//------------------------------// // Chapter 15: Family matters pt.5 // Story: Era of Harmony // by Gambling_Sam //------------------------------// *Nicholas POV* We ran into the throne room to find it completely trashed. There was wedding decorations everywhere and a bunch of cacoons lining the walls. At the center of the room was a changeling that seemed to be balancing on a cloud. To the things left, there is a big cloud just sitting there. Twilight ran up to him immediately. "What have you done with my brother and friends?" She demands. The guy chuckles and motions the cloud to his left to disappear. As it vanishes, Everyone lets put a gasp. All of twilights friends, a unicorn dressed fancy (probably Twilights brother) and a tall changeling appear. That must be Chrysalis. I thought to myself. I noticed that all of their eyes were completely black, as if their souls were completely missing. Cadence stepped towards him, shaking with rage. "Who are you, and what have you done to them?" The thing smiles at her, rubbing the necklace around his neck. "Well, My changeling name is Monsoon. But when this necklace finally finishes feeding on the souls of your friends, I shall become what I once was LOOONG ago!" He tilts his head back and cackles madly as Twilights face pales. "T-their souls?" She asks as he nods. "Oh yes. you see, to bring back a vessel from Tartarus, one must give up nine souls. Eight must be magic filled, and one must have raw dark power. I have the magic vessels here, I'm just waiting for the dark one to arrive." He finishes as I step forward, motioning for the crusaders and Tak to sneak around to the cacoons and start freeing ponies. "Who's the dark one?" I ask him. He stares at me for a moment before sighing. "You haven't put it together, have you? There are only two possible candidates for that title. One that has fallen to darkness and one blessed with its power." As he finishes, Twilight starts to ponder what he said, before freezing up in realization. "That would mean you'd either need nightmare moon or..." She doesn't finish as a loud crash happens outside the castle. Monsoon turns to the window and sighs. "It seems Volt had the unlucky pull of fighting Ronin, or he wouldn't have died so fast." A smile forms on his face. "But now all the pieces are falling into place." He says as it all hits me. Ronin's the ninth vessel! I think as Cadence charges her horn, clearly had enough of Monsoon. "Enough! How dare you attack on MY wedding day!" She yells as she sends a beam at Monsoon. The beam, however, gets sucked into the necklace he's wearing. He simply laughs. "Is that all you can do?" He says as the doors behind us open and Raiden, Ronin, and Celestia barge in, the middle one with new wings. Ronin looks at Monsoon and takes several steps towards him. "Ronin NOOO!!!" I yell, but its too late. A black energy comes out of the necklace and hits Ronin, circling his body. He falls to his knees and lets out a yell of pain as his eyes start to go black. Several yells from the other's that are soulless can be heard as Twilight and Cadence runs up to them. Every black eyed person except Ronin collapses. Monsoon laughs. "Now, the process can be complete!" His body becomes mist as it flies into the darkness surrounding Ronin. Ronin lets out a louder yell as we all get pushed back a bit ny the raw power in the room. "Hurry, we must stop the ritual before he comes back!" Celestia yells over all the noise. Without question, Raiden runs up to the black ball surrounding Ronin and starts to hack at it with his axes. Yet it doesn't even leave a scratch. He takes a step back and frowns. "What do we do now?" He says, turning to Celestia. "That's MY brother in there!" They proceed to argue about what to do, but are interrupted by a loud laugh as the black ball disappears, leaving behind....the guy from my dreams. He looks up at us and laughs. "Hello Equestria!!! Dadiolus is back!!!!!" He spins around happily, before turning to face Celestia. "You may have to others back." He sneers with a snap of his fingers as the others get their normal eyes back, each one slowly recovering from the ordeal. Raiden looks at Dadiolus with rage. "What the hell did you do to my brother?" He growls as Dadiolus laughs before answering. "Oh, Ronin's soul is lost forever. I didnt even try to salvage it!" He says as he lets out a cackle. "I'd be worried about you lot a taaad more than him. At least he won't be in everlasting pain forever!" He yells as he sends a bolt of black lightning at us. I quickly throw up a sheild to block it, but as soon as it hits, I'm put to one knee. Celestia takes a step forward as she looks at me. "Little one, go help your friends save those innocent ponies, let Raiden and I stop this fiend." She commands. I nod and run over to the crusaders and Tak, who are struggling to get some ponies free from the goop. *********** Raiden POV *********** I find myself facing down the man who has been the source of all crap in the first place. Celestai stands beside me, ready to fight for her home. Dadiolus looks at us with a bored smile. "Let us see if you are strong enough to defy destiny!" He growls as I rush him, axes in hand. He ducks underneath a leftward swing by me and teleports behind Celestia, hitting her with a beam of magic that putsbher in a wall. She recovers and lets loose a beam if her own, except when he goes to teleport out of way this time, my axe is there waiting for him. I cut straight through his shoulder and sever his left arm from his body. He yells out and jumps away, patching up the hole in his body with a spell, then pulls a scythe out with his remaining hand. He charges forward and clashes with me halfway, the recoil sending us both back several feet. As he rushes forward again, he is hit by a green beam from the side, sending him to the ground. I look over and see Chrysalis standing there, though she is being supported by Tak. "Why are you helping?" I ask as she walks over to me. Celestia teleports over and gives her a raised eyebrow as she answers. "Two reasons. One, this fiend has taken the body of my recent consort and I would like it back as soon as possible. Second, I need to ask him something." She growls as she steps towards Dadiolus. "Where the hell are my children at?! I cannot sense any of them at all!" She yells at him. Dadiolus smiles at her. "Oh, to charge up this amulet I had to sever your link to the hive mind, which in turn caused all of your children to go into shock." Chrysalis's eyes widen as he starts to laugh. "I think you have realized what has happened, yes?" She is now shaking with rage. "You killed ALL of them!!!!" she yells out. Tak gasps and Celestia dawns a look of hatred on her face as Dadiolus laughs. "Yes, it was truly the best option, after all. See now no one has to worry abou-GAAH!!" Dadiolus is cut off as Chrysalis rears back and impales him with her horn. Deciding to finish the job, I run forward. "Chrysalis, duck!" I yell, throwing my axe. She teleports out of the way as the axe cuts his head straight off. The body is immediately covered in darkness as the body faded to dust. A loud peircing yell is heard as a black light shines out od the darkness. You may have defeated me, but your brother Ronin shall never be the same again! It yells before being hit by a beam from Celestia. the shadows dissapate and Ronin is left in their wake, though something is wrong. "Brother?" I call out as he gets up. Chrysalis takes a step towards him. "Ronin, are you.." She doesnt get to finish her sentence as he draws his blade and points it at her. his eyes are still black, and a frown is on his face. "What do you care if I'm alright, Queenie?" Ronin growls, his voice gravely and garbled. "You lied to me about the war, and you lied to me about the ponies. Hell! what we had was probably a lie as well." He says that last part as a tear goes fown his left eye. "What happened to him?" I ask Celestia, barely believing my eyes. She turns to me with a sorrow filled expression. "That monster of a man took all the love out of your brother to use his body, and now only pain and anger remain in him." She says as Nicholas walked over. He stopped at what she said and ran straight to me. "Raiden, Ronin will be ok, right?" He asked, but before I could answer, Chrysalis been knocked backwards by a kick from Ronin. She looked at him with a mix if anger and sorrow. "Yes! I admit that I had originally planned to use you, Ronin. But as the days went by, I found myself enjoying your company. I had seen the way Tak got around you, so lifelike and full of energy, that I slowly realized that I loved you. SO DON'T YOU DARE TRY TO TELL ME THAT I DON'T LOVE YOU, YOU IDIOT!!" She screeched out the last part, tears starting to stream from her eyes. Ronin's face went dark with emotionless rage. "Enough!!! its time I ended the pain this pain for good! NO ONE WILL HURT ME AGAIN!!!" he roared as he charged Chrysalis, ready to eviscerate her upon reach. She charged her horn and charged forward. "Chrysalis, Wait!" Nicholas yelled as a flash of green light blinded everyone for a second. When it dimmed, Ronin was being hugged by chrysalis, who had teleported herself into his arms, forcing him to drop the blade. "I don't care what you do to me after, but your going to listen to me!" She yelled at him, still hugging him. He stopped moving, letteing her say her piece. "Today, I have lost almost everything. Most of my people are dead, and no doubt the hive was destroyed by Monsoon after we left, since all of the unborn changelings are gone as well. But I WILL NOT LOSE YOU AS WELL!!!!" The next part came out as a low whisper. "Please Ronin, come back to me..." She lost all composure and started cyring right there. Ronin sat there, unmoving. "Damn it!" I growl, tears in my eyes. I feel a wing on my back. I turn to see Celestia smiling. "Look closely, Raiden." She said, nodding towards the two. I look and see Ronins arms slowly go around Chrysalis in a hug. She stops crying immediately and looks at his face. His eyes slowly start to go back to normal as he smiles at Chrysalis. "Heh, guess you got tired of that Maleficent routine, huh?" He smirks as Chrysalis, who although doesn't know who maleficent is, does know he's pulling her leg, Immediately teleports put of his grasp and reappears a couple of feet away from him. "Ronin, you asshole!" She yells as she tackles him with, kissing him passionately. Tak lets out a cheer as he runs up and tackles his mother. Ronin gets up and walks right up to us. I pull him into a big hug. "Welcome back brother!" I tell him, close to tears myself. He hugs me back hard and turns to Celestia. To my, and her suprise, he kneels. "Your majesty, I have wronged not only you but everyone else in this country as well. I will take any punishment necessary." Celestia looks at him with a smirk. "Well, since your begging to be punished, then I have one job for you." She says as Ronin looks up. "You must work off your debt to us helping our military grow. We were heavily unprepared for this attack, and with your help, I think we can keep this from happening again." Ronin looks up happily. "Celestia...thank you." He says as he pulls her into a hug. Although suprised, she doesn't pull away. A throat being cleared behind them causes them to seperate. I turn to see Cadence and Shining standing there, the latter eyeing Ronin. Cadence smiles weakly at Celestia. "Aunty, I think it would be best if we postponed the wedding for a week, just so we could get everything fixed and set up." She says as Celestia nods in agreement. Shining walks up to Ronin and stares at him. The two gaze at each other for what seems like hours, neither blinking. Then Ronin puts put his hand. "Your that unicorn that almost kicked my butt a couple of weeks ago, right? nice to finally meet ya." Shining looks at the hand, before smiling and taking it. "Likewise, but I overheard Celestia talking to you about our military. does that mean you'll be assisting our offensive line?" He says as Celestia butts in. "More like he will be a part of it altogethor, For he will be given authority over it." All of us go wide-eyed at this, especially Ronin. "What!!!! Where the hell will I be living at?" He asks, but Celestia puts a hoof up. "We shall speak of this later, for now. let us celebrate the victory." She said as a pinkie pie, who like her friends had fully recovered from the soul spell, overheard her and started corraling people out towards the courtyard. I rolled my eyes and followed, sure that the pony was planning some sort of party to celebrate.