{Cora}
It was just another day of me running Lab 14 with an iron fist like I usually do. Every morning when I got up and got dressed I would repeat my mantra as I looked at myself in the mirror. "I am evil and I will do nothing but harm."
But today the mantra wasn't working. I longed to see my favorite experiment. It was Experiment Henry and I viewed him as my son. When he comes back to Lab 14 I'm going to do everything in my power to keep him right where he belongs with me. If that means taking his voice away again then I will do that. Although Experiment Henry went without his voice for a year even after Discord broke him out of Lab 14. So when I thought about it, taking his voice away again wouldn't make much sense because he wouldn't work with me then and I doubt he'll work with me now even if I did that again.
Today I was walking down the hallway when I saw Venom sneering at me in the mirror.
I tilted my head, "What?"
"I detect kindness in your heart Cora!" Venom snapped. "I thought we talked about that."
I raised an eyebrow, "What are you talking about?"
"You just want Experiment Henry back at Lab 14 because you view him as your son. You want to hear his voice again. Aww, isn't that sweet?" Venom mocked.
"How did you-" I said.
Venom rolled her eyes and growled, "Not only can I see what's in your heart, I can hear your thoughts too."
"So what are you going to do about it?" I snapped.
"Oh I'm going to do something about it alright," said Venom, "and it's not going to be pleasant."
Before I could walk away, I found that I couldn't move. The next thing I felt was pressure in my chest, and it felt like someone was squeezing my heart. I gasped for a moment trying to catch my breath. Finally after a long moment, whatever Venom did was over with.
When Venom finished what she did, the strange thing was, I felt more evil than I've ever felt before with the darkness that swelled up in my heart and it felt good to be evil. I smiled at Venom in the mirror and said, "Well Cora, ready to do some damage today?"
Venom chuckled, "Have fun Cora and leave no one in your path unharmed.
I went back to doing my job like nothing happened.
* * *
{Cozy Glow}
I finally got Discord to his home in Equestria. His wife Fluttershy invited me in so I could sit down on the couch. Fluttershy questioned me about the dog collar around Discord's neck after she got me some tea.
"Why does Discord have a dog collar around his neck?" Fluttershy asked.
I pointed to it. "That is a form of discipline that The Grand God Council handed down to him for not doing his job as far as God Henry goes."
"What did he do?" Fluttershy asked.
"Well his job had two parts to it. The first part of it was to steal God Henry's voice box back from Lab 14's vault. Discord failed to do that so God Henry went without his voice for a year." I started to explain.
Fluttershy gasped and looked at Discord in horror. "Discord! How could you? No one deserves to go without their voice for a year, shame on you!"
I nodded, "That dog collar is to make sure Discord isn't able to talk for two years. That's the amount of time God Henry went without his voice doubled. If he even tries to speak, he'll get a nice little electric shock to remind him to keep his mouth shut."
Fluttershy nodded and scolded Discord, "Serves you right Discord! And you're not sleeping in my bed for the full two years either. You're sleeping in the guest room. If you even think about coming into my room, I'll give you the stare!"
I chuckled at Fluttershy's form of creative punishment for Discord to add insult to injury. "I guess it's not a total loss because he did the second part of his job without any problems. He broke God Henry out of Lab 14. Honestly, I don't know why The Grand God Council sent Discord to do it because he claimed he was working for Lab 14 to get the children out of there. He didn't start doing it until he finally had the balls to break his contract with Lab 14 and helped get the children to The Resistance HQ."
After I explained what Discord did, Fluttershy's anger went through the roof. She shouted angrily at Discord, "I knew you were keeping something from me! I thought you were gone all week because you were God Levi and God Divine's demigod assistant. From what Bubblegum told me, you've been making a nuisance of yourself in the In Between and getting in the way of God Henry and God Derek doing their jobs.
"I thought I taught the fundamental basics of Friendship and that you were better than this! Working for that awful place that changed Bubblegum into something she's not, really!"
Discord shrank back in terror that Fluttershy was putting out. I assumed from the looks of it that Discord had never seen Fluttershy this angry before. From what I knew of, it normally takes a lot for Fluttershy to get this angry.
Fluttershy calmed herself down after she took a couple of deep breaths, "Sorry about the anger you guys. I'm the Element of Kindness and just like I did with the Breezies, it seems I have been too kind for you Discord. And you should know that part of being kind is being able to trust your partner. Which apparently is something I can't do with you anymore, you slimeball for a husband!"
I put a hoof over my mouth and bit it to stifle my laughter as much as possible. I then took my hoof from my mouth and cleared my throat, "This tea party has been nice and all Fluttershy. I should get back to The Grand God Council to figure out which god they want me to track down next. See you later Fluttershy."
"See you around Cozy Glow," said Fluttershy, "don't worry, I'll keep this slimeball I have for a husband in line."
Once I got out of earshot of Discord and Fluttershy, I laughed to my heart's content. There was no way I was going to stop laughing anytime soon even if someone was watching.
* * *
{Henry}
It was the last day of our honeymoon and I didn't want it to end.
Most of the time we stayed where were at naked except for when food was delivered to us. At the moment, we were laying in bed enjoying ourselves. I still dreaded the day we would face Cora again. The more locations of Lab 14 that got destroyed the closer we would be to facing Cora.
"You are hating the fact that we have to go back out and destroy more locations of Lab 14 aren't you?" Derek asked.
I nodded. "How'd you figure that out?"
"I know that worried look when I see it," Derek said. "Just think, the sooner we take care of Cora, the sooner we can take care of Celestia and Princess Luna. Once we take care of them, the In Between will be much safer."
"Yeah and I'm pretty sure more problems will pop up even after the labs are gone."
Derek laughed, "Well duh! I doubt now that gods rule over the In Between that probably won't be much of a deterrent for people to stop committing crimes. I think that goes for other gods too."
"I still can't believe The Grand God Council took Discord's voice away and it serves him right too!" I said.
"Yeah I wonder what Fluttershy's going to do with him once he gets home?" Derek asked.
Derek and I laughed at that thought because Fluttershy was going to be in for a surprise when she finds out what Discord did.
I smirked. "We probably get something for Leader Felix just for suggesting that punishment for Pestcord."
"We'll have to think about that when we get done destroying Lab 14." Derek said.
"Yeah…" I went silent for a bit. It was still unsettling that the more locations of Lab 14 we destroyed, the closer we would be to facing Cora.
Derek put a hand on my cheek and gently made me look at him. He smiled, "Think about it Henry. The ultimate revenge on Lab 14 is not just destroying it but killing Cora too. If I were you, I'd keep that in mind when you think about facing that witch again."
I smiled and kissed him just for saying that. I always loved it when Derek says things like that, because I knew he's absolutely correct.
* * *
The next day we got dressed and headed out. Right when we destroyed another location was when we saw them. It was the Tracker Experiments from our vision that we shared.
Derek gulped, "Great… It's the mutants!"
I looked at Derek and he looked terrified but he kept his composure as much as possible.
Oh boy, I thought, and I thought I had it bad about being afraid of facing Cora again!
There was one boy and one girl that stood in the front of the group. I can only assume that these two were the leaders. Just like in the vision the males in the group had blue hair and purple eyes. They looked like the male version of Experiment Rose. The girls in the group had green hair and red eyes.
Don't worry Derek, everything's going to be fine. I thought.
Yeah, sure it is. Derek thought.
Wow you're scared!
Yeah think?
"Well now," the boy experiment said, "you two have a wedding to get to."
I rolled my eyes again. "This crap again?"
"Looks like Cora's up to her old tricks again," Derek snarled.
"Old tricks?" The girl experiment said.
"Cora tried to make me marry a creature named Experiment Rose," I growled.
The girl experiment and the boy experiment didn't say a word, they just exchanged a look and shrugged.
Uh, Henry? Derek thought.
Yes, Derek? I thought.
Um, I can't move!
Huh?
Suddenly, there was a flash of light before my eyes and I couldn't see. I screamed in surprise because of it and I fell over backward. I heard Derek screaming my name. Then after the flash of light, everything went dark.
* * *
{Derek}
I panicked when I woke up in darkness. The main thing that scared me the most is that I didn't know what was going on with Henry. That's another reason why I was so scared of this vision happening. Not being able to protect Henry or knowing where he was scared me. Even though I knew you can't kill a god it still scared my silly not knowing where Henry was.
Okay I guess I'm just being an overprotective spouse. I can't help it, I'm tired of Henry being put in harm's way.
Out of the darkness a bright light shone in my face. After the light went away, I saw standing in front of me, the girl experiment with green hair and red eyes.
"Where's Henry?" I snarled.
The girl experiment laughed wickedly. "Oh you mean Experiment Henry? The others are probably preparing him so he can go back home and marry Experiment Ada! Isn't that wonderful?"
"I'm sorry," I said with sarcasm, "but Henry's off the market. He's already married.
The girl experiment chuckled, "You're such a kidder Experiment Derek! But either way, you'll make a fine husband for Experiment Elena."
"Hell no," I snapped, "because Henry is my husband!"
All of the experiments laughed at that thought. The girl experiment paused when she saw my wedding band on my necklace around my neck. "Why is there a wedding band on a necklace around your neck?"
"As I said before," I said, "I'm married to Henry and he has a wedding band on a necklace around his neck too. It's tradition in Henry's family to do that. He's supposed to be a pony but because of sick and evil twisted people like Cora he got changed into a human!"
"Huh," the boy experiment said, "I've heard of that happening with Experiment Henry, but I never thought that was possible."
I had no idea that the ropes I was tied up in started burning and I was free of them within five minutes.
"Okay that's it!" I snapped. I did my lion roar that I use to activate my magic. The Tracker Experiments looked at me in fear. "I'm done with people like Cora who shouldn't be allowed to exist!" I roared. "Henry and I are going to kill Cora and we're going to destroy Lab 14 and any experiment that gets in our way!"
Suddenly, the ground started to shake and cracks were starting to form in the ground.
"Great," the girl experiment said, "a male version of Experiment Ada, lovely!"
I raised my hand in the air and I looked up to see that there was a boulder floating above it in my magic. I threw it as hard as I could at the girl experiment. I knew she was dead because I heard her bones crack. I also saw that she had a pool of blood that came out of her. I did the same thing to the other experiments that were there.
After I killed all of the experiments I sank to my knees in terror. The thing I was most afraid of with this vision coming true, was my own anger.
* * *
{Henry}
After the vision played out on my end of it, I went around to the other side of the building to see where Derek was. I found him on his knees shaking and it looked like he was in shock. I tried to shake him out of it but it didn't work.
"Snap out of it!" I slapped him on the face and that worked. I've never seen Derek afraid of something, not as long as I've known him.
"Oh, hi Henry…" Derek said not wanting to look me in the eye.
"Derek, what's wrong?" I asked.
"I'm a monster!" Derek exclaimed.
"Huh?" I said.
"Apparently," said Derek, "I can cause earthquakes and summon boulders out of thin air when I get angry."
I chuckled, "Is that why you were afraid of the vision?"
"That's not funny Henry!" Derek snapped. "What if I destroy the In Between because of this?"
"Oh boy, I doubt that will happen, but maybe we should talk to The Grand God Council about this?" I suggested.
Derek nodded. "I think that's a good idea."
It puzzled me that someone, especially Derek, would be afraid of their own anger.
* * *
When we got to The Grand God Council, The Lord God Supreme greeted us. "What seems to be the problem you two?"
"A few weeks ago," replied Derek, "Henry and I shared our first vision as gods."
The Lord Supreme nodded and stated, "Yeah I got an alert that you two had one. It's part of my job and no I can't see what it's about, however, I can see what your reactions were to it. You God Derek were scared of it and yet you God Henry enjoyed it."
I chuckled, "Yeah because I got to feed the Tracker Experiments that captured me to Tiger Stripes. He definitely enjoyed the meal."
"So that's why you were laughing like a psycho in your sleep because of it?" Derek asked, tilting his head.
I burst into a fit of laughter. "Yup. I just wished the vision lasted longer."
Derek's jaw dropped. "Wow."
"Now why were you afraid of the vision God Derek?" The Lord God Supreme asked, giving Derek a curious look.
"Apparently, I can cause earthquakes and summon boulders out of thin air when I'm angry." Derek said. "I think I'll destroy the In Between because of it!"
"Oh no," The Lord God Supreme laughed, "that's not possible."
"But-" Derek said.
"Listen, every god is bound to get angry sooner or later. Just because you're a god doesn't mean you don't have feelings. Sometimes, gods develop different abilities based on their emotions. It might cause things to happen in their universe but it won't destroy it. The only time a universe can be destroyed is if they're not doing their jobs." The Lord God Supreme said reassuringly.
"So what might mine and Derek's powers cause?" I asked.
"Well, since you cause lighting bolts when you're angry it's possible it might cause thunderstorms to happen. With God Derek's powers it might cause earthquakes to happen. If it does happen, it'll only happen sometimes, not all the time," The Lord God Supreme explained.
"But I don't want to kill people needlessly!" Derek with a panicked wide-eyed expression on his face.
"Calm down God Derek!" The Lord God Supreme said. "It happens to every god sooner or later. A god can't control what powers they develop and what the effects are. We of The Grand God Council don't take offense to that. What we do take offense to is a god not doing their job and that's the only way a universe can be destroyed. Is that what you were afraid of with the vision, God Derek?"
Derek nodded. "Yes."
The Lord God Supreme chuckled, "You know Leader Felix was surprised that you were afraid of something. He said you didn't even flinch when you were held up at gunpoint."
"Yeah, apparently that was a test to upgrade my status from Child Agent to Adult Agent," Derek said. "Leader Felix didn't tell me about that until afterward."
"What I don't get is why would someone be afraid of their own anger?" I asked.
"Because I've never been that mad before." Derek answered. "I don't want to hurt you even if there is a good reason to be angry."
I smiled, "You know what? I felt the same about my lightning bolts."
Derek looked at me. "Really?"
"Yeah, really," I said.
The Lord God Supreme laughed, "Well, now that's settled, I think you two should get back to work."
Derek and I nodded and went back to the job of destroying Lab 14. I'm still not looking forward to facing Cora again. Not one little bit.