Author's Note

Sorry for the long wait. This one is quite long and I was about to split it up. However, with it being so long sense the last, I figured that it would be better to just to let it go as one.

Hope you enjoy.

P.S. Beware, things get a bit dark in this one.

A Roegadyn in Equestria. Chapter 28: Crossing the Line.

A Roegadyn in Equestria.

Chapter 28: Crossing the Line.

*Point of view: Brex Mith*
*Location: Unknown*
*Time: Unknown*

Opening his eyes, Brex couldn’t help but feel as if he was walking on clouds with how light his body felt. He opened his eyes to find an empty, white void filled with a thick veil of fog. He took a few steps and after a moment, the fog began to part as it spread away from where he stood. Soon, objects began to pop up in his vision and he got to see a multitude of buildings that did not seem quite like those he had seen in Equestria.

Some appear to be simple one-story houses, while right next to them was a contrast of tall skyscrapers. He turned on the spot and noticed how disorganized the world was seeming to be all around. Apparently, he was standing at an intersection that was in a circular shape and there were six roads going off in different directions like a spider web.

All of the buildings were quite different from one another as if someone had cut and pasted pictures from different locations. He had even seen a random carwash or department store mixed in among them. But what caught his attention soon after was the fact that there was no one around, there wasn’t even any sound at all to be heard. Not even the wind was blowing and he began to hear his own heart beat louder and louder as time went on.

He felt his feet being compelled to walk in a certain direction. After passing what seemed like fifty or sixty buildings, did he finally come across one that caused him to stop and place on the sidewalk. For some odd reason, he couldn’t bring himself to notice exactly how this place looked like. He attempted to memorize the style but every attempt would cause his mind to waver and only focus on the front door.

He went up to it, but just as he was about to place his hand onto the circular knob did it open slowly to reveal a shadowed figure standing just inside. Brex was about to say something when the door suddenly slammed shut and the world began to grow dark as clouds formed overhead and a light rain started to come down. A distant Thunder echoed through the sky continuously as if imitating his own heartbeats. The rain started off light but then quickly became a downpour.

The weather had gotten to the point that it was coming down so hard that it obscured his vision and he could not even see across the street anymore. The world around him was now nearly pitch black and he could tell from the distance that all the streetlamps had started to turn on. With each passing second, those lamps would grow dim as the rain got heavier until there was only one light which came from the house that he stood before.

He turned back towards it and found himself about to knock on the door. But before he had even managed to touch it, something from the shadows from behind had grabbed onto his shoulder and roughly pulled him back. His vision became completely black and he could feel his body being harshly turned face down and pressed onto the ground as his arms were pulled behind his back as he felt something locking around his wrists.

Not too far away he heard a set of laughing. This started off with a woman’s voice but then was soon joined by a man. It didn’t take long for the voices numbers to grow until it sounded as if there was a group doing the same. They were the type of laughter one would make after watching someone suffer.

He then felt his body being pulled to his feet by his shoulders and the last thing he could remember happening was something striking him on the right side of his face which left a sharp burning sensation running across his cheek. After which, everything went blank and he could feel his consciousness swiftly fading. The pain that he had just felt disappeared along with any memories of what he had just experienced until he could no longer remain conscious.

*Point of view: Brex Mith*

Brex begins to stir as he lets out a very loud grunt of pain as he could feel almost every nerve in his body screaming for help. His eyes shot open and found himself to be in a dimly lit cave with a weak light source streaming in from the opening that was straight ahead just a short distance away. It was somewhat difficult to judge just how far with his vision being all blurry. But he could swear he made out some type of a jagged line going across his vision that was similar to what someone would see when looking through a cracked window.

He then reaches up towards his face and begins to feel along his mask. After a moment he realized that his right hand was completely exposed and it appeared to be slightly burnt with signs of red patches here and there on the palm and near the finger tips. Putting that off, he went to continue trying to figure out what the source of this weird obstruction in his vision was until his fingertips found what felt like a crack along his mask.

This whole time he had followed the gaming mechanics where he could see perfectly fine when wearing anything that would be covering his face. Because of this, he would easily forget at times that he was wearing one in the first place. But with his mask heavily damaged in the way it was, he couldn’t help but compare it to what it would be like if his computer screen had been cracked and he was forced to play with it.

Ignoring the pain through his body, Brex attempted to recall what he had been doing before waking up. There were vague flashes of him being in multiple fights and coming across a strong opponent. At first, he had a hard time making it out, but they soon cleared up after a few minutes. When he had fully recollected everything up to the moment that he had completed that last attack, he grunted to himself and set out loud, “Ugh! Just great... Little Moon warned me about this. Trying to fuse skills together randomly really wasn’t a good idea.”

Letting out another series of groans, Brex rubs the side of his head that apparently took a heavy hit due to the bruise that was being felt just off to the side, near his right eye. He blinked a few times and from behind his mask he had a look of concern. He quickly mumbled to himself, “Wait, hold up now, how can I even have a bruise. I have an out of combat auto healing function that should have kicked in. Just how banged up did I get to have that still around?”

Suddenly, Brex was almost scared out of his skin when he heard Rory screaming at the top of her lungs like some fan girl at a concert, “OH, THANK GOD YOU’RE AWAKE! I was so scared you weren't gonna wake up! I couldn't even find you in your dreamscape! I thought you were really gone this time!” When Rory had gotten near the end of that, she was beginning to cry but when the last word left her lips, the water works had finally turned on in full force as she began bawling out nearly nonstop.

Brex had wanted to go into his dream to be able to console her in person but as it turns out, it's very difficult to go to sleep when you're in a lot of pain. So instead, he sat there and waited for the girl to finally calm down which took a good half hour to do. During that time, he couldn’t help but be astonished at how much she was upset about him to this degree.

She managed to calm down to the point that there were only small sniffles coming from within his head when he began to ask the following questions that had been plaguing his mind from the moment he woke up.

Clearing his throat, Brex spoke in a gentle tone, “Could you tell me how long I've been out for, along with where I am?” There were a few sniffles before Rory answered with, “I'm not really sure about where we are right now, all I know is that we flew quite a distance. You were opening and closing your eyes now and then. But the last thing I remember seeing out of your vision was a large mountain directly in our path.”

Putting together what she had just said, the Roegadyn had reached up to his head and winced again as he imagined himself going through a mountain at high speeds. Afterwards he looked ahead towards the opening and was finally able to make out how it looked. With eyes going wide, he put it together that he had crashed through the wall and ended up where he was now and that the whole in the wall was just barely big enough for him to fit through.

Somehow, he had managed to end up stuck in a large open area that was naturally a part of the cave system for the mountain. Looking around his general area, he spotted the rocks and was about to check something out when he noticed that some of them were of a different color than most. He went to go pick one up and brought it close to his face and the scent of copper began to fill his nostrils.

The smell caused him to involuntarily drop the rock, but his eyes still laid on his hand as he saw that there were flakes of red stuck to his fingertips. Going pale, he glanced at the rocks all around him and found that quite a few were dark red or brown, while the rest along the walls and ceiling happened to be grey and white.

While gaping at the site of so many of the rocks near where he was stained in what seemed to be his blood. He asked Rory and a very worried low tone, “Just what condition was I in when I landed?” There was nothing from Rory after a few seconds, so he asked again in an even more worried tone, “Rory… Tell me just what condition was I in when I ended up in this cave?” There was even more silence and this only caused Brex to stutter as he asked one last time, “R-Rory this is an order, tell me just what was my condition. I don't care what it is, just tell me. You've never kept any secrets from me before so don't you start doing it now.”

There was a few more seconds of nothing but this time he had gotten a response as Rory made an audible gulp before saying, “It's just... You weren’t in the best of shape...” This however, wasn't quite enough for him and as he was about to press even further, Rory continued, “You were doing that thing where you were opening your eyes once in a while. I got a glimpse… and it… wasn't all that… good.” Her words were becoming more broken and further apart that indicated that she was having trouble with trying to relay what he wanted to hear.

Seeing as this was really messing with the girl, Brex took a deep breath and consoled her by saying, “It's OK, take your time. Tell me everything and don't be scared to go into detail.” Even though he had said those words, he was beginning to feel a pit in his stomach that told him that he should not have said that.

Before he could take back his words, Rory had taken in a deep breath and spoke all at once as if trying to rip off a Band-Aid and said, “You crashed through amount inside and along the way your body got ripped up pretty badly. Then you crashed into this wall over here. Whenever your eyes opened, I got to see that you had broken several of your bones, if not all of them. You were pretty torn up and bleeding all over the place. I was also able to see the blood everywhere and I was positive I saw bones coming out of different parts of your body!”

Brex was beginning to imagine just what she was describing, he wanted to stop the image is flooding his mind but couldn't. It didn't help when she continued further by saying, “I'm not sure how long we've been here, but I'm pretty sure I saw the way the light was moving across the floor through the opening, that at least eight days have gone and went.

She paused and seemed to be taking another breath to go on and said, “Whenever you opened your eyes, I ended up seeing how your body was pulling itself back together again, but it was going very slowly. The bones were being pulled back underneath the skin and wounds were slowly mending themselves. What was really disturbing, was how the blood was flowing back into your body as it flowed across the ground.”

Seeing this all happening in his head, Brex nearly vomited at the idea of what could have possibly been traveling into his body along with his blood after being splattered all over the ground. His skin crawled and his limbs twitched at the very idea of bones retracting into his flesh and re-aligning themselves.

He could sense that Rory was about to go on, but quickly held up his hand and shouted, “No! no, that's enough! No more please! For the love of the twelve, don't go any further with the details! Please! I regret everything!” Now we knew just why Rory was so hesitant before when it came to filling him in on the details and how she reacted when he finally began to wake up. Brex knew that he would be freaking out as well if he saw somebody slowly being put back together before his eyes.

Needing a good half hour to digest everything that had happened along with trying to keep whatever was in his stomach from coming back out. The Roegadyn concentrated and brought up his status window for his character.

From what he could tell, all of the equipment in each one of his slots had been reduced to under ten percent of their total durability. This rendered them all pretty much useless at this point. That was when he took a better look at himself and found that even though he still technically had clothes on, they were all ripped to shreds and a large amount of his body could be seen through the many gaps. The yellow robes that he normally wore were nearly completely soaked with red, most likely from how his blood splattered on the insides during the collision.

He couldn't help but to make a pathetic joke as he said, “Now why couldn't I be like the gamer. He didn't get rough up all that much, all that happened was that his H.P. got lowered. But no, I actually have to endure the injuries. This only earn him a few harsh words from Rory as she conveyed how upset she really was about how he had gotten hurt so badly. This of course lasted a the good several minutes until she was finally satisfied and quickly went back to her normal attitude.

Still hurting quite a bit. He just sat there against the wall of the large cave and began by going Through his item collection for something new to wear while walking around. He then spoke up, “I'm pretty sure what I did was going to warrant an investigation with how much that last elemental was doing, along with how flashy that last move of mine was. It would probably be a good idea to change up my look a little bit.”

But first, Brex wanted to take care of his injuries that were left over and he had no desire to drain any mana at this time, so he brought out one of his healing potions and greedily gulped it down before tossing the glass vial aside. With the aches and pains, along with the severe bruise that still remained on the back of his head vanishing, he let out a sigh of relief and return to his task.

He had just brought up his menu screen for his character and to come up with what job to be right now, along with choosing an appropriate outfit scheme to glamor his gear into. Just as he was about to click on the monk as a default, there was a distant scream that could be heard coming from one of the cave tunnels.

He had originally thought that he was alone and because of this the, noise had caused him to inadvertently select his Dark Knight class. When this was done, his body was instantly equipped with the classic gear meant for his level 70 Dark Knight. Feeling the small amount of weight on his back from the large weapon placed on it, he looked over his shoulder and saw the long, two-handed handle and grunted in annoyance.

( Here is the Dark Knight armor set he is wearing now. )

Growling a little bit, he said to himself, “Damn it! This is not what I wanted.” He was about to try and switch again but the cry from earlier came back, however, it was at a much weaker volume than the one before. This only got him to disregard his unintentional job switch and he started running down the cave that the sound echoed from. All the while his boots were making heavy clank sounds with each quickening step.

The cave was making multiple turns as he followed in the dark, but thanks to his senses he was capable of avoiding any accidental mishaps with any rocks on the ground or the low parts of the ceiling. However, there were a few moments where he had come a little too close to either the wall or the ceiling and his armor plates and even his large weapon ended up scraping along the rocks. Each time, this would cause a few sparks to appear within the darkness and lighting up the narrow cave a few times.

After a few minutes of running at high speed, well as fast as a person and heavy plated armor can run anyway. Brex had noticed that the screams had stopped awhile back and there was no longer a way of tracking them back to their source. He had just cursed his luck when he gave himself a facepalm with his gloved hand, which gave out a loud metallic clank that echoed through the cave network.

After recovering from accidentally rattling his brains, he rolled his eyes and looked up to his mini map for answers. While at the same time, he would mumble to himself almost incoherently under his breath about how stupid he was for not using it from the start.

It had displayed a number of red dots littering the area. From judging from the distance that they appeared on the mini map, they could have been within sight, but with how the cave was going up and down, he surmised that they must have been on different levels nearby. Taking a closer look at one, he saw that it displayed an arrow pointing down.

He was going to bring up his world map to find out where he was. But instead of showing the whole of Equestria, it instead displayed a not fully made map of cave network of tunnels and some large open areas that seemed to be currently grayed out.

His eyes began to twitch in an erratic manner from behind his helmet as he internally screamed to himself, “Oh come on! Can't I get a break. Isn't there some kind of rule that I should get like a couple days off before the next adventure? Where's a human resource number for me to call to complain about the unjust work hours? Don't I get some kind of medical leave?!” After letting off a little pressure, Brex focused and charted out the most direct route to intercepting the nearest red dot.

With just a little bit more of walking through the cave system, did he finally find an opening to the nearest large area that was displayed on his map. He had carefully exited the small cave and entered the large room that had a light source on the far side of the wall. It was just a single lit torch, but with how the walls were shaped, he had come out where the entrance was well hidden in the shadow.

It would appear that this one was carved out using tools while where he had been previously traveling was more natural. The walls went up a good fifteen meters and the room itself was an oval shape that was roughly thirty-five meters across.

There was a large pile of crates pushed up against the far wall and Brex counted a good fifty of them from where he stood. They all ranged from those that would be small enough to put a bowling ball inside of to those that were close to a few square feet. A number of them laid with half open lids, while a great number were stacked up nearly twice as high as himself.

He began to think to himself as he was glancing around the room, “Well I didn't exactly expect to see a storage room inside of a mountain. I guess someone lives here. I wonder what's in these things. Might give me a clue as to what I'm dealing with.”

Seeing as he was alone, he went over to one of the half open lids and lifted it with his left-hand. But with how dim the lighting was, he was having a hard time in seeing the contents clearly. He was about to walk over and grab the torch off the wall but considered that it might alert others to something going on if the positioning of the light changed. So instead, he went to his item box and retrieved a single cluster of Earth crystal.

Holding the glowing earth cluster in his hand, Brex used it as an improvised flash light and held it over the crates open lid. At first it looked to be a container full of long cylindrical objects but after a moment, his eyes focused a little better and they went wide with horror as he took an involuntary step back and nearly dropping the cluster from his hands.

From behind his helmet, the Roegadyn was turning a shade of green while trying to keep himself from getting sick from what he had just seen. He then muttered under his breath quickly, “No… no, I'm just seeing things. That's all, it's just a trick of the light. I didn't see what I think I saw.” Rory spoke in a rather resigned tone and said, “I'm sorry Master, but I saw the exact same thing you did and I'm pretty sure it was exactly what you think it is.

His armor rattled as he tried to contain the sudden flood of emotions he was feeling right then. Taking a shaky step forward, he approached the crate again and wearily held the cluster above the opening to get another Look.

From underneath his helmet, his teeth began to grind together and his eyes became narrow and filled with hate. The shaking from before was out of pure shock, but was now being made for a whole other purpose.

Quickly, he went to another crate and lifted the lid only to find the same thing inside. Brex then proceeded to open another and another and another. After going through nearly twenty of the fifty crates, did he finally stop. Looked towards the doorway leading to the rest of the structure, a low growl escaped his lips as he bawled his free hand into a fist. The earth cluster within his right hand disappeared back into his inventory box and he began to walk towards the double doors leading out of the room.

But along the way, he reached over without looking and grabbed one of the items from within the first crate that he had opened and placed it straight into his inventory box. He then said to Rory in an emotionless tone, “I'll be holding on to this for a while.”

The door had slowly opened and produced a weak screeching sound as the hinges grinded along one another. Brex stood there silently looking straight ahead. From his helmet came two glowing, reddish orbs where is eyes could have been seen through the slits of the face cover. The redness quickly subsided and he began making his way through the corridors with slowly deliberate steps that left a low echo.

Deeper down the corridor, was a lone figure walking along while holding a torch in one hand. They were wearing what appeared to be asset of long red robes with a gold mask covering the top part of their face. Their body seemed rather slim while wearing said robes, it was easy to tell that this was a female as she was swaying her hips with each step she took.

She had just turned around the corner to her left and bumped into something hard that made a metallic clank. This caused her to fall onto her butt with a small thud. Quickly the girl got up and rubbed the forehead of her mask.

Before the one in robes could speak, she was interrupted by a large gloved, metal hand grabbing her skull and slamming the back of her head into the wall, thereby knocking her out cold. The woman went limp as her entire body was being held up by only her head alone. When her head was released, did she fall to the ground.

She was then dragged back to the very same storage room that he had started from. Brex reached into one of the many crates and produced a set of iron shackles and proceeded to place them onto the woman by binding her hands behind her back and using another set of slightly longer ones on her legs.

When he was finished with restraining the woman, he left and went down the corridors again, only to disappear into the darkness.

Over time, he repeated the process whenever he had come across another person that was traveling down the hallways. It was either a single individual that was alone or a pair. But he managed to make swift work of silencing them all and returning to deposit them only to leave after they have been fully Immobilized. It didn't take long to notice the pattern in which every single one of them did not have a horn or wings which meant that they were all of the Earth tribe.

During his little collection Run, Brex was slowly mapping out where he was and made it a point to take out the ones who were near the opening. The ones further in were going to be something he was going to handle later.

With how it was all laid out with the construction, there was a number of paths one could take to the exit. But after a certain point there was only really one way to go as all the rooms were connected in a line when one went further inside.

The entire time he was doing this, he did not utter a single word and was almost moving robotically. He would always sneak up on them all with a combination of his Shadow Movement and quick movements where he would grab them by the heads and either bash them up against one another or up against some surface like a wall. Not once did any of them give out anything more than a small syllable before being silenced.

By the time there was only one route left, he had cleared out the others and had collected at least ten of the so-called red dots. Right now, he was currently standing in that storage room and looked over the chained women with a cold, unfeeling gazed that could be felt from beyond his Helmet.

Brex had brought them all close together and took some of the spare chain links that hung from their restraints and brought them to one another. Then with his strength, he bent the chains so that they would connect to the ones on their ankles and form a chain gang among all of them.

Just as he was finishing with the last one, he saw that there was a few that were beginning to stir awake. Right as they were to sit up while holding their heads, Brex went into the Shadows and disappeared from sight. This was easy thanks to how little light that single torch in the room was giving off.

It didn't take long for the first few to realize what was going on when they attempted to stand, only to fall and drag the next one on the line with them thereby causing a commotion to happen among the group.

There was a series of shrieks and gasps as they all began to struggle in their bonds. In the biggening, it was slow but it quickly evolved into them thrashing in place as they attempted to use brute force on breaking the bonds. A few of them had even tried to work together at pulling at one another to see if they could at least separate from each other. In the end it was fruitless, the chains and shackles that were binding them all proved to be too well made and none of them had the strength to pull themselves free.

One of the females called out in a panic and said, “What's happening, how did we all get here? Where are the keys? Some pony, find them now!” She then began to struggle a little more but after some communication among the group it was found out that none of them had any keys to use on their shackles. The one from before spoke again in more of a panic and said, “We have to tell Grandmother about this, some pony needs to warn her that we have an intruder in the temple!”

At the same time, Brex who was in the shadow realm, held up his right hand to look at a set of keys that he had pilfered from the crates and from a few of the prisoners as insurance as to his prisoners would not be getting free so easily. He began to think to himself, “Ha! They call this a temple. Just what kind of a place keeps these sorts of tools?”

Some of the ladies were beginning to sound more worried as the grunts of exertion from pulling at the chains were slowly going from that of determination to that of being more scared by the moment. This caused Brex to narrow his gaze towards the group. A quiet snarl escaped his lips as he began to make his way behind and slowly exited the shadows. he just stood there while looking down on them with contempt.

One was trying to get into a more comfortable position, but slipped and fell back. But instead of landing on the ground she had bumped into his right leg and this created a metallic clank as the metal shifted slightly from the small impact.

This however, was enough to gain the quick attention from the rest as they all turned to Look in the direction of the new sound. When they saw him, they all let out a gasp in unison as they began to Inch away from Brex. first their eyes were transfixed on his boots and slowly traveled up his form to notice how his armor was designed to be dark and foreboding with How his gear was covered in jagged edges and spikes.

The one that had bumped into him was hanging her head back as she looked straight up in utter shock. It was easy to hear her quick and labored breathing as she trembled in place. This was made even more obvious with how the chains on her arms and legs were apparently rattling almost nonstop.

Brex simply stood there while towering over all of them without saying a single word, much less showing any signs that he was even breathing with how still he kept his form.

One of the braver ones called out in a posh tone, “You there! What are you doing? let us go this instant! Do you have any idea just who it is that you...” She quickly trailed off as he turned his head very slowly towards her as she spoke. With how quiet it was within the room; one could hear the flickering flame as it burned away on the torch and how the slow grinding of the metal of his helmet being turned was making.

The mare who is trying to Insert her dominance, quickly shrunk as she attempted to back away, but was unable to thanks to being connected to two others.

Brex than slowly approached the mare. Each step created a series of metallic clanks that seemed to echo within the room, making them much louder than they really were. While he was doing this, that very same mare was kicking her legs onto the stone floor in a frantic attempt to gain more distance from Brex, but it turned out to be futile with how the others around her were frozen in fear, so her chains couldn't go far.

When he stopped less than a foot away, he lifted his right hand and gestured with a finger towards the pile of boxes to the side of the room That just happened to be directly behind her only a few feet away.

She slowly turned her head and after seeing what he was pointing towards. She quickly turned back to him and began shaking her head frantically as she spoke in a scared tone, “I-I don't know what's inside of those...”

Within his head, Brex asked Rory, “I get the feeling that she's lying. What's your take on the situation, should I press a little harder?” This got an immediate reply from the girl as she spoke in an oddly sultry voice, “Oh, I think we should. Little miss thing right there is obviously lying. Otherwise, why would she spout that nonsense about not knowing what's in the crates with such enthusiasm?”

As soon as she said those words, he went over and took hold of two of the crates and tore off their lids. Grabbing one in each of his hands, Brex then went back to where he was earlier Infront of the girl. She began to look rather fearful as she attempted to look away as he presented the crates.

Brex lifted both containers overhead and began to pour the contents out onto the mare. She released a small gasp, which instantly evolved into a scream as she felt something touching her. Instantly, the mare went silent when one of the objects landed onto her lap. When she looked down there was an ear-piercing screech of horror as she began to thrash about in an attempt to get it off.

The others that were chained to her also began to let their own fears be known as they all began to give off their own shrieks. Some of which were crying and others appear to have nearly fainted at the site.

The object in question which caused this whole thing to happened, was a severed wing from some flying creature. By the looks of it, it was rather old. But there were still a few feathers clinging to the dried up skeletal remains. That wasn't the only thing that was inside the crates. Among it were quite a number of long objects that were approximately three to four inches long. Each one ending in a spiral tip. It was all quite obvious when one was to put these pair of items together. That the only conclusion was that, what was inside the crates were the removed wings of many Pegasi and the horns of Unicorns.

Right now, the girl in front of him was surrounded by these extremely important parts that belonged to the two races. Some of the ones who did not pass out or rendered speechless from what just happened began to plead with him desperately they had no knowledge of where those came from and that he should release them.

They would say things like, they would do anything he wanted If he would just let them go. Yet he said not a single word and just stood there as a statue as they continued to plead with him and make up some stupid excuses as to why these things would even have come to be here.

After finally hearing enough, he bends down and grabs the girl that he was interrogating and hoists her into the air while holding onto the robes just above her chest.

Seeing one of their own being lifted was not all that surprising to them. What did get them all to go silent, was that not only was she being lifted, but the girl was literally off the ground and because of the chains, the being in armor was also partially lifting two others.

The mare was brought up closer to his face plate and she could have sworn that she heard a low growl come from beyond it. She gave another desperate attempt to convince her tormentor by saying, “Please let me go. I promise it won't happen again please. We were only doing what we were told.

But suddenly, she halted in her speech and began to make a sniffing sound. Almost as if the laws of reality were flipped upside down, so did her attitude from just seconds ago. Now sounding as if assured of some unseen victory.

The girl spoke in a condescending tone that just oozed with self-entitlement, “Hold on, that smell? Ha-ha Ha-ha! You're a stallion. Do you have any idea where you are right now? Why don't you be a good little pathetic colt and put me down and just surrender before things get worse. If you prostrate yourself in front of us, we may just make your last days enjoyable, between your obedience training.”

Brex was currently seething with rage at this point, but was doing his best at containing it. She said that she didn't know anything about what was in the crates, then she's saying that she was only doing what was being ordered of her. Now that she realizes that he's a male, she thinks that she can just order him around.

He then asked Rory, “I think she needs a little more convincing to jog that faulty memory of hers, wouldn't you agree?” This got a small chuckle from the girl inside his head as she replied with a mischievous, yet dangerous tone, “Oh yes. Any that talks to my Master in such a way, deserves some obedience training of their own.

Seeing as he was not going to get a clear and concise answer from this one, he went ahead and began to tap into the power of the echo to see firsthand at what this one had been a part of.

While still holding her firmly in his grasp near to hist face, Brex could feel the familiar sensation as the power began to take hold and his vision was now transitioning to a new place.

Unlike the previous times, this one was not focused on a single event, but on a handful of which flash before his eyes in quick succession. They depicted her and a group of other Mare that were abducting stallions from their houses and off the streets. It didn't matter if they were young or near that of being old age.

They all were brought here and put into cages and kept as breeding livestock only to be discarded as offerings to one that was always covered in robes who was always refer to as grandmother that had on a far more decorated version of the red robes and a golden staff with a dark gem affixed at the top. Only to never be seen again.

There was a select few that seemed to be wearing some pieces of armor over the robes that always stayed near the one called Grandmother. Those were the ones that took on this heinous act of taking away the horns and wings of ponies. Thereby rendering them unable to fight back or run.

There were also glimpses of rituals being conducted and initiations of the new members. They would teach any who joined them that males were meant to be used and discarded when they're usefulness was at an end. This Grandmother would preach that with the males being so much weaker than the females. This would give them the right to do whatever they wanted with them because this was obviously by nature's design.

There were then glimpses of acts between the males and females. Under different circumstances, this would be something that would get him highly aroused. However, the context in which these acts were done only made him thirst for blood. Seeing as the males had no say whatsoever and were treated quite harshly.

The last vision he saw was that the group had just brought in someone new. They were going to place him in the deepest part of their temple. Brex could not make out just who was in the bag but judging by the sounds it was obviously someone very small, perhaps a young kid.

There was talk in the background of the memory about how they had to wait until he was of proper age. Then he would be put to good use. The bag began to struggle and was abruptly hit with a long staff held by one of the armored robed females which made it go silent. After witnessing the scene, his vision came back and he saw the female still clutched in his hands. She was still holding an amused smirk from the lower part of her face that was exposed.

Only silence proceeded immediately after this. It seemed that the girl was gaining more confidence with each moment that passed, but that privado quickly evaporated at what was about to be done next. Brex brought up his other hand that was clutched around an object and held it in front of the girl and when he opened his fingers, it revealed that he was clutching with his thumb and index finger, a single Unicorn horn. He made the motion of turning his head between the horn and the mare once before resting his gaze back on to her.

He then brought the tip up and slowly approached her mask aiming for one of her eye holes. Seeing this, the mare began to panic even further and scream and terror as she tried to wiggle loose from her bindings one more time. Unfortunately, with her arms pinned behind her back thanks to the shackles and the leg chains being attached to another prisoner, there was very little that could have been done on her end.

The jagged appendage only drew closer and closer until it had just passed through the eye holes of her mask. She began to whimper and cry excessively. Just as it was about to make contact with her eyes that were currently closed out of fear, did he stop his approach with the tool in his hand.

Inside his mind, Brex was in the midst of a mental tug-of-war with both his need to take vengeance for what they had done. Whereas on the other side, it was saying that he was going too far with his actions.

Rory, seeing the hesitation, asked in a confused Voice, “Master, why did you stop? You're so close to killing this, Thing. Oh! I get it! You want to scare them don't you, oh what a marvelous idea. Draw out the anticipation, make them squirm even more. Oh, this just sends goosebumps up my very skin. I love it.”

Mentally communicating with Rory, he spoke in a bone chilling tone, “No I'm not going to hurt them. They do not deserve that kind of release. I do however have a few in mind that will get my full and undivided attention...”

There was a very noticeable shuddering sound from within his mind that was accompanied by a low moan as Rory replied in a slight stutter, “M-Master, I-I love it when you show your dominant side like t-this. You need to do it a lot more o-often.”

Brex then throws the girl that was still in his clutches onto the ground, which made a loud thud. There was a loud scream of pain from her as the others in the room released gasps of shock after seeing such violence from a male. Going over to the crates one more time, he began opening one lid after another from the ones he had yet to examine and tossed them aside. This act caused the contents to spill onto the ground whenever he didn’t find anything he deemed useful.

The crashing of crates only served to make the others around the room more nervous as they began to try and huddle together for safety and to avoid all of the removed parts of ponies while on the floor on the far side of the room. Not once did any of them attempt to try and make their way towards the door out of fear of repercussions from the one who obviously had the upper hand.

Soon he had found something that resembled iron bars that were approximately a meter long. Quickly they were stashed away into his item box, afterwards he made his way back over to the girls and grabbed the first one on the line of chains and tugged her to her feet using her hood as a handle.

This got another series of shrieks as he motioned with his other hand that he was about to grab the next one to do the same, but it appeared that they knew what he wanted and all stood before having the rough treatment done to them.

Brex had taken another strand of chain and looped it around the mare in the lead. Making sure that it was nice and tight around her waist so she couldn’t slip out and making a leash that was about five feet long. He led them to the door to which he used his left boot and kicked it in the center so hard that not only did it open, but the force in which was used, caused hinges to snap from the wooden doors.

The pieces flailed about before tumbling to the ground several meters ahead. Instead of screams, he heard one of them making a large thud from the back of the line and when he looked over his shoulder, he saw that one of them had fainted and was being held up now by the two in the line that was in front and behind of her.

Roughly tugging on the leash, he led the line of prisoners down further into their temple. As they all marched with him in the lead, he could hear the ones behind him whimpering from under their breaths. When he had managed to get to the point of The Cave system where there was only one way to go deeper into their temple, he had brought out one of the iron bars from his inventory box.

Turning to the group, he displayed the bar by grabbing onto both ends. Then as to show off a bit more of his strength, the Roegadyn slowly started to bend the bar until it was in a perfect U-shape. Afterwards, he grabbed the mare that was at the center of the line and pushed her up against the wall. She had let out a scream but her eyes went wide as she saw him pulling back his arm which held on to the bent bar and thrusted the ends towards her neck.

She appeared to have fainted instantaneously thinking that her life was coming to an end but in reality, he had aimed the U-shaped bar as to stab into the wall on either side of her neck and he had begun pushing it until it was snugly in place, preventing any type of escape.

By doing this, Brex had effectively rendered them all stationary with how their one member was now, literally nailed to the wall. He then repeated this process with every other one on the link until he had stuck half of them onto the wall while the other half was forced to watch it all in horror filled eyes.

At some point during this, he could have sworn that he heard water dripping but chose to ignore it. But when he had finished and had stepped back to admire his work, Brex had found a number of puddles that were forming from under a few of the ones who had been stuck onto the wall. Some of the mare’s that hadn’t had this done to them were now hyperventilating as they tried to avert their gazes away from what he had done.

Looking over towards the female that he had tried to interrogate. Brex found that she was white as a bedsheet and he could plainly notice that she was nearly catatonic, while mumbling something under her breath that he was having a hard time in understanding.

Glancing down to his chat window, Brex flipped over to the whisper tab and found that there were texts being typed in time with what the mare was saying.

He began to read them as, “How is this happening. How's this happening? This is a male. It's a male. It's a male. How, how can he do something like this, it doesn't make any sense at all. Aren’t they meant to be weaker than us? Could it be possible that Grandmother... What you taught us, that we were better than them. How is this possible, were you wrong...?” He couldn't help but sneer from under his helmeted face upon reading this dribble.

As he was making his way towards the next set of doors leading further in. He walked by a few of the girls and he saw how they averted their eyes, while others shut them tightly out of fear of gaining his attention.

He couldn't help but to think to himself, “They think they should deserve any pity? Especially after what they did to the males just because of the gender and what some crazy old hag had taught them? They're just sick. They kidnapped the young and old just to use them. I can understand if it was some form of punishment for some criminal act, but to go after those that are innocent... it just... makes me.”

Before he could go down any further, he snapped himself free of those thoughts. There were others that were deeper within. Those that would have the pleasure of receiving the punishment that was in store for them all.

*Point of view: Grandmother*

The one known as Grandmother, was currently within a large assembly room that was easily big enough for a full-sized, three-story house to fit within and easily enough room for a good five hundred to easily stand side by side quite uncomfortably.

There was an oversized altar on one side of the very room that was at the top a series of steps. A stone slab in the shape of a coffin sat there with a set of torches that were lighting both ends. At the base of the steps was a podium to which Grandmother was currently standing behind, giving one of her many sermons.

Attending this were a group of thirty all wearing red robes, that were all standing in attendance, making sure that they were silent as to hear every word that was said. On either side of the room, next to some pillars meant to help in supporting the roof, where some that were carrying ornate staffs and spears made up of gold.

These mare's had sections covering their body with the same kind of ornate golden plates. What else that stood them apart from the others, was with how they had their faces completely covered with their masks only allowing small slits for the eyes to see through, unlike the rest that only had to top half of their faces concealed.

Grandmother had most of her face covered with a mask made of white, gold and silver that took on the facial features of a young woman. Held in her left hand. a golden staff with a dark crystal a fixed on the tip that was a bit larger than one’s fist. While adorned with at least seven long, golden necklaces with various types of designs on the larger pieces of decorations thar adorned it.

She spoke in a way that made one think that she was in her thirties and did not sound at all as if it belonged to a person called Grandmother with how the voice was coming out in a silky, smooth tone.

She had just finished giving one of her hour-long speeches and was confident that she had every pony hanging on each one of her words. Grandmother had been giving the same sermon for so many years that she had lost count long ago. Smirked to herself from underneath her own mask, over how she hardly had to put much effort anymore in converting new members to her cause.

She then quickly turned into a small scowl as she reminisced on how she could have gotten a bigger following, if it wasn't for the princess cracking down on the religion and preaching about nonsense like equality. She never really understood why the princess of the sun would consider that a male could have any leeway in society.

They were weak and feeble, not to mention that they could not could not win a fight in their life, even if it was to defend themselves or someone they cared for. Grandmother believed that she was doing Equestria a service by rounding up whatever males that she could, in order to impregnate her followers to not only boost the herds numbers and raise their own stallions for personal use right from berth.

At the moment, she was pretty much on auto pilot and still speaking to her congregation while having these internal thoughts. She continued with her thoughts on how inept the stallions could be when it came to impregnating her girls. Grandmother had wanted to get as many of her followers to give birth as to build-up a supply of males in order to do what they wanted. However, the birth rate for a colt was so low, that one would be lucky to even get one out of thirty with how things were going.

As a result, she did have a good flock of mare’s that had been thoroughly educated from birth. Of course, with so many, she had to spread them out as to cover as much ground as possible, while still keeping to the shadows and out of the eyes of the public.

Glancing over to the guards that were lining the sides of the room. She could see how they were standing completely still as statues. An internal chuckle escaped as she gave herself a metaphorical pat on the back with how she was able to fully enthralling so many into becoming her most devout followers. Even to the point of getting them to give up their very lives in order to become personal guards.

After that thought, she couldn't resist the urge to use her free hand to caress the golden-white mask with a lovingly, affectionate touch.

Just as Grandmother was about to raise her voice once more to conclude the gathering and send them forth on their duties, did one of the disciples that was not in attendance came bursting through the doors while screaming at the top of her lungs in a hysterical fashion. “WE HAVE AN INTRUDER IN THE TEMPLE!!!”

The screaming mare’s words had caused a loud chorus of murmurs to erupt from within the large gathering. Grandmother called out to the others in a commanding voice, “Heed my words! We have a defiler within our midst. You! Just how many are within the sacred temple?”

The acolyte that had come in to warn them, only shook her head quickly before saying, “It is but one. But grandmother! From what I could tell… It’s a stallion! The guards at the front have already been taken out, so easily…. How can this be?”

A number of the girls in the crowd only brought their hands to their faces to let out a loud gasp, while a single mare had ended up fainting on the spot. Luckily, she was caught by one of the many companions nearby.

Grandmother couldn't stop herself from twitching her eyes erratically at the very notion that a stallion could be defying her will in such a blatant disregard of her authority by attacking her temple.

She lifted her staff and called out, “Hear me! Go and subjugate this male and bring him before me! He must be punished for his transgressions. For he goes against nature itself by defying our will!”

This was apparently enough to get them all to be riled up as the flock had quickly made their way through the large double doors that would lead in the direction of their unwanted guest.

Just as the room became empty aside from herself and the twelve guards that had yet to move a muscle at each of the pillars, did she start to chuckle to herself. There was then an almost, inaudible slurp sound that emanated from her mask. She then spoke in a sultry tone and said to no one in particular, “Well, well. It would seem that the gods have graciously given us another to add to our collection. I suppose we won't have to wait for a few years now if the newcomer is of perfect breeding age.”

She then turned to her left and had her eyes on one of the guards that was currently standing nearby. Afterward, she gave a delightful little giggle as she touched her mask again before saying, “Oh it's a good thing that I had my face fixed up recently. I must make sure that I'm presentable for company. I wouldn’t be a very good host otherwise.”

Several minutes went by without any word from those that she had sent out to the capture the intruder. Then it became more than ten minutes, then it became fifteen. At this point, Grandmother was beginning to get a little aggravated with being made to wait for this long. She was now leaning forward against the podium. The room was filled with the drumming of her right hands fingers that were going in a repeated tempo while staring at the closed set of doors with an unamused face from under her mask.

She was wondering just how long would it take to take down a single male with a group of that size. Grandmother had made sure that each one of her acolytes were of the earth tribe. Which meant that when it came to close quarters combat, they would easily have the upper hand. It also helped that her staff had a unique ability of preventing magic within her immediate vicinity from being able to be used that wasn’t aligned with her element. Thankfully not many ever delved into her type.

Quickly glancing over to the top of her staff, the masked mare began to mumble to herself and said, “If only you were strong enough to be of use around that infernal princess. Then I wouldn't have to be hiding in this dungy, old hole in the ground. I should be the one standing at the throne room at the Canterlot castle. How dare that witch even consider the thought of giving the stallions over there, titles and privileges that they don’t deserve to have.” Afterwards, Grandmother lifted the bottom part of her mask, only to harshly spit onto the ground in disgust before fixing it back into its proper place.

Finally, having enough of the waiting game, she pointed her thin, gloved index finger towards one of the guards that was closest to the door and gave a command. “Go! Retrieve the stallion and bring him to me this instant! I bet they're having their way with him as I speak. I would need to install more discipline into their training it would seem. Just because we have a new one in our midst, doesn't mean that they can just do what they want. It's one of our rules that I would be the first to have a go at every new piece of meat that goes through our halls.”

Without so much as a word or salute, the one guard swiftly made it to the door and just as they were about to open It, did the large double doors swing inwardly at an astonishing speed and crash into the guard. The act had the effect of launching her clear across the open area, to only slide and crash into the podium in a disheveled heap.

When this had happened, Grandmother had her eyes following the motions that her guard had taken and was now looking down near her feet at the now, apparently unconscious mare.

Grandmother then looked backup to see a large stallion clad in what appeared to be a set of dark armor. To which seemed that it could have come from someone's nightmare standing in the doorway as if nothing had happened. She then slammed the tip of her staff onto the floor which gave off a heavy thud that echoed throughout the room, as to gain the attention of the intruder.

Quickly, she then began to speak in a sultry voice that was laced with a heavy dose of sarcasm as she said, “Hasn't anyone ever told you that it's not polite to barge into a mare's room? Oh, but I won’t hold that against you my dear, you are a male after all. I see that you are without an escort. Tut, tut. No this won't do. Not at all. But it would seem that I have some volunteers that are more than willing to entertain a big, strong, stallion like yourself. Especially after you went through all the trouble of getting yourself so dressed up for the occasion. I have to ask, just who is it that does your wardrobe? because she seems to have a very good taste in style.”

After a few moments, she was seeing that this one was not going to be as talkative as most. So, in response she only shrugged her shoulders before motioning with a wave of her hand.

This being her signal to the others in the room with them to begin their attack. When this was done, each and every one of the stone still guards leaped into the air hoping to land directly on to the stallion in armor. Even the one that was apparently knocked out before, got back to her hoofs and sprang into action as if the incident from earlier had never even occurred.

Grandmother had specifically picked her personal guards for not only their strength, but also for they're fighting capabilities. Half of them brandished a long halberd with an axe and a long, jagged spear at the very tip of the weapon. With how it was made of gold, it would have been an easy weapon to break, but as it so happens, she had some friends enchant those to be near unbreakable, while retaining their heavy mass. That being said, it was only the earth ponies who had the strength to wield them with a deadly level of efficiency.

The other half, were equipped with staffs with thicker ends that that were meant more for bludgeoning, rather than the cutting and stabbing motion of their counterparts. Wielded in her personal guard's hands, one of these staffs were capable of splitting a small boulder into pieces with but a single strike.

With so many coming down on this stallion, she thought that there was no way that he could evade their attacks and would quickly succumb to their incoming onslaught. Without showing it, she watched in eager anticipation as they buried down onto his form.

Just as they were going to strike simultaneously, the stallion quickly backstepped. Grandmother was surprised at the sudden burst of speed and saw that each one of her guards had impacted their weapons onto the ground in which he originally stood. In doing so, they had all ended up sinking the tips of their weapons into the stone floor thanks to the amount of force used.

From behind her mask, she had let out a confused, “EEEH! T-They had only missed him by only a few inches!” Quickly, they yanked their weapons free and ran around to surround their target. Then the flurry of attacks started.

One would thrust their halberd forward, while another from the opposite angle would come in and attack his backside to do a wide sweep with their staff towards his Legs. The stallion turned his body half way towards the right and with both arms he did the following.

The right hand had gone up and grabbed onto the long handle of the sword on his back and appeared to have released the weapon from what was holding it in place. It was then harshly thrusted back down until the tip had sunk into the floor.

The staff that was aiming for his legs came into contact with the blade and it inexplicably broke it on contact. The piece went flying and struck one of the other guards in their midsection, sending them flying a good, few meters until they finally skidded to a stop.

As for his left hand it went forward and grabbed onto the handle just past the halberds blades and held it in a way that he was guiding it away from the center of his body and off to the side. After, the blades had crossed over his chest, did the weapon come to an abrupt halt thanks to his apparent strength.

With one quick motion, he lifted the halberd up and somehow managed to cause the guard wielding it to fall forward. As the other end was brought down, he had thrusted his left leg and hooked on to the bottom of the weapon and after pushing the tip onto the stone floor, did he thrust the top half back towards the guard, smashing it into her masked face. This action sending the mare flying until she landed on the ground where she had originally started her charge.

As for the halberd that was still in his left hand, that was swung around without him looking and the poll of the weapon had struck at the first attacker in the side, sending her to land onto the stone floor with a heavy thud.

With those three apparently incapacitated for the moment, the next set stepped forward. This time it was a group of triplets consisting of only staff wielders as they leaped towards him from the front. they all were diving down with their weapons in a wide, over the head swing.

Using his right arm, the stallion had brought it up in a guarding motion and intercepted all of the golden staffs. There was a loud metallic, clank, clank, clank. The noise echoed throughout the room from the staffs making contact with the metal guards on his arm. Grandmother was able to see that his feet had sunken into the stone floor and created a number of spiderweb cracks upon impact.

A devilish smirk appeared behind her hidden face after seeing this. The very thought of this stallion's arm being broken was filling her with glee. It was only a matter of time. But she paused when she noticed that the guards, whom she could see from the back, were trembling while still holding onto their weapons. There were some low, un-nerving grunts of exertion as she saw that all three were still pressing down on their weapons. Even to the point that they were beginning to bend the metal from the amount of strength being applied.

The stallion's arm which was lowered slightly from the impact was beginning to rise and this in turn, was pushing the set of guards back. Grandmother couldn't help but to have her mouth begin to hang open out of disbelief. She thought to herself while clutching at her own staff, “Just what is this stallion made out of? It’s as if he was built like a brick house. I was hoping to add him to my collection but it would seem that he might be a little too much trouble in the end. Such a pity, would have loved to see what was under all that metal.”

She licked her lips before continuing, “I suppose I could still do that, after all, there's no reason that I can't rough up my new toy. I just have to make sure that I keep the important parts Intact.

Right as the stallion pushed the weapons away, did another set come at him from both sides. He blocked one halberd coming from his right by using the large weapon in his hands. But was struck in the chest by the one on his left which happen to be a staff.

This sent the stallion an armor flying until he crashed into one of the stone pillars and fell onto the ground with a heavy crash. A few pieces of stone broke off from said pillar and landed all around him.

Grandmother grinned ear to ear at the sight, but it quickly faded when she saw the stallion standing to his feet and taking on the same relax posture as before and watched as he had placed the sword back onto his back. The three that had gotten knocked down had recovered and joined the group as they all charged at him from all sides, just as they did before.

However, the stallion did not offer any type of resistance, allowing each one of their attacks to land without any trouble. The staffs would send him flying over to the next guard and was launched again with a serious blow to one part of his body or another.

The halberds would slice at the metal coverings or try to stab into his body at any of the joints, but each attempt only resulted in creating sparks and chipping away at their weapons slowly. After several seconds of this, the intruder had been hit at least a dozen or so times over. Currently, the stallion was now face down on the ground, in between all the mare’s in armored robes.

Feeling delighted, Grandmother was about to say something to push the superiority of mare’s, but her words were caught in her throat when she saw him getting up once more. At this point she was getting more frustrated than anything else that the stallion was not staying down after the severe beating he had just taken.

Clutching at her staff she slammed the butt of it onto the stone floor rather harshly before pointing with a free hand and commanding, “What are you all doing? Why are you all going easy on him? Take the worthless stallion down, NOW!

With that, the group redoubled their efforts and began wildly attacking the stallion over and over again. Even with the increased attack numbers, it appeared as if things were getting more difficult for the ladies. In the beginning the stallion was being knocked around like some sort of tennis ball with each strike, but the distance was becoming less and it progressed at a point that he was not even being knocked off the ground anymore.

After another minute of this, it was apparent that each blow was barely even budging the one in armor with him only nudging after being struck by a staff. He was even brushing off the stabbing motions of the halberds.

As for the guards, their movements began to get more sluggish and slower with each passing attack. More and more grunts of exertion were being emitted with each swing that they made, there were even some odd gurgles mixed in there. Until finally one of them lost grip on their heavy staff and collapsed on the ground and fell over unconscious.

Grandmother cursed herself under her breath and thought, “Buck it all! I don't understand how this is happening. They're even using their own life force to wield these weapons. That one right there just ran out of juice. These twelve are capable of even taking on the entire royal guards if the opportunity were to ever came up. Yet, this one alone is able to cause them to get this exhausted?”

She gripped her staff even tighter, would cause arcs of black electricity to be discharged from the crystal on top. A blast of black rays came forth and rained down upon the stallion and the guards striking them all.

Grandmother then commanded in a booming voice; “I command you kill this stallion at once! I want him out, do whatever it takes. I care not how! I don't care if you sacrifice what little life is still inside, just make him gone!”

Upon giving these orders, all of the guards rose back up again, even the one that had just fallen. But their movement seemed rather odd with how they were shuffling around with their shoulders hanging low and heads tilting off to the side.

One of the mare's had their masks crooked upon getting up and this caused it to fall upon standing fully. This revealed a horrific sight of a mare who had her face apparently ripped clean off, only to expose the flesh underneath.

The eyes were completely glazed over and a few of the teeth appeared to have fallen out. The site in which could only be described as looking at the face of a walking zombie.

The one in charge only clicked her tongue and annoyance upon seeing this. She then said, “I knew I should have bolted those damn things to their faces. Disgusting dolls the lot of ‘em. Note to self, the next set I put together, I’ll make sure to screw bolts into their skulls so I don't get to see that horrible face of theirs.

When she had finished those words, Grandmother couldn't help but feel an uneasiness filling the air. She looked over to see that her guards were currently shambling back a few paces from the stallion. But what really got her attention was how he was staring straight at her without breathing, moving a muscle or making any type of aggressive stance. Even with him only standing there, somehow it was sending shivers up-and-down her spine like crazy.

A cold sweat began to fill the inside of her mask as she had to constantly concentrate on not trembling as to give away what she was experiencing. A heavy gulp couldn't be held back as she pushed forward and ordered her guards with her hand to continue by simply pointing at the intruder.

Taking the command to heart, all the now identified zombies picked up their weapons and raised them higher in preparation for their next assault. When they all went in, it was a surprise to Grandmother when she saw that the stallion had grabbed onto his sword once more. But instead of bringing it up into the air to swipe down at his opponents, He had held on to it in a reversed grip and was pointing the tip straight down.

The sword was then thrusted until several inches were embedded into the stone floor and a wave of black and red energy that appeared eerily similar to blood started gushing out along the ground in all directions like a wave. Within the time it took for a Pony to blink, A multitude of serrated, red blades ad shot up from the ground and quickly impaled all of her guards through various points of their Bodies.

Weapon skill: Unleash. Deals unaspected damage with a potency of 120 damage to all nearby enemies. The user commands the energy within their body and sends it out in a wave. The wave is then condensed into sharp blades that shoot up from the ground to strikes any enemies within range

And just as fast as they came, they all went back into the ground and disappeared leaving a spray of blood to fill the area around the stallion and coat the floor with the substance that came from all twelve. Her eyes shrunk to pinpricks with the sight of each one being impaled in such a way that they were being lifted off the ground before being dropped unceremoniously. A few had even had limbs taken clear off with how wide some of the blades were.

Taken aback by the site, Grandmother stumbled back and fell on to her tail but quickly got back two more feet before running halfway up the steps of the altar above before turning around and pointing her staff towards the stallion that had not moved from his spot.

She then called out in a surprised voice and said, “But, t-that's not possible! You can't use any type of magic that's not aligned with the kind that I use, not while I have this staff! That only means that… You were using dark magic… just like me. How is it even possible? How is it that you can use that kind of magic, I demand that you answer? I thought that I was the only one that can do it! Dark magic is forbidden! Who in their right minds would teach this to a male?!”

Just like all the other times, she got no response as he took a single step forward, then another and another. Each one being slow and deliberate as to draw out the moment. Letting out a grunt of annoyance at being ignored, she pointed the staff at him and called out, “Stay back! I command you to stay back, I am your superior. Why aren’t you obeying me? Don't you know your own place, you're beneath all of us!”

This only got her nothing before she called out one last time, “Find then, have it your way. Time to die! I'll show you that my powers greater are far greater than yours!” While pointing her staff at the stallion, she channeled more power than before and shot a large blast of black energy that condensed into a solid mass That was spiraling towards its target.

It had made a direct hit and a large explosion of energy spilled forth and bathed the room in darkness. She saw how he was thrown back to the far side and had crashed into the wall, thereby embedding him halfway into the stones. The stallion was but a few feet above the ground with how he was now stuck in place as some impromptu decoration

Grandmother hunched her shoulders and lowered her staff as she was struggling now to stay on her feet after releasing such a powerful blast. She began to chuckle to herself maniacally as she regained some of her strength and got back into a boastful posture with how she threw her head back.

Now speaking in a triumphant, over the top tone, “Do you see now? I am truly the most powerful black magic user in all of Equestria. None can stand before my might! Really, you honestly thought that you can just come in here and rip down everything that I've worked so hard for? You males are nothing. You're all just... Just...Huh?” Her voice trailed off and became quieter as she saw the figure beginning to stir.

Watching in silent horror. Grandmother observed the armored stallion turning its head that had been buried halfway into the rocks. Soon she locked eyes onto the face plate. Dread began to seep into her very soul at the blank expression that was molded into the steel.

Slowly he began to pry himself loose from the detailed indentation created from the impact and fell towards the ground, only to catch himself on one knee while both hands were pressed on the floor for support. When he had landed, it created a cloud of dust, along with hey a heavy metallic thud.

After a few seconds, he got back to his feet once more and took on the familiar stance that he had been using the entire time. Her eyes were nearly bugging out of her skull at the very notion that stallion could have taken such a blow and not show signs of any injuries. By Tartarus, she had not even heard him once complained in any form of beating he received. All the stallions that she had come across would whine and cry at the littlest bit of pain.

She then thought to herself as she gritted her teeth, “No. This can't be possible. How can he be doing this, this makes absolutely no sense. No wait, it’s that armor. It's gotta be, there isn't even a single scratch on it. There must be a strong enchantment placed upon it. That can be the only explanation for everything that’s been happening today.

Now showing a new found sense of resolve, Grandmother took a step forward and proudly proclaimed, while outstretching her right hands index finger towards the stallion. “I know you're trick now! To be able to do what you've been doing and taking that hit head on! The only explanation is that you are wearing a cursed set of armor. I'm right, aren't I? There's no point in denying the obvious. You're just some weak-minded Colt that got his hand on a dangerous artifact.”

Waving her arm in a dismissive fashion she continued on with, “If I can't hit you with any physical means then I'll have to attack you at where you are at your most vulnerable. I bet that armor has already stripped you what little sanity you have left, which will make this all the easier!

Grandmother then then focused her thoughts, along with whatever energy she had left in her staff. A spell was now in the making as the power condensed as to shoot towards the unwanted interloper. Dark mists flowed from the staff and coiled around the shaft until it traveled up her arm. From there it then entered the holes of her mask. There was then a Violet light shining out that began to cast its rays upon the room, bathing it in a similar color.

With an ominous banshee like scream, she then released the spell. Now there was an erratic beam that was traveling towards the stallion and armor and struck directly upon the helmet. It was then enveloped in the same violet light.

Grandmother's vision went dark the very instant her spell had made contact and brought her into a dark empty void. She then let out a maniacal cackle as she raised both arms into the air along with the staff.

She then began to speak in a voice that was filled with joyous victory, “Haha. I did it, I did it! He is all mine now, the perfect puppet. Who needs a set of guards when I can have an enthralled cursed armored stallion at my side? And of course, when his usefulness is at an end, I can just order him to strip away this armor so that another can use it. Finally, I can take over Canterlot and take down that arrogant princess!”

Her ramblings were cut short when she looked around during her speech and caught sight of a small figure quite a distance away standing in place with their back turned towards her. Grandmother was quite confused and quickly went over with a teleport spell and was now directly behind whoever it was to investigate.

At a quick glance she assumed it to be some mare with how she was dressed in a black and red outfit, with the head ornament. Grandmother had assumed that those were the ears of a pony but could not catch the sight of a tail which confused her further.

She was about to say something to whoever this was, but the figure quickly turned around to expose a girl who had a death glare that was currently fixated on her. Those red eyes and purple lips, were quickly drawing her full attention, which sent a bone chilling sensation to run down her spine.

The strange female then threw back her right arm and balled it into a fist. Just as she threw it forward, she called out in a loud, angry tone, “Stay the fuck away from my master's mind, you decrepit… old…HUSSY! He's mine!” Immediately after, the fist made contact with grandmother's face and this threw her out of the stallion's mind.

Back in the real world, the spell that was linked between the two had spontaneously snapped and disappeared. The room was at the same time filled with an ear-splitting screech of pain from Grandmother as her head was forced into snapping back rather violently. She was then thrown back and onto the stairs behind. In doing so, the mare had released her staff which tumbled to the very bottom with a series of clanks until going silent as it rolled a few feet off to the side.

Clutching at her mask, more screams escaped as she tried to yell, MUY NOSE… MEH NOSE! HOW ITH IT BROKEN! HOW?!” Her voice was coming out all slurred in an odd way as she talked. She then pulled her mask free a little bit and began to spit out a large amount of blood which was accompanied by a few teeth that clattered onto the stone steps. Witnessing the site, she looked back towards the stallion and began to shiver as one would when looking at a monster.

She was only within his mind, yet being punched in there had transitioned into the real world and she had suffered a physical wound. Her sight was getting blurry as she assessed what had happened to her face. Indeed, her nose was clearly broken and a number of her teeth had either been completely broken off or shattered. It clearly felt as if she had been punched in the real world by someone with Godly strength.

By the time she had gotten her mind back together, the stallion had slowly made his way over and was now standing at the foot of the steps. At this point there was only several feet between the both of them. Knowing that he had gotten so close while she was distracted, caused the mare to nearly leap out of her own skin from fright.

Attempting to speak, she found it difficult with the way everything was being rather slurred. Even with her jaw being nearly destroyed and a stream of blood dripping from the bottom of her mask, did she try to plead for mercy. She then said, “Paweeze, I'm shorry. I didn't mean to! I-I thought that you were like all the resht! How about we team up? You can have all the girlsh you could ever want! I have so many that work under me, you can have a harem. We could-“

The distance between them had suddenly closed as he leaped up and onto a step that made it so that he could lean directly into her face. This is what caused her to stop in her ramblings. With him now being so close she could now see just how large he really was. It was as if being towered over by a Titan, that was judging a mortal for their crimes. Never before did she feel so small before any other.

With just one swift motion, he reached over with his right hand and wrapped the large gloved fingers onto the mask. Immediately after it was ripped from her head and toss clear across the room. With how terrified she felt, she didn’t notice the action until she heard the clattering of the golden white mask hitting the firewall.

What was exposed was an amalgamation of stitched together bits and pieces of multiple faces, not to dissimilar an art project one would make when cutting out parts of different magazine articles to make a face.

Each section was put together with very fine, thin thread that were hard to see, unless you were looking very closely. But what made it all stand out to be so obvious, was with how each one was of a different fur type and color pattern. There must have been at least a dozen different pieces that were put together. On the very outer edges, it was then stitched onto her very face. One could see the pale skin and bald patches along the outer edges of her collection of facial features.

Then that too was gripped with the other free hand. Shock was all that she felt when her mask was taken away. But it quickly turned into horror when she realized what he was about to do with the other hand that was now gripping on to her face.

She attempted to call out, however this was soon found out to be impossible with how his palm was pressing against her mouth and ceasing any means of communication from being done. All Grandmother could do was to show how scared she was by having her eyes going wide as he watched from between his fingers.

When the stallion and armor pulled, there was a series of ripping sounds that came from all the stitches as it was quickly removed in one violent motion. This caused a blood curdling scream to be let out by Grandmother as a small torrent of blood came squirting out from her now faceless head.

Grandmother had attempted to clutch at her face with both hands to protect it from anymore abuse and to prevent any more blood from escaping. With all her effort this turned out to be a fruitless attempt.

The amount of pain was so much that she was unable to even see properly as the world became jumbled in green and black as her vision swam in an endless sea of torment. Normally when she would have things done to her face, she would be using magic to numb all the pain receptors but that was not done this time around.

She began to wail as she attempted to say something, “WHY! WHY DID YOU DO THAT! PAWEEZE! NO MORE!” This was when she heard the stallion finally saying something for the first time, but what he said had sent chills that ran through to her very soul.

His voice came out low and in haunting thanks to the helmet. She could have sworn that it was nothing less than demonic with the coldness that reverberated in his tone. The words that left him were, “How many times did you hear those very words from your victims...”

When he had stopped, she moved a few of her fingers to the side so she could look at him. With blood-red eyes filled with complete horror and dismay, as she witnessed him taking the blade from his back. It was then raised up high with a tip facing towards her. Before grandmother knew what happened next, the blade had sunken into her gut.

There was a silent scream that came from her lips as she flailed in place but quickly found that she was unable to move due to the sword not only passing through her body but it had even penetrated the stone steps and sunk in enough that the blade was literally pinning her to the ground.

Gurgles escaped her lips as she tried to call out for any help, but the amount of blood loss and pain that she had suffered earlier only caused her to go limp. The light in her eyes that displayed life, slowly faded until all life within had finally been extinguished

*Point of view: Brex Mith*

All he could do was stand there after plunging the sword into the old hag’s body. All that remained now was a lump of flesh that once belonged to a foul creature in his eyes. During the beginning of the fight, he was on guard but it became obvious at the vast difference between himself and them.

As far as he could tell, all the ponies so far were around level 15. The guards however, we’re all level 24. The one that was in charge for putting the whole thing together, was one called Grandmother. Who had the level of 36.

Seeing as they were of no threat at the moment, he had foregone any means of attack or defense and just focused solely on the one known as Grandmother. During the fight Brex used the hero of light's ability known as the echo once more. With it, he was able to go in and catch glimpses of many of her misdeeds. Unlike all the others, she had committed so many atrocities over the years, that she was far beyond the point of being redeemable.

By the time the visions had ended, Brex was getting up from the last hit he had taken that sent him flying. When it got to the point that his assailants were getting tired and she had ordered them to continue, despite their frail nature showing, he got the chance to see one of their masks falling off. When that had happened, there was no doubt that he had witnessed the last bit of proof to seal her fate.

This Grandmother had not only started the whole herd religion, which spread across Equestria and tormented so many stallions, but had also mistreated her own followers and used them for such a grotesque form of personal gain.

The ones who had become so fanatical and had abilities far greater than normal were subjugated to horrendous tests. These tests would eventually turn them into mindless puppets. Those that caught her attention as being beautiful, would have their faces removed and grafted onto her own so that she could preserve what she would call her everlasting beauty.

All of this had only fueled his hunger for vengeance to a whole new level. During this entire event leading up to the death of grandmother, Rory was just giddy within his head. What surprised him the most out of everything, was how Rory had not only kicked out Grandmother from his mind, but had actually been able to cause physical harm to another in the real world through this action. This was clearly something that they were going to have to experiment on in some way or another in the future.

However, even with Grandmother's death and the rest of the followers currently incapacitated, Brex was not satisfied with the outcome. He looked around and saw that the blood was slowly trickling down the steps. His gaze went upwards to the altar. Out of curiosity, he slowly went up the steps and when he had reached the top he saw that there was a chasm on the other side that seemed almost endless with how dark it was.

He went over to one of the torches near the altar and lifted It, stand and all and threw it into the chasm. It only took a few seconds until it landed. As the light began to shine, it quickly brought a horrific sight to be shown.

It looked to be a small mountain of corpses with pieces missing from various parts of their bodies. But what made them all the same, was how all of them had their ribcages torn open. It was nearly enough to cause Brex to vomit within his helmet. But the boiling rage that was now becoming too much to handle, was overtaking that nauseous feeling.

Turning on the spot, he returns to the corpse of Grandmother. While looking at it, he said in a low, cold tone, “I don't think this is enough for what she has done. Wouldn’t you agree?” Rory quickly answered with an enthusiastic, “Yes! She deserves much, more. But it's a pity that she's already dead. Not much we could do. Oh, don’t tell me you’re gonna cut off her head and show it to the others? That’s just a bit tacky.”

A devilish smirk began to grow on Brex's lips as he replied with, “I think she would make a great test subject for something I've been quite curious about.” Rory sounding quite interested in what her master was saying replied with, “Te-hee, I can't wait to see what you're gonna do. Seeing you take charge like this; it just gets me so worked up. I knew you had it in you, but to see it in action... I am so glad that you're my Master!” At the end of that, Rory's voice was becoming more husky by the moment.

Brex switched over to his White Mage class and began to cast one of the resurrection spells on Grandmother's corpse. After several seconds of charging up the spell, it was then launched as a brilliant small orb of light flew into the corpse. The blade that was stuck in her gut was removed and held at his side, ready to be used right after he had already changed back to his Dark Knight.

Grandmother's body began to float into the air as some of the blood that had exited her body returned. When the spell was completed, she was gently lowered onto the steps to which she had previously fallen on.

He could see that her body was twitching and even with the recovery it appeared that the face that she had sewn on to herself had also returned. Soon those dead lifeless eyes began to blink and she took in a big lungful of air before sitting straight up.

It took several moments before she realized that she was not dead and began to pat herself all over. There was then a chuckle that came from her as she yelled out, “HA…HAHAHA! I'm alive! I’M ALIVE! The gods have deemed me worthy to survive. My cause is just! my cause is... is...”

He noticed that her voice was trailing off and was now caught in her throat as she caught sight of him. Brex checked her status and saw that there was a familiar icon next to her name. It was the symbol that would appear when a player was resurrected, which depicted the top half of a person, but the inside appeared to be some type of gauge that was not fully topped off.

This meant that she had lost twenty-five percent of all her stats and this would not go away for a good minute or two after resurrection. Yet, just as she was about to utter something ridiculous to him, he had swung his blade. There was now a shallow cut across her chest. The many long gold necklaces separated and fell to the ground all around her, what blood that was not caught within a robe began to spill out of the opening in her attire.

He went on to give her several more cuts along her arms and legs until she was no longer able to move and was now lying on the ground bleeding out. The entire time, she would scream and beg for mercy. But Brex was having none of it. He lifted his long sword once more and paused. Before plunging it into her chest, he said the same thing, “How many times, did you hear those very words from your victims...” Then the blade came down and impaled her through the heart, which killed her within seconds.

Rory called out in a slight panic that was laced with a needy feel behind it, “Master! You do know what this does to me right? If you keep this up, I might not be able to control myself the next time we go to sleep.”

Brex chose to ignore her words and switched back over to his White Mage class and redid the resurrection spell again. To which it, he did the same process as the one previously done and brought Grandmother back to the point just before her death. She was healed but extremely weak. The look of sudden realization crossed her twisted, horror filled face as she discovered that she was alive again, which meant more was instore.

He pretty much continued this process a few more times. With each one, he would change his methods slightly as to make sure that the mare would experience as much pain as possible before each of her deaths. At first, he had a small smile after she died after coming back. After doing it again, he found the smile growing.

After the second resurrection, she would begin to plead with him to end her suffering and permit her to pass on. His only reply to those requests would cause him repeat the same line, along the finishing blow. It would either be by stabbing or slashing with the long great sword in his right hand.

There was even one time where all he did, was step on to her with his metal clad boots. The act would slowly crush her arms and legs, making a sickening crunch with how her bones would snap. Until he made his way to her neck, thereby snapping it with his weight. That time she was making a lot more noise that he was sure could reach the entrance outside the mountain.

He was about to continue further after casting the next spell. However, when he went to cast it for the fifth time, it did not take hold and the corpse remained where it was. He surmised that it had something to do with every twenty-five percent of her stats being reduced with each resurrection. Without allowing time for the icon to disappear, there was a set limit to which he could bring the target back.

He did notice something that got his attention. With each one, her mind was apparently degrading. However, he chalked it up to her being constantly tortured and wasn't quite sure if was due to what he had done or if it was a side effect from resurrecting so many times. It was possible that continuously bringing a target back over and over again was the cause. The other option could have been from simply with him not allowing the resurrection sickness to fade beforehand.

When he realized that she was no longer capable of coming back, he glanced around and saw that there was so much blood splattered everywhere. Anyone would have thought that he had massacred an elephant with the shear amount, just on the steps themselves.

After a few moments with nothing to focus his anger on, Brex was now calming down. His nerves were now shot, the adrenaline and anger he was feeling before were beginning to subside at a rapid pace. His breathing became more labored and heavier as the seconds went on.

Climbing down the steps, Brex went over to a far wall that was the furthest away from all the bodies and blood and leaned into it using his right hand. Using the other, he quickly went to his face plate and abruptly opened by pulling up to reveal a heavily sweating face.

The face that was once hidden was now exposed and it was that of a man showing just how deeply disturbed he was with himself. As he looked straight down to the floor. A few drops made their way to his nose and began to fall, making a hollowed sound as it boomed through the now silent room.

In a weak, shaky tone. He asked Rory within his mind, “I really did all that didn't I? I just killed a pony in cold blood and brought her back to life, only to be torture repeatedly by my own hands... It wasn't some type of dream, right? I really did that? Oh my... W-What have I done? I-I went too far. I went way too far... I killed someone, I KILLED SOMEONE!!!!, I KILLED SOMEONE... This is not a game. I really did it... What have we done...? No, not we, I. What have I done? I even liked it! I’M A MONSTER! Displaced beings are dangerous, I’m dangerous! I’m one of the dangerous ones… I’m dangerous… I’m… dangerous…”

At this point, he was beginning to hyperventilate again. With each word, his mind was slowing down and it seemed that his body was getting heavy, along with his legs that felt as if they could give out at any moment. He covered his face using his other hand as if too ashamed to even show his face to the world. Things were going dark in his vision.

He heard Rory's voice as if standing right next by and felt an odd sensation on his right shoulder, “Master, you didn't do anything wrong. Yes, a pony was killed, I won’t lie. But she was nothing but a real monster in the strictest sense with all she had done. She went so far as to used her own disciples. They were mutilated even though they looked up towards her the most. I saw what you did when you used the echo on her. I may be modeled after someone who works for the God of death and delights and taking the lives of others. But I don’t do it to all. Just those that deserve it.”

Turning his head to the right, he saw Rory standing right there, with her left hand gently placed onto his shoulder. In a shaky, disbelieving tone. He asked in a whisper, “H-How are you even doing that? I can literally feel your hand on my armor plates... But this shouldn't be possible. You’re in my head, you can’t interact in the real world… Can you?”

She gently closed her eyes and gave him a slightly amused smile as she replied in a tender voice, “Well, don't tell me that crashing into a mountain would cause you to forget what happened back with your, Fluttershy episode, right? All I did was tap into your imagination; this is all being simulated through that. I knew that just listening to my voice wouldn't be enough to help. So, I figured seeing me would have a bigger impact in calming you down. It seems that It did just that with how you’re looking more like yourself.”

Rory then removed her hand and went to wipe the sweat from his brow. He could really feel her fingers making contact, this sending a releasing sensation across his skin. He was quick to notice that even though he could feel her, the sweat wasn’t moving away. Still, it was calming Brex down enough to breath normally.

Brex could feel moisture building up in his eyes as he began to silently cry. A small smile began to form on his lips as he spoke in a somewhat shaky voice, “Thanks...” Afterwards, he just stood there silently weeping for a few minutes before he brought himself to wipe his eyes and lower his face plate once again. Taking in a deep and slow breath of air through his nose, he exhaled from his mouth and stood straight once again.

He brought his gaze back to the projection of Rory and gave a light chuckle before Speaking in a jovial tone, “Since when did I start getting an Al to follow me around?” That was when he moved his hands slowly and it went across Rory’s head as if she was never even there.

She then gave him a slightly, playful scowl as she placed her hands onto her hips and swayed them gently before replying with, “Oh, does this mean you're gonna want me to have a cigar and start pushing at a tiny, multicolored cube remote now? I don't think so!” She paused while looking up into the air before finishing with, “Although, opening up a doorway leading to a white nothingness as I come through for an entrance, isn't such a bad idea.”

After hearing that, Brex couldn't help but to chuckle a little bit more. He then asked, “Since when did you even learn about that show? I don't think we got around watching that.”

He then watched as she be pivoted on one of her feet and turned away before saying, “That's one of the few tidbits that I remember from back when we shared your memories. I know the plot and I remember a few scenes from here and there, but that's about it. By the way, did that show ever happen ending, because I think I might want to watch it when we do another movie night.”

Brex only shook his head as he replied with, “Regrettably I don't know. From what I remember, back around that that time, the shows didn't really have a tendency to end. They simply got canceled or some other crazy thing happened and they just stopped airing.”

Rory quickly turned on the spot and ran up to him with panic in her eyes as she quickly asked, “Oh no! Please don't tell me the ship with the castaways... that never ended, did it?” This only earned her another headshake. She fell to her knees and started screaming with her arms held to the heavens in an extremely, overdramatic way, “NOOOOOooooo!”

He was almost taken aback at this display, seeing as he had no idea that she was so into the shows that he was letting her see. Then he began to contemplate how old was to even remember such old-fashioned television shows with such detail.

As if feeling that the situation was needing his attention, Rory got back to her feet and looked about the room. She then asked, “OK, back on topic, right? Didn't they just capture Someone just recently?”

Brex took in a sudden intake of air as he had just remembered that part of the visions. He searched his mini map and found that aside from the ones he had taken out earlier, there was no other dots it's in range that he could see that would indicate another Pony nearby. He began to jerk head left and right to try and find any type of clue within sight but found nothing.

He was beginning to think that they had sacrificed the pony, but remembered that they wanted to keep him around until he was of proper age, which meant that he had to still be alive somewhere.

It took him several minutes of combing the room by searching underneath the altar and along the walls for him to find a small draft coming through a crack in the wall that was off to the right end of the steps.

Upon closer examination, it was discovered to be a magically hidden room that was not showing up on his map of temple. He then mumbled to himself while examining it, “I guess I can't always rely on my mini map to show me everything. Should have learn that after not being able to sense those elementals. I think I've been relying on it and your situational awareness skills too much.”

He could see Rory was now leaning up against the wall, just off to the side as she casually said, “Yeah I've been sort of figuring that myself. Master, maybe you should not use my ability’s all the time. It might be dulling your other natural senses. You were able to sort of sense them after you stopped using it and relied on your own.”

While still looking over the enchantment for the sealed room. Brex replied with, “Yeah, I see what you mean there. Also, I really wasn't thinking very smart during those fight.” This got a confused tone from Rory as she asked, “What do you mean? I think it did pretty well, considering that a lot were sneak attacks and you avoided them.”

Brex then answered with, “No, I could have done it a lot smarter. For example, I've been collecting a lot of items, I could have easily have switched over to something that would have given me a slight advantage in some of those fight. If I had followed your advice and bumped my level up when I could, then things might have gone better. It didn't occur to me that my stats could be locked when it wasn't coming up as some kind of a quest. If I'd only been listening to you from the start, I would have already gone up to level 50.”

“Not to mention, I neglected using any weapons that might have worked on their particular element. With how things aren't like how they are back in the game, there's a good chance that if I had equipped one of the items that I had gotten as a reward in a raid that was modeled after an element, then it might have had an actual effect in this world. Not to mention I could have added some stones to them like I did for Ryu’s gear.”

Rory looked over to the side as if trying to look at something and when she was doing this, she was being quite silent. So, Brex looked towards her and noticed how her eyes were going up-and-down as if reading something that he couldn’t see.

She then looked back towards him and said, “Ah, yes, you're talking about the weapons that have the elemental themes. Like if you were to use any of the Lightning infused ones when fighting the water elemental, right? I just looked over your armory.”

This got a nod from the Roegadyn before he answered with, “Yup. Looks like I'll have to do a lot more training and experimenting to see if those theories have any grounds to work with. It would seriously bump up my game if I had a little extra to work with. Also, if I think about it… If things go as most displaced story’s go… Then sooner or later, I’ll run into something that’s a lot stronger than me. I’m not like those that have enough power to bend reality or blow up the world with but a single attack.”

Rory pushed herself off from the wall and stood right next to a man. She looked at the hidden door and asked in an excited tone, “So does that mean you're not gonna hold back so much and up your levels when you do your level sync?”

This got a resigned sigh from Brex as he gave her a noticeable, slight nod. This cause Rory to let out a relieved sigh as she threw herself against the hidden passageway and leaned her back against it. Giving him an amused look as she said, “Oh Thank goodness. You have no idea how worried I get when my Master is making it easier for others to kill him. I know you don't want to stand out or show just how strong you really are, especially with you being a male in this world. But still, this is really no way for you to live. You know that all I want for you is to be happy.”

“Maybe at some point you can take a vacation and relax for a while. And I mean a real vacation, go somewhere you can let go. No fighting, no having to figure out a mystery and above all else, somewhere that you won't have to wear a mask twenty-four hours of the day.”

Brex was still examining the entrance around Rory as he shook his head and replied, “Well I'm all for relaxing, when I don't have to do anything. But odds are I'm gonna be wearing a mask for a… very long time. There are so many reasons why I need to do this. A few of the reasons are, either I'll be hunted down for what I am, or there will be those that would want me for experimentations.”

When hearing all this self-doubt and paranoia from her master, Rory couldn't help but to lower her head and let her shoulder sag as she replied, “Master, I'm sure that's not always going to be the case. We've had this discussion a few times already but, maybe things won't turn out as bad as most of those displaced stories.”

“For one, the ones that ended up getting the worst, landed in a Equestria where they were all on four legs. Which made them stand out a lot more. At least you can walk around with a hood and do what you have to do when around them. Didn't a lot of the displaced get attacked on site because they were the only ones on two legs?”

This caused Brex to momentarily stop his examination as his hands that were traveling on the stone came to an abrupt halt. After a few seconds, he went back to his work. As he did so, he replied, “Yeah that's true. But still, I would rather be careful than sorry. I've already experienced dying at the hands of one of the rulers. If she's meant to be there standard to be held up too, then odds are the rest would no doubt do the same if they ever found out what I really am.”

Rory brought a hand up to her face and began to massage the bridge of her nose. She then released another sigh before saying, “Well master, I'm gonna hold onto hope that the worst-case scenario doesn't happen. But until then, you're stuck with me and I will make sure that you don't go insane from the isolation.”

There was an amused chuckle that escaped his lips as he replied with, “Well just so you know, I wouldn't have it any other way. As long as you're around, I don't think I would have too much of a problem if I was to suddenly be thrown into an empty abyss for a thousand years or so. Besides, I... AH! There we go. Found it! It's a good thing I didn't just go and cast my dispel on it. Seeing as how Grandmother was so twisted, I had my suspicion that if someone else tried to break this one out, then something was going to happen to the one inside.”

He then gestured by pointing at two spots on the wall that were fairly close to one another. Rory leaned in and tilted her head questionably before looking back up to him.

Brex then went on to explain, “There's two separate enchantments that are tied together on this hidden door. Little Light explained it to me once. One is basically for the concealment and unlocking. But that is meant to be overlayered across a separate spell to hide it. This means if someone was to try and force their way through, then it would activate the second spell that was placed, which would kill the occupant inside. Looks like its infused with dark magic.”

After a moment, he went on to continue with, “Now that I know it's there, I can target that one first. Rory then gave him a look that just said that she was impressed with his deductions before she said, “Oh so it's sort of like my hex spell, right? The Rory from the anime was able to place curses on objects. One of them was the Hex. The curse would be placed on an object and any who touched it, would die if they were not previously given permission.”

This caused Brex to freeze in place and think to himself, “Note to future self, if Rory says to stay away from something of hers, then stay away! No telling what might have that curse.”

As if already knowing in what he was thinking beforehand. Rory spoke up in a joking tone, “Oh Master, you would have nothing to worry about when it comes to that spell. After all, everything that I have belongs to you.” She then gave him a half-lidded stare, as she continued with, “And I do mean, everything~”

There was now a tint of redness forming on his cheeks as he stared at the wall. He then shook his head and stepped a few feet back and pointed his right palm towards the hidden passageway. Switching over to his White Mage, he used one of his spells to break the harmful enchantment and when that was gone, he continued with the concealment.

When this was done, the stone wall began to shimmer and faded to reveal a simple wooden door in its place. Before approaching, he had gone back to his Dark knight and got himself ready just in case something was to happen, by reaching up and placing a hand on the hilt of the long sword on his back.

The door was slowly opened and it revealed a rather small room that was pitch black. The light coming in from behind him was enough to illuminate the bottom of a set of iron bars that was about six feet ahead.

There was but a single torch on a fixture next to the door that that was not lit. Brex brought out a small fire shard and placed it against the tip, which instantly caught a blaze. When he did this, the room was quickly filled with the sound of the flame burning as everything was now lit up.

The room turned out to be quite small as the floor itself was approximately ten feet wide. However, where the bars were situated, it appeared that that it was carved into to a half dome shape. With the center being the only place high enough for a Pony to stand at six feet high while it quickly dropped towards the sides.

Deeper into the cage he could see a figure laying on their side and unmoving. When he got to the door. He grabbed onto it with both hands and began to pull until there was the audible noises being made by the iron bars being bent and contorted until they snapped off their hinges.

When the door had come completely free, he placed it against one of the walls outside of the cage and then entered the cage. With how cramped It was within, the Roegadyn had to bend down and crouch as he walked.

He then carefully picked up the small figure and exited the secret room. When he was now within a better lit area, he glanced down and got a better look on who he was carrying.

It was a young colt, hadn't even made it into his teenager years, in fact, he looked to be the same age as when the cutie mark crusaders were while in the show. From the looks of it, he was wearing a pair of very dirty, dark pants. They had clearly seen better days with how ripped they were. The shirt must have been white at one point, but was so thick with grime that it could have been confused for dark gray or even black.

His fur was a dark shade of red, while the mane and tail were jet black. The part on his head was a bit spiky as it went forward. One of his short shoulder sleeves was torn on the left side and it depicted a symbol of a flame being surrounded by four stars.

Brex could see that his health wasn't all that bad, but still, it was concerning with it being close to the halfway point. Without putting him down, he swiftly went back to being his White Mage once more and started to cast a series of low-level healing spells, as to not deliver a shock to a system with a strong one being used.

It didn't take long at all for him to become noticeably healthier after the fourth cure spell was administered. He was so fixated on his wellbeing that by the time everything was done and he had taken another glance at his status bar, did Brex tilt his head at what he had finally noticed.

Right above his health bar and name, was a set of words that would only be present when a title was administered to an individual. Brex had figured he'd eventually come across those but what was written had thrown him for a bit of a loop.

He carefully went back to his Dark Knight and brought out from his inventory box a cloak and wrapped it around the young colt. Afterwards, he brought him up to hold him with just one arm to lay into his chest, just off to his left side.

He silently walked through the doors that he had abruptly kicked in just a short time ago and navigated through the secret underground temple and towards the exit.

Along the way, he passed numerous mare’s that were still in an unconscious state from when they all had attempted to rush him in the hallway. Some were out cold, while others were in various states.

The one thing that they all had in common was with them being bound and shackled in one way or another. Anchored to either the floor or a wall to keep them from going anywhere after leaving to venture in further.

There were even a few large cages that could have easily held five or six within that that had a few locked away inside. The doors on those cages however, had the locks that were built into the door had been crushed in a way that made it impossible to open anymore without taking the whole thing apart. Too bad for them that there wasn’t a single unicorn in the bunch because their strength was not going to get them out.

What he did notice about the ones that were awake, was how they were avoiding looking in his general direction as he walked. There were those who were whimpering uncontrollably and covering their ears while in a fetal position. Some looked almost catatonic with how they were shivering and unblinking as they looked towards the floor.

There was even a strong odor in the air that smelled too much like ammonia. Brex immediately surmised that a number of them may have pissed themselves after hearing all the noise that was being emanated from the large room that housed the altar. Apparently, all the screaming and pleading from their leader had reached down here and had literally scared the piss right out of them.

When he had rounded a corner and was well out of view of any of the ponies, he stopped in place and used the body double technique. From out of his shadow came an exact copy of him, right down to the armor and sword, but without the kid in his arms.

Before he left the mountain, he had Issued the following commands to his doppelgänger. Give them food, give them water once a day. Patrol around them so they would not try anything funny. Search for anything that looks to be records and transcribe copies for me. Aside from those, you are not allowed to interact with them in any other way, unless it was to stop them from escaping.

He knew with the connection he had with his body double; important information would be relayed in real time if the need should arise. If there were any useful documents around, then the copies would show up in his item box to review later on.

He was done, after killing Grandmother. Brex wanted to leave before he did something else. He then thought to himself that Rory had done a good job at bringing him back from a mental collapse. But he was sure that this was going to haunt he for a while. But for now, there was something far more important that needed his attention.

As Brex carried his new passenger away further from those awful mare’s and disappeared into the nearby bog. He whispered to himself, “How about we get you somewhere safe, then you can tell me your tale, hmm?”

*Point of view: Third person*
*Location: secret Mountain temple*
*Time: Three weeks later*

The hallways where a word dark with how there was no light source to speak of. The temple that had once smelt of burning incense, was now reeking with a not so delightful odor. One could hear what sounded like some weak breathing that was echoing throughout the seemingly darkness.

Soon there was a sound of heavy metallic boots making their way in said darkness. In the opposite direction of the sound was a slowly glowing light source that was casting shadows of figures coming down the hallway. Just as the light was reflecting off one of the walls, did it show the body double standing in the middle of the hallway like a silent, ominous guardian. But just as whoever was holding the light source had gone around the corner and could stand before it, did the creation disappear into nothingness, indicating that it's roll was now fulfilled.

The one who was holding the light source turned out to be a tall mare and she was wearing a white and gold armor. An emblem of a golden sun could be seen shining off of the chess plate she adorned. Within moments, came more until there was at least twenty or so coming down the depressing hallway that barely allowed four to walk side-by-side in.

One of the guards spoke up in a tone that clearly showed how nervous she was with where they were, “Ah... Sergeant, are we sure that we're in the right p-place? We've gone pretty deep and we've found that storeroom with those.... Those…” The mare was clearly having trouble with even discussing what she had seen only a short while ago.

Another spoke up from within the group. This one had a rougher tone to her voice as she replies, “We need to find out exactly what happening on here. The guard can't just ignore it when we find a package just sitting in the middle of the squad captains’ desk back at the barracks. More so when it was containing a note, along with a... severed unicorn horn sitting inside of it.” Clearly, she was also having a hard time with talking about the subject with how disturbed her voice was getting near the end.

A third voice came out of the group that seemed a bit angry in comparison to the other two and shouted, “That's quite enough of that. We’re on the job, now stop the chatter and let’s get back to it. The truth in the matter is, we received a tip that there is a herd cult going on here. Furthermore, we cannot ignore the fact that there is a real unicorn horn sitting in one of the evidence lockers back at the barracks.”

There was a short pause before the mare went on, “Now that we located a large stockpile of...” The mare that was speaking trailed off before continuing, “Additional evidence. Then we need to investigate this entire place from top to bottom.”

The first voice that spoke up in the beginning, called out and asked, “Just what was written in that note anyway? If this really is a herd cult, then wouldn’t they be long gone by now, why bring along the entire garrison? Also, there's the five wagons that we brought along too; I doubt there's going to be that much evidence. We could probably fill up two of them with everything we found in that store room alone.”

The third voice spoke up and replied with, “The note specified that there was a group of incapacitated members and we would need transportation to get them all out. Either way, if there are cultists here, then we're going to need the numbers. Better safe than sorry.”

It appeared the conversation was about to go further, but one of the female guards at the very front of the formation had let out a terrified shriek that spooked entire group into pulling out their weapons and taking a defensive position as they got ready for an attack to come out of the shadows.

One of them from the very front called out, “We need a unicorn up here for some light.” Immediately there was some shuffling as one of the other guards came forward and began casting an illumination spell into the darkness ahead.

The entire group let released a series of gasps as they caught sight of a row of mares wearing dirty red robes, shackled against the wall thanks to some metal bars pinning a few by their necks against it, while the other half were on the ground laying still.

They were quickly checked on and during the examinations they found that they were all mares. Appearing to be quite weak due to malnutrition. The ones that laid still, were still alive. But what really caught their attention, was how the ones that were still conscious, seemed to be mumbling under their breaths repeatedly, almost the same thing.

When one of the soldiers that was a few feet away got curious, she asked the unicorn that was currently tending to their condition about what they were mumbling. The medic turned and replied with an unsettled voice as she said, “They're all saying the same thing. They're asking for forgiveness. Some of the exact words are, we're sorry, we're sorry. Please forgive us. Stallions are not weak; we won't ever mistreat them again. Please, just say something. Why won't you speak to us, We're sorry....”

When the medic had finished conveying these words, did they hear some noises coming from deeper in the hallway. In the beginning, one could barely notice its presence. But soon they got a little louder. All of the guards present began to shiver in their armor upon what they heard coming from in the darkness.

It was a repeating echo that was virtually identical to what the medic had just said out loud. They were the voices of many mare’s calling out calling out, saying that they were sorry and they wanted some pony to speak to them. One of the guards near the center of the group was showing that they went wide eyed before exclaiming in a terrified tone, “By Celestia's teets... What could have done this?”

What they didn't know, was that later when they found the deepest part of the temple. Would they understand what kind of a being could have caused so many of these mare’s, who were known for abducting and torturing stallions to become what they were now. One of the guards was trembling when she said the following, “S-Sergeant.... When we get back, I really, really need some time off to talk to my colt friend and apologize for a few things.”

Off to the side, only a few paces away, stood a pair of beings clad in black robes. One was close to six feet tall, while the other was just over five. The taller of the two had a red mask that covered the upper part of his face. As for the shorter of the pair, that one was wearing a black mask of similar design. However, there was a cloth veil that obscured the rest of the face from view.

They were there the entire time, following the group of guards that enter the temple, but appear to be unnoticed by any of them. This being proven when one of the guards walked past without showing any indications that they were even there.

The one with the red mask began to speak in an odd language that made it nearly impossible to tell if they were using a male or a female voice. That one then turned his hood towards a Pony that was now holding a large golden staff that had a large black stone set in place at the top. The figure then shook its head as it turned to the one with the black mask and said a few words.

The black masked one then reached into their robes and pulled out something and presented it. There in its hands, laid three small white orbs with some gold decorations. The red mast one said of few words and carefully took one of the orbs. In response, the other merely shook their head slowly.

Now carefully pinching the orb between their thumb and index finger, did the red mask being start to bring it close to the side of their head. As soon as it got within a few inches, a familiar monotone voice rang loud and clear.

The following could be heard coming from the smaller item. “WHETHER YOU BE IN NEED FOR A WARRIOR OF LIGHT OR A WARRIOR OF DARKNESS. JUST HOLD THIS CLOSE AND MAKE THE CALL. FOR THOSE THAT SEEK TO DESTROY ORDER SHALL BE MY PREY, IF NOT THEN YOU WILL HAVE MY BLADE BY YOUR SIDE. SON OF HYDAELYN. MY NAME IS, BREX VON MITH.”