//------------------------------// // A Damaged Soul // Story: A Lost Hero // by Happy2343 //------------------------------// ‘Jeez, can’t they leave a guy alone.’ Finn thought while running farther and farther away from the castle. ‘I just… need to fix this…’ He thought. Finn ran over a couple of fallen trees and stopped. He sat down near the logs. ‘They just… don’t understand what’s hunting me…’ His mind continued, ‘They’re so closed-minded.’ He continued. Finn put his hands to his head and brought up his knees. Something dawned on them, “Why am I even running?” He said aloud. “I should be helping the ponies not attempting to fight them.” A voice in his mind answered the question, ‘You’re running because they don’t understand. And you did kidnap one of their own.’ Finn brought out his sword from behind him and looked at the blue circle. “Hey man… I know it’s been a while, but I could use some… an outside opinion.” An image of the human appeared there. “What do you want?” It seethed. “Help,” Finn said in the most I-need help-but-t-really voice as possible. “I-I know you don’t want to talk to me after… you know… but, I need your opinion.” The picture of himself visibly and audibly sighed, “What for?” He asked, “And this better be serious.” His anger perked up again. “Should I help these ponies or should I try to fight the... Lich on my own?” Finn answered. “Alone.” The picture answered without emotion, “You remember what happened last time you tried to gather friends to fight the Lich?” Finn nodded. His eyes drooped down. Sword Finn looked at the sight before him, He sighed, “Look, you CAN talk to me… I think I need to talk to you.” Finn perked up at this, “Just… next time you do something like that, ask me for my opinion first.” “Yeah… I will.” Finn answered. “I’ll ma-”*Crack* Finn immediately jumped up and began running again. He didn’t spend any time putting his blade back up. Finn heard in the distance, “Hey he’s over here…” It was obviously a search party. ‘How did they get so close without me noticing? Without us noticing?’ He asked himself. After stopping and looking for another direction to run he looked to the group of searchers. There were three of them all with wings on their backs. ‘Of course…’ Finn, when he was obvious he had escaped, had slowed down to walk. Finn was constantly looking over his shoulder, making sure he was not being followed by the wily ponies. After doing this for nearly 2 hours, Finn breathed a sigh of relief. ‘Now I need to find these… Elements of Harmony.’ Finn thought, ‘Now where are they…?’ Finn’s stomach grumbled. He had only just realized that ‘I haven’t eaten in days…’ Finn thought, ‘Jake would kill me.’ He chastised himself. He thought back to the last time he had seen his brother. “Finn, we have to get out of here!” The yellow dog shouted to the human, Finn, who was holding the body of another human, tears were flowing down his face. The dog stretched over to the human, grabbing Finn, “Come on! We can’t stay here any longer. The Lich could be anywhere at this point!” The ground began to turn from a dark red to black and gray. Finn looked idly to the corpse again and then back to the dog. He nodded and dropped the form and stood up. “Yeah…” Finn said, “Le-let’s go…” The dog, Jake gave him a skeptical look, “Alright.” Before the brothers could make any headway on escaping they were stopped by a large-skeletal creature. The creature seemed to morph out of thin air. Finn and Jake stopped their walk. Jake hastily turned to Finn, “Where are… the… … head… bands…?” Jake fell to the floor, limp and unconscious. Finn was already on his knees struggling to get the headbands out. All the while the Lich walked closer and closer to him; cackling with each step. ‘Need to get… the headbands…’ When the Lich was a mere ten feet away Finn was barely holding onto his consciousness. His eyes took seconds to open. He was moving sluggishly. ‘Where are they…?!’ Finn then looked up to see the Lich staring down at Jake’s body. He poked it with one of its fingers. It had been for nearly the last minute. It spoke in a deep echo-y voice, “You… are expendable.” Finn’s felt his consciousness fading. He acted fast. His grass sword sprung into action and carried the near-limp human with him and attacked the lich. The Lich merely sidestepped the human. Finn, or rather the sword, turned around and attacked. The Lich grabbed Finn’s left shoulder as a father would a son. He came down to eye level with the no-placid Finn. He put one of his skeletal fingers to its mouth and made an “Shhh!” sound. The human collapsed, but not before hearing the Lich say, “You are… one to watch. When he awoke what was presumably hours later, Finn was understandably feeling terrible. Jake was shaking the human. He beckoned Finn to get up, and he did. The dog stretched around the human and began to bring the pair away. Finn looked at Jakes fur. Where the Lich had been poking there were now several black spots. Finn found his voice, “Jake, wait…” “Finn,” Jake said like a concerned parent, “don’t you think we’ve been thoroughly kicked in the butts for one time today?” “I don't want a rematch,” Finn replied, “I need to get something else.” A large blinding light followed by a boom brought Finn back to reality. Finn looked up and saw a massive rainstorm that looked like it covered the entire forest. ‘Just need to put an even bigger damper on the situation… really.’ Finn sighed. A large flash of light hit the ground about 25 feet in front of him, making Finn fly back into the ground. The rain had also begun in mass. ‘Gotta find shelter.’ Was Finn’s first thought. He began looking for anything that could provide an inkling of shelter. Finn began running with his backpack on his head, the sword bouncing against his head with each step. ‘Is it bad that I want to be captured now?’ He thought, ‘I’d give being warm and captured right now than cold, wet and free.’ ‘Glob, I swear that the old castle is around here some-” Finn stumbled. His foot got stuck in a massive hole in the ground. Before he knew it, the rest of his body was dragged down with him. Finn looked up, dazed; a large piece of earth and rock was falling quickly towards him. Finn put his hand up to stop them, but only got pain in his right hand and head. Then he was out. When Finn woke up, the rain had stopped falling, it was, however, night time. He could see the moon overheard through the hole He fell through. Finn looked around, the only thing he saw of note with his blurry vision was a large bright tree-like thing at the opposite end. ‘Cave. Cool.’ Finn concluded. He looked around the cave, as his vision cleared of blurriness, he saw what looked like a crystal tree. The bottom portion of the cyan Pegasus’s hoof was now completely covered in a dark, black substance. Any attempt at removal only made it spread faster and brought extreme pain to Rainbow Dash. Twilight had locked herself in The Castle’s Library, Boeing to find a cure for this disease. Her sister had been forced to return to Canterlot, lest there be a riot in the streets due to inactivity. The midnight blue Alicorn looked again to the bearer of the Element of Loyalty, ‘We cannot lose her.’ She thought. Luna looked to what was, apparently, Ponyville’s best doctors and nurses attempting to treat the infection. There was no change no matter what cure they used. ‘There has never been an Infection like this in Equestria before.’ Luna thought, ‘That human, he must know…’ Luna concluded. The night princess walked out of the castle flanked by two of her night guard. ‘He must be looking for the Elements of Harmony,’ Luna thought, she turned to her two guards, “We are going to check on the tree of Harmony.” They nodded. The bat-ponies spread their wings along with their princess and took off. The wind felt great on Luna’s fur, but she didn’t have time to bask in how good it feels, there was work to be done. ‘That human knows what it is… He must.’ Luna looked up at the stars, she relaxed and smiled, ‘At least there’s one thing that never changes.’ Luna and her guards landed above the cave to the tree of Harmony. There was a large hole in the ground leading to the cave. Luna could faintly see the glowing of the tree. She could also hear the occasional frustrated groan and grunt. She smirked, ‘I guess he never knew how to get them out.’ She turned to the guards next to her. “You two stay here, make sure he can’t escape.” She commanded, “He must come back alive. He is the only one knowledgeable on the subject of Ms. Dash’s condition.” They nodded, “Yes my princess.” They said in unison. Luna jumped into the cave, magically silencing her hooves as to not give her away. SHe saw his green bag on the ground next to him. Finn was currently trying to pry the elements off the tree with his sword. “I don’t think this is working.” She heard him say, but what drew her attention more was what he said next. “Yeah. No duh.” It was replied like it was a conversation, not one sarcastically talking to themselves. “Maybe you should use the gr-” “And risk it spreading… no.” Luna raised an eyebrow, ‘Now talking to oneself is one thing, interrupting…’ Finn got even more frustrated. Eventually taking it out on the tree. He punched it viciously. So much so that it pulsated. “I would stop that if I were you,” Luna said to the human. Finn lifted his head up so it was looking at the roof of the cave, then groaned. He then turned around. His face was the definition of annoyed, “Great you’re here.” He spat out, “I assume you’re here,” He strapped his sword to his wait and held up his fingers, “ ‘bring me to justice.’” He said. Luna’s eyes narrowed, “As much as I want to… we need your help.” She begrudgingly said, “Rainbow Dash is infected with a disease we’ve never seen before.” Finn’s attitude instantly dropped. Luna continued, “It is making her skin black.” Finn seemed unable to respond. Luna continued talking, “We assumed you kno-” “Yes. I do.” He responded before she could finish. He turned away from Luna, “I-I…” Finn said, “I’m sorry.” He said. “Can you help?” Luna asked, “She is in much pain.” Luna added, trying to make him more sympathetic. ‘I need his help, I know he knows.’ Finn turned back to Luna, “I can’t help.” He said. Luna’s face scowled, “How could you leave her to die?!” Her horn lit up, readying a stun spell. “You will help!” She commanded. Finn’s face dropped, “I know how it feels to have someone you know suffer at the hands of that infection.” Finn said grimly, “It’s the worst feeling in the world.” “Then you must help Rainbow Dash! She was in your custody, which was ponynapping when she was infected.” Luna said, “It is your responsibility.” Finn shook his head, “I-I can’t…” He trailed off. Luna, however, was having none of it. Her horn shot off a stun spell, Finn raised his sword to deflect it. However, instead, it deflecting away from him, it hit his left shoulder; causing a tremendous amount of pain. ‘That surely would’ve knocked him flat.’ Luna thought. Meanwhile, Finn screamed in pain, momentarily deafening the Night Princess. Luna shot another spell at the human, this time a sleep spell, hoping to end the battle before it began. The beam of magic hit head-on, sending Finn back into the Tree of Harmony. ‘Is he resistant to magic?’ He was breathing heavily, using his sword to raise himself off the ground. The two Lunar guards also joined their princess; the pair jumping down and quickly ran up to their princess for orders. Finn, by now, had recovered partially, grabbing his sword and sluggishly holding it with his right hand. His right eye was closed from when he hit the ground. Luna looked to the warrior, ‘He can’t put up much of a fight.’ She thought. Luna then bellowed, “This is your last chance Finn the Human; Surrender NOW!” He slowly shook his head. “Hmph. That is your choice then.” Luna began pulling together another stunning spell. Finn began running at her and the pair of bat-ponies. Luna meanwhile had shot off the stunning spell, specifically aiming for his now exposed shoulder. It only grazed his left shoulder, which was enough to evoke a yelp in pain from Finn, causing him to tumble to the ground while screaming in pain. Now fully recovered and mad as Tartarus, Luna barked orders, “Seize him!” She yelled in her royal Canterlot Voice. The Bat-ponies were on Finn in a heartbeat. He was barely standing due to the pain throughout his body. He was breathing heavily, out of breath. His sword was lazily held up and pointed at the soldiers. His eyes were, just like Rainbow’s, taking seconds to blink fully. Princess Luna looked at the human in piny, “You’ve fought well Finn the human,” She said in a soothing voice, “But there is no running this time.” She prepared a more refined sleeping spell to cast on the now damaged human. The two bat ponies slowly inched their way towards Finn. Finn seemed to realize his position and, with much grimace and malice, dropped the sword on the ground. Luna merely nodded at the display; she then released the sleeping spell. When the spell hit the human, he immediately fell to the ground, soft breathes came from him as he slept. No, they weren’t, they were pained. Luna walked up to the human and examined it. ‘We don’t have time for this.’ She thought, ‘At the rate of Rainbow Dash’s infection, it should have already covered more than half her hoof.’ She thought, ‘We need to get back as soon as possible.’ Luna concluded. Luna went to magically grab the human, but when she did so, her mind immediately went spinning. Luna just shook her head to get rid of the dizziness. “It’s… no matter.” she huffed. She pointed to one of the guards, “Grab that bag,” She commanded, she pointed to the other one, “You grab his blade.” They both nodded and took off to their respective tasks. Luna magically took Finn in her grasp. They departed back to Twilight’s castle soon after. The flight took much longer due to the added weight of the human. Luna herself was having trouble carrying the human and flying at the same time. ‘This is… the worst… flight... Ever…’ Her mind huffed out. When the group landed they were greeted by more Solar and Lunar guards. By the time she had reached her temporary bedroom, Luna was exhausted. She had seen to it that Finn is put under guard and checked on regularly. Now she had a certain Lavender Princess to check up on. Luna knocked on the doors to the library, “Twilight Sparkle, we have need of you.” there was the sound of shuffling beyond the door. After a few seconds, the door unlocked to reveal the short lavender Alicron. “Princess Luna!” she greeted, “Thank goodness you’re here, I think i’m close to a breakthr-” Luna cut off Twilight, “Young Twilight, the disease is not from this world.” Twilight’s face drooped. “Oh.” She said, she then quietly began chastising herself, “All this time…” She then turned back to Luna, “How do you know?” “I confronted Finn the Human… he admitted to it being from his world.” She said, “I also took the liberty of capturing him and bringing him here.” She paused, “How is your friend’s condition?” Luna asked. Twilight’s face fell to the left, “Not good, it’s about halfway up her hoof right now,” Twilight replied, “I don’t think there’s a cure…” Twilight’s mood then changed significantly, “Oh… you said you had him?” Luna nodded. Twilight turned around and ran into the library. She came back with a notepad, a quill, and an inkwell. “Good, because I’ve got some questions.”