//------------------------------// // Libra // Story: My Little Pony: The Brothers of Discord // by mr.myxsiple //------------------------------// Hey guys. Sorry the chapters are taking so long. I keep procrastinating and stuff. Whatever happens, don't think I'm abandoning this fic, because I'm not. CHAPTER 42 LIBRA The bright lights of the great city of Manehattan filled the night sky, a horrible thing for anypony who wanted to gaze at the stars. Then again, nopony in the city paid much attention to the skies that night; the bustling Manhattenites trudged on with their lives thinking of nothing but their next appointment or what to eat. Nopony paid attention to the lone griffon with a broadsword strapped to its back flying overhead. Butch gave an annoyed sigh and accelerated a bit. Several of his griffons suffered from painful bruises, small cuts and a few broken ribs. Some of them looked unharmed but were shaking and kept looking around as if terrified by something. Those in better condition were hanging around the city below drinking away their terrible defeat at the hooves of the brothers. Meanwhile, he had the unfortunate job of reporting their failure to the higher ups. Ugh...this's gonna suck... The job seemed easy at first, get in steal, kill anything that got in their way, get out. The only thing in their way was supposed to be a bunch of super-powered ponies. He just knew he could take them; he had faced diamond dogs, clashed against a pack of timberwolves, even took down a manticore once. He was one of the toughest griffons around; the others weren't like him but were tough enough to keep up. Yet they-he lost. To a pony. A pony with super strength and a tough hide that his claws and sword couldn't scratch but still a pony. He could already imagine the heckling he'd get when he gets back to the Griffon Nation. He imagined his daughter...She'd never live it down that he got beat up by a pony. He rolled his eyes at the thought. Sighing again, Butch sped up heading towards the harbor. Passing over the Statue of Librayty, he soared across a yacht-filled harbor into the open ocean. Squinting his eyes into the distance, he spotted a shape loom over the horizon. The island was a popular tourist a traction. Apparently some rare species of squirrel inhabited it, so it was usually filled with plenty of ponies from out of town, the perfect place for members of Libra to meet without suspicion. Butch landed in a dense thicket of trees, grateful that nopony was snooping around. He trekked into the woods, down a familiar trail eventually reaching a dead tree stump. Checking again to make sure nopony was following him, he dug his claws into the aged wood and heaved. The entire stump budged and heaved upwards, rotating on a hinge revealing a ladder leading into the ground. He jumped inside and swung the hidden entrance shut before heading down the ladder. It eventually bottomed out into a dark corridor lined with stone that apparently led to nowhere. Undeterred, Butch walked down the corridor stopping right in the middle of it. Raising a claw, he ran his talons over a section of the stone wall, balled them into a fist and punched it. He heard the whirring and clanking of gears, switches and other mechanical things coming from within the wall which split in two revealing a large room. Libra, Manehatten base. The entire base was situated in an underground cavern supported by large, steel beams reinforced with powerful magic. Illuminated by brightly lit torches along the sides, the room Butch had entered was massive, filled with cries of effort, grunts of pain and thuds of impacts. At one section, a group of ponies were doing push ups, sit ups and stretches while others were lifting weights. Not too far from them, a unicorn and an earth pony snarled at each other before launching themselves at each other. The earth pony got the unicorn in a head lock, but the latter teleported out of the grip and landed right on top of him. He hammered away, landing several blows on his opponent while other pairs sparred around them. At another area, Butch watched as several unicorns blasting at several stone disks soaring through the air. Near them, a pair of unicorns were dueling, carrying swords in their magical gripped. Butch was rather impressed by them, almost itching to bust his sword out and join in. Sadly, he had an unfortunate task to complete. At the far end end of the room was a corridor lined with similar torches. Butch flew towards it, earning some stares from some of the ponies inside whose opponents took advantage of the distraction and struck. Butch chuckled as he disappeared into the corridor. Beyond the training room was a vast network of tunnels all lit by the same torches. Butch had only been through them once, but it was enough for him to remember the right way through. As soon as he saw two guards, he knew he was at the right spot. A large, steel door stood at his right guarded by two heavily armored pegasi, a spear in their hooves. "Hey!" Butch's shout caught their attention. "Lemme through, I'm here to see Shield." Both guards looked at each other questioningly before nodding. Butch reached for the handle, and pulled the door open. The room was more of an office than the training room. A weapons rack containing a sword, spear, axe, rapier and an assortment of throwing knives stood in one corner. At the very center of the room was a desk on which several folders and papers were strewn. Behind the table was another corridor that led deeper into the base. Between that and the table stood Shield. The only part of him that showed were his blue wings. The rest of his body was completely covered in dark blue armor with dark yellow highlights. Spikes studded his shoulders, and his face was concealed under a helmet. He looked up from the files at his desk as Butch approached. "I see you've returned Muscle. Judging by the various cuts and bruises on you, I say the mission was a failure." Shield of course wasn't his real name. He and Butch were two of the six highest ranking members of Libra and were referred to by their code names. Shield had only one job, to protect the Leader and act as second-in-command. Butch's code name was Muscle, and that's all Shield ever thought of him as, someone told to work, to act, to fight, not to think. Butch could imagine him narrowing his eyes at him as he trotted around the table. "Do you have any idea how crucial this mission was to us?" Shield asked. "Hey, those punks were tougher than you guys said they were." Butch argued. "That is why we offered some of our own troops, even a few of my own! Yet you stubbornly ignored that offer and went with your own group." Shield jabbed an armored hoof at him. "Perhaps we would have found them if you hadn't been so arrogant!" "My guys searched that house clean OK? They couldn't find them. Those ponies won't even tell us where they were...I don't think they're keeping them there." "Then where do you propose?" Shield questioned. Butch raised his arms up in defense. "Hey, don't ask me; maybe they're not the guys we're looking for." "They are responding to the imbalance in Ponyville; it has to be them." Shield insisted. "Well maybe that alicorn guy I saw hid 'em somewhere else!" an agitated Butch blurted out. Shield froze at the answer. "That is absurd." "I'm telling the truth; turns out those ponies have an alicorn for a dad." Butch replied. "Impossible. The only alicorns left are Princesses Celestia, Luna and Cadence." "I was just as freaked out as you are." Butch continued. "'Course, I coulda taken him; bolted right after I busted this thing out." he added with an air of bravado as he gestured to his sword. Shield grunted in annoyance and rolled his eyes. "An alicorn you say?" A third, very familiar voice coming from the corridor ahead caught their attention. Shield immediately drew back and stood at the corridor's entrance a any good soldier would when their superior was present. Butch meanwhile just straightened up nowhere near as formal as Shield was being. The pony opened his mouth, about to tell the griffon to show some more formality when a pony stepped in the room. Everything about the Leader was meant to keep their true identity a secret. Like Shield, this pony was all covered up but under a dark gold hooded cloak. The Leader also wore a strange mask; it looked like it was made of gold wires, twisting in the middle and forming a T, almost looking like a set of scales. Dark yellow eyes peered from behind the mask fixed on Butch. "What is this I hear about an alicorn?" the Leader asked once again, their voice altered by a spell placed on the mask. Butch raised an eyebrow. "Uh...I found this alicorn guy with them; turns out he was their dad. Pfft; he talks tough, but he bolted once he saw my sword." He chuckled a little. "Describe him to me." the Leader ordered earning confused gazes from the other two. "Let's see...Pretty tall. Blue eyes. All silvery. Kinda wimpy..." Butch listed. The Leader's eyes narrowed. "I thought there were no other alicorns left but the princesses; how could one stay hidden for so long?" Shield wondered. The Leader didn't seem to pay attention to him and continued to muse for a moment. "I will deal with this alicorn problem in the future. For now, we have a failed mission to deal with..." Both the Leader and Shield glared at Butch who growled lightly. "Send me back in there; I'll rip them all to bloody little pieces." he promised angrily. "Not likely." the Leader answered. "I expected more from you Muscle." "You always boast about how much more superior you griffons are to us ponies, how you can fly faster and longer than most pegasi, how your muscles are more developed than most earth ponies. I thought you had the muscle to back those claims up." "Those guys had super powers!" Butch cried out angrily. "I took on this guy, and I couldn't even scratch him! Literally!" "It would seem that we underestimated them. Or perhaps, we overestimated you." the Leader retorted. "Have you actually done anything helpful during the mission." "I...kinda trashed the alicorn guy's office." Butch admitted. "Didn't find much. Just a bunch of sciency stuff, some books, a ticket-" "Ticket?" "Yeah. It was all gold and crap. Said it's for some gala or something..." At that, the Leader's eyes widened. "The gala? The Grand Galloping Gala?" Shield asked. Butch shrugged. "I guess. Some of my guys found the same thing in those ponies' rooms. Guess they're all invited or something..." The Leader quickly turned to Shield, eyes blazing. "Send word to our base in Canterlot immediately. I want agents at that gala." Shield nodded briskly before galloping off. "It would seem like you did something useful. Perhaps you aren't as useless as I thought Butch." The griffon flinched; the Leader was the only one who knew all their real names. Sometimes, he wondered just what else his boss knew about him. "If we're crashing that party, I want in." Butch said staking a step eager to make up for his failure. A sharp glare from under the Leader's mask put a damper on his spirits. "What I need is more information not another commotion. They are going to the gala where Princess Celestia will be; a meeting between them is worth listening in to. Perhaps we'll hear just where they're being hidden." Butch humped disappointingly. The Leader turned around and headed for the corridor ahead. "I have business to attend to before meeting up with Mistress at our base up north. You're dismissed." Butch was left all alone in the room feeling relieved that he didn't get punished and annoyed by his failure. Sighing, he turned around and left the way he came in, thinking that maybe he could blow of some steam beating up some pony agents. Some of them did seem eager to get into a- "Sir!" one of the pegasi guarding the door suddenly. It kinda felt good be around guys who were under him. "You got a visitor. Told her to wait at the training room." "Her?!" Butch exclaimed getting a nod from the guard. What's she doing here? he thought running a claw across his face. Sighing, he waved the guards off and headed for the training room. As he approached, he could hear loud grunts, punches and cries of pain. One of them came from a pony, but the other one sounded like it came from something else. As Butch entered the room, the body of a unicorn came flying and slammed into the wall nearby. As the pony groaned and slid to the floor, Butch looked up at his opponent, another griffon who grinned and flew towards him. "Hey pops. Knew you were somewhere around this joint." she said punching his shoulder. "Gilda..." He grinned slightly. "Aren't you supposed to be back at our base in the Griffon Nations?" "Eh. Decided to ditch the place for a while." she answered with a shrug. "Heard you landed some big shot mission huh?" she said elbowing him. "Y-Yeah." He rubbed the spot where she hit him. "It's nice seeing you..." he added a little quietly. "Huh? C'mon, don't gimme that sap." She playfully punched him again. He couldn't help but chuckle a bit. "Look, I really need to blow off some steam here." He turned to the group of ponies watching them. "Hey, I'm gonna need someone around here to beat up-" "How 'bout me?" Gilda grinned and narrowed her eyes. "Been a while since our last tussle right? Someone around here's gotta keep you in shape." she added cracking her knuckles. Butch raised an eyebrow, but nevertheless sighed. "Ugh, fine. Just don't go whining when I-" Air suddenly and violently left his lungs. Butch found himself on his back with a large weight pressed against his chest, his daughters sneering face right in front of him. "Starting to get old pops; that all ya got?" Growling, Butch kicked her off; Gilda spread her wings and stopped herself in mid air. She then ducked as Butch flew up and went after her. Butch quickly spun around and backhanded his daughter across her face. He then brought his claws together and smashed them against the top of her head. Gilda crashed against the floor and rolled sideways to avoid her dad's next blow. Spinning on one arm, she kicked his side and knocked him back a bit. She flew in and delivered two punches right to his face. Butch caught her third punch and bashed his head against hers and kicked her back. Gilda recovered and caught her dad's fist as it went for her face. She pulled him close and slammed her other fist into his chest before throwing him over her. Butch landed on his feet and looked up seeing his opponent fly towards him. He brought his arms up and caught her shoulders, stopping her advance. "So word's going 'round that your guys got beat up by a buncha ponies." Gilda said prompting Butch to sigh. "They had superpowers!" Butch slammed her to the ground. Gilda pushed herself up and slammed into his chest before kicking him back. "If they were normal, I could totally beat them." "Like you could beat me?" Gilda rushed towards him and delivered a powerful uppercut. "I think you're slipping pops. Somebody's gotta whip you into shape!" Gilda punched him again, but suddenly felt his fist sink into her chest. Butch quickly grabbed her wrists and forced her arms behind her. She struggled, but Butch kept his grip and slammed her face-first against the floor. With one claw holding hers together, the other one pressed her head against the floor. "Say it!" Butch cried applying pressure. "Say it!" Gilda squirmed but couldn't break her dad's hold. After much wiggling, she was able to lift her head a few inches allowing a single word to escape from her beak. "U-Uncle!" Hearing that, Butch let go and fell to the side panting and sweating heavily. He looked over to his daughter doing the same things and immediately felt a rush of pride. "Heh...You're tougher than I thought you'd be..." he said. "And you hit hard...for an old guy." Gilda said with a laugh. "Duh, I taught you everything..." Butch said sitting up and rubbing his chin. That uppercut was really good y'know." She just smirked and slowly rose. "My other hit's aren't bad either." She punched her open palm. "C'mon pops, best two outta three?" Butch grinned and quickly rose ready to fight as well, the memory of his humiliation already gone. "You wanna say uncle again? Fine with me!" And with that, father and daughter resumed to happily beating the pulp out of each other. The Leader blinked and ran a hoof over the photo. It was old and slightly faded, but the image was still perfectly clear. After hearing Butch's report, something clicked, something related to the photo. Twenty ponies all lined up stood grinning happily at the camera. The Leader's yellow eyes gazed over a certain pony in their midst, a dark yellow unicorn with white hair and dark yellow eyes. Standing right above that pony was a tall silver alicorn dressed in a fine purple coat. "...Equinox..."