The Mixer Chronicles

by Mixer

Extermination

Two days after the destruction of the rainbow factory, the mane six felt that they should spend some more time with family. To this end, Applejack took Apple Bloom to see her cousin Babseed in Manehatten.
“Hey Apple Bloom, what’s up?” she asked when they arrived.
“We just wanted to see how you were doin and all, seein as how we haven’t talked in awhile,” Apple Bloom said.
“How long are you going to be in town?” she asked.
“For a few days,” applejack said.
“Well, I’m gonna make sure that your stay is the best one you’ll ever have in Manehatten,” she said.
--
In Canterlot, Soulless was doing what he had been for the past two days, wandering around the castle and hanging around the Lunar guard barracks.
“Are you ever going to take those glasses off?” Ivy asked him as he paced around.
“No,” he said flatly.
“Why?” she asked.
He stopped and looked at her.
“Because, I like them,” he said, and went back to pacing.
--
In Ponyville Twilight was studying some of the documents that were pulled from the wreckage.
“Arg,” Twilight growled, throwing a bundle of papers aside.
“What is it Twilight?” Spike asked.
“These documents don’t make sense, there isn’t enough here,” she said with an exasperated sigh.
“Why don’t you try to get some sleep it is getting kinda late,” Spike suggested with a yawn.
Twilight stacked the documents up and patted Spike on the head.
“For once, sleep does sound better than reading,” she said with a yawn.
Twilight climbed into bed and pulled the covers over her, welcoming sleep.
--
There was a lonely earth pony stallion taking a walk in Manehatten. He had been at work all day and was glad to be walking home, enjoying the clean night air.
What a lovely night, he thought to himself as he was passing under a streetlamp.
Suddenly he saw a bunch of scared looking ponies burst out of an old factory.
“What’s going on?” he asked a passing mare.
“Get down!” she shouted and tackled him.
A few moments after hitting the ground, the factory exploded in a great ball of flame.
--
“The factory incident was investigated, and the ponies seen fleeing just before questioned,” a pony said to Celestia, reading a rather long scroll. “The cause of the explosion is still undetermined, but the witnesses say that a hooded pony released them from a holding cell and told them to run for safety. It is impossible to tell whether or not they were telling the truth as the interior of the factory was burned out and there are still unidentified bodies.”
“Was there any machinery recovered from the site?” Celestia asked.
“No, any machinery had been destroyed when the investigators were able to enter the building,” he replied.
“You may go now,” she said and turned to a guard. “Bring Soulless here.”
After a few minutes the black unicorn was brought to the throne room.
“You wanted to see me?” he asked, as if he had anything better to do.
“Yes, I want you to investigate possible sites for the remaining members of the order,” she said.
“Why didn’t you ask sooner,” he said.
“Because, we had no reason to believe that there were any other cells of the group,” she said.
“Well, I could have told you that,” he said in a smart tone.
“Take Ivy and go investigate Las Pegasus, I will sent other teams to Appleoosa, Phillidelphia, and Van Hoover,” she said.
“Fine,” he said and walked out.
--
“Two days. Two bloody days of searching and nothing!” Soulless complained.
“Maybe if you stopped acting like you were mister cool, then we could get something done,” Ivy retorted.
“Maybe if I didn’t have you or your princess’s rules slowing me down I could have already found all of them!” Soulless bit back.
“Well maybe, if you weren’t such a stubborn mule, you would be able to do things our way!” Ivy yelled.
“Tell me why she paired us up again?” Soulless asked bitterly.
“Because, I grew up in Las Pegasus, and you know the most about this group,” Ivy said.
“I’m perfectly capable of searching by myself,” he said.
“The whole city, by yourself?” Ivy scoffed.
“I’d be able to do it faster than you,” he retorted.
--
I laughed inwardly, Soulless and Ivy were so caught up in their heated debate that they didn’t even notice when they passed me.
I slipped into one of the back alleys and put on the mask that I had purchased to hide my face.
I knew exactly where to find the next cell of the organization, and I was going to gut it.
I went through the back alleys, dodging the crowds and prying eyes that would stop me, and I arrived at the back entrance to a tall executive building.
I bucked the door down and created two crystal bands around my front hooves, from which I could bake blades.
A guard came around the corner, and charged me.
I tripped him up and flung him to the ground, hearing a rib or two crack with the force.
I searched him for a floorplan, or a keycard, something that could give me an edge. I pulled out a keycard, and stowed it in a pocket on my cloak.
I ran through the hallways, taking down guards as they blocked my way, some with a simple incapacitation, others with a swipe of a crystal blade.
When I found the elevator I took it up to a floor that was oddly blank on a floor plan I had found.
When I opened the door the the twenty third floor, I prepared meet the head of this operation.
I was met with a stallion trying to get into the elevator.
He swung a hoof at me that I caught and used to lever him to the floor.
“Please let me go! I want to get out of here!” he cried as I held him in a armlock on the ground.
“What do you know about the organization?” I asked.
“What organization? I’ve been locked on this floor for two days,” he said.
“Are there others?” I asked, picking him up off the floor.
“Yes, there are about twenty of us, all in different rooms. When the guards left I broke the lock and tried to get away, that’s when I ran into you,” he said.
“Show me where they are,” I said, and he led me to a bunch of locked offices.
I smashed or slashed all the locks and there were now a group of civilians that needed rescuing.
I led them to the elevator and it took both elevator cars to support all of them.
We started down towards the ground floor and it seemed to be going alright until the car gave a lurch.
“They’re going to cut the cables!” a mare cried.
I opened up the emergency hatch on the top of the elevator and I jumped to the other elevator car, tearing open that hatch too.
“Hold on, I have to keep the other car from crashing,” I said to the passengers and turned back towards the other elevator car.
There was a loud snap and the car began to freefall.
I caught it with my magic, straining at the weight, slowing it down until I felt it lightly stop at the ground floor.
When the other car reached the ground floor I jumped back to the other car and pried open the door.
“Follow that hallway until you get to the broken down door. Go out that way and tell the authorities about this building,” I said.
They nodded and started heading towards the hallway.
Since the Elevator was out I had to use the stairs to get to the top floor, fighting my way as I went.
When I finally got the the top floor, I had blood on my face and hooves, and I had had enough of the guards.
I flung open an office door and two brutes of pegasi turned to block me.
I simply slammed them against the walls with magic and advance on the unicorn that was sitting in a desk,, the city sprawling in the window behind him.
“They said that you would come for me,” he stammered, standing up as I slowly advanced towards him.
“Then you know why I’m here,” I said.
“You came to kill me,” he said, his horn flickering with magic.
I stepped closer to him, almost in arms reach.
“I came here to finish business,” I said with a smile, and grabbed his throat.
I broke the window behind him and the wind started tearing through the room.
“Please let me go,” he said, holding onto my arm.
I held him out over the edge.
“How many augmentations do you have? Three? Four?” I asked.
“Three,” he replied.
“Oh, then you should survive the fall,” I said with a smirk and let go.
--
Ivy didn’t believe her eyes. A unicorn stallion had just fallen from the very top of this skyscraper, bouncing once before coming to rest. That wasn’t even the most unbelievable part, he was still alive, coughing up blood, but alive.
“I doubt that executive stress did that,” Soulless said sarcastically.
“He’s a demon,” the unicorn wheezed, and coughed up more blood.
“Even with augmentations, I don’t think he’ll last long,” Soulless said.
“Who did this?” Ivy questioned him.
His eyes were still filled with terror, “That smile...”
“I think the fall scrambled his brains,” Soulless said.
“He won’t stop till we’re all dead,” the unicorn wheezed grabbing Ivy, then fell back, air escaping his lungs for the last time.
“Mam, we already have teams searching the building, but without the elevators, it will take some time before we can search the whole building,” a pegasus in a police uniform said.
“Make sure all the exits are covered, and that nopony enters or leaves that building without me knowing so,” Ivy said.
“Let’s check it out,” Soulless said.
“What?” Ivy asked.
“Search the building,” he replied.
“You go on ahead, I’m going to question some of the ponies that came to us,” Ivy said, and went to the group of ponies that were being looked after by a team of medics.
Soulless could tell without even investigation the I had done this, nothing else makes marks quite like a crystal blade.
He went to the basement and found what he was looking for, the essence transfer machine.
He went to the main machine then pulled out a medium sized crystal, and stored it in his cloak before destroying the machine.
When he met back with Ivy she asked him what he had found.
“I didn’t find anything of importance,” he said.
“We have to report to the princess about this,” Ivy said.
“Go ahead,” Soulless said walking away.
“Where are you going?” she asked.
“To go look for our next lead,” he said, and left.
--
Over the next three days as I made my way to the small village of Hollow Shades, a small town hidden in the forest far east from Canterlot, I read the files I had pulled from the office I had raided.
I learned how the soul siphon process worked and was working on a spell to have the same effect.
I also learned that the fallback point for surviving members was in Hollow Shades, and then onto Appleoosa.
When I arrived in the sleepy little village, it was already dark and I spied the tavern where the meeting place was.
I walked calmly in and dropped my hood, walking up to the inn keeper.
“And how can I help you stranger?” he asked.
“A few friends of mine are meeting here,” I said.
“I don’t know what you are talking about, none of the rooms have been rented today,” he said.
“We were meeting in the basement,” I said, placing a small sack of bits on the counter.
“Oh, those friends,” he said. “There have started without cha,” he said pointing to a closed door.
“Thank you,” I said and opened the door, closing it behind me and creating a crystal barrier for extra protection.
“Who’s there?” a voice came from in the basement as I descended a set of stairs.
“There aren’t any others that made it,” a female voice said.
“Why, hello there,” I said, a grin crossing my face at the sight of the six ponies gathered around a rectangular table.
The one that sat at the opposite end of the table from me appeared to be in charge and he slumped back into his chair.
A pinkish purple unicorn mare was to my immediate left, with a grey pegasus stallion farther along the table. To my right was a blue pegasus mare, another grayish pegasus stallion, and a brown earth pony stallion. The stallion at the head of the table was a white unicorn.
“Well?” I asked. “No panic? No angry threats? Not even a welcome?”
“What do you want us to say? You have dismantled most of the order, now only a few of us are left,” The pegasus mare said.
“True,” I said, giving her a nod.
“What are you going to do to us?” the unicorn mare asked.
“Well,” I said, pulling out a chair at the end of the table and sitting in it backwards, “That all depends.”
“Depends on what?” the unicorn asked.
“On how this little meeting goes,” I said.
They shuffled around in their seats uncomfortably.
“So what do you want?” the unicorn asked.
“Mostly, infomation,” I said.
“Well, it’s not like we have much of a choice,” the pegasus mare said.
“First off, how many augmentations do each of you have?” I asked.
“Three,” the unicorn answered.
“Two,” the pegasus mare said.
“Two,” the earth pony said.
“One,” each pegasus stallion said.
“What’s an augmentation?” the unicorn mare asked.
“Oh, this will be fun,” I said rubbing my hooves together. “So, who wants to tell her?”
“Augmentations are enhancements that we get using the souls of other ponies,” the pegasus mare said.
“What?!” she almost fell back in her chair with shock.
“Yes, these allies of yours have all taken in at least one pony soul to enhance their abilities,” I said.
“H-how could you?” she questioned them.
The pegasus mare glared at her, “You really can’t be so childish can you? The ponies that become our powers are worthless, not fit to be on Equestria, so we incorporate them into ourselves, making them a part of something worthy.”
“Hmm, now there’s a conceded thought,” I said.
“How are you any better? You are exterminating us because our leader threatened your precious friends. Friends that were your only weakness,” she snapped.
“Then, perhaps you would like to explain where I got the drive to defy your leader, even when I was faced with certain defeat?” I countered.
“How am I supposed to know how fools think?” she retorted.
“Then maybe this ‘fool’ can teach you something about being humble,” I said, and created a crystal.
“So what, you’re going to maim me? Kill me? Go ahead,” she snarled.
“Oh no, nothing so nice or merciful, I’m going to tear the very power you hold so dear right from your still living hooves,” I said and cast the essence drain spell, channeling the soul into the crystal.
She screamed as the slightly yellow spirit was slowly pulled fim her chest, leaving her writhing on the floor as the soul found its new home in the crystal.
“As you can see, the power you wield can easily be taken away,” I started to reform the crystal into a pony shape, “and used against you.”
The crystal pony started to move on its own and a scared ethereal voice issued from its mouthless face.
“Where am I? Who am I?” she asked.
“What, Shine?” the unicorn mare asked.
“Oh,” I said, raising an eyebrow, “You know her?”
“Shine?” the crystal pony asked, tilting its head to the side, and pegasus wings forming on its back as the soul started to reform the body.
“Sunshine, it is you!” the mare said and gave the crystal pony a hug. “You disappeared over eight months ago,” the unicorn said, tears starting to roll down her face.
“You will pay for that!” the now recovering pegasus moaned.
“Oh, then I suppose that means you want your other soul sucked out too,” I said, and made another crystal.
Se shut up and glared at me.
--
Soulless had followed the trail to this small village in the middle of nowhere, and now was questioning an innkeeper about my whereabouts.
“Sorry, I don’t know anything about any pony named Mixer,” he said.
Soulless sighed, unsheathing his hidden blade, “Let me try this again. Where is Mixer.”
“I told ya, I don’t know about any pony named Mixer, but a few strange looking fellow went into the basement,” he said pointing at the door.
He sheathed his blade and went to the door, pushing on it. When it did not yield he put his weight behind it and pushed harder.
“Hey, if you keep that up you’ll break the door,” the inn keeper complained.
Soulless just started to beat on the door, attempting to break it down.
--
“Well, it appears out time is up, but I will leave you with a parting gift,” I said, and made five crystals.
I syphoned all but the unicorn mare and pocketed the souls.
“When he breaks in here tell him what happened,” I said to the mare.
“What?” she asked.
“If you tell him what happened and explain that you didn’t want to be in the organization, I’m sure he will go easy on you, unlike them,” I said, and picked up the earth pony, a technician for the soul siphon machine.
I created a large crystal and started boaring out of the cellar that we were in.
I heard a snap as the door gave and created a board to fly on. As soon as the hole was finished I flew up and out, heading towards Appleoosa with me new assistant.
--
When Soulless broke through the crystal, or rather broke it away from the walls, he was met with four writhing ponies, a bewildered mare and a pony made out of crystal.
“Oh boy,” he said and moved down towards the group.
--
I had camped after traveling far enough away from Hollow Shades.
The tech woke up with a start, having been unconscious since I syphoned his augmentation.
“Where am I?” he asked.
“Oh, you’re up,” I said. “We are somewhere between Hollow Shades and Appleoosa.”
“So why take me and leave the others?” he asked.
“Because, you were a tech, and you didn’t actually prove to be evil or malicious,” I said.
“So you just saved me?” he asked.
“No, I brought you along so that you can help me, maybe atone for some of the work you did,” I said.
“So you think that I will just help you?” he asked.
I laughed, “Well yeah, otherwise you would probably be either dead or in a dungeon right now.”
“I see your point,” he said and looked into the stars.
“Get some sleep, we have to leave early to keep ahead of the game,” I said, laying down on the grass.
“So how do you know I won’t just kill you or escape while you’re asleep?” he asked.
“Because, if you were like that, you would have already tried something,” I said, and rolled over.
I heard him lay down and soon we were both asleep.

In the morning we ate some fruits from the forest and then started towards Appleoosa.
--
Soulless had brought back four prisoners, he had found Mixer, he had even managed to use a respectable tone with Celestia, and yet he was still being treated like some kind of stranger.
He had been told to leave the tracking down of me to the Lunar guard, and to stay in Canterlot, but he had no intentions to be useless.
He got on the same train that Ivy, Brick, and the siblings Starshine and Rose had gotten on, riding on the top as it sped towards Appleoosa.
Trottson, Phalanx and Thunderlane to fly the airship with a detachment of royal guards in it once they got back to the castle from Van Hoover.
He looked out across the front of the train as the green grass started to give way to the browns of the desert climate.
--
“So what are we looking for?” Tech, as I started calling him with no objections, said.
“Anything suspicious, disappearances, odd characters, lots of bits being thrown around, things like that,” I said.
“And why did you ditch your cloak for that duster and hat?” he asked.
“Blends in better,” I said.
He shrugged and followed me into town.
It didn’t take long before we ran into Braeburn.
“Mixer? Well shoot, when did you get into town again?” he asked.
“Aw, not too long ago. Sorry to bother ya with this, but have you seen any strange goings on?” I asked, my tone trying to match the southern accent.
“Hmm, not that I can think of, nothing too strange,” he said.
“What about large purchases, or property being bought?” I asked.
“Hmm, well I reckon that that mansion that some rich pony built just a few months ago might count,” he said.
“Anything else?” I asked.
“Well, there was this group of ponies, two stallions and a mare. They looked all hoity toity and rich, they was looking for supplies to make a ‘survey expedition’ into the badlands,” he said.
“Thank ya kindly,” I said, with a tilt of my hat and headed in the way he had indicated when he mentioned the mansion.
“Oh, but if you see a little filly running around here tell her her parents are looking for her,” Braeburn said.
“A little filly?” I asked.
“Yeay, Sand Sprite, she went out playin this mornin and she hasn’t come back to her parents, they’re startin to worry,” he said.
“I’ll make sure to keep an eye out,I said and started away at a faster pace.
“What’s wrong?” Tech asked.
“You couldn’t tell? They obviously set up a small cell here, and are using that mansion as a base of operations,” I said.
“There’s something else...” he said.
“Yeah, they abducted a filly and are more than likely going to use her for an augmentation,” I said.
“But that’s crazy, even by our standards,” he said.
“There is nothing more dangerous than a cornered dog,” I said, and started into a full blown run.

We ducked behind a large rock in front of the mansion.
“It doesn’t look like anypony’s home,” tech said, taking a look at the front of the large house.
I brought out the five crystals and made them into ponies.
“This might come as a shock to you, but you are in Appleoosa, and I need your help to punish the ones that made you like this,” I said to the five, one unicorn, two earth ponies and two pegasi.
They seemed to understand and nodded.
“When I give the signal, I need you to make it look like the house is surrounded, and create a distraction,” I said.
They nodded again and dispersed around the house and hid themselves.
“Ok, lets go knock and see who’s home,” I said and walked up to the door kicking it in.
“Knock Knock!” I shouted.
“Didn’t you say something before about the element of surprise?” Tech asked.
“It doesn’t appear that anypony’s home,” I said, looking around.
As if on cue ponies appeared in every doorway, two doors above and in front of us, two above and behind us, two on either side, and a large double door directly above us on the second floor.
“Ah Mixer, it seems that you have foolishly charged into a trap,” a unicorn sporting a cliche top hat and monocle.
“You can’t seriously call this a trap can you?” I asked.
“You are surrounded, without support, and greatly outnumbered, I’d call that a trap,” he said.
“What these guys?” I said motioning to a burly earth pony off to my right. “You are right about being outnumbered, you need more ponies.”
“I can assure you that you will not be leaving this mansion,” he said, gritting his teeth.
“Oh, I’m gonna walk out of here, once all of you deadbeats are, well, dead,” I said, creating a crystal sword and passing it to Tech.
“Dispose of this trash,” the unicorn said, waving his hoof.
Four ponies on the ground floor closed in on us, getting ready to pounce on their prey.
“Tech, you might want to cover your eyes,” I suggested.
“Why, so I don’t have to watch as you get beaten to a bloody pulp?” he asked, his vision darting between two of the attackers.
“Why do you have to ask so many questions? When I tell you to do something you do it!” I complained, and let off a magical flash as he covered his eyes.
While the others were recovering, I grabbed Tech by the collar and pulled him through a doorway, hiding us.
“Um, boss, we have a little problem,” on of the thugs said as he looked out the second story window.
“What is it?” the unicorn said, still rubbing his eyes.
“There are more ponies out there,” he said, and a crackling sound reached us as a bolt of magic impacted on the window, shattering it.
“Gah! return fire! And bring me Mixer’s head.,” he shouted, and all the unicorns went to the windows and started firing back their own magical bolts.
“So what now?” Tech whispered.
“We find that filly, and get her out of here,” I said.
“I think the cellar is this way,” he said, pointing around a corner.
I followed him and found a set of cellar doors, and swung them open.
I was tackled by a pegasus and started struggling to get him off.
After getting a few good hits in on him, and having my face nearly bashed in, I heard a thunk, and felt the stallion go limp, a crystal sword embedded in the base of his neck.
“Thanks,” I grunted, rolling the body off of me.
“Let’s hurry, I think I hear the machine starting,” he said and we hurried down the stairs to the cellar.
When we hit the bottom, we saw the process start, a young earth pony filly strapped to one table, crying in pain, while a blue-grey unicorn stallion was on the other table, writhing.
I created a crystal as a conduit, using the soul siphon spell to make the process a complete circuit, not a one way drain.
Tech shut the machine down, and ripped out the interior, totaling it while I went to the table with the stallion, and made a crystal wrist blade.
While he was still writhing I stabbed it into his throat.
After turning away from the body, I undid the straps tying Sand Sprite to the table and gently lifted her up, and onto a crystal board.
We moved back upstairs and saw that for the most part, the order thugs were winning.
I lifted Sand Sprite off the board and laid her down on a couch that was in the room.
“Protect her with your life,” I commanded, and moved to enter the other room.
I created a wrist blade on my right hoof, and slashed a thug as I moved to the stairs, going for the leader.
One of the unicorns at the window turned around just in time to see me climbing the stairs and attempted to use a magic bolt on me.
I slid to one side, narrowly evading the searing blast, then I jumped, two steps at a time up to him before he had a chance to fire another. He gasped as I stabbed the blade into his chest, then I kicked him out of the window.
I could hear a door slam behind me as the unicorn tried to flee.
I sprinted around the other thugs, giving them a quick jab or slash if they tried to stop me.
I smashed through the door and saw the unicorn trying to climb out of the window.
“Looks like your trap backfired,” I said, and yanked him magically back into the room.
“Please, I’ll give you anything. I’ll do whatever you want, just don’t kill me,” he pleaded.
“You cowering is disgusting, shut up,” I growled, and extended the blade.
“No, don’t” he begged.
I brought up the blade and then hesitated, holding it poised in the air.
“Heh, I did just think of a use for you,” I said.
“What? I’ll do anything,” he said.
“Tell me, how many augmentations do you have?” I asked.
“Just two,” he replied.
I created two crystals, and proceeded to drain both of his augmentations, leaving him convulsing on the ground.
After stowing the two I rolled him onto his stomach, and gave him the mercy of a swift death.
I walked out and jumped down to the ground floor, using magic to cushion the impact.
I walked back into the room where Tech was and both he and Sand Sprite were ok.
“I think she will live without complications,” Tech said, lifting a hoof from her forehead.
I walked over and picked her up again, laying her on a crystal board.
There are three of them left, deal with them as you see fit,” I said, turning to go out the back.
“What about you?” Tech asked.
“I’m going to return this filly to her family, then I’m going to cut off the last three heads of this hydra,” I said, and left.
As we neared the town Sand Sprite stirred on the board.
“Where am I?” she asked.
I picked her up and set her gently down, letting her find her legs.
“It’s ok now, we are just outside of Appleoosa,” I said, pointing to the town ahead of us.
“What about those bad ponies?” she asked.
“Don’t you worry about them, I took care of them,” I said in a gentle tone. “Now, let’s get you back to your parents, they’re worried sick about you.”
“Thanks mister,” she said, giving me a smile.
I wondered how I must look, dingy, slightly blood stained duster, torn hat, scar on my face. I must look pretty bad to be having me walk into town next to a smiling filly.
A few of the towns ponies started to take notice of me and Sand Sprite ran over to them, leaving them giving me a mix of looks, some greatful, others of spite.
“You brought her back,” Braeburn said, walking up to me.
“Yeah,” I said hollowly.
“Is there anything I can do for ya?” he asked.
“Yeah, give me some supplies for the badlands,” I said.
“What do you need those for?” he asked.
“To finish some business,” I said.
He gave me a look but said, “I won’t pry any further, but be careful out there, wouldn't want to have to save your flank again would we?”
“Thanks,” I said with a nod and he walked off.
He returned a few minutes later with a large pack.
“Thanks,” I said again and quickly put the pack on.
“What’s the rush?” he asked.
“The train just pulled in, and I’d rather not have to deal with the ponies on it,” I said, and hurried towards the badlands, leaving Braeburn standing by himself.
--
“Well howdy,” Braeburn said to the Lunar guard members.
“Braeburn, we heard that there could have been a possible disturbance,” Ivy said.
“Yeah, there was a fight at the new mansion,” he said.
“Which way?” Brick asked.
“That way,” Braeburn pointed, indicating the mansion that I left.
“Thanks,” Ivy said and the four of them rushed in that direction.
When they were gone, Soulless walked up to Braeburn.
“Well, I haven’t seen you around here before. Welcome to Appleoosa,” Braeburn said.
“Was Mixer here recently?” Soulless asked.
“You a friend of his?” he asked.
“In a manner of speaking, he and I have worked together,” Soulless said.
“He took of for the badlands just a little bit ago, said something about unfinished business,” Braeburn said.
“Good, so it isn’t too late,” Soulless said to himself.
--
“Who are you?” Ivy demanded of Tech.
“Um, would you believe me if I said I was here to help?” he asked.
“No,” Brick growled.
“Well, I am, at least, I was forced to be,” he said.
“Explain yourself,” Ivy ordered him.
“Ok, Mixer broke in on our meeting, took me with him, brought me here, handed me a sword and told me to deal with the rest after he saved a little filly from them,” he said, pointing to the three thugs that were tied up.
“And you expect us to believe that story?” Brick snorted.
“Really? No, I don’t. If I hadn’t been through it myself, I wouldn’t believe it,” he said.
“I think he’s telling the truth,” Rose said.
“You can’t be serious?” Star Shine asked.
“If his story is true, then what does he have to gain by lying to us?” she asked.
“His life,” Brick said.
“What about them?” Ivy asked, indicating the crystal ponies that were just standing about staring aimlessly into space.
“Mixer used some kind of soul drain on the augmented ponies, and used the souls to make these ponies.,” he said.
They all nodded.
“So Mixer is still alive,” Ivy said.
“We don’t know that,” Brick said.
“Do you know another pony that could do this?” she questioned.
Brick just grumbled and turned away.
“We have to find him,” Ivy said.
“I think I can help with that,” Tech said.
“How?” Ivy asked.
“He said that he was going to, ‘cut the last three heads off this hydra’. And when we got to Appleoosa, Braeburn told us that three ponies had gone into the badlands,” Tech said.
--
I was scouting out the mouth of a the cave that I had found, and saw that there were two guards outside. Younger than most of the others I had seen of the order, and both looked tired.
I created two lenses of crystal and used magic to allow me to see their auras, and tell which ones had augmentations.
One of them was just a normal pony, but the other had the aura of a soul swirling around him.
I prepared to go into the den of the beast, creating crystal armor plates under my duster, and making two wrist bands of crystal, from which I could form blades.
I created a crystal and used the drain spell on the one with the augmentation, his fellow guard watching as his partner fell to the ground.
I knocked him out and finished off the other, leaving me with three souls to use as soldiers.
I slipped inside and took out another patrolling guard, siphoning his two augmentations.
I had five now, enough to call a fighting force.
As I moved through the cave system serving as an outpost, I found three unaugmented ponies to every one with augmentations, and most of the augmented ones had only one.
When I moved deeper into the cave, I turned a corner and saw a lone guard, a rainbow colored aura brightly circling him. If each color was only one soul, then he had at least six or seven, if not more.
I contemplated sneaking around him but decided that he would make a great addition to my growing attack force.
I surprised him with the first drain, but he still stood after turning around and giving an angry growl.
I drained another from him before he reached me and just dodged a swing from him, rolling to one side.
I used one of the souls and made it into a pony. This was a slightly red colored soul, and the earth pony form that resulted was glaring angrily at the guard.
He covered me while I drained a third and then a fourth soul from the guard.
After the fourth, he faltered going down on one knee, and gasping in pain.
I drained a fifth and a sixth, the effort causing my body to shake and my magic to flare.
After the sixth, the guard collapsed, his breath coming in quick gasps.
His aura was his own, but after the repeated drains, it was weak, and I could tell that he was not going to live.
He looked up at me with pained eyes.
“What ... are you?” he wheezed.
I walked over to him and rested a hoof on his shoulder.
“I am an angel of death, come here to redeem the lives of so many. It is my duty to ensure that every single member of the organization is dealt with,” I said.
He wheezed and coughed.
“I believe it,” he wheezed.
“Rest now, and hope that in the next life you can redeem yourself,” I said, and ended his suffering.
I created the other sould I had gathered into a small force of twelve nigh indestructible fighters.
“What do you want us to do?” one of them asked.
“I need you to help me bring justice to all those that did this to you,” I said, a little winded.
“What do you need us to do?” another said.
“I need you to fight,” I said.
“Very well, we will bring our vengeance on these evil ponies,” a mare said.
“There are only a few of them left. The three most powerful will be well guarded,” I said.
“We will help you,” another said.
I led them down a corridor and two stallions saw us as we rounded the corner. Their eyes went wide and they bolted down the passage.
“It seems that we no longer have the element of surprise,” I sighed.
“Let them know of us!” a stallion boasted.
“They will know their folly!” a mare shouted.
We continued down a hall and three augmented guards met us.
“Four, five, six. They all have six augmentations,” I said.
“More to add to our force,” a stallion said and they charged the three guards.
Crystal bodies were thrown back, but they got back up and went back into it.
I readied eighteen crystals, nine on each side, making it look like I had a pair of wing as I started to drain the souls.
I blocked out the fighting as I concentrated on the spell, which was never designed to be used this much.
By the time I had drained three from each, I was almost exhausted.
I couldn’t keep it up and I almost collapsed, only nine of the eighteen souls.
“Ah!” one of the ponies cried as their crystal body cracked.
I repaired her body and leaned against the wall to catch my breath.
I watched as the crystal ponies were tossed and slowly, they stopped getting back up, not out of tiring, but out of a lack of moral.
The three of the semi drained guards started to advance on me.
I was sure that they would kill me, until I saw a blade flash, and one of them fell to the ground.
The other two barely had time to react before Soulless cut them down.
“You, are ahead of time,” I huffed.
“I’d say that I’m right on time,” he said.
The crystal ponies got back up and I added the nine I had created to their number.
“Oh, I brought this,” he said and handed me the potion that I had left on my armor.
“Where did you?” I asked.
“You gave me your armor remember? he said.
“I do want that back,” I said.
“Don’t worry, it’s at the castle now,” he said.
I drank the potion, restoring my strenght.
“Oh, and the Lunar guard are on their way,” he said.
“Then I have to hurry. you go and take out the rest, I’ll go for the leaders,” I said.
“You’re not going alone,” he said.
“Who said anything about being alone,” I said. and he looked around at the twenty some crystal ponies.
“Fair enough,” he said and proceeded down another hallway while I led my troops towards the heart of the caverns.
When we got to a large door, I could see shining coming from the edges.
When I opened the door I had to tear off my aura goggles, otherwise I would have been blinded by the combined auras of the three leaders.
One was a pegasus mare, hovering in the air, the other was a large earth pony, his maroon coat rippling with strength, the third was a white unicorn with a longer blue mane, and a sharp looking horn.
“So Mixer, prepared to finally die,” The pegasus sneered.
“And stay dead,” the earth pony added in a gravelly voice.
“The only ponies going to die here are you,” I said, and my force filled the room, the pegasi taking flight to let the others have more room.
The large room was now filled with twenty four crystal ponies of all varieties, all against three highly augmented ponies.
I created three crystals and drained them of their first souls, all the while each of them simply laughing.
“You think you can drain us?” the mare scoffed.
“We each have sixteen augmentations,” the unicorn boasted.
“not counting the ones you just stole,” the earth pony added.
My jaw dropped, each one of them had more than double any regular member I had encountered, I doubted that they were as strong as Serina was, but I also wasn’t able to pull a killing blow with surprise.
The pegasi started to chase after the pegasus mare, struggling to keep up with her blinding pace.
The earth pony leader was wading through them, barely slowed down by the fact that he had at least five ponies hanging off of him.
The unicorn sat calmly, watching as ponies and spells bounced off a force field he had made.
I turned the three into souls into ponies and started draining the next set, even able to penetrate the unicorn’s barrier.
Two, three, five, the souls kept coming, but not one of them seemed to be effected in the slightest.
I stopped to repair a few of them that had gotten damaged in the fighting and watched as the pegasus leader clipped a wing on another pegasus.
She spiraled for a second, trying to regain her balance, then four pegasi caught up with her and dragged her down, holding her struggling body in place.
I moved over to her before she could break free and slid my blade into the back of her neck. She let out a brief cry and then went limp.
The earth pony roared, tossing and cracking many crystal ponies.
I fixed them, faster than he could break them, and now the pegasi were starting to pile on him as well.
I prepped another crystal and drained another soul from him.
He bellowed as ponies piled upon him, trying to beat him into submission with wave after wave of force.
The unicorn was now using his magic to toss ponies about, making cracking noises as they impacted on the stone.
I kept repairing them, keeping their number at now over thirty.
The earth pony made a thud as his legs buckled and he fell on the ground, buried by a mound of furious crystal.
The unicorn had had enough and created a shockwave, sending ponies crashing against the wall, and almost blowing be out the door.
--
Outside the cave Ivy and the other Lunar guard were fighting the fleeing remains of the order, easily dispatching the unaugmented newbloods.
“He must be inside!” Ivy called to the others as they finished up the latest wave of fleeing ponies.
Just then they heard a loud boom and a rush of air from the cave.
“We have to hurry!” Rose shouted.
--
When I recovered, I saw the broken body of the earth pony resting against the wall, along with all the recovering crystal ponies.
“Well, I don’t know about you, but I tire of this brutish display,” he said.
I straightened up, now with my head fully exposed without my hat, which had been blown away in the shockwave.
“I propose we settle this like gentlecolts, and have a magical duel,” he said.
“I accept,” I said, and readied myself to fight this foe, creating a set of crystals and hovering them around me.
“Very well, you have the first move,” he said.
I created a sword out of one of the crystals and took in in my mouth, keeping my hooves free in case I needed them, and I charged at him.
He laughed and prepared a blast of pure energy.
I teleported to him before he could cast it and switched the sword to my hooves, thrusting it into his chest.
He groaned and then tried to rear up and stomp on me.
I dodged backwards, and was barely able to put up half a barrier before forks of lightning came from his horn.
The chest height barrier kept me from taking the brunt of the blast, but I used my horn to take the rest of it, redirecting the shock out through me hooves.
When he was finished, I could tell he was winded, having a sword sticking out of his abdomen, dripping blood like a leaky faucet.
I jumped back from the blackened barrier that I had created and now had some distance between him and myself.
I barely registered Soulless entering the room before a roaring torrent of flame burst forth from the unicorns horn, rushing towards me.
This time I created a full height barrier and held it while flames continued to pour from his horn, trying to burn the crystal to nothing but cinders. After a half a minute of the inferno it was getting harder to breath and I could feel both a backdraft coming from the rest of the cave, and the edges of my duster starting to catch fire as the heat intensified.
I threw off the duster, the hungry flames immolating it.
Another half minute and the flames were still flowing forth, showing no signs of stopping.
Just when I thought that I was going to pass out from lack of oxygen the flames stopped, revealing that the walls and floor on half of the room were soot black, and in some places the fire was still burning.
I saw the unicorn fall over, whether from blood loss, oxygen deprivation, or some combination of the two.
I let out a painfully dry laugh and said, “I win,” before collapsing.
--
When I woke up, my mouth felt dry and I felt the sensation of being in a higher altitude.
“Good, you’re finally awake,” Soulless said.
“Where am I?” I asked weakly.
“On the Lunar guard airship, we are on our way back to Canterlot. Oh, and Ivy will want to talk to you,” he said.
I slumped back on my pillow, “Why couldn’t I have died there?”
“Because, that would be too easy, and then who would I have to follow around,” he said jokingly.
He set a glass of water next to me on an end table and left.
I sat up and drank like it was the best drink I had ever had, which after almost being immolated, was pretty good.
A minute or so later Soulless returned with Ivy.
I sat up and then tentatively got to my feet.
“I’ll just leave you two alone,” Soulless said and left.
Ivy walked over to me and slapped me across the face.
“Ow,” I said, rubbing my cheek.
“That is for going off and making us think you were dead,” she yelled, then gave be a big hug.
“Ow,” I squeaked out.
She loosened her hug and then said, “This is for coming back alright.”
“You know me, I can’t stay dead for long,” I said jokingly, “I’d get bored.”
“Well I’m glad that you made it through this one, I don’t know what we would do without you,” she said, releasing me.
“So what did I miss?” I asked.
“Not much seeing as how you made all the headlines in Manehatten and Las Pegasus,” she said.
“Figured out it was me?” I said.
“Who else could it be?” she countered with a playful smile. “Well, I’m sure we can catch you up later, for now just get some more rest,” she said, and left.
When the door closed I turned back to the bed and sighed, “I wonder how I’ll face everypony?” I said out loud.
“Well, I certainly hope you don’t plan to just hide,” Soulless said, dropping his invisibility.
I almost felt like punching him, “How long have you been there?” I asked, annoyed at his invasion of privacy.
“The whole time,” he said.
“So much for leaving us alone,” I huffed.
“You thought you were alone at least,” he said.
I sighed, “What do you want?”
“You wanted to know what happened while you were, indisposed?” he asked.
“Yes,” I said.
“Well, Silverwing and Crystal have not been out of your house for a few days, though they have at least talked to us. Luna and Sombra seemed less talkative. Celestia seemed more annoyed with me than usual, though that’s probably just her. Trottson has been leading the Lunar guard, oh and Shining Armor showed up the day after you disappeared with a bunch of his guards,” he said.
“So he did get my letter, unfortunately, it was a little late,” I said.
“It’s good that he did, Luna almost had the entire royal guard locked up, leaving the princesses without any protection,” he said.
I sighed again, “What happened to the crystal ponies?”
“Oh, you mean the souls that you extracted? They went dormant, and now they’re in the cargo hold,” he said.
“Forty two...” I said.
“Forty seven, you forgot the five you left with that ex order member. Oh and the pegasus from Hidden Shades,” he said.
“What happened to him?” I asked.
“They left him in Appleoosa, said something about finding honest work,” he said.
I smiled, “At least something good came of all this bloodshed.”
“Not true. You singlehoovedly dismantled and wiped out a secret organization, exposed a corrupted royal guard, and made a new ally. I’d say you did pretty good,” Soulless said.
“I made more than an ally,”I said, “I made a friend.”
“Who me?” he asked.
“You knew what I was planning all along, otherwise you would not have showed up before the Lunar guard, and I would be dead,” I said, extending my hoof.
“You are right about that,” he said shaking it.
“I think I’m going to take a walk,” I said.
“You were out for most of the day,” Soulless said.
“Oh, only that long? surprising considering I exhausted myself in that magic duel,” I said.
I went out the door with Soulless behind me and went to the deck.
“Hey, you’re up,” Thunderlane said as I passed him.
“Good to see you up and on your feet,” Brick said.
“You sure you’re ok to be up and about?” Rose asked.
“Give him some space,” Trottson said.
“Thanks,” I said to my lieutenant.
“Not at all, it’s good to have you back,” he said.
“Looks like we are about ten minutes out from Canterlot,” Phalanx said.
“Ten minutes till I face judgement,” I said.
“What?” Trottson asked, perplexed.
“You all have seen me fight before, though not even you saw me kill before. Now I don’t know what the others will think of me for what I did...” I trailed off, staring at the horizon.
Trottson put his hoof on my shoulder, “You did what you had to, no pony can blame you for that,” he said.
“Still, how many lives did I end, a dozen? A hundred? More?” I asked, looking at him, locking eyes.
He didn’t say anything, just stared into my eyes.
“I even know that it was justified. If I had let them live, then they would have come back, and I might not be around then,” I said, looking back over the edge of the ship.
I heard some shifting behind me and knew that they were all cautious of answering.
“Listen,” Soulless said, “I know death more than anypony here, and what you did might not seem like it now, but you did the right thing.”
“Yeah, but will the others who haven’t had to deal with the horror of death, how will they react knowing that their friend has ended so many lives?” I asked.
“We will find out,” he said, and went back below decks.
I stayed on deck, watching as the sun moved towards the horizon, leaving a beautiful red sunset.
As we drew closer to Canterlot I could make out a gathered crowd, Celestia and Luna included, waiting on one of the airship docks.
When we landed, they let out the gangplank and I walked off first, walking down a corridor of guards from the Crystal Empire.
Soulless caught up to me and the both of us walked towards Luna and Celestia. Twilight and the others lined up at the end of the tunnel of guards on either side.
“Princess Celestia, Princess Luna,” I said, bowing.
“Mixer, rise,” Celestia said.
I stood back up, “I will accept any punishment you deem fit to give me,” I said.
Luna was about to say something, but her sister cut her off with a look, leaving her just biting her lip.
“Mixer, you have shunned your duty as the head of the Lunar guard, avoided all attempts to find you, and killed scores of ponies in a quest for revenge, and for that I should have you sentenced to life in the dungeon,” she said.
The others looked worried, some looking away entirely.
“However, you have saved us from a grave threat, one that promised to end so much peace and harmony. And for that all of Equestria has your gratitude,” she finished.
All the gathered ponies let out a collective breath and then my friends gathered in a circle around me.
“You sure gave me a scare there,” Shining Armor said.
“When will you learn to stop going off by yourself you idiot,” Sombra said good naturedly.
“Don’t ever do that to us again,” Luna said.
“So what happened to you?” Twilight asked.
“Yeah, and who is this guy?” Rainbow Dash asked, pointing at Soulless.
“Was that really you that blew up that factory in Manehatten?” Applejack asked.
“Deary, what happened to your face?” Rarity asked, running her hoof across my new scar.
“Oh I’m so glad you’re back, I’m going to throw the bestest welcome back party you ever saw!” Pinkie said.
“Ok, in order: It’s a long story, he’s a friend, yes, it happened after the facility fell out of the could, and finally, hello everypony, I’m glad to be back but there are a couple of ponies I need to see,” I said, pushing my way out of the group.
When I cleared the pack I headed towards the lift but was intercepted by something small and black.
“I knew you would come back!” Crystal said, flying straight into me and knocking me over with the force of her hug.
“Oh, hi Crystal,” I squeezed out.
“Glad to see you survived again,” Silverwing said, following farther behind Crystal.
“Happy endings for all,” Soulless said sarcastically, rolling his eyes.
“Oh, you should know, that this story is far from over,” I said.
“Oh?” he asked.
“Yeah. Don’t you know? Every ending is just another beginning,” I said.