Third Person POV
"Sombra," the figure called out.
"What?" Sombra said sternly.
"Are you done with your next creation?" the figure said.
"I am, and I have a new plan," Sombra said.
"A new plan?" the figure asked.
"Yes. Rather than going directly to the Elements in order to kill them, I shall give them a reason to give up," Sombra explained.
"Oh. And what will that be?" the figure asked to which Sombra chuckled evilly.
"Let's just say...that I have new targets in mind."
DeffBwade's POV
"Yeah. What does your cutie mark represent? I mean, a smile crossed by two swords? It has to be an awesome story to which you got it," Smolder said.
What is my cutie mark supposed to represent?
"It obviously has to do something with your role as the Apex Legion."
I know, but what? That I'm such an awesome gamer? That I'm good with a sword? That I like to smile a lot?
"I don't know. There's many possibilities."
Face it, I'm screwed. I got nothing to tell my friends, and they're gonna tell the professors, and they're gonna start to get suspicious, and they're gonna tell Princess Celestia, and she's gonna send me to the sun, and I'm gonna end up-
SLAP
"Stop fucking panicking!"
Sigh. Thanks. I needed that.
"No problem man."
Wait. Why did you add a slap sound effect? You know you're not physically here?
"I dunno."
But, anyway, back to the issue at hand. What am I gonna tell my friends when they ask again what my cutie mark represents? There's no way they'll believe me if I say that I'm a leader of an army of gamers. Come on DeffBwade think, how do I find out what my cutie mark represents? What my destiny is.
"I don't think you're gonna find the answer. At least, not by yourself."
That's true, but who am I gonna ask? I can't ask my friends, professors, nor Counselor Starlight. It'd need to be someone who's an expert on cutie marks.
"There is one person that could help you. Actually, there's three."
Who?
"Remember when we went to Sweet Apple Acres, and we met Applebloom?"
Y-yeah...why do you ask-oh! I'm dumb.
"I know."
I flew over to Sweet Apple Acres in search of Applebloom. I couldn't find her anywhere on the farm though. As I flew over the trees, I saw below a treehouse. God I wish I had one of those things when I was young. Curious, I flew down and was able to hear voices belonging to fillies. One was a rather squeaky, high pitched voice, and another was a tomboyish voice. The third voice belonged to-
"Groan. I'm so bored. There's nothing to do today," I heard Applebloom complain.
"We could go to the lake and observe the fishes," the squeaky voice suggested.
"But observing fishes is so boring. That's more Fluttershy's field," the tomboyish voice said, "Applebloom, are you we don't have any clients today?"
"I'm sure," Applebloom said.
"Not a single pony has a cutie mark problem?" the squeaky voice said.
Dont worry little ones. I shall slay the vile beast known as boredom.
"Um, I have a cutie mark problem," I called.
"WHAT?!" they all said simultaneously as I heard the sound of hooves scampering. The door to the treehouse slammed opened, revealing three fillies. One of them was indeed Applebloom. The second was a white unicorn with light green eyes with a purple and pink curly mane and tail. I assumed she was the one with the squeaky voice. The third was an orange pegasus with magenta eyes and a magenta mane and tail. This must be the one with the tomboyish voice due to how...tomboyish her mane and tail look. Both of their cutie marks were similar to Applebloom's, but instead of an apple in the center, the unicorn had a music note and the pegasus had a lightning bolt
"Oh, howdy Legion. I haven't seen ya since you helped out at the farm," Applebloom said as she ran up to me.
"Hey Applebloom," I then turned to the other two fillies who were approaching us, "Are these your crusader friends that you told me about?"
"Yep," she turned and pointed to the unicorn, "This here is Sweetie Belle...," she then pointed to the pegasus, "...and this here is Scootaloo, and together we're..."
They all took a deep breathe before shouting, "THE CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS!"
Arrgh! Jesus fuck! That was worse when Applebloom did it. It's like they're trying to make me go deaf. How can creatures so tiny be so loud?
"Nice to...meet you two," I said as I rubbed my ears
"Nice to meet you too Legion, but back to the matter at hand," Scootaloo said, "Did you just say you have a cutie mark problem?"
"Um...yes?" I said.
"Gasp. Oh my gosh! Finally, a pony with a problem!" Sweetie Belle cheered but then stopped and turned to me, "What's your problem? Whatever it is, the CMC will be sure to take care of it."
"I-uh...I may or may not know...what my cutie mark is supposed to mean," I said.
"What?!" they all exclaimed.
"You don't know what your cutie mark means?!" Applebloom asked to which I nodded, "But surely you must've got it when you were our age. How could you not know what it means?"
"Weeell...I didn't exactly get it when I was your age. I'd say it was about one and a half years ago, back when I was traveling through Equestria," I said.
"What happened exactly before you got it?" Sweetie Belle asked.
God I hate lying to little kids, especially adorable ones.
"They can't be that adora-UM I MEAN...yeah, they totally look adorable."
"Long story short, there was a pony in danger, I saved them, I went to sleep, and then I woke up to find this," I said as I looked at my cutie mark.
"Here, let's see," Scootaloo said as the fillies inspected my mark, "It's a...what the heck is this supposed to be?"
"It's a...smile crossed by two swords?" Applebloom said confused.
"Yeah I know. Strange looking, isn't it?" I asked.
"Yeah. I wonder what it means. Maybe you're meant to be a part of the Royal Guard?" Sweetie Belle suggested.
"No. I never considered myself a soldier," I said as I shook my head.
"And even if that was the case, that wouldn't explain the smile," Scootaloo said to which Sweetie nodded in agreement.
"Well, we just have to narrow it down. What do you enjoy doing Legion? Applebloom asked.
"I like video games and spending time with friends and family," I responded.
"Really? That's all? No specific hobby that would relate to your cutie mark at all?" Scootaloo asked to which I shook my head.
"This could be difficult, but the Cutie Mark Ceusaders are dedicated to helping ponies with cutie mark problems. We have the whole day ahead of us to figure it out," Applebloom said.
"You know what this calls for?"
MONTAGE! MONTAGE MUSC ENGAGE!
The first thing we did was go the arcade to see if my mark was related to video games. In a way, I'd say so, but when looking at it normally, well...I was quite unfamiliar with a great majority of the games, making me lose them within minutes. Even if I did get the hang of them, there were still some games that I just keep losing at.
Sweetie Belle figured that due to my clothes, I knew a thing or two about fashion, so she took us to Carousel Boutique so I can make some clothes.
...
Let's just say I now owe Profesor Rarity a new sewing machine.
The girls believed that I was on expert with swords. And that's true. The only thing...they believed I was on expert with making them. They took me to the local blacksmith and got everything prepared to make swords, the grinder, the cauldron, etc. I just walked away from that.
"Didn't you craft Zer0?"
That was one sword made a long time ago and I had someone to guide me.
The girls were starting to get desperate to the point they thought the smile was painted, so they made me a bath at Sweet Apple Acres and tried to scrub the smile off. Needless to say, I didn't appreciate it.
After several hours of doing random shit...
"It has literally been a few minutes."
...the girls and I had hit a dead end.
"Sigh. Look girls, I appreciate what you've been doing all day, but I don't think I'm gonna find out what my cutie mark means," I said.
"No Legion, we can't give up! There's still several possibilities that could be your destiny," Applebloom pleaded.
"I'm sorry girls, but I can't think of anything else that I could be good at," I apologized, before I turned to the sound of Sweetie Belle sniffling.
"Sweetie Belle...are you okay?" I asked.
"Sniff. Y-yeah. It's just...we never failed a client before. Our purpose in our life is to help ponies with discovering their cutie marks," Sweetie Belle said.
"One of the sad true about life...is that you can't win them all," I said, "Tell you what, meet me in the clearing between Ponyville and the Everfree Forest, and you can watch me practice with my sword. Will that make you feel better?"
"T-that sound cool," Scootaloo said.
The girls were now watching me practice my swordsmanship, and like I predicted...they were quite impressed with not only the way Zer0 looks, but also my skills. I swung my blade, pretended to deflect attacks, did a couple flips and kicks, etc. I even took a few logs to practice on. After about 30 minutes of practicing, I stopped and approached the girls.
"By the way, I've been meaning to ask. Can your sword really heat up to 2600o?
Nah. I just said that because this world isn't as technologically advanced as Earth. It's simply to look cool.
"Huh."
"Wow, that was amazing! Do you think you can teach me how to fight like that?" Scootaloo asked.
"Maybe. Another time though, I need to get you girls home, and I need to head back to the school," I said to which they nodded. As we were walking back to Ponyville, I couldn't help but feel the ground rumble a bit. Apparently I wasn't the only one that felt it.
"Um, did y'all feel that?" Applebloom asked.
"The ground rumbling? Yeah, I did," I said before it rumbled again, only it bit more apparent this time.
"Is there an earthquake?!" Sweetie Belle asked with worry.
"No. Earthquakes usually don't happen in quick intervals," I explained. The ground rumbled again, and it felt close. I also heard the sound of...growling? In fact...it sounded as if it was coming from-
"AAAAHHHH!" the girls screamed.
I looked behind me and a few yards away was...another shadow creature. Only this time, it was way taller than the previous one, and it had big muscles and massive horns adorning its head.
"Girls, get behind me! Now!" I commanded to which they did. I took out my sword and got into a fighting stance as the beast started to approach us slowly. I flew full speed towards it and aimed my sword towards its head. Once I got close enough...it just smacked me out of the way. It just bitch slapped me!
"You got knocked the fuck out boy!"
I hit the ground a few feet away and got up in a daze. That thing can sure pack a punch. I focused my vision and saw the beast approaching...not me...but...THE CRUSADERS! The girls were shivering in fear, more apparent on Sweetie Belle, as it approached them. I opened my wings and flew full speed at the beast, Zer0 ready in my hooves.
"Get away from them!" I yelled as it reached out to the girls. I got a clear shot and gave it a good slice on its outstretched arm, making it grunt in pain and clutch onto it. I spun around and gave it a good kick to the nose...if it had a nose that is...making it stumble pack a bit.
"Girls! Get back to Ponyville and get Princess Twilight!" I commanded.
"But what about you?" Applebloom asked.
"I'll keep this thing busy and buy you some time," I said.
"What?! No! We can't just leave you!" Sweetie Belle pleaded.
"You three are the ones this thing is after, so I'm going to do whatever I can to protect you, even at the expense of my own life," I argued, "Now go! Get out of here! I won't repeat myself!"
The girls all had tears in their eyes before they turned tail and ran back to Ponyville. I turned back and saw the beast grunting in anger, its glowing white eyes now focused on me. I put on my mask before it roared and charged towards me, head down and horn pointed out. I flew over it and started flying towards the Everfree. I took a quick glance behind me and saw the beast charging behind me, slowly gaining up.
Serpentine! Figure 8! Figure 8! Figure 8!
I zig zagged in between the trees, the beast running through each and every one of them. I flew over a giant boulder, and it just crashed through. Aw shit. Even though every crash did damage to it, it didn't slow down in the slightest.
This is bad. Not even a boulder can stop this thing. I can't lose this thing, or else it'll go to Ponyville and get to the crusaders. And I can't keep this game of cat and mouse. I'm starting to run out of stamina. If I get grabbed by it, then it's an L for me. I can just stop and fight it, but I don't know how many hits with Zer0 it'll take to put thing down, and it'll drain my stamina even quicker. Come on DeffBwade, think. How did they take down the muscle monster in Sweet Home?
...
That's it!
"Come on fatass! Try and catch me!" I taunted. I made the beast crash through even more trees and rocks, and eventually, I noticed it was actually starting to slow down a bit. I continued to fly through the forest until I found...yes! A ravine, and looking into it, it looked pretty deep. Fatal for anyone that falls down it and hits the ground. Perfect.
I heard the stampeding footsteps behind me. I turned and saw the beast emerging out of the trees, its eyes filled with malice towards me. It looked pretty damage from all those trees and rocks it ran into. By the way, sorry about that nature.
"Come on. COME ON!" I taunted from the edge of the ravine. The beast started its charge towards me again. At the last second, I dodged out of the way of its stampede. It tried to stop itself, but it ended up slipping and falling into the ravine. Unfortunately though, when I dodged, I was a tad too late, and it was able to hit me again with its fist. My ribs threatened to break as pain coursed through my body. I wasn't able to stop myself from hitting a tree, but I was able to flap my wings and slow my crash coarse and prevent further damage.
I looked up and saw that the beast was holding onto the ravine's edge. It was trying to get back up. Painfully, I got up and stumbled over there, Zer0 in my hoof. I raised my blade in the air and brought it down onto the beast's hand. It roared in pain as I saw its fingers twitching. I dragged my blade a bit along its hand, making it roar louder and fingers twitching even more. I then took Zer0 out and its hand lost its grip on the ravine edge.
I dropped Zer0 to the ground and sat down on my ass. As I kept breathing heavily, with pain shooting through me at each breathe, I was able to hear the sounds of roaring grow more and more distant until...
THUD
...I was able the sound of a faint thud.
After a few minutes, I got up, picked up Zer0, and started walking my way out of the forest. It wasn't that hard to navigate seeing as the numerous fallen trees acted as a pathway. Once I found my way out, I saw six figures coming towards me in the distance.
"Legion!" Headmare Twilight said.
"Hey professors," I greeted.
"Where is it?! Where's the monster?!" Professor Dash asked angrily.
"Indeed. That ruffian needs to pay for messing with Sweetie Belle," Professor Rarity said.
"That no good varmint dared mess with my lil' sis!" Professor Applejack said.
"Relax professors. It's gone," I told them. They all had a bit of confusion.
"What? What did it-" Headmare Twilight said.
"I took care of it. It fell down a deep ravine. You don't have to worry," I interrupted before I fell down.
"Oh my! Legion, are you okay?" Professor Fluttershy asked.
"I'm fine professor. It managed to get a good hit or two while I was fighting it," I said.
"You WHAT?!" Headmare Twilight screamed.
"Welp. You're fucked."
"Why would you go and fight that thing?! You could've gotten seriously hurt!" Professor Applejack scolded.
"Yeah! It's no fun when somepony gets hurt by some meanie," Professor Pinkie said.
"Why would you do something so reckless?!" Professor Dash asked.
"I had to do what I could to protect the crusaders! Because it's...it's..." I trailed off.
That's when it hit me.
I risked my life against a Bane wannabe to protect the crusaders. I did the same against a Wolverine wannabe to protect my professors and Shimmy Shake. And both times, I faced against what should be impossible odds and it made me scared. But I still pushed forward despite that fear. All because it was to protect others. Almost as if it's...
"...my destiny," I said.
"Legion!"
I saw the crusaders approaching us, all running with tears in their eyes. I held my hoof out before they did what I thought they were gonna do.
"Please don't jump and tackle hug me. I'm still a bit sore here," I said to which they slowed down in front of me.
"Sniff. Legion. W-w-we thought we were gonna l-lose you to that s-scary monster," Applebloom said before dropping to the ground and crying. I walked over to her and wrapped my hoof around her, shushing her to calm her down.
"Hey hey...it's okay Applebloom. I'm fine and the monster's gone," I reassured her, "In fact, I feel like I should thank you. All three of you.
"But why?! We left you behind to fight that thing!" Sweetie Belle.
"Okay. A: I told you to leave me behind because it was after you three. And B: fighting that monster made me realize something. I risked my life twice so far so I can protect others. Not because I felt like I needed to, but because I wanted to. Don't you see crusaders? This is my destiny. This is what my cutie mark represents. This is the purpose in my life. Protecting others from danger, no matter what the odds are. So for that...thank you crusaders," I said before hugging all three of them.
"And I reckon I should thank you as well Legion," Professor Applejack said, "for protecting am lil' sis."
"Yeah. Thanks for protecting Scootaloo kid," Professor Dash said.
"Thank you darling, for protecting my little Sweetie Belle," Professor Rarity said.
I smiled and nodded to them.
"Um, Legion?" Headmare Twilight called to which I walked up to her, "The girls have described what this monster looks like. Do you think it's..."
My only response was to nod at her as we both thought the same thing.
King Sombra.
Third Person POV
"ARGH!" Sombra screamed, "How could one colt defeat two of my creations whereas the Elements were unable to?!"
He was watching his creation approaching the Elements' sisters, hoping to capture them so he can bargain for the Elements to give up or else. But instead, the same colt from before was there and he protected them. The colt led his creation through the Everfree Forest and tricked it into falling down a ravine. This angered him.
"Sombra," the figure said,
"WHAT?!" Sombra said.
"Jeez, no need to yell. But, anyway, this one was supposed to be like a body builder on steroids. What happened?" the figure asked.
"That same colt from before defeated it! That's what happened!" Sombra snarled.
"Interesting," the figured said so low that Sombra couldn't hear.
"We gotta do something about him. He's too dangerous to leave alone," Sombra said.
"No."
"WHAT?!" Sombra said. He couldn't believe it. There was colt out there that proved to be detrimental to his plans, but instead of taking care of him, he should leave him alone?!
"You heard me. We leave the colt alone," the figure sighed before turning around, "Look if you really wanna kill somepony, just send another one to a place that isn't Ponyville. One that can...oh I don't know...get the job done!"
And with that, the figure left, leaving Sombra even more frustrated and enraged.