Chapter 27
“Come on, move your ass’s!” Reinhardt yelled as she waved as many ponies out of the area as she could, the fighting happening all over town causing untold damage and deaths. She growled, as she wanted to get out there and help, but she couldn’t just leave all these defenseless bystanders to fend for themselves.
So against her warrior instincts she stayed and did her best to assist her friends with evacuating the ponies to safety.
“Do we know what is going on yet?” Moxxi asked as she used her mechanical arms, which she usually only wore for construction jobs, to lift a massive amount of debris off of a few trapped ponies.
“I have no idea!” Reinhardt yelled as Calypso and Doc moved through the wounded, helping as many as they could.
Zorrow growled as he rushed over to an injured colt and dragged him away from a burning building as a stray magical ball flew over their heads and hit another building, obliterating it instantly. “It’s those assholes that Lance and the others fought all those years ago!”
“You mean the pushovers that only were threats because of Lance’s pussy no kill rule?” Reinhardt asked as she moved to help a few other ponies.
“Yep,” he said as he looked towards the Everfree forest in the distance, seeing most of the fleeing ponies were heading that way. Down there he saw his adopted daughter helping direct ponies on where to go. Focusing, he ran to his wife and climbed under a collapsed roof she was holding up.
He shoved an injured mare out of the rubble, coughing as the smoke threatened to choke him out.
“We need to help,” Reinhardt yelled, not liking being regulated to support.
“How? You see that shit over there? They’re fighting with Ego and some crazy kind of powers!” Seth yelled as he struggled to stop the bleeding on a stallion's chest. “Calypso!”
“I’m trying!” she screamed as she had other injured ponies she was trying to save. Doc was working as fast as he could, but he was just one yeti, he couldn’t get to them all fast enough.
There was a loud bang as something came rocketing towards them.
“Incoming!” Reinhardt yelled as something slammed into the ground a few yards away from Moxxi.
Loud coughing was heard as Roxxy stumbled up and out of the crater, holding her throat as she collapsed.
“DOC!” Moxxi screamed as she rushed to the downed mare’s side.
ooo000<^>000ooo
Earlier
With a yelp of shock, Flippy Dew barely got her shield up as a crackling ball of energy flew towards her, crashing into the forcefield. The power of the attack shattered her shield immediately, sending her flying backwards as her Ego Spirit flew past her and slammed into Richard, attacking with reckless abandonment.
“This thing is a pest!” the dark Griffon yelled as he sliced a claw across it, sending it back to its owner.
His left ear twitched as he spun around and caught the blade of Roxxy’s Scythe as she swung it for his back, aiming for one of his wings. With a laugh he yanked her towards himself, going to grab her. Instead she just unsummoned her Scythe as she flipped her body over his outstretched arm. With a calm demeanor she brought her Scythe back out and sliced it across his back.
Richard roared in pain as he twisted faster than she could react and threw a ball of red energy at her. A forcefield surrounded her, saving her from the initial blast, but didn’t stop her from being thrown high into the air.
Flexing his wings, he laughed, as she’d only removed a few feathers and left a shallow cut along his back. “That was a good move, kid. But maybe next time add a bit of reach!”
His eyes flickered to the left as the Ego Spirit came flying for him, but he simply dodged left and sliced it with his claws. A sinister smile formed on his face as he looked at Flippy Dew. He raised his hand and shook a finger at her, “that little friend of yours isn’t that useful. Nor smart.”
She didn’t respond as her Spirit went in for another attack.
“Tsk, be more original!” Richard roared as he went to slice the Ego Spirit again, but just as his talons reached the Spirit, a forcefield appeared right in front of his claws, blocking his attack. “Clever,” he muttered as a hoof slammed into his face, hard enough to snap his head back.
Which is the only reason he saw Roxxy flying straight down at him, her Scythe held at the ready.
He allowed the Ego Spirit to land a few more hits as the mare neared him. Then in one fluid motion he sliced his wings across the Spirit before him, causing it to fade away. With a laugh he suddenly dodged back just as the mare sliced her weapon through the air where his head had just been.
“Nice try,” he said in a calm voice as he shot his crackling fist forward, smashing through the forcefield that appeared before him and crashed his fist right into the mare’s side.
The force of the hit blew all of the fight out of her as she rocketed towards Flippy Dew, who flew up and caught her friend just in time.
“These are the challengers I was promised?” Richard asked as he hovered high above them. He held his hands out as they began to glow red with crackling energy. “How disappointing.”
With a gleeful yell, he began to send balls of energy flying in all directions, aiming for the buildings below.
Gritting her teeth, Flippy Dew focused as best she could, sending out as many Forcefields as she could. She caught a lot of them, but way too many got past her, hitting the town below.
“You’re failures,” Richard stated, a wide grin on his face.
“Let me go, Dew,” Roxxy grunted, getting out of her friend's grasp and hovering next to her.
“What do we do?” Flippy Dew asked. “He’s way above us at this point as far as power goes.”
“Yeah, I know,” the battered mare said, glaring up at the Griffon as he prepared another volley of attacks. “Just focus on stopping those blasts, and I’ll handle him.”
“On it,” she said, preparing herself.
With that, Roxxy flew up towards the dark Griffon, Scythe at the ready.
“Ever heard the definition of insanity?!” Richard yelled as he began to send even more balls of crackling energy in all directions. Shields shot up all around him, catching most of them.
Laughing, he slammed his hands together, sending a volley straight at Roxxy as she flew towards him. But she stayed her course, shields appearing ahead of her as she kept her eyes locked on his.
Finally she reached him, spinning her body as she prepared to slice him in half.
With a yell, she swung her Scythe around, coming straight for his body as shields kept popping up to protect her. Moments from contact, a glowing hand grabbed her blade, stopping it in its tracks.
She came to a sudden stop as all of her momentum disappeared as he caught her Scythe.
A smug smile graced his face as he yanked her towards him, catching her by her shoulders. “Insanity is doing the same damn thing, over and over again, and expecting different results!”
“Don’t lecture me,” she growled, spitting into his face.
“Ah, pleasant,” he said as a shield appeared between them, but he just rolled his eyes as he raised a thumb and pressed the talon against her neck. Her eyes went wide as he drove it deep, blood spurting out. “Be seeing you,” he said with a smirk as he tossed her up and crashed a crackling fist through the shield that appeared and then into her, sending her rocketing away.
“Roxxy!” Flippy Dew screamed, flying after her. But the dark form of Richard shot in front of her, blocking her path.
“You can’t leave yet,” he said, sticking his thumb into his mouth and cleaning the blood from it. “You gotta kill me, to avenge your friend.”
“You monster,” she hissed as she shook in anger, her Ego Spirit shooting towards him.
He just laughed, nodding his head. “You got that right, kid!”
ooo000<^>000ooo
“I don’t think this is a fair fight,” Dude exclaimed as he sprinted away from the Nightmare as it roared with laughter, dark tendrils chasing after him.
“Just keep fighting!” Nightstreak yelled as he did his best to dodge all the incoming attacks, using his Gauntlets to punch away any tendrils that he couldn’t dodge.
The Nightmare just kept on laughing, walking towards them as more and more tendrils shot out of his body, most going after them, but the others shooting into buildings, killing all the ponies they came across.
“Where is this mare I’ve heard so much about,” he asked as the two stallions struggled to fight against his onslaught of attacks. “You two are growing bored.”
“Which mare?!” Dude yelled, flipping to the side as he dodged a large tendril, using his Ego Saber to slice another that flew for him. “We got a lot of mares in this town, dumbass!”
“The one called Scamp. She’s supposed to have some of me in her, and I want to see that for myself!” Nightmare exclaimed as he suddenly stopped attacking with his tentacles and shifted into a new form, this one resembling a gorilla straight out of a nightmare.
“Not here, that’s for sure,” Nightstreak said as he rolled his shoulder and sprinted towards the large gorilla.
With a roar, the Nightmare slammed both fist into his chest and came down on all fours, then sprinted towards the charging stallion.
As they neared each other, the Nightmare jumped forward, slinging his fist backwards. Taking a gamble, Nightstreak kept his guard down as he prepared to attempt to use his Ego to counter the attack.
Just as the massive fist of the large gorilla reached him, he activated his Ego. But the sound of a massive bang signaled he’d been too early at activating it as he was sent flying backwards.
“Nightstreak!” Dude yelled as he cast a card, causing a shield to appear around the stallion as he flew through the air and slammed into a building, completely destroying it.
“What was that?” the Nightmare roared with laughter, shaking his fist with glee. “He just stood there and took it! I’ve never seen anything like that before!”
Dude sprinted towards the destroyed building, hoping his shield was still active as the remnants of the building began to collapse in on itself.
As he ran, he saw a large rock come flying for him. He didn’t have time to react as it neared him, but just as he thought he was about to die, he suddenly fell through the ground and crashed down next to another pony.
“You alright, Dude?” Alexander asked as he adjusted the Portal Gauntlets on his hooves.
“Nightstreak, he’s-” Dude began, getting back up.
“I got him,” Alexander said, nodding to the unconscious stallion next to him. “He’s alive. Trixie, can you get him to Doc?”
“Of course,” she said as she used her magic to lift the unconscious Nightstreak. “Just don’t do anything stupid, idiot.”
A smile fell across Alexander’s face as he gave a nod to her, “No promises.”
Once they were gone, he looked back to the Nightmare, who was currently attacking a building, reaching in and grabbing ponies.
“We need to finish this guy off and get to helping the others,” he said, nodding to Jero, who was in his human form, as he stepped up with him.
“Dude, I don’t know where you got an Ego, but good work so far distracting him,” Jero said, giving a nod to the younger Stallion. “Up to helping us some more?”
Dude looked after Trixie and Nightstreak, a conflicted look on his face. After a moment, he turned back to them and nodded. “Yeah, let’s get this asshole.”
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“Watch it!” Starch yelled out to Summer Breeze as she raised her shield just in time to block a kick from the Demonic Jun. She yelped as she was thrown backwards again, her Ego Spirit taking her place as it grabbed Jun’s leg and tried to restrain him.
“Is this all you got?!” Jun laughed as he flexed his massive muscles, getting rid of the Ego Spirit with a simple flex of his muscles. A flurry of strikes landed on his face as Starch moved agilely around him, dodging the slower attacks of the large Demonic stallion before him.
“Come on! Impress me at least a little bit before I kill you!” he laughed in a sinister voice.
“Okay, pal, I’ll impress you,” Starch said as his body suddenly began to glow a light cyan.
Jun’s eyes went wide, “Ego?!”
“Eeyep!” he laughed as he split into four clones of himself. “Get a load of this!” The four Starch’s sprang forward, pelting Jun with attacks. The Demonic stallion roared as he sliced his wings forward, beheading two Starch’s as four more appeared.
“This is cheating!” Jun screamed as he went on a rampage, slicing through the Starch’s as fast as he could, but they kept replacing themselves, continuing their attacks on his body. The number of Starch’s never succeeded six, but that was plenty to annoy and harass the Demonic stallion.
Summer Breeze watched in awe as Starch’s six clones kept up their attack on him, amazed that he had an Ego. Breaking out of her trance, she nodded up to her Ego Spirit. It nodded back to her as it flew into the air and began to draw energy into itself.
“What’s wrong Lance wannabe?” one of the Starch clones said as Jun bit through them.
“Can’t handle all this sexy?” another said with a laugh as Jun’s horns rammed into its face.
Jun roared in anger as he kept ripping through the clones, but they just kept coming back. He’d killed all of them over and over again, but he had yet to do anything to stop them from coming back.
Just as he was at his peak of anger, something crashed into his back, causing him to slam into the ground below himself. The ground around them exploded as a crater suddenly formed as the force of the impact was so great. The Starch clones had jumped back at the last second, saving themselves.
The Ego Spirit stood up on the back of the now downed Jun, looking up to Summer Breeze with a smile.
“Nice,” she said, giving it a nod.
“That’s enough,” Jun growled as his wings snapped through the Ego Spirit, causing it to disappear. “I told them I could kill all of you without my new abilities, but screw that shit.”
“What are you mumbling about down there,” a Starch clone asked with a smirk.
“Fuck all of you,” Jun growled as his body began to crackle with red energy. “FUCK ALL OF YOU!”
A shock wave exploded from his body, sweeping over the entire area around them.
All of the Starch clones flickered and collapsed, leaving just one standing. “Uh…”
Summer Breeze’s own Ego Spirit flickered and faded away, not coming back out. Even her Ego seemed to stop working.
“Ah shit,” Starch muttered as Jun turned on them, rage emitting from his body as he flew up towards them.
ooo000<^>000ooo
Earlier
The two brothers broke away from each other, having exchanged a few blows. Neither had used their respective powers yet, seeming to wait for the other to go first.
“Are you teasing me, Darkest?” Val asked with a smile as began to pace around his brother.
“I could say the same thing to you, Valentine,” Mr. Bleak said with a smile, using his brother's full name for the first time in eons.
“You are teasing me,” Val chuckled, as if they were having a casual conversation. “You know I hate to be called that.”
“It’s your name,” his brother said with a smirk. Then he became serious as he looked his brother over, seeing the red crackling energy that emitted from his body. “That’s not Ego, or any power I’ve seen before.”
“It’s a little gift from a certain benefactor,” he said simply, the energy seeming to increase for a moment as he smiled at his brother.
“Why don’t you use it? Show me up for once?” Mr. Bleak asked as they both stopped circling each other.
“Darkest,” Val began calmly. “I’d say I’ll miss you, but we both know that’d be a lie.”
“Likewise,” Mr. Bleak replied evenly, holding out his hoof as the shadows around them flew towards his outstretched hoof, forming a large sword.
“Ah, some kind of Shadow Manipulation Ego?” Val asked, chuckling as he shook his head. “So fitting for one such as yourself.” He began to walk towards his brother, a wide smile on his face. “Do I have a surprise for you then!”
The two launched towards each other as Mr. Bleak swung his sword made of shadow’s at his brother, watching his movements closely. Instead of dodging the attack, Val swung his glowing hoof into the blade, causing it to seemingly get sucked into his hoof and disappear.
Mr. Bleak’s eyes went wide as he dodged around the sudden strike of his brother as a straight blade of shadow flew from Val’s hoof, the blade barely missing his face as it clipped through his mane.
Breaking contact, Mr. Bleak flew backwards, shadows flying into him as he created two different swords this time. He landed on the ground, facing his brother.
Val stood up, letting out a laugh as he examined the blade he’d produced. “Like that, brother?”
“I see you can absorb others Ego and use it,” Mr. Bleak observed, but his brother just laughed in response.
“That’s very simple minded of you, Darkest,” he said as he turned to fully face his brother. “I don’t like spoiling things for others. But I have an excellent two in one ability.”
Mr. Bleak frowned, as when Val had stolen his Shadow Weapon, he’d felt something wrong with the powers that imitated from the other stallion.
“That power of yours, it’s similar to Ego… but it’s not Ego exactly.”
“Bingo,” Val exclaimed with a smirk. “Guess I can spoil that for you. It’s Anti-Ego.”
This did not mean anything to Mr. Bleak, as he wasn’t an expert on any of this Ego mess.
“I see you’re confused,” Val mocked, placing a hoof to his chest. “Oh, I guess your brother must explain EVERYTHING to you yet again. That silly Ego that all of you like to use is simple and barbaric, while this power, this Anti-Ego, is the true embodiment of the Soul! While you’re playing with a simple Ego that gives you nothing but a bit of power, I’m able to have multiple powers at once!”
“You just love to talk, don’t you, Valentine?” Mr. Bleak mocked calmly, smiling at the reaction of his brother.
“No more games then, I suppose,” Val muttered as red energy exploded from his body. “How about I show you a little power I borrowed from our good friend Champion.”
“Well come on then,” Mr. Bleak said as Val suddenly disappeared from in front of him. Before he could react, a hoof slammed into his face, sending him crashing through the trees behind himself.
He quickly caught himself and landed on the ground on all fours, sliding across the ground still.
That attack had caught him off guard completely, as he still did not fully understand these powers his brother now had.
“Oh this’ll be over sooner than I’d hoped,” Val said as he strolled through the path of destruction he’d created with Mr. Bleak’s body.
But Mr. Bleak just stood up and smiled at his approaching brother. “Your mistake is thinking my Ego is ‘simple’.”
“You make weapons out of shadows, that’s as simple as it gets,” Val laughed as the energy seemed to jump from his body, popping as it hit the ground or the trees.
“You think so?” Mr. Bleak said as the area around them started to get darker. “My Ego is not Shadow Manipulation.”
Val’s eyes went wide as Mr. Bleak disappeared. He stopped, trying to sense his brother, but it was like he was just gone.
Then a hoof materialized in front of him as it grabbed his horn and ripped it off, causing him to roar in pain and fly backwards, sending a wave of energy exploding from his body.
Mr. Bleak reappeared leaning against a tree, picking his teeth with his brother's horn. “Yeah, my Ego is Darkness Manipulation, a lot more versatile than your simple mind was able to conceive.”
“It’s just a party trick in comparison to what I have,” Val growled as he held up his hoof, the darkness around him seeming to be sucked into his body. “Let’s get serious, shall we?”
“Let’s,” Mr. Bleak said, tossing away the horn and fading away into the darkness around himself.