A creature thought long extinct appears in Equestria, but it bears a terrible curse, one that could destroy their whole world
Humanity, a species long thought exterminated by Celestia during her early reign, and now regarded as a terrifying legend. However, this changes when one reappears near the Everfree forest after a sting of dissapearances, all vastly unpleasant. This human, however, is vastly unlike the creatures of lore, being much larger and uncivilized than humans of legend. Also, unlike known humans, this one turns into a great, reptilian beast when angered, among other abilities. Luna, never having never seen a human before, wants to civilize it, and possibly use it as a secret weapon. Celestia, having supposedly eliminated humanity in the first place, wants it gone. But what say does the poor human get in this? None, as he can't speak Equestrian. That's not going to stop him from having an opinion, though. (please read the author's notes when you can, they are usually important.)
Celestia paced about the throne room, thinking about what to do about the multitudes of disappearances near the Everfree Forest, far to the south. She could not cut it down, as many times as she'd tried, and she could not keep her subjects away from it, for there are always adventurers, willing to risk everything for a good time and some treasure. But if she did nothing, the brutal murders would only continue. The incidents started a month ago, when she sent her last logging expedition into the forest, only to have one worker out of 213 return half-dead, and find the rest of them dead, torn to shreds by something bigger than a manticore, and more vicious than a pack of timber wolves. It became official when she sent a contingent of guards to deal with it, but none returned. Instead, they all turned up in the same condition as the expedition, but with their heads removed. Now, the murderer is slowly expanding its reach outside the forest, targeting everypony from explorers to simple passerby to patrolling guards, all with the same result: heads cut off, violently. She needed to find the source of these atrocities, but that meant entering the forest. Since it seemed to attack the weak, she assumed it to be an easy kill for her, so she wrote a quick letter to her sister, Luna:
"Dear Luna, I am going to destroy whatever's killing our subjects in the Everfree. I will return shortly. Sincerely, Celestia."
Once she'd left it where Luna would find it, Celestia flew off toward the Everfree forest, eager to meet whatever was causing her this grief.
Later, at the Everfree Forest
Celestia landed in a small clearing she made initially for her deforesting expedition, and looked around, though what she thought to find was unknown. The machinery used by the deforesting team was all still lying around, and the blood from the initial attack had all washed away. Indeed, it looked like nopony even died here, or had ever been here at all, save for the out-of-place machinery. As she searched the clearing, though, Celestia heard a rustling in the shrubbery, but paid it no mind. Little did she realize, some predators and their master were watching nearby... and they were hungry.
A strange creature watched from the shadows, his spines looking like trees, and his teeth white and sharp as razors, and followed by several timber wolves, all hungry for the new prey's blood. However, the strange beast held them back with but a glance. This new prey was dangerous, it knew, and he would not sacrifice his packmates so easily, if just for this mere pony. Instead, the great, reptilian beast itself rose from the bush, and and approached the newcomer, startling her. Though the shock on the new prey's face was genuine indeed, she had intruded on his territory, and now would pay the price all those before her have paid. The beast let out a colossal, earth-shaking roar as he faced his opponent, who was now taking a combat stance of her own, despite of her comparatively small size. Odd prey, indeed...
Celestia first saw the behemoth rise, and watched in shock as it approached her, letting out a horrible, demonic growl as it strode, the beast's impressive muscles flexing and shifting as it moved. She took a defensive stance as she studied the odd creature, which didn't fit the description of any creature known to her or ponykind in general. For starters, it was slightly bigger than a manticore, but it was reptilian, with impossibly-sized muscles all over its scaly body, giant, barbed spikes running along its back haphazardly, and a long, box-like head, with two red eyes and a single, horrific row of long, sharp teeth, which it bared with a look of utmost ferocity, and likely desired nothing more than to sink those teeth into her. When Celestia had finished studying the immense creature, which she was now sure was the culprit for all the murderers, it finally let out the biggest, most guttural roar she'd ever heard in a very long time, and pounced, quickly covering the distance between them in a single bound. Clearly, those muscles weren't just for show.
As the monster landed, Celestia dodged a swipe of the creature's claws, and then cast a great fireball spell at it, hoping to incinerate the beast before more lives could be claimed by it. The creature, however, put it's forelegs up in a defensive stance, blocking the fireball. Then it turned and swatted Celestia aside with a swing of its spiky tail, causing her to fly through a few trees before scraping across the ground for a good few seconds. Whatever this thing was, it clearly wasn't as stupid as it first seemed. As Celestia got up, the beast was already crashing toward her, teeth bared and ready to chomp down on her. But Celestia had other plans. Charging another giant ball of magic, she released it just as the monster leaped into the air, causing it to fly backwards as the spell made contact and exploded, giving her time to get up and fly out of reach.
Celestia couldn't fight this thing, whatever it was, but she knew six ponies that could. And so, Celestia then flew away to Ponyville to find said ponies, and proceeded to leave an angry, grumbling monster behind.
The great, reptilian behemoth watched in anger as his prey up and flew off, having been the first in a long time to have escaped his wrath. But the beast could find more. His pack never starved, for there were always fools who would trespass on his land, and they would always be easier to kill than the one that got away; they always were. As he returned to his cave, the beast then began to change, becoming smaller, but still heavily-muscled, standing on two legs, and his head became taller and flatter. putting on his cloth garbs, the odd creature then picked up his staff, then began the hunt for different prey to feed his creatures of the forest, presumably prey that wouldn't fly away or throw giant fireballs at him.
It was many hours later, since that fateful battle between Celestia and the massive beast of the Everfree, it that caused so much death and carnage, and now seemed unable to be stopped. Her wounds from the previous fight had rendered her flight quite the unbearable task, as many bones had been broken, and many slashes adorned Celestia's skin. But Celestia was now so very close to Ponyville, home to her student and most of her friends, she could see it in the distance, becoming closer and closer each passing second. And finally, at last, Celestia finally reached the air over Ponyville, where she could contact Twilight Sparkle, and lowered her altitude, making preparations to land.
However, as she tried to hit the ground on her feet, her grievous wounds caused her legs to give out, so instead of landing, Celestia crashed into the dirt like a ragdoll, and proceeded to skid, bounce, and roll a solid twelve feet away from her intended point of landing. But despite this, Celestia still struggled to her feet, and after getting up and dusting herself off, she shakily made her way to the library at the other end of town, ignoring the gasps and stares of her subjects as they noticed her multiple wounds from her "encounter" with the creature that was killing her ponies. Finally, after an hour or so of walking in the heat of the day, while putting up with such a massive amounts of cuts and bruises, she finally walked up to the library, knocked on the door, and Twilight eventually walked up to the door and answered it, immediately gasping afterward and reeling back at the sight now before her.
However, despite the unusual welcome and her incredible pain, Celestia managed to strain a weak smile, and spoke:
"Good evening, Twilight. Could you kindly help me with something?..." Celestia managed, and then she passed out from blood loss. Thankfully, Twilight managed to catch Celestia before she could hit the ground, despite her utter shock that the ruler of Equestria was at her doorstep, looking like she stepped into the ring with a meat grinder. Still, she carried her inside and laid her on the couch, hoping she wouldn't bleed out before she could get some help.
"Spike! I need bandages, now!" Shouted Twilight.
"What? Bandages? Why?" Asked spike from another room upstairs.
"No time! Just get me some, now, please!" Twilight shouted with a hint of impatience in her voice.
"Alright, alright! Geez, you don't have to get mad about it." Called Spike from upstairs. After finding the bandages, Spike carried them downstairs, and found Celestia on the couch, dying from blood loss.
"Holy...!" Began Spike, before he was interrupted by Twilight.
"Spike! Language!" Snapped Twilight as she took the bandages and began to dress Celestia's wounds.
"Sorry," said Spike sarcastically, as he stood there, uneasily glancing at the princess of the sun. "It's just that it's not every day you see the leader of the country, sprawled out on the couch, and looking like she lost a fight with a blender." Twilight shot him a glare that made him wince before returning to Celestia. Seriously, What caused these wounds? They didn't look like they were caused by anything she could think of, and they were incredibly serious. What manner of creature could do this to the Princess of the sun, She wondered? Whatever it was, It did a number on poor Celestia, and she needed a hospital, and soon.
"Spike, I'm going to take Celestia to the Hospital! Don't burn the place down while I'm gone." She called. Spike rolled his eyes.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever you say." Twilight then closed the door, as she began to hoist Celestia on her shoulders, and prepared to take her to the hospital.
Much later, at the Hospital
Celestia awoke slightly, her eyes failing to stay open, then she finally opened them to what appeared to be a hospital. As she looked around, Twilight jumped up and went to her.
"Princess are you okay?!" Asked Twilight exasperatedly. In truth, Celestia couldn't possibly be in any more pain, but her pride wouldn't let anyone else know that.
"I'm fine, Twilight, just fine." She said through gritted teeth and a pained smile.
"But,Twilight, mind telling me why I'm in a hospital?" Celestia asked.
"I don't know, you showed up at my doorstep a few hours ago all beat up, and you asked me for help, but you passed out before you could say anything else." Replied Twilight. Just then, Celestia remembered why she went to see her student in the first place, and immediately faced Twilight, eager to voice her request.
"Oh, Twilight, I just remembered: I need your help with something involving the Everfree forest." Twilight was taken aback.
"W-what!? The Everfree? Why were you in there!?" Celestia sighed.
"Because, Twilight, that's where the creature that's been causing all those disappearances lives. Turns out, its like nothing I've ever seen before, nothing ANYPONY'S seen before. You see, I can't take it on alone, but I have full confidence in you six." Celestia said between pained breaths. Twilight cast a confused look at Celestia.
"Uh, if you couldn't beat this thing by yourself, what makes you think the six of us can?" She asked. Celestia sighed.
"Because, Twilight, I'm old. You happy? 'Cuz there it is. I'm not able to take care of every problem this damned country throws at me by myself, and I sometimes need some help with things. There, I said it. Happy? Because I'm not." Twilight stared in shock as the Princess of the sun just chewed her out.
"It's fine, Twilight, I'm just in a lot of pain right now. You don't have to fight this thing if you don't want to." Twilight put her head back up, then replied.
"No, I'm getting the others, and we're gonna defeat this thing. Whatever did this to you, it's gonna pay." Celestia smiled.
"Thank you, Twilight, and I'm sorry for snapping at you. It's the painkillers, see?" They both laughed a bit, then Twilight gathered her friends, who were waiting outside after hearing about the incident, and gave them a briefing on the situation.
"So, the creature is in the Everfree forest, and we have to kill it." Concluded Twilight.
"Okay, but how do you reckon' we find this critter, Twi?" Inquired Applejack.
"Anything able to do that to Celestia has to be really big, maybe we can track it?" Replied Twilight.
"I say we call it out. Anything that strong has to have an ego to boot, right?" Asked Rainbow Dash. The five argued for a while about how to find this creature, when Fluttershy, at last, managed the courage to speak up:
"G-girls? I-I think I know how we can find it..." Said Fluttershy nervously. Everyone looked at her quizzically.
"Fluttershy? You've seen this thing before?" Asked Twilight, shocked. Fluttershy blushed.
"N-no, but I've seen it's tracks. I... I think it's hunting my animal friends... It already got a few..." Fluttershy began to tremble at the thought of what could be hunting and killing her poor little furry friends.
"Now, now, Fluttershy. Just show us the tracks, and we'll beat up this nasty monster so he never bothers anyone again!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed heroically, striking a pose for emphasis.
"Indeed! This ruffian will soon know to think twice before messing with one of us!" Said Rarity. Fluttershy smiled a little, then finally replied.
"O-okay. Follow me, please." With that she led them to her house, hoping to arrive before the monster got anymore of her animal friends.
Meanwhile, At Fluttershy's cottage
The lone human stalked among the trees of his beloved Everfree toward his destination, his timber wolf pack-mates at the ready, prepared to strike on a moment's notice. As he stalked, he at last saw his prey after a moment's search: a small group of happily oblivious rabbits near the cottage he was accustomed to hunting near, as it held the most prey, and they always seemed so well-fed.
So at last, his targets sighted, the human jumped from the bushes, startling the various animals near the hut into fleeing, and cast a spell from his staff, which was adorned with many unicorn skulls of various age and gender. The spell itself took immediate effect, causing the grass and tree roots to pin the rabbits down while his pack-mates grabbed the hapless prey animals, finally able to gorge their bellies of the best and fattest of the animals ensnared.
And so, the first phase of his hunt concluded, the human then ordered his pack-mates to return to the cave to feast, as he himself had been planning on going after a larger specimen to feast on, like a fox, or a deer. Before he could even begin his own hunt, however, he soon heard six female equines talking, but he could not understand what they said, only that they were close. Before he could run, however, he heard one of them cry out, then turned to see the yellow one pointing at him, and the other five looking right at him. Seeing no other option, the human quickly waved his staff into the air, and cast a spell he hoped would slow them down, then took off, hoping desperately to have left his would-be pursuers behind.
Twilight and her friends first saw the strange, bipedal creature after Fluttershy had pointed it out, and quickly moved to pursue it, though it didn't look like anything that could do any real damage, let alone put such grievous injuries on Celestia. However, since this creature seemed out of place on its own, Twilight was quickly led to the conclusion that it could lead them to the creature Celestia sent them to defeat, so the Mane Six tried to pursue.
However, seeming to detect much hostile intent from the normally well-meaning mares, it quickly brought up and waved it's staff, which, by the way, was covered in pony skulls, and the vines, grass, and tree roots began to wrap around the six mares' legs, causing them to trip as they moved to pursue the creature. But as the strange creature bolted into the forest, The Mane Six soon freed themselves from the floral snare the creature trapped them with, and they tried desperately to catch up to the creature fleeing them. However, they soon found that the beast was just too fast, even for Applejack or Rainbow Dash, and it seemed to know this forest really well.
"Hey, you! Stop!!!" Shouted Rainbow Dash to the muscle-bound, bipedal creature, but alas, it did not stop.
"We just want to talk!" Cried Twilight, exhaustion in her voice. Even so, the creature still ignored their pleas, fleeing deeper into the forest and gaining more distance between it and the mares, until it reached a cliff face, where it was forced to stop.
"Now we have ya, you varmint!" Exclaimed Applejack, and the six heroes moved in to capture the strange, ape-like creature, moving slowly, as not to spook it.
As the human ran, the six creatures behind him somehow managed to escape the root trap he'd hoped to keep them with, and now chased him as fast as he could run, despite the dips and turns he made to lose them. As he ran, they yelled some things at him, but he could not understand what they said; he only knew that they sounded threatening, and he needed to retreat faster, lest they catch him, and do god-knows-what with him once they had him.
Perhaps they wished to kill him for killing them, though it was they who trespassed on his land? Whatever the reason they had for disturbing him so, however important to them it was, it mattered little to him; he needed just to escape for now. However, his path ran into a cliff face, and he was forced to stop. Now, he was practically at their mercy. One said something in their odd language, and they closed in on him like predators. And so, with very few options left, the human glared at the six ponies, now so sure of their victory that they closed in on him like manticores, and he finally raised his staff, prepared to cast a spell that was sure to hold the six interlopers where they stood...
Twilight and the others stopped when the creature raised its macabre staff into the air, and began loudly chanting something in a strange, odd language, unknown to the six mares.
"Uh, What's it doin' Twi?" Asked Applejack.
"Ooh, maybe he's celebrating!" exclaimed Pinkie Pie, who was bouncing up and down.
"I don't know, but I don't like it! Back up!" commanded Twilight as a red light began to emanate from the skull at the tip of the staff, giving the six an imminent feeling of dread as the light grew brighter and brighter.Finally, after observing this odd ritual, the other five did as Twilight told them, and they ducked when red light finally exploded outward, engulfing them with a red flash, and an overwhelming sense of numbness.
As the human finished his chant, he unleashed his built-up spell upon the interlopers from his staff, something guaranteed to keep them busy while he escaped; a simple polymorph chant to temporarily turn them to shrubs while he escaped.
Unable to move, Twi-shrub and her friends simply watched as the creature who did this to them escaped, and once he was far away, they began to change back into their normal selves. However, though they now were free, and knew that more odd creatures lived in the Everfree forest than they previously thought, they now had lost their only chance of finding the creature who almost killed Celestia, and now had to track him again, as he was very unlikely to fall right into their hooves like last time ever again. luckily, though, the thing had left unique footprints as it ran, which at least made it easier to track. So, with that in mind, Twilight sighed, focusing on where the behemoth went, and called for her friends to follow.
"C'mon, that thing's not gonna capture itself..." Sighed Twilight, as the six then slowly made their way in pursuit of the thing that was now proving itself to be more dangerous than they previously thought...
Many hours passed after the human had fled those crazed, predatory mares, and he most certainly was exhausted. After hours of running from the six crazy ponies, he was finally ready for a nap, and a long one at that. As he made his way to his cave, his many pack-mates, which included Cockatrices, Manticores, Timber wolves, and various other predatory animals that existed in the forest, all awaited his return eagerly, feasting upon the fruit of his most previous hunt. Now among friends, the human finally laid upon the massive pile of animal pelts he called a bed, and began to drift off to sleep, dreams of future hunts swirling in his primal mind, as well as... darker things, to say the least.
Luna was furious, outraged, even, at the recent turn of events, none of them pleasant, and none of them thought to be possible; Some creature had dared kill her and her sister's subjects, hundreds of them at that, and now Celestia was in the hospital because of it. This was an outrage! This creature, whatever it was, would suffer immensely for it's crimes, Luna promised this. Maybe a few years chained up in the dungeon would make it see the error of its ways, she thought, and though the thought pleased her greatly, the method of catching this beast, was another matter altogether.
From what Luna could gather about the beast that caused her, Celestia and the kingdom so much trouble, The creature was like a dragon, but without wings, and looked more like a over-muscular, spiked cat of sorts, but without fur, and it bore a reptilian head, filled to the brim with long, sharp teeth. This creature was undoubtedly dangerous, and despite this, to Luna's chagrin, the Mane Six, Celestia's champions in times of crisis, took it upon themselves to find it, despite the obvious danger this thing posed not only to mere ponies, but to one that many considered to be a goddess.
Though they were Celestia's champions, they still were only six little ponies, Luna thought, and if this thing was as powerful and dangerous as she thought it was, they would need as much help as they could get. The night was young yet, but Luna could still use her powers to see into the minds of those who slept, if only to find this creature herself, before it killed the Mane Six and devoured them whole. Thankfully for Luna, the beast clearly was one-of-a-kind, so finding it couldn't be too hard. So, using her powers of the night, Luna crept her consciousness into the Everfree, and slipped throughout it, searching for something unusual, anything at all, but only finding the occasional predator and the Mane Six, still looking for the accursed beast well into the night, a topic for discussion after the mares returned from their wild goose chase.
But, finally, after a good while of searching and failing to find her target, the princess of the night finally came across something highly unusual nearby: a large gathering of predatory animals native to the Everfree, too large to be normal, as these creatures, in her experience, would sooner kill each other than sleep together. Even stranger, an unknown creature lay in a cave at their center, obviously either their leader, or the creature they gathered to protect. Either way, the Mane Six were headed right for it, to Luna's shock, and even if this creature WASN'T as dangerous as Celestia let on, the various and numerous predators protecting it indeed was, and Luna finally made her decision, after not even a moment of thought, and took matters into her own hooves, hoping to save the Mane Six, before they became beyond help.
"There you are..." Luna hissed, and she then entered the creature's lair via her own astral projection, but found something completely different than what she thought she'd find, much to her shock. Within the cave, she found no beast, but something vastly different. It appeared to be some kind of primate, but she couldn't see its face beneath the manticore skull it wore over its head, or the fur cloak it wore over itself. In fact, the odd creature seemed adorned with many things, the most noticeable being a unicorn skull on its shoulder. But despite its odd attire and certainly large muscles, It didn't look like something that could deal any real damage to anything, let alone Celestia herself. Still, she had to be certain, as those skulls it wore had to come from somewhere, and it didn't look like the type of creature that went graverobbing.
"I'll just take a quick look, what's the worst that could happen?" Luna asked herself as she entered the creatures mind, and needless to say, that was a mistake.
The human shifted in his sleep, unable to wake, and yet unable to fully sleep, either. Something had intruded into his mind, causing havoc in his natural processes, and he knew that he had to get it out, as the odd feeling felt very similar to pony magic, which he had grown to despise. As his consciousness turned inward to find the source of this disturbance, the angered human quickly found the intruder; a blue, royal-looking pony, just like the white one he faced earlier, but shorter.
However, this one was much more sinister in aura, and had a different feel to her personality that the white one. But as he moved toward it, however, he soon noticed that the little pony, only head-height with his chest, was far too scared to even move, as it was staring at one of his many memories, specifically his childhood. So, not wanting to disturb the blue pony, the human simply stood back, and let her watch, seeing that the memory was affecting her...
The scene started out in fire. Luna stared in horror and confusion as soldiers she recognized as ponies slaughtered strange, bipedal creatures like the one who's memories she was looking through, using sword, spear and magic to cut down the young, old, male and female as they fled, much to Luna's horror. And lo and behold, as Luna looked around, she soon found the one who held this memory himself, but in this memory, however, the creature was much younger, barely older than a toddler.
Here the child stood, staring with tears in his eyes as his family was being torn apart by the magic of unicorns, and the swords of others. At first, hope seemed dim for the odd, bipedal creatures in the dream, as they simply were no match for the ponies, and their merciless charge on the innocent creatures they now slaughtered like game. Suddenly, though, to Luna's surprise, she and the child who's memory this belonged to heard a strange, chopping noise, and they both soon saw several strange, hovering machines, each resembling some kind of giant insect, or perhaps fish, though they all seemed to hover low to the ground, though they still hung in the air thanks to what appeared to be giant halos, or discs, on their backs.
Luna didn't know what these strange things even were, but the memory gave her their name, like a faint whisper through her mind: Helicopters. Whatever these "helicopters" were, though, they were big and loud, and they terrified Luna to no end. And suddenly, as if for no reason other than to make themselves even louder and more terrifying, the appendages on the odd machines lit up in bouts of flame, and the ponies slaying the humans were almost immediately torn asunder by an unseen force, heads, legs, and bloody giblets flying in every direction as the appendages on the 'Helicopters' remained alight, as if they themselves were using their own horrible, destructive brand of magic.
As Luna stared in horror at the bloodshed, she turned toward the child, and saw him holding onto a wolf plushy as tightly as his young arms could let him, and he was murmuring something between sobs as he watched the Helicopters tear the hapless ponies to bloody piles of gore within seconds, fire and death in the background as far as they could see. And once all the attacking soldiers were gone at last, doors on the insect-like vehicles opened, and armored, loud humans began shouting orders at the unarmored ones, and beckoning them onto the flying vehicles, filling them quickly and fully as they could.
But as the creatures piled into the Helicopters, one of them was hit by a large, menacing beam of white energy, with males, females, and children still aboard. The Helicopter then simply exploded, and all the others remaining hurried to take off, leaving many of the creatures behind. Luna looked around for the source of the terrible energy, and saw a white alicorn descend before the humans, her rainbow mane blowing in the wind of fire, clad in golden armor and crown. The destroyer of these creatures was none other than Celestia herself. Celestia glared hatefully at the creatures before her. One had a strange device, like a staff of sorts. As he aimed it at Celestia, the strange device boomed like thunder, spraying a steady stream of projectiles at her. However, all of them bounced off of an unseen shield around her, and she looked at the weapon, causing it to explode in the man's hands. Defenseless, the creatures could only stare in horror as Celestia walked to them, then spoke to them in her royal Canterlot voice.
"Attention, humans. I, Princess Celestia, have taken it upon myself not to destroy you where you stand, but on the condition that you swear your undying loyalty to Equestria, and renounce your humanity now and forever. Any takers?" She finished her speech with the cruelest smile Luna had ever seen, Crueler than any villain could ever manage, and from her own sister, no less. Luna turned toward the child beside her, who was now curled up and bawling silently into his wolf plushy. She felt bad for the boy, but felt compelled to keep watching the scene. As Celestia gazed over the crowd, one of the creatures she called "humans" finally stepped forward. It was clearly male, and had a look of anger on his face. Celestia's twisted smile grew, and she acknowledged the human with mock interest.
"Well, our first volunteer. Anything to say, Human?" Said Celestia. The human stared at her. He was almost as tall as she was, with a rugged face covered in facial hair, bounded with taut, rather large muscles, and still bore a look of sheer hatred on his face as he spoke to Celestia, with an obvious Scandinavian accent.
"What say I, ye spawn o' the devil? I hope tha wolves come fer yer filthy, two-bit hide, ya filthy she-beast!" Said the man, before he up and spat in Celestia's face, the last thing he ever did before Celestia simply vaporized him, glaring at his ashes with a look of mild disgust. The rest of the humans and Luna stared in horror as she then stepped over the ashes of the human, and gazed to the crowd hatefully.
"Does anyone else have something to say?" Demanded Celestia disdainfully. And after a brief silence, Celestia grinned again, and opened her mouth to speak again, but was interrupted by the last person Luna expected to speak: The boy.
"Why won't you just leave us alone, you monster!?" He cried, causing everyone, especially Celestia, to look at him. Celestia, however, seemed more amused than surprised. She walked over to him, but no one moved to stop her, they were all too terrified of Celestia to do anything. Now, she leered as she towered over the boy, prepared to destroy him, but she spoke, instead.
"What was that, boy?" Asked Celestia menacingly, glaring at him with a cruel, evil smile on her face, but the boy didn't even cringe as he glared back at her, wolf plushy in hand, and spoke again, anger and hate in his young, shrill voice.
"I hope what uncle Jorge said comes true! I hope you get eaten by wolves!" Shouted the child, and everyone but Celestia stared in absolute shock. Even Luna caught herself staring as the boy stood up to Celestia herself, not even half her height, but certainly twice her courage. Celestia, however, only grinned at the child, and replied, her tone cold and hateful.
"Well, then, maybe you can tell him you said that yourself, child." As she readied her spell, the boy only gripped his Wolf plushy tighter, closed his eyes, and almost seemed to pray. But then, before his end came, the sound of howling rang through the air, seeming to paralyze everyone in the area. But not howls of pain, mind you, but wolf howls, instead. And suddenly, as Celestia turned to face the noise, startled by the suddenness of it, a great, terrible, grey wolf bore down on her, slashing her across the right side of her face as she tried to defend herself, and bounced back, landing in front of the boy as if protecting him.
"I always wondered why she kept her hair over that side..." Luna then muttered to herself involuntarily, still transfixed by the ongoing scene.Then, as Celestia got back up, recovering from the devastating blow, more wolves appeared leaping from the brush and trees, and snarling at Celestia, who stared back in a mix of surprise, fear, and anger as the primal hounds surrounded the princess of the sun, and every human in the immediate area ran for their lives... all but one, anyway.
The boy merely stood there, glaring angrily at Celestia, despite the fact that giant, wild canines now surrounded him, though they seemed to focus on Celestia, ignoring the boy almost entirely. Celestia fought back the wolves with all her might, but only barely held them off, due to their sheer numbers and size alone. And as Celestia finally tried to escape, she turned to face the human child, unfathomable rage in her eyes, and the boy returned it with a spiteful glare of his own.
Then, with that, she left the boy to his fate, leaving him to the wolves he summoned seemingly out of spite. At first, Luna thought this was the end for the poor child, but the wolves did not attack. Instead, the biggest one lowered his head, and the boy petted the great wolf, no ill intent detectable between the two at all. The beast then picked the boy up by the back of his bedraggled shirt, and carried him off to the safety of the nearby zoo.
Luna backed out of the memory, having finally seen enough, but before she could turn around and exit the creature's mind, she soon bumped into something big. Really big. Feeling an overwhelming sense of dread, Luna then turned around, and saw the creature who's dreams she had so rudely invaded, and he did NOT look happy to see her.
Luna stared at the human before her, her expression one of shock and disbelief as what she once looked down at as a little boy, now looked down at her as a giant, muscle-bound behemoth. And upon that, to her shock, arose one question that scared her the most: How in Equestria did the man manifest himself in his own head?! However he did it, he was very real in his own head, and could very really kill her, given that he was twice as big as her. How did such a little boy turn into such a colossal monster, Luna wondered? However, as she pondered this question, the human took no aggressive action against her.
Instead, he looked down at her sadly, as if apologizing to her for having to see that. Finally, the human turned away from her, and walked to another painting that represented another memory, then beckoned her to follow him. when she arrived in front of the memory, the human made a gesture to watch it. As Luna did, she felt herself get pulled inside, and she found herself in a beat-up, destroyed zoo, right next to the human. He gestured to keep watching, so she did, not understanding why he could not talk. Had he forgotten how? Did he not want to? it was a mystery. However, the scene started soon after she snapped out of her thoughts. A pack of wolves walked by, a teenage human with them; the very same as the one standing next to her, but much younger. The memory-human wore great pelt robes and cargo shorts, and carried a staff with a unicorn skull at the tip, and he seemed to be guiding the wolves to something. After following the group for a while, Luna soon saw what it was: A forest, small but dense. The sign in front of it read "Freedom cave national park". The "real" human stared at the sign somberly for a moment, then motioned Luna to follow the memory-human.
They walked for a while, and then the memory-human and his pack stopped at a steep hill in a clearing, a flag with stars and stripes at the top of said hill. on the front of the hill was a gaping cave mouth, the actual cave stretching beyond the afternoon light's reach.
"So, this is Freedom Cave, I take it?" Luna asked the human beside her. The human merely nodded somberly, gazing longingly at the flag at the top of the hill. Then, Luna suddenly remembered seeing a worn, tattered, faded flag at the top of the cave she found the human in.
"You loved that flag, didn't you?" She asked. Again, the human nodded, not bothering to look at her. Luna realized he could understand her, but did not look at her or speak to her, So it was clear he just didn't want to talk to her. One mystery down, but one still remained: How long had this human been living in that cave, or at all, for that matter? This couldn't have been recent; The Everfree forest took centuries to grow to the size it was today, yet this human didn't look old at all. In fact, she previously guessed that he was only in his twenties. But now, in recent light, this young-looking human has been living in that cave and surviving in this forest for thousands upon thousands of years! Though startled by this fact, Luna did not fear the human, but pitied him. Here this human lived, wronged by ponies and his own people, forced to live among animals for companionship. She wanted to apologize, but could not. After all, what did she do? She had no Idea of this incursion by her own sister. Still, she felt terrible for his fate, and wished she could apologize somehow. However, before she could say anything, The human turned and looked at her, a thousand years of tiredness in his hazel eyes. Then, everything blurred, and Luna found herself back where she cast her spell to put herself in the human's head. He had kicked her out of his head! No ordinary mortal could do that. Then again, this human was far from ordinary, or mortal. Trying to get her thoughts back together, she remembered that the Mane Six were still in the woods, looking for the human. They could wait, however. Celestia had some explaining to do.
The human awoke slowly, his mind a bit clouded from his "guest" being in there. Deciding to hunt himself some breakfast, the human got up and began to make his way to the cottage he tended to hunt near. For the life of him, he could not find out who lived there. He saw lights in it, and the local plants and animals were well taken care of, but he'd never seen anyone or anything enter or leave it. Oh well, it was probably not important anyway. Changing into his reptilian form, he made his way to the cottage, but stopped dead when he heard six familiar voices, exactly like the ones he heard yesterday. And lo, as he remembered the six mares and their tenacious pursuit of him, the colossal beast broke out in a sweat, and decided that he would simply rather go without breakfast today than deal with those crazed ponies ever again. Internally facepalming, he tried to go back to his cave, turning his bulk around with a loud sigh, but he instead ended up meeting the six pests face-to-face as he turned, with only one way to run.
The mane six had walked for hours through the forest, and soon found Fluttershy's cottage, where they'd rested for the night. Now that it was finally morning, the six opted to continue their search of the behemoth that attacked Celestia, but no sooner had they left the small hut, the six were utterly terrified at what they were soon looking at. After looking in the Forest for two days, they finally found what they were looking for but a few minutes away from Fluttershy's own hut. Or, rather, it found them. However, the giant, spiny reptile wasn't exactly what they expected; it actually looked just as surprised as them. However, the colossal reptile soon regained its composure before they could, and it leaped at them, clearing the ten-foot distance between it and the six mares in a single bound, and then, it did the unexpected: It jumped over them, bounding and running deeper into the forest.
"After it!" Shouted Twilight, eager to finally catch the monster. So, the six gave chase to the monster, but were surprised to see that they didn't need to run very far, seeing as it didn't go far either. In fact, it seemed to be waiting for them as they reached it at the mouth of what Twilight assumed was its lair; a massive, skull-adorned, maw-like cave in the side of a large hill, a single, tattered flag atop the hill itself, flapping softly in the wind. However, the six ignored the oddly serene picture behind their target, and focused entirely on the beast's capture, pumped and ready to end this chase once and for all.
"Stop in the name of Celestia, monster!" Demanded Twilight. But as Twilight yelled at it, the creature simply tilted its head in response, then yawned loudly and rudely, causing Twilight to quickly become mildly agitated. Was this thing mocking her?
"Alright, ugly, get ready for a beat-down!" Shouted Rainbow Dash, sensing her friend's distress, and eager to avenge her nerves.
"That's right, ya varmint! I'm gonna make some nice saddles outa yer hide!" Taunted AppleJack as well. However, not at all intimidated by the duo, the bored-looking beast then flashed its many sharp teeth at the six, opened its great, red maw, and finally roared, nay, BELLOWED, loosing a sound that personified the fury of the wild and its destructive power in one loud, earth-shaking sound, causing the Mane Six to fall over from the sheer force of its mighty roar. However, this only made Rainbow Dash and Applejack more determined to beat this thing, whatever it was, despite the fact that this thing was literally eight times their combined size, and ten times their mass.
"So you're loud, huh? Let's see how loud you cry for your mommy!" Taunted Rainbow Dash as the monster stopped roaring. However, Twilight and the others, save Applejack, felt rather intimidated by the colossal beast before them, and ever the voice of reason, Twilight gave one look at the growling, glaring reptile before them, and attempted to convince her friends not to fight it.
"Uh, Rainbow, I wouldn't taunt it if I were you..." warned Twilight. However, her warning came too late, for no sooner had the words left her mouth, the giant, reptilian abomination charged the group, bellowing in anger as it thundered toward them, head down in a charge. Unable to avoid it in time, Rainbow was hit first, and she consequently flew through two trees as the beast hit her like a train, and she finally landed headfirst in the third, sticking into it like an arrow. Then, the beast growled hungrily, and soon turned its wrath toward Applejack, who was undeterred by its recent display of strength, and was right next to the beast, ready to kick its legs until they broke.
"Come on, you walkin' handbag, show me what you got!" Applejack taunted in turn, and as if to politely oblige her request, the beast slammed its giant, thick tail down on her like a hammer, burying Applejack up to her neck and dazing her as she was driven into the ground like a railroad spike But, though dazed, the orange pony was not even deterred in the slightest, and despite her situation, she gave one last taunt.
"Eh, try t-that again, you lilly-livered son of a..." Was all she got out before the irate monster hit her again, burying her all the way this time, leaving her hat to stay on the surface like the back of a nail. The remaining four were stunned by this gross display of oppressive strength, even Pinkie pie had stopped bouncing. This thing was way too fast for it's size, and was way too strong to take. However, this did not daunt the six, who seemed to favor zeal over logic, and eager to avenge the two they lost, the Mane Six got into combative stances, and challenged the giant monster.
"He can't take all four of us at once! Get him, girls!" Shouted Twilight, and the remaining four mares charged it. Needless to say, unfortunately, the entire battle lasted only five seconds before everyone but Twilight was incapacitated.
"Ugh... Its... t-too... strong..." moaned Twilight, as she tried to pick herself up after getting headbutted into a tree. However, the creature then picked up Twilight in a massive paw before she could stand up again, ignoring her struggles and pleas as he dragged her to Celestia-knows-where.
"Where are you taking me!? Put me down!" Demanded a helpless Twilight as she kicked and thrashed against the beast's grip. Suddenly, they finally arrived in the deepest part of the cave, and with great impact and horror, a terrible thought finally dawned on Twilight causing her jaw to drop, and she began to sweat, as the thing glared at her, teeth bared, and growl particularly threatening. Then, finally, after but a moment's pause, Twilight finally spoke her realization to the heavens:
"Oh, sweet Celestia, this thing's going to EAT me!!!"
Twilight struggled as hard and tenaciously as she could as the beast held her with ease and malice, praying that Celestia would save her soon. Unfortunately, this was not the case, as almost a whole minute had passed, and Twilight's hopes were slowly disintegrating before her eyes, though despite this, the purple unicorn still struggled, and did all in her power to force the beast of the Everfree to release her.
"Put me down! Now!!! I said NOW!!!" Twilight screamed, but alas, no amount of kicking or biting could loosen the creature's grip on her. Finally, the beast flicked her upside the head with one of it's claws, knocking the little pony out.
The human looked at the unconscious pony in mild curiosity after knocking her out, wondering if he should eat her. The idea seemed rather alluring, the beast thought, but this little pony was indeed rather important-looking, though the human had no idea why. deciding to think about his choice later, the beast set the lone violet pony down first, and then went out to grab the little pony's friends from the various places he had pinned them into, be they trees, ground, or solid boulders. Finally, as soon as he rounded them up and put them in his cave, he ordered his pack to make sure they didn't escape. Then, he changed to his human form and went to the cottage to actually eat something worth putting into his belly: these ponies tended to taste too much like pure sugar and spice. Besides, aside from that, he had a sinking feeling he would need those ponies later, and his gut feelings were never wrong.
Luna walked down the corridor to her sister's room, where she was put until her bones finally healed. When she knocked, She heard her sister's voice soon after, though it seemed rather... troubled.
"Come in!" Luna entered upon hearing her sister call, and she soon enough saw her sister on the bed, a cast on her right foreleg and both hind legs. The beast she fought did a real number on her, whatever it was. Maybe it was connected to the human somehow? Luna decided to ask her sister of that, once she'd confronted her about her original grievance: the annihilation of the entire human race, save one. However, before she could speak, Celestia looked at her sister, and her troubled face was immediately replaced by joy, and she welcomed her sister, beckoning her.
"Oh, Luna, come on in. Just in time, I actually need to talk to you about something important." Said Celestia, surprising Luna.
"Celestia, I kinda needed to ask you something first..." Luna complained, but she was quickly interrupted by her sister.
"After, this is important. Shut the door, please. Nopony else can hear this."Celestia replied with great haste, and, albeit reluctantly, Luna shut the door and paid attention to her sister, the human's memory still fresh in her mind. In fact... could this be about that human? before she could fully ponder the question, though, Celestia checked the door to make sure it was closed, and spoke again, her voice softer than normal, as if she truly wanted none but her and Luna to know of this conversation.
"Luna... I have something I desperately need to tell you. See... I think I might know where the beast that's been attacking us came from, but you're not gonna like it. I have to tell someone, though, and you're the only one I can trust." Luna already knew where this conversation was going, but wanted to be as sure as possible.
"What is it, Celestia?" Asked Luna with fake innocence. Thankfully, Celestia bought it.
"Luna, I need to tell you, well... Have you ever heard of humans?" She asked timidly, as if reluctant to get to the point.
"Of course. All ponies know of them in legend. Why?" Luna asked, despite already knowing 'why'. Celestia gritted her teeth, finally getting to her point, then answered:
"This beast that haunts the forest... I think... I think he may indeed be the last of them." Luna was shocked. The beast and the human... They were the same?! It couldn't be!
"Celestia, are you saying that the humans you so easily destroyed could turn into such horrible monsters like that?!" Celestia perked up in confusion at that, and quickly retorted.
"No, it's... Wait, what did you say?" Uh oh. Luna, her cover blown, quickly tried to correct herself to avoid her sister's wrath, but to very little avail:
"Uh, I mean, it's... uh..." stuttered Luna futilely. Celestia's face suddenly turned very scared and grave, and she questioned her sister.
"Luna, how did you know that I destroyed them, though I don't remember telling you?" Asked Celestia grimly. Luna could only stand there and sweat as the two stared at each other. Then, finally defeated, she answered nervously, shuffling her hooves like a filly caught stealing from the cookie jar:
"I... Uh... Might have looked for the beast last night, then I found the human, and looked in it's head a little..." Celestia stiffened at the explanation at first, but seeing no reason to be shocked or angry at her sister, Celestia finally relaxed, and sighed, before finally replying.
"I figured that might have been the case. I suppose that's what you came here to ask me about, then? Why I did it?" Celestia replied sadly. Luna nodded.
"I want to know if it's true. Did you really kill that whole race?" Luna asked. Celestia lowered her head.
"Yes, I destroyed the humans, and I faced the last of them many times before. I still have a scar from the first time." As Celestia said that, she moved her mane from the right side of her face, revealing a great, jagged scar that went from her ear to her lower jaw, missing her eye by inches, just like the wolf from the human's memory gave her. "I have more of those, but I think that's enough proof for you." Luna was greatly saddened. Turns out, her own sister committed mass genocide without her even knowing.
"Why?" Was the only thing Luna could manage.
"Because, my dear sister, I was young, arrogant, and foolish. I guess I'm still a fool, leaving such a dangerous creature running around. Mostly, though, I did what I did because I was afraid of them." Luna quickly became angry.
"So you exterminate a race because you're afraid of them? That makes no sense!" Luna ranted
"Luna, you don't understand, humans were violent, destructive creatures, and they were only going to destroy everything else before they finally destroyed themselves." Protested Celestia.
"I don't believe you, Celestia! How could I, after you keep this genocide from me after all these centuries, and I have to learn the truth from the last human on Equestria!" Tears were forming in Luna's eyes as she screamed at her sister.
"How could you do such a thing, Celestia?! What kind of leader gets rid of a problem without trying to at least fix it first?" Celestia lowered her head as the assault continued, then she replied:
"Please understand, Luna, there was no fixing humanity, their violence was bred into them from millions of years of evolution, wired into their minds, a part of them as a species... But not a day goes by when I don't regret what I did to humanity, and what I did to him..." Luna interrupted Celestia:
"What do you mean 'what you did to him'?" Celestia replied sadly:
"I made the last human what he is now. Many thousands of years ago, I cursed him with immortality so that he would always suffer his loneliness. I had hoped that that alone would kill him, but he bypassed it. His immortality made him stronger, but made me weaker. One day, likely soon, he will come for me, and he will destroy anypony and anything in his way. He would bring about the end of civilization to get at someone as lowly and ashamed as me... And that is why he must be destroyed." Luna stared in disbelief at her sister.
"You would rather destroy the one you wronged than apologize?! What is wrong with you?! Are you that selfish?!" Cried Luna.
"No." Replied Celestia. "In fact, it's the opposite. I'm doing the human a mercy by this: You see, thanks to my actions, he now exists in a world he no longer belongs in, one unfit for his capacity for destruction. If he continues his rampage, then both of us will be left with nothing but pain." Celestia explained, but Luna would have none of it, and so she pressed further.
"Sister, this is the reason he hates our kind. You can't just kill him because you destroyed his world!" Luna pleaded, but Celestia had made up her mind long before the argument started, and she wasn't about to give ground now.
"This isn't up for debate, Luna! That human is dangerous, and he WILL destroy everything! All we have worked for, all our achievements, he will bring ruin to it all! You can't save him, Luna; I doubt he even WANTS to be saved." Celestia retorted, but Luna only strengthened her resolve.
"That's what you think, but you've never asked him what he thinks! I, for one, thinks that he can adapt, if we just show that we can accept him! This isn't those years anymore, Celestia; We don't have a place for vengeance and genocide anymore! I'll show you your mistake! I'll help him into society, and show you that humans were not the monsters you made them out to be!" Luna exclaimed, her voice filled with conviction, and Celestia flinchedat her sister's verbal onslaught, but still faced her sister nonetheless, and after a brief silence, she finally replied, her voice cold.
"... Well, if that is how you see it, then by all means, try it. But know this, Luna, humans are nothing but clever destroyers. You are only setting yourself up for failure." Celestia snapped, but Luna merely turned from her sister, determined to prove her wrong, and uttered one last comment:
"We will see, Celestia. But I think you're the one who is wrong." She said before leaving the room. Then, as soon as Luna had left the room, slamming the door behind her, Celestia let out an exhausted sigh.
"Siblings..." She muttered to herself before going to sleep.
It was midnight, in the heart of the Everfree. Meanwhile, Twilight and her friends had by now awoken, and soon found themselves within the beast's cave, and like soon to be its lunch. So, deciding to escape before such a thing happened, the six made several attempts to escape, and finally managed to sneak past the animals guarding the cave mouth after hours and hours of near-failure, mostly due to the odd tail that kept getting stepped on by the six ponies. But so, that finally done, the six then headed toward the way they came, hoping to retrace their steps, but were soon hopelessly lost in the darkness of the night, as they had never been to this part of the forest before, and it was pitch-black due to the trees growing so thick. In fact, after actually looking around, the six mares noticed the trees here were the tallest and oldest they had ever seen.
"Rainbow, can you fly up there and see where we are?" Asked Twilight, getting an idea in her head, assuming that they knew where they were, first.
"Sure thing!" Replied Rainbow Dash with a salute, and she then spread her wings, and flew above the trees, fast as lightning. When she came back down, however, she looked like she'd seen a ghost. "We're... we're in the dead center of the forest!" Exclaimed Rainbow Dash, dread in her voice, and everyone soon began to panic, all but Pinkie Pie, anyway.
"How do we get out?!" cried AppleJack.
"Indeed! We'll surely die out here without guidance!" Said Rarity gloomily. Suddenly, though, Pinkie Pie began to bounce off in a random direction, her usual smile plastered onto her face.
"Where are you going, Pinkie?" Asked Twilight, still unnerved at the situation the six were in, and not in the mood for Pinkie's antics.
"To Fluttershy's cabin, of course!" Replied Pinkie Pie, confusing the others.
"Pinkie, How do you know where that even is?" Asked Rainbow Dash.
"Just trust me on this one, guys. I think I might know what I'm doing." Replied Pinkie Pie happily, and seeing no other option, and given the fact that Pinkie's track record of getting out of trouble was pretty good, The six followed her, hoping that this wasn't just going to get them killed.
The Human had speared seven rabbits, four foxes, nine birds, and a goat near the cottage that late night. All in all, it was a very good hunt, and he couldn't wait to return to his lair so he could begin his feast with his pack-mates, the only ones around here that shared his appetite. However, despite himself, his mind kept drifting to the blue alicorn he met last night for some reason. Unlike most ponies he'd seen before, she was quite kind and respectful. However, he kept telling himself she was still a pony, and not to be trusted, as a rule. With that, he began his long trek back to his lair, but he realized it was getting late, so he set up a fire nearby the cottage, despite it's recent track record of attracting bad luck, and feasted there, resolving to bring the rest of his hunt to his pack-mates tomorrow. And so, upon finishing an entire chicken by himself, the human eased himself against a tree, and began to close his eyes for the night. However, he became uncomfortable as he began to feel a familiar presence get closer and closer to his position. So, unable to sleep, the human sat by the fire and gnawed on a rabbit he cooked up while he waited for his familiar guest to arrive...
Luna flew over to the forest, hoping to find the human before the Mane Six did. However, as she flew towards the forest, she noticed a column of smoke coming from nearby Fluttershy's house. Scared that a wildfire might have started near her house, she quietly flew down to its source, only to find the last thing she expected to so easily: The human. She kept her distance out of habit, but watched carefully as he sat near a campfire. And so, sensing that it wasn't going to attack her, she took a step toward it, stepping out of the brush concealing her. The human quickly looked at her, looking as if it was going to strike at any moment. Then, after it saw who she was, it relaxed a little bit, sitting back down, but still eyeing her warily, as if it didn't know whether to trust Luna or not. So, sensing this unease, Luna decided to try and talk to the human, to hopefully better their understandably unsteady relationship:
"Hello, human." She said slowly, as not to startle the human. "May I sit here?" The human stared at her for what seemed like an eternity, a hard glare on its face. Finally, its expression softened, and it nodded slightly. Luna then sat down by the fire as well, on the opposite side of the human. The human then relaxed a little more, and returned to it's meal: A roasted rabbit. This did not surprise Luna, seeing as humans were naturally omnivorous, but she still found herself unnerved that it would eat meat so casually before her. However, she quickly shook the feeling off, then took the next step in her plan: She tried speaking to it.
"My name is Luna. Do you remember me?" She asked, enticing an odd look from the human, one that said: "Of course I do. What do you think I am, stupid?" After giving her the look, it then nodded slowly, still not taking it's eyes off of her. Luna, still not satisfied, then made the next move:
"Do you have a name?" She asked the human. The human merely gave her an annoyed look, then shook it's head no. An awkward silence fell for a while, then Luna tried again:
"Can you speak?" She asked. A pause followed, and the human blinked at first, registering the question, and finally nodded. "I guess you just don't want to?" Asked Luna, and the human nodded quickly, casting another annoyed glance at Luna. Clearly, it still did not trust her.
"Do you hate me?" Asked Luna. This time, the human looked surprised and confused as it scratched its head ponderously, looking at the ground while it thought. After a while, the human shook its head 'no', relieving the princess to no end. Finally, Luna felt like she was making progress with this creature; step one to making him civilized neared completion.
The human was annoyed by the blue one, "Luna", she had called herself. However, this one was the only one he had ever met that did not try to attack him, so he could not bear any ill will toward her. In fact, for the first time in, well, ever, he kind of enjoyed her company, despite the constant questions, like "Do you have a name", or "can you talk". However, he was caught by surprise by the last question: "Do you hate me?", to which he had no real answer. After all, how could he hate her? Sure, she was a pony, and ponies tended to be bad news to him. But even so, she had done nothing wrong, and all she wanted was to talk. Hell, after a while, he soon found it hard to even be annoyed at her. Their one-way conversation continued, and he began to gradually enjoy Luna's company more and more.
As Luna talked, the human seemed to become more and more tolerant of her, and she finally was making progress with him. In fact, he became increasingly friendlier as time went on. Soon, the human patted a spot next to himself, offering to let her sit next to him. He even offered her some of his cooked rabbit, which Luna hastily, but politely, declined. By now, he was even chuckling at some jokes she made, though she doubted he understood them or got them. Time went on, and she got ready to ask if he would like to see what civilized life was like, but they both soon heard a crash in the brush, and six familiar ponies leaped out of the bushes, surrounding Luna and the human instantly.
"Stop right there, beast!" Shouted one of them.
Twilight and the others trudged through the forest, night quickly turning into day, and soon, they could see that the moon was almost down; the sun was not far behind.
"Pinkie, how much farther is the cottage?" Whined Rainbow Dash, tired of simply moving altogether.
"Not far! just a little further, and we'll catch him!" Replied Pinkie Pie cheerfully. The others looked at her, confused.
"Catch who?" Asked Twilight. Just then, Pinkie hid behind a tree.
"Get down! He's right over there!" Whispered pinkie, causing everyone to hide, though none of them, save Pinkie, knew quite why. As Twilight and the others looked around for whoever "He" was, she saw a fire, and the strange, bipedal creature they chased through the forest that ended up turning them into plants temporarily, and Princess Luna was sitting right next to it! Thinking the worst of the situation without actually looking at the scene, the Mane Six charged the creature who was keeping Luna hostage, surrounding it.
"Stop right there, beast" Demanded Twilight, and she and the others quickly surrounded the beast, quickly taking control of the situation as they could, and hoping he didn't turn them back into plants.
Luna and the human were too shocked to move as the Mane six surrounded them, ready to attack on a moment's notice.
"Twilight, What do you think you're doing?!" Cried Luna.
"We're saving you, princess! now back away from this creature; it's highly dangerous!" said Twilight. The human was too dumbfounded to move, but soon began feeling mixed emotions of rage, betrayal, and a desire to kill everything. Before he could act on them, however, Luna had had enough of this.
"JUST STOP!!!" she shouted in her royal Canterlot voice, causing everyone to stop what they were doing and look at her, as was the desired effect.
"Twilight, this human isn't dangerous! I was just trying to talk to him, before you came screaming from the bushes like you were mad!" Pleaded Luna. Twilight stared in disbelief at Luna, then at the human, who looked rather pissed off at her.
"Um... pardon?" she asked Luna quietly.
"I just told you, Twilight. This human is not dangerous. And besides, I wouldn't make him any angrier if I were you; after all, he's the one that's behind all those disappearances." Replied Luna sternly, and it took Twilight a while to register this, but her mouth dropped open when she finally figured it out.
"L-Luna, d-do you m-mean..?" Began Twilight, facing the rather irate creature Luna had Identified as a "human" with a new look of awe and terror.
"Yep. That creature right there is the "Beast" Celestia sent you six to find." Finished Luna. The Mane Six looked sheepishly at the grumbling creature, who was now trying his hardest not to kill the six mares.
"Oh..." said Twilight. And with that, their relationship was set in stone.
The human stared in disdain at the six meddlesome ponies. How dare they meddle?! Either way, Luna stood between them, and he really didn't want to hurt her, for various reasons. Besides, she had promised him protection from Celestia. Celestia, a name he felt sick even thinking about. It was she who did this to his world, but there was little he could do to her from here besides annoy her. He needed to get closer, more in touch, but Luna was offering just that! If he was hearing her correctly, she, with the help of the six bothersome imbeciles that chased him through his forest, would try to make him "Civilized". He didn't want their twisted version of civilization, preferring it to the selfless, non-indulgent company of the forest. However, he REALLY wanted to get back at the whore-queen for the years of pain and misery she put him through. Worse yet, he doubted that she even remembered him. Oh, but she would, and Luna, her own sister, would be the key to that reunion. All he had to do was smile, nod, and do a few tricks. It would be easy. The human grinned evilly behind his skull helmet as he thought of Celestia's face when he finally crushed the life from her sorry carcass, almost missing Luna's next question as he thought his sinister thoughts of sweet, sweet revenge.
"So, will you be willing to learn of civilized life, Human?" Asked Luna hopefully. The Mane Six, particularly Twilight, didn't particularly enjoy the thought of babysitting a monster that could destroy entire villages, nor did they trust him, mostly on account of the death glare he kept shooting at them now and again. It was as if this creature hated them with a passion to rival the most intense wildfires, and his stare, even through warm hazel eyes, froze the six to their very cores. This creature, this "human", it didn't hate them. It despised them. They weren't about to let Luna be fooled by this creature's seeming innocence, so Twilight spoke up:
"Luna, do you think this is a good Idea? I mean, this human has been living in the wild for so long, don't you think it, er, he, would be beyond reforming?" She asked nervously, avoiding a freezing glare from the suddenly highly intimidating human. Luna pondered this, looked to the human, then back to Twilight.
"Twilight, I have made up my mind. This human has suffered in this wilderness for countless years because of us, we should at least give it a chance to see this world, and maybe be a part of it." Twilight pondered this. On one hoof, They learned about an ancient, forgotten civilization from an actual, living remnant from it, a chance most scholars would almost literally KILL for. On the other, however, the human destroyed everything it saw with complete and utter impunity and vengeance. The thought was extreme, but the fact it almost killed Celestia was not to be ignored, not by any stretch of the imagination.
"Luna, why should we give it another chance, after what it did to Celestia?" Asked Twilight worriedly at last, and Luna sighed.
"Celestia got what was coming to her for intruding on his territory." Luna replied simply, shocking the Mane Six. The human, though, also reeled back in surprise, confusing everyone. That tired, unarmored white alicorn... That was Celestia?! Luna interrupted his thoughts:
"I think I can change him. Whether you six want to help or not, it's irrelevant. I just want to make things right." The human, after recovering from his amusing revelation, was slightly touched by this. All his life, he hated and despised these miserable little creatures, exacting his hatred on every one he saw, and many years of this brutality later, one of them wants to be his friend? The human did not understand this sudden change of heart. He appreciated the gesture, but he suspected that his hatred ran too deep. He could not befriend Luna, not after all her sister had done, yet he could not betray her, either. Oh, what to do, what to do..?
"So, what do you say, human? If not our friendship, will you at least accept mine?" She asked, holding out her hoof as for him to shake it. The human stared at the princess, completely befuddled. Could he trust her? Why befriend her, if he slew her people with wanton destruction, just as Celestia had done to him? What if she tricked him? The human pondered this. The forest was his friend, but the princess was offering him a chance to make a very powerful ally, and a very straightforward chance at absolute revenge. So, making his decision, the human reached timidly for Luna's hoof, then shook it. He was tired of being without someone to talk to, besides his timber wolves. He didn't worry, though. They would survive without him. They did before, When Celestia captured him once, and they could do it again. After the agreement was made, Luna smiled at the human. This human defended the forest for all these years, maybe he could do the same for the rest of Equestria. She imagined a great invasion, pushed back by Timber wolves, cockatrices, and manticores, with the human leading them. If she could convince Celestia that there was no danger, everyone could be happy! However, Twilight raised an odd question:
"If Celestia and this human clashed before, how are they both going to react to this little reunion?" Luna waived the question away.
"If anything happens, I will stop it. This human is too valuable to destroy, but I won't let it go rampant, which was why I want to civilize him in the first place." She could see it now: The greatest defender Equestria had ever known, better than all of the Elements of Harmony combined! She smiled as she thought of this. The Mane Six, however, did not like this Idea. All they could think of was what not to do so they didn't piss him off. Luna insisted on this, but they were still going to interfere when something happened. They told Luna this, but she kept Smiling.
"I understand, but I doubt it will ever come to bloodshed. We just have to get our friend here to understand that there's no reason to hate us anymore, and I think I can do that. After all, the citizens don't know it was him that killed everyone that went near the forest. They can't possibly be THAT hostile." Twilight and the others relaxed, but still didn't trust the human, and it appeared the feeling was mutual, as the human was giving them a funny look.
"Alright, princess, but please be careful. If he gets out of hand, we will have to deal with him." Said Twilight.
"Have faith, Twilight. I'm a princess, What could he possibly do that I couldn't handle?" Replied Luna cheerfully.
'How about turning into a 24-foot lizard, for starters?' Thought Twilight. Outwardly, however, she just grinned and nodded. The Mane Six finally left for home, and Luna and her primal friend began their trek back to the castle. As they traveled, Luna tried to convince the human to ride their on her back, despite the fact the human was three times her mass, and twice her height. The human, despite having forgotten most forms of math during his years, knew that he would crush her if he rode on her back, so he shook his head, and then changed into his beast form, opting to take the trek on his own. Luna looked worriedly at him, but decided it would be best not to argue with the human. However, Luna vastly underestimated this form's power: Even when she was flying, the bestial human easily sped past her, striding like some kind of giant cat, and crashing through and around trees like he was made of steel or something.
"Hey, wait for me!" Called Luna desperately, but the creature seemed so engrossed in his run, he didn't even acknowledge Luna as he sped forward, seeming to gain speed as he ran. As soon as they got out of the forest, Luna had stopped to catch her breath, panting like she was going to die, which she probably was, if she didn't catch a break. The human saw this, then stopped, turned around, and placed her on his back. She tried to protest, but he either couldn't hear or couldn't understand her, and he took off, leaving Luna to hold on for dear life to the spikes on his back, each loping stride making her more and more motion sick as he ran, faster and faster, and the ride getting bumpier and bumpier. She would have told him to stop, but she was too busy trying not to barf.
Finally, the human (thankfully) stopped at the edge of Canterlot, lowering its body to let a very, very nauseous Luna off its back. Finally regaining control of her stomach, she weakly thanked him, and stumbled dizzily into the city, still having only mild control of her stomach. The human then changed into his actual form, donning his pelt cloak that he took off when he changed form, because, unfortunately, his clothes don't change with him. Resolving to learn how to fix that later, he then followed Luna into the city as the morning sun peeked over the buildings. However, despite the enchanting sight this presented, The human suddenly had a very bad feeling as he stepped into the city limits, one he just couldn't shake.
Joy.
Ch. 8- A heated reunion, and Luna loses her bed to a 24-foot reptile
As Celestia finished raising the sun, She looked over her city. It was a rather peaceful day, which meant a heart attack was on the horizon. Indeed, she could feel a disturbance in the force, one not felt for a while, since the creature in the forest... Celestia went to go to her room, but then she stopped. The human was doubtlessly here, and here she was, slinking off to her room to hide from it? She saw a lot of things wrong with that picture, and quickly fixed it. Luna said she could handle it, so Celestia was going to go to the table, eat her breakfast, and attend to her duties, just like every other day before, and no human was going to stop her. Just as she opened the door to the dining room, She saw something that made her heart stop and her blood freeze: The human was sitting at their table, scowling at a meatless breakfast, and Luna chiding him to eat it. Celestia immediately closed the door, and began to hyperventilate. The human, the slayer of her people and one that almost killed her four times, five including this near-heart attack, was in her home, eating her food, with her sister within arm's reach.
"No, it's not going to be like this..." Said Celestia to herself, in a true attempt to calm herself before her heart exploded from beating too fast. "It's only until you can convince Luna to let him go. You can do this!" Celestia cheered to herself, and with that, the princess of the sun inhaled deeply, then opened the door again, gaining the attention of Luna, but the human kept frowning at his breakfast, due to a severe lack of bacon.
"Oh, Celestia! I honestly didn't expect to see you down here." Said Luna.
"I can't imagine why..." Said Celestia through a fake smile and gritted teeth. If that wasn't enough, she was also sweating profusely. The human, upon hearing her voice, snapped to attention, looking right at Celestia with a glare that said "I'm going to rape you, then kill you, then eat you, then do the same thing to everyone and everything you care about." Luna, though, simply smiled, oblivious to the colorful leer the human was giving Celestia, then spoke.
"Well, now that you two are here, we can finally bury the hatchet!" Luna exclaimed cheerfully. However, the human merely grumbled menacingly.
'Yeah, bury it... bury it in me, more like.' Thought Celestia. And from what she could tell beneath the human's manticore-skull helmet, he was thinking about something similar. Luna soon began to feel the pressure building, and saw it's effects: Celestia was radiating heat, and the human had bent his fork in a loop-de-loop with two fingers. Quite worried, Luna attempted to relieve the pressure from the room:
"Celestia, Please calm down, you're making Borias upset."
Celestia, needless to say, blew her lid when Luna said that, and responded accordingly.
"You NAMED it?!" Shouted Celestia, causing "Boreas" to get up and grip his skull-covered staff tightly.
"It was the only name he'd agree to!" Replied Luna. "Boreas, Please sit down and eat your oatmeal." Borias Sat down begrudgingly and continued to prod grumpily at his still-meatless bowl of oatmeal with his loop-de-loop fork.
"Luna, It's not so much that you named him, as it's that he's now in the castle where he can slit my throat while I sleep!" Cried Celestia.
"Celestia, You're just overreacting! Besides, if he really wanted to kill you, he'd have done it already." Replied Luna.
"And that's supposed to make me feel better? He's a menace, and he needs to go." Demanded Celestia.
"You said I could keep him!" Protested Luna. At that moment, Boreas had tried the oatmeal, and it fell back out of his mouth after hearing "Keep him". What, was he some kind of pet now? However, the argument continued, and he suddenly was getting an understandable headache.
"I said you could try and civilize him, not put him as close as possible to my bedroom!" Shouted Celestia.
"My bedroom is nowhere near yours!" Retorted Luna.
"Oh, so he's sleeping with you now, too, is he?" Questioned Celestia angrily.
"No, I..." Finally, Boreas was fed up with their shenanigans, and he rattled his skull staff and slammed the butt of it on the ground before Luna could finish her argument, casting a spell that caused both Luna's and Celestia's lips to simply stop moving. Luna was surprised at first, and Celestia quickly became furious. And so, finally satisfied, Boreas resumed to eating his tasteless, baconless breakfast. Celestia finally cast a spell that released their lips, then cast a glare at Luna.
"We'll discuss this later." She threatened, then left the room. On the outside, she was just angry. On the inside, however, she was terrified for her life. But despite her sister's outburst, Luna stared at the door where Celestia left, and then turned to Boreas, a smile on her face.
"Well, Boreas, looks like we're going for a walk." Upon hearing this, Boreas simply looked at Luna like she'd lost her mind, but complied with a shrug, and he then threw his oatmeal, bowl and all, on the floor for absolutely no reason.
"Boreas, that's not where dishes go!" Scolded Luna. Boreas, in an attempt to save his ears from her whining, then picked the bowl up, and threw it out the doorway, hitting a passing maid and knocking her out.
"Eh, Close enough." Sighed Luna, and the two walked outside. Outside, the passerby paid a LOT of attention to the human, and especially to the pony skulls he was wearing. As they walked, Some fillies and colts were playing ball, and one of the dumb rugrats had the misfortune of kicking the ball into Boreas's face, infuriating the human almost past breaking point. He was very much about to destroy the runts, but at the last minute, Luna convinced him not to, and he threw the ball back at them, hitting one in the head and knocking him out as well. Their walk continued for a while, and Boreas began to grow tired of walking, mostly due to the stares he kept getting, like he was some kind of caged animal, and he could NOT relive that ever again.
Finally, the two walked back to the castle, and Boreas, not really giving a single fuck, went straight to Luna's room, flopped onto the bed, then removed his helmet, throwing it out the door, hitting a certain maid who was hit by a certain rogue oatmeal bowl this morning, and knocking her out again. Ignoring the maid's plight, Boreas drifted slowly into sleep, hoping tomorrow's breakfast would include meat of some kind. Luna, after raising the moon, walked to her room, and found a giant reptile asleep on it, growling softly at some dream it was having. Luna figured that she needed her bed to sleep, so she tried poking it to entice the monster to move, but Boreas didn't react in any way, save for a single light twitch per poke. After a while of futility, she finally tried pushing him off her bed, but a sudden, sharp, very threatening growl deterred her from continuing her endeavor. So, ultimately defeated, she resorted to moving him a bit to the side, and then laid behind him. Just as she was about to fall asleep, however, Boreas turned over, and wrapped his arms and tail around her, squeezing her like some kind of plushy. When she tried to break free, however, Boreas growled the fiercest she ever heard from him, and she just laid there, now his temporary, but unwilling, teddy bear. A few hours later than she'd have liked, at last, she finally fell asleep.
Boreas dreamed as he slept, but Luna couldn't even close her eyes because of the human-turned-beast's constant squeezing. She suspected it had something to do with the dream he was so caught up in, so, against her better judgement, she went in to try and fix it. After all, anything was better than getting violently spooned by a dinosaur for 8 hours. She braced herself for the worst, then entered his head. Upon entering, the following scene played out:
A human that bore a striking resemblance to teenaged Boreas was yelling in the center of a mass of guards in the middle of what looked like Ponyville, smashing and hacking them to bloody giblets. Judging by the armor designs and buildings, the time was likely shortly after Celestia had banished Luna. However, she stayed silent as the enraged human continued to slaughter the guardsponies, using the fallen corpses as makeshift weapons, tearing some in half, even beating some of to death with his bare hands! No wonder he was so violent while he slept! However, that did not explain what he was terrified of. If anything, he was winning. Then, Boreas did the last thing Luna expected: He spoke.
"GIVE UP, WORMS!!! MY FIGHT POWER IS TOO EXTREME FOR YOU!!!" Bellowed Boreas in an earth-shaking, but not fully-developed voice. Luna was shocked that he could speak their language so fluently, but why did he not do so now? Before she could think of an answer, Boreas swatted the rest of the guards away with his staff, then proceeded to demolish the town, killing thousands in his wake. Timber wolves and manticores killed and devoured, driven to an unholy rage by Boreas's power, and Boreas summoned great pillars of flame from the ground, demolishing buildings and disintegrating ponies, and then summoned a giant, fiery elemental she only recognized from an ancient book she read once: A Slag Titan. She remembered only a little from what she read, but she knew that very few creatures could summon any kind of Titan, much less control them. This human, however, guided the metallic, half-molten monstrosity through the streets, and it stepped on buildings and ponies alike as it marched toward the castle. However, It stopped and swatted at a cloud of pegasi that gathered around its head. Though they were but the size of gnats to the Slag Titan, they still managed to distract it from its goal. However, Boreas, being an impatient teenager, quickly brought them down with hordes of strange, flying insects Luna had never seen before. They looked like giant grasshoppers, with rhinoceros beetle-like heads, and dull gray and black exoskeletons. These odd insects flew into the cloud of pegasi, tore them apart and devoured them, and flew off into the distance when their prey was depleted.
Never, not once, had Luna seen such wanton death and destruction before, and she grew terrified as the Slag Titan continued on it's warpath, and teen-Boreas laughed like a maniac as fires roared and dying ponies drew their last breaths all around him. Stallions, mares, fillies and colts, all were slain indiscriminately as the pre-adolescent human carved his mark in fire, scorching the town and leaving the citizens to die. Was this what he was having nightmares about? Tears filled Luna's eyes as she watched this horrible scene unfold. Celestia had a reason for her genocide, but this... This was madness! Suddenly, a terrifying presence manifested behind her: Boreas. She turned around, and saw he was looking unusually sad and tired. She wanted to ask him what this was, but she already knew: This was his revenge. Then, Boreas shifted the scene to much later in the battle. The Slag Titan was destroyed, more strange insects and royal guard pegasi filled the air, and Teen-Boreas and Celestia were fighting on the balcony outside of her room.
"Well, never thought it would end this way... You certainly didn't put up much of a fight, now did you, 'princess'?" Taunted Dream-Boreas, a psychotic grin glued to his face.
"Damien, you won't win this fight." Replied Celestia. "You may as well give up; your race is dead, and killing me won't bring them back. Just stop this madness and crawl back into your hole in the woods!" Boreas, or "Damien", as Celestia called him, only grinned wider.
"You're right, Celestia. This won't bring them back, but this can make my life a lot happier, knowing you just got killed by a human." He said. Suddenly, Damien stopped smiling, his expression now one of pure rage. Then, with a mighty battle cry, he lunged at celestia, swinging his staff wildly, and Celestia narrowly dodged each blow. Finally, she was backed up to the balcony, and Damien's unnerving leer returned. He raised his staff for a final blow, but Celestia quickly bucked him in the gut, sending Damien flying backwards, And embedding the boy into a wall. Celestia, looking quite pleased with herself, Walked slowly up to the incapacitated young human. Luna Looked to Boreas, but he had hidden his face, as if he did not want her to see him. She turned back to the scene, just as Celestia had reached Damien. Damien looked up at her, coughing up some blood, but still glaring defiantly at her.
"Aww, still resisting your fate as a human, even when you're so close to it?" Celestia mocked, an evil grin on her face. Damien only glared, then responded:
"I don't believe in fate, Celestia. I only believe in kicking your a-AAAUGH!" Damien cried out in pain as Celestia kneed him in the gut, causing a sickening snap to be heard from his ribs.
"Oh, don't be such a baby, Damien, I didn't break them... yet." Said Celestia smugly.
"Don't... taunt me... you bitch... You have what you want... Just kill me and be done with it... and let that weight weigh on your soul, too..." Begged Damian. Celestia seemed to think about this, tapping her hoof to her chin in mock thoughtfulness.
"You know, boy, that sounds like a curse. I don't particularly like curses, but I like you. You got spunk, and I could always use a tough little guinea pig like you for some.. stuff... I've been working on. Yes... You'll be my personal pet project."
"Kill me or release me, you whore, but don't try to sell me your 'mercy'." Demanded Damien. Celestia laughed, then got really close to his face, and whispered:
"I don't think you understand, Damien. You don't get to make demands here. You're mine, now... and forever. At least, until I get bored of you, anyway." Celestia smiled evilly as she spoke, And a look of horror spread across Damien's face, causing Celestia to laugh evilly at his despair.
"You almost had me, Damien, I'll give you that... Maybe an eternity in the dungeon will let you think about everything you did wrong today." This time, Damien laughed.
"Ha! I'll die sometime, witch! Either of starvation or old age, and where will your 'eternity in prison' be then?" Taunted Damien. Celestia, frowned in thought, then got an Idea that caused an especially creepy grin to spread across her face.
"Well, I'll fix that with a curse of my own, then!" Celestia said, and Luna suddenly got very sick to her stomach. Boreas Only watched in anger as the scene played out. Then, Celestia's horn lit up, and Damien's eyes began to close, and he started to fall asleep. Finally, he passed out, and awoke in a dungeon, with no clothes or possessions to speak of, not even his wolf plushy. He was chained to a wall, and he hung his head, defeated. Suddenly, several uncorns walked in, and started murmuring among themselves. Damien didn't care, but he had a bad feeling about the whole thing. Suddenly, Boreas tensed, causing Luna to look at him. Boreas looked at Luna with a pleading look that said "whatever you do, do not look." She obliged this, cringing in pain as horrible, pained screams came from Damien as the unicorns began their dark practices. When it was over, Luna had tears in her eyes, and Damien was laying face-first on the ground, sobbing as he clutched his cauterized wound. They put something in him, something that would guarantee a very long stay in this dungeon. Hours later, the unicorns came back, and they strapped him to a table while they injected Damien with various chemicals. When they were done, they left again, leaving Damien to stew in his anguish and pain and rage, all of which fused with the chemicals to turn him into something else... a monster.
Years passed, and the tests continued, Celestia herself popping in every now and again to "Check up on him". Really, she just wanted to see how much pain he was in. Then, one day, on his 18th birthday, Damien snapped. He was chained to a wall, being force-fed gruel, and injected with more magic, all while Celestia watched with sick, twisted delight. Finally, His anger reached breaking point, and he changed. First, they all, including Celestia, reeled back in shock as one of his chains broke due to his arms getting to large for them.
"Ma'am! He's undergoing a rapid metaphysical mutation! We need to get out of here! Now!" Cried one of the unicorns that was looking at a strange monitor. Suddenly, Damien roared a horrible, guttural roar, and broke his other chain. Celestia looked on with slight interest, ignoring the unicorns that were pleading that she do something. A magical field erected, but Damien did nothing, and simply kneeled as his features became more muscular and more reptilian.
"His muscle mass has increased over 400%!!! Princess, do something!" Cried the unicorn at the monitors. By now, Damian had completely morphed from a human, into a giant, reptilian monstrosity. Celestia was beginning to worry, but shook it off. Her plan was almost complete: Damien would become her ultimate weapon, one strong enough to take any territory she wanted. Damien still did nothing, and continued to kneel as his vitals stabilized.
"He...He's slowed down... His heart rate is normal... Princess, I think he's-" Suddenly, The beast that once was Damien punched through the force field, shattering it, and grabbed the poor unicorn, crushing her in his hands, letting the gore and blood drip from his fist onto the floor. He then turned his sights to a terrified Celestia and the fleeing unicorns. Ignoring Celestia, who was too stunned to react anyway, "Damien" pounced to the doorway, Blocking the unicorns from escaping. They tried to stop, but they were too close: He grabbed one, tossing her into his mouth, chewing noisily, then pinned the other two down with his hand. They tried to struggle and escape, but the beast was too strong, and he slowly crushed the life from them. When the last two unicorns had died, he finally turned to Celestia, who looked rather upset with him.
"Killing my subjects, eh? That's a paddling, young man." She then tried to cast a binding spell on him, but it had no effect, which caused Celestia to reel back in shock. He wasn't supposed to be magic-proof! Celestia tried to make a run for it, but the monster she had created blocked her path. Then, he slowly stalked toward her, ready to end her life with a swipe of his mighty claws. However, the room filled up with guards before he could act, and the monster ran out the door, mauling and crushing anypony in his way. Soon, he entered a hall way, and his rage cooled, and Damien turned back into a human. The transformation took a lot out of him, however, and he stumbled tiredly into a lab. However, this lab was where they stored his stuff. Taking back all his things, he made a run for the exit, but was stopped by a big guardspony before he could leave the hall. The mare stood a little taller than him, and wore unusually ornate armor, along with a spear attached to her side.
"Where do you think you're going, pipsqueak? Celestia's going to give me one hell of a raise for your sorry hide, but maybe I'll mess you up a little, first..." She said, getting ready to charge him. Unable to think, Damien resorted to the first course of action he could think of:
"If your princess couldn't handle me, what makes you think that you can?" He asked. The tall guardspony snorted, then replied:
"'Cause she said you turned into a dragon, or somethin'. Now, you're just a boy with a stick." The guardspony began to laugh. "Oh, this is going to be fun for me, runt..." Fed up with being called runt, Damien prepared to charge the mare, who then charged after seeing his change in stance. However, Damien feigned, then jumped over the mare, who was now skidding to a halt, but ended up falling on her side. Then, Damien decided to give his opponent a taste of her own medicine. He walked over to the downed mare, and rattled his staff.
"Hey! What are you doing, you weirdo!?" demanded the guard. Luna watched as Damien finished the spell, slamming the butt of his staff on the ground, then became horrified as the spell cast, and the guard began to shrink, growing smaller and smaller, until she was only up to Damien's shin, and her armor lay all around her. As the formerly- tall mare looked up in horror at Damien, she began to panic.
"H-hey, now... I was only kidding about the whole 'runt' thing, you know that, r-right?" The mare was shaking uncontrollably in fear, and Damien became disgusted by her cowardice. Damien raised his boot and brought it down, but the mare quickly jumped out of the way. When she got back up, she started backing away from Damien, trying unsuccessfully to talk her way out of getting stepped on like a bothersome insect.
"W-wait, man! I was only kidding! Get it? Ha-ha? Come on, please don't kill me!!!" The guard pleaded. Luna, though annoyed by the guard's cowardice, still felt bad for her, and felt rather sick to her stomach that Damien would torture her like this. Suddenly, the hall ended, and the shrunken mare tried to back further into the wall to escape her imminent demise at the bottom of Damien's boot, but to no avail. Suddenly, Damien raised his boot one last time, brought it down...
And stopped inches from the miniature guard's head. The guard was cowering but soon stopped when she heard rattling. She looked up, and Damien had cast another spell. This one, however, returned the mare to her former height, and she stood there, and stared at Damien, completely baffled at what just happened. Damien said nothing, and turned around, leaving the confused guard behind. Then, Damien walked out the castle doors, plushy in tow, and began the long trek back home. When he reached ponyville, it was still completely destroyed, and a graveyard had been built nearby. Damien walked over to the cemetery, then found a headstone that broke his heart: A filly, only three years old, was killed by a fire that he started all those wasted years ago. Somberly, Damien silently kneeled, placing the wolf plushy on the filly's grave, and he silently walked away, not saying a word or shedding a tear the whole trip back to his cave. Then, the dream ended. When it did, it was morning, and both Boreas and Luna were awake. Luna tried to say something, but Boreas left the room before she could, slamming the door behind him.
Boreas sat on the couch, thinking back to the day he placed his wolf plushy on that grave. He continued to wonder why he did it, though he had many theories. Was it that he was tired of fighting? Did he feel bad for those who he trampled upon to reach his goal? He had no answer, only that it happened, and he was done fighting the ponies. Their zeal made him sad, for they were only protecting a coward. And now he was so close to his goal... but so far away. No matter how close he got to Celestia, he couldn't find it in himself to end her miserable life. This infuriated him beyond all reason. All this time of planning and antagonizing, only to grow weak in her presence?! Unacceptable!!! Something was holding him back... but what? Who? What caused him to grow weakness so close to his moment of triumph? While in thought, Luna came in the room to tell him that his likely vegetable-based dinner was ready. Boreas acknowledged her with a smile. She was naive, but Boreas found that endearing of the princess. She was so very innocent, she didn't even realize his true intentions, and still cared for him like a brother, given his history, and still loved her sister dearly, despite hers... Then it hit him. These feelings he had, they were because of her. His one obstacle in the way of his final victory, the one thing he had to destroy... Was the one creature he hoped to never have to harm.
The Irony of the situation made him gag as he sat down for "dinner", which was probably just more veggies. Suddenly, a glorious scent filled Boreas's nostrils: Meat, and lots of it. Boreas stared in confusion as a large plate of various meat products was placed before him, and Luna sat at the other side of the table, smiling as happily as she could.
"I thought you would get tired of veggies, so I sneaked some griffon food in here for you. Do you like it?" She asked. Boreas's eyes filled with tears as the glorious buffet was placed before him. He ate with extreme haste, but had to fight back the urge to throw it all back up on account of his guilt. Here she was, being so nice to him, and yet she stood in his way to Celestia's death. Did he even need this victory so bad, if it meant hurting her? Boreas quickly shook the thoughts away. She was a tool, nothing more, and had fulfilled her usefulness. Yet why could he not stop feeling so awful about disposing of her? He despised Ponies, all of them! yet this one... She accepted him, despite his violence, and believed she could change him for the better. In his mind, he knew she would only cause him further delay, but, in his heart, he felt he would never forgive himself if he betrayed her. His conflicting emotions overwhelmed him, and he vomited all over the floor.
"Eww, I told you to slow down, Boreas!" Cried Luna, disgusted, but slightly amused. Feeling ready to throw up again, Boreas excused himself, and walked out into the garden. As he walked, he tore up bushes and broke statues in a fit of rage. Why was this so hard!? Why could he not just get this over with!? He lifted a strange statue of a creature he'd never seen before, some kind of horse-headed snake-bird-dragon thing, and threw it into the ground, shattering it. However, as he did so, a giant puff of pink smoke erupted from the shattered lawn ornament, and a creature just like the statue depicted rose into the air, stretching his mismatched limbs.
"Graaaaah... A few thousand years can be a real pain in the neck!" The odd creature said, rubbing the back of his neck. Boreas was stunned. Never had he seen a creature so odd, not even the griffons came close in the weirdness factor, and they were pretty damn weird.
"So, not much of a talker are ya? What exactly are you, anyway?" The mismatched aberration asked as it inspected Boreas intently. Finally, a light bulb literally appeared over his head, and he seemed struck with recognition.
"Hey, wait a second! You're one of those things Celestia tried to kill off! What were they now... Hue-mens, was it?" The creature said. Boreas said nothing, still confused by the... whatever the hell it was.
"Well, for your information, I am discord. May I ask your name, human?" Boreas tilted his head in confusion, but said nothing.
"... Okay, I'll just call you Boreas. Now, what's a member of a long-dead race doing around the castle of the destroyer of fun herself? Let me guess... revenge?" Discord asked hopefully, elbowing Boreas playfully. Boreas, despite his confusion due to the suddenness of this scenario, Nodded hesitantly, then raised his arm as if to protest, but quickly lowered it. Discord, however, gave a sly smile.
"Ohhh, There's someone you don't want getting hurt, is there?" Asked Discord. Boreas tried to protest, but Discord held a claw to Boreas's lips, silencing him.
"Now, now, we don't want to let the readers see you talk just yet, now do we? That'd just spoil the fun!" Boreas quickly grew frustrated at this "Discord" character, who needs to stop agitating the fourth wall before I cancel the story.
"I heard that." Discord said. "Now, as I was saying, I can help you with your little plan, human. See, I've got a grudge with ol' sun-butt myself, and I can tell you'd do anything to get her back for extinctifying your race." Suddenly, Discord put his lion arm around Boreas, and pulled him close.
"You and I, kid, We got a lot in common, and I'd think a great partnership could be made here, see?" Discord said, poking a talon into Boreas's chest for emphasis. "I'll tell you what. You help me, Boreas, and I'll help you. Scratch my back, I'll scratch yours. Waddaya say, partners?" Discord said, holding out his bird hand for Boreas to shake. After some hesitation, Boreas shook his hand, sealing the deal.
A deadly (for Celestia) alliance had just been forged, and all of Equestria would feel the magnitude of it's effects.
Boreas walked through the halls of Canterlot castle, with a singular destination in mind: The room containing the Elements of Harmony. He recalled the plan he and discord made, or, rather, the one discord made and he agreed to. He needed the Element of Laughter so he could summon something big. Not an Elemental Titan, as he could summon those himself with ease. No, this creature was something... worse, for lack of a better word. Titans themselves were terrifying in their own right, but any hardened warrior could face one without wetting himself. The creature he was about to summon was as horrible as it was powerful. It was a creature born of darkness and laughter (which is never a good combination), which is why he needed the Element of laughter in particular, and it was said to be so utterly terrifying, demons cringe at the sound of its laughter, and angels dare not cross it out of sheer terror. Boreas had never seen this creature, but he knew its name: Hallowed. The name alone chilled Boreas, but Discord needed him to summon Hallowed for his plan, which involved a holiday the ponies called "Nightmare Night", which Boreas saw as a bastardization of the human holiday of Halloween. Unfortunately, this was his only way of getting back at Celestia without hurting Luna. But, if it failed, Boreas now had Discord as a scapegoat. Basically, it was a win-win for Boreas.
After thinking about his situation, Boreas found the door that led to his objective. He went inside, and stared into a long, grandiose room, giant stained-glass windows on the walls, depicting stuff he didn't care about, though they seemed to depict major historical points. He looked at the windows, but, strangely, did not find anything about him on any of the windows. Unsurprising, but it still irked the human. He recalled their greatest scrap ever: It was five hundred years ago, at the ruins of old Canterlot. She had an army, and he had the full might of the wild on his side. He particularly remembered the melee that ensued halfway through the fight... Before he could finish his memory, however, Boreas heard a familiar and infuriating voice behind him.
"Damien, what are you doing in this room? You do realize this area is off-limits, right? Or has being an animal rotted what little brain you had?" Asked Celestia. Boreas turned his head, gripping his staff tightly. Of course she would appear now, While he was doing something important. He said nothing, however, and just glared at her. Celestia just glared back, obviously infuriated by his silence.
"Why are you being so damned quiet now? We're alone. You can cut the 'strong, silent type' stuff, because I sure don't believe it." Celestia said bitterly. She was right, they were alone, and he was tempted to tell her off, but his silence was genuine. To tell her off was something Damien would do, but Damien was his innocence and optimism, killed by Celestia when she turned him into a monster, and even before that.
There was more to that memory than he showed Luna, but now wasn't the time for reminiscing. Now he stood silent, then walked past Celestia, patting her on the head along the way. Celestia stood there, confused by what just happened, But a plan was brewing in Boreas's head. Hallowed was a creature of darkness and evil and despair, so what better time to summon him than on Nightmare Night, which was on the same night as Halloween? Besides, he had better things to do than kill her... Hallowed would take care of that for him.
"Listen here, Damien, you may have Luna fooled, but I know what you're trying. I'll be watching you, and don't think that I'm any weaker than when we first met. If you hurt my sister in any way, or harm any of my citizens, I will destroy you." She called back to Boreas, Who raised his middle finger back at her in response, before walking back to the room. As he walked back to the dining room, feeling rather pleased with himself, he was suddenly ambushed by Luna, who was smiling like she wanted something from him.
"Boreas, do you know about Nightmare Night?" She asked. Hesitantly, Boreas shook his head "no", despite the fact Discord had told him of it.
"Well, It's coming up soon, and I started thinking that it would be a great opportunity to get the citizens used to you..." Luna began. Boreas was quickly becoming terrified of this rather one-sided "Conversation". He quickly crossed his arms, and gave Luna a glare that said "There is no way in hell you can ever make me do this". Luna only strengthened her resolve, and her stare.
"Come on, Please? You'll get a cute costume and everything!" She pleaded. Boreas only kept his pose, and turned away from the sad-looking princess. To involve himself in this would only hinder the plan, not to mention the embarrassment factor of it. If he agreed, and Celestia caught him in costume... He shuddered at the thought, and quickly dispelled it, while Luna kept pleading. For such a meek, naive creature, she was really persistent. Boreas tried to deny her, but then she stood in front of him, bearing the biggest, saddest eyes he'd ever seen on any creature. After three seconds of this, he caved in, unable to take the look any longer. He despised the idea of wearing a costume, but Luna was too persistent for him, and he sighed, and nodded in agreement.
"Yay! I'll go get your costume! Oh, this will be so much fun!" Luna squee'd. Suddenly, a thought bubble only visible to Boreas appeared next to him, and Discord came out of it.
"Hey, now, You agreed to get the element, not go Trick-or-Treating!" He said accusingly. Boreas wanted to protest, but Discord interrupted him.
"Look, just get the element by tomorrow night, or I'll find someone else to destroy Celestia with, got it?" Discord asked, flicking Boreas's nose for emphasis. Boreas glared, but nodded, then waved the offending thought bubble away like a smoke cloud. Luna ran off down the hall, toward her room, and Boreas followed, wondering what the hell he just got himself into. He soon found out as he was introduced to the most cheesy frog costume he'd ever seen.
"Well? I made it myself! Do you like it?" She asked. In truth, Boreas hated frogs. He also despised dressing up, but he didn't want to hurt Luna's feelings. Managing a pained smile, he nodded slowly. Thankfully, Luna bought it. Then she handed it to him, as if expecting him to put the accursed thing on. After a sigh and some struggling, Boreas finally managed to get the costume on. It was a tight fit, but it didn't restrict anything except his sense of male pride. Seriously, wearing the frog suit made him feel like an idiot, but Luna was looking really happy, so he dealt with it. Just as long as Celestia didn't see him in it, he was fine. Finally, he managed to remove the costume as he went down for dinner. After dinner, He wandered back into the winding halls of the castle, then found the room that contained the Elements of Harmony, mad sure no one followed him, then entered it. He walked to the far end of the room, to a large altar with a box on it. Boreas approached the altar, picked up the box, and looked at six different gems within. Finding the Element of Laughter, Boreas pocketed the amulet and returned to Luna's room, once again taking up most of the bed, much to Luna's dismay, and pretended to sleep. However, he was not sleeping, but remembering the day Damien died.
It was long before those wretched unicorns injected him with the chemicals that made him what he is today, when they did other things to him, things he dared not show to Luna. As the only human prisoner ever, Damien was quite special. Boreas shuddered as he remembered how the vile beasts "studied" him, often keeping him awake for days at a time, or prodding him with various painful instruments to test his pain threshold or reflexes, but that wasn't the part he couldn't stand. He expected all of that, and accepted it. However, they often did things to him he could never forgive, and his mind flashed back to one of those those moments:
Damien sat on the cold, stone floor, still chained to a wall. They told him they had big plans for him, but he couldn't see what. His whole future seemed bleak as they studied, tortured, and raped him. Yes, raped. It seems otherworldly, but they were no better than the animal they saw him as, and were prone to such shameless, evil acts. In his mind, though, Damien couldn't blame them. After all, none of them looked like they could get laid if they tried, not with their personalities. Suddenly, A female pegasus guard walked in, and shoved a bowl of gruel toward him. Damien kept glaring the most hateful glare he could manage at her as she trotted towards him to release his chains so he could eat.
"Careful, now, If you keep making that face, it'll freeze like that." She said jokingly. Damien kept glaring, unamused by this worm now standing over him.
"I don't need your advice, you pitiful waste of life and oxygen. You scum are no better than the animal you see me as." He spat.
"Whatever, I was just making conversation. Maybe others would like you more if you weren't such a downer, you know? Who knows, you could make some friends down here." The guard replied as she sat against the wall, biting into an apple.
"I don't need friends, not when they're your species." Damien replied coldly.
"And that's why you don't have any." Retorted the guard in a bored tone. Damien quickly became furious.
"No, I don't have any because you killed them all!" Shouted Damien. The guard shrugged, then bit back into her apple.
"I dunno, the rats seem to like you plenty. Heard about that fiasco down in the mess hall, by the way. Is it true you made those rats eat that guy alive?" The guard asked. Damien lowered his head, remembering the incident. Nothing unusual, a stallion was hassling him, and the guards turned the other way. Suddenly, the crook gets swarmed by thousands of rats, and is eaten alive by them. All they could recover were his bones. From that point onward, Damien was to have his meals delivered. Damien finally answered the guard's question:
"No. The animals protect me because I am their protector in turn." He said flatly.
"Kind of a alpha male type thing, then? They protect you because you're their 'leader'?" The guard asked, genuinely interested. Damien looked insulted.
"No. I am no leader of any creature, I merely exist alongside them, and I help when I can. In turn, they help me." The guard laughed, her chortles echoing through the empty dungeon loudly enough to cause Damien to cover his ears.
"Kid, I've seen rats before, and they don't help anybody but themselves, not even each other. You're doing something to control them, I saw it when you tried to storm Canterlot. You made those animals go berserk, and you did the same thing to those rats. I want to know how." Said the guard, as she stared intently at Damien. Damien just chuckled. Suddenly, a few rats came up to him, each carrying some spices from the royal kitchens.
"You want to know my secret, pegasus? Come back when I don't hate your guts, then we'll talk. Until then, go fuck yourself." Damien laughed as he said that, and the guard smiled slightly.
"Hmph. Alright, you drive a hard bargain. Tell me your secret, and I can sneak you some extra rations. How's that sound?" She asked.
"Like I said, I have no secret. What's it matter to you, anyways? You don't strike me as an animal lover." Damien said. The guard laughed a little, then replied:
"Nah, but I've got a filly that is. Three years old, she is, and she just adores animals, especially dogs." Damien looked at the guard for a while before responding.
"Where does she live?" He asked
"Ponyville, of course. Haven't seen her in months, and likely won't for a few more. You caused quite a mess in the system with that Volcano Titan, or whatever it was." The guard said.
"Slag Titan." Damien corrected.
"Yeah, that. Well, because of that, they're sorting bodies, and seeing how much damage you did. After they drive out the bugs first, that is. I don't condone that kind of stuff, but I might just forgive you if my little filly's okay. Well, My shifts almost over, and your rats are looking at me funny. See you tomorrow." The guard said, and she re-chained Damien. Before she left, however, Damien called out:
"Hey! What's your name?"
"Just call me sparks." The guard replied before leaving. The conversations continued a long time afterward, mostly about his affiliation with animals and how the giant locusts keep coming back no matter what they try to get rid of them with. Celestia herself tried once, but almost got swarmed and eaten as a result. As this went on, These conversations soon became the only good thing in his bleak new life. One day, however, Sparks stopped arriving, and the unicorns started injecting him with chemicals. Celestia knew about the conversations, and told him that she quit after finding out that a fire the Slag Titan started killed her only filly, just for the sake of cruelty. Then, when his breakout happened, she had returned.
As he fought his way into the hallway, one stood in his way to freedom: Sparks. She did not fight him, however, only tried to block his way. This proved a fatal mistake, however, as Damien tried to swat her away, but ended up hitting her too hard, resulting in a slow, painful death. As she died, her last word came in a single deathly whisper:
"Why?" Damien did not mourn, for she was his enemy, but felt great loss that day. On that day, he stopped fighting the ponies, for his quarrel with them was over. He now sought to end the one who they bowed to, the one they called a goddess, though she was no such thing: Celestia. On that day, Damien died, and his voice died with him, and would stay dead until the day Celestia took it's place. He snapped out of his memory to the sound of Luna yawning, then returning to sleep. He, too, yawned, and he felt his pocket for the Element of Laughter, pulled it out, and looked at it. He dreaded the time when he would summon Hallowed, but he had to do something, or his existence would be for nothing. Pocketing the Element again, He returned to bed, and went to sleep. Tomorrow was going to be a big and possibly embarrassing day for him, and it was only going to get worse.
The day kicked off with much celebrating, since today was the day of Nightmare Night. Everyone celebrated, except Boreas. He despised today, mostly because he had to wear his ridiculous costume. So, he just laid under the covers, unresponsive to any amount of light or prodding.
"It's a beautiful day, quit pretending to be asleep!" Complained Luna, as she tried to push a giant, stubborn reptile out of her bed, to little avail. Boreas wanted nothing to with today, or tonight, or any time in between, he just wanted to be alone with his thoughts. Finally, Luna gave up trying to budge him, and stormed out of the room, quite disgruntled. Satisfied, Boreas continued to lay on the bed, thinking bout what he was to do tonight. He had to use the element of laughter, summon Hallowed, and let it destroy Celestia. But what about him? After Celestia was gone, what purpose would he have? Maybe he'd return to the forest, continue to expand his wild domain further. But what of Luna? She would become heartbroken if Celestia died, and if he left, she would only think he betrayed her. That was his original plan, But how could he go through with it now? Boreas sighed. He didn't like it, but he had to do this. Celestia had to answer for her sins, and Boreas would have to kill and betray as many "friends" as he needed to if he wanted to reach this goal. That was what the wild did, after all. He was loyal to no one, no one but himself.
Finally, Boreas got up, and sat somberly on the balcony as he waited for nightfall. After an hour or so, Luna found Boreas sitting alone on the balcony, staring sadly into the horizon. It was close to nightfall, and the sunset was breathtaking. Boreas, however, didn't seem to pay it any mind. Luna trotted up to Boreas, snapping him out of his thoughts.
"Quite a sunset, huh? Celestia really outdid herself on this one." Said Luna. Boreas did not respond at first, but finally nodded, a look of sadness on his face. This was the same sunset as the one when humanity was exterminated, either converted into ponies or wiped off the face of existence completely. However, Boreas did not feel angry, just... sad. Sad for his race, sad for himself for being left alone for so long, and even sad for Celestia, for whatever drove her to become so evil, so depraved... His thoughts were silenced when Luna put her hoof around Boreas, as if to comfort him.
"I know what you're thinking. I understand your pain, all those years of being alone... it drives one to madness. I should know, I succumbed to it. But you, Boreas... I have faith in you. I know that you don't hate me, so why do you fight every pony you see? I know you can be so much more... I'm sure of it." as she said this, she looked up to the sunset sky, and continued.
"I know you hate my sister, and probably all ponies right now, but give them a chance, one should not be judged by the sins of their fathers or mothers, after all. I know when then the time comes, you'll see what I mean. You have so much potential, don't waste it being bitter. Remember, Monsters are not born, they are made. And, like anything that is made, they can be unmade." She finished. Boreas looked down, moved by her speech, but his decision was final. As Luna left to raise the moon, Boreas took out the element of laughter, then turned to his beast form, and jumped off the balcony, into the royal gardens to begin the ritual. He gathered the materials, none of which will be named for the sake of none of you readers trying this out for yourself, then proceeded with the summoning of Hallowed. As the moon slowly rose to the height of its climb over the night sky, Boreas rattled his staff, chanting in a tongue long forgotten, even by man, then slammed the macabre staff to the ground, casting the spell. Suddenly, Discord appeared beside Boreas, smiling.
"Well, finally made our decision, have we? I knew you'd come around. So, when does our friend get here?" Asked Discord. Suddenly, though, as if to answer the draconequus' question, the ground began to shake, and horrible, evil, demonic laughter filled the air as the element of laughter began to glow brighter and brighter. The laughter echoed across the land, terrifying ponies young and old, Trick-or-Treating fillies and colts hiding behind whatever they could find as it spread. It would not save them, though, for Hallowed had come. Slowly, the ground around the pentagram turned black and soupy, like tar, and a round shape rose from the black ick, and it slowly turned white as the gunk dripped off of it, revealing a broken, rusted halo, two empty, evil eye sockets that looked more like fractures, and a long, spiny tail, like a thorny vine of sorts that swung and writhed like some horrible, spiky tentacle. Finally, the monster spread its horrible, blade-like wings, materialized two ghostly, floating hands to its side, and opened a cavernous, crack-like mouth, more like it split it's front half open than merely 'opened' it. Then, a horrible, single red eye rolled into view from the horrid, fathomless void in its 'mouth', floating in the opening as if suspended by magic, since nothing else held it there. Finally, after the freedom of the horrid demon was at hand, Hallowed looked around, first at Boreas, then at Discord. Then, Hallowed roared, a horrible, screeching, evil roar that guaranteed nightmares for any child that heard it, and the Element of Laughter shattered, breaking the seal binding Hallowed to the ethereal void for good.
"Awesome! Oh, I'm going to have so much fun with this guy... Oh, the chaos that will ensue!" Discord cheered. Boreas, however, looked in horror at what he had just summoned. He heard this thing was terrifying, but this creature was something else entirely, as if it represented all the fear, darkness, and hate in the world, and made a horrifying mockery of them. He wanted it gone, but it was too late. He already summoned it.
"Boreas, I can't thank you enough for all the help you've been. I mean, seriously, you stole the Element of Laughter, summoned an eldritch demon of laughter and evil, and all in the name of revenge! Oh, you deserve a round of applause!" Suddenly, Discord and Hallowed started clapping, and a spotlight shone on Boreas from nowhere, and confetti and flowers were dropped on him from the same place as the spotlight, which is to say, nowhere.
"Yes, yes, bravo, I commemorate you! Unfortunately, Bory, old pal..." Discord put his arm around Boreas before continuing. "... This is where we part ways. Sorry, pal, but you're just too much of a Debby Downer to hang out with me, But Hallowed here is just the kind of guy I can carry a conversation with!" Suddenly, the two entities of chaos brofisted, and Discord continued his rant, like the backstabbing jerk he is.
"Hey! No name-calling! I don't judge you for being a loser, do I? Anyway, Like I was saying, I just don't see you and me working out any more, So I'ma take off now. Later!" Then, the two vanished in a puff of black, evil-looking smoke, and Boreas fell to his knees, wondering what kind of hell he had just unleashed upon the world. Soon after, Celestia and Luna flew down to the garden, and saw Boreas, on his knees, and looking like he was about to kill himself. Aside from him, The garden was also trashed; statues shattered, bushes uprooted, and a black, bubbling puddle of tar-like ooze in the center of the upturned garden. Celestia, needless to say, was furious.
"Damien, what did you do?! Look at this, the whole garden is ruined, and what the heck is that puddle? Is that oil, or what? Graah, this will take forever to fix! I'm going to kill you for this!" Celestia ranted, unaware of a white, spherical demon that was rising behind her. Luna and Boreas noticed it, though, and showed it quite plainly. When Celestia turned to see what the two were so afraid of, she almost fainted on the spot. Hallowed, though, merely stared at Celestia with his single, red eye closely and intently, as if studying the tall, white alicorn, and seemed to smile as Celestia shook at its visage, as if absorbing the fear that she felt and feeding upon it. Suddenly, though, Hallowed roared, then soared into the air, taking off for Ponyville like a bullet. Celestia backed up to Boreas, paler than usual, sweating, and trembling like crazy. Frankly, she looked like she'd seen a ghost (which is kind of true).
"D-Damien... W-what the h-heck w-w-was tha-that?!?!" Asked a scared-shitless Celestia. Boreas just shrugged, then walked away, whistling.
"Boreas! What was that? Did you have something to do with it?" Demanded Luna sternly. Boreas looked down, then nodded.
"S-see, Lu-Luna! T-that h-human is d-d-d-d-dangerous!" Celestia accused shakily, still shaking like a leaf after her close encounter with Hallowed. Luna, however, was unfazed.
"Boreas, I'm going to have a talk with you later. Right now, though, we need to stop that thing before it terrorizes any small villages." Luna declared.
"Luna, are you out of your MIND!?!? That human summoned that thing, and you're just going to let that slide and expect him to help us!?" Celestia screamed, Causing Luna to shoot her a silencing glare.
"I know he did wrong, but I don't think he did this for laughs, Celestia. Someone else was behind this, and I'm going to find out who. I don't care what you think anymore, I'm not giving up on Boreas just because you can't be bothered to apologize to him." Celestia and Boreas stared in shock at Luna, who had always been meek and quiet until now.
"Boreas, get your butt over here, we're finding that demon and punting him back to whatever hell he came from. Celestia, make yourself useful for once and keep people from panicking while we fight this thing." Luna demanded. Boreas instinctively went beast mode, then tried to run toward hallowed, but Luna stopped him and cast him a stern glare, and Boreas sighed, changed back to human form, and got on Luna's back, despite the fact she was half his height. Despite Boreas's embarrassment, and the obvious size/weight difference, Luna took off, and they searched the skies for the ghost-like demon of evil, and Celestia stood there, stunned that she got chewed out by her younger sister.
Hallowed laughed maniacally as he threw fireballs from his hands at the fleeing townsfolk with cruel precision, hitting areas right in front of them so they couldn't run away. As he laughed and slaughtered, Discord sat in the background, eating some cotton candy from a cloud he conjured. Suddenly, a huge, guttural roar sounded outside of the town, causing Discord to choke on the cotton candy he was eating. Finally, he got it out of his throat, and saw the source of the noise: A giant, 24-foot-long, angry-looking lizard. Discord quickly got nervous at the sight of it, but Hallowed seemed unfazed as he tore unfortunate ponies in half with his hands, laughing all the while. Boreas, hating to be ignored, then leaped at Hallowed, slamming into him and sending him flying at Discord. Taken by surprise, both he and Hallowed both laid there, dazed. Suddenly, Hallowed got up and started laughing as per usual, throwing fireballs at Boreas all the while.
Boreas, however, wasn't affected by them, to Hallowed's surprise and dismay, and Boreas soon broke into another charge, and tackled Hallowed again, then threw him outside of town, where he could beat the ever-loving crap out of him in peace. As Boreas left to do just that, Discord got up and rubbed his head, registering that he was in extreme physical pain. Meanwhile, Boreas had just finished using Hallowed's face as a doormat, and got right back up to face the original traitor he'd come for, and let loose a horrible, earth-shaking roar, letting Discord know that he was next as he charged forward toward the town, leaving a comically-flattened and battered Hallowed behind. Luna watched in awe as Boreas weaved through the city, taking utmost care to not crush a single building, and slammed into Discord with enough force to send him flying through several buildings, and then he pounced on Discord, roaring in the draconequis's face. Suddenly, to Boreas' shock, Discord vanished in a puff of smoke, and reappeared over Boreas, gloating.
"Ha! Some monster you are, you dumb brick! Did you trade your brain for those muscles? Ha ha ha!!!" Discord laughed absurdly at his own joke, infuriating Boreas, so the colossal, reptilian beast, in an attempt to shut Discord up, arched his back, and launched his spines at Discord, forcing him to dodge.
"That's a new one..." Muttered Luna, in awe of Boreas's new power. Boreas, however, didn't seem to care, and his spines seemed to grow right back from his skin as the monstrous human/beast lunged once more at Discord, and the citizens watched in awe as the two fought tooth-and-nail, viciously attacking each other like wild animals. Discord bit and scratched, which was rather effective thanks to his unique appendages, But Boreas had more experience with this kind of fighting than the patron of chaos, and the battle raged through the city for many hours. Celestia, who had arrived just in time to see this spectacle, marveled at how savagely Boreas fought Discord, but took as much care as he did to prevent more collateral damage. Then, she realized that Discord was free. She wanted to yell at Boreas, but decided to do that later, after he put Discord in his place. Unfortunately for everyone, Boreas didn't stop there. The two grappled for a while longer, Then Boreas got a hold of Discord's upper jaw, forcing his head back.
"Alright, Damien, that's enough of that..." Called Celestia, but Boreas paid her no mind. His inner beast demanded blood, and this formidable adversary was exactly what it craved. Celestia and Luna (and the Mane Six, who happened to be there) watched in horror as Boreas gripped Discord's lower jaw, then pulled the two apart, first causing a sick, crunching sound to come from Discord's skull, then Boreas tore Discord in half, sending massive amounts of blood and gore everywhere, and Boreas stood there, panting, his reptilian form coated in the viscera of his fallen adversary, and his yellow eyes glowed with a brightness to rival the sun itself. Suddenly, Boreas roared, shaking the ground and shattering windows as he sounded, and he snapped back into reality, looking at the halved corpse in his hands, then at Luna and Celestia, who were mortified. And, frankly, so was he.
"Uh, I think we need a different talk, Boreas..." Said Luna quietly.
Boreas sat on the ground as Celestia, Luna, and the Mane Six talked about his display of power in Ponyville, when he fought Discord like a wild animal and pulled a gruesome fatality on him, literally tearing the chaotic being in half with his bare claws.
"I can't believe you would side with him still, even after that display of mindless brutality! We are beyond that, Luna!" Shouted Celestia furiously.
"He did what was necessary! The Element of laughter is gone; if Boreas showed any mercy, Discord would still be causing chaos!" Retorted Luna.
"The Element of Laughter is Gone? Did something happen?" Asked Twilight.
"Yes, that oversized monkey destroyed it, just to get back at me!" Cried Celestia. Boreas's headache increased in intensity every time she spoke, and he was now seething with pure anger, though none could tell, since in all fairness, he always looked angry.
"Boreas is not an animal, Celestia! You need to learn that not everything needs to be small and harmless to be useful! If you did, the Element of Laughter wouldn't be destroyed in the first place, and Boreas would still be living happily in the forest, or maybe with his family, or maybe not even around, because you didn't make him immortal and torture him for 7 years like a bitch!!!" Everyone, including Boreas, stared at Luna as she finished her rant, and Boreas felt a twinge of pity for Celestia, but it soon faded, replaced by sheer Hysterics. Soon, Boreas found himself Laughing harder than he had in many years due to Luna's rather timely use of the word 'bitch', and Everypony was now staring at him as he continued his laughing fit. It wasn't that he was laughing that startled them, though, it was how remarkably deep and rich his voice was. Finally, he stopped laughing, finally wiping a tear from his eye, and The Mane Six turned their gazes to Celestia.
"You... You tortured him?" Fluttershy asked sadly.
"I know he smells and lacks hygiene, but even that's a bit much..." Agreed Rarity.
"Celestia... Why? What did he ever do to you?" Asked Twilight, shocked and confused by the claim of her own teacher being so cruel to another living thing. Celestia sighed.
"I understand what you must feel, Twilight, but the extinction of his race was important for the development of this world. As for why I did that to him... well... you would have done the same if it was you who was there, if you had to put up with the violence, and murder, and depravity... Twilight, He killed ponies! He was dangerous, and I was young... Something would have happened, it was just a matter of who'd do it first." Celestia explained.
"That doesn't give you the right, Princess! What happened to friendship?! What happened to "love and tolerance"?" Twilight cried, furious at Celestia, for obvious reasons. "And even now, you still treat him like an animal, though he protected this town with his full strength, ignoring what species we were! He did what was right, and you should be thanking him, not being such a jerk to him just because you didn't like his race!" Twilight finished.
"Yeah, what he did was cool, Awesome, even! He fought Discord like a boss, and all you did was watch! What kind of leader doesn't even move to help their own people, let alone the ones helping them for her?" Demanded Rainbow Dash. Celestia tried to explain, but kept getting interrupted by everyone. Everyone, that is, except for Boreas, who just sat there, staring smugly at Celestia. Finally, she had enough.
"Enough! I am Celestia, Princess of Equestria, and I will NOT be talked down to! Celestia shouted in her royal Canterlot voice, causing everypony to shut up.
"I have endured many long years of this creature's presence, and I will not endure another, not because you all want to feel sorry for the past, instead of focusing on the future! I don't care what you six or Luna says, the human leaves, now!" Celestia demanded, rage and passion in her voice. Everyone stared at her, then at Boreas as he got up, his face hidden behind his skull-helmet.
"Go crawl back into your cave, human, and never return!" Commanded Celestia. Boreas endured the ridicule of this bitch for many thousands of long, agonizing years, and now he was through. Boreas looked up, staring hatefully at Celestia through his burning hazel eyes, which burned with a passion only Damien ever possessed, and, for the first time in countless centuries, Boreas spoke:
"No." Boreas said simply, his voice deep as a rumbling volcano, yet calm as a flowing stream, and personifying the very strength and independence of the wild itself. Long after that word left his mouth, everypony was still staring, especially Luna and Celestia.
"Woah." Commented the Mane Six and Luna at the same, awestruck by the human's voice after having never heard him speak to anyone since meeting him. Nopony else paid any attention, though, as Boreas soon spoke again, his voice even more powerful than before:
"Celestia, Long has this world suffered your influence, and the blood you have spilled upon our soil must be reconciled. I will not fight you, Celestia, but I will defend this world from your sins with all my might, and the might of the wilderness that has fed and sheltered me. I have no quarrel with your ponies, Celestia. But if you fight me, you face the full might of the world I am sworn to defend."
"Stop trying to make yourself look innocent, Damien! You spilled as much blood as I did, if not more!" Celestia retorted.
"That is true, but I did it for the world I loved, and sought to defend. My only sin, Celestia, is that I did not take your life instead of theirs." Celestia became infuriated, and retorted:
"Enough! You aren't the victim here! If you will not leave, then I will destroy you!"
"As I said before, your highness, I do not serve you, and neither should anyone else. This may not reconcile me, but it will do for now." Boreas said, walking up to Celestia.
"What? Stay back! I'll-" Celestia could not finish her sentence before Boreas raised his fist, and punched her in the face, knocking her out cold. Wordlessly, Boreas picked Celestia up, and walked to the castle, to put her back in her room. He no longer wanted to kill her; Her own shock at being sucker-punched by a 'lowly human' would likely do that for him.
Later, at the castle
Boreas had put Celestia in her bed, and walked to the main room, where he sat on a couch until Luna came over to him.
"Boreas, I'm so sorry about that..." She said softly.
"None of it was your fault. In the end, none of us can be to blame for our actions. The mind and heart are complex things, Luna. No one being can change them easily, and in the end, it is they who decide our fate. You are lucky, Luna: You care too much, while Celestia cared too little. She could not see what you did, but that is not why you were better than her this day." Boreas explained, And Luna's face filled with realization.
"Is the reason because I showed my caring without violence, Boreas?" She asked. Boreas chuckled, and his voice still kept catching her off guard.
"No, Luna, you were better than her for many more reasons than that, but the most important thing that made you better... Was the fact you didn't piss me off!" Boreas laughed at his own joke, and Luna laughed a little, too.
"I'm sorry, Boreas, it's just so weird to hear you speak after all the time you've been here..." Luna laughed some more, then they both were quiet. Then, Luna asked a question she had been dying to ask him since he arrived:
"Boreas, do you ever get tired of being immortal?" She asked. Boreas paused, the replied:
"No. I don't like it sometimes, but the journey I've led thanks to this curse has made me a better person, and I will always be grateful for that." Luna pondered, then asked another question:
"So, do I call you Damien from now on?" Boreas smiled.
Boreas woke unusually happy, though his desire to talk seemed to have left him three nights ago. Now, he was just as quiet as before. However, Boreas didn't let that stop him from being joyous, for the memory of punching Celestia was still fresh in his mind, even after happening three days ago. And even so, the ponies saw him as a hero. In fact, many sent letters to him specifically, thanking him for defeating Discord, despite the display being so violent. There was a parade yesterday, celebrating his victory. There, he demonstrated his unique powers to his fans, though he did not like showing off. However, he didn't see any harm in it, and news quickly spread through the many pony settlements, as well as other races' territories, of "The Princesses' new weapon". However, many did not take this news well, especially the griffons and the changelings. In fact, among his piles of fan mail (which he never read, by the way) were several death threats, all from high-ranking officials from other lands. However, the sudden publicity wasn't the weird part of this week: It was Celestia. She had been silent since he popped her in the face three days ago, and now she generally ignored Boreas, even greeted him in the hall this morning! Seriously, what did he do to her to change her around so suddenly? He didn't hate this new Celestia, but it unnerved him a little. Still, he ignored it. If anything, this was an improvement. He broke from his thoughts, and decided to go for a walk. As he stepped outside, he walked down the street, hoping to reach the gates so he could safely change forms and run to the Everfree, so he could check on his wilderness. Suddenly, a blue pony in a ridiculous outfit bumped into him, causing him to stumble, but the pony was knocked on her rear. Suddenly, the offended pony got up, and shot him a look of anger, and spoke:
"Hey, watch where you're going, you big Neanderthal!" The rude pony demanded, causing Boreas to glare at her. The pony returned the glare with one of her own, and the two were soon locked in a brutal glaring contest. The rude pony then glanced to Boreas staff, noticing the unicorn skulls on it.
"What are you, anyway, some kind of magician? Well, Trixie thinks you need a wardrobe change and a bath before you can even match her talents!" The blue unicorn said arrogantly. Boreas didn't like showing off, but this arrogant little nothing needed to learn who she was speaking to. Boreas rattled his staff, then pointed it at the pony, who he assumed was Trixie, despite her confusing habit of speaking in the third person. As soon as he did, the little blue pony lifted into the air, and Boreas spun her around, faster and faster, until Trixie was a blue donut-shaped blur. Then, as a final measure of humiliation, he threw the little blue pony to the side, into some trashcans, causing everypony in the vicinity to laugh. Then, Boreas walked over to Trixie, picked her up by her tail, and glared at her.
"Unhand Trixie, you great oaf! The great Trixie will not stand for this!" The unicorn demanded, struggling in his grasp. She annoyed Boreas, so he put his staff to her lips, casting a spell that sealed them shut. Then, he dropped the annoying blue pony unceremoniously, and continued on his way, leaving an embarrassed and frustrated unicorn behind. Trixie watched as the monster who cursed her stomped away, heading for the gates.She wanted to teach him a lesson, but first she needed to unseal her lips. Angrily, she stormed toward Ponyville, seeking the one she knew would help her. When she approached Twilight's house, she knocked at the door, and Twilight stepped out.
"Oh, hello, Trixie. What are you doing here?"
"Mmph mmph mmmph!!!!" Trixie frantically replied, pointing to her mouth. Twilight quickly got the message, and unsealed Trixie's lips, allowing her to speak.
"Finally! When Trixie finds that big clod, I'm going to turn him into a newt!" Trixie ranted, confusing Twilight.
"Trixie, who did you make enemies with this time?" Twilight asked tiredly.
"Trixie does not know, but it was he that bumped into Trixie, then he embarrassed Trixie, then sealed Trixie's mouth shut, the ruffian!!!" Trixie replied angrily.
"Look, what did this "ruffian" look like?" asked Twilight, annoyed.
"Well, he was big, and wore a lot of fake skulls, which looked atrocious, by the way..." Trixie began. "Okay..."Twilight said, concerned. She had a sinking feeling she knew who this so-called "ruffian" was.
"And he wore oversized animal pelts, and he walked on two legs." Trixie finished, and Twilight sighed. Trixie, in her arrogance, just made enemies with Boreas. Why did this not surprise her?
"Trixie, I think you just made the wrong enemy today. That was Boreas, Princess Luna's new friend." Suddenly, Trixie looked very interested.
"So, this creature is the friend of Princess Luna herself? Still, nopony makes a mockery of the Great and Powerful Trixie and gets away with it! NOPONY! I will make this "Boreas" rue the day he crossed me! Rue it!!!" Ranted Trixie, who stormed off before Twilight could convince her not to do anything stupid.
Later, at the Castle
Boreas sat on the couch, exhausted after a long day of hunting and playing with his pack-mates, who missed him very much. He missed them, too, and decided he should return to them soon. However, Luna interrupted his thoughts.
"Letter for you, Boreas. Looks pretty important." She said, handing him a letter, written in the fanciest writing he'd ever seen from these ponies. As he read it, he quickly grew enraged. He was being challenged, by the very pony that bumped into him on the street. He didn't care for the pony, and would have just thrown the letter away, but it had been too long since he used any of his good spells. It was Mid-day when he arrived where they were to meet: The center of Ponyville.
"Well, seems you had the guts to show up, Boreas. But be warned, The Great and Powerful Trixie goes easy on nopony! You will regret humiliating me in Canterlot, once I've humiliated you!" Ranted Trixie. Twilight walked up in an attempt to stop her.
"Trixie, this is stupid. If you do this, there's a good chance he'll kill you. Just step down, and we'll talk about this." Twilight Pleaded. Trixie, however, paid her no mind, and began the duel. Minutes passed, and spells were everywhere, scorch marks and debris littered the duel zone. Trixie tried to peer around a corner, but Boreas got her in the face with a freezing spell, covering her head in ice. Enraged, Trixie broke the ice shell on her head, then cast a binding spell on Boreas, pinning him with magical ropes.
"Ha! Some mage you are, unable to resist a simple binding spell!" Trixie exclaimed, then she put a hoof on Boreas's back to restrain him, but she pushed him too far. Trixie stepped back in horror as Boreas transformed, then roared his trademark bellow at her, then she dodged as Boreas lunged at her, missing by inches.
"EEEAAARRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAGGH!!!!" Bellowed Boreas, as he stalked toward the great and cowering Trixie.
"Told you he would kill you." Sighed Twilight.
"I-I didn't know he'd do THAT!" Whimpered Trixie. Finally, Boreas pounced, but Trixie put up a shield in desperation, knocking him back. Then, grasping her opportunity, she ran while he was distracted. Boreas gave chase immediately, though, crashing through stalls as he chased his prey through the town. Finally, Trixie managed to get herself cornered in a cul-de-sac, and Boreas advanced. Trixie closed her eyes and held her breath, waiting for the end, but Boreas only smiled, then walked off, back to the Castle.
"I... I almost died..." Trixie said before fainting.
As Boreas got back to the castle, he went through the hall to his/Luna's room, he bumped into Celestia, and the two tumbled into each other. As they got up, Boreas prepared himself for a chewing out, but got the exact opposite:
"Oh, sorry, Boreas." Celestia said cheerfully before walking off.
"What the..?" Wondered Boreas aloud. This was so vastly unlike Celestia, he was wondering if he was dreaming. Quickly, he pinched himself, then ruled out that this was a dream. However, something was amiss. Celestia was being waaaaay too nice, and she Called him Boreas, not Damien. Something was Definitely up, and he intended to find out what. Luna was taking care of business elsewhere for the time being, so getting into Celestia's room wasn't the hard part. Coping with what he saw inside, however, was.
As Boreas looked into Celestia's room, he saw... well... Celestia! But she was struggling in an a icky-looking cocoon, reminding Boreas of a fly, upon being caught by a great spider. And frankly, she wasn't too happy for him being there, despite the circumstances.
"Oh, wonderful, I suppose you're here to finish me off, huh? Wasn't punching me in the face and humiliating me enough for you?" Celestia asked irritably.
"Under normal circumstances, yes." thought Boreas as he grinned widely, quickly drawing the sun princess' attention to his amusement at the situation.
"Oh, ha ha ha, grow up and laugh it up later Damien. I Kinda... I..." Celestia seemed to want to say something, but her pride forced the words back, only widening Boreas's grin into a full-fledged toothy smile.
"Well? I'm waiting. Out with it, already." Boreas seemed to say, though he in fact said nothing as he smiled, further antagonizing the alicorn princess.
"Stop laughing! I... Need... Help!" Celestia gasped, obviously fatigued from the effort it took to say those words. Boreas kept smiling. He was enjoying this, perhaps a little too much.
"Who's help, Celestia?" asked Boreas at last, with obvious mock innocence.
"Don't do this, Damien..." Pleaded Celestia.
"Say it." Demanded Boreas. Celestia tensed, closed her eyes, inhaled, then said the mumbled something.
"Hm?" Boreas asked, holding his hand to his ear, and trying not to laugh.
"your help..." Mumbled Celestia.
"I'm sorry, you'll have to be a little louder..." Said Boreas.
"YOUR HELP! I NEED YOUR HELP!!! Are you happy now, you muscle-headed twit!?" Shouted Celestia, who was now shaking with rage.
"Yes." Boreas replied simply. Suddenly, the door opened, slammed shut, and in stepped... Celestia?
"Well, Looks like my cover's blown..." Celestia 2 said, frowning slightly. "And such a shame that it had to be so soon... I was hoping to get a little closer to you, Boreas..." Fake-Celestia finished, then a burst of green light shrouded her, and there stood the most fucked-up pony Boreas had ever seen. It was tall, black, chitinous, and its legs looked like swiss cheese.
"I KNEW You were being too nice!" Yelled Boreas, pointing at the changeling. The changeling smiled.
"It talks, too? Celestia, you always get the best toys..." The Changeling said, moving closer to Boreas.
"I'm not a toy, insect! Explain yourself, now, or risk destruction!" Demanded Boreas.
"And don't think he won't, Chrysalis. He will. He did it to discord, and he was about to do it to me." Said Celestia.
"Yes, I heard about the poor god of chaos, and it took me a while to realize, but..." Chrysalis suddenly got very close to Boreas, staring him directly in the eyes, as if trying to control him.
"You and I... We could potentially be of great help to each other, big guy." Boreas was extremely unsettled by this proposition, but did not show it in front of Celestia.
"Sorry, lady, but I just got out of a relationship, so..." He tried to say, but Chrysalis interrupted him.
"Yes, I heard about that, but that moron betrayed you, despite your potential. I, however, see what you really are, and think that you and I can go somewhere..." Chrysalis cooed, But Celestia had other plans.
"Boreas, I know we normally don't have each other's best interests in mind, but you do not want to listen to her!" Pleaded Celestia. Boreas didn't like either of them, but he hated Celestia more. On the other hand, however, this new villain likely had some truly nasty plans in mind for not just Celestia, but him too. However, Who ever said milking the situation for all its worth was a bad idea?
"I don't know, Celestia, this one seems pretty trustworthy to me." He lied.
"Hey, the man made his choice, quit being a sore loser!" Chrysalis chided, grabbing Boreas's arm and sticking her tongue out at Celestia.
"I said you seemed like listening to, Chrysalis, I never agreed to join you." Retorted Boreas. "Now, Give me a reason why I should help you... with whatever it is you want to do." Boreas finished. Chrysalis frowned it thought, Then replied:
"Because, Celestia wronged both of us. If you help me, I can give you anything you want." Said Chrysalis seductively.
"What I want can't be brought back, bug. But still, quite the tempting offer. What about you, Celestia? Can you make me a better offer than "almost anything I want"?" Asked Boreas.
"Boreas, Just join her if you're gonna do it, but don't pull this crap on me." Celestia said flatly.
"I believe I asked you to make an offer." Said Boreas.
"What the hell do you want from me, my crown?! I know you're not gonna accept any of my offers, so just end it, already!" Demanded Celestia. Chrysalis smiled.
"Well, you heard her "offer", Boreas. I think we both know who you're going to pick, but let's hear it from you." Gloated Chrysalis.
"Meh... I say myself." Answered Boreas plainly.
"What!?" Exclaimed both Celestia and Chrysalis.
"You both heard me. My loyalties lie only with myself and my friends, and frankly, neither of you look like pleasant company. I simply would prefer Chrysalis to you, Celestia. Either way, I'm not joining you, Chrysalis." Boreas said as he cast a spell, releasing Celestia. Chrysalis looked shocked for a second, then gave an evil, creepy smile.
"I see. Well, you may think that now, but you'll come around soon enough. I'll see to that." Chrysalis said, before vanishing in a flash of green light.
"Not even a fight. You make some really unentertaining enemies, Celestia, you know that?" Boreas grumbled as he turned to her.
"Why did you help me, Damien? You could have just killed me right there and ended it. Why didn't you?" Celestia asked.
"Because, Celestia, Though you disgust, infuriate, and generally offend me, I'm no wild animal. Now's my chance to prove that. You may be princess here, but I'm the better one here. You remember that." Boreas began to walk away, then stopped.
"Oh, and my name's Boreas, not Damien. Not anymore." That said, Boreas walked out of the room, leaving a confused Celestia behind. Boreas not only saved her, but didn't even try to kill her beforehand. This confused Celestia, and she began to realize:
"Maybe he has changed..." Celestia thought aloud. Boreas walked down the hallway, satisfied with his good deed. However, he thought about Chrysalis's offer. True, they both had a common enemy, but there were too many unknowns. For instance, what did she really want? Chrysalis never said what she wanted, but offered a lot. His heart knew he made the right choice, but his wild wind, ever-curious, decided that it at least needed to know her goal and her motives. As he went to Luna's room, He noticed Luna was awake, and staring out the window. He tapped her on the shoulder, startling her and causing her to yelp.
"Boreas! How on Equestria can something as big as you be so quiet!?" She asked, panting from her recent shock.
"You're awake. Why?" Asked Boreas. Luna sighed, then lowered her head, before replying:
Hallowed grumbled in his cave as he thought of his revenge. He thought back to the day the fetid beast tackled and flattened him, causing him no end of embarrassment. But now, it was his time to shine. He was weak before, but now he had regained all his power, and the fetid mortals that banished him would now pay. Plus, he still had to avenge Discord's untimely demise. Hallowed cackled loudly as he drummed his fingers together, his ever-present smile growing in intensity as he thought of his revenge. Oh, yes... This was gonna be bad.
Boreas Stared at Luna, not even blinking. Hallowed, the round demon who's face he used as a doormat, was now back, according to Luna.
"Luna, if you mean to tell me that that laughing abomination I destroyed is back..." He began.
"Boreas, that's just it. You didn't destroy him. Now he's back, and you're his target." She explained somberly.
"And how can you be so sure of that, Luna? Did you suddenly get a "vision"?" Boreas asked sarcastically.
"No, he threw a rock through the window with this note attached." She replied, holding up a badly-written note:
"Deer Mortals: I am return. Giv me hooman, or you no can has live. luv, Hallowed. P.S: I threw this rok. Ha ha, ur loozers."
Boreas stared at the note, wondering how a near-timeless eldritch abomination could have such bad spelling, then he realized the danger everyone was in. "Oh sweet lord, he's back." Was what the expression on his face said.
"I told you, Boreas! If he was only at minimal power before, we're going to need more firepower than you alone this time. Boreas, we need to make a new element of laughter." Luna explained.
"Okay, How long will that take? A day? a week? I can hold him off until then." offered Boreas, but Luna merely shook her head, and replied somberly.
"No, It's going to take at least a month to make the shell of the element, let alone fill it with power. That part alone could take years! We need you to distract Hallowed until we get a replacement." Luna replied.
"You want me to distract that thing for a whole year??? Luna, I'm immortal, but not patient, and I'm pretty sure he's not, either." Boreas chided.
"Not until we make a brand new one, Boreas, just until we get the replacement." Luna countered. "Celestia was always paranoid this kind of thing would happen, so she made multiple, weaker back-up elements to temporarily replace the originals until a new one was crafted. We just need a few days to get them." Luna explained to Boreas. Boreas then, in turn, simply gave a shocked look at Luna, his voice seemingly caught in his throat as he contemplated what manner of paranoia it would take to achieve this level of insanity. And, upon picking up on Boreas' thoughts, Luna replied sheepishly.
"I did say my sister was paranoid at the time..." Said Luna.
"Implying that she isn't now?" thought Boreas to himself, though Luna seemed to pick up on that thought, too.
"Look, just buy us some time until we get the replacement. Once we have it, we can put hallowed back in the void." Said Luna.
"I don't like that plan. Where are the back-ups?" Demanded Boreas simply, his face unreadable as it hid beneath his manticore-skull helmet.
"Boreas, please don't..." Started Luna, greatly concerned at this point.
"The Back-ups, Luna. Now." Boreas's tone became greatly threatening and impatient, and he began to bare his teeth, scaring Luna.
"T-they're in the catacombs..." Started Luna.
"And those are..?" Boreas demanded again, and Luna sighed, knowing she would be unable to stop the human from doing what he wanted this time, and solemnly replied.
"The entryway is behind the throne. Just let me get it open..." suddenly, though, before Luna could even move, Boreas turned and stomped toward the throne room, Luna in tow. Then, he gripped the back wall behind the throne, and tore it down, throwing the whole section of wall, throne included, aside like a chunk of styrofoam.
"Boreas! What the heck are you doing!?" Cried Luna as she watched Boreas deface the wall as violently as possible.
"I'm improvising." Boreas snarled as he tore down the last of the wall with as few fucks as could possibly be given by a man of his temperament.
"Boreas, there are seals and traps down there! You'll be killed, or worse!" Cried Luna again, tears welling up in her eyes as she thought of all the horrible things her sister put down there.
"You think your sister's little toys can kill me, when she herself couldn't? Luna, Stop being adorable." Boreas smiled mischievously as he said this, and Luna blushed. Then, Boreas assumed his beast form, and leaped into the tunnel.
But a second after, Celestia came running in, and her jaw almost hit the floor at the sight before her, clearly the handiwork of none other than her newest sworn enemy, Boreas. "Luna, what happened to the back wall?" She asked. Luna sighed.
"Boreas is 'Improvising'." Said Luna plainly, still shocked at the impressive display from not even a second prior.
"Ah." Said Celestia as calmly as she could.
Boreas crashed through the narrow catacombs, completely impervious to the various traps and curses that the hallways threw at him. It was a bit crowded for his tastes, but he brushed it off. He had a mission, and he never backed down from a hunt, no matter how tough or elusive the prey. As he crashed through the narrow hallways, he used his sensitive nose to pick up the replacement elements' magic, which he recognized from the real ones.
"Heh, And no wards or traps to guard them? Why didn't I try this sooner?" Boreas thought to himself as he reached the antechamber housing the faux-elements. As he got near them, however, a new scent filled his reptilian nostrils, but a familiar one, and certainly not one he ever desired to smell again.
"Well, you certainly are good at making things easier for me, aren't you? First Celestia, now this. Really, Boreas, you're too much." Said a voice that made Boreas's blood boil.
"Chrysssalissss..." hissed Boreas, his reptilian voice conveying just the emotion he wanted to; Pure, unbridled hatred. Still, despite his posture and warning, Chrysalis still remained, eager to torment the poor human even further.
"Well, as much as I would love to leave you alone, Bory, I'm afraid I need those gems there." Continued Chrysalis as she looked toward the replacement elements.
Boreas laughed, a sound that literally shook the catacombs, causing dust to fall. "Not likely! I need these gems here to defeat someone actually worth my time, thank you very much. Now, turn and go back the way you came, and I might just forget I ever saw you." Rumbled Boreas.
"That's just it, sweetheart, I can't let you defeat Hallowed. Not yet, anyway." Chrysalis said, circling Boreas.
"Mm? And why's that?" Asked Boreas with mock curiosity.
"Because, He's going to destroy the kingdom, and I'm going to help him. Then, I'm going to take over." Chrysalis explained, grinning evilly.
"Uh huh?" replied Boreas, not a single ounce of interest in his yellow, reptilian eyes. However, Chrysalis just smiled some more, then replied: "Indeed. But I know what you're thinking: 'Do you really think such a big, scary demon will just hand the kingdom over to me after he conquers it?'. Well, I've got a plan, big guy, but I'm not about to reveal it just yet. Now, the replacement elements, please." Chrysalis said, looking at Boreas dead in the eyes.
"Ha ha, how about 'No'?" Boreas said calmly. Suddenly, Boreas felt something brush by his leg, and Chrysalis was gone! As Boreas looked behind him, however, Chrysalis stood by the box, a wicked smile on her face.
"I'm sorry, but you did leave them unguarded..." She taunted.
Boreas, unable to fight in his beast form in such narrow quarters, returned to his human form, and raised his fists. "Don't you dare make me have to squash you, bug." Boreas threatened, growling slightly.
"Aww, no staff? Leave it with Luna by 'accident'?" Taunted Chrysalis.
"I don't need magic to kill you." Retorted Boreas calmly, even though his blood pressure was quickly rising with every second.
"What a gentleman." Chrysalis mocked, Causing Boreas to turn a shade of red he hadn't turned since his teenage years.
Suddenly, Boreas roared, then charged Chrysalis with his fists raised. Chrysalis dodged each blow, then, when Boreas tried to roundhouse kick her in the face, she blocked with her leg, then flipped him.
"Well, not so great without your morbid stick, are you? Guess those muscles really are just for show. Still, what a show, indeed..." Taunted Chrysalis. Without hesitation, Boreas quickly grabbed Chrysalis by her foreleg, then swung her into a wall, dazing her.
"I'm going to eat your heart, changeling!" Boreas snarled, moving toward the stunned changeling queen.
"Ugh... That wasn't very nice..." Chrysalis said as she regained focus. Then, before Boreas could act on his threat, she got up, and dodged past him. Then, she changed, becoming more humanoid, while retaining her general appearance. Then she struck a rather suggestive pose.
"Like what you see, big guy?" She asked, and Boreas grew extremely angered as he witnessed the changeling mock his race's form.
"What the..?! Is this some kind of sick joke?!" Boreas raged as the now rather voluptuous changeling laughed.
"No, I'm just evening the playing field a little. Unless, of course, you're afraid to hit a girl?" Anthro-Chrysalis taunted, posing a little. However, in response, Boreas only growled ferociously, clenching his fists as he glared at Chrysalis, the threat of death evident in his hazel eyes.
"What's the matter, big boy, angry? Wanna beat up poor old me? Then do it, big guy." Taunted Chrysalis. Boreas then roared, and charged again, getting his arms under hers, flipping her, and then pinning her to the ground.
"Oh, Boreas..." Chrysalis giggled, and Boreas blushed as he pushed himself off of her.
"You're disgusting!" Yelled Boreas.
"Says the one that got on top of me... how lewd." Countered Chrysalis. Fed up with this, Boreas bellowed, and Chrysalis took up a defensive position. As soon as the two collided, Chrysalis kneed Boreas in the gut, causing him to double over. Then, she got behind him, put her arms under his, and pulled upward, pressing her chest into his back for extra leverage. This caused Boreas to become enraged. Not because he was losing, but because he was losing like this. Adrenaline pumping, Boreas pulled Chrysalis down, and flipped over, landing on top of her again, knocking the air out of her lungs with a solid "Whuff!". Then, he picked her up, and proceeded to piledrive her like the undertaker. Boreas finally backed up, but Chrysalis didn't even look fazed.
"What's the matter, boy, tired already? I was just starting to have fun." She said, wiping some greenish blood from the corner of her mouth.
"That's just demented..." muttered Boreas.
"No, that's just getting an advantage. You see, I've always been a fan of the human body. It's just so... flexible." Chrysalis said huskily, stretching her arms and torso.
"You're despicable." Boreas hissed, backing into the box of replacement elements.
"Oh, Boreas, you have no Idea. But before you go flipping out, at least answer me this: Why do you protect these weak creatures, when they utterly destroyed your race and turned you into a monster?" Chrysalis asked, slowly walking up to Boreas.
"I don't protect them, I only defend Luna. The rest of them can drop dead for all I care." Boreas replied.
"Is that it, then? The greatest hunter in the world obeys a pony because they're friends now?" Chrysalis chided.
"That's not true." Growled Boreas.
"Oh, but it is. You are little more than a pet to her, Boreas. A plaything, something to use, then keep out of pity. Nopony knows this, but I know what she intends for you, human." Chrysalis purred, getting uncomfortably close to Boreas. Boreas could have easily shot his hand out and snapped the changeling's neck, but one thing held him back: He was curious.
"What do you mean?" Boreas asked suspiciously, and Chrysalis giggled ominously.
"I mean, she wants a weapon, an ultimate "defender" of her and her sister's precious kingdom, and you seem to fit the bill perfectly. In short, she wants to finish what her sister started: You." Chrysalis explained, grasping Boreas's shoulder. Boreas was furious with the changeling, but something in his mind told him that she wasn't lying.
"And you know this, how?" Boreas asked simply.
"I know many things, Boreas... Like how happy you'll be once the ponies are dead, and you've returned to your precious wilderness. I know this, Boreas... And I know you. Step aside, Boreas. No one else has to know." Said Chrysalis finally, as she put herself really close to the giant human. Boreas thought for a second, but stood still.
"Fine." Boreas retorted simply, throwing the box of temporary elements at Chrysalis, and he then ran back toward the exit. Chrysalis caught the box, but did not laugh or gloat. She got the replacements, but one important thing still eluded her, the last key to the puzzle: Boreas.
Boreas ran out of the hole he made in the wall, and greeted the two alicorns standing there in wait for him.
"What took you so long? We've been waiting for half an hour!" Cried Luna. Celestia just humphed, looking away from the human that tore down her wall. Boreas, however, stood silent for a second, then pulled out a gem, the replacement for the Element of Laughter.
"Nothing. Let's do this." He said flatly, then walked out of the room, tossing the gem behind him, toward the two alicorns, who caught it. He cast a last somber glance behind him, and went out to find Hallowed and kick his ass, hopefully for the last time.
Hallowed finished burning his last town to the ground, checking for survivors. When he detected none, He hovered away, toward Ponyville. Three villages destroyed, and no one came to stop him. Maybe the human had finally fled? Who could blame him, anyway? Hallowed was now at full power, and nothing short of a god could stop him now. As he floated toward the small town, Hallowed heard a familiar roar: Boreas had finally come to fuck his shit up. This time, though, it would Hallowed who fucked Boreas's shit up, not the other way around like last time. Hallowed was unprepared last time, but now he had all his power back, and was ready for the last human this time. And sure enough, Hallowed found the human rushing toward him, beast mode ready. Suddenly, though, as the two prepared to collide, the beast stopped, confusing Hallowed. Despite the want for battle in its eyes, the human/beast simply sat there, as if waiting. Well, he would soon get his wish. Hallowed charged the colossal reptile, but it dodged, then pounced Hallowed, knocking him to the ground again, and growled at Hallowed, baring his many teeth as he did. However, Hallowed laughed maniacally at this threat, and sank into the ground, rising up behind Boreas, and casting a sphere of evil magic at him. Boreas was hit by this, but was ultimately unaffected. Hallowed quickly became frustrated with this creature's resistance to his magic, and proceeded to cast dark spheres in rapid succession, but to little avail. Suddenly, the beast charged off, toward Ponyville. Without thinking, Hallowed flew after him, blinded with anger at how Boreas constantly mocked him so, and quickly found him waiting in the town square, sitting like he'd been waiting a thousand years, and that finally burst Hallowed's bubble, enraging him beyond any point he'd ever felt until now.
"DIE!!!!!!" roared Hallowed in a voice like the sound of pure evil. Boreas, however, was unfazed as the two met in the arena, their final battle about to begin. And so, with one last charge, the two met, each prepared to kill... or be killed.
Minutes passed as the two super-beings stood and waited, glaring at each other with hatred so intense, it was almost visible. One born of the intricate structure and brutal power of nature, and the other of the evil and fears of psychosis and darkness, and only one victor would walk away. Boreas snarled as Hallowed circled, looking for an opening to strike at. Then, The fight began.
Boreas lunged first, tackling into the giant, twisted ghost, and pinning him into the ground. Citizens cleared the way as this happened, but many could not escape their grapple, and were trampled beneath the wrestling behemoths. Once Boreas had Hallowed pinned, He tried to reach for the demon's eye, but Hallowed would not be killed so easily. As Boreas leaned in to grip the eye with his mouth, a long, red, blood-covered tongue shot out from the mouth-like socket, and slipped down Boreas's throat, choking him.
Hallowed cackled evilly as Boreas fell backward, grasping his neck as Hallowed's Tongue writhed in his throat, blocking his airway. Hallowed, now free from Boreas's grasp, floated up slowly and prepared to end this little squabble. However, Boreas suddenly got up, grabbed Hollowed's tongue, and yanked as hard as he could, ripping the tongue out of Hallowed's "mouth". Then, Boreas pulled it out of his own throat, and cast it aside in disgust. Hallowed, shocked and in severe pain from this turn of events, grasped his face as profuse amounts of blood flowed from his mouth-like eye socket.
Suddenly, Boreas roared again and proceeded to ram into the giant, white ball of evil while he was disoriented, causing Hallowed to fly backwards, into several buildings and the central fountain before skidding to a halt. As Hallowed got up, Ponies screamed and fled as Boreas crashed toward the injured demon, then picked him up, and threw him into a large restaurant, causing the building to explode into a cloud of tables, silverware, and foodstuff. As Boreas advanced, Hallowed suddenly launched a disembodied hand outward, hitting Boreas's neck with great force, and launching him backwards. Luckily for Boreas, his spikes stopped his slide before he hit any buildings.
Boreas recovered from the attack, but grasped at his bruised throat. Those hands may have seemed ethereal, but they were very solid. As he stumbled back into fighting stance, Hallowed charged right at him, a brand new tongue trailing behind him as he shot toward the giant reptile. Boreas, seeing no room to dodge without causing unnecessary damage, shifted his stance, and raised his shoulder in front of himself in preparation of his favorite move: The Death Block. Once his stance was ready, Hallowed slammed into Boreas with terminal force, but Boreas did not budge. Instead, Hallowed stopped, then fell over, dazed from the impact. As Hallowed fell, Boreas lifted him into the air, and threw him into the ground. As he reached again for Hallowed's eye, his only weak spot, Hallowed wrapped his tongue around Boreas's hand and arm, pulling him into the abyss from whence it came. Boreas pulled back, but Hallowed was too strong.
Hallowed laughed as Boreas continued to be pulled toward the abyss that held his eye. Boreas struggled and pulled, but the tongue would not tear or break. Then, Boreas made a desperate grab for Hallowed's eye, causing Hallowed to panic and throw Boreas to the side, into several buildings and many bystanders, annihilating both.
Stained with soil and the blood of innocent civilians, Boreas was thrown into a fiery rage, his already- red eyes glowing with internal fire, and his roar sounding more bestial than usual. The thing that once was Boreas charged Hallowed, who couldn't even flinch before The beast's fist made contact with Hallowed's "face", sending him flying, and he landed squarely in an intersection, causing a crater to form as the demon hit the ground. Then, without another moment, Boreas lunged once more at Hallowed, grabbing at the fallen aberration, and he proceeded to hoist Hallowed into the air once more, and he then piledrived Hallowed into the ground head-first, throwing the beast further into a daze. Then, eager to finish the fight, Boreas charged his fist for one last, brutal punch, one sure to end the fell demon of chaos forever. However, before Boreas could fully throw his punch, Hallowed then snapped out of his stupor, and caught Boreas trying to end him. So, in response, the demon then sank into the ground before Boreas's fist made contact, and the resulting punch simply impacted the bare ground, obliterating the entire block with a solid 'BOOM!!!'.
Boreas stood where his momentum had thrown him, and then looked around for his adversary, but could not find him... that is, until Hallowed swiped his fists toward Boreas for a sucker punch of his own, hitting Boreas solidly in his back, and throwing him to the ground. But before the demon could finally destroy Boreas for good, the colossal reptile arched its back once more, launching its volley of spines into Hallowed's face, and causing the demon to grab its new wounds, roaring in pain, shock, and anger as it reeled back from shock. Boreas, now seeing his chance, then got up, preparing for one last death punch, one to finally end the battle, right here, right now. But as the human-turned-monster's mighty fist sailed through the air, aimed squarely at Hallowed's eye, the demon then simply glared at Boreas for a moment, only a moment, before flinging itself into the ground, and fleeing from the fight, gravely wounded, both in body and pride. Boreas's fist, though, sailed clear over where Hallowed vanished, and then made contact with another building, completely annihilating the large shop in a flashy display of light, fire, and burning chunks of wood, stone, and plaster.
Boreas looked back to where the demon had fled him with glaring, hateful eyes, for the prey he sought now had escaped him, making him the second to do so in his long record of perfect hunts. And so, unable to contain his anger at the cowardly abomination's action, Boreas roared his anger and dismay to the heavens, the flames in his eyes glowing brighter and more intense as his rage grew, until, at last, his energy finally fled him as well, and the colossal reptile collapsed to his knees, panting, before finally becoming human once more, though he was, in fact, no less pissed in the slightest. Finally,the Mane Six approached the ruins of the whole town square, which the two monsters, in their epic clash to what should have been the death, simply eradicated it a fit of fire, fury, and pieces of street and building everywhere. Twilight checked for survivors from the burnt, crushed ruins, but other than those who had successfully escaped, she found none.
"Nopony... it seems... nopony else made it." Twilight announced somberly, and everyone in the vicinity first looked to the ruins, and then, almost cautiously, at Boreas, who seemed absolutely mortified at the raw destruction he had just wreaked.
"Boreas..." Started Luna, who could not finish her sentence. Boreas looked about, but all eyes were on him, especially Celestia's. But though he seemed to want to say something, he simply could not: after all, what could he say to alleviate the death and carnage he had just wrought upon this poor town? Before he could think of such a thing, though, Celestia stepped forward, and interrupted his thoughts, speaking over the murmuring crowd with as much conviction and wrath as she could muster in her voice.
"Enough! Once was enough, Damien, but this is too far. You've taken a crucial job into your own jurisdiction, and ended up wrecking the whole town and killing hundreds of innocents in your wake, and without even destroying your intended target!" Celestia scolded, causing the other ponies to cringe. "It is clear you cannot cope in a civilized environment, and now you leave me no choice. Damien, you are to leave this place, go back to your forest, and never return." Celestia demanded, hatred in her eyes. The ponies murmured among themselves, and tears welled up in Luna's eyes.
"Boreas..." Luna repeated, but Celestia interrupted her.
"Luna, You've seen what humans do, and what this one is capable of. Stop living in candy land for once and accept it: There's no hope for him. He's a monster, and you can't change that." Celestia chided. Nopony raised an argument, and Damien lowered his head in shame. Clouds filled the night sky, and rain began to fall, washing away the blood as Celestia turned to Boreas.
"Go away, and never come back. If I ever see you again, Damien, I will destroy you." Celestia threatened, but Boreas just stood there, stoic and uncaring, as he leered at Celestia with utmost contempt, and once again, he spoke.
"You act like you have the power to remove me, worm." Borias growled, causing everyone, even Luna, to gasp in shock, and Boreas then walked up to Celestia, stunned from his response, and glared at her, eye to eye, challenge her authority in the most basic manner. Celestia, however, did not back down, and instead, she glared right back at him, the heat from her body evaporating the rain as it fell on her, and she issued her command one last time.
"I... said... leave." Celestia growled, causing the citizenry to flinch, but Boreas stood still as a statue, and in response, growled back.
"And I said... no." Boreas replied, and Celestia focused her glaring, hate-filled eyes into his stoic, hazel ones, and after an intense, minute-long staring contest, she replied, her voice full of contempt, and her breath radiating with the full heat of her anger, as if she would begin breathing fire at any moment:
"You... have no right... to defy me, Damien! I warn you one last time; leave, or die!" Celestia hissed, and Damien stared at her for a moment, but seeing no reason to argue further, he looked at last to Luna, and despite his blank expression, she knew just what he was implying: He was going, but not for the reason Celestia believed.
"Fine, Celestia. You can have your way. But I will be back for you, one day. Count on it." Boreas growled simply, shocking all in the area, and without another word, Boreas turned, and as he was about to walk, Celestia called back to him, taunting him once more, just to salt the wounds she thought she saw.
"You can try all you want, Damien. But you will not win. Not now, not ever." Celestia called, but Boreas ultimately ignored her, and walked off, to complete his task:
Luna slept lightly that night. It had been two weeks since Boreas was went off, and she missed him. She missed having a giant reptile next to her at night, and missed Boreas's few chats and his random quirks, like how he'd throw his oatmeal on the floor when he couldn't remember where the sink was. Yes, She missed Boreas. However, the true reason for her discomfort this night was the dream that plagued her:
Luna stood in the flaming ruins of Canterlot, and bodies littered the street. She looked among them, all her and Celestia's subjects, slaughtered, and many had been fed upon. Among them stood a great, armored, reptilian beast, it's black armor seeming to absorb the light of the raging fires. The beast looked to her, two red, glowing dots being the only part of its face she could see behind its dark helmet. The beast stalked toward her slowly, silent despite its colossal, heavy armor. Luna tried to speak, but no words would form. She tried to run, but her legs would not move. Soon the beast towered over her, placing a single, clawed finger beneath her chin, tilting her head to look at its helmeted face, and it spoke:
"You're next." The beast rumbled, then she awoke, screaming. She looked out the window, in the direction of Everfree forest. That dream had been tormenting her ever since Boreas left, and she didn't think it was just an empty nightmare. Something was brewing in that forest, and Luna had a sinking feeling that Boreas was going to be behind it.
Meanwhile, at the cave
Boreas paced back and forth, his pony skulls rattling as he walked. The hunt he now took up was dangerous, but he had little reason to doubt his abilities. What plagued him, however, was the changeling queen, Chrysalis. She had proven herself quite tenacious in the past, and seemed quite transfixed on Boreas. Why, though? And why now, wasn't Hallowed a big enough problem for him? So many unknowns, and so soon after he'd left the comfort of his wilderness. Perhaps the attention brought from killing Discord did this for him, and cursed him to be the center of attention?
'Maybe...' Boreas thought, 'Celestia was right about killing Discord." Boreas smiled slightly at his musings, but quickly shook them off, seeing no reason to distract himself from his target; Hallowed. The insect could pester him all she wanted: it would nonetheless do little for her wellbeing. And so, that said, Boreas then sat upon his throne of cloth and animal bones, and thought. If he was an ancient spirit of death and evil, where would he go to hide? Boreas thought on this, and thought well. But still, he could think of nothing.
That is, until a little birdy flew by, bearing interesting news.
Hallowed returned to his cave in the mountains, battered and bruised, and certainly not in a good mood. As he floated in his cave, once a popular dragon graveyard, Hallowed thought on his options for destruction, and on his newest self-proclaimed archrival, Boreas. Certainly, the fetid last human would be gunning for the now-beaten demon of darkness and laughter, and would likely go to any number of pains to hunt him down. Even so, it simply wasn't in Hallowed's nature to just surrender. No... he couldn't do this, not again. Mind racing furiously, Hallowed racked his brain for a quick, easily obtained solution for this conundrum. But as he thought, his mind quickly drifted inwards, and he soon became unaware as a dark, cold presence filled the cavern, and soon, the shadows took shape, and to Hallowed's surprise, coughed, quickly re-obtaining the demon's attention from the depths of his mind.
Shocked, Hallowed quickly turned about-face, and took a stance to face the shadowy intruder, but the figure simply raised its 'hands', and laughed a bit, a dry, throaty laugh, and spoke, causing Hallowed to lower his stance to listen to the visitor, and cautious as he was.
"At ease, demon. You've no reason to fear me. Instead, rejoice! For I have just the solution you seek... should you require such." The shadowy figure announced, its voice dry, raspy, and dead. But nonetheless, Hallowed acknowledged this. Lowering his stance fully, Hallowed stared intently at the figure, his attention garnered fully, and the figure spoke again, obviously pleased at Hallowed's reaction.
"Good... now, I suppose you're wondering just what solution I offer, true?" the figure asked, and Hallowed quickly nodded, eager to get at what the strange presence was offering that could save him from Boreas's wrath. And sure enough, the shadowy figure spoke again.
"Well, that is simple: I offer you... protection, if you will; a two-step plan to ensure that the last human doesn't interfere with your plans ever again. It is a simple offer, this two-step plan, and bears little cost to you. Would you like to hear it?" The shadow offered, and Hallowed stared at the black figure a while, weighing his options. He didn't exactly trust this person, if it even WAS a person, but the presence hadn't made any hostile moves against Hallowed, and Boreas was doubtlessly tracking the demon of laughter back to his lair as he thought. So, seeing no other options, Hallowed nodded again, slowly this time, still keeping his wary eye on the figure. The shadow, despite this, showed no signs of distress, and began to speak again, chilling Hallowed with its cold, dead voice.
"Excellent! I'm sure that you will enjoy this as much as I do. Ahem..." the figure began, and after a brief pause, it continued with its plan. "The one you know as Boreas is, as of now, haunting you. This, as you know, is a problem, and a hazard. But I... have a plan! I will distract Boreas for a while, with a single, simple dream. Once he is distracted, all you have to do... is survive. Find another home, or defend this one better. Either way, as long as you live long enough for me to initiate phase two. Then... you may worry about Boreas no more." The figure explained, but Hallowed tilted himself to the side, in a gesture of confusion. Though the shadow explained the plan as if it were sure-fire, the details were so obscure. How was a simple dream going to distract Boreas? How long did Hallowed have to hide? What was 'phase two'? And most importantly... what was this going to cost Hallowed? These questions boiled in Hallowed's mind, and he stared again at the figure in confusion. But as if reading these questions straight from Hallowed's mind, the being of shadow spoke again, hoping to quell all of Hallowed's doubts with one argument.
"I can tell you have some doubts about this plan. But there is no need for doubt, as I can assure you that the plan is foolproof... and already in effect! As for cost, just a simple favor will do... after phase two proceeds, of course." The figure ambiguously stated, and Hallowed scratched his head some, but still listened. After all, what choice did he have?
"Listen, all I need is your trust, demon. I promise you: this plan will work... you just have to trust me. Now... what is your choice? Join me... or be left behind?" The figure asked, and Hallowed thought, long and hard, about his answer. It was true, this 'plan' had far too many holes and unknowns involved, but... he needed Boreas distracted, and if the only way to survive was to be a part of this madman's 'plan', then, Hallowed decided, he would do it. So, without another thought, Hallowed then turned about, toward the figure, and nodded, affirming his part in the plan... whatever the 'plan' was.
"Ahhh, splendid! I assure you, mister Hallowed, you will not regret this! Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a dream to weave. Trust in me, Hallowed, and you will be rewarded." The figure stated hastily, and soon as Hallowed blinked, the presence was gone, taking the cold, icky feeling with it. Hallowed, needless to say, was stunned. Without a clue as to what just happened, and what he just agreed to, Hallowed merely stared ahead, stunned at the utter randomness of the event. In fact, so shocked was he, Hallowed couldn't even turn around, to see a little blue bird taking off, flying off into the distance to report what it had seen...
