//------------------------------// // Macho ya Pepo // Story: Daring Do and the Eyes of the Demon // by PegasusKlondike //------------------------------// N'dutu caught the demonic mask as it flew towards him. Holding it in his hooves, he caressed it like a block of purest gold. "Macho ya Pepo, the Eyes of the Demon," he said quietly. Stroking the wood grain of the simple mask, he began to laugh. "Such a simple thing, a thing that will give me everything." "You have what you want, now let them go!" Daring shouted to the warlord. N'dutu absently waved a hoof to his soldiers. They let go of Timur and Zecora, throwing them back towards Daring. N'dutu and his personal guard began to leave, all except Grimhide and a squadron of elite soldiers. "Good girl, now kill them," the warlord said to his soldiers. Leveling their spears, they began to advance on the pony and her companions. "You bastard! You said you would-" "I never said anything! You assumed I would let you live, fool. Now kill them!" The trio stood back to back by the archway, Timur pulling out his spear, Zecora retrieving her staff, and Daring pulling out her whip. "I'm sorry I got us into this. I'm sorry I brought the Eyes straight to N'dutu," Daring apologized to her zebra friends. Zecora tried to comfort her in these last moments. "We should be the sorry ones. If we had told you he was here, it would have helped tons." "Well, we can go down with a fight. How's that sound?" The first wave of N'dutu's elites leapt towards the trio, spears high and their voices shouting. With a pure stroke of genius, Daring ripped the pouch of powder off her belt, hurling the entire thing at the floor. The pouch exploded in a great flash of light, breaking the charge of the warlord's warriors as they shielded their eyes. In the moment they were given, the trio rushed into battle, Daring cracking out with her whip, wrapping it around a zebra's throat and pulling with all her strength, snapping his neck. Zecora and Timur both spun their long weapons, slicing through their stunned enemies and cracking bones with the swing of their weapons. The soldiers recovered from the initial shock, pressing the attack against the zebras. Holding off a downward slice from a sword, Timur shouted to Daring. "Daring! Stop N'dutu!" The pegasus punched a warrior in the face, feeling his jaw break under her assault. "What about you?!" Timur broke the hold, driving the butt of his spear into his opponent's stomach and slicing his throat with the tip of his spear. "Zecora and I will be fine! You need to stop N'dutu!" Timur blocked another slice with the head of his spear, a shower of sparks falling. "GO DAMN YOU!" he shouted to Daring. Bucking her current opponent in the stomach, Daring leapt into the air, extending her wings and dashing out the lava tube towards the outside. But she stopped before she left, sending her thoughts out to the cave walls. As she predicted, they absolutely packed with bats. Swarm the ones with black armor, her mental voice shouted to them. Every crack and crevice erupted with bats, chittering and squeaking as they surrounded the elite soldiers of N'dutu's army. The soldiers waved their weapons wildly, flailing about as the swarms of bats bit and scratched at them. Without another thought Daring rushed out the entrance to finish this. But one was not fazed by mere flying rodents. Grimhide swept his dragonscale sword in a blindingly quick figure eight, the corpses of bats falling to the floor in a ring around him. Freeing himself from the swarm, Grimhide walked past the idiotic Blackguard futilely swatting at the bats. Timur ripped his spear free from the corpse of a Blackguard gnoll, when the roar of a challenge brought his attention up. "We finish this, zebra!" Grimhide shouted. "I've waited for this day, mongrel," Timur replied, flicking the blood from the head of his spear. With a roar, Grimhide leapt at Timur, swinging his sword over his head. Whipping out with his spear, Timur blocked the charge as starsteel and dragonscale met in a shower of sparks. The two ground their weapons, using their incredible strength to try and push past their opponent's defense. Both flew back from their opponent, the rasp of steel on scale ringing in the air. Grimhide pressed the offensive, swinging his scimitar in long arcs while pressing Timur back to the wall. Ducking a precision slice, Timur shot out with a hind hoof to Grimhide's knee. The gnoll leapt backwards, slashing with his sword to cover his retreat. The zebra swung his spear like a quarterstaff, knocking the blade away from Grimhide's chest and thrusting in, driving the wind from his lungs. Grimdhide stumbled back, falling over the corpse of one of his own soldiers. He snarled as he leapt back to his feet, scooping up an additional sword from the dead corpse. Whipping them in a flurry, Grimhide roared as he dual slashed at Timur. Timur ducked down as the points of both blades whistled past, cutting a short crop of his striped mane off. Tugging his kpinga off his belt, Timur crossed the blades as Grimhide brought both swords down from above. Once again holding the gnoll in a lock, sparks flew from both sides. Grimhide pressed downward with all his strength. Timur tried to hold, but his hooves failed to find purchase on the smooth stone floor, and he felt his back get shoved against the wall. Leaning close to the hilts of his blades, Grimhide growled at the zebra. "I will enjoy making your mare suffer. I cut down entire villages of mares just like her, and I always feast on their bones!" An anger swelled in Timur, a rage that almost never surfaced in the reserved warrior stallion. Curling his lips back in a snarl, he fought back against the unrelenting assault of the gnoll's incredible strength. Grimhide felt his blades being slowly pushed back, and tried to power through the zebra's renewal. Timur pushed away from the wall, and with flash he broke the block, planting his spearhead in the ground and giving the gnoll a double kick to the chest. Grimhide reeled from the attack, clutching at his shattered rib cage while trying to maintain his defense. Casting aside his throwing blade, Timur began to spin his spear in a blinding path, Grimhide using all of his skill and both blades to block the flurry of dipping strikes and slices from the blade of the starsteel spear. Timur spun on a hoof, kicking out and connecting with the hilt of Grimhide's blade. The sword flew from his hand, embedding into the stone of the wall. Holding his injured paw to his chest, Grimhide fell back as the zebra continued his strikes. Slipping in a pool of blood, the gnoll fell to his back, holding his dragonscale sword out in desperation. Timur shouted as he swung his spear with all his might, the long, leaf blade connecting with the pommel of the sword. And with spark like lightning, the mighty scale of the dragon shattered, the long scimitar blade falling away. Grimhide lay defenseless on the ground, the point of Timur's spear resting against his throat. The stallion's chest heaved and his blood burned with the lust of battle. "My name...is Timur Duan!ziti, Prince of the Gochano tribe, father of Aziza and betrothed of Zecora Dentunu. Remember my name, for it shall be the last you ever know!" Raising his spear above his head, he plunged it down into the gnoll's chest with a warrior's shout. Twisting the blade until it emerged from his back, Timur lay a hoof on the gnoll's chest, and ripped his spear free. Grimhide struggled to maintain his life for just a few more seconds. A trickle of blood leaked from Grimhide's jaw, and his rasping breath frothed with a crimson foam. Dragging his quickly numbing form up to face Timur, the gnoll coughed, "You.....honor me." The gnoll gave his last breath, his single eye closing and the rise and fall of his chest falling still. Wiping the blood of a Blackguard from her staff, Zecora walked over to Timur, her heart pounding with the rush of battle. All around them lay the moaning forms of the injured or dead of Nd'utu's elites. Zecora dropped her staff, leaning against the stallion and panting slowly. Timur curled a foreleg around her shoulder, embracing the mare. He lifted her chin to glance into her sea blue eyes, silently thanking her for giving him the strength to defeat the most skilled and powerful foe he had ever faced. Timur leaned down to Zecora, but before their lips could touch, something outside went boom, shaking the very core of the mountain. Showers of loose dust fell everywhere they looked, and again the booming noise came. It felt as though a giant was pounding on the side of the mountain, and he wanted in bad. Looking to one another, the zebras said quietly, "Daring." Letting go of one another, they grasped up their weapons, sheathing them and diving into the cold water of the cove, swimming out the entrance to the Tomb. ******************************************************** Daring flew like one possessed, ducking and weaving around stalactites as she flew down the old lava tube that led into the Blind Warrior's Tomb. She had to stop that maniac from using the Eyes of the Demon before he could become the ultimate weapon of volatile and enslaved magic. N'dutu was ahead of her by a few minutes, but each hurried beat of her wings drew the pegasus closer to the entrance of the cave, her goal outlined by the earliest light of morning. She erupted from the cave entrance like a firebird, spreading her wings to slow down and search for her enemy. His boat sat empty on a shallow, rocky outcropping on the side of the mountain, a path stretching up and winding towards a large cliff. And all around the mountain, rafts packed every available foot of water, the soldiers of the warlord's army gathered here to witness the device of their ultimate victory. She knew if she flew up and faced the warlord directly, she would be a flying pincushion for a moment, filled with so many arrows from the archers on the rafts that all the metal would make her corpse sink to the bottom of the lake. The path way up was partially sheltered, enough to where she might be able to sneak up on him. Landing near his unoccupied boat, Daring pulled out her whip, creeping slowly up the rocky and jagged path to where the warlord stood, addressing his army. His booming voice shouted in a language that Daring couldn't even comprehend understanding, and she guessed many of the soldiers in those rafts couldn't either, for the cheers of victory only came from a few. Making her way carefully up the trail, Daring ducked behind a wall of rock. Peering out from behind it, she spied her adversary, his back to her as he held the Eyes of the Demon over his head, praising his own name and her foolishness. Around him stood a ring of his most loyal guards and soldiers, their gaze never relaxing. That bastard is probably saying he got the relic. Peeking out from behind the rock, she winced and pulled back as one of the guards looked her way. Damn, there's too many of them, I'll never get close enough! "I need a weapon," she murmured under her breath. Digging through her pouch, she laid out everything that could be useful. A bundle of rope, a pocket knife, her gifted whip, and her pith helmet. As she continued to dig around, something black and yellow drifted out and wafted slowly to the ground. Picking up the feather in her hoof, a wave of memory passed through her mind. She remembered placing the feather in the band of her helmet, then tossing her helmet like a discus at the slavers in the Nyika village. And when it struck them.... "Oh, Daring you naughty girl." Grabbing up her whip, she took the braid at the end in her teeth, tugging it apart. Slipping the feather into the braid, she redid it as tightly as she could with her wing tips. Placing her helmet back on, muttering a quick prayer to both Yeye and the Allgood, she brandished her whip and stepped out onto the ledge. N'dutu took no notice of her presence, continuing his speech to his soldiers in Equestrian. "And I promise you, that I will bring us above those who would see us as uncultured! I would free us from those who say that we are uncivilized! Those creatures out there who scorn us zebra, who scorn us gnolls and us agogwe. They call us brutes, savages, throw backs, even monsters! Ye, all who serve under me will see their victory and their triumph! With this relic," he held the Eyes over his head in victory, "we will be the ones who conquer!" "You know, in my experience as an archaeologist," the warlord whipped around to spy Daring coolly pacing across the small plateau, "people like you come and go. History has shown me that brutes like you rise up like a flame, spewing promises of changing things for everypony. But you never do, you never succeed. You never can bring freedom with your chains, you can never bring peace with rivers of blood. You can never bring about a perfect world, because you are imperfect." The warlord scowled at her, wondering how incompetent he had been by not remembering that she could fly. "And what is going to stop me, little bird? I have the power of a god in my hooves, I have defeated all the tribes of Zebrica and ground the great revenants of the past into dust! What could you have to stand in my way?" Daring smirked. "Just me, baby. Just me. And by the way, you aren't the only one with a little trump card." Grabbing her pith helmet, she tugged it off and tossed her charcoal mane, letting the god given mark shine like silver. N'dutu's eyes became wide, his jaw falling slightly slack. "No...she does not take sides! You are a liar, she is not real, she does not care about our affairs!" "Speaking of affairs, how dumb could you be?" Daring began to pace back and forth, hiding the whip under her wing feathers. "Of all the back stabbing, monstrous creatures to have allied yourself with, Ahuitzotl was the worst. You think he just let you borrow his prize pets as a gesture of good will? Nope, with the relic in your hooves, they'll turn on you the second you are alone, and bear it back to their master." Dropping his fear of the pegasus, N'dutu began to laugh. "Fool! I have an army at my back. Even if these weak little pets of Ahuitzotl did turn on me, I have ten thousand warriors to stand with me. You, on the other hoof, are alone and weak. You should tremble like a newborn foal before my power." The two stared across the plateau, gauging their enemy, waiting for them to make the first strike. Daring discreetly let the whip handle slide down her leg and next to her hoof. "Say when." The warlord scowled. "Kill her!" he shouted to his soldiers. The ring of guards left his side, screaming for the pegasi's blood as they charged. Daring gave a smirk, not moving a muscle nor showing fear. In a flash of golden feathers, she leapt from the ground, cracking out with her whip towards the nearest attacker, hoping the feather still had some juice in it. The leather connected solidly with the zebra warrior's chest, and at first it did nothing more than leave an angry red welt upon his unarmored skin. But a buzz of electricity ran through the air, the runes on the whip's handle flashing with it. A roar of thunder struck the plateau, and the charge came to a screeching halt as the front row of warriors were thrown back, the closest being burned by the sheer ferocity of the coiled thunderbolt in her hoof. Leaping over to a group just recovering from the attack, Daring lashed out with her whip again, catching them right in the middle and blowing them back like rag dolls. The way they hit the mountain wall gave made sure they would not be bothering her any more. Spinning on her hind hooves, she cracked her lightning whip at the final group, impacting at their hooves and blowing them off the cliff's edge like leaves in the wind. A few more of the Blackguard stood trembling by their master, looks of shock and utter terror on their faces. Daring gave a devious smile, taking a step closer and flaring her wings threateningly. Tossing down their weapons, the standing guard turned tail and jumped off the cliff to risk landing on a rock rather than face the certain death in front of them. Daring turned to face the warlord again. "So, about that army of yours." N'dutu quivered with rage, almost frothing at the mouth. "You may have an elemental weapon, but even you cannot match the speed of your old enemies." He looked to the three cats in hiding above Daring. With a grin he nodded to them. But the cats seemed to hesitate, and as they jumped down next to the pegasus, she showed no fear to her old foes, her face bearing a rather bored expression. The cats stared blankly, their jaws hanging down as the pegasus concentrated with her eyes closed. The tiger seemed to break from the spell, shaking his head and snarling. He stalked over to Daring, but instead of leaping and eviscerating her, he rubbed her with his head like an enormous tabby cat. And from what N'dutu could hear, the cheetah seemed to be purring as he licked her face with his rough tongue. Daring stroked the panther on the head, moving her hoof to get behind its ears. "Yes, you're a good pussy cat, aren't you? Has that zebra been mean to you? Shoo now, go home to Ahuitzotl, and make sure he knows not to mess with Daring Do." The trio of cats seemed to nod to her, standing from the seats around her and leisurely wandering down the trail with no real seeming purpose other than to make their way home. "Anything else you want to throw at me? Give it up, N'dutu, I've got you beat. There's nothing you can do to save yourself now. Just hand over the Eyes, and we all go home. I'll let you get a two day head start in any direction you want, you could probably escape and just live out your days in quiet solitude. All you have to do....is set the relic down....and walk away." N'dutu looked at the simple, wooden mask in his hooves. His scarred face seemed to soften, considering Daring's offer with a serious mind. He closed his eyes and sighed, then looked back at Daring with an evil grin. "Sorry, I didn't come this far to just walk away." N'dutu turned back to his army on their rafts, standing on his hind legs and lifting the Eyes of the Demon high. The very air seemed to darken as he lowered it to his face. "NNNOOOO!!" Daring screamed as he placed it on his face. The mask warped and formed itself to the warlord's face, grasping on and digging its magical claws into his very soul, preparing it for the transference and the ultimate transformation. N'dutu reeled with the apparent pain, clutching his head with his hooves as the Eyes took ahold of his soul. He fell to the ground, the mask resting on his face lightly. He began to laugh as he rose back to his feet, looking out over the lake and his army. "Let's see what this can do." Out across the lake, those foolish enough to stare at the battle between their warlord and the golden angel said to be sent by god felt something inside of themselves being ripped away. A warrior in a canoe nearest to the cliff's edge was the first to feel it. His breath came shallow, and his insides felt like they were boiling. He was trapped by the holding gaze of the Eyes of the Demon, and they began their devilish work as his magical essence and immortal soul were torn away through his eyes. Thousands screamed in agony, a mist of magic escaping from their eyes and rushing out over the lake surface to siphon into N'dutu. The warlord reeled as the stream of souls entered his body, being bound to his own by the abominable and torturous magic bound within the wooden mask. His hooves left the ground, his body held in the air by the infusion of stolen magic and souls. Bones cracked, and skin tightened across his body as new muscle brought on my his captive souls began to manifest. High above, a layer of unnatural, black clouds formed, blotting out the sun and arcing with lightning. N'dutu dropped back to the ground, kneeling on his front hooves. Rising up, he removed the Eyes from his face. Turning back to face Daring, his eyes snapped open to reveal a glowing green burn of soul magic. "We are Legion, we are...many," the warlord said with thousands of voices twisted to come from one mouth. The mark on Daring's head burned with rage at this abomination standing in front of her. N'dutu rolled his neck, popping the joints. His eyes flared with magic, and the scars decorating his face began to fade into his striped hide. "Much better." He was truly a handsome stallion underneath all of that, but the evil coming from him made him more repulsive than ever. Levitating a few inches off the ground, N'dutu's front hooves glowed with an aura of the same magic. Looking up at the peak of the mountain, he smiled and hurled a bolt of magic at it. The bolt detonated, destroying the entire peak and raining black stone down on the lake surface. Aiming his hoof at the lake, his eyes burned as a waterspout began to revolve and extend into the sky. "Oh, I like this." His magical gaze turned back to Daring. "Your turn." Extending a hoof, he enveloped the pegasus in a binding aura of green magic. Daring struggled against her bonds as N'dutu brought her closer. Once again, the warlord chuckled at her peril and agony, tightening his grip on her."Who has nothing left now?" Gently he traced a hoof along Daring's jaw, her legs and wings clamped to her body by the aura of magic. "I understand why this was locked away for so long. So much power, so many ways to use it. And you know what I shall do with it? I will take your soul, just like theirs. Time to die, Daring Do." He brought her in close, planting an unwanted kiss on her lips. Reeling away from his demon touch, Daring spat upon the twisted creature of souls. Her feeble counter evaporated before it could touch his skin, and N'dutu laughed once more. "Such a pretty girl, and such a waste." His hoof lifted, burning with the soul magic once again. Aiming it at Daring, he began to tighten his grip even more. The magical aura around her began to squeeze the air from her lungs, and Daring screamed with what breath she had left. Her blood rushed to her exposed head, and her bones began to give way, bending inwards and cracking as he slowly tightened his grip, having his fun and petty revenge by tormenting her in these last moments. "DARING!" a voice shouted. N'dutu spun to face his new foe, right as a starsteel spear rocketed through the air and buried itself in his chest. The warlord was thrown back, landing on his back and lying still. The aura left Daring, and she fell to the ground in a heap. Desperately gasping for air, Daring held her ribs with her hooves, panting from the pain of her constriction. Struggling to her feet, she brought out her whip and faced her foe. N'dutu lay motionless on the ground, but something began to happen. The blood stopped flowing from his wound, and a glow of soul magic encompassed the spear, tugging it from his body with a sickening rip. The wound closed before her very eyes, and N'dutu once again levitated from the ground, a rage coming from his already burning expression. "That....hurt," he said to Timur. He nodded toward the two zebras, a wave of magic pulsing out and striking them like a wall of shields. Both Timur and Zecora struck the mountain side with a heavy thud, falling to the ground. Serpents of green magic erupted from N'dutu's hooves, encircling the zebras and binding them tightly. Floating over to them with the Eyes of the Demon in his magical grasp, N'dutu prepared to add them to himself. Bringing the mask to his face, a shocking lance of pain arced across his back. The Eyes dropped to the ground, and N'dutu spun around to face Daring and her lightning whip. Again she lashed out with her whip, scoring a hit across his cheek with a roar of thunder. Thrown back but not knocked down, N'dutu grasped his face with a hoof, the charred flesh and deep, ugly wound healing as Daring watched. "Why do you continue to fight? I am invincible!" he shouted in a deep voice that rang across the mountain side. Daring fell back with a feeling of defeat. But she spied her only chance laying on the ground. "No. You're not invincible. And also-" She cracked out with her whip again, catching N'dutu on the leg and blowing him off to the side. A severed leg flew past her, and the warlord screamed in agony as his body set to work repairing the extensive damage. "Nopony hurts my friends!" Rising from a pile of rubble, N'dutu was as whole as ever, his glowering face focused on destroying the annoyance that was Daring Do. Daring bunched up her leg muscles, spreading her wings and taking a flying leap towards the Eyes of the Demon. Seeing her goal, N'dutu screamed, "NO!" flying forward to grab the artifact. The pair flew through the air towards the resting artifact, N'dutu reaching out with a hoof to grab it before Daring. Time seemed to be slower than the drop of a feather, and as N'dutu's hoof was within an inch of the Eyes, the tan blur of a well aimed pith helmet struck him in the jaw, knocking him aside and breaking a few teeth loose. Daring grabbed the Eyes in her hooves, rolling on the ground while clutching it to her chest. N'dutu rose from the ground, swooping over to annihilate Daring once and for all. There could be no better moment, and as the warlord charged in with magic blazing in his hooves, Daring slapped the Eyes of the Demon onto her own face. Instantly she could feel it latching onto her own soul, preparing this new host for a transfusion of magic from its prey. Looking N'dutu in the Eyes, the warlord froze, his very soul enraptured and held by the magic of the Eyes. "Look into my Eyes, N'dutu. Gaze deep, and know oblivion!" Daring screamed. N'dutu reeled back, clutching his head with his hooves as a stream of magic erupted from his eyes and his mouth, all the stolen souls leaving him for a new host. "No, NO, NOOOOoooooo....." N'dutu's scream went with his essence into Daring. She could hear all of their voices, all of their screams and cries as the captive minds and souls of N'dutu's army filtered into her. She could feel her own immortal essence being twisted and expanded to accomodate all the new occupants in her body, and in all honesty, it felt like her soul was on fire. The flow finally ceased, and N'dutu fell to his knees, a soulless husk of a body, his eyes completely burned out and charred from the soul stealing. The Eyes of the Demon fell from her face, and Daring fell to her knees. Standing up, she felt something new inside of herself, some kind of force that she had only felt when in the presence of powerful unicorns, almost as powerful as the energy she had felt in the air around Princess Celestia. She was full to the brim with magic; unstable, chaotic magic that would rip her apart should she overextend herself. Glancing over at Timur and Zecora, she summoned a portion of this new and turbulent magic, banishing their bonds. Shaking off the remains of his binds, Timur helped Zecora to her hooves, and together they slowly approached Daring. "By all that is holy. What have you done, Daring?" Timur said in cold horror of the creature that stood in front of him. Daring glanced down at the mask lying on the ground with burning eyes. "I did what was necessary," she replied with the twisted, echoing voice of a Legion. Zecora took a bold step closer to Daring. "You don't know what you've done. Legions never live long and it cannot be undone!" Daring grasped up the mask with her new magic. "Then before I die, I have one more thing to do." Walking over to the edge of the cliff, she gazed out over the remnants of N'dutu's army. Those that had not starved, succumb to disease or had their souls stolen from them. They were a pitiful force, only about six thousand strong from the starting number of ten thousand when they began this hopeless march. But she needed witnesses for what was to come next, and these zebras, apes, gnolls and any other assortment of creatures would have to do. Standing up on her hind hooves, she held the Eyes of the Demon in her forelegs, showing the entire assembled force what she held. Holding them high above her head, Daring summoned every scrap of strength she had in her body, the strength of her limbs, the strength of her magic, her will, her spirit and her heart. The relic in her hooves seemed to sense the danger, hardening in fear of what she was trying to do. The Eyes began to writhe, trying to escape from Daring, to escape and find a new host to sow delicious chaos with. She fought with all her strength, sending every ounce of her will and determination to finally end this. To destroy the Eyes of the Demon. And just as she began to give in to fatigue, a familiar tingle on her forehead pushed her even further across the threshold of her own limits. She curled back her lips, letting loose a scream of exertion as the Eyes began to crack. The demonic relic truly struggled in her grasp, and with one more mighty heave, Macho ya Pepo split in twain, shrieking in some kind of horrendous pain. A darkness erupted from the broken halves of the Eyes, flying out into the sky, resolving into the screaming face of Grinwa, giving the world one last roar of terror before fading in the sunlight. Dropping the destroyed relic to the ground, she glared out over the awestruck army. She prepared her declaration as delicately as she could. "GO HOME!" she shouted with her Legion voice. Down in a raft by the shore of the mountain, one of N'dutu's soldiers had witnessed every event, from the initial unveiling of the Eyes to their destruction by the pegasus. Standing up, he peeled off his armor, tossing it in the Lake of Stars to sink to the bottom. He threw his spear afterward, and grabbed his paddle, slowly rowing for the river to make his way home after so many months of war, hatred, fighting and abuse. Around him, others threw their own arms into the depths of the lake, turning their boats about and heading back to begin rebuilding their homes and their lives. They would spread this tale, that the legendary artifact, the cause of so much death and violence, the Eyes of the Demon, could no longer threaten the world and were no longer worth fighting for. Falling back to her hooves, Daring turned back to Timur and Zecora, a weary smile on her face. The burning eyes of Legion still glowed through her, and as she took a step towards the zebras, a spasm seized her back. With a cry of pain, Daring fell to the ground. The burning glow of Legion left her eyes, and Daring looked around in confusion. "What's happening? What just- AAUUUGGHH!!!" she screamed as the muscles in her chest tightened and pressed against her bones. Timur rushed to her side, leaning her up and supporting her. "It's begun. The souls you consumed are trying to force their way out. I'm sorry, Daring." A tear rolled down Daring's cheek, not from the pain, she had handled pain all her life. But from fear, she knew her time had come, and there was no stopping those rampaging souls from tearing her inside out to escape. "Please, help me," she begged to Timur. Her back arched and she screamed in pain as the legion of souls tried to force her blood to boil, anything to kill her and release them. The burning glow of soul magic snapped back into her eyes, and the Legion within spoke. "Set us free." The glow left, and Daring's chest began to expand outward, the pegasus screaming at the agony of her bones being bent outward from inside. He flesh on her stomach distended into shapes like fists, hooves and faces; as though she were perversely pregnant with demon spawn. Daring's weeping face looked to Timur, begging to him. "Help me, please make it stop," her tear laden voice quivered. Timur was choked with tears at seeing his dear friend and adopted daughter suffering like this. "I-I...I cannot." Zecora walked over, bearing Timur's spear in her mouth. Setting the starsteel weapon by the stallion, she nodded, sorrow and ultimate regret in her every action. The souls began to expand outward from her chest, small lumps of flesh travelling down her limbs, sinking into her bones and forcing them to come apart. With a weeping scream, Daring gave one last plea to her adopted father. "Please...Timur....kill me. Please, just kill me." Timur stood from Daring, letting her head rest on the stone. Grabbing his spear, he closed his eyes as he aimed the deadly point towards her throat. "Daring....forgive me. I love you, daughter." Timur lifted the spear high, hesitating a moment before plunging it towards Daring. But as the tip of the bladed spear careened across eternity and sliced through the air towards her throat, time seemed to slow, even stopping. The souls within went silent, cowed by some force far greater than themselves. They even seemed to shiver at the otherworldly presence, like children who had been caught doing something bad by their parents. Looking at this world frozen in time, Daring leaned her head over to the side, gasping for breath from the intensity of Legion's attempted escape. And beside Zecora, her ink black mane flowing like the wind across the water, was an alicorn with a forest green coat. "Gaia," Daring whispered. "Yeye. Help me, please help me." The spiritual goddess of the Earth walked calmly past the weeping statue that was Zecora, past the solid likeness of Timur as he prepared to kill Daring in mercy. Leaning down, she inspected Daring in her Legion state. All at once, the spirits within Daring tried to rush outward, stretching her flesh, bending her bones and tearing her muscles. "CEASE!" shouted the goddess. "Leave her be, children. She has done you no harm." Instantly the sea of souls within Daring stopped their attack, quivering under the divine gaze of their Mother. "Yes, Mother," the voice of Legion said like a true child. "Get them out of me. Please, get them out of me," she begged to the goddess kneeling before her. The alicorn goddess looked over Daring's form. "I will do what I can. But you must let go for them to be free." "How do I-" "Just let them go, let yourself go." Daring lay back on the stone, letting her mind clear and her thoughts become single. She just had to have the willpower to let her own soul go from her body, to die even for a second. She had come so far, done so many things in the name of this mission. And she completed it. She had finished the job by destroying the Eyes. She felt as though she could finally....rest. She had completed her mission, saved the world, faced her sins and atoned for them, given rest to the weary souls of both Grinwa and Talib. "I can rest," Daring said quietly, closing her eyes and letting her mortal coil melt away. One moment she felt her body, and the next she looked at it from above. Looking over her form, she saw how bruised, how broken, how bloody her body had become. It looked tired, and it rested in this soulless sleep of the dead. She tried to look at herself, but the only thing she could see was a pale light all around herself. "Holy Celestia, I'm a spirit. I'm dead." "Yes," the goddess behind her said. "But not for long, look." Glancing down at her body again, she saw dozens of other spirits drifting from her corpse and leisurely floating over to the Earth Goddess. They formed a cloud of fireflies around her, and begged for forgiveness for hurting Daring and angering their beloved Mother. The last of the spirits drifted away from her body, the face withing the orb of a strikingly handsome zebra stallion. Yeye stopped him before he could join the cloud of his fellow spirits. "Where do you think you are going? I thought you said I wasn't real, that I was an old mysticism for the foolish elders." "I am sorry, Mother," the spirit of N'dutu said to Yeye, bobbing as if bowing to her. "Apologize to her, and then you may come home." Yeye nodded to the spirit of Daring. N'dutu's soul drifted over to Daring, glowing a dulled grey color in shame. "I am sorry, Daring Do. I have committed unforgivable acts to both you and the people you loved. I know I should burn in Tartarus for eternity, and I deserve no better." Daring's spirit felt some shred of compassion for the soul of N'dutu, warped by a trickster into committing unspeakable acts, making him think he could actually accomplish his goal of bringing glory back to his people through violence and bloodshed. "I have see what the likes of Hell are. And I would never damn anypony to such a fate. I forgive you, now go and rest." The soul of N'dutu glowed a brighter white, flying over to the cloud of spirits around Yeye. "And as for you," the goddess directed to Daring's soul. "I would suggest rolling out of the way." Her horn flared with light, the goddess and the coterie of her children returning to the realm of spirits. Daring felt inexplicably pulled back to her own body, sinking back into her body as time began to return. Rolling out of the way? What does that mea- oh shit! As time unfroze, the falling spear of Timur unfroze with it, and Daring did as the goddess had suggested, rolling out of the way at the last second. The starsteel spearhead sank into the stone where she had been a fraction of a second before. Ripping his spearhead out of the stone, Timur advanced on her, utterly convinced he had to kill her as an act of mercy. "Timur, stop you lunatic! I'm fine!" Daring dodged another spear thrust. "Stop, Celestia damn it! I'm alright!" A stream of tears still ran down Timur's face. "Don't make this any harder than it has to be, Daring." Zecora grabbed him from behind, holding back his forelegs. "Stop, you idiot! She's fine!" Zecora wrenched the spear from his hooves, tossing it aside. "She's better." "What? How could she suddenly be alright? One moment she is pleading with me to end her life, the next she is perfectly fine?! What makes sense about that?!" Zecora pointed to Daring's forehead, where the mark had previously lain. Only a circle of ash lay there now, and as the wind touched it, it disintegrated, leaving the pegasi's forehead clear. Timur gave a short laugh. "She really likes you, Daring. Enough to throw you back." "I wouldn't have it any other way," Daring replied. Gathering her supplies, including the shattered halves of the Eyes of the Demon, Daring stumbled down the rough pathway leading to N'dutu's boats. Climbing inside one, she fell to the keel and closed her eyes to rest in a way far less permanent than what she had just experienced.