Marching Band
The only reason Dash was showing any restraint at all while the group walked down the long, dark hallways of the Castle of the Two Sisters was because of Twilight’s insistence that rushing forwards could very well end in falling headfirst into a trap. Normally, Dash would have just ignored this and decided to brave the traps. Having just come off of the oddity that was Voltaire, however, she didn’t want to risk it. Rushing into a Stand could easily end up far worse than spikes on the ceiling. Otherwise, she would have taken off the second they were free.
The only hallway that was left open for them to enter after their fight was a narrow one. The bricked off ones could have been easily breached by a number of Stands at the five’s disposal, but Twilight figured logically that this was the path they needed to take. Her reasoning was simple: Voltiare intended to win his battle against them since, if he had, then he would have had to have a way to regroup with the rest of the cult.Thus the open path was the most logical one for them to take. No one wanted to raise an argument to Twilight.
Rainbow Dash was on point. Her Stand had the rest of theirs trumped both offensively and defensively. Should a sudden attack come there way then it would deal with it the best. Twilight followed close behind with the rest of the group in tow. In her mind, she wasn’t worried most about what to do if somepony attacked them. Instead, she was worried about how to stop Dash from doing something rash in that case. 2 Minutes to Midnight had the potential to level this whole palace should its user unchain herself. And with everything that’s happened, it was seeming that was a likely possibility.
Everypony else was on serious edge at the moment. If it wasn’t for the sake of Fluttershy’s safety, none of them would ever have found themselves in this scenario. Pinkie Pie for once in her life found that there was a kind of surprise she didn’t want to experience. Every step filled the party with more dread. Every hollow footstep felt like it was carrying the threat of death that was so ever present in their struggles this night. They were in the belly of the beast now, and there was no telling what laid ahead.
The trek ended in the sitting room where Celestia and Luna once sat and held private court with each other. But its current two occupants were far from the royal sisters of Canterlot.
Sitting on Celestia’s former thorn was a man who did not seem to be all there. He was wearing a patchwork suit that seemed to be in a state of disrepair. It was hard to tell, but it’s color pattern was meant to mimic that of Discord’s. He laid lazily, as if he was bored of waiting. Behind him was the goal the reason they had come to the castle for. Fluttershy. A very exhausted, tired, scared looking Fluttershy. She was on her knees, looking directly down at the ground. She didn’t dare move.
This mere sight was all Dash needed to abandon any semblance of caution she may have been harboring for Twilight’s sake. 2 Minutes to Midnight’s jets fired up at full blast and cleared the entirety of the court in the blink of an eye. Dash let out a cry of rage as she intended to break apart the face of anyone in the room that wasn’t Fluttershy.
When all blinks had concluded, they would see the sight of 2M2M’s fist making hard contact with his face in an uppercut motion, so hard that he was lifted from the very seat that he sat on. The sound of engines roaring preceded him being grabbed out of the air and thorn hard to the ground. Engines still shrieking, 2M2M punched him in the face with the full force of its jet powered descent.
The very ground around his head fractured and gave way. Rainbow could feel through the feedback in her Stand’s fist that the skull had been broken. And yet, somehow, his Stand still materialized and took her own by the neck in a tight hold.
Near instantly, the airflow was roughly cut off in Dash’s neck. She coughed and sputtered, struggling on 2M2M’s back. 2M2M punched the two-dimensional figure in the gut as hard as it could, but it gave no reaction. It only tightened its grip on her. Dash tried to focus and reject it, but she had lost two much air to do so.
Then it suddenly all came back. His Stand’s hands loosened their grip on 2M2M’s neck. Two cloth muts quickly scurrying away told Dash all she needed to know about how she was saved. With her air back, she created a vacuum around herself that rejected the enemy Stand from her proximity. The rest of the girls sprung into action as well.
“Black Spear!” Twilight swished Night Wish’s quill and shot several spears of solid ink into the hands and feet of the Stand. They pierced it with each and pinned both it and its user to the ground. Corresponding wounds appeared on the user. Applejack shot her Country Girl’s roots out and crawled them through the castle floor. They all sprung up from the ground around the Stand User and formed a tightly woven cocoon around him. At the same time, Rarity ordered each of her Diamond Dogs to sew the Stand to the floor. They made each stitch three times over just to be sure. Pinkie Pie appeared with Ta-Dah and through a couple shurikens at it for good measure.
“T-There,” Twilight panted, falling to her knees from the surge of adrenalin she had just felt. She still had Night Wish’s quill between her fingers and didn’t dare move a single drop of ink.
“Shy!” Rainbow shouted. 2M2M disappeared and her feet touched the ground. Said feet immediately started sprinting towards the defeated yellow Pegasus. “It’s ok! We’re here! I’m going to make all these jerks pay for…”
“BLACK PARADE!” The misdressed man’s voice came loudly from underneath his root prison. It commanded the attention of the five heroines.
The Stand whose name was just called started to dissolve. It took on even less of a form than it already had. It looked like a gas and moved like a liquid around the stitches and ink holding it in place. It stood up and completely ignored everything.
While its opponents were left completely stunned and shocked, Black Parade outstretched its hand and held it towards Fluttershy. A shadowy hand appeared in front of her chest and reached inside. It took hold of whatever it grabbed tightly and pulled upwards.
“C-C-Comfortably Numb…” Fluttershy muttered against her will. The shadow hand lifted upwards, and Comfortably Numb was forced out of Fluttershy’s body. Not long after, its powers activated and radiated Fluttershy’s powerful emotions onto everypony in the room.
All at once everypony felt the intense hopelessness and sense of defeat wash over them. They all fell to their knees and withdrew their Stands. Night Wish’s ink turned back into liquid before disappearing altogether. Country Girl’s roots looked like they were going to wither away before fading. Each one of Rarity’s Diamond Dogs curled up into a defensive ball before they too went away.
Just before suicidal thoughts could take over them, the now free’d cultist stood up and called off his Stand. This in turn called off Fluttershy’s as well. Rainbow Dash, Twilight, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Applejack all crawled up to their knees, shaking and trying to get ahold of themselves. The cultist merely brushed himself off.
“Now now now now now now now now, rudeness. That was...just nothing but rudeness.” Despite the wounds on his body, in addition to the heavy beating he had just sustained from 2M2M, he walked as if nothing happened to him at all. “No introductions were given. You don’t even know my name. Don’t know my name you don’t.”
“W-well what is it then?” Rainbow tried to sound tough as she shuddered to her feet. But she was probably the most shook out of all of them. “I’d like to know the name of the jerk I’m going to beat the crap out of.”
“You may call me Derelict,” he grinned as he casually strode about the throne room. “Introductions from you are not needed, no they are not. I know who you are. You are the ones…” Derelict’s mood suddenly shifted. He ran up as fast as he could and kicked Rainbow in the gut with the side of his foot. She fell back to the ground. Everypony else began the motions to go to her aid, but Comfortably Numb waved its hand to warn them not to move.
“YOU ARE THE ONES WHO RUINED MY MASTER!” Derelict shouted in a raspy, dry screech. “EVERY. THING. HE. STOOD. FOR. RUINED. BECAUSE. OF. YOU. ALL.” He stomped on the ground roughly between every word. “Especially her…” His eyes turned towards Fluttershy, before running up and spitting on her face.
Rainbow Dash forwent all pain and rushed at Derelict screaming with her bare fists. When she tried to swing, Derelict’s Stand threw her to the ground. Then it waved its hand and commanded Comfortably Numb to act against Dash.
Another ocean of depression flooded into Dash. She had never felt worse or lower in her entire life. She truly felt like the worst thing in the world. Every little thing that she had ever done wrong and every imperfection about her was magnified to the point where they decreased her sense of self worth. Tears fell from her eyes to the stone floor.
At the same time, Derelict kept shouting “RUINED HIM! RUINED HIM! RUINED HIM! RUINED HIM! RUINED HIM!” Like a spoiled child. Or a mad stallion. Or both.
“How are you controlling Fluttershy’s Stand?” Twilight asked while she pulled Rainbow Dash to safety using Night Wish’s ink. This enemy was highly unstable. She attempted to engage in a calm discussion with him for now in order to make things safer for all of them.
“A part of the Parade.” Derelict muttered. He turned to Twilight and the group. “She joined the Black Parade. Ponies, they have wants. Desires. Deep desires in their souls that they don’t know about. When those desires are brought to light, they join the Black Parade. Then, they all march to my tune. Their souls, are part of my Parade.”
“I see,” Twilight calculated this in her head, and attempted to translate it back to her friends. “So, you find a deep rooted desire in a pony’s heart. Then your Black Parade uses it to take control of their soul? And by extension, their Stand?”
“Yes yes yes yes!” Derelict seemed excited that somepnoy was understanding how Black Parade worked. “Their soul and Stand are part of the Parade. They form a contract, a contract out of their desires. The desire for wealth, power, longevity,” He looked to Fluttershy. “To make the pain stop.”
“You mother…” Rainbow Dash forced herself through the pain and a cough of blood to get to her feet so she could attempt to voice her grievances with Derelict through means of fist. She was immediately pulled back over to the rest of the group by Applejack’s Country Girl.
“So, you forced Fluttershy to want the pain to stop,” Twilight tried to keep calm while talking. If she was calm, Derelict would be relatively calm too. “And that let your Black Parade’s ability take hold of her Stand?”
“She wanted the pain to stop,” Derelict nodded. “And Black Parade allowed it. No longer, will she be hurt by me. I am physically unable to bring her any harm, or even attempt to stop her. Nopony is. If they dare try, they will be forced to stop, by the Parade.”
“I see,” Twilight couldn’t think of a way out of this situation. But for now, while he was talking, Derelict was not harming. “And this contract is completely binding?”
“From her side, yes.” Derelict affirmed Twilight’s question. “She may not resist Black Parade’s influence, no matter how much she struggles and squirms. But should I use the Parade to break its side, the contract is broken.”
“So you never really gave her what she wanted!” Pinkie shouted and pointed her finger at Derelict. “You can still hurt her if you really wanted to.”
Derelict responded to her accusation by willing Black Parade force Comfortably Numb to fill Pinkie with depression so great, that not even the pink party pony could resist the urge to fall to her knees and feel the intense emotional pain of having no hope in yourself.
“Want!” Twilight quickly held up her finger as she found a new topic to keep Derelict busy on. “What do you want? Surely you can’t be going through all this trouble just for revenge on us, if you went through all the trouble of keeping Fluttershy alive.” As much as Twilight hated the logic behind that point, it was logic nonetheless.
“Ah, yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes YES!” Derelict seemed elated by Twilight’s question. “I had nearly...forgotten. Come now, my little ponies. I want to tell you the story, the story of how the Parade started. And how i learned now of the News. When I was a young colt...”
~~~
A young colt who’s name has been long forgotten to time was born in the pre-Discordian era of Equestria’s history. Like his true name, he forgot what his life was like before then. Though to him, it did not matter.
In his own eyes, this colt’s life began the second he saw Discord’s influence take hold of the land. Where others either saw it as a corruption of the world, or simply subcame to madness, he saw the new state of reality as a thing of beauty. Perhaps it was because his mind was warped by the infectious chaos, or perhaps he was just born that way.
The colt soon sought out others who were like minded as him. Others who were, in his eyes, pure of mind. But instead of finding others, one found him. A stallion who would become the most important pony in the colt’s life.
This pony had also been spared of Discord’s madness. And like the colt, he saw it as a sign he was chosen for something greater by the god. So he scoured Equestria, and found nine other ponies across the corrupted Equestria with the same delusion as him, including the colt. Whatever lives they led before bore no meaning anymore, for they had believed that they had found their true purpose with each other.
The cult was officially formed, under the leadership of the one who had brought them all together. Their first order of business was to find their god and proclaim their devotion to him. For without him, they would not have seen what they believed to be the truth of this world. And Discord was the ultimate arbiter of that truth.
Discord himself did not care for these delusional ponies. They were clearly driven mad, but not in a way that particularly amused him or achieved anything that he desired. Of course the admiration was flattering for a while, but it grew old and boring. So soon he wanted nothing more than to cast them off and be rid of them.
In order to do this, Discord gave the small cult formed in his name a single task: To create him a pretty pony parade. He gave no further details on what this meant and left that up to their interpretation. He issued them this order without a second thought and discarded them from his mind. To him, they were nothing but simple ponies.
But the cult, with their distorted minds, saw their entire interaction with Discord as something different than the god himself did. To them, it was everything that their purpose was in life. So when they were given such a task, heavy debate rang out among the group on how to do it properly and perfectly.
It was the one who had brought them all together and assumed the role of their leader that had decided on what the correct interpretation of Discord’s words would be. He wanted them to take the deranged masses of Equestria and have them join The Parade. What was The Parade, the rest had asked their wise leader. The Parade was them, of course, the leader replied.
There was not a single amount of disagreement among the cult. That would surely please Discord. But such a task would be too great for them. They lacked the power to move Equestria’s masses in such a way that they saw their light. Their leader had accounted for that, and already had a solution. A source of more power.
The leader produced an intricately crafted, gold colored arrow. It’s material seemed to be made of something otherworldly. Their leader said that all they would need to do would be to pierce themselves with this arrow. Show their devotion to their leader and their god through this act and then they would achieve the power they needed to start The Parade.
One by one, each of the members took the arrow and pierced their own heart. They each fell on the ground, motionless and seemingly dead. But their devotion, or perhaps their delusion, was too great to be swayed by this. They plucked the arrow from the one who had used it last and used it on themselves.
All but cult leader and the young cult used the arrow. The leader waited for the result. The colt was overtaken by fear. He held the arrow himself, but could not go through with the ritual the other eight had. The colt had expected shame and anger from his leader. But instead, he put a hand on the colt’s shoulder, understandingly. He told the young one that perhaps he was destined for something greater than all of them.
Then, one by one, each member of the cult that had seemingly died began to stand back up again. Much to the shock of the colt, and much to the satisfaction of their leader. When they stood, they each had been rewarded with a new power for their participation in the rituatal.
Each’s power was different. The power to record a pony’s death and force another to relive it. The power to separate his own body and suck the oxygen out of life. The power to cause spreading destruction. The power to take away one’s focus. And a power so great that it had to be shared by the remaining four. A power that was the ultimate source of chaos.
Then their leader did the same, falling down dead before rising again with his own power. The colt attempted to cease the arrow and follow suit finally, but the leader stopped him. He said it was fate that he was overtaken by fear to not to. So it would not be his time yet.
With their new powers, the cult began to unleash their terror upon the citizens of Equestria. They saw themselves as spreading the power of Discord’s followers. The power of The Parade. In truth, they only caused death, destruction, and panic. But in their delusion, this is exactly what Discord wanted.
Just as they began the march of The Parade, however, the unspeakable happened. Two ponies had stood up against Discord. The two mutants who had been born with immense magical power. They rose up and declared that they would put an end to Discord’s Chaos.
At first, the cult thought that they had nothing to fear. The found the notion laughable that any mere pony would be able to stand up to Discord. His power was far greater than anything a mortal could obtain. But those ponies, they were not mortal. They were deities on their own level.
And then a great blow to them was struck. They had obtained a new power in addition to their magic. It was the same power they all had obtained to create The Parade. And now they were using that power to destroy it! The leader was fueled with rage that spread to his followers. He ordered that they immediately find their god again.
The cult did something that would actually be of use and consequence to Discord, for a change in his eyes. They offered him the arrow that they had used to obtain their Stands. They explained that in order to fight Stands, he needed a Stand himself. As unfun as Discord found that, he accepted the cult’s offering without hesitation.
And upon piercing himself, Discord’s twisted soul was drawn out of his body. It was given a form. And as the soul of the god of chaos, the Stand that was born from it was the pure embodiment of chaos. It was powerful, it was fear inducing, but it was uncontrollable by its user.
However, that did not matter. It was too powerful for the princesses, even with their own Stands, to fight. And it turned the world even more chaotic than before. It was glorious in the minds of the cult. They had done their god’s will! They spread chaos in ways that he never could before.
But it was not the fate for Discord’s Stand to bring the world down. Having failed in using the power of Stands, the princess’s instead found another power to combat Discord. The exact opposite of chaos: Harmony. Six elements of it, divided among the two sisters.
Their power completely sealed away the soul of chaos. It created a tomb in which the soul would sleep, never to be released again. It also undid all of the chaos that had befallen the land, turning it back into its state of order and harmony. But worst of all, it defeated the cult’s god. It had turned him to stone and seemingly caused him to perish.
These were the darkest times for the cult. Not only did the world they revealed in disappear, but their god had been slain by two false ones. The members looked to their leader for guidance. They were lost on what to do. But the leader had been driven even madder by his god’s defeat.
So he decreed that they would began to spread chaos through means of The Parade. They went across Equestria and used their power to unleash their Stands even deadlier than before. They would make sure that nopony ever forgot what their god stood for.
Their presence grew so great that the false gods could neither ignore nor tolerate it any longer. If they were to use Stands, then they would use Stands to fight them back. The princess’s found where the cult had hidden, and assaulted them.
None of them had any hope of fighting back. The powers of the Princess’s Stands were far to great for even the nine of them to overcome. The leader, in a moment of clarity, made a sacrifice. He used his own Stand to protect the rest of his members from the wrath of the alicorns. He was the only one who was slain by them on that day.
Now this was truly the darkest time for the cult. The most important stallion in all of their lives was no more. Him and their god had been taken away by false ones. Eight of the remaining nine members fell in defeat. They had lost their way. There was nothing that they could do.
But the ninth member did not see it that way. The young colt remembered the words that their leader had said to him back when they started The Parade. He was destined for something greater. In his twisted mind, he understood now. He knew what he was destined for.
From the colt’s body, his soul came out and gave itself physical form on its own. His Stand manifested at this moment, and none of the other members debated it. He was destined to be their leader. That was clearly what this sign meant. His Stand was not just a part of The Parade, it was The Parade. But not a Pretty Pony Parade. It was The Black Parade.
The newly risen leader of the cult made an order. Their goal was clear. Their god was no more. But his soul still existed. His Stand was the embodiment of chaos. They needed to find where the false gods had hidden it, and released it.
~~~
“...and now, and now, now, now, now,” Derelict went on as he finished his story to the helpless group of ponies before him. “We have it. We have The News. We have found it, and we have discovered the way to release it.”
“But, Discord doesn’t have a Stand,” Twilight commented. Even upon hearing the backstory of Derelict, she could not understand a thing about him. “He told me so himself. He hates Stands!”
“I...don’t…” A raspy voice called out. From a tunnel behind the throne, four ponies came holding the large coffin that Twilight and Rainbow Dash had seen in the basement. On top of it, a defeated and sprawled out Discord laid. “I have no idea...what they are talking about...these ponies are crazy...insane…”
“He doesn't remember,” Derelict simply said. “Of course he does not remember. He is not, our lord anymore. This yellow monstrosity saw to that. She RUINED HIM!” He clenched his fists tightly, but slowly unclenched them. “But it is of no matter. He would not remember anyway.”
Derelict pointed to the coffin. “This was made with powers threefold. Firstly, the first of the powers, was the power of reincarnation. False God Celestia’s accursed Stand. This coffin will always renew the magic that seals it. Whatever is inside will always be reset back to its base. Never evolving.
“Secondly, it is made with the power to make the subconscious physical. False God Luna’s accursed Stand that cursed us. It stole the memories of our god’s Stand from him to make the coffin. As a means of making sure that it was lost forever. Only, only a painting remained. A painting painted by the Stand itself.
“And lastly, lastly…” Derelict trailed off. “It is made of harmony! Harmony is what magically makes the coffin. Harmony is what keeps the Chaos inside. But Harmony is what will break it out! And then I will make The News part of The Parade.”
“Stands don’t work on Discord,” Rainbow spat as she grabbed one of her aching ribs.
“Stands did not work on the real god! You foolish Pegasus!” Derelict shouted. “This imposter, has a crack in his armor. When the cursed yellow pony wormed her way inside of him, like a parasite, the false Discord opened himself to her. She can get in. I can use her to get in.”
Derelict spread his arms out. “Now for the ritual! Stand helplessly, pitiful elements of harmony, as I undo the wretched order that you all work so hard to maintain.”
Black Parade stirred. It’s flat body motioned and conducted Comfortably Numb. The Stand aimed its hand forcefully at Discord, and projected emotions straight into him. Emotions of despair and agony. Worthlessness. Helplessness. Fear.
The Draconequus felt them harder than he had ever felt before. It was like Derelict has said. Because he had let Fluttershy into his heart, she could pierce his wall against Stands. So his very soul cried out in agony.
Then the coffin in the center of the room began to tremble and shake. Lights from the center of each of the six elements of harmony in the room shot from their chests and to the coffin.
“Its user, crying out desperately for its protection.” Derelict chanted. “The six elements that imprisoned it, gathered in one place. The keys are all here. The call is being made. There is no reason to slumber for any longer! RISE! NEWS OF THE WORLD!”
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- TenTa · 11k words · 28 1 · 1.7k views
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How many chapters long will this story be?
10095235
Right now, it's looking like somewhere around 27 or 28. This is Chapter 21 right now. I got a couple more already written but they need to be polished. I'm working on one of the last few fights, however slow it'll be. And that'll be the end...of this part
...wait, so he says he's unable to bring her pain... after kicking her in the face? I'm confused.
10108714
Oversight on my part. I'll fix it after work, sorry. I had long breaks between writing
10108857
Oh, I thought it was just me. And I completely understand.
To think this all started because Discord tried to brush them off by giving them a nothing task, almost makes you feel bad for Derelict.... almost.
Regardless another great chapter and eager to see what comes next
I think your fic is amazing keep up the great work =3
And once more we hit the dreaded 'to be continued'.
ritual
To be continued... Or is it?