Chapter 19: Poison
The Redemption of Jericho Swain
Chapter 19: Poison
"Singed," declared Twilight, her voice quivering.
Singed turned around, surprised at the intrusion into his work. "Ah, Twilight. Swain told me you'd be coming by with your friends. I must say, you look much different from the last time I saw you." Singed laughed casually, seemingly oblivious to the rage pouring from his conversational partner. "No hard feelings about that business on your world, right? Work is work, after all, and progress doesn't sit around waiting on ethical discussions, does it?"
Twilight's eyes flashed for a moment before dimming to a steady glow as magic began to coalesce around her. "You...," she whispered, her voice cracking slightly, "You don't feel anything, do you? Your heart is as numb as your body. You make these poisons, and then go out and laugh like you're just like everyone else."
Singed rolled his eyes in response, casually walking over to where he had deposited the giant bottle of poisonous gas he was famous for carrying, only to be surprised as he was yanked away from it by Twilight and left floating in the air in front of her.
Her voice escalated to a desperate yell, and her stomach felt like it was tying itself in knots. "You're just an animal! How can you sit there like I'm some friendly acquaintance when not so long ago you were torturing me?!" Twilight took a deep breath, and when she spoke again, it was eerily calm. "You're just an animal. Nothing human is left in you, and you serve no function other than to spread suffering and death. There's only one cure for what you're sick with." A dry, humorless laugh escaped her lips. "What was it Discord said before you started pumping me full of chemicals? Ah, yes, I remember. Now, Mr. Singed, I'd like you to kick and scream as much as you want, because this will only hurt a lot."
With a feral scream, she hurled Singed into the wall, hearing a few sickeningly satisfying crunches as pieces of rubble fell to the floor. Twilight laughed again. "That was actually kinda therapeutic. I admit, I haven't talked to the girls about the nightmares I still have of being in that castle with you and your needles. They really wouldn't understand, so I just brush the subject away when it comes up. I'm not really sure you understand either, but hey, I heard therapists often just function as walls to bounce your feelings off of, and believe me, I have a LOT of feelings."
Singed didn't let out a sound as he pulled himself to his feet, only to barely dive aside in time to dodge a gout of concussive force rocketing towards him from Twilight's palms. This worked to his advantage, though, as dust filled the area, obscuring Twilight's aim. Seeing opportunity, Singed darted to the table full of chemicals he had set aside for his work, and hurriedly grabbed a few select vials before resuming his running. Twilight continued her rampage, sending waves of magic scattered throughout the dust cloud with progressively less restraint, only pausing when she heard the clinking of breaking glass and a whooshing noise as Singed's concoction set the laboratory's shelves ablaze, swiftly filling the room with a black, choking smoke as wood and various alchemical supplies caught fire.
Twilight began coughing and wheezing as the tainted air began to fill her lungs, and her vision darkened for a moment as Singed burst out of cloud of smoke, tackling her to the ground, causing her head to smack roughly against the floor. "I understand that you're my employer's pet project, so I'll try to leave you as unharmed as possible. I must warn you though, some damage will be sustained as I incapacitate you," he commented flatly as he rammed his relatively large fist into Twilight's cheek. Holding her down by her neck, he repeated this process several times until Twilight was at the edge of unconsciousness.
"NO!" yelled Twilight suddenly as an uncontrolled burst of magic radiated from her, flinging Singed backward and creating a clearing in the smoke. As she struggled to her feet, she spoke, her voice thrumming with power. "I will not be beaten by some rabid beast. I am Twilight Sparkle, the Element of Magic and leader of the Elements of Harmony, something that withers and dies around you no matter what world you're on! For the good of everyone, you must be put down." With a strained grunt, Twilight lifted Singed with her magic and began to choke the life out of him. "Die, beast."
The moment was interrupted as the door was opened. "Singed? Twilight? What's going on here, and why is my incredibly expensive laboratory in ruins?" Swain growled as he walked into the room.
Singed shrugged weakly and managed to croak out a single word past Twilight's choke-hold. "Therapy."
"I have a practice arena attached to the gymnasium you could have used without damaging all of this valuable equipment," barked Swain as he activated the vents above where the alchemy station used to stand.
Singed suddenly fell to the ground, unconscious, as Twilight whipped around to face Swain. "You don't care that I was about to kill your henchman, whom you've known for years?"
Swain shrugged. "Worst comes to worst, I'll send him to the necromancy labs at Zaun and they'll reanimate him. He can still do his job as an undead. He'll probably be even tougher for it anyway. Besides, if this man, who has spent years honing his fighting ability against experienced magicians falls to the likes of you, he obviously wasn't fit to live anyway. It's one thing for a schoolteacher to be unfit to fight against someone like you, and it's something entirely different for a seasoned veteran like Singed. You beat him at one of his primary talents, so even with my slightly modified version of the Noxian way of life, you killing him proves he wasn't fit to live."
Twilight was left without words for almost a minute as Singed used a nearby communication screen to call in a maintenance crew, and her rage puttered out. As Swain began to exit the room, she finally regained speech. "You're worse than Singed. I... I don't even know why I was angry at him. I mean, I do, but now that I think about it, he really was just an animal. When an animal is rabid in Equestria, we isolate it and try to make it as comfortable as possible with magic and medicine until it goes. We don't... euthanize it. You, though, are perfectly capable of all of those emotional processes a sociopath like Singed can't manage. You just don't care. I would have been just like you had I killed him..."
Swain stopped walking and turned back to Twilight, snorting in derision. "My dear, you are nothing like me. Your rage was like kicking a table because it gave you a splinter once. You're as weak and flimsy as you've just shown your values to be, your willpower dropped just as quickly with the right stimulus. The only time I ever pursued vengeance was against a man whose death would have helped me anyway, and I gave that up when it became clear that it was taking too much investment to be practical. The crown prince of Demacia knows about the deal I once made with the Void, but now that I have been healed, that information is worthless, and so I have shuffled my vendetta against him away. No, you're nothing like me. You leave bits and pieces of yourself scattered wherever you go, with so many different directions that all of your vast magical power and the intelligence you so love to flaunt really mean nothing. I am a focused being. I have one objective, and all parts of myself are rivers flowing towards it. Noxus will be strong, and it will be mine. The key difference between you and me, Twilight Sparkle, is that I am a player, moving towards the endgame, while you are a piece, to be used and forgotten when nobody else at the board has a purpose for you." With that, Swain turned away and began walking, leaving Twilight to her thoughts.
- - - -
Nasus stood in front of the sole survivor of his encounter with the cultists, who was openly weeping and begging in front of him. "Do you truly think that one such as yourself could ever have a place in Malzahar's new world, assuming the Void simply didn't wipe out their Runeterran allies afterward? You are nothing more than fodder to a demented, twisted mind. You have a chance to live, though. Your overly zealous brethren died for their faith in one who had no faith in them. Shall you suffer the same fate? We shall see. I will ask, and you will answer."
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Ha! Twilight really got Singed. Tough he wasn´t in his best moment.
pfft, Swain is going to be eating his words someday when his ultimate goal causes him to tunnel vision and miss something important, like the POWER OF FRIENDSHIP! fun chapter
if only singed had his insanity potion, magic would be nothing more than an option to him if he did
Gotta love Nasus being Nasus.
She clearly won because she wasn't chasing him....
Needs more shrooms.
Twi won because the week before they nerfed singed
How's that redemption going for you Swain?
2393800 Oh, it's coming, but sometimes the magic of friendship needs to be forcibly beaten in with metaphorical large blunt objects before it takes.
Swain is the champion of giving no fucks what so ever.
THAT WAS EXACTLY AS MAGNIFICENT AS I HOPED IT WOULD BE!!!!!!!!!!
LOVED
the apathy that was just oozing from both Singed and Swain.
And I just absolutely
And dark Twilight is powerful Twilight
, I can't wait to see the ramifications this little evet wreak upon her conscience
Once again, this chapter was just lovely, bravo good sir, bravo.
images4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20121116191512/icarly/images/9/9d/Applause.gif
Can't wait for more!
How rude. I don't know if its socially acceptable in Equestria, but who the hell just walks into a room and starts tossing a person around?!?! Singed was just minding his own business, and *BAM* thrown through a wall. Not to mention the sob speech about nightmares this, and boohoo this. As he said, it was just business, calm down Twilight.
IT WAS SINGED ALL ALONG!
i.imgur.com/49059.jpg
2394195 It might be the 4 AM, but i admit that i lol'd
2394198
2394195
HA!!
Daaaaaayum!
2393793 i hated that shit so much. regardless though, i still owned the entire team with him. GO SINGED!
I like how Singed and Swain just don't give a fuck. Twilight's all like "MORAL OUTRAGE!!!" and Swain's like "You kiddies should play outside." Singed is like "Twi's just blowin' off some steam," and Swain's like "Oh, it's a phase. Kids these days. Don't turn into your uncle, Demacia, now."
Two minutes later...
OH MY CELESTIA I JUST TRIED TO KILL SOMEBODY!
2395432
This makes me imagine the most wonderful sitcom about the cast of the story. It'll be like Full House, with more violence and less Olsen twins.
2395550 I am sensing Twilight becoming Dr. House from another sitcom of the same name. We got some definitely unsettling negative characterization here.
I laughed so hard. A moral icon walks into a room with an immoral scientist. What does the icon do? She tries to kill the scientist, of course! It's justified, I suppose, but I didn't think killing him would be the first thing to pop into her mind.
I thoroughly believe she would have lost if he hadn't been separated from his gas vial.
2395836
To be fair, Twilight as i envision her is a poke/burst caster, one of the stronger counters to Singed in laning phase.(Oh, the Teemos...*shudders*)
More on the subject of the story, turns out Twilight can't spend time in life-and-(pseudo)death combat without being affected a little.
‘Nothing human is left in you’
You do recall Twilight isn’t human either right?
2396366
Well, yes, but it wouldn't make much sense for her to accuse him of having nothing pony in him. It's an accusation that one has lost the defining traits of one's species.
2396588
Isn’t the majority of her experience of his particular species pain, treachery, malicious indifference and (temporary) death? Even without being forced into a shape not her own I can’t see her having a particularly high opinion of humanity just at the moment.
Also, egghead she might be but she was speaking, or possibly ranting, from the heart. People tend to fall back on familiar speech under such conditions.
2396769
To be fair, the only explicitly 'bad' humans she's met are those with Malz, as well as Singed and Swain. League matches aside, the greater portion of the humans they've seen have just been normal people going about their lives.
Though, if the wording bothers people that much, I can always just change it to another phrase with similar intent.
I would Consider the Facts that completely Justify Twilight's Actions, Despite Swain's Comments:
1) Her World is (Comparably) Quite Moral, with the occasional Villain(Discord/King Sombra) or Anti-Villain(Queen Chrysalis)
2) Torture is either one of the Rarest crimes against Ponies, or Non-Existent.
3) Science is not as Advanced as Singed's knowledge, and She was used as a LIVING TEST SUBJECT.
4) PTSD Completely Changes a person Internally, and the Nightmares are one of those Symptoms.
5) Both the Biggest Protections she had, The Elements and the Princesses, Had basically Failed her in her Time of Need, Leaving her Hopeless in the face of (From Equestrian Perspective) an Abomination against Equestria in a Pony's Body.
So... Completely Justified.
2396928
Justified yes. but that's not the point shes suppose to be this beacon of total morality and she snapped.
If Swain doesn't use this to his advantage I will resign my Noxian commission all together (stop using Noxian champions)
2399801
Eh.
Only Noxian Worth anything (Morally and Personality wise) Is Riven.
Riven and Twilight Should Talk about their "Issues with Noxus."
But Besides that, Everyone has their Limits, Even Twilight. She's Snapped before, About being "Tardy/Late" and Always wanting to Impress or be Approved of by Celestia(I.E. Parasprite Episode where she started Spouting nonsense), Among other Quirks we dont quite know about.
Top that with a Solid Dose of PTSD.
Swain doesnt know the girls as well as he may think, But I dont think he Realizes that Without Nightmare Moon's Armor, and the fact that she practically exhausted her Mana, He May as well Said "Twilight! your an Idiot! Hit Me!"
But this is just My Opinion. -shrugs-
2401498
Eh.
Only Noxian Worth anything (Morally and Personality wise) Is Riven.
You do realize I meant in the game right. Rivin's horrible. lacking most things late game relying too much on her team to safe her ass only thing she has is burst damage which most other heroes can do well to a extent.
Needs more Anivia and Twisted Fate
2396366
Consider Twilight's conversations with Kassadin. From a scholarly perspective, that would have colored what a "human" was supposed to be as the opposite of a void creature.
Very nice chapter. I love the psychological battles that play out between the ponies and Runeterrans, especially with Twilight and Swain.
2396928 I only have one real problem with your argument; that you call Queen Chrysalis an anti-villain. Essentially, there are two definitions of the term. An anti villain either has an evil goal but accomplishes it by causing as little harm as possible, or has a noble goal but tries to accomplish it by questionable means. Queen Chrysalis doesn't try to avoid causing harm; she deliberately insults ponies and acts mean towards them. More importantly, as far as the other definition goes, It's true that she's trying to find food for her subjects. But there's a big difference between stealing bread for your children and kidnapping a princess, mind raping her fiance into being your slave, and invading a city. She even sang about how she's dreamed about invading a city full of innocent ponies since she was young.
Also, if you read the IDW comic books you'll see a lot more of her (in the first four issues, that is). I don't want to spoil anything, but she shows herself to be almost a complete monster. I say almost because there is some minor implication that she actually does feel some real affection towards her changelings. Don't know if you consider the comics canon or not, but there it is.
2432813
Wait, there's Comics? Must Find.
Only Reason I call Chrysalis an Anti-Villain is Despite her Monstrous View of Ponies as Food, She Does seem to Care for her Changelings, and Considering the sheer Size of her horde, She Did Something Truly Evil, The Assault on Canterlot, To Do something out of Responsibility/Love for her People, Feeding them.
And If you Compare their Size to Ponies, Or Chrysalis to Luna (Closer in Size compared to Celestia) Shes Quite Thin, and appears she should have a bit more weight on her.
Anyways, Besides that, Well done Chapter, and Sorry Ghosted Note for Comment Section Hi-Jack DX
2435569 Thanks. Again, I agree with you, mostly. I think the Chrysalis thing falls under "Even Evil Has Loved Ones" more than Anti-Villain, though. Seems to me her body type is just how she's built, though. She was fed more than she's ever been from Shining Armor, to the point of being stronger than Celestia, and she still looked like that. I think changelings probably don't show any difference in their natural form depending on how well fed they are, they just get more power. And if you find those comics, I think you'll see that she truly enjoys causing others pain. That isn't something you associate with the term "Anti-Villain." Also, PM me if you want to talk some more.
Anyway, I should probably stop clogging up the comments with this off-topic discussion. Like Seinaru here said though, this was a good chapter. Let's all give a big thumbs up to Ghosted Note. Oh, and sorry for starting a random debate in the comment section of your story, Ghosted.
2439411
/shrug. I'm not particularly offended as long as the conversation stays friendly.
2448391
Celestia is, in fact, my favorite pony. That being said, there's more to liking a character than making sure that nothing bad ever happens to that character and that the character always saves the day. From the very beginning, I made it clear what Celestia's role in this story would be, and I didn't do that because I disliked the character, I did it because the plot needed her to be in a certain place. Part of being a writer is doing what the plot needs.
I like the idea of a weekly update, and love how singed is back in the game. This is one of my absolute favorite stories here, can't wait to see where we go next.
2471506 Not actually sure if i'm gonna have the next update this week. i completely hate what i've written of the next chapter and i'm gonna scrap it, but i'm at a place where what i do next can just completely screw up all of my character development, and i'm not exactly sure how i want to play it.
Singe almost getting beaten really rustles my jimmies.
2876600 * Singed
Aww yiss, Swain be a playa!