Chapters the Journey/Confontation [edited]
Dimensional Chronicles Part two The Journey/Confrontation
Twilight was woken up by spike jumping on her bed with a scroll in his hand. The scroll had the royal seal on the ribbon.
My faithful student Twilight Sparkle; Your new friend does sound a tad unsettling. I believe you are right in your caution, but we always did say that hubris would be the death of us both. I would like you to bring him in for an audience, but on the way here I would like you to get as much information out of him as possible, to understand what makes him so violent; report this information to me upon your arrival. Your friend and teacher Celestia. P.S. Be careful with him, try not to be near all your friends around him. P.S.S. I did a little digging and found out who this lyre pony is; she is an agent of my sister named Lyra, recorded as the most powerful of her disciples. She seems to have fallen a bit out of favor by getting married and allowing less of her time to be dedicated to her work. This means nothing more than she is apparently no longer the go to mare
Twilight rolled the letter back up and placed it on her bedside dresser.
“Okie dokie loki,” Pinkie said quickly. “I’ll get Rarity and Fluttershy, you can get Applejack and Rainbow Dash.”
Twilight stared at her for a second.
“Okay,” they ran to get the others.
Twilight ran to get Rainbow Dash first.
“Fine, but this had better be good.” Rainbow Dash flew towards the building, Twilight turned and started towards Sweet Apple Acers.
It was easy to tell where Kenpachi had been, as there was a line of trees that were significantly taller than the others around them and there was a patch that seemed to still be growing. Twilight made a beeline for them. Sure enough Applejack and Kenpachi were on opposite sides of the rows of trees, knocking apples down into baskets. Applejack reared up on her front legs and kicked the trees while Kenpachi slammed them with his sheathed sword. He had somehow managed to get his robes back and his hair up in spikes.
“Applejack, Kenpachi.” Twilight called.
“Yesiry he was up even earlier n’ me gettin’ ‘is hair back up, spent ‘bout an hour tryin’ ta get the bell on the top spike; finally had ta ask Yachiru fer help.” Applejack chuckled.
“Okay, you two should get going.” Twilight changed the subject.
“Okay sugar” Applejack said running towards Sugarcube Corners. Well those two have certainly gotten chummy. Twilight thought to herself.
It took some asking around but Twilight found out where Lyra lived. She knocked on the door; Bon-Bon opened it smiling.
“No ma’am I was referenced to her for a bodyguard.” Twilight gave a nervous smile, hoping not to provoke Bon-Bon further. She took in a deep breath, looking like she was about to give Twilight a rather nasty telling off when someone else spoke first.
“Exactly,” Bon-Bon slumped and stepped aside, defeated. She glared daggers at Twilight as she stepped inside. “I wasn’t aware that Luna gave out the names of her agents.” Lyra said; she was sitting in an arm chair, her back legs draped over the front. It was a position Twilight found slightly unsettling. She was also holding a lyre, strumming it with a hoof, as soon as the music reached them Bon-Bon visibly relaxed. “There, there,” Lyra said to Bon-Bon. “I’ll be fine.”
“I swear” she said through gritted teeth. “If Lyra doesn’t come back I will hunt you down and gut you with a spoon, a rusty one.” Bon-Bon turned up her nose at Twilight and walked to another room. Lyra walked down the stairs wearing one saddlebag; her Lyre could be seen poking out of it a little.
“Understandable,” Twilight said, “anyway let’s get going.” They walked out to Sugarcube Corners.
“Welcome back Twilight, hey Lyra.” Pinkie jumped out to meet them. “All ready to go.”
“You, Kenpachi, have been summoned to the palace for an audience with Celestia.” Twilight responded. “We are your security and guides.”
“Why am I not included?” Rarity complained.
“Kenny,” Yachiru said, climbing over his shoulder. “Can I ride a pony like spike does?”
“Lets get going," Twilight called everyone into line. "This trip should take until sundown. When we step outside of town everypony take your positions. I’m at point, Applejack and Rainbow Dash, you’re the forward scouts, you are to report back to me if you encounter any large hindrance. Rarity, you take up rear guard. Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy, you two are side guards. Lyra, Kenpachi, you’re with me, lets go.” Twilight had designed this formation to provide maximum warning time, therefore reaction time, to threats but it also had the added effect of keeping at least the rear guard out of power range at all times. This should work. Twilight thought to herself.
They walked to the outskirts of town together then fell into formation and Twilight decided to initiate part two of her orders.
“It’s dangerous, filled with strong guys these monsters called Hollows, traitors and battles; oh the battles just thinking about them makes me want to beat the hell out a' something.” He almost sounded like he was purring towards the end.
“Why do you like fighting so much?” Suprisingly enough, Fluttershy had asked. Prompting a thoughtful stare from Kenpachi, who just kept staring for a moment.
“What kind of power does she have?” Twilight asked, Kenpachi looked over at her mischievously.
“This 'Soul Society' sounds horrible.” Twilight gagged.
“How horrible.” Twilight gasped.
“I lived in the 79th northern Rukon district," Yachiru chirped. "There were people killing each other everywhere, but then Kenpachi came and taught me to fight and I didn’t have to worry anymore.” Twilight was effectively horrified, Kenpachi and Yachiru came from a place where it was necessary to teach small children to fight and kill. That was enough information for now.
“Hey Lyra.” Twilight shifted the focus of the conversation.
“I spent some time in the Soul Society while dimension hopping for Luna," Lyra started. "She was testing a new type of magic and needed someone she knew would survive. As the most powerful of her followers, I was naturally the first choice. I ended up there and was almost immediately recruited by the Thirteen Court Guard Squads and placed in squad Twelve. I was given a Zanpakto, which I attached to my lyre, I actually learned her name when I did, Ochestura.”
“Every Zanpakto has a soul of its own," Lyra explained. "It is like your child, a new being branched off from your own soul, the sword is just the container, it changes shape and power when you call its name. Anyway, after three weeks I continued my dimension hopping, but it seemed that I was not compatible with the next dimension. I was ‘evicted’ after two days, I was happy to be going home, but something happened to Ochestura. Being torn so..." Lyra hesitated, "violently, through the between-space seemed to have an effect on her.
"She refused to speak to me or lend me her power for a while after that." She continued, "I figured it was her issue with authority and she, with Luna being a princess and my employer, was angry at me. So I decided to leave Luna’s employment and protection for a while, this included my house in Canterlot. Until I had a nasty encounter with a hydra during my travels. I admittedly hadn't eaten properly or slept through the night for a bit. My supplies had run out earlier than expected and I was in the Everfree Forest. I ran instead of fought until we reached the outskirts of the forest. Bon-Bon was there and I knew there was no way an ordinary pony could outrun the hydra. I was just barely keeping ahead of it myself. Something ‘else’ took over at this point and I don’t remember anything else from that night. I know I killed the Hydra or else I wouldn’t be standing here right now, but not much else.
"I woke up in her house, my lyre was on a dresser next to the bed. I didn’t think I could stay, so I got up, grabbed my lyre and tried to leave. Bon-Bon wouldn't let me, she seemed to instinctively know that I was alone and wandering. She took me in, became my best friend. She stayed by me, even though over the next few months I had extensive inner battles with the Other.” The words flowed like she had been wanting to tell this story for a long time. “She would always be there to make sure the Other didn’t destroy anything. If it looked like the Other was going to win she would talk to me, reassuring me. No matter what the Other did to her, no matter how badly she was hurt she stood by me. Always making sure I resurfaced.
"The second to last time it happened," she choked up a little. "The Other had broken her, she was close to death. I rushed her to the hospital, they actually had to call in several dozen unicorns to help with the healing spell. I never left her side that day.” Kenpachi rolled his eyes, Yachiru stuck out her tongue and made gagging noises until a glare from Twilight silenced her. “Once she woke up, I told that I would be leaving before the Other took over again. She once again refused to let me go, but this time I asked why. She told me that she once had a friend with a similar problem and she hadn’t been able to help. She told me that she took me in to make up for that. Of course the Other saw this moment as an opportunity to take over I crushed it and have not heard from it since.” Lyra ended her story, it was almost sundown.
“Twilight!” Applejack and Rainbow Dash yelled, charging back from scouting.
“Then why can’t I see it?” Twilight looked up at the sky, trying to remember her research. “The Ursa Majors’ favorite hunting time is,” she wracked her brain. “Dusk, its coat is the same color as the sky. Everypony look for its eyes, they’re the only thing that will show against the sky. How did you find it anyway?”
“Pinkie, Yachiru!” Twilight yelled, there was a flash of black and white and the sound of steel grinding on steel. But Twilight hardly noticed, she was in shock. She kept running one thing through her mind. This formation would have been foolproof against anything but an Ursa Major, why did it have to be an Ursa Major? This creature was beyond anything she had even dared take into consideration. Pinkie Pie and Yachiru were going to die and she doubted even Lyra could do anything about it.
“Arwoo!” A howl of pain pierced her stupor. Kenpachi had cut off its fingers, the severed digits fell around Pinkie and Yachiru in a shower of blood. Lyra reached them a few seconds afterwards, shaking them from their fear induced paralysis. Kenpachi was angrily staring down the wounded beast.
He brought his sword down on its neck, somehow cutting its entire head off with a sword about the as long as one of its fingers was wide. Blood splattered everywhere as a virtual river of the stuff spewed from the stump where its head had been. Fluttershy and Rarity fainted strait away, Applejack and Rainbow Dash just stood there, jaws slack. Twilight couldn't get a handle on what she had just seen, so she decided to take her usual semi-calm demeanor, Lyra was standing completely unfazed and Pinkie Pie and Yachiru were beaming up at the thing that just saved their lives.
“A-an Ursa.” Rainbow Dash stuttered. “Not even a giant star bear can touch him, what is he?”
“That’s it.” Twilight tried to say this with enthusiasm, but she was still winded from the surge. It took an hour for everybody to recover.
“So now that we’re here.” Kenpachi said, once everypony was alright. Twilight at that moment realized that all her friends were within power range. “We can get down to business.” He lifted his sword and Twilight took a defensive stance, putting a magical barrier up. Kenpachi brought his sword down on it and a massive shock wave blasted outwards from the impact, the barrier held but only just as Kenpachi kept pressing down trying to push her to the limit. Twilight was about to cave when the pressure lifted she looked up, all her friends and Lyra were attacking Kenpachi.
“How dare you?” Fluttershy said through a mouthful of Kenpachi’s’ hair.
“Everypony stand back!” She yelled, her horn glowing. Kenpachi started to float up into the air, continually ascending until he was even higher than Cloudsdale, she then used another spell to allow them to talk with him while he was up there. “Now, what do you have to say for yourself?” Twilight barked at him. Just them the sun set and the moon rose, Twilight felt the magic holding Kenpachi buckle and Kenpachi started laughing.
There was a massive power surge and Twilight's magic gave out altogether. Kenpachi hit the ground with the force of a sonic rainboom, successfully incapacitating everything in a one hundred yard radius except Yachiru, who jumped up onto his back. “We’re going up to the palace.”
Canterlot: top palace balcony. Same time
Dimensional Chronicles Part 3 The Battle
Celestia had just finished her daily duties and was about to turn things over to Luna, but she had been informed that she had a visitor, the Zaraki Kenpachi she had heard about from her student Twilight Sparkle.
“Kenny she won’t be any fun.” Yachiru piped up, popping over his other shoulder.
“Step aside, I don’t like killing the weak.” Kenpachi growled.
“Fine,” Kenpachi grunted, raising his sword.
Which brings us to where we started. Luna had jumped down from a balcony to save her sister, she had caught Kenpachis’ blade between her hooves, but it cut into them. She pushed the sword away and struck with her dark lightning pushing Kenpachi away.
He swung at her again, this time she blocked with her wings, the armor held but she was pinned down. She couldn’t get at him without taking out her own wings and he just kept pushing. Suddenly an insectoid wail filled the air. A green mare, wearing a mask with a long bladed horn in the forehead, two curled rams’ horns on the sides, blue lightning bolt designs along the lower jawline, blue bars on either sides of the nose and massive diamond shaped teeth. She was wielding a bladed lyre. Which she brought down on Kenpachi, hard, on his left shoulder, re-opening a wound Fluttershy had patched up. She then used the leverage to vault herself next to Luna.
“Hello Lyra,” Luna said, grinning. “You’re a little late, I was starting to worry you weren't going to show up.”
“Oh, a Zanpakto, this should be fun." Kenpachi said, Yachiru giggled at the rhyme. Lyra drew her claws through the air, four metal strings appeared where the claws had raked through it. She threw the strings like pointed, bungee bullets and Luna sent a beam of destructive magic at Kenpachi, who was able to block. The strings started to writhe and the magic encircled him they both lashed and blasted him until he looked the way he did when he first arrived in Equestria.
Lyra pulled back the strings and the magic faded. “A kido based one, well I’ll-” Kenpachi was cut off as he seemed to be sucked down a drain in his chest disappearing in a warp of light. Lyra had a good idea of what was going on and decided to fill in Luna who was obviously confused.
“What?”
“If the Guardian deems you incompatible with a dimension, than you warp back to your own after forty-eight hours. I figured this out while dimension hopping for you. And I know this is the case, because Yachiru is gone as well. The Guardian doesn't do precision.” Luna looked over, sure enough, the ledge Yachiru had been standing on was empty.
Epilogue:
The next morning:
“Grimmaldo,” he replied after looking though his report. Celestia used a hoof to piece his Cutie Mark back together, which had been slashed in half, it was a winged shield.
“Grimmaldo,” she paused, “protector. I will be going to the infirmary, inform Grimmaldos’ next of kin that he died a hero. We will erect a tribute to him and give him a burial worthy of a king.” She left the room before any of her advisers could object.
“Your Highness.” The nurse bowed as Celestia entered the room.
End?
There ya go, now go to the next chapter and read the actually good stuff.
Dimensional Chronicles: chapter 4, The Reluctant Shadow
Luna was going down her to-do list in an attempt to take her mind off of the recent Kenpachi incident. Even after five years there were still a lot of unfinished magics she had been working on before Nightmare Moon. She noticed one that she had finished but never checked off.
“Dimensional gateways, but I finished that?” She thought out loud as she wondered why it hadn’t been checked off. She ran the experiment through her mind and remembered, “I haven’t tested it myself yet.” She had tested it on Lyra but not herself. “Might as well get started.” She flew to Celestia’s tower and knocked on the door.
“Come in.” The familiar, casual voice said from beyond the door. “Ah sister how have you been?”
“Oh bother, I’ll be sober by the time I need to raise the sun.” She wobbled a bit.Perfect, she thought to herself. Something was nagging at her, she was forgetting something. Normally this would have made her stop the experiment but the paper thin spot popped, sucking her through.
“I won’t die, I won’t die, I refuse to die; Teridax you traitorous bastard.” A voice screamed in Luna’s ears. “Who are you?” It yelled. “Tell me before I drop you.” Luna opened her eyes; she was riding some sort of massive blue, silver and black bat through a maelstrom that threatened to tear them apart. Maybe opening the barrier tonight was a bad idea. “What barrier, who are you?” The voice yelled. “Tell me now or I’ll throw you to the storm.” She realized the voice was coming from the bat.
“I am Princess Luna.”“I don’t want her to die; oh my little girl, please be safe.”
Luna looked behind them and remembered what had been nagging at her; dimensional walls were only that thin during a calamity stronger than a supernova. It was a huge barely contained mass of energy, expanding at a rate just slightly faster than they were moving. It nicked the bat creature’s hindquarters and he panicked, driving itself even faster as its entire history poured from its mind; a silent history of evil along with its name, Vamprah.Well, this tops my list of clusterbucks.
“Get back toa.” Gavla yelled, Vamprah shot a bolt of darkness at the second figure diving for Gavla, squaring a hit directly in the chest, how he managed this while blind was beyond Luna. “Vamprah!” Gavla yelled joyously; Vamprah wrapped her in his wings as the energy hit and Luna finished the spell to take them back to Equestria at the same moment.
Luna caught sight of his cutie mark, it was a fang surrounded by a black blotch. Luna cast a quick spell.
Vamprah tried to scream in anger and frustration, but no sound escaped his throat so he sat down and silently wept until he felt the warmth of the rising sun. Warmth, his old mechanical body had not felt it in thousands of years, it inspired him. He took inventory of his body. Nothing had been lost, in fact he had gained tails. As he investigated these his thumb claw clacked, emitting a sound wave that bounced back, giving him an exact image of his surroundings. His new ears twitched. Oh yes, he thought, I can work with this. She wants evil, I’ll give her evil. He smiled bitterly and tested his tridax launcher, it still worked.
I have hooves, sweet Mata Nui. The shell she had punched fell back, Gavla was so shocked by her new form that for a moment she didn’t notice what it was. It was Vamprah’s bat body, with the back popped out from the inside. Judging from this Gavla concluded that he had changed shape. His mask was still on this body, she reached to take it but her hoof slid right off. “Oh, right.” She took it in her mouth and flipped it around to wear it over her own mask. “Take me to him.”
“Okay let’s play hide and seek.” She said, determined. She looked to her back. Of course. She thought. Still no wings. Although, there did seem to be something projecting out of her skull. No matter, she would deal with that once she found Vamprah.
“Bonbon are you okay?”
“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” It said in a clicking male voice, then in a creaking parody of Bonbon’s. “Lyra why do you still work for Luna? I love you, but the worry is unbearable. Sweet holy Celestia, what is that? ‘Hree!’” The not-Bonbon let out a bloodcurdling cry, like a bat attacking and Lyra was smashed out of the way from behind. She quickly righted herself, looking up to see the massive, fanged bat stallion Vamprah had become. He was at least as tall as Big Macintosh. “Your ‘Bonbon’ had a lot of light in her, and I grow when I absorb light in this universe.” Both Vamprah and Bonbon’s mouths were moving, but sound was only came out of Bonbon’s mouth.
“I,” he looked at Bonbon, “well we, are Makuta Vamprah. Tell your leaders that abandoning me to die was bad move. If they want me to be evil that’s what they’ll get.” The horns on his head started to swirl with shadows and the candle was snuffed out by darkness. “Oh look, my shadows still work, this will be ‘fun’.” He sounded bitter as if he was forced to this.
“You monster!” Lyra yelled and charged Vamprah, disregarding any resentment in his voice.
He came as close to strolling as someone could with wings for forelegs as he stepped outside. Lyra got to a window in time to see Vamprah outlined against the moon. He had an impressive wingspan, each wing was at least as long as he was. Then Bonbon tackled her.
I know why they didn’t appreciate your night Princess. He thought to himself. All creatures not born of the dark fear it in some part of their being. It was the same in Mata Nui, but we gave them reason to fear, after years of unearned exile we gave them something to fear. Oh yes we did. There was a high pitched noise and he was cut off from Bonbon’s mind. He silently cursed that ‘Lyra”.
Supersonics, the same thing that got them back in Karda Nui. No matter, that one had been more for exposure, to tick off Luna, to spite her by attacking one of her agents. He had others. And he opened the eyes of the resident mail mare.
“It helps me stay calm.” Normally this would be true, analyzing things down to their basest elements usually made everything seem manageable. But it wasn’t working this time, Bonbon was possibly dying and there was nothing she could do about it. Lyra decided to continue her report. “The being known as Makuta Vamprah seems to be able to see and speak through any being he has done this to, and seems to be able to grow when it extracts the ‘light’ from its victims. It can also manipulate shadows. Two possible weak spots I spotted are a bright orange spot in the middle of its chest and its wings, each of which is as least as long as his body. That is all the new information I have gathered; Lyra Elendi Heartstrings, signing off.”
The mirror turned back from a portal to a reflection. Lyra slumped against her chair and looked over at Bonbon, who was shuddering on the couch as the bright colors worked their way back into her coat. Maybe. Lyra thought to herself. He really does suck the light out of his victims.
“Open!” The mare shouted. “Damn you!” She kicked the pumpkin apparently giving up. “Damn you!” She knocked the mask off her face, revealing pointed ears, a horn and a silver and blue mane. “And damn you all to Karzahni!” She turned around to kick the mask on the steps but stopped once she saw twilight, her eyes were an orange red. “Lucky,” she said enviously, pointing at Twilight’s horn. “You got a projection for the blasted thing in your mask, mine was just rattling around in there.”
“Oh.” The blue mare looked back at the mask she had thrown on the ground and sniffed.
“If I can stay for the night, I’ll tell you everything about where I come from; deal?”
“Not at all," Twilight's smile dropped as the mare elaborated. "But, he was at least pleasant to be around once he started talking about his research.”
“I wonder how Vamprah’s doing without me; I was his eyes you know.”
Gavla took a deep breath.
"He was strong, quiet and, at least to me, kind. Everything was great again until the toa showed up and the battles in the sky got really intense. Then everything was perfect, Vamprah and I loved every minute of it. Until those self-righteous ‘heroes’ found the klakk and used them against us. Vamprah hid me away to keep me safe, but one named Takanuva found me and ‘purified’ me. Then the maelstrom started, I escaped from the toa almost fell to my death. Vamprah caught me and next thing I know I have no hands, a horn, my wings are still not back and I’m alone in this place. Oh and a muaka is a type of giant cat.”
“Well your world sounds better than Kenpachi’s at least.” Twilight sighed, wondering how often she was going to run into crazy people like this.
“No, that horn is an extension of your will, in order for you to do something like I did with the door and masks all you have to do is concentrate on it.”
“Your turn.” Gavla said, shaking her head to clear it.
Dimensional Chronicles chapter 5: Shadow of the SwampNo Krika thought, it had happened. He had just survived somehow, maybe Teridax just liked him. His stomach growled and he jumped. He hadn’t heard that noise in over five thousand years. He decided to go hunting, which he did by sinking into the murk and waiting. He waited for hour after hour; the sun was at its apex before something of value came along. It was a small, horned equine, probably a distant relative of the mawi ponies of Metru nui. He gathered himself and pounced, the equine screamed. He almost had the small thing in his fore claws when something hard hit him in the side of the mask, knocking him off course and into the muck.
Rarity smirked at the direct hit on the thing that had sprung out at Sweetie Belle, who was now running back towards her sister. The thing had landed on its back, dazed. It was not much taller than an average pony, but it was a good deal longer.
“I am miss Rarity and this is Sweetie Belle, come on out and say hello to Krika. He didn‘t mean to attack, he was just hungry.” Krika nodded, Sweetie Belle shook her head and hugged Rarity’s back leg. “How about we get you cleaned up and see your face.” Rarity said, more as a command than as a question.
Underneath, was something from a nightmare. He looked horribly malnourished, his ribs, pelvis and vertebrae clearly visible against his sagging flesh. His coat was bone white, black and red, he was wearing a mask that appeared to be a giant shrimp head with more vertebrae sticking out the back ending in a blade. The muscles and bones of his spindly limbs were also visible, he was standing using massive blades that appeared to be the spinal columns from other creatures. His eyes were massive, requiring bulges in the mask and were red with no whites to them.
Sweetie Belle screamed, burying her face in Rarity’s flank. Rarity just stood there, horrified. Krika, upon seeing this, hid his face behind the blades. “I’m sorry, you can run now if you want to.” Bitterness making his voice crack. Rarity forced her emotions back into her control.
“Sorry.” He said, holding himself close to the ground. “No one has seen me and stuck around me longer than a minute, without trying to kill me, for almost a thousand years.” Rarity could see why but now was no time to be judging on appearances.
“If you don’t mind me asking.” Krika said timidly. “May I have a hair or something along those lines?”
“AAHH!” Ditsy Doo screamed, she had run into Krika and could now see him. She scrabbled back on her butt. “M-monster, I thought I was done with these things! Please don’t hurt me, I only knew the guy for seven years and he hasn’t even visited for twelve since then.” Krika looked at Rarity, who shrugged.
“Who’ll be back exactly?” Rarity asked.
“Wait.” He said, rejecting bile from his mask for the twenty second time that day. “Back home my species lived off ambient light, well, before the swamp got to me. I’m going to see if that still works with an entirely organic body.” He walked over to the window, opening it wide and drank deeply of the light. Krika's shadow expanded until it filled the spot of light the window made and started creeping towards Sweetie Belle and Rarity.
“Krika.” Rarity said testily and he cut the feeding line. Light refilled the room instantaneously, as if none had just been eaten.
“M-mister Krika?” Krika perked back up, Sweetie Belle hadn’t said a word to him since he had apologized for scaring her.
“Perhaps it’s better if I just show you.” He brought up his forelimbs and removed the mask. Sweetie Belle cocked her head.
Sweetie Belle came charging through the door home from school at the usual time.
“Okay I’ll go.” Krika nodded, Sweetie Belle cheered loudly and ran back out the door. “But, I’ll have a little fun with them first.” He mused to himself, activating his mask, he opened the door.
“Mare, Twilight would have a field day with this guy.” Scootaloo said, marveling at the creature that had appeared out of thin air.They could give Gorast a run for her widgets, he thought to himself. “We’ll do it but yal’ll have to be invisible for the walk there; the library is on the other side of town and we don’t wanna scare anypony.”
The walk there was rather uneventful, other than Krika having to stifle his laughter as the three fillies circled his invisible form, guiding him with determination only a child at play could possess. Once they arrived, Krika walked up to the door and knocked, still invisible. The small purple dragon, Spike, opened the door.
“Spike who’s at the door?” Another voice called out from inside.
“Thank you.” Krika said, removing his mask inside the doorway. “Miss Twilight Sparkle, I presume?” He bowed low, half ignoring the look of shock on her face, which was quickly being replaced by confusion. “I am Makuta Krika; it’s a pleasure to meet you.”
“Sure.” He handed it over. “If I may be so bold, may I have a hair or something along those lines?”
“It’s simple," He explained. "I take something that I know has been on the subject for a while scan it and absorb whatever information it may have been exposed to through the subject’s ambient psychic field, things such as hair and skin do nicely and I think it’s rude to just scan the being itself, even if that usually gives a longer string of information.”
Krika sent the Cutie Mark Crusaders home with a thank you when the sun started going down. Their research session extended into the early morning when Krika decided he should go back to see Sweetie Belle off to school.
Krika went even paler than normal and bolted for the door, opening it wide and he froze still as a statue. Sweetie Belle walked up next to him. He tried to get rid of it again and again but every time the pumpkin moved it came back. “What’s wrong with the pumpkin Krika?”
She was lifted off her feet and thrown back through the door, which slammed itself shut. She curled up and shivered in fear; the only other time his eyes had been that hard was when he had tried to eat her.
The Black Rarity got up, opening its eyes, which were a sickly green and filled with malice. She started laughing, a cruel insane laugh that made Sweetie Belle’s blood run cold. Unable to watch anymore, Sweetie Belle ducked back behind the curtains.
Twilight woke up the next morning to the sound of somebody knocking on her door. Spike was still asleep, so she got up to answer it herself, almost knocking one of the masks off her desk in the process. She opened the door, there was nobody there and she was about to close it when the pumpkin, that Gavla had insisted she leave where it was, started to rattle and bounce. This was apparently what Gavla had been waiting for on the couch because her eyes snapped open and before Twilight even knew what was happening, Gavla had slammed her away from the door.
“Come on, come on, mama needs a new set of wings.” Gavla said excitedly; a cracking sound pealed trough the air. Twilight looked up from the pile of books she had landed in and gasped in horror. Gavla had three blue and green, leech-like, creatures attached to her. They fell off and Twilight flung them out the door, slamming it.
Gavla started laughing, her coat turning a darker shade of blue, her mane turned black, keeping the silver streak, she grew fangs and her cutie mark, which had been an indistinct blob, focused into a swirl of darkness. But the most surprising changes were the huge, bat-like wings that sprouted from her back and the blades that slid out from her outstretched hooves. They retracted with a sickening ‘shlic’ noise and she got back down on all fours.
“Finally, how I’ve missed you.” She brought a wing around to her face, nuzzling it affectionately; she looked down at Twilight, whose jaw was hanging slack. She raised a hoof and one of the blades slid out. “So, what do you think?” Twilight tried to compose herself for a reply. “Oh, I forgot.” Gavla's horn swirled with darkness and her mask floated from the desk onto her face, the front closed and it became animated as if it had replaced the real face underneath. Gavla ran it through a series of silly faces, seeming to test it. “Okay, now how do I look? Be honest.” She smiled, an expression made sinister by the fangs of the mask. Twilight looked her over. There was a terrible beauty about her, akin to Nightmare Moon, a dark elegance.
“Terrifying and beautiful.” Twilight said honestly, still a little shell shocked by the transformation.
“Gavla, I’m so happy you’re safe.” A voice said in their minds, waking Spike, who screamed, bolting up the stairs as fast as his legs could carry him.“I can’t speak anymore.” “Princess Luna, she took my voice and left me to die in some Mata-nui forsaken forest!” The shadows slumped back down as he hung his head. “She said I have no place here. She crafts the nights and she told me, a creature born of it, that I have no place.” Sorrow hung from these words like stones. “And they’re such beautiful nights, so much more than the nights of Karda Nui, when all was blackness and only the klakk still moved. These nights have such color to them, such life, such majesty, as if she created them to be gazed upon for all eternity.” He said longingly. “But their crafter has rejected me like all the others, based on what I took the fall for. She expects great evil from me, which is exactly what I’m giving her.” He donned the mask, glaring through its already snarling face.
“Then let us show her together.” Gavla swung around onto his spine, sitting upright, blades at the ready, just in front of his wing joints. Vamprah reared and the shadows swallowed them up, disappearing with them. Leaving Twilight wondering what had just happened. She found herself staring out the window. Ponyville was in flames, things were exploding, ponies were attacking each other in the streets, it was chaos.
Bonbon started flailing, foaming at the mouth she fell off the couch, hitting the floor with a thud.
“Bonbon…” No reply, not even a twitch. “Bonbon please!” She buried her head in Bonbons fur and started sobbing. “Please be okay, please wake up, please.” She cradled Bonbons head next to her own; she stirred, unnoticed by the sobbing Lyra. She blinked, her eyes regaining a living glint; Bonbon looked down Lyra’s shaking back and heard the sobs.
“The last time,” Lyra froze, eyes wide, not daring to believe it, “you held me like this, Aryl had left me at deaths door.” She brought Lyra’s head in front of hers. “What travesty has been committed now?” Lyra kissed her full on the lips, Bonbon went ridged for a second before easing into it. Something crashed through the window, Lyra looked up; it was a Molotov cocktail.
“Well,” Bonbon started hesitantly, “I was sitting on the couch when something broke a window upstairs, I went up and all the candles were out, there was this weird clicking sound that would happen every few seconds, sort of sounded like metal on wood, I looked through all the rooms and couldn’t find anything, I turned to go back downstairs and- and.” She shook her head in frustration then her eyes went wide. “I saw him. I screamed and he pounced, he bit into my neck and everything went dark. I woke up in your arms. It was just a nightmare wasn’t it?” Lyra shook her head.
“Whatever you do Bonbon, stay behind the couch and watch.” She ducked down. “Kyōshin, Ōkesutora!” The Lyre flew from the saddlebag near the table and melted over her foreleg. She walked over to the window and yelled at the top of her lungs. “Come get me, you shadow freaks!” Something sped through the window, landing behind Lyra with a crash.
“I’m sorry.”
“But Lyra you could help the-”
“Stop!” A twisted, booming and frighteningly familiar, voice yelled from atop a nearby building. He froze and the voice was next to him in under a second. “He’s mine.” He was growing more confused by the moment, not even Rainbow Dash could have covered the distance that fast. He turned to look at his claimer.
She caught the Doctor staring at her blade-like horn. “You like it?” She flicked her mane to better show off the bone. “A little gift from Makuta Vamprah; for being his eyes the past four days. I wonder what kind of reward he’ll give me for bringing you to the shadow leeches!” She flared her wings, throwing two of the slimy things that she had apparently been concealing, but the Doctor was just as quick on the draw, reaching into the vest, pulling out his sonic screwdriver and blasting the two things with brief sound bursts, rendering them unconscious. Ditsy was covering her ears, screaming.
“Oh, you guys don’t like supersonics do you?” The Doctor growled around his screwdriver, pocketing it. Ditsy snarled, little puffs of darkness seeping out from between her clenched teeth. “Well.” He turned to the crowd. “Tell this 'Makuta Vamprah' that he has made a grave mistake in changing someone I like; because in doing so he’s made me angry and if he values his continued existence he’ll-” the air around him went cold and something massive landed behind him. He whipped around. Vamprah glared down at him with his sightless eyes and Gavla looked at the Doctor from over Vamprah’s shoulder.
“I’ll what.” She said defiantly.“I am” “He can hear me?” “Should I?” “Shut up!” Vamprah mentally barked at him. “If Luna wants evil that’s what she’ll get.” He calmed down rather quickly. “That sound frequency you used to neutralize the shadow leeches will release Ditsy Doo from my control. Take her and go.”
“Ditsy you stay here. The rest of you leave.” Gavla commanded, the shadow ponies gladly obliged.
“Well, what a little jerk.” He hefted the shuddering Pegasus onto his back and ran as fast as he could eastward, towards the edge of town. But something blocked their way, as it was invisible he ran headfirst into it, knocking the spiny thing flat on its back.
“Ow.” It moaned, rubbing its side with a blade. “The legendary Doctor!” It almost jumped when it realized what had just plowed into it. “I would have loved to meet you on better terms but,” It looked at the shuddering figure on his back, “it seems you’re going to have to trust me at face value when I say that I know where you’ll be safe.” He looked into its ancient, sorrowful eyes and he did trust it.
He nodded. “Good.” The thing flipped first its upper then lower body upright with a sickening crunching noise that made the Doctor wince. “Follow me.” It waved with one of the spine-like blades. He did, looking over his shoulder every few seconds to both check on Ditsy and make sure the shadow ponies were nowhere to be seen. They ran out of town to a little dirt road on the north side, here they slowed down to a walk.
“Give me a reason to trust you.” The Doctor planted himself firmly in place.
The Doctor nodded. “Thank you; it’s right over this hill. I think you’ll like miss Rarity’s sense of taste, her home is quite-” They reached the top of the hill. Directly on the other side was a building, blackened by the explosion of a forced entrance. “-Oh no.” Krika breathed. “Sweetie Belle!” He ran to the hole where the front door should have been. “Sweetie Belle?” He stepped inside, only to have his mask knocked off by a frying pan.
“Krika are you alright? I heard a ba- oh.” Sweetie Belle looked up, saw the shadow pony on the Doctor’s back and picked the frying pan back up with her magic, pointing it threateningly at the two of them. “Krika, I think she’s going to clock me with that.” The Doctor shifted back nervously, not daring to move too quickly, lest he aggravate the weapon toting child.
“Sweetie Belle wait,” Krika hastily explained, “Ditsy is being cured the same way we’re going to cure Rarity, just wait, she won’t wake up until it’s done.” She lowered the weapon. “This is the Doctor, but you can call him Doctor Whooves.”
“I assume you’re disciplined enough to use a kanohi mask. But I’m also going to assume that you don’t know how; this is the mask of repulsion, you can use it to reject anything from an area around you, just concentrate, I want you to use it to keep Sweetie Belle safe; I’m going to look for more untainted ponies. I can count on you right?”
“Good.” He said grimly “I’m coming back Sweetie Belle and I may even have your sister this time, I’ll put everything that my brother wronged right. Just don’t stop smiling.” He turned to leave. “You know Whoof, you remind me of a younger me, so eager to help; don’t lose yourself like I did.” He ran from the house down to the chaos of the town, he ran towards his brother with anger in his eyes.
He walked up to the door of a house and knocked, putting a bit more of his weight into it then he meant to. He heard startled shuffling from inside, either he had frightened a colony of rats or there was somebody in there. “Hello?” He tried the door, which surprisingly wasn't locked, and peeked around it, something slashed at his face, opening a gash that ran from behind his eye to his top lip. He screamed, flinging the door open, his vision went red as he pinned his assailant to the ground with a pincer and was about to crush her skull when a mare screamed from a room to his right.
His vision cleared and he eased off of the mint green unicorn that had attacked him, she sprang back up to strike him again and he easily batted her away with his tail. He walked over to the window, consuming light to heal himself.
“To be fair, you tried to cut mine in half first and my brother is actually rather pleasant, he just doesn’t take rejection very well.” Krika noticed Rarity shuddering on the couch with half her coat back to normal. “Miss Rarity. Well I do congratulate you on curing exactly the shadow pony I was looking for.” He lifted her onto his back. “But I would enjoy having ponies of your skill to help me protect anybody I come back with; so may I cordially invite you back to the Carousel Boutique.” He spoke politely but honestly had no patience for these two right now; he had to get Rarity back to her sister.
“One second you’re trying to kill my wife, the next you’re inviting us somewhere, now why should we trust you?” The cream colored one stepped forward defiantly.
“Thank you.” They turned to leave only to see that the swarm of shadow Pegasus was passing over the house. “When I say run, you run like hell, got it?”
“I’m Lyra and this is Bonbon.” Lyra said stiffly. “I really think that we should dispense with the pleasantries, what exactly do you want?”
“Krika!” Sweetie Belle yelled, racing towards them.
“I did.” Krika replied.
“Then you know-” The Doctor started, looking for all the world like he was about to have a panic attack
“Well there’s always the possibility that Celestia has already launched a counterstrike to retake the town,” The Doctor theorized, “but that would mean that she knew the town was taken early this morning at the least, even then they shouldn’t be there until… an hour from now."
“Celestia may not know but Luna has known since last night.” Lyra nonchalantly added.
“You mean to tell me that the ruler of the night stole my brother’s voice and left him, a being born of the night, to die in a forest. Lesser offenses of that nature, committed by lesser beings are exactly what sparked the thousand year war. Do you have any idea. What! She’s! Done!?” His voice started at an enraged mutter and grew louder with each word until the shadow itself seemed to scream in his voice.
"Good advice but how do we get out?”
Twilight tried to help the normal ponies best she could but in Ponyville proper the shadow ponies swarmed in numbers that could blot out the sun and only Twilight’s barrier magic, which kept out normal ponies as well as shadows, kept her and Spike safe, what she wouldn’t give for Krika’s mask of repulsion right about now.
“This is insanity!” The shadow ponies suddenly lifted, seeming to flee from a figure walking through the smoke. The normal ponies looked over to their savoir with cautious optimism, there were a few of the shadow ponies that could cause the same reaction. It was Pinkie Pie, except her coat was darkened and her hair was flat. Twilight panicked for a second, worried that Pinkie had been converted, but once Pinkie locked eyes on Twilight her mane puffed back up and she somehow shot through the barrier.
“Oh, Twilight, I was so worried; they got Applejack and Fluttershy and even Dashie, I don’t know what happened to Rarity, but it can’t have been good, I was beginning to lose my laugh, I mean, they even got Mr. and Mrs. Cake, but not me, I fought them off and now their all scared to death of me. So how‘s your day been?” Twilight couldn’t believe it; it had taken five seconds for Pinkie to relate her entire morning.
“Well my tree was sieged, other than that there’s not much. But the Princess is coming to take back the town.”
“We don’t have time to plan a party right now; I think they’re coming back.” Twilight eyed the skies and sure enough there was an armada of shadow pegasi coming fast from the south, Twilight strengthened the barrier magic, anticipating a dive bomb attack, she spread it out as far as she could make it, hoping to cover at least most of the other normals.
Instead of dive bombing like Twilight anticipated, it practically started raining shadow leeches, covering the barrier of light and quickly eating through; Twilight tried to blast all that came through but it was a flood, she could only keep Spike and Pinkie safe as she heard the others scream in pain and fear. The cries soon turned to cruel laughter as they were converted, a grey alicorn landed directly in front of Twilight, who started her teleportation spell, finishing it just before Pinkie would have been vaporized by dark magic.
They all came out slightly singed from the teleportation but otherwise unharmed.
She seemed to move faster than they could see, knocking Spike off Twilight’s back and pinning her down.
“Well… Shut up; I can have anythin' I want now.” Applejack got back up and charged Pinkie, but was stopped dead in her tracks by a wall of magic, which unfolded into a box, trapping her. “What in tarnation? Twilight you sneaky witch! This won’t hold me.” She turned and kicked it but instead of breaking the box reverberated, loosing a sound that made Applejack scream and everyone else in the area cringe.
“Oops, I didn’t mean to make it that loud.” Twilight winced.
“Rainbow Dash, where are you?” Twilight asked, searching the skies.
“She’s trussed up like a turkey, sugarcube.” Dash slid something over Twilight’s horn.
“No wait ah got a better idea.” Applejack was developing a very uncharacteristic sly glint in her eyes. “We wouldn’t want ‘im running off and warnin’ the princess about us would we?”
They dragged Pinkie and Twilight, who was still sobbing, through town, surrounded by screams and evil laughter. Twilight didn’t dare open her eyes, even though when they were closed all she could see was Spike’s broken body on the hill.
“Nice, you really got them. Not bad for a pair of imbeciles.” It sounded like the shadow leeches had taken everything that made Futtershy herself and turned it on its head. Where her voice had been soft and gentle this shadow’s voice was hard and callous, where Fluttershy’s voice had been kind this voice was cruel. “Where’s the dragon?” The horrible voice asked flatly, as if it was expecting Spike to just hop out from behind their captors.
“I dropped him.” Rainbow proclaimed proudly.
The two bickering shadows stood stiffly at attention, terror in their eyes. “Since you dunderheads couldn’t even bring me the purple dragon alive you can just slip them in here and go get its corpse, I could still have some fun removing his skeleton for reconstruction I guess.” The door opened, Pinkie Pie and Twilight were tossed unceremoniously through.
Twilight looked up from the floor; Fluttershy was turned so that her hair hid her face from the two bound ponies. Twilight tried to bite through the rope in her mouth and was lifted into the air by magic, she looked around frantically but the only pony besides Pinkie and herself in this room was Fluttershy, and last time Twilight checked pegasi couldn’t use magic. “Now, now Twilight, you’ll get plenty of time to speak, or moan, once I get you strapped in.”
Fluttershy turned around and Twilight managed to gasp around the rope-gag. Fluttershy had gained a horn, other than that she looked exactly the same. She looked at Twilight with a calm smile, the kind that under normal circumstances was reserved for when she was working with her animals, yet the normally comforting smile had eyes lit with madness directly above it. “You know.” Fluttershy spoke as she magically fastened Twilight and Pinkie, who had been silent for the longest period since she had lived on the rock farm; to a pair of hospital beds. “I really had hoped to get Spike alive, especially after the success I had with Angel. Here boy.”
A hulking brute that seemed to be a cross between a gorilla and a rabbit fell from the ceiling, sniffing at the two helpless mares before it, mouth dripping saliva; it gathered itself to pounce, fangs showing behind its curled lips. “Down!” Fluttershy commanded it, magically grabbing a slice of flesh from who knows what off a hook on the other side of the room, luring the beast away from her new test subjects. “If I can do that with a rabbit, think what I could’ve done with a baby dragon, much less a full grown one. So Miss Sparkle” Fluttershy removed the gag with a small ripple of energy. “What do you think?”
“I think it’s barbaric and heinous and evil, that’s what I think of your little experiments and this entire stinking situation!” Fluttershy chuckled evilly, lifting a small, rattling, case out from underneath the table.
“Fluttershy, you don’t have to do this. You can still help us.”
“W-Well.” Rainbow started. “You tell her.”
“Nooooo!” She yelled, expecting her mind to warp, being drained of all goodness and light, but instead it was just a small pinprick, there and gone in less than a second. She looked down; the leech had turned into a shriveled black husk, devoid of all life, as if she had drained it. She heard Pinkie chuckle in the bed next to hers; looking over she saw three bloated yellow shadow leeches and a very not changed, and giggling, Pinkie Pie.
“What the hell?” Fluttershadow was obviously flustered by this development. “I expected this exact reaction from Pinkie but come on; immunity, that makes three now. Jackie, Dash; fetch Ditsy for me, your punishment can wait.”
The monster rabbit grabbed the bed and hoisted it over his shoulder, jumping up through a hole in the ceiling into another room in which there were two other beds, each with a small filly, one of whom she recognized.
“So… Anypony heard any good jokes lately?”
“Now Fluttershy,” Twilight pleadingly tried to reason with Fluttershadow as she got much too close for comfort to the point where the alicorn’s breath was stirring Twilight’s fur, “not in front of the children.”
“Don't worry; I was just waiting for you to wake up.” She stood, waving a wing towards the entrance. “Coming?”
Celestia uncloaked the army, charging the shadow infested town. An alarm immediately sounded, a massive shadow cloaking the area as the shadow pegusi blotted out the sun. Spike charged ahead, following Celestia and trusting her to know where Twilight was. Celestia charged the town hall, jumping to an upper level with spike hanging from her tail. Spike let go of her tail, using the upward movement to launch himself against a wall, using a tactic that all wingless dragons instinctively knew. He curled up into a ball, somersaulting and breathing fire, effectively turning himself into a flying ball of flame, he impacted the wall, bursting through in a blaze of green and landing with precision that he didn’t know he had. He looked up into the familiar yet hostile eyes of Fluttershadow.
“Get away from her you thing!” He yelled hard, blasting the alicorn away, screaming. Twilight craned her head back. “Oh yeah; I’m awesome!”
“Yes ma’am.” Celestia flew out
“Gavla take her sight, leave her voice and hearing, I want her to hear our anger.”
“How does it feel to be blind in a place of which you have no knowledge, unable to navigate?” Vamprah taunted Luna, who was obviously panicking, lashing out at anything within a five foot radius. “You don’t like it do you? You’re scared aren’t you? Well that’s how I felt!” Vamprah stomped a wing, taking a breath to calm himself. “Calm down, we’re not going to attack you like this, although I have plenty reason to.” Luna stopped attacking, breathing heavily. “Now that you understand, we can end this-”
“No, you cannot kill me; I have more power than you can possibly imagine.” Luna’s head swung wildly as she tried to pinpoint Vamprah’s voice.
“Fine then. We’ll force you to!”“Gavla release her sight. I want her to look at us when we take off her wings.” Gavla opened Luna’s eyes as Vamprah charged, knocking Luna back into the air and jumping after her, he sent two black orbs flying towards her with a flap of his wings, she flew higher, barely avoiding them, they hit a guard flying behind her and exploded with force felt all throughout the battlefield. Shadows and normal ponies alike stopped, looking towards the creature that had unleashed such power in awe and fear.
Luna looked down at what remained of the guard, nothing but a tattered wing; the rest was reduced to dust. She had to get Vamprah somewhere that he would cause as little collateral damage as possible. She flew north, leading him away from the battle. Vamprah flew with astonishing speed, catching her just shy of the border, wrapping her in his wings, he bit into the back of her neck and sucked out one gulp before the flow was cut, as they fell he opened his wings, drawing back from the wound.
“Black blood?”
The sound of his own voice startled him into dropping the struggling alicorn, who sped back off north. Vamprah, giddy with his recovery, started laughing, a sincere hearty laugh that filled the air. “But black blood can only mean one thing; ooh I’m going to love this.” He flew after his prey, grinning like a madman; he found her flying above a once beautiful building blackened by explosion. “Cover your ears Gavla.” He screeched, squaring Luna directly between the wings, which shrunk into her back, her horn sank into her forehead, her forward motion turned to downward causing her to crash with great impact into the dirt behind the Carousel Boutique. Vamprah laughed loudly, landing directly beside her.
“I’ve taken your power with a single blast of sound. Just look at you, you’re not even a very strong earth pony; you’re absolutely defenseless.” He picked her up with a thumb claw. “And you’re so cute. So about my request, it is now a demand, you take back what you said, give me a place and not only will I release the shadow ponies, I will give you back your power. So, what do you say?” He cradled her gently with his wing as he looked at her hopefully through Gavla's eyes, praying that she took the deal so he could abandon this foolishness.
“Never.” Luna spat on his mask, Vamprah went ridged.
“Vamprah you bastard!” He charged his brother, jumping at him with claws set to shred. Vamprah instinctively reared up to meet his attacker. They collided, clawing and biting at each other, Vamprah threw Krika onto his back down in the dirt.
He spat an orb of shadow at Vamprah, squaring him in the chest and sending the bat-like creature careening through the air. Vamprah quickly righted himself and replied with bolts of darkness that impacted the ground when their target dodged, sending up plumes of smoke and dust which blew away in an orb as Krika rejected the area around him, flying up after his brother, who blocked with crossed wings as Krika took them higher and higher, Gavla bashed Krika across the mask, forcing him to turn away. They broke the cloud layer and looped around, shooting bolts of shadow at each other and clashing blades with monstrous force that blew holes in the clouds beneath them, they collided, two blades on one, the air tense with their conflicting anger.
Krika scored a hit on Vamprah’s mask, causing him to go momentarily limp and forcing him down, giving Krika the high ground and the upper hand. He blasted himself towards Vamprah, clamping a pincer onto his neck. “If you strike me I break it.” He told Gavla sternly. He drove Vamprah down through the air into the dirt of the crater made by Kenpachi, sending up a massive cloud of dust and debris. Once it cleared Krika bore down on the back of his brother’s neck. “Now you listen to me you little punk, you are going to march back there, release the shadow ponies and give Luna back her power. They can decide what to do with us afterwards.”
“That’s a risk I’m willing to take.” Vamprah stared up at his brother through Gavla’s concerned eyes; Krika removed his mask, easing off Vamprah’s neck. “Have faith in them brother. Not all of them are as stubborn as Luna, in fact I know one who I will suggest that they council before the decision is made.” Vamprah looked back at his brother with both pairs of eyes, searching his face for doubt; he found none and slowly nodded. “Good.” Krika helped them back up. “We can walk if you wish to.” Vamprah nodded again.
They started the trek back across the town; Vamprah did as he had said and released the Shadow ponies, who were now milling about in various stages of confusion, ranging from a slightly drunk look to complete panic, most had no idea what had happened at any point after they had opened their doors that morning or the previous night and those that did only had jumbled flashes.
Krika strode, proud and tall, taking up old habits from his time as regent of the northern continent, Vamprah on the other hand was trying to make himself as small and unnoticeable as possible, which is hard when you’re two times the size of the creature next to you and anyone else in the area, Gavla was walking on Vamprah’s other side, whispering words of comfort as a small child does when they see one of their parents in a depressed state, although it was having nowhere near as profound an effect. They received a few puzzled looks but beyond that they weren’t bothered.
“Krika,” Gavla spoke up on her own, “do you really think that they’ll spare us?”
“Mr. Krika is nice really, he just gets a bit angry with things that involve his brother, I don’t think they got along very well as foals. Please don’t send him back, he told me-”
“I’m afraid not Lulu.” Luna locked up, turning back to the brown stallion with a look of disbelieving astonishment, only one creature on the planet called her that; what right did this colt have to call her by her sisters pet name. “We were caught in a feud that you sparked by leaving Vamprah in the Everfree, making a snap decision based on too little knowledge.”
“Greetings Princess Luna, I am Krika, and you already know my brother.” Vamprah was holding his head close to the ground, looking up at her with an apologetic, shamed, look that mirrored a small foal caught stealing from a cookie jar. “Now if you would be so kind as to bare your neck.” Luna readied herself to defend from the attack she knew was coming. Krika read her posture “Now, now Princess we have no intention of attacking you, but if you want to remain powerless than by all means turn us away.” She removed herself from the defensive position.
“The only way to recover your power is to allow Vamprah to restore it. Your power came from a lack of physical light which Vamprah undid; in order to restore the darkness Vamprah must use his abilities to drain your body of the forced light and he needs you to bare your neck to do that.” Luna hesitantly lifted her chin; Vamprah struck, clamping onto her neck with decisive force and wrapping his wings about her, Luna briefly struggled before a pleasant sensation spread through her body, forcing her to go limp as the light she hadn’t known had been paining her was drained, “there’s the anesthesia.” Krika mused. Her horn and wings sprouted back out. She gasped once Vamprah removed his fangs, her coat regaining its dark sheen. She then took a moment to recover her composure.
“Well –cough- I need twenty four hours to ready the spell and you three will be sent back to your own world.” Krika’s face became unreadable as he glanced beyond Luna, back towards the tent. Vamprah started to bristle, gathering himself to strike but Krika stopped him with a pincer placed on his shoulder. Vamprah looked up at him through Gavla, his own face still trained on Luna, Krika shook his head and Vamprah slumped, following Krika away from the base camp.
“We were once a noble people, we Makuta. We would never in our darkest nightmares have caused the kind of destruction Vamprah did. We were good and just… but that’s all gone now; even our once great home of Destral has become a curse, a name spoken only out of anger, a place where demons lay in wait to wreak evil on the universe. But it wasn’t always like that. I wish I could say we were admired but that was never to be. When we go just remember this; we aren’t evil, no we were never evil, misguided yes but never evil." They reached the hill and Krika sat to watch the sky turn to night. His Gaze was drawn back to Ponyville, smoldering in the fading light. It took him back to when he had realized what he had been becoming, when he had first met the monster on the hill; he felt his resolve slipping and he decided to let it.
“Krika.” Twilight spoke, rousing him from memories he would rather not have had.
“What would you do Twilight?” Sadness making his voice crack. “If everything and everyone in this world told you that being a unicorn was evil, and earth ponies and pegasi were seen as heroes for being unable to use magic?”
“That’s what happened to us, we refused to believe them, but some part of us did. We decided morality was below us, that it was only needed by lesser beings, who couldn’t do what we did.”
"We declared war, to take the power to justify our existence. The toa and matoran had hated us and had been prepared. The Thousand year war began and it was looking over a city just like this one is now, burnt and ruined. That I caught myself laughing, I stopped myself, horrified by what I was feeling, that city had been my home, there should have been grim satisfaction but not the psychotic mirth I was experiencing. It was then that I realized that our purpose was starting to mirror Teridax’s true desire; to obtain power for power’s sake. So many of us went insane, forced to take enjoyment from the fear and pain of the matoran.
"My home had been a place of beauty, of music and dancing, of life and friendship, of art and joy and laughter. And I had destroyed it, in pursuit of power that would be useless once I had it; I no longer deserved what I had wanted so desperately, there was no justification for me anymore. I had driven away the matoran, the ones that had given that land its beauty, the ones whose acceptance I had begged for and I realized that my people and I were too far down the road to turn back. We had never wanted to be the monsters they were right to fear, but that’s what we became. And we were forced to learn an important lesson through all this. ‘All beings not born of the dark fear it.’
"What would you have done, if after thousands of years of unearned exile you were given a chance to be truly free, to have your life made a good thing? Would you not believe him? No matter how evil he was.” The dams broke and he wailed in sorrow and regret, it was a mournful howl that rang loud and clear through the night air and made anyone who heard it want to cry out as well.
“Hush, hush. It wasn’t your fault.” She patted his back as he let out millennia of loneliness and rejection into the night air. “If you show me one thing that says it wouldn’t believe him I’ll show you a liar. No one should have to go through what you did. Nothing should have to justify its own birth.” The cries were joined by a voice in the east, both voices howled for what seemed like hours before Krika regained enough self control to speak again.
“When my home was beautiful I used to wander the streets, hiding in the shadows to avoid disrupting the celebrations that took place every night. I would see matoran smiling at one another and pretend that they were smiling at me. That’s all I ever really wanted, I wanted someone to smile at me, simply because they were happy to see me, not out of pity or masked fear, but true childish happiness. Here I’ve found someone who does that; there I’ll be hunted down like an escaped animal. Here I have a second chance at life; something that I’ve wanted since I caught myself laughing on that hill. Please don’t let them send me back please, please, please, please, please!” His barely patched composure shattered again and he again began the howls ringing through the moonlit land.
“Huh?” Luna was almost as surprised that he hadn’t attacked her as that he was asking on another’s behalf.
“They will take her away and then if she doesn’t denounce me after their ‘purification’ they’ll hunt me down and lock me behind a protodermis wall while she watches and then if she still doesn’t they’ll put her in there with me. Both suspended in time for all eternity, never waking up, never truly sleeping. I can’t bring her back to that. So I ask you, no I beg you, please don’t send her back. I couldn’t bear to know that I had dragged her to such a fate with me.” When he stopped this time he was actually looking about four feet to her right. He let out a series of clicks and corrected his position, this time seeming to stare strait at her. The sun went down.
“Give me a moment.” She lifted into the air, calling out the moon and the stars.
Normally her darksight would have kicked in by now, showing the creature in front of her as what it really was in the deepest part of its heart. But it hadn’t, she could see faintly in the north, the form of a teacher and another she couldn’t quite read. It was always like this with the beings closest to her creation, if something belonged to the dark they were likely to bury themselves in order to fit in. She exerted a little effort and a layer peeled away, revealing nothing but a hazy outline, she tried harder and harder, each layer revealing very little if any detail until the last layer faded away and she saw the monster…
As a blue pegasus colt, horribly mutilated with only one eye and scowling weakly in a fierce determination to keep going, to not let those who had hurt it break it. This was not the soul of a monster, this belonged to a tortured foal, there was only one unscarred mark on his hide, right over his heart, but a line was slowly being made across that and it only took one guess to tell who was causing it; she would be causing the last unhurt part of this creatures soul to be devoured if she said no, she looked at his wings, all of the feathers looked like they had been pulled out not two hours ago, around the same time she had refused his offer of peace, ‘twice’.
She looked at his mane and tail, both had also been pulled out around the same time as the feathers, possibly when she had told him that she would be sending them all home, this creature had suffered almost as much by her words as by anything that had happened to him before, only the eye was worse and just by looking at it she could tell it was the mark left when your closest friend betrays you, she had seen it often on those befriended by griffins or had spouses that had left them. She could stand no more and looked to the north.
Only to be confronted with the image that she knew belonged to Makuta Krika. He was a small, white, earth colt, battered, bruised and scarred almost beyond recognition as a pony; but wait, there was a circular scar on his forehead. He wasn’t an earth colt, he was a unicorn foal that had lost its horn. But still it wore a shaky smile; the kind you give to a worried friend when your entire family has died before your very eyes, because of something you did, and you lie, telling them that it’s going to be alright, that you’ll be fine when you know you’ll never be able to look at yourself the same way again. There was a soft sobbing on the wind and the foal’s legs, which looked recently healed, snapped, bending at unnatural angles. The white foal forced himself back up.
Luna was crying now, not sobbing, just quietly letting tears flow through her fur. She wanted to turn off her sight, look away from the two tortured souls before her; but the knowledge that she was causing it made it impossible to look away. It was as if her power was looking down its nose and angrily demanding of her, “are you happy now?” The white foal’s legs gave out completely, letting him fall into the dirt, and this time all it did was struggle to lift its head. A mournful howl ripped through the air and after a few moments Vamprah joined the cries, finally snapping her at least halfway out of her darksight.
“What are you doing?”
This chapter is more of a slice of life for the characters to help transition into bigger events.
Dimensional Chronicles Chapter 7: Trial and Error.
Three Weeks Later.
“Good morning Andromeda.” The red one said warmly.
“Lets start with a school, I always like doing schoolfoals.” Beelzebub asked eagerly. “If I remember correctly the last time we got to do foals was that family the Pie’s, that was what, twelve years ago? And we missed the pink one with the balloon mark. What do you say Ralphy?”
“Will you ever learn to fly properly, mare?” Raphael set down beside her as Beelzebub fell on her other side laughing. Andromeda picked herself up, growling.
“Guilty! This mare is guilty of striking and then threatening the great judge, kill her.” Andromeda rose to her hooves materializing a great energy axe and glaring at this mint master of sound.
The great axe evaporated into sparkling silver energy before disappearing completely.
“So Celestia, what case could be so important that we both had to be called in to judge?” Luna yawned, she and Celestia were walking through what they called the Law and Order section of Canterlot towards the great courthouse that stood in the center of the district. "I should be in bed right now."
Those three were supposed to be back in Ponyville aiding with the repairs. But Celestia proceeded according to protocol. Luna looked at Vamprah’s nervous, sightless, eyes and Gavla whispering to him, he was worried that he was about to stand trial, Luna chuckled inwardly. “Bring in the prisoner.” Celestia said loudly. The side doors that led to the impound were swung open; from there a silver coated mare with a purple mane was wheeled in, her limbs, wings and neck bound to a frame to prevent any sort of movement, beyond observing her surroundings and speaking. Her cutie mark was a red nine point star that had a blue cross within all surrounded by a gold ring. The mare stared out at them all coldly with cruel judging eyes and an angry sneer; her feathers were ragged, she had five scars marked by black fur, one across the base of her neck going around to her right shoulder, one on her left wing, one on her right foreleg, another around the right side of her stomach, one more on her left hind leg and a hunk missing from her right ear; this mare had seen brutality, but even beyond the impressive battle scars the biggest surprise was this, she had a horn. Her horn and wings were bound by magic blocking braces. She looked the surprised Luna right in the face and said teasingly.
“Don’t look so surprised by the scars princess, your sister gave them to me.” Luna turned to her sister.
“She bears the Heartless, that is not a mark given to an unwilling host; The Heartless can only be accepted by or given to one who will gladly bear it for the rest of their life.”
“What, but you said?”
“Morning Dew, you are hereby charged with breaking sentence, resisting arrest, and assaulting an officer, on top of your previous charges of, repeated arson, mass murder, foal killing and the list goes on. How do you plead?”
“Why would they lie to me?”
“Guilty.”
“An old friend of yours?” Krika approached them with an enthusiastic Gavla in tow. At least she was enthusiastic until she noticed Luna was looking at her, then she started glaring daggers at the Lunar princess. Gavla considered the twenty-four hour warning test unforgivable. Krika stepped between the two. “Your highnesses.” He bowed low.
“Say Gavla why don’t you take Vamprah out to see the rest of the city? Being in a courthouse obviously has him nervous.” Gavla looked skeptically up at Krika before looking back to Vamprah. He looked ready to jump out of his skin, every noise that was larger than the sound of hooffalls was making him jump, especially if the sound involved metal.
“Now what could you have possibly found out in Ponyville that we wouldn’t want getting out?” Luna questioned Krika directly.
“Wait so the good news is that the lie was well done?”
“Those usually ended in riots.” He whispered. Gavla shuddered, some memory or emotion running through her mind.
“Well you are insufferable.” Luna walked up to them. “This is your new home after all. You should probably follow Krika’s lead.”
“To see a piece of armor?” Gavla sounded incredulous.
“Protodermis?” Krika snatched the helmet out of the air. “What is protodermis doing in this dimension?”
“Yeah, yeah; I’m real happy for ya and all but did I hear you say that you needed blacksmiths?”
“She’s quite the little hellion isn’t she?” Luna asked smiling.
“You’re so much different from the last time I saw you.”
“I know; you can’t get attached.” Ditsy said hurriedly. “But you did.”
“I’ve been lying to them.” Ditsy leaned over the table, trying to catch his eye. “Can I at least tell them the truth?”
“I’m sorry, but I can’t either.” Ditsy gave him a look that was a mix between vengeance and sadness, The Doctor slumped, defeated.
Blueblood straitened marching along next to them with all the royal grace he could muster while on a leash.
“Prince Blueblood?” His eyes went wide. He knew that voice. “Oh this is too perfect.” A white hoof entered his field of vision and he looked up. Rarity stood over him sporting one of the most evil smiles he had ever seen; his pupils became dots of fear.
“Awww but I’m having fun.” Blueblood looked into her eyes. This mare was mad! Rarity walked up to him with a bowl, not only was the dye inside green, it was almost vomit like. She, without flare, dumped it over his head so that instead of getting a solid color, it would come out in patches.
“Did you know them?” Sweetie Belle stared at her hooves.Was Teridax the only one there for you as well? I wish I could have been there for you, before all that.
“Lose them.” Krika cocked an eyebrow but his mind recoiled from his memories. “I can’t remember when my parents died, I look back and there should be something. Instead there’s just nothing. I can’t even remember mom’s face.” She hung her head. And her voice choked a bit. “There’s just an emptiness.”
“Yes.” They sat there a moment, just looking at each other. “How about I tell you a nice story from my world?” Sweetie Belle perked back up and nodded; she loved to learn about where Krika came from, even if it was a shadowed place. “How about ‘Takua and the Mask of Light?’” Sweetie Belle nodded again. Krika started reading, he watched her emotions change through the story. During the Kohli tournament she was excited, she was frightened at the mention of the rahkshi, she beamed when he told of the toa nuva’s heroic, if doomed, stand in Ono-Koro, but she was always confused at the mention of the evil Makuta.
This answer was good enough for her as he continued the story. She whimpered when Jaller died, she cheered when Takanuva defeated the rahkshi of fear, as he told the last bits if the story he heard a quiet snoring beside him. He looked down at Sweetie Belle, she was asleep. “They turned and beheld a great city, floating in a sea of protodermis, Turaga Vakama pointed to it and said ‘At last we are home.’ They boarded the boats and set out to whatever the future held.” He closed the book and got up, grabbing a blanket off the couch next to them and tucking her into it.
The front doorbell jingled and Rarity walked in, looking very pleased with herself. “I take it you enjoyed your visit with Gavla’s new assistant.”
“Well she did used to construct armor for toa.” He held up a sketch from the book of Toa Iruni. “The Toa Haga in particular were some of her favorite creations.” Rarity studied the sketch for a moment. “My, my; she was part of some high end work.” She looked up at Krika. “Is it alright if I take this book to base some work off the armor?”
Rejecting Death.
Five days later.
"Fine." He walked into the harness and Gavla quickly secured him with belt straps that lifted him off the ground to hang over Gavla's head. She took out a set of gold plated metal claws attached to a horseshoe and Blueblood sighed in relief, then she cranked down red hot side spurs with magic until there was a large spike aimed right for the middle of his hoof.
Once Blueblood stopped sobbing Gavla rolled her eyes at him and flapped her bat wings until she was eye to eye with him.
She retracted the fingers and cut the straps holding Blueblood up with her talons. He fell to the floor with a thud.Insufferable little nag, I'll get her back yet. He fumed to himself as he ran through the halls. The impudence, the unrestrained gall. That mare must really be mad to assume that I can't get back at her. Then he figured it out.
She was issuing a challenge aimed at his dignity, she wanted him to find a way of fighting back, she wanted him to defy her. When he rebelled she got her chance to hurt him. That's why she picked him, his massive ego would make him almost impossible to break, she could be as cruel as she wanted. The thoughts made him stop in place for a moment as he contemplated whether that meant that she respected or looked down on him. He almost didn't notice when Celestia and Luna walked right past him.
"Princesses!" He yelled after them. Celestia visibly flinched; he had been coming to her practically every hour to complain about Gavla.
Footing was mostly used to illustrate the general mood you were in, for example hooves placed three inches apart meant that you were in a rather sour mood while six inches meant that you were having a good day; there was no signal to express fear but there were plenty to dispel it. A pair of guards across a hallway from each other could have a heated debate and none around them would even notice they had moved. It was such an efficient system that they often used it even when off duty. Vamprah preferred this form of communication because he needed his voice for echolocation.
Gavla, of course refused to learn the subtle art instead attempting to harass speech out of them. So it was no surprise to Vamprah that when he walked up to the break room legs were drawn to the three inch mark.
He had briefly considered taking a nightguard as his new eyes so that Gavla could focus on her work without worrying about him being able to navigate on his own but decided against it when he thought of the strenuous extra training the poor creature would have to go through in order to be a proper replacement, they would probably die in the process.
Vamprah pointed at the night guard one of the pegasus day guards and one of the unicorn guards and motioned for them to follow him. They did so without complaint, the constant clicking of Vamprah's 'sight' was the only sound but there was a conversation going on right behind him, echolocation gives you a three-hundred-sixty degree view if you know how to use it right.
Gavla looked up from her work.
The guards were relieved that they were there for an outfitting and not another one of Gavla's sick games, they removed their armor swiftly, at that moment the door swung open and Blueblood led Celestia and Luna into the workshop. "Welcome royalty." Gavla said dramatically without bowing. "I had hoped to have this done by the time you got here but apparently not even Blueblood can be as stupid as he looks." Blueblood visibly shook with rage. "But I guess since I made a pair for both of you already it's only fair that you get to see how they're applied before it happens to you."
She motioned the guards to get into three harnesses, it seems that she had picked up on the guard code. They did so in silence, Gavla strapped them in and hoisted them up so that she could get a clearer shot at their hooves. "As I have learned from my test on Blueblood, it's better if the subject doesn't know what I'm about to do." The guards all trained their eyes strait forward, not daring to see what she had in store for them. "Now this may sting a little." She positioned all twelve sets of claws and drove them in much more carefully than for herself or Blueblood. Not so fast that the pain came all at once but not so slow as to prolong it. Celestia gasped and held a hoof over her mouth in what was either awe or horror.
The guards didn't so much as wince. Gavla let them down slowly. "Now you may experience a slight burning sensation for a few hours but don't worry that's just the metal working its way into your nervous system, you should have complete control over the claws. Simply raise a hoof and flex." The guards obeyed flexing their new claws.
Gavla grinned sliding out her blades from beneath the claws, she dodged to the side and clocked him with the flat of her blade.
She used her blade as a crowbar to pull Blueblood's claws out of the metal. "I don't know which I like more, me hurting you or you trying to hurt me." She gave a heave and Blueblood was free, he immediately tackled her to the ground, she punched him off of herself leaving a scratch along his jawline from the blade projecting beneath the metal fist, he got up clutching his face, Gavla retracted the blades and started clobbering him, hit to the face, stomach, chest, elbow to the back and hind claw to the face leaving more shallow gashes. He fell to the ground, bleeding and panting.
Vamprah sat down next to him with a rag and started cleaning his wounds; Blueblood cooled down considerably the second he noticed what was happening.
"What'sa matter girl?" Applejack walked up next to her dog and stared out over the orchard, beyond which the Everfree forest loomed as it did for most of southern Ponyville but Winona had always seemed comfortable around the dark woods. That's when things started burning, off in the distance smoke started rising in a wall as if that entire side of the orchard had caught on fire at once. "Whoa Nelly, come on Winona." She was about to charge off to find a way to extinguish the flames when an accented commanding voice called out from closer in the trees.
"No you fool, do not go! They have more power than you know!" Zecora stepped out battered, and bloody. She heaved a cough and stumbled forward barely keeping her balance. Applejack ran up to her letting the Zebra lean on her for support. She noticed with horror that Zecora was riddled with holes. "Thank you Applejack you are most kind. *cough* But survival should be on your mind." Applejack managed to get her back to the barn and lay her down on some hay.
"Ya'll stay right there. Ah'll be back with my brother n' granny." Applejack ran to get them. Granny Smith, despite her old age was the best pony there at dressing wounds and Applejack didn't dare to let anypony else try with injuries this bad. Big Macintosh ended up having to carry Granny smith in order for them to make good time. Zecora had grown even weaker, unable even to lift her head.
"Ah no ya don't! Don' quit on me now!" Granny Smith yelled trying to revive Zecora, a piece of metal fell out of her chest and her lungs decompressed with a hissing sound. There was no saving her now.Now! " She hefted open a hatch in the front middle of the room motioning for the students to go down.
In a corner with Apple Bloom and Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle clutched a small necklace and chanted
"Hey this is a school, where is everything? I was hoping to make my quota here." A crass rasping voice came from above them.consisting of myself and The Doctor, He thought grimly. "- will be going in to find any missing children as soon as we're done evacuating the town."
"Help us, help us, help us. His eyes went wide, Sweetie Belle was using a piece of his mask that he had broken off for her to call for help. "I need somepony to take my place here, please!" A yellow coated mare with an orange mane ran over. "Thank you." He ran back into the half burning town using his mask of repulsion to escape bullets and other weapons and shrapnel that sped towards him as he ran through to the streets. Please don't let me be too late, please. The unending chant coming from his mask both comforted and terrified him; as long as it was going Sweetie Belle was still alive, but as long as it was going Sweetie Belle was still in danger. He let his mask lead him to its shard.
He stopped outside of the burning schoolhouse. There was a dead pink and purple unicorn filly at his feet, her cutie mark was a clover; there was a single bullet wound in the back of her neck; death had been instantaneous. He lifted the filly onto his back, not wanting to just leave her. He carefully scuttled up to the school using his Crast to repel the heat of the fire. The entire building went out, much to the chagrin of two figures inside.
He tucked the filly into the rafters and dropped down onto the hominid figures with a bull like ululating battle cry, he skewered the first one on one of his blades, the other one narrowly avoided him and screamed, firing his gun at Krika who deflected the bullets with his mask power before reaching out and grabbing the other, crushing his skull. He tossed them both away, rejecting the blood that had splattered onto his coat.
"Miss Cheerilee? Miss Cheerilee are you down there?" He knocked on the trapdoor.
"Did you see that? She's still in there!" Either he was mistaken or the mother was just desperate. "We can still do something." Krika didn't have the heart to deny her, so he sat down touching his mask to the filly's horn. An idea popped into his mind. He ran his magic through the mask to amplify its power and focused I reject this wound. The bullet that had been lodged in the filly's neck was gently pushed back out the entrance hole which closed behind it. I reject this death. his eyes rolled back and he collapsed to the ground, his own heart stopped and he was gone.
"Hello?" a small voice pierced the darkness around him. "Hello Mr." The darkness was swept away and in its place there was a small pink filly. He got up and looked around, there were two ropes attached to one of his legs one black, one red. He realized what he had to do.
Berry punch stared at Krika's unmoving form not sure what to do. Ruby stirred against her shoulder.
Lyra was standing surrounded by the enemy, Bon Bon had been torn to shreds by their bullets the second she had stepped into the open. Lyra would make them pay. Her vision was going black but she didn't care, she knew the hollow was taking over but she didn't care, the hollow was a mad dog and Lyra was directing it towards the monsters that killed her wife.
She let out a monstrous wail, a piercing sound that made all who heard it feel as if they had already been run through with a blade.
It lifted the guitar and struck a note, which sent out a wall of sound that made the hominids guns vibrate themselves to pieces, it then seemed to teleport into a crowd of the hominids and proceeded to rip them limb from limb, biting down on necks, severing limbs with the axe, crushing skulls in its fists, blood flew everywhere splattering the thing's body. The creatures never stood a chance. It rampaged, killing every enemy it could find and when it could find no more it started running towards the north to find more food.
But something stops it, a wall of blackness. It rages against the wall, clawing at it, slamming on it with the axe, screaming at it.Princess Luna the name sounds tasty. It gathers itself and jumps, landing in the air to stare down the navy blue food thing. "Lyra you have to stop, you have to regain control!" What was Lyra? It stands and thinks for a moment, it is Lyra. And Lyra is hungry, Lyra will feast on this thing and its power, the others had no power, they hadn't been satisfying. Lyra lunges, mouth first, trying to bite into the Blue thing's flesh but it dodges making Lyra growl in frustration.
"I didn't want to do this but you leave me no choice." The Blue thing draws out a blade and starts chanting. "Jikan mae ni kodokuna ichi boido de kakimazeru; u~eiku, Kurayami!" [before time the lonely one stirs in the void; wake, Darkness!] The sword erupts into a massive swirl of blackness, dotted with bright points like stars, a pair of pupil less white eyes open in the maelstrom before it solidifies into a massive dragon that dwarfs Lyra the way a mountain dwarfs a hill. Lyra wanted to run but the power that has just been unleashed makes her hunger groan that if it simply eats this it will be soothed. So Lyra charges brandishing the axe. "Kurayami, dark blaze!" The dragon opens it's great maw and lets a tide of shadows flow out, shadows that burn when they hit, Lyra screams in pain as it's left arm burns off. Lyra staggers before it's arm reforms, Lyra howls in pain as the new bones take shape. Lyra want to run. It thinks But Lyra so hungry, can't stop now. Lyra lifts the axe and strikes a cord blasting sound at its massive opponent, the great creature takes the sound to its gut loosing a cry of pain that reminds Lyra of a whale and stirs happy memories in Lyra, memories of Bon Bon. When it remembers a crack appears in its mask.
Pain laces through Lyra's body and it screams. "Whale bad! Bon Bon bad! Remembering bad!" It clutches its mask. "Lyra don't want go back, can't make Lyra go back. Lyra stronger than you, you want Lyra power. No! No! Nooooooooo!" It screams in anguish as the hands tears the mask from its face. The warping in her voice disappeared. "You're not Lyra, you're Aryl, a monster." She said weakly as the blue and white body crumbled to dust leaving the mint unicorn to fall.
"Oh no you don't." Luna's voice rang out and she landed on something soft and black studded with stars before the world faded away to nothingness. The monsters had paid.
Krika covered his eyes lest he be blinded by the sudden re-entrance of light, when his eyes adjusted he lowered his claw and looked into the newcomer's eyes, they were a sapphire blue. Krika had a feeling that he was in the presence of a being far greater than himself and he bowed.
Krika gasped feeling life enter his cold form, he coughed hard. Someone shrieked to his right, he looked over and it was one of the palace nurses.
The nurse returned with a bowl of steaming soup. Here goes nothing. Krika downed it in one go. To his joy it didn't come back up and warmth returned to him quickly. "Thank you miss..."
"Makuta Krika?" Luna dropped to the floor, her power coming off the mask. Celestia managed to stay standing but took her power off too.
End of chapter eight.
Help in the Storm.
“Princess Luna.” An unexpected voice came from behind her, it was Makuta Vamprah.
“Hey Blueblood, do you think the guards would agree to wearing this?” She held up blueprints that depicted a set of metal jaws.
“Miss Gavla, what exactly are you doing?”
“But what about the Elements of Harmony or the Princesses, surely they could-”
“Now Sweetie Belle it’s alright.” Rarity was consoling her sister over Krika’s death. “He died a way he always wanted to, protecting somepony else.”
Apple Bloom was in what could best be described as shock, she hadn’t said a word since she had been rescued from the schoolhouse and she had an almost dead look to her eyes. Applejack had been sticking close to her to make sure she didn’t do anything stupid, this hardly seemed necessary as she seemed content to simply pace back and forth in the room they had been given.
Rainbow Dash was flitting around the ceiling of her room restlessly, for once in her life she didn’t know what she wanted to do. Even during the Best Young Flyer incident she had known what she wanted to do just not how. Now she didn’t know anything, her ambitions were sent packing by the carnage she had witnessed; she was aimless like a balloon taken by the wind. The door to her room opened and in stepped Lyra. Oh well. She thought. Let’s see where this takes me.
Fluttershy was holding up surprisingly well. As an animal caretaker she had seen her share of carnage, although never directed at her own kind. So she just sat with Angel unsure as of what to do; she felt something rising from the back of her mind, some forgotten portion of herself and she suppressed it.
Pinkie Pie was having trouble keeping her already questionable sanity from shattering entirely.“Now you see what I was talking about.” “They weren’t there to help the Cake’s; they won’t be there when you need them either. And you ran, I can’t believe you ran.” The voice cackled.“Coward, coward, coward, coward!” It chanted in her head drowning out her surroundings and infiltrating every part of her.“Fine but only I’ll be there when you need somepony.” Pinkie was relieved that the voice had given up on its attack, for now at least. She decided to see if Twilight might know something about how to get rid of it. Opening the door she was stopped short by Lyra.
Incidentally Twilight happened to be going to see Vamprah and Gavla. She opened the impressive double doors to be greeted by Gavla’s scathing voice.begged you jerk!”“You planning on telling her the real reason?” “Not until this is over. She has enough to worry about.” Just then the doors opened letting in Blueblood and the six guard captains.
“Yes ma’am. Three years ago as you know I spent time dimension hopping for Princess Luna. While out there I managed to earn a few favors from the dimensions I visited, we’re being sent to collect on those favors and see if we can gain new allies to help in the fight against the invaders. Which is why I brought these." She levitated six small daggers out of her saddlebags. "These will be our first allies but only if you unsheathe them once we get to our first stop. We'll be headed to the same dimension that Kenpachi was from. I earned a favor from a rather powerful figure known as Kisuke Urahara, so we should be able to get at least four allies from there. After that were just going to be hopping around looking to make friends in high places. Spike is going to be staying here as our link back home. Twilight I need you to get your owl, he's coming with us. Pinkie I'm going to need your alligator." Gummy popped out from her mane. "Good." She turned back to Luna.
"Twilight's owl is actually right behind her." They turned around and sure enough Owlowiscious swooped down to land on Twilight's back. "Now we need to get you through immediately, we don't know when the invaders will be back, Celestia and I will also be out of commission for the next two weeks which is also the amount of time you will have for this mission. Understand?"
"Yes ma'am." Lyra saluted.
"Doctor!" Cheerilee ran into the tardis to find him pleading with the controls.
A strange sensation briefly passed over those inhabiting the city before a great dome appeared over Canterlot repelling even the clouds.
It took Cheerilee a few minutes to calm the Doctor down enough to move.
"Well this is impressive." A massive voice propelled itself over the city causing the Doctor to lift his head. "I set the dogs on you once and you've already gone into siege mode." He quickly pinpointed the source of the voice and ran towards the south. The voice remained silent until he reached the edge of the dome where he found the smoking remains of everything from bombs to tanks. "Finally, it really is hard to get you people's attention."
"Not happening." The Doctor snapped at him.
End of chapter 9
(I know it's not as good as the last four but it's simply a bridge to the next chpaters. I promise they will be better)
"It's bad enough that we have to be out searching for these morons, but do we really have to do it with another squad?" Marechiyo Ōmaeda was complaining, rather loudly, as per the usual when out on a mission and he doubted that the enemy was near. "Do the word's Stealth Force mean nothing to the old man."
"Shut up." Captain Suì-Fēng elbowed him in the stomach. She pointed out to the west. "There, two unfamiliar pressures and Yumichika Ayasegawa, he seems to be keeping pace. He's either so outmatched that even a member of the eleventh squad is waiting for reinforcements or he's a prisoner. The second is far more likely." Just like that they were off, jumping rooftops in order to cover distance more quickly. They traveled in silence, more to avoid letting Ōmaeda complain than anything else. Once they could tell they were directly on top of the energy signatures they looked down into the halls below, a rather strange sight greeted them.
"Be quiet!" Rainbow hissed.
"But what about the tenth squad captain, Lyra said he has wings if anything comes from above it won't be able to see us."
"Rainbow can't fly here, we have no idea where anything is, and we have creatures of ridiculous power after us." Rarity sighed. "I'm considering just turning ourselves in."
Someone started laughing on a roof to their right.
Four hominids suddenly appeared, encircling them, a small one in a white robe with white hair, another smallish one also in a white robe with black hair and two massive braids, a massive one in a black robe with strangely pointed hair and a medium sized one in a black robe with orange hair.huge !"huge ." The orange haired one snickered at Marechiyo, who growled back.
"I'm sorry." Rarity responded. "But I do believe you've mistaken me for another. I am miss Rarity and I'm not leaving my friends sides."
"AJ look out!" The braided one had drawn her sword and lunged, Rainbow was between them, blocking the captain's blade with the flat of her own.
"Ribōndearu; Burēdo Fushichō!" [Be reborn; Bladed Phoenix]
Dust flew up in the air as the blades changed form. The dust swirled for a moment, blocking the hominid's vision, they jumped back, up onto the roofs on either side.
"Finally!" Rainbow Dash shot out from the dust cloud, propelled by wings comprised by hundreds of gleaming blades. She held a wickedly pointed short sword, shaped like a feather, in each hand. "I am back, yes!" She shouted. "Burēdo, I'm sorry I ever doubted you." She flipped through the cloud. With a beat of the new wings she dispersed it, revealing Applejack and Rarity. Rarity held a jeweled crossbow, Applejack wore a pair of knee high boots made from gleaming orange metal.
"Ah think Ah know how ta use these." She jumped up onto the roof with the braided one. "Ah don' think we were ever introduced. Name's Applejack!" She tried to dropkick the captain, who jumped back to avoid it. The kick impacted the roof, blowing it to bits. "What's yers?" She grinned.
"Hey." Rainbow shouted from above. "Which one of you's Tōshirō, come on! Toshi, Toshi-" A bolt of red energy flew by her head, silencing her.
Rarity watched Hitsugaya jump after Rainbow.
"Hey Baldy, how're you doing?" Yachiru seemed to pop out of nowhere, as she frequently did. But this time Ikkaku was far too out of it to care.
Pinkie turned back around, looking at Yachiru with her usual cheery disposition.
The air around Yachiru started to ripple with pink energy.
Yachiru's smaller animal easily avoided the claws, jumping up the alligator's ethereal arm, it climbed up to its throat and bit down. Pinkie howled in pain as a small gash appeared on her neck, seeping blood. She batted at Yachiru, tearing her off of the gator's neck. Pinkie staggered.
Pinkie jumped forward, hoping to catch Yachiru off guard, her claws met with nothing but dirt as Yachiru dodged and clawed at the gator's leg, opening a gash on both it and Pinkie.
Pinkie rolled off and tried to run but Yachiru was faster, blocking her path. Pinkie whirled around, slapping Yachiru with her tail; the blow sent her flying into one of the few still standing structures. "Now that's more like it!" Yachiru came flying back out claws set to slash, this time Pinkie was ready for her, she batted her out of the air with a claw then bore down on her with the beast's tail, Yachiru dodged biting into the tail from the top, this caused a few hairs to fall out of Pinkie's tail. She lifted the gator's tail again and this time brought it around to the gator's face, Yachiru jumped off just before she closed its jaws around the tail causing more hairs to fall out of Pinkie's. Pinkie thrashed the tail after Yachiru who jumped up onto it, climbing up the tail to the gator's back. Pinkie started rolling immediately, not wanting Yachiru to get a hold again, Yachiru instead jumped just as Pinkie started rolling, landing on the gator's belly and clinging on tight.
Pinkie almost instinctively knew this was bad and started rubbing her stomach on the ground, dislodging Yachiru. Pinkie, coming down off the adrenaline high started panicking again, she tried to run but every path she chose would be blocked by Yachiru who would attack, opening more and more gashes over her body, Pinkie was losing blood fast. In desperation she called out.
Pinkie's gaze hardened and her hair fell flat, the storm of activity in her mind slowed as she focused. She took account of the situation, she was trapped, Yachiru was too fast to get away from, in order to get away and live she would have to go through her. A headlong attack won't work. She grit her teeth and dug in her hooves. But that might. She charged, head down. Yachiru gathered herself and pounced up to grab onto the gator's head. Pinkie grinned and spun in place, bringing the gator's tail around and smashing Yachiru into the ground, dust flew up from the impact and the ground shook. Pinkie turned back around, wanting to be sure that Yachiru wasn't getting up. She walked up to the edge of the hole that her tail had made in the ground. The second she stepped up to it she knew that was a mistake.
"Hey Pinkie!" Pinkie flinched, losing that last second that she might have gotten away in. "Good job." Yachiru sprang up into the belly of the gator, tearing into it towards Pinkie. Pinkie's body showed the effects of the hit, her stomach opened up, blood flew from the wound. She coughed up more, Pinkie wasn't sure she had enough of the stuff to keep this up. Yachiru reached Pinkie inside the alligator. "Aww you look tired." Yachiru was grinning ear to ear, her eyes lit with a battle craze. "Let's put you to sleep." She raised her unsheathed blade and brought it down into Pinkie's collarbone sticking it through her shoulder and into her lung."Fine, but only because you said please."
"That's odd." Nemu looked over his shoulder.
"Have we..." Kurotsuchi opened some old files. "Yes this signature does look familiar." He punched in the numbers. "I'll run the numbers." Bount; negative, Arrancar; negative, Sword Fiend; negative. "Hmmm." The computer blinked. "Uh oh. Nemu, gather the equipment." Nemu took the electrodes off Fluttershy. "Hurry up before I shut the room on you."
Meanwhile inside Fluttershy's head.
"This was a bad idea, a very bad idea." Fluttershy muttered to herself. Her voice, normally so quiet that no one around could hear her most of the time, was amplified in this place to the point where Fluttershy was making herself jump almost every time she opened her mouth. "Come on Fluttershy, get it together, where's that confidence from when you told off the sword?" A twig snapped somewhere to her right and she jumped. "Oh right." She shrunk back down. "Why is it so important that I learn its name anyway?" Lyra's words back in the throne room came back to her. "Darn it." She immediately covered her mouth in embarrassment. "I didn't mean to say that." She thought for a second. "Yes I did. This entire situation is ridiculous, I'm in some alternate dimension and my sword, who was supposed to help me, pulls me into this place and then refuses to have anything to do with me. It's not okay!" She sat back on her rump
"Oh poor Fluttershy." She knew this voice; she remembered it from when Discord had messed with her mind."buried me." Fluttershy started scrambling backwards but the Rage thing was fast, it had her pinned down before she could make it much of anywhere.
"Get off me!" Fluttershy screamed, kicking at it.
Fluttershy gasped in surprise.
"Why you little!" It growled at her. The place rumbled suddenly, it chuckled. "You feel that? This place is mine now! I tried to be nice, tried to make it a mutual deal, but let's face it, that's just not me." The world started crumbling into blackness below. "Run, run as fast as you can, the abyss can't catch you little gingerbread mare." It cackled as Fluttershy ran.
The armored figure came out of the bushes next to her, it scooped up Fluttershy and ran.
Outside.
"Nemu did you feel that?"
Back inside.
"What the candy coated hell was that?" The Rage thing yelled at the top of its lungs. "I can't move anymore, what's going on?" The armored one lifted its visor for a second, as if to confirm it wasn't seeing things. Fluttershy tried to get a look at its face and the visor slammed back down
"No, no, no, don't you dare." Fluttershy picked up the visor, flipping it over and putting it on; there etched into the metal was the name.
Fluttershy opened her eyes behind another mask; she quickly pried it off before it turned to dust in her hooves. The door next to her decompressed with a hiss before opening.
Fluttershy sighed in relief as she flew away, keeping low to the ground.
"It's a shame." Kenpachi sighed. "Kurosuchi's missed you, said you were one of the jewels of the twelfth squad. But enough about the old days, who wants to take me on first?"
"Good." He opened his shirt. "Free shot."
"I would still like the free shot." She charged, swinging the ax at his neck, he brought his own sword up to block; the ringing sound of steel on steel filled the air.
Kenpachi jumped forward, swinging down with his sword, Lyra blocked, Kenpachi started pushing down on her. Lyra grinned taking a hand off the ax. "Hado number four Byakurai!" [way of destruction #4 Pale Lightning] electricity flowed from her hand striking Kenpachi in the chest and sending him flying into the walls of the hallway, bringing it down on him. He pushed his way out from the rubble.
"Glad to see you're into it." Kenpachi's power surged, pushing away the dust surrounding him, there was a gash across his chest from where he had just barely managed to avoid being speared. "Now I can cut loose." He pulled off the eye patch, the energy became a physical force pushing down on any and everything in the area, the walls around him exploded out. Lyra grabbed at something invisible just above her head, pulling it down to reveal the skull-like hollow mask.
"That's for the Byakurai!"
"And that," The power seemed to cut out, letting Lyra breath again and causing her to flip over from the force she had been using just to lift her arms. "Is why I hold back."
Lyra struck three cords causing three waves of energy to fly at Kenpachi who blocked each one deflecting them with his sword, Lyra was directly behind them not giving him any time to recover, she brought down the ax, opening a gash down from his right shoulder to his left leg, she brought the ax back up and was blocked by Kenpachi who drove his forehead into Lyra's. She staggered from the force of the blow, he brought his sword up for an undercut but Lyra blocked, pointing her palm at him. "Hado number thirty three, Sōkatsui!" [Blue Firefall] The blaze of energy hit Kenpachi in the face, sending him reeling back. Lyra didn't give him time to recover, she leaped at him bringing her ax down on him, she managed one hit to his chest before he recovered.
"You know those aren't as good without the incantations right?"
"Parusu Arukana!" [Pulse Arcana] A chained blade of purple energy flew past Kenpachi's head, burying itself in the dirt. "Aw buck." Twilight ended up getting pulled down the chain, landing on her face next to Lyra.
Twilight got to her feet, she was still terrified, she wrenched the pulsating blade out of the ground and spun it on its chain. The blade looked as if someone had put a lightning bolt shaped Tesla Coil on a handle, on the end of the handle there was a chain that seemed to change length depending on how far the user wanted it to go. Twilight let go of the chain and the sword flew at Kenpachi who blocked with his own blade, the chains pooled on the ground in front of him.
"More dirty dueling?"
"Huh?" Twilight looked back, Kenpachi had severed a support beam, the building began to lean and creak before barreling down at her. "Uh oh.""Pathetic."
Chapter 12: The End of the Beginning.
Rainbow Dash charged down to meet Hitsugaya in the air, slamming her two swords down on his one. He continued to push, shoving her back through the air.
“You will call me Captain Hitsugaya.” He jumped up at her, bringing his sword up to hack, Rainbow blocked easily and pushed herself faster.
“Enough!” Hitsugaya yelled, stressing his power enough to push Rainbow away. “You want to see my bankai, fine. Bankai, sōten ni zase; Daiguren Hyōrinmaru!” [Final release, reign over the frosted heavens; Grand Crimson Lotus Ice Ring] The air around him froze over, solidifying and chilling the area around it. Rainbow shivered from the sudden chill.“Oh this will be fun.” A voice said in her mind.“You bet your ass.” “I-I-I… Nevermind. Whatever, I just want you to go supersonic real quick.”
At that moment the ice around Hitsugaya shattered, revealing Hitsugaya with what looked to be a dragon made of ice coiled onto his body, its head was over his right arm, his other limbs had been replaced by the dragon’s, he had a tail and the wings stretched out impressively. There were what appeared to be four flowers over his head in a circle.
“Now, what is my name?” He growled at her.
Rainbow was loving the sound her new wings made as they tore through the air, she was used to the sort of ruffling noise feathers made but this was something else entirely, instead of an unsteady sound this was a constant wizzing, the kind of noise that you get when you swing a particularly sturdy stick really hard, the sound was also making the metal of the blades vibrate and give off an almost melodious ringing. She reveled in the sound as she approached the sound barrier, leaving Hitsugaya further and further behind her.
The familiar mach cone started forming around her.“Wait for it.” It pulled in tighter and tighter across her body. “Wait for it.” The wall that was the sound barrier presented itself to her. “Now!”
Instead of her normal trail of rainbows the air roared with fire, blocking Hitsugaya’s path and setting the sky ablaze. She looked down at her swords, flames trailed off the blades and a fierce glow emanated from the blades that formed her wings. “Fire against ice huh. Oh this will be so cool.” She dove through the flame barrier, swords at the ready. Hitsugaya charged back, sheer cold trailing off his blade.
They collided in the air, Rainbow’s swords ringing against the steel of Hitsugaya’s blade, she flipped over him to keep her momentum, he chased after her, she blocked his sword with the metal of her wings, spinning to keep her speed, she swooped down low bringing the battle into the hallways where her practiced maneuverability would have the upper hand. “Come and get me ice boy.” She muttered. Instead of following her chunks of ice started to rain down. “Alright maybe not.” She swooped back up, maneuvering her way around the blasts of cold bearing down on her. “You cheater!” She swung her sword at an especially large chunk of ice, it burst into steam and she shot through, bringing the fires of her blades against the ice of his.
“We never established rules.” He pushed down on her and she pushed back, heat and cold pushing against each other in the air, Rainbow drew back her second blade and pushed his sword under hers, allowing her to surge forwards blades set to stab when suddenly he disappeared.
“You countered Suì-Fēng when she was using her Shunpo, I’d say you’re faster.”
“Would you, STOP THAT?!” The fire on her wings exploded out, bathing the area around her in flames, Hitsugaya appeared to her right, patting out a flame that had caught on his sleeve. The only problem was that she was too far away to make it by the time he was finished, but she was gonna try. She was suddenly next to him; she swung at him, opening a gash on his shoulder before she realized what had just happened. Hitsugaya tried to get away again but this time she could see him, she swooped in front of him, blocking his escape. “Well, well, looks like I am that fast.” He pushed away from her.
“Hyōryū Senbi!” [Ice Dragon Swirling Tail] He swung his sword causing a wall of ice to shoot out at Rainbow.“I have a little sister and a cat to go home to and he traumatizes me just to prove a point. Then he turns out to be completely useless.” Rarity waved her crossbow in the air. “I don’t even know what this thing is!” Turns out Rarity, is a lightweight.
“Tell me, I’ve seen many a floral print in my life and it almost always stinks. So does he… make it work?” She winced slightly, praying that she wouldn’t have to face something that was as unappealing to look at as it was to fight.
“Bacroof!” The sky seemed to explode into flame as Rainbow Dash broke the sound barrier.
“Sweet Celestia, what was that?!” Rarity covered her face and curled up.
Applejack came crashing through a wall to their left, planting herself face first in the ground. Both Masumoto and Rarity doubled over laughing. Applejack pulled herself out of the dirt as Marechiyo walked through the hole she had left, holding a large flail and grinning down at her. Applejack looked over at Rarity.
“Oh alright.” She sighed, lifting the crossbow. What she did next was both an ingenious stroke of luck and a perfect example of why one should never operate projectile weapons while drunk. Rarity picked up the crossbow sideways, the firing end was trained on Applejack while Rarity thought she was aiming for Marechiyo.
“Uhh Rar’ Ah think Ah’m good now.”
Rarity and Masumoto again doubled over laughing.
“Mmmmm, Yurochi-Sama.” She pursed out her lips and Marchiyo dropped her like a hot iron. At this point even Applejack, who felt like she had just been flattened, was laughing.
“Ah don’ think so!” Applejack put a kick into his back, sending him flying into the air. She jumped up after him, spinning and performing a dropkick into his stomach, as the fires from Dash’s battle danced around her. “An’ that’s fer knockin’ me through a wall.” Marechiyo landed in front of Rarity forcing her and Masumoto to shield their eyes from the debris. Applejack came down on him with her knees, forcing him down even further into the dirt.
“Woo!” Rarity threw her hooves in the air and cheered. With both Suì-Fēng and Marechiyo down for the count, all that remained was for Rainbow to wrap up her fight with Hitsugaya. The air was blooming in red, orange, yellow and white as the two airborne combatants threw everything they had at each other. Rarity and Masumoto were regarding the fight as a sort of fireworks show.
They saw the pressure wave before they felt it, the fire lit sky suddenly became pale blue as the flames dissipated in wake of the shock wave. Once it hit there wasn’t a thing that wasn’t nailed down that stayed where it was, the shingles of the buildings on either side of them were blown to dust, it knocked the alcohol clean out of both Rarity and Masumoto and sent them flying, Suì-Fēng and Marechiyo were jolted awake and flung into the building to their right, Applejack only managed to stay put because of a useful feature in her boots, two plates of metal descended from the sides of her boots and bolted themselves into the ground preventing her from being blown away. Rainbow Dash and Hitsugaya both were knocked from the sky and sent careening back down to the ground, it seemed like a miracle that the buildings were still standing.
Each of them wrenched themselves out of the wall or patch of earth that they found themselves smashed into, just as quickly as the power had come, it was gone, the overwhelming pressure that had sent half of them flying was suddenly gone, it was as if whatever had generated the energy had simply crashed through the area and departed this realm entirely.
“Captain Hitsugaya, was that?” Masumoto helped her captain pull himself out of the remains of his bankai.Yachiru stood with her blade in Pinkie’s shoulder, watching the lights behind her eyes go out. She chuckled to herself, yanking the sword out of her, sheathing it, and turning to walk out of the fading pink gator. She hopped out of the hole she had made and looked back at the corpse that had once been the only being in existence who could match her exuberance and it started laughing. Yachiru rubbed her eyes, sure she was seeing things, but it kept laughing as the gator once more solidified, the hole she had opened in its stomach disappearing.
“Oh Pinkie Pie!” Pinkie yelled in a singsong voice. “You had no idea how to use this thing properly, did you?” Pinkie rolled over onto her stomach, facing away from Yachiru and pushed herself up to her hooves. She turned around and Yachiru’s eyes went wide, unsure what to make of what she was seeing. Pinkie’s face couldn’t be seen, in its place there was a white mask shaped like a foxes head with a purple stripe down the middle, the eye holes were two different sizes and the mouth was a smile that curled up behind its eyes giving the mask a crazed look to it, Pinkie’s eyes had turned from blue to red and the whites of her eyes had turned black. “Then sit back Pinkie and let aunty Pinkamena show you how it’s done. Hachūrui, daun kamu!” [Reptilian, bite down]
The alligator shimmered for a second before shrinking down onto Pinkamena’s body, grafting ethereal claws onto its hooves and turning the gator’s head into a helmet with ghostly jaws ready to rend through their target. Pinkamena started laughing, the singsong tilt never leaving its voice even once it was practically screaming. “Now Yachi,” Its voice lost the singsong tilt to it and gained that strange quality that vizard’s voices have, like the person is talking through a fan. Yachiru blinked and the voice was right next to her. “That hurt a lot you know.” Yachiru turned and Pinkamena raked its claws across Yachiru’s face, blood oozed from the wounds and into her eyes.
Yachiru jumped back, reaching into her robe for a bottle of salve that she had stolen from Ikkaku, she poured its contents into her hand and rubbed it onto her forehead, stopping the blood flowing into her eyes. She wiped the already drying blood off of her face.
“You have no idea.” Pinkamena chuckled. “I really should thank you.” Pinkamena yanked its claws out of the sword, jumping back. “If it weren’t for you, I would have never proved my point.” Yachiru unsheathed her sword, inspecting the four dents in the metal.
Yachiru pulled her sword out from underneath Pinkamena’s hoof and bringing it up, meaning to cut into Pinkamena’s belly but it moved and opened another set of cuts in Yachiru’s back, causing her to stumble forwards. “And now, I’m going to kill you the way you killed her.” Pinkamena lunged; opening a set of cuts on Yachiru’s left leg. “I’ll wear you down,” Across her chest, “make you weak,” Down her arms, “unable to move,” Across the back of her knees, forcing her down onto the ground. “I’m going to make you call for help and no one will be there to save you, just me.” It stood over Yachiru glaring down at her through those crooked eyeholes. “And you’ll beg for death.” Yachiru started giggling. “Why are you doing that?” It growled.
“I haven’t had an opponent this strong before.” She forced herself to her feet, stumbling from the pain. “I hope you stay this good.” Pinkamena growled at her and lunged, Yachiru dodged and struck from behind, just managing to clip its tail. Pinkamena whirled around opening all three sets of jaws and biting into Yachiru’s wrist, causing her to yelp in pain and drop her sword. Pinkamena kicked the blade away and let go of her wrist, allowing Yachiru to jump away, cradling her crushed arm.
Pinkamena leaned in close, drawing the talon down Yachiru’s face, neck and right shoulder. “Oh it’s alright pet; you can scream all you want.” It whispered. Instead of screaming, Yachiru punched its bottom jaw, sending it flying away.
The battle was frantic. Yachiru hacked down, blocked by Pinkamena’s claws; Pinkamena attacks with its other foreleg, blocked by her sword hilt, Yachiru lashed out with a kick, squaring Pinkamena in the jaw, it snarled and tried to bite the offending limb but Yachiru yanked her leg away and brought her crippled right arm around and into its stomach, wincing as she made contact. Pinkamena coughed as it tried to regain control of its diaphragm, still lashing out with any and every part of its body.
Yachiru finally managed to score a cut along its shoulder, hardly a consolation seeing as she was covered in gashes and bruises. “AAARRGAH! You little, I’ll tear you apart!” The wound healed itself, abandoning the pink fur for skeletally white armor. It jumped at her, intending to tear into her with all four sets of talons, Yachiru dodged and cut across its back. Pinkamena howled and whirled around, blindly thrashing at anything it could get its claws on.
Alright, She thought, the trick is to keep it angry. She blocked another headlong attack, bracing herself on her left leg as Pinkamena drove her back trough the dirt, Yachiru took her right arm and punched Pinkamena in the eye, driving it away. It roared in pain, clutching its face and rolling in the dirt. Yachiru regarded the creature before her with contempt.
“You’re pathetic.” Yachiru glared at Pinkamena, who stopped whimpering, jerking as if it had forgotten that there was still an opponent to deal with. But only for a second, it curled back up and started sniffling again. Yachiru walked up, meaning to stab the creature.
Pinkamena swallowed the chunk of meat and bone that she had wrestled off, and started laughing, a wheezing sound that came strait from the pits of insanity, it almost sounded more like a cough than a laugh. Yachiru staggered back, trying to hold the left side of her body together with her already crippled right, her sword clattered to the ground, tears streamed down her face as she fought not to openly sob, blood ran through her fingers and down her robe to the dirt, she fell to her knees in pain. All the while that mocking, wheezing laugh never stopped.
“Who’s pathetic now, you bitch?” The mouth of the mask hung open, dripping blood, Pinkamena’s tongue lolled out between the dripping teeth as she spoke between chuckles. “Buck the slow death; I’m just going to eat you, right here right now!” The edges of Yachiru’s vision started to go dark as the hollow sauntered over, getting closer every time her vision went black. She struggled to even try to get up. “Still fighting are we?” It turned around. “Here, let me help you!” It lashed out with its back legs, crashing into her chest, smashing ribs and organs alike. She was thrown several meters back to land crumpled into a broken, twisted heap. Her vision went dark again; the last thing she saw before she was swallowed by blackness was Pinkamena, laughing at her.
“No you’re not me, but you’re my lieutenant.” This made Yachiru stir. “Even though I want to keep a close eye on you, I wouldn’t put you in such a dangerous position if I didn’t think you could handle it, that would make me a pretty shitty parent wouldn’t it?” She managed to turn her head to look up his arm. Did he just call himself my dad? “I may not be the one who was there when you were born but I’ve looked after you since before you could talk, that makes me your dad. No father would let his little girl get herself killed like this.” She managed to move her arm to rest on his hand, so small compared to his, his hand stretched the length of her entire forearm.
“I’m not allowed to die, am I?” She smiled weakly; the pain disappeared, replaced by a pleasant numbness.
Yachiru surged forwards, grabbing her sword off the ground as she chased after Pinkamena who was in all but full retreat. She brought her sword down on the hollow, who batted it away and tried to counterstrike, but Yachiru kicked it in the mask, sending the creature reeling, she brought her sword around and hacked through the mask. Pinkamena screamed and lashed out, blinded by the blood seeping out of its own face. It howled and simply kept moving; lashing out at anything it heard including the rocks it shifted with its fits of movement.
Yachiru came up from behind lodging her sword in its spine, stopping its movement. It wasn’t dead, its terrified breathing could still be heard but it couldn’t move while the sword was lodged between its vertebrae. “I win.” She sneered in its ear, preparing to twist the blade down through its neck. The shock wave hit, blasting Yachiru away, bringing her sword with her, there was a flash of white as the hollow regenerated but the mask only withstood the blast for a second, blowing out into dust. Pinkamena’s terrified red and black eyes flashed for a moment.
Just like that the power was gone, completely vanished. Pinkie looked around, panicked for a moment.“I can’t move… Why can’t I move…” Blackness, everything was blackness and heavy. “I can’t breathe… Why can’t I breathe… It hurts… Everything hurts…” “You are truly pathetic; I’m going to have to save you already aren’t I.”
“CRRRAKKK!!!”
Lyra couldn’t feel its power, it wasn’t like she was dead and the power was gone, It felt like there was nothing there, it felt like what she was seeing wasn’t really there.Can’t he feel this? It’s like she’s just sucking all the energy out of the area.
“We’ll see about that.” Kenpachi charged Twilight, who didn’t move an inch. Kenpachi brought his sword down on her.
“This is what you were so terrified of that you could hardly bring yourself to stand your ground?” She spoke in a growling male voice, clenching her hand tight around the blade; she brought her other arm up and slugged him, sending Kenpachi flying through the walls behind him. “Disgraceful.” She grabbed the hilt of Kenpachi’s sword, which she had wrenched away from him when she had sent him flying. She released the blade and brought the palm of her hand to the tip. In a single sweeping movement she crushed the blade onto a fine metallic powder. “Pitiful.” She tossed away the hilt and grabbed the end of her sword’s chains. “Ritorakuto.” [Retract] The chains seemed to be sucked back into the handle until there was only a foot of chain left on the end of the hilt.
She pulled the chain tight. “Anata jishin o kyasuto; Shadō!” [Cast yourself; Shadow.] The chains shot through her outstretched hand forming themselves into the exact shape of the sword in her other before they solidified into a single blade, tinting itself black, darkness billowing off the blade, the chains trailing off of the blade concentrated into a handle, leaving a length of chain connecting the two blades. Twilight pulled on it, extending the chain, she threw the first blade around her shoulders, wrapping herself in the chains and leaving the purple blade hanging over her shoulder.
Twilight bounced the new blade in her hand a few times and switched to the other hand. “This will do nicely.” Kenpachi came running back through the hole.
She strolled her way over. “Tsk, tsk, tsk; I am very disappointed in you Sparkle.” She started spinning the black blade on its chain. “You let this! ” She lashed the blade across his chest. “Defeat you, being regarded as a great warrior myself, I am appalled that this brute! ” She lashed him again. “Got the better of you.” Lyra finally found the will to move.
“Twilight,” Twilight jerked her head to look at Lyra. “That’s enough.” She put a hand on Twilight’s shoulder. “Send it away.”
“Hey, I’m the opponent here, not her.” Kenpachi strained against his bonds, they buckled and groaned against his strength.
The blackness left the sword, revealing the gleaming blade beneath. “It doesn’t like you very much does it?” The Shadow threw the sword at Kenpachi’s feet.
“Me? I am Makuta Teridax, but I believe that my counterpart in this realm is Sosuke Aizen.” Teridax chuckled, spinning the handle of his sword in his fingers.
“I won’t.” He said smugly. Kenpachi charged, Teridax didn’t even seem to brace himself, standing loosely. Kenpachi brought his blade down. Moving too fast to be seen, Teridax blocked the blow and smashed his fist into the side of Kenpachi’s face. Who managed to stay on his feet but was still sent reeling by the blow. Teridax hadn’t moved an inch.
Kenpachi tried to turn around in time but Teridax took off both his arms at the elbows. Kenpachi, who had laughed in the face of death more times than he could count, was left defenseless. Teridax then slashed his heels, severing the tendons. Kenpachi’s legs gave way and he was forced down onto his stomach. Teridax picked up Kenpachi’s right arm and took the sword from its grip. “Must I always repeat myself? Pathetic.” Teridax lifted Kenpachi’s blade, moving to bring it down on his neck.
“Ryūjin Jakka!” [Flowing Blade-like Flame] An immense release of power shook across the area, flattening buildings and seeming to compress the air around them. A tongue of flame swatted Kanpachi’s zanpakto out of Teridax’s hand causing him to stagger slightly. He turned to face the new opponent, one could almost feel him glaring at the robed figure that had intervened. “I don’t know who you are brat but I know this, you are through here.” The robed figure holding the hilt to the pillar of flame that had diverted Teridax’s attack was bald with a massive beard and had a pair of scars that passed across his forehead in an x.
“Head Captain Yamamoto?” Lyra spoke, surprised that Yamamoto had decided to take up the search himself. Granted Teridax appeared immensely powerful but Yamamoto would only bring himself in on the front line if he was familiar with the threat.
“Not exactly.” She cringed, finding herself unable to lie to a being that could fry her in a heartbeat.
“Geezer.” Kenpachi spoke up from his pace in the dirt. “Let him do it.”
“Are you done talking now?” Teridax growled, tightening his grip on his sword.
“I don’t like that look.” Teridax growled. “You’re not allowed to look down on me.” Teridax was suddenly up there with them, behind Yamamoto. He spun around, blocking the Teridax’s dark blade with the concentrated flame of his.
Teridax drove his opponent down into the ground, dust and debris flew from the impact. “I have killed and overthrown gods, you are meaningless.” He lifted Yamamoto by his neck, growling as he squeezed. Suddenly there was a sharp pain and a gash along his stomach, he dropped Yamamoto and clutched his midriff. “What?” He whirled around to be greeted by Kyōraku, who had raked one of his strange blades along Teridax’s shadow.
“Your turn, catch me if you can.” Kyōraku jumped away, hoping to distract him for a moment; Teridax started laughing.
Rainbow Dash and Hitsugaya both swooped down next to the fallen captains. Hisugaya took Kyōraku and Rainbow took Yamamoto, both falling back to where Ukitake and Mugamara were standing. Yamamoto shook his way out of Rainbow’s grip.
“Dash, that’s Twilight.” Lyra blurted.
“Applejack.” Rainbow yelled. “That’s Twilight.”
Applejack stood, trading blows with her doppelganger, completely unable to gain the upper hand, this thing might as well have been the shadow behind her, it knew every move moments before she even made it.
Rainbow was having an identical problem. Her doppelganger was just as fast as her, and if anything it was stronger, every blow she moved to make was shoved down by her counterpart, before it would attempt a blow with more force than she had put into hers.
Rarity stood with her doppelganger, staring it down, both sides had their bows at the ready, just waiting for the other to make the first move.
Chunks of ice and shadow flew through the air in Hitsugaya’s battle as they squared off with the dragon each commanded. The dragons bit and clawed at each other as the wielders clashed blades, each trying to force the other to buckle beneath their power.
Ukitake had unleashed his swords Sōgyo no Kotowari and was rebounding blasts of shadow sent from the doppelganger’s blades.
Hirako stood, contemplating his opponent, it was far more aggressive than he was, wildly charging without much coordination, making it easy to simply move out of the way and study it for some kind of weakness; as he continued to avoid the shadow’s strikes he looked around at the others, they all demonstrated control just as good if not better than their real counterparts. What made this one different? He looked at Rarity, as she stared down her opponent; her doppelganger was in the exact same position, mirroring it perfectly. Hirako took a swing at his Doppelganger and the change was immediate. For that strike it became a perfect opponent, forcing his blade back and demonstrating control far greater than what it had been doing before. He jumped back from it.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
“Fluttershy help!” A familiar voice called out from below her. She looked down and saw Pinkie Pie cradling the broken body of Yachiru in her fore hooves.
“I-I didn’t mean to, I was scared and alone, she was attacking me and I panicked, I didn’t mean to.” Pinkie started sobbing, cradling Yachiru’s head next to her own. Fluttershy looked from her sobbing friend to the body in her forelegs. Yachiru was still breathing if very shallowly.
“Then they should have had some medical supplies, I’ll see what I can do for Yachiru, you look around for me okay?” Pinkie got a bit of that twinkle in her eye back and set out with grim fervor as she sifted through the debris for anything she could find.
Fluttershy looked back at her patient, taking stock of her numerous injuries.How could Pinkie have done this? She looked back at her still distraught friend; whatever she had done she had terrified even herself by doing it. “There’s going to be some scarring across the face, arms and legs.” She analyzed, talking to herself a bit. “I may need some surgical equipment for the ribs, that wrist is going to need a splint. At least all the bleeding stopped.”
Yachiru stirred a bit, her eyelids fluttering for a second, she started trying to sit up before Fluttershy stopped her.
Fluttershy put a hoof over Yachiru’s mouth.
“Fluttershy, I found some.” Pinkie came running back through the rubble, a simple first aid kit locked in her teeth. Fluttershy took the small box and opened it.
“I can breath.” Yachiru moved her left hand up to touch the bandages on her chest, only to have her hand swatted away by Fluttershy.
They carefully turned her over, Fluttershy pushed up on one side while Pinkie braced the other, making sure the turn happened slowly. Yachiru gasped as the weight shifted, causing sharp pains to run through her chest. “Are you alright?” Yachiru nodded in response. Fluttershy set back to work, sowing up the gashes along her back, and the backs of her knees. “I’m sorry Yachiru but I don’t think I can do anything for that shoulder with this equpment, how did you even get that to stop bleeding?”If all else fails go for the old school I guess.
“Uhh Fluttershy…” Pinkie started tugging on one of her wings, forcing her to abandon her place sewing up Yachiru’s knee. Standing in front of her was a woman in a captain’s robe, her black hair was pulled back in a bun from what she could see, the robe was slightly too long on the arms and she was looking down at Fluttershy with an indiscernible expression, she was flanked by a nervous looking tall woman with steel blue hair, who had her hand on the hilt of her sword. Fluttershy gulped.
“Captain’s robe, too big to be considered small, black hair,” Fluttershy tried to place which captain she was looking at. “Looks about middle aged. Are you captain Retsu Unohana?” The blank expression melted to one of bemusement.
“You know, from afar you feel like Kurotsuchi, but close up you feel more like her.” She gestured towards Isane, who had closed her eyes in concentration. “So nervous and unsure of yourself.” Fluttershy blushed.
“I heard something like that from Kurotsuchi when he captured me. What is reiatsu?”
Chapter 13: Open Book
She had been expecting heaven to at least be relaxing but that dark chuckle had her wound tighter than a spring. She had expected hell to be at least painful but she couldn't feel anything except the distant rumble of the thunder and that chuckle. If she hadn't known any better she would have said that she was just asleep and having a particularly vivid dream.
She started as that though passed through her. Maybe that's all the afterlife was. She tested briefly, willing herself the ability to move. A great weight seemed to be lifted off of her and she sat up. Well at least she seemed to be making some progress, she willed her environment to change into something a bit more defined; walls lined with books shot up out of the floor, the greyness faded, leaving that strange, dim, green light, it seemed almost toxic, cast sprawling shadows that seemed to morph into nightmare creatures and just made her all around uncomfortable. She willed it to change but she was met with another mind that swatted her away like a bothersome fly, or maybe one that had managed to really get on the other mind's nerves, considering that the mental blow was strong enough to send her flying down the endless corridors. She willed the air beneath her to cushion her fall and she impacted softly, brushing herself off she got up.
"Finally awake I see." The familiar silk soft voice of Arukana reached Twilight as a soft purple light enveloped her, depositing her near the center of the library next to the robed figure who regarded her bemusedly.
"Oh nothing much, just an entity of evil controlling your body." Arukana stated this far too dismissively for it to really sink in, so instead of the proper reaction of anger or panic Twilight simply laughed. "I'm not joking." This on the other hand was said with such matter of fact grimness that it cut Twilight off as she simply stared at the source of sickly green light that Arukana gestured to and the open book directly beneath it.
Whatever was in Twilight's body was humming an unfamiliar, almost tuneless, song to itself, swinging a black blade on a chain and walking through a battlefield where everyone seemed to be fighting their own shadow. Her body stepped behind someone with white hair, wielding a pair of swords attached to each other by a length of red rope. As the song, which seemed to be some kind of march, reached a crescendo her body struck down with the black blade, opening a massive gash down his back, blood flew from the wound as he screamed, crumpling to the ground, the growling chuckle sounded from both the screen and the world around Twilight and Arukana.
"You woke up, good." A growling voice emanated from the screen. "As you can See ," Whatever was controlling her body lashed the downed man again for good measure. "I'm dealing with your problem out here, so there is no need to attempt to wrest control from me." It drew the blade back in, idly swinging it on its chain. "So if you could back away from the book I won't have to eliminate you as well." It kicked the white haired man for emphasis.
"Fluttershy?" Rainbow swooped back down towards Fluttershy, wrapping her in a quick hug. "Glad to see you're safe," she let go, narrowly avoiding the blade in Fluttershy's hooves. "where's Pinkie?" Fluttershy dipped down a bit as her sword threatened to drag her down.
"Oh my, they got mixed up in that?" Fluttershy squeaked, Rainbow seemed to appear next to her and Fluttershy jumped, she was used to Pinkie doing that but not Dash.
Fluttershy felt like she was going to have a heart attack as they swooped through the battlefield. Power was being thrown left and right, the shadow bindings constantly threatened to entangle them and there was a crushing pressure that emanated off all the combatants.
"I don't think so." A loop of black chain shot past before pulling tight around them. Fluttershy turned to look at their source.
Twilight's body had seen better days. The arms had been ripped off of her robe, stray strands on hair hanging from under the mask were turning red from the scalp down as if her head was bleeding, the shadows of anything it came into contact with started bleed up onto her, slowly forming into plates of armor that seemed to weigh far more than her body was meant to carry if the growing bruises were anything to go by, her pinkie fingers had ripped away from her hands, realigning themselves into a grotesque, dripping, second set of thumbs, her chest was being crushed in by some unseen pressure, boils grew on every exposed part of her, popping to expel some kind of green gas which was being contained by the shadow armor.
"T-Twilight?" Teridax's head snapped around to look at her.kindness , too frightened to even learn to defend itself." Teridax's voice seethed with rage and hate. "I will enjoy watching your eyes go dark." He reached out, making to grab her by the neck.
The purple blade started to spark wildly, Teridax straitened up, a hand flying to his chest. "I warned you Spark-"
Twilight stood for a moment, panting, before Yamamoto walked up to her, fire trailing him. "I'm sorry." Twilight braced herself for immolation. The captain raised the column of flames, his face set and grim. Fluttershy's mind raced, what could she do? Just standing near the head captain made it hard to breathe, but Twilight was about to die.
"Watashi no tate ni naru; Gādo!" [be my shield; Guardian] Fluttershy dug her sword into the dirt and a wall of steel erupted from the ground, forcing the Yamamoto away from Twilight. The wall curved around, separating Fluttershy and Yamamoto from the rest of the battlefield. "I won't let you hurt Twilight." She wrenched the sword from the ground, barely managing to keep her balance. Yamamoto looked at her bemusedly.
Yamamoto looked around for another way out of the massive metal box. He noticed Fluttershy eying the flames of his sword worriedly.I'm muttering again, confidence Shy confidence. She started pawing at the ground. To Fluttershy's surprise Yamamoto actually did revert him blade back to its sealed form.
"Are you really willing to die for that thing ?" He kneeled down to be at eye level with her.I have no idea how to do that! Her look of joy was quickly replaced by one of complete embarrassment and she drove a hoof directly into her forehead.
Yamamoto sheathed his sword, a gnarled wooden staff formed around the sheath as he placed it onto the ground. "This is your first time using a zanpakto isn't it?" Fluttershy squeaked an affirmation. "Damn rookies. Good thing I keep a tea set with me." He reached into his robe and pulled out a shattered wooden box. "Dammit!"
"If I pass out -nng- do you promise to make sure he does too?" Twilight wobbled as her vision started to go black.
"Twi'? Twi?" Applejack shook her and she started snoring. "Twilight's out everypony." A pair of panels formed themselves out of the metal wall before her, sliding apart to reveal Yamamoto and a triumphant looking Fluttershy.
Seemingly out of nowhere, Pinkie had aquired a clipboard, a pencil, a pair of "sophisticated" glasses and a scrunchie to pull her hair back with.
"Miss Pie..." Pinkie snapped to look over at the newcomer in the room, he was a short hominid with black hair, he slouched a little and had a pouch hanging from a sash over his shoulder, he gave off an aura of insecurity and near-constant failure. He jumped back a little when Pinkie looked at him. "I'm sorry to interrupt your... uhh... heated discussion-"
At that moment Captain Unohana opened the operation room door.
The room inside was rather plain, the walls were a beige color that wasn't fun to look at but it wasn't out of place, if one was in pain they didn't want a bright or dark color that would strain the eyes, the neutrality of beige made the room seem soft. There were three tables and a bed, the tables held all kinds of medical tools, a few bottles of painkillers, some salves, and a tray of now reddened water. Yachiru sat in the bed, bouncing slightly. You wouldn't have known she had been on the brink of death fifteen minutes ago, most of the bandages were gone, only the ones on her chest remained, they had removed the stitches in her face and no doubt the rest of her body and she was rolling her wrist to make sure it was working again. In one way she looked a lot worse, her entire left shoulder was one big scar, Pinkie doubted that she would ever be able to move it properly again. "Yachiru, we have your guest." Yachiru snapped her attention straight to Pinkie, a goofy grin split her face as she jumped out of the bed and ran over to her.
Pinkie braced herself, preparing for the worst, when Yachiru swept her up into a tight hug, lifting her off the floor for a moment as Yachiru giggled and bounced around. Once the embrace was broken she deposited the very confused pony back onto her hooves, Pinkie took a step back, bewilderment plain on her face.ever battle scar, and boy is it a doozy! Kenny has them everywhere but I never got a chance to fight someone long enough for them to really land a big hit like that. Thanks Pinkie!"
Throughout Yachiru's speech Pinkie just sat there, for the first time in her life, at a loss for words. Yachiru just smiled at her and kept talking, but Pinkie couldn't get herself to say anything, her smile just started working its way back onto her face. Pinkie reached out and wrapped Yachiru in another hug, crying into her shoulder. whether this was out of guilt of joyful relief even she couldn't say. Unohana and Hanatarō had already left the room, leaving the two dimensional counterparts to share in a quiet moment, Yachiru gently wrapped the sobbing mare in her arms, returning the hug.
Pinkie looked into Yachiru's smiling face for any trace of falsehood, she found none. Yachiru started to laugh, seemingly in recognition of Pinkie's relieved conscience. Pinkie's smile shot out to full force as she laughed along, neither one really knowing why they were laughing.
The mask simply floated there, under the influence of both Celestia and Luna. The throne room had been sealed off to all but a select few, three of which were already in the room. six hours had passed with no word from Lyra, or the "away team" as spike liked to call them. Philomena sat on her perch next to Celestia's throne, ready to do her part if need be. Silence prevailed in the room, all three creatures trying their best to simply focus on the task at hand.
Suddenly Philomena squawked before releasing an owls hoo. Celestia Luna and Spike all crowded around the bird, who's beak hung open in preparation of her role.
"Problems? What's happened?" Luna's brow furrowed.
"That theory doesn't work!" Lyra shouted. "I'm sorry, I've spent hours trying to figure this out, it's why I didn't send a message sooner. We weren't here thirty seconds and all Thirteen of the stinking guard squads came down on us, we finally do manage to convince them we didn't come for a fight and by then we've already hospitalized half of the eleventh squad, so we're not getting any help. and on top of that Twilight's counterpart in this dimension happens to be the single most evil being in the place. What's more I have deduced that beings that have counterparts in the dimension they're landing in cannot change shape to suit the dimension. Which makes the fact that Twilight did impossible. Which means whatever it is inside Twilight's head is bad enough news to break the laws of trans-dimensional travel. Which means if we can't avoid the Guardian we're going to get our plots thoroughly kicked. This was supposed to be quick, but my intended next stop, and gateway to the rest of the places I intended to go, is on the other side of the Betweenspace, it could eat up all our time just getting there, not to mention that most of the area's between there and here are hostile and I'm going to eat my own horseshoes if we don't run into an obnoxious amount of trouble." Lyra trailed off into enraged panting.
"Feeling better?" Luna asked.
"How long until the gate can be opened?" Celestia questioned.
"You wanted to see me 'princess'." She tapped a metal claw in impatience.
"She has a point." Lyra's voice broke the mounting silence. "Twilight could hardly get herself to stand firm against Kenpachi, how do you think she would have reacted to knowing there was an evil being strong enough to take down that brute in seconds living in her head. She would have panicked, she would have refused to come along and, judging by the trek we have ahead of us, we need her on this. She's been able to repress him so far and I think I know a tactic to make it even easier." Philomena hoo'd again and the line was cut.
Gavla and Vamprah quickly excused themselves from Celestia's piercing glare.
Chapter 14: What is a Smile?"When are you going to let it go?" "They're dead Tanma." everyone to help here but here you are standing around scowling, staring off into space and talking to yourself. These applications aren't going to sort themselves and I'm only allowed to help you with half of them this time."
"No, I get to me sometimes, stinking mask hasn't shut up for the past three minutes." She knocked on her squarish mask as if trying to drive out some invasive insect. She was about twice as tall as Tanma, with a bulky build, blue and purple armor and a mask that, in her opinion, was more a compilation of squares with a hole in it than anything else. Tanma had a much more sleek build; his mask swept back over his brow, his limbs and the silver propulsion device on his back were sleek. He was designed for air travel.
Dekal took a look at it; her mask calculated its exact landing point and it –thank Mata Nui- shut up. “Single teleport, eight unknown passengers, twenty foot blast radius,” She rattled off as the mask relayed the information to her brain. “impact in three seconds, two miles north of our current location.” She shook her head. “I hate that.”
“You’re going to find out whether I want you to or not, aren’t you?” Dekal grabbed her three flanged mace from the corner, slinging it over her shoulder in preparation of whatever they may find.
Rainbow Dash bent over double, hacking and coughing into the dust; along with the rest of the away team.
“No, thank Celestia.” Rainbow flapped her wings a few times to get the feel back for them. Her zanpakto was still released, giving her wings bladed extensions.
“Alright,” Lyra surveyed her team, “I’ve never been to this part of this dimension before, last time I was here I ended up spending a week on an island made out of a giant robot’s face. Rainbow, get as high as you can and survey for towns so we can look for allies.” Rainbow quickly saluted before shooting off into the sky. “Pinkie, I want you to see if you can find any water under this sand.” Pinkie jumped and clapped a couple times before burrowing into the sand with gusto. “Rarity, you set up a perimeter to our site.” Rarity nodded shallowly before turning to scout out an area. “Applejack, help me set up the tents.” Lyra pulled a set of tents that by all logic shouldn’t have been able to fit out of her saddlebag. Noticing Applejack’s raised eyebrow she added. “It’s a space expansion charm.” She passed a hammer to Applejack. “Fluttershy and Twilight… figure out what those bodies can do.”
Lyra squared off an area for the tents, placing the stakes for Applejack to hammer in.
“We’ve got some time to finish this.” Lyra directed Applejack back to the stakes.
Twilight stretched out her strange left hand, trying to get used to the lopsided weight, she felt a surge of power from the two for-fingers.Maybe it works like a horn. extending the claws towards it. Her arm whirred for a second, locking itself in place, the claws started glowing with restrained energy. “That can’t be good.” The recoil was enormous, jarring her entire chest, a wave of fire-blue pressure and heat went through the entire camp, kicking up sand and dust, which had once been the rock she had attempted to lift, it knocked Dash right out of the air, sending her barreling into Rarity.
Twilight for her part was looking at the impact zone with an expression that may have been awed terror but it was hard to pick out emotions on her scaly face. Where a rock had once stood there was a softly glowing sheet of natural glass. She looked down at her left arm, flexing the claws again. They were remarkably undamaged.
“Fluttershy!” Rainbow yelled, shooting towards the terrified blue creature.
“What?” She spoke with surprising clarity. “Girls, I can breathe!” Fluttershy jumped for joy inside her bubble. Twilight, still a little deaf from her own mishap, looked on the spectacle with raised eyebrows, then she had an idea.
"Incredible." She breathed, staring off into space as she envisioned it all.Huge! " She swung her arms wide and fell back into the sand, laying there with a smile on her face. She started to absentmindedly make a sand-pegasus, within seconds Pinkie had joined her.
"Uhh, Lyra." Applejack tapped the mint unicorn on the shoulder, rousing her from the task of driving the stakes into the ground.
"Tanma, wait up." A hominid, clad in purple and blue and twice Tanma's size, came huffing up next to him. "I'm not as fast as you, come on." The creature bent over double, panting.
"Of course I talk, I was smart enough to survive being a meteorite." Lyra snapped. "And I'd prefer not being talked about like I'm not here." Dekal took a step back.
Applejack and Dekal each pulled the mental combatants away from each other, taking it upon themselves to continue deliberations.
"You know, Lyra said you were looking for help with something, how about you just gather up your team and I let you explain your situation to the turaga." Dekal pointed to the mountain pass.
"Why?" He questioned.
"Are you familiar with a matoran named Gavla?" Twilight asked. Dekal gave her a withering glance.
Dekal peered around Twilight at Fluttershy, who was molding a bubble of water into any and every shape she could think of, smiling from ear to ear. "Heh, I remember that look." She chuckled, nostalgia softening her face. "That's the look of a newly christened toa." She returned her attention to Applejack. "When you tap into your power for the first time and you can feel it everywhere, every cloud, every trace of the air is saturated with it, you can feel it move and know it's yours to command, and you are its. You can't really describe the sensation, it's just too..." She muttered something under her breath, Twilight felt something's eyes on her. "Huge. Isn't that right Helryx?"
"How is it you always know when I'm there?" A hardened voice called out from behind Twilight, Her new body's instincts kicked in and she whirled around to hack at the newcomer with her left arm, only to be blocked by the shaft of the blue toa's mace. "You obviously have no idea what you're messing with here girl." Helryx's mask was silver, With three blue indents in the shape of hourglasses on the forehead and cheeks, her eyes were hard and yellow, her body was blue and sleeked, her armor notched in a fish-scale pattern. Twilight backed off, not wanting to make a wrong move near a being that put off the aura of authority this Helryx did.
"And Brutaka, how goes the split personality problem?" A cloak seemed to fall away, revealing a towering golden and blue brute, standing over Helryx like some kind of monstrous bodyguard. "Still wearing that fake Olmak I see." Dekal seemed painfully at ease with the sudden introduction of a creature nearly twice her size. "You didn't forget what my mask did already, did you? Although, moving on. Were you aware that Vamprah is still alive?" A look that may have been mistaken for surprise passed through Helryx's eyes but was gone before anyone would have been able to register it, anyone that is, other than Dekal.
"No? Well than I'm glad not to be out of the loop." She gestured at Applejack. "Applejack here and her friends are looking for allies, not in getting rid of Vamprah mind you. And, from what I understand of your organization, you're always ready to help when the cause is just." Dekal's eyes almost flashed with a challenge.
"Impossible." She stated flatly.
Helryx recomposed herself, rubbing her forehead.
"A'll give you one guess as to why he's not 'ere with us." Applejack challenged, looking Helryx right in the eyes.
Brutaka grinned, framed by the tusk-like projections on either side of his mask.
"Alright, Vakama's old, take's him a while to get anywhere, I'm slowed down by him, I come back and Brutaka has joined the number here. What did I miss?" Tanma set down behind Dekal.
"Krika?" He growled. "That monster's alive?" He grabbed Lyra by the scruff of her neck. Lyra snarled back.
"Go Vakama." Dekal muttered. Vakama turned back to the group.
"True we have Makuta Vamprah on our side, we had Krika but He died in the initial attack, ensuring the safety of a child." Lyra smirked at Tanma, who looked like someone had just slugged him with a brick and then insulted his mother.
Lyra and the rest of the Away Team, or A. Team if you will, and Brutaka Fell in behind him.
"What of Makuta Krika?"
"May I tell you a story Tanma?" Vakama started firmly, this was a command not a request. "Long ago, when I myself was a toa, my team encountered the vizorak hoard."
"You mean it can get better?" Fluttershy squeaked from the back of the group, just in front of Brutaka. Vakama looked back at her.
"You refused, what toa would give in to such demands?" Tanma waved him off.
"Because you felt unappreciated, you had fought for them with everything you had and they still ignored you and blamed you when things went wrong."
"A smile can communicate trust, happyness, caring and many other positive things directed both at the user and the recipient." Twilight smiled, satisfied with herself.
"Now even you can't get this wrong Tanma," He continued, "what do these five shapes symbolize?" Tanma looked puzzled by this question.
"Exactly, and you can't have unity without caring for those you are to be united with. In order to care for those under your protection you must feel empathy towards them, and they must show it in return. It is a form of unity." They had long since entered the town and had been attracting stares. "Now remove that and all you have is duty, which is not worth anything if you don't care about it, which then leaves destiny which is nothing without a duty to guide it. In short you cannot cross without these three things, and they are also the only things keeping you on the side of good, remove or damage one and they all fall, leaving you to tumble down into evil." He stopped outside a building. "They always fall in the same order, and the most easily damaged of all three is unity, you choose your duty, you can influence your destiny but you only control a small part of unity, the rest is controlled by those around you and if they damage yours it's all too easy for your other virtues to fall. That is what I believe happened to the makuta, we damaged their unity, and caused their downfall, insofar only Nokama agrees with me but in my eyes it all adds up. We gave them no reason to care for us and so they didn't. We brought about our own doom and theirs."
He looked up at the building. "The council is still meeting, I will plead your cause but these decisions take time, especially seeing as we have our own issues to deal with, I should probably have an answer for you by tonight. Until then, you should explore, this is after all the elbow of Makuta Teridax's body on top of being a cultural hub, so I'm sure there will be something of interest to you here." He passed the glass ornament to Applejack, who caught it carefully. "You can keep that."
Somthing stirred in Twilight's head with a single word."What? What? What!?"
And You Thought Boot Camp Was Bad
Vamprah was in trouble, he had barely made it out the door when he heard a light cough from behind him. It wasn't the exasperated harrumph he had been expecting, but it was certainly meant to get his attention.
He nodded, almost imperceptibly, and Gavla left the room, probably shooting a glare at Luna as she left.
"And you don't trust Gavla to come clean." Vamprah nearly cringed. He heard Celestia nod, vaguely. He hated using echolocation in places like this, he couldn't hear anything until almost a full second after it happened, big antechambers, a bat's worst nightmare.
He briefly considered lying to her, but he had always been terrible at hiding his tics, so he sighed and spoke honestly.
"Tell Gavla that Blueblood has been removed from his position." She commanded calmly. "There is another matter that may need to be attended to. We have recently learned that the forces we will be obtaining may be much smaller than we originally planned, you remember when you told me about the rahkshi the other day." He nodded. "How many do you think you could make in two weeks notice?" Vamprah took a second to do a few calculations in his head. A kraata was simply concentrated antidermis. He thought about how much it took to make a single kraata, how long it took for him to regenerate his gaseous essence, and the speed at which they changed from kraata to the rahkshi armor.
"Do I need to move within the next four days?" He flexed a wing, anticipating not being able to do so anytime soon.
There was a squirrel, and soon there wouldn't be. Gavla breathed softly from beneath the pile of leaves she had buried herself in, the nut she had positioned herself near was the perfect bait, at least in her eyes. It was so close, just barely out of her optimal range. It took one more step forward, she smiled, her fangs gleaming softly, and pounced, the rodent barely had a second to react, but managed with the expected speed, almost making it out of her range when she came down on its tail. She wrapped her claws around the bushy fur under her hoof and lifted it up.
"Thought you could evade me didn't you?" She taunted it, poking lightly at its exposed belly. "But guess what, no one escapes from me." She knew she was a sadist, and she was perfectly at peace with that, she knew how much she was going to enjoy peeling the flesh off this small morsel's bones. Unfortunately she was also aware of the horrified looks she was getting as she released and recaptured the little creature, opening shallow cuts on its body with each capture. She sighed, surrendering herself to the fact that her fun had to be cut short, and promptly bit its head off, ending the vermin's suffering once and for all.
Though she wasn't about to admit it, she loved the screams of disgusted terror that surrounded her as the blood's sweet tang filled her mouth, fear and pain, she loved causing them both; and while many would call her sick for this fact, she considered it more as self acceptance. She tried to keep her urge to hurt things under control, direct it at those that deserved it or those that were about to be dead anyway, and Blueblood, he reminded her far too much of herself. Self accepting doesn't mean not self-loathing. She took no enjoyment from death, it was boring, it was the extinguishing of those shadows that she held so dear.
That was another thing that most people found strange about her, most revere the light, they felt safe in the light. But her, she loved the dark, it didn't make sense to her that others would cling to light, light can hurt, light can burn away, light can hate, it can refuse to show itself, but shadows cannot, your shadow will always be there, shadows can't hurt you unless forced to, shadows can't hate, shadows can't hide themselves, shadows can embrace you, and death, the final mercy, was referred to as a shadow.
But she was letting her mind wander, she did that quite a lot when Vamprah wasn't there to keep her in track, she spit out the furry cranium of the ex-squirrel and set to work skinning it, fur would only complicate her digestion. She could still feel Vamprah in the back of her head, that was her favorite part about their link, that it was always there, it was something constant for her to hold onto, something, and someone, she could count on, even at this distance she could tell he was flying, and about to put himself out of commission for a few days, and that there was nothing she could say to stop him, she was also aware that she had to fire Blueblood, she had done that and gone straight to the gardens, where she had caught the squirrel that she was currently skinning.
She was in a bad mood, but she had something to look forward to, tomorrow she was going to have an army of Vorahk to terrorize her would be soldiers with. She was going to enjoy that, damn those guards were taking forever to get their claws installed. It was just pliantly hot metal, she had to deal with worse when she had been hired by a toa of lightning. Fun fact, toa of lightning actually have very little control, and pain is not something they deal well with.
"Miss Gavla?" A voice said behind her, forcing her to abandon her partially skinned treat.
"We're having a bit of trouble with a few of the stallions." He eyed the dripping carcass in her claws warily, more likely than not also noting the purple-stained fur around her mouth.
"You can say it by the way." She spoke a few moments later to break the silence that had fallen between them.
"That I can understand but did you really have to play with the poor thing like that?" She hadn't expected him to see that.
"So we can what? Have molten metal shoved up our legs, no thanks." He ate up all his time.
"Alright," she slipped the fingers out from below her claws, "have it your way." She slashed at the barrier, the fingers catching on the magic of the shield, causing them to spark wildly as a rend appeared in the ward, she pulled the fingers back out and the shield disintegrated. "You unicorns have such a trivial weakness, pure iron, give me a break." She waved over to where the sets of claws lay, the spires still sitting in the furnace to keep them hot. "You have," she checked with Vamprah, "ten minutes to get those claws on and get out of my forge, before I put them on you myself. You're new aren't you?" The shuddering nods were all the answer she needed, she loved causing fear. "Than you have five minutes."
"You're sure that there's nothing I can say to stop you?" Gavla paced behind Vamprah, he sighed.
What floated to the surface was the subject of many creature's, and basically everything on Odina's, nightmare. The dripping shell of a rahkshi. Vamprah placed the other kraata into the armor, waking the first vorahk, Vamprah nodded to it and it took its place near the wall. Gavla looked it over, appraising the grade of its armor. It was around twice her height, the tri-split reptilian face glaring back at her.
She crossed her forelimbs, hovering out of the room. "And just so you know, we both have to make it up to them, not just you." He smiled back at her as she closed the door.Well, might as well get this over with. Vamprah started wretching directly into the vat, a noxious, acrid stench filling his nostrils. Ug, it stinks, this doesn't normally stink. He and the first rahkshi lifted the armored shells from the vat as they bubbled to the surface.
"Thanks." He grunted as it helped him lift the last shell from the energized metal. He knew it was just doing as its instincts commanded but thanking it made him feel better, he could already feel his strength flagging, he would have to finish making the kraata quickly. Wretching onto the floor, he telepathically instructed the vorahk to place the other kraata into their bodies. He could feel his consciousness fading. A little more, just a little more. he strained, forcing one last kraata to fall from his mouth, before he fell into dreams.
The next morning.
Vinyl Scratch hadn't wanted to get up yet, she was on the night guard, she had only just gotten to bed when they had called her out for special training. The Canterlot gardens, not someplace she went regularly, Octavia talked about them all the time, said they were peaceful. Yeah right, she snorted, try getting dragged out to them at the crack of dawn when you just pulled an all-nighter.
Wait a second, boot camp? Vinyl had never been to boot camp, she was working off a community service ticket. "The creatures on either side of me are known as Vorahk Rahkshi, they will be your obstacle course. One you can all make it through them without failing, you will be able to deal with anything the enemy will be able to throw your way." Gavla looked around, as if trying to figure out the most efficient way to kill them all. "Before we start though, I need you to form three member groups, each with one unicorn, one pegasus, and one earth pony." They quickly found their groups, old clicks asserting themselves.
Vinyl tugged at the collar of her purple-red armor, she had honestly been terrified when she had first seen it, there were pointed spires on the shoulders and all down the back, the knee joints on the front and back were also pointed, and anywhere that wasn't looked like it could slice a pony in half, she was the most surprised by how comfortable it was, she had asked what the practical reason for all the spikes was, and gotten a shrug from the green mare that had outfitted her. She'd told her to ask the smith, but as of yet she'd only seen her during the "claw incident". The "claw incident" was when they had told her to hold still and pulled a set of red hot claws out, that had not been fun, and the smith now scared her shitless. She had never seen anything just tear through a shield being cast by one pony, much less four, like that, and that smile, like they were already begging for mercy. She shuddered slightly as she thought about it.
Vinyl found herself floundering as she searched for a group to join. "Recruit!" She froze as Gavla yelled at her. "Look at me!" Vinyl whirled around, nearly tripping over herself. "There's a group over there that needs a unicorn." Gavla was looking at her with a raised eyebrow. "And by the way, I shouldn't be the one you're scared of today," she smiled that same smile, pointing at the vorahk behind her, "they are." She chuckled.
Bowl control? Are you still there? Good. Vinyl walked over to the group Gavla had motioned to.
"She's all show, trust me." He waved her off. "Name's Sandcroft, my silent friend here is Copper Plate."Bowl control? Don't die on me now! We haven't even started yet! That smile, why in the hell couldn't she get over the look on Gavla's face? She could practically feel herself running away every time she saw it.
She saw the vorahk tighten their grips. "You have ten seconds." Everyone just sat there for a moment, unsure what to make of this command. "Ten!" Vinyl got it right away.
"One!" Gavla shrieked, and all hell broke loose. A rahkshi burst from the canopy, screams and bolts of energy flew through the air.
"New girl," he looked over at Vinyl, "what's your name?"Vor ahk for a reason."
"Crick." Vinyl whirled around, eying the brush behind her, she knew she heard something.
Something hissed, a lot of somethings. They snapped around, standing back to back, ready to defend themselves, no one breathed. Suddenly, snakes and other animals came pouring out of the brush, all fleeing in the same direction. "Think we should follow them?"
Another wave of fatigue washed over her and she tripped, turning her ankle rather painfully. Falling onto her face she looked up at Sandcroft and Copper Plate, who had stopped, a few feet ahead of her, then back to the rahkshi, which was trying to pry its staff out of a stubborn bush, which was withering as it pried at it. Gavla's command shot through her mind.
Another wave of tiredness and it felt like a pit had opened in her stomach, a second and third Rahkshi jumped out at her, she forced magic to flow through her, the armor lit up, lances of energy flew from the spires, seeking out and blasting the three rahkshi, forcing them back. So that's what these are for. The three monstrous hominids wailed in frustration, before charging her, staffs set to spear her.
"Enough!" Plate's voice sounded somewhere above her, one of the Rahkshi was blasted through the underbrush, followed by another, the crack of his cannon was nearly deafening, a silver blur collided with the third Rahkshi's face, knocking it away.
"Thanks guys." She limped towards them.
"It's a beautiful day in the Canterlot Gardens and we've got quite a matchup today, twenty three squads of guards verses seventy rahkshi vorahk. there are currently seven guard squads left not drooling into the forest floor, could the vorahk that took them down please get them cleaned up and brought back to base. And just so you guys know, any one who can find and defeat me will get the rahkshi off their butts. Good luck."
"Well, I think we just found our goal." Copper nodded. "Vinyl, you any good with tracking spells?"
"If those things are still patrolling up there, I'd say that'll be difficult at best." He took off, shouting over his shoulder. "But I'm still gonna try, if I don't get zapped, follow the whistles."
The Doctor woke up slowly, he didn't want to. The world of dreams was so much more manageable, for example, Ditsy was still there in his dreams, the girls had never found him out. In his dreams he had never left, in his dreams he could grow old and die.
But someone was pounding on the door to the Tardis... again.
"Yes..." The Doctor eyed her warily. "I've never had someone react quite that way to it before. If you're not here to attack me, then what do you want?"Why won't you leave? Is what he really wanted to say, he just needed some time to himself, without angry ponies trying to slit his throat.
Cheerilee whipped around, and there was the slap, this was a bit harder than the other ones, it sent him sprawling. He panted into the floor a couple times, "I get the feeling I should remember you." He forced himself back up. "Sorry, for whatever I did this time."Oh buck. "I knew there was something about you, you ooze trouble." He backed away from Cheerilee's enraged form. "And now where is she? Huh!" She pounced on him, pinning him to the ground. "Where's Ditsy you, sorry!" She drove her hoof into his face, his vision burst with white. "Excuse!" Again. "For a stallion!" Again.
He braced himself, eyes squeezed shut, expecting another blow to his jaw, but instead there was simply a soft patter of something wet landing on his neck. He opened his eyes, Cheerilee was just sitting on his chest, foreleg back and at the ready, tears had welled up in her eyes, she let her leg sag down to her side. Why had she stopped? It was no more than he deserved, coward that he was. "She thought the world of you." Cheerilee choked out. "Even after you left, she wouldn't let me say anything bad about you. No matter how long you took, no matter how many times she had to lie. She wouldn't tell you of course, she would never let her precious Doctor know she still cared." The Doctor caught a whiff of her breath, yep, she'd been drinking.
She brought her hoof back up again, tears streaming down her face. "And even that was for you!" She tried to clock him again but instead her hoof simply stopped a few inches from his face, they sat there for a second, staring at the hoof that was just barely not poking him in the eye. The Doctor with a sort of terrified astonishment, and Cheerilee like she was wondering what dark powers had stopped her from taking his eye out. After the silence had dragged far beyond the realms of awkward, Cheerilee lifted herself off of the Doctor and started heading for the door.
"Wait!" The Doctor almost looked around to confirm he was the one who actually said that. Cheerilee froze. "You're not the only one who lost something." He spoke just barely louder than a mutter.
He took a step forward, forcing Cheerilee to the door. "Now leave my Tardis, leave me be!" He reared up and shoved her out, slamming the door behind her. He sat down, and finally, let himself cry.
He had fallen asleep again by the time someone knocked again. He blinked a few times, the soreness in his face making him draw in a quick breath. "Okay, this is ridiculous," he opened the door, "I'm trying to sleep off a rather rigorous beating here." He cocked an eyebrow when he realized that his visitor's face was actually a good four feet above him. The reptilian monstrosity hissed at him, motioning for him to follow it.
"I take it there's no chance you can talk is there?" It stared at him for a moment before motioning again. "I'll take that as a no."
Vision. Part One: The Victor
The padded walls of her cell mocked her, so fragile yet she could not destroy them. The cold, engraved iron, bound to her body nullified her power and bound her wings.. And Raphael chilled her soul. It was torture, plain and simple, they were trying to break her mind, but she wouldn't let them. She was the judge, she was the cleanser; it was her job to break these heathens, not the other way around. The impudence, she would not stand for it, she screamed, pounding on the door.
"You and your blasted charades," Raphael growled, "what will it be this time, a violated child?"
"Shut up, both of you!" Andromeda howled at the two combatants, causing them to break the glares they were throwing each other. "I can't believe you two, here we are, in a cage and you turn on each other like bloodthirsty animals! Help me get the buck out of here or so help me, I will buck you both to hell!" Raphael stepped off of Beelzelbub's throat, straightening his mane, which had begun to stick up at odd angles.
"Morning Dew?" Andromeda froze, slightly surprised that the essence of fury wasn't dripping from her eyes.
The nurse muttered something under her breath before backing through the door and stepping to the side. Andromeda was lightly surprised by the fact that that had worked, but spared it no second thought as she dashed for the door. As she stepped through she imagined that she could almost smell it, fresh air, flowers, the ashes of the guilty. There was a slight creaking sound behind her, like stretching fabric. Something grabbed her around the waist, pulling her back onto a soft surface, she felt her forelegs bound to her sides and she was brought down to lie flat. After a moments confusion she realized that she was strapped to a gurney... again. The nurse was standing over her, no anger was apparent on her face, no fear, only something that resembled disappointment.
"The doctor will see you now." The nurse monotoned. Oh, this was going to be her next therapy session.
Gavla was in heaven, or rather, a battlefield, stepping over the unconscious bodies of Canterlot's elite. Three troops of guards had found her, two troops were down and only the unicorn was left from the last troop. Still, eight out of nine wasn't bad. Her armor was designed much in the same manner as the pegusi's, all sleek lines with a pair of ridges running down her back to match her mask. But, seeing as this was her personal set, she had opted for a little flair. The breastplate was stamped with the three virtues symbol, Vamprah's mask on either side of it looking to her sides.
"I'll admit it, I'm intrigued; just who are you?" Gavla chuckled. "I mean really, you've lasted about three minutes, that's a new record." The stallion chuckled weakly.
Gavla noticed one of the guards at her feet was stirring, she couldn't have that. She gave him a solid crack on the head, slightly denting his armor and forcing him to go limp. The stallion twitched, his mouth curling into a snarl.
Gavla rolled back onto her hindlegs, holding her claws at the ready. "You're serious. I like that." Her claws swirled with shadows. "Let's play!" She rammed the claws into the ground, sending waves of darkness howling at the stallion, his horn flickered, pulling up the rock in front of him to halt the shadow blades. The rock exploded, debris pelting the stallion, a rather large rock knocked his helmet off, revealing a white coat and blue mane. The stallion scowled at her. Gavla took to the air, peppering the stallion with shadow-bolts, kicking up dust around him. A dome appeared around the spot he was standing, cutting through the dust and continuing to expand. Gavla dove towards it, claws held forward. As the iron tips made contact with the shield a sound like shrieking metal filled the air, the dome shattered. The look of horror on the stallion's face made her grin wider. She swooped down onto the stallion, pinning his neck. "I think I like you." She lifted a hoof, her claws balled into a fist.
"Captain, Shining Armor!" A stallion's voice sounded somewhere to her left, followed by the crack of cannonfire. Aw shi- She felt the Rampart Blaster's shot impact her side, blowing her off of the stallion, Her mask scratched against the stone ground, digging her claws into the ground slowed her skid, allowing her to look back up. The earth pony that had shot her had another unicorn on his back, a pegasus circled above them. The earth pony ran to his fallen captain, what had she heard him call the stallion? Oh right, Shining Armor. She was hardly given much of a chance to recover as the pegasus came barreling towards her, she rolled to the side, kicking the pegasus in the gut as he passed. The pegasus careened into the ground, landing with a clatter of metal. Gavla was on him even before he had a chance to right himself. She delivered a solid blow to his neck, causing him to choke and desperately crawl away from her.
"Sandcroft!" It was a mare's voice this time, a horrible screech filled her ears, Gavla grabbed her mask, trying to protect herself from the agonizing sound. She snarled, looking back towards Shining and the other two guards. Digging her back legs into the ground for a moment, she launched herself at them, shadow enveloping her form. The earth pony reared up, taking the full brunt of her charge into his chest-plate. He staggered, sliding back as the shadows exploded outward, blowing Shining Armor back and knocking the mare off his back. He brought his hooves back down in an attempt to pin her.
"Let's cut loose, shall we?" Gavla spat onto the ground, her blades sliding out from her hooves. She ran towards Shining Armor, who materialized an ornate blade to counter hers with, standing firm against her. Sounds of metal clashing filled the air for a moment. Gavla attacked like a mare possessed, bringing both blades down on the magical construct. She drew an arm back, ready to stab, Shining pushed her back, forcing her to fall short. Gavla attacked in rapid succession on either side, which he barely countered, she knocked his blade aside bringing up one of her hind legs to deliver a solid kick to his jaw, sending him sprawling as she spun back into place.
The pegasus, Sandcroft, and the earth pony seemed to have recovered in the time it took her to dispatch Shining. They were charging from both in front of and behind her, Gavla jumped, causing her opponents to veer slightly to avoid colliding. Gavla brought down the flats of her blades on them, forcing their heads together. They slumped down to the ground, out cold. Another blast of sound impacted her chest, knocking her from the air. She landed on all fours, digging her claws into the ground to prevent herself from sliding.
"Hey." "Oh, hi Vamprah, feeling any better?" Gavla looked up at the mare, she was limping, vulnerable. Gavla grinned."Not really. I managed to wake up, but that's about it in the mobility department." Gavla flung herself at the mare like a pouncing cat, claws forward and spread. The mare jumped to the side, stumbling slightly but managing to dodge the pounce."Well at least you're up." Gavla stalked towards the mare, head down, letting her shoulders roll in a manner reminiscent of a large dog. The mare started scrambling back to her hooves, but fell back down when she attempted to place weight on her injured limb.
"Is she alright?" Gavla looked down at the wounded foreleg, sliding the plates back with a quick burst of magic, it was swelling up rather badly. The mare jerked back, pulling her hoof into a more protected position under her body."No, apparently not." Gavla stood back up straight, casting an analysis spell in an attempt to spot further injuries. The scan came back clean, but the leg was bad enough to warrant concern. Gavla nodded quickly and lit her horn, letting the charge build up in her horn for a moment before releasing it into the air. She was going to wait until she had disposed of this mare too, but it seemed like a good time to call in the medics.
Gavla sat down, scratching under her mask. "What's your name?" She said bluntly. The mare twitched slightly, surprised at the sudden change of attitude.
"You witch!"
Luna sat in a garden, it was a strange garden, there were windows hanging in the air. Some ornately carved, others plain, and others cracked and decaying. The rest of the garden was strange as well, she didn't recognize most of the flora, and the ones she did recognize had been twisted and enlarged. There was something she was supposed to be doing, she was sure of it. But at the moment she couldn't remember what it was, so she shrugged and decided that whatever it was could wait. Standing up, she walked over to the closest window. Its molding was silver, beautifully crafted to accent the fourteen stones set in it. The stones seemed to go around the molding in an order, as each was numbered. They were all clear as pure water.
As she watched, the image on the other side of the window came into focus and the first crystal turned white as snow. A large bipedal being in a suit, he walked alongside others like him for a time. Then he walked away from them, into the arms of an apparently female figure dressed in blue. Another followed behind them as they struck out into a black expanse. As they traveled through the darkness, two more figures joined them after a bout of shouting by the being in the suit. Once they set off again they encountered strange creatures, many of them hostile, but the man in the suit and his companions seemed to always come out on top.
After a time, the first figure that had followed the man turned back, leaving the man with the other three figures. They walked for a bit before coming across another figure that had fallen. The man in the suit helped the new figure to its feet and brought it with them. After a bit longer they stumbled across themselves, standing completely still and a new figure. The man shook his head and walked past the still versions of themselves, leaving behind two of the figures that followed him and gaining one. It was noticeable that after this he started slowing down, which he seemed to be grumbling about.
The process continued, gaining and losing companions, the one he had helped up left with a new figure and another joined him. They walked for a bit longer before the strange creatures that inhabited this dark path struck at them again, this time much more viciously. A new figure joined them but was swiftly dispatched by the creatures, along with one of the figures that had been following him. The man slowed down even further, trudging along. The last figure left him and for a time he was alone with the woman in blue. She reached out a comforting hand, resting in on his shoulder, but he didn't seem to notice. She shook her head and took him by the hand, leading him down another dark trail. To a spot where two figures, a boy and a girl, sat. the man seemed to brighten a little, moving a bit faster. They traveled for a while longer until they met a new creature, it was an uncanny one that seemed almost like a perversion of the figures that had followed him up til this point. The man fought them off, but he fell afterwards.
The boy and the girl ran to him and Luna feared as she watched this man take his last breaths, that this story was coming to an end. But the man changed shape instead, springing to his feet with new energy and life. Luna chuckled at him as he ran circles around his shocked and confused companions. The second crystal turned a golden brown. The woman in blue handed him a new suit and a pair of pants and after he changed into them they were off again. This cycle continued, companions coming and going, he changed shape six more times, more crystals changing colors as he did so. The third crystal turned a calming blue. The fourth was a set of four colors to match his scarf. The fifth jewel was a deep purple. The sixth was a strange mixture of several conflicting colors that seemed to vie for control of the others. The seventh was a dual sided jewel, one side white, the other a shallow black. And the eighth was a light pink. The only constant was the lady in blue, who had begun to guide him at every opportunity, a smile on her face.
During his eighth incarnation he and another figure she recognized crossed paths, as he had done many times before, with the group he had been with before he found the lady in blue. But this time they were going to do battle against one of the creatures the man had encountered before. The strange creatures were like odd squids, piloting great metal bodies. They were masters of hatred and death. The man joined the fight against them with gusto, this time dragging the lady in blue along; while the other figure ran. The fighting lasted impossibly long, other creatures, of terror beyond imagination, joining the fight. Then one day the man looked upon the leader of his people and backed away in horror. The lady in blue took his hand again and led him away from the fight, from his people and the death.
And she handed him a lock. The man stared at the lock for a moment before nodding solemnly, he turned walking back towards the fray, as he approached things suddenly became still and the man spoke, the first words she had been able to understand since she looked into the window.
The man let the lady in blue take him again, they continued down their original path, helping other figures when he could, and watching when he couldn't. Until he came across a girl, he tried to drive her away, but his efforts were weak. He was lonely. A single line carved its way into the black jewel. The man and the girl traveled, letting the lady in blue guide them and the man was happy. Then, from the darkness emerged one of the creatures his people had fought, one of the things that had tainted his race. It was old, alone and hurt, but it was still one of them. He raged at it, attempting to kill it with the harness it had been strapped into, only to be stopped by a group of other figures. The lady in blue attempted to comfort him, but he didn't seem to hear her.
The creature managed to escape its captors, attempting to get to the girl who had given it the strength to do so. It contacted him as it carved a swath of destruction. And he screamed.die! " The creature did, by its own means, a bit later. After the girl told it to.
They started off again, and he was happy as they ran through the dark, more lines were carved into the black gem. Until the creatures returned again. This time the girl destroyed them, reviving a friend in the process. Before the energies she had used to do this destroyed her, the man took them into his own body. A final line appeared on the gem completing the image the others had formed, a rose. The man changed form again, the tenth gem turned a pale gold, but this time he slept. Standing still while the others moved around him, the lady in blue lay next to him, sleeping as he slept. Another figure dropped a small canister between them. Painful strands of gold left them both, allowing them to awaken, and they started down the road again.
The girl still followed, this new form was much more energetic and excitable than the last one. Luna watched as they traveled and laughed together, all the while a terrible shadow hung over them, a single crack in the worlds. The crack erupted, pulling the girl back through. The man clung to her with all his strength, but the hole was stronger and while he held fast other creatures were being let through. The Perversions and the Murderers did battle around them, threatening to destroy the other figures. The lady in blue placed her hand on his, looking down at him with sorrowful eyes and he understood. He let go, letting her fall back into the hole that ate the monsters. But at the last moment by some glorious providence she was saved, she was still pulled away from him, but she would live.
The lady in blue took him by the hand again, leading him to a window. Through the window he could see her, his rose, but the window shattered before he could complete his goodbye. Then another woman, like a fiery storm, fell onto his path. This woman was only with him a short time, but she managed to cheer him up a bit. He kept walking, he found another girl and she followed him. Together they faced more of the Murderers, only this time they were trying to coexist, but fell despite the man's best efforts. Four, seemingly harmless, figures chased after them and the man ran, dragging the girl with him. Once the four figures caught up with them, the man turned against them, locking them each away in an eternal prison. Then the one who ran approached. The man tried to welcome him as a friend, but the runner instead lashed out, unleashing untold destruction before falling at the hand of a figure he had kept beside him. After this, the girl left and the fiery woman returned.
Instead Luna turned her gaze to the lady in blue, while the man interacted animatedly with the others that crossed his path, the lady in blue was almost like a silent sentinel, something that the man had decided was simply supposed to be there. She led him with a smile when he let her and followed where he went otherwise. When he was sad she attempted to comfort him, when he was angry she tried to calm him down, when he was lonely she was there for him and when he was happy she watched and smiled. But the man never seemed to notice. He treated her well, with a great deal of tenderness, [even going so far as to kiss her hand at one point] but never seemed to truly acknowledge her.
He had changed forms again while Luna was focused on the lady in blue. The eleventh jewel was a scarlet red. He finally took notice of the lady in blue, acting almost as if she hadn't been there the entire time. The lady in blue was ecstatic, running and jumping and generally making a fool of herself around him. He was confused at first, not quite sure what was happening. Then something seemed to click and he swept her into a great hug, laughing and dancing with her for a short time. Then something appeared, a blue box. It seemed familiar, but Luna couldn't quite seem to place it. The man and the lady in blue looked at the box for a moment, sorrow etched into their faces. They turned back to each other and their faces softened, sharing a look of contentment they stepped apart, still holding hands they walked into the box. After a moment the man and his two latest companions stepped out, but the lady in blue didn't, instead the box changed into the lady in blue.
Luna realized that that was what the lady in blue looked like to them, a blue box. Luna continued to watch the lady in blue as she dragged the man around the path. She seemed to be a bit jealous of another woman that would appear from time to time, her pouts were slightly amusing. But once the other woman left they were alone, they walked together, for the longest time they were alone. Just the man and the lady in blue, his blue box. Suddenly they stopped walking, on the ground there was a full length mirror, on the back there was a name. River. The man turned it around, the lady in blue tried to take him away from it, but this time he didn't move. He was reflected in the mirror, but around him the world was falling to pieces, people were screaming and dying and it was all his fault. It didn't matter that the ones dying had attacked first. He saw himself step out in front of armies and they ran, he saw all that he was, all that he had been. And he hated it.
His face contorted in rage he smashed it, driving his fist into it again and again where it reflected his face. He cried, slamming onto the mirror even once it no longer reflected anything. The lady in blue grabbed his hand as he pulled it back for another blow. This time it stilled him, she wrapped him in her arms as he cried into her shoulder. Luna could hear the woman's silent plea.
Authors note: Suck on that, writers block.
Vision. Part Two: Great Destroyer.
Vision. Part Two: Great Destroyer.
The garden shattered as she turned around, the sound of breaking glass filled her senses. Next came the pain, like her body was being pulled in every direction. Something was burrowing into the back of her neck, but no matter if she tried to stop it with her hooves or magic it kept going. Just as suddenly as it came, the pain was gone, leaving her with silence in the dark. She felt for some kind of shape and found walls, she was trapped in a sphere.
"My fault..." A whispering, raspy voice muttered from somewhere beyond her bubble. "It's my fault... I need... to make it... Right." She heard something drop. "Hermarasta fe Duren, my Sister. I'll wipe this place clean for you."
"Hello?" Luna called again. She heard the clanking and sliding of metal in response. There was light, coming from the top of the sphere, a hole as if from a gloriously honed blade. The dome started to change color, like old projector film exposed to a flame. It bubbled and hissed, revealing the world outside.
It was horrible, a wasteland, charred and cratered, the trees bare, twisted and skeletal, the sky burning red under the gaze of an overlarge crimson sun. Strange bipedal creatures lay burned and cleaved on the ground. They looked familiar, as if someone had taken a pony and stretched them into this new form. Looking closer, she realized that she recognized many of them. There lay Shining Armor, curled protectively around the body of his wife, both hewn in twain. There lay fair Fluttershy, a hole through her throat. Beside her lay the stout Applejack, the head and nothing more. Luna cast her gaze around, searching for some living soul, she found none. Only enough dead to fill Canterlot Castle twofold.
What could have done this? She ran, trying to get away from the field of bodies. What manner of Destroyer is this? She continued running, diving into the charred forest. "Hello? Anyone? Please? What happened here?" She glimpsed another familiar face, propped up against a tree, this one stopped her dead in her tracks. She stood, staring at it. "No..." She breathed. Scrambling over to stand over the poor soul, his eyes unfocused, his mottled tan and brown coat stained with blood from the gash running down his chest. She fell to her knees before him, reaching forward with her hands to cup his blank face. She could feel tears running down her face, but she didn't care. Some vague part of her realized that she had been changed like the others around her, but she paid it no heed.
She wanted this to stop, this place didn't make any sense, she wanted things to go back to when the colt before her had sent her letters. She wanted the sun to stop watching, she could feel the malevolence rolling off it like the heat it gave. She had seen war before, but nothing like this, even Discord despised death, what would hand so many over to it like this? Nothing made sense anymore, what could have done this? Where did it go? Why was the land so ravished? Where was her sister?
The body shuddered, taking a weak breath and snapping Luna out of her rising shock.
"General? Master? What are you talking about?" Pipsqueak's eyes focused and he blinked.
"Sadness?" The figure spoke in the same voice that she had heard in the dark, only now there was an edge of hatred and disgust. "That's a new trick for his creatures to have." Luna heard the sound of a blade being drawn. The figure drew a spear that looked as if it were carved from the spinal column of an immense serpent. He flicked it and the blade flipped down, changing the spear to a scythe. "What, does he think I'll pity you?" Drawing on some reserve of strength, Pipsqueak shoved her away just as the figure swung the blade. Causing it to miss Luna and instead bury itself through Pipsqueak's neck and into the tree.
"Pipsqueak, no!" Luna scrambled to her feet, looking first to Pipsqueak's lifeless body, and then to the figure attempting to telekinetically pull its blade from the burned husk of a tree. "You brute!" She screamed, running towards the being. She jumped at it just as it pulled its blade loose, knocking her away from it with the shaft. It picked her up by her feet, hanging her upside down in front of its face. And she recognized it. "Krika?"
"Oh, did your master not tell you who you were sent to kill?" Krika hefted his blade, cocking it back. "Then I have a message for your slug to take back to him. Know that no matter what you send after me, no matter whose face it wears like a mocking mask. I will kill it. No matter where you hide, I will find you, 'Wearer of the Sun', The Great Destroyer comes for you!" With that he brought down the blade, and she screamed as the trance was broken.
"Where's the head? Ask them where my head is!" Twilight winced. Have you ever had something literally pushing on your consciousness? It feels weird, really, really, weird. Like your mind is a thick sheet of rubber, being stretched out as far as it can go.Why should I? Twilight shot back, pushing back down on Teridax."I will leave you alone for a good week if you do." That would be nice, she really didn't like that rubbery feeling.Fine, Twilight turned to Brutaka, the behemoth had sat down on the edge of a fountain positioned outside the council building. He held a rather large whetstone, grinding it along the edge of his massive blade.
"Dekal, take the others and show them around the city, please. We need to have a word with this one." Dekal brightened a little, motioning for the group to follow her. "Be sure to take Tanma with you." Dekal stiffened before looking over to the aforementioned matoran, who was currently refusing to speak with any of them. She looked back at Brutaka, throwing him a glace that clearly meant, 'do I have to?' Brutaka nodded slowly and Dekal gave a defeated sigh.
"Our Brother wishes to know what happened to him?" Brutaka smirked at Twilight's look of shock, placing his bow-like sword into the sheath slung over his back. "You reek of Teridax's antidermis, Twilight, something We've had more than a taste of. The only reason We have not stricken you down is that you appear to have him under control." Brutaka drew himself up to his full height, the green lines in his armor glowing a ghostly green, a sound like a thousand dying breaths filled the air around him. "Lose that control, and We will have no choice but to destroy you." Twilight felt an almost instinctual urge to stand her ground, a rather strange turn, but then again, new body, new rules.
Her left hand twitched, a lance of energy dancing between the talons, Brutaka chuckled.
"I want out, right now, you can't have my power." Twilight felt as if some great weight was slowly being lifted from her head. She looked up and saw Teridax's antidermis flowing off her head, the green smoke billowed and shifted, reaching further and further.was in her head, which of course did little to stop it from burning in her skull.
Brutaka's face shifted from confusion at the change of color, to shock at the agony it seemed to be causing Twilight. The now flame-like antidermis flowed back into Twilight. The screaming stopped, but she could still feel him shuddering in her head. Twilight stood shakily, leaning on Brutaka's offered hand for support. "That's a rather powerful seal Miss. A bit excessive honestly.""What have you done to me?" Teridax weakly groaned at her.I just said I didn't do that. Twilight brushed him off, shaking her head to make sure she was properly centered.
"Do you still wish to know what happened to him?" Brutaka gestured to the north, Twilight nodded. "In that case, I believe we should wait for the others. If that level of seal is necessary, I may not be able to deal with the result alone."
"Tell us Miss, if you found your own dead body, stricken down by your worst enemy, how would you react?" Twilight felt Teridax stir in the dark corners of her mind and shuddered. "Exactly. We can give you an overview of the abilities you will have access to while He resides in your body, while we wait for them." Twilight nodded vigorously, excited at the prospect.
Teridax felt himself slipping, falling through the formless mass of unconsciousness. It was odd, he felt so weak, that shouldn't happen. He was a gaseous cloud, he didn't have a physical being to tire out. What did it matter anyway? He had failed, at least, he thought he had, too many of his enemies were walking around unhindered for him not to have failed.
He felt something grab a hold of him, it was cold, but strong, like a winter gale. At that moment his consciousness recovered enough from his encounter with his gatekeeper. Reminding him that this was a mindscape, he wasn't as illusive here.Familiarity is comforting, but with a new beginning deserves complete rejuvenation. He ran a finger over his massive chest plate, thinking for a moment before deciding on a few modifications.
He flattened out most of his bulk, shifting it from a massive body to sleek, dense plates down his arms and legs. His chest smoothed out till it resembled musculature instead of the bulbous swell of a rahkshi's back. He looked down at himself for a moment, flexing a two-thumbed hand before nodding, content with his new form. Looking up, he gasped at the world his new ally had crafted. A massive throne hall, carved from purest alabaster stone. Inscriptions lined the walls in the script of The Great Beings, it gleamed in the faint light streaming in through massive windows along the hall.
"I hope it is to your liking, Master." Its voice sounded behind him. Teridax turned, facing a creature clouded from view by jagged shadows, almost like torn cloth, that writhed and billowed in some unacknowledged wind. The creature's form was all but concealed by the shifting darkness. It was big, Teridax looked behind it, strike that, it was massive. Standing several feet taller than Teridax at it's shoulders, a little more if one counted the extra height given by its neck. Even at that height most of its mass was coiled around the hall behind it in serpentine coils. Two large arms sprouted from its shoulders, shadow trailing off its wicked claws as it gestured to the white throne. Its head was hard to place, as it seemed to wear the shadows like a hood, trailing back from between its eyes to pool around its neck and shoulders. Its eyes shone yellow under the cloak of darkness and its teeth, caught in a perpetual grin, gleamed like protosteel. Teridax found himself nodding in approval, he would have to make something based off of this creature.
Teridax stepped up to the throne, eyeing the inscription that rested above where his head would lie.
"I am the voice that woke you, that whispered to you when your host was in danger. I am the blade with which you lay low those that stand against you." The creature performed a sort of bow, bending over at about where its waist would be if it had legs.
"The entirety of that prophesy, what is it?" Shadō asked, "when I created this room for us I was only able to find that piece." Teridax felt strength rush through his being as he thought of the words that had inspired him through a thousand years of war.
Teridax went silent for a moment, listening to the world around him. He could feel it, the thick wall between him and his host, he could not take control but this wall prevented little else. He reached out, grabbing hold of Twilight's memories. "New world, new conquest." Her memories manifested as a large tome, "fitting," he chuckled. Flipping open the book, he began to pour over the machinations of his new world, muttering to himself as he did. "Griffons, Buffalo, Zebra, Dragons, four opposing philosophies, useful. Surprisingly accustomed to killing for an herbivorous species, interesting." He brushed off a page, flipping to her knowledge of the predatory species. "Hydra, Manticore, Dragon again, Cockatrice especially insidious, Timberwolf. That would explain it."
He turned to the foes that she had faced. "Nighmare, pathetic, fueled by childish need. Discord, impressive, such a shame to see such wasted potential, but at least he's happy with it. Chrysalis, almost adorable, wishes for what she cannot have." Teridax fell silent for a moment, seeming to almost deflate before snapping himself back to attention. "Sombra, absolutely incompetent," he snarls a little. "A disgrace to the power of shadow and the ruling class alike. I'm going into a place where darkness has already had its image squandered by this fool." He tapped the side of his mask. "I'm not even there yet and I already have to deal with pr. problems." With that he set to planning, using all the knowledge of his host's mind to craft the tool that would take apart Equestria from within.
"Are you suggesting, Vakama, that we simply forget the crimes their kind has committed?" Onewa scowled, slamming his hammer into the table. The council was made up of seven turaga. Onewa, a po-turaga, stood on the end of the table opposite Vakama. He had sand brown armor and a mask that gave him the appearance of having an almost square jawline.
Standing with him was Whenua, a onu-turaga, his rounded brow creased with worry. His armor and mask were jet black, his mask rounded until the top and bottom, where it almost appeared that the oval had been cut. He carried a drill, spinning it up out of nervous habit. Dume, another ta-turaga, stood on Onewa's other side. From a narrow mouth his mask fanned out over the rest of his head. He stared at Vakama in an almost calculating manner, he didn't know the younger turaga to be so adamant about any cause as lost as this one.
Standing with Vakama was Nokama, a ga-turaga, her face set and determined. Her armor was a light blue, her mask a near perfect oval. She carried a trident, its blades set in the stone at her feet. Nuju, a ko-turaga, stood silently on his other side, his face impassive. His armor was an almost white grey, his mask was almost square. He carried an icepick, his hand slowly tightening and relaxing around it the only sign he gave of the severity of the discussion.
Standing between the two groups was the le-turaga Matau. Standing in a rare moment of stillness, his normally cheerful disposition marred by the look of turmoil on his face. His armor was green, his mask almost bean shaped. He carried a saw, which was quietly whirring as he thought. He had yet to speak in this meeting, simply listening and thinking. All seven of them wore vests decorated with sown-in motifs of their element.
"Far be it for me," Onewa continued, "to say that personal confusion isn't an excuse to cause destruction. I did my share of that as a hordika. But I don't care if your theory is true, even if it is, there must have been a good reason for it." He looked to Nuju. "Yes we must look to the future, but not at the expense of lessons learned in the past." He gestured to Whenua, who spoke next.
"Even before their 'fall', as Vakama puts it, they were a vicious race, all but eager to kill. It is in their nature to be excessively violent, as well as to see to their own safety before others. They were hard enough to deal with the first time, why would we bring them back now that the toa are spread so thin?"
"Teridax's original plan was far more covert than any of you give it credit for." Dume spoke up. "He was meticulous to the point of near psychosis, it's entirely possible that the pool's re-activation is simply a back up plan, to keep himself alive if all else failed."
"Because we didn't nee-" Onewa started, only for Matau to cut him off.
"I-" Dume started, only for Matau to interrupt again.
"We don't know." Nokama stepped forward, "none of us know." Onewa opened his mouth, but Nokama waved him away to let Matau finish thinking. There was silence for a moment before Matau spoke again.
Onewa turned to leave, groaning loudly.
"Why did this have to wait until after the pool that isn't going anywhere?" Onewa grumbled.
"Lewa has been restless-itching for something important to do." Matau nodded, "I suppose we could spare him."
Wow, as it turns out, getting hit by an angry magic user hurt a lot more than getting hit by a scared one. Gavla made a mental note of this as she peeled herself out of the wall of a gazebo located towards the center of the gardens, flopping onto the ground unceremoniously in order to take stock of what was still working. Arms? She dug her claws into the concrete, pushing herself into a sitting position. Check. Legs? She planted her hind legs, getting back up into a standing position. Check. Face? She opened her eyes, wincing slightly at the pain the sudden onslaught of light caused. Check. Wings?... This was what she was really afraid of, unlike the rest of her body, she was unable to get her armor to prevent the breaking of wing bones when faced with an assault of great force from above or behind. It was simply impossible to do without compromising maneuverability.
She then remembered something she considered a stroke of genius. She had built small flaps, into both the her armor and the pegusi model armor, that the wings could be tucked into in the event of such an impact, in order to protect them from harm. Stretching her wings out from under the light plates she sighed in relief, thanking the Great Beings that anything with wings' first instinct in to tuck them in when faced with such force. Check. She rolled her neck, popping a few vertebrae back into place.
"Oh, so you're the one I've been hearing about. The one who got kidnapped by an over-sized bug." Gavla taunted, Cadence glared at her. "It's embarrassing honestly, now I have to tell people that I got hit by someone who couldn't handle a Nui-Rama."
"Hate to break it to ya girly," Gavla cocked back her arm, "but it'll take more than that." She threw the orb of power, loosing one of her own to follow it. Cadance drove herself higher to avoid the volleys of energy, Gavla chuckled. "That which is the makuta's," Cadance's rebounded spell changed course, making a beeline straight for her, Gavla's did the same, the black swath following the blue bolt back to its master."Don't you dare say it." "You said it..." Gavla laughed as Cadance's eyes widened in surprise. She whirled around, putting up a shield, her own power impacted it, shattering the barrier. Gavla's bolt kept going, exploding inches from Cadance's face. A black plume burst out, clinging to Cadance's form as she tumbled through the air.
Righting herself, Cadance looked around for Gavla, not wanting to lose sight of her opponent. Gavla surged up, squaring a vicious punch to Cadance's stomach before flying past her. Cadance's flapping became irregular as she tried to catch her breath, forced out of her by Gavla's armored fist. "Oh, come on 'princess', I know you can do better than that, your aunt controls the sun, the other one controls the moon and you..." Gavla trailed off, taunting her with silence."Now you've done it."
Cadance released the energy, letting it flow through herself. An unspoken rule among alicorns was that they never showed their true power, always locking it away behind several walls of sealing spells. Luna had been the first to break this rule, allowing herself to let go during the initial defense, to drive the invaders out of Ponyville. Cadance was about to do the same to punish the bitch who had beat her husband. The air around her rippled as threads of light appeared in the air around her, unraveling before disappearing completely. Cadances eyes closed tight as power flowed, unrestrained, through her body. In all honesty, it hurt like hell, like someone had poured red hot passion itself into her veins. All that power, bottled up behind something as weak as three layers of protective wards, now it was loose, and it had a target.
"Let's see you handle this!" Cadance's eyes flew open, abandoning their normal dark purple for the blue of her magic. The release was massive, momentarily blinding Cadance as it surged towards its target. The beam was far too large for Gavla to even consider dodging, and trying to outrun it would just make her die tired.Give the order. "Gotcha."
Gavla grinned, with a mighty heave she thrust herself forward, claws out, into the center of the beam. She tucked her wings in just as the beam hit, turning herself into a near-perfectly streamlined bullet. Heat engulfed her, electricity arching across her armor as power pooled in all the nooks and crannies of the protosteel. The iron tips of her claws parted the magic, allowing it to simply slide off her sleek armor instead of incinerating her. Bursting out the other end of the beam, Gavla swung a back leg, squaring Cadance in her jaw and opening several shallow cuts with the smaller talons there. Opening her wings, Gavla swung around Cadance, sticking close to prevent her from using properly destructive magics.
Cadance's horn glowed, a pair of wicked scimitars materialized in the air next to her. Gavla slid her blades back out, ready to fight. They charged at each other, protosteel clashing on magic with an electric sound, their fur stood on end as both sides tried to push the other down. Cadance broke off, swinging her swords in a circle around herself to put some momentum behind them. They crashed down on Gavla's, one after the other, spinning her through the air. Gavla used the momentum to bring about one of her hind legs for a heel-kick. Cadance took the opportunity to try and sever the limb, her blade clattering uselessly against Gavla's armor. Gavla pushed down, letting her leg push one blade out of the way and one of her blades to occupy Cadance's other sword. Gavla brought the flat of her blade down onto the left side of Cadance's face, making her see stars, before swooping back, putting a little distance between them.
Cadance shook her head, trying to calm the ringing in her left ear. Gavla retracted her blades, her claws swirling with dark energy. She spun in place, letting the bolts of shadow streak towards Cadance, who brought her swords down, cutting through one and then the other. Gavla was hot on their tail, claws set to strike. Cadance's horn glowed brighter, squaring Gavla in the chest with a burst of power. They were too close together, the release of power sending both spiraling through the air. Cadance was the first to right herself, surging towards the still stunned Gavla. She made contact, driving her shoulder into Gavla's back, pushing her even further down.
Gavla shook herself to regain her sense of balance, glad she had learned to let her wings essentially work on autopilot.Vamprah, can I get number four real quick? Her claws started to crackle with electricity. Thanks, big guy. She turned back to Cadance, who was streaking through the air towards her. "Sup!" She yelled, thrusting her claws out, two bolts of lightning flew from them, arching towards Cadance with deadly accuracy. Cadance brought up her swords to defend herself, the bolts landed in the swords before arching through them and towards their intended target. Cadance quickly put up a shield, the chain lightning bursting ineffectually against it. Number thirty now, please?
As Cadance threw off the shield, Gavla took a deep breath, releasing it as a shrieking concussive blast of sound. Cadance hardly had time to blink before she was knocked completely out of the air, smashing into the ground with a crash. Gavla circled the spot she fell like a vulture, looking for some sign of movement. She got it in the form of a beam of blue energy, Gavla ducked to the side, flying around the beam and down towards her opponent.
They had gathered a bit of an audience. The order had been for Vamprah to call off the rahkshi, allowing the guards to watch. "Is that all you've got?" Gavla yelled, barreling towards Cadance. Cadance shot up to meet her, swords clashing on claws as they met, sparks flew from where the iron met magic. Gavla broke contact, swooping beneath Cadance and taking another breath. She screeched again, throwing Cadance up into the air and deafening her at such close range.
Cadance felt something hot running down the sides of her face, padding at it with a hoof she found it was blood. The pressure snap caused by Gavla's power scream had popped her eardrums. This, however, went unnoticed by Gavla, who was still a good thirty feet below her. "You like that?" Gavla yelled, "well I've got more!" Gavla flew up, blades out, at Cadance. Seeing the darker red fur around Cadance's ears she stopped, her blades retracting with the sound of metal on metal. Her smile fell, turning to a look of concern. Using the guard code, which Gavla assumed, seeing as Cadance was an ex-guard captain's wife, Cadance knew. She asked, "you good to keep going?" Cadance nodded in response. "You sure? I've got medics downstairs." Cadance nodded again, Gavla grinned fiercely, her blades sliding back out.
Gavla and Cadance clashed in the air again, becoming a storm of blades and magic, neither side giving an inch as they bombarded each other with everything they had. It was nearly imperceptible, but as the fight progressed Gavla was slightly more careful with the powers she borrowed from Vamprah, making sure there was a bit of distance between them before using the more destructive abilities. Space itself seemed to warp around them as they tore into each other, but still neither one would give an inch of sky.
When Shining Armor regained consciousness, nothing could be seen of the two except a ball of swirling black and blue energy. He looked around at the rest of the clearing, the entirety of the guard was there, medics tending to what wounds there were. Most just needed a good bar of chocolate after the rahkshi's draining. Copper Plate stood next to him, appearing to have woken up only a few moments before.
The two continued to stare at each other for a moment, before bursting into laughter. "It's good to see you Plate, how've you been handling the new position as captain of the earth regiment?"
"Frigid's dead, my lieutenant is dead?" He asked, eyes swimming with tears, the other captains nodded. "The Shield's Sword..." Shining choked for a moment before speaking again. "What happened? It should have taken an army of dragons to take him down, at least that was what he always bragged."was going to be hit. They showed up when the princesses left to deal with them in other towns. It was gonna be massive, they brought all kinds of big war machines. Things that looked like elephants or giant bugs, they had a bunch of massive metal birds screaming through the skies. Frigid took one look at 'em and walked out, told the unicorns to wait until he gave the signal to raise a shield. He gave the signal, once he was outside the shield's range. All that scrap out there, he did that. Right pissed off their general too, the thing walked up to him and snapped his neck once it'd worn him down on its troops."
"Woah," Vinyl couldn't help but be impressed, everybody had seen the massive wall of debris to the north of the shield, but to hear one pony had done that was awe inspiring.
At that moment the orb of clashing energy that was Gavla and Cadance's battle came crashing down, flooding the clearing with power for a moment before dissipating. Gavla and Cadance had their blades at each other's throats, metal and magic pressed against flesh. No one dared move, lest they startle the combatants into killing each other. Gavla nodded, almost imperceptibly, at the same time the blades were pulled away and they smiled.
"A pleasure Gavla." Cadance bowed shallowly, speaking a bit more loudly than was really needed, on account of her busted ears. She walked over to stand next to her slack-jawed husband. "But do go a bit easier on Shiny here next time, alright?"
"Get your wife to a good medic, alright Shiny?" Gavla chuckled, walking past him back towards the castle. "She's got some serious fight in her."
Luna gasped as she regained consciousness, feeling even more exhausted than when she has fallen into trance in the first place. Her fur was matted with sweat and her breath came in ragged, shuddering gasps as she tried to bring her emotions back under control. Celestia spoke, breaking through Luna's haze of panic.
"Sister, I believe I have just seen Makuta Krika's afterlife." She shuddered, "and he is not well."
"Luna, I'm sure he-" Celestia started.
~~"Wh-"~~ Luna started at the muffled sound, looking around frantically.
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the Brute [Fine, I've edited the damn things.]
Fine, seeing as people have apparently been ignoring me. I'm editing the grammar in the first three chapters, but I will not be editing the content.
Dimensional Chronicles Part 1 the Brute
Prologue
Celestia was panicking; she had used her most powerful magic’s, even abilities banned by law and good old morality. This scar riddled “thing”, she could no longer give it any sort of title, was completely unfazed it even looked a bit bored. How, how was a creature that wore an eye-patch and bells to give its enemy an advantage, something that let her run it through just as a handicap, defeating her so soundly. She was a god, but here she was cowering even though she had not been hit even once, cowering from a being that looked about as far below her as anything could get with what looked like the “soul reaper” version of pinkie pie cheering it on.Oh no, she thought, How did it come to this?
Two Days Earlier:
“Come on spike.” Twilight said impatiently. “I want to get to the crater before it causes too big of a stir.” A meteor had fallen from Luna's sky last night. Meteors were known as bits of the space beyond Celestia and Luna’s control; so whenever one landed it caused quite the fuss.
At the bottom were three strange bipedal beings, two giants, one lying on its face in a pool of blood. Another, sitting on its hindquarters, some sort of cloth wrapped stick resting on its shoulder as it regarded the wounded one with no emotion. And one about the same size as Twilight, beaming up at the sitting giant with a smile on its face. The face-down one was wearing what looked like a giant spoon over its head, so Twilight couldn't see its face, but it was wearing a white robe with black lines running down its arms and legs. The one with the stick wore a white tattered panchoish’ garment over a one piece black robe thing and an eye-patch on its right eye. It had a scar that ran the length of its face next to its left eye and wore its black hair up in eleven spikes, each tipped with a bell. The small one wore just the black one piece and had pink hair.
“Well that’s not a rock,” Spike piped up, apparently rousing the big one from staring at the wounded one. It babbled something in a language Twilight didn’t understand, which was impressive, Twilight knew over thirty used languages and five dead ones.
“Yes it worked” Twilight said triumphantly.
“Okay I’m happy to meet you Zaraki-”
“Silly horsey; Kenny killed him.” Yachiru said, psychotic glee lighting her eyes menacingly. “He was a bad man so Kenny took him down. It was really fun to watch.” Twilight was shocked by how easy it was to tell she really had enjoyed watching the robed one die.
“Oh my; we need to get you to a doctor.” Twilight said, worried against her better judgment. “Can you walk?”
“Oh Twilight, it’s you,” she looked behind Twilight at the other two, “a-and you brought new friends.” She started trembling.
“Oh my, you poor thing; I’ll have to get right to work.” She hurried him inside. “You two are going to want to stay out here,” with that she ducked in after Kenpachi.
“What’s the strongest?” Twilight hazarded.“Shwoom!” the windows of Fluttershy’s cabin were blown out as the entire cabin was swathed in yellow light. The ground and wind shuddered as if they were being battered by whatever was causing the light.
“Fluttershy!” Twilight yelled, barging through the door. Fluttershy was cowering against a wall from Kenpachi, who was almost blocked from view by the yellow energy. It was crushing, Twilight could hardly move under the pressure, the pure intent to kill terrified her and she had the almost overwhelming urge to run, but Fluttershy could be in trouble. “What happened?” Twilight yelled as she struggled to walk to Fluttershy.
Twilight looked up, the energy swathing Kenpachi was shaped like a massive skull, glowering and straining to get at them. It was as if his very essence wanted to kill them. Something flew out from the rubble that had been the floor, it landed on Twilight’s leg as she clutched Fluttershy in fear. It was the patch. Twilight felt a pricking pain and a sudden rush of power, it was as if liquid fire was being injected into her veins. It was incredible and painful, she clutched at Fluttershy even harder to keep from crying out as she was blinded by the mounting power. She didn’t see or feel Kenpachi walk up to them.
“Sorry, that’s mine.” He said, peeling the patch off her leg. The power stayed but she got control over it rather quickly. Her vision cleared and she saw Kenpachi, not four inches from her horn, grinning from ear to ear. He was so close to her but she didn’t feel crushed by his power, more slightly pressured by it. The patch was still off, the power was still there, Fluttershy had fainted strait away because he was this close. It just wasn’t effecting Twilight as much anymore. “Does it feel good?” Kenpachi asked.
“Huh?” Twilight blinked, trying to clear her head.
He put the patch back on, “congratulations, you are now the most powerful thing I’ve sensed since I got here.” He turned to walk away. “Oh, and just so you know, if I had so much as touched your friend there she would have died.” Twilight struggled to move, her body was not used to handling this level of power. She laid Fluttershy’s’ head down as gently as possible and turned to clean up the mess Kenpachi had made; the pain was starting to fade. She used her magic to fix the floor and the windows, with surprising ease, normally doing either one of those tasks would take all her concentration. Now it was as easy as levitating a book, even Celestia had trouble reforming things that had been as effectively shattered as the cabin.
She was obviously still far below Kenpachi, as she reflected on this she found herself able to fully comprehend how strong he must be. This creature was a threat to everything and everypony in Equestria and she had to keep him occupied. The pain also disappeared while using her magic, as if it was a manifestation of sealed away and pent up energy. She ran out after Kenpachi.
“Okay, but we’ll have to get her permission.” She paused for a second, “say Kenpachi?”
“You know we have some important rules around here.”
“Is everyone here a pony?” Yachiru asked loudly, as if daring something that wasn't to come out.
“He’s Zaraki Kenpachi,” Yachiru said, peeking over Kenpachi’s’ shoulder. “And I’m Yachiru. I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone with hair as pink as mine.” She smiled calmly, without the usual psychotic glint.
“That was.... different.” Kenpachi said, obviously confused. “Pops out of thin air and has next to no Reiatsu.”
“I noticed that when you were with that Fluttershy or Pinkie you got stronger." Kenpachi grinned. "If there were three more your power would double. Why is that?” Twilight sensed a trap.
“What in tarnation!?” She yelled as a root burst from the earth beneath her hooves, launching her into the air. She landed on her back and looked up at Twilights’ concerned face. “Well, that’s new. Oh hey Twi’, who’s your friend?”
“He needs a place to stay, and judging by what just happened, I doubt my tree would be suitable.”
“Pleased to have ya’ stayin’ Zarak-”
As they walked to the barn Twilight kept a careful eye on Kenpachi. “Don’t worry,” he said blankly over his shoulder. “You’re the only one strong enough around here for me to even consider fighting.” He smiled but it dropped from his face. “Well you and that unicorn with the Lyre.” Now it was Twilight’s turn to be confused. A lyre, she didn’t personally know anyone who carried a lyre around with them. “To be perfectly honest I have no idea why Yachiru didn’t notice her, the only other person she couldn’t sense was captain Unohana...” He trailed off, stopped in his tracks and started grinning like a madman.
“Kenny?” Applejack said nervously. Kenpachi’s’ hand slowly started to make its way to his swords hilt.
“Stupid light speed barrier.” She grunted through gritted teeth. She opened her eyes and the first thing she saw was Kenpachi staring down his nose at her. He looked up at Twilight.
“Look,” Kenpachi said impatiently, “your friend here is the most powerful thing I’ve felt since I got to this damn rock. Judging by her reaction she has five boosters to her power. That pink and yellow pegasus Fluttershy, the Pinkie Pie Yachiru ran off with, Applejack here and you. Where is the fifth.”
“Oh you’re on.” They were both off before Twilight had a chance to blink.
“Twi’, hahahaha, wait.” Applejack yelled, trying to catch her breath. “Ah just got an image of Kenny ,hahahaha, in one of Rarity's dresses.” She descended into a laughing fit and Twilight ran off.
By the time Twilight got to the Carousel Boutique it was obvious they had been there for a while. Yachiru, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie were on the roof, looking through the skylight and giggling. Pinkie was passing around a bag of popcorn. Twilight opened the door.
Inside, Rarity was hard at work, taking measurements of Kenpachi, who she had managed to strip down to nothing but his bandages and a strange undergarment worn around the waist apparently to block the groin from view. She had brought down his hair into a more orderly fashion, something most would call a mullet. The eye-patch was still there but, judging by the shattered mannequins and glass, she had attempted to remove it. He looked about as angry as that Manticore that had the thorn in its paw. Rarity started fitting a sleeve for him. Kenpachi spotted Twilight.
“Number five is a pain in the ass!” He growled at her.
“She whined her face off,” Kenpachi interjected. “It was more painful than getting this scar.” He pointed to the scar across his eye. “Without the fun of battle.”
“You’re the one who tried to take it off.” Kenpachi snapped back, “ow!” He yelled as she poked him with the needle.
“Wow Kenny, you look great.” Yachiru said, jumping off the roof onto Kenpachi’s’ back.
"She's like a female Ayasegawa!" Kenpachi screamed. "And I thought the bastard was annoying as a soul reaper!"
Dear Princess Celestia: I made a new acquaintance today, his name is Zaraki Kenpachi. He worries me. He is insanely violent, barely able to keep his hands off his “Zanpakto” as he calls his sword. I would like to schedule a meeting for him to see how he reacts to you, but as scientifically intriguing as that is it seems like a very bad idea. Being around beings he considers powerful seems to excite him considerably. Sincerely, your student; Twilight Sparkle P.S. he seems to have figured out the Elements of Harmony’s effect on me making him quite unstable around me. P.S.S. He mentioned an insanely powerful unicorn with a Lyre, could you please look into this?
Waking the Blades.
"Incredible." Rarity whispered. "I would probably sell my shop to get my hooves on a piece of that crystal." Five of the ponies were marveling at their surroundings, while Twilight and Lyra were talking over strategies.
Lyra stopped talking staring at their destination in horror.
"Alright, now that everypony has a handle on how serious this is we need to get into order to best survive, I don't want you goofing off on me now. First grab a landing buddy if we hit halfway through the barrier you're gonna need one, second make sure your sword is strapped tightly onto your body and thirdly if we hit outside the barrier... it was an honor serving with you." Applejack and Rainbow grabbed Rarity, Pinkie jumped onto the closest pony which happened to be Fluttershy and Twilight grabbed onto the stone faced Lyra who started speaking almost as fast as Pinkie Pie.
"If you encounter a captain most would say run, but anypony who's spent time around them knows that running will be about as useful as throwing a pegasus down pillow at them. There are ten captains currently, one of which you've already met. Captain Yamamoto head of first division is an old man but stronger than most creatures could even imagine his zanpakto's name is Ryūjin Jakka, at it's basic level it is a massive wall of fire that he can command. Suì-Fēng is head of the second division and the stealth force, she has the appearance of a young woman with two massive braids, her zanpakto is Suzumebachi it appears to be a claw but if it hits you in the same spot twice you will die. The third division currently has no captain. Retsu Unohana is captain of the fourth division, she appears to be a middle aged woman, her zanpakto is named Minazuki, her powers are mostly for healing so she may be the one captain you can run from. The fifth division currently has no captain. Byakuya Kuchiki is captain of the sixth division, he has the appearance of a young man, he is most easily identified by the white holders he keeps his hair in, his zanpakto is named Senbonzakura it is a swarm of minute blades do not run from him under any circumstances. Sajin Komamura is captain of the seventh division, he has the head of a dog so he should be easy to identify, his zanpakto is named Tenken it creates a giant that mimics his movements. Shunsui Kyōraku is captain of the eighth division, he is most easily identified by his pink floral print robe, he is more likely to simply stall you with pleasant conversation than attack you so if you do encounter a captain pray that it's him, his zanpakto is named Katen Kyōkotsu I actually never got to see this one. Ninth division currently has no captain. Tōshirō Hitsugaya is captain of the tenth division, he has the appearance of a child with white hair, he is surprisingly easy to goad, his zanpakto is named Hyōrinmaru it takes on the shape of a dragon made of ice which he can command or that of a pair of wings. You already know the eleventh division captain. Mayuri Kurotsuchi is captain of the twelfth division, he is easily identifiable by his massive headdress and facepaint, his zanpakto is named Ashisogi Jizō if you are cut by this you will be paralyzed then you can consider yourself as good as dissected, probably awake and screaming. Jūshirō Ukitake is captain of the thirteenth division, he appears to be a sickly man with long white hair, his zanpakto is named Sōgyo no Kotowari I never got to see this one either. Brace for impact!"
They popped out of the between space and briefly hit something solid before bursting through, Lyra relaxed which Twilight guessed meant that they had hit halfway through the barrier so she relaxed too for a second before they started spinning and she had to hold on for dear life.I have hands! She examined the rest of her body, she was one of Kenpachi's species. Why am I like this? I shouldn't be like this. A thought that wasn't quite hers shot through her mind and she pushed it aside. She didn't have time to deal with any mental anomalies. She looked up to Lyra who was sitting cross legged in a robe similar to Yachiru's.
Twilight tried to stand up and ended up falling flat on her face.
Twilight sat down cross legged grabbed the dagger from her saddlebag and unsheathed it. The dagger grew into the katana equivalent of a longsword. "Wow you're just a little powerhouse aren't you?" Twilight blushed as she always did when somepony complemented her power. What do I have to be embarrassed about? Twilight again pushed away the thought that wasn't quite hers. There was a sort of popping sound and a robe like Lyra's came into existence around her body. She placed the blade across her lap and concentrated looking for some spark from the sword, some tendril from her mind to its. Twilight had practiced meditation while under Celestia's tutelage so the dive into her own mind was simple.
She opened her eyes and the world was black. She could see nothing in the darkness, then a light soft and, purple broke through the shadows. She followed it to its source, a glowing blade, ethereal and flowing next to a black blade that looked as if it was the shadow the glowing one would cast, they were linked together by a grey chain that seemed to be rising above them. She grabbed the chain and the world exploded into white. She covered her eyes with her hooves to no avail until the light faded, she was surrounded by shelves of books.
Outside Lyra tapped her shoulder to make sure she was under.I hope the others can make it alright.
"Rainbow Dash?" The creature opened its eyes and looked down at her.will try to kill us, so we don't need to be drawing any further attention to ourselves."
"Case and point." Rarity stated. "Now we are going to need weapons. Luckily Lyra supplied us with some before we went in." Rarity opened her saddlebag and removed her blade from its sheath, it instantly blossomed into a rapier-like katana. She gave it a few test swings and thrusts, it was balanced perfectly.
"Whoa!" Applejack nearly fell over as her dagger leaped to great sword proportions, she overcompensated in the way back up and swung it over her head. She picked it up more gingerly. "It don' hardly weigh nothin'. Musta' caught me by surprise." Rainbow looked down at her own sword with disappointed eyes. It was more of a shortsword, designed to be fast but not as impressive as Applejack's or Rarity's. Three robes popped into existence around their bodies but they just figured it came with the swords
"We should get out of here and find a better place to lodge long enough to think of a way to find our friends."
As it turned out the place that Rainbow had spotted was just around the corner, although seeing as the Seireitei seemed to be made up of massive corridors this was still quite a distance. Once there they ducked inside the small deserted building and Rarity disguised the entrance with illusionary magic. Applejack immediately sat down with the sword and closed her eyes seeming to fall asleep for a moment.
Dash Groaned but sat down with her sword across her lap and closed her eyes. Rarity also sat with her blade looking inward searching for the tendrils of another mind. She opened her eyes to a black world, the only light came from something silver in the distance, she ran towards it finding that the faster she moved the farther away the light seemed to get so she slowed down to a canter and the source of the light seemed to fly towards her, it was a silver arrowhead which impacted her chest bathing the world in white light. When the light faded she was in a cave filled with gems of every shape, size and color.
Applejack was actually able to find her item by listening for it, it was a pair of old worn looking boots that made quite a lot of noise as they moved around. She touched them and the world exploded into white when the light faded she was in a golden field standing across a table from a hominid in a suit.
"Attention guard squads a group of ryoka have entered the Seireitei, capture if possible, resistance is to be met with lethal force." The bald one looked away for a moment before grinning at her.
She carefully struck out into the darkness heading towards a small yellow light that seemed to beacon her closer. It was coming from a helmet that swooped onto her head bathing the world in white. Once the light faded she found herself in a dense jungle.
"Miss Twilight, I see you've been enjoying our home." The being smiled gently her voice like silk.
"Oh come now Twilight, we both know he was lying. Though the process is similar shadow leeches and Vamprah's bite are quite different as exampled by Princess Luna. The shadow leeches simply devour all they can get, Vamprah only drains the physical, any immunity comes from mental fortitude, so how can you be immune physically?" Twilight opened her mouth to respond but found herself unable to think of anything to say.
"That's the thing isn't it. What side effect would be so terrifying that Vamprah would refuse to go through with it even after seeing how dedicated you were? I already know, but you don't, Vamprah thinks he wiped it clean from you, but we know better, don't we?" Her eyes flashed black, her voice became gruff and male on the last two words before reverting back. "That is how you earn my name, find the one book that doesn't belong and answer your question." There was a flash of lightning and she was gone.
Twilight paced through the halls searching for any obvious differences, something in the binding or the shelves that she wouldn't recognize, the library was huge. Twilight briefly regretted having read so much. There was one thing she didn't recognize, on the end of every shelf of books there was a plaque that read.
Twilight cautiously walked up to it, on the pedestal was a book much different from the others. The binding was metal, the pages seemed to be made from some kind of stiffened leather and it was emblazoned with the same face as the rug was. This book felt evil, every one of her senses rebelled at being this close to it but she wanted it, she wanted to open the book and absorb whatever resided within, she wanted to unleash the power she felt bound to it, her magic would make lifting the steel cover a breeze, it would be so easy. But it was wrong everything about this book was wrong, no matter how much she wanted it. She backed away from it terrified of what might have happened if she had given in.
"Congratulations." There was another flash and A was standing between her and the book. "You have not only answered your question but proved yourself above his control."
"Welcome back." Lyra gave Twilight a hand in standing back up.
"Hey bookworm, lookin' good."
"Hello Miss Applejack." A devious smile that matched his voice rested on his lips. "I've been looking through your head and I've seen all your thoughts and tricks. I'm not impressed, whether or not you get my name depends on how you respond to my request. Impress me." It was a simple command but by looking into his eyes Applejack could tell that he wouldn't be impressed by anything she did, he was actively trying not to be.
"Ah don't 'ave time fer this." He visibly jerked.
Applejack opened her eyes to see Rarity sobbing and Rainbow Dash scowling, things obviously weren't going as well for them.Rarity marveled at the cavern captured by the beauty that surrounded her until she heard the sound of stone being smashed. She whirled around to see a white coated maneless unicorn stallion picking crystal debris out of his hoof.
"Why are you here?" He said coldly.
In his eyes she saw Celestia and Luna, Sweetie Belle, her friends, her neighbors, her home. She saw all the beautiful things of Equestria. And she saw it all burn, she saw Celestia and Luna beheaded, she saw the streets littered with bodies, she saw the rivers run with blood through a wasteland, she saw Applejack being forced to drag tanks, she saw Twilight being used as a battery for a death machine, she saw Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy strapped to tables having their wings plucked, she saw Pinkie Pie drawn and quartered, she saw Sweetie Belle being beaten and she saw herself broken and bloodied weeping in a grey stone cell.
"NO! Please stop!" She tried to look away tried to run from the nightmares filling her mind but she found herself paralyzed by his stare. "No more, please no more!" She cried out.
"Congratulations Rarity, you're a soldier. Soldiers are not born of training or battle, soldiers are born of a refusal to be defeated, a willingness to die trying. i had to be sure you were ready for what you're going to have to do. My name is Kaizen." The world faded to white and Rarity woke up to Appejack's face.
"Rar' r' you alright?" Rarity didn't even bother with explanations, instead opting to sob on her friend's shoulder. "A'll take that as a no."
"First test, a simple race." The clouds rearranged themselves into two lanes. Rainbow grinned at Wings before taking off in front of him. she had already proved that she was fast on her feet and took off confidently, she didn't know how long the track was but she was determined to at least keep up with her opponent. She looked over at Wings who was barely even flapping to keep up with her, on top of that he was reclining on his back and even looked a bit bored.
"Second test, a duel." He flapped his wings and seven swords embedded themselves in the clouds in front of her, they were all considerably bigger than hers had been. She picked up one that was about the same size as Applejack's.
"Third test, cloud hopping." The clouds they were standing on broke into smaller pieces distancing themselves. Dash cocked her head, cloud hopping was a sport used by pegasus to keep their legs from becoming too weak, the use of wings was restricted, how would this prove a point. Wings flew up to take a birds eye view. Rainbow made the Jump to the first cloud easily and simply kept going until things started moving making it harder for her to make the jumps bus she still kept going until she jumped herself into a corner, her cloud moved away from the others and stood there, there was a single other cloud that came just barely with leaping distance. He's doing this on purpose the jerk. She steeled herself and jumped timing it with the movement of the cloud which happened to stall just out of her reach. And she fell screaming.
"Help me!" She looked over and Wings was simply falling with her reclining like he would in a chair. "What are you doing? For Celestia's sake help me!"was scared and he was the only one there to help her, then the element of loyalty kicked in and she realized that if she didn't cave into this thing she would be leaving her friends and her race to annihilation for the sake of her pride
He reached out and grabbed her tail stopping them dead in the air. The clouds reformed under them and he dropped her on her face.
She opened her eyes to find Rarity and Applejack staring at her. She reached down and grabbed her sword.
Time restarted and the soul reapers that had been pinning her down were blown back by a wave of power.
There was a growling to her right and she snapped to attention. In the undergrowth a pair of almost catlike blue eyes stared at her so intently she felt that her mane might burst into flames. "Um, hello. Are you my sword?" The thing responded by growling at her and creeping out from the shadows. It looked identical to her, but its face was contorted onto a snarl the that made the fire burning behind its eyes seem tame by comparison.
"Oh my." Fluttershy started backing away as the enraged version of herself crept closer looking every second like it was going to pounce on her. "N-now there's no need to be a-angry. W-whatever's bothering you I'm sure we can work it out t-together." The rage thing simply growled in response. Fluttershy was beginning to panic backpedaling as fast as she could, the rage thing just kept pace with her. She backed into a tree cutting off her route of escape, the glint in the other's eyes reached a menacing high and drool started leaking out from between its clenched teeth. It gathered itself and pounced, at that moment an armored figure burst from the underbrush delivering an uppercut to the other's jaw. Fluttershy squealed hiding her face behind her hooves not daring to look until the other yelped in pain and rustling told her that it had left. The armored figure seemed to be staring at her through its vizor, the armor was silver and bulky with feather engravings placed on the forearms and the forehead.
"H-hello?" She tried to shrink against the tree. The armored thing saluted. "Are you my sword?" It nodded. "Could you tell me your name?" It shook its head. "Why not?" It pointed to its throat. "You can't speak?" It nodded. "Would you tell me if you could?" It shook its head. "Why not." It glanced briefly after the other. "Are you scared?" It shook its head again. "Do you not want to tell me?" It nodded. "Why not?" It made a series of gestures that seemed to mean [you cannot fight.] "I can if I need to." It made another series of gestures that plainly meant [I will not let you.] "Fine then, I'll find the other and see if it will help me." The time for her usual timidness was over, she had remembered why she was there, although she didn't understand how not knowing her swords name would effect her ability to fight with it. If she backed down now she would be letting everypony she knew down.
Outside Korutsuchi and Nemu were searching the Twelfth squad complex for signs of the intruders.
End of chapter ten
Ho-ly S**t Guys
This is the first time I've actually checked on this story in quite some time and.... it broke out of it's bad Up-Down Vote Ratio. I was not expecting this. Thank you all and guess what, I'm going to get back to work on it. This and the Barraki one both. Expect the next chapter within the month.
