White, all I could see around me was an endless sea of white snow and ice that seemed to never end. The grey cloudy sky equally contrasted with the surroundings in a permenent state of a frozen wasteland. Behind me, the aproximent sixty thousand humans, ponies, minotaurs, griffons, and many other creatures marched in heavy, even steps, crunching the snow beneath them in a steady rhythm. On my left stood my brother, Abel, dressed in a dark grey armor with a long sword strapped to his belt, and to my right, stood Twilight Sparkel, the goddess of magic and knowledge, dressed in her golden regalia that seemed to glow with the power of the gods.
I was greatful that at least one of the gods were willing to aid us in the fight, but was a little upset that it was the one with the least experience in war. However, she made that up with her tactical knowledge, and was able to find a safe passage into the heart of the changeling empire, where I hoped to be leaving with the head of a goddess in my grip.
"Brother, please see reason," Abel began, barely audible over the loud marching behind us. "This is madness. I beg of you brother, you are sending every being in this army to the sticks if we continue from here."
"Or be hailed in Asgard for their bravery in battle," I retorted.
"No one will be entering Valhalla this day, son of Adam. Nor any other realm of honor and piece," the goddess said with an icy tone in her voice. I turned my head to face my brother with a proud smirk on my face.
"See, even the gods speak of victory." Abel simply returned my gaze with a grim expression.
"I do not believe she speaks of victory, dear General," he muttered.
"Do you doubt my leadership?" I asked, narrowing my eyes. Able merely shook his head as he answered..
"I never doubted you over the years, but that doesn't mean I ever doubted your methods of carnage and destruction. Your lust for blood is stronger then your lust for wine, and that, my dear brother, is what concerns me." I couldn't help a small snort of anger to escape my nostrolls, forming into a cloud of steam that was quickly swept away by the raging wind.
"You speak as if I was one of the gods of war," I muttered in disdain. The small alicorn gave a light chuckle, making me glance down at her. "Is there something that amuses you, Goddess?" I asked in a low voice.
"My apologies, Cain. It's just the two of you remind me of my brother and myself," she said with a gentle smile on her lips. However, it quickly fell as she glanced up to face me, her violet eyes meeting with my light green. "But I must advize your tone around me, General. The only reason the gods of this land are willing to aid you, however small their contribution may be, is to keep the world in balance." I gritted my teeth in annoyance, but gave a ferm nod in confirmation.
We marched for a good half hour until we all stopped and saw a small black dot hovering in the sky. Quickly drawing my sword from its sheath, I gripped the leather as hard as I could, ready to fight if this thing was to attack. However, the creature instead stopped and flew away in the opposite direction.
"Coward," I growled, placing my weapon back into its sheath. I felt a firm hand clamp onto my shoulder, and saw Able giving me a firm look, but I could clearly see a bit of fear lightly dancing in his eyes.
"Please, brother," Able began, once again trying to sway me to give the order of retreat. Clenching my jaw, I quickly shrugged him off, and spoke in a firm, booming voice, making sure that the entire army clung to my every word.
"We keep moving. There will be no rest until we reach the queen." With that, the army once again trudged through the snow, but paused after climbing over the large hill the black creature had flown over. There, standing in neat, orderly rows, were possibly hundreds, if not thousands of changelings, their glowing eyes narrowed and fangs bared for all to see. However, my eyes were solely fixed on a single tall changeling that stood atop a large rock before her army. Chrysalis stood proudly with a confident grin on her face as her green regalia glowed with unknown power, making her seem more threatening then she already was with being the goddess of deception and lust. I gritted my teeth as I once again drew my sword, and grabbed my shield from my back.
"Chrysalis!" I bellowed in anger. The goddess gave a small smirk in my direction, and spoke in a calm, seductive tone.
"General Cain. My, my, my, it is a pleasure to finally meet the infamous changeling slayer. Tell me, how many of my children have you slaughtered, hundreds, thousands?" I ignored her questions, even though the urge to bolster that I had slain hundreds of thousands of her kin was strong. She noticed my lack of a responce, and turned her attention towards Twilight, who gave her a glare that would’ve levelled mountains. "And you bring a child among the gods, how... cute." I gritted my teeth as I took a step forwards.
"Hold thy tongue, Demon," I spat, putting as much venom into the name as possible. The changeling queen once again turned towards me, her emerald green eyes glowing with a hellish fury.
"You dare order me? A God?" she asked, her voice low and filled with hatred. I returned her glare, and spoke with all the confidence I had.
"Yes."
The goddess gave a confident grin as she continued to stare at me, her jagged fangs glinting in the light of Celestia’s sunlight.
"Kill them all!" I watched as the changeling army bolted forwards upon their queen's command. Behind me, I heard one of the Griffon commanders ordering their soldiers to fire upon the enemy, and watched a torrent of arrows slam into their black carapus, making the bug’s light green vital fluids spill onto the powder as the arrows struck their targets, forcing them to drop to the ground like stones. I gritted my teeth as I tenced my muscles as they drew closer and closer.
I bolted forwards with a bloodcurdling roar, slamming my blade deep into one of the changeling’s chest, smiling as I felt their blood splatter across and down my arm and cloak.
Finally,] I thought with a wide grin. I get to give that bitch what she deserves.] I retracted my blade, and swiftly cleaved the head of another that sprung on my right, watching as their bodies collapsed to the ground. No mercy.] My attacks were quick and powerful, easily cutting through the dozens of drones that dared to stand in my way. Dared to block the prize I deserved, the head of their queen.
Behind me, I could hear the thousands of warriors in their own conflicts, the sound of steel clashing against steel, magic against magic, and the stench of the dead quickly filling the air. I couldn’t help but smirk at how proud Thor or Montu would be on how well I trained my men, and grinned at the prays I would receive from my father and the rest of Eden, but first I had to kill Chrysalis to even think of all that glory. I deflected a drone’s sword with my shield, and quickly jabbed him in the side, twisting my blade beneath his ribs.
“Cain, behind you!” I quickly turned upon Twilight’s warning, and came face to face with a large Changeling pouncing towards me, fangs bared to sink into my flesh. I grunted as I quickly drew it off course with the metallic clang of my shield, throwing the creature against one of its companions. I gave a firm nod as I watched a large grey Minotaur crush the two into paste with a large sledge hammer easily the size of a regular pony. I returned my attention to the queen, but stopped after gouging out the eye of a changeling.
“Brother!” I paused at the sound of Able’s cries of help, and quickly scanned the battlefield for him. After a few seconds, I was able to spot him battling a large changeling that was using his sword, with Able using a sword belonging to the enemy. It didn’t matter on how that thing attained my brother’s sword, the only thing that mattered was that he needed me, and I wasn’t going to fail my task of protecting him. Bellowing out a roar, I sprinted towards the thing with my sword raised, and watched as it paused at its fight, turning its head to face me with wide eyes. The creature deflected my first strike, and ducked beneath a swing that was ment to take its head. I gritted my teeth as this thing kept dodging or deflecting my attacks, clearly being cowardice of striking back. I had enough of this thing’s game, and quickly struck its chest, grinning in victory as I watched its life slowly drained from its light blue eyes.
I froze upon its eyes, and the crimson blood running down the left side of its mouth. No, not it,] I thought fearfully, watching as a billowing rush of light green flame engulfed his body, revealing my brother, impaled against my sword.
“No,” I said in a near whisper. Quickly retracting my blade, I tore off my cloak and used it to prevent anymore blood from escaping. “No, no, no, no!” Able clutched my arm, his knuckles turning white from how tight his hold was. I didn’t care on the pain, all I could do was pray to every single god of healing I could think of, but no matter how hard I prayed, nothing happened.
He gently opened his mouth, but nothing came out. I leaned forwards, feeling tears rolling down my cheeks and onto his Armor. “L- long, l-l-live, E-Eden,” he said in a breathy whisper that could barely be heard over the battle that surrounded us. Then, as if the gods of death couldn’t be more cruel then they already were, his grip around my arm slackened and I watched his eyes glaze over, staring straight up at the heavens. I clamped my eyes shut, and clenched my jaw so hard I thought my teeth were going to crack. I could feel my body begining to shake from the uncontrollable rage filling my entire body. Then, I heard her voice, the one who had tricked me.
“One down, one to go.” Oh by the gods, I could practically here the smirk on her face. That was it, the last of my anger came to its tipping point, and before I knew it, I grabbed Able’s sword, and charged towards Chrysalis, roaring in complete hatred for the god, blindly lashing out at anything and anyone who stood in my way. I slashed my blade in a diagonal stroke, trying to sever one of her legs, but was blocked by a glowing green sword that was made from her magic. Gritting my teeth, I swung my blade, this time aiming for her neck, but she once again deflected my strike as if it was nothing. She in turn tried to strike me, but I had a bit more difficulty on blocking her strikes the ssame way she did with me. I roared, and charged at her for what felt like the hundredth time, aiming at her chest, but blocked my strike and pushed me away by several feet, causing me to fall on my back, already feeling the exhaustion taking over my muscles from the long fight. I attempted to raise my head from the ground, but found Chrysalis’s sword pointed directly beneath my neck, and the sight of the queen staring down at me with a bored look on her face.
“I tire of this fight, Prince of Eden,” she spat. Driving her blade closer to my throat. “It’s time I end it.”
“I agree,” I replied, grabbing the familiar wooden handle of a battle ax, and with all the strength I had left, I swung my arm towards the goddess’s neck, severing her head from her body. For a while I simply lay there, panting heavily from the battle, covered in blood and filled with pain, but in those few moments of rest, I felt a smile creep onto my face, shortly followed by a chuckle that quickly formed into a hardy laugh. I had done it, I’ve rid the world of the goddess known as Chrysalis, and avenged my brother’s death while doing so.
There was a bright flash of purple, and watched as Twilight entered my point of view with a look of rage on her face. “You killed her,” she snarled through gritted teeth. She bent her head down, our noses nearly touching. “Why did you kill her?”
“She killed thousands of innocence, and killed my brother. Why shouldn’t her end fit the measure of her crimes?” I retorted, slowly rising to my feet. Twilight glared up at me, and gestured with a hoof at the surrounding battlefield.
“And what of your crimes? are they not more heinous then any crime she would’ve done?” I opened my mouth to respond, but paused upon the grim sight that layed before me. The first thing I saw were the thousands of warriors that fought for the side of Eden, all staring straight at me with mixed looks of aw and horror on their faces. Though, I did notice, to my complete shock, that the dead vastly out numbered the living. Everywhere I turned, I was met with the sight of the corpses of changelings laying on the snow, with some having no wounds to be seen on their bodies.
“Are they...,” I trailed off, not wanting to know the full result of my actions. Twilight gave a grim nod as she answered in an equal sounding tone.
“Everyone, the death of the queen was the death of every single changeling that came after her.”
“But... but how?” I asked, looking to the goddess for an answer.
“Due to Chrysalis being the deformed child of Celestia, and her strong magical capabilities over her manipulation over the minds of others, she was able to create a type of hive mind. However, the flaw in this power was that if she were to parish, the changelings that were under her control would die alongside her.” She looked up at me with a frown lining her face. “You killed an entire race, and that is the worst crime any being on this world can do, not counting the fact you killed a god.” She released a heavy sigh as she stared at the dead. “I may be able to speak to Celestia on the matter, but—”
“Cain!” The thunderous voice that had cut the lavender mare’s sentence shook the earth hard enough to be felt for miles. The two of us exchanged a short glance before turning our gazes up at the sun, and watched in horror as a large pillar of fire shot out from the powerful disk, towards the rapidly melting snow. The shockwave that quickly followed blew me off my feet by several meters, causing me to land on top of the corpse of a changeling. Groaning, I slowly rose to my feet, holding my left arm out to uselessly block the extream heat radiating from the tall figure that stood before me.
In all my years of serving the gods, I have never had the pleasure of witnessing the sight of Celestia, the goddess of the sun. But now, as I stand before her, I realise that none of the poems that spoke of her beauty came close to the real thing. Her coat and large delicate wings were the color of clouds, her multicolored mane and tail flowed in a gentle wind that could not be felt, and her eyes were as violet as the twilight filled sky. The eyes of a hate filled god that bore into my very soul. She blinked, and I suddenly remember my location, as well as the one I’m standing in front of, and quickly bend down on one knee, spewing out every single apology I could think of.
“Silence,” she hissed through clenched teeth, I did as I was told and closed my mouth, not wanting to upset the god further.
“Celestia, please, here him out—” Twilight began, but was once again interrupted by the seething goddess.
“Quiet, I have had enough of your excuses,” she spat. I gave a nervous gulp, and chanced a glance at the two, seeing Twilight cowering away from Celestia with her ears pinned to her head from the intense glare she was being given, and watched as her baleful gaze turned to me with even greater intensity. “As for you,” she said slowly, making sure I took in her every word, and felt a force of burning hot magic envelop my throat, slowly constricting as it lifted my body into the air. There was a brief rush of hot air, and I quickly found myself face to face with the queen of Equus.
“Pl- ple.” I tried to beg for her forgiveness, for her mercy, but the more I tried to beg, the tighter her magical hold got. She offered a soft smile, and spoke in a loving manner, the same way a mother would her child.
“Do you beg for mercy? Beg for my forgiveness for the murder of my daughter? Or, do you beg for death?” Her smile fell at her final statement, and she released her hold from around my throat, causing me to fall to my knees, sucking in as much air as I could. “Know this, young prince.” I looked up at her, feeling tears welling up in my eyes. “Know that I will take everything you love away, just like you did with me, and curse you with a pain so great, you will beg for death to take you.” She once again lifted me in the air, and lent close to whisper in my ear.
“I curse you with life, and if yi so bare a child, when it calls thy name as father, it will surely die.”
I felt my heart stop at her proclamation and tried to object it, but before I could utter a word, I felt my body light into flames, causing me to scream in complete agony as it intensified on the center of my forehead. After what felt like an eternity, the burning subsided, and I fell to my knees, weeping at my eternal damnation.
“No, Celestia, they have nothing to do with this.” Twilight’s question caused me to look around, and realise that the solar god had teleported the three of us to the golden gates of Eden, where I could see the large towers made out of pure white marble poking out from above the trees. I turned to face her with fear written clearly in my face, and spoke with all the desperation I had.
“Please, goddess, leave my people out of your vengeance. They have done nothing to deserve punishment from you,” I begged, but my words fell on deaf ears, as she simply ignored me. She spread her wings, and with a powerful flap, flew high in the air over the great city. I turned to Twilight, silently begging her to do something. However, the only responce she gave me, was a sad shake of her head. Then, came the sound of screams and a raging inferno that covered the entire city.
Gritting my teeth in anger, I rushed into the flames, hoping to at least save someone from a pain filled death. But it was a useless act, for as soon as my leg entered the flame filled street, my entire body instantly began to slowly melt from the intense heat, and before I could take another step, I collapsed to the ground, then, darkness.
I groggily awoke, feeling my entire body ache from something. Groaning, I slowly sat up, confused at the sight of ash covering my body. Looking around, I saw that I was surrounded by mountains of the black dust, and could see Celestia staring down at me with an amused look on her face.
“What amuses you?” I spat. Celestia smirked down at me as she answered.
“Why, the fact you don’t remember.”
“Remember, remember what?”
“Why, your death, and the death of Eden,” she said simply, gesturing with a hoof at the ash. As I looked around, slowly realising what she was saying, and in turned, my memory returned.
I remember going into the burning street, falling to my knees from the heat, blacking out for a short while, saving a filly, and... and. My eyes went wide as I looked at my hands, remembering on how I watched my fingers slowly turn to ash as I felt my life slowly fading. I watched as the filly fell out of my arm, and stared up in horror as my body slowly disintegrated into dust before her very eyes. I frowned, and balled my hands into fists and screamed out the pain I felt, the loss of my brother, my curse, everything, and I put all my anger into one name, one name I will forever curse for all eternity.
“Celestia!”
I bolted forwards, intending to kill the very goddess that had forever cursed me, but she merely kicked me away, causing me to go flying into a large pile of ash.
I gave a slight wince as I sat up, simply staring at the goddess with a defeated look on my face. She spared me a glance with a slight smirk on her face. “Remember this day, Cain, because if you hadn’t killed my daughter, none of this would’ve happened,” Celestia said, looking at her hoof with a bored expression. “I never really liked humans anyways, you’re just a plague that needs to be wiped from this world, but running you to madness? Now that sounds more fun, enjoy the rest of eternity.” She once again unfurled her wings, but before she left, she paused upon hearing her younger godly companion calling her name, and turned to face the little unicorn.
“Wait, isn’t there a way he may reverse his curse? Surely you may give him a chance to redeem himself.” Celestia frowned as she thought, gently clicking her tongue against the roof of her mouth. Then, after a short moment of thought, she gave a wicked smile, and spoke in a false joyful tone.
“There is one way, but, it may prove to be rather difficult to reverse a crime as big as his.”
“I’ll take it, whatever it is, I’ll take it,” I said, not really caring on what the price was, I just wanted to be free from this curse. Celestia grinned at my agreement, despite my lack of knowledge of what the task would entail.
“Good, in order to be free from your immortality and be a father, you are to kill ten thousand tyrants.” My heart sank on her words, and it showed on my face.
“Is there no other way?” Twilight asked meekly. The goddess shook her head. Then, without another word, she flew up into the sun, her laughter dying as she entered the bright disk. Sighing, I rose up to my feet, dusting off the ash that clung to my armor.
“Well, might as well get moving,” I muttered, slowly walking in a random direction, but paused at the sound of hooves following me. I turned to see Twilight staring up at me with a determined look on her face. “Why are you following me? Surely your godly duties are more important.”
“There is a clear difference between Celestia and I,” she said, lighting up her horn and presenting my brother’s sword before me. I frowned as I looked from her and the sword.
“And, what would that be?” I asked, grabbing the handle and holstering it across my shoulder.
“I was raised by mortals, Celestia wasn’t. I want to see you succeed in your task, and if that means on sticking by your side for all eternity, then so be it.” I gave a grateful smile, and the two of us began walking towards the begining of what was possibly going to be a long, grueling, and pain filled eternity.