Chapters Holy and Hellish brothers
Chapter 1
There are many forces in the universe. Good and bad, strong and weak, simple and complex. One does not exist without the other, no matter how hard you try. If you do try to create a force with no opposite then, one way or another, the opposite with create itself. If that doesn’t work, then one from somewhere else will come to balance it.
When this happens, many consequences will appear for those that disobeyed the unbreakable rules. Any that stands by will witness its power in either horror or awe but all shall, no matter what, will feel the aftermath of such an event.
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It was the beginning of half term and Charles and Harry were home alone. This wasn’t uncommon as their mum worked night shifts and they didn’t have a dad. Harry was on his PS4 while Charles was on his tablet.
Charles was seventeen and was the older brother. He was the smartest, strongest and most behaved brother out of the two. He had a more bulky build as he had the weight but wasn’t fat so to say. Despite being the better brother, he was an introvert and usually kept to himself so if there was praise for him, he wouldn’t be there to hear it.
Harry on the other hand was nearly the complete opposite. He was two years younger. He was more streetwise, faster and rarely behaved. He was skinny due to his ADHD and high metabolism, had glasses and had an inhaler for his asma. This didn’t stop him from being the extrovert of the two and never shutting up. Even when playing his PS4, he’d usually be online talking with his friends.
Technically, they were half-brother, different dad’s, but they lived with each other and shared a room for so long, they counted themselves as actual brothers. Despite this, they still argued about everything.These two were like chalk and cheese. The two rarely agreed with anything. But when they did, nothing would stop them. That’s if they cooperated long enough.
Like normal, they had split themselves to opposite sides of the house. Charles was downstairs in the front room while Harry was upstairs in their bedroom. This was so they wouldn’t have to be with each other to cause an argument.
Charles was stretched out on the sofa with his tablet in hand. While he was watching YouTube, he could hear Harry upstairs shouting down the mic to his friends. Even with earphones, he could still hear him. He waited for the video to load.
It started to play but it then stopped and showed some simple text.
I’ve chosen you.
Charles thought it was weird before suddenly blacking out.
-------------------- Charles --------------------
“Owwww…” Charles said as he rubbed his head. He had no idea what happened. One minute he’s sitting at home peacefully, next he’s in...in...where was he?
“Ah. You have awoken. ” said some voice behind him.
Charles turned around to see an old man, probably in his 60s or something, in white robes and sandals. Around him was a slight glow that he would have missed in the pure white background if it had not blinded him.
“Oh, I’m terribly sorry. I forget mortals are blinded by my form. Let me change quickly. ‘’ said the old man. A second later, the light dimmed and Charles could see. He opened his eyes to see the man now wearing normal clothes. Getting a better look, he was wearing a simple white shirt with some loose fitting jeans. The man had white hair, a walking stick that looked like it had been pulled straight from the tree and a badge on his shirt.
“Who the fuck are you? " Charles said, now looking at the man as he also looked around the stark white void.
“I’m God. The ruler of man and the… ” the man said before getting cut off.
“I’m sorry, but stop. One, I’m an atheist and don’t believe in that bullshit. Two, if you are God, then what do you want? And three, how do I get home? " He said bluntly. He would normally be quiet and just walk away from problems but when stuck in a void, it’s very hard to tell which way to walk.
“I assure you, I am real. To answer you other questions, it shall take some explaining. " said ‘God’.
“If you were real, then why has the ‘all loving God’ create such horrible things like parasites, disease and predators? " Charles responded.
“I did not make them myself. I created this world then let it play out. I created a region, the garden of Eden, for humanity. But they betrayed me, so I banished them to the already created real world. I am sorry for the horrors of the world but they are living this too and therefore have my love as well. " he said.
“Fine, just...just get on with it. " Charles said as there really wasn’t a way to argue that. He also didn’t want to because he could start an argument that lasts for an hour or two and he couldn’t be bothered.
“You see, like every force, there is an equal and opposite. For every… ” God trailed off before being cut off like before.
“...for every matter, an antimatter, yes, I know this. I chose physics in college. " Charles said.
“Yes,well…as I was saying, this rule goes to everything, even me. The Devil, the evil to my good, has been trying to overrule me ever since being sent down from the heavens. With so little people believing in us in these modern times, he has got despite and has looked to your kinds own ideas to help him. ’' he said. Charles was standing there intently although he didn’t show it.
“He has looked at you science and fiction for answers for the last few decades. I fear he has found the solution. He plans to use the limitless energy of hell and the underworld to break time and space, to travel to new universe’s and use them to overthrow me. I have chosen you to be my warrior and fend off his attempts. ‘’ he finished.
“So, basically, Satan or whatever he’s called, is using hell power to break into others and corrupt them? That sounds very familiar. " Charles said.
“Not exactly. You see, He and I cannot leave this realm. We are bound to its walls and cannot get through. But you can. Your body’s are all that keep you in this realm. I plan on sending chosen ones through the barrier and into others to protect them and spread our words of all things holy. " God said.
Charles ran this through his head.
“So you want me, a college student, to go and fight against others sent by the devil to spread your word around? You trust a 17 year old to save the world’s you can’t even go to? Did you really think this through? ‘’ Charles questioned as the absurdity of it hit.
God looked saddened but still dead serious.
“Yes, I did think this through. I know the craziness of this but I have my reasons. I need you now as I have sensed his domain grow restless and his actions more frequent. He is preparing to start his plan and I have no way to stop it myself. " he said, somewhat desperate now.
“Well, even if I said yes, I have no idea with what or how I’m going to fight. I might not even survive the world I’m sent to. For all I know, the first world I reach could be a lava world or something. " He said.
“I had already thought of this. I shall grant you angel powers and a weapon that suits your soul and mind. But, as I do this, your body will break down to incorporate this and you will drift to the closest realm. As for the survivability of the world you’ll go to, it should share basic features like breathable air, food and water. " said God.
Charles looked at God with suspicion.
“So you’re just going to give me these powers and the next thing I know, I’ll be in a different realm? Do I get a choice? " He said questionably.
“Unfortunately not… ” God said.
As he said that, he raised his hand and pointed his palm at Charles. Before he could react, a blinding light made the world go dark as he once again fell unconscious.
--------------------- Harry ---------------------
“Hey! Wake up! You can’t sleep Infront of me now can you! ‘’ shouted a figure above him. The last thing he remembered was his game freezing with ‘i’ve chosen you’ on the screen.
“Uhh…” Harry got up and looked around. From what he could see, he was on a very comfortable three seater sofa. A sofa that was floating over a lake of red hot molten rock with an inferno roaring on its surface. But even with his glasses, he couldn’t see the moving corpses and souls trapped on its surface.
“Well, finally. Your awake my boy. I was wondering if I had made the field air tight or if you had died from those lovely toxic fumes. They are deadly this time of eternity. " said the man. Harry looked him over. He was a man in his 40’s wearing a suit and tie. He also had horns, a tail and skin of pure red. He looked the same height as Harry without the horns.
“Hi, I’m Lucifer Devil Satan, but you can just call me Lucifer. So, I take it that you would like to know why your here. " said the man.
"Uhh, yeah. I’d also like to know where I am first and who the fuck are you? " Harry said, finally shaking the unconsciousness off.
“Right, okay. Well, your in hell, the place of unending torture and the place of evil souls. I’m the lord of hell itself, the Devil. But just call me Lucifer. " said Lucifer.
Harry looked around again and had to agree that this looked like hell and that the man did look like the Devil.
“And why am I here? " He said.
“You’re here to help me. " he stated.
“Help you? Why would I help you? " Harry asked.
Lucifer laughed. “Because it’s either you help me or you can join the...hold on... “. He pulled a clipboard from behind the chair and flipped through the pages. “...You can join the mute room of eternal boredom. Trust me, it’s worse than it sounds. " he said.
Harry looked at Lucifer with suspicion, who looked back with a smug grin.
“So, what do you want from me? " Harry said. He may as well listen to him because he had very little option.
“Finally, to the point. I need you to spread some chaos and dismay for me. You see, God and those goody two shoes have tried to get rid of me for centuries. They are always judging humans like you. At least I don’t judge, I hate you all evenly. " Lucifer said as he looked at Harry.
Lucifer then continued. “But I also don’t mind what you humans have done. The best apocalypse I could imagine was one of fire but a nuclear winter is even more insane than me. And with your kinds knowledge, I can spread my influence forever. But that’s where I need you. I can't go but I can send you. I will give you powers and you give me ruins, seem fair? “.
Looking at him, Harry asked “What sort of powers? “.
“Demon powers. Basic corruption, hell fire, shadow work, wings, that sort of stuff. I have also made you some weapons but you’ll see them when you get there. ”.
Harry said “Sure, when do I go? " Before even thinking of the ramifications.
Lucifer laughed. “No worries, no demands, just to the point. Ha, I like you kid. Too bad I have to send you away otherwise you would have become a perfect demon. " He said.
He raised his hand and snapped his fingers. Harry was engulfed in flames. They didn’t hurt but that didn’t matter as he fell unconscious.
Author's Note
Well, looks like this is the next story I do. Hope you enjoy.
[Insert 'read my other stories' line here]
Holy and Hellish brothers
Chapter 2
--------------------- Charles ---------------------
Charles groaned as he gained consciousness after being knocked out twice in a single day. He felt cold, miserable, angry and weird. The reason for each feeling revealing something.
He felt cold and miserable because he was stript of his clothes. The only pieces he had were his pants and socks. He felt angry at the asshole who sent him here. Cough, cough, God. He felt weird because, upon further inspection, he was cuffed and had a rope tied around his waist which bounded his new wings.
This caused him to fully look his new body over. On his back were a pair of huge, pure white, feathered wings. And lower down, he found he had a tail which looked like a snake attached to him. At the end of his new tail was some fur and fluff.
On his bare body, he could see runes and markings of some sort. Most depicted an angel doing something with a sphere of light. He also noticed a small pulling on his head.
Looking at the environment, he saw he was in some sort of dungeon or prison. It was cold, with stone walls and a metal bar door and window.
"Well, this is just great, isn't it? " he said to himself sarcastically.
Charles continued to talk to himself. "If I ever see god again, I am going to kill him. Even if I can't, I will at least damn try to."
He spent the next hour just looking around, out the window and at himself. He practiced using his new tail and looking to see if he could take any of the restraints off.
While trying to undo the rope from his waist, he heard footsteps in the corridor. Not footsteps. Something else. He shuffled to the bars to his cell and looked out.
Coming down the corridor was a horse and two ponies, which he could tell apart from the size and shape. It was made even weirder by the fact that they had bright colours that normal animals didn't have. They also had horns, wings or both.
The ponies were wearing some sort of gold armour and had spears strapped to their sides. The horse was pure white, like his wings, but had a rainbow coloured mane. She had a crown and some other regalia.
The horse asked something to each other which he couldn't understand.
"Um, hey. " he said wearily. The three beings looked at him and made him feel uncomfortable.
They tried to speak to him but Charles couldn't understand a single word.
"I can't understand you. " he said. To show this, he tilted his head like a dog. They seemed to get this and one of the ponies walked back. It came back with paper, ink and quills under its wing. The horse's horn then glowed and the stuff just moved on it's own.
Charles moved back at this. They saw this and the glowing stopped after the objects were lowered to the floor. The other pony's horn lit up and he started to move the object. Charles moved back a bit more but this time, they didn't stop.
They drew on the paper with the inked quill. On it was a rough sketch of the ponies speaking. It then had an even worse drawing of him on it with a crossed out speech bubble and question marks. So they can't understand me either, just wonderfully.
They then drew me looking over...a map with more question marks. Do I know where I am? I shook my head. Before they continued, I held my hand out to try and get the paper. They saw this and gave it to me.
On it I drew my clothes and me shivering. I showed it to them. They looked at one another before the horse spoke and the pony walked off again. He returned with my clothes which I would have put on if I wasn't cuffed.
I held out my wrist in hope they would understand. They did but the two ponies pulled out their spears. Fair enough . I quickly got my clothes on.
They were the same ones I had on when I left, which was a pair of loose jeans, a plain black shirt and a dark grey hoodie. I realised that my shirt and hoodie had holes in the back for my new wings and in the back of the jeans for my tail which were convenient. I even got my shoes back.
After dressing, they restrained me again and put away their spears. After getting a new piece of paper, they then continued drawing.
We're going to be here for a while...
--------------------- Harry ---------------------
*Gasp*
He woke up with a jolt, sweating profusely as if having a nightmare. He looked around in his alert state to find he had no clue where he was. He was in some sort of small house with barely enough room to stand up.
"Where the fuck am I? What the hell is going on? " he said to himself.
He looked himself over and found numerous things on his body. He had blood red horns, runes, a tail and a pair of bat wings with pale claws at the end. This freaked him out at first. "Huh, these are cool...I guess? " he said. Lucifer wasn't kidding.
He looked around again, calmer this time. There were lots of animals all over the place. Squirrels, mice, rabbits and birds. He saw a kitchen in the back and was currently sitting on a soft sofa.
He saw a door behind him which must have led out of the house. He got up and went to walk out. He reached the door and opened it, only to be greeted by two little, multicolored animals.
"Uurrr…".
He stood stock still for a moment as they looked at each other. Harry suddenly slammed the door and ran for the kitchen, hoping that there was a backdoor. He saw it and bolted through it just as he heard whatever they were entering the front door.
He sprinted around the house and into the forest, keeping to the edge so as to not get lost. He ran for a while before stopping at the base of a tree and catching his breath.
"What...the fuck...were they? " Harry panted, his asma kicking in. He sat down and waited for his asma to calm down. Just as he got up, he heard the sound of speech, which he couldn't understand.
He looked around to see those two animal things again.
"Fuck. " he whispered. Acting quick, he started climbing up the tree and hopefully out of sight.
He took a better look at them from his high hiding spot. One of them was yellow with pink hair and wings. The other was purple with different purples in its hair. It didn't have wings like the other but had a horn.
The horn of the purple one glowed like a glow stick and was being waved around, looking for his tracks most likely. It came to the base of the tree he was at and looked up.
Reacting fast, he flattened himself against the tree. The glow he saw around its horn slowly encased him. He was then lifted out of the tree.
Harry responded by trying to hold onto the tree but was pulled from it before he could get a good grip.
They spoke to each other while he just floated there, his heart beating a hundred miles per hour. One of them, the yellow one, turned to him and spoke.
"You OK? You hurt? " it said in broken English.
"W-w-what the f-fuck are y-you? " he stuttered out.
"We ponies. We help you. " it, no, she said with a smile which only creeped him out more.
"What? I'm pretty sure ponies are meant to be multicolored or be able to speak. " he said.
"Where from? " she asked.
"I'm from Britain. " he said. She turned her head at this. The purple one then started asking questions.
While they spoke, Harry tried getting out of the glowing hold. He picked up a hooked stick and tried to pull himself away with it. He moved slightly until the stick broke and he floated back into place.
The yellow one turned to his and spoke again.
"What are you? " she said.
"I'm a human? Have none of you ever seen one before? " he said in confusion.
She looked confused and would have asked if the purple one hadn't shouted. We both looked to see a huge wolf thing with glowing green eyes staring at us. Harry was dropped from the glow-y stuff and saw as its horn shone brighter. It then fired a bolt at the wolf thing as it howled.
It charged at us, with more that were hidden now showing up to attack. The horned one fired more bolts, few of which actually hit.
As one on the side pounced out to get him, he covered his face and prepared for it.
Help me! Save me! I don't want to die!
He felt something on his arm before the wolf connected. He opened his eyes to see a pair of gauntlets on his arms and hands.
He pushed it away quickly. As he did this, one of the gauntlets released a burst of fire and the wolf howled in pain as it burned to death. The other wolves saw this and stopped, their eyes on him.
Harry took advantage of this and stood up. He spread his arms, releasing more fire in his hands, to try and intimidate the others.
"COME ON THEN, BRING IT! " he shouted. They back off a bit. He then turned to the creatures. "Run. ".
The yellow one said something to the purple one before it lit up its horn and there was a flash.
He suddenly found himself inside a library. He looked confused for a second. The gauntlets then faded from his arms as a flame his body absorbed.
"What the fuck just happened? " he asked himself out loud.
"Are you OK? " asked the yellow one.
"Umm..yeah, I think so? " he said hesitantly.
She approached him as Harry backed away. She looked confused by this as if she expected him to stay still.
"It's Ok. I not hurt you. " she said calmly.
"Well, I still don't trust either of you. " he said.
"Why? " she asked.
"Cause I hardly know anything about what the fuck is going on or who the fuck you are. " he stated.
"My name Fluttershy. This Twilight. " she said, pointing out the other thing. They said they were ponies, right?
"My names Harry Parkes. So where are we? " he asked.
"We in ponyville. " she said.
"Never heard of it. " he said.
"Equestria? " she questioned me.
"Nope. ".
She looked at the purple one which said something.
"Equis? ".
"Nope. ".
She looked at purple, I'll just call it purple from now on, and said something that made her eyes go wide.
"From different world? " she asked.
"I think so. " he replied.
The two ponies spoke with each other. While they did that, Harry looked at his hands and wondered how he summoned those weapons. He tried simply thinking of them but that had no effect. So he tried again.
Gauntlets, appear.
His arm ignited and a fire danced on his arm and hands before condensing into the gauntlets. They had a weight to them that felt uncomfortably comfortable and were made out of gold and gems. They were lined with intricate details that got more interesting the more he looked. He thought of them disappearing.
Gauntlets, disappear.
And just like before, they turned into flame before his body absorbed it. He made a mental note to check out his powers later.
When the two ponies stopped talking, he looked at them as the yellow one, flutter-she was it, spoke.
"Come to castle with me and friends? " she said questioningly. He nodded.
May as well, got nothing better to do.
With that, purple trotted off while flutter-she stayed with me.
Holy and Hellish brothers
Chapter 3
--------------------- Fluttershy ---------------------
The human sat down on the chair in the library. It was very obviously bored but had nothing to do. He looked around for something intriguing to look at but he couldn't. He didn't like to look at fluttershy for some reason either.
While waiting, she looked the human over. It was definitely a mammal, most likely an ape of some kind. It stood upright which made it very tall, had a shiny ginger mane, had glasses on its flat face and was mostly covered up in clothes.
Judging by looks, it was Male. His clothes were mostly plain and simple, with things written on the front of the hoodie and shirt it was wearing. The fact it had clothes meant it was intelligent, but she did not know how intelligent he was.
After a while, Twilight and her friends joined us.
"Hello darling. It's good to see you again, dear. " Rarity said.
As the group entered, they all looked to the main centre of attention in the room. The human, who called himself Harry, didn't like this and got up to lean against a far wall.
"Woah, what is that thing? Looks like a minotaur and a bat pony had a weird child. " said Rainbow Dash.
"Ah can agree with that. It looks quite darn weird. " Applejack agreed.
"Ooo, does it like parties or cake? What about some punch or juice? Or some sweets? " Pinkie pie said at speeds very few kept up with.
"It called itself a 'human', but I've found no reference to it in any of my books. It's a completely new species. " Twilight said.
Twilight continued. "Me and Fluttershy found it unconscious in the Everfree forest. ".
"So we're just taking it to the princesses to see if they know about it? What if it's dangerous? " RD said.
"He's not. " Fluttershy said quietly.
Twilight added to this. "Yeah, Fluttershy is right. It helped save us from Timberwolves, even after we scared him and he ran away. ".
"But darling, why are we taking it to Canterlot? Surely a letter is fine? " Rarity asked.
Twilight replied, saying "Well this creature wields a magic I've never seen before. It looked like the fires of Tartarus but it was somehow controllable. Spike already sent a letter anyway but she's not replied yet. ".
"Okie Dockie, then. " Pinkie pie said happily before bouncing off.
They left the library together, the human following behind. In the streets, the other ponies gave it wearily looks. This wasn't a surprise considering how many monsters came through the town.
They got to the train station and waited for the train to Canterlot. As one pulled in, she noticed the human didn't seem to mind the train at all. Most of her animals disliked any travel that wasn't by hoof but the human seemed to know what it was.
They all got on the train as it departed for Canterlot.
--------------------- Charles ---------------------
Charles was still stuck in his cell. He had his clothes, which was better, but he was still locked up in a new world by creatures that looked a lot like they were pulled from a young girls cartoon.
They had also taken off his cuffs but had left the two guards there to make sure he didn't try anything.
So during this time, he had been testing his magic. At first, he thought it would be hard. But he soon found out that it was way more simple than he thought. He simply made a mental order and the magic would obey.
If he told the magic to "levitate me" , it would obey and he would float. He could also make simple light spheres to help see in the dark cell. He had even been surprised when he simply asked for entertainment, which resulted in a micro-war between the tiny pebble golem's and the light people, all of which were about 5 cm tall.
Just as the big finale between the leader golem and the brightest one was about to start, he had to pause it as the royal white horse and an equally royal looking dark blue horse showed up at his cell.
They both still spoke in a language he couldn't understand but he still sat there in hope of getting an understanding of a few words.
The dark blue horse pulled out a big, old book and started flipping through the pages. The 'magic' they used did scare him at first before he realised he also had 'magic'. She stopped on a page, said some nonsense and then her horn glowed brighter. A single magic tendril stretched out and connected with his head.
"Thou should understand me now. " she said in an authoritative yet calm voice. Charles nodded.
"Good. To start, what are you and why are you here? " she said bluntly.
"Umm…" he said, not used to hearing them yet. He did finally speak after a second . "I'm a human angel and I was sent here to stop someone from my world from harming yours? " Charles said, unsure if she would believe him.
"You were sent to stop a threat? What threat would that be, human? " she asked. Charles was now worried that they might not believe him.
"He is a human demon. Think of a being like me but with some sort of evil magic. " he answered.
She paused to think of that. She then just continued. "And how do you plan to stop this possible threat? ".
I ran that through my mind quickly, and answered "Either we permanently subdue them or kill them. ".
She looked shocked as I said the last bit.
"Death should not be an option. " she replied.
"Well, if they were human, like me, then I might be able to talk them down but that most likely would not work. " Charles suggested.
"And why is that? " she asked. I need to get a name for her.
"Well, they might be corrupted by their powers. From what I know, those powers are the only reason we exist here but since they're hellish, evil powers, it might have corrupted them. But I don't know. " I explained.
"You talk as if from a different world. Would thou explain? " she said.
I froze a bit at this, before just telling the truth.
"Well, originally, I was a normal human in a different realm. Imagine me without the wings, tail or powers. The God summoned me and explained how the Devil, his counterpart and rival, was trying to spread his evil by sending minions of his out to other realms. He sent me to this realm, against my will, to stop the one here. " I said. I then spoke again before she could ask more questions.
"Since I've told you pretty much everything you need to know at the moment, can you let me out. I don't even know why I'm in here in the first place. " I said.
She looked and spoke to the other horse thing before getting back to me. "It seems fair to release you. But if you harm any of our little ponies, thou shall pay the price. " she said.
Charles smiled. "Thanks. May I also have your name? " he asked.
"My name is princess Luna, ruler of the moon and guardian of dreams. This is my sister, princess Celestia, ruler of the sun. " said princess Luna.
Charles smiled again. "Oh, I was talking to royalty, didn't know. My name is Charles Steel. It's been a pleasure speaking with you. ".
As they let Charles out, he saw a pony bring a letter to princess Celestia, who promptly turned and walked out.
--------------------- Harry ---------------------
He was bored. Not the normal bored which could be solved by day dreaming, but the kind where the only thing you can do is look at a spot or a hole and just stare while the mind goes blank.
He had followed the ponies because he had nowhere else to go and it seemed like a good idea. But he had to think about the angel sent after him. Lucifer did say they were trying to stop him and it wasn't a stretch of the imagination to think God could have sent an angel after him.
He had magic hell powers but pretty much no experience using them. If God sent someone here, they might have the same problem but he didn't want to take chances.
What can I actually do?
He asked himself this question a few times. He knew his magic responded to thoughts but he didn't know the extent of his powers. The most powerful thing he had done so far was a small flamethrower from his hand and summoning a pair of gauntlets.
He couldn't test his powers ever because he was currently in an enclosed space.
How much power do I actually have?
He asked himself mentally. He didn't expect to get a reply.
Power: 99.99%
He was startled by this new voice in his head. It seemed to just answer questions though so he continued asking.
What could I do at 100%? That's quite a bit of power. Can you tell me some combat spells?
He asked this just in case he ran into the angel, although the chances of that were quite small. That angel could be anywhere in the world. What were the chances it would be wherever he was going.
Example combat spells: Hell fireball, Hell fire blaze, Hell blast, Unholy restraints, Unholy corruption, Shadow movement, Shadow cutters. More will be added upon discovery.More will be added upon discovery? Does that mean I have to make more myself or I have to wait for this to make more?
He didn't get an answer to that. It seemed that whatever this thing was, it didn't answer all his questions, just some of them. He had no idea what it was but it was sure helpful. Might have been useful back in the forest, but oh well.
What are you? Is there anymore of you in me or just that part? Sucks for you then.
Harry now at least knew what it was, he could probably solve why it was there. Lucifer probably put it there to help with the powers or to control his powers for now until he could control them.
He shook his head to clear it as the steam train slowed down for the station. The brakes screeched a bit before stopping. He and the ponies hit up and walked out onto the platform.
He looked around and got even more of those glares from the ponies. He even saw some wearing gold armour which looked like it was pulled from fantasyland, although that wasn't a far description from everything he had seen so far. He didn't pay attention to them as he followed Flutter-she, Twilight and the others.
As they walked through the street, he could see the ponies clear a path in a non-conspicuous way as the six in front talked. He pulled up his hood and used his magic to block his face.
He stayed with them all the way to what looked like a huge castle and they were just allowed to walk in.
Either they are friends to royalty, they are royalty or the guards are so completely useless that you could get away with murder in front of them and they wouldn't notice.
The castle looked even bigger on the inside, which looked weird comically huge compared to the ponies. They made their way to a huge set of doors and were let in.
It seemed to be a throne room if the occupied thrones were any indication. On one was a big, white pony with multicolored hair and the other was only a bit shorter which was dark blue with what looked like a night sky in its hair.
As he stood before royalty, he heard the six talk to them. While they did, he noticed that the big ponies were paying more attention to him than to the ones talking.
This may get interesting...yeah, I'm fucked.
Author's Note
The two might meet next time...or not. Depends really. Hope you enjoyed. If you find any mistakes, please just tell me do I can fix them. Thanks.
Holy and Hellish brothers
Chapter 4
--------------------- Harry ---------------------
He stood in behind the six ponies and looked at the much bigger one that seemed doubly focused on him. It felt weird and off, as if they knew something but wouldn't tell.
As the six and the two royals stopped talking, the horns of the two bigger ponies lit up and a string of magic headed towards him. He ducked and dodged the tendrils, not allowing them to touch his head which they were aiming for.
"Harry, it okay. This spell help understand you. It allow us to hear you. " Flutter-she said in the broken English.
Harry looked at them for a second before shaking his head. "There is no way I am going to let those things get to my head. End of story. " he stated.
Flutter-she told them what he said before a magical glow surrounded him again. The tendrils came as he used his hand to block them.
Guard head.
With this, a transparent dome of his magic enclosed his head. He saw that the tendrils now couldn't get through and would start to smolder if they touched it for too long. He crossed his arms and smirked, although no one could see it.
"Please trust princesses. They only here to help you. " Flutter-she said. She even tried the puppy dog eyes.
As much as the puppy dog eyes worked, he still hated the idea of those things in his head. He shook his head again.
The 'princesses' sighed as they gave in. Despite their sign of defeat, he kept the dome on, just in case they tried to do it again once he lowered the shield.
The princesses looked at each other and then pulled a feather and an ink pot as they started to write on a piece of paper. They passed the paper to Flutter-she, who was now a translator for this meeting.
"Why you here? " was the first question.
He had to stop and think about that one. He couldn't tell them he was here to cause mayhem and anarchy. But he couldn't deny his powers were evil.
"I was sent here from a land far away to help the planet. " he said.
She repeated this to the royals, which replied. "From what threat? ".
This was another hard one. He could say the angel but that might not be believable. So he came up with some bullshit that might sound plausible.
"I came to balance the words magic. The magic here is too one-sided and I was sent to even it. " he said.
Flutter-she told the princesses before continuing with the list of questions. "What do you plan doing? " she said.
Why are all these questions so hard to answer. He didn't know what to do, exactly. He could just go on a rampage and become a typical villain. Or he could go elsewhere and cause evil there. For now, he just needed to answer vaguely.
"I plan on travelling and spreading my magic. " he answered.
The questioning carried on for a while as he lied or twisted truths to make a convincing story. Harry had, at some point, made himself a seat to sit in while being interrogated. When the list of questions and extras finished, Harry and the six were escorted out by guards and were guided to our rooms.
The six shared a big room together while he got a smaller room to himself. The room felt off but that might have been the fact it was so posh. He had never lived in such a fancy place. It had the common front room, bedroom and bathroom. He had a double bed to himself, which he had never had.
Harry looked at the clock in the room and saw it was about 8PM. He normally would be on his console and would be up till two or three in the morning. Instead, he practiced spells.
He practiced his shadow movement spell, which was a short range teleportation spell. With it, he could travel from shadow to shadow. He found that he actually turned into a shadow for the journey, so he was pretty much immune to physical damage.
He then tried something new, just to see if he could. A curse. It was a bit harder than expected, but he managed to give a tiny curse to a cup. The curse was that, once every two days, it would somehow spill its contents all over any being carrying it. Oh, this is good.
He also practices using his tail to grasp stuff. It was weird controlling a limb he had never had before and was the hardest thing he had done so far.. He decided that, to get used to the limbs, he would compel himself to use it more.
After playing around with some of his other spells, he finally felt tired enough to sleep. Although not comfortable, having to sleep with new wings and a tail, he did slowly drift off to sleep.
--------------------- Charles ---------------------
It was late by the time he had finished training his magic in the guards indoor magic range. It was like a shooting range, with targets, for bows and arrows and magic blasts. This was inside the indoor guards gym. He had practiced using different blasts which yielded different results.
His first one was a simple magic blast, where he gathered a ball of magic and threw it at the target. It was basic and easy.
His second one was an attack he had seen in many stories, magic missiles. His one though was more like magic cones but it worked the same. He could make them spread, guide them, or set a target which they all swarmed before all exploded.
His third was an arc. He would slice his hands as if they were swords while piling magic into them. When he slashed, the magic would be let out and cause an arc that could explode or cut, depending on how he wanted it.
Charles also worked on some utility spells like levitating objects and others. He even got his own communication spell which let him speak with up to 5, though as he got better, he could probably do more. The problem with this one, though, was that it wasn't as clear as the magic the princesses used.
He then finally pulled the halo from his head and looked it over. The ponies had stored it in a cage, which was the source of the tugging on his head while in the cell. He could control it with his mind or throw it and it would return. He could change its size, brightness or weight if he thought hard enough.
He had noticed most of the guards leaving and some new ones entering as they changed shifts. He looked at the clock and saw it was 10:27PM, so he headed up to his new room.
The room was off, which was likely due to the fact that it had magic enchantment all over. It was cold as well since someone left a window open, which he closed when he entered.
He went to the bathroom before getting undressed. He had a quick shower, dried off and then folded his only set of clothes. He sat on his bed thinking about the world he was now in.
The ponies ruled much of the land and seemed to be a friendly race from what he saw of the map. He also saw other islands named after the race that inhabited them. That meant that this world had Ponies, Dragons, Griffin, Minotaurs and some more he probably didn't know.
The technology of the ponies was behind what he was used to. They had plumbing which was magical but not technological. He had seen a steam train, which looked normal but he couldn't make sure. He knew that they weren't too good with science as they seemed fascinated by the trinkets in his pockets, like the laser pen attached to his key chain.
That was especially funny when he taunted the guards with it from the other side of the hallway.
He chuckled as he got into bed and fell asleep.
--------------------- Morning ---------------------
Charles woke up early, like normal. Even back home, the latest he'd wake up was about eight in the morning.
He kicked the sheets off as he rolled out of bed. He walked over to his clothes and got dressed, making himself as smart looking as possible in casual clothes.
He left the room and, after asking a skittish maid, found his way to the dining room. He could see the princesses already having their meals. Charles simply went over to a fruit bowl and grabbed an apple.
He didn't stay long, however, and was gone as he finished his apple as he took another on the way out. He really didn't feel like socializing so he walked down the hall as he remembered his way to the indoor training room.
Next to it was a library which he wanted to check out. He didn't want to read about history because it didn't affect him much in the present. He decided that he would read about the magic in this world to see if he could learn about his own. He also picked up one on runes just because it looked interesting.
As he read the book he got the gist of how their magic worked. They had to picture symbols in their heads and then fill it with their magic to get the spell to work. Charles found that his mind skipped the symbols part so he could just put power into any spell.
The rune book was also interesting. It worked just as he expected. Draw or carve a pattern or symbol into an object and apply magic to it. The one he found the most intriguing was the golem runes. It would make a pile of stones move and follow orders by the one who made them but the carving or drawing must be done without magic. This meant that, according to the book, the smallest working golem rune was the size of a wagon wheel.
He would have continued to read but he was getting anxious about the amount of ponies just looking at him and writing notes. At least most were somewhat subtle about it. That was except a purple pony who was clearly staring at him while writing a ridiculous amount of stuff.
He left the library and headed outside for some fresh air. While I'm out here, I may as well try using these new wings.
--------------------- Harry ---------------------
Harry rolled out of bed. It was a couple of hours before midday. He could normally sleep in till past midday if left alone but was woken up by a maid walking in with cleaning spray and a cloth. They were cleaning the windows until they noticed him. They left their stuff before backing out the room slowly. He got dressed, put his glasses on and left the room.
He wasn't hungry despite not eating since yesterday. He just wandered around the place till making it outside. In the blinding sun, he used his magic to cover his face again to act as sunglasses. While outside, he was approached by Twilight, who was carrying multiple feathers, inkpots and paper. She spoke to him, asking questions by the sound of it, before facepalming. Most likely she just remembered I can't understand her.
He walked away but was followed. So he started to jog away from her. After a while, she gave up and stopped. He carried on for a little before stopping himself to look at where he was now.
He looked around at the many guards in gold armour. They were either stock still with the only movement being their heads looking around and them breathing, or they were training on what looked like a big square platform. This platform has stuffed dummies and an enclosed area for duels or something.
He then looked over to the clear area to the side to see someone looking at him. A human. He couldn't see their face as it was covered in a magic veil, like his. They both froze and stared at each other before both created spells in their hands.
Holy and Hellish brothers
Chapter 6
--------------------- Charles ---------------------
As the early sun peeked through the window, Charles woke up normal. Well, it's the day of departure. Better get ready. He kicked the sheets off and swung his legs out of bed. He stood up and stretched, making sure the entirety of his body was awake.
He put his clothes on and walked to the bathroom. After finishing his business, he walked out of his room. When he opened the door,he saw guards posted right across from it. They looked at him but did nothing.
Charles opened the door to Harry's room. He opened the door to the bedroom where Harry was. He was sleeping peacefully in the bed as Charles started shaking him awake.
"Urrr...fuck off…" was his reply. Charles shook him again. "Come on Harry, you need to wake up. " Charles said.
He hated waking his brother up because it would put him in a grumpy, miserable and asshole-ish mood. But he didn't have much of a choice in the matter, so he would just have to suck it up and deal with it.
"Urrr...what? " groaned Harry. His eyes opened slightly to see Charles standing there. He groaned again as he sat up and yesterday's events replayed in his head.
"We need to get up and get ready to leave. " he said to Harry. He groaned again before getting out of bed as Charles left the room. A minute or two later, Harry came out grumbling about how it was too early.
"So, what are we doing today? " Harry asked.
"Well, we have to check the supplies so we know what we've got, we need to have a look at the 'traveller's cart' thing and I would like to get a book about the other species so we know what's out there. " Charles said.
"And why do you need me for this? " asked Harry.
"Cause I need your opinion as well since it involves both of us. And you can also try looking for any essentials that I might miss. " Charles said.
Harry groaned again. "Fine, whatever, let's just get on with this. ".
They both left the room to the same guards Charles had seen and another one waiting for them.
Charles used his spell for the translation as the pony talked.
"The princesses have requested you two to meet them in the dining hall. If you would please follow me. " said the pony as he walked off with us in tow.
In the dining room were the princesses and the six ponies Harry had arrived with. They were all sitting there talking and eating, till the pony we were following announced their presence.
The two boys paid no attention to them as they sat at the table. They were eventually asked what they wanted and both answered with some toast. As they waited, they saw the princesses horns glow and the tendrils moved towards them.
Harry fended them off as Charles casted his own communication spell on most at the table.
"Good morning humans. I hope you slept well. " said Celestia. Charles said nothing as Harry groaned.
"We would like to discuss your banishment in more detail. " she said. "We have the traveller's cart constructed and prepared. We have supplies such as food and water settled as well. ".
Charles nodded. "Thank you, your highness. We are grateful for your help. ".
"While we may be helping you now, rest assured that if you are found within our borders, you shall be arrested. " said princess Luna bluntly.
"We understand, your highness. " Charles said.
A plate with some buttered toast was placed in front of them. Charles thanked them while Harry was too busy eating and looking grumpy.
"Do you know where you shall be going? " asked princess Celestia.
"No, your highness. We plan on just heading to the nearest place that isn't Equestria. But it might take us a while because we don't have a map and we are new to this world. " he said.
"That is fine. Is there anything you wish before you leave? " asked princess Celestia.
Charles knew that he already had enough to get him and Harry out of here, but he decided to see just how much he could get from them. "May I ask how much money we will get for the trip? ".
Princess Luna scoffed while princess Celestia answered. "You shall be given 150 bits. That should be enough for food and other necessities. " she said.
"Thank you. May I also request a book or two so we may educate ourselves of the other races and this world? It would help speed up our travels. " he asked. He was most likely pushing the limit of what he could get away with now if Luna was any indication.
"You shall be given a simple and basic book on the other races. If you will excuse me, I shall take my leave. " said princess Celestia as she got up and walked out the door. Princess Luna followed behind.
As me and Harry finished our breakfast, the same guide pony came back and we followed him down and outside. The six ponies followed them as well, although Charles was not sure why.
We were shown the cart that we would be travelling in. It looked like a wooden shed on wheels. It was plain looking with one window and one door. There were steps to the door to help get to it. There were harnesses on the front for them to pull it with, which Charles didn't think he could do.
He casted the communication spell one them and asked "How are we supposed to pull this? ".
The craftsman pony looked as if I was stupid. "Ya simply attach yourself to the harness and pull. It's simple, really. " he said.
"No, I mean how are we supposed to pull something that heavy? Me and my brother aren't super strong or anything. " Charles said clearly.
The realisation hit the pony. "Oh, that's what ya meant, sorry. These things have featherweight runes on the front and on the beams holding the harness. It should be about as heavy as a box of paper. " he said.
"May I test it to see if I can move it and so I know how to put the straps on? " Charles said.
"Sure thing. Go ahead. ".
Charles walked to the front of the cart and looked at the harness. It wasn't complex or anything. It was like a school bag with added straps at the front. He went to walk forwards, but the cart's weight stopped him. He then tried putting his back into it, and it started moving. And once it moved, it was a lot easier to pull.
He took the harness off, satisfied that he could actually pull the cart.
The two boys then checked the inside. There was a bunk bed against the far wall, a few drawers and a cupboard. On top of the cupboard was a cylinder that was bolted to the wall. It had a tap on it, meaning a water tank or something like that. The left side wall was the window and there was a map on the other.
They checked the drawers and found nothing. In the cupboard, which they found out had preservative runes making it like a mini fridge, they had some simple fruits and veg.
As they got out, Charles turned to his brother. They didn't have any serious problems with it, although they both made small complaints in their head.
"Hey, Harry. Since there's nothing left to check, I'm gonna go to the library to read some more books. Do you want to come or do something else? " Charles asked Harry.
"It's not like I have a choice. Go with you or do nothing since I doubt they'll let me practice my magic again. " Harry said.
"Hey, whilst I'm there, I could teach you some of my spells and you could tell me yours. Maybe it will do us some good to understand our magic better. " Charles suggested. Harry simply groaned before following me.
At the library, there were more ponies than yesterday. Though that wasn't exactly hard since hardly anyone came yesterday, it was noticeable.
I walked back to the place I was before and picked out the same books I did last time. Harry, in the meantime, found paper and pencils and was drawing pictures or was listing the powers we had, even new ones we could try later.
We had been in there for an hour or two before the guide pony called for us. Harry got up and followed him, Charles catching up a bit later.
He guided us back outside to the cart. Near the cart were princesses, the six and some guards. Charles casted the communication spell again, I really need a shorter name for that spell , and allowed the ponies to talk.
"Your cart is prepared for your departure. Although this is your punishment, we wish safe travels. " said princess Celestia.
"You shall be escorted out of Canterlot to make sure you keep your word. After that, you shall have ten days to be out of Equestria. If you are found after that, you may be arrested for trespassing. " princess Luna stated.
"Yes your highness. " Charles said. Harry didn't say anything as he climbed into the cart.
Charles strapped the harness on and started to pull. The weight of the cart put up some resistance, but it eventually gave up and they were on their way.
He walked down the street on the main path. He could see the guards above him and the multiple looks from the ponies around him. It didn't take long before leaving as nothing of interest happened on the way out.
The guards still followed them a short distance out but did eventually turn back. Charles continued to walk on the path. He didn't have a map on him but he knew it would be ages before he made it to any of the borders, so it didn't matter where this path led.
An indeterminate amount of time later, Charles stopped and parked the cart near a tree near the path. He was tired and hungry. He unstrapped himself from the cart and walked into it. Harry was, to his surprise, reading a book.
"Hey. " Charles said as he announced his presence to Harry. Harry looked over and said nothing.
Charles groaned as his body finally told him that he was stupid for pulling something with the weight of a small wardrobe. "Urr...my back and legs are killing me. " he said. He crashed onto his new bed.
"Good for you, no-one cares. " Harry said from the top bunk. Charles pulled his halo off and reached into it, though it looked like his arm simply disappeared into it.
"Um, what are you doing? " asked Harry. As he said that, Charles pulled a book from the hole.
"Wait, where did you get that book? " he asked.
"The library. " Charles said with a grin.
"Did you steal that? How did you get away with stealing something from princesses?".
"Because, as long as you don't get caught, you can get away with it. I wasn't caught and I doubt they will notice a one missing book, will they. '' Charles said smuggling. He may have been the quiet, goody two-shoes back home but that was because he rarely, if ever, got caught.
"What if they do find out, huh? We'll be in more shit than we are now. " Harry said, raising his voice slightly.
"Harry, we're leaving the country. " Charles said in a deadpan voice. "Once we're gone, they'll have no authority over us and can't do anything to us. ".
"Yeah, but we are still in their country at the moment. If they find us before we leave…" he was cut off as Charles finished the sentence.
"...then we can say we brought it. ".
Harry looked down at Charles. "If anything happens because of that book, it is your fault, not mine. " he said.
"Yeah, yeah, I know, i know. I'll keep it hidden until we are out of Equestria. Promise. ".
The two boys settled down for the afternoon. Harry had lit a candle as the sun lowered and the dark of the night came into the cart. They laid on their beds for hours just reading or chatting before they agreed to go to sleep. Harry removed his flame from the candle and plunged the cart back into a peaceful darkness as they slept.
Author's Note
This one was awkward to write but I hope it works. Now the adventure of the two brothers begins.
Holy and Hellish brothers
Chapter 7
--------------------- Harry ---------------------
Harry woke up as the cart rocked. The fact that it was moving told Harry his brother was up, had time to look at the map, get the harness on and start walking. Knowing that, Harry assumed it to be somewhat early in the morning.
He pulled the blanket off him as he got down from the bed. He got dressed, opened the door and jumped out. He jogged to the front where Charles was pulling the cart.
"Morning ginge. You OK? " Charles asked, his voice showing more energy than Harry could ever muster at this time of day.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Just tired. Couldn't sleep well. " said Harry. He had tossed and turned all night trying to get some good sleep.
Charles smiled at that. "Really, I would never have guessed. It's not like you kept me up for most of the night. Then, when I woke up from the little amount of sleep I had, you were dead to the world. " he said sarcastically. Charles's smile was gone and was replaced with a flat, unimpressed look.
Harry chuckled at this. "It's fine, you'll live. ".
Charles's flat look intensified. "Not funny. ".
"So, where are we heading? " asked Harry.
"If I remember correctly, if we just travel East and stick to the trail close to the train tracks, we should make it to the coast. Once there, we can get on a boat and sail to the Griffin Kingdom. " Charles explained.
"At the rate we're going, we should be there in, like, maybe four or five days. " he said.
Harry looked at him before asking, "How long have you been up to work that out? ".
"Umm...an hour at most. " said Charles calmly. Harry knew he was quick when it came to logic, math and science but he didn't expect him to be that quick.
Even across reality, he's a smartass.
"So, what are we gonna do today? Are we just going to walk all day? " he asked.
There was a delay before Charles answered as he thought about it. "I'll walk for a bit longer, then you can pull it while I read a book or something. ".
"Wait. Why do I have to pull this thing? You're stronger than me so you should pull it. " Harry said.
Charles looked at him. "You don't need to do it for long, just till I'm rested. After that we both rest and then I'll pull it again. That's fair. Besides, the fresh air might do you some good. " Charles said, ending in a smug smile.
Harry rolled his eyes and carried on walking next to his brother. They stayed quiet as they went, path clear, calm and peaceful.
Harry stretched his wings. He couldn't fly yet, but intended on practicing when they both stopped. He could pester Charles to help since he could at least go up, hover and land which were the basics.
Harry looked over his shoulder and found he had walked ahead. Charles was behind, slowly coming to a halt.
"Right, your turn ginge. " he said as he put his hands on his hips and arched his back.
"Do I have to? " he asked.
"Yes. ".
Harry wasn't happy about this. He wasn't all that strong. He was a bit faster but, in a race, Charles would win most times. He couldn't walk as far either.
"Please, can you just go a bit further. I'm still not entirely awake yet. " Harry complained.
Charles sighed before walking again. "For fuck sake. Fine, but you will pulling it soon, don't forget. " Charles warned home.
Harry decided to sit on top of the cart, using his magic to get there. While on the roof of the cart, Harry and Charles discussed magic and the spells they could do and the spell they hadn't tested yet.
They stayed like that for the next two hours before Charles finally stopped and unlatched himself. Harry was helped with the straps and before long, he was pulling the cart.
Charles stayed outside with him, only going inside to get the rune book he stole. He also picked up large stones every once and awhile, using his wings to get up and down from the roof.
Harry's curiosity finally got the better of him. "Charles, what are you doing? " Harry asked.
Charles didn't look up as he replied. "I'm trying to carve some of the runes from the book onto these stones. It said that it's a 'find me' rune, which is apparently the easiest in the book. " he explained, the sound of scratching continuing.
Harry was confused. "Could you explain that again? ".
Although Harry couldn't see it, he knew that Charles was smiling. Charles loved the chance to show his intelligence, although he wouldn't go out of his way to do so. It made Harry jealous.
"It said it helps you find the object with the rune on it. If I carve the rune into this stone and use my magic to power it, I will never be able to lose it because I will just...know where it is. " Charles said.
Harry liked the sound of that. "Wait. So if I carved it onto, say, this cart. I would just know where it is? " he asked.
"Harry, you're a fucking genius! " Charles shouted, putting down the stone. "If this works, we can carve one onto the cart. Then, if we ever get separated, we can just track the cart. " Charles said.
Harry smiled and shook his head. Charles may have been smart, but Harry was more streetwise.
"So, what other runes are in that book? " Harry said, drawing Charles's attention away from the cart.
"Oh, there's so many. After this, I want to try tether rune. And after that I want to try a golem rune. " Charles said as he picked up the book and flicked to a page.
"Huh...OK then. " said Harry as he looked forward up the trail.
Harry wasn't listening to Charles anymore. Despite what he thought, it wasn't quiet outside like how they described it in films or books. The sound of birds were muffled by the wind which he could just hear over the noise of the cart and his footsteps.
"Hey! Ginge! " Charles shouted.
"What! " Harry shouted as he snapped out of his mental wanderings.
Charles jumped down from the roof, landing heavily. "Can you slow a bit? I need to piss. ".
Harry looked back at him. "Seriously? " he asked.
He shrugged. "I'll catch up. Just keep going. " Charles said as he walked into the forest.
Harry focused back on the trail. As he did, he noticed the three ponies in front of him, all seemed to be wearing black or brown rags. He stopped the cart.
"Umm...hello? " he said questioningly before deciding on looking at the three.
The one on the right was a...unicorn, if he remembered correctly. It looked like a female and she had her horn glowing. Harry remembered this as a sign of them preparing or using a spell. From what he could see, her fur was pale while she had dark green hair.
The left one was male and he looked smaller than the other two. Is he a teen or a child or something? He didn't have wings or a horn but held a knife in his mouth. He could see that he had red fur with very contrasting light blue hair.
The middle one looked like the leader. He had wings, grey fur and black hair. On the wings, there was some metal strapped to them which looked quite sharp. He was also male and was standing straight while the other two were in a ready stance.
"Charles..." he shouted back, seeing if he was there. No response.
They were already talking as he looked them over quickly again, Harry ignoring what they said since he didn't have a translation spell like his brother.
"Charles, where are you?..." he shouted back louder. Still no response.
The left one shouted, noticing that Harry had completely ignored them. This got his attention. The center one seemed to repeat something. Harry undid the harness and took it off, then looked at them confused. He didn't like the tone of the voice and prepared himself.
"CHARLES! " Harry screamed as loud as he could.
After a single comment from the leader pony, the two on the side went into action. Harry barely avoided the knife as it was swiped at where he was, before being struck with a bolt of magic.
Harry used his shadow movement and appeared in the shadow of the unicorn. Without wasting time, he jumped out, summoned his gauntlets and threw a fireball right at her. It missed, setting a fire on the ground next to her.
The leader pony swooped in and slashed Harry's arm with those wing blade things. Harry cursed and jumped back, keeping all three in sight. The unicorn fired another bolt, which Harry dodged before blasting another fireball. This time, it hit.
The fire, which looked as black as the night sky, instantaneously engulfed her and roared wildly. The odd bit of red and orange flame flick here and there as smoke started raising from the pony who was in agony.
Harry heard her terrifying screams, but couldn't do anything as the small pony slashed at him with a new found ferocity. Harry raised his arms in defence as metal scraped metal. He then brought an arm above his head and slammed it down upon the ponies head. He swayed as Harry decked him, causing him to fall unconscious.
The leader pony, who looked at both bodies laying on the floor, cried a battle cry of rage as he charged Harry. Harry could hardly keep up with the strikes which he felt came from every direction at once. He could feel every cut sting and the blood that tricked from them.
After he fell to his knees as the pegasus pony cut his leg, he looked up. He could see the pony dramatically spread his wings and showing the bloodied blades that were attached to them. He could hear him speak, anger dripping from his words. Harry's eyes widened as the blade went for his neck.
"HARRY! " Charles shouted.
His widened even more when the pony was blasted in the side with a ball of light. He looked back to see Charles. He could see scratches on him as he held a bat in his hand and prepared magic in the other. His brother did not look happy.
The pony landed and immediately got up again, shaking the blast off. The pony stared at Charles. They both charged each other. Charles threw his spell and the pegasus went to avoid it. The magic expanded and formed strings, like the ones he used in their fight with each other, and caught hold of a wing.
The magic strings didn't wrap though and missed as the wing blades cut through them. The pony thrusted its blade at Charles, which he batted away before swinging at the pony.
The pony ducked and went for the legs but missed as Charles jumped and raised his legs, the blade moving harmlessly under him. He landed back on the ground and swung the bat. It connected and the pony lost his balance.
The pony backed off and slashed with his wing blades again. Charles caught one of the slashes to the shoulder but stood his ground. He grabbed his halo and threw it at the pony before it instantly brightened into a blinding light, brighter than the sun. Harry couldn't see what happened but heard a blast of magic hit the ground and explode before another wack from the bat.
Harry blinked quickly and regained his vision. The pony was now looking from the ground, long enough to see the bat turn into a mace as Charles swung. A sickening crack and snap was heard as the ponies head was set into a position that didn't look right.
Harry fell back, resting on his elbows. Charles came over and started talking but Harry was tired. The sight of blood made him queasy, the taste of blood made him feel sick but the loss of blood only made him tired.
He wanted to sleep. His eyes closed on their own. He just wanted a quick nap. A quick nap won't hurt, right?
Holy and Hellish brothers
Chapter 8
--------------------- Harry ---------------------
Harry couldn't feel anything. His body was numb and his mind was blank. All he could think about was the fight he had. He was the one that got into fights most often. Charles rarely ever threw a punch.
But his mind replayed all of it, the pony going up in flames, the one he decked with his gauntlets, the one Charles battered. It replayed with more blood and violence than he originally remembered, but it didn't make it any worse.
I've killed something…
That also played in his mind. Sure, he didn't mind a fight but he would never and had never killed anything before.
The most horrifying part was Charles. He looked like a guardian angel in his mind, but the way he effortlessly killed the pony without a second thought made him uneasy.
Was he alway like this? Or has he changed?
This made him question his brothers and his own sanity. This made him question if Charles had a partial spirit or soul inside him as well. This made him question what he really knew about Charles's mental thoughts.
Are we still as human as we think?
These mental questions received no answers. His head hurt. His body hurt. He was hurt. But the pain made the memories fade. The pain meant he was waking.
He could feel his body again. He wished he couldn't as he felt the stinging of the countless cuts and scrapes. He tried moving his body, but his exhaustion made it difficult.
"Ugh…" he groaned. He pulled himself up and raised the pillow behind him. He rested his back against the pillow while he moved his head to look around.
He was in the cart, on Charles's bed. He saw some of his clothes were taken off and that he was wrapped in dark cloths. His arms and legs were the most wrapped with only a single bit of cloth around his chest.
He saw that some of the draws were pulled out and had some stuff in them. His clothes were in a pile at the end of the bed. His gauntlets, which didn't despawn like he thought they would, rested in the pile with a tiny splat of blood on them.
He then saw Charles. He was sitting with his back leaning on the bed. Harry could see that he was shattered, tired to the point that he could no longer stay awake. He still had his clothes and only one or two of his wounds were wrapped. In one hand, he still held his bat.
To anyone seeing this, Charles would look dead. His breaths were slow, calm and quiet. His chest hardly moved, as if frozen in position. The only signs of life anywhere on his body were the small twitches of his eyes, the tightening of his hand around his bat and the tensing of his legs. All these signs were barely noticeable, but Harry knew Charles. He knew what to look for with him.
Harry could take a guess at what Charles had done. He had patched Harry up, stripped the bodies of the ponies for their stuff and sat by his bed to guard it.
What caught his attention the most was the two ponies that were tied together, unconscious. Harry's eyes widened as he saw the younger pony there. The other one was one he hadn't seen before but Harry assumed that she, it was female, had attacked Charles which could have been why he didn't respond back then.
She had soft pink fur and dark blue hair. She was a unicorn, with a jewel and a money symbol on her rear end. I really need to read that book for the names of these things. She also had a nasty cut on her side which had been wrapped but not with as much care.
He took another look at the other pony. He still had red fur and blue hair and now had wrapping around his eye where Harry punched him. Harry could see that he had a different symbol to her, his being a speech bubble with a feather in the middle.
He slowly and quietly took the blanket off and stood up. He crept past his brother and the ponies. He was only staying quiet for the ponies, Charles so far gone that a nuke could go off and he'd sleep through it.
He opened the door slightly and slimmed out, closing it just as softly as he had opened it.
He limped down the steps and then sat on the bottom one. He looked out on the horizon and saw the sun setting. The dark blue and black of the night overhead filled the space left by the sun. The moon swiftly and unnaturally raised up into the night, its glow and size doing all it could to provide next to no light on the dark.
"I want to go home…".
--------------------- Charles ---------------------
He opened his eyes. He felt like crap but he'd live. He saw that he had fallen asleep. His mind had already done its typical reboot and playback of the day's action and was quickly returning movement to the body.
Charles got up, his free hand grasping his injured shoulder while absorbing the bat to free his other hand. He looked behind him to see Harry had already woken. He walked past the ponies and out the door.
At the bottom of the steps was Harry. Charles stepped off and landed on the ground. He winced as his aching leg nearly buckled under him, but he stood and walked to sit next to his brother.
He put a soft hand on his back. Harry jumped a little before looking and seeing Charles.
"Hey. You alright? " Charles asked genuinely.
"Yeah. I'm fine. " Harry said. Charles could tell from the voice, posture and look that that was a lie. But Charles didn't mind.
"Alright. Just remember that I'm always here if you need me. " he said.
It was small, but a smile appeared on Harry's face.
"Thanks. ".
Charles sighed. "This is my fault. If I hadn't gone for a piss, they wouldn't have ganged up on you. Maybe if I had heard you, I could have come on and helped. " he said, looking solemnly into the fire.
"No, it's fine. I'm just glad you came when you did. " Harry said.
Charles looked at Harry. "But if I had been a second late, he would have killed you. I will never allow that to happen. ".
Charles chuckled at this. "Huh, I sound just like some sappy hero or tragic villain. 'I'll never let anything harm you ever again. I shall fend off every monster or control ever being till you are safe'. I hope I never turn into one of those. " he said.
"Huh, yeah. I hope so. " Harry said. He then sighed.
"Do you think we'll ever get home? " Harry asked solemnly.
Charles didn't know how to reply truthfully. "I don't know. Maybe someday we will, maybe we won't. The best thing we can do for now is live long enough to find out. ".
Charles decided to take Harry's attention away from the bad thought he would be having. "We should head inside, it's dark and cold outside and we need to make up for lost time tomorrow. " Charles said, getting up with a wince while gritting his teeth.
Harry saw this and worried. "Are you sure you're OK Charles? " Harry asked.
Charles gave a comforting smile, which would have looked convincing to anyone but Harry. Charles knew this but did so anyway. "I'm fine. Just sore but I'll live. ".
Both boys got up and headed inside, the fire Harry created dwindling till it died just as Charles closed the door behind him. The ponies were still unconscious as Harry climbed into his bed and Charles crashed into his. It didn't take long before both were asleep again.take long to fall asleep and the cart returned to silence.
--------------------- In the morning ---------------------
Charles woke up first like he always did. He hadn't got out of his clothes last night, meaning he didn't need to get dressed. He stretched, the joints popping. He could still feel his cuts and bruises, but he ignored them.
He sat on his bed and waited for his head to sort itself out. He got up and stepped over to the map. He couldn't tell how far they traveled yesterday, so he estimated and placed a pin there.
He walked outside. He wanted to just start pulling the cart and put all thought to the back of his head but he knew his body wasn't ready for that yet. So he flew up and onto the cart roof.
The rune book was still there. He had forgotten to pick it up whilst he was helping Harry and gathering stuff from the raiders. His rock was also up here but the sharp stone he used to carve the rune was not.
Charles jumped down and got another pin from the cart before returning to the roof. He started carving and scratching. It didn't take long to finish as it was half done already.
He fed power into it and felt as his brain connected with the rock in his hand. It was weird at first but the feeling quickly became natural. It felt similar to that feeling of someone standing behind you. That feeling of knowing something without needing to confirm it.
He put the rock to the side and started scratching the same rune into a different rock to make sure he could do it consistently. He took his time with it, the task taking his thoughts away from yesterday.
He finished that and looked through the book for another rune to carve. He sat there and kept reading.
The only thing that drew him from his work was the sudden sound of thumping and, upon listening, whispering. Non-human whispering. Pony whispering.
Charles came down with his book and runes in hand, planning to put them away while he was inside. The ponies were obviously trying to untie themselves from what Charles could hear. And they weren't having much luck. Even if they got out of the ropes, he had placed his halo around their necks just loose enough to move but tight enough to make sure they weren't going anywhere.
Charles opened the door and both ponies looked at him. They showed shock and fear, while Charles gave them the calmest yet most deadpan look he could. They stopped moving and just stared.
Charles casted his understanding spell and spoke.
"Well, well, well. It seems our guests have woken up. " Charles said in a faked happy voice. The ponies both stammered before one of them could answer clearly.
The mare started talking first. "P-p-please don't h-hurt us. " she squeaked.
"And why would I do that? If I did that, then I wouldn't be able to use you two, now would I? " Charles said. He wanted to install as much fear as possible as payback for the attack and so it would be easier to get them to do stuff.
"W-wh-what are y-you? What d-do you want? " asked the mare. Her horn lit up, and was promptly grabbed. The horn stopped glowing immediately and her entire body stiffened as she looked with even more fear.
"I'm a human, and I just want to make you a deal. " Charles said. He let go of the horn and stood up straight, his full height intimidating the ponies. He even let his wings spread a bit and his tail uncurl to look extra scary. He knew how to act all sweet and innocent too, which was coming in handy in a new way.
"A-a deal? " she asked, seemingly not expecting that for an answer.
Charles smiled. "Yes, a deal for you and your friend here. ".
This time, the other pony asked the question, his voice showing that he was just as scared. "Wh-what d-deal? ".
Charles's smile grew a bit bigger. "A simple one that I'm sure you'll find quite... agreeable. " he said. The now full shit eating grin, which was in shadow from the sun behind him, made him look ever so slightly more terrifying. He was going to enjoy this.
Holy and Hellish brothers
Chapter 9
--------------------- Charles ---------------------
Charles untied the ponies and, holding onto the halo he had placed around their neck, dragged them outside. They fell to the ground roughly and, just as they stood up again, Charles continued to drag them to the front of the cart.
He dumped the ponies on the ground and started to explain the deal.
"So, here's the deal. Me and my brother are banished from Equestria. We were going to continue down this path till we made it to the coast. Since we're injured and in no condition to pull this, you're going to do it. You'll pull the cart to the coastline. If you do this, then I'll let you go and even give you a gift if you do it in less than five days. " Charles explained.
"So, do we have a deal? " Charles asked. For some reason, the phrase 'a deal with the devil' seemed appropriate right now.
The young stallion spoke up. "What if we d-don't accept the deal? " he asked. Charles shit eating grin returned.
"Did I mention that humans are omnivores? Do you know what that word means? " Charles asked. Both ponies shook their heads.
"It means we can eat just about anything. Fruits, Vegetables and meat . If you don't accept the deal, then at least I know what I've got for dinner tonight. " Charles said. It was a bluff as Charles couldn't and wouldn't bring himself to eat the ponies, but they didn't know that. If the already terrified ponies weren't scared then, they were well and truly petrified now.
They both started nodding rapidly. "We accept the deal, we accept. Please don't eat us. ". This was good.
Charles was then surprised when a magical piece of paper and a pen popped up with the deal on it.
Holy binding contract.
This contract details the deal between Charles David Irons, Ruby Offering and Quill Page.
Ruby Offering and Quill Page shall transport the brothers and their travelling cart to the nearest coastal city. If completed within five days, Charles David Irons shall give them a reward.
If Ruby Offering or Quill Page refuse this contract, they shall be turned into a variety of horse meats. If Charles David Irons refuses the contract, a random part of his soul will be taken.
If the agreement is not upheld, then the soul, body and mind of the one who failed to complete the contract will be deleted from existence. If there is any active sabotage or trickery, the one responsible will be deleted from existence.
Please sign on the line below to confirm this soul binding contract.
______________________________________
Charles had no idea how he had done that. The magic emanating from the contract was nearly identical to his but different still.
After reading it twice, Charles took the pen and signed. He took the halo off their neck and let them read it. Both ponies slowly wrote down their names. As soon as it was done, the contract rolled itself up and disappeared.
After shaking his head, Charles hooked the unicorn up to the cart first. The other pony was told to wait for his turn inside. As the pony pulled the cart, Charles made himself comfortable on the roof so he could keep an eye on the pony.
He continued his rune carving, the book still in his hand since he forgot to put it away. It wasn't long before he heard Harry wake up. There was a brief silence, then Harry talking to himself after seeing the pony before he left the cart.
"Charles, why is there a pony currently huddled in a corner as if it just saw a monster? " he asked.
Charles looked at Harry. "That may have been me. " he said.
Harry crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes. "What did you do? " he asked.
"I gave them a deal that if they pulled the cart to the nearest coastal city, then we'd let them go. I even offered to give them something if they got us there in less than five days. I said if they didn't, they would be our next dinner. I didn't mean it. " Charles explained.
"Then, out of nowhere, a soul binding contract appears with the deal on there. We couldn't refuse it, so me and the ponies agreed to it. If I refused it, a part of my soul would be taken. If they refused, they would be turned into...our next dinner. " he finished.
"Seriously, Charles? What else is going to happen to us? " Harry asked in exaggeration.
"I don't know, but at least we don't have to pull the cart and we've got, if unwilling, company. " Charles said.
"Can you at least teach me that translation spell you have? If they're going to be staying with us for a while, may as well be able to talk with them. " Harry said, shaking his head at Charles.
"Yeah sure. It's pretty simple, really. " said Charles. "Just look at what you want to talk to, think about understanding them, then put magic into that thought. " he said.
Harry looked suspiciously at Charles. "I don't believe it's that easy. " said Harry.
Charles smiled smugly. "Your right. It's an understanding spell, not a translation spell. Although they are similar, there is a difference. If I tried to explain something, you would just understand that thing instead of hearing the explanations for it. " Charles said. As he looked at Harry's confused face, he sighed.
"If I tried to explain a toy car, you would understand what I said without hearing the explanations for why that is. " he finished. Harry still looked confused but accepted what Charles had said.
"So just look at the pony, think about understanding them and put magic into that idea? OK, I'll try. " Harry said. He turned around and headed back into the cart.
Charles was about to go back to his rune carving, but decided to have some company while he worked. So he looked at the unicorn, activated the spell and started talking.
"Sorry about the whole contract thing. I honestly didn't expect that to happen. " he said.
The pony didn't answer.
"So, what's your name? " he asked.
She did answer this time, but it was so quiet that he nearly missed it. "Rudy Offering. " she said.
"So, Ruby, what were you doing with the bandits? " he asked.
She looked down sadly at the ground. "I was repaying a debt. " Ruby answered.
"A debt? What debt? "Charles asked.
"I made a mistake when I was selling some of the stuff we got. They made me come along to show me how much work it took to get the items. Feather said it would 'make me appreciate the amount of work they do for me'. " she said.
Charles was now feeling regretful for her and wished he hadn't made that stupid deal. Even though he had no idea that would happen, it still felt like it was his fault.
"So, what are you again? " Ruby said, snapping Charles out of regretful thoughts.
Charles smiled. "I'm a human. Or, I was before getting here. ".
"So, what are you now, then. " she asked, confused.
"Oh, I'm still human, I'm just not completely human. I was given angel wings, a tail and this halo. " said Charles.
"What about your magic? It looks and feels different to normal unicorn magic. " she asked.
"Yeah, I've noticed that. I don't know much about it because I've only had it for less than a week. I read a small bit about how normal magic works and found that the only difference is that we don't need to imagine symbols or glyphs. " Charles explained.
"That sounds difficult. What if you thought of something you didn't mean to? " Ruby asked.
Charles hadn't thought of that. "Well, we need to actively put magic into the thought, so it doesn't just do whatever we think of. " he said.
--------------------- Harry ---------------------
Inside the cart, Harry was debating whether to talk to the pony or not. On one hand, the pony did try killing him. But on the other, he was young and looked like a scared child.
Harry also knew that just the thought of the pony being there would distract him from whatever he was doing. So he casted the spell and started with the oldest conversation starter in the book.
"So, how are you? " he asked.
The pony looked at him but then went back to looking blankly ahead.
"I'm trying to be nice here. " Harry said frustrated.
The pony continued to ignore him. Harry's limited patience was running low.
"You can either talk to me, stay silent or talk to my brother outside. I'm trying to be nice, so don't ignore me. " said Harry.
And then the pony spoke. Finally.
"Please don't eat me…" he said quietly.
Harry was surprised by this response. "Eat you? No thanks. Eating anything that could speak back would mentally scar me and haunt me for the rest of my life. I've already had nightmares about the unicorn I set on fire. " Harry said honestly.
The pony looked at him. "But, the one outside said that your kind eats meat? That means you could eat us. " the pony argued.
"No. All the animals in our world aren't intelligent. Humans are the only intelligent race. You pony's are intelligent, so it would make me feel like I'm eating a fellow human. " Harry replied.
"So, what's your name? " asked Harry.
"Quill Page. " he said, trying not to look at Harry.
"My name's Harry Michael Parkes. Sorry for decking you. " he said.
Quill looked at him weird. "That's a weird name. " he said.
Harry looked at Quill confused. "It's a perfectly normal name back home. " said Harry.
"Where are you from? " Quill asked.
"I'm from a different reality, which means technically, I'm an alien. I come from a country called the UK. England to be more exact. " Harry said.
The pony looked curious now. "What's it like there? " Quill asked.
Harry had to resist a laugh. "Well, we don't have magic in our world but…" Harry was cut off by the pony.
"Your world has no magic?! How is that possible? We were taught that everything needed magic to live? " he said.
"I don't know. Our world just doesn't have magic. But we do have science. " Harry said, finishing his previous sentence.
"Science? Like the stuff they teach at school? " Quill asked.
Harry smiled. "Yeah, but way more advanced. ".
Quill looked quite eager now. "Wow. Do you have laser guns and spaceships and stuff? ".
"We have spaceships, but no laser guns yet. But we do have lots of cool stuff. Phones, cars and more. " Harry said. He listed the common things since they were the first thing to come to mind.
"That's cool. " said Quill.
Harry continued. "Stuff like that is actually quite normal to see, actually. It's usually quite weird if someone doesn't have a phone. ".
"Woah. Your world must be so cool. " Quill said.
"Meh, it's alright. " Harry said.
Harry and Quill continued to talk about their worlds and the amazing things in them. They spoke for an hour or two before the ponies switched.
--------------------- ??? ---------------------
He sat on his throne as he watched the wild beasts fight for their territory again. It was amusing the first few times, but grew boring the more times they fought.
He could walk up to them and join the fray, but all the monsters knew that they were no match. They would simply stop fighting and run at his mere presence.
He had been here for years, still undefeated and waiting for worthy challengers. Ones that could take his challenge and become worthy of his wealth and land.
Many came and failed, repeating the same mistakes as previous challengers. They never learned. He checked his blood crystal mirror to see if it had changed since last month.
To his surprise, it revealed something it deemed worthy. It only did this if they were destined to challenge him in the near future. The being smiled.
"Finally, something entertaining for me to watch. " he said in a low, evil voice.
Author's Note
Foreshadowing and more character development. Hope you enjoyed.
Holy and Hellish brothers
Chapter 10
--------------------- Charles ---------------------
For the next few days, they travelled uninterrupted. The ponies, Charles and his brother had got to know each other over the course of the trip. They learnt more about the pony world and its rules as they travelled.
Charles had been meaning to learn about the other races but found himself picking the rune book up more often. He was getting more familiar with them and his mind swirled with ideas and questions. He had many working runes and planned to make more and more.
Harry practiced curses. It was something he could do accidentally but it was easily controllable. He gave small curses to random stones, like how Charles would rune them. Harry kept some but Charles had no idea what they would do.
The path ahead had, gradually, become more worn. This meant it was used regularly and that meant that they were getting close to the coast. Charles could almost smell the fresh, sea air. He couldn't wait.
They had passed through a town on their journey. It was a small, quiet and peaceful trading village with simple wooden houses. The citizens were nice, if a bit overly so, but they had things they needed.
They hadn't stayed long, only buying food and some new clothes. They were simple robe's of fabric that felt better than their tattered, dirty and worn clothes. The only problem they had while in the village was Harry accidentally cursing a stick. Meh, it's just a stick. They'll be fine.
The group had continued East and, by Charles's estimations and guesses, were about a day or two from the coast. Ruby and Quill pulled the cart a bit faster the closer they got, trying to complete the deal in the time limit.
Due to the free time the brothers had since they didn't need to pull the cart, they hung with each other more often. In Charles and Harry's spare time they talked, practiced magic or learned how to fly. The magic 'lessons' were easy, as they just practiced with some spells and created new ones.
Flying 'lessons' were a bit harder. Both boys had the basic up, hover and down, but they still hadn't got moving left, right, forwards or backwards yet. Without someone to teach them, the boys had to learn through trial and error. They were getting there slowly.
Charles was currently sitting inside, reading the runic book. He had an idea he wanted to try but it would take some time and quite a few stones. He had most of the runes ready for it, but not the other things needed to complete his project. If the ponies held their side of the deal, Charles planned on giving them his project, otherwise, this would be one of the best things he would ever do.
He committed the runes to memory. So far he had read about the 'find me', tether, golem, battery, memory, enhancer and storage runes. With so many more to learn, he felt that the ideas he had now were only the beginning.
Harry was laying on his bed with the species book in one hand. His other hand flexed and wriggled as shadow magic snaked around his fingers. It was weird but it showed just how far they had come with their magic.
--------------------- Harry ---------------------
Have you sorted the spells and curses out?
Yes. They have been sorted.
Can you start teaching my mind flight? It would help.
I can teach you subconscious, but you will still need to learn how to do it in reality.
And what about increasing magic reserves?
It has increased 10%. More practice will improve this.
Is there a way to make the spells more efficient?
Yes, but it will take more time and focus to cast.
Harry's mental conversation with the demon continued, adding more things for the demon to do. He found it helpful as it could help organize memories and helped him understand things his mind usually would just ignore.
He hadn't told Charles of it yet, just in case he did something. He still didn't want to since it had been a great help. But he knew that Charles would find out, somehow.
Ignoring those thoughts, he went back to reading while the demon did whatever it was supposed to do. He was reading about the Griffins since that was where they were heading.
While Harry never liked reading, since it was boring compared to playing online, it was one of the only sources of entertainment aside from talking and practicing.
Charles was below, reading the book he stole. Harry couldn't figure out what was so special about that book, but Charles seemed fascinated with it. He would spend a good hour or two scratching at stones.
Whatever he was working on seemed complicated. He made a set of four runes, then put them away. He was already finishing his second set and looked like he'd make a third.
Because of the awkward silence and boredom, Harry decided to ask "What the hell are you doing? ".
Charles was broken out of his trance and looked up from his book. "Oh, just making more runes. " he said.
"Why? We have magic, isn't that enough? " Harry asked, confused why Charles liked runes when he had magic.
Charles sat there for a moment in thought. He answered "I don't really know. I just like the feeling of something I made working, instead of just having something easy do it. ".
"Well, what are you working on at the moment, then? " asked Harry.
"Just a little project. I'm carving some battery runes at the moment. " he said.
"Why would you need batteries? ". Every time Harry asked a question, Charles' answer would just make more questions than they answered.
Charles held a smug smile. "I'll tell you when you see it. " he said.
"And when would that be? " Harry asked.
"When the time limit expires or when we arrive at the coast. I checked the time limit. It ends sometime tomorrow morning. " Charles said.
"So, which will come first? " asked Harry.
Charles shrugged. "Depends. Do the ponies still want to be walking during the night again or not. ".
Harry shrugged. "I don't know. Assuming they do? ".
"Then the ponies will get there first and you'll be doing the night watch. I felt knackered after holding a light spell for that long. " Charles said.
"What do you mean? I used hardly any power when I did it, and my flame was brighter than your light. " Harry said.
"My magic just didn't feel as strong last night. But when I use the translation spell in the morning, I feel hardly any loss of power. " said Charles, raising a hand to create a simple light spell in front of him.
Charles then sat up. "Maybe our powers are related to day and night or levels of light. " he suggested.
"Maybe. Does it really matter? " Harry asked. He couldn't really find how that could be useful.
Charles looked up at Harry. "Yes, it does. If we exploited this, we could be more powerful together than we normally would. " he said.
"Yeah, but why would we need to be that powerful? " asked Harry.
"Because, as much as I would like to avoid it, we're most likely going to get into many more fights. I just want to be prepared. " Charles reasoned.
Harry couldn't argue that. They had been in the new world for less than a week and had already been transformed into an angel or demon, banished from a country and been attacked by raiders. And it was guaranteed that that was not the last of it.
--------------------- Quill ---------------------
He trotted next to Ruby as she pulled the cart. He knew that the shores were close and it wouldn't be long before they made it there. Not long before he could go...somewhere. He hadn't quite figured that part out yet.
Ruby was walking at a slow and steady pace. She had been pulling the cart for the last three hours and hadn't wanted to stop. He knew she wanted to be done with the deal as soon as possible, but she was a unicorn and wasn't made for such physical work.
"Hey, Ruby. Do you want me to pull? " he asked. He knew the answer already, the same one he got the previous times he asked.
"No. I'm fine. I can keep going. " she repeated.
"But you've been pulling the cart for hours. Aren't you tired? " Quill asked.
"No. I'm fine. " she repeated.
"Shouldn't we get one of the humans out here to help light the path? It'll be getting back soon. " he asked.
"No. We're fine. I can use my magic. ".
"Fine. I'm going to sleep. Wake me when you want to swap. " he said as he slowed down, letting the cart pass. As the back of the cart passed, he stepped onto the stairs, opened the door and went in.
The humans were having a conversation with one another and occasionally laughed or chuckled. It sounded familiar but so alien at the same time. Whatever they were talking about was apparently more important than him since they barely looked at him before continuing to chat.
He ignored them as well as he laid on the surprisingly soft rug. He closed his eyes to nap. It felt like minutes had passed before he opened his eyes to the younger human poking him.
"Hey, your swapping. Get up. " he said. He stepped out before Quill could respond. Laying behind him was Ruby, asleep.
He got up and stepped out. It was well into the night and, with the only light being the moon, quite dark. The flames of the humans' magic provided the only bright light.
"Come on, let's get going. We might just reach the coast before the morning, I think. " he said.
Quill perked up at this. He would soon be free again. He hurried up, got the harness on and pulled. He didn't pull too fast and to rattle the cart too much, but he was walking at a higher speed than normal.
"Woah, calm down a bit. It's still a long walk. " Harry said from besides Quill.
"Yeah, I know. The quicker we move, the sooner we'll get there. " said Quill.
"But you can't keep this pace up all night, can you? Slow down and pace yourself. You'll walk further. " said Harry, adjusting the fire light in his paws.
Quill ran this through his head, then shook it off. "So, are we really going to get to the coast by morning? " Quill asked.
"According to my brother, yeah. If so, he said he'd have to hold his side of the deal as well. So you and Ruby will get the reward from Charles. " said Harry.
"Cool. What's the prize? Is it some awesome alien tech or something? " he asked.
Harry chuckled. "Nope. I don't know what he has in store, but it involves runes apparently. ".
Quill looked confused. "Runes? We were told in school that they were kinda dangerous and rare. Hardly anypony knows about them. " he said.
Harry looked at him. "Really? We just st...found it..., so we thought that they were somewhat common. " Harry said.
"Nah. It was how magic used to work for non-unicorn ponies. But when the three tribes joined together, they weren't needed anymore. That's what we were taught in history class. " Quill said, reciting the lessons from memory.
"Huh, cool. Charles seems fascinated with them. " Harry said.
"Really? I mean, he does look like the type of pony…".
"...person…" Harry corrected.
"...person...to be into that. It looks way too complicated to me. " Quill said.
"Yeah, that's Charles. He likes science, math and stuff like that. He said it's because he likes facts over anything. If it can be proven and explained, he'll accept it. " Harry said.
"Oh. That sounds smart. " he said.
Harry scoffed. "Yeah, he thinks that too. He knows that, most of the time, he's right and likes to prove it whenever he needs to. It's annoying. " Harry said.
The two talked and walked for most of the night till they got tired. They pulled over and entered the cart, trying not to wake the sleeping pony or human.
Harry climbed onto the top bunk while Quill laid on the floor. They were both out for the count not long later as they slept the rest of the night.
Author's Note
This chapter took longer than expected to write. I kept blanking on what happened next and only wrote about four or five sentences a day. Hope it turned out OK.
Holy and Hellish brothers
11 Reached your destination.
Chapter 11
--------------------- Charles ---------------------
His body's internal clock chimed as he stirred awake. He loved it most days since it made sure he was never late to anything, but it also meant he couldn't sleep in. Even if he was tired.
Charles sat up. He looked around to see no one else was up, the ponies asleep on the floor and his brother's arm hanging down from the bed he was sleeping in. He wouldn't wake them yet, since he knew he was up quite early, but he would soon.
He crept out, avoiding the sprawled out sleeping ponies, and quietly opened and closed the door behind himself. He jumped off the steps and stretched.
The sun's warmth bathed him as he stood there. He straightened his makeshift clothes. Charles looked around.
What to do? Meh, could finish off the second rune set.
He flapped his wings and lifted himself onto the roof. Pulling off his halo, he reached in and pulled out the rune he started, the metal carving spike and the book. Opening the book to the appropriate page, he continued carving.
He had only been sitting there for a few minutes before he heard movement inside. It wasn't from the beds, so it wasn't Harry. It wasn't Quill since he was closest to the door. He looked over and saw that he was right.
"Morning Ruby. " he said.
She looked up and replied. "Morning Charles. ".
"You're up early. I wasn't expecting anyone to be up for a while yet. " Charles said.
"Got woken up by you repeatedly putting things on the roof. " Ruby said as she began to pull.
Charles looked at her sheepishly, despite the fact she had her back to him. "Sorry, didn't know that you could hear that inside. " he said.
She huffed and continued pulling.
"We should be getting close to the coast soon. " said Charles as he went back to carving.
"Really? " she said with some attitude in her voice. He didn't mind. Harry's attitude could be a lot worse.
"Yeah. We should get there… " Charles started before getting cut off as another cart passed them.
The ponies pulling the passing cart looked at them weirdly but continued on without stopping.
Ruby saw this and looked back at Charles, then at the cart that had passed. "I think that just proved my point. " he said.
She huffed again and didn't say anything.
"Got anything planned after the deal is done? " asked Charles, picking up the rune again.
Ruby sighed. "Not really. We used the money we stole to pay for food and stuff. We pretty much lived in the cart, occasionally resting at a hotel. There's not really anywhere for us to go. " she explained.
"I know you don't like me much, but you could stay with us. I would be better than living on the streets. " Charles offered.
"No. I'm not staying with you. I'll take my chances here. " Ruby stated.
"OK, just offering. " he said.
After a long while of silence, he looked up from his work. The first of the houses could be seen. They were similar to the wooden houses in the town they passed a few days ago, if a bit more colourful.
Charles's view was suddenly obstructed by the contract.
Holy binding contract.
The ponies Ruby Offering and Quill Page have fulfilled the conditions of the contract. They are now free to do as they please.
Ruby Offering and Quill Page finished the contract in 5 days, 0 hours, 17 minutes and 47 seconds. The contract was not completed in the time limit of five days. Ruby Offering and Quill Page will not be getting a reward from Charles David Irons.
This contract is completed.
Charles was surprised. He didn't expect for the contract to do that. He also honestly thought that they would make it here in time but it seems he was wrong.
"What is it? " asked Ruby.
"It's a letter saying that the contract is done. You're free to go. " Charles said. Before he could say anymore, Ruby took the harness off and entered the cart.
--------------------- Harry ---------------------
The cart came to an abrupt stop. This caused Harry's head to collide with the wall, waking him up. He put a hand to his face as he got out of bed.
"Ah, fuck, shit, cunt, bollock's, bastard..." Harry muttered, listing off every swear he knew.
As he got down and stood up, still rubbing his head, he looked to see his brother and Ruby were up and gone. Quill was waking up.
"Oh, good morning Harry. " said Quill as he looked up at Harry. He simply waved back and made his way to the door.
He reached for the handle but was too slow as the door opened, revealing Ruby.
"Quill, get up. We're going. " she said.
"Huh, what? " both boys asked, confused by the suddenness of the orders.
"The contracts done. We're free to go. Now come on. " said Ruby.
"But where will we be going? " Quill asked.
Ruby huffed in annoyance. "To the village we have arrived at. Now move. " demanded Ruby.
"But where? We don't have any money or friends here. We're also criminals, so they might recognize us. " Quill said.
"I don't have time for this. " Ruby said before levitating Quill in her magic.
"Hey, put me down! " shouted Quill, flailing in the magic.
"No, we are leaving. Now let's go. " she said as she started to walk away.
"Let go of me! I don't want to go! " he shouted again
Harry watched the commotion be for him. Should I help Quill? He's been a good friend and very helpful at teaching me things. But he doesn't belong to us and might be better off with them.
Ah, fuck it.
Harry raised his hand at Ruby and lifted her up in his shadow magic.
"Hey, what are you doing? Put me down now! " Ruby shouted.
"Put Quill down first. " he said.
She scowled at him. "No. I am not leaving him here with you monsters! Now let me go! ".
"Quill said he didn't want to go. I'm not letting you essentially kidnap him. " Harry said as he pulled Ruby back.
Ruby dropped Quill and charged up her horn. Harry's eyes widened. Before he could react, Charles jumped down and created a barrier.
The magic blast hit the barrier harmlessly. It dissipated as Charles charged at her. He quickly grabbed her horn and twisted it, stopping any magic that was gathering there.
"AAAHHHHH! " Ruby screamed.
Charles dropped her and summoned his bat. He swung and smacked her in the head as hard as he could. She went to the ground, her hooves holding her head.
"You will think twice before hurting my brother. " Charles said. He then slammed his foot into her head, quickly knocking her out.
Before Harry could say anything, Charles straightened up and turned to Harry.
"Morning. You two alright? " he asked.
Harry blinked before rubbing his face with his hands. Waaay too early for this. He looked down at Quill.
He was standing there, wide eyed.
"I'm fine. Hey, Quill, you good? " asked Harry.
"Umm, yeah, I think so. " he said nervously.
With that, Harry turned to Charles. "So what are we doing with her? " he asked, pointing towards the unconscious unicorn.
After Charles looked around, he replied. "We could throw her into a bush. Simple and effective. Just hope she stays asleep long enough. ".
"Really? That's the best plan? " Harry said sarcastically.
"Got better ideas? " Charles asked. After a huff and a moment of silence, it was clear he didn't.
With that, Charles lifted Ruby up and gently lowered her behind and in the shade of a bush. Once he was done, he put the harness on and started walking.
Harry and Quill followed behind.
"Well, this has certainly been an eventful morning. " Harry groaned.
Quill nodded. "Yeah. " he said.
"I do hope the trip goes smoothly. If not, I swear, I'm gonna beat someone. " said Harry.
After an awkward silence, Harry spoke again. "Hey, Quill. You sure you want to come with us? " asked Harry.
"Yes. I really don't have anywhere else to go and you are probably my only friend now. " Quill said.
Harry looked at Quill at that comment. "You really think we're friends? No offense, but we've only known each other for, like, five days. And you were kinda forced to stay with us after Charles threatened you. ".
Quill smiled and chuckled. "Not the best way to make friends, but you've been nice to me and taught me a lot. " he said.
"I taught you something? What was that? " Harry asked.
"You taught me to stick up for myself. I normally would have just followed her but seeing you stick up for yourself or me, weather against your brother or Ruby, made me realize I need to stand up for myself. " Quill said.
So he learned to stand up for himself by watching me argue with my brother? It was Harry's turn to chuckle. "I used to get in trouble for that, you know? " he said.
"What? Why? " he asked.
"I would think I knew best and argued over everything. Just because you can stand up for yourself, doesn't mean you need to. Most of the time when I stand up for myself, I would turn out to be wrong and get into more trouble. " Harry explained.
"Oh. That makes sense. " Quill said, looking down in thought. As he did, he accidentally bumped into a pony that was walking past.
"Hey, watch where you're going, kid. " said the pony before walking off. Quill just turned and scowled at the pony before looking ahead again.
With that, they continued walking through the town. The boys got the occasional stare or look but none seemed to care. Most just ignored them completely, making Harry think if they had seen humans before.
Harry sped up a bit to catch up to Charles. Quill followed shortly.
"Umm…Charles, how are we going to get a boat to wherever we're going? " he asked.
"Oh, that. I saved some of the bits the princesses gave us. I don't know if it's enough, but if we say the princesses are sending us, we should be able to convince them to let us onboard. " Charles said, pointing his thumb over his shoulder at the cart.
"And what about the cart? We can easily sneak aboard if we really need to, but we also need the cart. " Harry pointed out.
"I don't know. I haven't gotten that far yet. " Charles admitted.
"Do you think we have enough bits to get on the ship? " said Quill.
Harry and Charles both shrugged in perfect unison.
"I'll go count them then. Hopefully, we might have enough. " he said.
"Oh, don't worry about that. I already know how many we have. We have about 170 bits left. 150 from the princesses, 32 from the thief's. Take away 12 for our new clothes and that makes 170. " Charles said.
"170? That should be enough, I think. " Quill said as he looked ahead into the increasingly crowded streets.
Harry and Charles, using their height to look over the crowd of ponies, could see a port and a few ships. There was some light traffic near them as well, with carts and wagons.
"Hey, why don't we spend the night here and then set sail tomorrow? Gives us time to look around, make arrangements and chill. " Harry said.
Charles took his eyes off the nearby restaurant and replied. "Oh, umm, yeah sure. Maybe we can get a decent dinner too. ".
"OK. Let's go park this, then we can look around. Quill, do you want to come with or go look around on your own? " Charles asked.
Quill had a second of thought before answering. "I'll go with you guys. Then I won't get lost if I need to come back. ".
They spent the next few minutes searching but eventually found a place to stop. Charles took the harness off. Harry went to the back door and locked it. Quill stood off to the side waiting for them.
Once the cart was secure, they all began to walk into town.
Author's Note
This took a while but it's out. Hope you enjoyed this. More out soon.
Holy and Hellish brothers
12 Travel shopping affairs
Chapter 12
--------------------- Charles ---------------------
Charles and Harry were walking side by side with Quill following behind as they walked through the town. They were talking and joking more than they had in a long while. It was good to see each other smiling happily.
Although they were talking and joking, they had to speak quite loudly as they struggled to hear what they were saying. This was mostly because of the countless ponies and occasional Griffin.
After a short while, they walked to a less busy area. "Hey, Quill. We're nearly at the port. " said Harry, pointing down the path at the harbour not too far away.
It wasn't long before they got there. It was one of the smaller harbours the town had and was less noticeable compared to the others. The ships were just as big as the others but looked more bland and boring.
This part of the harbour also had more Griffins than the others. As they looked around, he could see why. There was a Griffin ship loading pigs and other animals while unloading only a few boxes that looked to have meat in.
"Umm, Harry? Why are we at a Griffin harbour? " Quill asked.
Charles was the one to turn around and answer. "Oh, this is a Griffin harbour? Cool. Anyway, this was the least busy harbour here, so I thought it would be quicker than having to wait all day at the other ones. " he explained.
They approach the Griffin that was standing at the entrance. He looked at them as they came over. It then tilted its head and smirked.
"Well, well, well. What do we have here? Two minotaur and a pony. What brings you over to this part of the harbour? " the Griffin said smugly.
Charles and Harry's eyes widened as they heard him talk.
"Did he just speak in English? " Harry asked in astonishment.
"Yeah. But we can discuss this later. " Charles said, although he was just as amazed.
After they finished whispering to each, they looked back to the Griffin.
"We're not minotaurs, we're humans. Before you ask, don't bother asking what a human is. It would take a while and I'm sure you've got better things to do. " Charles said, cutting the Griffin off just as he had opened his beak.
"Well, OK. What brings you here then? " he said.
"We were hoping to find a ship willing to take me, my brother and the pony to Griffin stone. We also have a traveller's cart that we would like to bring with us if possible. " said Charles.
The Griffin looked suspicious. "If all you wanted was transport to Griffin stone, why not use the pony harbours? " he asked.
Harry answered this time. "It was too busy and it would have taken us ages. We saw it was quieter over here. ".
"Huh, well that's some good reasoning. Well, let me speak to the ones in charge and I'll see what we've got. " he said before flying off.
"Well, that went better than expected. " Charles said casually.
Harry nodded in agreement. "Yeah. I honestly thought that they would just reject us. ".
"Hey, Quill, you alright. You've been a bit quiet. " Harry asked. He had to quickly reactivate his translation spell as Quill spoke.
"Umm, y-yeah. I'm f-fine. " he said unconvincing. He could see they weren't fooled.
"You sure? " asked Harry.
Quill sighed, knowing he wasn't going to fool them. "I don't like it here. I can smell the horrid meat they're unloading. I don't feel comfortable around Griffins. I also struggled to understand a thing you two said. " Quill explained.
Charles smiled. "Why didn't you say so? You could have stayed away while we did this. " he said.
"I did want to cause a fuss over it. " Quill said, looking down.
"It's fine. Don't worry. We'll be gone soon anyway. Just gotta make sure we have a ride out of Equestria. " Charles said.
Not a second after, the Griffin returned. "You're in luck. Gotta ship leaving early in the morning. The captain said he'd do it for 110 bits, 50 for the cart and 20 more per passenger. " he said.
Charles and Harry looked at each other and shrugged. "OK, that's fair. They want the payment now, or later? " Charles asked.
"Now would be better. Don't worry about being scammed. This place has very strict rules and any sea Griffin would be wise to follow them. They usually don't come back if they don't. " said the Griffin with a reassuring smile.
With that, Charles pulled off the halo and grabbed the bit bag out of it. He quickly handed over the coins before putting it back in the holding space in his halo.
"That's a convenient way to store your money. Thanks for the payment. Hope to see you tomorrow. " he said as they walked off.
Charles saw Harry smile. "That cost less than I thought. Just means more money to spend tonight. " he said enthusiastically.
"Hold on, ginge. We still need to save some for when we leave. I don't want to arrive in a new country broke. " Charles said.
"Kill joy. " Harry muttered.
"I heard that. " Charles stated.
"You were meant to. I said it loud enough. " Harry shot back.
It was Quill that interrupted us. "So what do we do now? " he asked.
"Well, we could split some of the money. We've got 60 left, so I'll split it 10 each with some left over. " Charles said as he pulled out the bit bag.
"That's it? 10? What are we supposed to get with 10 bits?! " Harry said, clearly not happy with the budget he was given.
"I don't know. Look around for something. " replied Charles.
"Like what?! " he asked, irritated.
Charles shrugged. "Quill can go with you. He might know where some interesting stuff is. ".
Quill, having heard his name, turned around. "Huh, what were you saying? " he said.
"Can you take Harry with you? He has no idea what he wants so just take him with you and he can have a look around. I'm going off on my own. " said Charles.
"Yeah, going off on your own with the rest of the money. " Harry remarked.
"Harry. There's 30 bits in there now. When I get back, you can count them. If a single bit is missing, I'll let you hit me, deal? " Charles said.
"Fine. " he sighed before walking off with Quill.
Once the two were gone, Charles headed in the opposite direction. He backtracked to a shop he had seen on the way here. He hoped they hadn't sold out yet, but was prepared if they were.
He walked for a good ten minutes before arriving at the shop. To Charles's delight as he looked through the window, they still had what he wanted.
He entered the shop. It was a gem and jewel shop, full of things like ruby's, sapphires, emeralds, diamonds and more. The best thing was they were so cheap, Charles had to double check the prices.
He picked three gems as that was all he could afford. Charles walked over to the counter with them so he could pay. Since there was a pony mare there, he had to use his translation spell again.
"Hey. I would like to buy these, please. " he said politely as he put the gems on the counter.
The pony looked at him. "Sure thing. That will cost you 12 bits. " she said with a grin.
"No, it clearly said over there '3 bits per gem'. So either those signs are false advertising, or you lying. " Charles said, even pointing at the sign where he got the gems.
The pony soon lost her smug grin before muttering something. After that she looked back at Charles with a less smug smile. "Yes, sorry, my fault. 9 bits then. ".
Charles handed over the bits and then took the gems. Try and overcharge me, bitch. I'm going to have fun putting runes on these. He thought.
As he walked out, he pulled his halo down. He flipped it around to open the storage and looked inside. I'm running out of space there. He dropped the gems in and closed it up again, it floating to the top of his head naturally.
He had one bit left. As Charles looked around, he couldn't find anything worth buying. He strolled throughout the town, occasionally having to consciously move his tail to avoid it being crushed by carts or ponies.
He eventually found a Griffin shop. A meat shop. Charles may have looked calm as he looked through the window, but in his mind he was wide eyed and drooling at the sight and smell.
Charles couldn't help himself and went in. The only thing he could buy was a small pack of bacon, maybe four slices. But it was bacon, that being the only reason anyone needed to get it.
He carried it back through the crowd as his halo didn't have the space. The walk back was filled with glares or stares from ponies, which Charles ignored entirely.
As he walked back to the cart, he could see some other ponies heading towards it. Charles instantly suspected thieves, which was proven right as one tried to get in the cart.
*Cough, Cough*
He soon saw all of the ponies and one Griffin turn around.
"I'm sorry, it seems you have the wrong cart. That's mine. Please leave it alone. " Charles said in the most innocent way possible.
"No, it seems you've got the wrong. Now buck off. " said one of the ponies. Just to check, he focused on the 'find me' rune he knew he had in the cart. Unsurprisingly, he could sense it in the cart the thieves were trying to get into.
He smiled. "No, I'm pretty sure that's mine. I can sense my rune work in there. Now back off. " Charles said.
"Or what, stupid minotaur? " said the Griffin.
"I'm not a minotaur. I'm a human. " said Charles. As they looked at him confused, he raised his arm and created a barrier around the cart. The thieves looked at this, surprised. None of them moved as Charles simply walked towards them.
"It's my cart. Now piss off. ".
They didn't need to be told twice as they backed away from the cart, turned around and walked away quickly.
Charles smiled, shook his head and put the barrier down as he entered the cart to rest on his bed. He put the bacon in the cupboard before laying down. He pulled out the rune book as he waited for Harry and Quill to return.
By the time Harry and Quill returned, the sun was already moving down and the moon was raising up. They looked tired with a few things in a bag Harry was holding.
"So, you have fun? " Charles asked sarcastically, looking up at Harry.
"Fuck you. " he said.
"No thanks. " Charles replied.
"Go fuck yourself then. " said Harry, obviously not happy.
"I'm not gay though. " Charles said, his smirk increasing in size.
Harry put the bag on and then opened the draws. He dumped some things in, left the rest in the bag and climbed up onto his bed. He was muttering the entire time. Something involving ponies, meat, racism and, surprisingly, a spork for some reason.
"He's in a good mood. " Charles said sarcastically with his translation spell on.
"Yeah. I don't know what happened though. He walked off to get something, then he came storming back in a grumpy mood. " Quill said as he took his stuff out.
Quill had got himself a long, green scarf. It was simple but it looked decent. Quill wrapped it around his neck and turned to look at himself.
"Scarf suits you. " Charles said plainly.
"Thanks. " he replied.
"Your welcome. ".
Looking out the window, both Quill and Charles saw it was getting dark. Harry was fiddling with something on his bed while Quill snuggled down to sleep. Charles pulled the covers over him as he slowly drifted off to sleep.
Author's Note
Got the chapter out after procrastinating. Sorry. Anyway, enjoy.
Holy and Hellish brothers
Chapter 13
--------------------- Harry ---------------------
Harry woke up. He was still not in the best of moods, but he'd be fine. He could tell that Charles and Quill were gone. When he got up, he thought he could feel the cart rocking.
As he climbed down and out of bed, he confirmed that the cart was moving. He dressed himself in the cloaks he had and stepped out.
Harry looked around as his brain finally caught up with him. He was probably in the cargo hold of the ship they had paid for. The walls, floor and ceiling were made of wood with crates and barrels stacked neatly against them.
He quickly found the stairs up to the ship deck, where he could see lots of Griffins, a few ponies and a minotaur or two walking around doing stuff. Despite the crowded-ness of the deck, he could easily see his brother sitting on a crate.
Dodging the ship crew, Harry made his way over to Charles, who was carving even more runes. Quill wasn't too far away, leaning overboard next to the crate.
"Morning. " said Harry as he approached them.
"Good morning, ginge. You OK? " Charles said as he looked up from the black gem he was working on.
"Yeah, I'm fine. " he replied.
Quill looked around, his face tinted green.
"Umm...you alright, Quill? You look sick. " Harry asked.
He opened his mouth to speak before suddenly putting a hoof over his mouth and throwing up off the side of the ship.
"He's sea sick. He'll be fine. " Charles said as Quill threw up again.
"Aren't you travel sick as well? " asked Harry.
"Yeah, but I'm not sea sick. Remember that boat trip we went on years ago. Even if I was, as long as I don't think about it, I'll be fine. That's why I'm doing these runes. " Charles explained.
"Huh, I guess that makes sense. " Harry said as he found a spot to sit on a crate next to his brother.
As he sat there, he looked at his brother. So far, he had saved Harry from thieves, stopped the prissy pony and helped him understand and use their magic. But even after that, he chose to just sit quietly with a rock and spike and just carve away at it.
It confused Harry to no end. How could he do all the work and still be the silent, chill, introverted brother he was? Without something to do, Harry had taken to practicing with his magic and trying to chat with his demon.
Harry looked down at the multiple stones next to Charles. He hadn't read any of it since Charles always had it, which meant he had no idea what the different runes were. But some of the rocks did stand out.
The three gems Charles somehow brought with only 5 bits. One was a lime green emerald, the other one was a nearly completely clear diamond and the last one was a piece of obsidian as black as the night back in their old world.
"Hey, Charles. Can you please just tell me what you are making? It's really bugging me now. " Harry asked, breaking the quiet between them.
"Fine. I'm making some golems. " Charles said.
"Golems? As in the creature made of stone? " asked Harry.
"Yep. I'm doing the last few runes, then I'll activate them. " he said.
"Then why did you get those gems? " Harry asked.
Charles smiled. It was the 'I've been waiting for this' smile that told Harry that he was in for an explanation.
"I brought those gems to make one unique. It said in the book that putting rune on gems can give them magical side effects related to the gem. I don't know what these will do, but the example in the book was a golem rune on a ruby. It causes the rest of the golem to light itself on fire and gain fire related powers. " explained Charles.
"I'm also combining the runes together. I have to put an attraction rune on one of the stones to keep the others together. It makes it more complex, sure, but it also makes the golem more versatile. With the setup I have for these, they should be as intelligent as a cat and we won't have to manually charge them. " he continued, splitting the stones around him into three piles, all with the same runes in each.
"The only problem is that it saids that the form the golem takes changes depending on the size of the rune. But since none of the ones in the book were as small as mine, I have no idea what form they'll take. " Charles finished.
"So we could be getting monster golem things? " Harry asked, having only understood parts of what Charles had said.
"Essentially, yeah. I've just got to put the actual golem runes on the gems and then power them. The one with the diamond is mine. The emerald one is for Mr sick over there. " Charles said, getting a scowl from Quill.
"That means the obsidian one is mine, right? " he asked, now interested in Charles' little project.
"Yep. This will be yours once we get to land. I don't want to activate any of them yet, though, just in case they damage the ship. " Charles said.
"But how do you power them? " he asked.
"Oh, that's pretty easy. Just hold it in your hand and put some magic into it. " Charles said as he pulled out his 'find me' rune stone.
"But I thought you said we couldn't use magic on runes? " he said.
Charles nodded. "True, you can't use magic to make the runes, but once it's done you can use magic to power them. ".
Charles and Harry sat and chattered on, finally having a good conversation. They hadn't had one for a long time, even before being sent to the new world, but it felt relaxing to just talk.
While they talked, they had unknowingly gained the attention of one of the crew.
"Umm, excuse me? " said a female voice. Both Harry and Charles turned to see a Griffin standing there.
The Griffin, which by the voice sounded like a girl, was brown with bits of silver lining. The unique thing was that she was wearing a leather jacket.
Harry had seen some of the crew wear clothes, but it still seemed like clothes here were optional. The difference between her and the rest of the crew was the colour. Hers was a much darker brown while the other wore a more lighter brown.
Charles was the first to reply. "Yes? ".
Harry's reply was not far behind. "What do you want? ".
The Griffin gave Harry a wary look before responding. "Urr, I can see you're not minotaurs, but the rest of the crew want to know what you are. " she said.
*sigh*
The brothers responded nearly exactly at the same time, which Harry could see freaked the Griffin out even more.
"We're humans. " Charles said simply.
"But, what are humans? " she asked.
Harry could see that stupid smile again.
"Humans are very intelligent apes, not monkeys, there is a difference. " Charles said as he stood up in front of her.
"Where are you from? " asked the Griffin who was getting more interested if the leaning was anything to go by.
"From a place far, far away. " Harry said with a smile as Charles chuckled.
"Really, a star wars reference? " Charles said.
Harry shrugged nonchalantly.
"But yeah, my brother is right. We are from a very distant place that we might never get back to, unfortunately. " said Charles.
"You were banished from your homes? That's dreadful. " she said.
"We weren't kicked out. " corrected Harry. "We were kidnapped and dropped here with little warning or choice. ".
"That's even worse! Who would do such a thing? " said the Griffin.
"God. ".
Although it was obvious she didn't understand the second one, she clearly understood the first.
"A GOD! What did you do to deserve such punishment? " she questioned.
"Nothing. They just found us as the most suitable for their task. Before you ask, no, we are not telling you what the task is. " Harry said as he stated the lost bit bluntly.
"Oh...soo...what are you doing on this ship? Are you heading for the Griffin Kingdom? ".
"Yeah. After a...misunderstanding, we werebanished from Equestria anyway. " said Charles.
"So you've been taken from your homes and dumped in Equestria. You then get banished from Equestria and are heading to the Griffin Kingdom. It seems like you've had a pretty hectic life. " she said.
"Life!? This all has happened in less than two weeks! See these wings, tail and horns? Humans aren't supposed to have these! " Harry shouted as he was now riled up and frustrated at the reminder of how their life went to shit.
The Griffin sat shocked and silent. Her eyes darted between Harry and Charles, not knowing how they would continue to act.
"Hey, ginge, calm down. I'd rather not have the entire ship hear you. " Charles said, trying to calm his brother. Harry simply huffed and murmured to himself.
"So...What's your name? " asked Charles as if nothing happened.
"Oh, my name is Jesse Claw. " she said.
"Huh. That's a surprisingly human sounding name. My name is Charles David Steel. And this is…" Charles started.
"...Harry Michael Parkes. " Harry finished.
"Why do you have three parts to your name? " Jesse asked.
"Just a human thing. They come from our families. Our mom's last name was Irons and his dad's last name was Parkes. " Charles replied.
"And what about your mid…".
"Hey, move it! We told you to stop getting in our way. " said a minotaur as he walked past us, carrying a heavy box.
"Sorry. I'll see you two later. " Jesse said before following behind the minotaur.
As soon as she was out of sight, both brothers sighed, then laughed at how synchronised they were. It wasn't uncommon and it always showed just how related they were.
The rest of the day passed without fuss. They ate the food they had on board and returned to their cart once the sun started to lower.
Quill was the first to fall asleep, having spent the day emptying his stomach of everything, and then some.
Harry and Charles stayed up for as long as they could, not wanting to get up too early. Unfortunately, Charles gave in as his eyes drifted close with the book in his hand.
Harry was now the only one awake, like normal. His internal body clock had been screwed for years, sleeping at 3 in the morning and waking at 3 in the afternoon.
Being unable to fall asleep, he crept down and nicked the book from Charles. It was tricky, considering Charles had oftentimes an awareness of his surroundings that it could be almost impossible to scare him when they were at home.
Harry, however, had mastered the art of sneaking past his brother as he would always raid the cupboards at night for something to eat.
Harry pinched the book at the top in the middle and slowly pulled at it. Once it was half way, Charles's hands slipped to the side away from the book.
With the book now in his hands, he climbed back into bed and opened it. Harry glanced over the glossary for anything interesting. The first to gain his interest was the mimic rune.
Mimic rune.
This rune is capable of copying the effects of whatever rune it is bonded with. It is not a perfect copy and is usually weaker with other random faults.
If the rune it is bonded to is disabled or broken, then it shall disperse its power at random, causing it to either explode or cause magic poisoning.
Do not bond mimic runes to single uses runes.
Harry could now see why Charles liked this book. Although he would never be able to carve runes like his brother, he could still curse thing. And with the mental lessons from his demon, still got to give him a name, he had a pretty OK grasp on the basics.
So as he continued to read the book, in his head, he started thinking of curses. He planned which objects to curse and had a general idea of what to put on them.
Fuck, I'm sounding like Charles. What has my life come to!
Author's Note
The being strolled around is territory,
"No matter. When the day comes, I will keep my power. " he said as he looked out at the open plain that had been his battle field many times.
"And when the ones deemed worthy arrive, I will show them the true ruler of the second gate. ".
Fore shadowing. Enjoy!
Holy and Hellish brothers
Chapter 14
--------------------- Quill ---------------------
Quill had not slept well that night. He was so tired and hungry because he kept throwing up, yet he couldn't eat because of the sea sickness and couldn't sleep because of his stomach. When he got up, he felt like he had been trampled by a stampede.
As he left the cart, he heard both humans speaking to each other in the weird language of theirs. He couldn't make any sense of it or the similar language the Griffins spoke. To him, it sounded like growls, barks and grunts.
As one of them saw Quill, they quickly turned their magic on and spoke.
"Morning Quill. " Charles said.
Quill simply groaned as his body reminded him of his hunger and dizziness. He heard one of them chuckle at this, but he really didn't care.
"Looks like sick note is up. " joked Harry, obviously not bothered by the state Quill was in.
"Hey, ginge, be nice. You were no better when we went on holiday for the first few days. " Charles said to Harry. Harry rolled his eyes and ignored the comment.
Quill continued his walk to the ship deck as he passed the boys. He had to squeeze pass Griffins and minotaurs as he climbed up the stairs to the deck.
The deck wasn't as busy as yesterday, with some crew cleaning and one or two Griffins on lookout. He uneasily made it to the side, putting his hooves up and leaning over.
"Are you OK? " said a female voice behind him. As he turned around, he saw the Griffin from the other day. What was her name, Jesse or something?
"Yeah, I'll be fine as soon as I'm off this ship. " Quill replied.
"Oh...soooooo, why are you travelling with those two. " she asked.
"Umm, 'cause I don't really have anywhere else to go. Why'd you ask? " Quill asked.
Jesse smiled. "I'm just curious. I was there, at Canterlot, when they were banished. They looked weird and I wanted a closer look, but they were long gone by the time I could get out of the crowd. It was just a chance that I found them here. " she said.
"Well, they are weird alright. They said they came from a completely different reality where they are the only smart creatures. They said they had no magic or runes or anything like that and everything was done or made with science. " Quill said, Jesse seemingly interested.
Quill continued as he said, "Apparently, their kind is so advanced that they have built rockets that can take them off the planet, onto the moon AND BACK. Apparently they've done it multiple times. ".
"Really! That's incredible! What else? " Jesse asked enthusiastically.
"Umm, they said that they had things called mobile phones. If they were powered and had a 'wireless connection' or something like that, then they could contact anyone in the world with one. Said it could play music, games and videos. " Quill said, remembering as much as he could from their conversations.
"WOW! That's unbelievable! They can do all that without magic. It might as well put all other races to shame. Can they prove any of these though? " she asked.
Quill shrugged. "It sounds too good to be true, but they know so much that I couldn't just be made up. I just think that they're…"
BOOM
CRASH
Quill had to quickly pull himself back from the side of the ship as it rocked and nearly threw him off. He hastily got to his hooves and looked to the other side of the ship, trying to see what had caused the noise.
Although it was difficult with the ship crew running around, he eventually saw something. It looked like sails of another ship not far in the distance. He could also see a small red flag on the ship.
"Oh no, not good. Pirates. " Jesse said quietly.
"Oh buck. " Quill said quietly.
Suddenly, the captain of the ship appeared. "Oi! Any of you with combat experience or training, get up here now! If not, get below deck and help with patching this ship up. If they've fired one shot at us, they're going to fire many more, so we're going to need all those holes fixed quickly. " he shouted.
The faint shouting of the other ship could be heard but Quill couldn't understand any of it since they were too far away and they were most likely speaking Griffonian.
Quill and Jesse hastily ran to the stairs going down. Along the way they were pushed and shoved by other Griffins and Minotaurs. As they got to the bottom, they could see the chaos that had erupted.
Many of the crew or passengers were running around, moving fallen cargo or stacking wooden planks. Over to the side where they assumed the cannonball had hit, he could see a Minotaur hammering planks over the reasonably large blast hole.
He would have looked for the brothers but was caught off guard as they both ran past him up the stairs. They passed him so quickly he almost mistook them for a Minotaur.
"CHARLES! HARRY! " he shouted to no avail. They either ignored him or didn't hear him as they were gone by the time he had turned around. The only thing left was the angry shouting coming from them. And if Jesse's blush was anything to go by, the language they were using was not appropriate.
"Where are they going? " shouted Jesse over the noise.
"I don't know. They might be going up to help fight off the pirates. " said Quill.
Over by a crate near a wall, a Griffin started shouting at them. "Hey, you two! Get over here. They're going to be firing more cannon ba…"
CRASH
Whatever he was going to say was cut off as a plank of wood from the blast smacked into him. Immediately after, Minotaurs and Griffins began moving hectically with nails and wood beginning to fly as the hole was patched and a few Griffins attended to the one that got hurt.
Quill and Jesse looked at each other before splitting up to go help. Despite being focused on helping the crew, he had a nagging suspicion that whatever was going to happen above them was going to be so much more eventful.
--------------------- Harry ---------------------
"Fuck! " Harry shouted as he squeezed passed the crew who were tieing down everything and getting weapons ready. The pirates hadn't tried flying over yet but, as their ship got closer, he could see the cannons aimed at the ship.
Charles was close behind, stopping to help push and lift crates into position and tie them down as he was faster and stronger than Harry. He was also bigger, and fatter , than his, so he had to slow down more to squeeze through gaps.
Once Harry was in a mostly clear space, about three-quarters up the ship, he looked at the pirate ship as he waited for his brother.
"Right, I'm here...what now? " he said, panting a bit.
"I don't know. I think we just have to wait till they start flying, then we can shoot them down. " Harry said as he looked at the rest of the crew who weren't attacking the pirate ship yet.
"Really...why don't we just...use our magic...to sink their ship? " Charles said.
"I don't know. I don't see anyone else using their magic so I just assumed. " he reasoned.
"That might be because none of them can. So far, only the ponies with horns can use magic. And correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't see any horned ponies here, do you? " Charles commented sarcastically has his breath returned to him.
"Go fuck yourself. " Harry said back.
"Whatever. I'll prepare my magic missiles, you throw fire at them. " he said.
"Throw fire...at a ship... surrounded by water…" Harry said before sighing. "Here I was thinking you were the smart one. ".
"It's magical fire. Besides, if it's on the side near the top, they won't be able to do much as the ocean water can't really reach it and they won't be able to put out the fire fast enough with simple buckets. " Charles explained.
"Fine. This better work. If not, it's your fault. " Harry stated as he started powering up his magic.
In less than thirty seconds, Harry had three fireballs in each hand and one between his horns. Charles, in the same amount of time, had about ten to twenty water bottle sized magic cones on each hand with six circling around his halo.
"Ready ginge. " Charles asked.
"Yep. " was Harry's simple reply.
With that, they both released their magic. Harry's fireballs flew mostly straight and hit the upper side of the ship like planned. They exploded in a fire-y explosion and started to burn away at the ship. He kept putting a small amount of magic into the fire to make sure it kept burning.
Charles spell arc up, similar to how a ball arcs when thrown up. They took a bit of time to reach the ship. As the spell came down, it hit the pirate ship like hail and probably punched holes in the deck which were most likely harder to fix than the ones in the side.
The results were immediate. More cannonballs were fired and the pirate crew, or at least the ones that could fly, all took to the air and headed straight for them. It was like they had knocked a bees, no, wasps nest and all of them were now very pissed.
Charles wasted no time and started to rapidly fire the magic missiles like a machine gun. Harry could see them dodge and avoid most of the shots, the occasional one hitting and dropping the Griffin into the sea.
Harry was still feeding his magic into the flames while occasionally sending a fireball at them. The ship was still holding itself together, surprisingly, but looked like it would crumble any minute now. That was what he was hoping for, at least, as he could see the Griffins on the dive straight for them.
"Shit! " Charles shouted as he shoved Harry out the way before throwing himself in that direction. A second later, three Griffins landed where they were standing, drawing their swords.
All around them, more and more Griffins landed and started to engage the crew of the ship. Swords clashed and bodies were shoved around as the brothers got up.
They both quickly summoned their weapons and turned around to face the pirates standing before then. The pirates already had their weapons out but looked cautious.
"What exactly are you freaks? " asked the middle Griffin.
"I don't know, why don't you ask him? " Harry said, pointing behind the pirates.
They all turned around and saw nothing. All three panicked as they went to turn around again.
"That is the oldest trick in the book and they just fell for it. " Charles said. The pirates looked back at the brothers, only to find them towering over them and bringing their weapons down.
The left Griffin got cracked around the face by Charles's bat while the right one was decked by Harry's golden gauntlet. The middle one was saved for last.
"Oh, and to answer your question, we are humans…" Charles started.
"...and you are dead. " Harry finished.
The Griffin had no chance to react as the bat and gauntlet both collided with his head, squashing it. He fell to the floor in a non moving heap.
Harry turned his focus back to the magic fire, only to see the ship start to crumble and sink. He could see the rest of the pirate crew swimming as they tried to find anything that floated.
The brothers looked around at the ship with many fights raging on. Harry looked at Charles with a smile, one that Charles also had on his face.
"Let's go. " Harry said as he ran forward into the fray, Charles following behind, both with weapons ready. It was time they showed them the power of sibling team work.
Author's Note
It seems they really cant catch a break. Oh well.
Holy and Hellish brothers
Chapter 15
--------------------- Quill ---------------------
Quill stacked his last plank against the wall which was covered in the slanted patch work of wood and nails. The other waĺls around him didn't look any better with them being just as bad or even worse.
He sat down and watched as Griffins and Minotaurs helped lift crates and boxes, stacking them in rough piles.
Just as he turned his head, he saw Jesse approach.
She had bits of cloth wrapped around her fore legs but, other than that, didn't look too bad. But that was just what he could see.
"Hey, you done? " she asked.
"Yeah, I've finished. You OK? " he asked.
"I'm perfectly fine, just a few bruises. " Jesse said.
With that short interaction done, the two walked together to the top deck. They passed lots of the crew patching themselves or others up with bandages.
As they reached the top, they started to see wounds that were a lot worse than the cuts they had seen downstairs. Gashes, missing limbs and other sickening sights.
Jesse didn't seem as affected, but made an attempt to ignore the more silent and unmoving ones.
Aside from that, the ship itself didn't seem too badly damaged. The mast was mostly untouched while the boxes were tied down before the fighting, meaning that they were still safely secured. The worst of the damage seemed to be holes in the floor which were only now being repaired.
They continued to the other side of the ship until they found the brothers.
They were sharing a roll of bandages, probably taken from the box of medical supplies the crew had opened up. They were covered in cuts and bruises as they spoke to each other.
It took a second before Harry and Charles recognised that they were looking at them. They used their magic as the glow reappeared, signaling that they had their translators on.
"Hey Quill. Hi Jesse. " Harry said as he continued wrapping a bandage around his leg. Charles just gave a slight wave of acknowledgement as he focused on tying off a bandage on his arm.
Jesse replied first. "Are you two OK? You both look like you fought a dragon. ".
"Feels like it. " Charles groaned.
"Oh, stop moaning. " Harry said.
Charles simply replied with "Harry, shut up. ".
Harry smirked, clearly not bothered by Charles's rudeness.
"Do you two need any help? " asked Jesse.
"Nah, we're fine. " Harry said.
"Got anything to eat? " Charles asked.
"Oh, of course you would think about your stomach first. " Harry quipped quickly. Before being told to shut up again.
Looking at Quill, Jesse asked "Do they always argue like this? ".
"Not as much, but yeah. " he answered.
"Am I interrupting something? " came a gruff voice from behind Quill. He turned around and was only a few hooves away from the face of the Captain.
"And you are? " Harry asked.
Despite the rudeness of the comment, he smiled. "I'm the Captain. I just came over here to thank you for your help defending this ship. " he said.
"Oh, umm, your welcome, I guess? " Charles said.
"Thank you. While I'm here, as a reward for your actions, I was wondering if you needed anyone? " the Captain asked.
The brothers looked at each other for a second. Charles then spoke.
"Would it be possible to just pay us a reasonable sum of money. The Equestrians didn't give us much and we're running a bit low. " he said.
The Captain nodded. "That's what I expected. You'll be paid once we get to shore. Now, if you will excuse me, I must tend to the rest of the ship. ".
With that, the Captain turned and walked off.
"Thanks! " shouted Harry. The Captain didn't reply.
"Well, that solves one of our problems. " Charles commented, going back to his last bandage.
Jesse raised an eyebrow at that. "One of your problems? What else do you need? " she asked.
"A home, a job, better clothes, stuff like that. " Charles said.
"I can help with some of those things. " Jesse said, gaining the boys and Quills attention.
"Really? " Quill asked.
She smiled. "Of course. I work as a seamstress. I usually make fur coats and stuff for Griffins that go hunting in the north. But I'm sure I can make you two something. ".
Charles and Harry both turned and high hoofed. Or was it high handed?
"Thank you Jesse. " they both said simultaneously.
"Ah, ah ahhh. I'm not one of those pretty little pony 's. I do expect something in return. " she said, which only slightly dampened their mood.
"Meh, we'll be getting some reward money once we are off the ship. We could all go out for a good meal. Then, me and Charles could let you stay in the cart for the journey to your place. " Harry said as he was clearly not bothered.
Charles nodded at this. "Seems fair. We give you a free meal and a free trip in exchange for some clothes and a place to stay till we can get our own place or something. Deal? " he asked.
Jesse smiled. "Deal. ".
For the next two days, nothing much happened. Quill spent the time just relaxing and talking with anyone. The brothers spent their time together, rarely separate but always talking or arguing over something.
When they finally arrived at the Griffin docks and they had got off the ship, the first thing that Quill did was stretch his legs on solid ground. Charles and Harry weren't far behind, taking in a breath of air as if noticing a difference.
Jesse came out a little later with her sadle bags on. It took another half an hour till the cart was unloaded from the ship and handed to them. Along with the cart, a Griffin crew mate came out and handed a hefty coin bag to them.
"That everything? " Charles asked.
They all answered positive as Charles put the harness on and started walking.
"Where are we going? " asked Harry.
"There's a 'no parking sign' here. We need to park the cart somewhere else. " Charles said.
"Even in another world? Some things just don't change, do they? " Harry commented with a smirk.
It didn't take long before they parked the cart and headed off to look for somewhere to get dinner. While Quill was hoping for a fancy restaurant, the others had something else in mind.
After a short five minute walk, they arrived at a simple fish and chip shop. He could smell the fish and other meats wafting out of it.
Looking at the two humans he saw that they were holding back the erg to drool. Charles seemed the most affected as an audible grumble came from his stomach, though it didn't look like he cared that we heard it.
"Right, what do you want? " Charles asked.
"Cod and chips. " said Jesse.
"Sausage or pie and chips. " Harry said not a second later.
"And you? " asked Charles, a bit impatiently.
"Umm...I'll have a vegetable pie and chips. " he answered.
Charles gave a very quick nod before disappearing into the shop.
"He seemed eager. Do you have shops like this where you're from? " Quill asked Harry.
"Yeah, of course. Britain's known for its love of fish 'n' chips. We're also known for our bad weather, tea and crumpets, our Queen and being posh, but that's beside the point. " Harry said.
"Wait, what? Your posh. Yeah right. " Jesse said laughingly.
Harry smiled before he started changing his posture. In less than a second, he went from his normal slouched posture to that of a highly respected noble. If it wasn't for the clothes, he could easily think of him as one.
"Why, I'm sorry, my lady. I hope this is more to your standards. " he said, his accent changed and his voice proper.
Quill could see Jesse's face burn red in embarrassment as Harry looked at her. Harry then started laughing, Quill following suit as Jesse looked away to hide the blush.
Charles came out with two bags not long after, the white greasy paper visible inside.
"Ok, let's get back to the cart so we can eat. " Charles said as he took off at an impressive speed walk. Harry walked next to Charles while Jesse and Quill strolled behind.
At their pace, it took less than three minutes to get back to the cart. Quill and Harry stayed outside as Charles sorted the food and Jesse went to go find a restroom.
"Dinners done! " called Charles from the cart.
"Coming " Harry said.
The door of the cart opened as Charles picked up and gave Harry his food. A second later, and Quill walked away with his balance on his muzzle.
He sat down opposite Harry, who was using his magic to create a dark platform to sit on. Quill picked up his dinner off his snout, opened it and started eating.
Jesse returned not longer after Charles got out with his dinner in hand. He copied Harry and sat next to his brother on his own magic platform.
Quill saw Charles take one bite of the fish before sighing in delight, a smile across his face. Harry was much the same as they both chewed, taking in the taste.
"You two seem happy? Has it really been that long since you had a good dinner? " Jesse asked. Both boys just nodded.
"I don't think you're going to get much out of them now. " Quill said, chuckling as both boys looked at him, then each other, shrugged and went back to their dinner.
"Must be some good fish then. " she said as she bit into her own fish.
They all ate in relative silence, with Quill and Jesse occasionally trying to start a conversation. The first one to finish, to Quill's surprise, was Charles.
"Finished already? " asked Jesse, a tad bit surprised.
"Yeah. I've always been a fast eater. " Charles replied as he walked towards the nearest bin. Quill looked at Harry for answers but got a shrug in return.
Harry was the next to finish, with Jesse not far behind. Quill was still eating his as it was much harder to pick the chips up without the claws or whatever the Griffins, Humans and most other races had.
After they all came back to sit and talk, Charles came out the cart with three small bags he had somehow got.
"Whatcha got there? " Jesse asked as she saw the bags.
"These are the golems I have been working on for the last week or so. " said Charles before turning to Harry. "Ginge, catch. ".
Charles tossed a bag to Harry, who caught it, and then put another next to Quill.
"Aww, don't I get one? " Jesse asked sadly.
"Bring me a gem of your choice and I'll make you one. " Charles offered. He opened his bag and emptied the runed stones and diamond onto the ground.
Charles sat on the dirt as he looked nervously as a glow appeared around his hand.
"I hope this works. ".
Quill saw bits of Charles's magic flow into the stones. They slowly started levitating and spinning around the central diamond. Other nearby stones were pulled into the swirl till there were about fifty tiny pebbles and stones.
Once there was enough, the spinning slowed as it started to take form. Once it had stopped, a cat sized spider golem stood where a pile of stones had been.
The diamond glowed from within the body of the golem. Any runes that weren't in the main body were in the abdomen. It turned its 'head' to look around, its legs shifting like an actual spider.
While everyone looked at it stunned, it took its first steps towards Charles. When he didn't move, the spider simply climbed up on him and perched itself on his shoulder.
"It...worked? It worked. HA, IT WORKED! " Charles shouted happily, standing up as the golem clung to him.
Harry didn't wait as he emptied his bag and copied Charles' actions. Like before, it spun, collected more stones from the surroundings and then started taking shape.
What was left was a golem cat, the obsidian positioned where the heart would be. Like the other golem, it looked around before walking to Harry.
It started rubbing up against his leg, just like a normal cat, and had a rough approximation of a purr.
"This is awesome. " Harry said as he started stroking his golem.
Now it was Quills turn. He emptied his bag onto the floor, put his hoof to the gem and waited. He was very surprised when the gem took magic from his hoof and started to build itself.
Once the process was done, Quill was left with a typical golem. It looked very much like the humans, just without the head.
"Huh, that's weird. " Charles said as he looked at Quills golem.
"It sure is. " said Quill as he petted his new pet golem.
Author's Note
This will be it for a while. Depending on the vote on the blog I made, I might come back to this.
Hope you enjoyed.
Holy and Hellish brothers
Chapter 16
--------------------- Charles ---------------------
Charles had no idea what time it was, but he was rudely being woken up by his internal clock. Said clock being his stomach and/or his bladder.
He flung the covers off the top part of his body as he pulled his legs out from the covers and over the side of the bed. He then sat up, rubbed his face with his hand and then opened his eyes.
He semi-consciously got up, dressed and out without a second thought. Behind him, he could hear the light tapping of stone on wood as his new pet golem followed behind.
By the time he was outside, he was now mostly awake, stretching to loosen his stiff muscles. On his back, he could feel the golem climb up to perch on his shoulder like a weird parrot.
He gave one final yawn before speaking his first words of the day.
"Good morning. How are you? " he said, turning his head to look at his golem. It looked back before nuzzling its face into the side of his face.
"I should really give you a name. " Charles said, mostly to himself.
He thought of giving it a normal human name, but he didn't know which to choose. He tried thinking of pet names but again, there were too many. Then he thought of playing with words.
It was a spider, or arachnid if you want to get technical. The golem, while not really having a gender, just felt like it should be male for some reason. So, after much thought, he came up with…
"Hey, how's the name Aaron. " Charles said to his golem. The name was a simple butchering of the first part of the word arachnid, but it would do. It looked at him and bobbed its head, signaling a yes.
Charles played with Aaron for most of the morning as he took mental notes as to what his golem could do. Especially because, without anyone else noticing, he had added an extra battery rune to his golem.
It could somehow climb the walls of the cart without scratching it and could produce magical string, just like Charles. Aran could hang from the string like a spider and Charles could already picture the glowing web that Aaron could form with it.
He was sitting on the roof of the cart when he heard the door open. From the sound of the steps, he could tell it was Jesse, even without looking.
"Morning, Jesse. " Charles said.
Jesse looked up at Charles. "Oh, hi. You're up early, aren't you? " she asked.
Charles shrugged. "This is normal for me. " he said. He jumped down and walked over to her as Aaron scuttled next to him.
"So, what are you doing? " she asked.
"I was just playing around with Aaron here. " Charles said, gesturing at the spider golem that was hiding under Jesse.
"Oh, so you named it. What does Aaron mean? " Jesse asked.
"I don't know, it's just a name. I just took the word 'arachnid' and changed it. " Charles answered.
"Oh. Well, that was anticlimactic. ".
Charles chuckled. "Yeah. I don't know what you expected. Some deep meaning behind words or something. ".
"Well yeah, kind off. " Jesse said, looking a bit embarrassed.
"Well, once you give me a gem to work with, I can make you a golem and you can name it whatever you want. " Charles said as he turned to Aaron and petted him.
Jesse then turned her attention back to Aaron as well. "So, what can he do? " she asked.
"I'm not fully sure. So far I know he can make magical strings to make itself a web, like spiders can. I also noticed it was able to climb the side of the cart and it was hanging from the underside of Harry's bed. " said Charles.
He continued by saying "I've only had him since yesterday so I'm not sure of everything. ".
"Do you have anything like this where you're from? " Jesse asked.
"Umm...sort of, not really. We have spiders, but this would probably be more related to a drone. They are super complicated and have to be controlled. They also need recharging and are quite expensive. " Charles said.
"Oh. I guess some things are easier with magic then. " she said.
"True, true. But some things are also easier with science. Each of them have their uses. " Charles said as he shrugged.
There was a second of silence as they had nothing to say before Charles spoke up.
"Well, I guess we should get a move on. I'll get ready to pull. Can you check on dumb and dumber. Thanks. ".
It didn't take long to get the harness on. He waited for Jesse. He saw her pop her head around the corner with her thumb up. Weather that meant they were awake or they were good to go, he didn't care as he pulled.
--------------------- Half an hour later ---------------------
Charles and Jesse were walking together. Aaron had made himself quite comfortable on Charles's back. It had been quiet since they started.
"So, you've heard us talk about our world, now can we talk about this one? " Charles said.
"Oh, sure. What do you want to know? " Jesse asked.
Charles shrugged. "I don't know. How about...your work? " he suggested.
"Oh, OK. As I said, I work as a seamstress. I work with animal and monster skins and make coats, hats and boots. " she said.
"Monster skins? What do you mean by that? ".
"Well, you see, we have hunters that go and hunt animals and monsters. The remains are then brought back to be cut up into furs, meats and any special materials, which are then sold. " Jesse explained.
"Oh, like in games back home. Go out, hunt monsters then loot. Rinse repeat. ".
"Well, sort of. They only go hunting at certain times of the year or if they start getting too close to our towns. Mainly because the monsters help keep other, more dangerous ones, out and away. " she said.
"Does that mean the ponies have hunters then? " Charles asked. Jesse just laughed hysterically.
"Pony hunters, hahaha. Oh, that's a good one. They're more likely to befriend the damn things. Either that or the princesses will blast it with the RBB. " Jesse said, still chuckling.
"RBB? ".
"Rainbow Banishing Beam. It's what Griffin's call the Elements Of Harmony. " Jesse clarified.
"Ha, that sounds fitting from what limited knowledge I have of them. I take it this RBB banishes bad guys. " Charles guessed.
"Yep. It banishes villains away for a thousand years, unlike us Griffin's that prefer a more... permanent method. ".
"Oh yeah, I'm pretty sure humans would prefer the permanent module more. I mean, what's the point of locking them away just for them to come back when most of the threats it knew are long dead? " Charles asked.
Jesse shrugged. "We've told the ponies this but they keep saying that it's fine. At this point most Griffins have a weapon for self defense just in case one of these villains makes their way over to us. I mean, I have a few weapons back at the shop. " she said casually.
Charles raised an eyebrow to this. "Are the ponies really that bad? ".
"Depends on who you ask. But, most will say no, their worst. " Jesse said, smiling.
Charles shook his head. "At this rate, being banished from Equestria might look like a good thing. " he said with a chuckle.
Charles looked up as he went to talk more, but ended up quickly shutting up as he saw some Griffin's in armour. What was worse, was that they were heading straight towards him.
"Excuse me, are you one of the creatures that were recently banished from Equestria? " said one of them.
"Umm...yes? Is there a problem sir? " Charles asked.
For fuck sake! Can we go more than a day without something happening? Charles thought to himself.
"No. We are simply patrolling this road and happened to see you approach. " said the other Griffin before he looked at Jesse. "And who is this? ".
Jesse replied before Charles could get a word out. "Im Jesse Straightwing. I was simply traveling along with them since we are heading the same way. ".
"And where would that be? " said the first Griffin.
"Huntington, sir. " she said. This caught Charles attention, but he kept quiet for now.
"Ok. Stay safe. " said the Griffin's before they walked off behind them.
"Huh, well. That went better than expected. " Charles said.
"Meh, the patrol Griffins usually are since they get bored walking up and down the same road. Anyone walking these roads is usually nice to them as well since they help keep thieves and bandits that used to cause problems off the roads. " Jesse said as they both continued.
"Nice. " simply replied Charles.
Jesse nodded and continued. "Yeah, it is pretty nice. Besides, the king was looking for a way to keep his soldiers active so they don't become useless like the pony royal guards. ".
Charles gave a raised eyebrow at this. "You have a king? I thought this world only had princes and princesses. ".
"No, that's just a pony thing. Griffins have the proper system. " she said.
"If the ponies are this bad, how do they rule most of this world? Like seriously, they sound as if any decent army could walk straight in and take the place with no problem. " Charles said.
Jesse just shook her head. "A: because their princesses rule the sun and moon. B: they have the Elements of harmony which, although we joke about it, is the most reliable way to lock away a villain. And C: the ponies are good at 'sharing' with us. " she said.
"Well, that must suck. I mean, they are...oh, hi ginge. " said Charles as he felt someone approach from behind. He could see that it was Harry's shadow on the ground.
"Morning. " he said bluntly with as little enthusiasm as possible.
Charles looked behind him to see Harry walking behind him with his cat golem walking next to him. Harry stretched a bit as he looked to be fully awakening.
His golem pet cat also appeared before jumping impressively high and climbing onto the roof of the cart. It quickly layed down and went back to sleep.
"So, how are you, ginge? " asked Charles as Harry caught up, now walking to his side opposite Jesse.
He yawned before responding. "Tired. ".
Charles chuckled at Harry. It could be midday and it would still be too early for Harry.
As Harry continued along with them and became more awake, him and Jesse started talking together. Charles became more quiet as he simply listened in, only adding in a comment every now and then.
Quill eventually came out as well. He was a lot more awake and looked a lot more happy. Apparently, a good night's sleep on solid ground did him some good.
On Quills back was the humanoid golem, riding him like he was a horse from Earth. Looks like I'm not the only one with a golem on their back.
Charles and the others continued to walk and talk, only stopping to have a break or to swap out the puller of the cart. That job had now gone to Quill.
During their conversation, Jesse had asked Harry and Quill what their golems were called. Quill's golem was called Solem because it rhymed. Harry's golem was called Sid because it sounded like the middle part of obsidian.
I'm not the only one that chooses a simple name for my golem.
When the day finally came to an end, it took no time at all to set up a campfire with Harry's hell magic being able to light just about anything on fire. That is where we stayed until, one by one, we went to bed.
Charles smiled to himself, being the last to fall asleep as he read his rune book in bed. It had been a boring, peaceful day and he wouldn't want it any other way.
Author's Note
I don't know why this took so long, but here it is.
Holy and Hellish brothers
Chapter 17
--------------------- Charles ---------------------
Charles dodged another thrown knife as he pulled a battle axe out of nowhere and lobbed it into the head of a nearby dragon. He grabbed the neck of the knife throwing robot and slammed it into the grassy ground.
He, again, pulled a huge minigun out of nowhere and let loose into the swarming army of teddies and toys. He stood where he was and hosed any within view with glowing metal lead.
Dreaming.
Randomly, he twirled on his feet and tossed the weapon into the crowd as it exploded. The corpse of the dragon, axe still embedded in its head, came crashing down as it caused another explosion. The knight riding the dragon slowly parachuted down.
Dreaming.
He turned around and walked away as more and more things exploded behind him. He casually pulled out a pair of sunglasses and put them on as a particularly big one went off.
Charles was lucid dreaming, which he usually used to release stress or to pick at thoughts and ideas. Tonight's dream was stress relief in the form of over the top action and violence.
Although Charles could lucid dream, it did not mean it happened all the time. He had to actively remind himself it was a dream to keep his awareness. It did cause him to be a bit more grumpy in the mornings, but that was barely noticeable.
Dreaming.
He stopped walking as he calmed himself down. All the action that had just happened just stopped as it ceased to exist, filled with nothing.
A weird thing Charles had noticed in his head was that the nothing around him was not black, like he had read and seen in web novels or TV. In his head, the void that filled his subconscious was grey. A dark grey, sure, but grey nonetheless.
Dreaming.
He grabbed a chair from the air and sat down, leaning back as he did so. He closed his eyes as he did, letting his conscious drift back into a normal dream.
…
Click .
He sat up. He still knew he was dreaming. One tell was that he had to ask if he was dreaming, meaning he was. The reason he sat up was that, despite having control over what he 'saw', in dreams he couldn't hear anything unless he was waking.
He looked around for the source of the impossible noise. He saw that, to his side's, there was a door. A heavily built iron blast door, but a door nonetheless. The simple sound was caused by the door as something tried to get through.
After it silently rattled a few more times, as if it was being hit by every bomb he could think of which included nuclear ones, he saw it get gently pushed open. He waited for the creature to pass the door.
Am I dreaming?
The being he saw come through was not who he had expected. It seemed to be a horse of some kind. It was a dark navy blue with some black on it. It had a single straight antler and it also had huge feathered wings.
"Hello human. I am princess Lu…" it didn't finish that sentence as Charles walked towards it and tried to smash it in his mech.
Huh, why didn't that work?
"You cannot harm me as I am not…" it was cut off again as Charles started firing the weapons on his mech, the sense of noise buffering his perception of hearing although no sound was actually being made.
Why is this not working? Am i dreaming?
"I am not a part of your dream. Now listen to me. I am princess Luna. Ruler of the night and protector of dreams. " it said.
Who is Lu...oh. It's you…
"Yes, it is me. I would like to talk with you, human. " it...no...she said.
"Now that I have your attention, I would like to say that…".
Get out of my dream. Get out of my head.
The princess seemed to be a bit stunned as Charles gave such blunt commands. This didn't last long as the princess started using her magic.
The scape around Charles fell away, revealing more of the grey. He also found that his consciousness was more...solid? Full? He had no idea.
"Human, please listen to me. I only wish to talk of your world. " she said.
Why should I tell you anything? I'm banished, remember? I am, in no way, obligated to do anything for any of you princesses.
Princess Luna sighed as she spoke. "I understand this, but you hold much knowledge, which Equestria could use to bring more harmony to the world. Just being here, I can sense the immense amount of information in this head. ".
You expect me to tell you anything from my world? Even if I did, what's in it for me?
Charles had stopped trying to destroy the princess as nothing seemed to work. Nothing seemed to affect her, no matter how hard he tried.
"Your name would be in the history books for generations to come. We could also discuss the matter of removing the banishment put upon you and your brother. " the Lunar princess offered.
Charles had only partially been paying attention as he looked for a way to get this princess out of his head.
Nice offer. I refuse.
"Pardon me? Why do you refuse this offer? " the princess asked.
I don't want to go back to Equestria. I've already travelled this far. I'm not just going to turn around because you asked me to.
As Charles looked around for the umpteenth time, he finally came up with an idea.
"Human, I urge you to reconsider. This could improve the world as we know it. " she began.
A world that's not mine.
The princess went to open her mouth, but Charles didn't hear anything as the door she had entered through fell on top of her, sending her the way she came.
Not taking chances, he started using his mental energy to weld the door shut. The baby dragons and flying candles joined as the door turned into a solid slab of Steel.
The door shook as the princess tried to force herself back in. The door buckled and cracked, but like gum, the door pressed itself back into shape. She must have got bored as she eventually stopped.
Whatever magic the princess casted in his dream started to fade as he felt his conscious slip into unconsciousness. With that, his memory started to fade along with it, until his world went from black to nothing.
:-| :-) }:-)
-------------------- Harry --------------------
He woke up with a groan. He could feel his body as it layed in an awkward angle with one of his feet hanging off the side.
It took Harry a whole minute to sit up before he even attempted to get out of bed. The me five were spent climbing down and getting dressed. As always, Charles was already up and gone.
Quill and Jesse were just waking as he walked out.
"Morning Charles. " he called out. There was a second delay before he heard a reply.
"Oh, morning ginge. You alright? " he asked.
By the sound of it, Charles seemed to be on the roof of the cart again, on the right side which was opposite from Harry.
"I'm good, you? " Harry responded with a yawn.
"Yeah, yeah. I'm good, I'm good. " Charles said, distractedly.
Harry could sense something wrong. Charles had his small signs and repeating himself like that was one. He could tell something was on his mind.
But Harry couldn't just ask what was wrong because Charles would just cram it and bottle it up like normal.
"So, what are you doing? " he started.
Charles turned around and was now looking down at Harry. Had simply looked up at him, now that they had each other's attention.
"Have you had anything enter your head? ".
Shit, does he know about the demon?
"Umm, not that I know of? Why? " Harry asked.
Charles's gaze turned hard and serious.
"One of the princesses entered my dreams and tried to convince me to give them information about our world. She said it was to 'help spread harmony over the world' or something. " Charles said, nearly snarling at the mention of the princesses.
"Wait, what!? " Harry shouted.
Charles nodded. "That's why I asked. I wanted to see if she got into your dreams, like what she did to me. " he explained.
"If she did, don't remember it. I can't lucid dream like you. " Harry said, getting a relieved sigh in return.
"Well, just, keep this in mind, OK. I don't want her to take you. " Charles said with genuine concern.
Harry smiled. "Like she could take me. Do you know what goes through my head? " he said jokingly. Charles's seriousness broke as a smile and a chuckle emerged.
"Your right. I've lived with you for my whole life and I still can't understand you most days. I bet she couldn't get into your head in the first place. " Charles said back.
Harry and Charles had a brief moment between them before Charles's face turned serious again.
"But seriously Harry, I need you to be careful. We don't know the extent of their powers. " he said.
Harry sighed. "Alright, I'll be careful. Geez " he replied.
"That's not all. I'm not sure if it was part of the spell she cast or something else, but I felt something in my head. " Charles said.
"Like what? " Harry asked, once again worrying about if his brother knew what was in his head.
"What are you two on about? " asked someone behind him. Surprised, he turned around to see Jesse.
"Morning Jesse. How are you this morning? " Charles asked without turning to see who it was. Seriously, how does he do that?
Harry saw Jesse smile. "I'm fine. How are you two boys? " she asked.
"I'm good. '' Charles answered.
"I'll live. " Harry said.
This got a chuckle out of her. "You sound lively, Harry. " Jesse joked.
Charles jumped in before Harry could come up with a witty come back. "If this was our world, you'd be lucky if you got anything more than grumbles at this time in the morning. " Charles said.
"Shut up Charles. " Harry said to his brother.
It didn't take long before Quill also got up, followed by all the golems that took their respective places. Aaron was on Charles's shoulder, Solem was riding on Quills back and Sid curled up on the roof of the cart before napping some more.
They once again took off with Harry having to pull for the first length. He saw his brother turn back to his smart, smiling self as if this morning's conversation never happened.
If it weren't for the fact that he was the one Charles talked with, he would have never known of the troubled thoughts the most likely raced through his brothers mind. It really started to make Harry think of just how well he actually knew his brother.
After a quick pit stop and swap, Quill was pulling as they all went back to talking. Most of the talk was about the new world, Equis, Harry and Charles found themselves on.Charles only seemed to butt in if he had something to say but was otherwise quiet.
The rest of the day was just more walking and talking up until dusk. That night, after dinner and once everyone had gone to sleep, Harry simply stared at the wooden ceiling above him.
Hey, demon. Is there any way for you to protect my dreams? Is there no way for you to create a passive shield or barrier? Could you do it without being detected? I have no idea what the pony princess would do if she saw you in my head.
With nothing to do, the shear boredom eventually caught up with Harry and he drifted off to sleep.
Author's Note
Most of you probably know what is in Charles's head as it not hard to guess, but I feel like I've added enough to make them unique.
Holy and Hellish brothers
Chapter 18
--------------------- Jesse ---------------------
Jesse woke up with a yawn, stretching as she got up. She looked around tiredly as she checked to see if anyone was up. Unsurprisingly, Charles seemed to be up already with Quill still asleep. She was surprised, however, when she saw Harry's bed empty.
She slowly walked to the cart door as feeling returned to her dead limbs. She had to cover her eyes as the sun shot light straight into them but she recovered quickly enough to not trip and fall.
She looked for the boys, but there was no sign of them anywhere. That was until a huge shadow passed over her. She looked up to see two huge figures darting in the sky above her.
At first, she was impressed by the sight of their huge size in flight. But upon closer inspection, she saw just how clumsy and crude their flight style was.
She spread her own wings before flapping and shifting into the air. As soon as she roughly reached the same height as the humans, she called out to both of them.
"Morning Charles. Morning Harry. " she called.
It took the two a bit of time before they could stop what they were doing and to start hovering next to her. Even though she was just looking, she could already see how clumsy, awkward and crude their flying style was.
"Morning...Jesse. How are...you this morning? " Charls said, out of breath. Jesse looked over at Harry to see he wasn't any better.
"I'm fine, just wanted to see what you were doing. " Jesse replied.
Charles panted a bit more before pointing to the ground. All three got the message and slowly hovered down to the ground. Harry and Charles started gaining their breath back as they sat on the ground.
"What happened to you two? It looks like you flew a marathon. " Jesse joked.
Charles answered first, seeming to be the least tired out of the two.
"Practicing our flying. Normal humans don't have wings so...we were practicing how to use them. So far…we have the basics and...we were just playing around with them. " Charles said through his attempts to get enough oxygen.
"Well, your flying is about the same as some young teenage Griffin's if that helps. " she said with a smile.
"Thanks. " Harry muttered sarcastically.
"Your welcome. " Jesse replied.
Charles, seemingly back to normal, stood up and stretched. His feathered wings extended to their full length as he did so. Harry copied his action as he extended his own leathered bat wing.
Jesse looked at their wings. "Jeez, I forgot just how big your wings really are. They're huge. " she said. Both boys stopped and looked at each other.
Harry cut in before Charles could respond. "They are, aren't they. Compensating for something Charles? " Harry said with a grin.
"You're just jealous I have one. " Charles quipped immediately as both brothers laughed.
Jesse couldn't help but blush and laugh as the two humans bantered back and forth with no hesitation or pause. It was so natural, it was like a well rehearsed act.
"OK, enough, you two. Stop arguing. " Jesse said, hoping that they would stop.
"We're not arguing, are we ginge? " Charles responded as he turned to Harry.
"No, we're just having a conversation. " Harry said with a smile.
Jesse could only sigh at the humans.
Charles quickly changed the subject. "We should be getting close to Huntingdon. Maybe another few hours away. " he said.
"Finally. I was wondering if we were there yet. " Harry said. Not a second later, something clicked in Harry's brain.
"Wait, did you say Huntington? ".
"Yep. Something wrong? " Jesse asked..
"No. It's just that me and Charles used to live in a town called Huntington before we moved house. I find it weird that there would be a town with the same name in a different world. " Harry explained.
"Yeah, same here. But I've just given up seriously questioning things here. " Charles said.
"Huh, that's weird. " Jesse said. Charles and Harry said nothing as they looked at each other and shook their heads.
Quill was apparently woken up because of the talking as he quietly appeared behind Harry. All of the golem pets were also up, climbing on or following their respective owner. The four of them continued to talk and walk, just like they had gone for the last few days.
Jesse was surprised at just how well they had adapted to Equis. They had apparently gone through so much that she could feel sorry for them. Harry was always open, never hiding his feelings whether you liked it or not. Charles on the other hand was calm and kind at all times, only showing his more questionable side when it was needed and hiding his emotions expertly.
How such complete opposites could be brothers and friends baffled her. They were completely black and white when compared to each other but, when they were together, they melded into a shade of grey. They were perfect for eachother.
It was another hour of walking until they reached Huntington. It was no different from when she left, still busy with ponies, griffins, minotaurs and a dragon or two all over the place. The air traffic was just as full as the ground traffic.
It wasn't long before they reached a cart park, which was also busy. After they had parked the cart and locked it, Jesse started to head towards her shop with the boys not far behind. She pulled out her key and unlocked the door, allowing them to enter as the bell above the door rang.
She turned on the lights before she used her wings to jump over the counter. "Could you two come over here please? Quill, if you want, you also come or you could go exploring. Just stay out of trouble. " she said.
"I'll try, but trouble usually finds me. I'll be back soon, bye. " Quill said before he left, the bell above the door ringing again.
Charles and Harry let their pets, which had been riding on their shoulder, off as they followed behind Jesse while she showed them around. "These are the shelves of different furs and fabrics, folded and labeled. Over there are the draws with the string and other sewing bits. And this is where I keep other bits and bobs like jems, bendy wire, mannequin and glitter. ".
She turned around to see Charles nodding. "Okay, I got it. Fabric and furs over there, sewing stuff there and other bits here. ". Harry just nodded, only partially paying attention.
"So, my turn to uphold my end of the deal. You still want a job here? " she asked. Charles nodded. "I'm sure. When do we start and what are we doing? " he asked.
"You could start today if you want. I just need someone to clean the place and sort the occasional shipment of supplies. " Jesse explained.
"So, we're cleaners, basically. " Harry stated. Charles facepalmed before he shook his head.
"Yeah. There is a cupboard over there, next to the button draw. " she said. Charles wordlessly walked over to it, opened it, looked around for a few seconds before pulling out a broom, cloths, cleaning spray and a dustpan and brush.
Watching Charles move was like watching a drone from a bad horror movie. Harry reluctantly followed his brother's example and grabbed his own cloth and spray before getting to work, with more emotion than his brother.
Jesse then turned around and headed to her door that opened to the stairs to her apartment. She slung her bag off her back as she started to unpack. It felt good to be back after nearly two weeks away. Knowing her luck, some of the local hunters will be in need of repairs to their coats or need new ones entirely.
--------------------- Harry ---------------------
It had taken almost half an hour to completely clean the front part of the shop. Harry hadn't even actually done that much. He cleaned the counter and dusted the mannequins. In that time, Charles had swept, cleaned all the inside windows and dusted most of the clothes racks.
Charles was finishing the last of the clothes racks while Harry took his time sweeping behind the counter. At the rate they were going, they could have this place cleaned in just under an hour.
Throughout this time though, Charles hadn't said more than a single word at a time. This wasn't uncommon as he usually would go silent while doing something important. In this case, it would be cleaning the shop to perfection so he could get the job here for now.
Aran and Sid were playing on the clean floor, chasing each other and play fighting. Their stoney bodies clacked as they ran, similar to the sound of dog claws on hard flooring. It was actually quite cute to watch. Even Aran was a bit cute despite being a spider bigger than a cat with legs longer than Sid's tail.
"Hey, Charles, I'm bored. " Harry said.
"And? " Charles replied as he gave him a deadpan look.
"What are we doing after we are done cleaning? " he asked.
Charles just hummed a 'i don't know' as he collected all the cleaning stuff before walking to the cupboard to put it away.
"Do you know how much we're getting paid? " Harry asked.
"No. ".
"Are you even listening? " he continued.
"No. " Charles said with a grin, obviously answering like that to annoy him.
Harry rolled his eyes and shook his head. "You're an asshole. " he said.
"Yep. " Charles replied sarcastically as he closed the cupboard.
"Hey, are you two done already or are you just standing there talking? "Jesse said from behind Charles. Harry had been focused on sweeping and talking to his brother, he didn't even notice her come down.
Charles showed no reaction to the sudden appearance of Jesse. He probably heard her come down the stairs and just didn't say anything. Harry seriously wished he had the awareness his brother had, but that was just him being jealous.
"Why don't you see for yourself? " Charles said, motioning to their work.
"Wow. How did you get some much done in only half an hour? I've just finished unpacking. " she asked.
Both brothers looked at each other. "That's a secret. " they said in unison.
Now that Jesse was down, Harry took this time to ask her about their work.
"So, how much are we being paid? What days do we do? When do we get our new clothes? " Harry went on.
"Woah, woah, woah, hold on there. One at a time. Ask me again. " sh said.
"What are our work days? " Harry started.
"Okay, better. You only need to work four days of the week, so what days do you want? " she asked.
Charles spoke up now, having made himself a chair out of his magic. "How about we work Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday? That should be good, right? ".
Jesse thought about it, then she started nodding. "They should be fine. As for pay, how about 4 bits an hour? That's the average pay rate around here. ".
"Okay. When do we get our new clothes? " Harry continued.
"Harry, she's only been here for half an hour, give her time. Jeez, you're impatient. " Charles scolded, only to get a huff in return.
"I'll start working on them the day after tomorrow. Anything else? " Jesse said.
It was Charles' turn to ask a question . "What are the work hours? ".
"You'll be working six hours a day from nine in the morning to three in the afternoon. " she said.
"Okay then. I don't have any more questions. You got any, ginge? " asked Charles as he turned to Harry.
"Nah. " Harry replied.
Jesse smiled. "Good. For now, there isn't much for you to do here. If you want, you can go. ".
Harry and Charles were about to leave, but as they reached for the door, Jesse called out to them. "Oh, wait! Could you two do something for me please? " Jesse asked.
"Um, sure. What is it? " Charles replied.
She pulled a package, which was some folded clothes wrapped in the typical brown wrapping paper, out from under the counter. Harry had seen it but ignored it. She lightly tossed it over to them, Charles catching it.
"There's a friend of mine that ordered something before I left but I couldn't give it to him before I left. Now that I'm back, I can get it to him. There's a shop called 'The metal working claw'. Just go right and keep going straight down. It should be on your left. It's quite obvious, you can't miss it. " she explained, pointing down the street.
Harry and Charles both gave her a thumbs up as they left. Aran climbed to his spot on Charles' shoulder while Sid walked beside Harry. The streets weren't as bad as the dock town back in Equestria but it was still really busy. Charles took the lead as Harry followed close behind, heading down the street.
Author's Note
Sorry this took so long. I've been going back to college. I've also gone back to check the previous chapters. Enjoy.
Holy and Hellish brothers
19 Meanwhile, someone elsewhere
Chapter 19
--------------------- Celestia ---------------------
It had been just over two weeks since she and her sister had banished the two beings from Equestria and yet there was no sign of them. She had sent a few royal guards to keep an eye on them, but they lost track of them after they got to the ship.
Luna had tried to contact them through their dreams but ended up being kicked out of the dream, something that hadn't happened to her for a thousand years. And what she did get was not what they had expected.
For some reason the only one she could reach, the elder being of the two, had no intentions of coming back to Equestria. Luna could even sense the want to never go to Equestria behind the mental walls of the dream.
When Celestia had heard of this, she didn't believe her sister for a moment, but it did match what they had done. They had CHOSEN banishment over reformation and friendship with the ponies. Maybe they saw it differently?
She could only imagine what they were doing. As far as anypony knew, they could be taking the Griffin Kingdom over or causing chaos all over the world. Or they could be sharing their knowledge and power to the Griffins and just refusing to give it to the ponies out of spite.
All this plagued her as she waited for the current noble to finish their rant. It was another one of her ponies wanting more than they needed, using any loopholes or excuse to acquire it.
When they had finished and left, Celestia sighed and relaxed a little as she waited for lunch before the next round of court. Luna was also present, sitting in her throne beside Celestia's.
"So, dear sister, any news on the two humans today? " asked Luna, striking up a conversation.
Celestia sighed. "No, there is not. They are out of Equestria but beyond that, it is unknown. " she responded.
"Have you had any luck with dreams, Luna? " she asked.
"Unfortunately not. Their dream doors are so different yet so sturdy. After my first entry into the older one, his door grew in thickness and it has much stronger locks. The mess of complex and contradictory locks on the younger ones' door is still so chaotic that Discord would be impressed. " Luna explained.
"Is it time we sent the Elements bearers to check on them? They should be able to find and befriend them. We may learn of something from where they came from. " Celestia suggested.
Luna, however, looked over concerned. "Are you sure that is wise? They may not like being spied on or they might still harbour a grudge against the ponies. " she said.
Celestia hadn't really considered those points, but they sounded reasonable. But she also couldn't help but feel like something needed to be done. She then came up with an idea.
"Sister, if we send a letter to the Griffin king about them, we may find out what they have been doing since they left. The Element bearers could also be there to greet and talk with the humans. " Celestia said.
Luna added her input a second after some thought. "That plan does appear reasonable but they should be told to be alert around them as they are being that seemingly never existed before they fell out of the sky.. ".
"That is understandable. I will write to the Element bearers later today and to the Griffin king tomorrow. " Celestia said as her lunch, which was a sandwich and a slice of cake, was brought in.
--------------------- God ---------------------
"Lord, we have sent the latest batch of messengers. We are already beginning to pick which mortals to bless next. Is there anything else you desire? " said the Angel, bowed down before him.
"Have you found a way to contact the messengers once they've arrived in their new realms? " God asked, his voice echoing in the huge chamber. The Angel shook his head.
"No, my Lord. We have an idea but it requires that the messengers have spent at least forty-two days in their new realm. The only one close to this is your Original messenger, but even he has only been gone for just over two weeks. We should be able to contact him in about seventeen days from now. "said the Angel, looking at the clipboard he held in his arms.
God nodded. "Keep me informed if there are any changes, please. Now, you have news on the Angel division program, yes? Are they save-able or do we need to sacrifice them? I would much rather not sacrifice my loyal and respected Angel. " he asked.
The Angel stood and flipped a few pages on his clipboard. "Ah, yes. The remaining pieces of the souls of the Angel do seem to be repairing themselves. That is the good news. However, they won't fully recover but, with care, they could regain basic parts that they might be missing. For example, an Angel that had lost their emotions, might regain basic emotions over time but they won't be able to regain their complex ones. " he explained.
"Does this also work for the part in the messengers? If so, what effects might this have? I hope this does not cause any problems for them. " God asked.
"Well, that part might also regain some of its missing parts but…"
--------------------- Lucifer ---------------------
"...we have no fucking idea what effect this is going to have on the humans. As far as we care, they will start influencing each other. From the few we have here, the soul fragments are like coloured ice in water. The soul of the Demon will just melt into the soul of the human and mix until they become a voice in the human's head. " the Succubus said.
"Anything else I should know about this, bitch? " Lucifer asked.
She shrugged. "Not that i can think of? Why, can you think of anything else? ".
"How about how long does it take for the fragments to be mixed? " he asked before he yawned, rubbing his head and horns.
"I don't fucking know, neither do the dipshits down below. Now, is there anything else or can we get down to business? " she asked seductively. Lucifer nodded with a toothy smile as he turned around to head to his private chamber to have his fun, the Succubus following behind.
He stopped when he heard a cough from behind. He turned around again to see one of his scientists. "Ha, it's good to see you again. How was your trip to the frozen lakes? '' Lucifer joked.
"Don't play stupid. You know exactly why I'm here. " the Demon said. "Why are you sending these pathetic creatures to different realms when we could send them straight up to the mortal plain and cull those insects!? We used to be one of the most powerful and feared forces the mortals had ever seen! Now, we're nothing more than stories and jokes to them! " he shouted at Lucifer, who had a mildly peeved and amused look.
"Because the humans aren't as weak as they were a few thousand years ago. The humans up there haven't been twiddling their thumbs while they wait for our return, unlike you. They have been fighting and improving against themselves ever since they pick up a sharp enough stick. We would also have to deal with the bigger pain in the ass called God. This is the fourth time I've told you this. Ask again and I will have your soul fragmented lethally. Understand? Good. " he said as he walked off.
"Cowar…" he didn't finish the word before he was impaled by several spikes and portals unleashed the starved gluttony demons on him. There were cries of pain and terror as he was torn to bits by the crazed gluttons. The screams of agony were like music to him as he pushed open his chamber doors, the musky smell of many that had fun with him before the Succubus helping to mask the smell of the soon to be corpse.
-------------------- Ruby --------------------
Ruby sat on her bed. The hotel room she had paid for was cheap but wasn't the best. But compared to the cart, she couldn't complain about it. At least now, she had covers to sleep under so she didn't have to sleep on the floor like some sort of animal.
The pain in her head still wasn't gone. It had been there since she tried to save Quill from them two monsters. Ever since the elder one had hit her with the bat, there had been a dull pain that never went away, that made sleeping difficult, that tormented her. The local hospital had said to rest it, that it would go away eventually.
She had told herself that as well. That, eventually, it would go away. She had told herself that, now she was free, everything was fine, that there was nothing to worry about. She had almost convinced herself, but the sting made sure her own delusions didn't stay long.
She used her magic to pick up a bag she had, levitating it over to her. She removed the bag of bits she had filled with a small amount of stolen bits. After putting them back, she made sure that it also had her food and water. In another bag, which had been sitting next to it, she checked the tenting equipment.
Ruby wordlessly got up, slung the bags onto her back, and headed out. She had spent the last few days thinking. Should she go back home to her parents, should she go to the Griffin Kingdom to go save Quill or should she just forget everything and start a new life here. She had chosen her path.
As she left the hotel, she made a turn for the dock. Those two villains will pay for what they did, even if it is the last thing I do. I'll see how they like constant pain. I'll see how they like it...how they like it... ha... hahaha... HAHAHAHAHAHAAA !!!
Her internal cackling resembled a small, mostly unnoticeable but malicious smile as she trotted onward. The only thing she could hear was the sound of her hooves, her heart and her thoughts as she walked through the busy town.
--------------------- ??? ---------------------
He sat there and watched his new interest go on about their day through his blood crystal mirror. Over the many centuries he had been on the look for anything that could be a challenge, a successor to his title and new bearer of his responsibilities. He spent many years just wishing that the next challenger would be the one, but they always tell short of the requirements.
They were either too frail, their magic too weak, their intelligence lacking or any combination the three. Teams had tried but fell apart, either by their incompetence or their over reliance on their teammates. Even the group's or few individuals that didn't have these problems just didn't have what it took to beat him. It really was a shame for some of them.
Looking at these creatures, he couldn't see much physical power or strength, but their unusual endurance and durability did look promising. But he could also sense the fine control of their great magical power and the unique quirk that their magic held. To go along with the magic they held, they looked quite intelligent as they had shown themselves to be quick learners. They would pose a real challenge.
But he could also see the room they had to improve, to surpass him. He could wait and watch, as he had done for many centuries before. He could wait for the right moment, when they were ready. The day would come when he would fight them and he could only imagine the legends of the battle to be told after. He just hoped he didn't have to wait too long as he knew the anticipation would be the most painful part of his life.
Author's Note
This chapter didn't take as long to write but it did feel pretty weird. This was the only way I could think of to straighten out some plot points and other bits. Hope you enjoy.
Holy and Hellish brothers
5 The reveal and punishment
Chapter 5
--------------------- Princess Celestia ---------------------
She sat on her throne as she listened to the noble complaining about money, despite being wealthy enough already. This was sadly common amongst the nobility as they had very little to do, causing them to just want more out of border.
He was interrupted by the door as a guard rushed in.
"Your highness, the two creatures have engaged each other and are damaging parts of the castle. Multiple guards have been injured either trying to stop them or by stray magic. " said the guards in a professional voice but with a slight panic.
"Thank you. We shall see to it that they are stopped. " said Celestia. Celestia and Luna looked at each other before getting up and heading to the balcony. They took flight from the balcony and flew to the scene.
At the scene, she saw unicorn and earth pony guards protecting the side of the castle from the countless stray blasts. The Elements of harmony were also there, doing their best to help. The pegasus were helping by transporting the injured away.
As the princesses landed, they were instantly surrounded by shields as unicorns used their magic and earth ponies held their shields. Not a second later, a fireball exploded on the ground near them.
"Sister, we should stop these two before they cause anymore harm. " said Luna as her horn lit up. The two princesses' horns started glowing as they attempted to restrain the two creatures.
As the magic headed towards them, the both looked at it before raising a barrier to stop it. Both beings looked at each other in surprise and at the damage around them. They spoke together, unhappily agreeing on something.
They raised their paws at them and released their own magic. One in the form of a blinding light and one in the form of a dark flame. The magic merged and stopped in front of the countless shields already up and then formed a barrier of their own. This would stop any more damage but would stop any attempts at subduing them.
--------------------- Harry ---------------------
After sealing the ponies out of the fight and stopping any more collateral damage, he focused on the angel once again. It was a surprise that they did the same thing at the same time, but it did distract them from their fight.
Harry charged him, using his gauntlets to block attacks as he got close. The angel threw a few spells before flapping their wings and covering to the side. Harry was this and held his arm out at him as he unleashed an inferno of hell fire. The angel gave a sharp and pained help at this before jumping back with the flames burning his arms.
He charged again but was caught by surprise when a load of tiny strings wrapped around him. He could easily break them but they just reformed after. This made movement harder as he tried not to trip while moving fast enough to keep up with the Angel. During his charge, he was not with explosions, more bindings and magic blades.
The Angel went to move again but was too slow as Harry grabbed him and swung his fist. The gauntlets smacked into his face and he were sent flying back.
He got up slowly, holding his cheek while his nose was bleeding. "Cunt…" he said in a slow voice that dropped in anger.
Harry went to engage him but was stopped by a blinding light. He closed his eyes and shook his head to get rid of the blindness. Once he regained his vision, he was then punched in the gut by the Angel and then got a bat, which had formed from an equally blinding light, to the side of the head. It was his turn to go flying as the swing knocked Harry away.
He stood up and regained his balance while preparing to strike. The strings were still annoying as they kept wrapping around his body. He looked at the Angel to see him preparing more spells. He took this as an opportunity to get close before he could cast it.
Harry ran at him again. As he got close, the spell the Angel was casting flew towards him. He used his shadow movement to avoid it, but was burnt by the light from the magic blast illuminating his shadow form.
Once he was in the Angel's shadow, which was to the Angel's right, he sprang up and landed an uppercut to the jaw. He then formed a fire blast in his hand and crushed it in his hand as he punched the Angel. The fire engulfed his hand and added a burst of flames from the punch.
The Angel got up and gave a familiar glare that could have killed back on their world without magic.
Before Harry could move, the Angel sprinted towards him. This took Harry off guard as he had to change to defense quick. He created a barrier in front of him which was meant to slow him down. Instead, he used his wings and flew over it, still heading straight for him.
He raised his arms to block whatever attack came his way, only to be surprised as the snarl landed behind him with a spell in each hand. He fired both into Harry's back, sending him crashing into his own barrier.
He retracted the barrier and got up again. He was getting tired and his asthma was starting to play up. If he did end the fight soon, it could be game over.
--------------------- Charles ---------------------
Charles looked at the Demon. It was faster and could punch harder thanks to those damn gauntlets. It also had some magic blast and a teleportation of some kind. If he was going to win, he needed to be smart. With the adrenaline running through his body, that wasn't exactly easy.
He saw the demon running at him. Charles raised a barrier in front of him. As the Demon saw this, Charles pushed the barrier forward like a piston and slammed it into the Demon. When he lifted the barrier, he saw him standing there with a shield of his own.
Charles made another barrier above the Demon and sent it down to crush him. It hit the ground hard as it kicked up some dirt. He lifted the barrier to see if the Demon was there, but found nothing
"Behind you. " said the Demon as it popped out of his own shadow and punched him.
Charles stepped back from the punch as it hit. He then summoned another bat in his hand. The two stared at each other, not wanting to make the first move. The Demon moved first, quickly closing the gap.
He went to punch but missed as Charles dodged it. He swung his bat as a counter and caught the Demon in the ribs. He swung again, hitting the shoulder, then got and then finally the head.
The Demon staggered. Charles took advantage of this and grabbed him by the shirt. He then started punching the Demon, hoping to weaken him or to knock them unconscious. After a third punch, the veil over his face faulted. On the fifth punch, the veil dropped so he could see their face.
"Let's see what...you really...look...like…" Charles' victorious smile quickly shifted to recognition.
"H-Ha-Harry? No, it can't...no...Harry. " Charles froze. Everything from his heart to his lungs froze at who he was seeing, all except his brain. His brain was processing this fact at the speed of light but couldn't handle it, causing it to reboot. In a fraction of a second, he had gone from wanting to defeat a Demon to wanting to save his brother.
Harry opened his eyes, one being black and swollen, and asked in a heart crushing-ly injured voice "Charles? ".
Charles went to move again to pick up his brother when he noticed a dark blue glow around him and a golden glow around his brother.
He looked over to the princesses to see that the barrier they had put up earlier were gone. Harry's barrier fell once he was beaten and Charles's barrier fell when he saw his brother out of shock.
The glow squeezed their limbs by their sides as they were levitated over to the princesses. Harry, in his state of nearly unconsciousness, said "Are we in trouble? ". Charles, despite the force holding his limbs to his sides, could still facepalm and shake his head.
They were taken back into the castle, where they gave us to the guards as we were cuffed and binded to make sure we couldn't cause anymore trouble. He could feel the power fade as the cuffs came on, although the halo still stayed above his head.
They were escorted to the throne room where two angry princesses sat. Princess Luna was glaring at us while princess Celestia looked neutral but most likely dislikes us deep down. Both just sat there quietly though, as Charles and his brother stood up and sorted ourselves out.
Harry had healed slightly from the battle, meaning any cuts were now scabbed over, but the bruises were now forming as well. Charles was no better as he wiped the dried blood from his face with his sleeves.
The princesses sat there as well as the six Harry came here with. They waited for a second before they started. Their horns glowed as the magic tendrils reached for them and connected.
"Humans, you are accused of reckless destruction of property and of bodily harm. Do you protest? " said princess Luna.
"No, your highness. " we both replied.
"Do you have any valid reasons for your actions? " asked princess Celestia.
We looked at each other. "No, your highness. ".
"Is there anything you would like to say, humans? " asked princess Luna.
"No, your highness. " we repeated.
"Then we shall present you a choice. You may remain here, in Equestria, under the supervision of the Elements of harmony, or be exiled from Equestria. " said Celestia. Princess Luna looked at her but said nothing.
The brothers looked at each other. "May me and my brother discuss this together please? " asked Charles. The princesses nodded as the magic tendrils retracted.
"I say go with the elements of whatever. If we go with them, then we get a place to stay and will be provided food and other necessities. " Harry said after a moment's thought.
"But harry, if we do that, we'll be stuck in the same area. It sounds bad, but exile means we can go to all the other countries, not get trapped in a single city or something like that. " Charles argued.
"What about food and supplies? If we get exiled, we have to get our own food and stuff. " Harry said.
"We can ask the princesses for a way out and for supplies if we word it right. Just trust me on this. Besides, there are other races out there, not just these ponies. " Charles replied.
They continued to argue back and forth before agreeing. As they turned back to the princesses, the magic tendrils touched their heads again, reconnecting communication.
"Have you made your choice? " asked princess Celestia.
"Yes, your highness. " we both said.
"We have decided to be exiled, your highness. " Charles said calmly, getting a surprised reaction from the princesses as if they didn't expect that answer.
"Are you sure of your choice? If you are exiled from Equestria, you shall never be allowed back. " asked Princess Celestia, making sure she heard us right.
"Yes, your highness. " he said.
"And for you? " she asked his brother.
"I agree with my brother. " he said, looking over at him.
"It is settled then. From this day on, you are hereby exiled from Equestria for your crimes. Is there anything you would like to say? " asked princess Luna.
Charles took this as his opportunity. "Your highnesses, me and my brother would like to request transportation and supplies for our journey out of your land. Such things like food and whatever currency you have. This is because we have nothing but the stuff on our body. ".
It was the princesses turn to discuss. They didn't take long, however, and answered quickly. "You shall be given a traveller's wagon and basic supplies tomorrow. Take this time to prepare as you shall get no more from us. " said princess Luna.
With that sorted, we were released from our cuffs so we could return to our rooms to collect our stuff for tomorrow.
Author's Note
I didn't know how to do the fight scene, so I hope it came out well. I also hope you like the reason for the choice of avoiding a very common trope.
If you find mistakes, feel free to point them out so I may correct them.