Hear the voices of Samuel/HTVO: Arc 1: Samuel

Chapter 30 Are we...fighting for the right cause?

Strife and Mat were watching Dream lay in the bed with a heart monitor attached to his left foreleg. He looked like he was sleeping peacefully, but he was actually in a coma. Strife was sleeping on Mat’s shoulder while Mat stared gloomily at Dream. Dream looks so calm, but he wasn’t suppose too be calm. He was not supposed to be asleep but he was and the worst part of it was that he was in a deep one. Redheart wanted to help Dream, but her boss needed her to attend to other patients. She does visit from time to time, paying her respects to Dream, Strife, and Mat, but her job was important.

Strife’s eyes slowly opens as he yawns, stretching his forelegs to the air. He glances at Mat and says, “Thanks for the shoulder Mat, I needed that nap.” Strife said.

“No problem, had a nice sleep?” Mat asked, looking at him.

Strife looks at Dream and frowns. “No, I had a dream of my dad and I fighting at the Canyon. I lost.” He said.

“Hey Strife, can I ask you something?” Mat asked, looking back at Dream.

Strife looks at Mat and says, “Sure.”

“It’s about Paradise and Dream. Magic said Dream had quit Paradise because he was ready to fight his brother. I wanted to know, why would Dream become a Paradise member, yet quit it, just to take out his own brother?” Mat asked.

“What are you getting at Mat?” Strife asked, looking at him odd.

“What I’m trying to get at is this, I want to know, what is Paradise really fighting for, what are our ambitions towards this world?” Mat asked, looking at him with a serious expression.

“When Paradise was made, it was made for the simple goal of fighting cults, but that’s just our job. We’re hired to take out cults that are a huge threat to this world. Paradise is just a group not a family. Mat…” Strife sighed and says, “Paradise is fighting for nothing but endless bloodshed, just to end its previous bloodshed. For us, our ambitions are connected with each other. Dream wants to kill his brother, I want to kill my father, Solar is here, for some damn reason, Magic I’m not sure about, and you, well, you still haven’t made your ambition.”

Mat frowns and says, “My ambition, I, want to protect my friends-” “That is not an ambition Mat, if you always do it. You can’t protect your friends for too long, if you know that they’re eventually going to die.” Strife interrupted him.

“Then what is my ambition?” He asked.

“Whatever you feel it is.” Strife answered.

“Strife, I have another question?” Mat asked.

“And that is Mat?” Strife asked.

“If Paradise is fighting for an endless bloodshed just to get rid of its previous one, what is the point of being in one? Paradise is just like another version of the Azazel cult. I don’t know the true answer for this, but this war…with Paradise involved in it. Are any of us truly fighting for the right cause?” Mat asked.

Strife closes his eyes and sighs. He reopens them, letting his calm pale blue eyes look into the multi-colored eyed pony. “Mat, we are not fighting for the right cause, no cult is, and nopony is. We make ourselves think we are, but we know, no matter what, not even Magic can avoid it. We are fighting for the wrong cause and we can’t get out of it. We are trapped in it, forever stuck, bearing the haunting memories of our past. Bearing the memories of the ponies we could’ve saved or the ponies that we killed. We never bother paying attention anymore if the ponies we are killing are colts trying to act tough or really trying to protect their faith in Samuel or Azazel, all that we know and do…is kill them, before they kill us.” Strife said shocking Mat.

Mat was horrified by the information Strife had given him. Paradise was no different than any cult. He killed Samuelnists and Azazelists before, but he never bothered to check if they were only colts or fillies.

“I…never knew we were this bloody. How did I not realize this?” Mat asked, feeling his heart sink into sadness.

“Because Mat, if you do, then you will let it get in your way and you will be killed. Dream, I, and even Magic had to rid ourselves of these regretting emotions. We have to, so that we won’t die.” Strife said.

“But is there any other way, can’t we just spare-” “Mat, we tried, but we failed. These cults are serious, they will kill you, me, anypony without a single care in the world if it means serving their faith.” Strife interrupted him.

“But…” Mat stopped, he couldn’t finish his sentence.

“Mat, I am sorry, but this is how Paradise is, we make illusions upon ourselves; making us believe that we are fighting for a great cause, but we really know that we aren’t. We are monsters and killers just like them, but…” Strife frowned and said, “We’re also heroes, which is just a lie blinding any pony that sees us.” He sighed and looked at him with a saddened expression.

“Strife, why didn’t you tell me this before I joined?” Mat asked.

“Because, even if I did…it wouldn’t change the fact that you will still be cautious to whom you are fighting.” Strife answered. “I know, this entire organization sounds dark, but none of us can take chances anymore. We have to kill or be killed. In Magic’s case, he’s only killed two ponies as far as I know. But I know the things he does, are simply painful. He’s scared deep down.” He said.

“Twilight had told me, before Magic and Dream came back, he didn’t seem to care who he kills.” Mat said.

“He lied, he truly does care. He was simply trying to win an argument against her. Magic fights his opponents as if they were sparring or he simply pulls pranks on them. He doesn’t kill them unless they do something that will piss him entirely off. This is the dark secret of Paradise. Not much of a “paradise”, huh?” Strife said, looking out the window with a blank expression.

“I’m completely shocked now.” Mat said holding his head frighten. This info about Paradise was truly shocking.

“You can quit if you want, it wouldn’t make a difference.” Strife said.

“I…I don’t want to quit, I just want to know, what we’re fighting for, what am I fighting for? Is it good or is it bad? Will it save a life or will it kill a thousand? Strife, I’m struggling through this-” “Conflict?” Strife interrupted him and finished his sentence.

Mat looks down and says saddeningly, “Y-yeah.”

“Amazing, the three of us are the representations of Paradise’s Personas.” Strife said, chuckling a little bit.

“Personas?” Mat asked, looking at him.

“I am the Conflict of Paradise, those who join, will begin to witness the struggle of life. Dream is the Fear, in which each of us, even Magic, have. Fear of something that had happened to us or somepony else in our lives. Magic is the Happiness and Joy, hidden behind Hope.” Strife said.

“What does that mean?” Mat asked.

“It means, that Paradise will not become a completely “depressed all day” organization. There will be times where we’ll be happy, and times where we’ll be sad. But we will not falter into a complete cloud of depression.” Strife said.

“Pretty much, Magic is the safe link from suicide, sorrow, angst, lament, and any other depressing things that will make your life a living hell?” He asked, Strife nodded his head in agreement.

“Damn, I wonder what the others will think if they knew that this was how Paradise is.” Mat said, looking at Dream.

“Soon, they will find out.” Strife said, also looking at Dream as well.

Mat wanted to stay and not leave the group; sure he was horrified by the organization he was in. He still wanted to fight and put an end to this war. Good Colt or Bad Colt, as long as he stopped this war, then, and only then could he finally relax, but there was one thing Mat couldn’t let go. He wasn’t going to fight just any enemy from now on. He wanted to know first if they were young and if they were naive. He will fight, but he will not kill like he usually does. He will knock them out or have them arrested, but by all means, he will not kill them.

To be continued

(Thank you EpicAeromancer33 for editing, that means a lot as you can tell. Mat is owned by Bahamut-Crisis Core, OCs like Strife and Dream are mine. Magic Junk is owned by EpicAeromancer33MLP is owned by Hasbro and Lauren Faust. Thank you for reading.)