//------------------------------// // They Are Still Here // Story: Fuel the Eternal Flame | A DOOM MLP Crossover // by NotAnEditor //------------------------------// “If I didn’t have to make sure you weren’t getting yourself killed, I would have stayed as far away from that wreck as possible. Who knows what things are waiting for us?” Starlight Glimmer complained. She wore a large cloak similarly colored to her fur. She was still frigid, as was the pony that joined her. Sunburst shook his head, the starry cloak’s hood over his head as well. “Look, Starlight. These are the direct orders of Princess Luna herself! She said that some special ‘weapon’ was onboard that ship before it exploded.” They roamed the snowy wasteland that surrounded their home, the Crystal Empire. They had seen the hellship crash from within the city before a huge snow storm hit outside its walls. Now, with the weather more clear than before and adorning clothing for occasion, they march on their way to the crash-site. “What sort of weapon is it anyway?” the mare asked, putting a hoof in front of her face to stop the snow getting in her eyes. The orange unicorn shrugged, pushing his glasses up. “Luna said it was important to defend Canterlot throughout the invasion. She says without it, Equestria would have been thrown into more turmoil than ever.” he explained. “A bipedal creature with no fur that wears this advanced armor.” Starlight gave an unsure response. “I still don’t think this is a good idea. Who knows exactly just how friendly this weapon is.” “I’m not sure, Starlight. But what I know is that Luna gave us an order.” he explained. “Any contribution to what is happening to Canterlot is important, now more than ever!” Starlight nodded lightly, continuing their walk. “Hey…” Sunburst stopped, looking down at the snow. A trail of what seemed to be some sort of foot prints sat below the unicorn. They were very light, most likely from being snowed over. Specks of blood dotted near the steps which extended far through the snowy landscape. It looked nothing like any sort of hoofstep, Certainly from some other kind of creature. “What?” Starlight turned, having passed right over the admittedly difficult to see trail. “A trail…” he inspected it. The pale purple pony looked over. “Hoofsteps… of some kind.” Sunburst nodded. “It obviously couldn’t be made by a pony.” he gave an investigative look, flipping his hood down and following where it led. It went northwest, just a couple degrees too far left to miss the Crystal Empire. Seeing where it came from, the source had to have come from the wreckage. “Should we follow it?” Starlight queried, ear flicking under her hood. She put a hoof next to the steps, seeing that it was almost three times larger than her hoof. “Definitely.” he declared. “If something from that crash is close to the Crystal Empire, then we’ve got to investigate!” Sunburst set a hoof down with a smile “You sound so grandiose.” Starlight rolled her eyes. Sunburst grinned. “I-I try!” he pushed the glasses up his muzzle. The two embarked, seeing each bit of trail grow in depth. More blood joined the recent steps as well, showing more signs of the injury. The two star-named unicorns began growing in worry as more red trailed on. Blood was not commonly seen to them, especially the gruesome amount they began spotting. Finally, as Sunburst kept his nose down on the trail, Starlight noticed a strange shape in the distance. She stopped, her friend continuing on, blind to what she had noticed. “Sunburst!” she called. The stallion turned. “What?”  Starlight pointed her hoof to the snow-covered object. “I think we found something!” Sunburst looked ahead for once, blushing at his ignorance. “I-I would have found it eventually.” Starlight walked to the object, hooves crunching the snow as she approached. From the distance, it looked like a blood covered green and brown hunk of metal. As she got closer however, she began noticing more organic features. A pair of two legs, arms and a head all under this futuristic looking technology. The two could detect an intense magical disruption from the set as well. It was face first in the snow, splayed out and covered in blood. The other unicorn soon joined her, tilting his head in confusion. “What is that?” As Sunburst asked the question, Starlight lifted a hoof, gently moving it to the bloody creature. Before it could touch, her hoof was engulfed in her friend's yellow aura, pulling it away. “What do you think you’re doing?” “Poking it. See if it’s alive?” Starlight replied. “Oh, yeah, and get us all killed? For all we know, this could be one of the demons!” he exclaimed. Starlight looked down at the body again. “I mean, it could. Although, the drawings and reports you show me about them don’t really look like that.” Sunburst shook his head. “Then I must have not shown you what a Marauder looks like.” he scratched his orange goatee. “Marauder?” “Yeah. Bipedal, has energy weapons, wears armor.” he explained. “In fact, the staff on his back could be a weapon.” On the backplate of the creature’s body sat a long staff with a block of steel at the end of it. It contained a strange old ponish rune that neither pony were familiar with, despite their knowledge on the language. “Then what do we do?” Starlight asked. “Bring him back to the castle, most likely.” Sunburst responded. “Keep security up and study the thing.” Starlight gave an annoyed look. “And how could we do that without touching the thing at all?” The orange unicorn gave a moment of thought. “Fair point.” Starlight set a hoof on the shoulder of the thing, at least what she thought was the shoulder. With a grunt and a heave, she flipped him onto his back. The strange being’s helmet was shattered, multiple holes to view the thing’s face. They could read a sense of turmoil in the thing’s rest, the two noticing its nostrils and mouth moving to indicate its breathing. “So it's alive, good. Or bad.”” Sunburst commented. “Now, how are we getting it back home? It’s super heavy.” She stretched her leg, feeling sore after the force exerted just to flip it. “Well, we’ll use magic of cou-” he was interrupted, watching his telekinesis spell dissipate on the steel of the creature’s armor. “Crud! Enchanted.” ~ There was a pair of voices near him. The Slayer ached with every pain he could imagine as he opened his eyes furiously. A rush of adrenaline filled him, the demon killer standing up swiftly and grabbing the neck of the source of the noise. He lifted the form up with fury, directing his weakly standing Equipment Launcher to prepare a Flame Belch to its face. The Slayer unsheathed the Doomblade, putting it near the unknown creature’s face. As he lifted the foe upwards, his vision began clearing. He blinked away the combination of snow and tears to see a horrified expression stare back at him. He heard a desperate scream from behind him, innocent and scared as he was about to slit the throat of a pony. He quickly dropped him from his grasp. The orange pony he held coughed, gasping for air as he was released. The pale purple unicorn went beside him, worry and fear in her voice. The Slayer’s blade retracted back into his gauntlet, Shoulder Cannon lowering as well.  “Sunburst! Are you alright?” she queried in a panic, checking him for any major injury beside the sore spot on his neck. After a couple gasps longer, he steadied himself. “I’m fine…” he coughed, before gazing up at the monster before them in fear. The other pony stared up at him as well. The Doom Slayer simply stood there, looking back. He wasn’t sure what to do. He looked back at their hoof-trail. It had to have led somewhere, somewhere safe. Where he could get into contact with Luna again. The Slayer followed the tracks, not reacting any further to the fearful ponies. The two watched him go away curiously. “Is he… friendly?” Sunburst asked, rubbing his throat. “He looks like how Luna described the w-weapon.” “He didn’t hurt us…” she watched him limp off. “We should follow him.” “He tried to kill me.” Sunburst stumbled to his hooves. Starlight looked at him. “But he didn’t. And he certainly would’ve if he wanted to. If he was a demon, we would be long gone.” she pointed out. It wasn’t long before the Slayer was out of hearing range of the two, keeping on the path. However, that would change once the two caught up. “So, are you the weapon Luna was talking about?” Sunburst asked him. The Slayer was silent, eyes focused ahead. His mind was crossing over the dream he had. The promise he had made and broken… he didn’t have time to listen to these ponies, he had to focus on getting back to Luna. Any further word was ignored by the Doom Slayer. After not much time, they would approach a large blue barrier. It was just like the one around Canterlot, although differently colored. The Slayer limped through, holding his arm as he felt the weather around him alter to a much nicer day. The snow below his feet disappeared to reveal pleasant grass and the sky above was whimsically pleasant, barely a cloud in sight. He took a moment to appreciate the much better weather before the bloody warrior continued on. He could hear the two ponies begin suggesting ways they could try to heal him, but he wasn’t listening. The Slayer felt the usual glare of the numerous, more crystalized looking ponies, not giving a glance back as he kept his eyes set on the tall white spire in the distance.  Much like the rest of the architecture in this city, the castle seemed to be constructed from crystal. Something about this city soothed him. The warm weather, the green grass, the feeling of hope and happiness in the air. The Slayer had not seen a peaceful place such as this in eons. The only apparent turmoil he could see was centered around him. That seemed like a constant in most situations. The castle was shaped like the Eiffel Tower, with four structures supporting the pyramid-like castle in arches. At the base of each of the structures sat a door, supposedly to a stairway up.  The Slayer approached the huge castle, passing a pedestaled crystal shaped like a heart. He opened one of the large doors, scaling a flight of stairs. As he did, one of the two ponies talked again. “Are you looking for Luna?” Sunburst asked. The Slayer turned, giving attention finally. His mind was now more clear of the dream. He gave a quick nod. The wizardly-dressed unicorn spoke again. “She isn’t here, but I know who can bring you to her! Princess Cadence is just up the stairs. From what I understand, she has a method of meeting her.” He didn’t respond, continuing up the stairs and opening the door. What spread before him was a long throne room, numerous guards standing proudly beside windows out into the glorious kingdom. Down the hall sat a tall alicorn, not too differently shaped from Luna or Celestia. She was pink, with purple and gold streaked hair, possibly younger than the other two royals. She seemed to be thinking carefully, head resting on hoof before she spotted the Doom Slayer. The blood-soaked man stood a moment before walking down the purple-red carpet, lining it with the imprint of maroon boot-bottoms. “This is Princess Cadence, erm…” Starlight gazed at the princess for its name. “Great Slayer.” the Princess stepped down the throne, bowing before him. She stood back up, spine-chilling as she stared at the tense eyes of the Slayer. “Princess Luna had been hoping you would have returned by now. I will lead you to her!” He was silent as Cadence led him out of the throne room, towards another door beside the stairway entrance that led into a long hall. “I’m sure you have met my two best royal unicorns. Starlight Glimmer and Sunburst.” The halls were made of walls, floors and ceilings of glamorous crystal. It made a multitude of different eye-catching designs and never let up on the flair. The four seemed to be the only ones in the hall. As Cadence led Luna’s weapon to the hidden slipgate of her castle, she began noticing an emotion in the cold gaze of the Slayer’s eyes. Through his cracked visor, she could detect guilt. The sad yet fortified gaze would keep ahead, as if scared to look back at something. Not a physical object or something tangible, an idea.  “Cadence!” A masculine voice spoke up, catching the princess’ attention. It was a strong looking unicorn with stressed pale fur and a mane and tail produced from variously colored strands of blue. He wore a purple set of armor, a helmet being held to his body by his leg, which was quickly dropped to go move swiftly towards the princess. Something about the unicorn was familiar to the Slayer. He had seen him be commanded by Princess Luna. The two embraced, Cadence lowering her head for the stallion to place his above hers. They then laughed joyfully, retracted each other’s heads back to gaze happily into one another’s eyes. “What are you doing here?” Cadence asked, as if it was the most pleasant surprise of her life. “I thought you had to use your spell for Canterlot.”  The same expression was displayed from the white stallion. He snickered. “Well, Luna gave me a break. She found something to keep a barrier going beside pony magic. All she needs me to do now is to command the guard.” he explained happily. “It's always a lovely day when you go off-duty.” the two crossed horns with closed, satisfied eyes. After a moment of the strange horn embrace, Shining Armor spoke up. “So, how is our little gal doing?” “She’s doing alright, would you want to see her?” she asked. His smile continued. “I would give everything in the world to.” A million thoughts a minute swirled in the Slayer’s mind as they conversed and greeted each other. Constant reminders squirmed in his head like worms, writhing exceptionally quick due to the love-soaked conversation before him. His body felt as stiff as a board, his heart as sunk as a long dead ship. He had to turn, look away. He kept his eyes away but the memories kept returning.  “I love you, honey.” “Are you hurt? Do you need help?” “You can tell me everything, sweetie.” “Darling, would you get…” “I love the way that looks on you.” “I love that movie.” “I love your smile.” “I love your hair.” “I love how you walk.” “I love your voice!” “I’d love to!” “I love everything about you!” “I love.” “I love.” “I love.” “I love.” “I love-” “Great Slayer? Could we stop by Flurryheart’s room?” The Doom Slayer stopped his shivering once the attention was shifted to him. He glanced behind his shoulder, giving a stark nod. The room was a turn down another carpet-floored, crystal-walled hall. Once more the Slayer would keep his sorrowful gaze away from the couple beside him. He could also hear the two unicorns behind him discussing the current situation of the invasion. It was not long before they arrived at a beautiful, huge double door.  It was made of beautiful shards, a structure of a shimmering heart in the middle of the doors. Shining Armor opened the door with his magic, revealing the bedroom of the child. He did not expect Flurryheart to be a baby, rather a friend of sorts. He was wrong, laying blissfully in the bed was an adorable purple foal. The Slayer stood next to the two unicorns at the entrance as the couple went to the bed, discussing over it how great their child was. “She seems to be doing good!” Shining Armor commented proudly. Cadence agreed. “Her behavior has been very pleasant, according to Sunburst! She’ll be perfect.” The baby babbled gleefully as the father began scratching at her with a hoof lightly. “I’m sure she will go far.” Eventually, the Slayer could not bear it. He turned, walking out of the entrance way and standing next to the doors. He couldn’t handle being reminded anymore. He wished there was a battle to fight, to distract his mind. But they were right here. It was the same love he missed out on. The hopes and dreams of his life had tracked him down, to taunt him on what he had lost. He would stand there for a long while, giving the two time alone. Although it was only a good fifteen minutes of him standing there, it felt like an eternity. A game of cat and mouse with the loved ones of his past. He just wanted to forget them. “Flynn.”  That name. God, his name. It made him jump, more than any roar a lethal demon could produce. When said out loud, in reality, heard to his very ear, it struck guilt. He slowly turned to look behind his shoulder at the princess. “I’m ready to show you the portal.” she stated, hooves echoing on the smooth shards beneath. How did she know his name? A sympathetic look for the demon hunter grew on her face as the Slayer hesitantly followed. “Your family… your life wasn’t too different from mine, was it? Until you were separated.” The Slayer clenched his fist furiously, fingers digging through the palms of his gauntlet. Although his mouth remained straight, his eyes were deep pits of regret. Cadence stopped at a wall, pushing her hoof into a crystal brick. Suddenly, a bit of the wall to the left fell away to reveal a hidden passageway, walls constructed by unshaped gems. There was a rectangular frame formed from the magical gems, constructing a slipgate within its frame. The alicorn looked at the Doom Slayer. “I can’t imagine what I would do if they took Flurry Heart and Shining Armor from me… but that’s why you're here, isn’t it?” she asked. “You aren’t here to just fight demons. You are here to protect us. Our families and friends, let us keep what you lost so long ago. “Somewhere, deep inside you, you are still protecting your family, even while they are gone.” she lowered her head, horn glowing.  He felt the Sentinel Hammer be removed from his back. “They are gone, but in some way… they are still here. Through you.” the weapon floated in front of Cadence, before sparking with magic. The glowing red energies were now shifted to a light pink color, sizzling and crackling with a newly charged power. Once the upgrade was finished, the Slayer took the weapon out of her magical grasp, sliding it into his backplate’s slot. Once it was placed, he saw his health slowly tick up, his wounds regenerating. He also felt his broken armor creep over his body. With eyes staring deeper than any deep demonic pit he has scrounged, he nodded. As he approached the crystal gate, Cadence noticed him looking back. “Thank you.” He entered the portal, leaving the Crystal Empire to continue his mission.