"Death to all who defy the Seven Deities!" Olga said as she grinned. If anyone was gonna put an end to Asura's madness, especially while he was weakened from his previous battle with his former master, Augus, it would be her.
"Your pitiful life ends here! DIE!!" and with that said, the overhead fleet of over one thousand Nirvana ships, released a hail of Hamaya missiles and bombs towards the Fallen One.
Asura looked up, wide-eyed and defenseless. There were hundreds of thousands of bombs about to drop right on top of him. The girl who had stayed with him after his second resurrection from Naraka was running to him, holding a younger boys hand and guiding him to Asura as if he was the only means of sanctuary. Asura turned around to run towards the girl, telling her to get back, but before the words could escape him, the bombs went off. Each explosion crept on closer and closer. Asura would never get to the girl to shelter her.
"NNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!" he shouted as loud as he could over the nearing explosions before they caught up. Next thing Asura knew, everything crumbled before him and he lost all senses before being blinded by the light of a newly detonated bomb and crushed underneath a slab of rubble from a collapsing building. The whole village Asura had fought valiantly to protect from Kalrow and the Gohma was now completely destroyed. A product of the Seven Deities' so-called method of 'purification'.
Several moments had passed before Asura reawakened. His battle with Augus destroyed his gold plated arms down to sparking orifices and the previous battle with an entire army of Gohma left him weak. He pushed the rock slab off of himself with his back instead and stood up, gasping for breath. As he tried to regain his composure he looked around at the burning landscape before him. He turned around and scanned more until something caught his eye. The little beaded hair clip that the girl wore on the strand next to her bangs was lying solely on the floor. His eyes widened. He looked around frantically for the owner of the clip and grunted in shock as he found her, laying motionless on the floor, covered in soot and clothes tattered from the destruction. The girl, who reminded him so much of his kidnapped daughter, Mithra, was gone.
Asura gritted his teeth. Something was beginning to burn within him. He started to thrash himself around, growling and trying to pull a scream out of his synthetic lungs. The demigod looked toward the heavens, baring his teeth before his eyes glowed blood red, and found it within himself to do nothing but scream. And he screamed louder than he has ever in his life.
Orangish red molten energy started to emanate from him, and a beam shot out and into orbit from where he was standing. The more he screamed, the more powerful and bright the beam became, until it released a shockwave that destroyed all ships orbiting Gaea except for Olga's Septentrion cruiser and her fleet. Back on the ground, a radiating monster stood in Asura's place. He'd let his own rage consume him, to the point where he wasn't himself at all. The real Asura was no more.
. . .
Twilight Sparkle opened up the window next to her bedspread. As the cool breeze drifted in and brushed past her cheeks, she thought that she should go out for some fresh air. After all, she just couldn't stay in the library all day, and she had already completed last night's studies.
"Spike, I'm going for a walk," she reminded her dragon companion. He looked up with sleepy eyes from his bed. "I should be back In about an hour, so keep on sleeping." Twilight giggled as Spike grumbled and rolled over in his bed. Last night's studies on astronomical physics took a lot out of her, but the very topic of space grasped fully at Twilight's interests. She'd only had 3 hours of sleep but was feeling lively as she always had since she's lived in Ponyville. What's not to love about the peaceful little town, she thought as she walked out of the Ponyville Library. Rainbow Dash was the first pony she saw, clearing off the few remaining clouds in the sky.
"Good Morning, Rainbow Dash," Twilight happily greeted her friend. Rainbow looked down at her as she was exiting the library.
"Hey Twi!" Rainbow said, kicking off the last cloud, before landing beside Twilight. "Did the new issue of Daring Do come in yet?" Twilight shook her head and giggled.
"I thought I told you yesterday that I wouldn't have it until the end of the week,"
The cyan Pegasus turned her head toward her unicorn friend. "Uhh, oh yeah..." she remembered. It had already been weeks since she read the last issue of the dastardly, adventurous explorer known as Daring Do. She was so excited for the next issue she could hardly sleep. "Well, when you get it, tell me." Rainbow Dash then spun to the front of Twilight and grabbed her face with both of her hooves, looking at her, snout to snout with wide eyes. "...And don't let anyone else have it!!" she said in a frantic whisper.
Twilight nodded at this before a beam of light brighter than Celestia's sun shot out of the horizon. It caught everypony's attention immediately, especially the unicorns of the town, as the spire of what seemed to be magical energy beamed far into the heavens and caused major disruption in the harmonic flow of all things magic. After her eyes adjusted to the intense level of light, Twilight saw that the source was clear; the disruption came from the area of the gem mines where Rarity was captured by Diamond Dogs.
A booming growl was heard, slowly climbing to an awakening yell that sounded as if it was thirsting for vengeance. Large rocks and trees were being tossed about violently around the mines, but none landed close enough to do damage to the town. Everypony was watching in horror, some worrying if it was the return of Discord, or if some other horrifying creature was about to attack Ponyville.
"Twilight!" A voice called out from behind.
Twilight broke her gaze at the light. It was Rarity who called to her. The dressmaking unicorn had felt the powerful magical disturbance as well and stood next to Twilight and Rainbow.
"What do you think it could be?" Rarity asked in a concerned tone. Twilight formed a worried expression as she looked back to the town where mothers were guiding their fillies and colts indoors and shutting themselves in from the potential danger. "I don't know. And I wouldn't like to know, but my curiosity is getting the better of me." Rarity nodded in agreement as they both galloped to the gem mines.
"Hey, wait up!" Rainbow Dash jumped back into reality, eyes snapping away from the now fading beam and joining Rarity and Twilight on their advance to the hills.
Asura's breathing was heavy. The last thing he remembered was blacking out after his disturbing outrage over the death of a girl who never gave her name. Struggling to lift himself, he spread his hooves against the loose gravel... Wait, hooves?! Asura suddenly grunted and thrust himself back on his haunches. He stared at his new gold encased hooves with utter shock, as well as relief for having his only weapons back. He figured he might need them in this strange new world.
"What the hell happened?" this question pondered in Asura's thoughts. And after a few moments his only conclusion would be that he completely lost himself, to the point where he was thrown out of his own body. But where was he? This world couldn't be Gaea, since usually everywhere the demigod went, the Gohma spawned and attacked. Though one thing caught his attention; the ground where he now sat was pulsing with Mantra. Or, was it Mantra? It seemed to be giving him the strength to stand on all fours again.
He did so and lifted up a foreleg to examine his new features. "And further more... What am I--" Asura started before being interrupted by a small noise he heard coming from a nearby bush, followed by hushed scolding. He quickly got on all fours into a fighting stance, before slowly walking over to investigate.
. . .
Twilight and her friends had arrived at the crater where the beam caused a magical explosion of a medial scale. The three ponies were hesitant to step forward and decided to hide inside the closest bush.
"What do you see, Twilight?" whispered Rainbow Dash, her tail snapping anxiously.
"I think I see something in the middle," Twilight squinted and leaned forward to get a better view through the thicket of leaves, her eyes then widening at what she saw. It was a stallion with a coat the color of a light terra cotta covered in lines, and a white spiked back mane. He seemed to have metal gauntlets of the sort on his forelegs as well. Upon further examination, she saw that his eyes glow the same way hers do when she's using magic at a very high magnitude. "I think I see an earth pony...with glowing eye--"
"ACHOO!!"
Rainbow Dash quickly covered her snout after recovering from her sneeze. She looked to both Rarity and Twilight who looked back in shock. "Sorry guys, I just couldn't hold it in," Rainbow apologized, embarrassed. Twilight looked back at the stallion, only to see that he had gotten up and was walking toward them.
"Oh no, he heard you and is on his way over here!" Twilight's heart was pounding in her chest. What was going to happen next? Was this pony dangerous, or was he friendly? Her mind raced at different outcomes.
"Rarity, you have a way with words, you talk to him!" Rainbow quickly suggested, trying to nudge her out of the bush.
"Girls?" Twilight spoke.
"What?! Oh heavens no! He looks absolutely menacing. And have you seen his clothes? I can appreciate the design, but their tattered and filthy!
"Oh don't be such a cry filly!"
"Girls!" The two arguing mares looked at Twilight. Before hearing a soft, yet angry voice outside of the bush.
"I won't hurt you if you come out," the Stallion said.
. . .
Asura stood before the bush of the three voices. He leaned forward slowly and saw three pairs of eyes. He had wanted them to come out so he could ask about where he was, as well as what he was. He stood back in surprise as a small, lavender pony with a purple mane and a horn centered below her hairline was the first to walk out of the bush. She looked very nervous before speaking to him.
"Uhh..good morning sir, my name is Twilight Sparkle and I'm a resident around here." Asura raised an eyebrow. The pony... Spoke! He fumbled with his words in surprise, not knowing how to respond. Finally, he uttered, "I'm Asura..." Twilight Sparkle looked into his glowing white eyes, her deep purple irises widening the longer she stared. She had this feeling that the stallion in front of her was misplaced. That he was in a world he didn't know, or understand. Asura asked what she'd expected. "Where am I?"
"You're in Equestria. My friends and I are from the nearby town of Ponyville," Twilight pointed a hoof toward the bush that hid her two friends, and then to the west, where the peaceful town lie. Asura looked to the town. He guessed he was right about not being on Gaea, he thought. Somehow he needed to get back to save his daughter from Deus' clutches. If this pony was gonna help him, so be it. He looked back to Twilight, who had her gaze fixed on his metal plated arms. She picked up one of his hooves and examined the intricate muscle outline and deistic designs.
Asura didn't mind this. He'd gotten used to the mortal humans on Gaea constantly gawking at him before his training with Augus and Yasha, thousands of years ago. Back when everything was normal. Back when he was just a General with a hot temper and a family.
Asura pulled his hoof away from Twilight, who stood looking at him with a cautious expression.
"My daughter, Mithra is in danger. I need to get back to my world," Twilight arched her eyebrows. She was right. Asura was not of this world and needed to go back, and she was willing to help him in any way possible.
"I think I may know some ponies who can help!"
. . .
Twilight turned her head around to the bush were her two friends were hiding. "Dash, Rarity, you can come out now," she said. The Unicorn and Pegasus revealed themselves, Rarity tossing her mane to shake off loose leaves before looking up at the demigod that stood in front of her. He was a lot bigger up close, more built than Twilight's brother, Shining Armor and nearly the same height as Princess Celestia. Her mouth hung agape until Rainbow Dash broke the silence.
"Hey uhh, Asura was it? Would you be offended if I asked what you are exactly? I mean, you don't look like a normal pony. At all." Asura arched an eyebrow. So, he was what they were. And it'll probably take some adjustment with his new mechanics. He looked at the rainbow maned Pegasus before speaking.
"I'm a demigod," he looked down. Everypony recoiled in surprise, especially Rarity, who then quickly zipped up in front of him, causing him to take a step back. "A demigod?! Oh where are my manners? I am Rarity and this is Rainbow Dash." She wrapped a hoof around Rainbow and pulled her closer to her side, giving Asura a smile before bowing. He was beyond confused. "What are you doing?" Rarity looked up.
"Well it would be incredibly rude not to bow to royalty," she looked over to Twilight and motioned her to bow. Asura's jaw clenched. He had hated when the residents of the recently destroyed village on Gaea were bowing to him, praying for their lives to be taken and their souls to be guided to heaven. He thought it was pathetic, but for the reason that the white Unicorn was bowing for was understandable.
"Please don't bow to me. I'm not royalty at all," Asura began to explain. Rarity let go of Rainbow Dash and stood back up as he continued. "If anything, I'm ex-military." Rainbow Dash started to walk around him.
"So, you were like a guard or something?" Rainbow asked, examining his tattered uniform.
"I guess you could say that," Asura looked at the ground and closed his eyes before continuing. "I served under Emperor Strada as one of the 8 Guardian Generals of Shinkoku. It was our duty to protect the people of Gaea from the Gohma."
"Wow, so you protected your world from danger?" Twilight started to speak, walking up to Asura. "I think Princess Celestia would love to meet you!"
Asura thought for a moment. Maybe this princess of theirs could transport him back to Gaea. As it seems, he would love to meet her as well.
"Can you take me to your princess? I need to go back to Gaea as quickly as possible and take my daughter back." He was fed up with the meaningless slaughter and wanted to end it at once. He had killed three of the seven deities and hadn't planned to stop until he had his Mithra back, and Gohma Vlitra defeated.
"I wish I could, but she's away on official business in Manehatten," Twilight dug a hoof at the ground. Asura grit his teeth together. Why couldn't anything be easy? Now the only way to get back was through a miracle, and luck was out of the question.
"But listen, I'll take you to Ponyville and introduce you to the rest of our friends. We'll be happy to keep you company until the Princess returns!" Twilight gave the demigod a smile. He looked to the bright colored town off in the distance, and then back to Twilight, nodding and returning a smile.
"Alright."
