//------------------------------// // Chapter 17 - The Madman // Story: The Lost Pegasus // by J8ck78 //------------------------------// Fiona was speechless. Standing in front of her was Jack, but that impossible. She herself saw Jack shot multiple times by the controlled Officers, and then when his Cruiser exploded on the Highway. He handcuffed the officers he had knocked out together and grabbed some of their ammo as to better help himself. He also grabbed one of their radios and held up to his ear. “Yes! Still works. This will help.” Fiona disregarded his comment and just stared at him. He attached the radio to his armor and adjusted it so. He looked to her, but she was blankly starring at him as if she was looking at a ghost. “What?” he asked. “How are you alive? We saw you die!” she yelled exasperated . “I did die. I've been dead for quite some time.” “Then how are you right here?” “I'm a zombie, I guess,” he chuckled. “Zombie?” shrieked Fiona. “BRAAAIIIINS,” groaned Jack. Fiona froze in fear as Jack just laughed at his dark joke. “Sorry, I couldn't resist. Zombie's all I got for describing how I am alive again. I know I was dead, I was at the pearly gates and everything.” “Then how are you here?” she asked rigidly. “From his mahogany desk the Great King Yemma said I have unfinished business on Earth and sent me back. Showed up here naked though.” “What?” came a confused Fiona. “Exactly what I said,” Jack answered with a equally confused look on his face. “How are you dressed like this?” “Found that SWAT truck I forced off the road and took some of the equipment from it. Then, for some reason, I felt compelled to walk out here. Good thing I did too! Probably would have never found you guys.” Fiona looked at him silent, not knowing exactly what to say. Jack looked to her and smiled the best he could, but it did little. He looked around, scratched his chin, and just shrugged. “So, where exactly were you guys headed to before I scared you by accident.” “We- we- we were going to a old mansion somewhere around here in this forest.” “Oh that place? Why?” “You know of it?” “Every Halloween or so, we'll get strange reports of some ritual going on up there. All the more reason for me to hate Halloween. Come on, it's not far from here.” “What about the others?” “Well, with you around, hopefully they wont go running off. Knew I should have used my shield hand instead of the grenade launcher to lift my visor...” Jack lowered his visor back down and nodded to Fiona. She slowly nodded back in response before Jack readied his Launcher. He walked off stiffly, and while she was reluctant, Fiona followed him. At the very least she wouldn't be alone in these scary woods. She looked down to the Police Officers cuffed together and got a shiver down her spine. “What if more of them find us?” “I'll shoot them,” said Jack holding up his Launcher. “Well, they're going to shoot at me first? They're looking for me!” Jack pondered on it for a moment, then got a idea looking at the two officers. ---- Lou skidded along the ground after Discord tried to attack. He was more powerful than her, she would give him that. However, she was faster, and currently, slightly more cunning thanks to his over confidence. Still, even with all these advantages, every time she got near him now he would just as easily strike at her, a tear in the back of her dress and a scratch in her armor a constant reminder to that. From atop a pile of metal and rubble he had created, he dared her to come after her, mocking her. Gripping her blade, she looked at him ready for anything he could through at him. Smiling, she faked a lunge forward as a geyser of hot water and steam blew forward from the ground, capable of scalding her in seconds. Stepping back, another shot out. With a rumble at her feet, she leaped into the air as it erupted from beneath her feet, and following fast. Looking to the sky, she saw a cloud, and remembered back to the first episode of My little Pony, and grew a devilish grin. Just when the Geyser was about to engulf her, the human embodiment of all Nightmares disappeared into thin air. Discord was smarter than that, and looked around, wondering where she teleported to. His gaze scanned the horizon looking for that blue mass of darkness or a glint of her armor. Then, he saw it, on a building in a distance. With a snap of his fingers and a scowl on his face, the whole thing erupted into a massive fireball. With a wave of his other hand, it flew over toward him, shrinking down as it did. Soon, it was right in front of him the size of a soccer ball. He breathed on it and in seconds to looked like a snow globe. He peered in expecting to see a little Nightmare Lou standing there not knowing what was going on. “You missed Discord.” Discord turned around to what looked like the night sky floating in the breeze. Stars shined and twinkled as it floated there, until Lou appeared out of it and slammed her blade down on his head. Discord could feel it slicing through his skin, but once it hit his skull, it stopped. Even this blade couldn't pierce his skull, but the force kept pushing until Discord found himself in a daze laying on the side of a fire truck. He looked up to see Nightmare Lou slowly walking toward him, blade in hand ready to strike. He looked on in fear and snapped his fingers. To Lou's left a geyser of steam and rock erupted from the ground. All it did was reshape her form that was hit into the night sky. The same thing happened on her right as well. Where every Discord tried to strike, Lou just dissipated into a cloud of night sky, not letting it hit her. Looking around, he saw the mounted spray nozzle on the fire truck, and aimed it at Lou, yet all it did was fly right through the Nightmare Discord had created. She looked to him with a evil smile. “Having fun?” she asked him. Discord just smiled. “Oh yes. While you were here attacking me, why don't you see what your sister and your friends are up against.” Lou looked to him confused, until Discord grabbed some of the water that laid around him from his miserable attack, and formed a screen. In it, Lou could see her sister, the Doctor, and Derpy desperately fighting off Daleks. “Daleks? But how?” Discord just gave a evil laugh. Lou watched on in horror as they were slowly starting lo lose ground and fall back toward each other. Even together, there was too many Daleks to handle, there had to be hundreds of them. One smashed into a fuel truck that exploded, nearly blinding her. Outside the water screen she heard the explosion, and she knew she had to go help. “Your choice. Kill me, or your friends are killed. Take your pick?” sneered Discord. Lou looked to him eyes ablaze. He wasn't going to win out on this one. With a wave of her own hand, the Fire trucks hose constricted around Discord and squeezed tight. The back of it fused with the truck preventing all hopes of escape for the master of Chaos as he struggled to move. “Stay here. I'll be back to deal with you.” Discord looked on, smoke pouring out of his nostrils from the rage built up inside of him. He didn't like to be cheated out of his own game. Lou just smiled and flew off to save the others. ---- The cave had worked perfectly. It was smaller than they had hoped, but it was working tremendously. The Police Chopper had seen them go in and the cops had followed. After that, it was divide and conquer. The floor was littered with the knocked out bodies of the Police and those that managed to scramble out were running for their lives. The best one of the whole fight was when one was grabbed by April's lasso, which she happened to forget she brought, and hogtied on the floor. Dash, Diane, and Reine then heaved him out of the cave into three more who were trying to enter. They didn't know what to make of it, until Twilight used a spell to teleport them away into a nearby stream she saw. While their spirits were high seeing there hadn't been a Officer to enter in five minutes, there thoughts returned to Fiona. If she was lost in the woods, she was sadly no match against the entirety of the pursuing Police force. “Maybe we should go look for her,” mentioned a concerned Reine. “They could be waiting outside for us to leave,” spoke Dash. “But she's our friend!” argued back Reine. “I know but-” Dash was cut off by a explosion. They snapped their heads outside to see a horrific sight. That grenade launching psycho was walking up, firing his deadly ammo. They watched from their concealed positions as he walked toward the cave, firing into the trees. “Why is he firing at his friends?” asked Diane. “I- I- I don't know,” spoke Tara. “He's crazy! He doesn't need a reason,” yelled Dash. One of the officers ran forward with a shotgun and blasted him point blank with it. The pellets flew out his back along with some blood. He fell over as the victorious officer looked on. The controlled cop was about to march into the cave, when the body of the fallen maniac moved behind him. He stood up, completely unharmed, unhurt, and not even bleeding from his wound. He grabbed the Policeman and spun him around. The Officer gave out a yell of fear as he saw the undead man take him out with one punch. The Office fell to the floor ans the maniac looked to his stomach where he had been shot. Instantly, he pulled out a pistol from the fallen officer, pointed it right below his head and fired. The bullet went out the opposite side along, and the man staggered back. Yet, he did not fall over, he kept standing there. He cheered a muffled cheer of victory as he realized his new found power. “What the? What is that thing?!” screamed Reine. “That thing's immortal!” yelled April. “It's a monster!” shuddered Diane. “What has Discord done?” spoke a worried Twilight. “What do we do?' asked Tara. “Isn't it obvious!? We need to get out of here now!” shouted Dash. With that he turned his head sharply and looked into the cave. He seemed to be straining his vision to see in until he recoiled in surprise. The girls stood there in fear as they knew he saw them. At any moment now he was going to walk in and kill them all and there was no way they could beat him. He gave a whistle and signaled to someone behind him, and the 6 inside waited for the worst. Emerging from the trees was what appeared to be another Police Officer. A female one at that, and she nervously walked up toward the cave entrance as the 6 inside wondered what was going on. He had just shot through a full army of the controlled cops and now he was suddenly helping one? Either way they feared the worst as both slowly approached the cave. As the female Cop got closer, she removed her hat and let down her hair, and to their surprised, it was pink! It took them a moment to realize who it was, but when they did, it was quite the shock. “What the! Fiona!?” shouted Tara. “Hi,” she said quietly. “What are you doing dressed as a Cop?” came Reine. “Oh, he said it was good camouflage,” Fiona said, pointing to the heavily armed Riot Officer behind her. The officer waved his hand hello as the rest emerged from the cave. They were a little nervous of him and kept their distance. He almost seemed to chuckle at their reactions to him. “Isn't he trying to kill us?” spoke Reine. “Oh no. He's actually helping us,” answered Fiona. “Who is he?” came Twilight. “Hi there,” greeted Jack lifting his visor. They looked on in shock. He just laughed at their reaction. “I take it you saw that display with the pistol and my head huh?” They both looked on silently. “Oh boy, here we go again,” finished Jack.