Edited by:
PieisGood4U
BlazinBlade7
dialgex
fireshadow11
Give a big hand to them. Especially PieisGood4U as he caught the majority of the mistakes in this chapter.
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So this is the afterlife?
Weird. It’s much darker than I was expecting, though I’m not entirely sure what I was expecting, certainly something brighter than this. Perhaps some kind of ethereal light beckoning me to a peaceful rest…or hellfire that would damn me for all eternity. I imagine that both of those options would be significantly better lit.
And a lot less damp.
It was strange really. Despite my status as a mortally challenged individual I could still feel a dampness around me, permeating everything. It was particularly bad at the top of my head where something appeared to be licking me of all things.
Awful lot of teeth in the afterlife as well.
In the darkness I could just make out rows of jagged teeth surrounding me. Maybe they were the teeth of Satan, come to gobble my soul. Strange though. I mean, I may not have led the most honest life…occasionally committing acts many would actually describe as downright dishonest, but I never really considered myself a bad person. I had never intentionally caused harm to an innocent, never really been in a fight except for self-defence. Sure I’d robbed a couple of people, conned a few fools out of their money, but I had always been careful who my mark was. I only targeted people who could afford to lose a bit, those with more money than sense. I even gave money to charity whenever I had enough to survive on. I don’t think that really qualifies me for an eternity of painful damnation.
Then again the priests back home were always willing to condemn people to hell for the most minor violations of religious law. So really, what do I know?
Damn, I’m not sure if it’s all this theological consideration that set it off but my head really hurts. It feels like it’s caught in a vice.
Can damned souls get headaches? Seems a rather petty torture from the Prince of Darkness.
The vice seemed to slowly closing, my headache getting much worse with every second. The teeth that I could see synchronised with this, slowly closing together as my migraine reached epic levels of pain. I winced as the crushing force increased, I felt like I could feel my skull cracking like an egg under the pressure.
Crack!
Oh God, was that my skull?!
No wait a moment, I feel that having my skull cracked open would be far more…gory. Blood and brains flying everywhere and causing an awful mess. That sort of thing.
“Oh sweet Celestia! Ace!” I heard a distant voice cry.
Was that Summer? Did the beast get her as well? Shame that, she seemed like such a nice pony. I didn’t know that ponies even had a hell, much less that she would be sharing one with me. Kind of a bummer but if you're going to burn in eternal hellfire then you might as well be in good company whilst you do it.
I loud ‘Twang!’ reached my eyes, cutting straight through my headache. It was soon followed by a roar of pain that intensified my migraine several times over. I found myself falling out the darkness, to impact painfully onto the floor.
Shaking my head in an attempt to clear it I opened my eyes to observe the new hell in front of me. The colossal once-dog towered over me, roaring in pain and anger. From my position on my rump in front of the beast I could see Summer and Iron standing in front of the door. Summer’s horn was crackling with electricity and Iron had brought along a little surprise for the monster. In his hands he was holding one of the ballistae from the entrance to the cave, its buckshot payload had just been fired into the back of the gargantuan beast. He was casually pulling back the enormous string with one hand, the arms of the huge crossbow creaking under the strain.
Huh, so I’m not dead.
…
How the hell aren’t I dead?
I gently touched the side of my head at the spot where the snakes jaws had closed on me in an attempt to bite off my head. The point where the lower jaw had strained to crush my head like a watermelon. The exact spot where my right horn curled protectively round my ear. I gently prodded it, feeling the jagged lines that had been bitten into it and how it moved around like a loose tooth. Well I guess that explains where the cracking sound had come from.
Further confirmation of my status among the living came when I realised I was sitting on something very uncomfortable. Something very lumpy, that jingled when I shifted about under me. For what felt like the hundredth time today, I struggled to my hooves, looking up to see that the beast had turned its back to me to face this new assault. I got a great view of the damage that Iron’s ballista had managed to inflict on it, its entire back was covered in arrows and splinters from the buckshot. It looked like a deformed hedgehog.
Despite the grievous damage done by this attack I could see that many of the wounds had already begun to heal, the skin rippling and forcing the arrows out. A large scorch mark, presumably from Summer’s lightning bolt, also disappeared under the ripples, to return as smooth skin.
If we’re going to take this thing down, we need some way of stopping its freaky magical regeneration.
Wait…freaky magic?
Could that work?
The beast roared as Summer and Iron’s attacks continued to slam into it, electric bolts, harpoons and arrows breaking the flesh only to be forced away by its rippling skin. Summer was beginning to look tired and Iron probably didn’t have much ammunition left.
Now or never, it’s worth a try.
“Iron! Summer! I have a plan!” I yelled across the room.
“Another one!? This is getting bloody ridiculous!” Iron shouted back, still smoothly reloading his weapon.
“I agree but it might be our only chance! I need you to make it kneel!”
“What! Why? Do you want it to pay fealty to you or something!?” Summer this time, her face illuminated by the magic sparking from her horn.
“Just trust me!” I hope they went with this, I don’t really have time to make sure that they do. I began to fiddle around with my pouches, withdrawing items and searching for others, desperately trying to prepare my final solution. Items jangled around as a swiftly combined the two objects, praying to any gods who would listen that this works. Firelight glinted off the metal I held in between my hands as my fingers nimbly slotted each piece into place, tying it all together with some twine.
Satisfied, I inspected it. Three cylindrical red sticks, the last of my dynamite, were bound together with twine, their detonation fuses spiralled round like a braid out of the top of the devices. Along the length of each stick glittered the metal shapes of half a dozen inhibitor rings, locked into place on the explosives as if they were horns. It would have to do, I grabbed a nearby torch and got ready to light it as soon as Iron and Summer came through on their end.
They did not disappoint. Iron loaded in his final harpoon and fired at the monster, striking it in one of its giant paws and sticking there. The rope attached to the harpoon was swiftly grabbed by Iron and he began to haul at it, pulling the beast of balance. The once-dog set its huge legs into a stance and was just about to pull back against Iron, presumably to drag the minotaur within range of the snapping snakeheads, when a powerful bolt of pure lightning slammed into its left kneecap, temporarily crippling the mighty creature. With a groan of pain, it began to topple forward before catching itself with its unbound hand and stopping its descent.
The beast was now in a position for me to attack, kneeling as if it was about to be knighted. I touched the flaming torch to the detonation tape and was about to set off when I realised something.
I only had one shot at this.
I needed it to be effective as possible, and give absolutely no way for the once-dog to get up again. The bomb would have to be actually inside the beast's body to completely stop it. Which means I need an item capable of cutting the skin.
Of which none appear in my immediate vicinity.
I began to desperately search for something, acutely aware that I was holding an armed explosive device in my hand.
Oh fuck oh fuck oh fuck. There’s got to be something! What about those spears from earlier?
Nope. Completely destroyed by the beast and in pieces. On the other side of the throne room.
Any sharp pieces of rock maybe?
Nothing capable of breaking the skin of a giant helldog.
Well…that leaves only one option then doesn’t it?
Switching the bomb to my left hand, I reached up with my right and grabbed my cracked horn firmly. Snarling, I ripped it off, the already fractured bone snapping away easily in my hand. Ignoring the shards of bone that had shot out from the breaking horn and into the side of my face I gripped my impromptu knife tightly in a reverse grip, the razor sharp point facing downwards.
I charged forwards, roaring at the top of my voice for no reason other than it seemed the appropriate thing to do. Reaching the back of the kneeling once-dog I quickly bounded up it, using its bent legs as platforms to allow me access to its back. Even with its current kneeling position, the back of the beast was a slope steeper than any hill. I leapt up as far as possible before slamming my horn into its skin, dragging the improvised weapon down with my own weight to create an ugly gash down the creatures back. The once-dog barely even seemed to notice the wound, too preoccupied with Summer and Iron’s attacks.
Well it will certainly notice this.
I swung my other arm, and its explosive payload, over my head and directly into the wound I had created, noticing that the skin I was holding on to had already started to ripple and squirm. Grabbing the implanted horn with both hands I kicked off the beasts back, tucking into a roll as I hit the ground.
“TAKE COVER!” I warned, hoping that Summer and Iron would get out of the way in time. As for myself, I threw myself behind a nearby pillar and hoped for the best.
After a couple of seconds of hoping for the best I leaned out, curious as to why there had been no boom. Summer and Iron had disappeared behind pillars of their own and the beast was climbing back to its feet, free of its restraints.
Did the fuse go out or something?
I was just about to step out from behind the pillar, ready to find another way to bring the beast down, when it happened. The once-dogs entire upper torso disappeared in a ball of fire that expanded outwards from its chest. My eardrums were assaulted by the noise of three pieces of dynamite going off simultaneously no more than thirty feet from me. Bits of gore and shrapnel whipped past me, a piece of what had once been an inhibitor ring flying past me close enough to move my hair with its tailwind. As quickly as it had started it was over. The huge once-dog lay dead on the floor, everything about its waist had been used to paint the room an ugly red, leaving behind just a pair of legs.
Even in its current state, whatever dark force had caused the monsters movements continued to try to heal its host. The skin on the legs of the beast, the only sizable remains left, rippled as it attempted to regenerate. However as soon as the rippling skin encountered one of the shards of metal from the rings that were forcefully implanted throughout the bloody stumps, it was forced back. Evidently whatever material the rings were made from was enough to stop its powers.
“Was that enough?” Summer asked, approaching me alongside Iron Will.
I looked at the squirming skin of the remains. Then over to the rubble of the throne, where the dark liquid that had caused all this was pooling in between some cracks. Somewhere in this mine there was a spring of that damn stuff, waiting for some unfortunate to come along and be tempted by it.
“Hmm…I reckon we are going to need a little bit more”
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A few hours later I surveyed our work. Every single ring that we had been able to find in the storage room, as well as those that had been on all the unicorns, were piled up on top of the remains of the creature that had once been Redtooth. Sticks of dynamite stuck out of the pile at odd angles, their detonation tape spooling out and linked up to their counterparts at the foot of all the surviving pillars.
“Yeah…that should do it.” I stated, Summer and Iron nodding in agreement. We left the throne room, stepping over Irons discarded ballista, the giant crossbow now useless without any bolts left. Getting out of the mine was relatively easy, we just had to follow the trail of fuse wire. Dynamite had been placed in every cavern, in every tunnel and in every cave. The ponies had been eager to help, wanting to see this hellhole buried as much as I did.
We trudged along in silence, all of us exhausted by our ordeal. The blood on the side of my face had crusted up and I could see that Iron and Summer had also taken some wounds, presumably whilst retrieving the ballista. A nasty cut on one of Iron’s biceps was flowing freely whilst Summer was walking with a limp, carefully avoiding putting weight on her right foreleg.
I was bone weary myself, the adrenaline that had kept me going so far had worn off, leaving behind only exhaustion. I wanted nothing more than to collapse into the sweet embrace of sleep, but there were a couple more things to do here yet. Stepping outside, I took a deep breath of fresh air. It was good to be outside after all that. The ponies had already evacuated, along with several carts that had been repurposed as wagons. These carts held all of the belongings that the dogs had confiscated when they captured the ponies, as well as several loads of gems that the ponies felt that they had earned as compensation for their forced labour.
As for the dogs themselves they had also been evacuated and were now in a huddled circle, being carefully watched by many of the ponies. This actually made me feel good about this whole ordeal. The ponies had been through hell, been forced to work and to fight for these dogs amusement. Many of them had been beaten or harmed physically. All of them had been harmed psychologically. Yet they were unwilling to leave the dogs behind. Almost all human would have been quite happy to blow up the cave with the dogs trapped inside. Hell, at the moment I know I would…I’m not exactly Gandhi when I’m tired. The ponies were better than that though. They weren’t quite ready to forgive the dogs for all they had been put through, but neither were they going to stoop to their level and become ruthless monsters.
The three of us approached a detonation box that had been set up at a safe distant from the cave. A large red handle stuck out of the top, begging to be slammed down.
“Feels like a momentous occasion” Iron noted.
“Yeah…you think we should say something memorable?” Summer asked.
“Like what?”
“Oh I don’t know, something like ‘Slavery shall never prevail!’”
I thought for a moment before coming up with a phrase that encapsulated my entire feeling about this place. A phrase that would be whispered in places where tyranny reigned and revolutionaries dreamed.
“Fuck this hole.” I said, kicking my hoof down on the lever of the detonation box.
The explosions started with a muffled ‘whump’ from deep within the cave as the dynamite at the back went off. The sound of the explosions began to increase in both tempo and audibility as the explosives closer to the entrance began to go off. Standing outside of the cave as we were meant that we didn’t see much of the show. Just a few flashes of fire from within the cave followed by an a lot of dust shooting straight out. After the smoke had cleared, metaphorically speaking, the entire entrance to the cave had collapsed, leaving just a pile of mismatched rocks as the only evidence that an entire slavery operation once existed here.
Turning away from the ruins I approached the dogs, who were staring at their destroyed home in shock. All eyes focused on me as I approached though. I suppose I may have looked fairly intimidating to them, with Iron and Summer at my back. I had taken down their entire operation, defeated their champion, freed their prisoners and taken out their boss. I felt pretty good about it overall.
“Listen guys, here’s what’s going to happen. You're going to leave this place. You're going to start a new mine. You're going to be honest, hardworking dogs for the rest of your days. You're going to trade nicely with any ponies nearby. You're going to be respectable and upstanding canines who may one day redeem themselves for all this. And if you decide that it might be easier to slip into your old ways, then me and my friends here will find you. And we will come up with a dozen different ways to rip your heart out and show it to you. Trust me, I can get very creative when I want to. Understand?”
The dogs all nodded fearfully.
“Brilliant! Now then, you there. What’s your name?”
“H…Howler, sir”
“Very good. Howler, I’ve got some bad news. Redtooth is dead. I know, it’s a crying shame. But this might actually be good news for you…maybe. You see I’m electing you as the new Alpha. You’ll have all the power and responsibility that comes with such a position. The pack is going to follow you now, so they all look to you for guidance. And should you guide them poorly well…”
Iron Will cracked his knuckles, adding just the right amount of intimidation to my threat. He’s good, I wonder if they have to teach you how to be so scary. Maybe there’s a seminar I could take.
After being released the dogs took off across the plain with their metaphorical and, I realised, their literal tails between their legs. The ponies decided to set up camp here for the day so that any wounds could be seen to and we could all rest. Revolutions are tiring work. A small camp was swiftly erected, mainly consisting off a couple of fires and plenty of bed rolls.
I sat with my back to one of the carts, leaning against its wooden surface. I had been pleased to see that my pipe had survived all my tumbling about. It was now hanging limply from one side of my mouth, smoke rising from the cheerfully burning tobacco in the end. In my hands I held my broken off horn. I wasn’t really sure how I felt about it. Sure it was a recent addition to me but it was still part of me. I was still considering it, turning it over in my hands, when a voice nearly made me drop it.
“How you feeling?” Summer hand managed to sneak up on me whilst I was lost in my inspection.
“Strangely unsymmetrical, yourself?”
“I’m fine, glad to be out of there.” She lay down next to me, hooves folding up underneath her. Evidently Zende had given her something for her limp. He’d tried to give me something for the scratches on my face but I had threatened to stab him if he came any closer. I’d had quite enough of his medicine for one day.
“You know, when a minotaur loses a horn it is traditional to forge them into a mighty weapon. It is said that a horn weapon always knows its true owner, and will find a way to return to them if lost.” Iron Will had also approached now and was leaning quite casually against the cart, the wood letting out a groan as he placed his weight on it.
I looked at the horn again, turning it and examining it from every angle.
“I don’t know, I’m not really one for weapons. Though I admit they can be necessary. I’m just a more subtle kind of guy.”
“Yeah, we saw some examples of your subtlety today. Where did you learn to pick locks by the way? It isn’t a skill most honest hardworking ponies know.” Summer inquired, her eyes narrowing slightly.
I took my pipe out of my mouth and blew a ring of smoke around her face before replying
“It’s a good thing that I am neither honest, hardworking or a pony. Otherwise you lot would be pretty screwed, wouldn’t you?”
“I suppose” She admitted “But then why aren’t you out there celebrating and claiming your glory?”
“I told you, I’m a subtle kind of guy. I can make people focus on me when I’m on stage but outside of that I’d rather go unnoticed. It makes it much easier to do dishonest things if no one is looking at you.” She snorted at this, clearly not happy with me. Oh well, at least Iron seemed amused as he let out a deep chuckle at our back and forth.
“So how ‘bout it kid? Want me to forge you a horn weapon?” He asked.
“You know how to use a forge?”
“Of course I do! Minotaur’s are the finest metalworkers in all the world! Any town blacksmith would be honoured to have my presence grace his forge!” He declared boisterously.
“All right then big guy, see what you can do.” I tossed the horn up to him.
“Zende says we’re heading towards White Tail. A group this size will travel slowly so it will probably take us a couple of days to get there. They have a smithy there though. Nice guy. Should be able to get him to allow me to borrow his forge for a bit.”
We lapsed into silence, observing the ponies we had saved settling down for the night. I noticed that on the other side of the fire there were a group of foals that refused to settle down. The excitement of the day was too much for them and they were running around, hyperactive, completely out of control of the adults looking after them. Deciding that I wouldn’t be able to get a good night's sleep with so many annoying children nearby I elected to do something about it.
I stood up and reached into the cart I had just been leaning against, rummaging around for a minute before I found the item I had seen a stallion pack in earlier that day. It was a guitar, old and worn, but serviceable. I examined the instrument and made some quick adjustments until I was satisfied with the sound produced.
Stepping quietly over to a seat on the other side of the fire, close enough so that I could be seen and heard by the foals but not so close that I would look like I pedophile. After taking another puff of my pipe and blowing out a smoke ring I began to play a lullaby.
The foals seemed to have settled down, my song helping to put them at peace. Sure it may not have been the most appropriate lullaby and maybe it wasn’t the best thing to smoke around children as it might give them ideas. Judging by the glares I was getting from a number of the foals parents they agreed with this sentiment.
Oh well, I’m like a cornucopia of ungiven fucks right now and am way too tired to offload some of them onto judgmental parents. After replacing the guitar back in the cart I found it I trudged off to my bedroll and collapsed for the night.
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And that's it. The end of the introductary story arc 'Wild Card'. Not to worry though, the tale will continue.
This introduction actually took way longer than I originally intended, almost double as many chapters, but I'm happy with how it turned out in the end. I got the characters introduced that needed to be, got them built up a bit, plenty of action and jokes. Even managed to get a couple of songs in there. Definitely my best work...so far.
I hope you continue to enjoy Aces adventures as he bumbles his way through one unimaginable horror after another.
Barrel-of-fun