//------------------------------// // The Soul Cube // Story: Fuel the Eternal Flame | A DOOM MLP Crossover // by NotAnEditor //------------------------------// Rainbow Dash’s wings felt uncomfortable under the weight of Twilight’s saddlebag. Even after she dropped most of the books inside there, the Soul Cube and the Codex were fairly heavy. Her hooves ruffled through the dark green grass that surrounded the abandoned castle, her tracing at the edge of the shielding that ringed the castle. She kept her violet eyes set to the thick canopy of the Everfree. It was her and Applejack’s responsibility to keep the place safe and ensure the shield could actually halt the monsters. As she kicked a pebble along the grass, a voice spoke up in her mind. Multi-layered and sounding to be from multiple entities. “Hello.” “Don’t talk to me.” Rainbow wasn’t in the mood to speak with the Soul Cube. The whole encouraging her to murder Scootaloo thing wasn’t exactly getting her on her good side. “I have a proposition.” It continued. The blue pegasus huffed. “I’m keeping an eye on this bag for Twilight, not to listen to you bug me about your “cryptic teachings” or whatever.” “I promise, pegasus. It could help your friend.” The Soul Cube rumbled. “I have a name you know.” she responded angrily. “I often refrain from stating your true titles.” It confessed. “They often come off as… puerile.” It found the word. Rainbow Dash shook her head in confusion. “Puerile? What in Celestia’s name does that mean?” “It means that all your names sound silly.” The Soul Cube answered straight-forwardly. “Being around those referred to as Itlaknus the Demolisher for long enough really overshadows the name of Rainbow Dash. “ The mare opened her mouth to retort, before realizing that yeah, Itlaknus the Demolisher was a pretty dope name. “Eh, that name's like, twenty precent cooler.” she admitted. “Enough small talk.” It began. “With your help, I believe that I could heal Princess Twilight Sparkle.” “How?” the pegasus queried, walking along the grass calmly. “Well, pegasus. I deem myself the Soul Cube for a reason.” the bag Rainbow held’s top folded up as the cube hummed its way out of the bag, floating in front of the blue colored pony. “Do you have any wounds or ailments?” She gave a thoughtful look, “Well, even with the bandages Nurse Redheart gave me, the slash that flying thing hit me with is still giving me trouble.” Rainbow scratched the bandages lightly with a wing. Before she could complain further about the injury, the itchiness of the slightly swollen wound halted. In fact, all pain from that area stopped. Rainbow gave a curious look back to her hip, applying very light pressure to the bandages. No searing pain replied, feeling good as new. She gave a concerned look to her hip. “W-What happened?” “I healed you.” they responded. “What?” Rainbow asked, still patrolling the shielding orb. “I converted the energy I absorbed from your killing of the gargoyle into you to reseal your wounds.” the Soul Cube explained, floating towards her bandaged hip and extending one of its orbiting blades. “See?” It took care with removing the bandages as they sliced the many wound dressings away to reveal a perfectly intact hide. Good as new. Rainbow Dash watched as the bandages fell away. “You can do that?!” she queried, surprised as the artifact’s whirling blade retreated back into itself. The object hummed as it floated in front of her. “I can.” “Well, why haven’t you done it with Twilight yet?” she asked the obvious question. The Soul Cube floated about to look at the abandoned castle, particularly the window into the room the princess rested in. “I do not have enough energy to fully heal her.” it explained. “Healing physical ailments is a menial task, however with mental injuries such as her’s I would need more energy from the Ē̷̛͇̦v̷̮̅į̴̫̃̏l̶͕̏͛.”  “And I assume you get that energy from killing them?” Rainbow Dash asked. “No.” they turned back to her. “Killing the Ē̷̛͇̦v̷̮̅į̴̫̃̏l̶͕̏͛ does not replenish my supply of energy. Attacking requires their energy as well, so one of the only ways for me to truly replenish it is to be near a demon that is slain without my abilities.” it explained as the mare wandered the defended area. “Could you shorten that for me?” she requested, ear flicking in confusion. “The only way for me to get energy from them is if someone else kills it.” the Praeleanthor briefed her. “I would need you or something else to slay them in order to help your friend.” Rainbow shook her head. “I am not killing another one of those things!” her wings furled out. “Don’t get me wrong, I do enjoy beating up the occasional bad guy, but killing just isn’t my style. It's just wrong!” The Soul Cube found these people strange. How could you not want to kill these unforgivable beasts?!  “Didn’t you see them hurt your friend? They have done nothing but bad to you. They destroyed your home! Why would you not want to kill them?” the pacifism of these equines was crazy. “I don’t want to kill anypony.” she responded. “Nopony deserves death!” It hovered in front of her in annoyance. “They aren’t ponies! They are monsters, evil worse than anything you could imagine!”  “And?” “And if you kill them, it will help save your friend!” it argued. “The more they are around the more ponies will get hurt. They do nothing good for your people. They are here to purge this land of all of you!” it sounded like there was something personal between them and the demons. “You already killed one. What’s a couple more?”  Rainbow Dash gave the argument a thoughtful look, opening her mouth to begin to reply before a sudden voice called for the pegasus farther down the shield. “Rainbow Dash!” the voice of one of the ponies they brought to the abandoned castle, White Lightning, spoke out for her. The mare hovered in the air, calling for the fellow pegasus. The Soul Cube shut to silence, humming back into the bag as Rainbow rushed over to the white colored pony. She was a couple dozen yards down the shield, calling for the de facto leader of the group, She galloped over, White Lightning calling for her a couple more times with a scared look. “Rainbow, could you get a look at this?” she flapped in the air. Her voice was high-pitched and a little girly, but still with a shy tone. Her mane was a light blue while her coat was a clear white and her eye color matched her tidy and fluffy mane-cut. “Look at what?” Rainbow asked her.  The white-coated pony pointed outside the blue-tinted shield shakingly, Rainbow averting her violet eyes to where she signaled. She revolted a little at the sight of what was beyond the barrier. A demon that was small by other standards stood beyond the shield. It was a good hoof or two taller than the ponies that stared at it. It was brown and redd with an ape-like pose. Its limbs were skinny yet muscular and ended in black at its claw-tipped hands and feet. It glared through two burning yellow eyes with a savage, toothy mouth below them. Pieces of keratin jutted from its back like spikes, dripping with fresh blood like the rest of the monster. “What in Celestia’s name is that?” she had caught a glimpse of such a beast on the large titan that erupted in Ponyville however it was extremely far. Now she saw it up close, glaring at them furiously. “Imp.” Soul Cube informed in her mind as White Lightning prepared her answer. White Lightning glanced at Rainbow. “I-I’m not sure. It’s obviously one of t-those monsters from Ponyville.” she stuttered a little in fear. “But I’m not sure it can get in or not.” Curiously, Rainbow moved a hoof closer to the shield, trying to see if it’d go after her. White Lightning watched on fearfully, hoping it wouldn’t pierce through the bubble with a mean slice. The demon did just that, launching a large hand into the shield to attempt a grasp on Rainbow’s hoof. With her quick reaction timing, the daredevil pegasus tore her hand away just before it could grab her. It suddenly screeched in pain upon entering the bubble, the hand being forced to stay within the bubble by its clinging energies. The two pegasi watched with disturbed looks as they witnessed the monster's arm sizzle away, the protective barrier attacking the limb as more of its flesh turned to ash.  The dust crumpled to the ground in front of them, sizzling away the meat of the arm and leaving the bone. The skeletal structure of the hand also began burning up, the dust floating away from the rest of the limb and leaving the imp with a missing forearm. It shrieked in pain, tearing the handless arm away from the barrier in fear. The bubble that surrounded the castle was certainly effective against these monsters. “By Celestia!” White Lightning flew backwards, away from the injured monster as it whimpered. “W-What just happened to it?!” Rainbow Dash gave a moment of thought, furrowing her brow. “I think it was the shield?” “I-It just dissolves those monsters?!” she asked in horror. “Yeah, I think…” Rainbow nudged the dust pile, giving it a disturbed look.  “This is a great opportunity.” the Soul Cube spoke up. For what? Rainbow Dash thought back. “Kill it! I can have more energy and you can heal your friend.” they told her. White Lightning spoke up. “What should we do about it?” the Imp miraculously survived the dissolving of its hand, huffing great hisses of air in excruciating pain. She looked at the survivor. “I’ll handle it, just continue your patrols. If anything else like this shows up, tell me.” The fellow pegasus nodded, understanding. “Yes ma’am!” she turned, continuing off. Once she was out of hearing range, the blue coated pegasus looked back at the demon. “So, how am I supposed to… you know?” she didn’t seem too sure about it. “So I see you finally came around.” the Soul Cube replied. “You are a fast flier, yes?” Rainbow scoffed. “The fastest there ever was!” she puffed her chest out. “Great.” it began. “I believe if you are quick enough, you could fly behind it and kick it inside the shield.” The pegasus stared at the wounded monster. “Are you sure?” she felt a tad sorry for it. “Yes, for the sake of your friend.” they replied. Rainbow gave a sigh, closing her eyes for a moment. “Fine.” the pegasus set a determined look over her eyes. “For Twilight.” she set the saddlebag off of her wings, letting it fall to the ground before she dashed out of the shield, rounding about and bucking the monster straight into the energy. She felt her hooves buckle in pain once she did, the demon falling into the barrier and dissolving with numerous shouts and screeches. She quickly flew back into the shield, falling to the ground and stretching her hind legs. “Ow! They’ve got tough backs.” Rainbow hissed in pain. As the demon dissolved to dust. Its screams stopped so fast she hardly noticed them. Rainbow watched as a blue energy force flowed from the dust, going into the nearby saddlebag on the ground. The Soul Cube absorbed the soul of the demon, the energy of it sprawling around the artifact. “Is that enough?” she limped over. “Maybe.” it replied. “With this, we might be able to help the princess.”  Rainbow Dash couldn’t help to form a bit of a smile. “Good as new?” “Potentially. I may need more time for the Hell energies to properly convert to your type of magic to heal Twilight” they answered, not too sure. She shrugged. “Well, make sure ya tell me when you're done with whatever you mean.” “H-Hello?” A meek voice asked behind the pegasus. The mare’s ears perk, turning behind her quickly as the Soul Cube plummeted to the ground. “What?! Huh? Who said that?” “Hi….” Fluttershy waved coyly. “Oh, Fluttershy!” she blushed in embarrassment, rubbing her rainbow colored mane. “What are you doing here?” She glanced at the deactivated Soul Cube for a moment. It was obvious that the artifact was more than just some box now. “Applejack said to go talk to you. We don’t have that much actual good food, b-besides grass of course. She was wondering since you are the fastest flier here if you could go on a scavenge run.” The yellow pegasus explained. Rainbow felt a pint of excitement jolt through her.  “Sure! no problem.” sure these monster thingies were all evil and stuff, but she’d be lying if bolting past them and dodging their numerous attacks wasn’t just slightly thrilling. “Great.” Fluttershy nodded in response. “Applejack was thinking you could go out tomorrow. The other scouts have been seeing less of those t-th-things around lately.” The pegasus bounced between hooves. “I can’t wait to zoom past those monsters! I’ll be back with food in no time.” Fluttershy nodded again. “Good, err, j-just try not to get hurt out there. Please.” she pleaded. “Don’t worry. You won’t find a scratch on me when I come back!” she claimed, all cocky, setting a hoof to her chest. The coy pony smiled. “Great.” she turned, heading off. Rainbow waved. “Scavenging it is!” she cheered once Fluttershy was gone. “I’ve been feeling cramped, swooping through the Everfree, time to get back to familiar territory!” She continued the patrol around the perimeter of the shield. “You must be careful.” it informed the cheerful pegasus. “If I fall in the hands of the Ē̷̛͇̦v̷̮̅į̴̫̃̏l̶͕̏͛, they will gain a massive advantage.” “Oh, chill out. I’ll leave you here.” Rainbow responded. “If anything wrong happens to me, then you can stay here to heal Twi.” “Wise choice.” the Soul Cube replied. “Just be careful.” She smiled confidently. “Will do! Careful is my middle name.”