry, Twilight! Doomy’s a good guy!” Pinkie insisted.
It was a testament to how used to this they all were that none of them even flinched at Pinkie suddenly appearing, bouncing along next to them.
“‘Doomy’?” Starlight asked.
“Sure! Come and see!” Pinkie said before zipping ahead of them. When they arrived at Sugarcube Corner they all froze. “Here he is!” Pinkie introduced.
Unlike Pinkie, the rest could all feel the danger that radiated off the being, an energy that felt more violent and evil than anything they had ever encountered before. It would not be inaccurate to say they felt like they were staring Death in the face.
Rainbow Dash, her boisterous nature taking over, flew up right in front of “Doomy’s” face. “Let’s go, tough guy! You wanna piece of me!? I’ll buck your head clean off!” she shouted, her hooves raised and throwing out quick punches meant to intimidate him. “C’mon, whaddya got!? You ain’t nothin’! You ain’t-!”
Rainbow was cut off by Doomy quickly reaching his hand out and clamping it around her neck. The pegasus struggled to breathe as she tried to pull herself away, ineffectively hitting his arm to try and make him let go.
“Doomy! No! Bad!” Pinkie said as if she was scolding a dog.
“You let her go or Ah swear Ah’ll-!” Applejack began, only to be cut off by a scream of terror.
Everypony turned to look at the direction of the scream, Doomy dropping Dash to the floor and peeking around them. The sight horrified the ponies as they saw flashes of blood red energy give way to monsters the like they’d never seen.
Thin and lanky creatures of white and red hovered in the air, turning their their eyeless faces adorned with crowns of flesh sent waves of bright red energy towards ponies and objects, slicing and burning anypony that wasn’t quick enough to get away. Others summoned creatures to aid in the carnage.
Some of them were creatures with dark beige like bodies, glowing eyes, and sharp teeth and claws. They leaped and climbed like monkeys and hurled fireballs at whatever caught their attention. Others were a fused mess of flesh and metal, their bodies looking like burn victims that had parts of their bodies replaced with armor. Their right hands fused with weapons and they fired bursts of red orbs of energy at whatever they saw fit.
The flashes of evil energy also gave way to more monsters, including skeletal creatures flying by some kind of fiery propulsion machinery on their backs and firing rockets from cannons mounted on their shoulders. There were also muscular looking creatures without eyes, smashing their fists into whatever or whomever they came across, sometimes releasing evil explosive energy from their fists. Finally were the hulking beasts with pink skin, glowing eyes of hate, covered in bone-like armor and possessing stumpy arms and legs, clawed hands, and massive teeth, charging at anything it they could find.
“How… horrible,” Rarity gasped.
Nearby came a sound like a mix between a scream and a whimper. They all turned to see one of the fireball hurling monsters hunched over a familiar pegasus mare.
“Fluttershy!” Twilight screamed as the creature raised its claw, ready to gut the terrified pegasus. The alicorn was about to fire a spell when a barrage of blue energy bursts streamed over her from behind, burning the creature and pushing it back a bit. Before she could fully process what was happening Doomy sprinted past her and her friends, making it over to the monster in seconds, before grabbing it by the collarbone. He then punched the monster in the face so hard it’s head exploded with gore before letting go and booting it to the ground, strange blue and green energy leaking off of it and being absorbed into Doomy’s body.
Suddenly, everything stopped. All the creatures turned to face Doomy, their bodies freezing even in the middle of attacking somepony. Doomy slowly turned to face the horde, not making a single sound.
Twilight couldn’t believe what she was seeing, how one brutal action had seemed to caused time to stop. The ponies who were being attacked used this opportunity to free themselves from the monsters’ grasps and run, and yet still none of them moved, their attention focused solely on the armored being. Then Twilight felt it, a feeling radiating from Doomy. A feeling she’d felt before, but never this intense.
Pure. Unbridled. Hatred .
Her gaze turned to the many monsters and she noticed something even more unbelievable, that each and every one of them was subtly shaking. Though she couldn’t tell by looking at their horrid faces, she knew the truth.
Every single one of them was terrified of him .
Doomy’s weapon disappeared and was replaced with a much larger one, possessing several barrels arranged in a circle. That was apparently the cue for every single one of the monsters to either attack or move to a better position. The several barrels quickly split into three separate circles before they started spinning and began spew hot lead at a rate she couldn’t even imagine.
As the hail of heated metal tore through many of the monsters, Twilight grabbed Fluttershy in a levitation spell before dragging her into Sugarcube Corner, where everypony else ducked into as well. She and Starlight then barricaded the store with the most powerful wards they could before gazing upon the slaughter outside.
The Doom Slayer rained hot lead upon the demons foolish enough to charge him, eliminating the Imps and Possessed Soldiers within seconds. The Pinkie Demon that charged as able to weather the storm thanks to its natural armor. When it was almost on top of him he leaped over it, activating his thrust boots to make sure he cleared it, before switching to his rocket launcher. He aimed it at one of the Summoners that was still hovering nearby, only for it to teleport several yards to the left. He tracked the energy and aimed again so that by the time he hit the ground he was locked on. He quickly fired three rockets that all hit home, causing it to stagger for a moment. He switched to the Gauss Cannon and looked down the sight, charging the Precision Bolt to max and hitting the demon in the head, tearing off the rest of its shoulders along with it before it exploded and took a nearby Imp down with it.
The Pinkie Demon from before charged him again and he rolled to the side to avoid it, switching out for his Super Shotgun, and turning to face the demon’s backside before quickly unloading with both barrels, taking the demon down and then reloading. A blast of rockets from a Revenant came from behind him, which he barely managed to dodge, only to be struck in the head by an Imp’s fireball. He saw the offending creature clutched to the chimney of a nearby home and decided it needed to be taught a lesson. He switched out for his Plasma Rifle and turned to the Revenant, managing to land a clean hit with the Stun Bomb. As it hung in the air, convulsing, he switched out for his Super Shotty again and fired two bursts at the Imp, managing to land one, and reloading before dashing towards the house and leaping upwards. He grabbed the edge of the roof, pulled himself up, and finished it off with two more shotgun blasts, turning it into a red smear on the roof. Not one to waste an opportunity, he leapt at the still stunned Revenant, grabbing it with both hands and then positioning it so both of his feet landed on its torso, then grabbing both shoulder cannons and smashing them together, crushing its head and releasing more health and armor.
Five more Possessed Soldiers shot bursts of plasm at him while three more Pinkie Demons charged. He pulled out his Plasma Rifle again and fired another Stun Bomb, managing to stun the two who were grouped closer together, while jumping over the third. While still in mid-air he hurled a frag grenade at the group of Possessed Soldiers, the blast taking out two of them and damaging the other three, which he quickly picked off with shots of plasma, before lunging at the two still stunned Pinkie Demons. He jumped at the first, kicking its head on the way down, before grabbing its upper and lower jaw and ripping its face in half, then quickly grabbed the tooth of the other one, tearing it out, and then slicing its throat, both kills dropping more health and ammo. The other Pinkie Demon charged again from behind, so the Doom Slayer pulled out his chainsaw and cut the monster’s head off, causing it to drop more ammo which his suit quickly recovered.
A Hell Knight jumped at him from behind, its fists coated in energy. The Doom Slayer jumped backwards, avoiding the blast and pulling out his Heavy Assault Rifle, pelting the demon with Micro Missiles as he fell back to the ground. Within a few seconds it had been blasted to pieces. Three more Hell Knights came at him from behind, but he ignored them and jumped onto another roof, meeting two more Imps, the first his meleed in the head, causing it to stagger, which he then grabbed from behind, twisted its neck, and ripped its bottom jaw off, gaining more health and armor. The second he took out with some concentrated rifle fire to its face, turning it to wet mush. From up on high he saw his target, the other Summoner, which he aimed his Gauss Cannon at, dodging a blast of hell energy as he charged up the Precision Bolt before managing to score a headshot. The creature was barely alive and staggered, so he charged before using his thrust boots to make the distance. A charged shot from a Possessed Soldier struck him in the side as he travelled through the air. Gritting his teeth through the pain, he grabbed the Summoner and then landed on its chest before stomping its head into oblivion, releasing armor and health to recover from his very recent wound.
Pissed at Soldier that hit him, he pulled out his Plasma Rifle and fired another Stun Bomb, managing to stun four of the five remaining soldiers, before quickly taking the last one down with some well placed plasma fire. The first he swept the leg out from under before slamming his fist into its head, sending blood and gore everywhere. The next he grabbed the leg, causing the soldier to fall on its back, before breaking the limb at the knee and then slamming its foot into its face hard enough to crush the skull. The third he kicked the knee, breaking it, before punching its head clean off. The final soldier was given two bone crunching punches to the face. All four released health and armor.
The last two Imps jumped at him from a rooftop, which he quickly took out with his Super Shotty, scoring headshots with both blasts before reloading. Two Hell Knights charged and he switched to his Combat Shotgun, the Charged Burst quickly readying before he fired, landing all three shots on one of them. He readied the Charged Burst again as it jumped at him, the Power Shot upgrade now activated, before unleashing three more shells powerful enough to turn the demon into bloody gibs. The second swung at him, which he ducked under, then turned for another attack only to be met with the Gauss Cannon levelled at his head, which quickly took it clean off.
The final Revenant fired another blast of rockets at him from the air, while the final Hell Knight Charged him from behind. Rolled out of the way of the rockets before aiming at the Hell Knight, charging the Precision Bolt and firing, leaving a gaping hole in its torso. He then quickly turned and landed another Precision Bolt on the Revenant, stunning it. As it hung there, vulnerable, he jumped up and grabbed its ankle before slamming it into the ground. He then pulled out his Super Shotgun, stepped on its chest, and then shoved both barrels into its mouth before unloading both barrels.
The thought that entered the Doom Slayer’s mind was quite appropriate.
Suck it.
Twilight’s mouth hung open in shock, which was dangerous as she couldn’t decide whether or not she was about to throw up. She’d never seen anything like it: the power, the viciousness, the brutal efficiency. Even her battle with Tirek couldn’t compare to this.
And yet, her instincts didn’t tell her to run, to hide and hope this killing machine never would never find her. She felt the hate that was there before ebb away, leaving only the subdued dread that she had felt before. This being was dangerous, that she had no doubt about, and yet her instincts were telling her he was dangerous in the same way a beehive might be: don’t mess with it, and it won’t mess with you.
Deciding she needed more information, she opened the door and stepped outside, much to the shock of her friends, and carefully approached the blood-stained being. “Doomy” turned to face her, his face hidden beneath the visor, but made no other movements. Twilight gulped and was about to speak before something caught his attention, the feeling of intense rage and hate radiating from him again. Twilight thought she had made a terrible mistake, until she noticed it wasn’t her she was looking at. She turned around and, much to her horror, a red mist was beginning to form around Canterlot, slowly spreading down Mt. Canter, as bolts of red lightning crackled around it.
She heard a noise from behind her and turned to see “Doomy” had opened his weapon and inserted two more pieces of ammunition into it. He then switched it out for the one that he pumped after every shot, taking off a small part of it before exchanging it with another that went under the barrel. He pumped it again, getting that same intimidating noise as before, before sprinting towards Canterlot, not even paying her any mind.
Twilight just stared at the figure as he continued to race off into the distance, barely noticing that her friends had joined her and were also staring wide-eyed at the horror that seemed to descend upon Canterlot.
“Spike,” she finally managed to say. “I need you to take a letter.”
Twilight was afraid for Celestia, for Luna, for her parents, and for her friends. She was worried and wondered if they were even alive right now. One thing she didn’t wonder about however, was what was going to happen when “Doomy” made it Canterlot. There wasn’t even the slightest doubt in her mind.
If those monsters were there like she thought, he was going to kill every last one.
Author's Note
I know I promised to finish "Friendship is Awesome" before I did this, but after doing the research it was just really in the mood to do this. As someone who does not own, nor has had an opportunity to play this game, my main concern is making the fights feel like they do in the game, and I hope they do. I've even made sure to think of what three runes are equipped for each battle, which in this case were Seek and Destroy, Armored Offensive, and Rich Get Richer. I also really hope you guys feel that the songs I chose also go well with the mood and what's happening.
And speaking of songs, I'll be posting links to the references for chapter title here in the author's notes. Starting with:
I hope you guys like and look forwards to the next one.
Doom: The Equestrian Detour
“Everypony inside! Quickly!” Luna shouted before blasting another one of the creatures with her magic, a overweight blob of with armor that didn’t cover much and seemed to have cannons for arms.The blast sent it flying into a building, smashing into the wall. As it tried to get up Luna summoned a lightning bolt and incinerated it. She saw the last of the ponies make it past Celestia’s barrier and into the palace and took a moment to catch her breath.
She looked around at the carnage, the buildings destroyed and on fire. The monsters came from nowhere, as did the red mist and demonic storms. At first she thought it might have been an enemy from their past like Tirek, but this was far more brutal than anything even he would’ve done. There was no need to conquer or lord over anything, only a simple desire to destroy, and their weapons and powers were far more evil and destructive than anything she had ever seen.
After taking a few more moments to catch her breath she took to the skies, seeking more survivors.
Celestia tried to slow her breathing as felt the stress of holding up her barrier. Her worry was eased with every pony she felt that managed to get inside, and her fear increased with every monster that pounded at it. She hated that all she could do was just stand still concentrate while Luna went out and braved that… maelstrom outside.
Many of the citizens were in the throne room, huddled together for safety or staring outside at the grim red sky. The guards were directing everypony that came in towards the others as well as standing at the threshold, prepared to fight off the monstrosities should they manage to find a way inside while the castle staff provided the refugees with food, water, and medical attention. Their fear both reaffirmed her desire to protect her subjects and also made her fear for those who she didn’t know the whereabouts of.
Twilight, please be safe, she thought. At that moment a familiar spell appeared in front of her, a dragonfire message being sent. For an instant, her face brightened, only for dread to fill her heart as it seemed to be engulfed by a blood red flame. Before she could even process what had happened, something burst in through the wall, causing everypony to scream in terror, before bouncing off the floor and slamming into one of the pillars.
Celestia grimaced, mentally preparing herself for having to keep her shield up while also using combat spells, but then stopped as the smoke began to clear.
Is that… a giant walnut?
Celestia readied herself again as she saw it begin to crack, only to sigh in relief as she saw who came out when it opened.
“Whoo! That was rough! Should’ve added some padding,” Discord announced as he grabbed his neck, a series of pops ringing out as he turned it a full 360 degrees.
“Discord, please tell me this is all some joke in incredibly poor humor,” Celestia pleaded.
“So… you want me to lie?” he asked.
Celestia grimaced. “Then can you at least undo this madness?”
“Sorry, but it turns out that whatever these things are they’re immune to my chaos magic,” he explained. “This red mist limits my powers as well, hence why I used this method of transportation rather than just teleport here,” he explained pointing back the the large nut. He then noticed the burning scroll on the ground. “Guess it interferes with messages, too.” He then raised his claw, levitating the marble pieces back into place before he melded them all together in place. “Ugh, having to actually cast a levitation spell and repair spell. I miss my chaos magic already,” he muttered. “Basically, I can’t turn these things into ragdolls, but I can still toss them like one.”
Celestia sighed. “So there really is no quick solution, is there?”
“Now hold on there, I didn’t say that,” Discord smirked.
“Wh-What?”
“As it turns out while I was giving Ponyville a quick checkup, Fluttershy and her friends are fine by the way, though there were some casualties so you’ll want to deal with that afterwards, I happened to come across certain… specialist.”
“‘Specialist’? What kind of ‘specialist’?”
“Someone who’s taken on these things before… multiple times… successfully… by himself, honestly it’s really quite amazing. Like, it’s to the point that you have to wonder if taking these things down is the whole reason he existed in the first place.”
“Discord,” Celestia pressed.
“Right, sorry. Anyway, I managed to strike a little deal with him and he’s on his way to solve our little pest problem.”
“‘On his way?’ You mean you didn’t bring him here!?” Celestia yelled.
“Couldn’t teleport him here, remember?”
“Then why didn’t you bring him with you!?”
Discord laughed. “Me? And him? In an enclosed tight space? Nooooooo thank you! I’m not risking that!”
“What?” Celestia asked, surprised to hear him call this “help” a potential risk, one that apparently even he was afraid of.
“Look, point is, I gave him a shortcut. With luck, he’ll be here in a few hours, and it won’t be much longer until he’s dealt with our problem.”
Celestia mulled over his words before looking outside, seeing the horror her city had turned into. “Can he really defeat this?”
“Tia, if you’d seen his resume like I have, you wouldn’t be asking that question,” Discord assured her, a slight shiver going up his body.
Ten Minutes Earlier…
The Doom Slayer barrelled through the Whitetail Woods, his stamina nearly inexhaustible, as his eyes darted around to check for any enemies that were lying in wait or that would teleport in. He was so focused on this that he didn’t notice the oil slick that gushed from the ground until he slipped on it, comically sliding and slamming into a tree.
“Well well, what have we here?” came a voice from above. The Doom Slayer looked up and saw one of the tree branches sprout two eyes, red irises and yellow sclera, as well as a mouth with a snaggletooth and a goatee. “You look a little too serious to be from around these-”
The Doom Slayer cut the branch off by aiming and firing his super shotty, blasting it in half. The part that fell quickly morphed into a large mismatched being with a long serpentine body.
“Well, that’s rude,” the being complained as it hovered and righted itself. “You could’ve at least let me finish-”
The Doom Slayer fired the other barrel, instinctively breaching it open, ejecting the two shells and loading two more even before he had confirmed the buckshot had hit its mark. He was surprised to see the creature snap in half before quickly popping itself back together, avoiding the pellet spray.
“Okay, enough of that,” the creature said before an unseen force tried to pull the gun from his hand, but the Doom Slayer kept a firm grip. A moment later he was slammed back into the tree by the same force, held above the ground against it, and unfortunately dropped the gun. “Ok, buddy. I was sensing some strange stuff going around, and then I check up on Ponyville and find the place looks like a horde of blood hungry parasptrites tore through it. Then I happen to come across your energy signature heading away from it, one that’s not too different from the one covering Tia and Lulu’s little mountainside retreat. Gotta say, that doesn’t look good for you.” The Doom Slayer clenched his fists, ready to forced himself off the tree and strangle the offended creature. “But, I’d like to think I’ve learned not to judge on appearances, so…” the creature trailed off as he reached forwards and pulled the Doom Slayer’s head in half, much to his surprise. Even more surprising was that he wasn’t dead, nor in pain. “Let’s get a look at what’s in that noggin’ of-” the creature said as it stuck it’s face into the Doom Slayer’s head, only to recoil in shock, releasing him from it’s power as his popping back together, as it fell to the ground, scurrying away on its back as it shouted “SWEET MOTHER OF FAUST, WHAT IN THE ACTUAL BUCK!? I MEAN SERIOUSLY, HOLY BUCKING SHIT!” The creature’s expression was one of abject horror, its eyes wide and pupils shrunken. “IN THE NAME OF MY HANDSOME SELF, WHAT THE BUCK DID I JUST SEE!?”
The Doom Slayer quickly got up and drew his rocket launcher, aiming it at the creature and locking on.
“WAIT!” the creature shouted as it got up. “Just… Just wait a second,” it pleaded. It then snapped its claw and in a flash created a pack of cigarettes and a lighter. The Doom Slayer cautiously observed as it pulled out a one of the cigarettes from the pack, which appeared to made of licorice, before lighting it up and tank a long drag. A moment later, the creature tossed away the cigarette before putting the entire pack in its mouth and taking a comically large drag, exhaling smoke in a rainbow of colors. “Ok… calmed down a little more,” it muttered before turning to face him. “So then… I suppose introductions are in order. Name’s Discord, purveyor of all things chaotic and nonsensical. My card,” he introduced before snapping his paw.
In a flash of light a playing card floated down the Doom Slayer, who caught it. Pictured was Discord, dressed in a jester’s outfit, obviously resembling a Joker card. The Doom Slayer casually tore it half.
“Rude,” Discord huffed. “Anyway, seems I was mistaken and you’re not part of those masses of flesh and metal that have been appearing out of nowhere. And from what I could pick up from what’s in that skull of yours, you’ve got quite the hostile history with them.” He continued. “So, I’ve got a little proposition for you,” he continued, floating through the air as the Doom Slayer kept his weapon trained on him. “See that gaudy little city over there?” he asked pointing behind himself towards the city covered in red mist attached to the side of the mountain. “There’s two very important ponies over there. I’m honestly not that close with them, but if one of them bites the dust it’ll be a big problem for us. And if both of them go, well…” he trailed off. “Point is, you seem to be heading that way anyway, which I’m perfectly fine with, but from what I’ve seen your resume isn’t the best when it comes to… collateral damage. So, here’s the deal: you promise not to get anypony caught in the crossfire, and I’ll expedite your trip by as much distance as I can. After that, I’ll see about getting you back home, as it seems you’ve got some unfinished business.”
Though he doubted he could see it, the Doom Slayer glared at Discord suspiciously from under his helmet.
“What?” Discord asked indignantly. Then a look of realization crossed his face. “Oh, I get it. You’re on your toes because of being backstabbed by Dr. Scary Voice, right? Well, let me put you at ease. I don’t know how these things got here, but I don’t want them ever coming back. And since you seem to want to get rid of every last one in existence, I’d be more than happy to help you complete that goal,” he explained as he levitated the super shotgun into his claw and then offering to the Doom Slayer. “Good enough?”
The Doom Slayer gazed at his weapon for a moment before putting his rocket launcher away and taking it.
“Good. We’ll be seeing each other again soon,” Discord said before the Doom Slayer was blinded by a flash of light. A pop later, and his location had changed.
The Doom Slayer was surrounded by ponies in large booth seats, all staring at him in surprise. The sound of wheels against tracks and the moving environment outside allowed him to quickly realize he was on a train.
After a few moments, a stallion came up and tapped him on the leg. “Um… Friendship Express to Canterlot. Tickets, please?” he asked nervously, extending his hoof.
The Doom Slayer thought about this for a moment before clenching his fist, ready to knock the equine out cold, when he heard the sound of crinkling paper coming from his hand. He looked to see he was holding a ticket with an insignia of a regal looking pony on it. He could’ve sworn for a moment that it turned to wink at him.
Deciding that it would be more of a hassle not to, he chose to follow the rules just this once and handed the ticket over. The stallion punched the ticket and gave it back. “Enjoy your trip!” he said cheerfully before going to check the tickets of the other passengers. The Doom Slayer sighed and took a seat.
Author's Note
So, sorry about the lack of action this chapter, but it felt that it would help the story move along quicker as well as give the perspective of a few other key players. Don't worry, ass kicking, hot lead, and gore giblets fly next chapter.
In the meantime, enjoy the more relaxing (in my opinion) tones of the song this chapter is named after.
Doom: The Equestrian Detour
Celestial inhaled sharply as she felt another wave of attacks pummel her barrier. The growing and near constant barrage was beginning to wear on her, not to mention sustaining a barrier of such a size. Just then Luna teleported in, looking absolutely exhausted.
“I… I don’t think… there are any… anymore ponies… outside,” she gasped.
Celestia winced. The amount of ponies she had felt enter her barrier was… not promising.
“Discord-” she began, about to turn and ask him advice, but stopped when she saw him holding his hands in front of him, concentrating deeply. There were a few sparks of red, erupting into a hellish flame for a moment, before it quickly fizzled out. Discord exhaled, the act having obviously caused him some exhaustion. “... What was that ?”
“Huh? Oh, sorry. Trying to figure out just how much of my chaos magic I can tap into right now,” he answered. “It’s not much, but… well, the right tool at the right time can make all the difference.”
“I… see…” she answered. “Do you have any suggestions for the moment?”
“Would you be able to hold that shield better if you shrunk it?”
“I… suppose so. I don’t feel comfortable letting them get closer though.”
“Give some ground to gain some time, or lose both at once? Seems like an easy choice to me.”
Celestia sighed and nodded. “Luna, could you call the guards by the edge of the barrier to come back in?” she asked.
Luna nodded. “Of course, sister,” she replied and galloped off.
“Discord, is your ‘specialist’ truly going to be enough?” Celestia asked.
“Tia, trust me. Once he gets here, all our problems will be over. I’m sure he’s doing everything he can to get here as quickly as possible,” he assured her.
The unicorn guard Stalwart stood at attention by the door to the next car, making sure to keep his eyes trained on the strange armored creature sitting in one of the seats. He had been informed of the creature having teleported aboard, which was usually the sign of somepony trying to sneak on and avoid paying for a ride, but it had had a ticket. The real problem was the terrifying aura it exuded, so intensely and obviously that everypony had done everything they could to get away from him. Unfortunately, with this being a fully booked train, even everypony trying to squeeze in five or six to a seat didn’t provide enough room for everyone and one poor soul was seated next to him. The stallion nervously cast glances at the creature which crossed its arms and appeared to be rather annoyed, judging from its body language.
“So, uh… not from around these parts I take it?” the stallion asked nervously. The creature didn’t respond. “I’m from Baltimare myself. First time visiting Canterlot. You, uh, look like you’re from a lot farther away than that.”
What is that fool doing? Stalwart thought, afraid that this harmless banter could quickly escalate into violence. He gripped his spear tighter, ready to use it a moment’s notice.
“I’m just going there to check the place myself. You know, the Royal Palace is one of those things you’ve just got to see with your own eyes once, am I right?” he smiled nervously. The creature made no response. “I’m… I’m sorry, I’m just… trying to clear the air a bit,” he trailed off as he hung his head.
The creature turned its head to cast a glance at him before audibly sighing. Stalwart tensed when the creature unfolded its arms and reached over to the stallion, only to pat his head like he was an annoying dog who was begging for attention. It then quickly folded its arms and continued to look straight ahead.
The stallion looked surprised for a moment, before smiling. He turned to keep talking to the creature only to stop as his eyes looked towards the window. “Hey buddy, ever see one of those before?” he asked nervously.
The creature visibly moved its head in an eye rolling motion before turning to face the window. The next moment it shot up from its seat, pulled a large pronged-like device glowing with blue light from nowhere, and aimed it at the window. After barely a second of it emitting humming noise that quickly rose in pitch it fired a blue beam of energy that shattered the window, causing the other passengers to scream in shock and terror.
Stalwart immediately readied his spear and charged, watching as the creature somehow dispersed his weapon and retrieved another one, this one lacking any glowing parts and being large enough that he had to have it resting on his shoulder. He aimed it out the window for about a second before it loosed three objects that resembled fireworks in quick succession. Stalwart cast a quick glance at their trajectory before turning back, only to freeze as he looked again and saw what the projectiles were headed for. He only caught a glimpse of it but it looked like a red ball of flesh, as large as a chariot, with one malevolent eye, a some horns, and a giant maw with more teeth than he dared count. It was blasted apart as the three projectiles exploded as they made contact with it.
Another scream came from behind him, and he turned to see three creatures, all of them looking like monstrous goat skulls with glowing red eyes and cloaked in flames, screeching like beasts as they charged the train. Before he could properly react the armored creature dashed past him, now holding what looked like a miniature cannon with two barrels. It fired with a deep “Boom” and shattered the window with a spray of metal, hitting one of the monsters and causing it to explode. It repeated this on the second, and on the third it quickly pulled out another weapon, this one unleashing a quick volley of metal that caused the final skull monster to explode.
Before Stalwart could gain his bearings an explosion and screams of terror and pain came from the car next to them. Looking outside, he saw more of the balls of flesh with mouths and the flaming skulls approaching from the distance, in addition to newer ones with pale skin and crown-like horns around their heads, closing in and ready to swarm the train. He turned back to the armored creature who quickly pulled off part of the weapon his was carrying, stashing it away somewhere, and then pulling out a lens that he affixed to the top of it. He then somehow dispersed it, only to pull out an even bigger weapon with several barrels arranged in a circle in front of it. He quickly removed the barrels with the more angular design and replaced them with a more rounded one. Finally, the creature summoned three symbols, hovering in front of him as if they were made of flames, and that Stalwart felt an incredible amount of evil magic from. He quickly swiped away one before replacing it with another, and then dispersed them all. This all transpired in less than thirty seconds and then, without a word, the creature hefted his large weapon, the barrels spinning on their own, before rushing towards the other passenger car and kicking the door open.
After taking a moment to recover, and being shaken from his stupor by the sounds of battle coming from the next car, Stalwart chased after the creature. What he found in the next car could only be described as a war zone. Dead ponies were strewn along the floor, some in pieces, while others were injured and trying to get their bearings, and still more were cowering in fear. Seats and walls were on fire, and a massive hole was in the left side of the car, large enough that even some of the axles and framework of the wheels was visible through the floor. The creature was firing his weapon out the window, the barrels spinning and spewing out projectiles at a rate that would put an entire battalion of crossbow ponies to shame, practically mulching the flaming skulls and fleshy orbs that were attempting to attack from outside.
Suddenly one of the thin and pale monsters flew in crackled with red energy. A moment later a hulking brute of a beast with no eyes appeared from the pool of energy. The armored creature fired at it, the projectiles easily passing through it and hitting the pale creature as well, blasting it to pieces. While it did this, the hulking beast leapt into the air, its hands glowing with power, before bringing them down. The creature jumped out towards the hole in the car while continuing to fire, the hulking beast slamming its hands on the floor causing an explosion of power. Instead of simply flying out of the train, the creature somehow curved its trajectory in mid air, a short burst of fire coming from its feet, before landing back in the car on the other side, firing at the beast all the while. The hulking beast fell to its knees and then the creature jumped onto its back, slamming its head to the floor, before pulling it back up and then ripping its jaw off. A moment later, some blue energy flowed from the beast to its killer.
Stalwart just stared at the creature, unable to believe what he’d just seen.
No, not “creature.” Those movements were too well practiced. And those weapons… this is a soldier.
The still living passengers stared at him with both fear and awe, and the soldier turned to go to the next car.
“W-Wait!” Stalwart called, the soldier turning back to face him. “... Please, send any ponies you come across to the front of the train. We’ll protect the engine and make sure it doesn’t stop.”
The soldier just stared for a few moments before grunting in understanding, turning to face the door as he spun the barrels of his weapon before dashing forwards and smashing through it.
“Stalwart, sir!” called some other guards as they approached from behind.
“Emergency situation!” he barked as he turned to face the other guards. “I need the unicorns to the front car, the rest help the wounded and herd all the passengers to the front car! We can cast a barrier spell that can protect both them and the engine if we combine our magic.”
“What about the monsters?” one of them asked.
Stalwart turned to face the opposite door. “Somepony else is going to handle that.”
Well what do you know? They’re not all pussies after all, the Doom Slayer thought as he removed his fist from a Cacodemon’s eye socket, using his thrust boots to make it back to the train car. He was a bit annoyed at having to switch out his Armored Offensive rune for In-Flight Mobility, but it was more suited to this situation. Besides, Seek and Destroy still allowed him a great reach when finishing foes off, and so long as he made sure to take stock of his surroundings he wouldn’t have to worry about Rich Get Richer deactivating.
He spooled up the chaingun as he prepared to kick down the door to the next car, ignoring the ponies cowering under and behind the seats. He had already seen others make a break to the front as he went past them, so any of them who didn’t move had no excuse. He kicked the door down and entered the next car, immediately noticing the Summoner on the left side preparing a wave of hell energy and opened fire, the bullets easily punching through both the walls of the train and the Summoner’s flesh, stunning it. It took a few seconds of well aimed lead spray, but it went down quickly enough. A Cacodemon came from the right, and he swung his weapon to aim at it, not even bothering to let go of the trigger as he did. Just like the Summoner, it was quickly mulched as well. He let go of the trigger while keeping the chaingun spinning as he raced towards the next door, only to hear the unmistakable screech of a Lost Soul from behind. He turned and unloaded on it, destroying it almost instantly, repeating this with the next three that came afterwards, and quickly kicked the door to the next car open.
The moment he did he heard something land on the roof of the car. Without a second thought he aimed up at where it came from and fired. After a few seconds of this another loud bang came and a Hell Knight came crashing in from above, immediately charging as soon as it landed. With barely anywhere to go, the Doom Slayer double jumped straight up before kicking off the door frame behind him, switching to his Super Shotty as he did. As he sailed over the demon’s head he unleashed two point blank blasts from the gun before landing on the other side. It was enough damage to bring the demon to its knees and he quickly grabbed its head from behind and snapped its neck, the beast dropping health as it fell. He looked up at the gaping hole in the roof before jumping up and grabbing the ledge, quickly pulling himself up on top of the car.
He quickly surveyed the area as he felt the wind whip by him, seeing a large swarm of Lost Souls, Cacodemons, and the occasional Summoner approaching both from the sides and from ahead. Already a large amount of them were attacking a pale blue energy bubble covering both the first car and the steam engine, cracks beginning to form on the barrier, some healing slowly but nowhere near fast enough to deal with the Cacodemons bile, the Summoners hell waves, or the Lost Soul’s kamikaze attacks. Even worse, some Summoners were calling forth ground troops like Hell Knights and Hell Razers. Wasting no time, he switched to the gauss gun and charged to the front, charging his precision bolt and firing at the Lost Souls that were closely grouped together with other demons, the Volatile Discharge causing them to explode and damage other demons nearby upon their deaths. After a few shots of this the Lost Souls began to divert their attention to him and charging as they screeched. He to a few more shots at them, their clumped groups making it easy to take out several of them at once when they exploded. Once they started to get a little closer he whipped out his super shotty, the blasts of buckshot easily able to take out several with each shot once they got into the the perfect range as he continued to charge forwards. Within only maybe seven or eight reloads of the powerful weapon, all the Lost Souls near the train were gone. There were more approaching from the sides and ahead in the distance, but he’d deal with those later.
Only three cars away from the front now, he decided to switch his focus to Summoners, as they were always the biggest pain in his ass, switching out for his rocket launcher and its lock-on function as he methodically began to pick them off one by one, the explosions giving splash damage to anything nearby. After a few rounds of this everything was now completely focused on him began to fire. Due to the massive amount of projectiles as well as the limited running space, he was forced to hang back and fire while dodging, not wanting to lose his unlimited ammo bonus by his armor taking too many hits. With a few more rounds he had managed to take out all the Summoners, just in time for three Hell Knights to make it over to him. Thinking quickly he jumped backwards into the train through the massive hole in the side of the train car, the three hulking demons following as he switched out for his chaingun again and backed into the doorway between cars, spinning up the barrels as he did. He ran backwards as they charged him, the closed quarters forcing them to charge him single file as he unloaded the unending stream of lead, the bullets passing through all of them, making sure he was taking down three ugly-ass birds with one stone. The one in front died within seconds, the next one following soon after. He stopped firing as he saw the third one fall to its knees, quickly rushing forwards and slamming his left fist into the back of its head before quickly following up with a right hook that cracked its skull open like a gorey coconut. He then dashed forwards until he reached the car with the hole and jumped back up to the roof.
He was immediately met with group of Cacodemons nearly upon him as well as another approaching wave of Lost Souls from the front. Already not willing to deal with this shit, he pulled out his plasma rifle and managed to get two of the four with as stun bomb, and then pulled out his chainsaw and shoved it into the eye of one of the others, killing it almost instantly. He then jumped onto one of the stunned ones, grabbing onto it from the side and slamming his fist into its eye, dying and releasing another stun charge that managed to get the other unstunned demon, giving him the chance to focus on the one that was already stunned as he shoved his eye fist into its eye. He then jumped onto the last one from behind, swinging around it before shoving his foot through its eye, killing it, before landing on the roof and pulling out his combat shotgun, quickly taking aim and firing an explosive shot into the group of oncoming Lost Souls, the explosion and subsequent cluster bombs destroying most of them in one blast before switching out for his Heavy Assault Rifle and quickly picking off the rest.
He adjusted his aim to the front, using the tactical scope to zoom in as he fired at the Hell Razers still near the front, headshots taking them down quickly. One of them managed to ready its charged blast and fired a steady stream of hell energy at him. The Doom Slayer leapt of the side of the car, still zoomed in and firing and using his In-Flight Mobility to keep him near the car. A few more shots took the last one down and he used his thrust boots to get back on the roof. With nothing on the train anymore he sprinted to the front right next to the barrier, using the scoped rifle to pick off any incoming threats, occasionally switching to the gauss gun and precision bolt to deal with the more hearty Summoners and Cacodemons. A few minutes later a tunnel through a mountain began to approach and he headed back to the car with the hole and jumped in. After a few minutes more the vehicle exited out the other side with no enemies in sight.
Stalwart sighed in relief at the lack of sounds of battle and looked out the window to see Canterlot in the distance. Unfortunately, rather than seeing the glorious city he was used to he instead saw the capital of Equestria covered in a veil of death, broken building, fires, red mist, and a golden bubble shield covering only about half of the palace visible even from all these miles away. He ordered the train conductor to bring the vehicle to a stop, the heavy machine slowly losing speed before stopping after a few miles.
Stalwart called his other guards over to assess the situation, when the violent sound of the door to the car ripping off its hinges caught everypony’s attention, some screaming in terror. It was the armored soldier from before who casually tossed the door aside before stomping towards the engine, ignoring everypony as he did.
“W-Wait. What are you-?” Stalwart barely had time to stutter out before he entered the engine.
“Hey, what are you doing in here!?” came the startled conductor’s voice. “You can’t just barge in here and-! Wait, what are you-!? Let go of me you piece of AAAAAH!” he cried as the elder earth pony was hurled out of the engine back into the front car.
Stalwart headed for the engine. “Hold it right there! This is-!” he began, only to stop as the soldier pointed one of his weapons right into his face. It was a small one, held in only one hand, but the humming noise and bright bluish-green light emanating from it did not make him feel any better about that. The soldier took a few steps forwards, Stalwart nervously taking steps backwards in response, until the armored soldier suddenly pointed the weapon down and fired, causing everypony to flinch and some to squeal in fright. Stalwart looked down and saw that the shot had severed the coupling between the engine and the front passenger car. Without a word, the soldier turned back and headed into the front of the locomotive, the machine slowly starting up as it continued down the tracks.
“You’re supposed to blow the horn to signal you’re starting up again! If you’re going to take my engine, you could at least follow proper procedure!” the conductor shouted angrily. Surprisingly, a few moments later, the vehicle did release one quick burst of sound and steam before it continued to pick up speed and ride away. “Tsk! Punk,” the conductor muttered.
“Sir… should we go after him?” one of the guards asked Stalwart.
The unicorn looked to Canterlot for a moment, remembering what he saw back in the train cars, and turned to his subordinate. “No… No, I think he’s going exactly where he needs to be.”
Author's Note
Sorry this took so long. I had some other stories and things to do first and then it took more time to come out due to, ironically, get a chance to actually play Doom. I hope the somewhat confined movement here doesn't affect the action too much.
As always, enjoy the chapter as well as the song inspiration for the title, straight from the Prince of Darkness himself:
Doom: The Equestrian Detour
Celestia gritted her teeth as she held her barrier, feeling both the monster slamming against it as well as the spells and spears that the royal guards shot and thrust through it to fend them off. Nearby the survivors of the raid upon Canterlot and the castle staff trembled in fear, doing their best to comfort each other.
“Discord, I can’t keep this up forever. Just how much longer before your so-called ‘specialist’ gets here?” she asked, a noticeable edge of frustration seeping into her voice.
“Sorry Celly, don’t know for sure, but considering where I sent him it probably won’t be more than a few hours at most,” Discord replied.
“That’s not exactly comforting,” Luna growled, lying on the floor to catch her breath and regain her strength so she could go where she was needed.
Just then, a small pool of magma began to bubble up inside the throne room, and out from it came a hulking beast, its body seeming to be made of rock and flesh as it stood on two legs and had two arms with massive spiked shoulderpads. It didn’t have a head and instead had an opening in its chest that seemed to be exposing a fleshy cavity. In its left hand was a staff, and in its right a mace-like weapon with a rounded head. Despite its sudden appearance it seemed to just stand there, motionless. However, a small worm-like creature with glowing green bulbs and a sharp maw slithered into the cavity. It let loose a high pitched shriek as the plate on the front of the golem-like armor closed. It then lit up with green energy for a moment, some strange runes on the front plate glowing, before it raised its club and intimidatingly slammed it into the floor, cracking the marble, and letting out a muffled shriek from the creature inside.
“Neither is that,” Discord muttered as Luna shot up and grabbed a halberd in her magic, the other ponies screaming in terror.
As if that was enough, two more identical golems bubbled into existence on either side of the first, the only difference between them being one only had a mace while the other only had a staff, the worms quickly taking their places inside.
“Oh boy,” Discord meeped.
“Discord, do something !” Celestia cried in a mixture of anger and fear.
The draconequus gathered his magic and erected a barrier in front of Celestia, himself, and the other ponies huddled around them.
“Come on, you psycho, where are you? We’re holding out the best we can!” he muttered under his breath.
A single train engine approached the Canterlot Train Station, catching the attention several demons’ attention and causing them to converge on the vehicle as it came to a stop. Within seconds there were no less than thirty demons of all kinds ready to destroy whatever had foolishly decided to waltz into their sights. A Baron of Hell grabbed the door and ripped it open, only to be caught facing the end of a massive weapon emitting green light. The weapon unleashed a large green energy blasts that immediately atomized the unfortunate creature, and the arcs of energy that cascaded off it did the same to all the poor fools that had gathered too close.
The Doom Slayer casually stepped out of the train, turning his head until he saw the golden barrier around the palace. He changed out In-Flight Mobility and Seek and Destroy runes for Armored Offensive and Savagery, equipped the Mobile Turret attachment to his chaingun, Siege Mode for Gauss Gun, and then switched out the Tactical Scope on his Heavy Assault Rifle for the Micro Missiles. He then pulled out his Combat Shotgun, pumped it, and then sprinted towards the palace. It didn’t take long for him to come across more opposition, his rage building in anticipation of the slaughter he was about to create.
He leveled his combat shotgun for a moment and fired and explosive shot into a group of Possessed, hitting one dead on and killing it with an explosion that broke into smaller cluster bombs and took out or wounded several more. Some imps jumped up onto the walls of some houses, and the Doom Slayer responded by pulling out his Heavy Assault Rifle, quickly picking off the ones on his right before leaping up towards the roof of a nearby building, dodging the fireballs thrown by the ones on the left, and pulling himself up onto the roof quickly before unloading onto the other imps as he dodged while strafing to evade the fireballs. A Cacodemon approached from above, launching its bile, which he rolled away from, switching out for his rocket launcher as he did, locking on and quickly firing a three round burst, before switching out for his Super Shotty and unloading both barrels, causing it to stagger. He then jumped up and grabbed on before swinging himself over and punching straight through its eye, killing it. As he absorbed health and armor he fell back towards the ground, tossing two frag grenades into the horde of demons before switching out for his combat shotgun and firing another explosive shot. He landed just as they all exploded, taking out a large swath of Possessed and Imps in front of him and damaging many of the stronger demons.
He immediately pulled out the gauss gun and charged the seige mode blast, firing into the crowd and taking out swaths of the weaker enemies with each blast. After a few shots a Baron of Hell tried to attack from behind, which he rolled out of the way of, before firing a normal shot from the gauss gun into its face, causing it to flinch. Two Hell Knights jumped at him from behind, which he double jumped away from, switching to the rocket launcher and locking onto all three of them before firing, one rocket hitting each one. He then switched to the heavy assault rifle, unloading on one of them with the micro missiles until it died before quickly changing to the plasma rifle and hitting the other Hell Knight with a stun bomb, quickly moving in and kneeing it in the face before crushing its skull with a punch. The stun energy erupted and managed to strike and stun the Baron of Hell, which the Doom Slayer took full advantage of by ripping off one of its horns before stabbing it into its face. Both released health and armor as the Doom Slayer turned to to face an oncoming group of possessed soldier and Hell Razers, which he greeted with an explosive shot with the combat shotgun, scoring a direct hit on the Hell Razer and severely damaging at well as those around it. He quickly mopped them up with some sustained fire from the plasma rifle only to be knocked away by an explosive shockwave from a nearby Mancubus. He quickly recovered, rolling to the side to avoid its flamethrowers, tossing a frag grenade at it before laying into it with more blasts from the plasma rifle. Once the grenade exploded he rushed up unloaded both barrels of the super shotgun into its face, turning it into a fine red mist.
As more demons swarmed him he decided to use a little strategy, picking off the Lost Souls that screeched and charged him with the heavy assault rifle before switching to the plasma rifle and firing a stun bomb into a group of Possessed, hitting about eight of them. Instead of moving in for the kill he waited, letting the Hell Knights, Barons of Hell, and Pinkie Demons get closer while laying down fire with the chaingun. When they were only a few yards away, he sprinted at the closest Possessed and killed it by ripping off its arm and using it to crack its skull. The burst of stun energy hit the nearby Pinkie Demon, stunning it as well. The other demons just had enough to realize the trap they fell into before succumbing to it. He kicked out the knee of one of the Possessed before cracking its skull with a hard punch, then leaping on another, forcing it to the ground on its back, grabbing its head and slamming it into the ground hard enough to crack it open. He swept the leg out from the next one before punching it in the face hard enough to make it explode, then jumping on another's back and forcing it down to the ground before stomping on its head like a melon. The next two he killed with two quick punches hard enough to smash their skulls before grabbing the last one from behind and snapping its neck. With each kill another blast of stun energy was unleashed and by the time he was done all the more powerful surrounding demons were just as helpless.
Wasting no time, he lunged at the nearby Pinkie Demon and ripped out one of its tusks before using it to stab the demon in the eye. He grabbed the next one by the tail and ripped it off, causing the monster to screech in pain before swinging the appendage like a club into the beast's face, killing it. He ripped the gaseous organ off the chest of a nearby Mancubus before shoving it down its throat, causing it to explode, before uppercutting a Hell Knight and then breaking its neck with a savage kick. For the Baron of Hell he whipped out his chainsaw, ripping through one of its legs, causing it to fall over, before slicing through its mouth, separating the top half off its head from its bottom, releasing plenty of ammo.
As a horde of Possessed Soldiers, Hell Razers, and Imps charged at him, the Doom Slayer pulled out the chaingun and immediately activated mobile turret mode, unloading the constant stream of lead into the oncoming horde, mowing them down. Many of the Imps leaped out of the way in time, climbing on walls and buildings before hurling fireballs at him. The Doom Slayer responded by aiming the chaingun at them, managing to hit quite a few, with the rest leaping out of the way and trying to flank him. Two of them shot fireballs at him from the sides and he rolled out of the way, changing to his super shotty and blasting them. Another leapt at him from behind, managing to tackle him to the ground, but he quickly rolled with it and managed to get on top before grabbing its head and ripping it from its neck. He then hurled it at another that tried to leap at him, knocking it out of the air and flat on its back. It tried to pick itself up only to be met with a double-barrelled blast to the face.
The Doom Slayer reloaded, paying no mind to the small army of dead corpses that were fading into nothing around him, before charging towards the castle, ready for more slaughter.
Thirty Minutes Later
Celestia watched helplessly as Luna took another blow, sending her to the floor, managing to recover quickly enough to dodge a blast of energy that followed. Luna had managed to cause some damage to the three demons, even managing to strike their magic staffs, causing them to be unable to summon their barriers, but she was still clearly outmatched. It was all Celestia could do to hold the barrier keeping the armies of demons trying to get in and keeping the royal guards that were fighting from behind it safe. Then, oddly enough, she felt the unending attacks from one part of her barrier cease completely. She wondered what this meant only for her to feel something else enter, something she didn’t recognize.
What is that? Could it be Discord’s “specialist” is finally here? she hoped.
Then, seemingly out of nowhere, the three demons stopped attacking Luna and all turned to face the door. There was a massive bang that rattled the locked gated, followed by another that shattered the drawbar, and then finally the doors were smashed open, one of them falling off its hinges. In stepped a bipedal creature wearing an advanced green and black armor that was heavily battle worn. Despite having a glass visor, the tinting kept its face invisible.
All of this was overshadowed by the intense, overwhelming aura of hatred and bloodlust that emanated from it, enough to make Celestia’s blood run cold, her body to break out in cold sweats, and her heart to beat in fear she hadn’t felt since she was a scared little filly. The feeling was more intense than Tirek, than Sombra, than anything she had ever felt before. And she wasn’t even the target of it. Luna felt the same thing, stepping back slowly and barely able to breath out of sheer terror.
“Lulu, get inside the barrier now!” Discord ordered. Luna hesitated only for a moment before sprinting inside the relative protection of Discord’s barrier, adding her magic to strengthen it.
“Discord, what have you done?” Celestia asked in fear. “I thought you had sent us a hero, or at least a professional. Instead, you just brought a bigger monster!”
“Celly, shut up and let him do his thing, and we’ll make it out of this alive!” Discord snapped.
The room was silent, nopony dared to move. After what felt like hours of intense tension, the armored creature sprinted forwards and raised its weapon as the three demons charged.
Author's Note
Woot! It's finally here! Two more chapters left! Sorry for making you all wait. Also, to those of you who wanted to hear BFG Division, sorry but this just fit the mood I was going for better. I hope it's an adequate substitute.
As always here's the song the chapter is based on, one of the most over the top metal songs of all time:
Doom: The Equestrian Detour
The Doom Slayer killed the last Imp in his way with a blast of the the Super Shotty to the chest, opening a hole in it. The demon fell backwards, gurgling blood before dying. The Doom Slayer reloaded his weapon as it faded away. He saw the edge of the golden barrier in front of him and made some changes for what he knew would be a hard fight ahead of him. He switched his Savagery and Armored Offensive runes for Equipment Power and In-Flight Mobility, then changed his Rocket Launcher attachment from Lock-on Burst to Remote Detonation, and Stun Bomb for Heat Blast on his Plasma Rifle. He also switched out his frag grenades fo Siphon Grenades. He still had enough armor of Rich Get Richer to work, but he wasn’t going to have as many chances to refill it, and In-Flight Mobility could only help him dodge for so long, so he’d have to make sure each rocket counted. His siphon grenade was a way for him to get armor back mid fight, but it wouldn’t be much, especially with them needing to recharge.
After sprinting down the halls the finally came across the door what he could guess was the throne room, hearing the sounds of battle behind them. Instantly his body swelled with adrenaline as his rage spiked as he stomped forwards before kicking the door. It held against the force so he tried again, feeling something break. One more kick and the door was no longer an impediment.
Inside he saw three Hell Guards, two with either a mace or staff, the third with both. They all looked like they had gone through some kind of fight, but were not particularly damaged. He was far too enraged to notice that however, his heart pounding in anger adrenaline pumping through him. He also barely noticed the large blue pony that had apparently been fighting them, nor the mismatch creature (Discord if he cared to remember, which he didn’t), and other ponies including a large white one hiding behind some kind of barrier. He was too focused on hies next kill, so much so that he barely registered what they were talking about as the blue pony retreated inside the barrier. For now there was nothing aside from him and the demons that would soon be dead.
The demons stared him down for a moment, waiting for him to make the first move. He did, charging forwards as he raised his heavy assault rifle, immediately firing the micro missiles at the dual wielding Hell Guard, who charged and tried to strike him with a thrust with its mace. He dodged to the side and the one who wielded a staff only raised it, gathering power. The Doom Slayer quickly switched out for his super shotty and fired both barrels, interrupting the attack and causing it to stumble before falling to one knee. He was about to reload and fire again but the mace one jumped and tried to slam his weapon into him. The Doom Slayer leapt to the side, avoiding the hit and used his thrust boots for more distance and to avoid the fiery shockwave that came after.
As he landed the dual wielding Hell Guard summoned a ball of energy, preparing to fire. The Doom Slayer fire both barrels of his Super Shotty, causing the mass of energy to explode and stun all three of the nearby enemies. He quickly reloaded before switching to the rocket launcher, firing a rocket right towards the middle of them and triggering the remote detonation just at the right time to hit all of them with shrapnel from the explosive payload, the rocket itself colliding with the dual wielding Hell Guard and causing more damage. The three enemies were jolted out of their stun and split so that they weren’t a single target. The mace Hell Guard leapt into the air, its body engulfed in flames as it continued to flip. The staff Hell Guard dashed to the side, leaving a trail of fire, before prepping its own energy attack. The dual wielder began to spin, causing a spiral of flames extend and move across the floor. Doom Slayer quickly swapped out for his super shotty and fired at the Staff demon, cutting off its attack and stunning it. He reloaded quickly and switched to the plasma rifle, firing at the dual wielder while also moving away from the mace demon as it came down in a fiery blaze, unleashing another flaming shockwave, careful to avoid the lines of moving flames on the ground as he did. He double jumped away from both attacks and landed on a broken column, keeping him safe from the ground attacks as he continued to fire. The staff demon fired a stream of flames at him, which he avoided by double jumping to the wall and grabbing onto a hanging banner, the cloth managing to hold his weight as he still fired the plasma rifle with the other hand, swinging back and forth as he did.
The mace demon leapt at him, its weapon raised and ready to strike. The Doom Slayer launched himself off the wall, firing the heat blast at the demon, knocking it out of the air and back to the ground. He activated his rocket boots to gain more distance, switching the gauss cannon as he did, before landing on the still spinning dual wielding Hell Guard, the force of impact causing it to lose its balance. As it stumbled the Slayer charge the mobile siege and fired point blank, the force not only knocking the unbalanced demon to the floor but also launching himself off in the opposite direction a bit. Unfortunately, he was headed right towards the other two demons. The mace Hell Guard swung hard, hitting him in the side and sending him tumbling to the corner, while the staff Hell Guard charged its energy fired, the volatile blast exploding and slamming him into the wall.
The Doom Slayer growled, shaking off the pain as he saw the dual wielding Hell Guard rise. Not wanting to get cornered as all three prepared to attack, he pulled out the BFG and fired, the enormous blast not only causing massive damage but also forcing them back a bit and stunning them. Seeing an opportunity and to retaliate as well as gain back some lost armor, he quickly tossed both of his Siphon Grenades, making sure they would hit more than one of the enemies when they exploded, before quickly switching out of the combat shotgun, firing an explosive blast which exploded before unleashing cluster bombs that struck all of them. With little time left before they all recovered, he changed to the chaingun, quickly engaging mobile turret mode and unleashed the hose of bullets upon the dual wielding Hell Guard. He was only able to continue this for a few seconds before they recovered and charged, switching for the heavy assault rifle and firing the micro missiles as he continued to strafe the three enemies.
Celestia couldn’t believe what she was watching, and neither could those around her. Only Discord seemed to be unfazed, though by no means unimpressed. This “specialist” was more than just a powerful warrior, it was as if it had been trained and equipped to be as lethal as possible, as if what she was seeing was the result of hundreds of years of scientific research and optimization. The variety of its weapons, the durability if its armor, and the trained and practiced motions of its almost incessant movement. This was the power of a whole army compressed into one highly mobile, and viciously relentless package. This was more than just a warrior or even a monster, this was a machine that seemed to have every aspect of its being crafted for unleashing destruction. She had little doubt that if this creature was to take on all of Equestria’s military forces at once it would still win with plenty of energy to spare.
She watched the specialist continue to move and fire, something that seemed to happen constantly, while the mace demon hurled its weapon around the circumference of the room, causing it to shoot flames at the creature from all angles as it circled around like a boomerang. The specialist dodged the attack with practiced ease, as if it had done this before, while continuing to fire the endless stream of small rockets at the one that wielded two weapons. The staff demon summoned another ball of energy in front of it, only for the specialist to quickly switch out for the weapon that unleashed to massive booms of force, causing the energy to rupture and explode, damaging and stunning the staff demon. The dual wielding demon began to spin again, unleashing the streams of flame across the floor once more. The specialist headed for the same broken column it went to before, but the mace demon anticipated this and dashed towards the column, leaving behind a streak of fire, and ramming into the column, crushing it to dust. The mace demon and the staff demon began to charge and attack the specialist, pushing it back in the opposite direction the flames on the floor were spinning, forcing it into the attack. Though the specialist did its best to avoid all attacks, trying to jump over the streams in the floor, it would often accidentally land on them anyway while trying to dodge the other two demons’ attacks. Then, during one jump, it was struck out of the air by a blast by the staff demon, knocking it onto its back.
With a flip back up onto its feet, and an growl of frustration and anger loud enough to be heard even over the sounds of battle, the specialist switched out for the weapon that fired the stream of energy blasts and began laying into the two demons, ignoring the flames on the floor, apparently deciding they were too much trouble to avoid. It would occasionally stop the stream of energy to fire a shockwave of energy at the two demons, who now struggled to deal with the assault. After about thirty seconds of this it switched for the weapon that fired the missiles that somehow exploded twice and continued to the assault, dodging only the attacks from the two demons, and carefully placing its shots so that it would always damage at least two of the demons with each blast. After another half minute of this, it switched out for the weapon that fired the small explosives again and focused the unending stream entirely on the demon spinning in the center of the room, dodging and ignoring the attacks from the other two demons. After about fifteen seconds of this it pulled out the massive weapon it fired only once before and unleashed the same extremely powerful green blast of energy. Just like last time it staggered the three demons and caused them to cease their attacks, stunning them as well. Also like last time, Luna and Discord struggled to keep up the barrier to protect everypony, even though the blast wasn’t even directed at them.
The specialist stored the weapon away wherever all its weapons came from, and charged the dual wielding demon with only its bare hands. It wrenched the staff out of one of its hands before stabbing the demon’s torso hard enough the break through the armored layer. It then quickly hefted up the mace onto its shoulder and spun before slamming the weapon into the other one, forcing the staff completely through the demon’s body, killing the creature inside as it fell back, limp. The specialist then continued to spin and then hurled the mace at the demon with the identical weapon, knocking it onto its back, before rushing at the staff demon, which was just starting to recover. It wrenched the staff out of the demon’s hand, the weapon glowing green with energy, before shoving it into the demon’s torso, unleashing a blast the exploded the insides of the demon out its back. The specialist then ran at the mace demon, who was just starting to get back up, and hitting it with the staff, breaking the weapon in half and knocking the demon back to the floor. The specialist then leapt on top of it and repeatedly stabbed the broken end into the side of the panel that the worm demon crawled into. After a few hits the broken weapon managed to pierce the armor, and the specialist began trying to use the broken weapon to pry it open, until the weapon itself snapped. Undeterred, the creature tore open the panel with its bare hands before reaching and side and pulling out the worm, before grabbing it with both hands and pulling, ripping the helpless creature in half.
Celestia and the other ponies just stared, shocked and horrified at the brutal executions they just witnessed as the bodies of the demons began to disintegrate into nothing. She was so stunned that she was completely unprepared for the massive force that attacked her barrier, almost shattering it instantly. She recoiled from the shock, attempting to gather herself, only for the next hit to break it. She shouted in pain as she fell to the floor.
“Sister!” Luna cried and rushed to her side.
Before anypony could say or do anything else loud thunderous footsteps approached, causing the entire room to shake. It was slow at first, until it turned the corner, a creature that looked like it was made of pain and anger and sending fear through everyponies’ body. Then it somehow seemed to rocket forward, destroying and bursting through the already massive door to the throne room, widening it further, before unleashing a deafening roar. The monster was a massive hulking brute, covered in stone like armor, and with it’s left hand replaced with a giant futuristic cannon, while it’s right arm had a bone like blade on its wrist. It glowered at them with four red glowing eyes, mandibles on either side of its mouth, and two large horns on its head. It also had some kind of device apparently implanted into its chest.
The screams of her ponies snapped Celestia back to reality, adding her power to the barrier Discord and Luna were holding up. The specialist meanwhile went right to work, firing at the beast with its two barrelled weapon, doing what it could to dodge the missiles the monster fired from its arm cannon. The massive demon sped to the opposite end of the room before unleashing a barrage of missiles from its back, which rained down all over the throne room. The specialist managed to dodge the blasts only for the beast to charge forward and hit him with a shoulder charge, knocking the weapon out of his hands and flying across the room. The specialist quickly got up and switched to the weapon that pumped after every shot, continuing to fight.
“What’s going?” Celestia asked, desperation seeping into her voice. “Why isn’t it fighting like before? Why is it losing!?”
“He ran out of ammo,” Discord replied. “This is all he’s got left.” He then held his hands… or, rather, claw and paw out in front of him. “Thankfully, I prepared for just such an occasion.” He summoned what little chaos magic he could, creating the same ball of red glowing energy he made before, one Celestia now recognized as being nearly identical to the specialist. “HEY, PSYCHO!’ Discord yelled, catching the warrior’s attention as a small hole opened up barrier. “NEED A JOLT!?” he asked before firing the energy at the specialist, who seemed to surge with power and red energy crackled along his body. After a moment it stopped, now leaving the armored being radiating a red fire from its body. The giant hulking beast actually took a step back in caution before steeling itself for a fight. “I’d caution those with weak hearts or bladder control to turn away, but let’s face it, you’ve seen plenty today.” Discord snarked.
The demon fired missiles from its cannon at the specialist, who both dodged and charged at it with impressive speed. The demon responded by charging forwards, the specialist barely managing to dodge out of the way, but also grabbing onto one of its shin guards. When the demon stopped the specialist lunged up to its head, punching the demon hard enough that it actually stumbled back a few steps. It then lunged up the demon’s shin, aiming for the device in its chest, only for the demon to grab it and toss the warrior away. It then aimed its cannon again, charging the powerful blast for a few seconds and firing, the specialist managing to recover and leap out of the way at the last moment. The warrior then slammed both fists into the ground, smashing the marble floor, before grabbing a broken chunk of the and hurling it at the cannon, hitting it with enough force to actually move its whole arm and dent the metal. The specialist then sprinted towards the beast, only for the demon to extend its wrist blade and stab at it. The armored warrior dodged before striking the bone, breaking the blade off as the demon winced in pain. The specialist then took the broken weapon and stabbed it into the monster’s knee, causing it to howl with pain, only for the specialist to use the embedded weapon as a step to make it to the device in the demon’s chest. It shoved its hand into the device, twisted and, ribbed what looked like some kind of container out, before hopping off and landing on the floor. The demon struggled to move for a moment before falling backwards, as if its soul had just been ripped out, and fell limp.
For a moment Celestia relaxed, thinking the terror was over, only for the red mist that had been enveloping Canterlot to stream into the demon, its body floating off the ground as life returned to it, its body glowing red with power. In addition, she also noticed the container the specialist was glowing the same color, look like it could explode at any moment.
Then the specialist did something Celestia could barely believe. It shoved its hand into the container.
The Doom Slayer noticed his Berserk powerup was nearly spent, and the Cyberdemon in front of him was reviving itself, likely stronger than before. He had low ammo, no armor, and was holding an extremely volatile container of Argent energy with no clue what to do with it. He couldn’t funnel it into his health, armor, or ammo as those were all maxed out, and letting it teleport him would at best take him back to Hell with all the same spent weapons and armor he had now, and at worst could do… anything else. Then suddenly, he had an idea.
This is gonna be interesting.
He clenched his fist and with all his strength shoved it into Argent container, the power rapidly funnelling itself into his armor and body.
[WARNING: Argent Energy Overload]
The Doom Slayer floated into the air, force himself to hold onto the device. He saw the Cyberdemon now fully revived, prepared to fight again, only to step back in fear when it saw what he was doing.
[Redirect Argent Energy]
[Y]
[Redirecting…]
The Doom Slayer felt the power flow through him, his heart thundering like an engine in his chest as his every pore surged with adrenaline. His vision turned red, red lightning crackled all over his body, and he was completely engulfed in a red flaming aura. After a few more seconds he landing on the floor hard, cracking the marble. After recovering for a moment he stood up and tossed the Argent container to the side, with suck force that it shot through the marble wall like a bullet through tissue paper. He threw his back and bellowed a war cry, his voice reverberating and the entire room shaking from the force of his shout. The sonic vibrations themselves were enough to shake loose of the nearby columns which had already been weakened and began to fall on top of him. The Doom Slayer caught it and then swung it at the Cyberdemon, as if it was no heavier than a baseball bat, sending the massive demon to floor and breaking the column into thousand of pieces.
The demons struggled to get up only for the Doom Slayer to hurl what was left of the column at it, hitting it with enough force to send it sliding along the floor before smashing into the other wall. It quickly picked itself up and fired missiles from it cannon at him. He charged right at the beast, powering through and ignoring the explosives, before leaping at it. The hulking monstrosity managed to leap out of the way, just in time to avoid the Doom Slayer’s fist, which annihilated the wall behind its former position. As he fell back to the ground the Cyberdemon charged its laser blast, managing to score a hit dead on him. This only forced him to the ground for a moment before quickly rising again. The demon then fired more missiles from its back, which would soon be quickly coming down everywhere. The Doom Slayer responded by shoving his hands into the floor and ripping out a chunk of marble twice the size of him, acting as a shield against the missile barrage, before hurling it at the demon with such speed it couldn’t hope to dodge, causing it to fall back into the corner of the room. The Doom Slayer sprinted at the demon, which raised its cannon in a desperate attempt to retaliate, only for him to grab the weapon and rip it, along with its whole arm, off the demon’s body, then quickly strike the demon across the face with the limb, sending it to the floor.
He tossed the limb aside and jumped up, landing right in front of the Cyberdemon’s face before grabbing it by the horns. With no more effort than trying to open a beer bottle, the Doom Slayer ripped the head of the demon off with such force and ease that he ended up tossing it high into the air behind him. He didn’t hear it land for another ten seconds, and when he did he let loose another bellowing roar.
Celestia had never been so terrified in her life. This... monster had destroyed a creature more than twice its size like it was made of nothing but paper mache, with its bare hands. The victorious cry shook the entire throne room as red fire and electricity radiated off its body. After a few seconds of this it began to rapidly pant, each exhale sounding like the growl of a rabid animal. Even with the tinted glass of its visor, she could see its glowing red eyes of hatred. Then the more supernatural displays suddenly stopped, as if the energy had simply been spent, but it still panted loudly and menacingly. Then, much to her surprise, it took in a deep breath, held it for a few seconds, and then let out a long exhale. After that its breathing returned to what could be called normal, not the snarling grunts of a beast.
Celestia could barely get her thoughts straight, but even so exited the barrier and approached the creature. Her body trembled more and more with each step towards it, and by the time she was in arm’s reach she was shaking like a leaf. She gulped as she tried to gather herself before speaking.
“Th-Thank you.” She began. “I… I don’t know who or what you are, or even if you intended it, but… you saved us. You have our gratitude.” She slowly extended her hoof towards it, which it stared at for a minuted. It then bumped its fist against her hoof before twiddling its fingers in a manner that could only be called whimsical. Celestia released the breath she had been holding and let out a chuckle. She was about to continue when she felt the immeasurable hatred and rage radiating off it again. Her blood ran cold as she thought she had made a terrible mistake, thinking of all the horrid ways it could kill her, when its head snapped around to the doorway, seeing one of the pale skinned floating demons come into view. The specialist pulled out a weapon, some kind of sword with an engine strapped to it, the whirred with a terrible sound, before sprinting at the creature. The demon gather red power around itself, attempting to flee, only for the warrior to shove its weapon into the demon, blood flying everywhere. Then both of them disappeared in a flash of red light.
Celestia was left reeling, still trying to process everything that had just happened, that she didn’t even notice her sister calling her name until she was right next her.
“Celestia, are you alright?” Luna asked, her sister finally hearing the question.
Celestia only nodded back dumbly before looking over the throne room, finally able to take in the incredible amount of destruction the battles inside had made. Her eyes then stopped, finding the weapon that he had dropped in the fight with the hulking giant of a demon. She trotted over before levitating it up to her hooves to examine it. Unlike many of the other weapons the specialist wielded, this was old in both age and design. It had some simplistic yet ornate carvings into the metal, and despite the roughing up of use seemed to be well cared for. It was a clear sign of respect for the past, those who understood the value of a tried and true design that was not yet obsolete. She turned to Discord. “Who… What was it?” she asked.
Discord paused before answering, as if trying to find the right words. “... I wasn’t able to learn everything, but… he’s been fighting these things for what feels like eons. A simple mortal that submitted himself to revenge against these things, somehow gaining more power than should be possible. You know how I used to be the kind of thing foals would check their beds and closets at night for? That’s what he is to them. He is monster that monsters have nightmares about.”
“... What was its… his name?”
“I don’t know. I’m not sure if he even knows, or even cares anymore. But I do know what they call him.”
“They… you mean the demons?”
He nodded. “They are the bringers of the apocalypse, the Legions of Doom… so they named him the Doom Slayer. He is there bane, not because of righteousness or holiness… but because he’s even worse than they are.”
The Doom Slayer pulled his chainsaw out of the Summoner’s body, watching as it faded to nothing. He looked around the familiar reds of Hell.
Well, that was an interesting little detour, he thought before absorbing the ammo the demon released after dying. He looked around and noticed some clearly man made structure, specifically the light markers the U.A.C. used to catch their bearings. He smirked as he pulled out his combat shotgun and pumped it. Time to pay the Doctor a visit.
Author's Note
Almost there, everyone! Just got one last chapter to write. Give me an hour or two, then I'm going to bed. I hope you all enjoyed the fights and that I picked good songs for them. And of course, here's the inspiration for the chapter title.
Doom: The Equestrian Detour
Though historians wouldn’t officially declare it so for another century, for many that day was the end of the Age of Harmony. Whether what came next was for better or for worse depended on whom you spoke to, but no matter what the opinion things had changed, and they changed from the top.
After recovering for the loss of both property and equine life, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna immediately reorganized the Royal Guard to be more stringent in its selection of candidates, as well as retraining the current guards to be more effective. Twilight Sparkle and her student Starlight Glimmer were called in to help rapidly increase the technology the Guard could have access to, starting with attempting to replicate the weapon the Doom Slayer had left behind. In addition, Stalwart and his guards who had witnessed a bit of how the Doom Slayer fought firsthoof were the first to be trained in the use of this new technology, as well as training new recruits in the tactics and weapons to emulate the violent destroyer.
News of Equestria building up its military had initially been dismissed or ignored by the other nations, thinking it to be rumors or exaggerations. It wasn’t until about twenty years later when a Diamond Dog by the name of Morton the Merciless had began taking over and recruiting the other packs under his banner that the world learned exactly what the Equestrians had been up to. No one doubted that Morton’s forces would have been defeated. Even with his massive army nearing half a million soldiers, he was not a military strategist. His only strategy was to attack relentlessly and in overwhelming numbers. What the other nations did not expect, however, was for his forces to be completely routed and for Morton himself to be killed in combat in just three days.
The other nations finally noticed the changes that were made and were terrified of the power and ruthlessness of the new Equestria, afraid of conquest. Despite the reassurances from the Princesses almost all the other nations began to ally together in fear over this new potential enemy, but no one wanted to strike the first blow. The Princesses constant assurances that they would only deploy their forces in retaliation had little effect on easing tensions, but things finally began to ease when Equestria made a concerted effort to try and rebuild their neighbors in Griffonstone, attempting to recover the relics of their past and even helping to finally have a ruling government again. Though it would take another century for it to happen, international relations finally returned to normal. The world finally had begun to understand what Equestria was now: It has always been a powerful beast, but it had not grown more vicious. It had simply learned how to sharpen its claws.
The Princesses themselves however were more interested in the opinion of someone else, someone who was no longer there. But they would finally get their answer three hundred years after that fateful day.
The Doom Slayer appeared in a flash of red light, taking a moment to recover himself before observing his surroundings. The sky was red, the obvious sign of Hell’s influence, but the structures were not what he was used to. Instead of the industrial greys of the U.A.C. or the browns of Hell, this seemed a mixture of white and grey. Ancient marble had been updated with technology, with care being done to try and preserve what was there originally while still keeping everything functional. If it wasn’t for the dark sky he would've almost said it looked… colorful. He seemed to vaguely remember another place he visited being like that as well…
His attention was caught by the sound of gunfire, some of it off in the distance, some of it much closer. He cocked his combat shotgun, ready to take on whatever was ahead, only for two creatures to round the corner to face him. Both they and he stopped to take in what they were seeing.
The Doom Slayer saw a pair of equines, which he could only tell from their shape, holding some kinds of rifles out in front of them, covered head to… hoof and armor that looked remarkably like his.
“Oh my… Is that really-?” one of them asked, completely shocked by what he was seeing.
“I… I don’t believe it. It’s really him…” the other muttered before touching a hoof to the side of his helmet. “This is Private First Class Windrunner. I’m with Private First Class Hardstone on Emerald Ave. We have a… a code 1993.”
“... Say again Windrunner, you have a what?” came a voice on the radio.
“Code 1993.”
“... You’re sure?”
“No doubt about it.”
“... Acknowledged, stay with the target. The Princesses will be with you shortly.”
“Roger.”
It was only fifteen seconds later that two large ponies appeared in a flash of light, both dressed in similar armor to him but with small differences, like how one had gold linings and the other blue.
“My goodness, it is you. Said the one with the gold linings as she removed her helmet, as did the blue one. “Do you remember us? It’s been so long, centuries for us. I have no idea how long it’s been for you.”
The Doom Slayer had to rack his memories for a moment, but he did eventually remember fist bumping a large white pony a long time ago. He lowered his weapon in acknowledgement.
“You came and helped us back then, even if that wasn’t your intention. We… We learned from you, even if you didn’t intend to teach us. Equestria had alway been a place of harmony and tolerance, where we attempted to help those that would oppose us, attempting to appeal to their better nature. We still do as a whole, but… we’ve also had to face the truth. A truth you showed us.” The other pony levitated a finely polished wooden box over to him. “We learned that for some creatures there is no better nature, that there isn’t anything that can be redeemed. Some beings are just monsters pure and simple. And monsters can’t be reasoned with.” The pony opened the box, revealing a familiar weapon he had lost long ago. “Monsters just need to die.”
The Doomslayer hesitated a moment before picking up the super shotgun. It was well maintained, better than he had ever managed to keep it, like it was treated as some kind of jewel. He almost felt bad about the blood and gunpowder residue he was going to get all over it. He opened it up and inserted two shells just as a group of Imps rounded the corner. They all froze when they saw him.
“We attempted to learn ourselves what needed to be done. But we can only do so much on our own,” the pony said, her voice turning harsh as she and the other pony put on their helmets, raising their weapons. The white pony held up what looked like a heavy assault rifle with micro missile attachment, while the blue one had what looked to be a gauss cannon with precision bolt. “Do you have any advice for us, Slayer?” she asked.
For the first time in a long time, longer than he could remember, the Doom Slayer was… happy. Not happy like the satisfaction of killing a demon, a happiness he had not felt since before his crusade against the Legions of Doom. He had taught an entire people to fend for themselves, to make themselves strong against the hordes of darkness that would seek to wipe them out. It made his heart swell with pride… which quickly mixed with rage and sadistic glee. He turned to face the horde of demons as he smiled, levelling his weapon and saying the words that would become the battlecry of Equestria for ages to come.
“RIP. AND. TEAR.”
Author's Note
So there it is folks, the end of this bloody little story, and the second in my "ponies meet a very different interpretation of 'Good Guy' stories", the first one being the crossover with MEGAS XLR. Thankfully this one finished much faster than that one.
I'm gonna be honest with you guys, my stories are all going to take a lot longer to come out, what with grad school and being employed, but never give up hope, I AM always trying to work on something. Check my blog for updates when those come along, so I'll let you know what the future can look like. But for now, let me just leave you with the song that's the inspiration for the chapter title. Peace out, everyone!
