'Ow...' Meliodas thought as he brought his hand to his head, 'what happened, where am I?'
Meliodas' head was trobbing in pain, it was the worse headache he'd ever had. He was in a forest full of tar black tree the covered the sky He was still in his ten commandment's uniform so it couldn't have gotten here to long ago. Arising from a small bed of moss, he looked around and winced as he noticed he had a small cut on his left arm. Meliodas closed his eyes trying to remember what happened, but he couldn't recall anything that happened in the near past. The last thing he could remember was fighting with his younger brother Zeldris. But that duel was at least 2 days ago, he didn't know what had happened after but he knew a bare minimum 2 days had past.
Wait a moment...
"ZELDRIS!" Meliodas shouted in a rare burst of fear, he ran over to his brother who was unconscious but had no visible injury. The sigh of relief that came afterwards surprised himself a little bit. Meliodas wasn't used to showing much emotion, so the fear for his brother was somewhat knew to him. Something was off but he didn't know what was wrong but he knew something wasn't right.
In the distance he heard wing flaps, and a slight murmur of inaudible speech. Sounds of the murmurs became more distinct as they grew louder, and louder, as it approached. As it grew louder Meliodas could make out two different voices, both feminine, soon after he realized it the voices ceased their talking. He moved his unconious brother to a better hiding place, as a figure decended from the sky, it seemed to be an anthropomorphic horse standing at least 7 feet tall. If the body was an indicator, she was female, she had a dark blue coat of fur with a lighter blue mane that resembled the night sky.
"HUMAN!! WHY HAST THOU INTRUDED IN OUR LAND?"
Melliodas stood unshaken, staring back in her eyes with an unamused and bored expression at the towering Amazonian figure. The moonlight which trickled down through the leave in the forest reviled that she was in silver armor, very light weight and designed for stealth over protection. Shadows cast form the leaves turned her coat from a dark blue to almost black, and Her turquoise eyes seemed almost cat-like as she glared back at him with a fury that would've made some of the archangels quiver in fear. The amazoness of a horse woman move closer believing Meliodas to be human, this would be her first of many mistakes. Her long sword point straight for his neck expecting an answer she would never get. Meliodas tried to remember the events leading up to this, but his memory was still pretty blank. The only thing he could recall was his duel against Zeldris, and the only other recent event he could recall was battling against Mael causing the goddess to flee from his immense darkness. It had probably only been a quarter of an hour since he had woken up before this odd creature flew from the skies in battle ready armor and her sword drawn.
Meliodas kept his gazed fixed his aggressor, as he notice another figure, much like the one threatening him, landed not to far behind her. Unlike the first one she was about a foot tall and she had a white coat of fur, and brought a massive golden battle axe instead of a sword. One of the most noticeable difference was the armor, while the first one had small armor made for agile movements, the newer woman brought much larger and heavier golden armor that was much more durable than the silver armor the other brought.
"Luna, calm yourself, can you not see that this human is all but an adult?"
The one now known as Luna blinked a few times scanning him once more. The height that normally comes with maturity was absent, yet his muscles were very defined. He had no facial hair but he had a few scars with a very fresh wound being on his arm. Luna still felt unsure about the other's decision, those eyes of his seemed to stare right into her soul, giving her an uneasy feeling. After consideration Luna ended up agreeing with the other, thinking Meliodas was just some child soldier.
"Oh dear. I do believe you are correct sister."
Luna pulled her sword away, sheathing it as she knelt down. Meliodas kept staring as she rose her hand up, only to be slapped away as his expression changed from emotionless to disgust. Luna eye's widened slightly, expecting him to tremble in fear and attempt to run, but instead she was treated as if she was the dirt he walked on. Stepping away she allowed the taller white horse to take charge in the situation. With Luna pulled away, the other knelt down in her place, examining Meliodas as one would examine a small child. Sensing nothing coming from him, no fear nor anger, she held out a hand with more care only to get the same treatment as the other.
"Please don't be alarmed, I apologize for the first impressions. I promise you, you are in no danger." She brought her hand back to her resting it on her chest for an intro duction. "I am princess Celestia, one of the co-rulers of this land and the one who raises the sun." Then she motioned to Luna, "This is my little sister Princess Luna, She is the other Co-ruler, and the one who raises and lower the moon." Finally she gestured back to Meliodas, "Do you have a name?"
From Celestia perspective, Meliodas kept staring at her trying to process what she said, almost as they were speaking a different language. "... I am Meliodas."
"I don't want to hurt you Meliodas, this Forest is very dangerous, please let me help you."
"What do you want."
The tone surprised Celestia, it wasn't one of a perceptive child, but closer to a pissed ruler. It would be best to come clean and tell him the truth of what happened.
"Meli, I do not want any harm to come to you, but you must understand. I have brought you and another here to this land of harmony and peace, to help it grow and revive a lost gender to a species." Meliodas flinched inwardly when he heard his childhood nickname.
His face remained blank and unwavering
"You see Meli, Our world is populated by only females. Every species, every race, only one gender exists. However it wasn't always this way. Both genders once existed roaming freely, with equal rights and treatment. But one day a pandemic wiped out every male of every race from each species. We spent the past multiple millenia trying to locate resurgence of magic, but it never happened. Equestria need the organic touch of a male to bring back the other half of the kingdom." She then pointed at Meliodas, "Thus, we used our magic to summon you and another who both have perfect genus as an Equis stallion. Your task, no, your destiny is to bring back the male demographic."
Meliodas sat there listening to Celestia's story, understanding it very well. It was the same way that incubus, and succubus demons were pushed to extinction in his world. A plague destroying a single gender until they can no longer reproduce. They had desperately tried to stop it but failed in the end as they had a final resort of having to slay their own kind to prevent the spread and end the suffering they endured. But he wouldn't allow himself to become a breeding stock, much less his own brother.
"no"
"What?" The calmness in his voice shocked both of the princesses.
"Are you deaf along with dumb, I told you no. As in I won't do it."
"Meliodas, please. We understand your feelings but we cannot allow-"
Celestia was silenced as she felt a jolt of pain in her stomach, as she flew backwards into the trees behind her. A warm liquid rolled down her lip, bringing her hand to clean her mouth, it was stained red with her own blood. Meliodas flinched as the wound which he payed no mind to was starting to greatly hurt. Seeing her own sister be taken down in a single punch Luna drew her sword and charged at Meliodas, only to have her attack blocked as he grabbed her blade in one hand stopping it completely. Meliodas could feel the hate flowing throughout her body, yet he didn't understand why she wasn't affected by his commandment, unless...
"Are you really going to abandon you own race.. Why would you abandon your own brother?!" Zeldris shouted
"Zel... Bring Gelda with you and come with me." Meliodas said out stretching a hand to bring his brother with him.
A select number of memories came back to Meliodas, the reason why his commandment didn't work on her was because he and his brother had already left the ten commandments.
Breaking the sword into multiple pieces, Melliodas grabbed the tip of the blade and stabbed it through Luna's armor. Stumbling backwards and clasping the wound on her stomach, she gasped for some air before coughing up blood.
"Your not a human are you.."
"Did it really take you that long to figure that out?" Meliodas mocked, "I am a Demon, and I highly suggest leave me alone."
Luna eyes widened in shock as she thought she saw the face of death itself.
"Luna, this is a fight we cannot win. We have to escape now."
"But what about what we came here for."
"We can come back for him latter, I have already gotten the other one."
The two sister extended their wings and took off, with Celestia taking Zeldris in one of her hands. Meliodas would not allow such a fate to happen to his own brother. An emotion was swelling up inside of him, one he had not felt in a long time, it was an unbridled rage
"TAKE YOUR HANDS OFF MY BROTHER YOU FILTHY WHORE"
Meliodas summoned his wings and took off flying after them. He won't abandon his brother even if it costed him his life. Summoning hellblaze in his hand, he charged at Celestia launching her into the ground his a powerful punch, only to flew up with his hellblaze straight for the head as it started to consume her body. Meliodas felt a surging pain run up through his arm, the wound has started to become unbearable as he relented his attack, as he was greeted with a badly burnt and barely alive princess. He picked up his unconscious brother, only for him to be snatched away in a blue aura. He turned towards Luna who was already running off with Zeldris, only for him to run after her with another hellblaze ready. If he kept pushing himself like this, he wouldn't be able to fight much more.
"LEAVE MY BROTHER ALONE!"
Luna was forced back to the ground with a power punch as her body was covered with the black flames as well as she cried out in howling pain. Another round of surging pain flare from his wound. But once he had stopped, Luna was in the same horribly wounded state as her sister was in. Throwing his brother over his shoulder, Meliodas went back into the deeper part of the forest, he was in no shape to continue to fight for much longer. The forest was filled with many menacing creatures, all of which were to scared to approach Meliodas from the darkness coming from his body. He did have a set goal in mind, all he knew was he had to protect his brother while he couldn't fight. As he traveled deeper into the woods he saw a broken down castle, that would be completely unlivable for any sane person, taking his brother, Meliodas went into the broken castle to try and live there in secret as they recovered from whatever happened before they arrived in this mess of a world.
"Brother... Where are we?" Zeldris asked in a state of confusion.
"Don't ask"
Chapter 2 - Artificial darkness
Zeldris sat upon one of the pinnacles of the ruined castle, overviewing the forest that surrounded them. A boredom crept across Zeldris's face, nothing has happened all day, nothing really has happened since they had arrived in this accursed land. Meliodas had left the castle early in the morning without telling his brother why he left. Exploring the ruins became pointless after he discovered all the secret passageways in under an hour. This world was truly disgusting to him, it was all some sort of sick joke to him. What he once though of the lush forest quickly faded when those whores-of-princesses sent guards to try and capture them.
The memories from what had happened didn't necessarily frighten him, but he didn't really like it. Battalions of guards had showed up at the castle demanding they turn themselves over for the greater good. When both he and his brother refused they tried forcing violence on them, whilst a few of them tried forcing themselves onto them. He remember all the bone that got broken and how many were pushed to the brink of death, even though they had lost their weapons before they had arrived they were going to put up a fight if it meant they weren't going to become breeding stocks. Screams of anguish and pain ran through his head at the memory of the blood bath while most survived and ran, there was only one completely dead, she took a direct hit Meliodas' hellblaze to save a few of her comrades.
"SOMEBODY PLEASE HELP US!"
A voice cried out from within the forest, snapping Zeldris out of his memories. the screams were obviously feminine, yet much younger, almost like a young child. The sound was surprising close despite the forest being so vast. The cries for help made Zeldris feel such pity...
No...
It wasn’t pity, he felt compelled to help them, as if the screams were calling specifically for him. What if it was a trap, would those princesses really go that low to use hostages of their own race to try and lure one of them away. A pain welled up within his chest as the screams had a small echo within the forest possible alerting other predators. Feeling unsure of welled up inside of him, he honestly wanted to help others, but he didn't really want to kill others.
"PLEASE! ANYONE! HELP US!"
But the screams, they were genuine, ones of terror and fearing for life. If he was ever going to start his plan, it would be now, he made a promise to Gelda and he doesn't intend to breaking it. Looking in the direction he saw it was in the Timberwolve's domain, taking his sword off of his belt, he sprouted his wings and flew out over the trees, with only one thing in mind, 'I will do this for you, Gelda.'
Exploring the castle, Meliodas was trying to remember where he had left his sword. He probably should've asked his brother where he'd left it, but thought it would be best to not bother him at the moment. While he walk around looking diligantly for his sword, he stepped on something as his foot sank into the ground slightly, the sound of stone moving on stone sounded beside him. A passage had opened, one the he had noticed before, while all the corridors he had previously encounter had some sort of torchlight powered by a well of magic, this one was completely dark with way to light it at all.
Stepping inside a cavern of darkness surrounded Meliodas, only be illuminate by his black flame. As he continued down the infinite hallway, he lost all concept of time as he traveled deeper and deeper, there was something calling to him, like how one would lure away a child from their parents. As he continued a dark presence had start to become strong enough to be know. The cave was obviously made intentionally and not by nature. Thousands of holes were in the wall that were stacked vertically and stretch a long distance containing cobwebs, and old scrolls the would turn to dust at the slightest touch.
As he continued the power grew more powerful, the air became thinner and chilled as he moved closer. A faint red glow could be made out just barely only to grow brighter each step he took. Shadowy figures flew beside him, as if they were racing him to the faint glow only to disappear once they had barely pasted him like a wisp of smoke dissolving into air. Sounds came from what he could only assume were their mouths, like they were speaking to him but only the sounds of rushing wind followed. He stayed on the path unfaced as he kept his goal in sight.
“Meli~”
An familiar yet eerie voice called out to him from one of the shadows wanting to lure him closer to the faint glow. Cold air flew through his coat as it sent a shiver down his spine as he continued down the never ending hallway. The darkness kept growing every step he took as the cold air became an icy-fire much like purgatory. Dark silver with red accents surrounded the red glow it was in the shape of one of the ponies that ruled this world, The eyes were painted red to match the glow coming from the center of its crystal. The amulet was letting out a dark aura almost as if it was designed to lure people to it so it could find a new host.
"Come join the corruption Meli~ We promise it will be fun~"
"Be quiet."
Raising an arm Meliodas grabbed the amulet, only for it to lash out with dark energy temporarily blinding him. Sight which had been lost quickly returned as he awakened in a void of emptiness, no light nor dark just him and a shadowy figure towering above him. The eyes were blue and had slits running down the middle of them as it began to stare into his soul.
"Surrender yourself to the darkness and fulfill your destiny."
The voice sounded familiar to Meliodas but it was heavily distorted, as the words of what she had said registered in his head he could stop his psychotic smile from spreading across his face. Meliodas knew completely well that who ever she was, she did not know the full power of demons, especially not the two sons of the demon king.
"Surrendering myself into darkness? That's the stupidest thing I've heard."
Summoning his demon mark, he shaped the darkness into a two handed sword where the blade was almost as big as he was. A single slash fazed right through the figure as it vanished fasted than he could've seen. He felt darkness creep into the void, but it wasn't the same kind that he uses, the darkness began to lure him to give up and surrender into it. Having his eyes grow heavy and his limbs grow tired, he changed his darkness from a massive sword into a small dagger, he stabbed himself jolting him awake while also wincing at the sharp pain.
"You cannot defeat me, I am all powerful in the realm of the alicorn amulet."
The voice pounded in his head as he tried to stay standing on his feet, screaming in pain. He began to cast hellblaze as the voice in his head slowly became clearer. Clenching his fist, Meliodas couldn't stand to listen to the gut wrenching sound of the younger princess. Slowly raising back to his feet, he readied his stance as he prepared to retaliate.
"Surrender yourself, It is your destiny."
"Get.. Out.. OF MY HEAD!"
The black flames of hellblaze went from small sparks into a raging inferno as it began to eat away at the void letting both darkness and light inside. The light was so bright that he was completely blinded. When it died down, he wasn't in the amulet's realm, but rather outside the door way of the corridor, Meliodas wasn't in control of his body while he was within the void. Looking around he felt a small weight on his neck, he began to look down, the amulet had made itself attached around his neck, when he tried to remove it, it had already started to fuse itself with his skin, chocking him when he tried to do so. Being annoyed and not will to go through all this trouble again, he dug his fingers into the underside of the amulet in places it hadn't started to fuse with him.
*Crack*
In the royal castle of Canterlot, the royal sister were preparing for the first session of night court, when the younger sister collapse . Rushing over to her side, Luna was out a breath and clenching her head. It seemed as if she had finished running for her life, barely escaping with her life. Her eyes had widened in horror as words began to fall from her mouth.
“Sister, it’s gone.”
“What’s gone Luna?”
"The amulet, it got destroyed,"
"That's impossible, it is enchanted steel, even lady Tirek couldn't have destroyed it if she obtained all the magic in equestria."
"Sister does it look like I am joking?" Luna grasped her head as she was still in quiet a lot of pain.
"We must prepare the elements of harmony."
Flying over the trees, Zeldris kept hearing screams of pain paired with the low growl of timber wolves. Having looked around in the domain, he saw a small clearing where the pleading was coming from. Circling the small clearing like a predator circles it prey, he examined the opening and saw at least 5 Timberwolves cornering 3 younger fillies covered in sever scratches and bruises. While Zeldris hated this world that he and his brother were forced into, he would not make others suffer without cause.
One of the larger timberwolves, probably the alfa of the pack, charged at the three fillies when Zeldris dropped out of the sky and crushed the large timberwolf into tiny splinters. Zeldris stared back at the remainder of the timberwolf pack, in a stance ready to strike the wolves if needed. Seeing the seriousness in Zeldris's eyes, the wolves began to back off slowly before taking a full on run. Turning around the three little fillies were all shaking in fear as he looked at them, each one of them was from a different race of pony, an orange pegasus, a white unicorn, and a yellow... what was it called, 'Earth pony?' Each one of the trio were all roughly the same height stand only slightly below both zeldris and his brother.
"Don't you know that this forest is filled with dangers," Zeldris said, "What brings you this deep into the forest so close to nightfall."
"We were trying our cutie marks by spotting wild animals when we got attack by the timber wolves." the Earth pony said
"But that's when you came out of the sky and saved our flanks." the pegasus said
"Thank you for saving us ma'am," the unicorn said
"Sir." Zeldris corrected, "I am not female"
“That impossible!” The unicorn exclaimed, “Everypony knows that there hasn’t been a male in over 10,000 years.”
"So it is true." Zeldris said to himself while the others just ignored him.
“Ah don’t think he’s lying.” The earth pony said,
“And how so?”
“Well I do think he is lacking in the boobs department.” The Pegasus said as she gestured to her own breast to emphasize her point
Zeldris let an annoyed sigh as he began walking away, letting the mare continue their argument much to his own annoyance. The trees surrounded his path as he began continuing down the path back to the castle. But only a few minutes have past when he heard a small branch snap from behind him.
"How long have you been following me?" Zeldris asked in a monotone voice
"about five minutes" the pegasus
"Shouldn't you get going home?"
"The quickest way back is back through the Timberwolf territory." The unicorn said as her ears started splaying backwards, "you know how that went."
"And I assume you are following me in hopes of staying for a while?"
"That's pretty much it." the earth pony said
Zeldris sighed as he considered his options, "Fine. But don't get any ideas."
"Yay!"
Begrudgingly, Zeldris let the three ponies follow him back to the castle, judging by how they acted with one another, they were probably only children being somewhere between 10 and 12 years of age. Night began to fall upon the forest as they continued their journey back to the castle, Timberwolves stared them down from behind the trees but all were to scared to even approach Zeldris for fear of their lives. The land had been made into a clearer path from Zeldris's common hunting trips. Arriving at the castle, even in it ruined state it still was able to tower over them as they continued to proceed into the castle.
"You live here?" the unicorn asked
"For now." Zeldris said in his signature cold voice
A gust of wind blew behind the four of them, causing the three fillies to jump in fright. They had been followed here, who ever it was didn't want to be seen. It jumped from shadow to shadow as it began to circle the group of 4.
"Someone's here," Zeldris readied his sword to strike.
The shadow figure landed in front of Zeldris as he began to swing his sword faster than any eye could see. The only thing that was visible was sparks flying from the swords clashing, only for it to stop as quick as it started. Zeldris's from became relaxed as the moon started to illuminate the figure.
"It's just you brother." Zeldris said as he put away his sword.
"Seriously Zeldris," Meliodas began, "You should've told me we were expecting guests, if you told me I would have made something to eat." His tone was jovial, which contrasted his brother's cold and serious tone.
"Wait," the unicorn said, "there are two of you?"
"Yup, I am Meliodas and this is my little brother Zeldris."
"Pleasure to meet y'all," the earth pony said, "Mah name's Applebloom."
"I'm Sweetie Belle,"
"And I'm Scootaloo."
"AND WE ARE" the three ponies said in unison, "THE CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS! YAY!"
The midnight sky fell over them like a blanket of darkness, with the moon light being the only source of light. Zeldris had ask his brother to meet him just outside the ruined castle's gates. A few timberwolves could be seen taking a glance at Zeldris and proceeding on their way, it only made sense for what he had done to their pack leader. Seeing a familiar pair of dark wings in the sky, Meliodas dropped right in front of Zeldris and only made a small dust cloud appear.
"Why have you called me here so late at night?” Meliodas asked
“You know how much we both hate the demon king and the way he rules.” Zeldris explained and meliodas nodded, “We cannot return home for the foreseeable future, so why don’t we make the most of this world.”
Meliodas’s face turned into a scowl, “are you implying that we turn ourselves over?”
“ No I am not implying that,” Zeldris said, “I am trying to say: What is stopping us from being the gods of this world?”
Meliodas thought about the question. Why would they have to hide any longer, it only a matter of time before the princesses come back for a rematch. Meliodas smiled as the thought of ruling beside his brother would bring much joy.
“There was nothing ever stopping us but ourselves.” Meliodas said before his eyes sparked to life as he remembered something. “While we are the topic of gods, I have something to give you.”
Meliodas out stretched a hand and summoned an orb of purple magic. Zeldris eye went wide as he knew what this was.
“It can’t be,” Zeldris said in disbelief
“It is,” Meliodas confirmed, “godpower”
