//------------------------------// // Chapter four: Battle of the Dead // Story: Next Generation: The Emotional Spectrum // by Thestoryteller //------------------------------// There had been many things in life which had surprised Del. The first of those surprises was the time he received his cutie mark, the second surprise was when he found out he was gonna have a Cousin, and now a third, when a green ring gave him incredible power to save his home. Now a fourth was added to that list, fighting zombies. Never, in all of Del's life, did he think that he would be fighting zombies. His Uncle Spike had told him "spooky" story's at campfires about these creatures of the undead. But these guys weren't anything like Spike had described. The plan was so simple, so simple that there couldn't have been any room for flaws. Both Del and the Yellow Lantern were supposed to fly down, grab the black ring which was causing this whole mess, send it back to wherever it came from, send the other rings back with it, and be home in time for supper. That simple. Of course a flaw appeared the moment the two Lanterns touched down, and that flaw was that there wasn't one black ring. There was at least a fifty zombies, each wore a black lantern ring on their hoof. Del looked to his green ring and asked, "Uh, which one is the correct ring?" He asked. 'ER-O-R: -ult-ple co-ies d-tec-ed' The green ring's voice glitches out every second, sparks shooting off it. "Can you repeat that please?" Del asked. "You're kinda breaking up-CRAP!" Del shouted as one of the zombie's lunged at him. Only for it to be slammed against the ground as three yellow transparent spears sunk into its back. "That's the only time I'm saving you Greenie." The Pegasus stated before adding, "and I thought I told you to not bother talking to your ring. The black ring creates some kind of interference with ours, luckily it doesn't keep us from creating constructs. So feel free to chip in any time soon." "Con-structs?" Del tilted his head in confusion. The Pegasus whipped her head and looked at Del with a look of disbelief and shock. "You can't be serious. What, did you just receive your ring five minutes ago?" Del avoided the Pegasus' gaze. "...Oh my Celestia you're worthless." The Pegasus facehoofed as she blocked a zombie's attack and snapped his neck. "Okay look, just picture something in your mind, something useful, and your ring will create it." It seemed far fetched, but Del did it anyways. Closing his eyes, his ring glowed and a transparent shield appeared. It grew five times its size and pushed the army of zombies back as they clawed against it. "Woah." Del did a double take, looking back and forth between the ring and shield. Unable to prevent a zombie from tackling him and sinking whatever teeth he had left into Del's foreleg. "Aarrrghhh!" Del shouted more in surprise than pain as he aimed the ring at the zombie's head. "GET OFF!" He roared as a green bolt entered the zombie's skull and it exploded into a red paste. Del kicked the body away as he examined the bite, he looked to the Pegasus and noticed that she was right next to him the whole time. "You could've helped." He stated. "What part of 'the only time I'm saving you Greenie' don't you understand?" The Pegasus asked. "Don't wanna get bit? Then hit them before they hit you, that simple." "Geez, you must be an officer of the Royal Guard or something." Del muttered, before three green construct swords appeared by his side. The feeling returned, it toyed with and teased his brain with every dragging second that ticked by as he watched the Yellow and Green Lantern fight his small army. He hated the feeling, or rather, he hated not being able to fully understand its meaning. It gnawed at the back of his mind, like an ich he couldn't scratch. And he hated that. Sombra had a thirst for knowledge and understanding his whole life, even when he was little. But anytime the thirst came, it was quenched immediately. But now the thirst returned, punishing Sombra for not feeding it. He wanted to understand this feeling. Was it hate? Fear? Sadness? Disgust? No, it was more complex than that. So complex that it Sombra couldn't define it based on his current understanding. He wanted answers, no, he needed answers. But where would he start? Where could he even begin to comprehend the complexity of the feeling? 'Hey Sombra. Get your head outta your ass and focus on the two Lanterns tearing through your army.' Black Hand pointed out. Power levels at 3% 'Great. Just great.' Black Hand grimaced. "What should I do?" Sombra asked directly to the ring. 'You know what you should do? GET THE HELL OUT OF THERE!' Black Hand screamed, causing Sombra to flinch. 'Its fine if we lose all those zombie's and their rings, they're just copies anyways, what we can't afford to lose is yours. We lose your ring, we lose everything!' Sombra looked to his army, how, despite their increased numbers, they were being cut down by the two Lanterns like tall grass to the blade. Sombra remembered how he had known them once, whether they were his slaves or guard they were still his subjects. And he was still their king. 'No.' Black Hand spoke firmly and orderly like a commanding officer ordering his soldier. 'I know what you're thinking and I want you to stop. They may look like people you once knew, but their not anymore. They're dead, undead actually, risen by your power. The power I so graciously gave you. If you think I'm going to let you throw away my only chance then let me tell you-' "Shut up." Sombra growled, glaring directly at the ring. Connection severed Sombra lowered his foreleg and approached the Yellow and Green Lantern's. The zombie's, the ones left, were all striking at the two with everything they had, but none could land a single hit on the two. There were some who had been defeated, their ring's turned to dust and the host it belonged to did the same. Evaporating in the wing. "Enough." Sombra ordered, and the zombie's froze, the Yellow and Green Lantern did the same but didn't let their guard down for a moment. "I will not hide behind my troops like some coward. You've come for this, right?" Sombra asked as he showed off his black ring, which, unlike the ones worn by the zombie's, was glowing. The two Lanterns noticed this difference and the Green one spoke. "Your's is the real one isn't it?" He asked. "So all we gotta do is take it off your hoof and send it back to wherever it came from." Sombra chuckled at the simplicity the Green Lantern expressed. Even though the plan was considered capable of success. However, "I can assure you, Lantern, that getting this ring off my hoof will prove far more difficult than you imagine." "We'll see about that!" Sombra turned his head to the right to see the Yellow Lantern heading straight towards him. He acted to the Yellow Lantern's attacking approach by causing two spiked crystal pikes to erupt from the ground. One bent at a 45 degree angle, the other angled at a 135 degree angle, causing both to strike through the Yellow Lantern's chest, their tips jutting out from her limp body. But the top half of the pikes, which should've been covered in red blood, was covered in a yellow liquid. The Yellow Lantern's appearance faded, returning to a yellow transparent construct shaped like a pony's body. The moment Sombra had realized what had happened it had already been to late. The Yellow Lantern, the real Yellow Lantern, was in front of Sombra glowing bright yellow with her ring aimed right between Sombra's eyes. Some of the zombies moved forward, only for Sombra to hiss, "do not interfere." He ordered and the zombies returned to where they stood. "Cover your eyes Greenie. You don't want to see this." The Yellow Lantern ordered the Green Lantern as a pair of green construct sunglasses appeared on his eyes. The Yellow Lantern turned back to Sombra and with yellow mist fuming from the bottom of her mask's eyes she roared. "FEAR SHINE!" In an instant the Yellow Lantern's entire body was engulfed in a bright yellow aura, its brightness increased violently with each second. Until the yellow light shined so bright it could be seen from the moon. The yellow light was all Sombra could see, it wrapped around every space and crevice in the graveyard. The yellow light brought forth images, memories made physical by the yellow light. Memories of things Sombra used to fear, more importantly, the feeling of fear he had when he saw them. The first image to appear was a frozen wasteland, with a small colt lying still in its center. Sombra remembered the memory very well, it was back when he was a colt, wandering the frozen tundra till he collapsed and waited for the cold to end his life. The image was twisted into a new one, this time it became a puddle of yellow. Only it was moving, and that it wasn't a puddle but a group of transparent yellow ants. Sombra used to be afraid of ants, yellow ants to be specific. Insects capable of killing a bear by entering its body and breaking down piece by piece. Truly there wasn't a more horrifying creature. The pool of ants twisted into a pony, an Alicorn mare in fact. Her name was Princess Amore, the queen of the Crystal Empire when Sombra was older. The Princess had learned of what Sombra was and planned to destroy him. But she failed to even compare to Sombra's power, and met her untimely end. Sombra smiled triumphantly as the light created image after image of his past fears and the fear he felt because of them, and image after image not a single one was able to scare Sombra. Then a new image appeared, one that caught Sombra off guard. A mare stood before Sombra, tears streaming down her cheeks as she cried. 'I thought you were my friend, I thought that you and I were close.' The mare spoke, her voice hurt and broken. 'Little did I know that you weren't my friend, you're not even a unicorn. You're a monster.' The words stung, it felt as though Sombra had been struck with a blade's tip that was red from sitting in the coals of a fire. No more, Sombra had his fill of the yellow light's cheap trick and decided to put an end to it. His horn flared, causing the yellow light to crack and shatter like glass before evaporating into the air. The normal surroundings returned, the only difference was the Yellow Lantern's confidence was replaced with confusion and shock. "How? Why?" The Yellow Lantern sputtered, unable to wrap her head around the fact that her Fear Shine didn't work. "Cute trick Lantern, you almost had me for a second there I'll admit." Sombra grinned. "But if bending light is the way to play, then let me take a stab it." Sombra said as the entire area became engulfed, just like it had with the yellow light, in a pitch black curtain. Del groaned as he slowly rose, rubbing his head. He glanced to his left, and his eyes widened when he saw the Pegasus lying on the ground frighteningly still. Del rushed next to her and noticed she wasn't breathing, he lowered his ear to her chest and heard only silence. Del rested his head on the Pegasus, his body filled with guilt that he couldn't safe her. "A shame really." Del's ears perked up at the voice, he raised his head and looked to his left to see Sombra standing casually as though his actions were so innocent. "You killed her." Del growled, standing up. "It was difficult to, like having to put down a dog you love." Sombra explained. "Instilling fear was a hobby of mine, and having to kill someone with the same interests as mine was...heart wrenching." Del's body began to glow brighter as he lunged. "You're gonna pay!" He roared as he flew towards Sombra. Sombra only smiled as he too lunged and flew towards Del. The Yellow Lantern slowly rose, groaning as her bruised body moved. She searched the area to see she was still in the graveyard, but Sombra and his zombies were nowhere to be seen. The Yellow Lantern rammed her hoof against the ground in frustration. Then it dawned on her, she looked around and her eyes landed on the Green Lantern. His body lied on the ground still as a statue, it didn't take a genius to figure out that he was dead. "I never understood the Spectrum." The Yellow Lantern glared at Sombra as he stood next to the Green Lantern, looking down at the dead Lantern. "So many opposite emotions, so much conflict and turmoil. Do not worry," Sombra looked up to face the Yellow Lantern, "he no longer has to bear the weight of separation. In death, he is one." The Yellow Lantern lunged at Sombra, yellow light burning brightly. "I'M GONNA KILL YOU!" She roared as Sombra lunged and flew towards the Yellow Lantern. The two collided, both of their ring's connected forcing the two back. The Yellow Lantern landed oh her hooves while Sombra crashed against the ground. The Yellow Lantern took this opportunity and created five spear constructs which flew towards Sombra. He noticed the spears and in response created five small construct shields, when the five yellow spears collided with the five black shields the constructs exploded. "That was a close one." Sombra chuckled as he stood up. "You ain't seen nothing yet." Del stood in shock as a ginormous black construct beast with scales as skin, four massive legs with five claws on each of its feet, its body was plump and fat and it had four long tall snake-like necks with four heads on each. The beast was a hydra, and its size was the most terrifying feature it had. For a second Del could've sworn he saw a flash of yellow in its eyes. Before Del could focus on what he may or may not have seen, he had to focus on staying alive as the hydra's heads lunged for Del. Each striking with precision, making sure to get tangled in the other necks. Del could do nothing but dodge and block the beast's attacks as it forced Del to move backwards. Any construct he created was instantly broken by the Hydra. 'May I make a suggestion?' Del looked at his ring, surprised that it was finally speaking clearly. "Bout time you spoke up. Tell me how I beat this guy?" 'SCANNING. . . . COMPLETE. ERROR: data does not match visuals.' "The hay is that supposed to mean?!" Del shouted, just barely dodging one of the heads. 'Black Lantern: Sombra, appears before us but data shows energy of fear not death. Analysis shows that the black ring has manipulated the light around you to-' "Look, I know you're not from my world and everything." Del said, creating a green bubble construct around him. "But could you make your 'analysis' easier to understand?" 'You're not fighting Sombra, you're fighting the Fear Lantern because Sombra casted an illusion on the both of you. Reboot is required, do you wish to proceed?' The Hydra's heads slammed down onto Del's shield, biting and clawing away at some of its layers. "If it'll make this stop then yes!" Del yelled. 'REBOOT INITIATED: please stand by.' The shield shattered and one of the heads dove in mouth opened wide. But instead of a pony, the Hydra was met with a full blast of green energy shot upright into the sky, incinerating the Hydra's head into nothing. The energy caused the Hydra to stumble back, and frazzled it due to the loss of one of its heads. The energy faded and Del reopened his eyes to see smoke and ash emanating from where he stood. He looked at his body to see he was still in his Green Lantern suit, but when he looked at the Hydra and where Sombra was they had changed. The Hydra, once a black construct, was now yellow due to the power of fear from the Pegasus who stood where Del had seen Sombra. 'REBOOT COMPLETE. WARNING: Yellow Lantern is still under the illusion and is not aware that you are not Sombra.' "Well can't you just reboot her ring or something?" Del asked, noticing the Hydra was beginning to recover from Del's attack and was beginning to advance. 'NEGATIVE: any energy that resembles Willpower cannot touch the yellow light of Fear. She is unreachable with my power.' "Well is there anyway I can reach her at all?" Del asked. 'SCANNING. . . Nope.' "Well that's just perfect isn't it!" Del screamed, the Hydra was now right on top of Del. "Screw it. I guess the only way I'm gonna be able to reach her is by knocking the sense back into her." Del said, his body glowing brighter. "That all you got? I thought you Yellow Lantern's were scary? You think this is scary? HA! You couldn't scare Fluttershy with that thing!" Del winced, realizing the offense his words had. The Hydra remained still as a statue before a large crack split down its middle. Then another crack formed on its belly. Then another, and another, and another, and another, until the Hydra shattered like glass causing shards to rain down. Del created an umbrella construct to shield him from the shards. Once it had stopped raining he looked to where the Pegasus was only to see that she had vanished. Del braced himself, expecting some type of sneak attack but loosened his stance when his ring spoke, 'There's no need for that, the Pegasus is gone. She left once the construct shattered.' Del took in his surroundings, what was once an area of stone, grass, and dirt had been transformed into ash, smoke, and dust. To think that this all happened in the span of half an hour was heavy on Del. He then noticed that some of the zombie's, which hadn't turned to dust, were scattered all over the place. He was about to speak but his ring beat him to it. 'The black power of death is no longer here Golden Delicious. You may return the deceased to their slumber.' Del nodded in a way that said thank you as he approached the corpses and, with the ring's help in identification, returned them back to the grave they had risen from. Del also used his ring to fill the holes made during the battle and tidy up the place. He rebuilt the graves that had been broken, and any other damages that had been done. Once he was finished, he asked the ring what he should do next. 'Unfortunately the mission's goal was failed, but it wasn't a complete failure. While the black ring did escape, we were able to decrease his power. Sadly, with the copy I used to track him gone, we no longer have anyway of finding Sombra. For now, return home and rest.' "What about the Pegasus?" Del asked as he took flight. 'I wouldn't get to comfortable around the Fear Lantern if I were you. For while they are our ally against the darkness,' 'They will always be the enemy of the Green Lanterns' The Yellow Lantern flew at incredible speeds, flying so fast that it could barely be seen by pony eyes. The Yellow Lantern flew way up in the Stratosphere, her flight mostly powered by her ring instead of her wings. She soared for a while before slowing down and slightly descending. She landed on a stray cloud and pooped her head over its edge. Beneath her was Ponyville, and in it was young and old ponies alike playing, talking, doing stuff they did naturally. But the Yellow Lantern couldn't afford to be seen by them, any of them. Her ring glowed, triggering the light manipulation power it wielded. Her body faded, its color matching the area around it until all you could see of the Pegasus was an outline of a pony. She spread her wings and took off, knowing that any hint of her ring's power would expose her presence. The Pegasus flew towards the Castle of Friendship, landing on the balcony with the door left wide open. The Pegasus' appearance returned as she entered the room, closing the doors behind her. She lifted her body onto the bed and lied on her backside. The yellow ring removed itself from the Pegasus' hoof, taking away her suit and, most importantly, the memories she had of the yellow ring. Once the ring had completed its task it hovered above the Pegasus, observing her. The Pegasus was Starburst, she was put into a sleeping state thanks to the ring. The ring didn't like doing this to her, she didn't deserve to be tested because the ring had already decided she was more than worthy. It wanted nothing more than to slip back onto Starburst's hoof and return her to the Fear Lantern she needed to be. But the ring had its orders, and the ring did not disobey. Perhaps it could somehow convince her, the ring thought as it exited the room by phasing through the door. It entered the hallway and flew against the ceiling, avoiding any attention. The ring froze, more of a pause actually, it unglued itself from the ceiling and hovered in front of the door. It phased through the solid wood like a specter, entering the room. It directed its gaze over to the purple coated unicorn Night Light Jr, who sat on his bed reading a book. The ring looked into the emotion's Night Light possessed, inside the ring saw a wheel comprised of seven colors, red, blue, green, yellow, orange, violet, and indigo. Each color was shining bright inside of Night Light, then some would dim and some would shine brighter than the others. Night Light looked up from his book and towards the door, getting a feeling like someone, or something something, was watching him. But when Night Light looked at the door all he saw was the door, nothing more nothing less. Shrugging the feeling off, Night Light returned to his book. The yellow ring continued down the halls, zigzagging through the labyrinth-like castle before coming to the room it was looking for. The library. It phased through the door and hovered for moment. The library had a crescent shaped bookshelf on the opposite end with 346 organized books on its shelf. In the center of room was a brown reading chair where a hot cup of tea sat on its armrest. The ring carefully approached the chair. Once it had reached its destination the ring hovered next to the cup of tea, which was lifted to the pony siting in the chair. "Report." The pony ordered. 'Analysis shows that Starburst has proven to be an excellent Lantern. Given training and guidance she would be a very powerful-' "I'm gonna stop you right there." The pony spoke. "I told you, you were allowed to test my daughter with power of Fear. I never said you could let her join the Corps." The ring sighed, or it would've if it was somehow capable. It knew that this was gonna happen, that there would be refusal. It was expected the moment the ring had decided that Starburst would be its rightful bearer. But that didn't stop it from trying. 'Why do you refuse her destiny? She must play her part in this conflict as you did with yours.' The pony was silent, glaring at the ring. "I did what was required of me, and in return you promised to never interfere in my life ever again. Yet here you are." 'We had no choice, none of the Corps did. This threat is to big to not be dealt with. We promise that all of us will leave once we've dealt with the threat. But we can't do that unless you let us, Starburst has the potential to end this quickly and easily, if you would just allow me-' "I don't care who you choose, but it won't be her." The pony stated taking a sip from her tea. 'Then I choose you.' The pony finished her sip before saying smugly, "sorry, but I've already got a ring as a matching pair." The pony stated, indicating to the silver ring on her hoof. 'Perhaps you don't understand. There isn't anyone else worthy of this power like you and Starburst. Why do you shun her from this?' "Because she doesn't need to be apart of this. I won't let her be apart of this." The pony said as a yellow lantern appeared in her hoof. "Now return to your slumber, and wait until someone else comes along." The ring didn't want to, it wanted to disobey everything the pony had ordered it to do, to burst out of the room and leap onto Stardust. But it couldn't, it wasn't build to disobey. The ring hovered towards the lantern's opening and before entering, it turned around spoke, 'I hope your actions are for the best. For if they were the cause of your universe's destruction, I doubt you'll be able to bear that guilt Twilight Sparkle.' The ring said as it entered the lantern's opening and vanished. "Me too." Twilight sighed as she sat the lantern down and took another sip. Prism Bolt needed a way to vent, to somehow release all the pent up anger inside of him before he hurt somepony. "Like Whirlwind." Prism froze, his mind went back to the image of Whirlwind. The red mark on her cheek, the tears building up in her eyes, the expression of pain on her face, and the look of betrayal she gave Prism. Prism looked at his hoof, still unable to understand as to why he had done what did. Whirlwind was only trying to help, she was trying to be a shoulder for Prism to lean on and he pushed her away. But maybe that was for the best? Bad things tended to happen to Prism Bolt and those close to him. Maybe Prism didn't deserve to be around others. Prism Bolt swooped down onto Sweet Apple Acres in the forest line and landed in front of a tree. "RRRRRAAAAAAGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!!!" Prism roared as he punched the closest thing to him, which was an apple tree. "WHY!" *thud!* "DO!" *thud!* "BAD!" *thud!* "THINGS!" *thud!* "ALWAYS!" *thud!* "HAPPEN!" *thud!* "TO ME?!" Prism Bolt slowly removed his bloody hoof from the tree's trunk, observing hole he had drilled into the trunk. Part of the bark inside it was darkened red by his blood. Prism looked at his hooves, which had been stained red and had layers of skin peeled off. Prism hadn't noticed it at first, but then the pain signal reached his brain and he reared back his head roared, "BUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!" Prism's chest heaved up and down to match the rapid beating of his heart. Prism was angry, no not just angry, he was furious. Furious that bad things always happened to him, furious that he had hurt Whirlwind, and he was furious that his hands were in burning pain. Then Prism was furious at the fact that he was furious. "Get a hold of your temper Prism." Prism quietly said to himself, and when he couldn't do that it just made him even madder. "GGGGRRRRRAAAAAGGGGGHHHHH!" Prism roared, striking against the ground in hopes to cease the burning pain in his hooves. "I hate this!" Prism screamed. "I hate my life! I hate my family! I hate the fact I can never control my rage! I hate myself! I HATE EVERYTHING!" Prism gasped, falling to his knees he wheezed as he clenched his chest. There was a tight knot in his chest that hurt like hell. Prism was breathing hard and his right foreleg went numb. He collapsed onto his back, his chest heaving harder than before. "And now I'm having a heart attack. Awesome." Prism groaned mentally as it was to difficult for him to speak. Prism gazed at the sky, his breathing began to slow and his heart beat did as well. Prism then realized that the pain in his chest was caused by hyperventilating. Prism didn't bother getting back up, he was to tired to move. Prism blinked, catching a glint of something in the corner of his eye. He blinked and a red dot appeared in the sky. He blinked again and the dot seemed to be getting bigger. A fourth blink, the dot wasn't getting bigger it was getting closer. Closer to Prism! The dot was in front of Prism within seconds revealing it wasn't a dot but a transparent sphere colored red with sparks shooting from it. In the center of the sphere was a red ring with a strange symbol on it. The ring's handle enlarged itself as it slid onto Prism's hoof and spoke, Prism Bolt of Equestria, you have great rage in your heart, you belong to the Red Lantern Corps.