//------------------------------// // Chapter 9 // Story: The Four Stallions of the Apocalypse: Broken Formation // by UltimateRuin009 //------------------------------// Chapter 9 Back inside the residence of Twilight’s home, a sleepy stallion awoke from a bed that was barely able to hold his body. The wooden legs seemed to scream in protest as they squeaked with every movement the blue stallion made. The sunlight poured in through the open window and made its way onto the stallion’s face, directly in his closed eyes. He woke up, batting his eyelids until he felt he could see right again. He was still drowsy, the sugar rush from the festival still in his system as it seemed. Connor found it a wonder how he was able to sleep with this much energy. “Man…what a day…” yawned Connor. He looked to his left to see his beloved on the wooden night stand. He remembered putting her right there, oh yes…he remembered her well indeed. The time they had yesterday was an amazing experience indeed, he found himself slightly aroused at the thoughts. “Oh Sally, you sexy pair of shades you…” cooed Connor. He picked up his beloved pair of triangular gar shades, gave it a peck on the lens and put it on. It felt itchy where he put his gar glasses on, but he felt more of a stallion then he ever had without these shades on. “Oh where have I been without you all my life…?” He heard snickering, it was faint and when he heard it but it was snickering none the less. He stopped dead where he sat on his bed, eyes as big and wide as plates and his irises were like dots. The color drained from Connor’s fur and mane nearly instantaneously and, if it was possible, so did his gar shades. He creaked his head to the direction from where he thought heard the source of the snickering, but saw nothing. Panic crept into his head; he began hyperventilating a little bit. “Oh sweet mother of god this is embarrassing!” thought Connor. “Spike…Twilight…?” asked Connor, hesitant if he even wants to know anypony, or dragon in this case has walked in on him. Then all of a sudden he heard full on gut laughter. It sounded like that of a child but he still couldn’t see either Spike or Twilight in his room, yet he could hear them as if they were in the room with him. “Spike! You blew our cover!” whispered a female voice. If Twilight Sparkle and Spike weren’t seen, now they were as they appeared out of nowhere in a cloud of what seemed to be sparkling dust. They two looked at Connor with awkward grins, Connor didn’t seem the least bit satisfied and very angered. “Heh heh…heeeey Connor…good morning?” Twilight Sparkle kept chuckling nervously along with Spike but Connor was the least bit satisfied at this. He got out of bed, grabbed his night stand with both his front legs and chucked it at Twilight and Spike as hard as he could. Twilight and Spike had hardly any time to react but were fast enough for Twilight to teleport Spike and herself a few inches away from the flying stand of death. Twilight felt the air through her mane and tail rush into the direction of the night stand as it tore through the hallow tree home in a hole twice as large as the night stand itself. Spike and Twilight had mouths agape and staring at Connor with total utter shock as he was breathing heavily, still pissed about Twilight and Spike sneaking around while he was asleep. “What the hay was that for?” shouted Twilight Sparkle. Despite her shocked demeanor she was still pissed off beyond reason at Connor for chucking an entire night stand at her. “If you tell anypony, and I mean ANYPONY about what you saw, you’ll beg…oh you’ll beg a lot…” ominously said Connor. “You too, fatty.” “Hey Twilight isn’t fat!” exclaimed Spike. Twilight scowled at her little assistant with a glare to melt butter, it was not a very intense stare but Twilight knew she had Spike wrapped around her little hoof like a knot. “I wasn’t talking about Twilight Sparkle you dork, I was talking about you,” said Connor. “You appear to have quite the tubby belly there.” Spike looked down, believing Connor and scowled at his belly. “Mind you that this is baby fat! I’m still a baby dragon after all!” exclaimed Spike. Twilight, despite her mood being dampened had to giggle at Spike’s retort. “Yeah, and believe me little one, so is this.” said Connor. He stood up on his hind legs without any real effort and flexed his entire body as much as he could. Twilight was very surprised to find Connor as he was before her, a stallion that seemed to have most of his entire body bulge up into pure muscle. Connor got on his forelegs again and stopped flexing and his body returned to normal. “I was one weird colt.” “Your still a weird colt Connor.” said Twilight. Connor’s shades seemed to shine at the ends and shimmering over across the rest of the glasses. Through the orange of the shades Twilight and Spike could see a sparkle in his eyes that quickly turned into a flame. Spike knew that was a look of determination but to see a pony use it for…some random reason? This pony was the weirdest Spike had ever met in his life. “That is where your wrong Twilight Sparkle!” exclaimed Connor. He got up on his hind legs yet again and dramatically pointed towards the ceiling with his left leg. “For I am no longer a colt, yes, the night before and Sally here taught me that much!” “Who’s Sally?” asked Spike. He was very confused, he never heard of such a silly name such as Sally, Connor was silly enough but the pony bearing the name was right in front of them so it wasn’t odd to him anymore. Now however there was no “Sally” in sight at all. “Shh!” whispered Twilight. “I want to hear this, Connor’s funny when it comes to this kind of thing.” She was holding back a giggle at Connor’s outburst for she wanted to hear what “real stallion” nonsense he was preaching. “And my time here has shown me that I, Connor Stronghooves, am as stallionly as they come!” finished Connor. As he finished his speech his shades shined and glimmered the same as it just had done before when Twilight called him a colt. “For my hooves you see, they will pierce the heavens with all their might!!” At that point, Twilight and Spike were on their haunches in gut-bursting laughter. What they had just heard had to be just the weirdest thing that they had ever heard in their life, not to mention the silliest as well. It took them two minutes to stop laughing as they looked up to see Connor's face of disapproval of their laughter. The purple mare's face blushed with embarrassment as for the second time in the morning she had to feel embarrassed in the blue stallion's presence. "Oh, I know how much that means to you, we're sorry, right Spike?" asked Twilight. They both looked over to Spike who was still rolling on the floor, laughing out loud. The hyper active stallion just cleared his throat and hoped that the little ball of scales would listen, he didn't. "Dammit Spike! A real stallion doesn't just lay on the floor!" exclaimed Connor. "Language..." said Twilight. Connor just blushed in embarrassment; he forgot that Spike was still just a little kid after all. "Spike, seriously, get up..." Spike still couldn't help himself but did the best he could to try to stop his laughter but nothing he was doing was getting any good. His sides and belly hurt from all the massive amount of laughter that has been produced by this dragon. "Spike if you don't get up and stop laughing I'll make sure you won't eat gem stones for a week." Almost as if a switch in Spike's head was switched, he immediately stopped laughing and got up onto his feet. Connor was very impressed with what he had just seen; Twilight really DID have the little guy tied around her hoof. "I'm sorry for laughing Connor, it’s just that I've never met a pony who's so over dramatic with everything they do. It’s kinda funny." said Spike. He rubbed his right arm with his left and looked ashamed of having to possibly insult a new friend. This only left the stallion smiling slyly. "Little stallion, I ain't mad." stated Connor. Spike only looked up to the stallion; he was a little too close but wasn't breaking any kind of bubble that the little dragon was aware of having. The blue stallion's shades seemed to shine once again as if it was planned to happen. "It's okay if you find me a little silly; I'll accept any feedback from good friends. Just so long as it won't make me look too stupid your words and actions are fine in my book." The bundle of scales couldn't help but smile a bit. Come to think of it, Connor really did look as if what he was saying was practically true, he DID look like a real stallion. "Well, if it means anything, you do look really cool!" exclaimed Spike. "I mean, sure you’re a little over dramatic with what you believe in, but if it means anything, it does look as cool as your saying!" Connor's eyes made another spike and his shades shined once again. Without warning, the baby dragon felt the stallion's front leg wrap around the back of his neck and practically thrown into the chest of Connor. His face wasn't buried into his chest but rather the right side of his head was. Twilight couldn't help but feel worried of what the extremely hyper blue pony was doing, sure he wasn't doing harm...that's viable she means... "H-Hey be careful!" exclaimed Twilight. She lifted a leg in protest but Spike just brushed it off. "Relax Twilight! I don't feel hurt!" said Spike. "I was just pulled in, no biggie." "Yeah Ms. Sparkle!" joined in Connor. "Just a bonding moment between bros." At that the small dragon looked up to the blue stallion in wonder. At this lighting, Connor's head, shades and what mane there was on his head blocked out the light in the room. It was a sight to behold in Spike's view, and he was looking upon it in awe. "B-Bros?" stuttered Spike. Twilight couldn't help but facehoof at this. This was ridiculous to her, Spike could probably tell it was to Twilight because of the way she was looking at them made him think she was thinking the whole thing was stupid. And he was right. "Yup! With you and me the heavens won't stand a chance between us!" exclaimed Connor. At that, both boys pointed towards the ceiling with their free arm/leg shouting "YEAH!" in unison. Twilight, cursing in her head of what Connor had put into her baby dragon's, trotted over to the nearest wall and kept pounding her face into it for what it was worth. The two boys looked at the purple mare with confused looks on their faces, though they were short lived as they continued onward in their banter. "You know Spike, I think this is the start of a lovely brohood." And then, the brohoofed. Connor grabbed onto Spike's head spikes with his teeth and threw him on his back, and with that the new-found dynamic duo took their leave through the gaping hole in the wall, with ponies looking at them with looks that are mixed with confusion and shock. Confusion because of how calm the two seemed to be and also Connor's ridiculously awesome shades, shock because they saw what happened that made the door have a hole in it to begin with, seeing the night stand from before. The duo took one look at the night stand, which didn't look like much of one anymore as the wooden pieces were scattered all over to where it land. Spike looked very surprised looking down upon the broken night stand; Connor really did a number to it. "So little buddy, ready for a day full of shenanigans and things that would bolster the stallion's soul?" asked Connor. "...I have no idea what you just said but let’s get to it!" exclaimed Spike. Without warning, Connor got up on his hind legs, shouted as loud as he could like it was some war cry, then galloped off into Ponyville, with Spike holding on to the now pumped up stallion's mane for dear life. Twilight looked upon the two with worry in her eyes, seeing her little purple assistant being whisked away to Celestia knows where on the back of an emotionally unstable, hyper active, pumped up pony. Connor was an individual to be trusted but not one she could completely rely on. Especially since he's got Spike on his back, the one little guy that she's been taking care of for the last ten or so years. But, in her mind Twilight couldn't do anything about it but let colts be colts, and went through the hole in the wall to clean up the mess Connor made, the night stand. It was probably the most awkward situation she had to trot herself into; Twilight couldn't help but chuckle nervously as ponies that happened to be there for it all. The night stand making the bigger-than-a-pony hole in the wall, Connor's obsessive shouting and over dramatic acting, the randomness of it all would be enough for anypony to just walk away without saying a word about it. This is not how normal ponies act, not in a long shot at all. Twilight guessed it was just another day for Connor though, and she thought Pinkie Pie was weird but this guy... defiantly takes the cake. Yes, she was certain he did. She picked up the remains of the night stand with her magic, her horn glowing with a bright colored version of her lavender coat, and took it with her to her home. Twilight didn't walk with grace in her stride, no no, she walked backwards through the gaping hole in her wall, looking like a guilty child and she was just caught with a hoof in the cookie jar. Limited words could describe the embarrassment of what Twilight was feeling at that moment, her third day as a residence in Ponyville and somehow or at least related to, caused a lot of ruckus. She knew if Connor kept it up at this rate he was gonna get kicked out for sure, son of the night are not. It was low of her to think, and she knew it was, but she would be looking forward to the day that THAT actually happens. She got through the gaping hole in the wall, trotted further into her new home and piled the remains of the night stand on to the library floor. "If he wants to clean it up, he'll do it when he's here." muttered Twilight to herself. She decided since she had nothing better to do, she decided it be good to read some books. The lavender colored unicorn looked over the library main room from where she dropped the remains of the broken night stand and noticed books on the floor. She completely forgot that she practically threw books to the floor looking for the reference guide of the elements of harmony. "Great...work to be done..." groaned Twilight. She started to look over at the book covers and putting them into, what she noticed was all the other books weren't in the right places. "Probably no big deal, gonna put them to their correct places here." When she placed one book from the floor to the correct spot, she took the wrong one to its spot, only to find the same situation, but with two books. "Huh?" asked Twilight to herself. She did the same, only to find three wrong books in the place where she was gonna put the books. "Was the last librarian lazy or something? These books are in all the wrong places!" She did what was the only logical thing, using her magic, she was able to throw every last book in the main library room that was on a shelf and dumped onto the floor. A couple hours of work was to be done here, and two hours that made Twilight wish Spike was with her. Another curse to the heavens was made that day from the muzzle of Twilight Sparkle, and for the same reason as last time too, to have Connor as a roommate. "Princess, I hope you know what you were thinking of when you said Connor had to stay with me..." muttered Twilight softly. "Uh...Connor?" asked Spike. The old, blue pony was still galloping in Ponyville, and the baby dragon was still holding on to Connor's mane for dear life. "Think you could...um...slow down?!" "A real stallion NEVER slows down!!" exclaimed Connor. "And don't call me Connor, call me bro!" With that he just galloped faster, making Spike more nauseous with every step the hyper stallion made. Ponies had to clear out of the way, and sometimes make a beeline to the left or right when he was coming in too close. Cusses were said under the breaths of the ponies that had to make a beeline, Connor and Spike could hear them but it didn't stop this stallion, not in a long shot. "B-B-B-But I'm not even a real pony!" stated Spike. All the blue stallion could at that moment was just laugh. Gallop and laugh while the baby dragon on his back look forward in shock and horror of what will happen next. Though it was rather hard to keep his eyes open, the wind did keep blowing into his eyes which made it all the more horrible to him. He didn't like that Connor was wearing shades to block out the wind, and look cool going as fast as he was. "Yes, you aren't, but I am!" replied Connor. He galloped even faster, the little purple dragon thought it was just to spite him and try to scare him more, little did he know he was actually right. "C'mon bro, don't be such a downer, enjoy life for the thrills!" Spike became increasingly agitated with this, becoming a little more frustrated every second. He took thrills to the heart but this was just ridiculous. "Where are we going anyways Co-" began Spike. "Ah-hem, call me bro, remember?" interrupted Connor. All Spike could do was just scowl at the blue pony, the gaze was met with an attentive posture through the galloping. "Alright fine...bro, where are we even going anyways?" asked Spike. He couldn't see it but the pumped up stallion was smiling brightly, especially when the baby dragon called him "bro". "Gonna help out Applejack!" exclaimed Connor, he said it as if it was a matter of fact. Spike only looked upon Co-...his bro, with a look mixed with confusion and curiosity. "Help her with what?" asked Spike. "With the apples!" exclaimed Connor. "Wait...what apples?" Connor had to face hoof that in the middle of his gallop, but he was able to pull a wicked save and land on his hoof without having to trip. "She and her family owns an apple orchard, and their apples are freaking delicious." Connor could recall yesterday during the summer sun celebration, the time he had with the mares were really special to him. Not a second went by did he actually enjoy his time with them, and the apples that Applejack's stand were probably the best he ever had. At that moment of thought he wondered if it was just because he hasn't eaten anything for one thousand years. Connor had snapped himself out of his train of thought, and when he did he nearly crashed right into a whole bunch of stands selling food and what not for ponies. His expert dodging of said stands where really good and what not, but it was meant with a whole bunch of cusses from the stand owners for having the pumped up stallion even nearly crashing into their stands. After a lot of graceless dodging and nearly bucking Spike off of his back, he continued galloping. "Co-err, bro, you think it’s a good idea to just WALK now?" asked Spike. Connor stopped, looked back at the baby dragon and blushed a bit in embarrassment for having to nearly crash into something a second. "Um...yeah I guess it is a good idea." said Connor. He started chuckling nervously as Spike just sat on his back with a scowl on his face and arms crossed with disapproval. The blue stallion just turned his head back forward and instead of irrationally galloping towards Sweet Apple Acres, he trotted off to the direction he was going before. He erased his awkward posture and stood up tall trotting away to the southern pony's home. He was met with a lot of stares of ponies as they all looked at Connor with scowls, completely ignoring the baby dragon that was on his back. All that the blue stallion could do was just shoot back the same stare through his gar glasses, and trot away like they were nothing. "You okay bro?" asked Spike. He could practically feel the tension shooting off of Connor like fireworks; it was almost too stuffy for the baby dragon that could take lava to his scales like it was water. The now pissed earth pony just looked over his shoulder to see Spike's worried look. He took a deep sigh before saying a word. "Yeah, I am, it's just something small little bro, nothing special." said Connor. "Are you sure?" Connor just looked Spike dead in the eye with a reassuring glance, and then winked with a bright grin attached to his face. "When have I ever been so wrong in my life little stallion?" asked Connor. The old spunky mood was back on the gar-wearing pony like cologne, just like it was before and it lifted the baby dragon's spirit even more. "If I wasn't alright I wouldn't be now would I?" "Well no..." "Well nothing, I'm alright and that's all that's needed okay?" Spike just nodded and chuckled like a little kid. "And you see, you’re alright, nothing to it!" "Yeah," the young dragon pounded a fist in the air and Connor followed suit with a hoof pound to the sky as well. "I was right on one thing though." said Connor. "What?" "This IS indeed the start of a beautiful bro-ship." The stallion didn't say a word as he continued his prideful stride towards Sweet Apple Acres. Spike couldn't help but smile like a little dork though, today already looked promising to end well for them both, and it felt right. All he could do aside from sitting on the back of a self-proclaimed stallion was look forward to the sunset. "Oh wait...it’s still the morning..." After some trouble, running into some random guest's luggage, making a mess out of that and what not, breaking the ice statue of the hotel, AND possibly breaking down the elevator, Brett, James and Jacob finally got out of the hotel. That's a total lie though, more like they got kicked out but...somepony else has a different opinion on it. "We didn't get kicked out, we were showed out since we humbly asked them where the door was." said Jacob. He and his brothers were sitting on their haunches just out on the dirt roads of Ponyville. Brett for some reason had black ash all over his face and nuzzle, it tickled his nose and eyes as they began to water up more and more with the passing second. James just looked wet and had some shades of purple, implying the fact that they are bruises by the way he was rubbing them, like they were battle wounds. "And James quit being so over dramatic about them, they're just bruises. We've been through WAY worse than this." "Well probably because you didn't take a whole bunch of suitcases and a statue to you did you?" the green pony said with irrational hatred. Jacob's only response was just flaying his front legs up in the air while rolling his eyes. "Yeah, I don't see any form of physical pain on you brother, I, or I should say James and I, tried to fix that elevator after you SOMEHOW wreaked it. AND to top it off even send James flying towards that statue to begin with!" shouted Brett. "Chill out bro, it was just a prank..." said Jacob. He had no sign of a heavy heart over what had transpired by the words of James and Brett, anypony would but somehow Jacob just seemed immune to it like some punk who wanted to prove something. "JUST A PRANK?!" screamed the other two alicorn siblings. Jacob's mane was blown away at the immense volume of their voices, it was so extreme but once again, the alicorn felt nothing from it. “Jacob, you pushed me, on purpose!” exclaimed James. “Not to mention seemingly sabotage that odd mechanism that these ponies call an elevator on purpose as well. To me it seems you want to do what you’re doing.” claimed Brett. Jacob’s eyes flared with intense burning hatred for what his brother had said. “Well if want to know the truth, it’s because: fuck you I’m Jacob Lightbringer.” said Jacob coldly. Without another word, the zebra-alicorn walked off with a cold grunt and throwing dirt by the tail and into the eyes of his brothers. Brett and James accidentally breathed in some of the dirt and started gagging on it while it scratched their throats. They’re sinuses went wild as their eyes watered from the slight lack of oxygen, the boys wildly coughed. It was nice to see even after one thousand years that their gag reflexes were fine, not for them though. When they tried to spot their older brother they only saw a white and black speck with a large pair of wings making a beeline forward. They could make out the pegasi as large specks like Jacob tried to get out of the way, imagining that they themselves were cussing under their breathes. At that moment their mother walked out of the hotel building with a look of clear disapproval, the same look that the alicorn brothers feared for their lives... “Sons, I am disappoint.” flatly stated Princess Celestia. Her brows went down to her eyes as now her look was a mix of anger and disappointment, it was nice to see that her mothering skills haven’t withered just a tad bit. James felt bad and looked down to the ground but Brett just rubbed his chin with a hoof, with a look of confusion. “Mother, that is the wrong way to verbally state that you have clear agitation and irritation at us for our shenanigans, for the punctuation was clearly that of a stallion-child. We are sorry for causing what happened however I would like to state myself that it was not all well intended on purpose for any of the said events to transpire.” explained Brett. “Yeah, it was Jacob’s fault anyways!” exclaimed James. Princess Celestia did not seem to be effected much by James’s outburst. “If it wasn’t for him I wouldn’t get all bruised up and what not! He tripped me into that ice sculpture!” “And I would like to also state it was him who had broke that contraption that our kind calls “elevators”, had I have any better skills at repairing items I would have done a better job. So I blame Jacob on this one.” “And he also tripped me into that one guest’s suitcases too! And I mean we’re always naked what did that guy even have anyways?! Clothes?! I mean what did he have!? He wasn’t even wearing clothes to begin with!!” “...For once mother I agree with James’s statement there, to have clothes aside from the traditional dress clothing PURELY made for special events is a crime against our nature.” “Boys,” said Princess Celestia. The two had let go of their irritation of their older brother’s kicks when they saw the face of their mother. Princess Celestia had a look of sadness, like she was close on the edge of tears and looked like she was doing the best she could to hold them back. They tried to go up and hug their mother but she just brushed them off with a forehoof. “Listen, do you both feel guilty for, you know what?” asked Princess Celestia. James and Brett nodded in agreement. “Yeah, we do...” said James. He looked down back on the ground again with a look of depression. “Indubitably so dear mother...” said Brett. Despite the tone of his voice and the way he was using words, he did have a look of depression himself, showing that even the smart ones regret what they do. “You two look sad enough because of it, can you imagine how he feels about it?” asked Princess Celestia. ...The two alicorn siblings didn’t think of it that way, they always saw Jacob as something different then what had happened. How he acted was alien to them. “While during that time you both brought drought and disease, Jacob had to be the one with the hoof of blood, just like Connor. He ended the suffering that Famine, Pestilence, and War had brought upon ponies, before all that he was no killer, not at all.” Once again, beaten by their own mother’s words as they had to imagine what their brother had felt, a pain they could only imagine. “Do you understand now?” Brett and James were in deep thought, but their replies were short and simple none the less. “I believe I have only a firm grasp of how Jacob must be feeling, not the real situation behind the mask he wears, mother.” said Brett. “I too feel guilty as well, but maybe we should go find him though? I’m sure he hasn’t gone far.” said James. The two’s mother only shook her head in response. “I love him like you two, to death, but this is something he’ll have to vent out on his own before he can come back to us,” said Princess Celestia “I just hope he won’t hurt anypony.” “Well, as much as I will regret asking so, what is our punishment for having me and James banned from this lovely hotel?” “...Shut up Brett...” whispered James through gritted teeth. Princess Celestia nearly laughed when she heard James whisper that. “Nothing, just have fun for the day while you can, okay boys?” asked Princess Celestia. For a split second the scene to her was just like how it once was before the four stallions of the apocalypse weren’t even a thought, during the time when her sons were only colts. She could imagine everything in black and white but the red and green alicorn colts still remained to their color and even their mane styles. She could see their haunches as even their cutie marks weren’t even there, everything was how it was in the first few years she had her boys. Though at this time, they had big cute smiles on their faces, anypony who would have seen the sight of these two would have their hearts melt like it was ice. Reality kicked right back in as everything turned to color within another split second to find the stallion versions of her colts, though it wasn’t much of a happy image to see compared to the one of their childhood. What was before her was just two alicorn stallions, same appearance and even their attitude but now with their cutie marks. The difference was clear as day when you looked into their eyes, all you could see is guilt, guilt and pain. Hatred for which the pain comes from, and with the pain followed in suit was guilt. It was a cycle of emotions that just kept spiraling out of control to be how it was. And if one thing all three of the alicorns thought right then and there, was that nothing would ever be like how it was before. Never again. Princess Celestia shed a tear down the eye that was concealed by her flowing silky mane so that her little ponies couldn’t see. Brett and James nodded to what her mother had told them and trotted off, their old hyper-active attitudes gone and replaced with some sophistication to them. The ruler of Equestria just looked at the boys until they were out of sight, what surprised her the most was that they didn’t even bother to fly at all. They both had a perfectly functioning pair of wings that wouldn’t hurt if they used them, not at all. Heck even make better time to their new friends, the mane six, but no, they just trotted without a care in the world. Or at least what was on the skin. A panging guilt came over the white alicorn as another tear was shed from her concealed eye, the one showing on the urge of tears itself. She was right though, nothing would ever be how it was again, no matter how hard they could try to rebuild the innocence that was there before it’ll never be back. All they could do is hope that they were strong enough to cope with themselves after all that’s happened. For there is nothing else they could do.