Chapter 12
“We need to speed things along,” Kal said as he stood on the second floor balcony overlooking everyone else as they stood on the ground floor. “Shayla has a Dimensional Dagger, and is starting to deviate from my plans. Star Chaser,” he said, looking at the costumed stallion, “have you located Loric?”
“No,” he said back simply. “I’ve searched everywhere.”
“Apparently not everywhere,” Kal growled, “the Dimensional Dagger in Shayla’s possession belongs to him.”
“I knew she was lying!” He snapped, but Kal waved his hoof at him.
“Stop, let it go,” he said firmly. “As of right now she’s agreed to a deal where she will still take us, but we need to hurry up. She’s a stupid mare and will get distracted eventually and start doing her own thing.”
He began to pace, “we can assume Loric died due to his wounds, since there is no other reason he’d part with his key. Which means Shayla and her friends must have his Wandering Ego hidden away somewhere.”
“Are we going to go steal it?” Lemon Tape asked.
“Eventually, but for now we need to focus on getting her to keep up her end of the deal. That’s what’s most important right now,” Kal said as he looked to Champion again, “you will be staying here. I’ve learned new information about the dimension we are going to, and you are too powerful for that world. The God in charge of it is a brat and hates outsiders. Luckily, he is not omniscient by choice, so we’ll go undetected. However he’s not incompetent so he’d very easily notice your presence.”
Champion frowned at this, “then what am I going to do?!”
“Whatever you want,” Kal said with a glare. “Once I leave this place, I don’t care what happens to it. You will be in charge until we return to retrieve you.”
This did not sit well with Champion, but he didn’t protest further.
“Domitor,” he suddenly said, causing the stallion in question to jump a bit. “You are coming with us.”
He stared up wide eyed, “um… thank you!”
“Thank your mother,” he spat back, looking at everyone else. “Get back to work!”
Everyone quickly took their leave, going back to what they’d been doing before the meeting had been called.
“You’re free to roam, Domitor,” Kal called out. “But if you screw up one more thing…”
He let the threat hang in the air, as he did not have to say it. Domitor gave a bow up to his father and quickly moved for the exit before he changed his mind.
ooo000<^>000ooo
I bobbed my head to the music playing in my headphones, doing a few dance moves randomly as I walked down the street. As I trotted down the street, Rosemary kept appearing ahead of me, leaning against buildings or sitting on ledges, watching me with a raised eyebrow.
As the music hit one of my favorite parts I sprang forward and performed a spinning back kick, landing on all fours and continuing like nothing happened.
She laughed at me, so I gave her two finger guns and a wink. “Gotta enjoy life, mofo!” I yelled, causing everyone in the area to look at me. I, however, could have cared less about their judging stares and kept up with my shenanigans.
And then my good mood was ruined as I saw the one pony I didn’t want to see today walk around the corner of a building up ahead of me.
Frowning, I pulled the headphones off of my head and glared at him. “Domitor.”
When he noticed me, he returned my glare. “Shayla.”
“Bet you’ve felt pretty great after winning our last fight with that cheap shot?” I said, coming to a stop a few feet away from him.
“Cheap shot?” he asked, scoffing. “I landed a clean hit on you, then saved your life. You should just accept that and move on.”
“Nah, I can’t accept losing, especially when you cheated.”
“Cheated?!” he snapped, walking up to me and slamming his face into mine. “I won, fair and square! Why can’t you just be a mature mare and accept that?!”
“Because a little bitch like you could never beat me fairly,” I retorted as I pushed against him, knocking him back a few steps.
“Well if you’re gonna be like that, then yeah, I won and you lost, because when it comes down to it, I’m the better fighter!” he spat back, growling a bit.
“Oh?! OH?!” I yelled as we began to circle around each other, holding our glares on each other. “The better fighter?! You wanna go again?! Fight me when I’m not tired after training?!”
“Yeah! I could fight you in any state and still win! Not my fault a little fatigue affected you so much!”
“You try fighting someone who attacks you without warning and you’re super fucking tired!”
“Excuses excuses! A real warrior would accept the loss and move on! Get better from it!”
“Screw you, little punk ass bitch boy! The only real warrior here is me!”
We stopped circling each other as we slammed foreheads together again, growling at each other.
“You a warrior? HA! You look more like a wannabe Hot Topic model than anything else!”
“At least my parents love me!”
His eyes flared in anger as he took a step back. “Fuck you, Shayla.”
“Yeah, fuck you too, Domitor!” I said, slamming a hoof into the cobblestone road and shattering it.
Instead of continuing the fight, he turned and headed down the street.
“Yeah, walk away!” I yelled after him, spinning around and walking in a different direction.
“Hot headed as well?” Rosemary said from atop a fence ahead of me. “You really are a younger version of Loric.”
“Stop comparing me to him,” I growled, stomping past her. “I barely knew him, so these comparisons are starting to get on my nerves.”
“I can see your thoughts and feelings, remember? I know the short interaction you had with him affected you deeply.”
“You don’t know shit about me,” I muttered, flaring my wings and flying straight into the sky. I’m going to go train or some shit.
“If you want to change the subject, we need to start going over how to get stronger with your Ego. It’s not like other Ego’s,” she said as she floated in the air just in front of me as I flew forward.
“Later,” I snapped, “I’m not in the mood right now.”
“Very well,” she said as she faded away.
Fucking Domitor, ruining my good mood like that…
ooo000<^>000ooo
“That’s enough for today, Dad,” Spark said as he flew down to the ground and landed next to their things.
“Tired already, son?” Lance laughed as he landed next to his son and grabbing a water bottle.
Spark just chuckled as he lifted a towel and began to dry himself off, “no, but I have a date night with Starlight tonight. She said she has some news for me.”
“Ah, she’s finally telling you,” Lance chuckled, getting a raised eyebrow from his son. “Eh… forget it. I’m not ruining it for you.”
“Well now I’m just worried,” Spark said with a frown.
“Don’t be,” Lance replied, ruffling his son’s mane up. “Anyways! Good work out there today, Spark.”
“You too, old man,” Spark said with a wink.
“I may be old, but I have the body of a thirty year old,” Lance laughed, flexing a bit to show off his muscles.
“Why are you training anyways, Dad?” Spark asked as he began to put on his uniform.
Lance just shrugged, “Dunno, just hate not doing anything. Plus, since I can’t leave this dimension, I might as well get strong enough to keep defending it.”
“We have Champion for that,” Spark said, his grimace giving away his true feelings on the costumed stallion.
“Yeah, but Star Chaser isn’t really someone I’d call a ‘hero’,” Lance said as he looked around. “Probably shouldn’t bad mouth him, since he has that super hearing crap.”
“Yeah,” Spark agreed, “but thank you, Dad. Training with you has been great.”
Lance smirked and flashed in and out of his Apollyon form, “same here, kiddo. You don’t have any kind of powers or transformations and you can already outperform me at my best. Just imagine what’ll happen if you ever decide to go out and get an Ego or something similar.”
“I told you,” Spark said, finishing up gathering his things. “I don’t want to leave this dimension, and I don’t want to face unstoppable forces. I just want to stay here and be with my friends and family.”
“But you could become so damn strong, son!” Lance pushed.
Spark just shrugged, “maybe, but what’s the point of getting stronger? We don’t have any threats left on this planet, and any that do show up will get crushed by the others here that like to do things like that.”
“So with all this potential, you’re okay just being a normal cop?”
“Yep, it’s what I enjoy doing. I get to help others and fix problems. And with all my training, I’m able to take down suspects without hurting them, even when they’re trying to kill me or my partner. I’m happy where I’m at right now.”
With a sigh, Lance smiled at his son, “as long as you’re happy, then that’s all that matters to me.”
Smiling, Spark turned and began to walk for the path that led out of the forest, “same time tomorrow?”
“You know it,” Lance said as he sat down and cracked open a soda.
As he watched his son leave the clearing, he let out a sigh. He really hoped his son would be able to live the life he desires and deserves. But, knowing his own luck and how shit always seems to follow after him, he wasn’t so sure he’d get that chance.
At least they had Star Chaser and the new Bearers of the Elements to deal with problems.
ooo000<^>000ooo
Later, nighttime
Domitor stomped into his room, still upset after his interaction with Shayla, even though it’s been hours since then. He’d spent the whole day sulking around and trying to improve his mood, but nothing helped. Shayla’s final jab really hit hard, and it’s only worse since she doesn’t even know the full story.
Grumbling, he moved to his desk and flipped open the hidden compartment and pulled out his drawing supplies. Leaning back in his chair he held his drawing pad in his lap, trying to think of something to draw. Anything to get his mind clear.
But all he managed to do was draw a few random lines on the page, not even able to do art right now.
He growled as he finally drew a crude image of Shayla’s face, glaring at it as his mind raced.
She has everything he doesn’t have; a loving family, friends that support her, the love and admiration of all the others in this town, and even his own father supports her in his own way. Yet she acts like a brat and trots around like she owns the world.
He hated her. Especially after today.
With viscous slices, he drew through her face with his pen, scratching the image out of existence.
Sitting there, staring at the ruined page, he teared up a bit.
Nothing ever goes his way.
And that’s how he sat till he fell asleep, just staring at the scribbles on the page, hating himself.
ooo000<^>000ooo
Something caused Domitor to jerk awake as he sat up in the chair, looking around in a panic. He wasn’t sure what it was, but something woke him up, something strange.
Looking around, he saw nothing out of the ordinary, but the air around him felt off. Like there was something there that he couldn’t see.
Deciding he didn’t like the feeling in his room, he stood up and headed for his door, wanting to go sleep in the living room. But upon reaching his door, he found it was stuck. The knob would not turn at all, nor would the door budge.
“Come on…” he muttered, assuming his father had cast a charm on the door again to keep him locked in his room. What had he done this time to anger his father? Maybe he heard of the interaction with Shayla…
Turning around, he was taken by complete surprise at what he saw. His window was no longer showing the lights of the town below, but a white void with rocks floating around.
“...” he stepped forward and leaned his head into the window, frowning as he realized this was more like a portal than a window now.
Looking around, he didn’t know what to do. Entering into this portal-like entrance probably wasn’t the smartest thing to do. But the floating rocks ahead seemed to form a pathway, which seemed to beckon to him.
Against his better judgment he climbed up into the window and onto the rocks beyond. Carefully, he began to walk forward, keeping his eyes on the world around him. There wasn’t anything of note around him, just distant floating rocks and whiteness.
As he neared a stone doorway, a man suddenly appeared before him, wearing dark clothing.
Domitor jumped back in shock, staring wide eyed up at the strange man.
“Domitor Pompeo, what a sad little creature you are,” the man said in a tame voice.
“What?” Domitor asked, staring the man in the face. “Pompeo? My last name is Belletor, like my father.”
The man just smiled back knowingly. “So misinformed you are. You don’t even know the truth about your father.”
He growled, now angry with this mysterious man. How dare he! His father may be harsh and abusive, but he’s never lied to him…
The man held both hands out to his sides, gliding backwards, “Domitor, a creature born to rival another, but only to be cast aside the moment he wasn’t needed.”
Stepping through the doorway, the man disappeared, only to reappear right next to him, leaning against a rock.
“And now you’re just an annoyance to all those around you. Your rival has even surpassed you, and you don’t even know it yet.”
“What is the point of this?!” Domitor snapped, stepping towards the man. “To mock me? Make me feel worse?!”
“A woman in your world formed a connection with me,” the man began, whisking away. He reappeared in the air above the young stallion. “Thanks to her, I’ve become aware of your world. And by extension, you. Out of all creatures of your world, you’re the only one worth looking into. The future ahead of you…”
Domitor just stared up at him, still not sure of the point of this interaction.
“I have an offer for you, Domitor,” the man said, waving his hand, “everyone looks down upon you, and despite your efforts, you’ll never be worth anything to any of them.”
“Thanks,” Domitor growled.
“How much would you give to be seen as an equal? To stand next to those who stand above you?” the man asked. “To make them pay.”
“Everything,” Domitor answered, staring up at the man with a serious look.
“Then accept my gift,” the man said as he waved his hand again, causing a burning sensation to form on Domitor’s left leg.
He winced and raised his leg as he watched a strange black symbol begin to form on it, burning away the fur. Once it finished, he felt a connection form inside of him, like something was now a part of him.
“With my mark you gain access to the void. Come along,” he said as a few rocks flew down to form a path, followed by him disappearing.
Not sure what to make of any of this, he walked forward, following the path. But he eventually came to a gap. Trying to use his wings proved useless, as he couldn't seem to lift off.
“Use the mark,” a voice said from all around him. “Far Reach. Fling a tendril ahead of yourself and it’ll pull you to that location.”
Still not really sure of what was happening, he raised his hoof and pointed it to the rock ahead of himself. Simply wanting to be over there caused a dark tendril to shoot forward and grab the rock, and then pulled him through the air, right over the gap and onto the spot he’d connected the tendril too.
“Whoa!” he exclaimed, the ability catching him off guard.
Ahead of him he saw a recreation of his home, the mansion. This brought down the good mood he’d found himself in immediately.
The front door flew open, seeming to invite him in.
He reluctantly walked towards the mansion and stepped inside. Upon stepping through the doorway, he found himself surrounded by the frozen forms of his father and all his followers.
A cold sweat broke out across his back as he saw the stern look of his father and the smug look of Champion.
“A lone child, brought up by maniacs,” the man said as he walked out of a doorway, stepping up between his father and Champion. “Told he was a failure his whole life; beaten and abused. Most would have turned into monsters.”
He whisked away, reappearing on the second floor balcony. “But you, you’ve persisted against all odds. Where most would've broken down and succumbed to the pressure, you’ve thrived. No matter the abuse you’ve faced, you’ve kept moving forward.”
As he disappeared, a door on the bottom floor opened.
Domitor slowly walked through the crowd, cowering a bit as he walked between the forms of his father and the insane stallion.
When he stepped through the next door he found himself in Shayla’s house, a place he’d never been to. He found himself staring at the frozen forms of her and her parents laughing and eating breakfast together.
“Shayla Beltosh, the woman you were supposed to surpass,” the man said, standing on the table between all of them. “Yet the day you finally achieve that goal, you were punished. Hurt more than you’ve ever been hurt before. You blame her for everything.”
Domitor could only frown at the happy faces of the ponies before him, as this was exactly what he’d always wanted.
“She has the life you desire most, and there’s nothing you can do to gain that life,” he said, floating off of the table. “That is, if you continue down the path you’re currently on. Following your father will only cause you untold pain and suffering. You must forge your own path in life, if this is what you desire,” he said, casting a hand over the happy family. “But going against your father? The monster of life itself? A man you don’t even know the truth about? Can you do it? Doing so will cost you everything.”
The stallion did not have an answer to any of these questions, as going against his father was not something he’d ever thought about doing. And still, he didn’t think he’d want to do that. All he wants is his-
“Fathers love,” the man suddenly said, catching Domitor off guard. “All you want is the love of your father. An seemingly impossible desire to achieve. Your father is an unloving creature. But yet, you still desire his love and affection.”
“He’ll love me, if I can help him achieve his dreams,” Domitor says confidently, causing the man to shake his head.
“Telling you the truth of the matter will ruin the fun, I’m afraid,” the man said, fading away as another door opened up.
Wanting to be away from the happy scene before him, the stallion moved quickly to the door, stepping through it to find himself in a strange forest. Everything looked strange, the plants, the sky, everything.
Looking up, he saw that the moon was literally a giant smiling green skull with red teeth.
“On a strange world,” the mysterious man said, stepping into view ahead of him in a clearing. “You will have a choice to make.” He raised both of his hands, causing two figures to appear on either side of him.
A silhouette of a creature that could only be Shayla, and a silhouette of a humanoid on the other side. “A choice that will affect you for the rest of your life. One choice will be easy, and the other hard. One will be attractive to you, while the other will go against everything you’ve been raised to believe. Which will you pick?” the man asked, crossing his arms. “This is why I’m interested in you, this one moment in your life. I’m interested in seeing how this’ll play out.”
“What will the choices be?” Domitor asked, but the man just smiled as he waved a hand.
ooo000<^>000ooo
With a jerk, Domitor jumped up and landed on his hooves, finding himself in his room again. Blinking in confusion, he let out a sigh. His dreams were starting to get weirder…
Then he saw his left leg and saw the black symbol burned into his skin.
“Oh…” he muttered, eyes wide. That was all real?!
He raised his hoof and shot a tendril out at his bed, grabbing a pillow and pulling it to himself. Catching it easily, he smiled. This power wasn’t all powerful, but he knew it’d come in handy.
“Thanks, strange guy,” he muttered, not sure if the mysterious man actually could hear him or not.
Looking at the tattoo, he felt he shouldn’t walk around with it clearly in view. He didn’t know how he’d explain it to anyone, and really didn’t want to have to tell his father about it. At least, not yet.
Walking over to a cabinet, he pulled out some cloth wraps and wrapped the dark cloth around his leg, hiding the tattoo from view.
Now that he was sure no one could see it, he walked out of his room, intending to head out into the forest to play around with this new power.