//------------------------------// // Chapter 2: New Nightmares and Old Habits // Story: Shadow of the Past, Brought Forward Once More // by Super Ponyman //------------------------------// (Canterlot City, Skyline) Canterlot City was a tourist city, and sunset watching was a big attraction for many of it’s residents. The way the blazing summer sun crept behind the mountains that held the Everfree back was oddly beautiful to them, seeing nature at its most beautiful. With a last gleam of brightness, The evening sun fell beyond the mountains overlooking Canterlot City, leaving most with a feeling of love for they’re lovely sunset views. However, Savior, the Guardian of Canterlot and Defender of the People, had always hated sunsets. To him, a former native of The world known as Equestria Beta, Realm of the Power Ponies and other such stories, Sunsets represented the dying of light and the coming of nighttime. The sight of the sun setting seemed much like some ancient god had turned his eye away from the world for the next 12 hours. And during those 12 hours, every being to afraid to face the light of justice came crawling out of the shadows, eager to continue whatever dark schemes they wished to partake in. He was once called Dr. Oculus Bright Mind, a experimental military scientist developing new weaponry in order to combat the growing threat of the numerous beings that had come out of Equestrias history to try and dominate the world. He was not the original Ironheart, that honor or dishonor belonged to another Bright Mind who created the moniker of Ironheart, named so for the loud thumping metal body he was bound to. Despite his incredibly powerful body and numerous weapons, along with a will to challenge the universe, the original Ironhearts mind was terribly scarred by decades of abuse and neglect of his talents. Whatever sanity he had left when he preformed his transfer from his organic body into that cold metal shell had quickly been erased, leaving a mind running on pure instinct and reactions to a hostile world around him. The first Ironheart gained his fame as the “Night Terror” of his worlds Manehattan, swooping from the skies and causing carnage like a demon from the blackest pit of Tartarus. He tore a path of carnage across the city before six brave mares stood up to him and attempted to save him from a path that would have led to the destruction of all. He Refused. Ironheart was broken inside, he felt empty and no longer wished to live, but he wanted to raze a city as his final message... so he had to be stopped no matter the cost. Despite all the compassion that the Princesses showed for his plight, He couldn’t live with himself anymore and destroyed himself for good. Savior, known as Ironheart Beta, was well on this path, having started his path at about the same time as the original, although it was thankfully stopped by Mare-Do-Well and the Power Ponies. Unlike the first Ironheart, he retained his core value of justice for all, and it was what saved him from the same destruction that took the original one away. Now, Savior was given the task of embodying what Ironheart needed to stand for. Absolute Justice for the People, and he would not let his other self down. Perhaps that version of him would be proud of what he became, of how he dragged the Ironheart title out of the darkness and into the light. Who knows? Savior clearly didn’t, and even if he could ask the being himself, he’d probably get a bullet shot at him for even resembling the original. In his journey to uphold that value, Savior took his iconic name and repainted himself both physically and mentally to seem more... welcoming to the common person. Many of his more dangerous weapons, such as his Lightning Blade, Flame Spouts, and Plasma Claws were locked away behind a “Lethal Force” mode that could only be activated by someone other than him. A Self Shutdown sequence was also added to his armor, to subdue him if he was to lose control. This was done as a sign of trust between the him and the people he was protecting. He would not make the same mistake as the first Ironheart by going at it alone... so he made a few friends in this city he now watched over. He quickly became friends with the Fire-clad Warrior known as Burning Star when he had arrived to deal with a monster known as Black Sun, who Savior had also been following across worlds. Strangely, Savior was one of the only ones not caught off guard when Prince Eclipsio betrayed them and attacked. If he learned anything from his study of the Prince’s history on Burning Star’s world, it would be out of character for Eclipsio to not try and start a conflict. The Prince was a warmonger, he thrived in conflict. Being a Demon Prince of War disguised as a Peace loving Alicorn probably didn’t help him. Savior probably figured that the ordering of his own sisters kidnapping was a desperate play for starting a war between worlds, or at least it would finally give him the opportunity to overthrow them and put Equestria back on its Imperialist Routes and conquer the world. Either or, would result in mutual and near total destruction, which would make the Prince all too happy to see what he described as “Useless Humans” and “Pathetic Ponies” die short and painful deaths. All the while Eclipiso would laugh and gather more power off the bloodshed, due to being a Demon Prince that thrives off suffering and conflict. To say Savior was furious upon finding that out would be like saying Burning Star had “some” mental issues. It would be one hell of an understatement. Thankfully, Savior didn’t have to wait long for the Prince to slip up, and in truly idiotic fashion no less! Naming your lethal enforcer Black Sun, after a phenomenon that you, the Prince of Eclipses, can cause by turning the sun black during an ECLIPSE?! Not to mention, creating said servant out of the husk of a dead boy that had significant emotional attachment to the people you are actively trying to KILL?! Savior didn’t know whether to laugh or pity the being for such a hilariously specific detail that led to his downfall and subsequent erasure from reality. Although, he did suspect He would return eventually. Call it paranoia, leftover from his time as Ironheart Beta, To think an enemy is truly defeated After one loss would be foolish and short sighted. But he could not fault the humans, if they wanted to forget he existed, he would let them. Perhaps, that would be the true death of Prince Eclipsio? Being wiped off the face of the multiverse and forgotten like a bad dream. It seemed fitting, in the end. (Red Light District, Griffonstone Houses) But back to the present... Savior was currently sitting atop a rooftop in the Red Light District, specifically one of the buildings that made up the largely impoverished Griffonstone Houses. He was on stakeout, keeping an ocular sensor active for anything that was out of the ordinary. Despite liking the life that he had with Sunset after she quietly welcomed him into her home in the suburbs, he felt at home in the alleyways and drudges of the city. This was his world. It was a world of violence, pain, and crime. And despite casting aside his old personality as the second Ironheart, Savior couldn’t help but feel a slight twinge of sadistic joy whenever he crashed down on a gang meet up and started bashing heads and breaking limbs. He would at first give them a chance to surrender and give up peacefully, like any man... machine... thing should we’re they presented with a situation like this. If not, well... let’s just say that Savior had enough money from helping to rebuild the city that paying a couple suits for “excessive force” would rarely trouble him. Savior lept from his perch atop the apartment and sat atop the ledge of an ancient chapel in the complex, his newly upgraded Savior 2nd Gear armor making him reflect his surroundings thanks to implementation of a miniature illusion spell core given to him by Sunset. For an outside viewer observing the building, all they would see is another statue of the gargoyle like creatures on the chapel roof, completely unaware that one of those wasn’t a statue. On his first mission with this newly upgraded armor, Savior despised its general asthetic, being modeled by Shining and Sunset as a fusion of Black Sun’s Archdaemon Combat Suit and Savior’s original Ironheart V1 suit. With a couple of design choices from Sunset’s friend Rarity however, as well as a few magical implants thanks to Sunset, he created the Savior 2nd Gear. This new armor set surpassed both Black Sun’s Archdaemon Combat Suit and even the original Ironheart Alpha’s armor by almost tenfold. No longer was the threat of running on only a nuclear core and risking explosion a threat, thanks to the hybrid Arcane-Nuclear battery that sat in his power core. With it drawing magic directly from the weave and combining it very carefully with the atomic energy in his suit, creating a powerful energy shell that coated him in an extra layer of invisible armor. Not to mention the newly upgraded armor plates itself, having his old Carbon-Titanium and Magisteel being replaced with a replica of Ironheart Alpha’s Shell, laced with arcane circuits to allow magic from the battery to reinforce it. Savior wasn’t sure how durable it was until Twilight lost control of Midnight Sparkle during a training exercise and hurled him through several acres of the Everfree Forest’s trees and into the side of a abandoned Oil Tank, causing a massive explosion. Savior survived unharmed, and promptly flew back after putting out the fire with his new Foam Grenades. His thrusters in his wings had been heavily upgraded, now being able to reach speeds nearing 1,500 mph, it wasn’t uncommon to unleash Sonic booms whenever he took off towards a target. The shockwaves would certainly help in fights, as taking a fist moving Mach 2 would cause some serious damage. While many of his more lethal weapons had been locked behind his alternate ”Lethal Force” mode. his subduing tools of nano-fiber Garrote Wire, automatic taser dart launcher, Electrified Nightsticks, and deplorable flash bangs were all heavily upgraded. His HUD inside his Raptor-like helmet was also improved, granting him better clarity to his Infared, UV, and night vision settings. His sensors were also given a general boost, thanks to some notes Shadow Armor left behind. Over the six months time between the Canterlot Tower collapse and now, Savior grew to love this suit. The armored protector heard voices below his perch, and peered down to see two young men leading a group of people into the makeshift chapel he was sitting on top of. These Chapels were new structures that had been springing up all over the city, and were dedicated to the study of the Arcane Arts. To Savior, this wasn’t inherently a bad thing, but humanity had just awoken again to magic after several thousand years of being ignorant of it. It was only a matter of time before some idiots let that power go to their heads and start a cult or something like that. Savior crawled silently to the bell tower of the chapel, hearing the tell tale muttering of magical chants from below. Whoever was down there was speaking in almost complete gibberish. Whilst Savior was fluent in multiple languages of magic, due to him once being a student of it when he was still of flesh, most of the words he was hearing weren’t related to anything he had studied. Savior ran the chant through his internal computer in his suit and the translated audio played into his audio receptors. ”Ancient Ones from beyond our realm, We, the Awakened ones call you from your prisons. We call you to send us a sign. A sign of your greatness! A sign called by our beacon.” Savior immediately began recording what seemed to be a ritual of some sort. His hands were ready to ignite into his Stun Gauntlets and shut down this whole thing, but his own morbid curiosity was getting the better of him. Several humans, most of them young men, were clad in dark blue hoods and had etchings of arcane glyphs inscribed along the hems of their robes. They were all kneeling in a circle in the dilapidated building that they had arranged as some sort of make-shift altar to whatever dark works they sought to bring into fruition. Strange runes were carved into the floor in a circular pattern, and red splotches of what Savior knew was blood. The chanting continued, and the head cultist exclaimed, “We have seen your incarnations. We have seen with our own eyes what you can create. We have seen the one who calls himself the Embodiment of Fire and Rebirth and the Swallower of the Sun and Moon. Their actions have inspired us, opened our eyes to your glorious incarnations of fire and darkness!” Savior thought for a moment on those words before he realized who they were talking about and quietly face-palmed whilst thinking, ”Oh lovely, Burning Star and his entourage drew too much attention to themselves and have a cult now. It was unavoidable, Eclipsio did knock down a building with little effort. Sunset’s gonna love hearing about this when I get back...” He continued to think to himself while taking down his observations on his wrist mounted display. ”As of now, it seems as if this Arcanist group seems relatively weak. Nothing that is putting the fabric of space time in danger, and I doubt they are going to go full sacrificial cult.” Saviors hopeful thought died as one of the hooded figures brought in what looked to be a bound and gagged woman. ”Shit. They went full sacrificial cult...” he cursed as he prepared to intervene. ”Now! We shall call you from your prisons, Ancient Ones! With this sacrifice, I shall open the gateway to the world where your champions came to us! Let the blood of this sacrifice awaken them!” The head cultist exclaimed as he raised a jagged ritual knife above the woman’s head. As he swung the knife down, the room erupted into a shower of light and noise as Savior crashed through the roof of the building, scattering flash grenades and causing the roof to cave in, burying the exit in rubble. The head cultist shook his head free of the flash grenades and opened his hand, as lightning filled his palm he screamed, ”Brothers! It is the One That thinks himself Savior! Destroy Him Brothers!” Savior activated his targeting systems, locked on to the approaching group, and unleashed a barrage of stunning electrical bolts from his gauntlets at the screaming cultists, knocking most of them away and forcing the others to dive for cover away from the spray of electric energy. “In the name of Justice, you all all under arrest!” Savior announced, flaring his metal wings and igniting into the air above the remaining group. The cultists ignored him and let loose several fireballs and bolts of magic from their hands, Savior generated an energy shield and rushed to the floor. The impact of his heavy body sent a shockwave across the room, flooring several more enemies. The head cultist waved his hands as a large barrier arose around him and the unconscious woman, Some cultists started to lay down suppressing fire with their own magical abilities. Savior ducked behind an overturned table and bookshelf and started saying to himself, ”Well Twilight was certainly off when it came to how fast humans could learn magic! Then again, there was so much magic being used six months ago and these people probably are just imitating some of Burning Star’s simplest techniques. Better do this quickly.” Savior kicked the rubble he was hid behind forwards into the approaching crowd before running into close quarters with them, from there it was easy to dispatch them. Most of the opponents he was fighting swiped at him with bits of stone or crude knives, all of which he either parried or dinged harmlessly off his hard shell. Savior swung a roundhouse kick boosted by his leg thrusters into the group, knocking over four and hearing several bones snap as he sent another one into a wall where his body collapsed limply. One of the cultists attempted to jab his facial area with a knife, he caught his arm with his armored hand and crushed it. Savior heard more bones crack as the cultist dropped to the floor in pain before going still from a metal boot to the stomach. Savior made it past the other groups by discharging a burst of energy from his rockets as he smashed into the energy shield the head cultist put up. The lead cultist fired a ball of lightning from one hand as he sent the one holding the knife into the woman’s back area, causing her to scream in agony. Blood began to pool around the floor as the head cultist began to chant. ”By the blood of this living body! I command thee Ancient Ones, send us a champion to save our lives from this monster!” Within seconds, Savior was flung back as a dark whirlwind erupted from the magic circle, all the while the woman was floating mid air as Savior began to trade blows with the leader. Rotten books and loose parchment was ripped up into the whirling vortex. purple and red symbols began to swirl in the vortex, and crackled with arcane thunder. Savior knew whatever was happening was linked to the leader, so he had to stop him, any means necessary. With a grunt, he force self activated his Lethal Force Mode and drew his Lightning Blade, which sprung to life with a flash and crackled with several million volts of electricity, Turning the blade a bright white. The leader extended his arm and swung a blade of electrical power at Savior, who had enough and swung his Lightning Blade as his arm, cutting it cleanly off. ”Foolish Mechanical Man, you are too late! You cannot stop the process now! Savior immediately wrenched the leader’s body upwards to his face and snarled, “No, but I can stop you, maybe that will do it.” The leader had little warning as Savior impaled him on his Lightning Blade, which did slow the whirlwinds velocity, but did not dissipate it completely. The woman’s body collapsed to the floor, but the whirlwind remained, howling around like an angry tempest from the depths of Tartarus. The leader managed to cough out some words, “Hah... too late... the Ancient Ones have already arrived on this world... you cannot stop progress...” Savior gripped his neck and said, “The Ancient Ones can go screw themselves...” with a quick flick of his wrist, Savior snapped the leaders neck, letting him twitch and sputter before dying in his grasp. Savior threw the leader to the ground before diving into the whirlwind and tackled the woman’s body out of the vortex. Which caused it to sputter and explode in a flash of red light and dust. Even with his armor, Savior was both blinded and deafened by the resulting explosion, with blew him out the side of the building and into the alleyway, as well as collapsing the building on the cultist gathering, most likely killing the rest of them. “DAMN IT!” Savior cursed as he ripped his helmet open with his right hand, now caked in dirt and blood from the battle. He slammed the ground with his left, leaving a small crater. Despite the chaos and downright unpredictability of crime fighting without the aid of Police, Savior had been on a flawless record for a while, his perfectionist attitude driving him to keep getting better. This was his first failure in six months... and first killing in six months... the last one was stopping Eclipsio from destroying Canterlot Tower. Despite it being a shared burden between him and Burning Star’s group, Savior had taken it very personally. He had sworn an oath to avoid taking lives and he had just broken it out of anger. It was his duty to protect the people of Canterlot from beings that seek to overthrow the natural order, to be what Ironheart was imagined to be, and he screwed up. He screwed up big time. With all the self imposed pressure, it felt as bad as when the Tower fell... Now, another building collapsed and an innocent woman was dead, all because he couldn’t do anything about the magic ritual. As much as his cybernetic body was a blessing and a testament to the strength of his mind, he had scarified his natural form in order to obtain his new one. Along with that sacrifice came any capacity to use magic... which to a former unicorn that was an expert at the magical arts, was certainly a shock. Twilight and Sunset had attempted to restore at least his appearance to that of a human, but no matter what they did they could not unravel what force bound Savior’s soul and mind to this body. The best they could come up with was creating an illusionary spell that made him resemble a more... approachable appearance, instead of a hulking automaton smelling of smoke and exhaling cinders from his air vent of a nose, and spewing sparks from a mouth lined with metal teeth. Savior sighed and spoke to himself, ”Damn it all... i had that covered as well. I just got distracted by the ritual lingering in my mind. Next time, don’t pay attention to the ritual, just swoop in and start hitting people. If Burning Star had taught me anything in my observation of his... lessons. Don’t overthink in a fight, or make plans during one. Bad things happen, and anything that can go wrong, will.” The metallic humanoid lay back on the asphalt, thinking to himself. ”I really do wish Burning Star were here sometimes. It gets terribly lonely doing this on my own. I wonder where he went off to?” Savior sighed and closed his helmet again, the raptor like visor snapping shut and his HUD lighting up again. He swapped to Night Vision and began to search for the dead woman’s body, which had also been blown out of the building by the explosion. He saw nothing in the alleyway besides the occasional stray cat and other verminous creatures, so The armored being took to the air and began searching from above. He activated Heat Source vision, as he would notice a lack of heat from a corpse. “How far did this woman get flung? I can’t see her body anywhere.” He said as he soared over the neighborhood, trying to find any sign of the body. He eventually landed back where he started and fell to his rear, groaning into his hands. “Gah! I’m usually not this slow! Maybe I’m getting old? No, I am a machine, they don’t age. Outdated perhaps? Impossible, I created this body to be the pinnacle of engineering. What could I be missing?” Savior grumbled, lifting his head to his sensors and recalibrating them for sonar as he repeated the process. He had done this a million times in the past, on Equestria and on Earth, why wasn’t anything showing up?! Savior flew high into the air above the city and increased the power of his scanner arrays to their absolute maximum, yet still nothing was turning up. Savior sighed and said, “Well Crap... not only did I mess up the takedown, I’ve lost the body of the woman. Tonights just getting worse and worse...” As he flew back to his base of operations, Savior was thinking to himself. ”Two things don’t add up here, One... it’s not like a corpse to just straight up disappear, I saw it when I landed in the alleyway after I was flung out of the building. Two, Where did it go? Corpses just don’t get up and walk away, do they? No that’s impossible... even with all the magical things and beings from another world, I am drawing the line at the undead.” As Savior was flying away, a figure was watching from the shadows, smirking at his hasty retreat. “Yes, go. Leave this place, forget what you saw and return to your normal, everyday life. Enjoy it while it lasts...” The figure then broke into a manic smile, showing razor sharp teeth. “Because it will soon be over, when I consume all in my path.”