//------------------------------// // Chapter 13 - Shadow's Mercy // Story: Shadow Men: Where Light Can't Touch // by DragonsHeart //------------------------------// It seems like a never ending battle for the girls, six against an army and this didn’t work out so well the first time with the changelings, and now they have to protect others beside themselves and these monsters are happy to kill instead of capture. Goliath’s clones are tearing Ponyville apart, and probably would’ve killed somepony by now if it wasn’t for Twilight and her friends… Although it’s a losing battle and soon they’re surrounded in a steadily shrinking circle, their attempts to defend themselves proving fruitless against these numbers. “I guess this is it,” Applejack says, stancing herself to fight. “I kind of hoped I would've died in bed,” Rarity whines, looking seriously at the approaching horde. “Anypony got any last words?” Pinkie asks, preparing her last pie. “Not at the moment,” Rainbow Dash scowls, gritting her teeth. “I don’t want to die…” Fluttershy whimpers, speaking what they all feel. “Oh Celestia help us,” Twilight prays, hoping that someone will save them. Then the clones charge at them, leaping at the girls to attack. All of them flinch back, waiting for the killing blow… it never comes, instead Twilight feels something warm and wet drip onto her nose. She looks up, eyes widening at what's above her, a clone is inches above her face, its features locked in shock, blood dripping from its open mouth onto Twilight's nose. Looking further she sees a black long spike, forced through its head and right into the ground, holding it there in death. Looking around she can see that all the others are in a similar state. Looking up into the air, the six see their saviour… “Pathetic!” Sorrow scowls, removing her black tentacles from the clones heads, letting their bodies fall motionless to the ground. Sorrow lands on the ground, her fixed sad face glaring at them. “You cannot even protect yourself…” “Hey, we can! It’s just today is an off day!” Rainbow Dash yells, trying to defend herself, but Sorrow doesn’t care. Suddenly a large horde of clones charge at them from seemingly no where, one of them running ahead, eager to get to the killing first. But as the leading one reaches and leaps at Sorrow, it suddenly finds itself hanging in the air, held up by Sorrow’s clawed hand, and with a simple movement, Sorrow crushes its head, letting the headless body fall to the ground. With graceful movements Sorrow readies her bloodied claws, and, as if in some kind of dance, Sorrow slaughters her way through the waves of clones, each one falling as easily as the first, the ground around her feet becoming littered with the bodies of the dead as she steadily moves through the crowd. As the last one falls to the ground dead, Sorrow flicks the blood off her claws as she stands in a sea of corpses. The girls find themselves unsure whether to be impressed, disgusted, or terrified, never had they seen so much death and blood in one place and in such a short time. Sorrow gives them one final look, before walking away, heading out of town. “Wait! Don’t go! We need your help!!” Twilight yells, chasing after Sorrow, trying to stop the tall figure, “Ponyville is still under attack from those things!!” “Do I look like I care!” Sorrow snaps, causing Twilight to back off in fear, “You all hate us, all your deaths mean nothing to me!” “Sorrow please, we’re begging you,” Fluttershy cries, coming up behind Twilight. “Cry and beg all you want, it means nothing to me…” Sorrow says, continuing to walk away. “But Joy would want you to,” Pinkie says, surprisingly serious and causing Sorrow to stop dead in her tracks, “She wouldn’t want anymore ponies to die when she could’ve stopped it.” Sorrow turns around and glares at Pinkie, her eyes narrowing, before hissing loudly in a way that one might consider a sigh. “You’re… right Pinkie, I forget what Joy would’ve wanted, Joy is too kind…” Sorrow says, holding her arms to her chest. Suddenly she outstretches them, holding them above her head in a dramatic action. “Shadowmen come to my side!” Suddenly town square is full of other shadowmen, they're not as unique looking as Sorrow, all of them looking the same beside different expressions on their faces, although they’re only expressions of anger, sadness, and creepily happy. They all stand around, almost motionless, some standing, some crouching down, all staring right at Sorrow. The girls even find shadowmen behind them, like they just popped out from their shadows. “Shadowmen destroy these clones while I kill their creator!” Sorrow declares, pointing towards the town with her claw. Like a black wave the shadowmen spread outwards, heading into the town. Whenever they come across a clone, they pile on top of them, covering them in a mound of sharp claws, tearing and ripping them apart as the clone tries to throw them off, but they keep coming. The town is soon filled with their screams as they are torn apart, even their strength is unable to protect them from the unrelenting army. The girls chase after them, spreading out to help any ponies they find. Carrying the injured ones, and guiding the lost and confused ones, while doing the best to ignore the carnage that they asked for, the shadowmen leaving torn up corpses behind them as they clear the town of clones. One's mind wanders to the fact that if the shadowmen were not helping them, and instead were attacking them, how helpless they would be. As the girls guide foals to the town hall, their eyes full of terror and fear, their innocent stripped from them by their saviours, the girls have to wonder if they’ve done the right thing. The path of the Shadowman is littered with death and tragedy, those words ring true again. Once the girls manage to thankfully gather up all of Ponyville's ponies in town hall, the injuries only minor, they realize that Sorrow is long gone. They rush off to find the cyclop, not sure what they can do, but they want to do something… Goliath stares at the town while leaning against a tree, a look of annoyance across his face. “The little mes haven’t brought treasure back yet, THIS MAKE GOLIATH ANGRY!!” Goliath suddenly yells, pushing over the tree in a fit of anger and childishness. “And they never will Goliath,” says a sad voice. “Who DARES talks to GOLIATH like that!!!?” he roars, looking around. “I’m Sorrow, the one you wanted to fight,” Sorrow says, appearing a fair way in front of him. “But Sorrow is tiny weak pony with bad dress sense? Me kicked her!!” Goliath declares, looking confusingly at the tall figure in front of him. “Goliath, always so stupid and greedy, how long has it been since I felt the pain you caused!” Sorrow hisses, flexing her claws. “You act like you know Goliath!!” Goliath roars, angry for some reason. “I have comforted your victims many times as they cry over all they’ve lost, I grew on the sadness you caused and now I’m going to wreak vengeance for all of them!!” Suddenly Sorrow leaps at Goliath, who just back hands Sorrow away, sending her flying, but as she is flying she manages to flip herself over and land harmlessly on her feet, skidding a bit. “Is that all you are? Just brute strength, enhanced with magic, with a few magic tricks,” Sorrow seems to laugh, “You’re pathetic.” “Stupid Sorrow doesn’t seem to see that it is no match for Goliath!!” Goliath yells, readying himself, “Me sent you flying!!” “We’ll see,” Sorrow says, running and leaping at Goliath again. Goliath manages to punch Sorrow midair, sending her flying, her body crashing through multiple buildings before slamming into the ground at the end. But as the dust clears, Sorrow is standing there, unharmed. “Your strength is useless against me, your magic is useless against me, you're useless against me!!” Sorrow hisses, her eyes narrowing. Sorrow then sprints towards Goliath, her claws raised… The girls run through the ruined remains of Ponyville, the clones seem to think destroying a building is the best way of getting inside and looting stuff. The journey through town is made difficult by destroy remains of building, roaming clones and groups of shadowmen. In the distance they hear the sound of buildings being destroyed and something repeatedly being slammed into the ground, causing the earth to shake. As they finally manage to get out of town, they see the battle between Sorrow and Goliath. Goliath surprisingly looks very tired, panting heavily while sweat drips down his face. Sorrow looks fine on the other hand, as she calmly approaches Goliath. “Why does Goliath feel so weak?” Goliath pants, sweat dripping from her brow. “Every punch, every kick, every time you touch me, I drain a bit of your magic, weakening you,” Sorrow says, continuing to approach, “Soon you’ll be too weak to fight, and I never will. I’ll keep coming until you fall!” “ARRRGH!” Goliath roars, punching Sorrow as she gets close. Although this time Sorrow is only pushed back a bit, skidding backwards she's soon walking forward again. “You… can’t… beat… Goliath…” Goliath pants, punching at Sorrow each time she gets close, the power of each punch weakening over time, the distance between him and Sorrow decreasing. The girls watch this all, unsure what to do. They look at Twilight for guidance, and all she can think of is to leave them to finish, it's too dangerous to get close. Another punch is thrown, but this time Sorrow catches it in her clawed hand, holding it tightly. “It’s over Goliath!” Sorrow hisses. In desperation, Goliath tries to punch Sorrow with his other fist, but she easily catches it too. The girls watch as Sorrow holds the giant, Goliath, by his fists, unable to escape, growing weaker and weaker as Sorrow drains the last of the magic out of him. Soon all over town the clones disappear, even their remains, like they were never there to begin with. Suddenly, in a movement to quick and strange for a normal eye to register, Sorrow is behind Goliath, now holding his hand behind his back. With a powerful kick, she forces him on his knees before painfully pulling his arms back. “URGH! You’re gonna break me arms!!” Goliath yells, who’s in a great amount of pain. “That’s the point.” Suddenly there's two loud cracks, before Goliath screams in pain. The girls and a small amount of ponies who have gathered behind them, gasp in horror, some even covering their eyes. Sorrow releases Goliath's broken arms, letting him fall to the ground, his limp arms falling beside him, the once mighty warrior now crying like a child. Sorrow steps onto Goliath’s back, before bending down and grabbing him by the head, yanking it up. “Since you never use this for anything other than headbutting, allow me to remove it!” Sorrow hisses, pulling his head back hard. “No stop!! Mercy! Please spare me!!” Goliath cries in pain from feeling Sorrow trying to rip his head off. “Why? You’ve never shown any!” Sorrow hisses, pulling harder and making Goliath scream in pain. “Sorrow! Stop!” Pinkie suddenly yells, who has somehow moved up to Sorrow and Goliath, without anypony noticing, “No more death today! There has been enough!” Sorrow glares at Pinkie, not letting go of Goliath’s head but lessening the pulling. “Why? He’s a monster who has killed hundreds for nothing more than pride and greed, and he’s likely to kill again,” Sorrow hisses, looking down at the sobbing Goliath. “Does that make this any more right?” Pinkie says, walking up and standing beside Goliath's head. Sorrow doesn’t say anything, just stares at Goliath and Pinkie. “Please Sorrow,” Pinkie says, placing a hoof on the claw which holds Goliath’s head, “No more blood on Joy’s hoof.” Sorrow stays still for a good second, before letting go of Goliath’s head, letting it hit the ground, before standing up straight. Suddenly she arches her head and screams. Not just any scream, but a banshee like scream sounding like hundreds of smaller screams of animals, ponies and other creatures, all joined together. Ponies cover their ears as the deafening noise carries across the town, shattering windows that were not already smashed. Then Sorrow runs off at unnatural speeds, disappearing in the town. “What the abyss was that about?!” Rainbow Dash yells, her ears ringing. “Don’t worry, I think that was just a scream of frustration,” Pinkie says, smiling, uncovering her ears. Her Pinkie Sense warned her that the scream was coming. “Thank you for saving me little pony,” Goliath says. “I didn’t do it for you, you big meanie,” Pinkie says, giving a light kick to Goliath’s arm, making him yelp in pain, “I did it for her…”