The Invisible Brony Defense Force

by SoullessDCLXVI

Assembly

The higher ups in the Inner Circle closest to the temple were having an impromptu post worship meeting this early Saturday evening. The Outer Circle's messenger along with 10 of their toughest were also in attendance. I'd say we were also attendance, but unfortunately I already said that when I said the higher ups in the Inner Circle were here. Pink had made a very obvious effort in avoiding me, standing clear across the floor from me, casting the occasional scowl my way. Snake and Arrow were standing with me, near the altar. A stone platform covered in a cloth that was half white, and half midnight blue and framed with the colors of the Mane 6's body colors. They were occasionally attempting to inform me that Tragedy's death was not my fault. However, I was inclined to agree with Pink. If I hadn't egged on that moronic jarhead she'd be standing with us in the forest.

"So, it appears the defilers have finally followed us to our sacred land." said Overture. I held back a groan while the rest of the audience ate it up. Seems the HOH was not limited to the Inner Circle after all. "Five of our best were investigating reports of an American Military device about a mile from here into the Everfree. When they arrived, they found two of the vile Humans attempting to lay claim to Equestria!" The crowed booed. Pink continued to scowl, while I wore a look of confusion on my face matched only by Snake and Arrow. He had referred to us as some of the best of the inner circle, and then lied to his herd. I wasn't sure what I was more confused about. As much of a dick as he's been, he's been rather truthful. Snake had told Overture exactly what happened, so why would he lie? It didn't make sense for the prosecution to speak highly of the defendant. What was he going on about? "When Soulless confronted the vermin, it had the audacity to KILL ONE OF OUR OWN!" The crowd's boos became nearly deafening. Snake was trying desperately to cover his ears, his senses were the most sensitive of anyone in the room and was no doubt in some serious pain. Overture waited patiently for the small crowd to calm. When they finally did, Overture resumed "Luckily, these brave individuals had the stomach to do what was necessary, and returned the favor! They even sent the highly mutilated body of one them back as a message: Do Not Mess With Us!" The crowd cheered again causing Snake to flinch.

When the gathered HOH and others had calmed Overture spoke again, loving the reactions he was getting. "Which is why I'm giving them the honor of becoming priests in the Holy Order of Harmony!" Overture smiled while the crowd gave half-hearted cheers or spoke to one another in mild confusion.

"But, there's no such position. There's only you, High Priest."

I spoke up, "Not to mention we're not a part of your little religion." He gave me a quick death glare that only Arrow and I caught before resetting his features into an expression of jubilation.

"I just created the position, a position of brilliant power. You answer only to me and have free reign over all the souls in both circles. You don't even have to stand guard if you don't want to. I've heard you complain about your lack of sleep lately, Arrow. I just now created this glorious position specifically to give to you four brave souls." He turns to look at me while continuing to speak to the others "And while it's true you are not a part of The Holy Order of Harmony in any official capacity, you still hold our beliefs. You still took the oath to protect the ponies. As did everyone else in the Circles. Like it or not, you are an Harmonic. And you've been nothing short of excellent in your duties. You all four deserve these positions."

Pink walked towards the altar and on bended knee, simply said "I humbly accept your offer, my liege." Have I mentioned how comfortable Overture's gotten with that title? No? Oh, well it's very. As in very comfortable. So very comfortable.

"And what about you Soulless?" Overture asked, wearing a shit-eating grin. The fact that he was that pleased about Pink's acceptance was not making the offer any more enticing. However, the note Overture discreetly handed to me when he saw my look of hesitance won me over completely. It said:

This is a PR move, dipshit. Fall in line or I'll kill you slower an more painfully than you did that soldier. Your lucky I don't kill where you stand for denying me that pleasure. If that doesn't convince you, know this. The power I grant you is real. After all, you truly have proven yourself worthy.

But I still want to cut you, give me a good reason,
Overture

Stammering momentarily I quickly got on bended knee. "I, also, humbly accept your offer, my liege."

"If it's alright with you, Overture, sir, can I have something with a little less responsibility? I don't work well under stress and I don't want to fail you, sir" Snake was shaking a little as he made his request. And Overture was obviously not happy about this turn of events. On one paw, Snake would be 'rewarded' for his actions with something he clearly didn't want, thus continuing the bad guy image Overture was currently trying to gloss over, or on the other claw, Snake got what he wanted but would not report directly to him. This would also cast him in a dimmer limelight than was needed for this bit of PR. Good going Snake. Now if Arrow-

"I'm with him. Not so much the stress part, but I don't do 'work'" Arrow yawned to emphasize his point. Oh yeah, Overture was not happy. So I was surprised when Overture made them both Monks of the HOH and to report to me. He then picked two high ranking HOH and promoted them to monks under Pink. "For symmetry" was the reasoning.

Overture, scowl barely hidden, pointed at Pink and asked "You. Who is your favorite Princess?"

Pink blinked before responding "Princess Celestia, Day Bringer, Life Giver" It would seem Pink had learned some of he honorifics that HOH used.

"Then you are the Priest of The Sun. Congratulations. You are dismissed. I will be talking to you later. Gather your monks and go." Overture turned to me. "You are now the Priest of The Moon. Princess Luna, Night Bringer, Rest Giver is your patron. You and your monks are to stay here. The rest of you may leave. this assembly is ended." The silent crowd became a little noisy as it piled out of the entrance of the temple. When the shoddily built stone building was once again empty Overture's small, fake smile disappeared. "The Priest of The Sun will certainly aid in my efforts to keep this half of the circles in line." His eyes scanned my face. Looking for signs of realization. When none came, he sighed in exasperation. "The Sun is the opposite of what?" He asked.

"The moon?" I responded.

"This half is opposite of what?"

"The other half?" Then it hit me.

"No! You can't!"

"And why not? If you'd like I could cut your wings off instead"

I blanched "NO! No, I'll... I'll go..." Overture was sending me to oversee the the other half of the Circles. The Inner Circle was about 10 miles across. The Outer Circle was maybe 12 miles. And we couldn't just cross from one side to the other either. Simply against the rules. No going inside the Inner Circle. And if that wasn't bad enough, the other half was in the mountains. Yay.

"If it makes you feel any better, not that I care, you aren't going alone. Congratulations monks of the moon. You're going on a quest with your new boss. Woohoo." The woohoo fell flat aswell as the raised arm shaking motions that came with it.

Snake and Arrow took this a lot better than I did. Interesting given Arrow's penchant for sleep. I guess the thought of being ten miles away from Overture was pleasant enough to negate the fear of exercise. When I thought about like that I perked up too. As we head out to get one more night's rest Spartan 117 ducked into the temple.

"Overture, my liege, Lightning Cloak is here to see you for his bi-weekly report from Ponyville."

"Send him in" Lightning Cloak glared at us as we walked past him into the clearing and in the direction of our soon to be former station.

As we began to settle in for the night Snake and Arrow, who had been whispering to each other all the way back to camp, broke out into song while waving around some long sticks:

"We're Monks of The Moon!
We worship a cartoon!
Oh, we a-void jail,
So we tell a tall tale,
And sing our monk-y tune!"

Despite all that happened I couldn't help but break a smile.

-||-||-||-||-

Twilight Sparkle could be described in many ways. And everytime someone would do just that the word 'Curious' never managed to remain un-uttered. This was why she was following the strange pegasus pony that had confessed his love for her after only a month and a half of living in Ponyville. He was a weird one, that was for certain. When he spoke, and he seldom did, his words were strange and off putting. She couldn't quite put her hoof on it. He didn't say anything weird, nor was his accent different. The best she could come up with was an emotional backdrop combination of awe, wistfulness, and a negative emotion she couldn't place. This "Lightning Cloak" had lived up to his name. He moved with a speed only a pegasus of near Rainbow Dash levels could muster despite remaining on the ground, and he blended into the background of Ponyville with ease. Pinkie Pie had only gotten around to throwing him a party two weeks ago, and it was small affair. He only managed to gain Twilight's notice when he confessed his love for her. This would have been the only encounter, but her curiosity got the better of her and she allowed him the presence of her company, curious to learn more about the new pony that seemed to know so much about her. But when questioned, he remained stoic and silent. Of course this only spurred Twilight's need to know further.

And this was why, on a late Saturday evening. She was discreetly following Lightning into the Everfree. A place nopony had ventured in months. About an hour after she had begun the surveillance the smell that had plagued Ponyville a while back returned. Whatever was causing it was near.

"Ugh, easily the worst part of coming here. Every time. Can he not summon some Comet and a rag? Sheesh" Lightning said just loud enough for her to hear. Summon a comet? How would that help? And who who would possibly be foolhardy enough to try? Thought Twilight. This Lightning was not doing her any favors by being mysterious. And it was beginning to get on her nerves. Just as she was about to rush over to him and demand answers, Lightning moved through a line of beings the likes of which she had never laid eyes on. Most were bipedal and wore the most unusual garments. Some were just ponies, though oddly darkly colored with cutie marks that made no sense. Some were entirely unique quadrupedal creatures. One that caught her eye seemed to be made of black, hardened slime and had a long oblong head. It's sharp tail swishing back and forth as it hissed slightly.

"Hhheeyy Liiiiightniiiing" it hissed "Beeeeen twooo weeeks alreeaaaady?"

"Hey David, how you doin'? Overture in? I want to get this over with and go home. I don't how you guys can stand the smell.

"Yooouuu geeeehhht uuuussssed tooo iiiit" Said the creature named David. A name so alien it was perfectly fitting for this strange, evil looking thing. "Yeeaaaahh, heeeee'sss iiin. Sssssoooomme cerreeehhmooohny fooor ssooome hhiiiigheer uuuuuups aaat theee teehmple ooof Hhhaaarmoooohny.

With the whispery, drawn out words it was tough to make out quite what the thing said. But she could have sworn it said "Temple Of Harmony". Twilight was the Element of Harmony, Magic. She was one of the smartest ponies in Equestria. (A fact she didn't often recognize. And never said outloud.) Surely, if there was a Temple Of Harmony, she'd know about it, right? So what was that thing talking about? Who or what were all these creatures that stood absolutely still with their backs to her?

Twilight's curiosity knew no higher point in her life than it did at that moment. Twilight cast three quick spells on herself. A spell of invisibility, intangibility, and inaudibility. Confident, she trotted to Lightning's side casting quick glances behind her to see the line of creatures that now faced her. Keeping pace with lightning she witnessed several casual conversations with the many beings that made an unbroken line as far as she could see. Every one of the creatures' voices had obvious undertones of sadness in them. She felt bad for these things. What could have possibly happened to make so many, so sad?

Lightning walked to a large metal green golem with a face made of gold. Lightning preceded to address it as casually as he did all the others. "Hey, John. I'm here to submit my report. Ponyville is still unaware of our presence" Our presence? Was Lightning one of these people? That actually makes a lot of sense, now that she thought about it. He was too weird to not be a part of this grouping of strange. She had to know what these things were doing. She resolved to remain until all her questions were answered.

"Oh, fantastic. Overture loves good news. However slight. And it's been a long day. Seems that we were followed. Soulless killed one of 'em. Tortured the other. Tragedy died in the conflict though. I overheard Overture say he was promoting them. To what, I don't know. Stay here, I'll go let him know you're here." The golem walked off into the clearing behind him. Leaving a confused Twilight wondering how a thing with no mouth spoke, and what could be so bad about the end of tragedy.

The golem returned and nodded slightly. "You can go in now. Great timing on your part. Whatever they were doing it's over now."

Lightning made his way into a crumbling stone structure. A ghostly Twilight silently phasing through the wall next to him. Three more creatures left just as she and Lightning entered. A black-clad hairless ape with a long black mane and severely injured mammalian wings. A green-clad ape of the same nature with a green hat, a short blonde mane and a goatee. And a short not so hairless ape with an actual tail. Twilight would've been happy to see that as it was almost close to normal, if it wasn't entirely green that is. Lightning had a slight frown on his face as he looked at them. But then made his way inside.

Twilight was blown away. On each of the two walls that ran perpendicular to the one with the entry way. Were three banners each. Each banner had a minimalist depiction of her and one of her five friends. The one that had her visage bore a single word: "Learn" Underneath her friends faces were the words: "Play" "Race" "Shine" "Strive" and "Love" for Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Applejack, and Fluttershy respectively. On the far wall were two discolored red, blue and white posters depicting an image of an angry Princess Celestia looking down and an impassive Princess Luna looking forward. Beneath Celestia was the word "Obey" and beneath Luna was the word "Bide".

However, the next thing she saw made her blood run cold.

Discord.

In a moment of fear, her concentration broke. And her spells fell.

"Well, well, well. What do we have here?"

Comments

[Tie RoamingHooves]

SWEET CELESTIA!!! RUN TWILIGHT RUN!!!!

[madatarigeek]

holy tartarus this is awesome!

[Pascal]

Soulless,

I can hardly believe that this is the same fic I was trashing a few days ago.

I didn't care about the characters when I first started reading, but I care now. I care the shit out of them. They have become people with hopes, fears, regrets, and desires. There's conflict, sorrow, loss, and drama to spare. I want to see Soulless triumph, not just over the evil around him, but the also against the evil that the situation has forced into his own heart. And to think that all this suffering is because of mistakes. Simple mistakes that anyone could have made under such pressure.

I was only half joking when I called Overture a fascist, since the first thing he did when he took command was build a prison, but goddamn if he doesn't make a good villain. He's such a slimy fuck!

This story is not an exercise in self-indulgence or wishful thinking. It is simply awesome, and I can hardly wait for more.

I salute you, sir, and tip my metaphorical hat.

[SoullessDCLXVI]

894136 Coming from you, that means a whole hell of a lot. I can only hope that my story continues to entertain. By the way, that puppy didn't hurt your foot too bad, did it?

[Pascal]

894151

I can only see this story getting better and better from here, so I have no doubt that whatever comes next will be supremely entertaining.

And don't worry, I keep special puppy-stomping boots stashed all over Ponyville in case of puppy emergency.

[SoullessDCLXVI]

893872 Did you keep reading? If so, is the backfire to your liking?

[RubberBrony]

Twiley snuck in?

"Twilight was blown away. On each of the two walls that ran perpendicular to the one with the entry way. Were three banners each. Each banner had a minimalist depiction of her and one of her five friends. The one that had her visage bore a single word: "Learn" Underneath her friends faces were the words: "Play" "Race" "Shine" "Strive" and "Love" for Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Applejack, and Fluttershy respectively. On the far wall were two discolored red, blue and white posters depicting an image of an angry Princess Celestia looking down and an impassive Princess Luna looking forward. Beneath Celestia was the word "Obey" and beneath Luna was the word "Bide"."

[joebomo11]

dear god the embarresment of it all